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Narco Mennonites - Season 1 - Episode 03: Right With God
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00:06Were you ever in charge?
00:14I did what I did.
00:19Something that I never wanted to do, but it got into my life and did it and got out and
00:25done 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, it was pretty controlled.
00:50Like, I wasn't this cold-blooded murder, and 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, sometimes 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, because I don't respect you that much.
01:59And then it gets more complicated.
02:06It's a double life.
02:08You 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, because it's so much pressure.
02:32So much pressure on yourself, and start drinking, start using drugs, and you can handle it.
02:40We were not those kind of people that were going around hurting people, destroying people's lives.
02:46We were more like taking it as a business and helping people out.
02:51I didn't push people around, but at the same time, I 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, and 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 that right now, today, your brother Enrique is in charge of the
03:31Mennonite 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 and trying to blame it always on somebody else.
03:49Like, that's what it is, being, being a harm.
04:05A documentary comes out, and they're telling all this about, like, father, like son.
04:11It was about my brother Enrique, and it was a tough one.
04:15Everybody was thinking it was my brother, but actually, it's not my brother.
04:21There's two different Enrique harms, which confuses a lot.
04:30Names in the Mennonite community are extraordinarily confusing, mostly because there's only about 10 last names.
04:38And for each sex, there's only about 10 male names.
04:42There's only about 10 female names.
04:44Well, what ends up happening is that there are many, many, many people with the same name.
04:51And so Enrique harms, I'm sure there's, like, 50.
05:03The original Enrique harms, he stepped out, he's out of the business, and then came another Enrique harms,
05:12leveraging on his name several years after other cartel members, producers, traffickers,
05:21thinking that it was the oldest Enrique harms, which they respected a lot.
05:27The confusion is that they have the same first name, same second last name, which is Enrique harms.
05:33The OG was Enrique harms peters, and then the guy next was Enrique harms groaning, which is two different families.
05:41But that generated a lot of confusion between who was this Enrique harms, because everyone thought it was,
05:47OK, the OG is back in business, and apparently he's back again in the trafficking industry.
05:52But his face was absolutely different.
05:55Enrique harms was, let's say, El Chapo for the Mennonites back then.
05:59It's a whole brand.
06:00And everybody knows El Chapo, so everybody knows how to make business with El Chapo, right?
06:04If someone comes on behalf of El Chapo, you will 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.
06:15The harms organization, the Mennonite Mafia, it evolved, and it has evolved throughout the years,
06:20just like all the other cartels have evolved, right?
06:23At the time, the Juarez cartel had control of basically all of Chihuahua.
06:27Of course, they had to fall in with the Juarez cartel.
06:31There was a time when they actually fell in with the Salazaras, which was a faction of the Sinaloa cartel,
06:36when the Sinaloa cartel was starting to gain ground.
06:39But just like anything, you know, the power shifts.
06:41And so they're very smart in the way that they align themselves,
06:44because they align themselves to whoever is going to have the power and is going to align their interests.
06:50The second Enrique Harms, the new Enrique Harms, he had to pick sides.
06:55And of course, he picked the Juarez cartel, La Línea side,
06:57because they were the main operators in Cuauhtémoc at the time.
07:00So he was working for them, with them, and not as an independent operator, trafficking drugs.
07:07So his links to La Línea and to the Juarez cartel are strong links.
07:15Do you know Enrique Harms-Broning? Do you know who this is?
07:42Enrique Harms-Broning? Do you know who he is?
07:48And everything came to fall on him.
07:52The Mennonite Mafia ever stop?
07:57I don't think so.
08:21El Bolas showed up, and this was the head of, that's the first time we heard, the Mennonite cartel,
08:27and said, okay, this is what we're going to do now.
08:30We're going to organize, we're going to work under the Juarez cartel,
08:35and you guys are going to work for me, and under my leadership.
08:38And every single other guy who was working or trying to work independently,
08:42he was brutally murdered, threatened, and violence started picking up in Cuauhtémoc,
08:48under the leadership of El Bolas.
