The violent drug wars that have consumed Mexico could seem like a problem far away; but the drug cartels were closer to Chicago than many realized. In Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop, the son of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords awaits trial. Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla was allegedly behind the export of tons of narcotics into the Chicago area and beyond. Recent reports estimated Mexico’s nearly 5-year-old drug war caused aproximately 40,000 casualties. And Zambada-Niebla’s trial will likely be a big deal – one of the more prominent drug prosecutions in the U.S. Journalist Alejandro Escalona covered the case and other links to the drug war in Mexico and he joined Eight Forty-Eight to elaborate. Escalona writes a Latino issues column for the Chicago Sun-Times and a column for the Spanish-language weekly, La Raza.
