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"On September 29, 1999, Denver's war on drugs claimed its latest casualty- a Mexican national named Ismael Mena, who was shot by SWAT officers who'd burst into the wrong house. Mena's death triggered a 'Westword' investigation of police policies regarding no-knock warrants, revealing how easily warrants could be obtained on minimal evidence, with little review, producing arrests that yielded scant drugs or convictions but frequently risked the lives of innocent bystanders. A sidebar presented an exclusive interview with the key informant in the case, explaining how he was recruited into the drug war, functioned as an ambitious officer's primary (and possibly only) informant, and made the error in identification that proved fatal to Mena."