NEXT TARGET? El Chapo’s Son and the Escalating Sinaloa Cartel War
IRONCLAD
0:01 more or less.
0:02 Yeah.
0:02 The CIA can find almost anybody within reason.
0:05 Anybody that's operating any kind of urban area at all that's exposed.
0:11 Yeah, you're right.
0:11 They can find The reason they don't is because, you know, I mean,
0:15 a we know that the CIA
0:16 from the beginning has assisted facilitated drug trafficking.
0:21 I think part of it sinisterly is that they just don't want the war to end.
0:25 The opinions of the guests and host are
0:27 their own and do not represent the opinions of Ironclad,
0:30 the Border Patrol, or the Department of Homeland Security.
0:42 Welcome to Borderland Narcosis and Ironclad Original presented by First Form.
0:46 My next guest is someone we've had on the show before, Johnny Mitchell,
0:49 who shows up tell us everything he knows
0:51 about what's going on in the cartels today.
0:52 Well, brother, thank you for coming back on the show.
0:54 Really excited to hear what you have to say.
0:56 A lot of things going down in Mexico and the cartels and uh you know,
0:59 you have a really good insight to this information
1:03 and I'd love to hear what you're thinking.
1:05 Um, what do you think about what's going on in Mexico right now?
1:08 Just what are your thoughts on everything that's happening?
1:12 Oh, that's such a broad question.
1:14 I mean, you know, Meno is now dead.
1:17 May he rest in peace, my sweet Menchito.
1:20 Um and that was likely uh hit by the Mexican government.
1:26 So uh under pressure from the Trump administration
1:30 over the last year since Trump took office, you see Claudia Shanebomb,
1:35 the Mexican president extraditing a lot of high-V value targets
1:40 as a way to appease Yeah.
1:42 America, right?
1:43 Just lay off of us.
1:44 Don't invade us.
1:45 Don't bomb us.
1:46 let us have our sovereignty, but we'll feed you every now and then when you
1:49 put the heat on, we'll feed you some big fish.
1:53 So, I think what likely happened,
1:54 and this is I'm getting a lot of this uh from from Ed Calderon,
1:57 who's completely dialed in.
1:59 Um uh it's likely that the CIA uh the special forces that entered Mexico a few
2:08 days about a week before uh Menos's
2:11 the the raid of his safe house in Tapa Halisco.
2:17 Uh it's likely that they gave that information.
2:19 They they got the drop on him.
2:20 The American intelligence located him through satellite imagery because
2:26 they had been following uh a lover of Meno,
2:29 some, you know, prostitute basically, right?
2:32 Some young hot like Tik Tok woman.
2:35 And they followed her.
2:36 They found the drop.
2:37 They found his location.
2:38 They gave it over to the Mexican government expecting them to arrest Mencho.
2:45 But instead, what they did is they they said,
2:47 "Oh,[ __] Meno's got the secrets on all of us, right?
2:53 He's been paying off so many people for years.
2:55 It's obviously that's how he's avoided arrest." Uh,
2:59 and so they went in and they cleaned him up, right?
3:01 They killed him.
3:03 So, that's one that's one of the angles.
3:04 Um, right now, my sources in Nogales, Mexico, uh,
3:09 say that the war in Sinoa has finally made it up to the border to that city.
3:14 All right.
3:14 So the Yeah.
3:15 So the Mitos and the Chapisa uh the two two sides of the Simolo cartel are
3:21 now going at it at the border which
3:23 generally has been off limits because that's where
3:25 the the business happens right they just divide
3:28 the city kind of like in TJ Tijuana they
3:31 they divide the city uh and because the drug
3:34 routes are the most important thing they're the lifeblood.
3:37 Uh but now war is spilled out over there.
3:39 So, you know, I I don't really aside from that, you know,
3:43 not not a whole hell of a lot has
3:46 has changed in terms of their the cartels being decapitated.
3:52 Obviously, that's not true at all.
3:55 It's like the Iranian regime.
3:56 You take out the Ayatollah, next guy steps up, he gets a promotion, right?
4:02 So, uh yeah, that's that's just kind of where we're at right now.
4:06 Cocaine is as cheap as it's ever been.
4:10 Really?
4:09 You know, you you can get a key.
4:10 You can get a if you know the people in Los Angeles,
4:14 you can get a kilo right now for like 11 grand.
4:17 It's a joke.
4:18 What does it normally go for?
4:19 What is like the uh highest point you
4:21 think it or you've known it's been sold for.
4:23 Just context.
4:24 Well, back in the day, like 20 years ago, 18 back in 2008, 18 years ago,
4:30 uh a kilo at the border would sell to somebody like a drug dealer,
4:37 not like the lieutenant who was in the cartel,
4:39 but a a a dealer like me could get a kilo for like 22,000.
4:45 Oh[ __] So, it's back.
4:46 That was like a good price.
4:47 That was at the border.
4:48 Now, that's been cut in half.
4:51 So cocaine is insanely cheap in the United States right now,
4:54 which means obviously a ton of it is getting in.
4:56 At meth, the same thing.
4:58 Uh fentanyl production is down.
5:01 Fentanyl, the the the pressure on China
5:04 and the restrictions on the precursors have been effective.
5:08 It hasn't stopped fentanyl by any means, but uh I hear that it's gotten weaker.
5:14 They're having a harder time in in Kuliaakan
5:16 and the surrounding areas in Sidaloa.
5:19 uh they're having a harder time making good batches.
5:21 So you see a lot more raw heroin, old school,
5:25 you know, smack that's now coming into vogue again, right?
5:30 So that's good for the peasants in in regions like
5:34 Solo and Durango who depend on on the poppy uh harvesting,
5:39 the gomeos they call them.
5:41 Uh so they'll have work again.
5:42 So yeah, that's it's just just full circle.
5:46 Ready to spice things up.
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6:00 Rules in the giveaway post in link in bio.
6:03 You had an interview with uh an individual named
6:06 El Diablo and and everything that's been going on there.
6:11 What I would love to hear is what is actually happening inside the right now.
6:15 What most people are getting wrong.
6:17 I think what most mainstream Americans get wrong,
6:22 well, what the government gets wrong,
6:23 I'm I don't I don't know that they're getting it wrong.
6:25 I think they're just lying.
6:27 Um, what they get wrong is like taking
6:32 out cartel heads stops drug trafficking in any way.
6:36 It doesn't.
6:37 Um, if you go watch that episode with Diablo,
6:40 calls himself Diablo on my channel,
6:43 what you see is he's a cartel operative in the United States.
