Inside the Homes of Mexico’s Alleged Drug Lords

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The Mexico City home of Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican pharmaceuticals importer who maintains his innocence on charges of importing banned substances.

By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: January 18, 2012

THERE are precious few real estate secrets in the United States. Web sites have turned nearly every neighborhood into a big open-house, with slide shows, video tours and price histories, while celebrities, from A-listers to D-listers, regularly open their doors to TV cameras and magazine photographers.

But here in Mexico, only vacation properties receive such treatment. The homes where well-heeled Mexicans actually live are usually surrounded by gates or walls that guard residents’ privacy and protect against intruders. And none are more hidden than the homes owned by the country’s drug lords.

These are the palaces of legend. In Mexican novels, and in movies, the houses of the illicitly rich and infamous are louche, luxurious affairs, with toilets made of gold, mounds of cocaine or cash lying around and furniture of thronelike proportions. In the public imagination, what might be called “narquitecture” or “narco style” is all gaudy excess — part “Real Housewives,” part “Scarface,” part conquistador.

In reality, only some of this is true. As a Mexico correspondent for The New York Times, I often spend my time trying to understand shadowed worlds, from illegal immigration to drugs, and the more I’ve tried to figure out how the country’s criminal networks work, the more I’ve wondered about the people who run them: where do they live, and what is their home life really like?

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/garden/inside-the-homes-of-mexicos-alleged-drug-lords.html?pagewanted=all