Full transcript of “Chicago's Fireworks and Firearms (Full Episode) | Drugs, Inc: The Fix | National Geographic”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:11 NARRATOR: Chicago... The drug hub of the Midwest... NACHO: That's 20 bricks right there. NARRATOR: And one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. NARRATOR: One event is more bloody than any other... The 4th of July. NACHO: There's a lot of executions going down on that day. NARRATOR: When the city's grudges explode onto the streets. NACHO: Them firecrackers going off, it blends in with the gunshots. That's the best time to shoot. (inaudible radio). NARRATOR: It's just six days until the July 4th weekend and in one of Chicago's most deadly regions,
0:58 the south side, there's a surge in demand for the city's most popular illegal stimulant, cocaine. For Chicago's cocaine kingpins, there's serious money to be made. NACHO: My goal is to make me 10 million. (bleep). Million. Ten million and get the (bleep) out this (bleep). NARRATOR: In a south side trap house, Nacho is adding cut to his last kilo of cocaine. NARRATOR: In Nacho's trap, you break down the coke naked.
1:51 NARRATOR: By cutting the coke, Nacho can increase volume by 50%. NACHO: And it's still gonna come back, still gonna cook, still gonna jump. That's all you care about here, as long as it cooks. NARRATOR: As a wholesaler, Nacho pays $28,000 for a kilo of cocaine. But the profits can be huge. NACHO: Sometimes you get rid of five bricks a week.
2:38 NARRATOR: With just one kilo left, Nacho will need a lot more product for the 4th Of July. NACHO: 4th of July, tourists coming from everywhere. (bleep) like to party and get (bleep). Oh, I can make anything from 100 to 200,000 just that one week. NARRATOR: The holiday is approaching. If Nacho's gonna make $200,000. He needs to re-up, and fast. NACHO: I'm gonna bring me 20 bricks for this 4th of July 'cause you don't wanna have no regrets. NARRATOR: Smuggling 20 kilos of cocaine into Chicago carries a huge risk. NACHO: A good driver is the most important thing. You pay the driver anywhere 5,000 to 10,000 each trip. NARRATOR: Nacho needs a driver he can trust. NACHO: You gotta know their family, I know your mom, I know your daughter,
3:25 I know your grandma, I know your auntie, I know your sister. (inaudible radio). NACHO: You ain't coming back, he gonna get beat the (bleep) up and get laid down. NARRATOR: Truck driver Pepper gets paid $5,000 to $10,000 a trip to traffic Nacho's cocaine. NARRATOR: Most of America's cocaine comes over the border from Mexico for
4:13 storage and distribution hubs across the southern states. Pepper has picked up 20 kilos from a hub in Phoenix, Arizona. NARRATOR: To counter the rising tide of traffickers smuggling drugs for the 4th of July, Chicagoland cops have thrown up a ring of steel around the city. NARRATOR: One wrong move and he could be spending the rest of his life behind bars.
5:21 NARRATOR: Pepper's route takes him along I-80, right into the teeth of the police operation. To smuggle Nacho's cocaine into the city, he needs to get past these guys. MIKE: I love the game itself and that's what this is. This is a game that's played and it's definitely a chess game where you have to keep three steps ahead of the evolving drug process. Your mindset changes when you go onto patrol. You go into a hyper vigilant mode, where you're watching everything that's around you, always cognizant of your surroundings and just always on the lookout for things that just don't look right. NARRATOR: Investigator Mike and Detective Eddie are at the forefront of Cook County's fight against drug traffickers. EDDIE B: My hope, as in every day,
6:07 is to rid the world of all bad people, so if we can get one or two off the street this evening, that would make the world that much more of a better place. MIKE: That car went through the light, though.
6:54 Did you get that car flying through the light? MAN (over radio): Reece, I think I found something. MIKE: Yeah, we're trying to get behind a vehicle, just checking it out real quick. NARRATOR: By running a light, the driver has broken Pepper's first rule of drug smuggling, act natural. EDDIE B: Ok, we... MIKE: Yeah, he's got a warrant. EDDIE B: We just ran the tags on this vehicle right here and he's coming back with an active warrant. They didn't start driving fast until he saw us. Normally, when the bad guys see us, they almost come to a complete stop. Or drive like you can see this car up here, he's nervous. All right, watch that here. Look like he's trying to stuff something. MIKE: Yeah. EDDIE B: Wait, hold on, hold on, he's still rolling. NARRATOR: The driver reaches for something.
