All language subtitles for The.Godfather.of.Fentanyl.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-BAE[EZTVx.to]

What people think disturbs me.

Not in the slightest.

You probably find
all kinds of people that think

I'm an absolutely worthless
human being and I don't care.

Having said that, do
I want bad things happen?

No, no.

Bad things that I'm terribly

Sold.

Everyone gets what they want
and that leads to a nice life

For them.

Unfortunately,
that's just not true.

People have crystals.

That's a book.

Yeah.

I've got friends of

That.

I'm john roberts.

And this is

The godfather of fentanyl

In early 1981.

Oklahoma's most notorious
clandestine chemist,

George eric marquart,
also known as squeak,

Is serving a ten year sentence
for drug manufacturing

At the federal prison
in lewisburg, pennsylvania.

A self-described

Sociopath and full time outlaw,

Marquart has just learned
about a new drug,

Fentanyl, from fellow inmate and
heroin kingpin louis cirillo.

Really surreal also.

Look at this drug

Like instant bunny.

And it was the first time

I ever heard the name

Churchill.

Fentanyl

Was first created by jensen
pharmaceuticals as a painkiller.

That was rapid onset
with a very fast recovery time.

So when people
were undergoing operations,

They could be administered
fentanyl, and then they would be

Able to come out of it
very fast.

What makes fentanyl
a different drug

Is that
fentanyl is a synthetic opioid

And so that differs
from the natural products

In that
it is not isolated from a plant.

In other words,
fentanyl is made from chemicals,

Not the opium poppy.

By the early 1980s, fentanyl
was commonly used in hospitals

During surgery,
and it had caught the attention

Of those involved in the dark
underworld of drug trafficking.

Heroin kingpins
like louis cirillo realize

That if they can find a chemist

Who can make fentanyl
as a street drug,

They can sell it
as a heroin substitute

And make millions of dollars.

William, cyril
and I had had some conversation

About whether I thought
I could make that.

I thought I could.

But the surreal
I get a reputation of being

Exceptionally dangerous
to deal with.

So I said, I'm not interested.

And cyril,
I probably could do it.

I find that amusing

Because I would sit it down

Along the whole

I mean, I was wanting
to do this thing at some point.

I just needed in the right order

And the crime business.

The network is out there.

It's just who do you trust?

In the end,

It's it's kind of a gut feeling.

Less than a year later,

In the spring of 1982,

Mark court
will get this gut feeling

When he meets a newly
transferred inmate,

Joseph martire.

Joseph mortier was the central
figure in what at the time

Was the largest pcp factory
ever found in the united states.

My name is bruce and kubiak.

From 1977 until 1983,

I was a federal prosecutor
in pittsburgh, pennsylvania.

Joseph
mortier was a graduate of penn

Martire who studied
political science there.

However, he decided to go into
the business of manufacturing

And distributing a very,
very large quantity of pcp

Angel dust,

As it was referred to
as a street name.

It was a very,
very powerful hallucinogen.

This case was extremely unusual.

You simply did not see an ivy

League graduate gravitate
towards illicit drug markets.

Or seem
to be an intelligent guy.

And he was friendly with me.

So I was friendly with him.

So discussions started up

Last year
and I started talking about

Manufacturing street level.

He agreed if that was the next

Big thing and clandestine
drug manufacturing

And there were huge
profits to be made.

Next thing you know,
knew your clock

Now and future crimes.

In the mid 1980s,

Setting up an illicit street
fentanyl lab required

A pretty hefty investment

To purchase laboratory grade
glassware and equipment.

But after that initial cost,

A skilled chemist can take
just $2,000 worth of chemicals

And turn them into $100,000
worth of drugs

And then do it over and over

And over again.

For over a year.

I thought I
could make three times more,

But I said,
I think we've got something here

That's going to make pcp
look like nice stuff.

And I think if
we make a bunch of this stuff,

We're going to kill
the bunch of people

That we really need.

He said when we got out,
he was going to raise some money

To do it.

In 1984,

Marquart is released from prison
and returns to oklahoma.

Meanwhile,
martire is transferred

To the federal facility

In danbury, connecticut,
to finish out his sentence

Here.

Martire will connect

With the final coconspirator
in the fentanyl project.

The money man.

My name is mark rush.

I'm a former federal prosecutor.

What happens is,
while martire is in danbury,

He meets a disgraced lawyer
who said that

If martire would ever need
anyone to be a moneyman,

He should give a gentleman
by the name of muska telo a call

That he has funding,
that he's willing to invest

And he can
make things happen for you.

