1
00:00:12,638 --> 00:00:14,681
My husband's from northern Mexico.

2
00:00:15,807 --> 00:00:19,895
And we would go back and forth
to his home town,

3
00:00:19,895 --> 00:00:22,564
and the city completely changed.

4
00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:25,317
Northern Mexico changed
because of the Zetas.

5
00:00:27,819 --> 00:00:29,571
We couldn't drive there anymore.

6
00:00:29,571 --> 00:00:31,990
It impacted us personally.

7
00:00:34,576 --> 00:00:36,745
But, you know, Americans,
they don't understand

8
00:00:36,745 --> 00:00:40,582
that it's just as much an American story
as it is a Mexican story.

9
00:00:43,544 --> 00:00:48,757
All of this devastation is fueled
by our huge insatiable drug demand.

10
00:00:48,757 --> 00:00:51,844
You know, billions of dollars
of drug profits

11
00:00:51,844 --> 00:00:54,179
from Americans buying drugs.

12
00:00:54,888 --> 00:00:58,308
And the United States still manufactures

13
00:00:58,308 --> 00:01:02,145
lots and lots and lots of guns
that are heading south,

14
00:01:02,646 --> 00:01:04,355
smuggled across the river.

15
00:01:05,732 --> 00:01:10,237
And for that kind of money to move,
everybody's involved.

16
00:01:11,113 --> 00:01:12,948
Political leaders are involved...

17
00:01:14,199 --> 00:01:15,993
...military's involved...

18
00:01:16,743 --> 00:01:18,912
And I'm not saying
all of them are involved,

19
00:01:18,912 --> 00:01:20,497
but some of them are involved,

20
00:01:20,497 --> 00:01:25,669
because bribing people in power
is part of the business model,

21
00:01:25,669 --> 00:01:28,422
and that's what makes it work
on both sides.

22
00:01:29,923 --> 00:01:33,177
But I don't think people care.

23
00:01:34,261 --> 00:01:35,679
Other than for entertainment.

24
00:01:38,765 --> 00:01:43,312
So, when you actually have people of power

25
00:01:43,312 --> 00:01:47,524
that are trying to make a change,
and that really understand it,

26
00:01:48,525 --> 00:01:49,735
it's a big deal.

27
00:02:31,443 --> 00:02:35,656
{\an8}I had enough about the scope
of the business.

28
00:02:35,656 --> 00:02:39,284
I had enough about
what that business looked like,

29
00:02:39,284 --> 00:02:41,995
and I knew this
quarter horse racing business

30
00:02:41,995 --> 00:02:44,957
was laundering money for the Zetas cartel.

31
00:02:45,415 --> 00:02:49,461
And so we've got a story,
we're ready to publish it.

32
00:02:50,045 --> 00:02:53,382
But we decide to call the authorities.

33
00:02:54,675 --> 00:02:58,595
After Ginger had emailed headquarters,
there was some meetings on both sides.

34
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,393
{\an8}We had a number of conversations
with her, her editors and my management.

35
00:03:04,393 --> 00:03:09,398
They told us if we published a story

36
00:03:09,398 --> 00:03:12,276
before they were ready to arrest,

37
00:03:12,276 --> 00:03:15,821
very sensitive sources inside the cartel
could be hurt.

38
00:03:17,614 --> 00:03:21,159
Would we consider holding our story.

39
00:03:22,494 --> 00:03:25,998
As soon as they said people
might get hurt, it was real.

40
00:03:27,499 --> 00:03:31,211
I'd been reporting in that world.
I knew how dangerous it was.

41
00:03:31,211 --> 00:03:33,463
I'd been reporting
about Ramiro Villarreal.

42
00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:34,882
He got killed.

43
00:03:36,466 --> 00:03:39,511
So I knew that this was serious.

44
00:03:40,929 --> 00:03:43,223
What I asked for from the FBI was,

45
00:03:43,223 --> 00:03:46,977
"I'd like to see some of
the investigative documents you have.

46
00:03:46,977 --> 00:03:48,312
I want to see the indictment.

47
00:03:48,312 --> 00:03:50,606
Can I see what you're preparing
to charge him with?"

48
00:03:50,606 --> 00:03:54,902
They consider these documents
super sensitive, but I said to them,

49
00:03:54,902 --> 00:03:58,197
"Are you willing to do that?
'Cause if so then we'll hold, if not..."

50
00:03:58,655 --> 00:04:01,033
So, in exchange for us giving her

51
00:04:01,033 --> 00:04:04,620
a significant portion of my search warrant
affidavit for the case,

52
00:04:04,620 --> 00:04:08,123
she was gonna hold off
on printing the story.

53
00:04:08,123 --> 00:04:12,669
I said, I want to underscore
how important it is

54
00:04:12,669 --> 00:04:17,007
that this story be published by us
before anyone else,

55
00:04:17,007 --> 00:04:19,843
so I'm not waiting months for this.

56
00:04:19,843 --> 00:04:22,721
They were willing to hold it
for a short amount of time,

57
00:04:22,721 --> 00:04:25,641
but we had to go to grand jury in like,
the next six weeks.

58
00:04:25,641 --> 00:04:28,852
That was a sort of compromise
and sort of a big piece of friction.

59
00:04:28,852 --> 00:04:33,982
She accelerated my timeline
by a good half a year.

60
00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:36,193
It was like, "Crap."

61
00:04:36,777 --> 00:04:39,196
So now, I had to get my ass in gear,

62
00:04:39,196 --> 00:04:43,116
{\an8}and get the summary of facts done
as quickly as I possibly could.

63
00:04:43,116 --> 00:04:45,911
Get all affidavits written
as fast as I po...

64
00:04:45,911 --> 00:04:48,747
She made my life hell
for like, three months.

65
00:04:50,999 --> 00:04:53,126
The whole team, we were there,

66
00:04:53,126 --> 00:04:55,921
going through crap left and right,
trying to put it all together.

67
00:04:57,172 --> 00:04:59,550
And I think we come up with, like,
a hundred-and-some-odd-page

68
00:04:59,550 --> 00:05:02,553
summary of facts,
detailing everything that we had.

69
00:05:02,553 --> 00:05:06,598
They took that,
just did it for the indictment.

70
00:05:13,272 --> 00:05:16,608
{\an8}May of 2012, I went to grand jury,
myself and Steve,

71
00:05:16,608 --> 00:05:17,818
and we presented our case.

72
00:05:19,027 --> 00:05:21,989
And now this is where you
lay out all the facts.

73
00:05:21,989 --> 00:05:24,032
I was gonna put all my cards on the table,

74
00:05:24,741 --> 00:05:28,287
and if it wasn't enough, you know,
that was kind of the end of the road.

75
00:05:30,664 --> 00:05:35,127
But we got 15 indictments returned
by the Western District of Texas,

76
00:05:36,253 --> 00:05:40,132
which means the next step is to start
preparing for an arrest operation.

77
00:05:43,093 --> 00:05:45,971
We have to decide who's going where,
and who's doing what.

78
00:05:47,514 --> 00:05:50,058
These guys were residing
across the Southwest.

