Original subtitles

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MAN: Shake this square world and blast off for Kicksville.

RICHARD NIXON: Public enemy number one is drug abuse.

NANCY REAGAN: Just say no.

RONALD REAGAN: Halting the drug problem in America

is like carrying water in a sieve.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH: Take my word for it, this scourge will stop.

KAMALA HARRIS: There's now an understanding

that the war on drugs was an abject failure.

MAN: You have to stop and ask yourself, how did we get here?

DONALD TRUMP: We will build a wall.

♪ ♪

TERRY KIRKPATRICK: First border wall was put up

back in the days of the cowboys.

No‐man's‐land, as they call it.

I don't like it.

It's not gonna stop the drugs,

the lawlessness that takes place out here

and the shootings and bandits crossing the border

and cutting your fences and transporting the dope through.

My name is Terry Kirkpatrick.

My nickname's the Grumpy Gringo.

I was a customs agent for 28 years.

And I used to tell the new guys that would come on board,

I says, "This is the most fun you'll ever have on a job

with your pants on."

(explosion)

Primarily we worked narcotics, gun smuggling.

It was cat and mouse;

you're chasing them, they're chasing you.

And then all of a sudden, you get in trouble,

you get a death threat.

People are trying to kill you.

Well, this ain't the Ghostbusters,

you can't call anybody, what are you gonna do now?

Well, our guys call you up and say, "Pack one suitcase,"

and you'll hide out for 30 days, six months.

♪ ♪

Well, I wasn't the smartest Johnny in the classroom,

I was still that little kid in the back raising my hand,

saying, "I'll go back, I'll go back."

♪ ♪

And so, finally, after six months of investigation,

we raided the place, and as I wandered around,

a worker picked up a water hose

and started pouring water into the big drains.

No one would think that it was anything other

than just a water main underneath.

Watch your fingers there.

Once we took out the lower drain,

there was a 8‐by‐10 room down there.

One by one, we descended into the dark pit of Neverland,

not knowing what was at the bottom.

♪ ♪

Wow, what did these guys do?

This tunnel was so sophisticated,

it wasn't a fly‐by‐night group that did it,

these guys had studied mining engineering and stuff like that.

We're probably well over 30 feet down,

and it goes like this for about 150 yards into Mexico,

up to another house.

On the Mexican side

there was a family room with a pool table in it,

and below that, was another room

where they could store drugs there,

that's where the air ventilation pumps were, the water pumps.

Just when you think us as narcotics agents,

we've seen it all, it was, like, shocking.

We didn't know where we were going next with this.

What have we opened up, a Pandora's box here.

It was, find everybody involved, find 'em now.

JACK RILEY: We knew there was an individual that was responsible

for all the logistical movement of marijuana and then cocaine,

but we weren't sure who he was.

KIRKPATRICK: So we raided house after house after house.

One name pops up, and it continued to pop up:

Chapo Guzmán.

RILEY: People called him "Chapo," which is "Shorty."

KIRKPATRICK: He was 5‐foot‐6 guy,

who started out as a little kid selling oranges

on the side of the road down in Sinaloa.

♪ ♪

At that time, he was well down the ranks in the Sinaloa Cartel.

♪ ♪

RILEY: He was a border rat.

He knew virtually every corner of the border,

where it was, the most highly patrolled area;

where were desolate areas;

where was the most valuable part of it

in terms of cocaine trafficking.

KIRKPATRICK: Cartel bosses recognize

that he was extremely smart.

He was years ahead of anybody else

that ever came into the drug smuggling scene.

The flipside to that is

he was also a ruthless, cold, calculated killer.

30 guys were used to dig this tunnel,

night and day for months and months.

They kept 'em locked up in a house,

and the cartel wanted to keep it secret so bad,

and they were worried that somebody would talk about it,

so, they executed 'em all and dumped 'em into a well.

So, basically, all the tunnel diggers

dug their own grave for the cartel.

♪ ♪

It was a gold mine for 'em.

Kilo of cocaine, back in those days, about $24,000 a kilo,

this tunnel probably would have ran, who knows?

One truck a day.

Two trucks a day.

Three, maybe.

Chapo went from the little guy over here in Douglas

to captain in the cartel.

He was such a rising star.

♪ ♪

J. JESÚS ESQUIVEL: El Chapo was nicknamed by the Colombians

as El Rapido, because he was so fast in moving the cocaine.

He didn't share his methods of transportation,

but he was a genius and troublemaker.

♪ ♪

Chapo's ambition was to get Tijuana.

Tijuana is an important city.

It's a door for drugs to cross the United States.

