May 25, 2023 • 40 mins
When a wealthy Wisconsin family asked a 19-year-old Filipino woman named Irma Martinez to be their live-in maid, she had no idea she'd be trapped for almost two decades. Her case was one of the many shocking examples of modern day human trafficking. We discuss this issue broadly with Remi Adeleke, author and director of the short film "The Unexpected."
Pre-Order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Chameleon-Black-Thriller-Remi-Adeleke/dp/0063238837
Watch "The Unexpected": https://youtu.be/6xUwS39mFs0
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
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and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rasha Peccuerero
and a big welcome back to my beautiful sister.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yes Spongourno. Everyone, I am Eve Gentile and as Rasha said,
I am back from Italia, which was amazing, but I'm
also equally excited to be back in the studio with
my A team. And I'm especially excited because we have
a guest in the house today that I am really
looking forward to speaking with.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, I'm looking forward to that as well. But we
are going to be looking at the story of Irma Martinez.
Irma was a Filipino living made for a wealthy family
here in the US, but sadly it became much more
than that. The family exploited her labor and trapped her
(01:17):
there for years, and this eventually became a disturbing case
of modern day slavery.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That's right, Russia. It's terrible, but it points to a
bigger issue of human trafficking in this country, especially for
force slabor. And with us here to talk about that
today will be Remy Adelaike g. Remy is a former
Navy seal who is now a filmmaker and he recently
made a short film about human trafficking. I am so
(01:47):
looking forward to this discussion today with Remy.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I am as well. Remy is incredible. But first our
producer Trevor is going to walk us through today's case.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Irma Martinez is a Filipino woman who was coerced into
indentured servitude for a wealthy Wisconsin family for nineteen years.
The case was a shocking example of modern day human
and labor trafficking. In nineteen eighty five, at the age
of nineteen, Irma was approached by a woman named Elnorra
kayleem Limb. She offered Irma a job as a housekeeper
(02:23):
at the kalem lim household in America. Elnorra and her
husband Jefferson, were busy doctors and had three children. Irma
was promised job stability and a steady income that she
could send back to her family in the Philippines. She
agreed to work for an initial five years. The family
flew with her to America under the guise that she
(02:44):
was one of their patients. She arrived in the United
States on a tourist visa. The kalam Limbs reportedly knew
how to bring a foreign citizen into the US to
work legally, but they chose not to. Had they done that,
they would have needed to sign an employer contract, pay
her fair wages, and limit her duties to those appropriate
for her job classification. But when she arrived, the family
(03:07):
took her passport and told her she owed them for
travel expenses. She worked seven days a week for sixteen
hours a day, cleaning the home and caring for the children.
If she slept past six am, Elinor and Jefferson would
scold her and tell her that she should be concerned
next time it happened. They led her to believe she
was in the country illegally, so therefore she could not
(03:30):
open a bank account and they could not pay her.
They also told her that if anyone found her, she
would be jailed and deported. Because of this, they told
her she couldn't walk around the neighborhood. She was never
even allowed to open the front door. When the children
came home from school, she would open the garage door
from the inside so no one would see her. Despite
(03:50):
both the Kayalam Limbs being doctors, they repeatedly denied Irma
medical treatment. When Irma had a broken tooth, they refused
to take her to a dentist, and when she was
doubled over from menstrual cramps, Elinor ridiculed her and told
her she would never have children. Jefferson would often get
angry after drinking alcohol, and on one occasion threw a
(04:11):
shoe at Irma. In the late nineties, one of the sons, Jack,
brought home a girlfriend named Sherry. Sherry noticed Irma and
became suspicious. After probing the family further, she eventually tipped
off the US Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services. She
broke down in tears during the call and stated that quote,
(04:32):
no one should live under those conditions. That is just
not humane. On September twenty ninth, two thousand and four,
FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the home
with the surge warrant. The agents went into the basement
and found a secret room they opened it and found
Irma shaking in fear. She was thirty eight years old.
(04:53):
After her rescue, Irma was granted a tea visa for
trafficking victims. As it turns out, in nineteen years, Irma's
family received only nineteen thousand dollars from the Kalem Limbs.
The Kalem Limbs were ordered to pay back over nine
hundred thousand dollars in back wages and were sentenced to
four years in prison each. About the case, acting US
(05:15):
Attorney Michelle Jacobs said, quote, human trafficking is a form
of modern day slavery and is simply not acceptable. No
person should ever be forced to live in fear, virtual isolation,
and servitude. And so what happened to Irma Martinez and
how does her story reflect a troubling practice of human
(05:35):
trafficking in the US and across the world.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Without further ado, we are so incredibly blessed to have
the one, the only, Remy Adeleik on the show today
and he's going to be discussing with us the broader
issue of human trafficking. Yeah, you know, Remy, you were
(06:03):
a Navy seal for thirteen years, which is unbelievable and amazing,
and then you went on to go into acting directing.
You just did a film called The Unexpected, which I
just have to tell you I watched last night and
it's so mind blowing, it's so educating, and it's so
(06:26):
deeply saddening. Kudos to that. It's a brilliant well directed
You wrote it and directed as well. As You have
a memoir book called Transformed, which I have to tell
you on the plane from Rome to San Francisco I
read and I was just literally blown away by your story.
(06:50):
I mean one of my very first movies growing up
as a child was Coming to America and to read
your book and know your history and to know that
you came and you come from royalty, it's such an
incredible story. So if you could just share with our
listeners how this came about, where you came from, I mean,
(07:15):
how you grew up, all the things, all the things
remy Yeah, I'll.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Just feel free to stop me if I'm going to lawn.
Never never feel free.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
To interject, because you know, there's so much of my
story that I skip stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So if there's.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Anything you remember from the book or you will be
to share, just Hey, what about that alcohol? I will,
I will, But I tell people all the time that
you know, my story actually really starts with my dad's story. Yes,
because as you mentioned, my grandfather was a chief in
the euro of a tribe.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
And our last name at Day lake Game.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
At Day means crown and lake a means is supreme
in euro love. And my first name is actually at
Day Remy. A lot of people don't know that. You
think it's Remy, and it's actually at Day Roman, which
means the crown has appeased me.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
So my father was born as he was a firstborn
son to.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
My grandfather who had like nine wives and he kept
on having daughters.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And the tradition at the time in Nigeria and.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
You're of a still to this day, is you know,
the firstborn son becomes the chief and is the leader.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Of the tribe and the family, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
And so my grandfather died when my when my father
was about eight years old. So my grandfather died when
my dad was young as well, and all the wives dispersed,
They were all given stipends, and you know, they all
pretty much.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Dispersed to different places.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
And my grandmother wrote my father down to the south
of Nigeria and Lagos and at the time they were
missionaries there and they were teaching science and math and
a bunch of different things.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
And my dad was very intelligent.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
As a matter of fact, before he was six or
seven years old, he had memorized the Krome, so he
was he just had this very intellectual you know, he
picked up things fast. He had a very diverse, wow,
supernatural brain.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
My father actually has more. He's a really really smart guy.
He's a he's an engineer, right, yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
Just moved back from Saudi Arabia. He was out there
for eight years working at Saudi Ramco, helping them find
oil and electure. You know, I'm not smart on all
of this, so lot of contests, please forgive me, but
you know, working on the system to help fine oil
and now he works with Doe.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So back to my dad. So so my dad, you know,
he got it.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
He ended up getting pull Right scholarship to study engineering
and architecture in London, and he went to London and
you know, he excelled after he graduated, got his bachelors
and at his master's and then he just started working
and Grinnie he was the first black man on the
board of the British Financial.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Planning Council in the UK. Beautiful, and he.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Came to the States and he started traveling back and
forth from the States because one of his good friends
was the architect of the World Trade Center, A Jabe.
