From USC Athlete to Underground Kingpin: The Owen Hanson Story

In this gripping episode of "And Now, Love," Cynthia Marks sits down with Owen Hanson, author of The California Kid, to unpack his extraordinary life story. Owen takes listeners on a journey through his transformation from a USC athlete to running a high-stakes underground betting empire. The conversation dives into his struggles with identity, the pursuit of belonging, and the adrenaline-fueled decisions that led him to incarceration. Owen reflects on his time in confinement, his eventual path to self-reform, and his remarkable ability to rebuild his life. This episode offers an unflinching look at the consequences of ambition, the pursuit of redemption, and the lessons that come from finding purpose against all odds.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hi, I'm Cynthia Marks.
I head up the Holistic
Psychoanalysis Foundationestablished by my late husband, Dr.
Bernard Bail.
Welcome to and now, love.
I am very excited to be talking with OwenHanson today.
He has written a book, The California Kid.

(00:25):
Here it is about his life story so far.
It is so wild that it is almost impossibleto believe.
His incrediblejourney has been full of desperation,
intrigue, wrong turns and secrets.
All of this and more is detailedin this fabulous book.

(00:46):
Eventually, Owen was incarcerated,
sentenced to 21 years,
despite the many challengeshe faced in confinement.
He earned an MBA and more importantly,took time to self-reflect,
find some meaningand a reason to redirect his life.
While all that Owen has been throughmakes for an incredible read.

(01:10):
It does seem like fiction.
I came away wonderingif the struggles and torment this man Owen
put himself through knowinglyand unknowingly were intended
to undo or cover upsome very much unwanted feelings
or a desperate grab at feeling something,anything at all.

(01:34):
So, hello, Owen,and thank you for joining us.
Good morning, Cynthia.
Thanks for having me.
Of course, it'ssuch a treasure to have you here.
And really, your story is unbelievable.
We were speaking a few minutes herebefore we started this,
and it's just like your normal lifefor you.
And every time you say something,I'm like, Wow, that can't really happen.

(01:58):
This is just it.
It's fiction.
It's the things that we try hardto make movies out of.
And yet it's your life.
Yeah.
A lot of people say manyou're telling the truth,
I said, Yeah,I'm telling the truth. It's so easy for.
Me to talk about thisbecause it's it's the.
Life, you know, I. Live.
So it just flows and it's.
It's definitely it'sdefinitely a crazy story.

(02:18):
Well, thank you for sharing this with us.
You're going to be busy
sharing this all over the placebecause everyone has a million questions.
And this book is you just can't helpbut turn it page after page after page.
It's just really a good, good read.
Tell me a little bitabout what's going on now.
What are your circumstances today?

(02:40):
Well, I'm currently under the Bureauprison still.
I'm living in the Los Angelesarea and a federal halfway house.
I live.
With 400 inmates, 200 on the stateside, 200.
On the federal side.
We have awe live in a dorm room with 30 bunk beds.
And what's the difference betweenthe state side and the federal side?
Are you all mixed togetheror just the state?

(03:01):
The state side is divided.
Now, you got to remember, on the stateside, they are allowed to smoke marijuana.
And the federal level marijuana.
Is. Illegal.
And California allows.
People on the state sideto smoke marijuana.
But if you're on the federal side,you get tested and you go back to prison.
So, yeah, it's crazy tothink that you have a guy smoking a joint

(03:23):
on one side and the guy on the other sidesjust having a cigaret.
Yeah, buthow does one even pay for the marijuana?
I mean, is it can you buy and buy
anythingyou want in a halfway house like DoorDash?
We have we can DoorDash, we can do Uber.
But really strict.
As far as you know,we can't have our phones

(03:44):
or Internet connectiongoing on in our rooms.
We have a certain time.
We have to go to bed.
You have someone coming inevery half an hour
with a clipboard,making sure we're in our bed.
We have the lights on 24 seven.
So it's it's it's similar to prison.
Obviously,we're. Allowed to try to get a job.
Everything you do is.
Has to be put in by an itinerary.
So when I came to you today,

(04:05):
I had to ask for permissionthrough the Bureau of Prisons.
Is that doyou get a pretty quick response?
It takes about a week to get approvedto go up to the.
Chain of command.
So can one have a jobwhile they're interned here?
How could you get a full time job? Yes.
They allow you to get a full time job.
They come and check up on you about.Once a week.

(04:27):
Make sure you're at your officeor at your job location.
We get drugtested every week, once a week,
and we breathalyzed every timewe come back to the halfway house.
So they just want to make sure, you know,we're not screwing up.
Yeah. So now you have an office.
Do you go to your office a lot?
Yeah. You know, I.
I work 12 hours a day.

(04:47):
I get to leave at six in the morning,takes a.
Couple of hours to get to my office.
Whether I'm taking the busor Uber depends which method I use.
But they allow me to
be in my office 10 hours,and they allow for 4 hours of travel time.
So I'm currently doing a lot of thismarketing for the California kid,
the book, a lot of the social media stuffI never had before.

(05:11):
You know, I'm learning.
I have a team that's helping out,
that's all workingsweat equity that believes in me.
And and it's been amazing.
That is I mean, you must be so gratefuland constantly amazed by the support
and of course, by
how quickly the world's changingand how much you have to catch up on.
Right? Yeah.
You know, I was just thinking about itthe other day.

(05:34):
We never had Bluetooth.
You know, I get out and there's Bluetoothand then I find out about Uber Eats.
It's like just a phone call away.
I remember a good friend of mine
she sent me Mastersthe first day I got out all this, I said.
Masters, what are you doing?This has got to be a fortune.
She goes, You just got out of prison.Enjoy it. Yeah.
And I was like, This is insane.I just had.
Masters delivered to my. Doorstep.

(05:55):
This is unbelievable.
You have incarcerated.
You know who could saythey had a masters steak in prison?
Yeah, And it's just the technology.
I mean, the smart phone. Like, just.
Just the first day I got out,being able to try to use a smartphone
because I never had a smartphone.
I used a BlackBerry and it isn't that.
It's it's it'ssomething that is taken some time.

(06:17):
You know.
I've been out for six monthsnow and I'm still learning.
I'm stillhaving trouble with a lot of things.
But isn't it on some level really excitingand fun to
to see all these things coming at youand and begin to decipher them and.
It's definitely.
Exciting,I think, of in terms of like A.I.
and how much moreit helps me like a together

(06:40):
a pitch deck for raising capital,you know, like it's amazing.
You're just talking to the mic,which I never used.
To be able to. Yeah, it's just.
If you just tell the matter, Hey,you know, I'm trying to start a protein
ice cream company.Can you give me some ideas?
And just the sushi, all these ideas,and you're like, Wow, this.
Is seconds in. Seconds.
Well, you're not too far behind on thatbecause we're all sort of just beginning

(07:02):
to play with itand become a little bit less afraid of it.
I don't know if that's a good idea.We should still be a little fearful.
So then
for you, every day or five days a week,
you head off to your officeand you work on your project.
And by the way,your product, the best place
for our audienceto find your book would be.

(07:24):
I always tell people,
if you want a like I did for you,if you want an inspirational quote or.
A signed copy, you go through this.
The website, just like the titleof the book, The California Kid dot com
and everybody that orders through there,I, I go ahead
and give a nice inspirational messagewith a signature from me.
That's so. Cool.
If they're an Amazon personI'm not knocking them.
They can buy it on Amazon,they can buy it on.

(07:45):
Barnes Noble Target,any of the outfits that sell books.
That's fantastic.
And I suggest you doit. It's really great.
So you were in a positionwhere you were totally stuck.
You are now in prison.
You have this life. It'scompletely different than what it was.
And we'll talk about that, too.
You came to decide to write this book.

(08:06):
Did you decide to write the bookor did you decide?
I just got to figure out somethingto do with my brain.
I've got to write my thoughts down.
I need a diary.
How did you get here?
That's a good question.
Since the
you know, my motherand I just were discussing this over
Thanksgivingfor the first time in 12 years.
I'm pretty amazing.
We were saying, like,what was the point of this?
She was estimates and mom.

