Browsing: Narco Journalism

I took my sunglasses off before I shook his hand. Eye contact separates journalists from people who tweet news. I was sitting with some of the most wanted men in Mexico and the United States, surrounded by forty heavily armed sicarios. One wrong expression and I wouldn’t have walked away. This wasn’t myth or rumor. This was real life.

According to individuals inside the Cabrera organization, the war for Zacatecas has allegedly ended after six years of fighting. But from what I’ve heard inside CJNG, Mencho doesn’t retreat. The real question is whether his people have shifted north into Durango or further toward Juárez with their allies.

CJNG, Los Chapitos, Cárteles Unidos, and NCDJ — once rivals, now stitched together in what’s being called The Super Alliance. The banners are real. The war has changed shape. What began as betrayal has turned into strategy, blood, and business. And it all started long before the mantas appeared.