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The Assassination of 'La China' Polo: Investigation and Arrests · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, we usually talk about our increasingly digital lives
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: as this story of connection, right?
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Like a story of accessibility.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Accessibility. But there is a really terrifying flip side
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to all that access. I mean, what happens when that
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: exact same connectivity, a simple connection, raw live stream on
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: social media intersects in real time with a meticulously coordinated,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: brutal assassination.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Right. It completely shatters every illusion of safety we have
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: about the screen acting as a barrier. We tend to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: view the digital world as this separate curated space.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Like a bubble.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Exactly. A bubble. Yeah. But in an instant like this,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the physical world just crashes into it. In the most visceral,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: violent way imaginable, the barrier entirely vanishes.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: And that horrific collision is the core of what we
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: are unpacking today for you. Okay, let's unpack this. We
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: are looking at the deeply shocking murder of Susie Isabel
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Aponte Polo.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Also widely known as LaChina Polo.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Right. LaChina Polo, she was a journalist and a candidate
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for the regional government of Ancash in Peru. And this
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: all took place on a Saturday, September 19th, 2026.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: It's incredibly recent history. It is.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We are pulling directly from some really comprehensive reporting by InfraBay,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: which was published literally the very next day, September 20.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: And this reporting gives us a raw, immediate look at
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the aftermath, the police operations, and, you know, the deeply
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: troubling context surrounding her death.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: And it's really vital to note here, right at the top,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that we are looking at her accusations against the sociospor
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and cash party. and various officials purely as the roadmap
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the police inherited.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to be clear about that.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Right. We aren't here to play judge and jury on
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: her political rivals or the local police force. We're just
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: here to map out the investigative blast radius of her
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: claims and deconstruct the anatomy of this crime based strictly
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: on the documented facts. Impartiality is key here.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: 100%. We're just looking at the facts on the ground
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: as they were reported. So let's start with the geography
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and the timing, because the setting is just central to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: understanding the sheer audacity of this crime.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: The setting is everything in this case.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Right. So we are in Carraz. This is in the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Incaf region of Peru, high up in the Andes. And
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: it's of a Saturday. Specifically, we are on Ramon Castilla Avenue.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Which is significant.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because for anyone unfamiliar with the layout of these
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: regional Peruvian towns, the A main avenue on a Saturday
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: is the beating heart of civic life. It's bustling. It's crowded.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Families, vendors, foot traffic everywhere.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Exactly. And Susie Aponte Polo, she's 44 years old, and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: she is out doing what candidates do. She's campaigning. She's
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: right in the middle of a political proselytism activity, a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: rally surrounded by her supporters.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And crucially, she is being interviewed live on social media. Yes.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: By a journalist and lawyer named Victor Castillo. They are
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: broadcasting live to her followers. And then the video captures it.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: The actual unmistakable sounds of gunfire.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Just shattering the broadcast. Right.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Followed immediately by the chaotic aftermath of people screaming and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: falling to the ground. Susie died from those bullet wounds.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: It is the ultimate nightmare scenario for any public figure, really.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: You are completely exposed physically and digitally at the exact
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: same moment.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're literally a sitting duck on a global stage.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: And you have to think about the environment. When you
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: discharge a firearm in a crowded public street during a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: weekend political rally, you aren't just targeting an individual. I mean,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you are firing blindly into a cross-section of the entire community.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Right, the bullets don't have eyes.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: No, they don't. The collateral damage in a scenario like
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: this isn't just an unfortunate accident. It is a statistical certainty.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you're guaranteed to hit bystanders.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And they did. I was looking through the police report
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: detailed by InfoBay and the breakdown of the bystanders who
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: were hit, just devastating. I mean, it wasn't just adults
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: caught in the crossfire, was it?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Far from it, no. The reporting identifies five bystanders injured
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: by the gunfire and the demographics really paint a horrific
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: picture of what that Saturday afternoon looked like.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Just normal people going about their day.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly. You have these individuals identified by their initials in
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the report. There is R.A.M., who is 55, a 72-year-old
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: identified as POP.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: A 72-year-old. Wow.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And a 33-year-old, AAJ, an 18-year-old, CACHL. And perhaps
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: most chillingly, the report specifically notes another victim, ECHC, and
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: confirms that there were three minors in total involved in
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: this casualty list.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Three minors. Kids.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Kids, yeah. They were all rushed to the hospital, San
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Juan de Dios de Canaz. It just.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: It's a multigenerational trauma inflicted on a community in a
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: matter of literally seconds. And honestly, it speaks volumes about
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the perpetrators.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It really does. It shows a complete disregard for human life.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The brazen nature of committing a hit in broad
