Bloodlines audiobook

This book is both easy and difficult to read at the same time. Easy, because the author does such a great job crafting a narrative, making all the players clear and well-characterized, and generally maintaining a reader's interest. Difficult, because the entire story is grounded, never exaggerated. I grew up in Texas and the Southwest, and have been to so many places in this book, all touched by this massive criminal network that is just one of many such networks in the area. All these communities and people that were impacted and the severity of those impacts, and the amount of work and coordination required to make a tiny dent in this crime - it makes the entire thing hard to digest. This particular story is even one of the less violent ones you can read about, but disturbing and sad in its own way. The author did great work, and anyone interested in horse racing, true crime, and/or the Southwest should give it a shot.

The book is a gripping tale of José Treviño, a bricklayer who became a millionaire overnight laundering money for his infamous brothers, the heads of the Zeta cartel. In only a few years, the brothers managed to subvert the American quarter horse industry to their malignant ends. Del Bosque describes in clear-eyed prose the terrifying barbarism of the Mexican drug war and the villains who perpetrate it. She matches that tale with a fascinating police procedural on the painstaking effort required to unravel the money laundering operation. In Bloodlines, the humans behind the headlines come to life.A decade ago, as editor of the Texas Observer, I hired Melissa del Bosque as an investigative reporter. Along with a deep understanding of the borderland between the U.S. and Mexico, she brought an incredible combination of reportorial toughness and empathy. Those qualities are very much on display in Bloodlines. For anyone who wants to understand the carnage south of the border and the challenges of confronting it, this is a must-read.Jake BernsteinAuthor of “Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite” http://amzn.to/2hVuohf

Loved this book

This is a story about the good guys getting the bad guys. And when I say bad guys, these aren't your run-of-the-mill bad guys. I'm talking Breaking Bad, drug cartel bad guys.Melissa del Bosque's expose unravels a twisted story of murder, kidnapping, extortion, torture, horse racing, and money laundering. It all starts when the FBI is alerted to an unusually high price paid for a horse at auction. The FBI spends the next three years piecing together how three brothers, two of them high up in the Zetas drug cartel, funneled drug profits into horse racing and the breeding and selling of quarter horses.The author does an excellent job of walking the reader through the intricacies of structured deposits, shell companies, horse racing, and breeding. Some of the proceeds are legitimate. Most of it is not. Miguel Trevino and his brother, Omar, fixed races through doping and intimidation. They also had the advantage of buying up all of the best horses and seeding the field with three or four of the top horses, all but guaranteeing a win.To make the whole enterprise look legitimate, Miguel and Omar enlisted the help of their brother Jose, who lived a quiet life in San Antonio, working as a bricklayer. In a short time, Jose went from $50,000 a year to making enough money to buy a ranch and start a horse breeding business.Hot on his trail, though, was a rookie FBI agent named Scott Lawson. Over three years, Scott and a small team of FBI agents and a couple of IRS agents put together a charging document that would ultimately lead to the undoing of the entire scheme. They confiscated all of the cartel's horses and were successful in getting lengthy prison sentences for Jose Trevino and a cast of co-conspirators. Jose's brothers, Miguel and Omar Trevino ended up in Mexican prisons.A convoluted story like this could take years to unravel. The author, however, had the good fortune of having the work of the FBI, along with the thousands of pages of trial transcripts and depositions to draw upon. Add in the author's research and personal interviews, and you have the making of a compelling nonfiction narrative.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book while running.This was a fantastic audiobook. I'm pretty sure I picked this book out because I thought it might be about cheating (doping/performance enhancing drugs) used in horse racing. It's not. It's about an FBI investigation to bust a Mexican drug cartel using buying and selling of expensive horses as a way to move drug money from Mexico to the US and launder the money. The author does a fantastic job of breaking down how this operation worked and the amount of effort put in by the FBI to figure it out. She also humanizes people working for the FBI in a way that I haven't seen before. At times, I was trying to remember whether this was non-fiction or not, because it is put together so well as a narrative that I had my doubts.The narrator does an amazing job. By giving each person who speaks in the book a unique voice, the narrator adds more personality and character.Before listening to this book, I had zero knowledge of how drug cartels work, or really, what was going on in Mexico in the early 2010s. I also had zero knowledge of how the FBI operates. I now know a little more about both those things, and thought this was a really interesting book, despite not being on the topic I had imagined it was about.

The title of this book refers to horses. I wasn't aware of how big quarter horse racing is in Mexico and bordering states with million dollar purses at stake. The author tells a fascinating story of how a simple bricklayer in Laredo, Texas became an overnight millionaire by laundering money for his brothers who were leaders of the Zeta cartel on the Mexico side of the border. Though this book is a true story, it reads like fiction and is a sad reminder of what a problem we have with drugs, arms trade, and human trafficking at our borders. With government officials in the pockets of these cartels one has to wonder if the problem will ever be solved. In this case some of the bad guys are brought to justice but I was left wondering about the guys at the top who continue to allow the demoralization of Mexico and our bordering states. This book is also a sad commentary on the treatment of these horses by ruthless owners who will do anything to win.

