All language subtitles for Kingpin (2018) S01E02 - El Chapo.en

Narrator:
In the criminal underworld...

Good evening, Mr. Gotti.

...power is a prize
worth killing for.

[ Gun shots ]

[ Sirens wailing ]

Have none, and you're a nobody.

Man:
A car bomb killed one man.

Narrator: Have some,
and you'll always crave more.

♪♪

Out here, kings aren't born.

They're made.

And only a few have what
it takes to climb to the top.

♪♪

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.

Riley: He's a mass murderer.

I bet he's responsible
for tens of thousands

of innocent people's lives.

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán
controls his empire

with violence and cunning,

but years before
he becomes the boss,

he's a small-time dealer
in the foothills of Sinaloa

locked in a bloody war
against his rivals

that's about to unleash
the most feared

criminal mastermind in Mexico.

This is the story of how
a criminal becomes a kingpin.

♪♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

♪♪

[ Door opens ]

♪♪

♪♪

And it all starts with
the murder of a DEA agent.

♪♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Ye-e-e-e-e-ah ♪

♪ Ye-e-e-e-e-ah ♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: In 1980s Mexico,

drug lords are the most
powerful men in the country.

Cross them, and you end up dead.

DEA agent
Enrique "Kiki" Camarena

is an undercover agent
inside Guadalajara's drug ring.

When intel he provides leads
to the destruction

of a marijuana plantation,

a crop worth an estimated
$8 billion a year,

Camarena is identified
as the source of the leak,

abducted in broad daylight,

tortured, and killed
over a 30-hour period.

His skull, jaw, nose,
cheekbones,

and windpipe are crushed.

His ribs are broken, and a hole
is drilled into his head

with a power drill.

♪♪

It's the first time in history

an American DEA agent
is killed on foreign soil.

♪♪

Kiki Camarena was a young,
aggressive DEA agent

who was seeing this
group of traffickers

run by Félix Gallardo.

I believe he was the guy
who actually baptized them

the Guadalajara Cartel.

The reason being they had...

The Medellín Cartel
was in the news.

And the United States
was taking Colombia seriously.

But his bosses in Washington
were not taking Mexico
seriously.

Narrator: The American
government is so consumed

with fighting its drug war
against

the South American narcos,

like Pablo Escobar,

that Mexico has slipped
under the radar

for more than a decade.

Félix Gallardo,
known as El Padrino,

or "The Godfather,"
seizes the opportunity.

He quietly builds a massive
drug-smuggling empire

worth hundreds of millions
of dollars in profit a year.

Riley: He really is the
architect for Mexican cartels

as we know them today.

Gallardo... His strength came
from controlling the border.

That's the choke point
for success.

At the height of Gallardo's
reign in the '80s,

he was probably generating
over $100 million a year,

and that's in those days.

And I think that right there
is the benchmark for why

he's in the hall of fame
of traffickers.

Narrator: In the early 1980s,

Agent Camarena infiltrates
El Padrino's operation,

determined to get
the US government

to focus its attention

on the growing drug trade
just south of the border.

His brutal murder at the hands
of El Padrino's crew

opens the floodgates.

Riley: Kiki being kidnapped
and murdered...

I don't think Gallardo
had any idea

what kind of bear they woke up

'cause that brought the full
force of this government.

While we respect
their sovereignty,

don't get me wrong... we do.

But when you... when you kill
a US agent, look out.

We're coming.

♪♪

Narrator:
The Reagan administration
responds aggressively.

Law enforcement
shuts down the border,

and the government seizes
all trade with Mexico...

moves designed to pressure
the government

to go after
its number-one menace...

El Padrino.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

♪♪

[ Indistinct yelling
in Spanish ]

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

[ Camera shutters clicking ]

El Padrino is convicted
for the murder of Kiki Camarena,

drug smuggling,
and racketeering.

He's sentenced to a term
of 40 years behind bars.

But he's determined to hold on
to the empire he built.

Riley: Gallardo...
What he's thinking while

he's incarcerated in Mexico is,

"How do I solidify
the future of my cartel?"

Narrator: El Padrino sets out
to divide his empire

into three distinct cartels,

each to be run separately by
his most powerful lieutenants.

The plan requires the leaders of
the new cartels to share power,

but El Padrino's lieutenants
are the most ruthless narcos

in the country
with ambitions of their own.

And with an empty seat at the
top of the Guadalajara Cartel,

it's the perfect opportunity
for any of them

to make a play
for absolute power.

To convince his successors
to go along with this plan,

El Padrino brings together
the deadliest men in Mexico.

The Félix brothers,
Ramón and Benjamín,

are the most ruthless.

