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America's War on Drugs (2017) Season 1 Episode 4 - Heroin, Terrorists & Kings of Pain
#America'sWaronDrugs
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00:00:00now on america's war on drugs 9-11 happened and the united states invaded one of the largest opium
00:00:15producers in the world these terrorists must be pursued defeated and brought to justice
00:00:21the net effect of the patriot act is that it refueled the war on drugs i helped murder
00:00:26families in colombia we were willing to do whatever it took if that meant supporting a known drug
00:00:32trafficker that was not of tantamount concern mexican castle will carry out a hit and then
00:00:38they'll come back a couple hours later investigate the murder they just committed they lied to us
00:00:42about this plant hope in many innocent it's an invitation to your own murder you smoked it and
00:00:49you certainly said wait a minute this stuff isn't so bad got some legal weed they're working with
00:00:54one cartel to take out another cartel we're going to be ruthless in that fight
00:00:59we're all concerned about cocaine and heroin we're legally killing you and we're getting away with
00:01:08what i think is really interesting that we've seen happen in the last 15 or 20 years
00:01:26is that this so-called war on drugs and the so-called war on terror have collided
00:01:31it's been nearly 30 years since richard nixon declared the war on drugs
00:01:39but nearly 16 million americans are regularly getting high on illegal narcotics each month
00:01:47the illegal drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope and i intend to do something about them
00:01:57what word smile read these words the fast way get ready smile yes smile get ready more yes more get ready
00:02:13light yes like get ready must yes must wasn't those we can read rough and send 60 on page 150
00:02:21oh my god
00:02:39oh my god
00:02:49on my orders the united states military has begun strikes against al-qaeda terrorist training camps
00:02:57and military installations of the taliban regime in afghanistan
00:03:01america had just suffered this catastrophic loss the cia took it as an intelligence failure and took the war
00:03:24in afghanistan as that was their baby
00:03:26there was incredible pressure on the cia to find and capture bin laden
00:03:40that was the cia's mission and and they wanted to do it right
00:03:43two american hercules c-130 aircraft take off from an airbase in uzbekistan
00:03:54the cia's just dropped 19 half ton crates full of weapons and supplies
00:04:20on the ground to receive the drop a cia-backed insurgent army
00:04:28led by this man
00:04:37hamid karzai
00:04:39sworn enemy of the taliban in the 1980s karzai joined the cia-backed war against soviet invaders
00:04:46fighting alongside fellow mujahideen osama bin laden he's been a cia asset ever since
00:04:52the cia wanted to get our guy positioned in power someone that we could work with someone
00:05:01that we knew would work toward the aims of the united states and that guy was hamid karzai
00:05:08karzai and his men must traverse hundreds of miles through taliban controlled territory
00:05:13in order to seize power
00:05:15but on a mountain pass they're ambushed
00:05:28they're ambushed and the agency doesn't know if karzai is alive or dead
00:05:47okay what's the uh coordinate north 1506 west 8319 at least 10 people
00:05:53single down we've lost visual single down we've lost visual
00:05:58are you there do you copy do you copy
00:06:00karzai are you there please respond
00:06:07hello hello it's harib yes we are victorious
00:06:13karzai's men have prevailed
00:06:16we got our guy in power we got the lesser of all the evils in power
00:06:46as he secures his grip on power one of his first acts as president is to give control of afghanistan's
00:06:52strategic south to his brother ahmed wali karzai he's one of afghanistan's best connected heroin
00:07:00traffickers now thanks to his brother he's on the cia payroll afghanistan produces the vast majority of
00:07:08the world's heroin supply by some estimates upwards of 90 percent located at the center of the so-called
00:07:14golden crescent there's a saying here whoever controls the poppy controls the country
00:07:22we were willing to do whatever it took if that meant turning a blind eye to or even implicitly
00:07:29supporting a known drug trafficker that was really not of tantamount concern
00:07:35at a checkpoint in kandahar afghan security forces are on high alert for car bombs
00:07:55but when they stop a truck and search the vehicle
00:08:07they find a huge stash of heroin
00:08:21before the checkpoint commander can make an arrest he receives a call
00:08:25the brother of the president
00:08:36i think that the karzai family put one son in politics they put one son in business they put one
00:08:42son in a mosque and this is how you have control over all the elements of state and the notion that
00:08:50those brothers aren't all working together for the benefit of the family is ludicrous
00:09:07ahmed wali karzai newly appointed ruler of the south orders the truck to be given safe passage
00:09:13ahmed wali karzai the role he played in the drug trade was to provide protection to provide political
00:09:23cover for major drug traffickers he was the guy that made sure those trucks got through
00:09:35the cia thinks that we're really fighting the important war the war on terror we're the ones keeping
00:09:41americans safe and this war on drugs it's a losing battle that we don't want to concern ourselves with
00:09:50as afghan heroin floods the market back at home the bush administration pushes through a new
00:09:56anti-terror law that will change the face of the domestic war on drugs
00:10:04ladies and gentlemen the president of the united states accompanied by the vice president
00:10:11the changes affected today will help counter a threat like no other our nation has ever faced
00:10:25we've seen the enemy in the murder of thousands of innocent unsuspecting people
00:10:32they recognize no barrier of morality they have no conscience
00:10:37these terrorists must be pursued they must be defeated and they must be brought to justice it is
00:10:45now my honor to sign into law the usa patriot act of 2001. the patriot act passed 9-8 in favor one senator
00:10:57against in the name of fighting terrorism actually some of his main provisions are more often used for
00:11:04drug prosecutions police will now be able to search and seize without probable cause and even without
00:11:10your knowledge over the coming years the u.s government will issue thousands of so-called sneak and peak
00:11:16warrants less than one percent will have to do with terrorism and over 75 will be for drugs the net effect
00:11:23really of the patriot act in war on terror is that it refueled the war on drugs
00:11:28super bowl 36 86 million americans watch the patriots battle the rams
00:11:39it's the most watched tv event of the year and the perfect opportunity for the government to premiere
00:11:44a new anti-drug ad campaign i helped murder families in colombia it was just innocent fun
00:11:50i helped kidnap people's dads hey some harmless fun i help kids learn how to kill how you're having some fun
00:11:57you know during the first super bowl after 9 11 we have this ad come out that shows the desperation
00:12:06of the mentality behind the war on terror that if you use drugs you're not hurting yourself you're
00:12:12helping terrorists i helped the bomber get a fake passport all the kids do it i helped kill a judge
00:12:18i helped blow up buildings
00:12:24the irony of this is that throughout history the u.s government has been entrenched and at least
00:12:32peripherally involved with the drug trade to a much greater degree than any teenager experimenting
00:12:39with drugs in the united states is ever going to be
00:12:59while america's preoccupied with a drug-fueled war on terror
00:13:02right at our doorstep another drug war is about to create the most powerful and violent cartels
00:13:11the world has ever known
00:13:1731 years after america declared the war on drugs the u.s now consumes as much as 40 percent of the world's
00:13:24cocaine and spends approximately 25 billion dollars on marijuana
00:13:34being close to the world's biggest consumer of illegal drugs has been a good thing for the mexican
00:13:38cartels not for mexico itself but for its criminal organizations this is a gift
00:13:44a decade after nafta helped turn mexico into the key transshipment point for the north american drug trade
00:13:51four major mexican cartels battle for control of the border the most dominant is the juarez cartel
00:14:00once led by amado carrillo fuentes his mysterious death led to a power struggle for the most valuable
00:14:06turf in the drug game the critical border town ciudad juarez directly across from el paso
00:14:16when you dig into it underneath the surface that's when you started seeing how it really worked and
00:14:20there was a lot of uh you know pretty ugly stuff going on u.s law enforcement are about to
00:14:27infiltrate the cartel blurring the lines between good guys and bad
00:14:42crossing the bridge that divides the two countries is a man on the inside of it all guillermo ramirez
00:14:49payroll also known as lalo a former mexican highway patrolman turned juarez cartel lieutenant
00:15:00he knew that sooner or later he will be arrested or killed lalo heads to a u.s customs and border patrol
00:15:09office to offer his services as an informant
00:15:12lalo believed as an informant that he will have some protection by the federal u.s government
00:15:31i understand you have some information can you protect me depends
00:15:45after extensive vetting lalo begins to talk
00:15:48lalo he's typical of so many of these rats it's a matter of survival it's a matter of
00:16:18playing both ends towards the middle to protect yourself it's a very dangerous world and a very
00:16:23violent world
00:16:27u.s custom agents register lalo as informant number 913 and put him to work undercover inside the cartel
00:16:35lalo
00:16:45lalo's heading to a cartel safe house for a meeting with a small-time drug smuggler fernando reyes
00:16:51reyes is looking for help moving a half ton of marijuana across the border
00:17:03but the cartel leaders are not happy reyes is operating on their turf
00:17:07and while lalo pretends to facilitate the deal two juarez cops on the cartel payroll emerge from another
00:17:17room
00:17:28oh
00:17:30They ripped off a cord from a lamp and they're trying to choke him to death.
