What Skills Would A Drug User/Dealer/Criminal Have?

Archie1989

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Hi y'all.

I just had a fantastic idea for the newest project I've started, and I need a bit of help. My MC's father was a junkie/drug dealer/general criminal type. Not like a serial-killer, but a violent, non-law-abiding individual.
My idea is that through the course of the book, which mostly occurs after he's dead, I want my MC to have to use skills that her father inadvertently taught her during her childhood.

Now, the MC is trying to save a girl she meets in Mexico, who was kidnapped from California, and was about to be sold into sex-slavery when MC essentially grabbed her away from her captors. Now my MC must travel across Mexico with this girl, and back into the states, where the MC is wanted for the murder of her father. (Sorry, I know it sounds kind of complicated)

My question is: what types of skills would she logically have picked up from having such a father? She spent much of her teen years trying to get him to stay in rehab and such, so she was around him a lot without really being the same "type" of person. Which of these skills would help her in her quest to avoid Mexican drug/human traffickers and American police, and get this girl home safely?

The project is essentially in an outline phase right now, so these suggestions will help build the girls' journey from southern mexico to California, and the things they face along the way.

Thanks in advance!!!
 

desertbob

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Maybe she could have had an experience of sneaking across the border / smuggling drugs with her father when she was younger - and then use the same technique to get herself and the other girl back into the States.
Would be handy since I'm assuming the two would have some issues at immigration control - the one being wanted for murder, the other an illegal immigrant?

How do you plan to build in the previous experiences or memories of your MC, through flashbacks? Her memories as a girl could make for an intesting scene as she's huddled in the dark trunk of a car / container truck or whatever. Makes one wonder what traits she would now in turn be inadvertently passing onto her impressionable charge, and what consequences this will have on her life.

Good luck, sounds like a great story!
 

Archie1989

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I was thinking of flashbacks, but I'm not completely sure. When it first occurred to me to incorporate this whole idea into the story, I thought of it as more . . . she remembers something her dad said to her.

If you watch BorderWars (my boyfriend is, like, addicted to it) there are actually dirt roads out in the desert that drug cartels use to bring drugs into America from Mexico, and I was thinking of having them cross the border that way. I wasn't thinking so much in terms of her knowing how to get into the country, but more of how to deal with the types of criminals they'll encounter, maybe how to hide, not leave a paper trail, things of that nature? Again, I'm not entirely sure. Essentially, I want the actual crossing of the border to be the easy part.
 

serabeara

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You could give her some knowledge of guns. Maybe she used to clean the weapons for her dad, go shooting with him, that sort of thing.

Also, she could have knowledge of local gangs and how to handle interactions with them. How to fit in with them some, not seem like so much of an outsider or law-abider. Maybe she'll even have some contacts, people who knew her dad that she might get some (dubious) help or information from. They could either help because they owed dad a favor, or they could help because she's holding a gun to their head and demanding it.

You could also give her a few tricks on how to get easy cash, the best places to go, the best items to sell/pawn, negotiate the best deals, where to get the most bang for your buck if you're pawning something, etc...

She could also have learned how to steal a vehicle, what vehicles are the best/easiest/least conspicuous to steal.
 
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Maryn

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If he dealt drugs successfully, he has decent people skills. Potential customers warm to him reasonably quickly. He knows what to say to put people at ease, to consider him a person who's not a threat, who's not going to rip them off or get them busted. He probably makes the men feel manly and the women feel pretty, without overt flirting.

If he's in and out of rehab, he's probably a fairly good manipulator, able to convince people he was doing to stay straight and sober. This is an amazing and wonderful skill to have, one anyone could turn to her advantage.

She might have rudimentary skill with handguns, since he might have taught her the bare minimum about shooting for her own protection--if you're a good dealer, some other dealer is going to want to take you down. She could probably load, take off the safety, and shoot a close target rather than tip him off by shooting and missing when he's farther away.

Most dealers are also users, so she's probably seen how to do whatever his drug(s) of choice were. Not sure how useful this might be, unless she needs to convince someone she's a user.

There's no paper trail. All drug business is cash in hand.

