MISFIT ECONOMY Q&A
How did you get into the black market economy?
By the time I was 12 years old I knew I was in the underclass. There was no future if I did not teach myself how to survive day to day. The laws that were written to protect people in the other classes did not work for me or mine. Therefore I denounced the implied social contract and came up with one of my own. Based on natural law I won’t hurt you, you don’t hurt me. Other than that do whatever it takes to survive. I started dealing pot when I was seventeen on the streets of Boston, by the time I was 28 I had a network established smuggling hash from Nepal and pot from Colombia. My job was logistical I had no distribution in the US other than one person who took over 150 tons of pot from me over a five year span. I was busted for 37 tons of pot in 1978.
How old were you when you first earned in the black market?
17
What attracted you to it?
The black market was a place that believed in natural law. Straightforward. There was no class distinction it created itself out of necessity for the people who could not survive under pre established criminal and civil laws. Off balance sheet trillions of dollars changing hands every day without lawyers and lobbyist.
What is the hardest decision that you ever had to make?
After getting out of prison I had to give up my old way of life. Everyone I knew was in the trade. So I had to give up drugs, alcohol and most of my old friends. I was done breaking the law and would have to make peace with trying to fit into a society that had looked at me as an exhibit caged in a zoo.
How did your experience in prison change you?
It reinforced my belief that the underclass was doomed to a servant like life. I had a good run made a lot of money, experienced freedom and creativity in my life and was still alive, most of the people I met in prison were terrible criminals and a high percentage knew nothing other than institutional life.
What are your thoughts on the American dream?
This is a land where opportunities like entitlements and class privilege exists. Where year after year civil laws strangle the opportunities for the underclass to achieve autonomy in the marketplace. We are headed to a society where education prepares workers to fit into a preplanned socially programmed life. There are exceptions, people who have found a way in and can prosper by creating business models that were not yet thought of. How about a corporate slogan like “don’t take more than you need”
What would you change about America if you were a politician?
I would change the way campaigns can be funded. We don’t have elected officials we have future lobbyist and board members who have bent over so many times when it is time to collect their legal payoffs they can barely walk.
Who or what was your biggest mentor?
Survival
What is the most common miss-perception about criminal life / gang life / hackers / drug dealing?
That one day we woke up and made a conscious decision to live outside the law as romantic adventurers who just cruise through violence, danger and risk with the attitude of I am untouchable.
What advice would you have for all the entrepreneurs out there?
Don’t quit, find a common passion with other people, develop expertise and have everyone do what they are best at doing. Set up an ESOP so everyone is invested in success. Be transparent only take what you need and find a cause to put the rest of your profits into.
Also in News
PODCAST THE SHADOW SMUGGLER
