← Julian Dorey Podcast
Julian Dorey Podcast
#405 - “Chocolate C*KE!” - Ex-FBI Most Wanted Kingpin on Sicarios, Smuggling & Power | Owen Hanson
02:49:50
Loading summary
Transcript1,034 lines
- [00:01]
Owen Hansen
This episode is brought to you by TaxAct. Don't do your taxes alone.
- [00:05]
Julian Dory
Join TaxAct's National Admin Night. Admin nights are social gatherings for getting
- [00:10]
Owen Hansen
through your to do list. So get ready for a night of fun. Finding deductions and filing taxes with TaxAct, where you can file your federal and state return for just $49 through April 8th. Let's get together and get them over with. Visit taxact.comadminknight for details. I messaged him back, Julian, I say, hey, about that. I need to see you. I'm not going to tell this guy on this encrypted phone who I've never met, that I lost his money. I can't. Right? I'm like, I need to see you. And he's like, okay, well, you got to come see me in Mexico. Yeah. So, yeah, I hate telling the story because it brings back so many bad memories, but. So I go. I go to Tijuana, across the bridge.
- [00:57]
Julian Dory
Right back where it all started.
- [00:58]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, where it all started. That same bridge I used to smuggle steroids across. And I meet him. Six sicarios. We meet at this restaurant. He has six carriers with him.
- [01:21]
Julian Dory
You're the first. First person to ask for my hand fidget as well over there. So I feel like we're matched up today.
- [01:26]
Owen Hansen
I like forearms. Chicks love forearms.
- [01:28]
Julian Dory
They do like forearms. They do like them. But, dude, how's. How's it adjusting back to life? I mean, you've only been out, what, like, seven months?
- [01:36]
Owen Hansen
Seven months? Yeah, you know, it's. It's a slow and steady crawl, right? And then I finally stood up after I got out of the halfway house and started walking again. It was a. A strange feeling, right? I. I had this girl that's been with me the last 10 years in prison, and she. She says, I'm delivering you mastros. I'm delivering me mastros. I said, that's a steak restaurant in Beverly Hills. She goes, go outside. And this is when I was staying at the halfway house. And I go outside, and she goes, you got Uber Eats? I said, what the is Uber Eats? She goes, yeah, they're. They're out there. They got a steak dinner for you. I said, what are you talking about? I've never heard of this. Like, UberEats. What the is Ubereats? I go out and the guy brings me a master's steak and butter cakes in there, and I'm like, holy, what's this? What's this world coming to, Right?
- [02:26]
Julian Dory
Okay, it got a little more convenient since you Left.
- [02:29]
Owen Hansen
And then she had a package come, and she says, hey, I got you a. A set of Bluetooth. I said, what's Bluetooth? And she's like, I did Amazon Prime. It's going to get there tomorrow. I'm like, the Amazon prime, right? Like, yeah. And she's laughing. I'm like, what are you laughing about? She goes, that's. That's what we use now. It's next day. And like, holy, Holy. So now I learned about Next day, Amazon Prime. I learned about Bluetooth, and I learned about UberEats. And in less than 24 hours, right when I got out.
- [02:56]
Julian Dory
That's a good start, dude.
- [02:57]
Owen Hansen
And then I started scrolling through social media, which I haven't had, right. I'm checking out all these hot chicks, I'm clicking on them, and they got this thing called only Fans. I'm like, what the is only fans, right? Like, this is crazy. And this is. This is the new world we live in.
- [03:12]
Julian Dory
It is definitely, like. Because I don't have a concept of it, because it all happens gradually over time when you're out here in the world. But you were. You were going for, what, 10 years in prison?
- [03:22]
Owen Hansen
Ten, about nearly 10 years.
- [03:23]
Julian Dory
I mean, when you're just completely turned off like that, it is really a snap because it. I mean, it goes from when you were going away. It's like, people are still on Facebook, and now it's like, Instagram's old news.
- [03:33]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [03:34]
Julian Dory
Yeah. You know what I mean? It's just way different.
- [03:36]
Owen Hansen
Probably before Your age was MySpace.
- [03:39]
Julian Dory
You know, I remember when I was in, like, fourth grade.
- [03:41]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [03:42]
Julian Dory
MySpace came out.
- [03:43]
Owen Hansen
You put, like, your top friends on that.
- [03:44]
Julian Dory
Yep.
- [03:44]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [03:45]
Julian Dory
Yeah, that was kind of brutal. They make you do, like, the top.
- [03:47]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. You get your friends pissed off. Like, hey, what the. You have a girlfriend? Hey, man, who's that girl up there? That's my mistress, you know?
- [03:56]
Julian Dory
Now, you had the same girl stick by you for 10 years while you were in prison.
- [04:00]
Owen Hansen
Listen, I. I wouldn't say stick by me. Who knows what they're doing out there? But they. They answer my calls, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters, right? Yeah.
- [04:08]
Julian Dory
And then she's there when you get out.
- [04:09]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. That's really nice for me. That's. That's important. That shows you who your true friends are.
- [04:14]
Julian Dory
For sure. She could have told you about Amazon prime, though, next day while you were in there. I'm just saying.
- [04:19]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, well, listen, I never got to accept that package, so it's not the same. Right. I'M sure I've heard about it reading the Wall Street Journal because that's all I read. But the next day, like, and then putting the Bluetooth and I'm like, where's the cable that you connect to the phone? You know, like that. That was the hard part for me.
- [04:34]
Julian Dory
Did you have an iPhone before you went?
- [04:36]
Owen Hansen
No, I. I had a BlackBerry.
- [04:37]
Julian Dory
Okay.
- [04:38]
Owen Hansen
Oh, you cr was in the crack berry. I love the berry. I'll tell you what. I used an encrypted BlackBerry to communicate with the cartel.
- [04:45]
Julian Dory
I was going to say, probably.
- [04:46]
Owen Hansen
I wish I had that BlackBerry, to be honest. I like that keyboard so much easier. You and I could be talking right now and I could just type without even like looking, right. And now the iPhone, my big fat fingers hit it and it's like, I. That one up.
- [04:58]
Julian Dory
Hey, guys, three quick things. Number one, if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe. Huge, huge help. Number two, if you'd like to join my Patreon for early uncensored releases of the free full episodes, you can join via the link in my description or in the pin comment below. And number three, if you'd like to join my clipping community for a chance to make content from the show and make money, you can join via the Discord link in my description below. That was a thing for a few years when the world really did move to iPhones and all the BlackBerry business guys did have to move to it. There was a good three, four, five year period. I'm sure people out there can pull up the old Reddit threads or whatever. Like, God damn, could they just make it with the BlackBerry keyboard and we'd be good.
- [05:36]
Owen Hansen
You know what, someone told me, Julian, that they made a thingy, put your. Your iPhone in and you have like a little keyboard that's the same as the BlackBerry. And then they got sued by BlackBerry that you couldn't use that. Yeah, I think it's great. Could you imagine if you could just be on your iPhone and. And pretend like you're using your BlackBerry?
- [05:54]
Julian Dory
Yeah, it actually was kind of nice. I. Can we pull that up, Joe? Cuz why wouldn't BlackBerry just say, all right, you owe us 50% licensing, let's go.
- [06:01]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, they made a phone. They're making their own phone now. Who's day? Clicks. That's what. That's what it is.
- [06:07]
Julian Dory
Oh, that company that did it.
- [06:09]
Owen Hansen
Oh, it is. Clicks.
- [06:10]
Julian Dory
Yeah, I don't know if that's gonna work out. They ain't got that iOS. That's tough.
- [06:15]
Owen Hansen
Look at that. Big beck and magnet on the back. Yeah. No, I do like the feeling though.
- [06:21]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [06:22]
Owen Hansen
Like, literally, I could, I was so fast.
- [06:25]
Julian Dory
Yeah. Did you have like a. When you were in prison and you know, obviously we're, we're gonna get to what happened here. Everyone, if you're wondering what's going on. But when you were there, what was your computer access? Like? Anything.
- [06:38]
Owen Hansen
Only computer you get is for law library. So anytime you're researching your case or just, you know, fighting, looking at your discovery, putting in motions. So we have no Internet.
- [06:47]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [06:48]
Owen Hansen
They, they have no Internet throughout the Bureau of Prisons. They have an email base where you can email, but the people that you email have to be accepted by the Bureau of Prisons, so they have to do a background check. And then when you email them the. It's, you know, my, my case is so such a big deal. The FBI would read all the emails before it would get sent to my family members. So it's monitored. You got like security inside the prison systems, which is called sis, and they, they act as like the FBI liaison. And so anything comes in goes the FBI, they read the emails, they send it back to SIS and they say, okay, he's good to go. Send it out. And sometimes people want to get my emails for, you know, two to three days.
- [07:27]
Julian Dory
Oh, yeah.
- [07:27]
Owen Hansen
It's a pain in the ass.
- [07:28]
Julian Dory
It's also like, you know, I know your expectations all change when your life has changed and you get put in there. But you realize, I would imagine nothing in your life is private at all. You can't. It's kind of weird like saying anything because, you know, a bunch of people who you don't know are going to be reading this, including people that may have some ability to hold some sort of judgment over you.
- [07:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Reading or listening. Right. Like phone calls and you can just hear it like your, your call being recorded and you know, one bad thing and, and they, they click turn off the phone. So it's, it's, it's. It was definitely an, an eye opener. I'm glad it's behind me.
- [08:07]
Julian Dory
Yeah. Now you wrote a book about your whole experience here. Yeah, the California Kid.
- [08:12]
Owen Hansen
I read, I wrote that literally in my six by eight prison cell starting in 2017, right after I got sentenced to 21 years.
- [08:20]
Julian Dory
21 years. But you did 10 to 10.
- [08:24]
Owen Hansen
And you're gonna ask how I got off. Yeah, you gotta watch the docu series. We gotta, you gotta dangle the carrot, man.
- [08:32]
Julian Dory
Maybe we'll dangle that at the end. But you do have a docu series. Produced by Mark Wahlberg. They're working on a film about your story. Because you're a kid from Redondo Beach, I understand, who also happened to be a great football player. Played on one of the most legendary programs in college history, back in the glory days of Pete Carroll at usc multinational titles. Obviously Reggie Bush, who, for my money, was the best college player I've ever seen in my life. Team Main of yours. Right? So how. How, first of all, how does a kid like that end up on that USC team? Let's start there before we get to everything else that happened by accident. By accident, yeah.
- [09:06]
Owen Hansen
Never. It was never supposed to happen this way. I went to USC on a volleyball scholarship. I was the top 50 players in America. I was an opposite hitter. It was this surfer kid from Redondo beach that. That played volleyball. My dad was a highly competitive volleyball player. My uncle was a professional volleyball player, and volleyball was my life. I went to USC on a scholarship 2/3 sophomore year. My coach called me in and said, hanson, I'm red shirting you. I said, I came here to play volleyball. What do you mean you're red shooting? He says, you need to work on that vertical jump. He says, you're not jumping high enough. He says, you need to work on your arm strength. I said, coach, come on. He goes, you're playing behind the best All American volleyball player in. In the nation right now, Brook Billings. And he says, you got to step it up, Hanson. I said, okay, I'll step it up. And I left that, that, that office that day, and I said, what am I going to. I. I literally drove down Redondo beach, where I'm from. I went to Gold's Gym. I went to the biggest bodybuilder there, and I said, man, I just got cut. You know, red shirting is pretty much getting cut. I said, I just got cut. I said, my coach said, I need to play, work on my arm strength, my vertical jump. What do you recommend? This bodybuilder goes, do you want to do it legally or illegally? And I said, whatever works fast, right? And he says, you got to get on performance enhancing drugs. I think I was 19 at the time.
- [10:29]
Julian Dory
What do you put you on?
- [10:30]
Owen Hansen
It wasn't what he put me on because I couldn't afford it. Remember, I'm a blue collar kid. My parents were blue collar family. My dad was a construction worker. My mom was a librarian, and they were divorced. And he says, well, this is what it's going to cost. He starts naming, you know, sustenance 250. A hundred dollars windstraw tablets, you know, 150 anavar, 100 growth hormone. I'm like, okay, I can't afford that. He says, well, if you can't afford it, I suggest you go to the pharmacia. I said, pharmacia? He says, yeah, Tijuana. He wrote down this list. And. And Julian, that's what I did. I drove to the pharmacy across the board, right across the border. And I walked across because I don't want to have to drive back. I don't want to have to get stopped by. By the customs. And I showed up there and I gave them this list. And they looked at it and they filled it right there on the spot. And, you know, I had like, two vials of testosterone. I had sipionate sustenance, 250. I had Winstrol tablets. I had Anavar. I had a human growth hormona. I had hcg, Novodex. I'm like, all right, where the am I gonna put this, right? Like, I can't just walk across with it in my pockets. And I remember I had my compressor shorts on that day, and my compressor shorts were used for the volleyball team. And I. I said, you know what? That's where I'm gonna put them. And I dumped all the pills and the vials in this plastic sandwich bag, and I wrapped it up, and the lady gave me some 3M medical tape, and I taped it, and, you know, I just made it like a. Just think of a banana. And Julie and I went in that bathroom and I. I didn't stick it in the hole, but I stuck it in the crack. And I pulled those compressor shorts up and I said, let's go. And my buddy and I, we went back to that line. U.S. customs says, you bring anything back? I said, absolutely not, sir. And I lied, right? And I walked across that border with this banana up my ass. And for the first time ever, I lied to. To the authorities. And I broke the law.
- [12:30]
Julian Dory
You'd never broken a law in any way before.
- [12:32]
Owen Hansen
I was. I was a kid that, you know, followed directions. I had a father that gave me a 6pm curfew on Monday through Friday, 8pm on the weekends. Never drink a sip of alcohol.
- [12:42]
Julian Dory
Whoa.
- [12:42]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [12:43]
Julian Dory
So there's a lot to think about when you're shopping for a new mattress. Your budget, your sleeping st. Where do you even start? Luckily, Ghostbed is here to help. Ghostbed's redesigned mattress quiz cuts through all the noise and gives you a clear, reliable recommendation for the mattress that is going to help you get the best sleep possible. All you got to do is answer a few questions about yourself and get a recommendation within a couple minutes. And you can even take the quiz with your partner. So instead of debating who's right, you can find the bed that works for both of you. Ghostbed is a family owned company backed by over 20 years of mattress expertise. Every one of their mattresses are built with cooling features to keep you comfortable all night and made to last with a 20 to 25 year warranty. And the value is undeniable too. Ghostbed's mattresses cost up to 50% less than comparable brands. On top of that, you're going to get a 101 night sleep trial and fast free shipping. Most orders arrive in two to five days, so you'll be sleeping better by next week. Right now, as a Julian Dory podcast listener, you can get an extra 10% off your order for a limited time. Just go to ghostbed.com Julian that link is in my description below and use promo co Julian at checkout. That's ghostbed.com Julian link in my description below. Promo code Julian upgrade your sleep with Ghostbed, the makers of the coolest beds in the world. Some exclusions apply. C site for details. This episode is brought to you by Redfin.
- [14:00]
Owen Hansen
You're listening to a podcast, which means
- [14:03]
Julian Dory
you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing.
- [14:13]
Owen Hansen
It's built to help you find and
- [14:14]
Julian Dory
own a home with agents who close
- [14:17]
Owen Hansen
twice as many deals.
- [14:18]
Julian Dory
When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started@redfin.com own the dream
- [14:27]
Owen Hansen
after that day, Julian, I'll never be able to understand why this happened. But I chased that rush forever. Oh, it was a rush. It was a rush. Knowing that I just smuggled something into America. And in that rush, I would keep, keep going and going until I was smuggling a ton of cocaine into Australia and Canada. You know, we'll get there. Yeah, we'll get there. Just to give your viewers the first little trickle, that's where it started, right there.
- [14:53]
Julian Dory
Yeah, you're just trying, you're trying to get stronger.
- [14:55]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [14:55]
Julian Dory
And so they're like, go to Tijuana so you can afford it.
- [14:58]
Owen Hansen
So I did, you know, I did. I went back and started injecting and this is why. It was an accident. I made the football team. I was in the weight room and one of the strength and Conditioning. Coaches comes in, he goes, hanson, what the have you gotten into? It was an accident, right? I'm science, you know, I'm like this mad scientist injecting this in my ass and popping pills. And, dude, I don't know what the I'm doing. You know, I'm listening to a bodybuilder. And I said, coach, I got cut. He says, hanson, you need to walk onto the football team. I said, coach, I've never played football in my life.
- [15:27]
Julian Dory
You hadn't played it ever.
- [15:28]
Owen Hansen
I never caught a football in my life. My dad didn't allow me to play football. I'll tell you why. He says it was too dangerous of a sport, and he didn't want me getting hurt. And I told you my dad was strict, so I just obeyed him, right?
- [15:39]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [15:39]
Owen Hansen
But now I'm 19. I'm an adult. So I go and I tell the coach, Coach Char, I said, hey, when's tryouts? And he gives me the date. I go back to my dorm room, I look at myself in the mirror. I go, it, I'm an adult. I don't care what my dad says. I'm going to try out. And I try it out. There's 50 guys, all Americans, from junior colleges and high schools. And I ran the 440, which, which was probably the reason I made the team. I ran it in 4. I ran it in 4.6 seconds, and I was weighing 240 pounds.
- [16:12]
Julian Dory
What are you, like, 6 5, 2, 6 3?
- [16:14]
Owen Hansen
6 3. Yeah. So I understand in better numbers. That's like combine numbers, right?
- [16:18]
Julian Dory
Yeah, that'll do.
- [16:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. And then I obviously had a vertical jump from volleyball. It was like, 36 inches. So they saw that. And then they. The last test was we go down to the bench press, and obviously no one knows at the time, but I'm on every kind of steroid there is. And I get down there, I'm benching two plates, just bouncing it off my, my chest, like. And I hit 26 reps. Yeah.
- [16:42]
Julian Dory
At like, age 19.
- [16:43]
Owen Hansen
19, yeah. So I, I, I said, great, you know, the tryout's over. I did that. And two weeks later, Coach says, Coach Char, the same one that told me to try, try out, he says, hey, go look up. Pete Carroll has the list up. Who made the team? I said, why am I going to go up there? I didn't make the football team. I'm a volleyball player. He goes, just go check. And I went up there, and I see all these, like, disappointing faces leaving all these guys that, that I tried out with. I go up there and there's one name says Owen Hansen.
- [17:14]
Julian Dory
You were the only one.
- [17:15]
Owen Hansen
I was the only one. Whoa. Made the USC football team.
- [17:18]
Julian Dory
And that's. So is this 0303?
- [17:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So we. We won the.
- [17:22]
Julian Dory
That.
- [17:22]
Owen Hansen
That was spring. During spring, they had won the Rose Bo before. We were on the Rose bowl with. No, it was the Orange Bowl. No, it was the Orange bowl with Carson Palmer. I was part of the Rose bowl championship team that we won with Liner and Reggie. That was to be Michigan. We beat Michigan for the Rose bowl and we split that. AP champion. That's right. And LSU was the BCS champion.
- [17:46]
Julian Dory
Carson beat Iowa. Brad Banks, right?
- [17:48]
Owen Hansen
Correct.
- [17:49]
Julian Dory
That was the game.
- [17:49]
Owen Hansen
Troy Paloma was on that team.
- [17:51]
Julian Dory
Yep.
- [17:51]
Owen Hansen
Okay. And then the next year, we go and beat Oklahoma in the Orange bowl and we blow them out. 55, 19.
- [17:57]
Julian Dory
Remember that?
- [17:57]
Owen Hansen
Well, and I was part of that team. So I got two national championship rings, and I never played football in my whole. My whole life. And. And so this is where this, this, you know, bounce back. This back against the wall, this underdog has started.
- [18:11]
Julian Dory
All right, let's back up for a second. First of all, when you start taking all these steroids, I don't even remember the cocktail you went through there. It was Windstraw. And I heard a lot of other, like, obviously it's helping you get way stronger. But, you know, I was very dumb at 19, too. I'm not thinking about anything once you start taking them. Are you getting like some kind of weird side effects too?
- [18:31]
Owen Hansen
Angry, Right. Every little thing irritates you. I remember someone who cut me off in my car and I'd follow those cars and I said, get the pull over right now. I was angry.
- [18:41]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [18:41]
Owen Hansen
And every little thing just, just you would snap. Girl would do something that pissed you off, and you're like, what the you doing? Like, why are you yelling at me? You know, and it's just because you're. It's called roid rage.
- [18:51]
Julian Dory
Right, Right.
- [18:51]
Owen Hansen
You get on steroids and you get rage and you get back knee. You get acne. You get everything. Every acne everywhere. You know, you're not supposed to put that kind of in your body at that age.
- [19:02]
Julian Dory
Were you worried about when you made the team? I mean, I don't know what the testing was like back then.
- [19:08]
Owen Hansen
No, no, I was worried and I got off of it. So I. I had it down to a science where I would do it in the off season. Once season started, I was clean and yeah, I was able to keep my size Just taking the protein shakes, the creatine, the glutamine.
- [19:22]
Julian Dory
Did that feel weird, though? Was it hard on your body, like going from 100 down to zero?
- [19:26]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, of course, you know you're not as strong in the gym, right? But it has to be done. I got tested many times.
- [19:36]
Julian Dory
Past all.
- [19:37]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah, past all.
- [19:37]
Julian Dory
No resonator?
- [19:38]
Owen Hansen
No, no. Was an 8. Or back then they didn't have it. But, yeah, the thing came in very handy later on in life.
- [19:43]
Julian Dory
Yeah, it'd be some white dudes going in there, coming out with black cops.
- [19:46]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah, I've seen that. I've seen that. The old Wizardinator. They got in all colors now, right? They even got a Chinese one. Yeah. A little Asian inch long.
- [19:58]
Julian Dory
Now, were you a tight end or what was.
- [20:00]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I was a tight end. I was. I played behind Dominique Bird.
- [20:04]
Julian Dory
Oh, yeah.
- [20:04]
Owen Hansen
Fred. Fred Davis who played in the NFL.
