Episode 233- Canadian Drug Trafficker Ryan Wedding

Ryan Wedding is a former Olympic snowboarder from Canada. He is now one of the most wanted fugitives in the Western Hemisphere. Today I speak to organized crime journalist Katarina Szulc about recent news on Wedding and his current status and connections to the Sinaloa Cartel. Follow Katarina on Twitter and Instagram-  ⁨@katarinaszulc⁩  If you enjoy our show, please hit the like button and make sure if you're new around here you subscribe as well! 

GO CHECK OUT PROPHET X AND GET INVOLVED- https://t.co/hnCEZoj1Sd USE REFERRAL CODE- JEFFNADU Jeff Nadu is an American Mafia and organized crime researcher, podcaster and content creator. He has worked at Barstool Sports and was hired personally by Dave Portnoy. His podcast "The Sitdown" with Jeff Nadu has put out hundreds of biographies on various mobsters, gangsters and criminals. He's also personally interviewed mobsters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Dom Cicale, Anthony Ruggiano Jr, Gene Borrello and others as well as US Prosecutor John Gleeson and FBI Agents Joaquin "Jack" Garcia and Michael Campi. He has been personally endorsed by former Gambino mob captain Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, esteemed author RJ Roger, and former Colombo Crime Family captain Michael Franzese. 

DISCLAIMER: My videos and podcasts are meant for entertainment and educational use. All material found in my videos reflect this use. ANY opinions and or statements of any guest is merely he/her's opinion.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to The sit Down, a Mafia history podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Here's your host, Jeff Nado.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
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(02:33):
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Make sure you check out that video right now, let's
get into the episode this week.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
And maybe you've heard of this story. Maybe you haven't.
I'm not really sure.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
That said, it's probably one of the most interesting stories
going on right now, whether it's in America or up
in Canada. Really in this hemisphere, if I told you
right now one of the most wanted men in this
hemisphere was a former Olympic snowboarder from Canada.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
If you look like this, would you believe me to ever, We're.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Going to talk about the wild story of Ryan Wedding
with really, in my opinion, one of the best organized
crime journalists in this hemisphere, Katterverina Schultz. Katerina, you do
great work with Borderland dispatches. You've been all over the
place talking about cartels and politics and corruption and all
sorts of things. Thanks for coming on. Ryan Wedding, A wild, wild.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Story yeah, thank you for having me. It's so funny
because to me, Ryan Wedding right now is one of
the biggest names in the drug trade transnationally and then
also one of the biggest names in Mexican cartels. But
we don't hear about him as much. And sometimes I
will even speak with people who are in this world,

(03:57):
not on the criminal side, but like law enforcement people
will reach out all the time or intelligence and they'll
be like, oh, I don't really know that name doesn't
ring about and I'm like, what the fuck? This is
literally the right hand man for the Chapicos right now,
especially since the civil war broke out in Kuliaka and

(04:17):
in Sinaloa like over a year ago at this point,
and so not to mention Ryan weddings life story is insane.
He was a I think silver medalist snowboarder at the
Olympics in like ninety nine or two thousand and one.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, kind of to look at a wedding from the beginning.
He was born in nineteen eighty one. He's from Ontario,
thunder Bay, which is in like southwestern Ontario. Family was
in the ski business and you're right by like the
early two late nineties early two thousands, he becomes a
high level snowboarder, so much to the point that he
actually competes for Canada in the Salt Lake City Games

(04:59):
in tw I mean, he was just like a regular
kid who got into winter sports.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, and his dad was an athlete. His mom's family
owned a bunch of ski resorts, like he grew up.
It's it's like the typical Olympian story where your parents
put everything into it to see you succeed, and he
really did. But I'm also not surprised that over the

(05:27):
course of his life, after his Olympic career sort of ended,
so to speak, he got into trafficking cocaine from Colombia
to Mexico and the United States. And the reason why
I'm not surprised is because this is a high achieving
person Like this is someone who it doesn't really matter
what they're doing, they're going to want to be the

(05:49):
best at whatever the fuck industry they're in, right, And
so Wedding went from being in the Olympics to then
his whole family really located to Coquitlam, British Columbia, the
province that I'm from, and over there he started to somehow,
I can explain get into the drug trade. And this

(06:12):
makes sense because if we consider the timeline, this is
when BC bud which was known as like the best
marijuana in the world, was fucking booming. And who was
getting into that was the Sineloa cartel. Because in Canada
we had some of in particular in British Columbia where
Wedding was residing at the time, we had some of

(06:33):
the best marijuana, the largest grow ups and as I
always say, some weak law enforcement, Like come on, we
do not have a strong justice system. So like, if
you're this regular Canadian guy with a big brain who
knows that they can get into this industry, you're gonna
do it pretty much under the radar. Now, I know

(06:55):
he was indicted in like twenty ten, but I'm pretty
sure it was in the US because he was smuggling coke.
He oh, he bought coke from a law enforcement up.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, it was this like rushing guy that he had met.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
He went to lax and it happened to be like
a ci who was working for the government.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Let me ask you, though.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
I'm curious how pervasive during these times was because again
a lot of people just equate was just weed, you know.
I know in the United State, it's like Humboldt County,
California was a big spot for that.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
How pervasive war were weed farms in that area.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Oh man. I remember during this time, it was like
these massive girl ups were being uncovered on the news
all time. Keep in mind, like I wasn't working in
news at this time. I was probably like eight years old, right,
I was always locked into what was going on, right,
and then we had gang land, so basically across Canada,
particularly in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia, there were

(07:50):
these like brazen daylight shootings, like happening at the airport,
at nightclubs, at really posh restaurants. And this was like
we knew that BC bud was lucrative simply by just
looking at how violent the gangs, the local gangs were becoming.
There were hits being taken out constantly, and even like

(08:14):
crime reporters INBC were facing death threats because of what
they were reporting. It was basically like Mexican cartels meets Canada.
And it makes sense because I'm under the impression from
everything that I've seen and research reported that this is
kind of when that connection the Canada Mexican cartel connection

(08:35):
began and this was during that the early twenty twenty
tens of BC bud and then it turned into like meth,
ecstasy and coke.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
One thing, One thing I want to ask you before
we get into his doing.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
You know, there was an investigation into his farm at
that time and other things.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
I want to ask you. One thing I've noticed.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
I've done a lot of work on the mafia in Montreal,
you know, the Razudo crime family, some of the Hell's
Angels groups.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
You would agree that one of the reasons.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
You mentioned Canon is very soft in crime is not
having a reco act.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
You would agree that's that's obviously very large reason as
to why these groups behave the way they do and
why they have become so powerful. Right.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I think even if we had policy that was meant
to particularly target criminals in the drug trade or like
in cartel mafia business, I don't think it would make
a difference because I think it comes down to the
tangible action, and that's where we're seeing the like Canadian
policy makers and law enforcement fall short. It's not the

