01x06 - The Noble Thing to Do

[bunniefuu]

GRADY COUNTY JAIL

OKLAHOMA, 2019

[Joe] I was asked to bail

Jeff out of jail two times.

The very first time was when he beat up

and strangled his first wife, Kathy Lowe.

She went to confront him

because he was being

Mr. Showoff with Lauren,

his mistress at that time.

But he got violent with her.

And then, the second time was in Vegas.

They caught him sneaking cubs

into the hotels and sh*t.

[Lowe] Lauren and I had leased a big home

in Las Vegas.

We had tigers in our house,

and it got me in trouble.

Animal control stormed the place

like we were El Chapo,

because I had two baby cats up there.

[reporter]

The animals weren't all that was taken.

Marshals impounded multiple

semi-automatic handguns and r*fles.

[Joe] You know what?

I should've took that

as a very strong warning.

He is a predator.

A hardcore predator.

[snarling]

[Reinke] When Jeff Lowe came back

from getting in trouble in Vegas

is when all hell broke loose.

Ever since then,

it's been a Jeff Lowe world,

and that's when it all went to hell.

THE NOBLE THING TO DO

[judge]

Jeffrey Lowe, I am adjudicating you guilty

and I'm ordering that you surrender

any animals that were confiscated.

You will stay out of trouble.

That means no ill*gal activity.

If you do that, at the end of the year,

I will vacate the jail time.

If not, you will serve the 179 days.

Do you understand my order?

I do.

When Lauren and I came back

from Las Vegas,

Joe was locking me out of

the online bank accounts.

So we'd snuck back and went to the bank.

I wanted 12 months' worth

of bank statements

because he wasn't providing me

the statements.

I went up to my cashier.

She goes, "You all okay over there?"

I said, "Yeah, why?" She goes

"Hmm." She goes, "I'm thinking that Joe

was being investigated by somebody."

And I looked at Lauren and I said,

"By who?" And she goes,

"There was a federal warrant."

I said, "Really? Can you tell me

what it was about?"

She goes, "That's all I know.

I don't know any more."

So, the Feds were watching him.

You're gonna get me

in f*cking trouble, Joe!

- And I came here to save your a*s!

- How am I

You forged my name 20 f*cking times

on cashed checks.

Just in that 12 months

while he was running

for the governor of Oklahoma,

we found, I think, 88,000-some dollars

in misappropriated spending.

You're gonna do whatever the f*ck you want

without even asking me, and it's wrong!

You are a shitty f*cking partner.

[Joe] So, I can put some of my money

I don't give a flying f*ck!

You lost that when you f*cked

with Carole Baskin.

That's not my fault!

It's your fault.

You can't funnel and embezzle money!

I came here to bail your a*s out.

You would be f*cking who knows where

without me,

and you even said it

before I went to Las Vegas.

You're not going to f*ck me.

You're not gonna put me in trouble

and then treat me like sh*t. as*h*le!

[Joe] I have everything covered, Jeff.

He'd spent $60,000 in campaign brochures

and printing and signs and t-shirts

and condoms with his picture on it.

[Lowe] It says campaign.

Paid by the Park.

That's ill*gal!

And it's my a*s!

They already told me

you're being investigated

for something else,

but they wouldn't tell me what it is,

and when the sh*t hits the fan,

I don't need another felony.

[Joe] Let's take off. I'll move.

Move! Then do it,

and I'll run this park the right way.

[Finlay]

Jeff Lowe was getting downright ugly

right there in front of everybody else.

[Lowe]

Right before Joe got kicked off the park,

he took and burned all of the records

because he didn't want us to be able

to prove the embezzlement.

[Reinke] sh*t, I think he burned laptops.

I think he burned transfer papers.

I'm sure Joe knew more

than what he was telling me.

I didn't have a clue where he was going,

what he was gonna do.

He comes in the office,

distraught, tears in his eyes.

Never seen this

except for when Travis k*lled himself.

Wipe all the computers, get outta here.

He said, "I don't know

what's about to happen,

but Jeff Lowe's taken the park from me."

