Backyard (2009) Movie Script
based on actual events
Female.
Age 16 to 25.
Fractured femur.
Nails painted red.
There's a robe to one side...
...from the Kikay factory.
Left nipple torn off.
This makes how many?
29 bodies this year.
And in the past decade?
Don't be a prick, Hernndez.
Gold tooth with the letter K.
Signs of strangulation.
-The first rape victim appeared 3 years ago.
-Or the first documented one.
Our count is 65 since then.
The reporters say 83.
- How many women missing?
- Again, the numbers game.
Some say 100. Others, 350.
But they sent you to clean up, right?
To clean up and take over,
once the Chief gets promoted.
Some say there's a serial killer.
There's no signature, nothing
repeated on all the victims.
83 murders in the past 3 years,
that's got to be a world record, right?
Look, the Gringos sure put
that building up fast.
They'd just started when you got here.
The Bible is Truth, read it!
Good morning, Jurez!
Border city, crossover city.
Backyard with two gates.
From the U. S., trucks roll in
loaded with used clothing,
used jalopies for sale,
expired medicines,
and rich kids looking to lose their
virginity to our top-notch sex workers.
And from the rest of Mexico:
the poorest of the poor roll in
looking for minimum wage in the factories,
and just maybe - God willing -
if the Border Patrol looks the other way,
they'll hop the border as wetbacks.
There you have it: Jurez.
Crossroads of chaos, border city.
Wounded city, crowned with
the blood of murdered girls.
This cultural education goes out
with condolences to the latest victim,
with a K on her gold tooth.
Katia, Karina, Katwoman...
To the girl whose face Death blew into.
Direct from Jurez,
broadcasting across the state of Chihuahua,
"Los Tigres del Norte."
Another body in the desert, and Kikay
doesn't want its name in the papers.
- But the victim worked for Kikay, right?
- Yes, she did. But the owner,
doesn't want dead women
associated with his brand.
Talk to me, lvarez.
What can I do for you?
Governor, you need to respond forcefully,
to show you protect big investors in Jurez.
and that you support
our assembly plants, too.
This kind of news is very dangerous to us.
The "globalphobes" are eager...
for any negative detail they can
disseminate internationally,
to damage global brand names like ours.
I couldn't agree more with
our friend Numasaki.
I'll speak to the newspaper owners,
and keep your brand out of this.
But only as a special favor.
Done. Take care, Governor.
Son of a bitch... He called a
dead woman a "negative detail."
- Get me all the Ciudad Jurez news editors.
- Yes, Sir.
Easy, easy now.
- Those belong to...
- Meet me in my office.
They bashed her head in, Doctor.
- Sign these invoices.
- For that girl who was raped?
She needs anti-depressants.
- Hello.
- Hello Sara.
Sign here, please.
- Can't Susana budget it?
- She says we're broke.
-That's right.
-We'll find money somewhere.
Here's the receipts for legal
fees and daycare supplies.
Sara, isn't this Karen?
She was from Hidalgo:
no family in Jurez.
She worked for Kikay.
She came to the cops a year ago.
The date's here, you can have this.
Come in.
Excuse me.
Lieutenant Fierro.
Have a seat.
Her man was beating her.
They call him "The Sultan."
-Yeah, an Egyptian.
-Yeah, but you guys did nothing.
- There must have been a reason.
- Sure there was!
Anyway, therapy taught her not
to tolerate any kind of abuse.
So...
Karen, who had a funny streak, said...
...she wouldn't go to the dentist anymore.
Not even that abuse, she told me.
We can take a break.
- I'm crying because I'm angry.
- Let's take a break.
No. When I cry out of anger,
I think better.
The bastard threatened her.
He called, came looking for her.
Two months ago, we filed another
complaint, and you did nothing.
You questioned him until his lawyer
showed up, then he was back on the street.
Fierro, bring me the file.
- You're a public accountant.
- Used to be.
We'll send the body to this address.
I'll give you that, you're great undertakers.
You find bodies, and you deliver them.
-Thanks for your cooperation.
-This is such a farce!
More than 80 have died,
around 600 are missing.
680 women in Ciudad Jurez
who aren't there anymore!
And what have you done about it?
Not one arrest!
I don't want to make excuses,
but I just got here.
I'm doing my best. But I'm understaffed,
the files are incomplete...
No wonder!
Let me fill in the blanks.
Each photo says where they were found,
estimated time and cause of death,
suspected sex crime or domestic violence,
or if they're considered missing.
- Where'd you get all this?
- The newspapers.
If you cops weren't illiterate,
you'd have the same files.
Let us pray.
- Excuse me.
- Yes?
- Can you give me directions?
- Let's see.
It's just past that hill. Over that way.
Abdalah Haddad. Born in Egypt.
In 1981, he beats and rapes a
woman in Palm Beach, Florida.
5 years probation. Again in 1983:
assault and rape in Texas.
He gets 10 years in El Paso.
He's released in 3 on the
condition that he leave Gringoland.
So he crosses the border and
blesses us with his presence.
Here in Jurez: three drunk driving arrests.
Two rape charges in '95.
He walks both times: no evidence.
A year ago, kidnapping and sexual assault of,
what was her name? Karen Rocha.
- The dead woman we found.
- He walks again.
Chief, I see a progression.
In the U.S., he attacks three
women and winds up in jail.
Here, he rapes a woman,
and nothing happens.
So he figures, this is paradise.
He starts killing them and nothing happens,
until he's murdered 46 in three years.
How'd you get that number?
I took out domestic abuse victims.
Let's say he kills a woman every month.
- It's just a hypothesis.
- Without any hard evidence.
Listen. I didn't graduate from
The Mexico City police academy,
but here in Jurez, I got plenty
of tricks up my sleeve.
Put him behind bars,
and his super lawyer will
have him out in no time.
No way. Cousin Juanita!
- You're wet!
- Sorry. I'm all sweaty.
Come inside.
How was the trip?
Sit down.
From Cintalapa, Chiapas, to Villahermosa
From there to Mexico City;
From there to Durango, then here.
-Two days on a bus.
-So my uncle let you come after all?
Hang on... He sent you two things.
Gimme a second.
He figures, he's gonna die soon,
and since all the single men left town,
he let me come.
You know the last thing Pa said?
I'm getting on the bus, and he says:
"Don't you come back pregnant. "
C'mon. I'll show you your room.
- A room for me?
- You're not in a village anymore.
A whole room, all to yourself.
- For real?
- Yep.
Hold still.
I'll take out the Indian, you'll see.
Look cousin, that's the United States.
- Where?
- There!
Someday I'm gonna cross.
You're not crossing the street
without my permission, kiddo.
If I ever told you I love you
that I'd give my life for you
if I ever told you I loved you
it won't happen again
Looking good, Juana.
Put on your sneakers.
- Good, how?
- In good health.
Have a seat, please.
Take these birth control pills.
To not have kids?
- Do you have a sex life?
- Of course not, Doctor!
Juana, girls change here.
They're liberated.
They make their own money and decisions,
especially with no parents around.
I'm not going to get knocked up!
That's what these are for.
Every month, you take a test.
If you're pregnant, you're fired.
OK?
Mrgara.
Set the tray down, open it,
put in the part,
then close and release...
Cold sweat means the
desert is getting to you.
That's what you get for
driving around alone.
In Veracruz, we call it dengue.
It happens, then it just goes away.
I want to check him out.
I take full responsibility.
You got it.
You were never here.
Nope. Never.
Cover me.
Whiskey. One more.
Get me a whiskey. One more.
Yes? Yes?
- Freeze!
- Hands behind your head!
Now!
Get dressed!
Stay back!
Where would I call from, asshole?
Get dressed!
Cover up.
Stay back. Move! Get dressed.
- How old are you?
- 19.
- Serious injuries, Fierro?
- Very serious.
This is your fourth assault.
You're under arrest.
Let's go.
Mr. Governor.
The alleged serial killer
of Ciudad Jurez.
They just nabbed him?
How "alleged" is he?
The Jurez Police Chief
says he's the real deal.
- Leak it to the press.
- Correct.
- Mrgara, I gotta pee.
- Don't miss a beat.
When I say "now," let me in.
Now!
10 minutes to go, once a day.
Lunch is 10 minutes.
-Hard work, huh, Juana?
-No way.
Shift supervisor?
Your cousin says this job's for sissies.
Back home, I got up to
chop wood before dawn.
Then I made Pa breakfast,
picked corn 'til noon,
came home to feed Pa, cleaned house.
Sometimes we'd cross the river
and go to the store, remember?
But we always had to come home,
wash up, make dinner.
For your Pa.
- And here we get paid, Juana.
- For only 9 hours, Monday to Friday.
And thank God, today is...
Friday!
When did you last see Karen Rocha?
It's a simple question.
What you need is a good fuck.
Somebody to wipe your ass.
Get outta here.
