Wall Street Mafia Author Ben Skull

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Welcome to True Crime,

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Authors and Extraordinary People,

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the podcast where we bring two passions together.

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The show that gives new meaning to the old adage,

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truth is stranger than fiction.

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And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us.

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Here is your host,

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David McClam.

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What's going on everybody and welcome to another episode of True Crime,

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Authors and Extraordinary People.

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Of course,

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I'm your man,

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David McClam.

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Hey,

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if you guys haven't already,

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make sure you follow us on all of our social media.

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One link to a link tree will get you every place you need to go pertaining to the show.

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And as I always remind you,

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if you are someone or you know someone who wants to hurt yourself or someone else,

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please leave this episode down 988.

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It is the suicide prevention hotline.

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It will get you the help that you need.

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And just in case no one else has told you this today,

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let me be the first to tell you.

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I do care and I do need you to be here.

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There is nothing worth your life.

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All right,

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guys.

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So today's guest could go either direction.

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We're going to have him on as an author today because he's here to talk about his book.

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You're going to hear me say this.

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I've never said this before in front of an episode.

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But this is,

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I think,

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how important this episode is.

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So.

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Sit down,

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listen to this.

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When you're not driving,

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pay attention to what's going to be said,

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because a lot of things that are going to be said here sounds like they came out of a Hollywood movie.

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But I promise you,

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they are true.

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I've done my due diligence.

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I have actually researched the stuff that I'm going to talk about today.

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But you want to pay attention,

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because if you are in a situation in your life where you feel like you are just stopped and can't get out,

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I think my guest today can prove that you can get out of anything if he can.

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Let me introduce to you who our guest is.

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He was born in England and was raised as a foster kid shuttling between two worlds.

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He has turned life's challenges into stepping stones for success.

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For 26 years,

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he has navigated the highs and lows of the stock market,

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building a career defined by resilience and savvy financial insight.

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In 2008,

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he embraced a new chapter as a proud US citizen,

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seizing opportunities with the same bold spirit that has driven him throughout his journey.

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His entrepreneurial drive led him to establish a Jeep company and endeavor his son Benji,

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effectively named

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Skullcrushers, reflecting his family's fierce determination and unique legacy.

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But before that company and while on Wall Street,

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he has lived a life that sounds like a Hollywood movie.

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Drugs,

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the mob,

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women,

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and millions of dollars found him living such a fast lane that he should not be alive today.

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Here's the author of the upcoming book,

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Wall Street Mafia,

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Absolute Power Corrupts,

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releasing August 29th,

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2025.

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Please welcome Ben

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Skull. Hey,

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Ben,

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welcome to the show.

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David,

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thanks for having me.

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I really appreciate you.

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Hey,

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man,

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thanks for reaching out.

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I know this is going to be an intriguing episode,

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and I'm glad that you've chosen me to handle this.

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I really appreciate it.

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I'm very humbled.

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Thank you.

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Before we begin,

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I ask everyone this question.

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Is there anything else about Ben's goal that we should know that we don't know here in this intro?

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I think I pretty much covered a bunch of stuff in the book.

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I think there were so many stories that might have got left out.

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But yeah,

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the book pretty much encompasses everything.

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So the first thing I'll say is I do know that you are a very devoted family man.

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You have a wife.

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You have five boys.

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Life must be busy.

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How do you find time to write a book,

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run a company?

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How's your time with that?

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It's crazy.

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So I work on Wall Street from like six in the morning to about two in the afternoon,

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pick up my kids.

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I'm like Uber dad.

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And then

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I run a Jeep company in the evenings and I started writing the book when I couldn't sleep.

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And I just started writing chapters because I'd go to meetings and I'd tell my story and people were like,

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dude,

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you got to write a book.

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And I finally took the time to do it.

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It was mostly when I couldn't sleep at night and stories just kept on coming at me.

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I've written lots of books.

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Well,

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before I say that,

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as you know,

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I'm a father of six.

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I have two that still remains at home.

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So I totally do understand the grind of trying to get stuff done with kids.

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My 15-year-old just went back to school,

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and I feel like I had a break,

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and now my life is back to chaos again.

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Correct.

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Me too.

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Yeah,

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exactly.

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So you just pretty much told us why you wrote this book.

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The one intriguing thing about this book to me is this.

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I read a lot of books.

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I've read a lot of people who wrote books about themselves.

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But sometimes in these books,

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they try to sugarcoat the things that they did,

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or they try to make themselves seem more innocent than what they were.

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In this book,

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you come straight out with everything that you did,

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the good,

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the bad,

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the ugly.

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Why did you decide to do that?

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Honestly,

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it was kind of like

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God's calling.

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I felt like this book and my story might help other people.

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I did live a very crazy life.

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And

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I'm like one of those guys,

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I'm a magnet to crazy maybe.

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But every time I'd tell my story,

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people were like,

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man,

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you got to write a book.

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And

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I just wanted to get the story out there.

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And enough time had passed where it was time to write the book,

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I felt like.

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So I think...

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the first part here is the most intriguing part.

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When you left me the voicemail,

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I think one of the first things you said is that you came from no family,

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no name,

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and you were a foster kid.

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How did we become a foster kid?

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Yeah,

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my mom was like Eminem's mom.

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She was married like five times,

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just not a very good mother,

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not a very loving mother.

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And

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I moved to the States when I was two,

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grew up in a little house in Lake Tahoe.

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And she was married a bunch of times.

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And I would just always tell her,

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I want to go to foster care.

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I didn't even know what foster care was.

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And then my grandmother in England passed away from breast cancer.

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So the next thing I know,

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I was a nine-year-old kid going to,

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jumping on an airline,

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heading to England.

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And then after the funeral,

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she dropped me off at foster care.

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Didn't even say goodbye.

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Just like,

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I remember looking out at the window and seeing her walk away.

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And I was just like,

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damn,

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this shit just got real.

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Over the years,

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you know,

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after all that,

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have you ever seen your biological mom again?

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Yeah,

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I have.

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She kind of,

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she remarried to this Christian man.

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And that's the reason why I'm in California is he,

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he wanted to get me out of foster care.

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They came over to England and they,

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and he said,

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he was a Christian guy.

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And he just said,

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you want to try California for 30 days?

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And I really loved my foster parents.

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They wanted to adopt me.

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I came to California and as a kid,

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as a,

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you know,

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13,

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14 year old kid.

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I just knew that there was more

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I could do better in the States than in England.

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I feel like in England,

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you're either rich or poor.

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And I think in the U.S.,

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you can make yourself anything you want.

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And as a young kid,

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I knew that.

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And I just decided to stay.

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I'm glad I did.

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So the next part of this is even more intriguing.

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So a kid,

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foster care,

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had nothing.

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Mom drops off,

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abandons.

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How do you,

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I mean,

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you have no connections,

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no silver spoons,

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no nothing.

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How do you end up on Wall Street?

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Yeah,

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so

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I moved back to the States when I was 14.

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Caused a bunch of trouble in high school and college.

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And I was bouncing at a bar.

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And these two older ladies,

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I call them the Cougars,

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they told me,

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they were like,

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you should be a businessman.

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We see you in a suit,

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this and that.

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And it put it in my head.

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And then one day when I was working at this gym,

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I literally took out the San Diego Reader.

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And there was a job in there and it said,

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learn wall street.

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And so I literally borrowed a shirt and a tie and I bullshit it.

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I came up with this resume that,

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um,

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that I wrote up and made up.

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I go to the interview and there's these two brothers.

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One looks like

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George Hamilton,

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all tan and Gucci out.

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And the other brother was like kind of the nerdy brother.

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And it just closed them to hire me.

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I never even picked up a phone and called anybody before,

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but I said,

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you know,

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my resume looked great.

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So they hired me.

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And then it was straight like that movie Boiler Room,

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like,

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you know,

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row of columns and guys on the phones.

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No computers back then.

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It was like 1999.

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Just we had a bunch of sheets in there told me,

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call these CEOs and try to close them.

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And then I just got really good on the phone,

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started closing deals.

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And then as a young kid,

274
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I realized that they weren't doing the right thing and they were kind of robbing their clients.

275
00:08:43.058 --> 00:08:45.839
And I was good on the phone to build a rapport with these CEOs.

276
00:08:46.152 --> 00:08:48.386
And that's kind of how I got into the game.

277
00:08:48.645 --> 00:08:49.626
So I have to ask this question,

278
00:08:49.627 --> 00:08:50.667
and maybe for Cease as well,

279
00:08:50.686 --> 00:08:51.608
but I have to ask.

280
00:08:51.807 --> 00:08:54.088
You've seen the movie Trading Places with Eddie Murphy?

281
00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:54.710
Yeah,

282
00:08:54.831 --> 00:08:54.971
yeah.

283
00:08:55.370 --> 00:08:59.378
Is that what the actual Wall Street Room looks like when you see in that movie?

284
00:08:59.753 --> 00:09:00.393
A little bit,

285
00:09:00.479 --> 00:09:00.659
yeah.

286
00:09:00.737 --> 00:09:04.424
So these guys had a nice office in La Jolla here in California,

287
00:09:05.596 --> 00:09:06.518
suit and ties,

288
00:09:06.643 --> 00:09:08.378
and it looked legit.

289
00:09:08.471 --> 00:09:14.706
They were just literally doing these crazy pump and dumps or just taking stock from companies and not doing anything.

290
00:09:15.253 --> 00:09:15.493
You know,

291
00:09:15.494 --> 00:09:16.515
I was about to have a kid.

292
00:09:16.574 --> 00:09:18.495
My first kid I had when I was 24.

293
00:09:19.156 --> 00:09:20.116
I had a kid on the way.

294
00:09:20.378 --> 00:09:24.304
I went and worked for their old business partner and made him a bunch of money.

295
00:09:25.085 --> 00:09:25.421
Like I said,

296
00:09:25.422 --> 00:09:26.281
I had the kid on the way.

297
00:09:27.109 --> 00:09:28.906
I closed this guy a huge deal.

298
00:09:29.226 --> 00:09:30.531
This deal had FDA approval.

299
00:09:30.624 --> 00:09:31.531
Stock went nuts.

300
00:09:31.984 --> 00:09:34.499
He cuts me a check for $17,000.

301
00:09:34.624 --> 00:09:36.859
And I literally made him a few million bucks at least.

302
00:09:37.656 --> 00:09:38.171
So I was like,

303
00:09:38.234 --> 00:09:38.749
what the heck?

304
00:09:38.796 --> 00:09:39.921
All right.

305
00:09:39.922 --> 00:09:41.546
So anybody who's on Wall Street,

306
00:09:41.640 --> 00:09:42.843
listen to this next point.

307
00:09:43.046 --> 00:09:43.484
Because.

308
00:09:43.845 --> 00:09:44.946
this was shocking to me.

309
00:09:45.848 --> 00:09:46.287
So Ben,

310
00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:49.691
I'll call you a disruptor because you actually walked into Wall Street.

311
00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:55.258
You figured out this system without ripping somebody off in your early twenties.

312
00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:55.438
I mean,

313
00:09:55.477 --> 00:09:56.039
you're a young kid.

314
00:09:56.055 --> 00:10:00.062
You make your first six figure trade in a minute.

315
00:10:00.564 --> 00:10:03.847
Can you tell us about that trade and how did you feel that day when you did that?

316
00:10:04.248 --> 00:10:04.427
Yeah,

317
00:10:04.468 --> 00:10:05.169
it was crazy.

318
00:10:05.330 --> 00:10:08.853
So basically this company had got FDA approval.

319
00:10:09.572 --> 00:10:10.416
They were a client of ours.

320
00:10:10.431 --> 00:10:11.533
I had just signed them up.

321
00:10:12.119 --> 00:10:15.322
And I don't know if you remember those liquid Band-Aids back in the day.

322
00:10:15.556 --> 00:10:17.236
It was the first liquid Band-Aid company.

323
00:10:17.237 --> 00:10:18.267
It got FDA approval.

324
00:10:18.861 --> 00:10:20.017
The stock went from like

325
00:10:20.689 --> 00:10:22.408
20-something cents up to a few dollars.

326
00:10:22.642 --> 00:10:24.861
And it was the craziest thing I'd ever seen.

327
00:10:24.892 --> 00:10:27.486
It was like millions were made in a matter of seconds.

328
00:10:27.783 --> 00:10:29.330
And at that point,

329
00:10:29.392 --> 00:10:29.908
I was hooked.

330
00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:30.208
I was like,

331
00:10:30.209 --> 00:10:30.809
oh my God,

332
00:10:30.829 --> 00:10:31.630
this is possible.

333
00:10:31.971 --> 00:10:33.611
So I'm going to read an excerpt from your book,

334
00:10:33.612 --> 00:10:34.334
if you don't mind,

335
00:10:34.572 --> 00:10:36.033
because this goes along with this.

336
00:10:36.193 --> 00:10:39.056
So you make your first six figure deal in a minute,

337
00:10:39.697 --> 00:10:40.439
money comes in.

338
00:10:40.478 --> 00:10:43.041
I'm assuming at this point you're addicted to it because you're like,

339
00:10:43.042 --> 00:10:43.283
hey,

340
00:10:43.361 --> 00:10:44.846
if I can make this in a minute,

341
00:10:45.221 --> 00:10:46.564
what can I do in an hour?

