Locked In with Ian Bick - KINGPIN Explains How He Built A Million Dollar Empire In College | Eric Canori

Episode Date: October 8, 2023

Eric Canori was one of the largest high-end pot dealers on the East Coast of the United States — before it became legal in any state — smuggling weed out of Canada via 18-wheelers, helicopters, and boats. He operated like a ghost, doing well over $300,000,000 of business by age 29 — without a gun or the government knowing. In this episode Eric discusses with Ian his childhood, how he got involved in the pot business, his downfall and the knowledge he's gained along the way. Connect with Eric Canori: https://www.ericcanori.com Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 10% off your order Connect with Ian Bick: https://www.ianbick.com 00:00 Intro 01:02 New merch 02:32 Learning from being trapped 03:02 Childhood 03:58 Parents 06:16 Start of selling 06:40 Did his mom know of his struggles 07:40 What would have happened if he came from money 08:44 What gave him a hustler mindset 11:10 How his business evolves 12:48 Becoming an entrepreneur 13:47 Are Entrepreneurs born or created? 15:44 Wishing he used his skills for something different 16:32 What would he have categorized himself 19:47 How much money he was making 22:05 How he cleaned his money 22:57 Did he have a partner? 23:26 How he protected himself 26:41 Where was his mom 27:15 Dangerous situations & Close Calls 29:59 The money getting to him 30:48 Was he taking college seriously 31:45 Intelligence vs Knowledge 33:05 Advice about college 33:43 School doesn’t teach you how to make money 35:52 Pressure from society about college 38:00 Social Media gives people the wrong impression 43:04 How much did he want to make to get out of the game 46:46 How he got caught 50:40 Leading the cops to the woods to give up the money 54:30 Food in prison 55:46 Conversation with mother after getting arrested 57:42 Message on family 58:27 How much time he spent in prison 59:44 Does he feel lucky about his deal 1:02:19 Indictment 1:04:00 Putting his past behind him 1:07:08 Using your struggles for good 1:10:02 A Day in the life now 1:15:06 Focusing on one thing 1:20:07 Message to his 19 year old self Produced by: https://www.instagram.com/shanedanahy https://www.shanedanahy.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Save up to 30% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply. They let me out of a jail a couple times. The first time they let me out. I let them into the woods with shackles. We dug up a couple million dollars in gold bars. They surround me. They had a whole perimeter. They know if I was trying to escape or what, leading them on some Easter egg hump.

But, you know, all in all, then they let me out again. It's a long story. But all and all, I ended up giving them close to $10 million in gold bars that I dug up in the woods with them with shackles on, the orange jumps suit. Welcome back to the Lockton with the InBIC podcast. On today's episode, we have Eric Knoi, the author of Pressure, a fast-paced, high-stakes and heartfelt memoir to tell his incredible story of building a multimillion-dollar weed empire

in college and becoming the largest high-end marijuana wholesaler on the East Coast. In this episode, we dive in to the actions that led him to build this business and how he was eventually caught and sent to prison. We now have new merchant stock. Go to Ian Bick.com to check out our selection of hoodies, t-shirts, beanies, just in time for the holiday season. Use code locked in at checkout to receive 10% off your order. That's code locked in.

Thank you guys all so, so much to our viewers and our listeners that not only tune in week after week, but also tell their friends about the podcast and help get the word out there. It means the world that I wouldn't be here without you guys. Remember, you can help support our show by hitting the subscribe button on YouTube or giving us a follow and review on whichever site you listen to this podcast. Sit back, relax, and enjoy my interview with Eric Kenori. Eric, welcome to Locked In, man. Really appreciate you taking the time to come out, be here with us today. Ian, thanks for having me.

It's a pleasure. I always never know what to expect when I get on these. So, you know, because when I first started, people used to ask me, like, well, do you want the questions in advance? A couple people did. And I, I said no, obviously, but I gave him a better answer than that. But for me, for me, I like raw stuff. So I don't have no clue what we're getting into here except locked in.

You know, I've been there. I've been locked up. And there's pros and cons to that. You know, when you're trapped in a position, well, you start the show. No, continue what you want to say. It sounded interesting. No, I just. Being trapped. I've been trapped so many times in my life and the greatest lessons I learned

were being trapped, whether it was in my child, whether it was in my childhood, being trapped in my bedroom for months on end while I was grounded or for being trapped in a prison cell, sitting there alone, looking at barren walls, dreaming, wondering where you fucked up and how you can do better. I guess you could call that locked in, bro. And that's why you're on the show today. That's right. And childhood is where we always start our show, So let's start there. Where are you from? Where'd you grow up?

What was like that early childhood experience like for you? I grew up in a little town called Queensberry, New York. It's an upstate New York near, between Saratoga Springs and Lake George, New York. It's a quiet little town in the foothills of New York, foothills of the Adirondacks. What that was like was lonely and depressing. That's the truth. And I didn't even realize. that till I grew up and because I covered a lot of that pain with drugs. I started smoking weed

when I was 16, maybe 15. And drugs allowed me to fit in with others and laugh about a bunch of shit. So I couldn't, wouldn't have to face the reality and have a real conversation about who I was and where I was from. And what was the reality at that time? What were your parents doing for work? What were your siblings like if you had any? A quick back story. My parents divorced when I was two. My mom had me really young. She was maybe 22 years old.

Divorced my father when I was two and then moved me about four hours away from him when I was six. So I don't really have a relationship with my biological father. I still, I never, he's a good guy, but I don't even really know him. You know, because my mom drove a wedge between us, which was unfortunate. it. And then she remarried. I had a stepfather that really pounded on me. You know what I'm saying? Man, it was just a tough, like talk back, anything that you do. When talking back isn't my parents, my mom and my stepfather drank a lot heavily every weekend, rage and rage and party till sunrise, right? So very happy on Friday and Saturday, you get Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, very irritable. So when you're

drinking or any type of drugs you are it's a roller coaster lifestyle you know big sways and emotions and I had to deal with it as a child so I had to tiptoe on eggshells at a very young age so I wouldn't slip up or talk back or do anything that could interrupt their mood and then get a backhand of the face or kneel in the corner dude just embarrassing I'm not going to even get into all the details it's in my book but it was very lonely and at a point you know by the time 15 16 a lot a lot of times thought about ended it you know I ended life just because I was embarrassed because I didn't want to tell people in school what I went through. And I couldn't have a real conversation with many kids.

And I couldn't afford with a lot of the other kids had. I couldn't afford the new sneakers or the nice backpack. Girls didn't notice me. I felt inadequate. I felt like a loser. And I didn't know what the point of life was because I didn't know that if it would ever get any better because I was just a kid. You know, and I had to make life better for me. And that's when I really, there was one way to make life better.

And that was to have money. because if I had money, I wouldn't have to come home to sleep in a position where I was going to get hurt. And that wouldn't have to come home to eat. Food and shelter were the top two priorities in my young adulthood. And I figured out how to afford food and shelter through eventually selling cannabis. I started selling in high school and then right through college and then graduated college with a business management degree and started one of the largest high-end cannabis distribution networks on the east coast of the United States. United States. I sold well over $300 million worth of grass by age 29. I did it all without a gun.

Yeah, I did it without a gun. And what's very unique is the government never knew my name or that I existed. I was a ghost. Wow. Do you think your mom knew what you were suffering with internally at that young age? No. She was focused on herself. She was too young. She had me when she was 22, and she liked to smoke cigarettes and drink booze and laugh and dance with her friends. All she had on her mind is raise a kid and have him go to college, get a good education. That was the only thing. And so she made me sit in my room for days, hours, weeks, months on end and just look at textbooks. Well, I would hear her yelling downstairs, you know, and I just would stare at the textbooks

and the words would just go blurry to me. You know, it was, I do think in her heart she wanted the best for me. I couldn't imagine any mother. I'm sure there's millions of mothers that all want the best for their children, but they're so distracted by other things in their lives, whether it's to pay the mortgage, whether it's to fit in with their own friends or their own relationships with their spouses,

that they just don't have enough hours in the day to give the attention to everything that their heart desires. Yeah. Now, had you have come from money, do you think you ever would have gotten into the cannabis business? Oh man, that's a tough call because I've seen kids that come from money that end up end in their lives. They're just depressed. You know, the happiest people I've met in my life are people that have some problems because problems are good.

