Mexico is notoriously powerful. Los Zetas Finds Underhand Ways to Do Business in First Trailer for Apple TV+ Cowboy CartelThe documentary series premieres August 2 and examines the takedown of cartel leaders Omar Trevino Morales and Miguel Trevino Morales, who built a violent money-laundering empire under the guise of horse-racing transactions.
“When you think of drug cartels, you think of drugs, violence, and money. But you don’t think of horses,” Joe Tunney, author of Bones: Brothers, Horses, Gangs, and the Dream of the Frontier, says in the film’s trailer. “It’s usually the ranchers and the wealthy businessmen who fill the winners’ circle. But all of a sudden, here’s this new owner who keeps winning, and his name is Jose Trevigno.”
When it was first suspected that the Trevino brothers were using Los Zetas to launder money through their horse-racing operations, the oddity of the situation created a dilemma: How do you prove their business is illegal? Scott Lawson, a rookie FBI agent at the time, was able to crack the case, leading to a high-stakes mission to take down the cartel. “There were 12,000 law enforcement agents who were going to target the Zetas on the same day,” he says in the clip. “My biggest fear was that every target would go to Mexico and become untouchable.”
Cowboy Cartel The film depicts the dramatic infiltration of the cartel, which exposed their money laundering operation and led to the dismantling of the deadly organization. Tony published Bones: Brothers, Horses, Gangs, and the Dream of the Frontier in 2017, four years after Miguel's capture and two years after Omar's.
The documentary series includes first-time interviews with Tony, Lawson, IRS Agent Steve Pennington, Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Gardner, journalist Ginger Thompson, Irving Police Officers Steve Junker, Brian Schott, Kim Williams, and others.