342
00:10:46.861 --> 00:10:47.111
Right?

343
00:10:47.142 --> 00:10:48.439
That's the one I'm going to assume.

344
00:10:49.111 --> 00:10:51.752
So here's the excerpt that intrigued me the most.

345
00:10:51.908 --> 00:10:54.330
And my daughter was sitting next to me and I read this and she's like,

346
00:10:54.392 --> 00:10:54.986
is this real?

347
00:10:55.892 --> 00:10:58.439
Says the money came fast and I spent it even faster.

348
00:10:59.016 --> 00:10:59.797
Why wouldn't I?

349
00:11:00.078 --> 00:11:01.337
I was just in my 20s,

350
00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:04.123
earning the sort of money most could only fantasize about.

351
00:11:04.584 --> 00:11:06.224
Money that didn't just open doors,

352
00:11:06.302 --> 00:11:07.826
it knocked them off their hinges.

353
00:11:08.349 --> 00:11:09.865
Private jets flew me to Panama,

354
00:11:10.005 --> 00:11:14.052
where I sipped rum on the deck of a luxury villa overlooking the ocean,

355
00:11:14.474 --> 00:11:18.037
the warm Caribbean breeze mingling with the scent of expensive cigars.

356
00:11:18.599 --> 00:11:21.396
There were yacht parties in the Bahamas that lasted for days.

357
00:11:21.818 --> 00:11:22.802
A blur of music,

358
00:11:22.927 --> 00:11:23.740
tanned bodies,

359
00:11:24.037 --> 00:11:25.896
and top-shelf liquor flowing like water.

360
00:11:26.428 --> 00:11:34.593
I stayed in suites at the Ritz Carlton where the concierge addressed me by name and always made sure a ball of Cristal was chilled and waiting in the room.

361
00:11:35.218 --> 00:11:36.077
Unlike others,

362
00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:39.257
I had never bothered asking for the price of anything.

363
00:11:39.765 --> 00:11:41.601
The moment I desired something,

364
00:11:42.147 --> 00:11:42.897
I would buy it.

365
00:11:43.319 --> 00:11:43.585
Folks,

366
00:11:43.601 --> 00:11:46.913
that is an actual excerpt from chapter one in his book.

367
00:11:46.944 --> 00:11:47.913
To read the rest of that,

368
00:11:47.914 --> 00:11:48.913
you got to go get the book.

369
00:11:49.444 --> 00:11:49.804
So Ben,

370
00:11:49.851 --> 00:11:50.585
can you tell us,

371
00:11:50.772 --> 00:11:51.319
if you can,

372
00:11:51.538 --> 00:11:55.960
what would you say your net worth was at the time that all of these things is happening to you?

373
00:11:56.192 --> 00:11:56.412
You know,

374
00:11:56.413 --> 00:11:56.953
it was crazy.

375
00:11:57.213 --> 00:12:03.279
I had probably seven to nine million bucks in a brokerage account.

376
00:12:03.982 --> 00:12:06.700
And it was just like,

377
00:12:06.802 --> 00:12:07.185
like I said,

378
00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:07.904
I came from nothing,

379
00:12:07.927 --> 00:12:08.161
you know,

380
00:12:08.247 --> 00:12:09.724
so I barely finished high school.

381
00:12:10.302 --> 00:12:10.865
All of a sudden,

382
00:12:10.943 --> 00:12:13.271
you're this kid with very little education,

383
00:12:14.193 --> 00:12:14.677
balling,

384
00:12:14.786 --> 00:12:17.099
and I was just having the time of my life.

385
00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:18.271
If money would come in,

386
00:12:18.286 --> 00:12:19.630
I was on a jet,

387
00:12:19.693 --> 00:12:21.380
I'd be in the Bahamas or Panama,

388
00:12:21.599 --> 00:12:22.130
Colombia.

389
00:12:22.865 --> 00:12:24.443
and I was just living this

390
00:12:24.692 --> 00:12:26.553
crazy life and I got used to it.

391
00:12:26.774 --> 00:12:27.133
And,

392
00:12:27.594 --> 00:12:27.715
uh,

393
00:12:27.716 --> 00:12:27.956
it was,

394
00:12:28.176 --> 00:12:28.415
you know,

395
00:12:28.497 --> 00:12:29.196
now looking back,

396
00:12:29.197 --> 00:12:31.098
it was like a movie and I,

397
00:12:31.297 --> 00:12:32.817
I just didn't know any better.

398
00:12:32.864 --> 00:12:35.880
I just got addicted to the money and addicted to that fast life,

399
00:12:36.223 --> 00:12:36.505
you know,

400
00:12:36.762 --> 00:12:38.825
and God took a back seat during that time too.

401
00:12:38.848 --> 00:12:39.747
And I was just focused.

402
00:12:39.748 --> 00:12:41.083
All I cared about was making money.

403
00:12:41.614 --> 00:12:46.130
If you did the same thing today at the current age that you are right now,

404
00:12:46.770 --> 00:12:50.255
would you have done anything differently that you did by when you were in your twenties?

405
00:12:50.723 --> 00:12:50.880
Oh,

406
00:12:50.911 --> 00:12:51.411
for sure.

407
00:12:53.239 --> 00:12:54.301
I wouldn't do cocaine.

408
00:12:54.496 --> 00:12:56.318
I wouldn't buy all the hookers I bought,

409
00:12:56.959 --> 00:12:58.120
bought a ton of cars.

410
00:12:58.721 --> 00:13:00.663
I was that guy that I bought it.

411
00:13:00.664 --> 00:13:02.905
Me and my buddy bought a limo and had it pimped out.

412
00:13:03.022 --> 00:13:04.889
And I was the guy I'd pick up all my buddies,

413
00:13:05.327 --> 00:13:06.709
go buy bottles at the club.

414
00:13:06.749 --> 00:13:08.006
And I was like that guy.

415
00:13:08.709 --> 00:13:10.452
And I would never do that again.

416
00:13:10.545 --> 00:13:11.233
Now I look back,

417
00:13:11.234 --> 00:13:11.530
I'm like,

418
00:13:11.577 --> 00:13:11.780
man,

419
00:13:11.795 --> 00:13:12.749
I was such an idiot.

420
00:13:13.170 --> 00:13:15.202
But the good thing is what the blessing is,

421
00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:17.264
is I went through all this stuff in my youth.

422
00:13:17.405 --> 00:13:20.264
And now as a 48 year old father of five,

423
00:13:21.749 --> 00:13:22.983
God took everything away from me.

424
00:13:23.280 --> 00:13:24.441
And I lost everything.

425
00:13:24.722 --> 00:13:26.224
And without losing everything,

426
00:13:26.343 --> 00:13:30.447
it would have humbled me and put me in the situation where I'm at now.

427
00:13:30.728 --> 00:13:33.533
And I'm rebuilding my career on Wall Street,

428
00:13:33.814 --> 00:13:34.814
doing everything differently.

429
00:13:34.970 --> 00:13:36.056
And now I'm humble.

430
00:13:36.556 --> 00:13:40.329
I want to talk about that a little bit because the fact that when you do look at people,

431
00:13:40.439 --> 00:13:41.470
especially young folks,

432
00:13:41.923 --> 00:13:43.408
I think of NBA all the time,

433
00:13:43.439 --> 00:13:43.642
right?

434
00:13:43.673 --> 00:13:50.173
Magic Johnson started a program for young people that was coming into the NBA at 19 because he didn't want them to blow all their money.

435
00:13:50.892 --> 00:13:52.251
But drugs and women.

436
00:13:52.564 --> 00:13:54.965
always seems to come with that territory.

437
00:13:55.425 --> 00:13:57.545
No matter what you look like or what your body type is,

438
00:13:57.546 --> 00:13:58.767
if you got the right amount of money,

439
00:13:58.884 --> 00:13:59.967
you can have anything you want.

440
00:14:01.029 --> 00:14:01.185
Well,

441
00:14:01.186 --> 00:14:02.170
according to your book,

442
00:14:02.443 --> 00:14:05.631
you was doing cocaine very often,

443
00:14:05.787 --> 00:14:06.287
frequently.

444
00:14:06.404 --> 00:14:07.506
There'd be a line here,

445
00:14:07.631 --> 00:14:08.826
I'm sure with the money you had,

446
00:14:08.873 --> 00:14:10.185
you could have top shelf stuff.

447
00:14:10.763 --> 00:14:12.388
How did you get into cocaine?

448
00:14:12.951 --> 00:14:14.717
And being that it's so addictive,

449
00:14:14.748 --> 00:14:15.967
how did you finally get out of it?

450
00:14:16.529 --> 00:14:16.732
Yeah,

451
00:14:16.842 --> 00:14:18.029
so the first...

452
00:14:18.152 --> 00:14:18.552
like I said,

453
00:14:18.573 --> 00:14:20.255
when I first started that first firm,

454
00:14:20.435 --> 00:14:20.814
uh,

455
00:14:20.815 --> 00:14:21.015
you know,

456
00:14:21.016 --> 00:14:22.357
I was a 20 year old kid.

457
00:14:22.575 --> 00:14:23.337
Uh,

458
00:14:23.357 --> 00:14:24.118
I was naive.

459
00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:24.677
And the,

460
00:14:25.021 --> 00:14:25.618
one of the owners,

461
00:14:25.619 --> 00:14:26.458
the tan guy at the,

462
00:14:26.724 --> 00:14:26.943
at the,

463
00:14:27.177 --> 00:14:27.982
my first firm,

464
00:14:28.685 --> 00:14:28.802
he,

465
00:14:29.083 --> 00:14:30.982
he had all this cocaine in his office.

466
00:14:31.005 --> 00:14:32.083
I didn't even know what it was.

467
00:14:32.302 --> 00:14:33.927
And he had all these hookers coming in.

468
00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:36.568
And that was my first like glimpse of that fast life.

469
00:14:37.177 --> 00:14:38.005
And then of course,

470
00:14:38.068 --> 00:14:39.099
as I started making money,

471
00:14:39.146 --> 00:14:41.193
I started falling into that same pattern.

472
00:14:41.708 --> 00:14:42.443
And I was literally,

473
00:14:42.615 --> 00:14:42.833
you know,

474
00:14:42.834 --> 00:14:43.599
I was in Panama,

475
00:14:44.193 --> 00:14:44.880
Costa Rica,

476
00:14:45.052 --> 00:14:45.880
Nicaragua.

477
00:14:47.221 --> 00:14:47.721
You name it.

478
00:14:47.722 --> 00:14:53.710
I was there and I was partying hookers and everything else really what changed my life was

479
00:14:54.171 --> 00:14:56.538
The crash and that was I call it my

480
00:14:56.921 --> 00:14:58.101
Britney Spears breakdown.

481
00:14:58.960 --> 00:14:59.077
I

482
00:15:00.121 --> 00:15:09.974
My wife had broken down at Costco and I had two babies at the time and I took two Xanax and two Theraflues and I my wife called me she goes I broke down at Costco

483
00:15:10.669 --> 00:15:23.490
I threw on some sweats I said I'll be right there by the time the tow truck got there I was looped I was hanging off the front of the car I was like whoa so we get to the Beamer dealership and my buddy's the manager he throws me the keys to a brand new X5.

484
00:15:24.721 --> 00:15:25.663
and he goes,

485
00:15:25.722 --> 00:15:25.942
Ben,

486
00:15:25.983 --> 00:15:26.784
you look high as hell.

487
00:15:26.785 --> 00:15:27.124
And I said,

488
00:15:27.143 --> 00:15:27.264
no,

489
00:15:27.444 --> 00:15:27.704
dude,

490
00:15:27.725 --> 00:15:28.604
I took two Xanax,

491
00:15:28.624 --> 00:15:29.225
two TheraFoods.

492
00:15:29.245 --> 00:15:30.108
I'm late for a meeting.

493
00:15:30.608 --> 00:15:31.608
So I go to my meeting,

494
00:15:31.686 --> 00:15:32.631
have a glass of wine,

495
00:15:32.670 --> 00:15:33.569
have a great meeting.

496
00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:36.553
And then I'm driving back home in this brand new X5.

497
00:15:37.092 --> 00:15:37.858
Like I stole it.

498
00:15:37.859 --> 00:15:38.795
It was beautiful.

499
00:15:38.811 --> 00:15:39.217
It was,

500
00:15:39.218 --> 00:15:39.436
you know,

501
00:15:39.514 --> 00:15:39.959
brand new,

502
00:15:40.077 --> 00:15:40.577
state of the art.

503
00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:44.967
And that song going up on a Tuesday was on and I'm driving,

504
00:15:45.045 --> 00:15:45.842
we lived on a hill.

505
00:15:46.499 --> 00:15:48.952
So I'm driving down the hill into my neighborhood,

506
00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:51.420
trying to turn on my street and I'm going probably

507
00:15:51.780 --> 00:15:52.467
60 or 80.

508
00:15:53.155 --> 00:15:54.295
and all I heard was a

509
00:15:54.433 --> 00:15:54.693
Boom,

510
00:15:55.635 --> 00:15:59.357
I hit the curb and I flew 60 feet into my neighbor's roof.

