“His gang of 25 fuel thieves rides around in five pickup trucks with 1,000-liter pallet tanks and a pile of tools, drilling illegal taps in underground pipelines. They sell the stolen product to taxi drivers, bus companies and long-haul truckers at a significant discount to the price at gas stations run by Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex, the national oil company. On a good day, he says, he can gross more than $10,000. ‘The way I look at it, this is my town,’ he says. ‘The gasoline flowing through here is mine.'” Drug Cartels are expanding their fields of business. From Seth Harp in Rolling Stone: Blood and Oil: Mexico’s Drug Cartels And The Gasoline Industry.

+ Here’s a surprise: California’s Illegal Weed Industry Is Doing Better Than Ever.