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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Tudor Dixon Podcast: The Aftermath of a Life in Crime with Kyle Tekiela
00:37:22
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- [00:01]
Tutor Dixon
Welcome to the Tutor Dixon podcast. The other day, I have to say, I was reading this article and I thought, this is crazy, the story about this family. The dad was a firefighter and then come to find out after he was injured on the job and he ends up with a drug addiction through the pain meds, that he actually had a secret life as, like, this main mafia hick guy in Chicago. So he's known as, like, Kenny the kid in Chicago, but his kids don't know anything. His wife doesn't know anything. So I read this, and it's from the perspective of his son. His son has a podcast called Crook county because it was done in, I'm assuming, Cook County, Illinois. And so I'm like, well, I got to reach out to this guy. His name is Kyle Tequila, and he's here on the show today. Thank you so much for being here.
- [00:53]
Kyle Tequila
Thank you for having me. Appreciate.
- [00:54]
Tutor Dixon
Your story is wild, and I think, you know, I'm one of those people that's always kind of had a fascination. Did this really ever happen? Was heck, how serious is the mafia? You know, and having grown up, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, so I was there when this was happening, you know, and I think. We think Al Capone happened a million years ago, but this was like the Al Capone group. Your dad was a part of this?
- [01:22]
Kyle Tequila
Yeah, the mob was. Was pretty much, you know, at a peak power through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and started to fall apart in the 90s. And then Operation Family Secrets was a huge federal investigation and sting that took down pretty much all the five families in the early 2000s, which, you know, is 20 years ago, but still fairly recent, you know, and so, yeah, my dad was deep in the mob during the time that they were still very much a power powerhouse in Chicago.
- [01:54]
Tutor Dixon
So his story is like, he gets recruited as a kid, he gets kicked out of the house at 16. At 17, he gets recruited to be kind of a hitman. Right?
- [02:04]
Kyle Tequila
Well, didn't start out as a hitman. I mean, basically, he was a homeless kid. His mom kicked him out of the house at gunpoint because he was protesting their. Their divorce that they were getting. And, I mean, that just kind of tells you right away what kind of family environment that he was used to. So when he hit the streets, he was living out of his car. And, you know, he's 17 years old. He doesn't really know what the hell to do with his life. And he doesn't have any assets. It's not like she gave him any money. So he was desperate and he decided to rob this local dealer that he saw kind of running around and figured that he can get some cash and some drugs and start a little drug dealing business. Unfortunately, this drug dealer was related. He was the nephew of one of the top capos in. In that part of Chicago. You know, there's multiple crews all over the place. His crew was the Southside crew. He. He was the nephew. And when he robbed him, of course the guy goes to his uncle and tells him what happened, and then they go and find him. And so Kenny's sitting at this restaurant, you know, with all this stuff about two days later, and feeling pretty good about himself. And then he sees these two dagos walk up to him and he knows it's all over at that point. And they basically question him. And he goes, did you rob my nephew? And he goes, yeah. And he admitted to it and told him the story, and the guy thought he had spunk and basically, instead of punishing him, invited him into the mob.
- [03:26]
Tutor Dixon
I mean, it's an interesting situation because, like, okay, what could have happened? He probably could have ended up dying himself, or he goes into this life. And I feel like that's somewhat of a recurring theme as I listened to him speak on your podcast. And that's the interesting part about your podcast, is it's actually him speaking about this life. The recurring conversation that he seems to go back to is like, I didn't know what else to do. I kind of felt like I had to be in this. And yet the mom in me, the mom of today hears your mom talking, and your mom is so frustrated, like, how did this happen under my nose? And how did he. How did he choose this over our family? And it seems like there must have been a point when the family was doing well enough without this that he could have walked away. But can you walk away from the mob?