And overcoming problems are exciting. It's a victory. So having a certain amount of problems in your life on a daily basis is a good thing to have. You know, some kids that grow up with everything and have tons of money, they have no problem. and they're like, what's the point of life? It just gets boring after a while, right? You know, so you want to have some problems. Mine were just very extreme, in my opinion, right? Like, looking for a safe place to sleep and eat while shivering outside behind a bush and drinking out of your neighbor's garden hose because you don't want to go home. That's a feeling of being trapped and out of options.

Now, a typical kid that has typical thinking is just going to say, let me go get a job at like a fast food restaurant or like I had a lot of friends that wanted. some money and they wouldn't go to the level of starting a a drug empire. What was it for you that made it want to take it to the next level, not just work like a regular job? I watched the TV show Miami Vice in the late 90s in my mom's bedroom. And I don't know if many people know that with Don Johnson was one of the star characters of that TV show. And I used to watch him with crisp white linen suits down in Miami, always with beautiful women around them. just getting shit done driving fast cars and it just looked like a glorious life to me and when i saw that and i got a taste of you know selling a few eighths and half ounces in high school i remember

having an extra like five 10 bucks or 20 bucks in my pocket and that was a sense of freedom the most baller moment at my entire life and i've done a lot of baller shit right just blowing money in every which way millions but the most baller moment of all my days was when I could go into the Taco Bell drive-thru at age 16 and order three chicken chalupas. And I think they were a $1.39 apiece. And I even got like a mountain do. The whole bill was like, let's say, $5.45 or $6. And I sat on the curb high as a draft's ass. And I ate that chalupa and that sort of. And I just felt at peace and I felt free because I could afford to do that. Because as a kid, I'd always ask my mom if we could get that on the menu. And she didn't have a coupon.

She only had a coupon for the 89 cent tacos. They weren't the chalupas. They were the real basic. So me being able to level up in that manner, I was just like, I want more of this. And that's when I knew making 20, 30 bucks isn't enough. I want more. A lit a fire in you.

Yeah. It's crazy that that, like the fast food ignited that. Like we all have something that ignites us as an entrepreneur. And that was what it was for you, that feeling. Yeah, feeling, it was a feeling of, being able to take care of myself and not having to rely on somebody to feed me. That's, I was self-sustainable.

Well, not totally. I didn't have a place. I couldn't afford a place to sleep just yet. But I could definitely afford to not be in home and buy my own food, which is safety. So how does it go from like a little, you know,

typical weed dealer, drug dealer in high school to an elaborate business? Where does it evolve? Well, the biggest thing that I did is I always put myself last. My customers came before me. My employees came before me. My suppliers came before me. And it was always me last. I always just had a mattress. Didn't have much in my, all the different rentals I had. I didn't have much. The house is echoed when I was on the phone. So if you call me, you'd be like, where are you? And people would say, they didn't know, because I was always a lot of different stash houses. But, I put everybody ahead of me and I was last. And when you do that, when you under promise and over-deliver and exceed people's expectations, they come back because they want to work with you. And that was me.

There was no messing around. I didn't waste people's time. I show up to a deal. And all the deals are win-win. So the key is, you know, keep my margins low, make sure they win so they want to come back. And then before you know it, I was scaled up to where I had accounts in every single state of the East Coast. I had drivers, warehouses, 14 phones at any given time. PGP encrypted blackberries and uh i ran it like a fortune 500 company man i was an air traffic

controller and i didn't talk to anybody that's another thing i didn't tell anybody everything was a need to know basis so if i do a deal with you all you know is that you don't know that i have 10 other deals going on that day or that week whatever the situation is uh real quiet real humble it didn't bling out it wasn't about rims cars i like nice hotels attractive intelligent women and good food. Where do you learn to do this? Like, where does this come from? Oh, man, I started.

I started young. I did a little paper route, you know, until I got grounded. My mom took that away. I did a little shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, washing my grandmother's car. I hustled candy in school and middle school, or I'd take my lunch when I get 80 cents for lunch. I'd take that, go to the gas station,

buy eight packs of Pez, flip those double my money and I could still afford to buy lunch and I'd have leftover change to do whatever I wanted with. So I really started learning how to get my money to work for me at a very young age

rather than me work for the money. I sold candy in high school too. I would get a $20-buck allowance and then get dropped off at the CVS and I would go energy durings gum, candy bar and turn it in like $60 bucks on a Friday at school. Yeah, yeah, that's people like candy, right?

I remember, fuck. It brings back the memories and I had the lemonade stands. Do you think entrepreneurs are born or are they made or are they created? Or are you just naturally born with that? I don't know. I don't think they're born like that. I think they're in an environment in their youth that sculpts them to survive and to do whatever is necessary to survive.

I apologize. Every person that you look at today when you walk out that door, you have to see the little child in them because 90% of who you are, who I am, 90% of who we are was programmed between ages 1 and 7. So you have to look at where you were and what environment you were during those years. And those years could sculpt you into being an entrepreneur. If you see your parents arguing about money, not having enough money to buy a pack of gum when you're in the checkout line with your mom, everything seems too expensive, that's going to resonate and stick in your brain at a very young age, and you're naturally, instinctually going to think about how can I get what

the other kids have? That makes sense. I never really looked at it that way either. I think it was just like watching my dad own a catering company and seeing what he did and then being able to be free and do, like, start a lemonade stand and stuff, then that once you get that taste and, like, I remember I'd save up to working to get, like, the new Xbox or the new we or anything like that and having those goals that just made my ambition go larger. Yeah.

Did your dad have the catering business when you were really young, like one to seven? Yeah, he started it. He was doing it while he was still a school teacher in New York City and then he retired from teaching to do catering full time. So I picked that up watching him work and stuff and that's where it came from. Exactly. So that rubbed off on you. You learned how to turn money from your father probably and whoever else.

I mean, I don't know your entire situation. but yeah do you ever wish that you used those skills you developed early on for something different at that time period there's always there's a little part of me is like man if i just had that nice peaceful loving environment i always wanted to be an architect i like creating things from nothing and also i wouldn't have to watch my back every day because when you're in the underworld not only you're you growing looking ahead and growing an organization and scaling, but you're also constantly looking behind because you have to cover your tracks all times, right?

Like wondering who could have been wearing a wire, how can I prevent myself from, you know, cleaning out your trash, knowing that your trash could be being searched through for evidence. It's like a nonstop looking behind you equally as much as looking ahead. What would you categorize yourself? Like what would you have called yourself at the peak of this?

called myself a real hustler. Is it like a kingpin though or not really? I mean, I was a number nine in the business. Number 10 is when you take out the witnesses. Okay. So what does number nine mean? Number nine means you go big, you make a lot of money, but you won't kill to maintain your territory.

You won't kill to maintain your territory. And I'm not going to carry a gun. Like some people have to carry guns, which I get, you know, I understand, you know, that's, uh, and also number 10 is I was in cannabis. The margins are extremely small. You move into narcotics and coke. I mean, I could have made 100 million, 200, like big money with the same principles. I just did never touch that because the, the sentencing guidelines are much more strict. Or I shouldn't say the guidelines are,

but the judge, in my opinion, looks at cocaine is a more, uh, dangerous drug than cannabis. And keep mind we're going way back in the day here this is the late 90s early 2000s i got arrested in 2009 so had i got arrested now with cannabis might not have been as strict but this was before it was legal in any state um but why was i a nine i was in nine because number 10 is like cartel stuff that's that's number 10 that's when you're really that's when you'll do anything to grow your business so did you know that it was going to end with you getting arrested then if you were thinking about sentencing and a judge and how they would look at you? Or was that just like a what if scenario? I always knew there would be an end. Oh yeah, I was always prepared for that.

I buried money over the years in the Adirondacks to pay for legal fees. And that's the reason why I never had children, because for me, it was a calculated risk where I looked at it. Like, you know what? I'm okay with doing a little time for weed. I'm never been arrested before. if I get popped, the judge is going to look at me as a first-time offender for just cannabis. It was a calculated risk and it was worth it for the money I was making. At least that's where my mind was at that time. Now, it wouldn't have been worth it if I had children because I would never want to be in a position where I was boxed up and knowing that my kids were there to witness that and also being raised by somebody else that I might not know of.

