Ep 7 - The Cutting Room Floor - Part 1

Summary

Cocaine Air: The TJ Dominguez Story - Episode 7: The Cutting Room Floor - Part 1

Release Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Jonathan Walton
Executive Producer: Evan Goldstein
Guest: T.J. Dominguez

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Introduction

In Episode 7 of Cocaine Air: The TJ Dominguez Story, host Jonathan Walton delves deeper into the clandestine world of T.J. Dominguez, the former Lamborghini dealership mogul turned cocaine smuggler for the infamous Pablo Escobar. This episode, titled "The Cutting Room Floor - Part 1," is an exclusive look into the untold stories and behind-the-scenes operations that didn't make it into the main narrative. Joined by executive producer Evan Goldstein, the discussion unpacks the intricate details of TJ's smuggling operations, his relationship with Escobar, and the inner workings of their illicit empire.

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Behind the Scenes: Cutting Room Floor Stories

Jonathan Walton opens the episode by introducing the concept of "cutting room floor" stories—fascinating anecdotes and experiences from TJ that were too extensive to include in the primary episodes. These stories offer listeners a more comprehensive understanding of TJ's life and operations.

Jonathan Walton [31:09]: "So this was really kind of just the tip of the iceberg of all the stuff that got left on the cutting room floor."

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Mastering the Skies: Advanced Smuggling Techniques

One of the standout segments discusses the sophisticated methods TJ employed to smuggle cocaine into South Florida. The absence of GPS technology during the 1980s posed significant challenges, necessitating innovative solutions to navigate Colombia's dense jungles.

Navigating Without GPS:

Evan Goldstein [06:01]: "There's no beacon back in those days, no GPS back in those days. You know, basically flying by the seat of your pants."

Despite these hurdles, TJ consistently managed to land planes on secret runways, a feat many pilots failed to accomplish without incident.

Creating an Automated Landing System:

Faced with a near-disastrous landing due to heavy cloud cover and obstructive jungle terrain, TJ ingeniously developed a solution to automate the landing process.

Evan Goldstein [07:54]: "We put a piece of equipment that would send a signal that my airplane would follow. This is basically how airplanes and airports work. You follow a directional signal."

This innovation allowed his team to land safely every time, ensuring the seamless transport of millions in cocaine shipments.

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Pablo Escobar: Beyond the Notorious Drug Lord

A significant portion of the episode sheds light on Pablo Escobar's personal character, challenging the stereotypical image of the ruthless drug lord.

Escobar as a Family Man:

Evan Goldstein [03:48]: "He really was. He was a very simple guy. Didn't wear no gold chains, didn't wear Rolex blue jeans, Polo. Just regular loafers."

Escobar was portrayed as a beloved figure in Medellin, Colombia, often engaging directly with the community by distributing money and supporting local initiatives, earning him a Robin Hood-like reputation.

T.J. Dominguez [04:51]: "It's like cocaine. Robin Hood. It's like just, you know, sell cocaine to the rich and give to the poor."

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Operational Innovations: Concealing the Cargo

TJ's operations were not only vast but also highly sophisticated, employing various techniques to conceal cocaine within everyday items and vehicles.

Hiding Cocaine in Appliances:

The smuggling network ingeniously used household appliances like washing machines and refrigerators to store and transport cocaine, ensuring maximum concealment.

Evan Goldstein [17:54]: "We bring in like a washing machine. I bring in some big coolers. And as we're replacing a refrigerator or washing machine, these are just things that I use to store 50 kilos, 100 kilos, back and forth."

Modifying Vehicles to Avoid Detection:

Understanding that heavy loads could arouse suspicion, TJ implemented custom modifications to vehicles, such as installing air shocks to balance the added weight seamlessly.

Evan Goldstein [23:53]: "I took the, the glove compartment off the car. Inside, in back of the glove compartment, there'd be a little button and a, a level, a level to show left, you know, up and down."

This attention to detail ensured that their vehicles blended in effortlessly, evading law enforcement scrutiny.

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Team Dynamics and Betrayals

No empire is without its vulnerabilities, and TJ's operation was no exception. The episode touches upon the critical roles played by team members and the eventual betrayal that led to TJ's downfall.

The Role of Jack/Fredo:

Jack, likened to Fredo from The Godfather, was a pivotal figure in TJ's organization. Initially trusted, his betrayal became the linchpin in TJ's eventual capture.

