(helicopter)
♪ ♪
MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Around the world,
from Los Angeles to South Korea...
filmmakers have tapped into organ trafficking
as a uniquely horrific subject.
WOMAN: They farm out our kidneys, lungs, heart.
MARIANA: It's a horror that, unbelievably,
exists in the real world.
And to players in this game,
your body is a collection of products
to be stolen or bought on the cheap,
and then resold to buyers for astronomical prices.
NEWSCASTER: How much would you pay to save your life?
REPORTER: Both men paid over 200,000 U.S. dollars
in order to obtain kidneys.
WOMAN: It's a sizable amount of money.
MARIANA: This red trade isn't a Hollywood creation.
It's a reality, with origins in modern-day Africa, Asia,
and the Middle East.
REPORTER: In this village alone,
more than half the people living here
have sold one of their kidneys.
MARIANA: But now, rumors of the red trade
are bubbling up far closer to home.
And I set my sights on finding the people and organizations
that are making a killing in body parts.
♪ ♪
MARIANA: So this is the liquid that's coming from inside you?
GARRETT ROWE: Yeah. It's been in my stomach cavity
for about four, five hours right now.
MARIANA: Garrett Rowe is hoping to beat the odds.
GARRETT: Just kind of taking out the toxins,
processing what my kidneys aren't doing.
MARIANA: To stay alive, Garrett normally spends
nine hours each night hooked up to a dialysis machine.
GARRETT: I had a flu at one point,
and they just noticed that my blood pressure
was a little high.
Did some blood work, and then, probably by about 5:30,
after I got home, I got a phone call and she said,
"I have a room for you at the emergency room,
you need to go right now."
MARIANA: And so what was happening?
GARRETT: Um, they, they, they just were shutting down.
MARIANA: Your kidneys? GARRETT: Yeah.
So, as of now, I essentially have
less than three percent functionality.
MARIANA: Wow.
GARRETT: I mean, last year alone,
I was almost maybe a month and half,
two months in the hospital.
I was passing out, I was going headfirst into walls.
Like, I was, I just couldn't function.
MARIANA: So, you're going to need new kidneys?
GARRETT: Yeah. MARIANA: Two?
GARRETT: I'll need one... MARIANA: One kidney.
GARRETT: ...to start,
and that should hopefully, I hope it gets me,
at best, 20 more years,
and I'll probably need a second one at that point.
MARIANA: And you've been on, on the list here in Georgia
for how long now?
GARRETT: Oh, jeez. Almost two years.
ERIN: Two years, yeah.
GARRETT: Year and a half, at least.
MARIANA: Really? GARRETT: Yeah.
On average, they say it's like seven years
that you wait on the list.
MARIANA: Wow.
GARRETT: On dialysis, it can roughly get you
about seven years extra before, like, you have to get an organ.
MARIANA: So, what happens if you don't get an organ then?
GARRETT: That's it.
MARIANA: Right.
♪ ♪
The numbers are brutal.
In the United States,
17 people die every day waiting for an organ.
In 2020, over 39,000 Americans did receive a transplant.
But over 100,000 languished on a waiting list,
hoping for a phone call that never came.
GARRETT: We've already had very loose conversations
of, "What do we do when we,
when we don't, when we don't get one?"
MARIANA: I can't help but wonder what I would do in a situation
where my life or the life of a loved one
was hanging in the balance,
and a solution, perhaps, was for sale in the underground.
GARRETT: What's plan B? Where do we go?
Who do we know in other countries
that could help us out
and set us up with whatever we needed?
MARIANA: Facing the same struggle,
how many patients in America
have made the decision to take action?
To head towards a destination where the will to live
overpowers judgment of right and wrong.
PETER CHIN-HONG: The mortality rate
while waiting for an organ in this country
can actually be more than 50%,
because we don't have enough organs.
MARIANA: Wow.
In San Francisco,
Peter Chin-Hong is an infectious disease doctor
who specializes in transplant patients.