- [04:17]
Kyle Tequila
That's exactly it. You can't. Once you're in. And once you've done the things that he did, you know, kind of going back to what we were saying, like, he didn't start off as a hitman. He kind of started off as almost like an apprentice. And he would follow people around and you would learn what they do. He learned, you know, what this person does and what this person does. And, you know, his first, I guess, real career in the mob was running their whorehouses or one of the whorehouses, and it ended up turning into multiple whorehouses. He was one of their top managers who ran these clubs. And these clubs are where a Lot of extortion happened and where they got a lot of their leverage over elected officials and the sheriff, et cetera, because they all got their kinks, and they all go to this place, which is safe and very well regulated. They tested all the girls. The way my dad explains it to me, it's very professional, very businesslike, and. But of course, you know, it's still mob related, and there's a lot of crazy stuff that happens. And, you know, there was a robbery at one of the clubs, and it was actually an inside job. It was discovered, and they tasked my dad with taking him out. You know, he. And that was his first hit. And so they realized that he could do that, and he had that in him. And then that's when that started. But that didn't start till his, you know, early 20s. So he was probably in the mob for about five years before he did his first. You know, but he became a very trusted man, and they could rely on him. But you're right. When he was 28, he wanted out really bad. And he was about 10 years, 11 years into the mob at this point. And he had been studying to become a firefighter paramedic after being inspired by watching American Airlines Flight 179 crash right out of O'Hare Airport, which killed about 280 people. It was the largest domestic airline crash in history, and I think it still might be. And he said he was close enough to that crash, this was 1979, that he could feel the heat of all that jet fuel burning. That O'Hare is very near where one of the clubs was, that he was working that night. And that inspired him, seeing all these people go in and try to save the day. And so he'd been studying on his own to become a firefighter paramedic. And when he was 28, he passed all his tests, and he basically asked the same guy that recruited him into the mob, that same capo, if he could go and try to start a civilian life. He had been dating my mother for years, and they had a serious relationship, and they wanted kids, and they basically made a deal that he can go and do that he can have his little life, but when they call on him, he needs to answer. And so that was their agreement. So basically, they had an inside man in the Chicago Fire Department doing their dirty work as a first responder whenever they needed him to. So it kind of worked both ways.
- [07:04]
Tutor Dixon
Wow. And so you have to. You have to think about the psychology behind that for your dad, too, to be. To see that tragedy Happen while he's working at a club owned by the mob. And then saying, man, maybe that's what I want to do. There's got to be some part of you that feels so much guilt that you have to replace that with heroism. So here you have a guy who can save lives and a guy who can take lives.
- [07:28]
Kyle Tequila
Yeah. A hero by day and hitman by night.
- [07:31]
Tutor Dixon
That's pretty wild. And you guys don't know any of it?
- [07:35]
Kyle Tequila
No, not. Not until 2013. And I was 28 at that time, which is kind of funny because he was 28 when he decided to go, you know, become a civilian. But. But, yeah, we just thought he. There's so much here. Obviously, this is a very. There's a lot of threads to this story, so it's hard to kind of crack it all in a couple minutes. But, yeah, so he. He had. Like you said in the beginning, he. He had this really bad injury as a firefighter. And. And at that point, I was 13 or 14 years old, so we had been living a very normal suburban lifestyle in West Chicago.
- [08:08]
Tutor Dixon
And he really was your hero.
