Diego A.

Diego focuses on stories from North and South America, from colonial history and pirates to cartels and the modern underworld. He is especially drawn to places where crime, power, and myth collide.

The most recent posts by

Diego

A.

Bohemian Grove: The Secret Redwood Camp of America’s Powerful Men

The Underground

Bohemian Grove: The Secret Redwood Camp of America’s Powerful Men

Every July, presidents and billionaires gather in a California redwood forest to burn an effigy before a giant owl. The atomic bomb was planned here.

Portrait of a male author wearing a cap and backpack, smiling with a city skyline at sunset in the background.

Diego A.

Osage County, Oklahoma: The Oil Murders Behind Killers of the Flower Moon

Tragedies & Disasters

Osage County, Oklahoma: The Oil Murders Behind Killers of the Flower Moon

The Osage became the world's richest people in the 1920s — then began dying for their oil. Inside the true story behind Killers of the Flower Moon.

Diego A.

Kuhikugu: The Lost City of the Amazon and Percy Fawcett’s Obsession

Ruins of Civilizations

Kuhikugu: The Lost City of the Amazon and Percy Fawcett’s Obsession

Percy Fawcett died hunting a lost stone city in the Amazon. He was looking for the wrong thing — a real civilization was there, hidden in plain sight.

Diego A.

The Deadly Heart of the Amazon: Fawcett’s Final Steps in Mato Grosso

Tragedies & Disasters

The Deadly Heart of the Amazon: Fawcett’s Final Steps in Mato Grosso

In 1925 Percy Fawcett walked into the Amazon and vanished. A century of searchers chased him. The jungle has never given up what it took.

Diego A.

Bolivia's Death Road: The North Yungas Route That Killed 300 People a Year

Tragedies & Disasters

Bolivia's Death Road: The North Yungas Route That Killed 300 People a Year

Bolivia's North Yungas Road killed up to 300 people a year and still draws 25,000 cyclists. Inside the world's most dangerous road.

House of the Temple: The Masonic Tomb That Guards a Dead Confederate in Washington

The headquarters of American Freemasonry is built as a tomb of the ancient world, with a Confederate general entombed inside the wall.

Diego A.

ESMA: The Naval Academy in Buenos Aires That Hid Argentina's Largest Death Camp

Tragedies & Disasters

ESMA: The Naval Academy in Buenos Aires That Hid Argentina's Largest Death Camp

A working naval academy on Buenos Aires' most elegant avenue hid Argentina's largest death camp inside one building, where Argentina's military killed 5,000 people.

Diego A.

Palenque: The Maya City That Hid a King's Tomb Inside a Pyramid for 1,300 Years

Ruins of Civilizations

Palenque: The Maya City That Hid a King's Tomb Inside a Pyramid for 1,300 Years

In 1952 an archaeologist broke into a sealed crypt beneath a Maya pyramid and found a king in a jade mask. He had waited 1,300 years.

Harardhere: The Somali Town That Listed Piracy on a Stock Exchange

A Somali town built a stock exchange where you bought shares in upcoming hijackings. The founder was lured to Brussels by a fake film deal.

Eyl: The Puntland Fishing Town That Became the Face of Somali Piracy

A fishing village with no electricity ran a billion-dollar piracy economy from its beach — anchoring the largest ship ever hijacked at sea.

The Darien Gap: The Roadless Jungle and the World's Most Dangerous Migration Corridor

A hundred kilometers of jungle between Colombia and Panama became the most-used migration corridor in the Western hemisphere. By 2025 it was nearly empty.

The Trans-Amazonian Highway: Brazil's 4,000-Kilometre Road of Death That Failed to Conquer the Amazon

Brazil's military launched history's largest road project in 1970 to conquer the Amazon. 55 years and thousands of deaths later, it never reached Peru.

Diego A.

Diego A.

The most recent posts by Diego A.

Bohemian Grove: The Secret Redwood Camp of America’s Powerful Men

Osage County, Oklahoma: The Oil Murders Behind Killers of the Flower Moon

Kuhikugu: The Lost City of the Amazon and Percy Fawcett’s Obsession

The Deadly Heart of the Amazon: Fawcett’s Final Steps in Mato Grosso

Bolivia's Death Road: The North Yungas Route That Killed 300 People a Year

House of the Temple: The Masonic Tomb That Guards a Dead Confederate in Washington

ESMA: The Naval Academy in Buenos Aires That Hid Argentina's Largest Death Camp

Palenque: The Maya City That Hid a King's Tomb Inside a Pyramid for 1,300 Years

Harardhere: The Somali Town That Listed Piracy on a Stock Exchange

Eyl: The Puntland Fishing Town That Became the Face of Somali Piracy

The Darien Gap: The Roadless Jungle and the World's Most Dangerous Migration Corridor

The Trans-Amazonian Highway: Brazil's 4,000-Kilometre Road of Death That Failed to Conquer the Amazon

The most recent posts by

Diego

A.