U.S: Cartel Hid Money in Horse Races

In something right out of a James Bond movie, the U.S. Justice Department alleges that a Mexican drug cartel laundered millions of dollars in drug money through U.S. horse races. The Justice Department made its first moves against Tremor Enterprises, the horse-breeding operation that they allege was used to launder the drug money, sending helicopters and hundreds of law-enforcement agents to the company’s stables in Ruidoso, N.M., and its ranch in Oklahoma. Justice Department officials allege that the cartel—including Miguel Angel Treviño, one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminals who is famous for dismembering his victims before killing them and second in command to the Zetas drug cartel—used Treviño’s brother Jose Treviño’s U.S. residency and associate Ramiro Villarreal’s eye for horses to establish Tremor, which has collected $2.5 million in prizes in the span of three short years.