Between War and Crime? Analysing Drug Violence in Mexico

Near the end of the first season of HBO’s “The Wire,” a police detective is shot and seriously wounded while conducting an undercover sting operation on a powerful Baltimore drug gang. In response, the detective’s colleagues press for more time to build their case against the gang’s leadership, but the commissioner ignores them and orders a citywide series of raids on any address known to be connected to the drug trade, in order to “send a message” to the local traffickers. One of the officers, infuriated by the fact that their hard work and their friend’s sacrifice will be expended on an operation unlikely to disrupt the city’s drug traffic, bitterly describes the commissioner’s action as “Putting dope on the damn table.”