Drink Champs - Episode 165 w/ Freeway Rick Ross

Episode Date: June 7, 2019

N.O.R.E & DJ EFN are the Drink Champs. On this episode the Champs talk game with the legendary Freeway Rick Ross about his personal history and his new ventures. Also on this episode we speak with Michael Corleone Blanco the Son of Griselda Blanco.Follow:Drink Champs http://www.drinkchamps.com http://www.instagram.com/drinkchamps http://www.twitter.com/drinkchamps http://www.facebook.com/drinkchamps DJ EFN http://www.crazyhood.com http://www.instagram.com/whoscrazy http://www.twitter.com/djefn http://www.facebook.com/crazyhoodproductions N.O.R.E. http://www.instagram.com/therealnoreaga http://www.twitter.com/noreaga--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/drinkchamps/support Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Almost said military crazy raw radio. I almost messed up. You actually did say that. I did say that, right? Well, let me just tell you something. When we started this show, we wanted to big up people who are legends in this game and people who are groundbreakers. When we talk about this man right now, this man has broke the mold. When it comes to being an entrepreneur, rather than just lowering it to just drug dealing.

He has took himself from nothing. I believe he started his operation from $300 and the man made close to a billion dollars in the 80s. God damn it. The man has stood his time. He's still here doing what he got to do. Standing pride. You know, have his children. Stood his test of times. And was a part of the CIA Contra controversy.

And he's still alive. Still here to prove it. I was watching the documentary knowing, documentaries, knowing I'm going to see him today and still scared of this shit. Like, oh, I think they're going to kill him. I'll do it from back then. From back then. Like, you know, the shit they're gonna kill him. Like, you know, I'll do it from back then. From back then. Like, you know, the shit that he's been through. Like, if you don't know who we talking to, we talking about, we talking about the legendary,

the motherfucking monument of Freeway Rick, motherfucker! Now, one of the, one of the, one of the curious things that, um, Mr. Lee, can you pop the champagne? Yeah. Please don't make it sound like a gunshot. There's a lot of gangsters in here, can you pop the champagne? Yeah. Please don't make it sound like a gunshot.

There's a lot of gangsters in here, we don't like that. We on edge right now. So one of the crazy things was, you wasn't born in South Central. Nah. You were actually born in Texas, but it was five years old?

We moved about four. Okay. Maybe right before five. Okay, because you know why it was funny? Because your demeanor sometimes when I see you and I look at you, you remind me of Lil' J.

And that's why I thought maybe like, you know, like just the demeanor, you know what I'm saying? That's my man. Oh, okay, okay. You know, we come from the same era.

You know, he's from Houston, I'm from Tyler. Right, right, right. Right. So, so, god damn, I don't know where to start. I told you, god damn. Wow. So, first off, I don't know if you know, but Drink Champs, this is a place where we

big up our legends. We want to give them their flowers now. So many people, when people pass away, they want to say how great they were. And, you know, the obituary and the people get up there and say how holier than thou and how much this guy would change. Too late at this point. We want to give people their flowers now. You know what I'm saying?

I appreciate it. I appreciate it. One of the craziest things in the world, I know we've got Dominican here, but I had always thought a Dominican invented crack.

That's the full-on game Washington Heights, right? That's the full-on game. It's the New York story. It's the New York side of the story. They got the wild cowboys, right? The wild cowboys.

No, no, no. But you know what? After your story comes out, then the story is fixed. But I always had grew up thinking that a Dominican kid from Washington Heights was playing with cocaine and just invented crack. Can you tell me if my childhood was fucked up? Because I was wrong. You can tell me. Right to my face.

You can tell me. You can't give him a glass? Yes. Let's take it from there. Yeah. Well-huh. Well, I didn't invent crack right? Okay when I'm Credit for has been the first crack millionaire. Mmm. Now when I started it was guys in the street That was already cooking up very few though, right? I Got it from them.

Okay. You know what I'm saying? And was it base first? Because base was like... It was free basin. That's a movement for you, right? Now, free basin was... It was a real...

This whole table would be full of chemicals. When I first started, it was real complicated. Wow. That's when Richard Pryor got burned up. Oh, yeah. Remember Richard Pryor got burned up? He was ether basin. It was flammable. It was flammable.

It was flammable. A lot of hazardous equipment. And then one day one of the homies came and he said, man, it's better when you use baking soda. And it sounds healthier for some reason. And that's really how we got the recipe. Right. Now, who invented it? I don't really know. You got the recipe. Right. Now who invented it? I don't really know.

You know the story, Ben. So now when I'm watching what was it? Cracks in the System? That's my documentary. Yeah, when I'm watching it I forget who said it. I don't forget if it was the CIA

or CIA guy or it was the newspaper guy. And he said that when he further looked at it, it really wasn't like it was racism, it really wasn't like they was just trying to kill blacks, they were trying to, whoever bought it.

It was Michael Levine, VA agent who worked over in Columbia, Peru, and he was based out of New York. Right. So that's who that was, and he said that he's one of the first ones to see it even before it got to the U.S. Uh-huh. At that time... It was a boba talk, right?

Yeah, it was paced. Okay, yeah. And he knew that once it got over here that it was going to have a devastating effect. Right. But he didn't know where it was going to have a devastating effect. Because what he's trying to say is like, you're saying it was more political.

Yeah, because I had always heard. Like you're on a contrast. Again, nobody really know about the racist thing that happened. I mean, it's hard to say. Did the government deliberately put it in the community for blacks? Right. They obviously knew that it was affecting certain neighborhoods at some point and let it keep going. Well, I had always heard me growing up thinking, I had always heard me growing up that it was actually invented for the Black Panthers.

For the, to eliminate them? To destroy them. Like, you know, get a couple of people. Again, I'm in the East Coast. I'm 41 years old. So I'm a lot, you know what I mean, younger than what is happening. But I'm old enough to almost understand. So that's what I used to hear.

Well, one of the things the black leaders always said that the government was bringing drugs into the country. Right. Which is facts. Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, all of them. Not them bringing drugs. No, no, they always said that it was the government that was bringing it in. And they were being called conspirators.

I thought you was about to say, nigga, what? Elijah was doing this? How you doing that? No, I'm not. Ultimately, they were being called conspirators. I thought you was about to say, nigga, what? No, no, no. A lot of them were slinging things? No, no. Ultimately, they were right. Exactly. I mean, what wound up happening with my situation is that it brought all of this forefront

to the future, and they had actual evidence for the first time where they could tie a government operative directly with a street dude. Right. Now, when you were doing it, did you know the level you were at?

Because you were the first one. So, like, you were all black Pablo Escobar. So, how, like... Well, you know, you got to look at it like this here, Norm. I was 19 when I started. Damn. Couldn't read, couldn't write, didn't watch the news. All I saw was what the big homies was trying to do.

And I saw what they was making their mistakes. I went in and corrected their mistakes and made basically my own formula of getting down. I had no clue about the war in Nicaragua, where my

man was. I mean, I wouldn't ask my man, where you live? You know what I'm saying? That's just something you just don't do that in the game. You know, like, if he wants you to know where he lives, he gonna take you to his house. You know what I'm saying? If he don't want you over his house around his wife and his kids, you don't go around his wife and kids. That's just how the

game was. So, I never really questioned how the whole thing was lined up. Now, he had mentioned to me before, oh, we fighting a war in my country. Right. And we got to win to get our property, our land back. Right. So I understood that because I was fighting for my land. But when you think, he's saying that, you're thinking, you're not thinking soldiers and military.

You're thinking, like, you're thinking bloods and crits, right? Yeah. That's what I was thinking. He's Nicaraguan, right? He's Nicaraguan. So he's dealing with the Sandinistas and all that stuff. Correct. He's in the Contras, dealing with the Contras.

He's a Contra. Right, right. Fighting against the Sandinistas. I don't know nothing about the Sandinistas. You don't now, I'm assuming. Oh, absolutely. But back then, you didn't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nobody knew. It was all covert shit going on. It was, but it was people in the country that knew that there was a war going on in Nicaragua, that America was fighting this war, and that the Contras had lost the war, basically, and they had to be pushed into the U.S. Right. They also knew that these guys still wanted to win this war and that these guys would start selling drugs. I mean, the CIA admitted that in their report that eventually they became aware that these guys weren't just fighting a war over there with the money that they had got from the government, but they had took this money.

My informant, who was also my drug supplier, when he testified. What's his name? Blandon. Blandon. But you didn't know any of that, when he testified... Vondo, what's his name? Vondon. But you didn't know any of that, that he was any of that government-wise? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, you know, when you're growing up in South Central, we have a dislike for the police. You know, I mean, I done sit on the curb when I was 14, 15 years old. You know, get on the curb, sit down, don't move, put your bike right there.

You know, all y'all sit on the curb. Don't nobody move. We're going to run everybody. We're going to make sure these bikes ain't stolen. So we already had a dislike for the police, a distrust for the police. So it was no way that we would have been informed that this operation was going on. You know, this had to be something where you was politically connected to really be in the loop on this.

And, like, one of the first times the police chased you, they shot at you. A few times. It wasn't like, put your hands up. It was like, let's kill him. No, a few times. Well, you know, you know...

God bless. I got so big, and I was able to outmaneuver the cops. You know, they couldn't figure out why they couldn't catch me with no drugs. You know, why would they would raid my houses and it would never be drugs in my houses. So they got mad. You couldn't live with Instagram, boy. Instagram would have killed you back then.

Yeah, yeah, Instagram would have killed you. These cameras, these cameras, oh my goodness. My killed you back then. Yeah, yeah, Instagram would have killed me. These cameras. These cameras. Oh, my goodness. My bad. My bad. I was thinking. No, no, you're absolutely correct.

Because back then, we could hide more. They really didn't know how you looked. Nobody knew how you looked. They don't know how you dressed. You know, they looking for this guy driving around. And you didn't have a police record back then? No, I didn't have a record. Okay, continue. This is crazy.

So they didn't know. All they knew was Freeway Rick. Right. You know, I didn't have a record. Okay, continue. This is crazy. So they didn't know. All they knew was Freeway Rick. Right. You know, they don't know my full name. They don't know my address. They don't know who my girlfriend is.

They don't know really nothing about me. All they think that they know, the first time that I got tipped about them, about this task force, is my gardener had came in the house one day,

and he was like, man, uh... Hold on, let's make some noise if you're having a gardener had had had came in the house one day and he was like man uh hold on let's make some noise you're having a gardener back in the day this is just getting gardeners in the 90s right now i mean in the 2000s the task force is not da it's prior to dea right they're prior to dea they just what what they did with the task force is city hall had a meeting and they said that people in the neighborhood kept bragging about this young guy, Freeway Rick, who's having all this money. So what city council did is they had a meeting, and they took five of the toughest police stations in Los Angeles and put them together,

and they called in the Freeway Task Force. These cops' job was to bring me down. Along the way, they started stealing money, robbing people, forging search warrants. I mean, they were some of the biggest crooks that you ever want to see. So my gardener was the first one to tip me off to the Freeway Task Force. I didn't know nothing about him. So he tipped me off, and that started a whole nother. But what did he say?

He seen police coming around or something? No, he brought me a newspaper article. Oh, what the fuck? It was in the newspaper. The city council had had this meeting, and I didn't read the newspaper. Right. So I wouldn't have never called it. But he brought it to my attention that it was in the newspaper and they had one of my houses inside the paper where uh this informant

that they had caught was talking about my house was protected by the police he said that every time he came over to rob the house that is always police in the area to protect the house now i never saw that well you know you didn't know they they're scheming on you they're watching it they're watching you not protecting okay good so uh that was my first time becoming aware of them they had never raided none of my houses at that time i had no no police contact i mean we was like just running free and wild you know we at we, at this particular house, this is where our race car, we didn't even have dope at that house. That was like a house where we kept our race cars. You know, we had top fuel cars and pro stock race cars and bikes.

