Battle of Culiacan: Heirs of the Cartel (2025) s01e02 Episode Script
The Chapitos
[somber music playing]
We woke up
and we didn't know what to do.
[Arturo] It must have been
very serious or very grim
if the Mexican Government let him go.
The operation was done right.
Ovidio was arrested
-[crowd clamoring]
-but the question to ask is
"What happened next?"
After the soldiers captured Ovidio,
Chapo's sister calls me.
I said, "Ma'am, don't worry."
"We'll do our job."
Authorities acknowledge
the failure of the rushed mission
to arrest Chapo Guzmán's son.
[newscaster 1, in French] We have news
about Ovidio Guzmán's arrest.
They freed him so the situation
would not escalate.
[in Spanish] The global press
criticized it and demanded action.
They basically called Culiacanazo
a "national embarrassment."
Why constantly train you
if you are not allowed to act?
You could hear the euphoric screams,
"We did it! He was freed!"
[man] Be ready, people!
The boss has been rescued!
I don't think AMLO is doing anything
to attack drug trafficking in Mexico.
Something is keeping the president
from going all the way
against organized crime.
A cartel can even get
to the presidency, in a way.
[theme music playing]
[theme music concludes]
BATTLE OF CULIACAN: HEIRS OF THE CARTEL
EPISODE 2
THE CHAPITOS
[brooding music playing]
OCTOBER 18, 2019
ONE DAY AFTER THE CULIACANAZO
Culiacán wakes up sad and alone.
I'd never seen the city
be as sad as it was that day.
You couldn't believe
what you saw in Culiacán.
It was city that looked like a warzone.
You could smell the gunpowder.
There were burnt cars.
It was really surreal.
We never thought
something like that could happen.
We woke up
and we didn't know what to do.
The second piece of news we expected,
the second government statement,
was for them to tell us
if things could go back to normal.
If we could go to school,
take our kids, go out to work.
And they weren't
telling us that either.
[Jesús] People wanted to know
why they had freed him.
Maybe from the outside,
what people don't understand
is that freeing him was the best thing
that could have happened.
Downtown in a city that never stops
was absolutely empty.
All the shops were closed.
I remember school was cancelled
because of the uncertainty and fear.
They made everyone very scared.
[reporter] We are seeing the results
of the damage and the aftermath.
Several cars present bullet holes,
flat tires and broken windows
along the shopping strip
on Sánchez Alonso.
[reporter 2] Little by little, calm
is returning to the city of Culiacán.
[Eddie] No one wanted to go out.
You couldn't believe the state
the city was in.
There was smoke everywhere, burnt cars.
Some cars were reduced to ash.
The day after the events in Culiacán,
the president took 38 minutes
to refer to the issue.
And he did so because he was questioned.
Otherwise,
he wouldn't have talked about it.
Thank you, Mr. President,
secretaries, Mr. Governor, colleagues.
Good morning.
I'm Arturo Páramo, Imagen Group.
About Culiacán, could you please tell us
who gave the order
to release Joaquín Guzmán Loera's son?
The decision was made
by the Security Cabinet as a group.
The secretaries of Defense, the marine,
and Public Safety.
[Jorge]
I think the main source of this failure
is the Federal Government's
Security Cabinet.
[dramatic music playing]
[former army colonel]
Everything the Armed Forces do,
the president is notified.
We were especially aware
that it wasn't up
to the National Security secretary
or any other cabinet member
to make that decision.
I supported that decision
because I think that safety comes first.
The decision to free Ovidio Guzmán
wasn't just supported by the president,
it was ordered by him.
In his role as supreme commander
of the armed forces.
The decision was to save
the lives of the people.
[Marcelo] God knows how many more deaths
we could have had.
If you make the wrong call,
you have to be willing
to take all kinds of risks except one,
create a massacre.
At the end of the day,
that's a lot worse,
even if you get to keep that person
in custody.
Capturing a criminal
can't be worth more
Yes, we want to fight crime.
But we can't be as violent as them.
than people's lives.
The blood on the hands of politicians
can never be washed.
Jesus. What can I say?
Of course he acted humanely.
More than that
he kept a cool head.
OCTOBER 30, 2019
If I may, Mr. President. Good morning.
We are going to report on the events
that took place in Culiacán.
We are going to start
with a summary of the outcome.
Casualties, eight.
One civilian,
one National Guard officer,
one inmate, and five suspects.
The official numbers
that the authorities presented
after the Culiacanazo is way too low.
[tense music playing]
From my vantage point,
I could see 15 bodies.
Several soldiers were tortured.
There were more Mexican soldiers dead
than what was reported at the time.
[Arturo] It was an all-out war.
The numbers presented
by the Mexican Government are dubious.
[ex-military] We can't be sure
how many died that day
because it's also
a shock the community.
My sources in SEDENA said,
"You can't imagine
what really happened that day."
They made soldiers disappear,
they tortured us, and the government
didn't acknowledge it."
None of that
has been officially investigated.
[music builds]
-[music fades]
-[foreboding music starts]
The authorities just left the bodies
after the confrontation.
The forensic team
that was meant to go get them,
collect the evidence
and go through the forensic process
never got there.
Some members of the Sinaloa Cartel
went to get some of the bodies.
They loaded them onto their vehicles
and took them away.
[Ernesto] The government wanted for them
to be taken away
because they were not part
of the official death toll.
So they wouldn't count
for official statistics.
[indistinct chatter]
[Jesús] Why do they hide documents?
Why don't they give official numbers?
What is going on?
-[tense music playing]
-The use of force,
of violence, the massacres
We know that all that
doesn't work.
We are not going to change our policy.
The U.S. government may have suspected
that some Mexican authorities
attempted to sabotage the operation
to make sure that this man would go free.
[Uttam, in English] I don't think AMLO
is doing anything to attack
drug trafficking in Mexico.
Estimates are that 40 percent of Mexico
is under the control of a drug cartel.
That's because of AMLO's policy
of coddling those drug cartels.
[in Spanish] Much of Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador's
public activity is controversial.
Yesterday, the president shook hands
with Consuelo Loera.
-[López Obrador] Don't get out.
-Come, come.
