<i>[dramatic music]</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>[intense music]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> [exhales] <i>♪ ♪</i> [speaking Spanish] <i>REPORTER: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>ALBERTO: Buenos dias.</i> <i>REPORTER: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Alberto Capella</i> <i>is a veteran police chief in Mexico.</i> <i>ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Capella has promised to slash the homicide rate</i> <i>in his state, but it’s a daunting task.</i> - [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] [all speaking at once] <i>- Gracias. Gracias.</i> <i>AZAM: In Mexico, someone is killed every 15 minutes,</i> <i>and 95% of murders are never solved.</i> AZAM: So right there is the body that they burned. You can see the arm and a leg. [distant chatter] <i>[dramatic music]</i> [all speaking at once] <i>♪ ♪</i> You see the burn marks right on the center of the sidewalk. <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>AZAM: Murder has become so routine,</i> <i>so expected here,</i> <i>that people can’t rely on traditional forms of justice.</i> <i>REPORTER: Last year saw a record 33,000</i> <i>homicides in Mexico</i> <i>REPORTER: Innocent men, women, and children,</i> <i>thousands of whom have been caught in the crossfire.</i> <i>AZAM: At least a quarter of a million people</i> <i>have been killed</i> <i>since the American-backed drug war began in 2006,</i> <i>and recent violence has been extreme.</i> [gunfire] <i>In October,</i> <i>the Sinaloa Cartel laid siege to the city of Culiacán</i> <i>in broad daylight.</i> <i>A month later,</i> <i>another cartel gunned down nine women and children.</i> <i>Last year saw the highest murder rate in the country.</i> <i>Ever.</i> <i>This is what happens when the power of organized crime</i> <i>goes unchecked,</i> <i>and when the cartels continue to pay off the institutions</i> <i>that are supposed to be policing them.</i> <i>REPORTER: Another execution-style murder</i> <i>in Mexico.</i> <i>REPORTER: 26 bodies were found—</i> <i>REPORTER: Bodies decapitated and mutilated.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> REPORTER: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: It’s that kind of corruption</i> <i>that drove Alberto Capella to become a police chief.</i> <i>REPORTER: Police forces in entire cities</i> <i>and villages have been fired.</i> <i>Some former federal police officers</i> <i>have joined up with the drug cartel.</i> <i>AZAM: He had been an anti-corruption activist</i> <i>but decided that the only way to change the system...</i> <i>REPORTER: Jesus Alberto Capella.</i> <i>AZAM: Was from within.</i> - [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: 12 years ago, when he became a police chief,</i> <i>he got more than he bargained for</i> <i>when a group of cartel men attacked his home.</i> ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish] [mimics gunfire sounds] <i>AZAM: Capella survived, more determined than ever.</i> <i>REPORTER: The remarkable story of one lawman.</i> <i>REPORTER: Scores of bullet holes.</i> <i>REPORTER: Capella vows to fight on</i> <i>knowing that he’s a marked man.</i> - [speaking in Spanish] <i>AZAM: But in the years that followed,</i> <i>Capella faced criticism and controversies himself.</i> <i>[people speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: And the violence only intensified.</i> <i>He was at a breaking point.</i> <i>Something had to give.</i> [speaking Spanish] SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>AZAM: He moved up the ranks quickly.</i> <i>Cartel leaders were curious what he was capable of.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>AZAM: He told me that when he was 18,</i> <i>he was sent away to a cartel training camp</i> <i>to train as an assassin— a sicario.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: By the time he was 21,</i> <i>the sicario had worked for at least three different cartels.</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: But in 2017,</i> <i>another cartel man betrayed him.</i> <i>The sicario was arrested,</i> <i>and police set out to verify his stories.</i> <i>They confirmed more than 20 of his murders</i> <i>in Morelos alone.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: He was a gold mine for investigators.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: He said who he was working for,</i> <i>who he had killed,</i> <i>where they were buried.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: He even told them where they could find</i> <i>the torso of a woman</i> <i>dismembered on the banks of this river.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: This was the break Capella had been hoping for.</i> <i>The sicario’s inside knowledge of the cartels</i> <i>could cripple organized crime in the state,</i> <i>but like many in Mexico,</i> <i>Capella didn’t trust</i> <i>the federal witness protection program</i> <i>to handle the case,</i> <i>and he wanted to have control, so he improvised.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: It was a radical deal,</i> <i>completely off the books,</i> <i>and arguably outside the law.</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: “If you testify against the cartels,</i> <i>we’ll keep you safe,</i> <i>hidden in a jail that your family can visit.”</i> - BABY: Mira! - SICARIO: Mira, papi. <i>AZAM: And even though you’ve confessed</i> <i>to dozens of murders,</i> <i>when you’re finished testifying...</i> [children laughing] <i>AZAM: You’ll be free to go.