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2008 is Mexico's bloodiest year yet. The rise in violence frightens the US, pushing them to implement strict border controls and heavy militarization to combat drug-related crime. The wall between the two countries reflects this crisis.
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00:30As American citizens, I, you know, have a great, great family, doing well, been married for quite a long time now, you know. Donate to the church, pay taxes, whatever, the American dream.
00:45My name's Bob. I was a lieutenant in the Oriental Felix cartel. A lot of the guys I worked with, the guys who used to work for me, are either dead or in prison.
00:57We're mad inside.
00:59However, there is another way. There's another way for people who are trapped, people who don't have any way out. They cooperate with law enforcement.
01:08As dangerous as it was, I'm one of the few, I'm one of the lucky ones to live to tell the story.
01:18Battle, President Calderon is fighting inside of Mexico. It's also ours.
01:22Because he's accused of accepting millions of dollars and bribes from the cartel.
01:34Circus goes on, there's different clowns.
01:47A resort town in Mexico, just a 90-minute drive from San Diego, was the scene of a horrific crime today.
02:08Men, women, children, and even a baby were among a score of people gunned down in a massacre, apparently drug-related, in a Juarez to Tijuana connection.
02:20In the late 90s, the cartels in Mexico were at war with each other.
02:28This looks like an alarming escalation of the war.
02:31So when they traveled, they traveled heavily armed, with convoys, vehicles, full of men, armed in the teeth.
02:46And the war building over the border, we're having homicides happening in San Diego, Los Angeles, and other places.
02:55We have bodies with two bullets to the back of their heads and cars burning on the side of the freeway.
03:05We have people being murdered with assault rifles.
03:11Our primary need was to protect our nation.
03:17We have to do our best here to take off the most violent.
03:20They were our number one enemy.
03:22I spent approximately 30 years targeting the Ariano-Felix organization.
03:37The Ariano-Felix organization was probably imported more cocaine than any of the cartels.
03:43Much, much more.
03:44The Ariano-Felix family consisted of seven brothers and a number of sisters.
03:52And they were very flamboyant in how they dressed.
03:56And Benjamin Ariano-Felix, he was the head of the organization.
04:05People were afraid of them because at the slightest moment of hesitation or they didn't trust someone, they went and killed them.
04:12Where the other organizations, like the Sinaloa Cartel, were more a little laid back.
04:19I mean, they still did their shares of killings, but nothing like the Ariano-Felix organization was doing.
04:23In our investigation against the Ariano-Felix, we wanted to take off the top of the organization.
04:30That was our goal, to work our way up.
04:33But while we were working our way up, we often used lower level members of the organization to become witnesses and to provide information, to go undercover.
04:44So Bob came up in my investigation.
04:53Bob is a Caucasian male.
04:55It's very plain looking, or low-key looking.
04:59You know, he doesn't dress flamboyantly.
05:01He's very polite.
05:03He's very respectful.
05:04But he's very ambitious, and he moved a lot of cocaine for the Ariano-Felix organization over the years.
05:15I started working as a mule, carrying loads of cocaine from L.A. to New York.
05:24I had a crew in the United States.
05:27I've had my guys get it across country driving.
05:29We decided to take advantage of the police pattern of profiling.
05:35You know, my idea of a crook was Tony Montana.
05:39Scarface, you know?
05:41Flamboyant, chains, Latino.
05:44And my idea was to make them look like police as much as I could.
05:50I gave them the short haircuts, the mustaches over the corner of their mouth,
05:56clean fingers, clean hands.
05:58So, it pays off.
06:01It works, you know?
06:02Whether you have 100 kilos of cocaine in the trunk of your car,
06:07or you're just an old man driving.
06:10Every time they pull me over, they let me go looking for someone else.
06:14We'd make $40,000 to $80,000 a month.
06:19It's a good gig.
06:20It's a generous-paying gig.
06:22A lot of power.
06:24I'm not going to lie.
06:24Power is addictive.
06:26The money was a hell of a perk, a bonus.
06:31You did well with it.
06:33After doing that a few times and being successful at that,
06:37Go partners on it.
06:39One of the leaders in the cartel,
06:42right under Gus, who was right under the Ariano Brothers,
06:46who was right under Benjamin.
06:47So, that's how close I was to the top.
06:51But I got a call from a friend of mine.
06:56Hey, we have this guy, Bob, big white guy.
07:01And he just met with our Colombian target in our case.
07:03We have a wiretap on this guy.
07:05He's a big-time Colombian trafficker, and he's stationed here in L.A.
07:08But we're following Bob back, and he's in a Ford truck.
07:14And when he gets over the county line,
07:17we need you to pick up the surveillance and follow him and see what he does.
07:23We followed his car, and he was a mile short of the Tijuana border
07:29when he was pulled over on the side of the freeway.