- [08:10]
Kyle Tequila
Oh, yeah. I loved. I mean, he was a wonderful dad. I mean, he was so big and charismatic and, you know, the center of attention always. He just had this electric personality. And, I mean, he was a special guy. And then, you know, you could really start to see the change after that accident happened. He's on a lot of opiates at that time because the pain was so bad. And of course, you know, like, a lot of people, they have the same story. They. The opiates pills are not enough, or the doctor stops prescribing them, and they have to take to the streets to continue their addiction to it. And that's what happened. He started doing heroin, street heroin, and. And then it just completely overtook his life, and everything changed, basically by the time I got into high school, by the time I got out of high school, like, it was one man. And then by the end of it, he was a monster. And for me, that was really hard because I didn't understand why. I mean, he had everything. He had a great family. We had a great family. We had a great life. We were happy. I remember being a kid and being like, wow, I'm so lucky my parents aren't divorced. I had so many friends who had divorced parents. So it was hard. It was a shock to me. So I left home, I went to college, and I basically just focused on my life. I couldn't deal with the pain of home selfishly, but I was Young and immature. I didn't want to deal with it. Started my career in film and tv, which is something I always wanted to do. Met my wife when I moved to Atlanta right out of school and got married really young. Got married at 23. And I think that's one of the reasons why I got married really young, because I wanted to build my own family and kind of like erase the pain of my first family. And so I lived my life and I was estranged from my father for five, six years. We'd every now and then talk on the phone, but it just got less and less and less until there was none for several years. And then he called me in 2013. I'd been living in LA, it already deep into my career, I was already married, married. And we were talking about having kids of our own. And he calls me and he says, this is it, I need help, or today is my last day. Come to find out later that he had a gun in his hand and he was going to kill himself. So flew him out to LA the next day. I had no idea what to do. So I just kind of figured out how to deal with the rehab thing and booked him at a spot and dropped him off. Picked him up at the airport, dropped him off and didn't talk to him for a couple weeks until he, you know, you do this detox thing. And so once he got through detox, we started talking again. And that's when you can see the change in him. You can see that he was starting to wake up. And that's when he started laying these little hints on me, like, you don't know anything about me. There's so much you know.
- [10:45]
Tutor Dixon
So you're an adult before you even know 100%.
- [10:48]
Kyle Tequila
I just thought he was a fucked up heroin addict.
- [10:50]
Tutor Dixon
Like, gosh.
- [10:53]
Kyle Tequila
And that's bad enough, by the way.
- [10:55]
Tutor Dixon
And your mom doesn't know either?
- [10:57]
Kyle Tequila
No, no. And, you know, that's one of the things I had to dig into because I'm like, how did you not know? Yeah, they've known each other since he was 19 and she was 20. So he was working the clubs and, you know, he was on the scene and hanging out with all these, you know, big mafia guys. But she didn't know. She admits that she was very immature and ignorant of all of it. She. And you know, there's a term, ignorance is bliss. And I think that really totally applies to my mom and willful ignorance too. You know, she. I think if there was something nefarious going on, she would willfully Ignore it.
- [11:32]
Tutor Dixon
What was her family life like before that?
- [11:35]
Kyle Tequila
Well, there's a lot of. She has a lot of daddy issues, let's put it that way.
- [11:40]
Tutor Dixon
I mean, and not to like try to dig into that, but it seems like, man, that's what we're doing. We really wanted that perfect life, you know. So it was almost like she was looking past everything else because she's like, I've got the two kids, the white picket fence. I'm good.
- [11:54]
Kyle Tequila
That's exactly right. And the reason is, is because her dad died when she was really young of cancer. And then a year later her brother died of leukemia. Her older brother. So her, the two in her life. And she was probably 14, 15 when when these two deaths happened. It completely shook her. Yeah, she 100% was looking for the perfect life and the perfect man and to replace those two men that she lost way too young.
- [12:18]
Tutor Dixon
And then you've got this guy and he, I mean, when you do have these powerful friends, it seems like, wow, he's cool. He's got all this going on and then he becomes a firefighter. But that, to me you said, well, then they had somebody on the inside. But you talk in the podcast about how they owned cops, and that is so awful in my mind because we, I had. But honestly, before I got into this, before I got into the political world, I had this Pollyanna view of people going to service because they want to save people. They're all good hearted. Like, I just don't know what I was thinking. I just didn't realize the amount of corruption. But as I'm listening to this, I think about the corruption in Washington and the amount of, I mean, I mean, even when you talk about the houses, I remember a few years ago there was, they were starting to expose that. There was I guess essentially like a whorehouse in a modern day whorehouse in the outskirts of D.C. and a lot of the elected officials were using this and they were all freaking out like they're going to expose us. But I mean, who, how do people get trapped in this? How deep does this go? What does owning cops mean?