And on the side, it was on the side of the freeway like we always stayed. You know, that's where I got the name from. Right. That was like our drag strip. So we just clowned and partied and, you know, had mad sound equipment and barbecuing every day. And people would just be coming in and crimps and bloods. And, you know, more like a meeting spot. No dope wouldn't be there.

Like if they raided the house, you ain't going to find no dope. But we found out that they were watching that house. So that was the first time that we became aware of the Freeway Task Force. Not only you, you were like the first person that, at least back then, because we thought the Bloods and Crips was really killing each other. They couldn't be in the same vicinity. I remember that's the first time I heard that. It was a guy that dealt with the Bloods and the Crips. Yeah, well, you know, what happened is what I found out

and a lot of my guys find out that when it came to money, guys would put their differences down. It's very rarely that that happened, but it started to be where Crips was selling on Blood Streets and Bloods was selling on Crips Streets where they were more a corporation

than the world knew about. And it was just about making money. You know, when you're making money, you're having fun. Right. Nobody want no killing and no shooting because it's going to bring the cops in. So that was the first time that I had seen, since the beginning, I remember when the Bloods and Crips used to play football against each other. It was like this neighborhood against that neighborhood, and they would come, and one day we were at the beach.

We rode our bikes to the beach, and when we got back. Behind the beach? Payne and Ray. Okay, okay. Payne and Ray is the one right by the house, or the closest to the house, about five miles from where we grew up. So when we got back, we see the tape all taped off, and the police is there.

Well, one of the Crips all taped off and the police is there. Well, one of the Crips had killed one of the main Bloods. And that started the first clash in our area, which the Crips started in our area. I thought Raymond Washington was over a jacket or something. That was something that happened prior to that?

At the Palladium or something? That may have been later on, down the line. Oh, after, okay. Yeah, this was after. This was like when the Crips had first organized. Oh, wow. Like the 70s? Yeah, this was 70, maybe like 78, 79-ish, something like that there. But how'd you avoid being able to deal with both well when I was young I wanted to be a crip

Yeah, yeah, I mean I was diehard on being a crip But my mom was one of them ones that you know, you don't play with my mom But she didn't she didn't whoop you she beat you But she don't whoop the belts A belt or a switch No no no no You're going to break that belt You're going to break that switch So my mom would get the stention card

And when you went to school the next day You had wet marks on you Hiding them You don't want nobody to see them Because you don't know how you got whooped So moms wasn't having it So when I got 12 I started playing tennis

Yeah I was about to say Did you actually meet Arthur Ashe I did Arthur Ashe came down to our school our high school I was good enough

to go to one of the best black tennis teams high school tennis teams in LA wow and Arthur Ashe came out and gave everybody

on the team awards and played with like four of the top guys but yeah I did get to meet Ash one time. I would think neighborhood kids would try to take your rackets from you or something. Nah, nah. They don't want no tennis rackets. Yeah, they don't want no tennis rackets.

Wouldn't nobody want to ask then, you know. Now you said you lived on Figueroa, right? Now Figueroa, that's LA, oh that's the Bay. No, Figueroa is South Central LA. South Central, okay, alright, cool. I always thought... Figueroa is that's LA. Oh, that's the Bay. Because that was a part of the... No, Figueroa is South Central LA. South Central. Okay, all right. Cool. I always thought... Figueroa is where the prostitutes were.

Okay, all right. I always thought that... For some reason, I was reading Donald Golan's books. Forget what author I read. Figueroa, I always thought was in the Bay Area. When I was in jail. No, Figueroa is one of the main throughways in Los Angeles. It's like maybe the second or third biggest street in L.A.

And then Figueroa runs side by side with the 110 freeway. They separate each other. And my house sat right in between Figueroa and the 110 freeway. That's where freeway came in. Now, did you... Hold on, before I get to the rap shit,

I'm just going to go to the rap. I'm just going to stay off the drugs here, alright? There's so much to talk about. You got something to eat shit, I'm going to go to the rap. Let's just stay off the drug shit, all right? There's so much to talk about. You got something to eat? Because I'm going in my notes. No, I mean, it goes beyond drug shit. You helped Denzel Washington early in his career. That was Harry O.

Oh, Harry O. Michael Harris. Michael Harris did that. You did Anita Baker. I did Anita Baker. But you wasn't a part of none of that? You didn't help him? I mean, me and Harry, we was cool.

You know, we was partners, but I wasn't a part of him with his play Checkmate. We were kind of like, almost like, kind of like rivals, but not really rivals. You know what I'm saying? Because he claimed a set, actually, right? I think he was Blood, I think. He grew up with the Bloods, but then he ran with the 60s too. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, when you become a certain status in the game, you have to transcend past that gangbanging. You know, what hood you from, what set you from. Even like with me, I didn't gang bang but my neighborhood is Hoover and everybody considers me even in jail

the Hoovers told everybody I was Hoover even though I said no I ain't Hoover they still say no you Hoover so

you put on the hood it's still hard to transcend that but I still dealt with the 60s which was Hoover's number one enemy. That's my next question. I think you were saying that.

Well, you know, you just have to be bigger than the situation. And a lot of times, you have to make up your own mind. Like me and Big Hugh. You know me and Big Hugh like this. Big up for you. We've got to get him and his gang. Oh, y'all going to bring Big Hugh in? Yeah, yeah, no problem.

Yeah, yeah, that's my man. Big Hugh doing some big things out there, too. You know. But me and Big Hugh have been partners. Right. Petey Whack. Right. Who's, I don't know how much time Whack doing right now.

He might be doing about 40 years. God, man. But he's one of the founders of the 60s. Wow. We've always been cool. So, I was able to transcend the neighborhood politics. You know, I didn't allow the politics to dictate which direction I was going in. You know why you're a strong-minded person?

Because me being from the East Coast and not seeing the blood, not seeing the crypt, when I seen it on television, I automatically was gravitated towards that life. Like, I automatically wanted to study it. I automatically wanted to be a part of it. So, for you being involved and being able to say, you know what, I'm going to be,

that's probably like the most disciplined, plenarian type of shit I've ever heard. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, us as blacks, we don't have much that we can be a part of. You know what I'm saying? So, when I was coming up to see the comradery with the Crips and the Bloods, you know, I knew Big Puddin', too, the founder of the Bloods.

That was my man. Oh, wow. Yeah, Big Puddin'. Matter of fact, right before he died, I was trying to get Big Puddin' to write a book. Wow. I was still locked up. I talked to you, too, I believe, when I was locked up. I don't know if you remember.

As soon as you had just got out of prison. Windy Day. Windy Day, okay. Windy Day was on the phone. I thought I talked to you through, what's my homeboy from the jungles? T-Rodgers? Yeah, T-Rodgers.

I thought I spoke to you through that. Wendy, I think Wendy was. It was Wendy, okay, okay. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she was telling me about when you was getting out. Yeah, yeah.

You know Wendy, you know Wendy Day? Of course, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, cash money Wendy Day. She helps everybody in jail. Yes, yes. If you in jail, Wendy Day, and you got a little reputation, Wendy Day will look out for you. Right,. Cash money, Winnie Day. She helps everybody in jail. Yes. If you in jail, Winnie Day, and you got a little reputation, Winnie Day will look out for you.

Right. Big up to Winnie Day. We need her out here, too. Yes, absolutely. And that's my girl, Winnie. So let me hit you with this word, because this messed me up. Continuous criminal spree. Yeah.

That's the words that got me out. I still don't understand. Like, when you said that. The difference? You don't understand the difference between a career criminal and a continuous criminal spree. A career criminal is somebody who commits a crime, go to jail. And then does it again. Get out and then does it again. Get out, and then do it again.

A continuous criminal spree is meaning that you're committing crime over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over but you haven't been arrested. So it's a continuous criminal spree. Damn, I don't know the difference there.

Neither of them sounds good. Okay, so one means, so continuous spree means you're doing it without getting caught. Right. So. Uninterrupted. Okay.

That's a spree. So, that's how you beat your case because they said that you had the three strike law. Right. Because they used that as. They said that my case was a three strike.

I was a three striker. Right. Even though I'd only been in jail one time. Wow. So I figured out that what I was doing was a continuous criminal spree, even though it was in different states. See, they thought because I was selling dope in Texas and Cincinnati and Louisiana and St. Louis, that all of those was different arrests. Right.

But what I tried to get them to understand is that it was a continuous criminal spree that was uninterrupted. And in order to be a career criminal, you have to be brought to your senses. See, you're not a career criminal if you're not brought to your senses. If nobody ever sent you down, thank you. This is you defending yourself at this point. Yeah, this is a fact. Yeah. I mean, I got my public defender. He's working with me, and he's writing everything

up. But this is you reading yourself. But I still can't write that well, you know, I couldn't write the briefs and none of that. But I know what I want in my briefs. Right. You know, I read. So you read. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, please.

I read enough books to know what the brief's supposed to say. Right. And like I said, I was in them books all day. I started to study. When you came across those words words you understood those words immediately Absolutely, absolutely. It's like I get what you're saying, but it's still complicated like what you're saying Oh, no question the judge didn't understand it. Wow Understand my lawyer did I paid that dude a lot of money

Dude did my appeal the dude who did my appeal wasn't my appeal wasn't the lawyer who went to trial with me. My trial lawyer said, hey, man, that little money you got left, put it on your books. Keep that. Because you're going to need it. You got a lot of time to do it. Right, right. Life, in fact. I had to go with another dude who hadn't even

talked to me. You know what I'm saying? Before. So I had to get him to understand what I was saying too because he didn't really understand it either. They was all more concerned about crossing state lines. So you're saying if you would have got caught twice

then they could have proved that you was a I would have been a correct criminal. If you would have been convicted twice you got caught more than twice, then they could have proved that you was a criminal. I would have been a correct criminal. If you would have been convicted twice, you could have, you got caught more than twice, but convicted. Yeah, right. And I've been convicted twice, but it was the same criminal spree.

I went to Texas. He got him. I went to Texas. I went to Texas and I said I'm guilty. I went to Cincinnati. I'm guilty. Right. Louisiana, I'm guilty.

Right. But it was still, I never got out of handcuffs. See, they took me from one state to the next state to the next state. I was never out of handcuffs. I was always like this here, everywhere I went. It wasn't like I got out and I'm free and then I start slaying again and got caught. It was like, oh, no, you've been in this state, this state, that. We all be looking for you.

So when they got me, everybody want a piece of me. Wow. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. Hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser-known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Ranella.

I'll correct my kids now and then. they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1,

Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company,

the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi, for a conversation that's anything but ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from

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thought was, this is the most important phone call I'll ever make in my life. I couldn't believe it. I mean, Brendan, it was divine intervention. You can now binge all 10 episodes of Divine Intervention on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So let me ask you something. This is a little off subject, but it's on subject, right? How come every movie or every ending to something always says,

this is the last one. Like, this is the last. And when I'm watching your documentary, you're saying you're out. You came home. You built a community center. It's hard, man.

You know what I'm saying? It's hard not to go back to the well whenever things get tough. Right. And you have a tendency to go back to your habits. You know, like a person who's trying to stop smoking cigarettes.

His wife started acting up. He'd pick up a cigarette. You know what I'm saying? Something go wrong, he'd pick up a cigarette. So with me, my crutch had become selling cocaine. Cocaine made everything better for me. No matter what was going on, I could go sell some cocaine and get it up there. If my old lady acting up, I go make some money and get $10.