So that's the only, you know, I don't know if that answered your question, But you have some good questions, man. What, you weren't expecting that? Nah, just all your questions are good. You're good at this. Thank you. I mean, lots of practice. This is 70 episodes in now.

It's sink or swim. I don't think we would have gotten here if I was, like, the first episode, it was, I had the questions printed out. And it was just question, you answer. I shoot back another question. It was so cringe. And I was, you know, Mike Rappaport. Oh, yeah. I did his show last week, and he was saying,

I never go on someone's podcast when it's their first couple episodes. Because that's when you're working out the kinks. Yeah. So now we're working out the kinks, and each episode you get a little bit better. How much money were you making at the peak by week, by month, and maybe by year? Oh, boy. By 2006, 2007, I was doing close to $60 million a year in sales. All cash.

Oh, yeah. There's no checks in that. I had a little side hustle with gold. but yeah I was doing I was doing a lot of business man I did at that point you don't even count the money anymore it's either you don't I didn't even weigh it you know some people say they weigh it but me it's just you look at the stacks you know they're in five thousand dollars stacks and then occasionally you'll check to make sure people are on point and check them because sometimes people get a little sloppy and comfortable uh you forget where money is man there's been times where I just come across

a million bucks somewhere and I'm just like oh shit you know just forget you know You never know your net worth. I didn't even know my, I checked my net worth, like once a year, once every 10 months. I'd be like, oh, what am I worth now, you know, and just try to calculate what's out on the street, whatever. Wishing you could be there live for the big game, soaking up the atmosphere in the crowd. But too often, life gets busy, or the price holds you back. Priceline is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars, you can go see the game live.

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What do I have invested in other places? And at that age, in my 20, I became a millionaire by age 21, 22. But you would never know it. If you met me somewhere, you wouldn't know it. The money I spent was never in my hometown. It was always out of town. And I lived comfortably. um but uh i i let most of my money i just put back out on the street to work for me and that's

how i was able to scale up it wasn't like i i'd make money and then go out buy a bunch of stuff granted i did waste millions and stupid things like filming women i thought i had this like docu series i blew a couple million on i just a lot of little immature things because uh i was never noticed in high school and i think there was this little part of me in my gut that wanted to be love always loved and accepted. And my, uh, I think the way I

attracted love and acceptance at that age with my mentality was to be noticed or for something that I did. Maybe I could make this TV show and be a success and everybody say, wow, Eric did it. You know, that would feel good because I never had a compliment. I wasn't really allowed to play sports much in high school. So there's no good job Eric ever in my life. At that age at least, I mean, now I hear it occasionally.

originally, yes. Did you have a system to clean that money at all, or was everything just cash all the time? Everything was cash. I had a legal business, but I didn't co-mingle my funds. There did get a point where, like I said, I had a gold hustle. I actually, I ended up paying the feds close to $10 million in gold bars that I dug up in the woods with shackles on. We'll get to that, but that was kind of my way of making it so I wouldn't have to work undercover for them. But I didn't really, now there was no, there was no, I didn't, a lot of people like at my level,

they'll have legal businesses where they run the cash through, whether it's a restaurant, a pizza shop, real estate, there's plenty of ways to launder and clean money. But I didn't have that going on. My business was just moving so fast that I was just burying shit and literally in the earth, three feet down. And did you have like a partner or is this all you, with just employees underneath you? It was just solely me. I had a lot of people that maybe you can consider them partners. I don't know.

I had good long-time customers. I had some customers that were there with me for a decade plus that always paid on time. Never did me wrong. I've had people go down under me, get arrested. I had a lot of different things. But no, I was the sole owner boss, I could say. And how did you protect yourself from the people underneath you that they couldn't just flip on you? away because you had a long run in this. It's not like you just started this up. One guy gets caught

and then two months later you're in jail. Gut instincts and I've said this before. Like when I meet you and do a deal with you, I can pretty much tell if you have a wire on. Not always. I'm not, I couldn't tell now because I'm not aware. I don't look for that. But back then, I could tell. And remember, it's, it's not what you think or what's in your heart. It's your gut. Because your gut said signals to your heart and then your heart sends signals to your brain. So for me, following gut instincts was really what kept me out of the crossairs of the feds for a long time. There were several people that tried to wear wires on me in the past. A couple in college, there was a couple other that I'm not 100% sure on once I graduated college, but you get that gut feeling and then

you don't calm out on it, but you give them some false information on the wire and it just sends them in a different direction so you look like a nobody. And I always kind of make it. And I always kind of made myself purposely appear to be a nobody. Yeah. So what would be like a tell all sign? I know you're saying your gut, but there's got to be like, is the person sweating,

the eye motion, body language? That's part of it. I had one kid show up to me. He was just exhausted, bro. You could tell the feds have been like running them down, dude.

He was just exhausted. And plus I had heard somebody else got busted near him. So I know they scooped him up and had a little talk with him and told him he can go back out on the street and do his thing. actually I pressed him a little and he gave me a tip he did actually write down that's in the book what happened he gave me a tip that he was wearing a wire on me um another tell is just how they talk the key words you got to think about is this conversation going to be used in the court of law is a jury if a jury's listening to this conversation right now can they pick incriminating things out of this

conversation so basic 101 things like if you're doing a deal with somebody you're not going to say the words weed cannabis cash right like those are key words but you can say you know yeah can you bring the package here tomorrow of 100 units yeah okay yeah five you know then the jury here's that yeah well i have a candle business yeah i bought a hundred what are you talking about you know what i'm saying so plausible plausible deniability can save you in certain circumstances but the thing is if the feds watch you they got you they have they have they have all the time in the world and they have unlimited resources. So the key is if you're going to, I don't advise anybody going to the underworld, but if you are, the key is you can't be flesh, you can't

upset them. You can't make yourself look better than them. Like they, they worked hard. They went to college. They have a job. They make whatever. I don't even know what these agents make a hundred grand. I make a hundred grand and you're out there making millions of dollars. How do you think that's going to make them feel when they have to, when they go to bed at night? Yeah. They're not going to like that. So it's just a matter when they get to you. So you got to be quiet. You got to focus. And if you're, you know, kids that pick up drug dealing, I feel bad because a lot of kids,

they don't want to be drug dealers. They just have to do it because their parents aren't there to provide for them the basic needs. Where was your mom at the peak of this? Did you guys have a relationship? At the peak of this? Yeah, I mean, I'd come home for Thanksgiving, give her a hug, Christmas, bring her a nice TV, you know, gifts and things. That was my form of a show on her mom that.

I did it, you know, by her things. Did she know what you were doing? No. I mean, she might speculate. I don't know. She used to watch Miami Vice when she was younger. It doesn't, like, I would think that she would have an idea. But supposedly, no.

I mean, she was just kind of blown away when she read the headlines when I got her initially arrested. When she found out about it. Yeah. Was there ever any, like, dangerous situations or close calls? As far as in what, with, with what, cops, guns? Anything. Yeah, with clients, with the police. during your career.

Oh my God, there's so many close calls. Well, a couple kids were the wires on me. The feds were watching me in college before I graduated. I only had like six months left to graduate. And they sent two different kids to my house with wires on trying to get a case on me before I left. And I was just so close to graduating. I already done three and a half years at another six months left. I was going to be out of there.

And I was a little nervous. But I played him pretty well. I sent him on a false trail, gave him some misinformation, and I was able to escape out of town with a load, a small load. I was small back in college, but a smaller load. And they didn't follow me around because they weren't going to follow around a kid. They only thought it was worth about $60,000 in college,

so it was kind of just like a loose end that they could get to me, but they're not going to waste a lot of resources on a little kid like that. I was able to get away from that and move to another town where I start a legitimate business as a, cover up. Other close calls, I mean, there'd been robberies. There'd been a shootout on the reservation before, but close call where I'm sitting in a chair and somebody has a gun to my head and says, give me everything you have, no. Never. No. So you got pretty lucky for the most part. Well, I wouldn't call it luck. I'd call it skill. I was very good at what I did because I started

at the very, I wasn't introduced. Like a lot of people come to this game, like they'll pick up, they'll be a driver and then they'll find somebody else to connect and take it. I started with a dime bag. I started with an eighth. I started with like when you look at how much I sold 300 million, but think about what I bought, I did well over a half billion dollars worth of business in my 20s. That's, that's, that was done trial and error and just going slowly and gradually and keeping my words.