511
00:16:00.217 --> 00:16:06.506
And I was so out of it that I tried to reverse and I thought I was in some bushes.

512
00:16:06.943 --> 00:16:08.029
And then I kind of sobered up.

513
00:16:08.068 --> 00:16:10.107
I realized I was in somebody's house.

514
00:16:10.232 --> 00:16:11.795
So I literally took off my shirt.

515
00:16:12.154 --> 00:16:13.498
I wiped the steering wheel down.

516
00:16:13.514 --> 00:16:15.326
I grabbed as many cell phones as I could.

517
00:16:15.779 --> 00:16:17.123
I left the rental agreement in there.

518
00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:18.982
And when you Google the crash,

519
00:16:19.014 --> 00:16:21.295
you'll see I was parked in the top of his garage,

520
00:16:21.592 --> 00:16:21.967
literally.

521
00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:24.351
And so my big ass jumped down.

522
00:16:24.532 --> 00:16:29.037
I caught a nail on the side of my butt that I call the tiger scratch.

523
00:16:29.655 --> 00:16:30.135
And,

524
00:16:30.217 --> 00:16:30.561
um,

525
00:16:30.975 --> 00:16:31.358
and then,

526
00:16:31.842 --> 00:16:32.077
you know,

527
00:16:32.078 --> 00:16:32.717
we lived on a hill.

528
00:16:32.718 --> 00:16:34.780
So I guess I could see the cops coming from everywhere.

529
00:16:34.819 --> 00:16:37.405
I saw the helicopter coming and

530
00:16:38.045 --> 00:16:38.827
I'm so stupid.

531
00:16:39.186 --> 00:16:42.952
I walked out to the lot next to me just to see what the commotion,

532
00:16:42.953 --> 00:16:43.233
you know,

533
00:16:43.748 --> 00:16:45.577
and right then 10 cops were like,

534
00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:46.186
freeze,

535
00:16:46.248 --> 00:16:48.467
like had me at the helicopters light was on me.

536
00:16:49.221 --> 00:16:51.023
And the cops were cool.

537
00:16:51.024 --> 00:16:51.963
I was really respectful.

538
00:16:51.984 --> 00:16:52.564
The cops were like,

539
00:16:52.604 --> 00:16:52.744
man,

540
00:16:52.805 --> 00:16:53.604
your house is sick.

541
00:16:53.686 --> 00:16:54.127
What do you do?

542
00:16:54.627 --> 00:16:55.146
And they're like,

543
00:16:55.166 --> 00:16:56.768
you don't want to tell us what happened down the street.

544
00:16:57.291 --> 00:16:57.650
And I said,

545
00:16:57.666 --> 00:16:58.650
I want to talk to my attorney.

546
00:16:58.768 --> 00:16:59.010
Like,

547
00:16:59.088 --> 00:16:59.330
you know,

548
00:17:00.135 --> 00:17:03.135
all these wise guys I worked with told me never talk to cops.

549
00:17:03.136 --> 00:17:05.510
So I just always took the fifth and never talked to cops.

550
00:17:06.150 --> 00:17:07.604
And so I'm in jail.

551
00:17:07.635 --> 00:17:09.229
They couldn't know what to charge me with.

552
00:17:09.479 --> 00:17:11.744
And other than being drunk in public.

553
00:17:13.307 --> 00:17:14.025
So that happened.

554
00:17:14.026 --> 00:17:16.822
My buddy picked me up that I worked with and he goes.

555
00:17:17.345 --> 00:17:18.367
He shows me the phone.

556
00:17:18.368 --> 00:17:18.726
He goes,

557
00:17:18.847 --> 00:17:19.908
you're all over the news.

558
00:17:20.027 --> 00:17:20.247
I go,

559
00:17:20.288 --> 00:17:20.769
what do you mean?

560
00:17:21.089 --> 00:17:22.288
I totally didn't remember.

561
00:17:22.331 --> 00:17:24.253
I just knew I had my ass hurt from that scratch.

562
00:17:24.652 --> 00:17:27.117
So he shows me a CNN clip and he goes,

563
00:17:27.195 --> 00:17:28.453
you're worldwide news.

564
00:17:28.515 --> 00:17:31.515
I had everybody calling me seeing if you're okay.

565
00:17:31.757 --> 00:17:32.281
And I was like,

566
00:17:32.499 --> 00:17:32.859
what?

567
00:17:33.421 --> 00:17:33.984
I was like,

568
00:17:33.985 --> 00:17:34.515
oh my gosh.

569
00:17:34.765 --> 00:17:36.890
So that whole thing,

570
00:17:37.124 --> 00:17:37.859
that whole crash,

571
00:17:37.906 --> 00:17:41.593
that whole situation changed the projection of my life.

572
00:17:41.609 --> 00:17:44.046
And at the time I had a bunch of buddies going to jail,

573
00:17:44.093 --> 00:17:44.937
get arrested.

574
00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:49.253
So I was just super stressed out and like escaping my reality,

575
00:17:49.292 --> 00:17:49.675
I guess.

576
00:17:50.316 --> 00:17:51.054
For all you guys'

577
00:17:51.113 --> 00:17:51.597
knowledge,

578
00:17:51.675 --> 00:17:52.738
when Ben contacted me,

579
00:17:52.757 --> 00:17:57.261
he actually sent me the article of that actual crash before I even read it in the book.

580
00:17:57.964 --> 00:17:58.339
And

581
00:17:59.066 --> 00:17:59.722
I say to my wife,

582
00:17:59.723 --> 00:17:59.863
I said,

583
00:17:59.886 --> 00:18:00.066
yeah,

584
00:18:00.183 --> 00:18:01.378
this guy's coming on the show.

585
00:18:01.691 --> 00:18:02.191
And I says,

586
00:18:02.269 --> 00:18:02.441
look,

587
00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:03.550
this is a crash he had.

588
00:18:03.551 --> 00:18:04.066
And she goes,

589
00:18:04.785 --> 00:18:06.394
wasn't that like all over the news?

590
00:18:06.691 --> 00:18:08.128
Because I remember when they're talking.

591
00:18:08.425 --> 00:18:10.128
So she even knew who it was.

592
00:18:12.019 --> 00:18:12.550
Everybody.

593
00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:13.450
I was literally,

594
00:18:13.530 --> 00:18:17.873
I was up in a meeting in Montreal a few months ago and we were telling the story and this kid,

595
00:18:18.033 --> 00:18:18.455
he's like,

596
00:18:18.456 --> 00:18:18.635
you know,

597
00:18:18.636 --> 00:18:19.576
in his thirties or,

598
00:18:19.936 --> 00:18:20.357
and he goes,

599
00:18:20.658 --> 00:18:21.295
that was you.

600
00:18:21.381 --> 00:18:21.639
He goes,

601
00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:23.139
we were all talking about it up here.

602
00:18:23.740 --> 00:18:24.037
Literally.

603
00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:24.740
Like you said,

604
00:18:25.139 --> 00:18:25.404
I had,

605
00:18:25.545 --> 00:18:28.482
I had clients in Hong Kong and Switzerland call me and they're like,

606
00:18:28.545 --> 00:18:28.740
Ben,

607
00:18:28.787 --> 00:18:30.084
I heard you're a crash test dummy.

608
00:18:30.131 --> 00:18:30.959
It was,

609
00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:32.772
it was worldwide embarrassment.

610
00:18:32.834 --> 00:18:34.209
My poor wife couldn't leave the,

611
00:18:34.537 --> 00:18:34.834
our,

612
00:18:34.975 --> 00:18:36.740
our gated house for like a week.

613
00:18:36.741 --> 00:18:38.522
Cause there was news cameras outside our gate.

614
00:18:38.990 --> 00:18:39.756
It was all bad.

615
00:18:41.501 --> 00:18:41.621
Now,

616
00:18:41.622 --> 00:18:42.982
you did mention the wise guys.

617
00:18:43.062 --> 00:18:44.084
We're going to get into that.

618
00:18:44.183 --> 00:18:44.744
But before I do,

619
00:18:44.745 --> 00:18:47.728
I want to segue into another piece that I think is very important.

620
00:18:48.127 --> 00:18:48.869
If I have her name right,

621
00:18:48.870 --> 00:18:50.111
I believe your wife's name is Emily.

622
00:18:50.533 --> 00:18:50.650
Yeah,

623
00:18:50.651 --> 00:18:51.572
that's her middle name.

624
00:18:51.588 --> 00:18:52.736
That's her alias in the book.

625
00:18:54.392 --> 00:18:54.955
God bless her.

626
00:18:55.814 --> 00:18:57.095
Maybe early to talk about her,

627
00:18:57.533 --> 00:19:01.439
but I want to talk about Emily because I feel like she plays a huge part,

628
00:19:01.986 --> 00:19:03.736
especially when it comes to changing your life.

629
00:19:04.142 --> 00:19:06.064
So let's just take a few moments to talk about her.

630
00:19:06.189 --> 00:19:08.111
Can you tell us how you and Emily met?

631
00:19:08.564 --> 00:19:08.705
Yeah,

632
00:19:08.814 --> 00:19:09.205
for sure.

633
00:19:09.736 --> 00:19:09.845
So.

634
00:19:10.285 --> 00:19:12.747
I was like a meathead in my twenties working,

635
00:19:12.827 --> 00:19:15.149
managing a gym and she,

636
00:19:15.392 --> 00:19:16.731
and they were right next door to the gym.

637
00:19:16.751 --> 00:19:17.833
This was at Pacific beach.

638
00:19:17.834 --> 00:19:17.954
Uh,

639
00:19:18.235 --> 00:19:21.157
at the time there's powerhouse gym and then Hooters next door.

640
00:19:21.735 --> 00:19:23.720
And so me and my boys would always go Fridays,

641
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.579
grab beers.

642
00:19:24.681 --> 00:19:26.868
And she was our waitress or we'd have another waitress.

643
00:19:26.899 --> 00:19:29.587
And I always had like a little chemistry with her,

644
00:19:29.588 --> 00:19:30.368
a little crush.

645
00:19:30.446 --> 00:19:31.431
She had a boyfriend.

646
00:19:31.509 --> 00:19:34.743
I was whoring around town and doing my thing.

647
00:19:35.102 --> 00:19:35.493
And,

648
00:19:35.571 --> 00:19:35.790
uh,

649
00:19:35.791 --> 00:19:37.087
we just always had a connection.

650
00:19:37.368 --> 00:19:37.852
And then,

651
00:19:38.415 --> 00:19:38.790
uh,

652
00:19:39.485 --> 00:19:41.668
After she broke up with her boyfriend,

653
00:19:41.687 --> 00:19:42.648
I think a few years later,

654
00:19:42.969 --> 00:19:44.310
and then she started cutting my hair.

655
00:19:44.412 --> 00:19:46.092
So she was like my barber.

656
00:19:46.291 --> 00:19:47.615
And every time I got a new car,

657
00:19:47.670 --> 00:19:49.178
I would pull up in my new car,

658
00:19:49.232 --> 00:19:50.076
kind of showing off.

659
00:19:50.693 --> 00:19:57.662
And she'd cut my hair and I'd tell her my crazy stories about the hookers and the traveling and all my trouble I'd get into.

660
00:19:58.037 --> 00:19:59.771
And she never once judged me.

661
00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:00.224
You know,

662
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:01.162
she's a Christian woman.

663
00:20:01.568 --> 00:20:03.412
She definitely saved my life for sure,

664
00:20:03.521 --> 00:20:04.193
without a doubt.

665
00:20:04.256 --> 00:20:06.474
This book is not just about gangsters.

666
00:20:06.490 --> 00:20:08.771
It's also kind of a love story in between of that.

667
00:20:08.949 --> 00:20:09.490
because

668
00:20:10.330 --> 00:20:11.012
God bless her.

669
00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:14.615
I always tell people she can kill like 100 people and become a serial killer,

670
00:20:14.736 --> 00:20:17.416
and God is still going to let her go to heaven because of dealing with me.

671
00:20:18.057 --> 00:20:18.182
Now,

672
00:20:18.183 --> 00:20:20.041
I don't know if it's this way in the white community,

673
00:20:20.244 --> 00:20:21.400
but in the black community,

674
00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:24.283
the barbershop has always been many things,

675
00:20:24.307 --> 00:20:24.463
right?

676
00:20:24.464 --> 00:20:25.822
It's been a place to get your hair cut.

677
00:20:25.823 --> 00:20:26.963
It's been a gossip shop.

678
00:20:27.307 --> 00:20:28.572
It's been a counseling spot.

679
00:20:28.932 --> 00:20:29.853
So usually,

680
00:20:30.510 --> 00:20:32.088
if you can trust anybody in the world,

681
00:20:32.275 --> 00:20:32.994
it's your barber.

682
00:20:33.774 --> 00:20:34.815
And they're therapists.

683
00:20:35.115 --> 00:20:35.537
Right,

684
00:20:35.576 --> 00:20:35.775
right.

685
00:20:35.857 --> 00:20:38.580
So you're pulling up with all these fancy cars to impress her,

686
00:20:38.658 --> 00:20:42.166
but you're telling her all these stories about all these women you've been with.

687
00:20:42.924 --> 00:20:47.150
Why do you think that she didn't shy away from that when you told her these stories?

