‘Cowboy Cartel’: Inside the Mexican Drug Cartel’s Deadly Horse Racing Scheme

Tackling a story that would have been perfect for a fourth season of Narcos: Mexico, Cowboy Cartel concerns the most dangerous drug outfit in the world, a rookie FBI agent with an intriguing tip and a spot-on hunch, and racehorses whose money-making potential proved irresistible for villains intent on laundering their ill-gotten gains.

Premiering on Apple TV+ Friday, Aug. 2, this sharply directed four-part docuseries from Dan Johnstone and Castor Fernandez is an intricate and gripping tale of criminal enterprise machinations, investigative strategies, and immense danger, and it’s augmented by the participation of virtually every law enforcement agent involved—not to mention aesthetics that are a cut above the usual non-fiction TV pack.

In September 2009, Scott Lawson graduated from the FBI training academy and, because he spoke a bit of Spanish and had previously been a cop, was sent to the border town of Laredo, Texas. Separated from its Mexican sister city of Nuevo Laredo by the Rio Grande, Laredo was the biggest trade crossing between the two countries, and that meant it was a hotbed for cartel drug activity. At the time of Lawson’s posting, the biggest cartel in the land was Los Zetas, which had begun as a special forces military unit—trained at Fort Bragg to combat cartels—that had flipped sides, first working for the Gulf Cartel before going into business for itself. What separated Los Zetas from its competition was the extremity of its violence, and it didn’t take long before it ruled not just the border but most of its homeland through fear, intimidation, bribery, and brutality.

Los Zetas was run by Miguel Treviño, a “psychopathic” man who was rumored to have killed rivals’ babies and eaten lunch while sitting on a pile of dead bodies, as well as his brother Omar. Both men had million-dollar bounties on their heads and were at the top of every most wanted list, but since they never strayed from Mexico, Lawson and his compatriots had few ways of directly targeting them.

Nonetheless, big things often start small, and that was the case for Lawson, whose fortunes changed when he and his training agent Jason Hodge received a tip about the sale of a horse named Dashin Follies for $875,000 at an Oklahoma City auction. This was a steed cut out for quarter horse racing, the down-and-dirty alternative to thoroughbred racing, and it had been purchased by Tyler Graham, the grandson of a famous Texas rancher, who was serving as an agent on behalf of José Treviño—Miguel and Omar’s sibling.

Cowboy Cartel takes its time introducing viewers to its myriad players as well as to its quarter-racing milieu. Yet to its credit, it maintains momentum and lucidity while delivering copious details. Johnstone and Fernandez’s docuseries moves at a brisk clip and is jam-packed with names, dates, places, and relationships, all of which are laid out by Lawson and his fellow talking heads, who include his partner Raul Perdomo, the IRS task force (Steve Pennington, Steve Junker, Brian Schutt, and Kim Williams) with which he teamed, assistant US Attorney Doug Gardner, author Joe Tone, and The New York Times’ Ginger Thompson, who eventually played a key role in the conclusion of Lawson’s pursuit.

Better still, the proceedings are crisply edited and look fantastic, courtesy of Clint Lealos and Nick Z. Miller’s cinematography, which affords the material a striking, professional sheen. Though its dramatic recreations aren’t vital (and the juxtaposition of real-life figures with their fictional counterparts is occasionally awkward), its vibrancy amplifies its compelling storytelling.

By speaking with Graham, who would quickly become one of his chief sources, Lawson got his first inkling into the conspiracy taking place in Texas. It all began with a horse named Tempting Dash, who had crossed into the U.S. in 2009 courtesy of “The Horseman,” Ramiro Villareal.

After winning approximately $400,000 with Tempting Dash, Villareal entered him in a big race, only to sell him at the last second for a measly $25,000 to Treviño, who was currently working as a bricklayer. When coupled with Treviño’s recent pricey purchase of Dashin Follies via Graham, this wasn’t just strange—it reeked. Thus, Lawson set about trying to discover whether Treviño’s horse racing wheeling and dealing was being bankrolled by Los Zetas as a means of laundering its drug money.

Before long, his inquiry pointed him toward various interrelated individuals—such as Treviño’s right-hand man Carlos Nayen and his translator Fernando Garcia—who were wrapped up in the scheme.

Lawson knew for certain that he was onto something when, at the quarter horse racing event of the year, the July 2010 All American Futurity in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a long-shot horse named Mr. Piloto was transferred to Treviño and subsequently won the $2.4 million prize. Moreover, at the preceding auction, Lawson and Perdomo documented Treviño taking photos that he then seemingly sent via his phone—suggesting that he was being commanded by someone else. In total, it was apparent that a clandestine cartel scam was being perpetrated in plain sight, and was predicated on people ignoring the origins of the cash now flooding into the sport.

Over the next three years, Lawson and his colleagues dug deep, and what they uncovered was more than they bargained for, complete with the involvement of multiple legitimate Mexican businessmen and the murder of civilians and Homeland Security investigative agent Jaime Zapata.