Transcript
Mark Gagnor (0:00)
This is the story of Adolfo Constanzo, the narco Satanist. This is one of the most effed up, brutal criminal cases in modern history. A drug trafficking cult led by El Padrino. These violent, brutal rituals, many of which involving human sacrifice, they're moving insane amounts of drugs, it's extremely violent and they're making a ton of money. So for these guys, they're like, hey, we can just sacrifice this person because we're already committing murder and we can use this sacrifice to then protect ourselves. This is what they actually thought. Adolfo decided that the cult needed to sacrifice an American, believing that it would strengthen their rituals and protect the group from law enforcement, specifically in America. So how does he get these people involved? How does he get the people to actually carry out these rituals? So let's go all the way back to the beginning. What's up, people? And welcome back to camp. My name is Mark Gagnor and welcome to my tent where every week, twice a week, we have some of the most interesting interviews or deep dives into the most fascinating, strange, controversial stories from all time, from around the world, throughout the universe. This is my tent where I do all of this every week. I'm joined by my friend Christos over there on the shiny buttons.
Christos (1:17)
How are you doing? Good.
Mark Gagnor (1:18)
All right, all right, all right. So today we have a fascinating, morbid and dark story that, I'll be honest, kind of freaked me out. If you know anything about me, I grew up very religious and anything about Satanism or some type of, you know, human sacrifice of people for the, you know, the benefit of the spirits, I don't like it. I don't like to get political or controversial on this show, but makes me uncomfortable. And this is the story of Adolfo Constanzo. This is the narco Satanist of Matamoros in Mexico. So our story begins in 1989 with the disappearance of a young American student named Mark hilroy at age 21 when he was in spring break in Matamoros, Mexico. And this would lead authorities to uncover one of the most effed up, brutal criminal cases in modern history. The investigation exposed a drug trafficking cult led by Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a Cuban American known as El Padrino. This is the Godfather in English. Constanzo's group blended elements of Palo Mayombe and other Afro Caribbean religions, twisting them into these violent, brutal rituals, many of which involving human sacrifice. The cult's activities, which included murder and ritualistic mutilation of Kilroy and others, drew a ton of international attention and highlighted the dangers of criminal groups basically taking religion and religious imagery for their own ends. So how did we get here? Let's go all the way back to the beginning, right? Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo was born in 1962 in Miami, Florida, to Cuban immigrant parents. He was the eldest of several children from many different fathers and was raised Catholic. He got baptized, was an altar boy. But his mother, Delia Ororo Gonzalez, she practiced Santeria and later became involved in Palo Mayombe. This is a Afro Caribbean religious tradition with roots in West Africa. And after the death of her first husband, she moved to Puerto Rico, specifically San Juan, where she became more deeply involved in this Palo Mayombe and introduced Adolfo to these practices, kind of blending them with their Catholic background. And while Santeria and Pablo Mayombe have their own spiritual and moral codes, Constanzo and his mother practiced them in ways that vastly diverged from the mainstream tradition. So 1972, they returned to Miami, and over those years, his mother got married three different times. Her last partner kind of shared similar beliefs, practicing occultism and, and also happened to sell drugs. I mean, I feel like those things go hand in hand, you know what I mean? Like doing drugs and being just a straight up Satanist. Sorry, Satanist. I shouldn't judge. I'm. I'm trying to be better. So Constanzo kind of was on his path. Right after leaving high school, his behavior grows more and more criminal. Him and his mother get arrested several times for shoplifting, and he actually gets expelled from his high school for bad conduct. And instead of kind of fixing his path, he continues to practice what his mother had taught him. She convinces him that he's special and that he actually has psychic abilities to predict the future. So as a teenager, he befriended this Palomayombe priest who actually taught him these advanced rituals for success. So by 1980, with his newfound knowledge and connections, he offered his services as a black magician in Miami. And it wasn't until 1983 that friends told him about a amazing opportunity, this lucrative modeling opportunity in Mexico. So what does he do? He moves to the Zona Rosa in Mexico City, quickly finding, you know, prosperity and connections and some good success. And maybe the Palo Mayombe was paying off, right? So he was known as being kind of charismatic and pretty good looking and allegedly had some relationships with both men and women. So he sets up his own business, kind of offering protection and purification rituals that, you know, start to actually make him some good money. And not only does it bring him some money, it brings him connections. So as the story goes, he starts attracting these high profile Mexican personalities. I mean, from politicians, actors, you know, cartel members, police officers, officers. Everyone is now going to this guy in this town, in this part of Mexico City to get his spiritual services. So during this time, he continues to immerse himself in Santeria. His ambition for power leads him now to practice rituals involving sacrifice of animals. And then that slowly progresses to human sacrifice and even cannibalism. I mean, you're hearing me right straight up, like eating human beings. And still his popularity grows so