07:34And Bob immediately said to the police officer,
07:37Who's in charge?
07:39I know what's going on.
07:40Who's in charge?
07:40Who is in that cluster of vehicles a mile back on the side of the freeway?
07:45So, the officer called me, and he says,
07:48He knows, Steve.
07:49Come on up.
07:50And Bob told us both,
07:52I'm going to be absolutely useless to you
07:55if someone drives by and sees me standing on the side of the road.
07:58and we need to get out of this.
08:00Take me back to your headquarters.
08:01Do whatever we need to do.
08:02Let's get out of here.
08:03I was very hurt.
08:05I was mad.
08:08I didn't like this criminal telling me my job.
08:12But he was right.
08:13We took him back to the DEA.
08:20And then we sat down for the debriefing.
08:23They brought in the head attorney.
08:26He came to me and said,
08:27look, you can work your time off by cooperating.
08:31We were starting at five to seven years.
08:34I was looking at five to seven years,
08:37which is better than life imprisonment for working for the cartel.
08:42I had made a deal with the attorney that was cooperating.
08:45I told Steve,
08:47I got to be where I was in the cartel,
08:49Working hard.
08:50I'm going to be the best confidential informant you've ever had.
08:53So he's very responsible.
08:55He's very smart.
08:56He's smarter than me.
08:57Bob was very influential once he made the decision to cooperate.
09:09He taught us about the structure.
09:11He taught us about their communication system,
09:14how they moved their drugs in a procession sometimes,
09:17how they smuggled it into the United States,
09:20what ports of entries they used,
09:22who they corrupted.
09:24But we were targeting Gustavo Rivera.
09:30And Gustavo Rivera was someone that we know
09:32to be involved with the Arellano Felix organization
09:35from their inception.
09:36Gus was described as the financier of the organization.
09:42He's also an enforcer and a murderer.
09:45Gustavo Rivera is a mass murderer,
09:47a mass murderer.
09:52We have heard him on the radio
09:55directing the murder, kidnapping, corruption
09:58of numerous people,
10:00numerous people,
10:01hundreds.
10:06Everything was going well.
10:16I was giving them information.
10:18They were building a case and doing their thing.
10:23And one night,
10:24I got a meeting with Gus in the restaurant.
10:27Bob called me,
10:28And he said,
10:29Steve, I just met Gus in a restaurant.
10:33I just want to let you know,
10:34if you go in and take him out,
10:35everything, you know,
10:36We've got it covered, right?
10:39So the DEA is working in cooperation
10:41down in Mexico
10:42with the state police.
10:44Mexican police sat on the bar
10:45and waited for Gus to leave.
10:50The guys take off,
10:51and then all of a sudden,
10:53they start trying to arrest him,
10:54trying to stop him.
11:02But because he always had a driver in front
11:04And there's one behind him.
11:05they block everything off like that,
11:06And then they get away.
11:09I get called on the carpet the next day
11:10and saying,
11:11Hey,
11:11I'm going, what's up?
11:12He's going, oh my God.
11:13He goes,
11:14I almost got arrested last night.
11:15Only two people knew
11:16I was going to be there
11:17It was you and this other guy.
11:18He goes,
11:19did you have anything to do with this?
11:20And I go,
11:21what are you fucking talking about?
11:23What do you mean
11:23I have anything to do with it?
11:25I thought,
11:26I didn't have anything to do with it.
11:27Bob called me
11:28And he yelled at me.
11:30Said,
11:30you guys are going to fucking kill me.
11:33And I said,
11:35Get out of there.
11:35Get out of there.
11:37He goes,
11:37okay,
11:37I'm coming.
11:42I went back to my home.
11:43I gathered what I could gather.
11:45Had my guys drive me to the border.
11:47So I walked across the border.
11:49And that was the last time
11:50I went back to Mexico.
11:51Mexico.
11:51Mexico.
11:51Mexico.
11:51Mexico.
11:51Mexico.
11:52Mexico.
11:52Mexico.
11:53Mexico.
11:53Mexico.
11:54Mexico.
11:54Mexico.
11:55Mexico.
11:55Mexico.
11:55Mexico.
11:56Even after I left Mexico
11:59after one year,
12:01I helped them
12:02for the next five years.
12:04I was responsible
12:05for a guy confessing
12:06to murder on a phone.
12:08I was personally responsible
12:09for over 60 indictments
12:11and convictions.
12:12Most guys in my position
12:13would do some jail time,
12:16But for all the work I did,
12:19I was rewarded
12:20with not having to do jail time.
12:22My family had no idea.
12:30what I did,
12:31who I am
12:31or who I was.
12:33I'm self-employed.
12:34I have my own business.
12:36I put my son through
12:38college,
12:39university,
12:40medical school.
12:41My daughter,
12:42Oh my God,
12:43Is she ever going to graduate?
12:45A year of college?