79
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,189
We want to make sure
we get all the arrests.

80
00:05:55,189 --> 00:05:58,400
We want to try to search houses...

81
00:05:59,943 --> 00:06:01,153
...racetracks...

82
00:06:02,529 --> 00:06:04,406
We want to search ranches...

83
00:06:05,908 --> 00:06:08,577
So that's a big ordeal
to start trying to plan,

84
00:06:08,577 --> 00:06:09,912
'cause you want to do it simultaneously.

85
00:06:09,912 --> 00:06:12,289
We call it a round-up. Trying to round up
as many of the defendants

86
00:06:12,289 --> 00:06:13,790
on the indictment on the same day,

87
00:06:13,790 --> 00:06:16,502
because we're fearful they go
into fugitive status,

88
00:06:16,502 --> 00:06:18,003
or go to Mexico and we'll never see 'em.

89
00:06:18,795 --> 00:06:21,423
This is the culmination of all the work.

90
00:06:23,425 --> 00:06:25,177
And now it's time to go.

91
00:06:30,974 --> 00:06:33,727
Basically started assigning
different members of my squad

92
00:06:33,727 --> 00:06:36,188
to different sites throughout the country.

93
00:06:36,188 --> 00:06:40,359
I would go to Lexington, Oklahoma,
which was José Treviño's ranch.

94
00:06:42,361 --> 00:06:44,488
Kim and I, our assignment was Ruidoso.

95
00:06:44,488 --> 00:06:47,824
Ruidoso Downs search warrants
and Fernando Garcia.

96
00:06:49,826 --> 00:06:51,954
{\an8}And I was out at the race track
in California,

97
00:06:51,954 --> 00:06:54,039
the arrest team for Carlos Nayen.

98
00:06:56,041 --> 00:06:58,335
{\an8}I was in San Antonio,
at the San Antonio headquarters,

99
00:06:58,335 --> 00:07:02,256
watching on the screens and getting
the feeds via either phone or video.

100
00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:08,262
We had approximately
1,200 law enforcement personnel

101
00:07:08,262 --> 00:07:10,556
spread across these multiple sites.

102
00:07:11,515 --> 00:07:15,394
I've never been a part of anything,
you know, close to that big.

103
00:07:15,394 --> 00:07:19,648
And on June 12th, here we go.

104
00:07:25,404 --> 00:07:27,531
So we started driving,
we started following the SWAT,

105
00:07:27,531 --> 00:07:30,909
and probably 50 to 60 agent cars.

106
00:07:30,909 --> 00:07:35,664
What is about to transpire really
starts overwhelming, you know, me.

107
00:07:36,373 --> 00:07:38,083
I started thinking about my dad,

108
00:07:38,083 --> 00:07:42,296
I started thinking about something
that I poured, like, heart and soul into,

109
00:07:42,296 --> 00:07:46,175
that our team had poured heart
and soul into for the last three years,

110
00:07:46,175 --> 00:07:48,969
was just hours away
from coming to fruition.

111
00:07:50,971 --> 00:07:52,723
We just had to finish it safely.

112
00:07:54,099 --> 00:07:57,186
Tension goes up, 'cause you don't know
what you're walking into.

113
00:07:57,186 --> 00:07:59,688
{\an8}Who's gonna be here when we show up?

114
00:08:00,105 --> 00:08:02,649
I may know José Treviño's at his ranch,

115
00:08:02,649 --> 00:08:04,568
but I don't know
if he has cartel members there.

116
00:08:05,861 --> 00:08:09,072
And you never know, you know,
what the Zetas are capable of.

117
00:08:10,407 --> 00:08:13,869
The Zetas, all right.
An enforcement group at one point.

118
00:08:14,494 --> 00:08:17,831
Highly trained. I mean, they're deadly.

119
00:08:17,831 --> 00:08:21,668
{\an8}And how do you mentally prepare for that
when you're going to go do these warrants?

120
00:08:22,252 --> 00:08:23,712
It is life or death.

121
00:08:24,963 --> 00:08:28,967
We're going into someplace that
if he shoots at us, it's gonna blow up.

122
00:08:28,967 --> 00:08:31,094
If we shoot at him, it's gonna blow up.

123
00:08:31,094 --> 00:08:34,306
I mean, I might die.

124
00:08:35,140 --> 00:08:37,267
I made peace with God that...

125
00:08:38,519 --> 00:08:40,854
You know what? It is what it is.

126
00:08:49,863 --> 00:08:53,951
The SWAT vehicle stops
just short of José Treviño's house.

127
00:08:53,951 --> 00:08:56,161
Fifteen men exit the BearCat.

128
00:08:56,161 --> 00:09:01,041
The first man goes to the front door,
and inserts what we call flash-bangs.

129
00:09:01,792 --> 00:09:05,003
The first bang goes off,
and it's this huge, rattling boom

130
00:09:05,003 --> 00:09:08,173
that just, you know,
shakes me 50 yards away.

131
00:09:09,508 --> 00:09:13,011
At this point, the entry team
makes entry into José's house.

132
00:09:13,929 --> 00:09:17,057
I'm sitting there,
waiting on pins and needles,

133
00:09:17,057 --> 00:09:19,601
just hoping to God that he's there.

134
00:09:24,606 --> 00:09:27,568
Fernando was supposed to be
at the horse track.

135
00:09:28,193 --> 00:09:31,113
Kim's on point, and I would pace her.

136
00:09:31,113 --> 00:09:32,656
And she would have her long gun,

137
00:09:32,656 --> 00:09:35,200
she would be going down
through the stalls.

138
00:09:37,035 --> 00:09:39,037
"Don't miss that corner.
Don't miss that corner.

139
00:09:39,037 --> 00:09:42,207
Don't miss this corner.
Shit, don't miss this corner."

140
00:09:42,207 --> 00:09:45,252
We would look left, look right,
check each stall, move.

141
00:09:45,252 --> 00:09:46,461
And then we would move her.

142
00:09:49,006 --> 00:09:51,049
{\an8}Your line of thinking
at the race tracks is,

143
00:09:51,049 --> 00:09:54,178
you don't go by yourself,
you always have a partner with you.

144
00:09:56,722 --> 00:09:58,348
Until you can apprise the situation

145
00:09:58,348 --> 00:10:01,268
and figure out what's going on,
who's gonna cooperate,

146
00:10:01,268 --> 00:10:04,188
you never know,
especially in an area like that...

147
00:10:05,230 --> 00:10:07,858
...who could pop up with a gun.
You just don't know that.

148
00:10:11,820 --> 00:10:14,281
So we tell Kim, as I got her by the vest,

149
00:10:14,281 --> 00:10:16,408
we'll take care of anything to the side.

150
00:10:16,408 --> 00:10:18,327
You kill what comes at us.

151
00:10:23,290 --> 00:10:26,001
This is definitely the most dangerous
part of the investigation.

152
00:10:26,001 --> 00:10:28,921
This is where all of the theory

153
00:10:28,921 --> 00:10:32,132
and understanding of your targets
has to come into practice,

154
00:10:32,132 --> 00:10:35,802
and has to go to that moment
where you take 'em into custody.

