"no, i'm still 20 minutes out." "that line was ridiculous." "the lapd did not give me a badge so i could cut to the front of the line, lieutenant flynn." "no. just tell me where to go." "you can brief me when i get there." "ok?" "i take vermont to the 10." "oh, shoot!" "oh!" "ohh!" "lieutenant flynn, let me call you right back." "son of a" "what the hell were you thinking?" "oh, i'm so sorry." "i'm terribly sorry." "i didn't see you. oh!" "well, it's nothing serious." "anyway, i'm gonna give you my business card, and it's got all my contact information." "and i'm gonna write down my license number." "you take your car to a good body shop and- you really need to call the police." "that won't be necessary." "no, sweetie, it really is necessary." "see, i work for the government." "i can't just ignore the law." "we need to get the police." "you got 'em right here." "deputy chief brenda leigh johnson. lapd." "and as sorry as i am about that tiny little dent on your suv, i've got a triple homicide to get to." "pardon me." "oh... shoot!" "what happened to your car?" "a little accident. this jerk. don't ask." "ok. here you go." "thank you." "deputy chief johnson, detective sergeant david gabriel, priority homicide." "so, what's our story here?" "well, one of the neighbors called in and complained about loud music coming from the house." "approximately 9:30 a. m. units respond, no one answers, so one of the officers goes around the side of the house, noticed the window was broken and a trail of blood." "called in for backup." "well, let's have a look-see." "there's the stereo." "empty house." "bunch of mattresses on the floor." "smells like dope." "except it doesn't... smell like dope or garbage or urine." "this place is too clean to be a shooting gallery." "if any of the neighbors know anything about who lives here or what they do, nobody is saying so." "well, we'll just have to figure it out for ourselves." "detective daniels, i want to know about everyone who owns, rents, or walks a dog by this house." "already on it." "thank you." "sergeant gabriel, where are the bodies?" "there are no bodies." "excuse me?" "responding officer could see a blood trail from the side window, but when we got inside, no bodies." "commander taylor, i was told to rush to the scene of a triple homicide." "could you please tell me what you found that suggests this is either a priority or a homicide?" "i'd say this was something more than someone cutting his hand while chopping onions." "we found significant brain matter in both those spills." "yeah, with a bunch of bullet fragments, too, and there's a slug over here in this wall." "where do those drag marks go?" "um, out the side door here." "and i'm guessing that someone was waiting outside with a truck or a car to haul the bodies away." "it's about 3,000 bucks of u. s. dollars, pesos, even some food stamps." "gabriel: now it's smelling a little more like dope." "chief." "here's victim number 3." "doesn't look like there's much blood over there." "what about brain matter?" "we haven't found any yet." "from the looks of this blood trail, i'd say he or she left here alive." "ok, so... the shooter fires here, boom. and here, boom." "and then moves to hit someone who's running for their life, boom." "which would explain our wall slug." "boom." "and our lonely casing, right there." "have we checked with the e. r. s in the area?" "we put out a medical alert." "notified all of the hospitals." "they'll let us know if any gunshot wounds show up." "excuse me, chief, i think we might want to let this out to the press." "why?" "our guy didn't walk out of this bloodbath and stroll over to cedars sinai." "a word from the press might shake the trees." "generate some tips." "all right, well, let's tell them we're looking for an injured person who's either a witness or a victim." "don't give them any of the details, please." "yes, ma'am." "thank you." "glad to help." "lieutenant flynn, i'm gonna need your phone." "really?" "all right, well, let me know as soon as you get that information." "thank you." "so, the dna results will not be back for another 36 hours, but the preliminary blood work confirms that there were at least 3 people wounded in that house." "so, lieutenant provenza, any hospital in the county report a patient that might be our missing victim?" "all of our victims are missing." "no, i mean the victim that left the scene alive, not the two that left parts of their brains on the kitchen floor." "i don't know chief, i mean, there's been 6 or 7 maybe." "wait. i got it right here." "we got 9 reported gunshots." "that's in the past 6 hours." "now, 2 of them also reported cuts." "one's at st. joe's, one's