The 1989,

After martire got out,
we had broken communication.

He had indicated to me
the green status

Of the whole project.

He said he had it funded

By this mosquito person.

Well, I thought that was great.

Those

Even though I didn't really know

Much about mosquito.

My name is cynthia payne,

And I am the sister
of christopher

Mosquito.

Chris was never

Completely open
or forthcoming to me,

But I was aware that he was

In the marijuana business.

To my knowledge,
he was not involved

In any other drugs.

I didn't find out
about the connections

That he had in boston

Until much later.

This is the image

Boston likes to project a city
thriving rich in history,

Attracting millions of tourists.

But this is also boston

Crime,
drugs, violence and gangs.

At the time, organized
crime in boston was controlled

By the irish mob, led by the
ruthless gangster whitey bulger.

James whitey
bulger is an alleged kingpin

Of organized crime.

It turns out
muscatel was involved in drug

Distribution with connections
to the boston mob.

I found out at muscatel

He meant hauling on marijuana
and cocaine

And other things like this.

Lots of money

Was made off of muscatel,
and he had a fair supply of it.

But in terms of the sources

Of mosquitoes, for me,
that's not the point.

I don't care
if you got it from the devil.

He came up

With enough to get started.

So I went to boston

To set up the street
fund program.

Martire put together

The tax green front

So we could purchase
the glassware

And chemicals from the
local chemical supply houses.

A front is a
fake company that criminals use

To hide illegal activities
from law enforcement.

I told you about this business
for a long time.

Do not attract
a great deal of attention.

But in the shadowy world
of illicit drug manufacturing,

That's much
easier said than done.

Especially when you're trying
to buy

The kinds of chemicals
and sophisticated lab equipment

That the feds keep a very close
eye on.

I'm gerald graves.

I was a special agent close
to 23 years with dea, the drug.

Enforcement administration.

In the case

Of drugs,
chemicals, etc., companies

That are licensed by dea
to sell these items

And certainly in their interest

To keep these items
under control.

And one way they do it
is they notify dea in cases of

Suspicious transactions

Because experian
had a postal box as an address

And no actual business
address or say.

And it was a newly
formed company with no history.

That was enough red flags
for that chemical company

To contact the enforcement
administration.

I learned that touchscreen
has been ordering chemicals

From various other
chemical companies in the area.

So we consult
with the chemical specialists

In the drug plus ministration
out of new york.

That would be chemist
jack fasano.

I was fishing on a boat
in cape cod

And my pager went off.

They asked me
to call the boston office

And they said
they have a list of chemicals.

They were going to fax it to me
to look at.

So we went to shore

And I looked at the list

And I immediately
called them and said,

Oh, shit.

He advises us that it looks

As though these guys are doing
a laboratory somewhere.

And it seemed to me

It was going to be a big lab
because of the amount

Of chemicals
that they were purchasing.

And at that point,

A investigation is started.

And the quest now

Is to find out
what is it that they are doing.

So we go out to the postal. Box.

Now to screened
used as an address.

Investigators
seize the mail and begin

Contacting the companies
listed on the return addresses.

Basically,
you see the return address

And then you contact that
person, say,

What are you doing
with tex screen?

One of the leads we found out
is that the guy named joseph

Mortier
contacted a custom glassblower

To make him beakers
and a rotary evaporator

Of a very, very large size,
which was quite unusual.

So who is joseph mortier?

It turns out.

Mortier was out on parole
from federal prison

For clandestine manufacturing
in pennsylvania,

Which led to ask why
was he up in the boston area.

Bloody or at once?

We had arrived through a score
of 140 or something like that.

So I'm quite a bright person.

I can do anything.

That was his perception

And his perception for light

And less reality.

The dea agents learned

When marty is scheduled
to pick up the glassware

And they are waiting
with surveillance.

We watch mark here,

Accompanied by his wife

With a baby carriage,

Picking up their glassware
and wheeling it

Through cambridge,
massachusetts.

We said, what do these guys do?

And I mean,
this is amateur hour.

It was just like surreal,

Damn fool.

A month later,

We find out another tax
green representative

Was going to pick up
a 50 gallon drum of benzene

From a local boston
chemical manufacturer.

So I basically joined
the chemical company

To pretend to be an employee
and was working undercover.

We knew that this individual
was going to pick up

This barrel of benzene
at a particular time,

But we did not know
who would be coming in.

Unknown to the agents,

The unidentified suspect
they are about to meet

Is the financier of the street
fentanyl operation.