- You've got 2 phone calls.
- Leave, servant girl.
It's his lawyer. He says
he's got a nasty hangover.
Fuck me! That broad with him
was our whole case.
- She crossed the border.
- Where to?
They don't know either.
She got cold feet and took off.
That asshole stays in jail anyway.
Maybe then, the killing will stop.
Mickey Santos.
He owns nightclubs, gas stations, etc.
Legit?
As far as we know, squeaky clean.
He makes money in Jurez,
but he lives on the gringo side.
Makes a fortune on booze,
but he won't touch the stuff.
- Hey, are you from Oaxaca?
- No.
- Why, are you?
- Tecpatn, Oaxaca.
No way!
- No way?
- What a coincidence!
- But you're not from Oaxaca.
- No... Cintalapa, Chiapas.
Boy, that really is some coincidence.
Dummy. Cintalapa is right next to Oaxaca.
- Next to Tecpatn?
- No, next to the other side.
Do you speak Tzeltal?
- Can you?
- A little.
My grandparents taught me.
Have a beer.
What for? I'm happy with my soda.
Shall we dance?
Your sister knows the moves.
She even found a boyfriend!
That's my cousin, Mrgara.
And she didn't find a boyfriend.
She's just dancing.
What are you laughing at?
- It's different here.
- What?
-What's different?
-What's what?
- What are we talking about?
- I don't know, do you?
Come on. I'll show you.
Let's go then.
This woman's face looks familiar.
Where would you know her from?
Take a close up.
Real close.
This one too.
- She's been missing over a year.
- That can't be.
- Dead that long, her face would be disfigured.
- Maybe they had her locked up.
Where was the other one?
Here she is.
Disappeared 15 months ago.
Either they were kept captive,
or killed and preserved somehow.
- Where are the others?
- Here.
Sara.
We've perfected the funeral service.
I collect bodies, you bring mourners,
they bring crosses.
The first thing you notice about Jurez
is the extraordinary sky.
A blue that isn't just heavenly,
it's incredibly cobalt.
Then there's the 150 degree sky the ice-cold
wind seems to make bigger by the minute.
Maybe it's because of the surreal sky
we live under surreal circumstances.
A case in point:
remember that serial killer,
the one whose capture
our valiant Governor pinned
on his chest like a medal?
Well, you may recall that
after he went behind bars,
the bodies of another eight
women appeared within days,
and since then, every week another
body, like goddamn clockwork.
But incredibly enough, this
alleged serial killer is still in jail,
as if he could murder from his cell.
Or maybe he does it by...
telepathy?
I have on the line so he can explain
his magical techniques,
Mr. Abdalah Haddad,
the so-called telepathic killer.
How are they treating you in prison?
I can't complain, Mr. Peralta.
I'd like your listeners to know...
that I'm the perfect scapegoat, Sir,
because of my reputation as a
ladies' man and heavy drinker.
You also have quite a rap sheet.
Criminal records in Florida,
Texas, and Ciudad Jurez too.
Yeah, that's true.
Last I heard...
Fabricated evidence.
Yes, I cross into
Mexico every Friday.
I check the books and tell
my managers what to do.
Banks move the money, the rest
is processed by phone or Internet.
- You only visit Jurez on Fridays?
- I might have on a Thursday,
...or Monday, as an exception.
The Sultan called you from jail.
Yes, he left several messages,
but I didn't answer.
He wanted to ask you a favor.
What was it?
I didn't talk to him. I don't
know The Sultan that well.
I hired him, then fired him for the
same reason you think he's the killer.
- Which is...
- Which is that he's sick with hatred.
He hit a secretary, picture that.
I can picture him doing
something as awful
as biting off a teenager's
nipple before killing her.
You two met in jail in El Paso.
In the sex offenders' area.
That's official.
If it's official, I don't see
what your question is.
Are you familiar with the word
"rehabilitate"?
Some say there are jails where
prisoners are rehabilitated,
and jails where they're punished.
I say it depends on the prisoner,
not the prison.
I died when I went to jail,
and I rehabilitated myself there.
You know those eight
women found last month?
Three were kidnapped over a year ago.
Forensics says these women were frozen.
Frozen?
Two questions: any idea where
they were kept frozen that long?
And how does The Sultan send
women to their graves from a jail cell?
I'll try and think of anything
I might have heard
...Haddad say that would be useful to you.
Hello? Don't be long with those copies.
- There's your boyfriend, Juana.
- He's looking good.
I'll be home late.
No. Be back early. You've got to
rest up for tomorrow.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Did you find a job?
- Nothing so far.
I fall onto the assembly line,
then the hammer falls on my face.
You dreamt that last night?
I dreamt it while I was working.
I kept on going. Pull, wind, release.
I didn't close my eyes or skip a piece.
What you dream in 1 second,
takes 5 minutes to tell.
Really? Well, that must have been it...
You're laughing at me?
I'm just looking at you, Juana.
I brought this for you.
- We'll listen to it in your truck.
- All right.
Or at your place.
Are you all right?
There, there now.
That kata was the Cat.
Here goes the Dragon.
What?
Don't play dumb.
Well, I know my katas too.
For example, this is the kata of...
The kata of...
Kiss me?
We should talk to your father first.
He's in Cintalapala, Cutberto.
And he doesn't have a phone.
With Mrgara, then.
Why? She's my cousin, not my Ma,
may she rest in peace.
Cutberto...
What?
I want you to know... it doesn't
matter we're alone here,
without our parents.
This is serious for me, Juana.
Real serious.
For me too.
From General Electric,
from Toshiba, from esparza...
from Maderas Nacionales.
From Ford.
Women who worked at different plants.
The Cheros locked us up in basements.
All of them downtown, I think.
I met another four women.
- Were any there over 3 months?
- Nobody I met.
They call it Angel's Delight.
They rape you every day.
But they save the Delight...
for when they're going to kill you.
They tell you all about it.
During the final rape, they strangle you,
and then you really squeeze your sex tight
because you're about to die.
They raffle it off,
and whoever wins, enjoys.
Tell her to see me outside.
Write any names you remember.
What's up, Chief?
You helped the victim
and let the rapists get away.
- She was bleeding.
-Bleeding to death from her breast?
- I thought that...
- You didn't think, you felt!
That's why women make
good nurses and bad cops.
We'd have those fuckers and
she'd be in the hospital,
if you'd gone after them
instead of the victim.
- All right, I made a mistake.
- I'm taking you off the case.
All you've done is drive
around in the desert.
I'll release The Sultan for
lack of evidence.
We arrest him...
and the Cheros kidnap and kill women.
Like they had a deal.
Let's plan a raid and nab all
the Cheros the same night.
How many cops do you need?
How about transportation, weapons?
We're in Jurez, woman.
Here the motto is:
Ain't got none, no can do,
couldn't be done.
Yes? Be right there.
They're here.
Hello.
Welcome, Hilda.
Thank you very much.
How about some wine?
Thanks.
How will you support this child?
Like I said. I'll work in the factories.
Yes, but you didn't think it through.
Where will he stay while you're at work?
I'll figure out something.
You'll tie him to the crib, like the rest?
- Better than not being born.
- Who says it's better?
I don't want to have it. God does.
Those bastards left you in pieces.
Don't keep punishing yourself.
The important thing is you have a choice.
I can take you to a doctor
and cover expenses,
but only you can decide.
So this is what you do
in your spare time.
You go around in circles.
When is this raid going to happen?
Jurez doesn't have the officers
and victims aren't a priority, so...
it's never going to happen.
There's a story I read.
A town in India holds a ceremony
once every full moon.
Until one night, a tiger shows up...
and eats someone. They flee in terror.
A month later they gather again,
scared this time.
Same story: the tiger jumps out,
devours someone, and escapes.
The next month, the town
gathers again, but this time...
they're not scared, because now
the tiger is part of the ceremony.
He forms part of the ritual.
Easy for the world to say,
how can this be?
Just like these murders.
A woman dies every month, or every week.
It's expected, and no one cares.
It bothered us for a while, but now...
we're just waiting for the tiger to come.
Is Assistant Director Arizmendi in?
Where am I calling from? From home.
And you think a front page
would change things?
I'll send facts from my files,
and I can even write the story.
No Sara, I'd send a reporter,
but I'll tell you why I can't.
And please, don't be offended.
Women being raped and murdered
in Jurez isn't news anymore.
But you could make front-page news...
out of murdered women not being
news anymore in our country.
Sara, explain something to me.
This is big: why ask me,
and not the director?
Because these women are killed
solely for being women.
So you think front page is too much.
State news, page what?
Six? Or the crime sheet.
Got it. Let me rethink this. Thanks.
Get me the Bureau Chief
at the New York Times.
Jurez is the world's biggest
producer of sex crimes.
I don't want any discussion.
That's how they see us today.
I want answers.
