Narcotopia : in search of the Asian drug cartel that survived the CIA / Patrick Winn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Winn, Patrick (Journalist), author.

Contributor:

Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Wa State Army (Burma).

United States. Central Intelligence Agency--Influence.

United States.

United States. Drug Enforcement Administration--Influence.

Wa (Asian people)--Politics and government.

Wa (Asian people).

Wa (Asian people)--Social conditions.

Drug traffic--Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia).

Drug traffic.

United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

United States. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Asia--Golden Triangle.

Genre:

Nonfiction novels.

True crime stories.

Physical Description:

xiv, 364 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : PublicAffairs, 2024.

Summary:

"Nestled in the Golden Triangle of China, Burma, and Nepal, the Wa nation has existed and thrived for over five decades. Like mountain peoples from Chechnya to the Ozarks, the Wa like to do things their own way. A tribal authority called the United Wa State Army (or UWSA) controls their native terrain. The UWSA makes laws, defends the motherland, and builds roads and schools. It even issues driver's licenses. In every sense, it is a government. And as a nation, its armed forces command 30,000 troops and 20,000 reservists, more than the militaries of Sweden or Kenya. The Wa possess high-tech weaponry: cannons, drones, and missiles that can knock jets out of the sky. Yet the one difference from their nation and those that surround them is their preferred commodity: drugs. Illegal drugs are indeed one of the UWSA's top revenue sources. Over the years, tons of narcotics produced on Wa soil have hit the black market and traffickers have smuggled them onto American shores. Their ability to have a functioning government, economic system, and freedom from their neighbors derives from their sophisticated, profitable, and illegal trade. Yet, the origin story of this narco-army is smudged with American fingerprints. Not only did the CIA create the conditions for its inception, but one of its foremost leaders was a DEA asset. In Narcotopia, Patrick Winn investigates and uncovers the true story of Wa, untangling the relationship between the DEA, CIA, and Wa people. The result is a saga of an indigenous people who have tapped the power of narcotics to create a nation where there was none before and the covert operations of US intelligence to transform and undermine it for their own agenda. Every empire needs its barbarians"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The nations and peoples of Narcotopia

Prologue

Superstar

First encounter

Stranger in the peaks

Guns, drugs, and espionage

The league of warlords

Enslaved no more

Unspeakable

The prodigy

Mr. Success

Nativity

Confidential informant

Kick the car

The burn

Torpedo

The summit

Manifest destiny

The great migration

Vanilla speed

Whiskey alpha

Mountain fortress China

The reckoning

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-346) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Lipman Criminology Library Fund.

ISBN:

9781541701953

154170195X

OCLC:

1391688067

Publisher Number:

99995724650