From the Vault: “El Chapo, the War on Drugs & Intelligence” – with Trial Reporter Noah Hurowitz

SpyCast

Education, News, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Summary Noah Hurowitz (Twitter; LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss infamous drug kingpin El Chapo. A weak link in his cybersecurity set-up would help bring him down. What You’ll Learn Intelligence El Chapo’s internal surveillance operation The cartel’s use of cryptography to keep communications covert How cybersecurity enabled then brought down El Chapo The role of the infamous DFS – a corrupt and now disbanded intelligence agency Reflections Technology – early adopters vs. counter responders The changing nature of crime enabled by emerging technologies – spyware, drones, etc. And much, much more… Episode Notes Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, aka El Chapo (shorty) because of his 5-foot 6-inch frame, was called by one of the agents chasing him, “the godfather of the drug world.” So, how did a low-level drug dealer from a provincial state rise to try and subvert the Mexican government to his will? What was the intelligence game that played out with regards to El Chapo? How did the cartels use spytech, tradecraft and cybersecurity to stay one step ahead of the law? How was he caught? To answer these questions and more, Andrew sat down with Noah Horowitz who covered the trial of El Chapo in Brooklyn for Rolling Stone magazine. Noah is also the author of the recent book El Chapo, and his work has appeared in the Village Voice, the Baffler and New York Magazine. And… In the El Chapo trial, question No.57 asked prospective jurors, “Are you familiar with Jesus Malverde?” If you are not familiar with this angel of the poor (el ángel de los pobres) as well as the Sinaloan narcos (el narcosantón), then you can find out why this question would be relevant here, here, here and here. Quote of the Week "So, in addition to encrypted communications…he was also installing spyware on Blackberry devices that El Chapo was giving out to his lieutenants and his girlfriends and his wives. And then EL Chapo was able to use this, the spyware program to see what was on their phones. He was able to see their text messages. He was able to see their locations. He was even able to remotely activate their mic and listen to them. And he loved that…it was like a toy to him almost. He became obsessed with it." – Noah Hurowitz Resources Headline Resource El Chapo, N. Hurowitz (S&S, 2021) *SpyCasts* Drug Cartels, Sleeper Cells, the Waco Siege & the Mob - Dennis Franks (2021) Books Dope: History of the Mexican Drug Trade, B. Smith (W.W. Norton, 2021) Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs & Cartels, I. Grillo (Bloomsbury, 2021) Articles Drugs, Crime and the Cartels, CFR (2021) The Tech that Took Down Pablo Escobar, Wired (2021) Mexican Cartels Cyber Surveillance, C. Schilis-Gallego, Forbidden Stories (2020) Spy vs. Spy, El Chapo Edition, E. Groll, FP (2019) The Spyware that Brought Down El Chapo, S. Fussell, The Atlantic (2019) Websites El Paso Intelligence Project (EPIC) Centro Nacional De Intelligencia (CNI) PBR (Projects, Briefs, Reports) Mexico: Evolution of the Merida Initiative, C. Seelke, CRS (2021) Mexico Organized Crime and Drug Traffickers, J. Beittel, CRS (2020) Primary Sources EDNY Press Release on El Chapo Trial (2019) Memo in Support of Pre-trial Detention, USA vs. Joaquín Guzmán Loera (2017) Trial Transcripts of El Chapo Text Messages with His Mistress (2012) Official Report on Mexico’s “Dirty War” (2006) Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (1999) Primary Source Collections The Mexican Intelligence Digital Archives (MIDAS) Inside The Cartel: Key Documents (LAT) *Wildcard Resource* “The Original Indigenous People of Sinaloa” To understand Joaquín Guzmán Loera, starting at the year of his birth, 1957, might be enough; but to understand “El Chapo” it might help to go deeper still…

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to The CyberWire Network, powered by N2K.
0:10.0	Hi and welcome to Spycast.
0:14.0	I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Hammond, the storing curator here at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.
0:24.0	Spycast's sole purpose is to educate our listeners about the past, present and future of intelligence and espionage.
0:33.0	Every week through engaging conversations we explore some aspect of a vast ecosystem that looms beneath the surface of everyday life.
0:43.0	We talk to spies, operators, mole hunters, defectors, analysts and authors to explore the stories and secrets,
0:51.0	Shredcraft and technology of the secret world. We are Spycast.
1:00.0	Now sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
1:09.0	This week we look at the infamous drug lord and gangster El Chapo Goes Man.
1:15.0	He attempted to consolidate much of Mexico's narco trafficking under the auspices of the Sinaloa Cartel.
1:23.0	This week's guest Noah Hurowitz is a journalist who covered the trial of El Chapo in New York City for Rolling Stone magazine.
1:31.0	His work has also appeared in the village voice, the Baffler and New York magazine.
1:37.0	He is the author of the recent book El Chapo.
1:40.0	In this episode we discuss all things El Chapo and intelligence, including El Chapo's rise from a provincial low-level drug dealer to a kingpin attempting to subvert the Mexican state, including its security agencies to his well.
1:58.0	Technology in the drug war, including the use of cryptography, spyware and drones, the role of the DFS, a highly corrupt intelligence and security agency,
2:09.0	and the Mexican drug war, and the role that the DA and the CIA played in the Mexican drug war, including the murder of DA agent Kiki Kamarena, an important West Asian in the current and ongoing war on drugs.
2:26.0	I just wonder if we could just frame it all, just tell us what it was like to be there at the El Chapo trial.
2:33.0	Some of us saw it on TV, what was it like to be there, and what kind of information came out that would be of particular interests or listeners, so intelligence agencies, spy tech, those sorts of things.
2:49.0	So, to try to describe what it was like to cover the trial, it was, from the moment that it started, it was a bizarre spectacle circus, there was this intense security.
3:07.0	The trial, for those who don't know, El Chapo was on trial in Brooklyn Federal Court from November 2018 to February 2019.
3:18.0	It was the combination of many, many years of building a case against him, waiting for him to be captured, waiting for him to be recaptured, and then waiting for him to be extradited, so this was years in the making.
3:31.0	And it was really, really hectic, I think, you know, there were snipers on the roof, there was a national guard unit down in the lobby with a guy go counter in case anyone saw fit to, I guess, been a dirty ball or something, and even just to get El Chapo to the courthouse, he was being held in the federal detention facility in Manhattan, but the trial was taking place in Brooklyn.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from SpyCast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of SpyCast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.