How prevalent would you say
are black market organs in the United States?
CHIN-HONG: So we know the, the floor,
which is at least 10%.
But it's certainly much higher,
because the 10% is what we know about.
MARIANA: When you think that you've found a patient
that has performed the surgery elsewhere
and has a black market organ, do you ask them?
CHIN-HONG: So it's a really difficult conversation.
It's hush-hush.
MARIANA: What is it that you think makes them
not want to tell you the truth?
CHIN-HONG: Embarrassment, guilt,
because they didn't line up like everyone else here.
And depending on how they got it,
there could be fear of, you know, harm maybe
if you reveal identities of certain organizations
that might be doing this.
MARIANA: And do you have any sense
of where these organs are coming from?
CHIN-HONG: We know that the Philippines, China, India,
and some places in Eastern Europe.
But there are undoubtedly other places as well.
MARIANA: No recipients under Dr. Chin-Hong's care
would agree to meet,
but combing through social media,
there are ample clues of a thriving trade overseas.
This one sells kidney for $6,000, location is Rwanda.
26 years old and healthy.
I mean, it's just message after message.
Mostly, actually, from developing countries,
you know, which is the really sad truth about this.
And that makes me wonder;
with a full-blown migrant crisis taking place at our own borders,
could organ trafficking
be right here at the doorstep of the United States?
It's a question I put to my contacts.
So, any luck with this organ trafficking story?
MIGUEL: Not really.
You know, I've been calling a whole bunch of people.
They don't have anything yet.
(speaking Portuguese)
(speaking Spanish)
MARIANA: Experts say that organ trafficking is widespread
but incredibly difficult to report.
MARIANA: Often because the victims are poor,
are willing participants,
and there's no political will to go after medical tourists
and wealthy doctors who enable the trade.
Ciao. Adios. Adios.
Ah, (bleep).
(phone ringing)
Hey, Oliver, how are you doing?
OLIVER SCHMIEG: Hi, Mariana.
Yeah, I've been in touch
with a couple of guys in organized crime.
They basically are confirming
that they are more and more involved
in illegal organ trafficking.
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
So did you think that if we go down to Colombia,
we'll be able to film, meet people,
and talk to people about this trade?
OLIVER: Definitely, definitely.
You should come down here.
♪ ♪
MARIANA: It's been almost 30 years
since Pablo Escobar was gunned down on a rooftop in Medellín...
(gunfire)
...but this region of Colombia has remained a crossroads
for cartel activity and cocaine trafficking.
And if my local producer, Oliver Schmieg, is correct,
it's also becoming a hub for organ traffickers.
(men singing in Spanish)
MARIANA: Normally, when I set out to report on a story,
whether it's drugs or guns or scams,
I have some expectations of how the market operates.
But here, there's no telling,
because this market, if it exists, is so new.
There are no official reports, no arrests, and no bodies.
If we are to prove the existence
of organ trafficking in Colombia,
it will be an investigation
that begins with accounts from the underworld.
♪ ♪
To be viable, an organ like a kidney
must come from a live donor, or a body that has just died,
and must be transplanted within 36 hours,
preferably even sooner.
If Oliver's sources are correct
and organs are being smuggled out of Colombia,
that's a remarkably short window for them to cross borders
and be transplanted into another body.
So I've come to see if I can confirm it with my own eyes.
The town we're heading to, Turbo,
is rumored to be the epicenter of smuggling
for Colombia's most dangerous cartel,
the Clan Del Golfo.
And how dangerous is it to report in this region?
MARIANA: Yes, you heard that right.
And if you look around, cartel markings are everywhere.
I've been to Turbo once before,
to report on the movement of cocaine.
But this time, I'm looking into something far more sinister,
and in many ways hoping it doesn't exist.
So we're heading now to meet the comandante,
which we met last time, who was trafficking cocaine, right,
in charge of this area.
OLIVER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Our first stop is to meet with an operative
known as the Commander,
who controls smuggling routes for the clan,
granting safe passage to those who pay the cartel
and punishment for those who don't.
