The Cocaine Chef: Stacy Harper's Journey from Crime to Redemption

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What does the journey from drug kingpin to legitimate entrepreneur reveal about business, redemption, and the true meaning of freedom? Stacey Harper, once known as "The Cocaine Chef," takes us through his remarkable transformation from running a multi-state cocaine operation to building million-dollar legitimate enterprises.

Harper's story begins with his disciplined upbringing in a Muslim school, where he learned the "do for self" mentality that would later drive his business endeavors. After starting a successful carpet cleaning company as a teenager, circumstances pulled him into the drug trade, where he revolutionized the cocaine market with a formula that doubled profits. Operating with suits and ties instead of flashy jewelry, requiring proper documentation from employees, and maintaining professional business practices even in illegal ventures, Harper demonstrates how fundamental business principles remain consistent across contexts.

The turning point came during his federal prison sentence, when watching a family devastated by cocaine addiction on a talk show triggered a profound realization: "I contributed to my own demise of my own community." This awakening led Harper to develop a comprehensive five-year plan for legitimate success upon release. Remarkably, within just one year of freedom, he had established a thriving alarm system business, purchased a home with a swimming pool, and reunited with his children.

Harper's business acumen shines in how he recognized emerging opportunities, transitioning from alarm systems to digital security cameras just as internet technology was becoming mainstream. By prioritizing partnerships over personal profit, offering substantial commissions rather than hoarding wealth, he built a million-dollar security company serving businesses, gas stations, and even prisons in California.

Today, Harper owns behavioral health businesses in Phoenix and coaches aspiring entrepreneurs through his books and mentorship programs. His definition of freedom has evolved from material wealth to something far more profound: "When your values align with who you are and your purpose, then you're free." Visit stacyharper.com to purchase "The Cocaine Chef" and receive his guide "From the Streets to Success" as a free bonus.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I got better at business.
I know the cycles.
You know I started learning thebusiness cycles and things that
you have to do concerningbusiness, Especially now.
I have two businesses.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Okay, welcome to another, just another amazing
edition of the Journey toFreedom podcast.
I'm Dr B, I'm your host, justwhew.
Yes, it's going to be a greatday today.
I'm excited to talk to Mr StacyHarper today Because when we
think about you know, and youguys know if you've been
watching a lot of these episodesI usually try to talk to people

(00:48):
.
We call the green room rightbefore and just find out what in
life they're excited about, andso you can kind of judge how
well a show is going to go basedon that interaction right
before the show.
Because, you know, sometimesI'll ask a person, I'll say what
are you most excited about?
And their eyes go up wherethey're looking right and

(01:09):
they're trying to think ofsomething in their life that
they're excited about.
That tells me that we mighthave a long show, that they're
not excited about Somethinghappening in their life right
now, that we might be going fora while.
But then you have the guestswho, just their eyes light up,
they get big, they say I can'twait to help the community, I

(01:30):
can't wait to be in purpose, Ican't wait to.
I just wrote a book.
I want to tell everybody aboutmy book, and you just know that
we're probably going to run outof time and I have to say, stacy
, we just have to bring him toanother episode because we just
had so much fun in our episode.
And that's what Journey toFreedom is all about.
I don't know, but you know this, stacey.

(01:51):
It's been about a year and ahalf now that I started the
Journey to Freedom podcast.
I went to a seminar on trustleadership and how to lead with
trust and how important trust is, and we don't trust ourselves,
we don't trust our community, wedon't trust our women, we don't
even trust white folks.
I mean, it's just, we on ourcommunity have this issue of

(02:12):
trust and I go to the seminarand there's about 500 people
there and there's only 30 folksof color there.
Now I continue to say all thetime that, you know, I told
myself all the time that itisn't important that I see other
people that look like me doingthings in life.
You know that I can say, hey,if it's close to what I'm doing,

(02:33):
at least I know it can be done.
I say, oh, I don't need that, Igot this.
But then I found, I realizedthat every time I go to a room
that's full of, you know,diverse room.
I'm always counting.
I'm counting like how many ofus are there, and then I go talk
to other folks that look likeus and I say so what are you
doing?
What brings you to this room?
And so for me to say I don'tcare is just a lie, because I do

(02:56):
care.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
And.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I love to see people who are doing things, and so I
come back from the seminarbecause there's only 30 or 40
people in this room of 500.
And so I come back from theseminar because there's only 30
or 40 people in this room of 500.
And I start talking and prayingand God says well, I'm telling
God that I want to work withpeople of color, I want to make
sure that I can make an impactand a difference.
God comes back to me and tellsme no, I need you to work with

(03:19):
Black men.
I say God, I don't really wantto work with just Black men,
because black men can bedifficult sometimes.
And I have this issue with fearand all this.
I said, no, that's what I wantyou to do, and so I created like
a coaching program around notbeing stuck and being able to
move forward.
And then I started this podcastand I said, ok, in 2024, I'm

(03:40):
going to interview at least 100successful black men so I can
see and I you know, because it'sone thing for me to view and
have my own opinion, it'sanother thing to start
interviewing people and see whatthe common themes are.
So we ended up doing 105 lastyear.
I mean, I think you're like 100in episode 160 or something like

(04:00):
that.
You know, as we're gettingthrough this, I may go to a
thousand, something like that.
As we're getting through this,I may go to a thousand, I don't
know, because I am enjoying thisso much, hearing the lives of
people who are literally makingan impact, and when I think
about success and this is foryou, you're watching too success
to me is not the amount ofmoney you make, it's not the
fame that you have.

(04:20):
Success is if we're able tolive in our purpose and we're
able to do what God put us onthis planet to do in a way that
pleases him and serves others.
We are successful, and that'swhat I'm finding is the folks
that I'm interviewing, and Ican't wait to have this
conversation with you, but I'mjust realizing that there are so
many people that I didn't knowabout.

(04:41):
There are people who grew up insingle you know, single parent
homes.
A lot of us did, and there's athere's a whole bunch of folks
that didn't, and then there'sfolks that went to college, and
then there's a lot of us thatdidn't.
There's folks that have figuredout how to get their marriage
right, and then there's a lot ofus who didn't you know, but the
common theme is they're allworking on helping and serving

(05:02):
others, which is exactly whatyou told me you're doing, and so
I've asked Stacey, like I doall of our guests, to tell their
story, to tell us, you know thethings that are not what he
does, but who he is, and we findthat out when they get to tell
their story.
And I told him I know you'regoing to be good at this because
you just wrote a book about it.
So, if you don't know it afteryou wrote a book, then we're

(05:24):
really in trouble here.
So, stacey, thank you for beingon, thank you for spending time
with us.
I love your background and thefolks that are there, and so I
can't wait to have thisconversation with you.
So the floor is yours and we'lljust chop it up right after
that.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
All right, thank you, and thank you for starting this
podcast.
I like the name and everythingthe journey to freedom because
at one point in my life I had ajourney to freedom.
You know, as a matter of fact,my whole life has been the
journey to freedom.
You know, and what freedommeans to me is that when your

(06:02):
values align with who you areand your purpose, then you're
free.
It's not about money.
At first I thought freedom washaving money, cars, the women
and all of that, and I found outthat's not freedom, that's a
trap.

(06:22):
Anyway, my story starts off isuh, we were nation of islam
muslims.
Okay, I went, I went to muslimschool and you know I was
trained.
We march every day.
It was fun, I loved it.
You know we march drill andwhen you make a mistake you got
to go to class.
So we was trying to stay downthere as long as possible.
Yeah, yeah, and you know what?