They see power and violence
as one in the same.

♪♪

[ Grunts ]

[ Groaning ]

♪♪

Ugh.

[ Gun cocks ]

♪♪

[ Speaks Spanish ]

Grillo: The Félix brothers
were aggressive

in their violence...
public violence.

To say, you know, this group...

you know, you cannot
mess with them.

Narrator: Amado Fuentes enforces
his power through politics.

His preferred weapon
isn't violence. It's money.

Muchas gracias.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Joaquín Guzmán
is an outsider,

the son of a farmer from
the foothills of Sinaloa,

who's known inside
the cartel as "El Chapo."

Riley: And Joaquín Guzmán,
I think,

was probably far smarter
than anybody else.

He was a logistics genius
at a young age

in terms of packaging and
moving marijuana in and around.

If he couldn't convince someone
to do the right thing,

he would try to bribe them.

And if he couldn't bribe them,
he'd kill them.

[ Guns cocking ]

♪♪

But there was a method
to his madness,

and he understood
what had to be done

for his organization to grow.

And he also understood when
conflict arose with a rival,

there was some type of mediation

that he could come through with
that they could work together.

And everybody
could be profitable.

But if it didn't work,
then he was gonna make sure

he cut their head off.

Narrator: El Padrino's summit
is a call for peace.

But with absolute
power at stake,

one wrong move can start a war.

There was an arrangement
to traffic drugs

along certain corridors.

The Arellano Félix brothers
can move the drugs

through Tijuana area.

Chapo Guzmán can move drugs
through Sonora area.

Carillo Fuentes can move
drugs through Juarez.

Narrator: But El Padrino's plan
is careful

to make sure
no single lieutenant

becomes too powerful by drawing
three nearly equally corridors,

each with an advantage
and a comparable disadvantage.

Anastasia: The Félix brothers
get Tijuana,

two hours south of Los Angeles.

Lots of commerce,
lots of traffic.

It's the richest of the three.

But it also was the smallest.

Next you had Juarez,
and with Juarez,

you got El Paso.

If you get into America,
you have access

to all kinds of highways,

take you anywhere
in the country.

But Juarez was the most
heavily guarded.

Next you had Sinaloa, the
largest of the three corridors,

but what you didn't have
was a major city

or major entry point.

That was the problem
with Sinaloa.

♪♪

Narrator: In one stroke,
El Padrino carves

the entire country
into three separate

centers of control.

Riley: I think the era
in which Gallardo came from...

his compadres probably would
have adhered to an agreement.

Narrator:
But El Padrino underestimates
this new generation of narcos.

The division kicks off
a drug-smuggling arms race

where the goal is to outplay
your rivals and become kingpin.

From their base in Tijuana,

the Félix brothers focus
on perfecting

old-school smuggling techniques.

Riley:
One of the characteristics of
the Félix brothers was their...

their ability, it seemed to be,
very ingenious

about putting
the dope in things,

whether it be sealed cans,
milk cartons, machinery.

They... They went to great
lengths to try to conceal it

going across the border.

And you could find the traces
of them on the US side

when we would hit a house
that was a stash house,

and there would be all kinds of,
you know, empty cans,

machineries, pumps, mattresses,
I could remember one time,

that they very ingeniously
secreted dope in.

When you look at their ingenuity
and their commitment

to moving that way,
they were really good at it.

They really were.
Some of the best I've ever seen.

♪♪

Narrator: Fuentes has the most
heavily guarded border.

Getting through it
is nearly impossible.

He devises a plan to go over it.

[ Airplane flying overhead ]

♪♪

Riley: Everybody was...
was used to concealing it

in a car
or a body carrying it or...

or somebody doing
a backstroke across the...

the Rio Grande with it on him.

But the use of aircraft,

certainly,
you could move far quicker.

You could move larger loads.

And I think he saw that
as an advantage.

Narrator: In Central Mexico,
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's

territory
is mostly empty desert.

Grillo: Guzmán did not have
a major city

in his territory.

The Juarez cartel and Tijuana
cartel could both move

a lot of drugs
over the border bridges

in cars and in trucks.

A lot of the trafficking
in Sonora

was more through the desert,

where there was nobody there,
but it was hard

to move the really
bigger amounts of cocaine.

So you could see
a certain jealousy

of these really profitable
areas like Tijuana,

like Sierra Juárez.

Narrator:
So El Chapo gets creative.

Just how far or how deep
will the drug smugglers go?

Well, now, at one point in
the Mexican border with Arizona,

they have built a drug tunnel.

Nothing like it
has ever been seen.