Crossing the border is more a desert skill than a drug dealer skill. I'm from the Sonoran Desert, and knew people who did rescue work for fools who attempted to reach a certain point on foot. Distances are deceiving--that mountain might be 15 miles away, not 3 or 4. You can't fool around with being on foot in intense heat for long unless you're fit, trained, and well-equipped. It's cooler at night, but border patrol's got night goggles.

I would think a legal crossing at the border, the stash extremely well-hidden, might be easier, and if he did it often, a cover of legitimate reason to be crossing all the time would be required. Maybe he took his daughter, cocaine in her beloved stuffed animal? (Kind of trite.) Maybe he was a skinny guy because he was a user, who'd shave his head and use a cover story of going to Mexico for cancer treatments unapproved in the US?

Maryn, just throwing out ideas
 

Archie1989

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Hmmm. . . I didn't even think about being manipulative and such. That's a really good point, and would also probably be really helpful to her in this whole quest.

What about one of the rumored "tunnels" into the U.S? Does that seem too cheesy? She wouldn't even necessarily have to have been to it before, maybe her father mentioned it sometime in the past . . . does that seem too . . . convenient??

Also, I didn't really mean the drug deals being paperless, I more meant, if she's wanted for murder, she's not gonna want people to know who she is or where she is, so maybe she picked up tips from him doing the same when he maybe had a warrant out for his arrest or something . . . or does that sound stupid too?
 

PinkAmy

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I would assume the character might develop a sense of fearlessness (maybe an unhealthy one) or go in the other direction and become extremely fearful and distrusting, maybe suspicious too
She's probably have a natural cynicism--street-smarts. She wouldn't be gullible or easily manipulated.
She's probably seen more than others in her peer group, and might be less easily intimidated or manipulated.
She could have loose morals and bend the definitions of legality or ethics, since she didn't have a positive role model in this area---or she could go in the opposite direction and be overly law-abiding and rigid.
 

Archie1989

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@PinkAmy, you've got her spot-on =]

I've got her character pretty much complete, and she's pretty fearless, tough, street-smart, and morally "loose".

Actually, the first chapter or two are done, and I'm up to the part where my MC (Colt) encounters this kindnapped girl and saves her from her captors. But now I'm faced with the "meat" of the book: getting them back into the States. I want Colt to essentially save this girl, and I want there to be a lot of obstacles in the way. But I want to base those obstacles (or most of them anyway) on problems that she can solve based on experiences she's had with her father. My idea is that although at the very openning of the book she kills her father (he threatened to kill her first), by the end of the book she's got a more complete understanding of him and herself, and realizes that although he was a really shitty person, he taught her a lot and in that way, helped her to survive.

Or does that just royally suck?
 

Maryn

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Also, I didn't really mean the drug deals being paperless, I more meant, if she's wanted for murder, she's not gonna want people to know who she is or where she is, so maybe she picked up tips from him doing the same when he maybe had a warrant out for his arrest or something . . . or does that sound stupid too?
Then you want her to know is how to live "off the grid," like the main guy in all those Andrew Vachhs novels. (I probably misspelled that, but it's close.) Her father may well have done that, and if she was an observant child, she'll know the basics.

The Kid (our adult daughter) was friends with a guy who lived off the grid here. He had no bank account. He was an adult who'd worked since his late teens but had never paid taxes, because all his jobs were under the table, payment in cash, not officially on any payroll. He had an apartment, but no lease, and his landlord didn't know his real name; he paid his rent in cash and on time, so she didn't need to. He had no credit cards, no drivers license, no car, no computer, no cell phone. When last she heard, he was living in Finland (no, he does not speak the language, nor does he have a passport) doing the same thing there, at the fringes of the metal scene.

Maryn, who'd be afraid to attempt this
 

Archie1989

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@Maryn, this is so completely it. It's actually the reason I had her flee to Mexico, because I think it's a bit more believable that she'd be able to do all these things. I have her working as a bartender and living in a tiny apartment above the bar at the time when she meets Avery, the kidnapee.
 

Canotila

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Crossing the border is more a desert skill than a drug dealer skill. I'm from the Sonoran Desert, and knew people who did rescue work for fools who attempted to reach a certain point on foot. Distances are deceiving--that mountain might be 15 miles away, not 3 or 4. You can't fool around with being on foot in intense heat for long unless you're fit, trained, and well-equipped. It's cooler at night, but border patrol's got night goggles.