I'm always pronounced his name wrong. It's fresh in my
mind because my scory got picked up to be a
movie with a major studio. I can't mention it yet.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Congratula.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I have to interject here because as I was reading
the book, you know, because we read it when we
were driving through Italy. I read it when we were
flying on the plane, and when we were driving, I
was reading it out loud to my husband and like
he was so engrossed. We were both so engrossed, and
I could see it visually, I could see it. So congratulations,
well deserved.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Yeah, but a lot of this is fresh in my
mind because I just finished writing the film, you know,
after the writer's strike, because this is a big, big
writers strike, we could start.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Moving forward on other things.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
But you know, my dad's again, my dad's a good
friend with Manori and he's with architect or World Trade Center.
So my dad ended up being one of the first
black men on the border the World Trade Center in
the United States, New York and so and that was
kind of how he met my mom. As you mentioned
coming to America, my mom Dad's story.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Is to Americas, you know, and what you know.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
They fell in love and my mom moved to Nigeria
and my dad ended up going back to Nigeria.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
A little bit before he met my mom.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
But you know, I'll just jump to that part of
the story because he wanted he felt like Nigeria can
be like the West.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
A lot of people realize that.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Africa in general is so so rich in resources, and
Nigeria in particulars rich and.
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Oil, very very rich in oil, rich and natural gas,
coco gold. I mean, I was in Nigeria a couple
of years ago actually when I when I was writing
the book. I went to finish writing the book in
Nigeria and I.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Went there to just get the deal of the land.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
And I interviewed one of my dad's mentees and he
said that, you know, so many Nigerians and Africans believe
that Nigeria is the cradle of civilization. Wow, because of
how many resources come out of Nigeria, but also how
intelligent Nigerian people are, like just like just brilliant minds. Yeah,
and so because of all the resources, my dad was like,
(12:03):
Nigeria needs to be like the US. And so he
went back to Nigeria and went well, my mom was
with him at this point, and he started businesses and
he had started an architecture firm and engineering firm.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
He's had car dealerships and he had all.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Of these different businesses and his goal was to create
like a Wall Street. So buy a plot of land
and create like this massive wall street in Nigeria with
people from all around the world can come and do
business and trade and look at Nigeria, look at Africa
in a different way.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
He was very passionate about his people.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
So he bought this massive plot of land almost the
size of a small city called Amerco, and he was
going to use that land to develop his African Wall Street.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
And it was a military coup in the seventies.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
And when a military coup happened, the land got taken
by the new military regime and everything was just throwing.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
The politicians were executed. I mean, it was just it
was just crazy, how heartbreaking.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
He waited for the Nigerian government to get reinstalled and
eventually didn't want to say, Like it was the late
seventies in the early eighties and democracy was re established
and he started going to court and started fighting the
Nigerian government. And that's kind of around the time I
was born. Like around that time, the Nigerians federal government
said to my dad, Okay, what do you want. We
(13:25):
have we proved that this land was yours. I can't
give you this land back, you know, but you want
your money back because he spent eight million pounds at
the time. They offered him the money back and he said, no,
I don't want the money back. I want another plot
of land. And they said, we're not going to give
you another plot of land. He said, okay, can you
give me this swamp like it was a lagoon but.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
It was literally a swamp.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
And everybody laughed at my dad and they were just like, swamp,
what are you going to do with his fun?
Speaker 4 (13:55):
He said, don't worry about it, give it to me.
Because my dad was.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
As I said, he was such a brilliant man and
he was full of thinking and his mindset was if
I can build something where there was never nothing.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Then no one could ever say that was mine, or
he stole it from me, or he did this, and
he did that.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And so he raised a lot more money and invest
a lot more of his money, and they gave him
the swamp. And that's when he hired Dutch engineers and
other engineers from other parts of the world and minority
who designed the World Trade Center, and they started dredging
the foreshore to build an island, to make a man
made island. And so again I was born at this time.
(14:37):
So when I was born, I was going into the wealth.
I was born into, you know, traveling the world. We
had drivers and we had cooks, and we lived on
a company.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Didn't live in a house.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
We lived on a compound on Victoria Island, which is
like the equivalent of Beverly Hills or Cornado Anthons. We
lived a life love me and my brother. We went
to a very prestigious private school. And I remember when
my dad would.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Come pick us up and walk the halls or people.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Would like like literally bow to him, like cheat, hatty
Lake and you're excellent, and call him all with these
cool names. I'm just this little kid. And so that
was the life that I was essentially going into we
didn't work for.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Anything, Remy.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I really want to know more about your time in
the Navy Seals, and I have to tell our listeners.
And I know you already know this because we've talked
about this my wife and daughter and I fell madly
in love with you watching Special Forces World's Toughest Tests
on Fox.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
But please, please, please.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Please, Remmy, can you tell us a little bit more
about you know, your time in the Navy Seals and like,
is that where you saw human trafficking becoming an issue?
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Did you see?
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I mean I was, and I wasn't.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
So I was in a sense that when I was
overseas doing missions, we would hit houses if we would
go out the targets, big, big time guys. And they
had wives who were twelve. He's a thirty forty year
old man. They had multiple wives who are twelve, thirteen,
(16:35):
you know, pregnant, you know, and fourteen, fifteen, And so
you know, it's.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Hard for me to say that's human trafficking.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
But at the same time, I want to be careful
about you know, I don't want to offend, but you know,
certain cultures, you know, it's it's acceptable and certain cultures,
girls and women aren't property. It's a second class set.
And so you know, so for me as an as
an American, you know that to me is a form
(17:08):
of trafficking. And you know what, and we'll get down
into it later, but that happens here in the States, yes, you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Know, and on a big world.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
As a matter of fact, you know, the United States
drives the demand for sex trafficking. We are the biggest,
you know, culprit as it relates to utilizing materials and
victims of sex traffic, materials that are that are used,
that are created with sex traffic victims, underage kids. So
America drives the demand. A lot of people don't realize that,
(17:40):
but we do. And so it happens either. But it
happened there, but in a different way. I didn't have
the when I was overseas. I didn't get the opportunity
to serve, serve in northern Iraq where the guys you know,
were But I mean, you know the story from our
shortcom that's that's a true event, you know that I
believe it was. Toowenty fourteen was the last genocide that
(18:03):
was documented. Body willin considered a genocide Bobby Willing and
Gazes people.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
The men were murdered, the old women were murdered.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
And the young girls were taken and used as sex
slaves and traffic for organ harvesting, and we used the
labor right.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And so I didn't get a chance to serve.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
In that area, but I do have a really, really
good friend of mine who did.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
He served with some of the gases people.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
He ended up up unfortunately, he ended up killed on
Operation Charlie Kee.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
But you know, so I'm sure he was exposed to
on that level.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
But again going back to my original answer, yes, I
would say from through the lens of the westerner an American,
but through the lens of somebody in the particular cultures
where operated.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And that's not being trafficking to them, but to me,
it is explainery, right r.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Take somebody against their will and forced them to even
to whether it's marry you.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
For some.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
It's slavery. You know, there are times when I even
the term human trafficking because I feel like it borders
down what it really is.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
It's slavery.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Slavery, Yeah, it's slavery exactly. That's what I was going
to say, because you know, your movie, you know, Unexpected,
the short film that you were just talking about. That
movie is all about Oregon harvesting, which was I mean
completely mind blowing to me. And how it starts one
place and then it takes you back, you know, within
(19:36):
hours of how everything transpires, and it's all across the
world that this is taking place, you know, where someone
is supposedly gaining something but someone else is losing a
life because of it. Can you talk to us a
little bit about that?
