Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Sierra Hart—six beautiful black children, ranging in age from 12 to 19—were all adopted by Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both white. On Jen’s Facebook page, it looked as if they were the perfect blended family, even earning the nickname “Hart Tribe” from friends. Then, on March 26, 2018, the family’s GMC Yukon was found belly-up on the rocks below California’s Highway 1. The news of the murder-suicide shocked their friends and made national headline ...
…
continue reading
Content provided by Alberto Daniel Hill. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Alberto Daniel Hill or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Similar to Cybermidnight Club– Hackers, Cyber Security and Cyber Crime
It’s the dead of summer, 1989, in the heart of the Ozarks. An 18-year-old woman goes missing from Bella Vista, Arkansas. As the search moves forward, several suspects emerge. Then… a body is found not far from the Missouri border, and a homicide investigation begins. Soon, a second body is discovered nearby. What was a mystery transforms into the hunt for a possible serial killer stalking young women throughout the Ozarks. M. William Phelps digs in nearly 35 years later and begins to underst ...
…
continue reading
On November 13, 2022, four students from the University of Idaho are brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus house. After a lengthy investigation and cross-country manhunt, a Ph.D. student from a neighboring university is charged with the crimes. As it turns out, the 28-year-old was majoring in criminology, studying the behavior of killers like the ones he would later be accused of becoming. Did he use his skills to become a real-life Dexter? Were the Idaho victims his first, or was a ser ...
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From June, 1962 through January, 1964, women in the city of Boston lived in fear of the infamous Strangler. Over those 19 months, he committed 13 known murders-crimes that included vicious sexual assaults and bizarre stagings of the victims' bodies. After the largest police investigation in Massachusetts history, handyman Albert DeSalvo confessed and went to prison. Despite DeSalvo's full confession and imprisonment, authorities would never put him on trial for the actual murders. And more t ...
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Narco-Influencers: Mexico's Corrupted Landscape.
Manage episode 508308922 series 2535026
Content provided by Alberto Daniel Hill. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Alberto Daniel Hill or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
The rise of the narco-influencer in Mexico marks a strategic evolution in cartel operations, shifting from traditional propaganda like narcocorridos (drug ballads) to sophisticated, digital "narco-marketing". This phenomenon is rooted in narcocultura, which grew in areas where poverty and state neglect positioned traffickers as anti-heroes.Digital Tactics and Lethal ConsequencesSocial media platforms, especially TikTok, function as an "algorithmic amplifier" that normalizes the criminal lifestyle, presenting it as an accessible and aspirational career path for youth. Cartels flood platforms with content showcasing luxury cars, high-value assets, and exotic pets like tigers.To bypass content moderation, cartels use a sophisticated digital vernacular, including coded communication with emojis. Examples include the rooster emoji (🐓) for the CJNG leader "El Mencho" and the pizza emoji (🍕) for "Chapizza," referencing the sons of "El Chapo" Guzmán, known as "Los Chapitos". Los Chapitos exemplify "narcojuniors" who deliberately use their online presence to flaunt inherited power, contrasting with the secrecy of older leaders.This digital strategy fuels recruitment funnels. Job advertisements are disguised as legitimate roles like "security personnel". The recruitment net extends into online video game chats (e.g., Free Fire, Fortnite), targeting minors. By 2021, an estimated 30,000 teenagers had been recruited by cartels.Platforms are also vital for psychological warfare (posting gruesome interrogation videos) and public relations campaigns (distributing aid after disasters) to cultivate a "Robin Hood" image and challenge state legitimacy.Operating in this space carries fatal risk:• Valeria Marquez, a beauty influencer, was murdered during a TikTok livestream in May 2025. U.S. sanctions named her alleged romantic partner, CJNG commander Ricardo Ruiz Velasco ("El Doble R"), as the prime suspect.• The narco-influencer Camilo Choa was killed after a hacker was contracted by "El Mayo" Zambada to locate him in a private subdivision. The location was confirmed after his wife opened a malicious link. This highlights the use of digital tools for targeted homicide.Systemic Political CorruptionThis cartel influence is underpinned by deep-seated corruption and complicity within Mexico's political structure. The sources identify politicians from nearly all major parties—including Morena, PRI, PRD, and the Green Ecologist Party—linked to cartels like CJNG, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and Beltrán Leiva. These "narcopolíticos" occupy high-level posts, including governors, federal deputies who approve laws, and supreme tribunal justices.This complicity allows cartels to operate freely, move armed personnel across state lines (by telling police/military to "rest"), and engage in a form of "competitive governance," solidifying control where the state fails to deliver justice or welfare. The overall system is described as a "narcoestado" where the political structure is "trash".Ineffective ResponsesThe response from official entities has been misaligned.• Government Strategies: The government has oscillated between non-confrontational strategies ("hugs, not bullets") and the revived "kingpin" strategy, which has historically caused cartels to fragment and violence to escalate.• Corporate Moderation: Platform policies are systemically incapable of containing the adaptive, coded nature of the propaganda, forcing a game of "whack-a-mole".• Impunity: The violence is enabled by extreme impunity; the homicide conviction rate is estimated to be as low as 1%. This lack of consequence ensures that violence remains a primary tool of control. The corruption extends to the media, with press often being compromised ("narcotelevisión").For marginalized youth facing poverty and inequality, the narco-influencer remains a potent, though perilous, symbol of upward mobility and respect, fueling the system's perpetuation.
