Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Margarita Island (Venezuela), Urabá (Colombia), The Port of Callao(Perú), Galápagos Islands, Tijuana, New Laredo, The Pacific coasts of California, Rotterdam, San Petersburg – We see a montage of illicit transactions as various drug trafficking operations are carried out simultaneously in different phases as thousands of kilos of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and Ice are transported from clandestine routes, including; international airports, loading ports and hidden passenger sources – passengers on jets, boats, ships, sail boats yachts, submarines, trucks, buses, cars, tunnels and catapults are some of the methods that we see being used for this highly profitable business as millions of dollars are flowing and exchanging hands. These money transactions take place in airports, shipping ports, private docks, clandestine runways, hangers, casinos, luxury hotels, residences of all clases, parking lots, commercial centers, stock exchanges, “second floor” banks and through bank transfers. The characters & players of these transactions include bosses (capos), lieutenants, merecenaries, pólice & military officers, gang members, beautiful women, peasants, bankers and even venerable elders and young teenagers. All of these chain of events has a single name, that of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, the number 1 most sought after criminal by the FBI, “public enemy No 1 of the City of Chicago and one of the 700 richest millionaires according to Forbes Magazine. Welcome to the world of El Chapo.
Cabos Baja California South-México 2012 – The G20 Summit of foreign ministers, also attended by the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, takes place in Cabos in Baja California and the área is infested with miles of soldiers, hundreds of North American and Mexican secret service agents as well as bodyguards of various nationalities accompanying the different committees and delegations. Docked in the bay in front of the town are ships and other warships as military and pólice helicopters fly over the área. Our favorite druglord, Joaquin, also happens to be there closing important international deals, all of which is coordinated by his young and brilliant collaborator, Martin Esbalda who is also meeting with the corrupt Mexican PRI party to deliver a million dollar sum to its presidential campaign. Life goes on.
At dawn and in the middle of a break (in a luxurious condominium located between San Jose de Cabo and Cabo San Lucas) El Chapo receives an alert call, informing him that several Mexican authorities are on a DEA instigated operation seeking to capture him. His presence in the area has been detected with precisión and that the raid will take place in minutes. Right before the pólice and soldiers arrive Joaquin manages to escape together with his chauffer, leaving his companions behind. With the assitance of Martin Esbalza and a cool and cunning attitude that characterizes Joaquin, dressed as a tourist wearing shorts, a baseball cap and dark sunglasses, he is picked up by Martin’s girlfriend together with her baby and they drive off to the international airport of San Jose de Cabo in an overflowing truck.
Sinaloa – Joaquín‘s airplane lands on a runway located at the edge of the Pacific coast where more than a dozen of his men are waiting for him. His plan is to take refuge in a hacienda nearby and is prompted in that direction; however unbeknownst to him there is another operation closing in on them, by land and with helicopter assistance, thus forcing him to escape in a convoy of pick up trucks in which El Chapo leads by driving one like a bat out of hell. After several minutes on the road they are chased as a firestorm ensues with El Chapo’s men firing M60 machine guns as Joaquin escapes deep into the Sierra with a group of heavily armed men.
Cut to:
January-August 2001.
Nayarit-
Two days afterJoaquín has escaped from an unusually tight máximum security prison located in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, the authorities are undergoing a mass search for him throughout all of Mexico as well as in neighboring countries. Together with an older man known as El Comandande (a good friend and neighbor from his childhood as well as a seasoned guide and wise advisor), Joaquin joins two more men who guide him to take refuge in a mountain top. They flee as a military helicopter flying above them with the bodies of two men hanging on ropes by their feet blare from its loudspeakers that he surrender.
The small group of men manage to hide for two days in this inhospitable arrid and desolate place and eventually receive help from villagers allowing them to evade the siege and move to a nearby hacienda where they finally take a helicopter that was sent to Joaquin by his old boyhood friend and cautious partner, El Mayo.
Sinaloa:El Mayoreceives Joaquin a half hour later after the helicopter lands in a hacienda somewhere in the valleys of Sinaloa on his property. El Mayogives El Chapofirst aid by offering him weapons and money and also informs him of the latest news from the States of the Mexican Northwest and then bids farewell and leaves quickly.
