01x03 - The Battle for the Border

[bunniefuu]

♪

Man: Shake this square world

and blast off for kicksville.

Richard nixon: Public enemy

number one is drug abuse.

Nancy reagan: Just say no.

Ronald reagan: Halting

the drug problem in america

Is like carrying water

in a sieve.

George h.W. Bush: Take my word

for it, this scourge will stop.

Kamala harris:

There's now an understanding

That the w*r on drugs

was an abject failure.

Man: You have to stop and ask

yourself, how did we get here?

Donald trump:

We will build a wall.

♪

♪

♪

Terry kirkpatrick:

First border wall was put up

Back in the days of the cowboys.

No-man's-land, as they call it.

I don't like it.

It's not gonna stop the drugs,

The lawlessness that

takes place out here

And the shootings and

bandits crossing the border

And cutting your fences and

transporting the dope through.

My name is terry kirkpatrick.

My nickname's the grumpy gringo.

I was a customs agent

for 28 years.

And I used to tell the new guys

that would come on board,

I says, "this is the most fun

you'll ever have on a job

With your pants on."

(expl*si*n)

Primarily we worked narcotics,

g*n smuggling.

It was cat and mouse;

You're chasing them,

they're chasing you.

And then all of a sudden,

you get in trouble,

You get a death threat.

People are trying to k*ll you.

Well, this ain't

the ghostbusters,

You can't call anybody,

what are you gonna do now?

Well, our guys call you up

and say, "pack one suitcase,"

And you'll hide out

for 30 days, six months.

♪

♪

Well, I wasn't the smartest

johnny in the classroom,

I was still that little kid

in the back raising my hand,

Saying, "I'll go back,

I'll go back."

♪

♪

And so, finally, after

six months of investigation,

We raided the place,

and as I wandered around,

A worker picked up a water hose

And started pouring water

into the big drains.

No one would think that

it was anything other

Than just a water main

underneath.

Watch your fingers there.

Once we took out

the lower drain,

There was a 8-by-10 room

down there.

One by one, we descended

into the dark pit of neverland,

Not knowing what was

at the bottom.

♪

♪

♪

Wow, what did these guys do?

This tunnel was

so sophisticated,

It wasn't a fly-by-night group

that did it,

These guys had studied mining

engineering and stuff like that.

We're probably

well over 30 feet down,

And it goes like this for

about 150 yards into mexico,

Up to another house.

On the mexican side

There was a family room

with a pool table in it,

And below that, was another room

Where they could

store drugs there,

That's where the air ventilation

pumps were, the water pumps.

Just when you think

us as narcotics agents,

We've seen it all,

it was, like, shocking.

We didn't know where we were

going next with this.

What have we opened up,

a pandora's box here.

It was, find everybody involved,

find 'em now.

Jack riley: We knew there was an

individual that was responsible

For all the logistical movement

of marijuana and then cocaine,

But we weren't sure who he was.

Kirkpatrick: So we raided

house after house after house.

One name pops up,

and it continued to pop up:

Chapo guzmán.

Riley: People called him

"chapo," which is "shorty."

Kirkpatrick:

He was 5-foot-6 guy,

Who started out as

a little kid selling oranges

On the side of the road

down in sinaloa.

♪

♪

At that time, he was well down

the ranks in the sinaloa cartel.

♪

Riley: He was a border rat.

He knew virtually

every corner of the border,

Where it was, the most

highly patrolled area;

Where were desolate areas;

Where was the most

valuable part of it

In terms of cocaine trafficking.

Kirkpatrick:

Cartel bosses recognize

That he was extremely smart.

He was years ahead

of anybody else

That ever came into

the drug smuggling scene.

The flipside to that is

He was also a ruthless,

cold, calculated k*ller.

30 guys were used

to dig this tunnel,

Night and day

for months and months.

They kept 'em locked up

in a house,

And the cartel wanted

to keep it secret so bad,

And they were worried that

somebody would talk about it,

So, they ex*cuted 'em all

and dumped 'em into a well.

So, basically,

all the tunnel diggers

Dug their own grave

for the cartel.

♪

♪

It was a gold mine for 'em.

Kilo of cocaine, back in those

days, about $24,000 a kilo,

This tunnel probably

would have ran, who knows?

One truck a day.

Two trucks a day.

Three, maybe.

Chapo went from the little guy

over here in douglas

To captain in the cartel.

He was such a rising star.

♪

♪

J. Jesús esquivel: El chapo was

nicknamed by the colombians

As el rapido, because he was

so fast in moving the cocaine.

He didn't share his methods

of transportation,

But he was a genius

and troublemaker.

♪

Chapo's ambition

was to get tijuana.

