Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s01e08 Episode Script
Guns
1
MARIANA: I've been reporting
on Mexico's criminal networks
for more than a decade.
Cartels, human traffickers,
drug smugglers, of all kinds.
This is half a kilo of pure
heroin mixed with fentanyl.
A lot of the marijuana and
heroin that ends up on the
streets of the United States
comes from right here.
These stories all had
one thing in common.
They were about people and
products moving north
into the United States.
But there was another
story I was missing,
about what's being
smuggled south.
MARIANA: It's military grade?
T: Yes, ma'am.
MARIANA: They call it
"the Iron River."
Day and night, American guns
are flowing across the border into the
hands of Mexican gangsters,
fueling an arms race between
the cartels and terrorizing innocent
civilians caught in the crossfire.
On a journey to discover the truth
about American guns in Mexico,
I found a reality
more terrifying.
MARIANA: Than I ever
could have imagined.
(theme music plays)
(screeching)
♪
MARIANA: So, it's almost
midnight and we're very
close to Downtown LA.
We're following this
person who's driving this
car right in front of us.
It's allegedly someone who
transports guns down to Mexico.
We're just looking for an
isolated place to park and talk.
For years, I've cultivated
sources in Mexico who have
connections to the cartels.
One of them has helped me
gain access to an LA-based
operation that moves
guns south of the border.
♪
♪
MARIANA: She won't reveal her
name but tells me to call her
"La Guera" or "Blondie."
Blondie tells me she's been
working for the Sinaloa Cartel
since she was 18 and has
driven vehicles packed with
American weapons into
Mexico at least 100 times.
For her efforts, she's
paid $20,000 a month.
MARIANA: Blondie's children
live with her mother.
This way, she can hit the
road whenever her employers
need more firepower.
MARIANA: Blondie is just
a low-level courier.
She can't, or won't, tell
me who her suppliers are.
The buyers, on the other hand,
are less of a mystery.
(speaking native language)
(rapid gunfire)
MAN: Hey!
MARIANA: Over 35,000 murders
were committed in Mexico in 2019,
the most ever recorded.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: And yet there's only
one gun store in the whole country.
It turns out 70% of the
weapons seized by Mexican
authorities originated
in the United States.
You see, this story
isn't a "Who done it?"
Everyone knows the cartels
are behind Mexico's
skyrocketing murder rate.
What's less well known is how
these weapons move so freely
across the border and what's
driving this insatiable demand.
The following night,
my cartel contacts set
me up with Blondie's
LA-based suppliers.
How are you?
T: T. Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: Nice to meet
you, I'm Mariana.
T: Come on in.
♪
MARIANA: Thanks for meeting me.
The lead supplier tells
me to call him "T."
Then introduces me to his cousin
and his 17-year-old niece.
This is the, you guys
all work together?
T: Yes. We do a
family business and all.
MARIANA: So, it's
somebody down in Mexico,
who's your relative who
called you and said,
asked you to do this favor to
show us this operation up here.
T: Yes.
But like I said.
MARIANA: We're not cops.
T: I know you guys not cops.
MARIANA: I'm a journalist.
T: And that's why I'm doing
what I'm doing right now.
Or else you guys wouldn't
even be this close.
MARIANA: I see that you've
got some stuff ready here.
T: Yes.
MARIANA: Could you
tell me what this is?
T: Well, I have a AR-15 with
a scope, I have a .45 Ruger,
I have Mossberg shotgun.
I have a AK-47, and I have
another AR-15, wrapped around.
Brand new.
MARIANA: And are these
going down tonight?
T: They're going, they're getting
shipped out tonight actually.
MARIANA: Whoa.
"T" tells me he's been helping
his family smuggle guns into
Mexico since he was
seven years old,
and he's served his
share of prison time.
This life of crime has helped
him foster some savvy business
connections on both
sides of the law.
So, where, where do these come,
how do you get a hold
of so many weapons?
Where?
T: Well, actually, honestly,
I'm gonna be honest with you.
This one, we just got it from
a police officer that just
took it away from
one of our fellas.
And he gave it back to
us for $1,000.
And we just get
that for like 700,
so he made $300 worth of that.
MARIANA: Wait, wait,
wait, wait. LAPD?
T: LAPD.
MARIANA: So, the officer
confiscated the weapon and
then you paid him $1,000
to get the weapon back?
T: Yes, ma'am. MARIANA: Oh, wow.
T: And then this one was
actually bought from a
marine in a military
base in San Diego.
All this is different.
MARIANA: Right, but they're,
all ultimately come from
law enforcement
here in California.
T: Yes, ma'am.
MARIANA: So, in general,
just outside of California,
in general, how easy is it to
get guns in the United States?
T: Easy.
MARIANA: So, this
is the AR-15, right?
T: Yes, that's the AR-15.
MARIANA: It's military grade?
MARIANA: So, this,
for me, is so insane,
because I live here
in Los Angeles.
This is my backyard and the
fact that I'm holding an AR-15,
with another one
next to me, and an AK-47,
these are the guns that are
killing Mexicans on a daily basis.
But that's the killing
machine you got right there.
MARIANA: These are the same
weapons being used in many of
America's mass shootings.
So, what would happen if
you're caught with a gun like
this here in LA?
MARIANA: My time is up.
T tells me they need to get
the merchandise out the door
and on the road.
This is (bleep) crazy,
because we're on a corner,
out in the open,
there's cars passing,
it's like 10 PM on a regular
weekday night in Los Angeles,
and they're going to stash
the guns in this car and
then the car's
gonna go to Mexico.
T and his family stash about 15
guns throughout Blondie's SUV.
They refuse to tell me the
exact number and claim some of
the hiding places
are trade secrets.
♪
The Iron River moves quickly.
I can't ride with
Blondie and her cargo,
but I know where she
plans to deliver the guns.
I also know if she
doesn't make it,
Blondie won't just lose her
cargo, but her family, too.
MARIANA: But to
make her delivery,
Blondie will have
to get past this.
The US/Mexico border
is the most frequently
crossed border in
the entire world.
And San Ysidro in Southern
California is its busiest
port of entry.
200,000 people pass
through here every day.
Trying to stop an illegal
shipment is like finding the
proverbial needle in a haystack.
It's a massive effort that
demands 16,000 border agents
and billions of dollars
of surveillance
technology spread across
America's southern border.
But all this effort is
focused on traffic coming
into the United States.
As I passed through the border,
I didn't see a single agent screening
cars heading down to Mexico.
Mexican law enforcement is
concerned that as many as
2,000 American guns are
trafficked into their
country every day.
But many US politicians
are panicked about a very
different border crisis.
TRUMP (over TV): They
wanna come into our country.
WOMAN (over TV): Hundreds of
migrants attempted to storm the US border.
WOMAN (over TV): Is really
reaching this crisis point.
CASTRO (over TV): The President
continues to fearmonger around the
issue of immigration.
TRUMP (over TV): These
people are criminals.
MARIANA: Hardly anyone seems
to be paying attention to
how this all connects.
180 miles southeast of
Los Angeles lies Mexicali.
A dusty desert town that sits
along the US/Mexico border.
♪
This is where Blondie told me to meet
her if she hasn't been apprehended.
MARIANA: So, she's waiting
for us right at that place.
She sent me the map which
should be right around the corner.
I'm about to witness what few
journalists have ever seen.
The first stop in
the Iron River.
MARIANA: For 24 hours,
I've been tracking a cartel mule
who smuggles American
guns into Mexico.
Now, I'm about to
witness her delivery.
Okay. She's right here.
I think that's her
car right there.
See if I can park behind her.
Yup, that's her.
Camera stay in the car and
I'll just go out and talk to her.
Blondie tells me she's
exhausted from driving all night,
but not a single border
agent searched her car
or questioned her.
It's so hot outside.
She's made it, she's here.
She is, uh, hiding
the keys apparently.
This is how it works, she
hides the key under the mat,
the door, the car mat.
And then somebody else
will come here, get the car,
take it away and then call
her when the car is ready.
So, we just stay here,
and we wait.
Okay. Now off she goes.
And supposedly now, she says
somebody else is gonna show up
and take the car.
Do you see somebody?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. Is that it?
There's a guy coming this way.
That might be our guy.
And so, the deal is that
once he gets in that car,
we actually follow the car to
wherever it is that they're
taking this to unload it.
Okay, yes. This is it.
This is him.
