Episode 369: Mom Hunted Down 10 Cartel Members For Killing Daughter - Real Life “Taken”
3 people are sitting at a table in a diner. Miriam, a middle aged woman sits stiffly, and across from her are two young men. One of them fiddles with a radio; a police scanner. He leans towards Miriam as if they’re sharing a secret across the table.
“Your daughter smoke weed or something?” She gives him a look. Radio man continues, “I mean… she’s just so relaxed. Easy to deal with which is good. I like that. That’s why I want to let her go… for a price.”
He tells Miriam that he will convince his boss to spare her daughter from a torturous death for $2k USD cash. Miriam suppresses a smile; she has to play along or else everything she’s planned will fall apart.
Her daughter Karen had been kidnapped by one of the most dangerous cartels in all of Mexico and Miriam knew that nobody gets taken by that cartel and gets out alive. She also knew that she would not stop until she took every single member out for what they had done to her family.
Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com
Sources
Book “Fear is just a word”, Azam Ahmed
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/books/review/fear-is-just-a-word-azam-ahmed.html?searchResultPosition=2 Review/Summary of the book
https://www.unilad.com/news/woman-hunted-mexican-cartel-kidnapped-daughter-955284-20230116
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/world/americas/miriam-rodriguez-san-fernando.html Very complete source, has some variations compared to the book. I mostly favored the book’s version. But I got most of the pictures from here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/24/world/americas/miriam-rodriguez-mexico-cartel-zeta.html?searchResultPosition=1 Summary of the book. Got many pictures from here too.
https://crimereads.com/the-grieving-mother-who-became-an-angel-of-vengeance/
“Espooky Tales: The Case of Miriam Rodriguez”, PNW Haunts & Homicides
“T3E50: ‘LA madre que aterrorizo al narco’ (La carcería de Miriam Rodríguez)”, Sindicato de Ignorantes
“La Lucha de uma Madre contra El Cartél. Miriam Rodríguez y El Monstrue de los Andes/Episodio #2”, Amigas de Sempre
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/criminal-violence-mexico
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-long-war-drugs-crime-and-cartels
https://www.storybench.org/visualizing-mexicos-drug-cartels-roundup-maps/
https://www.globalguardian.com/global-digest/los-zetas-cartel
https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/zetas-turned-mexico-prison-mass-grave/
https://eyecatcher.si/the-rise-and-fall-of-los-zetas/
https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/64216.html
https://huridocs.org/2023/08/from-pain-to-purpose-families-journey-to-find-disappeared-loved-ones/
https://socialistworker.org/2017/05/18/justice-for-miriam-rodriguez
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-39892613
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/miriam-rodriguez-mexican-activist-disappeared-shot-dead-1.4113797
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-39904478
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-39892613
https://www.dw.com/en/woman-who-searched-for-mexicos-disappeared-is-slain/a-38808612
Production Note:
Rotten Mango has not done original reporting on this case. The stories are based on existing material (listed in show notes).
The RM team works hard to make sure everything you’re listening to is as accurate as possible and we try to use multiple sources to verify the facts. Creative liberties may be taken in certain cases during the presentation of the case. Please email us at rottenmangop@gmail.com if you have any questions!