Now she feel good. You know what I'm saying? So we have a tendency to go back to our crutches. And cocaine had become, for me, a crutch. Because one of my, we were so poor. Let me tell you, the first time when I got to jail, I ran across a dude I went to junior high school with right and uh when we run into each other man you joseph petrie and he's like yeah rick man he's like man i heard about you but i didn't believe it i was like what you mean

he said man i couldn't believe you made that kind of money. I said, why not? He said, man, you was the poorest dude in the neighborhood. He said, I remember when you used to take tennis balls to your tennis shoes to keep your feet from being on the ground. And you and your brothers used to change pants. So y'all didn't wear the same pants every day. But we all knew y'all was wearing each other's pants. Real shit. I was wearing each other's pants. So, to come from there to wind up

where I wound up, money had become my escape. You know, that was like everything that I wanted. I didn't want nothing else. I wanted to fix my mama floors. I wanted to put windows in her house. I wanted a new carpet in her house. I wanted a new carpet

in her house. I wanted her to have a new kitchen. To do the things that I felt would make her life the way I thought it should be. You know, this is my mama. This is how she should be living. That was my goal. Didn't nothing else really matter.

Right. Let's make some noise for that guy. That's real shit. That's real shit. Like, you know, no, no, no. We'll do a little bit more and then we'll come back to that. I got so much shit going on in my head. Take your time. Take your time.

I got so much shit going on. You're a very interesting guy. And the thing about it is. It's getting very interesting guy. And the thing about it is... It's getting more interesting. And the thing about it is this. A lot of people would have been in your position and came home and did it again. Well, you know, I mean, I did it that second time.

You know, I did the food that second time. Were you as famous that second time? Or, like, you know what I'm saying? In the streets, I was. Okay. Like, the dope boys knew me it's it's almost like right now you know like like uh now you tmz famous don't fuck around nigga don't fuck around it's still it's still what what i what i know about my my famousness because i I study everything that I do. I study.

The people who like me usually dope boys first. Of course. Next, hustlers. Your hero. Then athletes. Yeah. So it's really a male base of guys who are trying to get money or who like money. Right.

Either one. Both of those are really the same. You can't separate the two. Right. That's my fan base. Right. those are the people who who bought my book you know like it was guys in the street bought my books and man i can't even read rick but fuck it that's what's better you know i learned so much from you from the videos and when you went to trial and i use that shit right now. So I understand who support me and who like me. You know what I'm saying?

And I also know that those are motherfuckers who run the streets. You know what I'm saying? That's why I can feel comfortable by going to any city in this country and don't have no problems because the dudes who run them streets fuck with me.

Right. Well, you was, you was the, literally the first cocaine kingpin in America. Crack kingpin. Crack kingpin.

Crack kingpin. Let's get it. Let's do it. Well, I mean, because, you know, we got young Escobar here. We're going to bring him in a bit.

But have you ever, have you ever like ran into, other than the Nicaraguans, have you ever met, like, Colombians or, like, anybody other than that level? Because I imagine your name had to be ringing bells with all the cartels. I mean, you know, I used to come down here. Right, wow. You know, with the Nicaraguans. This is where they used to have their meetings at. This is where the Colombians and the Nicaraguans used to meet, right here in Miami.

Wow. I was coming to Miami like 81, 82. You know, they would make me come in and come to the meetings and sit down and tell them what we could do, you know, how many keys we could move. I remember the first time I came down here, man. And it's in the book, too. And they had me, I brought all my money down here. I brought like $600,000, $650,000. That was every dime I had.

On the plane? Yeah, we flew in on the plane. God damn it, let's make some noise. Keep going, keep going, Rick. Keep going, Rick. You can do this. You can do this. Keep going.

We flew in on the planes. We went to, I think we went to. Don't tell me you went to Tootsie's with that 600. No, we went to Jackson. We went to Jackson. Tootsie's is here. We didn't want to come into Miami. You know how Miami is hot. Oh, Jacksonville. Yeah, we went to Jackson. We went to Jackson. Jackson here? We didn't want to come into Miami. You know how Miami is.

Oh, Jacksonville. Yeah, we went to Jackson and we took a rent car. And y'all drove down with it? We drove down. So we do the deal, bought a dope, and when we finished doing the deal,

we had $1,500, no car, no plane tickets, and no money at home. So we sit in a hotel room with 20 bricks and we're like, how are we going to get this shit on?

Right. This is $ 600,000 worth of it. And no driver's license. We didn't have driver's license. So we buy a suburban. We bought old suburban. I think we paid like $1,200 for it, man. Right. And we rode him back. We stop in Georgia. We rest in Georgia. Wait, you're driving this cross country?

Yeah, we drove all the way back to L.A. Wow. Hey, listen. I blow the motherfucking car up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I'm fighting the diesel truck. It's raining like a motherfucker,

right? But we finna be rich. We get this shit back to L.A. We finna be rich. Right. So, we rolling. It's about 11 o'clock at We wanted to be rich. So we rolling. It's about 11 o'clock at night. My boys are asleep.

I hear them. I said, man, the truck ticking. They said, what? We told you don't drive this motherfucker too fast. I'm trying to get home. So my mother just like, and just blew up right on the side of the highway. With 20 bricks in there? Yeah.

We pull over. We grab the bricks out the back, the suitcase, throw them in some bushes, call the tow truck to come get us. Tow truck come get us. Now we in Tennessee, we got like $350. No driver license, no more money, and nobody to call. So, uh.

With 20 bricks? 20 bricks. So the tow truck take us. With the 20 bricks? With the 20 bricks. Cause we throw the. The tow truck take us. With the 20 bricks. With the 20 bricks. Because we throw the bricks back in the car once the tow truck hook up. We finna roll. So long.

So he take us to a junkyard. Old white dude. Man, I'll never forget this dude. Dude, coolest motherfucker in the world, man. I love that dude. I wouldn't have made it without him, man. That favor he did for us helped us out a lot. So we there.

He's like, man, there's something funny about you dudes, man. None of y'all got helped us out a lot. So we there, he's like, man, there's something funny about you dudes, man. None of y'all got driver's license. Y'all can't get a rental car. What's going on with y'all? So we got the bricks in the back of the car

that broke down. So he said, you know what? You see that old truck over there? It was a little, small Ford U-Haul truck. A little,

little bitty one. And he said, y'all give me $ dollars and uh y'all been taking man we took that we got to uh vegas we drove it all the way across country my boys was big too man i was about six two so his legs is all over and we sticking it was a stick shift so we hitting each other but uh we got to vegas man and the boys came and picked us up and we was like man we on so we took that and that was boys came and picked us up, and we was like, man, we on. So we took that, and that was our first time hitting a million dollars after we dumped that.

Now let me ask you something. Was the cocaine cheaper in Miami? At that time, it was. That's the reason why? Mm-hmm. Because that's what we always heard. Like, it always comes cheaper. It wasn't cheap, though.

Back then, it was like like 45,000 a kilo. But in LA it was like 200,000. Yeah, it was cheaper for that time period. I, just because I'm from New York, I need to know how much it was in New York. Man, we wasn't even going to New York then. We wasn't even going to New York then. We didn't start going to New York until like 85, 80, 80. We was pro-packed then.

Jesus. Fuck. So, everybody from Miami is balling. Yeah, and Miami was a place. That was where- It was a port of entry. It was a port of entry at that time. The Columbia's was coming here.

That was before the Columbia's started coming to LA. Once they found out that LA was a bigger market, I guess, then they started pouring into L.A. And that's when the price war started. Because, like I said, the first kilo we bought, we paid like $45,000, $47,000 for it. But ounces, you know, we used to pay $3,300. $47,000. $47,000 for a kilo. But ounces, we used to pay, the first ounce I bought, I paid $3,200 for an ounce of cocaine. And so I had to break it down and make like $9,000 off of one ounce.

What's my man you said you gave him? He reeled up with you $1,800. You gave him two ounces and he sold it out. What's his name? He's a coach now. You talking about Coach Ward? Yeah coach now uh you talking about coach ward yeah or are you talking about honcho uh no i think you're talking about honcho no well he said he sold it out the same day oh you're talking about coach ward coach ward coach ward yeah yeah yeah

yeah well coach was uh he was a little football player you know and and those are the kind of guys i used to look for you know i I used to look for dudes that was disciplined. Hit me up. Yeah, I got you. I'm coming for you right now, man. Look at that. You know, it's my birthday. We're going to celebrate.

It's your birthday? Yeah. Why didn't nobody tell us it's his birthday? We were going to just celebrate. I don't really celebrate that shit no way, though. Okay, you must celebrate. Come on, man. We're going to celebrate today. We celebrate. Yeah, Coach Ward, he was a young dude, you know, and. Okay, you must celebrate. Come on, man. We're going to celebrate today.

We celebrate. Yeah, yeah. Coach Ward, he was a young dude. And those are the dudes I used to look for, man. Good dudes. Ain't getting high. Trustworthy. You know, like you can give them something.

Was that a rule in your crew? Don't get high? Because I noticed that about Robert, too, brother. I tried to implement that. But you know, dudes don't listen. Right. They'd rather be high than have money. Yeah, brother. I tried to implement that, but you know, dudes don't listen. Right. They'd rather be high than have money.

Yeah, yeah. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book. That's my next book.

That's my next book. Because cocaine, listen, in all realness, back then, cocaine was looked at like the rich man's job. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't getting, I wasn't using it because, well, I was too. But let me say this here. The reason I didn't use, because when I first got involved, the big homies all told me, like, if you don't get high, you're going to get rich. Little motherfucker. Because I was considered young, I was 19, but I was young for the dudes who was involved with coke at that time.

I mean, a gram was $300. So the only motherfuckers could afford it was like pimps, lawyers, doctors. So motherfuckers like me and under me, they really didn't have no money. You know, I had money because I had enough sense to hang out with the pimps

and that's how I really became exposed to the game from hanging out with them right but at that time man it was so damn expensive that

nobody had no money to get that could you think could you think the era and again we're not glorifying it but we're understanding that this is factual facts it's history it. Could you think the era, and again, we're not glorifying it, but we're understanding that this is factual facts.

It's history. It's history. You think a person could do it on your level the way you did it back then? Like, you know,

you ever read Don Devo or the Feds magazine and was like, man, this kid might have did it bigger than me. It's hard.

You know, it's really hard to duplicate that system. But you know, these kids are smarter now. You know what I'm saying? They learning how to maneuver. Now, I couldn't maneuver it in this system. You know, my mother was taking pictures of me.

I'd have been like, hold up, man, what is this? Who you looking for? You know, it's a total different era, you know. Like now, you know, like my nephews come and show me that dudes are selling dope on the Internet and all that, you know. Them niggas crazy. Them niggas crazy. Whoever them niggas know. No era that's going to be right.