The newly escaped capostays put for one night and warned by his friend of the presence of the authorities throughout the valley, he leaves the área accompanied by his buddy El Comandandeand his younger brother El Pollo(The Chicken), who has come to the hacienda to receive Joaquin. They take a small airplane and they fly deep into the Sierra.
Days later and feeling a little more secure next to El Comandande, El Chapo visits his mother, Consuelo, in the Municipality of Santiago de Los Caballeros. The meeting is facilitated by the parish priest of the town and is given in the priest’s house which is attached to the small church within the municipality. Joaquin visits a few of the marijuana crops that El Comandandehas managed for many years and takes up part of his business directly, his permanent change of shelter, the mobilization and the competition of the men as the logistics of this “improvised” set up requires that he lay out millions of dollars. The drug traffic business is the only one that supports his crazy lifestyle.
After a few weeks Joaquin travels South to a coastal región where he meets up with his eldest sons; Ivan Archivaldo, Jesus Alfredo and Cesar who have moved from Guadalajara on a cumbersome journey that included stops in Los Cabos and Mazatlan to evade the follow-up chase to capture Joaquin that the authorities were carrying out. They are reunited happily and enjoy each others’ company for a few hours of recounting emotional stories.
Joaquin returns immediately to the Sierra where he sees, for the first time, his second wife Griselda, a strong and attractive woman with a profound respect towards El Chapo.
The authorities are on to him and he has to suddenly escape with her and El Comandante; they pass three nights below a tree and finally manage to break the siege and escape to a safer place.
His cousinsLos Hermanos Beltrán Leyva(The Beltran Leyva Brothers, also Traficantes, drug dealers, like El Chapo) visit him there and lend Joaquin two million dollars which El Chapo is thankful for and then promises them that they will be part of a big deal which he is in the midst of cooking up.
Various States in México-
Under pressure from the authorities, Joaquin leaves Sinaloa, passes through several nearby states, such as Durango and Zacatecas, finally hides in Malinalco-Estado de Mexico, remains in the home of a prominent PRI politician, from there he moves to Puebla, reestablishes a relationship there and recovers a significant sum of money that will be delivered several days later, returns to th D.F. (Mexico City), there collects profits of old investments managed by Spanish jewelers and Jewish bankers who have years of ties with him. Joaquin returns to Nayarit to take care of a future marijuana business deal and re-establishes old contacts. Meanwhile his brother “El Pollo” (The Chicken) stays in Mexico City and while taking care of money coming in from Puebla he is arrested. He tries to bribe the pólice chiefs who detain him but does not manage to reach an agreement so he is held in a máximum security prison. Joaquin is depressed and returns to Sinaloa
Sinaloa-
There El Chapo receives the timid support of the young lawyer “Licenciado Damaso”, a grayish former official of the prison where Joaquin had escaped and who has been part, like his father, during the years of the capo’s payroll.
As all odds seem to be stacked against El Chapo, his friend El Mayo, with the wisdom that accompanies him, suggests that he stay on a ranch belonging to an old and successful Sinaloan capo that a year ago was killed apparently from envy and is accompanied by half a dozen men and two women who cook and attend to the chores of the house. The ranch is located near the place where helicoptes take off and small army ships and the PFP (Federal Preventile Police) are located. They fly over the mountain in search of it as El Mayo has devised a plan of distraction by making it appear through constant rumours that Joaquin has remained in the mountains. They once again manage to fool the authorities. For some time Joaquin remains calm and hidden amidst the sounds of helicopters and turbines all around him and he is hidden amongst his enemy in the valleys of Sinaloa.
Cut to:
Sinaloa – Joaquín ascends to the Sierra with a group of his men and at one point on the way one of the lookouts orders the men to stop, separates them into three groups; the first group takes another direction which distracts the attention of a helicopter following them. As the helicopter approaches them they shoot at it and it takes off. The second group simultaneously opens fire on the soldiers that come behind and the third group with El Chapo together with a handfull of men continues climbing down several meters until they find a thick hollow which they climb inside and continue for a while until they arrive at the entrance of an abandoned gold mine in which they take shelter.
To be continued.
