The Underworld Podcast

Episode: Crime! Drugs! Cartels! Gangs! Holidays!

Release Date: December 30, 2025
Hosts: Danny Gold & Sean Williams

Overview

This holiday episode of The Underworld Podcast is a laid-back, globe-trotting “stash house” edition where investigative journalists Danny Gold and Sean Williams review the biggest organized crime stories of the past month. With a tone that’s at once irreverent and knowledgeable, the hosts riff on high-level drug trafficking, political corruption, transnational gang wars, and unlikely criminal entrepreneurs, from Central and South America to Europe, Asia, and North America. Although billed as a more meandering holiday special, the episode is rich with sharp insights, memorable details, and the hosts’ trademark gallows humor.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

[01:21] Welcome, Holiday Banter, and "Stash House" Format

• The hosts explain this episode is meant for diehard fans (“ultras”) and urge first-time listeners to check out their deeper dive episodes first.
• “It’s kind of like our impression of...most other podcasts where they talk about what they had for lunch...things of that nature.” — Danny Gold (03:09)
• Quick acknowledgments of Christmas, Hanukkah, Mithras Day, and Kwanzaa, with a nod to the show’s relentless publishing schedule.
• This episode’s format: loosely structured, conversational, touching on recent headlines and "insider" tidbits on organized crime.

[04:27] 2025: Latin American Crime & Politics in Flux

Honduran Narco-Politics and Presidential Pardon

• Sean announces his upcoming move to South America and recaps the turbulent politics in Honduras:
  • Ex-President Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) pardoned after a 45-year sentence for drug smuggling and corruption, with strong US and cartel links.
  • “If you’re DA top brass right now, you’ve probably got steam coming out your ears.” — Sean Williams (06:24)
  • The notorious Kachiros gang—“crazy redneck rural cattle farmers” who became the nation’s biggest criminal group, compared to the baddies in Ozark.

Venezuela, Regional Instability, and US Interests

• Prediction: US policy will keep clashing with Latin American crime networks and populists, stirring 80s-style unrest.
• Organized crime is now central to elections in countries like Chile and Argentina, with “narco-trafficking being the vanguard for politics” (10:57).
• Detailed comparison of right-wing South American leaders—Milei (Argentina) is deemed more economically focused and serious than his Chilean counterpart Cast (11:30–12:12).

[12:28] Chinese Organized Crime Dominates Italian Fashion

• Danny dives into an overlooked, “bonkers” story: Chinese gangs oversee logistics for much of Europe’s fashion industry from a single city in Italy.

  • Trial delays and judicial sabotage, with interpreters fleeing or refusing to work, suggest deep infiltration.
  • “Seven years on, not a single defendant or witness has been called to testify...the alleged mastermind...slipped back into China...prosecutors doubt he will ever return” — Danny Gold (15:28)
  • 4,400 of 7,000 textile firms in this Italian hub are Chinese-owned; violence and arson linked to gang rivalries.

• Sean notes: “If you pay $20,000 for a handbag, I don’t mind if you get pwned off by a Chinese organized criminal.” (16:26)

• Discussion of crime syndicates controlling labor and supply chains in Europe and speculation on Italian mafia collaboration.

[16:51] China’s Global Criminal Reach

• Sean previews an upcoming story:
  • Hong Kong triads, Chinese spymasters, and money laundering booms in the Asia-Pacific—“hundreds of billions if not a trillion dollars” flowing through these networks (18:29).
  • Callbacks to episodes on Southeast Asian scam hubs, Philippine narco-politics, and Chinese-controlled syndicates.
  • Tease of “King’s Romans casino”—a notorious outpost for Chinese criminal money laundering.

[20:28] Sinaloa Cartel & "Chapo’s Kids" Snitching Saga

The Capture of El Mayo Zambada

• Danny covers Joaquin Guzman Lopez (“Chapo’s kid”) confessing to orchestrating a brazen betrayal of Ismail “El Mayo” Zambada—Chapo’s long-time partner and arguably greatest cartel mastermind:
  • Lured to a “meeting” in Culiacán, forcibly abducted, sedated, and handed to US authorities.
  • “When the judge asked him what he did for a living, he just said, ‘drug trafficking.’ Didn’t miss a beat.” — Danny Gold (20:58)
  • Details the civil war now raging in Sinaloa between rival cartel factions.

Ongoing Dismantling of Sinaloa Leadership

• Ovidio Guzman (another son) also pled guilty; two of four “Chapitos” sons cooperating with US authorities.
• “The moral of the story is just always snitch…because he’s already admitting to moving like tens of thousands of kilograms...If he gets anything less than 30 years, insane.” — Danny Gold (23:35)
• The plea deal nets authorities granular cartel intelligence and a fortune in forfeited assets.

