Directing the clan was its patriarch, Don Jaime Herrera-Nevarez, a former police officer, who never left Mexico. It’s said that he had something to do with the reason that a Mexican ounce of heroin—known as a pedazo, or piece—is actually twenty-five grams, and not twenty-eight, which is the normal measure of an ounce. (This difference has caused many disputes among buyers who, unaware of the difference, feel they’re getting ripped off.) Legend has it that Don Jaime had a large spoon holding twenty-five grams that he used to scoop heroin. That became a standard ounce in the Mexican heroin
...more
