Sebastian Marset: the Cocaine Kingpin and Professional Footballer

When he was a kid in Uruguay, playing football in the streets he always dreamed that one day he would grow up to be a professional soccer star. Instead, he grew up to be a cocaine cartel kingpin. And then, using his illicit power and untold illegal wealth he made his original dream come true. Along the way, he became an outlaw folk hero.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Elizabeth du Saren Brunette, how are you?

Speaker 3 (00:09):
I was just about asking the same that it's ridiculous. No,
I do not. Do you know it's ridiculous, I do.
I do.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Let's start with the fact that I make a really
good bask cheesecake made the rustic one. Yes, yes, it's
pretty good. It's really good, and it calls for an
incredible amount of cream cheese. So good cream as well.
Oh yeah, it's a coronary in a pan. But you know,
you hear cheesecake and you think cream cheese unless you know,

(00:39):
a lot of people don't know. Much like people don't
know that it's dumb as spelled with a bee at
the end. A lot of people don't know that it's
cream cheese. They just think cheese. I just like with
corn dog, they think it's corn.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I do know that a pound cake has got a
pound of.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Butter, and it does that, it's got a pound everything.
So Kraft was like, I'm going to take the public's
ignorance and run with it. And it's specifically Craft Canada.
They can't be trusted. They've done stuff like this before.
The Canadian arm of various corporations. They're a little braver. Yeah,
like we'll talk a lot and then they go through

(01:14):
a thing. So anyway, Craft has come up with a
new product in Canada. They are releasing a limited edition
mac and cheesecake Mac and cheese that's available in certain
select bakeries as they call it in Canada. So the
cheesecake has that neon orange flavoring, the cheese flavoring right

(01:38):
in the filling as well as the crust. So it's
just to your face and sweet and what have you.
But a lot of people seem to be interested in this,
and you know, I don't know what they do there. No,
it just looks like a bright orange cheesecake mac part.

(01:58):
You know, I don't know return of the mac. It's
you know, because it comes from the mackets dumatic.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Sure it's the cheese sauce for mac.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, that's horrible. Anyway, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
That is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, I'm gonna get you one. I'm going to drive
up to Canada and get you one. But I'm not
going to refrigerate it on the drive back.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
I'll probably be able to survive that. Heads up, Elizabeth
I have something for you.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Is it ridiculous?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
It is ridiculous. No, yes, and it's thematic because you
know I love to work a theme, you do, Elizabeth.
Right now we are enjoying the World Cup. It's going down. Yes,
we are to mark the occasion. I have a soccer
story for you, sorry, a football story.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Football.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
And also because it's me, it involves cocaine, of course
it does. It's about a man who was a cartel
kingpin in the cocaine trade, but also he was into soccer.
He lived two dreams the same time.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers,
heists and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free
and one hundred percent what ridiculous you dig Elizabeth saying
I'd like you to meet our man of the hour,

(03:41):
our crimer of the day, Sebastian Marsette. Okay, Now, I've
told a story before about a soccer faker, so don't
get confused this one. He actually is a player.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Oh, he's an actual Okay, yes, now.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Sebastian Marsette was born nineteen ninety one in the suburbs
of Monte, capital of Uruguay. Or as they say, un
woke up Uruguay. Now, a place that he was from
was called Pierre ras Blancas it's in Spanish, it means
white rocks. Originally referred to the like white chalky boulders
that are of quarts than that they are found in
the area, But by the time Sebastian Marsett grows up there,

(04:19):
it really could have been a reference to the cocaine
that was beginning to dominate the economy.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Oh god, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So as a boy, his neighborhood was rough, right, and
daily life often shaped by the blossoming of drug crimes
and the loss of traditional avenues of employment. So by
the time Sebastian was a teenager, murder unfortunately become sadly common.
Now I'm not giving a one percent warning on this
because there is no more murder to follow, okay, But

(04:46):
back then, when he was a teen, it didn't look
like Sebastian Marsette would ever fall into the obvious pitfalls
of the drug game. I mean, this kid was smart.
He was a good student and also Elizabeth thought you
could a kick out of this. The Washington Post described
him as quote a skinny whip smart kid, who liked
to stand in front of the room and lecture his

(05:06):
classmates as if he were a teacher. Do you hear
that the Washington Post?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Smart? Yes, wow, I love to see it.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Alert the press. Oh wait, it was them anyway. Back then,
as a whip smart teenager, Sebastian Marsette dreamed of his
future as most teenagers do, and he also dreamed the
same thing. One day he would be a professional footballer.
He'd bring fame and glory and riches back to his hometown.
His name would be known worldwide. He would be the

(05:39):
Matdona of Montevideo. Okay, right, naturally, no, but good call, naturally.
This man he played football all the time as a kid.
And I mean since he came from poverty this yearsually
meant he did what many future football greats did. He
learned to play the game in the streets.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, that's where the best the best players.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, you know, and Boppi talks about it,
and goodly so does a tierran Ree. I mean, not
just to pick the franchise a lot of time, but
also you're not gonna get really good at slide tackling.
I don't think in the streets, but who needs to
do that anyway?

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, exactly, little fancy footwork. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Now, Sebastian grew older, he found work at a gas station,
but his soccer dreams remained front and center, despite the
fact odds were stacked mountain high against this kid. Now,
due to his stubborn nature and his desire to make
good someday, Eventually he graduates high school and he holds
on to his dream of being a footballer. And he
did win a spot on a football team after high school,

(06:38):
only it wasn't a pro club. It was a semi
pro club. But that was good enough to keep the
dream going. He planned to work his way up from there,
which you know can happen, Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Sebastian Marcette,
despite his dogged determination to become a professional footballer, he
simply lacked what you might call the physical skills to
achieve his dream. Oh no, yeah, his will was strong,

(07:00):
the flesh was weak. Now, Sebastian, he lacked the speed
he needed to set himself apart. His footwork was good,
but not great. His ball handling skills were remarkable but
not exceptional. In short, he had the skill set of
a semi pro ball player. So basically he reached the
highest levels of football he could reasonably hope to attain.

(07:20):
But then he found this new avenue of football stardom,
one that not many people pursue. You see, he found crime.
Yeah yeah. Sebastian was arrested for the first time when
he was eighteen years old. The year was two thousand
and nine. It was a small time bus. He was
popped for possession of stolen goods. Nothing real bad, but
that bus kind of sets him down a different path

(07:41):
in his og dreams of soccer stardom. And then the
next year, at age nineteen, he gets busted again, this
time for a possession of narcotics. Now that he's starting
to really diverge in his two pass, yeah, he eventually
graduates into big time crime. And I mean he became
a full on drug trafficker.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Oh well, let's where the money really.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
You know. And at age twenty two, he got into
the dope game with a crew of pot traffickers. Okay, yeah,
so they were moving bales of pot and usually like
in small private planes into the jungles that airstrips, that
kind of thing. So he earns their trust. Soon enough,
he offers to like, oh, let me take care of
the next big shipman. I got this, yo, don't worry
about it. I'll handle this. Yeah. They're like, all right, kid,

(08:21):
you got the next large shipman of marijuana. Plan was simple.
He was supposed to pop out to this farm. It
was located in northern Uruguay, right across the border from Brazil,
and there he was to wait for like a small
plane like a think of like a Cessna or something
like that, carrying a shipment of pot. And I'm talking like,
you know, a half ton a ton of pot. Wow. Yeah.