6:50 He's he's born and raised in Mexico,
6:52 but he's lived in the United States longer than he has in Mexico.
6:56 He's got a crew of truck drivers,
7:00 a partner basically in Mexico who owns a trucking company.
7:04 And they employ mostly Americans, some Mexicans,
7:08 and all they do is go pick up cargo
7:11 after the cocaine makes it into Mexico from Colombia.
7:15 And all they do is pick up the cargo and drive it into the States.
7:19 They have an extremely high rate of success.
7:23 He can't remember the last time he got a load intercepted.
7:26 He gets it in and then he's got distributors here who sell it.
7:29 Is he a cartel member or is he just a drug trafficker?
7:34 He's just a drug trafficking cell.
7:36 Now he his allegiance is to the Misa, the Mayo side of the Senoloa cartel.
7:44 He grew up in Mexalei.
7:45 That's that's the strong a stronghold on the border of the the Mitos, the Maisa.
7:51 So what he does is simply just pay them a percentage of the loads that he sells
7:58 and they protect they protect his cocaine trafficking
8:04 from Mexico until it gets into the United States.
8:07 That's the function of the cartel.
8:10 The drug traffickers, the cartel is like an army.
8:14 It's like a government actually.
8:16 And all the only way they make money
8:20 is by taxing drug traffickers who want to move
8:24 product through their territory because they're the ones who
8:28 have the manpower to pay off the state police, you know, the municipal police.
8:35 Uh, a lot of times the army, they're the ones who can go, you know,
8:39 if if a couple of state cops steal your your work,
8:44 your product, they're the ones that could go take care of them, right?
8:47 But, uh, yeah, the cartel,
8:50 what most people get wrong is they think the cartel is
8:52 some like big scary villain in the hills of of Senoloa.
8:59 And uh it's actually just a collection
9:03 a loose association of many many many many different
9:08 drug trafficking groups that kick their money up
9:12 to a bunch of other different enforcement cells
9:18 that you know and that money eventually and then they have a figure head that I
9:23 guess in theory that money eventually makes it
9:25 to like you know uh myo Junior Right.
9:29 Mayo Zambata's son.
9:31 His name's escaping me.
9:32 Mito Flaco they call him.
9:35 Yeah.
9:34 It's one of Mayo's many sons who's now the head of the organization.
9:39 And then of course on the Chapa side, it's um
9:43 it is Ivon Archie Valdo, uh one of Chapo's oldest sons.
9:48 So, I think that's what people get wrong is
9:49 like they think it's like some some grand[ __] conspiracy,
9:54 but actually it's it it's some really really complicated, you know,
9:58 Fortune 500 company when in reality it's it's much more decentralized.
10:05 The figure head is just the Sorry, sorry to cut you off.
10:07 The figure head is just there mostly for propaganda and fear.
10:13 Yeah.
10:13 And you know, if you don't mind breaking down
10:15 a little bit what's going on with the Sinoa cartel.
10:18 They're at war.
10:20 Of course, as I said,
10:21 the wars uh obviously spilled out of Sinoa and Kulyakan where it's still raging.
10:29 Uh and it now finds itself in in Nogales, Arizona, which is a key plaza.
10:36 That's one of the biggest transit points for drugs moving into America.
10:42 It was peaceful until about a month ago and I
10:45 just got a text from my source down there.
10:46 He said bodies are dropping.
10:48 It finally made it up there.
10:49 Tijana.
10:50 Um those are the main Caloa Places and Mexalei of course.
10:55 So uh so those you've got the Chapisa and the Misa,
11:00 but the enforcement wings there's groups subgroups
11:06 that are the armed wings that police those plas.
11:10 So, Los Rousos, the Russians, uh, uh,
11:14 led by El Russo, who I believe just got captured.
11:17 I think he was the boss of of a an armed group,
11:23 an arm, uh, they just call it like a security.
11:26 They're they're basically teams of contractors.
11:29 Yeah.
11:30 They're they're teams of mercenaries in these different regions who are
11:35 aligned with one of the two factions that are based in Kulakan.
11:40 Chapis or Maisa and they're but they're okay.
11:43 I'm in Mexalei or I'm in Tijuana or I'm
11:45 in Ngales and they have teams of cicadios gunmen.
11:52 They have they're the guys who run this the stash houses.
11:56 They're the they they have the teams of lookouts to see,
12:00 you know, because information is everything.
12:02 So when you go to a place like Nogales,
12:05 um one of the first if you're like say a 14-year-old kid, right?
12:11 The first and you want to get involved in the organization,
12:14 the very first duty that you're going to have is you're going to be an alone,
12:19 a falcon, a lookout, a pun punter, right?
12:22 You're going to you're going to be watching
12:24 for vehicles coming in with uh license plates from states
12:28 that you don't recognize from Cenoloa and you're going
12:30 to get on the get on the walkie-talkie and relay information.
12:34 Um they're the ones that patrol safe houses, right?
12:39 a lot of where where the kilos get stashed, packaged,
12:43 and then given to another lieutenant who gives it
12:47 to his mules that are going to cross the border, right?
12:50 And then you have puntoas point uh sales
12:53 points because they sell a lot of drugs internally.
12:56 So yeah, it's it's they they keep everything even though everybody Yes.
13:01 has an affiliation to the higher groups.
13:05 It's all of the operations are made
13:07 up of subgroups that have their own autonomy.
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14:00 What's interesting you the way you mentioned it how
14:03 they have kind of lookouts in the way that works.
14:06 It's almost exactly the same on the American side when you're working.
14:10 So me working on a special operations team trying to disrupt the cartel.
14:16 We identify these guys and they they identify and call
14:19 out our vehicles immediately and we we get our vehicles
14:22 burned within man our vehicles are burned and then
14:26 we can't even get to an OP without being identified.
14:29 And so there's moments where we know there's going
14:31 to be a drug load coming across or a boat man.
14:34 There's a bunch of different ones depending on what part of the border.
14:36 And by the time we're moving towards the border and trying to get in position,
14:40 we've already been burned and people will just show up to us.
14:43 They'll just show up, drive up and be like,
14:44 "Hey, what's up guys?" And you're like, "Oh shit." And we noticed from older
14:48 people sitting on the porches to younger kids,
14:52 everyone's kind of taking pictures.
14:53 Everyone's trying to start texting.
14:54 And we notice it, right?
14:55 You see people like getting real active on their phone
14:57 as soon as we drive by because we're a vehicle.
14:59 They haven't identified.
15:01 They know the familiar vehicles that are in the area.
15:03 When they see a vehicle that looks like a federal vehicle,
15:06 they call it out and boom, we're burned.