Yeah. Hey, but they doing it right now. So, you know, I don't know how they doing it, how it's working, you know, with us. You know, we here in the shadows, you know, when we got down. But it's a different era but for some reason these kids are gonna figure out how to make it work you know what i'm saying and i'm sure that there's somebody out there that's putting i mean you know like big meach did you know big meach came up with a formula that worked during that time right and i'm sure that there's

somebody else right now who's figure out how to uh how to beat the system now it's funny you bring up big meets because one of big meets his biggest downfalls uh the people would say is it was his flashiness yeah it was like you know i remember going to a club kid you not it was 14 of them and they had 14 lamborghinis outside i was like damn no one could ride with someone else like Like, I was dying. I didn't meet Nietzsche until after he failed. Oh,

okay. Yeah, after he failed, you know, Wendy hooked us up and she wanted me to work with him with his case

and talk to him and met him was writing through Wendy. So, I was corresponding with him and he told me

what they'd offer when they offered him the deal. I gave him my personal opinion on the deal. You know, I didn't think that, I didn't think they had any issues on winning this case right uh and and i thought that he should take the deal right even though it was 30 years you know uh i know those

that wish they would have took the 30 right now they done did 30 right and still going right because they didn't take the deal so i thought that uh it was in his best interest to take the 30-year deal. But in the life that you guys live, is being flashy bad, like how, like, you know, before John Gotti, we really, we knew of the mafia, but we didn't know of the mafia. Like, you know, and I'm coming from Queens where he's from. So when John Gotti stopped flashing and he started actually Claiming that character you think that was bad for business like absolutely absolutely my gosh, man One of them just got out to me a little Tommy

The time he was like 18 years old he had two Rolls Royces Jermaine Jackson had bought a Ferrari and didn't have all the money to get it out Jermaine Jackson. Yeah, Jermaine Jackson had bought a Ferrari and didn't have all the money to get it out. Jermaine Jackson? Yeah, Jermaine Jackson. He had a Tessarosa. He had the first Tessarosa probably in the country. Wow. And the Tessarosa was sitting in there on the showroom floor, and little Tommy passed

by and saw it. And he walked in, and he told the man, how much for that Tessarosa? So the man told him the price, and they said Tommy gave him $10,000 extra. Wow. You know, you tell Jermaine to wait until the next one. That's all. And then he wrecked that one. And everybody was laughing at him. He went back

and bought another one. So when they did this it tipped the police off to what we was doing. Because for a while the police off to what we was doing because for a while the police didn't know what we was doing. Like when, you know, I got those sheriffs indicted. The cops that was doing all of the stealing.

Okay. The sheriff that you met in the documentary? Yeah, I got them indicted. Oh, okay. Yeah, I had to take care of them because they was hurting the hood. Right, right, right. They was stealing from y'all.

They were stealing and robbing. They wasn't even being robbed of hoods. They was being robbing and robbing. And they would send you to jail. They would rob you. And send you to jail. And send you to jail. Wow. I'm like, I can go with being robbed, but you ain't gonna rob me and put me in jail. Right, right. You know what I'm saying? So, I hired a private investigator to investigate

them. Wow. I spent $100,000. My lawyer, I go see my lawyer so they're just raided my girl house right you never had no dope in my girl house right how the fuck i know we ain't forgot no dope in there you know because you know how you sometimes you know we we used to keep our dope in cars right you know that was how we beat the cops right they didn't understand the car game you know you throw it in the trunk of the car move the car a block or two down the street, never see it until you need it.

They're never going to know. So we always kept our dope in cars. So sometimes we would forget and have 10, 15 keys in the trunk of a car. We'd go to the car and open the trunk, and it's 15 keys. And they're like, damn, how long has this shit been in here? So I'm saying when they raid our house, I said, damn, did we leave that shit in there on accident or something? You know, maybe one day we left it under the sink.

Or maybe you left cash there. Well, cash, if they would've said cash, I would've said, yeah, you know. Right. Yeah, you know. But they said dope. But they said dope. Right. You know, this my girl house, you know what I'm saying?

So I'm like, nah, I ain't buying that. So I go tell my lawyer, right, and I'm like, man, I knew it wasn't no dope. Right. You know, this my girl house. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, nah, I ain't buying that. So I go tell my lawyer, right? I'm like, man, I know there wasn't no dope in there. He said, oh no, you had to at least leave some dope. I said, man, I ain't left no dope in her house. So he said, oh, so you saying they crooked? He arguing with me. I'm paying this motherfucker, right?

He arguing with me. I said, man, wasn't no dope in there. So he said, well, if you think they crooked, get a private investigator. Because I had never thought about it. I ain't know nothing about no private investigator. You know what I'm saying? I ain't never been to court yet.

So I said, well, man, who was the private investigator? So he put me up. I hired a private investigator. I gave the dude $100,000. And so the dude followed the cops around. Everywhere they went, he went. Up front? Or he had to give them $1,500?

I gave him $100,000 up front. Oh, OK, cool. God damn it. This is no time. This is no time. This is no time. Continue. Yeah, so he followed them around, and he started bringing me back the evidence. Not only from my crew, but they was also doing the same thing to other crews.

Eventually, they had 150 people that was in prison and when they finally arrested me and indicted me, I hand the investigation over to the prosecutor like, I don't know what y'all trying to do, but these dudes here, they ain't gonna be your witness. We got too much dirt on them, so they let 150

people out of prison. So, that like sent my notoriety and Big Putin, the founder of the Bloods, was one of the guys who eventually got out and I didn't even know,

you know, Putin was one of my guys too. He was getting his stuff from me. But I didn't know that the cops had set him up until we all

sitting in there together and he was like, yeah, man, them motherfuckers following me from your house. Wow. Now, this is not the time

where the officers start talking about the judge because they had the judge on the same case. Yeah, that's the same case. Oh, wow. That's the same case. How do you know to be smart like that? I didn't. The lawyer put me up on it. I was just keen to what he was saying.

Right. You know, when he tell me, he tell me that he don't believe they doing it. Right. This motherfucker, he so smart. He don't believe they doing it. This motherfucker, he's so smart, he don't believe they doing it, right? He think I'm lying. But back then it did probably sound crazy. It did because we hadn't had no... You had no evidence. You had no cost planning. So I can see where you're going from here.

This is probably one of the craziest cases ever in in the history of of police force you know and you know rampart was an offshoot um of the freeway task force remember the rampart case where the dudes was stealing the money and doing all the stuff that came out in in in uh that's not training day like based off of that training day is based off of that wow but it was deeper than training day right training day didn't even touch the surface. Wow. You see these scars in my face? Right. All that's flashlight therapy while I was handcuffed. Handcuffed,

my legs hog-tied, the dog was biting me. Yeah, wow. The dog bit me and they hit me in the head with flashlights, steel flashlights. They got these big,

long-ass steel flashlights and they cracking you in the head. I mean, you go out and then they wake you up. I'm going to be honest, to this day, LAPD is still

the scariest niggas ever. I'm not going to lie legal forever and i still see the lapd i'll be looking like that i'll be looking like i don't know why i looked the other way man i don't know i'm scared of death but i'm like this most racist yeah all right and they got black and white cars they just they just raided the sheriffs sheriff is the green cars though right no sheriffs black and white black and white black and white one just got sheriff wrote on it okay the sheriff's... Sheriff is the green cars though, right? No, sheriff's black and white too. Black and white too. They both wore black and white. One just got sheriff wrote on it. Okay. The sheriff run the county jails. Okay. You know, they run the jails. Okay. They just got them for having this coat, this white coat. Coat. C-U-L-T. You know how I speak Ibanian.

Yeah, I know. I thought you said they got coke. I said, damn, these guys, they own coke too? They got police coke? So they was in jail having dudes fighting with each other. Just doing all kind of insane shit. And the feds just arrested. You know they arrested the

head sheriff. He's in jail right now. Yeah, for the same stuff. He was allowing this activity to be going on inside of our jails and um all of that's just continuation of what had started uh back in the 80s now in la it's so like racial like that's the most racial um when it comes to streets when it comes to streets is like real race like in. Like in business, there's Mexicans in the same meeting, there's blacks in the same meeting, but when it comes to streets of LA, it's really

segregated. It's blacks, it's Crips, then there's Mexicans, and then there's Asians. You at the level you was at, did you have to deal with each and every gang? We already know, we were established. Well, I didn't really deal with Mexicans until I went to prison okay when I was on the street the black community was so strong then that I didn't really need to come outside of that that community so I was able to to to other than getting the drugs I could stay inside of my little comfort zone and and make like I wouldn't if you walk up to me and you was white I'll be what you talking about? You know what I mean?

He wasn't even interested in white customers. He was making a billion dollars not in the white market. No, no, I didn't need that. Wow. Because I had

the cream of the black market. Wow. So, please don't forget your thought, but my neighborhood, that was our goal was to have like Barney come from Regal Park to come to our neighborhood.

Barney. Like, you know, this real nigga named Barney. And we used to have this white lady named Trans Am. She used to come through in a Trans Am. But she used to come through and buy, like, a 500-pack. Like, you know, to us, that was huge. But your goal was, fuck that, have the whole community. Right.

Well, my guys depended on those. Right. You know, or their guys who was on the street selling the 50s and but i had got to a position where i wasn't selling less than like 20 30s 40s 50s hundreds you know uh so i didn't really need um you know barney coming through with 500 500 what five what i going to do with $500? Right, right, right, right. Give it to her?

Right, exactly. I don't even know her. Exactly. Exactly, exactly. You know, I had a guy that rode around with me every day to give out money. Wow. That was his job. Wow.

When people walk up to me at the gas station, oh, my this, give her $500, give her $300. You know, and he was taking him out the one dollar bag You know you like that's the ball Manny Pacquiao Do man ready you even fight the other day back right back there before you go jogging he just hand out money for I mean you guys also Manny Pacquiao shit back this video For real you was selling coke and giving it back. We know a lot of people they look at that as as as This made him know he was free right when he got off the thing. I think it was Robin Hood for real. He was selling coke and giving it back.

We know a lot of people, they look at that as paying taxes. That's true. But I looked at it as taking care of the hood. You know, I was in Jamaica one time, and I flew out there with this dude named Dudas, right? And Dudas had had the whole community. Like, I didn't ask what he did. He had had the whole community. And we had to film a video there.

We had to pay him. And he wanted to meet me. I met him in a cave. And two, two, three years later... In a cave, it's a fact. I skipped over that part. Yeah, I skipped over that. In a cave.

Well, two, three years later, I'm sitting there watching the news. You know, you make it. You better know who Dudas is'm sitting there watching the news. You know, you're Jamaican. You better know who this is. I'm watching the news, and I had no idea I had met the biggest drug dealer in fucking Jamaican history. And I'm sitting there, and the whole neighborhood would not give this nigga up for like three, four days. I'm talking about they was backing down the police. Whatever it happened, whatever this happened.

Oh, no, when you feed the hood, they're going to look out for you. The hood, yeah, the hood will hold you. Oh, no question. That's my point, yeah. No question. That was my point. No question. Oh, no, no you feed in the hood, they're going to look out for you. The hood will hold you. Oh, no question. That's my point. No question. That was my point. No question. Oh, no, no, you ain't playing.

It's like one time I had a little incident, right? I had about, I don't know what happened, but I had like 10 keys, and I was at my mama's house, and the car that we had been keeping them in, the homies needed it. Right. So I take them out, and my mama's fence and my next door neighbor's garage sit right next to each other. So it had a little hole in the middle of it. So I said, I'm going to just throw them in between the fence and the

garage until I get ready for them. So I throw them in between the fence, and I'm just chilling, you know, I'm going to go play me some basketball until the fellas get back. So my mama called me. She said, hey, Mary, she got your package. I said, what?

She got my package? Oh, wow. Mary had your package. So what I'm saying is that the neighborhood looked out. She took my package and put it in the house. She said, oh, you ain't got to keep it back there. You can bring it in the house. And this is a lady that's like 70 years old.

You know what I'm saying? So when you taking care of the neighborhood even though she wasn't making money off of me her her grandkids was okay and she appreciated what i was doing for her grandkids and she was showing the love back from that by you know making sure my thing was good that That's one thing about hustling. You can turn it around if you want. You can do good with the bad that you're doing.