00:17:40This guy's just not dying.
00:17:42They said, we need your help.
00:17:54Finally killed him by hitting him in the back of the head and broke his neck.
00:18:00Lalo has recorded the entire murder and turns it over to his Customs and Border Control handlers.
00:18:16There were rumors about Mexican law enforcement.
00:18:18You know, people assumed that they were corrupt.
00:18:21But he was really the first guy to bring out just how it worked.
00:18:24The Mexican government and the Mexican law enforcement were part of the cartel.
00:18:33There's stories that just blow your mind.
00:18:36Mexican cops would go out and carry out a hit.
00:18:38And then they'll come back in a police uniform a couple of hours later and investigate the murder they just committed.
00:18:45That's how it worked.
00:18:47They call it the color of law, right?
00:18:49When are you a cartel?
00:18:51When are you law enforcement?
00:18:53There is no lying, really.
00:18:55It's all one fluid thing.
00:18:58In Mexico, that's 1% serious crimes end up in any kind of conviction.
00:19:02When the U.S. Customs agents tell their bosses in Washington about the murder, they receive a directive.
00:19:10Continue working with Lalo.
00:19:12They had so much invested in this case.
00:19:15They were trying to get after the big fish in the Juarez cartel.
00:19:18And so he went back and he participated in subsequent murders.
00:19:22And he even told them ahead of time that he was opening up the house, he was going to have a barbecue.
00:19:26And they would bring someone over and torture and murder them there.
00:19:30They were making deals with the devil.
00:19:34Because Lalo was one of the devils of the Juarez cartel.
00:19:39He was a blood killer.
00:19:45This guy was actually given a license to kill.
00:19:51You don't want to believe that you have American law enforcement involved.
00:19:56You don't want to believe that you have American law enforcement.
00:19:59January 2004.
00:20:01The Mexican military moved in on the house where Fernando Reyes was killed.
00:20:06They find 12 bodies buried in the backyard, including Reyes.
00:20:11The press will call it the house of death.
00:20:17The house of death was the first evidence how violent was the drug business in Mexico.
00:20:27How deeply the Mexican police, the Mexican government, and some U.S. federal agencies were involved.
00:20:35This is a really tragic and a really dark foretelling of what we would start to see with the drug war later on.
00:20:43You think of mass graves and you think of genocide in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
00:20:51And all of a sudden this is happening just south of our border.
00:20:53Lalo will escape all prosecution.
00:21:07The Juarez cartel will soon face an enemy far more ruthless than the U.S. or Mexican governments.
00:21:14The man who will become the most notorious drug trafficker in the Western Hemisphere.
00:21:19El Chapo.
00:21:20200 Mexican soldiers are on their way to make a high-profile arrest.
00:21:45They intend to nab an elusive drug lord popular with the locals.
00:21:50So popular they've already tipped him off.
00:21:58And he's long gone.
00:22:02Joaquin Guzman Lorera, nicknamed El Chapo or Shorty.
00:22:07By age 9, he's already got his start in the drug trade and then rises to become the most powerful drug lord in the Western Hemisphere.
00:22:14Head of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel and known to carry a gold diamond encrusted handgun, his net worth will grow to over an estimated billion dollars, earning him a spot on the Forbes list of the world's richest people.
00:22:27He's not the stereotypical drug lord who dresses flashy.
00:22:32He's a jeans and baseball cap kind of guy.
00:22:35He's a very romanticized figure.
00:22:41In Mexico, you have songs that are written about him.
00:22:43Still unknown to most of the world, but ready to make his mark, El Chapo's strategy is to take out the cartels that control the eastern and western border crossings and build a power base before taking the geographically critical Juarez cartel.
00:23:03This is the land of heaven here.
00:23:18El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel wants to corner the market by destroying the competition.
00:23:24One major competitor, the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organization.
00:23:29They control much of the border crossings to the west with a distribution route from Baja, California to San Diego.
00:23:36Both El Chapo and the DEA have a common interest in their demise.
00:23:42At a certain point, the Tijuana Cartel became more violent.
00:23:53People were being killed left and right.
00:23:55People were disappearing.
00:23:56Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa Organization, he was growing, was basically at war with the Tijuana Cartel.
00:24:05Chapo's organization whacked one of the Tijuana Organization's top guys.
00:24:10In return, Chapo's brother got murdered in prison.
00:24:13It was like revenge killings.
00:24:14You killed one of mine, I'm going to go kill one of yours.
00:24:16A man walks into a DEA field office in Tijuana, Mexico.
00:24:27This is Humberto Loya Castro, Sinaloa Cartel lawyer and DEA informant.
00:24:38He'll meet secretly with the DEA on 50 occasions, providing critical information on drug trafficking and other organized crime across Mexico.
00:24:47The DEA is at the mercy of their informants.
00:24:53Chapo's lawyer was using DEA to do Chapo's dirty work for him.
00:25:00Castro tells the DEA he has vital information about Sinaloa's rival, the Tijuana Cartel.
00:25:06The power of these cartels
00:25:36is not to be reckoned with.
00:25:40There is no line that they won't cross.
00:25:43DEA agents have been killed in Mexico before.
00:25:48The DEA acts fast against the threat, securing its personnel,
00:25:53then launches a preemptive strike against the Tijuana Cartel.
00:26:02They're working with one cartel to take out another cartel.
00:26:06It's almost like moving chess pieces around.
00:26:11The DEA cracks down on the Tijuana Cartel, leaving an opening for their rivals.
00:26:22The Sinaloa Cartels now coming for Tijuana's turf.
00:26:27And Loya Castro's information plays a critical role.
00:26:31There are certain people in the drug war, and they play in this gray area.
00:26:37They're the informants and the assets and the snitches.
00:26:39And they can play one side against the other.
00:26:41They play in this narrow bridge that's incredibly dangerous.
00:26:46We would snitch on their rivals.
00:26:48In exchange, the leadership of this organization was provided essential immunity from prosecution,
00:26:53and they would be left alone and allowed to operate.
