Drug Wars: The Camarena Story is a 1990 TV mini-series based on Elaine Shannon’s book Desperados and the Time magazine article of the same name. It was directed by Brian Gibson and starred Steven Bauer, Miguel Ferrer, Benicio del Toro, Treat Williams and Craig T. Nelson. It was the second most watched NBC mini-series of the year following The Kennedys and followed up in 1992 with Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel starring Dennis Farina. Fact-based story of undercover DEA agent Enrique Camarena who, while stationed in Guadalajara, uncovered a massive marijuana operation in Northern Mexico... that led to his death and a remarkable investigation of corruption within the Mexican government. Three of the principal actors in Drug Wars: The Camarena Story later starred in the Academy Award-winning film Traffic, a film that also deals with the subject of the ongoing drug trade between the United States and Mexico. In a somewhat interesting reversal of roles, in Drug Wars actors Miguel Ferrer and Steven Bauer both play DEA agents while Benicio del Toro plays a drug trafficker; in Traffic, Ferrer and Bauer both play drug traffickers while del Toro plays a Mexican federal narcotics agent.
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| Release date: | January 7, 1990 |
| Directed by: | Brian Gibson |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 240 Minutes |
| Producer: | Branko Lustig, Michael Mann |
| Music by: | Charles Bernstein |
| Screenplay by: | Elaine Shannon, Rose Schacht, Ann Powell, Mel Frohman, Christopher Canaan, Michael Mann |
| Genre: | Thriller, Action |