This is him.
♪ ♪
(car door slams)
MARIANA: ¿Sí?
MARIANA: Looking at a map, it's easy to see
why the cartel has placed the Commander here
and why it's one of the world's hot spots for smuggling.
There are no roads connecting Colombia and Panama.
Anybody headed north must travel by boat
or pass overland through the Darien Gap,
a 100-mile journey through
one of the most treacherous jungles in the world.
MARIANA: Controlling the Darien Gap
is crucial for the cartel,
which collects a so-called "tax" on drugs and migrants,
and now, I'm being told, on human organs.
MARIANA: ¿Sí?
♪ ♪
MARIANA: While we wait to see if the interview will happen,
I'm headed 30 miles north to the town of Necoclí.
If migrants are being targeted for their organs in Colombia,
this is probably where it would be happening.
(motorbike passing)
Think we should go that way, maybe?
So, this is the point, the beach
where we hear a lot of the migrants congregate
before they make their way across the sea.
This small town has been transformed
from a minor tourist destination to a chokepoint for migrants,
who get stuck here for weeks at a time,
waiting for a seat on a boat
to continue their journey north to America.
And you see there's the Red Cross is here.
MARIANA: Migration and refugee crises
have been breeding grounds for organ traffickers
in other parts of the world.
It's an economy of desperation,
just as Garrett's desperation in America could, someday,
lead him to buy an organ on the black market.
Here in Colombia, it's easy to see
how desperation could also fuel someone's desire to sell one.
MARIANA: Heartbreak and hope are everywhere here.
But evidence of organ harvesting is elusive.
Everyone here in his group
has heard rumors of organ trafficking,
but he's not sure.
Neither the Red Cross nor the local police
have confirmed anything beyond scant rumors.
But one policeman did agree to speak with us
on condition of anonymity.
MAN: Muchas gracias. MARIANA: Gracias, señor.
MARIANA: As these families prepare
for the perils of the Darien Gap,
they are largely upbeat.
The violence they're escaping in their home countries
feels far more real than these rumors of organ harvesting.
♪ ♪
I, on the other hand, am growing increasingly concerned.
♪ ♪
We've just been given the location
to go meet this man
who apparently goes by the name of "Deshuesador."
It's an ominous name.
In Spanish, "deshuesador" is the word
for somebody who tears apart cars.
A wrecker.
We don't know much about this guy.
We've been told he's pretty high up on the chain.
♪ ♪
There's no light.
It's completely dark and there's a gate.
(creaking)
♪ ♪
(speaking Spanish)
MAN: Hola.
♪ ♪
MARIANA: The go-fast boats that he refers to
could certainly make it to Panama
in time for a kidney transplant.
But could an organ be safely smuggled from here,
all the way up to an operating room in the United States,
and within just two days?
I have my doubts.
(laughs)
♪ ♪
MARIANA: The video he shows me
is too gruesome to show on television.
Organs are being removed from a dead body.
It's happening in a surgical setting,
but there's no care involved.
Rather, hands are pulling organs from an open chest
and casually slapping them down on a metal table.
Whether they represent what he claims, I cannot say.
But by the time he's walked away,
I feel like I can hardly breathe.
Uh, yeah, that was...
(bleep) heavy and horrible
and incredibly dark and depressing.
And really difficult at the same time to...
believe a lot of what he was saying,
because it just sounds so horrible.
I think the hardest interview I've ever had to do in my life.
I mean, how much is he trying to make himself
be more important in this than he actually is?
Like, he knows what he's doing?
That, I'm not sure, and I don't think we ever will know.
Ego plays an important role in black markets.
It's very often the reason why people agree to talk to me.
And sometimes it's difficult to parse the truth
from bluster and lies.
What I do know
is that a business that works for one criminal group
is often copied by another.
And since the Wrecker has mentioned ties
to the Mexican cartels,
I'm going to follow the story north,
even closer to the U.S. border.
