July 13, 2020 • 48 mins
Episode 8 - One of the biggest challenges of getting to the bottom of the femicides is knowing who to trust, and who is metido - involved with the dark side. FBI agent Hardrick Crawford begins speaking out, calling the murders "crimes against humanity." But as he becomes involved with the Juárez elite, he makes powerful enemies.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Forgotten is a production of ihont Media and Unusual Productions
Before we start. This podcast contains accounts which some listeners
will find disturbing, but without them, the story can't be
fully understood. Please take care while listening. Previously on Forgotten,
(00:23):
it was like a perfect storm. You have the women
coming from southern Mexico, desperate for work, to help their families,
to come work at the Mikheila Doors. It's like antelopes
at the water hole. I had a night witness who
alleged that he had been at these parties where these
women would be brought into. It's not here are the
(00:43):
bad guys and you are the good guys. There were
no good guys. Everybody was involved. That's another misnomer about
drug trafficking is that it's Mexican groups invading. And I'd
say it's no, it's Mexicans and Americans working together to produce,
to transport, to smuggle, to sell drugs. The first time
(01:08):
Monica took me to meet Dinah Washington Valders, I was overwhelmed.
Over the course of three hours, she talked about young
women being selected for murder and about a network of
computer schools used to get details on victims who vanished
from crowded streets. She also told us that she had
to stop reporting in Huirez because of death threat she received.
(01:29):
One was traced back to Mexican military intelligence with the
help of a source in US law enforcement. And among
all of Dina's law enforcement sources, there was one person
she suggested that we try to track down for an interview,
and he talked to Hardrick Crawford. Yet he's very friendly
and he probably will be a very good source of
information for you. Hardrick Crawford was one of the most
(01:53):
senior government officials on the US Mexico border. He became
a special Agent in charge of the FBI's law office
in two thousand and one. That was the year that
Lilia Alejandro was abducted on her way home from work
and the year that eight women's bodies were discovered at
the Cotton Field, and Hardrick took a special interest in
the fate of the women, even traveling across the border
(02:15):
to better understand what was happening to them. Hardrick Crawford
says when he made a trip to Huards and downtown
with one of his assistants, they looked around and they said, yeah,
this is where they picked their victims, this is where
they see them coming, and this is where they're taken.
The slogan of the activist community against the murder of
(02:36):
women in Juarez is neat on namass, not one more.
It's a phrase Diana inscribed in my copy of her book,
and with an ally of Hardrick's influence, the goal seemed
within reach. Then something happened. I met him, Because there
are a lot of weird things about what was going
on with him to this day, it is inexplicable. It's
(03:01):
comforting to imagine that the weird and inexplicable parts of
this story take place on the Mexican side of the border,
but Hardrick's fate disturbs that narrative. To understand it, we
had to talk to him ourselves about how he became
outspoken on the women's murders and about what happened to him.
(03:21):
By the time I get to El Pasol, I'm stunned
and amazed at the response of our colleagues in Mexico
to an enormous crime. Are my numbing crime, but also
not stupid. I know that's not our country. Hardrick was
well aware that back in nineteen ninety nine, the FBI
(03:44):
had offered to help local Houire's police solve the women's
murders as part of Operation Plaza Sweep. In fact, by coincidence,
the agent who led the operation, Frank Evans, had been
Hardrick's former partner from their rookie days in Cleveland, Ohio,
So Hardrick knew that the Howire's authorities had twisted the
bureau's findings before to pile more blame on scapegoats. But
(04:08):
looking out the window of his office towards Houirez, where
young women were being brutally murdered with impunity, Hardrick felt
he had to try to do something. I have members
in my own office who have women in their family
in Mexico, and the fact that I have two daughters.
It affects you. It affects you on a personal level.
(04:32):
How could I face my own office and sit there
and do nothing like Punch's pilot, just wash my hands.
So it was a delicate balance of Okay, how do
I perform this mission and at the same time not
meddle in the affairs of a sovereign nation. And that
was the crux these murders. They were happening within sight
(04:53):
of Hardrick's office, but outside of his jurisdiction. I was
keenly aware that you can step on a and mine
in that regard. You did, But maybe I just got
injured instead of blownely bits. So what did happen to Hardrich?
(05:16):
And did his fate connect in any way to the
list of people who had investigated these murders and ended
up threatened, discredited, or dead. I'm as Voloshin and I'm Monica.
This is forgotten. The women of Quires Baramo, lasciv you
(05:43):
know not see, you know not squee. Since the early
(06:11):
nineteen nineties, young women had been disappearing from the streets
of Juarez and turning up dead, often dumped in the desert.
There were forced confessions and changed statements. Paula Flores was
far from alone amongst the victim's mothers in believing that
the authors of the crimes remained free. Oscar Menez, the
Huire's chief forensics officer, resigned after being asked to plant
(06:34):
evidence on two bus drivers at the cotton Field, and
the lawyers who defended them married. Escobado Junior and Dante
Amaras were both assassinated. Even reporters who were American citizens,
like Dina Washington Valdez and Alfredo Corciardo received death threats
as they got closer to the truth. That's what made
Hardrick's arrival at the border in two thousand and one
(06:56):
and his personal interest in solving these crimes potentially huge
turning point. It looked like the authors of the crimes
might finally have met their match. But how did the
special agents in charge of El Paso get so deeply
invested in crimes taking place in another country? To understand that,
we have to go back to Hardrick's assignment to the border.
(07:20):
I was angry with God for day. I worked hard
and as you can imagine, you know, let's be candid,
you're not a black sac unless you're on top of
your game. And Hardrick was on top of his game.
He was the most senior FBI agent on the African
continent when he responded to Osama bin Laden's bombing of
(07:41):
the American embassy in Kenya, and he'd been the number
two in the bureau's Miami office taking on the Columbian
cartel and their drug smoking operations. The danger was tons
of colecaine flooding our cities, making zombies out of American citizens.
Come on, let's face it. I'm an African American. I
saw up front and close in Cleveland what cocaine did
(08:04):
to my community, and so the way I saw it,
this is war. You're destroying my country from within, and
so there was no hesitation to take them on. In
two thousand and one, Herdrick was up for promotion to
the coveted position of SAC, or Special Agents in Charge.
(08:25):
There were two such openings at the time, El Paso
and Cleveland, Ohio, where Hardrick had grown up, and he
made an impassioned case to the FBI deputy director to
return home. And I went, I'm a Cleveland kind of guy.
He says, you want to be an SAC, You're an
El Pastle kind of guy. I called the wife and said,
we're going to El Pastle. She was one little down.
(08:47):
Number one Cleveland was open and we didn't get it.
But number two and almost nearly as important as that,
all speak Spanish. I felt that all those times that
I risked my life for the Bureau and you reward
me by enemy through the border where I can't speak Spanish.
So I was hurt. But I'm a professional. So you've
(09:08):
given the job in some sense because you're an outsider, correct,
an outsider with a stirling reputation for management and leadership.
So the FBI office in El Paso kind of has
a reputation monica. One of the early special agents in
(09:28):
charge had to resign in disgrace after being caught selling
weapons to Mexican revolutionaries, and another special agent from that
office was murdered, which is the only unsolved murder of
an FBI agent in the line of duty in the
bureau's history. So what makes the posting so hard In
(09:51):
El Paso? We all have some sort of ties to Huats,
to Mexico, so the opportunities for corruption are vast for line.
For sent that presents a huge challenge unlike anywhere else
in the country because of these binational ties. Those connections
can get you in trouble family, culture, business, and in fact,
(10:14):
it's absolutely necessary for the black market to thrive for
the corruption to exist on both sides of the border.
And so yeah, you could see the mentality behind sending
an outsider like Hardrick Crawford in thinking, all right, he's
not going to be susceptible to these same kinds of
weaknesses central to Hardrick's mission in Alpasso was stopping the
(10:40):
flow of drugs into the US. To do this, he'd
have to keep an eye not just on Mexican drug traffickers,
but on his own colleagues. After all, he'd been assigned
to the border partly because his background made conflicts of
interest unlikely. And in two thousand and two Hardrick led
an investigation that revealed a translator in his office was
(11:01):
selling information to the cartel. It's like one of your
family has, because we were a family in a field office.
And to discover that because you trust everybody implicitly. So yeah,
that was like a dagger to the heart. Yes, and
that was one of our prime missions public corruption. Cartels
they're bad guys, but if it's a corrupt US official,
(11:22):
our very institutions are at stake. I spoke to Frank Evans.
I guess it's your partner in Cleveland, right, I remember Frank? Yes,
And he said that by the cartels couldn't operate. That's
not the operations if it weren't for corrupted US officials.
He's correct, they're much more efficient if they can bribe
(11:43):
at that point of entry instead of having a sneak in.
