The Best Drug Cartels Documentaries

True Crime - 86 free documentaries about drug cartels.

Start with The Pink “Cocaine” Wave (23 min, VICE), then Becoming a Hitman for the Cartel (Sicarios) (41 min, VICE). All 86 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on drug cartels is Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden.

• The Pink “Cocaine” Wave | High Society (23 min, VICE)
• Becoming a Hitman for the Cartel (Sicarios) | Rites of Passage (41 min, VICE)
• Cocaine Queenpin at 17 Years Old | I Was a Teenage Felon (47 min, VICE)
• World's Most Feared Cartel | Mexico: Inside the Sinaloa (53 min, Free Documentary)
• Black Market Organs | Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (44 min, National Geographic)
• The Deal: Trump, Bukele & the Gangs of El Salvador (53 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• Cocaine White Gold | Drugs, Inc. (44 min, National Geographic)
• Cartels Are Making Millions on Fentanyl-Laced Medicine | Crimewave (19 min, VICE)
• Techno, Fascism and Flakka: Georgia’s Deadly Drug War | High Society (20 min, VICE)
• Inside the Real Narcos: Mexico (44 min, ENDEVR)
• Tracking the Supply of LSD | Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (44 min, National Geographic)
• Pablo Escobar: Man vs Myth (44 min, National Geographic)
• Inside Sinaloa Cartel: Meet the Sicarios | Drug War (53 min, ENDEVR)
• Investigating the Meth Superhighway | Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller (44 min, National Geographic)
• Dangerous Company: Foiling a Deadly Drug Smuggling Operation (94 min, Real Stories)
• The power of the drugs mafia - Cocaine and the Netherlands (28 min, DW Documentary)
• The Fragile Empires Of The Worlds Most Infamous Drug Lords (93 min, Our History)
• Cocaine for Germany (42 min, DW Documentary)
• Pablo Escobar’s Rise & Fall | The Godfather of Cocaine (83 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• Mexico’s Notorious Narco Pilots (21 min, VICE)
• Smoking Cocaine Mixed with Human Bones: Basuco | High Society (23 min, VICE)
• Is Scotland the New Cocaine Capital? | High Society (23 min, VICE)
• The Most Violent City in the World? | Cartel War in Juárez (24 min, ENDEVR)
• The World’s First Cocaine Bar: Route 36 (21 min, VICE)
• Mexico: War of the drug cartels (26 min, DW Documentary)
• Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos | Mexico, Colombia, Peru (121 min, Free Documentary)
• Meth House Stakeout (44 min, National Geographic)
• Catching The Drug Barons Of Colombia: Griselda Blanco And Carlos Lehder (93 min, Our History)
• Terror & Cocaine in the Peruvian Jungle (24 min, VICE)
• What Did It Take to Destroy Pablo Escobar’s Empire of Terror? (47 min, Our History)
• Ex-DEA Agent’s Secret Drug Empire l Interpol Investigates (47 min, Real Crime)
• $1 Billion Drug Bust: How the Coast Guard Stopped The Biggest Cartels (43 min, Wonder)
• Mexican Army: War Against Powerful Drug Cartels | The Insider: Reggie Yates (50 min, Free Documentary)
• Narco Bling: Chapo Guzman End Game (46 min, National Geographic)
• Fighting The Acapulco Drug Cartel | Reggie Yates: The Insider (50 min, Real Stories)
• The Fall of El Chapo (86 min, Real Stories)
• Inside A Drug Empire: The Rise & Fall Of El Chapo (95 min, Real Stories)
• The Cartel’s Cash Catch (39 min, VICE)
• TaeKwonDo Rockers vs. Cocaine-Dealing Ninjas: The True Story of 'Miami Connection' (23 min, VICE)
• World's Biggest Market | Inside Central de Abasto: Cartel’s Playground? (51 min, Free Documentary)
