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Game of Crimes

229: Part 2: AJ Collazo – Op PanEx, Inside the global Drug War

Game of Crimes

Game of Crimes

True Crime

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Murph is joined once again by veteran DEA leader AJ Collazo for a deep dive into one of the most complex fronts in modern law enforcement—the international drug war.

Their conversation centers on Operation Panama Express, a groundbreaking multi-agency effort that transformed how law enforcement tracks and dismantles maritime drug trafficking networks. AJ breaks down how intelligence-driven cases are built, the dangers of undercover work, and why cooperation between DEA, military, foreign governments, and federal agencies became essential after the Patriot Act reshaped global enforcement strategies.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The deal was I was supposed to drive a little erratically, and then a Volusia deputy pull up behind me,

0:04.3

traffic stopped me. And the plan was, okay, when I had a chance, I was going to break for it, run, run the wooded area to go hide. The deputy was going to try to act like he was going to catch me, and he didn't. He stayed with the truck, and he found the dope, and that was going to be the scenario. I get through the traffic stop and I look at it.

0:19.2

I take off.

0:20.0

I run across the roads, a four-lane highway,

0:22.7

and I can't find it open woods. I'm going around the corner. Somehow, I don't know where this freaking Mustang pops out, right? Off the side of the road, going towards where I'm running the woods, I'm looking at it. I'm like, these two people are driving this girl jump out of this car. This one guy must have been been six five the girl's she's pretty big too they look like bodybuild was actually scared the hell

0:42.3

out of me next thing you know they're tackling me it's like the plane goes to shit Hey, everybody. Welcome back to part two of this week's episode, Game of Crimes, Murph in the morning.

1:05.1

Still got Mr. A.J. Koyazo here with us this week. We just finished up yesterday where he is a GS-13 journeyman-level agent

1:14.6

within the Special Operations Division, what we call the 959 groups, which was a bilateral investigative

1:21.0

group. He was talking about some of his undercover activities and some of the things that he'd done

1:25.7

overseas. And we're going to get back into that because while he was in that group, he actually got

1:30.5

promoted to a group supervisor, which is a GS-14.

1:34.3

So what did, AJ, when they promoted you, were you still in 959 or did you go to a different

1:39.2

section?

1:40.3

No, I was still in, thank you.

1:42.3

I was still in 959.

1:44.9

Myself and my friend Lou,

1:46.3

Billy Young, we both applied.

1:47.8

There were some openings internally.

1:49.2

We both actually got promoted.

1:51.8

Yeah, Lou is, he's a legendary agent as well, just like you, man.

1:55.5

He eventually made it up to an assistant administrator, right?

1:59.2

He came out of retirement to do that for a while. It's like I told you, people in that squad could put them in on the moon. It was talented people. You're not kidding. I mean, the cases they were making, if I had been a young agent, that's where I would have wanted to work. You know, the wife probably wouldn't have liked it too much because I'd be gone more than I was already. Yeah.

...

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