688
00:20:47.885 --> 00:20:48.072
Yeah,

689
00:20:48.127 --> 00:20:48.432
you know,

690
00:20:48.486 --> 00:20:49.932
she just never judged.

691
00:20:49.947 --> 00:20:53.432
She was like one of those only people I could tell all my crazy stories to,

692
00:20:53.433 --> 00:20:54.432
and she never judged.

693
00:20:54.433 --> 00:20:57.244
And I just loved her more and more because of that.

694
00:20:57.275 --> 00:20:58.978
She accepted like who I was.

695
00:20:59.666 --> 00:21:00.353
And the...

696
00:21:00.410 --> 00:21:01.150
The poor woman,

697
00:21:01.290 --> 00:21:05.191
the first two days she moved into my house was crazy.

698
00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:12.230
Like we had undercover cops the first day illegally searched my house and pulled me over in my house at Martin.

699
00:21:12.910 --> 00:21:13.894
And then the second day,

700
00:21:14.051 --> 00:21:17.879
these goons came to the house because the market had crashed.

701
00:21:17.894 --> 00:21:18.301
And these

702
00:21:18.738 --> 00:21:19.738
Middle Eastern guys in L.A.

703
00:21:19.988 --> 00:21:21.316
thought that I had screwed them over.

704
00:21:21.941 --> 00:21:26.941
And so we went through the craziest stories where I thought she would leave for sure.

705
00:21:26.957 --> 00:21:27.988
And she stuck around.

706
00:21:27.989 --> 00:21:28.113
and

707
00:21:28.886 --> 00:21:29.947
Literally saved my life.

708
00:21:29.967 --> 00:21:31.929
And here we are four kids later,

709
00:21:33.031 --> 00:21:34.410
married 15 years.

710
00:21:34.711 --> 00:21:36.832
And she's the rock of our family.

711
00:21:37.394 --> 00:21:38.394
She's definitely going to heaven.

712
00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:42.043
So would you say that Emily saved your life?

713
00:21:42.582 --> 00:21:42.699
Oh,

714
00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:43.418
a thousand percent.

715
00:21:43.621 --> 00:21:44.183
Absolutely.

716
00:21:44.543 --> 00:21:45.082
Without her,

717
00:21:46.379 --> 00:21:49.707
I would have OD'd in a hotel in Panama or something for sure.

718
00:21:50.910 --> 00:21:52.722
Reminds me a lot of the Jelly Roll story.

719
00:21:53.004 --> 00:21:56.879
Jelly Roll is the brand new hot up and coming country star now at

720
00:21:57.238 --> 00:21:57.519
WWE. we

721
00:21:58.246 --> 00:22:00.689
But he says his wife,

722
00:22:00.768 --> 00:22:01.010
Bunny,

723
00:22:01.011 --> 00:22:02.010
is what saved his life,

724
00:22:02.011 --> 00:22:03.111
got him on the straight and narrow.

725
00:22:03.631 --> 00:22:05.494
And now we see where he's at,

726
00:22:05.553 --> 00:22:05.814
right?

727
00:22:06.236 --> 00:22:08.713
So I just wanted to shout out to Emily.

728
00:22:09.080 --> 00:22:12.283
She's definitely doing God's work for people like us,

729
00:22:12.463 --> 00:22:15.604
because you and I figured out that there's some parallels we have in our lives,

730
00:22:15.650 --> 00:22:15.807
too,

731
00:22:15.869 --> 00:22:16.479
as far as,

732
00:22:16.807 --> 00:22:17.041
you know,

733
00:22:17.104 --> 00:22:18.400
abuse and things of that nature.

734
00:22:18.932 --> 00:22:21.025
I always said this when I tell my story,

735
00:22:21.682 --> 00:22:23.791
people like us is very complicated people.

736
00:22:24.354 --> 00:22:25.932
There's moods that we go through.

737
00:22:26.088 --> 00:22:27.369
There's things that we deal with.

738
00:22:27.886 --> 00:22:31.731
And it takes a very special woman to be able to put up with that,

739
00:22:31.829 --> 00:22:33.532
no matter what the ups and downs are.

740
00:22:34.012 --> 00:22:36.633
I've been married to my current wife now 23 years in October,

741
00:22:36.711 --> 00:22:37.196
I'm sorry,

742
00:22:37.197 --> 00:22:38.118
on August 23rd,

743
00:22:39.118 --> 00:22:40.282
after a few marriages.

744
00:22:40.758 --> 00:22:46.266
She's been the only one that's been able to put that puzzle together and stick with me through all the craziness.

745
00:22:46.672 --> 00:22:48.813
So I just wanted to give the big shout out to Emily.

746
00:22:49.313 --> 00:22:50.204
And your missus,

747
00:22:50.329 --> 00:22:52.407
God bless them.

748
00:22:52.625 --> 00:22:53.157
As men,

749
00:22:53.266 --> 00:22:55.750
we are lost without a good woman behind us,

750
00:22:55.797 --> 00:22:56.329
I feel like.

751
00:22:56.546 --> 00:22:57.787
I would definitely agree.

752
00:22:58.688 --> 00:22:58.969
Now,

753
00:22:59.709 --> 00:23:00.110
after that,

754
00:23:00.170 --> 00:23:01.949
let's send way back into the wise guys,

755
00:23:01.992 --> 00:23:04.973
because now that you this big up and coming name on Wall Street,

756
00:23:05.278 --> 00:23:06.520
you're making all this money.

757
00:23:07.199 --> 00:23:10.817
You figure out that you kind of crossed the mob unintentionally.

758
00:23:11.543 --> 00:23:14.848
So won't you tell us about how you got connected up with the mob and what took place?

759
00:23:15.582 --> 00:23:15.832
Yeah.

760
00:23:16.051 --> 00:23:17.770
So I go to this poker,

761
00:23:17.771 --> 00:23:21.489
this high end poker game in Manhattan.

762
00:23:21.614 --> 00:23:23.317
My buddy introduced me to and he goes,

763
00:23:23.348 --> 00:23:23.489
yeah,

764
00:23:23.490 --> 00:23:25.332
there's a stock guy there you should meet.

765
00:23:25.442 --> 00:23:26.176
He's got a lot of

766
00:23:26.177 --> 00:23:43.014
of business he's heard about you so i go and uh i meet this guy and he was the most um cool collected guy very methodical and almost i was never really scared of anybody but this guy he was so chill so demeaning that

767
00:23:43.139 --> 00:23:52.639
uh i knew he was you know somebody not to mess with and basically he wanted me to do his his deals um

768
00:23:53.046 --> 00:23:56.750
And basically what I did in the stock market is I owned investor relations firms.

769
00:23:57.553 --> 00:24:01.412
So what I did is I was essentially the marketing arm for OTC companies,

770
00:24:01.498 --> 00:24:03.053
kind of like the movie Wolf of Wall Street.

771
00:24:03.576 --> 00:24:06.342
But I didn't do anything criminal or anything else.

772
00:24:06.482 --> 00:24:10.076
I was just marketing these OTC companies for investors.

773
00:24:11.748 --> 00:24:18.435
And what you wouldn't believe in the OTC world is that there's a lot of organized crime and a lot of crazy things that go happen.

774
00:24:18.873 --> 00:24:21.654
I saw guys doing pump and dumps and you name it.

775
00:24:21.670 --> 00:24:22.139
It's just so...

776
00:24:22.582 --> 00:24:24.764
a crazy world back then.

777
00:24:25.546 --> 00:24:26.145
So once

778
00:24:26.866 --> 00:24:28.167
I guess this guy got ahold of you,

779
00:24:28.710 --> 00:24:28.967
you know,

780
00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:30.909
you thought you was going to be in and be out.

781
00:24:31.753 --> 00:24:34.135
Did you get deeper into the mob to what you wanted to,

782
00:24:34.432 --> 00:24:35.854
because you felt like you had to be there?

783
00:24:35.893 --> 00:24:36.854
Cause this guy sounded like,

784
00:24:36.878 --> 00:24:36.995
Hey,

785
00:24:37.073 --> 00:24:38.643
you don't do what we want you to do.

786
00:24:38.800 --> 00:24:39.471
That's going to be it.

787
00:24:39.925 --> 00:24:40.112
Yeah.

788
00:24:40.237 --> 00:24:40.503
You know,

789
00:24:40.643 --> 00:24:42.300
and as a kid,

790
00:24:42.346 --> 00:24:43.175
not having a father,

791
00:24:43.503 --> 00:24:43.925
um,

792
00:24:44.331 --> 00:24:44.768
this guy,

793
00:24:44.800 --> 00:24:45.846
I call him Sal in the book.

794
00:24:46.159 --> 00:24:48.393
He kind of took me on as,

795
00:24:48.487 --> 00:24:48.768
uh,

796
00:24:49.134 --> 00:24:49.895
as a mentor,

797
00:24:49.975 --> 00:24:50.235
really.

798
00:24:50.455 --> 00:24:50.776
And,

799
00:24:50.955 --> 00:24:51.217
you know,

800
00:24:51.237 --> 00:24:52.737
he's always nice to me and like,

801
00:24:52.738 --> 00:24:52.979
hey,

802
00:24:53.037 --> 00:24:53.280
you know,

803
00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:56.080
building me up and and wanting me on his team.

804
00:24:56.260 --> 00:24:58.366
And so we kind of started a friendship like that.

805
00:24:58.367 --> 00:25:00.006
It was like a mentor kind of friendship.

806
00:25:00.248 --> 00:25:00.483
And,

807
00:25:00.662 --> 00:25:00.905
you know,

808
00:25:00.906 --> 00:25:01.928
I learned a lot from him,

809
00:25:02.608 --> 00:25:08.733
but they definitely wanted to keep me doing their deals and working with them for sure.

810
00:25:09.092 --> 00:25:09.217
Now,

811
00:25:09.233 --> 00:25:10.108
besides the mob,

812
00:25:10.109 --> 00:25:12.280
I think you also had connections with the Hells Angels.

813
00:25:12.311 --> 00:25:13.233
How did that take place?

814
00:25:13.930 --> 00:25:14.090
Yeah,

815
00:25:14.270 --> 00:25:14.390
so

816
00:25:14.990 --> 00:25:19.350
I was a 22-year-old kid working at Powerhouse Gym on the beach in Pacific Beach.

817
00:25:19.933 --> 00:25:21.995
My neighbor was this big,

818
00:25:22.034 --> 00:25:22.870
tatted-out dude.

819
00:25:22.871 --> 00:25:24.511
I call him Big X in the book.

820
00:25:25.089 --> 00:25:26.354
He lived across the street from me,

821
00:25:26.393 --> 00:25:27.472
so we'd always say what's up.

822
00:25:27.534 --> 00:25:31.136
I didn't even know at the time he was president of the Hells Angels.

823
00:25:31.448 --> 00:25:32.339
We just became cool.

824
00:25:33.370 --> 00:25:34.214
Him and his boys,

825
00:25:34.401 --> 00:25:34.995
the Hells Angels,

826
00:25:35.042 --> 00:25:36.417
would want to come to the gym.

827
00:25:36.495 --> 00:25:37.776
I just let them work out for free.

828
00:25:37.808 --> 00:25:38.136
I'm like,

829
00:25:38.183 --> 00:25:38.339
dude,

830
00:25:38.370 --> 00:25:39.011
let's go.

831
00:25:39.979 --> 00:25:40.370
and

832
00:25:40.761 --> 00:25:41.698
I let him I let him

833
00:25:41.938 --> 00:25:42.779
work out for free.

834
00:25:42.879 --> 00:25:43.981
They became my boys.

835
00:25:44.080 --> 00:25:47.162
And I almost like wanted to prospect because I loved,

836
00:25:47.705 --> 00:25:50.510
I loved the sense of community they had and the brother,

837
00:25:51.026 --> 00:25:52.486
the brother ship they had was,

838
00:25:52.768 --> 00:25:53.432
was amazing.

839
00:25:53.433 --> 00:25:54.533
And I respected it.

840
00:25:55.611 --> 00:25:58.291
And then one of the brothers I was close with passed away.

841
00:25:59.182 --> 00:26:03.401
So I showed up to his memorial and I was like the only civilian there.

842
00:26:03.619 --> 00:26:03.994
And it got,

843
00:26:04.197 --> 00:26:06.244
it got me a lot of respect with the members.

844
00:26:06.838 --> 00:26:07.963
And I just love the club,

845
00:26:07.979 --> 00:26:08.244
you know,

846
00:26:08.291 --> 00:26:08.947
especially from

847
00:26:09.142 --> 00:26:11.405
coming from a broken home or like foster care.

848
00:26:12.024 --> 00:26:14.426
It was the only sense of family I'd had in my twenties.

849
00:26:14.469 --> 00:26:15.770
And I really loved the club.

850
00:26:17.008 --> 00:26:18.868
I was not good at riding motorcycles though.

851
00:26:19.696 --> 00:26:20.071
And,

852
00:26:20.516 --> 00:26:20.790
and then,

853
00:26:21.118 --> 00:26:21.336
you know,

854
00:26:21.391 --> 00:26:26.211
my path took a different turn because I got onto wall street in 1999.

