ALEX_ORTIZ ARTURO_SARUKHAN BRENDAN_IBER CARLOS_SPECTOR CATHY_ENRIQUEZ DANIEL_MARTINEZ ELIZABETH_KEMPSHALL FLACO FRIEND GORDO HIKE HOWARD_CAMPBELL JOSE_LUIS_GONZALEZ KATHY_ENRIQUEZ LUIS_CHAPARRO LUPE MEXICAN_AMBASSADOR_ARTURO_SARUKHAN MEXICAN_COMMANDER NARRATION NARRATOR PABLO PACO PHIL_ROBERTS POLICE POLICE_RADIO RADIO RUDY SAL SAUL_REYES SAUL_REYES_SALAZAR SOLDIER VEERACHART_MURPHY VINCE_PIANO WIFE RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The radio chatter you hear is a Sinaloa Cartel hit squad planning a kidnapping. RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR They use codes to describe their targets. RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Codes similar to those employed by law enforcement. Many of the hitmen are former Chihuahua state police officers. The event is a wedding. The targets the groom and two family members. Their bodies will be found four days later. This was Ciudad Juarez at the height of its violence. ACT 1 JOSE LUIS [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Photographer Jose Luis Gonzalez covered crime for El Diario newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, at that time, one of deadliest places on the planet. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR It�s 10pm. And halfway through his shift, the city had already seen 7 murders. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The violence in Juarez earned the city the nickname �Baghdad on the border�. NARRATOR There were nearly 3000 murders in 2009. Up from over 300 just two years before. Juarez is one of the most lucrative smuggling corridors into the United States - the world�s largest illicit drug market. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR And what began as a turf battle between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels pushed the entire city into chaos. Now, nearly 15 years later, we revisit that dark period. LUIS CHAPARRO Before 2008, you will learn about �Encobijados� people who were thrown out and rolled in in a blanket or disappearances. LUIS CHAPARRO Native Juarense Luis Chaparro started covering crime in the city just as the violence began. LUIS CHAPARRO But now we're actually now seeing people dead in the streets, hearing gunshots, hearing for the first time the word sicario, seeing people hanging from the bridges LUIS CHAPARRO Every time I came back home at night, I thought, wow, I made it today, you know, they're killing so many people out in the street that I mean, I have a huge chance that the next one is going to be me, you know? NARRATOR Juarez wasn�t the only place in Mexico wracked with violence. NARRATOR In 2006, then-president Felipe Calderon declared war on drug trafficking organizations. PRES. FELIPE CALDERON [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Sending the Mexican military and federal police into cartel hotspots and while arrests were made, violence exploded. News Anchor �Mexico is reeling from drug violence more deadly than the War in Afghanistan�� NARRATOR Ushering in an era of unprecedented insecurity as the government fought cartels and the cartels fought each other. With the Mexican public often caught in the crossfire. NARRATOR This was the level of violence in Juarez and other parts of Mexico in 2009, violence that some in the United States claimed was spilling over into cities like Phoenix, Arizona. PHIL ROBERTS I�ve got a possibly a juvenile was kidnapped last night along with another individual. We�re not quite sure of his age. NARRATOR Phoenix PD�s Home Invasion and Kidnapping Enforcement Task Force had a case on their hands. PHIL ROBERTS That�s the vehicle used in the kidnapping. But we�ll obviously need a search warrant on this apartment. NARRATOR This teenager was at the scene of the abduction. He escaped, but his 27-year-old friend, Paco, wasn�t as lucky. Six men with handguns removed Paco from his vehicle, while his two-year-old son sat in the back seat. NARRATOR Phoenix police were reporting a surge in kidnappings and home invasions possibly one to two kidnappings a week. POLICE Police, we have a search warrant! POLICE RADIO �the kid out of the apartment� NARRATOR The suspect, nicknamed Gordo, surrendered. But the house was empty. PHIL ROBERTS We just need to do some follow-up real fast to find out if we have a secondary location because our victim is still outstanding. Let�s have everybody go into standby mode for right now. NARRATOR Somewhere in the Phoenix metro area�s sprawl, Paco was being held. And every minute counted. As kidnapping victims here were beaten, tortured, sometimes killed. HIKE needed answers. PABLO [Foreign language dialogue] GORDO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR But Gordo wasn�t talking. ALEX ORTIZ Right now we�re not getting very good cooperation from the suspect here. The more time that we�re