[Reinke] The last two days, you could tell

he was fixing to leave, to bolt,

and he was trying to gather up anything

he could get ahold of to sell.

He really, really got paranoid,

like a little birdy had told him

something's wrong.

[Lowe] Joe had a truck come in here,

so he could pick up animals

in the middle of the night.

- [Joe] Okay. Here she comes, 'kay?

- Back up.

[Reinke]

He shipped all them money cats out

because they were all worth

three and four thousand dollars apiece,

and he shipped out quite a few.

- [Joe] My little gal. Good, good.

- Come on, girl.

We transported a bunch of

different animals.

I took two baby tigers to California.

There was $5,000 exchanged

in Branson, Missouri.

We thought we were helping Joe out.

I mean,

we didn't know everything going on.

We thought Jeff literally

was taking everything away from him.

[monkey chittering]

[Joe] You got six minutes.

- Six minutes before he

- [Joe] Three ccs.

I'm giving him five.

- [Joe] Keep him looking at you.

- [man] Come on, Bubba.

- Attaboy.

- Going right in his shoulder.

[snarls]

[tiger snarls]

I'm sorry.

That was the last day

that Joe was allowed in the park.

I told Joe, "You come on this property

again, I'll sh**t you in the head."

[as Joe] "He's threatening to k*ll me.

If I come back, he's gonna k*ll me."

[regular voice]

You damn right. I would have k*lled him.

[Dial] Whatever Jeff Lowe told him

scared the living hell out of him.

Joe was gone. Just gone.

He won't tell anybody

where he's at, not even me,

and that's probably the last time

I will ever see Joe Exotic.

So this is goodbye ♪

And my last farewell ♪

To all of my fans ♪

You're my biggest thrill ♪

My biggest thrill ♪

[herd mooing]

[Joe] There's just some things

that I'd rather just be left unsaid.

Some mistakes were made

and some attitudes got out of hand.

Rather than argue

or be accused of stuff,

I just decided to walk away.

The cats were my responsibility,

no matter who owns that zoo.

'Cause I'm the one who bred him

and brought him into this world.

So I feel obligated that I need

to make sure that he's safe and secure.

DILLON PASSAGE

JOE'S HUSBAND

[Joe] Get up.

Get up, boy, and get some lunch.

It's lunch.

I'm glad to see him finally

in his final spot.

This is where they're gonna stay.

You know, there was just

There was a lot of threats thrown around,

and I just

would rather just get away.

Got new phones, got

They can't track me.

They can't do nothing.

There you go.

[coughs]

[interviewer] Joe, you don't seem like

your regular self.

Just 20 years of blood, sweat,

and tears, and every dime I had

- I am done. I'm done.

- You're done.

[interviewer] Who's the winner in this?

- Is it Carole? Is it PETA? Is it Jeff?

- Nobody.

- Who?

- In the long run,

it's gonna be the animal rights people

are gonna be the winners of this,

because they're gonna end up

with the property

because nobody can afford

the lawyer bills.

[interviewer] What about Carole?

I still think that she deserves

to sit in jail for k*lling her husband.

But I truly believe in karma.

And a few people got some karma coming.

[muffled whimper]

[man] You all right, bud?

You want some water?

[Lowe]

Joe was on the run, and he told everyone

that Jeff had a hit out on him,

and Jeff was gonna k*ll him,

and that's why he left the park.

You know, why does an innocent guy

buy a burner phone?

We tried to narrow down where he was,

but we could just never

pinpoint his location.

[Garretson]

You know, Joe cries victim,

that everybody's trying to take my zoo,

and everybody's trying to do this

and that.

Jeff Lowe already owned the zoo.

Joe just wanted to put it in

somebody's name,

and and continue to be the tiger queen,

I mean tiger king.

[chuckles]

[man] He thought he was more powerful

than anybody because he was Tiger King.

But that was just all in his head.

ALLEN GLOVER

HANDYMAN | G.W. ZOO

Among a bunch of other bad things.

[chuckles]

- [Joe] Yeah.

