03x07 - Cartel Kidnapping

[bunniefuu]

- A roofer in South Carolina

who had been involved
with the Mexican cartel

and Mexican drug trafficking

said, "We want out."

And they said,
"Nobody gets out of the cartel.

We decide
when you're out, pal."

And they put a g*n to his head
and pulled him out

and threw him
in the back seat.

- A kidnapping plot

in our own backyard

had ties to an international

drug operation.

- They were gonna cut
Cory's eyeballs out

and send 'em in a FedEx box
to his dad.

- And it was full-court press.

We have to get him quick
before the hostage takers

can k*ll the hostage.

He's probably not gonna
live the next 24 hours.

- Yeah, and his life
is in our hands.

- Clock's tickin'.

- In the FBI,

we make a lot of headlines.

Drug busts...

mob stings...

t*rror1st takedowns.

- Get down, get down!

- We understand why people
want to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.

- Freeze!
- FBI.

- FBI!
- Action!

- But they don't know
the half of it.

What really goes down...

we save that for each other

when we're talking
agent to agent.

This is "FBI True."

- Cindy Coppola is a 23-year
veteran of the FBI.

She worked on cases
that included

organized crime and terrorism

and took part in multinational
investigations

into drug trafficking
and money laundering.

Coppola finished her career
with the Los Angeles division

running two offices,
supervising investigations,

and providing undercover
security for special events.

- You guys worked on this cool

cartel kidnapping case,

and you're the guy
that had the case, right?

- I was a case agent
in North Carolina, yes.

- Frank Brostrom
served 27 years in the FBI.

He worked as a b*mb technician
on the Atlanta Olympics

and Oklahoma City attacks.

He led investigations
into serial murders,

terrorism, and kidnappings.

- And how did you get
that case?

- We had a certain guy
that was a hostage negotiator

who was always having--
you know, getting called

at the last minute
to go all over the world

as a hostage negotiator.

So he said, "Hey,
I gotta go outta town.

Frank,
can you handle my duty?"

And like the first day,

I just happened to be
in the office late,

talking with the supervisor
and a couple of people,

and this call comes in

from Columbia, South Carolina.

And that call changed my life.

Local law enforcement
is telling the FBI

that a roofer
in South Carolina--

- What was his name?
- Elicio Cory Still.

We call him Cory Still.

His fiancée
can't get ahold of him,

and they find his truck
in the middle of the road

with the driver's door open
and the truck still running.

But initially,
the family wasn't forthcoming

about all the details.

What we found out was
Cory's father is Mexican

and who had been involved
with Mexican drug trafficking

and the cartel.

For a long time,
he and his family,

they were dealing marijuana
and cocaine

that was being
shipped from Mexico.

And so Cory
was dragged into this.

The case agent
in Columbia, South Carolina

is talking to Cory's family.

And as the intel developed,
we learned the cartel,

they were sending
tractor trailer loads,

and the family said,
"We can't get rid of this.

We can't sell this anymore,"
and they said, "We want out."

And they said,
"Nobody gets out of the cartel.

We decide
when you're out, pal."

Cory's father
had several brothers,

and they all were involved
with the cartel.

And as it turns out,
the uncles,

they weren't on great terms
with Cory, the victim.

And what witnesses tell us--

one day, Cory, he's in his
F-150, and he backs out...

And very quickly,
this vehicle cuts him off

and stops, and two
Hispanic guys jump out.

He's showing this badge
and saying, you're in trouble,

you know, policía, policía,
you're in trouble.

and they put a g*n to his head

and pull him out and throw him
in the back seat.

- So they're pretending
they're police.

- Exact TTPs
right outta Mexico.

More times than not,
they'll pose as law enforcement

to get someone to stop
or cooperate,

and then that's how
they'll take people.

So it was just right out of
their playbook

from south of the border.

- Bill Francis
served in the U.S. Army's

elite 5th Special Forces
group.

He worked counterterrorism
in the Middle East

and North Africa.

Francis spent 17 years

on the FBI's
Hostage Rescue Team.

- And was this Sinaloa,
or was it a different cartel?

- Sinaloa Cartel.
- Sinaloa.

- It's a pretty brutal cartel.

You'll see in the news where,

you know, down the Texas border

they'll find vans abandoned,

and they open the vans,
and it's just body parts--

legs and arms and torsos.

They do that to send a signal,

and it's a pretty
horrible one.

They're all into the t*rture
and m*rder, you know?

- The brutality of the cartel

south of the border is...

pretty much unchecked.

- The brutally aggressive
Sinaloa cartel

have blood on their hands.

A grisly new tactic--
beheadings.

- When I was in Palm Springs,
the RA,

we worked a lot with
the border patrol.

and, yeah, the cartels
are bad down there.