Boston mob connected
drug trafficker

Christopher muscatel in.

What was an unusual
pick up because,

Number one, he arrived
in a privately owned car,

A green range rover.

It was the first time
I met this gentleman.

He was certainly
very clean dressed.

And at that time

We used the term yuppies
and he seemed to be a yuppie

Classic polo shirt,
top five shoes and blue jeans.

Currently,
while I still want to pick up

The benzene and barrel,
he had to look ship.

Of course, the chemical industry
is not filled

With a lot of ship people.

I basically engaged him
in a conversation

To see how knowledgeable he was.

He was unable to really answer
basic

Questions, didn't even know
what benzene was used for.

So I determined that this guy
I don't know what role

He plays in it, but

He was certainly not a person
that was involved in legitimate

Chemical manufacturing.

Once a barrel was loaded
and secured

Inside his range rover,
he took off

And we had a surveillance
operation.

Follow him.

The surveillance team
followed him

All the way to pembroke,
massachusetts.

That southern point of eastern
massachusetts, just

Above cape cod,

Is a cranberry
center of america.

So it's flat area.

And the roadways only
go between these cranberry bogs.

So you can see that there are
other cars following you.

And he determined that
he was indeed being followed.

And basically he was able

To elude them.

How he did that, I don't know.

Well, I learned later
on, to my disappointment

Was that he indeed was lost.

We did not see him or know
where he went

At that point.

A couple of weeks later,
I called for a status

And I was told
that the case was closed.

I never made the assumption

That two people on the opposite
side of the fence were stupid.

But why law enforcement
didn't pursue

That is one of the
big mysteries in the case.

And I considered myself lucky.

Marquart is indeed lucky.

Law enforcement doesn't know it,

But the criminals
who just eluded them

Will soon go on to release

The deadliest street
drug in history.

Marker will continue
down the road to fact,

Not even while the nation ramps
up its war on drugs.

President bush says the war
against drugs is just beginning.

He is proposing a $1.1 billion

Hike in his anti-drug program.

A truly national drug control
strategy demands

That we tap resources
of every description.

By 1990, america's

War on drugs is going
full force.

This is going to be
a long effort.

And we've stressed
that this is no weekend war.

Penalties for drug
related offenses

Are significantly stiffer.

We're going to have to get

Tougher
and tougher with some americans.

While law enforcement on

Every level is tackling
a record number of cases.

Enforcement has to be kept up

Until educational programs
can work.

I'm julius
erving of the philadelphia 76.

I'm greg butler.

The national football
league win and race

Against drugs
team up against drug

Knocked drug out of your life
by just saying no.

But none of this

Deters marquis

Anyway.

Well, it's
the beginning of October.

After the bell,
they announced that I had to go

Heartless to go down.

He was pulled down,
so he was being followed.

But without them being able
to close

Control of the scare
and announce

That he was going to be posted
right now

And lost control
so that the ball so balls us

Are so big time
games groups that we perhaps

If I know we have
to close down the whole event

Without

Having manufactured
one in terms of it all.

I saw my opportunity.

I convinced him
to give me the pots

And pans.

I loaded up all the glassware,

So I set off across the country

In my pickup.

I figured either it was bullshit

And it was quite safe or so far
gone.

Then it didn't. Matter.

But I might as well keep in mind
that much of the fellow

I was going to say
on judgment. Day,

You better get on your knees
and pray for every sin.

There's a price to pay.

What's it going
to cost on judgment?

A drawback.

Was this a large collection
question?

It quite reasonable.

It happened on a.

Girl through a piece robot,

He says.

Folks on the back of the truck

No explaining to the go.

It was laboratory joke.

They just took a look at me

Sitting there in my bib overalls
from my flannel shirt

And the way they threw

In and.

As you
go on in the crime business,

You take your little victories

And your little successes

And encourages
you to maybe try another one

That is an addiction in itself.

But at the same time, you know,

It only ends one of two ways.

You either dead
or you're in jail.

I didn't want to go back
in oklahoma

Because I figured it was too
hot down there. It

So I ended up renting a place
to live in.

A slightly different
part of the country

Was a rather nice place.

I had rather pleasant neighbors.

You know,

Most people are interested
in their own concerns.

They're not terribly interested
in yours or mine.

So I figured I could get away
with things here.

So I set up

The equipment in the house

And started
experimentation was for adoption

Of street criminal.

People
who manufacture illicit drugs

Do it for the money
like anything else,

And of course,
they're probably addicted to.

