alfredo, my name is william la jeunesse, i'm a correspondent with fox news.s there anything you want to say to those people who have been harmed by the guns that you bought? >> he's not going to say anything. you have to talk to his lawyer. >> reporter: together the group bought 2,000 weapons while agents watched cameras, installed by the atf inside gun stores. >> were they told go ahead for sale? >> that's part of the problem. >> we would say is there anything we should be aware of? >> no, continue to sell them. >> reporter: more than one gun store panicked aschenbaches of fire amounts flew off their shelves. i'm looking for a bit of reassurance that the guns are not going south or in the wrong hands. in response the atf lied, assuring the dealers their guns would not so -- would not see mexico. >> how many hundreds or thousands of weapons that you allowed to be purchased, knowing they were going to mexico? >> the purchase was being done by a criminal organization. >> you allowed it, not? >> reporter: agent newly authorized the operation. he believed sending

william la jeunesse has that story in l.a. what happened william?rning. >> reporter: bill, we got about 12 million illegal immigrants living in the united states, about 500,000 are said to be fugitive criminals, charged or convicted of serious crimes, like rape and homicide, child abuse. last week, agents from immigration and customs enforcement initiated operation cross-check to arrest and deport the worst of the criminal aliens. >> we turn over to the case agents. >> they meet before sunrise to assess the day's targets. in moments, the operation is underway. >> we've been targeting just what we consider the worst of the worst. >> these are just not people who have entered the united states illegally but they've committed serious crimes here. >> reporter: 62-year-old al gradeo nava is a four time felon convicted of drunk driving and giving alcohol to a minor. three times he's been deported. >> i think we're putting the message out that, you know, if you come to the united states and get convict -- convicted of a crime we're going to find you and re

william la jeunesse is live with that from los angeles. lliam. >> reporter: the cover up of an operation it appears the f.b.i. knew about and helped perpetuate. this man is the latest accused of using a fast and furious gun in a violent crime. his name is angel hernandez diaz, he allegedly rammed two police cars in arizona and stole a truck before being arrested for firing his rifle, but it is the brian terry case that continues to haunt washington. all along we've been told the f.b.i. found only two guns at the murder scene. now we have evidence of a third gun put there by an f.b.i. informant. >> brian terry is what used to keep me awake at night. it's the ultimate tragedy. >> reporter: the gun battle that claimed border agent brian terry's life happened near midnight. by day break the f.b.i. controlled the crime scene. nine months later, however, the agency has refused to release the details of his death. >> the family wants answers. they'd like to put to rest and put closure to exactly what happened to brian. >> reporter: new documents s

william la jeunesse live in l.a. with more details. hi, william. >> reporter: i.c.e.l aliens. some are handed over directly from the courts to the jails but others are fugitive. difficult to track down. operation cross-check's purpose was to find them. >> turn it over to the case agents. >> reporter: they meet before sunrise to assess the day's targets. >> get rolling. report or the in moments the operation is underway. >> we've been targeting what we consider the worst of the worst. >> do you have your i.d.? >> these are not just people who entered the united states illegally but they have committed serious crimes here. >> reporter: 62-year-old alfredo is a four-time felon, convicted of drunk driving and giving alcohol to a minor. three times he has been deported. >> i think we're putting the message out, if you come to the united states and get convicted of a crime we're going to find you and we're going to remove you. >> reporter: eight teams in los angeles alone look for more than 500 illegal felons. >> the rate of recidivism in this country is such if these peopl

william la jeunesse joins us live in los angeles. lliam. >> reporter: well, martha many would say it is bad enough to knowingly help sell guns to criminals or to knowingly to allow them to go across the border but the new documents shows the administration goes a step further, using tax money to buy guns, sell them to a known trafficker at a profit and then look the other way as they fuel violence in mexico. >> the purchase was being done by a criminal organization. >> reporter: so far federal officials claim operation fast and furious only allowed guns to be sold to criminals. however new records show atf actually bought weapons using taxpayer money, sold them to cartel buyers and watched as the guns disappeared into mexico. >> made no sense to us either. it was what we wered do to do. >> reporter: considered according to the atf letter they gave the agent $250 in petty cash to buy two handguns from the lone wolf trading company in phoenix. he received another 1700 to by four more at a second store. he instructed dodson to sell the g