I don't want speeches about
social decay in Ciudad Jurez.
I want proposals, fresh solutions.
Above all, visible solutions.
Do I make myself clear? Visible!
- Personal defense courses for women.
- A campaign on radio and TV.
Lighting in poor neighborhoods.
More officers, more weapons,
more lab equipment.
Public transportation in slums.
A police raid to arrest suspects.
Roger.
Let's go, Fierro.
Weren't we supposed to meet here?
In a minute. He's teaching
me the quebradita.
- You're coming with me.
- You're not married, bro'.
Come with me, right now.
Nobody move, police!
Good evening, Jurez.
The powers of good were miraculously
unleashed, armed to the teeth.
Victor Peralta here, reporting on an
extraordinary event that took place tonight.
Under Captain Blanca Bravo,
officers from the state capital
surrounded the downtown area.
They caught the Cheros gang leader
The Fish and his sidekick, The Bear.
They caught The Wolf and his coke dealers.
They caught Margarito, Ledezma,
The Stag, The Ox, The Bull...
All the flora and fauna that were
taking over downtown Jurez.
They also picked up a few good
citizens who were out having fun.
A perfectly planned operation,
without a single shot fired.
Oh, and three kidnapped women
were rescued from a basement.
More to come on this, our news program.
This is Vctor Peralta. Good night.
Don't look at me, fucker!
A message for your Chief:
He should have tipped me off
about the time, date and place.
And you tell him not to rest easy.
Because he owes me a life.
And I'm gonna take it.
Asshole.
Next group.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Hold your numbers up.
Hilda.
Thirty-three.
Thirty-three.
I'll be right back, kiddo.
Next.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Numbers up.
No one.
No one.
Step back. Outside. Move.
- Juana, I'm talking to you.
- What do you want, Cut?
Let's talk. I'll take you home.
- Dude, take it easy or I'll...
- Quiet, this is my problem!
I work 9 hours Monday through Friday
so I can do what I want on Saturday.
Why don't you love me anymore?
I feel like we belong to each other.
I'm not marrying him in
three days either, Cut.
I'm my own boss.
I wanna meet people. Not get tied down.
That's not fair.
Maybe you feel that way now.
But look, I can do whatever I want.
And like they say on TV:
my body is my body.
Let me go, and let's be friends, OK?
Enough already, easy, easy.
Join us macho men.
Don't look back, she ain't worth it.
I'm tired of this work.
I want a huge desk with 8 phones
and 15 secretaries in the state capital.
Not all this hassle.
You wanna know the worst?
That fucker who beat the shit
outta you is nuts.
He's got his own private religion,
understand?
- Nope. Why don't you explain?
- Let's see, how do I explain?
- What bullshit will you feed me?
- Yeah, what bullshit...
How about something that
interests you instead?
How about replacing me on the force?
Who they pick depends on me.
- What about Blanca?
- Oh, sorry...
If you're worried about Blanca's future...
- forget about my proposition.
- Come on, Chief.
Of course I'm interested.
Take some time off until your face heals.
Go through the parking lot
so no one sees you.
Sir?
Well done, Chief. Now get this.
After this display, the Governor
wants results. From you, personally.
From me, personally.
I'll make sure we get convictions.
In every interrogation.
I really appreciate this, Sir.
Dead men triple raped women,
and there's no police raids.
Besides, what city doesn't have
both dead men and women?
Problem is, that new cop is more
interested in dead women than men.
Reverse sexism, dude.
But the dead men are always armed.
They're mostly dealers, right?
And they get shot in the crossfire.
But not the dead women. They take
them so they can screw them.
And they bite them or cut off a breast,
some skin between their legs.
If they were armed, at least
they'd have a chance.
We gotta give these
goddamn broads guns?
Keep talking, Oaxaca.
You know a man by how he
treats women and children.
Oh, Oaxaca. That's why
she done you wrong.
You're a loser.
Ma!
Gimme more salsa.
Estela, give Ma a hand. Move!
Look at her. Move it!
C'mon, it's gonna get cold.
Take a hit, Oaxaca.
I'm gonna explain this real slow.
That woman disgraced you.
And in public, to boot!
You gave her everything.
You gave it your all.
and the ungrateful bitch
stabbed you in the back.
So now you got two choices.
Like seeing yourself double
in these shades.
You see yourself double?
Or you forgive her and keep moaning,
or you don't forgive shit
and quit being such a fag.
Street lamps all over the city.
Public transportation where workers live,
a bigger and better police force.
I'm getting to that.
With publicity from big business
and the U.S. government,
you can launch a program making
Ciudad Jurez a model city.
Like the Marshall Plan the U.S. created
in Germany and Japan after World War II.
We're not your enemies,
like Germany and Japan back then.
We're your neighbors.
But it's no good for you to have poor
neighbors, because that means trouble.
It makes us a bad market.
You gave us 1,200 bucks per body.
Just like we agreed, Sultan.
That was the price per woman.
I joked about sales tax.
We had to bring you underwear
and a news clipping for each body.
You paid us 11,400 dollars.
That's why the brand names
are moving their factories to...
China or India. Unless...
We offer highly trained labor here.
Or, less expensive. Not more.
I don't know that fucker!
We have records of the
Cheros visiting you in jail.
They're bringing them in now. We want
to eradicate this kind of situation.
We want some answers.
Here comes Captain Blanca...
What can you tell us about this situation?
Nothing right now, thanks.
No comment, thank you.
- You're famous now, right?
- I don't have press clearance.
Let's talk off the record.
- What do you want?
- To offer you rebuttal.
Because what I'm saying is:
it doesn't fit.
- What doesn't fit?
- The results of your investigation.
-The Cheros didn't kill the last 11 women.
-They confessed, you heard them.
They confessed The Sultan hired
them 3 months ago to kill women.
So how come three victims were
missing over a year? It doesn't fit.
Did you "interrogate" them?
Were you even there?
I'll say on the air the cops
told them what to confess,
and the evidence was tainted
by their use of brute force.
And in the middle of this cesspool,
you're a peculiar figure.
Do me a favor: leave me out of it.
A cop who has used illegal methods
in pursuit of a legitimate goal:
ending the murders of women in Jurez.
A cop moved by holy rebellion,
because holy rebellions do exist,
but within an impossible context
of corruption and inefficiency
only someone in power could change.
Let's say: the Governor.
Nice man, good Catholic...
...but totally incapable of making his
Christian will be done in the real world.
- Turn it off!
- You all know him, a man who's deeply--
Hey.
Just a minute.
- This is my cooling system.
- Fantastic.
You never smile.
Not when you take me to see something
awful the same day I get fired.
Is that the Governor's plan?
- So they say.
- My goodness!
Hallelujah, praise be to God.
This very day our Lord Governor
arrives in Jurez to, and I quote,
establish order and keep the peace,
which means chopping off
Captain Blanca Bravo's head
for the sin of meddling with
our very well organized crime.
Take notice, as he descends
from that powerful, silver Pullman bus...
Hit me.
Right in the face, Mrgara.
C'mon. Go for the face or balls,
don't waste time.
See why it's got to be the
face or balls from the start?
Because if not, I've already
immobilized you, just like that.
Thanks, Mrgara. Juana, your turn.
I approach. What do you say?
- Stop right there!
- But I...
- Right there, not another step!
- But I come closer.
Don't go, how come you told him you'd go?
Oh, Mrgara, poor Cutberto.
I really liked him, I feel bad
he's not over me yet.
Every night there's a full moon,
the wind carries the screams.
- And if there isn't a full moon?
- Well, it's quiet and abandoned, like.
It's next to the border fence.
-Tell me where to go.
-Yes.
I'll just make nice and catch
up with you at home, OK?
- Rent some videos.
- You got it.
If you're in trouble, you call me.
- Hey, hot Mama, call me instead.
- I'm your man, princess.
- Ooo, I'm scared.
- Take it easy, Juana.
One o'clock on the dot, you hear?
Don't worry, cuz.
Not just pretty, bilingual too!
- But where the hell did I go wrong?
- Nowhere. I want to meet more people.
There's another name for that.
-If you're going to disrespect me, I'm leaving.
-Wait.
- Since when do you smoke?
- Since you broke my heart, Juana.
Can I tell you something, Cut?
You're making me sleepy.
What's it gonna be, Juana?
You gonna dance with me too?
Or like the song says,
with everyone else but me?
Careful, Cut. You can't
touch me unless I say so.
Stay away from me.
Stay back, not one step closer.
- Let's go.
- What's inside?
What's inside?
A big freezer. Down in the basement.
- What do you mean, a freezer?
- Like from a slaughterhouse.
Anything in it?
No. Empty. An empty freezer
in the middle of the desert.
Goodbye, princess.
C'mon, go for it.
- Did I get you in trouble, Blanca?
- That's your job, right?
Judging what others do, what they
don't do, what they should do,
how they should do it.
