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Apple TV+'s Cowboy Cartel tells the story of one of the most sophisticated money laundering operations ever carried out on American soil. It was operated by José Treviño Morales, the brother of an especially notorious Los Zetas cartel leader. Cowboy Cartel dissects the racket of Treviño, who laundered millions of dollars in drug money, utilising the veneer of a legitimate business yard-horse racing.
Assisted by newly recruited FBI agent Scott Lawson, the evidence of a web of complex financial transactions and shell companies exposed the criminal activities carried out by Treviño and his associates, leading to their eventual arrest and conviction.
In Cowboy Cartel, viewers are taken deep into the organization, the actors and a relentless fight to bring the bad guys to justice. So who are the key people in this case?
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The details about the key figures of Cowboy Cartel
Below are five key facts centred around the main characters of Cowboy Cartel.
1) José Treviño Morales: The quiet mastermind
Alhough he had strong connections to Cowboy Cartel, José Treviño Morales was leading an outwardly sedate life in the United States.
While his two brothers, Miguel and Omar, were deeply into the bloody activities of the Los Zetas cartel, José was a soft-spoken, law-abiding resident who was known as a bricklayer.
However, behind that rather bland face, he was the genius of a multi-million dollar money laundering operation that funnelled dirt money through quarter horsing. With his naturalized American citizenship, José moved to and fro across the United States-Mexico dividing line, establishing the buying and selling of high-dollar racehorses to launder cartel funds.
2) Scott Lawson: The rookie FBI Agent who cracked the case
Scott Lawson was a rookie agent for the FBI. In 2009, he found himself shipped down to Laredo, Texas. What lied ahead, just months later, was an investigation into what may be one of the most substantial money laundering operations ever carried out.
Sent to look into some strange happenings surrounding horse racing, Lawson was quick to zoom in on José Treviño and his ilk. Even though Lawson had never chased that sort of financial crime before, his relentless pursuit, with the aid of an IRS task force, unravelled the Treviño cartel case.
3) The role of the horse racing industry
It was in this atmosphere that the charity of the quarter horse racing business would act as the ideal disguise for the money-churning activities of José Treviño. He and his associates began to pay ridiculous sums for the livestock, often using third parties to insulate the transactions from scrutiny.
Once such mounts passed into Treviño's ownership, he would enter them in races, laundering the money one more time. The operation was so large that it even had a front, with Tremor Enterprises LLC, existing only on paper, to offer a ground for the laundering of millions of dollars.
4) The Zule farms raid
The peak of Scott Lawson's investigation happened in June 2012, when the FBI, on a joint mission with other law enforcement officials, raided Zule Farms at José Treviño's ranch in Oklahoma. The result of the raid was the arrest of José, his wife Zulema and six other associates.
Some 400 horses were recovered from their possession, many of which were bought using laundered money from drugs. The raid marked the beginning of an end to Treviño's elaborate scheme and was a significant blow to the financial operations of the Los Zetas cartel.
5) José Treviño's conviction and imprisonment
Upon his arrest, José Treviño was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Treviño's plea of innocence and request for bail were not successful, given that the judge denied bail, fearing he would most likely try to flee to Mexico.
His 2013 trial concluded with the conviction of Treviño and three of his associates. The sentence was 20 years in federal prison, marking a long, hard fall from the life of luxury he had crafted illegally.
Cowboy Cartel is available to stream on Apple TV+.
