All language subtitles for Locked Up Abroad_S07E06_Mexican Prison Escape

This is the National Geographic Channel.

I had no idea what we were getting into
or what to expect.

It just seemed like the answer to all
our problems.

They don't know what we're up to.

Now's the time to spring it on them.

It's just the worst of everything you
can think of.

I'm going to die in here if I don't get
out.

In the summer of 1972, I was 24 years
old.

I was sailing down the west coast of
Mexico with a couple of high school

friends, Paul and Mace.

We just took off and figured we'd just
play it by ear and whatever we needed to

figure out, we'd figure out as we went.

Mace is pretty much all action all the
time.

I always wanted to be around him because
I knew that we were going to have

something exciting happen to us.

Paul was the third member of the crew,
very much of a dreamer. He was always

just going along for the ride.

The purpose of the trip was pretty much
to find the elusive surf spot that we

know is out there somewhere.

We were really just looking for
adventure.

As it turned out, we got a lot more
adventure than we bargained for.

By the time we get to Mazatlan on the
Mexican mainland, the boat has basically

fallen apart.

It wasn't a real good boat when we
started. We paid $3 ,500 for it.

We've got to make some money somehow so
we can fix the boat up and continue on

our way.

So we came up with this idea.

We'd bought this pot from a local taxi
driver.

It was a pretty good pot, and it was a
lot more plentiful than it was in the U

.S., and a lot cheaper.

Hey, I said, maybe with the last of our
money, we should buy some pot, take that

back to the States, and sell it. We
could bring the money back, fix the boat

and continue on our way.

Well, it was better to turn around and
go back home.

So he said, yeah.

Because we didn't have any other
options.

We hunted the taxi driver down and told
him that we'd like to buy some more of

that pot.

And he said, no problemo.

We trusted him as much as you could
trust any taxi driver that you've met in

foreign country.

But of course, you never know.

We're driving through town, outside of
town.

And up into the mountains.

By about noon, we're pretty well up into
the foothills of the Sierra Madres.

We're starting to think, where are we
going?

All of a sudden, he stops.

We're thinking, oh, what is going on?
This was looking a little bit

He says, get out.

We don't know if we're going to get
robbed or what.

So we're waiting there, wondering what's
going to happen next.

He says, just calmate, be calm.

And then we see, looking up the trail, a
Mexican guy, all dressed in white with

his sombrero on, leading this burrow
down the trail with these big sacks on

back.

Obviously, this is the pot he's bringing
us.

But then suddenly we realized he thought
we were going to buy all of it.

We only want $300 worth, which isn't
that much.

They tried to argue with us, but we had
$300. That's all they were going to get

no matter what.

We thought,

deal.

We end up with six grocery bags.

filled with pot.

I mean, I don't know what we're going to
do with it, but we got it.

He drops us off in Mazatlan, and we're
walking back to the boat, and we come to

this one corner, and my heart stops.

Oh, God. Okay, uh, okay. Oh, God, he's
looking at us. And there's a cop about

feet away staring at us.

Three gringos holding shopping bags
filled with pot.

Oh, God.

We're conspicuous.

The tops of the bags are open, and you
could see the pot if you actually looked

inside the bag.

He was looking at us, but if we walk
away from him, he's going to know

something's up.

I just thought, we have no choice but to
man up and walk right by that cop.

We're walking up and looking him right
in the eye and just knowing he's going

stop us.

I'm holding these bags in my arms and I
mean, how's he not going to notice these

things? Of course, our adrenaline is
kicking in and he's looking right at me.

But he kind of just gave me a nod and we
continued on right past him.

My heart started back up, and I knew
that we'd made it.

We're back on the boat, finally, with
our bags.

We open it all up to see what we've got.

We got rid of all the stems and seeds,
and we figure we've got about 20 pounds

cleaned out.

Now we've got to decide how to get it
back to the States.

We'd heard of people transporting...

pot before inside the surfboard.

We have the surfboard and everything
necessary to put the surfboard back

together once the pot's inside, so
that's the way we decided to do it.

I cut the top of the surfboard off very
carefully around the outside edge.

We peeled back the glass, scooped out
all the foam from inside,

and then put the pot inside the
surfboard.

