The Cartel Olympics, a competition where prisoners fight to the death to the amusement of the elite of Mexican society

Is there a secret sports competition between the cartels, taking place somewhere in the mountains of Mexico, under the watchful eye of society's elite? Is there a race between the prisoners of the cartels in which they fight for life and death, their only escape is to win the gold medals?

Mauricio Moraleswhich Robert Reynolds, a Las Vegas attorney and talent manager, introduced as a beloved UN volunteer in refugee camps in Syria, Ukraine and Mexico, says yes, there is.

Mauricio Morales, kidnapped by a cartel and forced to participate in an inter-cartel sports competition

Specifically, Mau stated that he was the protagonist of such a competition and that he came out victorious. Reynolds, who bought the rights to his story and began working on a film called The Cartel Olympics, contacted him on McKay Coppinspitched the story to Morales and asked if he would be willing to write about it in The Atlantic.

“A sports tournament between the cartels? A hero's life hanging by a thread? Flag football? Sounds like an overly complicated episode of Narcos. That would be an incredible story if true. But it almost certainly isn'tCoppins told his wife.

However, he agreed to talk with Mau, who he found to be persuasive, modest and polite. He talked about working in refugee camps and how he organized sports activities for children. Mau also presented the episode of his abduction and revealed what he experienced in captivity.

The man claimed that in February 9, 2023while he was driving a group of migrants through Mexico City to a refugee camp where he worked, 5 vans stopped and some men with machine guns put them in the vans and took them to a place where they were beaten and tortured.

After a while, Mau was taken to the head of the La Union Tepito cartel, Don Pacowho apologized for his treatment and told him that he knew he was a world-class athlete who had competed in the Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro.

Then Don Paco revealed to him that for many years a secret tournament of the biggest cartels in Mexico has been organized, the main sports being football, flag football and boxing. He conveyed to Mau that he wanted him as player-coach of the La Union cartel flag football team and made him a promise: if he won, he and his comrades would be freed, while if he lost, they would be killed.

The Cartel Olympics, held in a stunning location in the mountains of Mexico

There followed a long period of training, which began at 7 in the morning with everyone in common and continued according to the sport to which the prisoners had been assigned. Mau said that at night he heard screams from other parts of the prison and that he began to get to know other inmates and their shocking stories.

One day, Don Paco told them that the next day the famous secret competition between the cartels would take place. “Some of you will be free tomorrow. But you must swear never to speak of what you have seen here. We know who you are and where to find you“, the leader of the La Union cartel told them.

The next morning, Mau and the other prisoners were woken up early, hoods were placed over their faces, and they were herded into vans, traveling for several hours. In the end they arrived at a farm in a mountain area, where there was a festival atmosphere. There were groups of musicians playing, magicians and clowns taking care of the children, and a huge board displaying the betting odds.

Armed men in uniform were also directing traffic and confiscating guns and phones. Mau claimed that in the stands he recognized many people from Mexican society: celebrities, influencers, politicians and TV presenters.

Mountain area of ​​Mexico, illustrative image/Photo: Imago Images

Driven by the will to survive, Mau led La Union to the gold medal

Following the draw, La Union Tepito was due to face Los Caballeros Templarios in the first round, with the flag football matches being held on a field located next to a huge hall. The duels were tough, the players hit each other, punched each other, and the referees did not intervene.

Union prevailed 14-7, again Mau said the losers disappeared to the back of the hall and then there were some fireworks-like pops and a sour smell began to be felt. “It's blood,” explained El Diablo, a teammate of Morales.

La Union continued to rack up wins, and Mau admitted that he became increasingly ruthless, twisting limbs, gouging out opponents' eyes and trying to inflict maximum pain, driven by a desire to survive.

In the final, La Union faced Tlahuac, and the match was brutal and, at the end of regular time, the score was equal: 0-0. The first team to score would be declared the winner of the cartel flag football competition.

Mau said he ran a scheme to his teammates that they had practiced in practice. Mamers faked a pass to Palomino, the defense focused on him, and Mau got free on the opposite side and scored the touchdown that gave La Union the win.

The team leader broke down and began to cry, after which he attended the award ceremony, where he was awarded a medal. Mau was then put into a van and passed out, later waking up on a street in an unfamiliar neighborhood. He was in his underwear, bruised, barefoot, with blood on his face and the medal still around his neck.

McKay Coppins, on the trail of Mau: big problems with the information he presented

Coppins listened to Morales' story, and spent the next few months investigating what the “hero” of the Cartel Olympics said. He spoke to people close to Mau, friends, former colleagues who confirmed that Mau disappeared one day in February 2023 and returned a few months later. One of them said that his gaze was changed, that he was always looking around, paying attention to what was happening.

The protagonist answered questions, recommended films to Coppins, and his recurring line was “The thing you have to understand about Mexico…”. He claimed that there are judges, celebrities and politicians bought by cartels and with connections in the narcotics world.

Coppins did not bow to pressure from Reynolds, who was trying to speed up the process, citing a Hollywood leak and growing interest in Mau's story. Over time, the journalist from The Atlantic identified more and more problems with Mau's presentation.

For example, he said he competed for Colombia in the Olympics, but the Colombian Olympic Committee denied this. Mau admitted he lied but claimed he did it to protect himself and that he was actually competing for his home country.

The Olympic credential he submitted was actually a guest credential, and the Mexican Olympic Committee relayed that Mau did not compete for that country. He justified himself by saying that he arrived at the lot in 2016, that he saw the corruption of Mexican officials and that, after leaking the information to the press, he was banned from participating.

Another problem was that the document made by the first doctor who consulted him after he escaped from captivity showed only a high cholesterol level and nothing more. “If you're looking for something that says I was tortured by a cartel you won't find that,” Mau defended himself.

His Instagram account had nearly 400,000 followers, but no engagement, suggesting they were bots. Mau had many fake pictures of celebrities like Mike Tyson or Messi.

One of the photos showed a magazine from the Beijing Olympics in which Mau talked about how he trained with Mexico's national volleyball team. He also posted a picture of Italy's Pietro Arese from the Tokyo Olympics, taking advantage of the fact that he looked like him.

Mexican police after the leaders of the La Union cartel Tepito/Photo: Imago Images

The truth about Mau, a charlatan who had been arrested for fraud in February 2023

In the end, Coppins decided to travel to Mexico and meet up with Mau and Mamers, his teammate from the La Union cartel dungeon. The journalist asked Mau to call his mother, who spoke with great emotion about his disappearance and revealed that the kidnappers had contacted the family and demanded $60,000 for his release.

Therefore, Mau's older brother sold his house and paid this amount, information that he had not disclosed, raising suspicions about the possibility of a fake kidnapping to blackmail his family.

Mau then led them to the street he claimed he was abducted on, but it did not match the description given to the abductee, and Mau's girlfriend confirmed that he had previously shown her another street where he had been abducted.

After talking to a journalist in Mexico and a member of La Union Tepito, who said the cartels don't work the way Mau described because they can't afford to hold a prisoner for so long, Coppins discovered the final piece of the puzzle.

In 2010, a man named Mauricio Morales Bermudez opened the Mexican office of the Non-Violence Project Foundation, a non-profit organization in Switzerland. Mau thus managed to reach the elite of Mexican society and met Alejandro Martinez, a wealthy man from Mexico City, who won at auction several objects that Mau claimed belonged to members of the Beatles.

The relationship developed, but Mau made some promises to Martinez that he did not keep, while he continued to invest huge sums of money in the Mexican branch of the Non-Violence Project Foundation.

In the end, Martinez discovered it was all a scheme, a lie, and on February 9, 2023, Mau was arrested in Mexico for fraud and imprisoned at Reclusorio Sur. Coppins confronted Mau, but he tried to clean up his image, denied stealing the family's money, and that was the end of his story.

McKay Coppins called Reynolds to tell him what he had discovered, and Reynolds was shocked. However, a few weeks later, Reynolds contacted the journalist and said, “Dude, I just talked to Michael Pena (not the actor who was supposed to play Mau). He said he likes it even more than the original story.”

Mexico City, the paradoxical and fascinating capital of Mexico/Photo: Imago Images