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Yeah, that's that's one that I would say, I gravit
sate dude. I'll back up and kind of say how
I kind of got into it. So after I got
out of the seal teams in twenty sixteen, I was,
you know, volunteering with a lot of different nonprofits, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
The type of nonprofit that kept on.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
I kept on getting reached out to by contacted buying
these a different nonprofit, different or human trafficking nonprofits. You know.
One year, Slave to Nothing reached out to me and said, hey,
we're we're doing a fundraiser for your human traf and
I never heard of, I never heard of from the
traffic I was like, you know what, but I was
like yeah, whatever, I'll go help out with that. Then
there was another human trafficking nonprofit out and Sacramento. I
(20:36):
can't recall the name them of it, but they reached
out to me and it were just like, hey, can
you come up and help us out and partner or
partner with us or human drafting see you hear your
Navy seal and you got this background and come help out.
And I was like sure, like I'll go. And it
just kept on happening and happening, and then finally, I
want to say it, around two thousand and seventeen, I
(20:57):
got contacted by specific human trafficking nonprofit that partners with
former Special Operations guys and former agency guys and women
and former analysts and CI d I and all these
you know say people, and they go into other countries
and here in the US. So they operate both in
the US but also in other countries to help rescue
(21:20):
children drafting sex trafficking. Now, because of international laws, of course,
they can't just operate you know autonomy, right, and so
you know, the targets that they go after are targets
We're Americans. So they target broccos where Americans travel to.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
To have sex with underage girls.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
So that's kind of how they're able to essentially carry
out these raids.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
And so they sent me a video one of the
one of the contacts.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
They sent me a video like it was actual, like
a documentary and actual footage.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And I saw it and I showed it to my wife.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
And my wife so I was a doctor and our right,
you know, because she hears it's these crazy stuff. She
used to work in community and medicine and now she
works with Charlotte, and she said, I don't care, really,
whatever you gotta do, whenever you.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Get wherever you gotta go, and whatever you gotta do,
you do something.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
You know, put your skill set to use, and you
go get these savages.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
And so like Roger that, and so I signed up.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
And I started working with this particularly human trafficking nonprofit.
And you know, our job was to go into these
places and my job in the seal teams.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I was a humid guy.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I was a medic but I was also a human guy,
which stands in human intelligence. So I kind of led
the best of both worlds. Like I took work on
like the agency side of things and running sources and
building intelligent packages and Espona and tradecraft and all the
other stuff and using that to essentially build mission packages
to go after bad guys. But then I also got
to go in the missions and kick down doors, so
(22:48):
I was able to kind of utilize that skill set
in the human trafficking side of things. And and I
just remember, you know, going down at dr and just
sing and saying I was we were in this particular
slum where the parents sell their daughters to traffickers, right,
(23:11):
And I.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Remember walking through this particular slum. I was just like
a shock. I was just ack.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
And our job at this particular, this particular job, and
I'll say that at.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
The airports was not more.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
That was not much of kicking down doors and getting traffickers.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
And arresting kids.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
Our job was essentially talked to the parents and just say, hey, listen,
this is what's happening to your daughters, like you need
to stop doing that, and to also give give the
family's resources so that they wanted to sell their daughters
and they knew what was happening, but we had to
really like, hey, these are your daughters. And I remember
(23:48):
this one guy who was a liaison. Of course, he
lived in v R and he saw a frustrated and
he pulled me as oude and he's like, because I
couldn't understand it, and he pulled me aside, and he
pulled me into this chapel. And in this chapel at
the end of the chapel, the chapel was no bigger
than the size of two like handicapped toilet stalls like
(24:10):
that was like the chapel wasn't big at all. At
the other end of the chapel was his dead baby
basket that had just died.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
A baby. It was probably about six months old.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
And he explained to me that the reason why the
baby died was because the mother, you know, she wasn't
getting enough getting enough food assesssments to have milk dried up,
and so she was getting flowing and mixing the flooring.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
With the local water.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Oh my gosh, order it and it's slum. It's not consumable,
and that's ultimately what killed the baby. But he was saying, reymer,
this is their plight. Either they sell their one daughter
and get money on a consistent basis from what their
daughter's doing, or all their children died. Wow, And that
(24:55):
really put things into perspective. To me, and when I
came to realize that that moment was whether on the
trafficking side of things or whether they're victim, it all
comes back to desperation, like the parents are desperate for
resources and the traffickers, which it's still evils.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
It doesn't justify it. They're desperate for money. There's so
many people that are not even aware of it. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Human trafficking alone is a multi billion dollar industries. Is
estimated to be one hundred and fifty billion dollar industry internationally.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Thirty five plus billion our industry in America.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Okay, organ harvesting, it's really really hard to predict how much,
but we know that it's definitely a multi billion dollar industry.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
But it's just it flies.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
It's hard to predict because victims often die, you know.
And these traffickers are so sophisticated. These organ harvesting rings
are very, very very sophisticated. These they have endless resources
and money weren't into this into this, and it's just
(26:03):
it's things. People are so intelligent. The majority of people
who are part of these organ harvesting rings, what are they?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The doctors, wow.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
The nurses, they have to be as a matter of fact,
there was an organ harvesting ring that was busted in
Cairo in twenty sixteen. A lot of people don't know this,
but Cairo, Egypt is the organ harvesting capital of the world, which.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
A lot of people don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
No, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Do we know why Cairo.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Is because of the migrant situation?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
The migrant situation, so you have you have people from
different parts of Africa that are trying to and in
the Middle East that are trying to get to Egypt.
Where are moving up from Africa to the You're kind
of similar to how you know here that we have
a lot of people from South America.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Which that's a whole conversation.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
I mean to talk about how the migrant has created
this massive human trafficking. Just conline were going to border.
It's forrific. But so that's what's.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Happening in Egypt.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
We're getting a lot of people that are moving from
Africa and even different parts of the Middle.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
East to try and move in Egypt, to move north
into Europe.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
And so these people get trapped there and they get
desperate and they get promised, hey, you know, we'll figure
a way to get you into Italy or.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Get you into Spain or wherever the kids may be.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
But it's going to cost you. It's going to cast
you a thousand dollars. A thousand dollars to them is
like one hundred million dollars to us. This and that
goes back to desperation and the poverty situation and how
poverty drives a lot of this and these victims being
so desperate and so they get caught up and selling
(27:42):
their organs.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
And that's why Cairo, Egypt.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Egypt is an organ happened carbs and capital of the world,
and it happens so much because so many people kind
of consolidate there to move into other parts of the world,
and they end up getting trapped and they end up
getting desperate and finding.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
They end up bringing up for organs.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
These particular the ring that was busted and the way
it was busted was in an Indian.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Was this woman who was in this low cast system.
She received an email from.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
This particular website saying, Hey, are you looking for a job.
And again, the perspectives are so different because when somebody
in a low cast system gets an email for a job,
whether even if it's just a cleaning job that can
change everything.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Right, right, change the world.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
And so she got this email and she's like, oh
my god, yes, but she had to move up to.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I believe it was New Deli.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
I could be wrong, but you have to move up
to a different part of like a city, part.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Of Indian And so she gets.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
There and there's an apartment waiting for her and the liaison,
the guy who was the who's actually trafficker. She said,
all right, you're going to start work tomorrow, but before
you start working, I need you to go a physical.
So she doesn't know any better. She's happy to have
her job. She goes to get her physical into the room,
(29:01):
the door closes on the other end of the rooms.
