Podcast Summary: Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

Episode: From USC to Cocaine Quarterback: Owen Hanson on Power, Prison, and Starting Over
Date: December 12, 2025
Guest: Owen Hanson
Host: Rachel Uchitel

Episode Overview

Rachel Uchitel hosts former college athlete turned federal inmate Owen Hanson for an unfiltered, in-depth conversation about his meteoric rise from a blue-collar beach kid and USC athlete to a sophisticated kingpin of gambling and international drug trafficking. Hanson details his upbringing, his time at USC, his descent into a criminal underworld, how “Cocaine Quarterback” (the Amazon docuseries about his life) captured his narrative, and how he’s now building a legitimate business—and a new life—after almost a decade in prison. This episode explores ambition, addiction, morality, the unique pressures of athletics, and what true reinvention looks like.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Childhood & Family Fractures

• Family Background: Owen grew up in Redondo Beach, CA, in a blue-collar family with divorced parents.
• Impact of Divorce: Owen traces his emotional struggles and addiction to risk and validation back to his mother leaving when he was 8.
  • "I think it probably went wrong for me when my mom left and my sister was gone. That’s where... it started."
  • (08:01)
• Sister’s Struggles: His sister endured her own battles with addiction—heroin—and it became a stark parallel to Owen’s own path.
  • "Her high was obviously drugs. My thing was volleyball. Like, that's going to be my high."
  • (10:35)

2. Athletics, Drive, and Early Transgressions

• Early Success: Excelled at volleyball, earning All-American status, before being red-shirted at USC.
• Steroid Use: To regain athletic prestige, Owen turned to steroids, smuggling them from Tijuana out of financial necessity.
  • "I went to Tijuana, ...couldn’t afford to purchase them in America."
  • (12:39)
• First Thrills of Crime: The first smuggling experience sparked a craving for risk and financial power.
  • "First time in my life, I lied. I said, no officer, I'm not... Holy shit, what a rush."
  • (14:17)
• Transition to Football: After bulking up, a USC coach noticed him and recruited him as a walk-on tight end.
  • "You’re the size of a tight end and we’re short on tight ends right now."
  • (15:00)
• Role on Team: While not a starred athlete, he became a “black market doctor” for teammates, providing steroids, Adderall, Xanax, etc., and gained status.
  • "They started calling me Dr. O Dog."
  • (18:46)

3. Slippery Slope: From Steroids to Street Drugs and Gambling

• Introduction of Cocaine: Observed a huge market for party drugs among fraternity brothers and peers.
  • "I see there’s a market. They’re paying $100 for a gram bag. I can undercut everybody..."
  • (21:36)
• Business Approach: Applied a calculated, business-oriented approach from the start, using friends as distribution subordinates and later outsourcing smuggling to women.
  • "That’s math 101. If I get it for 20 and I sell it for 60, I undercut the market..."
  • (22:20)
• Motivation & Justification: Owen saw this as a way to survive and fit in with the wealthy students at USC.
  • "Now I finally fit in. I agree what I did was wrong, but it was like, I'm surviving now."
  • (25:39)

4. From Bookie to International Kingpin

• Real Estate Detour: Took a legitimate job post-college (real estate), but the 2008 recession forced him back into hustling.
• Becoming a Bookie: Networked with a family acquaintance, began as an agent, then built his own operation.
  • "I learned how to set up a call center, an online platform, a website, and I became my own bookie."
  • (30:25)
• Expansion: Grew to 23 sub-agents, massive cash flow, and a high-rolling clientele including pro athletes.
  • "It could go from, you know, 25,000 a week to 250,000 a week... I’ve never been negative in this gambling world."
  • (33:07)

5. Crossing the Line: The Cartel Connection

• The Mexico Whale: An international client led him into laundering and logistics for cartel-level money movement.
  • Encrypted phones, coded transactions, and ultimately, handling millions in cash.
  • "He finally lost...I called his agent...I want to pay him on Monday morning. Because in the bookie business, if you pay someone Monday, that means you're the real deal."
  • (38:33)
• Escalation to Drug Trafficking: Eventually, Owen is asked by “El Jefe” to run operations in Australia—receiving and laundering vast amounts of cocaine and money.
  • "How would you like to do what you’re doing now, but in Australia? And I’m going to pay you a million dollars a day."
  • (44:28)
• Living as a Ghost: Despite vast sums, he lived modestly and in fear, always anxious, never at ease.
  • "I'm scared shitless. I'm a go ghost, okay? I'm living in a studio apartment."
  • (50:41)
• Laundering Innovations: Used comic books, gold, casino chips, and other creative means to get cash out of Australia.

