Investigative Documentary Channel

Power.
Corruption.
Exposed.

Uncovering how crime groups, corrupt leaders, and dishonest officials use money and power to control what they should not — and the communities paying the price across South America.

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Cartel Networks
Corrupt Officials
Money Laundering
Political Capture
South America
Investigative Journalism
Power & Control
Communities at Risk
Cartel Networks
Corrupt Officials
Money Laundering
Political Capture
South America
Investigative Journalism
Power & Control
Communities at Risk
UPCOMING
INVESTIGATIONS

New documentaries dropping soon. Each one follows the money, names the players, and shows how ordinary people pay the price for extraordinary greed.

The Special Forces That Created a Cartel
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Drug Trafficking
How Special Forces Training Created Los Zetas
How cocaine moves from jungle labs to global markets — and who profits at every step.
Live on YouTube
The Most Brutal Woman in Narco History
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Narco · Cartel
The Most Brutal Woman in Narco History
Inside the deals between criminal organisations and the politicians who protect them.
Live on YouTube
Pinochet's Kill Team Operated Inside the U.S. Capital
Watch Now
State Terror · Assassination
Pinochet's Kill Team Operated Inside the U.S. Capital
How Pinochet's secret police carried out a car bomb assassination on the streets of Washington D.C. in 1976.
Live on YouTube
The SS Officer: King of Cocaine
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Nazi · Cocaine · War Crime
How a Wanted War Criminal Became a Drug Lord's Enforcer
How a former SS officer escaped justice after World War II and built one of the most powerful cocaine empires in history.
Live on YouTube
The Bribery Office
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Corruption · Government
The Bribery Office
Odebrecht didn't just pay bribes — they built a system to run them. Encrypted software, shell companies, and $788 million moved across 12 countries. Presidents influenced. Contracts rigged.
Live on YouTube
When Escobar Declared War on the Goverment
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When Escobar Declared War on the Goverment
On August 18, 1989, Pablo Escobar ordered the assassination of Colombia's most popular presidential candidate in front of 10,000 witnesses. He thought it would end the threat. It started a war that consumed an entire country for four years — and ultimately destroyed him.
Live on YouTube
The Most Feared Man in Mexico — And How They Finally Caught Him
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The Most Feared Man in Mexico — And How They Finally Caught Him
He had no military training. No cartel bloodline. No inherited territory. Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales — known only as Z-40 — started as a street kid running errands for a gang in Nuevo Laredo. He ended up running one of the most violent criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere.
Live on YouTube
The Shocking Cartel Boss the DEA Called More Dangerous Than Escobar
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Drug, cartels
The Shocking Cartel Boss the DEA Called More Dangerous Than Escobar
While Pablo Escobar was burning Colombia to the ground, Pacho Herrera was quietly building something the DEA had never seen before — a cocaine distribution network so compartmentalized, so corporate in structure, that 100 simultaneous wiretaps and nearly 100 arrests couldn't bring him down. He controlled New York City's entire cocaine supply for over a decade. He negotiated his own surrender
Live on YouTube
Inside Pablo Escobar's Secret Private 5-Star Prison
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Inside Pablo Escobar's Secret Private 5-Star Prison
In 1991, the Colombian government made a deal with the most dangerous criminal in the western hemisphere. He would surrender. He would confess. And in return, he would help design the facility that would hold him. What followed was thirteen months that exposed exactly what happens when a state runs out of options.
Live on YouTube
How Mexico's Government Covered Up El Chapo's Second Escape
Coming Soon
How Mexico's Government Covered Up El Chapo's Second Escape
In July 2015, El Chapo vanished from Mexico's most secure prison through a tunnel that took a year to build, cost up to $5 million, and was never once detected. The official story blamed the guards. The real story goes much higher.
In Production
How Did Nobody Notice a Cartel Superlab in a Town of 600 People?
Coming Monday
How Did Nobody Notice a Cartel Superlab in a Town of 600 People?
In October 2024, RCMP tactical units raided a rural property in Falkland, British Columbia — a town of 600 people surrounded by ranchland and pine forest. What they found inside was the largest clandestine drug lab ever discovered in Canadian history. 390 kilograms of meth.
Live on YouTube

The 10 Cartel Stories
Netflix Will Never Make

Free. Yours instantly. No credit card.

Netflix made Narcos. Netflix made Griselda.
But there are stories they will never touch.

Stories that implicate governments. Intelligence agencies. Banks. People still in power. Cartel Capture has compiled 10 of those stories into a free PDF — fully researched, no jargon, no spin.

  • The CIA-backed Nazi who ran Bolivia's cocaine coup
  • How Griselda Blanco turned Miami into a war zone
  • The global bank that laundered billions for cartels and the CIA — and why almost nobody went to prison
  • The Mexican cartel boss who ran his empire from inside three separate prisons
  • The DEA relationship that allowed one cartel to eliminate all its rivals
  • And six more investigations mainstream media won't go near.

