Where is safer and where is more dangerous to go in Mexico? Cartel violence is very real but more in certain areas.Some cities in Mexico are among most dangerous in world but others are safer than many US cities. I rate security across Mexico's states↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/where-is-s...

Where is safer and where is more dangerous to go in Mexico? Cartel violence is very real but more in certain areas.Some cities in Mexico are among most dangerous in world but others are safer than many US cities. I rate security across Mexico's states↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/where-is-s...

Prosecutors and DEA want show trial for Caro Quintero. It'll be publicly focused on murder of Kiki Camarena but evidence focused on trafficking. Judge will shut down mention of CIA. I talk with Ángel Hernández about what's coming up in slew of narco trials :↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/prosecutor...

#Mexico reopens debate about death penalty after school shooting: bsky.app/profile/ioan...

foto ensayo: los cholos de Neza (fotos de Gustavo Graf en el CrashOut de @ioangrillo.bsky.social) www.crashoutmedia.com/p/photo-essa...

While cholos are famous in LA, there is a big cholo subculture in the Mexico City area, especially La Neza and Ecatepec. Gustavo Graf has spent 5 years in the scene and I'm stoked to publish his great photo essay, of the cholos, "hynas" and low riders. ↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/photo-essa...

School shootings ravage the US but a 15 year old slaying two teachers in Michoacán shows Mexico is not immune. The alleged killer posted incel videos, another growing problem. His step-dad was in the marines, but the AR-15 he used was illegal. Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/an-incel-s...

Fishermen in Ecuador face a stark choice - a few hundred bucks for a fishing trip or $30,000 for a drug run. But now the drug run can mean a missile strike. As Pres. Noboa lead a US-backed offensive @Narco_Polo420 reports from a narco fishing village:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-perils...

How much of Mexico's GDP is crime cartel activity? Likely single digits, as they make tens of billions in a two trillion dollar economy. But the cash has a huge impact in bribery, driving violence and is felt much bigger in certain communities. Read: ↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartel-cas...

Exclusive: Osiel's Extraordinary US Prison Term When he was cooperating with the DEA, Gulf cartel boss Osiel Cárdenas had own cell block, with internet, TV and out of hour visits from family and a model girlfriend, a former prison captain reveals. Read↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/exclusive-...

Psyched to make my debut in the New Yorker with this profile of the bloody life and (grim) legacy of El Mencho "He was ruthless taking over business” Chicago cocaine king Margarito Flores says. His corrido goes: “They say I'm very violent, It’s true, why should I lie about it?”

The Killing Fields of El Mencho The boss of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is dead. But the pain of the families of the disappeared goes on. Under Mencho's reign, Jalisco was the worst state for disappearances and filled with mass graves. Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-killin...

Truly huge news on death of El Mencho. -US intel key in locating Mencho -Mexican forces had ruled shoot to kill -US pressure to get Mencho before world cup games in Jalisco -Unclear who replaces Mencho - Cartel attacks across Mexico massive. Read here: www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexican-tr...

I went to Xalatlaco, a small-town an hour from Mexico City, and was shocked by level of meth use. A kid in rehab had smoked it in a pipe in his classroom when he was 14. Meth spilled from cartel super labs and now tears through small town Mexico. Read here:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/a-meth-sco...

We are hitting 4 years of state of emergency in El Salvador under Bukele's crackdown on gangs. Results- Murders way down, lower than Canada- Bukele still very popular- Poverty still terrible- Journalists had to flee- LatAm leaders copy Bukele Read↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cuatro-ano...

Cartel Extortion of Mines Cartels shake down mines across Mexico sometimes for millions. It's sensitive for Mexican government but also companies worried about complicity. The murder of engineers for Canada's Vizsla shines light on mining security Read↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartel-ext...

The US Department of Justice seizes $2 billion a year in assets mostly from drug cases. Big narcos like Osiel Cárdenas shave years off by handing in tens of millions Does this create "policing for profit" model that effectively taxes drug business? Read↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-narc-a...

