Don Henry Ford, Jr., is an unapologetic outlaw. For seven years he made his living smuggling marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border in the Big Bend region of Texas. His business partners were some of the era's biggest narcotraficantes like Pablo Acosta and Amado Carrillo Fuentes. After Ford was arrested and imprisoned, he escaped and lived for a year in rural Mexico, raising a bumper crop of weed and hiding out from the federales, before his recapture and return to the penitentiary. Contrabando is the extraordinary, unabashed memoir of a rebel -- a warrior on the other side of the War on Drugs who lived to tell the tale. But more than a riveting and remarkable true crime confession, Contrabando is an ode to the beauty of the dry, dusty West Texas plains and the lonely hills of Mexico -- and a tribute to Ford's friends, protectors, and fellow outlaws who stood by him during the dangerous smuggling years.

Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy

Biographies & Memoirs

Don Henry Ford Jr.

Community & Culture

Harper-perennial

Don Henry Ford, Jr. is a Texas cowboy, rancher and farmer. In the late 1970s, he was foreman of his father’s ranch and farm in West Texas along the Pecos River. The ranch was going broke. The bankers were knocking at the door. Don went to his Mexican hands, the same guys who were the connection for his own marijuana--smoking inclinations, and they directed him to their contacts on the other side of the Rio Grande. Soon, he was scoring some easy money and he was hooked. For the next seven years, he made his living as an outlaw, smuggling marijuana across the U.S./Mexico border in the Big Bend region. Millions of dollars passed through his hands. He did business with many of the big-name narcotraficantes of the era like Pablo Acosta and Amado Carrillo Fuentes. After being arrested and sent to prison, he escaped and lived for a year in rural northern Mexico, raising a bumper crop of marijuana and hiding out from the federales. Contrabando is a confession, but it’s also an homage to the Mexican paisanos and, indeed, to other outlaws north of the border who became Don Ford’s friends and protectors during his seven years as a smuggler.
Charles Bowden (author of Down by the River, Simon &amp; Schuster, 2003) has written a remarkable introduction to Contrabando, giving an historical perspective to the never-ending “war on drugs” waged by the U.S. government.
In December 1986, the feds caught Don Henry Ford a second time. He was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security federal penitentiary. He now lives in Seguin, Texas, farming and raising race horses.

History

Charles Bowden

Americas

Cinco Puntos Press

A young and reckless Southwest Texas farmer facing bankruptcy battles his own demons and impulses while struggling to keep the family farm afloat. An older neighbor in similar circumstances comes up with a plan--repossessin' what was "stolen" from him in the first place. The two men join forces in a fight against prevailing tides in society that leads to violent measures and soul searching. How far are you willing to go to keep your land and at what cost?

Repossessin' Texas

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Speir Pub

Don Ford, critically acclaimed author of "Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy," rancher, farmer and the son of an oil man, planted an acre's worth of land without the use of oil-related tools or devices. While working the soil with bare hands and crude instruments, suffering through the heat of a Texas drought, basic truths and bits of wisdom arose. This is a book about life, love, politics, addiction in all its forms. It's a book about nature, about horses and cattle, about farming and philosophy. Above all this is a book about our society and its future while dependent upon a resource that has reached its peak and will soon go into decline.

Ruminations from the Garden

Memoirs

Speir Publishing

Set in the beautiful, but poverty stricken region of Southwest Texas known as The Big Bend and the corresponding Chihuahuan desert of Northern Mexico, the story depicts the lives of three local marijuanos, whose endless obsession to get high catapults them into the dangerous world of drug smuggling. Their journey brings instant success: drugs, money, prostitutes, and notoriety - among their peers, and cops - both bad and good. They soon discover the world of drug smuggling may prove much easier to get into than out of - alive anyway. Follow these young men through a world few know intimately, a land of smugglers, outlaws, and desperados, where every living creature seems poised to bite, strike, stick or sting. Witness their fight for survival as they battle forces that threaten not only their lives, but their souls as well.

The Devil's Swing

Virtual Bookworm.Com Pub Inc

"Ruminations From the Garden" is a book of prophesy, but not of the traditional sort. This prophecy comes from a former drug dealer and ex-convict as "revealed" to him in his garden in Seguin, Texas.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Don Henry Ford Jr.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Don Henry Ford Jr.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Don Henry Ford Jr.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy

Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy

Repossessin' Texas

Ruminations from the Garden

The Devil's Swing

Ruminations from the Garden