Sitting next to a microphone,
having an opinion.
Yes, that's my job:
criticizing next to an open mike.
Is the Governor in town yet?
You think he's firing me.
I heard you yesterday.
That's right.
Maybe instead of talking to me, he'll just
give the Chief orders that affect me.
Anyway... given the situation,
I want you to know a few things,
so you can "have an opinion" later on.
I'm listening...
The Sultan and the Cheros. It's true.
The evidence is flimsy. They may
or may not have murdered women.
And there are several others.
Several?
These deaths won't stop because
a serial killer is still on the loose.
A murderer with a fixed method.
Maybe, and this is just a hypothesis,
he captures his victims every full moon...
and stores them in a basement,
in an industrial freezer.
Then, after a few months,
he throws them into the desert.
So what is he? Narco-satanic?
Who knows, someone
connected to the Cheros...
put 3 bodies in that vacant lot,
the ones that didn't fit.
Why give the Cheros 3 bodies?
To get rid of them and to confuse things,
or as a favor between accomplices.
And there are other killers.
- Snuff pornographers.
- Could be.
- Organ traffickers.
- Could be, too.
Wannabes, killing for sport.
Yes, it could be any of those theories,
or all of them at once.
Then there's domestic violence.
A husband kills his wife because
she didn't cook dinner,
or an uncle rapes his niece
and makes sure she won't talk.
So what are the facts, Blanca?
Murder a woman in Jurez,
throw her into the desert
and you have a license to kill.
It'll be buried on a crime sheet,
because the cops won't investigate.
Not thoroughly, anyway.
No one will be charged with
anything that sticks
and no judge will ever
hand down a sentence.
Explain the circumstances to the Governor.
C'mere.
- Give me five, ten minutes.
- Hang on.
You can come in.
- You made an arrest with no evidence.
- That's right.
- And you kept him in jail.
- That's right.
You used torture to get
false confessions.
No, Sir.
- No torture was used, you say?
- I wouldn't know.
- The Chief wouldn't-
-You plea bargained with these Cheros
to frame this "Sultan".
- Sentencing for murder-
-You coerced a woman to abort.
- I informed her-
-Unsolicited information.
You offered her shelter and a job
if she had an abortion.
You forced her to kill her own child.
That's a serious accusation,
one that merits time in prison.
- Let me explain-
- What the hell is going on out there?
You know what gets my goat?
You're proud of what you did.
Doing nothing is worse.
These are 17-year-old women...
Ramrez, go see what the fuck
is going on out there!
Now hear this, you broke the law
and there is no justification.
- Let me explain-
- Shut up!
You're going to lose your job,
your badge, and your freedom.
That DJ Peralta is on the radio
inciting people to protest by honking.
To protest? Protest what?
He says you're putting this
woman behind bars.
How many people would you say?
A hundred? Three hundred?
How many people are peacefully at
home this Saturday watching TV?
- Any idea, Chief?
- Most people.
The ones who matter trust we'll do
what it takes to keep the peace.
The others, the ones
who like the streets,
Iet them go on making noise
and killing each other.
We'll have her badge. But watch the timing:
do it after I'm back in Chihuahua.
Yes, Sir.
-Keep downtown clear for me tonight.
-Yes, Sir.
And find the connection between
Captain Bravo and this DJ...
Peralta.
And we're taking you away from here.
I'm promoting you to Secretary of
Public Safety, in the state capital.
I'm most grateful, Mr. Governor.
These murders are a wasp's nest.
The less we shake it up, the better.
Are you fast asleep?
- Where am I?
- Take it easy.
It's OK.
You smell nice and fresh.
Can I make love to you?
Let me make love to you,
then I'll let you go.
By the Virgin, I swear I'll let you go.
I just want to make love to you.
- I was told you could help me here.
- Yes, come in.
I'm scared to go to the cops. They get
your information and you never know.
- When did you expect her?
- Around noon.
But she's never late, she always calls.
Sara will be here soon.
Check this out.
One more, one more.
I fold.
- How'd it go, Oaxaca?
- Fine.
So you gonna share your girlfriend?
- Don't be selfish, Oaxaca.
- We're gonna share her, right?
- Wait, that wasn't the plan...
- Was there a plan, guys?
- No, none.
- Zero plan, Oaxaca.
- Where does he live?
- In a school bus.
It's past Lomas de Poleo,
but I don't know where.
There aren't many abandoned
buses over there.
I never went to check it out.
I should have gone. I'm supposed
to take care of her.
Do you have a photo of her?
It's the only one I have.
They took it at the factory.
Look!
Get a good look. Go for it!
She's great, eh?
Right this way, Oaxaca my man,
come on...
Hang on, here.
Take it out.
Come on.
Look, look.
Now, you know, you gotta do her.
No choice, bro', got it?
Easy motherfucker, easy now...
Do it, do it!
C'mon, do it, motherfucker!
Put it all the way on, shit.
Sir, a couple of questions...
- Are you changing the police force?
- We're starting an investigation,
and steps will be taken by the book.
What's that in plain Spanish?
Ask me about the economy.
I'm here to talk to investors.
When will the killing stop?
The media focus on these murders...
- is ruining tourism in Jurez.
- What tourism?
It's unfair that whenever
you talk about Jurez,
people ask themselves:
Jurez? The dead women?
And you reporters don't stress that
there's a lot of good things going on.
What about the term "femicide"?
They should use that term
around the world,
not just in Jurez.
Just cross the border.
On the road to Houston. They've got
their murdered women, too.
That's your response...?
Let's welcome the Governor
of the State of Chihuahua.
- Mr. lvarez...
- How are you, Governor?
- Welcome, Sir!
- Thanks very much.
- That's him?
- Yes.
Go!
Where's your girlfriend?
- I don't know.
- You don't know?
Where is she?
- They kidnapped both of us.
- I don't believe you. Where is she?
The next one goes in your head.
Where is she?
- Answer me!
- I don't know.
It can't be!
My heart bleeds for you.
The Chief wants a word.
Always too little, too late.
The Governor wants to know
your relationship to Peralta.
What for? So he knows whether to
take my badge or charge me?
I don't know what they're
going to decide.
- Peralta is my best friend.
- Well now.
And if I'm charged with anything,
or my badge is taken,
as a civilian, I can tell him all
I know about the Jurez police.
Gotcha.
I'll send your message upstairs.
Get some sleep.
You haven't slept in two days, right?
Fierro, we got things to do.
You bet, Chief!
What's up?
See you.
Fifty-fifty. That's how it's
gonna be with all our clients.
As long as you're Chief and I'm alive.
- And what's the deal with our...?
- Clients?
Yeah.
You put anything client-related
on hold and notify them.
Sometimes they want information.
This crazy bastard Santos,
for example. Check it out.
Silver Fox to Night Czar.
Sir, it's for you.
- Did you like it?
- Absolutely, you're most kind.
Any news?
You're good to go. Have a nice evening.
Hey, little dove. Where do you live?
- Close by.
- Close, like 10 minutes or 20?
- I'm almost there.
- Wanna ride?
No thanks.
I'll take you, little dove.
Get out of the car!
Get out!
Let her go!
You let her go!
Get in the car!
She's more scared of the cops than me.
On the other hand,
I turn myself in...
... knowing that I'll get a fair deal
from the authorities, a fair trial...
and a fair sentence.
So what do I do, Cop?
Which way? Here? There?
Hands up!
Get 'em up!
A score settled between drug dealers,
or so the police bulletin says,
although that would be a
first for Mickey Santos.
Anyway, he was found dead a week ago,
and here in Jurez, the one
thing that's certain is Death.
Well, on a somewhat lighter note:
Earlier today, Kikay, a Toyota subsidiary,
moved out of the Jurez Industrial Park.
How about that? The good thing
about being a transnational...
when things get ugly, you vacate
the premises and ciaooo!
You're off to the other side
of the world to find...
the same cheap labor,
the same cheap proletariat.
OK, back to crime:
excavation continued today
at the clandestine grave
found just three days ago
right there a top Lomas de Poleo.
It comes as no surprise that next to nothing
is known about how, when or who...
found the site, not to mention
the when or why of this grave
... from which women's bodies
are still being removed.
"Stop the killing! Stop the killing!"
Predictably, some journalists showed up,
and just as predictably,
the Mothers in Mourning.
You know the ones; women related
to murdered or missing women.
Likewise, our brand-new Chief
of Police made an appearance.
The guy who ever since his appointment,
in a sinister way, looks more
and more like the old Chief.
All right then. Good morning, Jurez!
And with these latest deaths, the
number of murders has risen to...
With these latest deaths...
the number of murdered women has
risen to the unbelievable total of....
To Captain Blanca Bravo,
relieved of her position...
...since we may never meet again,
this is goodbye.
Jurez must not die.
Women killed in sex crimes
Women killed in sex crimes
Women missing
Women killed in sex crimes
Female.