15:08 So we had to think of other means of insertion like
15:13 immediately or else every op that we planned would be burned.
15:17 It's crazy.
15:18 Yeah.
15:18 So the same thing happens on that side is on this side
15:21 especially in well on that side cars literally get burned but um
15:26 yeah it's especially in those small towns like Klexico and you know like
15:31 everybody knows everybody everybody sees everybody.
15:34 A lot of the local cops, even on this side,
15:36 are, you know, getting paid for info.
15:39 Yep.
15:39 Yeah, we've seen it all.
15:40 We've seen constiples load up and everything.
15:41 It's it's a it's a crazy world out there.
15:43 From what you've seen, is there one side or either faction that kind
15:47 of is winning has more of the advantage right now?
15:50 And why would that be?
15:51 Oh man, every single time I do an interview with a guy from CLO,
15:56 I try to figure that out.
15:57 I try to ask who's winning, who's not.
16:00 I mean, I want to say that the Misa were winning at the beginning because
16:11 they have better financing because Mayo was alive
16:17 or or active for longer than Chapo was.
16:20 And and you know, his drug routes are legendary.
16:23 I mean, they go back to the he's got ties that go back to the 70s in LA.
16:28 So the guy had so many different so many
16:32 different smuggling routes from Colombia uh to Europe to Canada.
16:39 So I think they were maybe a little better financed.
16:43 Then the CJNG about a year and a half ago made the alliance with the Chapisa.
16:50 And then so I said, "Oh, okay.
16:52 Well, they're the strongest cartel in Mexico by far."
16:56 So now that they're aligned with the Chapisa,
16:58 I think that's going to give him an advantage at least in the short term.
17:02 Um, of course that would have they would have betrayed him, right?
17:05 They would have taken over Cenaoa.
17:07 That's the CJNG trying to move in on Cena
17:10 by by partnering with the group that's losing.
17:14 Now that Mencho's gone, um, I think I don't know.
17:20 It's a good question.
17:21 It's up in the air.
17:21 I I I think we have yet to see how that's going to affect that alliance.
17:27 Um I talked to a hitman who used to work
17:32 for the Misa on the show a couple of years ago.
17:35 The war had already started.
17:38 He said something interesting.
17:39 He said the Maisa have better morals.
17:44 They have there are more there are more uh which I believe.
17:47 I I I do think people that have uh a better corporate culture,
17:52 if you will, a better Yeah.
17:55 better uh values probably in the long run are going to win.
18:02 So just like in guerrilla warfare, right?
18:05 Like the Vietnamese took so many losses,
18:07 but their cause against the United States
18:10 was just they're fighting off an invader, so ultimately they're going to win.
18:15 Um but yeah, you know what does that even look like, right?
18:20 Like uh if drug routes are always operating on both sides no matter what,
18:29 you know, who knows who knows who emerges victorious.
18:33 I mean, it's it'll end up in a stalemate, but the Chapos are not going away.
18:37 They still have they still have at least two or three sons,
18:42 Ivon Archie Valdo and another guy whose name escapes
18:45 me because these guys have had so many kids,
18:48 but they they have at least two sons and then cousins who could
18:52 take up and be the figureheads if one of their brothers got arrested.
18:57 Um, and then the Mayos, same thing.
18:59 So, uh, the miles aren't going away either.
19:02 So, I I don't know.
19:04 I don't know, man.
19:05 I don't know.
19:06 This this[ __] could go on.
19:07 It's already been going on for 2 years.
19:09 Almost 2 years.
19:10 It could just No signs of stopping really.
19:14 It's[ __] crazy.
19:16 Yeah.
19:16 I've seen some footage that's going on out there and it's just it's wild,
19:19 man, to see, you know, some of the I I would guess the shootouts,
19:24 the you know, the the fight that's happening, you know.
19:27 Um, what I think, you know, my next question,
19:30 I guess, would be we're targeting some of these high-profile individuals.
19:35 And I'm curious if you think who would be
19:37 the next target and most importantly for America's sake.
19:40 Uh, you got Ivonne and then you got Mito.
19:43 Out of those two, who would be the best target
19:46 for us in the in the fact to hopefully dismantle,
19:49 disrupt, I don't if that even is a thing.
19:51 You know what I mean?
19:52 In the cartels, like you said, the next person just steps up.
19:55 But who do you believe is probably going to be one of the next targets?
19:58 Definitely Ivonne.
20:00 Ivon Archaldo for the Chapisa.
20:02 He uh he's now become like that mythic Mencho guy where he's got tunnels built
20:09 into the mountains of of you know Durango
20:12 Chihuahua the golden triangle where he moves around.
20:15 He's got like that Osama bin Laden.
20:18 He's building that mystique up.
20:19 You know, he's been on the run now for so long.
20:23 They almost caught him a few years ago in Kuliaakan.
20:27 They did a raid and he escaped like
20:28 his father in the I think they're like the not
20:32 the sewage but like the the aqueduct thing
20:35 that runs under the city for the rain fall off.
20:38 Yeah.
20:38 Like a wash, you know.
20:40 Yeah, exactly.
20:40 Um and so clearly they were tapped
20:43 into like the city utilities and[ __] like that.
20:46 Um, so I think, you know, he's got a 10 $10 million bounty on his head.
20:50 So I think just as a figurehead for the United States government,
20:53 I think he's the guy and, you know, anything to do with Chapo is like headlines.
20:58 Yeah.
20:58 So I I I think he's probably like a big target they would like to get.
21:02 Um, it'll be interesting to see who takes Mencho's place.
21:08 I keep seeing on social media a lot of talk about uh Dolier Doer
21:16 or is it um you can you could pop him you can look him up.
21:20 He's he's El Pelon they call him.
21:23 Yeah.
21:23 From one of my reports here it
21:24 says that Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez Eleno's stepson.
21:29 One of his nicknames is El Pelon because he's got
21:31 a great hairline and he's he was born in Santa Ana, California.
21:36 He's an American citizen.
21:38 Yes, dude.
21:39 That's that's so that's exactly where I was going to get
21:41 to is that is like a lot of talk right now.
21:45 And what is interesting about that is that he's an American citizen.
21:49 And I'm very curious to what kind of what kind
21:52 of impacts will that make with United States with Mexico
21:55 and and what are your thoughts on that from what
21:57 you're hearing around you know your group of people?
21:59 I mean, it makes him ideal as a boss
22:03 because it means he he's already connected in the US.
22:08 Like, he's already got I mean,
22:11 not only does he probably have kids that live in the US,
22:14 Mencho has kids that live in the US,
22:16 he had a a brother-in-law that was basically
22:20 running moneyaundering operations for him in Riverside, California.