The doctor and the nurse kept. What saved her life
was her attentiveness because she heard the nurse say to
the doctor before he was getting ready to come in,
this is the one that's giving the sportings.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Oh my goodness, and she jumped up, got dressed, and
she booked out of it, alerted the police.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
And that's what essentially exposes.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Or in barguston ry wow, and saved her life and.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Saved her life.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
So this particular case, Irma Martinez She was I believe
nineteen years old at the time in the Philippines and
she was brought over to America with a wealthy you know,
Filipino family that came to America and essentially Irma was
there living made for nineteen years. But really she was
(30:15):
enslaved for nineteen years, basically, and you know, she'd send money,
she'd get gas lit. You know, she wasn't even allowed
to leave the home or say things right, And she
did survive, she did get out. And I'm of course
jumping a bunch of you know, a bunch of the details,
but it was because one of the sons his girlfriend
(30:38):
who would become his wife. They weren't married very long.
But she saw something, Sherry, Yeah, Sherry, and she's like,
this doesn't feel right.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
That is the bulk of the story, is this one
person saw that this was something was wrong here, and
she did something, She said something, you know, she she
spoke up, you know, and I and I think that's
what we all have to do, you know. And when
(31:08):
we think about the bigger picture, he said.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Something that I don't want to lose. I'll lose it.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
We can all make a difference in this fight, Yes,
and you know, I get people that reach out to
you all the time and they say, I want to
go on issues and kill these guys, do this and
do that.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
That's not what it's about.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
No, that's you know, it's it's so many roles that
can be played and that that's not that's not the role.
And you know the fact that the girlfriend saw something,
recognize the signs and send symptoms of the traffic victim
that saved Herma's life.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Yes, yeah, that was That was why I.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Made the film because I wanted people to, you know,
see the film, see that this stuff goes on, or
like you share m a story, yes, and then from
there begin to do something. And doing something can be
as simple as like, Okay, I'm going to listen to
this podcast.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Or I'm going to find podcasts on.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Human trafficking, or I'm going to dive deeper into Erma's
story to learn more about Erma's story and find out
what happened, or this is a big one, I'm going
to find a reputable, reputable human trafficking website, go to
their website and take their classes on how to recognize
the signs and symptoms with a traffic victim.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Because there are signs being controlled.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
The sense that somebody is being controlled, marks on a
person's body. With somebody is when you see them. And
even the kids at school and they're sheepish, always quiet.
They don't feel like they could speak because they feel
like they need permission to speak. I mean, and that
just doesn't just go for kids, that goes for men,
that goes on that note, I'll share a story. A
(32:47):
woman of Delta Airlines, right, she went on the website
one day and she studied the signs of a traffic victim,
and she saw this kid on a plane and every
time she walked by she saw this kid was like whiet.
This kid was kind of looking around, nervoush The kid
(33:09):
was a very very sheepish. The kid wouldn't speak. Even
when she came and said would you like peanuts? The
kid looked at at the dad and the dad said
either yes or no, and then the kids said.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Yes now, which is normal. She trusted her guts, she
trusted her training, called ahead. When a flight landed.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
I guess the police were at the UH at THEE
at the play and come to find out that child
had been abducted and was being traffied so you know,
going back to earn a story. You know, we can
all make a difference. We could all make a difference
in this fighting by just studying, looking, researching here and more,
(33:53):
attending classes with short classes, and we can all realize
what it is.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And most of the time it's not as applicator asks
exactly mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
It's because of the Sharrys of the world, right, it's
because of the people who see something and say something.
Of what you're doing, Remy, like you said, like everything
you've been through has led you to this moment. There
is a reason you're a storyteller. There's a reason that
you're in front of the camera and behind it. It's
because you're here to make a difference. And each one
(34:25):
of us can do something.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And Remy your book the title transformed, I mean, that
is what it's all about, right, Like how you continue
on your journey. Things happen to all of us, but
it's how we move forward and move onward, you know,
as always on facing evil, we always like to end
(34:48):
with a lightness, you know, like how do you through
all the trials and tribulations you know that you've been
through in your life, how did you get to the
light or how do you did you stay in the
light or how did you find the light?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, my mom, I mean that's the top of mind answer.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Same with us, ma'am, Yes, same with us.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
She always reminded me when I was selling drugs and
doing all the crazy stuff that I did in the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
You know, my mom would always.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Remind me of my name. And I brought that up earlier,
and she would always say, Rendy, that's.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Not you, like like you're acting like someone you're not.
This is who you are, this is who your father was.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
And she would always beat into us this importance of hey,
you're excellent and needed to walk that out. And so,
you know, I had a spirit. I had a constant
example of what it meant to persevere. You know my mom,
you know, she worked multiple jobs to provide for us.
They were times where she didn't have enough food to
be herself.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
She had just enough.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Food to be my brother and I, you know, I
watched my mom just never quit, ever, ever quit. As
a matter of fact, I'll share the story that Dan
shared the book. After my dad died, my mom had
she had still has a cousin who a wealthy, very
wealthy lawyer, and my dad called him up because she
(36:14):
had no money left when she came to she had
no money left after she buried my dad, and she
called up her cousin and said, hey, can you just
loan me some money, like just until I can beat
myself on because I don't have a nipple to my name.
He said, all right, let me call you right back.
Five minutes later, his wife called my mom and she
said to my mom, how did you call up my husband?
(36:37):
And asked her for Monday? Who do you think? Who
do you think you are? Don't you ever do this?
Speaker 7 (36:42):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
And hung up the phone with my mom. My mom
just lost her husband.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
And then now she went to her family member, her
cousin who she grew up, who my grandfather helped raise because.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
His dad was abusive, and he says no to her.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
She could have quitted right then, yep.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
And somehow she just put one in front of the other.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
So for me, when it's like, hey, you know we're
want to be an eavy sit I'm going to be
a freaking navy ship.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
That was hell, you know I want to I want
to be a filmmaker.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Freaking get out the seal teams or thirty forty now
or thirty five or six, whatever it was.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
And I want to thrive and be a filmmaker and
start from the bottom.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
Everybody in Hollywood telling me, no, Hey, I'm going to
freaking work for the little walk.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
It's going to happen, Yes it is, Yes, right. This
has been an incredible, incredible interview with you. We are
just so humbled that you took time out of your
busy schedule to speak with us.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Remy A delek Mahalo Nuiloa. Thank you so much for
joining my beautiful sister and I on facing evil, but
more importantly for sharing your story and helping us tell
Irma's story and teaching us that everyone has unlimited potential.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
Absolutely, thank you. Thank you so much for having you there.
Thank you somewhere for having Lassia. I greatly greatly.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Appreciate you both.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Today's message of hope and healing goes out to the
helpers out there, like Shery Bhutang, who initially reported that
Irma was a human trafficking victim. Cherry spoke up for
Irma and fought for her to be rescued after years
of enslavement.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yes, so if you see something, say something, you can
call the National Human Trafficking Hotline twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week at eight eight eight three seven
three seven eight eight eight. You can also text the
word help to two three three seven three three. Cherry
(38:48):
Beutong saw the signs and said something and gave Irma
her freedom back.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yes, thank you, Sherry. Our Emua goes out to you
and to Irma Martinez. You are both shining examples of
perseverance and hope. Onward and upward.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
Emua e moua.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Well, that's our show for today. We'd love to hear
what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a
case you'd like for us to.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Cover, find us on social media or email us at
facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And one small request if you haven't already, please find
us on iTunes and give us a good rating and
a good review. If you like what we do, your
support is always cherished.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Until next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Facing Evil is a production of I Heart Radio and
Tenderfoot TV. The show is hosted by Russia Peccuerero and
Avet Gentile, Matt Frederick and Alex williams Our executive producers
on behalf of iHeartRadio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk,
Donald Albright in Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf
(40:18):
of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is
Carolyn Talmadge. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find
us on social media or email us at Facing Evil
pod at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio
or Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(40:41):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rasha Peccuerero
and a big welcome back to my beautiful sister.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yes Spongourno. Everyone, I am Eve Gentile and as Rasha said,
I am back from Italia, which was amazing, but I'm
also equally excited to be back in the studio with
my A team. And I'm especially excited because we have
a guest in the house today that I am really
looking forward to speaking with.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, I'm looking forward to that as well. But we
are going to be looking at the story of Irma Martinez.
