Tommy G Confronts America’s Most Dangerous Hoods, The Kia boys, & Americas Most Corrupt Mayor
Watch on YouTubeVideo summary
Tommy G introduces his channel, which focuses on providing boots-on-the-ground access to America's underground economy and criminal underworlds that mainstream media typically ignores. He contrasts this approach with traditional journalism, criticizing major outlets for relying on prescribed narratives controlled by billionaires and failing to adapt to long-form content in the digital era. His team operates without bureaucratic hurdles or heavy regulation, allowing them to interview subjects ranging from train robbers and car thieves to cult leaders like Kenneth Copeland and figures connected to Scientology. While he acknowledges the ethical complexities of interviewing criminals—such as verifying claims about hitmen or avoiding participation in active crimes—he maintains that his role is investigative rather than participatory, aiming to understand motivations without facilitating further illegal acts. The podcast details several high-stakes investigations, including a segment on the "Kia Boys" phenomenon originating in Milwaukee, where teenagers exploit software vulnerabilities to steal vehicles and drive recklessly through residential areas before often escalating into more dangerous firearm-related crimes via Telegram networks. Tommy recounts his most terrifying experience being raided by Mexican police while interviewing an individual named Hostage near the border town of Progreso; despite the danger involving cartel connections and corrupt officers who beat suspects, he managed to salvage footage using security cameras and Snapchat videos from his crew member Chedda. He also describes navigating tense situations in American hoods where gang members might be planning drive-bys or possessing illegal automatic weapons sold on Telegram, emphasizing that while police raids are infrequent at his home due to legal protections, the risk of violence remains a constant reality for him and his crew. Beyond documenting crime, Tommy explores the systemic failures contributing to instability in marginalized communities, citing issues like poverty, lack of education, family breakdowns caused by domestic violence, and the loss of manufacturing jobs that once supported strong middle-class families in cities like Milwaukee. He argues that without viable economic opportunities or strict penalties for violent crimes, these cycles are difficult to break, noting how companies hesitate to invest in areas with high instability while residents struggle to find well-paying work outside their neighborhoods. Despite facing threats from individuals featured in his videos and the potential for lawsuits against a small operation, he remains committed to telling stories that expose corruption and injustice, even if it means fighting powerful organizations like mega-churches or billionaires who control public narratives. Financially, Tommy reveals that while ad revenue is his primary income stream, supplemented by sponsorships, Patreon, merchandise, real estate investments, and sales of single-family homes in distressed Milwaukee neighborhoods, he reinvests heavily into improving these properties to provide stable housing for residents rather than seeking luxury assets like Lamborghinis. He discusses the challenges of balancing a dangerous career with family life, acknowledging that his son's presence might eventually force him to slow down or shift focus away from constant travel and high-risk environments. Looking ahead, he expresses ambitions to produce content for major streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon and envisions a radical reform in the prison system through performance-based incentives where inmates are trained in trades like plumbing and electrical work while receiving fair wages that allow them to save money before re-entering society as productive citizens rather than returning offenders.
Read the full video transcript
In every city across America right now,
there is a thriving underground economy
that few people ever look into. My job
is to get inside access to places that
most people don't get to see. Ask people
questions and bring it back to the
people. This has to be one of the ground
zero spots. We cover a lot of the
fringes of society, the trailer parks,
the reservations, the hoods, the
smugglers. These are people that the
average media outlet will not cover. We
give them an opportunity to broadcast
their message to the world. Is it safe
to say that you are on the run right
now? Yeah, I guess you could say. I've
always had a desire to explore, to
discover, and to really understand what
makes people tick. You just got out of
jail. What role do you feel like you
play in all of that? I feel like
whatever you're consuming is on you. It
gets really scary when you piss off some
of the most dangerous people in the
world. But we get to look into this
guy's mind and see why he does it. What
led up to this? What happened in his
childhood? What is his motivation? And
have you ever met anyone that you
thought was truly evil?
What do you describe in terms of what
you do? How do you describe that? Boots
on the ground journalist giving people
inside access to worlds that they don't
normally see. And we've covered a lot of
the criminal side of it, the criminal
underworld, and that's one of our
strongholds, but it's also, you know,
day in the life of a billionaire. We
have a um our narcotics raid that's
coming out with Jacksonville police. Um,
basically any interesting one of one
character, one of one situation a and
investigative pieces. We've we have a
lot of those in the chamber. Kenneth
Copeland is not going to be happy with
us in a couple weeks around Easter
Sunday. We're going to be releasing uh
expose on the mega church pastor uh
Kenneth Copelan. Um we have a
Scientology piece in the works. We have
the Area 51 piece in the works. We just
launched our Tiffany Henyard most
corrupt mayor in America piece. So I
want it to be where you can't predict
what next week is going to be. Every
week it's going to be a new adventure I
get to take you on. How are you
different from mainstream media? I I
would say a few things. One, we're a lot
more running. I don't there's not levels
of bureaucracy that I have to do to
approve a story. U there's less
regulation. So I can go talk to the
train robber, no problem. I'm not going
to have 16 lawyers tell me that I can't.
Um and I think the format I think where
mainstream media really went wrong is
this. if they use their resources to do
boots on the ground investigative stuff
that is interactive like maybe they
don't have to read in a voice that's
like hello today I'm going to like if
they just acted like normal humans wore
normal clothes and use their resources
to get you know contact sources insiders
whistleblowers and made pieces for
YouTube they would probably be dude that
was Vice back in the day early Vice
videos I fantastic they're early
inspiration like anytime if someone says
oh you're like early Vice like that to
me is like a a warm pat. Like thank you.
Like uh the thing is mainstream media I
think they're one of their biggest
mistakes is they never adapted to the
new era. They never switched to the p
the long form cuz that's what people
have been hungry for. You even when I I
my wife will put NPR on in the morning
and they'll like do two sec like two
lines and then cut away and like you
never really get you hear like the
tiniest detail of the story but you
never really get what's going on. I had
an interaction with a mainstream media
reporter, an anchor in Chicago during
the Tiffany Henyard conversation.
Initially, it started off a little
hostile because I was wearing my RIP
Main Street, my RIP mainstream media
shirt, and he saw it. He's like, "Oh,
what is that?" I'm like, "Oh, well, it's
not you personally, but it's just your
organization and like the the people
like power behind it." And like I
started listing why I think mainstream
media is kind of like how they have
shifted the narrative. like you
basically have these billionaires
controlling the the narrative and then
you have like the Sinclair effect where
have you ever seen where you see like
all those um local reporters saying the
same script like across dozens of news
stations. You ever seen that before? So
when you have that like your mouthpiece
like we want straight from the heart we
want someone that yes I'm not the
smartest guy out there. I'm totally
imperfect and there's better
investigators, there's better
researchers, but people at least know
when they get it from someone like me
that there's an honesty. there's a trust
factor and I'm actually going to try and
see what's going on rather than just
have like a prescribed narrative. I
think that if they switch I guess I
wonder have they lost so much trust from
our generations and the ones a little
bit above and before that they're just
totally toast even if they shift their
their recipe. I don't know if they can
bring back their reputation. It's
interesting because I've seen Don Lemon
now going around doing street interviews
trying like this new style of
journalisming and the boots on the
ground approach which I feel like is is
interesting but a lot of people are not
liking it in the comments they're like
wow it's sad you've resorted to this but
I see I'm like hey at least it seems
like he's you know demographic I feel
like if you're over 45 you really like
the the news anchor if you're under 35
young people though that are hating on
him. I think that it was just because of
but I'm just saying in general younger
people I think are more receptive to
like your videos. just feels so fake
when like still does when you read in a
voice that is totally un how other
humans communicate and most of the time
like are they even reading something
they wrote or did someone in the back
room write it and this is the first time
they're seeing it and then when you know
that there's like certain angles of what
they can and can't say it that they're
steering it in a certain direction they
just have lost all public trust and in
some ways I'm glad they did because it
opened up doors for guys that have like
me that have no credentials I don't have
a journalism background I'm toally
totally untrained. So is my entire crew.
Like they like my my camera guy jumped
in from music videos. My other guy
jumped in from real estate. Like and
here we are putting
together YouTube documentary journalism.
Hey, by the way, before we go into the
episode, I just want to say this is
Graham from the future and we had a lot
of trouble uploading this episode. It
kept getting age restricted. There was a
lot in here we actually had to take out
so our entire episode didn't get
shadowbanned and demonetized. So, if you
want to see the entire uncensored full
video without anything cut, you can join
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And we're not censoring any of them.
There's no ads, there's no sponsors,
there's no nothing. It's just the entire
uncensored podcast in its full format
every single week with maybe some bonus
episodes thrown in every now and then.
So, if you want to join, it would mean
the world to us. Thank you so much. And
now, let's get to the podcast. Enjoy.
What do you think is the most ethically
challenging video that you've posted so
far? Most recently, the train robbers.
Um because I don't want it to be like I
I know I'm going to meet with a train
robber, but I don't want I'm not going
to be part of the I don't know when it's
going to happen. Like I just want it to
be like okay, if we're in the vicinity
when it starts to go down, we'll be
there to catch the action. But the other
thing is like I don't even know what the
federal laws are. So like if I'm on a
train tracks while it's happening, am I
like am I too close to the action for
comfort? Um, we have one coming up right
now where I did a piece with a car
thief, a very very good car thief, and
he wants to do a second piece that
basically he he knows that his window is
going up where he's either going to be
dead or in prison. Like he's like the
things I've done like if they give me 30
years, it's a fair deal. And I my other
guys just got raided. I know that
they're going to be hot on my trail.
There's going to be a US marshal that
probably picks me up soon. So I want to
make a cautionary tale to the youth. I
want to show what I do, but I also want
to give the the final message of this is
this lifestyle is not worth doing. The
consequences of it, how he's
disconnected from his family, how he
can't really see his daughter anymore
because it's too risky to go to the
house cuz the police are calling his
girlfriend. They're calling his mom.
Like, the the walls are closing in. But
it's like, okay, if I give this guy a
GoPro and just say, report back to me in
two weeks, is that crossing the line
ethically? Um, another one, uh, a
hitman, alleged hitman in Dallas. I'm
trying to figure out if he's legit or
not cuz I have to I don't I don't want
to just put a kid that's like, "Oh, I
just pulled a prank or I like I just
want my moment of fame, so I'm just
going to lie about something." So, I
have to verify somewhat is this guy at
least one body of a And so, he's like,
"Okay, what I'm going to do is I'm going
to call you. I'm going to call you about
an hour before the mission." And that's
that's your heads up to be by your
phone. And I'm going to FaceTime you for
10 seconds and I'm gonna go on signal
and FaceTime you and that that'll be
enough proof like, "Okay." uh like is
even like seeing this. He's gonna do it
anyways though. That's the thing. He's
gonna do it anyways whether I'm involved
or not. And to me the value is we get to
look into this guy's mind and see why he
does it. What led up to this? What
happened in his childhood? What is his
motivation? So the ethics of that cuz I
talked to a um I think it was WGN. It's
a um a regional station in Chicago. I
talked to a journalist there like is it
even okay to interview a guy like this?
And he's like look you're not helping
him do the crime. You're not telling him
to do the crime. you're just trying to
get into your mind and where do you draw
the line ethically like some people
could say you know there's leaders of
countries right now that are war
criminals but you'll sit down and ask
him a question so like I think as long
as you don't participate like I'm not
going to be like hey I know a dealership
over here you should go rob them and I'm
going to be standing outside filming but
if you do something if you like he's
this guy these a lot of these guys film
stuff on their own phone that is totally
incriminating and they'll send it to me
and it's like okay like you're legit. So
if you knew that someone was going to
die, you would step in. But if they
Yeah. I don't want to be part of any
active crime. If he says this is a a
body that I just recently, you know, did
did a job for, I'll look at it to
verify. And then there's like there's a
ethical argument like is it my duty like
to be a mandated reporter of a crime of
that nature? Cuz whose family did that
guy just get taken from that wants
justice that I could help unravel that?
But I do think like no one will ever go
down from one of my videos. Like we edit
it very carefully because we cover very
serious criminals sometimes. No one is
going to go down because of me. They're
going to like the police got to do their
jobs. The the agencies got to do their
jobs or these guys got to slip up on
their own. My job is to get inside
access to places that most people don't
get to see. Ask people questions and
bring it back to the people. But I am
not law enforcement. I'm never going to
participate with law enforcement. You
afraid of lawsuits? I have some errors
in admissions insurance, but I'm not
confident they're going to back me up
when they would need to. I'm paying like
220 bucks a month, and I'm sure as soon
as there's a little bit of friction that
they're going to have some technicality
in the policy and drop me. I haven't
been sued yet, and I don't The other
thing is I don't do many hit piece style
videos and the in the exposees we do,
it's not me saying it about this person.
It's insiders in the church, insiders
that were former Scientology or people
that lived in this town that can speak
to it. And I think the thing that's on
our side is if they do try and take me
to court, yes, they're going to have
bigger pockets than me. Yes, it's going
to be an uncomfortable experience of me
fighting, you know, a billion dollar
organization in court or multi-million
dollar pastor. But um what happens in
court if he really wants to take it
there, let's say Kenneth Copelan, is now
he has to open up his books and he
doesn't want to do that cuz the people
that were calling out like I'm not just
like making smoke about someone that I
think is actually a good person. Like
these are people that are they need to
be called out and if they were to reveal
our their books, it'd be even better cuz
then we'd have a part two to go off on.
How do the police not go to you and say,
"Hey, you were filming with this guy,
we've been looking for him for 10
years." You know who it is. In the last
3 years, the police or agencies have
only come to my house twice. So, first
of all, with the Kiao video, Milwaukee
PD came to their house and I had already
talked to my lawyer and I I knew what my
rights were as a journalist. So, I knew
like I can stand my ground. So, I was
very polite to them. I'm like, I
understand you fellas are in a tight
position. You guys are trying to, you
know, now it's very visible in Milwaukee
what's happening. It's going nationwide
with the publicity. Like, I understand
you guys have a job to do, but I can't
say anything about it. And they had a
Manila folder. They were going to ask me
questions. They closed the Manila
folder. And I remember I took him to my
back porch cuz I at the time I had lived
two blocks from the east side hood of
Milwaukee. And so like if anyone saw me
talking to police, even me saying I'm
not saying anything, it was dangerous.