Just drive it, right, through in Horez La Lina enforced
the cartel's power by corrupting officials to the extent the
policemen were kidnapping women. This wasn't happening in El Paso,
but the same month could buy silence or complicity on
either side of the border. So Hardrick had his hands full,
(12:07):
but he was still in search of a higher purpose
in El Paso. That's when he received a letter from
a group of activists in Juarez. They sent me this
passionate letter asking for assistance in addressing this horrible, tragic
crime of the murder of these women in wars. That
was caught off guard. It was not us helpers, No,
(12:27):
it was Hardrick Crawford help us. It hit me on
a personal level, more soul than it did on a
professional level. It sound funny, but I thought, Okay, now
I know why God sent me to al Paso. Was this?
This was the reason I was sent here Herdrick had
been angry with God for his posting, but after receiving
(12:48):
this letter, the situation was beginning to make sense to him.
It was two thousand and two, just a few months
after eight women's bodies had been discovered at the cotton Field,
and in response to the letter, offered the FBI's resources
in profiling, forensics, and even training to the Juarez police.
But he recognized that stopping the murders of women required
(13:09):
political will, and that's when he took the highly unusual
step of appearing on ABC News to publicly criticize Mexico's
response to the crimes. Increasingly Mexican police and government officials
are under fire from people here in the US. There
appears to be no meaningful effort to solve the disappearances.
(13:32):
All of the resources of the FBI are available to
our Mexican colleagues, such a matter as DNA blood typing, profiling.
The response from the Mexicans to that offer, heretofore, the
response has been They've had these matters in hand and
don't require our assistance. Hardrick's words were cloaked in official language,
(13:53):
but there was no doubting a message. He was claiming
on national television that the murders of women in Juarez
were not being solved because Mexican officials didn't want to
solve them. Not just the street corps who abducted women,
but their bosses, perhaps even their bosses. Bosses and this
accusation wasn't coming from a journalist or an activist, it
(14:16):
was coming from a US government official. But hardrick strategy
wasn't just about public complaints. It was also about private alliances.
When we come back, the FBI agent begins to make
powerful friends in Juarez. At the same time as Hardrick
(14:48):
was castigating Mexican officials on television, he made it his
mission to develop personal relationships with Juarez's powerbrokers. I used
to travel to war As quite frequently became friends with
a Mexican businessman at the racetrack at Warriors, And when
you're on the border, ear liaison includes foreign liaison, which
the other field houses don't have. The friend Hardrick mentions
(15:12):
is Jose Maria Guardia. He was a complicated figure. He'd
been invited to George W. Bush's presidential inauguration, but he'd
also been caught up in a bribery scandal with the
US consular official. In fact, it would later come to
light that when Hardrick arrived at the border, Guardia was
a confidential informant for the FBI. That's something Hardrick told
(15:35):
us he was never informed of by his own office,
who made the initial introduction, but was led to him
by my media rep who fully understood that liaison was
critical to my performance. So I struck up a relationship
with him. Likable fellow went to the racetrack with him,
and at the racetrack he would bring various officials. Racetracks
(15:57):
have a long history of association with corruption and organized crime,
a problem endemic to Juarez. But Guardia I had friends
who vouched for him, and one in particular made a
big impression on Hardrick. His really really close friendship with
Cardinal Sandoval, who was on the shortlist for the pope
when the Pope died. That to a large extent, assuaged
(16:20):
any concerns or fears that I might have. Not only
did the Cardinal endorse Guardia, but he became something of
a spiritual guide for Hardrake. Hardrick described the Cardinal as
a great ally in the fight against corruption and for
justice for the women. I was baptized by the cardinal
and my religious faith. Yes, they did have a part
(16:42):
to play, and it was a not quite the mission
that Diana Llebears Washington has with regard to these terrible crimes.
But I had an official and a moral mission that
I felt that I was empowered on a different level
than the US Constitution. Hardrick was beginning to see his
mission in terms of a higher calling, superseding even his
(17:06):
duty to the Constitution. And at the same time as
he was publicly corning out officials in Huarez, he was
privately trying to get buy in from the right people,
and he saw the racetrack as the ideal place to
do it. It was a place that was insulated from
cartel violence because it was a useful place for all
kinds of people to do business. Criminals almost certainly, but
(17:29):
also the city's wealthy industrialists and official powerbrokers. From my
ability to be at the Warrior's Racetrack, I became really
really good liaison. Friends with a cardinal, with the mayor
of Warriors, with the chief of Police of Warriors, with
the governor of Chihuahua. They would all come to the racetrack.
What a great place to affect liaison. I wasn't stupid.
(17:52):
I was aware that at any time any one individual
that I'm meeting could have been corrupted by the cartel.
Of course, but you can't do business with that premise.
Did you talk about the killings of the women any
of those days. On the meeting with the Mayor of
Warres and with the chief of police, yes, I was
very impressed with the Chief of Warriors, not so impressed
(18:13):
with his police officers. But at the same time I
was also aware that there are certain things that the
chief of police of wars would never do because he
wants to live. He doesn't want to harm his family,
So there are limitations. No, I don't care how honest
you are, how competent you are. The cortail looms large.
(18:37):
These meetings at the racetrack were taking place before La
Lina became public knowledge thanks to Alfredo's reporting, but the
Cartail's ability to enforce silence was clear. To Hardrach. The
chief of police seemed like an ally in stopping the
murders of women, but if he stuck out his neck
too far, he might well end up dead himself. Whereas
(18:58):
Hardrick's informants into Cater that the cartel considered him untouchable,
they reported back that the cartel is scratching her hiss
what do we do about this guy Crawford, And one
of the responses was are you crazy you do something
to the FBI sac do you have any idea what
(19:19):
their crazy cowboy Bush would do, so I kind of chuckled.
Hardrick felt emboldened, even obliged, to use his protected status
to speak out, to force a conversation that would go
way above local officials and catch the attention of Mexico's
federal government. In other words, to generate the kind of
(19:40):
political pressure that went beyond even what activists like Esta
Chavezcano and mothers like Paula Flores could achieve alone. There
appears to be no meaningful effort to solve the disappearances.
Hardrick was consciously stoking international media attention on the femicides.
For someone in Huirez Dante or Mario Escobeto, this was fatal,
(20:03):
but especial agents in charge of El Paso. Hendrick didn't
believe he had as much to fear from La Ligna. Nonetheless,
after his interview, he did receive a warning, but it
came from the last place he expected. There was no
question it annoyed and infuriated some. I'm sure I do
(20:24):
recall some suggesting that I might temper my words because
big businesses involved, and I'm going with you need big
businesses involved. Well, the Mikuela doors are American companies, and
if the Mikuela doors are getting bad pressed because of
the murder of women, it were as many of them
(20:45):
mar Michuela door workers, it looks bad for American companies
who are doing business down there. And you might wind
up making enemies of people on this side of the border,
without being aware that you are who gave me that warning.
You know, I can't remember, but it was seventeen years ago. Yeah,
I'm not remembering it, but I was being told to
knock it off, leave it alone, It's not your problem.
(21:13):
In his interview with ABC News, Hardrich didn't make any
explicit connection between the victims and Immaculadoras, but elsewhere in
the broadcast the journalist John Quinnonez did. Prominent in the
piece was an account of the last day of Cloudier
Vet Gonzalez, who was turned away from her job at
the Lear Corp Factory for being a few minutes late.
(21:35):
Her body was subsequently discovered in the cotton fields. The
inherent vulnerability of these young women because of their work
was clear. And then there was an interview with Roberto Urea,
the spokesman for the Macula Association in Juarez. He was
asked what responsibility the factories had for the murder of
(21:55):
so many young female employees. This was his response. Where
were these young ladies where they were seen last? Were
they drinking? Right? Were they parting? Were they in a
dark street? Victim blaming, just as Huire's authorities had done
(22:17):
before broadcast on national television in the US. It was
not a good look for the industry, and it was
unfortunate that Hardrick didn't remember the key detail of who
had warned him against bringing more bad press to the maquilas,
because it was reminiscent of the warnings Alfredo had received
in Mexico when he started asking questions about La Ligna.
(22:39):
Thank with Ado, be careful. We've already established how the
drug traffickers used the murder of women to create bonds
of loyalty, and how they had local police on their payroll.
But the idea that quires is legitimate businesses, which were
often run with American partners, might also want to hush
(22:59):
up them of women. This was opening up a whole
new web of potential responsibility for these women's deaths. So
up until this point, the Maculadoras the factories have been
looming in the background of our reporting, but his Hardrick
Monica saying that his activism basically led to him getting
(23:23):
a warning to leave the maquilas alone. And I'm frankly
surprised they would have enough influence to deliver that kind
of warning to a senior FBI agent. How powerful are
these economic interests. The maquila industry is the backbone of
the waist economy, and trade between the US and Mexico
(23:47):
generates more than half a trillion dollars every year. Millions
of jobs in the US are tied to trade. And
in what is you'll find companies like bow Like Dell,
General Electric, Johnson and Johnson manufacturing things. There's probably something
(24:09):
you use in your everyday life that was made in hottas.
