Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cowboy Cartel’ on Apple TV+, A Docuseries About The FBI’s Bust-Up Of An Unusual Money Laundering Operation

The four-episode Apple TV+ docuseries Cowboy Cartel means its title literally. In 2009, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeted a network of horse traders and trainers based in the American Southwest as affiliates of a powerful, violent Mexican drug cartel known as Los Zetas, a rookie FBI agent ran point on the investigation, and soon established how the Zetas’ leadership was cleaning massive amounts of dirty drug cash via legitimate transactions and splashy racing victories in the American quarter horse industry.

COWBOY CARTEL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: Over reenactments, we hear the voice of journalist and author Joe Tone. “When you think of drug cartels, you think of the drugs, you think of the violence, you think of the money. But you do not think of horses.”

The Gist: In 2009, when Scott Lawson graduated from FBI training at Quantico and received his first posting in Laredo, TX, smack dab on the US-Mexico border, he was inserted into a conflict that had raged for 40 years, and across at least four White House administrations. “The drug war is an unwinnable war to begin with,” Joe Tone says in Cowboy Cartel. But it would be especially tough for a young rookie agent on the front lines. In Laredo, it was the federal agencies versus the cartels, based right across the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, that used violence to control the lucrative drug routes into the US. But the feds had no way of cutting into the operations of Los Zetas. Until they noticed the quarter horses, that is. 

The quarter horse is the quintessential animal of the American West, and quarter horse racing remains the sport of cowboys. It’s big business in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico – but it’s not particularly well-regulated, and there’s lots of cash changing hands. When Lawson and the FBI tracked the purchase of an expensive horse at auction to persons close to Miguel Traviño, feared leader of the Zetas Cartel, it was the breakthrough they needed. In Cowboy Cartel, Lawson describes how he and his veteran agent partner – a guy only shown on camera in silhouette, due to security concerns – developed contacts in the horse industry, went undercover to auctions, and were able to learn how Traviño and members of his family were generating tons of cash through their ownership of horses in the US. The animals were assets the cartels’ enemies in Mexico couldn’t touch. And if they won a million-dollar race, well, then that was even more money for their coffers. 

Cowboy Cartel spends the majority of its initial segment laying the groundwork for the FBI operation to come, with extensive interviews of Lawson, his special agent colleagues, US attorneys, and the journalists and authors who have covered the story. “Trying to dismantle the Zetas appears impossible,” Lawson says. “What you really need is somebody on the inside of their world.” What’s crazy is that the feds’ insider turned out to be a horse.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami is a 2021 Netflix docuseries that continued the Cocaine Cowboys franchise, first established with filmmaker Billy Corben’s 2006 doc Cocaine Cowboys. (For those docs’ version of “cowboy,” think cocky; for Cowboy Cartel, it’s western shirts and big belt buckles.) And for more perspectives on the ongoing drug war, there are the docuseries Dope and Narcoworld: Dope Stories, both on Netflix. 

Our Take: “This could be a way to go after Miguel and dismantle the Zetas in a way that has never been done before.” Scott Lawson’s rookie status is a solid hook for Cowboy Cartel to tell its story, since back in 2009, he was admittedly gung-ho about getting into the field and proving his worth as an agent. To illustrate this era, Cartel gets a lot of use out of reenactments, with actors in big black Aviators and cowboy boots driving around Texas in a government-issue Impala, or trying to stay incognito as they surveil their persons of interest at horse auctions. And while that stuff is effective in building tension – Lawson and the FBI were targeting a criminal group known for killing indiscriminately, always wary of being made – it’s the case itself that’s the most interesting thing here. Miguel Traviño, his family members, and their associates were essentially hiding in plain sight, participating in the public-facing side of the quarter horse industry, spending a lot of money conspicuously, and even signaling each other in photos and videos. They were flaunting their involvement, and it was up to Lawson and the feds to build their case without getting killed doing it. What we’re most interested in with Cowboy Cartel is how exactly they’re going to do this. “It’s one thing to know something in your gut,” Lawson says in an interview. “It’s a whole ‘nother thing to be able to prove it.” 

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: “How did they pay for that $2.2 million-dollar horse auction?” Rookie FBI agent Scott Lawson knew the feds had uncovered something tangible. “Over the next three years, we looked closer and closer, and a story unfolded…”

Sleeper Star: Lawson himself is an affable presence throughout Cowboy Cartel, the kind of guy who will be nicknamed “Big Country” by his fellow FBI agents, but who’s also in possession of a sharp investigative mind and the ability to share his perspective on the case in a manner that feels pretty natural. 

Most Pilot-y Line: “OK, there’s something to dig into here,” Lawson remembers thinking, once the FBI received its initial tip. “This could be that the Zeta cartel is laundering money through the horse industry.” 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Cowboy Cartel has a unique angle on the drug war to explore as it delves into the FBI’s case against Miguel Traviño and Los Zetas, a case that started with the million-dollar auction of a horse and escalated with even more money getting thrown around in public.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.