Pietro La Greca & The Mexican Money Laundry Part 1

Imagine your father is a charming international one-time gigolo turned clothing boutique owner turned arsonist turned money launderer for the Mexican cartels and Mexican presidents. Well, turns out you don't have to imagine it because that's the life of Pietro La Greca Jr. and he told Elizabeth and Zaron all about it!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
What's Elizabeth? You taught me?

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Yeah? I know.

Speaker 4 (00:08):
I didn't want to interrupt your little show.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I was having a moment. Well, while you're here, please
sit down. I got a story for you. Okay, I
did a special thing while you were gone.

Speaker 4 (00:15):
Oh you did?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh yeah?

Speaker 4 (00:16):
Wait without me?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah? And I got a question for you though. Okay,
do you know what's ridiculous?

Speaker 4 (00:21):
You're doing things without me?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I know, right, No, the actual what's also ridiculous is
the son of a ridiculous criminal. Oh and being specifically
the son of a ridiculous criminals. What's that like?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
That's super ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I got answers you do. This is Ridiculous Crime, A

(00:57):
podcast about absurd and outrage is capers, heiss and cons.
It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hund
percent ridiculous. Oh oh, Elizabeth, I don't have a story
for you today. You don't wait, I know, but said
I have a person for you, okay, Pietro lo Greca.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Pietro lo Greca. What a great name.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
That means Peter the Greek. Ok yeah, but he's not Greek. No,
it's a long story but here's the big news. He
was a real life, ridiculous criminal. And I interviewed his son.
Wait stop, Pietro Lo Greca Junior about his outrageously criminal dad.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Oh wait, see you talked.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Oh I talked to l P. Tro Junior Junior.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Here he is now, PJ.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Introduce yourself, PJ.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
My name is Patro Logreca. I am born and racer
in San Diego, California. I grew up with my foot
on two sides of the border. And like I said,
born and racer in San Diego and also Tijuana and
that kind of stuff as well. And ultimately I wrote
a book about my family, and the main character of

(02:10):
it is my dad, who arguably was a most notorious
money launder in Mexico's history. Not only did he launder
money for the cartels, which made him a powerful person,
but he also laundered money for two presidents of Mexico
and a bunch of reporters and people that are involved
in the government. So my dad ended up having a
lot of control.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Elizabeth, this dude, wow the way wild right Wow. Now,
his son, Pietro Legreca Junior, the one who we just
heard from, he writes his book about his father. The
book is called Pesos, The Rise and Fall of a
Border Family. And now there's also a podcast about his
outrageously criminal family. It's called The King of the Peso.
The podcast is from Audible and it stars Peter Stormar,

(02:51):
the weirdo German guy. The actor. He's the nihilist singer
in The Big Lebowski.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Okay, yeah, right, great actor.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
He's it.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Anyway, we got the real deal, Pietro daughter. Right, we
got the real deal Pietro Legreca junior. And well, he
wanted to tell us all about his mad, ridiculous criminal childhood.
Now I mean, now he's a full grown man, right,
he's a father of his own. But he used to
always entertain people with stories of his wild childhood, which
I have to imagine was somewhat cathartic.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
Oh sure.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Anyways, Pietro Logreca told me.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Being in sales, I had to entertain clients all the time.
Decided to take my big enterprise clients for life through
danchel America Prize. We go out to dinners and sometimes
I'm talking to a lot of software people here, not
the most fun interesting people on the planet. So I
had to lead the conversation, and I thought it would
be fun always to talk about my family and it
would make for great conversation. A lot of questions asked,

(03:45):
And to this date, my biggest fans of my book
and my podcast are my old clients and what they
would say to me when we'd have dinner. I'd be like, hey, Pee, seriously,
you got to write the book. And I said, yeah,
whatever or not. I didn't think it would ever happen
until someone kind of had faith in my story and

(04:06):
said we should, we should put pen of paper on this.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
That's incredible. Yeah, first of all, you go, you walk
into one of these meetings, you have no idea. I
mean it's meetings like dinner, dinner, one of these incentive
and so like, you have no idea that you're going
to be hearing these crazy stories about a Mexican money
launderer totally kidd to.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Two presidents of Mexico and numerous car tells. I mean,
just any detail of his story, it's gonna be fascinating.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
Well, and it's not like I think that unique perspective
of being in the family, being the child of this person,
so you see other dimensions of him.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
He studied him for everything. You chip off the old block.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
And you see the impact on the family. This is fascinating.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Elizabeth eventually does sit down with a ghostwriter and he
does indeed write this book, which is fascinating. And he's
the rare one to join our ridiculous crime book club
without doing time himself.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
God bless who does I love that?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Now after the book he went out, I told you
to make the podcast which I told you about. And now,
with streaming being what it is, I'm sure Pietro Lagreca
Junior would like to see his family story become a
new hit mini series on a streamer. Oh look at you, Netflix,
Amazon Prime, all of you people, Hulu. Yeah, I gotta
say it would be a dope story. Does he played
out with Pedro Pascal playing his dad?

Speaker 4 (05:18):
Oh yeah, I'll watch him in anything.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I know you're watch him as shoe commercials.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Anyway, back to the Catharsis of sharing stories about a
criminally ridiculous pop which I can relate to.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Now.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
When I brought up the idea of finding Catharsis and
embarrassing yet funny or even touching stories about his dad's criminality,
Pietr Lgreca junior. He told me, I've had to do
that my entire life.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
I mean, one of my main goals was not to
be lifel Bop. I love the man, loved him, just
didn't like him right. He didn't stand up for the
same things I did. And I have to attribute a
lot of that to my education, being born and raised
here in San Diego on the US side of the border.
And I look, I silver spuin in my mouth. I'm
not gonna lie about that. Like I got given everything

(06:02):
I ever wanted in life, and I did go to
one of the best private schools, but I started learning
from people that weren't my dad, right. The dads of
my friends were the pillars of the community here in
San Diego. So when I looked at what my life
could be and should be for my future, it wasn't
going down a criminal path like my dad. So kind