much that he actually travels across Mexico, including Matamoros and you know, larger and larger cities throughout the country where he starts to associate with criminal organizations. And again, he offers them this type of spiritual protection in exchange for these massive sums of money. Soon he establishes his operations in Matamoros. So by the 80s, Constanzo's criminal activities escalate as he starts to perform these rituals involving human sacrifice for drug traffickers. Because again, these drug traffickers in the cartels at the time, and you know, even to this day, they're moving insane amounts of drugs, it's extremely violent, and they're making a ton of money. So for these guys, they're like, hey, we can just sacrifice this person because we're already committing murder and we can use this sacrifice to then protect ourselves. This is what they actually thought. So they're going to Constanzo to actually perform these black magic rituals for them. And he was even aided by different women that he was sleeping with. So Martin Quinta Rodriguez and Omar Orea Ochoa, who he had recruited in Mexico city. So in 1987, Constanzo orchestrates a staged meeting with a college student from Texas. This is insane, how manipulated this guy is. So this woman named Sarah Aldrete, this is a just a girl that goes to college in, in Texas. And he basically nearly collides with her in his car, kind of making it look like this serendipitous moment. And from that moment, he starts to gradually draw her into his world, exploiting her connections to the Hernandez drug trafficking family. Aldrete introduces Constanzo to Elio Hernandez, a cartel leader in the area. And he becomes a Elio Hernandez's high priest, participating in rituals that include torture and murder. So how does he get these people involved? How does he get the people to actually carry out these rituals? So new recruits, often men in their early 20s, were indoctrinated through hands on participation in these violent ceremonies. So Constanzo claimed that his magic could make them invincible to law enforcement. He promised Basically, you know, by his alliances with corrupt federal police that nothing would ever happen if they went on with the torture and abuse and murder of these different people for the gods, for Satan, really. So the cult's financing came from the drug profits and, you know, fees for these sort of occult spiritual practices with Constanzo flaunting wealth from, you know, luxury cars to gold jewelry to kind of legitimize that this was actually serving some type of spiritual power. So in the following years, some events began to occur in Matamoros. Police discovered eight bodies, mutilated, tortured, tied to cement blocks near a river. And they couldn't explain what had happened, but they were extremely disturbed by what they found. The cult set up operations at a place known as Rancho Santa Elena. This is a remote ranch outside of the city of Matamoros. And it was there that they prepared this cauldron known in Palo Mayombe, known as Nganga. And this was used for protection against these evil spirits. And the ingredients that they used inside of this cauldron to create this elixir was a mix of wood and cigar parts and animal pieces and human ribs and tibias and skulls, with the brain still, I mean, everything you could imagine as far as, like an evil, evil satanic stew. And they believed that the brain was integral to creating this, you know, sort of concoction because it retained the human power, the life force of the victim that they took it from. So white victims were specifically sought after as the tradition within this cult kind of believed that the brains were more powerful, that they were more potent, and torture was a key element in, in these sacrifices. So on one occasion, one of the victims was Gilberto Sosa, a former police officer turned drug dealer. And Sarah Aldrete ordered him hung and then submerged him in boiling water. And while he screamed, Sarah cut into his chest with scissors to subject him to even more brutal torture, ultimately turning his body into this concoction, which then they all consumed, believing that it would fill them with power. And these atrocities at Rancho Santa Elena are still considered among the worst tragedies in Mexican history. So that takes us back to the abduction of Mark Kilroy. March 14, 1989. Adolfo Constanzo decided that the cult needed to sacrifice an American, believing that it would strengthen their rituals and protect the group from law enforcement, specifically in America. So during spring break, Constanzo and his followers targeted American college students in Matamoros, Mexico. Mark Kilroy, a 21 year old pre med student from the University of Texas, was separated from his friends in the early morning hours of March 15. As they walked towards the border, cult members Seraphin Hernandez, posing as a police officer, approached Kilroy, showed a badge, and told him that he was under arrest. Kilroy was then led to a waiting vehicle and driven several miles to the Santa Elena ranch controlled by the cult. He was then held overnight, tied up, and the next day was killed in this brutal satanic ritual. His skull was later found in a cauldron used for the cult's ceremonies. So meanwhile, Mark's friends, unable to find him after hours of searching, tell the local authorities and contact his parents, who then quickly travel to the border area to help with the search. Over the following days, police in Matamoros and Brownsville checked hospitals and jails and morgues while border patrol agents searched the Rio Grande. But still there was no trace of Mark. His parents distributed flyers and offered a $15,000 reward just for information, again working closely with both the US and the Mexican officials. And the case soon drew the involvement of the FBI and other US Agencies and gained national attention. But despite these efforts, there was no immediate leads on his whereabouts. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really.