Julian Dorey Podcast - #314 - The Surprising Truth Behind Mexico’s Cartel War, Child Hitmen & CJNG | Johnny Mitchell

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

SPONSORS: 1) True Classic: Upgrade your wardrobe and save on True Classic at TrueClassic.com/JULIAN ! #trueclassicpod PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey (***TIMESTAMPS in Description Below) ~ Johnny Mitchell is a former drug trafficker who gives you an insiders look into the world of drugs, crime, and prison. JOHNNY'S LINKS: YouTube: https://youtube.com/@theconnectpod?si=0ek9jnJjosVW96o9 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjohnnymitchell?igsh=bTk1OHZiNG50bHBy&utm_source=qr FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY INSTAGRAM (Podcast): https://www.instagram.com/juliandoreypodcast/ INSTAGRAM (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://twitter.com/julianddorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 00:00 – Red Shay, Johnny vs Mexican Gov, Johnny’s uniqueness 07:21 – Stand-up origins, wd game, California-Mexico ties 18:47 – Parents knew, hip-hop influence, Bitcoin doubts 30:00 – Why wd, black market vs legal, Jorge Ventura grow-ops 39:24 – Cartel sophistication, gas scheme, corruption, Ed Calderon, El Mencho, military ties 46:54 – Jalisco, CJNG, cartel drug tests, white collar structure 56:33 – Cartel as shadow gov, safety in Mexico, Harvey Dent 01:03:54 – Cartel subtle control, 17yo killer, policing neighborhoods 01:11:56 – YouTube fatigue, TikTok rise, Julian Israel podcast, sourcing cartel subjects 01:20:06 – Filming constraints, what subjects gain, two-state politics 01:29:02 – Israel-Palestine difficulty, Douglas McGregor, Hannibal Directive 01:41:13 – Anti-Netanyahu sentiment, antisemitism on X, underdog love, mail smuggling 01:59:09 – Getting caught, bribery, federal prison system 02:09:18 – First night in jail, Punchmade Dev, jail fights 02:16:15 – Max security, talent shows, short-form future 02:29:57 – U.S. training cartels, printing money 02:36:57 – CIA + bankers, Chapo’s kids, organized crime 02:46:34 – CIA benefits from cartel wars, war on terror shift 02:56:23 – Uneasy in cartel land, The Connect, cartel decline 03:02:49 – China-Mexico funnel, narco Panama Canal, future without cartels CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 314 - Johnny Mitchell Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And these people in Mexico, my god, they're dealing with so much trauma. 45 minutes outside of where the World Cup is coming, it's dominated by the Nuevo Jalisco Cartel. Hot zone, by the way. These guys are relentless. They catch thieves, drug addicts, they take them to the ranches, and they'll have them used as target practice. We interviewed a kid, bro. He was part of the cartel for three months, probably 20 people. He's the sweetest kid, okay? They might be the most powerful cartel that's ever existed in Mexico.

You need to think of them as a level of government. Mencho, worth $40 billion. There's white collar people, the legal side, and then the people that wanna be Sucadeos. And he's like 16 year old. It's wild, bro. So we went to a cartel deep in the hills of Mexico. No government around. We were with these kids guarding the most wanted longest free lord in the world.

So hey guys, if you're not following me on Spotify, please hit that follow button and leave a five star review. They're both a huge huge help. Thank you. Imagine a dude telling his life story and you don't get to organize it ahead of time like a script writer in Hollywood where every single thing is perfect so that you can get it in the two hours, 10 minutes or whatever. And he's just kind of going and feeling it out. How do you do that in an hour? Like match talk to the red shade for like 45 minutes? That's his wind up 45 minutes Dude when he was in here just like every time that guy all your guests

Like every time that guy all your guests are rats all your guests Johnny Johnny I love yous, but all your fucking guests are rats It was a I would never and he goes like real slow and like stares at you like this like the dude in the movies like I would never right and he's such a thin-lipped like inbred Irishman like there's no it's a he's 100% Irish he's got no lips oh no no no lips no he's like if you could make a poster child of like this is what a Boston gangster looks like that's it that's him thousand percent he's like five foot six yeah he's like a little soccer coach oh but he'll beat the sh** out of you facts I wouldn't say any of this to him in public to his face and when he calls getting angry at me because he saw this I'll be like John Johnny, baby

Come on. Come on. We just bought some balls We just bought some balls kid. Oh my god. He's a good sport. Just not about rats if you were a rat He's not a good sport. Yeah, I tried to argue with him a little bit not be just because I am contrarian like I had to justify myself because if I Limited my show to everybody who didn't rat. Oh, yeah, there'd be about five episodes Everybody at the level who of people that I interview. I mean you ask any DEA agent any any judge The majority are cooperating. There's if it wasn't that it would be torturing in Mexico. They don't make you cooperate They they torture you they elect, you know put and put screws to you give you the bullseye

Put a bag over your head give you the waterboarding, right? We don't do that We just say you're gonna spend the rest of your life in jail That's our version of what they do in Mexico. So did they ever say something like that to you? We'll get to your story later But did you ever have that moment where they tried to be like you're gonna be in jail for 50 years pal No, because they didn't get enough yet. I wasn't part of some big Rico indictment. It was a fluke how it was all my fault It was the stupidest reason in the world for fucking getting caught but it was just money, right? It was just money and but it was a lot of money. It was like my whole nest egg practically

And there were many reasons for it We can go into them, but they were they were like they saw me and they're like, oh, this is gonna be this is lunch We can take a break but this kid's gonna he's gonna start working for us, you know, like let's have more for dinner I mean, I like this guy, you know, yeah, and cuz I was busting balls, you know talking Right as they were carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars out of my house And they're like they're like oh this we got this guy so they're like dude You don't you don't know these people anything like we'll have you out. We're not gonna take you down to the station like we're gonna kick you out now and you'll bring us to your guy and When we're ready when we say you're done you're done. No deal. What's that?

So they really they saw me and they were like, oh this guy's gonna roll over like And play fetch So and when I didn't that's when they got pissed that's when they're like, we're gonna knock your teeth out We're gonna fuck. Oh, they went there. They're gonna beat the shit out of you in jail. You turn in their guy exactly. You're gonna whatever I'm like Cut to me someone in prison. I'm like, yeah, show those guys. Dude, you're one of a kind. I got to tell you, I first heard you when you went on my friend Danny Jones's show like three years ago. Yeah. And your story was like

so unbelievable that actually most people I was telling you this off camera, like a lot of people didn't believe it. They're like, there's no way. Well, but now here you are. You got like, you've become as far as I'm concerned when it comes to gritty deep like Hardcore the baddest of the bad true crime content like you're the guy Online like you've been that guy now for probably two and a half. Thanks three years like are you are you having fun with this? Oh That's such a poignant question. Yeah.

Real poignant. Do your listeners know what that means? You know, you can define it. But what if it doesn't mean that? What if I'm the asshole? I call it a timely question. Precious. It's a precious question.

I'm a little burnt out. I'm not going to lie to you. It's as people, just a full curtain pull right now, podcasting is a lot of work. Like what we do is really Because it's not just clicking on the mics. It's everything from booking guests to Negotiating with them about the kind of money they want to come on because there's money paid. Oh, yeah We do that because our guys have especially with people that have such

Remarkable stories. they don't really have a reason to talk to me much of the time, unless they're really, really trying to become content creators themselves. If they just got like a book or something and you're like, Hey man, I was the biggest heroin dealer in Manhattan. I dated Madonna. That's the guy that's coming on my podcast tomorrow. Peter shoe nice

Yes, it's like I you can't get this that story will never exist again like yeah I'm gonna peel off a couple of bands for you because that is It's proprietary and he hasn't done anybody else's show. You know what though the only guys I've never because I never had a choice I started this in my parents house with nothing. I still don't have anything So, you know outside of covering people's travel fees have never been an option in either direction I don't make money for people to come on it ever either but the only people who have ever asked and obviously they never came on were people who were like ex-criminals right

because that's what's it's that's what they're used to yeah they're in the street and everything has a price There's never you never do anything for free And that's just yeah, so what it is, it's kind of what makes my show different It's better or else I'd have to have everybody on that is already on every podcast So but that's exhausting and it's and when you if you know anything about the criminal World you ever been in jail you ever hung around people that are used to, you know, running in the streets,

they get very comfortable, there's no boundaries. You know, so I'm dealing with people before the podcast, on it, and after. Yeah. You know, so it's a lot, but it's the journey, and it changed my life, so you know, I gotta be happy with it. Yeah, you also really, like, you knocked it out apart when you had a moment there. Yeah, yeah to put yourself on this

Yeah, I remember your videos were just going everywhere going crazy across the mid forms the short forms the episode It was insane. You put in enough work God does throw you a bone if you're just laser focused for like Almost a decade like I was like with nothing and then you finally hit one Now are you doing maybe we actually should for people out there who aren't familiar with your story. It's pretty crazy So maybe we should go through that first But like were you doing stand-up comedy for that decade? Yes We were just grinding uh-huh. Uh-huh eight and a half years. There wasn't the thought to do

You know like online content surrounding crime, which obviously you had gotten familiar with through your life and yeah Yeah, you know I didn't want because I just wanted to be funny, and I didn't want to detract from anything that wasn't Comedy related I didn't want people other comedians to see me as like this crime guy right and Joe Rogan kind of changed all that He was a guy he was one of the first people that came around that was like no, I'm more than a comedian like I do stand up That's like the foundation, but I also hunt elk and I do martial arts, right? and so he kind of made it okay to step out of Just the one myopic lane that is be funny all the time. I also had a necessity I didn't have I was old, I'm the one myopic lane that is be funny all the time. I also had a necessity. I didn't have sh**.

I was old when I got started. So I was like, and I tried comedy podcasting and that's the hardest podcasting to break into. Oh, yeah. So I was like, what's something that I know and am good at that can talk about and nobody else is doing it? And that's really where I was forced to like, just come out with the story.

Cause it was also like embarrassing too, you know? Like I didn't wanna be known as like this guy, this prison guy. Cause that's how I- You hadn't really talked about that? Jokes about it on stage, but never like candidly. And so it was hard. It was kind of like a, it was closure too. It was like, you know reckoning with my past that I tried to you know

Kind of run from so I think was cathartic in many ways You were young too when you did you really when you did all this stuff like what? Yeah, where'd you grow up? I grew up in Portland, Oregon. Mmm. I have Some people hate it a lot of people hate it. It's it's a nice ass place, dude There's like two blocks of homeless people shut up, right? There's people do fentanyl in your city too much right you really think you really think Louisville, Kentucky Is nicer than Portland, Oregon shut the fuck. I'm gonna give you my address to where I grew up right now I want you people to pull it up and you know visit my parents, okay?

One two three four go yourself It was just a nice place even the hoods in Portland were like Civilized yeah, you know coffee shops a couple BLM protests never nobody Yeah, they were like drive-by shootings issue. There's murders and stuff. You know that here too. Yeah, oh no shit in Jersey Oh, yeah, no, you don't You'd never you'd never believe it bro work. Yeah, I'll take out the newer. I've been to Patterson, dude I made a lot of money and you grew up right next to Patterson did you yeah, it's the bricks man, but yeah He had a pass growing up actually really now. Let's hear you say it That pass no

Let's hear you say it. That pass? No. Oh. Well, you had the Oluwokport pass though, right? Yeah, it's a lot of those. A lot of sandals, where you come from. A lot of sandals and male robes. Yeah, you know I made all my money out in Jersey practically.

You did? Washington Heights, Manhattan, Dominicans, and in Jersey, South Jersey with the Gindaloons, with the Italians. That's where I'm from. South Jersey. Yeah, I'm from West Upford. Uh, I know these little dumpy towns, Atco. Oh, thanks, dumpy.

Yeah, Atco's a dump. Shout out to all my Atco people. You know who you are. Atco's a f***. It could use a once over. But that's, there's a lot of, there was a lot of money there back then. I didn't realize you were, were okay I need to learn more about this I didn't realize you're doing so much of it like in person to what what

my understanding was that you were mailing a lot and I was I was I was I was shipping it out here I was shipping as a seal we'd all weed I mean we sold other stuff when we were small time going hand-to-hand but we blew up in the game with weed. And we just got in on the best time. I mean, it was like the podcasting. It was just, we hit that the timing was unbelievable. So yeah, it was our main markets.

You know, we shipped it. We had people in Maryland. We had people in Ohio. Who's we? Me and my Cody, my crimey. My crimey. Whose name I won't speak just because he's like, he works for the trailblazers. He's uh, he's got kids He's you know, he's a stand-up guy, you know, he's easy. He never got caught. He got out of the game

Oh, yeah, I bought him out of his wasn't a Cody. Well, no, you're right. He didn't go down He was my crimey and and I what you having a black guys on you bet the man That's right, that's right, I can't tell him And I what you have enough black guys on you If you watch this show at all, you know There is nothing I like better than a good fitting comfortable t-shirt and my guys are true classic that I'm wearing right now Have that on lockdown. Their shirts find a way to be comfortable and give you space while not being overly baggy so it looks like you're wearing a poncho. And when you look at the company itself, the mission goes beyond just what the fit and

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Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal, the highest cashback, the most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Sephora, Uniqlo, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores.

Join for free at rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N, rakuten.ca or download the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Rakuten.ca. So I ended up buying him out of the business and I guess I myself, you know, we were in the streets forever together, but I myself am the one that really like took that risk because we'd heard about- You bought him out? I bought him out of the business. It's an underground buyout work.

I got 10 grand and you're moving on I could tell he's like he was like sick of it and I was like I'm about to take the like federal that's how we used to talk about like you know, you real risky like we're about to go federal I'm going to start I'm going to be mail-in packs all over the country and you know, I'm going to get rich or I'm going to go federal I'm gonna start I'm gonna be mailing packs all over the country and you know I'm gonna get rich or I'm gonna go to jail right you know or I my plan was like okay even if I go to jail I'll be rich I'll still be a millionaire they won't find the money that's that's what everybody everybody's fantasy is that but it usually doesn't people don't get out they don't stand they say I'm gonna

stop and I gotta go a little farther like 2 million has a nice ring to it You know what I mean? So but yeah, yeah, we were shipping weed out to the Philly South Jersey area and Yeah, the Bronx and Washington Heights and we had people in other other markets But yeah, these are just I mean it was wild, it just gobbled, just this invisible hand just gobbled up all this weed. It's just wild.

So how young were you when you first started? And I would imagine it was just like doing regular neighborhood drug deals. Of course, yeah, like probably 16. Okay. It was 2002, you know. When did you graduate or step up? 2005, 2006, a little bit, a little bit, little bit little bit and then you know you work work your way up

But then you take you know, maybe you lose all your money you get robbed or you whatever. There's a drought You can't get any drugs to sell. I mean the drug business is even back then when things were good It's it's not an easy buck. No, that's a hard work. It's hard work. It is hard work. Yeah, that's serious Yeah, yeah close so but it wasn't until 2009 that I started shipping and that's where the big money that was like where all the work the years I put in paid off So you're out of college at that point that what kind of connects did you have like you actually made connects to Mexico at that point, what kind of connects did you have? Like, had you actually made connects to Mexico at that point? Well, with Mexicans, but in California. Right.

So this is when they, and they're still there. They're still there big time. They're actually out in the open now because weeds, you can grow essentially unlimited amounts of weed, and they won't take you to jail. They'll just raid your pot farm and then, you know, take all of it, but they'll write you a ticket. But back then, this was when they were up in the mountains in like Mendocino

Humboldt Southern Oregon and if you could get to them they had the best price you couldn't you couldn't get something cheaper than that and In the outdoor weed from California and Southern Oregon was probably is still the best Weed in the country outdoor weed it was like commercial so the East Coast the Midwest they love that because it looked really good almost looked like indoor weed what you guys would think was like indoor hydroponic growing weed but it was outdoor and it was it just moved and and and you just you could buy it low and sell it in bulk low and just everybody was eating.

The Mexicans you were going to from California though, obviously with these places, you're talking about all the ones that were connected to the cartels. Like, they were 100 million and started it up. Yeah, and obviously like you never, they never give you, they never tell you the truth. Not that I really asked, but you know,

these were guys from, these were mostly dirty, these were just laborers. And there was one guy who spoke a little English. He was the young kid and he spoke for everybody that was working in the field, right? Cause that's what they would do. They would send guys up, bosses from Durango, Sinaloa. These are the places where they,

this is how the Mexican cartels were invented was from pot growing in the 60s This was all a genesis of everything that goes on now just comes from pot. Yes It's crazy to think about that, but so they would send guys You know a group of guys to go grow it and then the one guy With the fuck LA Dodger cap on and the gold chain that spoke a little English and he was the guy that was the liaison with all of the dealers and the traffickers like me who would descend onto that area and pick up and then go back to their markets. How'd you get connected with him? You just came down and you knew what you were doing? It took a long time. At first we were buying weed from from white guys in

southern Oregon and these were like know, laid off electricians, ex hippies, people that grew, but it was like, it was more chill. Like you could maybe get like 200 pounds a season from them. The season would be like October through whenever you sell it all. So maybe like, maybe the spring. That's still, that's a lot of weed.

It's a lot of weed. It's a lot of weed, but it leaves you With like four or five months where there's no weed You would know it that fast of course even back then even before I was shipping it We would still sell 50 pounds a month So 200 gets snapped up like that they all be accounted for and if you had a big group from like the East Coast Like, you know adults

Sometimes they would come in and they would they'd say I will take all of it And then the the harvest would be gone and then you'd be in the drought there was people and kids don't understand that there was like a time when There was no weed to smoke. No sell So you would and people get robbed and all you start selling coke to try to make up for it was it was bad So that's why when you got to the mexicans they always had the most so we just threw you know paying people right for connections and introductions and uh yeah finally met this one guy who connected us and if he he's he would go out of the picture sometimes like he would go back to mexico after the harvest but then

he would always leave me a contact for you know another guy who was coming up that's kind of how that worked did you have a real job at all during this time when I was small time yeah yeah I was a deliver pizza and a pizza route but you know I had bags on me I was I was hitting licks they always as I was selling pies all pizza guys are selling weed, dude You ever see Danny's episode with this pizza guy? No, that was incredible Okay, so I know but so you're delivering pizzas and selling weed door-to-door. I was Yeah, I had all kinds of little jobs, but I would always get fired because it was just a distraction

It was basically just to like show my parents that I it was just a distraction. It was basically just to show my parents that it was to prove income, you know what I mean? Even though they knew what was going on the whole time. Oh, they did? Yeah. That was gonna be my next question. What did they think you were doing? I would come home for the summers in the middle of like in college. You go back to your parents' house

for June, July, and August. And my dad would, every summer he'd be like dude. I just found like 30 grand in your backpack What are you do? You can't stay here? I'm a lawyer you can't Here if you're doing 30 grand also impressive So I'll get kicked out every summer They'll where would you stay Like your friend's houses? Yeah, I would go stay with like a friend who had his own place or whatever.