When it was done, it looked just like a
regular surfboard.

That's pretty good.

We have two choices now. One of them is
to sail the boat back with the pot, but

the boat's in really bad shape.

The other option is for one of us to get
on an airplane and fly it back to the

States, but we don't have any visas.

You can't even get a bus ticket without
a visa.

This is bad news for us.

We've got 20 pounds of pot and a
surfboard and no good way to get it

And that's when we meet Frank.

I was there in Mazatlan visiting my
brother Dan.

I had a 40 -foot sailboat, but I was
stuck there for a while because we

have crew.

I saw three guys in the harbor, strong
American dudes.

And I come up to them, and right away
we're introduced, and we start chatting

little bit.

Frank said, listen, we're going to sail
our boat up to the States.

Are you guys interested in becoming a
crew?

And we went, bing.

Now we have a way to get the pot back to
the States.

I mean, it just seemed like the answer
to all our problems.

So we jumped to the chance.

As soon as they're gone, I'm thinking,
wow.

These guys, they're in for a surprise.

Later that afternoon, we go out there
and his brother Dan is with him.

Where you guys from, man?

My first impression was that they looked
like adventurers.

We sit down, cold beers, relax.

And I pull out this good weed that we
have.

We go, wow, that's good. These guys are
pot smokers too.

This is really good pot.

Have you got more of this stuff?

Dan and I are laughing because these
guys have no idea that we're major drug

dealers.

Our business is trafficking large
amounts of marijuana to the United

We've got a full metric ton of weed,
which is 2 ,200 pounds, sitting at a

outside of Mazatlan.

It costs us $30 ,000.

But up in the States...

By the time we finished selling it, I
was going to walk out of this with a

$175 ,000 in cash.

We're just looking for crew, and these
guys fit the bill.

I said, how would you guys like to help
us smuggle a ton of this same good weed

up to the state?

That was a huge shock to hear that.

Mike's jaw dropped and he goes, you got
a ton of weed?

I'm thinking, man, that's a lot of pot.

If you got caught with that much weed,
you know there's going to be some pretty

serious consequences.

We'll pay you $10 ,000.

Each.

$10 ,000 each.

That's a lot of money.

We pretty much thought, In for a penny,
in for a pound.

If they find us with one kilo or they
find us with a hundred, it's going to be

the same.

Yeah?

Deal.

We head out from Mazatlan.

Good winds. Everything's going great.

It's about two or three in the morning.

I woke up.

Something just didn't seem right.

It's like as if we're headed in the
wrong direction.

I just had to know what was happening.

So I got up through the hatch.

Paul was at the helm. He said everything
was fine.

All of a sudden, boom!

There's this hellacious crash.

We're all thrown out of our berths onto
the floor. It's like we hit a wall all

of a sudden.

Everyone's going, what the hell? And we
look out.

And I look over at Mike, and his eyes
are about the size of silver dollars.

And there's eight foot of soup just
charging towards us.

I don't know what the hell's happening
other than we're being shipwrecked.

The boat sank in maybe two seconds.

I mean, the water level suddenly was up
over our chins, maybe about three inches

from the cabin top.

And now it's just every man for himself.

I'm going to die in here if I don't get
out.

We're in the whitewater because it's
just pitch black.

We could hear the waves crashing on the
shore, which was coming up.

We don't know what the shore is like. We
don't know if it's going to be a cliff

or it's going to be breaking on rocks or
what.

Finally, we all wash in and there's
rocks, but there's actually a sand beach

above them.

I just crawl up and fall exhausted on
the beach at that point.

We are just in shock.

What the hell just happened?

The next morning was a morning I didn't
want to wake up to.

As soon as the first light came, we
started looking around.

The scene in front of me is just hard to
believe.

Guys!

There were kilos of pot floating
everywhere.

For a quarter mile down the beach, and
we just thought, any moment some fishing

boat is going to come by or somebody's
going to walk up the beach or find where

we're at.

Guys!

We've got to get rid of this pot
somehow. Before we do anything else,

number one priority.

Guys, come on!

We drag them all up where we can bury
it.

We're doing this as fast as we can, but
before we knew it, some villagers came

walking up the beach.

