America's favourite summer sport is played by a 30-team cartel that is specifically exempt from antitrust laws.
Mr. Medina — the mastermind behind Pinball NYC, a new competitive league — was leading his team, the Cartel, to a spectacular victory.
That becomes plain during an exceptionally bloody skirmish between Brolin's team and cartel assassins at the Mexican border early on, a private war between two armies outside the law.
But what exactly have they accomplished in Colombia, which advertises itself as Latin America's oldest democracy even as a deadly doubles match rages across the land, teaming drug cartels and guerrillas against the army and paramilitary vigilantes?
His last article, published two days before his murder, was part of a series he had written in recent weeks on chupaductos — teams of cartel-linked bandits that syphon off fuel and oil from illegally tapped pipelines for sale on the black market.
On a recent Monday the Sofa King Suite (Bar Great Harry's team) challenged the Cartel at its home bar, Kettle of Fish.
Related: What It's like to lead a team of Zetas Cartel hitmen in one of Mexico's Bloodiest States.
Related: What It's Like to Lead a Team of Zetas Cartel Hitmen in One of Mexico's Bloodiest States.
A rather easier process than Orlando Hernandez had to go through when he wanted to leave one of Mr. Castro's little cartel of teams.
This year, the cartel of teams belonging to the Bowl Championship Series -- members of the six most prominent conferences plus independent Notre Dame, a total of 63 teams -- will split a guaranteed payoff of at least $120 million from the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls.
One half of the team moved in on the cartel boss' hideout by night, watched overhead by their partners in an helicopter gunship.