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: daylight surrounded by elderly citizens and children. It points to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a terrifying sense of impunity like they just didn't care.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: They didn't. This wasn't a crime committed in the shadows.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't some quiet ambush on a dark,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: lonely road. This was a public spectacle.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Exactly. The killers did not care who was watching literally
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: on a live stream. And they certainly did not care
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: who was standing in the way of their target.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Well, it suggests a really cold calculation on their part.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: The hit squad clearly decided that taking out the primary
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: target was worth whatever collateral damage occurred. But, and this
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: is key, it also points to a psychological tactic.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: What do you mean?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Well, by doing this in public during a rally... They're
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: essentially turning a political event into a slaughterhouse. They're associating
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: civic participation, just showing up to hear a candidate speak
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: with lethal danger.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: It's terrorism, basically. It's like a horrific collision of two worlds.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: You have the curated digital world of a political live
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: stream completely shattered by the raw physical violence of an assassination.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: A total shattering of the social contract.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: But wait, does broadcasting a political event actually make a
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: candidate more vulnerable? Because, I mean, think about it. Their
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: exact location is being broadcast to the whole world in
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: real time.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: That is the profound paradox of modern political life, especially
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: in regions that are already grappling with organized crime.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Because on one hand, transparency and accessibility are heavily demanded
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: by the electorate today. You have to be visible. You
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: have to be live. You have to show you're on
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the ground.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: If you're not streaming, you're losing.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Exactly. But that very visibility becomes an immense security liability.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, if we look back historically, tracking a target
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: for an assassination required evidence. intense, long-term physical surveillance.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. People in parked cars with binoculars.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Right. You needed a whole team trailing them, anticipating their movements,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: figuring out their daily patterns, where they get their coffee.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: It was super labor-intensive.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Incredibly labor-intensive. But now, now the target essentially does the
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: work for the assassin.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. Yeah, that's dark.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: By sending a push notification to their followers saying, hey,
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I am standing on Ramon Castilla Avenue right now. Come
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: say hi. They are eliminating the need for a tracking
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: team entirely.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Because they just hand over their GPS coordinates.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Exactly. The killers just needed a smartphone and a basic
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: data plan to know exactly when and where to strike.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: The live stream basically acts as a homing beacon.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: God, that is chilling. Which makes what we were about
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: to discuss even more tragic, I think, because Susie Aponte
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Polo actually saw the shadows closing in.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: She did. She was acutely aware. Right.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: This wasn't a lightning strike out of a clear blue sky.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Days before her death, LaChyna Polo released a video. And
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  Speaker 1: in this video, she essentially laid out a digital will
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  Speaker 1: and testament. She explicitly, publicly warned that her life was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: in grave danger.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: What's fascinating here is that she didn't just express a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: vague sense of dread. You know, it wasn't just a general,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I feel unsafe kind of statement.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: No, it was highly specific.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Incredibly granular. She was very detailed about the nature of
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: those threats.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: She claimed she was receiving threatening phone calls. But not
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: just random burner phones from the street. She said these
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: calls were originating from three different prisons.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: That is a staggering detail.
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  Speaker 1: Let that sink in for a moment for anyone listening.
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  Speaker 1: Three different penal institutions.
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  Speaker 2: The logistics of what she was describing are frankly terrifying.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, coordinating intimidation from one single prison is difficult
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: enough for authorities to manage.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Right, because of contraband cell phones.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Exactly. We know that contraband phones are smuggled into prisons globally.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And it is this constant uphill battle for authorities to
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: jam those signals or sweep for the devices. But coordinating
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: a harassment and threat campaign from three distinct maximum security
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: environments simultaneously?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: That's next level.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: It really is. It implies a highly decentralized, heavily organized,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: and communicative criminal network.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: It's that like a hydra. You cut off one head.
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  Speaker 1: Or you jam the cell signal in one prison pavilion
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  Speaker 1: and two more are calling you from entirely different regions
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of the country.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: But how does a network like that even function? I mean,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: how do inmates in three separate lockdown facilities synchronize a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: threat campaign against a regional politician in Ancash?
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it requires a very sophisticated command structure. In many
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: South American penal systems, certain wings or pavilions of these
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: prisons are effectively quietly controlled by the syndicates themselves.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: The inmates run the asylum, basically.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, yes. They operate as dark command centers. So to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: coordinate across three separate facilities means there is an overarching
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: board of directors, so to speak, for this criminal enterprise.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And they can seamlessly pass messages between prisons.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Using what, just standard cell networks?