wasting here they�re moving that individual to other locations. NARRATOR HIKE didn�t know why Paco was kidnapped. For now, his rescue was their only concern. NARRATOR Police here began reporting an uptick in kidnappings for ransom in the early 2000�s. And the majority of the victims HIKE handled had ties to human or drug smuggling. NARRATOR Phoenix had always been a hub for these trades. But by the 2000�s, more migrants and drugs were coming through Arizona than ever before. NARRATOR The Arizona-Mexico border. In the mid-1990s, us border patrol implemented the prevention through deterrence strategy heavily fortify the urban areas along the border and this harsh terrain will serve as its own natural deterent. NARRATOR But the policy didn�t work as expected. DANIEL MARTINEZ The prevention through deterrence strategy effectively funneled undocumented immigration away from places like El Paso, Juarez, San Diego, Tijuana into southern Arizona. NARRATOR Between 1990 and 2010, apprehensions, an indicator of where people are actually crossing, jumped from just 5% in Arizona�s Tucson sector to nearly 50%. NARRATOR And at the border crossing from Arizona, and the entire southwest border, more drugs were moving into the country as well, with the North American Free Trade Agreement . DANIEL MARTINEZ We saw commerce increase along the US-Mexico border. And when you have legal trade, you also have illicit trade. The majority of drugs are coming through official ports of entry in cargo, in shipping containers, in tractor trailers. NARRATOR In Phoenix, it was in this environment of increased human and drug smuggling, and the drug war in Mexico, that the kidnappings were linked to spillover violence. CNN The phenomenon of�Home invasions and kidnapping is on the rise in American communities not far from the Mexican border. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN Many Americans believe that the escalating violence in Mexico is remote. It is not. NARRATOR But with overall violent crime in Phoenix and Arizona decreasing during this same period, sociologist Daniel Martinez cautions against any such claims. DANIEL MARTINEZ Empirically, I've not seen much evidence, if any, of a supposed spillover effect, there might be isolated incidents here or there or anecdotal examples. We really don't know what proportion of kidnaping cases in Phoenix were directly related to transnational organized crime networks operating between Mexico and Southern Arizona. We simply don't know. Law enforcement might have additional insight, but these data are not publicly available. MEXICAN COMMANDER [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR These troops were part of a force of 10,000 soldiers and federal police sent to pacify Ciudad Juarez. They began to arrive shortly after the cartel war exploded. HOWARD CAMPBELL What was different about the violence of the 2008 - 2012 drug war is that it was very public and it essentially started with the targeted assassinations of police officers. The Sinaloa Cartel deliberately targeted the policemen that worked with the Juarez Cartel. And they put up signs in public stating that they were the Sinaloa Cartel, they had come to take over the plaza of Juarez. NARRATOR But the Juarez Cartel fought back. With both sides enlisting street gangs to wage war on their behalf. MEXICAN COMMANDER [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR By 2009, the local police had been dissolved and the federal forces were in control of the city. NARRATOR When the military was first deployed by President Calderon to take on the cartels, the government believed they had no other choice. MEXICAN AMBASSADOR ARTURO SARUKHAN When Pres. Calderon assumed the office in 2006, there was no other available resource to him to shut down and roll back organized crime because state and local law enforcement had begun to see penetration by the organized crime syndicates. So the use of the armed forces in Mexico is a stop-gap measure. Its to be able to give the Mexican government time to rebuild civilian institutions, civilian police forces. NARRATOR But instead of stopping the violence, the military here presided over a period of unprecedented insecurity. NARRATOR For the Mexican government at the time, this violence was an indicator that organized crime was on the run. ARTURO SARUKHAN It�s hard to convey to public opinion in America and even in Mexico that heightened violence means that we are succeeding. It does not seem a logical conclusion but that is what is going on. NARRATOR For critics, it was evidence of a deeply flawed policy. HOWARD CAMPBELL When Calderon arbitrarily set up the military and the federal police and disbanded the existing local police authorities, he created a kind of vacuum of power - or power just by the force of a gun. NARRATOR And other types of crime spiked