at county." "now i've got 2 outstanding officers checking it out, and i'll tell them to call in, you know, if something looks promising." "well, thank you, lieutenant provenza, but i don't want outstanding officers checking things out, i want you." "thank you." "um, detective daniels, who owns that house?" "a management company." "jacobsen properties." "they lease it month to month, but they haven't had a tenant in over a year." "i'm checking to see if any employees, maids, or handymen might have had a key to the house." "ok. lieutenant tao, what can you tell- where's lieutenant tao?" "oahu." "o what hu?" "oahu. hawaii." "gabriel: chief, tao's on vacation." "he took his kids surfing." "uh, i'm actually handling the ballistics." "all right, well, sergeant gabriel, what do you have?" "well, the casings are medium caliber." ". 380, semiautomatic, they all appear to be fired from the same gun." "i walked them down to ballistics about an hour ago." "they're gonna run them through the nibin database and get back to us by this evening." "this evening?" "lieutenant tao gets me those results in an hour." "well, that's because lieutenant tao knows their secret handshake." "plus the fact he gives sheila down there a bottle of kahlua every friday." "sergeant gabriel, let's see if we can't get that information back a little quicker." "thank you. detective sanchez, what can you tell me about the neighbors?" "well, nobody admitted seeing a car in front of that house." "i got a call into traffic to give me a report on any tickets over the past week, also any reports of abandoned or suspicious vehicles." "ok. with all that cash in the kitchen drawer, this might be drug related." "i need someone to talk to narcotics." "without it turning into a street brawl." "given the number of homicides that are drug related, we are gonna have to smooth things over with them." "ok, lieutenant flynn." "flynn is gonna be our goodwill ambassador?" "what?" "uh, see if there's any warrants that were served at that house or if there have been any narcotics complaints." "thank you." "yes, sir. can i help you?" "captain west. traffic." "oh, you want to talk to detective sanchez." "he's right here." "i'm not here to talk to detective sanchez." "i'm here to talk to you, about your accident." "oh. ok." "that's very funny." "that's funny." "you were- oh, you're kidding." "i know you're kidding." "that's funny. that's good." "i like that. no?" "no?" "it's not... ok." "um... my office, please, sir." "why don't you have a seat, sir." "now, how can i help you?" "i am here to investigate a charge that you were involved in a hit-and-run accident this morning." "you mean that dust-up at the coffee shop?" "is that how you think of it?" "that's precisely how i think of it." "i bumped into an suv. barely." "and then fled the scene." "why didn't you report the accident?" "i gave that guy all my information." "my business card, and my license number." "leaving aside that what you say directly contradicts the account of mr. carson, the man whose vehicle you hit, you still haven't answered my question." "why did you fail, despite very clear department policy, to report this accident?" "didn't seem important." "were you drinking?" "i was getting coffee." "you ever have anything stronger than that at breakfast?" "i was on my way to the scene of a triple homicide." "i gave all the information to the person i hit." "so, i didn't do anything wrong." "except expose the taxpayers and the city of los angeles to a possible lawsuit." "that is why we have a strict code of conduct that states, any officer involved in a vehicular accident while on duty must remain with their vehicle at the scene of said accident until a traffic officer completes a thorough investigation." "there was a triple homicide." "did you hear that part?" "dead human beings." "did you not know this is department policy?" "i wasn't aware. no." "well, maybe that's why the lapd usually promotes from within its own ranks rather than bringing deputy chiefs in from atlanta." "because every other cop in this building knows that when you get in any kind of accident- hey, chief. we just got a tip." "a guy walked into a clinic in east l. a." "with a bullet in his leg." "sanchez is already on his way." "well, captain west, i can think of nothing i'd enjoy more than to sit here and listen to you read me the rule book for hours, but i have some actual police business to attend to." "i will need these reports on my desk by tomorrow morning, and if you refuse to cooperate with my investigation, i will be forced to take this straight to chief pope." "be my guest." "a nurse who works here at the clinic called the tip line." "she