Jonathan Walton [27:40]: "You bring a lot to the table. It's like cocaine air. I couldn't have done it without you."

T.J. Dominguez [27:44]: "Yeah, Jack was his Fredo."

This narrative underscores the importance of trust and the severe consequences of internal betrayals in illicit operations.

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The Cocaine Market: Branding and Valuation

An insightful discussion unfolds around the economics of cocaine smuggling, highlighting the staggering profits and the strategic branding that elevated the product's market value.

Cocaine Pricing and Quantities:

Jonathan Walton [12:05]: "I didn't realize how much it went for. On the street, each plane load of cocaine was worth $30 million wholesale."

With each plane load containing approximately 900,000 grams, the sheer volume underscores the lucrative nature of the trade.

Branding for Premium Markets:

To cater to high-end clients like celebrities, TJ's team branded their cocaine with unique names, enhancing its perceived value.

Evan Goldstein [26:52]: "Because as the cocaine is shipped over here, it has different labels. People come up with their own names to tag the cocaine."

Brands like "FBI," "DEA," and "Lucky" were not just marketing gimmicks but strategic moves to differentiate their product in a competitive market.

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Additional Untold Stories

As the episode concludes, Jonathan Walton teases more captivating stories from TJ that remain untold, promising listeners even deeper dives into the enigmatic life of one of the most successful cocaine smugglers.

Jonathan Walton [29:11]: "So we're going to include them here. They're not any less fascinating or interesting. We just ran out of time."

These upcoming narratives are poised to explore TJ's personal life, including his interactions with women and other intriguing facets that paint a fuller picture of his complex personality.

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Conclusion

Episode 7 of Cocaine Air offers a treasure trove of hidden stories that enrich our understanding of T.J. Dominguez and his operations. From groundbreaking smuggling techniques to the intricate dynamics of his team, listeners gain an unfiltered glimpse into the life of a man who navigated the treacherous waters of drug trafficking with ingenuity and resilience. As the series progresses, fans can anticipate even more riveting tales that showcase the depth and breadth of TJ's experiences.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jonathan Walton [24:32]: "I notice it now. I just saw yesterday this. This big car. I was a Lincoln, and the trunk was like, way like. It was like. What's in that trunk?"

• Evan Goldstein [07:54]: "We put a piece of equipment that would send a signal that my airplane would follow. This is basically how airplanes and airports work. You follow a directional signal."

• T.J. Dominguez [09:54]: "The thing that fascinates me is just he's a problem solver, you know, it's. You could put him in anything and he'll just figure it out."

• Evan Goldstein [26:52]: "Because as the cocaine is shipped over here, it has different labels. People come up with their own names to tag the cocaine."

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For more captivating stories from Cocaine Air and to explore the visual journey of TJ Dominguez's life, visit cocainair.com. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a five-star review to help others discover this riveting series.

Transcript

[Jonathan Walton]

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[Evan Goldstein]

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[Jonathan Walton]

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[Evan Goldstein]

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[Jonathan Walton]

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[Evan Goldstein]

Not available in all states. Some people say, man, you've got such a great memory. Well, it was because it was a very important, intense part of my life. And I remember it so well because every day that I left the house, I. I didn't know if I was coming back.

[Jonathan Walton]

I'm Jonathan Walton, and this is Cocaine the TJ Dominguez Story, episode seven, where I sit down with executive producer Evan Goldstein and discuss all the incredible, unbelievable TJ Dominguez stories that ended up on the cutting room floor. If you listen to my other podcast, Queen of the Con, then you know who Evan Goldstein is. Last time you heard from Evan, we were running from the cops after trespassing onto shoplifting Queen Michelle Mac's gigantic mansion on a hill outside San Diego. I hear the cops, dude. I think we should go. Dude, do you think they called them for us?

[Evan Goldstein]

I don't know.

[Jonathan Walton]

Maybe. We're running. We're running because you heard the sirens, right?

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yes.

[Jonathan Walton]

Let's roll. Running from the cops.

[Evan Goldstein]

Roll.

[Jonathan Walton]

You thought you were getting arrested that day?

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, I thought I was gonna be county lockup, call my wife.

[Jonathan Walton]

I love the fear. The fear in your eyes.

[T.J. Dominguez]

I think we both had fear in our eyes.