09:18And the next time we're going to do, we're going to do this.
09:32The Triangle of Dolado is a serrano region
09:36that covers the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua,
09:42where the people in the region
09:45are planted in the region.
09:50It has been planted in many years,
09:52since the 1960s to the date.
09:54It is due to the criminal groups of that region.
09:58It has always been planted and collected
10:03to be transferred to the United States
10:07through the different routes that exist.
10:10And these routes are controlled by the cartels.
10:16That's why the city of Cuauhtémoc
10:21And that's where the situation begins
10:25between organized crime and Menonitas.
10:40In the late 80s, when there was the Sinaloa Federation,
10:45they 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,
10:55well, 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.
11:08They decided to split turf.
11:11That's where the Juarez Cartel was born in the 90s, late 80s.
11:15So, in this region where the big narcotraficants of Sinaloa
11:21like the known Chapo Guzmán
11:23With Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Lord of the Skies,
11:27they were basically paying every single politician,
11:30every single cop in the state of Chihuahua.
11:32The 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.
11:42For the Juarez Cartel until they became their own cartel.
12:02I was working on robes and criminal crimes,
12:07but I took some research on crime crime.
12:09The community of Menonita was very reserved.
12:13They always had a low profile.
12:15So, even though we had them,
12:17they always had a low profile.
12:19They never got to know.
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 told them,
12:39I was told them,
12:40I was told them to investigate or interview someone
12:42to the chief of Menonita family.
12:45They were literally,
12:47the women were hiding them so they could not have access to them.
12:54They could not see them or react to them.
12:58But they were only interested in the person or the chief of the family.
13:03They were the only ones that allowed them to see.
13:05However,
13:06it was difficult to get information,
13:09and effective information,
13:13and they were also interested in the police.
13:17They were the only ones that allowed them to see.
13:17They were the only ones that allowed them to see.
13:21And they were the only ones that allowed them to see.
13:40Presidio is a small community,
13:42about 240 miles southeast of El Paso.
13:45The Mexican town south of Presidio
13:48is a town called Ojinaga, La Linea,
13:52which is a spinoff of the Juarez Cartel.
13:55A spinoff of the Sinaloa Cartel has now moved in,
13:59and they are in a turf war for this plaza,
14:03the plaza of Ojinaga.
14:04La plaza es el lugar donde el cartel va a recibir un impuesto o un pago
14:12por dejar operar todo lo que sea ilegal.
14:16La plaza es el lugar donde el corazón del cartel opera.
14:23Si pueden controlar a Ojinaga,
14:26pueden controlar el movimiento de todos sus productos
14:30en y en los Estados Unidos
14:32porque este es el único puro de entrada
14:35donde pueden cruzar sus mercandises
14:37a través de 240 miles,
14:39east y west,
14:41es un lugar muy lucrativo,
14:43y ambos carteles están en una batalla
14:46para mantener ese territorio.
15:14El brazo, como brazo armado de un cartel,
15:17la línea, ese grupo es un grupo super, super, super peligroso,
15:25muy violenta, que va a hacer todo lo necesario para poder lograr su objetivo.
15:31El carteles,
15:33se usan y son abuso de Mennonites.
15:36Así que muchos Mennonites,
15:38han estado en prisión,
15:40han sido matados,
15:42o se han matado,
15:44o se han matado,
15:44o lo que sea,
15:45porque tienen grandes problemas con carteles.
15:48Nosotros empezamos a ver muchos matos,
15:50muchos de los tiros,
15:51muchos de los que se han matado de brechas.
15:53Ellos dejaron un cuerpo con un pixad en su face.
15:59Dependiendo de quién le preguntan,
16:00ellos te dirán,
16:01bueno, los Sinhaloans ganan,
16:02o el carteles de Juárez ganan,
16:04quien no ganan es la gente.
16:07Menos de tres meses hace,
16:09había 17 o 18 individuos que fueron matados en Okinaga.
16:14Esos individuos pertenecían
16:16a ese patrocinador del cartel de Sinhaloan,
16:19y fueron matados de los carteles de Juárez.
