Retired FBI Agent Says Mexican Cartel Fed Victims to Lion and Turned Others Into 'Soup' in Interview

Former FBI agent Scott Payne has described alleged torture linked to Mexican drug cartels, including a claim that an unnamed cartel fed people to a lion and an account of a victim being cooked alive in a 55-gallon drum. Payne recounted the cases on The Shawn Ryan Show, drawing on two decades of law enforcement and his work involving cartel kidnapping cases.

Scott Payne's Encounters With Mexican Drug Cartels

Payne, a former undercover operative, worked on narcotics investigations before joining a division focused on 'special interest alien smuggling'. He said the work involved people entering America from countries described as 'threat' nations, including Russia and China.

He described encounters with Mexico's drug cartels, including the Gulf cartel. Payne said he fielded calls from civilians whose sons had been abducted and insisted callers be honest about any involvement in narcotics trafficking. His focus, he said, was extracting people from the cartels.

One case involved three young men in their late teens to early 20s. Payne said they would 'mule' drugs across the border into America before returning with cash. After they returned to Mexico, $100,000 (£74,000) had disappeared from their vehicle, prompting the cartel to abduct them.

Payne said his team collected intelligence through a border liaison officer and confirmed that the cartel held the men captive. The team negotiated with the family. Once sufficient funds were collected, a car could also be used as additional payment before the victims were released.

Mexican Drug Cartels and the Lion Allegation

Payne later described alleged torture against people who stole from cartels. In one case, he said a victim had either both hands, or at least his fingers, cut off before being cooked alive in a 55-gallon drum.

Payne said the method was known as El Guiso, or 'The Stew'. He could not remember whether acid or diesel fuel was used, adding that both had been used at the time. He also described alleged methods including blows to the head with a brick, cigar burns and electrocution.

The most striking allegation concerned an unnamed cartel that Payne said had a lion and fed people to it. He said the information had been confirmed, but stressed that he was not the person who confirmed it. Payne recalled hearing about a liaison flying over the area in either a fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter and seeing a lion inside a cage surrounded by bones.

Mexican Drug Cartels and the 'Little Person' Claim

Payne also described an alleged torture practice involving a 'little person'. He said he had long regarded the claim as an old wives' tale until calls relating to another kidnapping case changed his view.

According to Payne, a man carjacked a vehicle and drove it across the border to sell to a cartel without realising an infant was in the back seat. The cartel was reportedly furious that he had brought unwanted 'heat' and threatened to kill him. His associates later received a call from the parents saying the cartel had kidnapped their son.

Payne said his associates brokered a deal to retrieve the son, who returned across a bridge crying. Afterwards, colleagues told him, 'Dude, the little person's real.' Payne recalled that the little person was in the room. He said 'the guy' was crying and was 'getting ready to be tortured a little bit'. The source does not establish who was being prepared for torture.

The allegations are based on Payne's recollections. The supplied source does not independently document the allegations, so the claims about the lion and torture practices should be treated as allegations rather than established facts.