extortion, carjackings, robberies, and kidnappings. HOWARD CAMPBELL It's a situation of what you might call anarchy, a situation of no control by any force, not the federal government, not the local government and who took over? Criminals. NARRATOR More than a decade later, and no longer working for the Mexican government, ambassador Sarukhan sat down with National Geographic again. ARTURO SARUKHAN The Mexican state needs to acknowledge mistakes made of human and social toll and costs of some of these policies. And to acknowledge the profound pain that many of these communities in Juarez and elsewhere face today. I think many at that moment saw the armed forces as sort of a silver bullet, the cure-all solve-all. At the end of the day, the armed forces don't do law enforcement. They're not beat cops. Yes, you're creating a very muscular presence, but you're also creating some very important vacuums in terms of policing and law enforcement. NARRATOR In Phoenix, there was no law enforcement vacuum. The police here could dedicate a unit to the city�s latest challenge. And Paco�s kidnapping had HIKE�s full attention. NARRATOR HIKE brought in the family. The victim�s girlfriend, pregnant with their second child, was accompanied by her sister. ALEX ORTIZ As you can see right now one of my detectives is talking to the reporting party. He�s trying to get her in that comfortable state of mind of what�s going to happen, trying to prepare her of when the suspects start calling. NARRATOR When a call arrived, it was the job of the HIKE team to coach the family through the process and get Paco back alive. NARRATOR Would the kidnappers call? What would they demand for his release? NARRATOR A call to Paco�s girlfriend. But it�s her father. The kidnappers called him. ALEX ORTIZ Is he released? No? Sal No. They�re asking for vehicle titles. He was crying, asking for the titles� �and he�s going to call. NARRATOR The ransom was for open vehicle titles. Ownership papers to cars and trucks that can be re-sold for quick cash. ALEX ORTIZ What we�re going to do is now we�re going to pursue and have the father come down to our headquarters. There�s a lot of emotions running through these conversations and they may slip and say something that the suspect don�t want to hear. NARRATOR The kidnappers have made their demand but have not given directions for a drop. The HIKE team could only await the next call. NARRATOR The task force came into existence in 2008 as Phoenix detectives confronted what they perceived as more and more kidnapping cases. In Ciudad Juarez, criminal cases were also surging, but little was done about them. HOWARD CAMPBELL You have a massacre of 12 people in a bar, or you have a massacre of 19 or 15 people in a drug rehab center but no one is ever arrested or imprisoned for those murders. NARRATOR Over a four-year span, more than 10,000 people were murdered. And only 1% percent of those cases were ever investigated. HOWARD CAMPBELL You had complete impunity in Juarez. The killers got away with it and that encouraged other people to engage in crime, not just hardcore criminals or gang bangers, but teenagers or anybody that could pick up a gun and go to a store and rob it. NARRATOR Without investigations, confusion reigned. And documenting the violence took on a critical role. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Photographer Jose Luis Gonzalez prepared for the night shift, aware of the risks journalists faced here. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] WIFE [Foreign language dialogue] JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR During that era, Jose Luis� colleagues would be murdered, threatened, or exiled to El Paso. NARRATOR And today, in Juarez and across Mexico, Mexican journalists are as vulnerable as ever. LUIS CHAPARRO Mexico right now is the worst place to be a journalist in terms of violence. There is no other country in the world where the journalists are being killed at a higher rate than in Mexico. NARRATOR Jose Luis� shift would begin with a meeting at El Diario�s main office downtown. But before he arrived, a shooting was reported over the radio. JOSE LUIS GONZALES NARRATOR Early evening was the time of murder in Juarez. With assassins often timing their hits to happen before daily news cycles. NARRATOR With few investigations, the motives behind each killing were often unclear. NARRATOR The owner of this shoeshine shop was gunned down as dusk settled. Adding to the confusion was a message crackling over the police scanner. JOSE LUIS GONZALES [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR It was a narcocorrido, a folk song used to herald the exploits of the drug traffickers. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR At the beginning of the violence, the Sinaloa Cartel played these songs to announce the murders of Juarez cops. Now, all the criminal groups used them. It was the start of another long night. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The violence would reach unprecedented levels by 2010, as the city toppped 3000 murders. Nearly ten per day. Some of the most brazen attacks are now better understood. NARRATOR 2010 was the worst year for violence in Ciudad Juarez. This is the year a Sinaloa hit squad consisting of ex- city and state police abducted and murdered three members of a wedding party, one a US citizen, in broad daylight. The mistakenly believed one of the victims had murdered a Sinaloa operative. NARRATOR This is the year Juarez Cartel affiliates would detonate a car bomb, killing two federal police officers and two others, murder US consulate staff and gun down 15 innocent high schoolers at a house party. We know much of this because the perpetrators were finally brought to trial in the United States. LUIS CHAPARRO Sadly, one of one of the few ways that we've had a, you know, like back sneak peek of what was happening in Ciudad Juarez back then came out from a US court. There's nothing on a Mexican court or a Mexican trial where we can find some truth or some light of what was happening in Ciudad Juarez back then. RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The wedding hit was recorded by US law enforcment in El Paso. RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Crucial evidence for securing convictions of many perpetrators. RADIO [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR But a fact that raises an uncomfortable question, for academic Howard Campbell. If they were listening in, could they have stopped the killers? HOWARD CAMPBELL U.S. law enforcement is so well-informed through surveillance about what drug cartels are doing in Mexico that we even have an hour-by-hour account of their activities. Now, how do we use that information? Do we use it for the public good of the people of Mexico? Do we intervene to prevent massacres and homicides from occurring? Are we actually helping Mexico deal with its criminal problem, or are we in some ways contributing to it by getting all this information, not using it, not helping the Mexican authorities and not essentially stopping the Mexican cartels in any way? NARRATOR On the streets of Juarez a more immediate contributor to the violence was the steady flow of US guns heading south. SOLDIER [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR At a Juarez army barracks, a cache of seized weapons represented a small amount of the firepower Mexican authorities and citizens were facing every day. Many of them stamped with the same country of origin. SOLDIER [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Gun laws in Mexico are among the strictest in the world. To obtain weapons the cartels look to where the guns are plentiful and far easier to acquire. BRENDAN IBER If you look at where these Mexican organized crime groups are obtaining their firearms, the first thing to do is look at the trace data. And if you look at what is coming out of Mexico, what Mexico is tracing from 2018 to 2021, you're looking on average, they traced about 21,000 firearms each year 67% of those traces of those 21,000 firearms each year are coming from the United States. VEERACHART MURPHY Based on the 30,000 guns a year that we do, we're pretty safe to say that we're the number one gun store by volume in Arizona. Monday through Thursday is a little slower. We'll do maybe 50, 75 guns on a weekday. And then Friday and Saturdays are busier days anywhere from 100 to 150 or 175 guns a day. NARRATOR Veerachart Murphy is the owner of Ammo AZ in Phoenix, Arizona. VEERACHART MURPHY If everything is correct, your ID, your background check is clear. You provided as proof of address everything that we need ID-wise or address verification-wise. Yes. You can come in to any gun store and purchase a firearm and leave probably within 15 minutes on the fast end. NARRATOR These are crime guns seized in Mexico. The Mexican government is suing Murphy and 4 other Arizona gun stores. They believe sellers like Ammo-AZ are putting their country at risk. ARTURO SARUKHAN The majority of guns seized in Mexico are successfully traced back to gun shops in the United States. And that is the basis of the current lawsuit that the Mexican government has presented in the U.S. to go after specific gun shops where guns have been seized in Mexico have been successfully traced back to as the the origin of sale. VEERACHART MURPHY If you are trying to rapid fire with this, it will just bounce in your hand. And there is no way you will be accurate with this thing unless the person is standing right next to you. Whatever you are hitting is right in front of you. NARRATOR Guns like this one were found at a crime scene in Mexico and eventually