Episodes

  • The Warring Prison Cartels Carving up Ecuador

    The Warring Prison Cartels Carving up Ecuador
    Oct 8 2024
    Jon Lee Anderson is an author and staff writer at The New Yorker. Anderson recently profiled Ecuador’s young president Daniel Noboa for a piece entitled “Ecuador’s Risky War on Narcos”. Jon Lee spoke about his weeks long visit to the embattled nation, its place in the wider drug world, and how political movements across Latin America have metastasized into the biggest and most violent underworld on the planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • The Cartel That Went to War w/Pablo Escobar: The Gentlemen of Cali

    The Cartel That Went to War w/Pablo Escobar: The Gentlemen of Cali
    Oct 1 2024
    As Colombia's cocaine industry exploded in the 1980's, Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel became the dominant player, capturing headlines across the world. But there was a second cartel rising up, one that operated more in the shadows and would soon grow more powerful - and more profitable - than even Medellin. The Gentlemen of Cali were slick, sophisticated and always looking for a solution that wouldn't attract headlines. They fancied themselves businessmen and aristocrats, and as Pablo went to war on the state, they invested hundreds of millions into businesses and politicians all over Colombia. Though originally good-natured rivals, the Cali and Medellin cartels maintained decent relations...only they didn't. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • How Chinese Money Launderers Took Over the Narco Underworld

    How Chinese Money Launderers Took Over the Narco Underworld
    Sep 24 2024
    When gunmen ambushed a Mexican-Chinese businessman outside his Guatemala City casino in 2016, few outside the DEA paid much attention. But the shootout presaged the downfall of a man who, feds would later say, hadn’t just made a tidy living out of money laundering, but pioneered it. But Xizhi Li, who grew up in the border town of Mexicali, was just one of a new army of Chinese money launderers who, tooled with millennia of underground banking skills, and China’s own economic policies, have become the go-to guys for Latin American cartels looking to wash their dirty cash. And with fentanyl flooding America’s streets, their work is becoming deadlier by the day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 mins
  • The Legend of Bum Farto and the Florida Keys Cocaine

    The Legend of Bum Farto and the Florida Keys Cocaine
    Sep 17 2024
    Something about Bum Farto, Key West’s fire chief, stunk. And it wasn’t just his red suits, bling and lime green company car. By the early 70s Florida’s farthest-flung outpost was a lawless drug enclave. And Bum was smack bang in its center. ((NOTE: This isn't just our best episode, it might be the podcast episode ever, in the history of podcasts.)) When the state’s governor dispatched a multi-agency task force to Key West, however, they stumbled on something far darker than an errant Farto. Out poured a world of murder, mafiosi and massive shipments. What happened next remains a mystery to this day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • Colombia's FARC Guerillas: From Revolution to the Golden Age of Cocaine w/Toby Muse

    Colombia's FARC Guerillas: From Revolution to the Golden Age of Cocaine w/Toby Muse
    Sep 10 2024
    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia fought a guerrilla war against Colombia’s government - as well as against right wing militias and drug cartels - for over four decades before signing a peace treaty in 2016 and then dissolving in 2017, though splinter faction known as The Dissidents still prowls the jungles. As the FARC were coming up, another violent group in Colombia hellbent on taking over territory was also growing: the country’s infamous drug cartels. In this episode, we’re joined by longtime cartel correspondent and frequent guest, author Toby Muse to detail the history of the FARC and what exactly was their role in Colombia’s cocaine trade. Toby is the author of Kilo: Life and Death Inside the Secret World of the Cocaine Cartels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Venezuela’s Cop Killing Street Gang Tren de Aragua Takes America - Or Does It?

    Venezuela’s Cop Killing Street Gang Tren de Aragua Takes America - Or Does It?
    Sep 3 2024
    The Tren de Aragua grew out of disastrous regime policies to give gang leaders more power in prisons. Its mysterious leader, Niño Guerrero, soon controlled an entire facility, and installed a prison bar, a nightclub—and even a zoo. More state bungling allowed the Tren to take over entire city neighbourhoods unchallenged. So when Venezuela’s economy plummeted and hundreds of thousands fled the nation, it became a key player in the booming migrant smuggling trade, spreading into neighboring Latin American states. Now the Tren is in the US. But is there really a full-scale invasion, as media are beginning to say? We unpick the fact and fiction of this dangerous new group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • The Westies, Psycho Killers of Hell's Kitchen and the Last of the NYC Irish Mob

    The Westies, Psycho Killers of Hell's Kitchen and the Last of the NYC Irish Mob
    Aug 27 2024
    In the chaos of 1970’s New York, it took a lot to shock the city. But the Westies managed to leave quite the impression. Dubbed the last of the Irish mob despite being more like an anarchic gang, they terrorized the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, garnering headlines due to their penchant for daytime hits and chopping up their victims bodies. They even managed to attract the attention of New York’s five mafia families, who took notice of their numerous hits and started contracting out to them. In less than a decade though, things would get a little too messy, and they would tear themselves apart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 mins
  • Sammy the Bull, Nazis and Mormon Killers: How the Gilbert Goons Terrorized a Phoenix Suburb

    Sammy the Bull, Nazis and Mormon Killers: How the Gilbert Goons Terrorized a Phoenix Suburb
    Aug 20 2024
    This year, the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert has been rocked by the death of 16-year-old Preston Lord, at the hands of a group calling themselves the ‘Gilbert Goons,’ jocks and hicks combining forces to unleash violence on the city’s streets. The craziest thing? This happened before. And back then, the group’s godfather was none other than Sammy the Bull, Gambino consigliere turned super-snitch. The 90s are well and truly back in fashion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 mins