(06:22):
of to your point, I've been trying to disassociate myself
about how my dad lived his life my entire life.
And the hardest part is I'm a junior. So every
time I get stopped at the street or said hi
to a lot of people say is he like his dad?
Is he like his dad, and no, I would unequivocally

(06:43):
say I'm much more like my mom.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
Interesting, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Elizabeth, quick question, what do you know about San Diego
in the late seventies and early eighties? Wait, yeah, yeah,
I got right to the TV show Simon and Simon.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Simon Simon is a great shoot that was.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
A Magni p I spin off. You're kidding me, you know,
I'm gonna watch it out.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Of San Diego. San Diego is an interesting place. Yes,
you and I have talked about like there's a there's
some cities that have a strange sinister yes, and for
some reason for me, san Diego has that definitely, and
for different reasons, like Savannah, Georgia and like they're very sinister, Venice, Italy.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Oh yeah, class has a sinister.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
Quality to it. But for something about San Diego because
it's you know, it's southern California and the sun. Yeah,
it has all those things, but there's just a little.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
The military border town. Yeah, you know, like that's the
other aspect. You got all these people come in there
from somewhere else, so they don't really know the culture,
so they make their own. And then also it's a
border town, so you got this other like transient quality
of like money moving across the border and stuff, and.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
There's incredible wealth, you know pines.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh yeah, totally. Now, Also, do you know about the
San Diego charge and like how they came about and
they were really like an icon of the area, the
sandeah Go Superchargers.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
I had a bunch of friends in college from San Diego,
like surfer due. Yeah, totally, you know, and they were
huge Chargers fans. But like, the Chargers have moved around, right.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, now they're in La, They're the La Chargers. I
still call them the San Diego Chargers because I don't care.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
But Charger boys, well, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Feel bad for my San Diego friends. I have surfer
friends like you who like they loved that team. They
love Burritos and that team and that's it.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
And it's like Burritos was frizen.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Totally. Now, for Pietro La Greca, growing up in San Diego,
he was this all American boy in the late seventies
early eighties. Hees guys, he said, a foot on both
sides of the US Mexico border. And this also makes
him a fan of you know, American normalcy. As he's
pointed out. So he became a huge San Diego Superchargers fan,
and in particular one player, Dan Fouts, that was his guy.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
He kept me out of being in trouble. When I
was a kid, I loved athletics. I remember, and I
have to go back to the first Charger game. I
went to his third grade Monday night football Raiders Chargers.
My grandfather pulls me out of school to go watch
the game, and from that moment on Charger fan. So
when I was on the field at my school playing football,
I'd be like Dan Fouts dropping back to pass looking

(09:17):
for West Chandler, Charlie Joyner or John Jefferson and don't
forget Helen Winslow either. So I was a huge fan
of Dan Fouts and look I had a chance to
meet him as well.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Now, Elizabeth, I can only imagine how that moment was
for a boy who was a huge Charger fan. And Liz,
do you know who Dan Fouts is?

Speaker 3 (09:36):
No?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
I do not. He's a man. He's football.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
He was a quarterback for the Chargers. He was like
known for the deep ball, like all those like when
you think of like, oh, it's a long bomb play right,
and you hear a hail Mary, that's him. Don Air
Corriale was like his coach, and he's the guy who
basically invents the deep ball, the passing game that has
now taken over football. Dan Fouts is like the first
big exemplar of that. Right, So imagine you're a boy,

(10:01):
a Chargers fan, and you look up and here's your hero.
And he had to use had this lustrous beard. I mean,
it's like this guy's looming over. It looks like someone
shaved a bigfoot but kept the beard right. Anyway, for
Pietro Legreca Junior, it's a peak moment. Except Elizabeth I
misled you. He didn't meet his hero until much later,
when he was a full grown man and the two
of them were at a golf club for a celebrity thing.

(10:23):
Sure yeah, so, as he put.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
It, so, I did have a chance to meet him.
I did have a chance to play around of golf
with him in a very lucky happenstance kind of way,
and we kind of hit it off. It was one
of the most memorable moments in my life. I remember.
It was a foresome and a charity event. One of
my buddies girlfriend's dad got us a forest and he

(10:45):
couldn't play, so we got to play. And the guy
we got to play with was Dan Falls and he
shows up to our foursome and it's a tournament, right
like comes up. He's like, all right, what are you
guys up to? Are we going to win this thing?
And we all held up drinks in our hands, right
like mmmm. He's like my kind of team. So we
ended up having a fun time, you know, get a

(11:06):
little buzz on on the golf course. And then at
the tail end of it, he's like, hey, hey, Pete, like,
I know you didn't drink today and I need a
lift to del Mar.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Elizabe imagine that your heroes like, hey you.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
D man come.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
So you know you know del Mar. Also, it's a
town a little bit above San Diego. It's where the
racetrack is. People a racetracks. I've seen the ponies run there.
Oh yeah, it's so San Diego somehow that track Like
I once saw a crazy roller derby there. It was off, yeah,
it was on the No, it was like in a
building that was like a like a hangar, right, big
empty open buildings, cement cement floor, but the cement had

(11:49):
been treated so it's like kind of like slick, like
had been covered over, had been painted essentially. So it's
a flat track, so there's no angled canted sides for speed.
You just muscle your way around on a flat ground,
right and then around That is all of us just watching,
so we are the edges of this. So people, the
skaters are just flying into the crowd. It was so wild.
And these women, I mean they were beating on each

(12:10):
other on this track. They're just slamming down to the
hard cement floor. I was, in a word impressed. I
would imagine it's very San Diego.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
I thought they when you said it was a del
Mar I thought they were on the.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
No, no, not on the track.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
That would be the gals from Slots, their team, all slow,
just enjoying it, soaking up.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
The sunshine, sitting in the grass.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, loving life, calling for more drinks exactly.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Oh, anyway, back to Pietro Lagreca and Dan Fouts to
finish his story.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeas, he told me, I'm having dinner with Marty, can
you take me? And I'm like, my childhood hero is
next to me asking for a ride to del Mar.
I'm one percent in. I didn't care if I was
going the wrong way, I'm like, absolutely, so it was.
It was one of those things that I did have
a chance to hang out with them. But if I'd

