BORIS BOWLES CARLOS CHILD CIPOLETTI CONDELLO ELIAS JORGE KAPPAUF LADY LATTUCA MAN MASSIMO MOLONEY NARR NUGENT OFFICER PASSENGER RAMIREZ REDPATH SINATRA SUBJECT TRANSLATOR TRIPPLE WIFE WONG

NARR
On this episode of To Catch a Smuggler…

BOWLES
We process approximately 60,000 international flights at JFK per year.

NUGENT
You just told the agent that you’ve been doing this for years, that you’ve done many trips, and you’re telling me you don’t even know the guy’s last name?

WONG
Nobody moves that amount of cocaine into the United States and doesn’t know about it.

SINATRA
You’re under arrest for the importation of narcotics, okay?

BOWLES
It’s a radiation detector.

ELIAS
This is pretty urgent. This is something we need to get done right away.

WONG
This interview, this whole thing is going to change your life.






NARR
At New York’s JFK Airport, millions of dollars of contraband are seized every year.

NARR
And the agents and officers with the Department of Homeland Security work around the clock to stop this flood of illegal goods and drugs into the country.

BOWLES
Hold on. Stop.

WONG
I want to get to the bottom of this.

LATTUCA
It’s not the truth, stop saying to me you’re telling me the truth.






BOWLES
We’re a narcotics and contraband unit. Our priority goal is to look for things that shouldn’t be in the United States, be it drugs or be it something that may harm this country severely.

CIPOLETTI
What do have more of, we have more food or more clothes?

PASSENGER
More food.

CIPOLETTI
More food.

PASSENGER
I leave the clothes.

BOWLES
They’re not going to send the mother load through, that’s very rare, so what they do now, they try to send a lot of smaller loads through. Again, some make it through. Most don’t.

WONG
CBP has detained a guy that has suspicious items in his bag. Apparently he was picking up as a courier, he’s like a private FedEx. And he does this for other people.

WONG
He picks up packages in a foreign country and ferries them here for a fee.

OFFICER
That bag is a single bag going to one courier service. The other two bags are going to another courier service.

NUGENT
What exactly was it? It was jackets?

OFFICER
Jackets, leather jackets.

NUGENT
New jackets?

OFFICER
Brand new leather jackets.

WONG
Can you take them out?

NUGENT
And he says, he claims that he was going to sell these or that he was carrying them for someone?

OFFICER
No, he claimed that it was his bag, that everything inside the bag was his.

KAPPAUF
That’s cocaine. Customs and Border Protection officers are masters at discovering the various concealments that people use to try to smuggle the drugs in.

KAPPAUF
The drugs were concealed within the lining of the jacket and they were glued in some kind of a paste.

KAPPAUF
The most important thing is that we make sure that we get every bit of cocaine out of the concealment, which in this case is the jacket.

WONG
CBP has detained a guy that has a large amount of narcotics, but it’s our job as Homeland Security Investigations to go in and investigate, get to the bottom of this, find out who these drugs are going to.

NUGENT
You speak English, right, no problem? Look, let’s be clear, do you agree to talk to us without an attorney present?

CARLOS
I want to talk to you unless I come across something that I think might be questionable.

NUGENT
That’s fine. If you agree to talk to us without an attorney present that is fine, you can stop at any time, that’s your right, okay?

CARLOS
Sure.

WONG
Let me explain what’s going on here.

WONG
Right now you’re under arrest for the importation of narcotics into the United States. You understand that? Look at me. It’s very important you look at me and we understand what’s going on. 

WONG
It’s a lot of cocaine, okay? You’re looking at a lot of jail time right now. I need to know how this stuff got here—obviously, you brought it in, you were going to bring it to someone. I need to know who you were delivering it to, alright? And I need you, above all, to tell the truth. Do you understand me? 

WONG
If I think you’re [bleep] just a little bit, we’re going to stop this, alright? I’m here to help you right now. And I want to hear your side of the story. But if I think you’re [bleep] us, we’re just going to end.

CARLOS
Yes, sir.

WONG
Understand that you’ve got your family in the other room. They’re your wife and your kid. Alright, I want to get to the bottom of this.

CARLOS
I’m thinking I’m a victim and I’m innocent. I’m not innocent bringing the bags, but I had no idea what was contained in them.

