The Weekly|A Mexican Police Chief’s Handshake Deal With a Sicario
Episode 28: ‘The Sicario’
Producer/Director Alexandra Garcia
The bodies were piling up and Alberto Capella, then the police chief in the Mexican state of Morelos, was desperate. So he turned to a man intimately familiar with the drug violence plaguing his region of south-central Mexico — a ruthless sicario, an assassin who, authorities said, killed more than 20 people.
For years the homicide rate in Mexico has been climbing to alarming highs, and endemic corruption has made it nearly impossible to do much to stop it. So Capella struck deals with some of the men he’d arrested who were willing to testify against their drug cartel bosses. In exchange, he offered the informants protection and a chance to escape a life of brutality, potentially without facing any charges.
It was a gentleman’s agreement with men trained in violence. Capella tells “The Weekly” he wrestled with his decision to offer a lifeline to men who showed no regard for human life, but his informants helped him arrest and convict dozens of cartel operatives.
Capella’s star witness had his own motivation. “I don’t want to spend my whole life in prison,” the sicario said.
Watch how these men on either side of a bloody war tearing Mexico apart came to rely on each other for their futures.
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Reporters
Azam Ahmed is The New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is based in Mexico City, where he’s reported on the homicide crisis in Latin America, the deadliest region in the world. Before moving to Mexico, Azam worked for nearly three years covering the war in Afghanistan. Follow Azam on Twitter at @azamsahmed.
Paulina Villegas is a reporter for The Times’s Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean bureau. She has reported on organized crime and its impact on society, as well as human rights abuses and corruption in Mexico. She is also a co-producer of this episode. Follow Paulina on Twitter at @Paulina_VV.
Alexandra Garcia is a producer/director for “The Weekly” and has been a visual journalist for The New York Times since 2013. She has covered topics including arts, international news, sports and investigative stories. Follow Alexandra on Twitter at @garcia_alexandra.
Senior Story Editors Dan Barry, Liz O. Baylen, and Liz Day
Director of Photography Victor Tadashi Suarez
Video Editor Pierre Takal
Supervising Producer Gemma Jordan
Associate Producers Lora Moftah and Valerie Schenkman
Additional Editing Geoff O’Brien
