Rotten Mango - Wolves Among Us, Season 1, The Larry Lavin Story

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

On the surface, there was nothing remarkable about Larry Lavin. He lived in a quiet neighborhood with his wife and family, drove a Volvo, and practiced dentistry in Philadelphia. But, from 1978 to 1984, Dr. Lavin moonlighted as one of the largest cocaine kingpins on the Eastern Seaboard. Through the voices and perspectives of law enforcement, drug runners, friends, business associates and Larry Lavin himself, Wolves Among Us, Season One, The Larry Lavin Story, tells the story of Lavin’s dual life, his impact on Philadelphia culture in the late 70s and early 80s, and the stunning events that led to an intense manhunt for one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives. Wolves Among Us is a presentation and creation of Peabody-nominated C13Originals, a Cadence13 Studio. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, Stephanie here. You guys know I'm addicted to a good thrilling story, right? Here's my latest obsession. I am excited to share an extended preview of Wolves Among Us with you, a gripping new true crime anthology series with C13 originals. The Peabody Award nominated team behind shows like Gone South, Gangster Capitalism, Fallen Angel, and The Sunshine Place. Wolves Among Us tells the stories of community pillars, soccer moms, PTA dads, and you're like, wow, their life seems so perfect, right? Right. Maybe it's just an illusion though. Larry Lavon, for example, on the surface. There is nothing remarkable about the guy. He lives in a quiet neighborhood with his

wife and kids. He drives a Volvo. Practice is dentistry, okay? Yeah, well, from 1978 to 1984, he moonlighted as one of the largest cocaine kingpins on the Eastern Seaboard. They distributed hundreds of pounds of coke every month that are nearly $200 million. His empire spanned over two continents, three countries, and 14 states during Reagan's war on drugs. Through the voices and perspectives

of law enforcement drug runners, friends, business associates, and Larry Lavon himself, season one of Wolves Among Us explores Lavon's dual life and the stunning event that led to an intense manhunt for one of FBI's most wanted fugitives. You can find Wolves Among Us now on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. I know Larry Lavon as I know him was a dentist

who really was talented at what he did. They liked him, his patients, his staff. He's the kind of person that you meet and you just can't help beloved him. Bright, very smart, good looking, articulate, nice guy, really. A regular good kid, like he could have looked at him and said, what the fuck's he doing in business, you know what I mean? A Philadelphia dentist today was sentenced to 22 years in prison and fined $100,000.

This was just unbelievable. The size and breadth of the operation was crazy. Dennis Lawrence Levin, we did guilty to running a $5 million a month cocaine ring that catered to lawyers, stock brokers and other professionals. You can understand the genius in Larry. Nobody was don't cook at this point. He was smart enough to realize that that's where the drug industry was going. Illegal cocaine is coming into our country at alarming levels. From Hollywood movie stars to NFL player to Wharton School business grads.

Look, he's a great salesman. He could sell dirt to a dead man. To businessmen, boy or stock brokers, people on the street. As an undergratted penny, he might have been making $10,000 a year as a full-fledged cocaine dealer. He might have been making a million dollars a month. Everybody wanted cocaine and I mean everybody wanted cocaine. No one could believe that this highly educated, young, handsome man was this kingpin drug dealer.

It's funny, even when you're running something like that, you just don't think yourself as a kingpin. I just wanted to have money to pay for dental school. And then all of a sudden it's snowballed into something else. This is Wolves Among Us, a documentary podcast from C13 Originals, a cadence 13th studio, season one, The Larry Lavon Story. I said you're sitting in this beautiful home, you've got millions of dollars in cash. What the fuck?

More do you need? Listen to wolves among us now. For free, wherever you get your podcasts. And he was like, oh, will you? I'm never gonna get caught. Yes, you are. The odds are against you. you