So, this guy knows
we're following him
or at least I hope so.
(honking)
(Bleep). Sorry, sorry, sorry.
I just don't wanna lose him.
I don't know much, I don't
know (bleep) about this guy.
Just, I believe this, he works
for the guy that receives the
guns here in Mexico.
Um, so he's another
link in this chain.
But essentially right now,
we're following a car that is
fully loaded with assault rifles
through the streets of Mexicali.
We follow the SUV until it
stops outside a small garage.
So, he's pulling the car in now.
Now we wait for the signal
that it's safe to enter.
Let's do this, guys.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: So, I guess this is it.
This man, who tells me
to call him "Hector,"
informs me that we aren't
the only ones using cameras
in Mexicali today.
MARIANA: Mexico's drug cartels run
a multibillion dollar criminal industry,
and nobody controls that
kind of cash without guns,
a lot of guns.
But in a country with
exactly one legal gun store,
firearms are almost impossible
to acquire unless you know
someone like Hector.
Or her shoes.
If Blondie is a mule, then
Hector is a middleman,
and this garage is an
underground distribution center.
Oh, wow. Check this out.
Okay. See, that's just
wrapped in a denim jacket.
Oh, no, in a denim, no, jeans.
Jeans.
Here, Hector fills orders from
the cartels with a massive markup.
So, we've got a, a
.9mm, a .22 caliber,
both of these have already
been sold for $3,000,
that's 1,500 apiece.
And then there's an
AR-15 here sold for $5,000
and there is a Colt
45 here and a Glock.
MARIANA: Hector says
he's a businessman,
and in a country with a
skyrocketing murder rate,
business is booming.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: It's dangerous to
pry into organized crime
affiliations in Mexico,
but Hector is part of the
same supply chain as Blondie
and I'm fairly certain they
both work for the
Sinaloa Cartel,
the dominant drug
cartel in this area.
MARIANA: To understand why so
many American guns are being
smuggled into Mexico,
you first have to understand
that there are more than a
dozen drug cartels here,
all competing to supply the
world's largest consumer
of illegal drugs,
the United States.
In 2006, the Mexican
Government decided to crush
this supply and launched
their own war on drugs.
But the plan backfired and
unleashed a wave of violence
that 14 years later
is deadlier than ever.
To beat back both the military
and local competition,
the cartels need firepower, so
they look to the most
heavily armed country
in the world,
with some of the most
lenient gun laws.
Mexicali was just the first
stop in the Iron River.
To see where America's
weapons head next,
I'm driving deeper into cartel
country to meet a group of
gunmen arming for war.
♪
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Tracking the flow of
illegal American weapons into Mexico,
you're bound to run
into a few roadblocks,
whether you're a gun smuggler
or a journalist like me.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Drugs and guns,
he says.
That's what they're looking for.
He says a lot of people
actually hide guns inside,
on the doors.
So, they're shaking the door
to they making sure there are
no guns inside.
(speaking native language)
So, he's saying in here too.
This is a regular place
where people hide guns.
And in the AC ducts
and all this area.
We're free to go.
We're gun free, we can go.
I'm pursuing a new tip from
my underworld contacts.
They've connected me with a
group of traffickers who can
show me how they dodge
checkpoints just like this one.
I'm scheduled to meet them
about 100 miles southeast of
Mexicali in San Felipe,
a small coastal city
on the Sea of Cortez.
♪
MARIANA: San Felipe is an
old fishing village recently
transformed into a popular
tourist-town with a colorful,
Caribbean vibe.
It hardly looks like
a cartel war zone.
Yet somehow the Iron
River has led me here.
MARIANA: We finally get the
call we've been waiting for.
The man holding the phone
is my local contact.
The voice on the other end is
one of the gun runners we're
hoping to meet.
MARIANA: A location is sent
to my phone and we're off.
So, still a (bleep)
ton of unknowns.
We know we're meeting them
at this location right now,
but we have no idea
where we're going.
We don't know even what
cartel they belong to.
Our local contact says that's
something you never ask
here in Mexico.
That can get you killed.
So the more out into
isolated areas we drive,
the more nervous I get,
because we don't wanna be
caught in the middle of
nowhere where we don't get
cell phone service, and
nobody knows where we are.
The information I've been
given directs me to the most
unusual meeting point.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Okay.
What's happening here?
MARIANA: Oh, yeah, they
probably are looking at us.
They're checking us
out right now for sure.
It all looks like it's
go, go, go, adrenaline,
things happening, but I'd say
80% of our job is just waiting.
And the more time passes then
the more nervous you get that
it's not gonna happen.
And then just like that,
my contacts arrive.
They're wearing orange
life vests which,
if you're trafficking guns,
doesn't seem like the best idea.
It's always borderline comedy.
I quickly realize
the joke's on me.
In a town overrun with tourists,
these smugglers are wearing
the ultimate disguise.
Hiding in plain sight
as tour boat operators.
So, it looks, it
looks like this is it.
He's saying to go.
Let's go.
Rock and roll time.
♪
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
They asked if we wanted
to put on the life vest.
I think that's the least
of our concerns right now.
(speaking native language)
There's more to San Felipe
than most tourists
will ever know.
This town hides a dark side,
and I'm close to seeing it
for the first time.
♪
MARIANA: In my quest to
expose how American guns are
trafficked throughout Mexico,
I never expected to be
headed out to sea.
But as we move deeper
into the waters,
these smugglers break
down their operation.
The Sea of Cortez is over
700 miles long but less
than 100 miles wide.
That means these smugglers can
make the crossing in less than three hours,
completely bypassing
the military
checkpoints set up
along Mexico's highways.
Right now, they say they're
delivering more and more guns
to Sonora directly
across the sea,
that's the same heavily
contested territory that
Hector in Mexicali is
also sending guns to.
I think, like, that's it.
I think we're going to
that beach over there.
Oh, there's some guys there.
There's some guys actually
waiting at the beach.
Or at least one
guy that I see now.
And he's coming
to greet the boat.
He's all dressed in black
with a mask as well.
Yeah, they're
anchoring right there.
So, this is it.
I'm told the man in black is
another buyer from Sonora.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: 50 calibers, RPGs.
MARIANA: None of this sounds
like arming a criminal organization.
They're arming for war.
MARIANA: I'm told the buyer
is from an affiliated cartel,
fighting to regain
territory in Sonora.
He's picking up a fresh order,
including a pair of customized
handguns for rich narcos who
don't just want a weapon,
they want to make a statement.
Sales like this are common
for these smugglers.
The market for American
assault rifles is exploding.
MARIANA: (Bleep).
So, they had 200 AK 47s,
cuerno de chivo,
which is what they call them
here, come through here,
San Felipe, in just
one day last week.
MARIANA: Here's where
things get interesting.
Remember when I said that you
never ask what cartel someone
belongs to?
I didn't.
This guy just decided to tell
me that he works for one of
the fastest growing
mafias in Mexico,
the Jalisco Cartel
also known as CJNG.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The organization is
only about ten years old,
but aggressive maneuvers
and terrifying,
ISIS-style executions
have helped them dominate
underworld markets
across Mexico,
becoming the Sinaloa
Cartel's biggest rival.
And the kingpin of
these violent upstarts,
perhaps the most dangerous
drug lord in the world,
is known as "El Mencho."
MARIANA: The timing of these
ambitions is no accident.
(gunshots)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: In 2016,
El Chapo Guzman,
the billionaire leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel,
was captured by the Mexican
marines, extradited to the US,
and sentenced to life in prison.
In his wake, the country's
murder rate continued to
skyrocket as rivals fought
to fill the power vacuum.
El Mencho and the Jalisco
Cartel see this as an
opportunity to strike while
the Sinaloa Cartel is vulnerable.
A turf war is underway, and
firepower is needed by all sides.
That is why Hector in Mexicali
told me he was rushing another
load of firearms further south,
directly to Sinaloa.
MARIANA: Blondie tells me
that things are hot in
Sinaloa right now.
That means she won't be
heading home to her three
daughters any time soon.
MARIANA: Blondie and I are both
headed deeper into narco territory.
I've seen where The
Iron River begins.
Now I wanna know where it ends.
♪
♪
MARIANA: 800 miles south of
Los Angeles lies Sinaloa,
Mexico's drug capital.
(singing in native language)
Here, outlaw culture is
part of everyday life.
(singing in native language)
This is where the country's
notorious narco traffickers
got their start when a small
group of impoverished farmers
started planting
poppies and marijuana.