(08:41):
So Sebastian does his instructed but there was unfortunately a
little mouse in the milk. Yeah, because the police knew
about this shipment of pot. And so the Brigada Antidrogas,
which is an elite anti narcotic squad basically like they're
the Uruguayan version of the Dea. They roll out to
this farm and they get there first and they wait

(09:03):
for the plane.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
The old tree top fire totally.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
And then they see this young Sebastian. He arrives. He's
driving like a black Chevrolet Cruise. Elizabeth, you don't know
what that car is. It looks like Chevy decided to
build their own version of the Nissan Ultima.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Right, So that's a bold moves Lavors.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
So that's what he is. He's in this little like
crap box sedan and he's in it. He comes through
a clearing of the jungle and he's parks and he
waits for a small drug smuggling plane to land, and
then he sees not the drug smuggling plane, but these
elite Uruguayan narco cops driving right at him. He can't
get away, so he doesn't flee. He doesn't get in

(09:42):
a shootout either, you know, like other drug smugglers might.
Knowing he's caught, Sebastian gives himself up. And when he's like,
you know, getting like, you know, harassed by the cops
and whatnot, they ask him what do you do for
a living? Kid? And he's like, I'm a professional footballer.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Good answer, right? Why not?

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Semi pro? It pays, you know, that's professional.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
It's a career of the mind. At that point, if.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
You are in a single a minor league ballplayer, you
are a professional ballplayer.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, but here's that is true. But he's not the
one bringing the lead to the meetup.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
No, it was supposed to. He's just supposed to pick
it up and everybody can check.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
You're like, well, I'm just went for a drive, but
there's how to get back to the interstate.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, it's it's like, there's only one reason to come
to this farm if you're lost.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Oh my gosh, I was lost in the forest.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Now his answer doesn't impress or convince the elite anti
narcos cops, but they are impressed when the drug smuggling
plane finally arrives and they find that the pilot is
the uncle of Carassio Cartes. Now that name probably doesn't
mean anything to you. It didn't mean anything to me
when I first read it, But it turns out it's
a big deal to the narco police because Horacio Cartees

(10:51):
was the president of Paraguay. What Yeah, so the uncle
of the president of Paraguay is the one flying this plane. Amazing,
that makes the bust newsworthy.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Meanwhile, lowly Sebastian Marsett, he gets arrested, gets taken into custody,
mugshot is snapped, the whole nine, you know, the deal. Interestingly,
one of the arresting officers takes one look at this
cat Sebastian, and he says, rather prophetically, if you ask me,
this guy is going to be a big problem for
us someday. He just knew it.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
That's like out of a movie.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Right, he just has like sharp eyes, apparently like a
young Pablo Escobar's like this guy. I can see now, Elizabeth,
this guy. Obviously the cop had no idea how right
he would be, but he would be right. So at
this point Sebastian Marsett, he's charged, he's tried for drug trafficking.
He's convicted, sentenced to five years in prison. He does
his bid at a prison called Libertad, which it's a

(11:46):
common byronic right, you know, totally a prison called Freedom,
yeah or Liberty. So it's a common destination for busted
drug traffickers, right. So he's just got a slew of them,
and they're from different countries. It's like an international like
university for crime, yeah, and those. But you're smart, so
I bet you can guess what happened to this network
of crime contacts. While Sebastian is locked up inside with

(12:09):
a ton of organized crime figures from around the world,
drug smugglers, traffickers.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
It just becomes a university his network explodes in size
like fireworks. Just it's like a convention. Like they all
have business cards. One guy's got like like branded lanyards.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
When you get out call me and I get all
call you.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
He set up booths in the yard for like a
career fair, career day. Yeah, we're hiring no Sebastian help.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
He does stay in shape because remember he wants to
be a professional footballer. You never give up, So he's
playing football every day. Wise in prison, he never gives
up on his dream. Finally, in twenty eighteen, he's set free.
At the time, he's twenty seven years old. Now you
may be thinking by then, at twenty seven it may
be too old to keep dreaming of playing professional soccer.
Plus he's now an ex con and a drug smuggler,

(12:57):
so not really the kind of guy most professional clubs
want to take a chance on.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Right.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Also, but recall he never really had the skills to
turn pro anything.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I think that's a issue because you know, if he
were like this, this phenomenal player, yeah yeah, sure.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
The messy behind bars, yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
That'd be one thing exactly. But you know, he's this
jailbird who you know, doesn't really know how to do
the old dance on the field. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, So playing in prison every day didn't change the
fact that his skill set really didn't.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Match that you've you've you've mentioned it before in telling
me that it's it's wrong, but that the Malcolm Gladwell.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Ten thousand hours, Yeah, that's incorrect.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
He definitely did ten thousand hours.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Oh well over possibly twenty thirty thousand hours.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
But I think if you're playing with people who are
below your skill level, you're not gonna improve. You're not
going to improve.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
Now, you need to do that challenge, you need that competition, Yeah,
to spark your spirit. Right. Anyway, while he was inside,
he did earn the respect of his fellow criminals, not
with his footwork, but just with how he was right.
So most notably members of the Italian mafia, real gangsters
from Brazil, like some real hard hitters from around the world.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
So post prison, he starts there, he gets himself a
Bolivian passport. Remember he's from Uruguay. He gets himself a
fake passport from Bolivia, not in his name, but it
allows him to travel internationally. So now he can go
and visit his friends from inside. From the Iron Bar University. Now,
while he was locked up in prison, the drug game
in Uruguay had changed. It used to be that, like
you know, it was mostly about marijuana and some cocaine

(14:28):
that was cultivated and processed in places like Bolivia or
Peru and also most famously Colombia, and from there the
coke would be smuggled into the US, primarily by Mexican cartels.
But by the time Sebastienne gets out of prison, the
war on drugs in the US has put pressure on
the coke smuggulars. Yeah, getting coke into the US suddenly costly.
It's dangerous for cartel leaders. They're like, I don't want

(14:49):
to end up like Pablo, you know. But luckily for them,
the cocaine market in Europe had come of age. So
cocaine shipments are getting smuggled into Uruguay and Paraguay, and
from there they get sent by to Europe. The bonus
is the Europeans pay a higher price for coke, so
the drug business is booming and Paraguay.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Sebastian Marsette realizes that with his new Italian mafia connections,
he is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these changes
in the drug game, right, so that's exactly what he does.
Within a year, he's now twenty eight years old, he
sets up a new distribution channel and international smuggling network.
He purchases private jets to move the nose candy around

(15:28):
South America. He sets up shipments on cargo ships bound
for Europe, and unlike his professional soccer career, his drug
smuggling is a tremendous success. Good for him, right, he
found his lane. God Now within three years, by the
time he's thirty one, Sebastian Marsette has made a billion
dollars in the dope game. He also gives himself a
new nickname. He calls himself the King of the South.