- [interviewer] Sorry. My phone cut out.

Listen, I just went to the zoo.

Yeah, they already called

and said you'd been there.

That's how fast word travels down here.

Um, I'm gonna

I don't want anybody getting Jeff

all riled up.

All right.

You don't understand

These people are dangerous.

[interviewer]

What is it? It's not obvious?

You're not gonna notice, huh? Okay.

Joe is the man who started this place

about 20 years ago.

And he has just recently retired.

Now we have new owners,

and they're awesome.

I was a little nervous about it,

I'll admit,

but they are awesome

and easygoing, so it's all good.

[David]

Customers would ask where Joe was.

Is he coming back?

"Oh, he retired"

is what the workers were told to say.

[Cowie] As soon as he was gone,

anything and everything that had his image

went on the burn pile.

Word on the street is that Joe left

to get his a*s out of trouble.

[Dial] The day after Joe left,

Jeff and Lauren pulled together

the morning meeting

and they said,

"Look, Joe Exotic is going down."

[snarling]

[Dial] Instantly, I just have an icy cold

stabbing feeling going through my heart.

It was just "Christ Almighty,

what has Joe gotten into?"

[Reinke] Joe's MIA.

- Lot of rumors going around he

- [man 1] Wait, are you filming?

- You're getting sound?

- [man 2] Yup.

[Reinke] Somebody better be rolling.

Joe used money from the zoo,

running for president and governor.

Is Joe nervous about that?

I don't know. I mean

Only Joe knows the truth,

so he's either nervous about that

or he's nervous about

getting his a*s kicked, I don't know.

[man] What are some of the rumors?

Supposedly, I guess he hired

he solicited somebody

to k*ll Carole Baskin.

I'm just saying this from hearsay

because I don't know for a fact.

I'm almost positive

that's why the Feds are sniffing around.

I mean, we've all said it.

"Somebody needs to k*ll the b*tch."

I can't tell you how many times

everybody said it.

You know, nobody's ever just really said

how they're gonna k*ll 'em.

They just said,

"I wish somebody'd k*ll that b*tch.

I wish the b*tch was dead."

- You just heard it a lot.

- [man] From who?

From all I mean, from everybody.

I've even said it before.

I wish the b*tch were dead.

[Finlay] There was times

that Joe would joke around about it,

about taking out Carole Baskin.

Joe had some pretty twisted ideas,

but I just took it as jokes.

[Saffery] Do I believe that Joe

hired someone to k*ll someone? No.

No, Joe doesn't have that in him, one bit.

But do I believe that

Joe had a conversation with someone

and said, "Man, I wish Carole was dead"?

Absolutely. He said it a hundred times.

[Thompson] One time I was in the park,

and Joe's talking to me.

He says, "Hey, I hear you can take care of

a problem for me in Florida."

I said, "What problem would that be?"

He said, "Carole Baskin."

I said, "No, I can't.

I can't and I won't."

Being around him,

and I was around him quite a bit,

you see sides of him.

When I do become psychotic,

that's my "going to Tampa" g*n.

[Reinke] You really couldn't tell with Joe

if he was serious

or wasn't serious half the time.

[interviewer] Do you think Joe was acting

entirely alone?

[Thompson] Some people who were working

with Joe were criminals.

Jeff Lowe is a felon.

He's done numerous things.

I know he strangled his first wife

in the past.

Allen, Jeff Lowe's right-hand man,

he's a felon.

I don't know for a fact,

but James Garretson ought to be a felon.

Not only did he get in trouble

for pulling a g*n on somebody,

this the same man

that sold me a stolen Hummer

and till this day,

I still think there's a case pending

in Garvin county over it.

They're just all crooked, you know?

There's a bunch of rats

in the neighborhood.

- [man] James. What's happening?

- What's going on?

Not much.

- How's business?

- It's not bad.

It's a grind like everything else.

Just grind, grind, grind.

I heard that Joe tried to hire someone

to k*ll Carole.

He's been trying to get somebody

to k*ll Carole for years, all right?

