Ep 4 - I Need a Million Dollars like I Need Air

Summary

Cocaine Air: The TJ Dominguez Story - Episode 4: "I Need a Million Dollars like I Need Air"

Introduction

In Episode 4 of Cocaine Air, titled "I Need a Million Dollars like I Need Air", host Jonathan Walton delves deeper into the harrowing yet captivating journey of TJ Dominguez. This episode chronicles TJ's tumultuous transition from running the world's largest Lamborghini dealership by day to becoming a high-stakes cocaine smuggler for none other than Pablo Escobar by night. Released on June 25, 2025, the episode offers listeners an unfiltered glimpse into TJ's perilous life before and after his incarceration.

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1. The Debt and Kidnapping

The episode kicks off with a flashback to TJ's initial foray into marijuana smuggling. Despite his efforts, the volatile nature of the marijuana trade led to significant financial setbacks. As TJ notes:

[05:21] TJ Dominguez: "We dropped 2,000 pounds of weed on the wrong boats. But I'm responsible for all this marijuana to a Colombian in Colombia."

These failed air drops incurred a debt of $800,000 to a ruthless Colombian associate, culminating in TJ's abduction:

[05:39] Jonathan Walton: "And then suddenly, TJ gets kidnapped by the Colombians who had just murdered his partner. They take him to an abandoned farmhouse in Miami, Dade County."

During his captivity, TJ confronts his captors with unwavering resolve:

[07:32] TJ Dominguez: "Here's what I said to him. Go ahead, kill me. I said, I'm ready to die now."

This bold declaration sets the stage for a high-stakes negotiation where TJ secures an additional 24 hours to settle his debt, understanding that failure would mean not only his death but also that of his family.

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2. Turning Point: Partnership with Luis

Desperate to amass the required funds, TJ reaches out to his friend Luis, a fellow smuggler based in the Bahamas. Initially, Luis is hesitant to part with assets crucial to TJ's operations:

[09:05] TJ Dominguez: "I'm not looking for a hot chick or anything. I'm looking for a lady in a wheelchair because she's going to chill my airplane when we come back."

However, recognizing the gravity of TJ's situation, Luis proposes a lucrative alternative:

[09:33] TJ Dominguez: "He says, yeah, I want to make a million. What I need to do? He says, fly cocaine."

This pivotal moment marks TJ's shift from marijuana to cocaine smuggling, driven by the immense financial rewards and the reduced need for salesmanship:

[15:22] TJ Dominguez: "I'm in the cocaine business, man. Not marijuana anymore. I said, don't fucking call me again."

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3. Establishing a Robust Cocaine Smuggling Operation

Transitioning to cocaine smuggling proves to be TJ's masterstroke. His meticulous nature and dedication to detail set him apart from other smugglers plagued by errors and mismanagement. As he explains:

[18:58] TJ Dominguez: "I've got three airplanes. So now one's going into their shop, one's flying and I got DL and I'm rotating three airplanes. I got no downtime, I'm rocking and rolling."

TJ’s operations in the Bahamas become the backbone of his success. He establishes a secret landing strip, ensuring that each cocaine run is executed flawlessly. His commitment to staying sober and clear-headed further cements his reputation as the "best cocaine pilot in the world."

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4. Becoming the Best: TJ's Methodical Approach

TJ's success is underscored by his flawless track record. While other pilots falter due to negligence or substance abuse, TJ's disciplined approach ensures every mission's success:

[19:54] Jonathan Walton: "That kind of thing just never happens to TJ because he's a level-headed stickler for details. He checks and double checks and triple checks everything all the time. And TJ never loses a planeload of cocaine ever."

His peers respect and fear his efficiency, allowing him to operate without the constant threat of loss or capture that plagues other smugglers.

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5. The Pablo Escobar Interlude

As TJ's reputation flourishes, it catches the attention of Pablo Escobar, the infamous cocaine kingpin. An encounter with Escobar becomes inevitable:

[25:04] Jonathan Walton: "To Pablo, as in Pablo freaking Escobar. The man, the myth, the legend himself. Pablo heard of you, heard of me."

Meeting Pablo is both an honor and a challenge. TJ arrives at Escobar's fortified estate, only to be met with an offer he can't accept:

[27:45] TJ Dominguez: "I said, 'I'm a professional. I don't need all that. I'm a professional.'"

