All language subtitles for T.G.o.F.S01E03.WEB.H264-RBBEnglish

(audience applauds)

(bright music)

(tense music)

- I'm just a tinkerer on
the backside of nowhere.

Such an unlikely character
for an operation like this.

(tense music)

What one wants in terms
of a drunk conspiracy is

To be dull and ordinary.

You have to
cultivate the persona

That no one is going to look at.

I drove an old piece of junk

And a worn pair of bib
overalls and a flannel shirt.

It was a perfect disguise.

When you do that, then you
can do what you want to do.

(tense music)

- I'm john roberts,

And this is "the
godfather of fentanyl."

(fire roaring)

(tense music)

- On the east coast today,
drug deaths in the news.

(sirens blaring)

Police are warning of a new and
deadly hazard, a toxic drug.

- [reporter] fentanyl is
normally used as a painkiller

In surgery, but more powerful
fentanyl is on the streets,

And it's deadly.

- [reporter] on the street,
it's called tango & cash,

And it can hit 100 times
harder than heroin.

- Narcotics agents say the
synthetic stuff is so strong

That many of its users end
up in places like this.

(tense music)

- By early March 1991,

Less than four weeks since
fentanyl first hit the streets

Of new york city, 36
people are confirmed dead.

Hundreds of others
are hospitalized.

It's all the work of
george erik marquardt,

The criminal chemist who goes
by the nickname "squeak."

He created the street
fentanyl in his home lab

In wichita, kansas.

But even he is stunned by just

How lethal its release
is proving to be.

(tense music)

- After all the bodies
dropped out in new york city,

I was personally cynical about

Whether fentanyl could replace
the us supply of heroin.

I thought fentanyl
would be too difficult

For the dealers to handle.

You know, they made a number

Of very conventional
assumptions,

One that the stuff
could be easily diluted.

(tense music)

- Today it's commonly known
that it only takes a few grains

Of pure street fentanyl
to kill a person.

But in early 1991,

When marquardt's
fentanyl was first sold

As a heroin substitute,
most street dealers

And addicts had never
encountered this drug before.

In fact, it will take
roughly two more decades

For fentanyl to emerge
in the pill form

That we often see today.

So early users injected it
directly into their veins,

Just like heroin.

(unsettling music)

- [george] then I saw
the dealers adjusting

And the customers
learning how to deal.

By "learning how to deal,"

I refer to learning how to do
it without killing themselves.

(tense music)

(tense music)

Now, do I think it's good for
people to do these things?

No, I do not.

If you keep doing it,
it'll probably kill you.

It's gonna ruin your life.

It's going to do all kinds
of terrible things to you.

But that appears to
be what they want.

So who am I to stop them?

(grim music)

- The phenomenon of addiction

Is something I don't think
people truly understand.

(tense music)

It is a serious illness that
affects many, many people.

- All I remember was waking
up in a shower dripping wet.

- It was no high. It was
just (snaps) lights out.

- There was a lot
of people died.

A lot of friends of mine,
a lot of people I know.

- Even after that,
my first words were,

"I gotta get some more of that."

- They know that this
drug is taking their life

From them slowly,

But they are so addicted
that their entire existence

Is centered around getting
the drug that they need.

And so the people
who supply the drugs,

Their moral compass
is seriously skewed,

Because they are truly preying

On some of the weakest
people in society.

(unsettling music)

- [george] in the summer
of '91, I got the operation

So that it would work
beginning to end in about, oh,

Five or six days,
with substantial
yields with fentanyl.

(upbeat percussive music)

Moscatiello actually came down

And got my second batch.

(air whooshes)

- Following the initial
release of the street fentanyl,

Boston-mob-connected
christopher moscatiello,

The original financier
of the operation,

Strong armed his way back in
as the drug's distributor.

(air whooshes)

He is now demanding marquardt
pay off what he claims

Is a $1 million debt.