- [20:06]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [20:06]
Owen Hansen
Greg Gunther. Yeah, it was great. I had a awesome time. I learned a lot. Coach Brendan Carroll is my. My coach, who was Pete Carroll's son, obviously. Lane Kiffin was our receiver Coach Sarkeesian was our quarterback coach. Norm Chow was our offense coordinator. Ed Ojon was our o. Line coach. Yeah, I could keep going. Ken Norton was our linebacker coach. I mean, the Legends, right? Man, I couldn't stand Ocean. He scared the out of me. He says, you. He. One time he had a bunch of dip in his mouth, and he put coffee grinds in his mouth with his dip. He'd mix it, give him that energy. And one time, I didn't make a block, and he said, you. He grabbed me by the face mask and he shook me. You walk on. And he took his dip and he just threw it in my fucking face mask. I go, fuck. What are you going to do? You can't do anything. This guy's a fuck. Everyone's scared shitless of this dude, and I'll never forget that day. Man, he just manhandled me.
- [21:13]
Julian Dory
Yeah, he's kind of, like, deep. Have you ever seen the video of Ed Ogeron running, like, on campus, shirtless?
- [21:20]
Owen Hansen
He's a nut.
- [21:22]
Julian Dory
He's mine. But it's the funniest thing ever.
- [21:24]
Owen Hansen
He drinks, like eight Red Bulls a day. He's cut back. He used to drink, like 15.
- [21:28]
Julian Dory
I guess that sounds about Dan Campbell numbers right there. Yeah, I don't know if we can find that on Twitter.
- [21:34]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I would like to go see Ed. I want to see Ed coach again. You know, I want to go speak to his college team.
- [21:39]
Julian Dory
It's kind of crazy because you Were away when that happened. But, like, he goes to lsu, he had had all these other jobs and, you know, could never stay as, like, a head coach. Goes to lsu recruits Joe Burrow, builds wide receiver. You, while he's there, wins a title, and like, within a year, they're like, get packing.
- [21:58]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah. It doesn't make sense. No days off.
- [22:03]
Julian Dory
Oh, my God. This is a. That is Aeron Stroll right there.
- [22:11]
Owen Hansen
Is that at. At the campus? Yep. He's sweating.
- [22:14]
Julian Dory
Okay. He's got the towel for the sweat. Just running back. Running right by right here.
- [22:19]
Owen Hansen
That's funny.
- [22:20]
Julian Dory
Oh, my God. Now just picture that, man. Just like throwing coffee and dip right in your face.
- [22:27]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [22:27]
Julian Dory
But, yeah, I couldn't understand why he got canned. That was kind of crazy.
- [22:32]
Owen Hansen
I was hoping Kiffin would hire him, bring him back on. Wouldn't that be funny? That would be like a full circle kind of thing. Right? So. Yeah, that was good.
- [22:41]
Julian Dory
You know, were you friends with guys on the team that we would know?
- [22:43]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Matt Leiner, you know, I was in Reggie's wedding. Reggie Bush, Brandon Hancock, Lindell White were in my.
- [22:49]
Julian Dory
You were in Reggie's wedding?
- [22:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [22:52]
Julian Dory
No.
- [22:52]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Lindell White was.
- [22:54]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [22:54]
Owen Hansen
I remember the docu series on Amazon Prime. Brandon Hancock, our all American fullback, was in there as well. Kept. Kept in contact. Still talked to Matt Leinert yesterday, actually.
- [23:07]
Julian Dory
Are you gonna do him and Jerry's show?
- [23:08]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, we did it. We did.
- [23:09]
Julian Dory
He did it.
- [23:10]
Owen Hansen
We did it right before the docu series. Yeah, it was perfect for the football. And, you know, Jerry's friends with Wahlberg, obviously, from Montreal.
- [23:17]
Julian Dory
Yeah, yeah.
- [23:18]
Owen Hansen
So, yeah, it was good. It's been a. It's been a grind. It's. It's, you know. Know, it's. It's life, and it's. It's very humbling to come from. You know, eventually we'll talk about making a million dollars a day and.
- [23:30]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [23:30]
Owen Hansen
And getting out of prison and making a dollar on an ice cream bar that I manufacture. Right. And it's. It's just a slow and steady race, but at the end of the day, it's. We're looking for an exit plan in, you know, four or five years for
- [23:43]
Julian Dory
the business, you guys.
- [23:44]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [23:44]
Julian Dory
Yeah. So you talk about that rush, though, when you're at the border and you've always been this kid who was forced to follow rules. First of all, like, did you have, like a. I don't want to call it like, a weird animosity, but did you have, like, a develop once you got out of the house? Like, A rebel nature kind of towards your dad because he had been so strict. And that was part of the rush, I think.
- [24:06]
Owen Hansen
You know what? I think you're right. At some point you just realize, like, you know what? Now it's my turn to understand why. Like, why was he so strict? But I understand why. Because my dad was an alcoholic, and he always says, we don't drink in this family. And then when I got to college, I had that first sip of alcohol. I felt like Superman. And then I had. When I had that first line of cocaine, I really felt like Superman. And I was like, okay, now I see why pops didn't want me doing this. It's. It's in our blood. Like, we're addicts. We. We. We enjoy drinking alcohol because it makes us feel good. And I see why my dad, you know, you drink every night.
- [24:40]
Julian Dory
So he wasn't a recovering alcohol.
- [24:42]
Owen Hansen
So when I went. When I went. When my dad took me under his wing when I was 8 years old and they. My parents divorced, my dad got sober for 13 years. So he got sober all the way until I graduated college. And then as soon as I graduated college and he saw that I was, you know, successful, he's like, okay, now I can drink again. I don't have to worry about my son.
- [25:01]
Julian Dory
Oh, wow.
- [25:02]
Owen Hansen
So he did that. I respect him for what he did. You know, he stood by me and. And pushed me through and got me out of school, and it was by my side as a sober person.
- [25:12]
Julian Dory
Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard
- [25:14]
Owen Hansen
a story like that before. Yeah, it's crazy. Thirteen years now.
- [25:19]
Julian Dory
Were you split when your parents divorced your. You were eight.
- [25:21]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're. You know, you're supposed to have a mother in life. Right. And to see my mom, you know, once or twice a year is difficult.
- [25:30]
Julian Dory
Oh, so you didn't split time?
- [25:32]
Owen Hansen
No, no, no. My dad said, I'm keeping my son. My. My mother said, okay, well, I'm gonna take. Take on sister my. Their daughter. And when we would change, you know, during, like, Thanksgiving or Christmas, when I would see my mom, my sister would go with my dad and I would go with my mom. So I'd see her, you know, twice, three times a year, most. And it was hard. You're not having a mom. Most people, it's the other way. You don't have a dad.
- [25:59]
Julian Dory
Right, Right. But either way, like, even a lot of situations, it's like they see their dad every other weekend or on weekends, that kind of thing. At least there's Something to, like, regardless of what parent it is to only be with them on, like, a holiday or something once or twice a year. Did you feel like you even had a relationship with your mom? Like she even knew who you were?
- [26:21]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I mean, she. She would call me, obviously, and it's just not that relationship most people have with their. Their mother. Right. It was just, you know, to this day, you know, I tell her, man me up. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. My parents, you know, didn't get along, and it had to be that way.
- [26:37]
Julian Dory
So why did it have to be that drastic? Why couldn't it be like other parents?
- [26:44]
Owen Hansen
Because she. She left and she moved out way, like, you know, 10 hours away. So that. That made it difficult to see her. She was living in Northern California, and I was living in Southern California, and so it's a big difference.
- [26:56]
Julian Dory
And why was it. So you were the boy, so I guess your dad.
- [27:01]
Owen Hansen
Well, I was already. Yeah, I was already playing sports. I was eight.
- [27:03]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [27:03]
Owen Hansen
So I was in ay. So I was playing basketball. Aau, Volleyball. So it was like, my dad's like, no, no, you're not taking them. He's already in the sports leagues here. It was the best thing that happened, though, you know, I'm glad I stayed. Got. Got into USC because of it, you know.
- [27:19]
Julian Dory
Did you ever feel like your mom, because she, you know, was okay, I guess, with not being in your life, pretty much like she didn't love you or you felt abandoned?
- [27:30]
Owen Hansen
Definitely abandoned.
- [27:31]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [27:33]
Owen Hansen
Watching her leave with my sister. My sister crying, sucking her thumb with her blanket in her hand. I was like, damn, that's hard. I was like, asking my father, what did I do wrong? Like, I told my dad, I said, dad, what I do? Like, I. I've been showering, I've been making my bed, I've been eating my vegetables. Like, where did I up as a kid? And it's hard to understand at that age. No doubt.
- [27:56]
Julian Dory
Impossible.
- [27:57]
Owen Hansen
Impossible.
- [27:59]
Julian Dory
Wow.
- [28:01]
Owen Hansen
All right.
- [28:01]
Julian Dory
Some of it's clocking.
- [28:02]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. How?
- [28:03]
Julian Dory
You know, you don't have that normal.
- [28:07]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [28:07]
Julian Dory
In any way. No normal type upbringing. But then, like, your dad is making sacrifices to do the best for you, which I think is an amazing thing. But then it's also like, in some ways it becomes like, okay, do as I say. Not as I am.
- [28:23]
Owen Hansen
Yes. Not as I did.
- [28:24]
Julian Dory
Right. And it's also very strict to the point that then when the governor's kind of taken off, it's like, all right, baby, let's go.
- [28:34]
Owen Hansen
And it ended up. Ended up here, you know, from usc Golden Body International drug kingdom.
- [28:39]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [28:40]
Owen Hansen
Really, it really stemmed from this. If you, if you were to ask
- [28:43]
Julian Dory
an expert before you ever got the red shirt conversation, though, because that was before when you were going to be a sophomore, right?
- [28:50]
Owen Hansen
Correct.
- [28:51]
Julian Dory
So freshman year, had you experimented with like alcohol and coke then down?
- [28:55]
Owen Hansen
I hadn't yet. I waited sophomore year. The reason I waited sophomore year is that's when we were like out of the dorm. We weren't being watched by like the USC volleyball coach because everything was monitored so closely. And in the dorm living, you know, you couldn't be drinking. You know, we're underage, first of all, you know, And I was very, very strict. Yes. And the volleyball coach had a rule that if you're a freshman, you. You can't rush a fraternity. You know, you're going to be monitored and you can't drink. And so I was following these rules. And then sophomore year, I. I rushed to fraternity and I started doing steroids and doing lines of cocaine and it's snowball. No pun intended.
- [29:38]
Julian Dory
So the steroids were before the blow.
- [29:41]
Owen Hansen
Yes.
- [29:42]
Julian Dory
You think maybe like the steroids getting you so amped up was like, I
- [29:45]
Owen Hansen
want some of that white stuff too,
- [29:47]
Julian Dory
or like, what was it?
- [29:48]
Owen Hansen
Definitely. I think I put everything in anything in my body. And once you put the steroids and it's like, what else can I throw in here?
- [29:56]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [29:57]
Owen Hansen
Somali, some ghb, some Xanax and Vicodin.
- [30:01]
Julian Dory
I mean, everything you're doing ghb.
- [30:03]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. That was my favorite.
- [30:05]
Julian Dory
Do you remember it?
- [30:06]
Owen Hansen
I love it. I loved it because it would. Being on steroids, you're so amped up and it's hard to sleep at night. And then when you take that ghb, it just brings you down.
- [30:13]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [30:13]
Owen Hansen
And that's what I liked. I like that feeling of being down when I'm so amped. I like at night, not. Not during the day.
- [30:22]
Julian Dory
Yeah, I got you.
- [30:23]
Owen Hansen
And then you'll see in the book, I. I started literally taking G, like at six in the morning when I wake up to go work out, just because I'm so amped and got this cartel behind me and I'm just like, holy, I need to calm down. And GHB and a half a Xanax would be. Would level me out, but that.
- [30:40]
Julian Dory
So I always just think of GHB is the date rape drug because people,
- [30:43]
Owen Hansen
if you mix it with alcohol. Right. And. But GHB did used to be legal in GNC. They used to call it Blue Thunder in the 90s. And it was legal. I think it was called Blue Lightning or Blue Thunder. But you could buy GHB legally and people would use it for insomnia. Wow. Yeah, I didn't know that. So this is before people started abusing it, right? Yeah.
- [31:06]
Julian Dory
So you would.
- [31:06]
Owen Hansen
Wow, that's.
- [31:08]
Julian Dory
You had a lot going on. But when you're playing on the national champions for a couple years, obviously like you know as well as anyone, college football is a full time job. I mean, you're, you've worked. All my best friends in College were D1 double A players. They had a 60 hour a week job.
- [31:25]
Owen Hansen
Oh yeah.
- [31:26]
Julian Dory
And then they also had to take class and stuff like that. And you know, the balance is insane. How are you? I always kind of wonder that, like how, how the guys, especially at the highest level playing on teams like that balance being at a school like USC in California. Women are looking great, parties are amazing. And then also being so locked in to be able to be like undefeated national champions. Like was it with your body, all the abuse you were doing to it to the point that you couldn't perform like you wanted to out there or.
- [31:56]
Owen Hansen
No, I think I performed better. You know, it kept me going. Like, like imagine taking an Adderall constantly and being up and just laser focused. And that's, that's how the cocaine did it for me. And then at night I'd take that GHB to lower my levels. I'd sleep and then do it again and again. And, you know, I think it helped. Also the USC program put us with tutors, right. We had athletic. Everybody on the football team had a tutor for every class.
- [32:24]
Julian Dory
Oh, wow.
- [32:24]
Owen Hansen
So I made a lot easier time to do homework. My tutor would be sitting there, you know, and we'd get through it. If I didn't have that, it'd be no way I'd be able to pass.
- [32:35]
Julian Dory
What was it like playing for Pete, man?
- [32:38]
Owen Hansen
Legend. No doubt. He's a players coach. So every day we, we'd be excited to go to, you know, practice. Not only practice, but we'd watch film and there'd always be some, some little thing he'd bring into the room like SNOOP Dogg or Dr. Dre or, you know, like Will Ferrell would be there some days and these guys would dress out. You'd see Will Ferrell on pads and you see Snoop Dogg running routes with us. It was cool. And he was just a jokester. I remember one time he said, hey guys, Lindell's suicidal. And we looked up and Lindell wasn't at practice, but he was on above the roof. And. And someone dressed a mannequin up with Lindell's practice jersey and threw it off the roof. And this is before. Like, if this happened now, you know, people would.
- [33:20]
Julian Dory
Fired.
- [33:20]
Owen Hansen
He'd be fired for sure. Right. So people like, no, Ladell. And we're like, what the. Right. But it's just Pete's imagination. Just. He was great.
- [33:30]
Julian Dory
And is he as upbeat, like, positive all the time as he appears?
- [33:35]
Owen Hansen
Oh, yeah, yeah. The guy used to drink like six diet Mountain Dews. And. And he'd have this gum. I remember our equipment manager, Tino would give him this. This big league chew, and he'd just be chewing big leak chew and just chugging these diet Mountain Dew shoes. And I'd be coming in from. From like a late night. And I cut through Heritage hall and there's Pete just literally still on the computer looking at film for. At like three in the morning. You're like, this guy's just. He's a beast.
- [34:03]
Julian Dory
Definitely lover of the game for sure.
- [34:05]
Owen Hansen
Sure.
- [34:06]
Julian Dory
I wish we were talking before camera. I do kind of. I agree with you. I kind of wish you would have hung it up after the Seahawks game because he had been going for like 50 straight years at that point.
- [34:15]
Owen Hansen
It's time to retire. Yeah. He didn't need to go to the Raiders. Yeah. Yeah.
- [34:22]
Julian Dory
Bring Gino Smith over there.
- [34:23]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. I kind of felt like it was. And lucky. Now the Seahawks are in the. The world's or the Super Bowl. Isn't that great?
- [34:31]
Julian Dory
Yeah, it's. It's crazy, man.
- [34:33]
Owen Hansen
Like, McDonald was that one year he pulled that off. Y. Wow. Darnold's a UFC kid too. First I just read a stat. The first USC football player to ever start a Super Bowl.
- [34:42]
Julian Dory
Really?
- [34:42]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. First quarterback. Yeah.
- [34:44]
Julian Dory
No.
- [34:45]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [34:45]
Julian Dory
I wouldn't guess that.
- [34:47]
Owen Hansen
That's a good stat. Yeah.
- [34:48]
Julian Dory
Carson never made it. Right. That was Kurt Warner.
- [34:52]
Owen Hansen
Kurt Warner, Yeah. But, yeah, he wasn't for Cardinals, but he's not usa. Wow.
- [34:57]
Julian Dory
How about that too. Darn. It's a great story with Darnold because he started up here in with the jets, which is just where football goes to die and finds a way back onto the field eventually.
- [35:09]
Owen Hansen
I love it. I saw him like a year ago at his country club. I was golfing and. And Hancock introduced me and he was playing at Minnesota at the time. Look at. They cut. They got rid of him.
- [35:18]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [35:19]
Owen Hansen
Now look at.
- [35:19]
Julian Dory
Now he's in the Super Bowl.
- [35:21]
Owen Hansen
I love it.
- [35:21]
Julian Dory
No, that's. That's really cool.
- [35:23]
Owen Hansen
This week with digital coupons at Safeway and Albertsons get beef rib roast for 7.97 per pound member price with minimum purchase of 50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See store for details and broccoli, cauliflower
- [35:37]
Julian Dory
or russet potato potatoes are 97 cents
- [35:39]
Owen Hansen
per pound member price limit 6 pounds plus selected sizes and varieties of lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese are 197 each member price. Visit safeway or albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.
- [35:53]
Julian Dory
So you were, you were on the team for two years at ufc?
- [35:56]
Owen Hansen
Yep. The back to back years. The third year we lost to Texas. They needed me. They needed, they needed my, my performance
- [36:02]
Julian Dory
would have been different.
- [36:02]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, well, they need my performance enhancing drugs. You know, I became a doctor at this football program called me Dr. O. Dog.
- [36:09]
Julian Dory
I was just gonna ask you how many, you know, was it, did they have like a Gatorade machine in the middle of the locker room that was spitting out wind straw?
- [36:17]
Owen Hansen
So when people got hurt, they came to me, but I, I, I only treated them during the off season like I was, I wasn't putting my teammates on steroids during the season.
- [36:25]
Julian Dory
That's nice.
- [36:26]
Owen Hansen
You know, like we're getting tested, right? I'm, we can't have a bad test and you know, cost us a national championship.
- [36:33]
Julian Dory
So the Spanish doctors.
- [36:34]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yes, exactly. So I, you know, that third year I wasn't there. Maybe if I was there for Texas, we would have came through. Maybe should have got that third year red shirt.
- [36:44]
Julian Dory
Now, when did you, because if I understand correctly, talk with AJ like, kind of the gateway to what ended up happening in addition to you starting to experiment with things was you got involved with like gambling.
- [36:58]
Owen Hansen
Yes.
- [36:58]
Julian Dory
In college. Now everyone sees gambling now legal and all that kind of crazy wild, wild west back then, very different story, you know, completely different environment. How did you get involved and what was the nature of you getting involved in gambling?
- [37:12]
Owen Hansen
The date, the nature was, you know, the recession hit in 2007 and I just lost my job. I was working for a big USC alumni and I was like, man, what the fuck am I going to do now? And I was like, man, I really like sports. You know, I'd be perfect. You know, you watching Goodfellas as a kid, I was like, I'd be perfect. A perfect bookie, right? I got all the athletes that I played with. I'm meeting all these, you know, celebrities from all my buddies that are dating, you know, you gotta remember, liner was dating Paris Hilton, Reggie Was dating Kim Kardashian. That's right. So I was meeting all these people in Hollywood, and what an era. I was literally, like, I said, you know what? That's. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna become a bookie. And at that age, I was like, man, who am I going to have teach me this business? And my dad had an Italian friend that was a bookmaker. Makes sense. And I. I begged my dad to give me his number. He's like, no, you're not seeing Uncle Tony. I said, dad, I got to see Uncle Tony. And he said, he said, you're not seeing Uncle Tony. And I begged him, like, finally, I got a meeting with Uncle Tony. And I said, tony, please. I said, this is temporary. I just lost my job. I said, I got all these USC kids, I got all my boys in the NFL now. I said, let me just have an opportunity. Let me. Let me have a half pay. They call it a half sheet where he gives you these. He gives you a percentage off of the players you bring in. And at the time, he said, I'm going to give you 20 of whatever your customers lose in the first. Like, the first, I want to say five or six months. My one. Just one customer lost a million dollars, and he gave me 200 grand, right, over a six month period. And. And I'm collecting big money for him, right? Cash. And then he's like, I'm like, hey, something's backwards here, Uncle Tony. I said, I think I should be getting 80. You get 20. These are my customers, you know, like, he's like, no, not happening. He said that? Yeah. He said something. He says. I said, well, can I get a bigger percentage? No, that's all I said, are you sure? He said, well, let me ask my partner. So he. He asked his partners, they're like, nah. When most we can give him is 30, right? And I was like, I was bitter about it. I was like, you know what? I got to figure out how to do this myself. And that's when I flew over to Costa Rica, the mecca of sportsbook, right?
- [39:25]
Julian Dory
That's. That was like, where. Ground zero? Kind of.
- [39:27]
Owen Hansen
Ground zero, yeah.
- [39:29]
Julian Dory
So what are you doing there at the time?
- [39:30]
Owen Hansen
I fly over there and I literally go door to door and. And I start knocking on these. These doors of Costa Rican bookies.
- [39:37]
Julian Dory
Keep that mic in front of you, by the way.
- [39:39]
Owen Hansen
And. And these, these bookies, you know, they have servers over there and 1, 800 numbers and people that have call centers. So you basically call 1-800-000- you know, Beto Dog, which was eventually what became my site, Beto Dog. And you go over there and they have people speaking English and they take the bets on the, on the call center, or if you want to do it online or your application on your cell phone, you can bet through the app. And I learned, literally learned this business by going over there and building this thing from the ground up. And I had, at my height, I had 30 customer support, call center people answering. I had two line managers moving lines and, and two VIP customers that would answer all my VIP customers.
- [40:22]
Julian Dory
What kind of revenues are you?
- [40:24]
Owen Hansen
At the peak, I mean, at the peak I was before I got busted, I had 2, 000 customers. And we're talking, I mean, at the end, you know, 2015, when I got arrested, we were, we were probably making, you know, half a million a month.