got the number off the news." "a man came in here this morning bleeding with a bullet in his leg." "she's getting the doctor right now." "how can i help you?" "deputy chief brenda leigh johnson. lapd." "i need to speak with the injured gentleman." "i was able to remove the bullet in his leg." "he's recovering but rather traumatized." "he lost quite a bit of blood." "why didn't you call this in?" "i've been sewing this guy's wounds for over an hour." "i didn't have time to call the police yet." "well, i need to speak with him." "ok." "is he able to speak?" "i gave him a pretty healthy dose of percocet." "he's a little loopy." "blood on the door!" "hey, stop!" "call an ambulance." "we're taking this man over to county." "then we can figure out why he's in such a hurry." "hugo?" "gracias." "detective sanchez, i need you to tell hugo that we brought him to a hospital to take better care of him." "lo cambiamos al hospital para darle mejor atencion medica." "i know that this day has been difficult for you." "entendemos que ha tenido un dia dificil." "but i need to ask you some questions, is that ok?" "pero necesitamos hacerle algunas preguntas. ¿esta bien?" "you told the nurse at the clinic that you were shot by some gang members, that you were just walking by." "but that is a big, fat lie." "no, no, no. es la verdad." "i'm telling the truth." "want me to translate that, chief?" "no, i get the sense of it." "now that we're all speaking english, let's see if we can agree on the truth, ok?" "for example, you were shot at a house near the clinic where we picked you up." "we found your blood there, so don't bother denying it." "please don't send me back." "please don't." "i can't go back." "so you're illegal?" "is that why you ran away?" "si." "i was scared." "i did not know who you were." "well, now you do." "if you're honest with me, i'll do everything i can to make sure you stay here." "you tell me the truth, now." "i was smuggled over with 10 others." "the coyotes led us through the sewage canals." "we had to swim to the other side." "i could barely see, it was so dark." "when they got over the border, these smugglers, these coyotes, they loaded all 11 people into the back of a truck." "when they got to the coyote's house, they jacked the rate another $500 before they'll let anyone go." "assholes." "so everybody had to call their relatives to pay the higher price." "one of the coyotes went to a specific drop-off point to pick up the ransom, then they'd release the immigrants." "but hugo and 2 others couldn't come up with the money, so the coyote started screaming and pulled out a gun." "that's when hugo ran towards the back door." "he was a block away before he realized he'd been hit." "did hugo give a description of the coyote?" "oh, let me guess. mexican?" "what?" "if he's an illegal guide, he's not gonna be from canada." "hugo said the killer had a tattoo on his neck." "our lady of guadalupe." "he also said that the truck that brought them to l. a. was white." "why kill your cargo?" "it's bad for business." "these coyotes, they've got lots of business." "hundreds of immigrants want to get across the border every day." "how'd you get here, sanchez?" "your daughter drove me." "whoa... lieutenant provenza, our witness gave us a vehicle description." "check with impound." "maybe we'll get lucky." "thank you." "thank you, señorita." "have a nice day." "it's all right?" "it's all right." "sergeant gabriel, any luck with the gun?" "yeah, nibin hit the jackpot." "our weapon was used in a previous shooting." "exact same gun. a. 380 semiautomatic." "i pulled the file." "3 years ago, 2 gang members exchanged a few rounds in lincoln heights. aylesworth place." "no one got hit, and both shooters ran off." "but witnesses report seeing one of them toss a gun into the bushes." "i'm guessing a ficus or potacarpus or some sort of ground leafy cover- sergeant gabriel, please, finish." "must be channeling tao from hawaii." "responding officers searched the area." "they did not find a gun, but, the casings that they found match the casings from our crime scene." "ok, so we don't have a gun, but we know that it was used before in l. a." "we don't have a truck, but we know that it was white." "we don't have any bodies, but we're pretty sure some people are dead." "anything else we don't have?" "we don't have any post-it notes." "i used them all writing down captain traffic's messages for you." "according to section 440 of the lapd manual, what must an officer do immediately when he or she is involved in an automobile accident while on duty?" "do you know the answer?" "will, it's a stupid question." "it doesn't take into consideration