Man: The tunnel was called one
of the most sophisticated

drug-smuggling schemes
authorities have ever seen.

What you see with Chapo Guzmán
is a real investment in tunnels.

So, "Rather than just,
we're gonna build a little hole

under the ground,
we're gonna hire

professional engineers

who have done
proper construction."

And you're gonna make a tunnel
with air vents,

with electric lights,

with rails where you can
take things on railcars.

Even if you spend $1 million,
$2 million on a tunnel,

it doesn't matter if you can
make tens of millions,

hundreds of millions
out of these things.

So you start seeing
real ambition,

vision from a criminal
point of view.

Narrator:
They dub it "Cocaine Alley."

We thought there were tunnels
every 100 feet

with the way this guy was going.

Narrator: El Chapo Guzmán's
network of tunnels

is a critical innovation,

and it sets him apart
from his competitors.

♪♪

He's moving more product
than either Fuentes

or the Félix brothers.

But for a drug smuggler,

crossing the border
is just the beginning.

His problem is once he gets the
product into the United States,

how does he distribute it?

How does he get it
beyond that area?

How does he get it into
mainstream America?

Narrator: If he wants to get
his supply to the US market,

Chapo Guzmán needs access

to the interstate highways
that can only be reached

by cutting through
the Tijuana territory...

...territory owned
by the Félix brothers.

It's a declaration of war.

To get access to America's
highway system,

he builds his largest
drug-smuggling tunnel to date

right in the heart of the
Félix brothers' territory.

♪♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Riley: The Félix brothers
really ran the Tijuana corridor

like a Nazi-controlled
prison camp.

Violence was used all the time.

Intimidation all the time.

And, matter of fact, I think
more so than any cartel,

the Félix brothers kind of
got away from corruption.

They weren't really interested
in trying to bribe their way.

They just killed people.

And lo and behold,
here's my man Guzmán

tunneling right underneath

the Félix brothers'
headquarters.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

When they found out
Guzmán was responsible

for the Tijuana tunnel,
it shocked them.

And I'm certain many people
died in their organization

for not knowing that.

Narrator: El Chapo's tunnel
breaks a cardinal rule

of the underworld...

don't cut in on
someone else's turf.

It's a direct challenge
to the Félix brothers.

[ Chickens clucking ]

The most bloodthirsty narcos
in Mexico strike back.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Bomb beeps ]

[ Clucking continues,
dogs barking ]

♪♪

Riley: That was like the shot
heard around the world.

I think when Guzmán's car
got bombed,

I honest to God
think he expected it.

He called his security
council together and said,

"Boys, holster up 'cause
we got to go to work now."

And it started with a couple
of pissed-off brothers

who got outsmarted
by a little guy

by the name of Guzmán,
and that was it.

So here we go.

Best man wins.
[ Gun clicks ]

Narrator: War breaks out
across all of Mexico.

[ Gun shots ]

♪♪

Hitman assassins working
for Chapo Guzmán fighting

assassins working
for the Arellano Félix brothers.

[ Gun shots ]

It was a serious turf war

involving hardened killers.

[ Police radio chatter ]

♪♪

[ Siren wailing ]

[ Gun shot ]

Narrator:
Then El Chapo escalates
the war with a cunning plan.

Navarro: [ Speaking Spanish ]

Hernandez: [ Speaking Spanish ]

Narrator: El Chapo disguises
his team of hitmen

in police uniforms with orders
to take out the Félix brothers.

♪♪

[ Gunfire ]

[ People screaming ]

♪♪

When the shooting stops,

innocent bodies
litter the ground.

But the Félix brothers
escape the carnage.

[ Tires squealing ]

[ Siren wailing ]

[ Horn honks ]

♪♪

You had essentially
two insurgent groups

who have now identified
and declared war.

And it's probably gonna impact
a lot of innocent citizens.

And sure as [bleep]
that's exactly what happened.

[ Woman yelling in Spanish,
crying ]

♪♪

♪♪

So, if you are asking
what it was like to be...

or to live in Culiacán
back then... 1993...

right in the middle of this war,
this bloody war...

[ Rooster crowing ]

Narrator: The entire country
is trapped

between two warring factions

that have no intention
of surrender.

♪♪

♪♪

But as Mexico bleeds,
one man stands to gain

from the ongoing warfare...

competing narco Amado Fuentes.

I-I think when Sinaloa went
after the Félix brothers,

it... it took heat
off of Juarez.

It took heat off
of Carrillo Fuentes

because so much
was focused on them,

and even, in my opinion,

a lax response of the
Mexican government to intercede,

what little response
there was was focused

on those two organizations.
Meanwhile, here we go.