(09:42):
actual existing policy. Like even for example, we have now
implemented a borders are ourselves, and we designated cartels as
foreign terrorist organizations, like basically followed suit of the US
since January, Yet absolutely nothing in terms of like criminal
repercussions and legal repercussions has changed. Even people right now

(10:05):
who are getting caught with trafficking drugs or like links
to certain large criminal organizations and cartels are not being
charged under the FTO Act or like as foreign terrorists.
They're simply getting slapped with like regular drug charges as
was status quo. So I actually don't think that that
policy would make a difference, to be honest.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Wow, I never really thought of it that way.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
I guess the question that a lot of people would
have you mentioned he gets into this, you know, selling
you good amount of marijuana, large amounts. How does one
go from being a snowboarder in college? You know, at
one point I believe he was in college. Who funds that, like.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yet how he was in college? He went to Simon
Fraser University NBC. But I think, like there's also a
common misconception people are like, oh, how could this like
really smart, good person go like end up being a criminal.
I mean that's literally the perfect recipe for it. I
think you and I would actually be great criminals.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
I've said before, I think I would be because I think,
you know, like I've said, I've looked in a lot
of this to very extensive way, further than most people do.
And again, like you talked about it, like he wanted
to be good at stuff. He learned quickly this was
a lucrative way to make money. And again you just
get into it and you go deep. But like in
terms of like I read that he had gotten some sort.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Of loan from his family and he did dabble in
like real estate.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Do you think he kind of looked at it as
just this is a good way as far as a
legal operations to fund because again, any good criminal they
take the illegal stuff and they turn it into legal stuff, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
And I think that like he had two main things
going for him. First of all, he had like a
very supportive family, and he had access to funds, right
and then also in Canada, especially during that time, it
wasn't hard to sort of get access to funds. It's
like you could go and take out some sort of
loaner and there were there were a lot of criminal

(12:05):
organizations operating in that time that someone like wedding could
go up to like even the Hell's Angels and be like, hey,
I have this major operation. Let's let's go all in
and that would happen. Like that was very realistic and
not to mention, especially like the way wedding is now,
I'm under the impression that he has a really big
ego and like, I don't know if this ever gets him.

(12:27):
I'm not saying that in like an asshole way. I'm
saying that in a way where like I think that
he has this idea that even if he fails, it's
still a success. Like I'm very much like this too,
so I can I can kind of understand how he
operates as a person in this world. Is like I'm untouchable.

(12:47):
I mean I don't feel like that, but I think
he feels like he's untouchable and that no matter what
he does, even if he maybe fucks up, I think
he believes he actually won't fuck up, but even if
there's something, he can shift that to work in his favor.
And like even when his snowboarding coach was talking about him,

(13:08):
it was very much like, yeah, he was a good kid,
he was really hard worker, but he was also very
fearless and he didn't have like an aversion to taking risks.
So that is someone who can do very well and
go to Colombia, for example, get involved with these people
and be like, hey, I'm your next big guy. And

(13:29):
then fast forward to today, he has these insane connections
with the Chepitos of the Sinaloa cartel and I think
he's running most of the operation.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Wow, that's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
I mean you look at you mentioned he was arrested,
right and he did forty eight months at prison in
the two thousands.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think it's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
You take a guy with as you just talked about,
this fearless attitude, willing to kind of really do anything.
You then take him and he was in holding for
like two years in San Diego, which you took about
throwing a guy into a very.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Lucrative way of meeting people, I mean right near to border.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
You make it insane connections. I mean, you put criminals
like this into basically a college type atmosphere with everyone
else that's high level criminals.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
What do you really expect to happen? And that's really
what happens.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
And Wedding had already been selling narcotics, and now it's
just well I was selling weed, let's make let's sell coke.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's more profitable. I think the.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
Time he spent in southern California and then the time
in prison in San Diego was literally networking for him.
Like I think that if that hadn't happened, he would
not have skyrocketed to becoming this like literal kingpin that
he is today. And I think what he also learned,
and he's done a pretty fair job at it, is
operating very much under the radar. He's like there isn't

(14:50):
much attention on him. He's not like El Chapel or
Ivan or Ovivio or even Menchell right, like menche is
very low me to an extent, but everybody knows who
mencheal is. But if I were to go and speak
to just anyone on the street and was like, you know,
Ryan Wedding, they would say no, And you know what,

(15:12):
on Friday nights, they're probably snorting his coke.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
I always wondered, and this would be a good question
for you. And I've asked this to people like all
sorts of news. I've talked to Yo and Grill, I've
talked to you know, all sorts of people Chapar all
those guys. Yeah, yeah, they're all great and like they
all kind of I don't know that they can explain it.
I don't know that you can. What would be the
point where if you're someone like Wedding, right, you're selling cocaine,

(15:38):
You're making a ton of money. As you alluded to,
people do it at parties. Nobody's really ever going to
die from it. You buy for a dollar self for two.
It's very simple.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Why did we see?

Speaker 1 (15:49):
And I know there's profit in it, but why would anyone,
like a person like wedding, why would you ever get
into something like fent and al?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Why do these people get into that business?

Speaker 1 (15:58):
It's just money? I mean, you really killing your customer base?
Why not just stick with cocaine? It's always going to
be there. Everybody does it.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
This is really interesting because I've had a lot of
people bring this to my attention lately too, about like
why fentanel if it's killing people? And Okay, I have
a lot to say about this. First of all, I
think that in like any business, when the demand shifts,
if the company or the organization does not adapt with

(16:32):
that demand shift, they are not going to be as
lucrative or they will have to turn to something more violent.
And like a great way to explain this is through
like the CG and G model, because CG and G
they're not really infentanl like that they're meth, human trafficking,
et cetera. But CG and G has a very violent

(16:54):
mo o and there's a reason for that. They're not
profiting off of fence andyl like the Sinaloa cart hell,
so they do manage to build financial pipelines through other
extremely gruesome means. And that's why I even did that
report on the women in Juarez that their babies were
being stolen from them and they were being murdered, and

(17:14):
a lot of people said to me, like, this is bullshit.
It's not CJ ANDNG and other reporters were saying like
it was Lelina. And what I think a lot of
people fail to understand is that when a cartel is
not adapting to a certain demand, in this instance, take fentanyl,
they are going to do other things that may seem
completely out of this world, beyond most people's comprehension, but