NUGENT
Okay, okay, why don’t you start? You’re saying that these are not your drugs? 
So now, explain to me, this bag was for which courier?

CARLOS
Senor Jorge.

NUGENT
Ok. On this side, if you made it through the airport and you went home, who were you calling?

CARLOS
I was calling him.

NUGENT
Him directly? And what does he do? And then he contacts somebody to come?

CARLOS
He comes, no he comes or he’ll contact somebody to come pick it up. Usually, my understanding was they take it to his office. In his office then he pulls, he throws everything out and they have an inventory, a list of what came, what didn’t come.

NUGENT
So he’s here…

CARLOS
And then he, then he gives it obviously to the people, so my whole thing is that someone came to his offices in Peru, gave him the jackets, they didn’t observe anything. They gave it to me and at this time I didn’t search it. If I would have searched it, I don’t know the honestly if I would have found it because I have never ever seen or heard of any anything like this at all.

KAPPAUF
In the last year, how many bags have you brought in? Just give me an estimate.

CARLOS
About 20 bags maybe.

KAPPAUF
And you were making how much a bag?

CARLOS
From Peru to here, $50. From here to Peru it’s $150.

KAPPAUF
Okay, but you’re doing this to make money. This is your business.

CARLOS
Mmm, not really to make money, just to kind of make ends meet as far as not spending 50 bucks. I’m not taking any suitcases. I call the courier, hey, did you have a suitcase? I’m open and willing to receive the $50 for it. And, like I said, I’ve never had problems with that before.

KAPPAUF
Ok, let me tell you the problem. The problem is that you have drugs in the bag, so now those drugs are yours.

NUGENT
We see regular couriers here, official couriers, even non-official couriers and these people have documentation. They know who they’re dealing with.

CARLOS
I wouldn’t classify me as an official courier because I don’t have anything like that.

NUGENT
But you just told the agent that you’ve been doing this for years, that you’ve done many trips, and you’re telling me you don’t even know the guy’s last name? You’re taking stuff from him, bringing it to the United States, going to your house and they’re picking it up from your house. That’s, that’s a typical drug courier.

CARLOS
I used to pick up and drop off stuff at his office, but then it’s too much time. I’m like my time was like I’m in like a rat race. I’m in a New York state of mind all the time so, so last, the last year...

WONG
Did you just say you’re in a New York state of mind? Can you step out a second? I just got to talk to you guys one second.

WONG
Carlos, give me one second, ok? Can we get an officer to just stand here for second?

WONG
Has he been entertaining like this the entire interview? Little connotations that he’s not in [bleep] trouble?

NUGENT
Just now we let him lay the foundation of his story, so now it’s time to chisel away at it.

WONG
Alright, a very important piece of information he, so he lied right away to the CBP officer about the purpose of his trip and the contents of his bag. You need to lay into him on that stuff.



BORIS
You can look through boxes every day for weeks and weeks and not get anything and then one day you come in and you get lucky occasionally.

BORIS
Looks like pills. Let’s just see what it is.

BORIS
We always have to out think the bad guys. We always have to know all the concealments. I mean, we have to be a step ahead of them.

BORIS
Oh, stuff right here, this is pills. We know for a fact. And there’s some kind of concealment in here. Looks like powder.

BORIS
There’s no declaration on this thing. It’s going to California, San Diego. This package is from Mumbai, India.

BORIS
Looks like a photo album...smells like some kind of chemical.

BORIS
There’s definitely concealment here. It looks like the covers, both covers here, are loaded with some kind of a powder on the inside.

BORIS
They’re also using the carbon paper inside, trying to conceal it.

BORIS
Looking at the color, again it looks like heroin, but we’re going to have to test it. You can see the powder right here.

BORIS
Alright, I’m going to have to be very careful here, because if this is heroin, I don’t want to inhale it.

BORIS
We’re going to take this to the detention room where we test it, just to make sure to see what it is.

CONDELLO
Hey Boris. What you got there bud?

BORIS
It looks like we have heroin and while I was opening it I cut through it…and I try not to inhale it. I just use a mask.

BORIS
This should determine whether or not it’s heroin or not. It should turn dark green if it’s heroin.

BORIS
And this is what we get. Heroin.

BORIS
Well, the street value for heroin right now it’s about 25,000 per pound and we had close to half a pound, slightly actually more than half a pound, so we had approximately $13,000 street value. 

BORIS
Definitely somebody will be upset.

