@ioangrillo.bsky.social
Journalist based in Mexico, focused on crime, drugs and gangster politics. Author of El Narco trilogy and CrashOut on Substack. Time, NYT, HBO++ Still doing it. www.crashoutmedia.com
Can a Mayos Victory End the Sinaloa War?
The year-long bloodbath is one of the worst cartel battles in history. But now there's a clear advance of Mayos and a new map of Sinaloa Cartel being drawn. CrashOut reports from the ground in Sinaloa.
Read at:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/can-a-mayo...
Mexico Expels 26 More Narco Prisoners To US Amid Trade Talks and Military Threat
This isn't theater as there are genuine big figures in transfer like Cuini, financial brain of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Will it be enough to placate Trump?
Read:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexico-exp...
MEGA EXCLUSIVE - I went to Colombia to talk to Carlos Lehder, founder of the Medellin Cartel.
We discuss:
- How the cartel really worked
- Was he a Nazi?
- Terror attacks in Colombia
- Cartel working with Noriega + Contras
- Deal with FARC
Watch here↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/exclusive-...
On Gringo-fiction and Gringo-phobia...
My reflections on the anti-gringo protests in Mexico City, and on gentrification and xenophobia (as a Brit living in CDMX since 2000, or as a friend says "anglo-Chilango...")
Read it here, it's a freebie:↓ www.crashoutmedia.com/p/on-gringo-...
The Dark Truth of Mexico's "Pimp City" That Traffics Girls to New York
The Tenancingo to USA prostitution pipeline is genuinely horrific. Yet there's a lot of smoke, mirrors and bad numbers around such an abhorrent crime as "sex slavery."
Read here:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-dark-t...
Ovidio has been transferred to a secure location to kick-start his cooperation with US government that could reduce his sentence from life to 10 years.
He says he will help get $80 million in assets. But who could he finger: a governor or higher? Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/ovidio-kic...
In Singapore, you get hanged for 15g of heroin, 30g of cocaine or half kilo of cannabis.
It also has one of lowest murder rates in the world with 10 murders (Mexico had 145x more per capita; US 35x)
I went to "Lion City" and looked at zero tolerance:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/singapore-...
humor desde culiacán por "Bobadilla", vía www.crashoutmedia.com/p/alivio-com... de @ioangrillo.bsky.social
23.05.2025 23:02 — 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1
Revolution to synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, has side effect - it decimated Mexico's opium farmers.
I went to mountains of Guerrero, where kilo of opium gum dropped from 33K pesos at peak to 4K pesos. They have Afghan opium they call "Talibana."
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/fentanyl-k...
Sheinbaum Has A Red Line On US Troops
The Mexican president is delivering to Trump with fentanyl busts and stopping migrants. But allowing full US special force ops vs cartels in Mexico is politically impossible for her. Will Trump get that?
Read at:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/sheinbaum-...
Is Nuevo León's "Fuerza Civil" Really The Best Police in Mexico?
The state cops were meant to transform law enforcement. Yet they struggle amid a Gulf Cartel-CDN war. Security chief Gerardo Escamilla outlines the fight back strategy to CrashOut.
Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/fuerza-civ...
Cartel Propaganda Videos - A History
Narco videos went from splatter films on VHS to brutal mutilation on blogs to gunmen celebrating Easter and to quasi-political statements.
I look at the evolution of what has tragically become its own video genre:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/cartel-pro...
Is it cool to enjoy narco culture? When there are 30,000 murders a year in Mexico and a 100 K overdose deaths in the US?
Do drug ballads just reflect reality? Or do they help mold it?
Read the essay free, clicking below↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/is-it-cool...
When Luis Conriquez refused to play corridos in Texcoco, the audience smashed up the venue. But was he more concerned about a Mexican state law prohibiting corridos or the threat of losing his US visa? Is this a reckoning for narco corridos? I break it down:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/a-reckonin...
🇲🇽 New Popular Front podcast episode out now, talking to @ioangrillo.bsky.social about the strange case of a Jalisco Cartel extermination camp that might not be what it seems...
