Camp Gagnon - Adolfo Constanzo: The Cartels Satanic Black Magic Magician

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

MAKE SURE TO RATE US 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟NARCO SATANIST! Today we talk about Adolfo Constanzo, infamous narco satanist who performed violent satanic rituals on victims all for his narco-cult’s beliefs. We will look at why Adolfo moved to Mexico City, how he became a high priest for the cartel, the types of rituals conducted, and other interesting topics… WELCOME TO CAMP 🏕️Shoutout to our sponsor: Magic SpoonMagicSpoon: https://magicspoon.com/camp👕🧢 GET YOUR CAMP DRIP HERE: https://campgoods.co/🏕️ Get Today In History Email Here (Free): https://camp.beehiiv.com/🎟️ 🎫 Comedy Tour Tickets Here: https://markgagnonlive.comTimestamps:0:00 Intro0:56 Jesús Constanzo the The Narco Satanist1:53 Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo’s Exposure To The Cult3:00 Adolfo Move’s To Mexico City6:00 Becoming High Priest 7:04 The Rituals of Narco Satanists + Becoming High Priest For The Cartel10:37 The Murder of Gilberto Sosa11:29 The Abduction of Mark Kilroy15:21 Police Invade The Ranch & Find Ritual Sacrifices16:41 Breakthrough in identifying Adolfo Constanzo18:41 Where is Adolfo Constanzo?19:20 The Capture and Death of Adolfo Constanzo22:13 Current Cartel Extermination Camps In Mexico

This is a story of Adolfo Constanzo, the narco-Satainist. This is one of the most effed-up brutal criminal cases in modern history. A drug trafficking cults led by El Padrino, these violent, brutal rituals, many of which involving human sacrifice. They're moving insane amounts of drugs. It's extremely violent, and they're making a ton of money. So for these guys, they're like, hey, we can just sacrifice this person because we're already committing murder. And we can use this sacrifice to then protect ourselves. This is what they actually thought. Adolfo decided that the cult needed to sacrifice an American, believing that

it would strengthen their rituals and protect the group from law enforcement, specifically in America. So how does he get these people involved? How does he get the people to actually carry out these rituals? So let's go all the way back to beginning. What's up people and welcome back to camp. My name is Mark Gagnon. And welcome to my tent where every week, twice a week, we have some of the most interesting interviews or deep dives into the most fascinating, strange, controversial stories from all time from around the world throughout the universe. This is my tent where I do all of this every week. I'm joined by my friend Christos over there on the shiny buttons. How are you? Doing good. What's up? All right, all, all. So today we have a fascinating, morbid, and dark

story that, I'll be honest, kind of freaked me out. If you know anything about me, I grew up very religious and anything about Satanism or some type of a human sacrifice of people for the, you know, the benefit of the spirits. I don't like it. I don't like to get political or controversial on the show, but it makes me uncomfortable. And this is the story of Adolfo Constanzo. This is the narco-Satanist of Matamoros in Mexico. So our story begins in 1989 with the disappearance of a young American student named Mark Hilroy at age 21 when he was in spring break in Matamoros, Mexico. And this would lead authorities to uncover one of the most

effed-up brutal criminal cases in modern history. The investigation exposed a drug trafficking cults led by Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a Cuban-American known as El Padrino. This is the godfather in English. Constanzo's group blended elements of of Palo, Mayombe, and other Afro-Caribbean religions, twisting them into these violent, brutal rituals, many of which involving human sacrifice.

The Cold's activities, which included murder and ritualistic mutilation of Kilroy and others drew a ton of international attention and highlighted the dangers of criminal groups basically taking religion and religious imagery for their own ends. So how do we get here? Let's go all the way back to beginning, right? Adolfo de Jesus Constantzo was born in 1962 in Miami, Florida, two Cuban immigrant parents. He was the eldest of

several children from many different fathers and was raised Catholic. He got baptized, was an altar boy, but his mother, Delia Aurora Gonzalez, she practiced Santeria and later became involved in Palo Mayombay. This is a Afro-Kro-Kro-Gonzalez. This is a Afro-Cru. Caribbean religious tradition with roots in West Africa. And after the death of her first husband, she moved to Puerto Rico, specifically San Juan, where she became more deeply involved in this Palo Mayombe and introduced Adolfo to these practices, kind of blending them with their Catholic background. And while Santoria and Pablo Mayombe have their own spiritual and moral codes, Constanzo and

his mother practiced them in ways that vastly diverged. from the mainstream tradition. So, 1972, they've returned to Miami. And over those years, his mother got married three different times. Her last partner kind of shared similar beliefs practicing occultism and also happened to sell drugs. I mean, I feel like those things go hand in hand. You know what I mean?

