WEBVTT - Cops & Robbers — E7 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.559 I've been in the job for about maybe three months, 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.640 and I'm checking the drinks for open doors. Then I 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.200 see these three guys there and they're getting their stuff 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.640 for need to jump out. I go around and I'm 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.000 waiting for him. So when they jump out, they jump 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.320 out right by where the rescueation is. As soon as 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.320 I told him to come over here, they all pull 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.879 out their knives, all pissed off, and then I just 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.239 tell them to stay right there, and then I just 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.360 pulled my weapon. I speaking with Joe de Arte about 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.200 working as a real broad security guard, where stand ups 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.600 were part of his daily life, but it wasn't his 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.640 job to fight armed hobos, so Joe called for backup. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:49.880 I knew the guys were at the cirky, which is 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.160 half a mile away. I have my radio and I'm 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.480 talking into it. I got these guys. They have knives. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:58.720 There's three of them, and I'm right by where you 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.720 guys are at, and they're not listening to me. The guys, 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.679 Joe called, we're rail cops. It's their job to protect 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.479 the trains in the cargo, which means dealing with people 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:12.160 who aren't supposed to be in the yard. But without backup. 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.240 The hoboes weren't scared of Joe. They outnumbered him three 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.840 to one, and I tell him, bro, put those doll 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:19.680 I'm going to shoot you there like, yeah, shoot us. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.640 Just a security guard ran a cop and I'm calling 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:27.040 it again. Finally one of the rail cops answered, no, Joe, 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.880 just let him go. I go, oh, they put a 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.759 knife on me, man, but the cops just laughed him off. 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:38.720 Joe realized he was on his own. I see the 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:43.520 dust cloud do he does the other turn? And I 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.120 couldn't tell at first if it was one of our 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:52.040 needs border patrol? Does she need damn camaro? I'm like, 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:56.720 who the hell is this guy? Was that his backup? 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.720 If it was, Joe'd be surprised, And five months he'd 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.480 been working for the Union Pacific Railroad Police, they hadn't 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:08.200 come to his rescue once. Who were the rail cops? 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.600 I was shocked when I learned about how this private 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.440 security force, with full local, state, and federal police powers, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.280 reports only to the railroads, and Joe's part of the 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.520 country is the perfect place to see what rail cops 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.360 are all about. So worried al Paso, where the edge 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.160 of the country meets the edge of the train yard, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.160 with tracks running along the border with Mexico al Paso 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.640 as a crossroads for everyone. And in the middle of 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.840 all of this are the rail cops. I imagine Ruby 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.520 and her friends crossing through rail Passo as they headed 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.639 east from Los Angeles to New Orleans on the Sunset route. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.120 What happens to hoboes who get off in this wild territory? 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.239 Were they more at risk on land controlled by the 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.840 rail cops. Maybe it was more dangerous there. After all, 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.079 hobos had written songs about how rough it was when 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.280 you got to Texas. So in the train yards of 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.440 a border town, is anyone really in charge? And then 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.480 I'm warning in this the city of the rails, like 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:08.120 a warrants, ain't Texas, saying I swear that I ain't 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.639 going back a road. And I'm all a boy on 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:20.640 that track like a warrants in Texas with the old 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.520 dead band. When I'm telling me from you stood the 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:29.639 mail them out again? I said, where will you go 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:35.920 with the ball of my roof? Where will you go? 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:42.120 Real old ward? Hide you? And where will you go 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:48.360 with a light shine like beside you? You nut your 0:03:48.520 --> 0:04:00.240 mail blow and the whiskey is Brew and as I 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.040 heard about the rail cops, I wanted to know more 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.160 about the people who police the City of the Rails. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.840 It sounds so unbelievable to say that the nation's railroads 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.000 have their own police who can pretty much do whatever 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:14.200 they want. Imagine another industry with this kind of muscle, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.800 like say, Facebook, Google or Big Pharma have their own 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.440 legal militia who could arrest you. That's what you have 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.800 with the rail cops. It's real, real, real easy, especially, 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.039 which is how he ended up in Texas, with Joe 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.040 taking me around to places he used to patrol. Right 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:36.840 over there, that's called the Roundhouse. How Passo is the 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.320 western edge of Texas on the border of New Mexico. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.119 It's a scrubby, old west desert town and a basin 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.280 between tall, dark mountains. This town is a hot bit 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.680 of activity, making it the best place to see how 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.680 rail cops fit into the City of the Rails. Oh, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.680 there's another place I will take it to. Union Pacific 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.960 hired Joe to do the job that rail cops don't 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.960 want to do. Get to know the Hoboes. Joe spent 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.080 five years on the job, but before Union Pacific contracted 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:06.480 him Joe was just a bouncer. I had no security experience, 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.800 no railroad experience. I just had experience throwing guys out 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.440 of a barge and venues. Joe didn't have much experience, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.520 and after some training on rail safety, the rail coops 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.599 sort of punked Joe down in the train yard with 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.080 his phone and a notepad and left him to figure 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.600 it out for himself. And there was a lot to learn. 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.000 The rail cops main job is to protect the trains 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.839 and to nab cargo thieves, but it gets more complicated 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.080 in El Paso. The area has always been in international 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.600 crossroads and for more than a century a freight hub. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.520 Trains go north and south to and from factories on 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.760 the Mexican side of the border, and they had east 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.400 from California with goods from China. That means it every week, 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.920 four hundred and thirty eight trains come through El Paso 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.840 on five hundred and thirty five miles of track that 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:55.640 connect the city's six rail yards, and four million pedestrians 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.839 cross over the bridges that span the Rio Grand And 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.120 with so much movement, Joe had to make sense of 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.120 it all and get a feel for all the different 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.680 types of people the trains brought into the yard. There 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:11.320 were the hoboes that were just regular travelers. So those 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.880 guys were real cool, like they mostly want to beat 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.040 to themselves. And then there were there were the gangs, 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.599 and then there were the drug londs. Those guys were 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.640 in the shadows. They did everything at night, and they 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:29.760 were they were hidden everywhere. They scared everybody. That's some 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.960 one thing about El Passo that you can score anything 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.719 real easy. Oh, if you're a hobole, it's easy for 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.200 you for to score some eyes, some cold, some marijuana easy. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.480 Nobody's gonna you know. You ask those guys. The trains 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.599 make opportunities for everyone at the border, making El Passo 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.200 a huge hot spot for train robbers. So in the 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.239 day to day, hobos are low on a railcops priority list. 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.640 That's why they brought in Joe. Joe's main priority was 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.880 the interview the travelers they found in the yard, get 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.640 their names, take pictures in personal details to add to 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.680 Pacific's trespasser database. Leave the bigger stuff to the rail cops. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.280 Joe got to know the hoboes in the yard so 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.560 well he knew who to ask for traveling advice. One 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.920 time I caught this three piece band trying to get 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.960 to Denver. They had that big old base, So I'm like, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:20.520 what are you trying to do with you? I can 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.320 see that base from everywhere. So finally I'm like, let 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.440 me talk to a conductor. I go, which train is 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.360 going to Denver? Man? Because this guy's gonna end up 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.920 dead in the desert. Man, they didn't even have enough water. 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.360 And then he goes, you know what, you better off 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.040 talking to the hobos because they'll get him on the 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.320 right train. The hobos. You're the schedules really quick. So 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.840 Joe found an older writer who knew just what to do. Yeah, bro, 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:47.760 I'm going to go that way and tell him to 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.760 go with me. But they're gonna eat six yellons of 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.680 water and they're gonna need no food for two days 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.760 or whatever. But it was a three. I had caught 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.480 him that day four times. What about they kept getting 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.240 on the wrong train and you kept finding them the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:04.080 same day. Joe had a lot to keep track of 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.880 lost musicians, hobos, smugglers, cargo thieves. The list goes on. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.640 People stuck through the yard for all sorts of reasons. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.280 So the rivers right there there's some tunnels that run 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:19.960 right across, and the rescue mission was located right there, 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.360 so what would happen? A lot of residents from Mexico 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.120 will come in to eat at the rescue mission because 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.240 they offered three meals. The rescue mistion of El Pasa 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.040 was right by the train yard. Every serious tramp has 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.480 gotten a free meal at its corner of hope, where 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.240 they also can get closed in a shower. And these 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.640 services are useful to locals from Warez too. With all 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.000 these people moving through the yard, Joe never knew what 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.400 to expect when he showed up for work. All of 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:51.240 a sudden, during another like another feeling. Sometimes it was fear, 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:56.120 sometimes it was happiness. Sometimes it was even sadness. Sometimes 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.960 you feel sorry for these guys. You'd be like, man, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.679 you know something bad had happened for these guys to 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.920 be here. But it was always different. It's never the same, 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:11.400 the same old crap. No. But despite all the things 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.080 Joe faced in the yard, he wasn't getting much respect 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.840 from the rail coops. They wouldn't even respond to his 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.559 calls for backup. Joe was eager to show he was 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.720 capable of more so he was excited when the rail 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.800 coops called him in to give him a very important job. 