Sinaloa – Military soldiers, who have beenchasing and seeking El Chapo, carry out a raid operation in Sinaloa but when they do not find Joaquin, who has been hiding in the Sierra Madre mountains inside an abandoned gold mine, the persecuting and frustrated soldiers destroy homes in the áreas, stealing plasma televisión sets, cell phones, cash, jewelry, laptops, tablets and other household ítems.They immobilize delivery trucks bringing in miscelaneous goods into the área by firing bullets into the trucks’ tires or damaging their elecrtical starting systems and cutting the brakes.Some of the local people are beaten and tortured by these crazed Mexican authorities as the “The Law of Silence” prevails in the Sierra and everyone protects El Chapo – no one mumbles a word. Eventually, the captain running the operation becomes exhausted and dissapointed and makes the decisión to leave the áreaand with his troops fatigued, it becomes evident to him that the food becomes scarce because the community is not willing to help the military with ther basic needs. They won’t move one finger.
El Chapo seems to have vanished and the captain & his troops’ presense there seems futile, so the captain radios his decisión to withdraw from the área and his superiors endorse it. Meanwhile the order that Joaquin has given is clear: if the military or pólice do not attack his men, or are on to them, they must evade them but never attack them frontally. The soldiers begin their retreat descending from the Sierra and when they arrive below they take the trucks stationed in the narrow and dusty roads and head towards the municipality where the rest of the battalions are stationed.
Guadalajara – Meanwhile at the DEA office in the city, there is total confusión as no one seems to have any clue how the information was leaked leading to the total failure of their operation to attempt the capture of El Chapo. The DEA agents in the USA are pissed off and are demanding answers to some pretty direct and obvious questions. One of the more aggressive superiors of the DEA, noted for his outbursts of warnings and insults towards the corrupt Mexican civil servants in the pay & service of El Chapo, reminds and warns his team in Mexico that the PGR (Attorney General’s Office in Mexico) could not have been aware of the counter-operatives since only the federal, state and municipal pólice were infested with corruption from Joaquin’s camp.
Sinaloa – Joaquín,together with a dwindling few of his companions and two locals, who have come to pick him up and bring him up to date on the status of the situation in the área, leaves the old abandoned gold mine on foot. They walk for one kilometer until they are met by four heavily armed men dressed in army camouflage, then continue on for a few more kilometres where a convoy of pick up trucks awaits them. This contingent was sent compliments of the Insulza Brothers, allied captains loyal to Joaquin who have much power and money because they are engaged in the production of heroin in this particular mountain range. Dozens of armed men with radio controlled devices are stationed throughought the región and en-route. Joaquin again drives one of the trucks and as they speed through the countryside a cd player blastscorridos(Mexican folk songs) with lyrics alluding to El Chapo and his exploits. They finally get to a small runway hidden in the middle of the Sierra where a small Cessna 206 awaits them and where several men dressed in militaty uniforms and heavily armed, swarm the place and react fetively as the entourage comes barelling in playing the lively corridos about EL Chapo. He’s beceome a legend and songs are being written about him in Mexico.
The small Cessna 206 that skilfully skids over the short runway leading to the edge of the mountain, turns and without turning off the engines stops, Joaquin climbs up with his trusted man, Pingüino(Penguin, ex lieutenant of the special forces of the Mexican army), who has not left Joaquin’s side since arriving on the coast of Sinaloa. The plane takes flight and after 45 minutes lands on an airfield where another convoy of trucks and heavily armed men awaits to take them on a highway to a fortified farm where he meets up with his sons, Alfredo and Ivan, both of who are becoming more involved in the drug dealing business, emulating their father. Joaquin’s other son, Cesar, however, along with the women of the family remain on the sidelines, attempting to have discreet lives with no link to the drug trafficking business. Cesar dedicates himself to his profesional work and to his family and prefers not to be associated with his father’s notoriety.
A day later,Licenciado Dámaso (Damaso,an educated man) brings Joaquin money and the latest communication equipment, together with an assistant who will take care of anything he needs. A few hours later,Fernando Hincapié(an efficient cosmopolitan Colombian capoof middle age and who is Paisa’s right hand man – Paisais one of the most powerful Colombian drug traficants – arrives to discuss their global business deals which encompasses a variety of countries. Fernando Hincapie also asks about security and offers prudent advice regarding the use of comunications vis-a-vis the advances & sophistication in telecom that the DEA and other agencies are implementing against the business. In mid dialogue Joaquin invites Pingüinoto listen in to the Colombian’s comentaries . At the end of his conversation Fernando asks the capo to speak in private, about Peru and about how well the business is doing there and the favorable conditions offered by that country. He speaks of an emissary they have there who leads a structure within the organization that is growing everyday and continues to develop good working relationships between Peruvians and Colombians at its service.
