Episode
Ed Calderon REVEALS An American Is Running the Biggest Cartel in Mexico Right Now
- Podcast
- Julian Dorey Daily
- Published
- Jul 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3871
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
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…