Pablo's initial offer of $3,500 per kilo falls short of TJ's standard:

[28:37] TJ Dominguez: "It's $800,000. Let me tell you something else. I'm not hanging around here for you to count this goddamn money."

Refusing to undersell his value, TJ negotiates for a higher rate, eventually securing $5,000 per kilo for a planeload of 1,000 kilos, totaling $5 million. This agreement not only compensates him adequately but also cements his status within Escobar's operations.

---

6. Overcoming Operational Challenges

Despite securing a deal with Escobar, TJ faces a logistical hurdle: the lack of a suitable landing strip in the Bahamas for high-volume cocaine deliveries. Demonstrating his ingenuity, TJ orchestrates a confrontation with a Bahamian government official to secure the necessary infrastructure:

[32:16] TJ Dominguez: "I want to talk about making you rich. I said, yeah, I want to talk about making you rich."

Through strategic maneuvering, TJ ensures that his aircraft can land discreetly, maintaining the stealth essential for successful smuggling operations.

---

Conclusion

Episode 4 of Cocaine Air masterfully portrays TJ Dominguez's relentless pursuit of financial salvation amidst a web of danger and high stakes. From his initial struggles with debt and kidnapping to establishing a formidable cocaine smuggling empire under Pablo Escobar's shadow, TJ's journey is one of courage, strategy, and unyielding determination. As the episode concludes, listeners are left anticipating the next chapter in TJ's perilous yet lucrative life.

Notable Quotes:

• [07:32] TJ Dominguez: "Go ahead, kill me. I said, I'm ready to die now."

• [15:22] TJ Dominguez: "I'm in the cocaine business, man. Not marijuana anymore."

• [19:54] Jonathan Walton: "TJ never loses a planeload of cocaine ever."

• [28:37] TJ Dominguez: "I'm not hanging around here for you to count this goddamn money."

• [32:16] TJ Dominguez: "I want to talk about making you rich."

This detailed exploration not only underscores the perils of the cocaine trade in the 1980s South Florida but also highlights TJ's exceptional ability to navigate and survive within it. For those eager to delve deeper into TJ Dominguez's riveting tale, Cocaine Air continues to deliver gripping narratives that blend factual events with immersive storytelling.

Transcript

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[TJ Dominguez]

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[Jonathan Walton]

Previously on Cocaine Air.

[TJ Dominguez]

I want a marijuana connection. That's what you can do for me. That would be my pay.

[Jonathan Walton]

And TJ gets his marijuana connection in 1986 in Columbia and then gets an airplane and starts smuggling tons of weed into South Florida. But every trip is not a success.

[TJ Dominguez]

We dropped 2,000 pounds of weed on the wrong boats. But I'm responsible for all this marijuana to a Colombian in Colombia.

[Jonathan Walton]

And then suddenly that Colombian kidnaps TJ and takes him to an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and points a loaded gun to his head. And TJ is not exactly begging for his life.

[TJ Dominguez]

Go ahead, kill me. I said I'm ready to die.

[Jonathan Walton]

I'm Jonathan Walton and this is cocaine. Air the TJ Dominguez Story Episode 4 I Need a Million dollars like I need air.

[TJ Dominguez]

I never wanted to get into cocaine because cocaine were the bad guys. The cocaine world, where the guys are doing all the killing.

[Jonathan Walton]

TJ's right. In the 1980s, the cocaine business in South Florida is fraught with gruesome murders and a diabolical one upsmanship with dealers killing anyone who gets in their way. That hit movie Scarface, about a maniacal cocaine kingpin played indelibly by Al Pacino.

[TJ Dominguez]

Say hello to my little friend.

[Jonathan Walton]

Wasn't just based on one true story. It was based on dozens of true stories. Because selling cocaine in South Florida in the 1980s is a violent and scary avocation. But selling pot, not so much.

[TJ Dominguez]

The marijuana guys were like, like lay back. Oh man, listen, order pizza, that kind of stuff. They weren't really killers. Cocaine guys were. So I stayed away from that whole world because it's not really what I set out to do. I set out to just make $14 million with a sugar mill. Now what happens is, during my marijuana journey, it was like taking two steps forward and three back. Doing airdrops in the middle of the ocean is really romantic. It makes toward a great movie. Having an airplane flying low, which by the way, one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life is throwing out 100 pound bail off an airplane going 180 miles per hour. When there's nothing between you and the ocean, there's only one bale that you're going to be pushing out the door. That's scary as hell because you can go out with it. Airplane doesn't want to fly at that point. It's jumping, it's bouncing, and you're pushing these bales out, you know, so it's pretty scary. So I had so many problems doing all these air drops and I lost so many trips that I started owing a lot of money to a Colombian, a Colombian that was pretty ruthless. And he ends up shooting my partner.