You know, it was exciting. Yeah, you felt like it was like adult business. Yes. As when you're still kind of a kid at 20, 21 years old, you're still a fucking kid. You're absolutely at that age. I'll speak for myself. You're absolutely retarded still. So you're like, you know,

do you think you got the world by the balls? Even if you know you don't have the world figured out, you're like, yeah, but I'm an adult now, I can do what I want. And you've watched enough movies, like man, I'm like the fuck, I'm George Young. I'm George Young, I can do what I wanna do here. Like, that was a great movie.

And you get, it's so easy to see how you'd get caught up in that kind of wave. It's so embarrassing Truly, I'm embarrassed when I think about how influenced I was by hip-hop and by drug movies You're not supposed to like do you just enjoy the content you're not supposed to emulate it. Yeah. It's wild. Why do you think you loved it so much, the power? I loved the freedom that these guys portrayed.

They were, it was outlawed. It's the reason that even ordinary people who would never commit crimes are fascinated by outlaws and the underworld. It's because in a society that's so controlled by law and order and norms social norms There's a guy that's just giving everybody the middle finger and he's getting away with it Yeah, like so so I have that in me and then compounded with

you know the influence of The 90s right because I'm a white guy from the 90s and everybody right Tupac is on your wall It was really guys was Bay Area guys e 40. I told e 40 that when I was on the phone with them I was like, hey man, I just Influence I'm like dude, you were like you I was like, hey 40 you raised me dude And I just want you to know you're one of the reasons that I went to prison. Thanks. Bye he laughed at that cuz he got it like it. Like it was so glorified and yeah, you're like, what can go wrong? I'll just get a record deal after I'm done, after I'm out of the game, you know?

Oh, do you have bars too? I didn't have bars, but I thought maybe I'll be a record label. How fucking stupid was I? Now that only lasted for about two weeks and then I was like I better just invest in some real estate You know did you at least get a chain like ahead of time with the name of the label? So you had that yeah, I think it was gonna be 28 grams Record label, you know because that's it was kind of cool. Yeah, it's kind of cool, but I it would have gone bust I think so I got out of that pretty quickly once the real money started coming. That's when I shaped up

I was like, oh, this is life changing. I can't fuck this up. And that kind of led me down the journey of, okay, how do I become a wealthy person, not a rich person? So it was actually a good lesson. Wealthy versus rich, can you explain that? By assets that appreciate over time, essentially. That's the, to brush stroke it, that's what it is. Like cash

depreciates, right? We live in a fiat world and the government prints more of it every day. So when you own that, when you hold that, it loses value. But when you buy things that appreciate over time and you could pass on, that's wealth. So now we have it with Bitcoin, but I see this as 20 years later. I'm like, wow I'm getting a second chance here. You know what I mean? But can you explain that more? Yeah, like so I own Bitcoin too our generation Missed the fiat currency bubble that really got going in the 80s But it started in the early 70s when Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard And so people like I don't know you probably you're from Jersey I can't imagine you

know you grew up with two parents but did you yes I did I know I just both grew up in Jersey we both had two parents I assumed but like a dock worker a dock worker and a mailman right he's No, my dad's a lawyer. He's a lawyer as well. Okay, it was good. So people like, okay there is that other, you should have told me Bruce Springsteen's Jersey. I didn't know it was it. I did not grow up in Bruce. Was it Tom Cruise or Bruce Springsteen's Jersey? Which one was it? I grew up in West Stepford, like the best middle-class town of all time. I'm biased. Perfect, perfect. So So it was kind of it was a little bit like me growing up in Portland so our parents Hit the fee our currency boom where all they had to do was just take money every week for their paychecks and put it into

the stock market and just Watch yes, because all the valuations of all of these companies with just the money printing It just it it blew up the whole economy. You know what I mean? But now we've now it's hit it's out of gas But like we can't buy property in Manhattan. There is no more abandoned buildings in Newark basically, right? What's the soprano's line by land AJ guys not making any more of it exactly and and and just come that's all She was a who I was. She was a who I to she hit me.

He's justifying where he beat this woman's brain. Once she was a who I was. Yeah. So that was like his number one reason. You imagine you're asking him asking for leniency and sentencing. She was a who I. Ralph Sifiretto judges like yeah, I've been there. Yeah, community service time serve. So there is no more so

so we missed all that right? So this is our Bitcoin is this generation's you know 1981 buying a piece of a warehouse in Greenpoint or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, right? That's That's the Lord saying God you guys got and I don't know what comes after that I mean, we'll probably be you know, it's in you know, we'll be in like the metaverse But that is our chance little side point though here. I love your thoughts on this Like I've always said just like I've owned Bitcoin for once the 2025 so like eight years Wow I've never sold any no you should never sold a dime even through those like down Yeah, we're spot like it doesn't even count for money. It's not even like a ton Yeah, and I want to believe in it, and I love the concept of it because like it's anti inflationary

It's not literally like deflationary our way because like it's anti inflationary. It's literally like deflationary in a way. But the question is, I still can't explain it to my grandma and the response, like as much as you or I might be a responsible person and know like, oh, I'm gonna have my keys, I'm gonna know that's on a hard drive, I'm good, I got it. As much as that's the case, the average person

has so much going on in their life that like they need the backstop and I might even need it too with all the shit I got going on I know and oh, yeah, it's in a bank. The banks got it. You know, I mean, how do we get around that? Well, that's what's developing right now. That's why you have Bitcoin Treasury companies, you know pretty soon You'll be able to hopefully insure your Bitcoin, right? so if there is you know, you'd be able to draw it out even if there is like a Pullback in the price if you want it if you want to draw

They have the money to just basically exchange You know Fiat for your Bitcoin. I think that's coming. I mean to be fair. I can't fully explain it I can't you know, that shit's really complicated. Hey, it's a bunch of nodes that come up with Basically proof of work using a ton of electricity see I'm already fucking up What is it and it's like you build blocks because you get like a consensus between other nodes Yeah, you can't explain what a node is to a fucking 95 year old from Italy yeah, it's tough my little four foot eleven grandma 92 year old no Italy yeah, it's tough my little four foot eleven grandma a 92 year old no no no no okay You know like she's smart she she always took care of the money for her family like she knows her shit

And she wants to learn all this stuff and still I get and she's totally with it I still get the question like so how is this Bitcoin thing work again? Yeah, and it's and it's tough cuz like I'll get that question from a 20 year old, too That's where you know like all right we gotta find a way to simplify. And I'm rooting for it, man. Like, I think it'd be awesome, because, like you said, you know, you can even read Steven Pinker's books, and you don't have to know what the gold standard is.

And when you see that chart of, like, middle class just whittling away for 50 years, what the fuck you think caused that? Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I'm not totally sold on it, actually. I was for a long time, but now I I don't know. I'm I'm not totally sold on it actually I was for a long time, but now I'm like they got to come up with some use cases Like they got to figure out how this can be exchanged. So, I don't know. Maybe it's just more time, but We'll see. We'll see now. We were talking about your come up and like your influences and stuff

What was what was the what was the biggest movie that influenced you at that time? We got you 40 on the music painful Painful Cameron and and you know, Makai Pfeiffer and wood Harris you saw yourself in Cameron Yeah, yeah, not as much Cameron. I think I was like wood Harris He was like gangly and kind of awkward and I'm like that's a guy could be Brain he's the brain. He's the guy that survived. Yeah, he was a liar to would yeah It knows how to play a gangster above the rim with Pac like yes. Yes for sure. He had the best acting career He was a real actor The wire was big the wire was big, but I think It's scarface, but I'm like, okay. I can't be that because there is like what are we doing here?

It's not in 1982 you know, but like hey, maybe it's but it's 1985 in Harlem painful I don't know why I don't know why painful. Maybe think okay. I can I can do this You know But yeah, but but also it was but then it was like real-life examples It would be like guys from the neighborhood whose older brothers were like making a living selling weed That you can actually do that and they were quiet about it Yeah, yeah, and they were and like they didn't have jobs like that's what they did and I was like Oh, I don't want to do anything else

To the government did they like were you learning that it probably wasn't even a lie was probably like 50 grand a year right that they were making 50 60 grand a year so they're a caddy yeah whatever right now a waiter or something but in 2001 that was like that was like a fortune that was what rent in Portland was like 300 bucks a month so you're like holy fuck this is that's the same but a lot of them did get busted. You know people were getting popped left and right you know we would hear about it Everybody even middle-class people in Portland back then everybody knew somebody that was in that game that had gone down for something Yeah, it was very weird. It's like criminal dichotomy that it used to exist Doesn't really anymore though. What made you stick with weed?

Just because that was what we had access to like we could never it was really hard to get good coke Even really everyone even when we could get like half a key or something like that it would You know we just we'd never had like that that like straight from San Diego Just came over the border kind of kind of plug even out there even out there We'd always get middle man's like we can never meet. Yeah. Yeah, and I never asked the Mexicans. I was picking up Weed from I never broached it with them. I Just didn't I don't know why I just wanted to keep the two lanes separate, you know, but afraid of them I wasn't afraid of them I was afraid of the coke game in general whenever I would whenever I would start selling more coke

Especially bulk coke like when people would ask me for like four ounces I would go do it but I was scared because I was like this is how you get caught Oh, so you dabble it a little bit. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, we sold coke. There's no doubt. There's no doubt about that Yeah, yeah you had to because like again, especially before you were big-time and selling weed Like you had to be you had to have a bunch of different things just to make a living sold shrooms Like whatever was fucking whatever was winning whatever you could get like a good price on that you could turn around, you know now what what made your

Your Cody. Yeah, you leave. I Now what made your Cody leave? I think he was just tired of it. I think he was, this is when we hit, I think this is, we were driving back from Humboldt, like a 10 hour drive back from Humboldt County back to Portland. So you went up to visit the? Yeah, we went down to try to pick up,

and this was like August, and nobody had any weed. So you would go down to like Medford or a little town in southern Oregon, that connect would be dry. So then you would go into like Crescent City, Northern California, that guy would be dry. Then you go, you drive, you're like an hour and a half from San Francisco. That's how deep into the forest you are.

You're so far south. And then that guy was dry It's like the fucking Sahara right is we got all this fucking cash and no Weed mmm, and he was like dude. I don't think it's worth it man, and we were only like you know we were only making This is when it was like a hundred thousand dollars a year And he was wasn't when you're like 22 to 23, you know for sure for sure But we had to split it and it was it was starting to get really difficult in Portland Everybody had you know, everybody started growing their own weed and everybody had like a local source

So it made it to where even before we became legal everywhere. It started in Oregon that was where like the gloves were off. So you couldn't sell there anymore. So we were like, where's our market? You know? So he just got out of the game. I just gave him a little bit of money and it was just me on my own.

I had to figure it out. How is the market these days? I mean, you talk to a lot of people who obviously know what's going on. You're not in the game anymore. But how is the market these days even out in what we would call like a hotspot for that stuff like California, Oregon, the West Coast, when you have this like massive legalization going on?

Yeah. So, okay. I actually had a guy on who has a legal weed, like a hundred million dollar legal weed company, and he broke it down for me. So discover the magic of Bet MGM casino where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer from roulette to blackjack. Watch as a dealer host your table game and live chat with them throughout your experience to feel like you're actually at the casino.

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Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you please contact connects ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario and when he says legal it's hemp meaning the THC level is a little lower I didn't know any of that though like that's how these guys who advertise on my show advertising other people's shows That's how they say it's federally legal you we can ship it anywhere Because it's got the lower THC which is like it's such a fucking stupid loophole

Oh my god, what are we doing here? Like let's just end this but there's so much money in keeping it illegal You know the government's got to ease their way In the deep end, but they're going the other way Texas is about to like as we speak your producer probably look it up has Greg Abbott Made a decision has he signed the bill to to essentially criminalize. Oh, I said it is in Texas Yeah, it's in front of his desk as of like two days ago Abbott faces cannabis in Texas, it's in front of his desk as of like two days ago. Abbot faces political heat over THC crackdown. We don't know if he's... All right, so why it matters.

Gummies and all matters of THC products along with the multi-billion dollar industry are on the chopping block. The state's 2019 agricultural hemp law opened the door for hemp farming and the sale of products containing less than, there it is three percent of THC business took off for the farmers but some Republican lawmakers led by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick are concerned about unregulated market and THC products reaching children they're now seeking to shut it shut down the industry on the one hand Abbott could sign Senate bill 3 to show he's tough on crime on the other

he's now facing pushback from key Republican constituents and veterans groups who have urged him to veto the bill. Yeah. So even yeah, you even have veterans that are like, hey my leg got blown off.

I need to smoke so that could maybe help right. So we're supposed to love our veterans. Are we supposed to love our veterans? But are they're like living under bridges. so that hasn't

Unfortunately, I think I am in this year's more an emotional love It's not really a financially we're gonna help you and it's a political talking point and unfortunately a lot of these people don't fucking really Care which is very sad. That's right. That's right. I didn't know Dan Patrick from ESPN was now lieutenant governor of Texas that's really interesting If you're old you get it. So yeah, okay, so I guess he hasn't signed it yet, but that's what that's doing is just giving a win To our boys from Mexico, right? They're like, oh my god what we thought this we thought it was over now They're fucking sliding back. This is great We thought it was over now. They're fucking sliding back. This is great

So they're still but even though it's more annoying for them They're still able to get wins now because of the regulation on a lot of stuff. That's right. That's right We were talking about we're talking about the legal market and how yeah how the cartels fit in to that framework, right? Yeah, so yes because of the the hemp framework right in so yes because of the the hemp the point three percent or lower of THC and the taxation especially in California we've learned Oregon I'm not sure about anymore I know the price bottomed out because there were weed shops everywhere same with in Washington California the the taxes the cost of opening a business, the cost of doing business, you have state tax, county tax, municipal tax, local city taxes. It almost doubles the price of the actual product that you're paying for.

So yes, that leaves a huge market open for the cartels who grow the shit in places where I couldn't even when I was picking up from them it dwarfs the size of those old gardens that they used to have like we're talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of plants and you get eight eight pounds per plant we're talking millions of pounds these people are producing in spots all over rural California and in Northern California, right? And then what they do is then through middleman, they get it to legal shops, right? And that's one way and then back door. That's right. That's right. And then they just don't declare it. And then they can lower their lower the cost of what they sell to people for. And then also just straight people guys, lay guys.

It's like the new cigarette skim like from the right fellas day. Right exactly exactly the same thing in the back. So we're like, oh yeah, just fell off the truck. Yeah, I mean they have that in Britain. We went out and interviewed a bunch of British gangsters and they have a huge untaxed alcohol import racket because because their alcohol there is taxed like our weed is taxed. So there's huge money in buying bulk wine and liquor in France and then smuggling it over the channel into Britain and you just don't declare the import tax. Yeah. So anything

the government ever tries to do when it comes to taxation There's always gonna be people there to fill the void. So you're given a gift but but with Texas if all THC products become Illegal that you're just basically going taking us back to like the 90s, right? So now you you know, there's there's big money there. They're chopping at the bit It's funny the Republicans that want to crack down on crime and Mexicans. Not this one. They are allies with the Mexicans. They are allies with the worst kind of Mexicans. What's the old blood? They're so stupid. Like on this one we're we're together. Have you had on John Norris or Jorge Ventura? Yeah, Jorge Ventura. He's the one that really, go watch that episode if you're fascinated by the legal, the illegal

grow ops, marijuana grow ops in California. It's unreal. And these guys are like, they're aggressive about it. And they're coming around to like these rural Californians, these Okies that have been there since like the 1930s. And they buy them out. They say, hey, this place is going to shit because of us. It's not gonna get any better.

Like we'll pay you cash for your ranch. And they bounce. And then they take over these big ranches and they have drones everywhere. And they treat it kind of like how they treat rural areas in Mexico. It's mmm It's tough not to admire these guys When you think about the level of like

Sophistication and genius that goes into not just Mexico and the cartels were talking about but high-level organized crime throughout history It's like god damn if these guys had decided to be scientists like they'd have pride in fucking great at it, right? Right, you know and the persistence yes, so we know that talent when it comes to success talent is like 10% Persistence trust me. I work in show business Talent is maybe 10% of it. Okay. I've seen some of the most untalented people but that have all the drive. Yes become Successful beyond belief. It's all about drive and persistence. These guys are relentless They're like, okay, no problem. We can't bring immigrants anymore. That's fine that we made billions. We get it We'll go off into some other shit this one. It's fine, dude. It's fine. We're into stolen gas now

Watch it go as they call their stud. They're doing stolen gas. They've been doing it, but now they're doing it at a rate That's like, you know, how does that's unbelievable? They steal oil and gasoline from Pemex, which is the nationalized oil and gas company Pemex Pemex echo And they and And they just, independent people come out, Vice News did a piece about this. They come out and they just find where the pipeline that runs through Mexico, independent people can just drill into it, steal it, then they sell it to the cartels,

who then partner with nice, legitimate gasoline franchise owners, brokers, etc. in America and they sell it to them on the low. Boom. And those people know exactly what it is. Yeah. And I just read an article the other day, some like a couple like a Mormon couple in Utah got popped for like hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stolen fuel can we pull that straight up from the pull it up? Yeah from one of these organizations usually it's the East Coast organizations But also the the Jalisco new generation cartel Oh, they're huge and you know what it's a benefit they benefit listen It's a benefit to the Mexican people especially because a lot of that stolen gas stays in Mexico

So they'll they steal huge amounts right hundreds of millions of liters And then they have distributors who will go around to little just gasoline stations, right? And sell it mama pop and they say yeah here We'll sell it to you ten cents on the dollar and they can charge less to the consumer. Oh, so that's friendly to the economy. It's Necessary for the economy. Why can't we do more of that? Yeah, listen, I might be behind this one. You know, the cartels are like, they have libertarianism in their bones, you know? Not when they made deals with the CIA, that's all I'm saying. That was just for survival, though. Utah family worked with cartel to smuggle 300 million in oil.

