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From Mexico with Love: Drug Trafficking | History Defeats Itself Comedy Podcast
294 Plays11 months ago
Join us as we embark on a journey through the complex web of drug trafficking from Mexico. We'll discuss the smugglers' innovations and the unintended consequences that ripple through societies. Laugh and learn with us as we unpack the serious topic of drug trafficking with our usual dose of comedy and historical insight. A must-listen for those who enjoy a giggle with their gritty realities!
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Let's
Humorous Introduction and Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
do a little shot, shall we? Should I go down and get an actual shot or should I just do it here? I can't see, I don't want to watch you walk in your draw. I can't see your dick again. I'm going to need a drink a lot more. I've seen your dick one more time than I've ever wanted to. John's obviously never played on a hockey team.
00:00:21
Speaker
Does everyone who plays hockey see Kevin's dick? I don't understand. That is a prerequisite. You see a lot of dicks when you play. You do see a lot of wangs for sure. I never played. That's why I don't like sports because you don't like wangs. I don't know. I'm not a fan. My own. That thing's amazing. I play with that all the time, but. And I try to get other people to play with. I do a lot of things with my penis and I've been to jail several times trying to get that to happen. Cheers.
Podcast Introduction and Host Dynamics
00:00:59
Speaker
History Defeats Itself is a comedy podcast. Kevin, John and Greg are not experts, historians, or even all that smart. Hello and welcome to History Defeats Itself. My name is Kevin Rosenquist. Thank you for being here. We are a comedy podcast that wonders why do we never learn from our history?
00:01:24
Speaker
Of course, I am being joined. I don't know why I said I'm being joined. I am joined by my two co-hosts, two men who are both upset that they also have not won a Grammy for best album, John Banks and Greg Mitchell. You keep saying that and I keep reminding you that Greg and I wrote a very lovely Grammy award winning album in 1984 called Telly Tubby Time.
00:01:52
Speaker
That was well before the Teletubbies, I think, too, so kudos. We were innovators. We're still getting residuals. Yeah. How do you think we afford these smooth haircuts? Did you guys watch the Grammys? We were on the first episode of MTV Cribs. I did not watch the Grammys because I don't watch any award shows because I feel like they're rich and they're all doing great. I don't need to celebrate what they've done. I only watch the Junos.
00:02:22
Speaker
The Junos? Yeah, the Junos. I don't know what that is. Yeah, I don't even know what that is. It's the Canadian.
00:02:28
Speaker
musical word show. Oh, you should know that. No, I don't think many people do.
Grammy Discussion and Fake Careers
00:02:32
Speaker
I watched the Grammys for the first time in as long as I can remember. And it was really entertaining, I have to say. And I read the next day that they started this doing this thing where in like 2021, they changed it to be more just live performances. So there was a lot of live performances and a lot less like sitting there waiting for awards and speeches and stuff like that. So it was actually way more entertaining with Killer Mike killing it.
00:02:58
Speaker
Um, he, he, he won a lot of awards, but I don't think he performed arrested. I really, I really like him actually. Oh, he's great. One of the jewels is awesome. He got arrested. He did. Yeah. Yeah. But it was for, it was for misdemeanor assault assault. I did see that misdemeanor. Like, so I don't know if he had words with somebody because battery is physical. You can get charged with assault for work. I think he sensed that this episode is going to be, but John's law degree.
00:03:26
Speaker
Okay, so I'm gonna tell you what juror's prudence means. I'm just, I'm sorry. I know that you can't read, but I can. And I read an article where they were talking about that. So go fuck yourself, you illiterate son of a bitch. Greg, your time starts now. Illiterate means you can't read, you dumb fuck. My rebuttal is this.
00:03:53
Speaker
John, I agree. Oh, okay. Everything you said checks out. I'm gonna watch my P's and Q's. Yep, dot those I's, cross those T's. Do you think you're supposed to watch, what's that stand for, P's and Q's? I know it's gonna stand for words, right? Well, I know, but I'm afraid if I say, then you're gonna like have judgment because I know things. I can't win with you. Do you really know this one? Because I don't. Proxies and cueras.
00:04:22
Speaker
They're Latin. I think I think you're wrong. I think it's Pac-Man and Kubert. Yeah, it is totally Pac-Man and Kubert. I have no idea. I have no idea where P's and Q's are. And I don't know why you got to dot your I's and cross your T's because there's you also got to dot your little J's and get a little line in your Q's, you know, or else everybody thinks there's no. So I don't know why people maybe get to watch your P's and Q's because if you're dyslexic, they kind of they're just the opposite of each other. But I don't think that's it. I think they really stand for words.
00:04:51
Speaker
I like Pac-Man and Qbert myself. Well, they don't sound alike, so why don't they like, it should be like, what's your C's and K's? I'm guessing like that at least, you know? Yeah, you know, you don't often mix up P's and Q's. Yeah.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. That's a great mystery. I'm gonna only we had a machine that could look it up for us Guess what? I'm doing my topic on these and cues and cues watching random letters. Wait, how are you doing? Kevin? Did you write? Did you win any Grammys? I did not win a Grammy sadly Never gonna happen. I don't think
00:05:26
Speaker
Um, not yet. I'm still working on that one. Did you get nominated? No, man. I know. I know. I'm a, I'm a, I'm a total loser. Just means to mind your manners. Yeah.
00:05:42
Speaker
Are you looking at P's and Q's? Yeah, this is gonna be painful for people to listen to. Why don't you guys go on? I'm just reading Wikipedia. Let's get this bad boy going. All right. Yeah, go for it, John. Thanks everybody for being here. John is leading today. Whatcha got, bud? All
Comedic Insight into 'Narcos' Influence on John
00:05:56
Speaker
right. Well, so recently, my partner and I, Courtney S. Courtney S. Are you talking about in law enforcement?
00:06:06
Speaker
Yes. No, no, I'm talking in business, my business partner, Courtney, um, and we're in the business of pegging. So that's what that means. Or I've been using it wrong. Tomato dildo, you know, whatever. Um, so we watched the show, Narko's. Hmm.
00:06:28
Speaker
The one and there's six seasons and they're all six now. Well, there's going to be just a summary of everything that happened. Yeah, pretty much. No. So it kind of got me like really interested in drug trafficking. So in taking it on as a top as a subject or as a hobby or what as a business. So I just want to throw some things out, see what you guys think. And then, you know, let's broadcast it and see if it brings the heat down up on me. Trying to get some advertising in right now.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, we could, uh, we could come up with a business plan life. I mean, I think, you know, first of all, I mean, my understanding of drug trafficking is you traffic the drugs and you sell them and then you take that money and then you launder it through stuff and then you buy stuff that you want. That's, that's how I understand. So your advice about, uh, let's see, explaining narcos and drug trafficking is to watch Breaking Bad.
00:07:22
Speaker
That is also a very good show, right? Good business model. But I feel that he was kind of small time, very regional, and what we want is we want national distribution. You've got to start somewhere. Yeah. I mean, but I'd rather start. It's hard to start with national distribution. There's going to be some upset people, too. Well, I'm talking to small thinkers. So that's on me. That's true. That's true. I thought you had big visions, but apparently you're limited by your vision. Can I handle your marketing?