traced back to two straw purchasers, who bought some 40 guns with $40,000 in cash from Ammo AZ and others in a three month span. On one day alone, both acquired three of the same model short AK-47s. According to Murphy, he did everything by the book. VEERACHART MURPHY If you're purchasing too many guns in too short of a span of time, we're required to fill out multiple sale forms. In regards to some of these people that I sold guns to, that Mexico's claiming I helped traffic guns. There was a multiple sale form submitted on it, so. Right. We notified ATF. Hey, he bought these three guns or these five guns, same transaction. You know, I it's not my job to follow these individuals everywhere they go for the next five years and make sure they don't go to the border. That's not my job. NARRATOR This job falls to the ATF. Yet sales forms are rarely investigated by ATF unless a gun shows up at a crime scene. There�s simply too many documents for agents to review. BRENDAN IBER It would be a massive effort to go through every single multiple sales form in the state of Arizona to look for those clues and then to actually look through those multiple sales forms and figure out, or at least get a grand idea of what is being used for nefarious purposes and what isn't. NARRATOR This is a military warehouse in Mexico City where seized guns are housed and eventually destroyed. From 2009 to 2018, Mexico traced some 100,000 crime guns to the United States. It�s just a small fraction of the over 300,000 US guns the Mexican Government believes are trafficked here every year. Put in context, US law enforcement conficates roughly 1000 guns annually headed south. ARTURO SARUKHAN There's no doubt that the loopholes that exist in gun regulations in the United States continue to allow guns to illicitly cross the border into Mexico, continue to feed the firepower of criminal organizations. And this, rightly so, continues to be an issue with which the Mexican government continues to insist that the U.S. needs to do much more than it's done so far. NARRATOR The fighting in Juarez began over the city�s important drug corridor into the US. Phoenix also plays an essential part in the US-Mexico drug trade. LUIS CHAPARRO Phoenix right now, it's called the warehouse, �La Bodega� because it's literally the biggest illegal warehouse in the in the United States. ELIZABETH KEMPSHALL Phoenix itself occupies a very um, critical role for the traffickers. If you look at our highway systems and our freeway systems in Arizona, all points bring you to Phoenix. And Phoenix is a distribution hub. NARRATOR A large number of HIKE�s cases were related to drugs and detectives pressed Paco�s friend for possible ties. SAL [Foreign language dialogue] FRIEND [Foreign language dialogue] SAL [Foreign language dialogue] FRIEND [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR It looked to be another drug-related case. In 2009, the task of seizing narcotics for the Phoenix PD fell to a drug enforcement unit lead by Lt. Vince Piano. LT. VINCE PIANO One of my interdiction squads received information of a load of Marijuana coming to a location that they have been monitoring and at about 1230 a semi-truck pulled had up to this location and offloaded into a warehouse. NARRATOR An anonymous tip lead lt. Piano and his team here to a warehouse on the outskirts of Phoenix. LT. VINCE PIANO This last bay they backed the semi in that tan door right there and it�s right inside that door. NARRATOR In 2009, the trafficking of Mexican marijuana was at its peak. And a lot of it moved through Phoenix. ELIZABETH KEMPSHALL I would say about fifty percent of the marijuana that comes into the United States comes across our border in Arizona. The illegal drugs come right into Phoenix, they're warehoused here for a very short period of time, and then they are dispersed throughout the United States. And the same thing happens with the money coming back. NARRATOR A vehicle has arrived at the warehouse. LT. VINCE PIANO We�ve just gotten some activity there. The Durango that let the semi in and controlled the warehouse is back over there right now. RADIO Alright he�s in the dodge. LT. VINCE PIANO Are you thinking he�s taking a sample are you gonna do a stop? NARRATOR The suspect driving a Dodge Durango was on the move. RADIO We�re gonna go ahead and do a traffic stop. Alright we�re closin�� Looks like he�s gonna go west on Coldwater Plaza, here� �standby. NARRATOR The suspect gave up without a chase. LT. VINCE PIANO This is how it�s gonna be packaged as it comes from Mexico. You can see look at the dirt. This was before it was moved it was stashed somewhere out in the desert, then loaded up and then brought into Phoenix. LT. VINCE PIANO Let me see 1,2,3,4. You probably got like about 500 pounds. Quarter of a million wholesale. NARRATOR A load of 500 lbs <250 