So marquardt is producing new,
larger batches of fentanyl,

Which moscatiello is taking out

To cities all over
the northeast,

Through the boston mob's

Established drug
distribution network.

(upbeat music)

- [george] for
most of the summer,

Moscatiello was
putting the pressure on

For production,
production, production.

Every two or three months,

Martier got a few thousand
dollars out of moscatiello,

Picked up some fentanyl from me,

Paid me, and flew out
of wichita next day.

(indicator chimes)

(soft music)

Since the bulk of
product was not large,

You could transport
it a great distance.

The rule was double
bag or triple bag,

Stick it on-person,
taped to body.

Kind of a hazardous
operation when pure.

Until we paid off

This magic million-dollar
figure moscatiello alleged

We owed him, he wasn't
gonna give us our full share

Of the fentanyl price.

I knew I was being had,

But he was the only reliable
source of money we had.

So you just have to keep on
going and hope for the best.

(gentle surreal music)

- We were very concerned

Because fentanyl was
now being identified

In overdose deaths in new
york, boston, and philadelphia.

So where's it coming from?

- [customer] give
me one more of that.

A little piece of it.
- If you find drugs

On the street, they came
from one of four sources.

They were either smuggled here,
they were manufactured here,

They were cultivated,
like marijuana, here,

Or they were diverted from
some legitimate industry,

Like the medical industry,
to an illicit use.

Those are the only
ways you get drugs.

- [john] to start
tracking down the source

Of the deadly fentanyl,
law enforcement begins

At the end of the drug
trafficking chain:

The street deal.

- We knew that the street
distribution was important

Because that would
hopefully give us links

To find out the source.

Heroin has different colors,
depending on its origin.

In the case of the
fentanyl investigation,

The local police were saying
that this was distinguishable

By the fact that it was sparkly.

So we started to go out and
buy heroin from street dealers,

But only asking for
the sparkly stuff.

So how do you make this
approach as an undercover?

It takes only a few
minutes of surveillance

To see who's dealing.

Then you walk up to
the guy and say, "hey."

- [agent] what's going on?

- Do you have any tango
& cash? Be direct.

Say exactly what you want.

- What do you got?
- I got vials.

- [agent] how much?

- [dealer] seven
dollars for you.

- [gerald] you might do a dance.

Oh man, I'm not selling
to you. You're a cop.

But drug dealers are
in it to make money.

Eventually, they will
sell you the drug.

- [agent] see the money
right here? See the exchange?

- And you say, "thank you
very much," and you walk away.

(contraption whirring)

If the drug was indeed fentanyl,

Then we would go back and
we would surveil them.

A street dealer, you
watch him long enough,

He will run out
of drugs to sell.

He would have to be resupplied.

Then your surveillance
concentrates on that resupplier.

And then try to
work your way up,

Work your way up,
work your way up

Until you hopefully find
the source of the drug.

(tense music)

- [john] throughout
the summer of 1991,

Agents worked the streets

Of major cities all
over the northeast,

While chemists with the drug
enforcement administration

Analyzed the purchased samples
to try to uncover clues

To the fentanyl's origin.

New-york-based dea chemist jack
fasanello leads this effort.

(tense music)

- My analysis concluded that all

Of the samples were
fentanyl hydrochloride,

Which is not the commercial
form of fentanyl.

(tense music)

- This microscopic clue

In the fentanyl's
chemical composition

Has massive significance.

- That indicated to me

That it was clandestinely
manufactured.

(tense music)

- [john] in other words,
they realized that someone,

Somewhere must have ingeniously
altered the standard formula

Of fentanyl to reinvent
it as a street drug.

(tense music)

- At the time, fentanyl was
a very difficult synthesis.

So I felt that whoever was
producing this material,

And in such quantities, was
a good, clandestine chemist.

(tense music)

- Based on this,

Dea concludes that
a single chemist

Is probably responsible
for all the fentanyl.