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"Truth is the most dangerous thing you can give to people living under a lie."

Cartel Capture exists to shine a light on the networks of power, money, and violence that operate in the shadows of South American society — and to make that story accessible to everyone.

From the highland villages of Colombia to the favelas of Brazil, ordinary communities bear the weight of decisions made by extraordinary greed. We follow the evidence, name the names, and connect the dots that others leave undrawn.

No jargon. No spin. Just documented, researched, and clearly told stories of how power is stolen — and who pays for it.

6+
Countries Covered
100%
Independent
0x
Compromises Made

What We Cover

Criminal Networks

How cartels are structured, funded, and protected — from street level to the boardroom.

Political Capture

When elected officials become instruments of the criminal groups they once fought.

Money Laundering

Following dirty money through real estate, shell companies, banks, and legitimate businesses.

Communities & Impact

The human cost — villages, families, and futures destroyed by unchecked criminal power.

Territorial Control

How armed groups carve up cities and trade routes — and what it means to live inside them.

Exposing Impunity

Why the powerful rarely face justice — and the systems, institutions, and people protecting them.

REGIONS COVERED

Our investigations span South America, Central America, and beyond.

Colombia
Brazil
Venezuela
Mexico
Peru
Argentina
Ecuador
Chile
Guatemala
El Salvador
USA
DON'T LOOK AWAY

Subscribe to Cartel Capture on YouTube to be notified the moment new investigations drop. Every view is a vote for accountability.

ABOUT
CARTEL
CAPTURE

Cartel Capture is an independent investigative documentary YouTube channel focused on one question: how do bad people use money and power to control things they should not control?

Across South America, criminal organisations, corrupt government officials, and dishonest leaders have built systems that funnel wealth upward, silence dissent, and leave communities trapped in cycles of violence and poverty. These systems are complex — deliberately so. Our job is to make them legible.

WHY THIS MATTERS

The stories we tell are not just about crime. They are about democracy, sovereignty, and the social contract. When a cartel controls a mayor, when a police chief is on the payroll, when a billion dollars flows through a country's banks without scrutiny — something fundamental is broken.

We believe that understanding how these systems work is the first step to dismantling them. An informed audience is a powerful audience. That is why we make our documentaries accessible, clear, and free.

OUR APPROACH

Every investigation starts with a question. It ends with evidence. We follow the money, map the relationships, and show our work. We do not sensationalise or speculate. We document.

We cover the full spectrum of how criminal power operates — from street-level territorial control in Brazilian favelas to the financial corridors where cartel billions are cleaned and reinvested. From the Colombian highlands to the corridors of government in Caracas and Buenos Aires.

INDEPENDENCE

Cartel Capture is fully independent. We are not funded by political interests, governments, or corporate sponsors with stakes in the stories we tell. That independence is not just a principle — it is the entire point. We can only do this work because we answer to our audience and no one else.