12:46It's perceived by
12:52some of the general popu-
12:54or some of the population
12:55dirty deals.
12:56Even the devil's deals
12:57in the DEA,
12:58you know,
12:59that's
12:59it connotes,
13:01you know,
13:01dirty deals.
13:02Common practice.
13:03I mean,
13:03It's a dirty business.
13:04Is it fair?
13:13that this person,
13:13Bob,
13:14Didn't know the time?
13:16Probably not.
13:17but it's in the eye
13:18of the beholder
13:19and you had to understand
13:20where we were.
13:21We were focused
13:22and we were trying
13:23very strongly
13:25to get to
13:26the top level
13:28of the Ariano Felix
13:29organization.
13:31Using informants
13:32like Bob
13:33was a means
13:35to an end.
13:36Even when somebody
13:37had blood on their hands,
13:39it was worth it
13:40if it would get us
13:41to the next level.
13:45The government of States
13:46Unidos estaba interessado
13:47dismantle
13:48The Tijuana Cartel.
13:50Estaba siendo difícil.
13:54Y era el cártel
13:55from Sinaloa,
13:56Mayo
13:57y el Chapo
13:57quien le ayudó
13:59a la DEA
14:00to be able to stop
14:01a los arellano
14:03Felix.
14:05The cartel
14:06from Sinaloa,
14:07at least
14:08since 1998
14:10until 2011,
14:12tenía relación
14:14direct
14:15with the DEA.
14:16There was a bridge
14:17direct,
14:18había reuniones.
14:22This connection
14:23direct
14:23empezó
14:24con una masacre.
14:25That day,
14:34at the airport
14:35International
14:36Miguel Hidalgo,
14:38very close
14:38from 4 pm
14:40they listened
14:41detonations
14:42of bullets
14:43of fire.
14:46The people
14:47he hid
14:48because in the wise
14:49where from
14:50provenían
14:50los balazos.
14:52And to the few
14:53minutes
14:53it is discovered
14:55that there
14:55an automobile
14:56white
14:57and inside
15:00of the same,
15:02en el asiento
15:03of the co-pilot,
15:05yace
15:05about his side
15:06left
15:07the corpse
15:08of the cardinal
15:09Juan Jesús
15:10Posadas Ocampo.
15:12Acribillados.
15:17Hay una reación
15:18shock
15:18in society
15:19Mexican.
15:26In a town,
15:29in its immense
15:29majority,
15:30creyente
15:31Catholic,
15:33no podía
15:34fit
15:35que hubieran
15:36assassinated
15:37a un príncipe
15:38of the church.
15:40And the whole world
15:41he wondered,
15:43Who is capable?
15:43to pay attention
15:44Against a cardinal?
15:48Son accused
15:51los narcotraficantes.
15:58At that moment,
15:59on one side
16:00tuvimos
16:01la Arollano
16:01Happy
16:02Organization.
16:03In Sinaloa,
16:05tuvimos
16:05the cartel
16:05Sinaloa
16:06that was
16:07directed
16:07by Chapo
16:08Guzmán.
16:10And the worst
16:11had gone
16:11for years.
16:13They hated them
16:13a los demás
16:14why
16:14they wanted
16:15control
16:15del
16:15business.
16:18When Arollano
16:20organization
16:21drove
16:22el
16:23marriage
16:23de Chapo
16:23Guzmán,
16:24mataron
16:25the person
16:25mistaken,
16:26mataron
16:26al cardinal.
16:30The version
16:31that of
16:32the authority
16:32federal
16:33that
16:34the cardinal
16:35Posadas
16:36quedó
16:37in the middle
16:38of a fire
16:39crusader
16:39between two bands.
16:41The vision
16:42It is in Los Arollanos.
16:44The photos
16:45if suben
16:45and the photo
16:46if suben
16:47a reward
16:48five million
16:49dollars
16:50for its capture.
16:51The authority
16:52coloca en la televisión
16:54los dibujos
16:55by Joaquín
16:55El Chapo
16:56Guzmán,
16:57Ramón Arellano
16:57Felix,
16:58by Benjamin
16:59Arellano
16:59Felix,
17:00y es así
17:00how los
17:01we went
17:01getting to know.
17:02Yes, that's right.
17:04by the Mexican government
17:05of this event.
17:06y el gobierno mexicano
17:08if suben
17:08in the Mexican government
17:10y el gobierno mexicano
17:11if suben
17:12in the Mexican government
17:13y se suben
17:13in the Mexican government.
17:14Y eso es
17:15cuando el Chapo
17:16escape
17:16y fue a Guatemala.
17:18y entonces
17:20in the first days
17:22June
17:22traen al Chapo
17:24Guzmán
17:25detained
17:26from Guatemala
17:26and the authorities
17:28hablan
17:28of a great deployment
17:30military,
17:31of some labors
17:32intelligence.