Whether it's the seat cover in your forward or maybe
your Mercedes Benz, the inside of your washing machine, your
laptop computer, or your dog's chew toy. It doesn't matter
if you live hundreds of miles away. You touch something
(24:31):
that came from hottas every day. And why have all
these factory set up shopping huaras. The short answer is
because it's cheaper. These companies go to hottas to cut costs,
and the number one cost they cut is labor. I'll
give you an example. The La Times did an excellent
(24:53):
article looking at Delphi, which is an American company that
makes car parts. It was once owned by General Motors.
Delphi used to have a plant in Warren, Ohio, where
one of its workers got paid thirty dollars an hour.
He was able to buy a house with a swimming
(25:14):
pool and drove a good car. Then Delphi moved that
factory to Hottis, where it paid its workers just one
dollar an hour. One dollar an hour, that's not a
wage you can live on, not in Hoattas, not anywhere.
That low of a wage is a form of exploitation,
(25:37):
and it leaves a whole group of people vulnerable, unable
to defend themselves, and so they're preyed upon. Whether it's
an adolescent boy like Manulio who gets recruited by gangs
or a young woman like Sagrario who gets kidnapped and
brutally murdered, they both become easy per Hardrick believed that
(26:03):
the best way to stop people praying on the women
in Huarez was to get powerful interests in Mexico to
take the crime seriously, and he was trying to use
the press to achieve that goal. That's not a crime
that's going to be solved in a day. It takes
money invested in women who don't mean anything to the
people that are in the upper class. They're throwaway humans,
(26:26):
They're unimportant. If it was their daughters, it would be different.
But it was poor people, and to throw their bodies
away like they were garbage, that shocks the conscience type
crime as far as Hardrick was concerned. When he gave
that interview to ABC News, the pressure he was exerting
(26:49):
was directed towards government officials in Mexico. But in light
of the warning he received, he started to worry he
may have accidentally kicked an even bigger hornet's nest. No,
it didn't scare me, but it made me pass. It did.
It made me pass, But Hardrick didn't pause for long.
(27:10):
In a two thousand and three interview with a Mexican newspaper,
he described the women's murders as quote, crimes against humanity,
and for a while it looked like he was right
on the cusp of interrupting the status quo and achieving
his mission. A few months after Hardrick's appearance on ABC News,
the FBI office in El Paso received a facts inviting
(27:31):
him to a meeting in Juarez concerning the women's murders.
And it wasn't just any meeting. The federal drugs are
who Alfredo Corcado met in Mexico City. Jose Vasconcellos was
in attendance, and after the meeting, the President of Mexico,
Vicente Fox, spoke in public about the possibility of working
with the FBI to solve the murders of women in
(27:53):
Juarez once and for all. This was everything that Hardrick
had been working so hard towards, and finally it felt
like his efforts were bearing fruit. But that feeling wouldn't
last long. It was early two thousand and three and
(28:24):
Hardrick was using the media to pressure a foreign government.
He was meeting with high level officials on foreign soil,
and he was getting around his lack of jurisdiction in
Mexico by focusing on the lack of effort to solve
the murders. Meanwhile, his relationship with Jose Maria Guardia, the
racetrack owner, was already straining the definition of official liaison.
(28:47):
When it crossed a definitive line. Gordia offered my wife
a job as the public relations person at the Warrior's
Racetrack to lure Americans over there to gam. My wife
has always been at my shattle for my whole life,
and I said, oh man, she'd have the opportunity to
(29:08):
be an executive. Hardrick's career had taken him and his
wife Linda to Nairobi, Miami, and now El Paso when
they both wanted to move home to Cleveland. A job
at the racetrack could give Linda her own professional satisfaction,
and it also came with a salary of sixty thousand
dollars a year and plenty of perks. But as far
(29:31):
as Hardrick's former partner, Frank Evans was concerned, the job
offer should have been a clear red flag. I was
brief that one of the things that would probably occur
is that I would be approached officially from the Mexican
side in a gesture of friendship. And that's precisely what happened.
My wife and I were invited to the Mexican Consulate
(29:53):
here in El Paso, and while we were there, you know,
several Mexican businessmen from Arras were also there they came
up and you know, it was the oh, we're so
glad to have you here. You know, the FBI can
correct all these wrongs that are happening in wars. And
then subtly it was you know, is your wife planning
to work? You know, if someone with her talent could,
(30:15):
we could certainly find a spot for I always remember
David Albo who brought me to ol Paso. Dave was
born in Mexico. I can always remember Dave telling me
you always have to remember that a snake will smile
before it bites. Frank was describing more or less exactly
(30:37):
what Herdrick could experienced the flattery followed by the offer,
and according to Frank, Haddrick should have recognized what was happening,
especially considering a big part of his mandate was public
corruption and the slippery slope was a well known tactic
for the cartels. You have a concept on the border
called Mordita Mordita the eight. It's where people pay policemen
(31:02):
not to get a ticket. All the way up the line.
When you're dealing with the folks in Mexico, nothing is
as it seems. Everybody over there has an agenda and
even you know, your most prominent businessmen, if they're going
to conduct business, they're going to have to deal with
(31:23):
the cartel. From their perspective, they may not be doing
anything wrong. However, from our perspective, you know, a bribe
as a bribe. Frank and his wife kept that distance
from the Mexican businessmen, but Rodrick and Linda accepted Gladia's offer,
(31:44):
And what if his decision reached Frank, who was still
living in El Paso after retiring in two thousand. When
I first heard that his wife was working for the
war as racetrack, my first thought was not it cannot
be true. It is not true. Frank had known Hardrick
for more than a decade. They'd come through FBI training
(32:05):
at the same time, and they she had a car afterwards.
They even responded to their first bank robbery together on
a snowy day in Cleveland. Right after graduating from the
FBI academy, Frank had worked on Matthia busts in Ohio,
while Hardrick had attacked Columbian cartels in Florida. In nineteen
ninety six, Frank responded to the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta,
(32:27):
and in nineteen ninety eight, Hardrick responded to the US
embassy bombing in Nairobi, and Frank had been the number
two in the FBI's El Paso office before Hardrick was
assigned to lead it. Hardrick called Frank before moving to
El Paso to ask for advice. So when Frank heard
about Linda taking the job at the racetrack, he felt
(32:49):
he had to intervene. He jumped in his car and
drove to Hardrick's house, expecting his old partner to hear
him out. I pulled up when he was pulling weed,
and I got out and say, hey, how's it going now?
And I started talking. I said, what's going on? What
are you thinking? Is this true? If it's true, don't
you realize what it looks like. Never went inside his house.
(33:12):
We talked in the front yard. He just let me
know he was in charge and he knew what he
was doing. And basically I was retired and no longer
had any official input into, you know, what the FBI
was doing, which was absolutely correct. It was kind of
a slap in the face. I kept thinking, you know,
after all this time, and the guy that you know,
(33:33):
both of us stood in the snow at that first
bank robbery, and I thought time has changed, you know.
Unfortunately he's taken a path that is going to lead
to his destruction. Within months of Linda taking the job
at the racetrack, Frank's concerns about Hadrick's friendships were realized
(33:54):
in spectacular fashion. Mister Warrior and the Cardinal were accused
of illusion with cartels. I was an oh my god moment,
and so what did I do. I send a communication
immediately the FBI headquarters. Two men who I associate with
very closely have been accused of being implicated in organized crime.
(34:16):
So I self reported immediately that same day, specifically, Guardia
and Santaval were accused of colluding with the cartel to
laun the money at the racetrack. And although Hardrick did
self report, he didn't believe his friends had done anything wrong.
In fact, the official in Mexico City who accused them
(34:36):
had himself previously been accused of being on the cartel's
payroll by Santaval. His unceasing pressure on the Mexican government
cost him once one good way to neutralize somebody make
a counter accusation. He's a member, He's operating with the
cartel at the request of his two friends. Hardrick made
(34:57):
the extraordinary decision of speaking at a press conference in
Juarez to defend them, and when he was asked if
he was speaking as a private citizen or the head
of the FBI and al Passo, he answered both. I believe,
I said. If they are involved with the organized crime,
shame on them. I said, I have no knowledge that
(35:20):
they are. But if they are, a shame on them.
I know him to be a man, a girl, him
to be a good man. Sandoval and Guardia was subsequently
both cleared of any wrongdoing, but for an FBI agent
who had been sent to the border to avoid by
national entanglements and conflicts of interest, Hardrick's actions were unacceptable.