(17:38):
that's the reality of the case here. And so I think,
like for wedding and the chapitos. They have always adapted
to the drug demand. And when people say to me, like,
but if all they care about is money, they wouldn't
be killing users with ventanyl, and it's like, Yeah, people

(18:01):
are dying from fentanyl. People were also dying from heroin.
People also die from meth. The thing is, fentanyl is
so incredibly lucrative. It requires very little ingredients. They have
their pipeline through China. It's so simple to make. And
on top of that, there will never not be a demand.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
Sure, And that's I feel like I've heard you say it,
and that's why I always laugh when I hear these
politicians talking about it. And I'm not going to name
anyone in particular, but they'll talk about we're gonna stop cartels,
We're gonna go into Mexico and take them all out.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yes, And from what.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
I never hear is when we will address the demand
for the product, like why are we going to go
into Baltimore, Philadelphia or Chicago and say why are so
many people doing narcotics? Why are so many people doing fentanyl?
The demand is demand, and I heard you talk about it.
CNN did a report where they asked a cartel guy, Hey,

(18:56):
you know, why do you do this? We just feel
a demand. That's all we're really here for. If something
else was lucrative, we would sell that.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah. And every person I've spoken to within criminal organizations,
albeit from the top to the bottom, has said the
same thing. It's a business and if I'm not going
to do it, somebody else is going to do it,
which is very true. I also have a very hot
take with this because I believe that if somehow, by
the miracle of God, there was no more demand for

(19:25):
drugs and people just stop using drugs and it was
no longer lucrative, the other ways that these criminal organizations
would pursue to make money would be so much more heinous.
It would be a fucking nightmare, like literally how on Earth?
And I know some people will say like, well, it
already is like that, sure, but it would be something

(19:48):
so far beyond like humane comprehension that you'd be like,
holy fuck, bring the drugs back, because that's typically how
it works. It would be because there's always a demand
for something that can have a really dark underbelly, and
I think that the focus would shift to like sex, trafficking,
child trafficking things where it's like, Okay, people aren't doing

(20:09):
drugs anymoll anymore, Well what do other people like to do?
They want to like fuck children, like something just so
horrible and be their main financial pipeline. And so like
my hot take here is like, yeah, drugs are bad,
and yeah it's very sad to see this like chemical
warfare on the streets and in our communities, but like

(20:29):
it could be worse.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
No, that's a good way to think about it. Also too.
Let's say you are to eliminate the Sinaloa cartel and
Cartel Leask and all these different groups, what do we
think someone else's isn't going to come in and fill
the void?

Speaker 2 (20:44):
It would just be you.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Chop off the head and like two more violent ones
grow back. It's never going to be effective. That Kingpin
strategy like kisses me off to my core I've written
about on my subsidy Wich.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Just straight up doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I mean, like they try to sell to the American people,
and most American people they don't look into it. But
when El Chappa was arrested, it was almost like they're
try to sell well, drugs.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Are gone now, it's not a problem. Anymore.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
And it really did do that. Huh. They tried to
kind of push it like that that was the narrative.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
And he was. And they've done it.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
And I'm not saying that they're not guilty or anything,
but they've painted like the Chapitos as these boogeymen who.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Created Fenton al and they're the only reason. These are
the reasons that that that people are addicted.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
And it's like, well, no, I mean other people were
involved and you allowed it to come in and you
know you it's just all nonsense.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
That's why I.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
Mentioned I was speaking with someone about this recently. But like, okay,
there's this huge target on Latin Mexico and Venezuela, and
yet the country supplying these precursors and taught these people
how to make China has completely likedated anything at all.
Like okay, well, then go declare those pharmaceutical companies run

(21:57):
by the.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
CCP ftospen Trust. No exactly, Yeah, it's wild.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
That said with Wedding, I guess you know, he's obviously
out there right now. I'll get into that. It is
not just drugs that mister Wedding has been involved in.
His number two A person called Andrew Clark was arrested
last year in Mexico. This is a guy who at
one point was an elevator repair man, you know, and

(22:25):
him and wedding become close. And there's also in these
indictments that have dropped by the federal government, Clark is
facing charges of ordering murders through this guy, a random
guy called Malik Cunningham.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
Now Malik Cunningham was.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
So just kind of brazen that he's texting people, Hey,
where are we doing this?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Where are we doing that?

Speaker 1 (22:48):
They sent him down to Mexico to do like a
kind of like a weapons course, I mean, listen to
some of this stuff. Among the targets discussed in the
messages between Clark and Cunningham were various people, including a
realtor in van for two hundred thousand, some arabs worth
a couple hundo each, the Mexic who owned a restaurant
and his wife Huncho for one hundred and fifty, someone

(23:12):
named Donnie for three hundred thousand, and a person in
Dubai for one million dollars. This guy also allegedly killed
a person called Randy Fader in Niagara, Canada as well.
So these guys are not only on the hook for
selling large amounts of narcotics, but they're also on the
hook for There are certain innocent people that have turned

(23:33):
up dead this guy. These are violent individuals.

Speaker 3 (23:38):
That's one thing about Wedding Zmo that kind of sets
him apart from the bunch. And that's why I also
talk about the ego thing, is that he's a cold
blooded killer. And we know this, and we know that
he forces certain people to work with him or sort
of like he tries to get something out of them
and if they refuse, dead men walking like immediately. And

(23:59):
we know this, like we have seen this, and I
have a source who has sent me images of people
who have recently been killed by Wedding and it's true,
it's corroborated, and I don't want to share too much
because it is all present.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Right, So you're saying that currently he's possibly still oh
he is, yes, through who like most of his group,
Like as far as these individuals have all been arrested,
who are these people doing the bidding for that?

