Speaker 1: The hardest thing I had to do was to face
Speaker 1: my father. Was that the last time he spoke to
Speaker 1: your father? That was the last time I seen him. Meant,
Speaker 1: I don't think we even left. Was like a headship
Speaker 1: kind of the silence, and he stood there, sitting there
Speaker 1: in the dark when he just walked away. I don't
Speaker 1: remember that. When we were in a way to train
Speaker 1: or something and we were driving away from my subdivision,
Speaker 1: I seen him driving on the street. I was able
Speaker 1: to see him. He didn't see me, but I was
Speaker 1: able to see him. He was going one way and
Speaker 1: I was going to the other. In retrospect, I felt
Speaker 1: like that was the lifehouse leaning to what I was
Speaker 1: going was when he was literally cool the other way.
Speaker 1: I'm Curtis Saint Jackson, and this is surviving our topo.
Speaker 1: It's once you brought down the drug lie. I think
Speaker 1: we've all experienced these situations in life, maybe not to
Speaker 1: this extreme, but where everything is pulling you in one
Speaker 1: direction in your heart, you feel like you need to
Speaker 1: go in another direction, so you do what's right for you.
Speaker 1: Peter and Jay's father was their mentor in life. He
Speaker 1: taught him everything they knew about the drug trade. And
Speaker 1: how not to get caught someone you're supposed to love.
Speaker 1: Unconditioning now telling you that trying to do things the
Speaker 1: right way is actually the wrong thing. For most kids,
Speaker 1: spending times with their dad is playing ball on the weekend,
Speaker 1: But for the Flores twins, it was doing drug rounds
Speaker 1: across the Mexican border, packaging weed and the gas tanks
Speaker 1: and unintentionally being a cover story to distract authorities from
Speaker 1: suspicious activities. After wrestling with it for twenty years, they
Speaker 1: were finally in a position where they had a chance
Speaker 1: to write a new path for the Flora. Is now
Speaker 1: two weeks after the top of recording, and we get
Speaker 1: a car to Sunday. Our attorney wants a thought to
Speaker 1: us at early right ten eleven the morning around there.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, the US attorney wants to talk
Speaker 1: to you. He said, he wants you guys to train
Speaker 1: yourself in today. I won't even go looking into it,
Speaker 1: like wow, reality just hit us. Huh what I remember
Speaker 1: our attorney like he was more than our attorney, so
Speaker 1: I was he was like he was family. And I
Speaker 1: remember he sat there quiet and he was like, guys,
Speaker 1: maybe you guys don't have to do this. I want
Speaker 1: you guys to think about this. I remember, they're like,
Speaker 1: it's too late for that. We talked to the d
Speaker 1: A and he said, you know, guys, it's time. We
Speaker 1: can't risk you guys anymore, and all this would be
Speaker 1: for nothing if something happens to you guys, and we
Speaker 1: want you guys to train your stuff into hours two hours.
Speaker 1: Then he gave you two hours nights And I said,
Speaker 1: what about our family whatever, they're like guys like you
Speaker 1: guys got to get them out of there. And basically
Speaker 1: that wasn't the problem. We were like fucking like you know,
Speaker 1: we were upset like that, we were not being told
Speaker 1: these things that were like last minute, we're the ones
Speaker 1: in the middle, Like we're the ones there, Like what
Speaker 1: then do you mean two hours? Like what's your plan? Like, oh,
Speaker 1: we can't tell you anything. I remember he also said, guys,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people here betting that you guys
Speaker 1: are not going to do it. This has never been done.
Speaker 1: They didn't even believe what they had. They didn't believe
Speaker 1: that we're gonna change your life. They didn't believe we're
Speaker 1: gonna turn ourselves in. I was confused, I was lost,
Speaker 1: I was like now I was actually taking it in.
Speaker 1: I wasn't concerned about nothing else but about my well,
Speaker 1: my kids. One of the hardest things I've ever had
Speaker 1: to endure in my life, Like that hurt me. That
Speaker 1: I could replain my mind over and over again, and
Speaker 1: I did for twelve years, was actually like saying goodbye
Speaker 1: to my family. The day I treat myself, I felt
Speaker 1: like I was abandoning the oka. I was supposed to
Speaker 1: be doing something good, right and I'm walking. I'm leaving
Speaker 1: them harm's way. I went and I told, Wow, it's time.
Speaker 1: They asked me to turn myself in. I don't think
Speaker 1: I understood. I think that was more in shock. We
Speaker 1: never knew how long it was gonna last, but we
Speaker 1: didn't think it would come that fast. We had no
Speaker 1: exit plan. I didn't know what we were supposed to do,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to like survival mode two hours,
Speaker 1: like oh my god. We had cameras all around the house.
Speaker 1: We had to get the security footage out. We have
Speaker 1: to get an anything with their name on it out.
Speaker 1: When we leave, the cartel is going to come and
Speaker 1: they're gonna go through our whole house and they're gonna
Speaker 1: try to find us anything that had her name on it.
Speaker 1: Just trying to get my son's per certificates and papers
Speaker 1: and like trying to find everything that was just important.
Speaker 1: I'm worried about them finding us and papers and like
Speaker 1: anything with their name addresses back in the States, like Chico.
Speaker 1: I can lead them to anything. Yes, pictures. I was
Speaker 1: grabbing all the frames off the walls and just ripping
Speaker 1: the pictures out of the frames because I didn't want
Speaker 1: them to have pictures of us. Everyone like, what the
Speaker 1: fuck is going on? Who is everyone? Like? The work is?
Speaker 1: What were you saying? And they said, boss man, she
Speaker 1: wants She says she'd leave me what she's my and
Speaker 1: she wouldn't be okay, sick. Why she's thinking something? Who
Speaker 1: knows to leave her? And they're seeing her like practically
Speaker 1: tear the house up, and they're like trying to help
Speaker 1: her anything, and just like okay, like I remember tone
Speaker 1: of go bring bring the car. She wants to leave.
Speaker 1: I'm not even concentrating on that journey. I'm not even
Speaker 1: like I'm not there with her. You know, I actually
Speaker 1: had my son, you known people carrying him. Like I'm
Speaker 1: anything I'm doing, I'm trying to spend those last precious moments. Listen.
Speaker 1: It was just chaotic. Yeah, we have babies. I remember
Speaker 1: Peter and the coming over the house. I'll think it
Speaker 1: right next door and they're there with my niece and
Speaker 1: and they was sitting there in shock, and I'm just
Speaker 1: like running around the house, just running through the house.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at her like why is she so calm?
Speaker 1: Why is she not doing what I'm doing. They're gonna
Speaker 1: fucking find us. Why is she just sitting there? And
Speaker 1: like I'm going to every chore, every piece of paper,
Speaker 1: I'm taking like every picture, every video tape from the
Speaker 1: security footage, ripping everything on the walls. I'm just acting crazy,
Speaker 1: just like where's the kids, burth certificates? How do we
Speaker 1: even cross the border? Our kids were like born in Mexico,
Speaker 1: and we didn't know how we were going to get
Speaker 1: our kids across the border and venn that they stage.
