No BS Newshour Episode #406
Cartel Wars
Canada is the next cartel frontier.
Destination: USA
With the Southern border locked down and Jalisco boss “El Mencho” eliminated, Mexican drug production has migrated to Canada.
Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Chicago are now main smuggling and distribution points.
Can we expect turf battles on the Northern border?
(25:13) Pancho Ortiz, founder of The Cartel Chronicles explains.
(1:26) PLUS- Alleged embezzler and former Democratic treasurer Traci Kornak changes clothes.
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Transcript:
Okay, you know who we got waiting for us, Mark? Who’s that? You know who’s on standby? Who’s that? Il Defonso Ortiz, Pancho Ortiz, El Oso de la Frontera, the bear of the border. This guy, this guy is the founder of Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles. Anybody watching this program knows who he is.
This guy is connected from Washington to Toronto to D.F., the capital city, Mexico City. Okay, so we’re going to find out what the hell went on in Mexico and what that’s got to do with Detroit, which is a lot. Right, Pancho? Right.
It’s all connected. Okay, don’t kill the show. Don’t overdo it.
Okay, but first we need our justicia. We need our justice here. Tracy Kornack, real pals with Dana Nessel.
Hit me. Our Attorney General’s pal, the former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party, back in court. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
All of you that come up to me and say you watch it. Of all stripes, all creeds. Love it.
I’m loving it. I really appreciate you. Now, Kornack, Tracy Kornack, the former treasurer, Dana Nessel helped her help cover up the alleged, because Kornack’s charged now, the alleged abuse and embezzlement from a brain damaged old woman.
Nothing’s happening with charges against Nessel or an admonishment from Capitol Hill. Where’s Hall? Where’s anything? All right. But we’re going to keep on.
So, as you all know, Kornack, somehow an arrangement was made where she snuck in for her arraignment and snuck out. And apparently there’s a mugshot, but it’s not available to the public. Some special stuff’s going on.
But now she’s here in one of the procedural appearances. And she was supposed to show up. You’re required to show up.
But she hadn’t showed up. But there was me, Ken, sisters of Rose Byrd, the victim, a couple of other people, Jody, I think the man’s name’s Bob, who victims himself in probate. So this wasn’t going to happen.
So, you know, we’re running around like making a scene. And Kornack had to be pulled into court. Anyway, we got some video.
You want to roll them, Mark? You and a blind woman signed your durable power of attorney. That’s a. Rewind. OK.
Watch this, Pancho. You watching? I’m watching. You and a blind woman signed your durable power of attorney.
That’s a felony, is it not? Michigan’s most notorious embezzler. Allegedly. Back in court today, facing 25 years in the state penitentiary for ripping off a brain damaged old lady.
Allegedly. Tracy Kornack dropped the hot fuchsia for a sensible parka. For most of the morning, Kornack was hiding in a broom closet.
So it was left to her lawyer to do the explaining. It’s the durable power of attorney. Ms. Kornack herself signed it, which, you know, as a lawyer is not legal.
And the other witness. I’m not sure if you understand when I say I don’t have the time. OK, well, the other witness is blind.
Do you understand that? He doesn’t understand that. Sir, is she getting special treatment because of her political connections? The family’s here. If you could speak with them, how will you pay them back? If she’s the one that allegedly stole their money? We want to know where our nephew is.
Where is our nephew at? We always shop. This is the family. Can you allow my clients into the courtroom, please? Your other client was going to be made a judge.
Don’t you think that’s rich that an embezzler allegedly would stand in judgment of us? Oh, thank you. Hmm. No, thank you.
You think like I stole from old people. Eventually, the judge summoned Kornack from her rat hole. Ma’am, you’ve been offered 15 years for stealing over $100,000.
Someone in your position got seven for just 20. You’re going to take the deal. She tried the old elevator trick again.
This time we were ready. Ma’am, you and a blind woman signed your durable power of attorney. That’s a felony, is it not? What happened to Dan, the schizophrenic? Man, you broke into his trust.
It appears no one can find Dan. Where’s Dan? Where’s his money? The family like to know. Nice coat.
Very sensible this time. Live from downtown Detroit. It’s the new bullshit news hour with my main man.
Charlie LeDuc. And Karen Dumas. Who’s still still breaking the double bullshit.
Double bullshit. Now listen up, Pacho. Like this is for you too.
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Oh my God, yeah. Man is going to man. It’s frightening.
I know, let’s not panic everybody, okay? Let’s talk about Tracy Kornack, who goes by a lot of names these days. Former Michigan Democratic Party treasurer, abuser of a brain-damaged old lady, alleged embezzler of a court-appointed ward, co-conspirator with Attorney General Dana Nessel, and fashion plate. Kornack, who’s facing 25 years in prison for the alleged looting of the old woman’s retirement, was required to appear Wednesday in Kent County District Court.
But as the hour struck nine o’clock yesterday morning, Kornack was nowhere to be seen. She was cowering in a courtroom broom closet or some such as the surviving sisters of Roseburg skulked the halls demanding justice. Kornack eventually emerged from the bowels and presented herself to the judge.