(12:58):
have a chance to hang out with him again, absolutely what.
I think his stories were fantastic.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Okay, Elizabeth, So setting aside my man Dan Fouts, Yeah,
I had to ask Petro Lagreca the obvious question, what
was it like to learn that his dad is a
real life villain? Yeah, that your dad is not like
the other dads, which honestly I can still relate to.
But when I asked Pietro Lagreca how it felt for
him to learn that his dad was an all American villain. Yeah,
he told me, Well.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
It was kind of a slap in the face. More
than anything. It's a critical point of my book and
the podcast I was. It was a Thursday, and I'll
never forget the moment I'm playing video games next to
where my mom and grandma would get their hair done. Right,

(13:45):
And look, my dad at that point had a foreign exchange.
We had security details. At that point, my mom had
an armed guard.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Now, wow, no, Elizabeth, I'd like to you to be
able to you know fully grasp this moment fully invest
in it. So, with Pietro lagrec informing us of what happened,
I'd like you to close.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
Your eyes as are closed.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
And I'd like you to picture it. Elizabeth. It's the
nineteen eighties and you are in an arcade in San Diego, California.
You are a young boy with a pocket full of corridors,
a head full of dreams, and an afternoon to kill.
In fact, you are Pietro Lecgreca Junior.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
Oh hello, I.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Had an arm guard and I get yanked out of
the of the arcade. Buy my security guard. My mom
and my grandma get yanked out of the place where
they get their hair done, rollers in their hair to
get in the car. We're going home, and I don't
know what's going on. I'm a little freaked out. I

(14:47):
see my mom worried, grandma worried their hairson, rollers, I
got yanked out for no apparent reason. And we get
to our house in Coronado. And we get to the
house in Coronado, my father has his security detail, all
his employees all huddled around the kitchen, and as my

(15:10):
grandma walks into the room, my dad locks eyes on her,
takes a deep breath and says, Irma, I'm so sorry
to inform you, but your husband has just been arrested
by the federal police in Mexico. And my grandma drops
to her knees dreams at the top of her lunch
and wants to go do Tijuana to go see her husband,

(15:34):
and she gets stopped by her security guards, my dad's
gouty guards, and my Dad's like, you cannot cross that border.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
So that was his real life childhood. Elizabeth's basically Netflix's
next big gangster series. Yeah right, So, as he tells
me he can finishes this story so you can further invest, we.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Have to flee within the United States to say, away
from the border. That was the point. That was the
point where I realized that, you know what, my dad's
not probably a good dude. He probably put my grandfather
in a situation he didn't want to be in because
I knew the type of man my grandfather was. And
we had to get out of San Diego as soon

(16:15):
as possible. We put four bags of money in one car.
My grandma, mom, and myself were in another car, and
my dad, my uncle, and his security guys weren't in
another car, and we went up to LA and then
ended up on the east coast of the United States.
That's the point. That's the point I knew my dad
wasn't a good guy.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Wow, yeah right.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Can you just this notion of having three cars and
one is just the cash car exactly.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
I've never once traveled with a cash car.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Or have I. I think I kind of want to.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
I think you should put five dollars in.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
A pickup truck and we all follow me.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Cash truck follow me.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
We're going to Barstow. You know, it's interesting with parents,
as you're given two or you know, even if you
have one absent parent, that's the two examples of adulthood,
and you get to decide whether you're going to mirror
that or reject it.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
And also as a boy, I can add that you
feel that all this is like pulled to like you're
going to end up like your dad. Like it's a
genetic truth, you know, so you always worry like, oh,
how do I avoid my nature, my blood or whatever.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
Well, and he's he's identifying with his grandfather in this,
and so you see that like his father has rejected
the grandfather's ethics and integrity.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
The grandfather's his mother's father, just to make sure now.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
I get that. But either way, like so he he
has that male role model that he's deciding he's transferred
to him and then his own father. Like the conflict
of that, Like you're saying, are you pulled in that?
It's just like a foregone conclusion that.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know he's in his name. He's talked about it earlier.
It is like, you know, the fates are written. So
let's take a little break away, okay, and after these
ads we'll be back with more from the Elizabeth. Right now,

(18:23):
we've done lots of stories where in folks, even families,
whole families go on the lamb, and we've covered how
it's not an easy life, but at least it helps
if it's your choice to do that. If you're a kid,
well that's way different. That was Pietro Legreca's junior's lot
in life, as he's told me, as a kid, he
just had to get used to life on the lamb
as a school kid man.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
But we were a family on the ram. We were
three groups. My mom and grandma hung out together, my
uncle and I hung out together, and my dad was
locked up in a room making phocos, So he was
trying to figure out how to get my grandfather out,
what the next step for the money exchange. Was also
keeping an eye on my grandfather's custom house building, which
he had two three hundred employees, and it was running

(19:08):
on its own, basically with my grandfather in jail, running
it from jail, but my father still having people there
keeping an eye on it. So you know, my dad
was working the whole time. We were on the lamp,
all right, and trying to figure what came next.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Elizabeth, you're living life on the lamb. It helps if
you're able to remember a better life before you had
to go on the run, something to return to. This
was certainly the case for Petro Lo Greca Senior and
our man Pietro Logreca Junior, because he remembered a life
that few of us could have ever possibly known. Right,
what do you know about Polo?

Speaker 4 (19:41):
About Polo?

