April 26: Illegal Drugs, Violence and Addiction: In Search of Solutions, a Courtroom Conversation

Date: April 26, 2018

Time: 7 p.m.

Cost: $25 with special discounts for Museum Members

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From Mexican drug cartels to international drug networks, the international drug trade touches everyone. Few of us ever think about where these addictive, destructive substances come from, or how their proliferation affects the people in their countries of origin. This Courtroom Conversation panel discussion will take a hard look at the global and local impact of the international drug trade with an eye on Las Vegas.

Our panel of experts will share first-hand experiences and long-term studies on worldwide drug trafficking and the opioid crisis in the U.S. and around the world. This discussion is about a $30-billion-a-year organized crime industry that spans mountain poppy fields and violent city streets, inhabits luxury condos and prison cells, and functions through synchronized networks in Afghanistan, Turkey, Morocco, Colombia, China, Europe and the United States.

This Courtroom Conversation Panel Discussion will cover topics such as:

• What is the Drug Enforcement Administration’s current approach to international drug trafficking?
• Has the meth trade increased with the opioid crackdown?
• Would a border wall between Mexico and the U.S. be effective in combating the drug trade?
• What are cartels involved with besides drug trafficking?
• Which factions are working together, and how are they getting past law enforcement, from the Mexican army to the DEA?
• What role does Las Vegas play in the international drug trade?

Panelists for this event include international drug trafficking expert Sylvia Longmire, Journalist and Mexico City correspondent Ioan Grillo, Patrick “Rick” Brodsky, assistant special agent in charge FBI Las Vegas Division, and DEA assistant special agent Dan Neill operating here in Las Vegas.

This event will be livestreamed and recorded.

Featured Panelists

Ioan Grillo  

Ioan Grillo

Ioan Grillo is a journalist and Mexico City correspondent covering drug cartels in Latin America and Mexico’s drug war since 2001 for major news media organizations. He also covers natural disasters, politics and emigration issues in those areas. Grillo is also author of the books Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields and the New Politics of Latin America, and El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency.

Sylvia Longmire  

Sylvia Longmire

Sylvia Longmire is an expert on international drug trafficking. A former officer and Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Longmire has also worked as a Senior Intelligence Analyst for the California State Threat Assessment Center where her specialty was southwest border violence and Mexico’s drug war. She is author of the book Cartel and Border Insecurity, and a consultant on drug war and border security issues.

Dan Neill  

Dan Neill

Dan Neill, is a DEA assistant special agent in charge of operations in Las Vegas, specializing in counter-narcotic strategy in partnership with Nevada law enforcement. Neill has served in Puerto Rico, Houston, Los Angeles, and Central America, in close proximity to drug trafficking hotspots on the U.S.-Mexico border and in the Caribbean. He has also investigated international connections to Mexico and Asia.

Patrick "Rick" Brodsky  

Patrick "Rick" Brodsky

Patrick "Rick" Brodsky has over 28 years of multidisciplinary law enforcement experience. He currently serves as assistant special agent in charge over Las Vegas Division’s Criminal and Support Services Branch. He began his career as a Special Agent in 1995 following graduation from the FBI Academy. Much of his career has been involved in transnational organized crime threats at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in Miami. Temporary duty assignments in support of the FBI’s counterterrorism mission have included:  Nairobi, Kenya; Kabul, Afghanistan; and interim FBI Senior Advisor to U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida. Prior to joining the FBI, Brodsky served as a police officer for the City of Charleston in South Carolina from 1990 to 1995.  Mr. Brodsky is a graduate of The Citadel Military College of South Carolina.