Episode 84 with Noah Hurowitz, Curious Reader, Journalist, and Author of 2021‘s El Chapo: The Untold Story Of The World‘s Most Infamous Drug Lord

Episode 84 Notes and Links to Noah Hurowitz’s Work 

  Noah Hurowitz is a journalist based in New York City. He covered the trial of El Chapo for Rolling Stone, and his work has also appeared in The Village Voice, The Baffler, New York magazine, and many more. El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World's Most Infamous Drug Lord is his first book.

 

      On Episode 84 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Noah Hurowitz, passionate reader, journalist, and the author of El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Drug Lord. The two talk about, among other topics, Noah’s varied reading, his process in seeking out and writing stories, the way in which he was approached to write his book, and the specifics of the well-researched book and Noah’s purpose in writing the book about a seemingly-never-ending “War on Drugs.”

 

 

Buy El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World's Most Infamous Drug Lord

 

Subscribe Here to Noah’s Substack

 

From September 13, 2021, Yahoo News: “The little-known story of how Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán tried to bring down friends and enemies from behind bars”

 

At about 1:15, Noah talks about his recently-published book and his purpose and thesis for the book

 

At about 3:40, Noah talks about why he calls his book a “popular history” and shouts out Benjamin Smith’s writing

 

At about 6:30, Noah outlines his early relationship with language and reading

 

At about 10:30, Noah discusses being energized and inspired by other works, with a special admiration for and love of Roberto Bolano’s work

 

At about 12:20, Pete and Noah converse about unassigned reading and the love of reading and ways to foster it

 

At about 14:20, Noah lays out his recent reading habits and purpose in reading

 

At about 17:10, Pete asks Noah about his process in looking for story ideas, and Noah talks about the way in which he reads

 

At about 21:20, Noah discusses a “vague idea to write” and how he started thinking of writing as a concrete possibility through his time at The University of Southern Maine, and how he thought of himself as a “writer, not a reporter” for a while

 

At about 23:00, Noah responds to Pete’s question about the genesis of Noah’s book about Él Chapo

 

At about 25:45, Noah reads an excerpt from his book that juxtaposes Jesus Malverde and El Chapo Guzman

 

At about 32:00, Noah discusses the excerpt and some of the historical context that surrounds the writing, including some history of Sinaloa

 

At about 33:40, Noah explains the setting of small-town Sinaloa, especially Badiriguato and El Chapo’s La Tuna hometown and what Noah was hoping to accomplish when he traveled there three times

 

At about 35:20, Noah recounts an interesting anecdote in which a young kid asked him about El Chapo and its connection to the people of Sinaloa and their relationship with El Chapo and the effects of the drug trade

 

At about 39:40, Noah discusses the pull of big drug money for residents in Sinaloa

 

At about 42:15, Noah restates his thesis statement from the book, in response to a question posed in the book by an associate/family member of El Chapo; Noah thinks about how he would respond to the question if he were asked again today

 

At about 46:05, Pete wonders about a “starting point” or “turning point” of the drug war, and Noah discusses pivotal points and the huge uptick in violence; this includes bubbling violence in Nuevo Laredo around 2003

 

At about 53:00, Noah talks about the uptick in violence with Felipe Calderón’s installation as the Mexican President in 2006/2007, with Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez seeing “intense, public violence”

 

At about 58:15, Pete asks Noah about the circumstances of the murder of Mexican Archbishop Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo

 

At about 1:01:00, Noah talks about the state working in tandem with El Chapo

 

At about 1:02:15, Noah explains the ways in which violence unfolded around 2007 in Ciudad Juarez and the specific conditions and context that made the violence so brutal 

 

At about 1:06:55, Noah talks about the incredible story of Christian Rodriguez, a cyber security expert, and his connection to El Chapo

 

At about 1:10:10, Noah gives background on El Chapo’s prison situation

 

At about 1:11:40, Noah discusses the new generation of drug traffickers, including El Chapo’s son and “Los Chapitos” and shouts out The Underworld Podcast, which discusses the connection between Instagram and social media and the younger, flashier traffickers

 

At about 1:17:15, Pete points out the idea that there are multiple drug wars, in that the policies of the military and the narcotraffickers continues to evolve/devolve; this leads Noah to discuss the amazing, cinematic arrest and subsequent release of Ovidio Guzmán López in Culiacán  

 

At about 1:22:00, Pete wonders about the United States’ responsibility/blame for the drug war, and Noah gives a nuanced answer while talking about the politics of government spending, capitalism, etc., in connection to the flow of drugs

 

At about 1:27:00, Noah reads from the book’s Epilogue

 

At about 1:37:00, Pete and Noah muse hopefully on future conversations about a much-improved security situation in México

 

At about 1:40:10, Noah gives out his contact info and future Substack work, and shouts out places to buy his book, including indie bookstores like Greenlight in Brooklyn

 

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The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.

I’m excited to share my next episode with Mat Treiber, writer of The Upsetter Blog, an incredibly visceral work of art. The episode will air on Oct 15.