Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Pilot: The Untold Story of TJ Dominguez (Part 1 of 3)

Summary

---

Podcast Summary

Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

Episode: Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Pilot: The Untold Story of TJ Dominguez (Part 1 of 3)
Date: September 15, 2025
Host: Rachel Uchitel
Guest: TJ (Tito) Dominguez

---

Overview

This episode launches a gripping three-part interview with Tito "TJ" Dominguez, who rose from the desperate quest to fulfill his late father's sugar mill legacy to become Pablo Escobar’s trusted smuggling pilot. Rachel Uchitel explores TJ’s double life, from heartbreak and betrayal in legitimate business to the adrenaline-drenched world of drug trafficking and eventual partnership with the most notorious criminal in history.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Roots and Family Legacy ([05:03]-[08:47])

• Upbringing: TJ describes a close-knit, driven Cuban family, led by a father who rose from sugarcane cutter to multimillionaire sugar industrialist.
• Immigration and Displacement: After political turmoil and loss in Cuba, the family fled—eventually relocating to Miami via Haiti to rebuild.
• “My dad was like my mentor to me. You know, God's up here. My dad was right underneath him. I just worshipped him.” – TJ Dominguez [09:10]

2. Desperation after Loss ([08:46]-[14:31])

• TJ’s father dies, leaving a promise to finish a sugar mill project that requires $14 million.
• Banks renege on lenders’ commitments after his father's death, citing TJ’s youth and inexperience.
• Surveying TJ’s sense of responsibility—“Now, I’ve got all the weight of the world on my shoulders...” – TJ Dominguez [10:39]

3. Betrayal and Radicalization ([14:31]-[22:23])

• After being defrauded of $100,000 by a private lender (“You got nothing, kid” – [16:19]), TJ resorts to kidnapping the thief to recover his money—using karate skills and intimidation.
• “The guy’s committed a crime... So I kidnap him. What’s he gonna do? Call the authorities?” – TJ Dominguez [18:19]
• Instead of cash, he’s repaid with high-end cars, which he converts to cash—seeding a later luxury dealership.

4. Turning Point: Legitimate Doors Close ([22:23]-[28:36])

• After more failed attempts to secure legal funding, TJ hits a wall:
  “That's when I decided I'm going to become a smuggler.” – TJ Dominguez [27:44]
• A heartfelt scene: alone on a Haitian rooftop, TJ tells his late father, “I'm tired of asking people for money. I'm tired of being kicked to the curb.” [27:46]

5. Entry into Smuggling: Marijuana Runs ([29:58]-[38:46])

• TJ spends his last $25,000 on a boat and on faith, sails blindly toward Bimini in the Bahamas.
• He negotiates major weed deals with Bahamian locals:
  “If I don't come back, I'm either dead or I'm in prison. But I will be back. I don't lie, I don't cheat, and I live by my word.” – TJ Dominguez [35:09]
• Early smuggling is filled with luck, grit, and creative hustling—reselling marijuana for quadruple the price back in Miami.

6. Scaling Up: From Boats to Planes ([37:00]-[46:03])

• As smuggling demands increase, TJ reinvests his profits into a fledgling fleet of speedboats and recruits friends.
• The need for larger hauls leads him to aircraft ownership—describing a comical initial purchase of a barely-airworthy Beechcraft—“I call it the Hangar Queen, because she never flew.” [44:09]
• He learns to fly alongside a down-on-his-luck instructor—muddling through mechanical breakdowns and slapstick misadventures.

7. Breaking into the Colombian Connection ([46:08]-[53:26])

• Through brokering the release of a friend’s seized plane, TJ makes his first direct link to a Colombian drug syndicate.
• Begins airdrop smuggling—dropping bales from plane to speedboats at sea, perfecting the logistics through trial and error:
  “I hit on one, I missed on two. I hit on two, missed on three...It was like, no one-on-one course on smuggling.” – TJ Dominguez [54:46]

8. The Cocaine Tipping Point ([56:01]-[59:34])

• Catastrophic misfortune: TJ’s partner in Colombia is murdered; TJ is kidnapped by criminal creditors for an $800,000 debt:
  “This ain't no movie, and you ain't no cowboy. I want my effing $800,000 or you’re dead.” – Colombian mobster [57:26]
• TJ bargains for his life by offering to sell assets. He's offered a million-dollar contract to make his first cocaine run.
• “So he paid me a million dollars to... pick up 450 kilos, I think was my first trip of cocaine... At that point, I was like on a horse. And I wouldn’t get off that damn horse for nobody.” – TJ Dominguez [61:07]

9. From Pilot to Player: Meeting Pablo Escobar ([63:20]-[66:00])

• Now flying weekly multi-million-dollar cocaine runs, TJ becomes a legend in the smuggling world.
• “I’m in my 20s, I’m making a million dollars a week… The sugar mill is taking a back seat. I’m getting caught up in this whole lifestyle, you know, the power, the excitement…” – TJ Dominguez [64:25]
• His reputation draws the attention of Pablo Escobar’s network:
  “A friend of mine said, ‘Hey, would you like to meet Pablo? …So you can make some real money.’ I said, ‘What, $4 million a month is not real? I’m good…’” – TJ Dominguez [65:00]
• The episode closes just before their fateful meeting.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “On his father's deathbed... that promise became desperation. And desperation has a way of opening dangerous doors.” – Rachel Uchitel [01:51]
• “I don't do drugs. I'm a professional at whatever I do. Just be the best you can be.” – TJ Dominguez [63:32]
• “I started developing a reputation. So a friend of mine said… Would you like to meet Pablo?” – TJ Dominguez [65:00]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [05:03] – [08:47]: Early family history, Cuban roots, and immigrant story
• [09:10] – [14:31]: Father’s death, sugar mill project, and initial financial hurdles
• [14:31] – [22:23]: The betrayal by a lender and the drastic response—kidnapping
• [22:23] – [28:36]: Deciding to enter the world of smuggling
• [29:58] – [38:46]: First maritime smuggling run, Bahamian adventures
• [37:00] – [46:03]: Scaling up operations—boats, then planes, and learning to fly
• [46:08] – [53:26]: First direct connections to Colombian suppliers
• [56:01] – [59:34]: Turning point—owed money, threatened, and becoming a cocaine pilot
• [63:20] – [66:00]: Smuggling empire, international reputation, and introduction to Pablo Escobar

---

Episode Tone & Language

Throughout, the tone is candid, gritty, and often humorous—even as the stakes rise. TJ’s storytelling is matter-of-fact, self-deprecating, and sometimes filled with bravado, balanced by Rachel’s curiosity and focus on the humanity behind TJ’s choices.

---

Conclusion

In this compelling first chapter, the podcast peels back the headlines to reveal the layered motivations, heartbreak, ambition, and moral conflict of a man who once flew as Escobar’s pilot. Stay tuned for part two, where TJ’s journey with Pablo Escobar—and the cost of his second life—takes center stage.

---

Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

DC Politicians want to enact harmful credit card mandates that could take away your cash back and rewards points, perks that stretch your budget and make life a little easier. Losing these benefits means less money for your family's everyday essentials like gas and groceries. The perks you rely on could disappear, leaving you with higher costs and fewer options. Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates.

[TJ Dominguez]

Paid for by Electronic Payments coalition. Imagine that, 19, 20 years old. I need 14 million to complete my father's sugar mill. That's how I go meet Pablo. I went down to the bank and I said, I'm here to execute bank amendment for $14 million. They said to me, we cannot honor this commitment to you. With that, I started seeking other sorts of financing. I gave the guy $100,000. He says, you got nothing, kid. So I asked myself, she's gonna go out and kidnap the guy.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Well, you don't, right?

[TJ Dominguez]

I did.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, you did?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, hell, yeah. I had a long talk with my dead father. And I told dad, listen, I'm tired of asking people for money. That's the moment that I said, I'm gonna become a smuggler. So now I got three or four little speedboats going back and forth. Now, the problem that I have is I'm not getting enough from the Bahamas. Doesn't come from the Bahamas. It comes from Colombia. So that's why I bought that airplane. You know, listen, I'm in my 20s. I'm making a million dollars a week. I'm getting caught up in this whole lifestyle, the power. And I started developing a reputation. So a friend of mine said to me, would you like to meet Pablo?

