Original subtitles

DOÑA ANA COUNTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NEW MEXICO

JULY 25, 2024

[man 1] It was a quiet afternoon.

Not a lot going on.

6 MILES FROM THE MEXICAN BORDER

Not much going on at all.

I was sitting here, looking out the window,

and, uh, a customs, uh, vehicle came by.

Then another one, then another one, and then another one.

And then all kinds of other vehicles started showing up.

[clears throat]

Got me a little... interested,

so I went out and, uh, talked to one of the customs agents that was there.

And he said there was a VIP coming in. That was it.

- [radio chatter] - [intense music playing]

[man 1] The pilot that radioed in, he was, uh, to the south of the airport.

And his intention was to land on runway 1-0

and to set up for a right base, which was a right turn to final.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[man 2] Roger that.

[man 1] And when this airplane did report in,

we checked the N-number, and we couldn't see it on the Virtower,

which shows up on our computers.

And so, we were a little... a little curious about that.

[intriguing music playing]

Came in and landed.

So I went outside and walked down the road towards the gate.

And there were some people in suits.

FBI, DEA, Border Patrol, Customs...

And I saw a... an individual come off the airplane.

Shook hands with him, and he went inside.

Then the next one got off and shook hands with the people in the suits.

And they put his hands behind his back... in handcuffs.

Yeah, he walked off, shook hands, and then he just went like this, and...

Then they walked into the, uh, customs building.

That was it.

[reporter 1] A busy afternoon with absolutely unexpected news.

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada has been detained.

- [reporter 2] El Mayo Zambada. - [reporter 3] El Mayo Zambada.

[López-Dóriga] The appearance, like he just dropped out of the sky.

El Mayo Zambada, the world's most-wanted drug trafficker.

[reporter 4] It came as a tremendous shock to everyone in Mexico.

Given that this character, Mayo Zambada, had never been arrested before.

[López-Dóriga] Did he turn himself in? Was he betrayed? Or was he captured?

[reporter 5] This sounds like the plot

from a movie or an episode of Breaking Bad.

It's a... it's a huge victory for the US in their war against the drug cartels.

How did they pull it off?

[reporter 6 on radio] There are too many questions that remain unanswered.

We have the limited information provided by US authorities...

[man 1] I'm in the middle of nowhere.

A place called Hope, New Mexico, of all places.

And I get the first alert on my telephone.

Says "Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada captured."

Once we were able to get here,

I was surprised because the plane was literally right in front of everybody.

National media, international media.

But that was it. It was just the airplane. There was nothing else.

[low, somber music playing]

El Mayo had been hiding in the mountains of Sinaloa for decades.

You don't expect that someday

he lands in an airplane in Doña Ana County.

That's just, like... It doesn't happen.

[camera shutter clicks]

[low, intense music playing]

Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, coming off the airplane is...

I don't even know how to say it, you know?

But you could imagine it, no?

For me, clearly, it was like, "Okay, here's an airplane. What's inside?"

Seeing what we believe, or allege,

could be the last moments of freedom for Mayo.

What we were looking at was just extraordinary.

[camera shutter clicks]

Oxygen mask.

Across from that,

there was a bag with just Mexican junk food.

One of the items that really just blew my mind

was an Oxxo bag.

And it had just a couple of zip ties, just kind of peeking out of it.

You know, I was like, "Okay, this is interesting." You know.

"What do you need zip ties for?"

You get this image of what are certain things that are props.

What's real and what's not real.

Since that cover that I did, in many ways, it was ironic

because in that interview that Julio Scherer did in 2010...

He says in that interview that he's, you know, protected by his hills,

his... the country where he's... that's where he's from.

And in the passage, he says that he's...

You know, he didn't trust the sky.

THE GROUND IS GOOD, THE SKY ISN'T.

Also in that interview,

when he's asked about the possibility of being detained,

he says, "The traitor has not arrived yet."

[music swells]

TRAITOR

[music fades]

[intense music playing]

THE FALL OF EL MAYO

[music fades]

[tense music playing]

MEXICO CITY

[man] Rumor has it there's a secret passageway

between the US embassy and the Sheraton Hotel.

UNITED STATES

Secret, meaning there's a connecting door, so you don't have to step outside.

And we know that the Sheraton Hotel was one of the usual places

to meet with the people from the Mexican government.

We used to meet there too. I mean... It was normal.

Sometimes we'd see DEA agents,

people from all the US agencies at the Sheraton.

They always arranged to meet us there.

We used to eat, drink tequila, you name it.

FORMER MEXICAN INTELLIGENCE AGENT

At the time, nobody trusted anybody.

The Sinaloa Cartel had moles in Public Security and the Federal Police.

The Attorney General's Office... Oof.

Moles everywhere. Just everywhere.

[Calderón] We are firmly committed

to combating and defeating these criminals in Mexico.

That is our commitment, and we will protect the rule of law.

[with American accent] Adiós.

[former agent] But... during the Calderón administration,

what happened was the Americans offered training and vetting

to create elite units

which were taken to the US for training

by the DEA, FBI, even the CIA.

Those units underwent polygraph testing

and other tests I'd rather not talk about.

And they received a special bonus as an incentive to remain incorruptible.

So almost all of those units performed very well. Very well.

