How To Make Money Selling Cocaine By Laura Rutkowski

Lessons from Roberto Saviano's coke-trade exposé Zero Zero Zero

Following the Italian journalist Roberto Saviano's publication of  Gomorrah, his investigation into the Neopolitan mafia, the threats from the "godfathers" were so severe that he still has to live with 24-hour police protection. Clearly, though, he hasn't been cowed. His latest,  Zero Zero Zero, goes inside the global cocaine trade, drawing on law-enforcement sources to tell the story of the Latin American cartels through real characters and events. Here are five things we learned... 

In Mexico, gang recruitment has got creative. The Los Zetas criminal syndicate started taking tips from reality TV. One day in San Fernando, they stopped a number of buses on Highway 101 and made the passengers fight each other to the death armed with clubs and knives. Survivors were given a place in Los Zetas. In 2011, a mass grave was found containing 193 people who died in the battle.  

Narco dollars can prop up economies. During the last downturn, drug money proved vital. In December 2009, Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN's Office On Drugs And Crime, said that criminal earnings were the only liquid capital preventing certain banks from failing. 

Swallowing capsules? How last decade. The hot craze in smuggling is liquid cocaine. Half a kilo can be dissolved in a litre of water, so it can travel in toiletries, drinks, or - in one case - soaked into deep-sea diving diplomas. 

The female of the species... One of the most feared Colombian traffickers was Griselda, "the Cocaine Godmother". Her private army would slit victims' throats and hang the bodies upside down to drain them so they were easier to move. At one stage, she was responsible for the majority of murders in southern Florida. 

You've got to look below the surface. Forget aeroplanes: the prestige mode of transport for smugglers is now submarines. Built in shipyards in the South American jungle, they cost up to £1.5m to make and can carry ten tons of cocaine. The latest can travel from central America to California with ease. To date, only three have been captured. 

Culled from GQ