Irma was a Filipino living made for a wealthy family
here in the US, but sadly it became much more
than that. The family exploited her labor and trapped her
(01:17):
there for years, and this eventually became a disturbing case
of modern day slavery.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That's right, Russia. It's terrible, but it points to a
bigger issue of human trafficking in this country, especially for
force slabor. And with us here to talk about that
today will be Remy Adelaike g. Remy is a former
Navy seal who is now a filmmaker and he recently
made a short film about human trafficking. I am so
(01:47):
looking forward to this discussion today with Remy.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I am as well. Remy is incredible. But first our
producer Trevor is going to walk us through today's case.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Irma Martinez is a Filipino woman who was coerced into
indentured servitude for a wealthy Wisconsin family for nineteen years.
The case was a shocking example of modern day human
and labor trafficking. In nineteen eighty five, at the age
of nineteen, Irma was approached by a woman named Elnorra
kayleem Limb. She offered Irma a job as a housekeeper
(02:23):
at the kalem lim household in America. Elnorra and her
husband Jefferson, were busy doctors and had three children. Irma
was promised job stability and a steady income that she
could send back to her family in the Philippines. She
agreed to work for an initial five years. The family
flew with her to America under the guise that she
(02:44):
was one of their patients. She arrived in the United
States on a tourist visa. The kalam Limbs reportedly knew
how to bring a foreign citizen into the US to
work legally, but they chose not to. Had they done that,
they would have needed to sign an employer contract, pay
her fair wages, and limit her duties to those appropriate
for her job classification. But when she arrived, the family
(03:07):
took her passport and told her she owed them for
travel expenses. She worked seven days a week for sixteen
hours a day, cleaning the home and caring for the children.
If she slept past six am, Elinor and Jefferson would
scold her and tell her that she should be concerned
next time it happened. They led her to believe she
was in the country illegally, so therefore she could not
(03:30):
open a bank account and they could not pay her.
They also told her that if anyone found her, she
would be jailed and deported. Because of this, they told
her she couldn't walk around the neighborhood. She was never
even allowed to open the front door. When the children
came home from school, she would open the garage door
from the inside so no one would see her. Despite
(03:50):
both the Kayalam Limbs being doctors, they repeatedly denied Irma
medical treatment. When Irma had a broken tooth, they refused
to take her to a dentist, and when she was
doubled over from menstrual cramps, Elinor ridiculed her and told
her she would never have children. Jefferson would often get
angry after drinking alcohol, and on one occasion threw a
(04:11):
shoe at Irma. In the late nineties, one of the sons, Jack,
brought home a girlfriend named Sherry. Sherry noticed Irma and
became suspicious. After probing the family further, she eventually tipped
off the US Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services. She
broke down in tears during the call and stated that quote,
(04:32):
no one should live under those conditions. That is just
not humane. On September twenty ninth, two thousand and four,
FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the home
with the surge warrant. The agents went into the basement
and found a secret room they opened it and found
Irma shaking in fear. She was thirty eight years old.
(04:53):
After her rescue, Irma was granted a tea visa for
trafficking victims. As it turns out, in nineteen years, Irma's
family received only nineteen thousand dollars from the Kalem Limbs.
The Kalem Limbs were ordered to pay back over nine
hundred thousand dollars in back wages and were sentenced to
four years in prison each. About the case, acting US
(05:15):
Attorney Michelle Jacobs said, quote, human trafficking is a form
of modern day slavery and is simply not acceptable. No
person should ever be forced to live in fear, virtual isolation,
and servitude. And so what happened to Irma Martinez and
how does her story reflect a troubling practice of human
(05:35):
trafficking in the US and across the world.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Without further ado, we are so incredibly blessed to have
the one, the only, Remy Adeleik on the show today
and he's going to be discussing with us the broader
issue of human trafficking. Yeah, you know, Remy, you were
(06:03):
a Navy seal for thirteen years, which is unbelievable and amazing,
and then you went on to go into acting directing.
You just did a film called The Unexpected, which I
just have to tell you I watched last night and
it's so mind blowing, it's so educating, and it's so
(06:26):
deeply saddening. Kudos to that. It's a brilliant well directed
You wrote it and directed as well. As You have
a memoir book called Transformed, which I have to tell
you on the plane from Rome to San Francisco I
read and I was just literally blown away by your story.
(06:50):
I mean one of my very first movies growing up
as a child was Coming to America and to read
your book and know your history and to know that
you came and you come from royalty, it's such an
incredible story. So if you could just share with our
listeners how this came about, where you came from, I mean,
(07:15):
how you grew up, all the things, all the things
remy Yeah, I'll.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Just feel free to stop me if I'm going to lawn.
Never never feel free.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
To interject, because you know, there's so much of my
story that I skip stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So if there's.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Anything you remember from the book or you will be
to share, just Hey, what about that alcohol? I will,
I will, But I tell people all the time that
you know, my story actually really starts with my dad's story. Yes,
because as you mentioned, my grandfather was a chief in
the euro of a tribe.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
And our last name at Day lake Game.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
At Day means crown and lake a means is supreme
in euro love. And my first name is actually at
Day Remy. A lot of people don't know that. You
think it's Remy, and it's actually at Day Roman, which
means the crown has appeased me.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
So my father was born as he was a firstborn
son to.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
My grandfather who had like nine wives and he kept
on having daughters.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And the tradition at the time in Nigeria and.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
You're of a still to this day, is you know,
the firstborn son becomes the chief and is the leader.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Of the tribe and the family, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
And so my grandfather died when my when my father
was about eight years old. So my grandfather died when
my dad was young as well, and all the wives dispersed,
They were all given stipends, and you know, they all
pretty much.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Dispersed to different places.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
And my grandmother wrote my father down to the south
of Nigeria and Lagos and at the time they were
missionaries there and they were teaching science and math and
a bunch of different things.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
And my dad was very intelligent.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
As a matter of fact, before he was six or
seven years old, he had memorized the Krome, so he
was he just had this very intellectual you know, he
picked up things fast. He had a very diverse, wow,
supernatural brain.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
My father actually has more. He's a really really smart guy.
He's a he's an engineer, right, yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
Just moved back from Saudi Arabia. He was out there
for eight years working at Saudi Ramco, helping them find
oil and electure. You know, I'm not smart on all
of this, so lot of contests, please forgive me, but
you know, working on the system to help fine oil
and now he works with Doe.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So back to my dad. So so my dad, you know,
he got it.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
He ended up getting pull Right scholarship to study engineering
and architecture in London, and he went to London and
you know, he excelled after he graduated, got his bachelors
and at his master's and then he just started working
and Grinnie he was the first black man on the
board of the British Financial.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Planning Council in the UK. Beautiful, and he.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Came to the States and he started traveling back and
forth from the States because one of his good friends
was the architect of the World Trade Center, A Jabe.