[Rachel Yukatel]

On his father's deathbed, Tito Dominguez, also known as TJ Made promise to carry on the dream of building the family's sugar mill. But when he was swindled out of the money that was supposed to fund it, that promise became desperation. And desperation has a way of opening dangerous doors. At first, it was small. A young man figuring out how to get a boat to the Bahamas, trying to flip marijuana for cash. But the runs grew. Boats multiplied. Then came planes. Before long, TJ had fleets, moving product from the Caribbean into Florida. And that's when Columbia came calling. And in Colombia, it wasn't just marijuana. It was cocaine. TJ Became one of Pablo Escobar's trusted pilots, flying shipments worth millions, not under the COVID of night, but in broad daylight with a confidence that made him nearly untouchable. At the height of it all, he was making $5 million a week. On the side, he built a glamorous empire to hide in plain sight. The number one cell phone business in South Florida. A luxury dealership where he sold Lamborghinis. Even had a Lamborghini to match the color of his shirt for every of the week. His life was a billboard of wealth and power, and almost nobody knew what fueled it. But empires built on greed eventually crash. In 1988, federal agents raided his mansion. Prison followed, solitary confinement, even a failed helicopter escape plot. Now, decades later, TJ Dominguez is telling his story. The double life of Pablo Escobar's cocaine pilot and what it really cost to keep cartel in the air. And tonight marks the beginning of our three part series with tj because his story is too big, too unbelievable, and too important to rush. I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation with TJ Dominguez. Tito, thank you so much for joining me in person today on Misunderstood.

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, thank you very much for having me over here. It's an honor to sit here by you.

[Rachel Yukatel]

It's such an honor to meet you in person. As I was telling you earlier, I've been listening to Cocaine Air, the podcast that's about your life that people must listen to. It's so good and it's just so exciting to meet you in person. You're one of the most intriguing people. Your story is a story that most people have not heard but should. So I'm happy you're here. We're gonna try and tell it in an hour so that people can hear about you and then get to follow more about you and potentially read a book that you may come out with eventually or see you in the movie.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yes, I did. I'm very honored to be here, Rachel, and thank you so, so much for having me.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Of course. So let's start with your background before we get into the good stuff. I want to hear where you're from, the kind of upbringing you had, your family tell us so we know who.

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, you know, I come from a really, really close knit family. I could go, you know, and talk about this for days and days. My mom and dad, we were the kind of family that had to sit at the table together. My father was the son of an immigrant from Spain. My grandparents were from Spain. My father was born in Cuba. He grew up as a cane cutter. Hard work does pay. He was 10 years old and he was cutting sugar cane on the field. Never went to school with my dad because they were too poor. And eventually he became a sugar mill mechanic and he turned that into a company that got contracts. And he started getting more and more fame as a very good mechanic in the sugar industry, which Cuba was the number one country in the world to produce sugar. And he turned that into a multimillion dollar company. And that actually later on in life, he started going to school at the age of 30 something, because that's the one thing he had never had in school. And he graduated from the University of Havana. I have his diploma here in Miami, in Fort Lauderdale, where I live, seven different degrees and never practiced the one. So we come from a very, very basic type rooted company. In school, I had to sit in the table with my last button, button, all of us together. TV's off. I have two great sisters. I lost one to cancer. And the other one is an architect. I'm extremely proud of her. And, well, my dad was in the sugar industry, as I said. My uncle was actually shot in front of a firing squad in Cuba. So my father had to leave Cuba in a hurry, basically because his life was threatened. And so he came basically without any money. But he was able to acquire a sugar mill that he had built in Haiti years before that. And then I lived in Haiti for four years, where there I learned how to speak Creole, French and then Italian. Later on I learned because of my Lamborghinis. And so I speak four or five languages. But I was very young at the time. I was just a kid. And then my father decided that he wanted to reunite the family. My sister was in Germany studying German.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay, how old was she?

[TJ Dominguez]

We were in early teens. Okay, early, early teens. You know, 12.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Was your mother still around?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, yeah. My mom and dad was like a Romeo Juliet story. I mean, they had the kind of marriage that I could only dream about. I've done it a few times, and I'll keep doing it until I get it right, Rachel. Yeah, but it really, really was. So my dad went ahead and then he became a builder in Florida.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And so you reunited the family in the United States.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, right. Correct, correct. Oh, by the way, I was born in Havana, but I don't know Havana. I don't know Cuba. I came when I was a baby. So, you know, Miami's my home. That's what I know. And so years later, after I got a little bit older, like 12, 13, 14 years old, my dad decides to. No, no. At that point, he's like 18 or 19. My dad decides he wants to get back into the sugar industry. So all the funds that he has and all the money that he has, he puts Into a sugar mill. We're going to buy another sugar mill in another country, put it on a barge, and then going to float it over to Haiti. Why Haiti? Because of the cost of labor. And Haiti was a country that needed, you know, an industry. And it was very favorable terms because you had a tremendous workforce. And my father already had two shir sugar mills that he had owned there before. So he had a lot of experience.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And he had the credibility.

[TJ Dominguez]

Exactly correct. So anyway, so he gets back into the business and make a long story short, he gets cancer. And I don't know this, right? And I need $14 million to finish a project. My father passes away. I'm at the age now, maybe 19 in that neighborhood. 20.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And were you working with him?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, yeah, My father.

[Rachel Yukatel]

You knew the business?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, yeah.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

When I lived in Haiti with my dad, even though I was just a kid, he put me in the laboratory and he had me there. He says, this is the heart of the industry. You must learn everything that you can here. So. And I was always like. My dad was like my mentor to me. You know, God's up here. My dad was right underneath him. You know, I just worshiped him. I really do. I choke up every time I think about him. And so what happened was he gets cancer, he passes away. And unbeknownst to me, he left me a manual that says, in my absence, you shall do this and this and this. Now, on his dying bed in the hospital, he said to me, son, finish the project. Finish the sugar milk.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So this was important to him.

[TJ Dominguez]

Very, very important.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And he probably sees this as a path for you as a lifestyle.

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It was a career. It was a lifestyle. It's. Our whole family grew up in that industry. My mom's side of the family owned the biggest sugar mill of the world. And I don't know if you know what a sugar mill is all about or how much it's worth, but we're talking millions. Millions and millions. It's like a billion dollar. Any small sugar mill back in those days was about 20, 30 million dollars back in those days.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wow. So your father passes away, and I'm so sorry, and you are left with this weight on your shoulders. You need to get $14 million to finish this project. So talk to us about what happens here, because this is kind of the moment where your life changes. You're betrayed, and your life ends up shifting.

[TJ Dominguez]

It didn't really change right there, Rachel, but it started me in a quest that I had. I'm not going to Say I'm saddled with. But it's a quest that I needed to complete my father's sugar mill. And now I've got all the weight of the world on my shoulders, like you said, simply because I've got two sisters and a moment that none of them have ever worked. You know, they were all dependent on my dad's backing. And then all of a sudden, everything that we own was put into the sugar mill project in Haiti. So now we're running the risk of having financial difficulties if I don't get this thing done. We had a bank commitment from Capital bank, which is not the same capital that you see now. And the director of the bank, Abel Holtz, he's passed away since then. He gave us. We had a commitment from the bank for $14 million to finish the project. So what do I do after my dad passes away? I put on my best Brioni suit that I've got. I grab his briefcase, I went down to the bank and I said, I'm here to execute the commitment. The bank commitment for $14 million. Well, Abel Holtz said to me, I'm so sorry about what happened to your dad. He was a great man. He said, but unfortunately, we cannot honor this commitment to you. Basically, you're too young. And he says, and I got a board of director that I have to answer to, and you have no experience at this level.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So they believed in your dad, and that's where the commitment came from. But once your dad was gone, they said, now we're out.

[TJ Dominguez]

Okay, yeah, my dad probably. The loan was basically probably back in those days where 60% of the project was based on my dad's history.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

And the fact that he knew the industry really well and yet experience in that country.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right, right.