And so I had him come to my back porch.
Uh my dog Frank was still a puppy at the
time and started humping the detective
leg. I'm just like, "Oh god, like here
we go." And they they closed the Manella
folder and they say, "We just have one
question. Did these guys have any
empathy for what they did?" And I said,
"Honestly, I didn't get that impression
at all." I felt like again it's your
fault if you don't have insurance was
the mentality. Explain the KIA boys to
those who may not have seen it. So the
Kia Boys phenomenon originated in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I've lived
for the last 10 12 years. And it's these
teenagers that are extremely reckless
that are very proficient at stealing Kia
because of a certain exploit that uh a
USB allows them to take a car in about a
minute or less. The really good guys, 30
seconds or less. And Hyundai were really
big. That was a um an era of car
thieving that those two cars are really
easy to exploit. And they were so
notorious in the city because of how
they would drive. They'd get into a
stolen car and they would drive like
this. Like I have you ever seen how Kia
Boys drive? They're certain like I do
that every now and then. and you're just
driving along. Not like that. They'll
drive through playgrounds. They'll drive
through high schools. Not not through
them, but like the yard of a high
school. Like there'll be kids going to
class and they'll drive on the sidewalk
and kids are running. Like if you go to
this, there's a page called uh 414 hype
house. 414 is the area code of Milwaukee
and you see some of the Kia boy
activities. Like the way they would
drive is so scary, so reckless. It it it
was something that originated in
Milwaukee, but has come to find out is
was a nationwide thing. And what was the
the conclusion to the Kia Boys? the guy,
the main character in in the video, Mr.
Ereak, uh, I came to find out that he
graduated into much more dangerous
things. Uh, I'll just say in the firearm
realm through Telegram. I was, if you
guys can piece it together, like this
guy went from cars to and certain parts
that go on. Um, other kids in the video
were repeat offenders. One of the kids
got caught and apparently how he got
caught was he was on the jail phone
being like, "Hey yo, that was me in the
video." And they're listening to the
jail phones and they're like, "Okay."
And then they match his fingerprints to
like six or seven other cars. He went I
think he did I don't know if he did like
two months, three months. He did
something light. Came out again, stole
more cars, got into it and I sense has
gone back. I don't know what happened to
him since. And I've I've kept kept in
touch with Mr. Ereak. That was the only
kid that I actually messaged and knew a
little bit. I met him that day. It
wasn't like I had a relationship going
in there, but u I've kept in touch with
him cuz he's a guy that I was rooting
for. Like he he definitely is is
intelligent. He definitely like he's
handy. like even what he you do with
putting him together, knowing how to
certain parts work. Like the kid is
really smart and the kid is funny. Like
he had some lines in the Key Boy video
that he's a genuine genuine comedian. So
I saw this potential in him and I was
thinking like I I think I would sponsor
him to go to my MMA gym. But then I'm
like then I know what this guy like when
I met up with him again, you know,
hanging out of his ways. His friend has
a they're in the business. I'm like
there's no way I can have this kid come
to the gym when I know what's in his
backpack. Like it's just too much of a
threat. And when I had followed up with
him, he's like like I met with his mom
and she's like, "Yeah, like it's been
real crazy for us. Like our house has
been up drive by." I'm like, they're not
putting tuna together that her son is
the reason that these driveby are
happen. Drive by don't just happen to
your house. They don't like you. He
probably someone else's house up and
they were retaliating. They're like,
"Why is this happening?" And it's like,
so how often is it that you do an
interview and you decide you can't post
it or they say something on camera that
you just say we can't air that? I
consistently edit certain pieces out.
Um, I remember I was uh in a Midwest
city where a gang I was with showed me a
Snapchat video of a recently body like
they just and they were they filmed it
and they showed me and were talking
about it. So I completely took that part
out of the video. Uh, I'll be with guys
that'll turn their and they'll show a
the camera which is a federal charge.
So, we'll blur that like what is a is
something that makes it go fully
automatic and it's a instant like the
ATF will raid your house if they know
you have these devices and right now
they're getting sold on Telegram. and
they'll come to your house disguised as
a toy car or different things where you
just disassemble this, put it on the
back of your and boom, you pull it and
like you'll hear with like this kind of
the modernday violent rap out this right
now like they love making like switch
noise like cuz that's the sound of how
what a switch is cuz it just and it's a
very bad thing to put on your because it
makes it inaccurate which is good for
the rest of us but like it's it's not no
Delta force operator be like this is a
good idea to put on my because basically
You just like miss you empty the clip in
like 2 seconds and you miss pretty much
all of what you're trying to What was
the hardest thing for you to watch that
one of these criminals has sent to you?
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me later. Every person is a yin-yang.
Like I haven't met people that are
genuinely 100% evil. Most people I meet
there is redemptive qualities in them.
And that's the hard part about it is I
know some of what they do is really bad.
Like I know gangsters that have caught a
few a handful of bodies. And but then
when I talk to them like, "Hey gang, how
you doing? Like your son doing good?
Your family doing good?" Like they're
like they're compassionate in a way like
they're nice to you. And part of me
wonders like if I didn't have a
platform, would I get the like I'm
obviously probably wouldn't get the same
level of treatment for some of these
guys, but I do think you can make
friendships. Like I think a lot of these
guys are looking for love. They're
growing up in these zero trust
environments and this weird masculine
energy where it's not like the pure
version of masculine energy where you
care for people. You express your you're
vulnerable, but you also are strong.
Like it's a fragile masculine energy
where it's like if someone says the
slightest thing about you, you either
got to them or fight them. But a lot of
these guys are looking for love like and
you show genuine love towards them. Like
these guys will go to the end. Like I
had a situation where a kid owed me a
good chunk of money because of a
copyright issue on YouTube. And I I went
public with it after months of trying to
settle it privately and be amicable. And
I had a few different guys reach out
like, "Hey, I'm in New York right now.
I'll kidnap this guy. Like do you want
me to do that?" Like no, I don't need
you to do that. Like another guy like
I'll fly out there right now and get
some guys and beat him up. And so like
to them that's a love language. Like in
the streets if someone is willing to be
loyal to you like that that shows a lot
of love because that means they're
willing to risk their own well-being,
their own uh time out in the free world
for you. So that's like buying someone
chocolates on Valentine's Day in the You
know what I mean? Do you worry about
getting so close to these people where
if you do something to them even
unknowingly that that could flip? Not
really. I mean one uh I don't invite
people to my house that I know are
really dangerous. Like I keep like my
private little bubble. We get we come to
places with a lot of love. Like people
people are excited for us to come.
Especially like you're saying like the
gangster world, the rapper world. Like
we it's not 100% success rate, but
there's a a few guys I can count on my
hands that people get rap, you know,
they get signed to record labels after
they do a video with us. So we can
provide a lot of value to somebody and
work with them. And that there's nothing
better than that to me. Like cuz a lot
of these guys, even guys I know that
have caught bodies in the street cuz
their their rival gain lives three
blocks away. Like if this kid could get
a record deal and move out of the city,
he's going to do it in a heartbeat and
just chase after music. That's what he
really wants to do. He doesn't want to
be in a game turf war. It's stressful.
Like can you imagine the stress waking
up and knowing that the guys that don't
like you and multiple groups of them
live within two blocks of you sometimes?
Like how you don't just go on a calm
walk down the street with your family.
even driving. They don't ever want their
car film because like they'll line it up
like then they're going to me up in the
street or they'll catch me at a traffic
light. They won't tell you that they're
stressed out. They won't tell you that
they're scared cuz they can't really
like you can't really express that. But
I know if I was in their shoes, I would
be turning gray and losing hair. Where
does all the hate come from? It just
seems like if you live within a few
blocks of each other, like you shouldn't
necessarily hate the person because of
what? It's tribalism in a hood sense. I
mean, it's the same thing why
Republicans and Democrats like you mix
it up in any group form and it's the
same thing. The difference is here
you're in a violent environment and all
it takes is one one game versus another
and then you you have to inherit it. If
you're part of the crew and you're not
going to do anything about it, then you
have to back it up. It's like a really
strong river that's flowing and they
just get born in these areas where let's
just say sometimes 80 to 90% of the boys
in that area will go into a gang.
sometimes as long as as young as like
10, 11, 12, they're starting to get
somewhat affiliated. And so you can't
just sit on the sidelines like if
someone on your team gets you can't just
go back in your house and make dinner
and call it a day. Like you have to do
something about it. So then these guys
are just stuck. And I wonder how many of
them that if you just grew up in a
different area, how different their life
would be. And to put ourselves in their
shoes, if we grew up in Little Village
in Chicago and we grew up in Latin King
territory and the two Sixers are here,
the the SDS are here, you know, we're
what are the chances that we're not in
the game? And I think that's that's an
element that like even though you can
look at like cultural things like a lack
of education, a lack of um integrity on
certain things that like as an outsider,
you're like why would you treat a woman
like that or why wouldn't you emphasize
education? But if we grew up there, what
are the odds we would be any different?
What's the closest you've ever been to
committing a crime while making a
documentary? Someone claiming to be a
New York uh police officer reached out
to me and said, "There's a warrant for
me and next time I go to New York to
contact him." He said, "It's not a big
deal. It's just a misdemeanor
trespassing." There's I'm not going to
say where it was committed, but there
was another one that uh there's a heavy
fine and I don't know if I did something
to an extent that it could be past
misdemeanor.
Um but usually I don't commit crimes
when I film my videos if that's your
question. Do you have a good lawyer? A
good lawyer? Yeah. Mhm. I do. I feel
like this would be a great integration
for a sponsor at this point. Hi, I'm
Saul Goodman. Did you know that you have
rights? Shout out Dan Adams. Uh after
the Kia Boys video came out, a local
Milwaukee lawyer reached out to me and
we've sent grown a really good
friendship and anytime we're about to do
something sketchy, I reach out to him.
Like there was a time um we were on in
Eagle Pass, Texas where a lot of the
immigration was coming across. We just
interviewed guys in a uh a stash house
that you know basically when you cross
the border, you come to the house and
really like 20-year-old 22 year old kids
run this house and then they transport
you. you know, you need to oh, you have
family in Ohio that you're trying to get
to Cleveland and work in a factory with
your brother. Okay, we're going to we'll
do the driving past the checkpoints to
get you there. And after that interview,
we went to the border and we we had met
um these two guys from Venezuela that
were starving. They and they they had
gotten beaten by Mexican police. Like
they just had the roughest possible
journey to get to this country. And all
they wanted is to get a job and live in
a neighborhood that's safe. They don't
care if they live 10 deep in a house.
They just they want to be a respectable
citizen. And so like just to go on a
political tangent, like some of the
rhetoric has been like they're the
worst, they're the they're the there's a
handful of them, but overwhelmingly I
think the people are crossing are trying
to find a better life and just they just
want to work hard. You put them in a
construction job, a roofing job. Like
some people a fast food job is a comeup.
If they can make 15 bucks an hour at
Wendy's, they're happy. But the the
legal question that came in mind was we
met these two Venezuelan guys and I'm
like, you know what? Like, let's let's
bring them back to the Airbnb. Let's let
them have a shower. Let's let him sleep
in a bed tonight. Let's cook him a a
dinner. And we were going to do it. And
then I we had to segue. I'm like, okay
guys, like these guys that are going to
show us um like chicken fighting, [ __ ]
fighting. They're they've been expecting
us for the last hour. Actually, I had to
go run an interview and then I'm going
to come back and we're going to meet you
guys, get you guys supplies, and get you
guys going. And then in the time driving
to the the roosters, um I called the
lawyer, my my guy Dan, and we looked up
the line the the laws online like
harboring a uh I don't know if it's
harboring a fugitive, but there's there
could be very serious felonies just by
letting someone sleep in your house. It
was like when we got back there, we went
to Walmart, we got them camping
supplies, we got them uh granola bars,
we just loaded them up with supplies and
but we we didn't invite them back to the
Airbnb. And it felt wrong like from a
human aspect. Like all we wanted to do
were these guys to enjoy like these guys
were suffering and I just wanted one
cool night where they we could talk to
them, get their story. And it felt weird
that that was illegal. I get why it is,
but it felt weird that giving someone a
shower. Say like, "Hey, you know what?
If the back door is unlocked, I'm a
really sound sleeper. I'm not going to
hear anything if you go in and take a
shower." But don't do that. But anytime
we talk felony, Yeah. That's an a long
time in prison. Even six months to me
would be a long time in prison. Maybe if
I was a single man, I would entertain
doing riskier ideas. And we just went to
Area 51 and there were some certain
things that we might have to redact
because you just have to be careful in
some of these situations. Uh nothing is
worth your freedom. And that's I think a
theme that we explore with a lot of
these guys is the things you do. Like
why is it worth to you to think like if
these guys give me 30 years that's a
fair deal? Like why would you do
anything that that would make that a
fair deal? Now speaking of opportunity,
I went back to your earliest videos and
there was a video that you posted and
you held up a phone in front of a
computer and you just said with complete
conviction, this is going to make me a
millionaire one day and one day I'm
going to have an Instagram with a
million followers on it and this
computer right here, I'm going to edit
my videos on this and I'm going to be a
millionaire one day from this. And that
was 5 years ago. Did you hit that goal?
Many of them. Yes.
And to me, I I think that's like the
beauty of chasing a dream. And I I
appreciate you saying that moment cuz
sometimes, like you probably know this,
like you're so much in the hustle and
the grind sometimes that you forget to
remember like, dude, my 20-year-old self
would have traded his left nut to be in
this position. And here I am. I I
literally would not trade my job with
anyone in the world. You could offer me
any job. This is what I want to do. And
I'm And I'm making money off of it. And
it just feels so fantastic because my
first 5 years on YouTube, I would guess
I lost money. I never went into it to be
I'm not trying to be Jeff Bezos. I all I
ever wanted I remember in college
looking up there's this financial blog
called Mr. Money Mustache. Yeah, I love
Mr. Money Mustache. Super like basically
freedom through frugality. And I I was a
disciple of that teaching. Like I was
like calculating like the slimmest
margin. Like I'll live out of my car.