CONDELLO
Thank you, Boris. Good job, buddy!

CONDELLO
We’re going to contact ICE who’s going to probably do a controlled delivery and someone will be arrested.



ELIAS
He’s wearing his pajamas!

BOWLES
You can’t really inspect every bag that comes into this airport, so it’s kind of like a pick and choose. We try not to let our guard down at any time. Anything could happen.



(Beeping)

BOWLES
It’s a radiation detector.

BOWLES
CBP’s primary concern is terrorism, stop people of interest from harming this country, weapons of mass destruction.

ELIAS
These alarms going off, it’s a very serious moment right now. The biggest fear would be some kind of radioactive device or dirty bomb. Someone bringing uranium, plutonium, you know something that really can cause damage. These three flights we have a concern with, there’s flights coming in from Pakistan, Egypt and Kuwait.

BOWLES
You. Hold on. Stop.

ELIAS
You try to stay cool because you don’t want the general public to panic, ’cause if you start yelling, “Oh, we’ve got a radiation alert,” people start storming the door, running people over, a little chaos, who knows what could happen.

BOWLES
Is it going up?

MASSIMO
It’s like right here, 5–6.

BOWLES
Separate this from them.

MASSIMO
What does she do for work?

BOWLES
Can you guys translate? No?

ELIAS
Right now we’ve got these two ladies, neither one of them speak English. 

ELIAS
We’re trying to get a translator. But at the same time all these alarms going off.

BOWLES
What language is it?

MAN
Pashto yeah.

BOWLES
Alright. Do me a favor. Separate her from her.

MASSIMO
It’s like going back to 4, 4-3, 3-4. Something’s in the area.

BOWLES
It’s kind of loopy.

ELIAS
Let’s open the bag. Bowles, shall I open the bag?

BOWLES
So now we think we’ve isolated the source of the radiation. We isolate the two ladies from their luggage and now I have Officer Elias doing a bag exam to ensure that it’s nothing in the luggage.

***** BREAK 1 *****


BOWLES
It's a radiation detector.

BOWLES
What is she reading?

ELIAS
It’s not here. It’s over there.

ELIAS
Who’s got a passport?

BOWLES
While he’s doing the bag exam, the number on the radiation detector is going down.

ELIAS
Bowles, it’s over there, bro.

BOWLES
Take care of it.

BOWLES
So now we have to find out where the source is ’cause it’s obviously not the person he’s doing.

ELIAS
So hold on one second.

ELIAS
I’m going to walk down the Agriculture line just in case that person was standing behind us ’cause this thing reads pretty far.

OFFICER
Ma’am, can you open that up, please.

ELIAS
Yeah, you can see, look at this, it’s going up; it’s giving a six.

TRIPPLE
The lady over there in the white scarf had a MRI for thyroid.

BOWLES
Have you had any medical procedures recently?

LADY
Yes, five days ago…I drank a drink for thyroid.

BOWLES
Like a dye. It has a little bit of radioactive material in it.

LADY
17 milligrams.

BOWLES
Yup, so you’re aware of it. Okay. Where’s your luggage. Everything in your luggage is right there?

LADY
I have one luggage. One big luggage.

BOWLES
Alright. Do me a favor. Stay right here.

ELIAS
Wow, that was really intense. Everybody was bugging out because we couldn’t find the source. 

ELIAS
We definitely know it’s her and she don’t seem too alarmed.

ELIAS
It was their first time here so what an experience for them.

BOWLES
What an experience. Welcome to JFK.

MASSIMO
But they were happy in the end. Nothing going on. No harm no foul. Everything worked out well.

BOWLES
They understand we’ve got a job to do. If you’re making this thing glow, I’m going to talk to you.

(Beeping)

ELIAS
Here we are.

BOWLES
She just took two feet! Two steps. Take care.

LADY
Nice to meet you.

BOWLES
Nice to meet you too.

ELIAS
And you can see right there, now she’s walking away, it’s going down...and we’re safe. That’s it.

BOWLES
Good job guys.


WONG
So the only thing you were getting was $50 to carry this bag. And that’s the regular price you always do for carrying bags.

CARLOS
From there to here.

WONG
What do you do for a living?

CARLOS
I’m a biologist.

WONG
You’re a biologist. How long you been out of work?

CARLOS
For about a year and a half.