any mitigating- do you know the answer?" "the question should be, what should a deputy chief do when involved in a fender bender, on her way to a triple homicide, to serve and protect the people of los angeles, after she tells the big faker, who she barely touched," "that she'll take care of everything?" "do you know the answer?" "well, i do now." "but, will, how am i supposed to handle this case and deal with this captain west and the bug that's up his- you know what." "please, will, can't you just make this go away?" "brenda, you were wrong." "you left the scene of an accident without following lapd protocol." "no matter how right you think you are, them's the rules." "ok?" "so, make time." "like i did for your deposition?" "that was a different situation entirely." "look, it can't look like i'm cutting you slack right after you did me a favor." "that would jeopardize both of our standings in the department." "the best thing you can do is just take your medicine and we'll all feel better in the morning, ok?" "oh, and, uh, i need your key." "to your car." "for the investigation." "oh... you're not serious." "you think i like upsetting you?" "yes." "he works for the government, called me sweetie, and now he's saying he's got whiplash." "it was a teeny, tiny dent." "well, you did hit him." "yeah, he was in my blind spot." "were you nice?" "i was very nice!" "look... i don't want to talk about this anymore, ok?" "i just-i don't want to talk about it." "i just want to have a nice, quiet dinner, just the two of us" "oh, can you just- i told you we ordered too much." "it's middle eastern." "you always over-order." "oh, kitty. oh, honey." "agent howard." "you found the bodies." "great, detective sanchez." "what bodies?" "that's for me. i know." "hello. hi, detective." "oh, good." "you gave out my number?" "i crushed my phone. uh-huh." "how did you- dead body. dead body. all right, good." "i'll meet you there. ok, bye." "i need to borrow your car." "uh, no. what?" "it's new." "your recent driving record hasn't been exactly spectacular." "no!" "does he ever smile?" "i mean, he found some bodies." "two hispanic males shot at close range, stashed in the back of the truck." "both: who found the truck?" "traffic called it in." "oh... right after they wrote a ticket on it." "i'm surprised they found the time." "any weapons discovered?" "that's the one thing we haven't found." "people think construction sites are just big trashcans." "we found syringes, shotgun shells, a couple of candles, some condoms, and a powder-blue toilet seat." "bag it all up, please." "thank you." "i'm guessing they've been dead 20, 24 hours." "the entry wounds are consistent with a medium caliber weapon like our missing. 380." "ohh... uh, chief, we don't... oh!" "move the bodies." "brenda:" "let me see that." "detective, look what we have here." "our lady of guadalupe." "looks like one of our victims is also our killer." "so who killed the killer?" "dr. crippen is on a leave of absence, and dr. tan will be overseeing and reviewing the autopsy with assistant terrence hynes." "both men were shot in the face." "instant death." "when?" "chief johnson has asked the time of death, and i, dr. tan, am responding." "according to my investigator at the scene, both bodies had been dead for approximately 24 hours." "also, the brain matter found in the house is consistent with these head wounds." "how certain are you of that?" "we won't know for sure until the full dna results come back." "but if you had to guess, these are the guys who died at our original house party?" "i don't have to guess." "there are drag marks on both juan does." "postmortem scrapes and scratches on their backs." "may i show them what i found?" "i had a career intervention with myself some weeks back and decided to pursue the coronary arts, so i'm going to medical school part-time, and i'm really enjoying- tell me what you found, terrence." "saliva. oh, darn it." "on, uh, both men, on their faces, but it's not their own." "here, on the forehead, and a little bit there near the entry wound." "which more than likely means that- the killer spat in their faces." "this doesn't seem like just some coyote losing his temper, it's more personal." "i need to have samples of the saliva for d- for dna testing." "chief johnson has asked for saliva samples, and i, dr. tan, have authorized my assistant, terrence hynes, to provide these samples- voila." "mademoiselle." "oh, thank you." "thank you." "i'm confused. hugo said that two illegals got shot by the coyote, but now we have one dead illegal and one dead coyote?" "from what we know, the coyote is illegal as well, so technically... well, then, are we