[López Obrador] I got your letter.
[Jose] There's a video!
[López Obrador] Yes, yes.
I was standing on one side,
and he says to Chapo's mom,
"I got your letter."
Come, come.
She asked him to intervene
so she'd get a humanitarian visa
to visit her son.
AUTHORIZE HUMANITARIAN VISAS
I got your letter.
[Jose] The lady tried to get out
and say hi and hug him.
"Don't get out. I got your letter."
That's it.
[Jesús] After saying hi to Chapo's mom,
there was a lot of speculation
in regard to the relationship
between the government
and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Yesterday, famous and award-winning
investigative journalist Tim Golden
from the U.S. published a piece
saying that in 2006,
the DEA found substantial evidence
that your first campaign
as a presidential candidate
was financed by organized crime.
There is no proof.
They are just vicious slanderers
even if they get awards
for great journalism.
[ominous drone music playing]
I published a piece
based on evidence
from the Department of Justice and the DEA
indicating that there may have been
a campaign donation by the cartels
for López Obrador in 2006.
DID DRUG TRAFFICKERS
FUNNEL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
TO MEXICAN PRESIDEN
LÓPEZ OBRADOR'S FIRST CAMPAIGN?
[Tim] People in López Obrador's campaign
promised to let drug lords
influence the election of police chiefs
and maybe that of the attorney general
in exchange for two million dollars.
Where's the proof?
We can't say for sure
if López Obrador knew
about these alleged cartel donations.
It's just slander
We know that the money
was delivered to a man
who is very close to López Obrador,
but that's as far as our proof goes.
WHY DID THE OPERATION
TO CAPTURE OVIDIO GUZMÁN FAIL?
The government does concede
to organized crime.
It was evident.
There's no way
to question it or doubt it.
Mr. President, you said that this
won't weaken your administration,
but doesn't it strengthen cartels
when decisions like this are made
and they get to show their power?
That
That is mostly just conjecture
presented by the opposition.
LÓPEZ OBRADOR
AND THE GHOST OF THE CARTELS
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE PRESIDEN
AFTER OVIDIO'S RELEASE
Some people say Mexico
is a failed state or a "narco-state."
[Manelich] Calling Mexico a narco-state
is a baseless accusation.
People are getting arrested.
We are working with other countries.
So, I think that Mexico
is very far from being a country
that deserves that label.
Once you decide it's a narco-state,
who will you work with?
There's a lack of credibility,
there's corruption.
DEA ARRESTS GENERAL CIENFUEGOS
IN LOS ANGELES
THE MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
MADE DEALS WITH THE NARCOS
[Manelich] The fact that corruption
touches some institutions
doesn't mean
that all institutions are corrupt.
The corruptor and the person corrupted
are always human beings.
"One traitor is stronger
than a thousand heroes."
[former army colonel]
There has been blackmailing,
corruption attempts.
"If you don't do as I say,
your family will suffer. You will suffer."
There's always that risk for us,
members of the armed forces.
[Fulton] It's very hard, because
I could recruit you for an operation
and maybe today you're totally clean.
You seem good, you're with me.
But once the bad guys, the narcos,
find out you're working with me,
they come, they put pressure on you,
what will you do?
Are you going to risk dying
to keep working for me?
Very few do.
This shows the incredible power
this criminal organization has.
Of course it has an effect
on a community
where the symbolic meaning
of cartel activity is so important,
especially after Chapo
was arrested and extradited.
[somber music playing]
The release of Ovidio
elevated him, "Ratón,"
to the status of an idol
of narco-culture.
SALES OF SCAPULARS LIKE OVIDIO'S
AFTER CULIACANAZO ROCKETED
-[Jesús] Ovidio's popularity boomed.
-[intriguing music playing]
Many people named their kids Ovidio.
He became a character in songs,
in literature
Everyone wanted to look like him,
with an unbuttoned shirt
and the Atocha scapular.
Ovidio Guzmán became a legend.
But eventually that would be bad for him.
[somber music playing]
Part of the reason the U.S. government
wants him is the popularity he gained.
He became too visible.
[cheerful narcorrido song
playing in Spanish]
It was in Culiacán
And it became war-like ♪
With that shirt that is now famous ♪
Ovidio is now more famous than Chapo ♪
Iván and Alfredo rescued him
With a shower of bullets ♪
They tried to take him
out of the spotlight.
Iván Archivaldo also said,
"Ovidio, stop it. No more songs."
They started to ban songs
about the Chapitos,
singing them, writing them.
Because they saw that the U.S.
was pointing its guns at the Chapitos.
I'm Ovidio, Alfredo's brother ♪
And also Iván Archivaldo's ♪
[song concludes]
When the Culiacanazo took place,
there were no clear arrest orders
on the Mexican Government's part
against Ovidio Guzmán.
[brooding music playing]
[Peniley] The most incredible part
about the Mexican Justice system
is that, before the Culiacanazo,
Ovidio had not been charged.
Mexican authorities
weren't investigating a direct link
between Ovidio Guzmán
and drug trafficking activities
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
[tense, pulsating drone music]
[Christopher] I knew that our agencies
were very interested in arresting him.
But I wasn't given a date.
I was just as surprised as everyone else
to see it happen that day.
[Marcelo] And Landau
I deduce that he probably did know
about the operation.
U.S. agencies were working
with Mexican agencies.
I was very angry
because it came as a surprise.
No one said, "Look, Mr. Ambassador,
today, tomorrow,
we are going to launch
this operation against Ovidio.
[Ernesto] Truthfully, we don't know
how long the U.S. had been after Ovidio.
But we did find it a bit odd
that there were meetings
between DEA agents
and the Sinaloa government
before Ovidio was arrested.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
ONE MONTH BEFORE CULIACANAZO
[caller]
Near the International Airport of Sinaloa,
there is a report
that there are 150 DEA agents.
DEA agents.
DEA agents that are going to be moving
in unmarked cars.
Just letting you know.
[in English] The meeting I had
with the governor of Sinaloa
had to do with tourism
and the State Department's issue
with respect to citizens-- U.S. citizens
traveling to Mexico.
That was not a conversation
about enforcement actions in Mexico.
