In the big bend, a lot of smugglers didn't seem too concerned about the feds watching them.

People did what they wanted to do, and it was kind of like we're here if you could catch

us, it was that kind of deal.

Dan Dobbs is a retired U.S. customs agent.

As I started to look into the story of Robert Chambers and Sheriff Rick Thompson, it wasn't

long before he came up on my radar.

He had arrived in the big bed region in April 1987, a huge moment in the war on drugs.

Violence was escalating on both sides of the border.

Billions of dollars in cash was flowing into U.S. law enforcement, and the border

lands could feel like a combat zone.

One of the reasons I wanted to talk to Dobbs is because he'd seen it all.

Yeah, I stopped some guys and stolen a car and wanted to put a hole in me.

He hit me in the upper arm.

I hit him twice in a chest, he didn't even die.

I mean, I wasn't near death or anything, it just hurt like a son of a bitch.

But mostly, Dan's job wasn't shootouts with felons.

He worked big drug investigations.

These larger cases could take a long time to crack.

And whether he liked it or not, often that meant working in partnership with other

law enforcement agencies, like the DEA.

I say whether he liked it or not because, in reporting this story, some people who knew

Dan back in the day have told me that he could be a bit of a loner in his work, a kind

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