So I just learned gradually how to do this stuff. And I worked a lot and my girlfriends would complain about that. Why don't I ever see you? So there's pros and cons. I, you know, I had a lot of money, but I didn't have a lot of free. time and I was actually exhausted. The money really robbed me. Originally the money gave me freedom, but then it got to a point where the money robbed me of my freedom, specifically my free time. Because I don't know if it was greed or maybe it was just fear of never going back to a place

where I didn't have anything. I just kept working dog, just kept working like a dog until I just never stopped for anything. Even if I got sick or got a cold, I luckily, I don't really get sick anymore in years because I've learned how to live a healthy lifestyle but man the money got to me at the cellular level and I'm talking about just weakness illness tired stressed it wasn't worth it anymore and that's when I started making mistakes and I eventually had a downfall like I was just in the wrong business like it wasn't not passionate about weed I don't even smoke I got all the drugs out of my system I didn't you know college and a little after college but then I really didn't really do much drugs.

Drugs fucked up my perception, weakened me. You know, it's fun to laugh with buddies about a bunch of bullshit, but, you know, but when you go home alone and you're sitting there weak and tired and exhausted and blurry, it's the high isn't worth the low to me. Yeah, it's nice in the moment, but then when it clears up a little bit, then you're like, I don't want to do this. Were you taking college seriously, making all this money? Like, were you still going to classes, getting good grades?

Yeah, I had I had decent grades I mean I wouldn't I paid people to highlight all my textbooks in the class so I'd find the kids that really knew it was up and then they'd highlight stuff I had one kid specifically He's a good friend of mine still

And yeah Oh one thing I always made sure to show up to class No matter what It was top prior even if I wasn't learning Or paying attention Or half asleep I always showed up I never missed classes. That was one thing about me.

I think teachers respected that. My grades weren't always the best, but I passed everything. But I wouldn't, just because I didn't have good grades, doesn't mean I'm not smart because, you know, I've learned over the years. There's a lot of knowledgeable people out there, but intelligence is different than knowledge. A knowledgeable person knows a lot of stuff, but they don't know how to apply it to their life to level up.

An intelligent person knows how to take the knowledge and then use it to their advantage to level up. So, you know, I wasn't an extremely knowledgeable worry. I'd look at the book and know everything in the book, but I was intelligent where the little bit that I did learn, I would apply that to my own life and keep growing. Do you think you needed to go to college? I think it was a good buffer from being trapped in my mom's house to the real world because thankfully my mom helped. She paid half a college or maybe a third. I don't remember the exact number. But she pushed me to go to college.

It helped me adapt and, you know, live amongst other kids. I didn't have to worry about food at that time, right? Because I had the campus provided us with food. So it was a good buffer or bridge into the real world for me. So I don't think it helped as far as getting a job because I never worked for anybody since, you know, McDonald's in 96 or something like that. That was your last regular job? Yeah, either that or a doctor. No, actually, I worked the front booth.

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When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton for this day. A RV at an RV park, but I sold weed out of the booth to the piece. So people would drive up to the booth. So I really only kept the job because it was free real estate to run my weed business. Yeah. What advice would you give to someone that's kind of on the line in high school right now

about deciding whether they want to go to college or not? Oh, God. That's, I'd hate, I think personally, if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, I really think those are things you should go to college for. because those are skills you don't want to mess up with a knife under surgery but general things if you don't know what you want to do in life and i hate to give this advice because i've never actually been a parent but uh i would i would personally just say start your start working start working because in in school they really never taught me how to make money they taught me how to get in line stand

straight be there when the bell rings kind of it was kind of a little more like taught me how to be a slave in a way, in my opinion, but they didn't really teach me how to make money. They taught me about history, spelling, but history really never helped me make money. I wish they had taught me about how to deal with people, you know, how come they didn't tell me, you know what they told me? Don't talk to strangers. Well, if you don't talk to strangers, how are you going to make money? You know, if I come up to you, if I'm going to order my sandwich, I'm like, hey, what's up what do you do you're like oh i uh i own the dry cleaners down the street oh no kidding i need my shirts dry cleaning whatever you know we do business so that's a tough question i don't want to tell

kids not to go to college i just i feel like it's over it's they're charging way too much what are you going to rack up a couple hundred grand in debt then get out and then you're going to get a job you're going to have a mortgage payment then with the interest on your loans that's tough to get ahead it's tough to get ahead unless you want to make a lot of sacrifices and the type of sacrifice is going to me no party on the weekends, being very military and regimented about how you spend your free time. You sleep eight hours, you work eight hours. That gives you eight hours left. You're going to scroll on your phone for about four of them.

Then you got three left. What are you going to do with those other three hours in the day? If you really want to level up in life, you need to think about that. Otherwise, you're just going to be a follower. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a follower. I consider myself more of a leader, but being a leader, you could look at that and be like, that's a lot of work. You're missing life.

Chill out, Eric, why you always got to be go, go, go, which is right. Because being a follower, you kind of just hang out, tinker around, you enjoy life. What if you die tomorrow? At least you had a lot of free time, right? Hey, it's not a bad way to be. So just figure out where you want to be because we need all types of people in this world ecosystem to thrive and evolve. So my way is not necessarily the right.

right way, but it's just the way that works for me. Yeah, I just think there's so much pressure from society that you have to go to college to succeed. And I think it helps people when they hear that there are other options and legal options. We're not telling anyone to go out and start a drug empire, but there's other options. Like, I look back on it now. If I left high school and got a job working even at Whole Foods like I did when I got out of prison, I'd have a ton of money saved up, just grinding and figuring out what I want to do because there's so. so many growth opportunities in different businesses. And you kind of use that as a stepping stone to start your business if you are a leader in that realm.

Yeah, there's so many. I mean, you could get out of high school and be a janitor. And you could be mopping those floors every day and be like, you know, this mop sucks. And you may invent a mop that's more efficient. You might be a billionaire. The key is just to wake up and follow where you're got. You know, you have to. a lot of people are going to you're going to wake up and people are going to tell you what to do.

But that's from their perspective. And what they do may be good for them, but not necessarily for you. So really follow your gut and your heart. And don't be afraid of being judged because I even, I'm a pretty confident guy, but I still am a little afraid of what people think of me, specifically on social media. Like I don't have a social media presence, bro, because I feel awkward. I don't know how to post. I don't know what to post.

What if I get one like? Like, but in person, I'm more confident because I can feel energy. I can't feel energy through the phone screen. So I can't tailor my attitude or behavior through that. That's why I'm not a good textor because I can't feel the vibe. But in person, I can feel the vibe and I can make shit happen with you, whether it's any type of connection, whether it's business, romantic. platonic, whatever it may be, I can feel that vibe, but I can't do it through text. A lot of people get on my answer, I don't text anybody, you know? I mean, you keep it organic, you know? Yeah, I try to. It's a lot

better. Social media has everyone thinking that, you know, like look at influencers on social media. They're giving kids and young adults a different image and what their lives could actually be like. And it's making other people not follow their passions because they think life's a certain way from what these others are posting. And a lot of the times you meet these individuals and they're nothing like that. Oh, yeah. They're just humans too.

I can't tell you I've dated my past, I don't know, 12 years. I've dated a fair amount of women that have large followings on social media. But really, they're kind of lonely. You know, they're kind of lonely. It's a lot of work to maintain that image. It's not real, bro. I mean, shit, if you have five friends, you're fucking winning.

Like winning. Like the, let's just say, I don't know, my, I have different grades of friends. But even my closest that I can fit on one hand, I don't even have time to see them that much. And it's, hopefully they know I love them from afar because I'm not a texter.

But when I see them, we pick right back up, you know. But, you know, it's, you know, it's just because I'm, I'm just in a phase in life right now where I'm competing against my, I'm trying every day to become the best version myself because I spent I had a you know

everybody has highs and lows in life and I kind of went through a a low reflective phase over the past I don't know 10 years well it was good it's by choice and it was great for me actually it tuned me up but uh yeah social media bro it's you know and I and I you can buy followers you can buy that it's just I'm just like what's real and you know I haven't bought any but the kids the kids I did it for a reason I have him because I have a bigger plan that I'm setting up a program for kids like a university of sorts online. But I don't want to mislead them and give them a false sense of reality. Like I'm a fucking normal dude. If I have one friend, I'm winning.