- [40:36]
Julian Dory
Yeah, I was gonna say it's got to be up in those numbers because that was. So we're gonna get to the cartel stuff. That was what I was under the impression a lot of the indictments were about. But like in Costa Rica, just from the gambling perspective, what were you doing that now is like, you know, illegal?
- [40:54]
Owen Hansen
So now, I mean, in 2018, they legalized online sports betting, right? I was the trailblazer, right? I had this company called Beto Dog. I was literally, let's see, I was, I was about 10 years early to the game.
- [41:08]
Julian Dory
So you were just doing exact kind of exactly what they're doing now, exactly what they do. It just wasn't legal yet.
- [41:13]
Owen Hansen
And I was taking all mine was lines of credit. So no one would use a credit card, no one would deposit a check. No one would, you know, now you have to obviously post up, right? So I just gave him lines of credit. And when you, when you lost, I would collect and when, when you won, I would pay you. And sometimes we'd have to do things the old fashioned way. Knock on doors and, you know, avoid breaking kneecaps, obviously, but we, we would, we put the fear of God in them.
- [41:37]
Julian Dory
You never broke any?
- [41:38]
Owen Hansen
No, no, we, hey, we tried not to allow. My big thing was if you, you involve any kind of violence, it's going to get you in trouble. And one of my, one of my collectors, all he was supposed to do was knock on the door and that's it. And I remember the person like got hostile with them and he ended up slapping him. And when he slapped him, it was all recorded. And when they ricoed me, they gave me a RICO racketeering charge. They said that I Had violence in my case, because this is. Yeah, for slapping this guy. Come on. Yeah.
- [42:11]
Julian Dory
I mean, there was no Louisville.
- [42:12]
Owen Hansen
No, no. This is what the FBI does though. You know, they try to make it bigger than it is.
- [42:18]
Julian Dory
Yeah, Slap doesn't feel like, does it? What was he, India? Like six figures?
- [42:23]
Owen Hansen
No, this is the funny part. It was the guy, literally the week before he beat me for like five grand. And the next week he loses like I think like three grand. And he tells me to go myself. And I said, what? You just won, I just paid you now, now you're stealing. That's like the cardinal rule in this business. You never. You never get paid and then, then lose and not pay back. Right. Especially the next week. It was a principal thing and I had a guy in Minnesota that. Where this agent was or where this customer was. And I said, hey, do me a favor, go knock on the door of this guy. I caught him off guard. And he ended up being an FBI informant. Oh yeah. He ended up turning in that tape to the FBI, working with them, taking the stand.
- [43:06]
Julian Dory
So he was literally wired up. This is after.
- [43:09]
Owen Hansen
Like pre rank. Yeah, this is. Yeah, after, right? This is after. So after that happened, he called the FBI.
- [43:16]
Julian Dory
Hey guys, if you haven't already subscribed, please hit that subscribe button. It's a huge, huge help. Thank you. Yeah, actually I. Now come to think of it, I wonder how much harder that is these days to do the old fashioned, you know, New Jersey type. No, no, everyone's got ring cameras.
- [43:30]
Owen Hansen
You can't do it anymore because you got to remember, everyone calls the cops, everyone records. Yeah, those days are over. Being a street book, he's no longer.
- [43:38]
Julian Dory
I gotta ask my guy, aunt the bookie about that. I'm sure they find a way around it. Yeah, you know, it's not the same
- [43:43]
Owen Hansen
as the old days for sure. Definitely not the same.
- [43:45]
Julian Dory
So you were living in Costa Rica?
- [43:47]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I was part time was in Costa Rica mostly. I had a house there and on the water. And then I would fly back sometimes I'd meet up with customers taking them golfing or taking a Vegas fights or, you know, wine and dynam. You know, I treat it like a concierge. Was your.
- [44:01]
Julian Dory
This is where I'm a little confused. Just for the gambling aspect of it, was your identity behind the website? Anonymous. Meaning if the government first found out about. What was the name of the site?
- [44:12]
Owen Hansen
O Dog.
- [44:13]
Julian Dory
So the government first finds out about Bet. O Dog. They don't know it's Owen.
- [44:17]
Owen Hansen
No, I think my name in the business was junior. Yeah, you just, you know, you got, you got these, these names like for all your agents.
- [44:25]
Julian Dory
So they have to figure out.
- [44:27]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah.
- [44:27]
Julian Dory
So what you meaning for years there, even if it, in hindsight probably was a little careless, you weren't worried about flying back and forth to the US like they would know who you are?
- [44:37]
Owen Hansen
No, I say I was a real estate developer because I was developing in, in the United States as well.
- [44:42]
Julian Dory
What were you developing the United States?
- [44:44]
Owen Hansen
Mostly spec homes, residential.
- [44:46]
Julian Dory
Okay.
- [44:46]
Owen Hansen
Stuff in like Hermosa, Manhattan Beach.
- [44:48]
Julian Dory
Nice places.
- [44:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah.
- [44:50]
Julian Dory
And you were doing that in Costa
- [44:52]
Owen Hansen
Rica too, as well? Yeah. So I fly back and forth and I would have my blueprints with me, open up my plans, like, oh, I'm doing this house and it's real. It's real. There's no cover up.
- [45:01]
Julian Dory
So you would launder money through that, through the construction?
- [45:03]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [45:04]
Julian Dory
Right. And you're doing lines of credit. How would they. So if they're not doing credit cards and like deposits back then, would it literally be they send you in cash, like in packages?
- [45:14]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, no, they, they do. It's not the safest, but back then I had a company that was under my umbrella, it was an ATM business. So what I would do is I'd have it in Chase and Bank of America, in Wells Fargo, like it was called ATM Unlimited. And so I'd have these people go deposit cash into the banks. Back then it was like 9900 was the limit. They go deposit 9900, no red flags. And then I'd have the owner that limited liability going. They pull out, you know, 120,000 cash at a time because the person, the teller is not going to ask questions. They see it's an ATM business. What do you do with the cash? You put it in your atm, Right? And I would just pay, I would pay a fee. I'd give my guy that owned the LLC 3% and it would work for everybody. You know, he'd make a couple thousand a week and everyone was happy.
- [46:01]
Julian Dory
So you go from being on the top of the world, playing at usc, doing roids and winning national titles and being the man to then, oh, now I gotta work like kind of a normal real world job to very quickly the recession hits and then you're out of a job like, like, oh, now the world's really real. I got to make some money to building this business that at the time is illegal. Again, we're just on the gambling right now. And it seems like pretty quickly getting to a point where you're making a ton of money. Like, was there. Obviously, a lot of people love to make a lot of money, but was there something about it where, you know, you started to feel a power?
- [46:43]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, it's power. Of course. Look at every movie. Scarface and Casino and. Good, right?
- [46:48]
Julian Dory
You.
- [46:49]
Owen Hansen
You get this.
- [46:51]
Julian Dory
The world is.
- [46:51]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, the world is yours. Right there, you feel like you can get anything. You know, I had people on my payroll. I had FBI, Ex. FBI D agents that were private investigators, Right? You have. You know, you have sicarios that are your security guards in. In Costa Rica and Mexico that are working for you with bulletproof cars. You have any girl you want? You want, like. Oh, you want a Chanel bag? I got you, baby. Come on over. You know, you find in. And for me, that's like. That was what I lived for. It was. It was. It was fun.
- [47:23]
Julian Dory
You got a lot of women in college already, right?
- [47:26]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [47:26]
Julian Dory
Imagine playing for usc. So that's not new to you?
- [47:29]
Owen Hansen
No, that was new. But being able to get something that you can't have, like. Like that. Like, I like that. That game, Right. Like, there was so much easier when you're making that kind of money and you had that kind of power.
- [47:42]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [47:42]
Owen Hansen
And you have, you know, security guards around you, and they're like, who's that? What do you do? I'm a bookie. Like, you know, like. Like, what the. A bookie, you know, and it's. It's like this surfer kid that became this, you know, wise guy in. In California, Right. You know?
- [48:00]
Julian Dory
Did you gamble yourself, too?
- [48:02]
Owen Hansen
You can't beat the house, right?
- [48:04]
Julian Dory
So you stayed. You didn't get high on your own supply?
- [48:08]
Owen Hansen
Eventually, when I get to the cocaine business, you'll see this thing spot out of control. And I did get high on my own supply once. I got in debt. But, I mean, as far as the gambling, I. I had bookies that would bet with me, and I would just take their money. I was like, dude, this is. This is so stupid. These guys are bookies like me, and they're just losing all the money they win from their clients, and they're just giving it to me now. It's like they haven't figured it out.
- [48:33]
Julian Dory
So you. You grew up surfing, though?
- [48:35]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, surfing and skating.
- [48:36]
Julian Dory
And was that like.
- [48:38]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I love the ocean, man. I still love the ocean. I walk that sand. I'm like, this is heaven beach kid. I like that sun. This. This cold New York weather is too much for me.
- [48:48]
Julian Dory
But going from surfer to, you know, I mean, you're Very on brand for Jersey New York. Like, veto mob boss over here.
- [48:55]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [48:56]
Julian Dory
In the gambling business. More of three different things.
- [48:58]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. More of that, like, California version. Like, I'm still kicked back, but I'm still going hard in the paint. When people know me, it was just. It was. I put a twist on it, right. I didn't use that. That mobster. I was more like that charismatic guy. Like, come on, man, you gotta pay. I just paid you. You know, you just. You lean into them. They don't pay. I send flowers to their wives at work. That was one of my secret. I find out where their. Their. Their family was. But listen, it's a game of tactics. It's a cold world. Yeah. And usually after that, that, that flowers. Usually I'm getting paid within, like, the next 30 minutes because the wife's calling, hey, I just got some flowers. It said, junior. Who's Junior? And then they would know that's my bookie. Let me. Let me take care of this. Whoa. Like, hey, what? Don't you ever send flowers? I said, well, don't you ever stiff me.
- [49:50]
Julian Dory
That's. That's some psychological warfare.
- [49:53]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, it's gaming.
- [49:55]
Julian Dory
And you're just playing it just for psychological.
- [49:57]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, it's all psychological.
- [49:58]
Julian Dory
It's not going past that. You never worried about, I don't know, like, the feeling of power that can happen there to where someone does with you after that, maybe it does go farther and you do things you're not capable of or you think you're not capable.
- [50:11]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I mean, of course, it bit me in the butt. I remember. I remember one guy, I reached out to his father, and his father ended up, you know, calling the FBI. And, you know, it's just all these little FBI phone calls, and then they start investigating right.
- [50:24]
Julian Dory
Now. What about, like, your friend? Because you were, like, you said, you know, you're out in Hollywood, basically in college. You guys were the hottest game in town, too. Like, what about your friends, including those who were famous people at that point, what you mentioned, like, actual celebrities, but even, like, the guys you played with, the Reggie Bushes of the world and stuff like that, who you maintain friendships with. What did they think about what you were doing?
- [50:45]
Owen Hansen
You know, they know I'm in the casino business. They know it's an offshore account. And back then, if you were offshore, you're technically legal. Right. That's. That was the separation. Like, you can bet gambling online, but it had to be offshore. So that's why I did it in Costa Rica. Now, I didn't so it was legal. It was, it was a gray area because the exchange of cash or exchange of any kind of money in the United States was made it illegal. Keep that in mind. So like the companies like Bavada and all these companies that were offshore, they would send you like a check from Costa Rica or from, you know, wherever they're at, Canada, where wherever they had the office. And that's what made it legally because the check was coming from there.
- [51:24]
Julian Dory
But you didn't do that.
- [51:25]
Owen Hansen
No.
- [51:26]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [51:26]
Owen Hansen
I give you a bag of, bag of cash.
- [51:30]
Julian Dory
Old fashioned.
- [51:30]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, old fashioned was.
- [51:32]
Julian Dory
Would that have been like, you know, because you're your own guy, you're not like this conglomerate like Bavato or something. Would that have been like a real bottleneck to be able to try to do a system like theirs? Meaning like it would have basically put, put you out of business if you had to set up something like that.
- [51:45]
Owen Hansen
It just takes too long. I'll tell you why I'm a week to week wookie. So every Monday I settle. Those guys will let you, you know, cash out whenever you want. But I like it week to week because I clear your account. And that gets you to gamble more of a auto guy. They leave your money in there and let's say they, they request, you know, $2,000 from their positive $5,000 account. Well, guess what? They still have money to play in there. I like to take it where I give them the money right away. So now they have to lose it right away. And that's the difference between a, a street bookie and a online company that's legit. You can cash out. And it takes a long time too that you take a, you cash out from a company like Bravado and it takes you like three weeks to get a check to this day or back, I don't know. Back then it was. Yeah, I don't, I don't even look at the platforms anymore. I'm banned from every online line, every casino in the United States in the world. So there's no appointment. Might be for the best.
- [52:43]
Julian Dory
Yeah, it's probably, you know, but wow. So that, that it escalates quickly though. Now what like you talk about the power and you know, you're offshore too, so there's some interesting connections you get. First of all, when did you start bringing on like XDEA and x FBI type private investigators and what spurred you to do that was that strictly like clients who weren't paying kind of deal?
- [53:06]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, clients weren't paying and, and some other guys in the industry used them. It was. He. He was. Ended up being a FBI slash DEA undercover, and he ended up starting his own private investigation. And he had a database that was insane. You know, he could get anything from. From where your family live, from social securities to your grandma's to your phone numbers to addresses, anything and everything he needed. And he was so cheap. Cheap. You know, And I would just bring them cash, meet him at Starbucks, cash him out. You give me files, like, you know, whatever I need.
- [53:42]
Julian Dory
Did he ever talk to you about, like, you know, man to man, like, you should watch yourself here.
- [53:49]
Owen Hansen
Eventually, later on, once the FBI was watching, you know, we'd run license plates. We start running license plates that were following me. He'd be like, yeah, that's FBI.
- [53:58]
Julian Dory
But on the way there, he didn't say anything.
- [54:00]
Owen Hansen
No, though. He was just collecting his paycheck.
- [54:02]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [54:03]
Owen Hansen
He didn't care.
- [54:04]
Julian Dory
It's interesting, when he got defense, he
- [54:08]
Owen Hansen
ended up getting prison.
- [54:09]
Julian Dory
Oh, he did, yeah.
- [54:10]
Owen Hansen
You'll see. He got arrested.
- [54:12]
Julian Dory
Oh, wow. That's in the documentary.
- [54:14]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I did two years. He's actually in the documentary.
- [54:16]
Julian Dory
No.
- [54:17]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, he did two years. Yeah.
- [54:19]
Julian Dory
Because there's a lot of guys who operate, as far as I know, legally, who are ex, you know, insert agency here or whatever, for sure, who have to do jobs that are protected by client privilege. Privilege where, you know, even guys say that in the work they do that stops short of doing anything that could be criminal. They'll run into situations with this client privilege where they know, like, whoa, this is. This guy's doing the same kind of. That I used to, like, go after.
- [54:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [54:50]
Julian Dory
And now they're on the other side. Even if they're not on the other side. It's a. I. I don't know what that's like, but it's got to be kind of strange.
- [54:57]
Owen Hansen
It happens, too, in the. On the legal side, too. Right. You got ex prosecutors that become defenders or defense.
- [55:03]
Julian Dory
That's right.
- [55:04]
Owen Hansen
I see that a lot.
- [55:06]
Julian Dory
That's right.
- [55:06]
Owen Hansen
The guy that prosecuted me, he became. After my case, he. He became like this huge defense attorney. Now. Now he's working for the bad guys.
- [55:14]
Julian Dory
See, I'm. I've had on before Brian McMonacle. It's one of the best defense attorneys of all time. I had him episode 115. He got Bill Cosby off.
- [55:23]
Owen Hansen
Wow.
- [55:23]
Julian Dory
And then quit. And then Bill Cosby got found guilty.
- [55:26]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [55:27]
Julian Dory
And, you know, this is a guy who's defended people in the mob. You know, he got help with the Meek Mill case, which was actually A great one for him to do and all that, but, like, the most moral guy I've ever met in my life. I've known him since I was, like, 4 years old, which is, like, a strange thing to say, but he genuinely really is. And another one who came from, at the beginning of his career, first four or five years on that fucking $65,000 a year government salary, being a great prosecutor to then being the defense attorney for all the hardest cases in the same city. And that, you know, that switch is a strange thing.
- [56:05]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [56:05]
Julian Dory
He's very honest about it. He's like, I'm making 65 grand a year, working my ass off, and now I can use my expertise to go control my destiny. That's what I do. But to his credit, he's like, every defense attorney is supposed to take any case, like, objectively. Right. Something comes in. Everyone deserves the right to a fair trial, so you got to take them. But he's like, I'll be honest with you. If you, like, blow up a building or something.
- [56:32]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. You're not.
- [56:32]
Julian Dory
I'm not.
- [56:33]
Owen Hansen
You're not defending you.
- [56:34]
Julian Dory
I'm not doing it.
- [56:34]
Owen Hansen
You know, or if you're a sex offender. Right.
- [56:38]
Julian Dory
He's done some of those before.
- [56:39]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [56:40]
Julian Dory
Which is interesting because it's like, I. I view that as terrorism and it's in some light as well, but, you know, I would. That is not a job I could ever do.
- [56:49]
Owen Hansen
No, definitely not. Right.
- [56:51]
Julian Dory
You know, there's different cases. Maybe you have a client who really did break the law and did something wrong. But it's like, you know, I'm not really worried about this guy. Like, it's fine. He won't do this again. And then you get the client who did the worst thing.
- [57:04]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [57:05]
Julian Dory
And you know it.
- [57:06]
Owen Hansen
And then you get them off and you're defending it. Yeah.
- [57:08]
Julian Dory
Like, that's. That's a tough one. I asked him if he would let Bill around his daughters.
- [57:18]
Owen Hansen
That's a good one. What do you say?
- [57:21]
Julian Dory
Gave a lawyerly response, if you will. Well, you know, but I don't know. That's the thing. Like, I wouldn't want to have to get those questions from people in my life.
- [57:32]
Owen Hansen
No, no.
- [57:33]
Julian Dory
You know, for what I do. It's a strange, strange thing. But anyway, we. We left off with you, like, building your gambling business and all that. At what point, though, did the actual. Whoa. There are the cartels, and here's a business opportunity. Because that's entirely different. Like, at what point did that come in?
- [57:51]
Owen Hansen
I was. It became. I was like, okay, I'm all throughout the United States, I'm this ambitious kid. And killing it in the gambling business. I was like, let's. Let's expand this thing. Let's go not only north, let's just do all of Northberry. Let's go international. Let's go Canada. Let's go Mexico. It. And I opened up the floodgates to my. My sub bookies. I said, hey, we're going to Canada. We're going to Mexico. Whoever wants to bring other clients, part of this North America venture, and let's do it.
- [58:17]
Julian Dory
What was the difference? Let's just like start with Canada. What makes it different to have to expand your business in Canada versus what you were doing?
- [58:25]
Owen Hansen
My servers. My servers are already going worldwide rights the World Wide Web. So it's like if they have a banking system and they. They can wire money, then I'm good with it easy. And the same for me. I can do the same.
- [58:38]
Julian Dory
And then you wanted to like, go into Mexico and stuff.
- [58:40]
Owen Hansen
It's just right there. Yeah, I'm two hours away from the border. So I was like, okay, I can use the Caliente casinos if I can. There's ways, you know, I've started dating a girl from Mexico. It's like I have ways now to expand to Mexico. And one of my agents was out in Newport beach, and he ended up getting me a client. And this, this guy from Mexico was a whale. He would lose. Literally the first couple weeks, $250,000 bags of cash dropped off. I was like, hell, yeah, you got a whale.
- [59:11]
Julian Dory
And then did you know who, like, what he did?
- [59:13]
Owen Hansen
Didn't care. Remember, I don't care who you bring me as long as you're. You're as a sub bookie, you're responsible for your. The guys underneath your package. Right? So if you bring me 20 clients, I don't ask who your clients are. It's not my. That's your responsibility. I'm paying you a commission. So I didn't care. Like, he's bringing me these. This bags of cash. I'm like, cool, you got away. I'll keep him happy. Whatever he needs, you know, we provide anything. Fly him to co. Find Costa Rica, let him see the office. You want to stay at the. The mansion in the. In the jungle. We got that. If he wants to go to Vegas, whatever. We would literally, I became like a casino host, near literally get a mansion in the jungle. He had a mansion in the jungle in Costa Rica. Overlooked the all the Pacific. And then behind you was all Rainforest
- [59:54]
Julian Dory
you just used as like your Airbnb for.
- [59:57]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, for whales, bookies, NFL guys for bachelor parties.
- [60:02]
Julian Dory
Oh, NFL guys, like your boys?
- [60:04]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I had a 30 man bachelor party and we use like three mansions in the community.
- [60:09]
Julian Dory
Wait, for yours?
- [60:10]
Owen Hansen
For my. Not mine, but. But for my.
- [60:12]
Julian Dory
Someone else.
- [60:13]
Owen Hansen
My teammates. Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna say. Better keep him out. We'll save that for the movie. That's right.
- [60:20]
Julian Dory
Dirty man.
- [60:21]
Owen Hansen
Bachelor party.
- [60:22]
Julian Dory
Mansion in the woods.
- [60:24]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. In the jungle.
- [60:26]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [60:26]
Owen Hansen
I'm sorry, the range. Yeah.
- [60:28]
Julian Dory
Got leopards running around out there.
- [60:31]
Owen Hansen
Toucan Sam's. Oh my God, monkeys.
- [60:35]
Julian Dory
Now do you bring the strippers in for that or do you go into town?
- [60:38]
Owen Hansen
No, no, we. We bring them in a bus. We got like a school bus that we rent and we bring in like 50 girls for them. Prostitution's legal there, so that's why these guys.
- [60:49]
Julian Dory
Costa Rican way.
- [60:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, the blue eyed Latinas. And you bring them in on these buses and the guys are just. I still to this day get direct messages on Instagram. Man, you threw the best bachelor party. You threw the best batch.
- [61:03]
Julian Dory
The government.
- [61:04]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. They took that house.
- [61:05]
Julian Dory
They still have it?
- [61:06]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, they took it.