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yes, the horse and sticks, some rich people stuff, yes, right,
I mean you don't get you don't have like Inner
City Polo, South Chicago Polo.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
Oh no, And it's very European, yes, And I think
you have to be handsome to participate.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
You pretty much have nailed it, like Jr. He knows
polo the way like Bo knows football, or.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Like shirts like there's the polo shirt.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
That's what I know.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
I sh yeah, and like with the little logo. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
So I'm serious about this that he was a polo dude.
He once played polo against the future King of England.
Oh and he kicked his ass, which one the current king, Yes,
King Charles. So I'll let Pietro logreg coun tell it.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
The way the whole polo thing happened is we started
playing polo when I was thirteen. Okay, my uncle was
dating that smoking hot Texas girl who was wealthy. Their
family played polo, and he brought it back here to
Ros Rito down south because we had a ranch and
I call it a ranch, but the ranch stretch from

(20:49):
the beach all the way to the mountain. So we
started playing polo at the beach right and then at
our fields there because we had about thirty six horses,
and we learned how to play. And then when my
uncle got alone that my dad helped him secure to
create a shopping center and all that kind of stuff.
With that kind of money, we started playing polo at
a much higher level.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
So you kind of tell stories in circle sometimes, right,
So let's skip ahead, and I want to get you
to the polo and the king because it will come
back to the real estate message.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, but still, I mean, just as a brief aside
here to talk about all your ranch, well it's more
than a ranch. And then our fields, our polo fields plural.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
The beach to the mountains. I mean, I don't know
if people know California. That's huge, that's huge, that is
absolutely insane enormous.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
But then to be able to talk about not your
primary residence having multiple polo fields like that's well plural field.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Yes. Yeah, let's go back to a Pietro and I'll
explain how the polo thing goes.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
So after I graduated high school, while the family and
specific medical and dad are working on the development project,
my uncle got heavy into polo all right, and at
a very high level where my uncle would have to
hire three professionals to play with him. The good news
for my uncles, I stopped playing baseball. I'm an athlete,
I knew how to write horses. I became as one

(22:13):
of his three professionals that was a really good polo player,
and we got a chance to seriously like travel the world.
I met the King of Malaysia as well. We played
in the Malaysian National Polo Tournament. He flew us on
a C one thirty cargo plane from Pahan to Kohl
and poor.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
That's all exotic. Well, King of Malaysia, right, But I
don't play polo, so I don't know about like, is
it expensive to fly that many horses?

Speaker 4 (22:37):
I imagine there's not a cut rate budget option. Here's
the thing. How great is the job of professional polo
player who's hired to just play with a criminal family.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yes, exactly. So the real crazy story for me is
how Pietro Lagreca Junior ends up playing polo against the
Prince of England who is now the King of England,
King Charles. That's how wild this guy's life was as
a teenager. So back to Petr Lagrecor Junior, let him
tell it.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
And the story about the prince is the Prince. The
Prince playing polo with the Prince is a fun story
because the way it comes off is like, oh, it
was arranged, he invited us. No, no, no, no, it was
it was It was an accident, all right, in a
certain way family was traveling to London, my uncle Peter
arranged what's called the stick and ball, which is a
practice polo session where you have one or two horses

(23:27):
and you going just kind of you know, mess around,
right and playing and practice with the horse.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
So that way you can imagine this.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Wait, is this after they're on the run.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
No? Yeah, well yes this is this is after this.
This is like you he was on the run when
he was in elementary school teenage years. I'll connect how
that goes a little bit later. I'm just letting him
tell the story.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
They're swadding around.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
I thought you'd really appreciate. Yeah, so you know this guy,
the son of a money launderer for Mexican cartels. He's
out on a pitch of grass playing pole with the
Prince of England future King of Great Britain. In true
to form, they played polo. I get this. Elizabeth Windsor Castle,
Oh whoa yeah, talk about home turf right. So back
to Pietro Lagreca.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
And we had set that up at Windsor Castle, and
I think it was a Tuesday or Thursday. And we
get there and gentlemen that had the stick and ball
sessions set up for us said, hey, you guys want
to play a practice match, practice match windsor absolutely, of
course we don't have the.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Horses, Elizabeth, they don't have the horses.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
I've been a guess. They've got some spars.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yes, do not worry. They have a quick and easy solution.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Are they duds? Is it like when someone wants to
but like I used to play tennis and I'd have
like a bunch of rackets and if someone wanted to play,
I'd give them kind of crap o wo No, not
not really, I'm not going to give them my favorite,
the one that I always play with. And so do
they have like a horse who's out back smoking a
cigarette and just like not not hasn't been out there.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
For an old nag with ribs showing and a bad
smoking habit.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
And let's also put a pin in the fact that
the English royal family is like playing around.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
With Mexican cartail moneylnder lauders who let Pietro la Grecotel
because he was there and he's like, you know, this
issue of do you guys have horses? That was their
big concern, not like hey where are you guys from?
Why are you so rich? And you know, yeah, no vetting,
no none whatsoever. So here's how it goes.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
If you guys give us the horses, of course we'll
practice like we'll take care of the horses. We just
needed two bodies to play, and we set up for
the throw in and I looked to the right, look
to the right again. Then I say, hey, I look
at my uncle, Hey, hunk, check this out. And it
was the Prince and it was playing next to us,

(25:48):
and so I got to play against him the whole match,
and it was just a practice match, and it was
at the end of it all. The good news was
he invited us to a tournament that weekend, and the
bad news is my uncle grandfather and I ended up
going to a pub getting completely hammered, not showing back

(26:10):
up to go with the family to dinner.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah that's how it goes.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
That's a good option.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, they played polo at the Prince of England and
then they get so drunk they can't go to a family.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
Dinner and they ghost them.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, this is what you do when you launder cartel money.
You just know you make weird choices.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
But I gotta say, if you are going to live
on ill gotten gains. This beats like in like a
mansion in Miami doing coke off of like you know,
underage girl.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
They're doing real like money over the future.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
King if you're and if you're not going to donate
it back out, you know whatever, Like this is wholesome, I.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Suppose anyway, what is they missed out on the family
dinner back to Petri Lagreca.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
They were all mad at us. I mean we were
in the doghouse when we got back home. My grandfather
just sat back and just listened to his wife, his daughter.
Everyone chew us out and say, well, I guess then
you guys don't want to go to the polo match
with Prince Charles on Sunday. And they all shut up,

(27:15):
went and looked for the dresses that they were gonna wear,
and we all prepped for the Sunday polo match that
we got to go see Prince Charles at. So it
was one of those experiences I'll never never forget in
my life.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
You see, this is what I'm talking about, Elizabeth. Yeah,
this is the world that makes sense to me. You
ask me, who's standing next to the Prince of England
in a photo at an event that involves horses. I'm
gonna say, do you know how much dirty money there
is in this photo?

