Ellis thought he knew what Garza was doing there. He was certain that Garza was the man from whom The Lawyer had obtained the marihuana—and that Garza was Pena’s man, making deliveries in Chicago from the 1,000 pounds of marihuana smuggled across the Rio Grande.
Ellis was so positive of this connection that he appealed to Washington for permission to take six agents from the Laredo office—men long accustomed to working on this type of case—for an investigation of Garza. But headquarters was in the midst of an economy wave. Ellis was told that funds were tight and that it would be impossible for him to take six men from Laredo on an uncertain mission. However, he was given authority to go to Kenosha himself and to take along one aide. If he could make a case against Garza within ten days, well and good. But at the end of ten days he must return at once to his post in Laredo.
Ellis chose Agent G. L. Latimer to accompany him. The two set out for Kenosha, driving day and night, through a snow storm which was sweeping the Middle West. They located Garza’s home. He was living in a small white frame house just outside the northern edge of the town.
“There were two or three feet of snow on the ground,” Ellis recalls, “and it looked like we were going to have to stake out the place by living in sleeping bags. But there was a motel nearby which was closed for the winter. We got permission from the owner to slip into the court from which we could see Garza’s house. We were sure he was our man—but we wanted to know who was calling for the marihuana and where it was hidden. We wanted to catch the whole apparatus if possible. So day and night we watched Garza’s house.”
Occasionally Garza would leave the house for a trip to the grocery store, to go to a movie, or to visit in the city. The agents were unable to detect him making any deliveries. But on the tenth day—the last day of grace for Ellis and Latimer to be away from their Laredo posts—a car drove up to the white frame house. A man entered and shortly came out carrying a package which he stowed in his automobile. When he had driven a short distance from Garza’s home, he was halted. Ellis found the package filled with marihuana. It was in a paper sack enclosed in plastic and taped with adhesive.
With this evidence, a search warrant was obtained and the agents advanced on Garza’s house. It was nearing midnight when Ellis knocked at the door. A light came on and then the door was opened and a voice said, “Who is it? What do you want?”
Ellis shoved the door open, revealing a skinny Mexican standing in his long-handled underwear, shivering from the cold.
“We are U.S. Customs agents,” Ellis said. “We have a warrant to search this place.”
Isauro Garza submitted meekly. A loaded pistol lay on a table near his bed, but he gave no resistance. The agents found 720 one-pound sacks of marihuana hidden in closets and in the attic—the largest haul of marihuana ever to be made in the United States. Its retail value was $720,000.
Garza feigned surprise over the discovery of the marihuana. He told officers he “had no idea what was in the sacks.” He said a man named Tony called at his home one day and left a truckload of sacks. Tony asked him to keep them for him. Another fellow named Pepe came from Chicago three or four times. “He picked up some of the stuff and gave me $600 for rent and expenses—but I didn’t know what it was all about,” Garza said.