This book is definitely fans of Narcos on Netflix. The story was reminiscent of Narcos: Mexico, with a large focus on the federal agents' stories about uncovering the money laundering case involved American quarter horses. The information involved in this story was fascinating. As an avid horse lover, I never would have imagined how they could be a conduit for money laundering. This work of non-fiction was different than other non-fiction books that I have read where it was written more like a narrative than anything else. Again, highly recommend for non-fiction readers that are a fan of Narcos. The points of view that vary from the agents to those in Mexico are enlightening to look at the process and the backgrounds of the people. The ending was a bit gloomy though, as it is mentioned "criminals had short memories" and they message they hoped to send wouldn't stick for long (pg. 359).

An engaging read for horse lovers, crime lovers, and nonfiction readers. This offers an exciting look into the drug and money filed world of the Mexican cartel.Originally, it was the horse tagline that was engaging. For anyone interested in quarter horse racing, the idea of how much money was laundered through the business is hard to comprehend. As the intricacies build and develop, the plotline becomes even more engaging.Lawson, Perez, and Graham make for extremely likeable characters: Real detectives with relatable backgrounds and a young rancher carrying on his family legacy. Bosque spins a tale that keeps you enthralled. It is hard to comprehend the violence and blood in the world of the Mexico/Texas border.It can get a little detail bogged like complex non-fiction novels do, but it is still a read that make you want to turn the page to see what happens next.

The DEA dominates the public eye when it comes to drugs and taking down the kingpins. There’s a good reason for that - they have international reach. This book reminds us that the FBI and IRS have important roles in smashing the roots the cartels attempt to plant on U.S. soil. It’s worth exploring. Melissa del Bosque’s tale of the dismantling of the Treviño brothers’ racing empire is a fast-reading story that is the equal of any Law and Order episode. It opens a window onto the investigative world of the FBI, the IRS, the DEA and the importance of interagency cooperation to build a successful court case. It illustrates the limitations of American law enforcement in prosecuting foreign citizens not on American soil. Even the head of the Mexican terror troops — the Zetas — can only be prosecuted with the cooperation of the Mexican government. This book provides no real insight in the relationship between the Mexican cartels and the Mexican government. It makes the controversial claim that the original plazas/territories were determined by the Mexican government via agreement with the cartels and that the government lost control of the cartels over time. This book provides excellent first hand testimony about the life of rich Mexican businessmen under Zeta-controlled territory. The weakest part is the coverage of the trial — it becomes repetitive and offers no new insight. All in all though, a fascinating and fun read.

This is a big, sprawling, amazing piece of reporting. As a former investigative reporter, I don't know how Melissa del Bosque did it. It gives in-depth insight into what the FBI, DEA, and IRS agents go through to put together a case. I don't envy them. It looks like a tough life. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in true crime: college students majoring in criminal justice, writers, other reporters, and probably people in law enforcement. Good luck solving the big drug-war problem.

Scott Lawson, a rookie FBI agent has just been transferred to Laredo, Tx. He can stand in the street & hear the gunfire & see buildings burning across the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo. His first case involves the Zeta cartel who has taken over the territory across the river. It is rumoured that they are laundering money by buying & racing American Quarter Horses. Alma Perez joins him in accumulating evidence against one of the worst cartels leading to a trial in 2012. The book reads like a novel.

What an excellent book. Although it was sometimes hard to keep track of all the players, the author did a great job off telling the story of how the FBI. DEA and IRS took on a money-laundering scheme with Mexico's largest drug cartel. Some of the information was very chilling and it was obvious they weren't dealing with amateur crooks - these guys meant business and would let no one or nothing get in their way. Kudos to Scott Lawson with the FBI who started the initial investigation. An excellent piece of non-fiction.

I enjoy books set in Texas around Austin, and I enjoy books dealing with the law and criminal cases; so this book had all the elements I like reading about. The Zetas of Mexico matched with FBI agents in Laredo and an IRS team in Waco go head-to-head. The good guys win, but hundreds of innocent people are slaughter maliciously by the Zetas and the success of the investigation takes five years to complete. This is an easy read, but packed with details to keep the reader thinking.

Riveting true story about the Mexican drug cartel, The Zetas, how they laundered drug money through quarter horse racing in Mexico and the United States, and the work of the FBI to follow the money and stop the laundering. Absolute page-turner, there is not a dull chapter in this book. I'm surprised it hasn't been optioned yet, it reads like a Hollywood blockbuster.

Great Book. How did this happen and I not have a clue. The two leaders of the Zetas (mexican drug cartel) were brothers and they had a 3rd brother living in the states who they funnelled drug money to and he bought racehorses and became very wealthy. However, the FBI TOOK HIM DOWN here in the states. Great read. informative and keeps you interested throughout.