Speaker 1: We knew that we all be killed. I just didn't
Speaker 1: even take in that Jay's leaving in two hours. It
Speaker 1: was just I wasn't crying. I was just running around
Speaker 1: the house and I didn't even take it in. I
Speaker 1: felt like I didn't been the last two hours of
Speaker 1: my husband. I think it was like maybe ten minutes
Speaker 1: saying goodbye. It's all, thank God, because I was just
Speaker 1: so busy trying to think, trying to make sure that
Speaker 1: we're gonna be okay. What did you say to each
Speaker 1: other in the ten minutes that you had together. I
Speaker 1: think we said much. I just we're not in at
Speaker 1: each other. And just that's when the tears just didn't
Speaker 1: stop coming down. Think I could talk our son. He
Speaker 1: was two years old, and he knew something was wrong.
Speaker 1: He was Jay shadow. He followed Jay around like everybody
Speaker 1: with every time they saw Jay, like they knew that
Speaker 1: they're going to see her son with him, and they
Speaker 1: would make a joke and call him a mom because
Speaker 1: they My son just wanted to be with him. Everywhere.
Speaker 1: He'd be in the bathroom, my son will be sitting
Speaker 1: there reading him to come out at the door. And
Speaker 1: if Jay would try going anywhere, like he was just
Speaker 1: tied to his leg. And he said something was wrong
Speaker 1: because he was just seeing me running, running running, and
Speaker 1: Jake crying and Peter crying and baby crying, and he
Speaker 1: was just looking around and I just didn't understand what
Speaker 1: was happening. I remember carrying my kids and my baby.
Speaker 1: He was only two months old, and he was just staring.
Speaker 1: Did you say anything to him? And I was just whispering.
Speaker 1: I was just whispering to him, like I remember saying,
Speaker 1: like I love you guys, and I'm sorry. And I
Speaker 1: had been whispering to them in the air when I
Speaker 1: would put him to bed because I already knew, like
Speaker 1: I I would I just apologize and that and I
Speaker 1: knew myself was going to be the one that was
Speaker 1: gonna affected the most. And you know, just able to
Speaker 1: take the moment and just it was weird, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I am thinking I'm doing something for them. I know, Mary,
Speaker 1: I guess it's like as a parent, I think that
Speaker 1: when you always struggle when you think you're doing something
Speaker 1: good for them, that they that's gonna make them suffer
Speaker 1: a little bit, but it's the best thing for him.
Speaker 1: And just just taking a little moment where I was
Speaker 1: just holding tighten, you know, that was important to me.
Speaker 1: I wasn't even thinking about prison and I was just
Speaker 1: thinking more like I wasn't going to be there. That's
Speaker 1: all I could think of. You know, the Government's calling
Speaker 1: and back and forth. It's just they were kind of
Speaker 1: like pressing this a little bit like you guys gonna
Speaker 1: have to meet, you know, and at this time and
Speaker 1: I don't tell anybody to make sure you guys, and
Speaker 1: how they were more worried about that bringing the recordings
Speaker 1: with you. Did you still feel that you were doing
Speaker 1: the right thing in that moment? I don't know. I
Speaker 1: do know this that when it was time for me
Speaker 1: to go and I say goodbye to so now we
Speaker 1: were tears and right say goodbye to my work is
Speaker 1: over there with us, m h by. Someone let me go,
Speaker 1: tellus that was struck. You kind of get him off me.
Speaker 1: And I remember just be emotional, just jumping truck. I
Speaker 1: can't hear my sun screaming dad. When I took the truck,
Speaker 1: like I questioned it to people, talk away from val
Speaker 1: leave from there, you know. And in no time did
Speaker 1: she say, like you know, don't you know? I think
Speaker 1: we said to each other, it's gonna be all right, right,
Speaker 1: I'm kinda gonna do this. You're gonna be fine. We're
Speaker 1: gonna like h m, we're gonna be find We're gonna
Speaker 1: get to this. It was something it was it didn't
Speaker 1: feel right. It just it just didn't feel right. It
Speaker 1: just it just awful wrong. And I wasn't saying nothing, no,
Speaker 1: It's just nodding no, it's just nodding my head back
Speaker 1: and forth, like I just wanted to say no, don't go,
Speaker 1: but I didn't. I was just nodding. I just didn't
Speaker 1: feel right. My son hat his scream, like his cry,
Speaker 1: like like we've never heard that from him, We've never
Speaker 1: heard that from him. And then Peter were there and
Speaker 1: they were just like blasting on in tears because I
Speaker 1: guess it was like a cry of like pain and suffering.
Speaker 1: He was hanging on the door and I was like
Speaker 1: he was trying to open the door, trying to get
Speaker 1: wait from the door because I didn't want the people
Speaker 1: outside to know that they're dead left because like I
Speaker 1: didn't want them to report in fact there was something
Speaker 1: going on in the house because there was always security
Speaker 1: around and I didn't know who to trust. H h.
Speaker 1: That day they had started to raid these houses that
Speaker 1: we're in l A, these stash houses and all these
Speaker 1: things were already in motion. Can I remember getting that
Speaker 1: call from like one of our associates saying, job, they
Speaker 1: just hit the houses in l A. And I was like, ship,
Speaker 1: I was still there in Mexico, still like clean up
Speaker 1: our pictures, like taking this stuff that we didn't want
Speaker 1: to leave behind. It was so difficult to be thinking
Speaker 1: about all the stuff I had unfinished, you know, and
Speaker 1: like that I wouldn't have to leave viv and the kids,
Speaker 1: my baby and our family there, and that we didn't
Speaker 1: really have that plan set up and mente that like
Speaker 1: it was like in our minds but not like that moment,
Speaker 1: and I was sad. Man, it was hard. It was hard.
Speaker 1: Why do you think you didn't have that plan even
Speaker 1: though you knews come in. I didn't want to have
Speaker 1: a plan. I wanted to like continue a lie to
Speaker 1: myself and not feel that was will be taken away
Speaker 1: from the people I love most. A so sad and
Speaker 1: I remember I couldn't even hope back my tears that
Speaker 1: one of the last things I did was change my
Speaker 1: daughter's diaper, and I can still imagine that they're like
Speaker 1: laying it down in that guests bedroom to change the
Speaker 1: diapend I could still like see blurry from the tears
Speaker 1: of her life that I heard so bad to leave Viana.
Speaker 1: It's just a terrible, terrible day for our family, just
Speaker 1: trying to reassure everyone day, I don't think you're gonna
Speaker 1: be good. Yeah, the conversation with my dad, and you
Speaker 1: will never forget just so much, you know, I think
Speaker 1: for like trying to motivate me, keep me positive about
Speaker 1: something that sheep I was dealing with so much on
Speaker 1: her own. But it was hard because nobody was telling me, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, like you're doing the right thing. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody seemed to be against it. What else dealing with
Speaker 1: It's so hard, you know, she seeing her seen the baby,
Speaker 1: like giving it back to bit. It was so hard.
Speaker 1: And then like thinking like I'm trying to tell my brother,
Speaker 1: come on, it's you know, we're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: ready to going. Remember here my little nephew christ so bad,
Speaker 1: like he just felt something. What was the last thing
Speaker 1: you said to reach other. I don't think that we
Speaker 1: even talked as much, you know, I don't think that
Speaker 1: the tears allowed us to two let her, let us
Speaker 1: say our goodbyes. I didn't want to say goodbye to
Speaker 1: It was scary to think that, you know that, And
Speaker 1: I can't like losing her my family and everything and
Speaker 1: just trying to you know, scary toll known from for
Speaker 1: me and my brother as well, you know, and I'm
Speaker 1: looking at it to them, she was always worth it.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that. I'm glad I did it for her.
