Blood Gun Money

Reviews

With conversational prose and audacious reporting, [Grillo] etches brisk vignettes of A.T.F. agents, gunrunners, hit men and straw purchasers, switching among more characters and exotic locales than an international thriller — from a peace activist near a gun factory in Germany’s Black Forest to ‘Fresa,’ an executioner of 45 who eventually dies by the gun himself. Ioan Grillo is one of the best reporters covering the cartels, crime and carnage south of the border. In Blood Gun Money, he traces the drug-gun pipeline that runs straight from that violence to the beating heart of America. It's even weirder and bloodier than the fiction. Grillo approaches the issue of proliferating firearms from myriad angles. . . . [He] brings more than two decades of intimate experience to the task, much of that spent in Mexico covering the impact of the ‘iron river’ of firearms that flows south from America into the hands of drug cartels and remorseless gangsters. Expertly maps the grisly North American landscape for firearms. Cuts to the chase in its multifaceted portrayal of an enduring battle. . . . an even-handed portrayal of the often frustrating pervasiveness of the gun traffic, interviewing scores of individuals who are on both sides. Investigative Journalism has never felt so palpably poignant. Grillo has a well-deserved reputation as a fierce investigative reporter in Latin America . . . now he focuses his attention on the ‘iron river’ of legal guns that go on the black market through private sales, theft, and shady purchasing to make the Americas so murderous. . . . [A] shocking, arresting account of gun trafficking. An alarming and deeply reported account of how the U.S. gun trade fuels bloodshed, terror, and refugee crises throughout the Western hemisphere . . . This expert account makes the high cost of America’s thirst for guns crystal clear. Blood Gun Money is a solid account that offers a fresh perspective on an issue that has significant domestic and international ramifications. Written in a gripping narrative style and with details gleaned from firsthand reporting, Ioan Grillo has written a vitally important book about the 'iron river.' While Americans fear mass shootings, Ioan Grillo’s fascinating and well-researched book shows that gun trafficking is the most important gun issue of our time. Ioan Grillo is one of the bravest and most thoughtful journalists in the world. If you want to know what's really going on, you have to read him—and especially this excellent book. A globe-trotting investigation into the symbiotic worlds of the gun trade and organized crime, mostly involving drugs—one terrifying, amazing, illuminating story after another, and characters who dismay, chill, awe and sometimes even inspire. Reaching the end of this utterly absorbing journey, you'll feel like you've learned secrets and truths of the tragic lethal mayhem of the world, of its intractable causes and complexities. Gripping. The definitive story of how, for decades, hundreds of thousands of firearms bought legally in the United States have been smuggled into Mexico and fueled unspeakable violence. A haunting investigation into one of humanity's most urgent battles. Both heartbreaking and impossible to put down. Magnificent. A must read for anyone interested in the river of lead that drives the global illicit economy. A striking report on the fanatical promotion of guns’ enormous, painful consequences in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America. A finger of truth pointing North from the Mexican border, showing how the gun, so beloved by American libertarians and lobbyists, has sown death and destruction South of the border. Grillo isn’t just a brilliant writer. He’s a modern Dante. Combines academic rigor with street smarts to take us on a journey around the globe to meet obscure firearm manufacturers, hitmen pulling the trigger, and the many people on the receiving end of gunfire. In painstaking detail, Grillo lays out the evidence and history we need to understand how the United States became the center of the global iron river of firearms, and how the consequences of gun violence reach all of us. Blood Gun Money . . . reveals the uncomfortable truths very well covered by governments, tracing a map from the U.S. to the Mexican, Central American and even South American cartels. In gripping detail Grillo gives readers eye-opening accounts of the black market in guns and efforts to curtail it. . . . This important book helps fill a void. It illuminates the need to disrupt the black market in guns flowing to the cartels and to violent criminals on our own streets. A cutting-edge expose . . . highly informative . . . a testament to Grillo’s ongoing investigative prowess and fosters our better understanding of the criminal insurgencies and illicit flows taking place in the Western hemisphere. Excellent . . . Blood Gun Money includes a lot of information about gun trafficking in the Americas, but it is also filled with stories of people on both sides of the law, police and criminals, murderers and gun victims. It is a well-researched, well-written, and informative book. Grillo makes a convincing case for legislative reform, but he also provides readers with on-the-ground insight into the far corners of the gun trade and its illicit shadow worlds. The result is an impactful book that will drive readers forward to the desperate conclusion. Expand reviews