GUZMÁN FACTION - ZAMBADA FACTION

We all had our priority...

And when I say "we," I mean everyone in Calderón's administration...

The priority was to go after the real heads of the Sinaloa Cartel.

El Chapo was pulling cops over to their side.

Especially because he'd already escaped once.

But El Mayo Zambada was on another level.

I believe he's the drug trafficker who has corrupted

more government officials at every level than anyone else in the history of Mexico.

He had everyone in his pocket.

And his son,

El Vicentillo, was his main operator.

If we caught him, it would be absolute proof

that the war against organized crime was actually working.

And we would also show that we weren't colluding

with the Sinaloa Cartel.

Of course, there was cooperation, a partnership, as they like to call it,

between the DEA, other US government security agencies,

and the Mexican government.

We're supposed to be partners against organized crime.

[Balliet] This is Sierra and Luna.

As we were picking 'em out,

my daughters were like, "What are we gonna name the dogs?"

And I was like, "Chapo and Mayo."

And they were like, "No, Dad! No! That's crazy. No, that's so embarrassing."

I was, uh, unanimously overruled.

[dramatic music playing]

In 2011, the HSI group in Nogales got a lead

where there was an individual who was crossing

at the Nogales port of entry

and actually declaring a shitload of money.

Like hundreds of thousand of dollars at a time.

There's nothing illegal about doing that.

Suspicious? Absolutely.

They started doing surveillance on the guy,

and they started seeing that these guys in Mexico, they wanted to buy planes.

They wanted to buy planes in the States, export 'em legally to Mexico.

And they ranged from Cessna 210s, which were like $200,000 to $300,000.

They loved King Airs.

The King Airs were anywhere from like $400,000 to maybe $700,000.

And then they also liked Citation jets.

Those jets would run about a million bucks.

So, when the case first started,

we would purchase the aircraft that they wanted

through an undercover account

and install GPS trackers and transponders on the planes.

And then we're gonna see where they go.

And it was clear as day.

[crowd clamoring]

[man] That son of a bitch.

[Balliet] They'd take off from southern Mexico,

land at some clandestine airstrip.

Eight, ten hours later, you'd see 'em airborne again.

Like, they're pickin' up cocaine.

Once they made it back to either northern Guatemala

or southern Mexico, the aircraft was burned on the spot.

- They would only use it once. - [man] Fuck!

[loud crash]

[crowd clamoring]

[Balliet] That's a shitload of money that they're spending on planes.

I remember asking the case agent, I was like,

"This is a massive logistical operation."

Like, "How do they coordinate it all?"

The agent was like, "Yeah. They do it all on BlackBerry Messenger."

And I was like... [sighs]

"We should figure out a way to get up on these guys

and intercept their communications."

[static crackles]

DEA loaned us, I think, five computer towers,

that we put in this little broom closet of a wire room that we had in Nogales.

And that was where we started intercepting the first BlackBerrys.

It was a field day.

THEY'LL SELL ME A TON.

They're not even coding their language.

I HAVE 14 K LEFT OVER

BUT I'LL ALSO PAY PACKERS AND THE RUNWAY AND GASOLINE AGAIN

CACHINBA SAID FOR THE 400 KILOS TO FIT EXACTLY

WE'D HAVE TO MAKE 24 PACKAGES OF 5 KILOS

I was shocked that they were actually sending this over a device.

Like, normally, they're very coded. They're disciplined.

They had a level of comfortability with BlackBerry Messenger

that they just operated and talked.

Not just conversations.

We started intercepting pictures

of just tremendous amounts of bales of cocaine in jungles.

Pictures of landing strips, poppy fields,

guns, stacks of cash, all this sort of stuff.

I remember thinking like, "Who the fuck are we up on right now?"

[dial tone buzzes]

[dialing]

[line ringing]

[Flores] Once we started communicating with the government,

they said they needed evidence

of the bosses actually doing deals in the United States.

They told us that that evidence would make all the difference in the case

and would help us.

We had to come up with our own ways of... of giving them that information.

[man on recording] Hello?

[Flores] Hi. Can you hear me?

[tape whirring]

[man] No, but it's okay. If you can make a payment of $18,500...

[tape whirring]

[man] I can deliver 600, 800, if you owe my boy that amount.

[tape whirring]

[Flores] You gave me like 500 the other day.

[tape whirring]

[Flores] Nobody knows we're talking except you and me.

[Ferrara] While the twins were cooperating,

there was a clock that started ticking immediately,

where we knew we only had a matter of weeks

to gather all this evidence

against the highest levels of leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel.

It was wildly successful.

- [man] Hey, man. - [Flores] Hey. How are you?

[man] Good. Nice talking to you. How's your brother?

[Flores] We're all good, sir.

Too bad I didn't get to see you the other day.

[Ferrara] They recorded Chapo organizing a heroin transaction in Chicago,

where we were able to record

two conversations with Chapo negotiating the price.

- [man] Yeah? - [Flores] Think we could cut a deal here?

Could you lower the price by maybe five pesos?

- [man] How much are we charging? - [Flores] You let me have it at 55.

- [man] How much did they give you? - [Flores] They gave me 20.

[man] All right, then. I'll pick up the money tomorrow.

[Flores] Yeah?

