What would Popeye Doyle do?

In an orgy of narco-trafficking cinema, I recently watched The French Connection and the Infernal Affairs trilogy (upon which the inferior The Departed was based). Both films are full of the sort of cop/criminal knotty moral conundrums that make for such great drama; the kind we love to see as viewers and which would utterly horrify us if we read about them in the Sunday papers.

Which put me in mind of this truly horrifying Radley Balko interview with DEA whistleblower Sandy Gonzalez. The interview itself could be the basis for a motion picture, concerning corrupt U.S. government agents, murderous Mexican informants, a bureaucratic cover-up and a “House of Death.”

The tagline could be Gonzalez’ depressing conclusion regarding the War on Drugs:

I think the American people would be justified in believing that their own government may be as corrupt as any of the countries our government criticizes for corruption.