Over time, the farmers began
to organize and arm themselves,
creating one of Mexico's
first narco mafias,
the Sinaloa Cartel, the same cartel
that gave rise to El Chapo Guzman,
the most successful
drug trafficker in
Mexican history.
Once number 701 on the
Forbes's annual billionaires list.
It's an outlaw rags to riches
tale that continues to inspire
Sinaloa's poor.
But you don't become the
world's most powerful
trafficking organization
without making a few enemies
along the way.
(gunshots)
We don't have much information,
just that it's a guy,
it's a man who was shot
about 20 minutes ago.
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: He's been,
he's, it's confirmed,
he's been confirmed dead?
MIGUEL: Yeah, he's dead.
MARIANA: This is my fifth
time working in Culiacán,
but I've never arrived
quite like this.
We just got here last night,
and this is the first time we
took out the cameras, and
immediately within seconds,
we got a call that
there was a shooting.
MIGUEL: Right.
That tells you the level of
violence that we live in this city.
Culiacán is becoming
like a war zone now.
MARIANA: Miguel Angel Vega
is a local journalist
and an old friend.
We work together every
time I come to Sinaloa.
He tells me gun violence in
the city has spiked recently,
and no one knows exactly why.
Some say outside cartels are
trying to muscle their way
into Sinaloa.
Others suspect the Sinaloa
Cartel has internally
splintered since El Chapo's
capture as different factions
battle with El Chapo's
sons for control.
Whatever the reason,
82 people were killed
here the month before I arrived,
that's one murder
every ten hours.
Oh, it's right here.
It's right here, guys.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Oh, so they're
picking up the body right now,
but he's saying that it
was an assassination.
There was a guy inside.
He was shot several times.
♪
(speaking native language)
I try to find out more,
but no one wants to speak to me.
Impunity reigns across Mexico,
95% of murders like this
are never solved.
Yeah, they're scared to talk.
You know?
A lot of people around here, even
when they're witnesses to crime,
if they're, go on
television or talk to the
press about what they saw, that
can get them in serious trouble,
that can get them killed,
so they don't feel
comfortable talking.
They definitely know something,
they just don't
wanna talk to us.
Miguel has more luck with
his crime beat contacts.
The victim was allegedly part
of the Mexican underworld,
though it's unclear which
cartel he belonged to.
He recently arrived in
Sinaloa from Tijuana,
and just before
noon this morning,
two assassins followed him
into the building supplies
store and shot him four times,
at point blank range.
We still don't know what
kind of weapon was used,
but he says usually, the
vast majority of times,
it's either AR-15s or AK-47s,
it's, uh, assault weapons,
and the vast majority of times,
it's well-known that those weapons
come from the United States.
It's also known that Culiacán
is a city controlled by the cartel,
and they have eyes everywhere.
It's a well-known fact that,
especially if you have cameras,
the moment you land in Sinaloa,
that you're being watched.
Those guys are just
like, watching over,
like checking out what's moving.
MARIANA: The guys on the bikes?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
There's another one coming over,
the one with the blue shirt.
MARIANA: Yeah. Yeah.
MARIANA: Yeah.
Despite increasing challenges
to their authority,
Culiacán is still the seat of
power for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Miguel tells me I can't go any
further without first getting
permission from
the cartel itself.
He sets up a meeting
with his main source,
a narco boss who controls one
of the branches of the Iron River.
MARIANA: This man is the
highest ranking cartel figure
I've met so far.
He won't allow me to reveal
his name but tells me he
personally oversees every link
in the 1,000 mile supply chain
I followed from Los Angeles,
from the gangsters who
obtain the weapons,
to Hector in Mexicali,
and the mules like Blondie who
smuggle the guns into Mexico every week.
MARIANA: Every meeting I have
opens another door into the underworld.
This time, I'm invited to see
where the cargo Blondie picked
up in Los Angeles was
finally delivered.
Oh, my God.
♪
MARIANA: This is the
belly of the beast
when it comes to narco
trafficking in Mexico.
With the green light
from the cartel boss,
I met in Culiacán, Miguel and I head
into the mountains outside the city,
to see where Blondie's
shipment was delivered.
This is it?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Okay.
This is the plan that we
have to stop the cars,
and then we're going to
have to walk the rest.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Are these
people with us, Miguel?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Yeah? They're with us?
MIGUEL: Yes. Yes.
♪
MARIANA: These men
are called "Sicarios",
hired killers employed by the
Sinaloa Cartel to protect their product,
and eliminate the competition.
MARIANA: They lay out the
ground rules for filming,
and the very real threats
we need to be aware of.
MARIANA: Okay, so.
MIGUEL: If, if, if
there's a situation.
MARIANA: Where the Marines come.
MIGUEL: In which the
Marines or the Army comes,
they're gonna fight them,
but we do not run.
We just stay low.
MARIANA: Stay where we are?
MIGUEL: Stay low. And go.
MARIANA: So, we're gonna be
in the middle of a, a, a shoot-out?
MIGUEL: It's possible, I
mean, it's very unlikely,
but it's a possibility.
MARIANA: I'm reminded that
the cartel's billion-dollar
profits may come
from the drug trade,
but their real source of
power will always be violence.
MARIANA: For rural
men like this,
the gun is seen as an essential
tool to change their fortunes,
just like El Chapo.
MARIANA: And that is what
fuels the never-ending cycle
of violence in Mexico.
The extraordinary profits
made from America's insatiable
demand for drugs, means
the cartels will always find a
supply of eager young recruits.
(gunshots)
(gunshots)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunshots)
MARIANA: At first glance,
these young men look no
different than Americans
having fun at a shooting range,
but they are worlds apart.
They're old enough to wield
America's lethal exports.
(Bleep).
But too young to comprehend
the epidemic violence they're
an essential part of.
(speaking native language)
♪
MARIANA: The Sicarios believe
it's the Mexican marines on
their way.
MARIANA: Where is that?
Our vehicles are exposed
in the open fields.
Now we're (bleep).
MARIANA: So, there's, uh,
apparently military everywhere.
There's a helicopter
coming our way,
which means that we can't
actually get out of here
without being spotted.
So, now we're stuck in this
position where we can't leave,
but we also have to hide.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: Right now, my film
crew and I are embedded with a
group of cartel hit men, but a
Mexican marine helicopter is
closing in fast.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Our contact here,
he's freaking out.
Um, and now, it's just a
matter of trying to figure out
what's the safest way for
us to get out of here,
because we're just (bleep)
sitting ducks right here.
MARIANA: (Bleep).
MARIANA: We need to follow them.
MIGUEL: Right.
♪
MARIANA: Thankfully, we
managed to avoid incident.
We take refuge inside a
cartel-controlled town where
I'm directed to the next
location the bosses have
agreed to show me.
MIGUEL: Okay.
We're here, Mariana.
MARIANA: Oh, okay.
Should I get out?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
I was told to stay in the
car so you can now go there.
MARIANA: But this is them?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
This masked man tells
me to call him Marco.
He works with the boss I met
in Culiacán and oversees
over 150 gunmen.
Every one of them loyal
to the Sinaloa Cartel.
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: Wow.
MARIANA: Wow. Okay.
It's, uh, a bunker, essentially.
Down there.
Oh my God.
Now that we're down
there so be careful.
♪
I've witnessed a
lot on this journey,
but never a stash
quite like this.
Hidden in this bunker are
assault rifles, pistols,
shot guns, laser scopes,
even bulletproof vests.
MARIANA: If I take
Marco at his word,
that's as many as 3,000 military-style
weapons in just this village,
one of many controlled
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
MARIANA: Despite everything
they've shown me,
I know I'm just catching
glimpses of a complex chessboard,
and I suspect the cartels
like it that way.
By keeping everyone in the dark,
it's impossible to anticipate
what they're going to do next.
MARIANA: Only weeks later,
the monster emerged,
when the Sinaloa Cartel
laid siege to Culiacán.
(speaking native language)
(gunshots)
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: I mean,
it's a guy with a .50 Cal
on top of a, a truck.
That's absolutely crazy.
It looks like scenes
out of, uh, you know,
Iraq and Afghanistan at
the height of the war.
MAN (over TV): Chaos and carnage
unleashed in the City of Culiacán.
MAN (over TV): Culiacán, Mexico.
The historic homeland to the
violent Sinaloa drug cartel.