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Seriously?

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, but that's no fun to think about. I mean
that it's too easy. So you know what's more fun
to think about.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
The fact that there are no ethical billionaires.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
There' that is too is Prince Charles nay King Charles?
Is he any good at polo?

Speaker 4 (27:51):
Oh? Probably? I mean what has he been playing since
you know he was knee high to a grasshopper?

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Probably? I don't know. I had to ask Pietro Legreca,
and he told me.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Oh, yeah, legit, No, he was legit, legit he could play.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Oh look at that bullied at him like that's first person.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, he's playing next to him.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Love this guy.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Anyway, back to polo and Prince Darles. Petri lagrec had
told me a little bit.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
More so you get ranked in polo from a negative
two to a ten, and being a ten, I think
there's maybe two handfuls of tens in the entire planet.
Most of them are from Argentina. One of them was
on our team. He was a four and I was
a three and for normal Look, and I'm gonna be
straight with you. The rich dudes that play are usually

(28:37):
ones and twos, right, Like, they hire a lot of heavy,
heavy players that can handle themselves, but they themselves are
not too good. My uncle was good, I was good,
and the Prince was good. So the Prince was better
than my uncle at my level. And so he was.
He was a really good player, knew how to ride
a horse really well.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, he's good, yeah, really really good or just like
went to a prep school.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Good.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
Oh well, if he's saying he's a two or three, right,
what was it?

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (29:07):
And so is like what a four or five?

Speaker 2 (29:10):
I don't know? Was what he told me.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
He's got the tie and he had the talent like
a lot of the Like with most sports, because I
did get to play baseball, football, basketball, it's about being
at the right place at the right time and knowing
how to get there. He knew how to get to
the right place the right play. Like newer polo players
they have no idea where to be on the field.
He knew where to be where the ball was going

(29:34):
to be positioned. He was a good four. He was
a forward. I was the defenseman. So we battled the whole.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Day, Elizabeth, Yes, Prince Charles you figure, I mean you did.
He was good at polo. I mean I was doubting him.
But what else does this dude really have to do
all day? You know, he's just out there.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
Practicing polo organic jam.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yeah, practice his wave. I mean, like, what does he
have to do?

Speaker 4 (29:54):
It's very hard and anyway, you know, beyond welfare, it's hard, Saron.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'll give you a hint about who was also good
on the polo pitch. That's stuck with old Pietro la Greca,
who is not a king. But you know this person,
I'll give you a hint. He has really big teeth.
I'll give you another hint. He was a motivational speaker
during most of your youth.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Really big teeth.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Here's another hint. He's huge.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I can see right there, Elizabeth crap.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Here's a final hint. His first name is Tony.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
He was in some movie years ago where he was
in an elevator talking.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yeah, I forget which one. He like a motivational speaker.
I forget one, liar, liar, hitch one of those.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
So I'm like, yeah, So back.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
To Pietro legrect to tell us about what was like
playing polo with Tony Robbins, Oh my.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
God, the funnier story was with with Robin's right, that
was hilarious. All right, I'll tell you this story. Was
a practice match here Rancho Santa Fe Fairbanks Ranch Paula
Club here in San Diego, and he lived here and
he got into Poland Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
If you don't know it, as I said earlier, Tony Robbins,
huge dude. He's really really big, way.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
North of like six two. It's like six ' five.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Oh yeah, well, Patrick Gregor. He sizes them up and
he says, this guy's.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Big, like he's a big dude. I'm a big dude.
I'm six four, two hundred and sixty pounds, a little
lighter when I was younger, obviously gained a few but
big dude. Big pause, Like I thought I had some
big pause. He had some big pause on him. And
he comes he was all in his Tony Robbins kind
of feel. Came up to me at the practice matches

(31:41):
me and he's like, hey, Pete, you play high goal.
I don't. I'm just learning, but I want to feel
what's like. I want to feel what it's like to
be at your level. And I said, no, you don't
and he's like no. He started getting all motivational with me,
and he convinced me. I mean, this dude convinced me
to go all out on him, right, And so I did.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
What does that mean? Like? What happens when Tony Robbins
inspires you to be your best self? And that means
you're gonna kick Tony Robbin's ass. It's like a Zen
Cohen for a self help life coach. Can you make
a student so powerful he kicks your own ass?

Speaker 3 (32:17):
And in the first it's it's weird to explain, but
in polo, the ball makes a line, and that line
is the rule of the game. You can't ever cross
the line one way or another with a horse because
it would create a lot of danger. And so sometimes
the only way to get a guy that has a

(32:38):
ball on this side knocked off the line is to
come in with your horse and knock him off, push
his horse aside. Basically, it's a body check for horses.
I came in and gave him a body check with
a horse that for a six sixth dude. He flew
off his horse and I look, I'm like, oh man,
we lined back up, and he's like, pee go easy

(32:58):
on me, man, go on me. I'm good. He wanted it.
I gave it to him. And then he's just that
he taught me into it. You're absolutely right with that.
So it was fun. It was fun.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
So does that make sense? He basically yeah, he just
beat up Tony Robins sorts until Tony Robbins submitted. It
was like, I relent, I relent.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yeah, but he was like, but you did exactly what
I wanted you.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yes, He's like, thank you, you're achieving me.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
You made you were your best self.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
I was the mountain and you were the master. So
there's all kinds of fun that he has with as
you pointed out, the ill gotten money, laundered fortunes. All right,
But as with all things, what goes up must come
down certainly, so for Pietro Lagreca Junior, that meant confronting
his father, Pietro loa Greca Senior, the og money launderer,
the low key gangster Elizabeth. When I asked Pietro la
Greca Junior what his father was like, he painted this

(33:51):
portrait of a truly ridiculous criminal but also a very
complex man.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh man, he is a character, I mean a character
at all levels. Right, he it's like he drank, but
he didn't drink. He liked a could glass of wine,
but he never got drunk. He would fake. He would
fake drinking and throw it under the table. So it
was kind of interesting like that he'd go all in

(34:17):
on everything all the time, and it was exhausting.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, now you and I both know what it's like
to have a father who's all in and on everything
all the time, right, but in different ways. But still
I imagine, like me that you can imagine somewhat what
it was like for Pietro Junior, Right, Like, look at
this guy, going, why is he like that?