Speaker 3 (24:31):
I think that Wedding has such a like loyal following
and the people that are under his wing are also
scared of him, and so like This is one of
those situations where Wedding has built an enterprise that no
one can get out of, and he's so feared and

(24:53):
so powerful and under the radar that he can get
away with murder literally, and he is getting away with murder.
And what we've seen of like since Clark has been arrested,
Clark is singing like a fucking canary. And so we've
been able to paint this crazy picture of who Wedding is.
And he's so much more than a drug trafficker. He's

(25:15):
also someone that's running a lot of the transnational operations
and that be through China, India, Canada, US, Mexico, Colombia.
Like literally, this guy is like God.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
That's so much so right now in terms of like
with that cartel, you know, we've heard a lot of
fracturing going on that you obviously mentioned.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
There's a civil war going on.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
The similar cartel looks a lot different than it did
let's just say, three, four or five years ago.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
I guess how vast a network is he controlling.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I'm really saying he's kind of like right up there
with like the leaders.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
He I think he is the leader. This is this
is the top dog of the Chapitos. I believe that now,
especially since so many have fallen. And I don't think
Evan is like running the show. I know, everyone's like,
where's Evan and it's like, how about where's wedding? People?
The fuck.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (26:15):
I mean, I knew it was a vast network that
he was running. But again we've heard people say, oh,
he's just kind of being you know, he's just kind
of down there hanging out. They're protecting him.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
No, he's running the show for sure. And I think
that he has a lot of communication with the Chinese
and is trying to make a lot of that work.
And I am under the impression, based off some information
that the Chinese are not pleased with it because of
how violent he is. One thing that we know about

(26:44):
the mo of like Chinese or criminal organizations is they
like to keep it clean and as low key as possible,
and so when their people start getting murdered and threatened,
they want to cut ties with that individual or that
sort of adversarial group. Now, at the same time, I
think it's at a point where this is very lucrative

(27:07):
for both parties, for everyone involved, and so there's no
reason to stop it. And I think that fragmentation within
the Sinaloa cartel even pushed Wedding to kind of want
to make this even stronger, especially since it's almost like
he's monopolized sentinel.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Question.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
I have so and this might be a dumb one,
but I mean, you you've been to Mexico many times,
you know, you've you've You've delved way deep into this
a person like this, where does he live?

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Like, what does his daily what does his day look
like like? Is he?

Speaker 1 (27:41):
I mean, obviously there's been a lot of photos of
him that have circulated.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
He's at a coffee shop hanging out. Looks just like
really any other person. I think, what does that look like?

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Well, Wedding definitely lives in Mexico, right.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
And is it remote? Is it a city? I mean,
obviously you don't know, but if you get a guess, yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
I think he's going to be pretty close to an
urban populated area for certain reasons. But he's not going
to be residing in an area where that's going to
bring a lot of attention. But I also think that
he knows that Mexican law enforcement doesn't really care about him,
and so even if the US is looking for him

(28:25):
and pushing to get to him. There isn't going to
be that cooperation with Mexican law enforcement, and I think,
similar to all Mencho, he has everyone paid off, whether
that be like local federal police and National Guard and
likely even people within politics in Mexico. And I think
that for someone like him, it's really easy to run
that game, because for foreigners like myself, even when I

(28:48):
live in Mexico, it's like, Okay, you're under this impression
that there's so much impunity and corruption that you already
know what the vibe is and how money talks, right,
And for someone like Wedding, who has a lot of money,
he can make that go far and he can really
ensure his protection. But I think that his ego will

(29:11):
be the downfall. His downfall in terms of where he
lives in his location.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, how worried is he about someone like Andrew Clark
or someone like that.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
I don't think he is. Honestly, I think he feels
like he's fine, and no matter what people say or
what information leaks, I think he thinks he's untouchable, and
as of right now, he pretty much is.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Do you think he kind of has accepted the old
way of thinking of Like one of the things I've
always been fascinated with with like some of these mob
guys I talk about, is just the acceptance of I'm
going to go to jail or I'm going to die.
That's the acceptance I have. That's where I'm at. Do
you think he has that way of thinking, you know?
Or does he just think that I'm never going to
go to jail, I'm good.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Do you think he can jail? Like? Do you think
he could accept the life sentence? No problem.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
I think that he thinks he's never going to get caught,
and with the way things are looking right now, I
think it'd be a very long time before he's you know,
taken into custody. And then I think someone like this
is so feared that he really believes that no one
will kill him because the repercussions for whoever kills him
would be much higher.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Is it out of the realm of thinking that he
could be an asset himself?

Speaker 3 (30:29):
I don't think he is. Okay, Yeah, I don't think
he is. I think it just it's, yeah, his life
story is so crazy that I understand why a lot
of people would believe it. I mean, I get I
get it too, and people are like, you're an asset,
and it's like, no, just because you have this like
atypical upbringing in life story doesn't necessarily mean that you're

(30:50):
working with the FEDS or like you know, you're sharing secrets.
But I think that he's really in this, like for
the money and his ego, and I think that even
if he felt like the US knew where he was,
he would still stay.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Well, interestingly enough, one of the top witnesses against the
individuals we just talked about, person Jonathan Ascebato Garcia. He
was whacked several months ago in Colombia. Somebody just walked
up to him silencer a boom, see you later.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
So that's happening. Wedding is forty four.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
He is currently, you would agree, probably the top fugitive
in this hemisphere right now. I would imagine. I mean
they call him al Heefe. That's us all you need
to know. I mean, you're not calling some corner boy
el Hefe.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
No, you're not one.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Let me ask you. I'm curious about this. Have we
heard anything from his family? He's a parent, you know,
what do they think about all this?

Speaker 3 (31:53):
It's so funny that you bring that up.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
Because I mean, did they talk to him?

Speaker 3 (31:57):
I'm very curious to hear from the family, but I think,
you know, I actually don't want to say what I
think about that. What do you think?

Speaker 2 (32:09):
What do I think they think of him?

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah? And like what do you think their connections look like?

Speaker 1 (32:14):
I mean, I mean, you have parents. I have parents,
you know, I know if I had a child. I
mean I was, like, I found it wild recently, like
someone someone was actually upset that there was a school shooter,
which obviously is terrible, but they were they were pissed
off because the school shooter's mother would not give the
FEDS information on him. And I thought to myself, you know,

(32:36):
what would I do in that situation? Would I would
I provide info on my own child?

Speaker 2 (32:40):
You know?

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I mean, I'm sure they're they're sad that that he
became what he's became. But if you don't think he's
talking to them, I think you're crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
I mean, that's their son. I mean, are they even
still in Canada? Maybe that's a good idea. Go knock
on their door.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
So you're a journalist, Uh.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
There was just this guy who was captured in like
a joint DA Canadian law enforcement operation opened or sang
did you hear of him Thanos? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (33:10):
And it was so funny because I posted about it
and I was like they called him Thanos like he
was collecting all these countries like the Gems or whatever
the fuck. And one of my sources was like, fuck
this guy. I was like, what the hell?

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Why?

Speaker 3 (33:26):
And then I got sent his mom's address and they're like,
go play or a visit. I was like, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
I mean that would be I mean, that kind of
stuff would be fascinating. I think if you went to
his mother's home more like wedding knock on the door. Hey,
I'm a journalist, Uh can you can we talk about
your son? Like do they just like mosy around and
act like are they even in Canada?