Speaker 1: Glad it was her, Like she's the only person that
Speaker 1: would have probably ever I have been able to get
Speaker 1: me into something crazy like that. But walking away from
Speaker 1: my supposed to be terrible. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 1: like drowning emotional feelings and how would happen? And honestly,
Speaker 1: I could tell you right now that I was always
Speaker 1: leaving her behind. She was in the front of everything,
Speaker 1: you know, like she was like not behind me, but
Speaker 1: more in front of me and my future. You know.
Speaker 1: That's what I was searching for, like like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go face these nightmare to like beet with her again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but when you concerned that you got in that car
Speaker 1: with the agents and then what if somebody found out
Speaker 1: and it was all that because they weren't protected. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was upset that they didn't have like an escape
Speaker 1: plan with my family. They just only concerned was get
Speaker 1: the two witnesses that and there was no like exit
Speaker 1: strategy for none of us sat there. I remember thinking
Speaker 1: like them, like they look go now like don't wait,
Speaker 1: go now, Like you know, I'm saying, go down the
Speaker 1: plane and go. It was a bunch of us and
Speaker 1: then I mean there was no flights. I mean they
Speaker 1: told us the same day. We see this, you like
Speaker 1: thinking about we left food on the table. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: at everything in the ever our clothes, every piece of
Speaker 1: garments and clothes and all kinds of stuff. We just
Speaker 1: left everything. I took my baby and her diaper bag,
Speaker 1: and I was just like sitting on a sofa, like
Speaker 1: just we left our dream home, you know, lost without him.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know. I'm like, I just I just
Speaker 1: wanted to get the heart out of there. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to get out of there. And it was just
Speaker 1: so many of us, and everyone's like scrambling around, and
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting there just with my one little diaper
Speaker 1: bag and just saying, They're like, let's get out of here.
Speaker 1: We come to the trap to any things? Did you
Speaker 1: guys mean the recorders? I guess, And we were emotional,
Speaker 1: It's okay, we're doing the right thing. And they started
Speaker 1: trying towards the airport. How many kinds of just too
Speaker 1: And we go to airport and we went on to
Speaker 1: like the private side where the private planes are in.
Speaker 1: There's a hangar and the military has a checkpoint and
Speaker 1: they access to school down. They don't want to know
Speaker 1: what to see us, and they showed the diplomatic ideas
Speaker 1: and they let us in. And we drove into this
Speaker 1: like hangar where there's an officer. I don't want he
Speaker 1: was military what it was, but he was actually there.
Speaker 1: We stood in the truck, but they got off and
Speaker 1: they had the lights off, and I remember they were
Speaker 1: looking at the federal police and they're hiding from them.
Speaker 1: It said, told me that didn't trust them me and
Speaker 1: they're hiding from their actually driving buyer walking by it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a live federal police and they're focusing
Speaker 1: on there's one plane. There was kind of big one booze,
Speaker 1: probably planing and driving buyer walking by it. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a live federal police and they're focusing on there's
Speaker 1: one plane. There was kind of big one booze probably
Speaker 1: plane and wearing the dark and the hangar. We stood
Speaker 1: there for like a long time, probably now we're in
Speaker 1: a half and then between them just calling bounces, have
Speaker 1: you left it? Have you left it? It's those type
Speaker 1: of conversations are you okay? And she would be like
Speaker 1: they're asking for you, and I ask you for you.
Speaker 1: I want to turn jail with the Chiel by time
Speaker 1: I'm going to meet someone in so helpless. So I
Speaker 1: started having a little bit anger, Like I'm having anger
Speaker 1: because I'm sitting this bulletproof truck with them and our
Speaker 1: family is over there, like this is for them, me
Speaker 1: being in dangerous one thing. And I was disappointed myself.
Speaker 1: I was I was angry. It's just like nerve wracking.
Speaker 1: Like I think I'm always how mentally strong, I just
Speaker 1: can't even so many thoughts and many things coming to
Speaker 1: my my mind, and our phones are ringing ringing. A
Speaker 1: couple of cousin is calling because they just had rated
Speaker 1: one of them their stash houses in l A and
Speaker 1: they'd like, Kate, check on your guys. They just hit
Speaker 1: one of the houses. No, it's us that was getting
Speaker 1: as upset because we're still in Mexico. They had started
Speaker 1: like an operation that was the first house to hit
Speaker 1: that go to so many houses I think in Mexico,
Speaker 1: and we're still sitting in Mexico. I wasn't don't stop ringing.
Speaker 1: We literally get bad or they don't stop ringing. We
Speaker 1: weren't even paying attention to you know. I had people
Speaker 1: that are calling me like those our antec and it's okay, No,
Speaker 1: she's she's all right, and she's upset, she's don't be right,
Speaker 1: she's packing up a car. Leave her leaver. Are you
Speaker 1: sure you want me to go ahead? No? No, no leaving,
Speaker 1: just making fit up. That was just the worst night, Marcus,
Speaker 1: the worst night might could think of, and the worst price.
Speaker 1: I felt like we were doing it. We were doing it,
Speaker 1: we were the cause. And it took a few hours.
Speaker 1: And I remember a big plane lands and I guess
Speaker 1: that was a plane that we weren't going. The drivers
Speaker 1: up to the plane and there's a dry whatever you do,
Speaker 1: don't look anywhere, just go straight into a plane. Just
Speaker 1: they didn't want to know one to see us. The
Speaker 1: plane is like a cargo plane or something, because I
Speaker 1: remember has the seats this way like on a bench,
Speaker 1: like a bench, and I remember like it was dark
Speaker 1: like that. It was really dark inside the plane was dark.
Speaker 1: So when I go, I'm the hank of nothing like
Speaker 1: going on the plane and there's like twelve fourteen marshals
Speaker 1: and agents and that they have guns on them. They
Speaker 1: have like rifles and they have guns down and turn
Speaker 1: the plane and they're like, hey guys, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: just talking to agent. They're more like operational mode. When
Speaker 1: we get down, we sit down and just where where
Speaker 1: our phones? You know, our bag of phones and we
Speaker 1: should have our bag of phones. And I didn't take
Speaker 1: time for us to fly out of that. When j
Speaker 1: and Pa laughed, It's like I just all I could
Speaker 1: remember was just seeing their faces. They just look so lost.
Speaker 1: I just sparked something in me because I knew he knew,
Speaker 1: like there was just no plan for us. I couldn't
Speaker 1: get their faces, like the image of their faces out
Speaker 1: of my head because they're just the defeated and I
Speaker 1: knew that they were just only worried about us getting
Speaker 1: out safely. At that point, people are coming to the house.
Speaker 1: M hmm. They're knocking on the door. They were asking
Speaker 1: from Shaye and Peter. These are the same people that
Speaker 1: would be at my house every day, always there, everywhere
Speaker 1: they went. We couldn't move around the city freely at
Speaker 1: that time. They had to keep tabs on them always,
Speaker 1: and like I just didn't know what to say, and
Speaker 1: the cloud was ticking, and I'm just I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get everyone together and trying to get all the stuff
Speaker 1: in the car. When asking me what's wrong, what's wrong,
Speaker 1: and I'm like leaving. He said, you're taking a kid.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I'm leaving him. He's cheating on me.
Speaker 1: And he's like, it's not true. We would never do
Speaker 1: that too. Don't take the kids like this, and are
Speaker 1: you going? And I'm like, baby, come with me, Baby,
Speaker 1: come on, and I'm trying to cut on the show.