- [13:30]
Kyle Tequila
There's a lot there. Well, you know, there's a line that my dad says in the show where he goes, guys are horny bastards. And, and he's 100. Right? I mean, they'll, you know, and look, I mean, let's just be honest. A lot of the people that go into politics, they weren't the coolest kids in school. And I think they are trying to find that, that power, you know, and.
- [13:52]
Tutor Dixon
Try to retain it has been called the, the Hollywood for ugly people. So.
- [13:59]
Kyle Tequila
I mean it kind of, it kind of makes perfect sense, honestly. So. Yeah. And why do you think there's so many people in power that have to their interns, you know, like, just go find a, a real woman. You know, I'm not to say that she's not a real woman, but like, stop trying to use your power position to, you know, get laid. I think it's disgusting. But. But yeah, I mean, that's why they go and find whorehouses because, you know, it's supposedly secret and they can get their kinks out and they can feel like big powerful men or whatever and they pay for it. And that's of course an asset that's going to be used against them by, by people on the other side or other, even other governments or whatever. And of course by the mob, you know, so they can get leverage. So they took advantage of that and they did it very, very successfully. But yeah, owning cops, it wasn't just through that, but it was through payola through. I mean like, it's not like police officers back in the 80s were making a lot of money, so you know, they would pay them, of course. And also there are a lot of bad people back in the 70s and 80s. And Jeff Cohen, who is the Chicago Tribune reporter who I kind of recruited to, to do commentary on the show, he's got a great take on this. He's like a lot of the police officers up until the late 80s and early 90s were legacy police officers. Like their grandfather was a police officer, their father was a police officer, now they're a police officer. And corruption goes way back, like to the root of law enforcement, like the beginnings of organized law enforcement in every major city. It's like all paola, it's you know, pay to look the other way. It's tons of corruption. And they knew that and that was half of their business was just getting paola. They were basically like their own little mob. And so a lot of that like is trickle down tradition. And so it's easy for them to get caught up in the mafia because they see, you know, people, they see these guys giving them money to basically do things that they would do anyway. So of course they're going to do it. And it wasn't until there was all this like internal affairs and you know, investigation stuff and hiring outside of the family legacy, so to speak, that that that started to kind of come to an end. And you know, it's obviously not the same now, of course, there's still people that are corrupt, but back then, it was. It was very different.
- [16:07]
Tutor Dixon
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- [17:38]
Kyle Tequila
Sure. Well, I mean, a lot of it. Like, what's the stereotype? They always own waste management companies and construction companies. Well, how do you think they get those giant contracts? You know, a lot of those are government contracts, like federal buildings or like huge commercial buildings. So they're making legitimate money through nefarious means by leverage. You know, it's not like there's a bidding system and then they got the fair bid and they're the.
- [18:00]
Tutor Dixon
And waste management comes in handy when you're murdering people.
- [18:04]
Kyle Tequila
Yep. You said it.
- [18:07]
Tutor Dixon
Gosh. I mean, I. Honestly, I feel like it's something we all watched at movies growing up, and we were like, oh, that's crazy. But you, Your dad lived this.
- [18:17]
Kyle Tequila
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that I can't even put in the show just for safety reasons. And that was one of the things that we. We talked about before releasing the show was how deep can we go? So I feel like we did a pretty good job of really telling the story and so the audience can understand the world. And there's enough stories, like, specific stories to really, like, put yourself in there and like, imagine yourself in these moments without having to literally dig up bodies or point the finger at someone and say, that guy killed this guy or whatever. And we did that specifically to protect us because we didn't want to be a snitch or a rat or whatever. You have to be really careful with that stuff. Even today, the way I describe the show, it's more of like a family show, a family drama with a father and a son kind of unraveling the relationship and the history of their family wrapped in a mafia package. And it sounds like you've listened to a few episodes, so maybe you can agree with that if you've heard it.