155
00:10:35,802 --> 00:10:38,222
And that's what we did.

156
00:10:41,266 --> 00:10:44,728
We arrest José and the rest of his family.

157
00:10:44,728 --> 00:10:47,314
{\an8}Carlos Nayen was arrested right away.

158
00:10:47,898 --> 00:10:50,317
{\an8}Fernando Garcia, he gets arrested.

159
00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,696
So it's very anti-climactic.
It's like, "Holy shit."

160
00:10:54,696 --> 00:10:58,158
How do you come to an end,
and not one shot fired?

161
00:10:59,243 --> 00:11:01,119
But the day wasn't over.

162
00:11:03,539 --> 00:11:06,625
Normally there would be
this slow, methodical,

163
00:11:06,625 --> 00:11:10,003
secure processing
by the evidence response team.

164
00:11:10,671 --> 00:11:15,008
But we interjected,
where I would go in right after SWAT,

165
00:11:15,008 --> 00:11:19,137
and just look for what we were calling
"the golden phone."

166
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,895
I just took a glance at José,
and then I ran into his house.

167
00:11:27,896 --> 00:11:31,608
My job was to try to find phones
with that number

168
00:11:31,608 --> 00:11:34,069
that went back to 40 and 42.

169
00:11:35,195 --> 00:11:39,366
It would be confirmation of my theory
throughout this investigation,

170
00:11:39,366 --> 00:11:45,038
that José had been updating Miguel
at these auctions and at these races.

171
00:11:46,123 --> 00:11:49,084
I immediately ascertained
where the master bedroom was.

172
00:11:53,255 --> 00:11:55,132
And right by the nightstand...

173
00:11:56,717 --> 00:11:58,177
...there was one phone.

174
00:11:58,177 --> 00:12:01,346
And I opened it up,
and it only had one number in it.

175
00:12:01,346 --> 00:12:04,600
A 5-2 country code, which told me

176
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,644
that it was most likely Miguel's number
that I was looking at.

177
00:12:09,897 --> 00:12:12,274
So there's a satisfying moment to confirm

178
00:12:12,274 --> 00:12:15,110
that he was directing José
in the horse operation,

179
00:12:15,110 --> 00:12:17,321
and to see that with my own eyes...

180
00:12:17,988 --> 00:12:20,199
it was a... it was a great feeling.

181
00:12:25,329 --> 00:12:27,539
After the initial wave passed

182
00:12:27,539 --> 00:12:31,668
{\an8}of all the various agencies
securing the location,

183
00:12:31,668 --> 00:12:33,170
and the warrants being executed,

184
00:12:33,170 --> 00:12:36,089
we were gonna take a certain number
of large assets,

185
00:12:36,089 --> 00:12:39,343
cutting off their money supply
as quickly as possible.

186
00:12:39,343 --> 00:12:42,429
Our taskforce has always
been a firm believer in,

187
00:12:42,429 --> 00:12:46,683
not only do you take the body,
you take the ill-gotten gains.

188
00:12:46,683 --> 00:12:49,811
You hit 'em from both sides and
you hit 'em as hard as you possibly can.

189
00:12:50,896 --> 00:12:56,068
And so, these assets, for the most part,
are race horses.

190
00:12:57,945 --> 00:13:01,823
You know, you had a lot of people going...
"I don't know about that."

191
00:13:01,823 --> 00:13:06,787
Prosecutors', watchword is,
if it poops or eats, stay away from it.

192
00:13:06,787 --> 00:13:08,080
Who's gonna take care of 'em?

193
00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,415
Who's gonna feed 'em,
who's gonna clean 'em?

194
00:13:10,415 --> 00:13:13,085
But we put together a framework
for the United States government

195
00:13:13,085 --> 00:13:18,257
to now become the temporary owner,
carer, custodian, for over 400 racehorses.

196
00:13:18,924 --> 00:13:21,301
This takes it to a whole different level.

197
00:13:22,928 --> 00:13:25,138
We had ten seizure warrants

198
00:13:25,138 --> 00:13:29,142
for the most valuable horses
there at Ruidoso.

199
00:13:29,142 --> 00:13:31,895
But then it turned out there were some
additional horses at the track,

200
00:13:31,895 --> 00:13:34,273
and they don't know where they are.

201
00:13:35,482 --> 00:13:37,109
I'm looking for like, 20 horses.

202
00:13:38,110 --> 00:13:39,736
And I know they're there.

203
00:13:39,736 --> 00:13:41,029
It's like...

204
00:13:43,699 --> 00:13:45,200
This is gonna be a long day,

205
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,911
'cause there's like 1,500 horses
at the race track.

206
00:13:49,496 --> 00:13:54,209
Those registered AQHA horses
that are racing,

207
00:13:54,209 --> 00:13:57,671
they have tattoos
on the inside of their lip.

208
00:13:57,671 --> 00:14:02,718
That was really the only way that
we could identify José Treviño's horses.

209
00:14:02,718 --> 00:14:06,054
And the stable manager,
he showed me how to lip the horses,

210
00:14:06,054 --> 00:14:08,223
so I could look at the tattoo

211
00:14:08,223 --> 00:14:10,767
and go, this is the horse
we're looking for to seize.

212
00:14:13,896 --> 00:14:17,608
I love horses,
so for me, I really didn't mind,

213
00:14:17,608 --> 00:14:20,444
but for people who've
never been around horses,

214
00:14:20,444 --> 00:14:22,529
you might not know horses
are prone to bite.

215
00:14:22,529 --> 00:14:23,947
What about Steve Junker?

216
00:14:23,947 --> 00:14:25,616
Would you consider him a horse guy?

217
00:14:26,867 --> 00:14:29,203
Steve didn't talk much about the horses.

218
00:14:30,787 --> 00:14:33,040
I'm pretty sure it wasn't high
on his list of,

219
00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,542
"Hey, let's go deal with the horses."

220
00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:37,085
Did you lip horses?

221
00:14:37,628 --> 00:14:40,756
Fuck, no.
I don't know shit about horses.

222
00:14:40,756 --> 00:14:43,258
If it was a fat horse, I didn't bet on it.

223
00:14:43,258 --> 00:14:45,260
That's what I knew about horses.

224
00:14:45,260 --> 00:14:47,846
Lean and vascular, there's your money.

225
00:14:47,846 --> 00:14:49,306
That's all I knew.

226
00:14:49,306 --> 00:14:51,808
And Kim is like,
"Come help lip this horse."

227
00:14:51,808 --> 00:14:54,019
"Go fuck yourself.
I'm not lipping a horse.

228
00:14:54,019 --> 00:14:56,480
I'm not sticking my hand
in the mouth of a horse.

229
00:14:57,773 --> 00:14:59,274
Not gonna happen."

230
00:15:03,195 --> 00:15:06,698
I spent two or three hours making sure
all the search teams were organized,

231
00:15:06,698 --> 00:15:09,034
kinda telling them,
this is not a drug case,

232
00:15:09,034 --> 00:15:10,744
we're looking for paperwork.

