ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – From his times growing up in Espanola, New Mexico to successfully infiltrating drug cartels in Central America, Mike Vigil has led quite a life.
Vigil retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2014 and began a second career as an author.
The first book, completed in 2014 was titled Deal and chronicled Vigil’s time working as a DEA agent. Upon it’s release, Vigil began working on his second book almost immediately. This version was a fictionalized story based in reality titled “Metal Coffins.”
“It talks about two fictional cartels that are in conflict with one another,” said Vigil. “It talks about the typical corruption, the treacherous nature of these cartels and it also talks about the convergence.”
Just knowing how the infrastructure of cartels is laid out, Vigil believes the fight to truly stop them is far from over.
“So even if you take Chapo Guzman down and he’s extradited into the United States,” said Vigil. “The Sinaloa Cartel, because of that horizontal structure, will continue to remain one of the most powerful organizations in Mexico.”
It’s also Vigil’s experience in the D.E.A. which leads him to question the feasibility of a wall along the U.S./Mexico border.
“The fact of the matter is that we can’t let our guard down and we have to treat drug trafficking organizations very much like we do, terrorist organizations because really, when you analyze drug trafficking, you realize that it is the most potent form of terrorism that we have in the world,” adds Vigil.
In reference to Chapo Guzman, Vigil says the Supreme Court of Mexico has indicated they don’t want to hear his extradition case and he’ll likely be extradited to the U.S. in early 2017.