There you go. So maybe we could dive into that a little? Yeah. All right, so a Utah couple and their sons faced federal charges following their arrest in April for working with Mexican cartels to smuggle more than $300 million worth of stolen oil into the US. James Lyle Jensen and his wife, Kelly Ann Jensen,

were why didn't they arrest the other wives? It's just one of them? Were arrested at their mansion. All right, they were arrested on April 23rd at their mansion in Sandy, Utah. Their sons, Maxwell Sterling and Zachary Golden, unbelievable names, were arrested that same day in Texas. All four members were indicted in the U.S. District Court

of Southern Texas, where they are accused of smuggling 2,881 shipments of stolen crude oil into the country via barges that were then docked at their Rio Hondo based facility of Royal terminals. The scheme allegedly began in May 2022. They did 2800 shipments in three years. Yeah, yeah. And that's all they knew about. They're probably doing this for a long time before. So shit. So what they do is,'s all they knew about they're probably doing this for a long time before Shit, so what they do is yeah, they ship it over as crude and then they put it into their their big You know those those big like cylinder You know oil

Containers that they own and then yeah They refine it and then sell it all over the country the payments for this crude oil were directed to businesses in Mexico that operate Only through the permission of Mexican criminal organizations. Yeah, so it's not like they're they're dealing directly with like masked fucking AK-47 cartel guys. It's all done through brokers and business suits and lawyers and and accountants. It's just it's it's so intricate and it's so wound up into the fabric of Mexican society. Dude, I always argue with that Calderonon especially because he's like dude Mexico's fucked. It was about to be an invasion I thought it was all like propaganda. I was like Ed. No Mexico's getting better

I was just down there with him two weeks ago at Jalisco. I'm like I gotta push back my timeline It's still got at least a century or more of being I've got at least a century or more of being just one of the most corrupt societies in Of the of developed countries in the world it has to be Do you like cuz you're a public figure you talk about all this stuff, too You were in the game a long time. Yeah, yeah, but like do you get worried going down there? I don't get worried because we're always with the right people We're always with Ed who's connected to like, we have armed security. We don't do like super, super intense shit

that we used to do. Oh, you used to do it? We used to do it. And before we got successful, and now we're like, we gotta live to fucking spend some of this dough. And also like the cartel wars, we went down to Culeacan, Sinoloa in November of 2022.

And that was when everything was chill. And then three months after we were there, Ovidio Guzman, El Raton, one of the sons got, they raided Kuliakon. There was this giant, this second, they call it Kuliakonese or something. And it was huge, hundreds and hundreds of people, you know, they call it Culiacaneser or something, and it was huge hundreds and hundreds of people, you know, shoot out with the military.

They captured him, and then it's never really been the same. And then a year and a half later after Mayo gets popped last summer, that's when the war started. And now like even Ed Calderon is like, I can't go to Culiacan. So I wouldn't go there. I wouldn't, there's places that I just wouldn't go because Mexico's at war. Ed is like the coolest guy ever and the nicest dude.

But when, you know, he was here for like six hours and when he's talking about this, he's like leaned into you like it's all fucked man. And you're like, what has this guy seen? Right, right. He's telling you probably like 0.1% of it. I've gotten high with him and and after hours, you know after You know there after a long day like he gets candid about some of the shit that he did and it's like dog

Talk. Yeah, don't be telling me all this stuff. I got leverage on It's a movie yes,. His life is a movie. It's a movie. And that was when, and that was in Tijuana, where that's like, that's supposed to be one of the most civilized cartel places, because it's right by the US and everybody's got to be on pretty good behavior. Really? Yeah.

So you imagine going to like the middle of the country, Zacatecas, or parts of Jalisco. Dude, it's like tens and tens of thousands of people have disappeared since the drug war started. Disappeared. Half a million have been murdered. That's on the books. There's people every day that are getting incinerated, that are getting buried. Yeah.

So we went to a cartel, a piece of land outside of Jaliscoisco about 45 minutes outside of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco Guadalajara the World Cup is coming there next year like that's how that's how nice and urbanized and Modern and wealthy that place is right 45 minutes outside of where the World Cup is coming. Okay, there's it's it's dominated by the four letters, CJ and j c g n j. Yeah, and the way of a Jalisco cartel and so there's a piece of land that so they have they always have to train up new people. Okay, they're always training up new recruits. And he's like 16

year olds usually okay okay who they recruit on Are you saying in general all cartels or these guys in particular? These are this is the strongest cartel in mexico, right? So so Everything that they do all the other groups are just trying to imitate right? Sinaloa is in tatters and they don't have their shit together compared to these guys This is the gold standard for they might be the most powerful cartel that's ever existed in Mexico These are the ones I get them mixed up sometimes in my head. I'm sorry I show the rooster men show the guy guy with the fucking fucking He looks like a busboy dude. He's got a fucking mustache, but he's worth 40 billion dollars

And there's four thousands and thousands of people who operate within this organization white collar people right who look like you who wear suits and were educated at the best schools and who deal on the accounting side they deal on the the legal side right and then kids who grew up on ranches that at 16, 17 years old see TikTok recruitment videos. Hey, you wanna drive cool cars? TikTok recruitment videos. They put people on Facebook, on TikTok. And yeah, there you go.

The discreet drug lord in charge of Mexico's most powerful cartel. And that is not an exaggeration. They are now the most powerful organization, especially the war that has broken up in the war on Culiacan has broken up the the Sinaloa cartel they've stepped in and just vacuumed yeah yeah and yeah are these the guys I'm getting mixed up in my head because there's so many of them down there are these the guys Ed was telling me got

trained at the beginning by like Delta Force and no no those are the Zetas but these guys these guys these guys the Zetas were actually military guys who became Leaders of drug cartels, but these guys still get trained by the military these guys absolutely military. Yep defectors Sometimes they pay people who are part of the military, but they say hey Would you like to come down for a weekend and train 17-year-olds on how to shoot helicopters out of the sky?

Yes, I mean, I'll probably. Yeah, sure, yeah, that's great. I think I have some time. Hey, I think I can pencil you in. So listen, dude, so we're down there and there's this huge piece of land and it's like 300 acres, 300 hectares. I don't know how many acres that is It's privately owned but like the guys never there. So like the public just goes and uses it

Right. They have yeah, they have paintball tournaments. They have like off-road Championships dirt bike riding on one day a pickup truck pulls up with five essays in a fucking, you know with mommy guns So we talked to the guy who manages the piece of land who was telling us about the time that that happened and It was a gentleman who came up. He was very polite and he said look if you don't want to do this like we're not gonna Force you we're not gonna kill you but like we got we got some new recruits We want to use your piece of land to train them up We need about two or three weeks and the guy was like yeah, I appreciate the you being coy but I'm gonna let you

you know and your money's no good here smart right yeah so he says it's about a hundred people a lot of them women young women yes teenagers and and women in their early 20s who maybe they don't want to be cicadillas hit men hit women, but there's other functions, right? Most people are not going to become cicadas. They're gonna become lookouts. They're gonna maybe work at call centers Maybe they're all yeah, maybe they're going to be yeah Cartel coordination Etc they could work at local retail drug shops, perhaps, whatever.

But when the news media, they found all those clothes and shoes a couple of months ago and they were like, this is the Auschwitz. This is Mexican Auschwitz. They're killing people en masse. That probably was not the case. They do kill people at those training sites who try to run away. But most of the times what happens is 100 100 new recruits come into this training site. They strip them of their clothing, they take their shoes, they take their electronics, everything, because they don't want any anybody tracing them, which makes sense. And so they just buried all those clothes at a site and then the news got ahold of it and they were like, Oh, these are hundreds of dead bodies no there will be a couple of dead bodies

usually because a couple people will try to run away a couple people will fuck up but a lot of times those bodies get incinerated in fuel so there won't be any bones yeah so in many ways they practice many of the the terroristic techniques that the Zetas used to which is ironic because the CJ ng the C Gnj Began as Los Matas at those they were Zeta killers They were Zeta what killers they were killers of the Zetas because the Zetas were becoming so powerful

They were some somebody was like, okay, we have to stop this. It was Sinaloa, it was Chapo who brokered this deal. No way. Yes, he brokered this deal with some guys from Jalisco and he said, I'm gonna pay you to basically track the Zetas in whatever territory they're moving in on and you'd kill them. And so after that was all done,

He made a friend of himself. Mencho, exactly. He made a friend of himself. show came in and and galvanized everybody. And that's how that cartel began. And now look, they're they're doing a lot of the same things that that their former adversaries were, do we know how big they are? Like how deep do we have any estimation? I would ask that question all the time. And nobody knows. But like, the the level of power is shocking. Even even now, when they have to be more subtle

The level of sophistication they drug test everybody they drug test everybody drug test everybody But it's not just like a a piss test like a low level easy to easy to fool piss test They take fucking DNA samples no finger. Yes, they send it off It's like you're trying to get a job a fucking Goldman Sachs or Amazon or something like it's wild, bro Yeah, they strip you naked they watch you piss so you can't sneak the fake dick in with the No, was anator exactly, bro Dude, so this guy this the owner of the ranch or the manager of the ranch so just a poor Mexican guys this you and Ed going up to yep and our whole that our whole crew and

The guy's never been to America doesn't have any family there But the guy from the organization gets friendly with him and he says if you ever want to go to the States Let me know the guy goes. Well, I don't have a visa Good guy goes you want a visa? I'll be right back next Next day comes back with a diplomatic visa for this poor Mexican guy who would never, especially under the Trump administration, would never get a visa otherwise. So it's so tied up in even though yes, these men show is like a just a guy who looks like he's he organizes cock fights you know dirty poor brown Mexican it is as white-collar as it gets dude it's not just people don't get me wrong like they

use the the poor you know indigenous Mexicans to do the killing and send them to the front lines to get killed but it is it is so wrapped up in high society. It's incredible. It's tentacles of a seemingly un, what's the word I'm looking for? It's the tentacles of an octopus that you can't even get your hands on all of them to pull it off. Because you have a system that's been in place.

I mean, it's longer than this, but just call it the last 60 years. Where these guys, they are the government They are the military they are like they're the circle of life down there. They're their own government. I would say They're still scared of the military. The Mexican government is more powerful than any drug cartel. They have a thing So I know so they have a very sophisticated military They're they're trained by the US just like the cartels are. When they want to move on something they can't. When they want to move on something they can't.

Now, who could argue because we heard stories about them shooting out of the sky, shooting down military planes and helicopters. You could argue that's changing a little bit with the Nueva Jalisco cartel because they're so well armed that Yeah, they have to think twice before they just do an incursion on their territory But that doesn't serve their business interest to go into full-on hot war with the government It's it's never good now and we interviewed You know cigars on my show who would tell us we kill every level of cop city cops the fucking state cops Absolutely federal cops. Yes, they're getting fucking blown away, too

But the military we engage them and then we run so they're not really powerful in the military They're telling you that but they're they're they're their own military. They're their own government So they exist you need to think of them as a level of government, maybe right under the Mexican military, you know, based out of Mexico City. You have to look at- But they do pay off people within there sometimes, right? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. But it's, you know, the heat's coming down. So they've had to be incredibly, they've blended in, they've pulled back and just blended in with

the populace. Yeah. Like I know you see a lot of when you Google Nuevo Jalisco Cartel, these all these masked guys come up, those they're in the interior where no white person has ever or will ever go, including myself, right? The in the cities in Guadalajara, in Puerto Vallarta, in certainly Mexico City, in Guadalajara, in Puerto Vallarta, in certainly Mexico City, even in Tijuana. Nobody is even allowed to have any branding

that says Nuevo Jalisco Cartel, or you're given the tabla that will beat the shit out of you. You know what the tabla is? No. They take a wooden mallet, you wear in a frat, I assume? Yeah. Yeah, were you really? Yeah.

Okay, so you know how you get your ass spanked? No, we never did that. Okay, oh yeah. All right, so it were you really yeah, okay, so you know how you get your ass spanked. No, okay never did that okay? All right, so it's like think about Animal House where Kevin Bain bacon's getting his ass back. Thank you, sir May I have another it's that but you're screaming in pain. That's what the table is They put holes in it to get rid to like get rid of any air resistance And it rips the skin off your ass too. So they'll beat the shit out of you, spank your bare ass. That's like punishment within the groups for fucking up. So anyways, that's how they keep people alive.

And then the next step is you get killed. But my point is no more. You're not going to see it in any city in Mexico. You're not going to see armed convoys with a bunch of fucking 20-year-olds with Kalashnikovs in the back of a Nissan truck. Those days are over because it's like, they need to be more subtle. I wouldn't have expected that.

Because they seem so brazen in everything they do. Yes, yes. But they're worried about window dressing sometimes. I've seen some people come on your show with some opinions about Mexico, and they're mostly wrong. If it's not from Ed Calderon or myself, it's probably political propaganda. You think so? I know so. And I generally never say I know so, but I've been to Mexico so many times, talked to, just through the course of doing this show talk to people who lived it fought against it

were affected by it that I'm like a an amateur expert on this shit what I Definitely Mexico's incredibly safe Puerto Vallarta Mexico City really Tijuana. Yes, it's incredibly safe. I saw some dumb dumb you had on here the other day. He's from Jersey big surprise Yeah, I think it's from Philly actually a real a real brain trust As my father used to say yeah, it's fucking guys. I was splitting the atom dude He sounds like he everything he says he sounds like he should be ordering a bacon egg and cheese This fucking judge rule this fucking numb nuts I love me do I just

won't put that out yeah good guy whatever I will love him hey we wish him well he was like I would go to Mexico for any reason that's what he says I would go back to any reason oh really oh you're so special you think they think they're just waiting for you you think you think a multi billion dollar organization is lying and wait for a guy who does a podcast? You have no respect for Mexicans, do you? Hold on, in all seriousness, he wasn't saying for himself because of what he does. He was saying like-

He can't afford it. He- He- She's catching so many fucking side-sweats, god damn it. Well, you are a comedian, you're allowed to. What he was saying is that in general, like, like him or anyone he knows or whatever, he's like, there's 200 other countries to go to in the world I feel better about going to. And I think what he's referring to is, again,

and maybe some of these are more anecdotal than we give it credit, you would know better, but you know, you see videos like, you know, the one where, where, where the two, where the two guys are like in the car and they get pulled over by the Cartel right outside of cancun and they're hitting right now So actually do you know what that that was that was not a cartel that was a vigilante group who was there policing against cartels? Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, okay, so they will certainly if they get enough power they will become the cartel but For now there for now. They're the good good guys they will well that happened in each wakanda you see cartel land the best documentary they've ever done on cartels in Mexico it's in Michoacan hot zone by

the way fucking up on a map how do you spell that Michoacan M I C H what con oh a C A and I think Michoacwa Khan. But there was such a violent criminal presence there that these guys, the Knights Templar, I think they called themselves. The Knights, like the Knights Templar. Exactly, exactly. So a vigilante group sprung up to basically, a auto-defense, a self-defense group sprung up to,

because the government wasn't doing anything to help them, right? So they're like, we have to help ourselves. They ended up basically because the government wasn't doing anything to help them right so we have to help ourselves they ended up basically taking the power back and Becoming drug traffickers right Became they became the government they became they literally the the government in Mexico in Mexico City granted them They became their own police force and they were like, okay, what's the old line? All right. Come on now

I Die hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the bill. All right, it's exactly what happened. So Anyways, yeah, that's mutual con right there. So that is a mutual con Zacatecas parts of Sinaloa then those are where open convoys of sicarios. That's where you will see them running around. That's where you see arm tanks, cartel tanks, you know, fighting each other like they're in Iraq.

Oh, it's crazy. That's where those states, that does exist still, right? And those aren't the cities though, right? These are very, very rural areas, high, high into the mountains where they have armies of sentries guarding every single dusty road that goes up these places. They could see the government coming.

They got drones and everything. Exactly, it's impassable. And it's places where most Mexicans would ever go to, much less tourists, right? Much less, you know, any kind of Americans. Also in the south, if you'll see places in Oaxaca, right along the border with Guatemala, I think that's Yucatan or Oaxaca, Chiapas. What's the name of the gas down there? The fucking...

Yeah, the Darien Gap. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. The Darien Gap is what separates Panama from Colombia, right? That's just the that's the route though that migrants were coming up and that so now indigenous groups down there have formed their own cartels Like we're Spanish is their second language. That's really hot to that area But look fucking apocalypto Fucking Tijuana Juarez is cleaned up see you not Juarez where they used to hang people from bridges So this is cleaned up clean the cities have cleaned up dude. There's too much technology

There's too many gringos moving there and there's too much development. There's too much Foreign capital coming in like Mexico is all about about appearances we can't have you operating like this guys hey we know what you're up to thank you for paying us we'll still be in on the game but like you got to make this shit safe you got to make this shit look like we're the good guys are winning keep the 5% over there 95% yes yes okay so Jeff Nadu you'll be safe, buddy What I just said him to his death in Mexico His reaction videos are the best You have a nice

You can tell he's got a sense of humor. I appreciate that. I really like Jeff really good guy But it's like we do get I think about this sometimes how much of it is like sensational and anecdotal like cuz I haven't been to Mexico I don't fucking go down there like you But you do hear some of these stories about like where you mention one like the like people hanging from bridges But outside of Cancun there will be heads on stakes and stuff right right you know what do you think? That's that is just sensationalism. That's well who's going to Cancun anymore? What is this? I don't know 2006 Don't be a schmuck go to Tulum right go to fucking La Paz you know like this is so don't be so hack right

But it John's like what are you poor? Yeah? So Exactly, ew, ew. What, what? So, Matamoros you don't wanna go to, Nueva León, or Nueva Laredo, right on the border. Americans have been killed there recently. Okay. So you don't wanna go there. Didn't I just get finished saying Americans don't get killed? They get killed if you go to the wrong places.

Don't go to the wrong places. Why would you be going to Matamoros? It's got the name Kill in it. It wasn't on my list. Yeah. But no, it's incredibly safe. I mean, you're going to get all the traveling we've done for this show, for the connect, all of the places we've been.

The most unsafe I ever felt was in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. The Tenderloin? I don't even know what that is. The Tenderloin is the Kensington of San Francisco. Yes, it's the openair fentanyl drug market so that's that's where like we took our cameras out and it looked like fucking It looked like Jurassic Park Raptors just started to set and we had to stop filming. Well, hold we're gonna get fucking stabbed

That's true. That's true. I felt way safer in Kulia Khan. So wow That's true. That's true. I felt way safer in Kulia Khan. So wow That's safer down there. They don't allow that shit like in the cartel groups now We've learned like in Jalisco they they catch thieves and drug addicts and they take them to the ranches to the training sites and they'll have them used as target practice We interviewed a kid bro. He was part of the cartel for three months probably killed 20 people It's coming out. It's releasing a couple of them asked yes. Yes. He's a sweetest fucking kid okay. He goes He goes well. Hey, what would you have done at 17? Yeah, you know what I mean? so they

You have done at 17. Yeah, you know what I mean? so they they The people that want to be sick arreos They give them guns and then they'll bring a guy a bloody guy out of like, you know He's being held captive and like the barn and they'll stand him up against the wall and say hey shoot And that's what the end he's probably you can't not do it. He's a junkie. No, he's he's junkie or he's a rapist That's how they police they would never allow a tenderloin. They would never allow a fucking Kensington in the streets of Kulia Khan they wouldn't that's interest. They wouldn't oh, dude, dude in certain places No, way, well, I know it's controlled by the former Zetas who now call themselves the Northeast cartel

They are so they do not allow crystal meth sales or crystal meth use. If you're a crystal junkie and you're caught smoking crystal, you'll be beaten mercilessly. You'll be given the tabla. If you're caught selling it, you're going to get killed. And that's because a they don't want the environment that crystal meth creates, but they're also they know that the people sending the Cristal to the city are from the Sinaloa cartel, or the CJNJ, so they're literally killing off

the competition, how wild is that? But what it's done is it's cleaned up the city. It's so interesting. How amazing is that? Like you think about it, when you have, this is where, you know, free society versus authoritarianism sometimes free society gets the lower hand like if you look at a Fucking subway in Russia or whatever right clean as fuck. I mean you couldn't even find it here Same with you know those Southeast Asian countries, right?