MARIANA: The media called
it "Black Thursday."
MAN (over TV): Police appear to
be outgunned by drug cartel forces,
as men with heavy
machine guns open fire.
Civilians ran for safety.
MARIANA: As I watched from
the safety of my hotel room,
eyewitnesses on the streets of
Culiacán captured video of the
chaos and confusion.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: One thing was clear,
it all started with the
capture of the son of El Chapo.
WOMAN (over TV): Notorious
drug kingpin, El Chapo,
was taken into custody.
MARIANA: Around 2:30 PM,
Mexican Security Forces
attempted to arrest one of the
Sinaloa Cartel's youngest bosses,
Ovidio Guzman.
MARIANA: He was to be
extradited to the United States
to stand trial,
just like his father.
MARIANA: But as Mexican federal
agents began taking him into custody,
blocks away, the cartel
launched a counter attack,
firing on military vehicles
from the turrets of
their own armored pickups.
(rapid gunfire)
MARIANA: Instead of
halting the attack,
the cartel did
something unprecedented.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: These are the same
Sicarios that showed me how
the Iron River supplies
them with American guns.
Now, they're telling me how
they used those same weapons,
not to fight a cartel turf war,
but to bring the
government to its knees.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The warring factions
of the Sinaloa Cartel combined
against a common enemy;
The Mexican states.
And in less than an hour,
hundreds of the heavily armed
gunmen poured into the city.
MARIANA: I can only assume
the weapons bunker I recently saw
was completely
emptied on Black Thursday.
MARIANA: This woman,
who tells me to call her Maria,
is a member of the
Sinaloa State Police.
MARIANA: Police and military
were out-manned and out-gunned,
unable to regain control.
But what seemed like total
chaos was actually part
of a sinister plan.
By hijacking all of the roads
and bridges leading into Culiacán,
the cartel had the
city surrounded like a noose,
choking the Mexican Government.
And it was about
to get even worse.
Sometime after 4 PM,
cartel gunmen stormed a
housing complex in the
heart of the city,
where the wives and children
of Mexico's military officers lived.
♪
MARIANA: The events of Black
Thursday began with the
capture of Ovidio Guzman.
If I wanted to hear
how it all ended,
I needed to speak to the hit
men who work for El Chapo's sons.
♪
MARIANA: Miguel and I are en
route to a high stakes meeting
with one of the only gunman
who can tell me exactly how
Black Thursday came to an end.
MARIANA: This Sicario is
part of a faction that works
directly for El Chapo's sons.
He commands a small group of hit
men that are on call 24 hours a day,
waiting for instructions,
usually to murder a rival.
But the call he received on Black
Thursday was something new.
A rescue mission.
MARIANA: He tells me that
he and his team attempted to
enter the home where
Ovidio was being detained
by law enforcement.
MARIANA: While his team
of Sicarios fought Mexican
military forces to a standstill,
the rest of the city erupted.
By the time the cartel
threatened to execute all
of the women and children
at the housing complex,
the Mexican government
faced an impossible choice.
Exactly what the
Sinaloa Cartel wanted.
MARIANA: The government
officially acknowledged the
death of 13 people
on Black Thursday,
but the Sicarios I spoke
with dispute that figure.
MARIANA: Black Thursday
was a wake-up call,
but it's not an isolated event.
American weapons have been
spilling Mexican blood for years.
In fact, it's estimated
that 200,000 people
have been killed here
over the past 14 years.
Countless innocent civilians
caught in the cartel's crossfire.
Police and witnesses executed
for upholding the law.
More than 100 journalists
silenced for daring to speak out.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: And student protestors
abducted and never seen again.
MARIANA: It's clear to me
now that Sinaloa's well-armed
narcos aren't the true
terminus of the Iron River.
Their victims are.
(singing in native language)
MARIANA: The Mexican
countryside hides countless
corpses and mass graves.
MARIANA: Since the war on
drugs began, 40,000 men, women,
and children,
remain unaccounted for.
They are simply called
Los Desaparecidos,
"The Disappeared."
Four times a week,
52 weeks a year,
Maria Isabelle Cruz leads a
group of grieving mothers who
search for their
sons and daughters.
They call themselves
Sabuesos Guerreras,
"The Warrior Hounds."
And they do the work
the Mexican Government
can't or won't do.
(speaking native language)
They just found this tape.
They say it's very
common to find, you know,
bodies that have been wrapped
around, or they put tape, ooh.
Such strong smell.
They'll put tape
around the face.
They tell me they've
recovered 78 bodies so far.
But not Maria Isabel's
son, Josimar.
MARIANA: Josimar was a member
of a Sinaloan Police Unit,
aggressively
combating the cartels,
until the narcos took
matters into their own hands.
On January 26th, 2017, a group
of hooded and heavily armed
narcos broke into
Josimar's home,
and in front of his fiancée,
dragged him out into the night.
He was never seen
or heard from again.
MARIANA: Maria Isabel now
spends her days searching for
bodies the cartels
don't want to be found.
♪
(singing in native language)
MARIANA: These women,
and the pain they carry,
are not alone.
Families throughout Mexico and
Central America are asking how
they can avoid a similar fate,
because the Iron River doesn't
stop at Sinaloa.
It flows further South, creating
devastating ripple effects.
Guatemala, El Salvador,
and Honduras,
known as the Northern Triangle,
are now among the most dangerous
countries to call home,
with some of the
world's highest murder rates.
MARIANA: As more and more
American weapons head south,
something else heads north,
an unprecedented mass migration.
They're no longer chasing
the American dream.
They're fleeing for their lives.
TRUMP (over TV): Many
of those people,
a big, fairly big
percentage of those people,
are criminals.
And they wanna come
into our country.
MARIANA: In reality, it seems
the criminals are staying put,
killing with impunity.
It's their victims
who are on the move.
It's ironic that to
escape the Iron River,
they head to its source,
the United States.
And it's here that I'm hoping
to answer my final question,
"Why is no one
able to stop this?"
MARIANA: We actually filmed
a gun sale a couple of miles
from where we are right now.
They had AK-47s, AR-15s, and we
saw them placing those guns in a car,
the guns went south.
It was as easy as transporting
candy down to Mexico.
What do you say to that?
CARLOS: Welcome to my world.
That's what I say to that.
MARIANA: Carlos Canino helms the
Los Angeles field division of the ATF,
the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms,
the federal agency tasked with
making sure America's weapons
don't fall into criminal hands.
That's easier said than done.
The United States is the only
country on Earth with more
guns than people.
How many guns do you estimate
are moving south every day?
CARLOS: No idea.
MARIANA: Well, shouldn't
the ATF measure this?
CARLOS: How?
There's no national database.
Nobody's keeping count on how
many guns are sold per day
in the United States.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Carlos also tells me
that even if Blondie or T are caught,
they can't be
charged with running guns.
CARLOS: That person would be
charged with dealing without a license,
selling a firearm
to a person who's not a
resident of that state.
MARIANA: You're not actually
charging them with the trafficking?
CARLOS: There is no Federal
Firearms Trafficking Statute
currently on the books.
MARIANA: It's crazy to me.
Just months from retirement,
Carlos is more candid than
most government
officials I interviewed.
He says the cartels know
exactly how to exploit
loopholes in America's gun laws,
buying legal weapons in ways
that are impossible to trace.
CARLOS: There's a robust gun
industry in the United States,
and they have very
well-funded powerful lobbies.
MARIANA: Do you think that the
violence in Mexico is directly
connected to the fact that they
can come to the United States,
and buy weapons so easily?
CARLOS: The cartels
have a reliable, ready,
easy-to-get supply of
firearms and ammunition.
Does that answer your question?
MARIANA: America's refusal to
take responsibility for our
role in the Iron River is creating
dangerous consequences.
Not just for the countries
south of our border,
but for our own.
CARLOS: Banning guns
is not the answer,
and it's unrealistic.
Unfortunately, the gun debate,
everybody runs to their corners.
There's a lot of
talking past each other.
And then, the only people who
win are the people that you
spoke with who are bringing
guns down to Mexico.
MARIANA: But, of course,
they're not the only ones who win.
And that's part of the problem.
When there's money to be made,
many people turn a blind eye,
and black markets flourish.
CARLOS: We have the ability to do
better and we should be doing better.
That simple.
And that's the truth.
(chanting in native language)
(music plays through credits)
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.
