Greg Giangrande is a transformative Human Resources and Communications leader with an exceptional record and reputation as a trusted partner and counselor to CEOs, Executive Leadership teams and Company Boards across iconic, multi-platform companies with global scale. Recognized as a leading authority on careers and the workplace, Greg is the "GoToGreg" career advice columnist for the NY Post; was a weekly on-air contributor for IHeart Radio WOR 710 prior morning show; and frequent television on-air contributor for Good Day NY, Fox5 News. He is currently the Global Chief People and Communications Officer for Ellucian - a private equity-owned global market leader in Ed Tech powering the future of Higher Education. Greg has a BA in Journalism and a MA in Communications from New York University, where he taught public speaking and communications courses as an adjunct faculty member for 20 years.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here again is Larry Minty with the WR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You've heard career advice specialist Greg g and Grande on
Menty in the morning. What you don't know about Greg
is that his son died a year ago while traveling
abroad and that was only the beginning of his nightmare.
Greg here at WLR. Of course we all know your story,
but thanks for having the bravery through your sorrow to
(00:30):
tell your story because I think it's important and you'll
help protect other parents. And with that, the story is
yours to tell, So tell us what happened.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, Thank you, Larry, and to Natalie and the station
for giving me this opportunity to not only tell our
soun's story, but as you mentioned, to have it be
a cautionary tale that helps others, because that's what our son, Elias,
dedicated his life to doing. And it felt meant to
be because Wednesday's is my normal day for appearing on
(01:03):
the program and today marks the one year anniversary when
we received every parent's worst nightmare, and that was a
call in the middle of the night telling us that
our son was dead, killed in an accident when a
speeding taxi hit him and his friend on a scooter
in Thailand. And what happened after that was not just
(01:25):
the grieving process of profound loss. It was a discovery
of just how dark and disturbing the realities are of
a location that is most often glorified as an exotic paradise.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Now, your son, what was fascinating about this, and what
was also heartbreaking about it is that he was on
a mission of safety. He wanted to help others.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
That's what he dedicated his life to. He was an
emergency first responder, a master scuba and Rescue dive tructor,
a licensed two hundred ton vessel captain, and he had
special tsa clearance for accessing restricted marine areas. I mean,
this was a young man who's twenty eight years old.
(02:12):
His name was Elias Captain Elias Atticus giam Grande, and
he had to go through extensive background checks and interviews
and testing and maintain a spotless record. And I should
say that he died helping his friend Jack, whose scooter
had broken down, and tragically Jack passed too. And Jack
(02:34):
was also a respected, service oriented young professional with a
clean record. But what happened after that is really where
it gets very disturbing.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, we'll get to that in a second. Explain why
they were in Thailand.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Sure, well, he was with three buddies and they were
traveling on a mix of business and pleasure. My son
was scouting locations to set up sailing and dive excursions
and keeping with his profession for a new company he
had started, uh called Dream Week, and so he regularly
(03:11):
traveled around the world to scout different exotic locations to
set up these trips and and so that's why he
was there. And of course when you're doing that kind
of travel, you you mix in some some pleasure, and
so that that's why you know they were there. And
you know, after we got this call, immediately the you know,
(03:34):
we're in shock. And immediately, you know, we we realized
things were amiss. The Thai authorities blamed the boys without
even conducting an investigation, despite the fact that the taxi
driver admitted to speeding and didn't receive so much as
a summons, and so you know that all seemed, you know,
(03:58):
really disturbing to us. But it got worse when when
we arrived in Thailand to identify our son and bring
them home, the local police took me directly to the precinct,
where I sat for hours, and they told me I
needed to pay ten thousand dollars US cash to the
(04:21):
taxi driver and the scooter company for damages to the vehicles.
And they said if I didn't pay that they couldn't
release our son's body.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So this was they were trying to extort that.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Absolutely, I'm in shock, hadn't slept for two days because
it takes a day to get there, and all they
and and so I asked, what laws are you talking about,
what evidence do you have, what investigation did you do?
And all they kept insisting that without the payment for
the damage to the vehicles, they could not release our
(04:57):
son's body. And they were they were saying that they
were trying to help me, that I could be in trouble,
and they were trying to make this all go smoothly.