Like I'm winning. Like if I was locked up in a prison cell and I had one person on the outside that can handle shit, which a lot of people don't, you are fucking winning. Imagine being trapped in a cell 23 hours a day. You don't even have a stamp to melt somebody in a letter. you just hope you have a friend out there that can hold shit down for you take care of something if it needs to be taken care of and uh not everybody can say that they have one person that they can truly really really count on yeah i mean something i've learned it's it's really not always about money it's about the people you're with and and how you spend your time and having that luxury of being

able to i guess be free just that concept alone when individuals like you and myself go to prison It gives you a different sense of the world and appreciations for things. It just, I was in Alaska last weekend, you know, just seeing that space. Like I got, it was the first time I ever, like, went to a restaurant alone and sat down at a restaurant by myself just eating. And, and I don't know, it was like, it was weird, but it was good. It was like a different kind of feeling. It makes you appreciate things more. Being in Alaska or being alone or?

Both. I mean, the Alaska trip was great. That was like a great experience, you know, and that stemmed from me going to prison because they had me go out there to speak. But just I would always like, I think as a young adult or a young kid, like make fun of the person that was sitting at a restaurant alone or by themselves and stuff. And then I was that person last week. It just gave me different clarity, if that makes sense. It just like freeze your mind. And it just, it's like it gives you a lot of time for reflection.

Yeah. You know, I eat out a lot alone. probably at least three times a week because I never know where I'm going to be like tonight. I'm out of town so I'll probably be dry. I got another meeting to drive through. I'm going to stop at some restaurant. I'll find one on Google.

And I, for me, eating alone is a time for me to reset. And I've been doing it for 25 years because I'm always, not even when I'm traveling, even in my town. You know, I like I like going to places on the quiet nights. Like there are certain restaurants, certain Indian restaurants I like. Like I'll go on a Tuesday or Wednesday when I'm many people are there and it's just time for me to reset. And so I'm going off a tangent here. But that's good that you're doing that because eating alone, I remember that in a cafeteria as a kid.

There were times when I sat alone in the cafeteria and I didn't look up because I was afraid of what people would have thought of me. I just looked at my tray and just kept looking down, shoveling the food into my mouth to see how fast I could get up from that uncomfortable position. and so I know exactly what you're talking about. And there's a lot of kids in the world that feel that way. And I think it's good for them to hear this so they could understand that you could do that in your adult life and it's okay. That's normal. And do appreciate those moments too because that's how we find ourselves. Oh, yeah, yeah.

If you're not spending time alone, you're not leveling up. Absolutely. Did you have a number in your head that you wanted to accrue net worth-wise to get out of the game? Oh, man. Because you were intelligent. You were smart. You had everything figured out for the most part. Yeah, it started.

First, I wanted to hit $10 million. Then I wanted to hit $50 million. Then I wanted to hit $100. Like, the number just kept growing. And the reason why is because the people, I was in an environment where there was just money all around me. So I didn't even feel like I had a lot of money because there were a lot of other millionaires around me. And when you're surrounded with a bunch of millionaires, it just seems normal. And things are, and also you, my cost of living is a lot, right?

Like, you know, when I first got arrested, I was like, oh, shit, do I have enough money to live the rest of my life? You know, because I'm all done working. You know, I'm like, shit. You know, I was trying to do the math. And I, you know, it was, uh, when's enough? You know, everybody should really think about that because, uh, you don't want to be sitting in your casket being like, you.

if I only had more time because you're not bringing all that stuff with you that you bought. You're not bringing all that money with you. So you really, I recommend it, and I learn this in a prison cell, is finding that sweet balance between free time and working. And, you know, a lot of us were taught to work hard and then retire. You know, and we're a program that way. And what are you going to do when you retire? Like, I'm not going to need that much money when I retire.

I'm not going to be fucking moving. I'm going to be hanging out in my kitchen, eating, and then maybe go for a walk somewhere. Like, I'm not going to be. So now every day you should retire a little bit. Have a little fun, right? Work hard. Go for a walk.

Pretend you're retired and go for a walk around the block. Retend you're retired and buy something that might be of, that you didn't want to buy, but you think it'll add value to your life. I'm going on a tangent again with this one. But, you know, I really thought that I needed to make a shit, of money and save up to retire, which is not a bad thing. Don't get me wrong. I like money and I want to make money and I want to be comfortable at a later life. You have to put your acorns away for the

winter, right? But be careful to not let the money rob you of your soul and your freedom. And I think you only learned that through going through what you would later go through. Because your answer today is different than what it was at that time period when you're at your peak. Yeah, yeah. And I'd even wear the money on my wrist, literally. I had the a nice watch you know i have a nice watch so i could show everybody you're like you know motherfucker i can afford this shit yeah you know what i'm saying i fucking i i earn this i work i'm i'm i'm valuable i'm worth something you know on a watch now for me is an obligation like just one i got to put this on in the morning and i got to remember where i put it like if i'm traveling

around like i'm i love a very lean and mean i shouldn't say mean i live a lean lifestyle right now i don't have i try to really have as least amount of obligation is possible in order to better my life. And a watch is not better in my life one bit. Phone is right on my cell phone. Yeah, granted, 50 years ago, or whenever they didn't have cell phones, a watch is a very important timepiece, right?

Show up on time, show you're a good businessman to the second. So it was a necessity to have a watch. But now it's more of just a statement, in my opinion. But which is fine, I still have tons of friends that have nice, fancy watches. And I like looking at them. I appreciate good craftsmanship. Yeah. So how do you end up getting caught? How do they come on to you if you had everything so well organized? Because I started getting sloppy towards the end because I wasn't passionate a bit about the business. And when you're not passionate about something, that's where things start crumbling and slowly eroding around you. And that's what was happening to me. I was making poor choices, taking shortcuts within my organization. One of them is I hired Missy Giovi to drive a load for me. She was one of my customers for a couple of years.

There's a little backstory on her. She was one of the fastest female mountain bikers in the world at one time, one of a few World Cups. And I hired her to drive a load. Most of my cannabis for over a decade, I was sourcing out of Canada, and we'd bring it down to the United States. But come 2008, my customers are complaining.

My prices were too high, so we started sourced. They were getting, you know, California started actually having excess cannabis around 2008 where they could really start shipping large volumes to the East Coast to get it out of their state. And my customers were complaining my price were too high and that the market was becoming saturated and they can get it cheaper elsewhere, which was true. So I started, I was like, I want to go out to California to see what all this action's about. So I went out there, set up a little hub, started sourcing there for a few months, but I didn't have solid transportation there yet. It was a new territory to me. So I was kind of just Jimmy Rigg and everything.

You know, I didn't have, I really, I was setting up to jet the cash there and have a fruit truck bring the product back to the East Coast. But I just decided to use Missy Giovi as a driver. And it was a really low budget way of doing things where she would just throw the weed in a cargo trailer, pulled behind a pickup truck. And she took some shortcuts on me. She misled me. I paid her 60 grand to do the drive cash. And she subbed the drive out to her massage therapist for only 3,000. didn't tell her therapist there was weed in the truck and the they she got pulled over for speeding they put a GPS unit on the truck which fouled that truck back to one of my properties in upstate new york and that's when the feds first set eyes on me and things just started eroding from there yeah i evaded them for a minute i dipped out i lost them to 100 miles an hour on the highway um but i came back to them and i allowed them to cuff me up and they had a really weak case i spent a shit ton of money on lawyers over 700 girls

and uh oh man that was a it's all in the book but that was uh you know i hired a private investigator to investigate the DEA because they started investigating me so i was like i'm going to investigate them and uh yeah missy jove let them right to my doorstep and that's where they really started investigating me and trying to figure out who i was and what i was doing and why i had a million and a half in cash in my house and you know they wanted me to work undercover that for them from day one I wouldn't do that. Then I was bailed out. And that's when they started really watching me.

And I got re-arrested a second time as I was on pretrial release and wanted me to work again. This time, they stuck me in the jail with no bail. And eventually, after a few months, my lawyer came to me, he's like, listen, Eric, this is actually already two years into the first arrest. So like, Eric, you know, if you just give them the rest of your money, they're going to let you go. I still ended up doing a couple years for them, close to it. I don't know, 20-something months. but my lawyer is like, listen, he came to me in jail. He's like, listen, if you give them the rest of your money,

they know you're a good kid, they'll let you go. I was like, can we get it in writing? It's like, no, you can't buy your way out of jail, but this would be a form of cooperation. And I was like, okay, you know, I could live with doing something like this rather than working for them. But how much?