When Jeff came along

everybody thought Jeff was

this multi-millionaire

and had all this money Blah, blah.

And whenever Jeff got around,

Joe got a big head and

those two

were trying to get Carole whacked.

Why are you so convinced of that?

Because I was the only one there.

You were actually there?

Yeah.

The first time I met

and discussed the whole m*rder for hire,

we were sitting in the meeting.

Joe is in his little office back there.

Jeff Lowe is right here,

and they were talking about

the easiest way to k*ll Carole.

Hey, all you cool cats and kittens,

it's Carole from Big Cat Rescue and I

It was a day where she was riding

her bicycle down a bicycle path,

and she's riding like

the Wicked Witch of the West,

and Joe says, "Look at this b*tch.

She rides this entire bike trail

and there's nobody around."

He says, "That's where you gotta hit her.

That's where I gotta get her.

Somebody take a shot from the bushes,

and get her right there."

And then Jeff Lowe goes

to Google Earth and

shows the bike path

right by Big Cat Rescue and stuff.

And he's like, "You can sit right here

and then sh**t her while she's riding."

So Jeff Lowe knew more about

the schematics than anything.

That was because

I was the only one smart enough

to bring up the picture on Google Earth

and show it to Travis.

Travis says, "I can sh**t her from there,

I can sh**t her from there." Joe's like,

"You're not sh**ting her

because you're my husband

and you'll go to jail forever."

[Joe] I was back at my desk

minding my own business

because none of that's on my computer.

It's all Jeff Lowe,

but Jeff Lowe's had time

to remove that all from his computer now.

[Lowe] Joe talked about

k*lling this woman

if it wasn't a daily basis,

it was definitely every week.

He says, "Well, the b*tch still lives

another day,"

and he says, "I'll find somebody."

He just wasn't shy about it.

[Glover] Well

Joe brought it up several times.

Did I know anybody

that could k*ll the lady?

I just put it off, as y'know, bullshit.

I came in the office one day,

and he's like,

"I got this crossbow.

You could use this on her nature trail,

wherever she walks.

You could sh**t her with this,

nobody'd ever see you."

I'm like, "What the f*ck?"

Okay, I can see me walking

around Florida with a f*cking

camouflage suit on, okay.

But a f*cking crossbow?

Gimme a break.

Allen Glover, he's an old time employee

of Jeff. Jeff knows him real well.

Supposedly since he has a teardrop tattoo,

he's k*lled somebody before.

Joe came to me one day.

Just out of the blue he says,

"You think Allen can k*ll somebody?"

I said, "Is he capable of it?"

I said, "Of course. Who's not?"

I said, "I'll cut her f*cking head off

for ya if you want."

And he was all into that.

I said, "Would you like me

to bring it back?"

"No, no, get rid of it in the swamp!"

I was like, "Okay

Will do."

[Lowe] So Joe put a picture

of her property on Facebook

and it said,

"Finally found where the b*tch lives."

What the f*ck are you doing, you know?

What are you, stupid?

I love the cute hat!

[Lowe] Truth be told,

it'd be better for the animal industry

if Carole was dead.

Little hearts on the bottom.

[Lowe] But it started to concern me enough

when I realized that Joe has become

a complete liability.

We're not done yet.

We're still gonna dig up Carole's a*s.

Before I'm done with this,

I'm gonna have the b*tch's head in a jar.

Joe probably thought I was loyal to him

and I would never turn on him.

I told Lauren, I said, "You know what?

I'm calling James Garretson

and I want to meet."

So Jeff Lowe decided,

"Hey, let's meet at Applebee's."

Jeff Lowe claims

Joe's doing all this ill*gal stuff.

He said, "I want to get rid of that zoo.

I want to get out of that headache."

And I said, "Call Carole Baskin

and tell her for half a million bucks,

I will hand her Joe on a silver platter

with all the crimes

I know he's committed."

I said, "Sure I'll do it."

He offered me $100,000 to do it.

Carole's phone rang

and saw that it was the 405 number

and did not answer it,

and then a text came in that said,

"If you want information against Joe,

return the call."