[Jonathan Walton]

Police are investigating a shooting in Miami. It claimed one man's life.

[TJ Dominguez]

Now that he introduced me, I owed him $800,000, right? That's what I owed the guy that introduced me to him. He kidnaps and shoots and kills him. So next thing I know, I get kidnapped.

[Jonathan Walton]

And these Colombian killers, who had just murdered his partner, take TJ to an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of Miami, Dade County.

[TJ Dominguez]

There's no furniture in the house. I remember it really well. A couple of seats. They put me in the kitchen. They had a chair in the middle of the floor. They set me down in the middle of the floor. And the guy says to me, I want my money. And I said. I started to talk, and he said, shut the f up. He said, you ain't no cowboy. This ain't no movie. That's what he said to me. I'll never forget those words. I want my $800,000. So I said, listen. He said, no, you listen. You pay me. And then he hits me with a gun. And I got three or four of these guys around me, hitch me against my money.

[Jonathan Walton]

If you think about it, this kind of feels like karma for TJ because it was only a few years earlier that TJ Was the one kidnapping that banker who'd scammed him out of $100,000. TJ was the one taking him to a deserted farmhouse in Miami, beating him, senselessly, demanding his own money. Now, the shoe was on the other foot, though. The main difference here is that TJ Was never going to actually kill that banker. He just wanted to frighten him to get his money back. But these ruthless Colombian drug guys were 100% planning to murder T.J. they had already killed his partner. And T.J. knew now, sitting in that chair, beaten and bloody, that he was as good as dead. And then suddenly, TJ Pulls a mind of a reverse psychology move on the guy holding a cocked gun to his head, ready to pull the trigger.

[TJ Dominguez]

Here's what I said to him. Go ahead, kill me. I said, I'm ready to die now. He's quiet. He's not expecting that. So I said, now, if you let me talk, I can get you your money. I said, I have two airplanes I own. I got four speedboats worth more than $800,000. Give me 24 hours, and I'll get you your $800,000. I said, I promise. I give you my word. I don't break my word, I'll come back here. If I don't have the money, I'll come back. And then you can finish what you started. I'll come back. So he says, you got 24 hours.

[Jonathan Walton]

A ticking clock is pounding in TJ's ears. He's got 24 hours to come up with $800,000 cash or he's dead. Which, FYI, $800,000 is the equivalent of nearly two and a half million dollars in today's money. And after the Colombians kill tj, they're going to kill his whole family. That's just how they operate. So TJ frantically calls up his friend Luis, a fellow drug smuggler who lives in the Bahamas, who at one point was interested in buying TJ's most prized possession, his number one airplane, Gigi. TJ needs cash more than anything at this point, so now he's willing to sell.

[TJ Dominguez]

So I fly to the Bahamas to meet with Luis. He said, what's going on, T? I said, listen, man, you want to buy Gigi? He says, but that's your bread and butter. I said, I know. He said, you tailored that airplane. What do you want to sell it? I said, I owe $800,000. I'm not going to need the airplane. I'm going to be dead. He goes, what do you mean you're going to be dead?

[Jonathan Walton]

So TJ explains his dire situation with the Colombians and tries to get Luis to give him cash for his plane and his boats. But Luis refuses.

[TJ Dominguez]

He goes, you want to make a million? I said, I need a million dollars like I need air. He says, yeah, I want to make a million. What I need to do? He says, fly cocaine. I said, fly cocaine. I said, what do you mean? He says, you go to my farm, pick up a trip, bring it here, I'll give you a million dollars. I said, well, what would that entail? Because I need to get paid within 24 hours. I don't want to get paid in cocaine. I gotta get paid in dollars. And I can't wait for you to sell the cocaine to get paid, because I'm gonna be dead or a family member of mine's gonna be grabbed. So I have to clear all this out up front, you know, relax.

[Jonathan Walton]

You're gonna get paid.