♪ ♪

MARTIN CORONA: They were known as the most vicious crew in Mexico.

They had no qualms about making an example out of somebody.

They have a reputation for being the most violent and bloody,

and they were responsible for thousands of murders,

more than 10,000 murders.

JUAN CARLOS REYNA: To me, to tell this story

of Benjamín Arellano Félix and his brothers

is a way to tell the story of Tijuana.

ESQUIVEL: Tijuana was always a very important piece of the cake

for the drug business,

and it's an easy place to move drugs to the United States.

But to control that city, you have to kill a lot of people.

(crows)

REYNA: Narcos in Mexico, like El Chapo Guzmán,

are campesinos, peasants,

that live in the mountains and wear hats and cowboy boots.

In Tijuana, narcos were different.

(engine revs)

Imagine fashionista narcos

that enjoyed listening to Joy Division, for example.

They're wearing suits, designer sneakers

with huge mink jacket

and a medallion, pure gold.

Everybody wanted to be like them.

My name is Juan Carlos Reyna,

I'm an author, I was born and raised in Tijuana.

While growing up in Tijuana, the Arellano Félix Organization,

the Tijuana Cartel, were like a living myth;

both fascinating and terrifying.

Benjamín Arellano Félix was the leader and founder

of the Tijuana Cartel.

He was a very charismatic character.

And the younger brother, Ramón, was the muscle.

He was a very unattractive person,

with a high‐pitched, annoying voice,

and a complete psychopath,

that assumed the position in the cartel as an enforcer

and to naturally embrace his thirst for killing people.

ESQUIVEL: Benjamín and Ramón, especially,

they don't even think twice to order killing of anyone

involved in their business.

They wanted to be the only ones in Tijuana.

The kings of Tijuana

and the kings of the U. S. market in California.

REYNA: Benjamín Arellano Félix was a pioneer.

He opened the Tijuana route into California and Los Angeles,

creating an international enterprise of drug trafficking

in such a perfect way.

♪ ♪

IOAN GRILLO: The Arellanos had an idea of,

well, let's find rich kids

who were attracted by the easy, big money and glamour

and recruit them.

Because if you have somebody who is educated,

who can speak English,

who has connections in the United States,

they could smuggle drugs into the United States.

Connections and ideas about business,

about moving the money, that can be useful,

rather than just having some guy who's from the mountains,

who can barely read or write.

REYNA: They began calling themselves the narco juniors.

Belonging to a cartel

became part of the party vibe in Tijuana.

♪ ♪

(siren)

The Arellano Félix family provided 70% or more

of the cocaine consumed in the United States.

At the time, it was the most powerful criminal organization

in the North Hemisphere.

NEWSCASTER: Rich and ruthless, U. S. drug enforcement officials

say the Arellano Félix family has amassed a dirty fortune

in the billions of dollars.

REYNA: Among Mexican drug lords, everybody became jealous,

especially El Chapo Guzmán,

who wanted what Benjamín built up,

this highly successful,

million‐dollar operation in Tijuana.

ESQUIVEL: Chapo's ambition was to eliminate those brothers,

to have Tijuana for his own purposes.

RILEY: He wanted 'em dead.

That's the fundamental issue in narco trafficking:

No one's ever happy, everyone wants more.

And greed and guns lead to a lot of death.

♪ ♪

REYNA: Benjamín Arellano Félix throws a huge party.

♪ ♪

It was attended by El Chapo's best friend and compadre,

El Rayo Lopez.

El Rayo Lopez had kidnapped

one of the Arellano Félix sisters years before,

and that was something that the Arellano Félix brothers

could not forget or forgive.

As soon as El Rayo Lopez appears,

Ramón, he picks up his gun,

points it at El Rayo's head

and blew his brains off.

That moment was a pretext for El Chapo engaging in a war

with Benjamín Arellano Félix and his brothers.

♪ ♪

(radio chatter)

(siren)

(siren)

(siren)

ESQUIVEL: The start of the war

between Chapo and Arellano Félix brothers

was pure, pure massacre of people in Mexico.

Even children were killed.

♪ ♪

NEWSCASTER: Killing is a party for the Arellanos.

They laugh after a murder as if it were nothing,

show no remorse,

and go off and have a lobster dinner in Rosarito.

♪ ♪

ESQUIVEL: The Arellano Félix brothers were convinced

that it was the end of Chapo's adventures in Tijuana.

But they underestimate Chapo's ambition.

Chapo found out that the Arellano Félix brothers

were having a party in Puerto Vallarta.

And he always had a second plan.

♪ ♪

(gunfire)

(screaming)

CORONA: My name's Martin Corona.

