Welcome, everyone, to a special Cops and Writers Podcast. Since September, the US Navy has destroyed at least 10 vessels that were suspected of carrying illegal drugs headed for the United States, mostly in the Caribbean near Venezuela. I have heard so many opinions on this from ‘experts’, I'm using air quotes, and I wanted to get the true story.

My mind went immediately to my interviews with retired DEA Special Agent Wes Tabor (episodes 235,236, & 237). Wes was embedded in Venezuela, battling the drug cartel and gangs for three years. He had a front-row seat to the prospering drug trade and threat to the United States and wrote the book, Infiltrate America: Blood Routes and the Rise of Latin American Gangs. So, of course, I asked him to be on the show again, and he graciously agreed.

Of course, I would be remiss if I were going to be talking about drug cartels and smuggling not to have two experts who took down some of the most notorious drug cartels and their leaders in modern times. Steve Murphy and Chris Feistl. 

Retired DEA Special Agent Steve Murphy and his partner Javier Pena are best known for taking down the Medellin Cartel and its leader, Pablo Escobar. Steve is an expert in drug smuggling and cartels and is considered an expert in the world of narcoterrorism. Steve and Javier’s work was featured in many television documentaries and was featured in the Netflix special, DEA Narcos.

Retired DEA Special Agent Chris Feistl and his partner Dave Mitchell are best known for taking down the Cali Cartel and its leaders Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. Chris’s work was featured in many television documentaries and was also featured in season three of the Netflix special DEA Narcos.

After listening to these three experts, it is clearer than ever to me that the narcoterrorism that is brewing in South America is a clear and present danger to our country. I feel this topic is so important that I’m doing an early release of this episode and will air the conclusion of this episode this Sunday. Please enjoy this eye-opening and informative interview with actual experts and not celebrities or people stuck in their echo chambers making stuff up as they go along.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

·      Since September, the US Navy has destroyed at least 10 vessels that were suspected of carrying illegal drugs headed for the United States, mostly in the Caribbean near Venezuela. 

·      What are these boats, and how much cargo can they hold? What drug(s) are aboard these boats? They are obviously not ‘fishing boats.’

·      The obvious clues indicate that these go-fast boats are drug-running boats.

·      How to discover illegal narcotics on container ships.

·      Narco submarines and their use in drug smuggling. Not much fishing is being done from a submarine.

·      Where do you see this going in the future? Are container ships next?

·      Who is conducting the criminal investigation when people are recovered? Are there arrests being made? Who and where would the interrogation take place?

·      One criticism of these actions is that nobody is disclosing any evidence of drugs aboard these vessels. How would you get this intel? How closely do you think we are working with our intelligence partners (CIA)?

·      The president has ordered a carrier strike group led by the Gerald Ford into the Venezuela area. Donald Trump, who is now unfiltered as a second-term president, isn’t pulling punches. He is saying that this will continue, and he said. “We’re just going to kill people who are bringing drugs into our country. … They’re going to be, like, dead.”

·      There was never a ‘war’ on drugs.

·      Medellin and Cali cartel members in Venezuela.

·      The clear and present danger to the United States brewing in South America.

     All of this and more on today’s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.

     Visit Steve Murphy's website!

     Visit Wes Tabor's Website!

     Visit Chris Feistl's Website!

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