meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Jordan Harbinger Show

665: Luis Navia | 25 Years Inside the Narco Cartels

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Jordan Harbinger

Education, Business, Science

4.812.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2022

⏱️ 88 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Luis Navia worked for nearly 25 years as a cocaine trafficker for the deadliest Colombian and Mexican cartels until the law caught up with him in 2000. He is the co-author (with Jesse Fink) of Pure Narco: One Man's True Story of 25 Years Inside the Cartels.

What We Discuss with Luis Navia:
  • Why did Luis Navia -- a Georgetown student and the privileged son of an affluent sugar trader -- get involved in the illicit international cocaine trade with the most ruthless and infamous Mexican and Colombian drug cartels?
  • How did Luis move between 200 to 300 tons of cocaine (roughly worth $10 billion) over the course of 25 years -- and live to tell the tale?
  • Why did Luis insist on carrying out his business without a weapon -- in spite of being regularly surrounded by the perpetrators of unimaginably brutal violence?
  • What are the logistics for smuggling massive amounts of cocaine over international borders with limited space and personnel?
  • How did Operation Journey, an anti-narcotics effort coordinated across 12 nations and led by the United States and Great Britain, finally put an end to Luis' lucrative cocaine trafficking career?
  • And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/665

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course!

Miss our two-part conversation with the Caravaggio of currency counterfeiting? Catch up by starting with Episode 488: Frank Bourassa | The World’s Greatest Counterfeiter Part One here!

Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Coming up next on the Jordan Harbinger Show.

0:03.0

It was just instant non-stop-and-run trying to get that phone call in trying to get annoying your time running out.

0:10.0

You're not thinking about, is it gonna hurt if the crocodile is bite me or eat me?

0:15.0

You're not thinking about that. You don't have time to think about that. If you're thinking about that, then you're not using your time properly.

0:21.0

You need to make that goddamn phone call.

0:23.0

Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger.

0:28.0

On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people.

0:34.0

We have in-depth conversations with scientists and entrepreneurs, spies and psychologists,

0:39.0

even the occasional drug smuggler, money laundering, experts, or tech mogul,

0:43.0

and each episode turns our guests' wisdom into practical advice that you can use to build a deeper understanding of how the world works

0:50.0

and become a better thinker. If you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about it,

0:54.0

our starter packs are where you should begin. These are collections of our favorite episodes organized by Topic

1:00.0

that'll help new listeners get a taste of everything that we do here on the show.

1:03.0

Topics like crime and cults, investing in financial crimes, scams and conspiracy debunks,

1:09.0

negotiation and communication, and more. Just visit JordanHarbinger.com slash start or search for us in your Spotify app to get started.

1:17.0

Today, I chat with one of the most prolific cocaine smugglers of his day, Luis Naviah.

1:22.0

This one is Goodfellas meets cocaine cowboys. For a quarter century, Naviah worked as a high-level transporter

1:28.0

for all of the major Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, including Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel

1:34.0

and, of course, flooded the United States and Europe with cocaine before his dramatic arrest in Venezuela in 2000

1:40.0

during the 12-Nation Operation Journey. This one is a rare, on-the-ground, insider perspective

1:46.0

on the international drug trade. No other American cocaine trafficker in history has worked for all of the major Colombian cocaine cartels,

1:54.0

Medellin, Cally and North Valley of the 80s and 90s, and survived to tell the story.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jordan Harbinger, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jordan Harbinger and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.