The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "drug cartels" ...
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The Deadliest Place in Mexico
The Juarez Valley, a narrow corridor of green farmland carved from the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande, was once known for its cotton, which rivaled Egypt’s. But that was before the Juarez cartel moved in to set up a lucrative drug smuggling trade. “The Deadliest Place in Mexico” explores untold aspects of Mexico’s drug war as it has played out in the small farming communities of this valley. The violence began in 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel moved in to take over the Juarez cartel’s turf. The Mexican government sent in the military to quell the violence — but instead the murder rate exploded. While the bloodshed in the nearby City of Juarez attracted widespread media attention, the violence spilling into the rural Juarez Valley received far less, eve as the killings began to escalate in brutal ways. Community advocates, elected officials, even police officers were shot down in the streets. Several residents were stabbed in the face with ice picks. By 2009, the valley, with a population of 20,000, had a murder rate six times higher than Juarez itself. Newspapers began to call the rural farming region the “Valley of Death.” This investigation uses extensive Freedom of Information Act requests, court documents, and difficult-to-obtain interviews in Spanish and English with current and former Juarez Valley residents, Mexican officials, narcotraffickers and U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, to reveal that many of these shocking deaths were perpetrated with the participation of Mexican authorities. It shows scenes of devastation — households where six members of a single family were killed, without a single police investigation. It uncovers targeted killings by masked gunmen of community activists and innocent residents for speaking out against violence and repression facilitated by corrupt military and government officials. And it gathers multiple witnesses who describe soldiers themselves, working in league with the Sinaloa cartel, perpetrating violence against civilians. "The cemeteries are all full. There isn't anywhere left to bury the bodies," one former resident said. "You'll find nothing there but ghost towns and soldiers."
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Inside The Cartel
An inside look at how Mexico's most powerful cartel operates in the U.S.
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Crime Along The Border
This investigation sought to answer a question: Whether drug cartel violence raging in Mexico had spilled over into the U.S. border region, as had been claimed by some politicians and law enforcement officials.
Tags: drug cartel; mexico; border patrol; politicians; law enforcement
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Gunwalkers
CBS News broke and developed the story of the Gunwalker Scandal. US Federal agents covertly helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to killer Mexican Drug Cartels.
Tags: Drug Cartels; Federal Agents; Gunwalker Scandal; US Federal Agents; CBS News; Drug Cartels
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Gunwalker
A story uncovering how U.S. federal agents covertly helped deliver thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to killer Mexican drug cartels.
Tags: smuggling; guns; weapons; mexico; drug cartels; federal agents;
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Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields
The story chronicles a city in collapse. The author shows how the violence in Juarez, Mexico is not simply perpetrated by drug organizations or law enforcement, but is now part of the fabric of the city and its citizens.
Tags: drug war; Juarez; Mexico; drug cartel
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Mexico: La Espiral del Silencio
The investigation looked at self-censorship in 11 provincial Mexican newspapers in relation to to drug-related stories and found that 70 percent were publishing only one out of ten stories related to drug trafficking.
Tags: drug cartel; zetas; drug trafficking; censorship;
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"Confidential Informants"
NPR investigates the world of confidential informants and the partnership that forms between them and the U.S. government. This specific case involves an informant who was moving up in the ranks of a notorious Mexican drug cartel. At the same time the informant was getting paid to provide crucial information to the U.S., he was also helping capture, torment and kill drug rivals. The U.S. was aware of his actions and did nothing.
Tags: Mexico; drug cartel; FOI; U.S. Immigration; ICE
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Blood Trade: Memphis and the Mexican Drug War
A man in Memphis plays a crucial role in funding a violent Mexican drug cartel that ships cocaine and marijuana around the U.S. In an unprecedented investigation, the reporter travels with Mexican sources involved in the drug cartel, giving American readers the chance to see the Mexican side of the story.
Tags: Mexico; drug cartel; drug trade; drug war; Memphis
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"Failed Drug War"
The AP launched an investigation to determine whether or not the policies put into place by the U.S. War on Drugs were working. By using 40 years worth of FOIAed federal health surveys and drug strategies, and by interviewing members of Congress involved in the voting on drug policies, the AP concluded that the drug war has failed. Some sources interviewed for the story suggested that the problem has actually intensified.
Tags: FOIA; drug cartels; Mexico; U.S. War on Drugs; Justice Department; Centers for Disease Control; National Drug Control Policy; Gil Kerlikowske