Speaker 1: I need you to come with me. I'm so free
Speaker 1: because I'm like, what are we gonna say? Like why
Speaker 1: are we both leaving at the same time I would
Speaker 1: be leaving with all the kids. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to say. And I'm just like, maybe let's go. You're
Speaker 1: coming with me, And she's like a lot. She's like
Speaker 1: looking at me and she's just like frozen. She's not
Speaker 1: saying anything like come on me, but the babies in
Speaker 1: the car. Come on. I got in my car and
Speaker 1: she gets in her car and like just follow me.
Speaker 1: And we're loading bags in the car and she's just
Speaker 1: looking at me and she's scared. She's just nodding her
Speaker 1: head and like tears in her eyes, and I'm like
Speaker 1: get in the car. And then by that time other
Speaker 1: people showed up. What's going on? And I'm like a thing.
Speaker 1: And at that point, I was just looking scared. I
Speaker 1: was just scared. I was scared out of my mind.
Speaker 1: I'm like, get out of here. So I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god. So I'm like, okay, I'm just leaving. And
Speaker 1: we just drove and I'm calling it to make sure
Speaker 1: my mother in law, my father law are there, and
Speaker 1: my nephews right there. Everybody's there like cool, like maing
Speaker 1: sure that the whole family is together, and and I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're driving out the subdivision right now. We want to
Speaker 1: meet you on this street. We meet on the street
Speaker 1: where we're going. We're going, We're going. And at that point,
Speaker 1: if they've called her dad and him and my brother
Speaker 1: in lawkay, they flew in to the first place we
Speaker 1: went to was the airport to pick them up so
Speaker 1: you can help us drive back. At this point, there's
Speaker 1: like eat cars following each other, and I'm like, we
Speaker 1: look so fucked up right now. I'm scared to separate,
Speaker 1: and I knew we should have separated, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: there's no way, because I was just too scared to
Speaker 1: drive alone. It's a twelve hour trip from Guadalajara to
Speaker 1: the border crossing at Larado. Every border town in Mexico
Speaker 1: it is carton infested because these towns are so vital
Speaker 1: to the massive drug phone to the US. Well, here
Speaker 1: we are and novel Arrado, which is controlled by a
Speaker 1: rival cartel, Settas, who are known to be the most
Speaker 1: savage cartel in Mexico. They have committed some of the
Speaker 1: most brutal acts of violence like torturing people, beheadings to capitating.
Speaker 1: I remember just how terrifying it was, not knowing if
Speaker 1: I was going to be able to get there. The
Speaker 1: family were crammed into the cars val vv vv's dad
Speaker 1: and brother, Jane, Pete's mom and dad, Margarito Sr. The
Speaker 1: older sister, older brother, Almando, and his wife, plus three teenagers,
Speaker 1: a two year old, and three babies who were only
Speaker 1: a few months old. The eight car convoy began its journey. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: h I see the plane land. First of all, the
Speaker 1: ages are like, I didn't think you guys arena show up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, thanks, man, you're not helping me, Like I'm
Speaker 1: broken It on and then they're hiding us through the checkpoint.
Speaker 1: The military check went into the private hangars for the plane.
Speaker 1: Where waiting for the plane to land, and my brother
Speaker 1: and I heard that the plane was going towards Mexico City,
Speaker 1: which is south of Gualajara. We're like, why let's go
Speaker 1: that way. I know, for whatever reason, we had to
Speaker 1: go to Mexico City first. I'm like, no, let's just
Speaker 1: leave here, please, let's just I felt that parallel, like
Speaker 1: I want to be out of Mexico, like we're not
Speaker 1: safe here. And no, we had to go to Mexico
Speaker 1: City and they had like a they had rented like
Speaker 1: a hotel, and they had like the whole all the
Speaker 1: whole hotel was like close up and there was like
Speaker 1: a lot of agents, like I'm talking about like fifty
Speaker 1: sixty agents. I remember landing and I was still able
Speaker 1: to communicate with my wife, please please leave, and what
Speaker 1: are you guys waiting for? I was so piste up
Speaker 1: that Val was packing stuff, like what the fund is
Speaker 1: wrong with this woman? And I remember like that martial
Speaker 1: charge he seemed on the phone, that why is he
Speaker 1: still his phone? They bring us into this hotel room
Speaker 1: and they surround, wasn't there like again asking those questions
Speaker 1: and it was so like hectic. I we just want
Speaker 1: to leave, Like my stomach hurt, I got sick. I'm
Speaker 1: throwing up all the way back. They're mad at me.
Speaker 1: I'm on the plane. It's miserable they didn't take us.
Speaker 1: The next morning, I'm just like, you know, just wanting
Speaker 1: to leave, Like I just want to leave Mexico. You know,
Speaker 1: the phones are blowing up, just like extended stay a
Speaker 1: little hotel crazy for about this. We have a house,
Speaker 1: a stash house two blocks from there where I have
Speaker 1: like three of my workers. City No, and I'm like
Speaker 1: the fuck. And I guess they got a whole floor
Speaker 1: because I remember they kind of like covered us and
Speaker 1: we went up to the elevator and on the second
Speaker 1: from the ages were actually out. They have to like
Speaker 1: right for in their hands. They have a part of
Speaker 1: the whole floor hotel rooms and they put us in
Speaker 1: this room and a bunch of Marshall's coming. There's like
Speaker 1: four agents and Marshall's in there with us. So it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, they've got two beds and it's like they're
Speaker 1: just sitting on the on the bed in different places
Speaker 1: of me and my brother Peters are sitting on the
Speaker 1: bed and we're kind of talking to each other like lane,
Speaker 1: you know, like what's going to remember He's showing me
Speaker 1: that the top was cousin and and then here calling
Speaker 1: like they don't stop calling, and you said, didn't answer,
Speaker 1: checking up on ball. By the time we got to
Speaker 1: the room back, I had said that she was on
Speaker 1: the road, which it was like a big relief. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was relief that she was on the road, but
Speaker 1: it was like I think they were traveling like eight
Speaker 1: year nine a Carol eight or nine cars, all Lusry
Speaker 1: vehicles going to a enemy territory. That was scary to me,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't even say it, like what was I
Speaker 1: gonna do? It was like a risk anywhere, like any
Speaker 1: turn we talk, it was risky. And I just kept
Speaker 1: calling her. It was just like where are you because
Speaker 1: she was not gonna have phone service, right, and please
Speaker 1: call me every times you get please call me, I
Speaker 1: would asked her the baby, right, I was exhausted, I
Speaker 1: could have those off. It was late and I be
Speaker 1: then I put those of them and I waking up
Speaker 1: and I had no calls. That worried me. It worried me,
Speaker 1: like it was like five six some money, no calls,
Speaker 1: Like I remember beginning up in the Marshal was a
Speaker 1: kind of somewhere up so dozing off and I'm just
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna just wash up. I remember, like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna shower, you know, complete my last free shower, right
Speaker 1: and because I don't know what we're happening, was happening
Speaker 1: right before that anything, they're not saying nothing, and the
Speaker 1: bounds of colleague and she was like like more closer
Speaker 1: to a border and that was like a sense of relief.
Speaker 1: She like me, drove to the night. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: so tired. What are we gonna do that? Listen, just
Speaker 1: drive to a border. Just drive straight to a border.
Speaker 1: Just when you get to just explained to you know
Speaker 1: who we are. And I think we were making calls
Speaker 1: like you know, my brother Mano, I wasn't born in
Speaker 1: the US, so he can't just come across my father.