233
00:15:12,579 --> 00:15:14,665
A lot of evidence
had already been sacked up,

234
00:15:14,665 --> 00:15:16,708
marked, exhibits, that type of stuff.

235
00:15:16,708 --> 00:15:21,004
Scott Lawson starts to kind of rumblin'
through things, whips out this check.

236
00:15:22,965 --> 00:15:25,843
"Steve! Take a look at this."

237
00:15:26,510 --> 00:15:28,095
"Holy shit, that's gold."

238
00:15:31,014 --> 00:15:35,435
{\an8}What it was, June 7th, 2011.

239
00:15:36,353 --> 00:15:40,440
Check written to Francisco Colorado Cessa,
400,000 dollars, Fly First Down.

240
00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:43,318
That check was never cashed.

241
00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:47,614
So José never really paid
Francisco Colorado Cessa

242
00:15:47,614 --> 00:15:49,491
400,000 dollars for that horse.

243
00:15:50,492 --> 00:15:53,620
That's part of the laundering process
of how things went

244
00:15:53,620 --> 00:15:56,582
in trying to make José look clean.

245
00:15:59,418 --> 00:16:02,379
Where we were at,
we seized like, 22 horses,

246
00:16:02,379 --> 00:16:06,466
so we had three semis show up
to transport the horses.

247
00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:09,469
The ultimate destination
for where the horses were going

248
00:16:09,469 --> 00:16:10,971
was kept very secret.

249
00:16:10,971 --> 00:16:14,558
'Cause when you take their assets,
that pisses 'em off.

250
00:16:15,726 --> 00:16:17,186
Everything went as planned.

251
00:16:18,353 --> 00:16:21,190
We pile in our car and we head out.

252
00:16:21,190 --> 00:16:24,693
And that was the last piece
of our work at Ruidoso.

253
00:16:27,613 --> 00:16:31,325
At the end of the day,
Scott had done an amazing job.

254
00:16:32,576 --> 00:16:35,495
Through all of these search warrants,
through all this time,

255
00:16:35,495 --> 00:16:38,457
and through all of these arrests,
going against

256
00:16:38,457 --> 00:16:43,587
the most deadly, violent cartel
in the world at that time,

257
00:16:44,588 --> 00:16:48,884
nobody was hurt, nobody got injured,
and that was amazing.

258
00:16:50,719 --> 00:16:57,100
This was, you know, the triumph of a tip
that had a lot of naysayers, you know,

259
00:16:57,100 --> 00:17:02,105
and we had built this thing with a team
that put the hours in,

260
00:17:02,105 --> 00:17:05,275
and believed in it, and, and now we were
almost at the finish line.

261
00:17:07,611 --> 00:17:13,659
{\an8}After we had arrested José and
all the persons we could find in the US,

262
00:17:13,659 --> 00:17:17,871
José was taken
to an FBI office in Lexington.

263
00:17:17,871 --> 00:17:22,000
I was like, "Wow. I've been on this case
for the last three years,

264
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,505
and here I am now, for the first time,
sitting across from José Treviño."

265
00:17:28,464 --> 00:17:30,175
I read José his rights,

266
00:17:30,175 --> 00:17:33,762
and I remember looking at José
and getting a very defiant look.

267
00:17:33,762 --> 00:17:36,306
"I'm gonna be fine,
because you're not gonna find anything."

268
00:17:36,306 --> 00:17:37,850
That's how I read José.

269
00:17:38,892 --> 00:17:40,519
Typically, what you're doing
in the early interview

270
00:17:40,519 --> 00:17:42,479
is just letting them provide a story.

271
00:17:42,479 --> 00:17:45,107
You know, you're gonna listen,
and you're gonna absorb.

272
00:17:45,107 --> 00:17:46,608
He said, "I'm living
the American dream.

273
00:17:46,608 --> 00:17:48,819
I've worked hard, I've earned this money."

274
00:17:48,819 --> 00:17:51,655
He had rehearsed this story
and practiced it.

275
00:17:52,656 --> 00:17:54,074
Of course, I already was way past that.

276
00:17:55,826 --> 00:17:58,662
And then I started dangling things
over him to let him know

277
00:17:58,662 --> 00:18:02,416
that we didn't just trip over a stick
and fall on his house that morning.

278
00:18:05,169 --> 00:18:06,879
We had a lot of evidence,

279
00:18:06,879 --> 00:18:09,506
a lot of things we wouldn't know
unless we were on the inside.

280
00:18:10,757 --> 00:18:13,719
One of the big things was,
there was a moment where

281
00:18:13,719 --> 00:18:18,098
José was directed to take this
Excel spreadsheet to Coahuila, Mexico,

282
00:18:18,098 --> 00:18:21,435
and leave it to explain some
of the expenses he was asking for.

283
00:18:21,435 --> 00:18:23,478
And that wound up in our hands,

284
00:18:23,478 --> 00:18:27,065
so José knew where
he took that piece of paper,

285
00:18:27,065 --> 00:18:30,527
and I was able to convey to him
that you know that I know.

286
00:18:31,403 --> 00:18:35,073
When I presented that to José,
his whole demeanor changed.

287
00:18:37,618 --> 00:18:41,580
And he got very upset, and he said,
"I think I want an attorney."

288
00:18:41,580 --> 00:18:43,957
So the interview with José was stopped.

289
00:18:46,126 --> 00:18:49,463
But we planted a seed that
we knew what we knew,

290
00:18:49,463 --> 00:18:51,548
and they had some things to think about.

291
00:18:58,347 --> 00:18:59,848
Once you do the raids,

292
00:18:59,848 --> 00:19:02,935
we did all those search warrants,
now we have...

293
00:19:02,935 --> 00:19:04,978
I couldn't tell you how many boxes
of evidence we had.

294
00:19:04,978 --> 00:19:07,439
We took a bunch of stuff.
All kinds of records.

295
00:19:07,439 --> 00:19:10,275
A lot of it was just loose paper.

296
00:19:10,901 --> 00:19:13,237
Some were somewhat organized,

297
00:19:13,237 --> 00:19:15,697
but mostly it was just the FBI just
taking everything and putting it in a box

298
00:19:15,697 --> 00:19:18,200
and labelling where it was coming from.

299
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,245
And so trying to unravel
all the shell companies,

300
00:19:21,245 --> 00:19:24,581
all the shell men, the AQHA records...

301
00:19:24,581 --> 00:19:28,418
I wouldn't say it was daunting,
but it was... it was, difficult.

302
00:19:29,461 --> 00:19:32,714
Then the judge sets a trial date.

303
00:19:32,714 --> 00:19:35,217
So we basically just,
everybody just moved to Austin,

304
00:19:35,217 --> 00:19:39,805
and we're going through all that evidence
as quickly as we can.

305
00:19:39,805 --> 00:19:43,433
In the meantime,
we're now out in the open.

306
00:19:46,770 --> 00:19:50,566
They knew our names,
but they knew my name from the ranch.

