Okla. horse ranch in cartel case raised suspicions

Source: AP-Excite

By SEAN MURPHY

LEXINGTON, Okla. (AP) - If associates of a reputed Mexican drug cartel leader had wanted to lay low while laundering money at an American horse ranch, they seemed to do everything wrong.

They swept their fields at night with a giant spotlight, threw around lots of cash, bought parcels of land in a deep recession and made expensive improvements to their farm in an industry not known for generating large profits.

"It would take a multi-millionaire just to support an operation like that," neighbor Clifford Massengale said.

A day after federal authorities arrested ranch operator Jose Trevino Morales in an alleged money laundering scheme benefiting the notorious Zetas cartel, people in this Oklahoma horse ranching community said Trevino was a good neighbor. But his ranch, Zule Farms, seemed strangely out of step.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120614/D9VCIR501.html

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FBI agents overlook a horse ranch under investigation Tuesday, June 12, 2012 in Lexington, Okla. Federal agents raided the Oklahoma ranch and a prominent quarter horse track in New Mexico on Tuesday, alleging the brother of a high-ranking official in a Mexican drug cartel used a horse-breeding operation to launder money. (AP Photo/Brett Deering)