Nazario Moreno, leader of La Familia, is known as El Mas Loco. He insists his followers do not use the meth they traffic through Mexico and the United States. For spiritual guidance, Moreno has authored a bible, Pensamientos, to guide the syndicate’s members, and he insists on prayer meetings before operations are launched.
El Mas Loco’s rise is chronicled in an interesting article in this week’s TIME. Readers of this blog are likely familiar with much of the background info, but insightful anecdotes are well blended into the recounting of severed heads. I was struck by mention of Moreno’s “flair for disguises.” Apparently, he once posed as a supermarket bag boy and carried his victim’s groceries to the parking lot, so he could get a closer shot.
Violent criminals, in general, strike me as a reflective lot. They appear to have some bearing on their role in society, and unlike many of us in the law abiding WASP camp, they witness firsthand the results of their “professional” actions. I see them as types that resign their fate with utterances like Paul Newman’s character in Road to Perdition: “This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee: none of us will ever see Heaven.” But then there are those that re-appropriate faith, as the members of La Familia are wont to do. Those operating with religious sanction, skewed as it may be, are unlikely to moderate their behavior…