Venezuela's militias, or "colectivos," began killing drug dealers, but then they sold drugs and killed protesters. They got AK's from the Chávez government and linked up with ELN guerrillas. Martín Markovits spent years filming with militias in Caracas and reveals their secrets. Watch on my Stack:

I have a crazy interview with ex DEA agent Mike Chavarria who debriefed Osiel Cárdenas He describes: - Secret sit downs with Armando Valencia - Info El Azul could be alive in Seychelles - How Osiel had "eyes of the devil" - but how he played his cooperation well. Trailer↓

Snow King: Surrender or Snatched? The case of Ryan Wedding is surreal and explosive. Lawyer Anthony Colombo (grandson of a mafia boss) drops bomb suggesting it was FBI op in Mexico. Sheinbaum shows contested Instagram of Wedding at embassy.What's true?↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/snow-king-...

Canadian Olympic snow boarder turned cocaine king (the snow man!) arrested in Mexico City and flown by the FBI to Los Angeles. Read my story on the arrest, and below that my profile of the Canadian narco. www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-truth-...

Is The Sinaloa Cartel Ramping Up On "Pink Cocaine?" Mexican troops raided a lab alleged to be linked to Emma Coronel's brother (El Chapo's brother in law) and to make "tusi" or pink cocaine. Is the pressure on fentanyl making the cartel switch? Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/is-the-sin...

Guerrillas, gangs and spies on the Venezuela border Check out the smuggling dirt paths, Venezuelan refugee barrio, houses of displaced and a lot more in this guerilla video I have cut together from reporting on the Colombia-Venezuela border. Link:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/guerrillas...

Trump's Thirst For Venezuela's Black Gold The petroleum politics of the Maduro capture Venezuela's OPEC founder said: “I call petroleum the devil's excrement. It brings trouble.” It applies now. Read on how oil fueled the operation to take out Maduro:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/trumps-thi...

Trump uses special force op to take out Maduro - but the situation now is confusing. Trump says Washington will rule Venezuela but implies they will work with VP Delcy Rodríguez - opening speculation of a deal. But Rodríguez says Maduro is only president. Read: www.crashoutmedia.com/p/trump-goes...

Inside a Satanic temple in Mexico I went into the "Santa Muerte cathedral" in Pachuca but found full-on halls to Satan and devil worship and met the "Black Bishop." This is one of the scariest stories I've done. Watch the video here with a weird end:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/inside-a-s...

3 Stages of Cartel Evolution 1 Powerful Corrupt State 2 Cartelization of Mexico 3 Shake Down Everything This essay by Benjamin T. Smith gives great insight into how cartels emerged from Mexican state into more independent groups driving endemic violence↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartels-as...

Cocaine Narcos Versus "Uncontacted Tribes" Simeon Tegel went with the Indigenous Guard to the new coca plantations tearing up the Peruvian Amazon for this stellar and important report. It's bows and arrows vs AK-47s. Stoked to publish this in CrashOut↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cocaine-na...

Ten Big Drug War Stories of 2025 It's been a nuts year in narco politics and all the related madness. Here are ten of the biggest stories, from the designation of cartels as terrorists, to the Chapitos and Mayo plea deals. Read below, it's a freebie:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/ten-big-dr...

Did the U.S. army use opium from Sinaloa to give its troops morphine in World War Two. I dig through the evidence on the the alleged World War II pact between Washington and Culiacán. Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/did-the-us...

The DEA Narcos The sting got a former DEA financial chief and former CIA asset on narco terrorism charges, for offering to launder money and get arms for a fake CJNG operative. It opens up a can of worms about how many narcs have become narcos. Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-dea-na...

Mexico's Worst Narco Massacres Mexico has suffered slaughters like war zones. San Fernando - 72 executed Allende - 400+ murdered or disappeared Agujas - 290 bags of body parts found How should a country reckon with these atrocities? Read free below↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexicos-wo...

Truth About "Canadian Chapo" Ryan Wedding It's nice to see them go after an Anglo narco but claims made by US officials, media about Wedding as an Escobar are big exaggerations. Bondi says he runs one of most violent gangs in world. I clear up the BS:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-truth-...