(08:27):
And I'll tell you what the point was.
I was incarcerated. I was in this.
Six by. Eight cell.
And it was during a timewe were put on a prison lockdown
due to a murderthat happened inside the prison.
And they put us in our six by eight.
So and they kept us in there for ninemonths.
Yeah, nine months.
Couldn't leave the cell, but twicea month, twice a week to take a shower

(08:47):
and for 10 minutes.
So I'm in there.
I'm going crazy.
I already have A.D.D.
and I'm in there doing pushups.
Jumping jacks, anything and everything.
I can get. My mind off this, this,this time.
It's it's really hard.
And finally I was going so crazy.
I said, Man,how am I going to survive like this?
Is this I'm. Going to go mentally ill.
Or I'm going to be mentally insane.
And people must. Yeah.

(09:08):
absolutely.
And I finally said, you know what?
How did I end up here?
Why don't I start writing about that?
And I took my rubber pencilbecause they give you rubber pencils
because they don'twant you stabbing people.
So I took.
My rubber penciland I took a pad of. Paper.
And every day I was in there,I just started writing down
where it started.
You know, from growing up at eight yearsold, losing my parents,

(09:30):
splitting up and my mom going one wayand my dad keeping me.
And you know how hard it was.
You know, that family, you know,heartbroken at such an early age.
And then all the way to going.
To college and and trying to fit in andtrying to be have another type of family,
trying to fit in with the rich kidsthat are all driving BMW

(09:51):
and Cadillac Escalade.
It's when I'm driving a 1990 Toyota Camrythat was given to me for my grandfather.
Which until thenyou were probably very happy to have.
That was extremely happy to have.
Then you get to USC.
University of Spoiled Children, they say.
And, you know,I've come from a blue collar family
where my dad's a construction workerand my mother's a librarian.
I'm like, wow, like,

(10:12):
how am I going
to ever afford to even hang outwith these kids,
let alone be like them at a young age.
You want to be like your peersor your people around you. Sure.
Did You also have a thought like,Maybe I don't want to be here?
Yeah, there.
Was obviously that
thought that said, Wow,
I should have goneto the University of Hawaii
that was going to give mea full scholarship
that, you know, itprobably wouldn't have been like this.

(10:33):
But then I thought to myself, Well. Let's.
Deal with what has been put in front of usand and let's make the best of it.
I remember going to school full time andplaying, you know, at the time volleyball.
And eventually
going, there's just no way I'm goingto be able to afford this, this lifestyle.
I'm not going to be able to go
eat lunch or dinner with my teammatesor my fraternity brothers.

(10:56):
And if you didn't,you would just be a loner.
I'd be a loner.
And who wants to be a loner? Yeah.
So I said to myself,I got to find something that is.
Going to be able to make me some moneywhile I'm playing sports and going
to school.
And I didn't have room to go get a 9 to 5.
I couldn't work at a bar or restaurantbecause I was, you know, an athlete

(11:18):
going to school full time.
So I said, you know,let's let's figure something out first.
And at first. It started with volleyball.
The coach ended upredshirted me in volleyball.
When you get registered,
it's like it's getting pretty muchput on the bench
saying you're not going to play this yearbecause
you need to work on your vertical jump,your arm strength.
And like, man, okay,so what am I going to.

(11:39):
Do now?
I just I just lost what I came to USC for.
Like it was like my baby. It's like this.
You have played my whole life.
For thistime to go to USC for this reason.
So when I was in that office of the coach,volleyball coach telling me, Hey,
Owen, we're going to have to redshirt you,which is pretty much saying,
hang on, we'repretty much cutting you from the team.

(11:59):
It was like that same feeling I lostI had when my mom left my father.
So I'm just like, man,I just heartbreaking.
I lost my family. My volleyball family.
So he told me, you know, you.
Need to work on your youryour arm strength and your vertical jump.
And I was determined and I said, okay, I'mgoing to show you, coach.
So what did I do?
I went to Gold's Gym in Redondo Beach,where I'm from.

(12:20):
I rememberasking some of the bodybuilders.
They're like, Hey, man,I just got cut from the volleyball team.
What could I do to work on my strengthfor my arm, my vertical jump?
They're like performance enhancing drugs.
I knew nothing about them.
I said, Well, where would I find those?
And they're like, Well,if you want to save money,
you could go down to Tijuanato the pharmacy.
Yeah. Wow. Hey, I said the pharmacy.

(12:40):
I said.
Just so surprising to methat that was their suggestion.
They were they knew I was on a budget.
I mean, I could have paid 100.
Times the amount they you know,
they could have sold me a bottleof testosterone for at the time, $500.
I could have got it.
But even even that, it surprises methat they would suggest that rather than,
you know, making you work for it.

(13:00):
Yeah, well, it was thatit was that quick fix, you know?
So, sure, we could havewe could have worked.
Longer and stronger.
But what I'm on a time here. I just.
I got to get back there.
So I told, Hey.
We got to do this fast.
So what I dothe next day I called my buddy
and we drove down to Tijuanaand I drove to this this Toyota Camry, and

(13:25):
I stopped at the borderand I parked my car at the Jack Marks,
and I walked across the bridgeand I get to this pharmacy
that the bodybuilder recommendedin this veterinarian.
And you're seeing dogs and cats and horsesand you're like, Well, where am I at?
And you get inside and you.
See all these Americansand they're all like big, muscular guys.
I'm like, This is the place.

(13:45):
It was unbelievable.
So I got thereand I had the list of what I needed to.
Get, and it was like Winstrol,Testosterone, DECA and Avar
and I'm in there and I'm showing the ladyand she's like, Yeah, we got all that.
And she's justlike putting in front of me.
I'm like, Well.
What am I going to do now?
Like, I got to figure out a way to get it,get it back to America,
because I can't justwalk across the border.

(14:06):
So I went in the bathroom and I,I taped it up and strapped it to my legs.
And I walked across the border.
And after that crossing.
It was the first time in my lifeI felt like that adrenaline rush, like
I remember I still have like a goosebumpsnow thinking about it.
The the moment I'd crossed that borderand the customs agent said,
Are you carrying anything?

(14:27):
Can bring anything illegalback to the United States. I said, No.
My whole life I've never lied.
My dad's always told me,you know, he had ethics.
You don't lie, you don't steal.
And I just lie to the first.For the first time.
I said, No,I'm not bringing anything back.
But I had this product taped to my legsand I crossed the border in this.
Rush and I.
Felt in my veins and I was like, Wow, wow.

(14:49):
That's crazy feeling,knowing that you just broke the law.
And there was some kind of goodfeeling about that, or.
It was definitely a feeling.
That's hard to explainunless you've been there.
I guess it's. Good. Wouldn't be the word.I wouldn't say good.
But there's something likeI wouldn't mind a little more of that.
It was an adrenaline rushthat I kept chasing for my whole time.

(15:10):
And you'll you'll see in the book,
you know, I went to the topwhen when it came to this adrenaline rush.
So I remember that feeling.
And I got back to the USC campusand I was like, okay,
now I got to sell this stuff.
But it was like it wasit was the simplest task ever.
I started taking it.
I blew up.Everyone is looking at me like, Man.
What are you taking?

(15:31):
Protein, glutamine, creatine, I Santana.
I got stuff way better than that.
And next thing.
You know,all the athletes are saying, Hey,
we want to look likeand we want that stuff.
So here I am taking somethingthat costs me $30 and selling it for $500.
So the market's incredible.It's over 1,000% markup.
my gosh.
This business one on one, like,okay, if you can make.

(15:51):
1,000% markup, like keep going. Yeah.
And is that still happening today
that that practiceor are there greater limitations?
I think now it's it's more people like.
Myself aren't going to smuggle steroidsacross the border anymore
now it's so easily
you could go on the Internetand buy the steroids on the black market

(16:12):
or go through a doctor that's goingto prescribe it to you over the
you know, it'spretty much like an over-the-counter now.
It's so easy to to get access to it.
But at the time, it wasit was a great niche
because no one had the ballsto do it. Yeah.
So that was the start of it.That was the start.
And then all of these people needed youand also thought you were probably
super cool.
Yeah, they love me.
They should call me doctor. dog.you know them?

(16:34):
I had the nickname Dog.
Because my name is Owen,and the next thing you know, I'm doctor.
Or people are asking me for everything.
So it went beyondthe performance enhancement.
I started to become a black.
Market comes here.
People wanted to stay up later for to.
Study on their test. Can you get Adderall?
Sure. Absolutely.
People couldn't fall asleepbecause of the Adderall.

(16:55):
Can you get Xanax? Yeah, I can get that.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I would go I would go down to Mexico.
Yeah.
And so that you would use the same processwhere you would tape all this stuff to.
Yeah.
Eventually I would take my spandex from,
from the volleyball teamand I put these compression.
Shorts on two at a timeand I would just strap as much as I could.
To my. Body and I would just keep walkingacross.
Is an amazing that you were never caught.