WONG
A year and a half. So the only income right now, besides moving bags for $50, is the wife?

CARLOS
She just quit her job about a year ago too.

WONG
Wait a minute. So she doesn’t work for Lan Chile?

CARLOS
No, she quit in November.

WONG
Thirty days ago?

CARLOS
July, sorry.

WONG
July so four, five months ago she quit her job?

WONG
I’m not the IRS so don’t worry. I’m just adding up figures here. No one works in your household. 

CARLOS
No.

WONG
You make $50 a bag. Who’s paying for these tickets?

CARLOS
Like I said I don’t, I don’t see it as making money. I was just covering the cost of...

WONG
No, no, no you don’t understand. No one works in your household, so how do...

CARLOS
When I was working, I was making good money.

KAPPAUF
But you were doing this when you were working also, right?

CARLOS
Yes.

WONG
But how are you affording these tickets? These are $300...

CARLOS
I have money.

WONG
Where do you get money from?

CARLOS
From my savings.

WONG
So how much do you have in savings?

CARLOS
In savings?

WONG
How much you have? I mean, I’m trying to figure out how the hell you afford these tickets.

CARLOS
I have about 60,000 in savings.

WONG
From being a biologist or from doing something else?

CARLOS
From being a biologist, sir.

WONG
What was your salary when you were a biologist?

CARLOS
$100,000.

WONG
Where did you work?

CARLOS
Rahway, New Jersey.

WONG
Just realize the seriousness of what we’re doing here, alright. Your whole life is in front of you here but this interview, this whole thing is going to change your life. Do you understand that? 

WONG
You came back into this airport and you told the officer when you approached this is my family, we’re moving here and these are all our bags and all our stuff. You knew that wasn’t true when you got here. Why would you do that? You know who does that? People who are moving drugs do that. 

WONG
So Carlos, I need you to start again and stop [bleep] me and stop [bleep] my guys. You understand? I know you agreed to cooperate. I appreciate that.

WONG
I know you’re looking out for your wife. We’re talking to her right now and we’re going to see what kind of [bleep] she spews at me. 

WONG
Start again Carlos. Let’s start. How long have you been moving drugs into the United States; is this your first trip?

CARLOS
I have never moved drugs into the United States.

WONG
Is this your first trip moving drugs into the United States?

CARLOS
I had no idea that there was drugs in that bag.

WONG
Nobody moves that amount of cocaine into the United States and doesn’t know about it. You’ve got to start with telling me the truth.

CARLOS
Officer, I’m telling you the truth.

WONG
I think he knew. I think he absolutely knew. He made up those lies on top of the other lies. He thinks he was talking about another bag. Bull crap. He knew. We gotta work on him. He’s got to break.






WONG
Two pieces of information the question was asked, “Are these your bags? What’s the deal here?” “I’m moving. All this is all my stuff. I’m here moving my wife here.” He lied to the CBP officer about, he didn’t even say I’m working for a courier service. That’s something we should lean on him with.

NUGENT
Did anybody speak to his wife?

WONG
No.

NUGENT
I think we should talk to her to see this initial story he gave, if it matches up with...

WONG
That’s fine. How about if you two start with that, that’s fine; I’ll continue with Andy.

NUGENT
You understand why you’re here, right? Why you were stopped, okay? A lot of drugs in some of the baggage that you guys brought.

(Wife speaks in Spanish)

TRANSLATOR
She said that she didn’t know about it.

NUGENT
How much did he get paid?

TRANSLATOR
Cuanto le pagan?

(Wife speaks in Spanish)

TRANSLATOR
$150 for taking the bags from here to Lima.

WIFE
Y de Lima por aqui son cinquenta o ochenta dolares.

TRANSLATOR
And from Lima to here is between 50 to 80 dollars a bag.

NUGENT
What’s the normal procedure when they come here and land at New York?

WIFE
Llevamos las maletas a la casa, a mi casa, la que tenemos aca a recien, proque nos quedabamos a la casa de mis hermanos o sus hermanos.

TRANSLATOR
They usually travel like now ’cause they’ve got their own place they’ll bring the luggage back to their house and then the people will come and pick up the luggage from their house.

NUGENT
Who picks it up?

TRANSLATOR
Quien?

WIFE
Jorge.


CARLOS
The number one cash crop in Peru...

KAPPAUF
Is what?

CARLOS
Cocaine.

