Documentary backdrop image for Sin tantos panchos (2019)

Documentary backdrop image for Sin tantos panchos (2019)

201968 minPGdocumentary

Organized Crime

Sin tantos panchos

201968 minPGdocumentary

In the eighties, many gangs formed in the suburban and marginal areas of Mexico City, with some members filming their lives and activities.

Organized Crime

Genres

Director

Verónica de la Luz

Synopsis

In the eighties, many gangs formed in the suburban and marginal areas of Mexico City, with some members filming their lives and activities.

People

Verónica de la Luzdirector

Verónica de la Luzwriter

José Luis Moreno Salinascast

Javier Eligio Vázquezcast

Pablo Hernández Sánchezcast

Synopsis

In the 1980s, Mexico City witnessed the rise of various gangs in its suburban and marginalized areas. "Sin tantos panchos" focuses on these gangs and the individuals who documented their activities. Through interviews and archival footage, the film presents a raw look at the lives of gang members and the social conditions that shaped their existence. The documentary captures the complex dynamics of urban life during a turbulent period in Mexico's history.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Gang Violence in El Salvador (2019)

Gang Violence in El Salvador

Each year, one in every thousand Salvadorans is murdered, reflecting the pervasive violence linked to gang activity in the country.

Gang Violence in El Salvador

Chicago: Gangs and Ghettos (2023)

Chicago: Gangs and Ghettos

A dozen shootings occur every day in Chicago, where crime scene specialist Poli reports on the violence that plagues the city's neighborhoods.

Chicago: Gangs and Ghettos

Gang Capital of the World (2025)

Gang Capital of the World

Port-au-Prince faces a gang war, with 80% of the city under control of violent gangs.

Gang Capital of the World

World's Most Brutal Cartel (2025)

World's Most Brutal Cartel

The Sinaloan cartel employs more than 100,000 people, far outnumbering local police in a city controlled by drug trafficking operations.

World's Most Brutal Cartel

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars (2025)

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars

Mexico's ongoing battle against drug cartels has resulted in over 450,000 deaths and 125,000 displacements since 2006, highlighting a national crisis of violence and corruption.

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City (2024)

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City

1,500 inmates are held in Grana Canada prison, home to the largest concentration of Maras in Guatemala, many serving life sentences for multiple murders.

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City

Surviving the Streets of Chicago (2026)

Surviving the Streets of Chicago

In Chicago, urban violence, gang territories, and the struggles of community members highlight the stark contrasts between wealth and poverty.

Surviving the Streets of Chicago

The Overwhelming Political Influence of Mexico's Drug Cartels (2007)

The Overwhelming Political Influence of Mexico's Drug Cartels

Mexico's drug cartels exert significant political influence, implicated in the assassinations of Luis Donaldo Colosio and Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, highlighting their power over governance.

The Overwhelming Political Influence of Mexico's Drug Cartels

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary) (2020)

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary)

In the slums of Caracas, Venezuela, armed leftist groups known as 'colectivos' provide vigilante justice amid rampant crime and political instability.

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary)

Canada's Missing Women Tragedy (Missing Persons Documentary) (2023)

Canada's Missing Women Tragedy (Missing Persons Documentary)

More than 500 Indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered across Canada in the past 20 years, raising urgent questions about their safety.

Canada's Missing Women Tragedy (Missing Persons Documentary)

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime (2019)

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime

Jennifer San Marco, a former US Postal Service worker, killed seven people in Goleta, California, in 2006 before taking her own life, prompting analysis of her motivations.

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found (2025)

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found

Fifteen shell casings were found at the scene of the execution-style murders of Gary Matson and Winfield Mauder in Happy Valley, California, in July 1999.

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found

Explore Sin tantos panchos

People Topics FAQ

Where else to watch

Nobody Is Innocent 20 Years Later (2010)

Nobody Is Innocent 20 Years Later

2010•1h12m•★9.0TMDB

More than 20 years after filming, Sarah Minter returns to Ciudad Neza to reconnect with members of the youth gang Los Mierdas Punk, now in their forties.

Nobody Is Innocent 20 Years Later

A Wolfpack Called Ernesto (2024)

A Wolfpack Called Ernesto

2024•1h18m•★6.7TMDB

Eight-year-old boys are groomed for crime in Mexico, facing choices that lead them to pick up guns and join organized groups.