16:23La mayoría de sus cuerpos fueron matados juntos,
16:25en una calle de lado,
16:27como el que estamos caminando,
16:29en frente de una casa,
16:31y había un gran signo
16:34que había escrito
16:35a través de sus cuerpos
16:37como una noticia
16:38al cartel de Sinhaloan.
16:40Si mantienes esto,
16:41vamos a seguir matando a sus personas.
17:06en la calle,
17:23en la calle,
17:24en la calle.
17:24en la calle,
17:48en la calle.
17:50No hay una mamá,
17:53que había tenido la familia
17:53que tenía.
17:54number one Aquiles Serdán, vengo por homicidio calificado.
17:59Pues sí, fue una vida muy difícil, pues por eso que entró uno a eso.
18:07Pues sí, fue difícil porque yo me crié con mis abuelos, mis padres desde pequeños me dejaron.
18:13A los 10 años empecé a buscarle, a animarme a esas personas para un futuro.
18:21Mi trabajo era, me dedicaba a instalar drenajes en las calles.
18:28Y yo empecé a trabajar punteando, pues, en las carreteras cuidando el gobierno.
18:35Era mi trabajo.
18:36Cuando alguien pasaba, pues yo avisaba, pues, que iba para allá.
18:41Y después, pues, ya entré a, pues, hasta sicariar gente, a lo que hace un pistolero.
18:54Yo empecé a, a trabajar con la línea.
18:59Cuando nosotros nos dividimos, yo me, yo me fui con mi cártel.
19:04Me trajo para El Chapo.
19:12Pues estoy aquí por, me detuvieron por un delito de huachicoleo y un secuestro agravado.
19:19En un tiempo, pues sí, pertenecía a un grupo delictivo.
19:23Y es por eso que me encuentro aquí.
19:26No fue presión, no fue nada, simplemente una decisión mal, mal tomada.
19:35Pues me empezó a, a pesar la necesidad de mi familia y, pues, lo que ocupaba yo.
19:43Y, pues, dije, pues, tantos años trabajando y lo único que aprendí fue a, a utilizar un arma.
19:50Y así nada más tomé la decisión de comunicarme, pedir trabajo.
19:55No, sí, que arrima, te vente por acá y, órale, ya. Así de fácil.
19:59¿Y a qué grupos unió usted?
20:01Me uní a la gente nueva del Tigre.
20:09Y soy de, que podría decir que de Cuauhtémoc, cerca de Cuauhtémoc.
20:14Como ya le comentaba, pues, está en disputa, está en guerra, se pudiera decir.
20:18Por el control.
20:20En Cuauhtémoc, ahorita se están disputando la plaza.
20:23Ahorita no, no tiene dueño.
20:25Ahorita no se sabe ni qué pasa ahí.
20:28Ahorita se lo están disputando la línea y los chapos.
20:31Entran en la plaza en Cuauhtémoc la gente del Tigre.
20:34Y la guerra que está ahorita ahí, pues, porque la línea quiere retomar el mando de esa plaza,
20:39pero, pues, no, hasta ahorita se me hace que no lo han logrado.
20:43Pues, ellos, ellos están aliados con la línea.
20:47Menonitas.
20:49Ellos son los que reclutan gente, reclutan puros chavalitos, pues.
20:53No, son, se pudiera decir, un brazo armado de la línea.
20:56Sí, casi, pues, la mayoría de ellos ya son los principales patrocinadores, se pudiera decir.
21:04Hablando en armas, camionetas, son los que proporcionan dinero.
21:09Pues, yo digo que un 30% de ellos han involucrado en las drogas, en el narcotráfico,
21:17y un 70%, pues, no trabajan ni derecho como es.
21:21Menonitas son los que levantan gente y cobran piso, están involucrados en el lavado de dinero y todo eso.
21:32Pues, en sí, en general, pues, de todo.
21:36Sicarios, extorsionadores, cobro de piso.
21:40Pues, son los que levantan en el corredor, los que patrullan el corredor, ponen sus retenes, se pudiera decir.