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:31.640 They're in the office and they go, Joe, we got 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.880 a job for you. Got a special shipment. We need 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:35.400 you to find it. You need you to look at 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.800 all the yards, especially the one by the bridge. Joe 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.439 was honored. Tracking cargo was important and he took it seriously. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.120 So they give me a paper and goes, Okay, this 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.920 is a special shipment of sailboat fuel. Okay, yes, sir, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.200 very special. Man. I said that this explosive. I think 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.880 it is. Man, so be careful and you don't smoke. Oh, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:57.800 I don't smoke. Man, got the perfect guy for it. 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.880 Joe went from yard to yard searching for this shipment. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.600 He even got a Border Patrol agent to help him. Look, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.480 we're looking at everything. We can't find it. And I 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.440 was out there all day and I'm like, God, please 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.920 help me find this. Help me find this shipment. I 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.400 would look so good if I find it. And then 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:21.440 it dawned on Joe Selbows don't need fuel. It's air. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.480 It's a shipment over sunk of pitches. I'm like, man, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.680 these guys were just screwing with you. They were like 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:35.120 ha ha, We're gonna get the security guard. Joe was 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.960 working hard, walking the tracks and checking the trains. Well, 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.760 these guys not only ignored him, but wasted his time 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.720 and just hung out at the circle k and Joe's 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.400 story squeared with what Hobos told me. Rail cops could 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.839 do whatever they wanted, beat you up, strand you in 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.959 the desert, you name it. So what was up with that? 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:54.880 What makes these guys able to do whatever they want? 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:58.920 It all ties back to the unique status of the 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:02.200 rail cops. Their power is written into law and has 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:04.920 been that way for more than a hundred years. When 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.720 the Civil War ended in eighteen sixty five, the United 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.400 States was subsidizing the rails willy nilly, laying track in 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.640 all directions as a way of boosting the economy. The 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.319 railroads were carving up the landscape, infuriating the indigenous people 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.040 as they destroyed their land and killed off the buffalo. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.640 When tribes attacked railroad construction crews, Washington sent the US 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.800 Army to protect the workers building the Transcontinental Railroad, But 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.200 when the Transcontinental was completed in eighteen sixty nine, the 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.160 Army went home. There was no force to protect the railroads. 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.880 From thieves inside the cars or raiders from without. So 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.520 the government allowed the states and the territories to charter 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.560 the railroad Police as a private security force with full 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.920 police powers nationwide along one hundred and forty thousand miles 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.120 of track, supervised only by the railroads. Now you might 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.319 think permission to operate outside the law sounds like an exaggeration. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.720 How could that be possible. It's one of those crazy 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.600 legacy railroad things established in the nineteenth century when at 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.559 the time the West was mostly territories with very few states. 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.559 The government sanctioned rail cops were left up to the 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.119 railroads to manage, and even after one by one Arizona 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.199 and Nevada and the rest were brought into the United States, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.200 no one remembered to make the railroad police. Just like 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:26.480 other security guards, railroad police are not subject to government oversight. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.440 And what does that mean. It means railroads don't have 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.959 to answer public record requests, So we don't know how 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.480 many people the rail cops arrest, under what circumstances, and 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.000 what kind of altercations take place in the yard. I 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.840 guess if you're thinking about this in the gentlest way possible, 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.000 and I'm not you could say, why should this be 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.520 a cause for alarm. The rail cops have a job 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.000 to do and mostly it's confined to the yard, and 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.839 when something big happens, they always interact with the local 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.720 cops to jail the bad guys. Well, cops with no 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.680 rules is never a good idea. Just look how it 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.000 played out for Joe. In a job where he could 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.800 get knives pulled on him, he likely wouldn't get back 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:10.080 up from his team. This had a major impact on Joe. 