[TJ Dominguez]

Then I did a little bit of the math. The airplanes that we were flying is eight hours. Six, seven. Eight hours to go down. Six, seven hours to come back up in the length of time that already took me to find Luis. I'm going to be pushing the envelope on the 24 hours. So I don't want this guy to jump the gun and go grab one of my. My relatives. So I said, luis, can we raise him? His handle on the radio, short ham radio, was Tigre. Tigre. Tigre, which is Tiger. Can we try this? 1400, 1400. The frequency that we were transmitting on. Can we try to locate Tokayo on, on, on the radio?

[Jonathan Walton]

Tokayo is the main Colombian TJ owes the 800 grand to.

[TJ Dominguez]

What do you want to locate him for? I'm going to need another 24 hours, man. Because I might not be able to make it here on time. And you give me my money. So he says, okay. So we locate him. Now, Luis was a big name. He was well known in the, in the world. So he, we raised him. He went by Primo. Primo, Primo. I'm Cyclone. Cyclone they used to call me. So Primo says to Tiger, Tigre, he says, tito's working for me. Gotta be doing a job for me. I'm standing good on the note. Give him another 24 hours. So he bought me 24 more hours. So I said, okay, I'm ready to go. He said, you can go now. So fueled the plane, I went down to Colombia, picked up 450 kilos, I think was the first trip I ever did, and flew back. The cocaine landed the next day. Luis called me up. He says, here's your money. I took the million dollars in cash. In cash? Suitcase, man. I was on a Ferrari. Let me tell you something. It didn't fit in the car, okay? He paid me with shit bills, $20 and $50. Bulky stuff. It's not like I think, I don't need all that. It just. It didn't fit in the car, right? And I could tell where you're at in the way of selling by the money that you give, you know? Because if you're dealing at the volume that I was, later on, we only play with hundreds. If you show up with a 50 or 20, you're a guy on the street. 5 and 10's oh my God. You're in the street corner, you know, let me run. I don't want to talk to this guy. So he shows up with a suitcase. I swear to God. And two boxes, a TV box and some boombox type box didn't fit in the car. I had a Ferrari 308 like the Magnum one. To take the top off the car, throw the suitcase. And if I would have hit a speed bump, I probably would have lost a box with 100 grand or 200 grand. So I go to a hotel. I can't take this money to the house. So I go to a hotel. I started Counting. I was so nervous, you know, my fingers are turning green and I'm counting all this cash that I've got. It's just a million dollars, but it was in small bills and it's bulky. So I started counting all this money. And the more I counted, the more nervous I got. Looking at the watch, I kept screwing up. Go back to county again. I said, you know, the hell with this. I'm just gonna peel out 200,000. And. And I figured that the rest is there. So I took out 200,000 of my money, stashed that. Then I had 800 grand and put the 800,000 in the car. And I drove over to where they had kidnapped me. I pulled in there. Jonathan, with a whole different attitude. It was a whole different attitude.

[Jonathan Walton]

But the main Colombian guy, Takayo, isn't there. He's back in Colombia. But his underlings are there. And TJ treats them with the respect he feels they deserve.

[TJ Dominguez]

I left the money in the car. Top was down on the Ferrari. Knocked on the door. They opened up the door. I said, the effing money's in the car. Go get it. And I pointed to the car. So they came out, they dragged his money into the house. I'm standing in the living room like this, and they brought the money. The suitcase that was leather, had a zipper all the way around. So they opened up this flap of this thing and there is all this cash sitting there. And I said, It's $800,000. Let me tell you something else. I'm not hanging around here for you to count this goddamn money. You understand that? Not hanging around here to count this money. Now, Tocayo from the Jungle calls up on the radio and he says, tocayo wants to talk to you. So they put me on the radio. He says to me, hey, my brother, they tell me you brought the cash. I said, la plata, which is what they call cash. It's silver. He says to me, when are you coming back? I said, when am I coming back?

[Jonathan Walton]

At this point, those marijuana selling Colombians are super impressed that TJ was able to get his hands on so much cash in a mere 48 hours. And they want to do more business with him. They want to give him more marijuana. But now that TJ knows he can fly a planeload of cocaine, land in the Bahamas and make a million dollars, marijuana suddenly holds no interest for him.

[TJ Dominguez]

I'm in the cocaine business, man. Not marijuana anymore. I said, don't fucking call me again.

[Jonathan Walton]

He's gonna hire you for another job?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, he Wanted me to go back and do more marijuana trips. I walked out of that house. I never looked back. I started working for Luis.

[Jonathan Walton]

TJ had officially become a cocaine smuggler. I mean, it was the last thing in the world he ever wanted to be. And he actively avoided it for years. But this kind of money was just too insane to pass up.