21:46Les cobran piso por los negocios. Los dos, tanto mexicanos como menonitas.
21:53Si no, no, eso no les, no les importa a ellos. Cobran piso parejo.
21:59El bolas, el soldado, es el que van ahí al lado de él.
22:04El bolas y el soldado, entre toda la comunidad menorita, pues, son los que se escuchan más.
22:12Por ejemplo, el bolas, es el que hasta donde yo tuve el conocimiento, pues, era, pues, el cabecilla de toda
22:19esa comunidad,
22:20el que los somete, el que los obliga a trabajar o, o simplemente, pues, el que mandan esa área ahí.
22:29De los menonitas, son los únicos dos. Son menonitas que son como integrantes de la línea, se pudiera decir.
22:38Son los que traen el, los que se escuchó decir que eran los, eran los buenos de ahí.
22:43Son los que cobran derecho de piso en las tiendas, los que roban a la gente, maltratan a la gente,
22:51les quitan sus carros, sus trocas.
22:53No, con ellos no trabajé.
22:56Pero los jefes con los que yo trabajaba, pues, sí, tenían ciertos negocios, ¿no? Hasta un tiempo nada más.
23:02Y ahí fue donde, pues, tuve la oportunidad de verlos nada más en ciertas ocasiones, pero no.
23:08Y hablar con ellos, no.
23:10Él, pues, anda con su personal, pero, pues, él casi no da la cara sin tener.
23:15Siempre anda aparte. Los que dan la cara son su gente, pues.
23:25Pulas es el big head from the Mennonites.
23:28He was a powerful man.
23:30He was a violent man, but not just because he wanted.
23:33He got the power because Mexicans gave it to him, because Mexicans told him.
23:37You have to do this. You have to do that. You have to do anything.
23:42We 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, dubbed El Bolas.
24:10What does El Bolas mean?
24:12El Bolas, well, the balls.
24:15They were working full on for the Cuauhtémoc.
24:19In 2019, there was news that I killed three girls and two guys, and that I hung them up on
24:27a bridge by Pampas.
24:28Pampas killing. It was a bridge in Cuauhtémoc.
24:31After that, they burned two young guys in a 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.
25:21He looks very different kind of man.
25:23He looks like a white man, like several other Mennonites, but his face is really hard, serious.
25:32Almost 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.
26:13And 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.
26:23And he didn't care to blame one of his own people, which was David.
26:40Abraham Harms Jr. was part of the OG Harms organization, the 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 here 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.
27:11He is the one of the Orms-Jungs, the Lof-Orms, who would say that the Marihuana-Orms, the dumb
27:20Orms-Jungs.
27:22That's where I am.
27:24My name is the Orms, and when you are, when I get the help of God for you,
27:31Then in two or three months I have my wife.
27:34Where I am a little bit.
27:46Abraham Harms got kidnapped in 2019.
27:49I was in Georgia, and once I saw on TV, he 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.
28:04He got kidnapped as he was going to a restaurant.
28:07My brother, he has a meeting with his accountant.
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, there comes this guy
28:18and walks up to him.
28:19My brother, he starts running, and he runs after him and hits him with a gun in the back of
28:25his head.
28:26He falls down, and...
28:29A couple of individuals had kidnapped him at gunpoint and 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, which was an accountant that, you know, handled a lot of
28:51the businesses that the Mennonites owned.
28:53That individual had provided intel to his brother so that they could kidnap him and extort money from the family.
29:01I definitely believe that the accountant was involved, but at the same time, I can't prove it 100%.
29:09Why?
29:09I have no idea.
29:12Many people says because it was a condaor, somebody else goes like he didn't pay Piso, somebody else goes like
29:19he worked again with the drug dealers.
29:22I don't think that.
29:23They're terrible, and I'm like, if you have to do something with them, they kill you.
29:27If you don't do what they say, or if you don't pay what you have to pay, or if you
29:32run away from them just because you don't work with them, they kill you.
29:37They're waiting and waiting, and no phone call, no nothing, and then just days after, I found him dead on
29:48the street.