I was also an addict, so
I wanted to have my own supply.

But squeak was never an addict.

He was all about the science.

Could he find a new way
to synthesize a drug?

Could he make things
that had never been made before?

Manufacturing street?

Fentanyl was a challenge

Kind of thing.

He lived for it.

As a chemist myself,

You want to make a particular
compound, you take a look at it,

You think of ways
that it could be made,

And then you search
the chemical literature.

Your genius will be

To make changes
in those compounds.

The greater your ability is to
accomplish that sort of thing.

A finer chemist
that you will be known as,

Certainly
for squeak, it's a special gift,

One which I never had.

I had a thorough idea
of how I thought about 19th

Century law as described
in the janson paper,

But I knew leave it to you

To work out the details
yourself.

They might outline
a reaction sequence

That such a compound
could be produced by,

But that wouldn't tell you
a great deal about the details

Of actually doing it.

My approach was to take

What's in the literature
and mess with it

One way and hope for serendipity

To strike

Every now and then.

It does.

In November,

1990, after weeks of work
in his home lab

In wichita, george eric
marquart makes a discovery

That will change
the course of history.

One day and just a sweep
of dirty glassware.

I had been trying was trying
that, doing this, doing that.

I accidentally stumbled
over a small variant,

Which gave me
tremendously excited.

And then suddenly
there was a heavy

Smoke formed
from the neck of the flask.

And I held it up to the light

And I could just get
a glint of crystals

Purified like crystal.

I was extremely excited.

All my goodness.

This self-taught chemical genius
who never even graduated high

School has found a shortcut

That will make
the mass production

Of street fentanyl possible
for the first time ever.

Then the most astonishing thing
happened

As white powder
fell down in the flask.

It was immensely satisfying

To sip.

Fuck, yeah, I've got friends.

Two months

Later, at the end of January
1991, mark horne's

Partner, joseph martire, takes
the fentanyl to new york city.

He finds a dealer
who agrees to dilute it

And sell it on the street
as heroin.

Compared to heroin,

A very tiny amount of fentanyl
is needed

To produce the same high because
it is so extremely potent.

What martire and the dealer
fail to realize is

That fentanyl is about 50 times
more powerful than heroin.

So if it does not
get adequately diluted,

Then the person doesn't
just get a bad high,

They get a deadly dose.

I can make money
or get a compound in the world,

But how much of it is going
to give somebody? Hi.

I didn't know.

And I told them that

Last year was

We can call it no problem,
blah, blah, blah.

Then I hear about

Stuff city.

Officials are blaming

A potent form of heroin tonight
for the death of six.

People.

Emergency rooms are seeing

More heroin
overdoses than ever before.

I watched on tv

And it was on the national news.

So far, 12
people have been killed.

At least 100
others have been injured.

There were a lot of people
dropping over.

Police say they found the bodies
of three more people

Suspected of overdosing.

Police believe all

The deaths are linked to heroin
purchased in bronx, new york.

I assumed merera had messed up
the dilution.

I was pissed off

But drove up the street
and called it from a telephone.

I just lost it.

You stupid son of a bitch.

You can't be in this business
and make mistakes like that.

If you make mistakes,
they will be noticed.

And of course,
it shouldn't be intelligence.

I have never seen up
to that point

In my career
this this type of crisis.

Over the period of one weekend,

There was something
like 27 overdoses

From what was at the time
believed to be

Colombian heroin.

It was causing

The most deaths
that I'd ever seen.

This is a truly
monumental moment.

It instantly becomes a public
health crisis in new york city.

Law enforcement immediately
begins taking unprecedented

Measures to try to warn people,
do not take this drug.

It can kill you.

Heroin was authorized
in new york city.

Use of this toxic heroin could
result in overdoses, connect

Users back
to heroin, and may cause death.

They actually had to pull out
publicly and announce

This is a bad batch of heroin,
all in the effort to save lives.

Attention.

Talk to the heroin was sold
prior to new york city.

Use of this targeted
heroin has resulted in overdoses

And deaths.

They're searching rooftops
with helicopters

And abandoned buildings on foot.

For people who may have taken
the drugs.

Police are concentrating
their efforts in the south bronx

Because this is where
they believe the drug was sold.

A similar

Reports came in from cities
within 120 miles of new york,

Began receiving notifications

From other police departments
in the metropolitan area,

Such as newark, paterson,
irvington, new jersey

And hartford, connecticut,

That they were having
similar problems.

It made absolutely no sense.

I mean, traditional heroin
dealers want repeat customers

Established drug dealers.

