A Mexican drug cartel hit man reflects on 20 years of killing, torture and kidnapping in the most violent city on earth, Ciudad Juarez."

The plush, green colored, rolling hills surrounding Santa Clara del Cobre provided a mystical backdrop to the small town located in the western state of Michoacán, Mexico. The state, with a stretch of coastline along the sky-blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, derived its name from the ancient Nahuatl language used by the Aztecs, which means “place of the fisherman.” Rich copper mines have provided most of the town’s sustenance for several centuries and even now more than eighty percent of its inhabitants make their living as coppersmiths. As one strolls through the village, the incessant hammering of the orange-colored metal is deafening. The town grudgingly, through time, has clung to its colonial look. Most of the houses and buildings are painted a vibrant white and roofed in ornate red tiles.

Listening to Sicarios presents new insights into the lives of paid assassins of Mexico’s drug trafficking syndicates from the perspectives of the assassins themselves. Based on an extraordinary series of ethnographic interviews carried out in the wake of the record levels of narcoviolence experienced in Ciudad Juárez between 2008 and 2012, this study analyzes the ways in which these young men interpret their actions across four key thematic axes: border infrastructures, youth and responsibility, masculinity and sentiment, and ethics: good vs. evil. It argues that sicarios follow a career path within a criminal corporate infrastructure that is especially robust in Mexican border cities. It also explores how sicarios understand youthful innocence in relation to adult accountability in the realm of violence that is frequently meted out by young men on other young men. It then analyzes sicarios’ expressions of feelings of power that may boost their sense of virility, as well as feelings of fear and regret that imply weakness. Finally, it examines how sicarios defend their personal integrity in the face of a public discourse that views their acts as savage.

Tie-in with the eponymous new film by Barbet Schroeder.

I've begged God for forgiveness, but I won't know till the day I die if He has truly forgiven me ... I've paid my dues to society by serving my long sentence, but perhaps I haven't earned His indulgence ... Oh my God, I've lived so many different lives! I survived Pablo Escobar Gaviria, El Patrón (The Boss), and it was the strength of his indomitable spirit that kept me going all these years; I don't quite know how or why. I still feel his presence every day of my existence. The Medellin cartel's crimes weigh as heavily on my shoulders today as they did yesterday. My youth, wasted in crime, became the sword that now hangs over my graying head. To the world, I'll always be known by my alias, Popeye, the fearsome hitman of the Medellin cartel, Pablo Escobar Gaviria's right-hand man ... How can I make you understand I'm a new man ... that twenty-three years behind bars in that hellhole have transformed the person I once was. Now the freedom I yearned for is vanishing in the murderous hands of my enemies. Perhaps fate has extended my life only to toy with me by preparing my own dying moments. I survived in captivity but I don't know if I'll be able to live in freedom ... A prisoner of my own mind, I'll try to fight to find some peace ... It's very cold ... now it's August 2014. I'm one step from freedom and I'm still breathing ... still here in this dimly lit cell in the maximum security prison in Cómbita, Boyacá.

The true confession of an assassin, a sicario, who rose through the ranks of the Southern California gang world to become a respected leader in an elite, cruelly efficient crew of hit men for Mexico's "most vicious drug cartel," and eventually found a way out and an (almost) normal life. Martin Corona, a US citizen, fell into the outlaw life at twelve and worked for a crew run by the Arellano brothers, founders of the the Tijuana drug cartel that dominated the Southern California drug trade and much bloody gang warfare for decades. Corona's crew would cross into the United States from their luxurious hideout in Mexico, kill whoever needed to be killed north of the border, and return home in the afternoon. That work continued until the arrest of Javier Arellano-Félix in 2006 in a huge coordinated DEA operation. Martin Corona played a key role in the downfall of the cartel when he turned state's evidence. He confessed to multiple murders. Special Agent of the California Department of Justice Steve Duncan, who wrote the foreword, says Martin Corona is the only former cartel hit man he knows who is truly remorseful. Martin's father was a US Marine. The family had many solid middle-class advantages, including the good fortune to be posted in Hawaii for a time during which a teenage Martin thought he might be able to turn away from the outlaw life of theft, drug dealing, gun play, and prostitution. He briefly quit drugs and held down a job, but a die had been cast. He soon returned to a gangbanging life he now deeply regrets. How does someone become evil, a murderer who can kill without hesitation? This story is an insight into how it happened to one human being and how he now lives with himself. He is no longer a killer; he has asked for forgiveness; he has made a kind of peace for himself. He wrote letters to family members of his victims. Some of them not only wrote back but came to support him at his parole hearings. It is a cautionary tale, but also one that shows that evil doesn't have to be forever.

The Green Beret series: Over 1 Million Sold. Eyes of the Hammer by NY Times Bestselling Author, former Green Beret and West Point Graduate, Bob Mayer, is “Exciting and authentic! Author Mayer, a Green Beret himself, gave me a vivid look at the world of the Army’s Special Forces. His portrayal of Green Beret operations and techniques takes you deep into the world of Special Operations.” W.E.B. Griffin. A US Special Forces team lead by Green Beret Dave Riley is on a top secret mission to take down drug traffickers in Colombia, but while doing so they are faced with betrayal by their own government. The team is carrying sterilized weapons and unmarked uniforms and the operation is “off the books.” Of course, nothing is as it seems, especially once the CIA gets involved. Throw in an Israeli mercenary and betrayal, Dave Riley and his team soon find themselves wondering what the real mission is and will they become collateral damage from all the double-dealing going on back in Washington. Eyes of the Hammer is the first book in the bestselling Green Beret Series written by a man who has “been there, done that.”