Tijuana is an important city.

It's a door for drugs

to cross the united states.

♪

♪

Martin corona:

They were known as the most

vicious crew in mexico.

They had no qualms about making

an example out of somebody.

They have a reputation for being

the most violent and bloody,

And they were responsible

for thousands of murders,

More than 10,000 murders.

Juan carlos reyna:

To me, to tell this story

Of benjamín arellano félix

and his brothers

Is a way to tell

the story of tijuana.

Esquivel: Tijuana was always a

very important piece of the cake

For the drug business,

And it's an easy place to move

drugs to the united states.

But to control that city, you

have to k*ll a lot of people.

(crows)

Reyna: Narcos in mexico,

like el chapo guzmán,

Are campesinos, peasants,

That live in the mountains

and wear hats and cowboy boots.

In tijuana,

narcos were different.

(engine revs)

Imagine fashionista narcos

That enjoyed listening to

joy division, for example.

They're wearing suits,

designer sneakers

With huge mink jacket

And a medallion, pure gold.

Everybody wanted

to be like them.

My name is juan carlos reyna,

I'm an author, I was born

and raised in tijuana.

While growing up in tijuana,

the arellano félix organization,

The tijuana cartel,

were like a living myth;

Both fascinating and terrifying.

Benjamín arellano félix

was the leader and founder

Of the tijuana cartel.

He was a very charismatic

character.

And the younger brother, ramón,

was the muscle.

He was a very

unattractive person,

With a high-pitched,

annoying voice,

And a complete psychopath,

That assumed the position

in the cartel as an enforcer

And to naturally embrace

his thirst for k*lling people.

Esquivel: Benjamín and ramón,

especially,

They don't even think twice

to order k*lling of anyone

Involved in their business.

They wanted to be the only ones

in tijuana.

The kings of tijuana

And the kings of

the u.S. Market in california.

Reyna: Benjamín arellano félix

was a pioneer.

He opened the tijuana route

into california and los angeles,

Creating an international

enterprise of drug trafficking

In such a perfect way.

♪

Ioan grillo: The arellanos

had an idea of,

Well, let's find rich kids

Who were attracted by

the easy, big money and glamour

And recruit them.

Because if you have somebody

who is educated,

Who can speak english,

Who has connections

in the united states,

They could smuggle drugs

into the united states.

Connections and ideas

about business,

About moving the money,

that can be useful,

Rather than just having some guy

who's from the mountains,

Who can barely read or write.

Reyna: They began calling

themselves the narco juniors.

Belonging to a cartel

Became part of the party vibe

in tijuana.

♪

♪

(siren)

The arellano félix family

provided 70% or more

Of the cocaine consumed

in the united states.

At the time, it was the most

powerful criminal organization

In the north hemisphere.

Newscaster: Rich and ruthless,

u.S. Drug enforcement officials

Say the arellano félix family

has amassed a dirty fortune

In the billions of dollars.

Reyna: Among mexican drug lords,

everybody became jealous,

Especially el chapo guzmán,

Who wanted what

benjamín built up,

This highly successful,

Million-dollar operation

in tijuana.

Esquivel: Chapo's ambition was

to eliminate those brothers,

To have tijuana

for his own purposes.

Riley: He wanted 'em dead.

That's the fundamental issue

in narco trafficking:

No one's ever happy,

everyone wants more.

And greed and g*ns

lead to a lot of death.

♪

Reyna: Benjamín arellano félix

throws a huge party.

♪

It was attended by el chapo's

best friend and compadre,

El rayo lopez.

El rayo lopez had kidnapped

One of the arellano félix

sisters years before,

And that was something that

the arellano félix brothers

Could not forget or forgive.

As soon as

el rayo lopez appears,

Ramón, he picks up his g*n,

Points it at el rayo's head

And blew his brains off.

That moment was a pretext

for el chapo engaging in a w*r

With benjamín arellano félix

and his brothers.

♪

♪

(radio chatter)

(siren)

(siren)

(siren)

Esquivel: The start of the w*r

Between chapo and

arellano félix brothers

Was pure, pure m*ssacre

of people in mexico.

Even children were k*lled.

♪

♪

Newscaster: k*lling is a party

for the arellanos.

They laugh after a m*rder

as if it were nothing,

Show no remorse,

And go off and have

a lobster dinner in rosarito.

♪

♪

♪

Esquivel: The arellano félix

brothers were convinced

That it was the end of

chapo's adventures in tijuana.

But they underestimate

chapo's ambition.

Chapo found out that

the arellano félix brothers

Were having a party

in puerto vallarta.

And he always had a second plan.

