Like when you came to my ring or you met with me, you felt there was a good chance that you were

safe and good hands. I didn't, I was a very low profile dude. So like, you don't want to deal with anybody that has heat on him. And I didn't have any heat. I was a ghost. What's up, everybody? Today's guest is a man named Eric Canori. He's got a book out called pressure. And it's all about his life as a pot smuggler from upstate New York. My childhood was way

harder than prison. This guy started out as an ordinary college kid just like me. He's actually

like a guy I would have looked up to who I would have wanted to be back in the day. He started out

nickel and diamond and before you know it in 2004 he blew up. It started from the taste of

freedom. When I had an extra 40 bucks in my pocket, that's freedom. And then it went from 40 to 60

to like just stacks that you can't fit in your pocket anymore. He started moving thousands and

thousands of pounds of Canadian bud across the border into his little hometown

of Saratoga Springs, New York, and he became a millionaire many, many times over.

Eventually, I got up to the point where I was doing 50, 60 million a year in sales.

This guy moved thousands of pounds a month to different organizations all along the eastern seaboard.

I had an accountant every single state on the east coast between New Orleans and Boston.

He was the man and he never used violence. He ran a whole organization and never even touched

a gun. He was a real business-minded kind of dude. I was still in the game, but I always told

myself I wasn't in the game. When I went to bed at night, I was a little waterfall pond boy. I was still in the game, but I always told myself I wasn't in the game.

When I went to bed at night, I was a little waterfall pond boy. You probably never heard of this guy, and that's on purpose. That's how Eric would have wanted it. Even the guys who worked for him didn't know his real name or his identity. I had no heat because I didn't talk to anybody. I never said I was the boss. I said, if somebody placed an order for 500 pounds, I said, I'll have to get back to you and check.

I already the boss. I said, if somebody placed an order for 500 pounds, I said, I'll have to get back to you and check. I already had it in inventory. It wasn't flashy either. He would take his money and he would buy gold bars and bury him in the backyard, which eventually he ended up having to turn over to the feds in a deal that basically bought him his freedom. They came pick me up in shackles. They go, all right, where are we going? I go, you're going to need a shovel. We go, we're going to dig up some gold. He did a couple of years in prison, but he kept it airtight, didn't have to rat on anybody. He got out, he turned his life around, and he wrote a book about it. And that's what he's here to talk about today. I did a little less than two years, but that was a good thing for me

because that gave me time to really work on myself. Give it up for this guy, a personal hero of

mine in just an hour and a half of talking to him. Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Kenori, you're watching The Connect with Johnny Mitchell. That was all my life was, bro. You know, the money came so fast at a young age, bro, that my identity was based on the money I made rather than the person I was. I still hadn't really grown up. I was still just a little boy. That's when I see lights behind me start to flash.

And I didn't even think, I just hit it. I was driving like my life depended on. Then I parked the car, hopped out, closed the door, and I started running. And he pulls out a burner, shank, like six inches. And he passes it to me. And he goes, here, that's yours. Don't ever leave the cell block without this. He was the reason I made it out of that place alive.

So where are you from? Where am I from? I'm from upstate New York. What part of upstate? Between Saratoga Springs and Lake George, a little town called Queensberry. Wow. That's a different life up there. Well, how do you know it's a different life? You never heard of it. I mean, I've watched what's that show Escape from Danamora. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it's just, I mean, the people up there are like a different species. It really... They're behind. They're like 10 years behind what's going on in the major metropolitan areas. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird.

It's like they're like Northern Hicks. Well, I don't want to say. I guess I know people up there. I'm not going to say anything about them. But I mean, look, we're not talking about your aunt Kathy. We're doing we're saying in general talking about people from upstate. But this is important because, you know, you're essentially, you're, you're not even a suburban kid. You grew up rural.

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