MARIANA: I've been reporting
on Mexico's criminal networks
for more than a decade.
Cartels, human traffickers,
drug smugglers, of all kinds.
This is half a kilo of pure
heroin mixed with fentanyl.
A lot of the marijuana and
heroin that ends up on the
streets of the United States
comes from right here.
These stories all had
one thing in common.
They were about people and
products moving north
into the United States.
But there was another
story I was missing,
about what's being
smuggled south.
MARIANA: It's military grade?
T: Yes, ma'am.
MARIANA: They call it
"the Iron River."
Day and night, American guns
are flowing across the border into the
hands of Mexican gangsters,
fueling an arms race between
the cartels and terrorizing innocent
civilians caught in the crossfire.
On a journey to discover the truth
about American guns in Mexico,
I found a reality
more terrifying.
MARIANA: Than I ever
could have imagined.
(theme music plays)
(screeching)
♪
MARIANA: So, it's almost
midnight and we're very
close to Downtown LA.
We're following this
person who's driving this
car right in front of us.
It's allegedly someone who
transports guns down to Mexico.
We're just looking for an
isolated place to park and talk.
For years, I've cultivated
sources in Mexico who have
connections to the cartels.
One of them has helped me
gain access to an LA-based
operation that moves
guns south of the border.
♪
♪
MARIANA: She won't reveal her
name but tells me to call her
"La Guera" or "Blondie."
Blondie tells me she's been
working for the Sinaloa Cartel
since she was 18 and has
driven vehicles packed with
American weapons into
Mexico at least 100 times.
For her efforts, she's
paid $20,000 a month.
MARIANA: Blondie's children
live with her mother.
This way, she can hit the
road whenever her employers
need more firepower.
MARIANA: Blondie is just
a low-level courier.
She can't, or won't, tell
me who her suppliers are.
The buyers, on the other hand,
are less of a mystery.
(speaking native language)
(rapid gunfire)
MAN: Hey!
MARIANA: Over 35,000 murders
were committed in Mexico in 2019,
the most ever recorded.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: And yet there's only
one gun store in the whole country.
It turns out 70% of the
weapons seized by Mexican
authorities originated
in the United States.
You see, this story
isn't a "Who done it?"
Everyone knows the cartels
are behind Mexico's
skyrocketing murder rate.
What's less well known is how
these weapons move so freely
across the border and what's
driving this insatiable demand.
The following night,
my cartel contacts set
me up with Blondie's
LA-based suppliers.
How are you?
T: T. Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: Nice to meet
you, I'm Mariana.
T: Come on in.
♪
MARIANA: Thanks for meeting me.
The lead supplier tells
me to call him "T."
Then introduces me to his cousin
and his 17-year-old niece.
This is the, you guys
all work together?
T: Yes. We do a
family business and all.
MARIANA: So, it's
somebody down in Mexico,
who's your relative who
called you and said,
asked you to do this favor to
show us this operation up here.
T: Yes.
But like I said.
MARIANA: We're not cops.
T: I know you guys not cops.
MARIANA: I'm a journalist.
T: And that's why I'm doing
what I'm doing right now.
Or else you guys wouldn't
even be this close.
MARIANA: I see that you've
got some stuff ready here.
T: Yes.
MARIANA: Could you
tell me what this is?
T: Well, I have a AR-15 with
a scope, I have a .45 Ruger,
I have Mossberg shotgun.
I have a AK-47, and I have
another AR-15, wrapped around.
Brand new.
MARIANA: And are these
going down tonight?
T: They're going, they're getting
shipped out tonight actually.
MARIANA: Whoa.
"T" tells me he's been helping
his family smuggle guns into
Mexico since he was
seven years old,
and he's served his
share of prison time.
This life of crime has helped
him foster some savvy business
connections on both
sides of the law.
So, where, where do these come,
how do you get a hold
of so many weapons?
Where?
T: Well, actually, honestly,
I'm gonna be honest with you.
This one, we just got it from
a police officer that just
took it away from
one of our fellas.
And he gave it back to
us for $1,000.
And we just get
that for like 700,
so he made $300 worth of that.
MARIANA: Wait, wait,
wait, wait. LAPD?
T: LAPD.
MARIANA: So, the officer
confiscated the weapon and
then you paid him $1,000
to get the weapon back?
T: Yes, ma'am. MARIANA: Oh, wow.
T: And then this one was
actually bought from a
marine in a military
base in San Diego.
All this is different.
MARIANA: Right, but they're,
all ultimately come from
law enforcement
here in California.
T: Yes, ma'am.
MARIANA: So, in general,
just outside of California,
in general, how easy is it to
get guns in the United States?
T: Easy.
MARIANA: So, this
is the AR-15, right?
T: Yes, that's the AR-15.
MARIANA: It's military grade?
MARIANA: So, this,
for me, is so insane,
because I live here
in Los Angeles.
This is my backyard and the
fact that I'm holding an AR-15,
with another one
next to me, and an AK-47,
these are the guns that are
killing Mexicans on a daily basis.
But that's the killing
machine you got right there.
MARIANA: These are the same
weapons being used in many of
America's mass shootings.
So, what would happen if
you're caught with a gun like
this here in LA?
MARIANA: My time is up.
T tells me they need to get
the merchandise out the door
and on the road.
This is (bleep) crazy,
because we're on a corner,
out in the open,
there's cars passing,
it's like 10 PM on a regular
weekday night in Los Angeles,
and they're going to stash
the guns in this car and
then the car's
gonna go to Mexico.
T and his family stash about 15
guns throughout Blondie's SUV.
They refuse to tell me the
exact number and claim some of
the hiding places
are trade secrets.
♪
The Iron River moves quickly.
I can't ride with
Blondie and her cargo,
but I know where she
plans to deliver the guns.
I also know if she
doesn't make it,
Blondie won't just lose her
cargo, but her family, too.
MARIANA: But to
make her delivery,
Blondie will have
to get past this.
The US/Mexico border
is the most frequently
crossed border in
the entire world.
And San Ysidro in Southern
California is its busiest
port of entry.
200,000 people pass
through here every day.
Trying to stop an illegal
shipment is like finding the
proverbial needle in a haystack.
It's a massive effort that
demands 16,000 border agents
and billions of dollars
of surveillance
technology spread across
America's southern border.
But all this effort is
focused on traffic coming
into the United States.
As I passed through the border,
I didn't see a single agent screening
cars heading down to Mexico.
Mexican law enforcement is
concerned that as many as
2,000 American guns are
trafficked into their
country every day.
But many US politicians
are panicked about a very
different border crisis.
TRUMP (over TV): They
wanna come into our country.
WOMAN (over TV): Hundreds of
migrants attempted to storm the US border.
WOMAN (over TV): Is really
reaching this crisis point.
CASTRO (over TV): The President
continues to fearmonger around the
issue of immigration.
TRUMP (over TV): These
people are criminals.
MARIANA: Hardly anyone seems
to be paying attention to
how this all connects.
180 miles southeast of
Los Angeles lies Mexicali.
A dusty desert town that sits
along the US/Mexico border.
♪
This is where Blondie told me to meet
her if she hasn't been apprehended.
MARIANA: So, she's waiting
for us right at that place.
She sent me the map which
should be right around the corner.
I'm about to witness what few
journalists have ever seen.
The first stop in
the Iron River.
MARIANA: For 24 hours,
I've been tracking a cartel mule
who smuggles American
guns into Mexico.
Now, I'm about to
witness her delivery.
Okay. She's right here.
I think that's her
car right there.
See if I can park behind her.
Yup, that's her.
Camera stay in the car and
I'll just go out and talk to her.
Blondie tells me she's
exhausted from driving all night,
but not a single border
agent searched her car
or questioned her.
It's so hot outside.
She's made it, she's here.
She is, uh, hiding
the keys apparently.
This is how it works, she
hides the key under the mat,
the door, the car mat.
And then somebody else
will come here, get the car,
take it away and then call
her when the car is ready.
So, we just stay here,
and we wait.
Okay. Now off she goes.
And supposedly now, she says
somebody else is gonna show up
and take the car.
Do you see somebody?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. Is that it?
There's a guy coming this way.
That might be our guy.
And so, the deal is that
once he gets in that car,
we actually follow the car to
wherever it is that they're
taking this to unload it.
Okay, yes. This is it.
This is him.
So, this guy knows
we're following him
or at least I hope so.