kg> of marijuana was worth 250 thousand wholesale in 2009 and roughly 3 million on the street. NARRATOR At the warehouse, police discovered another 70 marijuana bales. The total seizure exceeded 2000 pounds <1000 kg>. VINCE PIANO This is typical. Like I said all of this is continually coming up, there�s at least 10,000 pounds <5000 kg> people kinda guess or project 10,000 pounds <5000 kg> a day coming up. NARRATOR With legalization in a number of US states, marijuana is no longer a major source of revenue for traffickers. Now, the primary drugs crossing the border and housed in Phoenix are cocaine, meth, heroin, and most significantly, fentanyl. These drugs will be shipped to cities and towns across North America with billions of dollars returning to Mexico. Money to ship more drugs, buy more guns, fuel more violence and suffering. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Saul Reyes Salazar once ran a family bakery in Guadalupe in the valley of Juarez. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Now he lives in the United States. HOWARD CAMPBELL The Valle de Juarez was probably the worst tragedy in the entire Juarez drug war. During the worst of it, it had the highest levels of homicide in the entire world. NARRATOR In 2008, some 10,000 people lived in Guadalupe. Today, only 2,000 remain. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The valley of Juarez lies southeast of Ciudad Juarez. Running 40 miles <60 km> along the US Mexico border. One singular paved highway provides access to the small towns that dot the valley. This is farmland but it is also an important corridor for drug and human smuggling. NARRATOR Like the city of Juarez, what started as a cartel battle would tear apart the entire community. HOWARD CAMPBELL People are murdered, their farmland is taken, their animals are shot. People are driving around the small town and killing people for anything. NARRATOR The Mexican military was tasked with bringing peace to the valley of Juarez. Saul believes they were a part of the problem. SAUL REYES [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR The Reyes family started protesting the military�s abuse. For Saul, that�s when their trouble began. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Over the course of two years, six members of Saul�s family would be murdered, including four siblings. Their homes and properties ransacked and burned. And no one was held accountable. NARRATOR For Saul it was clear, given their control over the valley, that the military was either involved, or was turning a blind eye. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] CARLOS SPECTOR They were a double danger to the cartels as well as to the state. They were loud, they were vociferous, they were organized, and they were particularly bothersome and they had to go. NARRATOR Saul�s immigration attorney Carlos Spector believes the Reyes Salazar family had made enemies of both the Sinaloa cartel and the authorities. And regardless of who pulled the trigger, cartel or military, this was political persecution, and a compelling case for asylum. CARLOS SPECTOR There's only one street in and one street out, and the family's being murdered. So who did it? Either the government acquiesced, or either the government was directly involved. No action constitutes an action. That if you permit a rape in front of you and you're a police officer, you acquiesced, you're part of the problem. NARRATOR In 2011, Saul fled his home for the US. One year later, he was granted asylum. HOWARD CAMPBELL It's not just criminal violence, but it's also political violence because the Reyes Salazares, they were a voice of democracy, of complaining about what was wrong in Juarez and what was wrong in the Valle de Juarez. And for speaking out against this violence. They were killed. SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] SAUL REYES SALAZAR [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR In Phoenix, kidnappers still had Paco. HIKE detectives received new demands, $5000 dollars in addition to the car titles, and were now waiting for final money drop instructions. The call came in. It was Paco. PACO [Foreign language dialogue] LUPE [Foreign language dialogue] LUPE [Foreign language dialogue] PACO [Foreign language dialogue] FLACO [Foreign language dialogue] LUPE [Foreign language dialogue] NARRATOR Paco�s friend in the room took instructions. He was to make the drop. Any misstep now could cost Paco his life. RADIO Shipley, do you have positions uncovered down there that you need? NARRATOR With all units in place, Phoenix PD�s HIKE team was ready to make the ransom drop. RADIO The bag has been dropped. I got a visual. Radio Chatter Just grabbed the bag. Walking Southbound. Red shirt. Blue jean shorts. He�s on the sidewalk to the west. RADIO He walking up to a