(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
COLBY: A junkie escort, that's how I'm marketed,
as a slamming leather whore.
That's what I have to be if I wanna keep the money coming.
I have to have more drugs.
Like, I'm panicking right now because this is gonna be
the last of it right here.
MALE NARRATOR: Colby has been using crystal meth for 13 years.
Now he injects himself three times a day.
I shoot about half a gram at a time.
Most people that do that would be just, like, out of their mind.
It usually doesn't cost me too much because I usually trade
my ass for drugs.
If I had to buy it, probably about,
like, $150 a day, so...
It's like pure ecstasy over your whole body
and you immediately just feel, like, really sexual and, like,
just really... (GROWLS), just like an animal.
Lot of gay people do it too, just have sex parties.
It's easy to find in the gay community.
If I wanna do it, I just offer to have sex with
who knows, who cares?
NARRATOR: The epicenter of the '60s psychedelic revolution,
San Francisco is notorious for drugs.
But in the new millennium, the summer of love has become
the winter of addiction.
And in the heart of the city, the gay community is struggling
to recover from a meth epidemic.
COLBY: It's all over the streets.
You can get it anywhere.
NARRATOR: An entire subculture known as Party and Play
is based around methamphetamine use.
Gay websites are used to arrange meetings with strangers
to take crystal meth and have sex,
sometimes for days on end.
COLBY: I get on five different websites,
and I'll just go from one to the next.
You see an ad and it's got the "T" capitalized,
then you know that they're partying or whatever.
If it says "blowing clouds," which is smoking it.
"Let's get to the point" means they're--
they're into slamming it.
And it's usually always associated with sex.
NARRATOR: Colby is HIV positive,
but his life still revolves around sex and meth.
COLBY: There's just something about it.
Goes hand in hand with being gay.
I can't remember the last time I had sex without it.
It's almost ready.
NARRATOR: Colby charges $200 an hour,
specializing in the most extreme fetishes.
COLBY: There's a guy I know, he sends me money
just for drugs, sometimes $1,000 at a time.
But he wants it only spent on crystal meth.
I, in exchange, make videos of me shooting up.
That's what turns him on the most.
NARRATOR: He spends his earnings on drugs
and lives homeless on the street,
only renting a room when he needs to shoot a video.
COLBY: Here we go.
Ah!
(WINCING)
Ah, damn it.
Ah.
NARRATOR: In low doses, meth increases energy.
(BLEEP) I didn't get all of it.
I don't wanna waste it either. (BLEEP)
NARRATOR: In higher doses, it can induce euphoria.
I feel extremely, like, hot, a hot feeling.
Um...I feel good.
I'm gonna try to get the rest of this in.
That was a big one.
NARRATOR: The initial high is known as the rush.
Normally I would be playing with myself
or (BLEEP).
That's what I generally do right after.
I usually have guys around ready to (BLEEP) me.
NARRATOR: Once the rush has subsided...
I'm very antsy. Like, I get very antsy.
I don't wanna-- I can't sit still.
NARRATOR: The adrenaline-like effects kick in.
Hoo! I have a lot of energy right now.
I just wanna... (LAUGHS)
Whoosh! Oh, man, I have--
Whoo, my head.
(GROANS)
My mouth is, like, extremely dry all of a sudden.
My head hurts.
Just a little bit will keep me up, like, three days.
You can't eat. You can't sleep.
Oh, I've been up for eight days before.
NARRATOR: As the meth takes hold,
addicts' lives fall apart.
COLBY: I used to make straight A's.
I was always, like, student of the year,
didn't do any drugs,
went to church all the time.
Now I am homeless, a prostitute,
a major junkie.
It's out of control. It's like, I cannot stop.
It's killing me.
ICEMAN: That (BLEEP) destroys lives, man.
But that's the choice they (BLEEP) make.
NARRATOR: The Asian Cartel
has been poisoning San Francisco
with meth for almost 25 years.
ICEMAN: We started the Shab movement here
in the Bay Area.
And it all started really in South of Market.