She was wearing a sensible coat, not the flaming fuchsia pea coat she wore at the previous hearing that helped make her the pariah of the internet. Kornack must have combed social media because on this occasion, she wore a dark parka with sturdy stitching and a brass zipper, something much more appropriate for a defendant accused of the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult for more than $50,000. Nevertheless, the back of Kornack’s head cried out for a competent brushing.
Now, if you feel I’ve gone too far there, dear listener, then listen on. You might agree that I’ve not gone far enough, not when you consider what was further discovered at yesterday morning’s gathering. The old woman’s sister produced a document showing that nearly a quarter million dollars in insurance settlement money awarded to Rose after a catastrophic car accident may never have found its way into Byrd’s bank account.
Further, the last will and testament of Rose has been unearthed. Kornack had rewritten the document without the court’s permission and an agent of the court was tasked with finding it. Well, what did we find in the new will? The new will shows that two of Rose’s surviving three sisters have been written out of the inheritance.
Meanwhile, Kornack herself as the trustee is named as the beneficiary of Byrd’s estate. Huddled in the hallway, you heard him. The sisters shuddered at the abuse they imagined their sister Rose suffered at the end of her life.
Kornack took out the light bulbs in my sister’s room, said Pat Wagner. Why would she do that? There’s no life in that. Her other sister, the youngest sister, Debbie Valenti said, how would Kornack like to be locked in a room with no lights? Rose had to have been so terrified because she didn’t say nothing.
Now Kornack is due back in court for her preliminary exam next month. That will be Friday the 13th. Wow.
Just pure evil. It’s crazy, is it not? Yeah. I mean, I don’t know how you could change a will and think you’d get away with it too.
Without the court’s permission. Oh, exactly. And how many times are we hearing the most awful thing that can happen? The abuse of an elder.
And it goes on and on and on. And I don’t know where any justice is. Like, I don’t participate in performance art.
I’m not a politician. I don’t know. They’re making calculations.
What’s in it for us? Yeah. Want to know something about Rose? Please. Want to know how this is non-partisan? I like, I mean, you don’t want to forget that there actually was a person here, a human being that had a family.
Very frugal, by the way, but well put together, well-dressed, presenter herself, and very, very active in democratic politics. She was a precinct captain on the west side of the state to think, see, this isn’t partisan. No.
To think the new leaders of the democratic party are engaged allegedly. How’s that? Yeah. And destroying her.
I’m speechless, man. It’s, it’s. How can be speechless on my show, but not on Drew’s? Well, I’m, I’m juggling a lot of balls over here.
Dude, get your hands out of your pants. I know I got the double entendre as soon as I said it. What are you juggling? It’s a one shot.
There’s multiple ones. So, you know, just, just before we get to Pancho Ortiz, the founder and contributor to the Breitbart cartel chronicles, just a little bit more to, you know, get us there. USA won the Olympic golds.
Cash Patel. He’s in the locker room. He slammed it.
It’s important to say this about cash Patel. He plays hockey. Yeah.
Right. He plays in a men’s league. He’s friends with these guys.
He’s in Europe on a quote unquote security conference. See that? Look at this. Yeah.
Security conference air quote. Okay. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but it’s pretty customary for the United States to send a contingent delegation to the Olympics.
Yeah. Everybody, you know, this is, this is a perk of the job. You, you support your country, right? We send delegates.
So he’s in there. I don’t know. I watched the game and I’m done.
But the next day, here we go. What, what were they, what were they saying about cash Patel, man? Oh, just, uh, you know, slamming beers, toxic masculinity on the public dime. And he’s not over there to meet with people.
And what is he doing? I mean, I mean, the celebration was a little I didn’t have a problem with him being there. Cares. I cares.
I don’t care. You know what? Like it happens all the time. They spend our money.
You know what I mean? It’s budgeted. Yeah. Okay.
So I thought it was interesting because at the women, American women’s victory gold medal game, there was Gretchen Whitmer in the stands. So I wrote this, this cash Patel, man, just wow. Look at him parting it up at the Italian taxpayers dime with Whitmer’s video.
All right. So this, I promised I would do this. You post that and what happens, right? And now it becomes a partisan battle.
I’m just saying, I don’t give a shit. The whole thing’s just bullshit, right? Let’s move on. Stop looking for crap to complain about all the time.
But as is, as is custom on the internet. Now here’s what we get. Faceless, not the real name.
Obviously a paid political hit man. Who’s a coward. Won’t put your face on it.
And you’re dumb. I can’t read it. Mark from what’s it.
What’s it. Just pick one. Her trip was funded by the MEDC.
It’s funded by private donations. Okay. Nice try.
Nice try. All right. Dipshits.
Okay. Everybody listen, just process real quick. It was more than funded.
It was corruption. It was pay to play. That’s how it got funded.
Bear with me. The Michigan economic development corporation is a quasi public private entity designed to create business in Michigan. The M E D C did not pay for this.
The M E D F Michigan economic development foundation, which is attached to the Michigan economic development corporation. It’s their, it’s their charity. Here’s what the, the MEDF does.
They solicit corporate donations. And if a corporation donates 25,000 or more, they’re on the board of directors of this foundation with direct ties to the corporation and the governor. Okay.
Gotcha. Who’s on this foundation ponying up hundreds of thousands of dollars. So she can gallivant across the world.
Pretend it’s not on the taxpayers. Not GM Ford DTE Delta airlines, you know, like Metro airport. Yeah.
