Nabbed! The biggest Mr Big, at 5ft 6

One of the biggest Mr Bigs in the drugs world has come to the end of his trial over in the US and now the talk seems to be about, well, society getting even with him.

It seems that this Mr Big, ironically known as Shorty (el Chapo), one Joaquín Guzmán Loera, will taste a terrestrial version of Hell through the remainder of his life.

It's most likely that the 61-year-old at 5ft 6in will go to the American version of Hades, what they term an Administrative Maximum Penitentiary Facility.

 It’s a 7ft by 12ft room that must resemble a slightly larger than normal coffin. I wonder why

 The BBC reports that the Mr Big trafficked in cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs.

 The allegation goes that he oversaw a network of dealers, kidnappers and henchmen, a team of assassins on his payroll.

Why, I wonder, is it society’s seeming need to get even with people like this who take advantage of daft laws?

 If society, his customers, didn’t demand the goodies he sold, he could never have become perhaps more than a local, well, tobacconist. What would happen if the government here decided to ban coffee because it keeps humans awake, because it might stain their teeth?

 The massive price of a cup at Nero’s or Costa would suddenly costa whole lot more. And if the chancers did it openly, they’d be pilloried, too, not dissimilarly to Mr Shorty, presumably.

 The drugs laws were introduced by Tricky Dicky to snatch a few of his enemies.

Wealthy customers

Why, I’m not sure why, but perhaps governments found it the most extraordinary way of nabbing huge wads of money, of filling jails, of keeping those who succumb to the ‘criminality’ of drugs conscious of their 'superiors' - their politicians, of course.

And yet who are the customers in Britain? People with loads of hoot - directors, successful businessmen, the well-off who want the taste, the thrill, of extremes.

They say governments never learn. They had every opportunity from Prohibition. Now the dangerous fluid is tippled all over town, is very fashionable, and a must do or have at Christmas.

Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at

http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/348-nabbed-the-biggest-mr-big-at-5ft-6