♪ ♪
(siren)
MARIANA: Okay.
In other parts of the world, organ trafficking rings
have employed a small army of accomplices:
recruiters, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators,
even people to launder the cash.
I'm hoping that if I can find a low level accomplice,
doors might open to bigger players.
MARIANA: My search starts here, with a criminal group
that I've been told buys kidneys from Mexican citizens,
which are then resold for transplant.
There's two guys waiting inside the car,
and they're looking very suspiciously at us.
Hola. Soy Mariana.
♪ ♪
MARIANA: I guess we're here.
It's a old house with lots of trash everywhere.
MARIANA: They're closing the gate behind us.
Not the ideal situation.
(gate slams)
♪ ♪
MARIANA: Hola. ANGEL: Hello.
MARIANA: Hi. So, I hear you speak English?
ANGEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: How should I call you?
MARIANA: He's got a gun?
MARIANA: Okay, so, Angel, what do you do?
MARIANA: Who are willing to...
MARIANA: And so how do you figure out
if these are, if people are even compatible?
MARIANA: Wait, where is here? Here?
MARIANA: You serious?
So this is actually where you bring the, the...
MARIANA: And how often do these organs
end up in American bodies?
ANGEL: Well...
(laughing)
MARIANA: So, Angel, I hope you don't mind me asking,
but we're in Mexico, and we know that nothing happens here
without the knowledge of the cartel, so.
MARIANA: Unlike the murder-for-organs scenario
in Colombia,
Angel says he's buying organs, not stealing them.
But in both instances,
there's undoubtedly the presence of organized crime.
(man singing in Spanish)
♪ ♪
MARIANA: And I've come here to make contact with one group.
♪ ♪
(knocking)
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Paloma describes a medical practice in this town
where surgeons work hand-in-hand with organized crime,
profiting from transplants to wealthy Mexicans and Americans.
(siren)
♪ ♪
The guy in prison, um, he's apparently agreed to talk to us.
Apparently he also has a phone in prison,
and, uh, he said that only after we speak to him
will he decide whether he lets us interview the doctor or not.
♪ ♪
(man speaking Spanish)
MARIANA: I've met up again with Paloma,
who's letting me use her phone
to speak with her son-in-law in prison.
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: Oh, yeah, you speak English?
WOMAN: Yeah. (laughs)
MARIANA: This is a first for me.
I've spoken with crime bosses behind bars before,
but none who've handed me off to their assistant.
Can you tell me how you and your boss,
how are you guys involved in the organ trade?
What's, what's, what exactly is your role in it?
MARIANA: The demand for black market organs,
according to (bleep), is met with a steady supply,
provided by patients at a local medical clinic.
MARIANA: Right.
MARIANA: So you're saying that sometimes, that these people,
they're not just selling the organs because they want to.
You're saying that you guys actually force them to.
Is that what you're saying?
WOMAN: Yes, yeah.
MARIANA: And who are, who are these people
and where do you find them?
WOMAN: You know?
MARIANA: How so? What do you mean?
Like, how is it trouble?
Because how, do they know anything?
WOMAN: I mean...
MARIANA: I had thought that here in Mexico
this trade was about commerce, not murder,
but it seems I was mistaken.
(traffic passing)
(dog barking)
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: Do you think I could talk
to the boss again real quick?
I wanted to ask him a couple more questions.
MAN: Sí.
MARIANA: Ah, hola. Que bueno, que bueno.
MARIANA: Okay. Okay...
(men yelling on telephone)
MARIANA: The boss never gave me a clear answer
about whether they were killing people.
But it's not hard to read between the lines.
♪ ♪
I'm past the point of wondering
whether this trafficking network exists.
What I want to know now is how it actually works.
And I'm hoping one of the doctors at this clinic
can provide the answers.
We've been in Colombia.
We've been to Mexico several times now,
just waiting for, for this interview.
Three days pass by before the call comes.
(sighs)
So, we've been waiting for, um, over two hours now.