Like doing drugs and being just a straight-up Satanist. Sorry, Satanist. I shouldn't judge. I'm trying to be better. So Constanzo kind of was on his path, right? after leaving high school, his behavior grows more and more criminal. Him and his mother get arrested several times for shoplifting, and he actually gets expelled from his high school for bad conduct.

And instead of, you know, kind of fixing his path, he continues to practice what his mother had taught him. She convinces him that he's special and that he actually has psychic abilities to predict the future. So as a teenager, he befriended this, you know, palo-o-o-lawful, Meyoombay priest who actually taught him these advanced rituals for success. So by 1980, with his newfound knowledge and connections, he offered his services as a black magician in Miami. And it wasn't until 1983 that friends told him about a amazing opportunity, this

lucrative modeling opportunity in Mexico. So what does he do? He moves to the Zona Rosa in Mexico, in Mexico City, quickly finding, you know, prosperity and connections and some good success. And maybe the Palo Maomi was paying off, right? So he was known as being kind of charismatic and pretty good looking and allegedly had some relationships with both men and women. So he sets up his own business, kind of offering protection and purification rituals that, you know, start to actually make him some good money. And not only does it bring him some money,

some connections. So as the story goes, he starts attracting these high-profile Mexican personalities. I mean, from politicians, actors, you know, cartel members, police officers, everyone is now going to this guy in this town, in this part of Mexico City, to get his spiritual services. So during this time, he continues to immerse himself in Sataria. His ambition for power leads him now to practice rituals involving sacrifice of animals. And then that, that slowly progresses to human sacrifice and even cannibalism. I mean, you're hearing me, right? Straight up eating human beings. And still, his popularity grows so much that he actually travels across Mexico, including Matamoros and larger and larger cities throughout the country where he starts to associate with criminal organizations. And again, he offers them this type of spiritual protection in exchange for

these massive sums of money. Soon, he establishes his operations in Matamotos. So by the 80s, Constanzo's criminal activities escalate as he starts to perform these rituals involving human sacrifice for drug traffickers. Because again, these drug traffickers in the cartels at the time, and even to this day, they're moving insane amounts of drugs. It's extremely violent, and they're making a ton of money. So for these guys, they're like, hey, we can just sacrifice this person because we're already committing murder and we can use this sacrifice to then protect ourselves. This is what they actually thought. So they're going to Constanzo to actually perform these black magic rituals for them. And he was even aided by different women that he was sleeping with. So Martin Quinta

Rodriguez and Omar Oraya Ochoa, who he had recruited in Mexico City. So in 1987, Constanzo orchestrates a staged meeting with a college student from Texas. This is insane how manipulative this guy is. So this woman named Sarah Aldrete. This is just a girl that goes to college in Texas and he basically nearly collides with her in his car, kind of making it look like this serendipitous moment. And from that moment, he starts to gradually draw her into his world, exploiting her connections to the Hernandez drug trafficking family. Aldrethe introduces Constanzo to Ilya Hernandez, a cartel leader in the area,

and he becomes Ilya Hernandez's high priest, participating in rituals that include torture and murder. So how does he get these people involved? How does he get the people to actually carry out these rituals? So new recruits, often men in their early 20s, were indoctrinated through hands-on participation in these violent ceremonies. So Constanzo claimed that his magic could make them invincible to law enforcement. He promised basically, you know, by his alliances with corrupt federal police,

that nothing would ever happen if they went on with the torture and abuse and murder of these different people for the gods, for Satan, really. So the cult's financing came from the drug profits and, you know, fees for these sort of, occult spiritual practices, with Constanzo flaunting wealth from, you know, luxury cars to gold jewelry to kind of legitimize that this was actually serving some type of spiritual power. So in the following years, some events began to occur in Matamoros. Police discovered eight bodies, mutilated, tortured, tied to cement blocks near a river. And they couldn't explain what had happened, but they were extremely disturbed by what they found. The cult set up operations at a place known as Rancho Santa Elena.