00:07:50
Speaker
Uh, sure. Sure. Um, is it cool if I leave this podcast? The first thing we're going to do is start a podcast. That's for sure. Let's stop. So
Origins of Drug Smuggling and Historical Context
00:08:01
Speaker
this is actually, it is the history of smuggling from Mexico. Smuggling nuggets smuggling. Yeah. Well, they were. And well, and it started out where, um, they,
00:08:17
Speaker
Smuggling started basically, they started, it was actually Chinese immigrants, Chinese Mexican immigrants who started planning poppy seeds or opium and smuggling opium up to the Chinese people who were working on the railroads, like back in the like... Not unlike what happened in Narcos.
00:08:37
Speaker
I mean, that was not in Arco's at all. There was no opium tree. Well, that's not true, though. Actually, that's not true. Fucking what's his face? Traveled to Asia and they fucking did a whole thing about that. We're thinking of lost in translation. Yeah. What are you talking about? No, I'm not. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson were drug traffickers. Oh, yeah, that's right. Who traveled to Asia? What are you talking about? Seriously? In Narcos, you don't remember that.
00:09:06
Speaker
Who the fuck went to Asia? Alright, with this move on. Are you talking about squid games? John and I need to finish our argument. Our therapist tells us that we have to finish our argument. Even if you're live on air. Yes. Okay. Seriously, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, you old man who gets shit confused.
00:09:27
Speaker
I, I mean, you can make that face. You have to insult me. That's fine. I, I, I constantly remember that I was a show runner for Narcos for the first two seasons. Okay. Are you right? I apologize. I mean, I was the drug runner for the first two seasons. Um, so then basically the, the Chinese started to smuggle across the border, bringing up opium. And then you had the, um, Sonola, Sonoa, Sonoa.
00:09:56
Speaker
Sinaloa. Sinaloa, thank you. Sinaloa region of Mexico where you basically had all these farmers and they started to grow like a little bit of poppy because they saw the money in it and then they started smuggling opium. But again, it was like very, very small scale. And. See, you start small, John. This is what Greg and I were trying to tell you. He's a big figure, though. We're going to see. We're going to see why you don't start small. We're going to get into why you go big. So right from the outset, you go right to big.
00:10:23
Speaker
Well, you gotta have a big vision, Greg. There's nothing wrong with having a big vision, but it's just... I'm thinking logistics. You still gotta start small. Yeah, logistically, financially, you don't have that capital, unless you have investors, but then you gotta pay back investors. You gotta get addicted to the drugs for a little while. Yeah, you gotta know what you're selling, right?
00:10:41
Speaker
Apparently in drug smuggling, all you really need is gun and the propensity to commit violence. With that, sky's the limit. I'm already out. Are you can't be violent? Both. Yeah, we saw it with a gun and see what you feel like. We saw him walking across his room, snuggling his fucking twig and berries. Of course he's in.
00:11:06
Speaker
I wasn't snuggling anything. Just so the listener knows, he was wearing joggers without underwear. I am currently not wearing underwear. He was smuggling raisins. I said plums. I gave you more. I fished it though. Or shriveled up raisins. Whatever. You were talking about how impressive it was earlier before we hit record. Well, and I think maybe you were just judging by my body language because my fucking jaw became unhinged.
00:11:33
Speaker
Not because I wanted it. Not that reason. My jaw wasn't going to hinge and my mouth started watering. That's what happens when I see a small penis that I want to put in my mouth. And then I got a scare direction. And then you got a masturbate to get the fear out.
00:11:53
Speaker
Then you can't walk around with that erection. That's right. You got to masturbate again. Just make sure you got all the fear out. That's right. Um, that was hot. Kevin, can you get up again? I don't want to do that to you, Greg. Hey, Kevin, why don't you go over to the cross room and get that guitar that's behind you. Start playing it and start serenading you. Wouldn't that be funny if your guitar was only this big, but it was a perspective issue?
00:12:17
Speaker
It's just like really just right there. It's right. It's like right like behind my shoulder. Yeah, that's that's not funny at all. John continue.
00:12:25
Speaker
You might think, I'm sorry, you're so boring, I totally stopped paying attention to that. What's happening? That's on you, buddy. The topic is not interesting. So by the mid 20th century, opium production and trafficking in Mexico increased during the mid 20th and the drug trade was relatively small scale still compared to later years. So basically from about, like it really, it started picking up in 1917. So there was like some drug trafficking
00:12:51
Speaker
In the early nineteen hundreds in the nineteen seventeen if you remember from one of our first episodes you had the harris act that passed which made the import of cocaine coca leaves heroin or any sort of opium product or.
00:13:07
Speaker
Poppy, it made it illegal to bring it into the United States. Remember, did we talk about drugs in an early episode? I don't know if it ever aired, but that was when we were still doing the... Oh, was that like our test episode or whatever? You did one on marijuana. I don't know if it would have come up then. Yeah, no. I don't think I talked about trafficking. Do you remember being bored about that before? I mean, you're bored of everything I do. Yeah. I mean, if my mouth is moving... I didn't know it was your episode.
00:13:35
Speaker
The marijuana episode. No, the whatever. All right. Now I'm bored, too. So, so anyway, so 1917, you had this thing called the Harris Act to pass. Wasn't that same years that flew that killed everybody? That would have been 1918. Did the other pandemic. It was 19. I think it was 1970. It was the 1914.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, and so then as so then you started flu was 1970. OK, OK. And then and then what really caused the drug or the trafficking to to really increase was when America had prohibition. Did they have did they have cars back then where they got in traffic?
00:14:34
Speaker
You mean coming across the border or? Yeah, I don't understand what trafficking is. Trafficking is when you're moving illegal substances from one country to another or even within that country. And you're stuck in traffic. Yes. Why do they call it trafficking? Well, you can only traffic if you listen to AM radio. And your dad keeps telling you to shut up. You're like, dad, go came to the trunk.
00:15:03
Speaker
That's my only memory of listening to AM radio. It's in the backseat of my dad. My dad was driving. I loved talk radio when I was a kid. You were born an old man. I loved rockabilly like a good kid. I never got really into rockabilly, but I did love talk radio.
00:15:24
Speaker
I was really into ACDC. Yeah, I was 12. So then that really like kicked up. And so basically what that did with prohibition, you had three pass that developed where you had these like systems that got in place where they would traffic and basically those would come in through.
00:15:43
Speaker
Tijuana to San Diego and then would come through Brownsville, Texas Which is the Gulf side and then you had Juarez, but Juarez Juarez through ms-13 No, oh, no, it's not three ms-13 I'm making a cocktail right on what do you what do you okay? All right So anyway, so then so the alcohol the prohibition of alcohol really developed the smuggling like paths or roads or Plazas if you will
00:16:13
Speaker
So then going to the 1960s is when you start having the rise of cartels because like in the 1960s you have a lot of this, how do you say it? Sinaloa? Sinaloa. Sinaloa. I don't know why that's, but the Sinaloa, you had all these farmers in the Sinaloa region or the Sinaloa state of Mexico. There's a song by Bruce Springsteen called Sinaloa Cowboys. Well, there you go, because that would be
00:16:36
Speaker
That would be what these guys are, because they were just a whole bunch of farmers. And they were growing tomatoes, and then all of a sudden, there was a huge explosion of weed on college campuses. And so then they started exporting weed. I like how you say weed. Weed. Weed.
00:16:50
Speaker
You like weed, don't you? I love weed. So you said the 70s is when it started taking off the smuggling? Well, like when it really became like a multi-million, multi-billion dollar business. The cartels. That's when the cartels started. Are we getting in trouble for talking about this? That's a... Oh, yeah. Don't give any secrets. That's a big gap between prohibition and that.