(17:17):
There's so many people that are walkingacross the border every day.
They're not pulling you overunless you have something.
I see. And eventually.I would start buying, like.
Bottles of tequila. Yeah.
Bring in a bottle of tequilaor like, a pinata, like.
Yeah, I'm bringing a pony.
Out of for my sister's birthdayand through it, through the X-ray.
So they, they see thatI'm not bringing anything illegal.
Little did they know I'm strapped
with a couple thousand dollarsworth of merchandise.

(17:39):
And they wouldn'tjust look at you and say,
So that's a good question.
I started wearing.Sweatshirts in the summer.
Because like always,you were without. One.
I had to wear the sweatshirtbecause I was getting so big.
Like you would be ableto tell I'm on the sauce.
So I started wearing sweatshirts.
And I would tell my buddiesthat it would go.
I said, Hey.

(17:59):
How do I look?
I hear you're good, buddy.
You got your sweatshirton, you're good to go.
But I if I didn't have.
A sweatshirton, I might look a little too puffy.
Yeah. So, yeah,it definitely crossed my mind.
But at the end of the day,they're looking for some hardcore drugs.
They don't want the.
The cocaine,the methamphetamines, the back.
Then it was heroin. Yeah, causethere were probably so many of you.
What are they going to do exactly.
So. So then you became this

(18:22):
big man on campus,I mean, literally and figuratively.
And you did you pursue volleyballor did you give up on that?
So after that first month of takingthe cycle, I just started blowing up.
It was like a hot air balloon.
You know,
I just got so strongand I was in the weight room just bench

(18:43):
pressing like 225, like 25 times,which is like football numbers.
And one of the football coaches thatthe strength and conditioning coach says.
HansonI thought you were playing volleyball.
I said, I got I got cut.
I got laid off, you know, I'm redshirted.
You know, like Hansonwant to try out for the football. Team?
You're you're an athlete.
I said, Coach,I've never played football in my life.

(19:05):
There's no way in hellI'm. Going to make a football team.
They're like, Man, you're an athlete.
Just try out.
I said to myself, What do I got to lose?
I've got just got cutfrom the volleyball team.
This is what I came here for.
My my brotherhood, my volleyballteammates are no longer there.
I said, you know, why not try out?
So 50 guys showed up.
All Americans from junior colleges,all Americans from high school

(19:27):
showed up to walk on. 50. Of them. And me.
Everyone has football cleats on.
I have my volleyball shoes on and I'mlike, man, this is not going to go well.
Yeah.
And I remember.
They make us run a 40 yard dashto a vertical jump
bench press, catch a few footballsand all the stuff I already knew how to.
Do from sports my whole life. So they.

(19:48):
They had a. Vertical jump.
I had a 36 inch vertical jump.
Everyone else is like 24.
Yeah, I had a a 40.
That was for six.
Which is 4.6 seconds in a 40.
And that's like NFL numbers on these.
And then I had a bench press.
225. 25 times,which is they combine numbers.

(20:09):
So these are numbersthat professional football
players are doingwhen they test to go to the NFL.
So you were just this wonderkid.
And no one knew. What I was on. Steroids.
So all these coaches, Pete Carroll,Norm Chow, you know, Ken Naughton, Junior,
they're all there with their stopwatch,watching me like, who is this kid?
Fast forward a week and they
they say they have a list outfor who made the the team.

(20:31):
And like, I can't even bother.
I'm not going to check.
I don't play sports.I don't know what I said.
They're not going to hire.
They're not going. To get me for anything.
So I, I go walk up.
To Coach Carroll's office and there'sI remember I'll never forget it.
There's a stationary that saysUSC football with the football helmet
and it had one name on itand it said Owen Hansen.
I was like, my gosh.

(20:51):
I said, What has just happened?
That gives me.
Yeah.
So I made the USC football teamprobably the.
Best team of all time.
We won two national championships,played it, and Pete Carroll,
I had the time of my lifeand I had this family, 110 brothers.
And we are all brothers.
We're all family.We would die for each other.
And this was something you'd never reallyI never had.

(21:14):
I just lost my mother.
I lost my volleyball team.
And now all of a sudden,I have this brotherhood
and I'm we're talkinglike we would do anything for each other.
We were all best friends.
And that's why we're so good.
So that was kind of unique then, in thatyou were really a brotherhood, that
that doesn't always happen on these teams.

(21:34):
Not like this, you know.
We'll be with each other 24 seven.
We go to eat at the.
Taco. Bell down the street.
We'll be with Reggie Bushor Brandon Hancock, all these famous guys
that play in the NFL.
And we're just this tight family.
We do anything for each other.
I don't know that much about steroids.
Was it is it okay to be on steroids?

(21:57):
It's okay to be on steroidsas long as you don't test positive.
During football season.
So the way I had it
structured is I would get these guysnice and big for during the off season.
By the time
season came, I'd get them off of itso they wouldn't test positive.
So at the end of the day,they're not doing anything illegal
because when they get tested, they're notshowing anything on the in their system.
And everybody's tested regularly. Yeah.

(22:18):
During the football.
Season we're all tested regularly. So.
And were you the supplier in the offseason?
I was the guy.
So people came to me
and I made sure I put them on a regimenthat they would have enough.
Testosterone in their system.
And by the time football season started,they were off of it
and they kept their sizefor the three months we played.
And this team that you were on,you remained on.

(22:41):
It threw out your college career, correct?
So I played two years
and I graduated the next year after we wonthe national championship, Orange Bowl.
I graduated in public policyand real estate development.
From there I went to the real world,worked as a real estate developer.
And how did that transition work for you?
Because must have been when you were oncampus, everybody knew who you were.

(23:03):
Everybody needed you for something.
When you showed up someplace, they'd belike, there's Owen Hanson, right?
Yeah.
I remember going.
To restaurants and I have a bottle of DomPerignon sent over
and I had an order to this to like,no Johnny or your fraternity
brother over theresent that and he's like,
Give me the thumbs up and said,Like to Dr.
O'Rourke, enjoy.

(23:23):
I want to be with a girl.
And she's like, Who are you okay? Yeah,You're like the man. I said.
No, no, no, I'mnot the man. I'm doctor or Doc. He's a.
So didsome of that go away after graduation?
Yeah, it all went away.
I said to myself, Okay, now that I usedthe method, I.
Used to get where I needed to be,
now I can gowork a 9 to 5 like you're supposed to.

(23:46):
And I'm working for alumni.
I've got a good salary.
First yearout of making almost six figures.
So I'm thinking, okay, this is great.
This is. 25.
They're paying me 60,000 a yearplus commission.
I'm like, okay,I can make 100,000 a year. That's great.
I think I'm the man.
The whole time.
When I was doing it, I missed that,

(24:07):
that being the man with my buddies,like I missed entertaining.
I missed giving something to somebodyand making him happy, make him feel good.
And had you been doing thatso long that that
adrenaline rush kind of went awaybecause now
what you were doing in the beginningwas sort of more commonplace.
You could see how easy it wasto get away with so much of this stuff

(24:28):
that the adrenaline rush wasn't part of itanymore, was it?
Still, you. Have adrenaline,wasn't there anymore.
I had lived in this fraternity housethat was a bubble.
Yeah. And I felt safe.
So I didn't feel like the fear of the lawon the outside.
You know, you're at USC. Who's coming?
They're not going to stop you, Right?
So the thing that you no longerhad was the popularity, the

(24:50):
this sort of extravagant life. Correct.
So the only popularity.
I had is I remembermy boss out of college would always say,
hey, we got a conference todaywith one of these bigwig investors.
Can you make sure you wearyour national championship ring?
And I remember, Yeah, yeah,whatever you want.
I guess I wear my.
Ring and they they call me and, you know,I was like a project engineer for.

(25:10):
The company. Amy Hanson. Can you come in?
And I'd show them the ringand then messaged me at USC and I'm like,
that's awesome.
And next thing you know,they'd invest in a project.
And, you know, they'd use me for.
Little things like that, right? You know,I was like their whipping boy.
But I remember the recession camethat was 2000.
Seven and I was I was low on the totempole and I was the first one to go.

(25:33):
They called me in and they said,
we're going to have to let you go.
The recession hit and what.
Hard is that feeling. Again?
It's like, okay, my mother volleyball.
Now I lose my job.
First job.
I get out of college like this is supposedto. Be my.
Future. Right?
And you had probably
just kind of really settled into it,not imagining that you would be let go.