A representative of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, who was close
(35:43):
to the government official who'd originally accused Guardia and Sandoval,
complained about Hardrick to the US ambassador. The ambassador revoked
Hardrick's travel privilege in two thousand and three, and that
same year, Hardrick abruptly resigned from the FBI. By two
thousand and six, he was indicted by a grand jury
for false statements regarding his relationship with Guardia and his
(36:06):
wife's employment at the racetrack. One of the things I
was charged with was I've misled and I feeled to
report to headquarters that mister Guardia and the cardinal were
accused of serious crimes. Now I self reported myself, what
are you talking about? The Justice Department was digging into
Hardrick's financial relationship with the racetrack owner. FBI policy prohibits
(36:31):
employees from quote engaging in private business and financial relationships
with subjects, witnesses, or individuals furnishing information to the FBI
without prior FBI headquarters approval. Hardrick maintains that he himself
was not employed by Guardia and that he never tried
to disguise the fact that his wife was. But they
(36:53):
did accept perks like a country club membership and a
trip to Las Vegas. But on Hardrick's finance disclosure form,
in the gifts and reimbursement section, he listed none. It's
almost laughable if it wasn't so depressing her income and
her job was in my tax return. The charges that
(37:15):
I'm accused of are things normally that are handled internally
by internal affairs. Noah indictment. In January two thousand and seven,
Hardick was found guilty on two of the five counts
relating to full statements around financial disclosures. He was fined
ten thousand dollars and sentenced to six months at the
(37:37):
Louis Blow Prison camp in central Pennsylvania. It's a prison
known for holding drug offenders and members of organized crime.
The implication was huge, without a doubt, They've clearly believed
that I had been seduced and stepped over the line,
or was acting to aid and a bet those who
(38:00):
were on the dark side, the dark side, the powerful
men who were raping and murdering the women in Huarez
with impunity. Was it possible that Hardrick, wittingly or not,
had allied himself with the very people who were responsible
for the crimes he was outspoken about preventing. To this day,
(38:23):
Hardrick maintains his innocence. My brother said, Dick, did you
ever think about eating your gun? I said, I did.
I did seriously consider killing myself. Why because I've just
been dishonored. I'm a knight, but now I'm a tarnished knight.
And I thought about sticking mcni millimeter in my mouth,
(38:46):
and then I said no. Then that just says that, yeah,
he did it because he was guilty, So that's why
I didn't I do talk to my Lord about it
and say, yeah, I understand pride before the fall. Do
you lured me a little bit on this one, didn'ya? Lord?
But still the bottom line is those women in war
as nobody's seems to be curing about them. The timing
(39:14):
of Hardrick's downfall was uncanny and tragic. Just as his
activism was forcing the President of Mexico to acknowledge the
unsolved murders of women and promise action, Hardrick's wife took
a job at the racetrack, and that began a series
of events that culminated with the release of the pressure
that had been building to finally take action on behalf
(39:36):
of the women. Diana told us she's still angry with Hardrick,
but in her book she does entertain the possibility that
he was set up. She writes a confidential intelligence source
in Mexico City claimed Guardia was a US intelligence asset,
Crawford's wife was clean, and the quote unquote mafia wanted
(39:58):
to get rid of the FBI official. The tip was
impossible to corroborate, and in the end, Diana simply says
that Haddrick's behavior was inexplicable. We ask Frank Evans how
he understood his former partner's story. Here's a guy, Crawford
who's charismatic, successful, on track for all these promotions, seemingly
(40:23):
with the world at his feet, in one of the
most exciting field officers of the FBI. You're telling me
for sixty thousand dollars a year. He throws a let away.
You know, sixty thousand is what we are looking at hypothetically.
Could there have been something else? Yes, I do not
know that there was. But you know, you got to remember,
even Adam took a bite of the apple. Is it
(40:45):
a character flaw? Like I said, I don't know. I
still have a hard time sometimes wrapping my hands around
it and thinking about it. It's like, you know, what
the heck happened? Crawford could have had any door were
opened he wanted. In Washington, d C. Crowford mentioned he
felt a high emission, like a mission from God to
intervene in his case. He was out in front on
(41:07):
TV criticizing the Mexican government, quoting this a crime against humanity.
Why he got out in front on this particular issue
you're dealing with the lives of hundreds of women. But
frequently when you work organize crime, you don't necessarily want
to call the godfather an SB to his face. You
want to kind of keep it on the sportsman like footing,
(41:29):
and then you continue to put the SB in jail.
It's the same way with who's ever killing those women.
You may go home and cry at night, especially when
you see some of those girls or their remains, but
you cry in your home alone or with your family
calling the governor of Chihuahua a murderer when you need
(41:50):
to be able to perhaps operate inside of the state
of Chihuahua. That's not going to get anybody helping you.
So was Audrick undone by his Was he actually corrupted
or was it possible that there was some kind of
conspiracy against him? I was curious how Hardrick himself interpreted
what had happened to him, first his country clearance being revoked,
(42:14):
then his indictment, and ultimately his conviction and imprisonment. To
my surprise, he returned to that warning he received after
his appearance on ABC News. It had occurred to me,
I mean enemies, and now this is the cost. This
is the cost I'm not stupid. I'm above average intelligence.
(42:37):
I could see the connection. Okay, big businessman, US ambassador Mexicans, Okay,
I get it. You know, if that was a conspiracy
theorist that you know, I would say that, Yes, the
State Department and the US corporations, who were incensed that
all his attention being directed to Mikheila Doors, you know,
(42:59):
went to the administration and said, look, this guy is
harming the Mikula Dora industry and Mexico is upset, so
we're going to have to make a sacrifice at him.
The moment that Ardrick dropped this explosive hint that he
was silenced by the US government who wanted to hush
up the murders of women in order to protect business interests,
(43:22):
he walked it back. If I was a conspiracy theorist,
I would think things like that. But in the end,
I just chalk it up to over a zealous Department
of Justice or igcay. Oh, look we can get a
high REK and FBI official. In the end, That's what
my mind has settled on. So Diana as usual, Monica
(43:45):
is right. This saga is weird and inexplicable and is
tempting to dismiss it entirely, except we know what happened
to so many other people who investigated the women's murders,
and how one way or another they met unpleasant of
their own. And it's also true that these business interests
are very, very significant, and they profit by keeping people vulnerable.
(44:11):
So what do you make of Hardrick's story? Like Diana,
I would say it's ambiguous. As an outsider, Hardrick was
supposed to be immune from becoming medieval or involved. And
you might say he did so naively because he was
an outsider. But you could also say, yeah, right, I
(44:34):
don't buy that an FBI supervisor with his level of
experience couldn't see that the path he was going down
would get him into trouble. But no matter what, you
had this outspoken head of the FBI in al Passo
highlighting the most controversial crimes on the US Mexico border,
(44:57):
and that, no doubt would disturb the authors of those crimes,
and more than likely they would want to get rid
of someone like Hardrick. But they can't get rid of
him in the same way they got rid of Mario
Escobvo or Dante al Maras. So it's plausible that the
(45:19):
powers that be in Mexico could have used Hardrick's relationship
with Guardia and the Cardinal to push him out. Mexico
is the land of smoke and mirrors. You don't know
who you're dealing with, who they're allied with, whether you
can trust them, who their friends are, whether or not
(45:40):
they have ties to the dark side. It makes it
very difficult to navigate and do your job. I couldn't
stop thinking about Hardrick's quote conspiracy theory, which went all
the way from murdered women to Mexican business interests to
his downfall to the State Department. So we called the
(46:02):
US ambassador who withdrew Hardrick's country clearance in two thousand
and three, to ask him what happened next time. I've
forgotten that conversation. Antonio Rza, formerly the United States Ambassador
to Mexico from the period November two thousand and two
through January two thousand and nine. And we returned to
(46:23):
Dinah Washington Valdes, who suggests that powerful businessman in Huirez
who profited from the maculadora industry, were also involved in
the murders of women. These are people that are well known,
not just at the border, but in Mexico nationally. You know,
they have global business interests. It was scary when you
(46:44):
sit down and think about who may be involved in
the names. Oh my god, It's like, oh my god,
I'm oz Veloshin and I'm money. See you next time?
(47:04):
Do you know? See? Do you know my Sequela Felicia Forgotten.
(47:47):
The Women of Juarez is co hosted by Me Monica
and me Oswooshin. Forgotten is executive produced by Me and
Mangesh Hatia. Our producers are Julian Weller and Katrina Norvelle.
Sound editing by Julian Weller and Jacopo Penzo. Lucas Riley
(48:08):
is our story editor. Caitlin Thompson is our consulting producer.