- [19:18]
Tutor Dixon
Yeah, family, from the standpoint of it's about a family. Maybe not listening to it with the kids.
- [19:25]
Kyle Tequila
Definitely don't listen to it with the kids.
- [19:28]
Tutor Dixon
Not that kind of a family show. But no, yeah, I mean, honestly, it is, it, it's fascinating because like I said, we've all kind of heard about this from the outside and you've heard about the stories of somebody who had a double life. So it's kind of like a double whammy of everybody's sort of major morbid curiosities. What is the mob like and what would be like if we had a family member that we found out was having a totally separate life? And I think your mom, when I hear her, I probably relate most to your mom because as the, the mom of the family, I think about. Yeah, I, I can see how she would choose to not want to dig any deeper or question why you were seeing things, but you and your brother saw some, some things that I would say, like, in my life, it would have been really weird for me to see my dad have a road raised rage incident and knock somebody, like hit, punch someone in the face on the.
- [20:22]
Kyle Tequila
Side of the road multiple times, by the way.
- [20:24]
Tutor Dixon
You guys didn't, it didn't like, it was like you must have known something about keeping your mouth shut because he wasn't violent at home, but you didn't say anything when he got back in the car.
- [20:35]
Kyle Tequila
You know, it's, it's one of those things like you look back at it and you go, how did you not. But when you're 12 years old or 10 years old and you see your dad beat the shit out of somebody on the side of the road and then get back in the car and he's back to dad, again, it shocks you. You have no idea how to deal with that. Yeah, I mean, it's weird. It's weird to look back at it because it feels like a dream. And those memories kind of faded away until I started talking to my dad, until he started opening up to me. And then all these things, these waves of things came back to me, like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Now it makes sense. But it literally felt like a dream. And so you kind of put it away like a dream, you know?
- [21:14]
Tutor Dixon
Yeah, I guess if you don't have the context of why it's happen, happening, then your child mind would be like, wow, that's weird. Obviously he's really mad. I'm not going to say anything. Don't want him to get mad at me. I mean, I imagine my own like, situation with my, my kids. If I freaked out, I think they, they wouldn't think it was something deeper because you're a kid. But when you're listening to it at the time, you're like, oh my gosh, how do you not kind of start to put the stuff together? But your mom really seems like she's in the dark. And then she, she's even in the dark about the fact that he's an addict until. Was it his brother that came to her and was like, he's an addict, right?
- [21:47]
Kyle Tequila
Yeah. Again, she had this willful ignorance, you know, and she's still, you know, I love my mother, but like she still kind of has this like fantasy like that she relies on in her head to kind of keep her from going absolutely insane. And so like, you know, she doesn't even have a tv, she just watches home videos from like the good old days. Like that's literally what she does. Like she's like reinforcing the memories that were good in her life. And like that's the family that she lives in in her head every day, not the that it turned into, you know, and that's hard. I mean, I don't even try to tell her not to do that anymore. I just say, you know, I just want my mom to be happy. And if that's what makes you happy. Looking at, you know, home videos, home videos of us when we were 5 and 6 years old. Makes you happy then. Good for you, you know, so. But you know, I think that goes back to her being completely destroyed by the two men in her life dying within a year of each other when she was 10, 11, 12 years old. I can't remember exactly how old she.