This guy's crossing tons
across the border

and hoping no one looks at him.

And indeed,
that happened for a while.

Narrator: The longer his rivals
keep up the fight,

the more money Fuentes
stands to earn.

And the more they lose.

The Félix brothers are losing
millions of dollars

fighting El Chapo.

Determined to take him out,

they dispatch scouts
all over his territory

on the hunt for
the elusive drug lord.

Okay.

Narrator: In May of 1993,

the Félix brothers
send a team of hitmen

to track Guzmán down.

Their orders... "Don't come back
until he's in the ground."

♪♪

The sicarios scour Guadalajara
for five days

before they discover
Chapo Guzmán

is on his way to flee the city.

[ Gunfire, people screaming ]

♪♪

This was real war,
and it was in broad daylight

in a busy parking lot outside
a-a pretty busy airport.

♪♪

[ Gunfire continues ]

♪♪

This was urban warfare,
and there were so many people

that were gonna
get caught in it.

[ Gunfire ]

[ Helicopter flies overhead ]

♪♪

Narrator:
The white car the sicarios

had been targeting is destroyed.

Riley: The car had over
60 bullet holes in it.

Narrator: The only problem...

it isn't Guzmán's car.

Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo
had been elevated to cardinal

by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

Anastasia: Well, first of all,
Mexico is a Catholic country.

That's the dominant religion.

Ocampo... Bishop Ocampo
is revered.

He... He's almost a legend.

He's loved by the people.

And now he's sitting in a car
at the airport

riddled with 14 bullets.

It's the perfect storm
at this point

between the two cartels at war,

an innocent Catholic cardinal
gets killed in broad daylight.

It's like the Mexican pope
got shot at an airport.

W-What else bad can happen?

I mean, you can't get
worse than that.

♪♪

Narrator: The news quickly
spreads across Mexico.

Fuentes has been
profiting from the war.

When he hears about
the cardinal's death,

he should see disaster.

But Fuentes is a man who can
see opportunity in anything.

The war between Fuentes'
two main rivals

has already been a boon
for his business.

Now he can take one of them
out of the game for good

without taking on
any direct risk.

The only question
is who to turn in...

the real killers
or the narco right next door.

Fuentes fingers the adversary
he fears most

and makes El Chapo Guzmán

Mexico's public enemy
number one.

Fuentes fingers El Chapo Guzmán,

who immediately becomes
the most-wanted man in Mexico.

The real killers,
the Félix brothers,

are in the clear.

[ Exhales sharply ]

Reporter: And in Mexico today,
a funeral mass

for Cardinal
Juan Posadas Ocampo.

The Mexican government
has offered a $5 million reward

for the drug traffickers
who gunned him down.

[ Man speaking Spanish,
bells tolling ]

♪♪

Riley: Right after the shooting,
Mexican authorities

at that point worked around
the clock to track this guy.

So he goes underground.

He goes, you know,
to let the fires burn down,

but still control
his organization.

He has security force in place.

He had his communication
apparatus set up

where he could
continue business.

He really thought he could
weather it out,

and he was gonna
leave the country.

Narrator: El Chapo leaves
$200 million for his family

and another $200 million
to keep the cartel running.

$400 million, and he does it
without a blink of the eye.

♪♪

Narrator: El Chapo wants
to clear his name.

And there's only one person
he knows

with the connections
to make it happen.

[ Dial tone ringing ]

[ Telephone ringing ]

Fuentes: Bueno?

On his way out of the country,
he makes the call.

He doesn't know that Fuentes
is the man who turned him in.

Mm-hmm.

El Chapo Guzmán is playing right
into his rival's hands.

As he flees across Mexico's
southern border,

Guzmán has no idea

the government is
tracking him the whole time.

♪♪

I think he chose Guatemala
because he had

some fairly
strong business ties there

and had some confidants
there that he could trust.

Narrator:
But bribes aren't enough
to keep the heat off.

With Fuentes
pulling the strings,

the Mexican government
makes a direct appeal

to their counterparts
in Guatemala,

urging them to capture
the fugitive.
[ Gunfire ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Fuentes' plan works perfectly.

[ Speaks Spanish ]

Anastasia:
What this says is Fuentes
understands where he is

and how to operate.

And it's not about getting a gun
and shooting somebody.

It's about bribery
and manipulation.

General?

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Riley:
You love getting calls saying
bad guys got locked up.

When Guzmán got hooked up in
Guatemala, when the word got...

got through the agency,
it was great.

We knew from a practical
point of view

how valuable he was to
the whole organization

and the dope that
was coming north.

