CIA assets and the rise of the Guadalajara connection

Why do some drug traffickers prosper and grow powerful while others languish behind bars? The answer usually depends less on their ruthlessness than their political protection. That principle holds true on the international level no less than on the domestic level. Since World War II, one of the most critical sources of such institutional protection for the drug trade has been the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. An ideal illustration of this phenomenon was rise of the Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico, one of the largest drug suppliers to the North American market in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its extraordinary success is explained by its connections first to the Mexican intelligence agency DFS and, through it, to the CIA.     

Determining the Finance Charge Under the Truth in Lending Act

Determination of the finance charge is central to the Truth in Lending disclosure scheme. The author analyzes difficulties encountered in drafting the finance charge provisions, judicial and administrative interpretations of the statutory provisions, and application of the concept to various types of transactions. He concludes that, despite imperfections in the statute and regulation, the present provisions are about the best that can be expected given the varieties of credit transactions and differences in state law provisions regulating such transactions.