Yeah, Malaysia people always talk about oh, it's the safest place I've ever been Well, yeah, because we get caught spitting you get like cain. Yeah, I don't want to live in a place like that I don't either and that's and you know I want to take my chance of getting pushed on the subway tracks You know what that go to like you don't even know what cain is. I want to know what that is They take a it's a bamboo. Hey, no, it's yes. It's very archaic It's they take a it's a bamboo came bro. It's yes. It's very archaic It's in these in these countries dude. They just love smacking me on the on the backside shit I guess so whether it's the tabla or the cane, but if it's so safe in Mexico Why do you guys go with security everywhere just precautionary? Yeah, because Ed?

Can't allow it. We can't you you know, it's liability. It's... It's... I didn't say it was so safe. I didn't say it was so safe, but it's... For the press it gets, it's far better. Got it. You know what I mean? Who goes with you? Like it's you and Ed. Who the hell else goes with you? There's security companies, but these guys aren't like armed to the teeth They have one gun with them and they're like guys who just their former military guys or former cops And what they do is they play on the propaganda and there's there's these security companies everywhere, right? so it's like a little bit of violence happens and

There's a lot of fear around it Just like in New York like New York is this safest big city in the world probably one of the big safest biggest up there and When there's the murder rate goes up by like 7% The New York Post is going crazy. Everybody's like I can't go anywhere. You can't go anywhere, you know, so That's it. You know, that's actually that hits home here sells dude. I do have my own show It's clickbait dude. And I'll keep doing it, I'll keep pumping fear.

I don't give a fuck dude. His next thumbnail, Mexico's a dead zone. Mwah. The dude makes one of those fucking, one of those reaction videos. Now he is Johnny calling Mexico the safest place in the world, and he is, he is a video he just put out. You can't go to Mexico.

It's literally the title is called If you go to Mexico you'll get killed. You'll die. You're guaranteed to die if you go to Mexico. Oh man, it's cause the squirrels, it's the squirrels of clicking. We're all like that man. Exactly, exactly.

I've stopped doing it with Bitcoin. I've stopped doing it with, I've made myself stop fear porn Right clicking, you know, just it's like too much. It's too much and most people are wrong Yeah, we just I try to go more with like just list stuff now instead of like the pop up box You know, we'll do that once in a while when we have to but I'd rather it be You know, we'll do that once in a while when we have to but I'd rather it be Literal keywords that are discussed in here that just make people go. Oh, you know I do have a job to do people do have to do like it's very thin margins. Yeah, it's like

So much of the internet is just too much now. I agree. I agree. I agree. I don't know where it goes from here I think people are getting off YouTube in many ways in there and they're going to well I again I'm just maybe I'm just looking at my own audience, but I I think people are going over to like the silliness of Tik Tok and Instagram and shit because they just they can't take it. They're exhausted right by the news Which and I get it. Oh, I get that a hundred percent percent Yeah, it's just like and that's the nice thing about At least my angle what I do cuz like we'll do a lot of evergreen stuff We'll do a lot of different types of stories my ADD couldn't even handle like I was telling you before couldn't even handle doing

Like even the same topic every time but the news is just like all these this reaction world and the twitch world of like this latest thing happen Let's all scream about it and fucking you know go over the limiter of the mics It's it makes you want to not follow stuff and just say let it be yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, a hundred percent people make people have whole there's whole industries around Reacting yeah to what someone else reacted to on their podcast. So now you're like a third chain of the news. It's fucking crazy, bro. You did a great someone did a great skit. A comedian did a great skit of that. I'm like

the reaction to the reaction to the I think it's Colin Quinn. Maybe I want to give whoever that was credit. This had to be like a year ago. I don't even know how we would find that Joe but there was there was he would to be like a year ago. I don't even know how we would find that Joe, but there was, there was, he would just have like the screen would keep going and let's react to this now. And it's like, there are people making millions of dollars doing nothing but that. I know, I know.

I want to do it. Part of me, when I think about, when I think about how the connect will wrap up because it will be done with it soon. You know? Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't believe in these podcasts that go on forever. I think especially something is niche is what I do That's the thing should be like a Television show it was three seasons, you know, and it started to fall off by the middle of season two

We're not gonna be Ozarks We're not gonna be one killer season and then suck ass for the next four whole and Exactly we we're gonna be like we're gonna kill it and then we're just gonna skate off the set Just like the dope game just like you're supposed to do if you're a responsible drug dealer you get in and you get out Which so that you didn't do the first time exactly so I'm not gonna lesson learned dude lesson learned That's why I'm buying digital property like I should have done the first time and I'm fucking paying my tax And I'm getting out while it's still good But I don't you know you just look at guys like Vlad you look at guys

Even like Mark Lacia who does soft white underbelly who's who's a total predator by the way. I have no problem with saying that Videos of him at Diddy party is. Nobody knows it yet, but I'm On camera yeah, the world will know that that's a lie actually could be sued for saying I don't have any videos of him I just don't like his show. I don't like him So it's an opinion that you think he's uh-huh. Yeah, uh-huh. I think I think it's fetishism I think what he does I think what Mark Lacia does is he fetishizes the underworld You know he like lives in Bel Air Yeah, and I know a guy who knows him really well and he was like, yeah

He did it the reason he started soft one underbelly is to have a laugh with him and his friends But it was funny to take homeless fentanyl out He's saying that he knows that for a fact, you know that for a fact That's interesting. No, you don't I have have. I mean, you're making me rethink things. Exactly. I'm gaslighting you. You don't like Mark Lash. He's a creep. And that show's not very good. Watch my show. But your show's great. It's just totally different.

It's just better. Like, here's the thing. I... unlike these fucking non-host shows that could just say, oh, hey, you're OD-ing right now. Tell me about your life. And then they just get to step back. I gotta conduct this shit, I'm the Starcock sucker. This shit ain't as easy as you fucking make it look, dude. You know what I mean?

So it's like, what I do is just a higher quality than those guys, it's a fact. I would agree, I mean, your production's top notch. So, my point is like like that's difficult to sustain and those guys are clearly just like Eva Vlad is a fucking great guy and has done a lot of great interviews I don't take any and he's an innovator like he's an OG 2006 YouTube oh, yeah, this is he's just plug and play. Well, he's just he's he's cashing a paycheck He's just literally like putting his time card into the slot. You don't think he enjoys it

I've done his show and you know, he shows up in basketball shorts and Are you in basketball shorts? Literally? Yeah, you're your house though. Yeah Yeah, I don't know dude. You know, you shouldn't show up in basketball shorts I feel disrespected now Dude I started this in my parents jeans on for that's right. I sweat it. That's right the fucking I took that I went to the wrong train station. Yes, exactly. I had to backtrack Trains to get here So it's I don't know I think I think those guys get tired of it

a little bit, but they're like, this is my lane, I hit something. This is what I got to do. You like it's hard. It's hard to like what you do is hard because you're kind of a generalist. Yeah, like you're a cool bro show, but you're kind of a generalist. That's really, really hard to get ahead you you now to break through the the noise, especially on YouTube you have to have a niche like what I do and they say if you hit it you can never stop doing it well fuck you I'm gonna do it I'm gonna reinvent myself you know you're also like you're a talented guy like you're a stand-up comic you're doing other and and like even the stuff you're doing when you go down to Mexico and you film for the connect as well Like you're also doing other work and maybe there's a sure and maybe there's gonna be

Especially with your production quality. I mean, I'm not putting ideas in your head, but I am putting ideas in your head Maybe there's gonna be a line at some point where you become Johnny Vice and you're your own type of ice and doing that And it's not a podcast which actually I would really like to see you do. I think it'd be great at that Yeah, it's what I'm the best at is doing that kind of like monologic, you know journalistic kind of thing It's just it's so much work. That is a lot of work You have to you have to like choose you have to say, okay I'm either gonna be a podcaster or I'm gonna put that to the side. That's right. Just do the so there's economic considerations You know, it's um, it's gonna be a leap and I'm not saying we're gonna do it right away

But yeah, go check the show out because we're not gonna be around forever I like that it's but that's smart because it's like you're creating some scarcity with that too Yeah, and obviously like you're doing a good job earning enough money to finance the next thing you're doing Like if you're gonna do that on the ground stuff, Yeah, you know Tommy G. Yeah seen him. Yeah Fucking amazing if you want to have them on let me know and the energy that it's always incredible That guy puts himself in danger all the time him and him and Brandon Buckingham the two of them like unbelievable, but like they behind the scenes the scaling model of Getting things so that they know they can be at a point when it's no longer

Sustainable to be running at a thousand miles an hour like they are right now They can be at a point two years from now where they get to be them they get to do the best of what they do And all the other shit that they still do yeah like below that they don't have to do that And right it's gonna get done right right, but you got it You know what I mean you got to get to that point in the pyramid so like with you Yeah, if you even with the success you've had maybe if you went balls to the walls and want to do your full vice thing Right now you'd be wearing a lot of hats and it would suck But like I feel like you'd be at a point a year or two in where it's like yo

I just got to go and host this stuff pick the stories. I rest is good Yeah, you know why cuz I have a team though I know you do a lot of good people to work for me, and it's never good enough I I demand to have my fucking mitts all over it. I'm every week I'm telling the thumbnail guy this sucks ass move it around do this do that like so I also need to be able to relinquish some of that You and I are in a similar boat Do this, do that. Like, so I also need to be able to relinquish some of that. You and I are in a similar boat.

I still make every single thumbnail that I do on the main channel. Now, there's a lot of other things. I got four channels on YouTube that each do a different thing. But there are a lot of other things that my OCDS, if you would have told me a year and a half ago, I have given up by now,

would have been like, you're fucking crazy. And the truth is It's never gonna be especially when it's creative shit. It's never gonna be done in your exact vision There's I'm gonna be I'm gonna see something that's five pixels off And I need it here and not there you you're smiling because you know what that is But after you just say fuck it and shut your eyes to certain things you start to realize fuck it and shut your eyes to certain things you start to realize it usually works out like like my guy a lesson fucking kills it he's a content animal right smart as shit too he just can't spell okay my guy okay what's wrong with

these behind the camera guys they're all fucking illiterate listen they're all dyslexia no no but he's an actual genius he just can't spell right and that a year ago I would like go through and fix every video and now it's like, you know what if Dan Corbett got taken in Serbia instead of Serbia To click through will live and you just learn to be like whatever right, you know what I mean like you'll get there It's like just yeah trust it. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, you got to really trust it. That's faith dude. That's giving the faith I Still this idea walking just spell check Listen I guys felt fentanyl and F E N T a no le can't have an away N O L E

Listen man, I got my flaws too like what am I gonna do throw stones from glass houses their shit I fuck up all the time So it is what it is but going back to Mexico and what you were doing down there I had mentioned or you mentioned you talked with a 17 year old who was like in the cartels for three months and whatever and I've saw this on your stories like he was one of them, but you're talking a lot of these guys they got to be masked up. Yes and everything How are you getting like how is Ed? I don't know you're getting to these people and getting them to even with a mask like tell their story on camera Well that particular guy Knew the host of the the podcast. His name is Gaffey

He's like the Sean Ryan of Mexico. He does kind of what you do, what Sean does. He was an ex special forces guy who came to find out that he was working for the CIA and the American government, unbeknownst to him. Unbeknownst. He found it out through the course of just action. He was like, wait a minute, like it was like a movie.

Like one day, this is the good guy who's idealistic who thinks he's fighting for his country some guys like oh what are you fucking with no no we're trained and funded we're working for a cartel that's also funded by the CIA dumb dumb it's like the end of it that's like the end of usual suspect where you just like fuck exactly exact ko by Ashi dude. It's it's fucking it's Joe Biden the whole time Yeah, yeah, so so this guy got me so we went to his studio while Lara and And I asked him to I'm like the mass this all kind of marketing right? He's like oh, no. They'll kill me So so just like that the threat of death is real, amongst guys that were involved in either the cartel or fighting the cartel, vice versa. Yes, it's hard to believe the United States is because you can't get away with murder, you can't, you know, you'll be arrested. But there it's like, the threat of death is real. So those guys have masks on. The guy, so that's who we met this kid.

I was about to say his name, but we can't. The other guy that we interviewed at the ranch, the manager of the property. This is a 300 hectares. That's right. He told me, we had to dress him up. We had to cover his eyes, his face. We couldn't use any details About like where it was located

He even mentioned his dogs and he was like wait don't put that in there because it was so Any kind of detail the the cartel the Jalisco cartel they have full-time social media people who watch Any kind of content they they put in CJ ng or? any kind of content they put in CJNG or Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion in the YouTube. They know. I see it right now. Because they know their users clickbait, right? They know that they're used in the media all the time. And anybody who's talking about them, right?

Who's not supposed to be, like this guy, they listen, they watch, they look for any signs in the background. It's just like the people hunting bin Laden and Tora Bora, like what's the rock like back there? Exactly. Their intelligence is incredible. And again, a lot of it is because they were trained up by the military who receives money from us and training from us. So, but that is, I found that incredible. He's like, yeah, it's like, even when a helicopter was flying above, he was like give it a sec because that's they know the routes of the military helicopters There was a military training site not far from there And so he was like I just don't want them to like hear that and say oh, maybe it was at this ranch

Oh my god when we released a video. I think this guy's gonna get killed. I think it's gonna happen He gave his life so I could keep the algo fed I'm going to hell for yeah, yeah, and also that's also kind of a reason why I'd like to retire eventually because it is I'm very unlike Mark Alacia. I'm very like Cognizant of not I feel some kind of way when I do these interviews like even Before we did the interview with this guy at the ranch I pulled him aside because he knew I spoke Spanish and I was like dude. I If this makes you uncomfortable, we won't have to do it, but he wanted to talk about you wanted it Yeah, and I and I was talking with Ed

I'm like, what did he get out of this because we didn't pay him. We didn't pay this guy and They dawned on me These people are traumatized. Yes, they need to talk to somebody about this. They need people human beings are our communication vessels people human beings are our communication vessels were gossipy. That's that's how that's what separates us from the animal species like we need to talk about shit. And these

people in Mexico my god, they're dealing with so much trauma. And I find it remarkable. So but I still feel some kind of way. I'm like, God damn, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I guess it's important. I guess we're getting it out there. We try to humanize it. You know, we get people in with the violence and the clickbait, but then we try to like, we try to have some kind of like journalistic integrity, you know, to to to show both sides of it. So you've had some that you don't release or that you go to record and you don't record? Oh no, we don't release the ones that suck

We don't when the guests fucking socks when the guests bombs That's when we say that's what I send an email under my producers name saying oh my god. We've lost the footage Crazy, can you come back, but we're not gonna be available till 2030? I've never once in my life done that everything we've recorded I've put out until Actually recently unrelated to the podcast we recorded I can't really talk about it, but something happened separate a couple of later and I like I will not put that it was happening with the the big one you did that you've been like teasing on your on your Instagram and shit which one was that hell I can't remember but it was something it was a pretty big interview

it was something with Edward Snowden no no no I've never told I would love to do one with Snowden I've never reached out like you were holding back you weren't gonna release it, and then you just decided to Are you thinking of me or someone else I know I know I'm talking like when I was saying I had a bad motherfucker In here or something like that. Yeah, yeah, that was Eric Prince. No Not Eric Prince. I know you released that one. It's a recent you talking about the Israel stuff. Yes Yes, yes, so this no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, the flying here at 930 a.m. that morning from Chicago. This dude Mark Turner, who coincidentally had been training IDF guys on the Gaza border for the past six months. So he flies into town and we're like,

like holy shit, and he's opening up WhatsApp. I was seeing shit then I'm like, oh my God. And so we did a podcast on that and it's like, the shit's going down, you're just kinda reacting, you're like, what do you want to say? And so it was the kind of thing where I knew a lot about that subject matter, but I wouldn't want to do that podcast again, because it's like such an emotional

instant react moment. And so Israel comes up, because it's a war that's happening. Like it comes up in different podcasts and it's been a part of podcasts for 20 minutes at a time. But I had never dipped my toe into doing a podcast where I knew going into it, that's going to be the main thing we talk about. And so I decided if I was going to do that, I was going to do back to back. One was someone who's like pro-Israel, not necessarily pro their current government,

but you know, pro the country and someone who was making a case against them and so I Did that I recorded both they went great and a couple days after I recorded with the guy Who was pro Israel something on and actually that both guys had agreed to come back in together later, which was cool So it went perfect a couple days later something completely unrelated happened. I'm sorry. I gotta be vague about that. And I was like, dude, I'm not putting out this podcast because like, if something happened to you because of that or something, like, I'm never, this is a podcast, it's not that serious. Like you didn't want it to come back on you?

No, like I didn't want something in the real world to happen to them. I see, I see. Because of shit they said on the show that you can't just like cut out. Right. So I, I had to replace that person and so I replaced them with with Roya Hikaki and and that's why I had to wait because I had Roya and then you know put out Ian Carroll obviously who's

well known you're on the other side of that so those were the two but that dude that topic man it is it is hard to talk to people who have nuance on it. And it's really like, I'm pro, I'm in this like, in this type of thing when it comes to war, I'm pro like less people dying. Yeah. However that happens. You know what I mean? But this gets into a whole other.

Well, I think people with nuance are probably the best people to talk about that. It's people that are emotionally invested that are the problem, you know, like you what it it's crazy for how analytical and and Jewish people are especially, you know Israelis like they're very my best friend in LA is Israeli and You know, they really have it's a stereotype But they really have lawyer brains like they're able to see both sides of things They're able to really like step out of themselves to look at you know whether it's geopolitics or their personal lives like you could see why they're just there are people of great lawyers yeah yeah but when it

comes to Israel they don't want to hear it they don't want and they might hate Netanyahu they don't they don't want to hear genocide They've completely covered their eyes up to the rest of the world. That's like this is fucking ridiculous Like you're just massacring people. It's just a fact. Yeah, like you can be a bitch about it It doesn't make it not a fact though. Yeah, so I don't appreciate the gaslighting I don't appreciate like the read, you know, it's, or calling me like anti-Semitic, you know? That's, that's. That gets thrown around, man. Oh, it's like, and you bitch-made motherfuckers

that are so against cancel culture, and then when it's your turn, when the fuck in the eggs on your face, you wanna be a little fucking fat about it, that's, you don't come back from that. I don't soon forget. So this is one of the most shameful times truly Definitely in my lifetime that the American government's ever been involved in. Yeah, but it's you know, it's just like Mexico

It's hard to see see it when you look at it with a short-term view But if you zoom out 50 100 years that that place is probably seen the worst of it oh, yeah, and and it's it's going to come out of it and it If Israel wants to come along great, if not, they're gonna get bombed to the fucking Stone Age Yeah, and they're barely a country. I mean like you know, well you asked my friend In LA. I was about to say his damn I'm not gonna say his name. Where are your parents from? Oh Your dad's from Morocco. Oh, that's interesting He's Moroccan Sephardic Jewish. That's interesting. Where's your mom from? Oh, she's from Europe

That's interesting Okay, so Israel Israel is a brand new Yeah, you know place that's that's an imperialist Experiment yeah, but and that shit just doesn't fly and you know what they say that's an imperialist experiment. And that shit just doesn't fly. And you know what they say? Well, you guys did it, America did it. Well, you're right.