17:33He was turned
17:34over
17:34by the
17:34Guatemala
17:35intelligence services
17:36back to the
17:37Mexican government
17:38and that's
17:39when he was
17:39put in Puente Grande.
17:56Sin embargo
17:57the detention
17:57del Chapo
17:58Guzmán
17:58es una farsa
17:59because El Chapo
18:00Guzmán
18:00was driving
18:01since the penal
18:02federal
18:03su propio cartel
18:04and his war
18:05against them
18:06Arellano Félix.
18:10But them
18:11Arellano Félix
18:12siguen libres.
18:17Ellos
18:18le entregan
18:19al jefe
18:21of the Police
18:21Federal Judiciary
18:2210 million
18:24dollars
18:25so that
18:26Don't follow us
18:27en la cacería
18:27in case
18:28Posadas.
18:30Es la capacidad
18:31of corruption
18:32that they had
18:33los
18:34Arellano Félix
18:35of the hunt
18:36of the hunt
18:37It was a turning point.
18:40Chapo hates Aryans.
18:42It was personal.
18:44So, anything he could do
18:47To deal with the Arians, he could do it.
18:50And that helped us because
18:52We managed to dismantle the organization.
18:54With your help.
18:56To call this dealing with the devil.
18:58If you're dealing with the devil, you have to dance to his music.
19:07Actually, it was November 7, 1997.
19:16And the call of interest from the embassy.
19:19who was an individual who wanted to speak with the DEA.
19:22So, I went there.
19:24And this individual, he said,
19:27I want to give you my name.
19:29My name is Electra.
19:31I am the brother-in-law, Chapo Guzman's brother-in-law.
19:35Did I really say that?
19:37I am Joe Bond.
19:40I am a lawyer specializing in drug administration.
19:43I'm the only lawyer who has never met me, Chapo, in person.
19:47And I met him at his request.
19:53At that time, Chapo Guzman
19:56It had been arrested in Guatemala.
19:58and was returning to Puente Grande, Guadalajara, Jalisco.
20:02And Electra said,
20:04He would like to be able to have an interest in you.
20:10about what he wants to do.
20:12So, we checked the guy thoroughly.
20:14He was Chapo Guzman's brother-in-law.
20:17And Electra said,
20:19so everyone knows that his codename is Tito,
20:23and that.
20:25That's how he'll know you're the agent I'm talking about.
20:28And that.
20:29And there
20:31the next day,
20:33I went to Guadalajara.
20:34to Guadalajara.
20:35I went to Guadalajara and go to Guadalajara
20:37paragefair with a multidê situation for Guadalajara.
20:40It may have been a precaution,
20:41Or to have been a good one over there.
20:43And there
20:45the cooperative nape
20:46Duarte's call
20:49came with the idea that, okay, you will go as a psychologist.
20:55And we met with the warden.
20:59He said, we got a place for you guys. It's the psychiatric unit.
21:03And they brought in Chapo Guzman.
21:08And I said to him, I'm Tito.
21:11He could not believe it. His face went white.
21:15And he turned around, ran to the door, got on his knees,
21:19make sure that nobody was over there listening.
21:22And I said, well, Chapo, what do you want from us?
21:25He says, I will give you the Arellano-Felix organization.
21:28I'll give you the complete organization.
21:30I have people infiltrated into the organization.
21:33They can tell you exactly when and where they're going to be.
21:37And you guys can just grab them.
21:40I said, okay, Chapo.
21:47I go back to the U.S. Embassy.
21:49We prepared a report.
21:51The ward came back from Washington, no deal, Joe.
21:55We're not going to deal with him.
21:56And they said, well, he's giving us the Arellano-Felix organization.
22:00And they disagreed.
22:01Because they wanted him charged in the United States, bottom line.
22:04They didn't want him to cooperate.
22:06They didn't want him to do anything for us.
22:09They wanted him arrested and extradited to the United States.
22:12They told us, don't meet with Chapo again.
22:15Shortly after that, he escaped.
22:17That enough corrupt people there allowed him to escape.
22:23And about a couple of weeks went by, sometime went by, and I got a phone call from Chapo Guzman's brother.
22:37Arturo Guzman Loera, and his nickname was El Pollo, the chicken, because he was just a tiny little guy.
22:47And he says, Chapo still wants to work with you guys.
22:50And he says, I would like to meet with you.
22:53I explained that to my superiors in the office, you know, the regional director and everything.
22:57I said, hey, I'm not meeting with Chapo, I'm meeting with Arturo.
23:01So I'm not breaking any rules here.
23:03You know, you've got to use your imagination.
23:05Say, what am I going to do here?
23:06We're meeting at a public hotel.
23:14We get to the place, and we go up to the room.
23:20He was already there.
23:21So we spoke for a while, and Chapo Guzman had told me, we already have surveillance on the Adriano Felix.
