Wolf Boys

Two American Teenagers and Mexico's Most Dangerous Drug Cartel

By: Dan Slater

Narrated by: Pete Simonelli

The true story of two American teenagers turned cartel assassins—and the Mexican American detective who fought to stop them. Wolf Boys is “a hell of a story…undeniably gripping” (The New York Times), a harrowing nonfiction thriller that reads like a crime novel but is rooted in extraordinary investigative reporting.

Journalist Dan Slater tells the unforgettable tale of Gabriel Cardona, a bright and promising Laredo, Texas, teenager who becomes one of the youngest hitmen for Los Zetas, Mexico’s most violent drug cartel. Lured by power, money, and survival in a border town overrun with smuggling and gang warfare, Gabriel joins a network of juvenile recruits tasked with carrying out executions on both sides of the US–Mexico border.

As cartel warfare spills into Texas, the story collides with that of Detective Robert Garcia, a Mexican-born homicide investigator who has dedicated his life to keeping cartel violence out of the United States.

With chilling precision and emotional depth, Wolf Boys exposes how teens become soldiers in a global drug war, and how law enforcement, outmatched and outgunned, is forced to confront a rising wave of youth-led organized crime.

At once intimate and explosive, Wolf Boys is a devastating account of the real-life consequences of America’s war on drugs—and the price paid by its youngest victims.

Slow, but interesting

This story delves into a world many books do not. For that, I'm happy I spent so much time listening. However, it also has a ton of mundane, uninteresting details that probably could've been left out.

Gripping and tragic with annoying narration.

This story is a travesty of failed systems north and south of the border. The Wild West reincarnated. How unfortunate.

Similarly unfortunate is your choice of narrator. Surely you can find someone truly bilingual who is able to accurately pronounce the Spanish words as well as the English. The blatant errors were annoying.

Amazing.

This story is incredible and the entire world should read it. I will recommend this to everyone.

Really enjoyed Listening to this book

very in-depth, informative and engaging,and you really leave with an understanding of how the gang life can attract young men,but leaves you wondering ,as drugs do to your life how do they not see the consequences as the deterrent. Performance was a little boring,but well read.

Great book good narration

Excellent story and in contrast to the other reviewers I thought the narrator was terrific. It is accurate that his Spanish pronunciation was abysmal, that said he did a great job on everything else. If you want to hear a narrator who will truly ruin a book download anything read by Ken Kliban.