They intended to try to do the same thing with Mayo,

but ultimately could... couldn't get Mayo on the phone.

[gentle string music playing]

[Flores] Everything I know about El Mayo, he was disciplined never to use the phone.

He would have someone who would actually make calls for him.

And I saw him use the phone one time, and when he was done with it,

he personally grabbed the hammer and destroyed it in front of himself.

[music grows ominous]

And he picked up the pieces himself and put it in his pocket.

[Ferrara] Margarito was summoned to this sort of mountaintop meeting

in Sinaloa with Chapo, Mayo, and his son Vicente.

During that meeting, Vicente brought up to Margarito,

"We need you to get us US military weapons that we can bring down to Mexico."

But we needed recordings

where we can then later use that evidence in court.

What they did was exceptionally dangerous.

[dial tone buzzes]

[phone dials]

TRANSCRIPT OF PHONE CALL NOVEMBER 29, 2008 - TIME UNKNOWN

- [line ringing] - [tense music rises]

MARGARITO FLORES: HEY, DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT?

ABOUT THE TOYS.

MAN: YES.

MARGARITO FLORES: I CAN GET YOU TWENTY, THIRTY, FOR SURE.

MAN: ALL RIGHT.

MARGARITO FLORES: SAY HI TO EVERYONE.

MAN: SURE.

MARGARITO FLORES: OKAY, THEN.

[dial tone buzzes]

[Flores] That was a call with Vicente Zambada, El Mayo's son.

[distortion peaks, fades]

[Flores] When we hung up, me and my brother got emotional.

'Cause it was like, we knew what we were doing.

And to us, it was like a betrayal of everyone, you know?

[phone ringing]

[Flores] Then, one day,

a high-ranking lieutenant for the Sinaloa Cartel

called on the phone and threatened me.

Mm.

[tense music rises]

And he asked me, he said, "Are you cooperating?"

[splutters] "Are you cooperating? Are you being a rat?"

[phone ringing]

The next day,

we got a call from the US attorney, and basically he said,

"Um, that's it. We're gonna pull you guys out."

3 MONTHS LATER

[intriguing music rises]

[former agent] On March 18, 2009,

I received information that one of the intelligence units

had obtained knowledge that El Vicentillo was coming to Mexico City.

It was unusual.

The Zambadas typically stayed in Sinaloa.

He had no bodyguards.

They put a tail on El Vicentillo using bread and candy trucks.

There were teams, just like you see in Hollywood movies.

They followed him.

And suddenly, someone said, "Hey, he's in the Polanco area."

"Hey, he's heading toward... He's on Reforma."

"We have him located."

"He's going into the Sheraton Hotel, right across from the Angel."

One or more members of the intelligence unit

went into the hotel.

And that's when we discovered El Vicentillo with two DEA agents

who we knew very well.

What is the DEA doing?

Seeing DEA agents meeting with Mayo Zambada's son,

and even worse, without our knowledge,

was just absolutely bizarre, suspicious.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in a hotel with drug dealers?

That's a betrayal.

Then we saw the DEA agents who had been sitting there

say their goodbyes and leave.

Finally, our colleagues put a tail on El Vicentillo again

and waited for the right moment to arrest him.

[interviewer] At the time, were you aware that the meeting was happening, or...?

No. No, um... [spluttering] At least not that I recall.

And I think that is something I would remember.

Uh, and... the first thing that I recall is... us, um, learning, um...

He was arrested like in the middle of the night. Um...

And so I learned that he was in custody that same day.

[reporter 1] El Mayo Zambada's son has been caught.

[reporter 2] One of the Sinaloa Cartel's bosses and his bodyguards

were captured by the Mexican army.

[crowd clamoring]

[former agent] We didn't have to fire a single shot.

They put up no resistance.

[intense music playing]

[former agent] He immediately started telling everyone

to call the DEA.

He said he had an immunity agreement

and if they didn't let him go, the DEA would.

After, uh, Vicente was arrested,

um, he received what I can only describe as horrific legal advice,

where... where his defense was to claim

that... that he had been immunized by the US government.

And not just that,

that the entirety of the Sinaloa Cartel had been immunized,

um, through... through this one aborted meeting.

[indistinct chatter]

[former agent] I find it very hard to believe

that Mayo Zambada's son, El Vicentillo, would dare to meet with the DEA

in Mexico City without a bodyguard,

if he wasn't completely sure there wasn't gonna be any problems.

My conclusion is that El Vicentillo was without bodyguards

because he felt protected.

But protected by whom?

I don't know, maybe one of Mexico's government agencies,

but it's also possible that he felt protected by the DEA.

By the US government.

[intriguing music playing]

[Ferrara] By that point, we moved forward very quickly,

and we got a charging instrument in place against Vicente

that would allow for Vicente to be extradited to Chicago.

It was all based on the twins' cooperation.

[energetic music playing]

[María] I believe El Mayo decided to talk to my father,

firstly, because he was a trustworthy person.

I think Zambada and my father, of course, found that they had that in common.

They had a personal conversation.

The chronicle presents us, uh,

with what Zambada thought of the government,

uh, his opinions about the soldiers' conduct

back in those days.

Um, his opinions about the trafficking of drugs.

But beyond the purely professional conversation,

uh, they talked about the bonds within family.