[Jonathan Walton]

I did, but mine was mixed with excitement. Like, this will be cool for the podcast. Let's get a rest.

[T.J. Dominguez]

I know you were. You were giddy at the time. You were, like, half laughing.

[Jonathan Walton]

Like, what are they going to do? You trespassed on this. Shoplifting queen's mansion. What? And then what?

[T.J. Dominguez]

I know. We did look very suspicious, though, in retrospect, wearing, like, disguises, as.

[Jonathan Walton]

I don't think suspicious. I think we blended in. And we look like city inspectors. We had the hard hat. Yeah, but I'm not.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Clearly, we're not. So if cops came.

[Evan Goldstein]

Right.

[Jonathan Walton]

How do we explain that?

[T.J. Dominguez]

It's like, why are you wearing this?

[Jonathan Walton]

It's just like, this is America. I can wear whatever I want.

[T.J. Dominguez]

You ever think you're gonna be friends with Pablo Escobar's main cocaine smuggler?

[Jonathan Walton]

No, but here's the thing. I don't even think of him as a cocaine smuggler. It's weird. To me, he's the victim of a con who fought back and got his money back. Like, to me, he's a freaking her. You know, like, who's done that? No one. I got conned. Never got my money back. I've talked to hundreds of victims of cons. They never get their money back like that.

[T.J. Dominguez]

That's the most amazing thing for me, listening to everything that he was talking about and all the stories and kind of how it worked. It's just how detail oriented he is. There's oil tycoons, and we want to show you, you know, there's a certain kind of theatricality to everything. There's a certain flair for the dramatic. You just get the sense that he could kind of do anything. He could just figure it out. No matter what it is. He should be the new Dos Equis, most interesting man in the world.

[Jonathan Walton]

He really should.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

Are you listening, Dos Equis?

[Evan Goldstein]

Yes.

[Jonathan Walton]

He'd be great. I'm T.J. dominguez.

[T.J. Dominguez]

I'm T. J. Dominguez.

[Jonathan Walton]

I flew Coke for Pablo Escobar. I had 30 Lamborghinis, but if you.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Want a cool, crisp.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah. One of the interesting perspectives TJ brings to this table is he knew Pablo Escobar. Like, knew him personally, like, hung out with him a bunch of times. And from what he says, he's not how you think a murderous drug lord would be. What kind of guy was Pablo Escobar really?

[Evan Goldstein]

A family guy? If you could say that.

[Jonathan Walton]

It's a funny answer to that question.

[Evan Goldstein]

I know. It's crazy, huh? Really?

[Jonathan Walton]

Really, he's a family guy.

[Evan Goldstein]

He really was. He really was. He was a very simple guy. Didn't wear no gold chains, didn't wear Rolex blue jeans, Polo. Just regular loafers. Tennis, never. If you ever met him, you would not believe that that's Pablo Escobar. He was very, very well protected and loved in Medellin. Every night, he'd walk around without the bodyguards and sit down there and pass out money.

[Jonathan Walton]

This totally tracks with what I know of Pablo Escobar. He was like a saint in. In Colombia, in Medellin. He paid for people's surgeries. He paid for kids education. He bought them gifts. He was like. He was like Mother Teresa in male form. He was so kind and generous. Everybody loved him. They didn't care that he was this notorious drug lord. Like, he could walk around without security guards. No one there was trying to kill.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, it's like cocaine. Robin Hood. It's like just, you know, sell. Sell cocaine to the rich and give to the poor. You could very easily say that it was a lot safer, probably doing cocaine in the 80s than it is now with all the fentanyl.

[Jonathan Walton]

I worry for kids now. You know, it's like you can experiment and just die.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Die.

[Jonathan Walton]

Just a pinhead size of fentanyl can. Can kill anyone. I mean, those were the good old days. But what was not so good about those days, especially if you're flying, there is no gps. Oh, yeah, you got to rely on your peepers. You got to look out the plane window, the cockpit window. Cockpit windshield, and decide how you're going to get to where you go. And just by what it looks like in the clouds and whatever.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, just by visuals.

