Drug traffickers skating thin line between business and chaos

It's always a difficult balancing act between glorifying a subject and shedding a spotlight on its shortcomings, and so it is with the drug trafficking drama Kingpin now airing on Amazon Prime.

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The American crime drama television series debuted on NBC in the United States and CTV in Canada on February 2, 2003, and lasted for only six episodes.

It follows Mexican drug cartel leader, Miguel Cadena, and his family's struggles to maintain their billion dollar global drug empire while facing government authorities, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, which is constantly on their tail making family operations hard to operate effectively.

Although only short lived the series manages to highlight the complexities of the drug trade and the personal lives of the characters involved.

The series explores themes of power, ambition, loyalty, and the consequences of involvement in the dirty drug trade, including the cultural clash between the central Mexican family and American law enforcement.

Even though it was cancelled after the distribution network's discomfort with airing a show with a drug trafficker as the central character, it still packs a punch.