and the rest, went free. almost immediately, awaiting trial. it is pretty scary. you think that there are a lot of people that probably are not going to get out, they will be detained because of the risk. reporter: former u.s. attorney mel mcdonald said the defendants release suggest the fast and furious scandal is also a failure. the operation sought to tear down an armed trafficking network from top to bottom and, the end user in mexico, said the money man, the strugglers and transporters and buyers, in the end, all prosecutors got was one middleman and a handful of straw buyers. a straw buyer is usually a kid who is 18 to i ll say, 25, maybe up to 30 years old. and, he needs a couple hundred extra bucks and knows somebody that knows somebody who has a way of making a couple extra bucks. reporter: we found basically the 18 to 22, 24-year-olds still living with their parents, usually, in kind of a run down part of town, and bottom line, this was a very big case an
attorney mel mcdonald said the defendants release suggest the fast and furious scandal is also a failure. the operation sought to tear down an armed trafficking network from top to bottom and, the end user in mexico, said the money man, the strugglers and transporters and buyers, in the end, all prosecutors got was one middleman and a handful of straw buyers. a straw buyer is usually a kid who is 18 to i ll say, 25, maybe up to 30 years old. and, he needs a couple hundred extra bucks and knows somebody that knows somebody who has a way of making a couple extra bucks. reporter: we found basically the 18 to 22, 24-year-olds still living with their parents, usually, in kind of a run down part of town, and bottom line, this was a very big case an expensive for taxpayers and all but one guy was let out, within 24 hours and the next congressional hearing on this is tuesday and the focus is on mexico. back to you. heather: unbelievable. thank you very much. william lajeunesse, raeporting