7:39 Bad move. MIKE: Let me see your... hands up, let me see your hands. Don't do that. What were you reaching for, pimp? (inaudible police radio). EDDIE B: Roll your window down, man. Let me see your ID. Do you have a driver's license? MAN: No, I haven't got a license. MIKE: Put your hands behind your back. MAN: What's going on? MIKE: You've got a active warrant for your arrest, driving while license suspended. Are you aware of that? MAN: Oh no. MIKE: Yeah. NARRATOR: With the driver in cuffs, Investigator Mike turns his attention to the passenger. MIKE: Yeah, put your hands down, you're good. Where you guys from? I said put your hands down. You're good, man, relax. You got anything on you you're not supposed to have? MAN: No. MIKE: You sure? Anything in the vehicle you're not supposed to have? OFFICER: Come here, dude. MIKE: Yeah. OFFICER: Come here.
8:25 MIKE: Behind your back. Partner, partner. OFFICER: Look at, look at. MIKE: Partner, partner. Stop. Stop, stop, relax, you're good. OFFICER: You're just acting a little too funny... MIKE: What's going on, man? OFFICER: And you're lying about your date of birth. NARRATOR: The passenger's acting suspiciously, so Mike runs his ID. MIKE: He's wanted. Full extradition, dealing of cocaine and methamphetamine. Nationwide warrant. He gone. EDDIE B: I don't like to be lied to. MAN: I didn't lie to you, dude. I didn't... EDDIE B: First of all, my name ain't "Dude." It's police officer. MIKE: Found this in the vehicle. It's a ripped Ziploc bag. When we got him out of the car, he was obviously chewing something. We don't know if maybe he chewed off what was in here,
9:12 if there was any controlled substance in this bag. EDDIE B: Stay right here. MAN: I was just trying to hear what he was saying. EDDIE B: Forget what he talking about right now. He going to jail and you going to jail, that's all you need to know. NARRATOR: For this cocaine trafficker, it's the end of the road. But with so much product heading into Chicago for the 4th of July, the cops can't stop everything. NARRATOR: Pepper has smuggled Nacho's cocaine past the cops. But the danger doesn't end there. The stick-up crews are watching.
10:07 MAN: Yeah. NARRATOR: The Stain Gang is a south side stick-up crew specializing in robbing drug dealers. MERCENARY: Stain Gang, man. NARRATOR: In their line of work, violence is a fact of life.
10:57 NARRATOR: Their favorite target is cocaine dealers, whose product they cook up into crack. NARRATOR: They'll do whatever it takes to score. NARRATOR: With drugs and money flooding the streets... 4th of July could be their biggest payday. But first, they need a target. Just a few blocks away, Nacho is taking delivery of the cocaine from his driver Pepper.
11:52 NARRATOR: Now Nacho's a target for both rival gangs and law enforcement. He is at his most vulnerable. NACHO: Yeah, go through the alley. NACHO: Hey y'all, open the door, man. You got the police passing by.
12:48 NACHO: I don't wanna get this spot hot. I don't really want this to be too long right here when we go downstairs, for our safety and for my people's safety. It's me. It's me. You got protection right away. This ain't no joke. This is gonna stop eight people. Eight (bleep) run in here, eight people getting laid down. See, I'm bringing all this stuff in for the 4th of July. That's 20 bricks right there. And you get caught with one brick or you get caught with 20 bricks, it's the same charge. You're gonna do a life sentence so you might as well go hard.
13:34 NARRATOR: With $2 million worth of cocaine in the room, Nacho's security is on high alert. MAN: Got enough weapons to fight the Army right now. Blow that (bleep) back. NARRATOR: The police are circling the area and Nacho knows he has to move quickly. NACHO: We got police round, all around, so we got my boy looking from upstairs. He tell us it's clear, it's clear, so now we gotta clear the area because, you know, you don't know how long it's gonna be clear for. All right, come on, baby, just get this (bleep) together, put it in the bag for me. All right, let's go, man. Let's put this (bleep), huh. Ya'll moving too slow. Tonight I'll probably sell anywhere from a half a brick to a whole. You good, baby? NARRATOR: The whole crew is on edge.
