Hello, world. On this episode of the podcast, we talked to ex-narco, drug lord, his name is Jorge Valdez,

and his story is absolutely mind-bending. He was born in Havana, Cuba in 1956, and by the age of 10,

his family boarded one of the last freedom flights from Cuba to Miami. While working as an accountant

in his early 20s, his first client was La Puerta

del Sol, a small grocery store which turned out to be a front for a group of international drug

dealers. In 1977, he took over the entire organization as the head of U.S. operations, and that

group went on to be called the Medelligen drug cartel. We cover all the details on

this podcast from crashing his plane loaded with over 200 kilos of Coke in Panama to actually

buying presidents, like he literally bought the president of Costa Rica. He talks about doing business

with Pablo Escobar and eventually forfeiting over $60 million

to the U.S. government. So if that long-winded intro doesn't wet your whistle, folks, I don't

know what will. This was a fascinating podcast, and I hope you enjoy.

Cool. Well, thanks for coming on, Mr. Valdez.

Yeah, my pleasure.

You pulled up in a Rolls Royce. I wasn't expecting that.

How do you like that thing? What is that a ghost?

Yeah, is it a ghost?

Yeah. I didn't expect you to be, you know, back up, back up to that level yet.

When I read your book, I thought you kind of had to hit rock bottom at the end of everything. Well, I did. I hit rock bottom. I ended up forfeiting over $60 million to the government.

Yeah.

Went to prison again for really the bottom line was that they just wanted my money.

I had been retired for four years.

...