[TJ Dominguez]

Plus, we had already commitments from the government to allow us to take the money out of the country. Tax exemptions for 30 years. We had 30 something, 20, 30,000 acres under contract. So, I mean, it was all backed by.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And I want to reiterate, this was all legal stuff you guys were involved in. Right. And this was like. This was a great way to make money and a real multi million dollar business.

[TJ Dominguez]

Multi million dollar business. You know, right now, the biggest sugar mill in the world is owned by the Cubans here in Clueston of the World Fanjul. They're the owners of the. And that was along with my dad when they first started all that. And so, anyway, so I went there and then he told me that I was too young and inexperienced to honor the contract. So it, it was like a bucket of cold water, you know, it was like, now what do I do? So I went back down to the car and now what do I do? He told me, I'm going to refer you to maybe more of a liberal type of lenders. And I think it was a nice way of letting me down because he just didn't want to just shut the door like that on my face, you know, he just gone through his tragedy. And so I, you know, I went and I knocked on the door, said, he told me to go. Same answer, same, same thing. I didn't get any, anywhere with that. I started seeking other sorts of financing and I spent maybe two years looking for money. As the time passed by, I still had the responsibility of maintaining and supporting an office in Haiti with employees, you know.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So was it self sufficient enough that you were able to.

[TJ Dominguez]

No, we hadn't started.

[Rachel Yukatel]

You hadn't started.

[TJ Dominguez]

We bought a sugar mill in Puerto Rico.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

Then I owed the government of Puerto Rico $780,000. Imagine that, 19, 20 years old. Now I owe here a million. I need 14 million to finish a project, develop the fields, the foundation, get a barge. You got to put the sugar mill, dismantle it, break it down, put it on a boat, float it over to Haiti and then bring it back up again.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

So it was like a major undertaking.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So where do you go next? Because I know there was a commitment from somebody, $100,000 thing happens to you.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, I go see this private. Well, not really. It was a lender, you know, he owned a mortgage company, you know, had a lending company. So I went to see him. He was in a bank, but he was like a mortgage type of lenders. So I went to see him and then his name is Reuben. Reuben told me, he said, yeah, we could do this. We could do the $14 million. I have sources that we could handle a loan of that nature. He said, but you're going to have to deposit good faith money. And you would say, well, why would you deposit any good faith money? Well, believe it or not, it's actually something that was, I'm not going to say super normal, but it was normal in the industry. Because what they would do that is to separate the BS from reality. In other words, if you can't bring in $100,000 to put it in an escrow account in good faith, which is not supposed to be touched.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

Then I don't want to waste my time with you.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay, I got it.

[TJ Dominguez]

Makes sense.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

And I didn't think Nothing was going to happen to the money. So I took 100,000, I gave it to him, and then I got a commitment for $14 million. I walked out of there like I had, you know, floating on the air. I thought, oh my gosh, I'm going to get this thing launched finally. A year and a half later, right? And I'm still at it. I'm still at it. So now I've got this commitment and life is great again. Well, one day turned into a week, a week turned into a couple of weeks, couple of weeks turned into a month. And every day was always manana, you know, tomorrow. I said, when are we getting this thing funded? And then it just wasn't happening.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

And he already had the hundred thousand on the side of the fence.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And then did he not want to give it back to you when you finally asked for it?

[TJ Dominguez]

No. Yeah, well, what happened was I'm walking into his office and I hear screaming from inside the building. So I freeze when I hear all the screaming. And the door opens up in front of me and this guy's fuming right on my face. And then I said, what? And the guy goes, what? What do you mean, what? What? And then the guy. I said, what's going on in there? He said, you just got ripped off by this thief. And I said, what are you talking about? He says, reuben, this son of a blah, blah is a thief. And I said, I gave the guy $100,000. He said, you got nothing. Kidding. He said, your money's gone. This guy's a thief. I'm going down to the authorities to file, you know, charges against this guy.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right, right. So now you're out $100,000 on top of everything else. Do you take revenge on this guy? Do you? What do you do?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, I. That was really scary moment and an empty feeling. I'm like really inexperienced. You know, I always lived under my dad's shadow, even though I know a lot about business. But I've never really had to put face these type of situations. Right. And so I went out back to the car and I had to regroup. I had to sit there and turn the car on and I turn on the ac. I didn't know where to go. And then I said to myself, if I go to the authorities, I'm already behind this other guy that's going down. I said, I'm never going to see a penny of this thing. It'll probably be three, four years before he goes to court. By that time, the guy's going to file Bankruptcy. I know enough about business to know I'm not going to see a penny. So I got to take a different approach. I need that money, and I cannot afford to lose that money. So I asked myself, I'm just going to go and kidnap the guy.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Well, you don't.

[TJ Dominguez]

I did.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, you did?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, hell yeah.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh. Tell me what happened. Well, you know, look, that couldn't have gone very well.

[TJ Dominguez]

It went really well. Okay, tell me.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Not for him, right? Obviously.

[TJ Dominguez]

The way I looked at it, Rachel, is really simple. The guys committed a crime.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

So I kidnap him. What's he gonna do, call the authorities? That I kidnapped him? He's already ripped me off for 100 grand, so I've got a little leverage there, okay? And I tricked him into kidnapping him. I created a whole scenario with some buddies of mine. I called a couple of buddies of mine and said, hey, guys, I had some pot smuggling friends of mine. By the way, I've never smoked even a joint, okay? I don't do drugs. And so I called up my buddies and I said, listen, I need to borrow your farm. They had a farm out in the Everglades. Not in the Everglades. South Miami. And this is where they stored a lot of weed. Big barn acreage. You can't hear anything, right? So I said, I want you guys to play the part of Texans, you know, like really, really rich oil guys. So he said, what do you got going on, T? I said, well, here's what I want you to do, man. This guy ripped me off for 100 grand. I need to get that money back. So what do you want us to do? I said, what I want to do is put this guy in one of your barns, and I want you to help me get them there. So, okay, what do you want us to do? So I said, I'm going to call up Ruben and tell Ruben that I got this rich oil guys that are coming in town. Maybe he would like to meet him and they could become potential investors for him. So he said, all right, fine. So I used that line. I called Ruben and I said, listen, I got these guys, the oil guys, and they're looking to get some property, and they've got tremendous amount of access to funds for real estate. They're not interested in helping me in Haiti because they like United States. Maybe you'd like to meet these guys. So he said, absolutely. So I said, give me your address. I'll pick you up. So he gave me his address, and then I went. I picked him up with 1, 2, 3, 3 guys and myself 4. So I had.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And is it like out of the movies, you put a bag over his head, shoved him in the car?

[TJ Dominguez]

No.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay. So he didn't realize he was getting kidnapped?

[TJ Dominguez]

No, he thought we were going out for breakfast.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay. How long did you have him?

[TJ Dominguez]

Long enough to beat the hell out of him.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Did you get your money back?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, yeah.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wow.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Did you ask for interest?

[TJ Dominguez]

I actually got more than what I wanted from my money because he couldn't pay me with cash.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay, okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

He didn't have the cash because he had gotten rid of my cash. So he says to me, we walk into the farm, right? And I said, listen, these guys are looking at a ranch. Maybe you might want to see it, you know? He said, okay, yeah, let's go look at it. So when we pull into the ranch, got the gate, the whole thing. Go inside this house. My two friends go in first, you know, and then. And then he goes in. And then I go in. And then as soon as I go in, my other buddy's in the door. At this point, I tap him on his shoulder and I say, hey, Reuben. Turn around and I slap him as hard as I could. And I don't know if you know this, that I'm a karate instructor for many, many years. Real karate. Not the BS stuff that you see in the movies. You know, we train on concrete floors. And so, I don't know. I don't take candies from babies. I don't go around kicking dog. But I also don't like to get abused, right? So I. And I'm not gonna hit the guy really, really bad. I need the guy alive.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

I don't need him dead. I need. I need my money back. That's what I was doing.

[Rachel Yukatel]

But you need to get him to be so fearful that he's gonna produce the money.

[TJ Dominguez]

I really play. Rolled that thing to the max, but, you know, with a lot of theatric. But I beat them. So I grabbed them. He turned around, I slapped him hard. I grabbed him by the ear. And I looked at him, pointed my finger in his face. I said, if you don't give me my effing money back. He said, look out that window. You're never going to see that son again. I can promise you this. And at that time, Rachel, I don't even know how far I would have taken it, because I was living that moment. I wanted my money back. I didn't want a penny over what I gave you. Just give me back what you took from me. I need It.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So what did you get? Because he obviously. You said, he didn't have the cash.