Fernando Hancapiesays goodbye after having lunch with Joaquin but is annoyed that they had risked their lives by stopping in Culiacan, 40 minutes away, to buy Chinese food, hamburgers and tacos. Fernando considers that actions like those and other types of purchases that are taken in such short periods of time when taking shelter is a priority, puts their security at risk. He expresses toPingüino, rightin front ot Joaquin, his sentiments and has feelings of resignation before the cravings of his boss.
In the afternoon Emma Coronel (Joaquin’s young and beautiful wife and ex beauty queen) comes to visit him and shows him photos of their 6 month old twin daughters who are staying with their grandmother in the city. Emma leaves later on in the evening after spending a few hours with her husband.
Late one night, a pick-up truck arrives at the hacienda and Narices ( “Noses” also a former military man) steps out to inform Penguino of some news then promplty returns to the van, opens the passenger door and lets out a beautiful, lush and young woman who greets Joaquin timidly. El Chapo, naturally and gallantly escorts her to the living room and offers her a drink then asks her if she already has had dinner. They spend an evening of romantic bliss at the hacienda. In the morning Joaquin bids the young lady farewell and gives her a fat envelope with muchos dólares and then takes off with Pingüino and Nariceson the small Cessna 206.
Cut to:
México City – Fernando Hincapié, flies from the Dominican Republic into Mexico City on his private airplane. Later on in a luxurious apartment in the Mexican capital, he is wheeling and dealing with several businesses whilst communicting with contacts in Colombia, Canada and Europe. An employee of his visits him with bad news about a serious incident in Tamaulipas, where gunmen beloning to Osiel Cárdenas (Head Honcho of the violent Gulf Cartel) have raided a hacienda owned by Paisa and have taken 500 kilos of cocaine and more than US $ 4 million. The Colombian has a fit and calls someone in Sinaloa and in the evening he goes to a bar where he tries to forget the bad news by sharing his time with beautiful models of various nationalities that his gay friend, Ricky has brought to him. He remains there until dawn when he finally realizes, completey hungover, that he has to take care of business.
Sinaloa – Fernando Hincapiéarrives at the Culiacan airport on a comercial airliner and immediately leaves by truck on the Panamericana Highway and after gasing up, drives through an open highway for 40 minutes before arriving at a hacienda where Joaquin is waiting for him. The two men shake hands and meet for the first time.
Joaquin breaks the ice as they eat breakfast and Fernando calms his massive hangover by constantly drinking wáter melón juice. They talk about Osiel Cardenas and his recent incident and constant aggressión and in a gesture of comeradery towards Paisa, Fernando and Joaquin form an alliance to fight Osiel. They are both fed up with the capo from Tamaulipeco. Fernando tells Joaquin that Osiel even tried to kidnap him along with other important druglords of organizations in an alledged Summit where they were going to fix differences.
Joaquín andFernandomake a deal and before leaving, the Colombian tells the capo that he looked him up because he and his boss (Paisa) have always considered him a serious, brave and loyal man. Fernando asks Joaquin about his personal air transport and Joaquin answers, “not quite yet”. Fernando tells him that he is going to make him a gift and then hugs him and says good bye.
Toluca : A State of México, Sinaloa y Durango – A few days later,Fernando y El Paisa send Joaquin a European-built helicopter and they also deliver 400 kilos of cocaine which the capo quickly turns around and delivers to the USA. The news of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in NYC and elsewhere shocks the world. The airports, marine ports and border crossings become marred with strict controls and restrictions. Weeks pass and as cash flow gets better and transport systems improve Joaquin has several meetings with old friends and aquaintances dedicated to drug trafficking. Most of the players were born in the Mexican Golden Triangle (Sinaloa, Durango and Sonora) and they all have excotic nicknames like: Nacho, El Azul and El Viceroyfor starters who are the most important leaders of the Pacific coast. They all listen to him with respect and because they all have known each other over the years and have seen his great ability and ascendancy to this presitigous level. There is great credibility in his innovative approach in handling the traffic business in the face of new times and so new alliances begin with operators from states such as Colima, Nayarit, Guerrero and Jalisco. The operatives who are after Joaquin’s capture decrease in number and then he meets Maria( a beautiful and humble adolesent girl of 17 years who is of US and Mexican citizenship) and finds himself living with her family in the sierras of Durango.
