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00:06Were you ever in charge?
00:14I did what I did.
00:19Something that I never wanted to do,
00:21but it got into my life and did it and got out and done deal.
00:30What does it take to be the boss?
00:35To be the boss, it means it takes a lot of leadership and smart thinking.
00:43Thinking before you do things.
00:46The way I run things back then, I was pretty controlled.
00:51Like, I wasn't this cold-blooded murderer,
00:55and thank God that I never murdered somebody in my life.
01:01But back in the days, I would have.
01:28My words and my actions were, like, tough.
01:33They were strong back then.
01:35Being in a drug business isn't easy.
01:38It's a tough life.
01:40It was cool.
01:42Why lie?
01:43It was good.
01:46But on the other hand,
01:48sometimes when you get law enforcement on your back,
01:52then you're probably thinking about changing the name.
01:55Then it's not so cool,
01:57because I don't respect you that much.
01:59And then it gets more complicated.
02:06It's a double life.
02:09You live in fear.
02:11Like, you never know what the day is going to end up.
02:15Are you going to get arrested?
02:17Are you going to get killed?
02:19Are you going to make it through the day?
02:21It's really hard to live like that.
02:25And that's why I think a lot of people lose so much control,
02:30because it's so much pressure.
02:32So much pressure on yourself,
02:34and start drinking, start using drugs,
02:38and you can handle it.
02:40We were not those kind of people that were going around,
02:43hurting people, destroying people's lives.
02:46We were more, like,
02:48taking it as a business and helping people out.
02:51I didn't push people around,
02:54but at the same time,
02:56I didn't let me push around either.
02:59Everybody wants a piece of you.
03:02So there's always people that want to take your spot,
03:06and, like, it's tough.
03:10And there was just one point.
03:16I just didn't want to take it anymore.
03:25We've had United States drug agents tell us
03:28that right now, today,
03:29your brother Enrique is in charge of the Mennonite Mafia.
03:33Is that true?
03:35No, it's not true.
03:38He's out of the game.
03:39Like, it's not true.
03:41It's different people running the show
03:44and trying to blame it always on somebody else.
03:49Like, that's what it is, being...
03:52being the harms.
04:05A documentary comes out,
04:07and they're telling all this about, like, father, like son.
04:11It was about my brother Enrique,
04:13and it was a tough one.
04:15Everybody was thinking it was my brother.
04:17But actually, it's not my brother.
04:21There's two different Enrique harms,
04:27which confuses a lot.
04:30Names in the Mennonite community
04:32are extraordinarily confusing,
04:34mostly because there's only about 10 last names.
04:38And for each sex, there's only about 10 male names.
04:41There's only about 10 female names.
04:44Well, what ends up happening is
04:46that there are many, many, many people with the same name.
04:50And so Enrique harms, I'm sure there's, like, 50.
05:03The original Enrique harms,
05:06he stepped out, he's out of the business,
05:10and then came another Enrique harms
05:12leveraging on his name
05:14several years after other cartel members,
05:19producers, traffickers,
05:21thinking that it was the oldest Enrique harms,
05:25which they respected a lot.
05:27The confusion is that
05:28they have the same first name,
05:30same second last name,
05:31which is Enrique harms.
05:33The OG was Enrique harms Peters,
05:35and then the guy next was Enrique harms Groening,
05:38which is two different families.
05:40But that generated a lot of confusion
05:43between who was this Enrique harms,
05:45because everyone thought it was,
05:47okay, the OG is back in business,
05:49and apparently he's back again
05:50in the trafficking industry.
05:52But his face was absolutely different.
05:55Enrique harms was, let's say,
05:57El Chapo for the Mennonites back then.
05:59It's a whole brand.
06:00Everybody knows El Chapo,
06:02so everybody knows how to make business
06:03with El Chapo, right?
06:04If someone comes on behalf of El Chapo,
06:07you'll have a lot of open doors.
06:09And they will lend you money.
06:11They will trust in you.
06:12They will know how to negotiate with you.
06:14So the harms organization,
06:16the Mennonite Mafia,
06:18it evolved,
06:18and it has evolved throughout the years,
06:20just like all the other cartels have evolved, right?
06:23At the time,
06:24the Juarez cartel had control
06:26of basically all of Chihuahua.
06:28Of course,
06:28they had to fall in with the Juarez cartel.