307
00:19:50,566 --> 00:19:53,735
Doug Gardner had asked me
to interview the family,

308
00:19:53,735 --> 00:19:57,781
so I brought in Pepe, José Treviño's son.

309
00:19:57,781 --> 00:20:00,659
The one from the picture of Tempting Dash

310
00:20:00,659 --> 00:20:03,996
winning the million-dollar futurity
in Grand Prairie, Texas.

311
00:20:03,996 --> 00:20:05,873
I said, "Tell me about it."

312
00:20:06,915 --> 00:20:09,251
And he was like,
"That's my soccer number."

313
00:20:09,251 --> 00:20:10,878
And then I thought I had him when he goes,

314
00:20:10,878 --> 00:20:13,797
"I've been told I have to tell you
that's my soccer number."

315
00:20:13,797 --> 00:20:15,382
So somebody's schooled him.

316
00:20:15,382 --> 00:20:18,844
And as we were finishing up,
he got mouthy.

317
00:20:18,844 --> 00:20:22,431
And I was like,
"Look, Pepe, you're free to go,

318
00:20:22,431 --> 00:20:25,767
but if you think you're gonna jump bad
or go get a gun or something,"

319
00:20:25,767 --> 00:20:27,394
I said, "I'm just gonna
put a bullet in your head.

320
00:20:27,394 --> 00:20:29,396
I'm not gonna fuck around with you."

321
00:20:29,396 --> 00:20:32,691
And I remember him going out,
and he got on his Blackberry,

322
00:20:32,691 --> 00:20:35,027
which we knew that
the Blackberries were a sign

323
00:20:35,027 --> 00:20:37,696
of communication with Miguel and Omar.

324
00:20:38,989 --> 00:20:42,242
And a couple days after that,
as I'm walking down my driveway,

325
00:20:42,242 --> 00:20:44,745
a black Suburban comes down my street,

326
00:20:44,745 --> 00:20:47,122
and it goes from the right side
to the left side,

327
00:20:47,122 --> 00:20:49,166
and the back passenger window
came down.

328
00:20:51,585 --> 00:20:53,837
And I remember,
I looked at him, he looked at me.

329
00:20:56,548 --> 00:20:58,842
And I was like,
"Holy fuck, this is fixing to hurt."

330
00:21:01,637 --> 00:21:04,515
And then he went to the other side,
the window went up, and they went on.

331
00:21:06,767 --> 00:21:08,894
And I remember calling Brian, and I said,

332
00:21:08,894 --> 00:21:12,523
"Look, I'm not being paranoid,
this just happened."

333
00:21:12,523 --> 00:21:15,943
And he's like, "Shit, I'm sitting
at the table with a gun in each hand."

334
00:21:16,985 --> 00:21:19,196
You start getting words
from informants, like,

335
00:21:19,196 --> 00:21:22,366
"Hey, y'all need to watch yourselves."

336
00:21:25,577 --> 00:21:28,247
I'm out mowing the yard
on Saturday morning,

337
00:21:28,247 --> 00:21:31,708
and I see a long-haired Hispanic guy
walking down the sidewalk.

338
00:21:31,708 --> 00:21:34,628
And he's got full camo on, which...

339
00:21:34,628 --> 00:21:38,257
You might see somebody in a camo jacket,
but this is full camo,

340
00:21:38,257 --> 00:21:41,552
and I'm like, "This is not good."

341
00:21:41,552 --> 00:21:45,889
So I walk back to my car,
open the trunk up, get my AR going.

342
00:21:45,889 --> 00:21:49,059
I'm ready.
It's... It's gonna happen.

343
00:21:52,980 --> 00:21:55,023
And then he continued walking,
and I was like,

344
00:21:55,023 --> 00:21:57,776
"Okay, is he doing a recon,
or what is he doing?"

345
00:21:57,776 --> 00:21:59,987
Makes you wonder, it was like,

346
00:21:59,987 --> 00:22:03,615
"What are they up to?
Who do they have watching us?"

347
00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,663
So we had nine folks arrested,

348
00:22:09,663 --> 00:22:13,500
and then Francisco Colorado Cessa flew
into Houston and turned himself in.

349
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:17,588
{\an8}He was a Mexican businessman
in bed with the Zetas.

350
00:22:17,588 --> 00:22:21,258
He had an unlimited amount of funds,

351
00:22:21,258 --> 00:22:24,094
and I think he was used to
getting his way in Mexico,

352
00:22:24,094 --> 00:22:26,638
and he thought he would get his way
here in the United States as well.

353
00:22:28,098 --> 00:22:31,768
Leading up to our trial date,
all but five pled guilty,

354
00:22:31,768 --> 00:22:35,981
so we had five persons that wanted to,
you know, have their day in court,

355
00:22:35,981 --> 00:22:39,985
and that was José Treviño,
Francisco Colorado,

356
00:22:39,985 --> 00:22:43,655
Fernando Garcia, and the Huitrón brothers.

357
00:22:43,655 --> 00:22:48,952
The Huitrón brothers were trainers
of horses for José in the Austin area.

358
00:22:50,621 --> 00:22:52,623
What was really important
getting close to the trial

359
00:22:52,623 --> 00:22:56,752
is trying to figure out how we bring
all these Zeta cartel members

360
00:22:56,752 --> 00:23:00,797
into the same town at the same time
and keep everybody safe.

361
00:23:02,508 --> 00:23:07,471
From the people on our side,
to the people we indicted.

362
00:23:08,889 --> 00:23:10,766
It was just a huge undertaking.

363
00:23:12,351 --> 00:23:17,022
We had information that they were going
to try and come kill some of the officers,

364
00:23:17,022 --> 00:23:20,400
agents, prosecutors, witnesses.

365
00:23:20,901 --> 00:23:23,111
We knew going in to our case

366
00:23:23,111 --> 00:23:27,032
that we needed to be prepared
for urban combat.

367
00:23:28,116 --> 00:23:30,452
And it really came into play
when we went to court.

368
00:23:31,703 --> 00:23:33,789
Because now they had us pinned.

369
00:23:33,789 --> 00:23:37,626
They knew that we had to come
into one location.

370
00:23:37,626 --> 00:23:41,839
There was gonna be a Federal
Protective Service command van.

371
00:23:41,839 --> 00:23:43,632
There was a big RV sitting out front.

372
00:23:44,633 --> 00:23:46,927
Extra security in the court room,
extra marshals,

373
00:23:46,927 --> 00:23:49,137
extra court security officers.

374
00:23:49,137 --> 00:23:51,890
Yeah, I've never seen anything like it.

375
00:23:58,230 --> 00:24:01,108
{\an8}Prosecutors in Texas
are set to open their case

376
00:24:01,108 --> 00:24:03,235
{\an8}against leaders of a violent cartel

377
00:24:03,235 --> 00:24:06,446
{\an8}accused of buying racehorses
to hide drug profits.

378
00:24:06,446 --> 00:24:08,991
{\an8}The case centers on José Treviño,

379
00:24:08,991 --> 00:24:12,578
{\an8}the brother of two top leaders
of the Los Zetas cartel.

