All language subtitles for The Chicano Squad S01E01 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[music]

[Woman] Two men are found dead,
Shot at close range.

[Man] The victim,
who was shot in the chest,

died two hours later.

In the 1970s, Houston's
crime rate was astronomical

and getting higher.

People didn't trust
the police officers,

especially
the Hispanic community.

The HPD had an atrocious record
of solving murder cases

in the Latino communities.

Tension just escalates until it
breaks out into an all-out riot.

[Cecil]
There was a language barrier,

so these cases
would sit there unsolved.

Nobody worked the cases.

So Jim said, "Hey, let's get out
there. Let's speak Spanish."

And start kind of
a special squad.

Oh, that's a good idea.

[Jesús] This is really the first
fully bilingual Spanish-speaking

detective squad in the country.

[Jim M] They said it was
going to be for 90 days.

They made it clear.
If it doesn't work out,

everybody is going back
to patrol.

I didn't know anything.
They threw us out there.

We had to prove ourselves.

We couldn't believe
what we were seeing.

[Cecil] I didn't know Houston
was that violent.

The drive that we had,
we went after these cases

like nobody's business.

It meant the world
that I could help my community.

The pressure was there.

The other detectives
resented them.

The racism, the ignorance, you
came across it from all levels.

When the drugs came in,
everything started changing.

These Colombians were
heavily armed

with automatic weapons.

[Woman] The murders are brutal,
sensational

and the ugliest side of drugs.

The Chicano Squad
had an impossible job to do.

[Cecil] There were all these
unsolved cases.

[Sergio] They're like,
we have to succeed at this.

You didn't know if this thing
was gonna last.

[upbeat, funky music]

[siren wailing]

[ominous music]

[Phil] In the '70s,
Houston was a boomtown

because of oil and gas.

This is where the jobs were.

So everybody was
coming down here.

There was an increase in demand
for cheap labor.

And you start to see the influx
of Mexican people into Houston.

They were coming
into the barrios.

That's where they were landing.

And they were there to work.

They would do that labor
that nobody else would do.

Well, for the most part,
it is a tale of two cities here.

When you're dealing with
the racial dynamic of Houston

and where wealth
is concentrated.

[Phil]
There was no legal segregation.

But there was segregation.

People stayed in
their own neighborhoods,

and there was plenty of tension.

The racial tensions in Houston
were always high.

We did not have
good city services.

Unemployment was high.

We had schools
that lacked resources.

There was just
a lot of frustration.

[tense music]

Back then, Houston was known as

the murder capital
of the nation.

[Man] We have murders,
robberies and rapes,

just as does every
large metropolitan area.

[tense music]

[Man] More and more of
the murders committed here

involve Hispanics.

Police say within that group,
the majority of those killed

have been illegal aliens.

[Melanie] In 1979, when these
homicides are building up,

Police Chief Harry Caldwell
is trying to rebuild

community relations,
because it's very obvious

there's no law and order.
There's no crime solving,

crime prevention
in the Latino community.

Most of HPD was already
notorious for police brutality.

Mexican-Americans started
to find themselves at the ire

of the police, particularly the
more non-native Mexican people

started to move in, the more
aggressive police became.

They're trying to keep
the help in line.

[Man] Mexican-American youth
groups took to the streets

protesting poverty
and police brutality.

The rallying cry
was "Chicano Power."

You go and ask for justice
and nobody listens to you,

and they send you right back,
and they tell you,

you don't belong here.

Might as well
just forget about it.

A lot of the cases would sit
there unsolved.

It appears that
they didn't care.

[José] Before the Chicano Squad
was put together.

The Hispanic community
had approached city council

and the police department,

because there were so many
unsolved murders.

Back then, the pressure was on
Chief Caldwell.

Our Black and white
clearance rate

oftentimes was over 70%,

but our Hispanic cases
were down in the 20 percentiles.

We needed somebody that could
speak the same language

to come down and help us
in our cases.

And Jim Montero
was the start of that.

[music]

Jim Montero was one of
few Latino detectives.

I was working as a patrolman
in 1970s.

At that time, must have been
about five Hispanic detectives,

two or three Black detectives.

But I felt inside of me
that I could be promoted

if I applied myself.
It might make a difference.

Have more people come in
like us.

It was hard to get promoted
because they didn't make

very many Hispanic detectives
at that time.

But I guess
I can't think of anything

he's ever really
backed down off of.

And so he took the detective's
test and passed it.

It was a big deal.

[Jim M] I was assigned to the
robbery division as a detective.

[José] I tell you what,
it gave me pride

because Hispanic detectives
were pretty much unheard of,

especially for his era, because
he's a lot older than I am.

It's no surprise that

Jim exhibited
those leadership skills.

He took so much pride
in his work.

He was extremely dedicated.

I wanted to make a difference
and I wanted to solve crimes

involving Spanish-speaking
people.

[indistinct chatter]
[police radio chatter]

[siren wailing]

Way which Chicano Squad
first started out was

at that time, the police
department had a difficult time

solving Hispanic homicides.
And so Captain Bobby Adams,

of homicide division,
asked me would I come over

and translate for
the Anglo detectives.

Jim would handle his workload in
the robbery division

and come help us with our cases.

And so I go over to translate,

and I wound up
doing the whole thing

because, oh,
we're speaking Spanish.

The victim's Hispanic.
The witnesses were Hispanic

and the suspect was Hispanic.

And I was working nights
because I was the only one

that can speak Spanish.

There were so many murders,
that he was being overwhelmed.

He needed help. He talked to
Captain Adams and said, hey,

let's get officers from
the streets that speak Spanish

and start kind of
a special squad.

Oh, that's a good idea.

Let's go talk to
the chief about it.

[music]

[Sergio] Jim Montero went
to the police chief's office.

He goes, "well, I need
Spanish-speaking cops.

"I need cops that
know these areas

and are from these areas."

Good cops that live in Houston.
They have contacts here.

Have family members here.

It would make it easy for them
because they'd be accepted

into the neighborhood.

Of course,
the big problem here is that

there was no detectives
that were bilingual.

[Jim M] My idea was to have
five patrolmen,

come in to work homicide.

All these guys would be
patrol officers without any

experience in homicide.

[Jim M] And I said,
"Well, Chief.

"Those five guys,
the five patrolman,

They will be translators."

Bringing a translator
to work with a detective

and help the detective
work the case.

That's what the idea was.

So he said,
"Go ahead. Go for it."

I think Jim, being a savvy vet
on the police force,

navigated the police politics
to get what he needed.

So he finally gets to sign off
on that.

And say, "Okay, great.
I need people to do this."

[funky music]

I did the best I could
to put together a good squad.

First is Joe Selvera.
Joe was ex-Marine.

Very structured. He likes doing
things a certain way.

He was one of those kind
of guys, just the facts.

Just give me the facts.

[Jim M] And then, of course,
we have Mosqueda.

[Sergio] Cecil Mosqueda,

he is probably one of the
funniest guys I've ever met.

Like he was also early partners
with my father, José Selvera.

Cecil and him. You're talking
about yin and yang there.

Because,
I know my dad's personally.

He's like, if you're going to--
if you're telling me

you're going to be here at 7:00,
you better be there at 6:30.

From what my dad tells me, like,

Cecil would show up
at 7:30, maybe 8:00.

And just seeing how pissed off
my dad would be

would be hilarious to me.

Then I had U.P. Hernández.
U.P. was a strong muscle man.

Really good at interrogating.

He had a way of communicating
with people.

Talk straight to you,
look you straight in the eyes.

Then there was Joe DeLeon,
and then Bobby Gatewood.

Patrolmen.
Good, hard working officers.

And that would be the six guys.

That way it would be
two, two, two. Partners.

Jim Montero was the leader,
and it was obvious to me

and to others that he selected
people that were of his mindset

with a high work ethic

and a reputation of
good police work.