[TJ Dominguez]

He didn't have the cash. So he says to me, I can give you cars. So I said, cars? What are you talking about, cars? You know, at that point in life, I love cars, but I'm not in the car business. So what Reuben was able to do, he's such a con artist, this guy. He was able to. He says, I can give you cars. He had a connection in a bank in Cayman, if you could believe this. Cayman is like a haven for money laundering money outside the United States. We had a contact inside the bank, so we went to a dealership. And I knew enough to not want to talk to anybody in that dealership. So he says, I can get you cars. So I said, all right, fine, I'll give you. I think it was a dime or a quarter on a dollar because I'm not in the car business. So we went over there and I'm now picking out a car for $50,000, which is gonna, you know, I'm going to acknowledge maybe 10 grand, 5 grand, depending. I walked out of there with a whole bunch of cars. Ruben gave them a cashier check from the Cayman bank, which the dealership verified in the bank that the check was good while 10 cars come out of that lot. And I knew enough to get those cars immediately taken and changed titles. It's not my problem. I got cars. I didn't take those cars. Reuben sold me those cars, so I didn't get them from the dealership. He paid for the cars.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And what kind of cars are these?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, high end cars. Mercedes Benz.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And is this how you started your car dealership?

[TJ Dominguez]

No, this is how I got my hundred thousand.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my goodness. Oh, my God. Okay, so because I want. I want to get people to understand, first of all, you've had a million and a half jobs. It sounds like you've been in the car business. You've karate guy, you're flying planes, you're.

[TJ Dominguez]

Driving some banks run the contract for me. I was buying a bank.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so. Because I want everyone to hear all this, all right? So you eventually tell me, how do you get to the point where you get a boat and you get into the marijuana smuggling business?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, I get.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And why. Why all of a sudden does that become the option?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, I went to see my buddies after this incident, and I sat with my buddies and, hey, hey, guys, you know, I gotta get this sugar milk thing off the ground. You know, they ended up buying the Cars, by the way.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay, got it. So you got some cash?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, I got cash back. And then I say, would you guys like to come in and help me? You know, this and that. And at that point, I didn't really know that much about money laundering or the liabilities of being involved with some illegal funding. I didn't really know that. So I asked them if they wanted to put some of the money that they were making off marijuana into my business. They looked at me with a straight face and looked, we don't mind helping you out with whatever. He said, but Haiti's a bad risk. I said, come on, man, you guys are in the bad risk business, right? You're in the drug business. You're telling me Haiti's a bad risk? So they turned me down. I got turned down by everybody, is what it came down to One guy, it was called Intercontinental Bank. The CEO of that bank, real guy, was the son of a president of Cuba. I don't know if I told you, my dad was a senator in Cuba. So there is a little bit of a connection there. That's how I get in, through the door. So I sit with the guy and I present him the project. He says, okay, fine, let's go to Haiti and let's get this project looked at and if it's everything that you're telling me it is, we'll fund it. So now again, I'm really a happy camper. The deal that I struck with the banker was 80% for me, 20% for him, but it's a waterfall deal now. He gets 80 and I get 20 until he gets paid back and then we switch. So we do this right, we get to Haiti and then after he inspects everything, I introduce him to the Minister of Finance, Agriculture. He says, we're going to do the deal. The following morning, about 6, 7 o' clock in the morning, very early, he calls me up in my room and then he says, we need to talk and come on down. And it was early in the morning, so I come down, I have a cup of coffee with him, and then he says, look, we're going to do the deal. I verify with my backers. But there's one thing, it's going to be 80 across the board to us. And that's what I. So I said to him, but that's not what we said in Miami. We shook hands and he said to me, he's in Miami. Kid, you whip behind the ears without me, you got a pipe dream. Pipe dream. First time I ever heard that term, pipe Dream without me. So I said, he said, simple as that. We have the money. You know you won't be able to get this thing done without me. So I looked at him and I said, this is when my life changed. This is the moment my life changed. I looked at him and I said, listen, let me tell you something.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Corporate megastores are spending millions lobbying D.C. politicians on one sided policies that send small businesses tumbling. They want to enact harmful credit card mandates that take resources away from your local credit union and community banks, leaving Main street businesses with less access to credit, making it harder for your family to pay for everyday goods like gas and groceries. Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates.

[TJ Dominguez]

Paid for by electronic Payments Coalition. There's the last airplane going back to Miami from here was a Delta flight. I think it was like 3:15, 3:20 somewhere around there in the afternoon. I said, be on that airplane because if you're still on this island, I want to put you inside a bag. I said, and you know what? Unlike you, I don't break my promise. My dad raised me to be a man and I promise you, one day I'm going to put you inside a bag.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wow.

[TJ Dominguez]

The guy left that night. I got a bottle of absolute or something, I went up to the terrace, I had the penthouse and I sat there amongst the stars, which was very, very dark night. And I had a long talk with my dead father. And I told dad, listen, I'm not going to sit here and ask you for permission to do this, but I'm tired of asking people for money. I'm tired of being kicked to the curb. I mean, I just felt so lonely and I felt like, just abused really by all these people that are legitimate business people, bankers, precedents of this and that. And, and I got tired of that, Rachel. So that's the moment that I said, I'm going to be a bank and I'm going to do what these guys have done, but I'm going to do it better. That's when I decided I'm going to become a smuggler.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wow. Today this episode is sponsored by Balance of Nature. If you've ever flipped over a supplement label and thought, what am I even putting in my body? I hear you. That's why I'm such a fan of balance of nature. What makes these supplements stand out is simple. I can actually recognize what's inside the fruits and veggies. Supplements are made with real whole ingredients like celery, spinach, cauliflower, shiitake mushrooms, Blueberries and mango and their fiber and spice blend. It includes whole apple, cinnamon, flaxseed, and turmeric, ingredients you've probably already used in your own kitchen. I love knowing that what I'm taking is made from actual fruits and vegetables, spices and fibers, not a bunch of stuff I can't pronounce. It's clean, convenient, and easy to add into your routine, whether that's swallowing the capsules, opening them into your smoothie, or sprinkling them on your food. And here's the best part. Right now, my listeners get an exclusive deal. Use code understood for 35% off, plus get a free bottle of fiber and spice. Just head to balanceofnature.com use code understood and get started with something you can actually feel good about. That's balanceofnature.com, use code understood. So you get yourself a boat. You figure out how to get yourself to Bimini, which in and of itself is a great story. Cause you just went on faith and some lights in the distance.

[TJ Dominguez]

The guy says to me, he said, where's Bimini? He goes that way.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

I said, what if I don't find it? He go, turn around. You're lost.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah. It's scary. Cause I take the boat to Bimini, and even in the daylight, I'm kind of looking around like, what if we miss this? What if we run out of gas? You know? So it is a little bit of blind faith. You went at night, you get there, and you get in the marijuana business. Just quickly explain what that was like, how difficult. And, you know, because I want to get to the cocaine part of it.

[TJ Dominguez]

It was really, really simple. I pulled in there. I don't even know how to dock a boat. You know, I throw the thing in neutral. I bang the hell out of the speedboat that I bought. I didn't really know how to drive this darn thing. You know, I'm thinking, cars. You got to hit reverse to stop it. I almost pulled the dock master into the water. I'll never forget, because it was really crazy, right? And I don't have any contact. Never been to the Bahamas. I lived in Haiti, but I don't know the Bahamas.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

So I get out of there and I look around. There's nobody around. It was, you know, maybe 11, 12 o' clock at night. So I say to the dockmaster guy, I say, hey, listen, man, I want to get some weed. And he goes, weed? And I say, yeah, you know, like weed, you know. So he goes, oh, yeah. He pulls out two or Three joints out of his pocket. And, like, he's gonna sell me this, right? And I looked at him, I said, no, man, I want bales. I want weight. And here's what he said to me. For that, we have to go see my uncle. I get off in an hour. Go get a room and then we'll go. I'll introduce you to my uncle. And I said, okay. I had $25,000 basically left after I bought that boat and from the family. And I told the money that I could afford to take with me, So I had 25,000 in cash.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And you're banking on this to work because if it doesn't work, you don't got a lot left.

