The Underworld Podcast

Episode: Cattle Rustlers to Cocaine Kings: Los Cachiros

Date: November 18, 2025
Hosts: Sean Williams & Danny Gold

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the meteoric rise and dramatic fall of Los Cachiros, a Honduran clan that climbed from rural cattle rustling to running one of Central America’s most powerful cocaine smuggling empires in tight partnership with elites, politicians, and international drug cartels. Drawing on deep reporting and vivid storytelling, Sean and Danny unravel how local corruption, geopolitical upheaval, and family ambition allowed Los Cachiros to move billions in coke—and how their eventual collapse revealed just how deeply embedded organized crime is in Honduras’ society and state.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Narco Legacy in Honduras

• Historical Recap: The episode picks up from the aftermath of Juan Mata Ballesteros, once believed to be Honduras' kingpin whose conviction was supposed to curb the country’s drug trade.
• "In Latin America, drugs are a family business." (Sean Williams, 01:19)
• Honduras, deeply corrupted by ties between drug lords, politicians, and military, remained a narco-state despite US interventions.

2. Why Honduras Remained a Trafficking Hub

• Weak Laws & Endemic Corruption: Until the late 1990s, Honduras had little legislation against laundering narco proceeds.
• Lack of enforcement and underpaid police enabled organized crime to flourish.
• Leftover weapons from the Contra War (US arms shipments) flooded the country, fueling violence and enforcing cartel power.
  • “By some counts there are over half a million guns in a country of 6.5 million people.” (Sean Williams, 11:28)
• The rise of US-deported gangs (MS-13, 18th Street) added mayhem throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

3. Los Cachiros: From Cattle Rustlers to Cocaine Lords

• Origins:
  • The Cachiros began as poor rural cattle rustlers in Colón, eastern Honduras, gradually building connections to the affluent Rosenthal family.
  • “They're just like dirt poor roughneck guys from the jungle. But they don't stay that way for long.” (Sean Williams, 18:06)
• Symbiotic Partnership:
  • By selling cattle and banking with the Rosenthals, Los Cachiros cemented business and political ties that laid the foundation for a narco-empire.
  • “By glomming onto one of Honduras most powerful men, the Kachiros go from redneck cattle rustlers to rural elites.” (Sean Williams, 16:41)

4. Building a Transnational Empire: Networks, Violence, Expansion

• Strategic Alliances:
  • Formed key relationships with underworld figure “El Coque” and corrupt police chief “El Tigre” Valladares to gain control over smuggling routes and eliminate rivals.
  • “They cement power in their home state of Colon by keeping the chief of police on their payroll.” (Sean Williams, 24:48)
• Methods & Business Model:
  • Controlled airstrips and clandestine landing sites, moving 1–5 tons of cocaine per month, yielding up to $12.5 million monthly.
  • Used cattle, palm oil, construction, and even a zoo and a soccer team as fronts for laundering proceeds.
  • “Their cattle company is one of the biggest meat suppliers in all of Honduras.” (Sean Williams, 45:03)
• Violence as a Tool:
  • Retaliated savagely against rivals—ordering assassinations, orchestrating shootouts, and using police raids as cover for killings.

5. Political Upheaval and Narco Ascendancy (The 2009 Coup)

• Coup's Impact:
  • In 2009, a disputed military coup ousted President Zelaya, triggering chaos: US aid froze, the army hunkered down in the capital, and traffickers took over neglected regions.
  • “The result was a kind of cocaine gold rush. Flights from ... Venezuela and Colombia to airstrips in Honduras skyrocketed ...” (Sean Williams, 49:13)
• Los Cachiros' Zenith:
  • Took advantage by “building entire new airstrips, complete with lighting and other facilities like proper, actual airports.” (Sean Williams, 39:08)
  • Entered an “era of incredible wealth” with ever more elaborate business ventures.