22:23 Uh so so that means he's got access,
22:27 you know, it just it makes everything easier.
22:29 It makes every they can manage the businesses here,
22:32 the safe houses, uh the moving of money, weapons back to Mexico.
22:37 Um and I think they do a lot of that intentionally to be honest with you.
22:40 I think um I think people have kids over here more or less suspecting
22:48 that at least a few of them will
22:49 go back to Mexico and and continue the business.
22:53 Yeah.
22:53 I've never So, like from all the years
22:55 of interviewing people that talk about the cartels,
22:58 I was always told that, you know, the cartels,
23:00 the higherups are always going to be Mexican citizens.
23:03 And I think that's kind of evolving to now
23:05 that you've had so many years of people becoming American citizens,
23:09 the family's kind of all over the place that it makes sense to start
23:13 integrating someone who is an American
23:14 citizen that still connects to the family.
23:17 What I what I what I imagine as someone like I said,
23:21 you know, I'm I'm an American in special operations, military, all these things.
23:24 And I and I think of someone who's an American citizen,
23:27 there's so many ways of finding their digital footprint and information.
23:32 I feel like it'd almost be easier to find an individual like
23:34 that because there's so much information
23:36 on them as them being an American citizen.
23:38 Do you think that would be the same or or they just have the same ability
23:41 and the money just to be able to escape and kind of go and detect it?
23:44 Well, they won't be living in the United States.
23:47 Oh, absolutely.
23:47 Like you're right.
23:48 It would be much easier to to find them if they were in the United States.
23:51 But, uh, the advantage is they can start working
23:55 young going back and forth across the border.
23:58 Like for instance, one of the guys that I we talked to, El Diablo,
24:02 uh he grew he has an American passport.
24:05 He was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Mexalei.
24:09 His parents were in the weed business.
24:11 They worked with Mayo in the early days in the 70s.
24:14 So he was from a teenager.
24:17 He was driving loads of weed across the border, heroin.
24:22 And it's just easier because you have an American passport.
24:24 It's just the smuggling is easier, right?
24:26 you look less conspicuous.
24:29 So maybe they start off doing that and then they just meet tons of people.
24:33 The access is is just so much greater when you have an American passport.
24:38 So you meet distributors in Los Angeles, in Phoenix,
24:43 you meet people that can sell you their house to use
24:48 it as the end of a a drug tunnel, right?
24:52 H you can set up shell companies having people buy real estate, right?
24:55 you know, it's it's about it's about making cells.
24:59 Everything is a cell and a node in a bigger game.
25:02 Uh, so I think that's and when you're born in America, you speak more English.
25:06 You're more westernized.
25:07 You kind of think in a it's going to be racist,
25:10 but a little a little less primitive way.
25:12 You know, these old school Mexican guys, right?
25:15 Like it's the culture is a lot it's not as international as, you know,
25:20 one of their children that did grow up in Los Angeles, you know?
25:24 It just kind of gives you because it is a global economy now.
25:27 It just gives you kind of a more global outlook.
25:31 Yeah.
25:32 Well, what I find interesting is that the Americans
25:34 have an ability to get intel on individuals.
25:38 They can find anyone at any time.
25:39 I mean, you know, for the most part,
25:43 it almost feels like we're spacing out
25:46 these these these captures or these these, you know,
25:50 targeted hits on people for whether it be
25:53 on the Mexican side just to kind of space it out.
25:56 But I don't know why America just doesn't go and like pick them all off.
26:00 Now, I'm not saying like that's what they need to do,
26:01 but I'm saying if their goal is to kind of disrupt to destroy the cartels,
26:06 I don't think they're too far off from getting
26:08 information on every single one of these top guys,
26:09 going ahead and taking them out.
26:11 Why do you think America's not doing that?
26:13 Let me ask you this before I try to answer that.
26:15 Do you think that they could locate a guy
26:18 in in the most remote mountainous region of Caloa?
26:22 Like, could they locate, if they wanted to, Ivan Archie Valdo?
26:25 I
26:26 I don't know.
26:26 You know, it's it really comes down to, like I said,
26:28 the digital footprint and and kind of like same as El Mento,
26:31 he was hard to find for a long time and they found him pretty it
26:34 seems like they found him right when they
26:35 needed to or when they wanted to, right?
26:36 Almost like a timing thing.
26:37 It made sense to get him at this moment.
26:39 And so, knowing how intel works, knowing how the CIA is,
26:42 knowing how everything goes with information,
26:45 uh I don't I don't know if the cartel has enough ability to hide them that well.
26:51 I almost feel like we can get anyone at any point and just
26:54 choose not to like like it's almost like a strategy behind it.
26:57 Yeah, I see what you're saying.
26:58 I mean the the since Trump took office,
27:03 we know that there's planes taking pictures,
27:06 satellite planes, circling these regions, taking photos, right?
27:10 Gathering intel like that.
27:12 I think in the case of Meno, he had the police and the military so paid
27:18 off that I he was hiding in plain sight.
27:22 Got it.
27:23 So I He was slipping in a way, you know,
27:26 like that's when when you hear when you hear their communications Yeah.
27:29 Exactly.
27:30 When you hear their communications on the radio,
27:32 when they realize they're being ambushed, they're like, "Fuck, they betrayed us.
27:36 They betrayed us because we paid them all this money and they couldn't even
27:39 believe it." They're like they're breaking the they're
27:41 breaking the agreement we had, you know.
27:43 So, um I think that a guy like,
27:48 you know, Ivonne or whoever is the takes Meno's place,
27:52 I think they're not going to um ball for that anymore.
27:55 At least while Trump's in office, you know,
27:57 at least maybe until the politics change.
27:59 Uh I think they're just going to stay out of sight.
28:01 So, if they can't be captured by satellite,
28:04 I think it's a lot harder to get intel on them.
28:08 I think that's the main way that they got Mencho is they're like, "Okay,
28:12 we know that he's h he's staying uh at these like
28:18 this on this golf course basically where other wealthy Mexicans,
28:23 not cartel affiliated,
28:24 go to spend their weekends and we need we they followed, you know,
28:30 a handful of people, one of them being his girlfriend,
28:34 that would come up to the ranch to visit him.
28:37 And then when he stepped uh outside,
28:42 he normally was good at staying underneath rooftops,
28:45 but this this woman for whatever reason
28:49 got him either intentionally or no to basically
28:53 expose his his body to open air and they got they got a picture of it.
28:58 Uh and that's how they got confirmation.