855
00:26:26.305 --> 00:26:29.008
And so I left the gym and kind of left that life behind.

856
00:26:29.305 --> 00:26:36.071
And then I find out I go into wall street and here I am kind of back dealing with wise guys again.

857
00:26:36.305 --> 00:26:36.602
And,

858
00:26:37.086 --> 00:26:38.024
and I got used to it.

859
00:26:38.102 --> 00:26:42.765
And it was weird because I used to like dealing with wise guys better than guys on Wall Street,

860
00:26:42.808 --> 00:26:44.867
because guys on Wall Street will stab you in the back.

861
00:26:45.371 --> 00:26:45.750
Whereas,

862
00:26:45.808 --> 00:26:46.093
you know,

863
00:26:46.171 --> 00:26:47.773
the Hells Angels or the mob,

864
00:26:48.312 --> 00:26:50.531
they have rules and they have an organization.

865
00:26:50.578 --> 00:26:51.796
And if you cross those rules,

866
00:26:51.859 --> 00:26:53.078
there's there's implications.

867
00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:53.515
And for me,

868
00:26:54.312 --> 00:26:57.125
I was always an honest guy and I always did what I said I would do.

869
00:26:57.687 --> 00:27:02.125
And and so that got me the wrong people wanted to hire me,

870
00:27:02.126 --> 00:27:02.859
I guess you could say.

871
00:27:03.593 --> 00:27:05.531
So you've come across two.

872
00:27:05.918 --> 00:27:07.720
of the most dangerous groups that there is in the world.

873
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:11.104
Hells Angels has been labeled the most dangerous motorcycle club that there is.

874
00:27:11.764 --> 00:27:12.666
I live in California,

875
00:27:12.725 --> 00:27:13.166
so do you.

876
00:27:13.346 --> 00:27:14.408
I live in Palmdale.

877
00:27:15.166 --> 00:27:17.526
We start getting nervous because over the last couple months,

878
00:27:17.527 --> 00:27:18.330
for whatever reason,

879
00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:20.315
the Vagos has started coming into the area.

880
00:27:20.494 --> 00:27:24.276
They did a crime up here where they shot somebody on the freeway in 2014.

881
00:27:24.651 --> 00:27:25.322
So we're like,

882
00:27:25.369 --> 00:27:27.072
where the hell's Angels are going to show up?

883
00:27:28.776 --> 00:27:29.682
After dealing with them,

884
00:27:29.760 --> 00:27:29.994
though,

885
00:27:30.906 --> 00:27:33.029
Did you ever feel scared that,

886
00:27:33.228 --> 00:27:33.548
you know,

887
00:27:34.009 --> 00:27:35.191
we're making these trades and man,

888
00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:37.831
if I do this wrong and something goes haywire,

889
00:27:37.832 --> 00:27:38.413
they lose money.

890
00:27:38.492 --> 00:27:39.413
They may come and kill me.

891
00:27:39.453 --> 00:27:40.937
Did you ever feel like your life was in danger?

892
00:27:40.976 --> 00:27:42.499
Yeah.

893
00:27:42.656 --> 00:27:42.976
You know,

894
00:27:43.562 --> 00:27:48.960
I had a really good relationship with the HAs and I never really felt a danger.

895
00:27:49.179 --> 00:27:50.038
But I'll tell you,

896
00:27:50.820 --> 00:27:54.304
there was definitely some instances where deals went wrong,

897
00:27:54.695 --> 00:27:55.976
like I was talking about earlier.

898
00:27:56.507 --> 00:28:00.117
And these guys sent people to my house and I was just a normal guy at that point.

899
00:28:00.606 --> 00:28:02.288
And basically in 2008,

900
00:28:02.289 --> 00:28:03.429
when the stock market crashed,

901
00:28:03.468 --> 00:28:07.654
I did a deal for these guys in LA and I met them down here in San Diego.

902
00:28:07.834 --> 00:28:08.713
They're all tatted out.

903
00:28:08.714 --> 00:28:09.814
They look kind of sketchy.

904
00:28:10.619 --> 00:28:11.494
They paid me cash.

905
00:28:11.533 --> 00:28:12.259
I did the deal.

906
00:28:12.658 --> 00:28:13.338
It was a day.

907
00:28:13.541 --> 00:28:14.322
I can't even make this up.

908
00:28:14.338 --> 00:28:16.720
It was a day that 2008 when the market crashed,

909
00:28:17.439 --> 00:28:19.830
these guys weren't educated in the stock market at all.

910
00:28:20.002 --> 00:28:24.642
So they assume that I burned their deal and it was like the whole market crashed.

911
00:28:25.127 --> 00:28:26.127
So the next day,

912
00:28:26.533 --> 00:28:26.955
uh,

913
00:28:26.956 --> 00:28:29.189
I'm at the gym and I'm getting my ass to Martin.

914
00:28:29.190 --> 00:28:29.861
and I had this black.

915
00:28:30.006 --> 00:28:31.246
beautiful Aston Martin at the time.

916
00:28:31.866 --> 00:28:33.227
And in my window,

917
00:28:33.266 --> 00:28:37.587
I saw a reflection of a dude in an SUV and I just knew something was up.

918
00:28:38.251 --> 00:28:40.587
And so I get in my ass and it's super low to the ground.

919
00:28:40.588 --> 00:28:41.227
And this big,

920
00:28:41.626 --> 00:28:42.727
he looked like a football player.

921
00:28:42.728 --> 00:28:43.352
He was big,

922
00:28:43.430 --> 00:28:44.532
tatted out black dude.

923
00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:45.430
And he goes,

924
00:28:46.071 --> 00:28:46.368
and he goes,

925
00:28:46.369 --> 00:28:46.571
are you,

926
00:28:46.774 --> 00:28:47.493
are you Ben?

927
00:28:47.508 --> 00:28:47.852
And I go,

928
00:28:48.071 --> 00:28:48.196
no,

929
00:28:48.524 --> 00:28:48.774
I go,

930
00:28:48.868 --> 00:28:49.946
my name's Doug Stevens.

931
00:28:49.947 --> 00:28:50.227
He goes,

932
00:28:50.274 --> 00:28:50.727
you sure?

933
00:28:50.837 --> 00:28:51.055
I go,

934
00:28:51.212 --> 00:28:52.149
I know my fucking name,

935
00:28:52.165 --> 00:28:52.618
motherfucker.

936
00:28:53.446 --> 00:28:54.087
Excuse my language.

937
00:28:54.446 --> 00:28:55.493
And he says,

938
00:28:55.524 --> 00:28:55.852
okay.

939
00:28:55.977 --> 00:28:58.727
And then right then I called my wife and that was my girlfriend.

940
00:28:58.852 --> 00:28:59.477
She'd moved in.

941
00:28:59.734 --> 00:29:00.374
a day before,

942
00:29:00.434 --> 00:29:00.775
mind you,

943
00:29:01.014 --> 00:29:01.574
I called her.

944
00:29:01.594 --> 00:29:01.895
I said,

945
00:29:02.035 --> 00:29:03.574
if some guys come by the house,

946
00:29:03.713 --> 00:29:04.533
don't answer the door.

947
00:29:04.916 --> 00:29:05.334
She goes,

948
00:29:05.416 --> 00:29:07.154
there was two guys here just looking for you.

949
00:29:07.893 --> 00:29:08.018
So

950
00:29:08.557 --> 00:29:09.658
I literally called the,

951
00:29:09.659 --> 00:29:10.916
I called my local police department,

952
00:29:10.979 --> 00:29:11.635
scared shitless.

953
00:29:12.197 --> 00:29:12.533
And,

954
00:29:12.713 --> 00:29:13.080
um,

955
00:29:13.674 --> 00:29:15.971
I called the police department and they came out and they're like,

956
00:29:16.018 --> 00:29:16.252
Ben,

957
00:29:16.643 --> 00:29:22.158
you live so far here that you got to get a gun because by the time we get out here,

958
00:29:22.315 --> 00:29:22.987
you could be dead.

959
00:29:23.898 --> 00:29:25.800
I'd never even picked up a firearm in my life.

960
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:26.281
So I go,

961
00:29:26.601 --> 00:29:26.841
you know,

962
00:29:26.882 --> 00:29:28.062
and I'm balling at the time.

963
00:29:28.081 --> 00:29:31.386
So I buy this nine millimeter Kimber for like 1200 bucks.

964
00:29:31.387 --> 00:29:32.468
I put a laser on it.

965
00:29:32.804 --> 00:29:33.866
Never even shot the thing.

966
00:29:33.867 --> 00:29:34.788
Uh,

967
00:29:34.789 --> 00:29:36.648
I just kept it by the front door and I,

968
00:29:36.749 --> 00:29:37.015
and I,

969
00:29:37.132 --> 00:29:37.952
and a video camera.

970
00:29:38.312 --> 00:29:39.812
And one of my buddies was a detective.

971
00:29:39.813 --> 00:29:40.030
He goes,

972
00:29:40.109 --> 00:29:41.140
put a video camera there.

973
00:29:41.280 --> 00:29:41.718
That way,

974
00:29:41.890 --> 00:29:42.155
if you,

975
00:29:42.234 --> 00:29:43.077
if anything happens,

976
00:29:43.124 --> 00:29:43.937
you've got it all on video.

977
00:29:44.843 --> 00:29:46.702
So literally two weeks later,

978
00:29:46.874 --> 00:29:47.874
I come home from the gym.

979
00:29:47.905 --> 00:29:48.655
I'm in the shower.

980
00:29:48.702 --> 00:29:51.421
I got this big wooden door and my wife,

981
00:29:51.890 --> 00:29:52.687
she comes right upstairs.

982
00:29:52.702 --> 00:29:53.405
She says they're back.

983
00:29:53.794 --> 00:29:54.155
and I go

984
00:29:55.416 --> 00:29:56.317
I just lost it

985
00:29:56.717 --> 00:29:58.778
I really I threw on some Adidas pants

986
00:29:59.321 --> 00:30:21.606
I freaking grabbed my gun loaded it hit play on the record swung the door open scared out of my mind mind you my hand was shaking and I freaking put this gun up on it I had the guy I had the drop on him he literally when we pulled the video and we you know screenshot it like watched it slowly he was pulling a strap out while I had the

987
00:30:21.637 --> 00:30:22.309
laser on him.

988
00:30:24.087 --> 00:30:25.208
And I was so scared.

989
00:30:25.249 --> 00:30:26.490
And then after they left,

990
00:30:27.152 --> 00:30:31.913
like I walked them out with the gun in my waistband and I walked out to their car.

991
00:30:31.953 --> 00:30:33.054
They had no plates on there.

992
00:30:33.117 --> 00:30:35.796
They're clearly there to rough me up or whatever.

993
00:30:36.742 --> 00:30:36.859
So

994
00:30:37.882 --> 00:30:43.945
I literally got into my Porsche at that time and I had the gun on my lap and I'm driving to my neighborhood looking for them because I lost it.

995
00:30:43.946 --> 00:30:44.585
I was so mad.

996
00:30:45.158 --> 00:30:48.699
And thank God I never found them because I probably would have shot the car up,

997
00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:49.279
to be honest.

998
00:30:49.280 --> 00:30:51.400
I was so angry because of that situation.

999
00:30:51.580 --> 00:30:55.021
Those guys went back and told the Middle Eastern guys that I had shot.

1000
00:30:55.303 --> 00:30:56.178
I had shot at them.

1001
00:30:56.818 --> 00:30:56.943
So

1002
00:30:57.342 --> 00:31:05.295
I went from this like normal guy in the OTC world to all of a sudden I'm like a quote unquote gangster because I shot at people.

1003
00:31:05.576 --> 00:31:09.217
And the rumor got out that I had like shot at these guys when I didn't.

1004
00:31:09.623 --> 00:31:11.639
So it was kind of accidental good marketing,

1005
00:31:11.670 --> 00:31:11.967
I guess,

1006
00:31:11.982 --> 00:31:13.217
because people wouldn't screw me over.

1007
00:31:13.889 --> 00:31:14.092
but

1008
00:31:14.326 --> 00:31:15.007
It never happened.

1009
00:31:15.027 --> 00:31:15.848
I didn't shoot at anybody.

1010
00:31:17.828 --> 00:31:17.950
So

1011
00:31:18.852 --> 00:31:21.973
I'm being very deliberate in the questions I'm asking because I can go real deep.

1012
00:31:22.094 --> 00:31:27.039
I've read all 17 chapters of the book just to let the audience know how good this is.

1013
00:31:27.618 --> 00:31:29.024
I've been podcasting nine years.

1014
00:31:29.102 --> 00:31:30.344
I've done this show now three.

1015
00:31:30.422 --> 00:31:34.172
So this is the only show I've ever had where I've had to sit down and read books that people's written.

1016
00:31:34.844 --> 00:31:36.188
Out of all the books I've read,

1017
00:31:36.235 --> 00:31:37.516
that has been very intriguing.

1018
00:31:37.517 --> 00:31:38.735
And there's been a lot of them,

1019
00:31:38.891 --> 00:31:39.157
right,

1020
00:31:39.266 --> 00:31:41.375
that I probably could have polished off in that day.

1021
00:31:42.490 --> 00:31:46.134
Your book is the only one that I started reading and didn't put it down.