And there was somewhat of a sigh
of relief to think that,

"Hey, maybe this open warfare
in Mexico wasn't gonna escalate,

and maybe a lot of people
weren't gonna die

that didn't have to."

Narrator: Guzmán is sentenced
to 20 years

in maximum-security prison.

Prison in Mexico is not like
prison in the United States.

If you're a drug lord
and you've got the money

and you can make the payments
you need to make,

it's a mini vacation.

♪♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

Riley:
Prison... that's just a word.

It didn't mean anything to him.

♪♪

He probably fathered
10 of his 20 kids

while he was incarcerated.

And to be honest with you,
it provided a sense of security

for him not having to be
on the street,

not being exposed to some
of the other rival guys

that would like to really not
just see him in prison

but see him with
a bullet in his head.

Narrator: El Chapo runs
his cartel from his jail cell.

His arrest ends
the bloody turf war.

The Félix brothers
come out on top,

making the Tijuana Cartel

the most brutal gang
in the business.

[ Rooster crowing ]

But with one rival locked up
and out of the game,

there's only one man standing
between the Félix brothers

and total control
of the multi-billion-dollar

Mexican drug trade.

And they want to beat him
at his own game.

♪♪

[ Conversing in Spanish ]

Amado Fuentes is now
a man marked for death.

[ Conversing in Spanish ]

[ Bell dings ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Conversing in Spanish ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Indistinct chatter ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ People scream, gun shot ]

[ Gunfire ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Gun cocks ]

[ Screaming continues ]

♪♪

Anastasia:
Fuentes has to be livid
after this happened,

but he's also smart
and sophisticated.

For him, murder is a negotiating
tool of last resort,

and he wants to see
what other options he has.

Narrator: And just then,
Fuentes catches a lucky break.

The Mexican economy collapses.

Man: Mexico's economic crisis
deepened today

with stocks dropping sharply
and the peso still under fire.

Billions of dollars
in assistance from the US

apparently have not bolstered
the confidence of investors.

Anastasia: Hard to believe,
but it's the North American

Free Trade Agreement.

The peso collapses.

Fuentes' money
is in American banks.

Now he's even richer
than he was before...

one of the wealthiest
men in Mexico.

Narrator: Fresh from surviving
the attempt on his life,

Fuentes emerges from the
crisis wealthier than ever.

And then another windfall
2,500 miles to the south.

In Medellín, Colombia,

the biggest drug kingpin
in the world,

Pablo Escobar, is killed
in a shoot-out with the DEA.

The hunt for Pablo Escobar,
the Colombian drug lord,

ended today.

Man: Escobar's body
was taken to the morgue,

where it was identified
by his mother.

He was 44.

Narrator:
At the time of his death,

Pablo Escobar controls 80%
of the world's cocaine.

With Escobar out of the game,
his empire is up for grabs.

Anastasia: Pablo Escobar
is the supplier.

Everybody was buying
their coke from him.

Now he's gone.

Now the question is,
"Where are we going to get it?

Who are we gonna deal with?

And are we gonna be able
to deal with whoever it is?"

Narrator: Fuentes makes
a major power play.

He travels to Bolivia and Peru

and buys up Escobar's
cocaine production operation.

A network of jungle kitchens

that brings in nearly
$30 billion a year.

But Fuentes' plans
are far bigger

than just making a fortune.

Now that he owns the supply,
the Félix brothers and Guzmán

have to buy their
cocaine from him,

and he's going to use
this leverage

to finally gain the upper hand
on his two rivals.

He sends a lieutenant
with a message.

"If you want to buy cocaine,
it has to be on my terms.

If you don't like my terms,
go somewhere else."

There's nowhere else to go.

Narrator:
The Félix brothers have
no choice but to submit.

Hanging on to his cartel
from prison Chapo Guzmán

has even less power to resist.

♪♪

Years of careful
scheming pay off,

putting Fuentes at the top
of the cartel food chain.

Fuentes is patient.
He's not violent.

He realizes how
to play the game.

And at this point, he's
controlling all the product.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Anastasia: He wasn't only
the most powerful

narco trafficker in Mexico.

He might have been the most
powerful narco trafficker

in the world.

Narrator: But his spectacular
rise to the top draws

the attention of Mexico's
newly elected president,

Ernesto Zedillo,

who vows to clean up
government corruption

and take down the narcos.

Born in Mexico City,
Ernesto Zedillo

earns his Master's degree
at Yale University.

Now he's back in Mexico
determined to save his country

from the grip of poverty
and narco traffickers.

He starts by salvaging
the economy,

accepting a $20 billion loan
from President Bill Clinton

to rescue and restructure
the Mexican banking system.

