02x08 - Cocaine Queens

[bunniefuu]

MARIANA: I've been
investigating drug traffickers

for over 15 years.

Often I'm a lone female
journalist surrounded by masked

criminals, 99% of whom are men.

It's starting to boil and the
crystal is starting to form

at the top.

But recently, I've heard
tales of a new breed of

narco‐trafficker.

Women.

♪♪

MARIANA: Rumor has it these
brash "Cocaine Queens" are

helping revolutionize the multi
‐billion dollar drug business.

And I'm on a mission
to find them.

MARIANA: We'll call
my driver "Luis."

He's a Rio native whose
family has connections

to the city's
criminal underworld.

(speaking native language).

MARIANA: The woman I'm searching
for is definitely earning it.

She calls herself
"Hello Kitty."

Just 21‐years‐old,

she's one of the most
wanted drug traffickers
in all of Brazil.

MARIANA: The prime suspect in
multiple armed robberies

and m*rder.

And a rising cocaine distributor
for one of the country's most

powerful drug gangs.

And my sources say she's
holed up in Rio's favelas.

The slums and shanty towns
that house more than

1.5 million people.

Nearly a quarter of
the city's population.

So, we're entering
the favela right now.

I have to stop, because
there's these barriers

that exist at the entrance.

If anyone is trying to invade,
it will slow down any invasion

by the police or rival gangs.

So, this is the things
that you have to do

when you enter the favela.

Turn on the lights.

You see that the
hazard lights are on.

LUIS: Stop, stop, stop, stop.
MARIANA: Stop? Okay.

Put the, down, down.
Cameras down. Cameras down.

MARIANA: When
Brazilians boast that,

"God made the world in
six days, and the seventh,

he devoted to Rio de
Janeiro," they're not

talking about the favelas.

They're talking about this.

But there's a flip side to
these sugarcoated pictures.

A kind of tale of two cities.

Extreme poverty fuels
Brazil's black markets.

So much so, that today,
after the United States,

Brazil is the world's
largest cocaine consumer.

I've lived in Rio and have
spent time in many favelas.

Places where crack, weed,
cocaine and other ill*gal

substances are sold
out in the open.

To safeguard the drug market,
these slums are protected by

criminal gangs and
their gatekeepers.

People like this woman.

MARIANA: It's rare to see a
woman in a role like this.

But here I am, talking
with this g*ng member in

front of her kids.

MARIANA: She tells me
to call her Perigosa,

which means dangerous.

MARIANA: Perigosa's job is to
oversee a 24‐hour surveillance

network, comprised of 21
look‐outs, called Radinhas,

Portuguese for the
"Little Radios."

They are the eyes and ears
of the narco‐traffickers.

Favelas are like fiefdoms,

most are controlled
by powerful gangs.

Perigosa's people monitor
all entries and exits,

so they can alert the g*ng
leadership of any invasion by

rivals or cops.

Despite her key
position, Perigosa is
judged by her neighbors.

MARIANA: Perigosa tells me that
the women who truly rise through

the ranks are the ones who put
down their walkie‐talkie and

pick up a g*n.

And if I want to find a
cocaine queen like Hello Kitty,

I need to get closer
to the product.

It's time to pound the pavement.

Luis' uncle was a founding
member of the country's oldest

drug g*ng, Comando
Vermehlo, The Red Command.

The same g*ng Hello Kitty
is said to work for.

I think it's here.
So, that's where we start.

MARIANA: I shouldn't
be surprised.

Rio is a city of some
7 million people,

and The Red Command
has many factions.

It's not easy finding one woman.

Even after the g*ng has
opened their doors to me.

MAESTRO: Hello Kitty.

MARIANA: I'll take the
maestro's word for it.

He's a 60 year old career
criminal who now cuts cocaine

for Comando Vermelho,
The Red Command.

One of three trafficking
organizations that controls all

of the cocaine in Brazil.

What I'm discovering is that
over the past two decades,

Brazil leveraged its location,
bordering every coca producing

country to become a
global distributor.

While Mexico's cartels move
cocaine into the United States,

Brazil's gangs are now the top
suppliers to Europe and Africa.

But a lot of this powder
remains right here,

to satisfy the growing appetites
of Rio's rich and poor.

They have this little spoon and
they basically put the cocaine

inside these little bags.

And this sells for five reais,

which is currently
worth a dollar.

And it's mostly sold in this
neighborhood and neighborhoods

around here.

It's possible the cocaine I'm
looking at will be sold by Hello

Kitty herself.

She works for the same
g*ng as these guys.

So he was actually in

prison recently, and he's
saying that even in prison,

they talked about her a lot.

That she was really good,
she's a really good soldier.