[somber music playing]

"I asked him about his son Vicente, known as El Vicentillo."

"He is my firstborn, the oldest of five children."

"I call him 'mijo.'"

"He is also my compadre."

"I don't want to talk about him."

"I don't know if he's in Chicago or New York."

"Do you feel guilty about his extradition?"

"I'm not talking about my son today."

"I weep for him."

[line buzzes]

[dialing]

[Balliet] We started intercepting comms that would make reference to "El Viejo."

Whoever was sending the message showed respect, showed deference.

And we were like, "That's gotta be..."

"That's gotta be someone of extreme significance."

And then we started intercepting Chapo's sons.

They would make reference to Ratón, which is Ovidio,

or Güero, which is Joaquín.

The fall of 2013, agent named Jack comes in,

and he's like, "We got 'em."

He brings me this line sheet, and it's between a female and another male.

The female is like just berating him, up one side down the other.

Like, "You left me. This is why you're alone."

"This is why you don't do well in life."

"Only God knows what you're gonna do. You owe me money."

For anybody that's divorced, you'd be like,

"That is an ex-wife, like, just tearing into her... into her ex."

Jack was like, "It's Griselda."

Chapo Guzmán and Griselda had three sons together,

Ovidio, Joaquín, and Edgar.

Prior to his death, Édgar had a young daughter

who was named, uh, Frida, F-R-I-D-A.

"Hey, give Fridita a kiss for me."

"Tell her she's the special one."

That is Chapo Guzmán talking to Griselda about his granddaughter.

And he's sending Ratón to pick her up.

I was like, "Fuck me. You're right. It's him."

Chapo Guzmán is at the other end of that device.

The kicker to all this, in that same time frame,

Serafín Zambada shows up at the Nogales port of entry.

In Nogales, Arizona, DEA officers arrested Serafín Zambada.

The last name should ring a bell.

He's the son of drug trafficker Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

[Balliet] He shows up at the port of entry,

using his real name, real ID,

and I was just like, "Is this coincidence?"

Like, "What the fuck is happening right now?"

So, I went down to the port, Serafín was there.

He was wearing like a US-flag polo shirt.

[chuckles] I... I remember asking him like,

"Hey, man, you know, uh, where's your dad at?"

And he kinda smirked. And I'm like, "Fair enough."

So we arrested him.

I remember telling the guys, "Look."

"Somebody has gotta say something about Mayo's kid getting arrested."

And, I mean, it didn't take more than half a day.

We start getting the gossip, like, "Hey, Sera got arrested."

"We don't know what happened. Hey, did anybody talk to Viejo?"

And then, that was when we were like,

"Viejo is Mayo. That's him."

Now we're gonna switch it into... into manhunt mode.

[intense music rises]

In late 2013,

we were intercepting all of Chapo's inner network.

We had this constant flow of intel

as to where all these guys were at any given point.

But Zambada?

Man, that guy was a ghost.

Mayo was much, much more careful.

We never picked up a direct intercept with Mayo.

I'm still not 100% certain how he actually communicated.

But the intel was that Mayo frequented a couple of ranches outside of Culiacán,

but they didn't... they didn't know when exactly he was there, for how long.

But we're gonna take a shot.

If he is there, home run.

So, as we were going through this process on how we were gonna do this,

we went to DEA, and we were like, "Who would you guys recommend?"

And they are like, "SEMAR, the Mexican marines."

They are the least corrupted unit in Mexico.

And they have a reputation for kind of being fearless.

[man] Before we start, do you have any napkins?

[interviewer] Paper towels. Would those work?

Yeah, I just got back from an operation.

One of the hostiles started shooting with a .23-caliber rifle.

And one of the... the rounds caught me in the vest.

I still have an open wound here.

[coughs]

MEXICAN SPECIAL FORCES AGENT

[continues coughing]

[spits]

Ah. Blood.

So I was like, "Cool, that's... that's who we'll go with."

[agent] Command informed us that we were going to Mexico City,

that we'd been tasked with a mission.

At first, we weren't told who the target was.

[Balliet] The decision was made, we're gonna hit Mayo's places first,

and then we were gonna execute the Chapo side in Culiacán.

[energetic music playing]

[agent] It took us all by surprise when we found out during instructions

that we were going after the Man in the Hat.

[energetic music building]

[rifle cocks]

[man speaking on radio]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Balliet] So, SEMAR hit one ranch.

There were three of Mayo's main security force.

They basically said, "Yeah, he comes here."

"He hasn't been here in a few days."

"We don't know when he's coming back."

"We just get the word and set up the security for him."

And that was it.

It was nothing.

And I was like, "Fuck me."

And then, at that same ranch,

they found these, um, blue 50-gallon drums

that were buried throughout the ranch.

And in those drums, just massive amounts of guns.

Individually Saran-wrapped.

To me, that was like almost like their war chest.

Like, when shit hit the fan,

and they needed to pull out, like, a ton of artillery and ammunition,

that was like their "oh shit we're going to war" stockpile.

[ominous music playing]

So, that was a pretty significant event.

Like, that was, like, as close as anybody had gotten to him.

[María] "Have you felt the army closing in on you?"

INTERVIEW WITH EL MAYO PROCESO, 2010

"Four times. El Chapo, more often."

