The waters between Ensenada City and Guadalupe Island were rich in fisheries, and many fishermen liked to work there.
An old fishing boat with a grating engine noise was fishing nearby, and the young Koulibaly followed behind his father, helping to forcefully pull in the nets as slogans filled with Mexican slang were shouted, and the nets were dragged up by the machinery.
Koulibaly hadn't even caught his breath when he heard his father's curses. He looked up and his pupils dilated in shock.
A half-body lay among the fish, the upper half gone, the wounds looking as if it had been bitten off by some ferocious prey.
Finding a dead body in the sea was disconcerting and considered bad luck, but being seasoned at sea, they simply tossed it aside and planned to bury it on land once ashore.
Finding corpses in Mexico was all too common. If you saw a plastic bag lying on the street in a bustling area, you'd best not look inside out of curiosity, for you might find it full of... human tissues.
In September 2019, in a well outside the city of Guadalajara in Jalisco, people smelled a strong putrid stench. The police found a pile of shredded flesh and tissue inside, which they pieced together to roughly 119 bodies.
Why roughly?
Because there were always bodies that couldn't be fully assembled!
Drug traffickers who killed each other liked to chop bodies into pieces, as if that could somehow intimidate their enemies.
The crew thought it was a fluke, but when body parts turned up in three consecutive hauls, the captain finally sensed something was amiss and returned to port overnight.
Back in port, Koulibaly saw many fishing boats and learned from them that they too had found bodies.
The news quickly alerted the Ensenada City police, who sent people over. Together, these fishing boats had pulled up a total of 167 bodies.
And the number kept rising.
Familiar tattoos found on these bodies tentatively identified them as local drug traffickers who had drifted over from the opposite side of Guadalupe Island.
The incident quickly alerted the local government, and they speculated that something major had happened on Guadalupe Island!
By the time the news reached the ears of Ramon of the Tijuana Cartel, it had already spread rapidly.
With the media's involvement, the news burst forth from Baja California State and began to boil over into the whole of Mexico.
...
Meanwhile, Victor was "constructing" infrastructure on Guadalupe Island.
When a drug trafficker "accidentally" fell into the sea, their "inheritance" without heirs was all confiscated.
On Guadalupe Island, Uncle Victor was the state!
What?
You say you're the son of some drug trafficker?
Then surely you're a drug trafficker too. You want to claim inheritance? Take your shot first. If you survive, I'll recognize you as the rightful heir.
"I saw the Tijuana mark and the Gulf Group's on it upstairs; it must be the island traffickers secretly transporting for them," Casare said.
California actually belonged to Mexico, but in 1847, the U.S. military captured Mexico City, forcing Mexico to sign the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty.
As stipulated by the treaty, Mexico was forced to cede a large area of its northern territory to the United States.
And Guadalupe Island was lying in the middle between Upper and Lower California, forming a buffer zone. Because of its strategic location, the island might have already had a military presence if it weren't for the scarcity of resources.
"Dump it into the sea!" Victor's declaration was resolute. He glanced at Casare, whose expression seemed... regretful?
That was, after all, 85 to 120 million US dollars, enough for financial freedom on the spot.
Victor squinted his eyes, "If anyone messes with the drug business, they shouldn't blame me when I show no mercy and personally hang them from a lamppost!"
Casare could hear the determination in Victor's tone and shivered involuntarily, nodding vigorously.
Once you touch drugs, your life is over.
Don't think it's an overreaction.
There are countless examples.
David Thompson: As Jordan's idol, "Skywalker" Thompson was one of the few stars in the '70s who could dunk as easily as eating, but he became addicted to drugs. After being traded from the Nuggets to the Supersonics in the 82-83 season, Thompson's career was destroyed, his stats plummeted, and he was reduced to a second-rate player.
Even one of the greatest black women of the 20th century, Whitney Houston, died because of it!
And then there are Elvis Presley, John Belushi, Janis Joplin, and many others.
In fact, Victor firmly believed that in the face of drugs, everyone is equal, and death is what awaits!
Victor looked at Casare, after all, he was his trusted general, and softened his tone slightly, "Later on, take 2 million US dollars for yourself, let Best take your family to the United States. That money is more than enough to buy a big villa to live in."
When you have money, don't hide it; share it with everyone.
As long as you have firepower, are you afraid of running out of money?
After all, isn't the reason people follow you to get promoted and make a fortune?
This is how the upper echelons take the lion's share while the rank and file get a piece; everyone's happy.
Casare's eyes lit up instantly, his facial flesh trembling, "Boss, isn't this... inappropriate?"
"We are the best partners, how could I disappoint you?"
Casare nodded vigorously.
Yes!
We are the best partners!
...