With one crisis averted,

he turns his attention
to the narcos.

Anastasia:
President Zedillo is promising
to eradicate narco traffickers.

It's words.
It's not actions.

Fuentes has been down
this road before.

He's a veteran of this world.

He's heard this all before.

He doesn't think
anything's going to happen.

Narrator: But Zedillo
is determined to prove

he's a different
kind of president.

♪♪

When Fuentes makes a rare
public appearance

at his sister's wedding,

Ernesto Zedillo strikes.

He sends in a crack team of
police officers with one goal...

put Amado Fuentes behind bars.

He barely escapes.
This is a public embarrassment.

He loses face when that happens.

He's angry. He's livid.

Narrator: The drug lord
calls the president

to levy a bold threat.

No, no, no, no, no!

Most presidents would be
happy to have

their country's
number-one drug lord leave,

but the drug trade is still
the nation's biggest industry.

Mexico's biggest legitimate
export business is petroleum,

worth $7 billion a year.

Fuentes' drug-smuggling
operation alone

is worth nearly
five times more...

a massive $30 billion.

Anastasia:
He tells the president,
"You gonna come fool with me?

You're gonna come after me?

I'm gonna pick up
my toys and go.

I'll take my operation
somewhere else.

Then where's your
economy gonna be?"

Vámanos!
Vámanos a calle!

Narrator: Zedillo has no choice
but to abandon his mission

to bring down Fuentes.

♪♪

In one stroke,
the scheming drug lord

becomes more powerful
than the state,

but not the US government.

When President Zedillo
backs down,

it reveals the depths
of the corruption

that plagues
the Mexican government.

If the US wants to turn the tide
of the failing war on drugs,

it needs allies that will
stand up to the drug lords.

Anastasia: Law enforcement
in Mexico is not working.

Nobody's bringing down
the narco traffickers.

Nobody's even trying.

And the government
of the US shifts

its attention
to this corruption.

One of the key figures
in this investigation

is General Rebollo,

who's head of
the anti-drug Mexican police.

Narrator:
General Rebollo has been
in Fuentes' pocket for years.

The DEA makes him
target number one.

Early in 1997, Rebollo is
captured and interrogated.

The general's confession
blows the lid

off the entire operation.

The confession proves
what the US government

has feared all along...

drug lords own
the Mexican government.

With the corruption
exposed to the world,

the US has the leverage
it needs to escalate

their war against the narcos.

The State Department
stepped up a little bit.

It's about that time that,

while it's classified,
I can't tell you...

We stepped up
our presence there,

along with some other agencies.

So we were being welcomed in,

where, for a while,
we were shunned

'cause I think the Mexicans
recognized that

this really was
a two-country fight.

Narrator: For the first time
since Agent Camarena's death,

the DEA drops the hammer,

conducting an unprecedented
number of raids

and arrests on both sides
of the border.

And most of their operations
are aimed directly at Fuentes.

[ Speaks Spanish ]

Anastasia: Fuentes got where
he was because he was astute

and he could analyze
the situation.

He knew sometimes you push,
sometimes you back away.

Narrator: So in March of 1997,

the world's most powerful
drug lord

disappears without a trace.

[ Bells jingle ]

Soon rumors swirl that
he's been spotted in Chile,

Europe, Cuba, even Russia.

Fuentes had won the war.
He controlled all of Mexico.

They had to buy
their drugs from him.

He was in the power seat.

Now he disappears.
Is he dead?

Is he in hiding?
Nobody knows.

And that creates uncertainty
and instability.

Nobody knows what to do.

Narrator: Four months later,
in July of 1997,

Fuentes reappears.

♪♪

This guy's the most powerful
drug lord in Mexico,

maybe in the world.

And he dies because of some
plastic surgery operation?

That's crazy.
Was he vain trying to
change his appearance?

Was he trying to change
his appearance

'cause he intended to run away?

We don't know.

Narrator: Almost as soon
as his death is reported,

rumors begin to surface
that it's all a hoax.

Days after his death, Fuentes'
girlfriend also disappears,

and the doctor who performed
the plastic surgery

turns up dead
in a cement-filled barrel.

Due to the mysterious
circumstances

surrounding his death,

Fuentes remains on the FBI's
Most Wanted List

for another five years.

But whether dead or in hiding,

Fuentes is out
of the game for good.

Fuentes doesn't last long
because he opts,

at the end of the day,
not to fight the government.

Bribery was a tool
he could have used.
He didn't use that.

Violence was a tool
he could have used.

He opted not to use that.

If you want to
control an empire,

at a certain point,
you've got to stand up.

You've got to say,
"This is mine.

