--- title: Bryan Cranston in The Infiltrator: How To Break Up a Cartel description: In "The Infiltrator," Cranston plays Robert Mazur, the real-life U.S. Customs agent who went undercover to break up the Medellín cartel. canonical: https://time.com/4368330/bryan-cranston-robert-mazur-the-infiltrator/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-28T20:01:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:39:09.327Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Bryan Cranston Explains How to Break Up a Drug Cartel og:description: In "The Infiltrator," Cranston plays Robert Mazur, the real-life U.S. Customs agent who went undercover to break up the Medellín cartel. og:url: https://time.com/4368330/bryan-cranston-robert-mazur-the-infiltrator/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2737db800445aaf6/698897c6656a3f7b08bcbe9e/bryan-cranston.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1996 og:image:height: 1123 og:image:alt: Bryan Cranston attends Bryan Cranston and "All The Way" at 92nd Street Y on May 18, 2016 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bryan Cranston Explains How to Break Up a Drug Cartel twitter:description: In "The Infiltrator," Cranston plays Robert Mazur, the real-life U.S. Customs agent who went undercover to break up the Medellín cartel. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2737db800445aaf6/698897c6656a3f7b08bcbe9e/bryan-cranston.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bryan Cranston Explains How to Break Up a Cartel in this Featurette for _The Infiltrator_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: The_Infiltrator_Featurette_2016.mov [Watch (HLS stream): The_Infiltrator_Featurette_2016.mov](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GFTFaE9q.m3u8) (3:16)  _Published 2016-06-21_  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 28, 2016 8:01 PM UTC  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 28, 2016 8:01 PM UTC Bryan Cranston’s last few roles have had the actor bringing life to historical figures like [Lyndon B. Johnson](http://time.com/4324755/bryan-cranston-walter-white/) and screenwriter [Dalton Trumbo](http://time.com/4094143/dalton-trumbo-history/). His most famous role to date remains that of [_Breaking Bad_’s](http://time.com/3740595/breaking-bad-vince-gilligan-pizza/) chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin Walter White, alias: Heisenberg. His next role is a bit of an amalgam of the two, only if you turn the druglord part on its head: in [_The Infiltrator_](http://time.com/4301519/the-infiltrator-trailer-bryan-cranston/) (July 13), Cranston plays Robert Mazur, the real-life U.S. Customs agent who went undercover in the mid-1980s to break up the Medellín drug cartel, infamously led by [Pablo Escobar](http://time.com/4193757/safe-pablo-escobar-miami-mansion/). In the exclusive featurette above, Cranston discusses the appeal of playing a character who is, in many ways, three men in one. The film opens on a cocaine bust led by Bob Mangione, a street-level crook whose identity an undercover Mazur assumes. It continues with Mazur’s metamorphosis into Bob Musella, a businessman with mob ties who sets himself up to launder money on behalf of the cartel in order to execute one of the largest undercover operations in U.S. history, ultimately taking down more than 80 criminals. And then, of course, there’s Mazur himself: devoted husband, family man, fairly average Joe. “I just liked the idea that there was a man who was committed to trying to improve his country, his society, and in order to do that, he had to become very good friends with some very bad people,” says Cranston. Mazur, whose memoir serves as the source material for the film and whose voice and appearance remain protected, explains that those friendships, though pursued under false pretenses, were a particularly trying part of the job. “There is a role that I have to play as a friend, as a confidante,” he says. “Sometimes it’s not an easy thing to live with after the fact.” _The Infiltrator_ co-stars John Leguizamo as Mazur’s scrappy partner; Diane Kruger as a fledgling agent to whom Mazur must fake an engagement; and Benjamin Bratt as Roberto Alcaino, one of Escobar’s top dogs. As for Cranston, after spending five years playing the role of getting the better part of the Southwest hooked on the blue stuff, with _The Infiltrator_, he finds himself at last on the right side of the law. ## Transcript [00:00] Ev? I'm home. Did it go [00:07] okay? Yeah, piece of cake. Is [00:14] your undercover dead? He's dead alright. [00:18] Even though the movie is based on a true story, Bob Mazur [00:22] is someone that most people don't know. If they know the [00:26] man by his face they probably know him with a different last [00:29] name. You think I want to count $ 40 grand in one's [00:32] Mangiony Robert Mucella. Pleasure to meet you. Mazur, [00:35] not so fast. I've been Robert Mangione. I've been Robert [00:39] Masoa. I've been Robert Baldassari. I've been all kinds of [00:42] different people in my undercover world. There's basically [00:45] three distinctive characters in one. His normal self Bob [00:50] Meiser who is really very calm and committed family man [00:53] to his two children and his wife, and lives a very ordinary [00:57] middle- class existence. And then there the characters that [01:00] he needs to talk on. My friends, welcome to the United [01:03] States. There's a lot to be learned about how to set up an [01:06] undercover identity. You want that character that you build [01:09] to have a many traits that I have Hey hey look at this. Do [01:13] the math, I'd be 77 years old. The less amount of lies [01:17] I have to tell, the least likely it is that im gonna wind up [01:20] tripping myself up. Here we go, Bob Musella. Dates are [01:24] perfect. He usually tries to stay with Bob cause in a pinch, if [01:27] someone yells out Bob. Mr. Bob Bob Mr. Bob. You naturally [01:32] react, and so he wants to be able to maintain that. Manzoni [01:36] was more of a sad, old street level crook. What [01:40] we need is a new currency. [01:45] Sella, he is a more flamboyant Business man [01:49] who covers that he works for the mob. Gentlemen, I [01:53] sincerely apologize, family business got in the way. He has [01:58] to actually do the money laundering for the [ UNKNOWN ] [02:01] cartel. So, Mr. Marcella, what can you do for me? There's [02:05] Bob Major the cop, whose looking for the evidence, who is [02:08] acting as Bob Marcella. But there's a role that I I have to [02:11] play as a friend, as a confidante. It's not an easy thing to [02:14] do. Sometimes it's not an easy thing to live with after the [02:16] fact, either. It's like you get close to people. What I did do is [02:20] I cause them to drop their guard and let me into their lives [02:24] so that I can become the government's eyes and ears [02:26] inside their criminal enterprise. The character [02:31] is phenomenal. He's a heroic guy. Take the tapes. And I [02:35] just like the idea that there was a man who was committed [02:39] to trying to improve his country, his society. And in [02:43] order to do that, he had to become very good friends with [02:47] some very bad people. That was done More [02:51] importantly, the other man is Pablo Escobar. For fun, right? [02:57] One wrong word. Here we go. One slip. In [03:02] my business nothing good ever [03:06] comes in the absence of trust. 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