Speaker 1: It's in the same situation. I hate the future. Oh
Speaker 1: was trying to make cause and closed so like to
Speaker 1: our journey to you know, trying to use the I
Speaker 1: want going to do. We could do guys, like you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like they're paying tingents that I understand that
Speaker 1: they had like going out, but their main focused was
Speaker 1: me and my brother as it's always been, right like
Speaker 1: everyone else, just you know, their easy way out is
Speaker 1: like they always have the easiest plan, like no feelings
Speaker 1: too bad. And I get it right, I guess they're
Speaker 1: not concerned about our family, concern about their owner, their
Speaker 1: case or whatever the case is. And since they want
Speaker 1: to think all we would say like this is for
Speaker 1: our family, they have to be the center of you know.
Speaker 1: I always thought that they would understand that, and now
Speaker 1: just a bunch of cause and just cares. Once it
Speaker 1: was like nineteen in the morning, we left the hotel
Speaker 1: and they take us back to the hangar and now
Speaker 1: it's you know, like it's alive, right, people everywhere, workers,
Speaker 1: you know. I guess it's like a cargo type of
Speaker 1: airport in that sections, like just all kinds of people.
Speaker 1: So they literally they needs in the truck. I'll take
Speaker 1: you for like at least two hours. We're sitting there
Speaker 1: in the truck, nervous, right, and we're still calls. We're
Speaker 1: tired and and I know that valand I'm going to
Speaker 1: all to a hotel almost too scared. It's just me
Speaker 1: in the car with my two babies in the back.
Speaker 1: It looked like this whole like entourage. And we had
Speaker 1: to drive well the hours to get to the border.
Speaker 1: I would drive to the border all the time, so
Speaker 1: I knew the roads and you'll like the back of
Speaker 1: my hand. But I'm like, they gotta passed all these towns.
Speaker 1: He looks so fucking crazy, and it's the night, and
Speaker 1: it just looked like we had flashing lights just like
Speaker 1: the spotlight on us. And we drove to the whole night.
Speaker 1: When he stopped. We stopped one time for gas, but
Speaker 1: I was like, it's cool, let's cool, let's cool, let's gool.
Speaker 1: It was freaking out. What everyone's freaking out, and everyone's
Speaker 1: confused in what do we do? I kept saying, what
Speaker 1: do we do? Like we go, we go, we go,
Speaker 1: It's cool. When I've seen him scared scared me, I
Speaker 1: think I was just more scared because I felt like,
Speaker 1: h oh, what the fun going to? I I know
Speaker 1: it just like everybody was like at me to figure
Speaker 1: it out to be the strong one. I'm sitting there
Speaker 1: like good, I know. I don't even have any interruption.
Speaker 1: We had an old ful service. I couldn't call j
Speaker 1: I couldn't ask him what to do. And I just
Speaker 1: kept going and my adrenaline was going. I wasn't even tired.
Speaker 1: We didn't sleep, didn't care. Just let it get to
Speaker 1: the border. I just wanted to get there. And then
Speaker 1: my mother was like, we're gonna go to the hotel.
Speaker 1: We knew exactly what hotel we're going to. It's the
Speaker 1: same one we always go to. The hotel. It's right
Speaker 1: there at the border. We could literally see the border
Speaker 1: from the hotel. And he's like, we got to go
Speaker 1: to the border, like my dad can't. We can't cross us.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what do you mean. He's like, we
Speaker 1: can't cross we have no papers. They're not gonna let us.
Speaker 1: Then we can't go, Like I can't leave it here.
Speaker 1: He's like, wow, we're gonna have to wait. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have to stay. We're not gonna be able to get
Speaker 1: across the border. And I'm like, then we're all going
Speaker 1: to go to the hotel. And we went to the
Speaker 1: hotel and I remember it was early morning, still dark
Speaker 1: outside and maybe like five six of the more. And
Speaker 1: we get there. We're like okay, and then mine was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check in. I'm gonna get rooms. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna sit, we're gonna wait, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna make sure they're gonna let us cross. They're gonna
Speaker 1: us into the into the US. And then he's like okay.
Speaker 1: So we go to lay down, and then not too
Speaker 1: long afterwards, my phone is ringing, ringing, ringing, and I
Speaker 1: jump up and it's Mandol. He's like about my nephew
Speaker 1: called his girlfriend and he told her that we were
Speaker 1: at the border, and I'm like, how would he do that?
Speaker 1: Why would he do that? He's making I'm nope, he's
Speaker 1: talking to his girlfriend and he was telling her by
Speaker 1: and he said that we're at the border and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna know, we're here. We gotta go. He's like,
Speaker 1: I know, we all got up. I think we weren't
Speaker 1: even there for a half hour. I'm like, we gotta go,
Speaker 1: we gotta go. You can't be kicked in, no, we're here.
Speaker 1: Kind of paranoid because my nephew's girlfriend, her family's in
Speaker 1: the cartel. Yeah, I mean, he's like, we can't eat
Speaker 1: mon though, Like they're gonna switch hotels. We've gotta get
Speaker 1: out of here. I'm even switch hotels. So as we're
Speaker 1: gonna leave, I'm so nervous and scared that I remember
Speaker 1: that I hit the side of the it's safety sopiz,
Speaker 1: which is kind of like slows you down. I hit
Speaker 1: this tide. It was like a steel one and it
Speaker 1: justesn't ripped my tire off the rim. And so we're
Speaker 1: in the middle of the street, on the busy street.
Speaker 1: We could see the borders. They got the next stop right,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, the fucking tire, the fucking tire. So
Speaker 1: my nephews jumped out and their model jumped out and
Speaker 1: they're trying to jack the car up and put the
Speaker 1: spare tire on and O He's like, let's go, let's go,
Speaker 1: let's go. And I was like, no, I can't eat
Speaker 1: the car. Get this one's under my name. That car
Speaker 1: was under my name. It can't beat the car. She's like,
Speaker 1: look that car. Let's going. Like no, they're going, we're going,
Speaker 1: And they're like hurrying up and it's dark but the
Speaker 1: sun is starting to come up, and then they're like, no,
Speaker 1: we got it. We got Le's goal. We got it.
Speaker 1: So then we jumped back in the cars and mind you,
Speaker 1: we're like in the middle of the street at this point,
Speaker 1: and we just look so fucking crazy because there was
Speaker 1: just so much commotion going up and so can we
Speaker 1: drive up to the border and we get there and
Speaker 1: they asked us for our papers and I'm giving them
Speaker 1: my passport, I'm giving them kids papers. I was like
Speaker 1: the first one ticket there. They're like hold on, hold on,
Speaker 1: because I'm like, go, go, go, go go. And they
Speaker 1: were like stop, Low, you can't come in. Stop what
Speaker 1: are you doing now? And I'm like, no, you gotta
Speaker 1: let us in. They're coming for coming out the office
Speaker 1: and they're like stop and I'm like no, they're gonna
Speaker 1: kill us. I jump out of the car and say baby,
Speaker 1: and she's sitting in the car freaking out. And then
Speaker 1: he's like, you can't come in. You can't come in,
Speaker 1: and you gotta wait. Everyone gotta wait. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: we can't wait. We gotta go in. He was like no.
Speaker 1: Nobody moved the cars and at this point we're all
Speaker 1: lined up and if the cars are stuck, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: they're gonna kill us. They're gonna fucking kill us. You've
Speaker 1: gotta come. You called called Chicago, call the day, called
Speaker 1: the U. S. Government, like, go us some when they're
Speaker 1: gonna kill us. We gotta get out of here now.
