Conclusions

Police-criminal collusion like that examined in this book is common throughout Latin America and around the globe. This conclusion moves beyond the case of Argentina to consider the implications of its findings for understandings of the state. Unlike explanations that have focused either on the absence of the state or its violent presence, it argues that by including the clandestine dimensions of state actions, the state that emerges is a deeply ambivalent organization. While collusion is a patterned phenomenon, its structural character does not mean that this profound entanglement is permanent. In the rest of this conclusion, we reflect on well-documented cases of collusion at different times and in different places to consider how collusion can be can eradicated.

Collusion and Legal Cynicism

Residents in Arquitecto Tucci believe that the police are part of their problems in their neighborhood. Continuing the thick description of everyday life in Arquitecto Tucci, this chapter examines different expressions of the shared belief that police officers are seen not only as abusive and extortive but also as actively complicit with criminals. It finds that suspicions of collusion have bred a deep collective distrust in the police and contributed to a shared cynicism toward the law that pervades everyday life. It then shows how these attitudes constrain residents’ recourse against violence, finding that when they become the victims of crimes, residents do not call the police, but instead choose either not to act or to solve their problems through alternative channels or collective action.

Patchworks of Protection

This chapter presents two cases that deepen our understanding of the micro-dynamics of collusion and the ambivalent ways that the state operates at the urban margins. The first case takes us to Argentina’s northeastern border, where Los Pescadores smuggled drugs to distribute throughout the country. Given its transnational operations, the organization created a patchwork of protection to facilitate their illicit business. The chapter then returns to Buenos Aires to analyze the case of La Banda de Raúl, a smaller group that operates in a crowded drug market and relies on a broker to mediate their clandestine relationships with the police.

Introduction

The introduction begins with the story of Carolina, a mother who struggles with her son’s addiction to paco, a cheap and pernicious drug that is increasingly common in the poor neighborhood where she lives. In describing her plight, Carolina articulates what constitutes the empirical object of this book: the illicit collaboration between police and drug dealers. The remainder of this chapter sets up the focus on not only overt and visible state interventions, but also the clandestine, hidden relations that structure life at the urban margins. To do so, it introduces the book’s unique combination of data: ethnographic evidence in a poor neighborhood combined with an original legal archive of court cases and, in particular, highly revealing wiretapped phone conversations between drug market actors and agents of the state. It concludes with an overview of the book and a note on the ethics of studying poverty and violence.

Unpacking Collusion

This chapter draws out common features of collusion across cases, highlighting the patterned character of this transactional world, as well as the mistakes and last-minute improvisations that abound in the clandestine connections between drug dealers and the police. It outlines three dimensions of police-criminal collusion, examining the common resources, practices, and processes at the heart of clandestine relationships. First, the clandestine relationships between state agents and drug dealers are founded on the exchange of both material and informational resources. Second, actors involved in collusive relationships engage in common practices. Finally, a set of relational processes explains patterns of these collusive interactions. This chapter concludes by considering the complex relationship between the police-criminal collusion and the violence that shakes the daily lives of marginalized populations.

Competition, Retaliation, and Violence

This chapter begins conceptualizing the relational dynamics of collusion, outlining the resources, practices, and processes that sustain the clandestine relationships between police officers and drug market participants. The identification and description of these resources, practices, and processes underscore both the negotiated and provisional character of the clandestine interpersonal transactions, their impact on daily violence, and the ambivalent character of state action. The chapter reconstructs the case of Los Monos, an infamous drug market organization that relies on its contacts with police to navigate its competition, engage in retaliation, and direct its use of violence.

Establishing the “Arreglo”

How do clandestine relationships emerge between police agents and drug dealers? Drawing on documentary evidence, this chapter examines the “foundational negotiations” of these arrangements or “arreglos.” It then reconstructs the case of Los Vagones, an organization that sells drugs in the slums outside Buenos Aires, detailing how it not only pays its police contacts for protection but also engages in the regular exchange of goods and information to evade prosecution. Through a rich description of these clandestine interactions, it shows how relationships of collusion evolve and power dynamics shift over time.

Drug Violence in the Streets and at Home

Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork collected in the poor neighborhood of Arquitecto Tucci, this chapter describes residents’ everyday experiences with violence. It begins by explaining the structural factors that have increased the presence of drugs and violence in the neighborhood. Through a rich description of residents’ experiences, it details how drug market activity has shaped interpersonal violence as consumers commit crimes to finance their addiction and dealers use violence to resolve market disputes. It then documents three pathways through which the “systemic” violence of the illicit drug market enters the home, showing how violence invades homes, how family members resort to violence to protect their scarce material possessions, and how parents use violence to preempt what they perceive as more dangerous forms of violence that their children confront on the street.

Clandestine Relations Matter

The first chapter situates this study in the scholarship on the state and its illicit networks with criminal organizations. It pays particular attention to the notion of intreccio and workings of what scholars call “state-sponsored protection rackets.” Both concepts clearly illustrate the existence of clandestine connections between participants in criminal activity and members of the state repressive apparatus, what at the ground level is known as el arreglo or “the arrangement.” While studies have signaled the importance of these clandestine connections, very few scholarly works have dissected the actual content of these covert relationships. This book not only fills this important gap but also draws connections between police-criminal collusion, drug market dynamics, policing practices, and the lived experiences of residents at the urban margins.