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Most likely they use encrypted messaging apps on those smuggled smartphones.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: And they're communicating not just with each other across different prisons,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: but with foot soldiers out on the streets. Wow. When
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a network has that level of interoperability... It means they
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: have vast resources. It means they likely have corrupted guards
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: looking the other way and a reach that extends far, far,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: beyond their cell walls.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: And she knew this. And in the same premonition video,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: she didn't just point to the prisons, which is brave enough.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: She publicly pointed the finger at a very high ranking
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: police official.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Yes. She named PNP General Victor Roberto Farfan.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: OK, for context, to understand the weight of that accusation.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: We have to look at his position at that specific time.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: General Roberto was a highly visible, powerful figure. He was
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: concurrently leaving the Durin Cry, the National Criminal Investigation Directorate.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Which is essentially the Peruvian equivalent of the FBI's Criminal
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Investigative Division.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Exactly. It is the premier, most prestigious detective bureau in
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the entire country.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: It's the absolute tip of the spear for investigating organized crime,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: complex homicides, and kidnappings.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: And he was leaving that high-profile post to take over
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: the police region of La Libertad, right?
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, which is an area notoriously plagued by heavy extortion
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: and contract killing rackets. So for a regional candidate and
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: local journalist to publicly accuse a sitting general of that
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: stature of being involved in threats against her, I mean,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: that is an explosive claim.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: A career-ending claim, if true, and a life-ending claim to make.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And again, to be perfectly clear, we're just analyzing
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the fact that she made this statement in her video.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: not verifying the claim itself. But the sheer courage or
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: perhaps just absolute desperation required to broadcast that accusation to
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: the world is staggering.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: But this brings up a massive question for me, a
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: question of systemic failure.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: How so?
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Well, she knew it was coming. She announced it to
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the public. If a public figure screams into a camera, hey,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I am going to be killed. And she details the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: origin of the threats down to the specific prisons and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: names her supposed enemies. How is there not a protective
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: net placed around her immediately?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: It's a glaring question.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, she was a journalist. She was a candidate
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: for regional government. How does the state apparatus fail her
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: so completely?
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: It highlights a really catastrophic gap between intelligence gathering and
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: actual physical on-the-ground protection. I mean, the intelligence was literally
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: handed to the authorities on a silver platter. She published it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: She did the detective's work for them before she died.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: But why? Turning a viral video into a physical police
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: detail standing next to her on the street, that is
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: where bureaucratic friction occurs. It could be a lack of
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: local resources in Ancash. Maybe they just didn't have the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: manpower to assign a 24-hour detail. Or it could be
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: a bureaucratic delay in conducting a formal risk assessment. Things
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: move slowly.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Or, I mean, more cynically, could it be a paralysis
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: caused by the very accusations she was making?
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: That is a very real, very uncomfortable possibility. Think about it.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: When you accuse high-ranking police officials of involvement, it can
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: deeply complicate standard operating procedures.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Right, because who do you report to?
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Local police might hesitate to act on an accusation
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: that implicates a superior or a famous general. The internal
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: affairs divisions have to get involved. The paperwork just stalls
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: out while everyone tries to figure out the politics of it.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Everyone covers themselves while she's left exposed. Right.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: But regardless of whether the failure was due to sheer incompetence,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: a lack of funding, or deliberate stalling, the outcome is
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the same. It is a glaring failure of the state
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: to protect a citizen who is actively participating in the
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: democratic process.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking. But, you know, the fact that she named
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: her killers publicly didn't just highlight a systemic failure. It
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: actually seems to have given the police an immediate roadmap,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the literal second roadmap, The bullets stopped flying.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Gave them a starting line.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Because after the unthinkable happened on that live stream, the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: police response was remarkably swift. Within hours, they cast a net.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: So let's move to the mechanics of the investigation itself.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: They immediately set up a massive police blockade on the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Corredora Central.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Specifically, they locked down the front of the Palmyra Crossing. Right.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: And for some geographic context for you listening, the Carretera
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Central is a vital, massive artery. It connects the coastal
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: capital of Lima to the central highlands and the Andes.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: It is one of the most critical, heavily trafficked and
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: heavily monitored routes in the whole country.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: So if you commit a crime in the mountains of
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Ancash and you need to disappear into the anonymity of
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: a massive city like Lima, you are almost certainly going
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to have to navigate the Carretera Central.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: It's a choke point.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: A massive choke point. And the police knew that. By