And that's kind of what's awkward. 400 years ago. Right, well, we did it, we took the West about 200 years ago. That's when we expanded from the East. Oh, you're saying when we went full, got it. Yeah, when we went full manifest destiny, right? Because America, the American continent was like if you lived in

Delaware you didn't you didn't go past you didn't go west of Jersey You didn't go west of fucking Philly the Delaware River when accents didn't sound stupid. That's where you stop so so Dude, I can't cross the water. I can't cross the water So So, dude, I can't cross the water. I can't cross the water. There's Indians over there. All right, fuck you, Johnny. Tread lightly. So, but you know, we definitely, and I don't really have a response to that other than that's, well, that was,

we were just a less civilized people before electricity and technology, and now it's just not acceptable. And it wasn't acceptable even in 1947. I think there's two things here. Number one, we're talking about the most controversial piece of land on the planet. That's number one.

Who? Controversial to who, though? Like, in history. It's like the oldest piece of history on the planet, that land. Yeah, but it wasn't controversial until the 1940s, until Zionism, because... Oh, no, I would disagree with that. Jews and palest... excuse me, Jews and Arabs and Christians all lived together. You can

look this up. Yes, that's true. In peace. That's true. Yes, that's true. But I'm saying the actual piece of land and when you look at the context of 6,000 year human history, yes, coveted but because of that and because of the rise and fall of civilizations that came around it, there's controversy. I'm not talking like recency bias of like a hundred years, two hundred years. But that's number one. Number two, to your point, this has happened over and over again around the world. I mean, we exist because, you know, we took it from the Native Americans here. But the fact that this one happened at such a mass scale in the post-World War II era, where the world is interconnected

fully at this point, media is happening, where people can talk about it and see things, and newsmen are on the ground and take pictures, it makes a bigger problem. Yeah, you're right. Humanity is drenched the history of civilizations is drenched in very very uncivilized acts all of it. Yes, no question about it and I think that with this one it's like Also to your point there's a see-no-evil kind of thing that goes on in some ways because people are afraid to give up any ground and

That's just such a loss for humanity because I don't listen I don't I've always believed in a two-state solution that hasn't changed. Do I think cynically do I think that's ever gonna happen? No, but like you have to have some sort of like humanity to be able to say there's there's going to be diplomatic channels open I'm not sitting here and saying like oh that means Hamas should be recognized or whatever I'm saying if y'all can sit down after killing tens of thousands of people Mm-hmm and have a conversation about how to at least for the time being not do that that needs to happen Well, you can look this up. Here's a guy you should have on, Colonel Douglas McGregor. Now, this guy's no fucking blue-haired Columbia student.

This guy served in the military high ranking. He's a colonel for 40 years. He is the, and he served in the first Trump cabinet, I believe. He says, not only is he like, oh, it's almost a, we can say with beyond a reasonable doubt That not only was Hamas being funded by the israelis via us They uh, they actually knew october 7th was going to happen. Oh, he says that yeah, obviously that whole place is under a microscope How could you not see the training happening? Like they knew what was going to happen. That's that's the first piece

Secondly up to today, Hamas has agreed to step down once there is some kind of, whatever they're negotiating back and forth, they've agreed to disarm themselves. That I would, so if they've said that, I would believe they've said that. This is what Colonel Greger says, because he's very, very connected. I'll even say, I believe that've said that. I don't believe it. This is what Colonel Greger says, because he's very, very connected.

I'll even say I believe that they said that. I don't think for a second they would ever actually do that willingly. I think they'd be like, yeah, you know, we're going to disarm. Yeah, okay. I mean, perhaps, perhaps, you know, but if we've never tried a Tuesday solution, that's the other thing. It's like, you're allowed to strike. When you're occupied by the rules that we set up After World War two you're allowed to strike what they did. They're allowed to do under international law You're an occupied they did on October 7. Absolutely. You're allowed to strike now killing of civilians. That's what went too far

That's what I did though. So are they allowed to do that? Right? They're not allowed to do it So but everybody's been arrested or killed my So how are they allowed to do that? Right. They're not allowed to do it. So but everybody's been arrested or killed. My point is you're allowed to strike. You're allowed to strike back at military targets. So by the way, they've they've been getting killed by Israelis. Like you look at the numbers, it's not even not even close to my portionals talking about the IDF and how many innocent people they've been killing since the 90s So you're allowed to strike at a military target when you're occupied, but point being we've never even though that they've Said they had the Abraham Accords and there were all these accords that look like they've been pushing progress forward The Israeli government has been getting more and more radical

Since you know the fucking 80s in the era fat era. Yes, you know there that land was built To be supremely Jewish. That's the problem with having religion run a fucking country is when you especially when you to land. It's, you know, not occupied just by Jewish people is that it's built for genocide. It's built for ethnic cleansing. So but my point is they've never tried a two-state solution. Even though the Palestinians have been like that's that's what we want because if there was a border and a wall there then hey, guess what if Hamas strikes has their own country and they strike you yeah, fucking go in dude. You take any of them wouldn't have Hamas either if you did to state because the reason Hamas does exist is because they're not allowed to form a military that's right that's a great point and also inside of Gaza there's a bunch of different opinions

there's a bunch not everybody voted for Hamas not everybody Hamas is just the armed wing they kind of spiraled out of control they is just the armed wing. They kind of spiraled out of control They're just the armed wing of you know, whoever the ruling party is in Gaza, right? so and most of the people when they got voted in in 2007 most of the people who voted for them are either dead or Shit, I don't know like the everybody there is like under 18 you also they've never they've never even given them a country and also it would take power away from- It would help Israel's narrative more. Their narrative?

Their narrative of like, hey, we're just defending ourselves if they actually gave Palestinians a state, right? Because now it's not people on land that you control. It's a completely sovereign country. Like India, Pakistan. Exactly. They attacked us. We have the right to strike back. We'll give them a lot more leeway to do that.

I never thought of it, why the fuck? You dumb motherfuckers, but they don't want that. They're fucking racist, they're murderous, and they're completely out of control. The current government. And a lot of the people, bro, a lot of the fucking people. Here's why I'll push back on that. The current government-

Going fully in Carol. I get real upset at our system for example, of having a two party system. Right. The hypocrisy and my disappointment there is when I look at a country like Israel, where they got all these fucking parties, and then you can have a party like the Likud,

with 27% of the votes, and it's all like the Orthodox community voting for it. So you do have a lot of people to be clear in the streets who are, who to this day, in Israel, are protesting against Netanyahu and his government. Now I'm not saying that they don't, that all those people are saying enough about what's happening in Gaza for example that said that's a really tough Yeah, yeah, but To if you had a more moderate government Mm-hmm, and you didn't have the smock churches and the Ben Geviers who by the way is back in the government now Yeah, now he's back like that that guy that guy is fucking crazy Right if you didn't have people like that in power you'd plot like a hood

Oh mayor the old PM is coming out against the country saying stop this Right, this is fucking insane. So there are people like I don't want to monolith everyone Well, there's tons of Jewish people in America, of course There they've always been the smartest and most progressive who are like this is genocide. This is wrong So this is not a Judaism thing. This is not me. This is me. Just looking at the statistics I think even moderate Jews in Israel are oh basically okay with what the Likud party is doing to Gaza I think they're okay with look look up the stats. They pulled somebody the other they've pulled these people

I think I think they are fed up. They were protesting against Netanyahu big-time They almost ousted him from power right before October 7. Yes, and that's part of the reason Yes that he's he can't keep the yeah, he has to keep the war going or he's gone. That's right, but those people have been so It's like it's like when I equate it to slavery in America, like even people even white people in the South that maybe didn't own slaves or kind of were distasteful about it. They

benefited from a poisonous system and they you know, it changes you and when you have an apartheid system like that changes you and when you have an apartheid system like that human nature is to feel superior and is to look at people as less than human that's what dehumanization does that's what they did in Germany all Germans work these fucking crazy Nazi loving they're brainwashed they're brainwashed dude and people. This episode is brought to you by DZONE for the first time ever the 32 best soccer clubs They're brainwashed, dude. And you can watch every match for free on DAZN, starting on June 14th and running until July 13th. Sign up now at dazon.com slash fifa. That's d-a-z-n dot com slash fifa. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express.

Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum Points on your first five orders. Shop now at no frails.ca Well in Israel are brainwashed through fear and dehumanization that have been, you know, since the 40s, in my opinion. But yeah, look that poll up, dude, he's been doing a lot of typing and not a lot of pulling up. Bro, because there's so many, I'm just kidding, I'm just so many polls, but not just the polls, poles like it's hard in America to figure out where there's something That's like right cooked figuring out when we do other countries. It's fucking crazy So this is the times of Israel Netanyahu should take responsibility and resign 30 72 point five All right, so I don't know the times of Israel John

I don't know if this makes my point for me because I don't know how reliable how reliable the times of Israel I know for what it's worth 72 point this is saying 72.5 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu should take responsibility for October 7th and resign and I gotta tell you man I'm gonna be perfectly honest about this because I feel like a lot of people You know like me that sit in their fucking armchairs in their studio in America and like, spout opinions about this stuff, like, there's not a check to how we think about it.

I understand we're not changing the world, you and me talking and hear about it, I get that. But when you add all these conversations up across shows, there's sentiment that gets formed. And I would be lying to you if I did not say that and that's part of the reason why I waited this long to do two podcasts on this But if I did not say that this particular subject matter because of how charged it is and how many people are dying now And that have died throughout the this even the recent 75 year history of Israel existing and all the wars that have happened Yeah, it is one of the most uncomfortable fucking things for me because it's also not my country, right?

You know like I have no problem talking about the Iraq war. It's my fucking country. You know what I mean? Yeah, when I'm talking about Gaza, I don't speak for Palestinians when I'm talking about Israel I'll speak for Israelis and it is one of those things that just like in my head I'm like, oh god, like I'm gonna talk about this again and People get up in arms. They're gonna do what they're gonna do I'm used to that on the internet. It's good for non it's good for neutral people to talk about it I think. But does it make but point being is it really gonna make a difference even when you add it up with the people who matter in a conflict like I think it actually does you do yeah because Just spreading its information so fifty thousand hundred thousand people see this podcast or whatever

I hope I move the needle more than that you never know you never know. I'm not really a big needle mover It's my show. That's the needle mover. Not me It's you know it It it's a weird collective the way or you can we leave that up on the screen? I want Julian to see that. A grim poll showed most Jewish Israelis support expelling Gazans. It's brutal and it's true. So this was from January 3rd, or June 3rd rather.

And this is from, what paper is this from? Haaretz. Haaretz. So they're like the more left leaning, I get a lot of my news about Israel from herets and they were the ones that exposed the the Hannibal directive which Proved that Israel killed a lot of their own people on October 7th because what that is is it basically it's a directive by the military that says

They don't want their own people being taken hostage, so just kill everybody. Now, quick question. I say this as someone who admittedly is biased because I can't stand Netanyahu and can't stand that government. Yeah, yeah. But would this be similar to when, I don't know, the fucking Washington Post is trying to pin a story on Trump or something like that?

Uh, I have no idea, to be honest with you. I think this is, I look at it more as a resistance newspaper, because Netanyahu is kind of like a dictator. Yes, I would agree with that. They don't have the same style of democracy. So this is, and they've been threatened with imprisonment and they're cracking down on human you know, human rights within Israel. So this is, I like that more as like the resistance.

If this was a free country, I'd say, yeah, this is kind of more of a Washington Post hit piece. But look, this is Israelis, you know, this is, they poll people and I believe them. I believe that they're telling the truth when they say, yeah, we support expelling God and so like ethnic cleansing Yeah, so that and they'll probably say they'll probably say well look it's they're either gonna get killed So that's why we should expel him like that's that's the Trump line is like look. Why can't we we're gonna send them to other countries? We're gonna do this for them, but that's also that's called ethnic cleansing, which is also

Yeah a violation of the international law. Yes. But yeah, so I believe that they think that. But getting back to your point, yeah, I think humans have this, like, we're all connected by energy and information, and talking about it does, it seems like it doesn't help, but I think it does because it turns the sentiment, like now everybody in the world, like they see an Israeli flag and like,

they get uncomfortable, right? You know, but I also because over correct too That's what I worry about as well Like I see people treat it all like we were saying a few minutes ago like a monolith Well now I'd like people will openly say stuff that I'll admit like on the street talking with normal people Right. I'm like, ooh, you know, like right where they're like they'll say things like all Jewish people. Yeah You're also in New Jersey. I'm saying I'm like where where are you living? You know, yeah well that Twitter has just become like

just unfettered anti-semitism but again the worst thing for For anti-semitism is Zionism because it's again it makes people feel emboldened who really do just hate Jewish people It like it gives them more fuel dude. Why can people not see this? Like it's just very obvious And but but then your brand is ionism, especially yeah What is doing? Yeah, so it's it's wild to me And that's why when I look at smart people like like most Israelis I'm like that is the power of what fear does is it takes it takes these like very high intellect, you know

Thoughtful nuanced people and it just it drives them into like these this hateful Just brainwashed state. It's pretty it's pretty fascinating. Yeah, and look Yeah, like you're gonna you're gonna have to eat this one for the next couple of centuries if you survive We still call Germans we still make Holocaust jokes to German people Especially any comedian when they hear somebody German in the crowd when they're doing crowd work makes a Holocaust joke, right? Sorry, dude, you picked wrong motherfucker Like we still can't white people cannot say the n-word even though let's face it The double GA is kind of an awesome word. It's fucking awesome, dude

It's so cool. How fucking cool is the double GA? Well, sorry, bro Slavery was fucking monstrous and we're gonna have to eat that for another couple hundred years Bro, slavery was fucking monstrous, and we're gonna have to eat that for another couple hundred years. Suck my dick, dude. There was a point there, there was a point there. Israel can suck my dick. There was a point there in the late 90s and 2000s,

what was it, the Chris Rock rule? Your resident black guy? He's like, if your resident black guy gives you permission, you can sing it in the song, because there's no ER. Yeah. And then like 2010, they're like, motherfucker, that's gone yeah

yeah even though i think i think black people care like not at all i think they just like to see white people like they like to have that power i would there's a word that like a whole segment because white people are what like 70 of america i think is like 65 Yeah, hundreds of millions of people if there was a word that hundreds of millions of people couldn't say but I could say literally every other word wherever whenever and People loved it, but couldn't say I would fucking milk that thing. Oh Humans love power do we're not that that's why we have to have law, because humans are still like cavemen programmed. Joe, what was your bit on that? You had a bit on the, what was it,

the Higgins thing or whatever? Yeah, Higgins. I had a friend growing up who's father, so I was out to dinner with them one night, his father's just like, Higgins thisins this Higgins that and I'm just like I'm like dude who who or what is Higgins and he's like, oh, yeah He's like my dad made that word up so he could talk about black And so I like I Oh, come on! That is fucking hilarious!

That is so good! I like, I like looked at my friend's dad a bit differently after that. However, you know, you get it, white boy loves rap music. Yeah. I used it as the pivot, you know? That's so funny, but he was definitely, felt some kind of way when he said Higgins. Oh yeah, he said it was... The generation? Yeah, a lot of Higgins down there by the Port Authority.

You can't even go there no more. Oh shit dude. Sorry we talked about Israel. I get very passionate about it. No, no, your passion's good. I think that's what makes you you. I've always been against, I've always been for the underdog. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I've always been against, you know, I read about the American Empire and how it was formed. Although, you know, now I've got to an age

where I acknowledge that we're fucking enjoying the fruits of the empire. So you know what I mean? Like, you gotta remember that too. It's like... Yeah, you've entered your study World War II era, get excited, read the newspaper for collective memories. I'm buying collector silver coins.

But actually though, in all seriousness like Yeah, you did it to yourself because the decisions when you were younger But you are an underdog doing what you do because like you had your life taken from you You're supposed to be coming up into the world I was in the box for almost two years. So not a very long time, but a lot happened in that time. You know, like it was, it wasn't an easy bid where I got to just like turn myself in, Ray Liotta

comes out of a bar, gets in a limo, take me to jail. You know? College. Yeah, yeah, exactly. College. So it was, yeah, I didn't get any bail. The, you know They walked out with like a million bucks basically

How did you get caught again you started to talk about it money sent through the mail so I was shipping you know I think I calculated like roughly estimated like in one year I was doing it for longer than that, but I think in one year I must have sent like almost 500 boxes of weed and I think like 496 got through it was an incredible success rate. I totally recommend people ship their weed through FedEx I mean, they're just the best I can't even get mad at that's a joke by the way YouTube just make sure yeah No, I'm being so serious about it. He's gonna have to go and censor it. Yeah, I'm gonna get your episode bombed. That's right No, it's they've cracked

down on it now. Like you have to like, give your ID I heard when you go to like send packages out because sending drugs in the mail just became so rampant. Everyone was doing it. But back in the day, yeah, you literally just I send one of my workers down with the address and a fake return address, right? fake names, fake companies companies whatever it was you were probably supplying my college right before I was there maybe Rutgers no I went to I went to school on PA but like I remember the temple but no I went to Bucknell it's like the middle of Pennsylvania but I remembered like the entire weed supply on campus came to the mail to two guys And I went everywhere that was the higher market price for 4,000 people right right yeah, I

Baby like dude if you're sending 20 pounds 30 pounds a week just a one guy like who knows where it gets to you know I didn't make those connections though that trust someone on the other end like that I was it was like meant to be because I meant you manifest this shit That's what I learned about the power of thoughts is that if you think about this shit long enough. It just happens. I Was my senior year in college? This is such a white boy story. It's actually embarrassing. I was doing study abroad Studying because I was failing out of college Let you study abroad

Yeah, they just if you pay money brother colleges. It's a joke. They just they're there for your money, dude I was there to get drug money and they were there to get my tuition money State college is a joke Like if you show up you're gonna get a B minus average. But I couldn't even get that. All I was doing was blackout drinking and then selling drugs from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to party.

That's all I was doing for three and a half years. And so I was like, okay, I heard, cause I was like set to become like a Van Wilder fucking seven year student, you know? and my buddy was like no just go study You you know in like Argentina or Spain you get like two years worth of credits in three months I was like I'll bet so I Went to Argentina and that's where I started speaking Spanish to this day, you know, I speak it comes in handy And I met this kid from Jersey and he was like one of my best friends

And I met this kid from Jersey and he was like one of my best friends You know on the trip there and all of his boys were like connected their dads used to be part of like the Philly mob And they're like, you know now they're like rich kids that you know also have like amateur fucking Shylock in businesses amateur Sports sports books, you know what I mean? This is when you still have a sports books, right? It's 2007. We still have those you still sports Yeah, my cousin aunt the bookie Yeah, so uh Dude so and then of course everybody wanted like a West-coast connect every weed dealer on the East Coast was like oh I can get the

Fucking if I can pay the West Coast price, like I'm gonna blow the fuck up. So he introduced me in 2008, that's when he introduced me to one guy. And then I worked with him a little bit. And you know, I wasn't sending like 10 pounds a box at the time, I was sending like a pound of weed and just, you know, like working the system out.