06:31There was a time
06:32when they actually fell in with the Salazaras,
06:34which was a faction of the Sinaloa cartel,
06:36when the Sinaloa cartel
06:37was starting to gain ground.
06:39But just like anything,
06:40you know, the power shifts,
06:41and so they're very smart
06:42in the way that they align themselves
06:44because they align themselves
06:45to whoever is going to have the power
06:47and is going to align their interests.
06:50The second Enrique Harms,
06:52the new Enrique Harms,
06:53he had to pick sides.
06:55And of course,
06:55he picked the Juarez cartel,
06:56La Línea side,
06:57because they were the main operators
06:59in Cuauhtémoc at the time.
07:00So he was working for them,
07:02with them,
07:03and not as an independent operator
07:06trafficking drugs.
07:07So his links to La Línea
07:09and to the Juarez cartel
07:10are strong links.
07:15Do you know Enrique Harms-Broning?
07:17Do you know who this is?
07:18I know who he is.
07:21Grew up in the same community.
07:22I know who he is,
07:24but both in the same business.
07:26And I believe my brother,
07:29by that time,
07:29he was out of the business.
07:31He was completely retired.
07:33And then it got so messed up,
07:37and it was such a nightmare
07:39for my brother
07:41that somebody else
07:42was exactly with the same name
07:44doing a lot of things.
07:48And everything
07:49came to fall on him.
07:52The Mennonite Mafia
07:53ever stopped?
07:57I don't think so.
08:21El Bolas showed up,
08:23and this was the head
08:24of the first time we heard
08:26the Mennonite cartel,
08:27and said,
08:28okay,
08:29this is what we're gonna do now.
08:30We're gonna organize.
08:32We're gonna work
08:33under the Juarez cartel,
08:35and you guys are gonna work
08:36for me
08:36and under my leadership.
08:38And every single other guy
08:40who was working
08:41or trying to work independently,
08:42he was brutally murder,
08:44threatened,
08:45and violence started picking up
08:46in Kultemuk
08:48under the leadership
08:49of El Bolas.
09:19Kultemuk
09:32The Triangle of Dolado is a serrano region
09:35that covers the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua,
09:43where the people in the region
09:46are being cultivated in many years,
09:52since the 1960s to the date.
09:54They are by the criminal groups of that region.
09:58All that has always been planted and collected
10:03to be transported to the United States
10:07through the different routes that exist.
10:11And these routes are controlled by the cartels.
10:15That's why it becomes the city of Cuauhtémoc.
10:21And that's where the situation begins
10:25between organized crime and Menonitas.
10:40In late 80s, when there was the Sinaloa Federation,
10:44they started moving marijuana to the United States
10:47and getting some fee from the Colombians
10:51to traffic cocaine into the U.S.
10:53until they said, well, we probably don't need the Colombians anymore.
10:57We can move our own stuff and have them as our suppliers.
11:01That's when they became huge in the drug trafficking industry.
11:05This exploded and became a huge operation.
11:09They decided to split turf.
11:11That's where the Juarez Cartel was born in the 90s, late 80s.
11:23With Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Lord of the Skies,
11:26they were basically paying every single politician,
11:30every single cop in the state of Chihuahua.
11:31The organization still exists.
11:33It's called La Linea now.
11:35La Linea is a gang that forms in the drug world of northern Chihuahua.
11:40Their main function is as enforcers.
11:42Enforcers for the Juarez Cartel
11:45until they became their own cartel.
12:02I was working on robes and crimes and crimes,
12:07but there were some investigations in crime.
12:10The Menonita community was very reserved.
12:13They always had a low profile.
12:15So, although we always had a low profile,
12:19they never knew them.
12:21They took their bodies
12:23to not be identified by the police.
12:30Why did they do it?
12:31It was simply to not be identified as a criminal group.
12:38I tell you,
12:40when they arrived to investigate
12:41or to interview someone
12:42at the chief of the Menonita family,
12:45they really, literally,
12:48the women,
12:49they were hiding them
12:50so they could not have access to them
12:54to be able to see them
12:55or to react to them.
12:58But they were only
13:00the person or the chief of the family.
13:03They were the only ones
13:03who allowed them to see.
13:06However,
13:06it was difficult to get information
13:08and effective information
13:10information.
13:38All the people see.