Age 16 to 25.
Fractured femur.
Nails painted red.
There's a robe to one side...
...from the Kikay factory.
Left nipple torn off.
This makes how many?
29 bodies this year.
And in the past decade?
Don't be a prick, Hernndez.
Gold tooth with the letter K.
Signs of strangulation.
-The first rape victim appeared 3 years ago.
-Or the first documented one.
Our count is 65 since then.
The reporters say 83.
- How many women missing?
- Again, the numbers game.
Some say 100. Others, 350.
But they sent you to clean up, right?
To clean up and take over,
once the Chief gets promoted.
Some say there's a serial killer.
There's no signature, nothing
repeated on all the victims.
83 murders in the past 3 years,
that's got to be a world record, right?
Look, the Gringos sure put
that building up fast.
They'd just started when you got here.
The Bible is Truth, read it!
Good morning, Jurez!
Border city, crossover city.
Backyard with two gates.
From the U. S., trucks roll in
loaded with used clothing,
used jalopies for sale,
expired medicines,
and rich kids looking to lose their
virginity to our top-notch sex workers.
And from the rest of Mexico:
the poorest of the poor roll in
looking for minimum wage in the factories,
and just maybe - God willing -
if the Border Patrol looks the other way,
they'll hop the border as wetbacks.
There you have it: Jurez.
Crossroads of chaos, border city.
Wounded city, crowned with
the blood of murdered girls.
This cultural education goes out
with condolences to the latest victim,
with a K on her gold tooth.
Katia, Karina, Katwoman...
To the girl whose face Death blew into.
Direct from Jurez,
broadcasting across the state of Chihuahua,
"Los Tigres del Norte."
Another body in the desert, and Kikay
doesn't want its name in the papers.
- But the victim worked for Kikay, right?
- Yes, she did. But the owner,
doesn't want dead women
associated with his brand.
Talk to me, lvarez.
What can I do for you?
Governor, you need to respond forcefully,
to show you protect big investors in Jurez.
and that you support
our assembly plants, too.
This kind of news is very dangerous to us.
The "globalphobes" are eager...
for any negative detail they can
disseminate internationally,
to damage global brand names like ours.
I couldn't agree more with
our friend Numasaki.
I'll speak to the newspaper owners,
and keep your brand out of this.
But only as a special favor.
Done. Take care, Governor.
Son of a bitch... He called a
dead woman a "negative detail."
- Get me all the Ciudad Jurez news editors.
- Yes, Sir.
Easy, easy now.
- Those belong to...
- Meet me in my office.
They bashed her head in, Doctor.
- Sign these invoices.
- For that girl who was raped?
She needs anti-depressants.
- Hello.
- Hello Sara.
Sign here, please.
- Can't Susana budget it?
- She says we're broke.
-That's right.
-We'll find money somewhere.
Here's the receipts for legal
fees and daycare supplies.
Sara, isn't this Karen?
She was from Hidalgo:
no family in Jurez.
She worked for Kikay.
She came to the cops a year ago.
The date's here, you can have this.
Come in.
Excuse me.
Lieutenant Fierro.
Have a seat.
Her man was beating her.
They call him "The Sultan."
-Yeah, an Egyptian.
-Yeah, but you guys did nothing.
- There must have been a reason.
- Sure there was!
Anyway, therapy taught her not
to tolerate any kind of abuse.
So...
Karen, who had a funny streak, said...
...she wouldn't go to the dentist anymore.
Not even that abuse, she told me.
We can take a break.
- I'm crying because I'm angry.
- Let's take a break.
No. When I cry out of anger,
I think better.
The bastard threatened her.
He called, came looking for her.
Two months ago, we filed another
complaint, and you did nothing.
You questioned him until his lawyer
showed up, then he was back on the street.
Fierro, bring me the file.
- You're a public accountant.
- Used to be.
We'll send the body to this address.
I'll give you that, you're great undertakers.
You find bodies, and you deliver them.
-Thanks for your cooperation.
-This is such a farce!
More than 80 have died,
around 600 are missing.
680 women in Ciudad Jurez
who aren't there anymore!
And what have you done about it?
Not one arrest!
I don't want to make excuses,
but I just got here.
I'm doing my best. But I'm understaffed,
the files are incomplete...
No wonder!
Let me fill in the blanks.
Each photo says where they were found,
estimated time and cause of death,
suspected sex crime or domestic violence,
or if they're considered missing.
- Where'd you get all this?
- The newspapers.
If you cops weren't illiterate,
you'd have the same files.
Let us pray.
- Excuse me.
- Yes?
- Can you give me directions?
- Let's see.
It's just past that hill. Over that way.
Abdalah Haddad. Born in Egypt.
In 1981, he beats and rapes a
woman in Palm Beach, Florida.
5 years probation. Again in 1983:
assault and rape in Texas.
He gets 10 years in El Paso.
He's released in 3 on the
condition that he leave Gringoland.
So he crosses the border and
blesses us with his presence.
Here in Jurez: three drunk driving arrests.
Two rape charges in '95.
He walks both times: no evidence.
A year ago, kidnapping and sexual assault of,
what was her name? Karen Rocha.
- The dead woman we found.
- He walks again.
Chief, I see a progression.
In the U.S., he attacks three
women and winds up in jail.
Here, he rapes a woman,
and nothing happens.
So he figures, this is paradise.
He starts killing them and nothing happens,
until he's murdered 46 in three years.
How'd you get that number?
I took out domestic abuse victims.
Let's say he kills a woman every month.
- It's just a hypothesis.
- Without any hard evidence.
Listen. I didn't graduate from
The Mexico City police academy,
but here in Jurez, I got plenty
of tricks up my sleeve.
Put him behind bars,
and his super lawyer will
have him out in no time.
No way. Cousin Juanita!
- You're wet!
- Sorry. I'm all sweaty.
Come inside.
How was the trip?
Sit down.
From Cintalapa, Chiapas, to Villahermosa
From there to Mexico City;
From there to Durango, then here.
-Two days on a bus.
-So my uncle let you come after all?
Hang on... He sent you two things.
Gimme a second.
He figures, he's gonna die soon,
and since all the single men left town,
he let me come.
You know the last thing Pa said?
I'm getting on the bus, and he says:
"Don't you come back pregnant. "
C'mon. I'll show you your room.
- A room for me?
- You're not in a village anymore.
A whole room, all to yourself.
- For real?
- Yep.
Hold still.
I'll take out the Indian, you'll see.
Look cousin, that's the United States.
- Where?
- There!
Someday I'm gonna cross.
You're not crossing the street
without my permission, kiddo.
If I ever told you I love you
that I'd give my life for you
if I ever told you I loved you
it won't happen again
Looking good, Juana.
Put on your sneakers.
- Good, how?
- In good health.
Have a seat, please.
Take these birth control pills.
To not have kids?
- Do you have a sex life?
- Of course not, Doctor!
Juana, girls change here.
They're liberated.
They make their own money and decisions,
especially with no parents around.
I'm not going to get knocked up!
That's what these are for.
Every month, you take a test.
If you're pregnant, you're fired.
OK?
Mrgara.
Set the tray down, open it,
put in the part,
then close and release...
Cold sweat means the
desert is getting to you.
That's what you get for
driving around alone.
In Veracruz, we call it dengue.
It happens, then it just goes away.
I want to check him out.
I take full responsibility.
You got it.
You were never here.
Nope. Never.
Cover me.
Whiskey. One more.
Get me a whiskey. One more.
Yes? Yes?
- Freeze!
- Hands behind your head!
Now!
Get dressed!
Stay back!
Where would I call from, asshole?
Get dressed!
Cover up.
Stay back. Move! Get dressed.
- How old are you?
- 19.
- Serious injuries, Fierro?
- Very serious.
This is your fourth assault.
You're under arrest.
Let's go.
Mr. Governor.
The alleged serial killer
of Ciudad Jurez.
They just nabbed him?
How "alleged" is he?
The Jurez Police Chief
says he's the real deal.
- Leak it to the press.
- Correct.
- Mrgara, I gotta pee.
- Don't miss a beat.
When I say "now," let me in.
Now!
10 minutes to go, once a day.
Lunch is 10 minutes.
-Hard work, huh, Juana?
-No way.
Shift supervisor?
Your cousin says this job's for sissies.
Back home, I got up to
chop wood before dawn.
Then I made Pa breakfast,
picked corn 'til noon,
came home to feed Pa, cleaned house.
Sometimes we'd cross the river
and go to the store, remember?
But we always had to come home,
wash up, make dinner.
For your Pa.
- And here we get paid, Juana.
- For only 9 hours, Monday to Friday.
And thank God, today is...
Friday!
When did you last see Karen Rocha?
It's a simple question.
What you need is a good fuck.
Somebody to wipe your ass.
Get outta here.
- You've got 2 phone calls.