Production support from Emily Maronoff and Aaron Kaufman. Recording assistance
this episode from Melissa Kaplan. Music by Leonardo Hablum and
Hakkabo Libermann. Additional music by Aaron Kaufman.
Forgotten is a production of ihont Media and Unusual Productions
Before we start. This podcast contains accounts which some listeners
will find disturbing, but without them, the story can't be
fully understood. Please take care while listening. Previously on Forgotten,
(00:23):
it was like a perfect storm. You have the women
coming from southern Mexico, desperate for work, to help their families,
to come work at the Mikheila Doors. It's like antelopes
at the water hole. I had a night witness who
alleged that he had been at these parties where these
women would be brought into. It's not here are the
(00:43):
bad guys and you are the good guys. There were
no good guys. Everybody was involved. That's another misnomer about
drug trafficking is that it's Mexican groups invading. And I'd
say it's no, it's Mexicans and Americans working together to produce,
to transport, to smuggle, to sell drugs. The first time
(01:08):
Monica took me to meet Dinah Washington Valders, I was overwhelmed.
Over the course of three hours, she talked about young
women being selected for murder and about a network of
computer schools used to get details on victims who vanished
from crowded streets. She also told us that she had
to stop reporting in Huirez because of death threat she received.
(01:29):
One was traced back to Mexican military intelligence with the
help of a source in US law enforcement. And among
all of Dina's law enforcement sources, there was one person
she suggested that we try to track down for an interview,
and he talked to Hardrick Crawford. Yet he's very friendly
and he probably will be a very good source of
information for you. Hardrick Crawford was one of the most
(01:53):
senior government officials on the US Mexico border. He became
a special Agent in charge of the FBI's law office
in two thousand and one. That was the year that
Lilia Alejandro was abducted on her way home from work
and the year that eight women's bodies were discovered at
the Cotton Field, and Hardrick took a special interest in
the fate of the women, even traveling across the border
(02:15):
to better understand what was happening to them. Hardrick Crawford
says when he made a trip to Huards and downtown
with one of his assistants, they looked around and they said, yeah,
this is where they picked their victims, this is where
they see them coming, and this is where they're taken.
The slogan of the activist community against the murder of
(02:36):
women in Juarez is neat on namass, not one more.
It's a phrase Diana inscribed in my copy of her book,
and with an ally of Hardrick's influence, the goal seemed
within reach. Then something happened. I met him, Because there
are a lot of weird things about what was going
on with him to this day, it is inexplicable. It's
(03:01):
comforting to imagine that the weird and inexplicable parts of
this story take place on the Mexican side of the border,
but Hardrick's fate disturbs that narrative. To understand it, we
had to talk to him ourselves about how he became
outspoken on the women's murders and about what happened to him.
(03:21):
By the time I get to El Pasol, I'm stunned
and amazed at the response of our colleagues in Mexico
to an enormous crime. Are my numbing crime, but also
not stupid. I know that's not our country. Hardrick was
well aware that back in nineteen ninety nine, the FBI
(03:44):
had offered to help local Houire's police solve the women's
murders as part of Operation Plaza Sweep. In fact, by coincidence,
the agent who led the operation, Frank Evans, had been
Hardrick's former partner from their rookie days in Cleveland, Ohio,
So Hardrick knew that the Howire's authorities had twisted the
bureau's findings before to pile more blame on scapegoats. But
(04:08):
looking out the window of his office towards Houirez, where
young women were being brutally murdered with impunity, Hardrick felt
he had to try to do something. I have members
in my own office who have women in their family
in Mexico, and the fact that I have two daughters.
It affects you. It affects you on a personal level.
(04:32):
How could I face my own office and sit there
and do nothing like Punch's pilot, just wash my hands.
So it was a delicate balance of Okay, how do
I perform this mission and at the same time not
meddle in the affairs of a sovereign nation. And that
was the crux these murders. They were happening within sight
(04:53):
of Hardrick's office, but outside of his jurisdiction. I was
keenly aware that you can step on a and mine
in that regard. You did, But maybe I just got
injured instead of blownely bits. So what did happen to Hardrich?
(05:16):
And did his fate connect in any way to the
list of people who had investigated these murders and ended
up threatened, discredited, or dead. I'm as Voloshin and I'm Monica.
This is forgotten. The women of Quires Baramo, lasciv you
(05:43):
know not see, you know not squee. Since the early
(06:11):
nineteen nineties, young women had been disappearing from the streets
of Juarez and turning up dead, often dumped in the desert.
There were forced confessions and changed statements. Paula Flores was
far from alone amongst the victim's mothers in believing that
the authors of the crimes remained free. Oscar Menez, the
Huire's chief forensics officer, resigned after being asked to plant
(06:34):
evidence on two bus drivers at the cotton Field, and
the lawyers who defended them married. Escobado Junior and Dante
Amaras were both assassinated. Even reporters who were American citizens,
like Dina Washington Valdez and Alfredo Corciardo received death threats
as they got closer to the truth. That's what made
Hardrick's arrival at the border in two thousand and one
(06:56):
and his personal interest in solving these crimes potentially huge
turning point. It looked like the authors of the crimes
might finally have met their match. But how did the
special agents in charge of El Paso get so deeply
invested in crimes taking place in another country? To understand that,
we have to go back to Hardrick's assignment to the border.
(07:20):
I was angry with God for day. I worked hard
and as you can imagine, you know, let's be candid,
you're not a black sac unless you're on top of
your game. And Hardrick was on top of his game.
He was the most senior FBI agent on the African
continent when he responded to Osama bin Laden's bombing of
(07:41):
the American embassy in Kenya, and he'd been the number
two in the bureau's Miami office taking on the Columbian
cartel and their drug smoking operations. The danger was tons
of colecaine flooding our cities, making zombies out of American citizens.
Come on, let's face it. I'm an African American. I
saw up front and close in Cleveland what cocaine did
(08:04):
to my community, and so the way I saw it,
this is war. You're destroying my country from within, and
so there was no hesitation to take them on. In
two thousand and one, Herdrick was up for promotion to
the coveted position of SAC, or Special Agents in Charge.
(08:25):
There were two such openings at the time, El Paso
and Cleveland, Ohio, where Hardrick had grown up, and he
made an impassioned case to the FBI deputy director to
return home. And I went, I'm a Cleveland kind of guy.
He says, you want to be an SAC, You're an
El Pastle kind of guy. I called the wife and said,
we're going to El Pastle. She was one little down.
(08:47):
Number one Cleveland was open and we didn't get it.
But number two and almost nearly as important as that,
all speak Spanish. I felt that all those times that
I risked my life for the Bureau and you reward
me by enemy through the border where I can't speak Spanish.
So I was hurt. But I'm a professional. So you've
(09:08):
given the job in some sense because you're an outsider, correct,
an outsider with a stirling reputation for management and leadership.
So the FBI office in El Paso kind of has
a reputation monica. One of the early special agents in
(09:28):
charge had to resign in disgrace after being caught selling
weapons to Mexican revolutionaries, and another special agent from that
office was murdered, which is the only unsolved murder of
an FBI agent in the line of duty in the
bureau's history. So what makes the posting so hard In
(09:51):
El Paso? We all have some sort of ties to Huats,
to Mexico, so the opportunities for corruption are vast for line.
For sent that presents a huge challenge unlike anywhere else
in the country because of these binational ties. Those connections
can get you in trouble family, culture, business, and in fact,
(10:14):
it's absolutely necessary for the black market to thrive for
the corruption to exist on both sides of the border.
And so yeah, you could see the mentality behind sending
an outsider like Hardrick Crawford in thinking, all right, he's
not going to be susceptible to these same kinds of
weaknesses central to Hardrick's mission in Alpasso was stopping the
(10:40):
flow of drugs into the US. To do this, he'd
have to keep an eye not just on Mexican drug traffickers,
but on his own colleagues. After all, he'd been assigned
to the border partly because his background made conflicts of
interest unlikely. And in two thousand and two Hardrick led
an investigation that revealed a translator in his office was
(11:01):
selling information to the cartel. It's like one of your
family has, because we were a family in a field office.
And to discover that because you trust everybody implicitly. So yeah,
that was like a dagger to the heart. Yes, and
that was one of our prime missions public corruption. Cartels
they're bad guys, but if it's a corrupt US official,
(11:22):
our very institutions are at stake. I spoke to Frank Evans.
I guess it's your partner in Cleveland, right, I remember Frank? Yes,
And he said that by the cartels couldn't operate. That's
not the operations if it weren't for corrupted US officials.
He's correct, they're much more efficient if they can bribe
(11:43):
at that point of entry instead of having a sneak in.
