Making an Undercover Drug Bust | Locked Up Abroad: Declassified
[music playing]
SAL: 90 kilos of cocaine were found in the trunk of a vehicle
at a Border Patrol checkpoint.
The markings of the cocaine packages were the scorpion.
This was the label for Amado and the Juarez Cartel.
[music playing]
If this guy was connected to the Juarez Cartel,
I knew this was the break I needed.
ACTOR AS SAL: Come with me.
SAL: I said, "My name is Sal."
I said, "What's your name?"
He says, "I'm Rudy."
I told him, I said, "Listen, you're in a lot of trouble.
The only way you're going to get out of this
is by telling me what you know about this organization."
He tells me, "I can't cooperate with you.
They're going to kill me."
And I said, "They're going to kill you anyways
if I let you go, because right here you
lost a lot of their drugs."
He says, "If I give you information about the Cartel,
can you go on and protect me?
So I said, "Listen, you want my help?
You need to go on and give me information
that's going to be worthwhile."
He knew that he was in a no-win situation.
He says, "The Cartel is sending somebody
from Juarez to make sure that everything
runs smooth on this load.
They call him El Guapo.
He's one of the shot callers for the Cartel."
Trying to penetrate any criminal organization,
the only way to do it is to actually do undercover work.
So I am thinking, wow, this is going to be a great opportunity
to get somebody higher in the Cartel
by role playing as an Undercover Agent.
I asked him, I said, "How can I be a part of this?"
He goes, "We need a driver."
Now I was going to be a driver for the Cartel.
ACTOR AS SAL: Let's move out.
SAL: But.
I had no idea what I had just signed up for.
[music playing]
SAL: The next day, I drive to a warehouse in the outskirts
of El Paso as an Undercover Agent
with the 90 kilos of cocaine that
were seized the day before.
El Guapo was going to inspect it.
I had backup, numerous DEA Agents all over the place.
At the same time, I was very nervous and unsure
of what was going to happen.
[music playing]
[gun clicking]
We're waiting on El Guapo to show up.
I can see that Rudy is definitely nervous.
[door closes]
The door opens and here comes El Guapo.
I could just feel the energy with this guy
and it was not a good thing.
He's a Cartel manager in a position of power.
I was intimidated, the same time, I had to go on
and do what I was supposed to do.
ACTOR AS SAL: I'm Sal.
I'll be driving.
SAL: He just looked at me and he goes, "How do you know Rudy?"
And I said, "Well, me and Rudy go back a ways."
He had no idea Rudy had betrayed him.
He's staring me up and down.
He notices the gun under my belt. He says,
"That's a pretty good sized gun you got there."
I said, "Yeah."
And he goes, "Let me see it."
[suspenseful music]
And he starts looking at it, inspecting it.
I was getting nervous.
[gun clicking]
But all of a sudden, he puts the gun to my head
and he asked me--
MAN: "So tell me again how you know Rudy?"
SAL: I thought to myself, holy, he's
going to blow my brains out.
So I just said--
ACTOR AS SAL: "Hey, listen.
Stop busting my balls."
SAL: He cracked a smile, and lowered the gun,
and handed it back to me.
Inside I was furious.
I wanted to get that gun and shove it up his.
MAN: Unload the coke.
SAL: But I had to keep my cool and continue
with what we were going to do.
We unload the cocaine and the whole time,
El Guapo was just standing there watching us.
My heart was racing and I'm thinking,
OK, maybe I hit the mother load here.
This was enough to arrest him.
Eventually, he ended up saying, "Go on and get out of here."
MAN: This thing will be moving tomorrow.
SAL: This is the opportunity that I wanted.
OK, I just pull out my gun.
[gun clicking]
ACTOR AS SAL: DEA!
SAL: "Put your hands up where I can see them."
[guns clicking]
[speaking spanish]
SAL: He was furious.
He wanted to kick my ass right there
but I knew I had the upper hand this time.
[music playing]
