The Connect- with Johnny Mitchell
Former drug trafficker and standup comedian Johnny Mitchell takes you inside the world of drugs, crime, prison, and the politics of the War on Drugs.
Episodes
December 21, 2025 • 166 mins
What does it really look like to live as a professional high-stakes gambler at the very top of the casino food chain?
In this episode, Johnny sits down with RJ “Chip” Ryan — a legendary blackjack whale who spent decades betting millions per hand in casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas to Macau. RJ tells the raw, unfiltered story of how he went from a broke gambler driving to Atlantic City with his last $5,000, to carrying $10...
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December 14, 2025 • 164 mins
In this explosive episode, Johnny sits down with Aaron Peila — a former multi-state Oxy distributor who survived five brutal years inside USP Victorville, one of the deadliest federal prisons in America. From running a massive opioid pipeline across Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest to navigating the violent racial politics of high-security federal lockup, Aaron pulls no punches as he breaks down his story in r...
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December 7, 2025 • 193 mins
Step inside one of the most legendary — and misunderstood — eras in American crime history. For the first time ever, Whitey Sullivan, the right-hand man to Washington D.C.’s infamous drug lord Rayful Edmond, sits down on camera to finally set the record straight.
Whitey was there for all of it — from Rayful becoming a teenage millionaire valedictorian and star basketball player… to building a cocaine pipeline from Los Angeles to...
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November 30, 2025 • 133 mins
In today’s episode Johnny sits down with legendary DEA agent Chris Feistl — one of the most effective and consequential drug enforcement agents in U.S. history. Chris personally arrested Miguel and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, the elusive bosses of the Cali Cartel, widely considered the most powerful drug trafficking organization of all time. If you watched Narcos Season 3 on Netflix, you’ve already seen part of his story — Chris i...
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November 23, 2025 • 142 mins
Johnny sits down with Pete Polis — a former Long Island baseball standout who went from MLB prospect… to becoming one of the largest dealers in Washington state history.
Pete’s story sounds like something ripped straight out of Breaking Bad. After a promising baseball career with stints in the Blue Jays and Yankees organizations, a series of self-sabotaging choices pushed him out of the sport he loved. Settling into small-town l...
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November 16, 2025 • 175 mins
In this powerful, deeply personal interview, Tanc walks us through a life shaped by gang culture, prison time, cartel connections, near-death situations, and ultimately—transformation.
From his early days in the California state system to navigating the dangerous world of cross-border drug trafficking, he breaks down how major operations moved product from Peru and Mexico into the U.S., what it was like coordinating “jumps” acro...
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November 9, 2025 • 139 mins
Author Matt Cox joins the show to unpack an online conspiracy linking country megastar Garth Brooks to clusters of disappearances and unsolved homicides—claims that exploded from Tom Segura & Christina P’s Your Mom’s House meme into a crowdsourced rabbit hole. We stress: these are allegations and speculation, not proven facts. Still, Matt walks us through why some internet sleuths think the timelines and tour stops are suspicious, ...
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November 2, 2025 • 128 mins
In one of the most unbelievable redemption stories ever told, Johnny sits down with Dave Franke, a man whose life has taken him from the streets of North Hollywood to the front lines of Mexico’s war against the cartels.
After losing custody of his daughter, he made the unthinkable choice — to move to Zacatecas, Mexico, and join the state police, fighting the same cartels that once supplied the drugs that nearly killed him.
He ope...
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October 29, 2025 • 84 mins
In this gripping episode, Johnny sits down with security expert Ed Calderon to break down the brewing storm across Latin America — from U.S. military posturing near Venezuela to narco-terrorism, drone warfare, and covert operations in Mexico.
Ed warns that the “War on Drugs” is being rebranded as a war on narco-terror, granting governments new powers while blurring the lines between criminals, rebels, and civilians. They discuss...
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October 26, 2025 • 53 mins
Inside Colombia’s hidden war, where guerrilla armies, drug cartels, and corrupt officials fuel the world’s cocaine trade. This documentary takes you deep into the jungles, barrios, and killing fields that the media never shows. Former hitmen and cartel soldiers reveal how children are recruited, trained, and turned into killers — and how Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel now bankrolls Colombia’s drug empire.
From mass kidnappings and para...