(06:46):
What I found out later on isthat that training from that
school, the do for self, thedon't depend on anybody.
You know, make a way foryourself.
You know, I worked at GoodFoods, I worked at your
supermarket, your bakery.
I was like I was trained thatwe do everything for self and

(07:12):
you know that's my foundation.
So later on in life, going toschool, our family traveled a
lot.
My pops was a salesman.
You know he still, he sold slumjewelry.
You know it looked real but itwasn't.
But that's what he did.
And we traveled.
We lived in Albuquerque, newMexico, dayton Ohio first and

(07:33):
Albuquerque, new Mexico.
But what I found out when Ilived in Dayton Ohio was very
interesting.
As you know, I'm from SouthCentral, you know, and the gang
banging, you know it's black onblack crime.
But when I went out there andit was the early seventies, it
was more.
They had two gangs the chain ofrap Brown and the chain of

(07:53):
George Wallace, black againstwhite.
Yeah, it was very interesting.
You know, people from the Eastcoast, I found even today are
more.
They know their history morethan know people from the west
coast.
Yes, yeah, so anyway.

(08:14):
Uh, we moved around.
I went to different schools andthat's another interesting point
is when I went to public schoolit was a total shock from going
from a pro school to a prowhite school, right, so I go to
this school and all they talkabout they don't.
When they mention black peopleit's about slavery or you know

(08:34):
something bad, martin LutherKing.
You know, you know it wasnothing positive and I found
that I really didn't want tolearn.
You know, it was like adeterrent, even though math and
science and all that stuff wasdifferent, but just the whole
Curriculum to me it wasn't meantfor people of color.

(08:57):
Yeah yeah, it wasn't motivating.
It was nothing to you know toto motivate you to learn to know
who you are, and so that was ashocker to me.
And so we end up moving toAlbuquerque, new Mexico.
My father fell in love with theIslamic community there.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
So you moved from Los Angeles, then LA to Albuquerque
.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
No, I moved from Los Angeles to Ohio.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Oh to Ohio, okay yeah , and then to Albuquerque.
Albuquerque, no to Ohio.
Oh to Ohio, okay yeah, and thento Albuquerque, new Mexico.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, then to Albuquerque, new Mexico.
Yeah, it was crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Anyway, now Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
I hated it there too.
I would tell you, I hatedAlbuquerque, New Mexico.
We first moved there.
We was living on a farm withsome people man, I mean we
playing with the chickens.
The next thing, you know, weeating it at night.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
I drive through.
I'm in Denver, colorado, andthat's where I grew up, several
times where I do the southernroute to get to.
I went to college in ZouzPacific University in Southern
California, then I have lots offriends in Phoenix and then my
mom is part Native American andso we were part of the Choctaw

(10:12):
tribe in Oklahoma.
But when I go through NewMexico there's so many tribes
and working whether I worked ata Navajo reservation or whatever
the local tribe was but just tosee it's a different life.
And especially I'm thinkingyou're saying your father fell
in love with the Islamiccommunity in.

(10:33):
Albuquerque.
I'm surprised, there even is an.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Islamic community.
Oh, let me tell you a storyabout that.
So, while we're in albuquerque,so you know they sell muhammad
speaks.
That's how people earn moneyand fish.
You know, that's how thecommunity earn money.
So we go to loss.
My father knows everybody, youknow, he knows everybody in all

(10:56):
the mosques, everywhere.
He was big in the la mosque.
Anyway, we go to the la mosqueand get all the old Muhammad
speaks.
I'm talking about old, nocurrent issues.
Oh, we bring them back toAlbuquerque in the U-Haul and
now we're going to sell thesepapers.
Now, the brother, they want,the paper costs 25 cents.

(11:16):
They want us to give them 20cents a paper.
We make a nickel, but that youknow.
You know that's crazy.
But anyway, there are no blackpeople to sell to.
You know, it's the black peopleout there, but it's not that
many.
So we go to the mall.
I'll take that, okay.

(11:37):
In the middle of the paper isthe progress section.
The paper is in black and white, but the middle section is the
progress section.
That's featuring a hospitalthat the Muslim community is
trying to build.
It's full color, full colorrenditions and everything.
I take that out.
Now I'm a little kid with a bowtie on white shirt and a suit

(12:00):
at the white mall and I takethis out and I just start saying
, saying hey, we're just tryingto build this hospital, and the
people were, oh yeah, they'regoing to get some.
Yeah, they go get some change.
I say, hey, every dollar savesa life and they would switch to
their wallet.
I'm getting a dollar, fivedollars of paper.
I was cleaning up, my brothergot on board and the brothers

(12:22):
got jealous.
I was cleaning up, my brothergot on board and the brothers
got jealous.
They got just wanting to chargeus more.
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Anyway, for the paper cause you were making more
money on the paper they wantedtheir cut.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, we was.
We was traveling all over NewMexico, going to malls all over
Gallup and everywhere.
Sad, I know all the littlecities because we would hit them
and, like I said, we sell it.
We sell it to white people.
Now one person I sold the wholepaper to this white guy came
back and he was like, do youbelieve this, do you believe

(13:04):
that the white man is the devil?
And I was like, yeah, yeah, butyou know what, after he left,
you know that stayed with meforever, that conversation that
we had and I always would goback to it Like, do I really
believe that?
You know, because I met somegood white people, you know, and

(13:24):
you, oh, you know, over mylifespan, you know.
So that always bothered me.
So, anyway, we come back to la.
After we leave there, um, I geta job at, uh, church's chicken.
I'm like 15 or 16.
I had to put my age up, youknow, just to get the job Were

(13:45):
you in LA or one of the?
companies.
By then we was living on 35thStreet in Western.
That's where I come from.
That's called Harlem forgangbangers.
I don't think you know that.
Yeah, okay, Okay, okay, that'sfunny, Okay, and I worked there
and you know they got it.

(14:05):
I worked there and I ended upworking all my way up to
assistant manager.
I'm a young kid, I ain't even18 yet.
One day we got robbed and Iknew the dude.
I didn't know him, but the guysthey come there to buy chicken.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
You see them all the time and all of a sudden they
throw a little ski mask on orsomething.
Yeah, you walk the same, youlook the same, you're wearing
the same clothes, just by takingit off.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Man, come on.
So anyway, you know they robbedme, they robbed the store.
We waiting on the police tocome and one of the employees is
like, hey, stacy, did you checkthe black boxes?
You know it's black boxes undereach register that you put the
20s in.
I was like, oh yeah, he got allof that right, but I hadn't

(14:53):
checked them.
And I told the employees I Itripped them all into the back.
You know they don't never wantto work.
You got something, somethingfunny or something going on.
They can't wait to go check itout.
So I got everybody out thefront, went up there man them
cash drawers was packed out.
The front, went up there, manthem cash drawers was packed.
They were cash right Even theday before.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
So I grabbed all that cash, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
I grabbed all that cash and the police came, the
big wigs came and they were likeyou know, they sent me home
because I was traumatized andyou know, I end up going to
court.
They caught the guy.
They was robbing Taco Bells,everything.
Yeah, of course I knew it washim, but they was like you see

(15:34):
that guy?
I was like no, you know,because the code in the hood is
you know, we don't do that.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly so.
Anyway, uh, I worked, I wasthere, uh, so they, uh, I wasn't
working, they had, uh,suspended me because I guess it
was too much cash came up yeah,from the job, from church's
chicken, I guess too much cashcame up missing and and I
started working for Miller'sCarpet Care.

(16:05):
You know, you gotta use yourown car, you buy your chemicals
from them and everything.
And I was working.
It was a nice little job.
I liked it Because that gave mefreedom.
I was out, I wasn't behinddeaths or anything, and I was
doing this Jewish guy's houseand he was asking me questions

(16:27):
about the job and I was like,yeah, I buy my own quit, you
know, I get the equipment fromthem, but I buy the chemicals,
use my own car.
He was like you should be doingthis yourself.
And wow, light bulb went on inmy head, you know.
And right after that I startedplanning and opened up my own
carpet cleaning business.
You know, yeah, I was a youngman living in the 30s.

