These empty offices are a front for paper companies that launder cartel drug money. From trap houses across America through wholesalers, transporters and cartel cells there’s a billion dollar tide funnelling into Mexico. Now US authorities are cracking down. Underworld Inc s2e4: The Money Laundry
Federal agencies seize about $1 billion of drug money annually. ibid.
‘He makes Pablo Escobar look like a choir-boy in comparison.’ The Rise and Fall of El Chapo, CI 2017
Billionaire, drug lord, master of escape … known by many as Public Enemy Number 1. ibid.
After four decades in the business, El Chapo is much more than a drugs smuggler. ibid.
‘Here’s a man worth over a billion dollars.’ ibid.
All that’s left is a hole in the ground … ‘He just staged a spectacular escape from prison.’ ibid.
The brutal gun-battle lasted for almost an hour … El Chapo was nowhere to be seen. ibid.
‘El Chapo Guzman told Mexico marines that he himself was directly responsible for two to three thousand Mexico citizens.’ ibid.
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is the most ruthless Kingpin ever to rule Mexico. Kingpin s1e2: El Chapo, caption, History 2018
In 2016 the most notorious drug lord of the modern age is extradited to an American prison, ending an over 25-year-long crime spree that builds an illegal billion-dollar industry and turns the streets of Mexico into a bloodbath. ibid.
El Chapo Guzman’s network of tunnels is a critical innovation and it sets him apart from his competitors. ibid.
The Felix brothers are losing millions of dollars fighting El Chapo. ibid.
El Chapo runs his cartel from his jail cell. ibid.
In 2001 the US and Mexico sign a long-sought treaty of extradition. ibid.
Guzman put out a trap for the Felix brothers. ibid.
One kingpin controls the entire country … For the next ten years Guzman turns Mexico into a war zone. ibid.
Latin America: the dark heart of the global drugs trade … I’m in Mexico where the drug industry is bigger and more organised and more deadly than anywhere else on the planet. Jason Fox, Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos I, Channel 4 2018
The Sinoloa cartel employs more than 100,000 people and they far outnumber the local police. ibid.
The big money in the drug world isn’t from producing but from smuggling. ibid.
The border with the US: drugs triple in price as soon as they cross it. ibid.
‘A lot of blood is spilt over this.’ Narco State: Inside Mexico’s Drug Cartels, man in mask, Sky 2015
Its huge rich neighbour the United States of America is the world’s largest consumer of illegal drugs. Beyond this border that insatiable appetite needs a supplier. Mexico has been that supplier for more than a hundred years. ibid.
This is the most dangerous part of the operation; the fumes coming off there are extremely toxic. They are also very explosive. ibid.
The purity of Mexican crystal meth is what makes it so different to meth made in the United States. It means its value soars. ibid.
Crystal meth has emerged as a lucrative business for the cartels. They franchise out its production to small gangs then gathered in and exported. ibid.
This one lab is making £12 million a year and it’s a medium-sized operation. ibid.
Anyone cooking or handling meth is putting themselves at risk. They spray acetone in the powder to stop it turning into dust. ibid.
Tens of thousands have died in the Narco Wars; thousands have disappeared. ibid.
One of the traffickers was summoned to Sinaloa in the mountain. As he was being driven up the mountain to meet El Chapo it was 100 degrees out. And there were people chained to the trees all the way up. Some may have been dead, some were going to die, but that was all about intimidation, it was all about, hey, you’re gonna come work for me, I’m gonna pay you, and if you don’t, I’m gonna kill you. Drug Lords s1e1: El Chapo, Jack Riley DEA, Netflix 2018
Chicago 2013: Crime in the city is reaching fever pitch. And it’s down to a drug cartel 1,600 miles away in Mexico and its head, El Chapo. El Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel are flooding the States with millions of dollars of narcotics from Mexico and beyond every day. And US authorities mark their man Public Enemy Number One. ibid.
Tunnels will become El Chapo’s calling card. ibid.
Mexican police put out Wanted posters offering a $5 million dollar bounty for each man. ibid.
The authorities capture El Chapo after 13 years on the run. ibid.
Guadalajara 1985: Large institutions, some you are supposed to trust, got together and started a war … a drug war. The kind that’s easy to forget is happening until you realise that for the last thirty years in Mexico it’s killed half a million people and counting. Narcos Mexico s1e1: Camelot, Netflix 2018
A bunch of Sinaloan farmers were getting rich shipping their dope up north. ibid.
Drug dealers are like cockroaches … they’ll always come back usually stronger than ever. ibid.
In 1980 there were more women in the NYPD than there were agents in the entire DEA. ibid.
What I’m doing here is building an empire. ibid. Gallardo
Sinsemilla: You get bigger buds packing more THC making it the gold standard of Mexican dope. Narcos Mexico s1e2: The Plaza System
Before the cartels existed things worked differently in Mexico. The narcotics game was made up of lone wolf traffickers, mostly Sinaloans who purchased permission from the cops to run drugs in a particular city or territory: they called it the Plaza System. ibid.
Felix’s dream was to create a union of Mexican traffickers. ibid.
They couldn’t get near the big fish so they targeted the small ones. Narcos Mexico s1e4: Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!
The cartel had the biggest gang in Mexico in their pocket – a private army basically doing their bidding. Narcos Mexico s1e5: The Colombia Connection
In only a matter of months Medellin will look tiny compared to you. ibid. Gallardo to Cali cartel
Marijuana is a soft product. It doesn’t hurt anyone. For now it’s illegal, but in the long run it will be legalised. ibid.
What do you do when your drug protection decides to sit on the sidelines? Easy. You buy more. And everyone knows the best deals in Mexico are in Tijuana. Narcos Mexico s1e6: La Ultima Frontera
Before shit went south, Guadalajara was the fucking place. Narcos Mexico s1e7: Jefe de Jefes
The future is here. And the future is cocaine. ibid. Gallardo
[I] Imagine there’s never been that much [cannabis] in one place. Narcos Mexico s1e8: Just Say No, DEA dude
The largest seizure in history: street value $2.5 billion. ibid.
If you talk, this all goes away. Narcos Mexico s1e9: Lope de Vega, heavy torturing Kiki
Time is crucial in a kidnapping. Sooner action is taken, the better your chances of working out. And everybody coming home in one piece. ibid.
Our friends in the DEA have provided a list of names and addresses of the men we’ll be chasing. Catching these men is our highest priority. ibid. head Mexican rozzer
If DFS isn’t bulletproof any more, you have to ask yourself, Who do you think is next? Narcos Mexico s1e10: Leyenda, Don Neto to Gallardo
We had a good thing with the weed. ibid.
They’re coming for us now but you’re the one they really want. ibid.
I’m more powerful than any trafficker in Mexican history. ibid. Gallardo