(15:50):
Oh yeah, so because he's southern, the southern part of
South America.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
But he's just like he's running it like his own
little football enterprise.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Pretty much.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
He's the guys they go down to the docks. He's like, alrighty,
we're gonna go out there and ruin some lives with me.
There's the run high fiving. At least he gets to
go to Italy.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
And he gets a traveler nationally. Yet mean you gonna
eat well, So his success it also earns the attention
of the Uruguayan and the Paraguayan and the US Narco police.
They open investigations into this new coke cartel. They keep
hearing about and getting a small bus from the called
Premier Cartelo and its mysterious leader, this King of the South.
They have no idea who he is or where this

(16:32):
new upstar cartel came from. The only thing that they
know is that the leader, as one American official would
put it, is quote a young Uruguayan man with his
right arm tattooed. That's all they know.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Well, that narrows it down.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Right, And they also know he's nicknamed El major Er
El Hefe Maora like the big Boss.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Again. That narrows it down totally.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
I mean, it can be so many people. So the
Paraguayan anti drug police they start working wire taps, they
start talking to informants and they find out what more
they can and from their informants they learned that this
dude drug kingpin often travels in disguises. They're like, good
luck finding him because when he flies internationally, he usually
likes to dress as a priest to see where wigs
a lot of good wig games. I love it now

(17:11):
there's one other curious habit he has. You see what
I did, their curious habit because for the nuns and
there it is anyway, the cartels drug shipments, they're given
code names, ones that typically make a kind of a
cheeky reference to football. Like one shipment of coke is
given the code name Maradonna. If you know anything about
the cocaine fueled hero of the Argentine football fans, that

(17:32):
was like a big wink and a nod and a
guy right, And as my man MF. Doom would say,
a wink as good as a nod to a blind horse.
But in this case, the blind horse was the day
and the wink and the nod were both missed because
most of their agents had no idea who Maradonna was
or that he was a major coked necessarily really well,

(17:52):
they did not put it together at first, but they
took him a second. They're like, oh, okay, well they
just has the reference to soccer, right, And they didn't
get there like a cocaine reference per se. But you know,
they knew we played soccer that part they do, so
it was a little clue. We'll just put it that way.
Out of the big clue.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
This is why we need robust, comprehensive liberal arts education
so that you're not just siloed into what you know
that you know a lot of things.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Well, does it mean it would be like if somebody
made a cricket joke. I think a lot of USDA
people would miss the cricket jokes. Do you see what
I'm saying? Like it's kind of at that level for them.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, but we really don't have a lot of cricket
going on in this country, but in football.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
In the Caribbean you do. And they got a lot
of drugs there, so.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Well, we gotta we got to bone up on it.
You know who's talking about what we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
No, for now, Elizabeth, let's take a little break, and
when we get back, we'll see how the King of
the South earns himself a spot on the pitch as
a full on professional soccer player. Yes, we're back, Elizabeth. Hello,

(19:09):
you ready to lace up your boots and step onto
the pitch and get deep into crime.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
I'm wearing my knee high soccer cleats.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Nice. I was wondering why you had the shan Guard's. Okay,
they're good.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
They're laced so tight. I can't feel my feet.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
You want it that way? First, let's talk crime, and
to get into that, we need answer a question. What
separated Sebastian Marcett from other wanna be cocaine cartel boss?
It's like, why was he so successful? Great question? A
little bit?

Speaker 2 (19:36):
You know. Sometimes I'm like, I'm laying in bed at
night trying to fall asleep. I'm like, Elizabeth, how do
you ask such good questions?

Speaker 3 (19:43):
You're insightful, You're curious, ever curious?

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Why ask them without opening my mouth? You think that
you say them?

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, I don't know how you do it?

Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know, I boggle my mind.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Well, for one, he had the advantage of and Bolivia
forming a cocaine triangle. There's that, So that one wasn't
as famous as like, say, the Colombia Mexico drug smuggling partnership,
but those three got the job done.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
For instance, cocaine grown and processed in Bolivia would be
flown into Paraguay. You could then squeeze a ton or
two into a small private plane. From there, that coke
would be transferred to trucks which would carry the cocaine
to the container ships on a river in Paraguay and
a deep water channel and then from there the container
ships would leave Paraguay and head out to the Atlantic

(20:30):
and cross the ocean to Europe and then there they'd
be offloaded in like the Netherlands or Belgium where they
have huge shipyards. Yeah, and boom, boom boom. Just like that,
a planeload of cocaine could be turned into twenty million dollars.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, and they got multiple planeloads on these boats.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Now, while he was masterminding this new smuggling route, staying
busy running his cocaine cartel, Sebastian Marcette was also still
hoping to turn pro as a footballer. He had not
given up the dreams.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
He's got that champion mindset.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, and he's like thirty one at this point.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
You know what, dare to dreams to dream.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
His dream did finally come true when he joined a
Potaguayan club called Deportivo Capiata. And Sebastian was thirty years
old at the time when he first did this, A
bit old for a rookie.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah. He made it so like an actual professional club,
not just like, hey guys, let's meet down.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Actual actual professional club, not like a you know, regional,
like you know, we all get together on Thursdays and play. Sure,
so he arrives as a new player for this team
in twenty twenty one, Elizabeth, I for being kind. He
was a middling midfielder. Okay, he's by all measures a
mediocre player. I think I made that. But he is
a pro. He'd done it. He was now on the team.

(21:38):
They had his name on the roster, name on the disc,
yes on his kid, everything. So he starts to live
like he's a famous striker for like an English Premier
League team. So Sebastian, he's like driving a Lamborghini to practice.
He's he's wearing like eye catching Rolex watches. He's usually
been decking.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
Gold jewelry, just like a little low club.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
No, I mean it's a it's a rather sizable clubs.
It's just not going to be like.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
It's not at that level.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
No, it's not even as good as like the big
Argentine or Brazilian clubs.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
No, none of his teammates, it's no junior right now.
None of his teammates are all dripped out like that.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
No, No, some of them are like I gotta be
a house painter. Yea, when I'm not playing, it's much
more like baseball in America in the nineteen teens. We're like,
I have a job when I'm not.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Playing Oakland Roots.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. Yeah, Ok, it's
not quite that's like almost like minor league balls. Yeah,
it's a professional team.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
So also, by the way I mentioned he had his
identifying mark, he has these tattoos that cover his right arm,
right and at the right hand there's this lion that's
tattooed across his knuckles. It's striking, it's memorable. You see it,
You're like, WHOA like that guy.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
He's a lot of proofs the lion.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
As for the number he wears on the pitch, Sebastian,
he pays a teammate ten grand so that he can
now wear number ten, which is a number that's made
famous by Brazil's most famous legend, Pele. Yeah, also Argentina's
two legendary grades, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. And then
also in these days that Carrie and I did so
almost as soon as he arrives, Sebastian wins the whole

(23:15):
team to his side, or so it seems, but he
also wins over the refs, and the reason is simple.
It's not that he's charming and charismatic. It's because he
buys everyone off.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Oh gosh.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yeah, So if they do not know about his real
profession and they're scared of upsetting the cartel leader, that
could be one reason. The other reason is he's giving
them lots of money. So it's either one or the
other or both. Right, So at this point, Sebastian can
straight up foul and physically abuse stars of another team,
and the refs were like, I can't find my whistle,
just I don't know where it is. I don't think

(23:47):
I have any cards on me today. I'm sorry. So
Sebastian he has plenty of drug money, obviously to improve
his new team, so he brings with him all sorts
of upgrades for the squad. There's suddenly better food for
the players. There's now new TVs for them to watch
in their downtime. There's also a new physical therapy equipment
for their recovery time. His teammates are huge fans of

(24:08):
the upgrades. They're like, this is like a real squad
or like you know La Liga. Now he gets for
the team's coach, a former World Cup player for Pottaguay.
And then that guy comes in. He's like, okay, I'll
be the coach. I'll I'll manage you guys. And then
what does he do. He benches Sebastian because he's terrible,
and then his teammates have to argue for him. They're like, hey, man,
they'll do that, like be smart. So they demand the

(24:31):
Sebastian get playing time because it seems to the coach
like they sure love this guy with He's like Rudy
from the Football movie.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
And he's got like the supercar jewelry, but he's just
like two feet up there.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
So he gets his playing time. Coach Relentz, he's like, okay,
I guess you guys want to lose, Let's start him.
Anyone with eyes can see that. You know that this
new midfielder lives by his own rules, right Like on
his first day with the team, he arrives in a
silver Lamborghini to announce himself. He does a series of
doughnuts in the gravel parking lot. There's like a security
guard watching this insane display of both wealth and recklessness.