Nobody's gonna take it from me."

In this situation,
Fuentes didn't do that.

Narrator:
With Fuentes out of the picture,

the Juarez Corridor
is up for grabs.

And the bloodthirsty
Félix brothers

plan to claim it
for themselves by force.

For El Chapo Guzmán,
the stakes could not be higher.

If the Félix brothers
seize power in Juarez,

they'll have his territory
completely surrounded.

He'll need to fight to
keep control of Sinaloa,

but he can't wage
a war from prison.

El Chapo needs a new plan.

Hmm?

Anastasia: Guzmán decided to go
in a different direction.

Instead of challenging
the Félix brothers directly,

he'll back a different leader
for the territory...

one who's weaker and one
he can slowly manipulate

while he waits
to get out of prison.

Narrator:
El Chapo taps Vicente Fuentes,

the younger brother
of Amado Fuentes,

to inherit control
of the Juarez empire.

El Chapo secretly backs
Vicente Fuentes with men, money,

and an arsenal
of heavy artillery.

The Félix brothers
are more powerful,

but if Chapo can mount
a show of force,

it may force them to negotiate

and accept Vicente
without a war.

El Chapo sends Vicente Fuentes

to make his case
to the Félix brothers.

♪♪

♪♪

Anastasia:
Guzmán's plan is to make
the Félix brothers believe

they're the most powerful
narco traffickers in Mexico.

And they can be that without
going after Vicente Fuentes.

Guzmán basically initiates
a holding operation.

Then it's status quo
till he gets out.

Then he can figure out
what to do.

Narrator: But it all hinges
on the unpredictable

Félix brothers going along
with a bitter rival.

And for the first time,
the Félix brothers disagree

on how best to move forward.

Anastasia: The Félix brothers
have spent years and years

fighting brutal wars,
but they had evolved somewhat.

They knew that Fuentes
had succeeded

by not resorting to violence.

So they took a page
out of his book.

♪♪

Narrator: Looking to avoid
a costly war,

the brothers back down
and accept Vicente Fuentes

as the head of
the Juarez corridor.

♪♪

Four years pass
in relative peace.

[ Camera shutters clicking ]

And when it's finally shattered,

it's not by the cartels,
but by the Mexican government.

In 2001, the US and Mexico

sign a long-sought treaty
of extradition.

El Chapo is the
highest-ranked cartel boss

in government custody,

and now he has a target
on his back.

Riley: Guzmán... He's terrified
of coming to the US,

sitting in our prison,
in our judicial system

that he can't bribe
and buy his way out of,

and he knew that was a fate
worse than death for him.

So I think he made
a systematic decision

that it's time
to get out of jail.

Now is the time to go.

♪♪

Narrator: El Chapo
is resourceful and cunning,

and he has a plan.

He's bribed a guard
to help him escape.

♪♪

He vanishes in broad daylight.

[ Alarm blaring,
Indistinct yelling ]

[ Blaring, yelling continues ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Sirens wailing ]

♪♪

[ Car engine starts ]

♪♪

The Mexican government launches
a nationwide manhunt,

but it's too late.

Anastasia:
Guzmán escapes from prison,
and he's got to be

thinking about the situation.

He knows law enforcement
is going to be looking for him.

More important, he knows
the Félix brothers

are gonna be coming for him.

And that leads to war.

Narrator: Guzmán returns to his
headquarters and closes it down.

Narrator: And takes his
operation on the road,

never staying in one place
for longer than a day.

But Chapo's most critical
move of all

is his strategy of
spreading misinformation.

The Félix brothers
take the bait.

When a tip reveals
the whereabouts

of El Chapo's top commanders,

Ramón personally heads out
to make the kill.

Ramón spends five days
searching.

He even changes his appearance
so he doesn't stand out.

But the truth is
Guzmán's not in Mazatlan.

The tip was a trap to lure
the Félix brothers

to one location where
El Chapo can take them out.

And on the fifth day,
Guzmán springs his trap.

[ Tires squeal,
people screaming ]

His sicarios flush Ramón
onto the streets of Mazatlan,

where he flees for his life.

[ Screaming continues ]

♪♪
Narr

[ Police radio chatter ]

♪♪

[ Dogs barking ]

[ People screaming ]

[ Gun cocks ]

[ Sirens wailing ]

Guzmán's sicarios flush him out.

But it's an honest cop
who guns down Ramón Félix.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Conversation in Spanish ]

And at the same time
he's plotting against Ramón,

Guzmán lays a different trap
for Benjamín.

Guzmán bribes high-ranking
government officials,

then gives them
a location to raid.

