How Mexico's cartel wars shattered Americans' wary peace

LA MORA, Mexico - For decades, this small village of American Mormons in the mountains of northwestern Mexico coexisted peacefully with the region's most powerful drug cartel.
The Americans rolled down their windows at the cartel's checkpoints. They nodded to the sicarios at local horse races and shared pomegranates during the harvest. When the cartel vehicles needed repair, La Mora's American mechanic fixed them for the same fee he charged his neighbors.
Until this week, living as an American i