29:49So they never called, and they were never asking for money.
29:53There was no ransom demand because, as far as I understand, it was not the plan to kill him.
29:59It was kidnapping, ask for a amount of money, and release him.
30:05But something went terribly wrong because they hit him in the back of his head.
30:11His skull wasn't that strong because he had been in a car accident before, and since they hit him in
30:20that part, what I've heard, he was bleeding a lot.
30:28And the hit that they gave him in his head, he had no survival.
30:34First, they blamed El Contador, the accountant, but the investigation shows that it was actually El Bolas who had Abraham
30:45Harms Jr. kidnapped.
30:46And this shows you that El Bolas doesn't really care if you're from the OG Harms family, if you're out
30:54of the game, if you're illegal now.
30:55He needed money, and he went after one of the original Harms to get money out of his kidnapping.
31:02A lot of people ask, like, why are Mexican authorities very hesitant in really targeting the Mennonites?
31:09A lot of people don't realize that the Mexican government actually invited these individuals into Mexico.
31:14So it was something that was established even back in the 20s due to the fact that Mexico had been
31:20involved in the Civil War for so long.
31:23All those areas were very desolate.
31:25So the Mexican government actually saw that these Mennonites were, number one, Bible-thumping.
31:31They were good people and that they were very good at what they did because they saw their farmlands
31:36and they heard of how good they were in making desert into fruitful farming area.
31:41And so even since then, from the hierarchy of the Mexican government, it was pretty much hands-off on them.
31:49That was engraved in Mexican law enforcement from those times.
31:52They threatened to leave in 2014 because of dryness of the land.
31:57And the Mexican government basically threw money at them saying, do whatever, explode wells, illegal wells.
32:04I don't care, just stay here because 80% of our revenue from farming comes from you guys.
32:09The revenue the Mennonites are making for the state of Chihuahua, it's over $3 billion every year.
32:16So now they're basically protected by the state of Chihuahua and also by the Mexican government because of the amount
32:23they're bringing in.
32:24And that's where, strangely enough, the Juarez cartel set their office.
32:30That's what they called Cuauhtémoc, la oficina, that's headquarters, where you keep the papers, where you keep the money, where
32:37you keep the heads.
32:38That's when they send shit-tons of people to fight to protect Cuauhtémoc.
32:43They are very useful for cartels to launder money because you can mix millions of U.S. dollars in between
32:51all of the money they're making legally.
32:54And Cuauhtémoc is widely cash-based because it's very, very lucrative for cartels, very lucrative for the Chihuahua state, very
33:03lucrative for all those related,
33:05including the Mennonites, producing shit-tons of money and working hard to hold Cuauhtémoc as a stronghold of the Juarez
33:13cartel.
33:14I think the Mennonite cartel story hasn't been done because imagine that amount of money every year coming into Chihuahua
33:22and the leverage these guys have.
33:24In the state, they, of course, have straight links, and if they pick up a phone, they can call the
33:30governor, they can call the chief of police of Chihuahua,
33:33they can call whoever they want to fix their stuff because they represent money.
33:37And a huge part of the Mennonite community is using illegal money.
33:42And a lot of this money that is staying within the state of Chihuahua, the Mexican officials are very proud
33:51of this money.
33:52It is illegal money, so it is a huge problem, not only for Chihuahua, but also for Mexico in general.
33:58Exposing the Mennonites in bed with cartels, it's problematic.
34:19So there's a whole myth around Bola's death.
34:24No one has ever found his body.
34:26It was said on the press and by Mexican investigators that he was killed, but again, they're not even sure.
34:34I recently reached out to one of the investigators, and he said, well, for me, I think it's dead, but
34:39we don't have a body.
34:40So I can't tell you with full evidence that he's dead.
34:45I asked him, so he might be around.
34:46It's like very unlikely.
34:48I'm pretty sure he's dead.
34:49But again, we have no evidence of the death of Bola's.
34:54So it's still a mystery.
34:55We still don't really know where he's buried or if it was what.