I would think a legal crossing at the border, the stash extremely well-hidden, might be easier, and if he did it often, a cover of legitimate reason to be crossing all the time would be required. Maybe he took his daughter, cocaine in her beloved stuffed animal? (Kind of trite.) Maybe he was a skinny guy because he was a user, who'd shave his head and use a cover story of going to Mexico for cancer treatments unapproved in the US?

Maryn, just throwing out ideas

Agreed on the desert crossing. When we lived in Tucson one of our worries when out hiking in the desert was stumbling across dead bodies of people who didn't bring enough water when crossing.

If she was going to attempt a desert crossing, I'd shoot for the Chiricahua Mountains. There are year round rivers in that area. It's also crawling with border patrol agents, but they'd have a better chance of surviving.

Are her prints on file? If they did get caught, would law enforcement recognize her? Because one possibility is for them to be caught on purpose. If border patrol catches someone needing emergency medical treatment, they are taken to UMC in Tucson since that's the region's only trauma center south of Phoenix. An agent (an annoyed, bored out of his mind agent) hangs out with them in their hospital room until they can be released. It's not unheard of for someone living near the border to try and cross and get caught on purpose if they have a child or family member with a broken limb or something and can't get treatment down there. They get caught, treated, then deported again. Maybe if one or both is injured, they can be brought to the hospital and then escape somehow.

I remember my husband's worst day ever working in the ER. It was filled to the brim with patients. Then border patrol showed up with 30+ mangled up immigrants someone had crammed into the back of a semi that crashed. A lot of people died or came with with really horrific injuries. They literally had guerney's lining the halls and stuck in every cranny they could find in the ER.
 

blackrose602

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Then you want her to know is how to live "off the grid," like the main guy in all those Andrew Vachhs novels. (I probably misspelled that, but it's close.) Her father may well have done that, and if she was an observant child, she'll know the basics.

The Kid (our adult daughter) was friends with a guy who lived off the grid here. He had no bank account. He was an adult who'd worked since his late teens but had never paid taxes, because all his jobs were under the table, payment in cash, not officially on any payroll. He had an apartment, but no lease, and his landlord didn't know his real name; he paid his rent in cash and on time, so she didn't need to. He had no credit cards, no drivers license, no car, no computer, no cell phone. When last she heard, he was living in Finland (no, he does not speak the language, nor does he have a passport) doing the same thing there, at the fringes of the metal scene.

Sounds like most of the people I know in the New Orleans goth/hippie/tarot reader subculture. I've never done it, since I've never had the need. But it's easy to just drop your paper trail--move to a reasonably liberal location, rent an apartment week to week for cash (or live in a squat), get an under the table job, choose a nickname or alias, let your license expire. You can even get a cell phone, prepaid of course. The guy who performed my wedding was 62 years old and had been off the grid for at least 40 years...his only "on the grid" connection was registering as a minister (via one of those online ordinations) with the state of Louisiana.

OP, I agree with others that manipulation is the most important skill. She will have picked up enough of the subculture to know how to dress/talk/act to fit in--to use an example from my own life, when I'm hanging with the street kids, I'm wearing my oldest jeans and drinking from a 40 down by the river, as opposed to the nights I'm dressed to the nines having dinner at Commander's Palace. She'll be able to gain trust and get whatever she needs, from cash to weapons to fake documents, if she's a skilled enough manipulator.

Something else to consider: She doesn't have to know how to do everything. She just needs to know how to find someone who does and convince him/her to help. You can add a lot of color to the story by mixing it up--some things she inherently knows or can figure out, others she finds a contact to help her out. Just a thought.
 
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I second Maryn - check out Andrew Vachss 'Burke' novels [starting with 'Flood']. Burke is ex-con, turned confidence man and 'private investigator' with a focus on hunting pedophiles. He lives off-the-grid with the help of some similar outlaws.

Check out info on 'con artist', 'psychological manipulation', and 'survivalist'. That would keep you busy for a while. :D
 

Bracken

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Hi y'all.

I just had a fantastic idea for the newest project I've started, and I need a bit of help. My MC's father was a junkie/drug dealer/general criminal type. Not like a serial-killer, but a violent, non-law-abiding individual.
My idea is that through the course of the book, which mostly occurs after he's dead, I want my MC to have to use skills that her father inadvertently taught her during her childhood.

