236: Part 1: DEA Agent Ran Undercover Ops for 30 Years – Now He Writes for Yellowstone
Game of Crimes
Game of Crimes
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Retired DEA agent J. Todd Scott went from running undercover operations and dismantling cartel networks to consulting on hit TV shows like Yellowstone. In this episode of Game of Crimes, host Murph sits down with Todd to hear stories that most people only see on screen — the brutal reality of DEA operations in Haiti, the mindset of criminals who think they're smarter than everyone, and how nearly three decades of chasing drug lords shaped one of the most unique voices in true crime storytelling.
Todd's journey from a small-town Kentucky upbringing to the front lines of America's drug war is a masterclass in resilience, strategy, and reinvention.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | At that time, Haiti was really serviced out of the Caribbean out of Puerto Rico, and guys would go in TDIY for a couple weeks. |
| 0:06.6 | We had a lot of Colombians living in country. They were kind of doing TDIs the way D.EA was doing TDYs, right? You have Colombian traffickers who would go stay for a few months, and they couldn't wait to get out of the country. I mean, they're dope traffickers who couldn't wait to get out of that place because they used to get routinely kidnapped and they held for ransom. |
| 0:22.7 | It was just kind of part of going there. |
| 0:24.2 | They knew they were going to get kidnapped. You've never seen a Colombian trafficker so happy to see a DEA agent is when we'd roll up and rescue them for wherever they were being held. I'm Steve Murphy, DEA Special Agent Retired and now host of the Game of Crimes podcast. |
| 0:41.7 | If you've seen the Netflix series Narcos, then you know my story. |
| 0:47.8 | I now bring you stories of heroism and bravery from our law enforcement and military heroes and occasionally from the criminals that they faced. |
| 0:51.8 | Welcome to Game of Crimes. |
| 1:05.6 | Music that they faced. Welcome to Game of Crimes. Hey, crew. |
| 1:06.7 | Welcome back to this week's edition, |
| 1:08.3 | The Game of Crimes with Murph in the morning. |
| 1:10.5 | Thank you folks so much for coming back every week. |
| 1:13.1 | I'm so excited about today's guest. |
| 1:15.2 | It's another cop, and it's a retired DEA agent. |
| 1:19.1 | But man, has he got an interesting past in life after DEA? |
| 1:23.3 | I mean, wait until you hear about this. |
| 1:24.5 | So this guy is almost 30 years as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, |
| 1:29.9 | came out as a special agent in charge. |
| 1:32.5 | He is the author of seven books, and let's just say so far, because he has an unbelievable |
| 1:39.6 | exploding writing career. |
| 1:42.0 | He's a consulting producer on a show called the Bass Reeves series. |
| 1:46.6 | And I'll be honest with you, I didn't know what that was until I talked to him and I looked |
| 1:49.3 | it up and it's worth looking at. And now he's a writer. Have you ever seen Yellowstone? |
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