[TJ Dominguez]

Pardon me?

[Rachel Yukatel]

Like, you have $25,000. Yeah. To buy weed. And if it doesn't work, you're kind of fine at this point. Okay, well, you believe that it's going to work, which is amazing.

[TJ Dominguez]

I'm going to make it work.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay. I love it.

[TJ Dominguez]

If it's not this guy, it'll be somebody else.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

But the only way it's not going to work is if I die.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Got it? Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

I don't. I don't give up. But she's not in my chemistry.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Amazing. So you knew this was gonna be the thing?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, no, for sure.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

And I'm always thinking two or three steps ahead of what's gonna happen next. I'm trying to anticipate. It's like playing chess, you know, you gotta be 3, 4, 5 moves ahead of the game. And so I go see these guys, right? And they asked me how much money I had, and I said, how much weed you have? I didn't even know what the price of marijuana was. Yeah, I didn't know the price of marijuana in Miami.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

Much less in the Bahamas, you know. So the guy said. I said, listen, man, I got enough money to buy every pound that you bring. So the guy goes, all right. So I said, okay. So he said, we're gonna do the exchange in the middle of the ocean. Now I look at this guy and I say, why the middle of the ocean? All kinds of bad things are going through my head. You know, you gotta remember, at one point or another, Bahamas didn't live off of tourism. It's a nation that made its living off pirating, you know, contrabands and things like that back in the days, rum running and all that kind of stuff. So all that's going through my head.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

Why the ocean? So we meet in the ocean. He tells me we're going to Be in such and such a location. He's going to have a flashlight, go to the light about 2 o' clock in the morning. I see the flashlight, I tie up next to him, and then he's got a couple of bales, £100,000 each bale. And I don't have a weapon with me. Like I said before, I'm more into karate thing, but I had a diving knife tied to my leg, so I took out the knife, we throw, we tie the boats together. And I want to make sure I'm not buying oregano because that's another thing that these guys are good at.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, wow.

[TJ Dominguez]

Interesting.

[Rachel Yukatel]

I wouldn't have thought of that. Yeah.

[TJ Dominguez]

So I want to check this pot. So I take the knife, I cut a window into it, and I open it up, I stick the knife in. It was pressed hard like a board. So I smelled it and I said, yeah, this is definitely weed. I don't know the quality, but then again, I'm not an expert either. I don't smoke pot, right? Somebody in Miami will figure it out. So I sit there, and then I brought some duct tape. I closed the little window again, and the guy says, 30 grand. So I take my little brown paper bag, I put it on. Now, the wheat's on my boat, by the way. So I give the guy the 25,000. And the guy goes, how much is in there? I said, 25. And then he says, 30. You're five short. I said, well, that's all the money I got. He said, you said you had all this money. I said, yeah, that's right. I said, well, look, man, I'll come back and I'll bring you the other five back. He says to me, there's no credit in this business. And he starts telling me this over and over and over, and he starts getting a little boisterous with me. There's no credit in this business, you know? And I'm like, okay, well, what are we gonna do here? Take out $5,000 worth of pot out of this bail, you know? I said, there's no other way of getting. So there's no credit here. There's two guys on that boat. There was an older guy, maybe in his 40s. He's laying back like this. And I was watching him the whole time. That's the guy I feared the most. They got close to me I could take care of. But the guy, far away, he was too far for me to defend myself in case anything happened. So he says, give the kid the pot. I think that he Will come back.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Smart.

[TJ Dominguez]

Blew me away. I looked at him and I said, hey, listen, if I don't come back, I'm either dead or I'm in prison, but I will be back. I don't lie, I don't cheat, and I live by my word. The guy said, let him take it. Right then and there, I turned around, I brought the pot in into the States. And here's the funny thing, Rachel. I scored the pot, and I went to see my buddies and marijuana guys that had turned me down on the sugar mill project. And it helped me with Reuben.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, right.

[TJ Dominguez]

I see those guys. Buyers. They're in the weed business. I don't have a buyer. I don't know anywhere to go with this thing, right? So I say, hey, Michael, I need to come by and see you. He said, yeah, sure. So I get there, and I said, I need to put the car in the garage. What do you want to put the car in the garage for? I got something to show you. There was two, three guys in the house, right? So I pulled the car into the garage, and then I say, here, look at this. So I show him the pot. He goes, what'd you do? Where'd you get that at? Because they knew that I'm not a pot guy or I'm not a drunk guy. So did you find it? So I said, oh, I didn't find it. I said, you know, I brought it in. He said, you brought it in? I said, well, how much you want for it? So we agree on a prize. $500. So Mike says to me, and I thought this was really hilarious, because Mike says to me, okay, fine. So it's like 120 grand that I'm gonna give that he owes me, right? He goes, all right, T, come back tomorrow. I'll have the money for you. I looked at Michael and I said, hey, Michael, there's no credit here.

[Rachel Yukatel]

I love it. So for what you spent for 25,000, what did you recoup?

[TJ Dominguez]

I ended up with about 100 grand.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Amazing. So I'm assuming you went back and forth and this became a shuttle, your thing. Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

Like an airport shuttle.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And again, are you doing this all because you're trying to get to the 14 million? Are you still working on that project?

[TJ Dominguez]

Absolutely.

[Rachel Yukatel]

All right, so how did this wind itself down where you got into the bigger stuff? And how'd you learn how to fly the plane? And where are we going with that?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, it was amazing. I got a shuttle business going. Right. I'm back.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And are you employing other people? To do it, or are you just doing it yourself?

[TJ Dominguez]

Okay, I'm doing it all by myself. But I realized one thing. It's taking me too much. I need $14 million at 100 grand is going to take me a few years to raise this money. So I, you know, and I had a pretty good business mind, so I said the only way I could better this is by adding other boats. So some of the money that I was making now I meant reinvesting. And I bought another speedboat. So now I went to see a friend of mine who's a truck driver who was in two terms in Vietnam. And then I said, hey, listen, I got a job offer for you. All the pot you could smoke. I said, 10,000 a week. What do I got to do is drive a speedboat back and forth from Bimini. Not that far. So I put him on, and then I put another friend of mine. So now I got three or four little speedboats going back and forth. Now, the problem that I have is I'm not getting enough marijuana from the Bahamas. Because you got to remember, Rachel, marijuana doesn't come from the Bahamas. It goes through the Bahamas. It comes from Columbia.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, got it. Okay. And they couldn't get it fast enough for you to even pick it up. Got it.

[TJ Dominguez]

Some of the weed that I'm buying actually came from the government.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wow.

[TJ Dominguez]

Because I find out that the uncle was connected with one of his relatives who was involved in the government. So all these seizures that they would do, when they would bust somebody, the government would take that wheat and they were supposed to burn it. So now I meet one of those guys, and then they say, whoa, you got to burn this weed. I said, listen, I got somebody in Miami to burn it. Don't worry about getting burned. I'll take everything that you can confiscate. So Now I've got 2, 300,000. I got 2, 3 speedboats. I got this stuff. But I'm sitting idle because I'm not getting enough product in order to continue on my quest of 14 million. Well, so I said, I was sitting in my.

[Rachel Yukatel]

What year is this, by the way?

[TJ Dominguez]

I don't even know. Late 70s, early 80s, late 70s.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And what made. I mean, how come this was so easy to do back then?

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, no, no, it wasn't easy.

[Rachel Yukatel]

It wasn't. Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

No. As a matter of fact, you know, I've actually had a few people argue that point, and it's really. I could prove to you how it was harder back then. Because you gotta remember at one point in Life, all the weed, all the drugs, everything that came from outside the United States came through South Florida. That's just the way it was. California was not in the picture. Mexico was not in the picture. Texas was not in the picture.

[Rachel Yukatel]

There was one entry point. Probably a lot of people in the game then, I'm assuming.

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, not only a lot of people, but a lot of agencies in the game. You have Marine Patrol, Coast Guard, dea, Customs, you know, atf, any authority, local, city police. Had a boat, like give me a perfect example, Indian Creek, you know that neighborhood, they used to keep two police guys on a boat around the island. So one of my point entry houses, I had to go buy them, right?