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: setting up that net at the Palmyra Crossing so fast,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: they were betting that the hit squad would panic and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: attempt to flee the region immediately.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: And that bet paid off. Big time.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: It really did. They caught the alleged hitman right there
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: at the blockade. The reports identify him as a 30-year-old
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Venezuelan citizen. They refer to him by the initials LIOD.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: But capturing the person who actually pulled the trigger is
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: often just pulling on the very first thread of a
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: much larger, much darker sweater.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Exactly, because it's what he had on him that tells
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: an entirely different, incredibly complex story.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: The physical evidence, the smoking gun, literally. The weapon.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: The police seized a black 9x19mm Glock pistol. And the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: InfoBay reporting even gives us the exact serial number, BTVG236.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: That serial number is the key to everything.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Right, because this gun wasn't just bought at a local
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: sporting goods store the week before the rally. The history
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of this specific lock, BTVG 236, shows it was reported stolen,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: along with its magazine, interestingly, nearly three years prior.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Three years.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Yes. It vanished on November 15, 2023, and it didn't
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: vanish anywhere near Ancash. It was stolen in Villa El Salvador.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Which is a completely different world. Villa El Salvador is
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: a massive, densely populated district down in the southern part
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: of the Lima metropolitan area.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Hundreds of kilometers away. Right.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: It has a very complex history. And, like a lot
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: of sprawling urban districts, it struggles with segments of intense
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: criminal activity.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So just follow this timeline with me. We have a
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: gun stolen in the chaotic urban sprawl of Lima in
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: late 2023. And for three entire years, this Glock is
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: just a ghost. It's completely off the grid.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Hidden in the shadows.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then suddenly it materializes three years later. high
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: up in the mountainous region of Ancash, specifically to end
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: a political career in broad daylight.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: This raises an important question, actually. This is one of
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: the most critical aspects of modern homicide investigations, which is
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: tracing the iron.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Tracing the iron. I like that phrase.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: You have to look at a firearm not just as
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: a mechanical tool for violence, but as a physical asset
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: that moves through an entire shadow economy. A stolen Glock
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: doesn't just sit collecting dust in a drawer for three years.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: No, it's valuable.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Exactly. It is a highly valuable commodity in the underworld.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really interesting to me. It's almost
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: like a deadly game of telephone or like a deadly
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: baton in a relay race.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's a great analogy. Right.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: The gun gets stolen in the streets of Lima, washed
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: through the black market to scrub its immediate history, and
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: then gets put to work. It basks through the shadows, traded, sold, hidden.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's even rented out for other robberies or crimes
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: until it finally ends up in the hands of a
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: foreign national in a totally different province for a targeted
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: paid political assassination.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: And that renting aspect you just mentioned is crucial here.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, really? They rent them?
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. In the criminal underworld, specialized, reliable weapons like
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: a 9mm Glock are often rented by syndicates for specific jobs.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Like a lease agreement for murder?
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Essentially, yes. The person who stole that gun in Villa
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: El Salvador in 2023 is almost certainly not the 30-year-old
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: man who fired it in Caraz in 2026. Right.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: They probably never even met.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Exactly. The gun has traveled through a complex supply chain.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: So for the local police and the Ministry of Public Affairs,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: tracing that long, invisible journey of the Glock is paramount.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: You aren't just trying to link the gun to the
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: shooter standing at the blockade. You're trying to illuminate the
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: entire criminal logistical network.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Because the people who moved that gun from Lima to Ancash,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the people who maintained it, who facilitated its sale or
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: its rental, they are just as much a part of
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: this assassination as the guy holding it on Ramon Castilla Avenue.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: They are the infrastructure of violence. And uncovering that physical
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: path reveals the actual networks of organized crime that operate
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: just beneath the surface of legitimate society. It shows how
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: deeply interconnected the criminal ecosystem of the capital is today.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: with the regional politics of the provinces.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: And the authorities actually seem to be pulling that massive
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: sweater apart incredibly fast.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Surprisingly fast, yes.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Because the attorney general, the fiscal de la Nación, Tomas Galvez,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: he went on record with RPP Noticias to confirm that
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: they didn't just stop with the alleged hitman at the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: choke point. They have arrested two more individuals who are
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: inextricably linked to the crime.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: And this is where we really transition from looking at
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: a singular tragic act of street violence To understanding the
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: actual architecture of modern sicariato or contract killing. Right.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: The business model of it.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah. Because Galvez noted the arrest of an alleged
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: financier of the hit and also the driver who transported