Now, the MC is trying to save a girl she meets in Mexico, who was kidnapped from California, and was about to be sold into sex-slavery when MC essentially grabbed her away from her captors. Now my MC must travel across Mexico with this girl, and back into the states, where the MC is wanted for the murder of her father. (Sorry, I know it sounds kind of complicated)

My question is: what types of skills would she logically have picked up from having such a father? She spent much of her teen years trying to get him to stay in rehab and such, so she was around him a lot without really being the same "type" of person. Which of these skills would help her in her quest to avoid Mexican drug/human traffickers and American police, and get this girl home safely?

The project is essentially in an outline phase right now, so these suggestions will help build the girls' journey from southern mexico to California, and the things they face along the way.

Thanks in advance!!!


My husband, actually, grew up with a similar dad to the one you describe (he reformed in old age).
I don't know that his dad had a lot of "skills" that a non-criminal wouldn't have; he knew how to cook really well (he'd done a brief stint in the military as a cook, worked in the kitchen during his time in prison, and worked in restaurants on and off). He also knew how to do some plumbing and air conditioning, which were trades he sometimes worked in, when he worked legal jobs at all.
Even drug addicts and criminals, if they live long enough, often try their hands at legal work... often, they go back and forth between legal and non-legal stuff.

He knew how to play the system, and taught his son this- knew how to get welfare that he didn't really qualify for, how to get food stamps and sell them, how to cheat the IRS, etc.

He had contacts from the drug/crime world, that he could appeal to for help when he needed it.
This is a resource your MC might be able to draw upon- dad's old friends, who might remember her from childhood and help her out for old time sake, or because they still owe her dad one. Don't overuse this; loyalty is not incredibly common among such people; it does exist, but it only goes so far. Maybe someone that dad knew and helped out while in prison decades ago, someone who is now reformed (or, alternately, now a wealthy crime boss) could be called upon to help out your MC at some point. Or maybe not even "called upon"; maybe she could simply encounter him, and upon learning who she is, he might help her.

These are the only skills and resources I know of that a person might gain from having a dad like this.
Personally, I think one is better off with a law-abiding accountant for a dad, lol. But of course we don't get to pick our families. We just have to make the best of them.
 

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Looks like you've gotten some great ideas :)

I've worked in the rehab field and will second (possibly third or fourth, though I didn't see it mentioned often) the manipulation part...It's a skill most criminals gain and which many pass on to their kids because it's very easy for kids to pick up on its nuances.

Some thoughts on where to look for inspiration/examples of the behaviour, because it's muuuuuuch more subtle than what most people do, but much firmer: Whether you agree or disagree with the verdict, Casey Anthony is a prime example of someone who somewhere along the way picked up -a lot- of skills that your average person never ever picks up...I don't know where she got them, but her mental condition is above and beyond anything resembling normal.

Also look into personality disorders (as in official, DSM ones...the incurable ones), specifically anti-social and narcissistic (and really look into them...they seem obvious, but they're much more complicated than their names sound and they appear in the criminal world way more frequently than they do anywhere else...for obvious reasons, once you know what they are :) ).

And an idea that might be useful to you: I don't remember exactly how they did it, but a friend of a friend wanted to give their newborn something the kid might never want or need - a second chance. They did this by having their child in the middle of nowhere, then taking the kid to be registered as born in two different places, producing two social security numbers and thus two lives. The parents kept both identities up to date where necessary...I don't know the details and I know it would be next to impossible to do this now, but depending on your gal's age, it might be something her dad did for her without her knowing - part of the redemption he gets through her without being around.

It's a bit of information I've carried around for a long time and not found a good use for...your story seems like it could maybe make use of it ;)

Good luck! :)
 

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I don't know your MC's name, but the kidnapee is 'Avery', which doesn't sound traditionally Hispanic. Are they both non-Hispanic, English speaking Americans? If the Border Patrol and Customs are looking for illegal immigrants, would they be looking hard at these two?
How about they get a vehicle with US plates, reasonable fake papers and just drive through the border? I don't know where exactly they would cross, but there must be places where a couple of women coming home from a weekend getaway wouldn't be unusual.
Maybe she needs one of her dad's old contacts to get her the fake papers?
There's still the uncertainty, risk, etc. but at least they're not going to die in the desert.
 