23:32We're already watching his wife, who is in Puebla.
23:37They have a house there.
23:38And we expect Benjamín to be there, and we're just waiting for him to get there.
23:44And once he gets there, we're going to give you the location.
23:47That was great.
23:48Benjamín Arellano Felix was the head of the organization, Our Big Fish.
23:58And in 2000, we had a dedicated team of Mexican federal agents that would apprehend people that we located.
24:18And we arrived at the city of Puebla, approximately, like at 10.30 p.m.
24:28And suddenly, we found out in front of the house of Benjamín.
24:33We realized that there was no security element.
24:38Everything was calm.
24:39There was no noise.
24:40There was nothing.
24:41There was no indication of that he could be in his house.
24:50I'm the general of the Mexican army, who led the operation that allowed the capture of Benjamín Arellano Felix.
24:59And the main team went through the main door to the second floor, which is where the voices were heard.
25:11And the main team came out of that life.
25:24But when you came out, your family, your wife, who was present, and your children were able to leave it there and they gave it.
25:37I looked at Benjamin and confirmed that he was the person we were looking for.
26:00It's very strange, but I think he trusted that no one could...
26:07He discovered, or could have guessed, that his family was there, much less that he was in that place.
26:14Without a doubt, it was nothing more than that for the night, and that was his mistake.
26:25Benjamin was arrested in 2002.
26:29He waited so long for this guy to be outraged, and you know, it's time to celebrate.
26:36You know, the CEO, the top dog.
26:39That's how it was, oh, a lot is going on.
26:45It took us 9 years to extradite him here in the United States.
26:49I am David Herod.
26:59I am David Herod.
27:02I have 30 years of experience in federal law enforcement.
27:07I am now frustrated.
27:09So, David, the DEA's lead agent?
27:13The great agent, the great agent.
27:15The great agent.
27:16The great agent.
27:17The great agent.
27:18The great agent.
27:19The great agent.
27:20The great agent.
27:22The great agent.
27:23The great agent.
27:24The great agent.
27:25The great agent.
27:27The great agent.
27:28The great agent.
27:29The great agent.
27:30The great agent.
27:32The great agent.
27:34The great agent.
27:35The great agent.
27:37The great agent.
27:39Some.
27:40The great agent.
27:41It wasn't offered to us if it had Chapo's blessing.
27:45It wasn't the DEA speaking specifically to El Chapo.
27:50It was more like, there was information to be passed on,
27:54and, being the leader of the organization,
27:59He was blessed and he said,
28:02Okay, go and pass this information on to the foreigners.
28:11So, when you had this person whom you feared and respected so much,
28:15that Ben-Hamin Ariadno is now,
28:18which made the organization vulnerable.
28:34Remember this being said sometimes,
28:36This is a gift from Chapo.
28:39What he had to do was give it a name.
28:41And that's what he did to Chris.
28:44What is the name of the other side?
28:46Alberto Rivera.
28:48Chris was a killer.
28:49He was a Stoke Gold killer.
28:51So, we received information from Sinaloa,
28:55through a lawyer,
28:56that Chris was staying in a specific place.
29:00on the other side.
29:02One type of case involved a large cocaine operation in Manzanillo.
29:07in Manzanillo,
29:08in which 23 tons of cocaine
29:11Substantially, cocaine was found.
29:15It was a split.
29:16Good,
29:17I think it came from that friend.
29:19from Chapo with the binder.
29:21In Puerto de Manzanillo,
29:22There is a major type of cocaine,
29:26And you needed to try and find the horse.
29:29As we worked up the case, we indicted the Five Brothers.
29:33We indicated people who made decisions in the organization, the higher echelon.
29:38You know, we took the organization apart.
29:45You know, we did something good.
29:47We dismantled and took down an entire cartel.
29:50And we brought the majority of those leadership figures to justice.
29:59In reality, what the cartel of Sinaloa does is use the DEA.
30:14And it's an absolutely perverse and great deal.
30:18And it works.
30:19Because the cartel of Sinaloa takes possession of what is Tijuana.
30:24To increase the traffic of drugs in the United States and to increase the millions of dollars of gains.
30:35It wasn't the cartel of Sinaloa who worked for the government of the United States.
30:39It was the government of the United States who worked for the cartel of Sinaloa.
30:44You know, I think sometimes there's a misconception that the United States government was behind the rise of Chapo Guzman.
30:57No, we weren't.
30:59We weren't naive enough to think, well, he's just trying to eliminate his competition.
31:03We get it.
31:04We know that.
31:05But that doesn't mean the investigations on him stop.
31:09It's kind of like, you know, that old phrase, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.
31:18And at some point in time, you're going to pull the trigger and you're going to take down Chapo and you're going to take down members of his organization.
31:27Once they managed to conquer Tijuana, the war broke out in Nuevo Laredo.