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Well, and that measure of control that if he's going
to pretend to be drinking it lets other people think
that he's releasing control, but he's.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Not faking it. Yes, So based on what he told me,
I don't think we can fully relate to his father
or to his situation, no matter how colorful our fathers are.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yeah, he would go all in, all in, all in,
but he was also looking for the quick book and
if he ever got pushed in a corner, he got
out of it the illegal way. I start the book
with my dad always used to say, I never asked
a man how he made his first million dollars.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh yeah, Now it's funny. He mentioned that because his
father had a really interesting story of how he made
his first millions. And I bet you can't guess how
he did it.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
You want to take a guess, No, I'd like to
hear it from you or a Pietro.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
My dad would tell the story all the time. And
what he did is he tried to bring a high
end women's clothing store to Tijuana in the late sixties.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
See, I told you couldn't guess it high end, like
a boutique that sold multiple designers or like that, like
a boutique one designer.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
You're picturing it a boutique like high end.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Woman's story.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, and he ended up torching it for the insurance money.
And you'd think you'd think he was You know, most
people are really kind of They just go ahead and
do it without putting a plan together. Now, my dad
had the fire chief, police chief, the insurance adjuster, and
himself all working together. They all made money, and they

(36:06):
all did it three more times.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Three more times.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
Elizabeth, how'd you make your first mill You want to
twitch job?

Speaker 2 (36:14):
So his father got the police chief, the insurance adjust
they all work on this. They do this thing three
more times, three times, as Denzel would say, Mom, man.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
So you know that sets the standard with how my
dad just said, you know what, if you can't make
it with a legal business, then you got to do
something to make it even better and to make money
out of it somehow, right, And he did the same thing.
He was all it. And then the only reason to
stop is because people started asking questions in the social

(36:51):
circles of Tijuana, which my grandfather was at the highest
levels of. So he kind of like, you're now married
to my daughter. People are talking. It's now stop. Now
people are going to ask questions. You got to stop this.
So you know he stopped.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
How many businesses do you think he burned, Elizabeth?

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Well, we know three, yes, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Three was the limit. He almost I think he was
going to do the fourth one. I don't remember if
he did the fourth one or not, but he got closed.
But then you know, right after that, he ends up
getting government contracts with the Education Department of Mexico to
build greenhouses.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Greenhouses, Elizabeth, I feel like Dave Chappelle is Black Bush.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Greenhouses, Elizabeth, Well, it's an important thing to have, and yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
The greenhouses made cost sixty seventy K, but he was
getting half a million to build him and splitting the
remaining stuff with the government officer in charge of the department.
So he just started doing one after another.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
And now at this point, this is when the Mexican
peso comes into the story. Does he emerge in the
title of the books podcast.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
When Mexico's paeso collapses in nineteen eighty three, everyone in
Mexico is decimated. Right, You're talking about overnight losing anywhere
between twenty five and fifty percent of your fortune just
because of the evaluation. So people have all these pesos
in their hands and they're like, this currency sucks. Right now,
I need to exchange this currency into dollars, right But

(38:22):
in Mexico they nationalize the currency, which means that within
Mexico's borders, you couldn't exchange those pesos for dollars. You
had to do it in another country, like the United States,
on the other side of the border. And my dad
came up with the ideas like I'm going to start
foreign exchanges in Sandy Cedro right on the other side

(38:43):
of the border to help Mexicans exchange their pesos for dollars.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
This is brilliant, Yeah, it really is. When there's a
gold rush, as you know, don't go scrambling off into
the hills now. Instead, a smart person sell shovels. But
in this case he sold literal dollar bills.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
It's incredible and.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
So yes, great business, lucrative until he needed to exchange
money at unbelievable levels. And that's when the politicians get involved,
the drug dealers get involved, the money laundering starts to happen.
So his business may have always started with good intentions,

(39:19):
but if it failed, bad intentions creeped in real quickly.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
There's always that always quick crime lesson. Do you do
too well and you make too much money on the border,
you're going to attract the attention of organized.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
Psh most definitely.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
That's obviously what happens to his pops.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
And not even just on the border, but just I
mean especially.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Especially on the border.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
He didn't have any mentorship. I think it was heat
to say this because it's so stereotypical and gross to say.
I think it was the Italian Neapolitan in him.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Right, Wait, well, what what does Pietro the Greek mean
by this? Well, Elizabeth, I'm not Italian, but I think
I know what he means. In your friend Sarah t
she would get it too. Oh yeah, she would, and
I think your moms would too. The Neapolitan influence in
this story.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
Yeah, she's not Italian, but she is a huge fan
of the city of Naples.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Nay, yeah, So this now is where Naples comes into
the story.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
You grow up in that Neapolitan life in the nineteen
thirties and forties, and you grow up with like things,
with checking out who's walking behind you. You're always cautious,
you're not trusting about anyone. I think it was how
he grew up as a Neapolitan because I and I

(40:39):
also truly believe he ended up in the United States,
and the US would have ended up being his savior
in some way, shape or form, right because he loved
the US. He absolutely loved the US. And you have
to understand why he loved the US. He was living
in the catacombs in Naples when the tanks started rolling in,

(41:01):
US tanks handing out hot dogs and spam into his
dying day. He loved his hot dogs. He loved his spam,
and he was so grateful of those American tanks finally
rolling through Naples and the war being over. So he
had such a passion and love for the US, and
I think it was the best thing for him to

(41:21):
come here too. Might have not been the best thing
for my family, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
So there you goles of it, all right, the spam,
the hot dogs, the tanks.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Naples of the thirties and forties.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah, I can't only picture, I know. Okay, let's take
a little break, Elizabeth, and after this we'll dive back
into the two Pietro Lorecos. We're back.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
How are you liking the story so far?