Now they must find the
chemist and shut them down.

(tense music)

- [george] in the
case of running

A drug manufacturing
plant, you ask yourself:

If you were sitting on the
other side of the fence,

How is it that you would
detect someone like me?

And then you find
a way of doing it

Without getting caught.

First off, the people selling
these drugs did not know me.

So I thought that offered me
a certain amount of safety.

But the next thing I thought is,

How long is it going to be

Before the law enforcement
figures this out?

I mean, that was
absolutely astonishing

That we didn't get
caught in boston

With the "benzene fiasco."

- [john] a year earlier,
marquardt's partner,

Money man christopher
moscatiello,

Was nearly arrested while
purchasing chemicals

For the fentanyl lab.

(air whooshes)

- [george] after that,

I decided the convenience
of buying easily available,

Bulk chemicals is outweighed
by the risk involved.

So that's when it
pays to get creative.

(grim music)

- When manufacturing
illicit drugs,

Clandestine chemists usually
purchase starter chemicals,

Known as precursors.

The companies that sell
these chemicals know

They can be used for
drug manufacturing,

And so they keep detailed
records of all transactions.

And those records can be
a clue for investigators.

- If you buy it and it goes
on an order form someplace

And it goes in a
receipt someplace,

The bureaucrats will
have access to that.

And conceivably, this
can be discovered.

This is the kind of
thing you want to avoid.

(grim music)

What the dea would do is
just go through the receipts,

Anything that looked
unusual to them,

And that disturbed me.

So I needed a
better plan, right?

(grim music)

And instead of
buying precursors,

I would make all of my own.

- If it was a chemical
and he needed to make it,

Squeak could make it
every step of the way.

It was all part of
trying to not get caught,

Which is what all of us who do
that sort of thing try to do.

- [george] that worked
to disguise things

From the federal
narcotics agents.

- But only someone of
his genius would be able

To figure it out
and pull it off.

(george laughs)

- [george] you know,

I had a bunch of people
thoroughly fooled.

I even lied like
hell to my sister.

(tense music)

- Both of our parents
died fairly young,

Without speaking to erik.

But before that, mom
encouraged me to write to him.

So we wrote to each
other over the years.

And eventually it
was not just writing,

It was long collect phone calls.

I was never in control
of when I heard from him.

Just occasionally he would
call and talk for a few hours.

(unsettling music)

When we heard in the
news about the fentanyl,

Of course, I realized that
my brother was capable

Of such things.

But I made the assumption
that with his track record,

The federal government
would know where he was.

- We really thought people
were watching him closely,

You know.

- Such was not the
case, as it turns out.

I got the impression my
name had not surfaced

Because of my lack of
academic credentials.

- Police found the bodies
of three more people.

- [reporter] in the past week,

Five deaths have been
reported from fentanyl.

- [reporter] in one case, an
addict died while standing up.

- [george] there was a statement
made by a forensic chemist

That he didn't think
anyone with less

Than a master's degree could
possibly produce fentanyl.

- [reporter] dea has discovered

The chemist producing
fentanyl would have a master's

Or doctorate degree
in chemistry.

- [george] I thought that
was extremely amusing.

I was just
unbelievably delighted.

So I wasn't looked at

With any particular
amount of attention.

(tense music)

In the fall of 1991, there
were several trips to boston.

Back and forth, back and
forth, back and forth we went.

And I thought we were
going to clear the debt

With moscatiello and start
getting some real money

For this thing.

But then moscatiello
said he wanted me

To make him some
3-methylfentanyl.

(tense music)

He said, "make 25 pounds,
and we'll pay you."

I thought, "jesus
fucking christ!

That's dangerous chemistry."

- [john] 3-methylfentanyl is
a chemical compound similar

To fentanyl, but it is
about 60 times more potent.

(sirens blaring)

- The difference
between fentanyl

And 3-methylfentanyl is just
one little methyl group.