I'll eat beans. Like if I could just
make find something that can make 1,200
bucks a month, like I'll be free of the
corporate world. I'll never join it and
I'll be able to do what I want and be on
the road. And to think that I like all I
ever wanted was to replace the income. I
had a sales job for, you know, two
different sales jobs over the course of
five and a half years uh in the
corporate world. If I could just replace
this income or pay my rent, making stuff
that I love, I'm happy. And now that
this has taken off, like I'm like, "Oh
my gosh, I can't even believe that you
could make this much money." It just is
like it feels really good to committed
to the dream. Have you ever considered
doing a Chinese sweat shop video? I feel
like everyone's always talked about
Chinese sweat shops, but we don't know
what it's actually like. Oh, good luck
going to China, filming that, coming
back. And you think that would be
impossible? I'm not as keen on the
international side, mostly because the
longer I spend away from home, it just
is tough. That's a good point. Um, I
would love, you know, I I would love to
one day. There was something adjacent to
that. Um, and you may have seen stories
about Pakistani brick layers that are
like kind of indentured slaves that the
way that it's set up at the these brick
laying factories. They can never make
enough to get out of it. So, some of
these people I think it's like this
sounds mind-blowing to even say, but
like 200 years their family has been at
this brick factory making bricks. And
there was a gentleman that I was going
to go out and he was going to buy out
the factory and free everybody. Um, he's
a guy that's a really upstanding guy,
good Christian guy, very good ethics and
morals, and he respects what I do, but
at the moment, my channel is a little
brand dangerous to him. So, I think we
we backed off on that idea. But
something like that that brings justice
to the world, and there's a lot of
stories here that I think can bring
justice to the world that I indentured
servant industry is so interesting to me
because you would never expect it, but
it's in plain sight. Uh, I'll give you
an example. Paris. I went there and in
front of the Eiffel Tower, you have
these people that are selling little
figurines of the Eiffel Tower. And as
soon as a police officer walks by,
they're on radios. They're like, "Pack
it up, pack it up." They'll go and like,
you know, pack it up, walk away, and
then as soon as a police officer walks
away, they'll come back to their spot
and and put it back up again. I'm
thinking to myself, geez, this has got
to be pretty profitable. If they're
risking something like this, how much do
they make? And I started looking into
this. I had no idea that these are
basically indentured servants like
slaves in a sense because they get
smuggled over into these European
countries and part of the deal is well
now you have to pay back your debt but
they never pay off their debt and
there's insane how much of a psycho you
have to be to run that operation to say
yeah I'm going to bring them over here
with the promise of a new life but then
their life is going to be selling
trinkets or selling something that
they're never going to get. I mean,
that's what I'm fascinated by is the
people like that. That's real evil.
There's no way to rationalize that is
like, I'm a pretty good guy, but I just
have 300 indentured servants. They could
probably justify it that their life in
Paris is better than
their justification. They have a
improvement based off probably where
they were coming from. At least they
have access to shelter, clean water,
consistent food.
Is that a justification? That that's
probably what they think. I do think
that goes to show it's a real matter of
perspective on how happy you are with
what you have because when you really
look at how some conditions are like
there's certain things I'll see like
I'll see I'll go to Pine Ridge
Reservation and I'll see how people are
living there. I'm like like the car ride
home is like I don't ever get to
complain about anything ever again. Like
the you these people are living in like
there's there's no uh heat. They're
they're everyone is an al like like the
like 80 to 90% of the people there are
either alcoholics or they're methheads
and imagine growing up near that. It's
like like some people in this world have
unspeakable conditions and it's good to
put in perspective because when we like
we're in this country where a lot of us
have gotten a little comfortable, a
little fat and lazy with the luxuries
that we do have. Like it's a good
reminder to be like things are pretty
good here, man. What's your most
memorable interview? Man, it just feels
like the most recent one is always the
best. Like I have so many little gems in
my mind of like cuz we really enjoy
ourselves like when we're out there. Um
let's say recently the Area 51
documentary we just did which we just
recorded in the last couple days. Um
just being out at a top like arguably
the most secret base in the world with a
guy that's dedicated his last 30 years
James Fox towards investigating
encounters and UFOs. and he's the guy
that, you know, if someone has a a
Polaroid in Scotland from 1957, he's
going there to interview that old man
and what did you see that day? And so we
were with him. We really played the edge
of where we could have gone in the base.
We got security trucks and we got the
alarm to go off. And then we're
interviewing people that have had
encounters. We we talked to a guy from
Area 51 that like, yep, like he had an
encounter with an alien and he's been he
was sworn sworn to secrecy, but now he's
able to testify and now he's able to go
forward with his story. He just made a
Joe Rogan appearance about it. And so
like to me just to be to be in the mix
of like if any of this is real, this is
arguably one of the most important
stories of humankind. It's either the
biggest lie and like one of the biggest
farces or like this totally changes the
paradigm of what we understand in this
world. Yeah. How much of that is BS do
you think that? Because I tend to think
that it's so obvious that you know Area
51 is like this this UFO place. it, you
know, it's just a front for like it's
they're probably just doing, you know,
military testing. It's not like an alien
hub spot. It's too obvious. Like there
there's signs everywhere with like
aliens. Like that wouldn't be the place
to hide it, right? It would be because
of how remote it is. There like one of
the towns we we stayed at the Ali in
this motel. It's a town of 20 people.
The other Alamo in we stayed in is a
town of like 1,200 people. It is so
unbelievably remote there. Like there's
some places like next gas is 40 miles
like you better load up. So it's the
perfect place to hide it. I do think the
majority of what happens at Area 51 is
from the sounds of from the guy that
worked there. It there's military
exercises that are happening all the
time. Pilots are training there and a
lot of times um pilots from other
countries come and we do joint uh
exercises there. But what he said also
happens is anytime a an unidentified
craft crashes, it is an absolute rush.
So they send Delta force, they send like
cuz if let's say it lands in Brazil, we
will send our best to go recover that
and probably Russia's doing the same
thing, China's doing the same thing
because we want to get our hands on that
technology and we bring it back to Area
51 where you have some of the most
premier researchers, scientists,
physicists, um geologists that are
looking at this and trying to determine
one, what is it, and two, can we create
it? Can we use this alien technology?
And what this guy was saying is what the
general public thinks is possible as far
as crafts. We are hundreds of years
ahead in terms of propulsion,
navigating. Um, and I'm like, when you
say hundreds of years ahead of what the
public is aware of? That's a pretty bold
statement to say. Has documenting aliens
changed your perspective? It's opened me
up. I'm I'm usually a pretty healthy
skeptic. Like most things I'm like like
one of my biggest problems with the
whole alien thing is like you're telling
me in the last like you're showing me
photographs from 1947 1952 and the
videos I see online are like pretty
blurry grainy. You're telling me in the
last 15 20 years since cameras have been
prevalent that all of a sudden the
aliens have just not shown up anymore.
There's elements of it that are really
hard to believe. What makes it
compelling is when I was talking to this
researcher James Fox, he has been around
the world and people that have never
communicated with each other like he'll
ask people in Brazil, China, Africa what
they saw at, you know, at this landing
or when the aliens came out. And across
culture, it's the aliens, they look kind
of like this, they smell kind of like
this. They can telepathically
communicate emotions to you. Their craft
looks like this. It it moves this way.
When you get all these different
accounts corroborating it, it's like
like he's not going after crackpots that
are looking for two seconds of fame that
are just did a bundle of mushrooms and
they're like, "Yeah, I saw aliens." Like
credible people, people that were
engineers, people that had regular jobs,
school teachers, like when you when all
those people across culture start
saying, "This is what I saw." That to me
is where it gets pretty compelling. I
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to our sponsor, Pesty. And now, let's
get back to the episode. How'd you get
into journalism? I think I've always
just been fascinated and curious by the
world. Um, when I was young, my mom took
us to the library often. I was a
triplet, so she'd take the triplets to
the library, and we'd all, we were all
very big, uh, readers. And I could read
about endless amounts of things. Like
right now, I'm reading about the
Louiswis and Clark expedition, um,
discovering western part of America.
Well, I guess I would say Europeans
discovering the western part of America.
There's plenty of folks still there
doing their thing before they got there.
But there's an endless amount of topics
that I will I can read sci-fi. I can
read biographies. I can like I think
I've just been very curious about the
world naturally. Uh one of the things
that really was my first leap I would
say into journalism is and I guess the
experience of it, not actually
documenting it, but I when I was a
sophomore in college, I I went to go
live with a tribe in the jungle of
Ecuador. And there was this website
volunteers south america.org and you
could stay in a a Peruvian dog shelter.
You could do this over here. But I saw
live with a tribe and I'm like, dude,
I'm 100% doing that. So, I packed my
bags. I had a contact out there that was
going to meet me. I go there and I'm in
uh I forget some of the the cities, but
I went from the main city to a little
city that you take the plane into the
jungle from and my contact wasn't
answering the phone. So, I started to
get a little nervous. So, I went to the
tribal airport and I learned that the
the place that I wanted to fly into, the
runway was destroyed. So, I couldn't go
in there. But a old lady heard my
predicament and she's like, "You can fly
into my village." So I get into this
eightperson passenger plane. I fly for
an hour or two across just a sea of wood
or forest and trees and I'm going away
from civilization and some lady that I
met 45 minutes ago. I land with her and
she allows me to stay in her hut with
her husband for the night and I ended up
just staying in her village the whole
time. Initially the plan was some other
guys were going to take me through the
jungle and get me to the village I was
supposed to go. Um but I stayed in this
little 13 village hut. I lived with
them. I did community work days. Um I
tried Iawaska but it never kicked in and
the shaman gave me a bad feeling. So I
didn't take a second dose to really get
into it. Uh but to me I've always had a
desire to explore, to understand, to
discover and to really understand what
makes people tick. And I think if
there's any superpower I have, it's I am
pretty comfortable to go into a room
where I am the odd man out. I don't care
if I'm in a mosque during Ramadan. I
don't care if I'm in the middle of the
jungle sipping chicha, which is this
little spit drink, or I'm in, you know,
I'm in the middle of the hood and it's
crazy, and I'm only the only white guy
for miles. I've always just been curious
about people, and I think that genuine
curiosity is what opens up doors. People
want me to come in, and I'm going to ask
them questions. I'm going to be
genuinely interested in them. And that
to me is like the clear mark of a
journalist. How do you fit in so many
different places? Like, seems to accept
you though. I think it's because I
accept myself. So, I don't need to like
I don't I don't mimic the environment
that I'm in, but I'm okay with being
myself even if I stand out, even if I'm
a little bit like nerdy or out there or
um and I think because I accept myself
and I'm genuinely interested in asking
questions, it makes you a welcome guest
just about anywhere. Have you always
been that way or did it take a lot of
self-development to become this way? I
think it's always been who I am. I was
always the little kid that like, you
know, my my pop could send me on a
mission to go talk to this person or,
you know, I would be comfortable
ordering for the family or whatever it
was. Like I was okay going out there and
striking up a conversation with a
stranger. I remember like I'd be the guy
that on a train to Chicago, uh, I'd be
the guy talking to the guy next to me
who, oh, your parents were missionaries
and they saw this kind of witchcraft in
Africa and I could talk to him for an
hour and a half until the train landed
and then, you know, I go on to my next
thing. Just curious then if you have
that level of confidence, did you cold
approach your wife when you first met
her? So I lived in a duplex for about 5
years. Um my wife lived in the upstairs
and we each dated different people. We
kind of knew each other a little bit.
Maybe when we'd shovel together in the
winter, we'd come and we'd interact with
each other. But then when CO hit, they
said we're going to be locked down. I
think I said I think I'm going to go
crazy. So I texted her. I'm like, "You
want to meet on the front porch and hang
out?" And from there, we started hanging
out like every single day. And then we
eventually started dating, which that
was the most nerve-wracking experience
I've ever had asking someone out because
if she says no, like she lives right
there. I have to see her every day. Like
if someone says no, they don't live by
you. Like, okay, shake it off. Go to the
next one. But I think I've always been
relatively bold and I've always been
pretty down to gamble on myself. Just
curious, when you cross that bridge from
becoming like friends to trying to
develop more of a relationship, did you
just word it differently like, "Hey,
let's go on a date." or did you say
something like, "Hey, let's go grab
dinner." Like, did you leave it
ambiguous? We were we were coming back.
There was this old uh producer I used to
work with, Smook, that I was making a
song. I used to do some rap, let's say.
And in the car ride home, I knew I was
going to ask her, but I and every
stoplight, I'd be like, "Okay, I'm going
to do it at the next stoplight. I'm
going to do it." But I just was so
nervous that I just kept pushing it. And
event say I was very vulnerable and open
like, "I really like you. I really want
to see where this goes. I'd really love
for you to be my girlfriend." And then
it was like, you know, the eternity of
waiting for the hammer to hit and she's
like, I like you too. So we, you know,
we were able to kick things off and that
started, you know, we we eventually
moved into our own house and got
married. Now we have a baby boy. So
that's been a really cool journey to
have happen. Jack wants to know what the
line was. Did I I'm not I'm not a smooth
criminal, so I'm not uh like I don't
have any really good lines, but actually
it was a book I read by Mark Manson and
I forget what the titans subtle art. Was
it Everything is effed. It wasn't. No,
it was about dating in particular. The
whole pickup thing. And basically his
mentality on it was yes, we all have a
fear of being rejected, but you should
go after it because either one, the best
decision of your life will be made.
You'll get a life partner and a best
friend that you'll be able to do
adventures with. Or they say no, it's
okay. I'm not going to spend months
ruminating over it, fixating on it. I'm
on to the next. So reading I was reading
his book in the midst of asking her out.
So thank you Mark Manson for your book.