</i> SICARIO: <i>Despacito, eh? </i>[laughs] - [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Over the course of the next year,</i> <i>Capella turned a dozen other men into informants,</i> <i>offering them the same deal as the sicario.</i> <i>ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish]</i> [all singing in Spanish] <i>AZAM: The informants were housed</i> <i>in a small holding area connected to the jail</i> <i>where a pastor visited them every day.</i> [singing continues] <i>[inmates speaking Spanish]</i> PASTOR: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: When the informants were needed for a trial,</i> <i>they were driven to the courthouse.</i> <i>JUDGE: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> PROSECUTOR: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> PROSECUTOR: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: Prosecutors directed the sicario</i> <i>to minimize his role in the murders.</i> <i>To avoid implicating himself...</i> <i>- Gracias.</i> <i>AZAM: He lied under oath.</i> - [speaking Spanish] [gavel bangs] <i>♪ ♪</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>AZAM: Some witnesses had been living here for over a year.</i> <i>They were free to leave,</i> <i>but most stayed for their own safety.</i> [chatter] - [praying in Spanish] <i>AZAM: They prayed together,</i> <i>ate together,</i> <i>and built a routine,</i> <i>sometimes waiting months to testify at trial.</i> <i>MAN: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: One of them was put in charge</i> <i>of letting visitors into the jail</i> <i>and had even started a car washing business.</i> <i>MAN: [speaking Spanish]</i> MAN: [speaking Spanish] PASTOR: [speaking Spanish] [woman crying] <i>AZAM: For these men,</i> <i>the facility was an escape from all the violence</i> <i>they had committed.</i> PASTOR: [speaking Spanish] AZAM: [speaking Spanish] SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> JAVIER: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: Javier Sicilia</i> <i>is a well-known writer in Mexico.</i> <i>His son was killed by a cartel in Morelos.</i> JAVIER: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: Juan Francisco was murdered</i> <i>with six of his friends</i> <i>after complaining about a theft at a bar</i> <i>with links to organized crime.</i> JAVIER: [speaking Spanish] <i>[cheers and applause]</i> <i>JAVIER: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Since then, Sicillia has led</i> <i>massive anti-violence protests across the country.</i> - [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: So I wondered, how would he feel</i> <i>about Capella’s deal with the sicario?</i> AZAM: [speaking Spanish] JAVIER: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> [all speaking Spanish] ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: More than a year after Chief Capella created</i> <i>his makeshift witness protection program,</i> <i>the murder rate in Morelos had dropped.</i> ALBERTO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: And then, Morelos got a new governor.</i> <i>Capella took a new job as police chief</i> <i>1,000 miles away in the state of Quintana Roo.</i> - [giving order in Spanish] <i>AZAM: He left the program in the hands</i> <i>of his replacement.</i> AZAM: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: Capella had consistently told me</i> <i>that after testifying,</i> <i>all the protected witnesses would walk.</i> <i>But maybe that was never his intention.</i> - [speaking Spanish] AZAM: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] AZAM: [speaking Spanish] - [speaking Spanish] - Hm. Okay? - AZAM:<i> Si.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> [chatter] <i>AZAM: When I returned to the jail last spring,</i> <i>things felt unsettled.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Some of the witnesses had abandoned the program</i> <i>before finishing their testimonies.</i> <i>Some returned to a life of crime.</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: The sicario remained hopeful</i> <i>he could start a new life...</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: With his new baby and a clean record.</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>[tense music]</i> [chatter] <i>♪ ♪</i> - [sighs] [clears throat] <i>[light music]</i> <i>AZAM: Three months later,</i> <i>the program had fallen apart.</i> <i>Only the sicario and one other witness remained.</i> <i>He was driven to church a couple of times a week.</i> [all speaking Spanish] SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: But he always returned</i> <i>to the sanctuary of the jail.</i> <i>Still, after almost two years in hiding,</i> <i>his outlook had changed.</i> SICARIO: [speaking Spanish] <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>AZAM: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>SICARIO: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: Six weeks later, I got a text.</i> <i>[phone chiming]</i> <i>♪ ♪</i> <i>The sicario knew he would be killed in a real prison</i> <i>full of cartel members, not protected witnesses.</i> <i>Less than two years after it began,</i> <i>Capella’s experiment was over. </i>- [speaking Spanish] <i>AZAM: Maybe it was crazy to think</i> <i>that a makeshift program with a dozen young men</i> <i>could change the course of violence in Morelos.</i> <i>But the informants did put 20 cartel men behind bars</i> <i>and showed that something like this</i> <i>could have an impact.</i> <i>And yet, today, citizens are still navigating</i> <i>an almost lawless society.</i> <i>REPORTER: [speaking Spanish]</i> <i>AZAM: The families of victims never find justice.</i> <i>Prison cartel members are quickly replaced,</i> <i>and the cycle of violence continues.</i> <i>♪ ♪</i>