- Leave, servant girl.
It's his lawyer. He says
he's got a nasty hangover.
Fuck me! That broad with him
was our whole case.
- She crossed the border.
- Where to?
They don't know either.
She got cold feet and took off.
That asshole stays in jail anyway.
Maybe then, the killing will stop.
Mickey Santos.
He owns nightclubs, gas stations, etc.
Legit?
As far as we know, squeaky clean.
He makes money in Jurez,
but he lives on the gringo side.
Makes a fortune on booze,
but he won't touch the stuff.
- Hey, are you from Oaxaca?
- No.
- Why, are you?
- Tecpatn, Oaxaca.
No way!
- No way?
- What a coincidence!
- But you're not from Oaxaca.
- No... Cintalapa, Chiapas.
Boy, that really is some coincidence.
Dummy. Cintalapa is right next to Oaxaca.
- Next to Tecpatn?
- No, next to the other side.
Do you speak Tzeltal?
- Can you?
- A little.
My grandparents taught me.
Have a beer.
What for? I'm happy with my soda.
Shall we dance?
Your sister knows the moves.
She even found a boyfriend!
That's my cousin, Mrgara.
And she didn't find a boyfriend.
She's just dancing.
What are you laughing at?
- It's different here.
- What?
-What's different?
-What's what?
- What are we talking about?
- I don't know, do you?
Come on. I'll show you.
Let's go then.
This woman's face looks familiar.
Where would you know her from?
Take a close up.
Real close.
This one too.
- She's been missing over a year.
- That can't be.
- Dead that long, her face would be disfigured.
- Maybe they had her locked up.
Where was the other one?
Here she is.
Disappeared 15 months ago.
Either they were kept captive,
or killed and preserved somehow.
- Where are the others?
- Here.
Sara.
We've perfected the funeral service.
I collect bodies, you bring mourners,
they bring crosses.
The first thing you notice about Jurez
is the extraordinary sky.
A blue that isn't just heavenly,
it's incredibly cobalt.
Then there's the 150 degree sky the ice-cold
wind seems to make bigger by the minute.
Maybe it's because of the surreal sky
we live under surreal circumstances.
A case in point:
remember that serial killer,
the one whose capture
our valiant Governor pinned
on his chest like a medal?
Well, you may recall that
after he went behind bars,
the bodies of another eight
women appeared within days,
and since then, every week another
body, like goddamn clockwork.
But incredibly enough, this
alleged serial killer is still in jail,
as if he could murder from his cell.
Or maybe he does it by...
telepathy?
I have on the line so he can explain
his magical techniques,
Mr. Abdalah Haddad,
the so-called telepathic killer.
How are they treating you in prison?
I can't complain, Mr. Peralta.
I'd like your listeners to know...
that I'm the perfect scapegoat, Sir,
because of my reputation as a
ladies' man and heavy drinker.
You also have quite a rap sheet.
Criminal records in Florida,
Texas, and Ciudad Jurez too.
Yeah, that's true.
Last I heard...
Fabricated evidence.
Yes, I cross into
Mexico every Friday.
I check the books and tell
my managers what to do.
Banks move the money, the rest
is processed by phone or Internet.
- You only visit Jurez on Fridays?
- I might have on a Thursday,
...or Monday, as an exception.
The Sultan called you from jail.
Yes, he left several messages,
but I didn't answer.
He wanted to ask you a favor.
What was it?
I didn't talk to him. I don't
know The Sultan that well.
I hired him, then fired him for the
same reason you think he's the killer.
- Which is...
- Which is that he's sick with hatred.
He hit a secretary, picture that.
I can picture him doing
something as awful
as biting off a teenager's
nipple before killing her.
You two met in jail in El Paso.
In the sex offenders' area.
That's official.
If it's official, I don't see
what your question is.
Are you familiar with the word
"rehabilitate"?
Some say there are jails where
prisoners are rehabilitated,
and jails where they're punished.
I say it depends on the prisoner,
not the prison.
I died when I went to jail,
and I rehabilitated myself there.
You know those eight
women found last month?
Three were kidnapped over a year ago.
Forensics says these women were frozen.
Frozen?
Two questions: any idea where
they were kept frozen that long?
And how does The Sultan send
women to their graves from a jail cell?
I'll try and think of anything
I might have heard
...Haddad say that would be useful to you.
Hello? Don't be long with those copies.
- There's your boyfriend, Juana.
- He's looking good.
I'll be home late.
No. Be back early. You've got to
rest up for tomorrow.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Did you find a job?
- Nothing so far.
I fall onto the assembly line,
then the hammer falls on my face.
You dreamt that last night?
I dreamt it while I was working.
I kept on going. Pull, wind, release.
I didn't close my eyes or skip a piece.
What you dream in 1 second,
takes 5 minutes to tell.
Really? Well, that must have been it...
You're laughing at me?
I'm just looking at you, Juana.
I brought this for you.
- We'll listen to it in your truck.
- All right.
Or at your place.
Are you all right?
There, there now.
That kata was the Cat.
Here goes the Dragon.
What?
Don't play dumb.
Well, I know my katas too.
For example, this is the kata of...
The kata of...
Kiss me?
We should talk to your father first.
He's in Cintalapala, Cutberto.
And he doesn't have a phone.
With Mrgara, then.
Why? She's my cousin, not my Ma,
may she rest in peace.
Cutberto...
What?
I want you to know... it doesn't
matter we're alone here,
without our parents.
This is serious for me, Juana.
Real serious.
For me too.
From General Electric,
from Toshiba, from esparza...
from Maderas Nacionales.
From Ford.
Women who worked at different plants.
The Cheros locked us up in basements.
All of them downtown, I think.
I met another four women.
- Were any there over 3 months?
- Nobody I met.
They call it Angel's Delight.
They rape you every day.
But they save the Delight...
for when they're going to kill you.
They tell you all about it.
During the final rape, they strangle you,
and then you really squeeze your sex tight
because you're about to die.
They raffle it off,
and whoever wins, enjoys.
Tell her to see me outside.
Write any names you remember.
What's up, Chief?
You helped the victim
and let the rapists get away.
- She was bleeding.
-Bleeding to death from her breast?
- I thought that...
- You didn't think, you felt!
That's why women make
good nurses and bad cops.
We'd have those fuckers and
she'd be in the hospital,
if you'd gone after them
instead of the victim.
- All right, I made a mistake.
- I'm taking you off the case.
All you've done is drive
around in the desert.
I'll release The Sultan for
lack of evidence.
We arrest him...
and the Cheros kidnap and kill women.
Like they had a deal.
Let's plan a raid and nab all
the Cheros the same night.
How many cops do you need?
How about transportation, weapons?
We're in Jurez, woman.
Here the motto is:
Ain't got none, no can do,
couldn't be done.
Yes? Be right there.
They're here.
Hello.
Welcome, Hilda.
Thank you very much.
How about some wine?
Thanks.
How will you support this child?
Like I said. I'll work in the factories.
Yes, but you didn't think it through.
Where will he stay while you're at work?
I'll figure out something.
You'll tie him to the crib, like the rest?
- Better than not being born.
- Who says it's better?
I don't want to have it. God does.
Those bastards left you in pieces.
Don't keep punishing yourself.
The important thing is you have a choice.
I can take you to a doctor
and cover expenses,
but only you can decide.
So this is what you do
in your spare time.
You go around in circles.
When is this raid going to happen?
Jurez doesn't have the officers
and victims aren't a priority, so...
it's never going to happen.
There's a story I read.
A town in India holds a ceremony
once every full moon.
Until one night, a tiger shows up...
and eats someone. They flee in terror.
A month later they gather again,
scared this time.
Same story: the tiger jumps out,
devours someone, and escapes.
The next month, the town
gathers again, but this time...
they're not scared, because now
the tiger is part of the ceremony.
He forms part of the ritual.
Easy for the world to say,
how can this be?
Just like these murders.
A woman dies every month, or every week.
It's expected, and no one cares.
It bothered us for a while, but now...
we're just waiting for the tiger to come.
Is Assistant Director Arizmendi in?
Where am I calling from? From home.
And you think a front page
would change things?
I'll send facts from my files,
and I can even write the story.
No Sara, I'd send a reporter,
but I'll tell you why I can't.
And please, don't be offended.
Women being raped and murdered
in Jurez isn't news anymore.
But you could make front-page news...
out of murdered women not being
news anymore in our country.
Sara, explain something to me.
This is big: why ask me,
and not the director?
Because these women are killed
solely for being women.
So you think front page is too much.
State news, page what?
Six? Or the crime sheet.
Got it. Let me rethink this. Thanks.
Get me the Bureau Chief
at the New York Times.
Jurez is the world's biggest
producer of sex crimes.
I don't want any discussion.
That's how they see us today.
I want answers.
I don't want speeches about
social decay in Ciudad Jurez.