- [61:07]
Julian Dory
Oh my God. That and what. How long did it take you to like buy something like that within starting your business? Couple years.
- [61:14]
Owen Hansen
Oh yeah, like two. Two years in. You know, I was, I was already building a mansion.
- [61:19]
Julian Dory
Oh, you built it?
- [61:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, built. It was all glass. That's right. You're in 5,000 square feet, glass floors. One of my. To this day people talk about it, I. I had this floor that. The second floor was all glass, so you'd walk on it and it was glass. And part of the. Part of the second floor, you just look up and it's all glass. And one of the rules, like for the party, the guys that would throw in the parties there, they made all the girls, if they want to go upstairs, they had to take their panties off. And then this is, this is how sick this was back then. You know, girls would wear any like sundresses and none of them wear panties. And, and all these football players are just looking the whole time looking up.
- [61:57]
Julian Dory
Just before the. Me too.
- [61:58]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, before me too. Of course right now I probably be hated. But you know, that was back when we used to party. Party like rock stars.
- [62:05]
Julian Dory
It's the old days.
- [62:06]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Those days are over. There's no one like you and there never will be. From the producer Bohemian Rhapsody. There are many legends, but there is Only one Michael Radio 13 in theaters April 24th.
- [62:23]
Julian Dory
Now were you like during this time, are you starting to, I don't know, like abuse coke and stuff a lot too?
- [62:30]
Owen Hansen
No, not yet. Right. I'm still partying, you know, I'm not like abusing it. Maybe like once a week.
- [62:40]
Julian Dory
Still working out?
- [62:40]
Owen Hansen
Oh yeah, I'm pumping, pumping iron. I'm drinking a lot though. You know, I'm, I'm doing a lot of whining, like a lot of wine and dining with VIP customers.
- [62:49]
Julian Dory
Oh, you would do that?
- [62:50]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I would personally do it because they want to see like the NFL guys. So I'd bring the NFL guys. I bring out the guys that were like betting on the NFL guys, right. And I'd put them all in the same room and it was like the, it was a client's dream. I had guys that would want to bet with me just to meet like the Matt Leiners, the Reggie Bushes, the Jeremy Shockey's.
- [63:11]
Julian Dory
Did that ever get like gray area with, you know, so how you guys looking next week?
- [63:17]
Owen Hansen
You gotta remember, this is back before all that stuff even mattered. Like no one even thought of that stuff back then. It wasn't, it wasn't like that. I mean, of course they're going to ask him like, hey, how you guys playing? I mean no one knows. Like these guys aren't, they're too high level. They're not. This was before all this started happening where guys are getting, you know, duffel bags of cash to not cover a basketballs. And in football it's a lot harder. You got to keep that in mind. Yeah, it's a lot more difficult.
- [63:47]
Julian Dory
What do you make, you know, as a little side tangent here? What do you make of this kind of brave new world that you've now come out to, that we're living in when it comes to gambling, not just with pros, but with college where you know, we're already seeing scandals all the time of guys throwing games because they get in debt and stuff like that.
- [64:06]
Owen Hansen
Like I'm speaking literally to universities now, college universities, athletic departments about this. It's a huge topic. I was on News Nation last week about it. It's just the tip of the iceberg. It's going to get worse. You're on your phone and, and guess what? You can bet on an NBA team, but right below it, you can bet on an NCAA team. And if you're an NCAA basketball player and you can bet on your own team, what makes you not want to play the second half? Because you sprained your ankle, right? I mean you're, it shouldn't Be allowed. You shouldn't be allowed to be able to bet on your own team. And now you can.
- [64:42]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [64:43]
Owen Hansen
And it's taking away the fun of the game. And as a, as a former bookmaker with morals and ethics on this, I would, I would never allow it.
- [64:56]
Julian Dory
You wouldn't allow that kind of thing?
- [64:57]
Owen Hansen
I wouldn't allow it. No way. I mean you gotta remember I was an athlete. So for me to see that, it's like you're, you're now, you're now with my livelihood as a bookie. Because if these players are doing it, it's going to cost me money. If, if they have an inside scoop. One of my, one of my customers is betting on a game that he already knows that the guy's gonna do something that's illegal by cheating the system. Now you're with my money and that's a big no. No.
- [65:27]
Julian Dory
But it's also like you think about these kids now like just even going down to the college level. 18, 19, 20. They never seen any money before. Some guy offers them five grand.
- [65:39]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [65:39]
Julian Dory
Just to know what's gonna happen in the third quarter.
- [65:41]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [65:42]
Julian Dory
Kind of deal.
- [65:42]
Owen Hansen
Or the guys that like this less last scandal. All these like small smaller schools. The kids aren't getting that nil money like all their buddies at Duke in Arizona are getting. So they're like it, let's do this. I got a guy from New Jersey that just offered me 60 grand in bag of cash. I'm averaging 22 points a game. Well you know what? Come second quarter I have a tummy ache and I'm not going to play. And I know for sure that I'm not going to cover that 22 points over under. It's called a prop bet, right?
- [66:08]
Julian Dory
Yep.
- [66:09]
Owen Hansen
And 60 grand cash. And now that bookie that just gave him that 60 grand cash, you know, bets a million throughout the sports books on that prop bet.
- [66:18]
Julian Dory
No, it's. But that's the thing. Especially when it comes to smaller schools like that. How easy with basic, you know, I don't know technological law enforcement tracking mechanisms. Could it be to catch you know, some million two million dollar bet. Greensboro states two guard easy through the
- [66:36]
Owen Hansen
ones that are monitored. Impossible to monitor through the guys like me, a street bookie. It's not. Oh that's remember. So that's where it's happening. It's not regulated when we're, we're offshore and there's nothing being monitored by the government now fanduels and, and draftkings and all those. Yeah. They're being Watched. But when you bet with a company like Bet Odog or Bet Jerry's or whatever these companies are, those guys are all offshore in Costa Rica. No one's can look at those servers.
- [67:05]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [67:05]
Owen Hansen
That's where it's happening now.
- [67:08]
Julian Dory
It's interesting, though, for you to be talking to some of these programs as well, because even if there's, like, things you did wrong, it's kind of like a separate issue in a way, because you're talking about the stuff that you're like, yo, even when I was around, this would have been bad for my business. But guys on the street who aren't regulated at all now, like, it's good for them, and that's where you got to look out for it. So in a way, you're talking to them about guys that weren't you, that just. Just are in the same business you were.
- [67:33]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. And I can. I can say, hey, listen, I. I can speak from experience because you guys got to remember, you guys are getting in the hole with these. These people, your old money, and that's why you're doing it. Right? These NBA guys are going to these poker games because they lost money or whatnot. And. And, you know, I tell people, listen, this all started this thing. All snow came. Where did I start this business? I started in a bookie business, and later on, you'll see I ended up working for the cartel, getting in debt to the cartel, all because I started taking wagers. Right? It's the same thing. If you're taking a wager or betting, it's. You're still betting. Yeah.
- [68:06]
Julian Dory
Now, the other thing that I feel like is hand in hand with this, if we're looking at college, specifically, is the nil. I always thought it was total bullshit that athletes didn't have the opportunity to monetize themselves. I thought it was crazy that these programs would make billions of dollars and Reggie Bush would take a car. And suddenly we had to pretend we didn't watch the Heisman Trophy ceremony, you know, that said what it felt like. What it feels like to me is that the guys like Mark Emmert in the back room, suit guys who forever just collected all the cash, reached a point to where society had tipped so much that they were going to have to let this happen. And they said, you know what? Fuck it, we'll let it happen.
- [68:50]
Owen Hansen
And there's going to be no rules.
- [68:52]
Julian Dory
Everything's wide open. So now you have a system where, you know, a kid can lose a marketing contract on a Tuesday that he thought he was going to get for X number and say, hey, you know what? I'll go enter the transfer portal tomorrow and be at school at some new place by next Wednesday. You know, is there a solution here in the middle to where athletes can monetize themselves, but we can also have like some sort of guardrail? So the system is not just the latest paycheck sends you wherever the you're going to go.
- [69:23]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. You got to put a cap on it and you got to have a certain amount of transfers that are allowed. What's allowed? You got you. You can't just keep letting these guys. Right. Just go everywhere. It's, it's taking the fun away from. I mean, look at all the coaching staff that they're losing on this. You know, Alabama just lost Saban. No one wants to coach anymore. It's. It's taking the fun away from the game. You know, it's all about who has the money, who can pay the most.
- [69:46]
Julian Dory
Yeah, we show. And even in basketball, you saw Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, Tony Bennett and Jay Wright and Tony were not necessarily like really young, but younger guys, relatively speaking, great coaches, just like, yeah, I'm done with this. That's not good for the game. And Laranaga quit halfway through the season, the year after he gets to the final Four. These are not good trends. And I think you're going to keep seeing that. And it just feels like a perfect storm in all the wrong ways that they're sending for these kids to just create, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? Not incentives, but temptations.
- [70:22]
Owen Hansen
Temptations. Yeah.
- [70:23]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [70:24]
Owen Hansen
And I think it's, I mean, college is not. You go to college, you're not supposed to be making this kind of money. These guys are making more money than they'll make in the real world, including a lot of these guys making more money than they'll make in the NFL. Right?
- [70:37]
Julian Dory
That's right. Yeah, that's right. There's now like trade offs where guys are more incentivized to stay. Oh, my God. Now back then, I don't know, are you able to talk about, you know, maybe some of the stuff now that would happen under the table?
- [70:55]
Owen Hansen
I mean, listen, everyone knows it's happening at all colleges. Alabama, lsu. I mean, guys are driving cars, boosters are giving money. But I mean, I'm not going to say who, but yeah, it's happening. Okay. It's happening everywhere. But at the end of the day, what's, what's different from today's age? They're getting A lot more than we.
- [71:14]
Julian Dory
We were getting.
- [71:15]
Owen Hansen
Guys are getting, you know, Caleb Williams, I think, made $9 million this last year. So it's like, who cares?
- [71:23]
Julian Dory
But back then, was it kind of like an open secret kind of deal where you just didn't announce it to the news?
- [71:28]
Owen Hansen
But listen, you're not showing up in that Mercedes Benz to the practice hall, but you're. You're driving it, obviously on the weekends when you're watching back home. I mean, there's. There's ways around it. And it happens. Happens at all levels. Yeah.
- [71:41]
Julian Dory
Now, when did this whole. With you after building the gambling business, you said you started to go, like, international with it, where you're like, okay, I can get my service in Mexico. I got all these connections. I can get into Canada, all these other places. When was your first connection to the cartel formed? Even if it wasn't in a business capacity? Like, when did you first, like, come across them? And who was it?
- [72:06]
Owen Hansen
No, I'm not gonna say who it was, but it was that customer that, that sub bookie that worked for me. And I told you, bags of cash, 250,000.
- [72:13]
Julian Dory
Oh, that was.
- [72:13]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. And he finally. He finally won. Like the fourth week, he finally hit me for like 260, but I had already collected like 750,000 from like, Perfect. I'm giving him back his money. This is like a perfect scenario. You. They lose first, you see him pay, and then they win a little and you give them back some. That's a. For a bookie, that's like the perfect situation because you never want them to lose forever. They're going to stop playing, right? So I said, hey, let's pay this guy Monday morning. It's unheard of in the bookie business at the street level. In my sub agent goes, why? I said, dude, this guy's been paying us bags of cash. We gotta do the same. Like, this is what separates the men from the boys in the bookie business. Most bookies wait till Thursday. They collect from all their losers, and they pay their winners on Thursday. I already had bags of cash all throughout the United States. I said, let's pay him. Monday, 8am sharp, he showed up with the bag of cash, 260 grand. And he paid him. And he comes back a couple days later and he says, I got something for you. I was like, what do you got? This is my sub bookie. And he hands me an encrypted phone. He says, this is for my client. What the. This is my client's also my uncle. He's from Mexico. I'm like, okay, what do you want me to do with it? It's encrypted BlackBerry. And he has a post it with three, three passwords. And he said, you got to enter all those. So I'm entering these passwords in the, in a message, said, hey, I like the way you do business. Right?
- [73:36]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [73:37]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So I was like, okay, this is interesting. I said, yeah, like, you know, I'm giving this, this concierge service, this AKA casino host, right? Yeah, whatever you need, buddy, I got. I got you. I got you. You ever need to fly into la, I got you. Take you out to dinner. Just small talk. And he says, I know you're a bookie. You're probably pretty big the way you paid me. And he's like, hey, do you. Why don't you. You could help me do something. I was like, yeah, what do you need? He's like, hey, I need. Sometimes I need money dropped off in the US And I know as a bookie, probably have money throughout the US can, can you help me with that? I'm like, yeah, what do you need? Dropped off. He's like, 100 grand. I'm like, okay, where do you need to drop? He says, well, this is what I offer. I'm going to offer you. He says, every time you drop off money, I'm going to give you 10% on the dollar. So if you drop a hunter, I give you 110. I'm like, this is math. 101.
- [74:24]
Julian Dory
Wait, what? He give you 110?
- [74:26]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, just because I'm doing him a favor. Remember, this guy's in Mexico.
- [74:30]
Julian Dory
I want that job.
- [74:31]
Owen Hansen
It was a great job. So that's what I started doing. I literally started taking bags of cash and dropping them off at these safe houses. I didn't know they were safe houses. I drop off like a hundred thousand in San Diego. And then like within five minutes, he messaged me, Hey, I have 110, 000. Where do you want it? You got to remember, I'm in Costa Rica. I want it in Costa Rica so I can play my employees. It's perfect. Now I'm laundering the cash I'm making on the streets, and I'm bringing it with a clean wire to a Costa Rican bank. And then I have payroll for all my workers. It's a perfect storm.
- [75:00]
Julian Dory
Oh, you'd wire it in?
- [75:01]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, you wired in. It was awesome. Because I'm building over there, I'm paying my employees, I've got drivers, I got electricity Everything, right? So it's like, okay, I'm making 10 a day. You do the math. It's 300amonth. Yeah. So then the next one. A hundred thousand in Florida. A hundred thousand here. A hundred thousand. I'm just dropping off whatever he wanted. I'm just cleaning the cash I have. And then he said, hey, this time, I need you to pick up cash. Pick up, like, wait a minute. I'm dropping off all this cash now you want me to pick up? He goes, yeah, I need you to pick up in Texas. It's a. It's a. It's an area that I'm not allowed in. I'm like, okay, this is like, okay, this is. This is kind of weird, but I'm doing the math on this one. He says, I need you to pick up a million dollars. I'm okay, 10 of a million dollars is 100 grand. I'm like, this is math 101, right? Like, okay, Texas. I'm probably gonna have to fly. I'm gonna get a private plane. I'm doing the math. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna need 2500 an hour. It's gonna take me eight hours. You know, I'm doing the numbers, like, okay, I'm still going to come up on top, like, 70 grand. And went over there. I had brought my. One of my. My buddies that worked for me, a lieutenant, Tank, and he brought one of his ufc. Yeah, Tank. He was one of my collectors.
- [76:21]
Julian Dory
I want to collect
- [76:24]
Owen Hansen
takes at the docu series. You'll see Tank. And then he had a buddy that was in the UFC at the time, and he brought him. This is. This is in, like, 2010, right? Yeah, it's before the UFC got. What was it? What it became. He brings him, and we're on this plane, and we pick up cash, and I get off this private plane, and I leave, tanking this. This UFC guy. I said, hey, stay on the plane. I. I message. We'll call him El Jefe. That's what I call him in the book. I messed. I messaged El Jefe, and I say, hey, where do you. Where do you want me? I just landed in Brownsville, Texas. He says, give me five minutes. And five minutes later, a gardener shows up. And a gardener pulls up. He comes out. He was in overalls, Mexican gardener. He hands me a bag of cash. Million dollars. Get back on that plane. I tell El Jefe, I said, hey, I'm flying into the Torrance Airport. Where do you want this? He's like, hey, drop it off. In Ontario. Take your nine. He said, take your million or take your 100k in. In the 900k you're going to drop off. And that's what I did. And I was like, went to Ontario. Yeah. Ontario. No, not Canada. Ontario. California. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Yeah. I flew into Torrance. Yeah. And where'd you drop it off? Like another safe house? Yeah. And I was like, okay. I knew. Now I know I'm, I, I'm definitely doing something illegal, but I'm like, okay. I'm looking up the, like, laws. What. What am I getting in trouble for? Right. Like, at that point, you're, you're still bookie, okay. Now you're laundering money money. Okay. You really haven't done anything that bad. Right?
- [77:58]
Julian Dory
And then there wasn't a moment, though. There wasn't. I don't know if it's like when you land back in Costa Rica and you're chilling in your house, you're like, wow, it's a nice extra 70k out there. But there wasn't a moment where you're like, I think I'll have a. He might be a real jefe.
- [78:13]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, Well, I was ambitious and I kept going. And he says, how would you like to do what you're doing now, but in another country? I'm like, what do you mean? Like the same thing. I'm moving money for him, right?
- [78:24]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [78:24]
Owen Hansen
There's money mule, money launderer. But this is where he got me. He says, how would you like to do what you're doing now but make a million dollars a day? I was like, okay, now I know I'm crossing the line, right? But you just go back in that mindset, you're like, where did I come from? I came from a construction worker. My dad was a construction worker. And then I, I fast forward, I'm like, a million dollars. My dad's probably never even seen a million dollars. You know, Now I'm, I'm, I'm just saying it. Let's. What's the risk versus reward? Let's get in and get out.
- [78:57]
Julian Dory
What year is this?
- [78:58]
Owen Hansen
2000. End of 2010.
- [79:01]
Julian Dory
27.
- [79:02]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. 20. Yeah. 26. 27. God, I was still retarded at that age. Completely.
- [79:07]
Julian Dory
A million dollars a day.
- [79:09]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. How do you say no to that?
- [79:11]
Julian Dory
That's what I'm saying. You start to rationalize.
- [79:15]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. My idea was just, I'm gonna get in and I'm gonna get it out.
- [79:21]
Julian Dory
Did you have like, that plan everyone has? Like, I'll do it for a year.
- [79:25]
Owen Hansen
No, you have the plan that you're gonna do it and get that. He had a ton of cocaine. A ton of cocaine is a thousand kilos. And the deal was we were going to sell the cocaine for a hundred thousand dollars a kilo. I wasn't gonna have to touch it. I was just going to be handling the cash.
- [79:45]
Julian Dory
Okay, can you break down how this would work? Yeah, just so I understand.
- [79:49]
Owen Hansen
So I landed in Australia. Basically. Let's. Let's back up. He says, you have to figure out how you're going to distribute the cocaine. He says, I already have it there. Okay, okay.
- [80:00]
Julian Dory
Like in Australia.
- [80:01]
Owen Hansen
In Australia, one of his people got. Got in trouble that couldn't handle the distribution in Australia. So I was the perfect candidate. This white kid, comb over, never been in trouble. He's like, hey, go over there and. And you're gonna. You're gonna find someone that knows that that market and they're gonna distribute. I'm like, okay, well, how do I do that?
- [80:24]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [80:25]
Owen Hansen
And it took some time. I went to a friend that was in the weed business, and his brother was dealing with a lot of international clients, like people in Italy and Canada. And I went to him and I said, hey, do you have anybody in the cocaine business? Like, no, not me. He goes, I don't. I just deal with the weed. He says, but I do have an Italian friend that's visiting in San Diego. Another Italian. Go figure. He's. He's international. I don't know. You can ask him, but he's been in the international game for years in the drug game. He goes, but I'm not going to speak. Speak on what he's done. I'm like, okay, well, let me meet him. I drive down to San Diego. It's like two hours from my house, and I meet this Italian. We'll call him Uncle Louie. That's what I call him in the book. I say, uncle Louie, nice to meet you. And he. And I start to talk and tell him what I do. Like, hey, hey, hey, stop right there. We ain't talking anything in the United States about anything illegal. He told me that. He's like, you want to. You want to talk to me? He says, fly over to Naples, Italy, where I live. Yeah.
- [81:32]
Julian Dory
Oh, yeah. Oh, he's one of those.
- [81:34]
Owen Hansen
He's one of those. Okay. And I was like, okay. But the whole time, Julian, I'm thinking about that million dollars a day.
- [81:42]
Julian Dory
Bet you are.
- [81:42]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. And I'm like, it. I'll go to Naples, Italy. So two weeks later, I'm in Naples Italy, where he's. He's residing in this badass house. Two villas and a wine. Like, literally a wine field down the middle. Like a winery, his own winery. And I. I sit down and we start talking, and I tell him, hey, man, I got. I got someone that has cocaine in Australia. And he goes, no, you don't. He says, it's impossible. He says that's the hardest place in the world to get cocaine into. And he told me that.
- [82:10]
Julian Dory
I was like, yeah, why?
- [82:11]
Owen Hansen
Because it's so far. You got to think how far. Australia is. Like, here's the US and the world, and Australia is all the way over here. Like, it's. It's impossible because it's. It's like its own island. Only way to get it in, you can't bring it by plane. The only way to bring it in would be by boat.
- [82:27]
Julian Dory
Like, they didn't have that figured out.
- [82:29]
Owen Hansen
I mean, you got to think they. They must have, right? But Uncle Louie. Uncle Louie didn't believe it. He's been in the game, you know, 40 years, and he's like, no, it just doesn't happen. He says, everything's stepped on over there. It's garbage.
- [82:42]
Julian Dory
This is. You're saying this is 2010, 2011? Yeah, I. One of. One of my friends, I guess you could say, is this guy Luis navia, who, from 76 to 2000, was, like, the chief smuggler for the cartels. He was probably the chief smuggler from, like, 86 to 2000, but he's with them since 76, and he would smuggle it all over the world.
- [83:04]
Owen Hansen
What cartel?
- [83:05]
Julian Dory
All of them, except the Asian ones. That's a direct quote. He was taken down in this thing called Operation Journey in Venezuela in 2000 by, like, 15 different countries. But he had boat systems that were.
- [83:16]
Owen Hansen
See, they have it. I mean, they have. Obviously, somebody had figured it out. It was over there, and. And this Italian didn't believe me. I'm this young kid. He's not gonna believe me. He's like, listen, I don't believe it. But he says, if you do have it, go over there. And when you get there, he says, message me. And I remember I left him on cryptic phone.
