Chemical Cartels
How fentanyl became a weapon of war
The investigation
Follow the trail.
The fentanyl supply chain from Chinese precursor companies through cartel labs in Mexico and Canada to North American streets, and the illicit financing that follows the drug every step of the way.
- An investigation by
- ICAIE + RADOC
- Executive producers
- David M. Luna · Sam Rad
- Production
- An Illicit Shadows Production
- Streaming
- YouTube · @illicit_shadows
Eleven ways into the story.
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The next
investigation.
In production · 2026-2027
Illicit Gold
Gold from the Amazon is dug by the poor, taxed by armed groups, laundered through a refining chokepoint, and sold into markets that cannot tell where it came from. Once it is refined, no routine assay can establish where it was mined.
Explore the investigation