(25:53):
yeah. Whoeverwho was. Planning on this recession.
So I felt so good.
I got this job.
I'm making money. I'm doing whatevery parent wants.
They want their kid to be successfullegally.
And I was like, okay.
And then this happened.
I was like, my gosh, now what I do
and I go to my Rolodexbecause I have this Rolodex in my head.
And I'm thinking like,okay, what can I do?
Who can I contact USC's about networks?

(26:15):
What do I do? And a light bulb went on.
I remember during one of our real estateprojects, during the development company,
we had a contractor
that was a big contractor,and he was placing bets with his bookie.
And I'd hear. Him on the phoneand he'd say, Hey, I want 20,000.
On the Dodgers tonight, okay?
And I want $10,000 on the Cincinnati Reds.

(26:36):
And he's putting all these bets inand I'm talking big money, right?
I'm like, I mean, and I remember.
Those bets and it I just lost. My job and.
Said, what am I going. To do now?I said, that's what I'll do.
I'm going to figure outhow to become a bookie.
I want to be that guy on the otherend of the contractor
that's taking, you know, $100,000worth of bets in one day.
How would you even get started?Good question.
I thought in my mind I said, Who.

(26:57):
Do I know? That's a bookie?
And I remember my dad had a flyfishing buddy that was an Italian guy.
And in this Italian guy was a bookie.
I said, Dad, you talk about introduce me.
To your buddy Tony.
I said, Tony's got a job.
I think I do it.My dad's like, You're out of your mind.
We're not doing any legal activities.
And my dad doesn't know about anything.
I said, Dad, I just need this opportunity.I just lost my job.

(27:20):
And unless it's going to be just parttime, it's just going to be just get me
by until.
I find another job and he finallyI finally convinced him and he's like,
All right,now I'll introduce you one time.
So I got.
To Tonyand I convinced Tony to meet his bosses.
Next thing you know, I'm flyinginternationally.
Go meet these guys overseas.
That easy, that quick? I got a group.
I got a good mouthpiece on me.

(27:41):
I guess they say I got the gift of gab.
That was Tony also reluctantbecause you were the son of his friend?
Yes. I feel likeyou should get involved in this.
He didn't want me getting involved either.
And I said, Tony, you don't understand.
I have this network at USCthat will lose money.
I have all these athletes that are playingin the professional league.
And I said, I said, I have great contacts.

(28:02):
I said, we can make moneybecause I knew if I made money, Tony was.
Going to make moneybecause he was referring me.
Right?
So he couldn't sort. Of say no. Yeah.
So I fly internationally, I fly overseas.
To South Americaand I meet the owners of the company.
They're blown away.
They already knew that I played
for the national championship teambecause Tony told them,
and these guys are sports guys,so they love me.
They're like, man,you won two national championships.

(28:24):
Can you bring some teammatesnext time you come?
I said, Yeah, Wow.
So I start flying my teammatesfrom USC over there and they're like, Man.
This guy is the man.
So you would fly thereand they would just entertain.
Wined. And dined me, you know, just.
Because you were thissports star. Correct?
So I started feeling that feeling.
Again, like I'm. Becoming the man.
And I remember the first yearI went back to.

(28:45):
That contractorthat I saw placing those bets,
and I said, Hey, I'll make you an offeryou can't refuse.
I said,Why don't you switch. With my outfit?
I said, I'mgoing to offer you 20% off your losses.
Anything you lose, I'll give you 20% back.
And like,how can you say no to that? Right?
I told the guys from Peru, I said, Hey.
This guy's going to lose money.
Just give him the 20% back.
We're all going to win.

(29:06):
And in the first six months,he lost $1,000,000 cash.
Yeah.
my. Gosh. So I.
I was the man again.
And I always said, and I just broughta client that lost a million bucks.
And these guys are giving mea small percentage. 20%.
Tony is making 10%.
So everyone's happy.Yeah. And I learned the business.
You know, I'm Shawn Vicious.
I'm like, I'm tired of giving these guysall my money.

(29:27):
Why are they getting 80%?
And I'm giving 20%when they're my customers?
I need to be on the other side.
that must have been hard to undo.
It wasn't as hard as I thought.
You know, I just started.
Using every contact I hadand to figure it out.
So the clientele that you had with that
first groupwould have to stay with them, right?

(29:48):
Would you have to develop a whole new.
Well, technically, they're my clientsbecause at the end of the.
Day, I'm the guy that's paying themevery time they win
and I'm collecting from themevery time they lose. I see.
So that was okay with me.
The question was what?
I have enough moneyto be able to back these customers.
So the bigger clients like this.
Well, I had that lost a million bucksthe first six months.
I kept them with this outfit

(30:10):
and I went and startedmy own company called Better Dog.
And in Costa Rica.And I learned the system.
I set up a call centerand I had servers offshore and I learned
how to do everythingfrom the United States
and have that gray areawhere it makes it internationally.
If you're betting through a serverthat's offshore, it makes it legal.

(30:31):
The exchange of the money in the U.S.
is the illegal part.
So my idea was, okay, if I have my serversoffshore and my telephone
system offshore, I'mtechnically in that gray area.
Like, how are you going to bust mewhen everything's offshore?
I'm not taking the bets. In the U.S..Were you alone in that?
I was alone.
And I started with about $50,000from the commissions I had made.

(30:53):
And I started taking. Little. Customers.Like a customer only.
Losing like, 100 bucks a week.
But I started building them like.
I want to I want one.
Hundred of those customers because $100a week times 100, that's $10,000.
So I want those customersbecause those are the customers
that are not going to have troublepaying you.
And where were those customers?How did you find them?
They're still in the. U.S.They're still. Going to school.

(31:15):
I see.
And so how did they find out about you?
Just the same way
they found out about me with the cocaineand the steroids word of mouth.
So what I did is I went to all thesefraternity houses at USC
and I made them my sub bookingsand I'd give them 20%
just like that outfitI was working for. Did.
So I gave all these peopleat the fraternity house different
fraternity houses, 20%commission of whatever they brought me.

(31:37):
So if they brought me
100 of their fraternity brothersthat lost, say, $10,000, they keep 2000.
Give me 8000.
And I set up a network.It seems so simple.
It seems simple.
It was simple at the beginning.
It was so easy back then.
And then I got so big.
I started taking bets.
That were, you know, a quartermillion dollars on a Super Bowl game.

(31:57):
And those were obviously not from studentsthat you.
Know, from.
Students, you know.
A-list celebrities, professional athletes.
And how did they find out about you?
Word of mouth when they're playingfootball with these guys.
And I get one of my football teammatesthat's in the NFL.
Now and he's betting with me.
He tells his teammate, you should bet.
With bet dog, this guy is awesome.

(32:18):
He pays you Monday, he gives you10% off your losses, plus 10% free play.
He wins in danger if you go to vegas,he treats you out in l.a.
Because to me, i. Was like a host,a concierge.
Host.
And you,
it sounds like you were as you'redescribing it,
you were running a tighter ship
than a lot of the other peoplethat might be doing the same thing.
Yes. No one value. Their customerlike I did.

(32:38):
So if you came out to L.A.,I would take you to Matteo's for dinner,
and then I'd take you to the club.
And if you wanted a little extra partyfavor, I'd make sure I supply. It
because I wanted.
People to feel like they're going to VegasWithout going to Vegas,
I wanted to be their host.
And that's was kind of like my concept.
Most bookies out there,they don't care about their client.
I did.

(32:58):
And people like that because it'ssomething that no one else offers. Wow.
You could have a whole new careerin event planning and concierge services,
but it would be so hardto keep that on the straight and narrow.
Would be hard because everyone's going toalways ask for those illegal activity.
For the things that they just can'tget them, they. Can't get.
And that's the problem with me.
I can't say no.
I'm I'm someone that's so ambitious.

(33:19):
If you tell me you want caviar.
From Russia, I'm going to make sureyou get caviar from. Russia.
That's how I am.Why do you think that's how you are?
It's just I was.
Born that. Way.
I was just made to. To make people happy.
We'd have an event.
In Miami, a music festival,and my friends from
the NFL would be visiting,you know, season.
It was off season, and they'd want a.