I know so many... Kenny Anderson is from my hood. I remember... He's a couple years older than me, but I remember him trying to... Him having a cold streak

being in college and trying to go to like you know him having a cold streak of being in college and trying to go to the nba and him having that cold streak of trying to ask somebody to hustle and every drug dealer just just told him to shut the fuck up but then every drug dealer mount count uh and he'd up and pay for whatever the fuck he needed at that time and he had he had to do shit well you know the same thing with little deep, you know little deep from the Bay Area Okay, you know, he just got out Dealing up to shorten a big home. You took me. Yeah. Yes. Yes my little man When he's about man, he couldn't been more than 17 I'm a mr. Fast or the Bay Area, okay

Yeah, that's what he was you were there. Yeah The first time I introduced me to him, he was about 17 years old. Right. And one of my boys put up in the van, and he's like, been telling me about Lil D. Right. You know, he had been hitting me, but D wanted to go directly to me. Right. So he had connected us, and this little dude was like, I said, how much money you got,

man? Right, right. You're 17 years old, old you have a million dollars so you know it was like it didn't matter how old you was it doesn't matter if you had the game to to to to to put it down so uh it was just so many ways and so many different dudes that was was getting their money that i didn't need to go outside of my community. You know, you got dudes coming, throwing down, 500, 600,000.

So, you know, off of 600,000 out of the deal, if I pull 100 out of that for myself, I'm happy. At one point, you were making more money than Magic motherfucking Johnson. You know know when... How did that feel? When Magic signed his contract, right?

Yeah. And they put it in the paper. I think he was getting like 1.2 million. I was like, damn, I'm glad I don't play basketball. I'm not going to lie. You know how hard

that statement was? Hey. It was like, damn, man. Holy shit. It was like, damn, man. He only going gonna make two million dollars this year he in trouble that is crazy man that is crazy so now come on everybody everybody whoever's close come over here so you in jail you're reading, you're doing whatever.

And... I'm rebuilding. You're rebuilding. I'm rebuilding. And... I'm like... What I did... Because I got exposed to Farrakhan when I went to jail.

God bless. You know, somebody put me up on him, right? God bless. A couple Muslim brothers was like... Man, you don't know about Farrakhan. You don't know about Malcolm X. I ain't never heard of Malcolm X., you don't know about Farrakhan. You don't know about Malcolm X. I ain't never heard of Malcolm X. I ain't never heard about Farrakhan.

You know, I knew Tookie. The big homie. The big homie. You know, Tony Stacy. Exactly. Cartoon. You know, I was a big foot. What do you mean?

So this Muslim brother, one day he was like, man, come on, go to service, man. You ain't doing nothing today. You know, you ain't giving no tennis lessons. Because, you know, that's when my hustle in the joint was giving tennis lessons. So I go to service, man, and I see Farrakhan for the first time. In the jail? Yeah. Oh, wow.

So I'm checking him out, man. I'm listening to how he talk. And he's like, oh, the black man is God. The black man can do anything. I'm like, what Man I'm listening To how he talk And he's like Oh the black man is God Right The black man can do anything Right I'm like what is this Mother talking about

Has he done lost his mind I'm a dummy Right I'm a gangster You know I'm supposed To sell dope All my life I'm planning on getting

Back out You know doing the same thing Like I just Is this your first bit Or your second bit This is the first bit Okay So uh

I'm checking him out. That's your cup. Okay. Man, you gon' get me loaded. Nah, it's okay, happy birthday, nigga. Nah, I don't drink. It's okay, man. I don't drink, man.

You drinking today, we celebrating your birthday, we celebrating your life. We celebrating your birthday. Listen, we celebrating your birthday, we celebrating your life, and most important, we celebrating your survival. Yeah. And I don't want to cut you off,

because listen, there's black men who get killed every day for doing the spectrum of what you did to life, to society. For you to live, I think that that should be celebrated. I think it should be tarnished. I think it should be loved. I think that

what you're doing is honorable because you could have just said, you know what? I did this. I fucked up people's life. That's it. Right. But you're out here trying to make a fucking change. Oh, man, I'm going to make a change. That's motherfucking dope.

I'm going to make a change. That's fucking dope. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to redo the books. You know what I'm saying? That itself is dope. You know what I'm saying? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network,

hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian, Dr. Randall Williams, and best-selling author and Meat Eaterater founder Stephen Ranella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves.

So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and

it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next.

In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi, for a conversation that's anything but ordinary. We dive into the competitive world of streaming, how she's turning so-called niche into mainstream gold, connecting audiences with stories that truly make them feel seen. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. It's this idea that there are so many stories out there, and if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content,

the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Get a front row seat to where media, marketing, technology, entertainment, and sports collide. And hear how leaders like Anjali are carving out space and shaking things up a bit in the most crowded of markets. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention. This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild-haired

priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell-bent effort to sabotage a war. J. Edgar Hoover was furious. Somebody violated the FBI and he wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. The FBI went around to all their neighbors and said to them, do you think these people are good Americans? It's got heists, tragedy, a trial of the century, and the goddamnedest

love story you've ever heard. I picked up the phone and my thought was, this is the most important phone call I'll ever make in my life. I couldn't believe it.

I mean, Brendan, it was divine intervention. You can now binge all 10 episodes of divine intervention on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. But let me ask you, cause I see, I see what's going on there, but let me ask you. So when you first heard hustling every every day I'm hustlin', every day I'm hustlin'. Hot. Flattered.

Flattered? And hot. You said that's hot. No, I said I'm hot. Oh, hot like a nigga in Angus. Yeah. Okay, all right, cool. And flattered.

And flattered. At the same time. Okay. So I don't really know how to feel about this thing. That's dope. So I get on the phone and I start calling people and who know this though? Right. You know, because I still got my music. You know, I found alcoholics while I was in prison.

Right. Wait, you grouped alcoholics? Yeah. Get the fuck out of here. I knew before alcoholics got signed. Wait, hold on. What the fuck? You put them down with King T?

No, King T put him down with me. King T was my man. You know, if I didn't listen to King T, if I didn't listen to King T, I'd be the king of hip-hop right now. I slipped on hip-hop. DJ Poole and King T tried to get me to do hip-hop right before you DJ pool and King T try to get me do hip-hop right before I

was doing Anita Baker but what I did is I went with the dudes with the iron see Otis Smith had at that time Otis had Johnny Taylor Bobby Womack and then convinced me to go with him he took me to Dick Griffey, Barry Gordy, and they all say hip-hop is a fad. I was tempering with hip-hop. But I didn't get all the way in it because them dudes had convinced me that it wasn't going to last. But I had them like this here. But I didn't know that I should be telling them what to do instead of letting them King T is telling you this King T

tells me hip-hop is the one it's crazy so you would have been the first death row this is he really listen to this here me listen to this I go to this house I go to this house right who go to this house, right? Pooh stays at one of my girls' house sometimes. I got like four girls, right? And I stay house, house, house, house. You know, when the girls ain't, when I ain't there, they bring one of their little cousins over or somebody

and, you know, keep them company. So, my one girl... My one girl, her little cousin is a group was called madcap was the first group on live records that was her little cousin her other cousin was another little dude named Teo who DJ Poo was like this so they would be at my house all the time I would come over they'd be in there making beats, beating on the table and all that shit.

And they were like, man, you ought to do Poo's record. You know, he's been to work with LL Cool J and he's doing this and he's doing that. And so I said, you know, maybe, maybe. Because you're the financier of the hood. Obviously. I got the bread. You got the bread.

I got more bread than I could spend. I don't know what to do with all the bread I got. It's hard to hide this shit. We put $1 bills in people's garages, and they're cutting holes in the back of the garage and taking the safe out. Wow. So,

Pooh takes me over to this house. And I go in this apartment. It wasn't a house. It was an apartment. So I go in this apartment, and there's like 40 motherfuckers in there. They laying all over the floor. It looked worse than my crack house.

So I'm like, what the fuck going on here? Is this what y'all, they got wires everywhere, turntables. I'm like, fuck. So when I leave, I'm debating should I mess with the motherfuckers with the high rises? Right. In Beverly Hills, Otis Smith, Dick Griffey. Right. Or should I mess with these young motherfuckers, 17 years old, who tell me he need $200,000.

Otis just tell me he need $600,000. I already gave him the $600,000. So now I'm debating, should I give Pooh $200,000? See, if Pooh would have told me he needed $40,000 to do an album, which is what a rap album was costing at the time, I would have gave it to him. He was trying to go big, though. He was trying to go big, and I just gave, oh, the 600. So I was like, I ain't ready to put this kind of music

and this kind of money into the music industry right now. Now, is N.W.A. out yet? They're not out yet. They're not out yet. Oh, I can see where you're coming from. No, I go meet Dre when I get out of prison. Get the fuck out of here.

This is the first time you get out of prison. No, right now. You're back? Like, eight years ago. The first time I go and meet Dre in person. I talked to Dre when I was in jail, but I never met him. So I go to his house about five, six years ago. Right before we was doing Crack in the System. Because Dre had told me when I was in jail he was going to do the soundtrack.

He said, whatever you do, I'm going to do the soundtrack for you. So I go over to his house and we're talking about doing the soundtrack he was like wait you don't remember that house I said yeah I remember I came over there he said I was in that house the day that you came by oh with DJ Poole and them so when it hit me it was like

oh fuck you had an opportunity to have Dr. Dre at that time and really I had to hold because I had Oli Smith and Dick Griffey was the first distributors

they were the first independent distributors of black music Dick Griffey negotiated Suge's deal with Interscope I don't know if you know that he negotiated that deal with Suge me and Harry O. was cellies when they started Death Row with Interscope. I don't know if you know that. He negotiated that deal with Suge. Me and Harry O were cellies when they started Death Row. That's when they first, first started.

When they first started Death Row. I met Suge the day Harry O met Suge. I was in the same room with, the day before Suge got in, me and Harry O, David Kenner, was sitting in the attorney booth. And Harry O told David Kenner, I'm going to make you more money in the music business than you ever made as an attorney. Wow.

I was sitting in that room when he told him that. And this is in jail? We was in jail. Yeah, we was in NBCLA downtown. Wow. Wow. Well, you know, Harry O had been in Pelican Bay, which is considered, it's like solitary confinement. Where all you got to do is read books, read newspapers.

That's really the high profile. Maximum security. That's where they put like the worst of the worst. You know, dudes who can't walk the line. Too violent. Too much pool. You know, they don't want you getting no mail. They don't want you talking to nobody. You don't walk the line. Too violent, too much pool, you know. They don't want you getting no mail.

They don't want you talking to nobody. You don't get no visits. And why did he, well you ain't go there. I didn't go to the state, I went to the field. Oh, that's right, that's right. You know, Harry went to the state because he had a kidnap, attempted murder. So, all right, so now back, back to Rick Ross, right?

So back to, I'm sorry, the rapper Rick Ross, right? So, the first time. William Roberts. Okay, okay. Real quick, though. Before Rick Ross, did Freeway come to you first? No, no, no. No?

No, no. Let me, let me, let me. It's because Freeway, even though he came out before Rick Ross, I feel like Rick Ross was more, that meant more to you. Well, I just want to know, timeline-wise, more to you. Well, that's what I know. Timeline-wise, had Freeway already come to you? He didn't come to me either. Okay, so let's take it from there. So you're in jail, obviously.

You're here every day I'm hustling. Yeah. Which is something that you can relate to. Absolutely. That was my saying. And then, did you know that when people played this record this artist's name was rick ross or did you you knew that prior to this i knew before the record came out oh wow um you know in jail we was i was studying the music business because i had solved

my mistake right you know i'm like in there like right you know you dumb motherfucker what the fuck was you thinking about? You had it in your hands. How did you let this get out your hands? So I'm in jail networking, you know, talking to Wendy Day. And people had already told you there's an artist coming out named Rick Ross. The magazines. The magazines before you ever hear it.

You know, we get all the magazines. See, we didn't, us in New York, we didn't hear Rick Ross until we actually heard the actual one. But we, you know, we had... Yeah, I mean, you're in Miami. I hear you say you started... The magazines. What was that magazine that was coming out of the South?