[in Spanish] If these DEA people say
that they were trying
to strengthen cooperation with Sinaloa
or help lower security alerts
for tourists,
it's basically like saying
"I saw the Virgin of Guadalupe."
What was the DEA really doing?
They were after something.
They were planning a mission
to detain a big fish,
as we like to say here.
[in English] I'm not going to discuss
any internal deliberations
of the Department of Justice
or the Drug Enforcement Administration.
[in Spanish] Of course there is
a direct link with earlier meetings
in the weeks and months leading up to it
with the DEA and a U.S. delegation.
They are involved in the failed attempt
to arrest Ovidio Guzmán.
DEA UNDERCOVER TRIPS TO SINALOA.
DID THE VISITS ALERT THE CARTEL?
[Christopher] It's easy for people to say,
"Hey, the DEA director visited Culiacán
on this date."
"The Culiacanazo happened a month later.
There must be a connection."
As far as I know, there's no connection.
[in English] No government official
from the United States,
no DEA administrator,
would hesitate to visit Mexico
to discuss the important issues
that Mexico and the United States
have to discuss
and worry about what the cartels
are going to think.
[gentle music playing]
[in Spanish]
I worked in Mexico for 13 years.
I infiltrated the biggest cartels
back then.
[bold upbeat music playing]
A strategy that we use
is to work undercover.
We can ID people who may be a weak link
within a drug trafficking ring.
We go up to them
and get them to cooperate.
They usually say yes,
especially if you offer them
a lot of money.
So, drug traffickers always wanted you
to show them the money.
[suspenseful music playing]
But some informants
want to take revenge against their group
maybe because they lost a sibling
or they didn't get paid.
So, they may do it for revenge,
but it's usually for the money.
Criminal organizations
usually don't trust strangers.
But the DEA has managed
to infiltrate those they trust.
That person knows that they are risking
their lives and their family's.
TWO DEA INFORMANTS KILLED IN SINALOA
The rules are clear
for drug traffickers.
The rules are clear.
BRUTAL NARCO-REVENGE
Bullets make them so.
Despite the risks, the DEA managed
to infiltrate Ovidio's trusted circle
in a way that was different
from every other case we knew.
There were people very close to them
who were constantly leaking intel
because they were promised
very beneficial deals.
[foreboding music playing]
[cartel member, distorted voice]
I'm a regular guy.
I just work for the Sinaloa Cartel.
I've been involved with them
for at least 15 years.
I've seen it work from the inside.
I have a direct line.
I am in touch with a lot of lieutenants,
many traffickers,
and a lot of people involved
in Culiacán and nearby ranches.
I want to protect my identity,
my real voice,
because I'm involved,
but I'm afraid for my family.
When there is an arrest,
maybe 90 percent of the time
it's because someone pointed
a finger at them. That's been proven.
Collaborating witnesses
are part of the game.
It's a system, like a wheel.
They are drug traffickers,
they get caught and they turn
and they snitch on other traffickers,
who then get captured
After ten years in prison,
they are millionaires.
The U.S. knows everything
about the Chapitos.
They have
completely infiltrated their circle.
The Chapitos Cartel
is like Swiss cheese, full of holes.
[in English]
The DEA and our law enforcement partners
took down the previous leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel,
Chapo Guzmán or "El Chapo."
But El Chapo's sons,
Ovidio, Iván, and Alfredo,
known as "The Chapitos,"
became the new leaders
of the Sinaloa Cartel.
[dramatic music playing]
[cartel member, in Spanish]
Their leader is Iván. What he says goes.
He always has the last word.
His dream is to become someone
even more legendary than his dad.
Alfredo is in charge
of the organization's operations.
He coordinates with partners
and allies and families.
He's much more of a strategist.
Joaquín is the most discrete.
He didn't like having a security detail.
He hated being around other drug lords.
Finally, Ovidio, the youngest.
He's the easiest to manipulate.
I think he liked to prove
that he could do what he was asked
so that his brothers would respect him.
-[soldier] Do you have any guns?
-No.
-[man] Fuck it!
-[woman] Calm down!
[man, muffled] Damn it!
[Jesús] We knew he existed.
We knew he was one of the sons.
We knew about his illicit activities.
But he wasn't
as visible as Iván or Alfredo.
[Luis] They have always protected Ovidio
since he was a kid.
He's the preppy kid, the easy-going kid,
the kid Dad sent to private school.
In 1998, Ovidio Guzmán
was sent to Mexico City
to attend a private Catholic school.
One of the most famous
and expensive in Mexico.
It was Chapo's attempt
to get Ovidio out of the crime life.
[cartel member, distorted voice] His mom,
Griselda, and his older brother Edgar
wanted him to get out.
They didn't let him get involved
or be surrounded by guns or drugs
or any of that.
[Jesús] There's a picture of Ovidio
in elementary school.
He looks like a little mouse.
His face, his ears are mouse-like.
That's why Chapo calls him "Ratón"
or "Mouse" in Spanish.
[uneasy music playing]
What we know about Ovidio and his dad
is that they were very close.
They took his dad.
And they started
to look after the family business.
[Manelich] If you're born
inside a criminal organization,
it is understood that your life
will be dedicated to it.
Without Chapo, cartels keep working
like the big business that they are.
Drug traffickers are capable
of adapting to changing situations.
[Manelich] When their most visible leader,
Joaquín Guzmán, was caught,
they still had his sons.
But there were also groups
who were very close
to the other big cartel leader
alongside Joaquín Guzmán.
I'm referring to Ismael "Mayo" Zambada.
REWARD
15 MILLION DOLLARS
REWARD FOR INFORMATION
THAT LEADS TO HIS CAPTURE OR DEATH
[somber piano]
[Jesús] Several sources on the inside said
that Mayo didn't like
the way the Chapitos were managing
the business, the city
They basically told Mayo
that Culiacán belonged to them.
[cartel member, distorted voice]
Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada
is the undeniable leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is its founder.
Yes, the Chapitos
sometimes provoked Mayo's people.
They even did serious stuff,
like trespassing on Mayo's territory,
threatening or scaring
or even killing Mayo's people.