13:40It was a great time
13:41small community about 240 miles south east of el paso the mexican town south of presidio is
13:48a town called ojinaga la línea which is a spin-off of the juarez cartel a spin-off of the
13:56sinaloa
13:57cartel has now moved in and they are in a turf war for this plaza the plaza of ojinaga la
14:05plaza
14:05es el lugar donde el cartel va a recibir un impuesto o un pago por dejar operar todo lo que
14:15sea ilegal
14:16the plaza is the location where the heart of the cartel operates if they can control ojinaga they
14:26can control the movement of all their products in and out of the united states because this is the
14:34only port of entry or they can cross their merchandise within 240 miles east and west
14:40it's a really lucrative spot and both cartels are in a battle to keep that territory
15:04so
15:14el brazo como brazo armado de un cartel la línea ese grupo es un grupo super super super
15:24peligroso muy violento que va a hacer todo lo necesario para poder lograr subjetivo
15:32the cartels they used and are abusing for mennonites so many mennonites have have been doing prison has
15:40been killed or killed himself or whatever just because they got in big problems with cartels we started
15:49seeing a lot of killings a lot of shootouts a lot of people hanging from bridges they left a body
15:54with
15:54a pig's head on their face
15:59depending on who you ask they'll tell you well the singaloans are winning or the juarez cartels
16:04winning who's not winning is the people less than three months ago there were 17 or 18 individuals that
16:12were killed in okinaga those individuals belonged to that spinoff of the sinaloa cartel and they were
16:20killed by members of juarez cartel the majority of their bodies were all dumped together on a side
16:27street kind of like the one we're driving on in front of a house and there was a large sign
16:33that had been
16:34written across their bodies as a warning to the sinaloa cartel hey if you keep this up we're gonna keep
16:42killing your people ah bueno va a ser con violencia es gana el que tenga más fuerza
17:11so
17:16so
17:17so
17:18so
17:46I'm from the state of Chihuahua, I grew up in Cuauhtémoc.
17:51I've been seven years old in the Cerezo number one, Aquiles, Cerdán.
17:56I came from the qualified homicide.
17:59It was a very difficult life,
18:01and that's why I came from that.
18:07It was difficult because I grew up with my grandparents,
18:10and my parents, since I was little,
18:12they left me.
18:12At 10 years, I started to look for them,
18:17to remind me of those people
18:20for a future.
18:22My job was to install drains in the streets,
18:27and I started to work,
18:30punteando,
18:32in the streets,
18:34cuidando the government.
18:35It was my job.
18:36When someone passed,
18:38I told them to go there.
18:41and then,
18:42then,
18:45I went to sicarii,
18:49people,
18:49because I was a pistoler.
18:54I started working with the line.
18:59When we divided,
19:01I went to my cartel,
19:04I worked for a job.
19:12I was here for...
19:14I was arrested for a murder of huachicoleo
19:17and a crime was aggravated.
19:19At one time, I was belonging to a police officer,
19:23and that's why I'm here.
19:26It wasn't a pressure, it wasn't anything.
19:29It was a bad decision.
19:35It started to pesar the need
19:39of my family,
19:41and what I had to do.
19:44I was working for many years,
19:46and the only thing I learned was to use a weapon.
19:50And so I took my decision
19:52to communicate,
19:54I asked for work,
19:54and I said,
19:57so easy.
19:59What group did you join?
20:01I joined the new Tigre.
20:09I am emerging from Cuauhtémoc.
20:13I am in Cuauhtémoc.
20:13I am from Cuauhtémoc.
20:13close to Cuauhtémoc.
20:14As I was going to tell you,
20:15I am in dispute,
20:16and in war,
20:17so could I say.
20:18For control.
20:20In Cuauhtémoc, they are disputing the plaza, they don't have the owner, they don't know what's going on there.
20:27They are disputing the line and the shops.
20:31They are in the plaza in Cuauhtémoc, the people of Tigre.
20:34And the war that is right now is because the line wants to return the command of that plaza,
20:39but no, even now it seems that they haven't achieved it.
20:42Well, they are allied with the line.
20:47Menonitas.
20:49They are the ones who recruit people, recruit people.
20:53No, they are, they could say, the arms of the line.
20:57Yes, almost the majority of them are the main patrons, they could say.
21:04Speaking of weapons, trucks, they are the ones who provide money.
