Public DomainThe Merchants House Museum in 1936, the year it opened to the public.In 1832, Manhattan merchant Joseph Brewster built a rowhouse in the area now known as the East Village. This historic home was transformed into a museum a century later, whereupon curators learned of a secret passage connecting a second-story hallway to the basement, but they werent sure of its purpose.Now, however, that hidden passageway has been linked to the Underground Railroad. Extensive research has revealed that Brewster was a fervent abolitionist, and historians believe that he built his home to serve as a safe haven for enslaved people trying to escape to the north during a time when even New York City wasnt safe for fugitives seeking freedom.The History Of The Merchants House MuseumJoseph Brewster was a wealthy hat merchant who built a towering residence on 4th Street in 1832. Three years later, he sold the house to the Tredwell family, who lived there for the next century. Then, in 1936, it opened to the public as a museum showcasing a perfectly preserved 19th-century rowhouse.Because Brewster lived in the home for just three years, the Merchants House Museum mostly focused on the history and belongings of the Tredwells. However, some odd choices that Brewster made during the buildings construction have long piqued the curiosity of historians.Pulling out the bottom drawer of a built-in dresser located in a hallway between two bedrooms on the homes second story reveals a small opening cut into the floorboards. Inside is a ladder that descends 15 feet to what would have been a basement pantry at the time the rowhouse was built.Merchants House Museum/YouTubeA built-in dresser conceals the hidden passageway thats been linked to the Underground Railroad.Emily Hill-Wright, the museums director of operations, told ABC 7, The story goes in our institutional archives that painters came and they removed the drawers to paint. And thats when the passage was discovered. But for years, nobody knew why it was there.At first, museum officials assumed that it may have been a laundry chute or a secret space for children to play in. But no similar houses from the time period had such passages.Then, two years ago, museum historian Ann Haddad started looking into Joseph Brewsters past and made a discovery that explained everything.The Discovery Of A Secret Underground Railroad Stop In New York CityHaddads research revealed that Brewster wasnt just a successful merchant: He was an ardent abolitionist. He signed at least two anti-slavery petitions during his lifetime, and he used his wealth to found three anti-slavery churches. One of them, located just a few blocks away from the Merchants House Museum, was constructed with a false floor, per Brewsters instructions. This suggests that the church may have been used to shelter freedom-seekers trying to flee northward via the Underground Railroad.And Brewsters own home was seemingly another stop along the way. The rowhouses original kitchen and pantry were renovated long ago, but they may have once opened into an alleyway behind the residence. The passage beneath the upstairs dresser could have provided both a short-term hiding place and secret escape path for any enslaved men, women, or children who were concealed in Brewsters house.Merchants House Museum/YouTubeA makeshift ladder descends 15 feet from a bedroom area into what was once a basement pantry.Although slavery was abolished in New York in 1827, New York City remained pro-slavery throughout the early 19th century, and fugitive slave catchers essentially had free rein in Manhattan.In New York, at the time, it was extremely dangerous for Black New Yorkers, but it was also dangerous for the people who assisted, said Hill-Wright. Freedom seekers really were risking their livelihoods and their lives. There are no other spaces that really still exist intact like this. And so thats part of what makes this passage such an important find.In a statement from the Merchants House Museum, architectural historian Patrick Ciccone agreed with Hill-Wrights emphasis on the significance of this discovery. Given how very, very few physical traces of the Underground Railroad survive anywhere in the U.S., the existence and physical integrity of this space give the 1832 landmark Merchants House additional magnitudes of incalculable historical significance.After reading about the Underground Railroad stop that was discovered in an historic New York City home, go inside the incredible story of Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman. Then, learn about the Pearl Incident, the largest attempted slave escape in American history.The post A Stop On The Underground Railroad Has Been Discovered Hidden Inside New Yorks Merchants House Museum appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Hes been hailed as El Padrino and hes fascinated many thanks to his complex portrayal in Netflixs Narcos: Mexico. But Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo is far from innocent. The Godfather of the Guadalajara Cartel has written as much in his own prison diary, published by Gatopardo magazine in 2009 under the headline Diaries of the Boss of Bosses.Flix Gallardo wrote openly about trafficking cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. He also