14:19 NACHO: Oh (bleep), we were followed. NARRATOR: Drug kingpin Nacho and his crew have just taken delivery of $2 million worth of cocaine for the 4th of July weekend. NACHO: Oh (bleep), we were followed. Who that? NARRATOR: And a knock on the door has spooked them. NACHO: Hey, just wait outside, man. NARRATOR: It's their busiest week of the year. NACHO: Tourists coming from everywhere, you know what I mean? We got people in downtown, you know, doing their thing. They coming right back to me. As long as I keep them happy, I keep that fish scale, ain't gotta worry about nothing.
15:09 NARRATOR: For drug dealers like Nacho, 4th of July is the best time of the year to make big bucks. But it's also the most dangerous. NACHO: We had a long winter, we had about a seven, eight month winter, so, you know, a lot of beef been going on from last year and, you know, the best time to execute is 4th of July, you know, when the firecrackers going off it blends in with the gunshots, so there's a lot of executions going down, a lot of orders going down that day. Usually, so the homicide Detectives, police are so busy that day, they ain't even got time to come up to the bodies. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes to come up to a body. It's (bleep) (bleep) in Chicago. (bleep) don't give a (bleep) about us, so why we give a (bleep)?
15:55 You all clear? Let's go. NARRATOR: With the load secure and July 4th imminent... Nacho is getting out of Chicago to avoid the violence... Leaving street dealers to defend themselves. RAMBO: This my little toy and this gonna go through (bleep) whole body, easy. We chop off arms around this (bleep). We just stole, like, 60 pills, broke both his arms, chopped a couple of his fingers off, you know what I'm saying? He will never do it again. Out here, got the mollies and (bleep), man, this new drug out right now. This that freaky drug right here.
16:41 NARRATOR: Rambo has recently switched from selling ecstasy to selling molly. RAMBO: It's something like X, but this (bleep) you up longer. This (bleep) keep your (bleep), that's what they say. But more females come by than the guys. You all couldn't believe the stuff they do with it, man. They put all in their (bleep) all type of stuff, man. I guess they make them horny and hot. They ain't ready. It's good for everything. You get some of this, you gonna get some money, man. That's 125 right here. I'm making up to 1500 a day off these, easy.
17:26 NARRATOR: With so much money to be made on the 4th of July, Rambo knows he'll face opposition from rival dealers. RAMBO: We're gonna have to have hella guns out here 'cause we know, we call them ops, you know what I'm saying we say (bleep) the ops. We gotta be on point so they come through, just blast (bleep). There ain't nobody coming through this (bleep) thinking to sweep. NARRATOR: If he's gonna cash in over the holidays, he's gonna need more drugs. RAMBO: I'll definitely have to re-up before July 4th a couple of times. July 4th, what Friday, oh yeah, we have to re-up three times. NARRATOR: There are just a few days to go until July 4th and the cops are working hard to maintain their ring of steel around Chicago.
18:12 ERIC: Due in large part to the 4th of July, it's gonna be pretty prevalent to find a car that's bringing in party drugs, cocaine, ecstasy, weed. NARRATOR: Patrolling in an unmarked police car, Detective Kaechele has spotted a woman driving a suspicious vehicle. ERIC: This came out of a typical location, a high narcotics area. NARRATOR: Suddenly, the woman turns off. (inaudible police radio). ERIC: G, can you pick her up from the Taco Bell here on 176? NARRATOR: Kaechele has to act fast to get his eyes on the suspect and avoid blowing his cover. (inaudible police radio). But in the blink of an eye he's lost her,
19:00 so he lies in wait hoping she'll pass again. (inaudible police radio). MAN (over radio): We're gonna have to (inaudible). ERIC: Yeah, that is him. Remember I called out (inaudible) nine four? NARRATOR: Kaechele has found the suspect. ERIC: I'm gonna stop her. She almost just hit that car. Hey, how's it going? You almost just hit that car in front of you. ERIC: Are you stressed? You seem like you're stressed out. Can you step out for me real quick? I'm just gonna talk to you back over here.