00:17:12
Speaker
Well, so there was, but there was smuggling going on the whole time, but think of it like, you know, it was, it was, it was families that you made. So if you would get like, you know, I don't know, say like a thousand pesos for like having a whole field of tomatoes, you get 5,000 pesos for opium. So you had basically from the like, from the 19th, from around 1917 to the mid sixties, you just had these small farmers.
00:17:36
Speaker
You had all the, basically you just had all these like small farmers who would sell to like traffickers. Were they physically small or their farms were small? Their farms were small.
Personal Tales and Cartel Evolution
00:17:45
Speaker
Like they would have like- But could they have been small too? They probably were. They were probably small people. Probably. Have you guys ever chased the dragon? Have you guys ever done opium?
00:17:53
Speaker
Yes. Nope. I don't like drugs. Nope. Did you did you enjoy it? Opium? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I really I really did listen to Kevin's laugh. Opium and heroin are the two things that well, I've never tried fentanyl. So you tried heroin.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah, I tried heroin, and it is wrong. He's not transponding. He's like, you know what? That looked like such a good fucking idea. I wanted baby to die on me and imagine it crawling on the ceiling, and it didn't happen. You wanted to climb through a toilet to get your drugs. I did, but I didn't get to do any of that. I just basically laid on the couch and hallucinated. It was pretty cool.
00:18:34
Speaker
But I do, I totally get how people when they do it are, you know, it's like, I don't have the kind of brain where you get addicted stuff. So like cocaine, alcohol, stuff like that. I think there's an episode of Starsky and Hutch where Hutch got addicted to fucking heroin. I'm not even kidding. Oh my God. And he had to come off it and he was like really sweaty and
00:18:53
Speaker
staying in a fucking one room apartment for a while and he just, I hope I'm not imagining that I'm going to have to look at it later because I'm pretty sure that happened. And that, that informed me not to ever try drugs because if fucking David Hutchinson can't do it.
00:19:11
Speaker
But you have tried drugs. Well, heroin. How big of a fan of Starsky and Hutch were you? Pretty big. I have never seen Starsky and Hutch. I saw the movie. It was pretty bad. You know what? The movie would have been much better if you had you seen the original show because they recreated so many of the exact same things that happened with the TV show. They call those Easter eggs.
00:19:38
Speaker
I mean, I know we always make fun of you for being older than us, but man, like this is a real God, you're fucking old moment. Yeah, this is an eye opener. Yeah. If that if that makes you feel like John, well, I'm only like five years older than you, buddy. Maybe the reason the podcast has blown up is you're holding us back, old man. Yeah. Because we're here to say the word. And that's the second time he's quit this episode.
00:20:05
Speaker
You can't quit quitting so Um, so yeah, so then so you're so young John. Oh my god Gaga goo goo get in your crib You little baby. I'm the youngest. Yeah, you don't look you I guess yeah, I do this morning I was brushing my teeth and I was looking at my face and I was like
00:20:27
Speaker
There was no... I was just like, fuck. Good thing I have... Oh, this is not going well. No, this thing I have face blindness. This is not getting better. This is every day it's getting worse and worse. Well, if you didn't have a 10-foot long gray fucking beard... I was just gonna say, there's one large thing you could do to look younger, that's for sure.
00:20:44
Speaker
Pull up my penis. Walk around. Hey, I'm young. Look at my penis. No, that wasn't. That's not what I'm talking about. Oh, is it shaving the beard? It's shaving the beard. Yeah. Yeah. Courtney would agree with you. She hates it. It does make you look older. It does. It does. Makes me look like a prospecting gold mountain man, old mule, but life wisdom. I got some wise things that I could say because of this beard. I don't see why. I don't see wisdom. I see. I see. I see moonshine dependency. Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
Um, your mustache is getting quite a bit bigger. It is. It kind of, the only downside to having a mustache like that is that it kind of like a lot of times it looks like you just have shit in your teeth.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, well and also man everything I drink now I have to like I Gotta get in my bottom lip. It's like it's like or I just or Mike It's just constantly wet like Courtney has learned like she doesn't kiss me like if I'm drinking a glass of water I gotta pat that thing off because if she goes to kiss me after water. It's all over her face Which is on her that's not on me. It's like get some straws man. It's like kissing a wet dog. Oh
00:21:51
Speaker
So you have the smuggling going on, but again, it's just all these farmers who are like, they're literally growing crops and also they grow poppy or they grow marijuana or whatever. And so then in the sixties, you have like the hippie boom, right? So you have all these hippies. And so you have this huge increase in the consumption of pot in the United States.
00:22:12
Speaker
So then from there you have—and at that time you basically—you kind of have like—think of it like it's just all these like independent traffickers, right? So it's these independent smugglers and this guy named Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, he came up with the idea to basically if they all united,
00:22:34
Speaker
And they went completely vertical meaning so what they did was they stopped because the problem with the farms is the farms would get rated. So basically they would they made these giant fields in the middle of deserts where they would grow like the biggest one was like 2500 acres and they would have these fields and they basically there was these two California guys and I didn't write their name down but they came up. They're the ones who came up with seedless weed in the 70s. Was it the Beach Boys?
00:22:58
Speaker
It was the Beach Boys. It was Brian Wilson. Yup. And anyway, and so they made Seedless marijuana. And so they were growing like, they were growing the Seedless marijuana and it was number one, it was like way more potent. Number two, it was way more desired because people didn't get the seeds. And then also because it didn't have seeds, you could package more marijuana, more sellable product.
00:23:22
Speaker
within the – when they were bundling it. So all in all, it was just a way more profitable thing for them and since it was like they all controlled it. And so basically that was the formation and they didn't call it at the time. They called it the Federation but that basically was kind of their predecessor to the Guadalajara Cartel.
00:23:41
Speaker
which is kind of responsible for what happens, like how we end up with Mexico being the biggest like trafficker of cocaine. So. But of cocaine or marijuana, we don't want them to get in there. We don't want them to.
00:23:58
Speaker
to come kill. You don't want to be on their shit list. I don't think they listen to this podcast. You don't know that. That's true. I don't know. Well, I'm not saying I mean, most of these people are dead or in prison, so I don't think they're going to come for us. So but then Miguel Angel Felix Corrado is one of the key figures in the early history of drug cartels in Mexico, born on January 8th, 1946. He was often referred to as the godfather or the boss of bosses in the world of drug trafficking.
00:24:25
Speaker
Felix played a pivotal role in the formation of the Guadalajara cartel, aka the Federation. And I'm not sure if Star Trek stole that from him. Star Trek. The Federation. Star Trek. Yeah. You ever watched Star Trek? That was all part of the Federation. Oh yeah. Star Trek. I've seen Star Trek. Not Star Trek.
00:24:44
Speaker
Have you seen, have you, have you guys seen go fuck yourself? Yeah, that's great. It's really good. Underrated. It's my favorite show about you too. I've seen star search. I remember star search. Yeah. Star Wars. So I'll bet this guy was, uh, I'll bet he was a nice man. I'll bet he like, he was, he was very considerate, um, nonviolent.
00:25:09
Speaker
Well, in the beginning he was. What's crazy is most of these guys ... I'm going to break this down where I'm going to talk about the trafficking and then I'm going to talk about the Mexican government and how those two, because the Mexican government was so corrupt and why it was so corrupt, that's how it was just the perfect storm for this to work. The opinions of John Banks don't necessarily work.
00:25:32
Speaker
I, it's not my opinion, Greg and Kevin. So if you're part of the cartel, please do not kill us. Kill John first. Thank you very much. This has been, well, why'd you say first? First, first and only. Oh, there you go. First and only what only kill, only kill John. And your message will be received.