But this is small town
rural Carolina,

not exactly the kind of place

you expect someone
to be kidnapped.

- It's Southern rural,
sort of low income,

and you have a lot of
migrant workers.

And the cartel
works underground

to exploit both of these
groups.

In Mexico, though,
they're a dangerous,

well-funded
paramilitary organization.

Wire taps were run out of
Columbia, South Carolina.

- They're doing that because
the family's in South Carolina.

- The first ransom call
came in.

And they said, "Hey,
we've got the little chicken,

and you owe us--"

It started out at $200,000.

I think it went up--
- Just kept goin' up.

- Then they sent a photo
of his tattoo

to make sure they had
the right guy.

The ransom calls were
the thing that helped us...

You know, as to find out
where they were.

And we were able to identify
a couple cell phone numbers

in North Carolina.

It was a two-hour ride
up to North Carolina.

So Cory goes on
the floor board.

He knew he was
in a lot of trouble.

- When the SAC down in Columbia
realized it was cartel related

and it was kidnapping,

hostage, uh--
- Yeah.

So that's why HRT comes in.

- The team was formed
back in 1983

in preparation for
the 1984 Olympics in L.A.

The U.S. government
didn't have

a civilian law enforcement
counterterrorism capability.

We actually went to
our military counterparts

and got that training
from them

and learned counterterrorism
hostage rescue...

And brought that
to federal law enforcement.

- Weren't you on the bunker?
Like, was that 2013?

- Yeah, 2013.
- That was in Alabama, right?

- Yep.

- That boy kidnapped
off a bus in Alabama

last week
and held hostage in a bunker.

The suspect--
65-year-old Jimmy Lee d*kes

was seen with a g*n.

- We ended up doing hostage
rescue on that bunker,

expl*sive breach.

Put guys in the bunker
and saved the child.

- As a case agent,

you have someone's life
on your shoulder.

So when Bill showed up,
he was legendary in HRT.

I was in awe, just, you know,
and just so happy to have him.

- At the small airport
in Elizabethtown,

we've converted the terminal

into a big tactical
operation center.

- You have Wilmington office

and Fayetteville office,

and it just so happens
Elizabethtown

is right in the middle.

So you've got the Fayetteville
and Wilmington part

coming together at the airport.

So that's the different
locations you have

working on this.

- So it's Saturday.
We got called in.

We deployed by helicopter,
which is...

it's kinda unusual
'cause the helicopters are--

it's pretty limited space
in there.

You basically just go with
the kit that you're wearing

and, you know, some radios,
some other gear,

but there's not a lotta room
to take stuff.

And at the time,
the information we're getting

was, you know, you could
hit the ground there

in Elizabethtown and be asked

to execute this hostage rescue
right away.

So that's kinda what
we were prepared to do.

We had our dogs in there
and helicopter

and, you know, our operators,
and that was about it.

- It was pretty badass,
when you drive into town

and you drive to the airport
and you see these frickin'

HRT helicopters lined up
and all the guys

in their, you know,
flight suits, so I was like,

oh, yeah, this is gonna be
all right.

- That's FBI, that's--yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.

- So we've got our
sn*per observers.

Goin' out
with the surveillance teams

to get eyes on

these locations where
potentially Cory could be.

- We had surveillance planes
from 12 or 15 divisions.

- They brought down
surveillance jets,

prop planes,
ground surveillance units,

and it was full-court press

to try and figure out
where this guy was.

- All the agents were saying,
"Why are we pulling out

all the stops
for this drug dealer?"

And Bill and I both kinda
got some, you know,

kinda tongue-in-cheek comments
about that.

And I think that kinda
got back,

so the director came out
and said, "We're doing this

"because we wanna show them
they can't come into

our country and take our
citizens," you know.

- Frank and I are pretty much
joined at the hip,

'cause he's getting
all the intel,

which we need to
refine the target

and refine and deliver
as*ault options.

- Bill was the one
that needed to know

everything about the case.

Everybody else
has their little project,

but Bill had to know
everything.

So if it didn't come from me,
I had to make sure

it came from whoever had it,
so that was my job.

I was on the phone 24/7
with the case agent in Columbia

because I had to know
right away

what they were getting
from the Title III,

from the intel.
- You're trying to get

all the phone information
to figure out

where Cory is, right?

'Cause we don't know--you guys
didn't know where he was.

You don't know
where he's being kept,

but they think he's in North
Carolina somewhere, right?

Did you have any names
at this point?

- One--Morales.

One of the kidnappers.

He seemed like the organizer
or the leader,

because he was taking
all the calls,

the directions from the cartel
in Mexico.

And then we could
GPS that phone,

you know,
through the cell tower.