(25:08):
And when Sebastian is done, kicking up gravel against his
seemingly brand new Lamborghini. The guard asked him, aren't you
worried about damaging your car, And as the security guard
later recalled to The Washington Post, he said, he just
looked at me and said, don't worry. I have four more.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
See, none of these guys are naives. They have to know.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
You have to know.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
They have to know. They're just like, don't they don't
want to like wind up kidnapped.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Or like yeah, or an oil drum floating in the Atlantic.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Well, just play along.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
So away from soccer, Sebastian, he also lives well like
his home is this five star penthouse, located one of
the most luxurious penthouses in the city of Asuncion in
Paraguayda capitol So. The building is called Palasio de los Patos,
and it's a renovated nineteenth century palace, the kind with
marble staircases. It's outfitted now with also with modernities. You

(26:00):
got a big pool, a huge pool, and asana and
that kind of stuff. Restaurant downstairs. Fancy the way that
the Michelin Guide describes this place quote somewhere in the
middle ground between history, worship, and idol smashing avant gardism
lies a place like the Palacio delos Patos. Oh my goodness,
idol smashing avant gardens.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
I'm stuck on this and it's just the thing is
I know exactly what they're talking about. That sentence, like
it just comes together perfectly. I know exactly.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
The Michelin Guide also goes on to say that quote
rooms in the Old Palace are a contemporary take on
the building's period look, ornate carved ceilings and rich hanging drapes,
contrasting with simple contemporary furnishings and flat screen televisions, while
the rooms in the modern edition are more minimal loft style,
with bare walls and zen flavored black wood furniture. Zen flavored.

(26:56):
That's what you want to You're an all tree, wealthy fact.
You want that.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
It sounds like, weren't you telling me about someplace you
stayed in Barcelona that was like that?

Speaker 3 (27:05):
Yes, Oh my god, yes it was. It was an
interesting mix of like how dark a wood can we get?
And then also it's kind of got like a Japanese
feel like they japanned things, you know, like it was,
and then really narrow like the staircase like I was like,
you couldn't have a child in this place, Like, oh oh,
it was a nightmare Seian. Yeah, well, he lives with

(27:29):
his wife and his three young sons at this place.
So you're kidding crossed on the stairway right now. He
wants his boys to you know, see, his daddy earned
w's as a professional footballer. So he keeps them close
enough that they can come down to the weekly games
and so, you know, to make sure that there are
wins for the Suns to appreciate. Sebastian offers bonuses to
his teammates. For every win the team enjoys, he will

(27:49):
pay them thousands of dollars as a bonus and great ironically,
when they lose, most likely because of him. Yeah, one
of his teammates is just sobbing after the game. He's like,
he's I needed that money and he's why I can't
get the money. But he's the one offering the money.
I'm so confused. You're so frustrated.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
You can't go to him and just be like buck up,
like no, you're not pulling your weight, oh, because he's
the one. Can I have some money?

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Yeah, we got we would have won without your mediocre anyway.
So he's like I said, he's slow, his footwork a subpar.
His shots on goals sale wide of the post or
they fly over the crossbar. This passes failed to find
his teammates. As a midfielder, his defense is abysmal. He
is the weakest link. He guarantees his new team continues.
It's prior losing weightsout despite all that he's done to

(28:36):
give them, like, you know, the best equipment and better mules. Yeah,
but you know, he just can't pay a bonus to himself. Like,
the wildest part to me is that he's so confident
about his crime career as a cartel leader that he
flaunts his actual name in his professional soccer career. He
uses his government name. It's right there in the team's
roster week after week. Yeah, he's hiding out or laying low.

(28:59):
He's doing a terrible job.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, that's what it sounds like.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
But being as smart as he is is a drug kingpin,
it's unlikely that it's an oversight. It's he really is
kind of like flounting, you know, the fact he can
do this and he wants to be known as a
professional footballer and do it in his name, Yeah, because
it's really important to him, not some crime pseudonym. Right.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Oh yeah, that is true. This is his lifelong dream totally.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
So he's got to be you know, like say, I
want to hear my name ringing through the stadium right now. Also,
he seems to believe he was untouchable, like protected, and
you know what, Elizabeth, he was correct. Yeah, because when
the anti narcotic police are on the hunt for this
new mystery man who they cannot figure who he is,
who's just running this upstart cartel in Paraguay, corrupt members
of the government in Paraguay, they tip Sebastian that the

(29:41):
cops are closing in on him. They're like, hey, man,
you probably want to get smart. They're getting close. So
after that, his name disappears from the club's roster, and
then shortly this is followed by him vanishing as well.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
That's not suspicious, that's gone right.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
So in May of twenty twenty one, Sebastian stops practicing,
stops coming to games. He vanished without a trace or
any explanation. He just walks away from the club, leaving
behind an empty locker and a ton of questions from
his teammates. And the manager and the teams fans, and.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
The team just starts winning. They just unstoppable.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Seven game WINSTA. Meanwhile, aidents from the DA working with
the anti Narcos police from Paraguay, they get closer and
closer to discovering the identity of this new mystery drug lord.
And then Elizabeth, they get a hot tip that if
they move fast, they might find the mystery drug kingpin
at Silvio Petrosi at International Airport. It's just outside of Asuncion, right,

(30:36):
He's scheduled to board a private plane. Rather than me
tell you about this, Elizabeth, close your eyes, I want
you to picture it. It's midday at the Silvio Petrosi
International Airport. A convoy of vehicles pulls up to the airports,

(31:00):
carrying you and your team of investigators from the Paraguayan
Anti Anarcotics Division. You flash a badge and the security
guard working the tarmac gate waves to his associate in
the guardhouse. He hits a switch hand the mechanical fence
gave rolls over. Your convoy drives through, crosses the airport
tarmac and heads toward the hangars for private airplanes. The

(31:21):
convoy comes to a smooth stop, doors open and close,
boots and high heels across the tarmac, headed to where
passport control is done for private planes. Within minutes, your
team gets set up in a private room, one with
a view of the line for customs and passport control.
Through a pane of one way glass, you watch travelers
mill about waiting for a customs agent, the same agent

(31:45):
that you have given a two way radio. It's a
police walkie talkie. As the air conditioning whirrs in your
private room and agents sip from coffee that's quickly growing cold,
you and your team watch the passengers. You clock each one.
Your eagle eye searches the crowd for your mystery man,
and then you spot him. A handsome young man walks

(32:05):
up and joins the short line. He immediately stands out
from the other travelers. You quickly jot down a note
that he looks wealthy. He looks a bit arrogant. He
also seems impatient to get to his private plane. He
holds his luggage in his left hand, leaving his right
hand free for him to use a cell phone, which
he's currently holding to his ear. When he turns his head,

(32:26):
you see a tattoo on his right hand. It looks
to be a lion. You quickly flip through the files
on your mystery man, and yet there it is. In
a wire tapped convo with some of the associates in
his cartel, they mentioned the mystery man's tattoos. This guy's
ink matches perfectly. You grab the two way radio and
press the talculate. It squawks to life. You tell the

(32:47):
customs agent who question the young man with the tattoos
on his right hand. Without replying, the custom agent nods.
Then the young mystery man steps forward. It's now his turn.
He hands over his passport. It's a Bolivian passport. When
the custom agent scans it, the passport pops up on
a screen in the private room where you and your
team are watching the line. A Bolivian passport. That's interesting.