- [22:46]
Tutor Dixon
Was, but, well, And I'm sure she saw him as a hero too, because here you. This life that you've always wanted, you can go out and say, my husband's a hero. He's legitimately a hero. He goes out and saves lives every day. He saves your life. When you were young, she looked at him as like this bigger than life figure, and he seems like he was a bigger. You talk about him being very charismatic, and I imagine that helped him out quite a bit in his. In his side business, in both businesses, you know, being he was attractive guy, I'm sure that people just kind of was like, they, we. They were probably drawn to him. And then she finds out that he's an addict and that starts. And you say through your high school years, he really changed still. At what point does your mom find out that he was working in the mob? Because she says that she's taking him, I think, to rehab. When he says, I've killed people and holds his hand up to her head like a gun, does she know at that point he really has. Has.
- [23:43]
Kyle Tequila
No, she just thinks he's fucked up on heroin and saying stuff and just basically being like as mean and evil as possible.
- [23:50]
Tutor Dixon
So imagine what that's like. That's the last time she saw him, right? Yeah. So there's no closure there?
- [23:58]
Kyle Tequila
No, no. It's taken a very, very long time and a lot of kind of hard tough love on my part to kind of like wake her up and try to get her to move on and try to rebuild her life because she. I mean, she just went through a serious depression after he finally like left the house and went into rehab. Because now everybody's gone now. Now it's like real, you know, like, it's weird because it's a lot of psychology here and a lot of layers to it, but it's like as long as he was around, you know, maybe he would. He would go back to the old Ken. Like there's a chance maybe he would be, you know. So it's like she kept holding on to this dream. Like again, she watches home videos from 25, 30 years ago of the good old days. Like, that's what she wants in her. That's what she wants her reality to be. So she keeps holding on to that. And so when he final. Finally came to California and I put him into rehab, and then he starts telling me all these things and then I have to have this conversation with my mom, be like, do you. Did you know this? And then that's when I start my, My really. My investigation was. Once I find out from ken, when I'm 28 years old in 2013, then I have to go and ask my mom if she knew about any of this. And when she tells me she doesn't, then now I gotta go ask his brother. And then I. Then the whole thing unravels. And that's kind of how this whole thing came together, is this wasn't a podcast. It was. Was an investigation of a son trying to figure out who the hell his family really is. And then.
- [25:16]
Tutor Dixon
So does anybody in the family know? Did anybody know?
- [25:19]
Kyle Tequila
So his brother. He has a twin brother, a fraternal twin brother. His brother knew that he was working with mob people, like, at a club. Not that club, but like, you know, bartending at, like, a bar that they owned, that kind of stuff, hanging out with, you know, goofballs that he knew were connected, et cetera. But he. They had a very tumultuous relationship, too, growing up with their own family, and there was a lot of separation there. So his brother's name is Rich. So, you know, he says in his interview is like, I didn't want to know. I didn't care to know. I didn't talk to Ken at that time. I didn't want to talk to Ken at that time. So whatever you want to do with his life, he could do. So there was a lot of, like, separation, and so people didn't dig. You know, the only person that had a real opportunity to dig was my mom, and she didn't. So it's like Ken had this kind of, like, open lane to do all the stuff because no one was pressuring him and no one was asking him questions. And the other interesting thing, too, is being a firefighter, paramedic. Your schedule, your work schedule is like 24 hours on and 48 hours off or somewhere in between. So there's a lot of time that he can go, I got another extra shift. So he's got a full 24 hours to go do whatever the hell he wants without any questions. So it's not like he worked a 9 to 5 and like, oh, where are you going? He's staying late at the office. No, he's gone for days without any questions. So it's just wild, man. It's like, once you add up all the pieces, it's like the perfect. It's like this crazy, perfect situation, you know, that is very unique and interesting, and sadly, it's my family.
- [26:55]
Tutor Dixon
Are you mad?
- [26:59]
Kyle Tequila
I'm mad that I'm mad that my brother had to. My Younger brother had to go through high school with a monster of a father. He was at home during the worst of it. I'm mad that my own son doesn't have a functioning set of grandparents. I'm mad that there isn't people in our lives, adults that we can look up to, that are family members, really. My wife and I both. She's got kind of not a similar situation. No one really has a similar situation.