"How close?"

"Above me, over my head."

"I fled through the hills,

where I know every branch, every creek, every rock, all of it."

"They'll get me if I stay put or let my guard down, like El Chapo."

"Do you fear getting captured?"

"I'm terrified of being locked up."

"If they caught you, would you take your own life?"

"I don't know if I'd have the guts to kill myself."

"But I reckon I do. I'd take my life."

"Is there any room within you for tranquility?"

"I carry fear."

"All the time?"

"Always."

"Will they catch you in the end?"

"At any given moment... or never."

"The traitor has not arrived yet,"

he suddenly says to himself.

[man] I don't have a lot in common with Vicente

outside of the fact that I loved airplanes.

And he owned nine Cessna 209s.

I was in Witness Protection Phase 1 of the Bureau of Prisons,

was VZ, who I later found out was Vicente Zambada.

I met him at the same time that I met Sammy.

Sammy the Bull.

But Vicente, I don't recall the exact time that I met him,

but it was probably over soccer because we played all the time together.

He was very smart.

I didn't... [scoffs]

I... Honestly, I didn't know anything about him at all for months.

But then he opened up to me and started showing me pictures

of his lifestyle.

And it was the most ridiculous picture show-and-tell I've ever seen in my life.

He showed me pictures of his shoes.

And he'd be like, "You see these shoes? $10,000."

That's how I remember him, you know, as being a very happy guy.

But I can also imagine that he was, you know, crying himself to sleep.

There was demons in his closet.

HALF A DOZEN TEENAGERS WERE MURDERED

FOR PLAYING ON THE SAME SOCCER TEAM

AS MAYO'S SON VICENTE.

WHEN I WAS 11, THEY SHOT MY GRANDMA AND MY MOM.

I WAS 16 WHEN THEY TRIED TO KILL ME.

THE FIRST TIME OF MANY.

MY DAD ASKED ME OVER THE PHONE

TO SEND HIS PEOPLE TO KILL ROBACHIVAS.

Q: DID YOU TRANSMIT THAT ORDER? A: YES, I DID.

[Esquivel] El Vicentillo behaved true to his nature.

Irreverent, carrying himself like a prince.

Someone who should be treated with absolute care,

and, of course, with certain privileges.

He had never been broken by anything. He had never wanted for anything.

And he declined to share certain details with prosecutors.

[tense music playing]

[reporter] Federal authorities have now relocated

an accused Mexican drug lord from Chicago to a federal lockup near Detroit.

The Sinaloa Cartel boss is unhappy with his accommodations.

[reporter 2] During his two years here at the Chicago MCC,

Zambada Niebla wasn't once allowed to the rooftop sports court to exercise.

Prison authorities said there was too much risk

that the cartel boss would be picked off by a sniper

or would stage a helicopter escape.

And he lives in total isolation, according to the lawyer.

He says his client's haircut was even delayed by three weeks.

All the result of Zambada Niebla being punished

for complaining about the conditions at the MCC Chicago.

[Esquivel] At that point, when Vicentillo was thrown in the hole,

the prosecutor said that he started struggling mentally.

HE HAS BEEN IN SOLITARY FOR MORE THAN 700 HOURS

SORRY, 700 DAYS

HE FELT DEAD INSIDE BECAUSE OF THE TIME HE HAD SPENT IN SOLITARY

Mayo Zambada's weakest point is Vicentillo.

He adores his son. He's his firstborn.

He adores him.

[unsettling music playing]

[Flores] Back in 2010,

El Mayo Zambada's interview with Proceso came out.

I believe it was a message to Vicente.

That he was telling Vicente

that he was thinking about him and let his son have a picture of him.

"IF I'M CAUGHT OR KILLED, IT CHANGES NOTHING."

[María] He saw that photograph, right?

Where his... his dad's grounded

and standing tall.

That gave him peace.

EL VICENTILLO. I CALL HIM "MIJO"... I WEEP FOR HIM

[somber music playing]

[Esquivel] The prosecutor I spoke to told me that it was her idea

to put him in solitary to break him

and that one night the DEA

got the guy out and put him on the phone with his father, El Mayo.

[Ferrara] The details are something that I'm gonna skip,

but we put a system in place

where we had a designated phone that was set up

where we could be alerted when Mayo was comfortable and felt safe enough

that he was willing to get on these calls.

[phone ringing]

The first one happened in the middle of the night.

[indistinct radio chatter]

Surreal to hear the voice.

[indistinct chatter]

It was clear that it was good for them to hear each other's voices.

And then Vicente transitioned into what we asked him to do.

The principal goal was truly, father to son,

"Dad, I'm in trouble."

"Dad, I'm sitting here in this American jail cell."

"Dad, you can help me by doing the right thing,

by self-surrendering."

It was just, "Dad, please, help... help me."

"Help through this problem."

[indistinct chatter on phone]

[Ferrara] He did his best. He tried to make that impassioned plea of,

"You've had your day," you know. "It's, uh... it's time."

[indistinct chatter on phone continues]

[former inmate] He told me that he had been talking to his father.

He would come back from the phone call. He would be excited. Um...

And I also understood that he told me

that there was some kind of deal that would be arranged

involving his father's health,

which was failing,

and that he would be released when his father turned himself in.