(33:10):
Must be a fake. You scribble that down in your notes. Meanwhile,
another person in your team quickly types the name from
the passport into a database of biometric data. Up pops
the file for an Uruguayan national named Sebastian Marsett. You
think aloud, almost half speaking to the agent next to you,
Sebastian Marsett, who is Sebastian Marsette. Do you know that name? Quick?

(33:33):
Google him? Fingers fly across the laptop. Seconds later, you
and the agent next to you stare at the results page.
It says Sebastian Marsett is a professional footballer, a midfielder
on a second rate team. Guess that explains the man's attitude.
But could that be the same guy. The agent next
to you asks what you want to do. You must

(33:54):
decide quickly before he's waved through Customs. You think, for
a moment, none of this fits the pattern, none of
this makes sense. You exhale a long sigh of frustration,
and then you say, let him through. The agent next
to you uses the two way radio to signal the
customs agent to let the surveillance target board his private plane.
You all watch as Sebastian Marsett breezes past Customs, heads

(34:18):
out onto the tarmac, eager to take flight in his
private plane. You think to yourself, now we know what
he looks like, and then once you build a bulletproof case,
you're going to take him down. Elizabeth. Yes, he didn't
know it then, but the Potterguayan Anti Narcotics Police and
their DA counterparts had finally identified Sebastian Marsett, their mystery man.

(34:40):
They had a face for the name the head of
this new upstart cocaine cartel, and the fact that he'd
been hiding out in plain sight as a professional football
player on a mid level team who played not very
far from their rented office that they were using kidding
was a bit of a head scratcher for the cops.
Prosecutor as one Justice Minister Cecilia, as the Rivas put it,

(35:01):
I couldn't believe that at the center of this massive
criminal organization the leader was a failed soccer player. So
unbelievable as it was. Now that they have an id
for their mystery cartel boss, the anti narcos police, they
do what they do best. They open investigation. They start
round the clock surveillance of Sebastian and they find that
he is one busy drug cartel boss. When he isn't

(35:23):
on the soccer pitch, Sebastian he meets with all kinds
of other alleged drug bosses and alleged money launderers. He's
also a prolific businessman of his own like he has
all kinds of front companies. He's always dropping by like.
For instance, there's his martial arts studio, Team Force Training Center.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Team Force Training Center, the.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Slogan for where his dojo is to fight is to Live.
I thought, I like that.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
I do like that. He's also on a T shirt
from there.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
I think you'd need one from Team Force Training Center.
Take that, Salesforce. So he's also the owner of a
luxury card dealership, of course, and he claims to be
a music producer who's reportedly, if you google him, quote
a legend of concert production.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
So I want to know what he's produced.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
Nothing, This is all front company stuff. I'm sure he's
got a few shows, but it's not like, you know,
he's done. So the question becomes, uh, you know, the
investigators they have got plenty to investigate, and they eventually
the question becomes the one that's the most fun for
them to consider. Is will Sebastian go back to his
football career or his playing days done?

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Oh that's that's the question at him.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
Yeah. Well, this question is finally answered when two undercover
Anti Narco's agents who are surveiling Sebastian. He's driving one
of his silver Lambos through a sunsey On and they
follow him until Finally, the silver sports cars parked outside
of you guessed it, a soccer stadium. It's the home
of a second rate football club called Rubio.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Now was he cheating on his originals? For both them?

Speaker 3 (36:52):
He got a new one. So seeing this one of
the undercover agents they hop on the radio and they
report back he's found another team.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
No.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Yes, his club is a far cry from the clubs
in like the Premier League or La Liga. Yeah, but
it offers a perfect place for a drug call hotel
leader to enjoy another taste of his dream of playing
professional football. You can't help no, never mind that the
field is crappy, the grass is patchy and uneven, the
stadium's dilapidated, It's still the beautiful game. As Pele would
car along with the undercover cops, the locals take notice

(37:22):
of this new player who's arrived in his silver Lambo,
I would imagine.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
So, I mean those are eye catching vehicles.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Totally anywhere you go. He's showing up with like a
small like cadre of bodyguards, you know, who all look
like narco thugs. Yes, so, as one neighbor told The
Washington Post, we were like, what is going on here?
A lot of people were scared. It was like a
group of mafiosos had descended on us.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
That's the thing. You don't want them, like latching into
your neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Oh, you start worrying about for the kids and the
young ladies. Almost as soon as he arrives, construction crews follow.
They rebuild the crumbling stadium. They add new dressing rooms
for the players. The team adds new players I'm talking
eleven veteran footballers to help the team improve. A you're kidding, yeah,
And they improve quickly. The team gets much better. And
meanwhile Sebastian begins to work out and practice with his

(38:10):
new team. He also folds his new club into his
cocaine empire. He uses the new club for a new
money laundering scheme. He enlists this like tried and true
Colombian plan for laundering drug profits through football. As one
Colombian law enforcement official told the Washington Post, quote, they
buy a Colombian player from a very low level soccer team,

(38:30):
and then they take him to play in the Croatian
soccer league. But they sell them for one hundred times
or two hundred times more than what he cost.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Oh okay, right.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
So Sebastian Marsette uses the same scheme. Meanwhile, he doesn't
know it, but the noose is tightening once again. DA
agents and their Butterguay and counterparts are closing in. They
dub their new operation ah oltranza, which translates to at
all costs. Oh yeah, see, they have their eyes on
Sebastian Marsett and roughly fifty of his Yeah, they got

(39:01):
indictments ready to go. I mean they've done the paperwork,
the leg work. They're ready. But then, as if you
can like smell the bust coming, Sebastian Marcette disappears yet again.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Again. I think you could do more than smell it coming.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Yeah, exactly. In September twenty twenty one, he vanishes. And
with that, Elizabeth, I think we should vanish for another
little break. Let's do it, and after these messages we
will catch back up with our professional football playing cocaine
cartel leader and see where the story goes next. Elizabeth,

(39:50):
we're back.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Zaron, how are you?

Speaker 3 (39:52):
I'm FANTASTICO how about you?

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Bueno?