(honking)
(Bleep). Sorry, sorry, sorry.
I just don't wanna lose him.
I don't know much, I don't
know (bleep) about this guy.
Just, I believe this, he works
for the guy that receives the
guns here in Mexico.
Um, so he's another
link in this chain.
But essentially right now,
we're following a car that is
fully loaded with assault rifles
through the streets of Mexicali.
We follow the SUV until it
stops outside a small garage.
So, he's pulling the car in now.
Now we wait for the signal
that it's safe to enter.
Let's do this, guys.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: So, I guess this is it.
This man, who tells me
to call him "Hector,"
informs me that we aren't
the only ones using cameras
in Mexicali today.
MARIANA: Mexico's drug cartels run
a multibillion dollar criminal industry,
and nobody controls that
kind of cash without guns,
a lot of guns.
But in a country with
exactly one legal gun store,
firearms are almost impossible
to acquire unless you know
someone like Hector.
Or her shoes.
If Blondie is a mule, then
Hector is a middleman,
and this garage is an
underground distribution center.
Oh, wow. Check this out.
Okay. See, that's just
wrapped in a denim jacket.
Oh, no, in a denim, no, jeans.
Jeans.
Here, Hector fills orders from
the cartels with a massive markup.
So, we've got a, a
.9mm, a .22 caliber,
both of these have already
been sold for $3,000,
that's 1,500 apiece.
And then there's an
AR-15 here sold for $5,000
and there is a Colt
45 here and a Glock.
MARIANA: Hector says
he's a businessman,
and in a country with a
skyrocketing murder rate,
business is booming.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: It's dangerous to
pry into organized crime
affiliations in Mexico,
but Hector is part of the
same supply chain as Blondie
and I'm fairly certain they
both work for the
Sinaloa Cartel,
the dominant drug
cartel in this area.
MARIANA: To understand why so
many American guns are being
smuggled into Mexico,
you first have to understand
that there are more than a
dozen drug cartels here,
all competing to supply the
world's largest consumer
of illegal drugs,
the United States.
In 2006, the Mexican
Government decided to crush
this supply and launched
their own war on drugs.
But the plan backfired and
unleashed a wave of violence
that 14 years later
is deadlier than ever.
To beat back both the military
and local competition,
the cartels need firepower, so
they look to the most
heavily armed country
in the world,
with some of the most
lenient gun laws.
Mexicali was just the first
stop in the Iron River.
To see where America's
weapons head next,
I'm driving deeper into cartel
country to meet a group of
gunmen arming for war.
♪
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Tracking the flow of
illegal American weapons into Mexico,
you're bound to run
into a few roadblocks,
whether you're a gun smuggler
or a journalist like me.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Drugs and guns,
he says.
That's what they're looking for.
He says a lot of people
actually hide guns inside,
on the doors.
So, they're shaking the door
to they making sure there are
no guns inside.
(speaking native language)
So, he's saying in here too.
This is a regular place
where people hide guns.
And in the AC ducts
and all this area.
We're free to go.
We're gun free, we can go.
I'm pursuing a new tip from
my underworld contacts.
They've connected me with a
group of traffickers who can
show me how they dodge
checkpoints just like this one.
I'm scheduled to meet them
about 100 miles southeast of
Mexicali in San Felipe,
a small coastal city
on the Sea of Cortez.
♪
MARIANA: San Felipe is an
old fishing village recently
transformed into a popular
tourist-town with a colorful,
Caribbean vibe.
It hardly looks like
a cartel war zone.
Yet somehow the Iron
River has led me here.
MARIANA: We finally get the
call we've been waiting for.
The man holding the phone
is my local contact.
The voice on the other end is
one of the gun runners we're
hoping to meet.
MARIANA: A location is sent
to my phone and we're off.
So, still a (bleep)
ton of unknowns.
We know we're meeting them
at this location right now,
but we have no idea
where we're going.
We don't know even what
cartel they belong to.
Our local contact says that's
something you never ask
here in Mexico.
That can get you killed.
So the more out into
isolated areas we drive,
the more nervous I get,
because we don't wanna be
caught in the middle of
nowhere where we don't get
cell phone service, and
nobody knows where we are.
The information I've been
given directs me to the most
unusual meeting point.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Okay.
What's happening here?
MARIANA: Oh, yeah, they
probably are looking at us.
They're checking us
out right now for sure.
It all looks like it's
go, go, go, adrenaline,
things happening, but I'd say
80% of our job is just waiting.
And the more time passes then
the more nervous you get that
it's not gonna happen.
And then just like that,
my contacts arrive.
They're wearing orange
life vests which,
if you're trafficking guns,
doesn't seem like the best idea.
It's always borderline comedy.
I quickly realize
the joke's on me.
In a town overrun with tourists,
these smugglers are wearing
the ultimate disguise.
Hiding in plain sight
as tour boat operators.
So, it looks, it
looks like this is it.
He's saying to go.
Let's go.
Rock and roll time.
♪
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
They asked if we wanted
to put on the life vest.
I think that's the least
of our concerns right now.
(speaking native language)
There's more to San Felipe
than most tourists
will ever know.
This town hides a dark side,
and I'm close to seeing it
for the first time.
♪
MARIANA: In my quest to
expose how American guns are
trafficked throughout Mexico,
I never expected to be
headed out to sea.
But as we move deeper
into the waters,
these smugglers break
down their operation.
The Sea of Cortez is over
700 miles long but less
than 100 miles wide.
That means these smugglers can
make the crossing in less than three hours,
completely bypassing
the military
checkpoints set up
along Mexico's highways.
Right now, they say they're
delivering more and more guns
to Sonora directly
across the sea,
that's the same heavily
contested territory that
Hector in Mexicali is
also sending guns to.
I think, like, that's it.
I think we're going to
that beach over there.
Oh, there's some guys there.
There's some guys actually
waiting at the beach.
Or at least one
guy that I see now.
And he's coming
to greet the boat.
He's all dressed in black
with a mask as well.
Yeah, they're
anchoring right there.
So, this is it.
I'm told the man in black is
another buyer from Sonora.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: 50 calibers, RPGs.
MARIANA: None of this sounds
like arming a criminal organization.
They're arming for war.
MARIANA: I'm told the buyer
is from an affiliated cartel,
fighting to regain
territory in Sonora.
He's picking up a fresh order,
including a pair of customized
handguns for rich narcos who
don't just want a weapon,
they want to make a statement.
Sales like this are common
for these smugglers.
The market for American
assault rifles is exploding.
MARIANA: (Bleep).
So, they had 200 AK 47s,
cuerno de chivo,
which is what they call them
here, come through here,
San Felipe, in just
one day last week.
MARIANA: Here's where
things get interesting.
Remember when I said that you
never ask what cartel someone
belongs to?
I didn't.
This guy just decided to tell
me that he works for one of
the fastest growing
mafias in Mexico,
the Jalisco Cartel
also known as CJNG.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The organization is
only about ten years old,
but aggressive maneuvers
and terrifying,
ISIS-style executions
have helped them dominate
underworld markets
across Mexico,
becoming the Sinaloa
Cartel's biggest rival.
And the kingpin of
these violent upstarts,
perhaps the most dangerous
drug lord in the world,
is known as "El Mencho."
MARIANA: The timing of these
ambitions is no accident.
(gunshots)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: In 2016,
El Chapo Guzman,
the billionaire leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel,
was captured by the Mexican
marines, extradited to the US,
and sentenced to life in prison.
In his wake, the country's
murder rate continued to
skyrocket as rivals fought
to fill the power vacuum.
El Mencho and the Jalisco
Cartel see this as an
opportunity to strike while
the Sinaloa Cartel is vulnerable.
A turf war is underway, and
firepower is needed by all sides.
That is why Hector in Mexicali
told me he was rushing another
load of firearms further south,
directly to Sinaloa.
MARIANA: Blondie tells me
that things are hot in
Sinaloa right now.
That means she won't be
heading home to her three
daughters any time soon.
MARIANA: Blondie and I are both
headed deeper into narco territory.
I've seen where The
Iron River begins.
Now I wanna know where it ends.
♪
♪
MARIANA: 800 miles south of
Los Angeles lies Sinaloa,
Mexico's drug capital.
(singing in native language)
Here, outlaw culture is
part of everyday life.
(singing in native language)
This is where the country's
notorious narco traffickers
got their start when a small
group of impoverished farmers
started planting
poppies and marijuana.