[Rachel Yukatel]

But in these days, like, was people in the government in on it? Because they were getting paid, they were cracking down on it, Right. Wasn't Reagan making a whole thing about cracking down?

[TJ Dominguez]

A quarter of that. I Contributed Heavy, over 100 grand to the Republican Party, the war against drugs. Wow, man. Keep the price up.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my goodness. Okay. Brilliant. Without the amateur, of course. Okay, so you have all this going. When do you decide you need to learn how to fly a plane?

[TJ Dominguez]

Okay.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And how do you even get your hands on a plane?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, it's really kind of interesting because I'm thinking I need to go to the source of marijuana where it originates from. That's Colombia. Well, I have a speedboat. I can't go to Columbia in a speedboat. I don't want to take a pleasure craft. It takes too long. And I don't even know anybody in Colombia. I don't know anybody at all. So one thing led to the other, which led to the other and leads to the other. What happened was I buy an airplane because I thought, well, I need to go to Colombia. It's the fastest, easiest way for me to go to Colombia. So when I buy an airplane, again, it's another story in itself. I buy that airplane. Wow. I thought I ripped off the guy, right? I thought, I'm a great business guy. I'm getting this airplane for like next to nothing. I. After I buy the airplane, I buy it outside Florida, outside of Miami. Fort Lauderdale, was in Tampa, actually, that I bought it. I tell the guy, okay, let's go. You know, And I don't know how to fly, right? So the guy goes, well, you can't ride in the airplane. I said, what do you mean I can't ride in the airplane? The guy says, no, the airplane has no air certificate that's current. I said, what's an air certificate? Airworthiness he says, the plane's been sitting for, like, a whole bunch of years, and it needs to be transported by a ferry permit, and we can't carry any passenger. I said, well, I'm not a passenger. I own the darn airplane. And the guy goes, you are a passenger because you're not a pilot. So now I can't travel in my own airplane that I bought in Tampa. You know, I walk into this airplane, needed a paint job. The panel, which is what it's called, what we would call in the car business, a dash, was full of holes. But I'm a car guy. So I look at all these holes in the panel, and I say, so I need some gauges. Big deal Pep Boys, right? You know, gauge. So. And I look at the seats. There was no seats in the airplane. So I said, who the hell needs seats? I'm gonna put marijuana here anyway. So I'm not looking at the cosmetic. I'm looking at two engines on this airplane. If I lose an engine, I got another backup engine on the other side. This is my rap. This is my way of thinking, right?

[Rachel Yukatel]

But did you think to yourself, who am I gonna get to fly this? Or you were like, I'm gonna fly this.

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, I'm gonna fly this. But I need to learn how to fly, right? And I need it in order to learn how to fly. I need an airplane, right? So that's why I bought that airplane. So I buy the airplane, and then I get. You know, the airplane's gonna go back to Fort Lauderdale, where somebody referred me to a place that worked on airplane, a guy by the name of Billy. So Associated Air was the location where eventually I end up owning all that stuff. And I'm sitting in Fort Lauderdale International Airport. The whole wall was glass. I introduced myself to Billy, and I tell Billy, I said, hey, Billy, my airplane's flying in. I need you to. If you could hook me up with a. With, like, an instructor, you know, I want to learn how to fly. He said, what kind of airplane did you buy? I said, I bought a Beechcraft, twin engine. He goes, oh, okay, hang on a second. We've got an airplane coming in with a problem. Mayday. So. And we're sitting there in the office with a glass wall and, wow, Mayday. Something like, you know, it's gonna have something that's gonna happen. So he goes, here. Here it is. You see it up there? So I look up on this guy, and I go, damn, that's my airplane. They declared a Mayday because the airplane was coming in without break. So it couldn't stop. I know. This is my great deal, right?

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my God.

[TJ Dominguez]

You know what? I ended up calling that airplane? The Hangar Queen. Why? Because it was like a prima donna princess. More money, more money. She never did anything. She never flew. She never did a darn thing. Yeah, so it was. My airplane came in terrible. I put tons of money into the airplane. In the meantime, Billy says. I said, hey, man, can you hook me up with another airplane? He goes, I got another airplane that you could use, you know. So he introduces me to a guy that was an instructor, a pilot. And that was funny, too, because he says, the guy really needs the money. I'm driving a Ferrari right at this time. So he says, here's the guy's address. Go talk to him. The guy could use really, the money. So I pull up on the guy's house and. Beautiful home, right? Big home. So I said, shoot, I should have brought another car. You know, not the Ferrari. Drive me by what I'm driving. I get out of the car. I knock on the door. This old lady opens up the door, and I say, hi, I'm here to see Jack. So I thought maybe Jack's mom or something, right? She goes, what do you want with Jack? I said, well, I want to talk to him about giving him a job. And she goes, like in paying him, like in money? And I said, yeah, you know. So she goes, come on, let's go. Slams the door. And I'm sitting there going, why are you slamming the door if you're gonna do the meeting, Jack? Well, Jack was renting a little cracker box, you know, like a little shed in the backyard.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my gosh. Wow. So he was excited about this job.

[TJ Dominguez]

Of course. You know, jack, open up. This guy's gonna pay you some money, you know? And he was behind two, three months rent. So at that point, Perfect timing. Yeah. So the guy goes, let's go see your airplane. I gave her a few months, and then I set an account, a couple of more. So Jack. And then now we go to the airport. I got this other backup airplane that Billy introduced me to. So that's where I started learning how to fly.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So eventually, with this aircraft, you start going to Columbia. Do you have to stop? You can go straight.

[TJ Dominguez]

No, actually, no. No, it wasn't quite like that. I know, I know. It's crazy. What happens is, a friend of mine gets in trouble. He's got an airplane that got in trouble by the Bahamian authorities. He was chased in by dea. It was an albatross Very, very expensive airplane. And they had to throw bales out, you know, and land the airplane. So now this airplane is seized in the Bahamas, right?

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

So my buddy calls me up. He says, t, I know you got some really strong contacts over there in the Bahamas. I got an airplane that's down by the authorities over there. You think you might be able to get me that airplane out? So I said, sure, at least I could try. So he says, how much you want for it? You know, like, what am I going to charge him? So. And I knew he had a weed contact. So I said, it's really simple. I don't want any money. So he goes, what are you going to. I said, I'll tell you what I want. I want a weed contact in Colombia. That's what I want from my payment and whatever it's going to cost me to get your plane out. So I go over there, and then now he tells me that that airplane had an engine problem. So now I land in this little island. That was kind of funny, too, because I asked to speak to the director of that small little airport, and the guy says, what do you want with that airplane? I said, I want to take out the airplane. What's it going to take? And the guy goes, I can't allow you to take that airplane. That airplane came in hot, you know, it was under suspicion of transporting marijuana. So I asked the guy said, can I get behind your desk for a second? So he goes, what do you want to do? I said, I just want to show you something. So I come across behind his desk, and he's got a drawer there, and I've got a briefcase with me. So I said, can I open up your door? And the guy goes, what do you want to open up? Something that you would be really interested in seeing. So he's, all right. So I open up his drawer, I take my briefcase, and I put it on my lap. I open it up. I got over 100 grand there in Benjy's, right? All facing up, nicely stacked, no rubber band, paper, and the stacks for about $10,000. So I take one stack and I throw it in there. I take another stack, I throw it in there. I take another stack. I put about 40,000 in there, right? So I looked at the guy and I said, oh, by the way, in the event that you're curious to see how much is in there, is 40,000. He goes, all right. He said, yeah, I could let you take the airplane. So I said, I got another problem. And he goes, what's the problem. I said, I need to work on the airplane. So he says, what do you mean, work? I said, I need to work on one of the engines. The airplane won't get off the ground. So I said, here's another couple of stacks for you to look a little longer the other way. Because he says, I can't allow you to take it, but I can move the airplane to a corner of the airport where you could do what you need to do, and it'll be out of my eyes. So I said, well, here's another couple of thousand dollars so you can look a little longer. So now I bring in mechanics. I got this airplane Cranking, meantime, about 80 grand into this whole transaction, right? So I called up my buddy and I said, hey, listen, I need. I need to get reimbursement. I'm getting a little too far behind this thing, right? And he goes, well, what's taking so long? I said, the goddarn airplane had all kinds of mechanical problem. Now you're questioning me? I'm already getting your airplane back, and you got me working back and forth. So he goes, well, you need to come by here. So I go to his house. When I go to his house, the Colombian that owns all this marijuana and his, you know, all this. He said, his house guy's dressed like a little tennis outfit type thing. White, this gold Rolex. So. And I don't know this guy from Adam. So the guy questions me. He says, well, what stage is the airplane in? He says, I like to see it. I said, you want to see the airplane? Not a problem. Be ready. I'll pick you up in the Miami international airport in 30 minutes. So now I go get in my airplane. Then I'm learning still how to fly with Jack, right? Okay, now I'm learning. I'm getting stick time, right? So now I go pick this guy up, I bring him to the Bahamas. And now we're sitting there. He sees that I've got the airplane, I got mechanics. He sees all the stuff that's going on. So he says to me, listen, is that airplane that we flew in over here, Is that your airplane? And then we were both facing like the horizon, drinking a beer, and he said, is that your airplane? I said, yeah. And that airplane does fly. He says, you want to put it to work? I said, absolutely. So he said, when can you go? I said, give me one minute. So then wait for me right here. So I run away and I go to see Jack, which I always kept him away from all my little private Meetings. He's in the room. So I say, hey, Jack, I said, you know what I do for a living? He goes, yeah, you're a builder. I said, yeah, I do that. He said, you know what else I do for a living? He said, yeah, you own this. I was the biggest cell phone company, by the way, in South Florida. Yeah, Trans World Communication.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Wait, time out before you finish the sentence. What are all the jobs you've had? Because I like this sound bite from you.