Man: [ Speaking Spanish ]

Narrator: After over a decade
of fighting Joaquín Guzmán

has finally taken out
the Félix brothers.

The Félix brothers' forte
was violence.

That was the only note
they knew how to play.

Guzmán could be violent,

but he also knew
how to adapt to situations,

and so he was able
to come out on top.

Narrator: El Chapo takes over
the Tijuana Corridor.

Narrator: Now running Mexico
virtually unopposed,

El Chapo cashes in on the bet
he made over a decade earlier

and knocks over Vicente Fuentes.

For the first time since
the reign of El Padrino,

one kingpin controls
the entire country.

♪♪

Guzmán has been able
to defeat his rivals

because he's the one
who adapted...

... knowing
when to be violent...

♪♪

...when to use corruption...

♪♪

... when to strike first...

♪♪

[ Gun shot ]

...and when to let others
do the dirty work.

Now Mexico belongs to him.

Guzmán would do damn near
anything to hold power,

to gain power.

This is a guy that
is a business genius,

and had he chosen
to do the right thing,

he would have been just
as successful in my opinion.

But he is probably the
number-one bad guy

in the world
as far as I'm concerned.

His zest for control...
not necessarily wealth.

I don't think that
was ever his... his thing.

I think he wanted to be
the most powerful cartel leader.

I think he accomplished it.

I also think he's
a mass murderer.

I'll bet he's responsible
for tens of thousands

of innocent people's lives.

Narrator: The Mexican drug trade
has a new kingpin.

And for the next 10 years,

Guzmán turns Mexico
into a war zone.

[ Indistinct chatter ]

[ Gunfire ]

♪♪

A drug war with more
than 100,000 victims.

Started reporting on things like
mass graves with 193 bodies,

arriving at places
with 49 corpses

that would all have their hands

and their feet
and their heads cut off.

[ Gunfire ]

Gun battles...

with 500 cartel gunmen

against 2,000 federal police.

♪♪

Narrator:
And while he terrorizes Mexico,

Guzmán builds the largest drug
cartel the world has ever seen.

This was the biggest, most
powerful bad guy in the world.

You really began to see it
as you looked

across the United States,

where every major city
was being controlled

by some part of Sinaloa.

And he pushed it almost
from a corporate point of view.

He had an HR department.

If you wanted to go to work
or run dope for him,

you had to fill out
a-an application.

And it was reviewed for accuracy

'cause you had to say
where your parents were,

where their house was,
where your cars were,

where your kids were,
if you had a bank account,

where that was because
if you got caught

on that side of the border,

well, he had... he had some...

he had some leverage
on you not to talk.

After he takes
control of Mexico,

Guzmán turns his sights
on the rest of the world.

And eventually, he's the
dominant drug trafficker

on seven continents.

He's got a fleet of submarines
he uses to ship product...

submarines that, in a crisis,

can be sunk
merely by pushing a button.

He's got an army.
It's an empire.

Narrator:
But every kingpin must fall.

Riley: That day...
I remember that day

because we had eyes
on him the night

before we actually
made the move.

And I knew once we saw him...
we physically saw him...

Him and a couple
of his bodyguards

went out to get tacos,
believe it or not,

the night before
they made the raid,

or several hours
before they made the raid,

I put it out there.
I said, "We're gonna get him.

We... We've seen him.
We're there.

We just need
a little luck."

[ Gunfire ]

[ Explosions ]

[ Gunfire ]

Man:
Mexican Marines forced their way
into Guzmán's main hideout.

He sneaked out of the house
through an escape tunnel

beneath a bathtub
to a network of tunnels

and sewer canals under the city.

And one of my execs came...
pulled me aside and said,

"They got him hooked up.
They got a picture inbound.

You'll get to see it."

And sure as [bleep]
there he was,

locked up in that dirty t-shirt

that he went through
the sewers with.

And he sent that picture to say,
"Hey, we did it."

We turn now to the other
headlines tonight.

Late word coming in...
notorious drug lord

El Chapo is being
extradited to America.

He famously escaped
from prison twice.

He's wanted on drug
trafficking charges in the US.

Authorities say he's being
flown to New York.

Narrator: El Chapo's
reign of terror comes to an end

on January 19, 2017,

when he arrives in the US
to face prosecution.

As part of the
extradition process,

we had to assure
the Mexican government

that the death penalty would
not be sought in this matter.

So he is, as it stands, for all
of the narcotics-related...

narcotics-trafficking sentences,

he is also facing
a maximum sentence of life.

Riley: You know, the whole...

the whole thing
of war on drugs I hate

'cause it depicts
a beginning and an end.

There's no end to this.

♪♪