(16:51):
You know, I'm 7, 16, 7, soabout 17 by then opened up my
carpet cleaning business.
Pops was in jail, he was gonnatalk about, he gonna get out and
help, you know, because I wasdoing well, because look what I
did was so Miller's wouldadvertise in the Los Angeles
Times and the Herald, and all ofthat like two rooms for fifteen
dollars, you know, steam clean.

(17:12):
So what I did?
I went to the local throwawaypaper to wave, put it at.
Two rooms, steam clean 1495,three rooms 2195.
My home number, my mom.
My mom is answering the phone.
She called me because there wasno cell phones.
I mean, I don't think it wasbeepers in, you know, so I.

(17:34):
Finally I get home, mom's likethe phone is ringing off the
hook.
I already had appointments.
I had to get a schedule book.
I ended up hiring my brother,my homie, who went to school
with me.
Because you know you go out forthe $14.95, but you upsell, you
know, because you need freetreatment.

(17:56):
Scotchgard, you know the sofaclean.
You know I was doing reallywell.
I moved us out of that houseinto another house on 35th
really mom yeah, I was sayingshe was scheduled for you all
day long yeah, scheduled for meall day long, yeah, so we was
doing well with the carpetcleaning and the family working

(18:18):
now at the same time.
You know, when I opened I thinkthink it was around when I
first started it was likeOctober, so it was the Christmas
season.
You know, I wasn't seasoned onbusiness, I didn't know the
cycles yet.
I thought it was going to belike that forever.
Then the slow period came.

(18:39):
You know, it took me a coupleof years to find out.
You know the, the periods whereyou make money and when it's
slow in that type of business.
Every business has it, you know.
But I was young and didn't know, so went through some financial
stuff.
And you know, you know I'm inthe neighborhood.
One of the neighborhood guysalways come over and he would

(19:03):
take a skating, take us to themall, buy clothes.
He was really a cool guy, youknow.
And and I'm a loner like Idon't really like to, especially
in la if you ride with four orfive black people in the car you
all y'all might go to jail,somebody might get killed.
So I always by myself, I don'twant to ride with everybody.

(19:24):
He had a nice Cadillac coupe,you know.
He come over.
Everybody want to jump in thecar.
I was like, no, I'm cool.
So one day he came over.
He's like hey, stace, come ridewith me, cause you know I, you
know I smoke weed.
I, like you know I keep mypersonal.
You know.
He was like come on Cause hewanted to smoke, so we take a

(19:47):
ride.
And he making these runs,making this money, and I'm
watching it, you know, and andit and it sparked me, you know,
and I end up getting involved inthe game.
Now, one thing I want everybodyto know is that when I started,
there was no cocaine epidemic.
If you heard of a cocaine party, you wish you was there back
then, because it was at theplayboy mansion, it was at Eddie

(20:10):
Murphy's house, it was atsomebody affluent who was giving
this party and you would heartales of they was using and
stuff and people was like man, Iwish I was there.
That's the error, that it wasOkay.
So when I started, I wasdelivering because my man was
delivering.
So you know I, you know I wasdelivering.
I had to van like my van.

(20:31):
My work van Was like aconversion van I worked in today
and at night I take theequipment out.
I had a couch TV, you know itwas all hooked up.
My man was like freaky, youknow.
So he would switch cars with me.
I make deliveries in hisCadillac, he in the van with
some chick and I'm making runsand over time I'm bringing him

(20:58):
you know he kicking it with thechicks and I'm bringing him
making deliveries to him.
No, yeah, man.
So that's what happened.
He started using and you knowI'm serious, just like in
scarface I took over, you know,his business because he got
smoked out.
A good brother now real goodheart, took over his.

(21:22):
His's became mine and hiscustomers, is that wow?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
you're not only an entrepreneur who makes money by
day and carpet clean, but nowyou're making illegal money
later.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
But you're really good at yes, and I was living a
double life like that because Iwas using that money to make my
business really look good andblow it up, and it was really.
It started to be profitablebecause I got better at business
.
I know the cycles, you know Istarted learning the business
cycles and things that you haveto do concerning business,

(22:00):
especially now I have twobusinesses at night I'm running,
you know, cause it was delivery.
It wasn't like what it turnedout to be on the corner, you
know, a house to go to.
No, in the beginning it waspure Somebody paid you, you call
them, you go make a delivery.
And back then I was really intouh, uh, technology.

(22:26):
Okay, if the technology was outthere, I wanted it.
I had a phone called a mark 900.
It was a briefcase phone, itwas analog.
Then the gl 2020s came out.
I had them in my car names?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
you remember the names?
This is crazy.
I love it.
I love it well, you know, I'mfrom that era, that big gray one
with the, with the blackantenna that stuck out.
And that was my first, oh thatwas a brick phone.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, I had one of them too.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
You don't have to follow as they got progressively
better you know, yeah, yeah,like you're probably about 10
years older than me, no, fiveyears older than me.
So we're here.
Oh my gosh.
Oh, I remember the pay phones,yes.
I don't remember the modelnumbers, but way before the
internet.
There was no internet until2000.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Oh, no internet.
Like I said, it was pages.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
People was using pay phones, yes, that's why Then
they were dangerous look likenow there are no pay phones, no
more times in there hoping youput those penny lopers shoes and
you have to put the dimes inthem so you have money for the
phone to call your mom if youneed to.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Oh my, god, right, right.
You always had you Right, right.
You're right about that, you'reright.
That's crazy, so anyway, so Iwas doing that, and then I
watched the rock houses come,but I never went in that
direction.
But what I did?

Speaker 2 (23:55):
I started getting out of it.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh, I was always trying to get out.
I was because I was taking themoney building my business Right
.
I even bought a Janetet kingservice.
You know, uh, uh, uh janet kingservice because I was trying to
, but that was a scam.
Janet king was a total scam,really.
Yeah, because okay.
So this is how it works when yougo and buy janet king franchise

(24:20):
, you tell them how much monthlyyou want to make, and I think I
told them about something like2 000 that was a lot back then
to be making $2,000 a month inanything.
And I told them $2,000 a monthand they get you the contract.
You pay, and I think it waslike maybe $20,000 for that and
I think you pay half and thenmonthly.
So they give me the nicecontract.

(24:41):
I had contracts all by LAXoffice buildings, hired some
Hispanic people and uh wasworking it.
And then complaints startcoming in from Danny King saying
that you know we wasn'tperforming.
I went out myself with them atnight cleaning, making sure

(25:05):
everything was and and theystill was complaining.
I said, oh, this is a scam, soI'm losing contracts.
What they do is they complain,but they give the contract to
another person who spent moneyoh god, so okay they keep one
set of contracts and theyconstantly get new people.
They just looping it around.

(25:25):
Yeah, so that was a scam, soanyway.
Um, so now I'm I'm not.
I wasn't able to buy a key,because keys back then was like
20, 30, 000 right, but I hadenough connections that I was
getting it ounces at key prices,right.

(25:47):
So I'm serving people, I'mserving other dealers because
I'm getting it like that.
Anyway, I'm not getting anycustomers Right.
All I got is my little, which Ihad gave oh, I had delegated
that to somebody else the smallpackages and I was just doing
like ounces to guys.
That were several, and one guyin the jungle in particular was

(26:11):
like man, I'm getting it forlike $200 less than what I was
serving him and he said he wasgetting it more and it was
already cooked.
I said you ain't getting 28grams because you cook it, you
lose, you know, a gram or two orwhatever.
He's like no man, sometimesit's 30, 35.
I'm like what?