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: the hitman before the murder.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: And separately from that, the reporting mentions that intelligence work
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: led to the arrest of a 29-year-old man in Serco, which,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: by the way, Serco is a very affluent commercial district
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: back in Lima.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Very different vibe from Vila El Salvador or Caraz.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Completely. And they caught him by tracking his vehicle. Now,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the sources note it's unconfirmed if this specific 29-year-old man
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: in Serco is the financier or the driver that Galvez mentioned.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: But the geographic spread of these arrests is undeniable.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Sprawling.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: You have a specialized team from Lama's Homicide Division actually
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: traveling to Ancash. to lead the charge, and arrests are
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: happening in both the mountains and the capital simultaneously.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: It perfectly illustrates the corporate-like structure of a professional hit squad.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Corporate structure.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's almost never a lone wolf with a
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: personal grudge just acting out. It is a multi-tiered enterprise.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: At the very top, You have the intellectual author, the
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: person who actually wants to target dead and stands to benefit.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: The mastermind. Right.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Then below them, you have the broker or the financier,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: the person who puts up the capital, handles the money,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: and acts as a buffer so the mastermind's hands stay clean.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: And that would be the financier arrested by Galvez.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Yes. They hold the purse strings and hire the logistics division.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: The logistics team provides the stolen vehicles. They map out
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: the escape routes, secure the safe houses. And procure the
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: weapon like our stolen Glock from Villa El Salvador.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Right, the quartermasters.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And finally, at the very bottom of this dark
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: corporate ladder, you have the execution arm, the hitman.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: The guy they caught at the crossing.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Yes. In many cases, the hitman is essentially just a
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: subcontractor brought in at the very end to do the
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: physical labor. They are often expendable, usually young men, sometimes
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: foreign nationals like the 30-year-old Venezuelan in this case, who
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: take the absolute highest physical risk for just a fraction
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: of the total payout.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: That makes total sense. And the fact that arrests are
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: happening in both Ancash and Serco proves this was a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: massive multi-regional operation. The intellectual authors and the logistical support
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: were not necessarily local guys from Karaz. They were utilizing
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: high-level resources from the capital to execute a hit way
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: out in the provinces.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: It's a national-level threat. But the speed of these arrests
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: is what is truly fascinating to me.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly what I keep getting stuck on. They
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: tracked a car to a totally different district in Lima,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: to Serco, almost immediately after the hit in Caraz.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Within hours.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: So does this rapid unraveling suggest that this criminal network
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: was actually incredibly sloppy despite their fancy corporate structure? Or
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: is it just that modern digital surveillance, you know, traffic cameras,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: cell phone pings, license plate readers, is just so ubiquitous
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: now that you simply cannot move a getaway vehicle across
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the country after a high profile murder without lighting.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Up a grid. I think it's leaning heavily toward the
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: surveillance aspect. Criminal hubris often severely underestimates the sheer volume
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: of data generated by modern movement.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: We all leave a digital trail everywhere.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: We do. When a high profile assassination occurs, especially one
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: that hits the national news cycle instantly because it was
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: live streamed, The investigative resources deployed by the state are massive.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Right. The pressure is on.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: A specialized team from Lima's Homicide Division isn't going to
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: rely solely on local witness statements, you know, asking who
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: saw a black car.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: No, they're going straight to the data.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Exactly. They immediately begin pulling electronic toll data from the
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Carretera Central. They access security camera footage from every gas
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: station on the route. They pull telecommunications metadata to see
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: exactly which cell phones were pinging towers in Carraz at
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: the time of the shooting. And then which of those
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: same phones started pinging towers along the highway heading back
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: toward Lima? Oh, wow.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: So a vehicle moving from a crime scene in Ancash
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: back to the Capitol just leaves a massive digital wake
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: behind it.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: It's basically impossible to travel that distance cleanly today. The
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: speed of these arrests suggests that while the hit was
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: meticulously planned in terms of execution, the perpetrators may not
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: have accounted for the immediate overwhelming and technologically sophisticated response
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: from specialized national police units.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: They thought they could just slip away.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Right. They might have thought they were operating in a
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: sleepy local jurisdiction where they could just intimidate the local
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: police into looking the other way. They didn't realize they
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: were triggering a national dragnet that would utilize every single
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: piece of digital infrastructure available to track them right back
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to their front door in Serco.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: But, you know, all of this rapid police work. The arrests,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the tracking, the recovery of the Glock, it all brings
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: us to the bitter reality of the aftermath.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: The human cost.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: The human cost, exactly. The community cost. Because the authorities
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: can arrest the trigger man at the Palmyra Crossing, they