641 episodes
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Manage episode 508308922 series 2535026
Content provided by Alberto Daniel Hill. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Alberto Daniel Hill or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
The rise of the narco-influencer in Mexico marks a strategic evolution in cartel operations, shifting from traditional propaganda like narcocorridos (drug ballads) to sophisticated, digital "narco-marketing". This phenomenon is rooted in narcocultura, which grew in areas where poverty and state neglect positioned traffickers as anti-heroes.Digital Tactics and Lethal ConsequencesSocial media platforms, especially TikTok, function as an "algorithmic amplifier" that normalizes the criminal lifestyle, presenting it as an accessible and aspirational career path for youth. Cartels flood platforms with content showcasing luxury cars, high-value assets, and exotic pets like tigers.To bypass content moderation, cartels use a sophisticated digital vernacular, including coded communication with emojis. Examples include the rooster emoji (🐓) for the CJNG leader "El Mencho" and the pizza emoji (🍕) for "Chapizza," referencing the sons of "El Chapo" Guzmán, known as "Los Chapitos". Los Chapitos exemplify "narcojuniors" who deliberately use their online presence to flaunt inherited power, contrasting with the secrecy of older leaders.This digital strategy fuels recruitment funnels. Job advertisements are disguised as legitimate roles like "security personnel". The recruitment net extends into online video game chats (e.g., Free Fire, Fortnite), targeting minors. By 2021, an estimated 30,000 teenagers had been recruited by cartels.Platforms are also vital for psychological warfare (posting gruesome interrogation videos) and public relations campaigns (distributing aid after disasters) to cultivate a "Robin Hood" image and challenge state legitimacy.Operating in this space carries fatal risk:• Valeria Marquez, a beauty influencer, was murdered during a TikTok livestream in May 2025. U.S. sanctions named her alleged romantic partner, CJNG commander Ricardo Ruiz Velasco ("El Doble R"), as the prime suspect.• The narco-influencer Camilo Choa was killed after a hacker was contracted by "El Mayo" Zambada to locate him in a private subdivision. The location was confirmed after his wife opened a malicious link. This highlights the use of digital tools for targeted homicide.Systemic Political CorruptionThis cartel influence is underpinned by deep-seated corruption and complicity within Mexico's political structure. The sources identify politicians from nearly all major parties—including Morena, PRI, PRD, and the Green Ecologist Party—linked to cartels like CJNG, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and Beltrán Leiva. These "narcopolíticos" occupy high-level posts, including governors, federal deputies who approve laws, and supreme tribunal justices.This complicity allows cartels to operate freely, move armed personnel across state lines (by telling police/military to "rest"), and engage in a form of "competitive governance," solidifying control where the state fails to deliver justice or welfare. The overall system is described as a "narcoestado" where the political structure is "trash".Ineffective ResponsesThe response from official entities has been misaligned.• Government Strategies: The government has oscillated between non-confrontational strategies ("hugs, not bullets") and the revived "kingpin" strategy, which has historically caused cartels to fragment and violence to escalate.• Corporate Moderation: Platform policies are systemically incapable of containing the adaptive, coded nature of the propaganda, forcing a game of "whack-a-mole".• Impunity: The violence is enabled by extreme impunity; the homicide conviction rate is estimated to be as low as 1%. This lack of consequence ensures that violence remains a primary tool of control. The corruption extends to the media, with press often being compromised ("narcotelevisión").For marginalized youth facing poverty and inequality, the narco-influencer remains a potent, though perilous, symbol of upward mobility and respect, fueling the system's perpetuation.