1022
00:31:46.294 --> 00:31:47.134
I think I was like,

1023
00:31:47.595 --> 00:31:47.736
what,

1024
00:31:47.833 --> 00:31:48.455
two hours?

1025
00:31:48.498 --> 00:31:49.017
And I'm like,

1026
00:31:49.095 --> 00:31:50.380
I'm at the 17th chapter.

1027
00:31:51.802 --> 00:31:52.841
It was a page turner.

1028
00:31:52.842 --> 00:31:55.623
And I thought at some point my daughter would just say,

1029
00:31:55.724 --> 00:31:56.083
shut up.

1030
00:31:56.162 --> 00:31:56.326
Right.

1031
00:31:56.341 --> 00:31:57.685
Because she all the time,

1032
00:31:57.724 --> 00:31:58.654
let me read you this book.

1033
00:31:58.655 --> 00:31:59.419
And it bounces off you.

1034
00:31:59.420 --> 00:31:59.982
And pretty soon she's like,

1035
00:31:59.983 --> 00:32:00.169
okay,

1036
00:32:00.248 --> 00:32:00.435
dad,

1037
00:32:00.466 --> 00:32:01.310
don't you got something else to do?

1038
00:32:01.810 --> 00:32:03.044
But she was sitting here going,

1039
00:32:03.451 --> 00:32:03.654
okay,

1040
00:32:03.748 --> 00:32:04.373
next chapter.

1041
00:32:05.013 --> 00:32:05.232
Okay.

1042
00:32:07.248 --> 00:32:11.716
So that's why I'm being deliberate because I want everybody to go and read this book.

1043
00:32:12.898 --> 00:32:14.959
I think at this point you're you're out.

1044
00:32:15.020 --> 00:32:16.483
You're starting to change your life around.

1045
00:32:16.484 --> 00:32:18.885
You end up taking a little vacation with Emily over to

1046
00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:22.346
Mexico over in Cabo San Lucas,

1047
00:32:22.385 --> 00:32:23.065
which I've been there.

1048
00:32:23.166 --> 00:32:24.409
Very beautiful place to be.

1049
00:32:25.674 --> 00:32:31.143
Somehow you guys befriend a woman whose husband is like part of the head of the similar cartel.

1050
00:32:31.237 --> 00:32:32.096
Can you tell us about that?

1051
00:32:33.066 --> 00:32:33.427
Yeah,

1052
00:32:33.507 --> 00:32:35.708
and like I always say you cannot make up my life

1053
00:32:36.589 --> 00:32:46.056
So we moved to Mexico after my crash through the through my neighbor's roof first out of the Nicaragua And that's a whole nother story and I left Nicaragua because I'm so crazy and I got a lot of trouble there

1054
00:32:46.501 --> 00:32:47.439
But we end up in Cabo.

1055
00:32:47.681 --> 00:32:48.884
I know nobody there.

1056
00:32:49.244 --> 00:32:54.884
I shaved my head like I said is my Britney Spears breakdown So I literally shaved my head and we're in Cabo.

1057
00:32:54.962 --> 00:32:56.525
We put our kids in private school

1058
00:32:56.962 --> 00:32:58.228
I knew nobody there at the time.

1059
00:32:58.229 --> 00:32:59.447
This was 2014

1060
00:33:00.110 --> 00:33:03.173
And my wife is raving about this friend she met at school,

1061
00:33:03.234 --> 00:33:04.716
this beautiful Venezuelan lady.

1062
00:33:05.236 --> 00:33:06.337
You got to meet her husband.

1063
00:33:06.396 --> 00:33:08.197
He's got an off-road racing team.

1064
00:33:08.220 --> 00:33:09.259
You guys will hit it off.

1065
00:33:09.962 --> 00:33:10.079
So

1066
00:33:10.837 --> 00:33:12.361
I call him Carlos in my book.

1067
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:14.220
And I go out.

1068
00:33:14.806 --> 00:33:15.603
Carlos invites me.

1069
00:33:15.604 --> 00:33:15.845
He goes,

1070
00:33:15.868 --> 00:33:17.126
let's go have some wine together.

1071
00:33:17.251 --> 00:33:19.282
So he tells me the address.

1072
00:33:19.376 --> 00:33:19.954
I show up.

1073
00:33:20.095 --> 00:33:21.189
And this place is closed.

1074
00:33:21.236 --> 00:33:23.407
But they opened it up just for me and him,

1075
00:33:23.939 --> 00:33:24.798
which was kind of weird,

1076
00:33:24.829 --> 00:33:25.079
right?

1077
00:33:26.350 --> 00:33:26.971
I go in there,

1078
00:33:26.972 --> 00:33:28.472
I'm showing him my car crash,

1079
00:33:28.552 --> 00:33:30.173
telling him my crazy stories.

1080
00:33:30.933 --> 00:33:34.378
He feels comfortable enough at that point to tell me what he really does.

1081
00:33:34.660 --> 00:33:36.121
And then he goes into the city and goes,

1082
00:33:36.183 --> 00:33:36.339
look,

1083
00:33:36.582 --> 00:33:36.777
listen,

1084
00:33:36.824 --> 00:33:36.964
Ben,

1085
00:33:36.980 --> 00:33:37.878
I'm from Sinaloa.

1086
00:33:38.441 --> 00:33:40.027
I got these routes,

1087
00:33:40.824 --> 00:33:41.105
you know,

1088
00:33:41.347 --> 00:33:45.042
basically he tells me his whole routes and what he does for a living.

1089
00:33:45.652 --> 00:33:46.417
And he goes,

1090
00:33:46.683 --> 00:33:46.996
he goes,

1091
00:33:47.074 --> 00:33:47.230
Ben,

1092
00:33:47.246 --> 00:33:48.886
do you want a part of this enterprise?

1093
00:33:48.917 --> 00:33:49.371
And I said,

1094
00:33:49.699 --> 00:33:50.089
I said,

1095
00:33:50.308 --> 00:33:50.730
Carlos,

1096
00:33:50.886 --> 00:33:52.152
I like my head where it's at.

1097
00:33:52.214 --> 00:33:53.199
And that was kind of our joke.

1098
00:33:53.742 --> 00:33:54.743
And he started laughing.

1099
00:33:54.784 --> 00:33:55.104
I said,

1100
00:33:55.164 --> 00:33:55.444
dude,

1101
00:33:55.445 --> 00:33:55.564
no,

1102
00:33:55.723 --> 00:33:56.545
I'm good,

1103
00:33:56.565 --> 00:33:56.684
bro.

1104
00:33:56.825 --> 00:33:57.125
Like,

1105
00:33:57.506 --> 00:33:57.786
you know,

1106
00:33:58.008 --> 00:33:59.149
he offered me a position.

1107
00:33:59.790 --> 00:34:03.508
And then what happened is we were working out together.

1108
00:34:04.032 --> 00:34:04.735
I got to tell you,

1109
00:34:04.736 --> 00:34:06.055
I've been around HAs.

1110
00:34:06.157 --> 00:34:07.516
I've been around mobsters.

1111
00:34:08.477 --> 00:34:08.954
This guy,

1112
00:34:09.040 --> 00:34:09.500
Carlos,

1113
00:34:09.540 --> 00:34:10.633
had some bullet holes.

1114
00:34:10.883 --> 00:34:11.258
He was,

1115
00:34:11.758 --> 00:34:11.961
one,

1116
00:34:12.133 --> 00:34:13.305
the most soft-spoken,

1117
00:34:13.821 --> 00:34:14.024
like,

1118
00:34:14.086 --> 00:34:14.821
calm man,

1119
00:34:14.868 --> 00:34:15.727
which was really crazy.

1120
00:34:16.461 --> 00:34:18.930
And we hit it off.

1121
00:34:18.993 --> 00:34:20.915
We'd go out to double dates all the time.

1122
00:34:22.138 --> 00:34:23.660
And then what happened was I,

1123
00:34:23.900 --> 00:34:25.401
my wife was over Cabo.

1124
00:34:25.522 --> 00:34:25.842
She's like,

1125
00:34:25.862 --> 00:34:26.702
I can't do it anymore.

1126
00:34:26.721 --> 00:34:27.682
I'm a California girl.

1127
00:34:28.565 --> 00:34:28.705
They,

1128
00:34:29.104 --> 00:34:29.225
we,

1129
00:34:29.226 --> 00:34:30.784
we got our house here in San Diego.

1130
00:34:30.987 --> 00:34:31.127
Her,

1131
00:34:31.284 --> 00:34:31.987
her dad did.

1132
00:34:32.205 --> 00:34:32.651
And,

1133
00:34:32.705 --> 00:34:33.026
um,

1134
00:34:33.346 --> 00:34:33.471
I,

1135
00:34:33.666 --> 00:34:34.870
I still had kind of heat.

1136
00:34:34.948 --> 00:34:36.729
Like a lot of my friends were still getting arrested.

1137
00:34:37.315 --> 00:34:40.174
So I wanted to be in Mexico,

1138
00:34:40.518 --> 00:34:41.659
but close enough to the family.

1139
00:34:41.690 --> 00:34:43.143
So I got a beach house,

1140
00:34:43.362 --> 00:34:43.487
uh,

1141
00:34:43.596 --> 00:34:45.846
just outside Tijuana and I would,

1142
00:34:45.924 --> 00:34:49.190
I would cross the border every freaking few days to go see the family.

1143
00:34:49.862 --> 00:34:50.268
and

1144
00:34:50.830 --> 00:34:51.671
My buddy Carlos,

1145
00:34:51.751 --> 00:34:52.252
he left

1146
00:34:52.632 --> 00:34:55.975
Cabo and moved up into TJ,

1147
00:34:56.397 --> 00:34:57.698
one of those high-rises right there.

1148
00:34:58.339 --> 00:34:59.178
And it was funny.

1149
00:35:00.600 --> 00:35:05.085
I had an attorney down there that was also in the stock business,

1150
00:35:05.086 --> 00:35:06.764
and that's another story about him.

1151
00:35:07.389 --> 00:35:08.764
But he saw my buddy and goes,

1152
00:35:08.811 --> 00:35:09.014
dude,

1153
00:35:09.015 --> 00:35:09.686
you better be careful.

1154
00:35:09.733 --> 00:35:10.546
That's a made guy.

1155
00:35:10.936 --> 00:35:12.530
And he was really freaked out by him.

1156
00:35:13.749 --> 00:35:15.592
After El Chapo had got arrested...

1157
00:35:16.074 --> 00:35:16.455
Uh,

1158
00:35:16.495 --> 00:35:22.179
they sent for my buddy Carlos up to Mexico city for a meeting and he never came home.

1159
00:35:22.261 --> 00:35:23.941
His wife sent them money,

1160
00:35:24.339 --> 00:35:26.667
his watches liquidated stuff,

1161
00:35:27.269 --> 00:35:28.425
and we never heard from him again.

1162
00:35:28.464 --> 00:35:29.886
And he had five kids like I do.

1163
00:35:30.011 --> 00:35:30.331
We were,

1164
00:35:30.550 --> 00:35:30.785
you know,

1165
00:35:30.847 --> 00:35:31.449
we were boys.

1166
00:35:32.113 --> 00:35:33.269
So do you think they,

1167
00:35:33.270 --> 00:35:33.785
I mean,

1168
00:35:34.113 --> 00:35:35.128
for those who don't know,

1169
00:35:35.316 --> 00:35:36.456
whoever probably should,

1170
00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:38.972
center law cartel is the biggest cartel in Mexico.

1171
00:35:39.175 --> 00:35:41.035
Usually when things happen,

1172
00:35:41.425 --> 00:35:42.566
people get kidnapped or whatever.

1173
00:35:42.581 --> 00:35:44.660
The first thing they say is look at them.

1174
00:35:45.150 --> 00:35:49.235
Do you think that they just turned on him or do you think that he crossed somebody he didn't know?

1175
00:35:49.375 --> 00:35:50.137
What do you think happened?

1176
00:35:50.836 --> 00:35:52.719
I honestly would love to know.

1177
00:35:53.801 --> 00:35:54.317
I miss him.

1178
00:35:54.778 --> 00:35:55.699
He was a cool dude,

1179
00:35:55.762 --> 00:35:58.645
but it's one of those things I think we'll probably never know.

1180
00:35:59.028 --> 00:36:03.012
Here's the craziest story that I didn't put in my book is when I was in Cabo,

1181
00:36:03.574 --> 00:36:03.856
you know,

1182
00:36:04.528 --> 00:36:07.934
I had met this girl that was in real estate trying to help me look for an apartment.

1183
00:36:08.731 --> 00:36:08.918
Well,

1184
00:36:09.028 --> 00:36:12.059
she had a baby with my boy.

1185
00:36:12.152 --> 00:36:13.215
We started telling stories.

1186
00:36:13.216 --> 00:36:13.559
She goes,

1187
00:36:14.012 --> 00:36:14.215
wait.

1188
00:36:14.262 --> 00:36:15.203
are you talking about Carlos?

1189
00:36:15.364 --> 00:36:15.883
And they had a,

1190
00:36:16.325 --> 00:36:17.907
so other than his wife,

1191
00:36:17.926 --> 00:36:18.045
he,

1192
00:36:18.285 --> 00:36:18.746
he had a,

1193
00:36:19.227 --> 00:36:23.950
he had a baby in Cabo and I randomly met her looking for an apartment.