[TJ Dominguez]

10, 12 companies. Well, I was the biggest cell phone and also beeper. That's another story in itself. How I got into that. That's really hilarious. And it really, really was kind of funny. And then I'm a builder. And then I had the Jefferson Banks on the contract I was buying. I wanted my own bank, that I could own it, you know, so I don't have to ask anybody for anything. Now I own the damn bank. And then I had the real estate business. I had an investment company. And then I was the. The number one Dito, Muscle, Pantera, Excalibur, Lotus and Lamborghini. Dealer of the world. I had the biggest showroom sold, I think, for 40 something million dollars without a car. After. After I got seized years later, I was on 1624 East Sunrise Boulevard. Right on. Right on the corner there.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

And before the Circle, so. And I was adding a few other franchises right off the top. That's stuff that I own, you know, I own a lot of other stuff that I didn't even know then. When I had my money in Europe, I was investing in a lot of other stuff, you know.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right, well. And you were piloting cocaine for Pablo Escobar?

[TJ Dominguez]

Not at that point.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Well, but that's one of the things on your resume.

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, yeah, I left that out.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Yeah, the little thing that you forgot. So I want to get in because all these stories we could go into for so long, and I want to hear all of them. I want people to hear it in your book. So I do want to get into the first time. So I'm just. Eventually, you get yourself to Colombia and I'm assuming you start doing the runs back and forth. With marijuana?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, with marijuana. At the beginning.

[Rachel Yukatel]

At the beginning. What was the first time you were asked to fly cocaine?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, I was doing the marijuana. Flying. This guy turns me onto this Colombian guy that I flew to the Bahamas, you know, he's got a partner now in Colombia. And now I'm doing marijuana for us, you know, from my son.

[Rachel Yukatel]

How often?

[TJ Dominguez]

As often as I can get it. You Know. And I mean.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And what's that flight you're going? Columbia. You're stopping in the Bahamas? Like where?

[TJ Dominguez]

Columbia. That would be Bahamas, Columbia, Columbia, Bahama. And then I take it off the. What I was doing is actually doing a thing called airdrops because I didn't have a contact in an airport to land an airplane.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh.

[TJ Dominguez]

So. So I said to Jack here. Got to go back here real quick. I said. So Jack goes, yeah, you're a builder. You're this, you're this, you're this. And I said, yeah, yeah, I'm all of that. I said, but you know what else I do for a living? He goes, no, what? I said, marijuana, man. Drugs. And he goes, why are you telling me that? I said, simple, Because I need to go to Colombia to pick up a load of marijuana, and I don't know enough to find Colombia. I don't know how to navigate, and I'm not really sure myself yet. Flying solo, you know. And he goes, I said, I'll give you $50,000. And he said, well, I don't want to get arrested. I said, you're not getting arrested because we're going to land without the pod. So he goes, how are we going to go there, pick up marijuana and come back and land the airplane without marijuana on the airplane? I said, because what we're going to do is I'm going to put two of my speedboats in the middle of the ocean, we're going to fly over, and I'll open up the door, I'm going to kick out the ton of coke of marijuana that we have in the airplane, and then they're going to worry about bringing it in, and you and I are going to continue flying, and we'll land in the airport without any part.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right. Refuel and go back. Yeah, yeah. Genius.

[TJ Dominguez]

I thought so.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay, so how. All right, now tell me about how you did. That's amazing. And by the way, you guys must have gotten that good to be able to get close enough to the ocean. And that's a whole nother story.

[TJ Dominguez]

Oh, my God, Rachel. That's what puts me into the cocaine world, okay? Because that was like the Keystone Cops. I hit on one, I missed on two. I hit on two, missed on three. We put the stuff on the wrong boats. One time we broke down the radio communication. It was like. It was like, no, you know, one on one course on smuggling. It wasn't like, I can go somewhere, take a course on smuggling.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

So it was all on the job, learning I had radio. Yeah. I got a radio here. All of a sudden, that radio doesn't work. How do I communicate to the boat? Well, there's two boats down there that look like they're our boat. One time we couldn't find each other, and I'm describing where we're at by clouds in the sky. You know, you see the one that looks like a giraffe? Well, I'm just south of that. And it would say horrible.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So you would drop it sometimes on the wrong boat.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, that happened one time. That's horrible, huh?

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my God. Yeah. And did they ever. What happened?

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, could you imagine? You're out there fishing with a friend.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And family, sunbathing, and the plane flies.

[TJ Dominguez]

Over and drops a thousand pounds of marijuana.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So. And you don't know whatever happened to it?

[TJ Dominguez]

I'm assuming I'm in the airplane, you.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Know, and that was that.

[TJ Dominguez]

That was that. You know, I'm talking to my guys. I put it right on your lap. No, you didn't.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Oh, my gosh. All right. So we graduate.

[TJ Dominguez]

Well, you know what happened? I now owe $800,000 to Colombia. Oh, to a Colombian.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

All right. I get behind the eight ball. I keep. I'm getting now a credit line, another credit line, right? And then the guy that I owe this 800,000 has no sense of humor. Pablo Escobar would be like a choir boy next to this guy, okay? That's how bad these guys are. These guys are like, Ojida. I'm not pointing any fingers or anything. It's like an Indian type of race there. They're very, very serious. Yeah, they're real serious players. While they shoot that guy who was dressed in the tennis outfit, they kill him, my partner. And they kidnapped me, they put me in a house, and now they're hitting me with guns. And I tell the guys, hey, listen. And as soon as I say, hey, listen, I get hit again, right? No, you listen. And these words. I'll never forget these words. He said, this ain't no movie, and you ain't no cowboy. I want my effing 800,000 or you're dead. So I said, and then I get hit again. So about the third or fourth time he hits me, I said, all right, listen. I just go straight to the kill me part. I'm not gonna allow myself to get tortured getting hit by a gun, and you're gonna shoot me anyway. So I just move right to the end. And then I said, but now, if you let me talk for one second, I can show you how we can get out of this mess. If you shoot me, my problems are over. I got nothing else to worry about.

[Rachel Yukatel]

They still have a big problem.

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, you still got a problem. I still owe you 800,000. Yeah. I said, I got four speedboats, I got two pleasure crests, and I got two airplane. I got the Hangar Queen, and I got Carmen, that other airplane that I named Carmen after a girl. Not my girlfriend, somebody else's. And she wasn't any good. That's why I called her. And so, yeah. Wow. So I sit there and I said, if you let me talk, you know, I could sell one of these things and bring you your 800,000 right away. So he goes, I said, give me 24 hours. Meanwhile, by the way, I never mentioned this before. You know, my family did not know what I was doing. Nobody had any idea of what I was doing.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And by the way, at this point, are you still single? Are you married?