I want proposals, fresh solutions.
Above all, visible solutions.
Do I make myself clear? Visible!
- Personal defense courses for women.
- A campaign on radio and TV.
Lighting in poor neighborhoods.
More officers, more weapons,
more lab equipment.
Public transportation in slums.
A police raid to arrest suspects.
Roger.
Let's go, Fierro.
Weren't we supposed to meet here?
In a minute. He's teaching
me the quebradita.
- You're coming with me.
- You're not married, bro'.
Come with me, right now.
Nobody move, police!
Good evening, Jurez.
The powers of good were miraculously
unleashed, armed to the teeth.
Victor Peralta here, reporting on an
extraordinary event that took place tonight.
Under Captain Blanca Bravo,
officers from the state capital
surrounded the downtown area.
They caught the Cheros gang leader
The Fish and his sidekick, The Bear.
They caught The Wolf and his coke dealers.
They caught Margarito, Ledezma,
The Stag, The Ox, The Bull...
All the flora and fauna that were
taking over downtown Jurez.
They also picked up a few good
citizens who were out having fun.
A perfectly planned operation,
without a single shot fired.
Oh, and three kidnapped women
were rescued from a basement.
More to come on this, our news program.
This is Vctor Peralta. Good night.
Don't look at me, fucker!
A message for your Chief:
He should have tipped me off
about the time, date and place.
And you tell him not to rest easy.
Because he owes me a life.
And I'm gonna take it.
Asshole.
Next group.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Hold your numbers up.
Hilda.
Thirty-three.
Thirty-three.
I'll be right back, kiddo.
Next.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Numbers up.
No one.
No one.
Step back. Outside. Move.
- Juana, I'm talking to you.
- What do you want, Cut?
Let's talk. I'll take you home.
- Dude, take it easy or I'll...
- Quiet, this is my problem!
I work 9 hours Monday through Friday
so I can do what I want on Saturday.
Why don't you love me anymore?
I feel like we belong to each other.
I'm not marrying him in
three days either, Cut.
I'm my own boss.
I wanna meet people. Not get tied down.
That's not fair.
Maybe you feel that way now.
But look, I can do whatever I want.
And like they say on TV:
my body is my body.
Let me go, and let's be friends, OK?
Enough already, easy, easy.
Join us macho men.
Don't look back, she ain't worth it.
I'm tired of this work.
I want a huge desk with 8 phones
and 15 secretaries in the state capital.
Not all this hassle.
You wanna know the worst?
That fucker who beat the shit
outta you is nuts.
He's got his own private religion,
understand?
- Nope. Why don't you explain?
- Let's see, how do I explain?
- What bullshit will you feed me?
- Yeah, what bullshit...
How about something that
interests you instead?
How about replacing me on the force?
Who they pick depends on me.
- What about Blanca?
- Oh, sorry...
If you're worried about Blanca's future...
- forget about my proposition.
- Come on, Chief.
Of course I'm interested.
Take some time off until your face heals.
Go through the parking lot
so no one sees you.
Sir?
Well done, Chief. Now get this.
After this display, the Governor
wants results. From you, personally.
From me, personally.
I'll make sure we get convictions.
In every interrogation.
I really appreciate this, Sir.
Dead men triple raped women,
and there's no police raids.
Besides, what city doesn't have
both dead men and women?
Problem is, that new cop is more
interested in dead women than men.
Reverse sexism, dude.
But the dead men are always armed.
They're mostly dealers, right?
And they get shot in the crossfire.
But not the dead women. They take
them so they can screw them.
And they bite them or cut off a breast,
some skin between their legs.
If they were armed, at least
they'd have a chance.
We gotta give these
goddamn broads guns?
Keep talking, Oaxaca.
You know a man by how he
treats women and children.
Oh, Oaxaca. That's why
she done you wrong.
You're a loser.
Ma!
Gimme more salsa.
Estela, give Ma a hand. Move!
Look at her. Move it!
C'mon, it's gonna get cold.
Take a hit, Oaxaca.
I'm gonna explain this real slow.
That woman disgraced you.
And in public, to boot!
You gave her everything.
You gave it your all.
and the ungrateful bitch
stabbed you in the back.
So now you got two choices.
Like seeing yourself double
in these shades.
You see yourself double?
Or you forgive her and keep moaning,
or you don't forgive shit
and quit being such a fag.
Street lamps all over the city.
Public transportation where workers live,
a bigger and better police force.
I'm getting to that.
With publicity from big business
and the U.S. government,
you can launch a program making
Ciudad Jurez a model city.
Like the Marshall Plan the U.S. created
in Germany and Japan after World War II.
We're not your enemies,
like Germany and Japan back then.
We're your neighbors.
But it's no good for you to have poor
neighbors, because that means trouble.
It makes us a bad market.
You gave us 1,200 bucks per body.
Just like we agreed, Sultan.
That was the price per woman.
I joked about sales tax.
We had to bring you underwear
and a news clipping for each body.
You paid us 11,400 dollars.
That's why the brand names
are moving their factories to...
China or India. Unless...
We offer highly trained labor here.
Or, less expensive. Not more.
I don't know that fucker!
We have records of the
Cheros visiting you in jail.
They're bringing them in now. We want
to eradicate this kind of situation.
We want some answers.
Here comes Captain Blanca...
What can you tell us about this situation?
Nothing right now, thanks.
No comment, thank you.
- You're famous now, right?
- I don't have press clearance.
Let's talk off the record.
- What do you want?
- To offer you rebuttal.
Because what I'm saying is:
it doesn't fit.
- What doesn't fit?
- The results of your investigation.
-The Cheros didn't kill the last 11 women.
-They confessed, you heard them.
They confessed The Sultan hired
them 3 months ago to kill women.
So how come three victims were
missing over a year? It doesn't fit.
Did you "interrogate" them?
Were you even there?
I'll say on the air the cops
told them what to confess,
and the evidence was tainted
by their use of brute force.
And in the middle of this cesspool,
you're a peculiar figure.
Do me a favor: leave me out of it.
A cop who has used illegal methods
in pursuit of a legitimate goal:
ending the murders of women in Jurez.
A cop moved by holy rebellion,
because holy rebellions do exist,
but within an impossible context
of corruption and inefficiency
only someone in power could change.
Let's say: the Governor.
Nice man, good Catholic...
...but totally incapable of making his
Christian will be done in the real world.
- Turn it off!
- You all know him, a man who's deeply--
Hey.
Just a minute.
- This is my cooling system.
- Fantastic.
You never smile.
Not when you take me to see something
awful the same day I get fired.
Is that the Governor's plan?
- So they say.
- My goodness!
Hallelujah, praise be to God.
This very day our Lord Governor
arrives in Jurez to, and I quote,
establish order and keep the peace,
which means chopping off
Captain Blanca Bravo's head
for the sin of meddling with
our very well organized crime.
Take notice, as he descends
from that powerful, silver Pullman bus...
Hit me.
Right in the face, Mrgara.
C'mon. Go for the face or balls,
don't waste time.
See why it's got to be the
face or balls from the start?
Because if not, I've already
immobilized you, just like that.
Thanks, Mrgara. Juana, your turn.
I approach. What do you say?
- Stop right there!
- But I...
- Right there, not another step!
- But I come closer.
Don't go, how come you told him you'd go?
Oh, Mrgara, poor Cutberto.
I really liked him, I feel bad
he's not over me yet.
Every night there's a full moon,
the wind carries the screams.
- And if there isn't a full moon?
- Well, it's quiet and abandoned, like.
It's next to the border fence.
-Tell me where to go.
-Yes.
I'll just make nice and catch
up with you at home, OK?
- Rent some videos.
- You got it.
If you're in trouble, you call me.
- Hey, hot Mama, call me instead.
- I'm your man, princess.
- Ooo, I'm scared.
- Take it easy, Juana.
One o'clock on the dot, you hear?
Don't worry, cuz.
Not just pretty, bilingual too!
- But where the hell did I go wrong?
- Nowhere. I want to meet more people.
There's another name for that.
-If you're going to disrespect me, I'm leaving.
-Wait.
- Since when do you smoke?
- Since you broke my heart, Juana.
Can I tell you something, Cut?
You're making me sleepy.
What's it gonna be, Juana?
You gonna dance with me too?
Or like the song says,
with everyone else but me?
Careful, Cut. You can't
touch me unless I say so.
Stay away from me.
Stay back, not one step closer.
- Let's go.
- What's inside?
What's inside?
A big freezer. Down in the basement.
- What do you mean, a freezer?
- Like from a slaughterhouse.
Anything in it?
No. Empty. An empty freezer
in the middle of the desert.
Goodbye, princess.
C'mon, go for it.
- Did I get you in trouble, Blanca?
- That's your job, right?
Judging what others do, what they
don't do, what they should do,
how they should do it.