[Jonathan Walton]

So how TJ managed to stick the landing every time in Columbia. That Runway. And I have a picture of this on cocainair.com if you click gallery, there's a picture of the secret Runway in Pablo Escobar's secret lair. It's like, surrounded by trees, like you can barely see it.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

How he landed a plane each and every time on that Runway is just a miracle without dying. So many pilots crash trying to do it.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah, there's no beacon back in those days, no GPS back in those days. You know, basically flying by the seat of your pants. I've landed the airplane 10 times with bullet holes all over. And I'm gonna go and do it again tomorrow. Fear is not part of my chemistry. We're all gonna die one day. When we're flying in Colombia, in the jungle, there's Apache helicopters that have been donated from the United States to the government of Colombia to fight the war on drugs.

[Jonathan Walton]

The war on drugs.

[Evan Goldstein]

The war on drugs was a hell of a war that was basically under the radar, but people lost their lives. And that stuff didn't make the newspapers because we had it coming. We were bad people. That's the way they thought of us, you know, so here we. Because we're bogeys, we're in a foreign country, and we have military looking for us. You can't fly high, so you got to fly under the radar, under 500ft. So we are on the deck, we're on the treetop level. We're flying into the jungle, different from a lot of other people that smuggled. We were flying two hours into the country of Colombia. We weren't picking up on the shore. So here we are going through the jungles at 500ft or low or lower to try to stay away from the visual of helicopters, military. And at that point, you're everybody's enemy. Look, the authorities want to arrest you. The bad guys, they want to bring you Down. I've landed the airplane many, many times with bullet holes in the airplane where the bullets hit the duffel bags. We put 20, 30, depending on the packaging, inside a military duffel bag. Well, that's what stopped the bullet. Continuing go through the airplane.

[Jonathan Walton]

And even just finding that landing strip is next to impossible.

[Evan Goldstein]

Next to impossible. What we would have to do is we would land in the beginning of going, penetrating the airspace of Columbia. We would land and pick up a native local pilot that would fly by the seat of our pants. One incident on the way down there, the ceiling was low, the clouds were heavy, and we couldn't find the landing strip. Okay, I remember talking on the radio, light them up. Light them up. Light them up. They are lit. They are lit. Can't find it. Heavy cloud formation, fog. Can't find the landing strip. Can't dip down under the clouds because you got tall trees. It isn't just a cutout, just a strip. It's not like a desert. Trees everywhere. So. So I said, light, light something. So they lit some tires. We see the black smoke coming up, and then we followed the black smoke down and we can make out the light. We landed the airplane after that. I said, this shit's never going to happen to me again. So I went to my electronic guy, my. My. What I used to call after the James Bond movie, Q. And I said, q, man, look what happened. We all died out there. God damn, we're running out of fuel. And they're telling us, you know, you know, we hear you, we know you're here, but we can't land. We can't find the landing trip. How can I correct that? And he said to me, simple. We'll just make an airport out there. I said, what do you mean, simple? How are we going to make an airport out there? So we put a piece of equipment that would send a signal that my airplane would follow. This is basically how airplanes and airports work. You follow a directional signal. So what we would do is right before we left, I radioed down to Columbia. They cranked up the electric plane, they turn on the transmitter, and then my airplane would hone in on that signal and follow that. Now we can go to sleep. The airplane's going to be on automatic pilot following that signal and come right down to that strip. And that's how we corrected that problem.

[T.J. Dominguez]

The thing that fascinates me is just he's a problem solver, you know, it's. You could put him in anything and he'll just figure it out.

[Jonathan Walton]

How crazy is it? That TJ Dominguez only becomes a drug smuggler because he got scammed by not one, but two duplicitous con artists in his life. It would be wise to figure out who the con artist is in your life before they scam you. So pick up a copy of my book, Anatomy of a con artist, the 14 red flags to spot scammers, grifters, and thieves. Con artists are everywhere. There's probably one in your social circle right now, but you won't know who until they trick you out of money. The woman who scammed me out of nearly $100,000 was my best friend for four years. You've been scamming us out of money this whole time? You have. And during that entire time, she was scamming everyone around me, too. But no one had a clue until she got their money. Protect yourself, or protect your elderly parents or your young, naive kids or your friends and neighbors. Learn how to identify the con artist in your life or in the lives of your loved ones before they trick any money from them. I will show you what the 14 red flags are of every con artist working today so you can spot these soulless demons a mile away. My book is available everywhere. Books are sold in hardcover and on Kindle and Audible as well. Just Google Anatomy of a Con Artist. I think people forget a planeload of cocaine is so valuable, I didn't realize how much it went for. On the street, each plane load of cocaine was worth $30 million wholesale. In the 1980s, cocaine sold for as much as $600 a gram. And do you know how many grams are in a ton in a plane load? 900,000.