You know, we negotiated and how I negotiated, and how I negotiated that deal is all in the book. But it was a, they let me out of a jail a couple times. The first time they let me out, I, I let them into the woods with shackles. We dug up a couple million dollars in gold bars. They surround me, they had a whole perimeter. They know if I was trying to escape or what, leading them on some Easter egg hump. But, you know, all in all, then they let me out again.

It's a long story, but all and all, I ended up giving them close to $10 million. in gold bars that I dug up in the woods with them with shackles on in the orange jumpsuit. That's insane. Yeah, they got a couple million in cash out of me. They got close to 12 million out of me in total. And that was my form of cooperation. And it was kind of like, hey, judge, you know, I'm sorry for what I did. Here's all the money from my crime.

And I'm never going to do it again. And it was just wheat. I didn't say that exactly the judge. But that was my mentality and that was my thinking and the advice I was getting from my lawyers at the time. time. And that's what I did. And I learned a lot through this whole deal. I learned how the government works. I learned about how I work. I learned about my pain. I learned about other people's pain. I learned about everybody that you look at is fighting a battle that you know nothing about. So I really learned how to have compassion for others. You know, a lot of times I thought I was the

only person that had a troubled childhood or hard times. And everybody's really dealing with something. It could be an illness, disease, death of family, so many different things out there. So getting arrested slowed me down and allowed to be more relatable and a nicer person in many ways. It humbled you, I guess. Yeah, exactly. So you tactically really did buy your way out of prison, hypothetically? Hypothetically, no. You can't buy your way out of prison. No. That's a saying though. Do you think it was worth it? Like looking back on it, how much time would you have gotten if you didn't give them that money? If I had to guess, I mean, there's no tell, maybe 10 years. 10 years? Would you have done 10 years in prison for that 10 million? No, no. I'll make it back.

I'll make it back legally. I got some plans. I mean, even if I don't, I don't really, my life, I mean, I like money, but I'm way happier now living with less. income than I was then because when you're a boss and if your organization isn't structured properly with good lieutenants around you you don't have time to breathe think about how many rich people you know that don't have time to breathe and are sick and literally tired just tired all the time every morning have to have a coffee to get through the day I've never had coffee thankfully I you know I live with the sun rise with it and set with it but you know if I

straight up came out of college and i had to be somewhere every single morning when somebody told me to i probably would have started drinking coffee i was fortunate enough where i was able to make my own schedule but think about how many people right now can't make their own schedule even the people that own their companies making millions of dollars that business owns them they do not own the business because if they leave if you do not have good lieutenants and you leave your organization you want to go on vacation with your wife for a couple weeks down the caribbean you could think the whole company could collapse just a few mistakes people not know what they're doing so for me losing that business and losing that money was a blessing because it taught me where out with that I was going in

the wrong direction so the next time I set up a company that can scale I'm going to make sure I have good lieutenants around me because I want free time I want time to breathe so do I regret giving them all the money no I wouldn't want to done 10 years in a cell now I wouldn't mind the alone time it's the food the the prison food is not nutrient-dense food. Like, I eat from farms, not factories. And a lot of the food, even, that we eat out here, is produced in factories, right?

Like, I mean, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but, yeah, dude, it's the food, man. I remember eating a hamburger, just, like, tough things, like in the meat, like, I don't know if it was a bone and now. That's not even real meat, whatever they gave you. Yeah, yeah, what, dude, come on. The sloppy Joe's. Yeah, it shouldn't be, you know, they really,

should fix that because if you really want to reform inmates and make them better so they don't go out on the street and do this shit like the system is not in my opinion set up for reform you know i was fortunate enough where you know the deal i made with the feds i was allowed to keep my legitimate assets so i had something to come back to but if you don't have something to come back to and you're malnourished in there and you're doing a 10 year bid and you come out like what do you got left for life. It's like, you know, you're going to do something again wrong because you just, you only have, you only have a few years left maybe of life. It's like, yeah, I could talk about this all day. Bottom line is they should fix nutrition program in prisons. What was the first

conversation with your mother like after she found out that you got arrested? We didn't even talk. She's just like, I don't know what to say right now. I'm embarrassed. How'd that make you feel? It didn't even, her feelings were not my problem. priority because I was being literally followed by the feds 24-7 when I first got arrested. They had cars sitting down the road. Like they knew everything. They knew what I ate for breakfast, what type of laundry. They probably knew what I sound like in bed.

Like they knew everything, bro. So worrying about her feelings was not my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, life. team. How do I figure out how do I close up my organization properly? Uh, there was just so many moving parts that I was in a military mindset. said at that time. But do you think people in those positions have to be selfish because they need to focus on themselves to get out of those situations? Yeah, yeah. Anytime when you have, I was at war.

So in your tribe, whatever, if somebody in your tribe is at war battling, whether it's cancer, or the government, anything, you need to be there for them. They don't need to be there for you. So my mom needed to be there for me then. And they did a pretty good job. You know, I'm a, he did a pretty good job, I guess, you know, you could say. I mean, I don't want to get into, why that I don't want to get into all my family stuff right here. I put the, the most that I wanted to share about my family is in the book, but I'm not going to get into all that. But, oh, man, you know what? Your mother's supposed to be really the closest person to you because remember, you were connected by an umbilical cord at one time.

You know, I don't have, unfortunately, a relationship, you know, anymore. And I don't want to get into that. It's a hard thing I've had to face in my little ayahuasca ceremonies that I do. You know, it's like one thing that always comes to me. It's like, you know, family is everything and most important. And I got burned in many more ways than one. And it hurts. It still hurts to this day.

And the reason I don't party and do drugs and stuff like that is because if I were to do that, it would probably collapse me and knock me out because there's that little pain there, man. It's like it's, there's this, I still. deal with it. But the only way I get through it is I keep moving, right? I exercise. I eat right. I try to hang around with good people. I try to work on things that I'm passionate about. I try to rise above the pain. But it's there still. But hey, fuck, everybody's got a little pain, right? Yeah. I mean, that's what makes us human. It makes us relatable to each other and keeps us going to if you use it as like a motivator. Yeah. How much time did you end up doing overall? And when did you get out of jail or

prison wherever they sent you much time did i do i did close to 20 months how much was the other question um what year did you get out oh i got out in uh geez 2014 i believe yep and that's when everything was done the case was over yeah i still had supervised released for five years i believe um which was you know you just have to tell them where you're going how much money you make how much money you spend, if you've done anything wrong. But, you know, they were all respectable. I respected them. They respected me.

I followed all the rules, followed the law, and I kind of just focused on writing my book, other small little business endeavors I had at the time. I did those things, and it kept me out of trouble. And I had a couple good girlfriends at the time. But, man, I've had a, you know what I've, my life is, I've had a wide variety of experiences. It's not like I've done more than anybody else.

I've just, it's been very diverse. Diverse lifestyle I've lived. Do you feel lucky about the whole situation? Because there's others in your, that were in your shoes that got way more time and didn't have the luxury of making a deal like you did. No, I didn't get lucky, bro. And I know some people would laugh, right? First time offender for weed, there's not really any.

anybody you're going to see doing serious time for a first time offender for cannabis i paid him 12 million bro voluntarily it wasn't like they seized it or caught me with it like i paid them a lot of freaking money to show the judge i'm done here's the proceeds of my crime the judge could have been like okay there's supervised release get on with your life don't do it again or you're going to be doing some serious time. Instead, he gave me a sentence and he made me go due time. And it's like, in hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. So maybe he does know what he's doing. But I mean, dude, I mean, that's a lot of freaking money I gave him, right? I mean, that's, you don't really hear that happening. Actually, and it was the most money they got in New York State.

That year, there was only like 22 million recovered in forfeitures that whole year. And the whole state that includes manhatt in new yorks elvice city like that's a lot of freaking money i gave them do you know don't quote me on that number if you don't quote me on them do the research but that's what i recall um yeah where'd that money go yeah where does that money go they didn't need the money they can print more yeah it's crazy though the whole seizure concept that when they take money and then whatever wherever it goes yeah you know i don't all i heard was they auction the gold off and what they do with the proceeds of that. I have no clue. Hopefully it went to a good cause.