We were the first ones to get the process done.
Before, they just had, like, a lot of raw crank.
We would process it, take it through a vacuum pump, clean it,
wash it, and it came out like shards.
You had one shard that was, like,
probably as big as a plate.
NARRATOR: Once cooked, the Asian Cartel's product
is distributed by car to one of their six
safe houses within the city.
ICEMAN: The areas that we pretty much take care of, you know,
the Tenderloin, South of Market,
the Sunset, the Richmond area.
San Francisco is 44% Asian,
so we have a big market here.
We're 50 strong in this one particular operation,
and we're all over the city.
NARRATOR: The Asian Cartel run two meth super labs in the city.
One is over 10,000 square feet.
They're producing 20, 30 pounds a week.
The amount of money that they're making is pretty large,
anywhere from a million to three.
NARRATOR: In San Francisco's meth trade,
there's very little peace and love.
Out of ten dealers,
maybe two will survive through all the (BLEEP),
and that's if they're really, really lucky.
We had a warehouse.
It was by Potrero Hill.
They came and they took one of my guys
for, like, $90,000 and took six or seven Ps.
Let's basically say they didn't get away with it.
They had to suffer some consequences.
We're about our bread.
As long as you don't (BLEEP) with our money,
you know, we're good with you. We ain't got no problems with you.
NARRATOR: Like ninjas of the American underworld,
the Asian Cartel prefers to remain hidden in the shadows.
ICEMAN: We don't stand on the street corner.
That's just not who the (BLEEP) we are.
That to us is just sheer stupidity.
You get the guy, he might get caught with, like, an eighth
and pretty soon, he's gonna start giving (BLEEP) up.
Why go to the pen when you can send a friend?
That's the ideology of other races.
That's not our ideology.
But if you have good shards or good Shabu or good glass,
your product speaks for itself.
You don't need to look for clients.
NARRATOR: But the Asian Cartel's grip
on San Francisco's meth trade is under threat.
The secret of their cooking process
has gotten into the wrong hands.
A couple of our guys showed some of the Mexicans
on how to cook, which (BLEEP) it all up for all of us.
The Mexican cartel, they just cut through the chase
and they just started making crystal on their own.
NARRATOR: Now the Mexican cartels are intent
on taking over.
Super labs hidden in the depths of Mexico
have perfected the process of industrial meth production,
flooding the streets of San Francisco
with super-strength meth at a fraction of the cost.
Chronic meth use is on the move.
Once a party drug popular on the rave scene,
crystal meth is now so cheap, it's replacing crack
as the favored high of the down and out.
Only a few miles from the Castro,
hordes of meth addicts gather
in one of the worst drug ghettos
in the whole of America: the Tenderloin.
HENZI: San Francisco has a significant drug problem.
You only need to walk through the Tenderloin to see that.
NARRATOR: It's Probation's job to keep recently released
prisoners on the straight and narrow.
But in a city saturated with meth, it's not easy.
A lot of our clients hang out in the Tenderloin.
So yeah, we spend a lot of time rolling around to see
if we can make contact.
The average age is about 40, the majority of them are male,
and so they have had a long history of substance abuse.
NARRATOR: Today Christy and David are scouring
the Tenderloin for a recently released meth addict
who's failed to turn up for his treatment.
HENZI: This is one of the blocks where there's
a lot of illegal narcotic action.
We see a lot of hand-to-hand sales going on.
It's really saturated.
Hey, man, get that camera off us, man.
NARRATOR: A 50-block area
right in the heart of downtown San Francisco,
the Tenderloin has long been
a notoriously violent drug supermarket.
But few drugs have caused as much mayhem as meth,
and the Tenderloin is plumbing new depths.
HENZI: We've seen an increase in clients
that are addicted to methamphetamine.
A new strand out on the street is very addictive,
and it's causing them to have extreme paranoia.
NARRATOR: Christy's department is feeling the effects
of the recent flood of extra-potent Mexican meth on the market.
They'll come in convinced that somebody's following 'em,
trying to kill them, and there's really no calming them down.