That is so cool. Yeah, that's really
Shout out Mark. He's been on the podcast
before. He's a great guy. Cool guy.
Modern day philosopher. Yeah, I agree.
Wow. Now, does your wife worry about you
being on camera or associating with some
of the people that you do? Not really.
Uh she, I would say, is a little bit
more uh like I'll get more nervous than
she does. She's cool as a cucumber. So,
she knows that I like I prepare a lot
for these things. Like I'm on on the
phone with contacts constantly building
a relationship with them, trying to
understand them, trying to verify them.
And so by the time I get there, we've
talked a handful of times and we're
ready to go. Of course, there's
situations that are dangerous. You know,
a a gang might invite me in and they
might want me there, but if they're like
the last time I was with the Latin
Kings, they were in the middle of a turf
war where it was like 15 guys in the
last month or so had been. So every car
that passes by is like a frightening
experience. Like you kind of want to
hide behind a car and you wonder when
something's going to go down. So like it
is very possible that dangerous things
could happen. But I like I kind of trust
the universe that hey, I'm in I'm on the
path I should be. And as long as I
operate the right way, I'm good. I'm
honest to people. I'm good to people.
Like I trust that the universe will
guide me in the right direction. How do
you find people who agree to be on
camera? Where do you where do you come
up with these people? You'd be surprised
at who wants to share their story? I I
was talking to my Karthy friend Felix
and I was asking him like, you know,
what is the motivation? cuz I think
that's a pretty common question like how
do you get guys that are committing
felonies on a daily basis to go on
camera and talk about it and he said you
know what a lot of us know that we will
either be dead or in jail in a short
amount of time and this is kind of like
a
living memory that we'll always be able
to reference like a piece of us will
always live on in this 30-minute
documentary you do about us where we get
to share about ourselves we get to hang
out with you and tell the world about
ourselves and what we do why are so many
people drawn to gang culture because
consistently those are the videos that
do the best, those are the videos that I
end up clicking on more than the
positive videos. And there's another
guy, Hood Vlogs.
It's just it's so interesting for me to
see this culture. Why do you think that
is? I think people are always fascinated
by the outlaws. And hood culture has a
lot of outlaws. You have guys that are
willing and and daring enough to not
follow the traditional rules that most
of us would be too scared to break. And
there's a certain courage that a outlaw
has to have that I think you kind of
respect. I think also I mean there's the
same reason why you'll watch a John Wick
movie like when there's that much action
happening in a place like real life
people like you could be standing next
to four different and you have no idea
until something goes down and you're
like oh that was the guy that you guys
rely on to take care of business. So, I
think there's just there's a
inherent want in us to like want to poke
our heads into the underworld and these
are guys that are the most open about
it. Uh certain crews you're going to be
it's going to be hardressed to really
learn about them like Russian gangsters
in the United States that are running
sex trafficking in in Florida or Palm
Springs. These are the guys that you
will never get on camera to talk about
it because things will happen to them if
they do. But in the hood, you have
there's a a culture that people want to
share. They want to share that their
their their life. They want to share
what they're thinking. And not only
that, but they've also like the rap
music that emerges from it has created
one of the most influential cultures in
America. What has that taught you about
human nature? I think just about anyone
given the right circumstances wants to
share their story. It's like a Dale
Carnegie, you know, how to win friends
and influence principle. Everyone wants
to feel important. The most magical word
you can ever say is someone else's name.
People want to tell their story and be
heard. And I think especially because we
cover a lot of the fringes of society,
the trailer parks, the reservations, the
hoods, the smugglers. These are people
that the average media outlet will not
cover. And so basically, they're in
their own little bubble. And we give
them an opportunity to broadcast their
message to the world. And I think there
just an inherent value that we're
willing to talk to people that the
average person would never sit down and
talk to. What community do you think
cultivates the worst kind of person?
Yeah, I would say a no trust
uh
fatherless uh povert that's the other
thing poverty. I mean there's not a lot
of people like white collar crime isn't
looked at the same like you can defraud
Bernie Maid off can defraud people worth
billions of dollars and they're like ah
yeah he defrauded them he was running a
scheme but he doesn't get the same
pressure that a in the hood or a bank
robber would get and I find that
interesting like there's there are
people
that corporations big bignign big name
politicians that do things that
disproportionately impact people but for
some reason like the local Compton guy
the local Chicago guy gets more heat. I
think probably because Bernie Maid off
would not take someone's life with his
own hands, but the person in Compton
that's done that before would absolutely
do what Bernie Maid off did. They would
love to do something like that. Yeah.
And so it's like a degrees of detachment
and uh self-justification. How did you
get arrested? Back in my prank era, I
did some wild things. Um, one of them
was, uh, I was pretending to be a doctor
and I ran into a grocery store and I had
a fake that I'm like, "Someone just lost
us in a car crash. We need to put it on
ice and people were scrambling around."
And in setting up for that prank, I had
the fake and I zipped it into my jeans
and I had it hanging out and an old
couple thought I was exposing myself to
them. So, they called the police on me.
I had no idea anything was going on. I
went back to my house in Milwaukee and
was enjoying like the post uh filming
little buzz and then the the Wawaossa
police knocked on my door and took me in
and processed me. What was the
conclusion of that? Do you fight it? No,
I mean it it was like I don't know if it
was disorderly conduct or disturbing the
peace, but it was just like it was more
of like a this is kind of cool. Like as
long as I'm not serving any jail time,
like it's a little bit of a resume
builder, you know? So you have a mug
shot out there somewhere. Yeah, it's a
terrible mug shot. I thought it was like
oh I'm gonna turn this into a t-shirt.
shirt is going to be so badass. I looked
like I was missing a few chromosomes in
the shot.
Man
exposes your face on and that's the only
instance of being arrested. I had the
Secret Service visit me. Uh I did this
redneck video out in Tennessee where at
one point I was just getting into my
inner redneck, you know, and I was I had
this in my head. And I was like, "Joe
Biden, you want to come and take our"
And I was, it was I was not threatening
Joe Biden, but they had to investigate
it as they should. So, they came to my
house and uh they had two Milwaukee
police officers, two Secret Service
guys, and they like two pretty much by
the book like glasses wearing like
almost like uh what's the Superman's
name? Clark Kent. Like kind of like
that. Um hey, do you have any firearms
in the house? Have you ever are you on
any uh antisycchotic medicine or you
know, are you do you think about going
to do anything to Joe Biden? and I
cleared the air with him and let him
know it was just a little joke. But um
other than that, have I gotten
arrested? No, I haven't. What community
do you sympathize with the most? The
underdog, man. Cuz I think a lot of
my time I've vis I've kind of visualized
myself as the underdog. And so, I don't
know. I think there's just when you look
at it, almost everyone you meet at some
point in their life is really going
through something. And I'm just rooting
for people to to be on the journey where
they can actualize because a lot of
people what's the the quote uh the
massive men live in quiet desperation.
So I've been in that in that in those
shoes where I'm in a sales job where I'm
you know I just gotten told no the last
4 hours I go into a parking lot and I'm
staring at the steering wheel. I'm just
wondering like is this all I'm ever
going to do is sell payroll? Like I know
I'm meant there's something else in me
that I just know I haven't expressed
properly, but I don't know how to get to
a from A to B. And I know that there's
millions of people out there like that
that have this big dream, have this big
goal or have this destination in mind
and they some they just are struggling
to ever get there. So I guess that's the
person I'm rooting for and the person
that I sympathize with is the person
that is feels like they're stuck in
life, knows they're capable of more, and
just hasn't quite gotten there yet. What
would you say is the most dangerous
street in America? Man, there's been
places in St. Louis that are I've been
very frightened. Um, St. Louis is
consistently one of the top cities in
America and the way that the Memphis
too, I would say they're very comparable
where you're on certain streets with
some of these gangsters. Every single
car that passes by, you are just like,
"Oh god, here it goes." Like the way
that they're driving, like in Memphis,
like they drive very fast down the
street partially because the people are
scared to get like if they see a bunch
of guys outside, they don't want to get
by them. So, like they're going fast,
but then is there are they also planning
on doing a driveby and that's why
they're going fast. So, like um I don't
know if there's any one street there's
probably many streets like that in hoods
across America where it's like you're
just you're just ready for something to
happen. How do you feel safe filming? Do
you wear like a bulletproof vest or
anything? No security, no weapons, no
vest. I'm here. I'm non-threatening. I'm
here to ask questions. I'm here to
understand. And I feel like if I
escalated things, like if I brought
private security with me, I just don't
think it would be the same. What about a
vest? How is a vest? What about
bulletproof windows?
I don't want to be uh like that would be
a [ __ ] move in those areas. Like I'm
not going to wear No one else is wearing
a vest, but I'm going to wear a vest. I
think that's something cool. Like if I
look at um some of the guys I look up to
in the space too, like Louis Thorough,
he went to Philadelphia with a police
escort and a bulletproof vest. And it's
not like a Harry Houdini thing where I'm
trying to escalate it to the next thing,
but there is a little bit of uh pride of
like I'm willing to take it a step
further than maybe the other people
will. And also that builds a moat around
my brand is because some of the stuff is
more daring. I'm going to have less
competition because not as many people
are going to be willing to try and do
it. What are those cities doing wrong? I
don't know. It's so much I mean you
could arg there's a lot of different
angles you could cover like how how are
the DAs in that city treating certain
violent crimes? Are they letting guys
out? Like like the the car thieves we
know in New York, they know that if they
steal a car, they are out the next day.
There is no concern, no worries. Same
thing with California. Theft, uh,
stealing, robberies, they're going to be
out the next day. So, I think in some
ways, the law is not there's not a
strict enough penalty. There's no hand
that that comes up and slaps you if you
do something wrong. And so, I think
because there's none of that, they're
not as scared. But then I also say there
are cultural things happening that are
very serious. Um, you have people that
education is really not prioritized.
Family units is not
prioritized. Exposing your kids to
violent domestic like the amount of
domestic violence that goes on in some
of these hoods is unbelievable. And can
you imagine as a kid the fear, the un
instability you grow up with? Uh,
poverty is a big part. Like here's one
if I want to go more take like a little
more of a leftwing stance. A lot of
these neighborhoods I'll do Milwaukee
because I know that the best. There are
no really good job opportunities in the
hood. There's you're a low paid daycare
worker, home healthare worker, gas
station worker, although most of them
are owned by people that don't live in
that area and they're, you know, the
Singh family in Milwaukee is the one
that owns like all the gas stations and
their family works at. If you want a
good well-paying job that's outside of a
factory, you have to drive 20 minutes
outside of where you are. And so like
there's a chicken before the egg though
because let's say I'm the mayor of
Milwaukee and I say, "Hey, I'm going to
here's 300 million earmarked for two
different major companies to open up
factories and office jobs right here in
the north side." Well, okay. Now you're
going to be dealing with a workforce
like how much how much late workers can
you tolerate? How many people just not
showing up that day can you tolerate?
How many fights at the job can you
tolerate? And it's like it's a cycle
that I don't see how it gets fixed
because no company is going to risk
going to a place where it's like there's
so much uphill battle for us to be
successful in this area. But then the
people don't have anything to look
forward to. Like in the 70s Milwaukee
had a really really strong black middle
class and we had a very strong
automotive industry where people had
people own their own houses, people had
good jobs, there was family stability
and people were thriving. All those jobs
went overseas to Mexico and China and
somewhere else across the globe and all
of a sudden you just see this
instability happening. Now more men are
more likely to do stuff like sell drugs
which gets them in prison which
destabilizes the family. So like there
is societal things that are that have
hit these areas that like there's so
many boundaries to overcome to be
successful and then there are are
cultural things that are happening that
like people are themselves in their own
foot. What was the most dangerous
situation that you've been in? uh
getting raided by the Mexican police. Uh
we were we had an interview set up.
There was this guy that went by the name
of Hostage and he lived in Mexico and he
was going to be traveling to the border
town Pros Negros just across from Eagle
Pass to meet with us. And the night
before we're sitting in the Airbnb in
Eagle Pass and he calls and he's like,
"I don't know if this is a good idea,
man. I'm wanted." And I'm like, "Wanted
by who? The cartels or the government?"
He's like, "The government?" I'm like,
"Okay, this is what we're going to do.
We're going to do this interview early
and quick. So, let's do 10:00 a.m. Let's
knock this out in an hour. Let's make
this happen and let's get out of there.
So, we cross the border and we we get
out of the car, we park, we walk about a
block and a half and uh Mexican police
trucks are, you know, patrolling and
everywhere we look, like if people are
outside, they notice us and they're
like, "What are these guys doing here?"
Like it was a really rough neighborhood.
Like neighborhoods were some people
don't have fridges in their house. And
so, we walk into Hostage's homiey's
house and things are really good. He's a
very interesting guy. He had been
deported twice from America. He grew up
in the Dallas area. Did some prison
time. Did some crimes. Is now in Mexico
doing various things including being
trying to do it be a tattoo artist which
I think goes to show again like a lot of
these guys even the criminals like their
true dream is to do something with their
art or with their their business. But
they're to make money. They're stuck in
other things as well. And it's their own
personal choice. I go to the bathroom. I
come out of the bathroom. Boom. And a
piece of La Vera. And a piece of La
Vera. Basically get your ass on the
ground. Three Mexican police come in,
masks
on, hand on the trigger, rifles pointed
at us. The Mexican guys in the room
immediately go on the ground. Stomach on
the ground on the stomach
surrendering. I went on my knees because
like if something's going to happen, I
at least want to be able to see what's
going on. Like if I'm going to be
kidnapped because I don't know, is this
cartel? Is this a prank? Are these dirty
police? Because there's a lot of police
in Mexico that have a terrible
reputation. Like it's very possible they
could have gotten us. Hey, we're going
to the ATM. Here's the limit. You're
taking your entire limit out. All right,
who's next? You you go. Like things like
that happen. Um or they just beat the
hell out of you. They take you. They
interrogate you. So, um they take this
guy Bora up the stairs and they start
beating him and they search the entire
house. And this guy has almost nothing
in his house. So, it didn't take very
long, but they like his clothes were on
the ground, everything was open. And
they find no drugs. And the probably
what they suspected was that a few white
guys are here to make a pickup, buy some
drugs, and go back across the border. I
said a I know like I would call myself
40% fluent in Spanish. So I know a
little bit of Spanish. I broke the ice
with the police a little bit. I made a
few jokes. Um got them laughing a little
bit and just told them what I'm here
for. I said, "I'm a journalist. This
guy's a rapper. I'm here to interview
him." And so we were let back up to our
feet and they're like, "Okay, where's
the camera?" And they start watching the
clips that we had. And luckily they
couldn't understand English cuz hostages
were speaking English to us cuz he was
just like we this was around uh we were
talking about um George Floyd because we
were talking about police brutality in
America and police brutality in Mexico
and he's basically saying you guys think
America's bad like it's not even close
to what happens in Mexico. So he's
basically shit-talking the police and
luckily he didn't understand that
because I think things would have
probably turned a little bit but he's
like okay good uh delete this clip
delete this clip and we're like no sir
please like can we interview I can we
interview you? He's like, "No, uh,
delete the clip." So, we had to delete
the two clips in front of him. We were
able to retrieve one of them because
it's one of those classic YouTube
things. If a YouTuber's like, "Got
raided by the police, but we don't have
anything to show for like everyone's
going to be like, "That's clickbait.
