“What kind of job interview?” Lasko asked.
“Construction,” he said. “My brother-in-law again. I’ve had a hard time finding anything permanent. Not surprising, given that I have a record. So I’ve had to scramble for stuff. This is for a full-time, regular gig. Drywall for a sub that’s tied in with a couple of big homebuilders. Brother-in-law’s an architect and set it up.” He paused. “Once he decided I wouldn’t embarrass him.”
“And you won’t?” Lasko asked.
Dailey looked him right in the eye and shook his head. “No. I won’t. I’m done with everything from before. You probably hear that a lot. But I mean it. I’m out and done and not going back.”
He was right. Cops did hear that a lot. But there was something in the way he said it that made me believe Ben Dailey.
“So, if you don’t mind,” Dailey said, looking from Lasko to me. “If you could ask your questions…I don’t want to be late.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “The bust you went in for. Drug deal is our understanding?”
Dailey nodded and folded his hands together. “Yep. Heroin. Guys down south were bringing it up for us to distribute.”
“Guys down south?” I asked.
“Cartel. Tijuana.”
“And who was us?” I asked.
“19th Street Kings,” he answered. “We ran out of I.B.” He chuckled. “Such a stupid name. I don’t even think they’re around anymore. At least not in an organized way.”
I looked at Lasko. He shrugged.
“We were low level,” Dailey explained. “Thought we were way more badass than we were.”
“How long were you in?” I asked.
“Too long. Got jumped in as a stupid kid. I was the number two when the bust went down.”
“You guys sold drugs? What else were you into?”
He hesitated. “Look, man. It was awhile ago and I don’t want the past screwing me up now, alright? If you’re trying…”
“Swear to you I’m not,” I said. “And either is he. It’ll make sense in a minute.”
He rubbed at his chin and his mouth set into a firm line. He took a deep breath. “Yeah, mostly drugs. We did guns, too. But that was it. Nobody really knew what they were doing, you know? Most guys, they just wanted to sit around, drink beer and get high. Only a few of us were trying to make money.”
I nodded. “Okay. How’d you hook up with the cartel?”
“Another guy in the gang,” he said. “He had a cousin who had a cousin. Something like that. I don’t remember exactly. But they came to us. Think they’d tried to work with some other sets and it didn’t work out.” He frowned. “We’d done some low level dealing and I had a rep for being straight up. I guess they liked that.”
I nodded again. “Sure. So the night of the bust… what happened exactly?”
He leaned back in the sofa and shook his head. “It went bad. Cartel guys told us that we’d be clear to do the deal. But as soon as everything got laid out, there were sirens and cops everywhere. They got all of us, even some of the mule guys the cartel sent.”
“But they told you you’d be clear?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Said they had it covered. I don’t know how, but they told us they had it covered.”
“How? Like with a cop?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Who else could’ve offered protection? And not like the cartel doesn’t have cops on the payroll, right?”
I looked at Lasko. He nodded in agreement.
“But I don’t know for sure who offered that,” Dailey said. “Like I said. They set it up. But what they didn’t know was they had a DEA guy inside.”
“Inside the cartel?”
Dailey nodded. “Yep. They had some deep cover guy who blew the whole thing up. I’ve always assumed that whoever the cartel paid to clear the area didn’t know about the undercover dude. Because when everything went crazy, it wasn’t local cops. It was feds. All feds.”
That was pretty interesting. I wasn’t sure if it helped me at all, but the story was interesting.
“Wow,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “Wow. It wasn’t good.”
“So everybody went down?” Lasko asked.
Dailey nodded. “More or less. Some guys took smaller hits. But I was the contact guy. Cartel mules knew my name. I took a bigger hit.” He paused. “Supposed to be fourteen years, but the day I walked in, I knew I was done with that crap.” He shrugged. “So I kept my chin down and nose clean and I was out early. Worked on my degree while I was inside.”
“Why?” I asked.
He rubbed his chin again. “I just remember lying on the ground, DEA guys screaming all around and it was surreal. Like, I couldn’t believe I was there. Just because I was lazy and stupid.” He shook his head again. “I just decided I wasn’t going to be stupid anymore. Take what I had coming and move on. I’m lucky it happened, you know? Now I just gotta back it up.”
I nodded. He had a good perspective. I hadn’t come to the house expecting to like him, but I did.
“Any of that help?” he asked. “Since I still don’t know what you’re looking for.”
“You said there were no local police there?” I asked. “Only feds?”
He thought for a moment. “I’m sure there were a few locals there by the time we were done. But it was mostly feds, yeah.”
I wondered about Mike’s role in the bust and how Coronado ended up with the money from the deal. Dailey wasn’t going to know that, but I still wondered.
“My daughter was kidnapped,” I said. “Right around the time your bust went down. She’s back now. We just found her. But I’m just chasing down some stuff that might be tied together.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Wow. Okay.”
“Weird question,” I asked. “Your gang. You guys involved at all with trafficking?”
“Yeah. Drugs for sure.”
“No. I mean kids.”
His eyes went wide and then his entire face took on an expression like he couldn’t believe I was asking the question. “The kings? Seriously?”
I nodded.
He chuckled then caught himself. “Sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. But you gotta understand. The guys that I ran with? They could barely count, alright? They weren’t sharp. They weren’t even real criminals. They were a bunch of poseurs. Guys who acted tough, but were just…lost. Push came to shove, they usually got shoved.” A sad smile crept onto his face. “They could barely handle ripping off a 7-11. Anything more than that?” He shook his head emphatically. “No way.”
“But you guys were gonna deal for the cartel,” Lasko said. “They could at least do that.”
“Stand on a corner and deal heroin?” Dailey said. “Sure, they could handle that. Because they didn’t have to think. The heroin was going to be given to us. All we had to do was sell it. But there was no big organized effort, okay? The cartel just wanted some traction in I.B. That was it. And my guess is the percentage I negotiated was far less than what other locals would’ve wanted. We were cheap labor.”
I appreciated his candor and I thought he was telling the truth.
“So no possible way any of your guys would’ve been involved with trafficking? Of kids?” I asked.
He shook his head. “None. None. Most of the guys were teenagers themselves. No way they would’ve been into something that heavy.” He paused. “And most of those guys deferred to me. They did what I said. And there’s no way I would’ve gotten into that.”
“Why not?” Lasko asked.
Dailey leaned forward again, back on the edge of the sofa. “Because I’m not a piece of shit. I was a stupid, lazy kid and I did some dumb things. I sold drugs, I beat up some other kids, I jacked a couple cars, stuff like that. But what you’re talking about? Selling kids?” He stared at Lasko. “I wouldn’t have done that for a million bucks. That isn’t me and it never was.”
I stood. “I don’t want you to be late for your interview. We’ve taken up enough of your time.”
Dailey and Lasko stood.
I pulled out a card from my wallet and handed it to Dailey. “I’m kind of on hiatus at the moment, but normally I work as a private investigator. Construction thing doesn’t come through, give me a call. I can probably find you some work.”