So the foundation isn’t required to, uh, disclose its donors. Oh boy. So we all know DTE does to us.
Oh yeah. We, we know about GM and the battery plant. It never gets built.
And DTE needs the, a lot of approvals from the government. Okay. And who’s got to sign off eventually the governor, the governor, this is billions of dollars.
I would much rather that the taxpayer directly pay for it, that there’s a budget item that the legislature puts it in there. Here’s a million dollars to gallivant around the world and get us zero economic activity. Go ahead and take a vacation, right? Go to the Middle East, go to Japan, go to Australia, you know, go embarrass yourself in Munich.
So to tell me not one dime, you’re a moron. Just get lost. You’re like whoever you are.
Uh, and, and Pancho Ortiz will back me up on this, this kind of person, you, the one that hides the soft bodied one, the one that takes a check and follows mindlessly. The cartels have a word for people like this, don’t they? Pancho. And the word is I’ll wear it.
So yeah, yeah, you’re, you’re correct. I’m also, that’s right. And what does Elmer so mean for my, you know, my, um, gringo friends up here? Like me.
Yeah. Uh, it’s pretty much a breakfast or, you know, like a brunch. You’re fucking lunch.
They gonna eat you alive. So like toughen up, get with it, get with the people and let’s get this shit straight. Now don’t try to get yourself some, cause nobody even clicked.
Look at that mark. I know. Like I’m the only one that saw that.
I was actually trying to I really wonder if this guy has a problem with, um, you know, Trump getting money for, uh, building his ballroom or Trump getting private donations for, um, the cryptocurrency, right? It’s the same thing. You’re getting private. They call that paid for play.
This seems like it’s paid for play as well. The MEDC when he goes to, let’s say Qatar and, you know, raises a bunch of investment that that’s, that’s on the books. That’s not private.
You know, air force ones paid for by us, my problem. And it’s a, I have a huge fucking problem with the Trump family. You are making billions over there.
Yeah. Right. In the first term, you stayed out of it.
Allegedly, you know, Jerry Kushner, once he’s out of there, he’s managing billions in Saudi money, but now they will give a fuck. Let’s build hotels. Like I’m so against it.
That is to me, the appearance of pay to play. My point is if you’re, if you’re mad at Whitmer for taking, um, you know, or, or happy that she’s taking private donations. I mean, that’s pay for play.
Just like this is just like Trump is. So, you know, corporate donation. Yes.
One, one more thing. This is, this is to prime our discussion with Poncho Ortiz about what’s going on with the cartels. What this means for us was the United States involved, et cetera.
Um, we’ll do a, I’m just going to prime it and then we’ll do spots and we’ll come to Poncho Ortiz of break. Is it bright bar dot com Poncho? Yes, that’s right. Okay.
Fucking humble. Where’s the man? This guy, the one I like Poncho very much. He’s helped me.
He’s he’s so connected, but one, one real reason to have him on is because whatever I was going to tell you, I got right from Poncho’s pen, which came from his head, which came from his body and moving in around places unknown to us. So it makes more sense to just hear straight from the source, but okay. Everybody remembers what was it last week, the week before Troy police make a stop on Woodward.
There’s no plates that the drivers don’t have a driver’s license. Turns out it’s a illegal alien felon felony maker in Oklahoma, no less. And right away without consulting city hall or anything, chief of police, Todd Bettison, good dude, jumps the gun, decides he’s going to fire the cops for calling border patrol as a press conference to has a press conference, which by the way, the police in the city of Detroit had been cooperating with the federal authorities and border patrol since 1701 since its founding.
This whole city was supposed to be a border stop, right? We’re a border city. Keep the British out of here. That’s how it was.
So the relationship’s gone on forever. So here’s what, so Bettison decides he’s going to fire these two cops, good cops, long time cops, no record whatsoever. And, um, gets a call from the U.S. attorney.
I’m told from two very good sources. This isn’t Bettison. I haven’t talked to him, but these are two, two who would know directly.
And he gets to what for, and are you interfering in federal law enforcement? Is it a Detroit police interfering in federal law enforcement operations? And the discussion comes up, maybe we should strip federal policing funding from the city of Detroit. Did you notice coming out of Washington? So my guess is they’re not getting fired now. Lo and behold, how about a 30 day suspension? Right.
Now there’s a go fund me for my, for the cops. I don’t get involved. I know, I know the cops involved here.
I’m not going to get involved with money. I don’t advocate in that way. Right.
But I know them to be good cops. And I know let’s just this before we hear from Mando and, and, uh, actually service group Panto Ortiz of bright bar.com of founding editor of the cartel chronicles. Do the cartels have nodes have, um, cells here in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, et cetera.
Absolutely. I mean, look, they operate all throughout the U S and this is not just me saying you can go to, um, various maps that have been published in years past by the DEA and so forth. They’ll it’s all color coded, which regions are controlled by which cartel pretty much all the drugs that get to certain cities there.
They are, they come from the cartels. I mean, that’s their money also, uh, illegal immigration, sex trafficking, and so forth. And I mean, I’ll just, um, mention that right now that they’re very active in, in the Northern part of the U S why? Because they’re not one of the new things they’re doing is they’re coming through Canada.