And then he would introduce me to somebody else that had a bigger bank roll. And it just kind of, it kind of worked out to where I had like three or four guys in rotation And then through one of them. I met the cousin of a guy Dominican from Washington Heights Are you getting on a flight to meet these people? I only met them in person once or twice and fuck it Let's just go and it was you know you had to work the trust out right like I assumed if I sent a couple of pounds at the beginning I'm like well I'm willing to lose these because the money might not come back

that happened to me a few times with people in different markets but tax right off exactly so and it just grew rapidly so there I have you know at least $50,000 landing in Portland through FedEx every week at least. So that's a lot of cash. In college. No, I'm out of college. I'm right out of college. Yeah. Yeah. It's still it's it felt like I won the lottery, bro. This is a guy who like scraped by barely paying rent, even, you know, selling

hand to hand drugs for like six years. You're the richest dominoes driver and on the west I think it was fucking Papa John's baby I wasn't dominoes dominoes is gay so anyways Domino supports Israel so anyways so buddy it's so but that's what I'm with the hard ours over here. I'm being a Higgins are making a lot of dough. A lot of those light-skinned Higgins up in Washington Heights. That's that's obviously shot at Papa John.

Right, of course. Mr. Papa. Yeah, Mr. Papa getting caught with the wrong. Yeah, but you know, so so the cash was the biggest issue because it's it's people sending you drug money back So that's eventually what what got interdicted was not the so so that's the cash Packages a big word in that interdicted. Yeah, that's what the cops call, you know stopping drug and drug money

So that's that's what led them a long story. You can go check it out on my channel because I break it down in the earliest videos. But that's what led them to me was the money. I never kept the work on me. I had drivers and I had stashes and shit like that. But the money was something like I felt like I had to safeguard myself and I would I would take it to my crib when I got it. And then I would obviously I had places that I was stashing it, but I was getting ready to like make a move out of state. I was gonna move to Cali and Because I wanted to be in show business even you know since a kid right and So I'm digging up my money from my fucking parents yard. I'm taking money out of safe deposit boxes

You know I'm I'm taking it from storage units and shit, and I'm consolidating all of it, so I'm about to bring it down to Cali. So at the apartment I was living when they raided it, I had over $500,000 there, and then I also had money in safe deposit boxes that they got to. So the charge was ultimately ended up being money laundering. I got charged with bribery because I tried to buy my way out. You tried to buy your way out? I tried to bribe the cops because these were local pigs. These weren't DEA agents.

These were fucking local scum with shitty tennis shoes on. I'm like, your kids need some, you and your kids need some new shoes, right, Mr. Piggy? Piggy wiggy? And like, yo, check it out. I'm so fucking reckless there there I could tell that like their lieutenant like their supervisor wasn't even there when they first Rated the spot. I was like guys like I'll bring you another hundred thousand. Just let no no here's five I will bring you I'll show you where another

400 is just say I got away. I'm not even asking you to like Say you didn't come here or anything. Just let me like make a run for it. Where were you gonna go? Columbia South America nice obviously You get it after talking to me for a couple hours. Yeah, I know I'd spent some time in Colombia And I was like this is the place for a young man, dude so I'd spent some time in Colombia and I was like this is the place for a young man, dude so And I had an extra like couple hundred thousand that I knew they didn't know where it was

So I was gonna grab that how was I gonna get to Colombia? I hadn't thought that far yet with 200 200 G's and cash, but I these guys are right in the room now Yeah, of course I did like that's the only time you can get him. It's like it's just us four here Yeah, of course I did like that's the only time you can get him is like it's just us four here Come on, dude, and if they if those have been East Coast pigs It doesn't Jersey coming here in a second and fishing right now, baby a Florida deep-sea fishing fucking Northwest Nerds these fucking boy scouts you fucking losers What is happening to our fucking cops these days?

Yeah, you keep hitting Jersey, but listen, bro, like there's some benefits to being here. Of course there is. Of course there is. No, I love Jersey because they'll take some cash. That's right. That's right. It's like they'll look the other way. Dude, I'm just trying to do business. And so, yeah, but they didn't go for it.

So, but they could never tie me with any fucking organization. It's not like they were watching me. It's not like they were putting together a RICO case. They assumed that I was working with big drug cartels. How did they even get, like, how did they know to try to track your money? How did they know how to, well, because a dog smelled it in a FedEx sorting facility.

Oh, shit. You know, they do that from time to time. They take drug-stiffing dogs down the line and they hit on a package of money. And so they fucking trace that all the way to when I picked it up in Portland. So they trace that, they come get you, but they don't have any idea

who you're working with or whatever. Did they have like anyone who could speak against you or would finger? Nope, nope, nothing dude. So it's just money. And I thought somebody was ratting, of course that's your first instinct, you're like who's telling?

And I had a good lawyer and they could not dig anyone up. They could dig anyone up. And they saw that I was sending boxes, they found a couple of slips and ledgers, so they knew I was sending product to you know New York and Jersey and I was just like yeah that nobody ever went down. I held water You know the only people I really wanted though They want I mean they were trying to get everybody but they were like who's you know

Who are you picking up your material from and you didn't tell me know this is probably not coke Like we know yeah, you know, they know they're going after They know if a white kid is is is sitting on seven figures in Portland, Oregon. He's probably Selling weed and so they were like they didn't think coke with that I mean they were they were like look who's who are these people first of all and How are you involved with them? Are you holding their money? Are you you know like are you just a stash like are you with a link in a bigger chain? And I'm like no none of that, but I mean look is this uh this is all legal fellas

But take this bribe Get the fuck out of here So they but they they take you back down now They charge you with bribery and what was the first one again money laundering money laundering? But I mean they charged me they threw the book at me with with drug trafficking Because they were trying to get me that you know trying to get me to crack and but they didn't have evidence for that Technically it's evidence. They have money. They don't have yeah, but you know they have That's enough. That's enough. They have cell phones they don't have... Yeah, but you know, they have... That's enough.

That's enough. They have cell phones. Really? They can charge you and indict you. Basically, there's a saying in the feds, they can indict a ham sandwich. Right. But they were trying to get me... Before that point, they were trying to get me to give up.

So they'd send a... I was in the county jail, I sent a fucking, you know, DEA guy down. How many years are they all, are they saying you're gonna get it? Look at it like five. So, you know. That's all they threaten at top end?

Yeah, that's why my lawyer was like, okay, just don't. My lawyer was like, my lawyer was like, we're not gonna. We got this. We're not gonna, I'm not gonna have you cooperate. Yeah. Because. You got five in you. Hey, you don't wanna tell, but yeah, you got five in you

You're fine. You're six foot six you put on a little muscle So that's your lawyer song Goodman Exactly he shows up sweating. He's always sweating like oh my god. Who the fuck is this guy's so sketchy, dude But you know he was like if you go to work for these guys I'm like, God, who the fuck is this guy? He's so sketchy, dude. But he was like, if you go to work for these guys, it's gonna be worse than just doing your time because you never know, you could be working for the feds till they say stop. There's no like, and I learned that through my lawyer,

but also guys I've had on the show, they don't sign a contract with you. You will give us, yeah, eight years. And I'm and I'm like he's like dude we can get you the drug program we can get you know say you're a drug addict so it's like pushing that on like the judge like my clients you know he's a drug addict and he's been dealing with addiction issues so so the feds decided to just seize the money and drop the case and give it over to the state. So I only had to do state time. But isn't state way worse in a lot of cases? In certain cases it definitely is. You're 24 right? Yep. 24 at the time. So it

depends if you go to a USP, yeah if you're in Lompoc or fucking you know Leavenworth, yeah those are bad USPs right people get people are murdered every day there whereas Coleman is like Colons have one too. That's a bad one. There's a low there's a Coleman low. Yes if you're at a low knowing what I know now I'm like yeah I'd almost rather go to a low than a fucking maximum security state prison right sure because you're hitting golf balls But yeah, I don't know. I don't know everything about the prison system, but I'm again. I'm an amateur expert on the subject Most bad USPs are worse than bad state prisons because people have so much money in USPs people have so much money in the feds that they can get you killed right and the people

Are doing so much time and there's no parole no more out of the feds So you can't get clemency from the president most 85% right right? Yes, I'm listening, but even in you know I interviewed a guy banky pound. He's got a great channel He got sentenced to like hundreds of years in prison, but he went for parole at 17 years. And he got out at 30. What'd he do? He was a murder robbery, they were armed robbing people

and the guy got killed. But it's like, in the- Unfortunately, in May, rest in peace. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck him. Thank God. God damn it. Hey, thanks for the clickbait.

Hey, maybe that should be like my tagline. You know what I mean? Thanks for the cocktail. On old school radio. Thank you for the clickbait. So yeah, you got smoked, but my point is, if you get life in the feds, there's no. Yeah, you're fucked.

You're basically fucked, again, unless you can get like a pardon or a compassionate release. Yeah, there is no, there's not much recourse So I don't know when you got arrested cuz you they didn't offer you bail I guess you had to sit in County. I had no bail because of all the cash they seized which is very rare That's kind of great. You didn't have bail. I was just cash like bro and then like they took my passport and all that shit I would think that would suffice Yeah, I mean they they were which because they were like wow this kids a fish like they were surprised

They were like what the fuck did we just stumble into mmm. You know so you're a fucking Walter White So you're sitting in County though like did you have a moment where reality just hits you and you're like, holy shit It's over for sure. Like as soon as you hit the bed that first night I mean I slept and any fucking con any ex-con will tell you The first night you're in jail. Oh, it's the deepest sleep you've ever had just dreamless sleep, dude Cuz it's like a relief. You're like, huh? It's over I'm not running. Yeah, and then you wake up, you know, and then and then it's the first I guess the first wake up That's the worst. That's the worst moment is when you wake up after your first sleep in jail

Yeah, holy fuck. What have I done? This is a problem When'd your parents find out They're the first call. Yeah, first call is always your your parents. It's your mom, dude, you know Yeah, they were always they were always there for me, you know, the whole community was there that's that's what's dope and that kind of keep keeps you in check a little bit cuz you know, We're from like a pretty good family and you know, it's it's kind of a shame It's kind of a shame it's kind of shameful to have to tell you know you my dad's friends at his tennis club that you know my did my son's in prison or whatever so the fact that everybody

stood behind me that's kind of what kept me straight when I got out is like it's that expectation of like we had your back yeah so I kind of got to do this for you guys because I keep going back to prison pretty soon. They're just gonna say, well, that's kind of what he does. And I was gonna lose them and lose my friends. So, you know, that's the that's the disadvantage of being from the hood is like going to jail and prison is so normal that it's it's not as much of a social stigma, right? Like they don't have that like you know keeping them in check. I never thought of it that way that's actually very obvious and talked about that you know you Booker T. Washington talked about like how like white people white folks had the the expectation social expectations that keep them.

You know more focused but you know all that shit's changing bro like the black communities Doing better than ever in my opinion like less black people are going to I don't know about this statistically But just from the hood like what we see and who we talk to like cats who come out of jail now It's not cool anymore Like like you're not like a hard rock because you've been to prison It used to be if you're from the hood you got out of prison you like had a stripe you got felonies now like congrats You know what I mean like Henry Hill you coming home after he doesn't rat taking his first pinch like it's not cool anymore So to me that's like progress. Yeah, that would be if you're right about that. I mean, it's also like you know You have in a lot of these places,

the environment is shaping people because there's no economic opportunity. So they're pulled into it when they're 13, 14, and then that's what they know. Yeah, yeah. And so the idea that like, they're gonna come out and do something different, like what are they gonna do?

You know, this has been their whole life. I can't imagine that, because I had the luxury of not having that right You know this opportunity like and you also got to see that too You got to know there's a different world out there now You made it harder for yourself because you become a convicted felon But like you're like, okay people have my back in my community and I'm a smart guy and I got talents like now I'm gonna go balls to the walls and do what I do. Yeah. Yeah, you know now the kids from the hood

They're not even selling drugs anymore. It's all into like scams. Yeah, yeah, we just had punch me death here. Well. He's like it. I don't know who that is Yeah, he's a rapper who is a former scammer. Yeah Right sure sure sure yeah, yeah, they're all into credit card fraud It's funny the ghettos go white-collar credit card fraud used to be a white-collar crime It's funny, the ghetto's going white collar. Credit card fraud used to be a white collar crime. We're graduating. They're graduating, dude. Yeah.

How long were you in county figuring out your case? God damn, I was in there for like eight months. That's him right there. Yeah, it's him. Yeah, don't you love the social media posts? It's a great aesthetic. It's a great aesthetic. So you're trying to keep a low pro?

Trying to keep a low pro model just posting videos of your arms filled with snaps. You gotta talk to him. Tommy G calls me up, he's like, yo, I'm gonna come and do a podcast and I'm bringing punch made death. I was like, okay. Really, really nice guy too. Yeah, you know, I believe it.

A lot of these cats are, man. An innovator, for sure. I don't think we're gonna have him on the show. No? No, I don't know why. I just don't think he's gonna make for a good podcast guest. Why not?

Because he's not gonna be candid. Maybe he will be, who knows? That's an interesting way you put it. He's very guarded. Yeah, yeah. Very guarded. But there's a lot of... I don't know, this is just how I found it from my seat You you can check it out and decide for yourself, but there was a lot of like guarded answers that were

masked in What's the term I'm looking for? Like take the hint. Yeah, sure sure and I think I think a lot of people out there are smart enough to take the hint. Yeah, sure, sure. And I think I think a lot of people out there are smart enough to take the hint. Yeah, yeah, I my friends we like I think what makes my show different is that we tell it exactly how it actually happens. That was my goal with the show. Like let me in a journalistic way explain how crime drug trafficking whatever actually works. Yeah. So when people come on and are guarded, you can't tell, I'm furious. You're like, you're gonna tell me exactly.

Give me the pin code. I've become the cops. I've become like a cop in an interrogation room. Turn your telegram on right now. I'm gonna fucking start beating the shit out of you. I'm gonna handcuff you to the fucking chair. You piece of shit. All right, maybe don't talk with Dev.

Anyway, so it takes eight months, though. Did you make a deal? Is that what happened? You didn't go to a jury trial or anything? Yeah, yeah, we kept, no, we kept, we kept, he was like, just hang in there, because the longer you're in there, the more they want to fucking, the more they want to keep,

especially with the state, they just want to move you through. Yeah. So the fact that they, the fact that you forfeited your money, the fact that you, they don't really have anything besides these several things. Also, I had, I had a previous felony. You did? Yeah, I did.

I was, the house got raided, part of the, one of the reasons that we shifted to mailing packages, instead of selling locally, besides the gigantic profit margin, was that about a year and a half before I got popped, the second time it sent me to prison, a stash house of ours got raided and they found product. So I had probation, I was on felony probation. But I didn't have a, I had a completely clean record and I knew this business was about to pop.

So I just fucking- But you stayed in after that. That wasn wasn't because I started making so much money Yeah, that's what I'm so but so I knew they were like at least I was gonna get my probation revoked And I was at least gonna have to do a couple of years, so it was happening. It's happening regardless. You know so But I did I did some time in a max in a maximum security, but I got out and went to a camp Where how long were you in the max was in the max for six almost seven months this is where county seven months in the max and then I was in for about four months at the camp so when you were in the max that's when you were some mates with the Hells Angel guy? Yup, uh, no, I'm sorry.

I have a friend named... You gotta take that out, because he's the one who introduced me to all my weed plugs. All right, yeah, let's make a look at that. Sorry, sorry. No, it's all good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Jimmy, who I explain on my show, he's the one who ended up killing somebody,

and they sent him to death row like almost like in jail after yeah the day after I got transferred out and shot to a camp wild somebody Who did he kill? Some guy who was getting out. He was getting out and he stepped at him with a fucking with a piece with a with a knife and Jimmy fucking punched his ass and either bro I don't know if he snapped his neck or the guy fell back and hit his head on the concrete but he fucking killed him with a punch yeah big guy he was not that tall but like solid like he had the build of a lifer like huge just push up

dip dip bar body like these weren't weights these were just Hint using every part of the fucking furniture and then like kind of a gut Hmm and bald but yeah, dude that guy had some that guy like was He was my Walter White like the meth stories that that guy had cooking meth like in the 70s like turning dope when it was biker dope like just like The guys guys that are doing life have the craziest memories because it's like their life stops the minute they come into prison. Yeah.

It's like, it's over and they just, all they have are these incredibly vivid memories. Memorable. Yeah, it's amazing. But you're in a max for, first of all, how is county jail? Like, is that, does that? Fights and, you know, all that bullshit like ever everything in?

Oregon is a little less a little less intense, especially than California. You know what I mean, so that's You know to my benefit, but yeah, you're still fading you still have to fight when you get there You know some people are getting it when you get to they probably couldn't reach your face when they tried to fight Yeah, I mean they're fun. Oh, I got tuned up though. No, I got tuned up The first fight I had was like I definitely I got my licks in but I was definitely like my face was swollen up Yeah, no, I got your tall as fuck. I was not expecting this guy was big though He was like 6'2 and he was a fucking skinhead and he we were both got in We both hit the cell block at the same

time so it was like immediately like that's who you have to fight that's yeah it's just a known yeah that's or else you're gonna get run off like you're gonna get beaten up then you got to leave the cell block and go be with the fucking guys like like like bump up before a clean fight nothing below the waist we did after we ended up becoming friends because we got shot to the same prison oh you went to the same max together. Yeah, yeah at the same time or same time. Yeah Wow Yeah, he was a lifer on the installment plan. He goes in and out on the installment plan He comes in for five comes out goes back in for seven. You know what I mean? Yeah, so

Yeah, he's doing life. He's basically a lifer. You know, oh my god Yeah, you go so you do seven months seven eight months in in max. Yeah How bad was that? I mean it was it was It's good and bad. It's good because the time passes because there's so it's such a routine My county jail is like every day is a week Every week feels like a month time goes by really fast in prison because it's just routine every day It's like the military, you know But yeah was I mean there was a riot there was

Stabbings there was you know killings. Yeah. Yeah so but That was probably where I decided I was like I'm gonna move to LA Being show business man. That was like we're really where I was like, yeah if I fucking make it out of this dude I'm I was like, I'm gonna move to LA. I wanna be in show business, man. That was like, really where I was like, yeah, if I fucking make it out of this, dude, I'm going to, I'm gonna go do something that I like for once.