- [83:32]
Julian Dory
So el jefe was really leaving to your own.
- [83:34]
Owen Hansen
It was on me. It was on me. Yeah.
- [83:36]
Julian Dory
Now, where. Where was the cocaine in Australia? Sitting in Sydney. Yeah, but was it sitting in a garage?
- [83:44]
Owen Hansen
Don't know. You don't know and don't care. Remember?
- [83:47]
Julian Dory
You're never gonna see it.
- [83:48]
Owen Hansen
My idea was I was gonna hand it off To Louie. Uncle Louie, and just let him do his thing.
- [83:54]
Julian Dory
Meaning, like, El Jefe would then tell him where it was?
- [83:56]
Owen Hansen
No, no. I'll show you how it went down. Obviously, we gotta get there. So I. I finally I. I lied to Uncle Louie. I flew over to Australia, and I said, uncle Louis, I see it. It's here. I lied to him. It was. I didn't see it yet because I already knew I'll have had it there. He already told me. At this point, when the guy's been paying you bags of cash for the last last five weeks, you're gonna believe him. He's a man of his word. He's been paying me.
- [84:15]
Julian Dory
You're still not yourself a little bit, Louie.
- [84:19]
Owen Hansen
Listen, at this point, El Jefe's going, are you ready to work? And I have to give him an answer, right? I said, yeah, I'm ready. Okay, where do you want me to drop it off? And now I gotta lie to Uncle Louis, like, get over here. It's here. I haven't seen the cocaine yet still to this. This day, right? And I'm. I'm telling Uncle Lou, I've seen it. So he flies over. Uncle Louis says, okay, where is it? I'm like, hang on. So now I'm on the cryptophone with El Jefe. I'm like, hey, where? Where is it? He's like, go get a hotel. Room Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney. Darling Harbor. I'm like, okay. He says, as soon as you get a hotel, let me know the number. Email on the Cryptid phone, and I'll have the first package dropped off. It's a test run. So I grabbed Uncle Louie. I said, hey, we're going to Four Seasons. I go pay for a room. Room 426. Uncle Louie gets room 428. So we're right next to each other. Tell El Faa I'm in room four 26. 20 minutes later, he has a guy shows up with a package. He's in a DHL outfit and he gives me the package. I'm like, taking it. I'm like, oh, hell yeah. Knock on the door next to me and knock on the wall. Because he's the next room over. I'm like, get over here. As soon as Uncle Louie comes in, I'm like, here, take this. I'm scared now. It's real. It's like he opens it up. He's like, oh, yeah, it's. This is. This is real. And he's like, okay, there's 10 kilos. I said, well, what are you gonna do? He just takes it. 30 minutes later, he comes back with a million dollars. 10 kilos. So he's selling them for a hundred thousand. That was my agreement with him. I'm giving him a hundred thousand a kilo. The agreement I have with El jefe is he keeps 50 and I keep 50. Whatever Uncle Louie charges, that's on him, that's his. So Uncle Louie was charging 150 to his customer. So everyone's making 50, 50, 50, 50. Yeah.
- [86:10]
Julian Dory
You don't care as long as I don't care, yeah.
- [86:14]
Owen Hansen
He comes back, he says, hey, they want more. When can we get more? I'm back on encrypted phone. Hey, Hefe, we want more. When can we do it? He goes, you got 20 more coming. Same day tomorrow, same time tomorrow. 20 more.
- [86:26]
Julian Dory
20 more in DHL.
- [86:29]
Owen Hansen
Yes.
- [86:29]
Julian Dory
Straight. 426.
- [86:31]
Owen Hansen
Straight to 426. So now I have $2 million. Million for me, a million for Al. Now I can say I'm making a million dollars a day. We work again Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We take off on the weekends. We do it again the next week. You'll see in the documentary, I'm sitting on $10 million, eventually, of the cartel's money and my money.
- [86:52]
Julian Dory
What does that feel like? Like to make $10 million cash?
- [86:54]
Owen Hansen
It's insane. It's. It's. It's. At 26, 27 years old, you're just like, wow, this is. This is. This is. This is too easy. You know, I got it in my. My dishwasher, my refrigerator, my freezer, my microwave, my attic. I mean, I'm in the studio apartment in Australia.
- [87:14]
Julian Dory
Oh, so you set up a home there as well?
- [87:17]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I have to. It's a studio apartment. Apartment. It's expensive over there. It's like 2000 a week. Oh, yeah.
- [87:22]
Julian Dory
I'm sorry to hear that.
- [87:23]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, enough to cover it. Studio. Wow.
- [87:29]
Julian Dory
That. Were you thinking about how you're going to get it out of there?
- [87:31]
Owen Hansen
Of course. That's. That's what got me in trouble. All right, that's where it all. That's where it all backfires. I started to. I. I panic. I started to figure out, like, okay, I can't get it out of here. Like, I'm sending cash back and, like, comic books, I'm putting, like, I'm buying euro notes, putting €500 notes, like 20 of them at a time. Euro notes. At the time, a €500 note was worth, like 750 US so I bought every euro note I could in the. In Australia. Sending them back home, converting them to us. Started buying gold. Putting gold coins into Ugg boots and sending Ugg boots back. When I got creative, going to the bank of China with 50,000 cash and fake IDs and having it wired to Costa Rica bank accounts. I mean, we, we got.
- [88:14]
Julian Dory
That's got to be scary.
- [88:15]
Owen Hansen
That's scary because you're using fake passports.
- [88:18]
Julian Dory
Why the bank of China?
- [88:19]
Owen Hansen
They did any wire with 50, 000 cash or less anywhere in the, in the world, it's useful. They didn't care. It's bank of China.
- [88:27]
Julian Dory
Yeah. They're not worried about a United States criminal.
- [88:30]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. You got to remember, I'm in Australia.
- [88:34]
Julian Dory
How long were you in Australia?
- [88:35]
Owen Hansen
Total six months.
- [88:38]
Julian Dory
Now are, did you talk to El Jefe about.
- [88:40]
Owen Hansen
Hey, no. Remember, he's paying me a million dollars a day. And that's my, my job. I asked him, I said, hey, what do you want me to do with all this cash? He goes, that's why you're getting a million dollars a day.
- [88:49]
Julian Dory
Figure it out, amigo.
- [88:52]
Owen Hansen
So, yeah, I mean, I started like you'll see in the book and the documentary. I, I had to figure out a faster way and I hired a, a blackjack player. Vi. This guy that was a. I guess you'd call a whale in his eyes, Vegas blackjack player. And he, he came along and he, him and I made an agreement. He would, he'd do it for 25 and he'd go to the casino and he'd. He'd take the cash, exchange it for chips. Pretend he's playing. I mean, he's playing, right? He's playing hands. Win some, lose some. Not feeling it. Cash me out. So then they take those chips and they give you a check. The check is for. Yeah, a casino, right? So now he goes and goes back to Vegas where he's already got the host that has already set this whole thing up. Goes back to the Venetian and he takes that, let's call it 1.5 million dollar check, goes back to Vegas. They cash him out. Chips, cash, whatever he wants. He's a vip, right? So they'll give him whatever he wants. Now, he just laundered $1.5 million from Australia to the US minus my fee. He took his 25. He paid me the balance. Two weeks later he says, let's do it again. This time I give him 2.5 million.
- [90:07]
Julian Dory
Now you did this whole deal in like 10 days.
- [90:10]
Owen Hansen
So now I'm just sitting on the cash. I'm stopping. I'm not even working right now because I'm figuring out how to get the cash back.
- [90:16]
Julian Dory
Where's your bookie business?
- [90:17]
Owen Hansen
It's running. It's like a well oiled machine. Yeah, yeah, I got, I got someone, I got managers and call center people, agents, sub bookies.
- [90:25]
Julian Dory
So you're making money on that too?
- [90:26]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, that's, that's, that's like, that's peanuts. Now at this point, right now, it's like I got, I got more money than I know what to do with. And let's see, we. We do 2.5. I give him 2.5 this time, and he's in Australia. And in three days. Not even three days, three hours, right? Three hours later, he calls me and goes, hey, we got a problem. This is the gambler. I said, what do you mean we got a problem? He says, I lost the money. So you didn't have money to lose. You had 25. That's all you could lose. Everything else was mine. He says, bring me some more cash. I'm like, I'm not bringing you any more cash.
- [91:03]
Julian Dory
He's saying he lost the money. Like at hands?
- [91:05]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, on hands. So now I'm thinking, I'm calling.
- [91:09]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [91:09]
Owen Hansen
I'm saying this guy stole. He robbed me. And I was at the gym when this happened. I was with my personal trainer.
- [91:17]
Julian Dory
You had a personal trainer?
- [91:18]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [91:19]
Julian Dory
You needed one at the time?
- [91:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I couldn't get motivated. You're making that kind of money, you can't get motivated to, to work out?
- [91:26]
Julian Dory
Really?
- [91:27]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, a lot of stress. I mean, that illegal money of course, is bringing you stress.
- [91:34]
Julian Dory
Right, right.
- [91:36]
Owen Hansen
So my personal trainer, he's like, I got someone at that casino. Don't worry, I know the pit boss. I'm like, okay, let's go over there. So we, we put us, we literally put on these three piece suits. Like, we're going over there, we're gonna, we're gonna sweat this guy. And we show up to the casino and the guy's like, you could tell he's stressed out. I'm like, we're calling, man. We're gonna, we're gonna do some background work right now. He's like, my guy, my personal trainer goes to the pit boss and he comes back, he's like, dude, he lost the money. He really did. I was like, what are we gonna do now?
- [92:11]
Julian Dory
That's a breach of his agreement too. So now basically, you know, he's not allowed to lose the money. So now he's into you?
- [92:18]
Owen Hansen
He's into me. And he says, don't Worry, I got 300 grand at the hotel room that he had saved.
- [92:24]
Julian Dory
Did you call up Tank?
- [92:25]
Owen Hansen
No, not. I'm in Australia. I can't get Tank for this. He's black. First of all, they don't like black people in Australia. For some reason, you never see black people. It's crazy in Australia. I wouldn't guess that. Yeah, you'd be surprised. Interesting.
- [92:39]
Julian Dory
So no Tank?
- [92:40]
Owen Hansen
No Tank. I wish. No, I, I, I literally tell them, listen, we're not leaving. You're not leaving the country. You're actually going to go get that 300 grand that you said you had in your, in your, your hotel. I said, bring it with your passport. You're not leaving this country. I tell my personal trainer, who's also like a bodyguard of mine, I said, hey, get a hotel room at the Hilton. I said, I want to have this guy meet you there. He's going to give you the 300 grand. We'll have a sit down with him. He's like, okay. So my personal trainer goes, gets the room, and we're waiting. Nothing. Crickets. The guy's not calling us. We're thinking, okay, this guy's bailing on us. Go back to my studio apartment with my trainer. And we're just sitting there like, man, what are we gonna do? Finally he calls. He says, hey, I, I'm heading over. We tell him the room number 1026. So I knew he had 300 grand. I'm like, okay, if he's gonna bring 300. I said, I told my trainer, I'm gonna give you a bag of 700. So when you get the 300. 700. 300. That's a million. I was so paranoid right now. Like, I'm freaking out. I said, we're gonna take that million and we're gonna go hide it at your house. My personal trainer, I trusted him. I'm like, here, just go take that million at your house. Put it over there. Because in my mind, this, this gambler already knows where I live. He knew. He's been in my studio apartment. So I'm kind of paranoid. So my personal trainer goes back to the hotel that we had the room because he thought he was going to go meet this gambler there. And as soon as he gets there, there's four officers waiting for him.
- [94:12]
Julian Dory
What, what kind of officers?
- [94:14]
Owen Hansen
Australian. Australian police. And they said, hey, we got a phone call by an American that you have a gun in your room. And he's like, what are you talking about? He's like, I don't have any gun. They're like, okay, we're gonna need to check your suitcase. And that's the suitcase of 700. So now they check a suitcase, they don't find a gun, but they find 700 grand. So now I lost 2.5 and 703.2 million because this gambler called the police in one day, right? I'm like, oh. And I don't know it. I'm still at my place thinking, like, why isn't my trainer calling me back yet? I'm thinking he. Now I'm thinking he got me. I'm thinking he robbed me. Six hours goes by and I finally get a phone call from. From the New South Wales Police Department. They say, hi, junior, this is the New South Wales Police Department. We're calling about the 700,000 that we found from your personal trainer. I'm like, oh, hell no. So now I know he's got arrested. Yeah.
- [95:08]
Julian Dory
So he, he said, obviously wasn't his. It's yours. Yeah, Call my friend.
- [95:12]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, yeah.
- [95:14]
Julian Dory
Now at that point, this is now. Now you're on the phone with some actual law enforcement.
- [95:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [95:20]
Julian Dory
You've been paranoid. You've obviously been trying to get money out. You're stressed out of your mind. You're in with some people that it's like, you know, they're dangerous, but you did your end of the job. So now it's like the dangerous part is trying to not get caught on what I did. Is that a wake up moment where you're like, oh, this is real. And I need to just. The money. Like, I need to just figure out how to get out of here now.
- [95:43]
Owen Hansen
Now it's like, oh, I gotta get out of the country. The law enforcement's calling me. That's scary. I leave two days later, and now, now I got the authorities on me, right? I'm like, oh, no, I gotta get out of here. Because they called the U.S. i'm thinking, right? I'm thinking they're gonna. But guess what happens when I get to the US El jefe messages me, I need some cash dropped off. I'm like, oh, I need 3 million dropped off here. I'm like, oh, no. I messaged him back, Julian. I say, hey, about that. I need to see you. I'm not going to tell this guy on this encrypted phone who I've never met, thought I lost his money. I can't, right? I'm like, I need to see you. And he's like, okay, well, you got to come see me in Mexico. Yeah. So, yeah, I hate telling the Story because it brings back stuff. So many bad memories. But. So I go, I go to Tijuana. I cross the bridge.
- [96:35]
Julian Dory
It's right back where it all started.
- [96:36]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, where it all started. That same bridge I used to smuggle steroids across. And I meet him. Six sakarios. We meet at this restaurant. He has six caras with him. I'm sitting there at the table with these guys in front and I'm like, telling them the truth. I'm like, I got to tell them the truth. That's the only way I want to get through this. This guy. And people are like, aren't you scared? It's like, dude, if I'm going into this meeting, I'm gonna go like, if he's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me now. Like, I don't want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. And I went in that meeting, just, I was honest. I said, remember, I gave, I laundered the 1.5 and it worked. I said, I gave you your cash. I said, well, I went to go along to 2.5 and I told him the story. He's like, I already know. It's in the paper. It was in the Australian Times at this time. Now it's all over the news. Australian Herald, you know, 700, 000 picked off by new South Wales police departments everywhere. He's like, I know. He said, the guy's telling on you. He knew. He did his homework. He says, that guy's a rata.
- [97:39]
Julian Dory
The personal trainer.
- [97:40]
Owen Hansen
No, no, not the personal trainer. The blackjack player. Yeah. He goes, he's a rata. He's telling the Australian authorities, look at, there's interviews with him. He's talking to the FBI. He's new that. He says, let me tell you something. He goes, you don't owe me 3.2 million. He says, you owe me 4 million. And now you work for the cartel.
- [98:00]
Julian Dory
What was the math there?
- [98:02]
Owen Hansen
Interest? I mean, every right soul, right? I mean, it's business.
- [98:07]
Julian Dory
Wait, hold on a minute. Why would he want you. I understand the owed money, that's a separate issue. Why would he want you to work for the cartel when you now have a giant target on your back?
- [98:16]
Owen Hansen
Well, listen, he says you're taking two years off. He says you run your gambling business. He says you're hot. He says you're not going to do anything illegal. No money laundering, no cocaine drop off. None of that, none of the stuff we've been doing together, you're doing with me. He says, run Your sports business, like you've been running your construction business. He says, in two years we're going to recircle and you're going to, you're going to start paying this thing off. So for two years, Julian, I went back to the bookie business. I went back to this 9 to 5 construction worker business, you know, looking like this straight guy that's, you know, working as a developer, going to the Hollywood Hills with my blueprints and my architect and, and I, I took off.
- [99:03]
Julian Dory
I'm back. Let's back up for one sec. What you said to me makes sense about going into that meeting. I'd rather just face this. If he's gonna kill me, do it now when I'm looking at him rather than running through the streets wondering when it's coming. That still means, though, that before you go to this, when you're crossing the border, walking up to this, you know, driving up to this restaurant or whatever, you know, there's a possibility you're walking into something now that you know you, you're not going to walk out of. You're going to be dead. I would imagine you probably never had a thought quite like that before. What was that like? Like to contemplate that or were you trying to compartmentalize it and ignore it?
- [99:44]
Owen Hansen
No, I didn't ignore it. I wrote a note that day I was in my Beverly Hills house to my wife. I was, wrote a note saying, hey, I'm going to Tijuana right now. I don't know what's going to happen, but.
- [99:55]
Julian Dory
Oh, you were married?
- [99:56]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I was married. I was married to a girl from Mexico. I put it in my, I put it in my sock drawer. So I knew if something ever happened to me, she would eventually look at my sock. Her, she used to put my socks in there every day. So I, I, I put that note there just hoping nothing happened, but if something happened, she'd know. And I, I, I went to that, that, that border and I took 2 caps of GHB, took a Xanax of Icon, a Percocet, you know, and I, I, I went in thinking, okay, this is it. I'm going to be relaxed in this meeting. I'm going to, if I'm going to get killed, I'm just go out in peace and it's going to be over with. But trust me, there's a part of me that wanted to turn around and run forever, right? But it kept, kept going back. Okay? I'm like, I can't run forever. I gotta face the Music. And I. In life, I've always been a guy that faces things head on. I'm going full force. I gotta. Like, that's how I've been.
- [100:56]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [100:58]
Owen Hansen
And as a kid, my dad's always says, we. We pay back people that we owe. And that's always been in my mind, like, I can't do the right thing. Like, I've been a bookie my whole career now, and I know when you lose, you have to pay. And when you win, you're supposed to collect. Well, guess what? I lost this guy's money, and I got to pay it back. That's the right thing. That's the honorable thing. And my face was along the line, even though it wasn't me that lost his money. I'm responsible. And that's when I said, you know what? It's. This is on me. This ain't on this gambler. I have to do the right thing. So I went into that meeting and I told him the truth. And. And that was probably why I'm here today, speaking to you.
- [101:37]
Julian Dory
You think he respected that about you?
- [101:39]
Owen Hansen
Thousand percent. He says, weddle, you have some balsam.
- [101:43]
Julian Dory
It's like, I was gonna feed you.
- [101:46]
Owen Hansen
Of course, he had respected. I remember at the end, he said, now let's. Let's. Let's drink. And he had a Corona. I had a margarita because of that thing, man. I was like, okay, I'm alive.
- [101:57]
Julian Dory
So when you turned around to walk out of there, you weren't thinking. A little time action.
- [102:01]
Owen Hansen
Not anymore. I already knew, okay? I knew I was indebted to the cartel. Now,
- [102:08]
Julian Dory
see, that's not fun. That's the thing. Like, all right, you're not looking over your shoulder that you're gonna die tomorrow, but now you're in debt to the cartel, and they're like, wait for a.
- [102:14]
Owen Hansen
Our call.
- [102:15]
Julian Dory
And the call's not next week. Two years away. And you and I. You know, I missed this part too, because you mentioned early in the conversation that you were married to a Mexican girl. But what was that like? Like meeting a girl and getting married along the way.
- [102:30]
Owen Hansen
Worst marriage. Because I couldn't have sex with her. I had no sex drive. I was literally so worried about this debt I had over my shoulders.
- [102:39]
Julian Dory
So you were married shortly before that?
- [102:41]
Owen Hansen
Yes. Okay. Yeah, I was married. And I was just literally like. She's like, you don't me. You don't. I'm. Listen, I couldn't tell her. You can't tell her. Well, sorry, honey, I can't today because I got $4 million worth of cartel. But, like, I had no. Like, I was literally popping. This is when my drug habit got so bad. I was literally doing an eight ball of cocaine every day. Taking Xanax, taking ghp, taking Viking. And I golf every day with clients in like, I pop like 3, 4 biking in that time. And I was just so stressed, Julian. I was like, like, man, this is like, this is never gonna end. I'm gonna. I'm gonna get killed or I'm gonna get arrested.
- [103:16]
Julian Dory
Christ. Did you at some point did. Did you have to tell your wife, like, what was really going on?
- [103:23]
Owen Hansen
No, not until I got arrested.
- [103:25]
Julian Dory
But. So in those two years, even if you didn't tell her the truth, she wasn't like, asking you, like, what the is going on in your life? What are you.
- [103:35]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, listen, when you're. When you're married to a Mexican, they, they turn a blind eye, right? Listen, they're happy that they got their twenty thousand dollar a month allowance, their Hermes bag, and they're Louis Vuittons, right? And they're. They're living in Beverly Hills. So that's just kind of a rule of thumb from that, from that culture, you know, you don't ask, you don't want to know.
- [103:55]
Julian Dory
How'd you meet your wife?
- [103:56]
Owen Hansen
In Vegas, Actually, it was Jeremy. Shocking. Me and Reggie Bush. We had a cabana and she was in the cabana next to ours.
- [104:03]
Julian Dory
Oh, that's classic.
- [104:04]
Owen Hansen
Black Eyed peas.
- [104:06]
Julian Dory
That's classic. And how long was that before you're meeting with El Jefe? A couple years?
- [104:12]
Owen Hansen
No, not even. I would say probably less than nine months.
- [104:15]
Julian Dory
Oh, so you, like, fell in love?
- [104:17]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I got the dance. Yeah, I was making millions. I was like, it. Marry this girl.
- [104:22]
Julian Dory
What made you. What made you, like, want to jump into a marriage? I mean, you were living the high.
- [104:26]
Owen Hansen
I was living the high life. But this lady was so fun. She was just like, party. You want to go out with girls, no problem. You want to have fun with girls, no problem. Like, you, like, if you're making money, honey, whatever. Like that life you live. As long as I'm number one.
- [104:42]
Julian Dory
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in with a full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles. You can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip off with a variety of non alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store. Or online at athleticbrewing.com near Beer Fit for all times.