They’re, they’re having their labs in Canada to manufacture the synthetic drugs. And then they’re smuggling itself just because it’s become a little bit harder for them to do it from Mexico North. So like Detroit is like a hub.
It’s really important because, you know, you have the tunnel, you have the bridges, you have the commercial traffic. Yeah, that’s correct. And for them, it’s become very easy to operate in Canada.
They set up, you know, in rural areas, they will set up their labs where they’ll pretty much get all the precursors, which fly under the radar. They get them into Canada, they manufacture synthetic drugs, and then they’re able to smuggle them into the U S from Canada. That’s the new trend that that’s barely developing.
And that’s going to be the next thing for us right now. Huh? God, that’s so interesting. I, it just comes to mind that not just a few months ago that ice slash border patrol.
I’m not quite sure which agency, um, I think it was ice caught the leader of a hit squad for, I, I think it’s the Sinaloa cartel. I can’t be sure, but they caught him in Sault Ste. Marie.
Oh boy. Yeah. Another border another border town with Canada.
So Poncho, it went like this back in Trudeau’s time, right? Justin Trudeau. He was so like Bambi ish again, you know, like I am by no means, you know, uh, Reagan, uh, student Republican by any means, but I’m a realist. I think it was 2016 Trudeau decided that in the NAFTA block, there would no longer be a visa requirements for Mexican nationals to come into Canada.
Is that correct? Poncho? Um, I’m not, uh, possibly you, you might be right. I’m, I’m not too well-versed on my Canadian law, but I do know that a lot of people in Mexico, I just gave you something. I just gave you something, another board of the Northern border.
Like you said, um, when the Southern borders all zipped up, how did these cells get established in Canada? And this is exactly how they got established. And now it comes back to what you’re saying. So look at, look at this, me and Poncho, just a couple of old guys, you know, burning the shoe leather, been doing this a few years, giving you a world perspective.
So how’s it listen, man, you’re, I don’t want to give your location, but let’s say, um, what state is a Reynosa and is it okay. Yeah. That is if I’m remembering right.
And I learned it from you and I’ve been down there. That’s the main thoroughfare for the fentanyl and the narcotics being smuggled by the Jalisco cartel. Is that right? That is a hundred percent correct.
That is one of the main hubs. It used to be controlled by the golf cartel, but that faction of the golf cartel joined with Jalisco cartel. That is why last Sunday, when, uh, right after the mentor was killed, Reynosa was one of the first cities that went up in flames.
There were blockades, there were carjackings, torching vehicles, torching buildings, because, uh, even though Reynosa, you know, it’s not near Jalisco, it is one of their main hubs. Now that’s interesting. Mark, do you know, would you know where, um, Jalisco the state of Jalisco is? Oh, well, no, but you just told me.
Okay. Well, I’m going to get up here. You want me to try and point? No.
Um, you want me to do it? I’m gonna get up here. Uh, look at this technology. We have Poncho, uh, our new, um, led satellite GPS.
I’m going to, I’m going to, there it is just to let the folks know, like you, you think the jump in at any time, Poncho, you would think the cartels we think up here, it’s the border, right? It’s like Arizona, Texas, right? Okay. Watch the cartel here is Guadalajara. That’s capital of Jalisco.
It’s right down here, sort of mid co mid Pacific coast, Mexico. And Poncho’s talking about Reynosa and, um, McCallan. So this is where, uh, they they’re headquartered.
Here’s where they smuggle the dogs to look at this. They’re they’re like Mexico wide. It’s not some regional thing.
It’s like the mob. Okay. So this distance is about the same as Jacksonville to Detroit.
So you’ve got a Jacksonville base gang controlling the bridges of Detroit. That’s what we’re talking about. More or less correct Poncho.
Yeah, that’s correct. You know, Jalisco, you know, uh, Mexico’s government has admitted that they have a presence in 21 States. My data shows they have presence in all 32 States of Mexico.
So that just gives you an idea of how powerful they are. Um, they have, uh, tens of thousands of members, uh, in various roles. So this is a, uh, major organization.
Okay. I’m just writing those notes down because I want to follow up to the events, what it means to the United States or what it means internationally, but, um, don’t sweat it. Don’t sweat it, Poncho.
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Shit, I’m busy rifling through all of ponchos work so I can sound smart. There’s so much here. Okay.
Mark, ask him a question. I’m good. I’m just there’s so much.
So what basically you as a guy out there, I guess we start out with what happened. Yeah, yeah. What and then part of a yard.
Right. That was the big story this weekend. Okay.
So what happened in Mexico? Where did it happen? Start with that and then move into was there US involvement here? Go ahead, Pancho. Of course. So, well, I’ll just preface by saying that the US was definitely involved.
And I’ll go into more detail right now. So on Sunday, Sunday morning, there was a town called La Palpa, which is about 45 minutes away from Guadalajara, which is like the main city in Jalisco. Military forces basically went to this luxurious cabins.
And I’m talking like really fancy cabins in that area to capture Ruben Nemesio, El Mencho Oseguera Cervantes. This guy is the supreme leader of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. This guy is the most feared individual in Mexico.
He is behind all the terrorist activity you can think of. He makes ISIS and Al Qaeda look like kids. I mean, I’m talking about beheadings, cutting people open and having his gunman eat at heart.