00:27:00But to truly dominate the drug trade,
00:27:03it will come down to controlling the entire supply chain to the streets of America.
00:27:07So El Chapo sets his sights on Chicago.
00:27:10A day's drive from 70% of the U.S. population,
00:27:17Chicago's a transportation hub,
00:27:19crossed by seven major interstate highways,
00:27:22with extensive rail and air travel infrastructure.
00:27:25We saw Chicago being a larger and larger hub
00:27:32in order to move drugs into other parts of the country.
00:27:41This is Chicago's 22nd Ward.
00:27:45A heavily Hispanic neighborhood where Mexican cartel members can blend in.
00:27:50El Chapo is drawn to these two brothers.
00:27:55The Flores twins inherited the family's small-time drug business
00:28:00when they were still in high school
00:28:01and grew it to be one of the top cocaine distributors in Chicago
00:28:04with an annual income of $700 million.
00:28:10Chapo arranges a meeting at his mountaintop compound
00:28:12to talk expansion with the two brothers,
00:28:15who have deep roots in Mexico.
00:28:18Trust is only one component of making the deal.
00:28:21El Chapo wants to know, can they deliver?
00:28:23The brothers turn over their books.
00:28:29They show a strong hold on the market
00:28:31and the potential for a solid investment.
00:28:39Having those lines of distribution is key
00:28:42any time that a Mexican criminal organization
00:28:45wants to expand in the United States.
00:28:47It was an ideal business solution.
00:28:48But El Chapo's just getting started.
00:28:53He's looking to expand his control of the border,
00:28:55so he turns to the eastern crossings,
00:28:57controlled by the Gulf cartel.
00:28:59The Sinaloa Federation really wanted control of this major corridor.
00:29:05After years of attempts at the Gulf's territory,
00:29:08El Chapo goes in to take it all.
00:29:10Gulf cartel sent its enforcers Los Cetas.
00:29:13These are trained killers.
00:29:15They're trained assassins.
00:29:16Most of them were former military special forces
00:29:18to go out and fight to keep this plaza.
00:29:21That paves the way for violence to absolutely skyrocket,
00:29:25and not only the level,
00:29:26but the characteristics of the violence.
00:29:28That was when we first started seeing
00:29:33the beheadings happen in Mexico,
00:29:35the dismemberments.
00:29:37If you're going to cut off somebody's head,
00:29:38well, we have to be able to do it too
00:29:40to show our commitment to taking over
00:29:42this piece of territory.
00:29:44That really was the epicenter
00:29:46for the expansion of the levels of violence
00:29:49that we would come to see in future years in the drug war.
00:29:53The cartel's extreme violence
00:29:55becomes political fuel.
00:29:57Eight days after his inauguration,
00:30:01President Felipe Calderon echoes Richard Nixon
00:30:04declaring Mexico's war on drugs.
00:30:06But he takes it one step further,
00:30:09calling on the military.
00:30:1020,000 soldiers are deployed into cartel territory.
00:30:27Every market that Calderon sent the military into
00:30:33to ostensibly end the drug war,
00:30:35the violence didn't go down.
00:30:36It escalated.
00:30:38Despite Calderon's declaration of a war on drugs,
00:30:42Sinaloa persists.
00:30:43The El Paso-Juarez Corridor,
00:30:46one of the most lucrative corridors in the drug trade,
00:30:50Chapo Guzman,
00:30:51he sees the El Paso-Juarez Corridor
00:30:54as the gold mine of the drug world.
00:31:00After going for the border crossings in the west and east,
00:31:04Chapo's Sinaloa cartel has come for the ultimate prize.
00:31:08Juarez,
00:31:09controlled by the most powerful
00:31:11and strategically located cartel in the country.
00:31:14Sinaloa was basically killing off
00:31:16the police force
00:31:17that was loyal to the Juarez cartel.
00:31:23They started picking them off one at a time,
00:31:25trying to one-up each other
00:31:26to show who is the most powerful,
00:31:28who is the most capable of inciting fear.
00:31:31The control over the police force
00:31:34was really the key to taking Juarez.
00:31:44The Sinaloa cartel is victorious,
00:31:47earning El Chapo exclusive control
00:31:49of the border crossings.
00:31:51But back in the U.S.,
00:31:53the Mexican cartels
00:31:54are about to face powerful new competitors.
00:31:58Legal narcotics,
00:32:00with deadly consequences.
00:32:03The actor Heath Ledger
00:32:05was found dead today.
00:32:08The three-year investigation
00:32:09into the possible prescription drug abuse
00:32:12by talk show host Rush Limbaugh
00:32:13has ended in a plea deal.
00:32:15He was booked Friday in Florida
00:32:16on a charge of getting multiple prescriptions
00:32:18from more than one doctor.
00:32:20The actor Heath Ledger
00:32:21was found dead today
00:32:22in an apartment here in New York City.
00:32:24The investigation now focuses on the theory
00:32:26that an accidental overdose
00:32:27of prescription medication
00:32:28killed Heath Ledger.
00:32:30Officials say the death of the actor
00:32:31highlights the growing danger
00:32:33of prescription drug abuse.
00:32:35When I'm asked what I think
00:32:36about the war on drugs,
00:32:37I often say that I think
00:32:39that we're focusing on the wrong problem.
00:32:42We're all concerned about illegal drugs
00:32:44like cocaine and heroin,
00:32:47but they're diverting attention
00:32:48to the real problem,
00:32:50the big elephant in the room,
00:32:51which is that we're legally killing you
00:32:53and we're getting away with it
00:32:55and nobody's watching.
00:32:57The pharmaceutical industry,
00:32:59also known as Big Pharma.
00:33:02They have hundreds of thousands
00:33:03of doctors on their payroll.
00:33:06In the last decade,
00:33:07they've spent over $2 billion
00:33:09on lobbying,
00:33:11exceeding any other industry.
00:33:12The U.S. is one of the only countries
00:33:15in the world
00:33:16that allows drug companies
00:33:17to advertise directly
00:33:18to potential customers.
00:33:20$3 billion is spent
00:33:22on drug ads every year.
00:33:24And in some states,
00:33:26loopholes will open the door
00:33:27for a new kind
00:33:28of outlaw entrepreneur.
00:33:30In a wealthy neighborhood,
00:33:41two young entrepreneurs tee off,
00:33:44unaware that FBI surveillance
00:33:46is watching their every move.
00:33:49The men are brothers,
00:33:51Chris and Jeff George.
00:33:53In their late 20s,
00:33:54they got their start
00:33:55selling steroids online
00:33:56before becoming game changers
00:33:59in the drug industry,
00:34:01dispensing thousands of pills a day,
00:34:03all in the name of pain management
00:34:05and wrapped in a doctor's stamp of approval.
00:34:10The George brothers really exploited
00:34:13this loophole
00:34:15in pain management clinics
00:34:17because there was virtually
00:34:18no oversight in Florida at the time.
00:34:21Anybody could start a pain clinic.
00:34:25Chris George started his operation
00:34:27in the strip mall
00:34:28with a single pain management clinic.
00:34:35The small staff of doctors
00:34:37were sourced from Craigslist
00:34:38and were compensated
00:34:39on a per-patient basis,
00:34:41given incentives
00:34:42for large and frequent prescriptions.
00:34:45Whatever ailments
00:34:46the patients came in with,
00:34:49the script the doctors were pushing
00:34:50was Oxycontin,
00:34:53also known as Oxycodone,
00:34:55synthesized from the opium poppy,
00:34:56prescribed for the treatment
00:34:58of moderate to severe pain,
00:35:00advertised a non-addictive substitute
00:35:02to morphine,
00:35:03reality,
00:35:04highly addictive,
00:35:05binding to the same brain receptors
00:35:07as heroin.