KAPPAUF
Alright, so you know that, right? You know that people smuggle drugs in and that you are on the lookout for this. You don’t want to bring the stuff in, right, ’cause it’s dangerous and can get you into trouble. 

CARLOS
Obviously, yes.

KAPPAUF
Right, so you look through your bags right?

CARLOS
I do.

KAPPAUF
Alright.

CARLOS
In this instance I did not.

KAPPAUF
So now you didn’t think like maybe there’s something in my bag?

CARLOS
Officer.

KAPPAUF
No, no, answer me. You didn’t think that? Did it cross your mind? It does, right? You usually, you check the bags?

CARLOS
It did because my grandmother was against me taking anything, but she is always being a grandmother.

KAPPAUF
You know people bring in drugs, to the country. Your grandmother knows it. And your grandmother was worried about you bringing stuff in because people bring drugs into the U.S. And then you think people are not going to believe your story? They’re not. They’re not going to believe you.

CARLOS
I have a relationship with this gentleman for three years. He has a business here.

KAPPAUF
Yeah, he has a good business here, clearly he’s bringing drugs in, that’s how his business is.

WONG
Through you.

KAPPAUF
Right, whether you know it or not, you did know it and you should have known it and that’s all that matters to us. Now you can help yourself, like Mr. Wong said, and tell us the truth, because we just, we’re almost through here. We’re not going to waste any more time.

CARLOS
I do not work for a drug dealer, a king pin. He has a very humble establishment for travel services.

WONG
Who has the list of what you were carrying, if you’re not carrying it?

CARLOS
Lima Travel must have it.

WONG
And how many bags did he give you?

CARLOS
One.

WONG
What do you guys got? What did she say?

NUGENT
I talked to her. She’s not nervous at all. Her whole story matches his story.

MOLONEY
If he loses his job a year and a half ago, why did she quit hers? She said that she quit her job.

WONG
So what does she think that she’s going to do?

NUGENT
No, there’s definitely questions. One thing he did say when he started that interview was that when he started taking the bags he was nervous, he was suspicious, ok. Hit that. Ask him why he was.

KAPPAUF
It was because his grandmother was.

WONG
Was he nervous the first time he started doing it or was he nervous on this trip?

KAPPAUF
The grandmother was nervous.

NUGENT
So the grandmother’s smart enough...

WONG
Look he’s in a New York state of mind, this bastard.

MOLONEY
I say we question her on why she quit her job and...

WONG
And what does she hope to be doing here? And when did she buy the tickets? Let’s see if she lines up with him. And then me and you, we’re going to go back in there and we’re gonna ask him, what was his plans? Yeah, you’re relocating here but you got no job. 


KAPPAUF
I don’t care what you tell me as long as it’s true. Alright, none of us here, alright...listen, hold on, that’s not what I want to hear. I don’t want to hear that. Your whole story, I want to hear the story and I want the story to make sense and none of it is right now. 

KAPPAUF
No, no, just wait and listen to me. Ok? We’re almost done here. We’ve heard enough from you. If you want to tell us anything new, that’s fine, alright. But I don’t want to hear the same thing you told us, alright? So think, if you have something new to tell us, that’s fine. If everything you said is the truth, then that’s fine and you’re good with that, then we’ll stick with that, but right now we’re done. Ok.

WONG
I’m going to go upstairs and call. We’ll wrap it up and bring him upstairs. Let me just see where they are with the female.

WONG
We’re going to have to wait it out, whether we believe him that he was duped into doing this or if I think his real income here was bringing drug packages into the United States. 

WONG
That’s why he doesn’t have a job. That’s why he doesn’t work as a biologist. It’s because he brings drugs packages here and makes a lot of money doing it. 

WONG
That’s why his wife can quit her job. That’s why they can move to the United States. 

WONG
But, you know, he’s not breaking on it and we’ll have to see.
 
NUGENT
This is tough because we’ve got a kid here, a 2, 3-year-old kid sitting here watching his father get put in handcuffs. Not good.

NUGENT
If we prove that this guy knew what was going on, that’s going to tear a family apart. It’s horrible.

WONG
That’s the only place I have for you to sit. I don’t have another place for you to sit where I can’t burn an officer. Just leave the door open for now. 

WONG
When he’s done...

KAPPAUF
He just spanked me.

WONG
He spanked you? That’s awesome.