We sent that to the law enforcement.

I waited another day,

and then I get a call.

I'm like, "Who is this?"

And he says, "I'm special agent

Matt Brown, US Fish and Wildlife."

I'm like, "Really?"

[Howard] Special agents

of the Fish and Wildlife Service

have very similar powers to FBI agents.

It's just they're mostly focused

on animals, not people.

[Garretson]

This agent shows up here at my shop.

We talk.

He's like,

"You're in a lot of f*cking trouble."

[interviewer] For what reason?

Well, here's the deal.

I don't have anything to do

with any of this.

Other than the lemur

I got my a*s in a pinch,

and the Feds f*cking twisted my arm

over that and sh*t.

I had bought a lemur with bogus paperwork.

They said, you know,

I'm probably going to get a charge.

My lawyer told me,

"You got to do what they want.

They got your f*cking a*s hammered."

I don't agree with the laws.

I hate the f*cking USDA.

I don't like the government.

That's me personally, but

What do you f*cking do?

I thought about it for a couple weeks,

and I was like,

"Do I want to get involved in this?"

And I thought it was

the noble thing to do.

So, I signed up to be

a confidential informant.

I was told to record

all conversations with Joe and Jeff.

Had to keep track of 'em and figure out

what they were planning.

[interviewer]

Who is James Garretson in all of this,

and why is he working for the Feds?

What?

That's news for me.

[Reinke]

I would say James Garretson's involvement

is to get himself out of trouble,

if he's involved.

He's got so much on him, he don't know

how he was going to get out of it,

so he come up with

all this undercover stuff

just to cover his own a*s.

[Joe] This has nothing to do

with that lemur.

James is the mastermind

behind ill*gal credit cards.

He sold John Reinke a stolen Hummer.

As far as I know they could've busted him

with a whole bunch of stolen sh*t.

Everything about him is a lie.

The man is just

a walking Chucky doll, dude.

[Garretson] If I stole a Hummer,

don't you think I'd be charged? Come on.

The guy's delusional.

So back in 2017,

Joe was just running for office.

Everybody looked at him like a clown.

He could put his face on billboards,

have a limousine to carry himself around,

he can be the big hero,

but he's really trying to find somebody

to k*ll Carole Baskin.

All I knew

is Joe had already picked Allen Glover

for the hit.

So I told the FBI

Glover was gonna actually do it.

Nobody at the park knew about

the undercover stuff.

Not even Jeff Lowe.

TAMPA, FLORIDA

[Howard] I was sitting at my desk

when the phone rang,

and it was the FBI.

They felt there was an effort by Joe

to k*ll Carole.

So when I'm told,

"Well there's a credible threat now,"

I'm like, "There's been a credible threat

all this time.

You just caught on to it

in the last few days."

We were aware that this was a possibility.

It's just that call

seriously elevated this.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

We reached out to Ms. Baskin

in, I want to say, November of 2017.

And this was at the point where we'd heard

some recorded phone calls

and conversations

between Mr. Garretson

and Mr. Maldonado-Passage

indicating that there was, in fact,

a plot coming together.

If Mr. Glover was leaving

to commit this m*rder,

Mr. Garretson would have knowledge

of that.

First I heard

that Glover was gonna knife her.

And then I heard a g*n.

Joe, he didn't really get into detail.

I think he was just leaving that

up to the hit man.

And when I talked to Glover,

Glover was mean and nasty.

He said, "If anybody at the park

rats me out, or whatever,

I'll k*ll every one

of these m*therf*ckers."

And he was drinking a lot,

doing a lot of cocaine.

When you're in that state

and he didn't have anything to lose,

you know?

[Glover] The plan was

Hide. Hunt.

Find this woman.

And Joe f*cking put his trust in me

to do it.

[Howard] Carole stopped riding her bicycle

to and from.

We put in security cameras.

We kept g*ns by the bed,

and we carried g*ns in our car.

[Carole] I got out of my car to get gas

and this guy starts coming toward me.