(tense music)

It's a very small change,

But that small change
is in an important place

On the molecule.

An amount of 3-methylfentanyl

That would fit in your pocket
could wipe out a whole town.

- That's a royal
road to destruction.

(unsettling music)

And so I became
suspicious about exactly

Who moscatiello was
actually involved with.

(unsettling music)

- [john] at the time,
james "whitey" bulger

Is known as the kingpin of
boston's organized crime scene.

Among bulger's
closest associates

Are the so-called
"murray brothers:"

Joseph and michael.

(tense music)

- I'd heard that moscatiello
dealt with mike murray.

Joe murray was kind of a...

I wasn't sure what the
association was there.

(tense music)

But I knew they were some
very dangerous people.

- The murray brothers
operate from the shadows

And are known to
have ties that extend

To violent overseas
terrorist groups,

(bomb explodes)

Like the irish republican army.

- Several incidents
of violence yesterday

In northern ireland.

Irish republican army
terrorists exploded two bombs

In london today.

- The ira says it was
behind an explosion

That rocked a small town.

- Let us pin the responsibility
for these appalling crimes

To where it belongs:

On the common
murderers of the ira.

(audience applauds)

- Just a few years earlier,

Joseph murray and whitey
bulger had led a plot

To smuggle 7.5 tons of
weapons aboard a fishing boat

To the ira, the irish
republican army,

A group that was
waging terror attacks

Against british rule
in northern ireland.

The valhalla incident, as it
was known, ended in failure.

But it is a good
reason for marquardt

To question
moscatiello's interests

And intentions with
the 3-methylfentanyl.

- After the valhalla incident,

I thought maybe the
organized crime types up

In boston wanted to weaponize
this stuff and cause trouble.

For all I know, they
could have every intention

Of destroying the
civilized world.

I thought, "nope, nope, nope,
nope, nope, nope, nope. No!"

I'm not a terrorist.

I thought it was
a scam to get me

To deliver highly potent drugs.

And maybe they would kill me

So that I wouldn't turn
up inconveniently later.

And so I told moscatiello,
"well, you know,

It is extremely difficult
to manufacture."

I knew that would
buy me some time.

(grim music)

(sirens blaring)

(tense music)

- [john] by the summer of 1992,

The fentanyl investigation
has been going on

For more than a year.

- Some cops call
kearney avenue here

In jersey city the war zone.

They make as many as
25 arrests in one day.

- Meanwhile, another drug raid,

Part of an ongoing investigation
into the increasing use

Of a drug that can
kill within seconds.

- [john] but despite
the enormous effort
by law enforcement,

They have yet to uncover
any significant leads

Into where the deadly
drug is coming from.

- The arrests have not,
however, led to the source.

- [reporter] the
investigation is continuing.

- And while the fentanyl
investigation slowly grinds on,

Agents across the country are
caught up in a much bigger war

Against drugs of all kinds.

(tense music)

- There is a crisis
demanding our attention.

Drug production and drug
use threaten our futures

And our very lives.

We are determined to defeat
this enemy, speedily.

- [reporter] americans
paid $40 billion

For illegal drugs last year.

- It's a hell of a lot of
money being spent for drugs.

- [reporter] the federal
report shows an increase

In marijuana and
methamphetamines.

- [reporter] if you thought
acid parties were a thing

Of the past, you're dead wrong.

- Cocaine business
certainly rivals any

Of the top fortune
500 companies.

- What no one in law
enforcement can foresee

Is that an unrelated
case will crack

The fentanyl
investigation wide open.

(tense music)

- At the time of the
fentanyl investigation,

Another agent asked me to
assist in the surveillance

Of a truck that was heading
from boston down towards mexico

To pick up four
tons of marijuana.

- Agents of the fbi

And the drug enforcement
administration swept down

On a large rented truck.

(tense music)

The arrest ended a long
investigation by both agencies.

- End up arresting michael
murray of the murray brothers.

