Dreamland

Dreamland

by

Sam Quinones

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The Xalisco Boys are an innovative heroin distribution group formed in the early 1990s. Throughout the book, they are considered by law enforcement to be unique as far underground drug trades go because they operate not as a large-scale cartel, but as a network of small cells—franchises, essentially. Throughout Dreamland, the Xalisco Boys supply black tar heroin to the new communities of addicts produced by the American opiate epidemic. Many of these “markets” of addicts existed in small towns and cities for which heroin had never entered into the mainstream. One Xalisco trafficker, known only as “the Man” is credited with bringing black tar heroin east of the Mississippi River for the first time in history when he established a distribution cell in Columbus, Ohio. Quinones frequently describes the Xalisco Boys with language that evokes their business sensibilities, emphasizing their commitment to providing quality customer service and their ability to adapt to the free market. In doing so, he illustrates how similar the Xalisco system of drug dealing was to the systems employed by major pharmaceutical companies like Purdue and Pfizer.

Xalisco Boys Quotes in Dreamland

The Dreamland quotes below are all either spoken by Xalisco Boys or refer to Xalisco Boys. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Pain Management and the Normalization of Narcotics Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Delivered Like Pizza Quotes

All these guys running around Denver selling black tar heroin are from this town of Xalisco, or a few small villages near there, the informant told Chavez. Their success is based on a system theyve learned. Its a system for selling heroin retail. Their system is a simple thing, really, and relies on cheap, illegal Mexican labor, just the way any fast-food joint does.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys, Dennis Chavez
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Enrique Adrift Quotes

Everyone could have his own business, be his own boss. The Xalisco system was a lot like the United States in that way. America fulfilled the promise of the unknown to rancheros, and an escape from humiliation for Mexicos poor from villages just like Enriques. The Xalisco heroin system did it faster.

Related Characters: Enrique, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 72-73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: We Realized This Is Corporate Quotes

We realized this is corporate, Stone said. These are company cars, company apartments, company phones. And it all gets handed to the next guy when they move on.

Related Characters: Paul “Rock” Stone (speaker), Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 121
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Purdue Quotes

We can get away from these silly elixirs and cocktails into tablets that people take once or twice a day, and were into a revolutionary field of pain managementIt was the drug-delivery service that changed, not the drug, and with that the whole mentality, Well now that we have this drug, we can treat pain. Really extraordinary.

Related Characters: Dr. Kathleen Foley (speaker), Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 125-126
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Swing with OxyContin Quotes

Some Purdue reps—particularly in southern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and other areas first afflicted with rampant Oxy addiction—were reported to have made as much as a hundred thousand dollars in bonuses in one quarter during these years. Those were unlike any bonuses ever paid in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. [] Whatever the case, the bonuses to Purdue salespeople in these regions had little relation to those paid at most U.S. drug companies. They bore instead a striking similarity to the kinds of profits made in the drug underworld.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

Many of these methods—premiums, trips, giveaways—were time-tested strategies that grew from the revolution Arthur Sackler began and were refined over time by many pharmaceutical companies. Only this time, the pill being marketed contained a large whack of a drug virtually identical to heroin.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Arthur Sackler, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 134-135
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: Junkie Kingdom in Dreamland Quotes

Amid this madness, the sons and daughters of Portsmouths business owners, the children of sheriffs captains and doctors and lawyers, saw a future in OxyContin. Some regarded pills as a grassroots response to economic catastrophe—the way some poor Mexican villagers view drug trafficking. Dealers who could not have found a legitimate job in moribund Portsmouth bartered pills to support themselves and feed their kids.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 218
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: “Took Over the OxyContin Belt” Quotes

They were dope traffickers for a new age when marketing is king and even people are brands. Purdue branded OxyContin as the convenient solution to disruptive chronic-pain patients. The Xalisco Boys branded their system: the safe and reliable delivery of balloons containing heroin of standardized weight and potency. The addicts convenient everyday solution. The one to start with and stay with.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dreamland LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dreamland PDF

Xalisco Boys Quotes in Dreamland

The Dreamland quotes below are all either spoken by Xalisco Boys or refer to Xalisco Boys. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Pain Management and the Normalization of Narcotics Theme Icon
).
Part 1: Delivered Like Pizza Quotes

All these guys running around Denver selling black tar heroin are from this town of Xalisco, or a few small villages near there, the informant told Chavez. Their success is based on a system theyve learned. Its a system for selling heroin retail. Their system is a simple thing, really, and relies on cheap, illegal Mexican labor, just the way any fast-food joint does.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys, Dennis Chavez
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Enrique Adrift Quotes

Everyone could have his own business, be his own boss. The Xalisco system was a lot like the United States in that way. America fulfilled the promise of the unknown to rancheros, and an escape from humiliation for Mexicos poor from villages just like Enriques. The Xalisco heroin system did it faster.

Related Characters: Enrique, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 72-73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: We Realized This Is Corporate Quotes

We realized this is corporate, Stone said. These are company cars, company apartments, company phones. And it all gets handed to the next guy when they move on.

Related Characters: Paul “Rock” Stone (speaker), Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 121
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Purdue Quotes

We can get away from these silly elixirs and cocktails into tablets that people take once or twice a day, and were into a revolutionary field of pain managementIt was the drug-delivery service that changed, not the drug, and with that the whole mentality, Well now that we have this drug, we can treat pain. Really extraordinary.

Related Characters: Dr. Kathleen Foley (speaker), Sam Quinones, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 125-126
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1: Swing with OxyContin Quotes

Some Purdue reps—particularly in southern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and other areas first afflicted with rampant Oxy addiction—were reported to have made as much as a hundred thousand dollars in bonuses in one quarter during these years. Those were unlike any bonuses ever paid in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. [] Whatever the case, the bonuses to Purdue salespeople in these regions had little relation to those paid at most U.S. drug companies. They bore instead a striking similarity to the kinds of profits made in the drug underworld.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:

Many of these methods—premiums, trips, giveaways—were time-tested strategies that grew from the revolution Arthur Sackler began and were refined over time by many pharmaceutical companies. Only this time, the pill being marketed contained a large whack of a drug virtually identical to heroin.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Arthur Sackler, Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 134-135
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: Junkie Kingdom in Dreamland Quotes

Amid this madness, the sons and daughters of Portsmouths business owners, the children of sheriffs captains and doctors and lawyers, saw a future in OxyContin. Some regarded pills as a grassroots response to economic catastrophe—the way some poor Mexican villagers view drug trafficking. Dealers who could not have found a legitimate job in moribund Portsmouth bartered pills to support themselves and feed their kids.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 218
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: “Took Over the OxyContin Belt” Quotes

They were dope traffickers for a new age when marketing is king and even people are brands. Purdue branded OxyContin as the convenient solution to disruptive chronic-pain patients. The Xalisco Boys branded their system: the safe and reliable delivery of balloons containing heroin of standardized weight and potency. The addicts convenient everyday solution. The one to start with and stay with.

Related Characters: Sam Quinones (speaker), Xalisco Boys
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis: