Netflix subscribers have had to wait two years for the third season of Ozark but the new episodes were finally dropped onto the streaming service last month to fans’ delight. The series picked up where it left off with Marty Byrde (played by Jason Bateman) and wife Wendy (Laura Linney) continuing to launder money for the Mexican drug cartel. However, up until the start of series three, they had never met the man in charge of the entire operation.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Ozark season 3.
In season two, Mexican cartel leader Omar Navarro (Felix Solis) acted through his steely, no-nonsense attorney Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer).
But at the beginning of series three, Marty and Wendy were introduced to him for the very first time.
Prior to this, financial advisor Marty and his partner Bruce Liddell (Josh Randall) met a top-ranking member of the cartel Del Rio (Esai Morales) in the first season.
He was asking on behalf of Navarro, for the pair to launder the group’s money to which they had agreed.
However, Del Rio ended up killing Bruce for stealing money from the cartel and now it was up to Marty to continue laundering money in the Ozarks to pay Navarro back.
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Last month, a six-month Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led investigation into the violent Mexican drug crime organisation Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG.
The operation, which was called Project Python, ended with around 750 arrests and more than 20kg of drugs and an estimated £1.8 million ($20 million) in cash being seized, according to the US Justice Department.
NBC News also reported that the “notorious drug dealing organization [is] now considered one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico and known for brutal kidnappings and murders in that country.”
So despite the Navarro Cartel not being real, there are organisations in real life which are very similar to those depicted in Ozark.