I'm always pronounced his name wrong. It's fresh in my
mind because my scory got picked up to be a
movie with a major studio. I can't mention it yet.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Congratula.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I have to interject here because as I was reading
the book, you know, because we read it when we
were driving through Italy. I read it when we were
flying on the plane, and when we were driving, I
was reading it out loud to my husband and like
he was so engrossed. We were both so engrossed, and
I could see it visually, I could see it. So congratulations,
well deserved.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Yeah, but a lot of this is fresh in my
mind because I just finished writing the film, you know,
after the writer's strike, because this is a big, big
writers strike, we could start.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Moving forward on other things.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
But you know, my dad's again, my dad's a good
friend with Manori and he's with architect or World Trade Center.
So my dad ended up being one of the first
black men on the border the World Trade Center in
the United States, New York and so and that was
kind of how he met my mom. As you mentioned
coming to America, my mom Dad's story.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Is to Americas, you know, and what you know.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
They fell in love and my mom moved to Nigeria
and my dad ended up going back to Nigeria.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
A little bit before he met my mom.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
But you know, I'll just jump to that part of
the story because he wanted he felt like Nigeria can
be like the West.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
A lot of people realize that.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Africa in general is so so rich in resources, and
Nigeria in particulars rich and.
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Oil, very very rich in oil, rich and natural gas,
coco gold. I mean, I was in Nigeria a couple
of years ago actually when I when I was writing
the book. I went to finish writing the book in
Nigeria and I.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Went there to just get the deal of the land.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
And I interviewed one of my dad's mentees and he
said that, you know, so many Nigerians and Africans believe
that Nigeria is the cradle of civilization. Wow, because of
how many resources come out of Nigeria, but also how
intelligent Nigerian people are, like just like just brilliant minds. Yeah,
and so because of all the resources, my dad was like,
(12:03):
Nigeria needs to be like the US. And so he
went back to Nigeria and went well, my mom was
with him at this point, and he started businesses and
he had started an architecture firm and engineering firm.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
He's had car dealerships and he had all.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Of these different businesses and his goal was to create
like a Wall Street. So buy a plot of land
and create like this massive wall street in Nigeria with
people from all around the world can come and do
business and trade and look at Nigeria, look at Africa
in a different way.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
He was very passionate about his people.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
So he bought this massive plot of land almost the
size of a small city called Amerco, and he was
going to use that land to develop his African Wall Street.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
And it was a military coup in the seventies.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
And when a military coup happened, the land got taken
by the new military regime and everything was just throwing.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
The politicians were executed. I mean, it was just it
was just crazy, how heartbreaking.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
He waited for the Nigerian government to get reinstalled and
eventually didn't want to say, Like it was the late
seventies in the early eighties and democracy was re established
and he started going to court and started fighting the
Nigerian government. And that's kind of around the time I
was born. Like around that time, the Nigerians federal government
said to my dad, Okay, what do you want. We
(13:25):
have we proved that this land was yours. I can't
give you this land back, you know, but you want
your money back because he spent eight million pounds at
the time. They offered him the money back and he said, no,
I don't want the money back. I want another plot
of land. And they said, we're not going to give
you another plot of land. He said, okay, can you
give me this swamp like it was a lagoon but.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
It was literally a swamp.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
And everybody laughed at my dad and they were just like, swamp,
what are you going to do with his fun?
Speaker 4 (13:55):
He said, don't worry about it, give it to me.
Because my dad was.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
As I said, he was such a brilliant man and
he was full of thinking and his mindset was if
I can build something where there was never nothing.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Then no one could ever say that was mine, or
he stole it from me, or he did this, and
he did that.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And so he raised a lot more money and invest
a lot more of his money, and they gave him
the swamp. And that's when he hired Dutch engineers and
other engineers from other parts of the world and minority
who designed the World Trade Center, and they started dredging
the foreshore to build an island, to make a man
made island. And so again I was born at this time.
(14:37):
So when I was born, I was going into the wealth.
I was born into, you know, traveling the world. We
had drivers and we had cooks, and we lived on
a company.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Didn't live in a house.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
We lived on a compound on Victoria Island, which is
like the equivalent of Beverly Hills or Cornado Anthons. We
lived a life love me and my brother. We went
to a very prestigious private school. And I remember when
my dad would.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Come pick us up and walk the halls or people.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
Would like like literally bow to him, like cheat, hatty
Lake and you're excellent, and call him all with these
cool names. I'm just this little kid. And so that
was the life that I was essentially going into we
didn't work for.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Anything, Remy.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I really want to know more about your time in
the Navy Seals, and I have to tell our listeners.
And I know you already know this because we've talked
about this my wife and daughter and I fell madly
in love with you watching Special Forces World's Toughest Tests
on Fox.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
But please, please, please.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Please, Remmy, can you tell us a little bit more
about you know, your time in the Navy Seals and like,
is that where you saw human trafficking becoming an issue?
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Did you see?
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I mean I was, and I wasn't.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
So I was in a sense that when I was
overseas doing missions, we would hit houses if we would
go out the targets, big, big time guys. And they
had wives who were twelve. He's a thirty forty year
old man. They had multiple wives who are twelve, thirteen,
(16:35):
you know, pregnant, you know, and fourteen, fifteen, And so
you know, it's.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Hard for me to say that's human trafficking.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
But at the same time, I want to be careful
about you know, I don't want to offend, but you know,
certain cultures, you know, it's it's acceptable and certain cultures,
girls and women aren't property. It's a second class set.
And so you know, so for me as an as
an American, you know that to me is a form
(17:08):
of trafficking. And you know what, and we'll get down
into it later, but that happens here in the States, yes, you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Know, and on a big world.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
As a matter of fact, you know, the United States
drives the demand for sex trafficking. We are the biggest,
you know, culprit as it relates to utilizing materials and
victims of sex traffic, materials that are that are used,
that are created with sex traffic victims, underage kids. So
America drives the demand. A lot of people don't realize that,
(17:40):
but we do. And so it happens either. But it
happened there, but in a different way. I didn't have
the when I was overseas. I didn't get the opportunity
to serve, serve in northern Iraq where the guys you know,
were But I mean, you know the story from our
shortcom that's that's a true event, you know that I
believe it was. Toowenty fourteen was the last genocide that
(18:03):
was documented. Body willin considered a genocide Bobby Willing and
Gazes people.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
The men were murdered, the old women were murdered.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
And the young girls were taken and used as sex
slaves and traffic for organ harvesting, and we used the
labor right.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And so I didn't get a chance to serve.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
In that area, but I do have a really, really
good friend of mine who did.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
He served with some of the gases people.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
He ended up up unfortunately, he ended up killed on
Operation Charlie Kee.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
But you know, so I'm sure he was exposed to
on that level.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
But again going back to my original answer, yes, I
would say from through the lens of the westerner an American,
but through the lens of somebody in the particular cultures
where operated.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And that's not being trafficking to them, but to me,
it is explainery, right r.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Take somebody against their will and forced them to even
to whether it's marry you.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
For some.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
It's slavery. You know, there are times when I even
the term human trafficking because I feel like it borders
down what it really is.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
It's slavery.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Slavery, Yeah, it's slavery exactly. That's what I was going
to say, because you know, your movie, you know, Unexpected,
the short film that you were just talking about. That
movie is all about Oregon harvesting, which was I mean
completely mind blowing to me. And how it starts one
place and then it takes you back, you know, within
(19:36):
hours of how everything transpires, and it's all across the
world that this is taking place, you know, where someone
is supposedly gaining something but someone else is losing a
life because of it. Can you talk to us a
little bit about that?
Speaker 5 (19:57):
Yeah, that's that's one that I would say, I gravit
sate dude. I'll back up and kind of say how
I kind of got into it. So after I got
out of the seal teams in twenty sixteen, I was,
you know, volunteering with a lot of different nonprofits, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
The type of nonprofit that kept on.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
I kept on getting reached out to by contacted buying
these a different nonprofit, different or human trafficking nonprofits. You know.