Then we were in a whole different deal.

If they figure out what we're up to,
we're going to end up in a Mexican jail.

While Dan and the rest of the crew were
out burying the weed, Mike and I go over

to talk to the villagers.

We had to get out of there as soon as
possible.

There wasn't time to think.

We put some sand on top and then got out
of there.

But it was only buried four or five
inches.

It would take nothing to find it.

We talked the villagers into giving us a
ride into town. They said it was 30

miles to the north.

I'm thinking, great.

We're going to be long gone before they
find the pot.

Finally, we're out of there, and there's
a huge sense of relief, and I think

everybody else is feeling the same way.

We're getting away from the scene of the
crime, and we haven't been discovered.

It looks like we're going to actually
get away with it.

About five minutes after we're underway,
the truck stops.

Right away, I'm going, oh, this isn't
good.

Here comes a pickup truck with its
lights flashing.

Six federales jump out.

Oh, my God.

There's a half dozen men with rifles
ready to fire at us if we make a move.

Just felt like my heart sank.

They got us.

There was no running. There was just no
escape.

I knew we were dead.

We don't know what they're going to do
to us, but we know it's probably not

going to be good.

We didn't know for something this big if
they actually just took you out and

shot you.

They took

me into this room

and said, sign this confession.

And I looked at it, and it was all in
Spanish, and I don't know what it says.

I can't sign this. I can't even read it.

Then they started sticking rifles into
my side, poking me, saying, sign it.

I knew I was going to get beat up
seriously if I didn't sign it.

It was a ludicrous feeling.

I couldn't know what I was being asked
to sign, yet I knew I would sign it.

You just realize that, well, it's not a
choice.

It's not an end or.

In the end, you are going to sign that
paper.

So I signed the confession, and then I
knew, I'm really sunk now.

And I have no idea what we were getting
into or what to expect.

They just literally put you in there and
closed the door behind you.

It's just a mob scene. It's just people
on top of people. It's so crowded with

prisoners.

Hundreds of people are staring at us,
and they're all surrounded us.

They're heroin addicts.

A quarter of them got women's clothes.

They're desperate.

This is a horrible place.

Just the worst of everything you can
think of.

Oh, that first night was a tough one.

All I could think about is how long were
we going to spend in here?

We could tell it was going to be tough.

Looking at the squalid conditions and
the other inmates that were locked up

it and everything, gosh, how could we
survive there?

I don't know if I can do five years
here. I don't even know if I can do five

weeks. We just didn't know how long we
would be there.

It's just, there's been chills up our
back.

I'm looking at the guys, and I can see
that we're all thinking the same thing.

We can't stay here. We have to escape.

So the next morning, we start looking
around for ways to get out of this

There's this 25 -foot wall with glass on
top, and a wall beyond that, guards

manning it.

The only way I could see it, and so did
the others, was we had to tunnel

underneath them.

Sounds crazy because it's all concrete,
but we're Americans, so we've all seen

the Great Escape, so we thought, if we
could break through the concrete

the digging part would be easy.

We'd have to go from our room,
underneath the bathroom, underneath the

wall, to this no -man's land that's out
there somewhere, underneath the outer

wall, and then we're free.

All in all, we reckon it was a distance
between 30 and 50 feet.

I certainly didn't think it was a slam
dunk that we'd succeed, but I thought we

had a shot at it.

The first thing we really need is some
sort of a hammer and maybe a large

screwdriver so that we can crack through
that cement.

They're doing some work in the prison on
one little part of the wall.

I noticed there's a rock sitting there,
so I grabbed that and took it back to

our room.

But we didn't have a screwdriver, so
instead we managed to buy a butter knife

from one of the other prisoners.

That doesn't sound like much, but we
figured that's maybe enough to get

Underneath my bed was the closest spot
to dig from.

We set a little tent up in the corner
out of a blanket to muffle a sound, and

we organized a lookout system.

We're ready to go.

With that rock and that butter knife, we
start chipping at the floor.

We always had somebody in the room with
the person chipping at the concrete to

tell him if he was making too much
noise.

We knocked about a quarter inch in a
morning.

Quarter inch down, quarter inch long.