I heard some of it that they had sent just articles I had read where they they gave it to division because they had 32 different law enforcement agencies investigating me. 32. We have 32 agencies? No, it was it was that's a combination of state, federal and local, all the different branches, different territories. Don't quote me on 30. too either. It could have been 31. I know it was above 30. Like, that was what I had read in some paperwork somewhere. So, and the money I know got spread amongst a few of the agencies specifically in my local town. There was like a county and a state and a federal agency, but I don't know all the numbers exactly. What was the actual charge that you got charged with and pled guilty

to? I only had a one count indictment that was a conspiracy to distribute 100 kilos of cannabis, which I'm lucky, right? That's not bad. One count. indictment I can live with that. Hopefully it'll get, what is the term I'm looking for? Pardoned or? Not pardoned, but dissolved. I can't even remember, blunt blank, but so. You are eligible for that at some point? I don't know because I was a distributor, like a manager, whatever you kingpin, whatever you want to call it, but. Oh, you got the enhancement? Geez, I don't know what they call it, man. I was just, I wish expunged. That's the word expunge.

It would be nice if my record was expunged because cannabis is. legal in so many states right now. It's like, come on. It's just us to plant. But, you know, I broke the law. I took shortcuts. I cheated. So there it is. I have a one-count indictment on my record. You know, being a felony, that's being a felon, that's the problem. I feel bad for so many felons is you're really isolated from a lot of other opportunities. It's not just the prison time. It's like, okay, you know, you go to lease a place. Every day, always on these applications, have you ever been arrested? You know, there's certain things that you're prohibited from doing, like can't own a fire. arm. So let's just say we had some pandemic again and somebody comes to my house and goes,

give me all your food. And they put a gun at my head. Give me all your food and money. You know, I want to be able to pull a gun out and say, no, I can't. So I have to be able to disarm them with my hands now, which, you know, I don't know that we could talk all day about that. I don't like talking too much about crime. The thing is I, you know, I'm happy I came on this podcast, but like I was telling you briefly when I walked in is, uh, I try to not to talk about crime too much because it's the old version of me and you know

the law of attraction really works when you think about things or talk about things it's almost like it somehow gets embedded in your brain but maybe I'm wrong with that but this is the locked in podcast so I ask me whatever the fuck you want dude no I think um what I because I've felt the same way

but I think I've been able to utilize my story and the crimes that happened in the prison sentence as a tool. And I think if you're able to figure out a way to use it as a tool, that separates it from the past to the person you want to become.

Because in that process and in that journey, you're creating something new from that bad experience. Because I wouldn't, we wouldn't be sitting here now if I never figured out a way to use that as a tool. So I think that, yeah. Yeah, that's, that's, you know,

you actually are, you're right. You know, and, maybe I'm doing that too in a way. Maybe I am and will do that. You're right. I think the book is writing the book is about that's always going to be there. Yep, you're right. When you do podcasts, that's always there getting that out. But it's about what people take away from it. Like, you'll see content creators in our genre or in the prison genre that's very focused on themselves with what like stabbings or this and that. And what I realized that my life changed for me when I made it more about others, bringing others to share their story. And I use my story to propel the show

and to build a platform. But hearing other stories and what they did to overcome, that inspires so many people. I mean, so many people will be inspired by your story that there's a life outside of what you're able to build and, you know, facing your childhood trauma and working through that and how it shaped you as an individual. That's why I like to start the show of where a person comes from, because it all starts at ground zero and we all have a childhood and that makes us human and sometimes people read the felony on our record and they don't realize that we were humans too and lived a childhood in some sense good hit you with some knowledge there yeah yeah no it's good you know and i kind of knew some of that but uh yeah it's good that we're you specifically that are really taking your past

troubles and using that to propel you to do good and help others, you know, because I think you and me, we could help the younger generation give them a little direction because like a lot of them are drowning and misinformation and just poor guidance because it's, there isn't enough time. It seems like everybody's running out of time to really, it's not like the old days where you have a horse and carriage and your kids are at home running around on the farm and you have the time to really educate them and teach them right for wrong and what's important. in life a lot of them are learning it from influencers online you know how to live life and what's important and uh if you can take the troubles that you faced and spin it in a way that really gives

guidance to help propel the younger generation uh to a place where they're happy and healthy and there you go that'll work i mean i i have something i'm working on similar but uh yeah going off on a tangent no it's great it's using like there's so many podcasts out there about like talking the highlights of the weekend or comedy or this and that and that's great and there's a place for that but there's not a lot where you can talk about your trauma and what you went through in your life in a negative prison crime and and figure out the motivation and how you can inspire others with that and i think that's where it separates. You're not glorifying the past and you're not glorifying crime. You're just explaining what happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no, there isn't any glory in crime.

I mean, dude, it's a dangerous lifestyle. I mean, if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to get, you're going to get robbed. I've had friends where they've come in. You know, I had one of my customers. They just, they grabbed them. He was getting right open his door, grabbed them, put a bag over his head, brought him into his freaking apartment, hit him with a bat, asked where all the money and product was and robbed him. took his shit. He was beat up bad. Yeah. You know, and that that type of stuff can happen if you're really not street smart. If you don't have eyes in the back of your head and like, and you live in living with eyes in the back of your head is not the way to live. I mean, keep in mind, though, we got to give opportunities to these younger kids so they don't have to sell drugs. Because imagine growing up and both your parents are alcoholics and, uh, Your parents don't have jobs.

I'm not saying this is all totally me. But, and you're just sitting in a two-bedroom apartment with five siblings sharing bedrooms. You have no money and your mom's feeding you ramen noodles. And you're like, fuck. How come Johnny has a new tennis racket? Why can't we afford that? Your mom's like, shut up. Like, what do you do?

You're a little kid. You know, she literally talks to you like that. These are, you know, there's so many kids that go through things. I've had girlfriends. I had this one girlfriend. She worked for a. I don't know, some type of program where she went to troubled children's homes and tried to give them guidance and clarity. And she had kids that had literally been locked in cages, like locked in for hours at a time, 12 hours, just stay in a cage.

Oh, man. Wow. That's, you know, people that have had it much tougher than I have. And there needs to be some type of programs or opportunities for them because think about it. If they can go sell drugs, why wouldn't they? Yeah. Why wouldn't they? If there's no other options, it's not like they're, they're trying to hurt anybody.

They're just trying to feed themselves. Absolutely. What's a day in the life for you like now? Oh, man. It's, uh, I'm, uh, I'm an entrepreneur. I have various little small things. Nothing really big going on right now because I'm making some transitions. I just, writing the book was a full-time job.

Actually working on myself and writing the book was the hardest job in my life because I had to sit and look at myself. And I spent a lot of time alone. Literally, I would spend close to, sometimes I remember there was a time I spent like three hours working on three sentences in my book. It was just hard to recollect how to connect the dots, how to make, how to just be real with it, not scare the reader. And I had a lot of mentors that I had to go see and talk through my shit, dude, because

I never had a time to do nothing. I've been working since I was 12, 13 out of fear. So this is the first point. The first past few years was the first time. where I didn't have to work out of fear where I could chill. I had a small, you know, small amount of savings, lived humbly, didn't really blow money and just had freedom and free time to reflect and think about who I was as a person, how I can be a better person for people around me. So that's what I've been doing. That's what I've been doing that and writing the book. And now the next

thing is, sorry, this thing went out here. Let me see this. Oh, there we go. This, these headphones are a little off through tweaking me out over here. They're like the wires the way is going off. Hey, so what am I doing now? I'm getting ready to set up something. I'm going to set up. I'm going to set up something that can scale. There is two things, two criteria I have for building a business. How can I help people and add value to people's lives?