One year, Slave to Nothing reached out to me and said, hey,
we're we're doing a fundraiser for your human traf and
I never heard of, I never heard of from the
traffic I was like, you know what, but I was
like yeah, whatever, I'll go help out with that. Then
there was another human trafficking nonprofit out and Sacramento. I
(20:36):
can't recall the name them of it, but they reached
out to me and it were just like, hey, can
you come up and help us out and partner or
partner with us or human drafting see you hear your
Navy seal and you got this background and come help out.
And I was like sure, like I'll go. And it
just kept on happening and happening, and then finally, I
want to say it, around two thousand and seventeen, I
(20:57):
got contacted by specific human trafficking nonprofit that partners with
former Special Operations guys and former agency guys and women
and former analysts and CI d I and all these
you know say people, and they go into other countries
and here in the US. So they operate both in
the US but also in other countries to help rescue
(21:20):
children drafting sex trafficking. Now, because of international laws, of course,
they can't just operate you know autonomy, right, and so
you know, the targets that they go after are targets
We're Americans. So they target broccos where Americans travel to.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
To have sex with underage girls.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
So that's kind of how they're able to essentially carry
out these raids.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
And so they sent me a video one of the
one of the contacts.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
They sent me a video like it was actual, like
a documentary and actual footage.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And I saw it and I showed it to my wife.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
And my wife so I was a doctor and our right,
you know, because she hears it's these crazy stuff. She
used to work in community and medicine and now she
works with Charlotte, and she said, I don't care, really,
whatever you gotta do, whenever you.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Get wherever you gotta go, and whatever you gotta do,
you do something.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
You know, put your skill set to use, and you
go get these savages.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
And so like Roger that, and so I signed up.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
And I started working with this particularly human trafficking nonprofit.
And you know, our job was to go into these
places and my job in the seal teams.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I was a humid guy.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I was a medic but I was also a human guy,
which stands in human intelligence. So I kind of led
the best of both worlds. Like I took work on
like the agency side of things and running sources and
building intelligent packages and Espona and tradecraft and all the
other stuff and using that to essentially build mission packages
to go after bad guys. But then I also got
to go in the missions and kick down doors, so
(22:48):
I was able to kind of utilize that skill set
in the human trafficking side of things. And and I
just remember, you know, going down at dr and just
sing and saying I was we were in this particular
slum where the parents sell their daughters to traffickers, right,
(23:11):
And I.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Remember walking through this particular slum. I was just like
a shock. I was just ack.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
And our job at this particular, this particular job, and
I'll say that at.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
The airports was not more.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
That was not much of kicking down doors and getting traffickers.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
And arresting kids.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
Our job was essentially talked to the parents and just say, hey, listen,
this is what's happening to your daughters, like you need
to stop doing that, and to also give give the
family's resources so that they wanted to sell their daughters
and they knew what was happening, but we had to
really like, hey, these are your daughters. And I remember
(23:48):
this one guy who was a liaison. Of course, he
lived in v R and he saw a frustrated and
he pulled me as oude and he's like, because I
couldn't understand it, and he pulled me aside, and he
pulled me into this chapel. And in this chapel at
the end of the chapel, the chapel was no bigger
than the size of two like handicapped toilet stalls like
(24:10):
that was like the chapel wasn't big at all. At
the other end of the chapel was his dead baby
basket that had just died.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
A baby. It was probably about six months old.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
And he explained to me that the reason why the
baby died was because the mother, you know, she wasn't
getting enough getting enough food assesssments to have milk dried up,
and so she was getting flowing and mixing the flooring.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
With the local water.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Oh my gosh, order it and it's slum. It's not consumable,
and that's ultimately what killed the baby. But he was saying, reymer,
this is their plight. Either they sell their one daughter
and get money on a consistent basis from what their
daughter's doing, or all their children died. Wow, And that
(24:55):
really put things into perspective. To me, and when I
came to realize that that moment was whether on the
trafficking side of things or whether they're victim, it all
comes back to desperation, like the parents are desperate for
resources and the traffickers, which it's still evils.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
It doesn't justify it. They're desperate for money. There's so
many people that are not even aware of it. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Human trafficking alone is a multi billion dollar industries. Is
estimated to be one hundred and fifty billion dollar industry internationally.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Thirty five plus billion our industry in America.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Okay, organ harvesting, it's really really hard to predict how much,
but we know that it's definitely a multi billion dollar industry.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
But it's just it flies.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
It's hard to predict because victims often die, you know.
And these traffickers are so sophisticated. These organ harvesting rings
are very, very very sophisticated. These they have endless resources
and money weren't into this into this, and it's just
(26:03):
it's things. People are so intelligent. The majority of people
who are part of these organ harvesting rings, what are they?
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The doctors, wow.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
The nurses, they have to be as a matter of fact,
there was an organ harvesting ring that was busted in
Cairo in twenty sixteen. A lot of people don't know this,
but Cairo, Egypt is the organ harvesting capital of the world, which.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
A lot of people don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
No, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Do we know why Cairo.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Is because of the migrant situation?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
The migrant situation, so you have you have people from
different parts of Africa that are trying to and in
the Middle East that are trying to get to Egypt.
Where are moving up from Africa to the You're kind
of similar to how you know here that we have
a lot of people from South America.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Which that's a whole conversation.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
I mean to talk about how the migrant has created
this massive human trafficking. Just conline were going to border.
It's forrific. But so that's what's.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Happening in Egypt.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
We're getting a lot of people that are moving from
Africa and even different parts of the Middle.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
East to try and move in Egypt, to move north
into Europe.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
And so these people get trapped there and they get
desperate and they get promised, hey, you know, we'll figure
a way to get you into Italy or.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Get you into Spain or wherever the kids may be.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
But it's going to cost you. It's going to cast
you a thousand dollars. A thousand dollars to them is
like one hundred million dollars to us. This and that
goes back to desperation and the poverty situation and how
poverty drives a lot of this and these victims being
so desperate and so they get caught up and selling
(27:42):
their organs.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
And that's why Cairo, Egypt.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
Egypt is an organ happened carbs and capital of the world,
and it happens so much because so many people kind
of consolidate there to move into other parts of the world,
and they end up getting trapped and they end up
getting desperate and finding.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
They end up bringing up for organs.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
These particular the ring that was busted and the way
it was busted was in an Indian.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Was this woman who was in this low cast system.
She received an email from.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
This particular website saying, Hey, are you looking for a job.
And again, the perspectives are so different because when somebody
in a low cast system gets an email for a job,
whether even if it's just a cleaning job that can
change everything.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Right, right, change the world.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
And so she got this email and she's like, oh
my god, yes, but she had to move up to.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I believe it was New Deli.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
I could be wrong, but you have to move up
to a different part of like a city, part.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Of Indian And so she gets.
Speaker 5 (28:40):
There and there's an apartment waiting for her and the liaison,
the guy who was the who's actually trafficker. She said,
all right, you're going to start work tomorrow, but before
you start working, I need you to go a physical.
So she doesn't know any better. She's happy to have
her job. She goes to get her physical into the room,
(29:01):
the door closes on the other end of the rooms.
The doctor and the nurse kept. What saved her life
was her attentiveness because she heard the nurse say to
the doctor before he was getting ready to come in,
this is the one that's giving the sportings.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Oh my goodness, and she jumped up, got dressed, and
she booked out of it, alerted the police.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
And that's what essentially exposes.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Or in barguston ry wow, and saved her life and.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Saved her life.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
So this particular case, Irma Martinez She was I believe
nineteen years old at the time in the Philippines and
she was brought over to America with a wealthy you know,
Filipino family that came to America and essentially Irma was
there living made for nineteen years. But really she was
(30:15):
enslaved for nineteen years, basically, and you know, she'd send money,
she'd get gas lit. You know, she wasn't even allowed
to leave the home or say things right, And she
did survive, she did get out. And I'm of course
jumping a bunch of you know, a bunch of the details,
but it was because one of the sons his girlfriend
(30:38):
who would become his wife. They weren't married very long.