21:09Well, I think that the 30% of them are involved in drugs, in trafficking,
21:17and the 70% of them, they work their rights as they are.
21:21Menonitas are the ones who raise people, cobran parking,
21:27they are involved in the washing of money and all that.
21:31Well, in general, they are all.
21:36Sicarians, extorsioners, cobro de piso.
21:40They are the ones who get up in the corridor,
21:42the ones who patrol the corridor,
21:44put their retenes, they could say.
21:47They cobran piso for the business.
21:49The two, both Mexicans and Menonitas,
21:53they don't care, they cobran piso.
21:56No, they always care for people who have乏 a job.
21:59No, they don't care.
22:04No, they don't care for any
22:07you're the one that are with them.
22:12For example, Bolas is the one where I had the knowledge,
22:17the head of the entire community,
22:20the one who submits, the one who obliges to work,
22:25or just the one who sends that area.
22:30The Menonitas are the only ones,
22:31the Menonitas who are like the members of the line,
22:37they are the ones who are the ones that they heard
22:40and they are the ones they are the ones that they are the ones that are good.
22:43They are the ones who pay the rents,
22:47who steal people,
22:49who overlooks them,
22:51who take care of them,
22:52no, I did not work with them,
22:56but the bosses with whom I worked for
22:58they had certain businesses,
23:00just one time,
23:02and there was where I had the opportunity to see them,
23:05just certain occasions,
23:07but to speak, no.
23:25Bolas is the big head from the Mennonites, he was a powerful man, he was a violent man but not
23:32just because he wanted, he got the power because Mexicans gave it to him, because Mexicans told him, you have
23:37to do this, you have to do this.
23:39You have to do that, you have to do anything.
23:43We start seeing a bunch of killings around the Sierra de Chihuahua, the woodlands and in Cuauhtémoc.
23:50Last time what I hear that he has been doing, he has been violent, violento.
23:59Local journalist reports started pointing at this guy, which was very strange to see because he was a white guy,
24:06Mennonite full on.
24:07And then they dubbed El Bolas.
24:10What does El Bolas mean?
24:12El Bolas, well, the balls.
24:15They were working full on for the Cuauhtémoc.
24:192019 there was news that I killed three girls and two guys and that I hung them up on a
24:27bridge by Pampas.
24:28Pampas killing, it was a bridge in Cuauhtémoc.
24:31After that, they burned two young guys in the pickup.
24:36And it goes, it has done David Giesbrecht, whose nickname is Bolas.
24:41He blamed David, the fake Bolas.
24:44I was in prison, come on.
24:47When I first heard the nickname Bolas, which was one of the main operators, I actually had a wrong name.
24:53The name that was put out of the press and fed to journalists was David Giesbrecht Furr.
25:00Everybody knows I'm not Bolas.
25:06I think that you know that, right?
25:10The real Bolas has a very different name.
25:13It is Peter Furr, actually.
25:15I've seen pictures of David Giesbrecht Furr before, and he doesn't look at all like the real Bolas.
25:22Very different kind of man.
25:24El Bolas.
25:24He looks like a white man, like several other Mennonites.
25:28But his face is really hard, serious, almost like a sociopathic look on his eyes.
25:36Very different from other Mennonites, even working for the cartel, working for him.
25:41And definitely more scary.
25:43He has a sight that you can feel the violence and the way he lives.
25:54Eventually, we learned that this guy, David, he was working with the Mennonites for El Bolas.
25:59And I think it was the actual Bolas who tried to buy the name and the face of one of
26:08his workers, of David.
26:10And he put it up in the press as El Bolas, Peter Furr, the real Bolas.
26:16He was absolutely ruthless.
26:17And that was a message for everyone who was trying to either go independent or go against him.
26:24And he didn't care to blame one of his own people, which was David.
26:41Abraham Harms Jr. was part of the OG Harms Organization,
26:46the original Ricky Harms' brother.
26:49And, of course, he was in the game for several years.
26:51And then afterwards, he started just laundering his money, I guess.
26:55He established a legal juice company, established in El Paso, Texas.
27:00And he became a Mennonite businessman, a very successful one.
27:04And the word was out that he had legal money when the Mennonite mob needed money.
27:27And he was in the game for several years, and he was in the game for two or three months.
27:35And he was in the game for two or three months.
27:46Abraham Harms Jr. got kidnapped in 2019.