william la jeunesse is live in our west coast bureau with more on this one. william? >> reporter: well, megyn, now we have not one, but two cases where guns were put into the hands of criminals deliberately. this tactic was not used in this fast and furious, but in another case where instead of just aiding the middleman, the u.s. government became the middleman using tax money to buy guns, then sold to bad guys and letting those guns disappear. the atf presumed to mexico. >> the purchase was being done by a criminal organization -- >> reporter: so far federal officials claim operation fast and furious only allowed guns to be sold to criminals. however, new records show the atf actually bought weapons using taxpayer money, sold them to a suspected cartel buyer, then watched as the guns disappeared. >> it made no sense to us either. it's just what we were ordered to do. >> reporter: according to this may 2010 letter, supervisor david voss gave agent john dotson $850 in petty cash to buy two handguns from the lone wolf trading company in phoenix. he received another $170

william la jeunesse is following this story so closely and has the latest developments. william. >> reporter: jenna, to be clear, this tactic was not used in other cases where federal agents knowingly allowed guns guns to go to cartels. what is different here is the federal government became the buyer and seller of illegal guns, we became the middle man, increasing america's culpability and in a case mexico was investigating as a crime. >> the purchase was being done by a criminal organization. >> reporter: so far, federal officials claim operation fast & furious only allowed guns to be sold to criminals, however, new records show the atf actually bought weapons, using taxpayer money, sold them to a suspected cartel buyer, then watched as the guns disappeared. >> it made no sense to us either. it's just what we were ordered to do. >> reporter: according to this may 2010 letter, supervisor david sro*t david john dodd son $800,000 in petty cash to buy two hand guns from the lone wolf trading company in phoenix, he received another 1700 to buy four more at a second store, s

williawill william la jeunesse joins us. he's been covering this from the start.p in the hands of angel diaz. it is the brian terry case that continues to unfold. we were told the f.b.i. found only two guns at the murder scene. now we have evidence of a third butt there in the words of an agent by a stone-cold killer and f.b.i. informant. >> what happened to brian terry is what used to keep me awake at night. it's the ultimate tragedy. >> reporter: the gun battle that claimed border agent brian terry's life happened near midnight. by day break the f.b.i. controlled the crime scene. nine months later, however, the agency has refused to release the details of his death. >> the family wants answers, they'd like to put to rest and put closure to exactly what happened to brian. >> reporter: new documents suggest a cover up may be the hold up. until now those involved insist police found only two fun at the murder scene, two ak-style assault weapons. emails from the day after terry died suggest otherwise. in addition to those guns atf was, quote, researching the status

william la jeunesse has been covering this scandal from the start, and he's joining us live from loseles with the latest. >> reporter: this story gets worse for the administration every day. now we have evidence that the government tried to cover up its role in the brian terry murder. we also know that many people, multiple people in the white house did know about this program down to the type of weapons being purchased as well as the amount of ammunition. and also it seems only a matter of time before the u.s. attorney's office is removed from prosecuting that brian terry murder case and all the underlying cases because of the, basically, obvious conflict of interest. first, brian terry. newly-revealed documents suggest that the u.s. attorney's office tried to conceal evidence that guns recovered in the his murder scene belonged to this man, jaime avila, they were traced to this straw buyer who had been under surveillance and that the atf could have arrested him before he bought the murder weapon, but they chose not to. according to a letter from congressman darrell issa and senator

william la jeunesse is looking into this from the newsroom. >> reporter: two exclusive interviews, onem an agent, another from the gun store recruited by the government to sell the guns for the cartels, hours of audiotape that revealed an agency and gun store in panic after their weapons were found at the murder scene of agent brian terry. >> it's either the biggest snitch ever in this industry, or i'm working for you. >> that's andre howard, owner -- other than of the lone wolf gun store, speaking to the lead atf agent in the fast & furious case, they secretly taped hope mccallister after being convinced the atf was lying to him about stopping the guns he sold before they reached members of the mexican cartels. >> he was acting under the direct supervision of the department of justice and atf. he thought he was making the difference, and that these people were being arrested and that there were going to be indictments, and that there were going to be prosecutions. >> larry gatos is howard's lawyer, saying lone wolf sold more than 1000 weapons to buyers, including those used to kill bo