[José]
That was the original guys,

and we became Chicano Squad.

It should be stated that this is
really sort of the first

fully bilingual Spanish-speaking
detective squad in the country.

[Sergio] I think it's fair
to say that at that time,

these homicides
in the Latino community

just weren't a priority to HPD.

The Chicano Squad,
they knew as police officers

that that was a huge opportunity
to help the Latino population.

I think it was something
that they carried with them

and that internally
motivated them.

When that opportunity came in,
my mission at the time was

I wanted to do what I could
for the community,

for our community,
because I'm part of it.

I grew up just north of Houston,
where Chicanos used to live in.

In addition to that, they knew
that if they did a good job,

that would hopefully make it
better for the next group of

Latino homicide detectives who
were going to come after them.

My idea was have my guys
learn how to do

a good homicide investigation.

Once we can do that and we can
conduct a homicide investigation

by ourselves,
we're going to stay here

because they need us here.

It was so funny when
they came up there and says,

"Well, what do we wear?"

I said, "You gonna wear
the best clothes you got.

"Suits, sportcoats,
shined shoes, comb your hair.

"Look good.
Because coming down the hall,

"they're going to be
looking at you

and they'll be wantin'
to find something wrong."

[funky music]

On my first day in homicide,

we were all dressed
in our suits.

Looking good.

The other detectives wondered,
who are these guys?

Looked like a bunch of pimps.
[laughs]

Once we were there,
we went to this small room.

[Cecil] It was a little small.
I mean, 10 by 10. 10 by 15.

Small room.

I thought, "Oh, man, this is
not enough room for all of us."

[Cecil]
One desk, one typewriter.

There was only one chair
in there.

[José] That same day,
the media was there.

Jim took us out to the front
and told us,

"Don't look at the camera
because we may be

working undercover one day."

So we all turned away
from the camera.

And that's the picture you see
in the newspaper.

Later on, we kind of went
through an orientation.

Lieutenant told us
what he expected of us.

Lieutenant Lofland,
Chuck Lofland,

was my direct supervisor,

the Chicano Squad
was put in his charge.

Yes, he was Anglo, but he
accepted us from the beginning

and he supported us.

[U.P.] He explained to us
what we're going to do.

We were put together as a group

to go up there to be translators
for the detectives.

He told us we were going to
learn how to investigate

by watching
the other investigators

and what they were doing
in the crime scene.

Then they gave us a period
that we had to prove ourselves.

They made it clear,
you got 90 days.

Said, okay, 90 days.

If it doesn't work out,

everybody is going back
to patrol.

And of course, I took it,
I'd better get my ass to work.

[funky music]

-Hey.
-Jimbo. How are you? Cómo estas?

-Good to see you, man.
-Same here.

Where you been?

[U.P.] Every day, from the
beginning of the Chicano Squad,

we'd all agree to go eat
breakfast together.

That was the routine.

Hey, guys.
Que paso?

Que paso? [indistinct] Jimbo.
How you doing, bro?

-Oh man!
-Raymoncito!

Go have some breakfast
at a Mexican restaurant.

Huevos rancheros...
That type of thing.

And we would talk
about the cases

and help each other.

What's going on, man?

It's a friendship.
We still talk to each other.

We see each other all the time.
We're buddies.

Glad to see y'all guys, man.

Man. Everybody looks good.
Everybody's alive, that's good.

[laughter]

That's true.

I remember I came
out of the military.

If you'd asked me why you want
to be a police officer,

every job interview,
they're going to give you the...

Hey, do you want to
save the world.

Me?

I became a police officer
because I needed a job.

But now, today, looking back on
what the Chicano Squad did,

I'm proud to have been
a police officer.

When I first went to a squadron,
I was a patrolman, you know.

I almost quit the police
department, you know.

'Cause I didn't know Houston
was that violent.

Because, even though I grew up
in the barrios,

I didn't see what I saw
in the police department.

I tell you what.

I went through this journey
to see what was going on.

Back then, the population of
a Hispanic in Houston,

they were being robbed,
they were being shot and killed.

I don't think the department
cared about what was happening.

When they formed the squad,

what was the number of murders
that made the squad?

Wasn't there 15?

It was 12 murders
in one weekend.

There you go.
All Hispanics.

When I went up there,

they said translator,
interpreter.

I said, I can do that.
I been doin' that on patrol.

Then told me you're going to
work homicides for the first day

and I said "Oh, [bleep]."

Because I didn't know
anything about it.

I didn't know anything.
I was just following him, man.

I said, "Hey, whatever you do,
Jim, I'm doing it."

[Cecil] Finally,
we started our training.

The training,
you know what it consist of?

Just following the officers,
what they were doing out there.

Real simple.

And we were going to translate
for the other detectives.

I was scared.

I was thrown to something
that I had never experienced.

Being homicide division,
you were considered to be

a top notch investigator.

And I told them,
learn everything you can.

I know how to do it
because I've been doing it.

I can go to a homicide scene
and conduct a homicide scene.

I've done it before,
but I want you guys to learn it.

And once you do that,
you will stay here

because we'll be workin'
those cases.

And they they'll
have to keep us.

First time that I went out
there, Joe,

I went out with Bruce Franks.

-[Cecil] He was a detective.
-He was a detective.

And I said, "What are
we going to do?"

He said,
"Well, we got a homicide.

There's a dead body in a car."

[police radio chatter]

[U.P.] I got there
and I saw all these people,

and I said,
"Man, what's going on?"

And I was watching him. So I
walked up to Bruce and I said,

"Bruce, what's that coming out
of the bottom of the car?"

He said, "Oh, gonna be
that body fluid."

Body fluid...

And I said, "So what's going to
happen now, Bruce?"

"Well, we're going to open it."

U.P. was a tough guy,
and he was strong, very strong.

He can get a telephone book
and rip it. I mean, rip it.

[U.P.] That's true.
And sure, I can be tough,

but when they open the trunk,
that was a different deal.

I never had seen a dead body
before then.

The body had been in the trunk
several days,

and it was summertime.

So he's cooking.

The stench hit me and I went,
a la (bleep).

Which means "Holy [bleep]!"

Well, that's how I started
really coming to reality about

what this is all about.

Being with Bruce Franks was
a learning experience for me.

Everything he did,
I watched him.

I saw how thorough he was,

who he talked to,
took information from everyone.

I mean, it's like the stenopad
was turning.

Back then, detectives were doing
the crime scene. We did it all.

Measure all the scenes,
collect all the evidence.

So there was a lot of stress.

It was all new to us.

This is before
crime scene units came in.

The best thing that ever
happened to homicide,

crime scene unit, because
they took a load off of us.

I'm telling you, because that
took a lot of time.

Bruce Franks could really
do stuff, and I thought

it's like another day for him.

Didn't--nothing bugged him.
Nothing bothered him.

Even going to the morgue didn't
bother him. And--

Did it bother you?

Oh my God.

That's another thing that
got me. I'd never been there.

So when we got there, get to
the bottom floor, the basement,

I'm hearing a saw.

And I'm thinking somebody is
building something out here.

What's going on?
So I kept looking around.

We came by this room.

And the medical examiner
was there.

And then I saw what
the deal was with the saw.

He was using it
to open the skull.

And then he went [cricks]
and I went...

-He popped it.
-I was looking at all this.

This. Like I said, you learn
quickly what this is all about,

and you either have it
or you don't.

And here again, I held my own.
I didn't want to lose it.

I couldn't eat meat
for two weeks.

It stayed with me.

[Jim B] It is hard
for any officer, young officer,

that's married with
a couple kids at home,

to say, we need you to come

and you're going to be
a homicide detective, and, uh,

you're going to work
every Christmas

for the next ten years.

You're never going to have a
holiday off,

and you don't think
you're going to have

Saturdays and Sundays off,
do you?

And by the way, you're going to
do all this in the night time.

You have to be a special breed
to take that job description

and say, put me in, Coach.
But that's what they did.

