Matta Ballesteros Part 2: Face to Face With the Cocaine Chemist

A desperate flight through a sewage pipe is not enough to deliver El Chapo to freedom. Arrested and extradited to the United States, his story closes in a packed Brooklyn courtroom, in front of the world’s media. But even as Chapo departs the stage, Mexico remains under siege from the cartels. Joaquín Guzmán may be behind bars in America, but even his story is only part of a much bigger saga - one with no clear end in sight. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s late 2014, and El Chapo is finally back behind bars. The prison he’s in has a reputation as a fortress - it’s even more secure than the last one. But if anyone’s going to have a crack at busting out, it’s Chapo Guzmán. Specially trained diggers hatch a plan for one of the most audacious prison breaks in history. Back at large, the sensible move is to lay low in the mountains. But Chapo can’t resist the limelight. He prepares for a sit-down. Not with his lawyers or the cops, but with the Hollywood actor Sean Penn. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The DEA agents make a huge breakthrough in the investigation, when a routine wiretap in Arizona unexpectedly leads them to El Chapo’s personal cell phone. Monitoring his personal communications, they get to know their target intimately. The Mexican marines begin the process of rounding up Chapo’s henchmen. Each arrest gets them closer to the boss himself. Until, finally, a dawn raid in the resort town of Mazatlán yields the ultimate prize. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s 2001, and Mexican drug baron Joaquín Guzmán Loera has spent nearly a decade behind bars. But now he becomes a fugitive once more, as he pulls off the most daring escape his super-max prison has ever seen. DEA agents wrangle a sit-down with a new, priceless informant. Meanwhile, Chapo finds love in the mountains. And his cartel branches out into a new market, with a product that has huge possibilities for financial reward: meth. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After escaping a hit at Guadalajara Airport, El Chapo disappears from view. Acting on a tip-off, the authorities close in on a hotel in the border town of Tapachula. Returned home in handcuffs, Chapo can look forward to a lengthy stay at a top-security penitentiary. But he'll soon win over the prison guards. The flow of drugs into the United States continues unhindered. DEA agent Joe Bond prepares to go undercover into the jail for a secret face-to-face with Guzmán himself. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices