Gun Runners: Arms Trafficking to Mexico

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 2 FEB 2011

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.

Chapter 1

GunRunners - Introduction to the Joint Project

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 1 FEB 2011

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…

Chapter 2

CPI: Romanian Weapons Modified in the U.S. Become Scourge of Mexican Drug War

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 2 FEB 2011

(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…

Chapter 3

IRW: Romania, Vermont, Arizona: Guns Follow Complex Route to Mexican Cartels

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 2 FEB 2011

(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…

Chapter 4

How the Beltran Leyva, Sinaloa Cartel Feud Bloodied Mexico

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 2 FEB 2011

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…

Chapter 5

How Guns are Trafficked Below the Border

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 1 FEB 2011

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…

Chapter 6

The Takedown of the 'Boss of Bosses'

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 2 FEB 2011

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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