Speaker 4 (42:03):
I'm loving so much fun.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah. So, you know we've talked about San Diego, the
San Diego Superchargers. We're talking about border crime back in
the day. And yeah, did you watch the show Narcos?

Speaker 3 (42:15):
You did?

Speaker 4 (42:15):
Yes? I did.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Did you watch the second one, Narcos Mexico?

Speaker 4 (42:18):
I thought I didn't, and it turns out I did.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
You did. Yeah, how does that work?

Speaker 4 (42:26):
Someone asked me, did you watch that? And I was, oh, no, man,
I only watched the first one. And then I was
I was like, you know what, I should watch this,
and I turned it on. I was like, oh my god,
I've already slow a little slow.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
You can think back to Narcos Mexico. That's the tale
that we are telling in parallel. He his family is
all connected to the main characters of that show. Yeah,
so back to our story. But let's before I get
into Narcos Mexico and the Felix Garlardo, the Ariano family, Like,

(43:04):
we'll get into back to Naples because I know you
like it, like I do.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
I do?

Speaker 2 (43:07):
All right, So General Montgomery of the Britz General patent
from America. They get there, they liberate Italy. It's World
War two, wild time. The people are excited, they're having parades.
Mussolini's lost, the Germans are retreating back all you know,
the new Holy Roman Empire has been collapsed. And so
on a more personal note, though, his father he's like, oh,
I got to get out of here, you know, I

(43:27):
want to go with them wherever they're going. So he
gets to the US, but I don't want to just
skip past this. How he gets to the US is.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
So incredible, Okay, but I will.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Warn you it's PG. Thirteen. So his father was, how
do I put it. Well, I'll let Pietro Junior tell
the story.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
He left Naples because he couldn't handle being with his
family anymore. Look also silver spoon in his math. Okay,
I'm not going to tell you my dad came from poverty,
all right. My dad's family had a pasta factory in Naples.
They did well for themselves. He had ten brothers and sisters,
of which five of them died in the African Italian

(44:06):
War in the nineteen tens and twenties, and he ended
up being the only male left surrounded by women to
run Aposta factory. He was done. He had the opportunity
to make it to the United States and he took it.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
Wow. Yeah, right, there's a lot to impact. Wondering if
he came from if his came from poverty or Middleomber.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Well, yeah, he came from wealth, Italian wealth at the time.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
Dan, and then to lose all the family, oh, all.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
The brothers in the doctor I love that, Elizabeth like me.
You love mister David lee Roth, Oh god it do.
He had a great song about being a jiggolow and
you're a grown ass woman, you know what a jiggolow is.
Petro Legreca got to the US by enjoying life as
a jiggolo, a rich American couple.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
Everybody wins a couple just like I'm big in like
rich American socialist.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
So here's so.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
I always say that my dad came to the US
on the you know, on the proverbial boat. But there
was nothing proverbial about the boat. He came on right,
like my dad. My dad was a good looking dude.
I thought I was good looking at high school, I
was thinner, you know. I thought it was an attractive dude.
He was really good looking cat. And he went on

(45:27):
an excursion with his buddies to Rome, met an older lady.
The older lady proposition my dad to go back on
her yacht. He goes with her to her yacht. They
enjoy their time together right. And the next morning, as
he's leaving. You won't believe I tell the story, and

(45:49):
no one believes it, but it's absolutely one hundred percent true,
he gets confronted by the husband. And back in that
day and age, there wasn't a little blue pill right,
so her husband couldn't perform right. And they were very
wealthy Texas millionaires. They had a yacht in Italy, and

(46:10):
he approached my dad and said, look, my wife has
taken a liking to you. Would you be part of
our crew on the boat and she can enjoy your company,
And we have the boat docked in San Diego. Would
you be willing to come with us?

Speaker 2 (46:24):
What do you think? His responsible was, Elizabeth, Oh, my god,
why not? You bet he had the ticket.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
He took the ride, and he took the opportunity and
came to San Diego on the proverbial not so proverbial boat,
and and his stops along the way were unbelievable, like
he learned Spanish and why must right? He went through
the Bermuda Triangle. His stories were outstanding, and a lot

(46:51):
of them I didn't think were true until they were
confirmed by people in my life, And I said, Okay,
he wasn't full of He wasn't full of I'm sorry
he wasn't he He didn't bs me, but he learned
he was a jigglo.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
One more time for those in the back.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
I mean, all I'm saying is my dad was basically
a jigglow before he started burning clothing stores and then
you know, laundering money. So it goes back to the
question you asked at the beginning, right, who was his mentor?
I think he was a product of Naples, and Naples
is who mentored my dad into who he became.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
This makes me think of we've had criminals that we've
talked about before who when you learn a little bit
more about their backstory, things kind of make sense and
you can say, oh, Naples, you know that's the driving force.
But it's Naples at that time specifically you know that.
It's so it's like to lead up to the war,
he's lost all this family in another conflict. You can

(47:51):
see where you just start to think, who cares what rules?
You know, I'm just going to do whatever. I gotta
get that or.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
I got to look out for me and nobody else
is going to completely So after he told me about
his life with his dad and the money launder and
playing polo with the future King of England and the
big twoth American life coach Tony Robbins and the Naples
and like his dad being a jigglo. Obviously, I had
so many questions. You're only causing me to have more questions.
I asked a question, you answer, now I got more questions.

