Show Notes
At just 18 years old, Jacob Diaz went from growing up in extreme poverty and foster care to helping manage a massive cocaine trafficking operation stretching from the Texas border to Florida.
In this episode, Jacob explains how he started as a driver and translator before eventually handling logistics, coordinating drivers, collecting money, managing stash houses, and helping oversee the U.S. side of an operation connected to the Beltrán Leyva organization.
At its peak, the network was moving dozens of kilos a week, with Jacob describing hundreds of kilos moving through individual customers and millions of dollars changing hands.
Jacob breaks down how the operation stayed under the radar, how cocaine moved across the country, what life was like around cartel figures in Mexico, and the mistake that eventually brought federal investigators to his door.
After being convicted on a federal cocaine conspiracy charge and serving more than seven years in prison, Jacob completely changed direction and built a legitimate business helping people repair their credit and access funding.
This is the story of how a teenager went from homelessness and foster care to the center of a multimillion-dollar cocaine operation—and how it all came crashing down.
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0:00 Intro: From Foster Care to Cartel Logistics
6:11 Growing Up in Extreme Poverty in Ocala
11:50 Foster Care, Family Separation & His Mom Disappearing
17:15 Learning to Let Go and Move Forward
20:03 This Episode Is Sponsored By Hims
21:48 Selling to Eat While Homeless
29:00 Selling Out of the Foster Home
34:32 Meeting the Man Who Became His Father Figure
41:54 Getting Involved In The Beltran-Leyva Organization
43:21 This Episode Is Sponsored By NordVPN
44:42 Becoming the U.S. Logistics Manager
47:17 Collecting Cash, Translating & Learning the Business
55:07 Border Routes, Checkpoints & Moving Product
1:00:57 The 70-Year-Old Cartel Mule
1:06:00 Moving 20 Kilos a Week Through Ocala
1:12:36 The Dream of Retiring in Spain
1:22:02 Cartel Security & Acapulco Nightlife
1:27:05 Living on a $30K-a-Month Party Budget
1:32:38 Why They Used One Distributor at a Time
1:38:02 How His Boss Got Back Across the Border
1:44:49 Flying Cash to Mexico
1:50:44 The 2011 Federal Investigation Begins
1:56:31 The Federal Case & Recorded Evidence
2:01:33 Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison
2:06:51 Building a Credit Business in Prison Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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