WONG
We need to get a plan together. Alright, so the deal is, it’s going to be the last shot for him. It’s going to be, you’ve got your kid here and we’re upstairs now and we’re going to process you for this arrest...this is your last chance. And that’s it.

***** BREAK 2 *****








WONG
You okay, you need anything? 

WONG
Ok, send one of these guys out.

WONG
There’s $2. Go get the kid something.

WONG
Come on, take a walk. Put your hands behind your back. Come in here. Have a seat against the wall.

NUGENT
Let me ask you something. If we called Mr. Jorge do you think that he would come down here to JFK and claim those bags? If I get him on the phone and I say, “Mr. Jorge, we stopped Carlos. Carlos is claiming that there is nothing, that these bags were brought for you.”

CARLOS
I don’t know but I would hope that you...

NUGENT
Don’t tell me I don’t know.

NUGENT
I’m going to call him now and I’m going to tell him that we seized the bags here at JFK and that you are claiming that they’re his bags and I’m going to see what he says. Because I don’t like being lied to, so I’m going make the phone call.

CARLOS
That’s what I exactly what I...

NUGENT
Tell me now.

CARLOS
I’m telling you the truth, sir, please.

NUGENT
Okay, then I’m going to make the phone call.

BOWLES
After training, after all the flash card studying visa classification, they stick you in a booth. 

BOWLES
It’s not the most glorious thing in the world, but it’s a necessary evil.

BOWLES
You sit in there for hours in a day, stamping away, for hours, processing people, or referring people who need further inspection.

BOWLES
And if there’s something that raises a red flag, be it something in our systems or something you read off the person, you refer them to Passport Secondary.

OFFICER
We have a female from the Ukraine just arrived on the VV flight. We’re gonna pull her bags and have one of the officers who speaks Russian work with you on her statement.

REDPATH
Just a few questions about her last trip to the United States.

TRANSLATOR
She admits that she overstayed last time. It was a year ago, she got sick and she decided to stay longer. And at this time, it was only one month. So she, what she’s saying is it’s probably not a big deal.

REDPATH
Explain to her unfortunately it is a big deal that she stayed that one month.

(Translator explains in Russian)

REDPATH
Relax. It’s okay. I need her to explain to me why she got this visa in the first place.

TRANSLATOR
Church trip.

REDPATH
For a church trip?

TRANSLATOR
She visited an Amish village. She considers it a church trip.

REDPATH
One day? A trip to an Amish village? You were here for an entire year.

TRANSLATOR
Yes, but she also visited their village.

REDPATH
Okay, that’s not a church trip.

REDPATH
When she went to the embassy, what did she tell them was her reason for getting this visa?

TRANSLATOR
She told them that she needed to see her niece and additionally there was a church trip, it was a big religious holiday.

REDPATH
No, you know why I’m shaking my head. You can tell that I know that you’re not telling the truth. And this is just going to go on forever and ever if you continue this.

REDPATH
Again, let’s go back to the reason she really got the visa. Was it really for a church trip?

TRANSLATOR
No.

REDPATH
Okay. Thank you.

REDPATH
Just explain to her that at this time the decision has been made that she will not be admitted to the United States today, based on the fact that she obtained the visa fraudulently and she overstayed by that one month. So she’ll actually be flying out tomorrow afternoon back to the Ukraine, and she has been barred for five years.

REDPATH
Visiting an Amish village for a day is not enough to suffice to say you were here on a church trip. It may be a sob story to someone, but in the long run it’s a violation of the law and that’s what we’re here to do, is to enforce that.


BOWLES
The best thing about doing what I do, the rush, the chase. We specifically look for contraband; drugs.




BOWLES
Good? Sure? Why don’t you take him in.

SINATRA
Put it in your pocket. We’re going to go in the room and search your body, alright.

BOWLES
Officer Sinatra picked a gentleman that has a suitcase that we’ve seen quite a few times.

BOWLES
His eyes are red. Seemed a little out of it. Quite possibly a little drunk. Something’s just not right. Something’s not clicking. And I can tell from my officer’s face, he wasn’t comfortable with the subject’s actions.

SINATRA
Take everything out of your pockets and put it on the table. No, no, no! Keep your clothes on!

ELIAS
Why does everyone want to take their clothes off?