Ozone. Ozone. Ozone. Julia Beverly, big up. Julia Beverly. She loved him. That was her boy. Right, right.

You know, she blew him up. Every chance she got up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up.

Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up.

Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. Big up. hustling as a great record amazing every hustler had to love that and this is this is why i'm involved because in the record he says i know pablo noriega the real noise so he's trying to this is the i think in my opinion because the reason why i didn't take that line never personal and when i first met him he told me it wasn't it wasn't like that but um when he was trying to apply that he was like your status correct correct but have you

ever dealt with Pablo no ordinary what he did is he switched it up because he didn't want I mean you know he wasn't you I spoke to him when I was in jail oh wow oh yeah I had a phone call with him and he had a mail down before the record or after the record came out? Before the record. Okay. Because he was, at this time, he was, when I first found out about him, he was just doing the magazines. And he was writing for, he was on Slip N Slide, he was writing for Trina. No, no, no, he was getting ready, his album was getting ready to come out.

He was getting ready to put an album out. But he was, you know, before the album or the record comes out, they do the magazines first. You know, you're doing the Ozone, the XXL. Word Ups. Yeah, Word Ups. Yeah, Wrap Up Magazine. So I see him in the magazines, and I'm like, I know somebody got to know this dude.

Right. I know too many people. Right. So I'm hitting all my boys. So one of my boys, he write for Smooth Magazine. Okay. He said, oh, yeah, he'll be here Monday at nine o'clock. Right.

I put you on the phone with him. So my boy, I called him, my boy put him on the phone. He don't know it's me. Right. My boy just handed the phone. Hey man,

somebody want to holler at you. Right. So he get on the phone, I holler at him. He, oh man, he don't know, he think he's been set up. Oh,

big homie, he ain't got his bodyguards by himself. Right. Oh, big homie. I love you You know just like jacking me off hard so I say um, I Say look man. I got some ideas for us We can do this thing together. You don't have to be me You can just be my supporter. Right?

Okay. Okay. I'm gonna come to see you to come to see you, and I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. Right. So I called him, like, one more time after that, and he put his guy Poochie on the phone. Okay. And they said, send us a visiting form. So I sent him the visiting form. They never filled the form out. Next thing I know, the number was changed changed and that was the end of our conversation.

Do you think that's the way it went wrong? Because obviously you had to feel flattered. Like me personally, as a person who's a rapper, right? I want to just show you the similarities in my situation. I had never

chose the name Noriega. I was actually in jail reading a book about Noriega and the shit was so thick. People, niggas in the child line

was like, you nigga, you ain't reading that shit. And just like playfully grabbed a book from me or knocked down or something

and they started reading and then whatever they asked me on that page, I had knew it. So people just nicknamed me Noriega. Right, I understand. No doubt.

So I still didn't go by the name of Noriega. So I came home from jail. When I came home from jail, Capone had came to see me, which his name was not Capone in jail. And he kept calling me Noriega. So people in my hood thought it was funny. So they was like, we call this nigga Noriega too. We call me Noriega. So, people in my hood thought it was funny. So, they was like,

we call this nigga Noriega too. We call him Noriega too. But in retrospect, I reached out to Noriega's family because I knew how it could be, you know, took it in the wrong way. Right, right. So, when I reached out

and I couldn't get the actual contact that I wanted or someone that was, you know, valuable to talk about it, what I did was I changed my name to Nori. And I totally get that. Because I never named myself Freeway. I grew up on the side of Freeway. And when we started

low riding, we started low riding, it was a dude who was like the king of low riding at the time. And one of my little partners was banging his wife. He didn't like it. I don't think so. A lot of people don't like that.

He was like 18 years old. He was like 25, 30, you know what I'm saying? And an 18-year-old banging his wife. So he find out that my boy banging his wife. So he's like, oh, you junky ass freeway boys. It was an insult. Freeway used to be an insult. Wow.

You didn't want to be no freeway boy. Wow. That's why I was asking. You didn't read the article about my obituary. You missed that one. Yeah, I missed that one.

You got to read that article. It's L.A. Magazine. This dude came to visit me at the prison when I had my life sentence and he called himself writing my obituary. He wrote for the L.A. Times. Oh oh and he was saying that this was gonna be the last time he ever wrote about me okay okay so he talked

about being a junky ass freeway boy and that's what they felt about us because our cars was raggedy they smoked they shook you know what I'm saying the seats was torn up so I understand totally what you're saying about somebody giving you a name. So how do you think you and Ross could have avoided what y'all had? Oh, we would have both been huge right now. I mean, I would have gave him the freedom. He would have never got into it with the GDs if he'd have been messing with me. Right.

Him and the GD probably never would have happened because I would have been able to handle that right off the rip. You know, I would have took care of it. That's Larry Hoover's? Larry Hoover. Okay. I would have knew how to navigate through those situations. I mean, I had ideas for him. When we talked, the first time we talked, he was getting ready to do a show.

I said, listen, man, let me give you a tip. Look at what you do. When you get ready to do your show, the next show you do, let me call in. Let them hear. This is before most people ever heard the federal president. This is a call from a federal correctional institution. This is Ricky Ross. I said, listen, if you do that on the phone, you take my call, you let the whole audience hear you talking to me, they're going to love you. And he didn't get it. He didn't understand how much more that would have solidified his authenticity of being somebody from the hood.

And it was tips like that that I had for me and him that we could have did. But like I said, he didn't really understand. I think he was more concerned with me discrediting his credibility. You know, if it's a real Rick Ross, then why are you Rick Ross? Right. You know, and I think that his people started to put that in his ear that he couldn't align himself with me it would be impossible for him to align himself with me because then it would discredit but this is a real noriega and i always show love to the noriega family but see you can think for yourself right you. You know who you are, what you stand for, when you don't really understand that.

It's like me. If I didn't know who I was, I wouldn't be walking the street right now. Like, I'm doing a movie right now. Mm, dope. Come on, a piece of noise for that. A piece of noise for that. Yeah. We got 11 million in the bank.

Uh-huh. You know what I'm saying? We're going to start shooting. Hopefully, we got the script doctor. So, working with the script doctor, we're doing the script right now. We got 11 million in the bank. You know what I'm saying? We're going to start shooting Hope We Fair World. We got the script doctor. So working with the script doctor, we're redoing the script right now, tightening everything up,

making everything tight. So me and him was talking the other day. I said, I said, man, Cush, man, we got to do another movie right now. As soon as this movie is done.

We got to do another movie with me making all the wrong choices. Like every time one of the homies wanted to kill a motherfucker, I said, go ahead. And he pulled the trigger. Bam! How would my life had it been

so much different if I couldn't be strong enough to where these dudes get into it that I didn't have the power to say, hold up, man, don't pull that trigger. Don't you shoot him. Right. Give him a pass, let him walk away.

Right. It would have been a whole lot different. But some people don't have the power or the strength to say don't do it. They more worried about, oh they gonna look at me like I'm soft. If you don't do it. If you don't do it.

But me, what I did is I was like, okay, you kill him. Okay. In the movie. This movie's going to be a lot. But this is what I should tell my guy. I don't want anybody to see a clip of this and be like, whoa, hold on. This is what I should tell my guy, right? I said, all right, we're going to kill him.

We're going to kill him. That $300,000, you think we're going to get that back when you kill him? Any chance of us getting that back? No, ain't no chance. Okay, that's cool. We don't get the money back, but we probably ain't going to get it back no way. What if the police start the investigation? Okay, they arrest us. They ain't really got the evidence and they arrest us all, right? We all go to jail. We got to bail out. How much that's going to cost us? How much Alan Finster charge every time he do a case?

$30,000, $40,000, $50,000. Everybody that he touch. He ain't going to touch you if you ain't talking about $30,000, $40,000, $50,000. So it's six of us and we talking know, we're talking about 300,000. So, we already done blew that 300 already. We done chunked that 300, that 300 done turned into nine. So, I was able to take my guys and explain to them that you don't throw good money after bad money. Sometimes you got to walk away and say, you know what? That was my bad.

You know, I should have knew. I have a motto that I go by is that I don't give people something I can't afford to give them. If I give it to you, I can afford to lose it. To lose it, meaning that you give a nigga a loan for $100,000. If he don't pay you back, you know, that was all good. But what's the difference between Freeway taking a name and Rick Ross taking a name? Between them both, they got both of you. You know they're not the only ones.

We got Rich out of Kansas City, Freeway Rich. Oh, no. You remember Rich? You ain't never heard of Rich. Damn, I told you that one went over my head. Rich is hard. Okay, okay. He more like Kansas City, St. Louis, the Bay Area. I think I did.

Hard. What? Okay. Hard. I go to Kansas City, he set it out for me. But what's the difference? They set it out for you. Okay.

You know, they show you. Even though none of them gave me no money. Right. None of them ain't gave me no money right you know nobody came and said you know what i'm gonna throw a show for you right you know you my you my motherfucker you know i'm saying i love you to death you know i got your name tattooed on my hand that's how much i love you none of them didn't do that right but at least when i come to town they come out we sit down we talk you know I'm saying it's like we got a

relationship with with old boy he deliberately lied to me about us building a relationship I was more concerned about us building a relationship than some money so I knew I knew when they bust some doors. When they bust some doors, I said, if anybody out here got money, I'm going to get some of it. Ain't no way

y'all going to have no money and I don't get none of it. But do you think that's why he was kind of scared? Maybe, the one point you said is, like you said,

is the real Rick Ross. But do you think he was kind of scared that if, he was kind of scared of a lawsuit or a stortion type of thing? We did, we did do a lawsuit. Yeah, and I'm sure he was kind of scared of a lawsuit or a distortion type of thing. We did do a lawsuit.

And I'm sure he was. But prior to the lawsuit, he's probably thinking, this guy's a big drug dealer, he's going to come in and distort me. Because you know they get distorted in LA. Exactly. There's a lot of rappers that go down there. The distortion gang is good. In LA, they do that.

Yeah, in LA. But I ain't never been with the distortion gang. But you can see how he can misconstrue that, exactly. There's a lot of rappers that... Distortion gang is good. In L.A., they do that. Yeah, in L.A. But I ain't never been with Distortion Gang. But you can see how he can misconstrue that, though. Can you see? I'm just trying to be devil's advocate. I mean, you could, but you're still supposed to know who you're dealing with. Exactly. And that's what really fucked me up about the whole gang right now,

with all these motherfuckers with money. Right. All of them that got money right now. Right. I don't respect them. Right. I don't give a fuck and it ain't that I'm a hater

but they don't understand the mind even with Floyd, you know Floyd picked me up from the halfway house and all I wanted from Floyd was to put me around the game see cause I know if they put me around the game I'm gonna figure the motherfucker out

I don't care what game it is you put me in jail, I'm gonna learn how to read I'm gonna they put me around the game, I'm going to figure the motherfucker out. I don't care what game it is. You put me in jail, I'm going to learn how to read. I'm going to learn how to do the law. I was doing other people's law. I done got dudes out of prison. I done got them bailed when their lawyer said, you ain't getting no bail. I show them how to do bail. I show them how to go, oh, look at this here.

The judge only got two ways that he can depart from the guidelines. What way is he going to depart he depart cooperate with the government a post-conviction rehabilitation so if you go to a class you start taking drug classes before you go to court before you get convicted they're gonna charge that as post-conviction rehabilitation Now the judge can give you any amount of time. I just gave somebody the game the other day. They called me crying. Oh, my niece, she's going to go to jail. I said, why you didn't call me when she first got arrested?