- [27:33]
Tutor Dixon
I was like, wow, that's hard to find.
- [27:35]
Kyle Tequila
Her family's a little messed up, too. She was like a. Abandoned by her biological father as an infant. And she's had a couple stepdads, you know, so there's like. There's like, no, like, really, like, we are the patriarch and matriarch of. Of this new generation. Like, we have to be the rock that. The rest of that. That my son and his kids, if he has them, and, you know, and going down the line, like, we have to be the foundation that starts this new family. And there's no one before us that we can rely on or point to and that. And that. And that pisses me off. But it's something that. I'm done being mad about it now. My son's 10 years old. My wife and I have taken on that role, and we're proud that we can craft, I guess, a new family legacy out of the ashes of an old one.
- [28:21]
Tutor Dixon
Do you ever feel like you're looking over your shoulder from your dad's past?
- [28:26]
Kyle Tequila
No, I don't, actually. There were times before where things were happening. Like when I was putting him through rehab and he was living closer to me in Los Angeles. He was using our address for mail. And so we'd get weird stuff, and every now and then we'd see a car. And maybe it was a lot of paranoia because we just found out all this shit. I'm not saying it was actually real and we were in any real danger, but it was a weird period of time where we didn't know what to think. We didn't know if he was still connected. We didn't know if any of this stuff was real at all. It was a very bizarre time. I think all this stuff has kind of sorted itself out. And now we're at the point where. I'll tell you one story, and I think kind of encapsulates it, is that when the trailer for the show came out a couple weeks ago, it's the first time it's been announced to the world, right? And within a day, I get an instant message on instagram DM on Instagram from this guy. And it's a name that I know. It's a last name that is a historically very significant last name within the Chicago mafia. And so I'm looking at his last name. I'm going, oh, my God. And so I DM him back, and I go, I say his last name as in this guy, as in the alias. And he's like, yeah, that's my grandpa. So I'm like, day one, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm on the radar. That's when I started to freak out a little bit. And then a day later, I'm trying to, like, smooth it over with. I'm, like, writing stuff down, like, hey, don't worry. I'm not snitching. I'm not this, I'm not that. Like, it's a really great show. You should give it a listen. Check it out. It's like, nothing. Like, silence for 24 hours. So the next day, I open up Instagram and I see a message from him, and it's like, this looks insane. This looks so cool. I actually have my own book, and I'm trying to get a screenplay going, and we should talk about maybe doing, like, a podcast. So it's like, like, oh, these guys just want to tell their story. Like, there's no longer that. Like, take the guy out for. For talking. It's like, no, they all have their story. The mob is not what it used to be. It's still around, but it's not what it used to be. A lot of these guys have legitimate businesses, and a lot of their, you know, their children and their grandchildren live very, very normal lives that are not connected to the mob. And people just want to tell their story. I think. I think we're kind of in the collision there.
- [30:50]
Tutor Dixon
It's interesting. I mean, I think that's the number one thing when people start listening to this. Like, how can you. How can you talk about this? How can he talk about it without getting in trouble legally?
- [31:01]
Kyle Tequila
That would be, I think, realistic than some kind of mob retaliation is some old fed listens to it or whatever and goes, oh, man, that sounds like this. That's a possibility. Absolutely. And that's something that we did talk about. I talked to a criminal defense attorney, and he's like, do not release this. He's like, unless your dad is dead or in jail for the rest of his life, do not release this. And I played that clip for my dad, and he said, look, I did what I did. I've made peace with it. And for him, he telling his story to me and kind of getting rid of all these secrets and opening up and lifting that burden off of him that he's held on for so long is more important than anything, any kind of redemption that comes his way. You know, he's not living a great life, let's just put it that way right now. He's not living a happy life. He's a mess still. And, you know, I think, I think it would be a release actually if something happened.