31:37Empieza a war of the Sinaloa cartel against those who called the Zetas.
31:43The origin of the Zetas is surrounded by 40, 50 elite soldiers from the Mexican army who deserted from the army,
31:56but they had very professional training as elite military personnel.
32:01When Chapo Guzmán said I was going to take over Nuevo Laredo and Laredo and it resulted in violence against the cartel becoming more violent due to control.
32:21Y empiezan killing, but like flies, all of Chapo's people.
32:27And then we began to see the decapitated and the tortured bodies and the destroyed bodies.
32:57And to the membrados and to the incinerated bodies and the brutal exhibition of hanging bodies on the streets of the cities.
33:08There was a cartel that decided Chapo was still sending these idiots that we were killing like flies.
33:21Sincerely, Los Zetas.
33:22It was like a duel of titans and the Sinaloa cartel, the Mayo, the Chapo, these people provided the information to the DEA
33:35to be able to stop the greatest enemies of the Sinaloa cartel, who were the Zetas.
33:42But in the end, what the United States government says with the letter from Sinaloa is like giving meat to a lion.
33:59You're giving him food, you're taking away the meat and you think he can control it.
34:04One day the lion eats you.
34:34Le dieron bristles at the Mexican cards instead of the United States government.
34:38So, Mexico has gun laws.
34:52Only the military, the police, and certain officials are allowed to store them.
34:58There is only one gun in the entire country of Mexico.
35:02And it is run by the Mexican military.
35:04For someone to take up arms on the border of Mexico is a very serious crime.
35:11not only in the United States, but also in Mexico.
35:23Here in the United States, particularly in Arizona,
35:25which is a state of gun ownership,
35:27There are many shows in various locations in Arizona.
35:30I used to travel to these shows and set up my display.
35:34I was one of the biggest businessmen at those shows.
35:38With over 100 weapons on display and another 100 weapons in the backstop.
35:43People paid if they wanted to buy the gun.
35:46Of course, they needed to play the part.
35:48and if it went through a background check,
35:50They could leave the show with that particular weapon.
35:53The way criminals would obtain background checks
36:00It would mean finding someone without a criminal history.
36:03and pay them the money to go to a show or a noise
36:07and do the background check and buy the weapon,
36:10and then they would come to the person who was unable to buy the weapon.
36:16This is called a purchase.
36:18So, in April 2006, I was at a show in Phoenix,
36:24and a young Hispanic man approached me
36:28and wanted a number of AR-15s.
36:31So, that particular person was Carlos Celaya.
36:42He passed the background check.
36:43He took six weapons.
36:45He paid for his passions with money.
36:49He came back the next day and asked me if I had any more.
36:53And I said,
36:54you cleaned me out yesterday,
36:56But I'll get 20 more of those types of weapons.
37:00after the month.
37:02And he said,
37:03I'm going to get them.
37:04And that really crushed my suspicions.
37:08So, the next day,
37:09I recounted the work of the ATF in Tucson,
37:12my regulatory agency,
37:16about this flattening.
37:22My name is John Dotson.
37:23I am a specialist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
37:25and Law Enforcement Unit of the Department of Justice.
37:34ATF stands for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
37:38But essentially, what we are,
37:40We are the violent white crime.
37:42of the U.S. Federal Government.
37:44The U.S. Federal Government.
37:47The U.S. Federal Government.
37:48And the U.S. Federal Government.
37:49The U.S. Federal Government.
37:50The U.S. Federal Government.
37:51The U.S. Federal Government.
37:52The U.S. Federal Government.
37:53The U.S. Federal Government.
37:54The U.S. Federal Government.
37:55The U.S. Federal Government.
37:56A U.S. Federal-trained?
37:58Caption for 50 super expensive
37:59Hey, do you want to buy 20, 30, or 40 AK variants?
38:00đó.
38:01Normally, we would go to investigate that.
38:04We were going to explore this.
38:06We, the war of the cioras
38:20So, the next day, after I had completed the background check for my contact,
38:27He arrived a little after lunchtime, and he said,
38:30You know, your suspicions are correct.
38:32We went in with this person, and he has no cartel affiliations.
38:38We could use your help.
38:40Can you help us?
38:43And I said, "Of course, you know, what's that going to do?"
38:46He said, "I'd like you to call him back."
38:49and tell him when those 20 guns are coming,
38:51And maybe we will, you know,
38:54Surveillance of the purchase when he comes to pick up the weapons and so on.
38:59We think we have a chance to take down a powerful cartel.
39:03And we need your help.
39:05This was the true beginning of Operation Fast and Furious.
39:10You weren't even informed about this?
39:12Absolutely not.
39:13This is a great government, the United Governor.
39:16I have many movement parts.
39:19This is Thursday evening.
39:23Carlos Celaya
39:24He's coming to buy an AK pistol.