(33:41):
Pretty girl from L.A. to come.And I would.
Make sure I found fivepretty girls from L.A.
and introduce them,and they'd. Become friends.
And next thing you know,we're all partying together
and everyone's like, Man, you like, put.
People together, you make things happen.
And it's just it's part of my nature.
And it happened in prison, too.I was the man in prison.
I became this this kingpin creamery.

(34:01):
You know, I started making protein ice.
Creamand everyone. Wanted to buy my ice cream.
Everyone wanted to buy my sweet you know,everyone wanted to buy my chocolates.
Yeah, I had a sweet business, too.
How could that happen in prison?
You get very creative.
And I remember I had this recipe.
I had an old girlfriendthat taught me this recipe.
So each recipe, she was from Sinaloa,

(34:22):
and I remember that recipewhen I was in prison. I'm like.
What if I could. Mimicthat recipe inside prison?
Like how how good would that be?
It was easy. I had to just getthe vegetables. Out of the. Kitchen.
So where do you get the fish?
The fish was easy.
We got these mackerels on the commissary.
We had mackerels in Tunisia,
But I could get the Mac orI could clean it enough, like rinse it out
six times, get the flavor of the fishoff the taste, the mackerel taste.

(34:45):
You know, I'd soak it in lemonfor like 24 hours.
So I put a little garlic and lemonin a bag, and I'd soak it.
For 20. 4 hours on ice.
And the next morning, I would have all myvegetables cut up and peanut butter jars.
I'd add the fish, I'd shake them up,and I put them on ice for another day.
And next thing you know, I started.
This company called Widow Sweetie.

(35:07):
And when I was likesomeone light skinned in Mexico.
So people from like, Sinaloa.
Cooley Khan, Sinaloa.
Alice Guadalajara.
All these people from.
Mexico are like, tothe Pacific is just as good as my family.
SAVAGELonging for that little bit at home.
Just a little bit of home.
And I was able to sell a job for $15and people would line up. So.

(35:27):
But how did you in the confines, howwere you allowed to start this industry?
You're technically not,but I'm such an entrepreneur.
I'm like, like you're not goingto. Stop me from having fun.
Like, I might be inside prison physically,but mentally I'm not.
I'm out there in the world making moneybecause that's how I looked at it,

(35:47):
like I'm going to have I'm goingto make the best out of this.
Yeah, make the most of the time.
Because I believed that all
through your time in Confined meant you.
You never went back to your old ways.
I mean, nothing was illegal.
Yeah, nothing was illegal.Technically, by bureau.
Prison standards, you're not allowedto have a business in there, you know?
But let's. Let's face it.

(36:08):
Is this going to get me put.
Back in prison another 20 years? No,I wasn't selling drugs.
Yes, there are drugs in prison.
Yes, there are.
There's alcohol.
I wasn't making alcohol.
Yes, there's. Gambling.
I wasn't gambling.
I was making stuff that people wanted.
I was making chocolate.I had a chocolate business.
I had a very. Business and ice.
Protein business.
I have so many questionsthat are you going to write another book

(36:30):
where you're going to tell usabout some of these things?
I figure this is my my goal.
This book gets up to my arrest
and from my arrest on,so many more interesting things happen.
So I said I got to do a bookthat's going to be
called My Life From Behind the Fenceby the California Kid.
Because there's so many interesting thingsthat people will never.

(36:51):
Know about unless they've been in prison.
And if I feel like everyone I talk tonow that I've been out.
All they want to know about is prison.
Like they don't care about me.
They want to know what's going on there.
It is fascinating because it's rightwith us, but yet could be.
Pluto is. Correct. It's alienated,like you said.
It's something that people are probably.
Never going to experience.That's a good thing.

(37:12):
And I don't.
Ever wantanybody experience what I went through.
But at the same time, I think it is.
Kind of entertaining.
I had a I had.
The worst time ever.
I'm not going to lie,
but my mind was able to do thingsthat would take me out of prison.
You know, I was able to have a burritothat was grilled with an iron
from someone that uses an iron on their ontheir clothes to go out to their visit.

(37:37):
I was able to get an ironto grill my burrito
and feel like I was having that grilledstuffed burrito from Taco Bell.
So my. Mind was like, okay, I'm going to.
Talk about right now.
But we were really unique in that,weren't you?
I would say I was. The 1%.A lot. Of people are.
Still using drugs.A lot of people are still drinking.
And I said, you know,you go to prison to do what?

(37:57):
You go to prison to rehabilitate.
So I told myselfI was sent here for a reason.
The judge obviously has a good reasonto put me here.
And I'm. I'm the first to tell.
You, I know I did something wrongand I'm the first to admit.
I fucked up.
And at the end of the day, I take action.
I take responsibility for what I did.
And now it's time to get sober.

(38:18):
It's time to clean up my life.
So what do you do when you rehabilitate?
You start. Working out. You start.
Eating clean.
You're not drinking,you're you're meditating.
You're going to church.
For me, I said, Why don't I.
Go get my master's degree?That'll help me.
And that's what I did.
Back to a little bit more.
What led you there? So you're you now.
Now you have this big sports betting worldand everybody knows about you.

(38:42):
And not only are you making money offof all your friends
and having this great time,you're also doing some of the things
that they're doing in termsof taking drugs and betting.
Are you betting to.
Listen to people?
I say, are you a better.No, I'm not a better I'm the house.
But at the end of the day,the house. Is still gambling.
You're still taking a risk. Yeah.

(39:03):
I have a little edgebecause I'm taking a big which is.
10% of everybody's bet I make.
But at the end of the day,I. Feel I. Can still get cracked.
It's still gambling.
So people ask me, Will you get backinto gambling Now that it's legal?
It's it's just a mess.
If I start gambling again or takingbets again, it's it's the same thing is
why not have a of cocaine?
Once you have that one,you're just going to do everything else.

(39:24):
You're going to want the drinks,the gambling, the women.
And that was a problem for me.
All of that.
All of that.
I liked it all because once you do one,you want the rest.
If you'd have a drink, a cocktail,you want.
A line, you do a line, you're going
want a girl,you want a girl, you're on an ecstasy.
It snowballs. No pun intended.
Did the drug and alcohol part beginto affect your ability

(39:45):
to do your job in terms of the gambling?
Well, I wouldn't to say that maybe my.
My judgment.
Listen,I was a beast when it came to work.
I didn't matter if I was up all nightat 6 a.m., if I had a tee time
with an investor in something,I was going to be there at 530,
make sure I was on top of my gameto gamble with them on the golf course.

(40:05):
But as far as my judgment goes of what'sright and wrong when I'm associating
with others, I would say itdefinitely fogged my memory.
I remember being so high on cocaineand alcohol and GHB,
and I got introduced to these bankers,as we call them in the business.
They're money launderers and they saidthey were from Swiss, Switzerland,

(40:27):
and they handled moneyfor people like me and.
They can launder money.
Anywhere in the. World.
And I was so fucked upon drugs and alcohol.
I think if I would have.
Been sober, I would have never put myselfin this situation and come to find out.
Six months later I go to golf with this,this group of money, and I find out it's
the FBI and I get arrestedat the country club with 15 FBI agents.

(40:52):
AK 47 is drawn a helicopter in the sky.
And I said, man, if I was sober,this would have never happened.
But at the same time, Cynthia,I was so relieved to happen because now
this this life I lived looking overmy shoulder, doing these drugs, working.
For the cartel, booking bets was. Over.
I was like, Wow, what a reliefthat people in prison are like,

(41:13):
Are you worried that you just got bustedand the cartel knows you're here?
And were like, Am I worried?
I'm so relieved right now.
There's only two ways you can go.
You can be dead, or you can land yourselfin a six by eight cell.
And I was the greater of the two. You did.
You did.
Have what I talked to says hey,and you should be dead.
Right now. And I agree I should be dead.

(41:33):
If I was still out there already.
Either been. Killed by the cartel.
Or I would have overdosed on fentanylbecause.
I was doing so much cocaine.
Nowadays they're just lacing this stuffwith fentanyl and.
People are dying left or right.
Yeah,I would have snorted a line of cocaine
and it would have been fentanyl. I'd bedead. Would be it.
It would be it.
So it's the best thingthat's ever happened.
But you really were cognizantof that relief.