- [105:11]
Owen Hansen
Your next chapter in healthcare starts at
- [105:14]
Julian Dory
Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos,
- [105:24]
Owen Hansen
meet instructors, and learn about our associate
- [105:26]
Julian Dory
degree in nursing program that prepares you
- [105:28]
Owen Hansen
to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career.
- [105:33]
Julian Dory
Save your spot now at Carrington Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, visit Carrington.
- [105:39]
Owen Hansen
Edu Sci.
- [105:41]
Julian Dory
Oh, so she was giving you hall passes.
- [105:44]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, listen, she goes. She. She. She came from this. This culture, and it's accepted, right? So for me, I was like, you know what? It's like a best friend, right?
- [105:54]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [105:54]
Owen Hansen
And it's fun. Best of both worlds. Both. Yeah. Yeah.
- [106:00]
Julian Dory
All right, so El Jefe sends you away. You know, your stay of execution at least is two years.
- [106:06]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, but it's.
- [106:07]
Julian Dory
It's two years, you start really abusing drugs. You're trying to, like, keep your mind off it by running these businesses. The nice thing is, I guess you're still making money because you had good businesses.
- [106:19]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I'm. People are like, oh, why don't you pay him back with the money you're making? No, because he let me run my business. Like, this is. This is separate. This gambling business is separate from this entity.
- [106:28]
Julian Dory
But you weren't, like, treating it like college debt, you know, putting a little fun to the side?
- [106:32]
Owen Hansen
No, I'm just running this business. I need the cash. I need my capital to run the book. Like, people don't realize you can have a month where you lose a million bucks for sure. You always need your cash available. You know, Jefe respected that. You know, I've been on podcast people comment. Oh, why didn't he just use the money? Because it's two different entities. If I use that money, then guess what? I don't have a bookie business.
- [106:54]
Julian Dory
Right. So that call eventually comes down.
- [106:57]
Owen Hansen
Two years, and he says, you got to figure out. He told me, you got to figure out how to get it into the. Into Australia. He says, you're going to use my product, but I'm going to give it to you in the US and it's your job to figure out how to get it over there.
- [107:08]
Julian Dory
Oh, wait, he wants you to run the same mission again back in Australia, too?
- [107:12]
Owen Hansen
Uhhuh.
- [107:13]
Julian Dory
So now you got to become the smuggler. You don't have expertise in smuggler.
- [107:19]
Owen Hansen
Never been in the smuggling game. Besides those steroids across the border, would
- [107:22]
Julian Dory
you get Smugglers for Dummies and read up.
- [107:24]
Owen Hansen
I got creative. I got creative. My first mission was with my contractor, my construction, like, my contractor for my homes I'm building.
- [107:33]
Julian Dory
Huh?
- [107:35]
Owen Hansen
I. He just had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar of the gambling when he used to drop off, like, bags of cash to clients. And I always keep, like, a quarter million at his house. And one day he, I. I need to drop off the quarter million he had to a customer that won, like, 240. I said, hey, I need you to drop off 240 to a customer. And he's like, hey, I only have 150. Like, what do you mean you have only 50? Your ledger says you have 250. Oh, man. I had to use some. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So I already knew. I was like, okay, this is not good. So I had my contractor get creative. I said, listen, you're gonna come work for me. I said, I. I had to break it to him. This is the only person I could tell. I said, I owe the cartel $4 million. I said, we're going to figure out a way to get cocaine into Australia. I said, I need your help. And he says, you know, this. This idea had already stemmed from a communication I had with a guy in Australia. We were in Fiji, Australia, or excuse me, we're in Fiji, the country, Fiji. And I flew there maybe, like, two months before I started working to figure out this. This mission. The two years mark was up, and I meet this kingpin in Fiji. I can't fly in Australia, so he meets me. He flies from Australia to Fiji. I fly from the US To Fiji.
- [108:52]
Julian Dory
This is a different. This is not ohfe.
- [108:54]
Owen Hansen
No, this is a kingpin in Australia. Okay? And we. We're drinking wine, and I'm asking him, like, okay. And I'm. I hold up the wine, and I'm like, okay, that's. That's what we're gonna do. He's like, what do you mean? I said, do you think if we take this. This wine and I. I break down the cocaine and wine, you can have someone bring it back in Australia? And he looks at me. He goes, like a chemist? I said, yeah. He goes, yeah, I got a chemistry. I said, that's what we're gonna do. And he looked at me like I was crazy.
- [109:22]
Julian Dory
You were gonna put coke?
- [109:23]
Owen Hansen
Yes.
- [109:24]
Julian Dory
In wine?
- [109:25]
Owen Hansen
Yes. So I fly back. You'll see it in the docu series. I fly back. I get to Redondo beach, where I'm from. I get My contractor, who had his can in the cookie jar. And I tell him, this is, this is what we need to do. I said, we need to take cocaine and turn it into liquid. And he gave me the idea. He says, 150 proof alcohol. He says, there's stuff called Everclear. Yes. He says, that's your answer. I said, what do we do? He goes, I'm gonna work off my debt.
- [109:56]
Julian Dory
Now, why was ever clear the answer, chemically speaking?
- [109:59]
Owen Hansen
He says, what happens is you take the cocaine. And this is what we ended up doing. We did the first run with 10 kilos. We put it in the bathtub. We had this, obviously we had construction sites. We put it in our bathtub. We put 10 kilos of cocaine. We took Everclear.
- [110:11]
Julian Dory
Did you clean the bathtub before it
- [110:13]
Owen Hansen
was brand new bathtub. We hadn't even used it.
- [110:15]
Julian Dory
So they, they're, they're responsible?
- [110:16]
Owen Hansen
Yes. Drug chemist. Yes. So we're in there with an ore, like an or you'd use for like a paddle. Like a, like a, or you use for like a stand up paddle board. Right? That's what it was. I had to stand up paddle board, and I use that ore. We have this Everclear and this, this cocaine. And we're in there and we're just literally mixing it and turning into alcohol. And it's clear, it's got a chalky look, a milky look. But the wine bottles we got from Napa Valley were dark, dark wine bottles. And we take a funnel and we, we literally funnel two cases worth of wine. We dump all the wine out. We're funneling back this liquid form. And then I bought online this, this cork kit where you can put a cork in a wine bottle. So people that make their own wine, you put the cork, you put it in, presses down, and then they give you this little red like wax, and it goes on top of the, the bottle. Like you ever seen when you buy.
- [111:11]
Julian Dory
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [111:12]
Owen Hansen
So this kit makes it look completely professional. And I wiped in the wine bottles with alcohol pads, make sure nothing, you know, smells, and put them back in the box. And so I have now two cases of wine, 24 bottles. And I call one of my runners for the gambling business.
- [111:28]
Julian Dory
How much coke was that going into those?
- [111:30]
Owen Hansen
That's. So between two cases, 24 bottles, there's 10 kilos. Okay. So we, we have this liquid formula. Call my runner from, from the gambling business. I said, hey, you got to drop off some wine. I said, he's like, what do you mean? I said, get over here, I give him a mission and give him a couple thousand bucks. I said, drive to Napa Valley. I said, see this. This company, and it was. The name of the winery on this box is from Napa Valley. I said, as soon as you get to Napa Valley, whatever address this is, I want you to find the nearest FedEx. He gets over there, he finds the address, goes to the closest FedEx, and he ships the wine to Australia. And he puts wine samples, and he puts the name of the company, the wine company. So it looks like it's coming from Napa Valley and it's wine. So when the customs gets it, they look at it, they think nothing of it. It's wine. It's wine.
- [112:24]
Julian Dory
And it's not attached to you?
- [112:25]
Owen Hansen
No, it's not attached to me.
- [112:26]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [112:26]
Owen Hansen
It's going to a wine shop in Australia. That's what they call them, bottle shops. And my mate goes on the encrypted phone, he says, mate, you wouldn't believe it. He says, the wine made it. I said, yeah, we made it. Now I know I have the route now. I know I can get 10 kilos in through this wine business.
- [112:47]
Julian Dory
That's so creative, putting it in the liquid, though.
- [112:51]
Owen Hansen
And that's what I did. I mean, I can talk about it now, obviously, because my contractor, when he got arrested, he told the government how we were doing it. Ended up taking his life, too, which sucked. But you know, that. That, you know, people are. Oh, why? Listen, this is all documented. The FBI was told by.
- [113:08]
Julian Dory
Right People.
- [113:09]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So it's not like I'm telling, but this is how it happened.
- [113:12]
Julian Dory
Now, here's the question, though. Those two years before this, you. You knew you had made a flowchart in. In Australia, right? Because you had been contacted. So you know that they knew about you. And you knew that because you're an American citizen, they probably contacted other authorities in the US who now knows about you. Before we even get to the wine part, were you looking over your shoulder of like, oh, they're gonna be making a case on me for anything. Like, not even the drug stuff.
- [113:42]
Owen Hansen
I knew because I would get these phone calls from this Robin Hood, this gamble, and he'd be like, hey, man, I need to pay you back. Let me. Let me launder some more money for you. Launder? That's how you talk on the phone. And I knew I was being recorded. I was like, okay, this guy's not working for the feds now. I knew it. Like, you don't talk like that. Like, we talk. We Talk in person.
- [114:01]
Julian Dory
So you're not. The reason I asked that is because now once you do get put back in the game here and you come up with, you know, pretty genius method, if I may say so myself. Don't try that at home, everybody. But, you know, you're not worried about the fact that, I mean, you just mentioned one guy eventually did become an informant, but that anyone you come into contact with will be turned because they're tracking you in cars and they see who you're talking to. Like, are you worried about that?
- [114:28]
Owen Hansen
You got to remember, I'm in the gambling business, okay? Am I going to get busted for gambling? I'm not. People aren't knowing I'm working for the cartel besides my contractor. And it's not like. Like we're. Like we're behind closed doors when we're doing this.
- [114:40]
Julian Dory
But what about the south wales police department? Didn't they.
- [114:43]
Owen Hansen
Are they going to fly over to the u. S?
- [114:45]
Julian Dory
Yeah, but if they alerted the u. S. Don't you think they were like, this is probably drug money?
- [114:49]
Owen Hansen
Listen, I'm. I'm definitely alert. You know, I'm. I'm going to construction sites. I got verizon vehicles, spectrum vehicles, and I'm running the plates and they're the FBI. They're. Right, I'm. I'm aware in those two years. Yeah, I'm aware. And I know that they're on me, but I also know I owe the floor cartel $4 million.
- [115:06]
Julian Dory
Right?
- [115:06]
Owen Hansen
So it's. It's a. Okay.
- [115:07]
Julian Dory
Prison's better than death.
- [115:08]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. And at that point, I'm like it. I'm paying these guys back.
- [115:11]
Julian Dory
Right. Okay, so it works.
- [115:15]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, it works.
- [115:16]
Julian Dory
The first, the first shipment of 10 kilos. How many kilos total? Did he want you to move again?
- [115:21]
Owen Hansen
Well, we just had to get that. That number down, that 4 million dollar number. It's not about. It's. It's what the exchange rate is. It's what we're getting back after we're paying a percentage. You know, there's so many factors in. In laundering money.
- [115:31]
Julian Dory
So how much of a dent did you put in the first one?
- [115:34]
Owen Hansen
5%, barely, I would say, about that. Let's like, let's just do the math. 100 grand, cut it in half. 50 grand minus commissions, minus exchange fees. You know, let's say $10,000 each kilo times. Times 10 after we pay, you know, pay off everybody. So 100 grand, right?
- [115:57]
Julian Dory
Yes.
- [115:58]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. You got a lot go to go.
- [115:59]
Julian Dory
Yeah, you gotta do this at least 40 times.
- [116:02]
Owen Hansen
So then I do it again. Now, this time.
- [116:05]
Julian Dory
How much later?
- [116:06]
Owen Hansen
I did again next week because now I'm like it. Let's keep going.
- [116:10]
Julian Dory
One year plan.
- [116:11]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I'm on the one year plan for sure. But I get another hiccup. The guy that's exchanging the cocaine from liquid to. To brick form now, he was making 2,000 a kilo. That was his fee. Now he asked for half. He says, I want 50%. I said, oh, really? I said, you want 50%? I said, you ain't getting no 50. I said, in fact, if you want 50, I'm no longer in a ship. Cocaine through wine. I said, you sure you don't want to resharpen your pencil? He goes, no, I want 50%. He tried to play hardball with me. I said, all right, cool. Well, guess what? You're not going to have a job anymore. And he. He played hardball. And guess what? I terminated the wine. I stopped doing the wine because he got greedy. Because think about it. 50%. I'm already. I'm already making 50. And then I got to give a heavy half. That's 25. So if I take 50% now, I'm going to have, like $2,000.
- [117:10]
Julian Dory
I know, but he had a great system.
- [117:12]
Owen Hansen
He did. I had a great system.
- [117:14]
Julian Dory
The, you know, you were just trying to pay off the debt.
- [117:17]
Owen Hansen
Exactly. Took a little longer, but it's not going to work that way. You don't just extort me. You already had an agreement. You and I made an agreement, and you're getting paid $2,000 to turn it from liquid to coke.
- [117:28]
Julian Dory
Normally, I'm totally with you.
- [117:30]
Owen Hansen
Okay?
- [117:30]
Julian Dory
Not if I'm in debt for $4 million to El have.
- [117:33]
Owen Hansen
I can figure out another way, and that's what I did.
- [117:36]
Julian Dory
What was the way you figured out?
- [117:37]
Owen Hansen
Chocolate.
- [117:39]
Julian Dory
Chocolate.
- [117:41]
Owen Hansen
This part's not in the documentary.
- [117:43]
Julian Dory
Okay, let's hear about it. Now, are we talking like, dark chocolate,
- [117:46]
Owen Hansen
milk chocolate kind of chocolate you could think of? I had a guy from USC that is good chocolate. His parents were in the import export business, and they would bring European chocolate from the Europe UK and they bring it to the US and this company would distribute throughout the US This European chocolate. And I knew this because when I was at Scene, I met him at one of these fraternity parties. And I remembered. I was like, okay. I remember there was a chocolate guy. And I was. You get creative when you. When your backs against the wall.
- [118:17]
Julian Dory
Yes.
- [118:17]
Owen Hansen
You figure out a way. And I was like, okay, I got to figure out a way to get to this guy. In order to offer him X. Now how am I going to do that? Well, I knew this guy was married to a girl that was going to be in my friend's wedding. My best friend was getting married. And this. This girl, this wife was. Was going to be part of this wedding. She was bridesmaid. Okay, I got to get, you know, I got to get to him at the wedding, it was in Palm Springs, and start getting him drinks and liquor him up. And towards the end of the night, I have 50,000 cash. And I go, I go, I notice your wife likes those Chanel bags and the Louis Vuittons. And I said, how would $50,000 a month do to help that out? He's like, what's this for? I said, we'll talk on Monday. But this 50,000 you're gonna get every month. I said, all I need is your expired chocolate. He says, expired chocolate? He goes, I got pallets of expired chocolate. I said, perfect. That's all. That's all I care about.
- [119:17]
Julian Dory
Why? Now I know why you'd ask for expired. Because he would have an incentive to give it up to you. But am I overthinking it to think that maybe that could trigger an alarm if. If they see it's all expired chocolate
- [119:29]
Owen Hansen
coming through, they're not looking.
- [119:30]
Julian Dory
They're not looking.
- [119:30]
Owen Hansen
They're not looking. Remember this? This thing is a palette coming in. They're not looking. Oh, look, it's expired. They don't care it's going to the destination, which is a candy store. They don't give two shits what's coming as long as it's chocolate. Right? They're not thinking like that. So I said, come Monday, I'm gonna come speak to you and make sure we can do this. So I come Monday. And he's like, hey, I want to help.
- [119:51]
Julian Dory
Where'd you meet him?
- [119:52]
Owen Hansen
It's a company or a city called Rancho Dominguez, which is. Is Compton, actually. Yeah, yeah, it's a. It's a bad area. They smuggle some stuff, but it's. It's a. It's a good area for this. It's an industrial area. So I tell him, I said, I got someone that's going to be coming at 6pm I want all your staff to be gone, and we're going to come and we're going to do our thing. He's like, what are you doing? I said, no, I'm not going to tell you. It's. You're getting paid 50,000. You don't need to know. He Goes, well, I want to help. You're paying me 50 grand. I said, you really want to help? I said, okay, be there at 6. So I get Tank's nephew to come, and he shows up, and he. He drops off. We. We do the sample run, 10 kilos. And this guy's like, I want to help. I said, you don't want to help? I'm telling you right now, you don't want to help. I don't want you involved in this. He goes, I want to help. You give me $50,000. I want to help. I'm like, all right. It. Give me one of those bricks. I literally cut open the brick. I cut it open, bag up like a little over an eight ball. And I go, here. This is what we're doing.
- [120:48]
Julian Dory
You still want to help?
- [120:49]
Owen Hansen
I said, you want to help? And now he's like, I already knew he liked coke. He's. Now he's all jacked up on the coke, and he's like, yeah, I'm gonna help. I'm like, okay, you want to help? I said, take all those pallets of chocolate. I said, break down every box. I want every box taken out. I mean, this is like a 48, 4ft stacked of chocolate, palette of chocolate, like, boxes, and inside the boxes are, like, you know, 24 chocolate bars. So I literally have all these guys breaking down the pallet, and they're opening up the boxes, and we're taking these chocolate bars out. And at the bottom, I start having them put a kilo in, put the chocolates in, reshape the box. So it looks like it's just typical box. Now we have all these loose chocolate bars. And I'm writing down, like, okay, box 26, aisle 2, row 4. Like, I'm writing down where I'm putting these kilos. We're stacking them just, like, they would come. We wrap it all up just like you would ship chocolate. And I said, tomorrow morning, I want you to have this sleeve from your chocolate facility to Sydney, Australia. And I gave him the address. Six days later, my mate calls me in Australia on the Cryptid phone. He goes. He goes, mate. He goes, we got a problem. I go, what? He goes, I got the chocolate, but there's no. There's no cocaine. I'm like, what do you mean there's no cocaine? I pull out my list. I go go to row four. 32, 6, 8, 12. Like, I'm giving him the numbers that I wrote down. He's like, holy, mate, you're a legend. He goes, it made it they couldn't find it. It was hidden that well. And. Okay. Okay. I figured out a way, right? I figured it out finally. So chocolate became my new route.
- [122:28]
Julian Dory
And now. So that's on the encrypted phone that you're doing that, Correct? So you're not worried about it being bugged or anything?
- [122:33]
Owen Hansen
No, it's just our phones. It's our phone system. These are, you know, phones that are costing a couple thousand six hundred dollars a month in service.
- [122:42]
Julian Dory
So when you would send one chocolate shipment like that, are you, again, like, taking a 5% chunk out of your dad each time you do that?
- [122:48]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. I mean, listen, it's starting to. It's starting to pick up, right?
- [122:52]
Julian Dory
What's El Jefe saying?
- [122:53]
Owen Hansen
No, he's loving it. It's just the timing is tough now because we got to get that cash back right, from Australia, and it takes a while, you know, and you. You want to make sure you have the cash secured in the US before you send a new load. So that's. That's where things are taking a long
- [123:08]
Julian Dory
time, because that's where it went really wrong. The time correct for. So what was the difference this time?
- [123:13]
Owen Hansen
Like, Australia had a method in there. Their rates were a lot higher, you know, like 30. And it would take sometimes two to three weeks to get the cash back. And. And, you know, they had different methods, and I'm not going to mention those because I don't want to get people in trouble. But they. They had their way, and it just would take a long time, but you
- [123:30]
Julian Dory
would at least get it. This.
- [123:31]
Owen Hansen
Yes, it would take.
- [123:32]
Julian Dory
Yeah, of course, Blackjack players definitely not
- [123:35]
Owen Hansen
doing any of that, because, remember, I'm trying to lay low right now.
- [123:38]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [123:39]
Owen Hansen
Okay.
- [123:40]
Julian Dory
Now, where did this go wrong? How did. How did they catch you? I mean, you start with the wine system, then buddy comes. I mean, I will say you were. You were around when Breaking Bad was out. You should have been watching that. That's what happens.
- [123:53]
Owen Hansen
I think break. Breaking Bad literally came in right at. Later, like it was 2007. Okay, yeah, maybe. Yeah, I should have watched.
- [123:58]
Julian Dory
That's what happens. They want a bigger veg as time goes on. But, you know, that system blows up because of that, and now you go to the chocolate system. So what goes wrong?
- [124:08]
Owen Hansen
Well, now the feds are watching, right? Well, they're watching my people in Australia now. So what they did is the FBI sent over a couple undercovers to go to Australia to work with this kingpin, and they go on this. This. This yacht party, and my. My Partner over in Australia is on this yacht. He's all drunk and chipped up doing rack. They infiltrate them where they're just talking them, drinking cocktails with them, shooting the. And they start talking about gambling. And they're like, where are you guys from? It's like, oh, we're from us. Oh, you. You gamble? You should bet with my buddy. He's a big bookie. And then. Then he asked. He goes, what business are you in? Like, these. They're asking this guy. They don't know. It's FBI. Oh, we're in the. In the money business. We clean cash.
- [124:58]
Julian Dory
Oh, my God.
- [124:59]
Owen Hansen
Right? The perfect storm. Yeah. Yeah.
- [125:04]
Julian Dory
So tell us about your friend.
- [125:06]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, so my buddy doesn't know. He's just excited now. He's like, mate, we got a new guy that's gonna launder our money. Me? I'm like, okay, what do you mean? He goes, he. He does it for 12 and a half points. He does it for half. I'm like, oh, that's awesome. Who is he? He's like, that's what they do. They specialize in cleaning money for us. Like, are you kidding me? Like, this is like perfect storm. Like, well, what do you want to do? He's like, dude, let's. Let's give him 10,000. Just see if he steals our money or if he brings it back to you. I'm like, okay, where does. Where do you want me meet this guy? He says, let me find out. So he has this. This agent, we don't know as an agent at the time, and he has me meet what have I been doing the most. I'm golfing, right? So he has me golf, Golf course, San Diego, meet. The guy gives me the cash minus his 12 and a half percent. It's him. A guy from Switzerland, a guy from Hong Kong. And these guys are all in the banking business, and we got to force them. And they're talking about how they set up the Hong Kong bank accounts, they laundering the money through Dubai, Switzerland. They give the cash. I'm like, oh, this is. Is insane, right? Like, this is perfect. Then we're having cocktails, and next thing you know, they said, hey, I heard you're a bookie. Can we start betting with you? I'm like, yeah, of course you can bet with me. I don't care, right?