That's nonsense." Luckily, Miguel was
able to rescue one of the clips of us on
the ground and the police there. And and
then my guy Chedda that took us there
had Snapchat videos of the police. And
then we also went next door. There were
security cameras where it showed the
police truck pulling up, entering. And
so uh we did a little animation to show
what happened in there. I think some
Pakistani guy did a B+ job on the
animation and it told the story but um
that was probably the scariest moment so
far as a crew. Has your life ever been
threatened? So my life has never been
threatened in the prank days it did.
Like my um I had this sign there was
this comedian I think Tom Mayab and uh
he had this sign called it was small
penis parking and so I would you what
you do is you put it in front of his
parking spot and when someone pulls up
you're like sir like what are you doing
in this spot like I actually have a
small penis like why are you parking in
my spot do you have a and like I
remember across from the Milwaukee
police station like I'm a your ass like
he was so mad and and got mad um there
was a guy that threatened me recently in
the Tiffany Henyard video and then I
stood on business with him. I flexed on
him, too. I was like, "You're not going
to do it." And kind of I always egging
him on a little bit. I don't usually
ever look for conflict. I I haven't been
in a street fight since like 8th grade.
And I don't like I've always walked away
from them. Even in college rolling
around with the wrestling team, like so
many guys got into a fight and we would
have just cleared house. Like if there's
any opposition, I don't care if it was
the football team, the track team, you
name it. Like if it's a bunch of
wrestlers, like there was no chance that
they were ever going to win. And even
that, like I would always go to sleep
before that ever happened. Like I was
never interested in just being like,
"Oh, you looked at my girlfriend or you
called me." Like I've always avoided
those kind of situations, you know. Have
you ever been threatened by anyone you
made a documentary on? Maybe they were
upset with how you represented them. I
don't think Tiffany Hener was pleased
with my piece on her, but um threatened,
you know, there was some some guys in
Memphis, some real some real street
dudes um connect like one of them was
Push Heisty's cousin and the other guy
uh you know, it was the it was the same
house that we were scared of the driveby
when we went in. It was a trap house,
man. Like there it was probably 30 40
deep and in the kitchen like someone had
just got from their crew the night
before or maybe that day. In the kitchen
there's guys with ski mask filing the
serial numbers off of people are pissed.
Like no one's talking. People are just
smoking weed and pissed. And then this
guy Jizzel um he tried like big dogging
me in the house. Like he's just like he
was like asking me what sports I play or
whatever or and I was like oh I watch
fighting. And he's like oh you fight?
And I'm like, "Yeah, I fought before."
And he's like, "You think you could beat
me?" And he's 40 deep with all of his
boys around him. And he's trying to like
step on me a little bit. And I just was
calm. I was like, "Yeah, I think I could
I could take you." And he looked like a
dick cuz he was he was a total
douchebag. No
hospitality. Pretty tough to flex on me
in front of 40 of your guys with around
me while me and my two other guys have
nothing. And so he wasn't happy with how
he came out. But it's also like, "Dude,
you knew we were coming. You knew we
were filming. your crew like one of them
asks my guy Keegan if he's a federal
he's a fed another guy he's like like
just they were very aggressive so like
what do you expect like you knew the
cameras were rolling you treated us like
[ __ ] where do they get from like every
video when you go into these
neighborhoods and they had like five and
they're just like you know pointing it
to the camera where do they get them how
easy is it we're going to do a piece
eventually one day called how make it to
the hood and we'll maybe do Houston New
York Chicago we'll cover a few different
cities and explore that more in detail.
But the general ways that I understand,
one, a lot of these places it's legal to
buy as long as you don't have a felony
and then you can sell it to a friend.
So, you know, there's get passed that
way. That's a common way. Also, here's a
little note. From now on, we're going to
say strap instead of go just for the
YouTube algorithm. So, another way
straps make it to the hood is car theft.
If I have a my car, someone goes into my
car, they'll take that um take the
strap, take this take the strap. I
apologize. Another is uh you know home
invasions. Some guy might have a safe
with 20 straps and that's a big come up
for a crew. Um when we were in Texas, we
had a guy who agreed to meet with us
that had a 3D printer in his house and
did business with the cartel and we
pulled up to his apartment complex. He
didn't give us his door and he
chickenened out. And I get it. I mean,
if you're doing business with the cartel
and you're about to go on camera
explaining that, that's if they find
out, you're so toast it's not even
funny. So, I get why he chickened out of
of filming with us, but 3D printing
operations, I would imagine that's a
that's a more sophisticated than the
average street guy is probably willing
to go, but that's certainly a way they
make it in there. Um,
ghost like through Telegram, dude. Like,
that's how this this 16-year-old Kia boy
is doing it. Like, so if you get into
the chat, I'll pull up. Oh, what you
want, Draco or this or that? And okay,
400 bucks. Boom. We'll meet here. But
then another way they get is robbing the
strap dealers. So there's a lot of
different ways. How do you communicate
with all of these people? Like how how
is the FBI not logged into your phone
remotely or something and just used it
to catch all of these people? Well, the
most secure ways to chat with people are
either FaceTime audio, FaceTime, or
Signal. And so those cannot be traced
from what I know. I'm sure there's some
software being developed to crack that.
WhatsApp has been compromised. Telegram
was just compromised recently. So
signal, FaceTime, audio, and FaceTime
are the most common because it's very
serious to me to protect no matter what
these guys are doing. It's very serious
to me to protect them because to me, the
value I bring to the public is I'm
willing to find this guy and talk to
this guy that most of us would be scared
to interview or wouldn't couldn't get
him to agree to an interview. And I'm
going to ask him enough questions that
we get into his psyche and figure out
what motivates him and also the
economics, the business behind what he
does. So I'm really curious. You've done
these videos on these reckless drivers,
like the most wanted drivers in New York
City. How do they get these cars?
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this episode. And now, let's get back to
the podcast. How do they get these cars?
A lot of them are stolen cars. How do
they drive stolen cars without getting
caught? Cuz they drive very fast. Like,
I just got a police chase sent to me
from my guy Felix. And you know, a lot
of these criminals, I would say to me,
it's more about the adrenaline than it
is about the economics. They're trying
to make money. They are so thrilled to
hop behind the the wheel of a Hellcat
and pretty much taunt the police and go
120, 130 mi down the highway and get
away. Like my guy Felix was like, he
just got in one the other night. He's
like, you know, this department in Ohio,
like get the body foyer the body cam
footage cuz you're going to see what I
just did to them. So, I think it's a
thrill. It's the same reason why Alex
Hold climbs mountains with no support,
no safety lines. It's the the time that
they feel most alive is running into the
dealership, running into someone's
driveway, stealing it, and getting out
of there. Felix is the one though that
steals the vehicles, right? He's the one
that did the the car theft that that
video. What about the ones in New York
that like bob and weave throughout
traffic? How do they afford such nice
cars? I don't think they do. I think I'm
not going to give too much away, but
from what I know about the scene, and
this is connected to the takeover scenes
that you see in LA, New York, across the
country, a lot of those cars are hot
cars, stolen cars. But we we did see
like a Lamborghini Urus, wasn't one of
them driving potentially. Uh there was a
glitch, I think, where they could do it
off of Turo or a car rental app, but
even that costs a lot of money because
you ask them on average, how long can
you hold on to a car for? Some of those
guys are involved in other businesses
that supply their car business. They do
other black market stuff and they bring
that money and they drive cool cars. I
feel like if they know you're doing a
video, they're going to pull together
like two grand. They're not going to
pull up a 1994 Toyota Camry for this
video. Like, and Squeeze Ben did it
perfectly. Like hiding in the back of
this uh parking complex with a a black
Lamborghini Urus revving as we come up
on the scene. Like, you can't get any
better of an introduction to a guy than
that. I've been getting a lot of those
videos on Instagram, the street takeover
videos where they're like going in
circles and they just will crash into
another car and they don't care. And at
first I was just like, well, what's
their insurance going to be that like
think of the repair bill on that? But it
makes sense that it's like it's not
their car because they don't care. The
takeovers are
particularly bad, I think. And I've been
invited to cover a lot of different
takeovers. It's really hard for me to go
do that knowing how much people's
property is going to get destroyed in
the process. I had a Milwaukee uh
business say that their parking lot had
to get repaved so many times the family
folded the business and she's and she
kind of was mad at me cuz I covered it a
little bit in a previous video. She's
like, "I hope you're happy with what you
broadcasted and c like celebrating these
guys driving crazy because look what
happened to my family's business." How
do you make sure you're not glamorizing
it because your New York video like I
see that and I'm like that's stupid. I
don't get it. But I I could see their
they're like a 16-year-old who's like
wow that's so cool. Look at these guys
all the praise they get. I want to do
that and then they end up someone two
different things. One is asking enough
tough questions. When you sit down with
a pan birth dealer or car thief you have
to ask about the societal impact. What
about the single mom when you take it
from her garage? What about if your
customer ods? You have to ask, "Oh,
you're bossing up your woman that's
working the streets, yet you take all of
her money and you're bossing her up."
Like, I really pressed a pimp hard on
that uh in an interview in Los Angeles.
You have to ask a tough question. It's
not a fluff piece. So, even if I go
interview the cartel one day, tell me
about how you guys give back to the
community. Like, you have to ask them
about some of the things that they do.
That to me is a big part of not
glamorizing it. Number two is almost
unanimously when you ask these guys,
give your advice to the youth out there
that think about joining a game or
getting to this profession, all of them
will say, "Do not do it. Do not join it.
Your life will end up in jail or prison
or or and do not do it." So, we always
include those messages because there are
impressionable kids out there that um
their economy is driven by the currency
of clicks and if me doing this gets me a
million views on TikTok, they might
consider doing that. What do you refuse
to make a video on? There there's almost
not a topic I would stay away from. Like
I would cover I would interview a
neo-Nazi. I know some people would say
never platform a guy like that. I think
you ask them questions that like a good
question is like a mirror to the soul.
So, you want them to see the the
absurdity of what they're saying, and I
think that's important. There's not
really a line of who I wouldn't
interview, whether it's a or someone
that's a racist, but I wouldn't go to a
car dealership with a camera and be
like, "All right, you're going to go run
in and steal. I'll be right behind you."
Like you, whatever you do in your free
time, cool. I'm not going to cuz I know
that car dealership owner is going to
have a whole lot of trouble. Insurance
claims, fix the broken glass, maybe an
employee was there and is terrified.
Like there's fallout that comes from an
act of crime. So like, oh, you guys want
I'm never going to go with a gang. Like,
oh, you guys are about to do a driveby.
Can I come with like any crime that
hurts someone or steals some stuff? Cuz
I'm really against theft. Even though I
cover theft a lot, uh, it's something
that really like that's a line in the
sand that I just really don't agree
with. But if they want to talk about it,
if they're open to getting hard
questions about why they do it, then
I'll talk to you. You don't want to
influence behavior, influence crime.
Things are already happening. I'm just
asking why you do it. But wouldn't
interviewing someone like the cartel be
way too dangerous? Like, isn't there a
line to be drawn there? Yeah, there is.
To me, it's always about having the
right contact. If someone can bring you
into that world that has a reputation
that can pretty much bring you as much
as you can guarantee a safe passage,
that's the biggest thing. That's the the
person that this hinges upon working.
Have you ever felt like you're genuinely
talking to a psychopath? probably a lot
of socio I don't know if how to diff I
know the textbook difference between
psychopath sociopath but probably a lot
of them the people that are okay with
stealing a car and don't care about how
it impacts the mom I would probably say
that's sociopathic behavior uh people
that are okay with selling or man we
talked to this guy we we went into a I
wanted to document uh the the how to
cook crack because I thought this is a
drug that's going to disappear from the
market like this it's a relic of the
past why is it going to disappear if was
replacing a lot of these drugs or or
it's laced with but um I wanted to be in
a trap stove on the like just like a
young Jeezy song. I wanted to just see
it for myself and as we're interviewing
this guy there's a funny clip where
we're in Boston doing this and me and
the camera guys are all me Keegan and
Miguel are like this interviewing him as
the like the fumes of crack are coming
through the room and me and Keegan at
one point look at each other cuz I'm
like I think I feel a little different.
So, like we look at each other, we're
like, "Yeah, we both feel a little
different right now." And as he's
cooking up, Miguel's like, "We should
ask him like, "Do you ever have a
customer that didn't make it after you
made a sale to them?" So, I asked him
that and he's like, "Yeah, there was
this one lady who I sold it to. She
wanted more. I sold it to again." And I
knew if she asked again, that that would
probably be the final dose. And I sold
it to her and she did it and she kind of
passed out. I walked out of the house
and sure enough, you know, the junkies
that came to buy from me later that were
friends with her told me, "Yeah, she
didn't make it." And something that I
like kind of moved on to the next
question pretty quickly. But then the
car ran, I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Did
he just say what I thought he said?"
Like he just casually basically admitted
as a sex accessory to a Mword as we can
say on YouTube. And it made me realize
this like there is an element of on this
journey of being a little bit
desensitized because and how I compare
it to is a is a surgeon in the ER room.
When I when one of us sees a a strap
wound on somebody, we're going to be
freaking out, panicking. How do we save
this person? But an ER doctor is like
pass the sutures, past the gauze, and
it's just business as usual. And there
we've seen enough crazy stuff in this
time that someone confessing to doing
that is like next question. and and and
I had to check in within myself like
that was a pretty major thing he said
sometimes just being able to take a
pause in the moment to dive because
that's a pretty crazy thing to say and
for me not to dive deeper into it or
follow up on that was like damn what is
wrong with me have I seen too much wild
stuff in the last few years to just like
that I move on to the next question have
you ever seen even of the most
sociopathic criminals draw an ethical
line that surprised you a lot of them
have pretty ethical lines like um One of
my friends, one of my one of my best
friends on earth as a former bank
robber. And in his 20s, he robbed I
think six or eight banks in in uh
California and went to prison for 10
years. Now he's an incredible family
man, multi-millionaire, runs a
nationwide construction business, very
very good guy, one of my favorite people
on earth. And he said in prison like uh
and now that he runs a construction
business, like I will hire an ex-con, no
problems. I won't hire a drug addict
because a drug addict will do anything
to cheat you, lie to you, steal from
you. But a lot of these guys have very
strict moral compasses that loyalty and
respect means a lot to them. So their
word is everything. Like there's raps on
all I have in this world and my balls
and my word. So the there are guys that
if they say it, it means a lot to them
to back it up. And I've seen this in the
rental business. I have a few rentals in
Milwaukee. If someone just gets out of
prison and gets a factory job and calls
me up and wants to rent for me, that
actually to me is a pretty reliable guy
cuz I know this guy's taking his life in
a new direction. I don't care if he got
arrested for selling with a strap. If
he's, you know, his boss at his factory
clears him and he's been really good.
Oh, this is one of my best guys on the
job. I would, you know, the business
would hurt if this guy left. Okay, I'll
rent to you. Um, but a drug addict and
people like that, you really can't trust
their word cuz they're always scheming
cuz that their their addiction is their
number one priority. Out of all the
people you've documented, is there
anyone you genuinely just disliked? Most
of people I like. I'm a pretty easy guy
to get along with and I look for the
good in people and there's like a little
bit of a naivity towards me where I'm
willing to see your good side even
though I know you do a bunch of other
things that are bad. Um, but totally
dislike it is hard to respect
anyone that does something that involves
women and children. Like if you steal
from a mom, you you're you know a PDF
file.
Um, but I have trouble disliking people.
Like most, even Tiffany Henard on paper,
lying to my face, compulsive liar, ran
her town millions of dollars in debt in
a two-year
period on verifiably a bad person. I
enjoyed her. I I like there's an element
of where I get the cult of personality
that made her the way she is. And even
though I wouldn't trust her, I wouldn't
invite her into my circle knowing what I
know about her. I had fun hanging out
with her throughout the day. Let's talk
about her. She is known as the most
corrupt mayor in the United States.
Shout out Tiffany, by the way. Who is
she? How did people catch on to her?
What is she doing? because she basically
took this small town, the south Chicago
village of Dalton, Illinois, and turned
it into like a third world dictatorship
where, you know, she was getting
escorted out of uh Taho that she paid
$50,000 asking for. She got a fleet of
six of them. She would she would get
escorted out like a security guard would
grab her hand and she'd have police
working overtime and she like the tiny
small town mayor like you guys have met
really wealthy people CEOs billionaires
where they maybe have one security guard
if at all you know she's act like she's
just a diva she would sit in a queen
throne and watch the town and like at
events um she would make business owners
do paytoplay schemes like oh if you
don't donate $3500 for the Fourth of
July party I'm trying to do for the town
well then I'm not going to approve your
liquor license And so like she would
nearly bankrupt people that wouldn't
agree with her. She allegedly had rivals
up. She just blatantly lies. And she
basically used the town tax money to
live a luxury life. First class flights,
steak dinners, wigs, taho. It just the
list does not end with how much she
balled off of the taxpayers. And she
also paid off the police allegedly.
Right. So she she paid him off by having
them work egregious overtime hours so
that it was in their favor to protect
her and walk her around. Do you think
she's going to pay any like penalties or
crimes or like who's looking right now?
Currently the word on the street in
Dalton is that there's a few people
collaborating with the feds and to not
impede their investigation because I I
have an idea there's like two or three
main people that are in her circle that
haven't been revealed yet that it's one
of them. Um the walls are closing in.
They know that the the whole thing is
going down and there's to me there's no
way she doesn't do time. Apparently, one
of the the former right-hand man is
actively working with the feds right
now. He knows she's going away and he's
talking as much as he can to kind of
reduce his sentence. Was it YouTube that
really brought this to light? Because I
hadn't seen this before until I started
seeing YouTube videos of people going to
the city and like trying to track her
down. Like, is that what made it
mainstream? I saw a couple Tik Tok clips
of her and I know there's early guys to
the party like a guy Spencer Cornelius
does a lot of investigative journalism
that's really good. Um I just saw a
couple Tik Toks like I actually try not
to watch almost any YouTube like in my
space at all if I can cuz I especially
if I haven't covered that story yet cuz
I want to make it unique. I don't want
to be influenced. Um but Tik Tok was
what brought it to my attention. I'm
like, "Oh, this is two hours from my
house. Like we got to go see this lady."
Yeah. Usually with federal
investigations like that, you're never
going to hear a word until they actually
have a case. And once they bring that
case, it's practically unbeatable. If
the feds are going up against you, it's
over 99% conviction rate. So the fact
that it's confirmed that they're in town
talking to people in those circles and
just how egregious she is. that my
favorite part of the interview with her
was I kept asking her about these Taho
because why in the hell did you pay
$50,000 over asking and have a fleet of
Taho like your Brad Pitt or something
and she just lied and lied and lied and
I got a paperwork with her signature on
it and I even took it out of my breast
pocket and I I showed it to her and
she's like, "Oh yeah, that was forged."
And how do you double down on a lie like
that? And then we even did signature
comparison and like how is it even
possible that this could have been
forged? There's just no no way that it's
not her that bought the Taho.
And to me, it was just a fascinating
study. I don't know how you would
diagnose her. I don't know if she's a
compulsive liar, a
sociopath. There is a likable quality of
her, but I think I genuinely think my
hunch on her is that she's mentally
sick. I think she is a good person that
means well in some ways. Like she
genuinely has a love for some people in
her community. Like she she wants to be
the one that brings resources. Hey, you
need a new sidewalk. Hey, you need food
from the food pantry. I'm going to bring
this to you. I want to show how much I
love my city. She wants to be the the
the source of it all. And anyone that
would help outside of that, she would
cut down or put licensing restrictions
or permit restrictions in front of her.
But I did get a warm feeling like the
first time I met her and walked into her
room like she gave me a big hug and I'm
like I she had me living in this weird
reality bubble where I knew everything
about her was true and I knew how bad
she was. But when I was in her presence,
I'm like, have I been gravely mistaken?
Like, is it
possly different reality bubble? Yeah.
Sometimes the people who are sick in the
in the head like that are the most
charismatic, nicest people you've ever
met. We've encountered a few, not not to
that degree, but a few people who are
just so friendly that my guard is down.
I'm like, "Ah, this is just a cool guy."
And then turns around and like just
weird stuff goes on. That's how cults
get started. I think we think going into
it that this person is going to be so
easily identifiable as evil that's going
to be easy to not like them, easy to
kind of mash them down. The reason the
cults get started is because and there's
also some good to it. Like the base
level of Scientology has some decent
self-development principles, but then
you go further into it when they're
doing child labor. There's so many dark
things that are happening in that
organization, but there's always a yin
and yang to everybody. I don't think
there's anyone that you can look at and
they're just pure, you know, all their
their stuff is just bad and that's how
they attract a following. So, you've
never met a single person that you
thought is through and through evil. I
met guys that claim to be evil cuz I
think they're trying to be tough on
camera. Uh there's this one, excuse me,
Afghani gangster that I met in uh
California that he showed me proof of
him robbing like there's a a Chinese
triad gang that they run illegal black
market grow ops and he showed me the
proof that he robbed them. He showed me
the proof of like they showed me this
guy that they scammed that apparently he
tried scamming them and then what they
did is they invite like they invited him
to an area. He got into the car, pointed
a strap at him, had him sit in the
passenger seat as he drove around his
own car and he's like if if you move I'm
going to blame you. Like show me the
Snapchat video of that and multiple
other things that these guys had done.
And he was like yeah I'm evil. Even him
uh I do think like he has an allegiance
to his family. Like I think in a weird
way the money goes to help his family,
his brothers and sisters. So no one I've
met is purely evil. You deal a lot with
scammers as well. What's the easiest way
that the just the general public gets
scammed? I think we're all gullible to a
degree and we're all looking for that
silver bullet that get rich quick. And
if someone packages it the right way and
sells it to us, there's a good part of
us, especially if we haven't made it yet
and we're looking for that way to break
through or get some money. so we can
live this life of our dreams. I think
it's easy for those people to capitalize
on that cuz they're they're tapping into
like a basic human desire that we all
have. What are the most lucrative scams?
As of recently, it seems like running a
non-government NGO seems pretty
lucrative. Um I cover more of the street
level scams. Street level scams, uh you
know, so I'm in the landlord business in
Milwaukee. There's a lot of tenants that
are very scared uh to send you any money
through Cash App because they get these
guys that will be like, "Oh, I'm the
landlord, but if you want this, like,
send me four or five months up ahead
right now." And then they just they
never see the property and they sent the
money and now they're screwed. Um, but
most of these scams are like if you have
any sort of common sense seem pretty
easy, like if you're not in a desperate
position, they seem pretty easy to see
through. They're getting better and
better though. So there there are two
scams that that have just recently
happened to me which which are crazy.
One scammed one of them I fell for and
another one I'll tell you about which is
crazy. The first one I fell for was that
we got a podcast request but they wanted
to do a Facebook live and I distantly
knew the person. So I'm like, "Oh yeah,
this seems legit." The email was just
like a random Gmail account, but like
the way it was written is like
usually pretty on par with our podcast
request. And so they said, "We'll do a
Facebook live this date and you know, as
a thank you, we're going to pay you like
a few grand." I was like, "Okay,
perfect." And the day before they say,
"Hey, we want to make sure that you're
set up on on Facebook Live for this
thing. I'm going to run you through
exactly what to do." I was like, "Okay,
fine." So, we do a Zoom call and the guy
doesn't show his his face, but I'm like,
"Okay, you know, the guy spoke like
really good English, didn't seem like
anything was suspicious, and he says,
"Okay, we have to make a Facebook event
for you to like join us." And I went
through and I followed his instruction.
He was so fast. And I was in the middle
of doing something. So, I'm like just
kind of like clicking buttons. And he's
like, "Okay, perfect. You have to send
this request to like this email so we
could approve it." And it was to like
this this podcast email. And I sent it.
Sure enough, the next day he takes over
my Facebook and they start posting just
like spam. It took me weeks to get that
Facebook account back, but but they got
me like completely support line and
sinker. Meta support system is pretty
hard to work with. Yeah, it took me if
you're listening to this, man. I've been
banned from Facebook Marketplace for no
reason for over a year. Mark, we would
love to have more people that are boots
in the ground to help us with our
concerns like Graham has here. This was
the other one that was crazy. So, I know
someone who got an email from their work
and their work says, "Hey, there's a
process server here who wants to serve
you papers, but they don't want to do it
at your workplace in front of everybody.
So, if you could please call this number
and they'll arrange a time for you to go
and get served these papers. Here's
their information. Here's the claim
number. Here is their name." All of
this. When you call the phone number, it
says, "Hey, we have a debt outstanding
for like $40,000, $30,000 from this
company, and this is you, right?" And
they they read off like your name, your
address, people that you like are
associated with, relatives, all of this,
your age. Okay, this is the last four of
your social. Okay, this is the right
person. Yeah, we have a debt for like 39
grand. We want to serve you. And the
scam is that they say, "Or we could just
settle the debt. So we we don't have to
do all of this. If you send us like five
grand, you know, we're a debt collection
agency. That's all we want and we'll
release it." Cuz they typically
negotiate anyways. Exactly. Turns out
the whole thing is a scam. The whole
thing. And I started looking into this
because I Googled the phone number. It
turns out it just goes to a random PO
box and like Rancho Cukamonga. And other
people have said, "Yeah, they've done
the exact same thing." and they go
through your employer because they're
like the shame aspect of like I don't
want to get served papers for a lawsuit
in front of like all of my co-workers so
I'm more likely to call. It's crazy.
It's pretty sophisticated social
engineering. Like to me, I like crimes
that like that have a certain amount of
finesse to them cuz anyone can just
break in with a bat or do something like
that, but the the criminals that are
able to use finesse, I'm very fascinated
by because as much as I know that what
you're doing is bad, there's an element
of skill like how are you even doing
this or getting away with it that's
intriguing to me. Are a lot of these
criminals that you talk to that are
effective and successful at committing
crimes actually pretty intelligent? A
fair amount. There there's like the
Felixes of the world are pretty rare.
like the guys that can that like like
that could have been an IT specialist or
in finance or a different like there's
some of these guys that are really
really smart and like they like the way
they know cars is better than like
almost any car expert at a dealership
would ever know a car. There's there's
some of those guys but most of the guys
I think I come in contact with are the
more brute force criminals. Yeah.
Punchade Dev. How is he not in jail?
He's just this brazen. Explain this for
those. So, you did a video and he's the
only one that I remember that was like
not blurring his face, was like out in
the open, here's who I am, head to toe
designer clothes and was like open
skimming debit card information and then
buying things for everybody, going to
the bank, pulled out $10,000 in cash
from someone else's account and was
like, "Here you go. Here's proof. Don't
worry. I'm going to put it back though
cuz I don't want to, you know, do this."
How is that? How do how does the police
not see that and just arrest the dude?
I'll say it like this. Punch Made Dev
100% has a lot of money that he's made
from scamming. I know that I can verify
that how he does his scams. I'm going to
kind of leave to the imagination and
also say certain things that he shows.
It's possible that he is a very good
illusionist with some of the scams he's
pulling, but there's other scams he's
pulling that are he definitely scams
people. But how do the police still not
see that regardless of how he's
scamming? It's like, hey, let's at least
investigate this because on camera. My
hunch is if he's really scamming Chase
Bank with his face showing, there would
be trouble.
I think he's very good. He's I would say
I don't want to say he's a method actor
because I know he's made a lot of money
in a scam, but there are certain rap
characters that they're not just a
rapper, they're also like he's the scam
rapper and I think he plays his
character to a tea. Are some of these
crimes truly victimless? It seems as
though everyone has like a like an out.
Like if I steal a car, they have
insurance that pays for it. If I steal
from someone's debit card account, the
bank is going to reimburse them anyway.
So, it's free. I don't think any crime
is truly victimless. Be most of these
because even a guy that has insurance,
insurance is going to hassle them. I
interviewed a guy that got his car
stolen. He's like, the insurance acted
like I stole my own car. Like, they
didn't want to give me any money. They
want to give me the least amount. Like,
it was a three or four month hassle and
nightmare to get what I should have
gotten for my car. I am sure that
there's people that have been evicted
because of their car getting stolen
because that's their if this they're a
single parent they try and get to work
now they can't get to work they have to
get their kid like it is a nightmare. So
even if they are covered there's a delay
in that coverage where if my rent is due
on the 1st and you scam me on the 29th
and it takes Chase 10 days to reimburse
my account. I am totally hosed. I have
to have a very understanding landlord
and the other bills that are automatic
draw like I might get uh the the
withdraw what is the fee the the
overdraft fees like you're going to get
hit with a lot of things that start to
add up. So for sure it's not a
victimless crime. What is the least
unethical crime that you've
investigated? For example, if you steal
a car from a dealership, the dealership
has insurance, the premiums get
increased, but that risk is spread
amongst all of the different things.
It's probably got to be sex workers
doing it on their own. I would say I
don't even think sex work should be a
crime. If a consenting female and a
consenting whoever their partner is want
to do it, I really don't see an issue
with that. Um, and in fact, most of the
the jurisdictions, they've really
started to just crack down on the John
getting the and cuz the pimp, man, those
guys are parasites. Like those guys will
put these women through hell. They'll
get them addicted to drugs. They'll have
them work unbelievable hours. Uh, I
mean, if you follow the textbook of a
famous pimp, Iceberg Slim, if you read
like it's it's called gorilla pimping,
where you're very
heavy-handed, that is that's a
profession that um is really bad. But
the woman I I don't think is that
unethical. And what about the most
unethical crimes? We'll go with it
because all the other crimes uh at least
they get to live to see another day, to
try and bounce back or to do something
else with their life. But you take
someone's life, there's no coming back
from that. How often are assigned to
people that have done nothing wrong,
that are just completely different
bystanders that maybe did one thing
that's disconnected from something else.
So the the come across is more of the
hood street where uh as far as I've
gotten explained to me, it's really just
a like, hey, I don't want to do this
myself. I'll pay you a few grand to do
it. But sophisticated like taking out a
politician, taking out, hey, I my wife
my wife has an insurance policy. I
really want to divorce her, but I need
the money and I don't want to can you do
it? Like there's sophisticated levels of
of there that I haven't really explored.
Um, as far as the street level guys, I
would say that the person that they're
taking out has probably done something
that they feel like the reaction that's
necessary for that person is to you took
that guy's life, now I'm going to take
yours. How much does it cost to end a
life? In some neighborhoods, it's free.
They'll do it off the loyalty and the
love. Uh, if you're talking more of a
professional street level guy that does
hits, some of them are as low as a
couple grand, a few grand. Um, I would
say the more sophisticated guys maybe 10
to 50. It's really like the guy that I
talked to, it escalates on the job, like
how easy is this person to reach? How
public of a profile do they present? Um,
but I would say like on the street side,
it's probably more so done for free than
are actually charged. It's like this guy
did something to us, we need to take him
out. It seems like some of these crimes
then can be pretty lucrative. What about
doing simple things like dealing? Do you
see a lot of people that deal druggs
uh making a whole lot of money?
Honestly, most of the criminals I talk
to, they're not that wealthy. Um,
because it's always it's a hustle. I
mean, some of these dealers, depending
on the product, can go well, but the the
the opportunity cost of selling, even if
you're making 30, 40 grand a month. Now,
the way they spend the money, okay,
we're now I'm getting a fancy car. Now,
I'm going to a strip club. Now, I'm do
I'm buying bags, I'm buying Dior, I'm
buying all these fancy luxury items.
They're like, most these guys, it's not
like they wash it and go into real
estate or wash it and go into the
trucking business. the smart guys will,
but most these guys spend as much as
they make. And then when you look at the
prison time facing them for what they're
doing, it it's I haven't met that many
guys. I'm like, this is a pretty
lucrative operation. You got to get them
on Mr. Money Mustache. Like, at least if
they're going to be making the money,
invest it, a balanced portfolio of US
versus international equities with a
small risk tolerance to Bitcoin. Do you
see any of them doing that? Some of the
guys for sure, like I know one of the
Afghani guys that robbed um you know the
triads and they got like half a million
dollars worth of cushion bags and and
cash that was on site. They're going to
try and wash it into other things. The
smart guys will wash it. What are your
thoughts? Cuz you did a video with Chris
Hansen, which I found really
interesting. Chris Hansen, why are
people drawn to those videos? Why do
they just consistently do so well? I
think it's the same reason why police
body cam footage does consistently well,
gains do consistently well. Uh, you're
seeing someone commit a crime that is
like once you're publicized as a PDF
file, like it is one of the most serious
things. Like I'd rather go to prison for
any other crime but that. Like that's a
very serious crime to commit, especially
in the criminal world because you're
going to be holding someone's pocket if
you're lucky and then other things will
be happening to you for the rest of your
stay in jail. I think people are just
fascinated like just why I think so many
women are into crime podcast and they
want to hear about what Jeffrey Dmer
did. We want to see into the depths of
the darkest side of society without
going too far. And I think that kind of
person is a prime example of someone
like it's so unspeakably dark that they
would do that and we kind of get to see
into their mind of why they do. What are
your thoughts about those videos of
people beating up the PDFs? I see the
argument either way. It depends on the
intention. Like some of the guys I see
doing that, it almost seems like they
they're bullies and they see this as
their opportunity to freely be a bully.
The counterargument is if slapping a guy
like that a few times and humiliate him
gets him to stop and you save a kid's
life or save a kid's future from being
traumatized, is it worth getting bullied
like that?
some of these videos that I' that I see
get recommended to me on Twitter like
that, I can't help but look at the guy
who's getting beat up and thinking to
myself, this guy has severe something
going on in his head. I think from a
concept, you can look and you can have
sympathy for these guys. Like there is
no one that like what their life is
probably entirely miserable and you feel
sorry for them because of how pathetic
it is. But then when you conceptualize
it down to like it happening to someone
you know or your kid, you're like, "Oh,
I'll end this guy's life in a
heartbeat." So like I can see the
sympathy, but then as soon as they act
on it is like there's consequences for
actions like that. Yeah. I'm also
surprised that so many of them just
openly talk on camera like when
confronted. Like they never take the
just stay silent approach. It's always
let me explain everything and and
divulge all of my past crimes. I think
you're on to it though. A lot of them
are lonely people and if this is their
like if Chris Hansen's sitting them down
is the most like in-depth conversation
they've had with a human in a while.
They're probably hungry for it. How
often do people fake themselves? Like
they'll fake the story or they try to
like early on I got tricked a couple
times. I've been I've gotten a lot
better at verifying. So, hey, if you
sell XYZ, I'm hopping on FaceTime with
you and I want to confirm that you're
selling XYZ. I remember early on we got
a lead to a Chicago trap house that
said, "Oh, this like we're really like
the biggest trappers in the city." I
look at the address. It's somewhere like
in a suburb. And I pull up there and the
guy like could have matched the
description, but I'm like, "Okay, let's
check it out." And he's like, "Well,
it's actually not here, but my cousin
does it and you have to give me a ride
to Chicago so we can go there." But my
cousin's not answering the phone. And
I'm just like, "Me and Miguel drove two
hours for nothing for this guy." And so
there are people that like that there is
that's the other thing about like what I
said at the beginning of this episode
about a no trust society a lot of times
in the hood. The other thing that
accompanies no trust is the amount of
lying you encounter is staggering.
There's people that will lie about the
littlest things that they have no need
to lie about. And so you do have to
verify things. And so I use FaceTime as
a very productive means to do that. How
often does it happen now that you get
lie to? Rarely. I would say there's some
leads that I have to figure out like
with the with the guy that does hits.
How deep do I want to go to verify that?
Because then I have to see stuff that I
really don't want to see. Like I'm not a
guy that watches a Saw movie. I'm like,
"Oh, this is awesome." Like I leave the
room cuz I can't I don't want to see
that type of stuff. But if I'm I have to
if I if I'm going to verify a guy says
he's doing that, I to a degree you have
to. But I rarely get fooled. Can you
hire that out? Like have someone else
see it and then it's like you trust
their word. Trust is the probably one of
the greatest currencies my channel has.
My channel has to trust that whether
you're a billionaire, a presidential
candidate, or a dealer that I'm going to
come in and tell your story in a fair
and open way. And so that's my
competitive advantage. Like uh Keegan
sitting outside helps me with a lot of
leads, especially like he got a Harvard
uh astrophysicist Avi Lo to help comment
on our Area 51 episode with the
potential spacecraft. But when it's an
underworld character by I'm the highest
close rate. If I'm hopping on the phone
with that guy, I'm going to talk to him.
By the end of the conversation, I feel
like at this point, I'm almost
unmissable of like this guy's going to
be ready to go when we come to his town.
How does somebody reach you? Is it just
Instagram? Email Instagram is a primary
lead source. At the end of every
episode, we'll say like, "Looking for a
jail that will last stay there for 24
hours. Looking for a car thief. Looking
for this." And then I'll get inbound
leads through Instagram and email that
will and then we'll probably usually if
they're really about it, we'll graduate
the conversation to Signal or FaceTime.
What are you looking for now? I would
love to stay in a jail for 24 hours. I
saw that one guy
um did the jail, the most dangerous jail
in uh across the world. El Salvador. Oh,
El Salvador. There's been a few Timmy
Carter
um that was the one I think that was the
one I saw. It was incredible. Yeah, his
videos are insane. Anytime I he posts
something, I watch it on the TV. He has
an unbelievable concept. So, let's talk
about this for a second. Is he puts out
one documentary a month and it does like
20 to 40 million views. We eventually
cuz we're on a quick treadmill like that
the amount of production and work it
takes to put out one 30 to 40 minute
really good piece out a week. Like these
guys hustle all like they're hustling
all the time. And eventually we would
like to get to a place where we maybe
get to spend more time with a contact,
more time on an issue and we put out one
or two pieces a month because the pace
that we have to go at to like Vice would
have an entire company, dozens and dozen
employees to put out at this pace and we
do it with like a skeleton crew of six
or seven people. I feel like some big
legacy company should reach out to you
either for consulting or to hire you. I
mean, I I'm surprised they're not going
to be able to pay me more than I would
make independently. And there's almost a
stigma now of working with them. True. I
had vice some vice guys reach out. We
were collaborating them. I was going to
bring them to Milwaukee. Then we were
going to collaborate on another idea.
And then it's like, you know what? Why
would I spend a minute, not that I don't
like what they do, but why would I'm
already too busy as it is, and I'm
already away from home more than I want
to be. Why would I spend a minute
investing in their platform rather than
my own? Are you open to talking about
your own business? Yeah. like breaking
it down. I'm curious where your income
sources come from. So, it's a few
different streams. Ad revenue is the
most significant stream. Sponsorships,
Patreon, merch, um, real estate. Ad
revenue is number one. How? I thought
for sure your videos would just get
demonetized. They used to be. I almost
got actually banned from YouTube. I got
two strikes at one time. I remember
landing from a honeymoon and getting the
second strike notification to my phone
and if you get one more, you're banned
permanently. So, that was a real fear.
But, I've kind of learned what to edit,
what to take out, how to blur certain
things. So, that we we've been most of
my stuff actually does get monetized.
Now, we've we've had a few episodes in
the past where they've shared graphic
stories and we've done our best to
sensor them and the the whole thing just
gets like limited ads and it does not
get pushed. It's amazing how certain
words are entirely off limits. Like, you
have to bleep this. But I cannot call
someone a You have to call like what?
It's like you have to call them a PDF
file to come on. Like I get that they
have to protect people that are watching
it, but I'm on the side of very on the
the other side of almost sensor nothing.
What's your overhead like to run this
production? It's become very
significant. So, um so first of all,
from an employee standpoint, we have
what like four or five full-time guys
and then we have a couple editors that
are part-time with their hours are
picking up. Um, so I would say in
travel,
um, tour, car rentals, I would say my
average overhead is about 50k a month.
No way. That's a lot of money. Mhm. Can
you share how much you bring in every
month? So, you want just ad revenue or
you want my whole little picture? Um, I
would say in a given month it can really
fluctuate, but I can probably do from
anywhere from 90 to 220.
Congratulations. Thank you. I think
that's so cool to to go from that video
on your phone and be like this is this
is going to be it. It's unbelievable.
How did you have such conviction back
then that that was going to be it? Like
you seem like you could see the future
back then. There was times where I
couldn't like there was times where like
I almost quit YouTube altogether when I
was in my prank era because I'm like it
just wasn't working. I wasn't growing.