MARIANA: Maestro believes that
today's women have a unique

advantage, the
element of surprise.

Cops still assume that cocaine
traffickers look like Pablo

Escobar, not like Hello Kitty.

He says that the police is
really targeting the men here.

Um, so, there's not gonna be
a lot of men around to do this

kind of work.

So, it'll be up to
the women to do it.

MARIANA: This is
not Hello Kitty.

I'm still working my way up
Comando Vermelho's chain of

command, but she is proof
that while women don't yet
rule Rio's cocaine market,

there are
far more female narcos than

I ever imagined.

MARIANA: She calls herself
"Bayern" after her favorite

soccer team.

Just 25 years old, Bayern came
up in the g*ng as cocaine was

expanding its reach
throughout Brazil.

Now, she's a soldado; a
narco‐soldier who provides

security for the Red Command.

I have to admit, I'm impressed.

Like Hello Kitty, she's a woman
who isn't just breaking the

glass ceiling, she's literally
sh**ting her way through it.

MARIANA: A GL*CK.
BAYERN: Yeah.

MARIANA: Wow. You see that?

She's showing me
the b*llet hole.

The b*llet came through this
side and came out of this side.

These shootouts with law
enforcement have become

all too common.

As cocaine exploded
throughout the country,

so did g*ng violence.

Today, Rio's police response
involves helicopter‐borne

sn*pers, with
sh**t‐to‐k*ll orders.

In 2019, the police here
k*lled over 1,800 people.

That's five people a day.

Nearly twice the number
k*lled by cops in the entire

United States.

Still, the traffickers I've
met seem to take this

violence in stride.

MARIANA: Salvation. That depends
on a person's point of view.

And tonight, I'll
have the chance to ask

Hello Kitty herself.

My Red Command contacts
have finally come through.

We're scheduled to
meet her on her turf.

Okay, rom what we've heard,
she's going to be actually

waiting for us in the inside
of this favela, so we're

driving deeper and deeper.

MARIANA: So please, please,
please do not put the cameras

up, he's asking.

When we arrive at
the rendezvous point,

Luis receives new intel
from his underworld sources.

So, not good news.

Um, apparently, we were
told she was waiting for us,

but then we got here, and
apparently she's gone.

And, uh, it's, uh, we're being
told that there is going to be a

police operation here tomorrow.

MARIANA: They found out through
an informant they have at the

police, and so when that
happens and the word spreads,

they go out and they
start hiding everything.

They're going to hide
the g*ns and the drugs,

and that's what apparently
has happened tonight.

And that's where, she's
disappeared and no one

can find her.

Unfortunately, the
trail goes cold.

Dead cold.

The police operation took place
the following day and we never

re‐engaged with Hello Kitty.

Just a few weeks later, we
received word that Hello Kitty

and her father were k*lled in
a g*n battle with Rio's police.

Yes, she was an
unapologetic cocaine queen,

but she was also twenty‐one
years old and a mother

of two children.

Cocaine has transformed Brazil's
black market and its players,

but in the end, I never got to
meet the female narco boss I'm

searching for.

So, I head to the source,

the world's biggest
cocaine producer,

to locate a rumored
narco‐queen the cops and

criminals are all
trying to k*ll.

MARIANA: So you've been in
touch with these people?

I mean, they know
that we're coming?

MARIANA: The man riding
shotgun is Oliver Schmieg,

a local photojournalist who once
helped me gain access to the

cocaine highway, the 3,000 mile
journey smugglers take to move

their product from the mountains
of South America to Miami Beach.

Now, we're trying to track down
a female narco named "Sonia,"

who's rumored to be the second
in command of one of Colombia's

newest criminal
cartels, Los Caparros.

What do you guys know
about her, this woman?

MARIANA: The boss
of the assassins?
OLIVER: Yeah.

MARIANA: Astonishing
is an understatement.

You see, for five decades,
Colombia has been the world's

biggest cocaine producer.

This multi‐billion dollar black
market was dominated by one man.

The king of cocaine,
Pablo Escobar.

Throughout the
70s, 80s, and 90s,

Escobar's Medellin cartel
controlled every link in their

global supply chain, from
production to distribution.

But when the kingpin
was gunned down in 1993,

his cartel crumbled.

The cocaine business,
however, did not.

It simply evolved.

Today, Colombia produces
more powder than ever.

But the big cartels have
splintered into smaller rival

gangs, which means more
competition and violence.

To fight back against the
new generation of narcos,

the Colombian government offers
money to local farmers to burn

their crops.

MARIANA: Rumor has it Sonia
m*rder*d one of these farmers,

and then ordered her men to
leave his body on display for

ten days.

It feels very much like
we're entering the heart

of darkness here.