So it's really difficult to navigate
that psychosis.
NARRATOR: As a probation officer,
Christy has seen the horrific effects
that even short-term meth use can have on the body.
HENZI: Some of our clients develop sores
on their face from scratching.
Physically, it's a very damaging drug.
Hair gets brittle, and they've lost their teeth.
Literally like zombies.
(MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
NARRATOR: And like zombies,
the denizens of the Tenderloin come alive at night.
MAN: ♪ Stoned up like a hippie ♪
♪ Rollin' up that sticky ♪
♪ Smokin' on that loud ♪
♪ Call us black hippies ♪
♪ Stoned up like a hippie ♪
♪ Rollin' up that sticky ♪
♪ Smokin' on that loud ♪
♪ Call us black hippies ♪
MAN: He just took a hit, right here on the block.
And you can go up this street, and you will see lighters going.
All of 'em standing out here taking their last little hits.
Some of 'em then picked up off the ground,
don't know whatever it is.
They tweaking so hard out here.
Somebody told me when I first moved here a couple months ago,
people don't come here to live. They come here to die.
I'm hoping that I don't make that statistic true, you know?
I got my addictions, and it's tough out here.
MAN: A lot of us been tricked in thinking
selling dope and all of that is the American dream.
It's not. It's feeding our penal system.
That's the only outlet that we have is to sell drugs.
Prostitution for the women, drugs for the men.
This is the destruction of the whole community right here.
MAN: I'm going on a perimeter check, man. I'll see you later.
NARRATOR: This footage from a safe house in the heart
of the Tenderloin was shot by a gang member.
CHI: Secure that door, man.
This how we living, man.
That's grade A product, man. You see that there, man.
NARRATOR: On the street, this pound of crystallized
Mexican super meth is worth almost $100,000.
CHI: Check out this (BLEEP), man. This is what it is, man.
We eat, man. Look at that there, man.
Oh, man, that's work, man.
Look at that there, man. Come on, man.
Check out this (BLEEP), man. This is what it is, man.
NARRATOR: Heading up a sizable operation is Chi.
CHI: I manufacture crank.
Crystal.
Cheese, I mean, whatever you choose to call it.
We got a nice little operation going on here.
NARRATOR: Crews like Chi's are receiving industrial-strength
raw meth from Mexico which they manufacture into crystals...
CHI: Look at that there, man, those shards, man.
NARRATOR: A process known as re-rocking.
CHI: Look at that, man. That's grade A crystal right there, man.
NARRATOR: They churn out 10 to 15 pounds every single week.
CHI: It ain't much to some guys, man, but it's enough for us, man.
NARRATOR: It's enough to supply not just the Tenderloin
but also Daly City, the largest city in neighboring San Mateo County.
CHI: We're doing that on a weekly basis, man.
You're looking at $100,000, man, on the minimum.
It depends on how we serve it, man,
but bottom line, man,
we want to see them six digits and we won't see nothing else, man,
'cause that's what we're striving for.
NARRATOR: An operation like this requires some serious muscle.
CHI: We got 15 to 20-plus on the payroll.
That's about the size of our mob is 15 to 20 of us, but...
-(KNOCK AT DOOR) -Yeah.
-MAN: You all right up in there? -CHI: Yeah, we all right, brother.
Good looking out, brother.
Safety, that's first and foremost.
NARRATOR: Born into the drug trade,
Chi puts his success down to experience.
CHI: This is what I was born to do. This is all I've ever known.
This is all I was ever raised around. This is all I've seen in life, so...
I guess that's what makes me so good at what I do, man.
That's why we eating round here, man.
Product speaks for itself, man.
Look at that joint there, man.
NARRATOR: By using crews like Chi's to flood the streets
with cheap industrial super meth,
the Mexican cartels have succeeded
in creating a whole new market for their product.
CHI: From me being a kid raised around this,
all I've ever seen was middle class and upper white people
around my house dealing with my moms and pops
and never too many of African Americans,
and now I'm running my own thing,
I see more of my people out here.