Sitting next to a microphone,
having an opinion.
Yes, that's my job:
criticizing next to an open mike.
Is the Governor in town yet?
You think he's firing me.
I heard you yesterday.
That's right.
Maybe instead of talking to me, he'll just
give the Chief orders that affect me.
Anyway... given the situation,
I want you to know a few things,
so you can "have an opinion" later on.
I'm listening...
The Sultan and the Cheros. It's true.
The evidence is flimsy. They may
or may not have murdered women.
And there are several others.
Several?
These deaths won't stop because
a serial killer is still on the loose.
A murderer with a fixed method.
Maybe, and this is just a hypothesis,
he captures his victims every full moon...
and stores them in a basement,
in an industrial freezer.
Then, after a few months,
he throws them into the desert.
So what is he? Narco-satanic?
Who knows, someone
connected to the Cheros...
put 3 bodies in that vacant lot,
the ones that didn't fit.
Why give the Cheros 3 bodies?
To get rid of them and to confuse things,
or as a favor between accomplices.
And there are other killers.
- Snuff pornographers.
- Could be.
- Organ traffickers.
- Could be, too.
Wannabes, killing for sport.
Yes, it could be any of those theories,
or all of them at once.
Then there's domestic violence.
A husband kills his wife because
she didn't cook dinner,
or an uncle rapes his niece
and makes sure she won't talk.
So what are the facts, Blanca?
Murder a woman in Jurez,
throw her into the desert
and you have a license to kill.
It'll be buried on a crime sheet,
because the cops won't investigate.
Not thoroughly, anyway.
No one will be charged with
anything that sticks
and no judge will ever
hand down a sentence.
Explain the circumstances to the Governor.
C'mere.
- Give me five, ten minutes.
- Hang on.
You can come in.
- You made an arrest with no evidence.
- That's right.
- And you kept him in jail.
- That's right.
You used torture to get
false confessions.
No, Sir.
- No torture was used, you say?
- I wouldn't know.
- The Chief wouldn't-
-You plea bargained with these Cheros
to frame this "Sultan".
- Sentencing for murder-
-You coerced a woman to abort.
- I informed her-
-Unsolicited information.
You offered her shelter and a job
if she had an abortion.
You forced her to kill her own child.
That's a serious accusation,
one that merits time in prison.
- Let me explain-
- What the hell is going on out there?
You know what gets my goat?
You're proud of what you did.
Doing nothing is worse.
These are 17-year-old women...
Ramrez, go see what the fuck
is going on out there!
Now hear this, you broke the law
and there is no justification.
- Let me explain-
- Shut up!
You're going to lose your job,
your badge, and your freedom.
That DJ Peralta is on the radio
inciting people to protest by honking.
To protest? Protest what?
He says you're putting this
woman behind bars.
How many people would you say?
A hundred? Three hundred?
How many people are peacefully at
home this Saturday watching TV?
- Any idea, Chief?
- Most people.
The ones who matter trust we'll do
what it takes to keep the peace.
The others, the ones
who like the streets,
Iet them go on making noise
and killing each other.
We'll have her badge. But watch the timing:
do it after I'm back in Chihuahua.
Yes, Sir.
-Keep downtown clear for me tonight.
-Yes, Sir.
And find the connection between
Captain Bravo and this DJ...
Peralta.
And we're taking you away from here.
I'm promoting you to Secretary of
Public Safety, in the state capital.
I'm most grateful, Mr. Governor.
These murders are a wasp's nest.
The less we shake it up, the better.
Are you fast asleep?
- Where am I?
- Take it easy.
It's OK.
You smell nice and fresh.
Can I make love to you?
Let me make love to you,
then I'll let you go.
By the Virgin, I swear I'll let you go.
I just want to make love to you.
- I was told you could help me here.
- Yes, come in.
I'm scared to go to the cops. They get
your information and you never know.
- When did you expect her?
- Around noon.
But she's never late, she always calls.
Sara will be here soon.
Check this out.
One more, one more.
I fold.
- How'd it go, Oaxaca?
- Fine.
So you gonna share your girlfriend?
- Don't be selfish, Oaxaca.
- We're gonna share her, right?
- Wait, that wasn't the plan...
- Was there a plan, guys?
- No, none.
- Zero plan, Oaxaca.
- Where does he live?
- In a school bus.
It's past Lomas de Poleo,
but I don't know where.
There aren't many abandoned
buses over there.
I never went to check it out.
I should have gone. I'm supposed
to take care of her.
Do you have a photo of her?
It's the only one I have.
They took it at the factory.
Look!
Get a good look. Go for it!
She's great, eh?
Right this way, Oaxaca my man,
come on...
Hang on, here.
Take it out.
Come on.
Look, look.
Now, you know, you gotta do her.
No choice, bro', got it?
Easy motherfucker, easy now...
Do it, do it!
C'mon, do it, motherfucker!
Put it all the way on, shit.
Sir, a couple of questions...
- Are you changing the police force?
- We're starting an investigation,
and steps will be taken by the book.
What's that in plain Spanish?
Ask me about the economy.
I'm here to talk to investors.
When will the killing stop?
The media focus on these murders...
- is ruining tourism in Jurez.
- What tourism?
It's unfair that whenever
you talk about Jurez,
people ask themselves:
Jurez? The dead women?
And you reporters don't stress that
there's a lot of good things going on.
What about the term "femicide"?
They should use that term
around the world,
not just in Jurez.
Just cross the border.
On the road to Houston. They've got
their murdered women, too.
That's your response...?
Let's welcome the Governor
of the State of Chihuahua.
- Mr. lvarez...
- How are you, Governor?
- Welcome, Sir!
- Thanks very much.
- That's him?
- Yes.
Go!
Where's your girlfriend?
- I don't know.
- You don't know?
Where is she?
- They kidnapped both of us.
- I don't believe you. Where is she?
The next one goes in your head.
Where is she?
- Answer me!
- I don't know.
It can't be!
My heart bleeds for you.
The Chief wants a word.
Always too little, too late.
The Governor wants to know
your relationship to Peralta.
What for? So he knows whether to
take my badge or charge me?
I don't know what they're
going to decide.
- Peralta is my best friend.
- Well now.
And if I'm charged with anything,
or my badge is taken,
as a civilian, I can tell him all
I know about the Jurez police.
Gotcha.
I'll send your message upstairs.
Get some sleep.
You haven't slept in two days, right?
Fierro, we got things to do.
You bet, Chief!
What's up?
See you.
Fifty-fifty. That's how it's
gonna be with all our clients.
As long as you're Chief and I'm alive.
- And what's the deal with our...?
- Clients?
Yeah.
You put anything client-related
on hold and notify them.
Sometimes they want information.
This crazy bastard Santos,
for example. Check it out.
Silver Fox to Night Czar.
Sir, it's for you.
- Did you like it?
- Absolutely, you're most kind.
Any news?
You're good to go. Have a nice evening.
Hey, little dove. Where do you live?
- Close by.
- Close, like 10 minutes or 20?
- I'm almost there.
- Wanna ride?
No thanks.
I'll take you, little dove.
Get out of the car!
Get out!
Let her go!
You let her go!
Get in the car!
She's more scared of the cops than me.
On the other hand,
I turn myself in...
... knowing that I'll get a fair deal
from the authorities, a fair trial...
and a fair sentence.
So what do I do, Cop?
Which way? Here? There?
Hands up!
Get 'em up!
A score settled between drug dealers,
or so the police bulletin says,
although that would be a
first for Mickey Santos.
Anyway, he was found dead a week ago,
and here in Jurez, the one
thing that's certain is Death.
Well, on a somewhat lighter note:
Earlier today, Kikay, a Toyota subsidiary,
moved out of the Jurez Industrial Park.
How about that? The good thing
about being a transnational...
when things get ugly, you vacate
the premises and ciaooo!
You're off to the other side
of the world to find...
the same cheap labor,
the same cheap proletariat.
OK, back to crime:
excavation continued today
at the clandestine grave
found just three days ago
right there a top Lomas de Poleo.
It comes as no surprise that next to nothing
is known about how, when or who...
found the site, not to mention
the when or why of this grave
... from which women's bodies
are still being removed.
"Stop the killing! Stop the killing!"
Predictably, some journalists showed up,
and just as predictably,
the Mothers in Mourning.
You know the ones; women related
to murdered or missing women.
Likewise, our brand-new Chief
of Police made an appearance.
The guy who ever since his appointment,
in a sinister way, looks more
and more like the old Chief.
All right then. Good morning, Jurez!
And with these latest deaths, the
number of murders has risen to...
With these latest deaths...
the number of murdered women has
risen to the unbelievable total of....
To Captain Blanca Bravo,
relieved of her position...
...since we may never meet again,
this is goodbye.
Jurez must not die.
Women killed in sex crimes
Women killed in sex crimes
Women missing
Women killed in sex crimes