00:25:55
Speaker
That's enough. That's enough going. We won't do it again. Keep in mind, the format of our podcast, one person did the research and the other two only learned about the topics. You did there, Cartel. I don't think you get how cartels work. If they come in for me, they're coming for all three of us. Damn it. That's not how cartels work. And do you notice that you constantly tell me I don't know how things work? Yes. That's why you teach somebody how things work. How do I teach things how something works?
00:26:23
Speaker
That's not how you teach somebody how things work, but I don't want you to learn things. I just want you to know that you're wrong. I apologize for not being clear about that. I'm so professorial. Guys, what happened today? Man. You're being very mean to each other. Yeah. Like more so than usual. You're just pissed because you don't have bangs anymore. OK. You know, you know, Greg, if you always go
00:26:51
Speaker
Nevermind, I was just for the low-hanging fruit, like in your pants. No, you always just, you always go for the forehead. Always. Always for the forehead. I'll just sit here and not say anything ever again. Okay. I mean, like the little dick joke thing is a little, you know. Okay, your dick's huge. A little seventh grade.
00:27:11
Speaker
Right. You should you should up your game and be like us and have more of a ninth grade sophisticated. Yeah. Come on. At least make it to high school, for God's sake. Like a child. You're a child. Just a freaking child. Black slimming shirt.
00:27:26
Speaker
What? I don't know. So Miguel, his legacy is significant in the history of drug trafficking in Mexico, making the transition from making the transition from loose trafficking networks to more structured and powerful cartels that continue to impact the region to this day. So basically in this guy, oh, so he was like a cop before he he was like a state
00:27:48
Speaker
Police guy in mexico and then and then he started growing like and even even at the time like when he kind of came up with the idea For this he was actually a police officer And then he kind of came up with this idea. So he kind of had a little inside track Yeah, how to get away with some shit. Yeah, and you basically had like start track. He had a start track and
00:28:15
Speaker
Also, you have a little dick. And bangs. And bangs. And you're bad at sports. I don't try to hit all the Gregisms. Anxiety? I don't know. He does make fun of himself for anxiety. He does. Yeah, that's true. No, that's also making fun of himself though. So are you like,
00:28:43
Speaker
Do you think that your very prominent forehead is a good feature of your face, Greg? Is that when you go after the, nope, what was that? Oh, that was a, that was crazy. So I just got a text message and it dinged and I was just, I thought that was Kevin, but it was not, it was my computer. It was not, it was not me. There you go. That one was me. Other founding members. I'm pretty sure this is gonna be funny when you get to the,
00:29:11
Speaker
It's my forehead. I have a big forehead. I was done. I was done. You have a big forehead. Doesn't everybody kinda though?
00:29:19
Speaker
Unless you have a very low hairline, you know, everybody has a big forehead. Don't step in and defend him. Thanks. That's true. I don't know. I don't know why I did that. I think I helped you. It's because I let it out because you're handsome. Kevin, I love you. Oh, no, you don't. So cute. So much lies. I want to kiss you. Other founding members of the Guadalajara cartel were so
00:29:56
Speaker
There's been books written by for each of these guys every author got murdered I was gonna ask where those authors are doing the authors are fine But they did I will say the drug cartels definitely killed a lot of fucking reporters in Mexico. Yeah, I
00:30:09
Speaker
So shut the fuck up about, now you know why I do episodes about anxiety. Your topics give me anxiety. Well, there's a thing. There's no way we're going to affect their business at the end of the day. You don't know. You don't like anything negative. So the 300 members or the 300 people who listen to our podcast, they're going to stop buying drugs, which is going to cause a cascading effect and totally collapse the drug market. So I guess one of our first ever listeners was El Chapo.
00:30:37
Speaker
I should have probably mentioned that earlier. Well, we did do that episode on how to escape prison. And if you are listening to this show, please keep doing drugs. As a matter of fact, maybe increase your usage. We got to keep those cartels happy. That's true.
00:30:52
Speaker
I had again. I don't I don't think we're going to hurt. There you go again, assuming. Well, this is going to end up dead. I mean, there were going to make it to John. If Ronald and Nancy couldn't stop it with her, just say no campaign. I don't think we're going to be the guys. I just, you know, maybe maybe we're going to be the guys, but.
00:31:11
Speaker
What was the? I don't want to stop the drug cartels. I don't either. We need a disclaimer then. What if I said I want to stop them? Never, but I just want to make it clear that we don't. What was that Melania Trump campaign that made no sense? That was like an anti bullying or or something. Do you remember? Yeah, she was like, don't they have a husband? She was like, yeah, everything my husband does. Don't do it. No, it was like they had like some name that wasn't even proper English.
00:31:40
Speaker
I don't know. Cause all the first ladies always have some sort of a, you know, they champion something and hers like, I don't remember. And fairness. I, I don't know what Doug's doing really. What who? The first gentleman. What? Oh, I guess that's Camilla Harris's. Nevermind. What's chill doing? I'm not sure what you're talking about. Yeah.
00:32:04
Speaker
This is why I make fun of you for being stupid This just let me prove the point. You don't need to prove it for me touche be best That what it was yeah, come on best I Like that laugh
00:32:26
Speaker
Well, that's just, yeah, don't hit people. Don't hit people. Don't bully. I don't know how that... Don't Trump it. Or Putin it. Don't Trump it. Be more like Biden. Did you hear that your buddy Tucker Carlson's gonna interview Putin? I know. Do you think he's gonna pee on him? What? If Putin wants him too, he probably will. I mean, I just feel like Tucker's like a cuck. So I just feel like... I think Tucker will pee in his pants. Yeah.
00:32:55
Speaker
Like, what a weird, what a weird world we're living in. I know, I know. I feel like he should get arrested and shot. Shouldn't Tucker? Yes.
00:33:05
Speaker
Well, you did do an episode about him and it was not flattering. No,
Current Events and Statistics on Drug Violence
00:33:10
Speaker
it was it was it was perfect. But it doesn't make sense that he's going to go. I mean, it does make sense. He would like he's a piece of shit and it totally makes sense. He would go interview. So he is. And and also I'm so the cartels don't get us Putin will. I'm way less afraid of Tucker Carlson and the cartels. Let's just put that up there. What's Tucker going to do if I can come in and try and give me a wedgie? Maybe he'll interview us.
00:33:33
Speaker
Good. I welcome it, Tucker. All right, so there are other questions. John, give me your email address. Tucker? It's johnatbeer.com. Or you can get Kevin at kevinatbeer.com. Beer and beer.com. And Greg at www.I'mcold.com.
00:33:57
Speaker
You can find the letters dot-com Greg at who turned up the thermostat dot-com. Oh Wait, oh now it's too cold That's not that's cold Raphael Carl Quintero. He was a closest associate at a loss
00:34:22
Speaker
And he let's see other and then you had Ernesto Fonseco Correro as known as done NATO and then Hector Luis Palmer Salazar And basically like those four guys, you know, it's really difficult to believe that John's actually been working with a dialect coach on this episode But he did I can't know that right? He sent me the receipts
00:34:44
Speaker
And let's see, so let's see, Rafael- You can't expense that shit. Rafael was, he was arrested in 1985 in relation to the killing of Enrique Kique Camarino, who was a DEA agent. It was actually, and before that time, so he was killed, and we'll talk about that in a little bit, but he was killed in 1985 and- Was he undercover?