I’m talking about using explosives, car bombs, mass shootings in public places. This guy did it all. And as a matter of fact, his cartel is the one that brought into Mexico even before the Ukraine war, going to go back as far as 2018 or even before that, the use of drones to drop explosive devices.
This guy revolutionized that. So this guy basically, when we think cartels, everybody thinks of El Chapo and El Mayo. This guy was right up there with those guys.
Extremely dangerous, extremely powerful, extremely smart. He kept a very low profile. There are very few known pictures of him.
He lived in the shadows and he ran an empire from there. So now you have to remember one thing. These cartels, they don’t get their power from their gunmen and weapons.
That’s important. But the true power comes from Mexico’s government. That’s their true power.
So this guy was connected to the very top. So on Sunday, under pressure from the U.S. government, military forces went in to go get him. His gunmen put up a heck of a fight.
I mean, this guy has multiple security rings around them. His gunmen were trying to fight off the Mexican military. I’m talking about RPGs, grenade launchers, mortars, automatic weapons, you name it.
And eventually, military forces, it gets kind of funny. They injured him and two other top individuals, including his son-in-law. And they had to medivac him.
However, all three died during the medivac. Pause. Crazy.
They died during the medivac. So they were alive when they were up in the helicopter and dead when they came down. Yes.
You think they put a bullet in their heads? Well, I’m just going to say that if you wanted to keep somebody from reaching the U.S. and testifying or becoming an informant or, you know, talking about all the political ties between the cartel and Mexico, that would be one way to do it. Well, not to mention common sense would dictate, OK, one person dies in a medivac, but all three. Come on.
Oh, see, you see what he’s saying here? Because I was thinking, well, just waste them so we don’t have to deal with them. And they patch up, you know, the bosses and then a tunnel is dug underneath their cell and they escape. That’s what I thought.
But Poncho is giving an alternative theory here, which is maybe somebody in the helicopter maybe is also has some ties. Interesting. Well, like I said, this all this happened because of pressure from the U.S. They wanted him captured.
So like if it wasn’t for the U.S., Mexico wouldn’t dare have touched them because this individual is tied to Mexico’s current ruling party. I mean, he helped fund some of the campaigns. He helped get people to the polls.
So he was loved by the previous president of Mexico, Manuel López Obrador. And the current president had tried in the past to protect him. I mean, if you look a lot of the Mexico’s government, how they’ve gone after cartels, they focus on the chapitos, which are the ones that get a lot of headlines and everything.
Jalisco was rarely ever touched until now. So what? So on Sunday, you know, he dies in the medevac almost immediately after violence started popping up all over Mexico. Reynosa was one of the first cities that saw violence, like I mentioned, all throughout Jalisco, the state of Michoacán.
Eventually, Mexico’s government was confirmed that in at least 18 states, they had blockades, carjackings, building sets on fire, shootouts. It was so much chaos that all of Mexico went into a standstill. I mean, you guys are familiar with Puerto Vallarta.
The airport was sort of shut down. Airlines were canceling flights. Tourists were being stranded.
And it was so much chaos that while that was going on, not far from Puerto Vallarta, within the same city, but, you know, on the outskirts, there was a massive prison breakout where a team of Jalisco gunmen basically stormed the prison, used their armored vehicles to ram the doors. What? And 23 cartel members were able to escape. Wow.
I didn’t hear that. Did you hear that? Not at all. It was in the headlines because of all the chaos.
Holy shit. Okay. So what is the background of El Mencho? I mean, he was a doper in the United States.
Wasn’t he a soldier in Mexico? Was part of the Sinaloa cartel for a while. He is friends with the secretary of the army. Can you give us an idea of this guy? Of course.
So this guy, he was a, you know, back in his younger days, he was a small time drug trafficker in the US, was arrested. Uh, you know, was sent back to Mexico, came back, was a small timer. Uh, when he gets back to Mexico, he was tied to the Sinaloa cartel for a while.
Um, let me pause you, let me pause you, let me pause you. So what American federal entity got this guy out of the country? What would be your guess? Well, he was deported because he was a Mexican national that had no legal status. Who ran him down though, because he was dealing, he was dealing dope in California, which is a sanctuary state, right? Special order 40 in Los Angeles.
So I would guess it would have to be ice that picked this guy up and eventually got him off our streets. Is that correct? I believe it was a local authorities or state authorities tied to the drug cases. And then, you know, or maybe even, uh, the, I’m not exactly sure as to who was the initial agency, but after he got, uh, you know, a few slap in the wrist sentences, he was deported by, uh, yeah.
Oh, I see the time or, you know, what I was called back then. Right. Um, so he gets back to Mexico and then he basically started climbing the, the, the steps up, uh, you know, what was then Sinaloa cartel.
He worked with some of the top names back at the time. Um, he had, can I pause you? Can I pause you? This is unclear to me. Wasn’t he also a military commander? Did he join, not he joined the Mexican army? He was, uh, not military.
He was a state police officer and he went up the ranks there as well. Oh wow. So this is everywhere.
Yeah. Well, well, and as a matter of fact, if you look a lot of the drug, uh, the big drug lords, you know, a lot of them have previous law enforcement experience in Mexico, whether it be local state or federal. As a matter of fact, if you look back at the history, Los Setas, most of the original Los Setas members, yes, they were military, but, um, after, well, once they had joined the Gulf cartel as Los Setas, a lot of them had badges as federal investigators in Mexico.