[Evan Goldstein]

Wow.

[Jonathan Walton]

There are 900,000 grams in a plane load. That's why Pablo Escobar is paying him $5 million a trip. Yeah, because it's worth, like, 540 million on the street. So 5 million is like nothing. He should have paid him 10 million, doll. Whether it's cocaine or anything else, that much weight of anything in a plane is not easy to deal with.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Just the flight, like aerodynamics alone, and.

[Jonathan Walton]

Even putting it in, taking it out, you need manpower.

[Evan Goldstein]

You don't forget, when I'm doing. Whether I'm doing marijuana or I'm doing cocaine, we're talking about a long ton, which is £2,220. That's an awful lot of weight. I don't care what you call it. It could be cabbages. It's still a lot of weight. You need manpower to offload that off the air. You're sitting there for eight or nine hours in a small cockpit. You know, that's how long it takes to go deep into Columbia and back to the Bahamas. And you're all clammed up, you're all like, you know, folded. And you just can't jump back there like a deer and start grabbing these duffel bags. They're army duffel bags that we use with 30, 20, depending on the packaging of the cocaine, and flip them out because they're like £80, you know, so you, you just can't do that. So you need a crew to offload the airplane. When we land, we land short. And when we land short, we cut one engine, which is the site that has the door to the airplane. We cut that engine so the crew doesn't get chopped up by an engine. And now we have a perimeter. Even though I'm paying for this, I have a perimeter of machine guns around me. Why? I got 30 million reasons why. I'm telling you that I could be robbed. And if I'm robbed, I'm dead. Because I don't have $30 million to pay Pablo for something that I can't explain, you know, because you have to explain what happened to that product. So I have a perimeter of machine guns around me. And then I have a pickup truck or a van that will pull up, and then I have my other crew on the radios giving me signals to land one light up front, one light in the back. We land in between the two lights, cut one engine, keep one engine running in case we need to move fast. We don't have to start the other engine.

[Jonathan Walton]

So that's fascinating. The plane's on the ground. They turned off one propeller so the guys can unload the coke and not get their heads or arms chopped off by the prop. But they leave the other propeller running in case they need to fly out of there quickly.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, just to get. Get out of Dodge. He's always trying to prepare for things. You know, fortune favors the prepared.

[Jonathan Walton]

True, but there are some things that you cannot prepare for.

[Evan Goldstein]

Severe storms striking South Florida, the hardest thing had to conquer was really the weather. Because when you got swells out that are 8, 10ft or higher, you know, I lost people's lives, you know, guys that were my guys that I lost to the weather. The weather, you know, speedboats hitting the waves and crashing, loosing them. My guys being eaten by sharks, losing the load. So the weather was a factor. If the weather was good, we're coming into Miami, then what we would do is if it was a sports fishing vessel for Example, I would bring in the boat ahead of time. I would then have the boat at the marina. The captain with the boat would have a first mate. Everything fit the part, the white outfit, the whole thing. Now that captain of the vessel didn't get his hands dirty. I had two mechanics flown in to take that boat apart. The floors came up, part of the engine came off. And then inside either the fuel or the water tank, there would be a cell. And the cell would be protected by a barrier of either fuel or water. It'd be like a donut. And in that center would be 500 kilos or more of cocaine. So then when the mechanics put the boat back, then the captain would come on board and bring the boat back as a return on a charter, fishing charter. And then we had the big fish, you know, the big multi million dollar houses. He would dock the boat there, jump off the boat, he would leave. And then my crew of mechanics would come in, take the boat apart again. And it would be taken apart during the day because at nighttime you're stealing something.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah, absolutely. You see a bunch of guys taking a boat apart at night, you think, what is happening?

[Evan Goldstein]

They're breaking into my, my neighbor's boat.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah. So during the daytime, so. Oh, they're just fixing a boat.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah. We bring in like a washing machine. I bring in some big coolers. And as we're replacing a refrigerator or washing machine, these are just things that I use to store 50 kilos, 100 kilos, back and forth, back and forth. Nothing's getting fixed. Everything's just getting offloaded to give you something to look at.

[Jonathan Walton]

Wow. The theater involved is just.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

Spectacular. So to the, to the observer who doesn't know what you're doing right in.