They were supposed to get here at 2:00.
It's now 4:10.
This is actually the sixth doctor that we've contacted.
The other five backed out.
♪ ♪
(phone vibrating)
Hey.
Okay, coming down.
♪ ♪
Does that look better?
MAN: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: So I'm going to put a microphone on you, doctor.
(speaking Spanish)
MARIANA: You know, I was actually very, very nervous
that you weren't going to come.
So, um, can you tell me, um, what is it that you do?
You're, you're a doctor.
DOCTOR: Sí.
MARIANA: And in the world of the black market,
what is it that you do exactly?
MARIANA: Mm-hmm. DOCTOR: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Something feels off.
It seems this doctor is only willing to go so far
with cameras rolling.
DOCTOR: No.
MARIANA: They were forced to give?
DOCTOR: Okay.
MARIANA: The doctor describes his role
as testing black market donors and recipients
for compatibility,
before handing the results to transplant surgeons.
MARIANA: Okay.
DOCTOR: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Are you in touch with them?
(speaking Spanish)
MARIANA: But they gave you the okay to speak to us today?
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: We trust doctors to protect and preserve life.
But here, some combination of coercion
and a promise of profit is turning them into murderers.
♪ ♪
If I had doubts that the red trade existed in Colombia,
I have none that it's thriving here in Mexico.
♪ ♪
There is one stone left unturned:
Who are the buyers?
I've spent months looking for an organ recipient
willing to speak to me.
Finally, from prison,
Paloma's son-in-law has made an introduction.
MARIANA: Yeah. We've been trying for many months.
You're the first one to agree to talk to us.
MARIANA: This is a man we'll call "Juan."
Nine months ago, he claims that diabetes nearly took his life.
But he was saved by a pancreas transplant
obtained through this same cartel connection.
How do you find an organ on the black market?
Or how do you even find the black market?
MARIANA: So you started asking around,
and then how soon after
were you able to actually get the surgery?
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: How many people were in the team?
Is it a staff?
MARIANA: Because, yeah... JUAN: For whatever.
MARIANA: There could be consequences to you telling me?
MARIANA: And how much did you pay for the surgery?
MARIANA: More than $100,000?
MARIANA: More than $200,000?
MARIANA: Was it half a million dollars?
MARIANA: A little bit more than half a million dollars?
Wow.
MARIANA: Hmm.
So you were ready to pay more than anyone else?
MARIANA: Hmm.
MARIANA: Do you know where your pancreas, um, came from?
MARIANA: If it's a full pancreas,
then the person that donated the pancreas had to be dead,
but if it's part of a pancreas,
it could have been given by a person who's still alive.
Would it make a difference if you knew?
Would you, would you have done anything differently
if you found out that they had forced somebody
or even possibly killed somebody?
MARIANA: You, you would have not done it?
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
JUAN: May I ask you a question, ma'am?
MARIANA: I have no idea.
Because I, you would have to be in that position.
MARIANA: But I have thought about this many times,
and I, you know, I think people go to great lengths
to, to survive and to be able to continue living.
And it's true.
Ethical arguments hit a wall
when it comes to our own survival
and that of our families.
What wouldn't I do?
What wouldn't any of us do if our own life
or our child's life hung in the balance?
So you've never felt inclined to go online
and try to see where you could possibly get a black market.
GARRETT: No. (laughs)
I mean, it's in, like, the back of your head,
of, like, you know, "Would you?"
And, you know, if someone said,
like, "Hey, I got an organ, like, tomorrow."
"Okay. Let's figure this out. Let's do it."
But, like, where can you turn? Who do you ask?
GARRETT: Who do you find out? Who do you trust?
ERIN: Right.
GARRETT: It's hard enough to find, like, a weed dealer,
like, let alone an organ.
(laughing)
MARIANA: For somebody like Garrett,
who's playing by the rules, who deserves a chance to live,
our society has an obligation
to make a more efficient legal market
so there's simply no reason for a black market to exist.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services