Archie1989

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@frimble3, I actually hadn't thought of the idea of fake papers, but that's a good one, and it can tie in to her Dad's old friends. My MC is Colt, and she's Cuban-American, so she definitely looks the part of an illegal immigrant, though she speaks fluent english. She's also very distrustful of the legal system, which is why she doesn't just shove Avery across the border and call it a day. The other reason Colt doesn't want to deal with border-patrol agents is that she's wanted for her father's murder. I haven't made this a point yet, but I'm assuming they have her prints on file . . . just because this will make her all the more wary of coming in contact with any police officers or such.
I'm starting to think maybe she purposely falls in with her dad's old contacts in mexico, and offers to take a supply of drugs across the border if the two are allowed to use one of the cartel's underground tunnels . . . . what do we think, all?
 

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Sounds reasonable. She knows who to talk to, they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, they get something for something, and she gets safely over the border. It adds another level of complexity (always good) - now she has even more reason to avoid the authorities, and can she trust the guys showing her the way? Maybe they kill the girls, steal the drugs and tell the boss who sent her to them, "Hey, last we saw, they were in the States and on their way."
 

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My ex-blow dealer was a real charmer and life of the party type. Could do complex math in his head and was always giving advice on how to improve your credit score.

Is your MC's father a dealer or smuggler? All the dealers I knew never wanted to carry their product on them. They'd walk into clubs "clean" and make deals. Then they'd beckon over their "mule," the guy carrying the drugs (usually a junky trying to pay off a debt). The point was, if they got busted, it's the mule who’d go to jail not the dealer, because it’s the mule who's carrying the drugs.

I knew a dealer who's own son was his mule. The kid was 20, very nonchalant and could blend into crowds easily. You would never have guessed he was carrying $2000 worth of product on him. No backpack, no nothing, it was hidden in his clothes, in all sorts of places.

Maybe your MC was her father's mule. She's learned to conceal things other can't. She can lie convincingly and knows how to disappear in a crowd.
 
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Kitty27

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She'd have much game. By that,she'd know how to seize people up, identify weaknesses,and then use that to her advantage. My uncle fits the kind of character you're talking about(he's a sweetie,though) and he can talk a dying man out of his last breath.

A sixth sense. People that spend a lot of time in the streets can tell a wrong'un as soon as they meet them. This would enable her to see past another person's charm and appearance,all the things that people raised in normal environments go by,and see what's really going on.

I'd expect some experience with handguns. These folks are never without a Glock or access to some kind of weapon.
 

kuwisdelu

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If American, she would have a greater mastery of the metric system than her peers.

She could use it for, uh, measuring things?
 

Archie1989

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@stray, I didn't think of that one . . . that's very helpful. Ditto to Kitty27, the sixth-sense in regards to other people is something that'll be hugely helpful to her =]

@J.W., her father was a user and a dealer, but not a smuggler. I realize that making him one would make plotting the rest of the story, and her crossing of the border, much easier, but I want it to be much more challenging. No short-cuts for her! lol
 

Tsu Dho Nimh

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Now, the MC is trying to save a girl she meets in Mexico, who was kidnapped from California, and was about to be sold into sex-slavery when MC essentially grabbed her away from her captors.
The fastest way to save the kidnapped girl is to take her to the nearest consulate or embassy and have her walk in the front door and tell her problem - it doesn't even have to be the American one. They take custody and contact the USA embassy and it goes from there. But it kinda kills your story line and replaces it with a different one.

The easiest way for two females to get across the border is at a major crossing point, loaded with shopping bags ... or sleeping in the back of a car full of kids coming back from Guaymas or Rocky Point. Blend with the crowd.

Getting from mainland Mexico to Baja and north - with the objective being to cross at Tijuana/San Diego is harder than going along the Gulf coast and across or up the west coast and across at Nogales or the crossing near Yuma (San Luis?).

Just get enough money to take one of the express buses to the border ... the kidnapped girl can turn herself in there. You can buy a fake ID in Nogales for about $50 that's good enough for a casual look by a bored border guard who sees "American Tourist shopping spree". Just look like a tourist.