Cartel headlines, tested on the ground.
CrashOut Podcast tracks Mexican cartels, Venezuelan colectivos and the DEA's pursuit of cartel bosses. One episode walks the scorched grounds where El Mencho was tracked down, counting shell casings; another has a DEA agent recalling a face-to-face with Osiel Cárdenas.
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CrashOut Podcast, with journalist Ioan Grillo, reports on cartel bosses, the DEA agents who pursue them, Venezuela's armed militias and even the cholo scene around Mexico City. When it covers a raid, it treats the official account as something to check. The killing of El Mencho, head of the Jalisco New Generation cartel and a man the host calls the Lord of the Roosters, gets two treatments. In '37. Army Kills El Mencho And His Thugs Burn Mexico', the host sets out a three-part breakdown, starting with who El Mencho was and who the Jalisco New Generation cartel are, and describes gunmen answering his death with blockades across Mexico. The episode explains how a girlfriend's visit to a safe house in Tapalpa reportedly led the military to him, then warns that some official declarations deserve a pinch of salt. In '38. Inside The Cabins Of Mencho's Last Stand', the host is on site days later. Shell casings are counted aloud. Rounds of 50-caliber ammunition lie inside a house whose walls and windows show no matching damage, and the host wonders aloud whether they were placed there afterward. Neighbors, the host reports, say there was no actual shooting at the Tapalpa country club, a detail missing from a lot of the reports. The host also sets El Mencho's death against the mass graves found in Jalisco. Interviews bring in people with firsthand experience. A DEA agent recalls debriefing Osiel Cárdenas face to face and describes a stoic, remorseless man with, in the agent's words, the eyes of the devil. A conversation about a trial of Caro Quintero raises the allegation that the CIA ordered the killing of Kiki Camarena to hide support for the Contras working with the Guadalajara cartel, and the guest says flatly that no such trial will touch it. On Venezuela, a guest who filmed colectivos such as La Piedrita and Alexis Vive describes groups that are armed, masked and constantly fighting one another rather than taking orders from a single command. That conversation is framed by the US raid to take out Nicolas Maduro. Elsewhere the show steps away from gunfire entirely. Photographer Gustavo Graff discusses five or six years of photographing cholos around greater Mexico City, including Neza, and the trouble with subjects who instantly pose, shirts off and tattoos out, in the style of classic California prison photos. The delivery is direct and unfussy; big news gets called absolutely huge, and interviews can end on a cheerful 'outro boom'. A good starting point is the El Mencho pair, which together show both the explainer and the walk through the aftermath. What a listener gets is context on cartel and militia stories from Mexico and Venezuela, plus scene-level detail and firsthand voices.
Made for: Suits a listener who follows Mexico's cartel news and wants more than the headline: scene reporting, firsthand accounts from people like a DEA agent, and a clear signal when an official account looks shaky.
What sets it apart: It pairs explainers on major cartel events with on-site reporting and firsthand interviews, and it says plainly when the physical evidence and the official story do not line up. Its range also stretches to Venezuelan colectivos and a photographer's portrait of Mexico City cholos.
Reporting on crime, drugs, and gangster politics, and the people who live and die through it, with journalist Ioan Grillo
A DEA agent reads Osiel Cardenas his rights; you stay to hear how he starts talking.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A trial strategy opens onto the evidence prosecutors may prefer not to confront.
The government's case against Rafael Caro Quintero is framed here through the evidence prosecutors may want kept outside the courtroom. The episode works through allegations tied to Kiki Camarena's assassination, including claims involving the CIA, a Cuban American agent,…
A photographer's grounded look at Cholo identity, style, and the pull of life beyond the pose.
Crash Out Media's conversation with photographer Gustavo Graff takes a culture-focused turn into Cholo life around the Mexico City urban area, grounded in a project he says has occupied him for five or six years.
A grounded look at Venezuela's rival colectivos, their Chavista ties, and the violence around them.
Venezuela's colectivos come through as armed, masked groups whose influence is tied to Chavista power and to intimidation at street level. The episode follows journalist Marty Markovits as he reports on Chino and groups including La Piedrita, Jose Chirino, and Alexis Vive,…
A retired DEA agent recalls the unnerving first impressions behind an early cooperation conversation.
CrashOut Podcast's "The DEA Agent Who Debriefed Osiel Cardenas" follows retired DEA agent Mike Chavarria as he recounts meeting the cartel figure after he was processed into the United States.
A measured review of a Venezuela episode focused on intervention, Maduro, and the evidence behind the case.
This single-episode review weighs the possibility of a U.S. military strike aimed at Maduro against the larger politics around Venezuela, the Trump administration, Mexico, Colombia, and the idea of regime decapitation.
A murky Panama power story where cocaine, the CIA, and U.S. military logistics converge around Noriega.
CrashOut Podcast tracks Manuel "Pineapple Face" Noriega through a tangle of cocaine trafficking, money laundering, cartel ties, CIA contact, and the U.S. military presence in Panama.
Adult problems, internet chaos, quick verdicts.
New Zealand news, explained through consequences.
Trade talk for people who investigate for a living.
CrashOut Podcast interviews Angel Hernandez, Millenio TV's top reporter in Mexico, about U.S.
CrashOut Podcast episode 39 centers on photographer Gustavo Graff's five-year Cholo project in Nezahualcóyotl and Ecatepec.
Journalist Ioan Grillo investigates the death of Mexican drug lord El Mencho, examining evidence from the confrontation site.
Journalist Ioan Grillo breaks down the killing of cartel leader El Mencho and the violent uprising that followed.
CrashOut Podcast episode 36 centers on Venezuelan colectivos in Caracas and Marty Markovits's 2019 Vice documentary about Alberto "Chino" Garías.
["Mike Chavarria says 32 years in DEA and 18 months in NCIS gave him a front-row seat to cartel operations in Mexico, Bolivia, San Diego, and Houston.
CrashOut Podcast episode 34 centers on Nicolás Maduro's abduction, the Trump administration's Venezuela policy, and the idea of a Latin American 'regime decapitation' model.
A CrashOut Podcast report takes the host inside a large temple in Pachuca, Mexico, where Santa Muerte images share space with depictions of Satan and other spirits.
CrashOut Podcast examines Manuel “Pineapple Face” Noriega’s overlapping roles as Panama’s dictator, a convicted cocaine trafficker, and a CIA asset.
A journalist recounts the origin of the Medellin cartel and critiques its portrayal in media.
Journalist Ioan Grillo interviews narco-journalist Guillermo Galdós about his new report on narco submarines crossing the Atlantic.
Journalist Ioan Grillo interviews Max Daly about his career covering drugs and crime in the UK.
Journalist Ioan Grillo interviews Temores Greco about his book on violence against journalists in Mexico.
Journalist Ioan Grillo interviews crime editor Nicola Tallent about the Kinnaghan cartel, an Irish organized crime group involved in cocaine trafficking and linked to a major boxing event.