Captured by her beauty and haughtiness he proposes to the girl to be his lover but she prefers for him to teach her to cultivate and traffic marijuana and that later perhaps she would consider his romantic proposals. Surprised and joyful, Joaquin accepts Maria’s proposal and sets her up.
Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora and Medellín-Colombia: Joaquin is in Cancun with El Paisa. The location and the logistics of this appointment are both facilitated by Fernando Hincapie. The meeting is brief but fruitful as both men are pragmatic and concretely agree to enable a couple of new routes.
The capo decides to send as his delegates to Colombia a pair of his men, one of them, his nephew who is dazzledwith the level of organization and efficiency with which El Paisa operates in the beautiful Colombian city of Medellin.
Two more shipments of cocaine are received by the capo and sent back to the USA. Joaquin manages to pass the goods of El Paisa with some difficulty due to the border blockade implemented after 9-11, even so, the alliance grows with fruitful results as Joaquin decides to undertake the construction of a tunnel at the border city of Nogales-Sonora. He also continues his meetings outlining new projects to other managers and operators.
Cut to:
United States of America – Meanwhile, at the head offices of the DEA in the USA there are reports of Joaquin& his entouragemobilizing around the middle of the Sierra, this information is given by an anonymous informantwho is close to a rival faction of the capo and who has provided the leak of the área where Joaquin and his men are moving. The DEA establishes contact, only on this occasion, with members of SEDENA (The Mexican Natonal Defense Secretary) informing them in detail of the valuable informaiton gathered by and confirmed by satellite and airborne sources as well as through communications intercepts and heat sensors.
The DEA strongly warns the Mexicans not to inform anyone else, including the presidential circle, of the operation so that they can develop a strategy and not be compromised by any further leaks.
Sinaloa – Joaquínfinds himself in the Sierra when an armed helicopter, gunships and several platoons of sodiers burst into the área together with two agents from the DEA who have been accompanying them after travelling quickly from Guadalajara. Fernando Hancapie and the Young and beautiful Maria are together with Joaquin, with Maria having just shown Joaquin spectacular photos on her Tablet of her macro culture of hydroponic marijuana in which they are partners, when all of a sudden one of Joaquin’s men takes out a rocket –launcher, kneels behind a thicket and shoots at the sudden on-coming helicopter whidch does down and falls on the edge of a small river that runs in the middle of the narrow canyon where Joaquin and his entourage had taken refuge.
They all flee in small groups as some men repel and hinder the arrival of the soldiers who come by land. Joaquin, Maria and Fernando manage to escape and walk in the middle of the mountains for three days guided by one of their men who knows the área very well, finally breaking the siege to which they are subjected.
Wherever they pass, they are aided by the locals and despite being a very poor área, they are provided with tortillas, beans and wáter. The people in the Sinaloa region love and admire Joaquin. On the third day a convoy of vans is sent my Joaquin’s friend El Mayo, who also sends heavily armed men to help them evacuate from the área and at a certain point and by decisión of El Chapoeach small group takes a different path. Maria leaves with one man and is transferred on to a discreet truck as is Fernando who leaves on another truck. A few hours later, Joaquin boards on a small airplane which takes off from a clandetine airstrip in the middle of the Sierra Grande.
To be continued…
Culiacán-Sinaloa – Joaquín’s airplane lands in a Sinaloan valley where he is received by Cóndor, another ex military guy, who has been working for him for some years. He takes off via the highway, together with a caravan of trucks for Culiacan, where he hides out in a fortified house in a colony of upper middle class homes. En route he asks for Pingüino andNaricesand he’s told that both are safeand athough Pingüinois injured and disabled for some days and Nariceshad suffered some scrapes and bruises, they are safe for now in their retreat in Culiacan.
The residence has a system of cameras that monitor the entrance by the outside in both directions. On the same street lives a family of lieutanants whose sole function is to stay vigilant and guard the zone and advice of any irregular movement that would present itself. These loyal lieutenants are forbidden to become involved in any business related to trafficking of any sort so as not to attract any attention to his clandestine hiding house. Theybecome accustomed toleadapparent normal lives in the services of their capo, Joaquin, and are an integral part of his security system.
