FORGOTTEN - EP 8: Metido

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 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 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. 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 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

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 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 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. 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 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 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. 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 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? 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 know not see, you know not squee. Since the early 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 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 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.

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 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 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. 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. 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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,

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 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, 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,

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 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 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. 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,

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 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 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

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 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 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 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 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 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

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. 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 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. 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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. 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. 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 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

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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

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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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. 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, 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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,

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, 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

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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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.

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, 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, 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

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. 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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? Do you know? See? Do you know my Sequela Felicia Forgotten. 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 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.