Pepe Cabrera

Hailing from the drug-rich city of Culiacana, the capital of Sinoloa, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madres Mountains of northwestern Mexico, Pepe Cabrera has emerged as the region's leading songwriter. A hero of Elijah Wald's 2001 book Norcorrido, Cabrera reached his peak when he wrote and recorded "The Mafia Dies" about Operation Condor, a military campaign to eradicate opium and marijuana cultivation in the late '70s. Several of his songs have been covered by the region's leading band, Los Tigres del Norte. ~ Craig Harris