19:45 I'm gonna be honest with you, your car reeks of weed. ERIC: Ok, just hang tight. Be back with you. NARRATOR: Chicagoland cops have established a perimeter around the city, trying to stop the influx of drugs for the 4th of July and they've just pulled over a suspect. With ounces of high strength cannabis in her handbag... ERIC: 11-01. NARRATOR: The game's up for this drug dealer.
20:34 ERIC: Go ahead. You wanna just have a seat in the car? NARRATOR: Come July 4th, it's unlikely she'll be celebrating her independence. But across town, business is booming. NARRATOR: At the Stain Gang trap house, Mercenary is cooking stolen cocaine into crack.
21:40 NARRATOR: Mercenary is so proud of his crack, he brands every bag. NARRATOR: As word spreads that Mercenary has a batch of high quality crack, the area's addicts flock to the trap. MAN: Hey. Hey, (inaudible).
22:32 NARRATOR: Rush hour at the trap brings a lot of customers. MERCENARY: Hello? All right. NARRATOR: But with them comes more exposure and more attention from law enforcement. ERIC: He said, "I think he's re-upping too." NARRATOR: Detective Kaechele thinks he's identified a trap house being used to sell crack cocaine and cannabis. He's trying to set up a buy with a confidential informant, but the CI is stalling. ERIC: I don't believe that. Two pounds and an ounce of cocaine is nothing for us. We do quarter kilo deals on a monthly basis. If you have the money, they're gonna do the sale, but nothing's happening. You know, dude, I don't buy it and it's... I'm running out of patience and I'm running out of time.
23:20 We need to have people arrested. Confidential informant, he's supposed to set up a deal for two pounds of a weed and a ounce of cocaine. We're looking at about $8,000 street value on all that. It's just kind of a game right now of cat and mouse trying to get something lined up. MERCENARY: Those... NARRATOR: Mercenary has reason to be worried about the police. They're waiting for the signal to spring their trap.
24:06 (phone ringing) ERIC: Hey, what's the deal? ERIC: Ok, let's do this then. OFFICER: Let's do this. ERIC: We gotta, like, expedite. Yeah, we gotta get this rolling ASAP. GIANNI: It's very possible that they're getting more dope for the weekend for July 4th. NARRATOR: With reports of heavy traffic at the target house, Sergeant Giamberduca is worried that his team might be outgunned. (inaudible police radio). GIANNI: Jose, how many guys you think are still there? (inaudible). Having six people in there, though...
24:52 'Cause you never know what's gonna happen. As soon as we get out, for all we know people will start shooting at us and I gotta jump out of the car real fast. You're going into an unknown, so... MAN: What you need? MERCENARY: Hello? Yeah. All right, come on.
25:49 GIANNI: Watch the house. OFFICER: Open. Search warrant. Search warrant, we've gotta runner, runner, runner. He's running for it. Hands out of your face. GIANNI: Take him. Come on out here. OFFICER: Out your face right now. NARRATOR: Sergeant Giamberduca and his squad are taking down a trap house. GIANNI: You guys good there? Come on, come on, come on out. NARRATOR: It isn't the Stain Gang, but it's a successful bust. GIANNI: They were cooking up their crack. It went good. The have surveillance cameras, you know they're watching so as soon as we made this corner right here, they saw us when we were approaching at their residence. They've freaked out, grabbed their dope. One of the subjects ran to the toilet, started flushing his product down there, the heroin. It wasn't too good 'cause he dropped a couple pieces on the side of the toilet.
26:39 He had a big bad. He probably got down about an ounce, ounce of heroin. There's a bunch of money, baggies, grinders, everything else, all the paraphernalia that goes along with it. OFFICER: Close to $9,000. GIANNI: There's a significant amount of money in the house and that hurts them more. Hurts them in the pocketbook. NARRATOR: With the money and the drug paraphernalia, Sergeant Giamberduca has enough evidence to press for a trafficking charge. But getting one gang off the streets isn't gonna stop the 4th of July killings. (inaudible police radio). KEN: It seems like the hotter it is, the crazier the violence is. NARRATOR: Cameraman Ken Herzlich has been covering the annual 4th of July violence for 22 years.