So there’s a close tie between drug cartels and, and, and authorities in Mexico. So this guy basically, um, him and his in-law family create a, uh, they kind of branch out from the Sinaloa cartel. They, they, uh, they, they create their own, like their own structure back then known as Los Queenies.
Uh, and it went by a few names, Cartel de Milenio, Los Valencia, and so forth. What does Los Queenies mean? Like the, the cooks or something? The chefs? Uh, no, um, I’m not even sure it has a meaning. It’s just Queenies.
That’s just a, like a catch phrase that they, they kind of became known as. And they’re, they flew under the radar for a long time. In their origins, they focused on other countries, not so much the U.S. That’s what allowed them to fly under the radar and amass a lot of wealth at the time.
Once they got, you know, once they rebranded as Cartel Jalisco and they started making a push for the U.S., that’s when, uh, U.S. law enforcement went like, whoa, these guys are, they came out of nowhere and they’re taking over very quickly. And at the time, you know, they, they became the, you know, very quickly they became the number two right after Sinaloa. And it wasn’t until El Chapo was taken down and then El Mayo and then Sinaloa split up that now you could say that they’re number one.
Um, so this individual, I mean, one of the things to, to remember is that it, it, it ties very closely to politics. When Lopez Obrador, the previous Mexican president came into power, he’s the one that came in and said the war on drugs is over. He had an approach called hugs, not bullets, where they basically claimed that, um, enforcement operations against cartel members were not working and it was best to focus on social projects.
In reality, his entire political party has very close ties to cartels. They were helping get their, their, uh, candidates elected into office. There was a lot of, uh, dirty money being funneled into campaigns.
They were pushing people, uh, using the cartels to turn people into, uh, to go vote for their candidates. So basically he rigged the systems to have the cartels get them elected in exchange for, uh, basically immunity of sorts. So during the Lopez Obrador era, um, if you look at it, one of the first things he did when Lopez Obrador came into power, he shut down, um, the cooperation with US law enforcement agencies.
He tied the hands of, uh, federal agents working in Mexico. Uh, and a lot of, you know, a lot of his this went on during the Biden era. Lopez Obrador came into the, at the end of the Trump era, and then it was during the Biden era.
And, uh, at the time he pretty much did whatever he wanted in Mexico and working under that, uh, under that thought, they were able to, to get Claudia Sheinbaum elected, who was, uh, the first woman to be president of Mexico and so forth. They worked the criminal organizations again to get her elected to win. She won by a landslide, you know, a historic election and so forth.
And they were thinking that they were going to be able to do the same thing. However, when the Trump administration came into, into office, one of the first things they did is they declared certain cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And that’s when the pressure really started coming down on Mexico.
And there were threats of basically the US taking unilateral action against cartels and, uh, you know, tariffs, uh, sanctions and so forth. I mean, you, you know, you remember the white house saying that there was a, uh, a direct tie between Mexico’s government and cartels. I mean, that came straight from the white house saying that.
So Mexico was under a lot of pressure. Initially, Mexico tried to play it off, you know, doing a lot of the, we have seized X amount of tons of cocaine on the coast, but there were never any significant arrests and so forth. Lately, the pressure has been escalating to the point where, you know, Mexico had had to, uh, send a hundred, uh, you know, almost a hundred, uh, known drug traffickers.
They got them out of the jails and just flew them into the US. And now they have to take out a mental. And, you know, before this operation, there was a lot of pressure and there was a threat of unilateral action of the U S moving in to take out a mental because, um, I can’t say too much on this, but there were previous attempts where the U S got very close to catching a mentor in Mexico, working with Mexican law enforcement, but he always got a heads up.
He was always able to elude them. He had, uh, information was leaked and certain, uh, officials in Mexico played a role in helping, helping him get away. So this was one of those where, okay, we’ve tried it your way.
It’s not working. If this is some, you know, now either y’all get them or it’s up to us. And, um, by this, I’m saying that a lot of the, you know, Mexico claims that they were able to follow, uh, hit one of his love interest to, you know, to find them and locate him.
All that is a smoke screen put up by the Mexican government. In reality, it was the U S, uh, it was the U S, uh, intelligence community that was able to locate him, get his exact locations. I mean, our government knew when he went to the bathroom, when he had a beer, I mean, they were, they had everything on him and, you know, and the mentor was so sure of themselves and he felt so protected that the house, the luxury cabins where he was hiding at, were actually have been named by the U S department of state as, uh, identified.
They had been published and sanctioned as money laundering operations back in 2020. So these guys, it wasn’t a hideout in the mountains. It was a luxury cabin in, um, you know, that had previously been, uh, identified and sanctioned by the U S department of state.
So the government knew where it was at. Uh, so that’s how sure he felt. He, he, you know, he, he, he, he went to the, these cabins.
So that gives you an idea of the way things were, you know, things were happening. So the U S basically, uh, so as you reported, I’m just, cause I want you to say it. Cause it’s interesting.
The, uh, elite forces of the Mexican military were actually trained by the Navy seals and their phones confiscated. So it couldn’t be leaked. Is that correct? That’s right.