27:49I was in Georgia, and once I saw him on TV.
27:53He was outside at the restaurant, La Huerta.
27:55It's one kilometer off from a shop.
27:58This was during the time that I was the agent in charge of the HSI Juarez office.
28:03He got kidnapped as he was going to a restaurant.
28:07My brother, he has a meeting with his account.
28:09They're going to have breakfast in a restaurant.
28:11And when my brother drives up, and as soon as he gets out of the pickup,
28:17there comes this guy and walks up to him.
28:19My brother, he starts running, and he runs after him
28:23and hits him with a gun in the back of his head.
28:26He falls down, and...
28:29A couple of individuals had kidnapped him at gunpoint
28:33and had taken his vehicle, which was a luxury GMC vehicle,
28:37and put him in the vehicle and drove off with him.
28:40Official word from the Mexican authorities was that he was kidnapped for a ransom
28:45and that a legitimate member of the Mennonite organization,
28:48which was an accountant that, you know, handled a lot of the businesses
28:52that the Mennonites owned.
28:53That individual had provided intel to his brother
28:57so that they could kidnap him and extort money from the family.
29:01I definitely believe that the accountant was involved,
29:05but at the same time, I can't prove it 100%.
29:08Why?
29:09I have no idea.
29:11Many people says, because it was a condor,
29:15somebody else goes like he didn't pay Piso,
29:18somebody else goes like he worked again with the drug dealers.
29:22I don't think that.
29:23They're terrible in Mexico.
29:25Like, if you have to do something with them, they kill you.
29:27If you don't do what they say,
29:29or if you don't pay what you have to pay,
29:31or if you run away from them just because you don't work with them,
29:37they kill you.
29:38We're waiting and waiting,
29:39and no phone call, no nothing.
29:42And then just days after,
29:46I found him dead on the street.
29:49So they never called,
29:51and they were never asking for money.
29:53There was no ransom demand,
29:54because as far as I understand,
29:57it was not the plan to kill him,
29:59was kidnapping,
30:01ask for a amount of money,
30:02and release him.
30:05But something went terribly wrong
30:08because they hit him in the back of his head.
30:11His skull wasn't that strong
30:14because he had been in a car accident before,
30:18and since they hit him in that part,
30:22like, what I've heard,
30:23like, he was bleeding a lot.
30:27And the hit that they gave him on his head,
30:30he had no survival.
30:34First, they blamed El Contador, the accountant.
30:37But the investigation shows that
30:40it was actually El Bolas
30:42who had Abraham Harms Jr. kidnapped.
30:46And this shows you, too,
30:48that El Bolas doesn't really care
30:50if you're from the OG Harms family,
30:53if you're out of the game,
30:54if you're illegal now.
30:56He needed money,
30:57and he went after one of the original harms
30:59to get money out of his kidnapping.
31:02A lot of people ask, like,
31:04why are Mexican authorities very hesitant
31:07in really targeting the Mennonites?
31:09A lot of people don't realize
31:10that the Mexican government
31:11actually invited these individuals into Mexico.
31:14So it was something that was established
31:17even back in the 20s
31:19due to the fact that Mexico
31:20had been involved in the Civil War for so long.
31:23All those areas were very desolate.
31:25So the Mexican government actually saw
31:28that these Mennonites were,
31:29number one, Bible-thumping.
31:31They were good people
31:32and that they were very good at what they did
31:34because they saw their farmlands
31:36and they heard of how good they were
31:38in making desert into fruitful farming area.
31:41And so even since then,
31:44from the hierarchy of the Mexican government,
31:46it was pretty much hands-off on them.
31:49That was engraved in Mexican law enforcement
31:51from those times.
31:52They threatened to leave in 2014
31:54because of dryness of the land.
31:57And the Mexican government basically
31:59threw money at them saying,
32:01do whatever, explode wells, illegal wells,
32:04I don't care, just stay here
32:05because 80% of our revenue from farming
32:08comes from you guys.
32:10The revenue that Mennonites are making
32:12for the state of Chihuahua,
32:13it's over $3 billion every year.
32:16So now they're basically protected
32:18by the state of Chihuahua
32:20and also by the Mexican government
32:22because of the amount they're bringing in.
32:24And that's where, strangely enough,
32:26the Juarez cartel set their office.