[TJ Dominguez]

With Luis. I was doing a triple week with Luis, and I'm getting paid a million dollars for a triple week, right? This is wonderful. And I don't have to fool around with the boats. I don't have to sell the stuff. It was better than marijuana. Marijuana. I had to bring it in, put it in a place. And let me tell you something about marijuana buyers. They're finicky, these guys. Not green enough. It's not brown enough. It's not the smell this or that. It was always a problem. Every time he went to sell pot, you know. So this is wonderful. I don't have to sell anything.

[Jonathan Walton]

And the other huge advantage flying cocaine had over selling marijuana was the fact that TJ Never had to smuggle anything into Florida.

[TJ Dominguez]

I never flew a trip of cocaine into the United States.

[Jonathan Walton]

Where would you drop it?

[TJ Dominguez]

No dropping. You don't drop cocaine. You drop marijuana. You can afford to lose marijuana. Can't afford to lose cocaine. Too expensive.

[Jonathan Walton]

The street value of a plane load of cocaine back in 1986 is close to $100 million. The street value of a planeload of marijuana, not even a million. And all TJ has to do now is fly his plane, Gigi, from Miami to Colombia, pick up the cocaine from Luis's farm over there, and fly it to an undisclosed secret airport in the Bahamas that Luis owned.

[TJ Dominguez]

This is wonderful. I don't have to sell anything. I do a delivery, I get paid. I get paid in cash in Miami, and I go hang out for four or five days. No worries, no pressure.

[Jonathan Walton]

And TJ quickly becomes literally the best cocaine pilot in the world. Because that landing strip in the Bahamas was hidden and it was on the edge of the ocean and it was really hard to find. But TJ manages to locate it and land his plane load of cocaine safe and sound every single time. A lot of other pilots in the cocaine smuggler juggling business were not so lucky. How many pilots died trying to make that landing?

[TJ Dominguez]

Too many to count. Matter of fact, in the Bahamas, the count was almost looked like flies on the. On the water. Planes that almost made it. Pilots that ran out of fuel. I could tell you one story of two guys that flew by the seat of their Pants. I used to call them freaking Frag because there was. They didn't fly for me. I wouldn't have them. These guys didn't need an airplane to fly. They were always high on cocaine, right? And you're gonna fly a loaded plane.

[Jonathan Walton]

And keep in mind TJ has never done drugs in his life. He's never been high. He's always 100% sober and clear headed at all times. And that really seems to set him apart from, from all the other cocaine pilots of the day.

[TJ Dominguez]

So these two pilots, freaking Frag, they go down there in this airplane, they land, they pick up the, the, the cocaine. 500 kilos of of powdered cocaine that they put on the airplane. Beechcraft twin engine, which uses basically jet fuel. They're getting high inside the airplane. Airplane. They don't check the fuel, they don't check this, they don't check nothing on the ground. The crew fuels the airplane with the wrong gasoline. They put diesel, which was to have been for the other airplane. So these guys had enough fuel where they take off, off the Runway. The airplane climbs, it goes up in the air, it starts sputtering, sputtering, sputtering. Came right down to the ocean. Freaking Frank died. 500 kilos cocaine were lost.

[Jonathan Walton]

That kind of thing just never happens to TJ because he's a level headed stickler for details. He checks and double checks and triple checks everything all the time. And TJ never loses a planeload of cocaine ever.

[TJ Dominguez]

And I've got three airplanes. So now one's going into their shop, one's flying and I got DL and I'm rotating three airplanes. I got no downtime, I'm rocking and rolling.

[Jonathan Walton]

And TJ knows better than any other smuggler out there how to avoid attention, how to keep things on the extreme DL, how to not get noticed, especially on all those back and forth trips between the Bahamas and South Florida.

[TJ Dominguez]

We're pros. We are the cat's meow of the smuggling world. We're the pirates of the Caribbean. We really are all this, right? So my airplane's got to come in, but I'm going and coming, going and coming. So many times what we would do then at that point I'd have my captain in a uniform walk up and down the airport in Nassau, for example. Hey man, I just dropped off a charter. I'm dead. Heading back to Miami. Give me 50 bucks, I'll bring you back. Anybody who wants to go back to Miami.

[Jonathan Walton]

So TJ's captain is approaching. American tourists lined up at the miserable air conditionless crowded airport in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, and offering them a quick and cool flight back home to Miami for 50 bucks. And the takers are many. But TJ is looking for a certain type of.