27:24 (inaudible police radio). He makes his living following police radios and trying to capture breaking news on camera. (inaudible police radio). KEN: I'm listening to ten radios to try and come up with something that I think is newsworthy. I can listen to ten, I cannot listen to 11. So I also keep an eye on Twitter and I'm also listening to all news radio. (inaudible radio's) KEN: Be patient, sit and craziness will happen. It just, it just does. NARRATOR: Ken is hunting for violence across the city... (inaudible police radio). DISPATCHER (over radio): Yes, shots fired. NARRATOR: And it doesn't take him long to find it. (inaudible police radio). KEN: It's 34 minutes after midnight and this is the first shooting July 4th
28:11 as far as I know. DISPATCHER (over radio): There's a male, black seen leaving the scene... (inaudible police radio). NARRATOR: Although nobody died at this shooting, a few miles away a double homicide in west Englewood has claimed the first victims of July 4th. CROWD: USA, USA, USA, USA. NARRATOR: It's the national holiday.
28:57 CROW: USA, USA. NARRATOR: Tonight, drug fueled parties will erupt across Chicago. CROWD: USA, USA. NARRATOR: With so much money and product on the streets, the Stain Gang knows this could be their best chance to make a killing. NARRATOR: Members of the gang have been following a target for days, hoping he'll lead them to his stash house.
29:53 MERCENARY: Hello? NARRATOR: The tail has noted that the target keeps returning to the same building. NARRATOR: Nearby, street dealer Rambo has re-upped his stash of molly for his neighborhood's annual 4th of July block party.
30:53 NARRATOR: Rambo's strategy is to hand out free capsules to attract new customers. RAMBO: I probably have about 800 pills. After I finish doing everything, out of all 800, I'm gonna probably give away probably 100 of them 'cause there's gonna be a lot of new people, like, every year. A lot of new people come to the block, so by me passing it out, I get my clientele up and get more customers. NARRATOR: Having grown up in the hood, Rambo knows what to expect from independence day. RAMBO: On July 4th, it be a lot of violence, man, 'cause that's the best time to shoot. It's all fireworks going off. It's gonna be a lot of half sticks of dynamite going off all type of (bleep),
31:41 you ain't gonna be able to really tell until the ambulance start getting called. (bleep), man down. NARRATOR: Outside, the Stain Gang members are scoping out their target. NARRATOR: One of Rambo lookouts has spotted a stick-up crew circling the area. RAMBO: I'm gonna wrap this up, go stash it somewhere else and let the (bleep) cool down. My lookouts will be out there. They be on point. Once they say it's starting to burn, that's when we move around.
32:28 (bleep) easily come behind me and can just stab me in the back or shoot me in the back of the head, just take all the (bleep), man. RAMBO: Hey, check the door for me, dog. NARRATOR: The gang members check out the area on foot to get all the intel they need.
33:15 NARRATOR: Tonight, they're planning to use the cover of the 4th of July fireworks to rob their target. NARRATOR: It's the 4th of July. Tourists are flocking to Chicago's Navy Pier to get ready for the annual fireworks display. ♪ Come up on the corner as a young'in. ♪ ♪ Straight from the block I've been hustling ♪♪ NARRATOR: But few outsiders are heading to the south side. Here, the fireworks are used to cover the sound of gunshots. RAMBO: It's the 4th. This day is popping.
34:02 There's gunfire and fireworks, that's all gonna happen tonight. But I'm just gonna go be good. We gonna crack (bleep) all the bitches out tonight. NARRATOR: For dealers like Rambo, it's a feeding frenzy. RAMBO: We turned up, passin' out party packs, so I give (bleep) to all the customers, get some money and ride new Audis. NARRATOR: But he has to leave the relative safety of the trap and do business on the street and on the street, he's vulnerable. So he's gathered his squad.
34:55 MAN: Fat ass. NARRATOR: The 4th of July party begins. As fireworks go off at Navy Pier, gunfire erupts across the city... MAN (over radio): Supposed to be shots... NARRATOR: And news cameraman Ken Herzlich springs into action. (inaudible police radio). KEN: There's a person shot on the South Side.