I was a hitman for the Arellano Félix cartel.

I was sent out to do their dirty deeds.

Emotions you go through when you take a life,

of actually looking in that person's eyes

and watching their life leave their bodies,

you're not happy about it, you're nervous, you're scared,

it weighs heavy on your conscience,

but you dealt with your emotions inside.

When I was recruited by the Arellano Félix cartel,

I had already had a history of violence, gangbanging,

being in prison, doing hits in prison, stabbing people,

and so, when it was time to actually take that life,

I was already prepped for this moment.

I did a triple homicide.

These were the guys that were the gunners for Chapo Guzmán,

at the Christine's nightclub,

the night that they ambushed the Arellano Félix brothers.

As I was shooting the guy and he's pleading for his life,

I told him, "This is for Ramón."

♪ ♪

STEVE DUNCAN: The Arellano Félix family were very visible.

It was like the Miami Vice of the cartels.

My name's Steve Duncan, I'm a retired special agent

from the California Department of Justice.

♪ ♪

They would have private parties, just your typical family event,

but with people in very bright clothing,

trying to show off their wealth, their jewelry,

their expensive clothing.

And they looked like an idyllic family.

But what you don't see is the dysfunction.

They killed anybody that would get in their way.

They ruled by fear.

From the time they went to war with Chapo,

they started policing Tijuana.

If somebody was driving a car with Sinaloa plates,

they get pulled over, because that's the enemy.

That guy would be taken to a safe house

and interrogated, tortured.

(man screaming)

(screaming)

DUNCAN: And they would either force him into service with them

or they would kill him.

CORONA: I've done 'em with knives,

I've done 'em with a sledgehammer,

I've done a lot of gruesome things.

They wanted people hanged, chopped up.

They wanted heads cut off,

they wanted people disappearing in vats of acid.

♪ ♪

DUNCAN: Anybody associated with the enemies

of the Arellano Félix Organization,

in particular, Chapo Guzmán, would be hunted down and killed.

CORONA: There was no hiding from us.

MAN: It's dominance, it's greatness, it's power.

REYNA: In 1993, most narcos in Mexico drove Grand Marquis,

the cars of the businessmen and the politicians.

DUNCAN: The Arellanos had information that Chapo

was gonna be at the airport in a white Grand Marquis.

ESQUIVEL: They send a killer unit to assassinate him.

♪ ♪

(gunshot)

(screaming)

(gunfire)

(gunfire)

DUNCAN: Everybody's celebrating 'cause they've killed Chapo.

CORONA: It was just an accident, and it wasn't intentional.

Nobody meant to kill the cardinal.

We were after Chapo Guzmán; wrong place at the wrong time.

(bell tolls)

ESQUIVEL: The whole of Mexico wanted justice.

That cardinal was seen as a martyr of the war on drugs.

The Arellano Félix brothers went to hide

and El Chapo left Mexico and hide in Guatemala.

So both sides feel the fire.

CORONA: Benjamín made a personal visit

with the government of Mexico

and discussed how we could get this heat off of us.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

CORONA: Their hands reach far.

Presidents, generals, police officials,

how far does the corruption go?

If you've got that kind of power, dude,

I mean, your head's gonna be this big.

You think you're invincible.

♪ ♪

DUNCAN: The Arellanos' enforcement squads were sent

on missions throughout the United States and Mexico

to kill anybody associated with Chapo Guzmán.

NEWSCASTER: The U. S. State Department is offering

a $2 million reward for information

leading to the capture and conviction of cartel leader

and muscle man Ramón Arellano Félix.

DUNCAN: We were very desperate to find Ramón,

to find the other Arellano Félix members,

but we haven't seen them in years

and we don't have really good photos of anybody.

All it takes is for somebody to tell us where Ramón is,

and they have $2 million.

♪ ♪

And then we received a VHS tape.

And here he is walking down Hollywood Boulevard,

the land of the stars, in this ridiculous disguise.

It was a shock and it was amazing.

♪ ♪

DUNCAN: My partner was given a video

of the David Letterman show in Los Angeles,

by a family member of two brothers

that had worked for the Arellanos,

that were killed by the Arellanos,

and on it was David Letterman's cameraman,

harassing this long‐haired, large Hispanic man

with a Michael Jordan jersey.

CAMERAMAN: Excuse me, excuse me.

Are you Michael Jordan?

Are, are you Michael Jordan?

CAMERAMAN: Huh?

CAMERAMAN: Oh, he speaks Spanish.

LETTERMAN: Oh.

DUNCAN: This gentleman,

who was Ramón Arellano Félix in disguise,

was trying to avoid the cameraman.