Over time, the farmers began
to organize and arm themselves,
creating one of Mexico's
first narco mafias,
the Sinaloa Cartel, the same cartel
that gave rise to El Chapo Guzman,
the most successful
drug trafficker in
Mexican history.
Once number 701 on the
Forbes's annual billionaires list.
It's an outlaw rags to riches
tale that continues to inspire
Sinaloa's poor.
But you don't become the
world's most powerful
trafficking organization
without making a few enemies
along the way.
(gunshots)
We don't have much information,
just that it's a guy,
it's a man who was shot
about 20 minutes ago.
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: He's been,
he's, it's confirmed,
he's been confirmed dead?
MIGUEL: Yeah, he's dead.
MARIANA: This is my fifth
time working in Culiacán,
but I've never arrived
quite like this.
We just got here last night,
and this is the first time we
took out the cameras, and
immediately within seconds,
we got a call that
there was a shooting.
MIGUEL: Right.
That tells you the level of
violence that we live in this city.
Culiacán is becoming
like a war zone now.
MARIANA: Miguel Angel Vega
is a local journalist
and an old friend.
We work together every
time I come to Sinaloa.
He tells me gun violence in
the city has spiked recently,
and no one knows exactly why.
Some say outside cartels are
trying to muscle their way
into Sinaloa.
Others suspect the Sinaloa
Cartel has internally
splintered since El Chapo's
capture as different factions
battle with El Chapo's
sons for control.
Whatever the reason,
82 people were killed
here the month before I arrived,
that's one murder
every ten hours.
Oh, it's right here.
It's right here, guys.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Oh, so they're
picking up the body right now,
but he's saying that it
was an assassination.
There was a guy inside.
He was shot several times.
♪
(speaking native language)
I try to find out more,
but no one wants to speak to me.
Impunity reigns across Mexico,
95% of murders like this
are never solved.
Yeah, they're scared to talk.
You know?
A lot of people around here, even
when they're witnesses to crime,
if they're, go on
television or talk to the
press about what they saw, that
can get them in serious trouble,
that can get them killed,
so they don't feel
comfortable talking.
They definitely know something,
they just don't
wanna talk to us.
Miguel has more luck with
his crime beat contacts.
The victim was allegedly part
of the Mexican underworld,
though it's unclear which
cartel he belonged to.
He recently arrived in
Sinaloa from Tijuana,
and just before
noon this morning,
two assassins followed him
into the building supplies
store and shot him four times,
at point blank range.
We still don't know what
kind of weapon was used,
but he says usually, the
vast majority of times,
it's either AR-15s or AK-47s,
it's, uh, assault weapons,
and the vast majority of times,
it's well-known that those weapons
come from the United States.
It's also known that Culiacán
is a city controlled by the cartel,
and they have eyes everywhere.
It's a well-known fact that,
especially if you have cameras,
the moment you land in Sinaloa,
that you're being watched.
Those guys are just
like, watching over,
like checking out what's moving.
MARIANA: The guys on the bikes?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
There's another one coming over,
the one with the blue shirt.
MARIANA: Yeah. Yeah.
MARIANA: Yeah.
Despite increasing challenges
to their authority,
Culiacán is still the seat of
power for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Miguel tells me I can't go any
further without first getting
permission from
the cartel itself.
He sets up a meeting
with his main source,
a narco boss who controls one
of the branches of the Iron River.
MARIANA: This man is the
highest ranking cartel figure
I've met so far.
He won't allow me to reveal
his name but tells me he
personally oversees every link
in the 1,000 mile supply chain
I followed from Los Angeles,
from the gangsters who
obtain the weapons,
to Hector in Mexicali,
and the mules like Blondie who
smuggle the guns into Mexico every week.
MARIANA: Every meeting I have
opens another door into the underworld.
This time, I'm invited to see
where the cargo Blondie picked
up in Los Angeles was
finally delivered.
Oh, my God.
♪
MARIANA: This is the
belly of the beast
when it comes to narco
trafficking in Mexico.
With the green light
from the cartel boss,
I met in Culiacán, Miguel and I head
into the mountains outside the city,
to see where Blondie's
shipment was delivered.
This is it?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Okay.
This is the plan that we
have to stop the cars,
and then we're going to
have to walk the rest.
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Are these
people with us, Miguel?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Yeah? They're with us?
MIGUEL: Yes. Yes.
♪
MARIANA: These men
are called "Sicarios",
hired killers employed by the
Sinaloa Cartel to protect their product,
and eliminate the competition.
MARIANA: They lay out the
ground rules for filming,
and the very real threats
we need to be aware of.
MARIANA: Okay, so.
MIGUEL: If, if, if
there's a situation.
MARIANA: Where the Marines come.
MIGUEL: In which the
Marines or the Army comes,
they're gonna fight them,
but we do not run.
We just stay low.
MARIANA: Stay where we are?
MIGUEL: Stay low. And go.
MARIANA: So, we're gonna be
in the middle of a, a, a shoot-out?
MIGUEL: It's possible, I
mean, it's very unlikely,
but it's a possibility.
MARIANA: I'm reminded that
the cartel's billion-dollar
profits may come
from the drug trade,
but their real source of
power will always be violence.
MARIANA: For rural
men like this,
the gun is seen as an essential
tool to change their fortunes,
just like El Chapo.
MARIANA: And that is what
fuels the never-ending cycle
of violence in Mexico.
The extraordinary profits
made from America's insatiable
demand for drugs, means
the cartels will always find a
supply of eager young recruits.
(gunshots)
(gunshots)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunshots)
MARIANA: At first glance,
these young men look no
different than Americans
having fun at a shooting range,
but they are worlds apart.
They're old enough to wield
America's lethal exports.
(Bleep).
But too young to comprehend
the epidemic violence they're
an essential part of.
(speaking native language)
♪
MARIANA: The Sicarios believe
it's the Mexican marines on
their way.
MARIANA: Where is that?
Our vehicles are exposed
in the open fields.
Now we're (bleep).
MARIANA: So, there's, uh,
apparently military everywhere.
There's a helicopter
coming our way,
which means that we can't
actually get out of here
without being spotted.
So, now we're stuck in this
position where we can't leave,
but we also have to hide.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: Right now, my film
crew and I are embedded with a
group of cartel hit men, but a
Mexican marine helicopter is
closing in fast.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Our contact here,
he's freaking out.
Um, and now, it's just a
matter of trying to figure out
what's the safest way for
us to get out of here,
because we're just (bleep)
sitting ducks right here.
MARIANA: (Bleep).
MARIANA: We need to follow them.
MIGUEL: Right.
♪
MARIANA: Thankfully, we
managed to avoid incident.
We take refuge inside a
cartel-controlled town where
I'm directed to the next
location the bosses have
agreed to show me.
MIGUEL: Okay.
We're here, Mariana.
MARIANA: Oh, okay.
Should I get out?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
I was told to stay in the
car so you can now go there.
MARIANA: But this is them?
MIGUEL: Yeah.
This masked man tells
me to call him Marco.
He works with the boss I met
in Culiacán and oversees
over 150 gunmen.
Every one of them loyal
to the Sinaloa Cartel.
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: Wow.
MARIANA: Wow. Okay.
It's, uh, a bunker, essentially.
Down there.
Oh my God.
Now that we're down
there so be careful.
♪
I've witnessed a
lot on this journey,
but never a stash
quite like this.
Hidden in this bunker are
assault rifles, pistols,
shot guns, laser scopes,
even bulletproof vests.
MARIANA: If I take
Marco at his word,
that's as many as 3,000 military-style
weapons in just this village,
one of many controlled
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
MARIANA: Despite everything
they've shown me,
I know I'm just catching
glimpses of a complex chessboard,
and I suspect the cartels
like it that way.
By keeping everyone in the dark,
it's impossible to anticipate
what they're going to do next.
MARIANA: Only weeks later,
the monster emerged,
when the Sinaloa Cartel
laid siege to Culiacán.
(speaking native language)
(gunshots)
(speaking native language)
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: I mean,
it's a guy with a .50 Cal
on top of a, a truck.
That's absolutely crazy.
It looks like scenes
out of, uh, you know,
Iraq and Afghanistan at
the height of the war.
MAN (over TV): Chaos and carnage
unleashed in the City of Culiacán.
MAN (over TV): Culiacán, Mexico.
The historic homeland to the
violent Sinaloa drug cartel.