(26:32):
So I put my ear to the streetand found out that is something
out there called bro.
It's blowing up, cutting theuncuttable.
It's a secret formula and I waslike I've got to have it.
So I put my calling.
All the women I know becausethey do data connection.

(26:52):
I got mad respect for women.
I give them so much props in mybook because they were the
catalyst to my growth.
Anyway, I I one of thegirlfriends that I had.
She had a new boyfriend, but wewere still cool.
He had just got out of prison.
He was like a jerry storejacker and he had put some work
in for the colombians.

(27:13):
So she said, yeah, I think heknow it.
I was like hook me up, I needto meet this dude.
So he comes to my office.
Now my office is in the rayclark building.
You know who ray clark is?
Yeah, so I'm in the ray clarkbuilding.
That's where my office was inthe crenshaw shopping center.
Okay, and here come this guy inthe big chevy blazer with the

(27:37):
top off, music blasting, noshirt on which, you know, chains
on with the ponytail.
He had that silky hair yeah andhe pull up.
And this dude was cool man.
He tell me he know the formula,but he's never tried it, he
just watched it.
But I'm willing to take achance because I'm not, you know

(28:01):
, I'm failing, you know thebusiness.
So I was like man, let's do it.
So it's procaine.
We had to go to the, thejewelry store in inglewood and
buy these little bitty things ofit and you cook that.
So we, we met, we cooked that,let it dry episode right now

(28:22):
yeah, so, so anyway, we did it.
Okay, it didn't come out 100.
I took I had, like, uh, nineounces that I had took over
there that was my sack at thatTook them nine ounces and made
them 18.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
So you doubled it.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yes, went to my man in the jungle and gave him super
good prices and it was on RightNow.
Just think of this.
I'm making one key two.
I got that capacity.
I shook up the whole market inla me and this guy, but the east

(29:02):
side was already doing it, butthe east side was the east side,
west side, you know how that is.
It's like a total two differentworlds.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, you're not crossing the boundaries no,
right, right.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
so I started cooking for dealers, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Like I said, I was just a small guy.
This is how I blew up.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
That's why I called the book the Cocaine Chef the
Story of the Mix Master, becausethis is what blew me up was the
mix, the formula, the recipe.
So now I'm cooking for dealers,big guys, I won't mention
nobody's name, but they wouldbring me 10 to make 20.
I would charge them $2,500 apiece.

(29:46):
They can't see the show.
I'll get to you when I'mfinished.
You bring me the 10.
In a few days, I'll bring you20.
I'll bring you, bring me to 10in a few days, I'll bring you 20
.
And I was man.
I had safe grandma house, safeat my house of Two or three safe
spots.
You know, I ran it like abusiness and, like I told you,

(30:06):
I'm suit and tie every day, eventhough I might have been
driving the Benz or whatever.
You didn't know what I wasdoing, me and my whole crew, cuz
we from the Muslim school wewear suit and ties every day.
You understand, that's how wecarry Short haircuts, no jewelry
, no jerry curl.
We didn't do nothing.
We were opposite of thestereotype.

(30:27):
If you worked for me, youcouldn't have any.
You got to have driver'slicense, insurance, all of the
things.
Back then people was driving.
They didn't even have none ofthat stuff when they was driving
, you know.
But I work within the law.
I knew I was breaking the law,so I'm going to do everything I
can within the law to stay clean.
Gotcha Right.
So anyway, after a while I blewup.

(30:51):
I was doing really good man.
All of a sudden up.
I was doing really good man.
All of a sudden, just like itstarted, it ended.
The mix was over.
I was stuck with like 20, 30keys of it because the Jamaicans
came in.
They started serving that realand people didn't want and other
people started finding outabout the recipe and they messed

(31:11):
the game up.
They take one and make four orfive.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
So they're thinking your stuff is really bad.
Yes, wow, ok.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, yeah.
So but the thing about it was Ihad so much capital from doing
that that I just switched mygame from hard to soft.
So I just bought 10 keys andsell those after that.
But what happened to?
I'm rolling, doing good, I'malways trying to get out, like I

(31:42):
said every time, but something,always some catastrophe,
happens that wheel me back in.
And then when I finally hadenough money to really quit, I
was hooked.
I was hooked on, wasn't anaddict, I was addicted to the

(32:03):
power, everything that itbrought with it.
You know, because I go to clubman, I'm the man, you know what
I mean.
I go anywhere, I go.
I was the man, you know.
It was a great feeling and youkind of that, and that's why I
understand athletes how theydon't want to leave.
It's the same thing.
It's that glamour and thatwhole thing.
I was stuck.
So, anyway, I ran and I did.

(32:27):
I opened up an interior design.
I met this girl.
Oh my God, she just blew me,you know, turned my life around.
She had a 190.
She just blew me, you know.
Turn my life around.
Right, she had a one 90.
She was going to school forinterior decorating and she was
a wood, a baller Cause.
When I met her at the car washshe was like I'm going to Hawaii

(32:47):
with my boyfriend.
I was like you know, I cleanedcarpet.
I got a carpet cleaner, gaveher my car.
She said oh, you can clean withcarpets, you know, and uh yeah,
yeah, I'm going to hawaii withmy boyfriend anyway, when she
could.
I never talked to her.
Though it's six or seven monthslater I'm at the beverly center
with my boy and we bump intoher and we make a date to go to

(33:09):
the movies that night and, man,we was together for like a year
after that.
It was crazy.
I had just bought a house inwoodland hills and, uh, she
helped me decorate it.
You know, she gave me a lot ofa lot of games, she.
She showed me so much aboutinterior design that I became an
interior decorator.
I opened up a store called artdesign and blinds.

(33:31):
It's still there on partheniaand receiving right now the sign
, the signs and neon lights thatI put up.
It's still there on Partheniaand receiving right now the sign
, the signs and neon lights thatI put up.
They are still there.
Yeah, I opened up that store.
It was doing well.
Anyway, a white guy in aTestarossa rolled up one day.
He was like man, I want you todo my condo.
I was like, okay, so Idecorated his condo.

(33:52):
I mean, I made gray and whitefaded.
His walls were gray, faded intodifferent shades of gray, and
you couldn't tell how it wasdone or where the mix point was.
I had my uncle do it.
He was a great painter.
I did his condo, I made it MiamiVice.
He paid cash.
He paid cash too.

(34:13):
Like I said, nobody that I dealwith in business know what I do
.
So it got dry.
You know, I couldn't find anywork Right.
So I called him, told him hewas like, yeah, I got somebody
and man, they was giving me keysfor $12,000.
So the first time I think Ibought 10 or 15, about 10 or 15,

(34:39):
I was like, oh my God, soldthem.
I was like now I'm about toretire, because this love, I'm
getting right, so I think Iwould order 20 or 30, grabbed
all my money, grabbed otherpeople's money, grabbed all my
money, grabbed other people'smoney, went to buy this big loan

(35:00):
.
I think it was like threehundred thousand or something
and they ran off with the money,man, and then give you this.
Yeah, this is some otherpeople's monies, is it there?
No product.
So after that I'm looking forthe guy you know the guy that
hooked me up with him.
I went in and I broke in hishouse looking for my money.

(35:23):
You know what I mean, me and mybrother.
So me and my brother rollingaround and we see the Testarossa
roll up into the Marriott inWoodland Hills.
It's Sunday, they go on thebrunch.
These white guys work for gold.
I, woodland Hills, it's Sunday,they're going to brunch, these
white guys work for gold.
I mean, go to gold's gym.
They gold gym buff guy.
Yeah, the guy I messed with wasa short guy, but his buddy, at

(35:48):
this day that he was with, was ataller guy.
So they pull up in the valet atthe Marriott, me and my brother
pull in, jump out we both gotplay guns and, uh, we go up and
I'm talking to him.
I'm saying, hey, man, your boyran off with my stuff.

