Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dick Gregorie and Harry Giknavoian for their information on district attorney practice. They also wish to thank the Los Angeles Drug Enforcement Agency office, in particular Sarah Pullen, Vijay Rathi, Almador Martinez, and Timothy Massino for their insights into DEA protocols, culture, and interagency deconfliction practices.

The authors also wish to thank Texas State University and the faculty senate for granting Jon Marc the nontenure-line workload release in fall 2016.

Thanks to everyone in the Texas State English Department, especially Steve Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Dan Lochman, Mike Hennessy, Vicki Smith, Taylor Cortesi, Tom Grimes, and Debra Monroe.

Thanks to the Science and Entertainment Exchange.

Thanks to Susie Tilka for making it easier to go to work every day.

To Katie Kapurch—all the credit, A++.

And thanks to Ally Israelson for her support and effortless insight.

Thanks to Matt Fuller for information and background about the State Department.

Thanks to Brandon Ricks for info about the CIA and chain of command.

The authors owe a huge debt to Oscar Rodríguez, who was invaluable in helping to research this book.

Thanks to Bobby Earl Smith for the legal knowledge, and thanks to Judy Smith for marrying him.

Thanks to Dan Halpern for taking this project across the finish line.

And thanks to Nicole Aragi for being there from the beginning.

Thanks to Tomás Morín for the rights to his name (and for being such a great poet).

Lastly, the authors wish to thank each other for making this joint effort an interesting pleasure.