They actually have
branded street heroin packages

Are stamped
with particular names.

They were names
of popular movies at that time.

Police
tell me they know of three

Brands of heroin being sold on
the streets here in south bronx.

The one suspected
of being responsible

For deaths and illnesses
is called tango and cash.

What we couldn't understand
in terms of

Knowing that drug
business is a business,

Why would they go
and kill out their client base?

So we were perplexed.

Soon after the overdoses
in new york,

I was sent a package consisting
of two glassing envelopes

That was stamped tango and cash.

I was able to do the analysis
of the material

And my analysis concluded

That they in fact contain
fentanyl and no error on.

I was working on a
drug task force at the time, dea

Task force in honolulu,

And we got intelligence
bulletins

That there was a drug called
fentanyl

Out on the street in new york.

It was not something that I was
familiar with.

When it's revealed that tango
in cash is fentanyl

And not traditional heroin,
it's shocking news.

Remember, this is 1991.

Most people have never heard
of fentanyl before.

Those who have only know it
as a medicinal drug.

But like other pharmaceuticals,

As a closely guarded
manufacturing process,

They are not expecting it
to show up on the streets,

And especially not
in such devastating quantities.

We were very concerned
because people would die.

And who speaks for the dead?

Somebody has testing.

As the war on drugs continues.

Police hope that by putting out
the words of warning

On the streets, they can win
this battle against tango

And cash before the deadly
drug takes any more lives.

After the spectacular steps

Of new york city
that called it murder.

I assume we can't do this.

It's not going to work.

It was my belief
that the drug enforcement

Administration were

Going to keep pursuing this,
that they were not going to stop

Until they found out
who had done this

And that we were now in
some very deep trouble.

Once the police started
going around with loudspeakers

Saying don't use tango and cash,
it's going to overdose,

You is going to kill you.

Everybody thinks

It's not going to happen to me
and I want the strongest stuff

I can get.

We will be using it
left and right.

Violent, left and right.

It's like everybody

That's doing
it is playing russian roulette.

Heroin users
develop a tolerance of opioids,

Which they must ingest more
and more of the drug

Or get a more potent
formula drug in order to achieve

The same feelings of euphoria.

Unfortunately,
you can have the adverse effect

Of people actually
seeking out this particular drug

And creating
in terms more demand.

Currently on the news came out
that it killed all those people.

Too, drove the price.

Sky high.

And so muscatel

And the organized crime charge
suffered loss of opportunity

To make a nice
big pile of money.

That's what it was.

Cartel
reestablished communications

And we all ordered
$1,000,000 worth of product

Because of all the trouble
he went through

And the money
and he has spent everything up.

When they lost op opportunity,

You know,

Because he could have been

Making this much money
more for cocaine.

He wanted me
to make more functional

And to give us pocket money
to survive on.

And then when we had made him
$1,000,000,

He would then start paying
the regular price for the stuff.

And all of this was pure
horseshit.

Opportunity
costs in the drug business

A lot, a lot
of hokum, that is, you know,

They called
murder your opportunity cost.

Who the hell do you think
you are?

You're nothing but a goddamn
criminal and a fucking bum.

This isn't opportunity.

This is criminal operation,
moron.

I told marty
or to tell muscatel.

I said, you tell him it's all.

Then muscatel all starts

Ratcheting up the pressure.

Nasty business,
asking for things.

It's a dangerous business.

There's no two ways about it.

And there's a lot of money
involved,

And money makes people
do desperate things.

So, I mean,
what am I going to do?

Go out there and tell the irish
mob those $5 million?

It was bullshit.

Well, if I had a small army,
perhaps I would do that.

But I did not.

So the agreement
is to start up again

To pay
this off like all we can get.

I been agreed to work off.

The alleged debt to muscatel

Marquart begins producing larger
batches of street fentanyl

That will soon be taken out
to cities

All over the northeastern united
states.

The largest and most devastating
overdose outbreak to date

Is about to unfold,
and law enforcement is about

To find themselves in a race
against the clock to stop.

We're going to start fucking

Blanketing the east coast
with sensible

Heat.

Here we go.

We're

Coming up

On the godfather of fentanyl,

Boston mob connected
drug trafficker

Christopher muscatel

Takes the fentanyl out to cities
all over the northeast.

Where's it coming from?

While marquart
begins to question muscatel

His true intentions.

After the royal holloway
incident,

I thought maybe
the organized crime

Types of a boston bomber
could weaponize this stuff

And destroying
the civilized world

Right?