house� �down a driveway� �and it looked like he started running� �westbound�west side of the road. CATHY ENRIQUEZ Who�s this. You wanna stop people walking? ALEX ORTIZ Yup. NARRATOR Sgts. Ortiz and Enriquez spotted someone. ALEX ORTIZ What�s up man? Where are you from? What�s you�re name? CATHY ENRIQUEZ I know who you are and I know what your phone number is, okay? NARRATOR His nickname was Flaco. An alleged associate of Gordo. Written on his hand was a phone number. The same number as the phone receiving ransom calls. ALEX ORTIZ Hey Hey Hey CATHY ENRIQUEZ Go Alex go!! RADIO The suspect is in custody. Again the suspect we were chasing is in custody. NARRATOR The HIKE team had two suspects. And they believed Paco was somewhere nearby. RUDY What are you doin� here? What are you doin� here? CROW What do you mean what am I doing here? I know some people there. RUDY OK why are you runnin�? CROW Because I seen all you guys. RUDY Don�t act stupid. You know what I�m talkin� about. This kid�s life is on the line. � don�t play stupid you�ve been through the system you know what I�m talkin� about. There is a difference between us finding him alive and finding him dead. If we find him dead you�re gonna go down for that. CROW Find who dead? KATHY ENRIQUEZ The phone number written on your hand is the same phone number making ransom calls. ALEX ORTIZ We�re really concerned and there may be another suspect that was left with him and we just want to make sure that we still maintain our perimeter and we want to make sure that all this hard work concludes with the safe rescue of that victim. NARRATOR Near the drop they recovered the ransom bag. But it seemed Paco had disappeared. ALEX ORTIZ The victim more than likely is still floating out in the streets with other suspects. The clock�s gonna keep on tickin� and we�re gonna continue to work. NARRATOR The next morning and still no sign of Paco. ALEX ORTIZ This the first time for me that this victim was not recovered. And I was replaying the whole scenario in my head, what could we have done differently? How could we have done things better? What did we miss out there? You start replaying everything and trying to go back reenact the situation in your head and you could drive yourself crazy doing that. NARRATOR In 2022, National Geographic was able to locate Paco alive and back with his family. Gordo, Flaco and the third suspect were all convicted on kidnapping charges. No other accomplices were ever tracked down. NARRATOR Though Phoenix remains a significant hub for drug and human smuggling, kidnappings appear to have dropped. NARRATOR In Juarez, annual homicide numbers would briefly drop to pre-cartel war levels, before a new wave of violence swept through the city. HOWARD CAMPBELL The Juarez drug market has become so large, multiple tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars a year, that the primary source of violence now is the struggle to control the local market of the drug market of Juarez, not the transmission of drugs into the United States. NARRATOR The fighting isn�t between the cartels. But the street gangs that once served as the cartels� foot soldiers. HOWARD CAMPBELL So this year Juarez will have more than a thousand homicides, perhaps 1200 homicides in one year. Percentagewise, this is a higher level of violence than almost any city in the world. No one is paying any attention to this and to me, that's a tremendous tragedy that we consider this, the new normal and it's somehow then acceptable or not worth worrying about. NARRATOR Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels in 2006. Two presidents later, the Mexican military remains the primary force to fight organized crime. NARRATOR More than 300,000 people have died, and over 130,000 have disappeared. Criminal groups are as strong as ever. And homicides are near record highs. CARLOS SPECTOR Extortions are up. Kidnappings are up. Murders of human rights activists and journalists are up. The Mexican government and the Mexican military continues to be incapable of defending anyone. NARRATOR Drugs continue to move across the border to meet US demand. And the guns and money keep flowing south. HOWARD CAMPBELL To me, one of the major takeaways is to understand that the United States and Mexico are involved in so many deep, complex relationships we cannot simply sit in the United States and blame Mexico for drug smuggling or drug-related violence without looking closely at ourselves to understand the ways in which we are implicated, whether because we sell guns or traffic them into Mexico, we consume drugs. ARTURO SARUKHAN This has to be an approach which privileges joint responsibility, shared responsibility, the equation is very simple for our two countries, particularly on this front. We can continue to be accomplices to failure or we become partners to success.