still- wait, are we still looking for another body or a different killer?" "oh!" "yes." "why would you spit in someone's face?" "hate." "or contempt." "contempt." "well, we know that the coyote was extorting extra money from these illegals." "maybe he wasn't kicking anything back to the boss." "boss got wind of it, didn't want people to think he was getting soft and ordered the hit to send a message to the other employees." "well, if that's the case, why not just kill the coyote?" "why kill the illegal as well?" "silencing a witness." "well, then why move the bodies?" "maybe he was trying to hide them." "how does hiding the bodies send any kind of message to other coyotes?" "if you were going to hide the bodies, why put them where they were so easy to find?" "you know, i'm just kind of thinking out loud here- well, let's try thinking quietly for a little while." "might be a little more productive." "please tell me you're here to give me my car back." "have you finished those reports?" "there are over 50 different forms here." "that's how we determine the truth." "the truth?" "!" "ok... that man, mr. carson, there is no way that he is really injured." "he is a liar." "and an opportunist. and- my tail light was broken and my cell phone, and you don't see me accusing anybody- so you were talking on your cell phone when the accident occurred." "captain west... i realize that a lot of people in this building resent the fact that i am an outsider." "but that is no reason to waste the lapd's precious resources on this silly investigation." "silly?" "do you know there are just as many automobile fatalities every year in l. a." "as there are murders?" "and unlike the dead hookers, dealers, and gangbangers that you investigate, people care about the victims of auto accidents." "they mourn them." "they build shrines to them by the side of the road." "there is nothing silly about what i do." "it's a serious job and one worthy of respect." "please fill out those reports, ma'am." "they build shrines to them?" "yes, they do." "detective daniels. yeah." "when you were bagging that debris, you said you found some candles?" "where are they?" "uh, they're in evidence, but i have photos." "those are catholic prayer candles." "uh, chief, you care to share with the rest of the class?" "someone put up a shrine." "i want to know about every death that occurred within a 1-mile radius of where we found that truck last night, car accidents, shootings, dead pets, anything." "go back 5 years." "our killer was sending a message." "but it wasn't to his employees." "chief, it's the hospital." "the doctor wants to release hugo." "chief?" "if this is about your traffic issue, i told you, i can't help you." "no, no. never mind about that, but i need your help to solve a problem." "ok, i'm listening." "scared, but listening." "my witness has recovered." "and the problem?" "i need him not to be released from the hospital." "i can't force the hospital to hold a patient, especially an illegal immigrant with no insurance." "he'll disappear the moment they sign him out." "if you say you can't find a way to bend the rules to help me, i'm gonna scream." "so call immigration, call the doctor, call whatever, just call in a favor." "you remember what favors are, don't you, will?" "mm-hmm. things you do for people without expecting anything in return." "all right." "i can authorize a couple of weeks of protective custody." "thank you." "ok, we looked at the 5 years of incident reports." "tickets, et cetera, you know, near where we found our bodies." "there are no traffic accidents, uh, no gang activity, quite a bit of prostitution, though." "which might explain why your dear friends over in traffic were so quick to stumble on that truck." "oh, speaking of trucks, we did come across an interesting case from about 3 years ago." "yeah, someone drove a truck from tijuana to l. a., then abandoned it." "now, it had a refrigeration unit in the rear, but they failed to turn it on." "so 15 illegals locked inside cooked to death." "they came across the vehicle in a vacant lot which is now the construction site where our truck was found." "the fbi handled the case, and they sent us a copy of their files." "now, they did get some prints from the truck cab, but nothing else ever came up." "we should run those prints against our dead coyote." "they ever i. d. any of the victims?" "no. not all of them, but some of them have some relatives living here in l. a." "this is a partial list." "now, remember, it's a couple of years old." "where have i heard of aylesworth place before?" "it's in lincoln heights." "that's the same place we got the nibin hit right. on our murder weapon." "unsolved