Swap! His father would be in custody, and he would be in Mexico.

That is... It's how he explained it to me.

[phone ringing]

[Ferrara] We were able to facilitate

a couple of direct communications

for Vicente to make that plea to Mayo.

From the best we could tell, from the second call,

he was in an airplane,

circling a... um, a cell tower.

'Cause he knew we could geolocate him or the Mexicans could geolocate him.

And then when the call was over, throw the phone out the window and...

Mayo said he would think about it.

Uh, but I think we bumped up against the limits of his love for his kids.

[man] The Mexican Navy and the Criminal Investigation Agency

are carrying out an operation

they say is intended to capture El Mayo Zambada.

After Mayo's ranch,

you started to see news reporting.

The only real concern that I had

was that because... because these guys

have been so intertwined together for so long,

if there is an operation against Mayo,

what domino effects is that gonna have on... on the Chapo faction?

We were all in Tucson,

around monitors, just on pins and needles.

We're only gonna get one shot at this.

FEBRUARY 16, 2014

We were getting the live intercepts.

[agent] Their intelligence is very good.

They were the ones coordinating the operation.

They never engaged in combat. It was just us.

[Balliet] We were also getting periodic updates on a group chat.

And Chapo had a courier, who was running all the errands for him.

He went by the moniker of "Nariz," which is like "the Nose" for Spanish.

So, the guys on the ground, they think they've got eyes on him.

I remember getting the message, "Hey, we got eyes on Nariz."

And they grab Nariz.

And, like, they sent a picture, and it's... [scoffs]

I can see why they call him "Nariz." He's got... Like...

He's got a schnoz on him, right?

They interview him, and he gives up the house.

He's like, "Chapo is there." We're like, "Holy shit!"

[indistinct radio chatter]

[agent] I had my .50 caliber with me, ready to return fire.

The same as always, adrenaline.

There are only two options here.

You either react or freeze.

And if you freeze, you die.

My mother told me years ago,

"Either they cry in their house, or we cry in ours."

"Well, let 'em cry."

[intense music playing]

[Balliet] The marines hit the house in Culiacán.

But there is this reinforced steel door.

They're just going to town on this thing.

Everybody in the house hears the commotion.

When they finally get through,

they're like,

"This motherfucker has a tunnel in a house,

underneath a bathtub."

[agent] We had no idea he had a tunnel.

When things don't go as planned, well, it weighs on you.

SEMAR, like, they are just pissed.

So, they're like, "We're gonna burn this city down."

[tense music pulsing]

Mexican Navy operations continue in Sinaloa.

"We're gonna hit every house that we know that is associated with him."

[reporter] 17 helicopters flew over 8 neighborhoods in Culiacán.

[reporter 2] The searches followed the arrest of ten individuals

from the criminal organization led by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

[agent] At every single location we carried out an operation,

we would consistently find luxury vehicles.

Narcotics.

Lots of weapons.

But there was no sign of him.

Two days later, he turned his phone back on, in Mazatlán.

First, two planes took off at the same time.

An advance team was deployed,

travelling in civilian vehicles,

undercover agents posing as tourists.

There was no way out of there, except through the front door.

By the time we walked into the hotel,

they had literally surrendered already.

They didn't even use their firearms.

They had already given up.

[agent 2] Who reports to you?

Well, I got a few guys under my command.

They help me.

[agent 2] Who?

That would be Picudo,

Bravo...

Um... Don't think there's that many of them.

[agent 2] Who else?

Oso.

[agent 2] Who else?

A guy called Cholo.

[Balliet] They took him down to the parking garage.

I still have the text.

"We got him, boys! We got him."

I remember seeing the photos as they were coming through.

I was like "Fucking A, man!"

[indistinct chatter]

[man] Today at 6:40 a.m.,

personnel of the Secretary of the Navy

detained Joaquín Guzmán Loera.

[reporter] The president of the Republic, Enrique Peña Nieto, says,

"I commend the work of Mexico's security forces

in achieving the arrest of Joaquín Guzmán Loera in Mazatlán."

"Congratulations."

That's what President Peña Nieto tweeted.

[Brian Williams] The takedown of the most wanted drug kingpin,

and how US and Mexican authorities finally got their man

after over a decade of escape and evasion.

[agent] A round of applause from everyone.

"Good job. Well done."

And they sent us back to base.

I am on the boardwalk. Behind me, the Miramar Tower.

Since the drug lord's arrest on Saturday,

this area of Avenida del Mar

has become the busiest and most visited.

Traffic is moving at a crawl

because people in their cars want to get a good look at the building

where the most important news story broke.

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

JULY 11, 2015

[Balliet] I remember reading that text.

It's like, "He's gone."

I was like, "You gotta be shitting me."

Joaquín Guzmán, leader of the Pacific Cartel,

escaped for the second time from a maximum-security federal prison.

This time, from the Federal Social Readaptation Center El Altiplano,

in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico.

[agent] When we heard the news, we felt anger and outrage.

[reporter] According to authorities, this particular security camera

has two blind spots.

The toilet where I'm standing.

And over there, in the shower.

That's where the hole is.

[reporter 2] This time, his escape is the stuff of movies.