6. The Downfall: Betrayal and Arrest

• A Bad Partnership—RobinHood702: Trusted a new associate from Vegas (Robin Hood) to launder money through gambling, but Robin Hood lost (or stole) $2.5 million, then became a government witness against him.
  • "Three hours later, I get a phone call... ‘We got a problem. I lost the money.’"
  • (57:35)
  • "They arrest Sean Carolyn, my trainer. They find the 700 grand."
  • (60:56)
• Cascade of Betrayals: Associates turn, law enforcement involvement multiplies, and the circle closes.
  • "That’s the rule number one. But the attorney says it’s not a US matter, so don’t worry about it. So I took his legal advice..."
  • (62:11)
• Arrest: Ultimately caught, he’s charged under kingpin statutes.

7. Prison: Surviving and Rebuilding

• Sentencing: 21 years, of which he served 9.5 years.
  • "The judge told me: 21 years to rehabilitate. And I took that serious..."
  • (63:04)
• Coping Mechanisms: Treated prison like a “game” (quarters, halftime), refused to allow himself to be broken mentally, and worked out daily.
• Prison Hustle: Invents and sells “protein ice cream” (out of peanut butter jars and commissary protein powder)
  • "My cellie says, here, grab your shake ... it's frozen, man ... it's like protein ice cream. ... Ice cream in prison season. Like, this is going to be my hustle..."
  • (66:02)
• Education: Earns a master’s degree, writes a memoir (The California Kid).

8. Release & Reinvention

• Learning from the Past: Now focuses on legal entrepreneurship—specifically the protein ice cream business, California Ice Protein.
  • "Everyone's like, what do you want to do? I'm like, man, what am I going to do? I'm a convicted felon."
  • (69:10)
  • "My new rush is, like, so speaking now, telling people about what I went through..."
  • (71:06)
• On Recidivism: Warned by the judge he’d get a life sentence if he ever returned to crime. Feels genuinely changed.
• New Purpose: Speaking to athletes and law enforcement about risks, choices, and criminal networks.
  • "Watching these kids faces going, wow. ... That's my new rush."
  • (71:56)
• Second Chance: Views his arrest and prison time as a “blessing.”
  • "If they didn't arrest me, I would have died for sure."
  • (72:45)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Family and Trauma:
  "It started with your mom leaving...Like, I'm in a relationship and I lose that person. It's like, fuck, I lost another one." (08:31)
• On First Smuggling Experience:
  "First time in my life, I lied...and I was like, holy shit, what a rush. From that day forward, I was chasing that rush." (14:17)
• On Living Two Lives:
  "I'm this blue collar kid...Now I finally fit in." (25:39)
• On Cartel Work:
  "He says, you have to...I have the product there and you need to figure out a way to move it...cocaine. And I was like, oh, boy." (45:09)
• On Jailhouse Entrepreneurship:
  "Dude, it's like protein ice cream. ...this bell went off in my head. This hustle mentality I have." (66:08)
• On Reinvention:
  "I'm never gonna work for a company. I'm going to be the company. I want to be the Jeff Bezos of protein ice cream." (73:28)
• Addressing Misconceptions:
  "I'm not a violent person. ...At the end of the day, I'm a big koala bear." (74:19)
• Advice to Others:
  "Just be yourself...Don't cut corners in life and try to be someone you're not." (76:05)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• Owen recounts his first lie, drug smuggling (14:17)
• First steps in the cocaine market (21:36)
• Bookie business origins and expansion (30:25)
• First dealings with the cartel (38:33-41:01)
• Cartel logistics, Australia move, million-a-day deal (44:28-51:03)
• Casino money laundering route (56:28-57:55)
• The Robin Hood betrayal & bust (57:35–60:56)
• Going to prison, mindset, survival (63:04–66:08)
• Prison ice cream hustle (66:02–69:10)
• Rebuilding with “California Ice Protein” (69:10–70:41)
• Life lessons, second-chance priorities (71:06–74:11)
• Owen’s message about being misunderstood (74:19)

Tone & Style Notes

Rachel Uchitel takes an empathetic, probing approach—sometimes teasing out introspective admissions, sometimes challenging or clarifying criminal details. Owen is direct, sometimes remorseful, at other times boasting the hustler’s confidence and unvarnished candor. There’s a current of adrenaline and survivor’s grit throughout, with both participants occasionally lightening the mood with gallows humor or reflective wisdom.

Where to Find More

• Docuseries on Amazon: Cocaine Quarterback produced by Mark Wahlberg
• Protein ice cream business: californiaiceprotein.com
• Memoir: The California Kid (thecaliforniakid.com)

For Listeners:

Whether you’re fascinated by true crime, sports culture, or stories of redemption, this episode offers a rare, first-person look inside the machinations of college athletic privilege, organized crime, the US criminal justice system—and what it takes to reclaim your life.