Something. It wasn't much, but this is a
long -term project, so it was a start.

So for the next six weeks, we sit in
there underneath the tent, chipping away

the cement.

Our best bet is to dig around in a
rectangle shape and take the section out

one piece.

The problem was that the guards could
come in at any time and see what we were

doing, see the crack.

We start mixing cornstarch with water
and mix in some powdered ash with it to

make it gray. And every night we'd fill
the crack that we're making.

Put a little dust on top, you could
hardly tell.

We're making very slow progress.

But we just kept chipping away at the
concrete.

Until we finally break through.

We are so elated.

We really thought it was kind of
impossible to tip through all this

but we did manage to get it done, and it
was just a real moment of triumph.

Take the lid off.

We look down and see that the ground's
wet.

And we go, well, I don't know.

And so we start digging down a little
bit, but the water just keeps coming

up. So we thought, well, maybe we can
bail it out. All right.

We start scooping it into the bucket,
carry it out into the toilet,

and dump it.

We spent three days trying to bail it
out, but there's no way. Every time we

bail it down, it just comes right back
up to the same level.

Oh.

You go through all that and then seeing
the water in there, I mean, We can't dig

underwater.

We were crestfallen, to say the least.

Damn it!

Damn it, man.

We have no choice.

We've got to seal the tunnel back up and
forget about it.

The tunnel idea was dead, and that's
really what's been keeping us going with

any hope to get out of here.

So from that point on, we just resign
ourselves to being prisoners in there.

It's just kind of a mind -numbing time
where you just don't really think much.

A lot of people are on drugs.

It's so easy to see why prisoners do
heroin in there.

Americans go in there and become hooked
because there's nothing else to do.

You're not called out for a work detail.

There's nothing to occupy your mind. And
the drugs are easy to get if you've got

the money, and that's the easy way to
go.

We go through the motions. We walk
circles around the courtyard daily just

try to get into some kind of zone where
you don't have to think too much about

the situation you're in.

Otherwise, you just go crazy in a very
short time.

Five months go by.

First part of December.

We have no water to the prison.

What the hell, man?

Apparently, one of the main water pipes
had gotten broken inside the prison

somewhere. What's going on, man?

Caused them to shut all the water off to
repair this water pipe.

They bring in water crocks, but we can't
take showers, and we have to be very

frugal with it.

So after about the third day of this, I
thought, maybe it's dry in our tunnel

hole.

So we break the top back off.

And gosh, it's dry.

It looks like whatever it was they
fixed, that's what cured the problem we

having.

Finally, we can dig.

We dug straight down just so you could
get your body in.

We're making really fast time initially.
I mean, the first three or four hours,

we made about three feet.

The tunnel's only as wide as your
shoulders.

We just lay on our belly, and then we
went straight out towards the first

We'd use the butter knife, and we'd
scoop the rock out, loosen it up.

And then we put it in little wash tubs,
and then it would slide underneath your

belly.

If it's only 40 or 50 feet, and we're
digging three feet an hour, we'll be out

in a couple days.

But there's a problem.

What are we going to do with all the
dirt?

Some of the dirt we could put in the
toilets.

But we can't do that too often because
you don't want other prisoners to see

what you're doing.

So we figure we need to take a chance
and put the dirt under our beds and just

go for it.

If we have an inspection, they're going
to beat us up and throw us in the

dungeon.

It's a big risk.

We've got to dig this tunnel and dig it
fast.

The tunnel is hot, it's dark, and it's
just, it wasn't fun

work.

The shift was anywhere from two hours to
five or six hours.

One man would get out and the other guy
would go right back in.

We get about 10 feet along.

Everything's going great.

Paul's digging in the tunnel.

I'm sitting in the room waiting to pull
the dirt back.

And suddenly he comes out of the tunnel
and he's sheet white.

I said, Paul, what's wrong?

He says, I think I just broke the sewer
pipe out.

I said, what?

This is the main sewer line that the
toilets feed into.

We've got 200 prisoners right outside.

And any time any man uses the toilet, it
just goes straight into our tunnel.

The whole tunnel in about six hours
filled up with raw sewage.