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.160 As Joe walked his bead, he interviewed writers and other trespassers, 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.760 took notes and photographs, and filed them in the rail 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:22.400 cops database. These reports were something everyone was supposed to 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:27.199 be filing, but not everyone did. Everybody was doing the 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.959 work except the Wildward police. I don't know why. Every 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.760 morning I would hand out they'll field inspection reports to 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.520 allow them because if not that we're going to get 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.400 written up for that. And it was like, Joe, can 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.880 I have five I needed? He's seven today and this 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.880 and that. So you're saying you would stop trespassers and 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.480 you would write them up, and that the other railroad 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.160 police would come to you and go could I have 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.240 some of your reports and I could file them as 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.440 my own. Exactly. Joe began to realize those rail cops 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.240 weren't worthy of his respect. As the months went on, 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.679 he started to believe it might be than them just 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.960 being lazy with plenty of time on their hands to 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.360 pull pranks. They were all supposed to be protecting cargo, 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.960 but sometimes the guys would tell Joe not to patrol 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.960 one of the train yards on a specific day. Sometimes 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:14.839 tell me to stay away from certain trains that were 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.320 coming in. We got those strains and worry about them. 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.960 And I'm not a copp or nothing like that, but 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.160 I'm not done either. You know, why would you help 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:25.880 me stay away from them? We'll have my guys stay 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:30.760 away from that. I'd be suspicious too. When Joe was hired, 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.000 it was to replace guards who'd been robbing the trains 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.320 in the rail yard to run under the bulls noses. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:37.800 I wanted to find out if there was any proof 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.880 of Joe's suspicions, so I scoured court filings and legal 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.360 databases looking for rail cops convicted in smuggling cases, but 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.360 could find none. Were the rail cops squeaky clean or 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:53.760 was it no one reporting. So in the day, those 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.720 three hoboes pulled niyes on Joe. He knew his backup 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.960 wasn't coming. The bulls told Joe to let the hobo 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.680 as go, but they'd already drained their weapons and so 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:07.040 had Joe. And then Joe saw that cloud of dust 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:11.600 and the car racing toward him. What the hell was that? 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.800 She didn't look like backup cops didn't drive that kind 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:21.360 of car. All of a sudden comes this Camaro. It's red, 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.200 it's it's a beautiful car, man, beautiful, beautiful car. He 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.080 gets off and I'm like, what the hell he's wearing 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.280 this weird shirt. Uh, what's that movie? Uh? Ocean's a 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.840 Living where his shirt back. Joe had never seen this 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.320 guy before, but right away he took charge of the situation. 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.400 It blew my mind. He talked to him real stern, 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:48.240 in their lingual whatever, and then you they're usable, and 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.560 I was like a bull so the first time I 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.800 heard that he talked in their language, and he basically 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.160 told him to throw their knives and walk away, and 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.480 he was gonna let him go, and you know, to 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.960 respect me. They kind of looked at him and they 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.320 were watching them like, WHOA, something's up. They got this 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.440 guy here. Now, I'm like, oh wow, man. And then 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:08.960 he goes and picks up the knives and put them 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.000 in a bag, and he comes and shakes my hand 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.880 and he's like, I'm Larry Dias and I'm with organized crime. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.840 And this Miami Vice Entrance hadn't made it clear enough 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.120 things were about to change in Joe's life. Joe's told 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.480 Larry he was frustrated by how few arrest they're were 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.240 in the yard, and as a security guard he couldn't 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:33.560 do anything about it. I go, these guys are running 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.960 our trains and nobody does nothing to him. And they 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.080 just talked the ship to us and this and that 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:44.800 and nothing happens. Man. And he goes, where's your backup? 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.960 And I go got the circle k looking the Moody magazines. 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.800 And he goes that things are going to change from 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.360 now on. And then he told me one thing, Joe, 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:00.440 don't trust none of these guys, not one of them. 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.680 You mean, none of the trespassers, none of the people, 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:12.040 none of the officers, the guy in the Camaro Union 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:16.000 Pacific Special Agent Larry Diaz was right. Things were about 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.639 to change for Joe and for the El Paso rail Coops. 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.600 This was the beginning of a dynamic duo. Larry meets 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.280 Joe as Batman meets Robin Sherlock and Watson, partners in 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:30.760 crime fighting with complimentary skills. Yes, it was a mess, 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.640 pure chaos at the border, but together Larry and Joe, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:56.240 they were going to take it on. We're together. Everything 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.480 was about to change for Joe and Larry. With Larry around, 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.480 Jordan have to worry about backup, and the two had 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:06.879 bigger plans. They were taking on cargo theft. Larry had 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.600 been transferred from LA by Union Pacific to crack down 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:11.840 on the thefts in and around the El Paso yard, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.679 and when he met Joe, Larry was just starting to 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.280 understand how complex the problem was in West Texas. In 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.880 some ways, it was like LA but being so close 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.760 to the border meant everything was much more complicated. Soon, 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.360 Larry would teach Joe how to handle showdowns with hoboes 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.360 and the two of them would focus on tapping into 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.479 the hobo network. Joe and Larry brought different skills to this, 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.280 which was reflected in the way they look. Larry's medium 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.680 height with his salt and pepper, black hair pulled into 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.840 a ponytail, and a mustache and goatee framing his face. