Drug Wars: The Camarena Story

Drug Wars The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV miniseries based on Elaine Shannons book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson. It was the second most watched NBC miniseries of the year following The Kennedyscitation needed and followed up in 1992 with Drug Wars The Cocaine Cartel starring Dennis Farina.

At least four of the principal actors in Drug Wars The Camarena Story later starred in the Academy j winning film Traffic, a film that also deals with the subject of the ongoing drug trade between the United States and Mexico. In a somewhat interesting reversal of roles, in Drug Wars actors Miguel Ferrer and Steven Bauer both play DEA agents while Benicio del Toro and Eddie Velez play drug traffickers in Traffic, Ferrer and Bauer both play drug traffickers, while del Toro and Velez play a Mexican federal narcotics agent and a DEA agent.In his review for The New York Times, John J. OConnor wrote, Perhaps not surprisingly, these amoral entrepreneurs provide some of the films juicier roles. Especially effective is Benicio del Toro as the young, illiterate and flaky Rafael CaroQuintero. In his review for USA Today, Matt Roush wrote, For a Michael Mann production, theres surprisingly little flash to Drug Wars. Some interesting camera work to be sure, including the video bits and some heightened use of slow motion, but the miniseries chief strength is its grit, its anger. Craig MacInnis, in his review for the Toronto Star, wrote, Interspersed with U.S. network news footage of the real Camarena incident in 85, the dramatic scenes in Drug Wars are never anything less than convincing just as good propaganda should be. ........

Source: Wikipedia