This is a remote ranch outside of the city of Matamoros, and it was there that they prepared this cauldron known in Palo Mayombe, known as Nganga. And this was used for protection against these evil spirits. And the ingredients that they used inside of this cauldron to create this elixir was a mix of wood and cigar parts and animal pieces and human ribs and tibias and skulls with the brain still. I mean, everything you could imagine as far as like an evil, evil satanic stew. And they believed that the brain was integral to creating this sort of concoction because it retained the human power, the life force of the victim that they took it from.

So white victims were specifically sought after as the tradition. within this cult kind of believed that the brains were more powerful, that they were more potent. And torture was a key element in these sacrifices. So on one occasion, one of the victims was

Gilberto Sosa, a former police officer turned drug dealer. And Sarah Aldrete ordered him hung and then submerged him in boiling water. And while he screamed, Sarah cut into his chest with scissors to subject him to even more brutal

torture, ultimately turning his body into this concoction, which then they all consumed, believing that it would fill them with power. And these atrocities at Rancho Santa Elena are still considered among the worst tragedies in Mexican history. So that takes us back to the abduction of Mark Kilroy. March 14, 1989, Adolfo Constanzo decided that the cult needed to sacrifice an American, believing that it would strengthen their rituals and protect the group from law enforcement, specifically in America. So during spring break, Constanzo and his followers targeted American college students in Matamoros, Mexico. Mark Kilroy, a 21-year-old pre-med student from the University of Texas,

was separated from his friends in the early morning hours of March 15th as they walked towards the border. Colt members, Sarafin Hernandez, posing as a police officer, approached Kilroy, showed a badge and told him that he was under arrest. Kilroy was then led to a waiting vehicle and driven several miles to the Santa Elena Ranch controlled by the cult. He was then held overnight, tied up,

and the next day was killed in this brutal satanic ritual. His skull was later found in a cauldron used for the cult's ceremonies. So meanwhile, Mark's friends, unable to find him after hours of searching, tell the local authorities, and contact his parents, who then quickly traveled to the border area to help with the search. Over the following days, police in Matamoros and Brownsville checked hospitals and jails and morgues,

while Border Patrol agents searched the Rio Grande, but still there was no trace of mark. His parents distributed flyers and offered a $15,000 reward just for information, again, working closely with both the U.S. and the Mexican officials. In the case soon drew the involvement of the FBI and other U.S. agencies and gained national attention. But despite these efforts, there was no immediate leads on his whereabouts. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really quick because you are a grown child. Yes, you're a giant man child and you just love stuff in your face and all the sugary

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Get it today. MagicSpoon on Amazon or at your nearest grocery store. Or you can go to magic spoon.com slash camp CAMP for $5 off. And let's get back to the show, you fatty. The case breaks when Mexican police investigating drug trafficking in the Matamoros area focus on a ranch called Santa Elena, which is now, as we know, linked to the Hernandez families' criminal activities. The reason they narrowed down on this specific ranch

was because Ilio Hernandez ran his pickup truck through a police drug checkpoint and then sped off, thinking that he had successfully lost the cops, but they actually tracked him from afar. So by April 9th, 1989, police raided the ranch and arrested several individuals, including cult members David Serena Valdez, Hernandez-Garcia, Sergio Martinez-Selina,

and the ranch caretaker Domingo Reyes Bustamante. During interrogation, Hernandez-Garcia confessed that the group led by Adolfo Constanzo had performed ritual human sacrifice at the ranch, including the murder of Mark Kilroy. These confessions prompted police to search the property where they discovered evidence of these ritual killings, the torture, the abuse, and ultimately uncovered all of the cult's gruesome activities. At the ranch, police questioned the caretaker. Domingo Reyes, Bustamante, who described frequent comings and goings, but did not immediately

recognize Mark Hilroy from a photo. The breakthrough came after the arrest of several cult members at the ranch, including Bustamante, Serafin, and Salinas. Under the interrogation, the suspects described their leader as the godfather El Padrino, the Cuban-American magician that we now know as Adolfo Costanzo. And this led them to uncovering the brutal rituals that promised this supernatural protection. They also identified Sarah Aldrete, known as La Madrina, the godmother, as Constanzo's second in command and ritual leader. These confessions allowed police to confirm the identities of Constanzo and Aldrete, although