And they even offered to drive me to ATM Machines
to take out cash.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Good.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So, yes, extortion, plain and simple.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, it was. They were taking they were trying to
take advantage of your heartbreak. Do you did you have
the feeling that this happens a lot, that this is
this is standard practice for this police department.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, I mean I didn't until I eventually got the
US embassy involved, and they called the police station and
they told them that what they were, what they were
trying to do, was unlawful and that they knew that
and they couldn't withhold our sun's remains. And then the
embassy told me that this kind of exploitation is common
(05:50):
in Thailand, that local authorities and business owners routinely try
to extort money from tourists. They make false claims about
minor school or jet ski damage, they blame them for accidents.
Tourists are threatened with prosecution, detention, withholding their passport so
they can't leave the island, and in our case, withholding
(06:14):
our son's bodies. And there are agencies. We discovered there
are agencies in Thailand whose sole purpose, their sole function
is arranging the transport of dead bodies back to their
families around the world, and they're busy twenty four to seven.
That is how dangerous these islands are.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It's dangerous, but then it's exploitive after that. So I
really can't believe what you're going through. I would imagine
you wanted to come on the air to tell this story.
To warn everybody to stay away.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
We had to, so we eventually got our son off
the island and home. But our family feels a deep
responsibility to make people aware of these dangers and we
need to pressure our government to change the travel advisories.
This is shocking. We need to protect our citizens. The
dangers are real and they're documented. We did exhaustive research
(07:12):
and we hired private investigators and attorneys and talked to
the US embassy and that you know, the Thaighland that
we think of as an exotic paradise, it's not. It's
paradise loss. That this is all super common. And these
island hotspots like Copanang and Kotel their life with criminal activity, gangs, alcohol, poisoning,
(07:36):
police crystem corruption. There are tourists shakedowns every day and
the amount of accidents and industries injuries and deaths, many
under suspicious circumstances. We also discovered that one island, Kotel,
has been nicknamed death Island because of the number of
unexplained tourist deaths and disappearances there. And you could if
(07:59):
you do just a cursory sort of investigation online, you
will discover all this. And we discovered it the hard way,
and they lure tens of thousands of young tourists each
month to cop Hanging and Kotau for these all night
beach parties, and they serve cheap, unlimited and often tainted alcohol.
(08:23):
And then the roads are congested with scooters and taxis,
and the roads are dark and they're unpaved, and there's
no regulation, there's no insurance, there's no enforcement of traffic laws.
The vehicles aren't maintained, no safety inspections, they break down constantly,
and taxis are known to drive recklessly. And this is
(08:45):
what the US Embassy was telling us, and investigators who
actually live on the island said that this is routine.
It's just so much of it isn't reported.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What's amazing to me is that they knew all this
and there's no travel advisory. As you said that, that's
just incredible to me. What what can listeners do? How
can we help?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So, so that's what we need to change, because with
all these dangers and without any medical infrastructure, there anything
remotely resembling Western standards. Right, and then then like even
if you get off those islands, Bangkok is is you know,
filled with human trafficking and child prostitution. Our country has
(09:30):
Thailand as the lowest level advisory, Level one. Other countries
like the UK, Canada and Australia, they have high level
travel warnings for Thailand. And not only do we have
Thailand as a level one while those other countries have
it as a high level. Do you know that the
(09:51):
US travel advisory for the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark,
Sweden and other countries is level two higher than Thailand.
So that is unconscionable. Our government needs to change the
travel advisory for Thailand, needs to make these dangers aware
(10:11):
to our citizens. So we've been contacting everyone, Department of
Homeland Security, the State Department, our senators, and that's what
everyone needs to do. You need to contact your representatives.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Well, thanks for having the bravery to share that story today.
It's an important story. I hope everybody takes action on this.