The whole time he's approaching me

I'm thinking,

"At what point is he close enough

that I should just turn this gas nozzle

into his face?"

[Howard] And naturally,

if someone is approaching you,

now you're thinking,

"Could this be the hit man?"

[Garretson]

And then Allen Glover disappeared.

Fish and Game guys were like,

"f*ck, what's going on?"

They didn't want him to get down there

and k*ll Carole

because they knew about it.

They could arrest him.

[Carole]

I had heard through the whistle-blowers

that one of Joe's tacks

that he would take against me

would be to drug me with ketamine,

which is a paralyzing agent

so that they could put me

into the back of a car

and drive me out into a swamp,

where they could cut my body into pieces.

[Garretson] We were just trying to track

Glover's whereabouts,

like where he's at. Was he down in Tampa?

But he's not responding.

So it was a big sh*t show.

[Carole] I knew that he was out there.

I knew that he was deranged.

I knew that somebody really wants me dead.

There was a noise out on our porch,

which is right outside where our bed is.

It sounded like

someone had broken through the screen,

and I woke up to see Carole there,

holding her g*n,

- and it turned out to be two

- Dang near shot the neighbor's dog.

[Carole] You don't have to worry about

the barking dog

so much as the one that's quiet.

Those are the people that worry me.

[Garretson] Eventually, I made contact

with Allen Glover.

I was just supposed to small talk

with him.

No matter what I really said,

just to keep him talking.

All the text messages were given

to the government.

GOING BACK HOME

TIRED OF THIS sh*t.

The conversation

that had occurred with Mr. Glover

seemed to indicate that plot was over.

Mr. Glover was just going back home

to South Carolina,

and the agents agreed

this plot had fallen apart.

Apparently, I chickened the f*ck out

and didn't make it there.

I started partying instead.

I was pretty f*cking scatterbrained.

It's f*cked up, the way things happened,

but it happened out for the best.

[Garretson]

At that point, the case stopped.

Glover ended up

in a totally different state.

[Howard] In m*rder for hire,

the federal prosecutors

don't wanna bring a case

unless it's rock solid,

and to get to that point,

things have to happen

like transfer of money.

[Garretson]

I thought the plot stopped with Glover,

but the Feds wanted me to put in

an undercover agent.

I picked him up, we rode in my car.

I was like, "Hey, Joe, this is my guy.

This is the guy

who will whack Carole for you."

[as Joe] "Really? How much?"

[Green]

They did discuss various details

that Mr. Passage should buy

some burner phones,

or that Mr. Passage should obtain

an unregistered p*stol from a flea market,

and that he would pay him

some upfront money.

[Garretson] We started out at 5,000 down

and 5,000 when she's dead.

"Well, let me sell some tigers,

and I'll get you $10,000."

He was negotiating.

He was trying to get the best deal.

They discussed in detail:

"Follow her into a parking lot,

cap her, and drive off."

They had the talk,

and then they negotiated the price,

and that was the wrap.

[interviewer] But why did you need

a special agent to pose as a hit man?

That was gonna be

the nail in the coffin

but there was supposed to be payment.

[Green]

The government doesn't have any evidence

that Mr. Passage actually obtained

any of the phones or the p*stol,

and certainly

that he did not give any money

to the undercover agent.

[Howard] Over the ensuing months,

I would just check in with the FBI

and make sure that this was still active

and happening.

We kept waiting for the arrest,

but there were months

where nothing happened.

[Garretson] It just dragged on forever,

and it wasn't gonna happen.

So we all thought

they backed off the plan.

So about the same time

that the FBI was waiting on Joe,

Jeff was dealing with all the problems

in Vegas.

[judge] I am adjudicating you guilty.

You will stay out of trouble.

That means no ill*gal activity.

If not, you will serve the 179 days.

Do you understand my orders?

I do.

[Lowe] The judge says,

"Stay out of trouble for a year."

We loaded up stuff and we left.

When we came back here from Las Vegas,

I had one of my semi-daily conversations

with James Garretson.

'Cause we were kind of close at the time.