And they hit the ground running.

[Cecil] As we did more training,

the detectives were doing
the crime scene.

We would do the follow-up.
We'd take statements,

the question
and everything else.

It was just trying to learn
as much as I could.

You don't learn that stuff
overnight.

However, we begin
investigating cases

by the third day of training.

That was the extent
of our training.

It was a three-day training.
And then, here's your cases.

[suspenseful music]

[José] I think it was
the third day we walk in.

Everybody got five murder cases.

[U.P.] It was sink or swim,
more or less.

You have cases piled up,
sitting there for months, maybe,

that no one can
do anything with it.

I was shocked to see that.
I couldn't believe it.

We're sitting in there
on the floor and we're reading.

And the reports were nothing.

These cases were probably
four or five pages long.

There was nothing done.
No follow-up was done.

There were a lot of whodunits,
unsolved cases.

There was a language barrier.
I think that's part of it.

And also, it appears
they just really didn't care.

Once we got into it,
I kept track of all the cases

and who was working what.

And then I had my own cases
to work with also.

[Jim B] These people needed to
learn how to become a detective.

But because the demands
made on them,

it was a show me
what you've got right now.

And so the guys in the Chicano
Squad had to walk into the fire.

I knew nothing about homicide.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

They threw us out there.

[music]

[U.P.]
When we went up to homicide,

well, they told us it was going
to be for 90 days.

At first, we were told we were
going to be translators.

Before you know it, we were out
investigating cases.

I took up the challenge.

I'm sure all the other guys
felt the same way.

When you take
the detective's exam,

you learn how to be a detective.

There wasn't time for that.
So here you had patrolmen

without any experience
investigating.

[Jim M] I was concerned they
did not have enough training.

I felt like I needed to
help them understand how to do

a good homicide investigation.

Jim Montero, he gave us
a three by five card

that had how to conduct the
investigation.

[Jim M] I gave them the card
and I told them,

"Take this card and study it.
Learn it."

And one thing that
was very important, I told them,

I says, "You're not going
to find out anything

"unless you knock on doors
and see who saw, who heard,

"and what they know.

And maybe they'll give you that
tip that nobody else will get."

When we went out there,
we talked to people.

We did
a lot of foot investigation,

a lot of knock and talk.

We didn't sit down,

we're going to call
this person and--no.

It was hands on.
We did whatever it took.

[José] When we first
started working cases,

the community didn't
really trust us.

They didn't want to talk to us.

Getting information and
getting people to talk to you,

that's very important
in an investigation.

And yeah, I got resistance,
they were scared to talk to me.

Number one, some people
are here illegally.

Number two, the community itself
felt like the police

wouldn't do anything for them.

I can understand that.

When I was growing up,
I remember hearing my mom

talking to a neighbor
and saying,

"Don't ever say anything
to the police

'cause they won't do anything."

[Cecil] I know
why people felt that way.

Policemen were always
coming around my neighborhood.

They were always
after my brothers.

We thought that they were bad.

We just didn't trust them.

When I was growing up, we always
got stopped by the police.

Oh my God. And it's the way
they'd talk to us.

They were pretty rough.

They weren't friendly.
They were serious.

Scary.
My friends felt the same way.

They said, "You know,
the cops treat you so bad, man."

You have to remember,
people were still very upset

because of what happened to
Joe Campos Torres.

Joe Torres was a pivot point.

It changed everything.

[Melanie] Joe Campos Torres
was a Vietnam veteran

back less than a year
from the war.

He was only 23 years old.

And he was trying to figure out
what he was going to do next.

One night, José Campos Torres
went to this beer joint.

There was an argument happened,
and he got into a fight,

and they called the police.

Then the arresting officers
take him to a place

that they identified
as "The Hole."

The Hole was a location
off of Commerce Street

next to the bayou
in downtown Houston.

Every police force has a place
where officers

go snag a nap or something along
those lines.

They took him there.

[Jesús] The Hole was the place
where law enforcement

would take people that
they had under their custody

and teach them a lesson,
often a violent one.

[Melanie]
There were six officers there.

According to the testimony,

five of them just took turns
beating them up.

[sinister music]

José Campos Torres
is so badly beaten,

he's not resisting anymore.

According to the testimony,

one of the officers
picked him up,

took him to the edge
of the embankment

and threw him into the bayou.

And said, "Let's see if
this (bleep) can swim."

Carless Elliott, an officer who
didn't partake in this beating,

decided to tell the police
department what happened.

[Man] It is not unusual to find
the body of a murdered man

floating in Buffalo Bayou.

It is unusual when
a Houston police officer

is charged with that murder.

The body discovered in the bayou

was that of a Mexican-American
man, Joe Torres.

[Phil] Everybody was shocked.

The community, of course,
is outraged.

[All] We want justice.
We want justice.

[Cecil]
What happened in Torres case,

it affected all the Houston
police officers. All of us.

When I was on patrol,

I had people, Mexicanos,
telling me [speaking Spanish].

You're a traitor.
I had them telling me that.

[Raymond]
A Hispanic one time told me,

"You got a white man's job.
You're hurting your people."

And I can understand
what they meant.

Was this justified,
to kill him the way they did?

Even if he fought them back?

[José] He was a veteran,
and I was a veteran.

And there's a brotherhood there.

You know, it should have
never happened.

It made the police department
look bad.

And I was ashamed of it.

[Jesús] Those five officers,
they were fired.

[Melanie] Carless Elliott,
the one who reported it,

he does get to go back
to the police force.

But some of the other officers

had charges
pressed against them.

[ominous music]

[Man] According to the verdict
handed down today,

the jury did not think
the police had assaulted Torres.

Or if they did, they did not
think it was worth

the verdict of guilty of murder.

[sinister music]

The thing that hurt the most

was listening and hearing
the sentencing of the officers.

When that came down,
that just blew it.

The sentence was one year
probation and a $1 fine.

A dollar?

I mean, what's going on here?

[sinister music]

[Graciela] It wasn't just about
José Campos Torres.

It was about all of us.

[Jim M] In the Hispanic
community, there was

the undercurrent continuously,
this anger about

José Campos Torres.
And rightfully so.

It was a bad situation.

Sometimes I felt like
I was caught in the middle.

And if it was my kid,
I'd have been the same way.

I'd have been angry.

[sirens wailing]

[Jesús]
Tensions are high by '78.

[Man 2] Trouble began
about 7:30 at Moody Park

in a Mexican-American
neighborhood

several miles north of downtown.

[Jesús] And in fact,
things did boil over big time.

You had what is today sort of
commonly known as

the Moody Park Riots.

[Man] These are shots
of the Houston SWAT team

that was called in to take over.

Shotguns, M16s,
a lot of very heavy firepower.

The Houston Police Department
and its relationship

with the Mexican community had
always been one of contention.

By 1978, the tensions that were
there did heat up.

[Cecil] There was the Moody Park
Riots in the north side,

the same area, you know,
that I was raised in.

Uh, just because, you know, what
happened to Torres, Torres riot.

[Man] Pretty soon,
buildings were burning,

stores were looted,

snipers were firing,
and cars were overturned

in a 10-block section
of the city.

[Man 2] Three Houston police
officers were hospitalized.

[U.P.] I was here
almost all night.

This is only my second year
in the police department.

And already I'm experiencing
a riot.

It's crazy.

My lieutenant gave me
all this riot gear.

He said, "This is the way
you're gonna wear it."

And I had never worn riot gear.

It's kinda sad to know
that these guys,

they burned down
the neighborhood.

Moody Park showed the chasm
between the Mexican-American

community and the police.

[Melanie] It was an eye-opener
for the police department,

for the nation,
for the state

that something
needs to change here.

[uneasy music]

This is the era in which
the Chicano Squad was formed.

[José] Joe Campos Torres,

that was the reason people
didn't trust the police.