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Excellent? Either one in this case?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
I know.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
So you're ready to catch up with Sebastian Marseilles, I
am good. Good. Now, last we left him, he dipped
out and vanished. So where did he go? Great question, Elizabeth,
he did it again again with money on. It turns
out he's in prison.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Oh yeah, I did not see that one.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
I didn't think he did. But not in South America
or even America North northam Aakano or yo you or
he's not in Europe America. Yeah. Instead he's locked up
behind bars in the al wat prison in the United
Arab Emirates in Abbo, Yes, in Abu Dabi, if you

(40:41):
want to be specific.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Okay, that's another thing.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
I did not see that one, right, just curtball, curveball.
So Marseille. He gets busted at the Dubai airport for
using a fake Powderguayan passport. He's detained and he gets
sent to the Alwataba prison. There he's locked in solitary
confinement where he's forced to sleep on the floor, which
is a very big change from the time he spends
in his Michelin rated ultra luxurious palatial condo. Yes, back

(41:06):
in so it's the one pot of Guayan officials summed
it up. He had finally slipped up.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So the US, that's the worst place.
What prison to get Well, yeah, prison is the worst,
but it's like with Dubai. They want they have like
this whole atmosphere and image. But if you step outs,
if you live it too much with drugs or too much.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Drinking or whatever like that, or a fake passport.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Or a fake passport, they will come down.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Yeah, they lock you. I mean like just throw away
the key and they throw him into a solitary confinement,
which you know a lot of international organizations call tortures.
Maybe he's being tortured for having the wrong passport. Yes,
So the US and the Pottaguayans are stoked to find
that Sebastian Marsette has been locked up, and they begin
to petition for his release into their custody to face
charges for his cocaine empire. So they plead with the

(41:55):
Emiadis to hold him until they can arrange the arrest
warrant and the paperwork for a transfer, because they're terrified
he'll basically bribe his way out of prison before they
can get their hands on Sure and Elizabeth. That's exactly
what Sebastian Marsette does. He contacts Theguayan authorities and he
begins to arrange his release. In a short time, an
Uruguay and diplomat visits the prison and with the help

(42:17):
of a high dollar lawyers that he's hired, the Sebastian
Marsette begins to orchestrate his own release. And now it's
like a foot race between like corruption and the police.
So first he applies for a new passport, not from
Pataguay but from Uruguay because he's an Uruguayan national. Paperwork
goes through, and once he has the new passport delivered
to the prison in Abu Dhabi, he's released.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
So wow.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Yeah, before he got locked up, Sebastian Marsette was enjoying
the finer things of life in Dubai because you see,
he's a property owner there. He owns about eighteen million
dollars worth of prime real estate. No, so he doesn't
have to lay low and hide out and said he
lives it up as he is wont to do. For instance,
there are photos of him in the dress of like
a sheik or sheikh, complete with like a hawk perched

(43:03):
on his arm, you know, like he went native, right,
He's like they're in the desert with other crime bosses,
like in super ultra cars and there's also photos of
him at the top of the Bersh Khalifa, like posing
with his wife. I mean, like he is living it up.
But as much fun as Dubai seems to have been
for him, Sebastian Marsett did not plan to stay there

(43:24):
because you see, he was headed to Greece when he
got caught at the Dubai airport. Elizabeth, you want to
guess why he was headed to Greece.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
A big suvlaki fan.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
No, But if you tried and guessed again and you
told me he planned to return to professional soccer, you
win today's big no prize.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
You see, in Greece there's this club called Trikala FC
or Tricola FC. They play in a stadium located about
two hundred miles north and kind of west of Athens,
like northwest of Athletes, right. So at the time, they
were a team in the Greek Super League two, right,
So that's like a step down, and their fan base
was not huge since they were a middling team in
a second tier league. But that's where Sebastian Marsett planned

(44:07):
to next play professional football, and there was a simple
reason for that. The team was long whispered and later
proven to have links to organize crime.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
That's incredible. So they already had like a really nice stadium.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, they were covered there. Now this next bit does
require a one percent warning.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
So you see the former owner of the club, Cristos Jilla,
he reached the end of his days thanks to a
dozen bullets from a Klashnikoff assault rifle. And before that
he'd been busted on drug trafficking charges and some firearm charges.
So that's the previous owner, and before him the team's
former president, Sakis Kara Tsunis. He had also been busted

(44:47):
for drug trafficking. Back in twenty seventeen, he was caught
with twenty kilos of cocaine that sent him to prison
for four years. So you could say that this Greek
football club had a well documented history of organized crime
and cocaine distribution.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, so it.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Seemed like a perfect fit for Sebastian Marsett. He's like,
we have mutual interest.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
It's like on an exchange program basically.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yea. So it was all part of Sebastian Marsett's plan
to launder his drug money overseas. He'd he'd fully combined
his two favorite professions international drug cartel boss and professional
soccer player and just boom, I'm in Greece now. But
since he gets locked up in the prison in Dubai,
Sebastian Marsett's plans to go play in Greece and launder
is money there, they all fall apart. And he'd already

(45:29):
been like sending his associates there and they're expending all
this money and they're they're like just ladling out cash
to the players. The manager like one of the teams,
the trainers, he's like, guys, go get paid, they're get paying,
get paying out today, go to the aut like it
was like everybody knew. But then he gets locked up
and so then they those guys that they all leave,
all the Piderguayan players would come over, they all go disappear,

(45:51):
and everyone's like, what happened? I thought we were going
to come. Meanwhile, the folks from the DA and their
potter Guayan counterparts, they're still pissed at their request for
the Abu d i Be prison exchange and getting them
to hold Sebastian Marsette. Yeah, it was ignored. They're like,
what are you doing? Are you guys corrupt, like, no,
he had the right passport, what could we do? So
at the start of the new year twenty twenty two,

(46:13):
the folks at Interpol they send a message to the
Otaguayan Foreign Ministry and they ask, all, right, you let
him out? So where is this mystery cartel leader? And
the message was sent on January tenth, twenty twenty two,
and reportedly said, and I quote, we would appreciate if
you could provide us with an update on his situation,
in details of where he is currently. So the Otaguayan

(46:34):
Foreign Ministry replied, and the Oraguayans respond and I quote
the consulate delivered the passport to the holder, and we
have not had any information about the citizens since.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Then at our hands, right, it's all like.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Hey, it's the paperwork. Don't blame me, blame the process.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Governments now quite familiar with the effects of big money corruption.
The folks from the US concluded that quote, with the
influence of his wealth and connections, he won.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Oh, like what do we guys do? There you go.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
But this doesn't stop them or they're anti narcos partners
in Potaguay from going forward with their operation. So in
February twenty twenty two. The Potaguayans. They arrest twenty four
Sebastian Marsett's associates and underlings, the anti narco cops. They
rate hideouts, They storm luxury condos, They rush into private
plane hangars. All in all, they seize about one hundred

(47:25):
million dollars in criminal assets. Okay, that number included three yachts,
thirteen tractors, and four thousand head of cattle.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Let's go back to third, thirteen tractors and.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Four thousand head of cattle. Yes, anyway, After that burst
of busts and seizures, the task force then go after
more legitimate targets, like a potaguay and senator named Erico Galiano.
He was accused of helping Sebastian Marsett to launder his
cocaine profits, but he was protected by the President of Potaguay,
so no arrest warrant gets issued. Oh wow, things do

(47:58):
go differently in Sebastian Marsett's home country of Uruguay. After
interpoll puts out it's arrest warrant for our professional soccer
player and cocaine cartel leader, the news breaks right the
Sebastian Marsette has secured a new Uruguayan passport which allowed
him to escape prison in Abu Dhabi and disappear. So
this is like a news story all over Uruguay, which
leads to a wave of resignations in the Uruguayan government. Oh,

(48:21):
the Foreign minister resigns. Next goes the Interior minister, whose
department who had issued the new passport. He's joined by
one of his senior advisers. Everyone's like, well he's shady too,
So they all exit, right, So to calm down this
wave of political fallout that's over this now spiraling scandal,
the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalpol. He claims his government

(48:43):
is not to blame.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
He's like, no, look at me.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Yeah, He's like there, you know, there, I know this
looks like there's evidence of corruption, but actually I love this.
He blames the laws of the land. As the president
tells reporters at a news conference, do we like that
a drug trafficker has a passport? Of course not, but
that is the current law.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
He's like, it's out of my hands. What can I do?
L lay Is Lalay. So for months now, no one
hears a word about or from Sebastian Marsett. Despite the
international arrest warrant, he successfully disappears interre Pol cannot get him.
He's got it like a red notice, doesn't matter. Then
in August to twenty twenty two, like basically seven eight

(49:25):
months later, Yeah, he finally resurfaces. A video message is
sent to one of Uruguay's most popular news programs. It
comes from a South African phone number, so it's just
like a texted video.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Oh did he use like a cameo?