380
00:24:17,457 --> 00:24:19,793
I've covered a bunch of cartel trials.

381
00:24:19,793 --> 00:24:22,379
None of them generated
as much interest as this one,

382
00:24:22,379 --> 00:24:26,425
just in terms of media being there,
the crowd being there.

383
00:24:26,425 --> 00:24:28,427
There's agents everywhere.

384
00:24:29,636 --> 00:24:33,557
Courtroom was packed. Standing room only.

385
00:24:33,557 --> 00:24:36,268
I've never seen it,
before or since, like that.

386
00:24:36,643 --> 00:24:39,605
We were there to listen to testimony.

387
00:24:39,605 --> 00:24:41,815
You're helping the prosecutors,

388
00:24:41,815 --> 00:24:45,194
remembering key pieces of evidence,
passing notes, things like that.

389
00:24:45,986 --> 00:24:48,363
The families
of all these people are there present,

390
00:24:48,363 --> 00:24:51,283
so you're, like, in the courtroom
with the family members of these people

391
00:24:51,283 --> 00:24:55,954
who are being accused of these
horrendous acts on the stand.

392
00:24:56,538 --> 00:24:59,333
We are going to try this jury trial

393
00:24:59,333 --> 00:25:04,922
{\an8}with some of the greatest criminal
defense attorneys in the state of Texas.

394
00:25:07,758 --> 00:25:10,093
José Treviño's defense attorney
wanted the jury

395
00:25:10,093 --> 00:25:12,429
to believe that he's an honest horse guy.

396
00:25:12,429 --> 00:25:15,849
And then, with the deposit
from the winnings of Tempting Dash,

397
00:25:15,849 --> 00:25:18,560
José Treviño was able
to purchase, breed, train

398
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,437
and race quarter horses
in the United States.

399
00:25:22,689 --> 00:25:25,317
We had to prove that it wasn't lucky,

400
00:25:25,317 --> 00:25:28,612
{\an8}it wasn't an inheritance,
it wasn't lottery.

401
00:25:28,612 --> 00:25:31,865
{\an8}The cartel set him up and
ran that money through his account.

402
00:25:31,865 --> 00:25:33,742
And that's what we did.

403
00:25:37,996 --> 00:25:39,957
So part of their downfall for this case

404
00:25:39,957 --> 00:25:42,960
was they just poured so much money
into this so fast.

405
00:25:43,544 --> 00:25:47,256
Initially they were paying by hard cash,
but that was too cumbersome.

406
00:25:47,256 --> 00:25:49,800
And so then they started paying
by wire transfers,

407
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,802
and then they started flying
these businessmen over.

408
00:25:51,802 --> 00:25:56,932
One was Colorado Cessa, who was working
with the Zetas, and writing checks,

409
00:25:56,932 --> 00:26:01,562
and then, Mr. Del Rayo was being extorted
by the Zetas as a businessman.

410
00:26:03,438 --> 00:26:07,943
When you flashed the photographs of him
with the butt of the gun...

411
00:26:11,029 --> 00:26:12,781
{\an8}...and the round marks on his head,

412
00:26:12,781 --> 00:26:16,076
{\an8}and the crippled hand
in which he signed that check...

413
00:26:16,076 --> 00:26:19,037
and it was live in front of you,

414
00:26:19,037 --> 00:26:22,583
the power, the control

415
00:26:22,583 --> 00:26:26,628
that the cartel has over people
in Mexico, it was...

416
00:26:26,628 --> 00:26:29,214
I get chills right now
even talking about it.

417
00:26:32,009 --> 00:26:36,722
Our system is an open court,
open to the public, so...

418
00:26:36,722 --> 00:26:38,765
Treviño's sisters were in the courtroom.

419
00:26:39,474 --> 00:26:42,644
Retaliation was a concern.

420
00:26:42,644 --> 00:26:45,147
Miguel and Omar were still in Mexico.

421
00:26:45,147 --> 00:26:49,943
We know that they can send
some of their <i>sicarios</i> over here.

422
00:26:49,943 --> 00:26:53,405
Maybe they can do something,
assassinate one of the witnesses,

423
00:26:53,405 --> 00:26:55,157
intimidate the jurors,

424
00:26:55,157 --> 00:26:57,826
maybe take out one
of the law enforcement witnesses.

425
00:26:59,786 --> 00:27:06,335
I was asked if I would be a security
team for the prosecutors.

426
00:27:06,335 --> 00:27:10,214
So we had a secret code,
and it changed every day,

427
00:27:10,214 --> 00:27:11,882
to let me know they were okay.

428
00:27:11,882 --> 00:27:14,510
But not everything happens okay.

429
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,189
Two in the morning,
our alarm system went off.

430
00:27:28,690 --> 00:27:31,026
And I thought to myself,
"Here we go."

431
00:27:32,861 --> 00:27:35,405
We're laying there in bed, and...

432
00:27:36,198 --> 00:27:40,035
he immediately jumps in to agent...

433
00:27:40,035 --> 00:27:42,996
not father, not husband...
but to agent mode.

434
00:27:42,996 --> 00:27:47,167
First thing we did, we got the kids
all sequestered into our room.

435
00:27:47,167 --> 00:27:50,254
As soon as we're able to secure them...

436
00:27:51,672 --> 00:27:53,465
Michael starts clearing the house.

437
00:27:58,637 --> 00:28:00,973
Me on the phone, calling 9-1-1.

438
00:28:00,973 --> 00:28:03,642
"This is Michelle Fernald,
I'm with the US Attorney's office,

439
00:28:03,642 --> 00:28:05,143
I'm trying the horse case right now.

440
00:28:05,143 --> 00:28:09,356
My home alarm just went off,
I need someone ASAP."

441
00:28:09,356 --> 00:28:13,902
And I cleared the rest of the house
until the police arrived.

442
00:28:15,779 --> 00:28:18,991
And that seemed to be the capper for us,
that this is real.

443
00:28:20,951 --> 00:28:24,621
These are the things you hear about
happening to other people.

444
00:28:25,706 --> 00:28:30,878
And your protection over your children
is obviously what comes first,

445
00:28:30,878 --> 00:28:34,965
and as a mother, to make sure
that your kids are okay.

446
00:28:34,965 --> 00:28:37,509
I mean, that was another reason
we're doing the case.

447
00:28:37,509 --> 00:28:41,138
I don't want that cartel
in my kids' backyard.

448
00:28:41,138 --> 00:28:46,435
I want to make sure that I can make
this community as safe as possible,

449
00:28:46,435 --> 00:28:50,105
that I can bring to justice
the people that are responsible

450
00:28:50,105 --> 00:28:54,026
for terrorizing other individuals
and other citizens

451
00:28:54,026 --> 00:28:56,153
on both sides of the border.

452
00:29:09,666 --> 00:29:12,002
The trial pulled back the curtain
on the Zetas,

453
00:29:12,002 --> 00:29:16,882
because there were these people who had
just this crazy inside knowledge

454
00:29:16,882 --> 00:29:20,219
of the functioning
of the cartel.