I said, you're my girl. I would have gave you this shit for free. I said, look, what she got to do, go get an AA, do this, do that, do that. Now the judge is going to be able to depart from the guidelines. And if you don't study the law, if you ain't in tune, you ain't going to know this. But that was my game. I got in tune. I knew how to get bailed.

I knew how to, I couldn't get myself out because my case was so enormous, you know. Like, it was guys in there that were so cold, but they couldn't get themselves out because their case was so horrendous. You know what I'm saying? They killed three or four motherfuckers and they not finna let you out. No matter how smart you get in the law, you not getting out. But they knew how to do the law. And that's what I had did when I was in there. I had studied.

Basically what I did is I started studying the law the way I sold dope. I loved it. I love selling dope. When I sold dope, I loved it. I was willing to die for it. I was willing to kill for it. I mean,

when it was a time that they was like, oh man, they talking about they're going to kidnap you. I said, shit. Who, all the drug dealers? There was a word on the street.

You know? I mean, you know, I'm running around with two, three million dollars every day. You're running around with money that he's making. I'm running around

with two, three million in duffel bags. I got two, three dudes carrying my duffel bags with money in it. So the word is out there they're going to kidnap me. So I put on my bulletproof vest.

I put my pistol in my pocket and I was like, let's do it. You know? But I'm going to be equipped. You know what I'm saying? At this time, motherfuckers ain't wearing bulletproof vests at this time this is like early in the

game you know we go get the bulletproof vest that the 45 bullet won't go through right because I'm always trying to be up on the latest and the greatest I got no product been home you know my man he was telling me about how he invested in Bitcoin. I was like, fuck. Is Bitcoin working or is it not? For some people. It's still there. It's still there. It's still a long-term investment.

For some people, it works. Facebook. Let's bring Michael. Let's cut. We got to cut though. We got to cut. Let's cut. We got to cut.

Okay. We got to bring a chair? Yeah, we got to bring another one. Okay. You need to use your back? No. You already know we back and drink, chaps. And listen, right now, we have the king of crack cocaine, and we have the son of the queen of cocaine.

This is crazy! Michael, what's going on, brother? We see you! We see you! That Miami family, too, right? The Zelda family. crazy Michael what's going on brother? We still out there! That Miami family too right? The Griselda and you got a show out right now As a matter of fact I do

I'm two episodes in I'm two episodes in I believe and that's the clothing line Yeah if you're Blanco Tell us how it is growing up in the house of Griselda How's it going growing're Blanco. So tell us how it is growing up in the house of Griselda. How's it going growing up Blanco? Blanco.

I think free can vouch for it. I mean, a lot of people want to throw, you know, a little pizzazz on the things and over-exaggerate. But when it came down to it, let's say the Sopranos, it was the Blanco house, you know. It was business on the street, but no guns at the table. Don't say nothing crazy in front of the kid. Bodyguards stay there. They come eat with us, but no guns at the table. And mama was a strict one.

Sent you to school every day. It's not like people waking up and mom's like, hey, open a bag of Coke over here. No, not at all. It's not like that. It's just taking you to, yeah. I mean, in my later years, as I got older, you know, I had to do little things, but never would my mother put me in harm's way. And you was the youngest of three, right? Yeah, the baby.

Right, right. Yeah. Wow. Did you ever think of that, that some of your babies will grow up like and eventually live like the lifestyle yeah yeah well you know i had two sons that um were really three that that took the gangster lifestyle oh yeah oh definitely yeah yeah i got i got three sons have been to jail they go hard you know what i'm saying i was just with one of his sons yeah yeah he was just with one of my sons who just got out of prison,

matter of fact. Get out of here. Yeah. I didn't even know that. And you know, I knew of his mom back in the day. Mama Coca,

they used to call her Mama. Yeah, I wanted to ask if there was any like cross. Well, you know, the Nicaragans used to talk about her. Wow. Yeah, yeah.

Because she ended up in Cali, right? They used to call her Mama Coca and she knew of him and they knew the same people. Wow. So they probably sold weight to the same people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure that my guys was getting it from her at times.

Because they definitely talked. I mean, you know, they was getting it from the Choa brothers, Escobar, and his mom. You ever seen a lot of Choa brothers? Oh, of course. My brother, Chiqui Blanco, was the prodigy of Pablo Angeles Ochoas. And he was the baby. He was their prodigy.

When he jumped out of doing his seven years in the feds, he stayed at their house. A week and a half later, he sent 400. And I heard you say in the reality show that you'll never go back to Colombia. As much as I would love to see loved ones and everything, I can't. I got an asylum in this country. You got a what? An asylum. It's called the Convention Against Torture.

Oh, shit. I don't even know what that means. So you can't go back? I can't. You can't. Because of that, asylum. Yeah, well, I mean, because of that and because I choose not to, I gave up that life, you know. I mean, to me, that's what made the show even more real.

I was watching it with my girl, that part. And I was like, this is where I think this is not a regular reality show. Taco City. If you would have gone there, I would have been like, ah. That's bullshit. But it shows how real it is because it's still fresh. Oh, you know me. You know me since back in the day.

Yeah, yeah. Your mom's, this is kind of recent. In real time. Yes, sir. Your mother passed away not that long ago. 2012, she was assassinated. My brothers were assassinated in the 90s, 2001, and my sister in 2012. Right.

Wow, God bless man. I'm not gonna lie, when I watch Cocaine Cowboys the same way I watch you know, Freeway Rick Ross shit, it's like the level of that lifestyle, I just at Rick Ross shit. It's like, um, the level of that lifestyle, I just, I just couldn't see that. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, obviously I sold drugs,

but I've never was on that level, like that level at all. But like, um, that, that level of like, like I heard, I heard you say,

um, that you, if a person stole from you, you just wouldn't work with them. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was, it was cheaper for me wouldn't work with them no more. Yeah, yeah. It was cheaper for me not to work with them. I mean, to kill them

or to use my powers. I mean, you got to be careful because you become a bully. Right. You can start bullying people around. It's quite easier to become a bully. It is easy. I mean, you got...

At one time, I had all of the shot callers down there in L.A., all the black shot callers up under one card, you know, like. For the people that don't know, shot callers are the next. I could call Honcho, who was, like, one of the founders of Great Street, like, Hey, Honcho, I need you. I could call Big Hugh or Big Cat from the 60s, you know, Puddin', T. Rogers from the Bloods. These were all like my dudes, you know what I'm saying? Like, right now, we still like this here.

If they got it, I can get it, you know? So when you in that position, you have to be really particular about what your decisions are. Now, your mom's like the exact opposite. If she got a hat missing. Yeah. According to the documentary you saw, he could tell you more.

I watched that documentary like 1,500 times. So he could tell us exactly more. My mother had a saying, and she taught me this when I was a kid, that it doesn't matter if it's $100 or $100,000, it's the principle. Yeah. So, yeah, I've heard little stories that were, whoa, wow, she did that? How old was you when she was in the high days? When my mother got incarcerated, I was turning seven years old.

Wow. Okay. My brothers were all arrested and indicted when I was seven for the biggest money laundering case in California state history. My brother was 19 years old. He was worth $100 million already. He was Los Ochoas prodigy. Chiqui Blanco handled the Bay Area, Beverly Hills a lot.

They dealt with a lot of, I would say, my brother Chiqui was the first Colombian to deal with the Afro-Americans on the East Coast. And my mother was the Queen of Queens, you know what I mean? Oh yeah, that's right. We was getting it from Gazelle, goddammit. And Jackson Heights, goddammit. It's crazy, look at that.

Prices dropped crazy. I mean, we was like, who the hell is over there? I kid you not. I mean, we used to go uptown and they used to, you know, prices are so crazy even the involves moved over there it was it was right so I thought because of what made you do

the reality so what is this is being one's idea well you know I've been in the business for a minute when I met you gentlemen thank you to see you guys do what you've done I congratulate you thank you 10 years ago you guys gave me my first interview. Yeah.

Military Crazy Rock. So what made you do the reality show? I started getting into the business back then. I was CFNA when my partner Magic was in the music business. What helped me get into the business? John Gotti, Bugsy Siegel, you know? They did it, right? Right.

Back then I saw we grew up on hip hop. We grew up on you, you know? Right. You know what? We grew up on some mob shit of these Guys becoming metamorphosizing into these legal entities Jay-z Damon Dash So when you grow up in that era and you see damn these boys talking about the dope that Ross sold These boys talking about my mom and Pablo, but they look like dope dealers damn I live that lifestyle Yeah, but they don't gotta worry about the Jack boys the criminals the FBI DA Damn, I want to be just like. But they don't got to worry about the Jackboys, the criminals, the FBI, DA. Damn, I want to be

just like Jay-Z. I want to be like that guy. Right now, you see what he talked about, Rick Ross, right? Yeah. You see how he felt. Right now, there's actually Griselda Records. Oh, tons. Name it. No, there's an actual records label called

Yeah, Griselda Records. Get Benny, what is it? Benny Blocko. Oh, tons, name it. No, there's an actual record label called... Yeah, there's other records. I heard about it. Get Benny, what is it? Benny Blocko, Westside Gun, Benny the Butcher, who is Conway, right? Yeah. I've heard this stuff. You've heard how he feels?

Yeah. Like... Okay, you knew me before. When I was a criminal, and you knew me when I was on my shit. I would have took a different route. But I would have expected with this gentleman, a legend. I'm not a legend. I'm claimed to be.

But I'm from the streets. So I would have loved and appreciated, yo, hey, Mike, can I rap with you? Can I hang with you? Can we politic about this? Yeah. Can I get my bike? Now, in his approach, his approach, he said he reached out. He reached out.

They spoke. And he said that he felt like the lines was, how would you go about that? He should have never had to reach out. They should have reached out to him. That's how you feel? Yeah, so me too. I respect that. Yeah.

I'm going to keep it legit because that's what I do now. That's real. I mean, that's real talk. I mean, if somebody did something for me, if somebody did me a favor, I'm going to reach out and pay him back. You know what I'm saying? As soon as I get a chance. You know, we don't take from the well and never put back. You know, otherwise, pretty soon the well is going to be dry.

We got to always put back. Well, this could be the platform where they reach out to you and maybe you and Ross can figure it out as well. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be dry. We gotta always put back. Well, this could be the platform where they reach out to you and maybe you and Ross can figure it out as well. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest. You know what I think? Me knowing,

like both of you guys, I just feel like the communication. Oh, you know him? Yeah, I know him. I don't know him. I don't know him well enough, but I know him enough to know

that I don't think he meant malice. I think... No, no, no, no. I think he got nervous. I never said that. He loves me to death. Yeah, I think he does. I think he does. I think he does he meant malice. I think, I think... No, no, no, no. I think he got nervous. I never said that. He loves me to death.

Yeah, I think he does. Listen to this here. I think he does. You know what I'm saying? Listen to me. You tattoo a motherfucking name on your hands, you love that motherfucker. Right, right, right. Right or wrong?

I respect that. I mean, if you look at his fist, I saw him in the magazine, he was like this here. He had my name tattooed on his hand. I said, man, this motherfucker in love with me. Right. I think, i don't think the only thing he probably mad about he can't marry me but he loved me you know what i'm saying right so because you know what i think that's how it starts i think you know what it is so many black of us we call ourselves Escobar, right? We call ourselves Gotti, right?

And then we call ourselves the Gambino family. And then we realize that the Gambino family don't even like black people, right? And like, you know what I'm saying? So this is the first time, give them both of y'all brothers. This is the first time people from our culture is actually emulating our own culture. So that's the one thing that's good about it. No, I respect that. That's the one thing that's good about it. I respect that.

At least he's praising the black, another black man. No doubt. No doubt. You know what I'm saying? And that's the one thing, no matter how you feel about it, at least they're praising someone from our culture. Like, Griselda would be hip-hopping if she was alive right now. Imitation is the best way to read it.

