CIA Deaths Are Part of Wider Push Into Mexican Operations Under Trump pressure, US agencies have got deeper into the cartel fight south of border. The new case in Chihuahua, an opposition state, follows questions over FBI in arrest of Wedding, in capital↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cia-deaths...

CIA Deaths Part of Wider Push Into Mexican Ops

Under Trump pressure, U.S. agencies get deeper into cartel fight putting Sheinbaum in tough spot

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This is more useful than the at times laughable US State Department Mexico travel warnings.

Ioan Grillo@ioangrillo.bsky.social · 4mo ago

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...

Where Is Safer And Where Is More Dangerous To Go In Mexico?

A 2026 risk guide to Mexican states and cities

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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?

A 2026 risk guide to Mexican states and cities

crashoutmedia.com

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...

Prosecutors Want A Show Trial For Caro Quintero

I chat with Ángel Hernández about the slew of narco cases hitting U.S. courts

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

Ioan Grillo@ioangrillo.bsky.social · 4mo ago

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...

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

Photo Essay: The Cholos of Neza

Gustavo Graf documents a Chicano subculture finding a home on the outskirts of Mexico City

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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...

Photo Essay: The Cholos of Neza

Gustavo Graf documents a Chicano subculture finding a home on the outskirts of Mexico City

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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...

An Incel School Shooter in Mexico?

A 15 year-old slays two teachers in a U.S.-style shooting in the heart of the cartel wars

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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...

The Perils of Ecuador’s Drug Smuggling Fishermen

As Noboa wages a US-backed crackdown, CrashOut visits a narco sea village

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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...

Cartel Cash in the Community

What percentage of Mexico's GDP is in organized crime?

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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-...

Exclusive: Osiel's Extraordinary US Prison Term

A penitentiary captain spills the beans on how the Gulf Cartel boss was locked up in Texas

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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...

The Killing Fields of El Mencho

The CJNG boss dies; the pain of families of the disappeared goes on

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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...

Mexican Troops Slay Mencho And His Thugs Set Country On Fire

Washington gave intel on CJNG leader; Mexico City ruled he not be taken alive

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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...

A Meth Scourge In A Mexican Pueblo

Methamphetamine is a soaring problem in small town Mexico

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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...

Cuatro años de la ofensiva contra las maras de Bukele

Las tasas de homicidios siguen muy bajas; Bukele es muy popular; periodistas han huido; la pobreza sigue siendo terrible; los líderes latinoamericanos copian a Bukele

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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...

Cartel Extortion Of Mines

The murder of engineers from a mine of Canada's Vizsla company highlights a wider security issue as Mexico opens to more U.S. involvement in sector

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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...

The Narc Asset Seizure Business

Cash is seized from cartels and handed to law enforcement. Does this create bad incentives?

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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-...

Snow King: Surrender or Snatched?

Lawyer claims Ryan Wedding didn't hand himself in and cites Maduro case; Sheinbaum says he did and shows contested Instagram post

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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-...

The Truth About "Canadian Chapo" Ryan Wedding?

The snowboarder may be guilty of cocaine trafficking but comparisons with Escobar are massively overblown

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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...

Is The Sinaloa Cartel Ramping Up "Pink Cocaine?"

The designer drug is not actually blow but cashes in on the name

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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...

Guerrillas, Gangs and Spies on the Venezuela Border

I put together a video "cronica" of my week reporting in Colombia

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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's Thirst For Venezuela's Black Gold

The petroleum politics of the Maduro capture

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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...

Trump Goes For Delta-Force Regime Change

U.S. special forces capture Maduro in brazen operation

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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...

Inside A Satanic Temple in Mexico

I went into a "Santa Muerte cathedral" but found halls to a darker deity

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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...

Cocaine Narcos Versus "Uncontacted Tribes"

Simeon Tegel travels with an "Indigenous Guard" defending the Peruvian Amazon

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