(36:09):
You know, I'm talking to him.
He acting nonchalant and I toldhim I broke in his house.
I said, man, I broke in yourhouse, you know.
And he started pointing at melike you broke in my effing
house.
You know, pointing at me.
My brother, just draw down.
You know, come on, let's go.
I had to.
You know, put the other guy andmake the other guy stop.

(36:30):
We take him, put him in the vanand take off.
We jump on the freeway,somebody following me.
So I go in the last lane andthey jump in the last thing.
Then I just jump off thefreeway.
I head down Topanga Canyontoward PCH because I'm going to
take this guy to the east sidewhere the danger is.

(36:51):
Some guys that were dangerous,that I had their money, that my
brother had got money from, andwe're about to take them and we
about to take them, I'm about totake him over there To say hey,
this is the one who took yourmoney.
Yeah, because you know, whenstuff like that happened, they
think you did it.
You know, everybody, y'all, youbeat me man, you know.
So I'm about to take him overthere, but in route, you know,

(37:18):
I'm all in his wallet.
You know I'm talking to him andI was like I can't take him
over there, so we're going tohave a murder case.
My whole goal was to be in thegame without having any bodies.
You know what I mean.
So I was like no, I can't takehim.
So we took him back to theValley and dropped him off.
It just dropped him off.
It just dropped him off.

(37:38):
Yeah, so now I'm, I'm, I'm in,you know, recovery mode.
I got to explain to thesepeople.
You know I lost the most and II'm like man, I don't even know
how I'm going to come back fromthis.
You know cause I got I mean, Igot deals, man.
You know I got house, two,three businesses, you know all

(38:01):
kinds of stuff going.
But luckily, you know, I had abank account.
Uh, two or three business bankaccounts, what about 10,000
spread out?
And back then that's a lot, butit't enough, yeah, for what I
was doing, you know.
So, um, one guy who had gave melike 80 000 who was a friend of

(38:22):
mine.
He was like man.
He came over and just checkedme, like man, what you doing,
what you doing moping around,you know, just, you know, got on
my case, man.
You're like I'm out of here.
Man, forget that.
That was, that's gibbles andbits.
It's like I'm going to oklahomacity and he, I was like man, so
he motivated me.
So I I got back, you know, gotmy my um, my confidence back and

(38:44):
started, you know, trying tomake some moves and I was down
to like a half a chicken, a halfa key, that's all I had to my
name, right, and thesebusinesses that I'm shutting
down now because I know I'm notgonna be able to keep them
running, so I'm shutting themdown now.
I had a boy that was part of ourcrew who was going to texas I'm

(39:05):
serving, you know, in.
You know like, uh, onconsignment, he going to texas,
come back.
I'm not making no real profit,like what he's making, but I'm
like man, get me out there.
I'm the man, take me out there.
You're going to still get yours, but I'm going to blow us up
out there.
He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah,but he ain't never doing it.
So one day, like I used to havethree, four, five cars, but

(39:27):
since that happened I'm selling,I'm liquid, and, and I was down
to just a, a convertiblecorvette.
So I asked my boy I was like,hey, man, I'm going to put the
vet in the shop, let me use yourcar while you in texas.
And he didn't say nothing and Iwas like, okay, and this guy, I
let him use any of my car, hiscar in the shop, he could drive
anything I got.
So that hurt me.

(39:48):
So when you left for texas, Ijumped on the phone.
I asked my mom.
I said, hey, mom, because Iknow our family from texas, my
pops, you know family from texasremember us visiting.
I said, do we got some peoplein texas?
She said yeah, your cousin,your cousin barbara's son, is
living out there.
So give me his number, call himnow.
I don't talk on the phone andI'm talking to him and he's like

(40:11):
, hey, man, come on out here, do?
Dallas is like the bomb andthis, and that I got a place for
you, your room for you.
Man, come on out here.
Dallas is like the bomb andthis, and that I got a place for
you, a room for you.
You know, come on out.
I said, ok, but we talk aboutwhat I'm really going for.
Yeah, you know, you know I'vebeen in business, but I don't
think he really know.
So I'm like, yes, I'm like thatI never flew with no work or

(40:31):
nothing.
So at this time I put it in abag, put some women clothes in
there, put the coffee, theorange peels.
You know all of that.
Make reservations.
John Doe is flying.
Go to the airport.
I'm paying cash.
I think the ticket was $4.50.
They said, oh, cash, oh, I needyour driver's license, because
back then it wasn't no 9-11,nothing.

(40:53):
You could fly.
They don't have to show youdriver's license or nothing.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Right.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
So, yeah, so, but because I was paying cash.
Now she want my driver'slicense.
Right, I should have bought theticket at a ticket agency
somewhere you know in differentnames.
Then I said oh, no, I'm goingto Dallas to get my attache in
case my driver's license is inthere.
She's like oh, no problem, wejust got an x-ray your bag.

(41:17):
I go oh, no problem, go ahead.
My heart is about to jump outmy chest.
When I leave, she on the walkietalkie calling security.
I'm like oh, I'm out of here,right.
Then I I was like man, that'sall I got, that's everything.
I said no, I'm going to take achance.
Went upstairs, had me a drink atthe gate, make it there.

(41:39):
My cousin finally come.
He super late, call Like whereis he?
It's like two or three in themorning, the airport is empty.
I've been there 45 minutes anhour.
He lost.
He don't even know where theairport is.
Anyway, he show up.
He show up.
I seen big black guy with a bigbeard with a pipe.
I go God, please don't let thisbe my cousin.

(42:04):
It was, it was.
I'm the oldest square guy, ohmy God.
So we get in the car, we driveit and I got to tell him what I
got in the trunk.
I said, man, I got a half achicken in the trunk.
Man, he go what I go?
Yeah, I got to have a bird inthe trunk.
He said, ok, we're going toSouth Dallas.
I said, ok, cool, we can juststop.

(42:26):
Yeah, we get to South Dallas.
Like I said, it's one, two inthe morning.
It's dudes hanging out.
It's dudes hanging out.
They got tank tops on.
It.
Looked like gangbanger centralraggedy house.
He go in, he in there a longtime, he come out.
Now I gave him a piece ofPeruvian flake.
This stuff looked like diamonds.

(42:48):
You know, I just broke it offto half a chicken, gave it to
him.
Look like diamonds, it's sopure.
He come out, he go oh no, theydon't want that.
I go what man, this Peruvianflake, blah, blah, blah, going
on.
He said, no, they want it hard.
Oh, okay, I can do that.
So the next day he hooked me upwith this other guy and I said

(43:13):
man, how much you paying for thezones?
And he, he said I'm paying 1600.
I said, man, I'm gonna give himto you for 14.
He said bring me one every hourevery hour every hour.
Now he was in a spot dog, it wasa apartment building, like

(43:34):
vacant apartment building.
They, in a unit, got the powerrunning to that one unit from
the electrical pole.
When you go in there, man, it'sjust a table.
Cheers they chopping up rocksof cocaine on the table.
It was crazy.
And yeah, every hour man, hebought everything.
I had all of them and I wasback.

(43:55):
Just like that.
Is that crazy.
So that was Texas.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
You moved to Dallas.
You stay in Dallas.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Oh yeah, I got an apartment, brought a whole crew
out there, blew up, but I stillhave my house.
I'm still from LA.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
LA was my central location but I opened up shop in
texas.
Man was there for some yearsbut I had met a guy.
I met a guy out there rightthat I was dealing with and he
had called me one day and waslike man, can you give it to me
for this price?
I was like no man, that's likela, I ain't making no money.
And he was like, well, I'mgoing to new york.