29:00 So, um, but yeah, you know, look, more or less,
29:03 yeah, the CIA can find almost anybody within reason.
29:06 Anybody that's operating,
29:08 anybody that's operating in any kind of urban area at all.
29:16 Yeah.
29:16 That's exposed.
29:16 Yeah, you're right.
29:17 they can find.
29:18 The reason they don't is because, you know, I mean, a we know that the CIA,
29:23 you know, from the beginning, uh,
29:26 has has assisted, facilitated drug trafficking, right?
29:33 So, I I think part of it sin, you know,
29:36 sinisterly is that they just don't want the war to end.
29:40 You know, you don't want to knock your business off.
29:43 That's the weirdest thing about the CIA that like, you know,
29:46 you're raised to believe in America that CIA
29:47 does all these great things to protect the nation.
29:49 Then you start hearing all these stories and like maybe they still are, right?
29:52 Yeah.
29:52 And and yeah, they are okay.
29:54 But at the same time, like the collateral of some of the approaches
29:57 they make have assisted in helping cartels become stronger.
30:01 And so it's a really odd kind of space.
30:04 And that's why I feel like it's intentional how they're doing it.
30:07 there's a strategy behind and they're spacing it out
30:10 in a way that they know like like you said,
30:12 take out the top dogs, does it change anything?
30:14 Not much.
30:15 You know what I mean?
30:15 And so I don't know if we continue to target these top guys,
30:19 all the big names we've just mentioned,
30:21 if it affects anything with the drug trade.
30:23 I mean, you could, if you wanted to start, you know, uh,
30:30 real real regional war, America could just start drone striking these people.
30:36 But if you're at least for the time being going
30:38 to respect Mexican sovereignty and try to work with them,
30:42 you do rely on the Mexican government after they're given the information
30:46 about the location of these targets to then go and make the arrest.
30:51 And that's the biggest impediment because by the time they get there,
30:57 you know, half of them are already paid off.
30:59 Yeah.
30:59 Right.
30:59 And by the time they get there, you know,
31:01 they're met with the the military's met by gunfire
31:04 from the state police and the federal police.
31:10 Yeah.
31:10 You know, we had one of our partners, uh, Katarina,
31:13 she went down there to the location of where Elemential was killed and just
31:17 from viewing her videos and watching and seeing like it was almost odd, right?
31:22 There was Did you see any of her video at all?
31:24 There was some shell casings there, but very little damage to the home.
31:27 It It was odd.
31:29 It was an odd kind of like I'm I've been in combat.
31:31 I've seen exactly what houses have when you shoot them up, right?
31:34 So I was like, "Whoa,
31:34 this is real weird." And like what did you think about it, man?
31:38 Because it almost felt like
31:41 I don't know, man.
31:42 I I can't say like I said,
31:44 there was talks of it being being um almost like fake.
31:47 There was talks of it being like
31:49 Yeah.
31:49 staged.
31:50 And so it just seemed like a very odd setup.
31:53 Like the scene was just weird to me.
31:55 Yeah.
31:56 So they say that he was in handcuffs.
31:58 He he'd given up and that's when they shot him.
32:03 Damn.
32:03 They also said they killed him on the helicopter on the way to Mexico City.
32:08 Yeah, I heard that as well.
32:08 So yeah.
32:09 So you would just you would And another thing that was super sketchy is that
32:13 and Ed was telling me cuz Ed used to be a federal copies.
32:19 Yeah.
32:19 So, they raided a lot of houses in Tijana.
32:22 And when those cops go in, they steal everything.
32:26 They're knocking out the walls trying to find money, trying to find drugs.
32:29 Oh, this guy's got a bunch of gold.
32:31 Take it.
32:32 That house was untouched.
32:36 Like, why wouldn't you go in and try to get a year's salary?
32:39 Just go, I found some cash in a drawer.
32:41 You know, it was untouched.
32:43 So, it really looked like they were there
32:45 to just it was a it was an execution team.
32:48 just quickly boom boom we're out.
32:50 Yeah, there were some thoughts that you
32:52 know Claudia Shinbomb was afraid of, you know,
32:55 him being alive because there might be connections
32:58 to her and we already know there's something there, right?
33:01 There's something a connection.
33:02 You don't become a president without some kind of stronghold of some sort.
33:07 Is there still you believe the same thing
33:09 that that Claudia Sham is somehow connected in this as well?
33:12 And maybe it's inevitable you have to be in that country right now
33:15 with the way things are politically and with the cartels being so strong.
33:19 Yeah.
33:19 I think, you know, I'm not an expert
33:21 on the Mexican lobby and the Mexican political process.
33:24 I think nowadays it's probably less overt than it was in the old days.
33:28 Like it's Cloudy Shine's party, the Marina party,
33:33 and they've got, you know, handlers and fixers that have deniability.
33:38 They're the ones that are, you know, doing the deals with the cartels.
33:42 Uh, I'm certain she's never taken a briefcase full of money.
33:46 You know, you can probably say that with with a high degree of certainty,
33:50 but uh I'm not sure that she was even aware that this raid was going to go down.
33:56 Same with Harooge.
33:57 That's why they were so surprised uh because
34:00 the generals are the ones who run that country.
34:03 It's not the politicians.
34:05 So, you know, they let Claudia Sham bomb know after the fact.
34:09 like you could tell that the government was taken by surprise.
34:12 That's why, you know, it was just because it was so poorly planned.
34:15 You're like, you know,
34:18 it was just scrambling and chaos within the different branches of government.
34:21 They had no idea this was going to happen.
34:24 So, it's the generals are the ones who control the country.
34:26 They're the ones who take the highest level bribes
34:30 that that allow for all of the the watch coal,
34:33 the stolen fuel that leaves the country,
34:36 you know, you know, ports and things like that.
34:38 nothing that[ __] can't happen without the cooperation
34:41 at a very high level of of the government.
34:44 So, uh I don't think Shane Bomb even knew this was going to go down,
34:48 you know, but obviously her Yeah,
34:49 of course her party is is involved uh have been
34:53 taking money from the Caloa cartel for a long time now,
34:57 you know, could be the Haliscoco cartel, too, but it's uh it's the generals.
35:02 They're the ones who have the most intimate ties with the kingpins
35:07 and therefore the most to lose if these guys get arrested and start talking.
35:13 Yeah.
35:13 When Alena was killed,
35:14 there was just so many Americans that were posting
35:16 and they were scared for their life and and whatnot.
35:18 And I kind of laughed at that only because I I feel
35:22 confident enough to know how things go over there in the sense where,
35:25 you know, the tourists are really the money.
35:27 So there there's a little bit of a almost a pack to to not affect tourism.
