The life of a cell: Managerial practice and strategy in Colombian cocaine distribution in the United States.
Item
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Title
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The life of a cell: Managerial practice and strategy in Colombian cocaine distribution in the United States.
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Identifier
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AAI9830708
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identifier
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9830708
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Creator
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Fuentes, Joseph Ricardo.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Diana R. Gordon
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Criminology and Penology | Law
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Abstract
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Colombian cocaine distribution cells, operating at the highest levels of the cocaine distribution system in the United States, present a formidable challenge to American law enforcement supply reduction efforts. Cells are the distribution arm for a major trafficking organization based in Colombia, are role-specialized, and staffed largely by Colombian illegal aliens bound by strict codes of behavior imposed by the threat of law enforcement. Cell managers are posted to the United States to oversee the flow of thousands of kilos through the larger urban distribution markets. Ethnic closure, secrecy and a reputation for violence are characteristics which contribute to a lack of scholarly research in this criminal domain.;Cells use techniques common to legitimate commodity markets, offering revolving credit to buyers, quantity discounts, and a fair kilo price which represents the local market risks to transport, warehouse, and distribute an illicit product. Cells are the last link in the Colombian control over multithousand kilo quantity shipments of cocaine destined for American wholesale and retail markets.;In cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration, this project utilized a variety of informational sources on Colombian cocaine distribution in the United States. Examined are the cell manager's prerogatives in structuring a domestic distribution cell, worker recruitment practices, establishing customer lines, kilo price-setting mechanisms, enforcing customer agreements and internal discipline, utilitarian motives for violence, and organizational and behavioral responses to law enforcement pressures.;Findings of this research suggest a reformulation of some understandings about both routine operations of illicit drug distribution and responses to threats posed by drug supply reduction policies. Cells operate with short chains of command that are noncompetitive and nonviolent in the local marketplace. Kilo prices are fairly uniform across organizations until they reach the terminal wholesale distribution market, where local negotiations for price differentials of ten to twenty percent are based upon customer preferences and quantity discounts. Cells reduce law enforcement pressures by implementing routine changes to their telecommunications infrastructure. Effective U.S. drug enforcement encourages cartelization in Colombia as individual organizations collude to reduce the risks of importation and transportation.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