(tense music)

- It's michael
murray's second offense

For trafficking thousands
of pounds of marijuana.

Only this time his arrest will
have explosive consequences.

- At that time, I did not know

That the michael murray
investigation had information

With regard to the laboratory.

- It's a close-knit community,

Until it isn't anymore.

Once somebody's arrested,

It's what are they
gonna offer you?

And if there gets to be
a rat in the ointment,

Well, loose lips sink ships,
as the old saying goes.

(tense music)

- Michael murray recognizes
that he was in trouble,

And he needs to do something
to help himself get out of it.

He said that he would cooperate

With the federal government
to lessen his sentence.

A cooperating source will
speak ad nauseum about anyone

And anything, as long as he's
not explicitly implicated.

That is, he is a totally
innocent guy who just happens

To have all this inside
criminal information

That he's been happy to
share with the government.

But no, he was never
directly involved.

(tense music)

Eventually, michael murray says,

"hey guys, I think I can help
you with the fentanyl case."

And I said, "great."

Michael murray tells us
that christopher moscatiello

Is financing the
fentanyl laboratory.

Period.

- It's a bombshell revelation.

Christopher moscatiello
is immediately recognized

As the suspect who, two years
earlier, had alluded the dea

After purchasing a
50-gallon drum of benzene.

At the time,

Agents were investigating a
fake company called tx green.

They now realize tx green
was actually the start

Of the fentanyl lab.

(tense music)

- And so now we went back to
looking closer at tx green.

Although now we were calling
it tango & cash investigation.

(tense music)

- I formulate plans to follow
up on murray's cooperation,

Because now michael murray
has to enter a new phase

Of the investigation.

He has to be an active
participant in the case.

We had to send michael murray in

To speak to christopher
moscatiello.

- [john] michael murray and
christopher moscatiello have

A long history of
working together.

A few years earlier,

They were both arrested
for marijuana trafficking.

Agents now plan to use
that trusted relationship

To their advantage.

- [gerald] michael murray
is basically instructed

To set up the meeting
with moscatiello.

- [john] murray is wired
with a hidden microphone

So the agents can monitor
this meeting remotely.

(tense music)

- These two individuals
know each other quite well,

And I think they considered
each other friends.

- I only knew michael
murray by name,

But chris told me
that he was a friend.

His best friend.

Chris had a very small circle

Of people in his life,

And michael murray
being his best friend,

Chris trusted him explicitly.

- After a few
minutes of talking,

We hear moscatiello tell
murray that he's concerned

Because they're
getting too much heat,

Too much attention on
distributing the fentanyl.

So maybe we'll kind of make
some pills for a while.

(tense music)

- The agents immediately
see an opportunity.

(tense music)

They have murray
tell moscatiello that
he can connect him

With a new york city gangster

Who has access to a pill press

And can help them
make illicit pills

While the heat on the
fentanyl dies down.

- Michael murray says,
"here's a telephone number.

Have your chemist
call this guy."

And moscatiello said

That he would have his
chemist call the number.

That number was my
telephone number.

(tense music)

Within the short time
period, I received a call.

Because of my upbringing
as a brooklyn kid,

I can have a very big
brooklyn accent, if need be.

So I say that I'm
gerrie from new york,

Alluding that I was tied
into organized crime.

(gun blasts)

And it was martier.

Joseph martier.

- [john] joseph martier is
a name familiar to agents.

During the tx green
investigation two years earlier,

He was seen purchasing
laboratory-grade glassware.

The agents now wonder if martier

Is the chemist producing the
tango & cash street fentanyl.

(tense music)

- We started talking
about chemical processes,

(surreal intense music)

Making pills.

There was a very popular
pill called lemmon 714s,

Aka quaaludes.

(tense music)

Martier wanted to make
counterfeit lemmon 714s.

So I said, "I can
get you a pill press.

I can go meet you at your
laboratory with the pill press,

And I can make
the pills for you,

And we could set up
business together."

