Читать книгу A Vow To Run - Larry Rios - Страница 4

I was back from working on the El Huarache case that ended with the arrests of three illegal alien smugglers whose organization was based in Tijuana. The case had an unusual name that was inspired when the case agent noticed that each time he saw the suspect he was wearing footwear commonly used in older Mexico which is the huarache. I had managed to infiltrate the organization and worked closely with El Huarache on his own turf. The case had taken a full four months’ to gain the needed evidence that would ensure prosecution of our suspected alien smuggler. The last part of the investigation required surveillance of the suspect himself. The surveillance part of most cases was the hardest on each agent. When a surveillance point was established agents had to remain in position for long hours and could not leave for fear of being noticed by the suspected smuggler. They had to carry enough food supplies and sealed containers into which they could urinate if they needed to relieve themselves. Although it was often unpleasant, surveillance was one of the most important tools used to gather the bulk of the evidence needed to prosecute and win a conviction in a court of law. If a smuggler noticed that he was being watched, he might immediately stop all activities and the case would be lost. The El Huarache case was made even more difficult because there were two different houses that had to be watched.

At the beginning of the surveillance at either house, the teams had worked eight hour shifts hoping to see an indication of illegal activity. They had worked the day shift for several days without seeing any activity. The teams decided to change to a night shift on a hunch that activity may increase under the cover of darkness. The idea proved to be a good one and we began noting the activities we had waited for. Two vehicles had dropped off large groups of suspected illegal aliens at one of the houses. That meant we had to keep a constant watch on the house until we obtained the witnesses we needed to prosecute El Huarache. After seeing the groups arrive at the house, any person leaving the house was followed on a “rolling surveillance”. Rolling surveillance was usually accomplished using at least two cars following the suspect to see where he was going and what he would do when he got to where ever he was going. The surveillance team was able to follow El Huarache and had taken up positions in time to see him meet with another person at a gas station parking lot. El Huarache took out two suspected illegal aliens from his car and walked them over to the other person. That person had handed El Huarache a wad of money which El Huarache had openly counted. It was surprising to see him count the money in plain view since displaying large amounts of money could be a dangerous thing to do in public. Satisfied with the amount he left the parking lot and had driven straight back to his house. The two suspected illegal aliens were stopped several miles from the original scene and we had the case’s first witnesses. We used the same method several times until we had the evidence we needed.

The case had turned out to be very long and tiring but that only served to make the successful ending sweeter. The arrest phase of the case was a long awaited moment that was celebrated by everyone who had devoted their time and best skills to make the case successful. After the arrests we managed to find the time and energy to come together over dinner and drinks to recount the case’s highlights. There was the usual bantering between agents about their skills, or lack of, and how luck played such a large part of the case. We celebrated for several hours before finally going home to reacquaint ourselves with our families. We would all take a good long rest before having to report back for duty at the San Bernardino office. After the third day off duty, we reported in for duty and started the tedious work of catching up on daily reports. No one enjoyed the routine paperwork that could take a big portion of the day. When the paperwork was completed we could start working on our own individual caseload. Each agent had to reread their case files and recheck all pertinent information in an effort to restart their cases. In some cases agents contacted their informants for information regarding the current status of a suspected smuggler. Most agents maintained a cadre of informants who provided information on organized groups of alien smugglers. It was usually good practice to either telephone the informants or visit them in person to check for current information. I began calling my informants. I had six officially opened cases and a bunch of leads on potential future cases that I needed to check. Each case involved at least one house that was allegedly being used as a staging location for smuggled aliens. I visited these houses just to see if the same cars or persons were still there. Sometimes an informant’s information was “hot” indicating that groups of illegal aliens were being smuggled to a house on a daily basis or at a specific time. I called one of my informants, who went by the name of Jaime, to ask about possible current information and he told me of a smuggler who would smuggle a group of illegal aliens on that day and gave me an address where they would be taken. I dropped everything and left the office. I headed for the address given me by the informant to wait for the vehicle with the smuggled aliens to arrive.

I watched the address for several hours and the expected activity did not happen. I thought I should check with Jaime to confirm the time that he stated the smuggler would arrive. I called him and he assured me the smuggler had left Tijuana and that he should be arriving soon. I knew that information regarding smuggling activities was subject to change and their activities were influenced by their own network of information and other unexpected events. There were often last minute changes that dictated whether they would actually make their runs or not. Meanwhile all I could do was try to be patient. Usually my patience was directly related to how reliable I thought my informant was. Jaime had proven himself to be reliable many times over and his information was very often accurate. I trusted his information enough to devote a considerable amount of time to surveillance. Agents maintained an odd relationship with their informants. We somewhat trusted their information but always sought to independently verify what an informant told us. They were a strange group of people who walked in two separate worlds. Some of them maintained close relationships within the smuggling world while living a dual life as informants for any agency willing to pay them for their information. They were a choosey bunch who could be very picky about what agency or agent they would work for. Most of the informants I knew were street smart and crafty. They had the capacity to create serious trouble for any agent who trusted them too much. They were a group that had to be kept at arm’s length.

On the second day of watching the house, a white van entered the house’s driveway. The driver of the van and the front seat passenger exited the van. The driver went into the house and the passenger stood by the van’s sliding bay door. I had my video camera going.

After a few minutes, the driver came back outside accompanied by a second man. They went directly to the van’s door and talked a few minutes before finally opening the door. From my vantage point, I could see the interior of the van. There were people sitting on the van’s floor. The man at the door scanned the area as if to see if anyone was watching. He looked directly at my vehicle where I was hidden and I could feel the look. A small wave of anxiousness passed through me at the thought of being discovered. The feeling passed quickly as the man seemed satisfied that all was ok. He began by removing two people from the van and walking them into the house. The van driver and his passenger stood by the open door. The man from the house returned and took two more into the house. A black sedan came around the corner and slowly drove by. The driver saw the sedan and slammed the van’s door shut. The car passed and they waited a few minutes before again opening the van’s door. The man from the house resumed taking the people from the van in twos. After the first six he slowed the pace and seemed to be waiting about three to four minutes between each trip. While they waited in between trips they stood around outside the van speaking casually while watching the activities around them. Eventually they made ten trips. After the last person was taken out of the van, the driver and his passenger left the house.