From the outside the visibility of the interior of the house is null. Several cars, that are part of Joaquin’snetwork and system, keep circling the colony in a constant and synchronized manner, while other automobiles move around the city, including a flotilla of taxis owned by the organization which covers the meaningful nerve centers of the city such as the airport, bus terminal and hotels of more than three stars. Finally, the network is complemented by corrupt police officers of the municipal and state sectors who are constantly informing Joaquin’s central organization of any important movements within the federal pólice, army or navy in the city and its surrounding áreas. This central is supervised by reliable people of the Licensiado Damaso, a trusted lawyer & associte of Joaquin. That same day Joaquin meets up with his sons again who arrive in a luxurious sports car driven by the younger of sons.
The youngsters bring good news to Joaquin; Emma (his wife) has finally settled in Culiacan and on that same day she will visit with the twins who are already 8 months old. It will be the first time that the capo will see his daughters since they were born. Alfredo andIvánstay with their father for a few hours and he asks them about the whole family in a very affectionate manner. He is also constantly concerned about the conditions, well-being and situation of each one of them as well as the general condition of the rest of the family. His sons have brought him Asian food and although he eats very little, he speaks to them more about how concerned he is with the constant failures and hits that his drug trafficking business has been recently experiencing within the South American routes as well as as the seizures inside his own Mexican territory. Joaquin’s sons insist that their father stay in the city and that it is best for all. As they conclude their lunch meeting/reunion, Naricesshows up in 4 door sedan carrying water, refreshments, beer, whisky, ice, higiene-oriented-stuff as well as large amounts of food, all of which was received and transferred several miles from the house. Narices embraces Joaquin warmly and exhalts his courage to those present. The woman in charge of the kitchen exclaims worriedly about not having enough space in the already three filled-up refrigerators. Narices reassures her that there is another refrigirator in the garage that is yet to be filled and that there will be enough food and provisions for his boss and his daughters. He asks for permission and returns to the car from where he brings in a couple of boxes which he places in the living room.Narices explains to Joaquin that these are the new tablets and computers which a reliable engineer has already refigured and adapted for him. Joaquin thanks Narices and asks him to take care of bringing Emma and their little twin daughters to be with him. Joaquin’s sons leave. One and-a-half hour later,Narices arrives with Emma and the twin girls and the emotional and happiness of El Chapo is immense. Emma and the girls remain for several nights in the residence. After four days, Joaquin leaves for another house with similar characteristics where Fernando Hincapieawaits him and where he has been convalescing due to a persecution with the law incident he had encountered a few days prior. Fernando, with the constant concern that Joaquin had expressed to him, has planned a re-engineering of all the routes and mechanisms of work that Joaquin has allowed him to know and that will require many adjustments. The Colombian is agile, pragmatic, sharp in his assessments and also has an overview that pleases the capoa lot, so he supports him in practically each of his proposals. Joaquin does not spend the night there and wanders in and out of several houses located in the área. A few days later Pingüino returns to be with the cap, who is very grateful to him and promises that in the next shipment he brings from South America he will allow him a quota of 100 kilograms. Penguin is ecstatic and very thankful.
Almost everyday Joaquin visits the Colombian and works at his side. As the results begin to be seen in a short time, Fernando leaves Culiacan and establishes himself in the D.F. (Mexico City) from where it is easier to beginmanaging the various projects.
Meanwhile in the United States of America:
The DEA receives news/information that makes them happy – Joaquin’s children have been included in the “Kingpin Law” (la Ley de designación de Cabecillas Extranjeros del Narcotráfico), the law designated to include family members of Foreign Narcotics Trafficking business.
Sinaloa, Culiacán and Mazatlán:
On the last day of April, two delegates of the Russian Mafia arrive to Mazatlan from Toronto, one night theystay in a tourist hotel of the port and the next morning, the first day of May, they are picked up by a van beloning to the organization. Their route is intercepted by State trooper and the young driver leaves and asks the Russians to stay in the automobile while he speaks to the pólice who immediately lets them get on their way. Martin Esbalzais the one who facilitates the meeting with the Russians at someone’s house in Culiacan. Martin receives and greets the Russians, one of whom he knows and one hour later Joaquin arrives. The dialogue is tense and as one of the Russians, the youngest of them, becomes a bit arrogant and with every question he asks, the capo responds with his typical quiet way with pauses, that characterizes him, and thenstares at the uncomfortable looking Ruskiewho is incredulous in his evident tense discomfort.