But there was never a war between them.
Mayo basically tried to appease them.
All in all, he didn't manage to do it
despite his efforts.
The Chapitos have been accused
of being more violent than Chapo.
I know for a fact that it's true.
The only reason is that Iván
is the head of this organization.
[cartel member] The Chapitos
have murdered a lot of people.
They torture people,
they cut their arms off, their heads off.
Is Iván a psychopath? I think so.
THE CHAPITOS FED THEIR ENEMIES
TO THEIR DOMESTIC TIGERS
Mexico suffers a cruel war
over the control
of its powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
The battle seems to keep growing.
Now there are new contenders
and more violence at their hand.
They started out in a violent way,
in a disproportionate way,
against their rivals
to keep the part of the Sinaloa Cartel
that they felt was theirs.
That's how they grew
and eliminated all of their rivals.
They executed people on squares,
at shopping malls, restaurants.
The aim was to show their power.
[dramatic music playing]
I think the cartel was surprised
when they went after Ovidio Guzmán.
That was a surprise.
-[soldier] Stop everything.
-Get down!
-[Ovidio] Wait!
-[soldier] Ma'am! Relax, relax!
The thing is that the Army felt
that Ovidio Guzmán was the weak link
in the Chapitos Cartel.
He was the youngest, the least violent.
He had a low profile.
-[soldier] Do you have people inside?
-No, I don't! It's my kids!
[soldier] Tell them to stop.
The order comes from Iván Archivaldo
and period.
[Ovidio] Stop everything, stop everything.
I'm turning myself in. Stop, please.
[Ernesto]
We expected them to arrest his brother.
We were all surprised
to see them arrest Ovidio.
Why him? Why was he arrested?
The DEA linked Ovidio Guzmán
to the manufacturing of fentanyl
around 2015.
[music concludes]
[cartel member, distorted voice] Fentanyl
made it to Sinaloa around 2013 or 2014.
That's the first we heard about it.
It's a totally synthetic drug.
It's more powerful and addictive
than any other drug known to us.
[Luis] Ovidio got into this business
as an investor.
It was a financial decision.
You need money, you need cash,
to buy it, move it, sell it.
[cartel member, distorted voice]
The earnings you get from fentanyl.
If you have 400,000 dollars,
you can make 350 kilos or 771 lbs.
Each kilo is sold
in New York or LA for 35,000 dollars.
In two or three years,
you get 35-50 million dollars.
Good profit margin.
[Luis] They think, "We can make
a lot more money with this."
It's a lot cheaper to make
and sold at a higher price.
[in English] Right now,
we should be looking at fentanyl
as a weapon of mass destruction.
[somber music playing]
[in Spanish] In the past, if you moved
an entire truck into the U.S.,
you could make a lot of money.
Today, you get the same money
by selling two shoebox-sized quantities
of a power drug like fentanyl.
So there's a logistics issue, of course,
and it's also a legal issue.
This kind of substance
is also part of the legal drug market
that wants to help people.
[music concludes]
Fentanyl is an opioid
that is highly addictive.
It's a hundred times more powerful
than morphine
and 50 times more powerful than heroine.
It's usually used
in very specific clinical cases
for pain management,
for terminal cancer patients,
or for surgeries
that we know can cause great deal of pain.
It's meant to mitigate pain.
But most of us today
no longer think of its legal uses.
We think about the fentanyl
that is devastating for the people
in the U.S. above all.
[Fulton] How many young people died
in this country last year
because of fentanyl?
That product, that supply line,
that market,
is being exploited after Chapo's arrest.
[helicopter whirring]
[in English]
The fight against fentanyl is, of course,
one of the primary objectives of the DEA.
[tense music]
[cartel member, in Spanish]
The U.S. government's greatest evidence
against Ovidio is the witnesses.
Also, conversations,
text messages, all of that.
One specific meeting took place
in May 2022 at a ranch
that seems to be Ovidio's.
During this conversation,
they not only talk about
how they are going to traffic fentanyl,
but also on what scale.
THE CHAPITOS PLAN THEIR NEXT HI
OVIDIO AND HIS BROTHERS ARE CREATING
NEW ROUTES FOR FENTANYL
FENTANYL, OVIDIO GUZMÁN'S
CRIMINAL BUSINESS
In terms of security within the cartel,
this is a serious mistake.
They managed to get to three people
who not only said what was going on,
but also recorded Ovidio.
[Mike]
This information pointed to the Chapitos
and the Sinaloa Cartel
as the biggest fentanyl manufacturers
in the world.
[Peniley] Iván says,
"Let's flood the U.S. with fentanyl."
At another meeting he says he'd operate
from a control center in Mexico City.
They explain the significance
of Lázaron Cárdenas
and Manzanillo Harbors.
They even talk
about Ovidio's clients in California.
Based on these tapes,
the DEA labels Ovidio
as "The King of Fentanyl."
OVIDIO GUZMÁN,
"KING OF FENTANYL," ACCORDING TO THE DEA
[intriguing music playing]
[Jesús] Ovidio was in charge
of the production of synthetic drugs.
Ovidio was in charge of bringing
the chemical precursors,
manufacturing fentanyl
and exporting it to the U.S.
That's how he became more visible
to U.S. authorities.
So, U.S. authorities are eager
to capture and judge
someone they can point to as the guy
responsible for what's happening.
This issue, of course,
affects the population in general,
and especially voters.
And, what's more, during the Culiacanazo,
federal forces were humiliated
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
[César] For a group of men
who think they are the best
at what they do,
who are not afraid of anyone,
who give their lives to Mexico.
Imagine what it's like for them
to bend a knee, let him go
and be publicly humiliated
in Mexico and the world.
It was a hard hit for the military.
Fentanyl is the U.S.'s main health crisis.
They are dying because of the fentanyl
coming from Mexico.
They won't be humiliated.
So they started hunting them down.
"Arrest him or kill him."
[César] They take it personally.
-It's like the DEA's revenge.
-They couldn't let it go.
I would say that, once again,
anybody who's been indicted
for drug trafficking in Mexico
will eventually face U.S. justice.
When I read "Jesús María,"
I realized it was true,
they were after Ovidio.