(48:17):
They were like, it's doubling and trebling.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
It's the best kind of interview.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
But you know me, mostly I wanted to know what
life was like on the lamb. Were hint of life
on the lamb? What was like? So I asked him.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
It was definitely on both ends of the spectrum for me.
When and I told you the story about when I
was thirteen and I finally found out, Okay, there's some
corruption here, right, You have to understand over that summer
we were on the Lamb on the Eastern Sea board
of the United States, basically before my grandfather got released

(48:48):
with absolutely no charges against him. The president of Mexico,
who went after my dad ended up coming to our
house in Coronado and celebrating his birthday was right after
that it all went down. So, as a thirteen year
old heading into my high school days, think about it.
I just saw my grandfather go to jail, come out,

(49:10):
and now we're just as much or more powerful than
we used to be as a family. My ego is
kind of running pretty big, and I thought it was
pretty f and cool to have a dad with that
kind of power.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Oh wow, Now all throughout this Pietri Junior, he remains
loyal to his mother for obvious reasons. His relationship with
his father was complicated.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
There was an ego behind what he got away with
and that we were kind of untouchable, right, So there
was a bit of a pride with that, But then
came they absolutely hatred for him, the way he treated
my mom, the way he treated me. Right, So there
was no kind of like middle kind of chill family ground, right,

(49:54):
And that's what I've tried to establish with my family
right now. We like putting on Dancing with the Stars
and watching some TV and being chill. There was nothing
like that with my dad, right. So no, there was
I'm the boss, which is if you see how I
call him in my book, I call him Hefe. Hefe
is boss in Spanish, right, And that's how I treated

(50:16):
him like he was my boss. I said things that
I shouldn't have to say because of my place, I
couldn't have any honest, transparent conversations that I have with
my daughter to this day. I mean, I don't think
my dad apologized once to me. I went off the
handle on my daughter for not studying for a test
the other day, and I'm sorry it was bs on
my part, and I went up to her and I said, hey, honey,

(50:39):
that was I'm sorry. Dad was out of line, right.
I never heard that from my dad. So I continued
by the mantra that yeah, I was proud of certain
things he did, but I'm not going to be the
man he was.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Isn't that I don't know.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
It's hopeful rejecting the example, and he's showing like a
change with the times thentally, you know, it's less and
less acceptable socially too.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
My dad may have been raised in the thirties to
Italy and Naples, but I'm going to be a better
dad and not going to let that. I'm not carry
that forward. So here's this man, as I said, raised
is the son of a money launderer for Mexican cartels.
He sees corrupt Mexican presidents in his home celebrating his
dad's birthday.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Crazy, and then when.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
He becomes a father, he's worried about if his daughter
respects him for being fair and present. I love it. Now.
To me, that's being a good father, something as simple
as that, dancing with the stars, transparent, open on his
conversations with your daughter, your son. It's really not that difficult,
or you know, you can try to launder money for
Mexican cartels and be like, I'm affording my kids a
life they could not, you know. So okay, Elizabeth, the

(51:40):
good news is this story is not done. But let's
take a break and we'll get into the second part
in the next episode. Oh wow, if you don't mind,
I'll have Pietro la Greca finish his story and we'll
dive way deeper into this tale and it gets way wilder,
way more ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
I cannot wait. I am loving this.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
So much, but for now, it's got to ask you,
what's a ridiculous takeaway so far?

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Oh my god. First of all, I love that you
get to do the journalist thing and like do an
actual interview. You're getting incredible material out of this guy.
I am fascinated by him, and uh, there's just a
lot to process. I can't wait my takeaway. I can't
wait for the rest of this excellent.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
So I don't really have a ridiculous takeaway, as you know,
deep and thoughtful as yours.

Speaker 4 (52:25):
I am so deep and thoughtful you are. I was
just like, it's like kind of crazy.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
I just kind of wish that I had a name
like Zarin la Greca, like Zarin the Greek.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
Hello, it's easy enough to I'm learning about.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
All these crazy names, Like there was this dude Mata Moros, right,
and the last name means more killer, the killer of
the Mors. The Spanish have these insane names, like they're like,
what do you Oh, I'm senior Mato Moros. I'm like,
Mata me means death to the more Oh and then
I looked it up and he's like you literally translated
as more killer, like Muslim killer essentially.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Yeah, so I'm like, oh, American name just so boring.
I'm like, Zaron Burnett, what does that mean? I think
it means brown. I don't know anyway, that's my takeaway.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
That's a great takeaways. Thank you for asking.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Yeah, you in the mood for talkback because I am
always well. I got one for you. Oh oh my god,
did you do?

Speaker 5 (53:22):
I love you, Saren Elizabeth. I think you guys are
my spirit podcasters. And today I rejoiced and threw my
arms up when Elizabeth mentioned that she was going to
enter the winter season of Dark Elizabeth. I think it
should be all seasons of Dark Elizabeth. I love it.

(53:45):
So much that I have used it with my coworkers
saying it's the season of dark Becca, and with my
children saying it's the season of dark mom.

Speaker 4 (53:57):
Oh girl, Becca, you and me Man, we need to Okay,
we can Becca. We can have the season of dark
Elizabeth and dark Becca. I worry about us. I don't
want it to be a four seasons type of faith.
We deserve a sunshine.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Yes, you deserve a spring. The sunshine spring maybe coming.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
The sunshine of Becca, the sunshine of Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
But it can be the kind of sunshine that burns
everything else. You know, the sun now I maybe damage.

Speaker 4 (54:27):
And everyone gets to live in the in the winter
of dark Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
I salute you in your army.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
I have to vent somehow.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Always. You can find us online if you'd like some
more of this a Ridiculous crime on the social media's,
and we have our website, ridiculous Crime dot com, which
we'd loved you to check out because it's it's an
award winning beautiful experience and obviously we love your talkback.
So please go to the iHeart app, download it record one.
Maybe you'll hear yourself. Yeah, we'd like to hear it.
Emails also, if you like Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com,
We've been checking the emails and we got some surprises

(54:59):
coming for you up tops. Yes, but as always, thank
you for listening and we will catch you next Crame.
Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnette,
produced and edited by Dave America aka Dave Kustin, and

(55:21):
starring an Alice Rutger as Judith. Research is by Mexican
cartel historian Marissa Brown. Our theme song is by San
Diego's very own Thomas Lee and Oakland's very own Travis Duddy.
The host wardrobe provided by Body five hundred. Guest hair
and makeup by Sparkles Shot and mister Andre. Executive producers

(55:41):
are Ben you know, uh Freud was the big time
cooked Bowland and Noel I didn't know that. We talked
about it on our show, Why.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
Say It one More Time? Ridiculous Crime.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.