We talked quite a bit.

I told Jeff some things

that were in confidence.

[interviewer] Like what?

I said, "I'm working undercover

with the Feds and Fish and Game."

I told him that they already knew about

the plan to k*ll Carole Baskin.

They knew everybody involved.

And I said, "Why haven't they come to me?"

And he says, "They want to."

I asked him if he wanted to cooperate

and he said

I'm dying to talk to them

and tell them what I know.

[Reinke] When Jeff Lowe got in trouble

in Las Vegas,

he was looking at jail time there

and a big fine.

I promise you, he's trying

to squash that bullshit in Las Vegas

by feeding them Joe. I mean,

there's a motive behind their madness,

I promise you.

[Lowe] I trusted James.

And he said, "Look, they asked me

to bring Joe a hit man,"

and had Joe

pulled a five dollar bill

out of his pocket as a deposit

that would have been the impetus

to storm the park,

but because he didn't commit

the overt act of

of actually paying,

they had to wait.

It was right after that I told James

that the day before Allen left,

Joe paid him to go k*ll Carole.

James brought the FBI,

and I started spilling my guts.

The Feds had me call Allen

and try to find out Allen's side

of the story.

And he says, "Can you get me immunity?"

I said, "I can't."

I said, "That's not my position." I said,

"But the closest thing you're gonna get

to immunity

is if you come back

and help these guys,"

I said, "because they don't want you,

they want Joe."

- They know all about Joe.

- Right.

What I recommend strongly

You don't wanna be on Joe's side

when this comes down.

You wanna be on the government's side.

- I gotcha.

- What that What that means

is you've gotta tell me, like,

when he, I don't wanna put any words

in your mouth, so

like, let's just say from

the very first time he approached you,

what he said, and I'll let you go.

He would ask me, "Hey bro,

"you know anybody to go k*ll

that woman for me?"

What did he offer in exchange?

Well, he was supposed to give me

$5,000 cash to leave with.

But it's your understanding,

when he gave you that money,

he did it for the purpose of you going

down to Tampa and k*lling Carole Baskin.

Yeah, he gave me three grand.

Supposed to get $5,000,

but he only got three.

But that wasn't about the f*cking money.

It was about f*cking him over.

[Joe] Allen is Jeff's right-hand man.

That's what makes no sense to all this.

I'm going to hire

a $3,000 crackhead to k*ll her?

But I knew something was going

to come down sooner or later

because Jeff and James

was con-artist buddies.

They record everything.

Because that's how they blackmail you.

[Lowe] You're f*cked.

And you know how you thought

James recorded you? You're right.

You are going to jail.

You'll hide all of this sh*t.

And then just tell me

what you want me to hear.

[Joe] What am I hiding?

[Lowe] You paid somebody

to k*ll Carole Baskin.

[Joe] That is not

what I was talking about.

[Lowe] When I started asking him about

where the money came from for the hit man,

you know, he didn't want to answer,

he just turned his head.

I think that was the straw

that broke the camel's back.

Not that he wasn't already planning

on leaving,

but that's why he packed up and left.

[Green] The government did not know

that Mr. Glover had, in fact,

been given money by Mr. Passage,

that he had given him a cellphone

with photos of Carole Baskin.

None of that was known to the government

until July of 2018.

That was obviously new information,

and we indicted him.

During the summer of 2018,

Mr. Passage had moved to a house

within Oklahoma

and then rapidly broken his lease,

packed up his things, and moved.

His social media posts seemed to be

designed to indicate

that he was in Belize

and that he was not where he was.

[David] I had seen online all the pictures

showing that they were in Belize.

I figured it was because

he didn't want to be around any of it,

and he was hiding from everybody.

[Garretson]

Before the Feds even said anything,

I knew the picture in Belize was bullshit.

I was like, "That's Florida water.

That's Panhandle water."

We all knew they were in Florida.

The Feds want you, they're gonna get you.

You can't hide.