Who killed the one Griselda in the video remember what you said leaving the federal building the black widow call me miss white like so I love that so a defensive of the friend no no no no but I understand that yeah and I don't know products with that right but let's do something together yeah if it's really it and it really is that way I mean if we're gonna keep it real we can be like Donald Trump and everything is what it ain't yeah you know I'm saying what he said he is is what it is and what it said ain't it ain't me me and people outside looking in I can tell that he he wanted to do the right thing but I felt like he got he got railroaded.

It's just like this. It's just like this. You know what I did when I reached out to Noriega's fans? I just did it. I didn't even know you reached out Yeah, I actually did because I actually wanted

him in the video. I'm throwing it in the rim. How were you going to get him in the video? He was in the ads. Remember, he was in fucking Kindle. He was in Kindle.

Yeah, but you was going to get him in the video, bro. I was going to get permission. I was trying everything I could do. We shot the one video. Yeah, the one video. I sparked the idea. They had him at the camera.

So I sparked the idea. But my thing was to let them know, like, yo, I'm not tarnishing your name. It was Barum. And I never spelled it the same. You know, his name is spelled N-O-R-E-I-E-A-G. E-A-G. E-A-E-E-I-E. No, his is I-E.

And yours is E-A-G. Mine's N-O-R-E-A-G. No, this is I-E. And yours is E-I-E. Mine's N-R-E-A-G-H. But yeah, so I wanted them to know. And I wanted, you know, like whatever. Like if I can help out. You know what I'm saying? Something. Because I wanted to know.

I'm not trying to tarnish your name. And in fact, I'm actually keeping your name alive. No doubt. And I recognize that. I recognize what he's done for my name. But at the same time, I want to exercise some power. Right. You know what I'm saying?

And he could have allowed me to exercise that power quicker. Now, I'm finna exercise my power. They finna fill me in another couple months. Right. They finna know that this mind is the same mind that took $125, and my partner had $125, and we built a $3 million every now and then empire, but a million dollars every single day. Right. I'm getting ready to implement that again. Real shit.

But he could have escalated that. I could have been doing that six years ago. In a perfect world, what would you, in a perfect world, right? You came home. he gave me a job say come on man we'll go talk to your PO I'm gonna tell your PO that you gonna be working with me down legit I ain't got no criminal record that's real cuz you know he had no criminal where I interviewed him for the lawsuit I am a duty downtown and they say, you ever been to jail? And he was like, oh, yeah, yeah.

Well, what did you go to jail for? A marijuana one time. So he had a clean record. My PO would have let me run with him. You know what I'm saying? Wow. It wouldn't have been like, oh, we don't want you hanging with him. But now, now, just being a devil advocate, what if he was like, what if the position that he could have offered you was something that he would have thought was beneath you?

Yeah, he maybe thought it was. I didn't have no position that was beneath me. You know what I told myself when I was getting out? True, but listen, I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be honest. Let me just cut you off. Go ahead. I'm going to tell you, and then I'm going to break some games with you.

Because you know why? You know why? This is why a lot of people are sometimes scared to do something for the street guy because they don't want to offer him a position where you're kind of like a soldier like you suspect when you are boss and this oh yeah that's why a lot of the street guys can't convert is because the person that's trying to put him on knows that or feels that these guys is more of a wolf than they are but they put him in the position I'm gonna have to stop okay please just stop you know you don't get your research on me yes you know how I carry it.

Yeah, but what if he did? But he was supposed to know me. He had studied me, you know what I mean? I respect that. He had studied me. All right. He used my sayings in music. So he knew who I was.

Yeah, but in all due respect, you could have still been a killer. You could have still been a killer. No, he had researched me. But the difference between... does know he had researched me the difference between nor he researched me he read my cases he read my cases he read all the articles yeah he watched all the dollar documentaries so he knew about me before everybody else did no I agree I agree but what if what if you know a person who's not used to dealing with a person of that caliber is he just made the wrong move well we know he we know he had never dealt with street dudes right you know i know i know he had credit cards in high school right a lot of people don't know that you know most of us ain't

never seen no credit i seen i just started getting credit cards two or three years ago but he had credit cards in high school so he definitely didn't know about the streets but you know but he should have had enough sense to say i studied this dude i know this dude's background i know that this dude ain't going to extort me this dude don't extort people right he's not in the extortion right he's into making money he's into making moves he's a thinker he'saker. He's a mover. That's what he was supposed to see. And for him not seeing that, he slipped on the game. I agree. I agree with you.

Just one million percent, just so you know. I agree. I agree that everybody should pay homage to the people that come before them, especially if you take any part of their life. If I start naming myself fucking Supreme, I should be calling, you know, to Ja Rule, I should be calling

the Earth God, I should be making sure that I know that I took that part of their life, the first person they ever met is Supreme. You got to do that, one million percent.

But then certain people just don't know how to approach things like that. No, I agree. And I sincerely believe that if you guys were to have a little conversation... I kid you not, because, like, me, like, he's a sensible guy.

I'm just telling you. Okay, well, let's say that, see, you said that. I ain't got no problem with it. I would love to. I ain't got no problem with it. I don't need his money no more, though. I got my own bread now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would love to try. I'm cracking now. You know, I'll fix the beef between Jay-Z and Fat Joe. You know what I'm saying? Come on, let's fix them up. We need to have another one with both y'all on. I'm a good beef squash boy, but with that, you know.

But it ain't no beef, though. You know what I mean. It ain't no beef. It's a misunderstanding. It ain't even a misunderstanding. Right. I mean, it just ain't nothing. Right.

You know, we don't talk. I'm sure they can figure it out. Miami boys break bread. I'm sure they can figure it out Yeah, Miami boys break bread just like you can break a little just like just like just like um Yeah, you got no time. I always imagine that when I heard Griselda Records and they lit right now. I'm not there fired. I've seen their videos. I've seen it. It's good My homeboy went to the store shit. I just came out of that. I thought he was involved. I thought automatically he was involved. I got on my record with him back in the day. What happens if that's what they think? You reach out to them and they say, well, we don't got no bread for you, but we got respect for you.

Listen, man, listen. I'm not going to tell you I'm filthy, filthy rich and ass-dack, but I'm comfortable. You know what? I work hard for my money. I'm going to keep it real. Motherfucker went broke because the federal government took every motherfucking dollar I had. So now I'm rebuilding my shit. What we do and what my generation, my generation is after his generation.

We learned it from watching him. We learned it from watching him, but we're changing the game. When you're dealing in a corporate status and you're here moving in a room full of vultures, but all these vultures have suits, you learn a lot. And what you learn is to be a corporate mind. I'm not going to lean on them, niggas. Why? You know I'm not going to lean on them?

Because I can't. Why? Because he taught us not to them niggas. Why? You know I'm not going to lean on them? Because I can't. Why? Because he taught us not to go back to jail, right? You know what extortion is? What I used to run my record label like. So I ain't doing that again. Like my dog said,

I'm legit forever. So why would I even approach these gentlemen and talk to them the wrong way and risk anything? What happens if you was to reach out and you felt like it was like some type of fact?

Oh, I'm going to be straight up with you. Quite blunt. I want some bread. Straight up and down the blunt. Would you try to sue out and you felt like it was like like sometimes straight over you quite blunt I want some bread but straight up and on the blunt I'm gonna try this you try to like sue or something no not if I would I mean I can't there's no grounds for it so I've already that question that's a real last name that's a real name right yeah no they have their I'll see they're completely gin kudos to them get your money I have no hate for people that's true you have a LLC but if that's your life no I own the power of attorney

for myself and the blanco last name but before my mother passed away I went to hold her life attorney so what happens if you want to make some coca-zelda you have that yeah I mean you can't challenge my estate it's on my face you know that's I'll be honest. Yo, listen, man. I'm going to be honest. Both of you brothers, thank y'all for showing up. Because you know what the crazy shit is? Now, what happens is, you know, someone could do the same thing to me. Someone could take Nori. But there's a line of respect, though.

There's a line of respect. You know, the first time you ever heard Slime in the music business, that was me. Yeah, and now you hear that again. I didn't copyright that shit. I didn't feel no fucking reason to copyright that shit. We was using it as a joke. My boy, my boy, he was saying, yo, he going to go to get a Pepperdine sandwich. Yeah.

I said, Pepperdine? I said, that sounds like pepperoni. I don't want that shit. Nigga came back. It was a turkey and cheese. I said, nigga, I don't eat turkey. I don't eat pork. I said, boom, let me get a piece.

He said, nigga, you slime. That's it. That's how the fucking slime language is. All this shit these niggas, they equivalent to blood language, and they're clinging to this gang. Listen, that's bullshit. Shit was made up on the lookalike 38th Street in Madison

over a pepper-dyed turkey and cheese sandwich. God damn it. You know what I mean? That's real shit. Real shit. So I've been the? That's real shit. Real shit. So I've been the victim. They took jump off of me. They took haterade from me.

These are all words I've made up. They didn't take my name. They didn't take my brother. This is the same as actually so I feel you, brother. That's my brother. Yo, Rick Ross, man. We've been trying to get you here forever, man.

You're a real legend. Yeah, we've been trying to hit each other. Yes, yes, yes, man. And you know what? That's how the Lord works. On your birthday, you're a real legend we've been trying to hit each other yes yes yes man and you know what you know that's how that's how the lord works on your birthday you got a chance to sit down with us and salute and have a couple man yo let me just tell you something man Hold on, you got to check this out. My brother made it to Miami. Yeah, why? We salute our legends over here, man, and you are a pure certified legend.

I love your story. I love the fact that so many people, let me just tell you about you. So many people would have folded and said, you know what? I'm going home. I'm going under the cracks and not have told your story. So many people would have been scared to speak about the CIA. So many people would have been scared to speak about the countries and not have told your story. So many people are scared to speak about the CIA. So many people are scared to speak about the Contras

and all that. The fact that you're on the front line and just letting people know, look, this is my life. This is real. This ain't no motherfucking made-up fucking story.

This is real life. And that's real shit. I salute you. I commend you. And I want to say that you know everyone wants to salute you and commend you, man.

Because you've been through it, man. Thank you. you and I want to say that you know everyone should salute you and can be real man all right so he introduced us years ago rx brought me by your way you know I remember tennis balls from 1989 everything and you you know your mother's a legend you're soon to be legend And you, you know your mother's a legend. You're soon to be a legend. I love what you're doing on the show. I'm watching these four or three episodes. Congrats on the show, man.

Thank you. Tomorrow or Monday at 9 p.m. Tomorrow, Monday at 9. Look at the wifey on board. That's where you miss my brother. Right there. Yo, give a piece of that company, too. Give a piece of that company.

Give a piece of that company, man. Give a piece of that company, man. So listen, man, I thank both of you brothers for coming through, man. You get a couple of drops. Drink, chance. Motherfucker! I know a lot of cops.

They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why is a soap opera western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater Podcast Network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your gut microbiome and those healthy bacteria can actually have positive effects. Your mental health, your immunity, your risk of cancer, almost any disease under the sun. This week on Dope Labs, Titi and I dive into the world of probiotics, the hype, the science, and what your gut bacteria are really doing behind the scenes. From drinks and gummies to probiotic pillows. Yes, really, probiotic pillows. We're really, probiotic pillows. We're breaking down what's legit and what's just brilliant marketing.

With expert insight from gastroenterologist, Dr. Roshi Raj. Listen to Dope Labs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention. This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild-haired priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover

in a hell-bent effort to sabotage a war. J. Edgar Hoover was furious. He was out of his mind, and he wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. You can now binge all 10 episodes of Divine Intervention on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you.