35:00It doesn't exist anymore, and that's it.
35:03That's how they do it.
35:04That's why I'm telling you they set all this stuff up to clean his name.
35:09I don't know if he's dead or not.
35:11I have no idea.
35:13But what I believe, they made all this up, they 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 Elbolis is dead?
35:44There wasn't so much violence back in the 90s.
35:48It was more peaceful.
35:51It wasn't so out of hand as it is today, and it's sad the way it is.
35:57It was a very difficult time to do.
36:00A DEA agent, he was sending me a lot of information regarding the local police in Ciudad Juarez
36:06and how they were in bed with the Juarez cartel.
36:09I published a story.
36:11My editor back then asked me, hey, man, this is probably dangerous.
36:15Are you aware that you're going to probably face threats and stuff?
36:17Do you want us to keep your name?
36:20But of course, I was naive, excited, and egocentric.
36:24So I was like, no, man, put my name out there.
36:26It's a huge story.
36:30One night after three weeks of the publication, local police stopped me, full geared, very
36:36aggressive, pulled me out of my car, started kicking me.
36:39They told me that my family was going to find me as cattle on the back of my car on
36:45the
36:45trunk.
36:45I was absolutely confused.
36:47So I was like, hey, man, I'm a journalist.
36:48I think you're probably taking it for someone else.
36:50They confirmed on the radio they had codes that I had because of my sources of the police.
36:56They said like, yeah, this is the 27.
36:5827 was code for journalists.
37:02So I'm like, okay, shit.
37:03So they're after me.
37:04And I'm like, dude, like, whatever you need, take my car.
37:07They tied my feet and arms, put me on the back of a pickup truck on the floor.
37:12And I remember it was like really cool.
37:14It was like in February, they drove to an empty road, to a hallway.
37:19They stopped there, it was in the middle of the night.
37:21These guys were dealing on how were they going to kill me if I was going to be kneeled down
37:26or if they're going to ask me to run and shoot me in the back or if they're just going
37:30to
37:30cut my head.
37:31And they were like discussing not even with me, they were discussing amongst them.
37:38They asked me to kneel down.
37:40And I said no, because I knew that I was going to be executed.
37:44So I'm not kneeling down.
37:46I'm sorry, guys, but I should take everything I need to go.
37:49Then one of them told me, well, then, do you have money?
37:53And I'm like, yes, I have my two credit cards so I can bring you some money.
37:57They said, okay, just run, go get the money.
37:59And I'm like, I know what's going to happen.
38:01You're going to shoot me in the back.
38:02I'm listening to everything.
38:04He's like, no, man, I'm going to give you my word.
38:06And I'm like, I don't trust your word.
38:08Then he took pictures of my whole documents.
38:12And he's like, look, look, you go get whatever money you can and we'll give you two hours.
38:16That's my word.
38:17We have every single document on you.
38:19We know where you live, your parents, blah, blah, blah.
38:21So if you don't get back, we're going to go after everyone.
38:25I went, found an ATM, gave them that money, told them that they could take my car or whatever.
38:31They said, no, we're going to find you again, two hours.
38:33This is just like for us.
38:35They let me go.
38:36I got across into El Paso, never went back.
38:40A source called me that afternoon, told me, hey, man, I left you a gift.
38:45I turned the TV on at 7 p.m.
38:47The newscast turned on the TV and there were the two policemen killed in the police car,
38:53right in the same place where I was kidnapped.
38:56I called him, said like, hey, dude, this is on you.
38:58This is not on me.
38:59Don't ever fucking call me again.
39:03You're never completely out of the game.
39:07Government is the most corrupting thing we got in Mexico.
39:14Government is working for cartels.
39:16Yeah, that's how it works.
39:21Do you feel safe in Cocteo Mac now?
39:23Never.
39:25Why not?
39:27I'm scared.
39:28Only my son, my wife, knows that I'm here.
39:30Everybody thinks that I'm in Mexico City by a doctor.
39:33Oh, I think it's pretty dangerous on Cocteo Mac.