I hope your family is doing okay. And thanks so much,
Greg Larry.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
If I could just mention one more thing, that's set
up a foundation, it's Captain Elias Treasurechest dot org to
raise safety awareness and to continue the other causes that
Elias dedicated his life to, which included marine conservation and
youth programs. So you can learn more and support this
mission at Captain Elias treasure Chest dot com or thank
(11:00):
you so much for giving me this opportunity, and I
hope if this just saves one person's life, it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, thank you so much for telling that story. I
know it must be difficult for you. Greg gian Grande,
career advice expert. You can check them out on go
to Greg dot com and we will share that website online.
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from WR.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Here again is Larry Minty with the WR Saturday Morning Show.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You've heard career advice specialist Greg g and Grande on
Menty in the morning. What you don't know about Greg
is that his son died a year ago while traveling
abroad and that was only the beginning of his nightmare.
Greg here at WLR. Of course we all know your story,
but thanks for having the bravery through your sorrow to
(00:30):
tell your story because I think it's important and you'll
help protect other parents. And with that, the story is
yours to tell, So tell us what happened.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, Thank you, Larry, and to Natalie and the station
for giving me this opportunity to not only tell our
soun's story, but as you mentioned, to have it be
a cautionary tale that helps others, because that's what our son, Elias,
dedicated his life to doing. And it felt meant to
be because Wednesday's is my normal day for appearing on
(01:03):
the program and today marks the one year anniversary when
we received every parent's worst nightmare, and that was a
call in the middle of the night telling us that
our son was dead, killed in an accident when a
speeding taxi hit him and his friend on a scooter
in Thailand. And what happened after that was not just
(01:25):
the grieving process of profound loss. It was a discovery
of just how dark and disturbing the realities are of
a location that is most often glorified as an exotic paradise.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Now, your son, what was fascinating about this, and what
was also heartbreaking about it is that he was on
a mission of safety. He wanted to help others.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
That's what he dedicated his life to. He was an
emergency first responder, a master scuba and Rescue dive tructor,
a licensed two hundred ton vessel captain, and he had
special tsa clearance for accessing restricted marine areas. I mean,
this was a young man who's twenty eight years old.
(02:12):
His name was Elias Captain Elias Atticus giam Grande, and
he had to go through extensive background checks and interviews
and testing and maintain a spotless record. And I should
say that he died helping his friend Jack, whose scooter
had broken down, and tragically Jack passed too. And Jack
(02:34):
was also a respected, service oriented young professional with a
clean record. But what happened after that is really where
it gets very disturbing.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, we'll get to that in a second. Explain why
they were in Thailand.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Sure, well, he was with three buddies and they were
traveling on a mix of business and pleasure. My son
was scouting locations to set up sailing and dive excursions
and keeping with his profession for a new company he
had started, uh called Dream Week, and so he regularly
(03:11):
traveled around the world to scout different exotic locations to
set up these trips and and so that's why he
was there. And of course when you're doing that kind
of travel, you you mix in some some pleasure, and
so that that's why you know they were there. And
you know, after we got this call, immediately the you know,
(03:34):
we're in shock. And immediately, you know, we we realized
things were amiss. The Thai authorities blamed the boys without
even conducting an investigation, despite the fact that the taxi
driver admitted to speeding and didn't receive so much as
a summons, and so you know that all seemed, you know,
(03:58):
really disturbing to us. But it got worse when when
we arrived in Thailand to identify our son and bring
them home, the local police took me directly to the precinct,
where I sat for hours, and they told me I
needed to pay ten thousand dollars US cash to the
(04:21):
taxi driver and the scooter company for damages to the vehicles.
And they said if I didn't pay that they couldn't
release our son's body.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So this was they were trying to extort that.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Absolutely, I'm in shock, hadn't slept for two days because
it takes a day to get there, and all they
and and so I asked, what laws are you talking about,
what evidence do you have, what investigation did you do?
And all they kept insisting that without the payment for
the damage to the vehicles, they could not release our
(04:57):
son's body. And they were they were saying that they
were trying to help me, that I could be in trouble,
and they were trying to make this all go smoothly.