their exact whereabouts remain unknown. After several hours of interrogation, police showed the detainees a photo of Marquilroy, and under the questioning, cult member Sarah Finn Hernandez, confessed that Adolfo Constanzo had ordered Kilroy's murder as a part of a Palo Mayombe ritual involving torture and human sacrifice. So by April 11th, police brought the arrested cult members to the Santa Elena Ranch. There, the investigators were overwhelmed by the stench of death as they entered into the shack with the ritual objects. I mean, an altar, pots, cauldrons, beads, coins, animal remains. And in the center, this large iron cauldron, the Anganga, containing blood, brain matter, animal parts, goats, bones, horseshoes, everything you can imagine for their ritual means.

Guided by the cultists, police then uncovered 15 shallow graves containing the bodies of their victims. Mark Kilroy's remains were found about a meter deep. His legs have been cut off, his brain removed and boiled in the Anganga, and the dental records confirmed. his identity. Throughout the day, officers exhumed body after body, many showing the same type of torture. The discovery shocked authorities and police exposing the full horror of the cult's ritual killings, but the question still remains, where is Adolfo and Sarah? They had fled Matamoro, with several other cult members after the police raided the ranch. They traveled through northern Mexico, eventually reaching Mexico City, where they basically relied on their criminal contacts and even

bribery to evade capture. So for nearly a month, Constanzo and his inner circle moved between safe house to safe house from apartment to apartment, growing increasingly paranoid and violent as the manhunt intensified. Convinced that both law enforcement and supernatural forces were closing in, Constanzo destroyed large amounts of cash and evidence and even considered fleeing the country entirely. Until May 6, 1989, Constanzo's luck finally ran out.

acting on a tip from neighbors who noticed some suspicious activity, Mexican police surrounded an apartment complex in a small neighborhood in Mexico City. Inside, Constanzo, Sarah Alderte, and several other cult members were holed up in one of the upper floors. And as police closed in, Constanzo began throwing bundles of money and coins and anything else he could find reportedly to distract officers or try to appease these supernatural forces. and when police prepared to storm the apartment, Constanzo opened fire, creating this massive, prolonged shootout. Now realizing that he was trapped and refusing to be captured alive,

Constanzo ordered his follower, Alvero de Leon Valdez, to shoot him in his close associate, Martin Quintana Rodriguez. De Leon complied, killing Constanzo and Quintina, just as police broke through the door. Sarah Aldrethe, the godmother of the cult, and some of the other surviving cult members surrendered and were taken into custody. Sarah Aldrete was charged with multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, and involvement in organized crime.

She was convicted and sentenced to 62 years in prison, which is shockingly low, if you ask me, where she remains to this day. Other cult members, including Sarah Fin Hernandez, Ilya Hernandez, and Martin Quintana, were also a arrested, tried, and sentenced to long-term prison sentences for their roles in the murders and the kidnapping. And discovery of the cult and its rituals really took a toll on Mexico and the United States, leading to widespread media coverage and a crackdown on these occult-related crimes in the region. The case also exposed this deep corruption within the local law enforcement, as several officers were found to have been complicit or potentially strategically negligent in allowing the cult to operate. for so long. Mark Kilroy's murder became a symbol for the dangers faced by young travelers in border regions and even led to increased cooperation between the United States and Mexican

authorities in combating the drug cartels and these sort of rare but disturbing occult crimes. So the story of Adolfo Constanzo and his cult remains one of the most strange and morbid and notorious criminal cases in Mexican history. You mean, books, documentaries, and films have been made about these, quote, narco-sateness, and the events at Rancho Santa Elena continue to be studied by criminologists and historians as this sort of morbid example of the intersection between organized crime and occult beliefs and mass murder. And even just recently, in March of 2025, there was actually a report put out by CNN of a secret crematorium at a ranch in Mexico, not unlike the one that was found in Matamoros.

So this one was found in Halisco, if you wouldn't mind scrolling down, Christos. It was found in Halisco, and I believe, if my memory serves me correct, that this was a massive crematorium that has at least three crematoriums with incinerated skeletal remains hidden under a layer of the earth and a brick slab.

The people that found it said that they also found dozens of personal items such as clothing, shoes, backpacks, IDs, and a bunch of lists of names and nicknames. A representative told CNN that the existence of these, quote, forced recruitment and extermination centers was an open secret that they, but they had never actually seen one until March when the group she leads managed to enter the ranch near Teno Hidlan. I mean, that is crazy. So I'm assuming this is done by the cartels where they have these like detention centers

where they basically just get rid of people. But it's like so organized. This is not just like a hole in the ground that they're putting people. And this is like a proper extermination camp where they just process their enemies and people that they're trying to get rid of. I mean, that is crazy. I wonder how many of these there are. I mean, not far from like America. Like this isn't like across the world.

This is a three hour flight away where like there's just like these open like extermination camp. That's fucking crazy. I mean, scroll down a little more. What are we going to say? I also wonder about the connection between the cartels. and the occult? Oh, yeah. I mean, it seems like there's a clear connect.

Because, like, if these guys are occultists, then they're like, okay, we're going to need this guy. Human sacrifice is no big deal because we're already killing people. And, yeah, you've got to wonder if there's, like, maybe even a way that the cartels benefit, even if they don't believe, or if the cartels are like, hey, we can get this guy to kill our enemies. We can just deliver him to him and then have him do it, and we don't even have to get our hands dirty. I mean, yeah, it seems like there's a very, a very, a very. strong connection with these narco-sadeness. I mean, that is crazy. Yeah, I wonder how prevalent it is even into the modern day.

It looks like there's an article from the New York Times. It talks about Mexican drug lords using darker forces of Scentria. If the cartel wasn't bad enough. Right? What happened to the American mobs? Like the mobsters in America, they were proper Catholics. They were Italians. They loved the Lord.

They went to church every Sunday. They baptized their kids. What happened, Mexico? Why are your bad guys so bad? You're killing people, but you don't have to be all Satanist about it. Could argue the CIA got rid of a lot of the mobs when they couldn't get them to do what they wanted to do. Oh, is that what it was? I mean, Thomas Mayer kind of told us.

Yeah, that's a good point. How that happens. That's a good point. Well, yeah, this is a disturbing case. I mean, it's crazy. You have these Satanists that are so deep in organized crime. Like, I think people hear Satanists, and they're like, no one really does that. This is just like grungy emo, teenagers.

Like, no one's actually a Satanist. Well, here you go. This is a guy not that long ago that was running an entire camp, and there's potentially way more of these guys out there. I mean, I don't mess with any of that voodoo shit. That just scares me. Speaking of which, I got to get this place blessed. I had a priest hit me up recently and be like, hey, you should get your place blessed.

Should have told me on Greek Easter, what you do is you go and light these big old candles. Oh, really? And then you do a cross over the thing of the door to bless it. I like that. We should do that. Yeah, we should run that up. Dude, just better safe than sorry, right? Why play with it, you know? Sure. So, anyway, this has been another episode of camp. Let me know what you think. Please drop a comment. I love to know what you guys are thinking. And you can see me on the road, Mark Yagnon live where I'll be doing stand-up comedy, having a great time. You can also check out religion camp and soon, history camp, conspiracy camp, a cult camp. I don't know what we're going to call it. But you guys can check it all out. We'll have links in the description in the comments. We'll see you guys next time. Peace. up people, quick announcement. If you are a fan of Camp Gagnon or Religion Camp, I have great news because we are dropping History Camp. That's right. This is the channel we're going to be exploring the most interesting, fascinating, controversial topics from all time throughout all history.

Right? You probably know about Benjamin Franklin, I don't know, Thomas Jefferson, Nicola Tesla. Interesting figures from history, and you probably learned about it in school and they were pretty boring, but not here. No. As you know, I was raised by a conspiracy theory, so I'm going to be diving deep into all of the interesting, strange, occult, and secretive societal relationships that all of these famous influential men from our shared past have. So if you're interested, please go ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It will be pinned in the description as well as the comments. And if you're on Spotify, this doesn't really apply to you, but these episodes will be dropping as well. Just go ahead and give us a high rating because it really helps the show.