Secrets of Noriega and the CIA Panama's dictator led a crazy life as a CIA and DEA asset also working with Medellín Cartel, playing off Washington and Cuba, before US military took him out. His right hand man and enforcer revealed his secrets. Watch: ↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/secrets-of...

Extortion is now so widespread across Mexico’s farmlands that it has pushed up the price of goods including limes and avocados, a phenomenon so widely acknowledged it’s now referred to as narcoinflation. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o... @ioangrillo.bsky.social

The confession by Joaquín Guzmán López that he kidnapped El Mayo brings that saga towards its end. Yet it's still unclear what role was played by Iván and by US federal agents. And the war it sparked in Sinaloa rages on. Watch the free video report↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/joaquin-gu...

Trump pardoning Honduran pres. Juan Orlando Hernández of his cocaine conviction undermines his own war on drugs. The argument it was a Biden political conviction or it will win election doesn't add up. But follow the money from the lobbying. Read here:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/honduras-a...

Ya lo tengo, @ioangrillo.bsky.social, pero no puedo ir a Guadalajara a que me lo firmes, así que cuando regreses, unas chelas!

El Chapo was the hardest narco to deal with. El Mayo treated him like son. Arturo Beltrán Leyva moved more cocaine than either. El Mencho tried to prove himself with violence. Read the CrashOut story for free on The Chicago Cocaine Twin, J Flores, below↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/interview-...

Estoy muy feliz de estar este año en la FIL de Guadalajara con mi libro "Sangre, Armas y Dinero", y con Jesús Lemus, uno de los mejores periodistas sobre narcotráfico en México. 29 de noviembre, 19:30, Salón 8, Área Nacional, Expo GDL. Ven a saludar!

Cartels Versus Environmentalists De @ioangrillo.bsky.social www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartels-ve...

Psyched to be at Guadalajara book festival with my book "Sangre Armas y Dinero" about the iron river of guns from the US to cartels in Mexico in this crazy tense moment - I'll be with Jesus Lemus, one of best journos on narcos, and talk is open to all issues. Sat, Nov. 29, 7:30

There's a hell of a lot more to Russia's perception and cognitive outreach in Mexico and Latin America than RT and Sputnik and the main vectors are WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, TikTok, and of course Telegram www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/w...

CrashOut went to France's crime capital to talk to the activist whose second brother was just murdered. This report breaks down France's new gang wars - and the DZ Mafia and Yoda. Read here:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/gang-murde...

Cartels Versus Environmentalists - Gangsters in Mexico kills those who stand in their way to fell timber, run wild cat mines, or clear forests to run meth labs. But mining companies who pay off cartels are also nervous. Read the report:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartels-ve...

Here is my full video report on the protests and riots yesterday in Mexico City - looking at who was behind them, how they escalated, what the response was, what the implications are. Click here below to watch it free on my Stack↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/inside-the...

The use of a 17 year old sicario to assassinate Mayor Carlos Manzo shows the urgent need for a real prevention campaign to stop kids as young as 12 being recruited into cartels in Mexico. About 40% of them will be murdered, a study estimates. Read here (free)↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/applied-ma...

My Reader, “The Punisher” Duterte I sat down twice with the Philippine president during his war on drugs that has put him before the ICC. It was one of the most challenging situations I've had as a journalist and I only now tell the story. Read it here: ↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/my-reader-...

@ioangrillo.bsky.social me acaba de derrumbar un viejo mito: "ver quemar cannabis no produce ningún efecto psicoactivo; no se ha secado y el humo asciende directamente a las nubes". Yo juraba que los milis se ponían unos pasones históricos (envidia, sí). Aquí su reportaje.

US marijuana legalization smashed Mexico's weed exports north (controlled by cartels) as intended. Marijuana seizures on the border fell by 97.5% between 2013 and 2023. But I was wrong. It didn't, as many of us hoped, weaken cartels. (Link to story below↓) www.crashoutmedia.com/p/us-marijua...