Watch the FULL EPISODE here: https://youtu.be/Ksrh_7aGLVo Subscribe Here: @JulianDoreyDaily ED'S LINKS - IG: https://www.instagram.com/manifestoradiopodcast/ - X: https://x.com/eds_manifesto?t=mHTfUjf5CPPxGcS7lxBBfg&s=09 - WEBSITE: http://edsmanifesto.com --- Ed Calderon — former Mexican counter-narcotics and organized crime operative with over a decade of frontline experience — joins Julian Dorey for one of the most wide-ranging and most consequential Mexico security conversations in the series. This episode covers the killing of El Mencho, the franchise architecture of CJNG and why it controls roughly 60% of Mexican territory, the American who is currently running the biggest cartel in the world, Operation Fast and Furious and the guns Ed personally tracked down, covert US military operations across Latin America, and why CJNG dropping explosive devices near the San Diego border received almost no mainstream coverage. The El Mencho killing opens the episode with the most significant cartel leadership development in years. Ed breaks down the circumstances — El Mencho was with his girlfriend when US drone surveillance led to the strike that ended him — and what the 24 hours that followed revealed about how deeply CJNG has embedded itself into Mexican territory. They are active in roughly 60% of Mexico. They have attempted to take down military aircraft. They are unlike any cartel that has preceded them — not because of their brutality, which is well documented, but because of their franchise structure. CJNG is not a traditional cartel with a centralized hierarchy. It is a franchise company — a model that makes decapitation strikes like the El Mencho killing simultaneously more achievable and less decisive. The head is gone. The franchise continues. The American at the top of CJNG is the episode's most jaw-dropping single revelation. Ed presents it with the directness it deserves — an American national is currently running the largest criminal organization in the world — and explains what that means for how US law enforcement and intelligence agencies have approached the CJNG problem and why the political and institutional constraints around that fact have shaped the response in ways that are difficult to explain without knowing it. The Operation Fast and Furious thread is the episode's most personally documented segment. Ed tracked down some of the guns from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives operation that walked weapons directly into Mexican cartel hands. He describes what he found, what caliber the weapons reached — including .50 caliber rifles — and why the numbers that have been publicly acknowledged are not high enough to reflect the full scope of what was transferred. The Ryan Terry Foundation thread adds the most human dimension — Mexican kids Ed grew up with died at the hands of the same guns that the US government walked across the border. **Inside This Clip:** - The El Mencho killing — US drones, his girlfriend's presence, and the 24 hours of cartel explosion that followed - Why CJNG controls approximately 60% of Mexican territory and how its franchise model works - The American who is currently running CJNG — the biggest cartel in the world - The CIA's ongoing operational presence in Mexico and how El Payin explosion fits into that picture - AMLO's visits to El Chapo, the growth of Los Chapos during his presidency, and the Russian Embassy intelligence front - Claudia Sheinbaum being in the dark about major operations in her own country - Ukraine mercenaries operating in Mexico and what capabilities they bring - Covert US military operations across Latin America that are happening right now - Operation Fast and Furious — the guns Ed personally found and why the public numbers are not the full story - Why CJNG dropping explosive devices near San Diego received almost no mainstream media coverage This is the Mexico security conversation for people who want to understand what is actually happening — not the headline version, but the operational reality told by someone who has spent over a decade inside it. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 0:00 - El Mencho K*lled & CJNG Franchise Cartel 13:10 - CIA Backed Presidents & Soft Invasion Theory 22:50 - AMLO Visited El Chapo & El Chapo's Son Charged With Treason 33:52 - Mayor of Tequila Was in the Cartel & Ukraine Mercenaries in Mexico 45:00 - An American Runs the Biggest Cartel in Mexico 56:15 - Operation Fast & Furious — I Found the Guns --- @JulianDoreyDaily