00:35:09
Speaker
Well, he, well, so at, because of the way the DEA worked, they were very open. And so he did, like, he wasn't really undercover and the cartel believed, and he probably was one of the main guys responsible for a big marijuana seizure. Um, and when that happened, uh,
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah, they killed him. They tortured him and killed him. But it was very bad. That was always the worst. I mean, it was bad for Kiki, but it was bad because basically what that did was that the United States government, because at that time the DE agents were working very closely with Mexican government. And so basically US government was like, and a lot of the agents were just like, it was kind of like, let's get revenge. And so then it started like a...
00:35:55
Speaker
They got a little more loose with how the DEA get a little bit loose with how they were operating in Mexico. They started waterboarding and shit. Yeah. Yeah. They started doing some like, you know, like they definitely use the same tactics that the drug dealers or drug traffickers were using. Um, but yeah, so Robbie, I went to jail and in relation or, uh, who will police the police, right? Um, is it Sting? Oh, we both said Sting at the exact same time. Totally did. That was fantastic. Yeah, John, I'm back in love with you.
00:36:25
Speaker
You never fell out of love with me. We're just having a little spat. You know, it it makes the sex more intense. I don't take the spat seriously, John. I fucking love you. I want to lick your fucking beer pubes. I mean, they are. Oh, did I tell you? So how long do you think my beard is? How long do you think this thing is? Well, stand up for a second. Yeah. Stand up. Let's see the whole thing. Going to go. I think it's I think it's 18, 19 inches overshot. I'm going to say 14, nine inches.
00:36:52
Speaker
Oh, that's it. Nine inches. That's impossible. Yeah, I really thought it was over a foot. I measured. It's like, yeah, from from like, I mean, I get to wear it just from here, but like, yeah, this from chin down is nine sets. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's embarrassing. But what did you say this from your lip? So it's about 10 inches from here to the bottom and then from from the chin down is nine inches. Hmm. Huh? Who's got nine inches?
00:37:20
Speaker
This guy. Ernesto Donetto, another key member of the cartel, was involved in drug trafficking and played a role in the criminal. And he was arrested in 1985 along with Carl Quintero. And so they were both arrested on the suspicion and I think later convicted on the murder of Kiki. Why did the DEA agent have a nickname?
00:37:44
Speaker
um i i didn't research i don't know why why does that matter kind of weird i mean i i'll look it up i'll see yeah we'll do follow up but you said he wasn't undercover so he just wanted to be well he did some things but but it was all the so the the the because the because of the corruption in the local police and in the government um so basically it's this what is the saying it's um
00:38:11
Speaker
If you have, if you have God, you like, if you have God, you don't need the angels. If you have the angels, you don't need God. And it's in relation to corruption in Mexico. And so basically it means like, if you, if you've paid off the local authorities and you're only doing criminal activity in a local area, then you don't need to go up the ladder. And how could you imagine, John, if you could monetize the information that you have in your head?
00:38:34
Speaker
I mean, I'm monetizing this podcast. Oh, yeah, that's right. So, hey, Kevin, you haven't paid me for. Yeah, I know. Where is my six million dollar check, Kevin? I keep telling you it's coming. I got to move some money around. I just got a laundry and move some money. Hey, Cartel.
00:38:54
Speaker
And then and so then and then if you have God meaning that if you have like a really high-up official paid off then that gets you through you know that that's I mean cuz that's how they basically the way the way they worked is they just paid off a bunch of fucking people like every fucking button out of so many like local police state police federal police army military so many people were involved in You know are being paid off by drug cartels and we'll get any how many people who were murdered? Do you think which would not have been murdered if drugs were never made illegal?
00:39:24
Speaker
like you talk about it you have my od's you're talking about you are just murdered in Mexico same murders in general because a drug trade and I'm not saying like I'm not advocating for all drugs to be legal I'm not sure you know I think was a Portugal who does that it seems to be working okay yeah but
00:39:41
Speaker
I don't know. It's just it's just crazy to think about how much violence and how much death has come from. It all depends if H.H. Holmes or Sawyer Bean got a hold of. So so this was like when the last thing they're going to talk about is brought up. So the total casualties. And this is basically this is the number of people who have died in what is considered like war. Right. So like fights. And this is like just an emergency casualties of war with Michael J. Fox. I did have anything to do with this.
00:40:11
Speaker
It does. Okay.
00:40:14
Speaker
I don't know what. John, I want this. John, I want the stat. Don't listen to Greg. OK, so the status of 41,000 people like soldiers or 41,000 people have died like in actual like shootouts. Right. And that would be between like drug cartels and the like army like Mexican army drug cartels and police so that they consider that like war like actual in the like the battle. But then you have an estimated and this is just since 2006. So this is from 2006 to present.
00:40:43
Speaker
You have an estimated 400,000 dead, like innocent bystanders from the drug, you know, from just being murdered. 400,000? 400,000. Wow. Jesus. And this is just the Mexico. This isn't the—there's no Americans. This is way more than fucking dengue fever.
00:41:00
Speaker
Yes. I honestly thought with your first one, 41 seemed low, but then you throw that in there and then you're like, oh my God. He just went up a lot, didn't he? There's another 60,000 plus people who have gone missing that they believe have gone missing in relation to drug cartels because drug cartels, as they were organized and because of the structure of these cartels, the people at the top are making most of the money and it's still like for other things you can do in Mexico, it's still a very good living, but
00:41:29
Speaker
You know, it let like they started doing human trafficking. They started doing maybe that's where my dad went. I mean, my mom always said he went out for a pack of cigarettes. Maybe something. No, it's a big leap there, buddy. Yeah, I just went to the drug cartel. No, he died. I'm sorry. That's he's no longer with us.
00:41:49
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's true. He did die related to that Although I'm kind of related to it because he was definitely on drugs when he died because he was a hospice and they gave him a lot of shit Well, we'd go visit him. We did. I know a lot. Yeah, I remember I remember the day you found out he died John was a really good friend. He still is
00:42:09
Speaker
I meant I said was and I know it's shitty, but I meant I meant when when I needed him the most he was right there. No, I Remember the day that I'm in this half inch beard. You look back. Well, I think at that time it was like quarter inch beard It was a bit of a wheeless way less. I love you John. Thanks for being there for me. I love you. I love you I didn't know how much I needed you until I had you there. Oh
00:42:32
Speaker
There is special history defeats itself Kevin Kevin was never around with my dad. No, I was not no he's not there for anything He was pissed cuz I didn't go to his wedding
00:42:42
Speaker
Oh, I didn't get invited to his wedding. Yes, you did. Oh, yeah, I did. Fuck. Did your dad die after my wedding? I don't know. I just felt like saying that to make. He did. He did die after your wedding. Oh, OK. He died because you get married. He was he was in love with Sheena and it was heartbreaking to him that when what year did you get married? It was April of 2012. Yeah, that was before my dad died.
00:43:09
Speaker
Let's pour one out. For Greg's dad. For the A-man.
00:43:20
Speaker
Are you drinking straight whiskey? Now I did, because it was my dad. God damn, dude. I could do a little sippy. He never really drank much alcohol, my dad. All right. All right. Come on. Let's let's get this. I mean, I've got this is I've just this is the first fucking page. I've got to stop picking topics that could be like 15 part series. I got all night. I fucking really made it short. I edited the shit out of this. So it shouldn't. You did not. I did.