- [john] but martier declines
an in-person meeting.

Instead, he turns
the conversation

To how he can make
the pills himself.

- After a few minutes
of talking, I said,

"you know that you can
have all the raw powder

Of lemmon 714s, the drug itself,

But do you know anything
about binding the material

In order to make the pills?

Do you know how to use the
press to stamp the pills,

To make them look like lemmons?

Do you know the exact color

In order to
counterfeit the pills?"

And as we got deep
in this conversation,

It became clear that his
ignorance was incredible.

In terms of aha moments,

The aha was that martier
was not the, I mean,

With the big, capital t,
chemist making fentanyl.

(tense music)

- Martier had called me one day.

And he said something like,

"the moscatiello
operation offered

To come up with a pill press."

I got to thinking.
Isn't that peculiar?

I don't think it's a good idea.

You know, if you're
going to stay above water

In the drug game for
any length of time,

You have to stay off the radar.

But martier persisted.

So finally, I said, "I
don't know a lot about this.

Could you talk to these guys?"

I had a nose for bullshit,
you know? (laughs)

(air whooshes)

- [john] by this point, the
agents realized a third,

Unknown criminal accomplice
must still be out there.

And so they instruct
michael murray

To confront
christopher moscatiello

To see if they can
gain further clues

About who the chemist really is.

(tense music)

- In a normal drug
trafficking situation,

Murray now would have problems
with new york mobsters

And that he's unreliable.

Murray says to moscatiello,

"who the hell was the guy

That the new york wise
guy was speaking with.

These guys are upset.

They wanna know if
I'm setting them up."

Believe it or not,

This leads to moscatiello
mentioning the fact that,

Well, the actual chemist
is a guy named squeak.

(tense music)

And that is the first time
we hear the name squeak.

(tense music)

The drug enforcement
administration maintains a lot

Of records on individuals
who are arrested,

And part of those
records includes aliases.

So using the name squeak,

I come up with a
george marquardt

Who was arrested in oklahoma
for drug trafficking

And running a laboratory.

So we finally identified who
we believed to be the chemist.

But now the question,
the big question,

The looming question is,
where is the laboratory?

(tense music)

- Unbeknownst to
the investigators,

Marquardt is, at
that very moment,

Expanding his drug
manufacturing operation.

(tense music)

- Moscatiello was pestering me.

When are you gonna do
the 3-methylfentanyl?

When are you gonna do
the 3-methylfentanyl?

Sometime. Yeah, sometime.

(tense music)

There existed a considerable
amount of bad feeling,

But I thought the bad feeling
was overcome by greed.

By this time, I had gotten

About $100,000 out
of moscatiello.

Moscatiello had aspirations

To manufacture
every sort of insane

And profitable drug on the plane

And leapfrog to the
next level of production

With the fentanyl operation.

I was interested in getting
paid and making money, you know?

But to do that, I
needed more space.

That's when we
rented the facility

At the industrial park.

It was just absolutely perfect

For clandestine manufacturing.

(grim music)

I simply towed the
equipment out there

And set up shop and got busy.

I called it prairie lab.

- He told me that he
had his own business,

And it was called prairie lab,
and he would do consulting.

(tense music)

- He said he did a lot
of work for the oil

And gas industry down in kansas.

So he had an excuse for
anything he was doing.

- [george] if anybody says,
"what's going on here?

This looks like a big
chemical operation."

Indeed it does. (laughs)

(tense music)

- I'm ed loibl.

I rented the other
half of the building

By george in the
industrial park.

(tense music)

He was super, super
nice, super laid back.

Just could have played
santa claus every christmas.

George never led on
to be genius material

Or that he was,
like, super smart.

I always thought george
was just a chemist

From the kind of work he did.

The inside of his
office looked like

A frankenstein laboratory.

Pumps, motors, lines.

Electric stuff going
everywhere to it.