And it just seems like crystal's designer for African Americans now.
That's how dramatically and drastically it's changed.
That's work, man.
San Francisco's finest, man. We eating, man.
NARRATOR: To supply their new market,
the Mexican cartels have established a drug superhighway
that runs from the Mexican border towards the Bay Area,
injecting meth right into the heart of San Francisco.
But there's one choke point,
and that's where Sergeant Bonsall is waiting.
BONSALL: I would say 95% to 98% of the methamphetamine in this area
comes from Mexico across the border.
(RADIO BEEPS)
Copy, and I'm headed back to our location.
NARRATOR: Sergeant Bonsall and his team are working
to infiltrate and disrupt the cartel's distribution network.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
It's painstaking and risky.
BONSALL: Today we're strictly doing surveillance
on a mid-level distributor.
This particular target is
picking up anywhere from a pound to a half a pound
of methamphetamine every three days.
Today we're just trying to make our suspect go into the door
that we believe that he's living.
NARRATOR: The cops suspect that the dealer is using
his transgender roommate's apartment as a stash house.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
BONSALL: According to our source,
he's putting out about $4,000 every three days.
So he's probably making a couple of grand profit a week.
So he's paying his bills.
NARRATOR: If the cops can confirm that this is where the dealer is staying,
a judge will issue a warrant for a raid.
The sergeant also has intel on the dealer's car.
BONSALL: Copy, I got 4 (BLEEP) 620.
We're expecting an arrival of a black Mercedes
that our target drives.
It's not here at the target location now,
so we're just waiting.
NARRATOR: To get this information,
the team have already flipped a lower-level dealer.
The sergeant is hoping that busting this dealer
will take them even higher.
BONSALL: Our main objective is to go up the ladder.
Eventually it'll work to the cell boss
of the cartel, whoever's providing those narcotics down the line.
NARRATOR: He may be only a mid-level dealer,
but Bonsall suspects that he could lead them all the way
to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Sinaloas use the same organizational structure as terrorists.
BONSALL: They're very organized.
There might be 15 cells of cartel dealers in Northern California.
Each one of those cells will have contact with the cartel
across the border, but each cell may not know
that the other cell's operating.
NARRATOR: This makes them almost impossible to stamp out.
If one cell is caught, it cannot give evidence on another.
BONSALL: The cartel in Mexico is sending hundreds
of pounds of methamphetamine to these cells to distribute
throughout all of Northern California.
NARRATOR: Despite being 500 miles from Mexico,
the Bay Area is still very much cartel turf.
BONSALL: We definitely have cartel-connected people
at the top running these cells and these organizations
on this side of the border.
If we can keep 'em out of our area
or make it harder for them to operate in our area,
that's our goal.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
Copy, no change, go ahead.
NARRATOR: The dealer's black Mercedes
is not showing.
BONSALL: It is now almost 5:15.
We've been sitting in these cars for the past six and a half hours
with not much action.
NARRATOR: Just as the cops are on the verge
of calling it a night, there's a sign of activity.
Point, you copy? Tranny is out.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
You should have her walking southbound, black sweater,
I think over red shirt, black pants, blonde hair.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
Yeah, see that Mercedes coming in?
NARRATOR: Then within minutes, the black Mercedes arrives.
BONSALL: Target vehicle's pulling into the driveway now.
We got a driver's-side door open.
MAN (OVER RADIO): Driver's-side door is open.
NARRATOR: It's critical the team get a 100% ID,
so the sergeant sends a detective in on foot...
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
NARRATOR: Hood up for disguise.
MAN (OVER RADIO): I have him going up the stairs now.
Somebody going up the stairs.
NARRATOR: But if the target gets suspicious,
it could blow the entire operation.
Confirm you have eyes on the suspect.
MAN (OVER RADIO): Affirmative.
BONSALL: Make the door and we're good.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
MAN (OVER RADIO): Copy, I got him going in the door now.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
NARRATOR: After nine hours of surveillance,
the team can finally link the suspect to this address.