00:35:08For me, it was like,
00:35:13felt like a big warm hug.
00:35:14I felt kind of invincible
00:35:16when I took it,
00:35:17but at some point,
00:35:19feeling good stopped,
00:35:20and I turned into an addict.
00:35:22This stupid little pill
00:35:24has control of my life,
00:35:25and there's nothing
00:35:26I can do about it.
00:35:30Many of these addicts
00:35:33were supporting their habit
00:35:34through pop-up pain clinics
00:35:35that soon became known as
00:35:37pill mills.
00:35:41A pharmacy clinic
00:35:42or doctor's office
00:35:43that dispenses
00:35:44hardcore narcotics
00:35:45without a legitimate
00:35:46medical need.
00:35:50Sometimes we even
00:35:51called them Doc in the Box.
00:35:53They're heavy on advertising
00:35:55and light on service.
00:35:56You know,
00:35:57hey, come get your pills,
00:35:57come get your pills.
00:35:59Recreational drug dealers
00:36:00is what they were.
00:36:01It wasn't long
00:36:02before the lucrative business
00:36:03drew Jeff's brother,
00:36:04Chris, in.
00:36:07Their operation
00:36:08was a well-oiled machine
00:36:09designed for maximum efficiency
00:36:12with a constant stream
00:36:14of patients.
00:36:18Copycat pain clinics
00:36:19begin to pop up,
00:36:2189 in Broward County alone.
00:36:26Then Chris George
00:36:27makes a big move
00:36:28and invests
00:36:29in a 20,000-square-foot property,
00:36:32creating the largest
00:36:33pill mill in the U.S.
00:36:37The American pain clinic,
00:36:39they were probably seeing
00:36:41in excess of 500 patients a day
00:36:43at $100 a pop.
00:36:45The line wraps around
00:36:47the building
00:36:47and the parking lot
00:36:48with an average
00:36:49doctor-patient interaction
00:36:51under four minutes.
00:36:53These guys had so many people
00:36:54coming through their doors
00:36:55that they actually gave
00:36:56the doctors a rubber stamp
00:36:58with their autograph on it,
00:36:59so they just, bam,
00:37:00stamped it
00:37:01and just sent people
00:37:02on their way.
00:37:03They had strippers working
00:37:04in the pain clinics.
00:37:06They had bodyguards
00:37:07in golf carts
00:37:08patrolling parking lots.
00:37:09Some of the doctors
00:37:11even carried guns
00:37:12because it was such
00:37:13a risky business
00:37:14dealing with all
00:37:15of these addicts.
00:37:19In the parking lot
00:37:20behind the strip club,
00:37:21they set up
00:37:22a mobile MRI unit.
00:37:23after a while,
00:37:30they just started giving people
00:37:31other people's MRIs
00:37:32because why do the test
00:37:34if you don't have to?
00:37:35You can just hand somebody
00:37:35a piece of film.
00:37:37The George brothers
00:37:38were obviously doctoring records
00:37:39and doing whatever they had to do
00:37:41in order to make the money.
00:37:42The George brothers
00:37:43were raking in the profits,
00:37:45making $40 million
00:37:46in two years.
00:37:48They were living
00:37:50a very lavish lifestyle.
00:37:56It's all about the money.
00:37:58It definitely has
00:37:59the same ear markings
00:38:00of, you know,
00:38:00an illegal
00:38:01and illicit drug trade.
00:38:09The George brothers
00:38:10were on their way
00:38:10to meet an associate,
00:38:11Robert Eady,
00:38:12at a vacant house
00:38:13in their upscale neighborhood.
00:38:14They suspect Eady
00:38:19is stealing from him.
00:38:41The bullet just misses Eady
00:38:43and he continues
00:38:44to plead his innocence.
00:38:46The brothers eventually
00:38:47come around to a story
00:38:49and pay him $10,000
00:38:50to keep silent
00:38:51about the incident.
00:38:54This is just like
00:38:55the Mexican drug cartel.
00:38:57The George brothers
00:38:58were the kingpins
00:38:59of the oxycodone
00:39:00drug trafficking.
00:39:07This erratic driver
00:39:09catches the attention
00:39:10of police
00:39:10and is forced
00:39:12off the road.
00:39:21Inside the car,
00:39:23Oxycontin bottles
00:39:24cover the passenger seat.
00:39:26Nine out of ten
00:39:28George brothers' patients
00:39:29are from out of state.
00:39:33There were so many people
00:39:34driving from West Virginia,
00:39:36Kentucky, Tennessee,
00:39:37down to Florida
00:39:38to get their pills that they actually nicknamed the stretch of I-75 OxyHally.
00:39:43There was a large number of overdose deaths that started taking place in these people
00:39:47that were coming in from other states to source their drugs,
00:39:50and they would end up in car accidents or overdosing on the side of the road
00:39:54after they had been to the pain clinic.
00:39:57The rise of prescription drug overdose deaths catches national attention.
00:40:01And of the top doctors dispensing prescription painkillers,
00:40:05five of them are from American pain.
00:40:08And so the clinics become a target.
00:40:12Too many patients died.
00:40:14They weren't able to fly under the radar anymore.
00:40:22After months under surveillance,
00:40:25an FBI DEA task force decided to bring formal charges against Chris and Jeff George.
00:40:31On my command, we'll basically, we'll gear up, we'll line up,
00:40:35and we'll go ahead and knock them out and make entry on the clinic.
00:40:38Everybody sees here on the opposite, and we have the address.
00:40:41Group 13 has the entry tools.
00:40:43The rest of the guys, I'll tell you where you're going to fall in on the perimeter.
00:40:45As the SWAT teams were breaking down the doors,
00:41:04the patients were also fighting with the receptionist,
00:41:07trying to get in so they could get that last script before the doors were closed.
00:41:10Over their two-year run, the George brothers sold over 20 million Oxycontin pills.
00:41:22Prosecutors have traced over 50 overdosed deaths back to their clinics.
00:41:27Jeff George is sentenced to 15 and a half years.
00:41:31Chris George receives a reduced sentence for his testimony against some of his own physicians
00:41:36and is serving a 14-year sentence.
00:41:39The crackdown sends a message to pill mills and overprescribers.
00:41:44From 2010 to 2011, the oxycodone market decreased by 97% in Florida.
00:41:50But the opioids continue to be prescribed.
00:41:54In 2012, 259 million scripts are written, enough for every American adult to have a bottle.
00:42:02But the crackdown will also have severe consequences.
00:42:05The DEA, they hold these press conferences.
00:42:09We've taken this X number of pills off the street.
00:42:13We've arrested these doctors.
00:42:14Everybody's going to face justice.
00:42:16And of course, the thing that no one ever talks about is demand remains constant.
00:42:22So when you take away one source,
00:42:25those people that are inclined to addiction are going to turn to another source.
00:42:30Drug lords in Afghanistan and Mexico are poised to meet the demand.
00:42:38An epidemic is coming.
00:42:41Heroin.
00:42:41While a heroin epidemic grows at home,
00:43:03in Afghanistan, the war on terror rages on with an enemy fueled by the drug trade.
00:43:11Now, the DEA joins the fight.
00:43:16The Drug Enforcement Administration,
00:43:18created by Nixon in 1973 to fight the federal government's war on drugs at home and abroad.