6. Criminal State and Societal Collapse

• Control Over State Apparatus:
  • Bribed/corrupted top police and politicians (the Lobo and Rosenthal families).
  • Escalated violence: “By 2011, Honduras holds a title that no country envies. It has the highest homicide rate on Earth with 93.2 people killed per 100,000.” (Sean Williams, 46:46)
• Popular Cynicism:
  • “4/5 of Hondurans do not believe that the police is capable of fighting the bloodshed ... and 4/5 of Hondurans are correct.” (Sean Williams, 48:16)

7. The Fall: US Crackdown and the Cartel’s Undoing

• US Enforcement Ramps Up:
  • Following extradition treaties, asset freezes, and Kingpin Act designations, pressure mounts.
  • Rosenthal family placed under US sanctions for laundering Kachiros’ money.
  • Key Kachiros members surrendered and testified, implicating politicians, police, and bank executives.
• Collapse and Testimony:
  • “Javier and Devis Rivera ... hands himself in at the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa. And Devis follows suit soon after. By January 26, Javier pleads guilty to drug trafficking. And both of them sing like birds about their friends in government, big business. And the police ...” (Sean Williams, 53:44)
• Aftermath:
  • Major prosecutions of elites, heads of state, and police officials.
  • Despite this, Honduras continued to operate as a key transit hub for cocaine into the 2020s, underscoring the resilience of organized crime structures.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Corruption & Law:
  “Honduran leaders have to be dragged kicking and screaming into passing these laws, much less enforcing them, because obviously they're all on the take, just like the country's cops.”
  — Sean Williams (10:25)

• Drug Lord Economics:
  “What actually to do with all of the bills that you had ... there’s those stories of like rats getting to something, just eating like millions and millions of dollars of bills ...”
  — Danny Gold (09:46)

• On Political Upheaval:
  “If you're like a leftist, you think he's been like completely removed. Violently. If you are on the other side ... you think he's trying to snatch power. ... If you're normal, I mean, it's a coup, but a coup for a reason.”
  — Sean Williams (34:58)

• Reality of “Going Legit”:
  “Why not pull like the, you know, the thing in every TV show about organized crime? Like, you got all these legitimate businesses making a lot of money. Like, why not at this point, just, like, go clean?”
  — Danny Gold (45:21)

• On Police and Murder Rates:
  “We were in a crisis because the institution of the police had a crisis of credibility. The problem was so serious that we even analyzed scenarios to close the police.”
  — Honduran Secretary of Security, cited by Sean Williams (48:44)

• On The Downfall:
  “It was that decision that led to the collapse of their fortune.” (Rosenthal family/Los Cachiros partnership)
  — Revista Enbio, quoted by Sean Williams (57:02)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:00] – The scene-setting: post-Mata Ballesteros, rise of familial narco trade.
• [10:25] – Why anti-drug hopes were dashed: legal and institutional failures.
• [13:48] – Introduction of US-deported gangs (MS-13, 18th Street).
• [16:41] – The origins and rapid ascent of Los Cachiros.
• [24:48] – The Kachiros’ method: business alliances, police on payroll, expansion.
• [28:01] – Bloody fallout with El Coque; use of police for hits.
• [31:20] – Their business model: scale, exports, tonnage, monthly earnings.
• [34:02] – The 2009 coup: causes, confusion, and impact on narco trafficking.
• [39:53] – Diversification into zoos, soccer clubs, and other laundering vehicles.
• [45:03] – Kachiros at their peak: vast businesses, immense power, local respect.
• [46:46] – World-record homicide rates; policing in crisis.
• [49:13] – US pressure: extradition, asset freezes, Kingpin Act.
• [53:44] – Turn of events: Kachiros leadership surrenders, testimony, and takedown.
• [57:02] – The Rosenthal family’s collapse: laundering, asset seizure.
• [58:31] – Politicians, police, and kingpins all fall—Honduras remains a narco crossroads.

Tone & Style

The episode is conversational, wry, and blends in macabre humor with fact-based reporting and dense historical context. Sean’s narrative is interspersed with Danny’s skeptical, comic interjections—making complex geopolitics both accessible and engaging.

Conclusion

“Cattle Rustlers to Cocaine Kings: Los Cachiros” exposes how poverty, opportunism, and systemic corruption can catapult rural nobodies to narco royalty—with devastating consequences for an entire country. Even after the collapse of Los Cachiros, Honduras remains gripped by violence and the tentacles of transnational trafficking, setting up future episodes that promise even more political intrigue and underworld drama.

For Further Engagement

• Reference Episode: For background on Juan Mata Ballesteros, listen to the prior episode.
• More Deep Dives: Future episodes will detail the reign of successor President Juan Orlando Hernandez and ongoing US interventions.

For more details, bonus interviews, and extended reading lists:
Subscribe to their Patreon and visit underworldpod.com