BONSALL: Took a lot longer than we thought it was gonna take,
but our search warrant is ironclad.
We have to make sure that we get somebody else behind bars.
NARRATOR: For the moment, the drug superhighway remains wide open
and raw super meth from Mexico is pouring into the Bay Area.
Once the meth is re-rocked in local stash houses,
it's distributed to street dealers back in the Tenderloin.
BAYOU: My office is located on the corner of Turk and Leavenworth.
And I guess you could say
my job is make money and get high.
I buy wholesale and I sell retail.
NARRATOR: Bayou has been dealing in the Tenderloin for over 30 years.
BAYOU: What I do is called supply and demand.
I supply what's in demand, and that's how I survive.
NARRATOR: His career has followed drug trends.
In the '80s, he sold coke. In the '90s, it was crack.
In the 2000s, he slung smack.
Nowadays he's shifting more and more crystal meth.
BAYOU: What we have here is a bag of crystal.
They call it TT here in San Francisco.
Crystal meth is one of the cheapest products out there.
NARRATOR: Bayou pays $800 for half an ounce at wholesale.
BAYOU: It makes $700 profit.
NARRATOR: His regular clientele will contact him via cell.
-(CELL PHONE RINGS) -My phone is going haywire.
I cater to 10 to 20 people a day, every day.
I'll get you stuff pretty quick.
All I'm concerned with is the color of their money.
NARRATOR: Dealing funds Bayou's crippling addictions to crack,
meth, and heroin.
BAYOU: I spend $300 a day on habit.
This piece here is what I choose to call my personal,
because won't nobody get this from here. This is going in my buttocks.
They say once you go black, you don't go back.
Ooh, look at that. That look pretty,
like a pretty woman.
Now you see it.
Now you don't.
NARRATOR: Like most dealers in the Tenderloin,
he's working just to keep the withdrawals at bay.
BAYOU: If I could have a breakfast, this would be my breakfast.
Breakfast on a Brillo, I call it.
(LAUGHS)
That's pretty much what my life consists of.
I smoke, I poke, and I get money.
NARRATOR: With the streets of San Francisco
awash with Mexican super meth,
the number of addicts and dealers is higher than ever.
San Francisco is pioneering a new system called the realignment.
Street-level drug criminals remain in the community,
where they are encouraged through treatment
into jobs by probation officers like Christy and Tommy.
HENZI: We approach it with a social work philosophy.
At the same time, we have to be concerned for our safety.
NARRATOR: Today Christy and Tommy are hunting down
a meth addict who's failed to turn up for his treatment.
With the new strain of super meth on the streets,
users can be more irrational and violent than ever.
HENZI: We don't know what we're gonna encounter.
We don't know who else is in the room.
All the officers in my unit will be armed.
NARRATOR: Most probationers are housed in cheap hotels
in the Tenderloin,
right back in the middle of the drug hell
many are trying to escape.
-DAVID: Hey. -TOMMY: Morning.
DAVID: What's happening?
HENZI: Do you have anything in here you're not supposed to have?
Name some stuff I'm not... paraphernalia.
HENZI: I got you, sweetheart. I'll take it from here.
Got some needles and a little tie-off there
and a little push, torch.
This is a lighter.
Yeah, but what are you using it for?
For my cigarettes.
HENZI: So when's the last time you used?
-Two days ago. -Okay.
My issue is that I can't let the taxpayers think
that we're providing a free room to you so that you can just get high,
so if you wanna gather up your stuff from the shower here,
we're gonna-- you're gonna go down there with us.
You gonna take me to jail?
Sir, if I was gonna take you to jail, I'd tell you that.
NARRATOR: Under the new system, the probation officers
are on a mission to get him off drugs, not back in a cell.
HENZI: We're gonna take him over to the Department of Public Health
and get him into some outpatient treatment today.
NARRATOR: Like many of San Francisco's street addicts,
he switched from crack to meth to get more bang for his buck.
The crack was no longer getting me high. It's just getting me sick.
It makes me sick, makes my stomach hurt now.
It's all garbage.