So when they formed
the Chicano Squad,

some people thought
it was probably PR

just to satisfy the community.

Kind of like we brought
these guys, shut up.

You got some Mexicans here.

[Sergio] They knew they
needed the community,

so without a doubt getting
the trust of the community

becomes a priority as far
as solving these cases.

And they had 90 days to do this.

For the Chicano Squad,
at that time,

it was kinda the impossible job.

[music]

At first, we would go out there
and there's some people

that said--
they just wouldn't talk to us.

I was worried about that.

[Jim M] The trust was not there.

I tried to explain
that I was there to help,

but most of them said
we're police.

The witnesses, they would say,
"I didn't see anything.

I don't know anything."
Of course, being a missionary,

I guess I learned
to not give up on that.

My father was a missionary.
He would go from door to door

trying to help
the local Hispanics.

Even when they'd tell him
to get the hell out of there

and curse at him,

he would smile and say,
"Thank you very much.

God bless you,"
and walk off.

And then he'd be back
in two or three days,

knock on the door.
"I'm back!" [chuckles]

Jim would say in Spanish,
it's not what you ask,

it's how you ask it.

Being a police officer,
I found it easier to be

friendlier in
approaching somebody.

We did that
in the Chicano Squad.

I told the guys when we're going
out there to a scene,

be friendly and, uh, have a big
smile on your face.

Try to be open-minded,
not aggressive.

Jim's faith has a lot to do
with the way he treats people.

He cared, you know, for people
that just were disadvantaged

and would help anybody.

[Jim M] We'd knock on the door
and identify ourselves,

as we are the Chicano Squad.

[speaking Spanish]

Then I would go,
"Mm, you're cooking.

It smells very good."
And she'd say, "Yeah."

"What are you making?

"Are they tortillas
and tamalitas?

Mm, my grandmother
used to do that."

"Would you like
to have a bite?"

And we'd come in and...

It made a relaxed atmosphere.

It was just like you were
talking to your aunt.

[upbeat music]

And you sort of relax.

And I found that to work out
real good for me.

He never met a stranger,
and that's how he operated.

And that's how he expected

the Chicano Squad members
to operate,

and I think that's,
that's how it was.

The guys on the Chicano Squad

had grown up in that
environment,

had grown up in that community,
so they knew the community.

They knew the culture.

And that was a big advantage
that they had.

You know, just the fact
that we're Hispanics

and we're talking to Hispanics,
that had a lot to do with it.

[U.P.] We spoke the language.
We looked the part.

It broke--it broke the ice
in a lot of things, you know?

I'd tell them, I'm a police
officer. I'm not immigration.

You're not in trouble.
I know why you're here.

You're here because you want
a better life for your family.

Make them feel comfortable.
That's what made it for us.

Made it big time.
We had it made out there.

They spoke to us.
We spoke to them.

And that was kind of the origin
of how they started getting

the trust of the community.

[music]

[Sergio] In the early days
of the Chicano Squad,

the biggest thing
that they did early on

was get out there and
actually talk to the community.

The Chicano Squad was able
to alleviate that tension

within the community
and show them that,

hey, you have someone
on your side.

You can call the police.
It's okay to trust us.

We are here to help.

That was the first big step,
especially because

within those 90 days, getting
the trust of the community,

that was the thing that could
help them solve these cases.

[José] What I experienced when
we worked homicide in the barrio

if a murder happened here,
you'd go a block up the way,

door to door,
knock on those doors,

come back to the other side.
And somewhere in those houses...

[speaking Spanish]

Or sitting out on that porch
that saw something.

That's true.
Oh, yeah.

But you get an
Anglo investigator,

he's not gonna get
that information.

[Cecil] There was one case, I go
out with an Anglo detective.

And we went to the East End.
There was a security guy

that got killed in
one of the warehouses out there.

We're looking for this guy.

He says, "I'm looking for a guy
named Flako."

The Hispanic people come in
and, "We don't know no Flako."

He kept on asking, Flako, Flako?
Nobody knew who Flako was.

It dawned on me.

I said, "Oh my God, he's trying
to say Flaco, not Flako."

That's how lost the police were
with the community.

They couldn't communicate
with these people.

And that, that set it up for me.

[groovy music]

[Jim M] Cecil was what you call
a barrio boy.

He loves walking around
the streets of the north side

just being around people.

I heard that this used to be bad
on the street, a lot of gangs.

-[Cecil] Oh yeah, yeah.
-[Man] That's what I heard.

Now it's just a
regular neighborhood.

He grew up in a big family.
Tough, tough life.

[Cecil] I was the oldest
of eight brothers.

My dad was always working.
He was always gone all the time.

So I kind of took over his role.

I had a responsibility to watch
over my brothers

and also was helping my mom
to pay her bills.

I started working, selling
newspapers at the age of five.

It was a tough, hard life,
but he succeeded.

[groovy music]

[Cecil] Being in Chicano Squad,
it satisfied me

to serve my community.
I loved what I was doing.

As time went on,
the more time we spent out there

investigating cases,
the community saw someone

really care what was happening
in their neighborhoods.

I felt that the Chicano Squad
is going to work

because these guys cared.

[ominous music]

One of the first cases that I
worked when I got to homicide

happened in a cantina
in Manchester.

[ominous music]

Basically this guy came in.
He was a troublemaker.

And he started arguing
with another guy.

And of course he killed him.

[gunshot]

That particular murder had been
sitting there for a while,

like two years.

No one had ever done
anything about it.

In the report it says, uh,
suspect heavyset, Hispanic male.

Went to Mexico,
you know, no leads.

So where you gonna go with that?

Most of our killings in
the '70s,

they were from cantina killings.

A cantina is a beer joint.

That's what you call it
in Spanish, a cantina.

Sometimes there's a little
dance hall connected to it.

[Raymond] Most of the cantina
killing, it was just mostly

just macho stuff.
Either an argument,

fighting over a woman.

At one time it was just
over a pool game.

Some of these murders were
as crazy as he raped my sister

back in middle school.

I met up with him
and I got even.

That type of [bleep].

They meet up at a cantina.
They settle the scores.

When I did my first murder there
in a cantina,

we go out there.
We get to the cantina.

And there was the barmaid.
Claudia was there cleaning up

the cantina and then the other
one was icing the beer.

And I introduced myself.

[speaking Spanish]

And she looks at me.

She said, "Hey, I thought y'all
forgot about it."

And then calls Maria.

And she says, "Yes.
[Speaking Spanish] I remember."

They started talking about it,
giving me details.

They both saw it.
They could identify the guy.

And he still comes in here.
He's walking freely.

He thought it was over because
the lady said...

Because nobody went
to bother him.

Nobody worked the case.

As my dad tells the story,
everybody knew who did it.

Like, everybody knew
who the murderer was,

but nobody was gonna tell
on this guy because

they were afraid of him.

[José] He comes in.
He puts his .45 on the table.

He's in charge of the place.

People are sometimes afraid.
They are. They're afraid.

Sometimes they don't wanna
get involved.

That's why you gotta go out
and be persistent.

Because people won't cooperate.

The other thing about this case
is that as I'm walking out

to go to my car,
Claudia says...

The lady said, "Right there
where that car is,

that's where he lives at."

It was there the whole time.
I was gonna get this guy.

[tense music]

I was surprised that this lady
knew so much about this case.

She said she knows him
and knows who he is.

He still comes in here.
He lives right there.

At the time, the guy wasn't
home, but his car was there.

Get the license plate.
That's a big break.

We brought in
these two witnesses.

Claudia gave me her story.
She gave me a statement.

I start typing.

Then I go back to Maria.
"Tell me what happened again."

Same story.

Then I went and ran a search
on the car.

That gives you a name.
That guy's been arrested before.

I got a picture.

I went up to the photo lab,
put together a photo spread.

I said, "Look, this guy that
you're telling me about,

can you look at these pictures
and tell me which one it is?"

"Yeah, it's number six.
That's him right here."

