Dan Brunner is a seasoned expert in federal law enforcement with 29 years of combined service in the FBI and the US Navy. With over two decades of experience as an FBI Special Agent, Crisis Management expert, and SWAT Tactical Operations Team Leader, Dan has unparalleled insight into the dark world of organized crime. We are going deep into the operations of the Tren de Aragua, one of the most dangerous and elusive criminal cartels in Latin America. Drawing on his extensive expertise in Latin and South American geopolitical matters, Dan sheds light on the cartel's reach, methods, and growing influence across borders. From his firsthand experience tracking down “Top Ten Most Wanted” fugitives to navigating the complexities of legal systems and international security, he provides a rare, in-depth perspective into the fight against transnational crime.
Chapter 1: What is Tren de Aragua?
And you know how I learned it? Watching one of your podcasts. Before we even went live, or maybe I did it when we were on air. I'm like, hey, man. How the fuck do you say your last name? Cause you're like defer.
He's like Dustin. Yeah. Just Dustin. Just Dustin. So Dustin, I was just talking to him this morning. He's on his way to meet up with Justin. I know he was working with Jared Hudson.
Jared Hudson. Excuse me, Jared. Yeah.
So he's on his way to meet Jared right now. Yeah. So Dustin and I are working in Bozeman to put together a unit kind of like Jared's got, but we're going to do the Rocky mountains. Yeah. To combat human trafficking, smuggling, and the- I'm in on this.
Where do I sign up?
We're talking right now. So he's brought me on board. Can I shoot pedophiles in the face?
I don't think that'll be legal, but we'll talk. What if they try to touch my penis? There we go. That's self-defense. He's threatening me. So, hey, self-defense. This is my issue with- And I told Jared the same thing. My issue with being around these people is I don't know if I'd be able to hold myself back. Yeah. So because like life in prison that this guy got in Georgia. Yeah.
For that fucking 911 call of her fighting for her life for 18 minutes. Go listen to that if you're a parent. Yeah. And then tell me anybody tell me that life in prison. And I mean, I don't care if he's having the most horrendous life in prison.
I would hope that he is just getting ass fucked to the degree that Elon Musk calls him and asks him for advice on his tunneling operation every fucking day with a dude wearing a fucking mask, Batman mask. I don't know why Batman mask, even that is not enough.
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Chapter 2: How does Tren de Aragua operate in the United States?
Yeah.
So, yeah, no, I think that would be good. I'm in on this. I don't know what Dustin – yeah, no, I'll tell Dustin. Like I said, we're meeting next week once he comes back from his op that he's going to be doing. Yeah.
I like the way Jared sets it up. It's a force multiplier, right? He goes out there. He teaches you, gives you the structure. See, but it's different for Jared because he's a TFO. He's a TFO with HSI. So that's different. He's playing in the legit federal law enforcement space.
Right. So which makes it, and I listened to what Jared was talking about on is that it's, it's as the law enforcement agent, he's able to carry both, you know,
Hats. Well, and he's handing it over to local law enforcement is my understanding. Right. They're executing the operation.
Correct. And that's the, that's the plan is to, we're going to build a relationship with one of the locals. Um, Dustin and I are both in Gallatin County. We're not in the city of Bozeman. So whether we go to the sheriffs or we go to the state, um, That's to be seen.
Like I said, but we want to build a relationship with one of the local agencies and have them a part of the task force so that they are, and then I'm keeping everything in line with the case, making sure everything is collected properly so that we could hand it off to the DA. Yeah, because they have to carry the water. They have to carry the water, exactly.
Making sure that I'm collecting everything correctly for the DA for them to charge.
I feel like Dustin and I, mostly I, should be deputized because that would help. I think that's awesome. I don't know how any of that works. Me neither. I know that I don't. You're good because you got HR 218. You got 20 years of federal law enforcement. You're good to go in any state. Yes. Yes.
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Chapter 3: What crimes does Tren de Aragua engage in?
What would cause that change?
Management.
Is it literally though, something like a new administration coming in and lopping heads?
I think the problem – so here's the problem. The problem I found is that at the stages where we dealt with early – this is something I was seeing since 2015, 2016, is that people that were getting into positions of seniority within the FBI sometimes, but a lot of times at the DOJ –
people were as further away from being a case agent that they were getting, the less they were remembering where they came from being a case agent. And the more they were looking at their future in whatever agency, their political future, not politics, like being a politician.
So a lot of my cases had international ramifications, whether it be capturing somebody or arresting somebody or charging somebody. So a lot of these had to go up for approval. I wasn't just dealing with a bad guy in Newark. Sometimes I did, but a lot of these had to go up for approval. And a lot of times, especially at DOJ, they would look at it and they'd go, Okay, this is a good case.
This is a bad guy we need to put in jail. But if this goes bad, how could it reflect on my career? I might not get that next promotion. So why don't we do this? Let's shelf that project. And we'll talk about it here in two weeks. And that was constantly in the conversation. And I had directly experienced this on one of my cases. It was constantly, we'll talk about it in two weeks.
But I need, no, no, no, no. We'll talk about it in two weeks. And the reason was, I would hear behind the channels, I would hear back channels, was that, you know, these people wanted to get promotions and that's what they were doing. And that's one of the reasons why I go on CNN, Fox News, you know, I got into that network because I was tired of these, you know, senior leaders, you know, on there
knowing what they're talking about when it was something about a case agent should know. And I was a case agent for 20 years. These guys, they've been retired for 10 years and they're great guys. I'm sure they're fine. They spend a career and they're honorable FBI agents and they put their assistant directors, SACs. They haven't seen a case file
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