00:43:46
Speaker
You didn't account for our stupidity. That's on you. I've been drunk for at least 35 minutes of this. Okay. All right. All right. So the... I'm enjoying it, John. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, don't rush. I got time. So before moving from trafficking to cocaine, the Guadalajara cartel was moving a shit ton of marijuana into the US.
00:44:05
Speaker
Did you even see Sinaloa again? I do. I do. The U.S. was pushing, so Kiki, the D.A. agent, he knew about this field where they were growing marijuana. It was 2,500 acres. They were growing in the middle of the Chihuahua Desert.
00:44:24
Speaker
And so the following so the US government was pushing them pushing them pushing them to basically go in and take this out But the Mexican government don't do it because a lot of people who would make that call were getting paid off payoffs from them and Do you think we should get someone to do? To like sign what we're saying so that way our deaf listeners can enjoy the by cast. I Don't think we have deaf listeners
00:44:48
Speaker
You don't know that. I don't. I mean, and that's fine. They can do the YouTube thing and put the captions on. That's true. OK, that's boring, but that's so we don't have a budget to hire a person who can sign. Have you ever been to like a festival, like a concert, and there's like someone in the corner signing the festival? No, I don't. I don't go. I was like really, really into it and stuff. That's part of the signing. I learned. I learned. I learned.
00:45:17
Speaker
uh i love you it's no no it's uh wait it's fuck you it's so it's it's it's fuck you twat waffle it's so funny because it didn't get funny until the waffle
00:45:39
Speaker
So, I learned that taking a poop. Okay. What? What? So anyway, so there was this place that they had, the Gola Harcocha, they had a place in the Chihuahua desert that they called the Rancho Buffalo, which is just Buffalo Ranch. Really? That one actually, John, I think I got that. I think I had that one, surprisingly. You only had to get rid of the O in Rancho.
00:46:06
Speaker
Rancho buffalo or buffalo ranch And so they had so it was 2,500 acres. We had losses virginity. They had 25 warehouses that were basically all bigger than this and this was funny because the I'm currently actually listened to this book called el narco written by this British guy and He was in this he was talking about it and it was 25. They had 25
00:46:29
Speaker
warehouses that were bigger than football fields. And I was like, oh, and then I realized he was talking about soccer fields. So I had to do a conversion. So I don't know how good soccer field is compared. I know soccer fields actually vary in size. They're not like a standardized thing.
00:46:46
Speaker
Are you? Really? Yeah. Soccer field's bigger than a football field, right? Or at least it's wider, I think. I think, but it's like every stadium in Europe and all over the world, the soccer fields are different sizes. I mean, there may be some that are equal, but there's not a standardized size.
00:47:04
Speaker
There should be. There should be. But it's. And they should be a lot smaller. They're way too big. And they should be a lot more exciting. They should be the size of a way to maybe. I think what they should do is freeze the soccer field and have all the soccer players put on skates. And maybe instead of using the ball, they should use a puck. Are you in my field hockey? And then maybe they should have hockey sticks. I don't know. Hockey sticks. Have either of you ever played field hockey? No. No. And the reason why is because we're not
00:47:34
Speaker
We're not girls at prep school. Well, and it's the sticks are too short. I can't bend over like that. It looks hard on the back. It looks like real hard on the back. Yeah. Kevin's got scoliosis. He's not doing that. I don't, but I should.
00:47:47
Speaker
And he doesn't wear underwear, so when he's wearing underwear his balls are just slapping on his legs. I normally wear underwear. I'm pro underwear. I usually tape up Kevin in the locker room. Tape for some reason we ran out of tape. Well, my balls are swollen.
00:48:10
Speaker
as they should be. Um, so yeah, so they had these 25 warehouses and, and, and, and then, so anyway, so then they, they end up, the Mexican military, Mexican army goes in and they end up burning between what they had drying and the warehouses and what they had in the field, they ended up burning 10,000 tons of marijuana, which is, which is, was a lot more than I have in the garage.
00:48:37
Speaker
I have so little marijuana. I don't even measure it in tons. I measure it in grams. Well, it's a bigger number.
00:48:45
Speaker
Wow. That's insanity. So the value, and this happened in November, 1984. So the estimated value at that time was $160 million. So if you translate that in 2024, it would be about $428 million worth of wheat. $428 million. Which kind of like if that happened to you, you're like, who's the blame for this? And like, oh, this DE agent. And then they killed him.
00:49:09
Speaker
And I'm not saying the guy deserved to die, but I'm saying if you're a drug organization and someone cost you $428 million, you're not going to be happy about it. No, you do the right thing. You actually, you can't justify murder.
00:49:21
Speaker
I'm not saying you can. I don't usually. Well, I'm not. No, no, I'm not. I'm saying that he's saying that it makes sense that they went after him. Right. He's saying he's saying it's not right. But you can see why it happened. Well, no, no, no, I right. I don't agree. What John said was I would have done the same fucking thing. That's what I heard John say. If John said John said I pulled the trigger. Here's the thing.
00:49:46
Speaker
If you call, if either one of you guys cost me $428 million, I feel it'd be justified in murdering you, not torturing you. Just a quick shot to the head. John, you would kill us over 28 bucks. Well, I mean, if you were near me, yes. I'm not going to get on a plane and go somewhere to do it, but yeah, yeah. I would kill you over like a taco, Del Taco mill, so.
00:50:08
Speaker
I'm a murder-y kind of guy. We've established that early on. Of the three of us, who's going to murder? It's going to be me. Not really. He's definitely going to get caught, because you know he's going to fucking leave beard pubes up there. Here's the thing. I feel guilty. I can't even do a little white lie. I always feel guilty. Man, if I killed someone, I would
00:50:32
Speaker
I'd tell everybody. I'd just guilt, like, I killed that guy. I feel really bad about it. I should go. I can tell why it lies, but yeah, if I killed somebody, I think the guilt would get to me. I don't know if it's a slippery slope there, liar.
00:50:46
Speaker
Oh, how the tables have turned. Anyway, Lord, one hit and run and all of a sudden you're a bad man. One non yielding at a roundabout and all of a sudden you're fucking the Pope. So on the same year that... 1985? So 1984. So on the same year that the Mexican government is burning this field,
00:51:13
Speaker
The Colombian cartels, you may have heard of this gentleman named Pablo Escobar, or the- There's a show about him. There is a show about him. There's lots of shows. What's it called? Lots of shows. They had the Caribbean thing, so they were flying through the Caribbean, and so the US government
00:51:31
Speaker
Ronald Reagan actually got the Navy involved, got the Army involved, and it was like a literal war on drugs, so they were really tying up that corridor. I know, let's send a Navy. Just say no, say no, say no, say no. Mr. President, there's no ocean anywhere near there.
00:51:48
Speaker
I think the Kosh guard needs to get there. So, so about that time to go tear down this wall. So about the time they're shutting off the Caribbean corridor is right when the NAFTA deal goes through.
00:52:03
Speaker
Mr. Jawbanks, tear down... Greg's just a really good old man voice, doesn't he? Mr. Jawbanks, take down this wall. Do the whistly old man, Greg. And tuck me in. And read me a story, Nancy.
00:52:25
Speaker
I think maybe I can't do it because I used to be able to feel man because I had that teeth thing. Oh, my teeth are. God damn it. What did I ever get? Shouldn't be on a plant. Knock him out again. Knock him out again. I used to have the sweetest. You know, punch yourself. Get rid of him. I said the best whistling old band voice ever. Just just.