♪

(g*nf*re)

(screaming)

(screaming)

Corona: My name's martin corona.

I was a hitman for

the arellano félix cartel.

I was sent out to do

their dirty deeds.

Emotions you go through

when you take a life,

Of actually looking

in that person's eyes

And watching their life

leave their bodies,

You're not happy about it,

you're nervous, you're scared,

It weighs heavy

on your conscience,

But you dealt with

your emotions inside.

When I was recruited by

the arellano félix cartel,

I had already had a history

of violence, gangbanging,

Being in prison, doing hits

in prison, stabbing people,

And so, when it was time

to actually take that life,

I was already prepped

for this moment.

I did a triple homicide.

These were the guys that were

the gunners for chapo guzmán,

At the christine's nightclub,

The night that they ambushed

the arellano félix brothers.

As I was sh**ting the guy

and he's pleading for his life,

I told him, "this is for ramón."

♪

Steve duncan: The arellano félix

family were very visible.

It was like the miami vice

of the cartels.

My name's steve duncan,

I'm a retired special agent

From the california

department of justice.

♪

♪

They would have private parties,

just your typical family event,

But with people

in very bright clothing,

Trying to show off

their wealth, their jewelry,

Their expensive clothing.

And they looked like

an idyllic family.

But what you don't see

is the dysfunction.

They k*lled anybody

that would get in their way.

They ruled by fear.

From the time they went

to w*r with chapo,

They started policing tijuana.

If somebody was driving a car

with sinaloa plates,

They get pulled over,

because that's the enemy.

That guy would be taken

to a safe house

And interrogated, tortured.

(man screaming)

(screaming)

Duncan: And they would either

force him into service with them

Or they would k*ll him.

Corona: I've done 'em

with knives,

I've done 'em

with a sledgehammer,

I've done a lot

of gruesome things.

They wanted people hanged,

chopped up.

They wanted heads cut off,

They wanted people disappearing

in vats of acid.

♪

Duncan: Anybody associated

with the enemies

Of the arellano félix

organization,

In particular, chapo guzmán,

would be hunted down and k*lled.

Corona: There was

no hiding from us.

Man: It's dominance,

it's greatness, it's power.

Reyna: In 1993, most narcos

in mexico drove grand marquis,

The cars of the businessmen

and the politicians.

Duncan: The arellanos had

information that chapo

Was gonna be at the airport

in a white grand marquis.

Esquivel: They send a k*ller

unit to assassinate him.

♪

(g*nsh*t)

(screaming)

(g*nf*re)

(g*nf*re)

Duncan: Everybody's celebrating

'cause they've k*lled chapo.

Corona: It was just an accident,

and it wasn't intentional.

Nobody meant to k*ll

the cardinal.

We were after chapo guzmán;

wrong place at the wrong time.

(bell tolls)

Esquivel: The whole of mexico

wanted justice.

That cardinal was seen as

a martyr of the w*r on drugs.

The arellano félix brothers

went to hide

And el chapo left mexico

and hide in guatemala.

So both sides feel the fire.

Corona: Benjamín made

a personal visit

With the government of mexico

And discussed how we could

get this heat off of us.

♪

♪

♪

Corona: Their hands reach far.

Presidents, generals,

police officials,

How far does the corruption go?

If you've got that

kind of power, dude,

I mean, your head's

gonna be this big.

You think you're invincible.

♪

♪

Duncan: The arellanos'

enforcement squads were sent

On missions throughout

the united states and mexico

To k*ll anybody associated

with chapo guzmán.

Newscaster: The u.S.

State department is offering

A $2 million reward

for information

Leading to the capture and

conviction of cartel leader

And muscle man

ramón arellano félix.

Duncan: We were very desperate

to find ramón,

To find the other

arellano félix members,

But we haven't

seen them in years

And we don't have really

good photos of anybody.

All it takes is for somebody

to tell us where ramón is,

And they have $2 million.

♪

And then we received a vhs tape.

And here he is walking down

hollywood boulevard,

The land of the stars,

in this ridiculous disguise.

It was a shock

and it was amazing.

♪

♪

Duncan: My partner

was given a video

Of the david letterman show

in los angeles,

By a family member

of two brothers

That had worked

for the arellanos,

That were k*lled

by the arellanos,

And on it was

david letterman's cameraman,

Harassing this long-haired,

large hispanic man

With a michael jordan jersey.

Cameraman: Excuse me, excuse me.

Are you michael jordan?

Are, are you michael jordan?

Cameraman: Huh?

Cameraman:

Oh, he speaks spanish.

Letterman: Oh.

Duncan: This gentleman,

Who was ramón arellano félix

in disguise,

Was trying to avoid

the cameraman.