The capo calls Pingüino, to whom he whipsers, then goes to one of the trucks and returns a minute later. The Russians speak amongst themselves as Joaquin receives a bag from his lieutanant which he opens to reveal a kilo of pressed cocaine. Joaquin startles everyone as he bangs the kilo on the table forcefully and Penguin gives him a knife which Joaquin uses to cut the wrapper and picques the bundle, taking a bit of powder at one end of the block while explaining the virtues of the merchandise, the way it shines in its purity,in that special way that they call iffish scales . Joaquin prods the silenced Ruskie to try it from the tip of the extended knife as the intimidated young Russian takes it to his mouth and imediately notices the high quality.
Joaquin then tells the Russian finally that he will give him the kilo, stops staring at him then leaves the place as he tells the Russians that Martin Esbalda will be taking care of the other details. The Russians are bewildered and the older Russian reproaches the young man for his misconduct.
The following day, Martin clarifies that one of the Russians is the son of one of the hierarchs of the Kremlin and immdiately they begin an alliance that floods the Russian and neighboring countries with cocaine that comes from Canada and crosses by boat across the Atlantic Ocean until arriving at various Baltic ports.
On May 5th the media spreads the news about Joaquin’s children’s ties made by the US Tresury Department, cataloging them as ringleaders; something that surprised everyone including Joaquin who was particularly shocked that his son Ovid (son of Griselda) was named because he doesn’t participate at all in the business. The United States authorities did not have reliable information and confused Ovid with Alfred, Joaquin’s other son who was indeed in the smuggling business. Griselda feels violated and seeks out her ex – husband’s interfearance as Ovid is simply dedicated to his studies and to his recent marriage plans. Joaquin suggests to her that the lawyers take take care of the matter
Perú:
At the suggestion of Fernando Hincapie, a group from the organization headed by Joaquin’s nephew arrives in Peru to hold meetings where money is delivered to corrupt Peruvian authorities. They also aquire properties in Lima and along the coastal áreas north of the capital where they have a beach house with a private dock. These actions lead to Joaquin considering moving to the Inca country for a while.
Sinaloa, Culiacán and Mazatlán:
El MayovisitsJoaquín in Culiacán and the intimate partners evaluate their relationship with different associates including the war rattles with the brothers, Hermanos Beltrán Leyva.Joaquin moves to the tourist port of Mazatlan with rumors of new operations with the navy in Culiacan which force him to leave the capital of Sinaloa. El Bravo, the head of the region meets with Joaquin and offers him three different places whichhave beenset up for him to stay whilst in the port city. Pretty Maria visits Joaquin there and she is calm and happy after the incident in the Sierra. She tells Joaquin that her innovative hydroponic marijuana cultivation is advancing well and in a few days the harvest will be collected and will produce a lot of money. All production is guaranteed to be sold in the USA and Maria tells Joaquin that she will go to Los Angeles to finalize the details herself.
Cut to –
Different places in Mexico:
Dozens of drug lords and drug bosses from Mexico leave their headquarters and move in the same direction. This unusual movement forces the deployment of the most varied and diverse infrastructure of protection and transportation.
Sonora:
To an imposing hacienda embedded in the western Sierra Madre of the State of Sonora, there arrives in less than four hours and by different means (airplanes, helicopters, vans, etc.): El Mayo, El Azul, Los Hermanos Valencia, El Viceroy and El Niño de Oro (Both brothers of the Lord of the Skies-Amado Carrillo Fuentes), Nacho Coronel, Beltrán Leyva Brothers and more than a dozen additional chiefs and capos of the Mexican drug trafficking business. They are accompanied by airplane & helicopter pilots, and several drivers as well as dozens of armed bodyguards and dangerous men. The hacienda is co-owned by a group of summit startups that shelter more than 70% of the great leaders of the Mexican drug trafficking business.
At the beginning of the summit there is some hesitation and prevention tactics but little by little each doubt is dissipated by Joaquin who takes the lead and becomes the convener.By their initiative they reach transcendental agreements that will redefine the future of the world traffic.