(44:33):
I said okay.
I said man, if you go to man,call me when you get back.
I just wanted to see if he'd gobe successful.
You know, and you got to havesome cojones to do that when he
did go and came back and he hadscored and everything.
But he had some drama on theway.
But anyway, that gave me a I.
I, I trust I, I like dude.

(44:54):
About a couple a year or solater he calls me.
He's in Alaska.
He said, man, it's cracking outhere.
I was like what Alaska?
And he said, man, they got thebaddest weed you ever smoked.
Now this dude don't even smokeweed.
I'm from California, humboldtCounty.
You understand we got the beststuff.
And this dude telling me thathe got you know.

(45:16):
So.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
I tell you, I'm on my way.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
I go out there.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
You're like transcontinental.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Y'all man, I'm a chance taker, I'm a risk taker
Dog.
Eventually we were cutting up$100,000 on one key.
That's how much we was.
I was making $100,000 a monthout there Back then.
Now you got to remember,$100,000 a month in the 80s is

(45:45):
like $500,000.
You know what I mean.
It's much more In today's money.
I was cleaning up man, then Iwas planning on man and then I
was planning on getting out.
Now that I was cleaning up Iwent to some friends of mine was
in Hawaii, so it's a connection.
Alaska is called the triangle,alaska, seattle, hawaii.

(46:10):
I had some homies in Seattle soI went to Seattle, opened up
shop.
I tried Alaska, I mean Hawaii,but them dudes over there is
crazy.
And then the island people.
I ain't going to say allbecause I haven't met all, but
the people I met over there, thenatives from over there, that
was in the game.

(46:31):
They have small minds, justlike that island, that perimeter
, that's just how big theythinking is.
It was crazy.
They tried to rob me out there.
They tried to jab me.
Man, I mean they.
They had ordered some stuff,went over there and it's like
this is it mossberg knife?

(46:51):
You know, I'm like the fat guywent from this jolly fat guy to
an evil spirit.
You know it was crazy, butanyway I get away.
I had to end up calling thepolice because they take my car,
everything.
When the police come, I get inthe car.
They drive their own cars inhawaii because there's no
parking.
Yeah, I'm in the car.

(47:12):
The radio is on.
I hear the story a tourist getscarjacked.
It was crazy.
That was a whole situation.
I end up getting out of that.
I left there but that was crazyand so now I'm planning on
getting out the game.
I'm setting up people in Alaskato where I could just leave it

(47:33):
and just get paid.
Setting up people in Seattle,same thing and the feds are
following me.
I'm with my cousin and mybrother and we drive and they
smoking weed.
I said man, we're beingfollowed.
They look around.

(47:53):
They don't see no police carsor nothing.
Because they was in undercovercars and they started laughing
at me like you, you paranoid.
It was three cars following me.
I get to the 605 in the 60 and Iact like I'm gonna get on the
605.
A couple of.
One car went ahead of me, wentuh north, another car went south
and I bounced back in the lane,lost all of them.
So now they were like, yeah,you, you was tripping, get off

(48:18):
the freeway.
And I said I'm just going toget off the freeway and take the
streets, take a Valley, and I'mrolling down.
But before I get home, allthree of them cars are back.
And they was they.
They realized that I wasn'tjoking.
So and uh, I went to Alaska.
They came and got me, me andanother female that I was with,

(48:42):
arrested me.
Uh, 10 days later, okay, I'mabout to get bail because I was
gonna pay this girl to have hermother out in Alaska.
You just have a got to have athird party.
So I pay this girl, have hermom come to court.
And uh, they saying stuff now,in la, I did get caught with a

(49:04):
gun a few times, but back thenit was a misdemeanor.
You get caught with a gun, youpay a 50 fine, you go home.
It was crazy.
So, anyway, they telling themabout all of this stuff and
she's like, no, no problem.
So it looked like I'm going toget bail, go leave, the judge
going to make his decision thenext day.
You know, so when they wakingme up at five in the morning in

(49:27):
Alaska.
They don't have a federalfacility Like MDC, like in LA
and other places.
You stay at the county jail.
So I'm in county jail.
They come get me at five in themorning to go to court, like
they do the rest of the countypeople.
So I'm like what the heck isgoing on?
I'm federal, I'm going tofederal court.

(49:48):
The marshals come get me.
So, anyway, I get to jail.
It's early in the morning.
I get to jail, it's early inthe morning.
We all chain together, we goout to sit in the jury box.
The media is all in thecourtroom.

(50:09):
I don't know what they therefor.
They finally call my name and Ihear cameras shooting.
But I don't look and I say notguilty to some trumped up
charges.
And I say not guilty to sometrumped up charges.
Now it's early in the morning.
So after that we go back andwe're in the holding tank all
day to four or five o'clock whenthey're going to take us back
to jail.
So they take us back to jail.
When I get back to jail, two orthree sergeants is waiting at

(50:30):
the bus.
I get off the bus and thesergeant go hey, it's the media
here want to talk to you.
Do you want to talk to you?
Do you want to talk to?
I was like no, I don't want totalk to nobody.
They're like that's smart.
So they take me back to my, tomy dorm.
It's just me and the sergeant.
When I get in the dorm,everybody.
When I open the door and I walkin, everybody stops and looks
at me.
There's about 50 guys in eachdoor.

(50:52):
They stopped and I'm likewhat's that?
Because I'm on the news.
You're on TV.
Yeah, I'm on TV, not my picture.
They never had my picture whenI'm on the news.
They're talking about StaceyHarper.
They're talking about theMedellin cartel.
They're talking about theMuslim Crips.
That I was a Muslim, the leaderof the Muslim Crips.

(51:14):
I was making $30 million amonth.
I was going all these places.
If I went somewhere, they saidI went there to say I might've
went to see somebody that was ona map saying that I was dealing
in all these places.
That was the connection to thegangs and the Medellin cartel.
All lines they showing tablesfull of money, tables full of

(51:37):
cocaine, gang bangers gettingarrested on the streets of la.
All look like this justhappened.
They got no money.
They got some product, but notno tables fulls of cocaine, but
that was so I wouldn't get bail,gotcha.
They released that that wasover with.

(52:00):
I'm a threat to society, to thewhole country.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Now let me tell you something about Life is
everything.
Oh my God.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Everything.
So let me tell you, man, I wasreformed just going through the
process, because it was thefirst time I went through a real
, the real process.
I was really reformed then, man, to be honest with you.
But I'm going to tell you, huh,how long were you?

Speaker 2 (52:29):
did you?
Were you end up being in there?

Speaker 1 (52:32):
So I was sentenced to 195 months.
That's like 16 plus years.
Yeah, it's crazy how you got todo the math when they give you
the kind of sentences right, soI, but I only did nine because I
, when I, once I got in, I'mfighting, I'm in the law library
, you know, I found out that mylawyer didn't really know what

(52:52):
he was talking about.
He just didn't know that oneconspiracy is one conspiracy,
not that I'm going to getcharged in Texas, hawaii,
seattle and get a sentence there, like that's what he told me.
I don't think he knew.
Anyway, so I get to 16, I endedup fighting it.
But while I was in prison, myfirst year in prison end up

(53:16):
fighting it.
But while I was in prison, myfirst year in prison, I learned
from some OGs.
You know, man, program leaders,let the streets go.
You know, stay busy.
I'm educating my mind because Icame to a decision, because when
I was in Cook Inlet in AlaskaI'm sitting there watching the
Sally Jesse Raphael show and man, I got an epiphany.
I'm watching it.
Jesse Raphael show and man, Igot an epiphany.