32:30That's what they called Cuauhtemoc,
32:31la oficina, the headquarters,
32:33where you keep the papers,
32:36where you keep the money,
32:37where you keep the heads.
32:38That's when they send shit-tons of people
32:41to fight to protect Cuauhtemoc.
32:43They are very useful for cartels
32:46to launder money
32:47because you can mix millions of U.S. dollars
32:50in between all of the money
32:52they're making legally.
32:54And Cuauhtemoc is widely cash-based
32:57because it's very, very lucrative for cartels,
33:00very lucrative for the Chihuahua state.
33:02They're very lucrative for all those related,
33:05including the Mennonites,
33:07producing shit-tons of money
33:08and working hard to hold Cuauhtemoc
33:10as a stronghold of the Juarez cartel.
33:14I think the Mennonite cartel story
33:16hasn't been done
33:17because imagine that amount of money
33:19every year coming into Chihuahua
33:22and the leverage these guys have.
33:24In the state, they, of course,
33:26have straight links,
33:27and if they pick up a phone,
33:29they can call the governor,
33:31they can call the chief of police of Chihuahua,
33:33they can call whoever they want
33:34to fix their stuff
33:35because they represent money.
33:37And a huge part of the Mennonite community
33:40is using illegal money.
33:42And a lot of this money
33:45that is staying within the state of Chihuahua,
33:48the Mexican officials are very proud of this money.
33:52It is illegal money,
33:53so it is a huge problem
33:55not only for Chihuahua,
33:56but also for Mexico in general.
33:59Exposing the Mennonites
34:00in bed with cartels,
34:01it's problematic.
34:19So there's a whole myth
34:20around Bola's death.
34:23No one has ever found his body.
34:26It was said on the present
34:28by Mexican investigators
34:29that he was killed,
34:32but, again,
34:33they're not even sure.
34:34I recently reached out
34:35to one of the investigators,
34:37and he said,
34:37well, for me,
34:38I think it's dead,
34:39but we don't have a body.
34:40So I can't tell you
34:42with full evidence
34:44that he's dead.
34:45I asked him,
34:45so he might be around.
34:46It's like very unlikely.
34:48I'm pretty sure he's dead.
34:49But, again,
34:49we have no evidence
34:50of the death of Bola's.
34:53So it's still a mystery.
34:55We still don't really know
34:57where he's buried
34:58or if it was what.
35:01It doesn't exist anymore,
35:02and that's it.
35:03That's how they do it.
35:04That's why I'm telling you
35:06they set all this stuff up
35:07to clean his name.
35:09I don't know
35:10if he's dead or not.
35:11I have no idea.
35:13But what I believe,
35:15they made all this up,
35:17he disappeared.
35:18Now he's dead.
35:19Nobody's looking for him.
35:20That's what I think.
35:22But I have no idea.
35:26Do you think El Moulis is dead?
35:44There wasn't so much violence
35:46back in the 90s.
35:48It was more peaceful.
35:51It wasn't so out of hand
35:53as it is today,
35:54and it's sad the way it is.
35:56It's sad the way it is today.
36:00A DEA agent,
36:01he was sending me
36:03a lot of information
36:04regarding the local police
36:05in Ciudad Juarez
36:06and how they were in bed
36:07with the Juarez cartel.
36:09I published a story.
36:10My editor back then
36:12asked me,
36:12hey man,
36:13this is probably dangerous.
36:14Are you aware?
36:16Are you going to probably
36:16face threats and stuff?
36:17Do you want us to
36:18keep your name?
36:20But of course,
36:20I was naive,
36:21excited,
36:22and egocentric.
36:23So I was like,
36:24no man,
36:25put my name out there.
36:26It's a huge story.
36:30One night after three weeks
36:31of the publication,
36:33local police stopped me,
36:35full geared,
36:36very aggressive,
36:37pulled me out of my car,
36:38started kicking me.
36:39They told me
36:40that my family
36:41was going to find me
36:42as cattle
36:43on the back of my car
36:44on the trunk.
36:45I was absolutely confused,
36:46so I was like,
36:47hey man,
36:47I'm a journalist.
36:48I think you're probably
36:49taking it for someone else.
36:50They confirmed
36:51on the radio
36:52they had codes
36:53that I had
36:54because of my sources
36:55of the police.
36:56They said like,
36:56yeah,
36:57this is the 27.