Speaker 1: And they were like what A pulled to the side,
Speaker 1: so they allow the cars to come through. They pull
Speaker 1: us aside and we're past the first light, but they're
Speaker 1: just the second light that we can't come through. We're
Speaker 1: just called to that side. And then I'm like listen,
Speaker 1: I said, we have to get out of the country.
Speaker 1: We have to get back to the US. Were US
Speaker 1: citizens and they're like, well, where's o the papers to
Speaker 1: make my kids they were born in Mexico. And they're like, well,
Speaker 1: they can't come in because if you don't have the
Speaker 1: right paperworker said, no, you don't understand. You don't understand
Speaker 1: where U. S. Citizens My son is. He's a U.
Speaker 1: S citizen. He's got dual citizenship just by me being
Speaker 1: the U. S citizen. He's a US citizen. I just
Speaker 1: don't have the paperworking yet. But they can come in.
Speaker 1: And he was like, no, we have to make phone calls.
Speaker 1: And we're calling. We're calling Milwaukee, we're calling lawyers, were
Speaker 1: calling everyone that we could pass it call and I
Speaker 1: remember my phone ringing. I don't know if Jake and
Speaker 1: in contact with someone or what, but my phone rings
Speaker 1: and I'm like hello. They're like, this says I think
Speaker 1: his name is Matt. He's the one that was in
Speaker 1: charge his use attorney from walking. He's like, listen, it's okay.
Speaker 1: Can like, you know, we're stuck here and they don't
Speaker 1: want to let us it and my kids don't have
Speaker 1: papers and we don't know what to do. You have
Speaker 1: to tell them that you have to let us come in.
Speaker 1: And he's like, yes, don't worry. You need to calm down.
Speaker 1: You need to calm down. Everyone has to calm down.
Speaker 1: Just listen to me what I'm telling you. And I'm
Speaker 1: like what. He was like, We're gonna take you into
Speaker 1: the office and you're gonna show them all the paperwork
Speaker 1: you have, and they're gonna let you come in. Making
Speaker 1: phone calls, we're calling. Do you see we're calling? They're
Speaker 1: trying to let you guys in. And I'm like okay,
Speaker 1: I'm like, but and you it's cuts right. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys are okay. You guys are gonna be fine,
Speaker 1: I promise. And I'm like okay, So I hang up
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, baby, get out the cars. Come on,
Speaker 1: let's get out the cars. We're going into the office
Speaker 1: with the kids and it was like cold outside, I remember,
Speaker 1: and we're taking the babies inside. We get in there
Speaker 1: and I'm like, here's our papers, this is what we have.
Speaker 1: And they're like, do you have any guns on you?
Speaker 1: Do you have any money and you And I'm like what.
Speaker 1: I'm like no. They're like, okay, well we just have
Speaker 1: to ask and we need all the keys of the
Speaker 1: cars because we had to put the cars on the
Speaker 1: X ray machines to make sure that you can guys
Speaker 1: are not bringing anything back with you. I'm like, going,
Speaker 1: fucking kidding me, Just let us in and they were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we just have that. This is routine. I'm like, it's
Speaker 1: not routines. What I called back the U. S. Attorney
Speaker 1: from alwalking and I'm like this is bullshit, Like what's happening?
Speaker 1: Why are they doing this? Was like, can they just medicine?
Speaker 1: He was like, it's routine. They have to just they
Speaker 1: have to search the car. They have to make sure
Speaker 1: that nobody's bringing nothing back. I was like, I said,
Speaker 1: you don't understand. My brother in law, my father in law,
Speaker 1: my mother in law is still back at the border.
Speaker 1: My nephew called girlfriend, that's a switch hotels, like they
Speaker 1: know we're here. Thanks. He's just held them to medicine.
Speaker 1: Don't worry, you're gonna be coming in. They just need
Speaker 1: to like check everything first. And at that point I knew,
Speaker 1: I just knew this was our life. It didn't matter
Speaker 1: whatever Champagne didn't properated. I knew at that point that
Speaker 1: we are always going to be treated that way. They
Speaker 1: were going to always look at us like criminals. I
Speaker 1: knew it, and I just I felt like we need
Speaker 1: such a huge mistake. I just felt like, these are
Speaker 1: the people are supposed to be helping us, These are
Speaker 1: the people are supposed to be keeping us safe. You
Speaker 1: felt like you've made a huge mistake by the corporation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because no matter what, they were never gonna never in mind,
Speaker 1: you had a six week old baby in your arms
Speaker 1: to the point I was two year old. I must
Speaker 1: have been really distressing. Yeah. I didn't understand why agents
Speaker 1: didn't allow member them at all. My father in law,
Speaker 1: I didn't understand why they didn't let them come in.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand why I didn't make a cause. I
Speaker 1: didn't understand why they didn't do anything to help us.
Speaker 1: I don't understand. My brother laws out there for two days,
Speaker 1: three days before they could help him, and I remember
Speaker 1: when they finally let us through, I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we fucking made it. H kind of
Speaker 1: believing make the city. They put us on. They have
Speaker 1: like a big private jet. We're on the plane with
Speaker 1: a few agents, one than being the agent for the gym.
Speaker 1: He tells me, he said, this is just so crazy.
Speaker 1: I'm like what he said, you know, my whole family
Speaker 1: knows you. I said, huh. He said, you grew up
Speaker 1: in twenty six straight and my family has a business
Speaker 1: that you would go to. He didn't want to tell
Speaker 1: me what business, Like I knew you as a kid,
Speaker 1: and I was like, like, you know, I spent the
Speaker 1: time like just giving him different businesses that you know.
Speaker 1: I think it was a hardware story. I just have
Speaker 1: a feeling he was just asking me questions, you know.
Speaker 1: But it's weird because he was asking us questions but
Speaker 1: about about our life, but not because I was cooperating.
Speaker 1: It was more like talk like curious to know things
Speaker 1: growing up on twenty six ships. My neighbor next to
Speaker 1: me who the owner construct it was a construction company
Speaker 1: or like electrical company. He on. The house had burnt down.
Speaker 1: They turned it into an office and it was like
Speaker 1: the house right next to us on the north side.
Speaker 1: My neighbor to the north and uh, the neighbor would
Speaker 1: always be nice to me and my brother. He would
Speaker 1: buy us like toxicles and always talked to us. And he,
Speaker 1: you know, his truck will roll up and he would
Speaker 1: leave it open and go in the office, you know.
Speaker 1: And they had like a big window, and I see
Speaker 1: him all the time. Man, I remember his family, not
Speaker 1: quite like I remember he had a family. I just
Speaker 1: don't remember like back then you know their faces. But
Speaker 1: while I was cooperating, a new agent head came into
Speaker 1: the the team that was like I guess was handed
Speaker 1: in our case over the years. And I remember like
Speaker 1: she came in to me, I felt like she looked familiar,
Speaker 1: and I just kind of like look at her. But
Speaker 1: I guess I was just used to seeing different agents.
Speaker 1: And she said, you know my dad, And I said, huh,
Speaker 1: like do you know my dad? Do you remember who
Speaker 1: used to buy you popsicles? When when you were a kid.
