Fan Pages For Mexican Drug Lords On MySpace

Hey, social networking profiles are the new narcocorridos. The Houston Chronicle points to MySpace and Facebook profiles for gangsters like Sinoloa Drug Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his rival the incarcerated leader of the Gulf Cartel Osiel Cardenas Guillen. The paper says the profiles are most likely not created by them, though. You think? But they do serve as a sort of virtual museum of gangster lore. Which, we’ll admit, is more interesting than fantasy football. But, of course, more despicable.

This profile called The Cartel Report with it’s tagline, “America’z Favorite Past time….it aint baseball..” is as detailed in gangster trivia as it is creepy. An FBI agent interviewed by the Chronicle said most of the information on these pages seems to be taken from FBI profiles. He also said, though most Mexicans loathe these guys, some young, poor kids have just a shitty enough life to buy into their Robin Hood schtick. (El Chapo purportedly never shoots innocents unlike his rival Guillen whose nickname is Mata Amigos.) And in a country where the most organized crooks are the cops, we can see how the question of where to lay one’s loyalty would be a bit confusing.

Outlaws honored on social Web sites [Houston Chronicle]