BOWLES
Officer Sinatra did the bag. I guess there’s nothing in it. Just for safety purposes, I may have them do it again. A different set of eyes. Not to say that he missed anything, but that bag was pretty popular for a while.

SINATRA
Your mother and father are here?

SUBJECT
Yeah. My father live in New Jersey and my mama in Pennsylvania, Hackettstown.

SINATRA
So who do you live with here? Where are you going? Jersey?

SUBJECT
Hackettstown.

SINATRA
With mom.

SUBJECT
In Pennsylvania. I live in Hackettstown.

SINATRA
In New Jersey?

SUBJECT
Yeah.

BOWLES
I can’t read the body language and his demeanor. Give me the picture, the whole picture.

SINATRA
He really can’t answer my questions straight. Couldn’t really tell me why he changed his ticket.

BOWLES
Eyes are bloodshot. Did he seem like he’s under the influence of something? Drinking?

SINATRA
Yeah, he could be a little doped up or drunk, doped up.

BOWLES
You smell anything on him?

SINATRA
No.

BOWLES
Alright, where are you going with it?

SINATRA
Well, I want to talk to him now.

BOWLES
You see that bag, right? You see the name on that bag, right?

SINATRA
No.

BOWLES
That bag was pretty popular a couple of months back.



(Agent speaks in Spanish)




BOWLES
See the name. That’s what I said.

RAMIREZ
Did you check the corners?

ELIAS
It’s not my bag.

SINATRA
So do the bag again.

RAMIREZ
I trust you.

SINATRA
You can check it. It was as light as a feather, bro.

RAMIREZ
Yeah, so was mine, that’s what I’m saying. Did you check the...?

SINATRA
I didn’t probe it, no, I didn’t probe the sides.

BOWLES
Sit him down! Sit him down! Sit him down!

RAMIREZ
It’s right there…[bleep, bleep].

BOWLES
Sit him down. Get it out; test it.

SINATRA
Oh, did he swallow anything? Ask him if he swallowed anything.

SINATRA
I’m not so convinced.

ELIAS
Me neither.



SINATRA
Heroin.

BOWLES
Get him up. Explain to him, Freddy.

RAMIREZ
You’re under arrest for the importation of narcotics, okay?

BOWLES
Our team did exceptionally well today. From the type of bag, the name of the bag, and the concealment method, my guys were all over it.

BOWLES
This will be a relatively small seizure in the scope of seizures we’ve had here at JFK, but that just shows that they’re trying to adapt so we have to adapt.

SINATRA
I’ll never forget this bag. You live and learn. When you think the bag is empty, the bag is loaded.

BOWLES
He’s definitely going to do some jail time. He made a big mistake and he’s out, he’s going to pay for it, he’s gonna pay for it big time.





WONG
Alright, what happened bad cop?

MOLONEY
Well, he’s not cracking. He’s not nervous at all. He’s sticking to his story. He’s saying that he’s not lying.

NUGENT
The story doesn’t make full sense but, you know what, maybe it’s just the way it is, so I say we get this guy on the phone and we see if, I told him, I said if this phone gets thrown away and something’s up, then I’m going to definitely believe that you’re involved with something.

WONG
Let’s look and let’s call that number.

MOLONEY
Alright, so let’s call Jorge.

MOLONEY
Hi Jorge. This is John. I work for Customs at JFK airport. Listen, Jorge, we made a seizure today from a Carlos [bleep]. Yeah, do you know him? You know him. Okay. 

MOLONEY
He claimed he was carrying some packages for you and your company. Is that true? Alright, well see, the thing here Jorge is that we need you to come down to verify that they belong to you, because we don’t have any proof that he’s in fact a legitimate courier, so we need you to come down to verify that they are your packages and then you can claim them.

MOLONEY
So he said he’s on his way. Should arrive here about 4 p.m.


MOLONEY
So we can bring them into this room and explain it to them.

NUGENT
Listen, you are not under arrest. You’re fine, nothing’s going to happen to you. You’re not in any trouble. Right now, we’re not sure about Carlos. We still have to straighten some things out, okay. We can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen with him, okay. So give us some more time. But in the meantime, you make arrangements so that somebody comes for you, okay.

(Translator)

MOLONEY
Do you want Paul to hold the kid so he doesn’t...? Hey, buddy, don’t hit mommy. Can you sit with Paul?

CHILD
Si!

NUGENT
How you doin’, buddy?