[Evan Goldstein]

Front of your eyes, it looks like.

[Jonathan Walton]

You'Re swapping out refrigerator swapping.

[Evan Goldstein]

Right.

[Jonathan Walton]

Washing your machine for these rich people's boats.

[Evan Goldstein]

Working on the turbo, working on this, the toolboxes, big toolboxes, you know, cocaine. There ain't no tools in there.

[Jonathan Walton]

So the washing machines got cocaine.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah. Everything had cocaine.

[Jonathan Walton]

The refrigerator's got cocaine.

[Evan Goldstein]

The big toolbox has got so far, cocaine.

[Jonathan Walton]

Sofa cocaine.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah, yeah, that was it. To give you. And needless to say, I brought back lobster, brought back mahi mahi for you, grouper to keep you happy. Hey, just came back from a chart in the Bahamas here. Yeah, we want some groupers. Wow, thanks.

[Jonathan Walton]

And these are neighbors. These are looky lose that you're just keeping at bay.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah. And now again, these are not townhouses. These are multi million Dollar house that you own, Chad? I own or I lease, depending on the location. At the beginning, I'm buying them. Then later on, I got a little wiser and realized that if I lose this damn thing, I don't need to own any to lease it under a corporation that's got nothing to do with me. Different name.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah.

[Evan Goldstein]

So I came up with different. You know, I had a team of lawyers that worked on a lot of this stuff for me.

[Jonathan Walton]

And you call the houses windows?

[Evan Goldstein]

Windows, openings.

[Jonathan Walton]

Why do you call the houses windows?

[Evan Goldstein]

Because a window is an opening, and all it is is just an opening to come in. Just an opening to come in. There's nothing that stays in that house that is not a safe house. Somebody would call it a safe house. But when I'm coming in with a speedboat, enough, I'm offloading. Now, when I come in with a speedboat or a sports fishing vessel, you have a sea wall, right? So let's say I'm coming in with a speedboat into that house. So I come in, the boat that's a shadow boat is going to the marina. The loaded boat's going to the house. Again, here's a footnote that I just thought of back in the day. As I'm coming into the house, we're running 454s at the beginning. You know, big speedboats and these boats have open exhaust system. They will reverberate every window in your house. Okay, you're coming in around 3, 4 o' clock in the morning. A lot of loud noise. So I said, this is really not going to work out very good for me. So I came up with exhaust system that went into the water that would open and redirect the exhaust into the water. So as I'm coming into the house, all you heard was, now I can actually come into the seawall with the engines running. Before that, I was turning them off. It was just too loud. So now as we come up against the seawall, I got a crew inside the house, okay? Four guys. Three, four, five guys. Their job is to offload the boat. Now I'm going to climb off the boat. When I climb off the boat, I'm rocking, I'm shaking like a leaf, right? Adrenaline flow, you know, we're here, but we're not here yet. It's not over until it's over. Get her off the boat. Get her off the boat. So I want some fresh legs. These guys climb off the boat. Now they gotta carry inside that house a ton of cocaine. So now another captain jumps on the speedboat. And he takes that speedboat away from that house. He'll take that speedboat to another marina, which I know the owner of the marina. The boat will sit there. In the morning, he'll get taken off or in a trailer and put inside a warehouse for storage and to be gone over mechanically. Then the cocaine would sit in that house that night. And the reason why that night, I don't move stuff during nighttime. I move everything during traffic. So then tomorrow morning when the sun comes up and people are making their coffee and they're going to work, that's what we move our cocaine with a chase car behind it. It'll be either a. A van or it'll be in big Lincoln town car with, you know, giant trunk. And what I would do to those cars because we're putting 200 kilos back there, 4, 500 pounds, right? Even if it's a brand new car, it's going to drop the bumper. We got to solve. So here, you gotta think like a cop. Okay, I'm a cop, right? I'm looking at a brand new car and I'm looking at one driver or two drivers in the front seat. But I'm looking at this tailgate is dragging, touching the floor. I'm gonna sit there and say to myself, what the hell do they have in their trunk that's making that car so heavy? Send you cars not like the shocks are shot. So being a car guy, I came up with the idea of putting air shocks into that car. So I took all the vehicles that we used to move the cocaine, brought them to my dealership. Nobody knew.

[Jonathan Walton]

This your Lamborghini dealership?