(41:54):
It was like,
I don't have to do this anymore.
Yes, I was. I felt trapped.
Yet you were going and doingand living this high life, this big life.
Was it still on some level, pleasurable or
or it just was now had become rote like,this is just what I do.
And you still had that goalof pleasing everyone,

(42:15):
of making every making sureeveryone got what they needed.
And clearly in the end,it was at your own expense.
But did you over the last couple of years,enjoy yourself
or were you just like scramblingto stay ahead of it?
Listen, I.
I wasn't pleasurable. It felt like work.
I felt like, okay, I was nowyou'll find out in my book I got indebted

(42:35):
to the cartel for nearly $4 millionand I had a basically a marker on my head.
If I didn't pay it back,I was going to killed.
So I went to work for the cartel.
I was indebted to them for million
and I workfor most infamous cartel in the world.
And I was scared shitless.
Because I couldn't sleep.
I would do. Drugs just to stay up.

(42:55):
I would do pillsjust to block out my mind.
From from all that was going on.
And yet you still had to perform.
I still had to perform.
I still had to pay 30 employeesthat were working in Costa Rica.
And were you having to pay that back via
your sport gambling venueor in any which way?
They didn't careas long as they got their money back?

(43:16):
No, They said we don't care about.
The sports gambling.
You run that business to help you survive,they said.
But you're going to be working for us nowand you're going to be providing drugs
in Australia.
And they basically saidyou have to find a way to get it there
and you have to find a wayto pay us back the money with our cocaine.
And it was a tough pillto swallow about it.
A lot of us have heard,I said, I remember having this meeting.

(43:39):
With this lieutenant, and I said, Well.
At least I'm not dead. You know,I should be dead.
I lost $4 million. I should be.
That's what I thoughtI was coming to this meeting for.
You know,I thought I was going to be whacked.
Yeah, no questionsasked. You just. And I expected it.
But then when I started to think about it,when I was driving down.
To Tijuana. And. I was like.What would they. Whack me for?
They're not going to get their moneyif they kill me.

(43:59):
So I said, I'm probably more beneficialif they keep me alive.
And that's what they did.
I remember go work for them was was.
Was pretty hardbecause I knew the FBI was following me.
I would run license platesthat would go back to private pillboxes
like with no name attached.And that's not normal.
Yeah.
And I had people that worked for methat were ex FBI agents, that worked under

(44:20):
my payroll, and I would have them look upthe license plates and addresses for me.
And they said, Hey, boss, this is probablyan FBI agent or a DEA agent.
I said, Why do you say that?
And they said, This is not common.
This is a private mailbox.
And only people that dothat is the federal authorities.
So did you start to see more and moreof those little tidbits popping up?

(44:42):
Yeah, I'd.
Be out a construction
site at one of my propertiesthat I'm developing and I'd have like
a Verizon van right in frontfor like three days.
I'm like, There's no telephone lineshere. What are you. Guys here for?
You're a little things that you seein the movies,
like the Goodfellas,you know, like it's the movies.
It's what's real that I.
Remember people likejust little things would scare people.

(45:03):
Like one of my workers, Tang.He was a Crip that worked for me.
I had him drop off 100.
Thousand dollars to someone in New York.
And these these guys that I thoughtwere these money launderers
sent these guys to pick up the money.
The 100,000.
In my boy tank is like, Dude,this guy showed up
to the Starbucks in New Yorkwearing a Tommy Bahama.
Shirt and shorts.

(45:24):
I said, he's like, there's no waythis guy is in the business.
This is a cop.
He goes, I smell tanks.
Been an.
Illegal activity his whole lifeso he. Could spot it.
And sure enough, that was the FBI,you know, like little things like this,
you know, leading up to my arrest.
And for many days I wouldI would go to my house in sunset.
Plaza and I would see.
People that I had never seen just.

(45:46):
Waiting around.
And I feel like, man,these guys are after me.
So I knew I had to pay back the cartel,otherwise
I was going to be deadand my family is going to be dead.
So you you were kind of scrambling,making the most of every moment,
knowing that eventuallythis is all going to go away.
I knew was coming.
And I hadmy only concern was paying them back.
I didn't care. About anything else.
I knew as soon as I pay them back.

(46:07):
My stress would would drop.
And I remember about two weeks beforemy arrest, El Jefe, he got paid back.
He's like, So what do you want to do now?
What do you want to keep working? my God.
So you paid back the four?
I paid the back 4 million. Wow.
I would have thought they would have saidthank you
and then they would have killed youanyway.
No, no.They wanted me to keep working here.
Do they know how I am? I'm ambitious. Yes.What I did, I was.

(46:29):
Speaking to them. That's right.I paid them back.
The people say. So what did you do?
Did you stop When you're making a million.
Dollars a day, How do you stop?
So what did I do? I just kept working.
But I had two weeks left.But you didn't know that?
I didn't know. I had two weeks, but.
I knew I wanted to be done.I knew. I said, You know what?
I just want this thing.
And I sensed. It until you were. Calling.
I was writing it.

(46:49):
People saw me.
Like two daysbefore my arrest and there's video of me
at the club and
you just see it in my faceand you're like, Man, you knew.
I knew.
I just I knew that day that I metand did that transaction
with this so-called money launderer.
I knew that he was the feds. I just.
Cartel's just too easy.
It was to smooth in my bus stop it.

(47:11):
I couldn't. Stop. It.
I couldn't stop it.
It was too late.
I was.
The introduction was already there.
The transaction was there in L.A.
He told me.
He goes, There's
no way people are going to just reach outand help you launder money.
It doesn't happen that way.
But I was given this contact through.
Someone, through my Australian contacts,and I kept believing them like it was.
There was good, it was legit,
and I just kept going with it,telling myself, yeah, they gave him to me.

(47:34):
This is, this is legit.
This is legit.
And at the end of the day it was the FBI.
And so the FBI.
I found out about the reality of this
because of the Australiansthen The Australians? Yes.
The same day I was arrestedin New South, organized crime.
This is how I knew I was fucked.
I said I was praying in the car.
I was like,I hope this is just for the gambling

(47:56):
because I knew the gamblingwould be the slap on the wrist.
So I'm in handcuffs and I'm
just praying Come on, Lord,and tell me this is just for the gambling.
Please tell me this is.Just for the gambling.
And as soon as this guy spokeand he had this Australian accent.
I said I knew my life was over.
He said, and you remember me, mate?
And I heard that voice.I said, I'm fucked.
This is. It. I'm going away forever.

(48:17):
And that day.
I'll just I'll never forget the
the government tried to talk to meand say, Let's work something out and FBI.
Try to talk. To me.
And I had both of these people in front ofand they're telling me
you're going away forever.
And I was like, Man, what do I do like?
But I knew if I ever got.
Arrested, the things you're supposed to doone thing, talk to my.
Attorneyand they're so. Pissed this guy flew over.

(48:39):
From Australia to arrest me, thinkingI'm going to give him everything right?
And that's why I'm still alive.
You know, I could have easily said, okay,
let me tell you,this is the mob I work with.
This is the cartel I work with.
What else do you guys want?
When my lawyer says by you saying, talk.
To my attorney, that saved you
because I already gave up all these guysand got nothing out of it.
Right?
Because when they say we can worksomething out, that's what they mean.

(49:00):
Give us everything.
Yeah, but your dad, you go to prison,you're still with Italian gangsters.
You're still with placesthat work under the cartel. You're dead.
So I told him, I'm sorry, guys.This is where I'm supposed to tell you.
Talk to my attorney, and they're pissed.
But that's what you're supposed to do.
Anyone that ever gets in trouble.
That's the best advice I can give.
Thank goodness you knew that. Yeah.
A lot of people don't know. Yeah.
So from there, your sentence was

(49:22):
originally supposed to be much largerthan what it ended up to be.
Yes. So I was given 21 years.
I was supposed to get extraditedto Australia.
You know, I don't talk.
About it in this book, and I probablywill talk about it in the second book.
But there's it's definitely a crazy wayit happened.
I'm just going to leavethat part out for now.
But it's definitely.Intriguing. It's very intriguing.
It's going to people are goingto. Understand how it happened soon.

(49:45):
I'm not going to say how it was likewinning the lottery in life.
And I can assure you I didn't cooperatewith anybody in the cartel.
I didn't tell any mafia from Italy,as a lot of people think.
That'sthe only way you get time off different.
And I'll. Just leave that little.
Carried out for making us all curious.
Yeah, that.
But we can talk some moreabout your experience in prison

(50:07):
and what rehabilitation has meant to you,or how life is different for you now.
What do you want people to come away with?
You're sharing this story of your lifeand certainly it's helped you
to put it all in perspectivefor your own self,
which is now that you've done this, isclearly beneficial to the rest of us.