And we realized we can't even bail it
out because if we pour it into the

it'll go into the sewer pipe and fill
the tunnel right back up.

We have to do something. We've got the
dirt underneath our beds.

If they come in now, we are toast.

Mike comes over and he tells me we got a
huge problem.

I put my head down close to the hole and
I was totally repulsed, so repulsed I

almost barfed.

Oh, that was disgusting.

I mean, you're just ugly, you know,
brown scum on the sides and things

in it.

We're looking at each other thinking,

Someone's got to swim back in there and
fix that sewer pipe.

And we all looked at each other. I'm not
going to do it. I'm not going to do it.

No one would do it. I wouldn't do it.

Mace wouldn't do it. I thought, who's
going to do it?

How about Benny?

Benny was a junkie American guy from New
York City who was the only possible

candidate for this job.

Benny.

So we went and got Benny and he said,
listen, we'll break you out if you'll

down in the tunnel and fix the sewer
pipe.

And he said, you guys are crazy. I'm not
going to do that. There's no way.

He said, listen, if you do this, Benny,
we'll break you out and give you enough

money to buy a fix.

And he said, OK, I'll do it.

We make a repair kit for Benny. It's a
coffee can.

with a cement patch that we pre -mixed.

He gets down in the tunnel, into the raw
sewage.

We weren't sure it was going to work.

But the plan was for him to swim back
into the tunnel, fix the sewer pipe, and

then on the way back out, he had to skim
the biggest floating objects on the

water.

He's gagging and cursing and spitting
the whole way.

We're just praying to God that he
managed to get it done.

Finally, he climbs out.

We said, is it done?

He said, yeah, it's done.

And we just busted up laughing so hard.

So we're back on.

But we really lost a lot of time.

The longer it's taking, the more chance
we have of getting searched.

Now the pressure's really on.

We get underneath the inner wall and
start going out onto no man's land.

I mean, we were down there 18 hours a
day, just day after day, not doing

anything but this.

We estimated that No Man's Land was 15
feet to the outer wall, but no one knew

for sure.

God, we get to 12 feet, get to 14 feet,
get to 16 feet, get to 18 feet, and we

don't hit it.

We were 19 1⁄2 feet from the inner wall,
and we still hadn't hit the outer wall.

We started thinking maybe we'd been off
course.

I had a little flute in there that I
used to play, so I...

cut the ends off, and broke out some
pieces of mirrors and made a little

periscope.

We've got to put a hole going up and try
and look around to see where we're at.

I pushed the butter knife up through the
top, and I realized that we're almost

right at the surface.

I know it's risky making this hole, but
we have to find out where we are.

I push the periscope up through the
hole, and it works great.

I can see the outer wall off to the side
a little bit.

I'm thinking, great, now we only have to
dig another three feet under the

outside wall, and we're there.

Mike tells me we're really close.

I'm thinking, wow, this is going to
really work.

Dan had been living in Mexico for the
past few years, so he had money and

contacts.

Dan and I organized the getaway cars to
make the final escape from the prison.

They're going to wait outside from 2 to
4 in the morning every night until we

get out. We are so amped now to get out.
We're just digging like madmen.

We just knew that we were close, and it
just gave us that incentive.

We get to the outer wall. We just start
going underneath it, and it starts to

rain.

I can hear it on the top of the tunnel.

And the next thing that happens is the
water starts pouring into the periscope

hole.

And I said, oh, man, the rain is just
getting harder and harder.

So our periscope hole is acting like a
drain for no man's land.

It's just pouring in.

I'm down in the tunnel looking up, and I
just know it can't support the weight

of all that water.

It's going to collapse. There's no way
it's not going to collapse.

And I just said, that's it. I'm gone.

We knew that the tunnel was going to
collapse.

And then they just point right back to
us.

So we're just waiting for the guards to
come in. We didn't know what they were

going to do to us. Were they going to
torture us?

Kill us? We really had no idea.

And we just waited and waited.

Waited and waited. We just prayed any
minute they were going to come in.

And it rained all that night, and it
rained into the next morning, and

it stopped.

We thought, well, maybe it didn't
collapse.

It mustn't have collapsed. They would
have come in and got us by now.

And we thought, man, this is
unbelievable.

