What does it mean to live in lawless town

20 min / ProPublica

HOW THE U.S. TRIGGERED A MASSACRE IN MEXICO

“The Zetas controlled everything. They did whatever they wanted. When soldiers were going to come to the area, someone from the military would notify us in advance.

Sometimes planeloads of federal police would arrive, with 200 officers. But we’d get a call a week ahead of time: ‘Are you stashing anything in such and such a house?’

We’d say, ‘No, there’s nothing there.’

They’d say, ‘Good, because there is a search warrant for that location, and agents are going to arrive on Thursday.’

The government told us everything. So I knew that if the government got those numbers, the Zetas would find out.”