Most people are using drugs to shield the pain.
I've lost everybody in my family.
I have no living members that know where I'm at.
They don't even know if I'm dead or alive.
And, you know, I did 10 years, like, 10 years without having
anybody on the planet to send me a stamp,
to say that "we give a rat ass about you."
NARRATOR: Despite his addiction, David is free to go.
HENZI: He's gonna start outpatient treatment,
so we feel confident that he's gonna address
his substance abuse issue, and in turn,
he'll get to stay in his room.
NARRATOR: While the probation department throws out a lifeline,
most people caught up
in San Francisco's drug trade believe there is no escape.
SPIDER: I think I'll never get out the ghetto.
I might be stuck here for the rest of my life.
I might just die down here. Who knows?
It's hard down here.
NARRATOR: Spider works the Tenderloin,
collecting money for a drug dealer.
The people, they don't pay, I rough 'em up.
I might even give 'em a black eye or break their jaw,
break a finger, arm, it don't matter.
NARRATOR: For just $500 a month,
Spider has sold his soul.
There's a couple of people I had to chase down,
and I don't like to run.
If I run and I catch you, it's gonna be worser.
You don't have it, I got to break something.
NARRATOR: He's been working the Tenderloin's drug trade
since he was 12.
SPIDER: When I was young, I used to watch my mother sell drugs,
and I just grew into it.
I done seen people get shot out here.
I done seen people get stabbed.
I saw the police get beat up.
(BABBLING)
SPIDER: I seen people just go crazy.
(BABBLING)
I seen people die on the street with needles in their arm.
I seen people die with a crack pipe in their mouth,
be their last hit and the heart just stopped.
I seen it. Seen it all.
NARRATOR: Many people in the Tenderloin
have lost at least one loved one to the drug trade,
and Spider is no exception.
SPIDER: A man was coming to make a purchase on some drugs.
He came back and shot my best friend
right in front of my face.
Shot the wrong person.
That took a lot out of me.
Think about him all the time.
NARRATOR: But life is cheap in the Tenderloin,
and it doesn't take much to spark a murder.
SPIDER: It could have been $5, $10, $20. Who knows?
I don't even know.
NARRATOR: 50 miles south of San Francisco,
Sergeant Bonsall has received some urgent intel
on their meth dealer.
BONSALL: Our suspect got in a fight
with his roommate, so the roommate kicked him out.
NARRATOR: Bonsall has no choice but to execute the search warrant a day early.
BONSALL: We just don't want to take the chance of losing our crook.
NARRATOR: They must raid the stash house
before their suspect disappears.
Copy that. I'll be coming from east to west.
NARRATOR: Sergeant Bonsall and his team plan to fake a routine traffic stop
on the meth dealer's car.
There's our marked unit right here,
who will be making the car stop for us.
NARRATOR: Once they've stopped the car, they should find meth in it.
Copy then. Point, stay where you're at,
and I'll be there in 30 seconds.
NARRATOR: This will give them probable cause to raid the suspected stash house.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
We're waiting for our suspect to leave the house
so we can make this car stop.
We would like to make the car stop
a few blocks away from here.
That way, if anybody else that he knew came by,
they won't see him.
We want it to look like
this is a lucky car stop and the guy found narcotics.
It's all to protect the informant.
NARRATOR: By using a traffic stop as a cover,
Bonsall hopes to hide the fact that an informant
has led them to the stash house.
MAN (OVER RADIO): Target is at the black Mercedes.
He's got a black duffel bag, and he's putting the duffel bag
into the trunk of the Mercedes.
BONSALL: Yeah, and he's getting ready to leave in the Mercedes,
so that's good news.
Looks like he's away southbound.
MAN (OVER RADIO): He's away southbound.
NARRATOR: Bonsall's straight on his tail.
MAN (OVER RADIO): 10-4. He immediately pulled over to the side.
NARRATOR: But the plan's already gone wrong.
BONSALL: Okay, the stop was made right there.
NARRATOR: As soon as he saw the marked unit,
the suspect pulled over, forcing the officer
to arrest him right outside his apartment.