gang shooting on aylesworth place." "ok. 3 years ago, the bodies of mr. and mrs. david gonzales were found dead in the back of that truck." "bodies were claimed by their son, carlos gonzales, of 211 aylesworth place, apartment d." "is it just me, or does this all seem like an enormous coincidence?" "hmm. i'm just thinking out loud here... that we should pick up carlos gonzales." "hey, i finally figured out a solution to your captain west problem." "oh, yeah, what's that?" "fill in the reports." "oh, so you're taking his side now." "no, i'm just saying this whole thing is making you crazy." "and whatever you're doing to make him go away isn't working." "i will not dignify his baseless accusation by responding to it." "brenda... i've come up against guys like west." "they're machines." "you have to either play them or get used to losing." "then you mean politics." "well, yeah." "so you want me to lie and cheat like everybody else." "that is not the only way to be political." "well, i will not stoop to bullying and... using people." "oh, and, uh... i need you to drive me to work." "are they going to send me back?" "no. i had my boss pull some strings." "you're in protective custody." "in fact, i was gonna keep this as a surprise, but i'm working on getting you a work visa so you can stay in america legally." "thank you." "thank you very much." "well, that's the least we can do." "given your cooperation." "you must be hugo. es un placer." "feeling better?" "si. gracias." "this is detective daniels." "she and sergeant gabriel will help you with your visa application." "but i just need you to do one thing for me first." "we believe that we may have found the person that you identified as the shooter." "but i just want to warn you that it does not look good." "is this the man who shot you?" "si." "but who killed him?" "well, we have a man in custody we believe may have been involved, but we should get you started on your application." "sanchez: carlos gonzales, you have the right to remain silent." "anything you say can and will... oh, i'm-i'm... are you all right, hugo?" "is it that man?" "do you know him?" "no. i'm uncomfortable, and my leg, it hurts a little. i'm sorry." "no, i'm sorry." "i've been dragging you all over the city." "but you'll be on your way soon." "detective daniels and sergeant gabriel will help you get your pictures, prints, and signature for your visa." "right this way." "well, gentlemen, how are we doing?" "he's not much of a talker." "i don't have nothing to say." "oh, i think that's a mistake, carlos." "i know what you did." "i found that gun in your apartment." "i want to give you a chance to tell me why." "i don't know what you're talking about." "i'm talking about the men you murdered 2 days ago." "i have the evidence to prove that you did it, carlos." "but if you cooperate with me, i could help save your life." "this was a bad man." "we matched his fingerprints with the prints we found in the truck where your parents died." "he was the driver." "what i need to know is this- how did you find him?" "the fbi couldn't. how could you?" "you think about what i said, carlos." "you're smart enough to plan this, you are smart enough to help me finish it." "hugo's visa application." "it's all in there." "thank you." "brenda, i was just coming to see how it's going." "i'll let you know when i'm done." "oh, will." "um... i've been thinking- i've decided to take a more positive approach with captain west." "really?" "why?" "well, the traffic department did help us find our missing dead bodies, and we can't overlook that." "uh-huh. we?" "the thing is, i'm gonna kind of need a little favor." "no, no, no. you wouldn't be doing the favor for me, you'd be doing the favor for someone else." "would you do that for me?" "uh, would i do what for whom?" "we can talk about this later." "i'm almost done." "but thank you, will. thank you so much." "good news, hugo. you get to stay in america." "i don't know how to thank you." "in fact, you'll be staying here a very long time." "what's 15 times 20?" "300." "what?" "that's how many years you're likely to stay in a good old american prison." "provided that you live that long." "see, hugo, the fingerprints you provided to detective daniels for your work visa application- they match a set of prints the fbi found on the steering wheel of a truck 3 years ago." "that jog your memory?" "do you remember, for example, leaving 15 of your countrymen, including 4 women and one child, to cook to death in the back of that truck?" "that's not true." "i'm not a coyote." "there were 3 sets of prints found in the cab of that truck." "yours and the two dead guys from that