39:27I'm a little surprised.
39:29I'm going to get my pocket.
39:30So all the sales happened right here in my living room
39:37and when I knew I had a purchaser coming with Carlos
39:41or if Carlos was bringing a new associate
39:43I would set up boxes of guns right here in the living room
39:47and ATF, my regulatory agency
39:50would set up audio recording inside a box of Kleenex
40:00The closest agent sat 60 yards from my front door in his car
40:04and he heard through a transmitter that works sporadically at best
40:11Come on, come
40:13Sorry about that
40:16What did you need today?
40:18I needed an AK pistol
40:19AK pistol, okay
40:21How much do the rules cost?
40:23I don't know
40:24I'll have to look in the gun books and see how much
40:28You want that 25?
40:30Yeah, yeah, AR-15 Colt
40:33Mm-hmm
40:34So you're gonna get some of those for
40:36Colt AR-15s?
40:37Uh-huh
40:38Oftentimes, Carlos would bring a garbage bag that was full of cash
40:44Other times, he brought a brick of money that was vacuum-packed in plastic
40:53And from there, ATF, the seven agents, they would follow them
40:57to see where they were taking those guns
41:00And then they would literally have to load up dollies, what we call a cart full of firearms boxes, right?
41:06And wheel them outside to their car, open the trunk, load them in there
41:10Then they'd drive away
41:11We would follow them, they would drive around the town or city of Phoenix, they would meet up with another vehicle in a parking lot or in a garage
41:26And we would let the guns go
41:31And we would let the guns go
41:33We were ordered to leave the guns and let them go
41:37We knew that they were headed south, that they were going to Mexico
41:46And then we would wait
42:01Sometimes the next day, we would get a trace result
42:04That firearm had been used in a homicide in Mexico
42:07It shot up a birthday party, it shot up a dance club
42:10One of those guns
42:16And the people in my office high-fived each other and celebrated
42:19That was good for their case
42:22I don't know how
42:24Their argument was, do you see, these guns are being used by cartel in cartel violence
42:29But we were allowing it all to happen
42:31You take the United States government out of the equation, these transactions don't happen
42:35The guns don't go south, and I asked, many times
42:39And I was told, you don't understand
42:41You can't wrap your brain around these complex conspiracy investigations, alright?
42:47Literally, I was told to shut up and do as I was told
42:54When I originally met with the big boss for the Tucson office
42:57He said, we think it'll take us about three weeks to wrap this up
43:03Can you hang with us?
43:05Well, three weeks turned into three years
43:09And literally sold hundreds of guns
43:15They're federal agents, they've got it all figured out
43:18At some point in time, they'll let me know
43:20And I'll be clued in, and I'll understand how this is all going to work
43:27It sounded crazy
43:32It makes no sense
43:34That you would let a dangerous weapon be sold to a dangerous group of criminals
43:40Who will then use them to kill people and commit crimes
43:43In order to catch a bad guy so that he won't kill people and commit crimes
43:49The loop just doesn't make sense
43:52But the whole thing broke open
43:54And that kind of blew the whole case wide open
43:57A border agent has been gunned down, murdered, in a late night shootout just 10 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border
44:19Four gunmen are in custody tonight and several more suspects possibly connected to the shooting are being hunted down
44:26But here's the question
44:28In 2010, news came out about a border patrol agent who had been shot and killed
44:33Brian Terry
44:36Shot and killed in the field
44:38And rumors started immediately
44:41About something being wrong and
44:45My wife and I were having coffee on the couch
44:48And when we saw it on the news, both of our stomachs sank
44:53And we looked at each other and asked out loud
44:56If somehow my agency had been involved in the death of an innocent border patrol agent
45:00We have some real challenges
45:03Secretary Napolitano was already headed to the US-Mexico border, southern Arizona
45:07Shortly thereafter, I received a phone call
45:09In fact, one of the firearms recovered from the scene
45:12Had traced back to the case that we were working on
45:15And it was like your worst fear had come through
45:19And, well, the whole world changed and it was a pivotal moment
45:27Because the cat is out of the bag now
45:31As our ABC 15 investigators reported, the guns used to kill Terry were part of a botched federal gun program
45:39Known as Operation Fast and Furious
45:42The world is about to find out that the United States government was allowing guns to go into Mexico
45:47For some unknown reason
45:51It's called Letting Guns Walk
45:53I was reporting almost daily online new revelations that were giving more and more credence to how big this operation was
46:01Cheryl, good morning
46:03Good morning, Jeff. This is an extraordinary development
46:05It wasn't just Mike Detty
46:08We were able to learn that there were dozens of gun shops
46:12And I would go so far as to say many more than we ever learned about
46:14In a letter, the Justice Department says the ATF has never knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to suspected gun runners
46:22In the beginning, the government said none of it was true, never happened
46:26John Dodson goes on television, on the CBS Evening News
46:30You were intentionally letting guns go to Mexico
46:33Yes, ma'am. Tell me the agency was
46:36And after calling him a liar, enough evidence came through, it started to look true
46:43The government then said, well, maybe ATF knew at headquarters, but certainly the Department of Justice, which oversees ATF, they knew nothing
46:52And it becomes this giant scandal
47:00Our Congress is actually an investigative branch of government
47:06So there were hearings, and...