39:36I mean, it's just scary to think about how many they're watching, what's going on.
39:41I think when the Mennonites are getting involved with it, and, you know, if you have not your own money,
39:47what you have made with your own hand, the easy money is just melting away like nothing.
39:53And they want more and more, and that doesn't do any good.
39:57I met Helen in a trailer park in Oklahoma.
40:00I remember Helen showing me a hope chest.
40:03And in the hope chest, she kept all of her Mennonite dresses.
40:07I believe that she was nostalgic.
40:11She wanted to keep these tokens of her past life, but that she recognized that she could no longer return.
40:18She made a decision, took risks, to save herself, to save her children, and to save her self-respect and
40:28dignity.
40:29Helen Wiebe is a decent and good human being.
40:33Why do you think so many Mennonites get involved in drug trafficking?
40:38Everybody wants money, huh?
40:40Everybody sees the money as easy.
40:42I don't think that it is easy.
40:44I can see how people have been killed and dying just because of trying to get money.
40:51You said I'm a Mennonite.
40:52Do you still consider yourself a Mennonite?
40:54Well, no, not really.
40:57I'm an American.
40:59And I'm proud to be here.
41:01And I just look at myself every day like I'm living an American dream.
41:07And you would never, you never had that feeling in Mexico.
41:11If you see a preacher, you start running.
41:14I mean, he was so mean.
41:22I'm just so glad I'm not there anymore.
41:26Yes, there are many Mennonites who remain faithful and true to the ideals and the beliefs of the community.
41:32God, hard work, the land, generosity, peace, shunning the trappings of modern life to live a God-fearing life.
41:42But the Mennonite community has to recognize that this infection is spreading inside the community, and it is spreading for
41:50a variety of reasons.
41:52The land cannot sustain all of these people.
41:56Most of the Mennonites in that old colony are not drug traffickers.
42:03They are folks trying to make a living and having a difficult time doing it.
42:08I think that religious leaders of those areas are doing their best not to really know how big a problem
42:17this was.
42:18And one guy told me,
42:21You can't wash your overalls, but you can wash all this behavior, narcotics, alcoholism, incest.
42:29The longer you deal, the more your chances of getting caught.
42:34The same goes for us.
42:35The longer we're in town, the more chance we're going to get narc'd.
42:40Drug trafficking.
42:41I don't think it will ever stop.
42:44Hard walk away from easy money, which to say it's easy money, but believe you me, it's not easy money.
42:52It's a different story to get that money.
42:56It's not easy.
42:59It's not an easy life.
43:00It's not an easy life.
43:03Of course, I received more threats.
43:05I had this road trip to Disneyland in L.A.
43:09I put my hand on the jacket I had, and I had a bullet on my left pocket.
43:15And I was like, this is weird.
43:17I never pick any bullet.
43:19I don't touch bullets or arms that I remember.
43:22So I was like, it's probably someone put it in my pocket.
43:25I don't know who.
43:27I called a friend I have on ATF, send him a photo, and he's like, that's a Mexican police bullet.
43:34So that was definitely a message.
43:37I've tried to quit journalism three times now.
43:40It's impossible.
43:40And I feel that I was born to do what I do and to expose these rats and cockroaches.
43:52Can somebody be a drug dealer and be right with God?
43:56That's the question.
43:59The Bible says it so clearly that you get consequences one way or another way.
44:05And you have to live with it.
44:08Sometimes you have to live a lifetime with it.
44:13No, of course not.
44:16Why?
44:17Because I don't think that God would like to see somebody fall in an addiction.
44:25No, that doesn't work.
44:29You can't have two buses.
44:31You can't serve God inside and serve a devil.
44:34You have to serve one.
44:37There's no middle.
44:40Yeah, you can be right with God.
44:44Yeah, you can be right with God.
45:07Nobody would like to be right with God.
45:10No, that isn't enough.
45:11No, that is impossible.
45:14No, that is impossible.
45:16No, that's not impossible.
45:16Yeah, that's impossible.
45:18No, no, I feel the biggest concern.
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