35:32 Uh but at the same time when you say
35:34 that the the war with the you know the chapitos
35:37 is coming closer to America is there ever
35:40 a fear that you believe it's spilling over into America?
35:44 No.
35:44 No.
35:45 Uh I mean I think I think that there is
35:49 there are kidnappings that happen uh of Americans usually Mexican-Americans.
35:56 Uh, I've heard this is a big story.
35:58 It should be a bigger story.
36:00 Uh, there's Mexican-Americans who go down to Mexico to visit,
36:06 you know, Tijana, Kol Lima, these places,
36:10 and they actually get kidnapped and either murdered or forced
36:15 to become drug mules or or lookouts in the cartel.
36:19 That does happen.
36:20 That does happen.
36:21 And I in fact it it's the the disappearing the disappearing person's crisis,
36:28 the missing person's crisis is the biggest but least
36:31 talked about new story coming out of Mexico.
36:35 And you know, hundreds and hundreds of thousands
36:38 of people have gone missing over the last 10 years.
36:41 Uh and they're buried in these clandestine graves and throughout,
36:46 you know, Halisco, Baja California.
36:49 Uh, but no, no, the war won't ever spill over the border.
36:54 Over the border, not in any significant way.
36:56 No, the cartels are too rational and they're too decentralized.
37:00 Like, it's just it's again, it's all about these drug trafficking cells.
37:04 They're the ones who take over after it gets through, you know?
37:09 Yeah.
37:09 anytime there's been an incident on the border
37:13 where there's a weapon involved and maybe a shooting,
37:16 you eventually go to find like one,
37:18 we pick up our security and make it harder for for the cartel to do their part.
37:22 Uh but at the other side of it,
37:24 it's always the cartel that somehow gets the message across like, you know,
37:27 that wasn't sanctioned essentially and it was just
37:30 one individual who kind of, you know,[ __]
37:32 stepped outside of what he was supposed to do and he just shot a you know,
37:36 shot an agent, whatever the case, right?
37:37 and you realize like, man, this is it's crazy when the cartel's like, "Ah,
37:41 that's not us." That that you know what I mean?
37:42 When you hear that kind of Yeah.
37:44 It's like, "We don't want any beef with you guys.
37:46 We're just here to do business and that guy's already dead,
37:49 so don't worry about it." Yeah.
37:51 I was always amazed by that.
37:52 You know, there was those tourists that went
37:53 down to Mexico and they got shot up accidentally.
37:56 And then a couple days later, like the cartel killed like six like,
37:59 "These were the ones who did it.
38:00 Sorry about that." kind of thing.
38:01 You're like, "Oh shit." Right.
38:03 Well, those I believe those guys were down there to do a Coke deal.
38:07 You're talking about the ones Yeah.
38:09 in Matamoros.
38:10 The black the black people from Houston or something.
38:14 Yeah.
38:14 Well, originally the report was that they were going to do plastic surgery.
38:19 Yeah.
38:19 Yeah.
38:19 Like why a bunch of like middle-aged black guys are going for plastic surgery?
38:24 Nah.
38:25 Like these aren't young chicks going to get tits, you know?
38:28 like this is I always thought that was sketchy and now it
38:31 comes out that they were there to try to like meet a connect.
38:35 Uh so I mean I'm sure the cartel
38:39 apologized cuz they still weren't supposed to get killed.
38:42 Uh but yeah, those guys were down to do some dirt.
38:45 And then you also see that too like uh big- time big- time traffickers,
38:51 foreign traffickers uh like that guy Ryan Wedding they arrested,
38:55 the Canadian guy who who was working for years out of Mexico City.
39:00 That's kind of a phenomena, a recent phenomena.
39:03 uh you have foreigners who set up shop in Mexico, usually Mexico City,
39:10 and they align with an organization
39:13 and they're they're protected and they basically
39:15 use Mexico as a hub to then export to their country of origin.
39:19 Right?
39:20 So there was a Caloa trafficking associate
39:26 who's from the Netherlands and he got killed.
39:29 He got assassinated in Mexico City.
39:32 So there foreigners will get touched if they get out of line, you know.
39:37 Um but it's very targeted and it's very it's very
39:40 low-key and it's it's only for a very very good reason.
39:45 Yeah, there's a lot going on down there and it's
39:47 interesting to kind of see how America's handling it.
39:49 Like do you think there's ever going to be
39:50 an impact that is successful in stopping drug trade uh
39:54 in America if you know is there anything that we
39:58 can do that actually slows down or stops it?
40:00 I don't think so.
40:01 I don't think so.
40:02 Not short of like tearing up the Constitution.
40:06 You know, you see people in the comments of my videos, they're like,
40:10 "Just execute on site everybody that's caught selling drugs." I'm like, "Oh.
40:15 Oh, yeah.
40:16 You think it would just stop at them,
40:17 you[ __] idiot." Like, like people are such slaves.
40:22 They want the government to just be in every part of their lives.
40:27 You losers.
40:29 you losers.
40:32 Like, why don't we ask ourselves, why is everybody a[ __] junkie?
40:35 Why are you doing fentanyl in the first place?
40:40 Yeah.
40:39 Like, it it it's it just goes to show you it's really like uh
40:43 our culture and our society is just unraveling
40:47 and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
40:51 Yeah.
40:52 Nobody.
40:52 I I mean look look you can blame the SCOP that is neoliberalism and and you know
40:59 the financial we we do we can blame people
41:01 right we we can blame the deep state that's controlled
41:06 our president since Kennedy got whacked we can blame
41:10 the bank of London that that controls all of the financial
41:14 institutions that's have been stripping our country of jobs
41:18 and assets and diluting the value of our currency.
41:21 We could blame these people,
41:22 but like on an individual level, take some responsibility.
41:27 You have access to the internet just like I do.
41:30 Do some research.
41:31 Figure out what's going on.
41:32 Don't become a victim.
41:35 Don't do drugs.
41:37 You know what I mean?
41:40 Yeah.
41:39 Like we you have the way you fight back is by educating yourself, you know?
41:46 Yeah.
41:45 The cartels are the creation of the CIA, you know.
41:49 They're the creation of much higher, much more sinister forces.
41:54 So, anyways, but people aren't going to figure it out.
41:56 So, whatever.
41:58 You can see you could tell I you could tell I feel some kind of way.
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44:14 So during the invite administration,
44:16 obviously we had massive immigration issues, right?
44:18 And currently right now we have a war in Iran.
44:21 You've heard people talking about sleeper sales.
