Narcommunication: The Marketing and Messaging of Organized Crime

• In Event: The Politics of Control and Resistance in Violent Contexts

Abstract

In the years following democratization and the end of single-party rule in Mexico, criminal groups that had kept a low profile for decades began to advertise themselves with high profile acts – displaying written messages, posting online videos, perpetrating spectacular violence – intended to generate media attention and dominate headlines. Most studies of organized crime emphasize that the power of criminal groups lies in dense social networks within limited territories; a strategy of broad and mediated public engagement seems to undermine this power. Recent research centered on Latin America considers high publicity action by organized crime, but focuses almost exclusively on the use of violence. This project shifts the analytical focus from violence to written communication by organized crime. The study asks, what unique strategic benefits does the use of public, written communication provide to criminal groups, and at what cost? And what wider implications does this criminal strategy have for society? During 10 months of ethnographic field research, I assembled an original qualitative dataset of over 6,000 written messages displayed by criminal groups between 2004 and 2013, supplementing this with interviews with journalists and other media figures. Analysis of this data reveals three key benefits to using public messaging. This presentation focuses on the first of these strategic benefits: using messages to create criminal identities or brands. These brands are flexible and mobile, and can spread to new territories faster than a criminal group itself can. Branding places a premium on gaining attention and generating headlines, even if this involves negative press. It thus differs from the notion of legitimacy or positive reputation. I demonstrate the practice of branding through case studies of three groups: the Familia Michoacana, Familia Guerrerense, and Caballeros Templarios.

Author

• Philip Luke Johnson, Princeton University