- [32:04]
Tutor Dixon
Stick around for more. Coming up with Kyle Tequila. But first, let me tell you about my partners at ifcj. After more than a year of war, terror and pain in Israel, there is still a great demand for basic humanitarian needs. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has supported and continues to support those in the Holy Land still facing the lingering horrors of those who are in desperate need right now. Your ongoing monthly gift of $45 will provide critically needed aid to communities in the north and south devastated by the ongoing war. Your generous donation each month will deliver help to those in need, including evacuees and refugees from war torn areas, first responders and volunteers, wounded soldiers, elderly Holocaust survivors, families who have lost everything, and so many more. You can provide hope during a time of great uncertainty. Give a gift to bless Israel and her people by visiting supportifcj.org that's one word. It's supportifcj.org or you can call 888-488ifcj. That's 888-488ifcj. 888-488-4325. Now stay tuned. We've got more after this. There's so much I want to dig into about his life, but I know that it's all there and I want people to listen to it. So it is the Crook county podcast. You've, you really should listen to it. But I want to ask you just, I want to end on this. You said you grew up with this hero, like you loved him. He was bigger than life. Your mom thought he was great. Then there was the. Which to me is interesting in and of itself that this guy who was obviously living this wild lifestyle outside of your family home, what took him down was an injury and the opioid crisis. Really, it's like crazy to me that what would be happening if he had never had that injury? Would you, would you know what would have happened to your family? You know, and that, I mean, it's kind of twofold. You've got the mob, but you also have like, okay, really? This is an example of these families that have been torn apart by this opioid crisis as well, because your dad turn a different person. So your dad was this great, amazing guy that you held in high esteem in your high school years and your brother's high school years. He turns into what you've described as a monster. Has he. Have you seen that charismatic guy return as a sober person, or is he totally changed?
- [34:37]
Kyle Tequila
No, that. That guy, sadly, I think, is dead. He's. He's old, he's exhausted, he's not healthy. He's on a bunch of medications for a bunch of different things, and he's, you know, kind of barely hanging on. He goes in and out of, like, mental hallucinations even. It's bad. It's not. It's. It's really ugly. And, you know, I feel. I feel sad. I feel really sad for him. But, yeah, sadly, that guy is dead. The old Ken is dead. And if he had never had that injury, I think he would have. Have kept a secret for the rest of his life.
- [35:19]
Tutor Dixon
Wow. Wow, that's wild. So tell people where they can listen.
- [35:25]
Kyle Tequila
It's everywhere. You get podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Amazon. It's currently the number two series out of all series right now on Apple Podcasts, and number two true crime on Spotify. It's doing really well, and I'm thrilled and humbled and, um, the responses that I'm getting from people when they text me or DM me, just off the charts. And I think you'll love it. Give it a listen.
- [35:50]
Tutor Dixon
You will. I mean, and I do think it's unique in the fact that it is your journey and you take us along on your journey to learn more and, and just kind of pick the brains of your mom and your family members and your brother and. And that, I have to say, I mean, I appreciate it because I think your journey, although it is radical, like you said, your wife's life had similar similarities in trauma. I think anybody would look at this and go, man, that's crazy. But I like the way he did it. I like the way he talked about it, because it's hard to confront family.
- [36:26]
Kyle Tequila
It is. But you know what? Once you do, once you get the strength to do it, it feels really good and it clears a lot of it, exorcises a lot of demons. So, yeah, I think one of the lessons just to end this thing is one of the takeaways of the show is that secrets do kill. And. And having open conversations about the hard truths is the only way that you can have a very strong family and keep a strong family. If you can't talk about hard things, then it's all going to fall apart at some point.
- [36:56]
Tutor Dixon
Powerful. Kyle Tequila, thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you for having me tutor absolutely everybody. Check out Crook County. It is really very fascinating and I thank you for joining this podcast podcast. For this podcast and others, always go to tutor dixonpodcast.com or you can head over to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And join us next time. Have a blessed day.