MARIANA: The media called
it "Black Thursday."
MAN (over TV): Police appear to
be outgunned by drug cartel forces,
as men with heavy
machine guns open fire.
Civilians ran for safety.
MARIANA: As I watched from
the safety of my hotel room,
eyewitnesses on the streets of
Culiacán captured video of the
chaos and confusion.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: One thing was clear,
it all started with the
capture of the son of El Chapo.
WOMAN (over TV): Notorious
drug kingpin, El Chapo,
was taken into custody.
MARIANA: Around 2:30 PM,
Mexican Security Forces
attempted to arrest one of the
Sinaloa Cartel's youngest bosses,
Ovidio Guzman.
MARIANA: He was to be
extradited to the United States
to stand trial,
just like his father.
MARIANA: But as Mexican federal
agents began taking him into custody,
blocks away, the cartel
launched a counter attack,
firing on military vehicles
from the turrets of
their own armored pickups.
(rapid gunfire)
MARIANA: Instead of
halting the attack,
the cartel did
something unprecedented.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: These are the same
Sicarios that showed me how
the Iron River supplies
them with American guns.
Now, they're telling me how
they used those same weapons,
not to fight a cartel turf war,
but to bring the
government to its knees.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: The warring factions
of the Sinaloa Cartel combined
against a common enemy;
The Mexican states.
And in less than an hour,
hundreds of the heavily armed
gunmen poured into the city.
MARIANA: I can only assume
the weapons bunker I recently saw
was completely
emptied on Black Thursday.
MARIANA: This woman,
who tells me to call her Maria,
is a member of the
Sinaloa State Police.
MARIANA: Police and military
were out-manned and out-gunned,
unable to regain control.
But what seemed like total
chaos was actually part
of a sinister plan.
By hijacking all of the roads
and bridges leading into Culiacán,
the cartel had the
city surrounded like a noose,
choking the Mexican Government.
And it was about
to get even worse.
Sometime after 4 PM,
cartel gunmen stormed a
housing complex in the
heart of the city,
where the wives and children
of Mexico's military officers lived.
♪
MARIANA: The events of Black
Thursday began with the
capture of Ovidio Guzman.
If I wanted to hear
how it all ended,
I needed to speak to the hit
men who work for El Chapo's sons.
♪
MARIANA: Miguel and I are en
route to a high stakes meeting
with one of the only gunman
who can tell me exactly how
Black Thursday came to an end.
MARIANA: This Sicario is
part of a faction that works
directly for El Chapo's sons.
He commands a small group of hit
men that are on call 24 hours a day,
waiting for instructions,
usually to murder a rival.
But the call he received on Black
Thursday was something new.
A rescue mission.
MARIANA: He tells me that
he and his team attempted to
enter the home where
Ovidio was being detained
by law enforcement.
MARIANA: While his team
of Sicarios fought Mexican
military forces to a standstill,
the rest of the city erupted.
By the time the cartel
threatened to execute all
of the women and children
at the housing complex,
the Mexican government
faced an impossible choice.
Exactly what the
Sinaloa Cartel wanted.
MARIANA: The government
officially acknowledged the
death of 13 people
on Black Thursday,
but the Sicarios I spoke
with dispute that figure.
MARIANA: Black Thursday
was a wake-up call,
but it's not an isolated event.
American weapons have been
spilling Mexican blood for years.
In fact, it's estimated
that 200,000 people
have been killed here
over the past 14 years.
Countless innocent civilians
caught in the cartel's crossfire.
Police and witnesses executed
for upholding the law.
More than 100 journalists
silenced for daring to speak out.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: And student protestors
abducted and never seen again.
MARIANA: It's clear to me
now that Sinaloa's well-armed
narcos aren't the true
terminus of the Iron River.
Their victims are.
(singing in native language)
MARIANA: The Mexican
countryside hides countless
corpses and mass graves.
MARIANA: Since the war on
drugs began, 40,000 men, women,
and children,
remain unaccounted for.
They are simply called
Los Desaparecidos,
"The Disappeared."
Four times a week,
52 weeks a year,
Maria Isabelle Cruz leads a
group of grieving mothers who
search for their
sons and daughters.
They call themselves
Sabuesos Guerreras,
"The Warrior Hounds."
And they do the work
the Mexican Government
can't or won't do.
(speaking native language)
They just found this tape.
They say it's very
common to find, you know,
bodies that have been wrapped
around, or they put tape, ooh.
Such strong smell.
They'll put tape
around the face.
They tell me they've
recovered 78 bodies so far.
But not Maria Isabel's
son, Josimar.
MARIANA: Josimar was a member
of a Sinaloan Police Unit,
aggressively
combating the cartels,
until the narcos took
matters into their own hands.
On January 26th, 2017, a group
of hooded and heavily armed
narcos broke into
Josimar's home,
and in front of his fiancée,
dragged him out into the night.
He was never seen
or heard from again.
MARIANA: Maria Isabel now
spends her days searching for
bodies the cartels
don't want to be found.
♪
(singing in native language)
MARIANA: These women,
and the pain they carry,
are not alone.
Families throughout Mexico and
Central America are asking how
they can avoid a similar fate,
because the Iron River doesn't
stop at Sinaloa.
It flows further South, creating
devastating ripple effects.
Guatemala, El Salvador,
and Honduras,
known as the Northern Triangle,
are now among the most dangerous
countries to call home,
with some of the
world's highest murder rates.
MARIANA: As more and more
American weapons head south,
something else heads north,
an unprecedented mass migration.
They're no longer chasing
the American dream.
They're fleeing for their lives.
TRUMP (over TV): Many
of those people,
a big, fairly big
percentage of those people,
are criminals.
And they wanna come
into our country.
MARIANA: In reality, it seems
the criminals are staying put,
killing with impunity.
It's their victims
who are on the move.
It's ironic that to
escape the Iron River,
they head to its source,
the United States.
And it's here that I'm hoping
to answer my final question,
"Why is no one
able to stop this?"
MARIANA: We actually filmed
a gun sale a couple of miles
from where we are right now.
They had AK-47s, AR-15s, and we
saw them placing those guns in a car,
the guns went south.
It was as easy as transporting
candy down to Mexico.
What do you say to that?
CARLOS: Welcome to my world.
That's what I say to that.
MARIANA: Carlos Canino helms the
Los Angeles field division of the ATF,
the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms,
the federal agency tasked with
making sure America's weapons
don't fall into criminal hands.
That's easier said than done.
The United States is the only
country on Earth with more
guns than people.
How many guns do you estimate
are moving south every day?
CARLOS: No idea.
MARIANA: Well, shouldn't
the ATF measure this?
CARLOS: How?
There's no national database.
Nobody's keeping count on how
many guns are sold per day
in the United States.
(speaking native language)
MARIANA: Carlos also tells me
that even if Blondie or T are caught,
they can't be
charged with running guns.
CARLOS: That person would be
charged with dealing without a license,
selling a firearm
to a person who's not a
resident of that state.
MARIANA: You're not actually
charging them with the trafficking?
CARLOS: There is no Federal
Firearms Trafficking Statute
currently on the books.
MARIANA: It's crazy to me.
Just months from retirement,
Carlos is more candid than
most government
officials I interviewed.
He says the cartels know
exactly how to exploit
loopholes in America's gun laws,
buying legal weapons in ways
that are impossible to trace.
CARLOS: There's a robust gun
industry in the United States,
and they have very
well-funded powerful lobbies.
MARIANA: Do you think that the
violence in Mexico is directly
connected to the fact that they
can come to the United States,
and buy weapons so easily?
CARLOS: The cartels
have a reliable, ready,
easy-to-get supply of
firearms and ammunition.
Does that answer your question?
MARIANA: America's refusal to
take responsibility for our
role in the Iron River is creating
dangerous consequences.
Not just for the countries
south of our border,
but for our own.
CARLOS: Banning guns
is not the answer,
and it's unrealistic.
Unfortunately, the gun debate,
everybody runs to their corners.
There's a lot of
talking past each other.
And then, the only people who
win are the people that you
spoke with who are bringing
guns down to Mexico.
MARIANA: But, of course,
they're not the only ones who win.
And that's part of the problem.
When there's money to be made,
many people turn a blind eye,
and black markets flourish.
CARLOS: We have the ability to do
better and we should be doing better.
That simple.
And that's the truth.
(chanting in native language)
(music plays through credits)
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.