Warlords of Crime

by Gerald Posner

Book Overview

Powerful Chinese youth gangs are emerging from the Golden Triangle to dominate the world heroin trade. They are spreading throughout the country from Boston to San Francisco. Now Gerald Posner... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140123407
• ISBN13: 9780140123401
• Release Date: February 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

What Does Gerald Posner Think 13 Years Later?

The superb and meticulously honest journalist Gerald Posner wrote the "Warlords of Crime" back in 1988. The project took place during a more naive era when many including myself thought the drug war might be winnable. Posner takes us on a journey to learn about the drug warlords of Chinese heritage. These ruthless outlaws carry out their nefarious activities throughout the world. They have no hesitation in either bribing or murdering their fellow human beings. Life is looked upon as an inexpensive commodity in a culture that traditionally values the collective over the individual. Most are members of criminal organizations going back hundreds of years. A warped sense of family values underpin their organizational structure. Enduring long prison sentence for the sake of the clan is regarded as a proud duty. Delayed gratification and self discipline are virtues taken for granted. Mere physical courage alone is not deemed sufficient for advancement. Superb management skills and patience are instead mandatorily required for those hoping to be promoted to the top echelons of leadership.Posner finds that some of the police officers who have sold out to the warlords often have the best arrest records. It turns out that the warlords do everything to help their partners in law enforcement to publicly look good as possible. Even allowing some of their less esteemed comrades to be arrested is accepted as a price to be willingly paid. The risks are high and rewards mostly nonexistent for lawmen poorly paid and commonly despised. The Oriental culture often does not perceive policemen as professionals deserving of honor. On the contrary, only the so called economic losers usually apply for police training. Needless to add, many of those choosing this line of work do so for corrupt reasons. It should be added that policemen at the turn of the twentieth century in the United States were also thought to be jerks and too lazy to do anything else. Warm respect for police officers is far more prevalent in countries actively encouraging political and cultural equality of the masses. Unfortunately, just like governments in Central and South America desperately trying to evolve towards democratic stability, the Asian nations have the added burden of drug money threatening their fragile political institutions.I have enormous respect for Gerald Posner. Nonetheless, I am compelled to confront him with an awkward and disturbing question. In this book, Posner refers to the routine torture practiced upon suspected Asian drug lawbreakers in their respective homelands. Posner does not condone such police behavior, but neither does he condemn it. One distinctly gets the impression that Posner at least subconsciously accepts this as a price that must be grudgingly accepted if we are to win the war on drugs. What does Posner believe about our current efforts to defeat the drug barons? Should we, as I strongly advocate, host the white flag of surrender? Posner thinks the legalizat