Natalie Kitroeff

To put it lightly.

So we have you here because the news that Mexico had taken out El Mencho, the head of the Jalisco cartel, was massive.

And we've learned in the days since that the Trump administration played a big part in that.

So level set for us.

Why is the takedown of this one cartel leader such a big deal?

Okay, let's talk about El Mencho, this cartel leader.

I think for a lot of listeners, he wasn't a household name.

So lay out for me how El Mencho got to be the most wanted man in the world.

Wow.

Yes.

Former drug dealer becomes a police officer.

Kind of a wild career switch.

Okay, so he becomes a police officer in a police force that is notoriously corrupt.

What happens?

This is in the midst of the last time the Mexican government did a really serious push to dismantle the cartels, a war on these cartels.

And what is the defining feature of this new group he's leading, the Jalisco cartel?

So El Mencho becomes a kind of pioneer in this much more aggressive, violent way of doing business.

And when I was in Mexico, it was also clear that part of his signature was also diversifying the purpose of that violence, right?

He pursued a broad range of business opportunities that went beyond just drugs.

Just talk about that, the extent of the corruption and what this group can do.