(RADIO BEEPS)
MAN (OVER RADIO): Hey, I may have spotted the lady man on foot.
BONSALL: Our transvestite roommate is walking around the corner right now.
NARRATOR: By chance, the suspect's transgender roommate
has stumbled across the scene.
BONSALL: Our worry is that the roommate will go
into the apartment and start
flushing any evidence that might still be upstairs.
-Hey, where you at? -(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
BONSALL: Copy. It is a confirm on the roommate.
She did notice that that is the target's car parked there.
She just turned around and headed back towards the apartment.
NARRATOR: Police fear that if the roommate returns
to the apartment, she will destroy evidence.
MAN (OVER RADIO): If she comes through, I'll detain her.
Right now, we have actually a search warrant.
Okay. All right?
NARRATOR: Now their cover is blown,
they need to move on the apartment and fast.
BONSALL: Behind the building and tac up and then hit the house.
NARRATOR: Any police entry into a meth dealer's house is risky.
MAN: Sheriff's office, search warrant!
NARRATOR: They're often armed and dangerous.
MAN: Clear.
Clear.
Looks like it has already been raided.
MAN: Clear.
NARRATOR: Now the search can begin.
BONSALL: In the bedroom, just out in plain view,
we have found a line of what appears to be
crystal methamphetamine, prepared to be snorted.
NARRATOR: The team also discovers a hide.
Let me take a photograph of this.
NARRATOR: But it's empty.
BONSALL: Combination safe.
Were you able to talk him into a safe code?
NARRATOR: They desperately need to find more evidence
to build a case.
At this point, we're waiting for a narcotics canine
to come and give us direction where to search
and see if we don't miss anything.
MAN: Good boy.
Affirmative on the hit on the safe.
-MAN 1: Okay. -MAN 2: He hit on the safe.
He came up with what's called a positive alert on the safe,
meaning there is narcotics or was narcotics
in the safe at one point.
NARRATOR: The dealer has denied any knowledge of the safe.
The team is running out of options.
Then a breakthrough.
In the suspect's car, they find a hidden compartment.
MAN: So we got his money here in a hide in the vehicle.
One bankroll.
Looks like we got another bindle of cash.
Good boy!
It's a narc dog. Dog's not trained to hit on money.
It's trained to hit on narcotics,
so obviously this money's been hand in hand with narcotics.
NARRATOR: Unless they find a decent quantity of meth,
this dealer will probably walk.
This was in the suspect's backpack.
And you pull it off, and you have a hide.
And just right off the back, you have a methamphetamine pipe.
We have his baggies that are gonna be used to package
the methamphetamine for sales.
And then you have the bulk. We like to call it a stash.
The methamphetamine that he has packaged for sale.
NARRATOR: Finally, they have enough to put the suspect behind bars.
BONSALL: Okay, looks like we've got a pretty decent amount.
But I think we're gonna find more in the safe
that he says he doesn't know anything about.
NARRATOR: Back at the station, the team finds
another use for the battering ram.
MAN: What is that?
There possible chemicals in there.
BONSALL: Anytime we open up the unknown and there's
liquid in there and we're dealing with methamphetamine,
we're concerned that there is chemicals.
NARRATOR: The chemicals involved in meth production
are extremely toxic.
-MAN: It's a meth pipe. -BONSALL: A meth...
MAN: Meth water bong.
BONSALL: that fluid will test positive for methamphetamine.
MAN: That pretty heavy smell.
let's get this out of this enclosed room.
NARRATOR: It looks like this dealer has been icing
small amounts of raw meth.
Coupled with the crystal they found bagged up
for sale, it's a useful bust.
BONSALL: There's a gram.
They charge about $10 a point, and a gram is 10 points.
This is 48.
I think it could be up to $5,000 worth of narcotics here.
We'll see if this will lead us to more.
NARRATOR: For Bonsall and his team,
this dealer could be a crucial link to the top of the chain,
the cartel's sale boss.