- Triangulation.
- We knew where he was.

Wherever he went,
we would do surveillance

on that address.

- We don't know at the time
which location Cory could be,

but we know that our bad guys
are visiting this place,

this place, this place.

Different, you know, food
deliveries, things like that

kinda gave us clues

that he's potentially
at one of these places.

- There is a grocery store
in Elizabethtown.

The owner handled all
the money for the cartel

through wire transfers
to his store.

He was kinda
the money laundry.

So we get him telling...

Juan Morales,
leader of the kidnappers,

that somebody wanted to
bring the package to Mexico.

And we thought that package

might be Cory.

We're like, oh, boy,
we can't let Cory

be taken out of the country,
we'll never get him.

- So you think the package
is Cory.

- Yeah.
- And he's potentially

in the back of the car.

- We don't know.

We think he might be
the package.

So we pick up surveillance
on that vehicle.

It goes through
several different states,

and the Bureau's passing
it off to their partners

in those states.

- Billy, you know it's rare

like for the FBI
to do car stops.

- Oh, definitely rare
for the FBI.

- We're in unmarked cars.
- Unmarked cars would...

yeah, it would just be
much more dangerous.

- I had an undercover minivan,

a Windstar minivan
that was like purple.

It was horrible.
Trying to pull somebody over--

nobody's gonna pull over
because of that.

- Yep.
- But the other thing--

somebody thinks
they're getting robbed.

- With a marked unit,
you know, the guy's hoping

he's getting pulled over
for a traffic violation,

so a lotta times, he'll
actually stop and cooperate.

- We have to do the car stop,
but also,

the pressure on Bill was,
well, once we do that,

the gig's up,
and they let them know

they could k*ll Cory.

- Did local PD do a car stop
somewhere?

- We did, we had a state--
the highway patrol in Texas

do the stop
just outside of Houston.

- Driving the car is this guy
named Freddy,

Freddy Jimenez,

tasked with bringing
this package to Mexico.

They pull him over.
They search the vehicle,

but no Cory.

The package turns out to be
ill*gal passports.

- And then what happens?

- We didn't have enough
evidence on Jimenez

to arrest him for anything.

But he did participate
in a polygraph in Houston,

and he failed
the polygraph test.

He didn't give it up.

- Does he call the guys up,
the kidnappers, and say,

"Hey, I just got stopped"?

- The wire did pick up

that the kidnappers
were notified.

- And then what we're
picking up on the wire

is, really, preparations
to k*ll Cory.

It was imminent in terms of

you know, he's probably not
gonna live the next 24 hours.

- Their mission was to get
as much money out of Cory's dad

as they could,
and then they were gonna

cut Cory's eyeballs out
and his tattoos

and send 'em in a FedEx box
to his dad

after they got the money from--

after he wired it
to Mexico City.

- So it's a race, basically,

but, at the same time,
you don't know where Cory is.

- The clock's tickin'.

It's a hostage rescue,
so we're thinking

we have to get in,
we have to get in quick

before the hostage takers
can k*ll the hostage.

- The other thing that folks
don't understand

is you gotta get warrants

for all those places

and you gotta have
probable cause.

It's gotta go before a judge,
so all that's taking place.

- And then it comes back from
the prosecutor, reviews it,

and, "No, we don't like this,
we need more of this,"

so it's not just a one and
done, boom, we get the warrant.

It's not that easy.
- I know, it's tough.

When did it finally happen

that you guys were allowed
to make the hits?

- The actual permission to go

was...
- To go the 15th, early--

- To go early in the morning
on the 15th.

The plan was for one unit
from the Hostage Rescue Team

to hit Morales's place
in Garland around 3:00 a.m.

The other HRT units
are on standby,

ready to hit the houses
at Horseshoe Road

and Elizabethtown

with Charlotte SWAT
tackling Roseboro.

We wanna be near-simultaneous

so that one location couldn't
alert the other locations

or a neighbor
or something like that

couldn't alert
the other locations.

We hit Morales's
location first,

the thought being because
we knew he was a key player

in this whole kidnapping.

A buncha commandos in there,

and we felt like just
the shock of all that

would pry loose some intel.

It was an expl*sive breach.

We blow in his door.

- Go, go, go, go!
- Go, go!

- According to the girl
next to him

that was sleeping with him, he
had a p*stol under his pillow,

and he thought about grabbing
it, and then-then let it go.

- And so our guys went in...

And got Morales.

Took him aside
and questioned him

and tried to get Cory's
location out of him,

but unfortunately,
he was not cooperative.

- But we did find the phone

that was the subject
of the wire tap

which confirmed that he was
the guy talking, you know.

- He was the one making
the ransom calls.