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October 19, 2025 • 141 mins
In this explosive episode, former USC football standout Owen Hanson—once living the dream on the field—reveals how he plunged into the dark underworld of the Sinaloa Cartel, moving hundreds of millions in cocaine across continents. Known as “O-Dog”, Hanson opens up about his journey from campus celebrity and sports bookmaker to international drug trafficker working directly with El Chapo’s network.
Host Johnny Mitchell dives dee...
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October 13, 2025 • 88 mins
JD Delay joins me to break down what he saw at the ICE detention facility protests in Portland—beyond the headlines. We talk crowd dynamics, police/federal response, claims of funding/organization, nearby residents caught in the middle, and how to keep nuance in a polarized media environment.
-Firsthand play-by-play from the protest zone
-Whether Portland is “burning” or if unrest is concentrated
-Guns, snipers on rooftops, an...
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October 12, 2025 • 182 mins
Step inside the world of Miami’s most notorious drug trafficker—Pablo Escobar’s #1 cocaine smuggler. In this exclusive sit-down, former cartel insider TJ Dominguez reveals how he built a vertically integrated empire, negotiated directly with Escobar, and moved thousands of kilos from Colombia to the streets of Miami.
From high-speed boat chases under helicopter gunfire to buying off Bahamian officials, he breaks down the smuggli...
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October 5, 2025 • 41 mins
Medellín, Colombia — once the heartbeat of Pablo Escobar’s empire and the most dangerous city on Earth — has transformed in shocking ways. In this episode , Johnny dives deep into the hidden world of Medellín’s modern drug trade.
👉 From basuco “zombie” addicts roaming the hoyas, to the rise of small neighborhood gangs (pandillas) replacing cartels, Medellín tells a story of survival, profit, and transformation. Johnny explores Ba...
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September 28, 2025 • 155 mins
Former CIA officer Andrew Bustamante returns for an unfiltered deep dive into the realities of power, propaganda, and politics in America and beyond. From why Joe Rogan won’t have him on, to the CIA’s controversial role in heroin distribution during the War on Terror, this conversation pulls back the curtain on government accountability, shadow operations, and the blurred line between freedom and control.
We also cover the assas...
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Inside The Sinaloa Cartel's Fight For Survival: How Mexico's Oldest Cartel Is Making It's Last Stand
September 21, 2025 • 42 mins
The Sinaloa Cartel is unraveling—its leaders captured, its factions at war, and U.S. pressure at an all-time high. Yet in Nogales, Sonora, one of Mexico’s most strategic border plazas, business continues as usual.
In this episode, we travel to Nogales to uncover:
-How the Chapitos betrayed El Mayo Zambada with the DEA’s help
-Why Nogales is vital for drug and human smuggling routes into the U.S.
-First-hand accounts from lo...
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September 14, 2025 • 137 mins
In this explosive episode, we sit down with Alex Vargas, a former gang member and cartel sicario who lived through one of the most dangerous eras of crime. Born in Cali, Colombia but raised in Florida, he grew up in gangs, survived violent wars with rivals, and even faced a 65-year sentence in the U.S. before being repatriated back to Colombia.
He opens up about:
-His violent childhood and early murders committed “for fun” in...
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September 7, 2025 • 137 mins
This is the story of a former street hustler, Eric G, who went from growing up in Bayside, Queens during the crack era to running multi-state marijuana operations connected to Jamaicans and eventually one of the powerful and dangerous Mexican cartels in the world before being busted and being spent to prison.
He opens up about:
-Growing up in a Jehovah’s Witness household in Queens during the 80s
-Early exposure to drug cult...
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August 31, 2025 • 72 mins
A Sinaloa Cartel hitman (sicario) sits down for a rare and chilling interview, revealing what life is really like inside one of the world’s most powerful criminal organizations. Speaking from Nogales, Sonora, he explains how he was recruited as a young halcón (lookout), the brutal military torture he survived, and how he rose through the ranks to become a killer for Los Chapitos.
He opens up about:
-The rules, discipline, and...
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August 24, 2025 • 152 mins
In this gripping episode, Rafa Conde, a former DEA agent and narcotics officer pulls back the curtain on America's deadly drug epidemic from his experiences working on the frontlines — from Florida’s infamous pill mills to the explosive rise of fentanyl.
You’ll hear shocking real-life stories about:
-Undercover operations inside opioid clinics
-How doctors fresh out of med school were lured with $500K to prescribe OxyContin
...
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