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Basically, it's a video message of Sebastian Marsett and he
rails against the numerous charges and allegations made against him
and his underlings are drug trafficking and the criminal charges.
So he's there wearing like a face mask, like a
like a for like COVID era face mask and sunglasses.
Yet it's still clearly identifiably Sebastian Marsett, and he proclaimed

(49:58):
defiantly in his a message. They have no proof of
anything of what they say, nothing right, So his rear
parents fires up the anti narcos police. They're like, oh yeah,
so the ones in Paraguay and the USA counterparts from
the DA they get back on the hunt for Sebastian Marsette.
They refuse to give up. They're like, we get the
dogs getting a sniff in the air. They're like, they

(50:20):
go chasing after.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Because by releasing that video, he's shown that he's not
discipline enough to completely disappear exactly. So he's gonna make
mistakes exactly.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
And they're also still pissed at his cocaine empire. We
even with him gone and in the wind and with
all the legal trouble, is more successful now than ever.
They're like, this has done the exact op we want, so, Elizabeth.
At this point, the anti Narcos police, they receive a
new tip. Someone claims to know where Sebastian Marsette is
hiding out, Elizabeth, you want to guess what he was

(50:51):
doing while he was living on the lamb.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I have a guess what is it? Was he playing football?

Speaker 3 (50:56):
He was playing professional football. God, he's like a football junkie.
His new club is called Leones Delorno. It's another second
tier team, this time in Bolivia. So in May of
twenty twenty three, a new player from Brazil joins the club.
This new football's name is Luis Amorim.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
Right.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
He's a good looking guy confident far more than his
mediocre skills would suggest. He also had this notable tattoo
on his right arm that ends in a lion tattooed
across his knuckles. He drives super expensive cars. He speaks
impeccable Spanish for somebody from Brazil, but it's accentless, right.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
He is like you know runners or cyclists who if
they don't do like, they're fifty miles in a couple
of days, like the twitch. Yeah, that's him. He has
to go out and play mediocre soccer football. He just
has to like bungle his way through. Otherwise he's like,
oh my legs, take it my head, right.

Speaker 6 (51:58):
I'm depressed to go out there and flop around.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
So obviously this new cat on marim he is our
man at the hours at Patina Marcete. So you see,
he'd snuck into Bolivia, built himself a new mansion, moved
some of his associates and enforcers over the border. He
sets up his criminal empire in Bolivia. Then he starts
lavishing the community with his extensive drug profits. He begins
his charm campaign to win the loyalties of the elites

(52:24):
of Bolivia. So he's like spending time with Miss Bolivia
and her devoted husband. He's donating a small fortune to
make that year's carnival like a really memorable success.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
I like that Miss Bolivia has like a high profile
in this country totally because if you had it another
like in America.

Speaker 6 (52:41):
With Miss America, I know, I don't want to brag.
That's an influencer Miss America. And so you know it's cool, yeah,
just cool man.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
And then he buys the soccer club Leon del He
buys it out right, He's pretty much buying all these yeah. Yeah,
Next he brings in a former star from the Bolivian
national team to be the team's manager. That's another one
of his big plays. Okay, he's like, okay, we need
a guy I've been to World Cup. You could go
and be the coach.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
Then he constructs a new training complex for the team
and complete with state of the art synthetic turf because
at his last place he didn't like that patchy grass.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
He's like, synthetic turf is putting so much money into
the local economy.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
Yet that he's he has a job creator, you know,
especially for construction.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
He's making things shovel ready.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Yeah, And then he makes the new manager start him
as a midfielder. He's like, you know, I own the
club I bought, I bought and brought you. So so
it started and so Sebastian Marsett once again living the dream.
I mean, you got to respect his stubbornness.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Right, yeah, I guess so.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Meanwhile, his time away from the game has not improved
his ball handling, his passing, his shots. On gold Day,
it's one of his teammates on the leone is recalled
when I passed him the ball a lot of time
he missed it. I got angry with him, like, what
are you doing?

Speaker 2 (53:57):
So is there like an adult summer camp?

Speaker 3 (53:59):
He skill, Oh, you get a couple of coaches to
play with them.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah, higher coaching.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
Right.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
So the question becomes how long will it take for
the Americans and the Potterguayians to catch up to him.
The answer about one year?

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
Yeah. In May of twenty twenty three, that tip I
mentioned earlier, it comes in and the anti Narcos cops
they're back on the case. The Pottaguayans learned that Sebastian
Marsett is in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He's a professional football
player and they're running his billion dollar criminal lanmimfire. So
they contact the Bolivians. They go, we're gonna need your
help to arrest him.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
The Bolivians are like, oh yeah, sure, sure, no problem.
So they assigned like a drone to surveyl Sebastian night
and day. They have undercover officers keeping eyes on them,
running like you know, the surveillance. They quickly figure out
that he's staying with his wife and now four kids.
He's in the Once he's identified the Bolivians, they launched
their own operation and in July of twenty twenty three,

(54:52):
just a few months later, they spring their trap. They
raid his house, They aim or arrest him in his subordinates.
The only trouble is when the dus or so officers
raid his home. Sebastian mar said.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Miss Bolivia, she shipped the low. They were like, they
looked and they're like, no, we can't go in. He
knows Miss Bolivia well.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
He had vanished just before the net drops, He and
his family disappear. The Oblivions then launch a three thousand
officer man hunt.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Three thousand, Yes, they initiate.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
One hundred and fifty eight checkpoints throughout the country, shutting
down every road, airport, harbor, caliport, whatever you got that
moves and or could carry a person. They're like, put
an officer there.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
That's convenient for the public.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
None of it works. Of course, the police do manage
to seize his property again, which again includes livestock. This time,
the cops come away with one three hundred and fifteen
head of cattle and some poultry.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
He also likes to caseplay as a gentleman farmer.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
Totally but like mediocre once again. Yes, so why are
your steers so small? So they seize thirty five properties,
seventy seven vehicles, eighty one weapons. They arrest a coach
from Leonis Delthorno, two of his former teammates. They bust
them for being hanky. They seize the team's rebuilt field
like this is ours now, totally, we're taking this to

(56:10):
the Bolivia national team. But they missed their chance to
grab Sebastian Marcette. He and his family escaped just days
before the trap is sprung, and just like before, a
video message he's sent from Sebastia Marcelles.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Because one in the zodiac is going on.

Speaker 6 (56:25):
Just hi.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
He's very arrogant. This time, the video is sent to
a lawyer in Bolivia. Her name is Jessica Ecaveria. She's
a popular legal figure in her country with a very
large social media following. So she's like a legal influencer
and like a popular figure. Right. His message to her
is clear he was warned of the arrest. He just
says it out right. So Sebastian says in his video
and I quote, thanks to the help of the director

(56:48):
of the Anti Narcotics Police, I managed to leave. He
told me that the minister had already issued an arrest
warrant against me.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
WHOA.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Now, I don't know if the director of the anti
narcost police appreciated him sharing that little fun fast. But
that's but what does Sebastian, you know care? Right, if
the cops are the ones warning him to him, this
is just proof that their case is illegitimate.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
Yeah, then the director's like, you know, this guy, he's
full of he's full of beans.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
I don't know why he's saying.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Sebastian, he makes stuff up. I've never who what.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
I how would I contact him?