• Drug War in Ecuador (53 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• Deadly Cocaine Alliance: Albanian Mafia & the Colombian Cartel | Criminal Planet (44 min, VICE)
• Afghanistan: Caught between drug cartels and the Taliban (52 min, DW Documentary)
• Inside the Real Narcos: Colombia (45 min, ENDEVR)
• Narcos in Paradise | Los Cabos: Where Millionaires and Mexican Cartels Collide (53 min, Free Documentary)
• Interpol vs The Juárez Cartel: Inside The Infamous Drug War (47 min, Real Crime)
• Tata: The Woman Who Loved Pablo Escobar (Part 2) (45 min, Real Stories)
• Inside the Real Narcos: Peru (46 min, ENDEVR)
• World's Most Brutal Cartel | Mexico: The Sinaloa Connection (44 min, Free Documentary)
• Everyone is Living Off Cocaine Here | Crisis in Cocaine Valley (48 min, Free Documentary)
• USCGC Betholf: On The Frontlines Of America's War On Drugs (46 min, Spark)
• The Netherlands - A Failed Narco State? | Mocro Mafia (52 min, ENDEVR)
• World’s Most Feared Cartel War | Mexico: Enter at Your Own Risk (45 min, Free Documentary)
• Gangland Marseille: War of the Drug Cartels (58 min, Free Documentary)
• The Drug Wars (S2, E8) | America's Book of Secrets (43 min, HISTORY)
• Dope Men - America's First Drug Cartel | The War That Was Built on a Lie (69 min, Moconomy)
• When El Chapo Met Sean Penn | Bungle In The Jungle (44 min, Real Crime)
• Uncovering crime and corruption - Anabel Hernández takes on Mexico's drug cartels (52 min, DW Documentary)
• Narco Cartels: The COMPLETE History Drug Trafficking (157 min, ENDEVR)
• World's Most Feared Narco Stronghold | Ecuador: Overrun by Cartels (24 min, Free Documentary)
• The Real Narcos Of The Beach: How Surfers Became Traffickers (26 min, Real Stories)
• White Gold: The Rise & Fall Of Peru’s Cocaine Economy (48 min, Real Stories)
• Beyond the High: The Real Cost of Cocaine From The Jungle (45 min, Real Stories)
• Pablo Escobar: The True Story Of The Ruthless Colombian Drug Lord (63 min, Timeline - World History Documentaries)
• Cartels, Mega Prisons, Total Chaos | Ecuador: The Narco Wars (52 min, Free Documentary)
• Pablo Escobar's Cartel Take Down: FBI's Most Dangerous Undercover Mission (49 min, Real Crime)
• World's Deadliest Narco Zones: Trapped Among Cartels | Mexico, Honduras, Colombia (134 min, Free Documentary)
• Cartels Explained: How the Drug Trade Really Works (142 min, Real Crime)
• CIA Secrets: Exposing How The Drug Business Actually Works (47 min, Real Crime)
• El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle In The Jungle (43 min, Real Stories)
• Dangerous Cities: Chihuahua - Life Under Cartel Rule (53 min, Free Documentary)
• In Their Own Words MEGA Episode: Narco Wars, Bernie Madoff, Deepwater Horizon (132 min, National Geographic)
• From the Jungle to the Street: The Life Cycle Of Cocaine (134 min, Real Stories)
• Colombian Cartels: Meet the World's Biggest Drug Suppliers (44 min, Free Documentary)
• How The CIA Created a Kingpin: Exposing Pablo Escobar's Pilot (140 min, Real Crime)
• How Do You Steal a $2 Million Plane Back From The Cartel? (43 min, Wonder)
• Pablo Escobar: Inside The Brutal Legacy Of A Drug Kingpin (178 min, Real Crime)
• Los Cabos: Drug War in Paradise | Mexican Drug War (53 min, ENDEVR)
• Mama Coca | How the Drug War Destroys Indigenous Lives (51 min, Moconomy)
• Exposing El Chapo’s Final Capture: The End Of His Empire (57 min, Real Crime)

Top-Rated Books About Drug Cartels

1. Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden (4.7/5) - View on Amazon
2. Narconomics by Tom Wainwright - View on Amazon
3. El Narco by Ioan Grillo - View on Amazon
4. Dreamland by Sam Quinones (4/5) - View on Amazon