[TJ Dominguez]

I was married.

[Rachel Yukatel]

You were married. Okay. And your wife didn't even know.

[TJ Dominguez]

No, she didn't. You know, I'm in real estate. I'm looking at the property. And remember, I saw you. I was a builder. I'm looking to do a little project development, you know, because now I'm not doing the sugar mill thing right now, but I'm gonna develop some property in the Bahamas. So I'm flying here. And now I am in the car business now. Right. So why would I be getting into the airplane? I told my family, I'm in the car business. People come in all the time asking me, hey, I want to get an airplane. Can you give me a referral? So I said, well, why not sell them an airplane, too? So that was a good thing for my family to hang a hat on.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Right.

[TJ Dominguez]

Why am I getting into the airplane business? Business. Because I could sell airplanes.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Let me ask a question. Sidebar. In the meantime, are you still working on the sugar mill project?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Or is that on hold?

[TJ Dominguez]

No, I'm losing everything.

[Rachel Yukatel]

You're losing everything?

[TJ Dominguez]

Everything. Actually defaulted on the $780,000 that I owe Puerto Rico, because now two, three years have gone by.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Got it.

[TJ Dominguez]

But I figured if I make enough money, I could get it all back.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Got it. So that was, like, the impetus of the whole thing still.

[TJ Dominguez]

Okay, I lose it. I actually lost her everything.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, well, so you get in trouble with this guy. Do you make his 800,000 back for him?

[TJ Dominguez]

Pardon me?

[Rachel Yukatel]

The. The guy you got in trouble with, the very serious guy. Do you get his 800,000 back?

[TJ Dominguez]

To him, yeah, I go. And then I, I He allows me to take 24 hours, right? So I go to the Bahamas to this guy named Luis. Little Colombian guy, terror, but. But he's very good friend of mine. So I say, hey, Luis, you want to buy Gigi? Gigi is an airplane that everybody thought again. It was named after a girl. No, Gigi stood, initials for the gray ghost. And you would say, why? The gray ghost is I painted her Runway gray. And at nighttime when we land, I keep one engine running in case we need to get off the ground again quickly. And then we cut one engine off so that nobody would get cut up by a propeller when the door opens up to take out the bales, right? So you hear the noise, but you really couldn't see Juju. So I named her the great Ghost. He says, what do you want to sell her for? I said, because I'm not going to need her. So he said, what do you mean you're not going to need her? I said, I want to be dead if I don't get my hands on 800,000. He said, how much you need again? I said, 800,000. He said, you want to make a million? I said, luis, I need a million dollars like I need air. I said, yeah, what do I have to do for a million dollars? He said, fly cocaine. So what? The way I looked at it, I'm either dead. So it was not an option. I'm in the cocaine transportation business. So he paid me a million dollars to go to his farm, pick up 450 kilos, I think was my first trip that I did of cocaine, and then bring it to the Bahamas. And then he was going to bring it over to United States. And when you're dealing with these Colombians at this level, you got to dot your I's and cross your t's three or four times. There's one little misunderstanding can cost you your life. So I said, luis, I don't have to wait for this cocaine to get to the United States to get paid. I do my part. I expect you owe me a million dollars, and I need to get paid right away because I got 24 hours, I'm on the clock to pay this guy back. So we agreed on all the terms. I do the trip, and then now I get paid a million dollars. The following day. I got an extension on the 24 hours. Luis got me the extension because he knew tocayo, that level, the air is really thin. So he stood for the loan. Luis backed me up, got me another 24 hours. So I get the other. I go to a hotel, I count out the money. I messed up three, four times counting the money. My hands are turning green and all that kind of crazy stuff, right? It was horrible. So I, you know, it's easier to do. Peel out 200,000. That's my money. I'm going to take the other whatever's left. It should be 800. So, you know, according to, you know, Luis being his addition, being correct. So now. Now I take that amount of money. I was in a Ferrari. They paid me with garbage money because there were 20s and 50s, all right, and fives, and they wouldn't even fit in my Ferrari. I had to take the top off the car. If I would have hit a speed bump, I would have probably lost, like, you know, a box with 50 grand or something like that. So I get the money, put it in the car, I drive it over to where they kidnapped me. And they had put me in that house. Now, I had a whole different attitude, right? I pull up there, I walked in, and I said, the effin money's in the car. Go get it. So they looked at me like, really? I said, yeah, go get it. And, oh, by the way, I'm not staying here until you count this effing money. So right in the suitcases full of money. Threw it on the kitchen counter table that they had there. And the guy says, he calls up Tocayo in Colombia. He goes, he's got the money. It's here. Put him on the radio. So get on the radio. And then he says to me, so, my brother, when are you coming back? I said, don't my brother me. I said, I'm in the cocaine business. Don't ever talk to me about marijuana. And at that point, I was like on a horse. And I wouldn't get off that damn horse for nobody.

[Rachel Yukatel]

So it's interesting. You're no longer the kid who's wet behind the ears. You're no longer. Yeah, you are that man. And at some point, I got goosebumps. Pablo Escobar comes into your life because.

[TJ Dominguez]

Now I'm setting the world on fire. I don't do drugs. You know, I'm a professional at whatever I do, whatever it is. Just be the best you can be. You know, Like I told one of my kids who got drafted by Buffalo Sabres hockey. I said, you know who the guy that comes in second is? No, dad. Who? I said, the first loser. I said, you got to give it all you got, right? So now I'm working for Luis Every week I'm banging out cocaine trips for 55. I don't care what the. To me, it could be cabbage. I'm just getting paid a million dollars to fly from Columbia to the Bahamas, and my problems are done with. I don't have any responsibility of selling, bringing it into the States. I don't even need boats anymore. It was wonderful, you know, but I started developing a reputation and meeting some other heavyweights in that cocaine world.

[Rachel Yukatel]

And had you heard of Escobar's name? Have you heard of Escobar?

[TJ Dominguez]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Okay.

[TJ Dominguez]

Heard of Pablo? I heard of, you know, the other guy, Gosh, Carlos later, who is also one of the top five guys in the. In the cartel. Okay, so, yeah, I'd heard about all those guys, but didn't mean anything to me. You know, Listen, I'm in my 20s. I'm making a million dollars a week, you know, and now, actually, the sugar mill is taking a back seat. I'm getting caught up in this whole lifestyle, you know, the power, the this, the that, and the excitement. It was a time that I landed in the middle of the jungle. And I'm looking at a guy in a loincloth, no teeth, and a blowgun dart thing. And I'm sitting there, Damn, man, look, I'm getting paid for this. Amazing. You know, this is what I watch National Geographic for. And here I'm making all this crazy, stupid money, you know? So I got caught up in that world. I really, really did. And I'm now doing really well. And I started developing a reputation. So a friend of mine said to me, hey, would you like to meet Pablo? And I said, what do I need to meet Pablo for? He said, so you can make some real money. I said, what? $4 million a month is not real? I said, I'm good. He goes, no, you're gonna make some real money. So I said, all right, fine, listen. In for a dime, in for a dollar. Set up an appointment. And this is the guy that built Pablo Pablo's house. So he set up an appointment for me to meet Pablo, and then that's how I go meet Pablo. Because the way I looked at it, Pablo is looking for me. I don't need Paulo. I'm good with a million a week.

[Rachel Yukatel]

Thank you so much for listening to Misunderstood. I'm your host, Rachel Yukatel. Please be sure to subscribe to to the show and give us a five star rating and review. You can support the show by joining Our [e-mail] Misunderstood with Rachel Ukatel do you have ideas for the show or want to reach out? Email [e-mail] that's spelled M I S S. Understood. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

D.C. politicians want to enact harmful credit card mandates that could take away your cash and rewards points, perks that stretch your budget and make life a little easier. Losing these benefits means less money for your family's everyday essentials like gas and groceries. The perks you rely on could disappear, leaving you with higher costs and fewer options. Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates.

[TJ Dominguez]

Paid for by Electronic Payments Coalition.