00:43:27DEA is the only agency in the world that can enter into hostile zones and develop an investigation.
00:43:34The opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan is the principal source of funding for the Taliban's continued insurgency.
00:43:50At a bazaar in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, known for its drug trade.
00:44:09The man approaches a stall looking to make a large purchase of high-quality opium.
00:44:14Jalalabad is the epicenter of heroin and opium exportation,
00:44:22well known as hosting overt opium bazaars.
00:44:27One of Afghanistan's top drug lords,
00:44:42Haji Bajko,
00:44:43produces nearly 20% of the world's supply.
00:44:46But this isn't business as usual.
00:44:53The buyer's an undercover DEA agent.
00:44:56As we began to develop our investigations,
00:44:59a traveler named Haji Bajko was identified as the dominant trafficking figure
00:45:03in the entire southeast region of Afghanistan.
00:45:07Move across, let's go.
00:45:09A team of DEA agents in full combat gear move into position.
00:45:13All right, hey, tuck up against the wall.
00:45:16The agent signals payment has been made.
00:45:29Placing their husband under arrest for narcotics.
00:45:34Illegal possession of narcotics.
00:45:38Agents confiscate Bajko's ledgers.
00:45:41Those ledgers gave us a treasure trove
00:45:46of straight-up payments that were made
00:45:48to other traffickers, government officials.
00:45:51But most striking of all that
00:45:53were the payments to the Taliban
00:45:54in the amounts that well moved into the millions of dollars.
00:45:59The operation proves drug money is being used
00:46:02to finance the Taliban
00:46:04in their war against coalition forces.
00:46:06Now, Afghan heroin and opium
00:46:10was an enemy of the United States.
00:46:13The U.S. government makes a major policy shift,
00:46:16taking on drug traffickers in Afghanistan.
00:46:22And they give the DEA new ammunition
00:46:24by creating a new crime,
00:46:27narco-terrorism.
00:46:28Hoshky Bajko is one of the first convicted
00:46:33under the new law,
00:46:34created to pursue offenders
00:46:36who have one hand in drug trafficking
00:46:37and another in terror.
00:46:39The DEA always functions within the guidelines,
00:46:45restrictions, the policy mandates.
00:46:48It's been said that other agencies
00:46:51with different agendas will work with wily
00:46:55and corrupt figures within any given government.
00:46:58Does it happen?
00:47:00I'm sure it does.
00:47:01But it doesn't happen within DEA.
00:47:03The DEA and the CIA
00:47:07can often butt heads.
00:47:10The DEA wants to arrest drug kingpins
00:47:14or drug narco-traffickers.
00:47:16A lot of times,
00:47:17these are precisely the people
00:47:19that the CIA might want to recruit
00:47:21to accomplish their loftier mission
00:47:23of keeping America safe from terrorists.
00:47:26No country has ever been
00:47:40as addicted to drugs
00:47:42from an economic standpoint
00:47:44as Afghanistan has been.
00:47:53How anyone will ever undo that
00:47:55is really hard to imagine.
00:48:04Haji Jumakan.
00:48:06An illiterate tribesman
00:48:07with 14 wives,
00:48:0929 children,
00:48:10and a personal army of 1,500 men.
00:48:13He's also a founding member
00:48:14of the Taliban.
00:48:16Haji Jumakan was one of the world's
00:48:18leading heroin traffickers
00:48:20and supplied the Taliban
00:48:22with an enormous amount of weaponry.
00:48:24He really was a principal financier
00:48:26of the Taliban.
00:48:30Workers test the new crop
00:48:32of raw opium for quality.
00:48:38This batch is grade A.
00:48:41This opium will produce
00:48:42two pounds of pure heroin.
00:48:45Street value in the U.S.,
00:48:46over $100,000.
00:48:51Jumakan is now alleged
00:48:53to be on the DEA's target list.
00:48:56Agents work to deepen
00:48:57their relationship
00:48:57and gain access.
00:49:00One agent gets Khan to confide
00:49:02about a medical condition.
00:49:03Haji Jumakan came to the United States
00:49:16believing he had a life-threatening
00:49:18form of cancer.
00:49:27Using his health
00:49:28as a bargaining chip,
00:49:29agents broker a trade.
00:49:32Medical care
00:49:33for intel.
00:49:35Am I going to die?
00:49:37But nothing is cancer, Mr. Khan.
00:49:39While a doctor prescribes
00:49:40a course of treatment,
00:49:41Jumakan is allegedly debriefed
00:49:43by both the DEA
00:49:44and the CIA.
00:49:45The mission,
00:49:46to gather intelligence
00:49:47from the drug lord
00:49:48on Islamic terrorist activity
00:49:50and his connection
00:49:50to the heroin trade.
00:49:52Somebody like Haji Jumakan
00:49:53for the agency
00:49:55would represent
00:49:56a confidential source
00:49:57and potential operative
00:49:58who could get
00:49:59to very high levels
00:50:00of the Taliban.
00:50:06They flipped him
00:50:07and he was put on a plane
00:50:08and sent back to Afghanistan
00:50:10in return for getting information
00:50:12about the Taliban.
00:50:14This is not the first time
00:50:16the CIA has been in bed
00:50:17with drug lords.
00:50:19In Cuba,
00:50:20the CIA forges an alliance
00:50:21with mob boss
00:50:22and heroin trafficker
00:50:23Santo Traficante
00:50:24to plot the assassination
00:50:26of Fidel Castro.
00:50:28In Laos,
00:50:29the agency alliance
00:50:30with local warlord
00:50:31and opium producer
00:50:32Vang Pao
00:50:33to fight communist insurgents.
00:50:35And again in Nicaragua
00:50:37where cocaine helps fund
00:50:39an illegal CIA war.
00:50:47The CIA will take any person
00:50:50no matter how morally,
00:50:53ethically,
00:50:54situationally challenged
00:50:56they may be.
00:50:57And if they think
00:50:58there's a use
00:50:59for that person,
00:51:00they will try
00:51:00to exploit that.
00:51:02The U.S. government
00:51:04allows Central Asia's
00:51:05largest drug trafficker,
00:51:07Haji Jumakan,
00:51:08to walk.
00:51:09Agents decide
00:51:10having a mole
00:51:11inside the Taliban's network
00:51:13is more valuable
00:51:14than stopping
00:51:14one of their money sources.
00:51:15Many people might look
00:51:18at drug traffickers
00:51:20as the villains.
00:51:22I think from the optic
00:51:23of the agency,
00:51:25the benefit of working
00:51:26with anarcho-traffickers
00:51:27is they're largely apolitical
00:51:30and they are very motivated
00:51:32by money
00:51:33and can be manipulated
00:51:34potentially to achieve
00:51:37a higher mission.
00:51:39Ultimately,
00:51:39we're going to have to
00:51:41look at the war on drugs
00:51:43in a different optic.
00:51:45It's an unwinnable war
00:51:47and always will be
00:51:49an exploitable tool
00:51:50that we can use.
00:52:01While U.S. casualties
00:52:03in Afghanistan grow,
00:52:04the Taliban insurgency
00:52:06gains strength by the day.
00:52:08And the pressure to capture
00:52:10or kill Osama bin Laden
00:52:12intensifies.
00:52:15The Taliban's
00:52:17strategic objectives
00:52:18made a lot of sense
00:52:19from the standpoint
00:52:20of wanting to grow
00:52:21their heroin empire
00:52:22as opposed to
00:52:23trying to retake Kabul,
00:52:25which was the political
00:52:25capital of the country.