[music concludes]
We woke up
and we didn't know what to do.
[Arturo] It must have been
very serious or very grim
if the Mexican Government let him go.
The operation was done right.
Ovidio was arrested
-[crowd clamoring]
-but the question to ask is
"What happened next?"
After the soldiers captured Ovidio,
Chapo's sister calls me.
I said, "Ma'am, don't worry."
"We'll do our job."
Authorities acknowledge
the failure of the rushed mission
to arrest Chapo Guzmán's son.
[newscaster 1, in French] We have news
about Ovidio Guzmán's arrest.
They freed him so the situation
would not escalate.
[in Spanish] The global press
criticized it and demanded action.
They basically called Culiacanazo
a "national embarrassment."
Why constantly train you
if you are not allowed to act?
You could hear the euphoric screams,
"We did it! He was freed!"
[man] Be ready, people!
The boss has been rescued!
I don't think AMLO is doing anything
to attack drug trafficking in Mexico.
Something is keeping the president
from going all the way
against organized crime.
A cartel can even get
to the presidency, in a way.
[theme music playing]
[theme music concludes]
BATTLE OF CULIACAN: HEIRS OF THE CARTEL
EPISODE 2
THE CHAPITOS
[brooding music playing]
OCTOBER 18, 2019
ONE DAY AFTER THE CULIACANAZO
Culiacán wakes up sad and alone.
I'd never seen the city
be as sad as it was that day.
You couldn't believe
what you saw in Culiacán.
It was city that looked like a warzone.
You could smell the gunpowder.
There were burnt cars.
It was really surreal.
We never thought
something like that could happen.
We woke up
and we didn't know what to do.
The second piece of news we expected,
the second government statement,
was for them to tell us
if things could go back to normal.
If we could go to school,
take our kids, go out to work.
And they weren't
telling us that either.
[Jesús] People wanted to know
why they had freed him.
Maybe from the outside,
what people don't understand
is that freeing him was the best thing
that could have happened.
Downtown in a city that never stops
was absolutely empty.
All the shops were closed.
I remember school was cancelled
because of the uncertainty and fear.
They made everyone very scared.
[reporter] We are seeing the results
of the damage and the aftermath.
Several cars present bullet holes,
flat tires and broken windows
along the shopping strip
on Sánchez Alonso.
[reporter 2] Little by little, calm
is returning to the city of Culiacán.
[Eddie] No one wanted to go out.
You couldn't believe the state
the city was in.
There was smoke everywhere, burnt cars.
Some cars were reduced to ash.
The day after the events in Culiacán,
the president took 38 minutes
to refer to the issue.
And he did so because he was questioned.
Otherwise,
he wouldn't have talked about it.
Thank you, Mr. President,
secretaries, Mr. Governor, colleagues.
Good morning.
I'm Arturo Páramo, Imagen Group.
About Culiacán, could you please tell us
who gave the order
to release Joaquín Guzmán Loera's son?
The decision was made
by the Security Cabinet as a group.
The secretaries of Defense, the marine,
and Public Safety.
[Jorge]
I think the main source of this failure
is the Federal Government's
Security Cabinet.
[dramatic music playing]
[former army colonel]
Everything the Armed Forces do,
the president is notified.
We were especially aware
that it wasn't up
to the National Security secretary
or any other cabinet member
to make that decision.
I supported that decision
because I think that safety comes first.
The decision to free Ovidio Guzmán
wasn't just supported by the president,
it was ordered by him.
In his role as supreme commander
of the armed forces.
The decision was to save
the lives of the people.
[Marcelo] God knows how many more deaths
we could have had.
If you make the wrong call,
you have to be willing
to take all kinds of risks except one,
create a massacre.
At the end of the day,
that's a lot worse,
even if you get to keep that person
in custody.
Capturing a criminal
can't be worth more
Yes, we want to fight crime.
But we can't be as violent as them.
than people's lives.
The blood on the hands of politicians
can never be washed.
Jesus. What can I say?
Of course he acted humanely.
More than that
he kept a cool head.
OCTOBER 30, 2019
If I may, Mr. President. Good morning.
We are going to report on the events
that took place in Culiacán.
We are going to start
with a summary of the outcome.
Casualties, eight.
One civilian,
one National Guard officer,
one inmate, and five suspects.
The official numbers
that the authorities presented
after the Culiacanazo is way too low.
[tense music playing]
From my vantage point,
I could see 15 bodies.
Several soldiers were tortured.
There were more Mexican soldiers dead
than what was reported at the time.
[Arturo] It was an all-out war.
The numbers presented
by the Mexican Government are dubious.
[ex-military] We can't be sure
how many died that day
because it's also
a shock the community.
My sources in SEDENA said,
"You can't imagine
what really happened that day."
They made soldiers disappear,
they tortured us, and the government
didn't acknowledge it."
None of that
has been officially investigated.
[music builds]
-[music fades]
-[foreboding music starts]
The authorities just left the bodies
after the confrontation.
The forensic team
that was meant to go get them,
collect the evidence
and go through the forensic process
never got there.
Some members of the Sinaloa Cartel
went to get some of the bodies.
They loaded them onto their vehicles
and took them away.
[Ernesto] The government wanted for them
to be taken away
because they were not part
of the official death toll.
So they wouldn't count
for official statistics.
[indistinct chatter]
[Jesús] Why do they hide documents?
Why don't they give official numbers?
What is going on?
-[tense music playing]
-The use of force,
of violence, the massacres
We know that all that
doesn't work.
We are not going to change our policy.
The U.S. government may have suspected
that some Mexican authorities
attempted to sabotage the operation
to make sure that this man would go free.
[Uttam, in English] I don't think AMLO
is doing anything to attack
drug trafficking in Mexico.
Estimates are that 40 percent of Mexico
is under the control of a drug cartel.
That's because of AMLO's policy
of coddling those drug cartels.
[in Spanish] Much of Mexican President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador's
public activity is controversial.
Yesterday, the president shook hands
with Consuelo Loera.
-[López Obrador] Don't get out.
-Come, come.
[López Obrador] I got your letter.
[Jose] There's a video!