- [126:18]
Julian Dory
I'm giving them accounts, mixing finance with business.
- [126:23]
Owen Hansen
Listen, at this point, I'm doing anything and everything. I'm a muscler, right? But remember, this was referred to me from my partners in Australia. I'm not thinking, like, we're. We're not dealing with the feds. I'm thinking, this guy's in the business. Because this is what my buddy's telling me. You're not. It's not crossing your mind that. That you're. You're golfing with the FBI? Not yet.
- [126:43]
Julian Dory
It wouldn't. So it wouldn't have crossed.
- [126:46]
Owen Hansen
I mean, I don't know, because it was a referral. It was a referral. Anytime you get a referral. But then.
- [126:51]
Julian Dory
But even, like, two years post all this.
- [126:53]
Owen Hansen
No, no. This is when it. This is when I started to realize, like El Jefe says, dude, no one launders money for half. This is an industry standard in this business. Right? There's a. There's rules. You don't just cut it in half. Half.
- [127:06]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [127:07]
Owen Hansen
And he told me. He says, you're working with the feds. He told me. I'll have. He told me that. I'm like, oh. Then I started to backpedal, and then I go to my mate in Australia, go, brother, where did you find these guys? I said, we got to look into them. I said, I can't keep doing transactions. I've already done. Like, the next week, I did, like, 250,000. And they. They did it like that. Cash. Australia to the US Come and brought me the cash. Cash. We're talking the U.S. government. This is how big.
- [127:32]
Julian Dory
At least they do something on time.
- [127:34]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So I'm literally working with them for, like, six months. And eventually, like, right before, maybe two weeks before my arrest, I get a package picked off. The first one ever. And we didn't know it at the time, but the person on the inside that worked for us that was clearing the packages, they had a strike. It was dhl. Towards the end, we. We were literally so loose, we had someone on the inside of dhl and they would clear the packages through customs.
- [128:07]
Julian Dory
They had a strike.
- [128:08]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, they had a strike. Like a union strike.
- [128:10]
Julian Dory
Oh, oh, like a union strike. Not the individual.
- [128:13]
Owen Hansen
So all the workers that were working for that union, the guys that were on our payroll.
- [128:17]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [128:18]
Owen Hansen
Were no longer there that day. They were striked, and we didn't know. And the package was supposed to arrive there on Thursday. So that package got intercepted. Oh, so now I didn't know this. And we're, like, tracking it. We're like, bro, what's going on with this package? He goes, man, they went on strike. We don't know. Like, oh, so now I'm panicking. And then I've already paid back the Cartel at this point. Now I'm. I'm, like, working just to make my own money. I've already paid back the 4 million.
- [128:47]
Julian Dory
Oh, you're already out of debt?
- [128:49]
Owen Hansen
I'm out of the debt, but you're
- [128:50]
Julian Dory
staying in this business.
- [128:52]
Owen Hansen
Two weeks prior to me getting out of this debt, Face said, what do you want to keep doing? You want to keep working or you want to stop? I said that I want to make some. Some money. Now I want my own. I listen.
- [129:03]
Julian Dory
Must have thought you were a savage, dude.
- [129:05]
Owen Hansen
He listen, I was already in so deep, Julie, and I was like, it. What do I got to lose now, right?
- [129:09]
Julian Dory
He's like, this green goes local man.
- [129:12]
Owen Hansen
So I. We get that package picked off, and now these guys that are laundering our money come to us and says, this is the perfect storm. This is how you know something's going on. He says, hey, if you ever need help. We're also in the distribution game. We, we send packages to, To Australia. I've been talking to your mate. So he said, sometimes you guys send work. Work is coke. I'm like, yeah. And I was like, okay, this is perfect. We just, we just lost our route because of the union strike, like. And he's like, do you have any, any to sell? And I obviously had cocaine in our warehouse. I'm like, yeah, what do you need? He's like, well, why don't you buy. Let me buy five kilos from you, and I'll let you put five of your own on. That's kind of how the system worked. Like, the, the way it works is everybody invests and they send a package, and there's investors on that. That load. So this, this guy, this money laundering magician, was purchasing five from me, and I was also throwing my five on there. So when they arrived, I would get paid on my 5, and he'd make his money on his 5. This is just kind of how the game works. And so they, they complete that transaction, they purchase it from Tank's cousin Junior. And Junior comes and gives me the cash for the cocaine. I'm like, okay, well, at least we got cash. I mean, maybe this is not the feds, right? That's like my mind's thinking, okay, well, the feds would have arrested us. Like, the cops would have arrested if you're doing a transaction. They paid us. They paid us on the cocaine, our cocaine. So now my mind's playing tricks on me. I'm like, okay, it's not the Feds. And then I'm meeting them to have drinks with my Wife and I, and we're like, in. In Hollywood at this place called Toca Madera, which is a hot spot. And we're drinking steakhouse.
- [131:01]
Julian Dory
Mexican.
- [131:01]
Owen Hansen
Mexican steakhouse. Yeah.
- [131:02]
Julian Dory
There's one in Vegas.
- [131:03]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, there's one of Vegas. Yeah. Great food. Yeah, yeah. So we're at Toca and we're like, drinking, and I go in the bathroom. I hey, you guys want to do a line of cocaine? I'm gonna go in the bathroom. And they, they refused, right? They stayed. Okay, that's weird. So I went and did a bump and I come back and my wife's like, let's go. I'm like, what's the matter? She's like, let's get out of here. I'm like, okay, that's weird. I'm like, hey, guys, we're just not feeling good. She's. They're like, okay, we'll pay, right? And they. I think the bill was 800 bucks. And they pit tip another 800. I'm like, okay, these guys are in the business, man. They're. They just tipped a thousand percent, right? I'm like, they just. Yeah, right. They just tipped 100, right? Not a thousand percent. 100. Like, okay. Then I get in the car and my wife's like, those are. That's dea, that's FBI. I'm like, what are you talking about? She said that? And she says, they asked me what role I have in the business. I said, what do you mean? I said, what did you tell him? She's. I just told him I don't do anything, but I spend the money. That's what she told him, right? She spends the money, right? So two days later, we have a. A tea time at seven in the morning in San Diego with this. The same guys that are laundering the money. We're just discussing another quarter million dollar package. Plus we're discussing the. The cocaine that's being shipped now to Australia that we just shipped. So 710 was the exact tea time. It was at Aviar Country Club in Carlsbad. And we. I remember I get in my Porsche Panamera, like five in the morning. I just haul it all the way down. Takes two hours to get there. I'm in la, you pop ghb. And of course, ghb, a line Viking. And driving like this in the carpool, this is when you know you're like passing police officers and you're in the carpool, and this is how you know, like, you have, like, no worry in the world. Like, this is how you know you're meeting up with the FBI if you're not getting pulled over because there's a alert on you and probably a tracker underneath me. Yeah. And I get there, and there's no one in the parking lot. Not no one. I'm like, this is weird. This is, like, the most expensive country club in San Diego, and there's no one here. This is odd. There's, like, a gardener in a F350, and there's, like, six guys in there. I'm like, okay, this is kind of weird, but I pop my trunk of my Porsche Panamera. I get out, I grab my clubs, and my caddy's right there. He's like, Mr. Hansen, welcome. And he's shaking. I'm like, oh, no. Why is he shaking? This is not good. I'm like, where is Everybody? He's like, Mr. Hansen, I don't. I don't know. I'm like, okay, this is weird. I give him my bag, and he's still shaking. He puts my clubs on the back of the golf cart. I go to my passenger side where I grab my man bag. I got, like, three encrypted phones, 50 grand in there to go bet. And I pull around, and 15 FBI agents come out of the bushes, helicopter in the sky.
- [134:04]
Julian Dory
You got the Henry Hill treatment.
- [134:05]
Owen Hansen
The Henry Hill treatment, for sure. It was all over.
- [134:09]
Julian Dory
What goes through your mind, that instant?
- [134:12]
Owen Hansen
Relief.
- [134:12]
Julian Dory
Relief.
- [134:13]
Owen Hansen
It's over.
- [134:17]
Julian Dory
Was. Did, like, time stop?
- [134:19]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, everything stopped as soon as they put those metal handcuffs on you. Just, like, wow. Froze. As soon as I heard that Australian accent in the back of the vehicle. This private, this undercover vehicle they put me in. The whole time I'm in there, I got two FBI agents on me. I got one driving, and I got some guy in the front. I don't know who the he is. Right? I'm just listening to every little thing. Like, what are they talking about? Yes, keep them. What are they locked? Or like, I'm. I'm listening. I'm sitting back. I'm listening to every little thing. Like, what do they got on me? Is this for the gambling? This is all I'm thinking. I said, julian, if this is gambling, I'm gonna be okay. It's like two, three years, right? I'm like, okay, please be for sports betting. Please feed sports betting. And then I heard the guy that was driving speak to the guy in the passenger seat, and I heard the Australian accent. I said, holy. I'm. And I turned white. My whole face went white.
- [135:15]
Julian Dory
They weren't trying. I mean, you Hear a lot of these stories. They try to with you to get you to talk.
- [135:22]
Owen Hansen
Oh, of course, of course.
- [135:23]
Julian Dory
What are they saying?
- [135:24]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, you know, at this point, I, I just. I'm saying nothing, right? You're saying, yeah, but. But they're just talking, right? And. And I just wanted to hear the conversation, just like the small talk. And once I heard the accent, I said I knew I was. But I knew something was odd because when they arrested the guy, this money laundering guy, they arrested him and he was like, hey, Owen, don't tell them. They got nothing on us. I'm like, come on, you're the. That set me up. I knew right away, like, this guy's trying to play me. But they were just playing the game. Like they handcuff him and put him in the car like he's getting arrested. Like he's part of the. You know, this was the undercover. This is the guy, Al Wilson, that got me busted. And then they put you. They take you to this, this headquarters. It was in Carlsbad. It was like the DEA FBI headquarters. And they interrogate you and you're like, come on, guys, this is, this is where I tell you to talk to my lawyer. Yeah, they hate that. Yeah, but they gotta respect it, right? Yeah, that's what happened.
- [136:17]
Julian Dory
They like, they're tied to the radiator.
- [136:20]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. They're pissed.
- [136:21]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [136:23]
Owen Hansen
And you give them your lawyer's name and they have to communicate through them.
- [136:28]
Julian Dory
All right? So you had relief, but then that's followed by the long car ride where you're like, oh, this is about the drugs. And now you're starting. What's the five stages of grief or whatever? It's like denial and then, you know, anger. Except whatever it is, like, are you going through that?
- [136:45]
Owen Hansen
You know, they got you dead to. Right? And you're like, oh, hey, how are we gonna, you know, now? Now then they supersede us and they do a rico. You know, first it's a. A charge. They charging me for distribution on cocaine. Right. Because that's what they busted me on. And now they got myself. And then they arrested Junior, Tank's cousin that same day. And so I'm like, okay, it's Junior and I, but I know I have the gambling operation, so that's running. I'm like, okay, at least that's making me some money right now. Yeah. Thinking. And I'm just going to keep it running like they didn't arrest me on it. So I'm like, I'm looking at the charges and it says distribution of cocaine. And so in my mind, I'm like it. Business as usual. Keep running the gambling business. And that's what I did. I kept running the gambling business.
- [137:26]
Julian Dory
From jail?
- [137:27]
Owen Hansen
From prison.
- [137:30]
Julian Dory
So what was your bail?
- [137:31]
Owen Hansen
I didn't get bail.
- [137:32]
Julian Dory
You didn't get any, bill?
- [137:33]
Owen Hansen
My bail that. We tried. We tried to put a couple million dollars up, and they.
- [137:37]
Julian Dory
Oh, wow.
- [137:37]
Owen Hansen
They wouldn't give you bail? No. None of the feds.
- [137:39]
Julian Dory
This isn't murder or anything.
- [137:40]
Owen Hansen
It's because it's international ties. So I.
- [137:45]
Julian Dory
I.
- [137:46]
Owen Hansen
Three months goes by, and my lawyer, something. He's like, something's not right. He says, I feel something's coming. I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, well, they took all your phones. They took your computers. He says, were you. Are you doing anything out there? I said, well, the gambling. He's like, well, I. I hope you're not doing it still. I'm like, oh, no. I said, I don't know what's going on. I said, I'm in prison. I don't know what you. What you're talking about. But my. My office, they kept running. They kept running the business. And so they. They Superseded. They arrested 23 people from the gambling. Yeah. For the gambling business. Superseded us on a racketeering case. Rico.
- [138:21]
Julian Dory
They find all your assets?
- [138:23]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, they took everybody that had my assets. My accountant, my lawyers, my. I mean, they took everybody. They grabbed everybody. They got a guy that won three Super Bowls, was one of my agents. They grabbed my private investigator, my collectors. They grabbed Tank. They grabbed any. They grabbed my personal assistant.
- [138:42]
Julian Dory
Jesus.
- [138:43]
Owen Hansen
She got arrested. They grabbed runners. Everyone got arrested.
- [138:47]
Julian Dory
Just because she knew they were part of this.
- [138:49]
Owen Hansen
This. This conspiracy. It was a racketeering charge, and everyone got charged. And it was sad because now in 2018, they passed gambling. It's. It's illegal. It's legal now in the federal system.
- [139:02]
Julian Dory
So that part.
- [139:03]
Owen Hansen
All these people, poor guys, they all got felons on the record, and now it's legal. So that's crazy.
- [139:08]
Julian Dory
Yeah, that part. I mean, the coke is a separate issue here, obviously, but, like, the. The gambling part, that's nuts. That, like, now everything that you're arrested for and get a record is legal.
- [139:19]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [139:19]
Julian Dory
You got to carry that around now. What. What is. So you don't make bail. You're sitting in jail. They keep adding to the indictment and everything. What were you faced with?
- [139:29]
Owen Hansen
What was like, the max first, they started at 30. They said, 30 years you're gonna get unless you co. Cooperate and telling the cartel. I said, it Ain't happening. I'm not signing death certificates.
- [139:39]
Julian Dory
Yeah, you never thought that?
- [139:40]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. I said, it's not happening, guys. They asked many times, and I'm not doing it. You guys are crazy. Then my lawyer said, hey, you got to or get off the pot. I'm not like, I'm not taking 30 years. And then we had this thing that Australia was going to come in and, and extradite me after I do my time in the US So I had that in the back of my head.
- [139:57]
Julian Dory
That didn't end up happening, obviously.
- [139:59]
Owen Hansen
Like I said, you're gonna have to see the doc.
- [140:01]
Julian Dory
Right?
- [140:02]
Owen Hansen
But I did listen. I did fire that lawyer. And I ended up hiring a new lawyer that represented the Ariano Felix cartel, which is the Tijuana cartel, big cartel at the time. So he came in and he's like, dude, you're not getting 30 years. He said, there's no way. He says, I've been working on cartel cases. I've seen these things. You're not getting that. Don't, don't worry about that. I'm like, well, what are we looking at? He says, you got a mandatory minimum for the cocaine. It's 10 years. He says, they ricoed you. Yeah, but at the end of the day, everyone on your case is getting like two, three years. The most anybody got was five years. He says, I don't see you getting more than 10. He says, I'm going to ask for 10. We, we, we pled guilty.
- [140:41]
Julian Dory
This episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is, truth is when a great movie hits the screen, you show up, you stay glued, invested, part of the story. And without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to fandango.com to get tickets, stream or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans.
- [141:07]
Owen Hansen
He says, this is after like two years.
- [141:08]
Julian Dory
He says, so he comes on after you pled guilty?
- [141:10]
Owen Hansen
No, no, he came on before we. Yeah. He says, let's make the deal. Let's plead guilty. He goes, you're looking at 10 years. I'm like, okay, are you sure? He goes, yeah. He goes, it's cocaine. It's. It's not like you're dealing meth. It's a, it's a cocaine charge, right? I'm like, okay, so 10 years. Listen, I'm gonna ask for 10. So fast forward now. Now it's, you know, we're turning in this pre sentencing report and they, they're recommending like the pre sentencing report comes back, like they're recommending like 25 years. I'm like, holy shit, what is it like?
- [141:41]
Julian Dory
You know, I was just thinking this when you were saying 30 at first you're getting.
- [141:44]
Owen Hansen
Yes, that's my bad.
- [141:46]
Julian Dory
What is it like when someone, when you get a piece of paper or however they did it, you know, you're sitting in some interview with an FBI guy and they're like, you're facing 30 years of no freedom and it's federal time, so you're serving.
- [142:00]
Owen Hansen
You're 85% of it.
- [142:02]
Julian Dory
Like what, what is. What happens in your head when you
- [142:05]
Owen Hansen
hear that your life's over. Right. You're not ever going to see the daylight. You're not going to see your father, not going to see your mother, because they're going to be passed by then.
- [142:15]
Julian Dory
Did you have any relationship with either of them during this?
- [142:18]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, the whole time. My dad's coming to visit, my mom visits. I'm not visiting, but she's calling me. I'm calling her.
- [142:23]
Julian Dory
What did they. Obviously they didn't.
- [142:25]
Owen Hansen
They were in shock. No one knew. Everyone thought I was doing the sports betting legally, you know, through offshore. It was gray, but I was doing it legally because I had it offshore. They thought I was a developer, that I was building these beautiful homes that I was showing them.
- [142:38]
Julian Dory
Did you, did you have some serious heart to heart conversations with them or that wasn't.
- [142:43]
Owen Hansen
Listen, I was fighting for my life. It was hard to speak to them. There's a lot of tension, a lot of arguments. Pay for this lawyer. Get me this. Help me, please. You know, you're just, yeah. You're at the mercy of them. And it was definitely the hardest time of my life. If and for them. Right. Like they told me every time they would come visit me, you know, it's not just you that's in prison. We're in prison too. Or we're going through this just like you are.
- [143:06]
Julian Dory
What's that like to hear that terrible feeling.
- [143:08]
Owen Hansen
Terrible. So I'm so devastated. Hear my dad tell me that. You know, so remorseful. No doubt is.
- [143:20]
Julian Dory
I mean, obviously on, on that note, like, this is where the first time things slow down because you're in jail and you have time to like think about things. Did you have those nights where you're like, how the did I get here? Why did I ever do this? You know, where you could slow it down and really?
- [143:38]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Now you're finally. Yeah. You're finally sober, right?
- [143:41]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [143:41]
Owen Hansen
Holy. Oh.
- [143:43]
Julian Dory
What was that like, that was a
- [143:44]
Owen Hansen
hard, like the first three months you're kicking the Xanax. Those are the hardest things to kick. The Xanax were the hardest to cook, the drinking. But the Xanax, like they had a. Literally they were. I was taking like Benadryl because it was the only thing he could buy on the commissary. And I was like popping these Benadryl just to try to calm my nerves and sleep. It was thankfully, you know, eventually got off of it and lost a lot of weight. But, you know, you're finally just like, wow, what? This thing really got out of control and you're just, you're overwhelmed by the court system. You're overwhelmed by, you know, being in a six by eight box that's going to be your new residence for a long time.
- [144:30]
Julian Dory
Did you have, I mean, obviously you had a lot of friends. Friends in high places too, from over the years. So like, if you're taking a Pleiadian stuff, did you have a lot of them write letters?
- [144:40]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, you get character letters. But you got to remember a lot of guys get nervous, scared. Like I remember Tito Ortiz and Chuck the Dell and my friends, you know, they're, oh, we're not going to write letters. You know, Reggie Bush, you know, everybody gets scared. Right. This is a federal indictment. No one wants to be part of that. They don't want their name tied to a kingpin. So.
- [144:56]
Julian Dory
And they didn't know what you were
- [144:58]
Owen Hansen
doing obviously with the. So I, you know, you, you definitely can count your friends on, on one hand when you go to prison because everyone falls off cockroaches.
- [145:09]
Julian Dory
Did you feel like it's different when a friend falls off? When you're in a time of need and things have gone against you than when you're in a time of need, things have gone against you and it's through your own doing with some frankly like stuff that is. That doesn't look good. Right?
- [145:31]
Owen Hansen
Correct.
- [145:31]
Julian Dory
So looking back on it now, like, are you pissed that some people.
- [145:37]
Owen Hansen
Not at all. I don't blame them one bit. But at the time, you don't know that, that of course you're just in this, this box and you're like, oh, why? These are my friends. What kind of friends are this? Listen, I wouldn't touched it with a ten foot pole. You got the FBI on this thing. No way. Stay away, don't call me.
- [145:53]
Julian Dory
Have you reconnected with.
- [145:54]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. A lot of them come back and they're like, dude, let me tell you what happened. The FBI contacted me they told me if I talk to you, I'm gonna get indicted. You know, they scare the. Out of these people.
- [146:02]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [146:03]
Owen Hansen
You know, subpoena Jeremy shocky. To this day, he. He tells me how much lawyer costume, and I feel terrible. It's my best bro, and I. I have to live with that every day. I told him, listen, when I start making money again, guess what? I'll pay you back. It's not a big deal. I up, but at the same time, I didn't mean for you to get subpoenaed. It was never in my intention.
- [146:26]
Julian Dory
Yeah, third and fourth order effects go beyond what you could ever think of, you know, on friends. That's. That's hard. I. I can't imagine that. I mean, that's like. Because it's all happening at once, too. It's not like one guy at a time, something like that, all at once. And then you get the power of the federal government on it. It's like, you know, of course they got to make cases against people who break the law and stuff. I totally get that. Sometimes the. The reach and scope, though, of where they take those cases and how they use, you know, the long, hard dick of the law against everyone, including people who have nothing to do with it. That I got a problem with. It starts to get to some constitutional rights type things, for sure.
- [147:09]
Owen Hansen
You know, I took chair me to my Costa rica house, and obviously they see him on that flight and they think, oh, he's involved in the sports betting. But no, I took him to surf and see pretty latinas.
- [147:19]
Julian Dory
Right.
- [147:19]
Owen Hansen
That's it.
- [147:20]
Julian Dory
That's legal?