00:52:28Farmers prepare bags
00:52:29of opium poppies
00:52:30to be shipped
00:52:30to a heroin lab.
00:52:33This field is owned
00:52:34by Haji Jumakan.
00:52:36For years,
00:52:37he's allegedly been
00:52:38a U.S. government informant,
00:52:39even though much
00:52:40of the money he makes
00:52:41goes directly
00:52:42to America's enemies.
00:52:44Haji Jumakan
00:52:45was considered
00:52:46to be one of the closest
00:52:47traffickers to the Taliban.
00:52:49He was well known
00:52:50for moving these
00:52:51gigantic convoys
00:52:52of narcotics
00:52:53and moving huge amounts
00:52:55of weapons
00:52:55back into Afghanistan.
00:52:57With the Taliban
00:52:58now earning
00:52:59300 million dollars a year
00:53:01from opium,
00:53:02the Pentagon shifts course.
00:53:04Haji Jumakan
00:53:05is allegedly put
00:53:06on a kill list.
00:53:09And the DEA
00:53:10is assigned a new task,
00:53:12something they don't
00:53:12normally do,
00:53:14assist in an assassination.
00:53:17Jumakan is allegedly
00:53:18targeted by one
00:53:19of the go-to tactics
00:53:20in the war on terror,
00:53:21but rarely used
00:53:22in the war on drugs,
00:53:23a drone strike.
00:53:35A DEA agent
00:53:36calls Jumakan
00:53:37and urges him
00:53:38to meet.
00:53:43Unaware
00:53:43of the drone
00:53:43tracking him,
00:53:46Jumakan
00:53:47is lured
00:53:48out of his compound.
00:54:01But instead
00:54:02of setting him up
00:54:03for the kill,
00:54:04the DEA
00:54:05allegedly defies
00:54:06the Pentagon
00:54:06and puts Jumakan
00:54:07on a plane
00:54:08bound for Indonesia.
00:54:17We're set
00:54:17for the first
00:54:18six months
00:54:19of this year
00:54:19and then we'll
00:54:20go even further
00:54:21up from there,
00:54:22but you have
00:54:22to give us time
00:54:23to make...
00:54:23The local police
00:54:24working with the DEA
00:54:25arrest him.
00:54:28Come on,
00:54:29make it easy
00:54:30on yourself.
00:54:30Make it easy.
00:54:33Just wait.
00:54:34Come on.
00:54:35Within minutes,
00:54:37he is put on a plane
00:54:38bound for the United States.
00:54:42Jumakan is charged
00:54:43with financing
00:54:44the Taliban
00:54:44under the new
00:54:45narco-terrorism law
00:54:46and faces
00:54:47a life sentence.
00:54:50The U.S. military's
00:54:52dimensional thinking
00:54:53has always been
00:54:54capture or kill.
00:54:55The law enforcement
00:54:56was not to focus
00:54:58on capture and kill,
00:54:59but investigate
00:55:00and prosecute.
00:55:01By removing
00:55:01those primary players,
00:55:03as we did,
00:55:04it slowed
00:55:05the trafficking industry
00:55:07down measurably.
00:55:09But there's always,
00:55:10always someone
00:55:11to take their place
00:55:12eventually,
00:55:13because unequivocally,
00:55:16wards always outweigh
00:55:18the risks
00:55:18in drug trafficking.
00:55:20while the Taliban's
00:55:28drug traffic
00:55:28is being disrupted,
00:55:29the U.S.-backed
00:55:30president,
00:55:31Hamid Karzai,
00:55:32is serving
00:55:32his second term
00:55:33as Afghanistan's
00:55:34president.
00:55:36The wind keeps
00:55:36the family's control
00:55:37and interests safe,
00:55:39including the
00:55:39president's brother,
00:55:40Ahmed Wali Karzai's
00:55:41drug distribution
00:55:42network in the south.
00:55:43Ahmed Wali Karzai
00:55:50is in his heavily
00:55:51fortified compound
00:55:52when a trusted
00:55:54security aide
00:55:54enters the home.
00:56:00The president's
00:56:02brother is dead.
00:56:08And the Taliban
00:56:09immediately take credit
00:56:11for the murder.
00:56:13After the American
00:56:15occupation of Afghanistan,
00:56:17working with known
00:56:18drug traffickers,
00:56:20including Wali Karzai,
00:56:21was simply a marriage
00:56:23of convenience
00:56:23for the CIA.
00:56:24It was a means
00:56:25to an end.
00:56:26When people look
00:56:27at these nuances
00:56:28and changes
00:56:29in the drug policy,
00:56:31sometimes we'll
00:56:32try to capture them.
00:56:34Sometimes we'll
00:56:34try to pick winners
00:56:36and maybe just
00:56:36tamp down the violence.
00:56:38Sometimes we'll
00:56:38become more aggressive,
00:56:39but really it's like
00:56:40changing the deck chairs
00:56:41in the Titanic.
00:56:43tonight, I can report
00:56:53to the American people
00:56:54and to the world
00:56:56that the United States
00:56:58has conducted an operation
00:56:59that killed
00:57:00Osama bin Laden,
00:57:01the leader of al-Qaeda.
00:57:03USA!
00:57:04USA!
00:57:05USA!
00:57:06USA!
00:57:06USA!
00:57:06USA!
00:57:07USA!
00:57:07USA!
00:57:07USA!
00:57:08USA!
00:57:09USA!
00:57:09USA!
00:57:10USA!
00:57:10USA!
00:57:11USA!
00:57:12USA!
00:57:13USA!
00:57:14USA!
00:57:15USA!
00:57:16USA!
00:57:17USA!
00:57:18USA!
00:57:19USA!
00:57:20USA!
00:57:21USA!
00:57:22USA!
00:57:23USA!
00:57:24USA!
00:57:25USA!
00:57:26USA!
00:57:27USA!
00:57:28USA!
00:57:29USA!
00:57:30USA!
00:57:31USA!
00:57:32USA!
00:57:33USA!
00:57:34USA!
00:57:359-11 happened and the United States government actually invaded one of the largest opium
00:57:44producers in the world.
00:57:47And after more than 15 years of occupying, controlling, influencing Afghanistan, the
00:57:53production and monetary value of opium and heroin from Afghanistan has actually gone up
00:58:01every single year that the United States government has been there.
00:58:05The fundamental problem isn't the production of drugs, the fundamental problem is the demand
00:58:11for drugs.
00:58:16As the U.S. faces a growing opioid epidemic, the demand for heroin skyrockets and just across
00:58:33the border, Mexican cartels are diversifying to meet the demand.
00:58:40The Sinaloa Federation had become one of the most powerful and geographically spread out
00:58:46hotels in Mexico.
00:58:47Mexico is a perfect example of what happens when you empower people who basically are total
00:58:56and completely beyond the pale of law-abiding citizens.
00:59:00That guy's doing something down there.
00:59:02Let's go, Darrell.
00:59:03We'll see what's going on.
00:59:04Yeah, he's doing some coordinates.
00:59:05North 1509-8319.
00:59:06Agents from Immigration Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, spot a small vessel coming
00:59:22up the coast from Colombia, bolting from the Mexican shoreline.
00:59:25Now he's going into the inlet.
00:59:26There's a whole crowd of people meeting him.
00:59:29On the boat are members of the Sinaloa cartel.
00:59:32They're unloading stuff.
00:59:34Stashed on board, pure cocaine.