[López Obrador] Yes, yes.
I was standing on one side,
and he says to Chapo's mom,
"I got your letter."
Come, come.
She asked him to intervene
so she'd get a humanitarian visa
to visit her son.
AUTHORIZE HUMANITARIAN VISAS
I got your letter.
[Jose] The lady tried to get out
and say hi and hug him.
"Don't get out. I got your letter."
That's it.
[Jesús] After saying hi to Chapo's mom,
there was a lot of speculation
in regard to the relationship
between the government
and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Yesterday, famous and award-winning
investigative journalist Tim Golden
from the U.S. published a piece
saying that in 2006,
the DEA found substantial evidence
that your first campaign
as a presidential candidate
was financed by organized crime.
There is no proof.
They are just vicious slanderers
even if they get awards
for great journalism.
[ominous drone music playing]
I published a piece
based on evidence
from the Department of Justice and the DEA
indicating that there may have been
a campaign donation by the cartels
for López Obrador in 2006.
DID DRUG TRAFFICKERS
FUNNEL MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
TO MEXICAN PRESIDEN
LÓPEZ OBRADOR'S FIRST CAMPAIGN?
[Tim] People in López Obrador's campaign
promised to let drug lords
influence the election of police chiefs
and maybe that of the attorney general
in exchange for two million dollars.
Where's the proof?
We can't say for sure
if López Obrador knew
about these alleged cartel donations.
It's just slander
We know that the money
was delivered to a man
who is very close to López Obrador,
but that's as far as our proof goes.
WHY DID THE OPERATION
TO CAPTURE OVIDIO GUZMÁN FAIL?
The government does concede
to organized crime.
It was evident.
There's no way
to question it or doubt it.
Mr. President, you said that this
won't weaken your administration,
but doesn't it strengthen cartels
when decisions like this are made
and they get to show their power?
That
That is mostly just conjecture
presented by the opposition.
LÓPEZ OBRADOR
AND THE GHOST OF THE CARTELS
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE PRESIDEN
AFTER OVIDIO'S RELEASE
Some people say Mexico
is a failed state or a "narco-state."
[Manelich] Calling Mexico a narco-state
is a baseless accusation.
People are getting arrested.
We are working with other countries.
So, I think that Mexico
is very far from being a country
that deserves that label.
Once you decide it's a narco-state,
who will you work with?
There's a lack of credibility,
there's corruption.
DEA ARRESTS GENERAL CIENFUEGOS
IN LOS ANGELES
THE MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
MADE DEALS WITH THE NARCOS
[Manelich] The fact that corruption
touches some institutions
doesn't mean
that all institutions are corrupt.
The corruptor and the person corrupted
are always human beings.
"One traitor is stronger
than a thousand heroes."
[former army colonel]
There has been blackmailing,
corruption attempts.
"If you don't do as I say,
your family will suffer. You will suffer."
There's always that risk for us,
members of the armed forces.
[Fulton] It's very hard, because
I could recruit you for an operation
and maybe today you're totally clean.
You seem good, you're with me.
But once the bad guys, the narcos,
find out you're working with me,
they come, they put pressure on you,
what will you do?
Are you going to risk dying
to keep working for me?
Very few do.
This shows the incredible power
this criminal organization has.
Of course it has an effect
on a community
where the symbolic meaning
of cartel activity is so important,
especially after Chapo
was arrested and extradited.
[somber music playing]
The release of Ovidio
elevated him, "Ratón,"
to the status of an idol
of narco-culture.
SALES OF SCAPULARS LIKE OVIDIO'S
AFTER CULIACANAZO ROCKETED
-[Jesús] Ovidio's popularity boomed.
-[intriguing music playing]
Many people named their kids Ovidio.
He became a character in songs,
in literature
Everyone wanted to look like him,
with an unbuttoned shirt
and the Atocha scapular.
Ovidio Guzmán became a legend.
But eventually that would be bad for him.
[somber music playing]
Part of the reason the U.S. government
wants him is the popularity he gained.
He became too visible.
[cheerful narcorrido song
playing in Spanish]
It was in Culiacán
And it became war-like ♪
With that shirt that is now famous ♪
Ovidio is now more famous than Chapo ♪
Iván and Alfredo rescued him
With a shower of bullets ♪
They tried to take him
out of the spotlight.
Iván Archivaldo also said,
"Ovidio, stop it. No more songs."
They started to ban songs
about the Chapitos,
singing them, writing them.
Because they saw that the U.S.
was pointing its guns at the Chapitos.
I'm Ovidio, Alfredo's brother ♪
And also Iván Archivaldo's ♪
[song concludes]
When the Culiacanazo took place,
there were no clear arrest orders
on the Mexican Government's part
against Ovidio Guzmán.
[brooding music playing]
[Peniley] The most incredible part
about the Mexican Justice system
is that, before the Culiacanazo,
Ovidio had not been charged.
Mexican authorities
weren't investigating a direct link
between Ovidio Guzmán
and drug trafficking activities
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
[tense, pulsating drone music]
[Christopher] I knew that our agencies
were very interested in arresting him.
But I wasn't given a date.
I was just as surprised as everyone else
to see it happen that day.
[Marcelo] And Landau
I deduce that he probably did know
about the operation.
U.S. agencies were working
with Mexican agencies.
I was very angry
because it came as a surprise.
No one said, "Look, Mr. Ambassador,
today, tomorrow,
we are going to launch
this operation against Ovidio.
[Ernesto] Truthfully, we don't know
how long the U.S. had been after Ovidio.
But we did find it a bit odd
that there were meetings
between DEA agents
and the Sinaloa government
before Ovidio was arrested.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
ONE MONTH BEFORE CULIACANAZO
[caller]
Near the International Airport of Sinaloa,
there is a report
that there are 150 DEA agents.
DEA agents.
DEA agents that are going to be moving
in unmarked cars.
Just letting you know.
[in English] The meeting I had
with the governor of Sinaloa
had to do with tourism
and the State Department's issue
with respect to citizens-- U.S. citizens
traveling to Mexico.
That was not a conversation
about enforcement actions in Mexico.