Did you have anyone in there like encouraging you with that? Oh, a lot of people. Were there like Johnny, you're entertaining as fuck? A lot of people, but I mean, maybe not as entertaining, but, cause like, I was too scared. The funniest guys in there are the black people go figure so I was always scared to Like be the center of attention, but people that knew me were like oh, yeah He's a sharp guy like clearly you know being smart helps because it's it's like

Differentiates you and they're like don't fuck with the smart guy right? He's like this is college boy You know so but also Jimmy was the one it was like He's not affiliated. don't touch him. Oh, so he protected you. Yeah, yeah, bro, that guy ran the fucking yard we were on. So it's like, you know, I talk about Jimmy again in the early Connect videos. And yeah, he's the guy that I, you know,

that was like my fucking guardian angel, you know what I mean? So, but he was definitely like, yeah, oh, that's like I admitted what I wanted to do. And I started doing talent shows in prison So I would go down and it was like it was like stand-up almost but it was like insult comedy So I would like yeah, they were like after us go after the fucking blacks go after units dude if they had recorded Thank God

Nobody had smartphones In prison dude. I would be fucked well That's just how everybody talked It was like if you didn't go hard like that was you wouldn't get any laughs And if your talent was like you sucked like an old pedophile with a guitar would get up there I know start throwing shit like they like that. They let the chomos do the talent show? Yeah, but if you sucked they would fucking, they would boo you off or they would beat

you up. So, I got to a point where I did a few of these and I was just cute. Introducing TurboTax Business, a brand new way to file your own T2 return all while getting help from an expert who actually knows small businesses. Got a tattoo studio? Toy store? Tiny but mighty taco stand? We've got someone who gets small business taxes inside and out.

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so that was like the first that was the that was like the beginning the genesis of like standup comedy, even though I didn't even know... I knew nothing about stand-up back then. I wanted to be an actor and a writer. You still weren't making the connection. No, still wasn't making the connection. So I thought I was writing screenplays.

I was like, yeah, I want to be a fucking... I want to make movies. That's what I wanted to do, is make movies. You could definitely do that, because you're a great storyteller. But I feel like now the I want to be like a fucking I want to make movies That's what I wanted to do is make movies you could definitely do that because you're you're a great storyteller I feel like now the industry's so fucked up and even when I got to LA in 2012. I was like oh damn I've definitely missed the boat Even back then you were sitting back then man. Yeah, like I I haven't been ahead on many things, but I was ahead on Looking at the end of the glory years of Hollywood.

And I think that was like the last generation like the Wolf of Wall Street was 2012-2013. I think I feel like that was the like the beginning of the end or a sayonara to the end because yeah, really after that they weren't making any, you know, that was the beginning of Instagram. That was really where like social media 2013 2014 started to just completely Absorb it and I was like, yeah, I think this is like where's the market gonna go? Everything is decentralizing, you know

Yeah, so it's good call. So that's why by 2019 2020 if you were doing stand-up you were like Nobody was even thinking about like getting television shows anymore. Nobody gave a fuck about that. It was like Rogan and podcasting, like that was it. Well, they were ahead of, the standup community was the most ahead of the curve. Yes, absolutely. Cause you have to be so entrepreneurial. It's like rap and then standup are the most DIY,

do it yourself kind of things. So, and now podcasting is going by the wayside at least for stand-up comedy it's very saturated now it's all short form shit you see these fucking unfunny bitches you know so one of them in New York who I'm thinking of but she does these really really funny just like I'm toxic she makes content for like Gen Z women and honestly and she's so popular though. She pops up in my feed.

I've seen her do stand-up though. It's it's it, you know, she's not there yet, but we wish her well. We wish her well, we wish her well, but she makes like these funny sketches and they're for a niche and that's it And like who cares like who cares about being mass popular anymore? It's like she's making speaking for a demographic and that's you're gonna eat very well off that kind of shit Yeah, yeah everyone and I mean it happens over and over again throughout humanity when when something goes, right?

Everyone runs to exactly what that is, right? And that's what you didn't do. You found, you're like, yo, I gotta learn, I'm funny as fuck, I'm a stand-up comic, but I'm not gonna go do just the main stand-up comic thing. I'm gonna use my life experience, my connections, no pun intended, and I'm gonna go make something where I can melt my comedy into something that's gritty

and niche that people want and aren't getting enough of. Exactly, exactly. And thank you. And so now I'm trying to find that next thing that's different. But now thanks to this podcast and the glory of God, cause he really threw us a bone there. Now I have the resources to where like,

I can just go kind of have fun. like I can just do shit because it's fun That's a big value just that's huge freedom, bro That's real freedom and that's if you're because because I look at these people that have so much money you know in show business comedians and It's never enough So I don't want to fall into that mental trap again So I remember how in the game that was like I didn't feel free even though I had So much money for being a fucking kid and I didn't feel free and I never got to enjoy it

You know you look at these drug king, but you think men show is free you think what's his name Ignacio? Oh, so well. Oh you think he's a free guy. He has to be surrounded by fucking private armies, and he has to live in He has to be surrounded by fucking hit private armies and he has to live in The deepest mountains of meet wakhan. He's not free. No is all the money in the world So that's what I'm determined to not fall into that. I mean, I want to keep obviously I love making money and I want to keep like expanding whatever enterprise is next but it's got to be well, hopefully it's doing something that's

authentic and that I love to do well that's key people can read through that in a second when you're not doing right you know exactly but it sounds like you're starting to see the light at that tunnel of where that freedom could be and that's great because you've also like not for nothing but as you're saying you've experienced it where you didn't hit the hit the shoot you know what i mean and get out so you have a life an extreme life experience that has hopefully now taught you that lesson that other people who are on their legal journey right like it's like a stand-up comic or something can't understand because they've never had that moment. So it's like, oh, well now I'm at, you know,

selling out fucking 40 shows a year in stadiums. I'm making $7 million, but man, I would really, I would feel a lot better if I was making 11 and I could get that private jet. There's always something they step up to. Yeah. You know? I saw that when I worked on Wall Street and I saw these ultra rich people and I'm just I'm a simple guy right and the clients that didn't even necessarily have the most money

But had I mean they all had a lot of money But like less than others the ones who just lived a happy life and had Friday fucking pizza and the family Never called up to bitch about their nephew who wanted fucking 30 grand for a stupid new goddamn econ business like they were the happiest people yeah i was like there is something to be said for that because they could have gotten a lot more but they got enough right damn dude enough yeah i don't have enough yet but i'm hoping that's why i'm really hoping that this bitcoin narrative is true like i'm hoping you know, you know, you know these these propagandists these all the hype videos That are just like number go up. This is this is uh, this is This is digital energy. This is digital property

Because then the money you make you can really like keep and it's not getting debased, you know So it's like you don't have to keep making money The idea is to make money and then not have to make it anymore because it's very hard to make money. So it's like once you make it, it's wealth now because you're in this asset and it builds and it carries over. So I'm really hoping that's true. I hope for you. It's true. Thanks. But you too, dude. You're a hodler.

We're working on it. Yeah. But what's the, you know, have you done stories going back to some of the cartel stuff? have you been working on stories where you're uncovering say the Unholy alliance with intelligence and some of these and some of these groups Personally, no, I haven't personally uncovered any of that. I think everybody kind of knows it already Cafe is the closest one. He's the one that experienced it when he was working in Special Forces. Yeah, but you know, we talked to people like we were in this state of Coahuila, which is on the east coast of Mexico, not the east coast, but it's sandwiched

between Tampulipas, Nuevava Leon, and some other states. And it was where the Zetas really like, that was their stronghold. And so we talked to a number of guys that fought the Zetas, that remember the Zeta Wars very vividly. And they were like, oh yeah, definitely Americans, School of the Americas taught these guys directly. Like American military generals

at the School of the Americas and sometimes in Mexico taught people who became like the Taliban of Mexican drug cartels That's wild bro wild And America's done that all over the world, you know you wonder and you're never gonna know you wonder what the trade-off is there How many lives did they save doing that versus the lives that they ended by training it? Yeah, for sure. And what is the point? Like some of it seems so do-me-nice. Like just because you want us to fight anti-communists, that's why America for decades funded, you know, worked with Felix Gallardo and the Guadalajara

cartel and they, you know, this is a whole trope in the show not show narco. Oh, yeah I'm not saying anything new But yeah, you're like was that really worth it just to get guns to Nicaragua Dumb dumb who gives a shit about Nicaragua, but also it's like what it's like Nicaragua Higgins, Rob. I'm sorry That's a real callback He got out what you got to say can't say Nicaragua. You got to say Nicaragua Higgins, sorry, that's a real callback. Nicaragua, you gotta say, can't say Nicaragua, you gotta say Nicaragua.

Don't do the Fiovon, please. So Higgins, bro, I see not even the word Higgins anymore. Was that a worthy trade off? Do you know what it is though? And I really do think that is the, it's one of the consequences of like Fiat money. Like being the empire that can print the money There's so much slosh and waste in these budgets of the military. They've got to go somewhere

So that they just create these problems because they're like we got it Everybody's getting paid and if we don't use the budget next year won't be there So we just got to spend and that's why they come up with all these like proxy wars and like why would anybody be doing this? It's because energy has to go somewhere. Yeah man. That's kinda how I see it. You know people get like on like the Bitcoin axis

and stuff for just making every goddamn thing about fiat and printing or whatever but like money, it's like the most obvious thing but the other people who detract from that wanna ignore ignore this money is what runs every Fucking decision in some level that's made in the world, right? You know I used to have this thing I would ask clients when I worked on Wall Street I'm like, what are the two most important things in your life and Usually they'd say some version of like health and family health and family and let's say

Money pays for both. Yeah, and it sucks. I hate that but like it's that's a money pays for both. Yeah, and it sucks I hate that but like it's that's a very real thing And so you see you see something like Mexico and where it's gotten McCartell's Well, why did all that start it started from economic in opportunity and then guys who were gonna See the vacuum in that void. Yeah, and that's the story around the world but countries that have to balance their budget because they can't they know if they print money, like, grow it, their currency will lose 50% of its value. Venezuela, the stock market, stock market is doing great, because you need like 100

million boulevards to get a cup of coffee. You know what I mean? So there's real consequences for everybody besides us when it comes to printing money so they're literally like countries around the world are like if we want to go to war if we want to fund military shit it has to come from taxes and therefore if we don't have enough taxes we just can't do this whereas like we don't even have to think about that. It's it's a it's a brilliant kind of Ponzi scheme So you can make that argument it's fucking sick. Yeah, you may really look at the Fed and how it's done here

Yeah, it's like How's that Lee? It's it's it's legalized ultra taxation, right? Every time just mathematically. It's a tax Inflation is just a tax and you don't vote on it but you pay for it yeah and it wasn't like that until like what 1914 or something like that yeah I there's way better people than me to comment on that I mean when I believe it was 1914 when what was 1914 1914 was when basically the US took over the responsibility of Safeguarding people's gold. It's when Britain broke its economy when they broke off from it was there 1971 but that was really the beginning of the fiat currency era and then it went crazy after

Nixon and the gold standard of 71 but it began in 1914 when we gave a bunch of like credit credit swaps let's just read about it there. I can tell you better. In 1914 the United States took significant steps to safeguard its gold reserves this was largely due to the Federal Reserve System's establishment and the start of World War One in Europe so we took advantage of that. Federal Reserve Act of 1913 this act establishes Federal Reserve System to stabilize the financial system and address banking prices Gold standard and Federal Reserve notes the US used a full gold standard with paper currency convertible to gold coin the Federal Reserve notes needed to be backed by at least 40% gold and

then World War one and increased gold holdings the outbreak of World War one in Europe led to a financial crisis and increased the amount of gold flowing into the United States that That makes sense, because we didn't get involved until 1917. This increased the Federal Reserve's gold holdings, which could be used as reserves. And then, and this is the part I have learned more about from other people telling me about this on the podcast, but you had two events. So you've been mentioning the Nixon one. That's like the big line in the sand because it takes us off the gold center. But back when the Great Depression happened and FDR had to come in and do like the New Deal There were there was something I forget what it was, but there was something in there. Oh, he devalued gold right?

Yeah, right. He'd he reset the price on gold. Yeah, like help the economy at the time That's just kicking the can down right he did that and then he actually made it illegal to own gold Which I don't know what effect that had But abandoning the gold standard executive order and 33 to address the economic crisis FDR issued executive order 6102 which prohibited private ownership Of gold coins bullion it's so imagine that that's how crazy that is. It's illegal to have gold That's not I'm fucked. Yeah Yeah gold You might as well say fuck Italians and Cubans just New Jersey and Florida You know there's I'm sure you can relate to

this with all the people you talk to, but there's these moments that happen in podcasts where you're like, we're like things connect and all that and you're like, oh my god, that explains what this guy said and whatever. And when I had Ed here in March, at one point he was like going off on the National Security State and how like CIA is involved with cartels. And he goes, and are we gonna talk about the CIA going to top five, top 10 banks and flipping regular old bankers who are top 10 C-suite

into being money launderers for the cartel? And I'm just sitting here looking at him going, I'm going, Ed, funny to say that, that was March 13th, I said on March 6th, I had the guy sitting there who did that and told the story of how he did that. Wow, and he was a banker who got flipped by the CIA? He was a CIA knock who did it.

And he explained how he went and he started at a bar with the guy and how he flipped him. And his micro job, he didn't know the bigger picture because they keep you compartmentalized. Like, just go do this. His micro job, he didn't know the bigger picture because they keep you compartmentalized, like just go do this. His micro job was flip this guy because we need to use this bank. He wouldn't say obviously what bank it was,

but it was a major bank. And we're gonna funnel money from the cartels through there because his job as a knock was a money launderer for the cartels, that was his cover. And then we're gonna flow it for national security. So what, and that's currently happening? It was when Matt was doing it in 2015, 2016, so why wouldn't it be happening now?

Wow. I mean, I don't know. Which organization and why? Which organization? Which organization and why? And I ask you that because- When you say organization. Cartel.

Oh, oh. Nobody, by the the way nobody calls them I'm getting out of the habits of calling them cartels Why because Americans call that and they don't nobody really says that down there. They call them criminal organizations They don't even call them that like the ordinary people call them hentai malo Okay, and then Malo malandro Steve's or whatever, you know, and and yeah, nobody calls him cartels So we've culturally appropriated cartel exactly Yeah, and if you listen like Luis Chaparro who she used to have on your show

He calls them their criminal organizations because they're more than just cartels like cartels kind of yeah They do set the price of drugs as much as they can but they're all they're into so many different rackets, dude They're into you know again oil theft they're into extortion some of dude they're into you know again oil theft they're into extortion some of them they're into you know a white-collar crime you know part of my art that they're calling people up with scams ripping off fucking foreigners selling them timeshares that don't exist you know so they're all off in it bro they're way more dynamic but

okay back to my question what was his speculation on why the CIA was helping cartels helping cartels in the 80s we knew with Rick Ross and with the Nicaraguans that was all because they were funding illegal wars that were to fight communism. I can I can get that but why in 2016? So I'm gonna tell you what he told me and before I do that I'm gonna say that naturally, I Think he probably knows more about the bigger picture, but he would never fucking say it on a podcast or off-record with me But what he was saying is and this is definitely part of it Is that when you are doing a white-collar job for the cartels such as money laundering because they got a lot of money to

Launder you are a very valued person if you are great at it and have a connection like say a fucking top five bank to Be able to do this through such that you get to some of the highest levels of these organizations that he did not specify which one It was so could have been multiple could have been one of them your guess is as good as mine But in doing that you are working with an international crime syndicate at the highest level you're working with the fucking Apple or Google of International crime and what that allows him to do is have proper cover when he goes to other countries as this character, where, let's make one up, let's say he was going to Hungary for something for the cartels, I don't know,

some fucking, you know, they're working on a supply chain for money laundering. When he goes into that country, there may be a book on him with their intel agency or their FBI, Hungary's FBI, where they're like, oh yeah, it's a cartel money launderer. So they're looking at him for that. So when he fucking throws a mask on and goes out at 11.55 p.m. and puts on his CIA hat

and goes and meets with some fucking Russian oligarch to get a nuclear code completely unrelated to what he does, he's got the proper cover as a criminal going into the country such that they would never look at him for doing that type of job You mean the Russian oligarch right? Meeting with him right. Oh, I see sure sure it's like a diversion. It's like yeah Don't look over here, right? That's all it is It's like it's like a lot of nothing and the nothing is he's fucking funding cartels Before he does something which is five minutes over here to do something for CIA

It's a moral quandary the likes of which I can't even We still don't know why still doesn't explain why? Like what is what is the value to the CIA for? Collaborating with Mexican criminal organizations the why and again I think there's more than just this for the why but the why is that is it is a phenomenal cover They're basically using it as a Trojan horse so that when he goes to these places They can be like Oh cartel guy instead of that could be a CIA guy. Let's watch who he meets with see what I'm saying So this is a great deal for the cartels because it seems like they get all the benefit from it. Yep

That's that's what it well the US gets benefit in this if this is how it turns out in the sense that they have an Agent who's able to go do things and get away with it without anyone looking at them that are important for national security While the cartel gets the benefit of oh no Not that they're talking them like that because he's undercover, but it's like, we're gonna help you keep this going. Well, so you know what the benefit is? They don't get money laundered by the American government for free.

What they do is they give up the other people. They give up their competitors. So I should have put that together because we know that very well. It's probably, obviously, Ismael Maio Zimbabwe comes to mind. Took the words out of my mouth. Yeah, he was probably, he was the one that was most entrenched with foreign intelligence services for the longest, because he's been around, you know, in the game since like, really since the late 60s, but he's been on top since the 80s.

So that's probably, you know, really he's very, very connected with connected with you know the Mexican federal government And that's and his sources within the DEA and the CIA for sure I remember when you did the podcast with Danny this was a few years ago, but I distinctly remember You talking about el Mayo, and I think you were speculating I think other people were too who know what they're talking about like you I think you were speculating even back then they're like That's a total front like he's got some sort of deal. Yeah, and now fast forward. I guess two years after that to last summer Right, there's no way. Yeah, that was a CIA right job Collaborating with Chappos kids. Finally the tables turned on the old man because he's been feeding them people for years

You know, he fed them the the Beltran Leva's choppo did too he fed them choppo he fed them choppo's some of choppo's kids then he also helped the kids out that guy is like a spy hmm when you look at if you dig into the weeds of how he operated it's like espionage it's's fucking fascinating. But yeah, you know, giving up members of the Juarez cartel, this all goes back and it's documented. There's no way that guy's staying out of prison that long without, you know, handing people over. What do you think happened there to finally turn in on him,

like it did? Well, his kids finally, you know know they're the reason that choppa is withering away in a fucking you know hell hole in Colorado so I think that's part of it I think maybe they saw their opportunity you know but those families are very there's a lot of intermarriage there there's a lot of because we found out that they're still selling drugs all the killing that's happening in Sinaloa the the war it's a war of attrition. They're just pissed off. It's their organizations are still operating and moving drugs through their separate drug routes. So this is just over like beef.