And how can it scale while I'm sleeping? Because I don't want to run around 15 hours a day chasing a dollar. And I'm going to create some type of course program handbook to, teach young hustlers how to stack all this because my teachers let me down the majority 80% of my teachers throughout my childhood even going up into college really did not inspire me and i didn't learn much but the ones that were passionate about their job i learned so much and i took that and applied that to my life but the other teachers that just spoke from theory that hadn't really ever done anything that were just there so they could have the summers off or the good benefits they

weren't passionate they were reading from a curriculum or syllabus very robotic and guess what i scored very poorly on those exams why not because i wasn't smart but because i wasn't interested in what they were saying so i started spacing out and thinking about other things that i could do with my life so i wasn't paying attention in class and i think this is a problem with a lot of the kids i think that the uh the education system lacks quality teachers. So I'm going to create a program that really teaches people how to level up and get what they want and take care of the important shit, which is, you know, mind-body spirit, right? Making money, feeding your family, paying the mortgage, getting along with your neighbors,

surviving the highs and lows that life delivers to all of us. I'm going to give you real knowledge, shit that I learned on the street that can be applied to the real world, whether you're going to be applied to the real world, you're in a corporate boardroom making billion dollar deals or whether you're, you know, at the bottom of your rope trying to figure out where you're going to get water because I've been there. Remember I said drinking out of my neighbor's garden hose because I was thirsty, hiding behind a bush.

Like I've been there. And I've also sat in a corporate room with the heavy hitters that make decisions that are getting ready to jump on their private jet and go make more decisions and change many people's lives. So I'm going to create something that can really teach the principles in a hopefully an exciting, cool and blunt format. So wish me luck. Good luck with that.

And hopefully it's not like what some of these other creators are putting out there. Like, you know those classes that you see? Those are rough. There's so many people teaching. And that's on theory, not experience. Because, you know, a lot of people. And I understand why they're doing it. Maybe they have a good following or maybe they're attracted.

or maybe they're a people person, maybe they're a good salesperson. But, you know, have they really actually done something? Some have. Some have. And it depends who, you know, I haven't actually watched. It's on my to-do list, actually. My to-do list is to start signing up for some of these online programs and just testing them out, seeing what the competition's like, how they're, what they're doing. So that's actually I'm going to be doing this winter. And then I'm going to create something that you can sign up for because I don't want to waste your time. want to take your money unless I'm giving you value.

Yeah. And that's where I'm going to do. I'm going to, that's the next big venture. And I got a couple brand things I'm working on, but I don't want to spread myself thin because that's when I lose quality. So that's where I'm really going to need you to wish me lucky. Stay focused. Yeah, I'm like that too.

But I've really learned to focus on one thing. That's why I've cut everything else out that doesn't, is not what I'm passionate about. And I just went all in on the podcast and the media company. I'm building and things like that. Because when you're not focused, then that's when mistakes happen, you get spread too thin. Yeah. Yep, I've been there so many times in my life. And even still, bro, that's a never-ending feat for you, right?

For the rest of your life, you're going to be constantly cutting things out to be more focused because you cannot grow unless you cut things out. You can only handle so much stuff in your life. That's why I'm moving a lot. I like moving a lot. Like when I switch out rental units or wherever I'm at, I'm constantly leaving things behind and giving things away. And like the next place I go to,

they'll be less and less because I don't want stuff on my walls. Eventually I'm going to build my end game is I'm going to build retreats where people can go heal, like prison retreats, but very high end because I want people to be able to go away and lock themselves in and have what the highest quality food, the highest quality fitness, and the highest quality staff,

which equals the highest quality vibe. That's awesome. I'm going to create, environments where you can go in and check in and reset and heal and i have a 40 acre parcel upstate new york i'm probably going to do a little prototype up there i can put it in a quarter mile road i got some spring fed swimming pounds but uh that's the end game and uh you know uh where did i go with this where i don't know where i want with that wish you luck on the timing oh fuck good and not spreading yourself too thin yeah spreading myself then dude like we all do this but i'm

to help people with that with these retreats I'm building because okay the key is back to what you said is focusing and get rid of stuff you want to keep getting rid of things and you'll be doing that to throw the rest of your life because when you get rid of things new things can come in the law that's the only way it works law physics right you can you can only handle so much in in your little circle or what do you have going on and it's not bad to get rid of things it's not a negative connotation with that you know sometimes you get rid of something it's a it's a it's a blessing to to go on to the next thing. You're growing.

Sometimes you outgrow people in situations. Oh, yeah. Man, I've had to, you know, there's certain people that I really love, good people in my life that I just don't hang out with anymore because I didn't feel good. You know, they were good for me at that point in my life, but there's only two ways you can feel

after you hang out with somebody. This is very important to remember. Either charged or drained. so next time you go to an event whether it's to meet your neighbors on friday night or your buddy on wednesday when you leave that engagement or function or whatever it is take a moment and think about how you feel do you feel charged or drained and there may be certain people or certain circles in your life right now where you feel drained and that's not a way to feel forever.

You don't want to feel like that. So a lot of people keep going back, though, because they don't want to be alone. Now, you got to man up and put your balls in the line. And be like, you know what, it's okay to be alone because when you're alone, something new will come eventually, but you need to be alone because remember what I said,

that's where you grow the most. It's kind of like, you know, when they say when one door closes, another one opens, but standing in the hallway is the bitch. Yeah. And, you know, don't be afraid to stand, alone in the hallway and figure out if another door is going to open or when or what type of door it's going to be. And that's, that's me is I never really had fear of, uh, closing things out that

never served me, you know, but there's certain people you might have to close up, but don't do it in a positive way. You got to send them love. You got to be good, be there for them too if they need you, but maybe you just don't spend as much energy. I can't tell you how many girlfriends I've dated that like, like, hang out this. They're always exhausted. And they're like, well, I'm like, well, I'm like, well, but we're going out Friday drinking. I'm like, why? What do you, what do you, what do you like, you know, if it's fun and you feel good, like, and you feel great after, do it. Keep going. Yeah.

I love a night in. I see people that do the same thing over and over go, the same bar and the same town every weekend. And that's great if it's fun for them. But I just, I couldn't do that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't do that anymore. I used to, you know, I like to go out for food, but I'm not a drinker. I don't really like alcohol.

Occasionally if I'm having like a steak, I'll have some wine or something. But, nah. Do you feel charged or drained now? Dude, you charge me. Actually, I'm being a straight 100 with you. I didn't know what to expect coming in here. So, you know, I was kind of like, I really don't like doing the crime podcast because I'm not a criminal anymore.

And I'm like, I don't know. But you're very intelligent. You ask good questions and it's a good vibe in here. So I thank you for that because I was kind of hesitant and I didn't know what I was walking into. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. And one last question for you,

if you could go back to your 19-year-old self or teenage self and have a conversation with that individual, what advice would you give to them, knowing everything you know now? Oh, man, it would be very simple, and it's the most important thing. Sounds so simple, but do not care about what other people think of you.

They're entitled to their opinion. Their opinion is from their perspective. It is none of your business what other people think about you. You have your own business to focus on. if everybody likes you in the room you're doing something wrong you're a people pleaser and you know what people pleasers are they become drained it's another thing i can't tell how many girlfriends have people pleases and they're exhausted when they come home like you don't need to be nice to everybody be courteous be respectful but you don't need to put a show on for anybody back to what i said if you

have one friend right now and you are 19 years old you are winning if you don't if you don't guess what you will you will as long as you stay true to your heart and focus on what you really love and and fear of judgment will kill you that's what killed me fear of judgment fear of rejection fear of if i was a kid and only got one like on my social media post are you kidding me that would crush me but you just got to say fuck it i don't care this is where i'm i'm not where you're from I'm not where you're from. I'm from a different place that you cannot relate to that was hard. So back to your question is one piece of advice is listen to what other people think of you.

You know, some people might give you good advice, but do not care too much. Don't let it ruin your day. Don't let it ruin your life. There were people that called me a loser. There are people who called me chicken legs. I called so much stuff. There are people that flick my ear and I had so many bullies pick on me. Like, man.

and it can be really tough for kids. Like I said, my childhood was way harder than prison. So I really, I hope I can help the younger kids because it's got to be tougher out there. They need them when I face stuff. But still, my one piece of advice is, and this goes for children and adults, don't care what other people think about you. Absolutely. Eric, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Absolutely pleasure talking to you today. Really good conversation. I'm excited to read the book. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And now we'll put the book description in the bio and where they can purchase it from. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Yeah, I'd love if anybody does read the book and they really like it, feel free to DM me. I always love hearing from people that read the book that it helped them in some particular aspect of their life and help them level up. And, man, Ian, thanks for having me, dude. Of course, man, absolutely.

It was a pleasure. That's it. Let's sign out. Oh, what do you want to know? You want to know the name of the book? The book's called Pressure, a memoir by Eric Canori. It's available on Amazon. And somebody reached out to me and help me with my social media.

Hey, you're looking at him right here. Hi, dog.