00:59:37One of the challenges when a large organization like the Sinaloa Federation expands is to establish
00:59:44logistics, to establish a supply chain, and also local commanders to make sure that they
00:59:48maintain the integrity of that newfound territory.
00:59:52They're unloading fuel barrels.
00:59:55Cartel middlemen unload the product.
00:59:57All the fuel barrels are off the ship.
01:00:01Overseeing the operation, Arturo Beltran Leyva, nicknamed the Boss of Bosses, he's a Topsin
01:00:07Oloa enforcer.
01:00:11The coke is buried below fish and ice and loaded onto commercial trucks.
01:00:16Beltran Leyva radios Mexican Border Patrol agents on the cartel payroll, alerting them
01:00:21the trucks are on the move, ensuring safe passage across the border to the United States.
01:00:28Chapo built the perfect vertically integrated enterprise, where you control your product
01:00:34all the way from the ground to the marketplace.
01:00:39One of the most fascinating things about the relationship that Mexican cartels have with
01:00:44American distributors is that most Americans have absolutely no idea what is going on right
01:00:50under their noses.
01:00:52You could be driving on any major highway and see an 18-wheeler right next to you, loaded
01:00:57with illegal drugs moving across the country.
01:01:00The endpoint, the Flores Brothers Chicago operation, who distributes the product to the streets,
01:01:06where the price will have increased 15 times to over $35,000 a kilo.
01:01:12And the Flores Brothers were wholesalers in a sense that they were getting product directly
01:01:17from the Sinaloa organization, and then they were distributing it to dealers.
01:01:21They had houses rented that they just packed with money.
01:01:27As profits soar, one of El Chapo's lieutenants, Archero Beltran Leyva, and his four brothers
01:01:33decide to go out on their own.
01:01:34The Beltran Leyvas thought that they would manage operations better.
01:01:37They had an issue with all that money coming in and not getting enough of a piece of the
01:01:41pie.
01:01:42And that was enough impetus for them to go out on their own.
01:01:45El Chapo's son has been released from prison.
01:01:49But soon after, Beltran Leyva's brother is suddenly arrested by Mexican police.
01:01:55And he suspects El Chapo engineered a deal with the authorities.
01:02:03Now it's Beltran Leyva's turn.
01:02:05He has the dismembered body parts of El Chapo's militiamen delivered to his enemy.
01:02:13El Chapo firebombs a Beltran Leyva safe house.
01:02:19The pattern of violence continues as the rivals try to one-up each other.
01:02:26To show who is the most powerful, who is the most capable of inciting fear.
01:02:35Then Beltran Leyva gets personal.
01:02:43Fifteen assassins open fire in a parking lot.
01:02:46One of the victims is El Chapo's 22-year-old son.
01:02:56Now the civil war is on.
01:03:05One hundred and sixteen people are killed over the next month.
01:03:11The surge in violence puts Beltran Leyva on the run.
01:03:14And the Mexican military reportedly placed a two-billion-dollar bounty on his head.
01:03:22This is an indication of the level of insanity and violence that takes place in Mexico as
01:03:28a result of the drug war.
01:03:30They're not fighting about anything else but the money that's being made in drugs.
01:03:34So the drug war creates this level of violence.
01:03:39Once the killing starts, it's like we've seen it in Mafia movies.
01:03:43You kill one of mine, I kill three of yours.
01:03:45I kill three of yours, you kill six of mine.
01:03:48And the level of violence and killing just keeps upping and upping and upping.
01:03:52The Flores brothers are caught in the middle as the two cartels go to war.
01:03:57They decide their only move is to work with the DEA, allowing their calls with El Chapo to
01:04:02be wiretapped in exchange for protection.
01:04:06Anybody's going to be terrified when you're confronted with that level of violence.
01:04:09You figure, I'm going to walk out and I'm going to get shot and I'm going to get killed.
01:04:13What happened with the Flores brothers is they had no good options.
01:04:16Their only option was, as far as they could see, to work with the DEA and hope that you're
01:04:21going to get protected by the government.
01:04:31An informant tips off the Mexican Marines to Arturo Beltran Leyva's location.
01:04:46The Marines cover the bloody corpse in pesos, impose Beltran Leyva for the press.
01:05:13The final show of force, El Chapo sends a severed head to Beltran Leyva's tomb.
01:05:20Sinaloa is now poised to take over and become the most powerful cartel because they've got
01:05:27the police doing their dirty work for them.
01:05:31It's not an uncommon strategy used in war to use the enemy of your enemy to advance your
01:05:38interests.
01:05:39We do it in Iraq, we do it in Afghanistan, we're doing it now in Syria.
01:05:42El Chapo is now one of the world's most powerful drug lords and also one of the world's most
01:05:50wanted men.
01:05:5138 years after the war on drugs began.
01:05:52There's a major push for one of its biggest targets to become legalized in America.
01:05:58.
01:05:5938 years after the war on drugs began.
01:06:05There's a major push for one of its biggest targets to become legalized in America.
01:06:12DEA agents in full combat gear descend from a helicopter and touch down on a farm.
01:06:19The weed-like plants are cut and confiscated.
01:06:20The weed-like plants are cut and confiscated.
01:06:26This is marijuana, also known as weed, offering a mind-altering euphoric high.
01:06:57Despite the federal government classifying marijuana as a Schedule I illegal drug, the cannabis
01:07:05market is now worth an estimated $7 billion.
01:07:08It was criminalized in the early 20th century.
01:07:15It was all about the weed with roots in hell.
01:07:18And with this huge propaganda that was built up around marijuana.
01:07:23This harmless-looking cigarette is cloaked in many innocent disguises.
01:07:27But light the match.
01:07:29Inhale the smoke, and it becomes an invitation to your own murder.
01:07:33Through the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, government propaganda claimed that marijuana destroyed the
01:07:44human spirit.
01:07:45It made young women into fools and whores, and turned men into rapists.
01:07:50They lied to us about this plant.
01:07:56You smoked it, and you suddenly said, wait a minute now.
01:07:59This stuff isn't so bad.
01:08:00I don't have any desire to go out and rape anybody.
01:08:03I don't even want to get into a fight.
01:08:09Ending marijuana prohibition is incredibly beneficial for everybody in society except for
01:08:14the entities who have been making money off of its prohibition for the last 70 years.
01:08:18Law enforcement, private prisons, pharmaceutical companies.
01:08:26All of them, their business models are predicated on marijuana being illegal.
01:08:34On average, 700,000 Americans are arrested every year on marijuana charges.
01:08:38Colorado becomes the first state to legalize recreational marijuana use.
01:08:55This veteran of the war in Iraq will make one of the first legal marijuana purchases to treat his PTSD.
01:09:00$59.74.
01:09:02Very, very much.
01:09:03Got some legal weed.
01:09:04I'm in line to buy something legal.
01:09:05Let's do this.
01:09:06That's all I'm saying.
01:09:07Let's do this.
01:09:08Now legal in 28 states, legalization is having major implications for the Mexican cartels.
01:09:18If you go to Mexico, then the single biggest threat that the cartels face at the moment to their business is going to be the same.
01:09:19Let's do this.
01:09:20Let's do this.
01:09:21Let's do this.
01:09:22Let's do this.
01:09:23Let's do this.
01:09:24Let's do this.
01:09:25Let's do this.
01:09:26Let's do this.
01:09:27Let's do this.
01:09:28Let's do this.
01:09:29Let's do this.
01:09:30Let's do this.
01:09:31Now legal in 28 states, legalization is having major implications for the Mexican cartels.
01:09:33If you go to Mexico, then the single biggest threat that the cartels face at the moment to their business is legalization.