- [147:21]
Owen Hansen
That's legal.
- [147:21]
Julian Dory
Perfectly legal. So you end up doing 10 years in prison. That's a long time.
- [147:30]
Owen Hansen
A long time.
- [147:31]
Julian Dory
How'd you pass the time, like. Like in your head?
- [147:35]
Owen Hansen
A lot of exercise. Gds tutor. Eventually getting my master's degree in business administration while incarcerated. That was fun.
- [147:43]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [147:43]
Owen Hansen
That took up, like, four years. Yeah.
- [147:45]
Julian Dory
All right.
- [147:46]
Owen Hansen
So I spread it out. I started selling gloves to the u. S. Military.
- [147:50]
Julian Dory
Selling gloves?
- [147:51]
Owen Hansen
Sewing.
- [147:51]
Julian Dory
Sewing.
- [147:52]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So they have these utility gloves that the military uses. And we in this Colorado prison, they. We would be like the seamstress. We'd sew them, and I had my own sewing machine where I'd sew, like 40, 40 gloves a day.
- [148:05]
Julian Dory
What prison were you in?
- [148:06]
Owen Hansen
I started at USP Lompoc, and then I went to the FCI lompoc, and then I moved to victorville, which is. And then I went to fci ingled Colorado, which is awesome for prison. Like, they had the Weight pile donated by the Denver Broncos. They had the. The sewing, like, where you get decent paid jobs. They had six by eight cells that had, like, open doors where you'd have to use the toilets, like, on the outside, which is different. Most. Most. Most expired cells, you have the toilet and the sink. Inside the cell starts to stink.
- [148:40]
Julian Dory
So you start to appreciate a lot of the very little.
- [148:42]
Owen Hansen
Little things in life you appreciate.
- [148:44]
Julian Dory
And you still. You, what, seven months out.
- [148:46]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Just drinking this black coffee, man. It's like, wow, that tastes pretty good.
- [148:50]
Julian Dory
It's better than the toilet coffee in there.
- [148:52]
Owen Hansen
Kefi, right? They got this stuff called kefi. And the only way you heat it up is you. You flush the toilet and it starts getting the water hot, and you get lukewarm water, and it's like, wow, the little things. I remember I went to Starbucks, the first Starbucks in 10 years, and I had to use a tap. I'm like, what the. Do you tap? You know, I don't know what tap is. The little things you learned. Like, I was like, you guys don't understand. I was like. Had my videographer with me, and I'm like, that. That whipped cream right there, that'd be worth, like, $20 in prison. Oh, yeah, that little whipped cream you guys just ordered on that latte.
- [149:24]
Julian Dory
Yeah, you said Colorado. I was like, oh, he wasn't an adx Florence.
- [149:28]
Owen Hansen
No, that's Chopper. Yeah, that's a. I drove by it. We. We had to drop off some inmates. We flew you. They call it Conair, and they. They take you on Conair, and then they put you in a bus and they drop you off, you know, to adx, dropped off inmates there, FCI Florence. And then from there, we drive to Englewood. So I saw it. Definitely. Those guys are never seeing the day
- [149:52]
Julian Dory
daylight once, you know, that fate, though. And, like, you're on Conair, you're moving to.
- [149:57]
Owen Hansen
Anytime you're moving your home, it's better because it's. You're killing the monotony of that last prison.
- [150:03]
Julian Dory
But you know where you're going now.
- [150:05]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, they don't tell you. Actually, they don't tell you till you get on the plane. So the whole time you're like, where am I going? Where am I going? And then they say, okay, we're in Colorado. So there's. There's two options. It's FCI Inglewood or FCI Florence. And then, like, when you're not going to ADX because your. Your security level's not that high, obviously. And like, okay, I think I'M going to Inglewood. I've heard about this prison. This is, this is a lot better than U. S or California politics.
- [150:31]
Julian Dory
Yeah. Minus like some of the, the famous ones like Florence and nasty ones like that. A lot of the guys I've talked to over the years have talked about how federal prison is a lot better of an experience in many cases than like state prison.
- [150:46]
Owen Hansen
That's what I heard. I think the type of people. Right. More, more upscale guys with ricos and gangsters and white collar crime guys.
- [150:56]
Julian Dory
How'd you do, like making relationships in there? Past the time.
- [150:59]
Owen Hansen
I'm a people person.
- [151:00]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [151:00]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Like you and I, like, we could just shoot the, we could go work out. We could have chop it up. Like, that's, that's how I am. But it's very political in prison. So it's not like I can just go chop it up with my code offend Tank. Like, Tank and I were on the same yard at one point.
- [151:12]
Julian Dory
Oh, wait, he came to the same prison.
- [151:14]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, we were in FCI Lompoc.
- [151:16]
Julian Dory
They sent your bodyguard with you?
- [151:18]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, he was. Yeah. So it's, it's different. Right? Very political. I can't. You know, my whole life I've been playing sports with blacks and Mexicans. Well, guess what? In prison, you're, you're passing by. Hello. You're not, you're not chopping it up. You're not eating food with them, you're not sleeping with them, you're, you're not doing things that you would do on the outside. And for me, that was the difficult part.
- [151:42]
Julian Dory
How long did it take to get used to that?
- [151:44]
Owen Hansen
A couple years. Like a couple years? Yeah, a couple years. Because the whole time you're fighting your case. You know, I. Fighting my case for nearly three years, you still haven't seen prison. Then when you get to prison, you realize there's politics.
- [151:54]
Julian Dory
That's right.
- [151:55]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [151:57]
Julian Dory
So were your parents, like, coming and visiting you?
- [151:59]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, my dad would come every, like three months and, and we just kept, kept praying, kept hoping that there'd be some, something that goes on the court systems. And I think that's where we leave it. You know, something, know that literally won the lottery in life, right? Yeah.
- [152:18]
Julian Dory
Now, having come out and hit the ground running, you got a book. How'd you get the docu series so fast?
- [152:25]
Owen Hansen
It was while I was inside. They started making it in 2020. I was with Wahlberg's team on that wall phone. The prison wall phone. Nine months of telling the story on the 15 minute phone calls.
- [152:35]
Julian Dory
Every day with Mark on the line.
- [152:37]
Owen Hansen
Not Mark personally, his Director. Yeah. Jody McVey Schultz.
- [152:41]
Julian Dory
Now, how did he get connected to the story?
- [152:43]
Owen Hansen
There was a guy that came to USP Lompoc, and he says, I want to handle your life rights while you're incarcerated. I said, go for it. I'm supposed to get out in, like, 2038, and then I'm supposed to get extradited. I said, you can do whatever you want. I'm going to be in here a while because I want to do a book deal. I want to do a doc. I want to do a movie. I'm like, yeah, yeah, go ahead and think anything of it. Found me the ghostwriter. We started writing the book in, like, 2019, 2018, and then 2020, he says, hey, I got a doc. Unrealistic ideas. Who? Just Wahlberg's company. They want to do the doc on it. They got a deal with Amazon Prime. It's locked in. I'm like, cool, I'll be in here. And then we literally, for like, four years, were creating this documentary, and they find out about this, me getting out, and like, holy, we got to document this. So they literally have me getting out of prison with the documentary. The people there, well, it's insane.
- [153:33]
Julian Dory
So you didn't get. You didn't have to get extradited to Australia?
- [153:35]
Owen Hansen
No.
- [153:36]
Julian Dory
They just give up on you over there.
- [153:38]
Owen Hansen
I'm gonna leave it. I'll leave it for you guys to watch. Yeah, that's a good one.
- [153:41]
Julian Dory
I'm definitely watching. I'm gonna link that down below, and I'm gonna link the book as well.
- [153:46]
Owen Hansen
So people. I tell people the book's great because what I do is I like. You could go on Amazon and buy it.
- [153:51]
Julian Dory
Lou Ferrigno gave you a shout out, dude.
- [153:53]
Owen Hansen
Lou Ferrigno. Derek Lavelle, Three time Super bowl champ.
- [153:57]
Julian Dory
Yep.
- [153:58]
Owen Hansen
Luke Pedigree. He played for Dr. For the Clippers. Okay. Guy from Vice. Authoration of Generation Kill. That guy's great. Trey Rush, YouTube influencer.
- [154:09]
Julian Dory
Oh, wait, the show. The thing that became the mini.
- [154:12]
Owen Hansen
Yes. That he actually ended up killing himself day after he. He wrote that. Testimony.
- [154:18]
Julian Dory
No.
- [154:18]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. So sad.
- [154:20]
Julian Dory
How did you know this guy?
- [154:22]
Owen Hansen
Dude, he. He reached out when I was. When I was writing my story. He saw it in Vice magazine, and then I sent him a book, and he. He wrote that for me. I was so, so blessed to get that. And then he read that. That's the best one. Read that to them.
- [154:36]
Julian Dory
A deeply compelling story about a young man's rise from a broken middle Class home to the heights of organized crime. Owen, a self taught kingpin with just a USC degree, had no background in the criminal underworld, but excelled in it. He surrounded himself with wealthy college kids and adapted to their lifestyle. This is the essential true crime read of the year. A tale of ambition, excess and the bl lines between good and evil.
- [154:59]
Owen Hansen
He just nailed it, right?
- [155:00]
Julian Dory
He did nail it on the head.
- [155:03]
Owen Hansen
God, that's, that's so bummer.
- [155:05]
Julian Dory
Was he a veteran?
- [155:06]
Owen Hansen
I think he must have been. Yeah. It was devastating. I literally dropped it off at his house and met him when I gave him the book. And when he passed away, his, I think it was his wife at the time sent me that and I was like, oh man, that's devastating. That's horrible. But I tell everybody, they go on the website, the California Kid.com. it's not like you're getting it from Amazon. I actually do a personal message just like I did for you. Oh yeah, a personal message. And I sign it, you know, so it's like you're getting a piece of me in it.
- [155:31]
Julian Dory
That's very cool.
- [155:32]
Owen Hansen
Give them a cool bookmark. The line of cocaine on the back.
- [155:35]
Julian Dory
It's fun. It's funny though that you had like, obviously you're working on the documentary while you're in there. You know, the world's changing, you just don't know how. But then you walk out and like you already have a videographer out there. Then people are, did. Did someone hand you an iPhone too?
- [155:49]
Owen Hansen
Oh, yeah, yeah. Give me the best I wanted, like, I was like, I need to learn. And first I started like the iPhone 13. I'm like, okay. And then everyone's like, got like USB C. I said, I need the C charger, man. I'm tired of this.
- [156:01]
Julian Dory
And then so the girl just to like bring it back 360. The, the girl that stayed by you in the 10 years that you were in there, was that your wife?
- [156:11]
Owen Hansen
No, my wife was there. My wife stayed there. This was more of like a mistress.
- [156:15]
Julian Dory
Okay.
- [156:16]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [156:17]
Julian Dory
Is that who you're with now?
- [156:17]
Owen Hansen
No, I don't have anybody. I'm single. But like my wife, she's still my best friend. My ex wife, now we're cool. Like she, she rode with me. She, she visited me. I told her in year seven, I said, hey, I'm never getting out on 2038. I'm supposed to get extra. Don't. I love you to death, but don't wait around. You're. She's 10 years older than me. I said, don't wait around. I said, go find someone. Be happy.
- [156:39]
Julian Dory
I can't for you.
- [156:39]
Owen Hansen
I said, I can't support you. Yeah. I can't do that to someone. And I let her go. And then I find out, I get out and we're still friends. I see her maybe once a month. She came to the LA Fit Expo where I was selling my protein ice cream, and she supports me.
- [156:54]
Julian Dory
That's cool.
- [156:55]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [156:55]
Julian Dory
And that's. That's. That's a good thing for you to do as well, because it's like, you
- [157:00]
Owen Hansen
know, I feel better for sure. I. I sleep. I sleep. I know the first month I was crying my eyes out in bed, like. Like holding it back, you know, you don't cry. You don't cry in prison. But you're at bed and just laying in your bed and like, like, devastated. It's your best friend. Then you're like, man, I gotta get over it. It's a lot better place to be doing it while incarcerated, right?
- [157:21]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [157:21]
Owen Hansen
Because you don't have to see the person.
- [157:23]
Julian Dory
And you said you've had a chance to, like, reconnect with a lot of your friends from the past.
- [157:27]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I'd say like 99.
- [157:29]
Julian Dory
Oh, wow.
- [157:30]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, like 99. Hey, 99 took me back right there. Still, like, maybe 1%, 2% that haven't accepted it, but that's life.
- [157:38]
Julian Dory
Which. You got it.
- [157:38]
Owen Hansen
I mean, I'm fine with it. Listen, 99, that's pretty good number, huh?
- [157:43]
Julian Dory
And then do you think, like, part of it is, though, you know, you're conscious of the fact that because a lot of those people had no idea what you were doing, like, you lied to them. Yeah. You gotta earn back that trust.
- [157:53]
Owen Hansen
Like, my accountant didn't know, and my accountant's brother was my best friend. He didn't know, and I told him, I apologize. When I got out, I said, I up. I did that wrong. I know it's going to take time for you to accept it and. And having me back in your life, but, you know, now they've ex. They've said, hey, you know what?
- [158:09]
Julian Dory
We forgive you and see your accountant again.
- [158:11]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Not my accountant again. I can't be. Yeah. Oh, my God.
- [158:20]
Julian Dory
Well, what's the. What's the story with the protein ice cream?
- [158:23]
Owen Hansen
That's something started in prison.
- [158:25]
Julian Dory
Yes.
- [158:25]
Owen Hansen
I've been a hustler my whole life. You see how I move? Clearly, I like that money. Yeah. No, I like to hustle because, man, it doesn't matter what it is in life. I remember I started selling pizzas in prison. I started Nice Guys Pizzeria, and next thing you know, I'm like, start pizzeria in prison. Pizzeria in prison. That was like, my hustle at the USP Lompoc. No one had microwaves. They don't have microwaves in prison. But I work for a counselor that that was the incentive. If I worked hard, he would let me use his microwave once a week in the office. And I would microwave, like, the pizza crust, the meats, and no one has that. So you can cook the sausage and the pepperoni and make it crispy. And I literally started to sell these pizzas, and everyone would buy them for me because it was like, legitimate pizzas. They're like, this is. I just do the stuff. Crust with cheese, and it'd be melted inside. People are like, man, this guy's got real deal pizzas. But fast forwarded, I. I literally got transferred from that prison because my custody level dropped. I was like, I'm not gonna be able to make pizzas anymore. So I got to the next prison, and everyone makes pizzas now, and I'm like, okay. They don't do it like that because there's no microwaves. Nobody has a job with a microwave. So I was like, okay, I got to figure something else out. And I started making protein shakes. And what I would do is I would take my protein shake, and I get these empty peanut butter jars, and I put, like, bags of milk. We get milk in prison during. It's called the chow hall, they give you a bag of milk. So I put the milk, put the protein powder in there. I slice his bananas, little drizzle of peanut butter, and I shake them up. And in prison, you don't have them. You don't have refrigeration. So what would we do is we take a mop bucket, or you could take your trash can, and you fill it with a plastic liner, and you. You put ice in there. We get ice. You know, I put my shakes in there, my macros, my tunas, whatever I wanted cold, my soda pops. And you keep it cold. Well, one day, my celly comes back. He goes, hey, we. We have no more ice. The ice machine broke down. I was like, what are we gonna do? Like, we had, like, two inches of ice left in the mop bucket. It. I'm like, man, I, I, I, I, I crave my protein shake every day after workout. And he says, oh, let's just throw some salt on it. So he tossed some salt on it, and I go work out, and I come Back like four hours later. And I grab my protein shake and I go, dude, it's frozen. What am I gonna do? And I, I, he's like, just eat it. And he gave me a spoon and I started eating it. I'm like, holy fire fire protein ice cream. Everybody had like a slice of banana peanut butter swirl. It's like a chunky monkey. I was like, dude, we're onto something.
- [160:47]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [160:47]
Owen Hansen
And he's like, dude. And I said like, I tell everybody the, the light and the light bulb went off. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna start selling it in prison. I started building in prison.
- [160:57]
Julian Dory
Wow.
- [160:58]
Owen Hansen
And there's footage of me starting here.
- [160:59]
Julian Dory
We got California ice protein. We'll link that down below too.
- [161:02]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. If you go, I might go. Look at this, bro. Yeah, dude, you're gonna love it. But there's, there's, there's videos of me making in prison. On the end of the docu series, there's me making in prison. They got some footage, but it's a, it's a, it's a story of second chance, man. It's a redemption story. And it's something I started in a six bite prison cell. Now we're in 300 stores nationwide.
- [161:26]
Julian Dory
Wow. Seven months.
- [161:27]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. I ship it worldwide or not worldwide. Nationwide takes two days. I send it in dry ice. If you go to eaticeprotein.com that's the best spot to look. I, I basically, you, you get to pet. I, I make people pick a six pack. Yeah, right there. Yeah. So you get like, you, you go buy now. And you, you, you, you pick yourself. You know, you get creative. So I have four flavors. Have your cake and eat it too. Batter. Oreo cookies, between 15 and 20 grams of protein. And so you click like, let's, let's shop now. Let's get the cookies and cream. Boom. And then you build your package. Get that starter pack, six packs. They make you buy six boxes because it's so expensive to ship with dry Ice. At 89 bucks, you get six four packs. So you get 24 ice cream bars with, you know, that's not bad. No. And, and by the time it gets to your door, it takes two days on dry ice. You open it up and it's, it's good to go.
- [162:29]
Julian Dory
I gotta show you protein shake on a stick. Afterward, I got to show you the protein I use. And what I do with might give you an idea.
- [162:36]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Do you do the, the, what is it called?
- [162:39]
Julian Dory
I don't want to give it away.
- [162:40]
Owen Hansen
The Ninja.
- [162:41]
Julian Dory
The Ninja.
- [162:42]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, Use a ninja. They got, like, a ninja ice cream.
- [162:44]
Julian Dory
No, no, no, no. It's different. But I want to show you. I don't want to give it away, because maybe you'll have an idea. But, like, how's your relationship with your parents now?
- [162:52]
Owen Hansen
Dad's still my best friend. I've seen him in two weeks. We're going golfing, and I. That's good. My mom. I get to see her. I think I had Thanksgiving with her. That was nice.
- [163:01]
Julian Dory
Is that like a.
- [163:03]
Owen Hansen
It's tough.
- [163:03]
Julian Dory
It's.
- [163:03]
Owen Hansen
Listen, it's tough. I told my mom, I said, man, I missed, like, our. My childhood with you. But, you know, at the end of the day, we got to accept it and we move forward. Just like everything in life, it's a
- [163:14]
Julian Dory
hell of a way to look at it. It's a heavy thing.
- [163:16]
Owen Hansen
I don't hold a grudge. And, you know, it's just. It's life, right? I've gotten this far. I'm going to keep going.
- [163:22]
Julian Dory
They forgive you?
- [163:24]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, I think so. I think so. They just worry, and I hope you don't go back to that life. I was like, I can't go back that life. I'm never. I'm never gonna get out. There's no, like. There's not even a question.
- [163:33]
Julian Dory
There's no third chance here.
- [163:34]
Owen Hansen
No, no, no. There's no such thing. I said, I'd rather make a dollar a day living in the free world than being a rich man in prison.
- [163:42]
Julian Dory
You know what? I don't need to go to prison to learn that.
- [163:45]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, right. You can stay right here.
- [163:47]
Julian Dory
I think about that that often. I'm like. Just the ability to wake up and decide what I'm doing with my day.
- [163:53]
Owen Hansen
Even in cold New York, you know,
- [163:55]
Julian Dory
this beats prison minus two.
- [163:57]
Owen Hansen
Yeah.
- [163:58]
Julian Dory
But you. You know, that's great that you have that relationship and, like, you're getting it after it and everything, but you're also talking at juvie halls. You're. And you're talking at colleges as well, where it's a wild west.
- [164:12]
Owen Hansen
Right? Actually, that's the best feeling for me when I go in there, and I got 30 guys from a baseball team or a basketball team, and I'm. They're. They're literally. I'm telling my story with their jaw is on the ground.
- [164:22]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [164:23]
Owen Hansen
I'm like, it started with gambling. You guys don't understand. And once gambling, guess what? It's literally going to keep going. You guys are adrenaline junkies. You're athletes. We want to win, and I Tell them. And I get into this, and I said, guess what? That one bet I took turned into me working for the cartel.
- [164:41]
Julian Dory
Don't forget the banana up here.
- [164:42]
Owen Hansen
Yeah. Yeah. They look at me like, holy, this guy's not lying.
- [164:46]
Julian Dory
Yeah.
- [164:46]
Owen Hansen
And their homework is the night before to watch the series. The coaches make him watch cocaine Quarterback. So they know what they're getting into. So they know it's true. I'm like, it just takes one bet. I said, it happened with me. It can happen to any of you. And at the end, I tell them what happened in prison, what I saw and what I did and started this company from the ground up. And then at the end, I pass out ice cream. And like, holy, this is. This is badass. Right? You know, I ended with something good, a positive mark.
- [165:14]
Julian Dory
Yeah. You can be a mentor for kids
- [165:16]
Owen Hansen
and then let them avoid it. They have the juvenile hall tomorrow to Brooklyn Detention Center. I'm excited about that because these guys are young, you know, they're young, 14. I can get them before they do it. Yep. You want to be a gangster? Okay. Let me tell you what happens in gangsters, because you're never going to get out, Right?
- [165:34]
Julian Dory
Well, that's cool that you. That you're paying that forward and, you know, you. You're doing things on the up and up now. Hope to see that keep going. For sure. Hell of a story, man. I'm gonna be watching the documentary. I'm sure everyone else out there is probably gonna want to watch it too, but you can check out the book as well, the California Kid. We'll have that link down below. Owen, thanks so much for doing this last minute, man.
- [165:55]
Owen Hansen
Yeah, no worries. Thanks for having me, buddy.
- [165:57]
Julian Dory
Of course. Everybody else, you know what it is. Give it a thought. Get back to me. Peace. What's up, guys? Thanks so much for watching the video. If you have not subscribed, please hit that subscribe button before you leave. As well as leaving a like on the video. It's a huge, huge help. You can join my Patreon via the link in the description and you can also join my clipping community via the Discord link down below. See you for the next episode.