Speaker 3 (33:50):
I mean, I mean, here's the thing, like I kind
of try to run by this code so that I
don't get fucking murdered myself, and like, I know that
I wouldn't want people to fuck with my family, So
I'm not going to about the individual because I even know.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Like when.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
One of Old Chappel's sons was captured maybe two three
years ago, and a bunch of the press was interviewing
his mom, and I was just like, yeah, I don't
think I would ever do that. I mean, I know
it would get a lot of clicks and people like
that shit, but I think there's like a line and
then what you cross that, like your personal safety is fucked.

(34:26):
And that's why it's like, I'm I'm sure, Well, I
know Wedding is very much like a family man. Okay,
he's got a lot of bad shit going on, but
he doesn't seem to lose contact with the people that
are close to him or he's had close connections with.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Sure, well, I think that's respectable that you say that, because, like,
I know one of the reasons, like, I'm not worried
that the America MAFI is gonna come hurt me. That said,
if I went up to Howard Beach, Queens and I
started knocking on people's doors, maybe they'd have a little
bit bigger.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Problem with me.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah, I would be pissed.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, sure, they have nothing to do. And then I
feel most bad for the families of these people. You know,
Ryan Wedding, I'm sure his parents raised him to be
a good, good kid, a good person. They taught him
right from wrong. You know that how kids are though
you can be a great parent, and you can. I mean,
there's been a lot of good kids that became bad kids,
you know, it's just how it goes.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
I mean, I think this is beyond just like being bad.
I think that he's probably almost like sociopathic tendencies and
like very much has a lot going on in his mind.
So this is one of those kingpins that I would
say is like too smart for his own good, right,
because this is someone who could have went to Wall
Street and fucking made it, But there's that other side

(35:44):
of their brain that it has to be something mm hm,
like more shadowy, you know.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
I mean he's making a lot more money now than
he probably ever would on Wall Street. And you know,
again I read it at one point he was involved
by building. Maybe that did something to his head, you know,
maybe he took something and that affected him.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I don't know whether we can we can speculate it
or not.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
I'll ask you this last question in terms of wedding
you kind of alluded to it.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Do you think it'll ever be caught.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
I think that if there was cooperation with Mexican officials,
they could have him tomorrow, but because there is so
much going on in Mexico. Honestly, I think that he's
got got like a solid two decades safe.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Do you ever think about these people like him and say,
like why not just leave? Go somewhere out Like how
much money do you need?

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Right?

Speaker 3 (36:49):
I think like for these people, it's it's never enough,
Like the dollar signs don't matter. It's that constant like
dopamine boost of like keep going. When I was talking
to Source about this stuff and now and we talked
about this, like will it ever be enough for these people?
I told him, I was like, it's like Kim Kardashian

(37:11):
if she she could retire right now. But it's not
about that.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
It's not about like how do you retire from a
business like that?

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Exactly, It's it's I'm done.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
I'm going to go live on a beach in Brazil.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Because it's not the regular way of thinking of like
go to work to make money. This is a lifestyle.
This is what you know fulfills them. And so no,
like I mean, if I was what it like, would
you stop?

Speaker 2 (37:34):
But no, no, it's it's it's easy money. I mean,
you're on your own.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
I don't think it's easy. I also think that's a misconception.
I don't think that this is easy money. I think
it's a lot of money, but there's a huge price
that comes with it.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yeah, that's true. I mean it's almost like playing in
the NFL. I mean, being a football player is great.
You make a ton of money, but in twenty years
you could be crazy because of CT. You don't really
think about it. A life like this is wild because
do you ever really get to enjoy it?

Speaker 2 (38:01):
You know?

Speaker 3 (38:02):
It's I think they enjoy I think they do. I
think with the amount of money that they're making, they
find ways to have a really good fucking time.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
I read I read something about wedding.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
When he was in prison in the United States, they
monitored his phone calls and he he had like five
different women that all thought that he was with them
only you know, and then he gets married. He also
made a comment at one point about he's making so
many connections in here brazenly on the phone, you know.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
So he does come across as pretty brazen.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
That's the eagle thing too. And yeah, and I one
thing I know for sure about wedding. He has mad baddies,
like tens across the board, okay, and like.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
I could see it.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
I mean, hey, listen, I see a lot of guys
who don't look like him that have a lot of batties.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
But it's what the looks. Yeah, that's it doesn't matter.
He could have fucking no legs and arms and wedding
would have batties.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
That's why if you're an ugly dude with money, I
have to wonder, like, how have you how? Like I
don't care who you are as a woman, I mean
you're a woman. Would you rather date a the same
looking guy with money or the same looking guy with
no money the same features.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
I think that should be the answer. That's the right answer.
That's not even opinion, that's objective.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
It's a fact. Everybody likes money. I got two questions
that I'll let you go. You mentioned your safety. I
think that's the question that I noticed I've seen with
people at yourself. You know, aren't you scared to talk
about the things you talk about? They say it to me,
that's the biggest question is what aren't you scared about?

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Talk about the mafia? And it's like, well, I don't
really disrespect.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Them, and yeah, I mean they're not killing informants, let
alone some random guy in his house.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Do you ever worry about that, you know, just.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Bringing light to things like babies being kidnapped and things
like that.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
So that's the thing I have never kind of like
crossed the line that I think would be like the
legal limit for disrespecting these people. I think that my
analysis is very fair and my reporting is very fair
because even for example, when I'm talking about those the
killing the women for the babies, I'm like, Okay, yeah,

(40:23):
the cartel is bad in doing this. They know what
they're doing is illegal and bad. But then you have
the Americans buying the babies, and like I will always
cover across the board who is criminally accountable here. And
so I've also this is super weird. But in speaking

(40:44):
with a lot of people in this world, especially ones
that are higher up, Okay, I've gotten this a lot,
which is it's really impressive, respectable that you me are
not doing a lazy or slutty job, Like you're into

(41:04):
this stuff, you read about it, you work hard, and
you're doing it. And so I think also because I'm
a woman, there is it's a double edged sword, right,
because there's that side where it's like they're like, okay,
fuck yeah, you know what, get it. But then there's
all the other side where if I do ever fuck
up or if whatever something I say rub someone the

(41:26):
wrong way, I'm not going to get like shot, just
a regular hit taken out of me, right like I
will be raped and tortured very violently. And so there's
people are like, do you ever get scared?

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Fuck?

Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, how would you not? Like I think I'd be
mentally ill if I didn't get scared, especially with some
of the scenarios that I go into, especially when initially
I was going everywhere alone. But at the same time,
I know where to draw the line, and there are
certain things that I could share and report on and

(41:59):
go viral and have incredible work opportunities and people would
just like be drooling over, but I don't because it's
also at the end of the day, my life.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
I agree one thousand percent. I think in a world
where media and journalism is so bad and so just
weak and there's no seasoning in anything, you.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Do a really good job.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
I agree, though you could go like really like clickbaity,
I did this, I did that, fuck that.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
I also think that's like that's just not my vibe
for me, Like I'm journalism to the core. I'm going
to tell people what I think matters and what i
think keeps the public informed, period. I'm not going to
get into the gossipy stuff. Sometimes there's like a hint
of that because it ties into the bigger story. But
for the most part, this is literal, inherent storytelling. And

(42:50):
a lot of the criminals, the people who could cause
me harm that I speak to, there's typically an understanding
of I will do my best to make sure that
they don't find who you are, and that nothing that
I say or report on will directly harm you or

(43:11):
your business.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
Number One, you're not involved in criminal activity, which you're
not taking anything from that. Number two can be so
much richer, right, And number two, the people that you're
talking about literally want.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
You to talk about this stuff. Yes, they like.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Their propaganda machines. Yes, why we do these videos where they,
you know, behead people on camera.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
It's it's a fear tactic.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
And like the most in danger I felt by someone
or a group was the Mexican federal government, and my
worst threat came from someone within the government.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
I would that.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
That's actually insane because the Mexican federal government is not
labeled a fucking FTO. The cartels are. But those guys
have never told me We're going to fucking kill you.
I've had someone allude to if what I'm telling you
gets out, you will be dead woman. Okay, well it's
not going to get out. But also that I'm talking
to a criminal, it's expected, right, coming from someone with

(44:12):
high up in the federal government telling me, oh, you
shouldn't have a head attached to your shoulders, It's.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
Like, well, fuck.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
The best comment I ever get is occasionally when I'm
talking about the mob that someone wist say, the real
mafia is the American government or the so and still government, and.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
It's it's so true.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
That's whatever.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, final question, and I need you to do me
a favor.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Can you tell these people that watch my show every
big criminal snitches every big criminal.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Because they do. They all rat on each other.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Oh yeah, undred percent?

Speaker 1 (44:48):
In this mob world that think that everybody follows America,
nobody tells on anybody.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Oh no, no, that's even from day one that was
never thinking, even with Italian mob like that was that's
you know, at the end of the day, it's like
what I'm saying, Okay, I still value my life, and
so if it's between a fucking plea deal or the injection,
you're gonna take the I'm talking.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Even in terms of business, like you do what you
have to do to survive, right, you know, and if
that means you know, hey, the guy down the streets
got a bigger co operation than me.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Get him out of here, Like, you do what you
gotta do to survive. Oh, they America spend life in prison.
That's the only people that do follow that.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
And that's why it was crazy when al Mayo's lawyer
came out of the courthouse and was like, he is
not talking. It's like he's been talking. Okay, his whole
family is in Mexico. You think buddy isn't going to
be like, I'll say whatever it takes, Like, come on,
that's that's not how this works whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
And I hate to tell mister Simbata, but getting on
the stand and saying I did this during this and
I did this, that's cooperating as well. You can call
it just allocution, but it's cooperating. And you're right, I mean,
he's not stupid. He's been in the game a long time.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
He knows it.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
Yeah, he was the one person who went the longest
without ever getting caught.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Yeah, which set up a lot of speculation over the
fifty years of how has he been the only person
that's never been caught? Fifty years he's done this and
he's just mosies around like nothing. I do have one
of the questions I have to ask I missed I
think I think it was I think it was Taparo,
and he he talked about how like the levels of
security to get to these people is just insane. So

(46:34):
you look at like Yvonne Gusmann, right, like where is he, like,
like who does he speak to? And how many layers
of connections are there to him? Like obviously men show
people like that.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
He kind of talked.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Chaparo said, it's like you got to go through eight
or ten different people to even get to like five
levels below the guy.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, it's extreme. This is like trying to get in
content like with the world leader, right, because this is
essentially kind of how these people operate, and so like
if you were like, oh I want to interview elementcho okay,
good luck, which is also why, for example, when Sean
Penn and Kate del Castillo went and interviewed El chap

(47:19):
It was like, how do you not know that this
is a fucking setup? Okay, because those two motherbuckers, with
all due respect, there is no way that they're just
going to pull up to his ranch and talk to him.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Yes, And I think when you talk about wedding, there
was a lot of comparison. Like I felt like al
Choppo thought he was in touchable too, he could.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Just escape the difference with him was that he was
also really ostentatious, like he loved to flaunt his ship. Yeah,
and that was very problematic for him. But I also
think that these are people from two different upbringings. Al
Chapo did not grow up with wealth and an Olympic career.
This was someone who was like the textbook, I'm going
to make a better life for my family and I'm

(48:04):
gonna be like Tony Montana type of style. And so
of course he's gonna have the pet tigers and the
Versace shirts and the lambos. Whereas for wedding, it's very
different for him. It's like, Okay, I can get bad
bitches and make a ton of money and whatever flying
my private plane, but it's different and so I think
that's where like who's gonna get caught. Obviously the guy who's.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Louder wedding will go to Dubai eventually, I would think, right,
I mean that's where all the that's where all the
big transnational guys go.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
And why not.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
I mean I think it depends just on like what
his security would look like. Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
All right, I thought now in.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Mexico he's comfortable.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
I have one more question. I I can issue an
your time.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
It's okay, I don't have a rush.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
Okay, Chopo, do you ever think that, like with all
the video stuff I've thought about this, I've done a
ton of stuff about ad X. I've interviewed people that
have been in ad X. I mean, El Chopp was
in eighth Unit Sam's. He's in the worst place possible,
in the worst place.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
On the planet.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Do you think there was ever do you think he's
ever attempted, through like his sons, to try to get
involved with the.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Brokering of deals that Dave Broker.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Do you ever think that that was ever on the table?