Slipping through a small hole in his cell and into a tunnel,

complete with ventilation, lights, and a motorcycle on rails,

apparently used to help dig him out.

[man] He's making a mockery of the government.

He's proving that he can do whatever he wants.

This is, undoubtedly, an insult to the Mexican government.

But I trust that the Mexican government,

particularly those responsible for public security,

will rise to the occasion

with the strength and determination to reapprehend this criminal.

[agent] It's an overwhelming sense of frustration

because we had put our lives on the line to do things the right way,

only for the government to let him go in exchange for a few pesos.

What kind of game are we playing?

JANUARY 8, 2016

[alarm sounding]

[rapid gunfire]

[frantic chatter]

[officers shouting]

[indistinct shouting continues]

[man] Okay. Move it. Move it.

[agent] This time it wasn't about finding a way to catch him anymore.

It was about killing him...

if he tried to escape.

[man whistles]

[agent] Three times was just too much.

[reporter] Breaking news.

"I want to inform the citizens of Mexico Joaquín Guzmán Loera has been arrested."

That's what President Enrique Peña Nieto just tweeted.

[intense music playing]

EPISODE III: RECAPTURE

[man] One of the best ways we could solve this problem with El Chapo

would be to have him taken and prosecuted in the United States.

They should be there.

Can you imagine a third time?

This is a crazy world. Anything is possible, right?

PRISON SECURITY

[guard] Occupation?

Farmer.

[reporter 1] "We will continue to see Ismael Zambada García, El Mayo,

as the kingpin,

because he's still making the most important decisions

within the organization."

[reporter 2] This is the scenario Guzmán Loera fears the most.

Going to a country, far away from his family,

and where he will have very few tools to get a favorable deal.

[reporter 3] We will also see his children and Joaquín Guzmán Loera's children,

because they are now part of the succession plan

within the family clan,

which is essentially what the Sinaloa organization is.

[lively music playing]

AUGUST 15, 2016

[Esquivel] El Chapo's sons

began to play an increasingly important role

following their father's arrest.

That's when the battle began... a battle for power.

But when they mess with the cartel in Jalisco,

they found they had gone way beyond what they could control

and realized they were vulnerable,

and they were not yet the powerful, mature drug lords they thought they were.

El Chapo's children

liked to go out with friends to nightclubs and restaurants.

So then one night, they went to a restaurant in Jalisco.

All of a sudden,

a group of gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel...

kidnapped El Chapo's sons,

Iván and Jesús Alfredo.

[reporter] Armed men entered La Leche restaurant

and held the diners at gunpoint.

The operation lasted one minute 29 seconds.

Alfredo Guzmán remains missing.

[reporter 2] A senior law enforcement official tells CNN

Alfredo, who is believed to be part of the new leadership

of his father's Sinaloa Cartel,

was said to not be taking his role seriously.

The source says Alfredo "had been partying a lot

and was caught off guard, allowing for the abduction to happen."

That's the problem with a lack of experience.

Now Mayo had to rescue these guys.

[reporter 3] For almost five days, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada,

has reportedly led the negotiations to secure the release

of not one but two of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's sons.

El Mayo said, "They're my men. I want them back safe and sound."

And he replied, El Mencho said, "I'll give them to you, Mayo."

"But next time, they gotta ask me first."

He basically saved their lives, back in Jalisco.

He really loved his compadre, Chapo Guzmán.

And he, uh... Until that moment, they were like one big family.

I... I believe that's the reason he did that.

[lively music fades]

[plane engines whirring]

NEW YORK

[woman] So, I was about to leave for the day.

And I was halfway out the door,

and somebody yelled down the hall, "He's coming."

[intriguing music playing]

The first time we saw him,

I thought he looked surprised to be there. Um, I mean, we were all surprised.

You know, especially somebody with so much lore that surrounded him.

Here's a person we have been investigating for almost a decade.

I mean, it was like, I will never forget that day.

JANUARY 3, 2019

[Esquivel] During that trial, at the Brooklyn court,

one of the most anticipated figures

was El Mayo's favorite son,

the prince of the Sinaloa Cartel,

the long-awaited Vicentillo.

When El Vicentillo walked in,

all of us there were watching closely,

waiting to see what his demeanor would be

when he came face-to-face with his father's compadre, El Chapo Guzmán.

The Vicentillo thing

was about the morbid curiosity of seeing two major figures betray each other.

What actually happened is that they greeted each other.

Like friends. They bowed respectfully.

And both men brought their hands to their chests

as a sign of loyalty and care.

You know, meaning, "I respect you."

"Compadre, you know that I have no other choice this time."

[Parlovecchio] When Vicente came into the courtroom

and stepped onto the witness stand,

he actually looked over at El Chapo and made a sign of respect to him.

He placed his hand over his heart as he addressed El Chapo,

expressing some kind of remorse, some kind of message only they understood.

I remember the defense was very curious

about why he would greet El Chapo Guzmán like that.

[man] You're testifying against him. He's your enemy, right?

[Vicente] No, sir. He's not my enemy.

[man] You thought you were doing a favor to him?

[Vicente] No, sir.

He knew I was gonna testify against him.

I pleaded guilty

while my compadre Chapo and my father were still free,

and I agreed to cooperate with the Prosecutor's Office.