house." "oh, and your friend with the, uh, tattoo on his neck here, he didn't try to kill you, hugo." "he was your partner." "and that boy we walked past you in the hallway, carlos gonzales, he was the shooter, wasn't he?" "how did he find you?" "how did he know who you were?" "if you help me, i can help you." "no." "i want a lawyer." "i want to call a lawyer." "given the physical evidence we have on you and the percentage of prospective jurors in l. a. county that are mexican immigrants, you had better call yourself a good one, my friend." "detective sanchez, i need you to hold your fire until i give you the signal, ok?" "all right." "carlos." "you saw that man i was with earlier in the hallway, didn't you?" "i know you did." "do you recognize him, because he recognized you." "he identified you as the person who tried to kill him." "i think he had something to do with killing your parents." "now, if you tell me how you found him, i can arrest him, carlos." "he'll go to jail for a good long time." "no?" "all right, then, i guess i'll just have to release him and charge you with murder." "you can't let him go." "that man's a murderer." "if he killed 50 white people, you wouldn't let him go." "he killed 50 mexicans- you don't care!" "detective sanchez, what are you doing?" "let go of that man this instant!" "diles lo que paso y te ponemos en la misma carcel del coyote." "si." "hey, you speak spanish, buzz." "what'd he just say?" "brenda: take your seat, immediately." "i don't know. i can't hear him over chief johnson." "detective sanchez, sit down, right now." "yes, ma'am." "sit." "i'm so sorry about that." "he is a very emotional man." "now, let's all calm down and i'll ask you again." "carlos... what happened between you and those coyotes?" "i killed them." "why?" "my family and i came here 5 years ago." "my father gave every penny he had to get us across the border." "we couldn't believe it when we made it to the u. s." "we were so happy." "then we got terrible news." "my grandmother was dying." "and my mother and father went to go be with her." "how long were they gone for?" "they were supposed to come right back, but the border patrol stopped them and sent them home." "so they went to the same coyote we used the first time." "they paid a lot of money." "again." "and then when they crossed the border, those coyotes just let my parents die in the back of the truck." "and no one even cared." "after 2 weeks, it wasn't even in the paper anymore." "but you remembered." "you lit candles for them and put them in the place where the bodies were found." "my sister and i... we prayed that god would punish those men." "but nothing happened." "i was losing faith." "then there was a shootout where i lived." "one guy threw his gun in the bushes in front of our building, and i knew god heard me." "and you took that gun and you went back to mexico just like your parents did." "and i hired the same coyotes that they used before." "they didn't remember me." "i was much younger when they brought us across the first time." "but i remembered them." "so why didn't you kill them as soon as they picked you up?" "the other people." "i didn't want anyone else to get hurt." "so you let these coyotes bring you all the way back to los angeles." "si. ah. uh... yes." "then i waited." "i watched them take more money from these people before they let them go." "those cowards." "and finally, i was the last." "and i paid them for what they had done." "i made them kneel on the floor and i shot them." "that guy got away, but i killed the other two." "and then you spat in their faces." "yes. yes." "i need you to wipe this along the side of your cheek." "i did what i did for justice." "i know that, carlos." "but that kind of justice is against our laws." "your laws didn't work for my parents." "uh... i don't think i've ever seen anybody flip so quickly." "yeah." "i guess he thought if he confessed, he'd end up in the same prison as hugo." "now, where in the world would he get an idea like that?" "too often, captain west, the efforts of you and your department are overlooked." "but deputy chief johnson has brought to our attention the invaluable contributions of your department in resolving 17 homicides, and it occurred to me that such work deserves recognition." "and so it is with great respect and gratitude that i present to you this commendation." "good work, captain." "thank you." "taylor: congratulations." "thanks." "well done." "uh, let's get a picture." "mm-hmm." "oh, no. no, no, no." "there's a guy out there." "i'm gonna have to go. ma'am." "commander." "thank you, ma'am." "thank you." "whatever. those medals are a dime a dozen." "well... thank you."