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah, my Lamborghini. Why am I working on a town car? I happen to be a friend of mine, man. You know, just doing a favor for a guy, crazy guy. I want to put air shocks in his goddamn thing. I don't know why nobody wants me to do it. So I'm helping him out. Well, the whole purpose behind it was I put a hidden compressor, air compressor in the engine compartment with hoses running into a little hidden dial. I take the, the glove compartment off the car. Inside, in back of the glove compartment, there'd be a little button and a, a level, a level to show left, you know, up and down. So this little level is basic, basic math. You know, two and two is four. This little water level. Today, they probably have an app for all this. But back in those days, they didn't. So I got the little level sitting there and I got this little compressor. So we Turn on the compressor. And what this compressor does is it sends air to the rear shocks and it races the rear. So now that I got 200 kilos, let's say, for example, on the trunk of the car, and the bumper is like off the floor, you know, just barely. Now I turn on this compressor, I look at the little level, and when that little bubbles in between those two hatch marks, I'm good. Now the car is sitting level. Now I put my driver in there and I send them on the way. And now it's a car that blends in, and that happens during the daytime 9 to 5.

[Jonathan Walton]

This never occurred to me that if you put hundreds of pounds of coke or marijuana in the trunk of a. Of a car, it's going to weigh it down.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, sure.

[Jonathan Walton]

But after hearing this from tj, I notice it now. I just saw yesterday this. This big car. I was a Lincoln, and the trunk was like, way like. It was like. What's in that trunk?

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, what's in the trunk? What's so heavy in the trunk?

[Jonathan Walton]

It made me wonder.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, it's interesting.

[Jonathan Walton]

They didn't have a compressor.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah. Now I'm going to start looking for it.

[Jonathan Walton]

I notice it. Once you point it out, it's like you can see. And again, maybe they weren't doing anything illegal. Maybe it was like bricks from Home Depot, anything.

[T.J. Dominguez]

But maybe not.

[Jonathan Walton]

But, yeah, it definitely draws your attention if you're authorities, if you're law enforcement, if you're a cop looking for the. The unusual. It's unusual. Yeah.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Why are you riding so low in the back?

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah, maybe they're riding dirty. The other interesting thing TJ talks about is something I never even considered. I thought cocaine was cocaine, like a white powder. But as he explains here, there's a lot of different types of coke. It's like. It's like chocolate. You got the dark chocolate, the white chocolate, the milk chocolate, the. This chocolate, the one with peaches.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah. Different flavors. Flavor of the month, you get a little. Little vanilla. You could get a mango, chile, chili, lime. Cocaine.

[Evan Goldstein]

Because as the cocaine is shipped over here, it has different labels. People come up with their own names to tag the cocaine. Why you would ask me do they do that? Because it might have a different process for finishing. Some might be with ether, some might be with gasoline, some might be with diesel. Finer cocaine, not that it's any better or worse. The appearance, it's. It's really where it's at. But they're all pure cocaine. 98. 98. You know, it's going to burn pure. So. But it has different appearances. So if I have a lab that I'm using ether, cosmetically, it's very pretty looking. It's pearlescent. Looks like fish scale. Well, I don't want. I'm going to charge a little more money because my clientele maybe is like, you know, the big movie stars or celebrities, and they don't want the yellow stuff that's kind of like, you know, gum. So, yeah, I want to get more money for mine. So I'm going to label my. My cocaine, I'm going to call it. And some of the names that you see are hilarious. FBI is one brand that we use. So the FBI, it'll be dea, it'll be foodie, the one that stands out. And so. And Pablo will tell me what brand to pick my coke from. He would say, pick your 350 pieces from DEA or FBI or Furia or from Lucky. That's another brand that they. Lucky.

[Jonathan Walton]

I had no idea coke had brand names.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Have you ever thought what would. How would you try to brand your cocaine?

[Jonathan Walton]

Well, I'd call mine Euphoria.

[Evan Goldstein]

Ooh.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah, that sounds good, right? Snow Bunny.

[Jonathan Walton]

Leave it to the straight guy. Snow Bunny. Sounds like a Playboy centerfold.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

So what's interesting, TJ didn't do this alone. Right. He had a team of people around him. You're only ever as strong as your weakest link. And in the end, it was Jack who. Who brought TJ down. The pilot who taught him how to fly and became a fixture in his organization and then turned on him when he got arrested and served him up to the feds. And, you know, Jack was the weakest link in that case.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Fredo.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah. Jack was his Fredo.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

I don't even know the Godfather, But I would go along with that. I know it's a big movie, and I tried to watch it. It just bores me. Yeah, well, why don't I care?