[Green] The Fish and Wildlife and FBI

had obtained phone numbers

that were believed to be associated with

Mr. Passage,

and they do what they call

pinging his phones off of cell towers

to try to determine his location.

And with the assistance

of some local law enforcement,

he was arrested in a parking lot.

He said, "At 10:45,

I pull into the hospital parking lot,

parked the truck and

as I'm approaching the main entrance,

five cars and trucks surround me,

and one Gulf Breeze officer screams,

'Get on the ground.'

Three large officers kneel on my back

and all you could see

is the barrel of the g*n.

You would've thought

they just caught Ted Bundy."

[laughs]

"Somehow, some way,

I'm going to make this up to you.

I've never been more proud of

being married to anyone

as I am of you. Let's hope

Let's hope this all works out in Oklahoma.

Just never forget I love you."

[interviewer]

What would you say to Joe now

- if you could talk to him about

- I would just hug him.

You know,

that's what he needs.

He doesn't have any contact,

and he's a very affectionate man.

So I would definitely just hug him

as tight as I could.

Hey, everyone.

It's Carole at Big Cat Rescue.

Today,

Joseph Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage,

also known as Joe Exotic,

was arrested for seeking to hire someone

to m*rder me.

We are enormously grateful

to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

the FBI for the many months

of incredibly hard work

that went into this investigation.

KARMA

Joseph Maldonado-Passage,

perhaps better known as Joe Exotic

- Joe Exotic

- Joe Exotic

Joe Exotic

The well-known 55-year-old

former zoo owner

was taken into custody today.

Maldonado-Passage

is being held without bond

and was appointed a public defender

by a federal magistrate judge today.

A court date has not yet been set.

[Reinke] This pisses me off.

He thinks he's above the law.

I just can't believe

he actually paid somebody to do it.

NEW AT 10:00

Hiya, Miss Silva, this is Joe Exotic

from your local jail

in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

Joe Exotic makes good TV.

He makes good news.

Even if it's a train wreck,

you can't help but look.

[Joe] They strip you butt naked, put you

in a six-by-eight-foot concrete room

with no windows, no blankets, no nothing.

I am supposed to be in this country,

born, raised

innocent until proven guilty.

And I've been stripped off my clothes,

my rights, my identity, my dignity.

You can't get him to stop talking,

and if the cameras are rolling,

even better.

Maldonado-Passage tells me

he has a mountain of evidence

that will prove he was framed.

He says he's just counting down the days

to his trial

so he can tell his side of the story.

[Joe] Oh, I know what happened.

I've got three felons that want my zoo.

[Lowe] We are starting fresh,

all brand new stuff.

Brand new attitudes. New employees.

The reputation of this zoo will be just

dragged through the mud

with this whole Joe fiasco.

I want to get away from this

Joe Exotic-haunted place.

So we're building a new zoo.

I envision a great big four

or five million dollar zoo right now.

[Garretson] Jeff Lowe asked me

if I wanted to be part of the new zoo.

I told him where I would build a zoo.

I'd build a zoo down in Thackerville

by the WinStar,

so it's closer to the Texas border.

Oklahoma's poor.

You're gonna get all your customers

from Texas anyways.

[Lowe] We found almost 40 acres

about one mile behind the WinStar casino.

Everything is gonna be huge,

it's gonna be open,

it's gonna be the best

that our money can afford.

We're gonna build that zoo in six months.

[Glover] Once we move,

it'll be a whole different ballgame.

Everybody will be comfortable.

It won't be no bullshit.

It will be nice.

Not like with Joe.

God, I hate that b*tch.

Well, when I was told

the FBI was involved, I went,

"Holy f*cking sh*t."

[chuckles]

They went there and took my story

like three different times

to make sure it was f*ck' accurate

before they took it to the grand jury

or jury or whatever the hell it is.

And all I did is like Jeff told me to do

is just come and tell them exactly

what the f*ck happened.

And thank God I did.

I'd be sitting in there with f*cking Joe.

[Joe] Let me show and tell

the whole thing.

Because then you'll get it.

Then you'll say, "Jesus f*cking Christ,

why are you in jail?"