36:5827 was code
37:00for journalists.
37:02So I'm like,
37:02okay, shit,
37:03so they're after me.
37:04And I'm like,
37:05dude,
37:05whatever you need,
37:06take my car.
37:07They tied my feet
37:07and arms,
37:09put me on the back
37:10of a pickup truck
37:11on the floor.
37:12And I remember
37:13it was like really cool.
37:14It was like in February,
37:15they drove to an empty road
37:18to a hallway.
37:19They stopped there.
37:20It was in the middle
37:20of the night.
37:21These guys were dealing
37:22on how were they
37:24going to kill me
37:24if I was going to be
37:25kneeled down
37:26or if they're going
37:27to ask me to run
37:28and shoot me in the back
37:29or if they're just
37:30going to cut my head.
37:31And they were like
37:31discussing not even with me,
37:33they were discussing
37:34amongst them.
37:38They asked me
37:39to kneel down
37:40and I said no
37:41because I knew
37:42that I was going
37:42to be executed.
37:44So I'm not kneeling down,
37:46sorry guys,
37:46but I just take everything
37:47I need to go.
37:49Then one of them
37:50told me,
37:51well then,
37:52do you have money?
37:53And I'm like yes,
37:53I have my two credit cards
37:55so I can bring you
37:56some money.
37:57They said okay,
37:58just run,
37:59go get the money.
37:59And I'm like,
38:00I know what's going to happen,
38:01you're going to shoot me
38:02in the back.
38:02I'm listening to everything.
38:04He's like no man,
38:05I'm going to give you
38:05my word.
38:06And I'm like,
38:07I don't trust your word.
38:08Then he took pictures
38:10of my whole documents
38:11and he's like look,
38:13look,
38:13you go,
38:14get whatever money
38:15you can
38:15and I'll give you
38:16two hours.
38:16That's my word.
38:17We have every single
38:18document on you.
38:19We know where you leave,
38:20your parents,
38:21so if you don't get back,
38:23we're going to go
38:24after everyone.
38:25I went,
38:26found an ATM,
38:28gave them that money,
38:29told them that
38:29they could take my car
38:30or whatever.
38:31They said no,
38:32we're going to find you
38:32again,
38:33two hours.
38:33This is just like
38:34for us.
38:35They let me go.
38:36I got across
38:37into El Paso,
38:39never went back.
38:40A source
38:41called me
38:42that afternoon
38:42told me,
38:43hey man,
38:43I left you
38:44a gift.
38:45I turned the TV on
38:46at 7pm.
38:47The newscast
38:49turned on the TV
38:50and there were
38:50the two policemen
38:51killed in the police car
38:53right in the same place
38:54where I was kidnapped.
38:56I called him,
38:57said like,
38:57hey dude,
38:57this is on you,
38:58this is not on me,
38:59don't ever
38:59fucking call me again.
39:03You're never
39:04completely out of the game.
39:07government is the most
39:08corruption
39:10thing we got
39:11in Mexico.
39:13Government is working
39:14for cartels.
39:16Yeah,
39:17that's how it works.
39:21Do you feel safe
39:22in Quactamac now?
39:23Never.
39:25Why not?
39:27I'm scared.
39:28Only my son,
39:29my wife,
39:29knows that I'm here.
39:30Everybody thinks
39:31that I'm in Mexico City
39:32by a doctor.
39:33Oh,
39:33I think it's pretty dangerous.
39:36I mean,
39:37it's just scary
39:37to think about
39:38how many they're watching
39:40what's going on.
39:41I think when the
39:42Mennonites are getting
39:43involved with it
39:44and you know,
39:45if you have
39:46not your own money
39:47what you have made
39:48with your own hand,
39:50the easy money
39:50is just melting away
39:52like nothing
39:53and they want more
39:55and more
39:55and that doesn't
39:56do any good.
39:57I met Helen
39:58in a trailer park
39:59in Oklahoma.
40:00I remember Helen
40:01showing me a hope chest
40:02and in the hope chest
40:04she kept
40:05all of her
40:06Mennonite dresses.
40:08I believe that she
40:09was nostalgic.
40:11She wanted to keep
40:12these tokens
40:13of her past life
40:15but that she recognized
40:16that she could
40:17no longer return.