35:43 The problem is if people are shooting each other, they have no patience with each other. There is shootings for nothing. I mean, if you just bump into somebody on the sidewalk, you know, all of a sudden somebody'll pull out a gun and then they'll shoot you. It used to be a fistfight or a knife fight and now... now it's a gun comes out and somebody's getting shot. (inaudible police radio). NARRATOR: 20 years covering death and destruction has left its mark on Ken. KEN: I have been diagnosed with PTSD... Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I would have to say that just about anybody that's been doing this for a while has that sort of thing. (inaudible police radio).
36:31 NARRATOR: Ken's chase leads him to within a few streets of Rambo's block party... And another victim of the 4th of July. GIRL: Daddy, what's going on? NARRATOR: Back on the block, Rambo is pushing his molly under the protection of his squad and one partygoer is already coming up. ZOE: With molly, your life is good. You gotta do drugs. Rambo, (bleep) you up for three days. Have you on the floor. Woke, live.
37:18 How are you into the party, you know? You, you know? Bitches (bleep) all night. Excuse my language, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm texting him, trying to look and see where I can get some (bleep). I tried to grab a bitch coming out the club. NARRATOR: This molly fiend might be getting turned on but, for Rambo, it's business as usual. ZOE: Rambo'll kill you. It'd be over a cigarette, a short or a cigarette. That's my lucky (bleep) dog. Rambo my (bleep) though. NARRATOR: And business means protecting his turf.
38:05 NARRATOR: On the streets, the atmosphere is already turning sour. ZOE: Get back in. WOMAN: Hi. NARRATOR: With tension mounting by the second... NARRATOR: Rambo spots what could be a rival gang scoping his turf.
38:57 NARRATOR: He knows the block is about to explode. DISPATCHER (over radio): And fired two shots. NARRATOR: On the south side of Chicago, amid chaotic 4th of July celebrations, News cameraman Ken Herzlich is rushing to a shooting. KEN: They had a AK-47 out and just shooting it off. (inaudible police radio). DISPATCHER (over radio): Crime lab required. Crime lab required. DISPATCHER (over radio): Ok... DISPATCHER (over radio): 10-4.
39:48 WOMAN: They shot Rob! MAN: Ten what? WOMAN: Oh my God! Oh God. Oh! Oh God. (weeping) NARRATOR: Gunfire has left 34 year old Cory Hudson dead and 35 year old Robert Cotton fighting for his life.
40:35 Robert died two days later. WOMAN: Just had a (inaudible). WOMAN 2: Oh, don't tell me, your momma called me, let's go. KEN: The weekend in Chicago might go down in history as one of the bloodiest weekends that we've had. We could not keep up with the radio calls last night as the amount of the shootings that were coming in. It was absolute bedlam. NARRATOR: Under the cover of fireworks, the Stain Gang has cleaned up. MAN: Squad.
41:22 MAN: Squad. Squad. NARRATOR: They may have made $50,000 in cash and drugs, but it's cost one of their crew his freedom and a rival dealer his life.
42:18 NACHO: Right here you can see everything. NARRATOR: A few blocks away, Nacho is back in town and his crew is already back to work. NACHO: What's up, boy? MAN: What's up, dude? NACHO: What's good with you. All right, man. MAN: Thank you, man. NACHO: Mhmm. NACHO: July 4th, I made 175,000 to 200,000 in one weekend. You know, sometimes you can do better but, you know, you don't wanna get in trouble either. You know, you gotta kind of take it easy too. But I'm happy when I make 200,000 in a weekend.
43:04 RAMBO: Hello? All right. NARRATOR: At a safe house on the south side, Rambo is lying low. NARRATOR: His plan of winning new customers with free samples seems to have paid off. But he knows he's lucky to have survived the night. RAMBO: Ten times worse than last year. 20 times.
43:49 The violence got worse 'cause (bleep) ain't out here eating. If you ain't getting no money, I'm (bleep) trying to take it from you. No, it's not gonna get better. It's gonna stay cracking. It's gonna get worser and worser. Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.