(53:36):
I'm watching it.
It's this family on there andthe husband and they talking
about the wife, how she wasstrung out on cocaine, on rocks
and man, I'm watching it and ithit me that I was a part of that
.
I contributed to it, eventhough, like I was on a higher
level.
I mean, I made all kinds ofexcuses.

(53:57):
You know somebody's going to doit I don't really deal with the
customer but no, at that pointI came to the realization that I
was a part of that.
I contributed to my own demiseof my own community.
And then, after that, I made aconscious decision that I was
going to give back.

(54:17):
I was going to dedicate my lifeto giving back.
First, I was going to educatemy mind.
I was going to become educated.
I was going to read because Iwas like, I mean, I'm gonna
learn a new word every day, I'mgonna learn some new stuff every
day.
And I did you know, and I did.
I did you know, like I said,when I was in sheridan my first
year, uh, a guy came hey, stace,hey, man, when you go home.

(54:41):
And I told him it was like 2016or something.
He was like man, that's a buckrogers day.
He said, man, you're walkingaround here like you're going
home next week.
That's how I was programmed andI was getting ready now you
were.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
You were outside even though you were in.
You were exactly oh man, that'sawesome.
Yeah was programmed and I wasgetting ready, you were you were
outside, even though you werein.
You were living.
Oh man, yeah, and I was in thatlaw library man.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
I was fighting man and uh and I end up, so why so I
they?
I got transferred to Phoenixand Phoenix I met this African
guy, man, this brother was.
You know, we was playing pingpong.
I was good at ping pong andthem Africans in Asia they could
play that ping pong, so Ilearned a lot from him and he
was good at the law work so hehelped me.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
He helped me get my paperwork together and file my
brief.
I filed for ineffectiveassistance to counsel.
There was a case out about thegun that was at the location
where I got, so I got an extrafive for the gun plus the
conspiracy.
But what happened was there wasa case where a brother because

(55:47):
this is what happened with thecourt they arrest you, they
gaffled all your property, theyconfiscate all your property and
your property goes to court andgets convicted and confiscated
by the government.
Now if that happens before youget convicted and sentenced,

(56:08):
that's double jeopardy Becauseyou can't be charged for the
same crime a second time.
Exactly can't be, yeah, chargedfor the same crime the second
time exactly.
And if you charge it this, itwas happening and people were
winning in the um, the statelevel order, not the appellate
level, but the lower levelcourts.
They were winning that eventhough the prosecution, of
course, was appealing and itended up going to supreme court.

(56:31):
But anyway, I got that in therebecause they did me like that,
took all my stuff prior, since Igot all this mouth.
Oh, my time, it was right.
I was like, oh, happy, so I gotthe gun, which is some case law
that I'm.
I can win the double jeopardistcase law.
I can win the ineffectiveassistance of counsel is a
stretch.
If you win that, you look.

(56:52):
Yeah but I got those threethings in and it they look good.
I I get a letter from theprosecutor saying that if I
don't withdraw my appeal, likehow I got busted, is the guy I
was buying from told on meGotcha, okay, nobody, nobody I

(57:15):
sold to nobody.
In my own Nobody got arrestedor anything.
Beside me and my brother Okay,nobody, we sell to or anything.
But I'm this big person, I'mthis person that they put on the
news but only y'all only got meand my brother.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Cause I ain't talking .
Cause when they took me inthere they was like, hey, you
just sent 400,000 to your motherand sister.
You know they going to jail.
You know, if you don't help,help us, because we know you
ain't been dealing with ramosfor two years.
Yeah, I was like, well, mom andthem going to jail because I
don't know what you're talkingabout.
Oh, that prosecutor went crazy.
Man, he's like you're, you'renever getting out.

(57:54):
We got you hand to hand 250grams of crack cocaine.
When I walked out I was likeman, I ain't sold no crack
cocaine in so long and I, youknow what I mean.
But what they had was the guy Iwas buying from had called me
one day, two years prior to thishappening, and wanted me to
cook something for him.

(58:14):
I wasn't doing no cooking, nomore or anything, and I went
over there and cooked up 250grams that he had a sale for.
That was the feds, because thefeds he.
250 grams that he had a salefor, that was the beds, because
the feds.
He wasn't that big of a guy gotto make the sentence long for
him give me 250 grams, that's.
And back then that was times100, that's 25 keys, gotcha.

(58:39):
That my sentence.
My crime was cooking that 250grams gotcha.
They gave me 16 years for that.
Never been in trouble beforewow is that crazy so

Speaker 2 (58:52):
you spend the night in that you get out and how are
you helping.
I mean, what are you doing now?
I mean how is it?
How has it?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
all passed since so I go back, I get some time
reduction, I start planning, Imake a five year plan when I get
out.
You know, I want to have ahouse, a business, nice car, you
know, and I want to be doingthings that meet my values.
That's my real freedom.
So, man, all of it happened inone year.

(59:23):
In one year I was back inWoodland Hills with a swimming
pool, nice vehicle, got my kidsto live with me in a legitimate
business.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
What was that business?

Speaker 1 (59:35):
It was alarm systems.
Okay, I was selling ATT alarms.
And so I get home and this is acrazy story in and of itself
Because I'm in the house.
I get home to the halfway house.
My buddies, who I had dear timewith, was running an ADT
distribution where they sell thepaper.
They sell the alarms andcompany install it and

(59:57):
everything.
But they sell in the paper.
They're going out getting thesecontracts from the customers.
So I get with them.
They know my business ac paper.
They going out getting thesecontracts from the customers, so
I get with them.
They know my business acumen.
They bring me in and like comeon, stay as soon as I get home.
You know, bring me in, but theyin trouble.
They in trouble because they'vebeen lazy, they out partying
and whatever.
Yeah, so the rent I get with therent guys.

(01:00:19):
First I say how much moneyy'all got?
They tell me I give it to rentpeople, the employees, everybody
make a deal.
When it came time to give methat money, he had bought a
laptop or something.
So I was like, oh man, I'm in.
And now I'm in the halfway.
I can't leave unless I have ajob.
I call my brother.
My brother got platinum vaultentertainment.
You know he rent houses inmalibu, whatever give parties.

(01:00:40):
Back then that was cracking.
So I go to his office onWilshire.
I'm trying to find this one guywho knows the whole alarm thing
, because they didn't hook me upwith the paper guy.
I know where to take the paperto get the money, but I ain't
never sold, no, nothing.
I ain't sold nothing.

(01:01:00):
But I know the whole business.
And I know the guy who know howto sell A young guy.
I'm trying to catch him.
We making appointments.
I can't never catch him.
So one Friday it's decision time.
I'm running out of money.
My brother gave me a Suburbanthat I got to pay for, you know.
Plus I'm paying the halfwayhouse and I'm running out of

(01:01:21):
money.
I ran out of money, I didn'tran out of money.
So I tell my cousin after jumaprayer I said, man, I need to
borrow some money.
I said after today I'm going tomeet this guy.
Today it was friday, I'm goingto meet this guy.
This is it.
If he ain't there, I gotta findsomething else to do.
The alarms ain't gonna beworking for me because they loan
me the money.
I'm headed to the guy's houseon my way to the halfway house

(01:01:44):
because I got to be there foryou know.
So I'm going there.
Now, while I'm in the driving inthe neighborhood to go to the
guy's spot, is some Hispanicpeople knocking on doors.
I said what y'all do?
Oh, we selling alarms.
Well, how much y'all get on thelaw?
They was like oh, we get ahundred dollars.
I said I give you $250.

(01:02:04):
Yeah, I see what I'm saying.
Yeah, I was like that's ally'all getting.
I give you $250.
You know they what?
Give me your number.
We ain't changed nothing.
Go to the guy's house.
Of course he ain't there.
Get to the halfway house, likeyou ain't even supposed to have
a cell phone, but I answer thephone.
He said hey man, you talking tomy people, you talking to my
guys.
I was like hey man, I'm sorry.
No, no, no.