If we're able to get this person's source,
we would expect to find multiple pounds
and then his guy will have multiple kilos,
and that should lead us to the border.
NARRATOR: While the cops chase the Sinaloa Cartel's shadow,
San Francisco's Asian Cartel is diversifying
to capitalize on the Mexican takeover...
We have a pretty good relationship with the Mexicans.
NARRATOR: Offering cartels like the Sinaloa
access to their distribution network at a price.
We have our own shipping, our own courier service.
We'll charge you $2,000 per P to get to its destination.
We just know people at the airport.
We know people at the cargo ships.
We ship out to New York, Florida, Chicago,
and there's quite a few other places as well.
NARRATOR: The Sinaloa Cartel's aggressive expansion
into San Francisco is part of a long-term plan:
the domination of the entire US crystal meth market.
The Iceman now gets a cut of business worth billions.
ICEMAN: If you're shipping,
you can make $500,000 in one month.
It's night and day.
NARRATOR: While the cartels rake in the money,
the addicts on the street pay the price.
Colby's last meth binge ended in a severe comedown.
COLBY: I haven't been high in five days,
and I've been asleep the entire time.
Oh, God, it's been horrible.
I have been uncontrollably crying for no reason.
Really disoriented and dizzy.
NARRATOR: Forced into cold turkey by lack of funds,
Colby has just received payment for his last hard-core video.
COLBY: I'm just now starting to feel better from detoxing
from the drugs.
But... I'm gonna start the cycle all over again.
NARRATOR: Even after the comedown has passed,
long-term users can remain severely depressed
and lethargic for up to a year.
For many, the solution is to get back on the meth
as quick as they can.
COLBY: 120, 40, 60...180. All right!
-(CELL PHONE RINGING) -And there he is.
So... that's my dealer. He has the drugs ready,
and he's about eight blocks down the street.
I'm very excited, and, like,
I feel high already just now, just thinking about it, so...
NARRATOR: Colby knows he should take this opportunity to quit.
COLBY: I was having second thoughts
because I feel good. It's been a long time since I've actually detoxed.
And today I was starting to feel better.
I can change my mind right now.
Should I? No.
NARRATOR: Given the choice of feeling suicidal
or feeling high, for most addicts,
the choice is obvious.
Took about 20 seconds, and I ended up with this.
It's an eight ball It's about three and a half grams.
NARRATOR: When you're homeless like Colby,
it's easier to score the drugs than it is to find a place to inject them.
I'm gonna go into this outdoor toilet here and get high.
It's very, very hard to get privacy when you're homeless.
Now I gotta watch out for that cleaning cycle.
Where is that needle? That's a used one.
Oh, shoot.
Definitely not the most hygienic place to do this.
It's very nerve-racking knowing that there's hundreds of people
right outside this door.
Joop!
Here we go. Much anticipated.
Please don't clog.
Oh, (BLEEP), it's starting the cleaning cycle.
We need to get out.
The toilet folded up, and water was about to start gushing everywhere.
You can hear it in there.
And I came out with a syringe in my mouth.
NARRATOR: Colby decides to head to the Castro
to find somewhere quieter to shoot up.
They're always (BLEEP) locked.
NARRATOR: With so many meth heads around in this city,
everyone locks their porta-potties...
COLBY: Yeah, it's locked. It's locked.
NARRATOR: Forcing addicts to shoot up in the most desperate of places.
COLBY: I'm so frickin' paranoid.
I should not be doing this at a church, but...
-(SIRENS WAILING DISTANTLY) -Sirens going off.
Oh, what a life. Ow! (BLEEP).
That burned that time.
Whew, my heart's going 90 to nothing.
NARRATOR: Without the cravings clouding his mind,
Colby realizes what his life has become.
COLBY: If my friends and family saw me
holed up in this little corner here shooting up,
it would probably break their hearts.
But this drug has just...
it's gotten ahold of me.
You know, I love it and I hate it.
NARRATOR: As Mexican super meth spreads like a poison
across the States, Colby's story is set
to become one amongst hundreds of thousands.