It goes back to the information getting leaked and everything. So it is actually, it, it sort of made headlines in Mexico last month when, um, Congress had to vote to allow a team of U S Navy seals into Mexico for training purposes. Now this seals, uh, they arrived in Mexico on February 15th, they showed up to Mexico and then they were basically going to be working with Mexico’s elite forces, uh, special forces.
As soon as, uh, they got there, uh, they basically got the, the, these, uh, special forces team from Mexico. They took their phones. They, uh, you know, and basically led them by the hand to this cabin where they had to, uh, take out a mentor or capture him basically.
Uh, so pretty much, you know, in, in other words, the U S led Mexican military forces by the hand to this location where he was hiding out where they knew he was hiding out. And they did it in a way to prevent leaks or Mexican top level official officials from helping a mentor escape again. Let me ask you this then you got a question, Mark? Well, no, I mean, my question was how much work do we have, you know, um, special forces there? I mean, it really, it really sounds like you just got the answer that I wondered if it was a similar situation with the capture of Ryan wedding.
I mean the, the Canadian snowboarder, a drug leader that, um, you know, turned himself in and back in January, which I just don’t believe a guy would turn yourself in. I had to believe that our special forces got them and just said, yeah, he turned himself in because we’re not supposed to be operating in Mexico for our politics and for their politics. Am I, am I right there? Pancho? Well, yes, right now Mexico, Mexico’s president.
And that’s one of the things that she’s been very, uh, adamant about, about, you know, we are an independent nation and we do our things. We work with the U.S., you know, sharing information and intelligence, but we do the things here. We’re not going to allow the U.S. to operate in Mexico.
So in this operation, pretty much the U.S. let them by the hand. They let the Mexican troops fight it out as a way to let Scheinbaum save face because at the end of the day, she has been starting to play ball with the U.S. She’s been, you know, having, you know, having to hit El Mencho, uh, turning over a lot of several wanted drug lords over here. So she’s doing certain things.
I mean, she’s doing enough. She’s not a great, she’s not the greatest, but she’s doing enough because this lady is caught between a rock and a hard place. She’s got the massive pressure from the U.S. saying we have to stop cartels.
But then on the other side, she’s got Mexico’s political party, which is in bed with the cartels. So she’s walking a very fine line, uh, and pretty much trying to, to, uh, keep it together. And basically the Jalisco new generation cartel is the one pushing all the fentanyl, right? Basically, they’re the ones that conceived of it in mass.
It, the, the top two, it’s one, uh, Sinaloa and Jalisco, you know, you could say either one is the top one. They’re both the main producers and, um, traffickers of fentanyl over here because fentanyl is so cheap to make, uh, uh, uh, and in, uh, in its origins, it was being used to cut other drugs. And now it just became a popular on its own because it’s so cheap to make and there’s a big profit to be made.
I mean, and that’s, that’s pretty much what, what the drug traffic drug trade is. It’s all about numbers. And a shitload of money in human trafficking during those Biden years, a ton of money, tens of billions of dollars.
Yes. During the Biden era, uh, you know, I gotta, I gotta throw this, I gotta throw this in. So I go to, I call, I call Poncho from here.
I go, yeah, man, why don’t I just go over to Ray? No. So, you know, and, uh, you know, I just walk around, interview some fucking people. He goes, don’t fuck around, do not fuck around here.
And you’re not just going to walk across the river, right? Because, uh, who, who can, yeah, at least go controls right now. They put wristbands on you, depending where you’re from in order just to cross the river. Like it’s a toll, right? If you’re from Mexico, it’s a thousand bucks.
If you’re from Ukraine, it’s 5,000 bucks. If you’re from Africa, it’s 10,000 bucks, right? They were running it like it was a toll bridge. You’re right.
It was, it’s very organized. I mean, like, because for some of these organizations, like for example, the Gulf cartel during the Biden era, they were making more money from the human, uh, mostly human trafficking side than from drugs. It was a huge moneymaker and very low risk for them.
And remember, this was during the Lopez Obrador era also. So they were, they have protection for the Mexican government as well. So for them, it was a, you know, a big payday, uh, which has now changed.
And, uh, the human smuggling, human trafficking has become more complex, more difficult. And now the drug trafficking is starting to have, uh, impact. So, yeah.
Like I said, one thing you have to remember, whether you’re talking about, uh, illegal immigration, uh, asylum seekers, uh, and so forth, nothing crosses that river. Nothing crosses that fence without one of the cartels in the area, one given permission and two making a profit. Now, um, we’ll talk with Pancho Ortiz of Breitbart, the founder of the cartel Chronicles.
In my world, I know nobody outside of the intelligence apparatus that knows more about what’s going on internationally with the frontera, uh, human and drug trafficking than he. So I’m going to two quick questions. We like to keep it under an hour, brother.
You know how people are. One’s international and one’s local here in Michigan. Internationally, the cartels have their fingers everywhere.
As you’ve laid out beautifully, they own the government. Part of the big push with Trump in the United States is keeping China out of Mexico and dumping their goods in their precursors to fentanyl and everything else like that in the United States. If we push too far, is it possible that the Mexican government, the security apparatus would tilt towards China? And now we have a bigger problem.
