Throughout The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, Mickey Haller, the officer of the court, knew that the decorated DEA agent, James de Marco, had something to do with Gloria Dayton’s murder, but he didn’t have any evidence to support his suspicions. [Spoiler Alert] But slowly, the mystery unraveled, and Mickey got closer to the bigger picture. He connected the dots only to find out that the entire thing was nothing but a setup. De Marco wanted to arrest Hector Moya and therefore used Gloria as bait in the bigger scheme of things. The ending of season 3 revealed that James de Marco was nothing but a corrupt officer who used to do the dirty work for a Mexican called Juarez Cartel. He used his position as DEA agent to help facilitate drug trades, cover up evidence, and eliminate the rivals, which not only earned him loyalty among the Juarez Cartel but also made him a decorated officer of the law. Juarez Cartel leaked intel about its rival Sinaloa Cartel, which Marco used to make arrests and raids. In the series, we came across a double homicide that took place in Montgomery Avenue near Lake Balboa. LAPD’s Neil Bishop and his partner were investigating the case. They knew that it was a cartel’s hit, but Marco’s interest in the case made it abundantly clear that Juarez Cartel was involved in the two murders. They had sent their “man” Marco to cut a deal with Bishop and his partner so that they would let the case go, and for that the cartel was ready to make a considerable payment. So, that’s how Marco and the cartel worked. They committed the crime and Marco covered up their tracks, helping them stay off the radar.
Sometime later, the Juarez Cartel instructed Marco to deal with an important asset of their rival Sinaloa Cartel. This man was none other than Hector Arrande Moya, who often visited (or called) his favorite, Gloria Dayton. In order to get to Moya, Marco arrested Gloria and forced her to become a confidential informant. He later used her to plant a firearm in Moya’s hotel room before the LAPD raided the place. The gun found under the mattress allowed prosecutors to add an enhancement charge against Moya, which in turn, made him eligible for a life sentence in federal prison. So, that was the entire setup and Marco used Gloria as his pawn to achieve his ulterior goals.
But you see, Hector wasn’t the kind of person who would sit in silence and happily accept fate. In Victorville federal prison, Hector came across a Sly Funaro Sr. and used his connection and expertise to file a habeas motion. Sly’s son Jr., acting on his father’s instructions, called Gloria for a subpoena in the court, and that was when Gloria contacted Marco once again (I guess some seven years after Moya’s arrest). Now at this point, Marco wasn’t in touch with Gloria and didn’t know her address, which was why he contacted Bishop and asked him to find out her whereabouts. I don’t think Marco and Gloria ever really talked after she was served a subpoena. He feared that Gloria might expose his secrets and therefore he needed to silence her forever to cover up the tracks, and that was why he paid her a visit and killed her in cold blood. Unfortunately, Mickey found out about her death and started investigating the murder to protect his new client Julian La Cosse. Mickey and his investigator Cisco Wojciechowski finally connected the dots, which revealed that it wasn’t the first time Marco had pulled a stunt like that. He often blackmailed people into doing his dirty work and when his mission was finished, he would get rid of them.
Bishop’s testimony became a turning point in La Cosse’s trial that not only proved his innocence in court but also helped in Moya’s habeas petition. The judge finally agreed that Marco and his informant Gloria had planted evidence to incriminate Mr. Moya for the crimes he didn’t commit and therefore he was quickly released from the federal prison. And as soon as arrived in Mexico, the first thing he did was to find out his worst enemy Marco, who had been hiding somewhere in the southern part of the country. Yes, he finally found Marco and killed him in the most brutal way possible. In the series, Mickey received an email with a picture in which one could see Marco hanging from a rope on the side of the bridge. The venomous snake around his neck suggested he was killed by none other than Moya. Though in the book, that was kept more subtle. Mickey received an email with a 15 seconds video of a man, badly beaten and bloodied, hanging from a tree. His skin and clothes were burned black, which implied that it could be the work of Moya. When Marco first met Mickey, he told Mickey that Moya had earned the name of El Fuego—because he used to burn his victims. So, that’s one major difference from the book revolving around Marco’s death. Other than that, it’s all the same.
In the book, Marco’s death didn’t guarantee that his cartel boss won’t come for Mickey, though in the Netflix’s series, Moya assured Mickey that he would stop looking over his shoulder as he would keep the rivals busy and they wouldn’t get enough time to worry about the Lincoln Lawyer. Also, the cliffhanger where Mickey found Sam Scales’ dead body inside his car’s trunk has nothing to do with the cartel (if the book is to be followed). That’s a totally different case, and we will find more about it as soon as the fourth season arrives on Netflix.