I was young at the time

And just always wondering
how people made their money

And noticed he had a lot
of stuff in his shop.

And I asked him one day
how he made his money,

And he said, "making drugs."

(tense music)

I kind of laughed.

I just figured he was joking

To tell me to mind
my own business

And not ask him where
he made his money.

- He didn't hide.
He wasn't hiding.

He had a wonderful relationship
with everybody who knew him.

- If you're engaged
in something you want,

Just kind of a friendly,
"well, good morning.

Would you like a cup of coffee?"

That kind of thing.

My neighbors out in
the industrial park,

They just couldn't understand
a pair of bib overalls

And a flannel shirt.

It was a perfect
disguise, really.

And what he thought was
exactly what I wanted him

To think, you know?

Oh, I never could imagine.

And when you do that,

Then you can do
what you want to do.

(tense music)

Which is having a lot
of glassware set up,

And a rotary evaporator
spinning merrily around,

And stirrers turning,
and multi-neck flasks,

And things refluxing.

The vacuum pump thumping away.

I thought it was just
absolutely wonderful.

Prairie lab gave
us the capability

To produce many pounds
of fentanyl efficiently.

So a whole bunch of
possibilities open up.

(grim music)

(counter clicking)

- Back in boston,

Dea agents had discovered that
marquardt hasn't been seen

By law enforcement in
the state of oklahoma

For several years.

They are monitoring the meetings

Between mobster
informant michael murray

And fentanyl distributor
christopher moscatiello

In the hopes of finding
another way to locate marquardt

And the lab.

- During one of
the conversations

Between murray and moscatiello,

Moscatiello actually sat
down and wrote out the fact

That they were making $6,000

On each death of a
person from fentanyl.

What happens is, in the
mind of an individual

Who's addicted to drugs,

When you find out that
fentanyl is a potent drug,

They're gonna roll a
dice and take the drug.

Because they're searching
for that ultimate high.

So heroin users started
actually seeking out fentanyl

And creating more demand.

But for moscatiello to say
they were actually calculating

How much money they
were making off

Of each death of fentanyl,

That kind of ticked me off.

That's when moscatiello states

That they're trying to
increase production.

So michael murray says, "I
can provide a very credible,

High-level cocaine dealer,

With an established
distribution network of drugs.

They're helping the
distribution of the fentanyl."

Moscatiello, being the
person that moscatiello was,

Was probably seeing
dollar signs in his mind.

So moscatiello goes away
with the idea that murray,

His trusted friend,
is going to help him.

(gentle music)

This gives us an opportunity

To introduce an undercover
agent to moscatiello

To pretend to be a
colombian cocaine trafficker

Who is interested in utilizing
their distribution network

With the fentanyl.

(sirens blaring)

- At the time, there was only
one colombian agent in dea.

- [gerald] and the
person was harmon blanco.

(tense music)

- Hello.

(tense music)

- After more than a year
and a half of investigating,

Dea agents are now poised

To crack the fentanyl
case wide open

And close in on the laboratory.

- [reporter] neighbors never
suspected a drug lab next door.

- In the most unexpected
place in america.

- [reporter] they found the
chemicals used to make fentanyl.

- If they could do it
before marquardt slips away.

- Maybe is smarter
than we all know.

(tense music)

Coming up on "the
godfather of fentanyl."

(tense music)

Dea introduces its
undercover agent

To infiltrate the
fentanyl operation.

- If this guy wanted to kidnap
me or wanted to shoot me,

Or whatever he wanted to do,
nobody was gonna back me up.

- [john] while marquardt
prepares to slip away.

He knew, sooner or
later, he was going down.

And so he started getting
all his ducks in a row.

- [george] you know,
I could disappear.

Go somewhere else.

(sirens blaring)

(upbeat mysterious music)

(upbeat mysterious
music continues)

(upbeat mysterious
music continues)

(upbeat mysterious
music continues)