Just drive it, right, through in Horez La Lina enforced
the cartel's power by corrupting officials to the extent the
policemen were kidnapping women. This wasn't happening in El Paso,
but the same month could buy silence or complicity on
either side of the border. So Hardrick had his hands full,
(12:07):
but he was still in search of a higher purpose
in El Paso. That's when he received a letter from
a group of activists in Juarez. They sent me this
passionate letter asking for assistance in addressing this horrible, tragic
crime of the murder of these women in wars. That
was caught off guard. It was not us helpers, No,
(12:27):
it was Hardrick Crawford help us. It hit me on
a personal level, more soul than it did on a
professional level. It sound funny, but I thought, Okay, now
I know why God sent me to al Paso. Was this?
This was the reason I was sent here Herdrick had
been angry with God for his posting, but after receiving
(12:48):
this letter, the situation was beginning to make sense to him.
It was two thousand and two, just a few months
after eight women's bodies had been discovered at the cotton Field,
and in response to the letter, offered the FBI's resources
in profiling, forensics, and even training to the Juarez police.
But he recognized that stopping the murders of women required
(13:09):
political will, and that's when he took the highly unusual
step of appearing on ABC News to publicly criticize Mexico's
response to the crimes. Increasingly Mexican police and government officials
are under fire from people here in the US. There
appears to be no meaningful effort to solve the disappearances.
(13:32):
All of the resources of the FBI are available to
our Mexican colleagues, such a matter as DNA blood typing, profiling.
The response from the Mexicans to that offer, heretofore, the
response has been They've had these matters in hand and
don't require our assistance. Hardrick's words were cloaked in official language,
(13:53):
but there was no doubting a message. He was claiming
on national television that the murders of women in Juarez
were not being solved because Mexican officials didn't want to
solve them. Not just the street corps who abducted women,
but their bosses, perhaps even their bosses. Bosses and this
accusation wasn't coming from a journalist or an activist, it
(14:16):
was coming from a US government official. But hardrick strategy
wasn't just about public complaints. It was also about private alliances.
When we come back, the FBI agent begins to make
powerful friends in Juarez. At the same time as Hardrick
(14:48):
was castigating Mexican officials on television, he made it his
mission to develop personal relationships with Juarez's powerbrokers. I used
to travel to war As quite frequently became friends with
a Mexican businessman at the racetrack at Warriors, And when
you're on the border, ear liaison includes foreign liaison, which
the other field houses don't have. The friend Hardrick mentions
(15:12):
is Jose Maria Guardia. He was a complicated figure. He'd
been invited to George W. Bush's presidential inauguration, but he'd
also been caught up in a bribery scandal with the
US consular official. In fact, it would later come to
light that when Hardrick arrived at the border, Guardia was
a confidential informant for the FBI. That's something Hardrick told
(15:35):
us he was never informed of by his own office,
who made the initial introduction, but was led to him
by my media rep who fully understood that liaison was
critical to my performance. So I struck up a relationship
with him. Likable fellow went to the racetrack with him,
and at the racetrack he would bring various officials. Racetracks
(15:57):
have a long history of association with corruption and organized crime,
a problem endemic to Juarez. But Guardia I had friends
who vouched for him, and one in particular made a
big impression on Hardrick. His really really close friendship with
Cardinal Sandoval, who was on the shortlist for the pope
when the Pope died. That to a large extent, assuaged
(16:20):
any concerns or fears that I might have. Not only
did the Cardinal endorse Guardia, but he became something of
a spiritual guide for Hardrake. Hardrick described the Cardinal as
a great ally in the fight against corruption and for
justice for the women. I was baptized by the cardinal
and my religious faith. Yes, they did have a part
(16:42):
to play, and it was a not quite the mission
that Diana Llebears Washington has with regard to these terrible crimes.
But I had an official and a moral mission that
I felt that I was empowered on a different level
than the US Constitution. Hardrick was beginning to see his
mission in terms of a higher calling, superseding even his
(17:06):
duty to the Constitution. And at the same time as
he was publicly corning out officials in Huarez, he was
privately trying to get buy in from the right people,
and he saw the racetrack as the ideal place to
do it. It was a place that was insulated from
cartel violence because it was a useful place for all
kinds of people to do business. Criminals almost certainly, but
(17:29):
also the city's wealthy industrialists and official powerbrokers. From my
ability to be at the Warrior's Racetrack, I became really
really good liaison. Friends with a cardinal, with the mayor
of Warriors, with the chief of Police of Warriors, with
the governor of Chihuahua. They would all come to the racetrack.
What a great place to affect liaison. I wasn't stupid.
(17:52):
I was aware that at any time any one individual
that I'm meeting could have been corrupted by the cartel.
Of course, but you can't do business with that premise.
Did you talk about the killings of the women any
of those days. On the meeting with the Mayor of
Warres and with the chief of police, yes, I was
very impressed with the Chief of Warriors, not so impressed
(18:13):
with his police officers. But at the same time I
was also aware that there are certain things that the
chief of police of wars would never do because he
wants to live. He doesn't want to harm his family,
So there are limitations. No, I don't care how honest
you are, how competent you are. The cortail looms large.
(18:37):
These meetings at the racetrack were taking place before La
Lina became public knowledge thanks to Alfredo's reporting, but the
Cartail's ability to enforce silence was clear. To Hardrach. The
chief of police seemed like an ally in stopping the
murders of women, but if he stuck out his neck
too far, he might well end up dead himself. Whereas
(18:58):
Hardrick's informants into Cater that the cartel considered him untouchable,
they reported back that the cartel is scratching her hiss
what do we do about this guy Crawford, And one
of the responses was are you crazy you do something
to the FBI sac do you have any idea what
(19:19):
their crazy cowboy Bush would do, so I kind of chuckled.
Hardrick felt emboldened, even obliged, to use his protected status
to speak out, to force a conversation that would go
way above local officials and catch the attention of Mexico's
federal government. In other words, to generate the kind of
(19:40):
political pressure that went beyond even what activists like Esta
Chavezcano and mothers like Paula Flores could achieve alone. There
appears to be no meaningful effort to solve the disappearances.
Hardrick was consciously stoking international media attention on the femicides.
For someone in Huirez Dante or Mario Escobeto, this was fatal,
(20:03):
but especial agents in charge of El Paso. Hendrick didn't
believe he had as much to fear from La Ligna. Nonetheless,
after his interview, he did receive a warning, but it
came from the last place he expected. There was no
question it annoyed and infuriated some. I'm sure I do
(20:24):
recall some suggesting that I might temper my words because
big businesses involved, and I'm going with you need big
businesses involved. Well, the Mikuela doors are American companies, and
if the Mikuela doors are getting bad pressed because of
the murder of women, it were as many of them
(20:45):
mar Michuela door workers, it looks bad for American companies
who are doing business down there. And you might wind
up making enemies of people on this side of the border,
without being aware that you are who gave me that warning.
You know, I can't remember, but it was seventeen years ago. Yeah,
I'm not remembering it, but I was being told to
knock it off, leave it alone, It's not your problem.
(21:13):
In his interview with ABC News, Hardrich didn't make any
explicit connection between the victims and Immaculadoras, but elsewhere in
the broadcast the journalist John Quinnonez did. Prominent in the
piece was an account of the last day of Cloudier
Vet Gonzalez, who was turned away from her job at
the Lear Corp Factory for being a few minutes late.
(21:35):
Her body was subsequently discovered in the cotton fields. The
inherent vulnerability of these young women because of their work
was clear. And then there was an interview with Roberto Urea,
the spokesman for the Macula Association in Juarez. He was
asked what responsibility the factories had for the murder of
(21:55):
so many young female employees. This was his response. Where
were these young ladies where they were seen last? Were
they drinking? Right? Were they parting? Were they in a
dark street? Victim blaming, just as Huire's authorities had done
(22:17):
before broadcast on national television in the US. It was
not a good look for the industry, and it was
unfortunate that Hardrick didn't remember the key detail of who
had warned him against bringing more bad press to the maquilas,
because it was reminiscent of the warnings Alfredo had received
in Mexico when he started asking questions about La Ligna.
(22:39):
Thank with Ado, be careful. We've already established how the
drug traffickers used the murder of women to create bonds
of loyalty, and how they had local police on their payroll.
But the idea that quires is legitimate businesses, which were
often run with American partners, might also want to hush
(22:59):
up them of women. This was opening up a whole
new web of potential responsibility for these women's deaths. So
up until this point, the Maculadoras the factories have been
looming in the background of our reporting, but his Hardrick
Monica saying that his activism basically led to him getting
(23:23):
a warning to leave the maquilas alone. And I'm frankly
surprised they would have enough influence to deliver that kind
of warning to a senior FBI agent. How powerful are
these economic interests. The maquila industry is the backbone of
the waist economy, and trade between the US and Mexico
(23:47):
generates more than half a trillion dollars every year. Millions
of jobs in the US are tied to trade. And
in what is you'll find companies like bow Like Dell,
General Electric, Johnson and Johnson manufacturing things. There's probably something
(24:09):
you use in your everyday life that was made in hottas.