And they even offered to drive me to ATM Machines
to take out cash.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Good.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So, yes, extortion, plain and simple.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, it was. They were taking they were trying to
take advantage of your heartbreak. Do you did you have
the feeling that this happens a lot, that this is
this is standard practice for this police department.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, I mean I didn't until I eventually got the
US embassy involved, and they called the police station and
they told them that what they were, what they were
trying to do, was unlawful and that they knew that
and they couldn't withhold our sun's remains. And then the
embassy told me that this kind of exploitation is common
(05:50):
in Thailand, that local authorities and business owners routinely try
to extort money from tourists. They make false claims about
minor school or jet ski damage, they blame them for accidents.
Tourists are threatened with prosecution, detention, withholding their passport so
they can't leave the island, and in our case, withholding
(06:14):
our son's bodies. And there are agencies. We discovered there
are agencies in Thailand whose sole purpose, their sole function
is arranging the transport of dead bodies back to their
families around the world, and they're busy twenty four to seven.
That is how dangerous these islands are.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It's dangerous, but then it's exploitive after that. So I
really can't believe what you're going through. I would imagine
you wanted to come on the air to tell this story.
To warn everybody to stay away.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
We had to, so we eventually got our son off
the island and home. But our family feels a deep
responsibility to make people aware of these dangers and we
need to pressure our government to change the travel advisories.
This is shocking. We need to protect our citizens. The
dangers are real and they're documented. We did exhaustive research
(07:12):
and we hired private investigators and attorneys and talked to
the US embassy and that you know, the Thaighland that
we think of as an exotic paradise, it's not. It's
paradise loss. That this is all super common. And these
island hotspots like Copanang and Kotel their life with criminal activity, gangs, alcohol, poisoning,
(07:36):
police crystem corruption. There are tourists shakedowns every day and
the amount of accidents and industries injuries and deaths, many
under suspicious circumstances. We also discovered that one island, Kotel,
has been nicknamed death Island because of the number of
unexplained tourist deaths and disappearances there. And you could if
(07:59):
you do just a cursory sort of investigation online, you
will discover all this. And we discovered it the hard way,
and they lure tens of thousands of young tourists each
month to cop Hanging and Kotau for these all night
beach parties, and they serve cheap, unlimited and often tainted alcohol.
(08:23):
And then the roads are congested with scooters and taxis,
and the roads are dark and they're unpaved, and there's
no regulation, there's no insurance, there's no enforcement of traffic laws.
The vehicles aren't maintained, no safety inspections, they break down constantly,
and taxis are known to drive recklessly. And this is
(08:45):
what the US Embassy was telling us, and investigators who
actually live on the island said that this is routine.
It's just so much of it isn't reported.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What's amazing to me is that they knew all this
and there's no travel advisory. As you said that, that's
just incredible to me. What what can listeners do? How
can we help?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
So, so that's what we need to change, because with
all these dangers and without any medical infrastructure, there anything
remotely resembling Western standards. Right, and then then like even
if you get off those islands, Bangkok is is you know,
filled with human trafficking and child prostitution. Our country has
(09:30):
Thailand as the lowest level advisory, Level one. Other countries
like the UK, Canada and Australia, they have high level
travel warnings for Thailand. And not only do we have
Thailand as a level one while those other countries have
it as a high level. Do you know that the
(09:51):
US travel advisory for the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark,
Sweden and other countries is level two higher than Thailand.
So that is unconscionable. Our government needs to change the
travel advisory for Thailand, needs to make these dangers aware
(10:11):
to our citizens. So we've been contacting everyone, Department of
Homeland Security, the State Department, our senators, and that's what
everyone needs to do. You need to contact your representatives.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Well, thanks for having the bravery to share that story today.
It's an important story. I hope everybody takes action on this.
I hope your family is doing okay. And thanks so much,
Greg Larry.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
If I could just mention one more thing, that's set
up a foundation, it's Captain Elias Treasurechest dot org to
raise safety awareness and to continue the other causes that
Elias dedicated his life to, which included marine conservation and
youth programs. So you can learn more and support this
mission at Captain Elias treasure Chest dot com or thank
(11:00):
you so much for giving me this opportunity, and I
hope if this just saves one person's life, it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, thank you so much for telling that story. I
know it must be difficult for you. Greg gian Grande,
career advice expert. You can check them out on go
to Greg dot com and we will share that website online.
This has been a podcast from wor
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.