[in Spanish] If these DEA people say
that they were trying
to strengthen cooperation with Sinaloa
or help lower security alerts
for tourists,
it's basically like saying
"I saw the Virgin of Guadalupe."
What was the DEA really doing?
They were after something.
They were planning a mission
to detain a big fish,
as we like to say here.
[in English] I'm not going to discuss
any internal deliberations
of the Department of Justice
or the Drug Enforcement Administration.
[in Spanish] Of course there is
a direct link with earlier meetings
in the weeks and months leading up to it
with the DEA and a U.S. delegation.
They are involved in the failed attempt
to arrest Ovidio Guzmán.
DEA UNDERCOVER TRIPS TO SINALOA.
DID THE VISITS ALERT THE CARTEL?
[Christopher] It's easy for people to say,
"Hey, the DEA director visited Culiacán
on this date."
"The Culiacanazo happened a month later.
There must be a connection."
As far as I know, there's no connection.
[in English] No government official
from the United States,
no DEA administrator,
would hesitate to visit Mexico
to discuss the important issues
that Mexico and the United States
have to discuss
and worry about what the cartels
are going to think.
[gentle music playing]
[in Spanish]
I worked in Mexico for 13 years.
I infiltrated the biggest cartels
back then.
[bold upbeat music playing]
A strategy that we use
is to work undercover.
We can ID people who may be a weak link
within a drug trafficking ring.
We go up to them
and get them to cooperate.
They usually say yes,
especially if you offer them
a lot of money.
So, drug traffickers always wanted you
to show them the money.
[suspenseful music playing]
But some informants
want to take revenge against their group
maybe because they lost a sibling
or they didn't get paid.
So, they may do it for revenge,
but it's usually for the money.
Criminal organizations
usually don't trust strangers.
But the DEA has managed
to infiltrate those they trust.
That person knows that they are risking
their lives and their family's.
TWO DEA INFORMANTS KILLED IN SINALOA
The rules are clear
for drug traffickers.
The rules are clear.
BRUTAL NARCO-REVENGE
Bullets make them so.
Despite the risks, the DEA managed
to infiltrate Ovidio's trusted circle
in a way that was different
from every other case we knew.
There were people very close to them
who were constantly leaking intel
because they were promised
very beneficial deals.
[foreboding music playing]
[cartel member, distorted voice]
I'm a regular guy.
I just work for the Sinaloa Cartel.
I've been involved with them
for at least 15 years.
I've seen it work from the inside.
I have a direct line.
I am in touch with a lot of lieutenants,
many traffickers,
and a lot of people involved
in Culiacán and nearby ranches.
I want to protect my identity,
my real voice,
because I'm involved,
but I'm afraid for my family.
When there is an arrest,
maybe 90 percent of the time
it's because someone pointed
a finger at them. That's been proven.
Collaborating witnesses
are part of the game.
It's a system, like a wheel.
They are drug traffickers,
they get caught and they turn
and they snitch on other traffickers,
who then get captured
After ten years in prison,
they are millionaires.
The U.S. knows everything
about the Chapitos.
They have
completely infiltrated their circle.
The Chapitos Cartel
is like Swiss cheese, full of holes.
[in English]
The DEA and our law enforcement partners
took down the previous leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel,
Chapo Guzmán or "El Chapo."
But El Chapo's sons,
Ovidio, Iván, and Alfredo,
known as "The Chapitos,"
became the new leaders
of the Sinaloa Cartel.
[dramatic music playing]
[cartel member, in Spanish]
Their leader is Iván. What he says goes.
He always has the last word.
His dream is to become someone
even more legendary than his dad.
Alfredo is in charge
of the organization's operations.
He coordinates with partners
and allies and families.
He's much more of a strategist.
Joaquín is the most discrete.
He didn't like having a security detail.
He hated being around other drug lords.
Finally, Ovidio, the youngest.
He's the easiest to manipulate.
I think he liked to prove
that he could do what he was asked
so that his brothers would respect him.
-[soldier] Do you have any guns?
-No.
-[man] Fuck it!
-[woman] Calm down!
[man, muffled] Damn it!
[Jesús] We knew he existed.
We knew he was one of the sons.
We knew about his illicit activities.
But he wasn't
as visible as Iván or Alfredo.
[Luis] They have always protected Ovidio
since he was a kid.
He's the preppy kid, the easy-going kid,
the kid Dad sent to private school.
In 1998, Ovidio Guzmán
was sent to Mexico City
to attend a private Catholic school.
One of the most famous
and expensive in Mexico.
It was Chapo's attempt
to get Ovidio out of the crime life.
[cartel member, distorted voice] His mom,
Griselda, and his older brother Edgar
wanted him to get out.
They didn't let him get involved
or be surrounded by guns or drugs
or any of that.
[Jesús] There's a picture of Ovidio
in elementary school.
He looks like a little mouse.
His face, his ears are mouse-like.
That's why Chapo calls him "Ratón"
or "Mouse" in Spanish.
[uneasy music playing]
What we know about Ovidio and his dad
is that they were very close.
They took his dad.
And they started
to look after the family business.
[Manelich] If you're born
inside a criminal organization,
it is understood that your life
will be dedicated to it.
Without Chapo, cartels keep working
like the big business that they are.
Drug traffickers are capable
of adapting to changing situations.
[Manelich] When their most visible leader,
Joaquín Guzmán, was caught,
they still had his sons.
But there were also groups
who were very close
to the other big cartel leader
alongside Joaquín Guzmán.
I'm referring to Ismael "Mayo" Zambada.
REWARD
15 MILLION DOLLARS
REWARD FOR INFORMATION
THAT LEADS TO HIS CAPTURE OR DEATH
[somber piano]
[Jesús] Several sources on the inside said
that Mayo didn't like
the way the Chapitos were managing
the business, the city
They basically told Mayo
that Culiacán belonged to them.
[cartel member, distorted voice]
Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada
is the undeniable leader
of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is its founder.
Yes, the Chapitos
sometimes provoked Mayo's people.
They even did serious stuff,
like trespassing on Mayo's territory,
threatening or scaring
or even killing Mayo's people.
But there was never a war between them.
Mayo basically tried to appease them.