455
00:29:20,219 --> 00:29:22,554
It could be very fascinating
how they would move the money,

456
00:29:22,554 --> 00:29:25,057
or how they were rigging races,
or things like that.

457
00:29:27,351 --> 00:29:29,811
Or it could be very, like, horrifying.

458
00:29:29,811 --> 00:29:31,647
You know, there were all these people

459
00:29:31,647 --> 00:29:33,607
connected with
the money laundering conspiracy

460
00:29:33,607 --> 00:29:37,361
who were murdered because
law enforcement had gotten on to them,

461
00:29:37,361 --> 00:29:39,530
and that was very intense.

462
00:29:41,073 --> 00:29:45,661
But that doesn't necessarily get a jury
to convict José Treviño.

463
00:29:45,661 --> 00:29:48,580
I mean, he's not accused
of any of that stuff,

464
00:29:48,580 --> 00:29:51,959
and so they needed
the right people to testify.

465
00:29:55,879 --> 00:29:59,341
Other than your name, Mr. Rejón,
do you have any nicknames?

466
00:29:59,341 --> 00:30:01,051
I do.

467
00:30:01,051 --> 00:30:02,678
And what are those?

468
00:30:02,678 --> 00:30:05,055
The Gentleman, Zeta Siete,

469
00:30:05,055 --> 00:30:07,975
The Guy With the Glasses, Mamito.

470
00:30:08,517 --> 00:30:12,604
My expression... I was so shocked
that they almost ran me out of court.

471
00:30:12,604 --> 00:30:15,649
"Wow! Mamito! He's going to be here!"

472
00:30:16,984 --> 00:30:20,946
When Mamito took the stand, and that
the US government was letting him,

473
00:30:20,946 --> 00:30:22,072
it was a big deal.

474
00:30:22,948 --> 00:30:26,535
Mamito was extradited into the US
for Jaime Zapata.

475
00:30:26,535 --> 00:30:29,538
{\an8}<i>The US agent was killed
in the line of duty in Mexico.</i>

476
00:30:29,538 --> 00:30:31,623
<i>We are shot! We are shot!</i>

477
00:30:32,249 --> 00:30:34,501
But he didn't do the killing,
and he was very open about it.

478
00:30:34,501 --> 00:30:37,421
He was like, "I do not want to be blamed
for that, I didn't do it."

479
00:30:37,421 --> 00:30:40,007
He goes, "I was made
to be the scapegoat for that."

480
00:30:41,592 --> 00:30:46,263
He was arrested, and then when he felt
that he was betrayed by the Zetas...

481
00:30:47,639 --> 00:30:50,142
...he agreed to cooperate.

482
00:30:50,142 --> 00:30:52,102
{\an8}Against José.

483
00:31:01,653 --> 00:31:03,572
Mamito was my Hannibal Lecter.

484
00:31:03,572 --> 00:31:06,366
He was the most violent ruthless person

485
00:31:06,366 --> 00:31:10,162
that I would ever sit across a table from.

486
00:31:11,121 --> 00:31:16,418
He had this very, sort of,
dead look to his eyes, you know,

487
00:31:16,418 --> 00:31:20,422
the sort of 50-yard stare.

488
00:31:20,422 --> 00:31:23,091
Like <i>El Cucuy,</i> you know, he's like...

489
00:31:24,092 --> 00:31:25,219
...the boogeyman.

490
00:31:26,762 --> 00:31:29,389
Mamito was a critical witness,

491
00:31:29,389 --> 00:31:36,355
because he knew the entire operations
of the Los Zeta cartels.

492
00:31:36,355 --> 00:31:39,024
Not just the drugs, not just the horses,

493
00:31:39,024 --> 00:31:42,402
he knew the entire story.

494
00:31:42,402 --> 00:31:45,864
Without witnesses like that,
well, they are very...

495
00:31:47,282 --> 00:31:50,661
It's very dirty to place your hands
with theirs.

496
00:31:50,661 --> 00:31:55,499
Without witnesses like that,
we cannot make our cases.

497
00:31:56,750 --> 00:31:58,919
Approximately how much cocaine
would you estimate

498
00:31:58,919 --> 00:32:03,298
that you or the Zetas moved into
the Unites States in a year's timeframe?

499
00:32:05,592 --> 00:32:07,511
Some 40 tons of cocaine or more.

500
00:32:08,846 --> 00:32:12,307
And how much money
did the Zetas make in any given year?

501
00:32:14,309 --> 00:32:16,478
Three hundred and fifty million, about.

502
00:32:16,478 --> 00:32:20,023
Did 40 or 42 become interested
in quarter horses?

503
00:32:20,023 --> 00:32:21,233
That's right.

504
00:32:22,484 --> 00:32:24,987
Are you familiar with this horse?
Tempting Dash?

505
00:32:24,987 --> 00:32:26,572
<i>It's Tempting Dash on top.</i>

506
00:32:26,572 --> 00:32:27,614
Yes.

507
00:32:28,156 --> 00:32:32,244
When Tempting Dash is racing
on October 24th of 2009...

508
00:32:32,244 --> 00:32:33,537
<i>It's Tempting Dash in his...</i>

509
00:32:33,537 --> 00:32:35,539
...was the true owner 40?

510
00:32:35,539 --> 00:32:36,456
That's right.

511
00:32:36,456 --> 00:32:38,917
<i>And it's Tempting Dash with another win!</i>

512
00:32:38,917 --> 00:32:40,752
What did 40 tell you about why he wanted

513
00:32:40,752 --> 00:32:44,548
to put Tempting Dash
into his clean brother's name?

514
00:32:45,048 --> 00:32:46,717
He wanted to put it in his brother's name

515
00:32:46,717 --> 00:32:49,219
because the horse was going
to run in Dash for Cash.

516
00:32:49,219 --> 00:32:50,762
<i>It's Tempting Dash!</i>

517
00:32:50,762 --> 00:32:53,682
And if he won the Dash for Cash,
his value would increase.

518
00:32:54,725 --> 00:32:57,227
And that way,
they would be able to get the money,

519
00:32:57,227 --> 00:32:58,896
and the money would stay
within the family.

520
00:32:58,896 --> 00:33:01,106
Why don't you keep your cash in Mexico

521
00:33:01,106 --> 00:33:03,692
instead of spending it on horses
in the United States?

522
00:33:05,777 --> 00:33:08,822
You have to clean it up because
it comes from drug trafficking,

523
00:33:08,822 --> 00:33:12,117
so you can't spend it,
you can't put it in a bank.

524
00:33:12,117 --> 00:33:13,368
It's invested.

525
00:33:14,703 --> 00:33:17,331
Boom. That's what we needed for the case.

526
00:33:18,999 --> 00:33:22,503
Mamito testified the seed money
for this enterprise,

527
00:33:22,503 --> 00:33:26,173
to purchase Tempting Dash,
was derived from illegal activity.

528
00:33:26,173 --> 00:33:29,301
Which then made the entire company
an illegal business

529
00:33:29,301 --> 00:33:32,012
operating on behalf of the Zetas.

530
00:33:32,012 --> 00:33:34,473
And it's going back to José Treviño.