47:10And here are the officials being called in to Congress to testify
47:13And raise your right hands
47:19Who authorizes the justice system?
47:21Mr. Chairman, I do not know the answer to that question, and the Inspector General is reviewing the matter
47:25Often still denying that they know much
47:28And finally, Eric Holder, the Attorney General, is called in to testify
47:31Let me go to Operation Fast and Furious, you mentioned in your testimony
47:39At this point, I can say that it started in Arizona, and I'm not at all certain who beyond that can be said to have been involved
47:47I think that in terms of knowledge of the tactics, as opposed to the operation itself
47:51I don't think that anyone in Washington knew about those tactics until the beginning of...
47:55Then I got documents showed that Eric Holder had been briefed weekly
47:58That means a letter Holder's office sent Congress last February denying gun walking was wrong
48:06What I said is it contains inaccurate information
48:09Well, isn't that false?
48:11Well, false, I don't want to quibble with you, but false I think implies people making a decision to accept
48:22The next thing that came out was, well, maybe Eric Holder was briefed, but first of all he didn't read his briefings
48:28And second of all, the White House never knew
48:34You were not even informed about it?
48:36Absolutely not. This is a pretty big government. The United States government, I've got a lot of moving parts
48:41I did not authorize it. Eric Holder, the Attorney General, did not authorize it
48:46He's been very clear that our policy is to catch gunrunners and put them into jail
48:52Then we got documents that showed communications among White House officials about these gun walking operations
48:59And at that point, that's when the government declared executive privilege
49:04And we could never get all the documents or understand what they talked about
49:08Or how far that went to the highest level
49:09Those documents, the ones that were provided, were all blacked out
49:15Supposedly for national security reasons
49:18Our policy is to ramp up the interdiction of guns flowing south
49:25Because that's contributing to some of the security problems that are taking place in Mexico
49:28And there may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made
49:33Uh, if that's the case, then we'll find, uh, find out
49:36And we'll hold somebody to count
49:37Mexico was not informed then
49:38So the list is...
49:40No one
49:42Absolutely no one
49:44No one has ever been punished
49:47Uh, prosecuted, charged
49:51Nothing
49:52At least 2,400, almost 2,500 firearms that I know of
49:57We've facilitated the trafficking of
50:00And to date, as far as I know
50:02Five or six hundred have been recovered
50:05After countless murders
50:07Countless homicides
50:09Countless lives ruined
50:11All right?
50:13Done
50:14On both sides of the border
50:15And the worst part is, how many people can a well-organized, well-armed, well-equipped criminal organization slaughter with 1,900 firearms over the next 10 or 20 years? How many?
50:38To this day, we have no idea what it was so important for them to keep hidden
50:43They're never gonna release those documents, it's been years
50:46And we can only guess as to what's so important in there that they don't want us to see
50:52When we saw that the vast bulk of the guns from Fast and Furious Operation happened to turn up, as I found, in the hands of the Sinaloa Cartel
51:02What are the odds, even though that is a large cartel, that so many, almost all the guns would show up at crime scenes with the Sinaloa Cartel and not the others?
51:17I believe, based on some other sources that I had, the United States was also using this program as a way to arm the Sinaloa Cartel against what they viewed as a more harmful cartel, the Zeta Cartel
51:30I was told that at the time, the government thought the Zeta Cartel was more dangerous to our national interest in a way that the Sinaloa's weren't, or maybe in a less predictable way
51:43So, perhaps here they were arming, picking sides, picking the lesser of the evils and helping arm one side against the other
51:49The United States was arming the least bad of the bad guys in Mexico for our national interest
52:04Back to this Fox News alert as a rifle, strong enough to take down a helicopter, was found in El Chapo's hideout
52:10Now, one of those, which you see here, was sold through, fast and furious, with the approval of the U.S. government
52:21If we see the map of the organizations of trafficking in 2022, of those six great cartels that there were in the time of Calderón, one of the Sinaloa
52:39The other disappeared
52:41The Chapo's rocky, Draedu was not to throw a movie
52:44When he was bilderish, he wanted to film the radio
52:49Who said he wanted the 이风ation to tell the truth?
52:53Those were the sudden he had become sinn السesian
52:59The one who had been turned into the life
53:02To the may of Goathe, the one who wanted to do
53:05The fate of his great country
53:09United States, so it will be necessary
53:12shut your mouth.
53:39Caption by Adriana Zanotto
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