During the Lopez Obrador era that could have happened right now during the Scheinbaum era. I think Scheinbaum is more inclined to the U S. She actually has taken some action against China on the commercial side with terrorism, so forth. Um, just one, one example in, um, when it comes to, uh, car dealerships during the Lopez Obrador era, he opened the door to, uh, Chinese car manufacturers to start selling in Mexico.
That hadn’t happened before. Now I would venture to say that about half of the cars in the road in Mexico are Chinese. I mean, uh, the U S, uh, automakers took a huge hit when they arrived.
And now you have about 12 different car dealerships operating in Mexico selling, uh, Chinese models at, uh, much cheaper than, uh, you know, your typical U S, uh, cars. And so there’s been terrorist placed on those because U S cars are majority Mexican cars at this point. Yes.
Um, you know, U S automakers have all these plants in Mexico to manufacture a lot of these cars. So max, uh, Scheinbaum has been imposing tariffs on certain, uh, materials and these vehicles as a way to, uh, keep the U S happy. So she has been playing ball in other arenas on the private side, on the public side, she has to say face.
So she’s trying to say, you know, we’re an independent nation. We do our own thing. But in reality, she’s having to play ball on various aspects with the U S. And finally, and I really thank you for your time.
It’s fascinating. Um, so the head of, I know there’s a, a, a sub leadership group, right? El Mencho’s gone. And so is one of the, uh, under bosses, but in terms of control of this cartel and the fact that all the cartels have hubs here in Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, what does it mean for us? Might we see a wave of a territorial violence start sweeping, not only Mexico, but, you know, the Northern border as well.
Well, it depends right now because of things are so volatile in Mexico following the death of this cartel boss. Remember they still have to have a funeral and so forth. So there’s been some, there’s been a spike in violence since on the long-term on the U S, uh, there might be some push by some of the rival organizations seeing, perceiving a moment of weakness.
I’ll, I can tell you this, the leadership structure of Cartel Jalisco, uh, it’s still in place. They’re still operating. You know, one of the sub bosses that was killed along with El Mencho, he’s already been replaced.
Um, so while there may be a while before we have a public figure that becomes known, that’s confirmed by, you know, various intelligence agencies and so forth, the, the leadership structure that really ran the day-to-day operations, they’re working, they’re intact, they’re still moving. Um, so one of the things that is very relevant is that in July, you know, Mexico is supposed to host a world soccer cup. Yeah.
That I do see a lot of problems. I could see, you know, possible attacks, you know, even before El Mencho was killed, I was already hearing, uh, about extortion, possible kidnappings and so forth, all tied to the world cup. You know, Mexico was, uh, you know, state and local and federal forces were getting ready for, you know, to have, uh, teams to prevent a lot of that.
But, you know, because it’s billions of dollars that are going to be going into Mexico. I don’t, this is going to have a huge effect on that. I mean, a lot of people that were probably thinking of flying in to go see a soccer game, maybe switching their travel plans, especially so quickly after this and with the possibility of real possibility of, uh, Jalisco using that as a, as a way to make a statement.
I mean, remember Sundays, you know, the cartel basically froze Mexico. It came to a standstill and that was a show forced by that cartel. Uh, so we may see what happens, uh, in three months from now when the world cup takes place.
Oh, wow. And Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco is a host. Is it not? Am I right? Yes.
They’re going to have some of the main games are supposed to take in Guadalajara. Everybody remember everybody from like, uh, novi and, uh, you know, Okemos that has the timeshare down there. They told you do not go to the airport, right? Just be aware.
Yes. The airports. I mean, that, that was one of the, there was some videos of people running in chaos because, uh, they were hearing gunfire and, you know, hearing about gunmen out in the streets and so forth.
So people were trying to either get to the airport and fly out of there or, or trying to shelter in place. I mean, our own us department of state at the time, basically you should have shelter in place order to Americans basically, uh, you know, uh, avoid being out and about unless you have to, that’s how things got in, in Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta is not far from Guadalajara. I mean, and Guadalajara, it’s a major metropolitan area in Mexico.
It has multiple soccer stadiums. They’re supposed to have multiple soccer games. And you know, then you would think, well, Mexico city may be safe.
Well, yes and no, because Mexico city, there’s a presence of Cartel Jalisco new generation in Mexico city as well, as well as in other, in most of the other cities where they’re going to have games. Wow. Okay.
Pancho tell everybody where they can find you, see your work and get ahold of you on social. Well, um, um, Breitbart news, uh, you go to the breitbart.com, click on the world tab, and then you’ll see border and cartel chronicles. You’ll, you can see the work of myself, my, uh, my friend, Brandon Darby, he’s best friend mentor and so forth.
And then also the, the, the cartel chronicles team, which is a team of our writers in Mexico that are not able to publish what’s really going on because, uh, you know, they’re, they’re Mexico and, uh, Mexico is one of the deadliest countries for journalists. So we have recruited a team of journalists over there that very bravely take the risk to publish what’s going on. We write it under a pseudonym as the cartel chronicles, and they’re able to publish what’s really happening, what the government doesn’t want to be known, what the cartels don’t want you to know.
And that’s what we do. Fucking real work. Not getting paid a couple of bucks and tweeting under a pseudonym.
Love it. Love you, man. Thank you so much for your time.
My pleasure. Thanks for having me. All right, brother.
I’ll call you after. Sounds good.