[T.J. Dominguez]

Don Corleone knew it was his brother Fredo that sold him out. And he gives him the kiss of death. I know it was you, Fredo.

[Evan Goldstein]

You're nothing to me now. You're not a brother. You're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do.

[Jonathan Walton]

Jack was his Fredo.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah, I like that. So you bring a lot to the table. It's like cocaine air. I couldn't have done it without you. You made it a lot better. I mean, I could have done it without you, but a lot of the genius lines you've heard in Cocaine air that I said were written by Evan Goldstein. I'll give you credit. Like in Episode two, the whole Star wars stuff, I was just starting with it. Star wars is popular in the movie theaters, and I moved on, but you're like. And here's only Obi Wan Kenobi and the drug smuggling Jedi. Like, you have all these brilliant lines. So I thank you. I mean, I'm better because of you, and this cocaine is more interesting because of you. So thank you.

[T.J. Dominguez]

It's just, you know, this guy is so fascinating to listen to. It's so interesting. And he's such a. He's such a born storyteller, too.

[Jonathan Walton]

Just kind of how he.

[T.J. Dominguez]

How he kind of takes you through and kind of puts you there, you know, it's not just like telling you what happened, it's telling you how. How it feels, what he's thinking, what he's seeing, all that kind of stuff that, you know, it kind of puts you there and it helps you imagine, like, oh, my God, this was absolutely insane.

[Jonathan Walton]

Yeah. One of his main guys when he was, you know, on the rise and at the pinnacle of his cocaine career was this guy named Yayo who. He describes what Yayo means and how he met him.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yayo was Cuban from the boat lift, Mario. Boat lift. He was. He was let go from. From Castro. He had been in Cuba for murder. Yeah. Seven years. He was doing for murder when Castro opened up the gates and said, go to the United States. For Fidel Castro, it was tantamount to an act of genocide. With one fell swoop, he rid Cuba of thousands and thousands of undesirables. He emptied his prisons. He cleared the bombs off the streets of Havana. Murderers, thieves, perverts, prostitutes, the retarded, crippled, the winos all were rounded up, sent to Mario harbor, and put aboard boats bound for Miami. So Yayo was that kind of guy. Hardcore would just as soon shoot you as say hello to you. And when I said to Yayo, every once in a while, man, guy really pisses me off. I don't like. I don't want the guy shot. Yeah, okay. Understand. I'm just saying I don't like him. I didn't say I want you to shoot him. So I had to be a little careful with Yeo regarding that. I don't want him to. Okay. I took care of your problem. I didn't say I had a problem. I just said I didn't like the guy. That was Yayo. And Yayo means cocaine, by the way, in the slang world. You know, like they say perico is another term that the Cubans used, and perico is translated into parrot. And you would sit and say, why parrot? Well, simply because the joke back in those days was that if you did cocaine, you wouldn't stop talking, so you were like a parrot. So that's how the name parrot to define doing cocaine came about.

[Jonathan Walton]

His nickname was Cocaine. And he's helping you with your cocaine.

[Evan Goldstein]

Good. With my cocaine.

[Jonathan Walton]

Appropriate.

[Evan Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Walton]

So this was really kind of just the tip of the iceberg of all the stuff that got left on the cutting room floor. The stories TJ told that I didn't have time to include in the. In the main episode. So we're going to include them here. They're not any less fascinating or interesting. We just ran out of time. You know, I was trying to keep each episode a half an hour, which is the sweet spot according to research. So I. I didn't have time for them. But there are some incredible stories. This man's lived an incredible life. Stay tuned next week for a whole other episode of TJ's life. Stories that ended up on the cutting room floor. Some are super fascinating, like his prowess with the ladies. Right. He had so many women.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Oh, man.

[Jonathan Walton]

And they kind of. It's not. Again, I defend tj. It doesn't seem to be his fault. They kind of threw themselves at him.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Money, power, respect, right?

[Jonathan Walton]

They come. It's like moths to a flame.

[T.J. Dominguez]

Yeah. Money, money, money.

[Jonathan Walton]

To see you summon 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. Sound design and editing for this episode was done by Mike Smith. 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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