I gave them my word that I would testify if they asked me to.

That's why I'm here today.

I can't see the future.

I didn't know my compadre Chapo would be here.

But I gave my word, and here I am.

He's not my enemy. Chapo is my compadre.

[Esquivel] He called him "my compadre Chapo."

"My compa Chapo."

[woman] There was one wild exchange

in Vicente's testimony, where he said

he had confided in El Chapo and in his father,

and said that he wanted to potentially retire from the cartel.

YES, I WANTED TO LEAVE THE CARTEL, TO RETIRE FROM IT ALL

WITH THE PERMISSION OF MY FATHER AND MY COMPADRE CHAPO.

El Chapo told him, "I'm calling my friends at the DEA

because they might know what to do."

Wait, what do you mean by "friends at the DEA"?

[Crane-Newman] Ultimately, El Chapo and El Mayo recommended to him

that maybe he could rat on some of their enemies and rival cartels.

And that could be how he got his early retirement

and... and... and got a lenient sentence.

[Ferrara] It wasn't something that we learned about until much later.

When Vicente came to that meeting in Mexico City,

he was authorized by Chapo and Mayo to cooperate.

As sophisticated as Chapo and Mayo were at that time,

I don't think when they authorized him

to go to Mexico City to cooperate with DEA,

that they had any reasonable belief

that that was going to lead to their individual demise.

[Esquivel] The whole drug trafficking story

is like a theater in a court.

The plays develop in the shape of hearings.

There are moments when it's kind of ironic, right?

Because when they need to talk and testify

against the guy they were once very close to,

a friends or a partner, or even family,

and a conviction is basically already decided

because they've been found guilty like El Chapo,

well, they take the opportunity to say goodbye for the last time, right?

That was Vicentillo's reaction.

It was clear that his compadre

was gonna be sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Because the only option to leave Florence, Colorado,

where he's incarcerated, is feet first.

His reaction was to lock eyes with him, with his compadre.

And that's when you realize the mettle they possess.

In situations like that, even when they're on opposing sides.

Even under the authority of the United States.

He put his right hand back on his chest, just like before.

And he even took off his glasses.

And he bowed to him, like saying, "Adiós, compadre."

That's how I interpreted it.

"So, my friend, I'll see you in the next life."

[reporter] Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán

has been convicted of drug-trafficking charges

at a trial in New York.

[reporter 2] Guzmán today breaking his silence, telling the judge,

"There was no justice here. You denied me a fair trial."

But the judge, noting El Chapo's overwhelming evil,

sentencing him to life plus 30 years,

Guzmán ordered to pay 12.6 billion dollars in restitution.

The man who ordered the torture and murder of his enemies,

then blowing a kiss to his wife, just before leaving the courtroom.

[López Obrador] It was a decision taken by the United States.

PRESIDENT OF MEXICO 2018–2024

And we remain respectful of those legal procedures.

We don't wish anyone ill.

I hope that

those who choose to go down these paths

would stop for a moment

and think about

just how precious a gift

freedom is.

[María] "One day I may turn myself in so the government executes me."

"My case should serve as an example. A lesson for everyone."

"If they executed me, euphoria would break out."

"But after a few days, everyone would realize that nothing has changed."

[thunder rumbles]

"Nothing."

"A kingpin fallen,

but the drug problem affects millions."

"How do you keep them in line?"

"As for the drug lords who are in prison, dead, or extradited,

their replacements are already out there."

[Balliet] We knew that

if you take Mayo and Chapo out of the equation,

the Sinaloa Cartel is not gonna just, like, dissolve.

They have a succession plan,

and the plan

was that Chapo's kids would ascend and take over his... his side of that.

The same with Mayo.

Drug trafficking is a matter of blood.

I mean, I don't create an empire to leave it to my compadre.

I leave my empire to my children.

[Balliet] In 2014, we had, in my professional opinion,

a tremendous amount of evidence

involving Iván, Ovidio, and Joaquín.

I think not grabbing them in 2014,

looking back, was... was a strategic misstep.

So, I have...

That one sticks with me a bit.

[reporter] We are in the midst of the worst drug crisis in US history.

The drug is fentanyl.

A synthetic painkiller 100 times more powerful than morphine.

As a street drug, it is far more potent than even the purest forms of heroin.

Illicit use of the synthetic opioid painkiller

has ravaged the United States.

And Mexican drug cartels now see huge profits

and an addicted market for the drug.

[Valdés] Los Chapitos' urgency to win control of the market and expand

the production of fentanyl was driven by, well,

the huge market that the United States represents.

And yeah, maybe they got crazy rich in minutes, right?

But they provoked a reaction, a very strong one,

from the government of the US.

They poked the bear, and now the bear is enraged.

So the bear is about to claw back at them.

[woman] El Chapo's sons, Ovidio, Iván, and Alfredo,

known as Los Chapitos,

became the new leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.

They inherited a global drug-trafficking empire

and they made it more ruthless, more violent, more deadly.

And they used it to spread a new poison, fentanyl.

As a direct result of their actions,

we have lost hundreds of thousands of American lives.

And so, the DEA proactively targeted the Chapitos' network.

[officers shouting]

[officer, in Spanish] Come out, Ovidio.

[shouting]

[intense music playing]