40:18She made a decision,
40:20took risks
40:21to save herself,
40:23to save her children
40:24and to save
40:26her self-respect
40:28and dignity.
40:29Helen Wiebe
40:30is a decent
40:32and good human being.
40:33Why do you think
40:34so many Mennonites
40:34get involved
40:35in drug trafficking?
40:38Everybody wants money,
40:40huh?
40:40Everybody sees
40:41the money as easy.
40:42I don't think
40:43that it is easy.
40:44I can see how people
40:46have been killed
40:48and dying
40:48just because
40:49trying to get money.
40:51You said,
40:51I'm a Mennonite.
40:52Do you still consider
40:53yourself a Mennonite?
40:54Well,
40:55no,
40:56not really.
40:57I'm an American.
40:59And I'm proud
41:00to be here
41:01and I just
41:03look at myself
41:04every day
41:04like I'm living
41:05an American dream.
41:07And you would never,
41:08you never had that
41:09feeling in Mexico.
41:11If you see a preacher,
41:13you start running.
41:14I mean,
41:15he was so mean.
41:20I just,
41:22I'm just so glad
41:24I'm not there anymore.
41:26Yes,
41:26there are many Mennonites
41:27who remain faithful
41:28and true to the ideals
41:30and the beliefs
41:31of the community.
41:32God,
41:33hard work,
41:34the land,
41:35generosity,
41:36peace,
41:37shunning the trappings
41:38of modern life
41:39to live a
41:40God-fearing life.
41:43But the Mennonite community
41:44has to recognize
41:45that this infection
41:46is spreading
41:47inside the community.
41:49And it is spreading
41:50for a variety
41:51of reasons.
41:52The land cannot
41:53sustain
41:54all of these people.
41:56Most of the Mennonites
41:58in that old colony
41:59are not drug traffickers.
42:03They are folks
42:04trying to make a living
42:05and having a difficult
42:07time doing it.
42:09I think that
42:10religious leaders
42:10of those areas
42:12are doing their best
42:14not to really know
42:15how big a problem
42:17this was.
42:18And one guy told me,
42:21you can't wash
42:22your overalls,
42:24but you can wash
42:25all this behavior,
42:27narcotics,
42:28alcoholism,
42:29incest.
42:30The longer you deal,
42:31the more your chances
42:32of getting caught.
42:34The same goes for us.
42:35The longer we're in town,
42:37the more chance
42:38we're going to get
42:38narked.
42:40Drug trafficking.
42:41I don't think
42:42it will ever stop.
42:44Hard away from,
42:45walk away from easy money,
42:47which,
42:47they say it's easy money,
42:49but believe you,
42:50me,
42:50it's not easy money.
42:52It's,
42:54it's a different story
42:55to get that money.
42:57It's,
42:58it's not easy.
42:59It's not an easy life.
43:00It's not an easy life.
43:03Of course,
43:04I received more threats.
43:05I had this road trip
43:07to Disneyland in LA.
43:09I put my hand
43:10on the jacket I had
43:11and I had a bullet
43:12on,
43:12on my left pocket.
43:15And I was like,
43:16this is weird.
43:17I never pick any bullet,
43:19don't touch bullets
43:20or arms
43:21that I remember.
43:22So I was like,
43:24it's probably someone
43:24put it in my pocket.
43:26I don't know who.
43:27I called a friend
43:28I have on ATF,
43:29send him a photo.
43:31And he's like,
43:32that's a Mexican police bullet.
43:34So that was definitely
43:35a message.
43:37I've tried to quit
43:38journalism three times now.
43:40It's impossible.
43:41And I feel that I,
43:41I was born to do what I do
43:43and to expose
43:44these rats and cockroaches.
43:52Can somebody be a drug dealer
43:54and be right with God?
43:56That's the question.
43:58The Bible says it so clearly
44:01that you get consequences
44:03one way or another way.
44:05And you have to live with it.
44:07Sometimes you have to live
44:09a lifetime with it.
44:13No, of course not.
44:16Why?
44:17Because I don't think
44:19that God would like
44:22to see somebody
44:23fall in an addiction.
44:25No, that,
44:25that doesn't work.
44:29You can't have two bosses.
44:31You can't serve God
44:32inside and serve the devil.
44:34You have to serve one.
44:36There's no middle.
44:39Yeah, you can be,
44:41you can be right with God.
45:16No, he can be right with God.
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