[25:03] Emerging Brazilian Gang Alliances and Crypto Crime

• Sean notes “not a lot is coming down on Brazil”—despite massive cross-border activity by groups like the PCC (First Capital Command) and Red Command.
• New criminal syndicates are arising around borders with Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, with bitcoin mining tied to power theft and potential cartel collaboration (26:33).
• Plans to track down “Sebastian Marcet,” Uruguayan football gangster on the run.

[28:32] Ryan Wedding: Canadian Snowboarder Turned Cartel Kingpin

• Danny covers the wild criminal arc of Ryan Wedding, ex-Olympic snowboarder now labeled a major cartel figure:
  • Indicted for orchestrating a hit on a federal witness in Medellin, using a Canadian crime gossip website (“The Dirty News”) to track and expose victims (30:16).
  • “They weaponize like a gossip website...to get this idea on where this guy is and what's happening.” — Danny Gold (30:44)
  • A string of arrests includes Wedding’s lawyer, implicated for advising the kill.
  • US authorities estimate “60 metric tons of cocaine annually” moving through Wedding’s network; he’s now a top 10 most-wanted fugitive.

[33:05] Kabaddi: Organized Crime in Indian Sports

• Sean introduces kabaddi—a South Asian contact sport akin to “tag-wrestling”—as the latest unlikely arena for criminal violence and match-fixing.
  • “One of the top players got murdered in Punjab...a whole world of match fixing and organized crime and Sikh criminal syndicates.” (33:34)
  • Potential ties to figures like Goldy Brar and the Musiwala killing.
  • Pro Kabaddi League: big business, 15,000-seat stadiums, entertaining team names like “Jaipur Pink Panthers.”

[39:25] Memphis: America’s Most Dangerous City Gets a Task Force

• Danny investigates Memphis’s recent distinction as the US murder capital.
  • New multi-agency task force leads to 4,000 arrests, a dramatic drop in murders (down 40%), robberies (60%), and car theft (70%) in just a few months (40:15).
  • “America’s Malmö...It is incredible though, to think: there are a bunch of cities with murder problems like this. Why are there not task forces just going this hard?” — Danny Gold (40:47)

[42:33] Bonus: Dutch Gangsters in Sierra Leone’s Diamond Trade

• Tease for an upcoming interview with a Czech journalist reporting on Dutch criminals embedded in Sierra Leone’s diamond business.
  • Connections to previous stories (Sam Walker, Liverpool clown turned West Africa diamond “entrepreneur”).
  • Noted presence of organized crime and Hezbollah-linked actors in West African smuggling and money laundering fronts.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is for the ultras. This is for the people with nothing else to do who just, like, need this.” — Sean Williams (02:33)
• “You don’t get yourself out of the game, right? And you don’t just disappear.” — Sean Williams on ex-President JOH (08:21)
• “It just doesn’t get more 80s than what is going on right now.” — Sean Williams on US-Latin American power dynamics (10:57)
• “Is it gross incompetence and laziness, or organized crime related sabotage?” — Danny Gold on Italian court delays (13:08)
• “The moral of the story is just always snitch, like, snitch. No matter how high up you are, there’s somebody higher. Give them up.” — Danny Gold (23:35)
• “They weaponize like a gossip website, a crime gossip website, to get this idea on where this guy is and what’s happening.” — Danny Gold on cartel media tactics (30:44)
• “I just want to pitch this as a story...there’s a whole world of match fixing and organized crime...Sikh criminal syndicates getting involved in kabaddi.” — Sean Williams (33:34)
• “I'm not at that point in my life anymore.” — Danny Gold on roughing it for a Memphis crime report (40:58)
• “If you made it 43 minutes of the way through, I don’t care what you think of the show anyway.” — Sean Williams (45:12)

Timestamps for Highlights

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:21 | Welcome & episode overview | | 04:27 | 2025 Latin America preview; Honduras & Venezuela | | 12:28 | Chinese gangs in Italy’s fashion industry | | 16:51 | China’s global organized crime & money laundering | | 20:28 | Chapo’s kids turn snitch; El Mayo abduction | | 25:03 | Brazil’s rising syndicates & borderland bitcoin mining | | 28:32 | Ryan Wedding, Olympic snowboarder & cartel boss | | 33:05 | Kabaddi, Indian sports, and criminal mafias | | 39:25 | Memphis murder wave and task force crackdown | | 42:33 | Dutch gangsters in Sierra Leone’s diamond trade (teaser) |

Tone and Style

• Irreverent, darkly humorous, but always rooted in deep expertise.
• As self-described: “rambling,” but loaded with sharp commentary, historical context, and global perspective.
• Occasional gentle self-mockery and breaking of the fourth wall (mocking their own digressions).

Closing Thoughts

Although filled with digressions, this festive “stash house” episode is packed with unique organized crime news and teases for future stories. The hosts’ chemistry and roots as field reporters bring urgency and color to even the wildest criminal tales—from courtroom snitching in Chicago, through Milan’s shadow textile syndicates, to kabaddi fixers in Punjab and task forces in Tennessee.

If you want a global tour of organized crime with wit, curiosity, and attitude—this is your ticket.

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