It was there the whole time.

If you're not a persistent
investigator, have that drive,

it's gonna die.

I've been working late on
that night, two or three o'clock

in the morning, to do the typing
and paperwork.

See, when I went to homicide,
I was a single man.

And to me, work is what I had.
I didn't have to go home.

If I had a case back then,
I didn't think nothing

but I just gotta get it done.

[tense music]

And one day Maria calls me up
and says, "Hey, that guy

that you're looking for,
he just came in."

[Mexican music]

I'm thinking,
"Let's go get him."

I went out with two detectives

because I knew
this guy was dangerous.

[suspenseful music]

My father walks in the bar,
asks the barmaid where is he.

The barmaid points him out.

[ominous music]

[José] And that's when
I arrested him and cuffed him.

I said, "Is this what
you're afraid of?

He's going to jail."

My father shows everybody
in the bar,

you don't need
to be afraid anymore.

[ominous music]

And that was kind of like,
"Hey, the Chicano Squad's here.

You have somebody to call now."

[funky music]

[José] We went up there
to be translators,

but when it came to that point
when I did my first murder

and being able to bring closure
to that, you feel good about it.

And I was able to help them.
That gave me a purpose.

And back then, they told me,
"You got 90 days."

It was, "That's fine.
Let's go to the next one."

Going back to the first case
that Joe had

from the beginning,
you could see.

Joe was very persistent.

[Raymond] If you want somebody
to investigate a case,

I would call Joe.

He was just good
at what he does.

This picture here is you and I.
And I had just gotten off

work that day.
You can look at my face here.

I'm happy that you're here.

My father, José Selvera,
is the hardest working person

I've ever met.

He's relentless and he's just
one of those people that once

he gets his mind on something,
just get out of his way.

When I was growing up, I mean,
he certainly had a way about him

when you went a little bit
outside the lines.

He had, like, this look.

Once you saw that look,
it was, "Okay, I'm done."

It's just like that stare

that'll, like,
pierce through you.

He has one of those.

Joe had movie star good looks.
And he had those people skills.

And Joe never missed a beat.

Joe was a serious guy.
He was a former Marine.

He acted like a Marine.
He had that mindset.

[José] The military came in
because I wanted to go

to college because I knew
mom and dad couldn't

send me to college.

I walked into the Marine Corp
recruiter and just said,

I said, "I wanna sign up."
And I was, like, 19.

And uh, Vietnam was going on.

I said, "Well, I'll leave as
soon as possible."

He said, "Okay, you can leave
the day after tomorrow."

I said, "Whoa, whoa,
wait a minute."

The Marines changed me a lot.

I came home and I knew
that I was different

because my family
had become my brothers

that were in the Marines.
That was my family.

And I was at a crossroad.

I didn't know
where I wanted to go.

So I applied
for the police department.

I just wanted that brotherhood
that we had in the military.

I found that with
the Chicano Squad.

We're a brotherhood
'cause we fought our battles.

It's not a battle
like war battles.

But we fought our battles
to bring justice for people

that needed it.

From the beginning,
when we went up to homicide,

the Anglo detectives,
they were asking,

"What are these guys
doing here?"

You'd hear this mumbling.
And I heard somebody say,

"Hey, you guys think
you're gonna do this?"

Kind of like a sarcastic remark.

In my mind, I said,
"Hey, give me time."

Of course, we were patrolmen.
And we were Hispanic guys.

Yeah, there were some
problems there.

Was there resistance to change?

Yes, there was resistance
to change.

The old white guys in homicide
did not appreciate

their coming on the scene.

There were those
that thought that,

"Nah, we don't need those guys.
We can do it."

Early on, these guys
faced incredible barriers

within the
Houston Police Department

at all levels.

If you happened to be a minority
of any sort, woman

or person of color,
you better consider it

a privilege to be
in the department.

The Houston Police Department
at that time

had no real minority outreach.

The minority population of the
police department was minuscule.

[Jesús] One of the things that
the Houston Police Department

used to do was that it was
denying the applications

of Mexican-Americans because
they did not meet

this supposed
height requirement.

You had to be at least
5'8", 155 pounds.

I was 5'7" 3/4, just a little
quarter of an inch under.

I had to cheat a little bit
on it.

I held on my tippy toes.
And that's how I got accepted.

[José] That's the way it was.
I dealt with a lot of that

throughout most of my career.

When I was working patrol out
in northeast, this one officer,

he would say, "Joe,
let's go get some wetbacks."

I mean, it was kind of like,
"Oh, come on, man."

[siren whoops]

One day we stopped
an undocumented man.

Didn't speak English,
so we pulled him over.

And the officer with me says,
"Joe, is he illegal?"

And I kind of like [bleep],
I said, "Yeah, he's illegal."

He said, "Well, you know
that's a felony."

I said, "Yeah, it's a felony."

He said, "Well, get in the car."
And I had to do it.

There was conflict
because you know whenever

I stopped that hardworking man
that was all sweaty, all dirty

trying to catch a check,
that was my dad.

So when I first went to
homicide,

I'd seen enough of it.

That's what it was.

Back then,
that's what we dealt with.

I could feel it.
I could hear it.

I-I-I remember one specific
detective who told me,

"You're not a detective?
Why you guys are here?"

I said, "Because I'm doing a job
that you can't do."

He said, "I know why y'all
got in, 'cause y'all Hispanics.

That's why.

He's like,
"You're not smart enough

to promote to be a detective."

Oh, man. Did that hit me hard.

And that's what motivated me.

I wanted to prove to myself
that I could do it.

And to shut them down.

[music]

[tense music]

[Sergio] After the first month,
certain cases,

they couldn't solve,
but some of them were able

to solve with just a little bit
of effort.

[twangy music]

The Chicano Squad,
they uh, talked the talk

and they walked the walk.

After they were there,
the Hispanic clearance rates

remarkably started going up.

Most of the detectives that
had an open mind

were all for the Chicano Squad.

I went to the Chicano Squad
with my hat in my hand

numerous times.

As a prosecutor,
oftentimes it was very difficult

to locate witnesses.

A lot of times the witnesses
did not want to help for fear.

Oftentimes, I would go
to the Chicano Squad and say,

"Hey guys, I need this witness.
I can't find him."

They would always say,
"Let's see what we can do."

And oftentimes they would find
the missing witness.

[Jim B] When you have
a homicide division

that's working hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds

of murder cases a year,
this is not rocket science,

this is the basic needs
of what we need here.

We needed the Chicano Squad.

I wanna show you something.

This is the original
police department right here

for many, many, many years.

[clicky music]

There was a lineup.

This is where they used
to do lineups.

This was the main office
for the citizens to come in.

They had a front office.

This is the original office.

This is where we were
assigned to.

There was just one desk
and one typewriter in the back.

I was always in the office.

I mean, hell,
I was always working.

All of us, the whole squad
was working long hours.

[U.P.] What we learned
from Jim Montero

during this whole process was
that when you have a case,

you don't leave
until you finish it.

So you couldn't just go home
'cause you wanted to go home.

[Cecil] A lot of times there was
so much work because

we already had the cold cases,
and then

we had to help the other
detectives work a lot of cases.

And do the interviews
or interrogation

or whatever we needed to do
for them.

[Sergio] Everybody was looking
for ways to clear their desk.

And I think the word was out
within the department

that if you have a Latino or a
Mexican surname on a case file,

you need to give it to these
guys because they can speak

the language
and they can do the work.

So as you can imagine,
other detectives,

they started using them
to their advantage.

We're not just talking murders.

We're not just
talking robberies.

We're talking extortion, rapes,
kidnappings.

All these other types of cases.

I knew what was going on.

The thing about it is,
is that if we didn't help them,

it's not gonna get solved.
We had to do it.

Luckily, I had that outline
we got from Jim Montero.

I mean, I used that outline when
I worked those cases, too.