Speaker 1: And the minute she said that, I mean maybe because
Speaker 1: I also knew her last name, I put it together,
Speaker 1: he's your dad and she was like yeah, like oh
Speaker 1: my god, Like I remember being a kid and sitting
Speaker 1: down the stairs just waiting for him to show up,
Speaker 1: like every day, you know, around that two o'clock, especially
Speaker 1: in summertime, because she would always like, you know, crack
Speaker 1: a joke and say hey, really nice man, you know,
Speaker 1: and she's like, that's your dad. I grew up. But
Speaker 1: while I live right now see you, And I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: you know, like sometimes you can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1: She's actually probably still in as part of the case,
Speaker 1: part of that team. And it was around because that
Speaker 1: she knows a lot of money childhood that her dad
Speaker 1: definitely and you know, you know who my family was
Speaker 1: and how we grew up and here we are, you know,
Speaker 1: so there's a chance I do see that that here's
Speaker 1: our neighbor, right, he's an agent and we're drug traffickers.
Speaker 1: People do make it. People do good things. You always
Speaker 1: are known for like the bad people, right, Like if
Speaker 1: you think about Chicago, oh, the violence, you know, it
Speaker 1: just seems like the negative always. It's going to be
Speaker 1: what I would remember for how you're perceived was seing
Speaker 1: that plane. I just remember like being tired, and we're
Speaker 1: just like making small talk and we still have our phones,
Speaker 1: wheels and stuff like that. The whole night in our
Speaker 1: phones were just going off steadily, steadily. Everyone is calling
Speaker 1: our workers from the States. We land in Dallas. I
Speaker 1: remember we kind of taxi like close to another hangar.
Speaker 1: Let me wait there for a little while, and I
Speaker 1: see that, you know, Customs comes you know, to the
Speaker 1: plane to bring the stairs and comes to the plane
Speaker 1: and they're like, all right, let's get off. Weird to
Speaker 1: feel relieved to land at Dallas Airport, To feel relieved
Speaker 1: to land in Americas like in the USA. It was
Speaker 1: so weird, like finally feel like, okay, we're not in Mexico,
Speaker 1: but having that thought about where is my family. We
Speaker 1: are walking down and I see he has our birth certificate,
Speaker 1: you know, an I D like I D picture in
Speaker 1: his hand. And when we land, she it's a lady.
Speaker 1: She checks the document. Okay, and she's okay, and uh,
Speaker 1: I remember I took the last step and I just
Speaker 1: like stretching out my legs a little bit and my
Speaker 1: brother gets behind me, and he's like okay, and they're
Speaker 1: like all right, turn around, it's excuse me, you can
Speaker 1: turn around, put your hand, me on your back, and
Speaker 1: they hit me live. Put the heck sis. That was weird,
Speaker 1: like my brother, and then looking at us like this
Speaker 1: is their life for now on. No that goes the shackles.
Speaker 1: They read me my rights and it's like they took
Speaker 1: the bone. They started searching us. That was like reality
Speaker 1: just hit me all that as came to this in
Speaker 1: a way, I was like, well, what they expect, right,
Speaker 1: And again I'm supposed to know this. I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to think about these things. And I can't
Speaker 1: even tell you, like, yeah, you were thinking like prison,
Speaker 1: But I didn't crossed my mind, not even that day,
Speaker 1: not even me you know, landing. But it brought me
Speaker 1: back to reality that no matter what, no matter what
Speaker 1: I did, no matter how much a sacri prison, you know,
Speaker 1: I was still gonna be, you know, a prisoner, right.
Speaker 1: I was still I wanted person, and I was gonna
Speaker 1: have to pay for my mistakes for sure. You know
Speaker 1: that I'm having those ankles. I mean, they shackled me.
Speaker 1: I was like, I do you have to shack for me,
Speaker 1: like yes, just keep telling herself that we're doing the
Speaker 1: right thing, asking the ages over and over, bleakly, just
Speaker 1: checking my family. It's weird to be like yeah, expressed
Speaker 1: like a brand and GEF five, you know you as
Speaker 1: Marshall's jet speaking towards just take a prison. It's not
Speaker 1: just the steel on your on your legs in hand.
Speaker 1: I think it's more like the meaning right that when
Speaker 1: I think the guilt kind of started like coming and
Speaker 1: like I have to pay right for everything I did.
Speaker 1: So we sit there for a while, probably refield and
Speaker 1: jump back down on the plane distempt shackled and handcuffed,
Speaker 1: and it was just different now. The rider was different.
Speaker 1: It's a little quieter, you know. Me and my brother,
Speaker 1: I think we were just right that this is what
Speaker 1: we signed up for. And we end up flying into
Speaker 1: small airport right out north of Chicago that actually we
Speaker 1: used before to transport money and landing the airport on
Speaker 1: I remember when the plane landed, were looking out the
Speaker 1: window and I just saw nothing but police lights and
Speaker 1: lots of exacting. When the door opens, it's called like
Speaker 1: it's it's really colder and the door opens and it's
Speaker 1: like the ages walking. I remember tapping a foot outside
Speaker 1: the airplane and standing there. I just see the sea
Speaker 1: of like blue jackets like d E A U S
Speaker 1: Marshals and I just started getting like pictures flashes, the
Speaker 1: pictures being taken and when I saw the cards and
Speaker 1: like all the agents in marsh was just like staring
Speaker 1: at us. I think it was the first time I
Speaker 1: ever felt like, holy ship, I'm not just the drug dealer, right.
Speaker 1: I had no idea to me, I was just selling drugs.
Speaker 1: I was just knowing what I did. It was like reality,
Speaker 1: like why are we doing this? How a weet? Right
Speaker 1: in the middle of us recording this podcast. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna start. Phones started to ring. Val and
Speaker 1: Viviana rushed out of the room to take the calls,
Speaker 1: and very quickly the mood changed. You could feel this
Speaker 1: nervous energy as j and Pete realized something was wrong.
Speaker 1: Fifty and I had left the house to give the
Speaker 1: family some space. An hour later we returned to try
Speaker 1: and continue recording. Things felt very heightened. Can you say
Speaker 1: what is happening today? Or would you rather than not? Um?
Speaker 1: I think I think that I think that our fear
Speaker 1: of the revenge something else we that we don't touch
Speaker 1: on as much as I think that we should. Charlie,
Speaker 1: I think that we don't touch on them. The fear
Speaker 1: of retaliation from the cartel for what Pete and Jay
Speaker 1: did is a constant threat in the lives of the
Speaker 1: Flora's family. But it's not just the cartel that they're
Speaker 1: afraid of, you know. We pray for the best. I'llcome
Speaker 1: for our family, you know, and whatever that that is.
Speaker 1: We're trying to, you know, start fresh and starting new
Speaker 1: life with so many things like demons, like chasing behind us,
Speaker 1: like scoutary feet. I feel like we do live in fear.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're always going to live in fear.
Speaker 1: I feel like our life is never going to be normal.
Speaker 1: Only a couple of months after the twins came out
Speaker 1: of prison, Val and Viviana were arrested in their own homes.
Speaker 1: I see thems around my house, and they came in
Speaker 1: with the slat team and army garpens, she guilt and
Speaker 1: helmets and a R fifteens. I couldn't believe that they
Speaker 1: came and ready to knock the door down when I
Speaker 1: seen them coming and look like a bunch of soldiers
Speaker 1: in front of my house and they're marching up the
Speaker 1: street to come to the house, and I remember running
Speaker 1: to my son's room, my daughter's rooming and waking them
Speaker 1: up and telling them the Feds are here, the Feds
Speaker 1: are here. Both of them were released after a few days,
Speaker 1: but they have pending charges against them for money laundering.