(50:28):
But what are you hoping to achievewith this book?
You know, I can't I'mnot trying to stop the war on drugs.
I'm not trying to stop.
From drinking alcohol.
That's that's your choice.
In life, many people have struggleswith with addiction.
I know I'm not going to stop that.
But obviously, when you think clearand you're sober, you do smarter things.

(50:49):
And as soon as I went downthat rabbit hole
and when I mean rabbit hole,I was soon as I went to do something
illegal like go across the borderto bring steroids across,
which you do thatyou've you've you've crossed that line.
And once you cross that line, it'shard to get back over to the legal side
because you get that that rush,you get that money, you get all that fame,

(51:10):
the people around you you thinkare your friends and you feel special.
You feel like powerfuland you get to prison.
You realize like peoplethat you're hanging around, that
you're treating to these nice thingsand none of them stick around.
You lose all of those people.
They're really not your friends.They're there for one reason.
They want to be part of the party.
They want that free people.

(51:30):
They want that free cocktail,that free jet ride to Vegas.
They're at the end of the day,
they're using you for somethingthat you're providing them.
And as soon as I went downthat rabbit hole,
it was so hard for mebecause I wanted to fit in with these U.S.
kids that had money.
I wanted to fit.
In with these professional athletesthat are making $20 million a year.

(51:50):
And you're willing to do anything at.
That age.
You know, whether it's at USC
or in the professional world, you'rewilling to do anything to try to fit in.
And my advice is don't fitin, just be yourself
and now the littlest things in lifeare so wonderful to me.
You know.
People say, well, you had the best life.
You're on yachts and private jetsand had mansions and Hollywood hills.

(52:13):
And you're like thisinternational playboy.
And I was like.
man, fuck all that.
I go down to Hermosa Beach.
Now and I walk in the sandand just to touch that sand with my feet,
just to know I'm free.
I'm almost there, you know,I got another seven months.
It's just like those are the.
Things that you're like, Wow, You learn tocherish, you learn to appreciate.
And do you think You'll stillhold on to that?

(52:34):
I sure hope so. Yeah.
I think after what I've been through,I think there's.
No reason not to.
Don't get me wrong, I will always likethe nicer things in life.
I'm going to always.
Want to want to eat a nice dinner or.Have some caviar.
I will love that.
But it's going to beso much more meaningful now.
Like when I had that master'sthat this girl sent me.
Like I'm tasting. The steak.

(52:54):
For the first time in a decade of like,
wow, you appreciate thingsso much more now.
I'm so much more frugal. Yeah.
Before it didn't matter,I'd spent $100,000 in a weekend
with my friendsjust because I wanted to entertain.
I had so much fun doing it.
Now it's like.
Okay, I got this became an app.
I'm going to use this. Okay?
I only have $30 left on my Venmo.

(53:15):
Like,it's like the littlest things in life.
You learn to appreciate a.
Completely different. World. Now.
I'm so more frugal.
I'm I feel so.
Cheap but it's it's it's like it'sthat's the hardest part for me.
It's like I've had this lifeand now you're telling me.
You took all that away.
The government seized everything.
So they kick me. Out and they give mea bed card and a bunk bed.

(53:36):
And for the next two years, I'mliving in this halfway house.
I'm like, Wow, this is difficult.
But it's very humbling.
Yeah. And it's a good lesson learned.
I definitely thinkit's something that had to happen.
We can all keep in mind that lessonand maybe not have to experience that.
Yeah, ourselves.
Thanks to you having gone through all thismisery,

(53:57):
do you think a lot of peoplewho get caught up the way
that you did that you, you know, sort ofseek this new family
or this attention or,you know, almost a form of love in a way.
Grew up having something similar happenwhere
somewhere along the linethey were rejected by their loved ones.

(54:17):
I think you said your mom and dad splitand you went with your dad
and you weren'tthen seeing your mom anymore.
Yeah, definitely.
I think it happensmore times than not nowadays.
I mean, think of all these families.That are divorced.
So I think kids can relate.Adults can relate.
I remember when my mom left,I was eight years old.
And as a as a son, you feel like,what did I do wrong?

(54:39):
And did I not make my bed?
Did I not eat, eat my dinner,my vegetables, like I shower today?
Like, do I still smell bad?
You're like, wondering as a kid,like all you want is that love.
Everyone needs their mother.
So it's. Like this whole time.
I'm chasing this, this love,this family that I don't.
Have.
And later on.
When when I woulddate, I'd be with a woman and she left.

(55:02):
And it would feel like my mom was leaving.
And for the whole timeI've ever dated a woman, like,
I get this feeling the same way.
When my mom left me at a young age.
I have that problem in relationships.
It's really hard for me to say goodbye.
So I think.
You know, people have got to realize itcan start at such a small age and parents
don't even realize it, how difficult it isfor kids not to be with both parents.

(55:25):
We, as parentsalways have a lot of work to do, and I'm
your mother had no idea that you were hereblaming yourself.
You know, I I'm I'm a bad person.
I did something wrong.
And so my mom's rejected me.
I mean, that
a giant burden to have to carry.
And wouldn't one always be tryingto figure out a way to relieve that? Yes.

(55:48):
To get rid of that burden.
And until we know how to
really do that, you know, howto sort of deal with our trauma
rather than push it over hereand try to set it against the wall.
But it keeps building and building.
We just continue like, you know,
your life has pointed out,
you just keep searchingand keep doing and walking these paths,

(56:10):
looking for this satisfaction,for this love that never quite gets there.
And, you know,
that sort of grows and grows and becomesthis thing that's not manageable anymore.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think I would recommendspeaking out,
you know, and Iif I would have said so the at a younger.
Age, like, mom. Please, like.
Can you be around like.

(56:31):
You speak up?
Because I didn't speak upbecause at that age.
You just you don't know what's goingon. And it's not it's.
Not my mother's fault.
At the end of the day that my my motherand my father were got in.
A relationship and they divorced and.
She didn't want to stay with my father.
I can't be mad about that.
It's it's I'm not blaming her,but it just hurt as a child.
To lose your mother.

(56:52):
Because at a child at that age, you.
Need your mother,whether she's 2 hours away or 2 minutes
away, you want to be able to see heron a weekly basis,
see her one time, two timesa year is not healthy.
No, that's that's not healthy at all.That's tough.
But I I'm pleased that you said it'snot your mother's fault.

(57:12):
It's not your father's fault,and it truly isn't right.
I believe that for all of us, you know,our parents work with what they have.
Yeah.
And they've got circumstances and,
you know, we're all doing the best we can.
But here our goal is to teach us all
how to do betterwith what we've been given.

(57:35):
We're being given.
Years,and I think we have a long way to go,
and I think we can all get thereif we really become quite a bit
more introspectiveand watchful of our own existences.
Exactly. Yeah.
We can all better ourselvesby working on our own self.
Yeah, I think it all starts there.
It definitely starts there.

(57:56):
And you've done that. So.
So what's next?There's maybe a second book.
Second book.
I started this this company in prison.
This ICE protein,and I've had fun with that.
When I got out,
I was able to tell some friends of mineabout this, this concept I had in prison,
and I was making this protein ice creamfor all my work out crew. And.

(58:16):
But how do you do that in prison?
I just can't even get that picture.You just.
A second.
Yeah, the second book will have that,but you get creative.
Let's just put it that way and you get so.
Creative in there, you're like,
thinking of all these concepts like, Man,this is be cool on the street. And.
You know, I have a.
List of things that I thought would becool that are like already have been done.
Like that.

(58:37):
Yeah.
So would you, like, set upshop in your cell?
Yeah, I would take a mop bucket.
I'd put a plastic.
Garbage bag in there
and I put a bunch of ice in the mop bucketand I would take this protein ice cream.
Excuse me.
I take these empty peanut butter jars.
And I'd fill them up with nonfat milk,and I'd have, like seven of them lined up.
I fill them up with nonfat milk.

(58:57):
And then I put some protein powderfrom the.
Commissary, and then I get the coffeecreamer and I put that in there.
And. Are you buying all these things or.
Yeah, you can buy in from the commissary.
You get to spend $360 a monthand then a lot of the things.
You have to get from the kitchen.
So like bananas, we'd havepeople smuggle those out and we give them
like a stamp for every bananabecause stamps are currency.

(59:18):
So you got a 63 cent stamp for one banana.
So guys would bring youbananas, guys would bring peanut butter
from the kitchen and,and you'd utilize all these people.
Did anyone ever wonderwhy everyone needed so many stamps?
Yeah. People wonder why.
Why you need stamps.
And the guards take your stamps
because you're technicallynot supposed to have them.
You're only supposed to have one one flat.

