CIA Deaths Are Part of Wider Push Into Mexican Operations
Under Trump pressure, US agencies have got deeper into the cartel fight south of border. The new case in Chihuahua, an opposition state, follows questions over FBI in arrest of Wedding, in capital↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cia-deaths...
This is more useful than the at times laughable US State Department Mexico travel warnings.
Where is safer and where is more dangerous to go in Mexico?
Cartel violence is very real but more in certain areas.Some cities in Mexico are among most dangerous in world but others are safer than many US cities.
I rate security across Mexico's states↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/where-is-s...
Where is safer and where is more dangerous to go in Mexico?
Cartel violence is very real but more in certain areas.Some cities in Mexico are among most dangerous in world but others are safer than many US cities.
I rate security across Mexico's states↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/where-is-s...
Prosecutors and DEA want show trial for Caro Quintero. It'll be publicly focused on murder of Kiki Camarena but evidence focused on trafficking. Judge will shut down mention of CIA. I talk with Ángel Hernández about what's coming up in slew of narco trials :↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/prosecutor...
#Mexico reopens debate about death penalty after school shooting:
bsky.app/profile/ioan...
foto ensayo: los cholos de Neza (fotos de Gustavo Graf en el CrashOut de @ioangrillo.bsky.social)
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/photo-essa...
While cholos are famous in LA, there is a big cholo subculture in the Mexico City area, especially La Neza and Ecatepec. Gustavo Graf has spent 5 years in the scene and I'm stoked to publish his great photo essay, of the cholos, "hynas" and low riders.
↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/photo-essa...
School shootings ravage the US but a 15 year old slaying two teachers in Michoacán shows Mexico is not immune. The alleged killer posted incel videos, another growing problem. His step-dad was in the marines, but the AR-15 he used was illegal.
Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/an-incel-s...
Fishermen in Ecuador face a stark choice - a few hundred bucks for a fishing trip or $30,000 for a drug run. But now the drug run can mean a missile strike.
As Pres. Noboa lead a US-backed offensive @Narco_Polo420 reports from a narco fishing village:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-perils...
How much of Mexico's GDP is crime cartel activity? Likely single digits, as they make tens of billions in a two trillion dollar economy.
But the cash has a huge impact in bribery, driving violence and is felt much bigger in certain communities.
Read: ↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartel-cas...
Exclusive: Osiel's Extraordinary US Prison Term
When he was cooperating with the DEA, Gulf cartel boss Osiel Cárdenas had own cell block, with internet, TV and out of hour visits from family and a model girlfriend, a former prison captain reveals.
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/exclusive-...
Psyched to make my debut in the New Yorker with this profile of the bloody life and (grim) legacy of El Mencho
"He was ruthless taking over business” Chicago cocaine king Margarito Flores says. His corrido goes: “They say I'm very violent, It’s true, why should I lie about it?”
The Killing Fields of El Mencho
The boss of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is dead. But the pain of the families of the disappeared goes on.
Under Mencho's reign, Jalisco was the worst state for disappearances and filled with mass graves.
Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-killin...
Truly huge news on death of El Mencho.
-US intel key in locating Mencho
-Mexican forces had ruled shoot to kill
-US pressure to get Mencho before world cup games in Jalisco
-Unclear who replaces Mencho
- Cartel attacks across Mexico massive.
Read here:
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexican-tr...
I went to Xalatlaco, a small-town an hour from Mexico City, and was shocked by level of meth use. A kid in rehab had smoked it in a pipe in his classroom when he was 14. Meth spilled from cartel super labs and now tears through small town Mexico.
Read here:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/a-meth-sco...
We are hitting 4 years of state of emergency in El Salvador under Bukele's crackdown on gangs. Results-
Murders way down, lower than Canada-
Bukele still very popular-
Poverty still terrible-
Journalists had to flee-
LatAm leaders copy Bukele
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cuatro-ano...
Cartel Extortion of Mines
Cartels shake down mines across Mexico sometimes for millions. It's sensitive for Mexican government but also companies worried about complicity. The murder of engineers for Canada's Vizsla shines light on mining security
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartel-ext...
The US Department of Justice seizes $2 billion a year in assets mostly from drug cases. Big narcos like Osiel Cárdenas shave years off by handing in tens of millions
Does this create "policing for profit" model that effectively taxes drug business? Read↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-narc-a...
Venezuela's militias, or "colectivos," began killing drug dealers, but then they sold drugs and killed protesters. They got AK's from the Chávez government and linked up with ELN guerrillas. Martín Markovits spent years filming with militias in Caracas and reveals their secrets. Watch on my Stack:
I have a crazy interview with ex DEA agent Mike Chavarria who debriefed Osiel Cárdenas
He describes:
- Secret sit downs with Armando Valencia
- Info El Azul could be alive in Seychelles
- How Osiel had "eyes of the devil" - but how he played his cooperation well.
Trailer↓
Snow King: Surrender or Snatched?
The case of Ryan Wedding is surreal and explosive. Lawyer Anthony Colombo (grandson of a mafia boss) drops bomb suggesting it was FBI op in Mexico. Sheinbaum shows contested Instagram of Wedding at embassy.What's true?↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/snow-king-...
Canadian Olympic snow boarder turned cocaine king (the snow man!) arrested in Mexico City and flown by the FBI to Los Angeles.
Read my story on the arrest, and below that my profile of the Canadian narco.
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-truth-...
Is The Sinaloa Cartel Ramping Up On "Pink Cocaine?"
Mexican troops raided a lab alleged to be linked to Emma Coronel's brother (El Chapo's brother in law) and to make "tusi" or pink cocaine. Is the pressure on fentanyl making the cartel switch?
Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/is-the-sin...
Guerrillas, gangs and spies on the Venezuela border
Check out the smuggling dirt paths, Venezuelan refugee barrio, houses of displaced and a lot more in this guerilla video I have cut together from reporting on the Colombia-Venezuela border.
Link:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/guerrillas...
Trump's Thirst For Venezuela's Black Gold
The petroleum politics of the Maduro capture
Venezuela's OPEC founder said: “I call petroleum the devil's excrement. It brings trouble.” It applies now. Read on how oil fueled the operation to take out Maduro:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/trumps-thi...
Trump uses special force op to take out Maduro - but the situation now is confusing. Trump says Washington will rule Venezuela but implies they will work with VP Delcy Rodríguez - opening speculation of a deal. But Rodríguez says Maduro is only president.
Read: www.crashoutmedia.com/p/trump-goes...
Inside a Satanic temple in Mexico
I went into the "Santa Muerte cathedral" in Pachuca but found full-on halls to Satan and devil worship and met the "Black Bishop." This is one of the scariest stories I've done.
Watch the video here with a weird end:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/inside-a-s...
3 Stages of Cartel Evolution
1 Powerful Corrupt State
2 Cartelization of Mexico
3 Shake Down Everything
This essay by Benjamin T. Smith gives great insight into how cartels emerged from Mexican state into more independent groups driving endemic violence↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartels-as...
Cocaine Narcos Versus "Uncontacted Tribes"
Simeon Tegel went with the Indigenous Guard to the new coca plantations tearing up the Peruvian Amazon for this stellar and important report. It's bows and arrows vs AK-47s.
Stoked to publish this in CrashOut↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cocaine-na...