MOLONEY
And this is the first time you’re ever hearing of narcotics being in the bag?

(Translator)

WIFE
La primera vez.

NUGENT
As long as we don’t find out that you were lying to us, everything will be fine.

TRANSLATOR
That’s everything I know and that’s all the truth.

MOLONEY
Okay. Alright. Thank you.

WIFE
You’re welcome.

MOLONEY
Ready, buddy?

MOLONEY
We decided to let the wife and the child go. They don’t seem to have any knowledge of what’s going on. Right now the husband is being detained until the person that he claims is receiving the so-called package of jackets, he’s on his way to the airport to verify—(phone rings)…I think that’s him right now.

MOLONEY
This is John. That’s great. Where are you located right now? Okay. Jorge’s on his way?





MOLONEY
Just come with us for a second. You’re not in any trouble. I’m just going to talk to him, okay.

MOLONEY
Jorge, what business do you own?

(Jorge in Spanish)

TRANSLATOR
His ex-wife has a travel agency.

MOLONEY
What’s the name of the travel agency?

(Translator)

JORGE
Lima Peru Travel.

TRANSLATOR
OK. Hay una cosa...son jackets. Son coats.

MOLONEY
He brought jackets into the country.

(Translator continues in Spanish)

TRANSLATOR
Show him the list so he can find out where they’re going to?

MOLONEY
Jackets. Just three jackets?


MOLONEY
Which one, both or just this? 

TRANSLATOR
So they’re separated, two is going to one individual and then one leather jacket is going to...

MOLONEY
Dos, uno?

MOLONEY
Would Raul be the person that’s going to pick up all three jackets?

TRANSLATOR
We asked that question. He said for sure two of the jackets are going to Raul. However, they’re all affiliated with Raul. All three jackets are, ’cause Raul told him, “Two of the jackets are for me, one may be for my cousin or it may be for my mother.”

MOLONEY
Right, but he was going to pick them all up anyway?

TRANSLATOR
He’s not sure because the other one goes to another name.

MOLONEY
Does Raul know Carlos?

JORGE
No.

MOLONEY
We just talked to Jorge. He’s the guy that’s running the agency. He’s working with so-called couriers. He says he’s not a courier, but when he travels, he offers to bring bags over. So in this case it’s one bag with three jackets. Two jackets are going to Raul. We have a number. One jacket is going to a relative of his, possibly a cousin.

WONG
Relative of who?

MOLONEY
Of Raul. He’s received stuff before in the past. Never jackets. And he came to the store yesterday and today looking for his jackets.

(Jorge and translator talk in Spanish)

TRANSLATOR
He said in the past when Raul would come to get the items that he would have to leave them there because he didn’t have the money to get the items from him, but today he seemed more worried, he was more attentive, he was more like on top of the stuff, like he wanted the items.

MOLONEY
Okay, you think he’ll come back tomorrow to check for them?

JORGE
Si.

MOLONEY
For us, it’s a big break in the case. I mean, the next step is to hopefully to do a controlled delivery of the jackets to the two recipients who were supposed to receive them.

NUGENT
Carlos, today’s your lucky day. Alright? Your story with Mr. Jorge panned out. Alright? This is far from over though, okay. This is still an active investigation. 

NUGENT
Even though you’re not going to be arrested today, you know, if we have to come find you because we find out that you lied to us and that you know a lot more than what you told us, it’s not going to be good. Okay? But for now your story panned out. Alright?

MOLONEY
In the future, you should listen to your grandma and be much more careful on what you bring in to the United States.

CARLOS
My grandma is a very wise old woman and she knows a lot and I’m definitely going to do that.

MOLONEY
Just from now on, when you travel, especially when you’re bringing your wife and your kid along, know what you’re travelling with, know what they’re travelling with.

NUGENT
We got a lot of information today. It’s been a long day, but for now you’re going to be walking away.

MOLONEY
We made a phone call tonight to the Assistant United States Attorney and we presented him all the facts and after discussion with him we did not have enough probable cause to arrest the courier, therefore prosecution was denied. 

MOLONEY
However, we still have plenty of leads. We have a name and phone number and location of the recipient who was supposed to receive the narcotics at this particular agency location, so we’re going to follow up on that.

WONG
You’re a lucky man. All the guys that bring in drugs here come away in handcuffs. You’re like one in a hundred or one in a thousand that didn’t get locked up tonight.