(59:39):
Book for mailing. So.
But you're not going to stop.
2000 inmates in prison.
They're going to continue to have stampsbecause that's the type of currency.
If you want to buy a soda popor you want to buy a fried burrito.
Or you want to buy a protein. Ice cream,you need stamps. That's the currency.
So I created this brand and I startedto slice up bananas and put peanut.
Butter in each jarand make them somewhat healthy.

(01:00:00):
And I shake them up and I put them inthis ice bucket and I put salt,
rock, salt inand shake it up for like 4 hours.
I have a guy that wouldevery hour would shake it for me.
And by the time 4 hours goes by,you pull it out.
It's like ice cream and like, Wow,this is amazing.
So the banana.
You would lock up would be like a frozenbanana in the peanut butter.

(01:00:21):
It would be swirled.So every bite would have a banana.
And a swirl of peanut. Butter.That sounds so good.
It's delicious at all.
My work companies like, Dude,you should sell this in prison.
Like, I'm like, Who's going to buy this?
There's no wayI know I'm going to buy this.
They're like, You should try.
So I said, You know what?
I'm going to try and sellthem for 15 bucks each, each
just to see, right?
Like, I don't want to sell them.I rather evade. Them.

(01:00:42):
You're ready for air?
Yeah, I'm ready for everyone for sure.
So I tell these guys, okay,it's a flat book.
At the time, the flat book was. Like 1380.
And the flat books,a book, a flat book of stamps.
I see. That's the currency.
So I'd say, okay,
I want one flat book and one macro,because a macro is a dollar 50.
it's an actual fish. Yeah.
So you open itup, it's a fish in a foil they.
Sell on the commissary.

(01:01:03):
That's what I'd make my ceviche with.
Another reason I asked for this fish.
So I'd use the macro
for the ceviche business and I'd usestamps to have for the currency.
So that's what I did.
And I started selling these things andpeople were like lining up to buy them.
And eventually it got so lucrative.
I had four.
Mop buckets in my so I had like three.

(01:01:25):
People.
That worked for me and I had agents ineach just like the sports betting world.
I had agents in each prison blockbecause there's like four prison blocks.
And they're each getting a percentageand they're. Getting percentage. 20%.
And I would give them like ten ice cream.And I. Said, Hey, tell.
Sell ten for the 250 bucks,And then they'd keep 20%.

(01:01:45):
So I had all these units,these prison units in this big compound
that were selling my ice cream,just like they were.
Running my sports bets back in the dayin the fraternity houses.
So I utilized the same method.
And now people. Are like pre-ordering.
They're like, Hey, these guys preorderedlike two weeks in advance.
So it's like now it's just preorder.
Like, so fast forward, I'm out of prisonnow and I'm telling people the story

(01:02:05):
and we have content of me.
Making all thisand prison guards are filming it
and we're getting content of this stufflike stuff we're not supposed to do.
But we have content and content.
Now, you know,is this the most valuable currency on.
Social media?So now I have all this content.
I mean, making. This stuff in prison.
And these guys are like, Dude, we're.
Going to raise money for you.We love this idea.
So we started a brand.
It's called California Ice Protein,like the book The California Kid.

(01:02:29):
It's going to be called CaliforniaIce Protein. By the California Kid.
These guys are backed me sweat equity.
I've got like four guys, big influencers,big digital marketing company.
And they're they're justputting it all together For me that is.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So are you still are you marketing it onlynow or are you actually selling it now?
No, we're not selling it.We're creating the brand.

(01:02:49):
So if we've done an R&D, I've found a
a company that's making the icecream for me and we're putting it in.
A bar now so you can eat it on a stick.
So it's like a protein shake on a stick.
And I have 40 different flavors.
Next is packaging.
And then we're goingto we're going to promote it for the L.A.
Fitness Expo, which is downtown, where

(01:03:10):
we're going to present the productin January of next year.
that's so exciting.
So then from therewe hope to get into the gyms.
My idea is to just dojust like I did in the.
In the drug world. Let's say, you. Know,put this stuff on every corner.
Right, Right.And you've got the Olympics coming up.
You got the Olympics.
And I think people will like it
because I tell peopleit's like it's from from putting bad.

(01:03:31):
Things on the street to nowhealthy treats.
You know, it's like it's a good concept.
Like it's like from cocaine cream.
To protein ice.
Cream And like, you know, there'sso many things we could go about.
That, yeah.
We could make the conceptlike we could show content
now on social media, like, okay,this is how he.
Used to run his drug empire, butlook how he runs his ice cream empire in.
It's healthy. Right?

(01:03:52):
That's the best part.It's not like I'm. Giving you. Sugar.
No, I'm giving.
You something low in sugar,high in protein.
Everyone'sgoing to like this. Good for you.
It's healthy.
And all these things that you've done,I mean, that were terrible for you.
That's right.And sort of the same process.
But you can do those thingsthat lead to other bad things,
but you could do similar thingsthat are good, that lead to good thing.

(01:04:13):
That's what I want to show. Yeah.
You know, I want to speak to the kidsin the inner city that are thinking about.
Doing illegal activity.
Like I was thinking aboutYou want to be a drug. Dealer, okay?
You want to go work the streets,Let me show you what's going to happen.
But let's look at an alternative.
Let's try to sell this ice cream.
Why don't I provide you a pushcart
with dry ice in 100 ice cream bars,

(01:04:35):
and everything you sell will be 5050partners.
Give you an alternative.It's the same hustle.
It's just a different product.Are you going to do that? Absolutely.
Do you think you'll go to schools? I'mgoing to go to schools.
I want to speak to kids.I want to go to kids with.
I'm going to provide a car on a bicycle.
Where has the cart for ice cream?
And I'm going to startlike an entrepreneur program.
That's awesome.
So for kids that have drive like I did,okay, let's just sell something that's.

(01:04:59):
Legal in fun, clean.
It's like
you're not hurting anybody, giving themsomething that's healthy for you.
And I think that another thingthat's so great about this is as you found
when you first started this going overthat bridge to Tijuana and coming back,
well, that was easy, but that was illegal.
But if you can show them thisand they can do this and say,

(01:05:22):
well, that was easy. Exactly.
What a great chef.
You know, changed your mindbecause it's still a good product.
The cook here is.
Bad, but people like itbecause it's an addiction.
But I saw apples or what?
I saw ice cream. People are going to wantthat ice cream. Yeah.
And this time around, it'snot an ice cream full of sugar.
It's it's low. Glycemic.
It's made with natural ingredientsand in scope.

(01:05:43):
Whey isolate protein.
It's it's it's something that's healthythat people can now be like, wow,
what a good comeback.Where will we find it in January?
CHEERING Well, I'll be in the fitness expoand then I'm going to be utilizing.
My group of guysto try to market these gyms.
And I'm going to make it simple.
I'm going to provide the freezerand I'm going to just say, Hey.
You guys buy the product from meand I'll supply the freezer, the freezers.

(01:06:04):
Let me just plug it in.
How is how easyand I'll deliver the ice cream.
You just pay for it.I'll give you a wholesale price.
That's the idea.
I figure if I could do itin the drug world.
I can do it in this world.And the funny. Part about.
It is the profit margins are very similar.
Just at a smaller level,
you know, percentage wise,as a businessman, I knew I was making 700.
Percent markupwhen was serving cocaine in Australia.

(01:06:27):
Yeah, when I can make an ice creamfor a dollar and sell it for $6.
It's right there it is you have here.
So it's like this is legal.
This puts you in federal prison.
You choose.
Yeah. And look how open and proudyou can be of that.
Yeah. I don't have to worry.And you can share your steps.
You can helpother people do the same thing.
I can ask for help.
You can ask for helpbecause it's not illegal.

(01:06:48):
You have a smile on your face. Yeah.
Definitely not be looking overyour shoulder.
Yeah. Life has changed for the better.
Well, I can'tthank you enough for being here, and.
Yeah, no. Problem.
And as your projects, as you progress,we'd love to have you back.
Absolutely. I'll come back.It would be a thrill.
To come back for the second book.
And the ice cream launch. Yes.
And bring some of that with you.Absolutely.

(01:07:09):
You're going to have to sample it.
I can't wait.
Well, thank you again.
And thank you for joining us.
This was really special.
And come back again.Tell us what you think.