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SOURCES &
CITATIONS

Our commitment to accuracy: Every claim made in Cartel Capture investigations is supported by verifiable sources. Where sources are confidential, that is noted. We update citations as new information becomes available.
How Special Forces Training Created Los Zetas
Drug Trafficking · South America
  • [1]
    InSight Crime — "Los Zetas: The Evolution of a Criminal Corporation" (2021). Background on military-trained cartel founders and their operational structure. insightcrime.org
  • [2]
    UNODC World Drug Report — United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Annual Report (2023). Data on trafficking routes and production volumes. unodc.org
  • [3]
    El País — Investigative reporting on special forces defections and cartel formation in Latin America (2020–2022). elpais.com
The Most Brutal Woman in Narco History
Political Corruption · Colombia · Venezuela
  • [1]
    DEA Case Files — U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration public indictment records and press releases related to cartel leadership. dea.gov
  • [2]
    Semana Magazine (Colombia) — Investigative series on female leadership within Colombian trafficking networks (2019–2023). semana.com
  • [3]
    Reuters Investigates — "The rise of women in Latin American drug cartels" (2022). Statistical analysis and case studies. reuters.com
Pinochet's Kill Team Operated Inside the U.S. Capital
State Terror · Chile · USA
  • [1]
    The National Security Archive (GWU) — Declassified CIA and State Department documents on Operation Condor and the 1976 Letelier assassination in Washington D.C. nsarchive.gwu.edu
  • [2]
    The Intercept — "Operation Condor and the legacy of U.S.-backed terror networks in South America" (2021). Documents DINA's cross-border assassination programme. theintercept.com
  • [3]
    CONADEP Report (Argentina) — National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, official government report (1984). Primary source documentation on state-sponsored disappearances across the Southern Cone. argentina.gob.ar
The Bribery Office
Political Corruption · Brazil · Latin America
  • [1]
    U.S. Department of Justice — Odebrecht and Braskem plea agreements (2016). DOJ press release documenting $788 million in bribes paid to officials across 11 countries including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico. justice.gov
  • [2]
    Mongabay / Lava Jato Investigation — "Brazil's Lava Jato investigation: the biggest corruption scandal of the last decade" (2025). Overview of Operation Car Wash, involving US$6.5 billion in fines and convictions across 12 countries. mongabay.com
  • [3]
    Transparency International — "25 Corruption Scandals That Shook the World." Documents the systemic bribery networks connecting construction giants, state oil companies, and heads of government across Latin America. transparency.org
How a Wanted War Criminal Became a Drug Lord's Enforcer
Nazi · Cocaine · Bolivia · War Crime
  • [1]
    Der Spiegel / CBS News — "Infamous Nazi war criminal helped set up top drug cartel and worked with Pablo Escobar" (2024). Documents Klaus Barbie's role as security adviser to Bolivian cocaine baron Roberto Suárez Gómez. cbsnews.com
  • [2]
    CounterPunch — "The Nazi Origins of the South American Drug Trade: Klaus Barbie, Cocaine and the CIA" (2026). Analysis of CIA knowledge of Barbie's drug involvement as early as 1974. counterpunch.org
  • [3]
    Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) — "A Nazi war criminal's rise in Bolivia." Investigative profile of Barbie's second life under the alias Klaus Altmann and his involvement in the 1980 cocaine coup. nzz.ch
When Escobar Declared War on the Government
Narcoterrorism · Colombia · Medellín Cartel
  • [1]
    The Mob Museum — "Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar killed 30 years ago this month." Documents Escobar's systematic assassination campaign against the Colombian state — including the 1989 murder of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán, the Avianca Flight 203 bombing (107 killed), and the DAS headquarters bombing (52 civilians killed). themobmuseum.org
  • [2]
    Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training (ADST) — "Pablo Escobar and the Siege of Colombia's Palace of Justice" (2015). Primary source oral history documenting Escobar's alleged $2 million funding of the 1985 M-19 attack on Colombia's Supreme Court — an operation to destroy extradition files — which killed 11 Supreme Court Justices and nearly 100 people. adst.org
  • [3]
    Human Rights Watch — "Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia" (1993). Contemporaneous report documenting the narcoterrorism campaign waged by the Medellín Cartel against judges, politicians, journalists, and civilians during the extradition war of the late 1980s and early 1990s. hrw.org
The Most Feared Man in Mexico — And How They Finally Caught Him
Los Zetas · Z-40 · Mexico · Capture
  • [1]
    InSight Crime — "Miguel Angel Treviño, alias 'Z40'." Comprehensive profile of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales — his rise through Los Zetas, his unprecedented brutality including the 2010 murder of 72 migrants and 2011 massacre of 193 people, and his role as the cartel's most feared enforcer. insightcrime.org
  • [2]
    U.S. Department of State — Narcotics Rewards Program — Official record of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales as a designated narcotics target, documenting the $5 million U.S. reward and federal charges including drug trafficking, firearms, and money laundering. state.gov
  • [3]
    NPR / CBS News — "Drug Kingpin of Zetas Cartel Captured in Mexico" (July 15, 2013). Accounts of the pre-dawn Black Hawk helicopter intercept by Mexican Marines on a dirt road outside Nuevo Laredo — Z-40 arrested without a shot fired, carrying $2 million in cash and eight weapons. npr.org
The Shocking Cartel Boss the DEA Called More Dangerous Than Escobar
Cali Cartel · Cocaine · New York · Colombia
  • [1]
    U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — Official History 1990–1994 — DEA primary source documenting Operation Kingpin, which targeted Pacho Herrera's New York distribution network using over 100 simultaneous court-authorised wiretaps, resulting in nearly 100 arrests and the seizure of 2.5 tons of cocaine and $20 million in assets. Includes DEA Administrator Robert Bonner's assessment: "The Cali cartel is the most powerful criminal organisation in the world. No drug organisation rivals them today or perhaps any time in history." dea.gov
  • [2]
    U.S. Department of Justice / National Criminal Justice Reference Service — "The Cali Cartel: Beyond Colombia." Official DOJ report documenting the Cali Cartel's compartmentalised cell structure, their control of 80% of the world's cocaine market at peak operation, and Pacho Herrera's specific responsibility for New York City supply — 4 of every 5 grams of cocaine sold on New York streets. ojp.gov
  • [3]
    TIME Magazine — "The Cali Cartel: New Kings of Coke." Documents the Cali Cartel's deliberate corporate strategy — using lawyers, accountants, and compartmentalised cells — and how Helmer "Pacho" Herrera's voluntary surrender to Colombian authorities on September 1, 1996 marked the end of the cartel's operational leadership. time.com