- Yeah, 'cause we found
the actual phone,

and we could verify it
through the phone.

- Oh, that's cool.
both: Yeah.

- But then he gave you guys
the finger

and said,
"I'm not helping you."

- It's a race against time...
- Yeah.

- And his life
is in our hands.

- Then two units from HRT
hit the houses

at Horseshoe Road
and Elizabethtown...

and Charlotte SWAT
hits the house at Roseboro.

Horseshoe Road, I think it was.
- Yeah, Horseshoe.

- And it was a rural setting,
multiple buildings in acreage,

and it had a barn in the back.

- On the arial photos,
we saw that shed

that little like guest house
way in the back...

- Yeah.
- Almost in the woods,

and I'm like, "Bill, man,
we gotta check that out."

- We're working down the hill.

We hit the outbuildings first

while we lock down
the main building

and then made entry on the main
building after that.

And as we're making entry
on the main building

at Horseshoe Road,

Charlotte SWAT hit the house
at Roseboro.

And, uh, as they're going in,

the front door was barricaded
with a mattress.

So it wasn't like firmly
barricaded,

but it was a shoving match
to get in.

They rammed it.

One of the kidnappers,
he squirts out the back,

goes running out
a back door.

And, of course,
they have guys out back.

They take him down there.

So they're looking around
for Cory,

they're calling his name,
but they can't find him.

We hear over the radio
Denny's voice at Roseboro.

He's saying jackpot, jackpot.

They found Cory, chained.

- Ugh, poor kid.

- And it was like chains
with padlocks.

Lookin'--he was lookin'
pretty beat up.

Had--his eyes were covered.

- He's chained on the floor

to a Universal Gym set.

He had very little water
or food

and was not allowed
to go to the bathroom.

So he's kinda--he's dehydrated,

he's in bad shape.

- Were you able to go help him?

- So the ambulance took him
from the scene

directly to the hospital,

so I took off
from the command post

and rendezvoused with the--
he had a SWAT escort,

and then they turned him over
to me at the hospital.

- The kidnapping plot

foiled by the FBI

in our own backyard

had ties to an international

drug operation.

- The investigation into this

elaborate kidnapping scheme

spanned two countries,

numerous states,

and involved more than

30 law enforcement groups.

- So I'm in the hospital
and, you know,

they said he's in great shape

for not eating and drinking
for six days.

He was a little dehydrated,
but they put fluids.

So I interviewed him about
actually what went down.

He was able to give us
a description of what he saw.

When you're a kid, and you play
Pin the Tail on the Donkey,

right, how do you cheat
when you have a blindfold?

You do this, right,
you look--right?

'cause if it doesn't--
you look under.

And he actually told me
he was looking under,

and he was able to describe
the subjects.

He saw the subjects,
and they didn't know

that he wasn't covered
all the way.

So his description
was right on the money.

- Oh, that's awesome.

I mean, that obviously
helped the case, you know?

- Absolutely.
- But he's lucky he's alive

to even tell the story.
- Yes.

- Very, very.

- He looked at me like
the person that saved him.

Obviously, I didn't
singlehandedly save this guy,

but he looked at me like--
- Big part of it.

- Yeah, and so I drove him
to the Marriott

right next to the FBI office
in Fayetteville,

and I took him up to the hotel
and I said, "Look,

take a shower, whatever.
I'm gonna wait out here."

I turned the TV on.
You know, I'm armed,

so I said, you know,
I'll watch your back,

go in the bathroom,
and he was very, very nervous.

So much so that when his family
came to pick him up,

a couple hours later,

he wanted to stay with me

rather than go with
his own family.

He didn't know if maybe...

- His dad...
- The cartel had flipped

his dad, and they're gonna
deliver him to the cartel.

- Yeah.

- As it turns out,
Cory's uncle,

he was feeding intel
to the cartel

to help them find Cory
and do the kidnapping.

- Oh, wow.

- And so what was really
a tearjerker

is his family arrived,

and his five-year-old son

comes running across the
parking lot into his arms.

He said, "You saved my life."

He said,
"I'm done with this life,"

and again, he said,
"You know, I was born into it.

I really didn't have
a choice," you know.

And he promised me

that he would make good
with the rest of his life

because we saved his life.

- HRT is a--it's a brotherhood.

I mean, my best friends
in the world,

probably till the day I die'll
be HRT guys.

It just inspires me to know
that there's

Americans out there
that are willing to do

what these guys
were willing to do

for people
they don't even know.

You know, they went down there
and took care of business.

- You guys are, like, badass.

- There's a saying
in law enforcement,

sometimes when things
go our way--

it doesn't always go our way,
but when it does,

we get these lucky breaks,
you know.

People say,
"Sometimes God loves cops."