MARIANA: The man holding
the phone is Ivan Vasquez,

a former Colombian special
forces soldier and our security

advisor for the region.

The voice on the other end is
our contact inside Sonia's g*ng.

MARIANA: The region we're
in is called Bajo Cauca.

In 2019, it had a m*rder rate
on par with Tijuana, Mexico,

the most violent
city in the world.

Just weeks ago, eight teenage
soccer players traveling through

here were taken hostage.

OLIVER: They got
kidnapped by the same g*ng

we are supposed to
meet, by Los Caparros.

Three got freed, one
they found dead already.

MARIANA: So they were, wait,
they were kidnapped by the same

people we are meeting?

OLIVER: Yeah.

MARIANA: And is there any
guarantee that these people are

meeting us and that they're
not going to kidnap us?

Do we...

OLIVER: Well,
there's no guarantee.

I mean, you are under the
control of a criminal g*ng.

There is a risk
to get kidnapped.

MARIANA: Okay.

And that's when our
contact calls back,

with a meeting point.

Instead of finding Sonia, we're
picked up along the way by a

pair of her Sicarios,
professional hitmen,

who order us to follow them.

Though 50% of Bajo Cauca's
residents live in poverty today,

the Spanish conquistadors knew
there was tremendous wealth to

be found here,
hidden underground.

As we follow the Sicarios
into this mining operation,

I assume this is where
we'll find Sonia.

Instead, we discover the men
are taking us on a shakedown.

MARIANA: Sonia's Sicarios
want us to leave immediately,

but I want to know more
about what's happening here.

MARIANA: Before I can ask more
questions, my crew alerts me

that the gunmen are on the
phone with Sonia, herself.

MARIANA: It seems I've
overstayed my welcome.

While her gunmen lead
us away from the mine.

MARIANA: Ivan gets a
concerning call from his
local security sources.

Over the past 24 hours, there
have been multiple g*n fights

between local gangs, with
six people confirmed k*lled.

So this area right now, he was
saying, is super, super hot.

It seems like every g*ng in Bajo
Cauca wants a piece of the pie.

And they're willing
to k*ll for it.

MARIANA: He's gonna
check all the cars,

make sure that there's no
one else there or any g*ns.

He's also getting all the g*ns
from our security guys, um,

disarming everybody.

And no cell phones allowed in.

Once they take our cell phones,
they order us to follow them.

It's time to meet their leader,
"La Comandante," the commander.

You see, he just handed
the money to him,

and he's the only one who's
able, um, to approach her,

the woman.

And he's about to
give her the money.

It's amazing though,
she's the one really
giving the orders here, huh?

OLIVER: Yeah.

MARIANA: In my many years of
investigating narco‐traffickers,

this is the first time I've
encountered a woman who wields

so much power over
violent, well‐armed men.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: Okay.

Eventually, I'm permitted
to approach Sonia.

MARIANA: Whoa, okay, so
she's not happy apparently,

because there's
not enough money.

It's not the money
that she was promised.

MARIANA: Oh, apparently, there's
like another group close by,

and they're getting scared.

Okay, guys, really.
For real, now we have to go.

MARIANA: Sonia's bodyguards
rush her to safety.

NACHO: Go.

MARIANA: While they prepare
for an imminent attack.

Oh, my God, the guy's got
his g*n, he just, you know,

it's serious when they
start freaking out.

MARIANA: My film crew and I
are embedded with a g*ng

of cocaine traffickers and a
rival cartel is closing in.

MARIANA: (bleep) Okay.

The mine where we
were just now filming,

there was another rival
group that came in, armed,

so that things are
definitely not safe,

because this could be the
next spot they target.

Hopefully this is open, yeah.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: No.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: No.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: He started
hearing g*nshots right

where we came from.

MARIANA: As we flee
the g*ng's compound,

I realize I know next to nothing
about their female commander,

a woman who every rival g*ng in
Bajo Cauca seems to want dead.

Narcotrafficking is a
man's world, traditionally.

Almost never do you see a woman
occupy a position of power,

like Sonia.

While there have been a few
confirmed gangster queens in

recent history, often
exaggerated by Hollywood,

the women I typically interview
are low‐level drug mules.

But maybe these changes in
the black market shouldn't

be so surprising.

The fight for equality in the
legal market has been happening

for generations.

I imagine something
similar must be taking place

inside organized crime.

Still, how does a 21‐year‐old
woman end up a cartel commander?

MARIANA: The morning
after the attack,

I discover Sonia's
not just alive,

she's willing to finally talk.

It turns out it was the Clan
Del Golfo that led the attack.

You can film.

They're Sonia's main rival and
the biggest drug traffickers in

the region with alleged links
to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.

MARIANA: Sonia is young, but
so is her group, Los Caparros.