Speaker 2 (57:21):
Exactly?

Speaker 3 (57:22):
So this first video message is followed by another, and
the second one issues threats to the Bolivian police. What yes,
Sebastian Marsett says to his like front facing camera on
his phone, and I quote, I am too smart for you.
It's not to say that you are very stupid. It
sounds a little better to say that I am just smarter.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Oh that's thanks for making it to softening the blow there.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Don't ask me to score a goal, no, to seal
the deal. He warns them that he knows too much
and that if details you know about the widespread and
corruption in the Bolivian police will come out and bring
down the whole edifice, as he puts it, if I
open my mouth, it gets complicated. Oh. Out to that,
he goes quiet again, But that doesn't last long because
the people keep talking about him. The people love him.

(58:06):
He's like he's got like a Pablo Westco bar thing,
because remember he made Carnival be cool. He's hanging out
with all these beautiful, glamorous women miss Bolivia, and so
eventually there's this one Bolivian singer, Beileen Ortiz. She reportedly
mentions him in her song King of the South because
I remember his original nickname. It's like a Narco cutter.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
You though, right to get in on that.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Yeah, so she sings and I quote between soccer and lovers,
I am gripped by the hope that Don Marcette will return. Okay, yeah,
the lyrics are better in Spanish. No, this was no
small embarrassment to the Bolivian, Partaguayan, Uruguayan and American anti
narcos cops are trying to catch him. It's extra embarrassing
when in November twenty twenty three, Sebastian Marsette hosts a

(58:50):
television crew for an interview with an Uruguayan journalist, Patucia Martin.
She flies to his home in the jungle, where as
she told The Washington Post later on, she found quote
the soccer game was playing on the living room television.
He wore a one thousand dollars Louis Viton green sweater
and a gold watch and spoke vaguely about his ability
to elude capture.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Sean Penn with her right.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
Totally. So this is straight up Pablo Escobar level, like
move from a cartel leader. He's like, come to my
jungle hide out, bring your helicopter. They had to take
I think it was two helicopters because they had stopped
to get a second after Chapo. Yeah, Chaco. So thus
far Sebastian Marcette has avoided arrest. He is still out there,
which means somewhere out there there's a former professional football

(59:35):
player and cocaine cartel king Ben who was living his
best life in ways that even Pablo Escobar would probably envy,
and definitely El Choppo would envy.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
You know. El Chappo had like a cartel like under
boss name for him that was named El Footballista football Alista,
like the football is right, so like even the football
lista has to be envious of, Like he gets to
live the dream and to be honest, I hope he
stays free, not because of like what he does as
a cartel leader, but just because as a folk figure.

(01:00:04):
Apparently he's killing the game. People are like, oh man,
so if you're listening, Sebastia Marsette, I'm rooting for you, brother. So, Elizabeth,
what's our ridiculous takeaway here?

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I just the passion to keep playing and having that
dream that he can't squash mm hmm. And he won't
just face that it's just not in the cards, because
he's going to make it in the cards. He has
the money to make it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
He has been on numerous professional squads, know what you're
talking about. You know, sure he had to buy them
and instill he got to do it, but he's out there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
What's your takeaway?

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
My takeaway that's ridiculous is me hating cocaine but loving
cocaine cartel leaders, Like what is wrong with me? But
it's because they're like an abstraction, Like I don't really
like I hate the violence they do. I hate them
how they ruin innocent lives. I hate what happens with
their cocaine that comes to the people, and like often,
you know, beautiful souls are rendered, you know, null and void.

(01:00:57):
Because I absolutely hate it, but I I just have
such a sop spot for how wild and how defiant
they are and how big they live. I'm like, it's
like rooting for al Capone, Like, you know, he is
a horrible person, but I'm like, fm up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Scarf outsized characters.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Yeah, so I don't know what's wrong with me, and
I apologize for how I am. So there you go, Elizabeth,
you're in the mood for a talk back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I am always in the mood for a talk back.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Oh, oh my god, I let.

Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
You Rudd Olivia here from Seattle. His Aaron Elizabeth Capndie
in intern said, mayor I not be dogs. And one
of your early episodes, you guys said everyone wants to
be a marine biologists as a kid, but no one
actually is one. I wanted to let you all know
that you did find one. I'm a wildlife marine biologist
and I'm actually getting ready to head to the Bearing

(01:01:54):
Sea to do three weeks of field work, and I'm
downloading as many ridiculous crime episodes as I can before
I head out to make it feel like home.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
I worked ten to sixteen hour days as a biologist
and let's listen to ridiculous crime. During most of it,
am I overdosing on ridiculous crime?

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Who knows?

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
Who cares? My coworkers are so used to me turning
around and going did you know? And then it's viewing
something useless at them that they don't even react anymore.
I also just got an email from my employer that
your website has been officially determined to be the oldest
ever living rockfish, So congratulations for that. I'm actually getting
married to my wife in just two weeks, and I

(01:02:33):
love ridiculousness so much that I'm including in our vows.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
That we will always be ridiculous.

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
They also replaced Cocktail Hour with Owl Hour, in which
we hired a falconer to bring seven falcons and owls
for guests to meet. I thought you would think that
is ridiculously awesome. Your website is actually one of my bridesmaids,
so I can tell you all that later. Okay, that's it.
Thanks Ridiculous Crime team, see you next crime.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
Oh my goodness, I've okay. So it's incredible, dream life totally.
It's so fascinating. Your wedding sounds mabulous. Congratulations, big congratulations
and safe travels. Yes, and thank you. Thank you for
introducing us to a real life marine biologist.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
I can't believe that they never thought it would happen
on so many levels. Really well, as always, you can
find us online for some more ridiculous crime. On Instagram
we have pictures of all this stuff, and on Blue
Sky we got some links for you. We have a
website ridiculous Crime dot com, which, as you just heard,
is the oldest living rockfish. So enjoy and obviously we'd

(01:03:35):
love your talk back. So please go to the iHeart
app download it, leave a talk back. Maybe you'd like
to hear your voice Hia. We would love to, so
please do it. Oh and also email us if you'd
like at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. Please start
the email d A producer D and assistant Terry. Thank
you for listening and we will catch you next crime.

(01:04:00):
Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnette,
produced and edited by Pablo Escobar's favorite sound guy, Senor
David Gustin. Our ridiculous assistant is the most elusive assistant
in the game, Terry Maldonado. Fall research is by the
Fax Cartel leader La Football Allista Potus of Brown. Our
theme song is by our house band Lionel and the

(01:04:22):
I Made a Messy aka Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton.
The host wardrobe provided by Bodany five hundred. Producer Dave's
wardrobe provided by Mister Guy of Beverly Hills. Guest hair
and makeup by Sparkleshot and Mister Andre. Executive producers are
Ben who hasn't been locked up in a prison in
Abu Dhabi, Bolin and Noel Well I was once locked

(01:04:44):
up in the jail at Disneyland, Brown.

Speaker 5 (01:04:51):
Reds, Why Say It one More times? Crime?

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of Iheartrate four more podcasts,
my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,