1194
00:36:24.129 --> 00:36:26.075
And it was just like how life is so weird.

1195
00:36:26.575 --> 00:36:27.418
So at that point,

1196
00:36:27.918 --> 00:36:30.160
now you've become friends with Carlos,

1197
00:36:30.606 --> 00:36:33.496
head of the similar cartel and all kinds of regards.

1198
00:36:33.918 --> 00:36:35.825
He's offering you a piece of this action.

1199
00:36:37.012 --> 00:36:40.387
You've come from that life now trying to put that behind you.

1200
00:36:41.106 --> 00:36:41.996
Was it hard?

1201
00:36:42.270 --> 00:37:03.148
to say no did you give it a second thought or did you know that you were done and you thought maybe the cost of your life if you did yeah i was done i i mean i was i'd be his friend and i never judge any of my friends what they do for a living but i wouldn't cross that line i think the only people i'm scared of in this world is probably the sinaloa cartel and my wife those

1202
00:37:03.149 --> 00:37:09.851
are the two so i guess that leads to this out of all the money you've had more money

1203
00:37:10.426 --> 00:37:10.686
in your

1204
00:37:11.187 --> 00:37:13.048
20s than most people see in a lifetime,

1205
00:37:13.730 --> 00:37:15.009
women at your disposal,

1206
00:37:15.673 --> 00:37:18.673
people putting Cristal on ice just because they hear you're coming,

1207
00:37:19.298 --> 00:37:20.072
jet setting.

1208
00:37:20.798 --> 00:37:22.181
One day you wake up and you,

1209
00:37:22.658 --> 00:37:23.501
and to boot,

1210
00:37:23.502 --> 00:37:25.244
a good wife who's sticking by you at this point.

1211
00:37:25.861 --> 00:37:28.681
One day you wake up and just say you want to be done.

1212
00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:33.228
How did you finally decide it was over for you in this type of lifestyle?

1213
00:37:33.290 --> 00:37:33.994
And how did you get out?

1214
00:37:34.847 --> 00:37:34.987
Yeah,

1215
00:37:35.007 --> 00:37:35.968
I think it was really,

1216
00:37:37.331 --> 00:37:41.073
I think it was a combination of the BMW crash and then

1217
00:37:42.335 --> 00:37:45.514
Nicaragua was a whole nother chapter and a whole crazy stuff.

1218
00:37:45.795 --> 00:37:46.202
And then,

1219
00:37:46.381 --> 00:37:46.616
you know,

1220
00:37:46.663 --> 00:37:48.163
after the whole situation in Cabo,

1221
00:37:48.202 --> 00:37:49.483
I moved back to the States.

1222
00:37:49.960 --> 00:37:51.147
I started this Jeep company.

1223
00:37:51.163 --> 00:37:55.131
I got out of the stock market for like at least four or five years.

1224
00:37:55.663 --> 00:37:56.147
I started,

1225
00:37:57.210 --> 00:37:57.928
when I was in Mexico,

1226
00:37:57.929 --> 00:38:02.350
I had a Jeep shipped down and I just started taking my kids off roading every day.

1227
00:38:02.647 --> 00:38:03.475
And so I was like,

1228
00:38:03.907 --> 00:38:05.428
just got into that Jeep culture.

1229
00:38:06.088 --> 00:38:06.488
Um,

1230
00:38:06.729 --> 00:38:07.567
and I decided to,

1231
00:38:07.887 --> 00:38:08.008
to,

1232
00:38:08.227 --> 00:38:08.348
uh,

1233
00:38:08.508 --> 00:38:10.047
start a Jeep company making parts.

1234
00:38:10.149 --> 00:38:12.406
And I met a dude on Instagram that was going to be the CEO.

1235
00:38:13.047 --> 00:38:14.828
I was just supposed to be the finance guy.

1236
00:38:15.352 --> 00:38:16.188
So I asked Benji,

1237
00:38:16.189 --> 00:38:16.313
my,

1238
00:38:16.688 --> 00:38:17.992
my son was five at the time.

1239
00:38:18.031 --> 00:38:18.313
I said,

1240
00:38:18.352 --> 00:38:18.609
Benji,

1241
00:38:18.672 --> 00:38:20.078
what's a good name for a Jeep company?

1242
00:38:20.703 --> 00:38:22.203
And he just looked up at me and he goes,

1243
00:38:22.297 --> 00:38:23.172
skull crushers.

1244
00:38:23.391 --> 00:38:24.469
And I had chills.

1245
00:38:24.470 --> 00:38:24.813
I was like,

1246
00:38:24.891 --> 00:38:25.656
oh my gosh,

1247
00:38:25.688 --> 00:38:26.109
that's it,

1248
00:38:26.219 --> 00:38:26.594
my boy.

1249
00:38:27.250 --> 00:38:27.594
And,

1250
00:38:27.656 --> 00:38:27.766
uh,

1251
00:38:27.875 --> 00:38:31.734
so I tried to buy skull crushers with a C and it was like 18,000 bucks.

1252
00:38:32.135 --> 00:38:34.997
So I ended up putting a K for crushers and it was $11.

1253
00:38:35.759 --> 00:38:37.001
And here we are,

1254
00:38:37.020 --> 00:38:37.919
he's 13 now,

1255
00:38:38.341 --> 00:38:42.005
the company's eight years old and we got parts all around the world and it,

1256
00:38:42.348 --> 00:38:42.583
you know,

1257
00:38:42.584 --> 00:38:43.528
the company blew up.

1258
00:38:43.950 --> 00:38:46.067
And so I focused on that for about eight years.

1259
00:38:46.927 --> 00:38:48.809
And then in the last three years,

1260
00:38:48.919 --> 00:38:51.106
a good buddy of mine in Utah that

1261
00:38:51.700 --> 00:38:54.763
I knew since 99 called me and says,

1262
00:38:54.825 --> 00:38:54.950
Ben,

1263
00:38:54.951 --> 00:38:56.325
you ready to get back in the business?

1264
00:38:56.341 --> 00:38:58.356
You want to learn about doing stock loans?

1265
00:38:59.278 --> 00:39:00.841
And he owned a firm called SLS Group.

1266
00:39:01.055 --> 00:39:01.635
in Utah.

1267
00:39:02.195 --> 00:39:02.535
And so

1268
00:39:02.975 --> 00:39:04.396
I got back into wall street,

1269
00:39:04.416 --> 00:39:05.838
but on my own terms and,

1270
00:39:06.037 --> 00:39:08.236
and just not dealing with the craziness anymore.

1271
00:39:08.256 --> 00:39:08.635
It's like,

1272
00:39:08.916 --> 00:39:10.275
I'm dealing with NASDAQ companies,

1273
00:39:10.353 --> 00:39:11.018
CEOs,

1274
00:39:11.041 --> 00:39:11.416
and like,

1275
00:39:11.417 --> 00:39:11.635
you know,

1276
00:39:11.877 --> 00:39:15.041
I net individuals and I'm having a blast being back,

1277
00:39:15.135 --> 00:39:15.760
but it didn't,

1278
00:39:15.955 --> 00:39:20.314
it took all the stuff that I went through to get me to where I am now.

1279
00:39:20.361 --> 00:39:22.580
And now I'm like a humble father.

1280
00:39:22.596 --> 00:39:23.721
I'm still kind of crazy.

1281
00:39:23.814 --> 00:39:24.814
My wife would probably tell you,

1282
00:39:25.299 --> 00:39:25.518
but,

1283
00:39:25.705 --> 00:39:25.986
um,

1284
00:39:26.361 --> 00:39:27.346
I'm old and boring.

1285
00:39:27.361 --> 00:39:29.564
I'm in bed by like 10 o'clock now watching Dateline.

1286
00:39:31.844 --> 00:39:33.505
So that brings to mind this question too.

1287
00:39:34.066 --> 00:39:37.150
So being that you are back at Wall Street,

1288
00:39:37.247 --> 00:39:38.630
you're doing different stuff now.

1289
00:39:39.615 --> 00:39:44.677
Do you fear that the release of this book may cost people not to have trust in you?

1290
00:39:45.255 --> 00:39:46.872
Or do you think it's going to work the opposite?

1291
00:39:46.873 --> 00:39:48.263
Now you're putting your story out there.

1292
00:39:48.919 --> 00:39:51.076
They know where you're coming from and they can trust you.

1293
00:39:51.701 --> 00:39:51.841
Yeah,

1294
00:39:52.029 --> 00:39:52.357
I mean,

1295
00:39:52.544 --> 00:39:55.904
I got such a good name in the business because I never screwed anybody over.

1296
00:39:56.076 --> 00:39:56.513
So I have,

1297
00:39:56.826 --> 00:39:57.044
you know,

1298
00:39:57.045 --> 00:39:59.326
I've got colleagues that I've known for 25 years.

1299
00:39:59.843 --> 00:40:01.705
or 30 years that bring me business.

1300
00:40:02.446 --> 00:40:03.868
So I got a great name in the business.

1301
00:40:04.266 --> 00:40:05.348
I think telling my story,

1302
00:40:06.391 --> 00:40:07.532
that's a really good question.

1303
00:40:08.192 --> 00:40:11.215
There might be some people that it rubs the wrong way.

1304
00:40:12.051 --> 00:40:14.215
One of my partners did just get out of jail,

1305
00:40:14.801 --> 00:40:16.176
or former friend.

1306
00:40:16.723 --> 00:40:17.145
And

1307
00:40:18.207 --> 00:40:19.020
I guess we'll see.

1308
00:40:19.286 --> 00:40:23.786
But my goal is to turn this into a show like Entourage or Billions or a movie.

1309
00:40:24.129 --> 00:40:25.551
And that's the end goal for the book.

1310
00:40:26.145 --> 00:40:27.723
I really want to get my story out there.

1311
00:40:27.754 --> 00:40:29.004
And if I help...

1312
00:40:29.315 --> 00:40:29.956
one person,

1313
00:40:30.256 --> 00:40:30.516
you know,

1314
00:40:30.576 --> 00:40:30.917
with my,

1315
00:40:31.197 --> 00:40:33.638
with my background or a foster kid or anything else,

1316
00:40:33.842 --> 00:40:34.162
um,

1317
00:40:34.939 --> 00:40:35.181
you know,

1318
00:40:35.303 --> 00:40:35.541
I mean,

1319
00:40:35.580 --> 00:40:37.623
I don't want them to follow my path for it by any means,

1320
00:40:38.107 --> 00:40:41.506
but if it helps somebody know that you could do anything in this world,

1321
00:40:42.349 --> 00:40:44.787
that's the whole point is I came from absolutely nothing,

1322
00:40:44.912 --> 00:40:45.678
made a bunch of money,

1323
00:40:46.599 --> 00:40:46.928
uh,

1324
00:40:46.959 --> 00:40:47.928
humbled myself.

1325
00:40:48.178 --> 00:40:49.193
And now I'm,

1326
00:40:49.568 --> 00:40:49.818
you know,

1327
00:40:49.959 --> 00:40:52.474
back on wall street and on my own terms,

1328
00:40:52.490 --> 00:40:54.006
it's been a crazy journey.

1329
00:40:55.240 --> 00:40:56.334
In your own words.

1330
00:40:57.187 --> 00:41:00.450
What would you say to someone if they popped up on the street and said,

1331
00:41:01.293 --> 00:41:03.395
why should I read your book?

1332
00:41:04.274 --> 00:41:04.434
Well,

1333
00:41:04.754 --> 00:41:05.778
it's pretty simple.

1334
00:41:05.817 --> 00:41:06.739
If you like that movie,

1335
00:41:06.793 --> 00:41:07.739
Wolf of Wall Street,

1336
00:41:08.215 --> 00:41:09.481
or you love true crime,

1337
00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:12.520
this is like Wolf of Wall Street,

1338
00:41:12.981 --> 00:41:14.059
but add the mob.

1339
00:41:14.371 --> 00:41:19.153
A lot of people that read it say it's kind of like Goodfellas meets Wolf of Wall Street.

1340
00:41:19.793 --> 00:41:21.246
I can't even make this stuff up.

1341
00:41:21.371 --> 00:41:21.496
So

1342
00:41:22.153 --> 00:41:23.840
I pretty much will guarantee.

1343
00:41:24.207 --> 00:41:28.853
anybody that reads this book is going to absolutely love it and be tripped out.

1344
00:41:30.412 --> 00:41:33.818
What do you hope readers take away from reading Wall Street Mafia?

1345
00:41:34.654 --> 00:41:35.560
Just that like,

1346
00:41:35.701 --> 00:41:35.998
you know,

1347
00:41:36.459 --> 00:41:36.740
one,

1348
00:41:37.076 --> 00:41:38.545
that anything is possible.

1349
00:41:38.865 --> 00:41:39.123
Two,

1350
00:41:39.420 --> 00:41:43.591
you can fall multiple times in life and it's just about how you get up.