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Oh? For sure. And it makes sense because it literally
just came out that Choppo just like released a statement
also for months. Yeah, yeah, and being like it's not
good in here, Like I'm not happy in here.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
And it's not it's a horrific existence.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Yeah, but yeah, you're going to prison in a fucking resort.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Well, but but like ad X is like insane.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
Yeah, and in comparison to where he was locked up
in Mexico, where he had everything and everyone was on
his payroll and they could build the fucking tunnel for
him night and day. But I do think, I I
really believe that this whole Goosemand family is you know,
I keep saying it's a slop in the face to
the Mexican people who have suffered from this drug war

(50:09):
because they have just benefited from this whole deal that's
going on. I mean, seventeen of the family members just
being led in to the US.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Well, that's why I find the government that it currently's
in control so laughable as far as on this type
of policy. Because when Donald Trump is running to become
the president, one of his main points to his constituents were,
we're gonna end drug cartels.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
We are not. We're gonna give the death penalty.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Now our Justice department, now that we're in as president,
we're gonna now give deals to these types of people, right,
These are the boogeymen we try to portray to the
American people that were the bad people bringing Fentanel here.
But under your nose, we're gonna make deals with all
of them. We're gonna bring their families here. Which, by
the way, this is the same group that tells you, however,

(51:00):
the immigrant is bad.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
Right.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
And I don't mean to be political, but it's hypocrisy
at the highest level.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
That's why it does get political. And it is hypocritical,
like you can't deny it no matter how you look
at it. And do I think that this is this
administration is doing like really the most in terms of
targeting the Curtels. Yes, But do I also think that
there is a lack of like morality when it comes
to actually prosecuting these people. Also, yes. And I know

(51:29):
what the argument is here, and it's that, well, they're
getting this valuable information that can take it a step
further than just by like giving them the death penalty,
because also that was assumed when Mexico started doing these
like transfers of fugitives. So Mexico and US have this
extradition treaty which basically means, if you're going to extradite

(51:50):
a criminal like what happened with Old Chapo, the death
penalty is off the table, okay. And they still have
like these sort of human rights that they can file
back in Mexico. La la la, And it's a lot
of paperwork. What started happening since January was they were
not they were no longer using this extradition treaty. They
were expelling and transferring these fugitives from Mexico into the US,

(52:13):
which basically meant they can't file in Umpato in Mexico
or yeah in Mexico, which basically like will lengthen the
process and see if they really are eligible to end
up in the US and they are eligible for the
death penalty in the US. And it's really funny because
I was chatting with some other people who cover this
and they're like, Karo Quintio, the man who allegedly killed

(52:34):
Dah and Ki Kamarna is going to get the injection,
and I'm like, the fuck he is. No, He's like,
there's absolutely no shot. These people are being transferred to
the US for information, that is it. And so when
I was in Kuria Gan like when this infighting really
came to a head when it all started, a lot

(52:56):
of people were like, we want this to end. And
then when Trump got elected, people were like, he's really
gonna end it with the cartels. Like I in Mexico City,
there was like with some of my friends, they were like, fuck, yeah,
it's over. And I was like, okay, pipe down, because
there's always this sort of hidden agenda here and we

(53:17):
see it now and it's wide open. It's they want
the information.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Well, I'll ask you, though, I mean, do you actually
think I mean, the people that you just talked about
that were excited, I mean you would agree that in
large parts of Mexico, right, like more rural areas like
some of these like Guana Wato, places like that. I mean,
cartels are the really only ones that give a fuck
about the general public.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
I mean, whether it's.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
The fucking shadow government, it's not even a shadow government
because they open up, they operate out in the open.
And after this freaking whole flooding situation, they were giving out,
they spend, they were giving out groceries and chance.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
But that's for me, and like l Chop was building
roads in Bardaraguatta, not the government like that heart and
mind's theory, like the Mabia did it. They would, you know,
steal from people, but say, hey, we're protecting the community.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
And it's like Mosco art did that all the time.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
It's a robin Hood type way of doing things. And
that government and even this one is so fucked that, like,
if we did go into Mexico, who do you think
the people would support?

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Do you think they'd support the government or the cartel?

Speaker 3 (54:27):
It's very hard to say. It depends on the region.
I've gone back and forth with this because it really
does depend on the region. It depends where they feel
like they're being disproportionately their lives are being negatively impacted
by curtels, or if they feel like the curtels are
actually helping them have a better livelihood. And keep in
mind that there are a lot of areas with really
high levels of poverty in Mexico. And if you're getting

(54:49):
your groceries supplemented by these criminals, your son's fucking leg
operation is paid for by the criminals. In Kuliakan, there's
literally this guy who had like his operation paid by
the chapitos, and he fucking praises them and goes to
like the monument to like give thanks, and that's a thing,

(55:12):
and you know what, I understand it. Of course, how
could you not. It's like you have no help. You're
just surviving throughout your entire life. And then these guys. So, yeah,
our criminals are helping you have somewhat of a better livelihood,
making life a little bit easier. You're going to support them.
But in other regions that's not the notion. The notion

(55:33):
is these guys are creating war in my community. My
friend's brother was murdered, my daughter was raped. There's a
lot of violence that they've also experienced. So it really depends.
And I don't know, like we should fucking put out
a vote.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
There's a shoe store in Manhattan. It's called Descendants of Thieves.
It was the former home of the Ravenite Social Club,
which John Gotti was in every day. It's now a
shoe store and you can go into it and the
owner has said that people have come in there and
kissed the floor. And she asked the guy why, and
he said, John Gotti walked on his floor.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
He's a hero. He's a hero.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
You know, like people, there's a lot more of those
types of people in the world than we think. Yeah,
and when you compare them to governments, you know, I
do want you to address one thing. There's a there's
this rumor going around that a drug cartel hung a
banner threatening cash fattel and Americans. And look, I've often said,

(56:34):
like I I don't know, I think there's a lot
better places to vacation than Mexico. And and look, if
you drive into some of these states, like it's probably
pretty dangerous, But can you kind of dispel that, like
that's a complete fucking farce like that that no drug
curtel would ever do that.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Fuck No.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
I did a whole episode on this on my podcast
because it obviously started to go viral. This is like
textbook syle because the cartels are never going to target
the very people that they profit off of. And people's
main argument to me was, then why would they sell
them fentanel because it's fucking profitable jackass duh. But when

(57:11):
it comes to tourism, we've seen how they stay steer
clear of tourist areas and inciting violence because those very
resorts and those very tourists are financial pipelines for them.
You're not gonna see cging. I mean, we did like
a few years ago where they were burning buses in
Puerto Wayerta, but that was like in a ploy to,

(57:31):
you know, there was a whole situation going on. They
also didn't kill any fucking tourists. Okay, then we see
this whole civil warrants in Aloa. Masadland for the most part,
has been pretty untouched. There's been some shit going on,
but I mean it kind of spills over right, But
they're like stay out. They're not going to say stay

(57:53):
out of our country when those Americans coming into their
country are giving them so much money. They're buying their drugs,
they're paying for their institution, they're staying at the resorts
that have to pay them pie so like that they
cover them and then also going for cash. Btel and
Dea when you literally were just designated as ftos, they're