The idea that Joaquin has been feeding for years, and that after its recent flight has been able to materialize, takes shape; the Confederation of the Pacific is formed and constituted. Joaquin becomes the natural leader of the Confederation and with a great celebration that includes band music, large quantities of food and liquor coupled with beautiful women, they seal the imposing alliance of capos.
The estate belongs to an important Sonoran politician nicknamed, El Comandante, a commander who is never far from his boss and also a dear friend.He analyzes each of the assistants and with the wisdom that characterizes him, despite the euphoria of Joaquin, the old watchman advises him to take it easy and not to trust everyone present.
México, Colombia, Guatemala, United States and Canadá:
With the help of El Paisa, other Colombians (Los Mellizos Mejía) and a Central American (Otto Herrera),capos on one side and its partners in the Confederation and Fernando Hincapié on the other, Joaquín consolidates routes (airports, clandestine tracks, private ports and piers) as well as means of transport from South America and Central America (boats, jets, trucks, etc.). The product and result of that work receives monumental amounts of cocaine, which is sent to the USA and Canada through different methods (trucks with food, cars, via tunnels, tunnels with sophisticated engineering, light aircraft, etc.), sows monumental quantities of marijuana through societies with different growers and sends it to the countries of the north, the USA and Canada. Maria, with whom Joaquin maintains a passionate romance and the Commander are key parts of that operation). Solidifying the USA with its own cells in key cities of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas andwhich also extends its tentacles in the north to Chicago, Illinois. Joaquin establishes alliances with different families, organizations and gangs of the most diverse kind (Arias, Latins, Italians and Irish).
Culiacán-Sinaloa:
On Sunday, September 11, 2004, El Niño de Oro-Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, is in a movie theater of a commercial square in the city where he attends the screening of a film accompanied by his young wife and his little children. After the film he goes to the parking lot, where a group of assassins shoots him down with rifles from different flanks, El Niño de Oro and his wife die immediately. His brother, El Viceroy blames Joaquin and El Mayo since one of the killers assassinated belongs to a security structure from their group. From there, there unleashes an immense wave of violence as there hasn’t been seen in many years in the city. Dozens of dead bodies from both sides are the product of the confrontations.
The Confederation suffers its first great fracture and neither Joaquin nor El Mayo will ever be able to return to Navolato, municipality where the Carrillo Fuentes originated.
Cut to –
México City, Guadalajara, Sinaloa and Tijuana:
There is a direct relationship between making their children aware of the media and President Calderón’s decision to want to catch Joaquin. The Mexican president sends his last letter, seeks to gain favors for the campaign of his party (PAN) and to also clean up his image, since the media classify Joaquin as “El Capo del sexenio” in reference to the supposed protection that his government has given during his term.
President Calderon and a sector of power in Mexico seek to ingratiate themselves with the American authorities and in particular with the State Department, since in fact the American ambassador reports directly to Hillary Clinton regarding matters such as the successive setbacks and failures to capture to Joaquin and its evaluation considerations sent to the Secretary of State express a deep discomfort for what he considers the worst obstacle to catch the most wanted man in the world: Corruption in all spheres of the Mexican State.
During those days Joaquín receives in Mazatlan the PRI emissaries who request of him more money for the electoral campaign, the beautiful public relationship lady, Angelica, breaks the ice, uses her charms to soften the capo, and he expresses to the emissaries some concerns and doubts, Including that it seems to him that the PRI candidate is erratic in his television interventions and that the success of the youth movement “I am 132” (Yo Soy 132)is going to negatively affect him, he smiles, Joaquin says he is not a political strategist but he is not a fool either.
Despite his discomfort, he agrees to give the PRI more money. He warns them that it will be in low denomination notes in dollars of 5, 10 and 20 and in Mexican pesos in bills of 200 and 500. Moving trucks collect the money that is in Toluca-Estado de México and take him to a luxurious hotel in Mexico City where he operates part of the staff of the presidential campaign. The money they deliver in Guadalajara is taken to the PRI headquarters in a van (disguised to carry office supplies and stationery) and part of the cash is sent back to other states as “urgent money” to buy votes and to inject fresh resources for publicity and gifts, obviously a large percentage is spread over a feast among party leaders including their candidate. From one moment to another the exchange houses of both cities are flooded with low denomination dollars.
TO BE CONTINUED