44:23 I know when I was on the border, seeing every different country coming through,
44:28 ditching their passports and and and getting into America,
44:32 is that a concern for you?
44:33 Have you have you talked to some people in Mexico,
44:35 some of these cartels that are allowing these these highv valued
44:39 exotic uh countries come in and and why is Mexico allowing that?
44:43 Like cuz I know for a fact they're still supporting it in some way, right?
44:47 Why is that something that the cartel would support
44:49 in the in the efforts that it could potentially,
44:52 you know, cause real havoc in America and slow
44:55 down potential drug purchasing if you start killing Americans?
44:59 Yeah.
45:00 Well, uh, they have caught people at the border crossing crossing
45:06 through that have that have been on the terrorist watch list,
45:09 but nobody's ever, you know, nobody's ever attempted anything.
45:14 There's there's really no evidence that like a Hezbollah shell has
45:18 been trafficked through to like commit a terrorist act on American soil.
45:23 Um, of course it's possible.
45:25 I I I think the the exotic immigrants,
45:29 you know, the the Pakistanis, the Chinese,
45:32 uh the cartel just smuggles them over because they have
45:35 more money and they want to get into the US,
45:38 you know, uh now if you have 50,000 American dollars,
45:41 I don't know why you need to be smuggled overland into the US,
45:46 but you know, uh people still want to get here from China.
45:50 Um possibly they're Chinese spies, right?
45:54 like perhaps that the the CCP is setting them.
45:57 I don't think it's for terrorism though.
45:58 I think it's for I think the Chinese think a lot
46:01 more longterm and strategic than like setting off a bomb.
46:08 Yeah.
46:06 In New York City or something like that.
46:10 uh you know, as far as the immigrants being smuggled in.
46:13 Now, uh it's obviously that's one of the best and only promises that the Trump
46:20 administration has made good on is they've really
46:23 like cut down on crossings by like 90%.
46:27 Now, they're they're ticking back up a little bit for sure.
46:30 Uh but it's it's not a wholesale cartel we're
46:35 going to move thousands of bodies a day across.
46:37 It's back to the way it used to be,
46:38 which is like localized people at the border,
46:42 pouyetto they call them, smugglers who are not part of the cartel,
46:47 but they again, just like the drug traffickers,
46:50 they they pay a percentage to them for their services,
46:53 you know, lookouts, um, people that can assist them with their crossings.
46:59 But it's like again, it's ones and twos, right?
47:02 Yeah.
47:02 We're going to move strategically move two people across the line this way.
47:06 This way, this way.
47:07 You know, it was crazy.
47:08 During the Biden administration,
47:10 I was working with the Border Patrol and they were not allowed
47:13 to post on social media and highlight
47:17 anyone that was a highvalued terrorist background.
47:21 Like anyone that they captured, they weren't allowed to publicly mention that.
47:23 And it was a weird time because border traders were confused like,
47:26 well, why can't I say that?
47:27 Why can't we show the nation of these apprehensions?
47:30 It was just odd.
47:31 And during that time as well,
47:33 most people who were getting smoked across was probably
47:35 around 5,000 to 7,000 is what it was costing.
47:38 Today's rate right now is somewhere around 25k
47:40 going all the way up to 50k for exotics,
47:43 which is is crazy because that's how much the borders tightened up.
47:46 And it hasn't it wasn't that the border patrol has changed their techniques.
47:51 It's just what is allowed to happen, right?
47:53 people are now getting deported instead of giving NTAs, which has been
47:58 just the wildest thing to see from one one side of, you know,
48:01 an administration to another and like how easy it is to stop illegal
48:06 immigration or at least slow it down, per se.
48:08 Yeah.
48:08 Uh and and I still am confused
48:11 on why the B administration was taking that approach.
48:14 Look, you know, again, this could be the work of the the deep state,
48:20 you know, that that they have people in NOS's and uh you know,
48:26 different organizations that are that are intentionally bringing in hundreds,
48:32 millions of people uh to for for many different reasons.
48:36 I mean, one could be for labor, right?
48:39 Like you see Trump immediately flipped after he tried
48:44 to do mass deportations cuz his homies who pay him money,
48:49 who who propped his campaign up,
48:51 the guys that own hotels are like, "Bro, what are you doing?
48:53 You're you're[ __] kidnapping my workers.
48:56 Back off.
48:56 I gave you two million bucks." You know,
48:59 uh all the way to, you know, uh uh flipping voting districts.
49:05 I think that that's possible.
49:07 um to just general, you know, it could be something as sinister,
49:13 if I'm being very pessimistic, as you know,
49:16 changing just just just causing general chaos in the United States
49:22 that can lead eventually long term to to a surveillance state.
49:27 Yeah.
49:27 And and just push us towards a civil war the way
49:29 you already see kind of happening in Europe in a way.
49:32 Like Europe's like really on the brink.
49:34 So, I think there there could be something to that, too.
49:36 I I don't put it I don't put it past these goblins
49:39 that uh that that want to turn us all into you
49:43 know just consumer slaves uh that are surveiled at all times
49:51 by AI like you know what we saw during the pandemic right
49:54 like I think I think the masters of mankind would like
49:57 to see that happening just in in perpetuity so I I think
50:02 you know I think that's it's kind of could be a mixture
50:05 of all that stuff was the reason that that crazy policy,
50:09 that amnesty policy was happening under Biden.
50:12 But that was not good.
50:13 Yeah, that that was a crazy time, man.
50:15 You were talking about the cocaine,
50:16 but I also know that there's a big influx also of methamphetamines,
50:20 you know, meth in in its own.
50:22 Um, that's huge.
50:23 Huge.
50:24 What's going on with that?
50:25 Why why did they transition to that?
50:26 I know fentanyl obviously causes a lot of issues,
50:28 but how come cocaine is so cheap right now?
50:30 And how come methamphetamine is just has a huge uptick?
50:33 Well, the meth never went anywhere.
50:35 Fentinyl just got all the headlines, but they're two different drugs.
50:39 They're two different um drug bases, right?
50:42 One is an opioid, one is a stimulant.
50:45 So, uh they're both workingass stimulants or both workingass substances,
50:49 but the meth is just great for uh the working class, right?
50:55 And it and the the demographic groups and you know,
50:58 truck drivers to hospital workers.
51:01 Um, you know, I know Coke is cheap, but like good Coke is probably still 80,
51:07 100 bucks a gram, you know, in a city.
51:09 I live in Austin, so maybe a good meth is like[ __] I don't even know,
51:14 30 bucks or something like that.
51:16 So, a pound of meth went from like $2,000 15, 20 years ago to like $400 now.
51:27 So the volume again is just enormous.
