but this time, something went wrong. as soon as we met, i provided el chapo s location, this duck dynasty location to them. but the second that they moved resources up to sinaloa, he knew instantly. you saw that in your intercepts? yes. how did you feel? devastated. it was an eerie feeling. the team had been betrayed. but nobody knew who did it or why. you still wanted him? was plan b to re-focus on culiacán? so, the heat around duck dynasty deterred him from coming around. he stayed holed up in his safe house were sent 90% of his time in culiacán, and he was not coming out. it is the last place you would want to have to go get, right? right. brady had flown to mexico to join drew in person. the clock was ticking. because of the leak, el chapo now knew something big was
colleague from homeland security investigations back in the states. together, they tracked phones of el chapo s closest associates, knowing that el chapo would likely be with them, and putting their locations on google maps. we have seen him come down out of culiacán, to a remote location. we were trying to pinpoint it. after hours of searching on google maps, we found it. it was a location where they saw tiny shelters known as palapas in the middle of nowhere. el chapo was camped out at a place known for duck hunting. where he would come down, meet with his most trusted lieutenants, sons, just for a few hours. then, he would head back to the city. once we had that location, it was our x and i nicknamed it, duck dynasty . drew now knew that el chapo
welcome back to dateline. i m natalie morales. dea agents, drew hogan had spent years on the hunt for el chapo, known as the world s most dangerous drug lord. he and his colleagues colleagues headed to the search to one block radius in culiacán, mexico. a town deep inside enemy territory. now, a team of mexican marines and the u.s. agents was on the ground to. determined to strike before he could escape again. here again is lester holt inside the hunt for el chapo. february 16th, 2014. as drew was waiting at a military base, 150 miles away
about to go down. the team had no choice. we had to make a move. and that move was to go into enemy territory and root him out. the task force leaders approved a bold action, to do what they did not want to do, and strike at el chapo in his fortress city, culiacán. you went in with the mexican marines into culiacán. they had to trust him? right. truth was recording on his cell phone as the operation began. this particular operation in february, 2014 was the first time that the mexican marines had ever done an operation, on the ground in this area. because of the danger, the compromises, the risks involved. laser focused on their mission, drew, brady and the team had narrowed down the location of el chapo to a one block radius. but, they needed to find the
where was he at? that was the only question i wanted answered. as you realized, you were building this ladder, potentially to el chapo, what was that like? and you read the messages? read the messages, piecing together the structure of his organization, his day-to-day operations. must have been an eye opener? it was like reading a novel you could not put down. culiacán. does not sound like a place the dea or even mexican authorities could easily infiltrate. this was a stronghold, for so long. you had the information with, what could you do at that moment? once i knew that he was in culiacán, i had to find another location. it was far too dangerous to actually go into culiacán and root him out. we thought it would be an absolute bloodbath. then, a break. christmas eve, 2013. obsessed with his mission, drew hogan once again sacrificed time with his family to continue the hunt. he worked with brady, his