531
00:33:48,237 --> 00:33:51,156
The judge gets the foreman's paper,

532
00:33:51,156 --> 00:33:53,534
and then he asks
all the defendants to stand.

533
00:33:54,785 --> 00:33:59,665
This is probably, like, professionally,
the most nervous time of my life.

534
00:33:59,665 --> 00:34:01,625
You know, like, a not-guilty verdict,

535
00:34:01,625 --> 00:34:04,795
everything would just be
deflated immediately.

536
00:34:05,754 --> 00:34:07,673
It was now on the national news,

537
00:34:07,673 --> 00:34:11,217
and there's a lot of eyes
looking at this case.

538
00:34:11,217 --> 00:34:15,806
{\an8}Today, a federal jury found the brother
of two top Zetas cartel leaders

539
00:34:15,806 --> 00:34:19,393
{\an8}guilty of laundering drug money
through horse races.

540
00:34:19,393 --> 00:34:22,187
Treviño could face
up to 20 years in prison.

541
00:34:22,187 --> 00:34:25,065
His brothers remain at large.

542
00:34:25,983 --> 00:34:27,234
When I heard the guilty word,

543
00:34:27,234 --> 00:34:31,362
I knew that all the others
were probably gonna be following suit,

544
00:34:31,362 --> 00:34:34,116
and we definitely saw it
as a huge success.

545
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,417
My statutory maximum punishment here
is only 20 years,

546
00:34:43,417 --> 00:34:46,795
so José Treviño will receive 20 years
and Colorado Cessa received 20 years.

547
00:34:46,795 --> 00:34:50,215
And then, you know,
we had this crazy twist.

548
00:34:50,215 --> 00:34:54,094
A man serving 20 years in prison
for laundering drug money here in Texas

549
00:34:54,094 --> 00:34:58,682
will now serve five more years
for trying to bribe a federal judge.

550
00:34:58,682 --> 00:35:01,852
Prosecutors say he was trying
to get a lighter sentence.

551
00:35:02,644 --> 00:35:06,440
There's this bust in the parking lot
of the federal courthouse,

552
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:11,195
where these agents find this golf bag
filled with cash,

553
00:35:11,195 --> 00:35:12,946
that was supposed to be for the judge.

554
00:35:12,946 --> 00:35:19,328
As crazy as thinking the cartel is
laundering money through quarter horses,

555
00:35:19,328 --> 00:35:21,413
it's even crazier
to think that these people

556
00:35:21,413 --> 00:35:23,999
are trying to bribe
a federal district court judge.

557
00:35:23,999 --> 00:35:27,169
So it's like, this trial just never ended.

558
00:35:28,921 --> 00:35:32,382
{\an8}Our task force took on cases

559
00:35:32,382 --> 00:35:37,221
where other agencies
could not make the case.

560
00:35:37,221 --> 00:35:40,933
But we were able to follow the money
and take 'em down with paper.

561
00:35:40,933 --> 00:35:43,101
And I'm very proud of that.

562
00:35:44,102 --> 00:35:48,398
This was my first large
inter-agency case.

563
00:35:49,775 --> 00:35:51,985
And, you know, it was the biggest
money-laundering investigation

564
00:35:51,985 --> 00:35:54,196
in Texas history. You know, I'm like...

565
00:35:54,196 --> 00:35:57,741
You start seeing those kinds of articles,
you're like, allow yourself...

566
00:35:57,741 --> 00:35:59,910
allow yourself to believe
a little bit of it, right?

567
00:36:03,830 --> 00:36:06,917
Working on the border,
on the US side, you know,

568
00:36:06,917 --> 00:36:10,838
my eyes were opened quickly to things
I never knew existed in the world.

569
00:36:10,838 --> 00:36:14,258
There's such a filter in the news
and the understanding

570
00:36:14,258 --> 00:36:16,260
of what's going on in Mexico.

571
00:36:16,844 --> 00:36:19,638
What I loved about this case was,
it was an opportunity

572
00:36:19,638 --> 00:36:25,060
to put a spotlight on the plight of,
you know, the general Mexican citizen,

573
00:36:25,060 --> 00:36:29,106
what they're living through daily,
what a lot of US citizens live through...

574
00:36:29,106 --> 00:36:30,858
<i>Yes, he's hit in his head.</i>

575
00:36:30,858 --> 00:36:34,820
The depravity of what is involved
with the drug culture.

576
00:36:34,820 --> 00:36:39,616
It's not just drug-related persons getting
harmed in Mexico, it's good people...

577
00:36:39,616 --> 00:36:41,535
<i>We are shot! We are shot!</i>

578
00:36:41,535 --> 00:36:43,412
...trying to do the right thing.

579
00:36:43,412 --> 00:36:45,873
I think that's the value
in this case, is...

580
00:36:46,623 --> 00:36:51,503
...the exposure of what was going on
right beneath our eyes, you know?

581
00:36:55,299 --> 00:36:58,177
You can look at the situation
with the Zetas cartel,

582
00:36:58,177 --> 00:37:00,345
and the bribery and the corruption,
as a bucket.

583
00:37:00,345 --> 00:37:03,098
And everybody's got a bucket
that can get so full,

584
00:37:03,098 --> 00:37:05,392
and every high-profile homicide,

585
00:37:05,392 --> 00:37:10,397
and every time the Treviño family name
gets said in court,

586
00:37:10,397 --> 00:37:12,149
is a drop in the bucket.

587
00:37:12,149 --> 00:37:16,195
And no matter how much bribe money
the Treviño family have been paying,

588
00:37:16,195 --> 00:37:18,739
eventually the, the bucket overflows.

589
00:37:19,865 --> 00:37:23,827
{\an8}Tonight, Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales
is in custody,

590
00:37:23,827 --> 00:37:26,622
{\an8}captured yesterday by Mexican marines.

591
00:37:26,622 --> 00:37:30,292
They say his capture was the biggest
victory against organized crime

592
00:37:30,292 --> 00:37:33,003
since Mexico's new president
took office seven months ago.

593
00:37:33,504 --> 00:37:36,256
{\an8}Omar Treviño Morales, known as Z-42,

594
00:37:36,256 --> 00:37:40,344
{\an8}yesterday he was captured in a suburb
of the northern city of Monterrey.

595
00:37:40,344 --> 00:37:43,639
{\an8}This comes less than a week
after the arrest of another cartel leader.

596
00:37:56,610 --> 00:38:03,283
The cartel became weaker as a result
of arrests that began from this case.

597
00:38:04,201 --> 00:38:08,413
Following the trial,
people felt safe enough to talk to me,

598
00:38:08,413 --> 00:38:13,710
in ways that they never would have
before 40 and 42 were arrested.

599
00:38:16,421 --> 00:38:18,715
You know,
being a part of any investigation

600
00:38:18,715 --> 00:38:23,428
that had the opportunity to push back
in an impactful way

601
00:38:23,428 --> 00:38:27,057
against the Zetas,
against 40, against 42...

602
00:38:27,057 --> 00:38:29,768
It was the chance of a lifetime.


