Tucked deep inside Mexico City’s notorious Tepito barrio — a lawless maze where even police hesitate to tread — lies one of the country’s most dangerous black-market operations.

Run by the Union Cartel, Tepito is a hub for everything illicit: pirated goods, drugs, extortion, and even human trafficking. Here, cartel “hawks,” often young children, stand watch at market entrances, while deep inside, traffickers conduct business under the gaze of Jesús Malverde, the so-called “narco saint.”