01:09:49They now face a very powerful competitor in the form of legal businesses.
01:09:57And if you go to a state like Colorado, where the stuff's been legal now for some years, it's an incredibly sophisticated business.
01:10:03It's really professional.
01:10:09The Sinaloa cartel doesn't do chocolate.
01:10:14If you can take this gigantic market out of the hands of criminals and put it in the hands of law-abiding, tax-paying people, that's much more attractive to the government.
01:10:24And ultimately, it leads to a market which is better regulated, safer, and far less criminal.
01:10:35Unlike the legal operations in the north, the Sinaloa kingpin, El Chapo, operates in the shadows.
01:10:43Over the last decade, he's played an elaborate game of cat and mouse, always staying one step ahead of the authorities.
01:10:54Intelligence, gathered from informants and wiretaps, leads authorities to this seaside condo.
01:11:04Without a single shot fired, El Chapo is finally captured.
01:11:17He's sent to Mexico's most secure prison.
01:11:20The truth of the matter is that the huge amounts of money that are generated by the illegal drug traffic world has corrupted law enforcement and the prison authorities.
01:11:35Suddenly, Chapo's guys come along and say, well, here's 150 grand, 200 grand to look the other way while we build this tunnel, or you're going to die.
01:11:42And, you know, people are going to take the money.
01:11:45The Sinaloa cartel digs a mile-long tunnel directly to El Chapo's cell.
01:12:00Looked like he's going to take a shower and disappear into a tunnel that had a motorcycle in it.
01:12:07Next thing you know, Chapo disappears and he's gone.
01:12:14While in hiding, El Chapo makes a bold move, persuading Mexican soap opera star Kate Del Castillo to introduce him to actor Sean Penn.
01:12:35The hope, a collaboration on his life story.
01:12:38But Penn and Del Castillo don't realize they're being watched.
01:12:40Mexican intelligence is tracking their every move.
01:12:44After months of meticulous tracking, the Mexican military zero in on the coastal town in Sinaloa, El Chapo's home state.
01:12:58Official spot a van they believe to belong to the cartel, picking up a large late-night order of tacos.
01:13:21The hunch, the tacos, are for El Chapo.
01:13:29With the alleged support of the U.S. Delta Force, the Mexican Special Forces carry out Operation Black Swan.
01:13:36The
01:13:50The
01:13:51The
01:13:56The
01:13:59The
01:14:06Get away!
01:14:08Get away.
01:14:13That's it!
01:14:15Let's go.
01:14:17Go!
01:14:18Go!
01:14:21Go!
01:14:22Go!
01:14:24I will!
01:14:26Go!
01:14:30It's a door.
01:14:31Five cartel gunmen are dead.
01:15:01But El Chapo escapes through a hidden tunnel in a closet connected to the city's sewer system.
01:15:08He stole a car and he took off.
01:15:11When they caught him, he said, look, I'm going to give you money, I'll give you jobs, I'll take good care of all of you.
01:15:18But the Mexican soldiers refuse the bribe and take Joaquin Guzman into custody.
01:15:23With evidence from the Flores brothers' wiretapped calls, El Chapo is extradited to New York.
01:15:34El Chapo is now in the most famous jail in the world.
01:15:38The Metropolitan Correctional Center, the criminal Hilton, to bow down before the almighty power of the American criminal justice system.
01:15:47And in that building, you have every single criminal of every kind of stripe, from terrorists to rogue CIA agents to drug lords to mafia bosses.
01:16:00And in his absence, the Sinaloa cartel continues to operate.
01:16:10The U.S. government, when it makes a seizure or takes out a notorious, high-profile drug trafficker, it's never eliminating the problem.
01:16:21It's just giving a promotion to somebody else.
01:16:23It's great for the American public appetite for these kind of supervillains, to have guys like El Chapo or Pablo Escobar, to point the finger and say, this is a bad guy.
01:16:37You lock Chapo up, you lock Escobar up, you kill him, whatever you do, somebody else is going to be there to take their place.
01:16:44Maybe 30 guys are there to take their place.
01:16:46It doesn't stop anything.
01:16:47It just gives the public another anti-hero, a bad guy, to focus on.
01:17:00911, where's your emergency?
01:17:02I need an ambulance right away.
01:17:04My son just overdosed on killing.
01:17:06What's your head?
01:17:06Please.
01:17:07What's your...
01:17:08He's unconscious.
01:17:10Please, hurry.
01:17:11Hurry.
01:17:17I think, in future, when people look back at the war on drugs, they'll see one of the great public policy failures of our time.
01:17:30So much money has been spent and so much violence done, all for such little gain.
01:17:36America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.
01:17:49The U.S. government has always had a hypocritical relationship to drugs.
01:17:55On the one hand, it uses drug dealers as part of its foreign policy.
01:18:00What will you do when someone offers you drugs?
01:18:03Let's take drugs!
01:18:05And then domestically, it has built up an entire system of social control around the use of these drugs.
01:18:16The war on drugs is a war on poor people.
01:18:20It's a means of dehumanizing large segments of the American population.
01:18:25Some think there won't be room for them in jail.
01:18:28We'll make room.
01:18:30The war on drugs has achieved none of its ends.
01:18:39But the one thing it has done is increase the power of its institutions and the laws of the state.
01:18:45Its powers to search Americans' homes, to do surveillance.
01:18:50That is the only tangible victory of the war on drugs is to have made the state stronger.
01:18:56You will be put away and put away for good.
01:18:59The country was given a choice and what happened was it doubled down on the war on drugs.
01:19:12We have spent trillions of dollars over the decades, trillions, with no positive results.
01:19:25Walk backwards, backwards, backwards stop.
01:19:29The only thing it created was mass incarceration.
01:19:32No individual in the United States can say, thank you, America, for your war on drugs.
01:19:44You saved my child.
01:19:45Nobody really wants to be addicted to drugs.
01:19:50It's a terrible way of life.
01:19:53Law enforcement is not the answer.
01:19:54The only solution is to treat it as a social and health problem.
01:20:00People who get in trouble with drugs need to be helped.
01:20:04They have a medical condition.
01:20:05And I think a lot of things really need to change.
01:20:08Drug use is not a war you win.
01:20:12The reality is that no one in power ever took this war on drugs seriously.
01:20:16They used it for political purposes.
01:20:19It's an ugly truth.
01:20:21Drugs are menacing our society.
01:20:23They're killing our children.
01:20:24I say that legalization is just another word for surrender.
01:20:29And surrender is not in our vocabulary.
01:20:32We have just begun the job.
01:20:34And we do not intend to stop until we have finished.
01:20:38When we fight drugs, we fight the war on terror.
01:20:44I think it's politically very difficult for politicians to talk sense about drugs while they're still in office.
01:20:51And what we're seeing is a growing number of people who come out and admit that the war is failing.
01:20:58I signed a bill that made the problem worse.
01:21:00We had a lot of people locked up for way too long.
01:21:04And that was overdone.
01:21:05We were wrong about that.
01:21:07The President of the United States!
01:21:13Finding sitting presidents who are still in office and who still have the power to change things is much harder.
01:21:18To protect our citizens, I have directed the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice,
01:21:24along with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence,
01:21:28to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread all across our nation.
01:21:37The President of the United States!
01:21:42Bellum Se Ipsum Allet, and it translates as,
01:21:46War feeds itself.
01:21:53Once you create the enemy, once you build the institutions,
01:21:58it will keep perpetuating itself forever.
01:22:01And I'll see you next time.
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