The Chicano Squad weren't
gonna turn any cases down

because they knew they were
making an impact.

They were, um, clearly
overworked because they were

having to help everybody
with all their cases

and do twice the work.

But they were always glad
to do that and never complained.

At that time,
I had a routine down.

Early in the morning, I'm out
there in the neighborhood

knocking on doors.

By two o'clock,
I'm back in the office.

Then I would do my reports.

6:30, I was back out
in the neighborhood,

and sometimes I was working
surveillances late at night.

There I was,
two or three o'clock,

four o'clock in the morning,
questioning people.

Jim Montero, one day,
he said, "Hey, Cec,

why do you work so much?"

I said,
"For the victims' families."

Because they were hurtin'.
I did it for them.

I was determined.
I wanted to solve these cases.

And everybody thought that way.

We believed in
what we were doing.

[percussive music]

We were just working,
working, working.

We didn't pay attention.
We were just working.

It didn't bother us.

[Jim M] The Anglo and Black
detectives would have one

or two cases, but ours were
three, four, five as a bunch.

Aside from homicides, we had
a lot of kidnapping cases, too.

You could be working a murder
case, but you're on call.

Hey Raymond, Joe,
you're on call, brother.

We got a coyote mess.
Okay, we're coming in.

The coyotes were smuggling
people into the United States.

We worked quite a few
of those cases.

[Man] Many of the thousands
of illegal aliens that

cross the border each year
pay professional guides

called coyotes to help them
get to big cities.

The arrangements
are always dangerous.

Many of the travelers
die by accident.

Some are robbed or killed.

Those [speaking Spanish]
were coming across

to hire a coyote.

The coyote would bring them in.
They had set a price and paid,

but when they got here,
they get to the family,

"Hey, you want this guy here?
Another $15,000."

And the people,
they couldn't afford that.

That's when they started
calling the Chicano Squad.

[Woman] Last night
at this eastside bar,

immigration investigators
working undercover

reunited a Mexican family.

The mother cooperated
with the INS

after smugglers told her
they would keep her children

until a ransom was paid.

The coyote was
making the threat.

The family member is saying,

"Hey, they said if we don't
pay..."

[speaking Spanish]

I remember talking
to one young man and I said, uh,

"What happened to your ear?"
He said, "Well, he cut my ear."

I said, "Why did he do that?"

Because they didn't have the
money to pay him.

Sometimes they did kill them.
It turned into a murder.

We would find them dead
on the side of the road,

in the back of pickup trucks.
In my mind, I'm thinking,

"Man, these are your own people.
You bring them from over there

and you're gonna treat them
like trash?"

Dinero.

Oh, the money talks.

[Woman] Smuggling has
become big business.

The market is there.

Aliens are willing to take the
risk of being abused or worse.

[U.P.] One day while I was there
at the police department,

I walked out to the hallway
and they were telling me,

there's a guy up here.

You know, he had escaped
from a coyote

and he only had his underwear.

And they only spoke Spanish,
so they brought him up to us.

[uneasy music]

I gave him a t-shirt
and some jeans.

We talked to him and he told us
what had happened to him.

He's nervous.
He's scared.

So I said,
"Where did they keep you?"

The garage.

Men, women, and children
in this garage.

[uneasy music]

The coyotes had little bags.

They would take their clothes,
men and women.

So they couldn't go anywhere,
right?

They're in their underwear.

I mean, these poor people,
they had them sitting

on the floor of the garage.
They can't move.

They're just looking
at each other.

And they had these two guys back
there with guns, taunting them.

[uneasy music]

They were scared.

The man who was kidnapped was
able to tell us how he got away.

What they had were like
porta-pottys.

They were taking people that
were being held to the restroom.

And he's inside the porta-potty
watching them.

[tense music]

When they walked away
while he was in the restroom,

he said he looked
and there was nobody there.

[tense music]

So he just took off running.

This young man was running
around downtown

in his underwear,
where he was found.

So the question was, "Do you
know how to find this place?"

He said, "I think I can."

[suspenseful music]

When I started going through
these streets, there's so many

apartments that I was wondering,

"Okay, which apartments
are you talking about?"

We were passing some apartments
on the way.

But this guy,
where'd he come from?

[suspenseful music]

So I'm driving and I'm looking.
I'm going,

"This guy is from the other side
of the border.

"He is coming over here
to Houston,

"a city he's never been
to before,

now if he was able to find this
place, that's a miracle."

Well, he directed me
to the Westpark area,

which is the southwest
part of town.

There's a lot of apartments
over there

and a lot of Hispanic
businesses and warehouses.

But we couldn't find
the apartment that

he was talking about.

And then he
all of a sudden said,

"Okay, okay. I think that's it.
Right there, right there.

That one, that one. Go back.
Go in there. Go in there."

And I did and he said,
"Okay, see that one?

That's the apartment
right over there."

It was evening.
It was kind of dusk.

Not that much lighting,
but you could see the apartment.

So I parked my car where
I had a full view of the garage

that he was talking about
and the apartment.

And that's when
I got immigration.

I told them,
"I need your help back here."

I called some patrol units, too,
to help me because I knew

it was going to take a long time
to get immigration there.

I knew that there were guys
with guns in this garage

and they were dangerous.

[tense music]

[U.P.] I called immigration
and I told them,

"I have a young guy that
escaped from a coyote.

There's a garage here.

And he told me that they have
other people in here."

And I gave them the address.
And they said,

"Okay, well, we'll get there
as soon as we can."

So I just kept my surveillance.

And we waited for them
to come there.

I wanted to help
these poor people.

When I was in the Chicano Squad,
there were so many coyote cases,

the immigrants that were brought
into Houston by the coyotes

and were being kept
against their will,

those were the people
who needed us the most.

And that's why I felt
so much responsibility

to solving this case.

[suspenseful music]

I was just keeping an eye
on the apartment,

and then, all of a sudden,
a car drove in.

[suspenseful music]

That drew my attention
because I went, "Wait a minute.

"Something didn't look right.

That's the pick-up guy."

They were coming here
to pick up some people.

They spotted me.

Something didn't
look good to them,

so they immediately took off.

And I couldn't follow them.
I just stayed there.

I just kept my surveillance

because there's still more
people in the garage.

There was no movement.
Nobody was moving.

Nobody came out.
Nobody moved.

Nothing.

[tense, buzzy music]

It took immigration quite
a while to get there.

And then finally when
immigration got there,

I got the officers,
I went straight in.

[tense, buzzy music]
[police radio chatter]

We opened the garage.

There were a lot
of people in there.

We couldn't believe
what we were seeing.

These poor people.
They were all from Mexico.

So we started to take care
of them and process the scene.

But the coyotes,
we couldn't find them.

So we have a crime scene,
but we didn't have the suspects.

They're gone.
So I talked to the guy.

I took away and I said,
"Tell me something.

"There's nobody there.

There's no guys back there
with guns."

I said, "The guy that brought
y'all over that had the gun,

so they're in there?"
He said...

What are they wearing?

They took it off.
They're like us.

And vaguely gave us
a description.

We spotted them.
We got 'em.

[sirens wailing]

And the assistance
of the guy that was able

to escape helped a lot.

Immigration took charges
on them, too.

Kidnapping.

The reason this case
stays with me is because

I would have never,

out of all the investigations
that I've done in homicide,

would have ever thought

that I would see people
in that situation.

Being held against their will,
it's terrible, it's horrible.

It meant the world
that I could help people.

The work was very rewarding
to me.

U.P. definitely
was compassionate

with the community.

I think he had assisted more
than just his cases.

U.P. did a really good job out
on the streets.

[cool, upbeat music]

He made the citizens
feel comfortable,

that they could come to him
with anything.

[U.P.] I came from the hood.
When I was growing up, we had

about 13 of us living in one
house, so it was a big family.

My neighborhood was a little
rough for me.

One day I decided I wanted to go
to the park.