(58:14):
not going to do that. Every single person I've talked
to in the cartels when they were designated ftos, and
I said, what's your reaction, they were like, we're just
going to wait it out four years and we're just
going to lay low. So I don't think and I think, Okay,
if someone like tied to some cartel made this medical Mantha,
they're fucking dead, like they're actually dead.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
And all we need to do is go back a
year or two ago when those four people went into
Matamoros and had that surgery. Yes kill, Look what happened there.
They literally tied the guys up that did it and handed.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
Them over, handed them over, exactly.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Apologized profusely for doing what happened.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
But even to be honest, and the reason why I
initially believed that this was not done by the cartel
whoever made this Narakomanta was the way it was written,
and it was very neat, and.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
See you did it.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
That's what I believe. But I don't want to sound
like a fucking crazy person saying that, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
But you're not.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
I mean, it's I mean, I mean, consider who we're
dealing with, and Cash Betel is a fucking idiot.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
And it gives them, It opens the door for them
to be like, all right, we're targeted around That's.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
That's the thing. I mean.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
All you need to do is is follow some of
this administration's tweeting and you'll see the Homeland Security account
for instance.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
It's insane.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
They literally recently posted this cartel influenced territory map and
it had like L Barbie on it. La Barbie's been
in jail for like a decade. Some of the guys
are like literally dead, like Krea Fuentez is dead, like
he's been dead for years.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Like they don't even have updated information.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
So yeah, do I think it'd be crazy that someone
walked into Tijuana, got the somewhere in Baha and did
some goofy message and then came back to America.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
No, I don't. I don't think it was.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
A California sword where it was very much like go
as far as you can without like really going that
far and like put the shit up.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
It just it doesn't match anything that I've ever seen
or heard or covered before. And people say, okay, subject
matter expert, right, Like I believe so to an extent,
this is not it, this is not them. It doesn't
check out. And I'm not defending the cartals. I just
kind of have an understanding of how they operate, and.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
This is and it would be insanely stupid and it
would make no sense to how they've always done things.
Last question I promised Elmentho is outside of wedding. One
of the most elusive figures in this hemisphere. I spoke
to Anthony Colombo. He's a lawyer in San Diego. He
was the representation for El Menchito. Okay, Elmetra's son. As

(01:00:57):
you know, El Minchito is serving life in ady X
right now. He was approached by the government to flip
on his own mother.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
He declined, do you now?

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Colombo says that you know this, you know it's basically
the books closed outside of appeals. He also told me
like that the way that like Cartel's like go to
trial here is like a complete waste of time, Like
there's no witnesses that are really coming forward, Like most
people are snitches and have been for years. But my
question is, like you'd have to figure they're leaning on

(01:01:32):
him hard to talk about his father, right, Yeah, And I.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
Think that this is one individual who's not going to
do that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
He I mean, I think that's clear by he just
accepted a life sentence to talk about another. That's for
shit to talk about your mom, man, I mean you
got to give him some credit for that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
I mean, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
That Elemento is the one person. Well I heard this
about Almayo two. But they're like very old school in
terms of the way they operate. And I also think
that that's why these are two figures who have gone
so like evaded being captured for so long, and now
Elemento is catching up to El Mile, right, because the

(01:02:14):
way that they operate, it's kind of like that old
school like shut your mouth, keep your head down, do
your work. And it's interesting because well, Elemento was a
cop and SEEJG is one of the most violent cartels
in Mexican history. That's also very similar mo to Wedding,

(01:02:35):
coming from like a normal profession to becoming one of
the most extremely violent people and making a ton of
money and evading police. So there's obviously something with how
they're operating that is effective. And I think sometimes though
menche they get kind of desperate, right because every time

(01:02:56):
it's like he's dead, Soros has got him this, like
every couple.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Of months, Why don't you wort that fester, Like I
would want people to think I'm dead.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
Why why that's what they want, but it doesn't work,
like we know he's not dead. And also like when
his daughter and the son in law were captured in Riverside, California.
They had pretended already that that son in law.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Was dead, and he heard about that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Yeah, so she had like a little bakery. They were
living in like a cash paid four million dollar house
in Riverside. It was so funny because so many of
the outlets covering it were like, especially in Mexico, like
in this luxurious California neighborhood, and it's like, Okay, relax,
it's Riverside.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
It's just a regular little town, don't you think. Don't
you think it's kind of crazy? Like when when you
look at like a video, right, Gusman, Right, someday he'll
just live somewhere in America.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
Yeah, Like, don't you think that. I've always found that
to be wild.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Like I live in a pretty new area, right, there's
always people from other states that move in here, And
like I always tell people because like we've seen mob guys,
guys that to kill like ten people, get out of
prison and they just move somewhere, and it's like that,
so you always got to be careful who you talk
to in public because you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
Never know who they are.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Literally praise that he'll just be placed somewhere in America
and he'll just live out his life.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
To be honest, I don't think that he will live
in America, where probably like Spain.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Okay, yeah, but the thought of he could is kind
of wild.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
Right, it is wild. And that's like what I was saying.
I think it's a slap in the face to a
lot of Mexicans who their lives have been completely uprooted
by the violence that these very people have inflicted.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah, and that's why I always say the government that
do these deals are fucked.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Do you believe that voicemail Mencho? Do you think that's
actually him?

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
But no, that's not mentioned. He ment you a way, No,
that's not mentioned.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
I've always said, like you just talked about how secretive
the guy is, right, like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
That's someone pretending that's definitely not him.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I think viral viral, Like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
Of course it did, but it's no. And also yeah,
so I ment a way, so like he's like convincing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Him supposed to be like a cop.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
He's threatening, like on the phone, he says his name,
Like no, i'd be like John Gotti calls him and
be like, hey, it's John Gotty here, the head of
the Gambino crime.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Blow your house up. Like I just crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
But also sometimes that stuff takes you far. Like sometimes
if you just really you know, you act like you're
the main bitch, you can get away with a lot
of stuff. People know that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Look at wedding prime example.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
Uh so, yeah, as I said, wedding is currently a
top ten most wanted fugitive.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Will he ever be caught?

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
I mean there is a ten million dollar reward out
there for him, not that anyone would ever get it
if he was caught, even if they help.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
That said cat sholds you. I've said before, I.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Think you're one of the only real journalists left in America.
You can interviewed by a lot of good people. I
urge everyone to go follow you, check you out. Hopefully
we can have you on again soon. I really appreciate
you talking about wedding and your experiences. Thanks for having
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
We'll see you next time here on the sit Down