(01:02:25):
What did you tell them?
Now, granted, I'm in the halfwayhouse, I go to my office.
So the guy he's like where canwe meet?
I want to talk to you, let'smake a deal.
So I was like wilshire.
But this guy's from south bay,he don't want to go way to

(01:02:45):
wilshire.
So the only thing I knew thatpeople did was meet at starbucks
.
I ain't even had a starbuckscoffee yet.
So I had a guy meet me atstarbucks, so he meet me at
starbucks and he got a crew offive people plus himself.
If you want to open up an officein Miami, I will open up your

(01:03:05):
office in Miami.
Whatever you want, I will makeit happen for you, because I'm
not greedy, I'm on a piece ofyou know.
He know how the game works, howmuch we got paid off the paper,
you know, and I'm offering himlike half way more than anybody
else was giving me.
You know I'm gonna make you apartner because, like, we sell
the paper, we get 1200, thealarm system costs 99, the labor

(01:03:30):
is 125, the rest is profit.
Yeah, so I'm.
I offered him half.
He agreed, bro, the next day wego out door knocking.
I go with them because I'mtrying to learn.
Now they said I sell my firstone.
That's $1,200 for me, I mean,or $1,000 after everything is

(01:03:51):
paid, because I sold one.
They sold alarms, bro.
It was like I was back in thegame.
I was making $5,000, $10,000 aweek.
I was cleaning up about thehouse of woodland hills.
You know it all came tofruition earlier than I thought.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
That's why planning you had a five-year plan, so
you're playing the planning iskey, man, and you start making
steps.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
so you make a five-year plan and then you
decide what you got to getaccomplished every year, to get
to that plan, every month, everyweek, down to the daily, and
you can make it happen.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Well, now, because we were on time.
But what, what?
So the alarms doing that?
Were there any other businessesafter that, did you?

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Oh yeah, so I know I transition.
So look like I told you.
You, I remember I told you Iwas into technology so I watched
.
Now, what's crazy is, theinternet didn't take off till I
got home.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
I got home like 2004 so yeah, so you're right at the
beginning of the I was at thebeginning.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
So, uh, the cam digital cameras was just
starting.
I watched him just put it outthere because I'm buying my
equipment for the alarms at thesecurity distribution places and
I start seeing these cameras.
I don't know nothing about them, man.
I buy everything, trainedmyself on it.

(01:05:21):
They told me what it could do.
I buy everything, trainedmyself on it.
They told me what it could do.
They said you could see itonline.
I went and got a Palm Pilot.
That first little phone thatwas, you know, was at home.
Let me see.
Let me see.
And it was.
And then you're out the picture.
But, bro, I was one of thefirst people.

(01:05:44):
Now there was other cameracompanies that did cameras.
They were big, they only soldto airports and you had to have
a zillion dollars to get cameras.
I'm one of the first.
I'm not the first, but I'm oneof the first people not just
black, but first people to sellto anybody.
You got 3000, you can get this.

(01:06:05):
I don't don't care where you.
I started out serving smokeshops.
I was selling to all the smokeshops, then gas stations, then
my first big job was the forddealership on sentinella.
Okay, for ten thousand to putthem cameras there.
Yeah, and from there it was all.
I was just out of control.

(01:06:26):
I built that company, platinumvault it was once platinum vault
entertainment became platinumvault Inc.
Platinum vault security.
I built it up to a milliondollar a year company.
I was doing prisons.
I was in the prison puttingcameras in california oh my gosh
yeah, man.

(01:06:48):
So then I moved.
I moved out here to phoenix.
Okay, I had you know, because Imade a lot of money out there.
You know I sold my house.
Came out here, man bought ahouse, swimming pool, some, and
bought a behavioral healthbusiness.
Now I got two.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Wow, and still going.
I'm still going.
It's just who you are.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
It's just who I am, man.
If I touch it, it turn to gold.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Man, it's so cool to just see, because what I'm
gleaning from it is, if you getand you learn and you pay
attention, you can do anythingEven though you learned it in an
illegal business.
It translates Business isbusiness.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
Supply and demand, making customers happy, it's all
business.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
What I'd love to do.
If you're willing, maybe in afew weeks or a month or so we'll
come back and just kind of talkabout.
Maybe we can just have a showabout some of the business
practices that you put together,like the things like from
beginning to end, like okay,this is how you set up sales,
this is how you set up, you know, by employees, the things that
you talked about.
I'm not being greedy, right, somany people who make a ton of

(01:08:06):
money aren't the ones trying toget all the money back to
themselves.
Like I don't need 90%commission, I need partners, I
need people that I could trust,I need people and maybe we can
just go through, like you know,let's say, the top 10 things
that a businessman should do ifthey want to scale their
business.
You know absolutely I think I'dlove to do that because it

(01:08:28):
because you, obviously you knowit, you've done it, and you've
done it in more than just oneindustry.
Right, you did, you've done it,whether it's carpet cleaning,
or whether it's security orcameras, whatever it is, you
figured out the formula fordoing it.
Maybe we can talk about whatthat would be absolutely so.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
I wrote two other books, okay, one from the
streets to success, and theother one is how to start and
launch a business there it iswhen you said that.
I was like you, right on time,because a lot of people have the
idea.
See, cuz, what I want to do?
I want to be a coach, abusiness coach.
You know, I want to take youridea.

(01:09:08):
You just got an idea and I'mgonna make it reality all the
way to launching.
To see some people they gotthat idea but they don't have
the fortitude or the you know,the stick-to-itiveness that's
what I like to call it to go allthe way to the end.
Me, if I start something, Ifinish it.
You understand, and you got toknow when to walk away.

(01:09:31):
See, a lot of people don't knowwhen to walk away and like, if
you get in business, always havea way out.
You know whether it's sale oryou know how you go liquid.
You got to always keep that inthe back of your mind.
Don't become a slave to yourbusiness oh my god, it's so good
so good.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
So how do they get their website?
You have right now that theycan go with the book, just
amazon.
How does somebody go get with?

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
yeah, the book the cocaine chef is on amazon and
it's on my website, stacy dashHarpercom.
And, like I said, I'm going tobe giving, doing coaching.
I got the streets to successand I'm giving away stuff, like
if you get the book from mywebsite, I give you the streets

(01:10:14):
to success for free.
I'm always offering something.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
I love it, I love it, love it, love it.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on.
We're going to come back, we'regoing to do a special show just

(01:10:44):
for you guys.
We're going to start, you know,whatever, whatever the game of
you trying to go do somethingillegal, but he's doing it all
legal now, uh, and heunderstands how to do it, and so
I thank you for being on theshow.
Thank you for your willingnessto to take your time, be
vulnerable, because I know youknow that story is.
You know some, some peopledon't want to tell that story.
Some people say, no, I'll justtell you about the good stuff,
but then leave out all the stuffthat got you to where you're at
, and I just appreciate yourwillingness to do that.

(01:11:05):
Uh go and get his books.
Uh go to his website that'sstacyhoppercom.
Uh, not, not stacy hyphenhoppercom.
Right, and so yeah go there,check out the books.
I'm sure you will will lovethem.
If you are looking for othershows, as we do, we have content
that is helping people out, sohit, subscribe, hit notification
, hit all the YouTube stuff thatfolks do so that you make sure

(01:11:28):
you're getting the latestepisode of the things that we're
doing on this show, and so wewill look forward to talking to
you.
I believe you're God's greatestgift.
He loves you, if you allow himto, and we will talk to you on
the next one.
You guys have an amazing day,thank you.
Thank you, stacey.
We'll talk to you guys soon.