Brian Frank

Drug abusers huff glue and inhalants while dealers ply their trade on the streets of Tepito, Mexico City's toughest neighborhood. Tepito is controlled by drug cartels, and access to the neighborhood is strictly guarded. Police are only allowed to patrol its streets 2 days a week.

Worshippers pray at the famous Santa Muerte altar in Tepito. The worship of Saint Death has become increasingly popular in poorer neighborhoods of Mexico and amongst gang members and those on the margins of society. Often, the families of victims can be seen praying next to the families of members of the criminal element, or gang members themselves.

Ex-convict "Gerardo" holds his son on the streets of Tepito, the roughest neighborhood in Mexico City. Gerardo gave up his life of crime to raise his family and devoted his life to the worship of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. Gang members on the streets of Tepito give him a big birth out of respect. Tepito is controlled by drug cartels, and access to the neighborhood is strictly guarded. Police are only allowed to patrol its streets 2 days a week.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police across Mexico in an attempt to crackdown on the drug cartels trafficking narcotics across Mexico to the United States. Among those deployed has been a large contingent to the embattled city of Juarez, bordering El Paso Texas, where brutal homicides and tortures have become the norm, as violence in the city has increased more than ten fold since last year, as the cartels fight over turf. Troops can now be seen in full battle gear patrolling the streets of Juarez, both day and night.

Blood and gasoline glisten on the streets of Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico City. Neza, a notorios barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City, has become a barrio notorious for its gang violence.

A patient, beaten senseless in Nezahualcoyotl, a notorious barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City which has become a front in the drug war.

Gang members and dealers line the streets of Tepito, Mexico City's toughest neighborhood. Each tear coming from a gang member's tattoo represents a murder committed. Tepito is controlled by drug cartels, and access to the neighborhood is strictly guarded. Police are only allowed to patrol its streets 2 days a week.

Scenes of violence are a common site on the streets at night in Nezahualcoyotl, a notorious barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City which has become a battle ground in the war against drug cartels.

"Gerardo" takes his family to view one of the many other Saint Death altars that has popped up outside of Tepito, in other poor Mexico City barrios.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police to try and stem the violence which has mushroomed out of control in the border town of Juarez, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Juarez accounted for the vast majority of murders in Mexico last year. Scenes of violence can be seen in broad daylight on the streets of Juarez, and some say the presence of the federal troops has only increased the violence in the newly militarized border town.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of troops and federal police across Mexico in an attempt to crackdown on the drug cartels trafficking narcotics across Mexico to the United States. Among those deployed has been a large contingent to the embattled city of Juarez, bordering El Paso Texas, where brutal homicides and tortures have become the norm, as violence in the city has increased more than ten fold since last year, as the cartels fight over turf. Troops can now be seen in full battle gear patrolling the streets of Juarez, both day and night.

On August 30, 2008, thousands of Mexicans took to the streets across the country in more than 60 cities in protest of the prevailing insecurity that has become rampant across the country. Thousands marched carrying candles to the Zocalo in Mexico City.

Gang members and dealers line the streets of Tepitoto, Mexico City's toughest neighborhood. Tepito is controlled by drug cartels, and access to the neighborhood is strictly guarded. Police are only allowed to patrol its streets 2 days a week.

After crawling miles on bloodied knees, worshippers reach the famous Santa Muerte altar in Tepito and break down in tears. Worshippers are often family members of those leading a life of crime, or family members of victims of crime.

Antiquated ambulances plague the medics as they drive around the broken up streets of Nezahualcoyotl, a notorious barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City which has become a front in the drug war.

A paramedic in Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico City rushes a patient through the corridors of a hospital on the way to the emergency room. Assassins often follow the medics down this corridor in order to finish off their victims.

Patients stream towards medics on the streets at night in an all too common scene of violence on the streets of Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico City.

Paramedics check the x-rays of a young boy in Nezahualcoyotl, a notorious barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City which has become a front in the drug war.

A medic does all he can to stabilize a trauma patient before transport to the hospital in Nezahualcoyotl, a notorious barrio on the outskirts of Mexico City which has become a front in the drug war.

Clandestine graves are an all too common site in Juarez, Mexico. The city is gripped in a wave of violence as drug cartels battle each other and the federal authorities in the border town, which has lead to a more than ten-fold increase in homicides this year. Monuments such as this one can be found in well-known areas where bodies are regularly dumped. Eleven bodies were found piled one atop the other in this particular empty lot.