51:31 Just like thousands of pounds a day just bam bam bam wholesale,
51:36 you know, the the cartel de the noreste uh the CJNG,
51:42 the the you know these big players,
51:44 the the golf cartel cartel deo uh big time on the Texas border.
51:50 like those guys are just like it's it's like just big industry,
51:55 you know, like why not, you know?
51:57 There's so many big people uh that are connected, you know,
52:02 uh if you own factories and you're a legitimate businessman living in Nova Ledo,
52:09 uh you could become a trafficker really easily.
52:11 Somebody comes to you and he says, "Hey,
52:12 I I have a ton of meth that I want to move.
52:16 I I cooked it up in Mwakan.
52:17 Mutual is another huge re region for that because they're
52:21 they have such mountainous areas in the Tiara Caliente region.
52:25 That's one of the biggest industries there.
52:27 It's very very difficult to penetrate.
52:29 And so, you know, I come to you and I say, "Hey, dude.
52:32 I'll I just need to use your warehouses and your trucks.
52:36 I'll split it with you." Or you go in on it with me.
52:38 It's like an investment in a real estate deal.
52:40 And it's And you know, you know, Mexicans,
52:44 most people are going to go for that[ __] you know who's it's corrupted.
52:48 It's very corrupting.
52:49 Even like good Mexicans will say, "Yeah, let's just do it.
52:51 Why not?
52:52 All the poison is going over there." So, yeah.
52:55 Well, it's an interesting thing with some people
52:56 are just taking it as a business and it's
52:58 not even it's not even the thought of what what's what's the outcome of it is.
53:02 It's just, hey, on my side of it, it's not illegal.
53:04 I'm just assisting in transport, right?
53:06 I'm just assisting in storage or whatever the case.
53:09 And so, well, it's definitely illegal.
53:11 Yeah.
53:12 But but they look at it as like it's happening.
53:16 This is so established.
53:18 It's going to make it through.
53:20 Why don't we I have this opportunity.
53:22 Why don't I just do it?
53:23 It's it's just an ex I can make a million dollars off this load.
53:26 Who's producing the cocaine?
53:27 Where's the most of that coming from?
53:29 Still still coming from Colombia.
53:31 You know, Kali is a big re uh that the viade ka is
53:36 one of the biggest regions and and south south of the viade ka.
53:41 Um, and in the mountainous regions, uh,
53:44 kind of in like the the southeast section, uh,
53:48 Colombia is is going through one of those things
53:53 like Mexico where the cities are really nice now.
53:56 There's a lot of tourists, a lot of expats moving there.
53:58 You know, everybody's going to Medigene.
54:00 Medigene looks like looks like[ __] Chicago now.
54:04 It's so nice.
54:05 and and uh but in the in the countryside
54:09 where nobody sees and the news never goes,
54:11 bro, like guerilla warfare, like it's the 1970s.
54:17 __] kids are getting kidnapped.
54:18 Uh land owners are being run off their land by geras, armed groups.
54:25 They'll just show up at their hosianda and they'll have a bunch of 17-year-old
54:28 kids with[ __] AKs sitting in their living room and they'll be like,
54:31 "Okay, well, I guess this is your house now." government does nothing.
54:35 They're they're sending so much blow out of that country.
54:39 That's why you see the prices[ __] kilos in in in Europe
54:44 now are like for a big-time drug trafficking clans,
54:49 they can get them for like less than 20 where they used to go for like 3540.
54:54 So yeah, no, Colombia is moving moving the most.
54:57 And uh you know again it's it's it's Mexicans from Cinoaoa the CJNG
55:03 they they have they send guys down to the labs in Colombia.
55:09 A lot of times they even invest.
55:11 They say okay you own the the cocoa growing land too.
55:14 I'm going to give you a couple million bucks for this year's harvest but I
55:19 want to own all of it because the coke comes from the cocoa leaf.
55:23 Not all harvests are the same.
55:26 some cocoa leaf that gets grown is weaker.
55:27 It's just a bad harvest.
55:28 There's not enough rain or whatever.
55:30 It doesn't come out as good.
55:31 So, they they send emissaries down there from Mexico
55:36 to make sure that they get the bomb, you know.
55:40 Yeah.
55:39 Uh and so they're very very they're tied at the hip, dude.
55:43 Yeah.
55:43 They're the ones, you know, they send the submarines out,
55:46 the the coke submarines.
55:48 They land shockingly on the coast of Mexico, right?
55:52 uh goes through the port of of Manzano and Kol Lima.
55:55 So yeah, I mean Colombia and Mexico,
55:57 Colombia is sending up mercenary fighters to go fight in the cartels in Mexico.
56:05 Wow.
56:04 That's a huge thing now.
56:06 Yeah.
56:06 So th those guys are like tied at the hip.
56:09 Yeah, they're very close.
56:11 Damn.
56:12 That's all the questions I have, man.
56:14 It's just crazy what's going on and and I really appreciate it, man.
56:17 Is there anything you want to say to the audience?
56:19 And again, please direct them towards your podcast as well.
56:22 Yeah, check out the Connect with Johnny Mitchell.
56:24 Uh, I interview, you know, uh, it's a true crime podcast,
56:28 but we interview a lot of nauticals.
56:30 We do a lot of documentary stuff in this space.
56:32 We talk to people that have crazy prison stories.
56:35 Um, so yeah, we we've been having a lot of fun.
56:38 We've been getting some great guests in.
56:40 So, just type in on YouTube or Spotify the Connect
56:43 with Johnny Mitchell and uh, you will find us.
56:46 I got a buddy of mine who was
56:49 trying to transport leather and inside the suitcase
56:54 was layered with drugs and he ended up doing three years in a Pakistan prison.
56:58 I'm going to connect you with him, dude.
57:00 It's crazy story, bro.
57:02 You've got to.
57:04 Yes.
57:05 Crazy story, dude.
57:06 Yeah.
57:06 And he's like, I never killed anyone until I had
57:08 to go to prison and had to kill someone to protect myself.
57:10 I WAS LIKE, OH MY GOD, BRO.
57:12 SO, I'm gonna connect stories.
57:14 Yeah, it'd be perfect, bro.
57:15 But thank you so much, man.
57:16 If there's anything anything else you need and you ever
57:19 want to come back to the show, just let me know.
57:21 Definitely, man.
57:21 Always good to see you.
57:22 You, too, brother.
57:23 Take care.
57:23 Thank you for listen to Borderland Narcosis
57:25 and Ironclad Original presented by First Form.
57:28 Don't forget to get your First Form submits at first form.com/borderland.
57:31 Man,