They're one of the newest gangs
competing for Colombia's cocaine

profits, supposedly created by
former right wing paramilitaries

who abandoned politics
and embraced crime.

MARIANA: Sonia tells me that
like most people Bajo Cauca,

she grew up in poverty.

When she was 12, her
father was m*rder*d by a

local paramilitary g*ng.

Sonia went looking for
revenge, but never found it.

What she found instead was love.

At 16 years old, she fell
for the regional commander

of Los Caparros.

A man who had grown
up poor, like her.

MARIANA: Against her mother's
wishes, Sonia ran away,

got pregnant, and gave birth
to the commander's children.

MARIANA: Respect.

It's something Sonia earned
during her initiation,

when the cartel kidnapped a
disabled man and ordered her to

k*ll him.

MARIANA: Despite everything
I've witnessed covering black

markets, it's hard to
stomach the details of
Sonia's rise to power.

MARIANA: A part of me wants to
view Sonia's story as an act of

empowerment, but all I see is
a woman who's been transformed

from a victim of
Colombia's violence

to one of its chief
perpetrators.

MARIANA: Cocaine, it remains
Colombia's most enduring and

profitable black market.

MARIANA: And Sonia is going
to show me how she maintains

control of her g*ng's
coca plantation.

We're essentially surrounded
by coca fields and, uh,

ill*gal gold mines.

This is also sort of, you
know, the birthplace of

narco‐trafficking.

Pablo Escobar, the
Medellin cartel,

the cocaine that was
produced, it was,

it all came from these
hills, from this area.

In fact, reports from the United
Nations Office on Drugs and

Crime suggest that 70% of all
the coca planted in 2017 came

from Colombia, from
areas just like this.

MARIANA: Her hitmen inform me
that there are sn*pers hidden

throughout the hills.

Oh, wow.

It's not long after
that I finally see it.

The crown jewel
of Sonia's power.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: Producing cocaine,
surprisingly, isn't complicated.

Coca leaves are picked by
hand, then mulched together,

then mixed with
cement, gasoline,

and other chemicals to
produce a raw coca paste.

In the past, most of this
product was sent north,

to the US.

But more and more paste
is now heading south,

to the burgeoning Brazilian
market I just came from.

These local farmers are paid to
feed this growing global demand,

though they have little choice.

There's a saying
in this region,

"Whoever does not
sow, has to go."

30 years ago, Pablo
Escobar controlled all the
coca grown around here.

Today, Sonia helps
manage some 30,000 acres.

But Los Caparros are outnumbered
and out‐gunned by rivals.

They need fresh soldiers
and they need them fast.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: Recruited.
It means something very
different in this region.

Many Caparros members
are actually kidnapped.

They're not volunteers.
They're victims.

MARIANA: The case of the eight
teenage soccer players who

recently disappeared in
Bajo Cauca shocked

millions of Colombians.

But Sonia knows what
happened to the players,

because she was the one who
ordered their kidnapping.

MARIANA: Despite
everything she's told me,

I'm still shocked to learn that
many of Sonia's narco‐soldiers

are innocent young men
her g*ng kidnapped.

MARIANA: These horrors are all
in the service of the product.

Another kilo of coke
is ready for transport.

That's when Sonia's bodyguards
tell her she, too, must go.

With so many rivals, they can't
allow their commander to remain

in one place for long.

She's the boss.

She's the most
valuable thing here.

If she gets k*lled, then the
guys that are in charge of her

protection will probably
get k*lled as well.

MARIANA: A part of me
really wants these

ambitious women to succeed.

And why not?

For far too long, it's been
mostly men profiting from the

multi‐billion dollar drug trade.

Of course despite his riches,
even Pablo Escobar died in a

hail of g*nf*re on a
rooftop in Medellin.

MARIANA: Just
weeks after I left,

the Colombian military k*lled
the leader of Los Caparros and

captured one of his
chief lieutenants.

Sonia's lover and the
father of her children.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: Seven of the eight
kidnapped teenagers were freed.

(speaking native language)

MARIANA: And the remaining
members of Los Caparros are on

the run, including Sonia, whose
whereabouts are unknown.

Today, the Colombian government
has declared the g*ng

"thoroughly dismantled."

Narcos come and go,
that's part of the deal.

Live fast, die young.

But more and more, the black
market often reflects trends in

the legal one.

It's like a dark mirror.

So, it's perhaps not surprising
that women are pushing for

equality in the most
ruthless workplace of all.

MARIANA: And they're either
desperate enough or crazy enough

to do the unthinkable in their
pursuit of money and power.

Progress can be a b*tch.

♪ Don't take no prisoners. ♪

♪ Powerful from head to toe. ♪

♪ If you've seen us,
then you already know. ♪