recounted the day of his capture by Mexican authorities. With a tinge of nostalgia, he even referred to himself as one of the old capos. But he denied any part in the brutal murder and torture of the DEA agent Kiki Camarena the crime for which he is still currently in prison.In Narcos: Mexico, Flix Gallardos transformation into a drug lord seems almost accidental. In reality, the Guadalajara Cartel leader was the boss of bosses whose eventual arrest triggered a massive drug war.The Making Of Miguel ngel Flix GallardoPublic DomainMiguel ngel Flix Gallardo originally pursued a career in law enforcement before joining forces with the narcos.In his diary, Flix Gallardo is not all cartels and cocaine. He recalls in earnest his childhood in poverty and the general lack of resources and opportunities that were available to Mexican nationals like him and his family.Today, the violence in the cities needs a program of national reconciliation, he writes. There needs to be a reconstruction of villages and ranches to make them self-sufficient. There needs to be assembly plants and credit at low interest, incentives for cattle and schools. Perhaps it was his early years of destitution that led him to pursue a life of crime.Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo was born on January 8, 1946, on a ranch in Sinaloa, Mexico, a state in northwestern Mexico. He joined the police force at 17 and started working for the government as a Mexican Federal Judicial Police agent.Flix Gallardos department was infamous for being corrupt. Perhaps desperate to find stability and make more money after a childhood of destitution, Flix Gallardo turned to the narcos for a way out of poverty.While working as a bodyguard for Sinaloa governor Leopoldo Snchez Celis, Flix Gallardo met Pedro viles Perez. He was another bodyguard to the governor but he was also known to have been a drug smuggler.Before long, viles Perez was recruiting Flix Gallardo for his marijuana and heroin enterprise. And when viles Perez died in a shoot-out with the police in 1978, Flix Gallardo took over the business and consolidated Mexicos drug trafficking system under a single operation: the Guadalajara Cartel. Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo would then become known as El Padrino, or The Godfather, of the entire criminal organization.Flix Gallardos Massive Success With The Guadalajara CartelBy the 1980s, Flix Gallardo and his associates Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo controlled Mexicos drug trafficking system. Included in their drug empire was the jaw-dropping Rancho Bfalo marijuana plantation, which reportedly measured up to 1,344 acres and produced up to $8 billion in product every year, according to The Atlantic. The Guadalajara Cartel was so successful that Flix Gallardo decided to expand his organization. He even partnered with the Cali Cartel and the Medelln Cartel of Colombia to export his products to Tijuana. Wikimedia CommonsMiguel ngel Flix Gallardos associate Rafael Caro Quintero, pictured during a 2016 interview in Mexico.Though Narcos: Mexico depicts a crossover meeting between Flix Gallardo and the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, it is extremely unlikely that this actually would have happened, according to experts.Still, theres no doubt that Flix Gallardos partnership with other cartels strengthened his business. And it helped even more that the Mexican DFS (or Direccion Federal de Seguridad) intelligence agency protected the Guadalaraja Cartel from getting into serious trouble along the way.As long as Flix Gallardo paid the right people, a ring of corruption kept his team out of jail and his cartel operations safe from scrutiny. That is, until the murder of DEA agent Enrique Kiki Camarena Salazar.How The Killing Of Kiki Camarena Upended The Guadalajara CartelOn February 7, 1985, a group of corrupt Mexican officials kidnapped DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who had infiltrated the Guadalajara Cartel. His abduction was in retaliation for the destruction of Rancho Bfalo, which Mexican soldiers had been able to find thanks to the agents work. A month later, the DEA found Camarenas badly beaten remains 70 miles outside of Guadalajara, Mexico. His skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones, and windpipe were crushed, his ribs were broken, and a hole was drilled into his head. Shortly after the grisly discovery, Flix Gallardo became a suspect.I was taken to the DEA, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo wrote. I greeted them and they wanted to talk. I only answered that I had no involvement in the Camarena case and I said, You said a madman would do it and I am not mad. I am deeply sorry for the loss of your agent.' Wikimedia CommonsThe brutal murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena triggered an all-out war between the DEA and the Guadalajara Cartel, and ultimately led to the downfall of Flix Gallardo.As Flix Gallardo saw it, killing a DEA agent was bad for business, and he often chose business over brutality. As the boss of bosses, he did not want to jeopardize his empire. Still, the authorities believed that he had something to do with it. After all, Camarena had infiltrated his cartel.The search launched to find those