Whether it's the seat cover in your forward or maybe
your Mercedes Benz, the inside of your washing machine, your
laptop computer, or your dog's chew toy. It doesn't matter
if you live hundreds of miles away. You touch something
(24:31):
that came from hottas every day. And why have all
these factory set up shopping huaras. The short answer is
because it's cheaper. These companies go to hottas to cut costs,
and the number one cost they cut is labor. I'll
give you an example. The La Times did an excellent
(24:53):
article looking at Delphi, which is an American company that
makes car parts. It was once owned by General Motors.
Delphi used to have a plant in Warren, Ohio, where
one of its workers got paid thirty dollars an hour.
He was able to buy a house with a swimming
(25:14):
pool and drove a good car. Then Delphi moved that
factory to Hottis, where it paid its workers just one
dollar an hour. One dollar an hour, that's not a
wage you can live on, not in Hoattas, not anywhere.
That low of a wage is a form of exploitation,
(25:37):
and it leaves a whole group of people vulnerable, unable
to defend themselves, and so they're preyed upon. Whether it's
an adolescent boy like Manulio who gets recruited by gangs
or a young woman like Sagrario who gets kidnapped and
brutally murdered, they both become easy per Hardrick believed that
(26:03):
the best way to stop people praying on the women
in Huarez was to get powerful interests in Mexico to
take the crime seriously, and he was trying to use
the press to achieve that goal. That's not a crime
that's going to be solved in a day. It takes
money invested in women who don't mean anything to the
people that are in the upper class. They're throwaway humans,
(26:26):
They're unimportant. If it was their daughters, it would be different.
But it was poor people, and to throw their bodies
away like they were garbage, that shocks the conscience type
crime as far as Hardrick was concerned. When he gave
that interview to ABC News, the pressure he was exerting
(26:49):
was directed towards government officials in Mexico. But in light
of the warning he received, he started to worry he
may have accidentally kicked an even bigger hornet's nest. No,
it didn't scare me, but it made me pass. It did.
It made me pass, But Hardrick didn't pause for long.
(27:10):
In a two thousand and three interview with a Mexican newspaper,
he described the women's murders as quote, crimes against humanity,
and for a while it looked like he was right
on the cusp of interrupting the status quo and achieving
his mission. A few months after Hardrick's appearance on ABC News,
the FBI office in El Paso received a facts inviting
(27:31):
him to a meeting in Juarez concerning the women's murders.
And it wasn't just any meeting. The federal drugs are
who Alfredo Corcado met in Mexico City. Jose Vasconcellos was
in attendance, and after the meeting, the President of Mexico,
Vicente Fox, spoke in public about the possibility of working
with the FBI to solve the murders of women in
(27:53):
Juarez once and for all. This was everything that Hardrick
had been working so hard towards, and finally it felt
like his efforts were bearing fruit. But that feeling wouldn't
last long. It was early two thousand and three and
(28:24):
Hardrick was using the media to pressure a foreign government.
He was meeting with high level officials on foreign soil,
and he was getting around his lack of jurisdiction in
Mexico by focusing on the lack of effort to solve
the murders. Meanwhile, his relationship with Jose Maria Guardia, the
racetrack owner, was already straining the definition of official liaison.
(28:47):
When it crossed a definitive line. Gordia offered my wife
a job as the public relations person at the Warrior's
Racetrack to lure Americans over there to gam. My wife
has always been at my shattle for my whole life,
and I said, oh man, she'd have the opportunity to
(29:08):
be an executive. Hardrick's career had taken him and his
wife Linda to Nairobi, Miami, and now El Paso when
they both wanted to move home to Cleveland. A job
at the racetrack could give Linda her own professional satisfaction,
and it also came with a salary of sixty thousand
dollars a year and plenty of perks. But as far
(29:31):
as Hardrick's former partner, Frank Evans was concerned, the job
offer should have been a clear red flag. I was
brief that one of the things that would probably occur
is that I would be approached officially from the Mexican
side in a gesture of friendship. And that's precisely what happened.
My wife and I were invited to the Mexican Consulate
(29:53):
here in El Paso, and while we were there, you know,
several Mexican businessmen from Arras were also there they came
up and you know, it was the oh, we're so
glad to have you here. You know, the FBI can
correct all these wrongs that are happening in wars. And
then subtly it was you know, is your wife planning
to work? You know, if someone with her talent could,
(30:15):
we could certainly find a spot for I always remember
David Albo who brought me to ol Paso. Dave was
born in Mexico. I can always remember Dave telling me
you always have to remember that a snake will smile
before it bites. Frank was describing more or less exactly
(30:37):
what Herdrick could experienced the flattery followed by the offer,
and according to Frank, Haddrick should have recognized what was happening,
especially considering a big part of his mandate was public
corruption and the slippery slope was a well known tactic
for the cartels. You have a concept on the border
called Mordita Mordita the eight. It's where people pay policemen
(31:02):
not to get a ticket. All the way up the line.
When you're dealing with the folks in Mexico, nothing is
as it seems. Everybody over there has an agenda and
even you know, your most prominent businessmen, if they're going
to conduct business, they're going to have to deal with
(31:23):
the cartel. From their perspective, they may not be doing
anything wrong. However, from our perspective, you know, a bribe
as a bribe. Frank and his wife kept that distance
from the Mexican businessmen, but Rodrick and Linda accepted Gladia's offer,
(31:44):
And what if his decision reached Frank, who was still
living in El Paso after retiring in two thousand. When
I first heard that his wife was working for the
war as racetrack, my first thought was not it cannot
be true. It is not true. Frank had known Hardrick
for more than a decade. They'd come through FBI training
(32:05):
at the same time, and they she had a car afterwards.
They even responded to their first bank robbery together on
a snowy day in Cleveland. Right after graduating from the
FBI academy, Frank had worked on Matthia busts in Ohio,
while Hardrick had attacked Columbian cartels in Florida. In nineteen
ninety six, Frank responded to the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta,
(32:27):
and in nineteen ninety eight, Hardrick responded to the US
embassy bombing in Nairobi, and Frank had been the number
two in the FBI's El Paso office before Hardrick was
assigned to lead it. Hardrick called Frank before moving to
El Paso to ask for advice. So when Frank heard
about Linda taking the job at the racetrack, he felt
(32:49):
he had to intervene. He jumped in his car and
drove to Hardrick's house, expecting his old partner to hear
him out. I pulled up when he was pulling weed,
and I got out and say, hey, how's it going now?
And I started talking. I said, what's going on? What
are you thinking? Is this true? If it's true, don't
you realize what it looks like. Never went inside his house.
(33:12):
We talked in the front yard. He just let me
know he was in charge and he knew what he
was doing. And basically I was retired and no longer
had any official input into, you know, what the FBI
was doing, which was absolutely correct. It was kind of
a slap in the face. I kept thinking, you know,
after all this time, and the guy that you know,
(33:33):
both of us stood in the snow at that first
bank robbery, and I thought time has changed, you know.
Unfortunately he's taken a path that is going to lead
to his destruction. Within months of Linda taking the job
at the racetrack, Frank's concerns about Hadrick's friendships were realized
(33:54):
in spectacular fashion. Mister Warrior and the Cardinal were accused
of illusion with cartels. I was an oh my god moment,
and so what did I do. I send a communication
immediately the FBI headquarters. Two men who I associate with
very closely have been accused of being implicated in organized crime.
(34:16):
So I self reported immediately that same day, specifically, Guardia
and Santaval were accused of colluding with the cartel to
laun the money at the racetrack. And although Hardrick did
self report, he didn't believe his friends had done anything wrong.
In fact, the official in Mexico City who accused them
(34:36):
had himself previously been accused of being on the cartel's
payroll by Santaval. His unceasing pressure on the Mexican government
cost him once one good way to neutralize somebody make
a counter accusation. He's a member, He's operating with the
cartel at the request of his two friends. Hardrick made
(34:57):
the extraordinary decision of speaking at a press conference in
Juarez to defend them, and when he was asked if
he was speaking as a private citizen or the head
of the FBI and al Passo, he answered both. I believe,
I said. If they are involved with the organized crime,
shame on them. I said, I have no knowledge that
(35:20):
they are. But if they are, a shame on them.
I know him to be a man, a girl, him
to be a good man. Sandoval and Guardia was subsequently
both cleared of any wrongdoing, but for an FBI agent
who had been sent to the border to avoid by
national entanglements and conflicts of interest, Hardrick's actions were unacceptable.