‣ Listen: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
‣ Support: patreon.com/popularfront
EXCLUSIVE - Mexico Looks At New "Mega Expulsion," Of 40 Narcos
Potential targets include "El Cuini," financial brain of the Jalisco Cartel. Mexico also looks at slapping its own terrorist charges on narcos. Actions could avoid US strikes/tariffs.
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/exclusive-...
Fentanyl is terrible but crystal meth is a still a huge force in addiction. Teun Voeten has a cracking new book on The Devil's Drug. I'm stoked to publish this seething excerpt from Skid Row, crazy photos of meth labs, and heart breaking images of addicts.
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/what-about...
MS-13: From LA Stoners to "Foreign Terrorists"
MS-13 began as long-haired teens in LA rocking Black Sabbath, with machetes because guns were too pricey, but grew into global gang. With crackdowns in El Salvador and US, is this their final chapter?
Read↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/ms-13-from...
Netflix Hit Adolescence Is Good TV But It's Unrealistic
It's a compelling watch with great actors.But it's ridiculous that some British politicians and journalists are treating the drama like it's a real case and should inform policy
Read my story at↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/adolescenc...
The United States has a 2,000 mile border with Mexico but a 5,500 mile border with Canada. Is Canada really stopping the fentanyl flowing south? Katarina Szulc spoke to a Sinaloan trafficker who said not. Check out the interview on CrashOut Podcast.
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/is-canada-...
The case of the "Jalisco Cartel Extermination Camp" has shaken Mexico. But will there ever be justice delivered to the families of victims and the thousands of disappearances? Katarina Szulz break it down in the CrashOut podcast:
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/hope-of-ju...
The Canada Cartel Connection
The Canada-US border is the longest in the world, almost 3 times the Mexican border, but there is only 8% of Border Patrol agents. A trafficker says they are walking fentanyl over.
Read CrashOut special with Katarina Szulc:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-canada...
A painful truth periodically returns to punch me in the gut: how Mexico can be so beautiful and yet also be a land where such barbaric evil takes place.
The death camp was found amid threats from US. But it is Mexicans who hurt Mexicans there.
Read:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/the-jalisc...
Murders, massacres and drone strikes force hundreds of thousands in Mexico to flee their homes.
Jared Olson went to a front-line of the cartel wars in the Tierra Caliente to bring this report on the "desplazados."
Read at:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexicos-ca...
Five Great Books on Drugs and Thugs
I look at some essential bangers and classics on mafiosi, narcos, traffickers, traders in toxic drugs and psychedelic experiments...
Read at:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/five-great...
Mexico Cracked Down; Trump Still Slapped Tariffs On
Sheinbaum helped slash number of migrants on border, halved level of fentanyl. In return, Trump puts 25% tariffs. White House statement also favors those who want US military strikes on cartels.
My story↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexico-cra...
The simple fact, as @ioangrillo.bsky.social has shown in his book ‘Blood Gun Money’, and as others have since attested, US-bought guns arm cartels and fuel the extraordinary levels of violence being felt in Mexico www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/u... More here: www.ioangrillo.com/books/#Book1
03.03.2025 19:55 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Sheinbaum Pulls Off Historic "Mega Narco Extradition" of 29 cartel bosses
Silvia Garza lost 17 family members to the Zetas. She said the extraditions “were the best news I've had in 14 years.” “It's God’s justice on earth,” she said. “We all..
Read story at↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/sheinbaum-...
EXCLUSIVE: El Mayo has not sung - lawyer
Mayo has given no info to US on narcos/politicians since arrest, attorney Frank Perez tells me in first long interview. Mayo wants plea bargain of guilty with no death penalty. Mayo has no cancer.
Read full interview↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/exclusive-...
Mexico's Cartel Drone War - A Guerrilla Documentary
Gangsters drop fire from the sky to terrorize villagers in the southern Sierra Madre.
Watch the mini-feature on CrashOut free with captured sicario and drone card and reporting from Guerrero, Mexico:↓
www.crashoutmedia.com/p/mexicos-ca...