00:52:47
Speaker
So as that's happening, you have NAFTA, right? That starts. And so NAFTA really opens up the border. And so basically, so the Cali cartel and the Medellin cartel, which actually, like I did, I learned this reading this book. So what they call them cartels, but actually it really was just, you know, like Pablo Escobar was like the famous person out of the Medellin cartel, but it was actually like a large group of smugglers, right? Like they all work together. Um, would you call themselves sleeper cells?
00:53:15
Speaker
Well, so that's so it did start to like the drug trade actually transformed with the Juarez cartel and they basically like they figured out how to kind of do it where you did you had like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing because that's one of the problems was if somebody got busted then you know they would kind of give everybody up or get murdered. Most of the time they'd get murdered. Or both. Yeah. I've given everybody up and now I'm murdered.
00:53:43
Speaker
If it's anything like every single TV show I've seen about it. That's not going to go well.
US-Mexico Anti-Drug Efforts and Challenges
00:53:49
Speaker
Didn't Richard Nixon kind of start the war on drugs? Well, he started the DEA.
00:53:55
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. He started the DEA in like 73 or 73. Because he was big on like criminalization of drugs, wasn't he? I remember this. He's also super. I mean, you know, like we talked like, you know, it's all like the desire to make drugs illegal is very rooted in racism. And it's like proven like these things, like there's recordings of him basically talking about like wanting to stop
00:54:21
Speaker
Weed and heroin because of the blacks, right? Like, you know, it's something he said something like that in his recordings, you know, and and the same thing like Harry and slinger was like a big guy a big pusher in the in 1917 for the Harris bill the Harris acts which made opium and cocaine illegal and and
00:54:41
Speaker
He was very prejudiced against Mexicans, right? So, you know, so it was like he believed the Mexican, you know, it was like, you know, if they smoke weed, they'll rape your women, you know, they'll start raping white women and all that kind of stuff. Right. So it's definitely like the war. Because we all know when you're high, the first thing you want to do is go out and commit violent crime. Yeah. After you eat Del Taco.
00:54:59
Speaker
And watch like seven hours of television. Most of that crime you want to commit against your toilet. Because of the Del Taco. I know. It's like I'm not even going to have the energy to masturbate. I'm definitely not going to have the energy to get up and go like sexually assault someone. No. You're not going to plot a crime. I think I've mentioned it.
00:55:23
Speaker
I don't remember why I got up. Exactly. I have to go back to the room where I had the idea. Was I going to the bathroom or going to murder someone? I think I've mentioned this on this podcast before, and I'm not a Joe Rogan fan at all, but he did have a good line years ago that was, I've never heard of anybody getting high and going home and beating their wife. It's a good line. It is. It's true. It's very true.
00:55:48
Speaker
You know, it's a it's a you know, I mean, I would say it's definitely unless she did not have those cases ready. That is true. That is true. But that's satirical joke, satirical joke. So, yeah, so so like as as the Caribbean thing shutting down, then you basically you have this whole network of
00:56:09
Speaker
already set up in Mexico where they're moving in. And again, they're moving mostly weed at this point. They're still moving a little bit of opium, but it's mostly weed. And so then- Cannabis. Cocaine comes along for the profit- European listeners. Well, the profit margin on cocaine is insane, right? Like it's basically, you can make $5 million a week versus- Okay, hang on. Hey, I'm writing this down. What's your cost? What's your COGs?
00:56:37
Speaker
You're, I don't know, would see a cost of goods. Oh, cost of goods. Yeah. What's your overhead looking like? You got to factor it in, buddy. Well, because, well, at this point, you got a lot of insurance needed for that. What if you're making $5 million a week, but, but your costs are six million a week. You're making $5 million profit. Oh, that's important. I thought you were just saying in sales. That's after commissions.
00:57:02
Speaker
Well, it's they don't really do commissions. They have a bonus structure. And that's mostly like trips to Hawaii and Guadalajara. Yeah. You know, port the cars. Yeah. Man, the sales manager is constantly. So so basically, so this Felix guy, right, so he like goes down and he meets like he meets with.
00:57:27
Speaker
The Cali Cartel and then the Cali Cartel is like, okay, we're in and and they were basically they were getting paid Uh, they just basically were getting paid to traffic so they weren't getting a cut and basically what they would do is they would deliver the the co they would fly the cocaine from columbia into Nicar no, what's what's the fucking honduras so they would fly that into honduras and then they would move it through honduras guadamala and into mexico and then come up to the border um
00:57:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was like, it's crazy, right? I think John did this entire episode on an episode of Miami Vice, he's like, cocaine cowboys. So they would, but they would, but they're only getting paid to sell it. And then I'm getting paid to transport it, right? So their percentage was small, but still they were making a shit ton of money. And then basically what they would do is once they got it across the border, they would deliver it to a location that the Cali Cartel and then eventually Pablo Escobar got involved with the Medellin Cartel. So they would deliver
00:58:25
Speaker
Medellin. Like they would deliver where they wanted like so the Medellin. Medellin. Medellin. Medellin. Hey, who's been to Colombia motherfucker? You or me? Me. I have not, so I can't. I would totally go there if it wasn't for the fucking drugs. We loved it. I highly recommend it. I've heard really good things about it. You love the drugs? No, no, Colombia. We love Medellin, Bogota.
00:58:53
Speaker
It was, it was all amazing. Cartagena suck. Don't go to Cartagena because you might as well just, just go to Miami. It's just the same, like you, it's, don't, don't go to Cartagena. Um, but anyway, so they started moving it and then, um, travel advice brought to you by Airbnb. So they would deliver it to, they would deliver it to like a place in the United States that were basically Colombian drug dealers. And so, you know, they were just paid as like transportation, but then.
00:59:21
Speaker
in the late 80s, early 90s as basically – because what happened was Felix got arrested. In 1989, Miguel Felix Corrado was arrested and convicted for his involvement in the Kiki murder, and he's serving 37 years in prison and in Mexico – in a Mexican jail. And the arrest led to the fragmentation of the Guadalajara Cartel into very smaller cartels, initiating a power struggle and causing a rise in violence and murder.
00:59:46
Speaker
Right. So you had basically it's like you had you had these three corridors. You had Tijuana, Juarez and the brown. I forget the Mexican side of it, but it was going into Brownsville, Texas. And so you had these three corridors that were kind of run by these three groups and then they start fucking killing each other over like who's going to control it all. Right. Just just like just like the wire. You know, you guys just work together. Yep. Yep.
01:00:10
Speaker
Who was the guy who robbed the drug dealers? Omar. Omar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That actor died like a year ago, too. Really sad. Really sad. He was good. He was awesome. I'm sorry, he was awesome. And now, basically, what you have going on now is you now have the second generation. So you have all of these people who set this thing up. Now, their kids are basically the leaders of these cartels.
01:00:38
Speaker
Well, it's nepotism, you know. They're nepo babies. Exactly. They're nepo babies, yeah. And then, let's see, in 2008, you had the US and Mexico launched a joint effort to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, providing aid for equipment training and intelligence sharing. And we actually went in.
01:00:57
Speaker
And we trained all of these fucking like Mexico, what we thought were Mexican police on how to like do military tactics. And it turns out a lot of them were actually drug traffickers. So we actually. Damn it. How many times has that happened?
01:01:13
Speaker
So many times. Yeah. Oh, we are our worst enemy. Talk about not learning from our history. I mean, fuck me. Yeah. God, next thing you know, David Copperfield is accidentally going to give them all his fucking magic tricks. Damn it. We got duped. So then in in 2006, you had a Philippe Calderon, who was the president. He increased military involvement.