641 episodes
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Similar to Cybermidnight Club– Hackers, Cyber Security and Cyber Crime
Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Sierra Hart—six beautiful black children, ranging in age from 12 to 19—were all adopted by Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both white. On Jen’s Facebook page, it looked as if they were the perfect blended family, even earning the nickname “Hart Tribe” from friends. Then, on March 26, 2018, the family’s GMC Yukon was found belly-up on the rocks below California’s Highway 1. The news of the murder-suicide shocked their friends and made national headline ...
…
continue reading
It’s the dead of summer, 1989, in the heart of the Ozarks. An 18-year-old woman goes missing from Bella Vista, Arkansas. As the search moves forward, several suspects emerge. Then… a body is found not far from the Missouri border, and a homicide investigation begins. Soon, a second body is discovered nearby. What was a mystery transforms into the hunt for a possible serial killer stalking young women throughout the Ozarks. M. William Phelps digs in nearly 35 years later and begins to underst ...
…
continue reading
On November 13, 2022, four students from the University of Idaho are brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus house. After a lengthy investigation and cross-country manhunt, a Ph.D. student from a neighboring university is charged with the crimes. As it turns out, the 28-year-old was majoring in criminology, studying the behavior of killers like the ones he would later be accused of becoming. Did he use his skills to become a real-life Dexter? Were the Idaho victims his first, or was a ser ...
…
continue reading
Where is Cleo? Taken by child welfare workers in the 1970’s and adopted in the U.S., the young Cree girl’s family believes she was raped and murdered while hitchhiking back home to Saskatchewan. CBC news investigative reporter Connie Walker joins the search to find out what really happened to Cleo. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime. Watch Connie Walker's A Sister's Promise on The Fifth Estate's YouTube channel now.
…
continue reading
How do you take down a criminal network that’s hidden in the shadows? How do you rescue child abuse victims who could be anywhere in the world? Hunting Warhead follows the journalists and police on a global mission to expose the darkest corners of the internet. What they discover shocks them. Host Daemon Fairless tracks down the investigators, survivors and criminals themselves. A co-production of CBC Podcasts and the Norwegian newspaper VG. For the best in true crime from CBC, ad-free, visi ...
…
continue reading
From June, 1962 through January, 1964, women in the city of Boston lived in fear of the infamous Strangler. Over those 19 months, he committed 13 known murders-crimes that included vicious sexual assaults and bizarre stagings of the victims' bodies. After the largest police investigation in Massachusetts history, handyman Albert DeSalvo confessed and went to prison. Despite DeSalvo's full confession and imprisonment, authorities would never put him on trial for the actual murders. And more t ...
…
continue reading
Money. Romance. Tragedy. Deception. The story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye? How did the woman once heralded as “the next Steve Jobs” find herself facing criminal charges - to which she pleaded not guilty - and up to decades in prison? How did her technology, meant to revolutionize health care, potentially put millions of patients a ...
…
continue reading
Who really killed Michael Jordan’s father? Follow the Truth is a true crime podcast re-investigating the murder of Michael Jordan’s dad, James R. Jordan Sr. and one of the men convicted of his murder. Daniel Green has served nearly three decades in a North Carolina prison maintaining his innocence in the killing. Veteran crime reporter Amanda Lamb questions the evidence, and explores whether this is a case of wrongful conviction.
…
continue reading
In Man in the Window, Paige St. John, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter has uncovered never before revealed details about the man who would eventually become one of California's most deadly serial killers. From Wondery and the L.A. Times comes a new series that traces his path of devastation through his victims' eyes.
…
continue reading
From the producers of Up and Vanished, Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts present, 'Atlanta Monster.' This true crime podcast tells the story of one of the city’s darkest secrets, The Atlanta Child Murders. Nearly 40 years after these horrific crimes, many questions still remain. Host Payne Lindsey aims to find truth and provide closure, reexamining the disappearance and murder of over 25 African American children and young adults.
…
continue reading
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