But she saw something, Sherry, Yeah, Sherry, and she's like,
this doesn't feel right.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
That is the bulk of the story, is this one
person saw that this was something was wrong here, and
she did something, She said something, you know, she she
spoke up, you know, and I and I think that's
what we all have to do, you know. And when
(31:08):
we think about the bigger picture, he said.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Something that I don't want to lose. I'll lose it.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
We can all make a difference in this fight, Yes,
and you know, I get people that reach out to
you all the time and they say, I want to
go on issues and kill these guys, do this and
do that.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
That's not what it's about.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
No, that's you know, it's it's so many roles that
can be played and that that's not that's not the role.
And you know the fact that the girlfriend saw something,
recognize the signs and send symptoms of the traffic victim
that saved Herma's life.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Yes, yeah, that was That was why I.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
Made the film because I wanted people to, you know,
see the film, see that this stuff goes on, or
like you share m a story, yes, and then from
there begin to do something. And doing something can be
as simple as like, Okay, I'm going to listen to
this podcast.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Or I'm going to find podcasts on.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Human trafficking, or I'm going to dive deeper into Erma's
story to learn more about Erma's story and find out
what happened, or this is a big one, I'm going
to find a reputable, reputable human trafficking website, go to
their website and take their classes on how to recognize
the signs and symptoms with a traffic victim.
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Because there are signs being controlled.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
The sense that somebody is being controlled, marks on a
person's body. With somebody is when you see them. And
even the kids at school and they're sheepish, always quiet.
They don't feel like they could speak because they feel
like they need permission to speak. I mean, and that
just doesn't just go for kids, that goes for men,
that goes on that note, I'll share a story. A
(32:47):
woman of Delta Airlines, right, she went on the website
one day and she studied the signs of a traffic victim,
and she saw this kid on a plane and every
time she walked by she saw this kid was like whiet.
This kid was kind of looking around, nervoush The kid
(33:09):
was a very very sheepish. The kid wouldn't speak. Even
when she came and said would you like peanuts? The
kid looked at at the dad and the dad said
either yes or no, and then the kids said.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Yes now, which is normal. She trusted her guts, she
trusted her training, called ahead. When a flight landed.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
I guess the police were at the UH at THEE
at the play and come to find out that child
had been abducted and was being traffied so you know,
going back to earn a story. You know, we can
all make a difference. We could all make a difference
in this fighting by just studying, looking, researching here and more,
(33:53):
attending classes with short classes, and we can all realize
what it is.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And most of the time it's not as applicator asks
exactly mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
It's because of the Sharrys of the world, right, it's
because of the people who see something and say something.
Of what you're doing, Remy, like you said, like everything
you've been through has led you to this moment. There
is a reason you're a storyteller. There's a reason that
you're in front of the camera and behind it. It's
because you're here to make a difference. And each one
(34:25):
of us can do something.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
And Remy your book the title transformed, I mean, that
is what it's all about, right, Like how you continue
on your journey. Things happen to all of us, but
it's how we move forward and move onward, you know,
as always on facing evil, we always like to end
(34:48):
with a lightness, you know, like how do you through
all the trials and tribulations you know that you've been
through in your life, how did you get to the
light or how do you did you stay in the
light or how did you find the light?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, my mom, I mean that's the top of mind answer.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Same with us, ma'am, Yes, same with us.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
She always reminded me when I was selling drugs and
doing all the crazy stuff that I did in the Bronx.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
You know, my mom would always.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
Remind me of my name. And I brought that up earlier,
and she would always say, Rendy, that's.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
Not you, like like you're acting like someone you're not.
This is who you are, this is who your father was.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
And she would always beat into us this importance of hey,
you're excellent and needed to walk that out. And so,
you know, I had a spirit. I had a constant
example of what it meant to persevere. You know my mom,
you know, she worked multiple jobs to provide for us.
They were times where she didn't have enough food to
be herself.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
She had just enough.
Speaker 5 (35:52):
Food to be my brother and I, you know, I
watched my mom just never quit, ever, ever quit. As
a matter of fact, I'll share the story that Dan
shared the book. After my dad died, my mom had
she had still has a cousin who a wealthy, very
wealthy lawyer, and my dad called him up because she
(36:14):
had no money left when she came to she had
no money left after she buried my dad, and she
called up her cousin and said, hey, can you just
loan me some money, like just until I can beat
myself on because I don't have a nipple to my name.
He said, all right, let me call you right back.
Five minutes later, his wife called my mom and she
said to my mom, how did you call up my husband?
(36:37):
And asked her for Monday? Who do you think? Who
do you think you are? Don't you ever do this?
Speaker 7 (36:42):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
And hung up the phone with my mom. My mom
just lost her husband.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
And then now she went to her family member, her
cousin who she grew up, who my grandfather helped raise because.
Speaker 4 (36:53):
His dad was abusive, and he says no to her.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
She could have quitted right then, yep.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
And somehow she just put one in front of the other.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
So for me, when it's like, hey, you know we're
want to be an eavy sit I'm going to be
a freaking navy ship.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
That was hell, you know I want to I want
to be a filmmaker.
Speaker 5 (37:10):
Freaking get out the seal teams or thirty forty now
or thirty five or six, whatever it was.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
And I want to thrive and be a filmmaker and
start from the bottom.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
Everybody in Hollywood telling me, no, Hey, I'm going to
freaking work for the little walk.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
It's going to happen, Yes it is, Yes, right. This
has been an incredible, incredible interview with you. We are
just so humbled that you took time out of your
busy schedule to speak with us.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Remy A delek Mahalo Nuiloa. Thank you so much for
joining my beautiful sister and I on facing evil, but
more importantly for sharing your story and helping us tell
Irma's story and teaching us that everyone has unlimited potential.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
Absolutely, thank you. Thank you so much for having you there.
Thank you somewhere for having Lassia. I greatly greatly.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Appreciate you both.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Today's message of hope and healing goes out to the
helpers out there, like Shery Bhutang, who initially reported that
Irma was a human trafficking victim. Cherry spoke up for
Irma and fought for her to be rescued after years
of enslavement.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yes, so if you see something, say something, you can
call the National Human Trafficking Hotline twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week at eight eight eight three seven
three seven eight eight eight. You can also text the
word help to two three three seven three three. Cherry
(38:48):
Beutong saw the signs and said something and gave Irma
her freedom back.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Yes, thank you, Sherry. Our Emua goes out to you
and to Irma Martinez. You are both shining examples of
perseverance and hope. Onward and upward.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
Emua e moua.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Well, that's our show for today. We'd love to hear
what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a
case you'd like for us to.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Cover, find us on social media or email us at
facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
And one small request if you haven't already, please find
us on iTunes and give us a good rating and
a good review. If you like what we do, your
support is always cherished.
Speaker 8 (39:39):
Until next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Facing Evil is a production of I Heart Radio and
Tenderfoot TV. The show is hosted by Russia Peccuerero and
Avet Gentile, Matt Frederick and Alex williams Our executive producers
on behalf of iHeartRadio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk,
Donald Albright in Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf
(40:18):
of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is
Carolyn Talmadge. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find
us on social media or email us at Facing Evil
pod at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio
or Tenderfoot TV, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(40:41):
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