Unfortunately, I was met by
three young guys

and I got into a little fight.

I had a busted lip
and my shirt was torn.

So I started learning
how to box.

I boxed in the Golden Gloves
and I learned to defend myself,

protect myself.

[Linda] U.P. always worked out,
constantly.

He wanted to be strong enough to
deal with whatever could occur

when he was on the job.

My earliest memories of U.P.
were like a bodybuilder

in a suit.
Like, he was just a big guy.

Like, U.P. had some shoulders.

Like, how do you fit
through that door?

U.P. definitely reminds me a lot
of my father.

Very stern, but he definitely
has a warm side.

Like, he was a big teddy bear.

[Linda] He's very loving.

U.P. would bring home what
he called the Friday gift.

He would bring a gift home
every Friday evening for me.

It could be a flower.
It could be a candy.

It didn't have to be anything
really big, but you know,

U.P. never talked
about his work.

I never discussed anything
with my wife

about the cases that I worked.

When I left work,
I left it all behind.

[Linda] When he would come in,
we had a back TV room

and he would go in there
for a while and he would sort of

just watch golf or sports,
or something to just decompress

from the day.

I would go in there,
close the doors,

turn the TV on,
and think about everything

I did that day,
what I needed to do tomorrow.

Then I opened up the doors,
come and talk to the kids,

and eat dinner.
It's a habit I had.

It really helped me
with seeing what I saw every day

in homicide.

U.P. was clearing cases.

I cleared my cases.

All of us,
we were clearing cases.

[music]

Back when during that time,

uh, media was hot
about Chicano Squad.

[U.P.] My mother was
very excited

when she saw me
in the newspaper.

My brothers and sisters, too.
They couldn't get over it.

And she went and told
all the neighbors.

And said, you know,
"He's doing detective work."

We were constantly on the news.

And Mom was just
ecstatic about it.

I remember the
Chicano Squad came out

in the Houston Chronicle .
It was on the front page.

-That's how we got known.
-We just caught on.

You know, back in the '70s,
Chicanos was the radical era,

the brown berets, Chicano power.

And I was surprised
how popular we became.

Even the criminals liked us.

[laughter]

The Chicano Squad
was so successful,

it just caught fire.

And then because they got
so much media attention,

and they got more attention
than anybody

in the homicide division.

And that caused problems
because some homicide detectives

were just unhappy about that.

So that was another hurdle
they had to overcome.

[tense music]

[José] There was resentment
from the detectives.

It took us a long time
to get respect.

Bobby Gatewood and I go out
to work a murder case

and the body's laying out
in the middle of the street.

I went in there and I told them,
"We're from homicide.

"We need you to block
that intersection,

block that intersection."

[sirens wailing]

And the first thing the
detective says is,

"I don't take orders from you."

I called Chuck Lofland.
I said, "There's a detective

says that we're not gonna work
this scene."

He says, "Oh, really?
Put him on the phone."

And the guy went on the phone.
And I heard him say, "Yes, sir."

Gave me the phone.

He said, "Joe, you have any
more problems, let me know."

He hung up.

Block that street,
block that street.

And he took off.
He left.

He never came back.

And that's basically
what happened for months.

When we went up to homicide,
that was a thing that would

happen all the time.

[José] One time I went up
to accident division.

And I walked up and says,
"Officer, I'm from homicide.

I need a copy
of this accident report."

And he looked at me.

He says, "You can't have
an accident report."

I said, "Look,
we're working a murder.

"I need an accident report
on this

'cause it's tied
into my murder."

"You can't have it.
Go through the procedures."

Lieutenant.
[laughs]

[Cecil] The thing about it is,
is that we did all the work

for the other detectives.

And at the end,
they took credit for it.

We worked all these cases.

Well, they said y'all
don't get credit for that.

And I'm sitting there,
"Huh? That don't make no sense."

This is what I heard.
The reason that we didn't get

credit for anything was because
we were only a support group.

-Exactly.
-But yet we were clearing cases.

When they started
clearing these cases,

some of the officers
that were already in homicide,

"Oh, give me that case back.

I cleared that case 'cause
you're just a translator."

[Cecil] During the 90 days,
the only way to prove

to the police department
the Chicano Squad was working

was to show that
we could solve these cases.

But if we didn't get credit
for clearing these cases,

we got a problem.

[José] I remember the first two
murder cases that I worked.

They were cantina killers.

The detectives,
when they filed it,

got credit for it.

When I first went to homicide,
I was an interpreter.

I can tell you right now
there wasn't much pride.

I'm an interpreter.

But when I actually
got my murder cases,

that gave me pride.

I got the statement.
I got the photos.

I arrested him.
I solved this one.

But then they went and filed it.

And filing the case is like,
you know, you cleared the case.

But if you really look
at the whole thing,

who really did the work?
I did the work.

If we couldn't figure that out,

that was the end
of the Chicano Squad.

In the early times when
we started helping the uh,

other detectives to clear their
cases, we arrested the guy,

we pulled all the witnesses.
We did all the leg work for 'em.

And at the end,
they took the credit.

This happened with Joe.
And he had a cantina case.

He solved it
and they took credit for it.

And I said, "Oh, this is wrong."

I did the work and then this guy
is gonna take off

and says it's his.

Yeah, it upset me
'cause they're saying

that they cleared the case.
They didn't clear it.

I did.

[Raymond] We felt,
"Well, hey, that's not right."

If Joe cleared it,
he should go file it.

But first they told
Jim about it.

He talked to Lieutenant Lofland.

And Lieutenant Lofland said,
"Well, that's gonna stop.

"If they give it to y'all,
they say we can't handle it

"'cause there's a language
barrier, and y'all cleared it,

y'all gonna get the credit,
not them."

[José] Chuck Lofland says,
"Joe, that's yours."

We solved it, so it went,
credit for us, not them.

The lieutenant corrected it.

There wasn't literally
a day that the Chicano Squad

wasn't caught in some
type of controversy.

[Sergio] Again,
this is not a bash HPD thing,

but the next hurdle was there
were other detectives,

but also people who were trying
to promote to detective

had an issue
with the Chicano Squad.

[Cecil] Some of the officers
were complaining,

"Why are they in homicide?
They're officers.

They're not detectives."

[Jim B] There were
bruised feelings.

There were a lot of
young men and women

that wanted to be promoted to
come to the homicide division

that were bumped
out of that job.

The detective rank was
the required rank to gain entry

into any one of the
investigative divisions,

whether it was burglary
and theft, robbery, or homicide.

But many of the guys
in the Chicano Squad

only had the police officer
classification.

[Cecil] All of us eventually
were gonna take the test,

but it was tough because
we're working all the time,

and so it took us a long time
to study.

And so some of the real
detectives, number one,

resented that they could have
the same standing

in the same division
without having taken that test.

So because of this issue,
when you have an issue,

you file a grievance.
So they filed a grievance

with the police union

saying these people are not
promoting the right way.

[tense music]

They basically were filing a
reverse discrimination complaint

against the Chicano Squad
to, number one, try to make the

argument that they were being
given special consideration.

[Man] The officers said they
did it because they're fed up

with being pushed around
by the police chief.

[Jim M] They came up there
bitching at Chief Caldwell.

It was hard,

you know, because he didn't
wanna mess with associations

and the complaints
going to the union

and all that kind of stuff.

I'm here.
Sacrifice my family.

Working overtime.
Staying late at night

making the police look good
and you're telling me

I'm not worth it.
How can you say that?

The deal is this,
we were clearing cases.

We were filing the cases.

We were testifying in court
and getting convictions.

We're officers.
They're detectives.

They took a civil service test.

They got a gold badge.
I have a silver badge.

I didn't have to have a gold
badge to do what you're doing.

I didn't understand it,
you know?

I'm doing my job and your job.

[Jesús] The Chicano Squad
had a lot of complaints

lodged against them.