Speaker 1: This all goes back to when Pete and Jay turned
Speaker 1: themselves in back in two thousand and eight. Valen Viviana
Speaker 1: collected drug money owed to their husband's Pete and Jay's
Speaker 1: older brother, Armando, was also involved and is named on
Speaker 1: the same indictment. The calls that Valen Viviana received whilst
Speaker 1: we were recording this were to tell them that Armando
Speaker 1: had turned and to save himself, had decided to cooperate
Speaker 1: with the government against Vow and Viviana. Syvianna and I
Speaker 1: are looking at up to ten years in prison, and
Speaker 1: that's a real number. It's part of the reason why
Speaker 1: we wanted I wanted to share the story. These decisions
Speaker 1: we make, no matter how they are or whatever we
Speaker 1: try to fix, is coming at a cost. To this day,
Speaker 1: we're still trying to make things right. We're still trying
Speaker 1: to correct our wrongs and and you know, we might
Speaker 1: get something right on one end and and failing and
Speaker 1: somewhere else. Everything comes to the price. We're sharing the story,
Speaker 1: not to glamorize. If anything, we think they'd be like, wow,
Speaker 1: you know what, they're doing the right thing by sharing
Speaker 1: their stories. You can see how much suffering is. I
Speaker 1: guess no one really understands that now that our husband's
Speaker 1: cooperation really made people upset. They had p I is
Speaker 1: in front of our house, and nobody understands exactly what.
Speaker 1: You know, what we've been through because of our husband's cooperation,
Speaker 1: and I feel like we're still letting do it. There's
Speaker 1: this morning yeah on the lad thinking that we were
Speaker 1: seeing how four ls were sitting there discussing some issues,
Speaker 1: and at that moment of the bathroom scenario came back
Speaker 1: into our minds. You know what worry talking about coming
Speaker 1: in and cooperating. I guess what we're actually staying at,
Speaker 1: like the bathrooms, like right there, and we were actually talking.
Speaker 1: We did have a laugh about something that wasn't so
Speaker 1: good to hear and battery point, Hey, it seems like
Speaker 1: we're stilling that Washington, you know, the we're sitting on
Speaker 1: the bad and we're talking and we're like talking about
Speaker 1: today was court, and we're talking about mine and the
Speaker 1: Vianna sentence and my brother in law and where it's
Speaker 1: just like trying to wrap her head around it, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, guys, this is exactly where we were Mexican two.
Speaker 1: It feels like it's kind of where's you down a
Speaker 1: lot to just keep continue going through things and do
Speaker 1: not not only now, but throughout the whole sentence and
Speaker 1: through everything. And I looked back sometimes and I look
Speaker 1: at my brother. I think the other scenario was just
Speaker 1: like this sentence wise back home, don't like live your
Speaker 1: life and let me and my brother justus do what
Speaker 1: we're doing and just whatever it happens happens. Becausepecially, I
Speaker 1: don't know if that would have been any better. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful for my family, but you know, that situation is
Speaker 1: always like that question when we have been worse off
Speaker 1: of when ye have been better. My attorney today, I
Speaker 1: had a conversation with him this morning and he just
Speaker 1: was trying to put everything into perspective, and he was
Speaker 1: just saying that it's just really hard to understand what
Speaker 1: me and Viv being mothers, being wives, and everything we've
Speaker 1: been through, and our husband's basically have a life sentence
Speaker 1: because of the way that we have to live our lives.
Speaker 1: It's never gonna go away. And for us to be
Speaker 1: facing the time that we're facing, he just can't understand it.
Speaker 1: It's just hard for anyone to fathom, right. I definitely
Speaker 1: feel like it's a life sentence for all of us
Speaker 1: as far as um present time. I feel like that
Speaker 1: hurts even more because the crazy thing is is I
Speaker 1: think that at some points how we've always, like Jay said,
Speaker 1: lived with fear, and it's almost like it's part of
Speaker 1: our life. I feel like I don't have any regrets.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is where I'm at, this is
Speaker 1: where I'm supposed to be, and I take responsibility. I
Speaker 1: take accountability for all my wrongs, all my rights. I
Speaker 1: think that it's made me into a stronger person. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's made us all, you know, resilient and strong.
Speaker 1: But I think that it's just us not being together
Speaker 1: is the scariest part of it all. As things stunned
Speaker 1: at the end of production on this season, the trial
Speaker 1: for Viviana Evolve is set for mid Keep It Here
Speaker 1: the epic next season has come. On the next season
Speaker 1: of Surviving El Chapo, the twins who brought down a
Speaker 1: drug lord. Here the next part of Pete and J's
Speaker 1: story and find out what happens as the Florest family
Speaker 1: continue to face the consequences of their decision. As soon
Speaker 1: as I said to one of the door they lack it.
Speaker 1: It's a special unit for cooperators. They take me there
Speaker 1: and I'm like, excuse me, for how long am I
Speaker 1: here for? And she said for good. Here I am
Speaker 1: transferred to new prison and I get putting in style
Speaker 1: and I was supposed to be alone, and then they
Speaker 1: came like, oh, you're gonna have a selling make room.
Speaker 1: He should be here any minute. When he gets here,
Speaker 1: I look at like, oh my god, I know you.
Speaker 1: I'm with Sammy the ball. It's the worst place. The
Speaker 1: food is cooked by the inmates. So every time they
Speaker 1: send the food trades up, they come with a little
Speaker 1: special surprice. I'm talking about every time if it's going
Speaker 1: to be a dead rat, roaches, who knows what they
Speaker 1: do to the food. It was like that in terms
Speaker 1: of a week. I remember that she gets up to
Speaker 1: call the baby bottle. We're rinsing the bottle in the bathroom, right,
Speaker 1: so Peter, I'm gonna come in. I remember, just walk
Speaker 1: into the bathroom. I just missed her so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we got busy in what happened to that man.
Speaker 1: He was taken to a tennant ranch. They found his
Speaker 1: vehicle and it's a threat. It was called I'm nervous.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't find my comfortable spot, I'm cold
Speaker 1: in my mouth is so dry. And I could see
Speaker 1: like the defense table off to the left, and here
Speaker 1: comes the juror and they walk in and then right
Speaker 1: away soon as they walk in there they're looking at
Speaker 1: the witnesses. They don't stop staring at you. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there like nervous, and they're not looking I see that
Speaker 1: they're They're landing Choplin and my staringtist like he smiling,
Speaker 1: saying hello everybody. He calms and he turned around. He
Speaker 1: staring right at me. He's just staring him. M h.
Speaker 1: And we'll bring you all the latest with val and
Speaker 1: Viviana's trial. There's only somebody can take. Make sure you
Speaker 1: follow and subscribe to the podcast to be the first
Speaker 1: to find out when season two drops. Stay tuned Surviving
Speaker 1: l Chapo The Twins Who Brought Down a Drug lad
Speaker 1: is hosted by Curtis fifty Jackson and me Charlie Webster.
Speaker 1: Our producers are myself alongside Jackson mcclennan. Research and editorial
Speaker 1: support is from Casey Hurts. Edit and sound designed by
Speaker 1: Nico Palella. Original score by Ryan Sorenson. Executive produced by
Speaker 1: Curtis fifty cent Jackson and myself Charlie Webster. If you'd
Speaker 1: like to know more about this story, head over to
Speaker 1: lions Gate Sound dot com. Curtis fifty cent Jackson presents
Speaker 1: a lions Gate Sound and G Unit audio production exclusively
Speaker 1: for I Heeart podcast m