UFOs: Top Secret Alien Files TV - History’s Greatest Mysteries TV - Inside the Gangsters’ Code TV - Heather Wilson - The End of the World Cult TV - Inside a Cult: Messiah on Trial 2009 - Bisbee ’17 2018 - Gangland TV - Breaking Bad 2008-2013 - Better Call Saul 2015-2020 -
Lonnie Zamora UFO Incident, Socorro, New Mexico, April 1964 … Driving in his car … hears this roaring sound and he sees what he thinks is a flamed object in the sky … He notices a shining object … Zamora gets on the radio … A loud roar emanates from the craft, a huge flame bursts out of the craft … and takes off. UFOs: Top Secret Alien Files, History 2021
Kirtland AFB UFO landing, Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 1980: In the tunnels is where the nuclear weapons are stored; on this night guards at the base saw a very bright light ... It stops over Coyote Canyon … descends into the canyon … about it was a disc shaped object … The officer grabbed his rifle, gout out of his jeep, and decided to pursue it … The ship just took off … The UFO returns to the exact same location … At that point the Air Force just couldn’t deny it … Persistent accounts of UFOs sightings near their nuclear weapons storage site … The case was doomed and eventually buried. ibid. Lee Speigel, Huffington Post
In 1947 something crashed in the desert near the American south-west. Whatever the object was, it has created shockwaves still felt today. What crashed in Roswell, New Mexico? History’s Greatest Mysteries: Roswell: The First Witness I, History 2021
In the 1940s New Mexico was home to some of America’s most sensitive military installations, including where the atomic bomb was developed. ibid.
By late June 1947 more than a week before the Roswell crash residents in the southern part of the state were spooked by nearly 70 sightings of UFOs. ibid.
Albuquerque, The Burquenos: There’s over 250 gangs in Albuquerque alone. Inside the Gangsters’ Code: The Burquenos, Discovery 2013
33 inmates were murdered in the prison riot of 1980. ibid.
The drug cartels have flooded America with cheap heroin, and New Mexico has become a distribution centre. ibid.
4,200 violent crimes recorded annually in Albuquerque. ibid.
New Mexico has been, in the past, a swing state. Heather Wilson
This isolated dirt road leads to a group of people who are waiting for the world to end. This is the man who has led them there: he calls himself Michael. He says he’s the Son of God. For almost twenty years he has prepared his followers for the end of the world and says that time has now come. The End of the World Cult, Channel 4 2007
But what also emerged was a unfolding tale of control, manipulation and sex. ibid.
In a remote arid corner of New Mexico, fifty miles from the nearest town, members of Strong City are counting down the months to the end of the world. ibid.
He told his followers that they must achieve ‘Death to Self’ or be lost when the end comes on 31st October 2007. ibid.
Like many cult leaders before him Michael’s former life was a troubled one. From tragic childhood through adolescence to his days as Wayne Bent, the Seventh Day Adventist minister, deserted by two wives. ibid.
They have had to give everything they own to Michael. ibid.
In 1989 Wayne Bent promised them a life without sin, and they joined his breakaway from the Adventist Church. ibid.
He declared himself Messiah. And now they seem to be completely under their leader’s influence. ibid.
The virgins pleaded with Michael for a full sexual experience ... He says God stopped him; it was just a test of faith. ibid.
No children attend school here. ibid.
I found his complete refusal to take any responsibility for what he has done here chilling. ibid.
Any attempts to reason with him seemed futile. ibid.
In 2008 Wayne Bent was convicted of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor. He will have to serve at least eight and a half years before becoming eligible for release. ibid.
In April 2008 the National Geographic channel aired an extraordinary documentary shot inside the closed world of Strong City, an isolated religious cult in New Mexico. The film detailed the group’s complete devotion to Michael, the man they believed to be the Messiah. But what also emerged were his sexual exploits with married female followers and his naked encounters with an underage girl. 13 days after the film was shown, state’s police entered the compound and arrested Michael, whose real name is Wayne Bent. Accused of sex crimes against children, the later-day messiah faces his own crucifixion and a prison sentence of up to 33 years. Inside a Cult: Messiah on Trial, 2009
Bent declared himself to be the Son of God in 2000. ibid.
Many of Wayne Bent’s followers turn their backs on friends and family who have left the cult. ibid.
In the summer of 1917, World War I was raging and the Queen of the Copper camps, Bisbee, Arizona, was crucial to the war effort. Copper was essential for munitions, and the mining companies were making record profits.
The miners, many of them immigrants, grew tired of the unsafe working conditions, imbalance of power and the discrimination they faced in the camp.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) seized upon this opportunity and came to Bisbee, to radicalize the workers and help cripple the war effort.
The IWW called a strike and the townspeople were forced to choose between the strikers and the mining companies.
Then on July 12 1917 a posse of two thousand men, led by Sheriff Harry Wheeler, rounded up the strikers at gunpoint, threw them onto cattle cars and shipped them to the barren desert of New Mexico, leaving them to die.
This event came to be known as the Bisbee Deportation. Bisbee ’17, captions, 2018
Thank you for riding the deportation express. ibid. coach tour
The Bisbee deportations seemed to disappear from the town’s history. The story was rarely told or mentioned. ibid.
Albuquerque is also terrorised by a gang unlike no other: behind the violence a vicious Hispanic prison gang called The Syndicato Nuevo Mexico. Gangland s6e13: Hell House, History 2010
The street soldiers funnel a steady stream of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. ibid.
Breaking Bad ***** 2008-2013 starring Bryan Cranston & Anna Gunn & Aaron Paul & Dean Norris & Betsy Brandt & R J Mitte & Bob Odenkirk & Giancarlo Esposito Jonathan Banks & Laura Fraser & Jesse Plemons et al
Walter: Chemistry? It is the study of what? Ben?
Ben: Chemicals. Breaking Bad s1e1: Pilot, Skyler to Walter, Netflix 2008
I never expected you to amount to much but Methamphetamine? ibid.
You know the business and I know the chemistry. ibid. Walter to Jesse
If you’ve gone crazy or depressed, that’s something I need to know about. ibid. Jesse
Walter: I can’t go home smelling like a meth lab.
Skyler: I do. ibid.
This is art, Mr White. ibid. Jesse
The one downstairs. Tell me about him. Breaking Bad s1e2: The Cat’s in the Bag, Walter to Jesse
So now what do we do? ibid. Jesse to Walter
You’re supposed to be a scientist. ibid.
I’m not good with dead bodies. ibid.
Wait a minute, is that my weed? ibid.
There’s got to be more to a human being than that. Breaking Bad s1e3: … And the Bag’s in the River
It’s worth nothing if you smoke it all! ibid. Walter to Jesse
The coin-flip is sacred. ibid. Jesse to Walter
Skyler, there’s something I have to tell you. ibid. Walter
We got new players in town ... a new kingpin. Breaking Bad s1e4: Cancer Man, Hank at rozzers’ briefing
I have cancer. Lung cancer. It’s bad. ibid. Walter’s dinner table confession
Play some Jethro Tull. ibid. Jesse discovers little brother’s piccolo