A Wolfpack Called Ernesto

Shit Saturday (1988)

Shit Saturday

1988•25m•★10.0TMDB

A portrait of the punk scene in the Valley of Mexico during the 1980s captures the cultural dynamics and social issues of the era.

Quinqui Stars (2018)

Quinqui Stars

2018•2h8m•★6.6TMDB

Thousands of young people in Madrid's peripheral neighborhoods turned to delinquency during the social transformations of the 1970s and 1980s.

Camorra (2018)

Camorra

2018•1h10m•★4.3TMDB

Months of research into the Rai Teche archives reveals rare vintage footage that illustrates the influence of organized crime in Naples.

Browse more like this

Gang Capital of the World (2025)

Gang Capital of the World

Port-au-Prince faces a gang war, with 80% of the city under control of violent gangs.

Gang Capital of the World

No digital watch option in your country

World's Most Brutal Cartel (2025)

World's Most Brutal Cartel

The Sinaloan cartel employs more than 100,000 people, far outnumbering local police in a city controlled by drug trafficking operations.

World's Most Brutal Cartel

No digital watch option in your country

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars (2025)

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars

Mexico's ongoing battle against drug cartels has resulted in over 450,000 deaths and 125,000 displacements since 2006, highlighting a national crisis of violence and corruption.

Mexico: Drug Cartel Wars

No digital watch option in your country

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City (2024)

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City

1,500 inmates are held in Grana Canada prison, home to the largest concentration of Maras in Guatemala, many serving life sentences for multiple murders.

Inside the Maras: The Battle for Control in Guatemala City

No digital watch option in your country

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary) (2020)

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary)

In the slums of Caracas, Venezuela, armed leftist groups known as 'colectivos' provide vigilante justice amid rampant crime and political instability.

Tupamaro: Urban Guerrillas (Vigilante Documentary)

No digital watch option in your country

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime (2019)

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime

Jennifer San Marco, a former US Postal Service worker, killed seven people in Goleta, California, in 2006 before taking her own life, prompting analysis of her motivations.

Deadly Parcel: Postwoman Serial Killer I Real Crime

No digital watch option in your country

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found (2025)

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found

Fifteen shell casings were found at the scene of the execution-style murders of Gary Matson and Winfield Mauder in Happy Valley, California, in July 1999.

Domestic Terrorists? Inside the Largest Hate Crime Arsenal Ever Found

No digital watch option in your country

Nobody Is Innocent: Twenty years later

2010•1h12m•★9.0TMDB

In Ciudad Neza, Sarah Minter revisits the lives of former members of the punk gang Los Mierdas Punk, exploring their enduring socio-economic challenges twenty years later.

Nobody Is Innocent: Twenty years later

Los plebes (2021)

Los plebes

2021•1h15m•★7.0TMDB

A group of millennial sicarios in Sinaloa faces daily struggles as they seek a better future while living in a world of crime.

Oblatos, Epic Flight into the Night (2019)

Oblatos, Epic Flight into the Night

2019•1h52m•★9.5TMDB

On January 22, 1976, Waymas and Tony executed a coordinated military operation to escape from prison while resisting an oppressive regime in Mexico.

Oblatos, Epic Flight into the Night

Los De Abajo (2020)

Los De Abajo

2020•23m•★10.0TMDB

Residents of Ecatepec, a municipality in Mexico City, face severe economic challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic halts their daily work since February 2020.

Gang Cops (1987)

Gang Cops

1987•29m•★6.5TMDB

A specialized police unit in South Central Los Angeles confronts youth gang violence in a 29-minute documentary nominated for an Academy Award.

80 Blocks from Tiffany's (1980)

80 Blocks from Tiffany's

1980•1h7m•★6.6TMDB

Two gangs, the Savage Skulls and the Savage Nomads, navigate life in a South Bronx neighborhood marked by poverty, crime, and urban decay.

80 Blocks from Tiffany's

Families of the Mafia (2020)

Families of the Mafia

2020•45m•★7.3TMDB

Four families connected to organized crime face a two-year struggle to decide whether to cut ties with the mafia or continue their legacy.

Families of the Mafia

Browse more by Verónica de la Luz

View all films →

Mingo: El Amigo De La Mesa (2022)

Mingo: El Amigo De La Mesa

2022

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →