The Legend of Cocaine Island
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00So I just walk up here, bro?
00:00:12Yep.
00:00:13Make sure I look good, bro?
00:00:14Oh, shit.
00:00:15All right.
00:00:16All right, I'm gonna put my sunglasses on.
00:00:22This is to hide my identity.
00:00:23All right, let's do this.
00:00:40If you knew where $2 million was buried in the ground, would you dig this shit up?
00:00:46Fuck yeah, I would.
00:00:47I did one time.
00:00:48All right.
00:00:49All right.
00:00:50All right.
00:00:51All right, let's do this.
00:01:11All right, let's do this.
00:01:37Everybody's got a different story to tell, you know, and, you know, some of them are
00:02:07funny.
00:02:08Some of them are, you know, basically tragic, but everybody's got stories, you know.
00:02:18Kind of hard to describe where I live.
00:02:21It's not the end of the world, but we can see it from here.
00:02:25That's about the best way I can describe it.
00:02:30There's been people come and go over the years, but Julian's been out here a long time.
00:02:36He's our local hippie.
00:02:38He walks barefooted everywhere he goes.
00:02:40He didn't have much as far as materialistic stuff goes, but he had a good story.
00:02:53You know the difference between a northern fairy tale and a southern fairy tale?
00:03:02Well, a northern fairy tale starts off once upon a time.
00:03:07A southern fairy tale starts off, y'all ain't gonna believe this shit.
00:03:13Hell, I heard the story so many times I can almost repeat it verbatim.
00:03:25You gotta understand the way it happened.
00:03:28You see, his wife ran that turtle research center in Culebra.
00:03:32Julian had walked the beach looking for turtle nests, and that's where the story started.
00:03:53Sometime he saw this big thing washed up on the beach, and he didn't know what it was,
00:04:02but the way it was wrapped up, you know, it was in watertight wrapping, so he knew it
00:04:09wasn't garbage.
00:04:16He pulled it out of the water, and he was hoping it was money.
00:04:26Well, when he opened it up, it turned out to be cocaine.
00:04:34Then he goes, shit.
00:04:42I believe he weighed it, and it was over 70 pounds of coke.
00:04:54That's about a million dollars, you know.
00:04:58So somebody was out a lot of money.
00:05:01He had no intention of trying to sell it or anything.
00:05:04He was just trying to figure out where he could basically get rid of it.
00:05:09He was afraid to turn it in.
00:05:12Puerto Rican cops were about as corrupt as you could find.
00:05:19He didn't know what to do with it.
00:05:21It was probably a comedy, because he said he'd carry it to one spot and hide it,
00:05:25go back the next night and get it and move it to another.
00:05:28It's kind of like a dog with a bone.
00:05:32And he finally just said to hell with it.
00:05:36He buried it.
00:05:44And that's where it stayed for over 10, 15 years.
00:06:03And he moved back here.
00:06:05And that million dollars was just waiting for someone to dig it up.
00:06:44To the ends of the earth, I've searched only to find, only to find.
00:07:06My name is Rodney Hyden.
00:07:08I'm president of BH Builders.
00:07:10We started the company in 1998.
00:07:14We are general contractors and we do commercial concrete work.
00:07:19I am a dreamer.
00:07:21You know, I always dreamed of being the guy that builds big four and five and six-story buildings.
00:07:26And it came true.
00:07:27I mean, one of my first jobs was a four-story motel that I never would have thought I'd be
00:07:31doing in my second year of business.
00:07:34Yes, I am an optimist.
00:07:35I'm not pessimistic at all.
00:07:37When I grew up, we were poor.
00:07:40I can remember times that my mother and father would take a loan out to get our Christmas.
00:07:46During summers growing up, I would work with my dad.
00:07:49I started working for him for a dollar a day so I could save up and buy my first shotgun.
00:07:55My father's done every trade in the business and became a project superintendent.
00:08:01But he wasn't a businessman and people took advantage of him.
00:08:07Just watching him bust his ass all those years taught me,
00:08:10don't ever depend on somebody else to do what you can do.
00:08:13And if you can't do it, learn how to do it.
00:08:21Golly, we have done some huge projects.
00:08:23Back in 2000, 2001, we did the $20 million honors dormitory at the University of Florida.
00:08:29That job going on at the same time we were doing the skybox and we were just everywhere.
00:08:33I had over 80 people working for us.
00:08:35Things were clicking.
00:08:40I've had all the toys.
00:08:41Had a Harley, three car garage.
00:08:44I had a Corvette in one bay.
00:08:45I traded one boat in for another.
00:08:47Emily was born all of when this happened and my wife didn't work.
00:08:51She stayed home and took care of Emily.
00:08:53Something she always wanted to do.
00:08:54I never thought I'd be able to go get her a new car and park it in the garage.
00:08:59And so when she got home and opened the garage, it would be there.
00:09:01But that's the first time I ever got to do that and it was wonderful.
00:09:04I mean, times were great.
00:09:06They were just unbelievable.
00:09:08But then the recession hit.
00:09:20I'm Emily Hyden and I'm Rodney Hyden's daughter.
00:09:25I think that I have a pretty normal family, but only because I've lived there my whole
00:09:30life so I see it as normal.
00:09:32But from the outside looking in, my family is probably pretty strange.
00:09:36Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat.
00:09:41My parents are really chill in a sense that like I can tell my mom everything and she
00:09:46just kind of goes along with it.
00:09:48My mom and my dad have like a pretty like open rapport.
00:09:51Like they don't really, there's no filter in my family.
00:09:54I feel like it's normal, but it's probably not compared to like other families.
00:09:57So fairly strange, I would say.
00:10:00I never wanted to be single.
00:10:06You know, I wanted to be somebody's wife.
00:10:09But I wanted the picture.
00:10:11I wanted the husband, the house, the child, the dog.
00:10:15Each of us had been married, you know, we'd each been married before.
00:10:17He came with a child, I came with a child.
00:10:19And so we got married in a little bed and breakfast.
00:10:22We just had like six or eight friends, my parents, you know.
00:10:26It was just a sweet, perfect moment.
00:10:33Our marriage sticks.
00:10:35It's never bored.
00:10:37I've never been bored.
00:10:39When we got married, he was working for somebody and making good money and,
00:10:43but making them better money.
00:10:49We're doing all right, but they're doing great.
00:10:52And they're doing great because you're helping them live this great life.
00:10:57And I wanted a piece of it.
00:10:59You know, my mama raised me to want those things in life.
00:11:04The hammock at the time was one of the prestigious neighborhoods.
00:11:10And the homes were big and fabulous.
00:11:12And then we found the land and the hammock and started to build this phenomenal,
00:11:18beautiful home.
00:11:20And we were moving up.
00:11:22We were moving up.
00:11:24We appreciated the things that Rodney worked hard to get for us, but it's not enough.
00:11:33And then we decided we needed a swimming pool.
00:11:38And then we decided we needed a river house.
00:11:40And then we needed the boat.
00:11:41And then we needed the jet skis.
00:11:43And then he needed a motorcycle.
00:11:47It was, you know, endless.
00:11:49We loved our life.
00:11:54I loved it.
00:11:57The construction industry, it was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
00:12:00So much work that you just couldn't get to all of it.
00:12:03And then all of a sudden it was like, gone.
00:12:09Let's talk about the speed with which we are watching this market deteriorate.
00:12:13Everything and more has been completely wiped out.
00:12:15The Dow traders are standing there watching in amazement.
00:12:18I don't blame them.
00:12:19We haven't seen anything like this since the Great Depression.
00:12:22Will somebody come on TV and tell the truth about how bad it is?
00:12:26We're in the midst of a serious financial crisis.
00:12:30We're in the last days of this country surviving.
00:12:33I have talked to the heads of almost every single one of these firms in the last 72 hours,
00:12:37and he has no idea what it's like out there.
00:12:40None!
00:12:40They're nuts!
00:12:41They know nothing!
00:12:43I really want to know, is the American dream dead for me?
00:12:48The foreclosure problem has a ripple effect and touches almost everyone here in Central Florida.
00:13:05The government's going to step in with nearly a trillion dollars for the banks.
00:13:08Mark, it is time for a conversation as to what they're going to do to prevent
00:13:12massive foreclosures.
00:13:13This could be the most serious recession in decades.
00:13:17And that means life, as most Americans know it, is about to change.
00:13:20In some cases, dramatically.
00:13:41I do believe in the American dream.
00:13:44But today, for far too many Americans, this dream is slipping away.
00:13:55I was over a million dollars in debt to the bank,
00:13:58and I felt like a disappointment when I had to tell her.
00:14:01It was the life that I loved and I did not want to walk away from.
00:14:05So I thought I'd compromise.
00:14:07We found the property out in Watermelon Pond, and I'd always said I wanted a sunset.
00:14:15And Ronnie bought me the prettiest sunset in Alachua County.
00:14:18But it came with a price.
00:14:24We put a double-wide out on the property, and the double-wide became our permanent residence.
00:14:29And that was okay for a while.
00:14:32But then our two-year plan crept into a three-year plan, a four-year plan,
00:14:40five-year plan, six-year plan, seven-year plan.
00:14:43Eight years later, we were still in the double-wide, parking in the sand.
00:14:50When I had been in a 3,600-square-foot home with a three-car garage,
00:14:55and now I was living in a home the size of my three-car garage.
00:15:03And I said those things to my husband.
00:15:22We're in Piney Woods, Florida.
00:15:24It's Archer.
00:15:25This is my farm, 40-acre farm that I've had for 10 years now.
00:15:31This is where I was when I heard the story.
00:15:35Every piece of property out here has had that story told on it.
00:15:39The legend told the story.
00:15:45I tell people, who the hell's walking up and down the road in their bare feet?
00:15:50I said, is there a couple drag marks between the footprints?
00:15:55That's Julian, dragging his nuts.
00:16:12The social life in Piney Woods, Florida is like no other.
00:16:18Everybody stays to themselves.
00:16:20But Fridays, Saturdays, phones started ringing.
00:16:24Where are we going to meet tonight?
00:16:25You know, it was just a get-together, or the happy hours, we call it.
00:16:28A Piney Woods happy hour.
00:16:30I felt a lot like Wendy in Peter Pan.
00:16:33Like I would cook, and the Lost Boys would come eat dinner.
00:16:38Well, when Rodney first moved in, and it was mainly having these parties
00:16:42where he was introduced to all the other neighbors.
00:16:45It's a very unique cast of characters out there.
00:16:48It's just one story after the next story.
00:16:52Of course, Julian started his story about Puerto Rico.
00:17:00It seemed like every party here would tell this story.
00:17:02I have to say, the first time I heard it, it was a little far-fetched.
00:17:07Julian's story was probably the most fascinating story I've ever heard in my life.
00:17:10Oh, come on.
00:17:12Yeah, some people, you know, would laugh at us, go get a submarine.
00:17:15I told them, y'all crazy.
00:17:17Then what the hell would you do with it if you got it over here?
00:17:21We don't know anybody to sell it to.
00:17:24Julian was sitting on a gold mine.
00:17:26We're talking about 32 kilograms of cocaine.
00:17:29X marks the spot.
00:17:30Treasure, treasure, treasure.
00:17:32Goddamn, man.
00:17:33He knows right where he buried it.
00:17:37I like picturing it in my mind, you know, visualizing where he buried it,
00:17:42sneaking back in there and getting it.
00:17:44But it was a fantasy.
00:17:46It was just a story.
00:17:49It was just a story.
00:17:51It was just a story.
00:18:16My dad picks up strays.
00:18:19He has this, like, complex to, like, pick up people and just try to, like, help them
00:18:24out when he thinks they're struggling.
00:18:25But, yeah, we compared it to, like, going to the Humane Society, where you, like, pick
00:18:30the old one and you, like, hope things go okay because you just want to have a good
00:18:33life.
00:18:34And, like, that's my dad, but with, like, people that do drugs and stuff, so.
00:18:40I'd rather be in here right now than out there working.
00:18:42As he, like, gets older, he wants to feel younger.
00:18:46And I think that by hanging out with these people, like, it kind of allows him to not
00:18:50only, like, relive when he was that time, but also, like, I've thought about it a lot.
00:18:55And I think it's, like, his way of, like, self-correcting his old mistakes.
00:18:58Have a great day.
00:18:59All right.
00:18:59Just, like, fix them and other people, or at least try.
00:19:02Sometimes he just gets caught up in it all.
00:19:04One of the strays that my dad picked up was Andy.
00:19:34Come on.
00:19:37Get up here.
00:19:38Come on.
00:19:56I had a fella that was a friend of my son's.
00:20:00And he, when I first met him, man, he was so fucked up on something.
00:20:07I don't know what.
00:20:08I assumed it was pot, because he always had good pot.
00:20:11Always.
00:20:12And, but later found out that he had an opium problem.
00:20:21No, I don't have a drug problem.
00:20:25I do drugs, if that's what you're asking.
00:20:28Absolutely.
00:20:28Yes, I've done them more than most.
00:20:31But nowadays, it's not a problem.
00:20:37But I took a liking to this kid, man.
00:20:39He had a personality that you just cannot, you can't hate him.
00:20:43You can't, I don't hold it against him.
00:20:45But I wouldn't let him on the jobs.
00:20:47He'd hurt himself or hurt somebody else.
00:20:48But what I had him do, I'd let him come to the office.
00:20:51He'd clean the office, or he'd wash my truck.
00:20:54He did all the things that I didn't want to do.
00:20:56And plus, I paid him $10 an hour.
00:20:58And I was just helping the kid out.
00:21:01And it's because I liked him.
00:21:03What are boys, dude?
00:21:05I'm a homie.
00:21:07Straight up.
00:21:07He used to take me around all the time to his job sites and shit.
00:21:10Like show off his new friends and shit.
00:21:13Nah, he's my boy, dude.
00:21:14He's a cool ass dude.
00:21:17Loyal as fuck.
00:21:18Andy and I discussed Julian's story.
00:21:20He had heard it from my son, or somewhere.
00:21:23And I told him the story again.
00:21:25And old Andy would scratch his head and go,
00:21:29man, what I could do with that?
00:21:31I could tell the day he told me the story that he wasn't bullshitting.
00:21:36I mean, it was a holy shit, for sure.
00:21:38Right?
00:21:39I mean, who wouldn't say holy shit to that?
00:21:41$2 million on the street.
00:21:44But wholesale, probably like...
00:21:48Um, shit.
00:21:51Maybe...
00:21:56I don't know, like, shit.
00:21:59Yeah, it might be worth more than $2 million, now that I think about it.
00:22:03This money could change your life.
00:22:05Without a doubt.
00:22:07Period.
00:22:09Fresh.
00:22:11Now, Andy, if Andy knows the story,
00:22:14there's no telling how many people know the story, or have heard the story,
00:22:16or how twisted the story got, or...
00:22:19Yeah, no telling.
00:22:26The last time Andy was working for me, he worked...
00:22:29He lived with a guy named D.
00:22:31D goes by Danny, D, Cuban.
00:22:34This is his name.
00:22:41I know him as D.
00:22:43When you're not around him talking about him, it's the Cuban.
00:22:55So, I went to pick Andy up at the address he told me he was at.
00:23:00I didn't even cut my truck off.
00:23:02He was in the driveway with this guy, D.
00:23:05And he got in, and D walks up to my window and introduces himself,
00:23:11and the first words out of his mouth were,
00:23:13Hey, man, I can help you with that story.
00:23:27I've done everything in my life.
00:23:29Drug deals, stole, robbed, in gangs.
00:23:32And to do it for so long, it just comes natural.
00:23:34The more you do something, the better you are at it.
00:23:37My mom didn't really have a lot of money, poor, you know,
00:23:39so I grew up in the streets, projects, stuff like that.
00:23:42Getting in gangs, went to prison at a young age.
00:23:46But prison's basically a college for criminals.
00:23:49You know, starting out, if you don't have nothing,
00:23:50you start from the bottom, like I did selling coke.
00:23:52I started with an eight ball.
00:23:53The ones that make it are survivors, the ones that organize themselves,
00:23:56and they treat it like a business.
00:23:58First thing, you gotta have good product.
00:23:59The second thing is you gotta beat prices.
00:24:02And everybody used to laugh because, you know,
00:24:03the half gram I'm selling for 15 bucks, everybody's selling for 20.
00:24:06You know, oh, he ain't gonna make no money.
00:24:08But, you know, people would come to me,
00:24:09they could spend 15 and get a half gram
00:24:10and go get a pack of cigarettes.
00:24:11So they're happy.
00:24:13Yes, off an ounce, somebody might make more than me.
00:24:16But by the time they get rid of that ounce,
00:24:17I've only got rid of three or four.
00:24:18So in that week, I'm making more money than they are.
00:24:22Yes, I feel it is easy drug dealing.
00:24:23You know, it's about following the rules.
00:24:27It don't matter who you are, what you do.
00:24:29If you strive to do something or work at it hard,
00:24:31eventually you will succeed, always.
00:24:32There's no failure.
00:24:33If you fail in life, it's because you quit or give up what you're doing.
00:24:37It wasn't long after that, in a matter of a week,
00:24:41D walks in my office and he proceeded to want to know more about the story.
00:24:48Let's face it, D and I don't know each other that well.
00:24:51Never done anything with him, never bought any pot from him.
00:24:55I don't know if this guy's trustworthy or not.
00:24:58What's a little conversation gonna hurt?
00:24:59Well, our first meeting about it was in his office.
00:25:02You know, I sat right across from him, he was telling me the story, you know.
00:25:04Biggest thing was, he just, he wanted to be sure that somebody could move it
00:25:09when he got back here.
00:25:10That was his thing, because he didn't know nobody.
00:25:11I told him, it's not a problem to move.
00:25:13You get it here, I'll move it for you.
00:25:16So, you know, it's starting to sound like,
00:25:22man, this could be interesting.
00:25:24You know, when he realized my background, that, you know,
00:25:26I had moved a lot of cocaine, I was able to move it.
00:25:29It just, it made him hungry to want to go get it.
00:25:31When he would come over, it was usually after hours,
00:25:33and it was like, it was almost like having a beer after work.
00:25:37He's gonna come by and we're gonna talk smack about money, man.
00:25:41We're talking about a way to make some money here.
00:26:02Well, as with any proposition, you know,
00:26:05D's presenting his proposal to me in such a way
00:26:11as we're literally pulling out a calculator, and he's telling me...
00:26:16Millions.
00:26:18Literally millions.
00:26:19I didn't pull out no calculator.
00:26:20I did all the numbers in my head.
00:26:21What I did was use a calculator, though.
00:26:23He'd get his little calculator out and try to add stuff up.
00:26:25Well, how much is this, that?
00:26:27He'd type it in, and he'd say, well, how much is this, that?
00:26:30He'd type it in, and it'd amaze him how much it is.
00:26:3228 kilograms at $25,000 on the street doubled
00:26:37because he's gonna double the weight, but it would double the money.
00:26:41And the numbers were easily calculated, and it's starting to make sense.
00:26:46So, you know, he didn't realize what he was, you know, had there.
00:26:49So, you know, I was looking at it as, it's a gold mine.
00:26:53It was an equitable proposal from D where he just wanted half of it.
00:26:58He just wanted, he wanted half to get rid of it.
00:27:01And I'm gonna be sitting here with half to just locate it
00:27:05and turn it over to him to take care of from there.
00:27:08The biggest problem was, though, how are you gonna get it here?
00:27:12Not being from the streets at all, he didn't understand.
00:27:14To bring in 32 keys of cocaine into the United States from another country
00:27:18is very hard to do without an organization backing you that's, you know,
00:27:22organized and knows what they're doing that's connected, you know, to make it happen.
00:27:26As we talked, it became clear to me that he knew a guy, his name was Carlos.
00:27:35Carlos knew everything about everything.
00:27:37These were people that were already trafficking drugs, bringing it into states.
00:27:41And, you know, they knew how the ins and outs and everything to it.
00:27:43Well, they could actually bring it in.
00:27:47His guy in Tampa was the guy.
00:27:50This was nothing for him to be able to do.
00:27:54He, his friend was Puerto Rican.
00:27:57His friend had connections to bring stuff into the country.
00:28:03And he ran a big operation.
00:28:06Kingpin, that's the word, kingpin.
00:28:25I'd never been face to face with a real, I mean, a real big time smuggler who owned his own plane.
00:28:36And I said, what the heck?
00:28:37I'll go meet with him.
00:28:38What's it going to hurt?
00:28:46I walked into the bar and looked over to my left and saw Carlos.
00:28:52He looked exactly like something you'd see on TV.
00:28:54He was dead image, not better.
00:28:57He was a pretty well-dressed fellow with pressed slacks, you know, and alligator shoes and a belt to match.
00:29:07He had on a some kind of silky print shirt that, man, it just, you didn't want to rub up against him because it looked like he was going to kill himself.
00:29:20Carlos kind of reminded me a little of Tony Montana with his, with his body language and his accent and the way he, he, you know, put a little extra in behind some of his words.
00:29:32Scarface.
00:29:34I just like that guy.
00:29:36The first time I watched Scarface was probably when it first came out.
00:29:38I've watched it several times.
00:29:40I went to the theater and watched it and then I've watched it on HBO, I don't know how many times.
00:29:42Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:44Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:46Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:48Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:50Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:52Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:54Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:56Say hello to my little friend.
00:29:58Say hello to my little friend.
00:30:00Say hello to my little friend.
00:30:02Say hello to my little friend.
00:30:05Say hello to my little friend.
00:30:07Say hello to my little friend.
00:30:19He had a shot of tequila in his hand when I walked in.
00:30:21The best they had.
00:30:23It was in a silver bottle.
00:30:25And he asked me if I wanted anything.
00:30:27So I told him, well, I'll have a margarita.
00:30:29No salt.
00:30:31And so I sipped on a margarita.
00:30:33And while I was sipping on that margarita,
00:30:35he must have downed four or five shots.
00:30:37It was like one right after the other.
00:30:39They ran out of whatever he was drinking,
00:30:41so they popped a new bottle
00:30:43and he asked them to bring it to the table.
00:30:45He was a big shot.
00:30:47Big time.
00:30:49I mean, how often do you see a guy get a bottle at the table
00:30:51for him to pour at his own leisure?
00:30:53It was pretty cool.
00:30:59Carlos Private Air.
00:31:02He gave me a card at the meeting
00:31:04and explained to me
00:31:06that he had a twin-engine
00:31:08Queen Air airplane.
00:31:12And I told him,
00:31:14look, if we were going down there,
00:31:16there's no sense in me taking a separate flight.
00:31:18I'd just fly with him.
00:31:20And he says, no,
00:31:22you will not see my tail wing number ever.
00:31:24And that was kind of a way
00:31:26of saying,
00:31:28I don't know you.
00:31:30I'm going to take my eyes off of you
00:31:32with that kind of payload.
00:31:34I told him that I'm not a drug dealer.
00:31:36I'm not here to get in the drug business.
00:31:40That I wanted to take care of my family
00:31:42and I'm not a greedy person.
00:31:46Well, I was giving Carlos
00:31:48all the information I had,
00:31:50you know, except exactly
00:31:52where I thought it was.
00:31:54I wanted to see for myself
00:31:56where, you know, confirm it
00:31:59and pass that information on.
00:32:01So, you know,
00:32:03I told him the story.
00:32:05I was talking that smack,
00:32:07that drug talk,
00:32:09you know, talking about keys
00:32:11instead of kilograms.
00:32:13Carlos called them turtle eggs.
00:32:15That was his code word
00:32:17because Zion and they lay eggs
00:32:19and they were buried.
00:32:21So he came up with the name turtle eggs.
00:32:23Then he started talking about
00:32:25what his fee was,
00:32:27and he told me after the upcoming week
00:32:29what we were going to do.
00:32:31The deal was I would go down there,
00:32:33try to locate it.
00:32:35Once I verified where it was,
00:32:37he would fly down and get it
00:32:39and bring it out of the country.
00:32:41And the fee for that,
00:32:43four bricks of cocaine to do that.
00:32:45Good deal.
00:32:47We've got a plane,
00:32:49we've got a pilot,
00:32:51and we've got a plan.
00:32:53It's time to go to Puerto Rico.
00:32:57♪
00:32:59♪
00:33:01♪
00:33:03♪
00:33:05♪
00:33:07♪
00:33:09♪
00:33:11♪
00:33:13♪
00:33:15♪
00:33:17♪
00:33:19♪
00:33:21♪
00:33:23♪
00:33:26♪
00:33:28♪
00:33:30Dude, I was
00:33:32ready to get to the island.
00:33:34We got on the plane in Orlando,
00:33:36flew out,
00:33:38and shortly thereafter we landed
00:33:40in San Juan.
00:33:42And then from San Juan you could either
00:33:44take the ferry or
00:33:46pay 40 bucks for a puddle jumper.
00:33:48So I said, man, let's take the airplane.
00:33:50That'd be neat, flying in.
00:33:52We flew from San Juan to...
00:33:54Hold on.
00:33:56Hold on. Fuck, Theo.
00:33:58You know I know it, dude. Just give me a second.
00:34:00It's not Vieques, was it?
00:34:02Hold on, hold on.
00:34:04I got it. Give me five seconds.
00:34:06I got it. I just had it, Theo.
00:34:08Don't say it.
00:34:10Don't say it.
00:34:12It starts... Oh, my God, it's right there.
00:34:14I'm gonna do this myself, Theo, so please don't.
00:34:16Don't. I have to. It's gonna bother me
00:34:18if I don't.
00:34:20Even with that hint you just tried to give me,
00:34:22I don't know. But I know it.
00:34:24If I don't get it in 30 seconds, we'll move on.
00:34:26I mean, it's, um...
00:34:30Oh, there it is. There it is.
00:34:32Fuck.
00:34:36Oh, my God. It's Calabria.
00:34:38Fuck you, Theo.
00:34:40Ha, ha, ha.
00:34:52♪♪♪♪♪
00:35:08So we're coming into Calabria,
00:35:10and there's two mountains, two hills on either side,
00:35:12and as he got...
00:35:14as this pilot got closer, we had a crosswind.
00:35:16I didn't know shit about that.
00:35:18Ryan's like, oh, by the way,
00:35:20Calabria's one of the top ten worst airports
00:35:22in the world to fly into.
00:35:24I was like, damn, we're gonna die for this shit, huh, Rodney?
00:35:26♪♪♪♪♪♪
00:35:36Oh, he was scared, dude.
00:35:38He was, like, holding onto me so tight, dude.
00:35:40Dude, our plane, like, turned sideways,
00:35:42and it is fucking crazy.
00:35:44Oh, my God.
00:35:46I'm glad that's the last time I'll ever do that.
00:35:48That bitch was scary as a motherfucker.
00:35:50♪♪♪♪♪♪
00:36:10But it's just beautiful, man.
00:36:12The water.
00:36:14The number one beach in the world,
00:36:16might I add, Flamenco Beach.
00:36:18I think it's, like,
00:36:20it's not very big.
00:36:22It took me to go all the way around the island
00:36:24in a Jeep, half hour, 45 minutes.
00:36:26So the first night we were there,
00:36:28we had an early dinner.
00:36:30It was an early dinner,
00:36:32and I ordered a lobster for dinner.
00:36:34♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
00:36:42♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
00:36:44♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
00:36:48It was a nice place,
00:36:50and Rodney was like, like I said, man,
00:36:52he was in that mood, dude.
00:36:54And he was just trying to play the part
00:36:56while we were there.
00:36:58Like, he was some big-timer.
00:37:00The lobsters.
00:37:02They come up to you,
00:37:04and they're like, y'all want lobster?
00:37:06And you say, yeah.
00:37:08And they go down to the bay and get the shit for you.
00:37:10And he grabbed the motherfucker and came back.
00:37:12Dude, this guy ordered a five-pound lobster.
00:37:16When you see this thing, dude,
00:37:18I swear to God, Theo,
00:37:20it was that big around.
00:37:22That big around, and it was, like, that tall.
00:37:24I swear to God.
00:37:26Rodney's, like, real particular about food.
00:37:30Like, he gets mad if you don't eat it,
00:37:32you know what I'm saying?
00:37:34So I had this big-ass lobster in my face,
00:37:36and I don't even like lobster.
00:37:38I was so mad.
00:37:40I was shoving it down my throat
00:37:42because I knew Rodney was gonna yell at me
00:37:44because it was, like, $100 for the lobster, right?
00:37:46Luckily, Rodney tapped out,
00:37:48like, halfway into his,
00:37:50so I knew I was straight,
00:37:52and I could put mine down now.
00:37:54I was, like, praying.
00:37:56I was, like, so happy, dude,
00:37:58because I'm not looking forward
00:38:00to eating that whole fucking lobster.
00:38:02That night, I got sick as a motherfucker.
00:38:04On the way down, Andy tells me
00:38:06he forgot his medicine.
00:38:08I knew he was on pain medication,
00:38:10but, and I also knew it wasn't
00:38:12medicinal, it was recreational,
00:38:14and he was addicted,
00:38:16and he was supposed to have brought
00:38:18his suboxone or methadone,
00:38:20and he didn't have it.
00:38:22So basically,
00:38:24by Saturday morning,
00:38:26he was sick as a dog,
00:38:28and he was totally worthless.
00:38:30I didn't think I was withdrawing
00:38:32from drugs,
00:38:34but I believe it was the lobster.
00:38:40You know, Andy's getting sick at this point, man.
00:38:42I mean, it's like,
00:38:44God, man, you're ruining this trip, dude.
00:38:46You're gonna ruin it.
00:38:48You see, in this world,
00:38:50there's two kinds of people, my friend.
00:38:52Those with loaded guns,
00:38:54and those who dig.
00:38:56You dig.
00:38:58I left
00:39:00the room we were staying in,
00:39:02and I went on a little
00:39:04expedition.
00:39:10Before we left,
00:39:12I went to see Julian,
00:39:14and I took my laptop down there.
00:39:16We Googled it up.
00:39:18He showed me where his trailer was.
00:39:20He showed me where he had buried it.
00:39:22If I could find his trailer,
00:39:24then I felt like I could find
00:39:26where it was at and do some
00:39:28investigating.
00:39:30Mobile home sits here.
00:39:32It's between the cistern and the mobile home.
00:39:34Well, my God, that was only a matter
00:39:36of six or eight feet distance
00:39:38that I had to probe or search around
00:39:40to see if I could find something.
00:39:42So I took the Jeep and went to
00:39:44where Julian's trailer was supposed to be.
00:39:56♪♪♪♪♪
00:40:10All I wanted to do was
00:40:12locate where the trailer was,
00:40:14but when I got there, man,
00:40:16there's no fucking mobile home there.
00:40:18It's gone. I couldn't see Julian's
00:40:20trailer. I didn't find it.
00:40:22I couldn't find it. I did see a pile of
00:40:24debris, so I called Julian.
00:40:26Julian, man, are you sure I'm in the right place?
00:40:28He goes,
00:40:30was the desalination plant in front of you?
00:40:32Yeah. Was the Fish and Wildlife
00:40:34office to your right? Yeah.
00:40:36Well, it's right there to the left, man.
00:40:38You see the cistern? Yeah, I saw it.
00:40:40He goes, it's right between the road
00:40:42and the cistern is where my trailer's at.
00:40:44I said, Julian, it ain't there.
00:40:46He's like, come on, man.
00:40:48They had to have torn it down then.
00:40:50But I had another big problem.
00:40:52I had nothing to dig with.
00:40:54No shovel, no nothing. I mean, I thought
00:40:56they were readily available anywhere.
00:40:58Well, not in Calabria. There's no Walmart in Calabria.
00:41:06Julian's trailer was gone.
00:41:08Andy was sick
00:41:10as a dog, and I didn't have a shovel.
00:41:12End of deal, man. I mean,
00:41:14we're going home.
00:41:16So we left the next morning.
00:41:18First flight I could get out, we left.
00:41:22Ron and Andy went over to Puerto Rico.
00:41:24They get there, and they realize they need shovels and stuff to dig,
00:41:26and they couldn't even find shovels.
00:41:28I mean, what the hell are they doing here?
00:41:30Look, motherfucker, if you wanted to know what's down here,
00:41:32you should have brought your ass down here.
00:41:34Like, don't fucking bother me. I'll call you.
00:41:36You've probably never seen him get mad, huh?
00:41:38Dude, that's a scary fucking sight, dude.
00:41:40Like, I'd want to run.
00:41:42Andy ended up being sick in the hotel.
00:41:44Couldn't help Ron at all, so Ron is out there
00:41:46trying to dig this shit by himself.
00:41:48You've seen Ron. He's a fat dude, you know?
00:41:50So he ain't having to do a manual labor.
00:41:52So to do manual labor like this, it just...
00:41:54You know, he's calling me, talking to me while he's doing this.
00:41:56Out of breath and everything. Pissed off.
00:41:58Fucking Andy. He's sick in there.
00:42:00Probably withdrawing, dah, dah, dah, dah.
00:42:02Andy apologized about being sick.
00:42:04He said it'll never happen again,
00:42:06but I promise you, we got to go back down there.
00:42:08Yeah, I believe it's more of just incompetence, you know,
00:42:10which I kind of felt he wouldn't be able to anyway,
00:42:12but, you know, this much money, what was going on,
00:42:14you got to let them try to do it again.
00:42:20All right, so Andy was like,
00:42:22we're going to go in two weeks.
00:42:24You know, I'm not going to waste a second trip down there.
00:42:26The first trip was a waste, and I'm not wasting a second trip.
00:42:28So, um, I got with Julian and confirmed the location.
00:42:32Julian tells me exactly, you know, on the map,
00:42:36here's a cistern where they held water,
00:42:38and I even drew a section of it
00:42:40and kind of said, X marks on the map,
00:42:42and I drew a section of it,
00:42:44and I drew a section of it,
00:42:46and I drew a section of it,
00:42:48and I drew a section of it,
00:42:50and kind of said, X marks the spot.
00:42:52Skull and crossbones, bro.
00:42:54Are you kidding me?
00:42:56I didn't sleep the night before we left,
00:42:58and I didn't sleep the night before we left the second trip.
00:43:00Let's go get it.
00:43:10I told my wife I was going on a fishing trip.
00:43:12I didn't lie to her, I just didn't tell her where.
00:43:18We went back after dark,
00:43:20and sat there for a minute,
00:43:22and sat there for a minute,
00:43:24you know, making sure no lights came on,
00:43:26heading my way.
00:43:28I'm thinking, golly,
00:43:30maybe a turn of one or two stones,
00:43:32and I feel the top of a duffel bag or something.
00:43:34and I feel the top of a duffel bag or something.
00:43:36And am I going to know something
00:43:38And am I going to know something
00:43:40ten minutes from now, or am I not?
00:43:48ten minutes from now, or am I not?
00:44:00It was an adrenaline rush all together,
00:44:02and this time, I found a shovel.
00:44:12Who do you think was digging first?
00:44:14Yeah, Andy was the digger.
00:44:16He was the man.
00:44:26It was funny, because he doesn't have any ass, man.
00:44:28It was funny, because he doesn't have any ass, man.
00:44:30I mean, he just like, he tried,
00:44:32and he's out of breath after about three strokes.
00:44:34Come on, man.
00:44:36I was like, man, fuck this shit.
00:44:38So then I got on the shovel and tried.
00:44:40Rodney, I've never seen him work so hard.
00:44:42Straight up, I've never seen him do nothing
00:44:44I don't like motherfuckers out telling where to go,
00:44:46because he's the boss, you know what I'm saying?
00:44:48This motherfucker was down there digging
00:44:50with his bare hands.
00:44:54We got burned out
00:44:56trying to dig in no time
00:44:58because we were so excited.
00:45:00We were trying to make it happen quick,
00:45:02but it was like hitting your head against a wall.
00:45:10And I was sitting there,
00:45:12and in my head, I was like,
00:45:14what the fuck are you doing right now, dude?
00:45:16Like, you're in another country.
00:45:18You're out here digging up cocaine.
00:45:20What the fuck are you doing?
00:45:22I was praying that we did not find the coke.
00:45:42We tried to dig in this dirt, man,
00:45:44and he and I both were sweaty.
00:45:48I mean, soaking wet with sweat
00:45:50within about 20 minutes.
00:45:52The ground was too hard.
00:45:54Like, rock hard.
00:45:56We fucking tried to start digging,
00:45:58and it was just impossible, dude.
00:46:00And that's when I was like,
00:46:02man, fuck this shit.
00:46:04Rodney stayed trying for like another two hours,
00:46:06and then finally, he was like, man,
00:46:08this can't be done.
00:46:10It was so hard to dig in this dirt.
00:46:12It was so hard.
00:46:14You weren't gonna dig.
00:46:16I'm in construction, man.
00:46:18I know how to dig.
00:46:20I know when you can dig and when you can't.
00:46:22We made no progress, and I was pissed.
00:46:28He was like, Andy, if you get me some weed,
00:46:30that will make this whole trip worthwhile.
00:46:32And so I went down the street,
00:46:34and I found some little skater dudes
00:46:36and got a bag of weed,
00:46:38but it got me high.
00:46:52I almost brought something back with me
00:46:54just because I knew we'd be straight,
00:46:56and luckily I didn't, because the second we got off that plane,
00:46:58customs hit that plane down hard.
00:47:00We land in San Juan.
00:47:02All of a sudden...
00:47:08What the hell was going on?
00:47:10What's going on here?
00:47:12And they pulled everyone off the plane
00:47:14and lined up our luggage
00:47:16and hit the dogs all over the shit.
00:47:18Well, I knew what they were there for.
00:47:20They had a gun.
00:47:22They had a gun.
00:47:24They had a gun.
00:47:26They had a gun.
00:47:29They were gonna check this plane...
00:47:32for drugs.
00:47:34Fuck yeah, it made me nervous, dude.
00:47:36But we didn't do it.
00:47:38And, because we, me and Rodney,
00:47:40were never going to bring the cocaine back.
00:47:42But I'm telling you, man,
00:47:44I'll never forget,
00:47:46that 30 minutes
00:47:48seemed like four hours.
00:47:50Well, after they searched,
00:47:52I said to myself,
00:47:54it's over.
00:47:56That's the icing on the cake right there.
00:47:58I am not coming back,
00:48:00taking a chance,
00:48:02even if we'd have found it.
00:48:04No, and hell no.
00:48:06I'm done. It's over.
00:48:08It was a wrap, you know.
00:48:10We were done.
00:48:16Until Carlos called Rodney.
00:48:22When I got back,
00:48:24I was done. It was over.
00:48:26It was a totally failed mission.
00:48:28I had had it up to here
00:48:30with this whole story.
00:48:32I stopped answering my phone for a long time.
00:48:34At that point,
00:48:36I wanted to be done with Carlos.
00:48:38I wanted to be done with Danny,
00:48:40but he was being a nag.
00:48:42He was bugging the living shit out of me.
00:48:44So, finally,
00:48:46I picked up the phone.
00:48:48What?
00:48:50He called me with a whole new attitude.
00:48:52He's like, I need to meet with you.
00:48:54I've got a new proposal for you,
00:48:56and you're going to like it.
00:48:58And I said, Carlos, it can't happen, man.
00:49:00We got searched.
00:49:02There's people all over that place.
00:49:04You're not going to just go in there
00:49:06and dig it up.
00:49:08It's crawling with federal employees.
00:49:10How are you going to do this?
00:49:12He said, I can do certain things that you can't
00:49:14because I'm Puerto Rican.
00:49:16You are a gringo.
00:49:18He said,
00:49:20let's meet again,
00:49:22and when we meet, make sure you bring the map.
00:49:30I wanted to hear his plan.
00:49:32You know, what do you propose here, Carlos?
00:49:34He was going to
00:49:36go there,
00:49:38take a crew
00:49:40on a yacht,
00:49:42and dig the cocaine up.
00:49:44Because he was going to go dig it up.
00:49:46It was four kilograms.
00:49:48Now he wanted eight.
00:49:50And I said, look, man, good deal.
00:49:52I don't have to do anything.
00:49:54They're going to do everything.
00:49:56He's going to go get it, D's going to take it,
00:49:58D's going to get rid of it,
00:50:00and they're going to bring me the cash.
00:50:02It went from easy money to easier money.
00:50:04All I got to do is
00:50:06give him the map.
00:50:18I did believe him.
00:50:20Is that a mistake?
00:50:28Immature hour, dog.
00:50:30That's what it was.
00:50:32That's what it was, bro.
00:50:34From the get-go, I knew it was about a one in a million,
00:50:36you know, or ten in a million,
00:50:38whatever you want to say.
00:50:40I got lucky and fucking got it,
00:50:42but, dude,
00:50:44it was a one in a million.
00:50:46I got lucky and fucking got it,
00:50:48but, dude, it just seems too good to be true.
00:50:50But being the naive person he was that day,
00:50:52I mean, that was set up
00:50:54for a robbery, you know?
00:50:56Like...
00:50:58Like, who are we?
00:51:00Two white dudes in the middle of Florida
00:51:02with all this coke?
00:51:04What is to keep these big-time motherfuckers
00:51:06that got a plane from just taking the coke?
00:51:16♪♪
00:51:46I wanted to hear from him.
00:51:48I was hoping to hear from him.
00:51:50And he had me fired up at that meeting.
00:51:52He had me fired up.
00:51:54I thought, this guy, I've asked him if he's,
00:51:56you know, how...
00:51:58In a nice way, I said,
00:52:00how do I know you're not gonna just get it
00:52:02and tell me you didn't find it?
00:52:04And he said, I wouldn't be in business
00:52:06if I worked that way.
00:52:10I trusted that he was gonna do
00:52:12what he said he was gonna do,
00:52:14but it was a mistake for me to even talk to him
00:52:16after I got back.
00:52:18I should've just not even talked to him.
00:52:20I should've told him and D to take a walk
00:52:22and leave me alone, but I didn't.
00:52:26He did just what I said.
00:52:28He ripped me off, and it's over.
00:52:30It's over.
00:52:32♪♪
00:52:44I trusted him,
00:52:46and it's over.
00:52:48It's over.
00:52:50♪♪
00:53:04He found it.
00:53:06Fucking Julian
00:53:08ain't lying.
00:53:10It's there.
00:53:12It's there.
00:53:14I'd have kissed him. I'd have hugged his neck and said,
00:53:16man, I'm sorry I called you a son of a bitch
00:53:18because he sent me the picture.
00:53:20Now it's real.
00:53:22What am I gonna do with the money?
00:53:24How's Julian gonna look
00:53:26when I'm handing him
00:53:28stacks of $100 bills?
00:53:30You know, what's Julian gonna think?
00:53:34I didn't sleep, man. I didn't sleep all night.
00:53:36I would lay down and close my eyes
00:53:38and just picture
00:53:40images of cocaine.
00:53:42♪♪
00:53:44♪♪
00:54:08Now, when is he coming back?
00:54:10It was a long,
00:54:12hard wait.
00:54:16It was like being a kid
00:54:18on Christmas Eve, man, you know?
00:54:20It's like, how am I gonna get through
00:54:22tomorrow and the next day?
00:54:24Because Carlos said I'd see him Friday.
00:54:28Well, when Carlos
00:54:30finally made contact with me and I answered the phone,
00:54:32he said, let's meet
00:54:34at a golf resort, and then he called me
00:54:36back and changed it to a new location,
00:54:38and then he says that I had
00:54:4030 minutes to meet him or
00:54:42he wasn't gonna be there when I got there.
00:54:44It was over. First I'm going here,
00:54:46now I'm going here? Fuck y'all.
00:54:48If I didn't hurry, he was leaving the country
00:54:50and I wouldn't see him ever again.
00:54:52I was driving like a bat out of hell
00:54:54and hauling ass.
00:55:02I couldn't get ahold of Andy,
00:55:04and Danny had a flat and couldn't make it,
00:55:06which was pissing me off.
00:55:08Like, where the fuck are you guys?
00:55:12Goddamn, I'm not gonna make it, you know?
00:55:14He's gonna be gone. Oh, it's a fucking nightmare.
00:55:16It's a fucking nightmare.
00:55:36I made it, dude. It was cutting it close,
00:55:38but I made it.
00:55:42He told me he would be inside.
00:55:44He was buying a rod and reel,
00:55:46is what it was. So I walked in,
00:55:48went past the cash register, and he's coming down
00:55:50the hallway with a little short fishing pole
00:55:52in his hand.
00:55:54Carlos looks at me, and I look at him, and I said,
00:55:56man, I'm so glad I made it.
00:55:58I felt bad
00:56:00about
00:56:02some of the thoughts I had about him,
00:56:04wondering if he was a ripoff,
00:56:06wondering if he was gonna live up to
00:56:08what he said. I was kind of
00:56:10feeling like I owed him an apology.
00:56:14I take it all back
00:56:16what I thought about Carlos.
00:56:18He wasn't an asshole.
00:56:20He's a businessman, and he did
00:56:22what he said he was gonna do.
00:56:24He just does business a little different
00:56:26than I do. And I remember saying
00:56:28to him, golly, man,
00:56:30I wish there was more business to be done,
00:56:32because it had been successful.
00:56:34It's Christmas morning,
00:56:36and I've got the biggest present under the tree,
00:56:38and I'm getting ready to open it.
00:56:40He gave me his key, pointed it out to his car.
00:56:42It was at the end of the parking lot.
00:56:44He goes, there's my car.
00:56:46Go ahead and pull around there, open the trunk,
00:56:48and I'll be right there.
00:56:50So that's what I did.
00:56:58When he pointed to his car,
00:57:00he was at the far end of the parking lot.
00:57:02So I went all the way around,
00:57:04because I'm fixing to pick up
00:57:06a pretty substantial
00:57:08package here,
00:57:10and I was starting to get a little paranoid here.
00:57:18But there wasn't anybody around.
00:57:34I go to his trunk.
00:57:36I opened it up,
00:57:38and I couldn't believe it.
00:58:08Well...
00:58:12My whole outlook on it was,
00:58:14how many times
00:58:16do you
00:58:18meet somebody
00:58:20that buried a treasure,
00:58:22literally,
00:58:24and at the same time,
00:58:26how many times do you meet somebody
00:58:28that can go get it and bring it back
00:58:30and get rid of it?
00:58:32It's a once-in-a-lifetime deal.
00:58:34I mean,
00:58:36you're never going to have all that come together
00:58:38ever again in your life.
00:58:40And it was like,
00:58:42do it or die.
00:59:06♪
00:59:36♪
01:00:02Hey, man, I can help you with that story.
01:00:04That story, that story, that story.
01:00:24They said they pulled me over because
01:00:26I was driving too close to the car in front of me,
01:00:28which is bullshit.
01:00:30There's a reason for them to pull me.
01:00:34♪
01:00:54They patted me down and searched me
01:00:56and didn't find nothing, you know?
01:00:58And I had to use the bathroom at the time.
01:01:00I really, legitimately did.
01:01:02And I just went in and pissed myself.
01:01:06The other cop said, did you pat him down?
01:01:08He said, yeah, and he told him, did you, whoop,
01:01:10you did like that, like, check me, you know?
01:01:12And he said, nah, so he actually checked me.
01:01:14And he reached down there and grabbed my,
01:01:16you know, nutsack area.
01:01:18♪
01:01:20♪
01:01:22♪
01:01:24♪
01:01:26♪
01:01:28♪
01:01:30♪
01:01:32♪
01:01:34So they sit me down, and I don't know,
01:01:36my hands, I got small wrists,
01:01:38and where my thumbs are like double-jointed,
01:01:40I've always been able to slide out of handcuffs.
01:01:42Just always been able to do it.
01:01:44So I'm sitting there, there's three of us.
01:01:46So when I, and I seen both the male officers
01:01:48to the back of the other car, it was just a female there.
01:01:50I stood up and took off. Pew!
01:01:52Hey!
01:01:54♪
01:01:56♪
01:01:58♪
01:02:00♪
01:02:02♪
01:02:04♪
01:02:06♪
01:02:08♪
01:02:10♪
01:02:12I took off around the corner,
01:02:14and by the time I got around the back of that store,
01:02:16he was on me.
01:02:18It's always aggressive.
01:02:20There's no such thing as not aggressive.
01:02:22Once I knew they had it,
01:02:24and I put me in the car,
01:02:26I knew there was no getting away from it.
01:02:28In my mind, I'm sitting there,
01:02:30everything's running through my mind.
01:02:32I've done been to prison three times.
01:02:34They didn't have to tell me the time I was facing.
01:02:36I knew what I was facing, and I'm facing life.
01:02:38There's no if, ands, or buts about it.
01:02:40I'm never getting out is what I'm looking at.
01:02:42So the officer came to talk to me
01:02:44and asked me would I be willing to work.
01:02:46And I said, well, you know, if I am,
01:02:48what's the procedures?
01:02:50And he straight up told me if I was willing to work,
01:02:52I'd go home right then.
01:02:54Depending on what you're able to give us
01:02:56depends on what happens to you.
01:02:58So once they told me that, you know,
01:03:00I knew I had to give them something bigger than what,
01:03:02you know, for me to get off of it,
01:03:04I had to give them something bigger than what I had.
01:03:06So, you know, I told him, I said,
01:03:08well, how about $2 million cocaine coming into this country?
01:03:10Would that be enough?
01:03:12I said, you already going on a treasure hunt
01:03:14for 32 keys of fucking cocaine coming into this country?
01:03:16♪
01:03:18♪
01:03:20♪
01:03:22Picture this, I'm a bag of dicks
01:03:24Put me to your lips, I am sick
01:03:26I'm a bunch of baby bear in this shit
01:03:28Give me lip, I'ma send you to the yard
01:03:30Get a stick, make a switch
01:03:32I can end the conversation real quick
01:03:34I am crack, I am fire
01:03:36Look alive, your name is crack
01:03:38I'm the shit, I will fall off in your cream
01:03:40Take a shit, screaming yes
01:03:42I am guilty, motherfuckers, I am jack
01:03:44♪
01:03:46♪
01:03:48Nobody speak, nobody get joked
01:03:50♪
01:03:52♪
01:03:54♪
01:03:56♪
01:03:58♪
01:04:00♪
01:04:02Fuck outta here, yeah
01:04:04♪
01:04:06♪
01:04:08♪
01:04:10Nobody speak, nobody get joked
01:04:12♪ Everybody dance, oh, hey! ♪
01:04:14♪♪
01:04:17♪♪
01:04:21♪ Live to shoot another day. ♪♪
01:04:23♪♪
01:04:28♪♪
01:04:29♪♪
01:04:32Live from CBS 47, this is Action News at 5.30.
01:04:37Your questions answered.
01:04:39Tonight, we begin with a federal sting
01:04:41involving a local man, a treasure map,
01:04:44and a remote Puerto Rican island.
01:04:46Investigators followed the map.
01:04:47Now, they didn't find any treasure,
01:04:49but what they did find is worth a lot of money,
01:04:51and it's also illegal.
01:04:53It sounds like something out of a movie.
01:04:55Treasure map that leads to buried treasure
01:04:57on a remote island.
01:04:58I've been in, uh, law enforcement for 25 years,
01:05:01and I've yet to see a situation exactly like this.
01:05:04But instead of treasure, 54-year-old Rodney Hyden
01:05:07ended up with drug charges.
01:05:09It all started back in June.
01:05:11A detective from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office
01:05:13received a tip about the archer man.
01:05:15He had flown over to Puerto Rico to find it himself.
01:05:18He locates the pile near a turtle sanctuary
01:05:20on the island of Culebra,
01:05:21but doesn't have the tools to dig it up.
01:05:23That's when the undercover agents,
01:05:25posing as drug trafficking pilots, step in.
01:05:27Never in my experience has the, uh,
01:05:30criminals provided us with a map
01:05:32leading us to the illicit, uh, drugs.
01:05:35Hmm. Interesting story.
01:05:37Yeah, Lorne Hallacher reporting federal agents
01:05:39arrested Hyden here Friday for possession
01:05:41of five kilograms or more of cocaine
01:05:43with the intent to distribute.
01:05:44Federal agents have the cocaine saved as evidence now
01:05:47for Hyden's trial.
01:05:54The ride to jail didn't bother me.
01:05:57Spending the night in jail didn't bother me.
01:06:00Being stupid didn't bother me.
01:06:02Now, now it was a matter of my family's livelihood.
01:06:07What are they gonna do without me?
01:06:09Because I'm going to prison.
01:06:14My cell phone rang.
01:06:16And, um, it wasn't a number that I recognized.
01:06:19And it asked me if I was Jamie Hyden.
01:06:23And I said, yes, who's this?
01:06:25And I, they proceeded to tell me that, um,
01:06:30that my husband had been, uh,
01:06:32incarcerated by Homeland Security.
01:06:36What do you mean?
01:06:37Jacksonville, Homeland Security, cocaine?
01:06:42I fucked up.
01:06:43Yeah, it was the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life.
01:06:46And I'm, I'm guilty for my part in it.
01:06:48But all that had to be done at any point
01:06:52was we know what, we know what you're doing.
01:06:56Just give us a map and we'll go get it.
01:06:58And take, you know, slap me on the hand.
01:07:01But no.
01:07:03They had to make a big drug dealer
01:07:05and a big drug king out of me.
01:07:10I mean, it's not much different
01:07:13than the damn piece of fruit in the Garden of Eden.
01:07:17Just take a bite. Just take a bite.
01:07:20Just give me a map.
01:07:22Just give me a map. You don't have to do anything.
01:07:25Fuck you.
01:07:27My name is Ryan McInerney.
01:07:29I'm a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations.
01:07:32My name is Joe Raleigh.
01:07:34I'm a former detective with the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.
01:07:53Rodner.
01:07:58I went to, uh, Tampa this weekend and talked to my boy.
01:08:01Is he interested?
01:08:03He just, he said that he's real, he trust me,
01:08:05he said he's real skeptical.
01:08:07He said you don't, nobody ever really finds shit like that.
01:08:09You know what I mean?
01:08:11That shit just sounds too good to be true.
01:08:13It's exactly what he told me he said.
01:08:15Tell him I said the same thing.
01:08:17Hey, if it wasn't for you, dude,
01:08:19I wouldn't know where to get rid of it, man.
01:08:21If it wasn't for you, if it wasn't,
01:08:23I didn't know nobody that had shit like that.
01:08:26It's just a one-time-in-a-life chance, opportunity.
01:08:29And if it's done right,
01:08:31you can walk away from it if I ever notice shit.
01:08:35Essentially in the, uh,
01:08:37with narcotics traffickers,
01:08:39you're looking to,
01:08:41you generally catch a smaller fish
01:08:43when you're going out.
01:08:45And then you essentially use that smaller fish
01:08:48to go after larger fish,
01:08:50or above them.
01:08:52You always want to be working up to the bigger fish.
01:08:54Rodney was like, uh,
01:08:56the fish that had never been caught before.
01:08:59Because he wasn't really a fish.
01:09:02Rodney was a unicorn.
01:09:04Ha-ha-ha.
01:09:07Just some thing that was out there
01:09:10that no one's ever gonna see again.
01:09:12And if it weren't for our involvement,
01:09:15he would've just been sitting with,
01:09:18well, probably robbed.
01:09:20If it didn't happen like it did, I was gonna take it from Rodney.
01:09:22So his odds are stacked against him.
01:09:24He would've never got it. Never.
01:09:26Truthfully, I'd have buried him to get that.
01:09:28You know, anybody from the street would've, you know?
01:09:30That much money?
01:09:32Yeah, people kill people over $10,000.
01:09:34You're talking about millions.
01:09:36That Cuban snitch.
01:09:38That boy needs to go on a one-way grouper trip.
01:09:40Uh, Rodney never told me
01:09:42what he was up to.
01:09:44I had no...
01:09:46because I would've climbed his ass about it.
01:09:48Most people would roll over
01:09:50and snitch on everybody.
01:09:52And he...
01:09:54he manned up
01:09:56and took the load on himself.
01:09:58You know?
01:10:00And I respect him for that.
01:10:02They're obviously coming for me next
01:10:04is what kept going through my mind.
01:10:06They came for me, but it wasn't for that.
01:10:08It was to fucking be put...
01:10:10fucking witnessed in.
01:10:16My name is Mark Rosenblum,
01:10:18and I'm here to represent Rodney Hyden.
01:10:20Rodney's a very bright guy.
01:10:22He-he is, but in this situation,
01:10:24he was naive,
01:10:26he's a dreamer,
01:10:28and this was a dream that was presented to him
01:10:30that he never would've
01:10:32come up with on his own.
01:10:34First of all, Rodney
01:10:36did not even know how much
01:10:38a kilo of cocaine sold for.
01:10:40And the important thing to remember
01:10:42is that Rodney couldn't have
01:10:44sold the cocaine,
01:10:46because he didn't have anybody to sell it to.
01:10:48Rodney didn't have any of those contacts.
01:10:50He was just a-a player
01:10:52in a game.
01:10:54And Rodney...
01:10:56couldn't move up
01:10:58or down because he couldn't move anything.
01:11:00He couldn't move a...
01:11:02a dime bag.
01:11:04I firmly believe
01:11:06had, uh, our cooperator
01:11:08not been present,
01:11:10he-he would've attempted to try
01:11:12to seek out somebody to the best of his ability.
01:11:14I don't think he would've been successful
01:11:16in that, however.
01:11:18He partnered with the wrong person.
01:11:20Well, he-he
01:11:22unbeknownst to him partnered with
01:11:24the United States government.
01:11:26Entrapment is being
01:11:28induced or persuaded
01:11:30to commit a crime that you did not
01:11:32have the predisposition to commit
01:11:34by a law enforcement official
01:11:36like a police officer,
01:11:38a government agent,
01:11:40or a confidential informant
01:11:42acting on behalf of a law
01:11:44enforcement officer.
01:11:46He needs to quit his whining about this entrapment
01:11:48bullshit because he was gonna get that
01:11:50cocaine.
01:11:52How's that not entrapment?
01:11:56Anybody?
01:12:00It's every sense of the word, right?
01:12:02We will go
01:12:04get the shit for you
01:12:06and give us some
01:12:08when we go about our business.
01:12:10Commit a crime, dude.
01:12:12Here you have Mr. Hyden wanting
01:12:14a pilot, okay?
01:12:16You know, wanting the connections
01:12:18to distribute it on the street.
01:12:20Uh, and willing to pay people for it.
01:12:24That's a crime.
01:12:26Oh, he didn't do it. We couldn't.
01:12:28It's impossible.
01:12:30It's not our fault he couldn't find it.
01:12:32It was there because we went out there and dug it up.
01:12:36Right?
01:12:38Right?
01:12:40It's bullshit.
01:12:42And we're a casualty
01:12:44of bullshit.
01:12:46Did we hold a gun to his head
01:12:48and say, you need to go down there and find a cocaine?
01:12:50You're playing with real human
01:12:52lives. Put the goddamn real
01:12:54drug addict in jail.
01:12:56Don't let them set up, people.
01:12:58It's fucking bullshit, man.
01:13:00The thing you need to understand about
01:13:02trial work is that you cannot
01:13:04predict what a jury is going to do.
01:13:06You never really want to go to trial
01:13:08because you don't know what
01:13:10a group of people will decide.
01:13:12But they weren't offering
01:13:14us a choice.
01:13:16If the amount of
01:13:18cocaine involved in the case is
01:13:205 kilograms or more, there's a
01:13:22mandatory minimum sentence
01:13:24that's required of 10 years in prison.
01:13:26You hope that
01:13:28they see it your way, but
01:13:30that's 12 individual people.
01:13:32I didn't know if he would ever be coming
01:13:34home.
01:13:36I didn't know what was going to happen.
01:13:42Well, the courtroom atmosphere
01:13:44was like in any other trial
01:13:46when a verdict is read, which is that
01:13:48everything was very quiet
01:13:50and it was a very dramatic
01:13:52moment.
01:14:04They read the verdict, and the
01:14:06verdict was guilty.
01:14:30There's a reason we have tissues
01:14:32in the courtroom. There's a lot of crime
01:14:34that goes on. Regardless of the
01:14:36entrapment defense not being
01:14:38successful with the jury, it
01:14:40turned out that likely if the
01:14:42government hadn't
01:14:44helped dig it up and bring
01:14:46it over to the
01:14:48United States, it is very
01:14:50uncertain that Mr. Hyden would
01:14:52have been able to pull that off. This case
01:14:54reminded me of
01:14:56a combination of
01:14:58Walter Mitty meeting Breaking Bad.
01:15:00Normally, it would have been
01:15:02a 120-month minimum mandatory.
01:15:04I would have not had any choice
01:15:06but to sentence Mr. Hyden to at least
01:15:0810 years, normally.
01:15:10But there's something called
01:15:12the safety valve, and the safety valve
01:15:14says if you're a first-time offender, which
01:15:16he was, and you have no previous
01:15:18criminal history, which he didn't,
01:15:20and you meet a number of other
01:15:22sentencing factors, the minimum
01:15:24mandatory is waived.
01:15:26Thank God for that judge, dude, that
01:15:28he solved this for what it was.
01:15:30Bullshit. Judge Corrigan
01:15:32is a fantastic judge.
01:15:34And that was my glimmer
01:15:36of hope. A
01:15:38long period of incarceration
01:15:40just didn't make any sense in this case.
01:15:42And so, once I had
01:15:44made that decision, then
01:15:46why not use
01:15:48the advantages that Mr. Hyden
01:15:50does have for the good of the community?
01:15:52He sentenced me to
01:15:5460 days in jail and
01:15:56five years probation.
01:15:58There's always that one or two
01:16:00nosy Nellies, and of course
01:16:02their question is, were you gonna leave him?
01:16:08But I promised him
01:16:10I'd stand by him.
01:16:14Because I love him.
01:16:18Well, my wife
01:16:20picked me up, and
01:16:22being married for
01:16:2423 years, one of the things
01:16:26that kind of fade away is kissing.
01:16:28And I couldn't wait to kiss her, man.
01:16:30I gave her a big one right on the mouth.
01:16:38I also
01:16:40sentenced him to
01:16:42community service, and in this case
01:16:44the community service was
01:16:46that he worked 20 hours a week
01:16:48for Habitat for Humanity every week,
01:16:50and he will continue to do
01:16:52that 20 hours a week for five years.
01:16:58Look, it's
01:17:00the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life.
01:17:02I'm not proud of it.
01:17:04How I didn't see it, how I didn't
01:17:06realize what was going on, I've watched
01:17:08movies, I've heard of people getting busted,
01:17:10but out of all the bad and the ignorance
01:17:12and the stupidity on my part,
01:17:14there has been some good from this story.
01:17:16I've helped a lot of families.
01:17:18I tell you, man, it's such a good
01:17:20feeling to build their home
01:17:22for them and then
01:17:24hand them the keys at the end,
01:17:26and you start,
01:17:28you both hug each other and start crying.
01:17:30It's emotional. I love it.
01:17:32It made a better person out of me.
01:17:40As far as the story
01:17:42he told, you know, he's trying to get his business
01:17:44back on the ground, you know, it's understandable.
01:17:46But the truth be told, you know,
01:17:48it ain't like he tricked into it or nothing.
01:17:50He knew full well what the hell he was doing.
01:17:52And he wants to blame society
01:17:54for taking a dump on him and all this for the reason he did it.
01:17:56No. Be accountable for your own actions.
01:18:02The economy took a dump on everybody.
01:18:04Ain't everybody go try to get 32 keys of cocaine.
01:18:06Rodney tried to go get 32 keys of cocaine.
01:18:08You know, what did everybody else do?
01:18:10They buckled down, worked harder, strived
01:18:12and got it back. That's what he should have done.
01:18:14You gotta have some ethical code
01:18:16about yourself.
01:18:18What makes a person American in their heart?
01:18:20If you love this country and you know what you got,
01:18:22you're an American in your heart.
01:18:24It pisses me off when I see
01:18:26people complain about being here. It's like, man, go live
01:18:28where some of these other people live, man.
01:18:30We're set up to where it's damn near impossible to fail.
01:18:32If a lot of drug dealers put the effort
01:18:34into being legit, they'd make it too.
01:18:36That's just the way it is, you know, in America.
01:18:38That's the way we're set up. Anybody can come here and make money
01:18:40and do it. You know, people do it all the time.
01:18:42That's the dream.
01:18:46He'll have to answer for what he's done.
01:18:48And I think he'll always look over his shoulder
01:18:50for some of the other people he's done things to.
01:18:56But he turned out being the smartest guy in the group
01:18:58because he walked away without even being arrested.
01:19:16Considering how things worked out,
01:19:18it made it even a better story.
01:19:20You know what I mean?
01:19:22I mean, you know,
01:19:24it cost Rodney a bunch of money,
01:19:26and I'm sure Julian got a few more
01:19:28gray hairs, you know,
01:19:30worrying about it.
01:19:32But it made it even a better story.
01:19:34I have pear trees and blueberries
01:19:36and plum trees and
01:19:38stuff like that,
01:19:40so I'm just trying to feed myself
01:19:42as much as possible.
01:19:48I'm a farmer.
01:19:50I'm a farmer.
01:19:52I'm a farmer.
01:19:54I'm a farmer.
01:19:56I'm a farmer.
01:19:58I'm a farmer.
01:20:00I'm a farmer.
01:20:03Are you ever going to move from here?
01:20:05No.
01:20:07I'm pretty good here.
01:20:09As long as you don't come by too often.
01:20:11Where would I go?
01:20:13Even with the money,
01:20:15I wouldn't know where to go.
01:20:29What do you want to know?
01:20:33I want to hear the story.
01:20:36Not my story.
01:20:42Whose story is it?
01:20:44Not mine.
01:20:49Not anymore.
01:20:52I'll always wonder, man,
01:20:54if they dug it up.
01:20:56Strangely enough,
01:20:58they never presented any evidence
01:21:00showing a dig site,
01:21:02crime tape,
01:21:04backhoe digging,
01:21:06because I know that's what it would have taken.
01:21:08The cocaine was extracted at night,
01:21:10and we don't have
01:21:12professional photographers
01:21:14to help us
01:21:16dig it up.
01:21:18We don't have
01:21:20professional photographers.
01:21:22We don't have
01:21:24high-tech cameras.
01:21:26We just...
01:21:28The photographs that were taken of the cocaine
01:21:30were taken while the cocaine was in the ground
01:21:32with a phone.
01:21:34You saw what you think is a picture of it.
01:21:36You don't really know,
01:21:38because there was 33,
01:21:40and in the picture there was, what, seven?
01:21:42Where did the other 27 keys go?
01:21:44Straight up.
01:21:46Straight up here.
01:21:48When you take what those pictures were
01:21:50in the document file
01:21:52compared to the actual evidence
01:21:54that was in court,
01:21:56they don't match. They don't match up.
01:21:58For those people
01:22:00who believe that we never
01:22:02actually went to Culebra
01:22:04and never dug up the cocaine,
01:22:06they're 100% wrong.
01:22:08We went to Culebra,
01:22:10we dug up the cocaine,
01:22:12and we admitted that cocaine
01:22:14was still in the ground
01:22:16and was maybe planning
01:22:18to go dig it up.
01:22:20Don't do it.
01:22:22Obviously,
01:22:24it's strongly advised
01:22:26against it.
01:22:28You're saying
01:22:30don't go check
01:22:32to make sure it's still there?
01:22:34Correct.
01:22:36I would not go down to
01:22:38Culebra or any location
01:22:40for that matter
01:22:42absolutely not.
01:22:44A,
01:22:46Julian was lying.
01:22:48B,
01:22:50the cops stole it.
01:22:52Or C,
01:22:54the cocaine is still in the ground.
01:22:56Honestly, they never
01:22:58dug anything up.
01:23:00I'll always wonder, man.
01:23:02How could you not think like that?
01:23:04If you knew where $2 million
01:23:06was buried in the ground,
01:23:08would you go get it?
01:23:10Straight up.
01:23:12Anybody in here,
01:23:14if you knew where $2 million was
01:23:16in the ground,
01:23:18would you go get the shit?
01:23:20Who wouldn't?
01:23:22It's the American dream, bro.
01:23:40The American Dream
01:23:42The American Dream
01:23:44The American Dream
01:23:46The American Dream
01:23:48The American Dream
01:23:50The American Dream
01:23:52The American Dream
01:23:54The American Dream
01:23:56The American Dream
01:23:58The American Dream
01:24:00The American Dream
01:24:02The American Dream
01:24:04The American Dream
01:24:06The American Dream
01:24:08The American Dream
01:24:10The American Dream
01:24:12The American Dream
01:24:14The American Dream
01:24:16The American Dream
01:24:18The American Dream
01:24:20The American Dream
01:24:22The American Dream
01:24:24The American Dream
01:24:26The American Dream
01:24:28The American Dream
01:24:30The American Dream
01:24:32The American Dream
01:24:34The American Dream
01:24:36The American Dream
01:24:38The American Dream
01:24:40The American Dream
01:24:42The American Dream
01:24:44The American Dream
01:24:46The American Dream
01:24:48The American Dream
01:24:50The American Dream
01:24:52The American Dream
01:24:54The American Dream
01:24:56The American Dream
01:24:58The American Dream
01:25:00The American Dream
01:25:02The American Dream
01:25:04The American Dream
01:25:06The American Dream
01:25:08The American Dream
01:25:10The American Dream
01:25:12The American Dream
01:25:14The American Dream
01:25:16The American Dream
01:25:18The American Dream
01:25:20The American Dream
01:25:22The American Dream
01:25:24The American Dream
01:25:26The American Dream
01:25:28The American Dream
01:25:30The American Dream
01:25:32The American Dream
01:25:34The American Dream
01:25:36The American Dream
01:25:38The American Dream
01:25:40The American Dream
01:25:42The American Dream
01:25:44The American Dream
01:25:46The American Dream
01:25:48The American Dream
01:25:50The American Dream
01:25:52The American Dream
01:25:54The American Dream
01:25:56The American Dream
01:25:58The American Dream
01:26:00The American Dream
01:26:02The American Dream
01:26:04The American Dream
01:26:06The American Dream
01:26:08The American Dream
01:26:10The American Dream
01:26:12The American Dream
01:26:14The American Dream
01:26:16The American Dream
01:26:18The American Dream
01:26:20The American Dream
01:26:22The American Dream
01:26:24The American Dream
01:26:26The American Dream
01:26:28The American Dream
01:26:30The American Dream
01:26:32The American Dream
01:26:34The American Dream
01:26:36The American Dream
01:26:38The American Dream
01:26:40The American Dream
01:26:42The American Dream
01:26:44The American Dream
01:26:46The American Dream
01:26:48The American Dream
01:26:50The American Dream
01:26:52The American Dream
01:26:54The American Dream
01:26:56The American Dream
01:26:58The American Dream
01:27:00The American Dream
01:27:02The American Dream
01:27:04The American Dream
01:27:06The American Dream
01:27:08The American Dream
01:27:10The American Dream
01:27:12The American Dream
01:27:14The American Dream
01:27:16The American Dream
01:27:18The American Dream
01:27:20The American Dream
01:27:22The American Dream