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[Customer]

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I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[Zoe Saldana]

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[Customer]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[Zoe Saldana]

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[Customer]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

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[Jonathan Walton]

Let's go.

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[TJ Dominguez]

The numbers look good. Brad, you're on mute.

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[TJ Dominguez]

I'm not looking for a hot chick or anything. I'm looking for a lady in a wheelchair because she's going to chill my airplane when we come back. If I come back all the time with a dark sunglass with a Heineken in my hand and a hot blonde under my arm. You know I look like a player. You Know, I mean, so you don't want that type of image. When you hear guys say, well, you know, you want to put a couple of good looking girls in thong bikinis, that's the last thing you want to do. Why is the last thing is a distraction? No, it's an attraction. They're going to pull you up and keep you there just to look at your chick. You want an older lady, you want a couple, you want a little dog, you want to just look normal. One time I'm behind a school bus and I say to my buddy, look at the kids that just got off that school bus. My friend says to me, what's wrong with them? Nothing. I don't see anything wrong with them. I said, keep looking. And he says, I don't see anything. I said, that's the problem. They look normal. They're all wearing their pants where they're supposed to be. Normal.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

So that's what you want to be. You want to be normal. You don't want to stand out.

[Jonathan Walton]

That's the truth.

[TJ Dominguez]

You want to blend in.

[Jonathan Walton]

And TJ's success rate at blending in and smuggling coke is 100%. He's flying a plane load a week for Luis, and he never loses a load, and he never gets busted by authorities. He's meticulous, he's punctual, he's confident, but he's not cocky. And he always impresses everyone he meets.

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, I started developing a pretty good reputation doing these. One a week trip, one a week trip, getting a million. Well, what starts happening? I'm starting to hang, to hang around with all these heavyweight Colombian guys. And now I start catching a little bit of traction. My name is out there in that circle that the air is very thin at that point. You know, we're not in the amateur world in the pros. And so now my name comes up.

[Jonathan Walton]

To Pablo, as in Pablo freaking Escobar. The man, the myth, the legend himself. Pablo heard of you, Heard of me.

[TJ Dominguez]

Through a couple of people because they were always looking for guys that are like, stand up guys, guys that are not getting high without an airplane, guys that are pros. So Pablo hears of me and I get introduced through Pablo by the guy that built his house, who's a builder, who's a friend of my friend. He says to me, hey, you want to, you want to make some real money? I'm making a million dollars a week. What's wrong with that? It's in the 80s, right? Early 80s. He says, no, you want to make some real money? I Said, what do I have to do? He says, you want to meet Pablo? And I'll be honest with you. Pablo didn't mean anything to me. I'm making a million dollars. I'm all full of myself. I walk on water, you know, I'm making $4 million a month. What the hell's wrong with that? In the 80s, multiply that times three or four.

[Jonathan Walton]

Now, TJ's right. $4 million back in 1986, adjusted for inflation, in today's money is more than $11 million. That's what TJ was making every month. So he really doesn't need anything from Pablo Escobar. But he is somewhat flattered that the world's most notorious and most powerful cocaine kingpin wants to meet him.

[TJ Dominguez]

So he sets up a meeting with Pablo. I go see Pablo, I go to Pablo's house.

[Jonathan Walton]

Now, Pablo Escobar didn't just have a house. He had a 5,000acre mythical hidden fortress deep in the Colombian jungle. Pablo Escobar was moving 15 tons of cocaine into the United States every single day. And he was making nearly $1,000 every second doing it. He owned 15 private jets and six helicopters. His estate had its own airport and it even had its own zoo with elephants, giraffes, and lions, you know, for the k. For security. There were multiple guard towers with machine gun wielding snipers surrounding the property. So anyone trying to sneak up on Pablo Escobar didn't live long to tell the tale. But TJ Dominguez was an invited guest of Pablo's because Pablo had a proposition for tj.

[TJ Dominguez]

So I go to Pablo's house. He's there with a whole bunch of people there, right? Gustavo is his partner. A lot of people don't realize, don't know. Pablo actually had a partner by the name of Gustavo was his cousin. They started together. So I walk up and they said. They tell me that you're a transporter. So I said, yep, that's right. So he says, how much you charge? I said, $7,000 a kilo. One guy almost fell off the chair laughing. He said, what, are you crazy? I said, no, I'm not crazy. I'm just that good. He says, that's ridiculous. We paid 3500 tops. I said, that's why you got to go out and hunt so many people and shoot them. I said, because you're dealing with a bunch of amateurs. I said, those guys, those guys are flying in airplanes with a bible in one hand and a rosary in the other. And I don't Want to take any shots at religion because I love God and all that. I said, but I don't need all that. I'm a professional. I said, that's the difference between me and those wannabe guys.