A representative of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, who was close
(35:43):
to the government official who'd originally accused Guardia and Sandoval,
complained about Hardrick to the US ambassador. The ambassador revoked
Hardrick's travel privilege in two thousand and three, and that
same year, Hardrick abruptly resigned from the FBI. By two
thousand and six, he was indicted by a grand jury
for false statements regarding his relationship with Guardia and his
(36:06):
wife's employment at the racetrack. One of the things I
was charged with was I've misled and I feeled to
report to headquarters that mister Guardia and the cardinal were
accused of serious crimes. Now I self reported myself, what
are you talking about? The Justice Department was digging into
Hardrick's financial relationship with the racetrack owner. FBI policy prohibits
(36:31):
employees from quote engaging in private business and financial relationships
with subjects, witnesses, or individuals furnishing information to the FBI
without prior FBI headquarters approval. Hardrick maintains that he himself
was not employed by Guardia and that he never tried
to disguise the fact that his wife was. But they
(36:53):
did accept perks like a country club membership and a
trip to Las Vegas. But on Hardrick's finance disclosure form,
in the gifts and reimbursement section, he listed none. It's
almost laughable if it wasn't so depressing her income and
her job was in my tax return. The charges that
(37:15):
I'm accused of are things normally that are handled internally
by internal affairs. Noah indictment. In January two thousand and seven,
Hardick was found guilty on two of the five counts
relating to full statements around financial disclosures. He was fined
ten thousand dollars and sentenced to six months at the
(37:37):
Louis Blow Prison camp in central Pennsylvania. It's a prison
known for holding drug offenders and members of organized crime.
The implication was huge, without a doubt, They've clearly believed
that I had been seduced and stepped over the line,
or was acting to aid and a bet those who
(38:00):
were on the dark side, the dark side, the powerful
men who were raping and murdering the women in Huarez
with impunity. Was it possible that Hardrick, wittingly or not,
had allied himself with the very people who were responsible
for the crimes he was outspoken about preventing. To this day,
(38:23):
Hardrick maintains his innocence. My brother said, Dick, did you
ever think about eating your gun? I said, I did.
I did seriously consider killing myself. Why because I've just
been dishonored. I'm a knight, but now I'm a tarnished knight.
And I thought about sticking mcni millimeter in my mouth,
(38:46):
and then I said no. Then that just says that, yeah,
he did it because he was guilty, So that's why
I didn't I do talk to my Lord about it
and say, yeah, I understand pride before the fall. Do
you lured me a little bit on this one, didn'ya? Lord?
But still the bottom line is those women in war
as nobody's seems to be curing about them. The timing
(39:14):
of Hardrick's downfall was uncanny and tragic. Just as his
activism was forcing the President of Mexico to acknowledge the
unsolved murders of women and promise action, Hardrick's wife took
a job at the racetrack, and that began a series
of events that culminated with the release of the pressure
that had been building to finally take action on behalf
(39:36):
of the women. Diana told us she's still angry with Hardrick,
but in her book she does entertain the possibility that
he was set up. She writes a confidential intelligence source
in Mexico City claimed Guardia was a US intelligence asset,
Crawford's wife was clean, and the quote unquote mafia wanted
(39:58):
to get rid of the FBI official. The tip was
impossible to corroborate, and in the end, Diana simply says
that Haddrick's behavior was inexplicable. We ask Frank Evans how
he understood his former partner's story. Here's a guy, Crawford
who's charismatic, successful, on track for all these promotions, seemingly
(40:23):
with the world at his feet, in one of the
most exciting field officers of the FBI. You're telling me
for sixty thousand dollars a year. He throws a let away.
You know, sixty thousand is what we are looking at hypothetically.
Could there have been something else? Yes, I do not
know that there was. But you know, you got to remember,
even Adam took a bite of the apple. Is it
(40:45):
a character flaw? Like I said, I don't know. I
still have a hard time sometimes wrapping my hands around
it and thinking about it. It's like, you know, what
the heck happened? Crawford could have had any door were
opened he wanted. In Washington, d C. Crowford mentioned he
felt a high emission, like a mission from God to
intervene in his case. He was out in front on
(41:07):
TV criticizing the Mexican government, quoting this a crime against humanity.
Why he got out in front on this particular issue
you're dealing with the lives of hundreds of women. But
frequently when you work organize crime, you don't necessarily want
to call the godfather an SB to his face. You
want to kind of keep it on the sportsman like footing,
(41:29):
and then you continue to put the SB in jail.
It's the same way with who's ever killing those women.
You may go home and cry at night, especially when
you see some of those girls or their remains, but
you cry in your home alone or with your family
calling the governor of Chihuahua a murderer when you need
(41:50):
to be able to perhaps operate inside of the state
of Chihuahua. That's not going to get anybody helping you.
So was Audrick undone by his Was he actually corrupted
or was it possible that there was some kind of
conspiracy against him? I was curious how Hardrick himself interpreted
what had happened to him, first his country clearance being revoked,
(42:14):
then his indictment, and ultimately his conviction and imprisonment. To
my surprise, he returned to that warning he received after
his appearance on ABC News. It had occurred to me,
I mean enemies, and now this is the cost. This
is the cost I'm not stupid. I'm above average intelligence.
(42:37):
I could see the connection. Okay, big businessman, US ambassador Mexicans, Okay,
I get it. You know, if that was a conspiracy
theorist that you know, I would say that, Yes, the
State Department and the US corporations, who were incensed that
all his attention being directed to Mikheila Doors, you know,
(42:59):
went to the administration and said, look, this guy is
harming the Mikula Dora industry and Mexico is upset, so
we're going to have to make a sacrifice at him.
The moment that Ardrick dropped this explosive hint that he
was silenced by the US government who wanted to hush
up the murders of women in order to protect business interests,
(43:22):
he walked it back. If I was a conspiracy theorist,
I would think things like that. But in the end,
I just chalk it up to over a zealous Department
of Justice or igcay. Oh, look we can get a
high REK and FBI official. In the end, That's what
my mind has settled on. So Diana as usual, Monica
(43:45):
is right. This saga is weird and inexplicable and is
tempting to dismiss it entirely, except we know what happened
to so many other people who investigated the women's murders,
and how one way or another they met unpleasant of
their own. And it's also true that these business interests
are very, very significant, and they profit by keeping people vulnerable.
(44:11):
So what do you make of Hardrick's story? Like Diana,
I would say it's ambiguous. As an outsider, Hardrick was
supposed to be immune from becoming medieval or involved. And
you might say he did so naively because he was
an outsider. But you could also say, yeah, right, I
(44:34):
don't buy that an FBI supervisor with his level of
experience couldn't see that the path he was going down
would get him into trouble. But no matter what, you
had this outspoken head of the FBI in al Passo
highlighting the most controversial crimes on the US Mexico border,
(44:57):
and that, no doubt would disturb the authors of those crimes,
and more than likely they would want to get rid
of someone like Hardrick. But they can't get rid of
him in the same way they got rid of Mario
Escobvo or Dante al Maras. So it's plausible that the
(45:19):
powers that be in Mexico could have used Hardrick's relationship
with Guardia and the Cardinal to push him out. Mexico
is the land of smoke and mirrors. You don't know
who you're dealing with, who they're allied with, whether you
can trust them, who their friends are, whether or not
(45:40):
they have ties to the dark side. It makes it
very difficult to navigate and do your job. I couldn't
stop thinking about Hardrick's quote conspiracy theory, which went all
the way from murdered women to Mexican business interests to
his downfall to the State Department. So we called the
(46:02):
US ambassador who withdrew Hardrick's country clearance in two thousand
and three, to ask him what happened next time. I've
forgotten that conversation. Antonio Rza, formerly the United States Ambassador
to Mexico from the period November two thousand and two
through January two thousand and nine. And we returned to
(46:23):
Dinah Washington Valdes, who suggests that powerful businessman in Huirez
who profited from the maculadora industry, were also involved in
the murders of women. These are people that are well known,
not just at the border, but in Mexico nationally. You know,
they have global business interests. It was scary when you
(46:44):
sit down and think about who may be involved in
the names. Oh my god, It's like, oh my god,
I'm oz Veloshin and I'm money. See you next time?
(47:04):
Do you know? See? Do you know my Sequela Felicia Forgotten.
(47:47):
The Women of Juarez is co hosted by Me Monica
and me Oswooshin. Forgotten is executive produced by Me and
Mangesh Hatia. Our producers are Julian Weller and Katrina Norvelle.
Sound editing by Julian Weller and Jacopo Penzo. Lucas Riley
(48:08):
is our story editor. Caitlin Thompson is our consulting producer.
Production support from Emily Maronoff and Aaron Kaufman. Recording assistance
this episode from Melissa Kaplan. Music by Leonardo Hablum and
Hakkabo Libermann. Additional music by Aaron Kaufman.
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