Cameraman:

Michael, hey, michael.

Here you go,

tickets to showgirls.

Duncan: It's funny that

he was in disguise,

But he was so noticeable

because of his disguise.

Cameraman: You sure?

Duncan: So, it was

a hilarious thing.

Cameraman: Hey, everybody, it's

michael jordan, look, everybody.

Hey, everybody,

michael jordan, look.

Corona: He was a character,

but he was ruthless,

I can tell you first-hand that

he didn't have a conscience.

Everybody knew he'd k*ll you

from just looking at him wrong.

He was a stone-cold k*ller.

Duncan: It was a shock to us

that he would have the nerve

To be on our soil,

right in front of us,

And very frustrating

that we didn't get him.

♪

♪

♪

Riley: It was essentially

a refuge for chapo,

Because he was safe

from his rivals,

And he basically

turns the prison

Into his business headquarters,

and life is good.

♪

Grillo: He gradually managed

to bribe his way

To a lot of influence

in the prison.

He could still continue

to run operations,

Continue to deal and still

have access to lawyers

And to visitors and

get words out and make calls.

Apparently he had quite

a rampant sex life.

prostit*tes coming

into the prison.

At the time, talk of him

also getting viagra smuggled

Into the prison as well.

Riley: The safety of

the prison at that time

Actually enhanced his ability

to grow his organization.

♪

♪

He chipped away

at people around them,

And he tried to dominate

the market at the time, too,

So he took customers from them.

He alienated some of the people

that afo needed.

♪

Corona: I've been told that

I got out at the right time.

When it came time

to k*ll a woman,

And they asked me

to k*ll a female,

That was something

I was truly against.

But we're told,

"listen, you're gonna do

what we tell you to do."

When you're told that,

what's the alternative?

I was sent to san diego.

And I shot her,

And there was a little girl

in the backseat,

And I heard her scream,

And I seen that, it just, it

freaked me out and I backed out.

And it came out on the news,

And when they said

the girl was pregnant,

My wife was pregnant at the time

with my first child,

It bothered me a lot.

I didn't want my child born into

a world of me being a m*rder*r.

To this day, when I talk to her

and I tell her,

"baby, the day you came home

from the hospital,

Was the day I walked away

from the arellano félix cartel."

I've been told that after 2000,

The arellano félix started

to lose their foothold.

They started

to lose their power,

They started to lose their grip.

Riley: I don't think anybody

in law enforcement

Or in the mexican government

saw what was going to happen

When chapo was in prison.

Grillo: You start to see

the rise of chapo guzmán

And the sinaloa cartel,

And his story does not end there

by any means.

Riley: There's a lot of folklore

around it, how he escaped.

Everybody said, "oh, he just

went in a laundry basket."

But he was the highest ranking

cartel member

In custody in mexico, so I think

he just got up one morning,

Put a guard's uniform on

that he had bought

And he walked right

out the front door

And got in a police car

and drove away.

♪

♪

Esquivel: It was not

a huge embarrassment

For the mexican government,

because when he escaped,

Chapo was not well-known

As one of the biggest

narco traffickers.

So he was not the main target

of mexican and u.S. Authorities.

The arellano félix

were the main target.

♪

♪

(bell tolling)

(bell tolling)

The sinaloa cartel used mazatlán

as a trap for ramón.

They let him know,

by informants,

That el chapo was

supposed to have dinner

In one of the restaurants

of the place.

So he was preparing to k*ll

chapo in that restaurant.

But he didn't know

the sinaloa cartel

Tip off the mexican authorities

about where he was.

(g*nf*re)

There were several

federal police officers

Working with the sinaloa cartel

Attacking ramón arellano félix

that day.

(g*nf*re)

(g*nf*re)

Newscaster: Witnesses say ramón

was forced to his knees

By crooked state police

and ex*cuted on the spot.

♪

Esquivel:

After the death of ramón,

The sinaloa cartel knew the love

the brothers had for each other

Will force benjamín

to the funeral of his brother,

And that information was given

to the mexican authorities

And the dea by members

of the sinaloa cartel.

Duncan: Chapo himself

is helping us

Through the messengers

that they sent to us.

You're playing with the devil,

It's dirty, it's ugly,

but it worked for us.

♪

♪

Man: This morning

I am pleased to announce

That at approximately 1:00 am,

mexican government authorities

Captured

benjamín arellano félix.

Riley: Chapo orchestrated

much of the downfall

Of arellano félix brothers

while he was in jail.

♪

It may have also contributed to

when he was gonna leave jail,

Because he knew that they were

not the threat they were before,

And it was his time

to ascend to the throne,

And that's what he did.

♪