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: can arrest the driver in Serco, they can fine the financier,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: but they cannot undo the damage inflicted on the social
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: fabric of Karaz.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: No, that damage is permanent.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: The reporting notes that the victim's family quickly called a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: vigil for that very Saturday night, the same day she
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: was killed. and a public march was organized for Sunday,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: September 20, just a day later, with the community demanding justice.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: If we connect this to the bigger picture, the speed
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: of that community mobilization is incredibly telling. We have to
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: consider what happens to a community when a local leader,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: a journalist who speaks truth to power, a candidate actively
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: running for regional office, is assassinated in cold blood on
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: their own streets.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: It rips the heart out of the town.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: It does. Violence of this magnitude isn't just a physical
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: attack on a single person. It is a highly calculated
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: psychological attack on the democratic process itself.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: It's psychological warfare against the voters.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Precisely. Put yourself in the shoes of a member of
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: the Socios Por Ancash party the morning after this shooting.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Imagine being a regular voter in Caraz who supported her
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: campaign or just someone who watched her reporting.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: You'd be terrified.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: The message sent by that stolen Glock isn't just that
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Suzy Aponte Polo is dead. The message is far more insidious.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: The message they are sending is we have the power
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: to reach you anywhere. We can do this in the
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: open on a Saturday afternoon while you are alive on
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the Internet and nothing will stop us.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: And this is what happens if you challenge our interests.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Exactly. It is designed to instill a paralyzing fear in
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: whoever might dare to take her place on the ballot
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: or whoever might step up to continue investigating the corruption
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: she was denouncing in that video.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: As an attempt to veto the Democratic will through sheer terror,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: it creates this chilling effect where good, capable people just
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: refuse to run for office or speak out because the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: cost of public service has literally been raised to the
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: cost of their own lives.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And no one wants to pay that price. No.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And this is exactly why this matters to you listening
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to this right now. You might live thousands of miles
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: away from Carraz. You might think local regional politics in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: another country or the intricacies of the Peruvian police force
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and the Durincre have absolutely nothing to do with your
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: daily life.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: It's easy to distance yourself from it. It is.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: But what we are looking at through the lens of
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: this specific tragedy is the universal fragility of democracy. The
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: mechanics of intimidation, they were the same everywhere.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: When bullets dictate who gets to run for office, when
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: assassination becomes just another standard tool for political or criminal leverage,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the entire concept of a free functioning society is on trial.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: If a journalist cannot speak and a candidate cannot campaign
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: without a death sentence looming over them, a death sentence
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: coordinated from a prison cell, no less than the ballot
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: box is essentially broken. It ceases to function.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Well, we have traced a horrifying, incredibly complex journey today.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: We started with a shocking live-streamed murder that shattered a
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: busy public street and injured multiple innocent bystanders, including children.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: And we looked at the ominous chilling warnings that LaChanna
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Polo broadcasted days before her death, detailing threats coordinated across
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: a decentralized network of three separate prisons and pointing fingers
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: at the highest levels of law enforcement.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Then we followed the physical path of a ghost weapon,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: a Glock stolen in the urban sprawl of Lima in 2023.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: washed through the black market, lying dormant for years before
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: reappearing as an instrument of political assassination in the Andes.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: And finally, we saw how quickly a specialized police task
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: force began dismantling the corporate structure of the hit squad,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: using modern digital surveillance to sweep up financiers and drivers
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: across multiple regions.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: It is a vast, interconnected web of criminality, technology, and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: political vulnerability. And as we close this deep dive, it
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: leaves us with a deeply unsettling reality about the times
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: we live in.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: It really does.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Because for years we have operated under this assumption that
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: technology specifically, the ability to instantly broadcast, to record, to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: live stream a public event to the world, acts as
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: a shield of transparency.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: We believe that visibility deters crime. Exactly.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: We thought that no one would commit a horrific atrocity
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: if they knew the whole world could watch it happen
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: in real time on their phones.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: But the murder of Susie Ponte Polo forces us to
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: confront a terrifying evolution in criminal behavior.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: It does. What happens to our society when perpetrators no
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: longer care if the camera's rolling? What happens when the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: visibility of a live stream is no longer a deterrent
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to the killers, but rather an intentional, calculated part of
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: their horrific message?
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: That is something we all need to sit with.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: It really is. Thank you for joining us on this
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: deep dive.