Mariana van Zeller

A lot of them are.

One of the most interesting people we filmed for this last season of Traffic was a guy that we called El Gringo.

So it was the premiere episode of this season.

It was about cartel.

It was called Cartel USA.

It's about the cartel presence in the United States.

So I've reported extensively on cartels in Mexico, right, and in Colombia and in other parts.

But I haven't actually spent a lot of time with a cartel here or seen what kind of influence they have in the U.S.,

And so I had this idea, okay, let's try to figure out how massive their presence is here, how they make the money, how do they distribute the drugs, and what impact is it having in America?

And what I found was several very surprising facts.

The story actually starts in Sinaloa because I had to go there to get access to the people in the U.S.

So I had to go to the top bosses to be able to get the green light to then film their operations here in the U.S.

Sinaloa, I mean, it's the place in the world that I've reported most more from, apart from the United States.

I've reported more from Sinaloa than anywhere else.

I have good contacts there.

I have an incredible local journalist called Miguel Angel Vega, who's called, he's a fixer.

He's the guy that any journalist in the world who wants to get access to the cartel will contact him.

And then he has his own contacts.

He's just an incredibly brave journalist with his own contacts.

And then he basically contacts his people and then they decide if they want to talk or not.