01:01:38
Speaker
And then by deploying military and leading a certain which actually led a surge in violence didn't decrease violence right so because basically what happens is is every it's kind of like every time the Mexican government so they're either corrupt or when they actually go after these guys then you know like the cartels they've killed judges newspaper reporters police police they're not good people no they're not good people according to Greg I think you're fine because I don't want to die I
01:02:04
Speaker
I mean now you're worried what I meant to say is they're really good people
01:02:11
Speaker
In 2009, he didn't say they're not good people. He said they're hot and good people. Hot, hot, hot, good people. El Chapo in 2009 was captured and he escaped from Mexican prison. Um, but then he was recaptured in 2016 where he was extradited to the US. And I think he's there. I think he's still there now. I think he, yeah, I think they have him in some sort of.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah. You know, like Hannibal Lecter kind of set up, um, on a dolly. And, and so, and despite efforts to combat drug trafficking remains a significant challenge with various episodes get go too long. I get way too drunk. Well, and that's the thing is like, I'm trying, like I'm looking at the time and I'm just like, all right, I'm going to skip the whole government. There's just no, so, so basically from 1929 to 2000,
01:02:59
Speaker
There was the PRI, which was the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or in Spanish, the Partillo Revolutionary Party. This episode of the PRI. What? The national radio exchange. Basically, it was like a one-party government, and so it was so fucking corrupt. It also did good things being one-party government, but their legacy is kind of like they're just so fucking corrupt. And if they hadn't have been corrupt, you probably wouldn't have had the
01:03:27
Speaker
We wouldn't be where we are today. Well, and we wouldn't even have pickleball. Well, and also, you know, America is to blame because we have a very large appetite for drugs. Right. Yeah, of course. If we weren't buying drugs, then they wouldn't, you know, which was, I think, you know, the whole just say no and war on drugs and all that stuff was, you know, their way of trying to keep people from.
01:03:51
Speaker
you know, trying to keep people from getting addicted. So then you, then, you know, supply and demand and all that, but it's just. Drugs are too great. You can't, you can't, this cat was in the room the whole time. Nobody cares. I didn't even know Greg is really drunk. Really drunk.
01:04:07
Speaker
So, according to a 2017 study by Global Financial Integrity, which is a Washington think-take studying illicit flows of money, it estimated that Mexican Cartel's retail value is between $426 to $652 billion. Jesus. That's a big number. So now, here's the crazy thing. So the largest company in Mexico
01:04:32
Speaker
is Petrolias Mexicanos and it is only valued at around 142 billion. Jesus. So now imagine if you're a country and your biggest company is 142 billion and your illegal drug trade is 650 billion, what kind of influence are you gonna fucking have in that country? Absolutely. Is it
The Economics of the Drug Trade
01:04:50
Speaker
gonna be big? It's gonna be big.
01:04:52
Speaker
And now, now basically Mexican, so in Colombia, Mexican cartels, because the longest time, you know, Colombians were still producing the cocaine. Now Mexican cartels have moved into the jungles and they're actually produced, they're in control of the operation. So and there's like the violence in Colombia is starting to get
01:05:15
Speaker
violent again. What are you doing? Why are you writing big? Because big influence. Oh, I got so much cat hair on my sleeve from holding that cat for like three seconds. Um, all right. He's really, really very drunk and blah, blah, blah, blah, Kevin. So, so the answer to the question last call, do you guys have a word by itself? Yeah. I need one. Are we, are we defeating ourselves? Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:41
Speaker
And I would say, I would make the argument that I think the only way you're going to win the war on drugs is to stop having a war on drugs, and we have to do it. If we want the violence in Mexico to stop, because people aren't going to fucking stop doing drugs, and if you want the violence in Mexico to stop, then you have to do it.
01:06:03
Speaker
You have to legalize it here, kind of like follow Portugal's model, and then basically what you would do is you would work out trade agreements, and unfortunately you'd have to work out trade agreements with Mexican cartels because they're not going to give up the power, but you could stop the violence, right? Because it's money. Nobody's going to give up. That's another way of defeating yourself. Yeah. Do you know how it's going in Portugal?
01:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, Portugal has the lowest rate of teen addiction in the world, or of Western countries, developed countries, right? It has one of the greatest recovery rates. On all measures, it hits. Portland and Seattle and LA have all taken part of that policy, which is just like, we're not going to arrest people anymore for drugs.
01:06:52
Speaker
But Portugal, what they do, and this is where, so they decriminalize a lot of stuff and basically it's like they don't penalize you if you're an addict. So if you're an addict in Portugal, if you're a heroin addict or cocaine addict or whatever it is in Portugal, you cannot get fired for filling a drug test as long as you're not drink, as long as you're not high at work, right?
Portugal's Drug Policy and Cartel Organization
01:07:13
Speaker
So in other words, and that's, so you're allowing someone who has an addiction to keep
01:07:20
Speaker
money, right? To keep their livelihood, to keep their lifestyle so then you don't end up with somebody who becomes... and they find that basically if you have community and you have a job...
01:07:30
Speaker
that your recovery like people are able to recover a lot faster and they have one of the lowest like addiction rates in the world. How about crime? Don't murder. Is it low crime rate? That I don't know. Like there's not a lot of crime associated with drugs. Right. You know and that's I know like in LA like we have fuck tons of crime related to drugs and not necessarily violent crime just you know a lot of
01:07:54
Speaker
like theft right a lot of cars get broken into sure so it's it's expensive here you know and there's definitely like on border towns there's you know murder and you know there's all those all kinds of shit so anyway dun dun dun dun dun drugs are bad
01:08:09
Speaker
Cartels good though, don't kill us. We love the cartels. Hey, let's cheers the cartels. Please don't kill us. You guys, you are entrepreneurs in my mind. I will say it is pretty fucking impressive.
01:08:25
Speaker
how these guys, like, you know, what these guys did like from, from, from Pablo Escobar to Felix to I forget, they're a little heavy on the murder. They're heavy on the murder. Maybe knock that shit off for sure.
Innovative Smuggling and El Chapo's Escapes
01:08:38
Speaker
But like, just like the organization and the systems they set up to move this stuff through and how creative they get with, you know, like, just like how creative, like they, yeah, it's just crazy how creative they get and getting drugs across the border.
01:08:53
Speaker
Like El Chapo was the one, El Chapo, like the way he escaped jail was through a tunnel, but he basically, he was one of the first guys to come up with the idea to build a tunnel from Tijuana under the U.S. border going into a house. So, because he bought a house. John's house. Yeah, you know, so. What did you say? Nothing. There are a lot of people always milling around behind him, usually in underwear, you know, like, you know, because he doesn't trust them and all that. Yeah. Holding large amounts of cash. Yeah.
Light-Hearted Closing and Cartel Humor
01:09:26
Speaker
All right. Well, that was an uplifting one. I liked those. Thanks, Sean. That was awesome. That there's going to be more jokes about drugs.
01:09:35
Speaker
I mean, it was, yeah, I thought we had, that's how we did all right. We're just terrified. Look, look, we're terrified on the cartels. Let's just call it what it is. It is a touchy subject when Kevin, you're the tallest. So you're going to be the easiest one to see. They'll shoot you first. Greg and I have a chance to win the whitest. Oh yeah. That's true. Well, on a snowy day, you guys are fucked on a snowy day. You have to move the Minnesota.
01:10:01
Speaker
Alright guys, thank you very much. Thanks everybody for listening and until next time, we love the cartels.