“The cultural anthropology of Latin American narcos: notes on showy consumption”

Abstract

The Colombian narcos that dominated the cocaine market from the Seventies to the early Nineties and the Mexican bosses who later took control of it have often distinguished themselves for their conspicuous and ostentatious consumptions. The consumption stories elaborated by powerful drug lords can have social and criminal significance. In some cases, narcos’ desire to show social success through luxury homes, private zoos, and big cars is clear. In others cases, guns laminated in gold or ferocious animals have socio-criminal importance because these goods are used to affirm a contorted form of power and machismo with other leaders of the cartels. In order to understand if conspicuous consumptions of Latin American bosses are a peculiarity of this geographical area or there exist similarities in other criminal scenarios, it is worthwhile taking into account the behaviors of Camorra’s bosses, the Italian mafiosi who mostly distinguish themselves for their tendency to display their consumptions.

Keywords: Narcos, Conspicuous Consumption, Luxury, Drug Trafficking, Camorra