All in all, he didn't manage to do it
despite his efforts.
The Chapitos have been accused
of being more violent than Chapo.
I know for a fact that it's true.
The only reason is that Iván
is the head of this organization.
[cartel member] The Chapitos
have murdered a lot of people.
They torture people,
they cut their arms off, their heads off.
Is Iván a psychopath? I think so.
THE CHAPITOS FED THEIR ENEMIES
TO THEIR DOMESTIC TIGERS
Mexico suffers a cruel war
over the control
of its powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
The battle seems to keep growing.
Now there are new contenders
and more violence at their hand.
They started out in a violent way,
in a disproportionate way,
against their rivals
to keep the part of the Sinaloa Cartel
that they felt was theirs.
That's how they grew
and eliminated all of their rivals.
They executed people on squares,
at shopping malls, restaurants.
The aim was to show their power.
[dramatic music playing]
I think the cartel was surprised
when they went after Ovidio Guzmán.
That was a surprise.
-[soldier] Stop everything.
-Get down!
-[Ovidio] Wait!
-[soldier] Ma'am! Relax, relax!
The thing is that the Army felt
that Ovidio Guzmán was the weak link
in the Chapitos Cartel.
He was the youngest, the least violent.
He had a low profile.
-[soldier] Do you have people inside?
-No, I don't! It's my kids!
[soldier] Tell them to stop.
The order comes from Iván Archivaldo
and period.
[Ovidio] Stop everything, stop everything.
I'm turning myself in. Stop, please.
[Ernesto]
We expected them to arrest his brother.
We were all surprised
to see them arrest Ovidio.
Why him? Why was he arrested?
The DEA linked Ovidio Guzmán
to the manufacturing of fentanyl
around 2015.
[music concludes]
[cartel member, distorted voice] Fentanyl
made it to Sinaloa around 2013 or 2014.
That's the first we heard about it.
It's a totally synthetic drug.
It's more powerful and addictive
than any other drug known to us.
[Luis] Ovidio got into this business
as an investor.
It was a financial decision.
You need money, you need cash,
to buy it, move it, sell it.
[cartel member, distorted voice]
The earnings you get from fentanyl.
If you have 400,000 dollars,
you can make 350 kilos or 771 lbs.
Each kilo is sold
in New York or LA for 35,000 dollars.
In two or three years,
you get 35-50 million dollars.
Good profit margin.
[Luis] They think, "We can make
a lot more money with this."
It's a lot cheaper to make
and sold at a higher price.
[in English] Right now,
we should be looking at fentanyl
as a weapon of mass destruction.
[somber music playing]
[in Spanish] In the past, if you moved
an entire truck into the U.S.,
you could make a lot of money.
Today, you get the same money
by selling two shoebox-sized quantities
of a power drug like fentanyl.
So there's a logistics issue, of course,
and it's also a legal issue.
This kind of substance
is also part of the legal drug market
that wants to help people.
[music concludes]
Fentanyl is an opioid
that is highly addictive.
It's a hundred times more powerful
than morphine
and 50 times more powerful than heroine.
It's usually used
in very specific clinical cases
for pain management,
for terminal cancer patients,
or for surgeries
that we know can cause great deal of pain.
It's meant to mitigate pain.
But most of us today
no longer think of its legal uses.
We think about the fentanyl
that is devastating for the people
in the U.S. above all.
[Fulton] How many young people died
in this country last year
because of fentanyl?
That product, that supply line,
that market,
is being exploited after Chapo's arrest.
[helicopter whirring]
[in English]
The fight against fentanyl is, of course,
one of the primary objectives of the DEA.
[tense music]
[cartel member, in Spanish]
The U.S. government's greatest evidence
against Ovidio is the witnesses.
Also, conversations,
text messages, all of that.
One specific meeting took place
in May 2022 at a ranch
that seems to be Ovidio's.
During this conversation,
they not only talk about
how they are going to traffic fentanyl,
but also on what scale.
THE CHAPITOS PLAN THEIR NEXT HI
OVIDIO AND HIS BROTHERS ARE CREATING
NEW ROUTES FOR FENTANYL
FENTANYL, OVIDIO GUZMÁN'S
CRIMINAL BUSINESS
In terms of security within the cartel,
this is a serious mistake.
They managed to get to three people
who not only said what was going on,
but also recorded Ovidio.
[Mike]
This information pointed to the Chapitos
and the Sinaloa Cartel
as the biggest fentanyl manufacturers
in the world.
[Peniley] Iván says,
"Let's flood the U.S. with fentanyl."
At another meeting he says he'd operate
from a control center in Mexico City.
They explain the significance
of Lázaron Cárdenas
and Manzanillo Harbors.
They even talk
about Ovidio's clients in California.
Based on these tapes,
the DEA labels Ovidio
as "The King of Fentanyl."
OVIDIO GUZMÁN,
"KING OF FENTANYL," ACCORDING TO THE DEA
[intriguing music playing]
[Jesús] Ovidio was in charge
of the production of synthetic drugs.
Ovidio was in charge of bringing
the chemical precursors,
manufacturing fentanyl
and exporting it to the U.S.
That's how he became more visible
to U.S. authorities.
So, U.S. authorities are eager
to capture and judge
someone they can point to as the guy
responsible for what's happening.
This issue, of course,
affects the population in general,
and especially voters.
And, what's more, during the Culiacanazo,
federal forces were humiliated
by the Sinaloa Cartel.
[César] For a group of men
who think they are the best
at what they do,
who are not afraid of anyone,
who give their lives to Mexico.
Imagine what it's like for them
to bend a knee, let him go
and be publicly humiliated
in Mexico and the world.
It was a hard hit for the military.
Fentanyl is the U.S.'s main health crisis.
They are dying because of the fentanyl
coming from Mexico.
They won't be humiliated.
So they started hunting them down.
"Arrest him or kill him."
[César] They take it personally.
-It's like the DEA's revenge.
-They couldn't let it go.
I would say that, once again,
anybody who's been indicted
for drug trafficking in Mexico
will eventually face U.S. justice.
When I read "Jesús María,"
I realized it was true,
they were after Ovidio.
[music concludes]