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.760 He's muscular and energetic, someone whose intense eyes you can 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:50.159 feel even when he's wearing his aviator sunglasses. Joe is larger, 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.000 chunky in frame, but with a sweetness about him you 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.800 can hear in his voice. These guys seemed like good cops, 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.439 not like the bulls Hoboes described who had nicknames like 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.800 Satan and Hitler. Those were the ones who scared me 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.680 when I thought about Ruby in the yard. How did 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.400 rail coops treat young women travelers they found on the trains? 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.320 And what could they tell me about Ruby? That was 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.040 one of the first questions I asked when I met 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.800 Larry Diaz, Like if you would see somebody about my 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.400 daughter's age, I mean, would you treat a young girl differently? 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.360 When I saw females, I gave them a lot of attention, 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.680 not just because they're females, but because they're vulnerable. But 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.600 you know what, these chicks were as tough as nails. 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:33.679 They knew the game, they knew that they had the attitude, 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.440 and they were not afraid. Ruby was tougher now those 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.280 ones on the rails had made their mark. Larry told 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.959 me how female writers depended on that strength while writing. 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.719 I never met a female train writer that was like 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.280 timid or scared, unless it was like some of you 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.680 just jumped on the train and was running away from 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.840 home and doing they had no clue, And I ran 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.000 into those, and of course those got my full attention. 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.000 What if she wasn't with a trained family. There were 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:03.879 a lot of scary men on the rails who traveled 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:06.640 in packs and picked up young women who needed protection. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.080 If she fell in with those characters, would that change 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.560 her prospects? I consider that group thinking, Okay, so how 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:16.920 is she an asset for us? She could go bang 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.920 for us, or maybe she would go steal some liquor. 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.399 So if your daughter had the ability to be a 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.879 part of this team, even if he was just a 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.120 funny girl, these guys are living this rough life by choice, 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.520 that's her value. I mean, it could be anything. Larry 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.640 knew this how my experience was at Hob's. Mostly didn't 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:39.640 want to talk to me, and they'd be even less 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.560 likely to talk to a cop. But the alliances people 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:44.760 made in the train yard were always up for negotiation, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.399 and Larry was in a position to strike a bargain 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:51.120 if he thought he could get some useful information. Hobs 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:53.959 could be good informants. Most of them don't rob trains, 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.040 they don't have much use for a big screen TV 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.240 in a box car, but they are likely to have 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.520 seen the people who swarm the yard broke up in 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.919 a container and made off with the laptops. Guess what, 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.280 these guys know the railroad, and they know the railroad schedule, 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.159 and they know the routes and everything about the trains 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.120 better than even the railroad coption. If the people who 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.000 rode the train had that much intel, Larry would try 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.800 to turn them into informants. And that's where Joe came in. 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.240 Larry took Joe under his wing, showing him how the 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.360 trespasser information he was already gathering could be a big 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.960 help to Larry. Joe's familiarity with hobos, the photos and 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.680 bios he'd blogged on his phone could be where Larry 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.000 started his investigations. So Larry set him to work turning 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:39.440 hoboes into informants. Joe did a phenomenal job, point actually 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:43.000 and finding sources for me. I go. This is what 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.240 I want from the guys. Asking these questions, do you 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:49.560 know about railroad crime? Oh my god, you're do you 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:51.520 write trains? What have you seen? And where do you 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.080 ride at? What do you see? These questions were a 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.280 way to start testing out how much a hobo knew. 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.240 Larry also taught Joe how to take advantage of watching 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.600 hoboes who had outstanding warrants for their arrest. But this 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:06.000 wasn't as easy as walking up to a hobo asking 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.000 them a couple of questions. Ahobo didn't want it to 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.240 get around that he was working with the cops, so 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:13.199 they would only agree if they could do their business 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:16.080 in secret. Joe had a whole strategy for this approach. 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:18.960 Give me something to work with, and you tell me 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:21.080 you know what these guys are doing this. This guy's 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.800 nobody's gonna know you're telling me this, and we're going 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.040 to use you as a source. And I'm gonna make 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:28.840 sure my guys don't mess with you. You're always going 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:30.800