responsible for Camarenas murder, known as Operation Leyenda, was the largest ever undertaken in the DEAs history. But the mission brought about more questions than answers.Most cartel informants thought that Flix Gallardo had ordered Camarenas capture, but that Caro Quintero had ordered his death. Additionally, a former DEA agent named Hector Berrellez found that the CIA may have also known about the plan to kidnap Camarena but chose not to intervene. By September 1989, he learned from witnesses of CIA involvement. By April 1994, Berrellez was removed from the case, wrote Charles Bowden in an investigative article about Camarenas death which took 16 years to write.Two years later he retired with his career in ruins. In October 2013, he goes public with his allegations about the CIA.Brent Clingman/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty ImagesThis billboard along Highway 111 was put up by friends of slain DEA agent Kiki Camarena.But long before those allegations went public, Kiki Camarenas death brought the full wrath of the DEA down on the Guadalajara Cartel. Shortly after the 1985 murder, Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo were arrested.Flix Gallardos political connections kept him safe until 1989, when Mexican authorities arrested him from his home, still in a bathrobe. Police officers bribed some of those Flix Gallardo had called friends to help bring him to justice. Three of them came at me and knocked me to the ground with rifle butts, he later wrote in his prison diary about his arrest. They were people I had known since 1971 in Culiacn [in Sinaloa].Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo was worth over $500 million when he was apprehended. He was eventually sentenced to 37 years in prison.Where Is Flix Gallardo Now And What Happened To The Guadalajara Cartel?Flix Gallardos arrest became an impetus for exposing just how corrupt Mexicos police force was. In the days that followed his apprehension, some 90 policemen deserted while several commanders were arrested.The prosperity Flix Gallardo brought to the Mexican cartel was unmatched and he managed to continue orchestrating business from behind bars. But his hold on the cartel from within prison quickly fell apart, especially since he was soon placed in a maximum-security facility. As the DEA fought a war on drugs, other cartel leaders started to push into his territory, and everything that he had built started to crumble. The downfall of Flix Gallardo was later linked to Mexicos violent cartel war, as other drug lords battled for the power that El Padrino once had.YouTube/Noticias TelemundoAt age 75, Flix Gallardo granted his first interview in decades to Noticias Telemundo in August 2021.As time marched on, some of Flix Gallardos associates left prison. Caro Quintero was released in 2013 on a legal technicality and is still wanted by both Mexican and U.S. law to this day. In 2016, he gave an interview from hiding to Mexicos Proceso magazine denying any role in Camarenas murder and rejecting reports that he had returned to the drug world.Fonseca Carrillo was transferred to house arrest in 2016 under terms granted to elderly prisoners with health problems. Flix Gallardo tried to make the same transfer, but his request was denied. However, he was able to move from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security one.In August 2021, the former drug lord had granted his first interview in decades to reporter Issa Osorio at Noticias Telemundo. In the interview, he once again denied involvement in the Camarena case: Im not aware why theyve linked me to that crime. I never met that man. Let me reiterate: Im not into weapons. Im really sorry because I know he was a good man.Surprisingly, Flix Gallardo also commented on his portrayal in Narcos: Mexico, saying that he did not identify with the character in the series.As of May 2022, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo is 76 years old and will likely spend the rest of his days behind bars, as he is known to be in declining health.NetflixActor Diego Luna as Flix Gallardo in Narcos: Mexico.Still, Flix Gallardos history with the cartel and his link to Camarenas death continues to inspire TV shows, films, and books. His presence in pop culture has also shone a public spotlight on drug trafficking. As a result, cartels have changed into regional operations, like the Sinaloa Cartel that was once famously controlled by Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, and operations were driven underground. But they are far from over.In 2017, a location scout named Carlos Muoz Portal was killed in rural Mexico while working on Narcos: Mexico. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate, Netflix stated.If history is any indication, his death will probably remain a mystery.After this look at Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, explore these raw photos that reveal the futility of the Mexican Drug War. Then, check out the man who could be the real brains behind the Medelln Cartels success.The post Meet Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, The Bill Gates Of Cocaine Who Put Mexican Narcotrafficking On The Map appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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