And a lot of these
complaints were because of

bypassing procedure,
but a lot of those complaints

also were personal.

How dare these men
come and be a detective

when they haven't really
earned their stripes.

And now they're doing the job
better than me?

I don't think so.
It's jealousy,

but I think it's also
sort of bigotry.

I think certain bigoted men
did not want Mexicans

in homicide division simply
because they were occupying,

and successfully occupying,
what has been traditionally

a white space within
the Houston Police Department.

[Graciela] For the most part,

the union at that time
was very white.

And they were in control of who,
what and how

was going on
in the police department.

I think they definitely wanted
to continue to control

because for so long we had been
oppressed, we had been omitted,

we had been left out, you know,
it was playing catch-up.

I think they did not like that.

And I think that
they felt threatened.

Clearly, the challenges
that the Chicano Squad faced

They had a tremendous workload.

They had these cold cases
still that were pending.

They had a timeline
that they had to meet.

I mean, it was pressure
for them.

[José] The end of 90 days
was coming

and we knew the complaint
was still pending.

There was talk that
they would have disbanded

the Chicano Squad.

I didn't think about it.
We continued working.

Because like I tell you,
we go back to the large number

of cases that were
sitting there.

I told the guys in the squad,
we're helping the people.

We're helping Chicanos.

My first priority's my work.
That's what I was thinking.

[Sergio] This was always
something that

could be taken away at any time.

They were like,
"We have to succeed at this,"

because you didn't know if this
thing was gonna last.

[music]

[suspenseful music]

Once the 90 days is coming up
and they are proving that

they can do the work
of the detectives,

the guys started thinking
about what was gonna happen.

Remember, nobody thought
they were gonna be successful.

At the end of 90 days, we were
concerned what was gonna happen.

What happened was in only
three months, the Chicano Squad

cleared 40 homicides.

[suspenseful music]

That is phenomenal.
A huge clearance rate.

So they pretty immediately
showed their utility

and their usefulness and
why they needed to be there.

[suspenseful music]

They didn't clear all the cases,

but they cleared a whole lot
more than we cleared.

And they cleared a whole lot
more than would've been cleared

if they weren't there.

The homicide division
had 200 guys.

The Chicano Squad
was six officers.

They literally were
getting almost identical,

the workload that the greater
homicide division was getting.

And yet they were able
to have a better clearance rate

than the regular
homicide division.

The clearance rate I think
speaks to the work ethic.

I think it speaks
to how needed it was

and also how talented
these men were.

They took it very seriously.

And they were able to accomplish
what many thought they couldn't.

[U.P.] At the end of the 90
days, we heard from Joe Montero.

He says, "You know what, guys?
Y'all aren't going anywhere."

"What do you mean?"
"They're keeping y'all here."

The captain said and the
chief said, "They're staying.

They're not going anywhere."
I was so excited.

I feel very rewarded.

When we first got to homicide,
they had no idea that

it was gonna be a success, but
knowing that you did your best

and you got it,
that's a great feeling.

It made me feel good and proud
because we got recognized

by the work we did out there.

And I think they knew that the
Chicano Squad

deserved to stay in homicide.

[U.P.] It felt great
because we proved to y'all that

it doesn't take
a civil service test

to find officers that
have a lot of quality.

You got a lot of smart guys
out there.

Give them a chance.

After the 90 days, all they did
is kept giving us more cases,

so we knew we were there
to stay.

Who else is gonna work
the cases?

It's funny how sometimes
people will try to set you up

for failure by not providing
enough resources or support,

but it also can be a motivator.

And I think that
that's what happened.

The upper ranks
of the department recognized

that it was a necessity.

And the complaint against
the Chicano Squad was resolved.

Caldwell was quick to
work it out, and he handled it.

The chief said, "Okay, fine.
I hear you.

"I'm gonna move
the Chicano Squad.

"I'm going to assign them
to the chief's office.

And if you have a problem
with it, come see me."

And then U.P., Joe, myself,
we all took the exam

to be a detective.
I passed it and I got promoted.

I was happy
'cause I was smart enough.

And I shut them down.

Unfortunately,
U.P. and Joe didn't pass.

I just blew it off
because I didn't care for it.

I enjoyed what I was doing.

And you know, I'll tell you
another thing about that,

studying the book,
taking the promotion,

that doesn't make you
an investigator.

You gotta have drive,
discipline,

and you gotta go after it.

[Jim M] Joe Selvera
and U.P. Hernández,

they were never
classified detectives.

After I got clearance
from the chief of police,

I started referring to them
as investigators, and that way,

the guys who were waiting
to be promoted to be detectives

could not make a complaint.

[Sergio] Once that happened,
that was kind of the stamp of

the Chicano Squad
is here to stay.

Get out of their way
and let them do their work.

And then it was on.

[sirens wailing]

[José] Right after 90 days,
Joe DeLeon decided to leave

the Chicano Squad
because working homicide,

working around the clock,
that's not for everybody.

[upbeat, percussive music]

Jim and the guys, we all talked.
Says, "Who do we bring up?

"Do we want a worker?

Somebody we can get along with,
so we can keep the..."

Raymond's name came up.

[Raymond] At first, when the
Chicano Squad approached me,

I thought, "I really loved
working the streets."

But homicide is
a different game, I think.

[José] Cecil knew Raymond.
I knew Raymond.

And I said, "Look, I know this
guy is a worker."

I said, "Yeah,
I'll give it a try.

Yeah, I'll go."

And then I think a week later,

they told me
to report to homicide.

[funky music]

It was a new territory for me.
I was nervous, but excited.

I wanted to learn.

[funky music]

When I became a police officer,
a lot of my friends, they said,

"You know, Raymond,
you're too nice to be a cop."

I didn't know cops
had to be mean or something.

Raymond had a good heart.
He was good to people.

He was understanding.

My father is the most calm,
cool, level-headed,

super kind person,

so it's kind of ironic
that he has another side of him

that investigates murders
and interrogates murderers.

But that's his character.
He's just always been that way.

He's, uh, very soft,
tender, type of guy

but yet, he's tough.

Raymond went through a lot of
different things as a patrolman.

[Cecil] And when Raymond
got to homicide,

the first day,
Raymond shows up with a--

I think he had broken his ankle
or some [bleep].

And he had a sock over his cast.

And I remember telling Raymond,
"Raymond, go home, man.

We got a murder,
but you're hobbling, man."

He said, "Nah,
I'm going with you."

And it had been
raining that day,

but that's his personality.

[Sergio] So now you got
Jim, leader.

You got Joe and U.P.,
two strong guys.

And then you got Raymond
in there, who is also like,

"Hey, look, maybe there's
a different approach.

"We can't do everything
with strength and being stern.

Maybe there's a softer side
to this."

So when Raymond joined,
he really was a great addition

to the Chicano Squad.

[Cecil] Ninety days went by fast
and we survived.

But we didn't know how dangerous
it was gonna get later on.

[intensifying music]

[sirens wailing]

[Woman] A Colombian couple
was found executed

and dumped in the trunk
of a Mercedes at the airport.

The Colombians started moving
their drugs here in Houston.

They were ruthless 'cause they
would shoot and kill people.

[Man] It was
cold-blooded murder.

[U.P.] The cartel was always
armed heavier than we ever were.

We were no match.

[Jim M] We got a call
about a baby crying.

Both the father and the mother
had been killed.

[suspenseful music]

Uh...

It's a bad scene.
It's a real bad scene.

[Woman] It doesn't look like
there's any end in sight

with Houston's growing
drug trafficking problem.

[Jesús] Here it is on the
Chicano Squad

to try to put a plug
in the city's downward spiral.

It's an impossible job
at an impossible time.

They put a hit on me
and my partner.

When a policeman gets killed,
we don't forget.

And they don't.
It's one of our brothers.

It was shocking.

These guys were gonna wind up
killing more people.

[gunshot]

We gotta stop these guys, man.

[sirens wailing]