And so, you know, I can't beyond that, I'm not sure. But I think it was just the right time. He's getting old, and they saw an opportunity. And probably they had, and they, when Ovidio, El Raton, they call him, got extradited to the US, he was probably, he was saving his own skin. He was like, hey, I think we can get you Mayo. But the government, which begs the question, couldn't the government be like, well, we have Mayo. He's our partner, dude. But, you know, but again, these are, I think with the CIA, it's like when there's turnover,

like say, Mayo's got a handler within the CIA and he retires, the next guy's probably like, fuck this guy. Yeah, he's a boy scout. He's younger. Or maybe he's got a better asset. You know, maybe Mencho is working with him now, who knows, but it's not a conspiracy that goes to the top. It's very, very compartmentalized. So you know, the agencies have different field operatives, right, who they use and leverage for cover or whatever they need them for. And so the next guy could be like, yeah, no, let's take down Mayo and this is the way, this is what Ed Calderon thinks,

this is a catalyst to finally invade Mexico because we know this is gonna cause a huge war, huge beef between the factions of the cartel, the Sinaloa cartel, and this is gonna implode them and cause Mexico to go up in flames and yeah. Hold on a minute. That's interesting because they also did this. This was I believe July 2024.

So they did this before like Trump's reelected or whatever and has a chance to declare them terrorist organizations. But you think that might have been a bipartisan type thing. That's what Ed thinks. I think it's it's a it's look it's only good for them when the cartels are at war because that means they can fund their own You know counterintelligence services and thinks the war on drugs is over He thinks it's a war on terror now and the war on terror just means bigger budgets for you know

Everything that goes into that drone equipment missiles Prince Right exactly Eric Prince's fucking love in this shit So, you know, these are all the war pigs that fiat money service They don't offer anything on the free market like, you know, Eric Prince says he does but it's still funded by the the government All of it for sure. I'm not all who else is who else is giving black water Well, it's giving black water money. Well at the time. Yeah. Yeah back then I would have said that's right there

You know so I mean there might be warlords and shit, but that's like peanuts compared to the money We can just bring it from the Pentagon budget so Yeah, that guy. I mean he thought I liked Mark Lacia. What'd you get? What's like? Give you my opinion on Eric Prince? Am I gonna get my head blown off? Drone struck So yeah, so you had him on your show, right? Yeah. Yeah, and he was he was good enough to come on We got really good views out of it. So thanks You only give us 40 minutes it was through zoom, but hey it did well

so yeah, that's all it does is just lead to bigger budgets. So whether that's whether it was conniving enough for the CIA to be like, yeah, once we cause this war, we know Trump's going to get elected. We kind of already knew by July 24 that he was going to get elected. He just got shot. You know, so you could see the writings on the wall, and then they were like yeah This means we're gonna invade possibly like I do think that way They do think like you know yes like they're like

Not all the wrong with possible. Yeah, you know they knew 9-eleven. You know they knew the twin towers were vulnerable there have been threats And they tried to bomb it in 93, right exactly close exactly So they know these things that just like Danielle who was like, yeah, well if they invade this is a perfect excuse It's a strategy they teach you can't remember McGregor is a guy who talks about the best but it's it's a Bellion we get them to invade it gives us an excuse to cause you know conflagration everywhere Yes, so there are people like a wartime leader if it's done, right, you know exactly the way they can support exactly So I think that's that's what led to the undoing because it's a zero-sum game Even when you have the you know, my oh had the the government in his pocket

It's still by the end you you lose your usefulness you have an expiration date he finally there was no one left to tell on yeah you know you tell on everybody and it's like damn you're the last motherfucker standing so like you said they're never fully free no they they may have a lot of land they may have whatever but they're gonna live their whole life looking over their shoulder yeah and they're imprisoned in their province in Mexico. Do you think El Chapo was propped up, meaning like he wasn't really what they said, or do you think he legit had that power?

People think that he was propped up by Mayo. Really? Because he was flashy, he was arrogant, he was a tiny little guy, super poor from a fucking, from Barriaguato, just this tiny little guy, super poor, from a fucking, from Baria, Bariahuato, just this tiny little, or a Latuna, I think he's from, it's this little town in the hills of Sinaloa, and he was, you know, he's an underdog. He had little man syndrome.

So that's why he was like dating novella actors, and what are you doing? You're the most wanted man in the world. Sean Penn, come on in. Let's sit down with Sean Penn, dude. He calls him Sean Penn in the world Sean Penn. Come on sit down with Sean He calls him Sam Ben. Oh last Sam Ben So he definitely and my oh saw that and definitely Almost we know from how my oh acted. He was like he did not like the flash and so he was definitely Pushing him up as like the face of it. He's Don Corleone to this guy's, you know regular old good fella

right, right exactly and so Yeah, I mean the guy we have him on on record Maya with his son in a jail in Chicago and He basically tells his son you go ahead and go ahead and do what you got to do Let him know about Chapp. Get yourself out of there. Yeah, and then when Chapo's kids got kidnapped by Mencho in Puerto Vallarta, they walked into a restaurant that they were having dinner at and they just said, come with us.

Kidnapped, bro. Mencho, Mayo negotiated to get those kids sent back safe. So well, he would he would he would give up choppo, but also help the family out, right? He's a chess player is a master chess player. It ran out. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't have anybody left to tell on it you know, he doesn't know enough about men show, you know, he's The CJ and just keeps growing bigger and and you know, and they just got their shit together man Like when we were in her when we interviewed Maya's bodyguards we they didn't this out yet It's not out because we didn't get it on camera because they wouldn't let us we thought we were we had a fixer That was gonna let us that brought us to them a fixer in cuyacán. This is before this is 2022

When you say can you define what that means in mexico a fixer is a guy Well anywhere. It's not just mexico. He's the local guy that's gonna take you to Is it different in mexico though? Who was talking about it was ed or maybe louise was talking about how a fixer Maybe it's jorge. I don't remember someone was telling me like a fixer, maybe it was Jorge. I don't remember. Someone was telling me like a fixer could be, it's like someone who's not a journalist, but they covered, I might be missing something. But that's this guy, he wasn't a journalist.

He was the guy that our journalist friend Luis, who we were in Culiacán with, he was the guy on the ground, but Luis was like, he's gonna take us around, show us some shit. There's some guys who we pretty sure guarding Mayo and We were confirmed Luis was like they're definitely guarding Mayo because they were the ones sitting around with nothing to do because the ones closest To them are the safest because you know, it's the guys Because these guys got layers of security just like the military

So it's like if you're from the Mexican Marines and you get within 20 miles of Mayo His first centuries are gonna The Marines are coming and then they go by you get 10 miles close to him The Marines are coming and then they're like get him out of there so that when you're closest to the boss You're the safest because you got to get through so many security people before you get to them So these young kids like 20s, bro There's one kid is braces and a fucking AK. You're like braces wild braces brackets. They call them in Spanish Okay, Linda brackets TN s

and You gave me a Rosario. I should have worn a gave me a rosary like they're nice people But it's we're in cartel country like these are tiny little villages people driving around on fucking You know three wheelers and shit. Yeah, bro. We are deep in the fucking hills of Mexico. No government around What's your playlist when you go in there? Jamal on the towel like a little bad bunny, dude. Yeah Like a little bad bunny I put on some JLo I'm like you guys areLo? They're like, what the? We should kill you. We like a little malacomejo.

So my point is, we were with these kids, and they were kids. They were in their 20s. And what was I telling you? What was the point of that story? You were going deep, and they kept on saying, so we couldn't, we couldn't, we couldn't were going deep and they kept on saying so we couldn't they didn't our fixture brought us to them and They wouldn't let you on camera. Yeah, they were like we'll talk to you, bro

but we can't or that we can't you can't film us regarding the most wanted longest living longest free longest-living, longest-free drug lord in the world. Did you record them? No. Like just vocally? No. They were like, you can film around us, but you can't film our faces, we're not going to talk to you. And they're not going to vocalize anything?

Uh-uh. No, no, no. When was this again? November of 22. And January of 23 is when they did the big raid and got over a lot done, so Yeah, I don't remember the point We were talking about like going in deep there and how he was so Separated from society essentially like he was he had an army that was surrounded by an army that separated though Like that's that's what's wild is like you think you think these guys are in like some glass palace They're living like bin Laden. They're living a little better than bin Laden

They're living on a ranch and they're in communication with two or three people one guy's an accountant The other is his lawyer and those are the guys that are going out to make deals with the government or that are going out to make deals with the government or make deals with the local mayor of this town because they're opening up a drug route and they're like, look, we're moving a lot of migrants through this area. Bodies are gonna start dropping, so we need you to play ball.

Here's, this is your cut every month, you work for us now. Like it's very sophisticated, but also very country. Like it's not very elegant, I would say. You're not like, when you're doing this though because you're literally going right near the top guy like allegedly the most right guy in the world right you're not like a little scared I know you got a fixer in there I know you got some security but like I was I was scared I was uneasy let's put it that way I was uneasy I was uneasy and the Sinaloa in Spanish is fucking crazy. It's so ghetto

It's so fucking country It's like it would be like if somebody who spoke who learned English as a second language in Britain really proper English went to the bayous of Mississippi and tried to understand what those motherfuckers are saying like it's deep and now I Know Mexican Spanish better now So I could get by a little better, but that always makes me uneasy you're at their mercy Yes, anytime I'm at someone's mercy. I get a little uneasy. You know yeah, it's the same way when I want a flight I'm a little uneasy because I have no control so

But look those guys don't they're chilling They don't want they don't want you dead you seem like there's a piece of you though that lives for that a little bit That's in that touching that touching the fucking coffee long enough before it's hot just to know what it feels like yes Yeah, I just like to come just open a vein just a little bit Yeah, I did is it is it is pretty fucking I am gonna miss that if I stop doing this show That's why yeah, I want to incorporate that into moving on like I don't want to stop talking about Cartels and I want to do topical shit because people are interested in this I don't need to talk to Italian mob guys from the 80s anymore

But like this shit is like ever evolving. I'm gonna hook you up with a few. No, I'm good. I've talked I I don't need to I don't want to I don't want to feel the wrath of John Yeah, dude, but that's isn't that wild like how deep the politics of Mexican cartel Like how deep the politics of Mexican cartel. Oh, it's their own government man. They're politicians, dude I'm gonna do it in a podcast studio. I can't even fathom it. I've never been I don't You know, like I live vicariously through some secondhand content I get from guys like you who actually understand what's going on, but that is far from trying to try to you know I've got a better understanding but I mean it's very deep and it's you you pull back the layers little by little but you know if

If I can keep doing these stories though if I can keep getting on like that kid who we interviewed what time when does this come? out Probably like three weeks or so. All right, it might be out on our channel We are gonna release this video in Spanish of this interview. I did with this kid He was 17 years old when he, you know, saw a recruitment video from the Jalisco New Generation cartel. He went joined up with them. They take him to this. He's forced to kill people blow people away. Like he said, these government guns were so big, he blew a guy's head off in training So you imagine what it's done to this guy's brain already, right? Yeah, he he's driving. He's he's in a cartel tank

Fighting shooting at the Mayo's the the Sinaloa cartel in Zacatecas. He's witnessing And he's like 16 when he's doing yeah, it's now he's I know I think he's like 17 or 18 I can't be doing that when he's doing that yeah this was a couple of years ago still a kid yeah and so he's lucky he got out alive he was cool with his commander and he was like I just this isn't for me his commander yeah yeah of course they have commanders bros is a military we're talking about oh this is my point the reason that this is a good way to bring it home the reason that Jalisco

The Jalisco new generation cartel they have their shit together like they're doing and we're with these Sina Loewen guys They're all sniffing coke. They're all smoking weed. They're all just non-stop Ticote Ticote lights, that's what they drink down there to cut they to cut the lights. That's what they drink down there. How least go all this well all business. They're testing your the DNA under your fingernails to make sure there's no drugs in your system. And that's why they're going to last longer than people think they're really they're going to be around a while. You know with that kind of discipline that kind of money behind them and that kind of ability to adapt To like now we're gonna blend in a little more like there are certain places where we're gonna make war But we're in the cities now

You are we are going to work for the people, you know, they built we are in this little town by the ranch We went to all the roads paved by them the dirt roads in Mexico where the World Cup is coming yeah and people were living with dirt roads because the government wouldn't do anything they're like no we got you bro yeah do you think 20 years now we're gonna be sitting here possibly in a world where the cartels have 50% of the power they have now um that's a good question yeah I think that's about right I think that's about. So they've lost about half an hour. Yeah. Yeah, I do.

What makes you say that? 20 years. Okay. So this is my prediction a sovereign debt crisis. And so just our standard of living will be rocked by it. People that are sitting on cash will lose big time. So I think a lot of people are going to move to Mexico. So anytime gringos move to Mexico, that means that they have to shape up. Safety measures. Exactly, exactly. So you see it everywhere now. Tijuana is the best example. Cartels can't operate like they did even in 2008.

So I think that's gonna happen. And I think a ton of foreign investment. There's so much upside in Mexico. So much underdevelopment that people can get in on, right? It's like the fucking early 70s in New York City. Imagine that, like it looked like shit. The city was almost bankrupt. It was run down.

70s was bad. But forward thinking people, Trump, that's how he made his fortune, right? Sure. Was buying buildings up like that. So I think more and more, you know, Chinese investment is going to be huge. Well, that was the last thing I wanted to ask you about too, the Chinese thing. Because you said this earlier, and this is sticking in my head, you said a lot of people that I may have had on here talking about this outside of Ed Calderon, they may not

know what he knows or be on that level. I hear a lot of people, including people that aren't covering the cartels but maybe come at it from the Special Forces angle or personal experience, they talk about the funnel of China through Mexico. How real is that? Like I mean, it seems real to me, but you know, well Outside of the fentanyl precursors of their shipping there because China talk about that too I mean that seems real as fuck outwardly China says they're cracking down on it China says they're cracking down. So we can't believe them obviously, right? You can't even really believe the Mexican government But fuck all that who cares about fentanyl drugs are like a sliver of the money that's out there, bro I'm talking about the fucking the land bridge that they're good. That's gonna be like

Way bigger than the Panama Canal. It's gonna run through the Pacific side of Mexico. I think it's Oaxaca You could look this up or Chiapas state, one of the states towards the very bottom. And it's going to connect the Pacific side through Vera Cruz, I think, which is the Caribbean side. Well, is this being built by China? Um, they're definitely good money behind it for sure. What is it called? It's called it's a really shitty name. They got to make the name cooler

Pacific Mexico Just just say the port they're gonna build between Can't work between Basically Mexico's Panama Canal, you can just call it that okay Mexico's Panama Canal story. I feel like on this It's a real shit name. They got to make it better. There we go Mexico's developing a new trade route called the isthmus of pay what that to what that pick Introcyanic corridor the aims to compete with the Panama Canal, so it's gonna connect The Pacific side of Mexico to the Caribbean

186 mile route. Yeah, and it's gonna be be dude, think about how much time ships are going to be able to save. They don't have to go down to Panama. They can go through Mexico. That is going to fucking catapult them. And it might take a while. They got a lot of shit. They got to clean up. But they're going to build it eventually. So in 20 years, that could be built. And it's going to make Mexico one of the most powerful countries in the world, I think is the all that money. So is the implication there that outside investment with stuff like China won't be as necessary when they can be self sustainable? Well, it depends on how much money is behind that, though, because if there's there's a lot of people that are going to be chomping at the bit trying to invest in that China's already doing that in Lima, Peru. Look this up, the bit trying to invest in that China's already doing that in Lima Peru look this up the Chinese Already have money in this huge port in Lima Lima is gonna come up dude like the global south I do believe in it like fucking huge Lima's huge and 11 million people yeah, yeah, yeah, have you been I landed there? I went to the Amazon Paul Rosalie side to go through there And I was looking it up when I got there. I'm like what yeah

Yeah, so imagine that port 1.3 billion dollar the chun chun k chun yeah, John So so yeah Peru's really China's really got their mitts in Peru, but I think I think in Mexico, too I think this is all just indicative of the the unwinding of the American Empire. So you're focusing on the investment on all the other stuff as you said like the drugs are just a sliver, but it is it does seem fair to say to me the evidence looks good on two things that a China is using Mexico as a jumping ground to send people illegally into the United States for sure and B there is some sort of reverse opium war going on that's being emanated from your country.

Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, no, I'm good with all that, but the question is, where will the cartels be in 20 years? Will they have lost half their power? So with all that said, with the port that's coming, with the impending gringo migration that's coming, all of that, and just their development right they're just one of the world's great countries it's yes the the money the the the little guys will just be killed off by by the government that you we can't have you act like this anymore just like you know the the Arab investment in Gaza yeah all those groups will start to go away. They'll have to be disarmed.

You're no longer necessary. Cartels will no longer be necessary in many ways. And the guys at the top, that money will just be absorbed. The people that have benefited from Mexican criminal organizations will just step on in and just become that much wealthier. And their children will be the senators and the Politicians who get the contracts to build that massive motherfucking port, you know

so so it'll still be corrupt as shit, but I guess that's a cartel but is that just like Politics or it goes the other way and you have your Don Corleone moment where he's like Or it goes the other way and you have your Don Corleone moment where he's like, I never wanted this for you, Michael. Senator Corleone. Senator Zimbardo. Congressman Zimbardo. Old Pop, another penethyl and a peasant of Ante. Johnny Mitchell, you are entertaining as fuck, man.

Thanks, buddy. That was fun, dude. How'd that go? Dude, that's... I mean... We tested the audio big time for the first time using it. Yeah, you are you get the volume going But I'd rather that than the other way around. Yes. Thank you, dude Thank you, too. I hate a low-talking low-energy guest. You're not there's nothing low-energy Yeah, I agree, but I give a plug of course I was just gonna say where can everyone find you obviously we're gonna have your YouTube channel link down below everyone check Out the connect it's been around for a long time. It's a great show. Where else thank you so much, buddy

Yeah, the connect go check the go check the podcast out listen to us on Spotify. We're all I love Spotify now Yes, please sub to the YouTube channel Even killing it on Spotify see you on the charts. Thank you, man Yeah, yeah, Spotify is dope and you can watch it on Spotify, so you're on the charts. Thank you, Matt. Yeah, yeah. Spotify's dope, and you can watch us on Spotify, too. So do that, and then I would love it if you could just follow me on Instagram, at iamjohnnymitchell. I'm gonna start doing a lot more. I'm gonna start really going hard on comedy,

and I run a show every Monday in Austin, Texas. It's where I live now, so check us out at the Vulcan. Nice. Vulcan Comedy Club. Every Monday, we do shows. When I get down there, I gotta come see that. Oh, bro, we're gonna kick it yeah please you also have the not at not the connect on Instagram too right yeah that's all right that's our podcast page not the connect so we'll link so yeah as well yeah we would not be a podcast for pretty soon so yeah yeah you are you are

announcing this is like Jay-Z moment he He said that in 2003, this is my last album. What, you're gonna see me here five years from now? Still doing the motherfucker. John Mitchell, you're a fucking man, bro. Appreciate you, man. Have a good time, everybody else, you know what it is. Give it a thought, get back to me, peace.