So we bail out the tunnel best we can
and just go balls to the wall.

We just kept thinking, one way or
another, we're going to keep going until

stop us.

We got all the way through where we knew
that we could come straight up and be

on the outside.

The plan was to stop digging just before
we broke through the surface.

Mace was actually digging at the time.

He came out of the tunnel and said,
that's it, we've got a foot to go.

Hey, hey.

I go and get all the other guys and say,
it's on, let's go.

Dan's pickup men were waiting outside.

I'm thinking, this is it.

This is it. We're going to get out of
this, baby.

We put our clothes on inside out.

That way, after we get out, we can put
the dirty side in, and at least they'll

look clean.

Somewhere or another, we'd come up with
a knit ski cap, and I'd pull that down

over my head and disappear down the
hole.

Then one by one, we followed him down
into the tunnel.

I'm next, then Paul.

Then Dan, myself, and Benny.

We all lined up head to foot, head to
foot.

I'm starting to dig up, and all the
dirt's falling to my face, and all the

are behind me in this hole just
sweating.

He says, we're almost there. Calm down.
We're almost there.

Ten minutes goes by and nothing.

I'm wondering what the hell's going on.

What's the holdup, man? Come on.

That last foot seemed to take forever.

Finally, he breaks through.

Just get this super rush of adrenaline,
knowing this is it. This is finally the

moment we've been working all these
months for.

And he pushes his head out of the hole.

And he comes back down. He says, God,
the lights are right on us out here.

bright as daylight.

It's lit up like daylight.

Anyone that looks can see us.

We said, well, that's the way it is, but
there's no going back.

So I see him get out the tunnel, and I
go for it.

I get outside the wall and stand next to
it, and we're just trying to stay calm

and not do anything stupid.

Next one out is Paul, and we start
edging down the wall.

Finally, I see Dan pop out of the
tunnel.

As I reach the exit, I jump up, and
there it is.

I'm out.

I make my way along the wall, and then
he follows.

And now comes the hardest part of the
plan.

We've got to get across the road and
full view of the guards.

And if we start running, We know they're
going to see us and start shooting.

So we have to force ourselves to walk,
hoping that if they saw us, they would

think that we were just some of the
residents returning home.

So I take a deep breath and walk out
across the street.

You feel like you just want to start
running, but you know you can't.

But everything in your body is telling
you to just take off.

And every second, I'm just expecting to
hear a shot ring out.

We started going a little further,
walking a little faster.

No guard shots, no guard firing guns.

We start walking a little faster, a
little faster, and we get around the

and then we run.

And that feeling of freedom right then,
First time I'd run in seven months was

just an all -time high.

We're getting away from this prison, and
there's not a shot fired.

We were running off to get in a getaway
car and get the heck out of the city.

And we get to the rendezvous point, and
there's no one there.

This is not working out.

Pretty soon it's going to be roll call,
and they're going to know we're gone.

Dan says, don't worry.

I have a second alternate spot.

Let's go. We had no choice. There was no
other game in town.

By now, the sun's coming up. We have
blown it as far as roll call goes.

They know we're gone now, so it's
looking really bad.

So we're waiting in the bushes for the
cars to show up.

There's going to be people getting up
soon.

And we're thinking, here we are, six
gringos.

We're going to stand out like a sore
thumb.

Finally, we see two cars coming up the
road.

I look at Dan and say, please tell me
that's them.

I see him look.

He says, that's them.

It just felt, I mean, good isn't enough
of a word to describe it.

We said goodbye to

each other and hugged and said, best of
luck.

It was really hard saying goodbye to
these guys after everything we'd been

through. But we got out of there as fast
as we could.

And I'm like, thank God, finally going
to get out of this town.

Finally, we get to the moment of truth.

The guard kind of just waves us through.

Didn't ask for IDs or anything. He said,
go on.

I was just... Did it.

It just suddenly hit us that we really
had gotten away, and they weren't going

to put us back.

I don't know, it was just probably the
most wonderful moment of my life,

because we were facing so many years.

Freedom was never so sweet as it was
then, because you don't know what you've

lost until it's lost, as that line goes.

And you know you never want to be in
that situation again, no matter what.