[Jonathan Walton]

TJ Dominguez is standing in Pablo Escobar's secret lair, surrounded by his heavily armed thugs, rejecting Pablo's 3500 a kilo offer to his face. I mean, Pablo Escobar has killed a lot of people for less. The tension in that room was palpable. But TJ shows no fear, and he refuses to back down.

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, I had to stand strong there in front of him and show no weakness. I wanted $7,000 a kilo. I know they were paying 3,500, but if they called me and they wanted to talk to me, well, shouldn't I, you know, be worth more money? They refused to pay the $7,000. So I said to him, look, I've got a 2 million dollar airplane, I've got a million dollar sports fishing vessel, and I got half a million into the operation. Why would I come to Colombia to risk my equipment, my freedom for less money than what I'm going to make? It's got to be worth my time. So I came up with a logic. So I said, I'm not coming here for less money than that. I'll tell you what I'll do. Give me $5,000 a kilo and put 700 kilos on the, on the Strip. 7 times 5 is 3.5. If you do that, I'll come down a little, you come up a little bit, and we'll meet at $5,000. I'm willing to do that for you. So they said, when can you go? I said, I can go right now. We got radios. So I got on the radios. This happened in Colombia, so I got on the radio. So I called over here, Q. The guy that I always kept on.

[Jonathan Walton]

24 call Q was TJ's tech guy, named after that famous gadget guru in the James Bond movies.

[TJ Dominguez]

Is the homing device ready yet? Q. Not only a homing device, but an extremely delicate microphone as well. And I say, q, call up Kingfish. Tell Kingfish we're having dinner with Gigi next week. Get her ready. I'm on my way back.

[Jonathan Walton]

That was code for get my plane fueled and ready. We're going to fly a plane load of cocaine for Pablo Escobar.

[TJ Dominguez]

And that's how that happened.

[Jonathan Walton]

In the end, Pablo Escobar agrees to pay TJ $5,000 per kilo to fly a planeload of at least 1,000 kilos to the Bahamas. That's more than a ton of Coke and potentially $5 million a week for TJ. There was just one teensy weensy problem. Since TJ was not flying cocaine for Luis anymore, he had no place to land his airplane in the Bahamas. And you can't just land a plane chock full of cocaine at a regular airport. They're gonna want to know what's inside. And then when they find what's inside, they're going to confiscate it. So this was one hell of a crossroads for TJ Dominguez. He actually agreed to fly 1,000 kilos of cocaine for Pablo Escobar without having any place to land it.

[TJ Dominguez]

Now, I needed an airport, right? I needed an airport.

[Jonathan Walton]

So TJ flies to the Bahamas without any cocaine on his plane. And in an insane twist, TJ ambushes a high placed government official, the guy in charge of all Bahamian airports, the head of their faa. And before that official is able to turn TJ away, TJ piques his interest.

[TJ Dominguez]

I said, I want to talk about making you rich. He said, making me rich? I said, yeah, I want to talk about making you rich. He said, what do I have to do for making me rich? I said, nothing. I want you to do nothing. He says, you're going to make me rich and I have to do nothing? I said, yeah, that's right. So I bend over and I said, I want you to do nothing. When I land my airplane full of cocaine in your airport. I want you to go get a cup of coffee and not do a goddamn thing. Nothing. He says, how much is this pay?

[Jonathan Walton]

To see some incredible photographs documenting TJ's life, go to cocainair.com and if you're enjoying Cocaine Air, please hit that share button and text it to your friends and family right now. And if you feel comfortable, leave us a five star review. Reviews really help other listeners find us. Cocaine Air was created, written and executive produced by me, Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Media executive producers Evan Goldstein and the inimitable TJ Dominguez. Audio engineering by me, Jonathan Walton. All sound design and editing was done by the super talented Puneeth Chinoy from Podcast Pundits and the Cocaine Air cover art is by Bobby Animation. We've got a lot of fascinating untold stories like Cocaine Air coming down the pike at Jonathan Walton Media. So subscribe and keep an ear out.

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