1351
00:41:44.732 --> 00:41:46.404
I've had so many setbacks and

1352
00:41:46.873 --> 00:41:48.529
I've been kicked down so many times,

1353
00:41:48.545 --> 00:41:49.716
been screwed out of millions,

1354
00:41:50.170 --> 00:41:50.810
you name it.

1355
00:41:51.795 --> 00:41:53.763
And I always get back up and I keep fighting and He...

1356
00:41:54.175 --> 00:41:54.435
uh,

1357
00:41:54.976 --> 00:41:55.456
innovating,

1358
00:41:55.457 --> 00:41:55.697
you know,

1359
00:41:56.438 --> 00:41:57.079
in closing,

1360
00:41:57.217 --> 00:42:02.787
is there anything that you would like to say to your fans or readers that may be listening to this today?

1361
00:42:03.241 --> 00:42:03.366
Yeah.

1362
00:42:03.444 --> 00:42:05.248
I'd love to give a shout out to all my,

1363
00:42:05.428 --> 00:42:05.764
uh,

1364
00:42:05.803 --> 00:42:07.366
Jeep people on Facebook.

1365
00:42:07.367 --> 00:42:07.491
Uh,

1366
00:42:07.967 --> 00:42:10.553
they helped me with the color of the book.

1367
00:42:10.584 --> 00:42:13.616
I would ask them during my whole process of writing this book,

1368
00:42:13.912 --> 00:42:15.053
what color I should have,

1369
00:42:15.069 --> 00:42:15.491
how they like the,

1370
00:42:15.492 --> 00:42:15.600
the,

1371
00:42:16.022 --> 00:42:16.412
the,

1372
00:42:16.741 --> 00:42:18.116
the book and this and that.

1373
00:42:18.272 --> 00:42:18.631
And,

1374
00:42:18.725 --> 00:42:19.006
um,

1375
00:42:19.397 --> 00:42:20.459
it was super helpful.

1376
00:42:20.584 --> 00:42:21.662
And I have such a loyal,

1377
00:42:21.897 --> 00:42:22.522
are kind of like dead.

1378
00:42:22.523 --> 00:42:23.508
I don't want to say fan base,

1379
00:42:23.509 --> 00:42:31.218
but I have a loyal group of people in the Jeep community that have my back and follow all my crazy stories and starting skull crushers was,

1380
00:42:31.398 --> 00:42:34.077
was crazy to have a bunch of stories about that as well.

1381
00:42:34.757 --> 00:42:34.882
So,

1382
00:42:35.179 --> 00:42:35.343
uh,

1383
00:42:35.616 --> 00:42:35.804
yeah,

1384
00:42:35.898 --> 00:42:37.038
shout out to everybody that's,

1385
00:42:37.179 --> 00:42:37.304
uh,

1386
00:42:37.624 --> 00:42:38.163
had my back.

1387
00:42:39.018 --> 00:42:39.138
Yeah,

1388
00:42:39.139 --> 00:42:41.041
if you guys are definitely looking for G parts,

1389
00:42:41.140 --> 00:42:41.941
skull crushers,

1390
00:42:42.502 --> 00:42:42.941
go there,

1391
00:42:43.003 --> 00:42:43.203
man.

1392
00:42:43.562 --> 00:42:44.722
All that's going to be in the link.

1393
00:42:45.023 --> 00:42:46.386
I've checked out the website.

1394
00:42:46.984 --> 00:42:48.125
Very well put together.

1395
00:42:48.726 --> 00:42:49.750
So yeah,

1396
00:42:49.751 --> 00:42:49.867
man,

1397
00:42:49.868 --> 00:42:52.890
I'm happy that you came out on the other end of that.

1398
00:42:53.953 --> 00:42:54.335
Thank you.

1399
00:42:54.914 --> 00:42:55.867
Up until your story,

1400
00:42:55.914 --> 00:43:01.617
the most craziest story that I think I've ever had on my podcast was one called Among the Bros at Max Marshall.

1401
00:43:02.726 --> 00:43:03.929
I actually recorded that back in

1402
00:43:04.570 --> 00:43:07.382
April of 27th of 2024.

1403
00:43:07.383 --> 00:43:08.007
Max Marshall was experienced.

1404
00:43:08.008 --> 00:43:10.252
exposing Greek life in colleges.

1405
00:43:11.033 --> 00:43:15.896
And that book went deep with drugs and rape and murder.

1406
00:43:16.177 --> 00:43:16.982
And I was like,

1407
00:43:17.021 --> 00:43:20.943
there is no other story that's going to be crazier than this until you showed up.

1408
00:43:25.427 --> 00:43:26.865
I was going to tell the audience,

1409
00:43:26.912 --> 00:43:30.927
I know some of the things you talked about today seems like it is totally ridiculous.

1410
00:43:31.209 --> 00:43:32.193
I've vetted all of this.

1411
00:43:32.349 --> 00:43:34.318
I've read all 17 chapters of his book.

1412
00:43:35.349 --> 00:43:37.365
It's totally a hundred percent true.

1413
00:43:37.918 --> 00:43:39.218
I thank you for putting this out here.

1414
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:40.739
You and I,

1415
00:43:40.758 --> 00:43:40.960
Ben,

1416
00:43:40.999 --> 00:43:42.559
we have some of the same wavelengths.

1417
00:43:42.860 --> 00:43:44.180
I know you did research to me.

1418
00:43:44.380 --> 00:43:46.840
You probably found a couple of podcasts that I've been on.

1419
00:43:47.301 --> 00:43:49.739
I've always said that if I ever told my story,

1420
00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:50.864
which I do all the time,

1421
00:43:50.880 --> 00:43:51.598
is because

1422
00:43:52.005 --> 00:43:55.059
I'm not doing it to hurt anyone or even to get gratification.

1423
00:43:55.465 --> 00:44:02.856
But I want to help the next person not do the same things I did or made mistakes or how you get out of a domestic abusive relationship.

1424
00:44:03.356 --> 00:44:03.606
and so

1425
00:44:04.559 --> 00:44:06.747
I always tell everybody too whether you are

1426
00:44:07.086 --> 00:44:09.128
a victim or a perpetrator in it,

1427
00:44:09.528 --> 00:44:11.132
every time we tell these stories,

1428
00:44:11.491 --> 00:44:13.831
we have to relive them in our own mind.

1429
00:44:13.851 --> 00:44:15.398
And if it's something painful in that,

1430
00:44:15.874 --> 00:44:22.062
we're doing that just because we care and we want people to be able to get out of the things that they're done.

1431
00:44:22.663 --> 00:44:22.780
So

1432
00:44:23.265 --> 00:44:24.390
I totally appreciate you.

1433
00:44:25.343 --> 00:44:26.124
You are a complete,

1434
00:44:26.125 --> 00:44:28.734
a hundred percent humble guy living the life that you've lived.

1435
00:44:29.109 --> 00:44:29.374
You know,

1436
00:44:29.421 --> 00:44:30.187
most of us talk to you like,

1437
00:44:30.202 --> 00:44:30.452
man,

1438
00:44:30.515 --> 00:44:32.484
you want my story because I've done this.

1439
00:44:32.886 --> 00:44:33.847
You didn't come off like that.

1440
00:44:33.848 --> 00:44:35.067
And that's one reason I called you back.

1441
00:44:35.068 --> 00:44:35.429
Cause I'm like,

1442
00:44:35.430 --> 00:44:36.891
if this dude been through all of this,

1443
00:44:36.911 --> 00:44:38.411
he certainly is a humble guy.

1444
00:44:38.911 --> 00:44:39.372
And you are.

1445
00:44:39.833 --> 00:44:40.755
I've seen your Facebook.

1446
00:44:40.794 --> 00:44:42.036
I've seen your interactions with people.

1447
00:44:42.653 --> 00:44:43.716
They're very grateful and humble.

1448
00:44:43.778 --> 00:44:46.638
So thank you for gracing my face today.

1449
00:44:47.059 --> 00:44:48.458
This won't be the last time.

1450
00:44:48.520 --> 00:44:53.989
I do want to have you come back after the book releases so we can get more deeper into some of the stories that's there.

1451
00:44:54.348 --> 00:44:59.098
I also want you to come back and tell the story about skull crushers more than what we have here,

1452
00:44:59.145 --> 00:45:02.302
because I want people to see that no matter what walk of life you in,

1453
00:45:02.826 --> 00:45:04.588
you can always get out and do something positive.

1454
00:45:04.589 --> 00:45:06.130
That's it,

1455
00:45:06.290 --> 00:45:06.569
dude.

1456
00:45:06.991 --> 00:45:08.393
It's all about how you get up.

1457
00:45:08.530 --> 00:45:09.354
When you get kicked down,

1458
00:45:09.355 --> 00:45:10.194
you get right back up.

1459
00:45:10.315 --> 00:45:12.558
And that's just like the whole premise of the book,

1460
00:45:13.058 --> 00:45:16.839
as well as my wife being by my side and everything else we live through.

1461
00:45:16.901 --> 00:45:18.503
It's just crazy.

1462
00:45:19.456 --> 00:45:19.628
Well,

1463
00:45:19.643 --> 00:45:19.862
Ben,

1464
00:45:19.956 --> 00:45:21.018
I thank you for coming on the show.

1465
00:45:21.690 --> 00:45:25.190
You're always welcome to come back and we definitely will have you come back,

1466
00:45:25.222 --> 00:45:25.425
man.

1467
00:45:25.472 --> 00:45:27.143
So thank you for your time and I appreciate it.

1468
00:45:27.472 --> 00:45:27.784
Thank you,

1469
00:45:27.815 --> 00:45:28.050
David.

1470
00:45:28.065 --> 00:45:28.690
I appreciate you,

1471
00:45:28.706 --> 00:45:28.847
man.

1472
00:45:28.893 --> 00:45:29.331
God bless.

1473
00:45:32.118 --> 00:45:49.821
all right guys that was the incredible ben skull you can get your copy of wall street mafia absolute power corrupts exclusively at amazon and if you are listening to this before august 29th 2025 you can pre-order it right now if it's after his pub date of august

1474
00:45:50.321 --> 00:46:01.665
29th then you can purchase it and either way this book is going to cost you only 9.99 the story that he's telling easily 16 to $20 book.

1475
00:46:02.118 --> 00:46:03.258
So 999,

1476
00:46:03.259 --> 00:46:06.661
the link will be in the show notes of this episode.

1477
00:46:06.957 --> 00:46:07.078
Oh,

1478
00:46:07.141 --> 00:46:07.481
David,

1479
00:46:08.278 --> 00:46:12.200
you can also get signed copies and paperbacks on my website,

1480
00:46:12.201 --> 00:46:13.262
wallstreammafia.com.

1481
00:46:13.481 --> 00:46:14.317
Signed copies,

1482
00:46:14.442 --> 00:46:15.020
paperbacks.

1483
00:46:15.340 --> 00:46:17.020
Go get those,

1484
00:46:17.223 --> 00:46:20.286
and we'll put that link in the show notes to help Ben out.

1485
00:46:20.301 --> 00:46:21.395
He's spreading good news.

1486
00:46:21.895 --> 00:46:23.395
So thank you guys for joining us today.

1487
00:46:23.489 --> 00:46:26.317
I know you have many choices in True Crime and Enemy podcast.

1488
00:46:26.786 --> 00:46:28.926
I am grateful that I am one of your choices,

1489
00:46:29.348 --> 00:46:31.145
that you have been listening to the only

1490
00:46:31.810 --> 00:46:33.692
Three-faceted podcast of its kind.

1491
00:46:34.492 --> 00:46:36.675
Be good to yourself and each other.

1492
00:46:37.015 --> 00:46:37.855
And always remember,

1493
00:46:38.597 --> 00:46:39.496
always stay humble.

1494
00:46:40.121 --> 00:46:42.277
An act of kindness can make someone's day.

1495
00:46:42.902 --> 00:46:45.566
A little love and compassion can go a long way.

1496
00:46:46.207 --> 00:46:50.464
And remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us.

1497
00:46:50.668 --> 00:46:52.589
I'll catch you guys on the next one.

1498
00:46:56.996 --> 00:46:58.152
Don't forget to rate,

1499
00:46:58.230 --> 00:46:58.636
comment,

1500
00:46:58.714 --> 00:46:59.558
and subscribe.

1501
00:47:00.043 --> 00:47:01.183
Join us on social media.

1502
00:47:01.794 --> 00:47:03.494
One link to the link tree has it all.

1503
00:47:04.255 --> 00:47:08.695
Feel free to drop us a line at truecrimeandauthors at gmail.com.

1504
00:47:09.296 --> 00:47:11.734
Cover art and logo designed by Arsliff.

1505
00:47:12.296 --> 00:47:14.656
Sound mixing and editing by David MacLam.

1506
00:47:15.413 --> 00:47:18.241
Intro script by Sophie Wild and David MacLam.

1507
00:47:19.085 --> 00:47:19.663
Theme music,

1508
00:47:20.023 --> 00:47:21.945
Legendary by New Alchemist.

1509
00:47:22.554 --> 00:47:25.523
Introduction and ending credits by Jackie Voice.

1510
00:47:26.304 --> 00:47:28.241
See you next time on True Crime,

1511
00:47:28.523 --> 00:47:28.960
Authors,

1512
00:47:29.226 --> 00:47:30.445
and Extraordinary People.