The GunRunners joint investigative project — which includes Frontline, the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Investigative Reporting Project — tracks the entire distribution chain of illegal arms trafficking from Europe to Mexico through the United States.
GunRunners - Introduction to the Joint Project
In the little over four years that Felipe Calderon has been president of Mexico, the Mexican government has registered 34,162 deaths due to organized criminal violence. It has also seized…
CPI: Romanian Weapons Modified in the U.S. Become Scourge of Mexican Drug War
(With permission from the Center for Public Integrity.) Camron Scott Galloway, 21, walked into X Caliber Guns in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 30, 2008, and filled out forms…
IRW: Romania, Vermont, Arizona: Guns Follow Complex Route to Mexican Cartels
(With permission from the Investigative Reporting Workshop.) Armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, Arturo Beltran Leyva, head of one of the most ruthless drug cartels in…
How the Beltran Leyva, Sinaloa Cartel Feud Bloodied Mexico
When war broke out between the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) and the Sinaloa Cartel in 2008, it was the bloody culmination of the unraveling of the Federation, the most powerful…
How Guns are Trafficked Below the Border
On both sides of the border, Mexico's cartels have small teams that, among other assignments, procure weapons from different sources. However, according to law enforcement officials, it's unlikely, unnecessary and…
The Takedown of the 'Boss of Bosses'
United States and Mexican authorities were on the heels of Arturo Beltran Leyva, alias 'El Jefe de Jefes' (The Boss of Bosses), for nearly ten months before they finally surrounded…
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Mexican authorities crushed 23 "narco-tanks," while 630 armored vehicles have been confiscated since 2018.
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