Um so definitely I'm a overly optimistic
person. I do have a very strong belief
in myself and I think like I have I have
a unique personality where I can go talk
to almost anyone. I believe I can talk
to anyone in the world and for that
reason I think that it's possible that
this can succeed. Um but to see it come
full circle like I was in I was really
struggling in my sales jobs cuz I just
the money never motivated me. The money
doesn't motivate me now either. Like I
could talk like think in my head like
well if I hit my quota for this I'm
going to be making the I could never
like do the extra phone call in my sales
job because the money was motivating me
to do it. Um, so to get to a point where
now I'm making more in a month than I
ever did in a year is unbelievable. And
the overhead, like that's the other
thing, like you would think like I think
we always look at just the revenue and
we think that's what they're making. Um,
like there's some months where it's an
absolute crusher like three sponsorships
that were delayed in paying just came
through and there's some months where
it's like like we were slightly in the
red or right on the edge. Um, but to me
to be able to do this full-time to be
able to like I have a job that I can
talk endlessly about. I have like I get
to live almost a bucket list. Like, oh,
you just did Area 51. Now you're hanging
out with the Bloods. Now you just went
with these high rolling gamblers. And
that was in a 4-day span. You just did
that. Like I have a dream dream job.
What do you do with the money? I'm a
heavy investor. Cool. Um, so every month
right now I'm up to I put So I put 16
right off the bat into a Vanguard like V
VFAX. Yeah, is what I call it. Yes. Uh I
have eight single families and one four
unit in Milwaukee. I'll probably get up
to 12 or 15. I self-manage all of it. So
I don't I don't know if I ever wants get
to a point where I don't manage it cuz I
I take like So some people might be mad
like, "Oh, you buy single family homes."
What I do, I get houses that were trap
houses. They're like abandoned for four
years in the city of Milwaukee. There's
boards on the windows. They're there's
crap holes. I go in there, I buy them
for like 30k, then I put about 30k and I
make it the nicest house on the block.
I'll send you I'll show you guys some
pictures of the houses that I do. Like
people have been outside of some of the
houses I own and there's tape around the
tree of the memorial. Like these are
really rough areas. And what I'll do is
I'll make it the nicest house for miles
or people think it's a scam almost. Like
when people look at this on Zillow and
they see it, they're like, "There's no
way this is you're just going to take my
money. Like this is not a real house.
11th in Atinson. There's no way a house
that nice on 11th and Keef or 11th
Atinson." Then they go in and they're
like, "Holy crap." Because I want to
make a house that someone never wants to
leave. It's because there's a lot of
slum lords in Milwaukee. It's a huge
problem. There's even a book written
about it called Eviction that the
conditions. I've been in houses that the
roof is leaking so bad that the second
floor ceiling has a hole in it. The
first floor ceiling has a hole in it and
water is dripping onto the floor of the
first floor and they have they just
continually have to get a bucket because
a landlord doesn't want to fix it. So to
me, and I'll tell you more about my my
philosophy with real estate. So I'll get
a house like that. Um and maybe like one
of them I have a daycare in it that pay
me that pays me 1,600 a month. Five
bedroom, one bath. Um my four unit, I
don't raise rents on people like I've
had it for probably five or six years
now. If someone moves out and I renovate
it, I might bring it I bring it up to
market. I don't charge anything over
what I think market is. So I have people
that have been in in a h in a unit for 5
years that still pay 700 750. Some
people are paying 900 a,000 for which I
think is overpriced in Milwaukee in that
market. Um so I try and pay them or have
them pay reasonable amounts that I think
they can afford and I think that they're
going to be have some longevity in the
house and then my goal is to keep them
as long as they possibly can. And so to
me like I have no aspirations. I'm never
going to have a Lamborghini. I don't
want a massive massive house. Mhm. I
just want the ability. I want to buy a
ribeye when I want to. I want to live
like I want to be able to walk in the
woods a couple times a day with my wife,
dog, and baby. I want to be able to host
friends and pay for good food. I want to
be able to say, "Hey, we're having a
boys trip. I got the Airbnb. You guys
cover the like." That's the type of
stuff like I want to be wealthy for. And
to never be in a job where I'm
miserable. I always want to just be
chasing stuff that I'm excited about.
So, to me, financial freedom is not so I
can like, you know, get grills or
something. It's so that I can do life on
my terms. How long do you see yourself
making YouTube videos for until it's not
fun anymore or until it becomes too
much? I don't know. I don't see slowing
down but or like stopping all together.
But sometimes it's hard with a little
kid at home and
um I know it's a stress on my family to
be away from home. So that is hard. But
the thing is the alternative is like if
I go back to the cubicle, I'm going to
be away from the home anyways and I'm
going to be miserable. Like I'm fully
alive right now. I'm fully passionate
about what I do and so it's just a
trade-off. But I do know like as my boy
gets older, like I owe my wife some nice
trips, some good experiences. I'll tell
you from an outside perspective, I see
you putting yourself in some very
dangerous situations that I think would
be, you know, a little iffy to put your
family in a situation where something
could happen to you. I have a good life
insurance policy, Graham. But you want
to be around and maybe you want more
kids and you want to see them get
married one day and you want to be like
a grandparent and all that. Like I I
think there's going to be a tipping
point where you start looking at like
here's how much I have invested. Here
are the the rentals that I have and I'm
going out there putting my life at risk
for this little bit even though I love
it. It's like I think there's going to
be a balance at some point.
Well, better for me to spend time with
family to have a
thous on the path the universe will open
up doors for you. And I believe right
now 100% that I'm on the right path. So,
I'm going to trust that journey. Um, the
second thing is I'll use a rap analogy.
Rappers tend to make their best albums
at the beginning of their career when
they're hungry. No rapper makes their
best album when they're already worth
millions of dollars. Like, usually not.
So, I don't ever want to tone it down to
play it safe. At the same time, we are
shifting a little bit. Like, we're the
last couple years we were really heavy
into hood. Right now, we have zero hood
in our we have eight videos in the
chamber. None of them are hood. We
actually have four police videos in the
chamber. So, it's like a total shift.
Um, I do think the topics will change.
And not that I don't want to go to the
hood. I'm about to go to the hood in
like two hours and surround be
surrounded by a bunch of bloods. But
I've hit it enough where it's gotten
less and less interesting over time. And
unless there's a really compelling
character or thing that I want to check
out, it's just not something we're going
to cover as much. But I do believe like
one of the primary strongholds of the
channel is the under underworld. We are
the kings of the underworld. Like
there's no one I think doing it right
now that has the contacts I do that is
willing to go where I'm willing to go
and get the complete picture, the inside
access that we get. And so to me, it's
like if I can vet my contacts, I feel
very good about it. And I think the
biggest gamble at all is not to take a
gamble on yourself. So I'd much rather
be in this position where there's danger
on the line than be back at the office
job where I'm like, I could have done
something, but I didn't. You and Andrew
Callahan, man, if you get together, I
swear you could The two of you have like
the the journalism covered. He does a
really good job, too. I think he covers
almost a different niche than I do. He
leans like he covers more. Yes. I I
wouldn't say either of us are are
especially my side is mostly political.
Um but he covers more of the rallies. He
covers more of the social issues. And I
think with with who's in power right
now, he has an opportunity to cover some
really good subject that need to be
covered. Like when we talk about
veterans losing their social security, I
just saw a town hall where a guy was
really mad about that. Uh when we talk
about unions getting busted and I want
to cover some of that, too.
I'm pretty squared on the line. I voted
independent almost my entire life. Um,
but yes, I I Andrew does some really
remarkable journalism. In fact, his his
movie that he came to you guys to talk
about, Dear Kelly, love that. One of the
best pieces I've ever seen. Like, kudos
to him for that. The way that he
storytell, the way that he put it all
together over a multi-year period, like
that guy is really good for the space. I
agree. Have you ever scrapped a video?
Yeah. like there's a Fresno police
investigation where there's a lot of
really sketchy circumstances that the
now mayor of Fresno has tied to his
name, but the activist the people that
could have spoken out didn't. So, it's
like same thing with there's a school
called Judge Rottenberg uh in
Massachusetts that it's alleged these
people sue a lot. So, I'm going to say
very allegedly that they use
electroshock therapy on children a lot
of times with autism or different
things. The people that were going to
blow the whistle about it totally
chickenened out. And so it's like, look,
if you guys aren't going to back up, I'm
not going to put out a flimsy piece
accusing some powerful organization of
something if you guys aren't willing to
put your own face on the line here. So
those are pieces I've scrapped. And also
like we just know like when Miguel was
putting the final edits on, if we just
feel like we're not giving someone a
A-level piece that gives them inside
access, we don't want to put out any
fluff pieces just to post it. Yeah. How
does this all end for you? There's a lot
more to cover. I'm just getting started.
And I'm very new to this world.
Actually, I've been in this business for
about 3 years. So, there's a lot I have
to learn and a lot I still have to
cover. Um, what's next? One day we'll
make a Netflix or Amazon piece. We'll
cut a deal with a streaming platform.
That's definitely on the goal. Maybe a
series, maybe a one-off documentary, but
would absolutely love to do that. Um, I
think really focusing on developing my
son. I think like really really these
precious moments as a as having a young
kid focusing on that cuz I think like
you can get this is a career that I
could spend seven days a week every
single hour of the day working on I have
to be careful that I don't I'm not the
dad that neglected their kids. So um
spending a lot of time hands-on with my
boy is very important to me taking trips
with the family. Um, but as far as
career and a story that I really, really
want to get
into, I'm very interested in prisons
right now. And a lot of prisons are
hesitant to let you in. Largely because
I think the conditions are so deplorable
that they're worried that if you were a
gotcha hit piece journalist that they'd
be afraid of the story you tell. And
when you look at our incarceration
numbers, we really have to look
ourselves in the eyes and ask if we're
doing the right things. when we when
we're the land of the free, but we
incarcerate more people by far than any
other country on earth, we really have
to look ourselves in the eyes. So,
things that go into the justice process.
Um, the last thing I'll throw out, this
is a total pipe dream, but I've always
floated out the idea of running a
private prison. Now, before everyone
says I'm an evil maniac, let me explain
what it would be. One of the things
we're really going to need going forward
is the trades. A lot of the contractors
are a aging out of the industry. They're
40, 50 years old. Their backs are hurt,
and there's not as many young guys
taking up the the mantle. These are a
lot of guys in there in these prisons
that are very smart, and they would love
nothing more than to use entrepreneurial
skills they've done in other ways and
put it into a legitimate business. I
would love to set up a prison that's
basically like the Harvard of prisons
for for the trades. You can apply from
prison around the country and you live
here. And and the pipe dream would be
the way we eat is going to be different.
We're going to eat healthy, good food.
You guys are going to be allowed to work
out. Like we want you to be a
well-developed person when you get out,
but also we're going to spend a heavy
amount of time investing into
electricians and plumbers and HVAC guys
so that when you leave, you have
something for you waiting on the other
side. And a big problem with a lot of
prisons right now is they either do
labor for free, like in Texas, they do
labor for free, which someone could
argue that's your debt to society, but
also if someone's balling off of it, if
someone has a private prison where
there's a guy driving around on a
Rolls-Royce because you're working for
free, I have an issue with that. or some
states do like 20 cents an hour. I want
them when they when they leave, they
have a a few, you know, 10 20 $30,000
sitting in an account so they have money
to put down an apartment. They have
money for a vehicle. They have money for
the clothes. If they've been locked up
for 20 years, the fashion has changed.
And you can tell guys like they come
back out in Timberland and baggy shirts
like, "Oh, this guy was recently
incarcerated and still hasn't adjusted
to the times." So, give them their their
push so that they don't come back.
That'd be my pipe dream. If anyone
knows, any investors want to talk down
the line, how much would it cost for
someone to join a prison like that? Uh
maybe we'll take government money and
and grants if that's on the table. But I
would my idea of how it could be funded
is and this is a this is a
performance-based incentive is we take
let's just say we have to figure out the
math, but the first four or five years
that they're out, we take 10% of their
income and that funds it. So it's on us
to make them as highly qualified as
possible so they're getting paid the
most and help them grow their business.
And then both hands are getting shaken,
you know, like both people are
benefiting. Yeah. I almost thought that
would be so interesting. Like this was
an idea I had like years ago of
investing in people and so if someone's
just like this is a bright fellow, an
upandcomer, good ideas. I want to give
him 100 grand, make sure he's got his
base needs taken care of, but I want 10%
of what he makes for the next X years. I
think that's a cool business. and just
like invest in people themselves that
you think are like really promising. I
think that'd be cool. But but you could
game it. There's so many ways that you
could be like, well, technically we had
to pay out this subsidiary LLC expensive
and they came in islands. Uh and so I
actually didn't make any money. It's
like there's so many little loopholes
that anyone could pull or like, yeah,
well I need that Range Rover as part of
my living expenses. So we we're in the
red this year actually. Sorry. And then
as soon as it's up, this person starts
making like tens of millions of dollars.
But if if people were honest about it
and like I think it could work well. The
only thing I say to that I think gross
actually really good on the table. But
does that violate a fundamental law of
human motivation and psychology? Like do
they need to be so hungry that they need
to succeed or is it hey if you pave the
path for me I'm just going to commit my
life to it. I just need the chance. I
think there's there's people you can
find out. It's kind of like taxes
though. It's like at at a certain point
they may disincentivize you, but yeah.
Once they start taking more than 50%, I
think it it it causes me to take my foot
off the gas a little bit. H do I really
want to do that? Take 49? Maybe not. I
hate how much money we work for really
hard. To think that the government's
taking a quarter, a third, a half of
what you make and I you're in these
dangerous situations. You grinded so
much of your life and they just get to
take it and
spend. That's a time for another
podcast. probably bring taxes down a
little bit. Yeah. Another podcast. Guys,
thank you so much for watching. We'll
leave all of your information down below
in the description. Is there anything
that you'd like to mention? I appreciate
the support. Because of people watching
like you, I have a dream job. I'm happy.
I'm ready to rumble. So, thank you.
Thank you so much for coming on the
podcast. This was such an enjoyable
episode. You're such a nice guy. Very
happy for your success. Thank you
everybody for watching. Until next time.