CAMERAMAN: Michael, hey, Michael.

Here you go, tickets to Showgirls.

DUNCAN: It's funny that he was in disguise,

but he was so noticeable because of his disguise.

CAMERAMAN: You sure?

DUNCAN: So, it was a hilarious thing.

CAMERAMAN: Hey, everybody, it's Michael Jordan, look, everybody.

Hey, everybody, Michael Jordan, look.

CORONA: He was a character, but he was ruthless,

I can tell you first‐hand that he didn't have a conscience.

Everybody knew he'd kill you from just looking at him wrong.

He was a stone‐cold killer.

DUNCAN: It was a shock to us that he would have the nerve

to be on our soil, right in front of us,

and very frustrating that we didn't get him.

♪ ♪

RILEY: It was essentially a refuge for Chapo,

because he was safe from his rivals,

and he basically turns the prison

into his business headquarters, and life is good.

♪ ♪

GRILLO: He gradually managed to bribe his way

to a lot of influence in the prison.

He could still continue to run operations,

continue to deal and still have access to lawyers

and to visitors and get words out and make calls.

Apparently he had quite a rampant sex life.

Prostitutes coming into the prison.

At the time, talk of him also getting Viagra smuggled

into the prison as well.

RILEY: The safety of the prison at that time

actually enhanced his ability to grow his organization.

♪ ♪

He chipped away at people around them,

and he tried to dominate the market at the time, too,

so he took customers from them.

He alienated some of the people that AFO needed.

♪ ♪

CORONA: I've been told that I got out at the right time.

When it came time to kill a woman,

and they asked me to kill a female,

that was something I was truly against.

But we're told,

"Listen, you're gonna do what we tell you to do."

When you're told that, what's the alternative?

I was sent to San Diego.

And I shot her,

and there was a little girl in the backseat,

and I heard her scream,

and I seen that, it just, it freaked me out and I backed out.

And it came out on the news,

and when they said the girl was pregnant,

my wife was pregnant at the time with my first child,

it bothered me a lot.

I didn't want my child born into a world of me being a murderer.

To this day, when I talk to her and I tell her,

"Baby, the day you came home from the hospital,

was the day I walked away from the Arellano Félix Cartel."

I've been told that after 2000,

the Arellano Félix started to lose their foothold.

They started to lose their power,

they started to lose their grip.

RILEY: I don't think anybody in law enforcement

or in the Mexican government saw what was going to happen

when Chapo was in prison.

GRILLO: You start to see the rise of Chapo Guzmán

and the Sinaloa Cartel,

and his story does not end there by any means.

RILEY: There's a lot of folklore around it, how he escaped.

Everybody said, "Oh, he just went in a laundry basket."

But he was the highest ranking cartel member

in custody in Mexico, so I think he just got up one morning,

put a guard's uniform on that he had bought

and he walked right out the front door

and got in a police car and drove away.

♪ ♪

ESQUIVEL: It was not a huge embarrassment

for the Mexican government, because when he escaped,

Chapo was not well‐known

as one of the biggest narco traffickers.

So he was not the main target of Mexican and U. S. authorities.

The Arellano Félix were the main target.

♪ ♪

(bell tolling)

The Sinaloa Cartel used Mazatlán as a trap for Ramón.

They let him know, by informants,

that El Chapo was supposed to have dinner

in one of the restaurants of the place.

So he was preparing to kill Chapo in that restaurant.

But he didn't know the Sinaloa Cartel

tip off the Mexican authorities about where he was.

(gunfire)

There were several federal police officers

working with the Sinaloa Cartel

attacking Ramón Arellano Félix that day.

(gunfire)

(gunfire)

NEWSCASTER: Witnesses say Ramón was forced to his knees

by crooked state police and executed on the spot.

♪ ♪

ESQUIVEL: After the death of Ramón,

the Sinaloa Cartel knew the love the brothers had for each other

will force Benjamín to the funeral of his brother,

and that information was given to the Mexican authorities

and the DEA by members of the Sinaloa Cartel.

DUNCAN: Chapo himself is helping us

through the messengers that they sent to us.

You're playing with the devil,

it's dirty, it's ugly, but it worked for us.

♪ ♪

MAN: This morning I am pleased to announce

that at approximately 1:00 AM, Mexican government authorities

captured Benjamín Arellano Félix.

RILEY: Chapo orchestrated much of the downfall

of Arellano Félix brothers while he was in jail.

♪ ♪

It may have also contributed to when he was gonna leave jail,

because he knew that they were not the threat they were before,

and it was his time to ascend to the throne,

and that's what he did.

♪ ♪

Captioned by Side Door Media Services