YouSaid · the spoken record

Ed Calderon

lines on the record: 313
first: 2022-12-12
most recent: 2022-12-12
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Some of these documents that are already out there talk about the ports in Mexico, which are probably the main conduit of precursors of methamphetamines and precursors of things like fentanyl into the country. They're operated and guarded by the marina, right? So these things are happening under their watch. And then you get talk about the army in certain places, basically working counter cartel operations to specifically one side, not another, you know, as far as the rival groups out there. And we have a long history of some of these groups military groups going rogue, lacetas are a prime example of this, these special forces units that basically turned around and went to work as bodyguards for the golf cartel.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, the Senate Law cartel has had a figurehead behind it since the 80s, the same one, you know. I mean, it's a federation of smaller cartels that are all kind of linked up, but pretty much historically who is considered the head of the Sinola cartel, El Mayo Sambada, has been there since the 80s. So in a way, yeah, he's persisting. He's surviving all of these presidencies. Again, these documents that were leaked are a clear sign of what strengths and weaknesses there are as far as the government's main weapon against some of these criminal groups, which is the military. And if people doubt this, they can look it up now online because all these documents are out there. But it's a clear thing. The Mexican Navy or the Marina doesn't work with the Mexican army. They don't speak to each other.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A systemic amnesia that happens every presidency in Mexico. So the president comes in, he has five to six years to do whatever he needs to do, and he does everything. And as soon as he's gone, everything he did, even what was working gets chopped off. Police organizations get defunct or the names get changed. Uniforms change.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And one of the campaign promises he had was to demilitarize the drug war, to send the military back to its barracks and all that. And he's basically continuing on. They just passed some legislation that basically keeps the military on the streets for a few more years. And I think some of these documents that were leaked are very telling as far as why that is. The military now has a vast amount of power when it comes to security industry. I mean, they're in charge of building airports and train lines in Mexico now. Their documents themselves show how certain regions in Mexico who have a specific military presence work for one side or favor one side of the cartel or the other.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There was a recent leak of government files called the Guacamaya leaks. It's our version of WikiLeaks, I guess. And it was mostly documents coming out of the Mexican military. I haven't seen it talked about a lot here in the stateside, but it's a pretty big thing down to Mexico. And in some of those documents, it reveals how powerless the government is. I mean, as far as the military goes. That's another player in Mexico, the military. The military has been out in force in the streets basically doing a policing role since Felipe Calderon was an administration. He basically militarized the drug war. Felipe Alderon was to the right of the political spectrum. And his main rival, who was his way to the left, is now in power.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, you have videos of some of these people engaging in cannibalism in front of a video to see how brutal they are. People taking out somebody's heart while they're alive, you know, and filming it. And it used to be social media as a whole. You would see some of these videos. They would get put down in a few days. But now there's telegram groups. There's live leaks. There's a bunch of other sites out there that kind of disperse some of these videos. Basically, a bulletin board for them as far as hey, you got into my territory. Well, this is what's going to happen to you.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like it's videotaped on purple. It's a cartel group, two rival cartel members, and a way to send a message to those that rival cartel is to basically execute these people in front of a camera. I mean, you can't get to your rivals, but you can make them see what they're doing or at least make their people look at what happens if you invade their territory.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I remember seeing some of these ISIS videos on Facebook way back when they cracked down on all that. But one that's kind of clear, and I'll see, I'm not going to say where to find it, but people out there might have seen it because some of these videos get shared through WhatsApp groups and chat groups out there. One of the ones that caught my attention way back when was a guy getting, two guys getting executed by chainsaw. And, you know, people can kind of Imagine what that would be like.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“According to some of the sources that I've talked to here in the United States that were looking at that phenomenon, they said that it seems to be that that was influenced by some of the narco-blog videos that were coming out of Mexico in the early 2000s. Basically some of these groups were the first ones that got wind of the fact that you can export terror or the horror that an execution has through social media. Way back when Facebook was a bit more bit more of a wildland area, you could see these in news feeds, videos of executions, tortures, and stuff like that coming out of Mexico.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I am extreme. You know, it used to be that there were rules, as you say. Like, you know, don't go after kids. Don't go after women. But all those things are gone now. They had been gone for decades, I think. The escalation of violence, you know, you kill one of mine. I'll kill four of yours. You kill four of mine. I'll go after your family because you were in hiding. There's stories of high-level cartel people getting their sons and daughters murdered, mutilated, and revenge killings. So I think it's at a point where it spiraled out of semblance of a rule set as far as who can get exposed to some of this violence. Those highly produced ISIS videos. They show torture and executions.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Environments. If they're smart, you know, these groups basically turn into that Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, or at least that's the projection that they give.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sooner or later they start owning businesses and they regulate some of their income. So they become part of the local economy in a big way. I had this experience in Sinaloa where we were driving down this shitty street and all of a sudden it became a cool, nice curby highway type thing. And I looked around there. It's like, this is a nice road. And the guy was with me. He said, yeah, the cartels built it. You go to some of these towns. The cartels are the government there. They build the hospitals, they build the churches, they built the schools. COVID happens. They're enforcing the mask mandates. They're out enforcing the mask mandates, the stay-at-home policies. They're the ones delivering supplies to the townspeople in bags, you know, courtesy of so-and-so cartel. So they become the Robin Hood characters of their”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Kids that were bored and they just joined some of these cartel groups. These cartel groups on them opportunities to get into regular industry to go through the family businesses to kind of establish themselves, use some of those businesses for storage or figure out how to use some of their transportation businesses for drug muling. So this is how they start. Getting into different areas that they regularly couldn't Know that's how it starts. You owe somebody, they get into paid protection type schemes, which are also common all over Mexico.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Get benefits, not like the government. I'm still waiting for my liquidation check. This has been out of it, out of service for like six, seven years. I'm still waiting for my check. So some of these people, it's obvious that the opportunities are presented to them out there are stronger. And again, the youth is what gets eaten by this war. And that's one of the main things that they start with, just the youth. We had a phenomenon in Tijuana, late 90s, early 2000s called the Narco Juniors. Narco Juniors are basically middle class or upper class.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fired, or you quit, you are ineligible to join another police organization. That discounts you. So for somebody like me who was a professional operations group member or police officer in Mexico of that region, there's no options for me outside of that. So they themselves basically have created this inescapable box for some of these people that go into that line of work. And where do they go after, you know? I've heard offers of twelve thousand dollars to join some of these organizations out there. Plus, you know.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Reason why I get looked for, and they ask me questions is because I actually have the experience that my university was the most dangerous city on the planet. And when people ask me about some of that stuff, I could speak from experience as far as encountering some of that directly. Some of the people that I used to work with were way better at it than I am, are in the wind. Interesting thing in Mexico. If you are of a police organization and you get”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Lot of the people that I used to work with, you know, I know things and I have some training, I had some specialized training and I currently do, I've done presentations for the secret service and the FBI and you name it, I've gone there and shown them what I do. A lot of the people that I used to work with who are out of the job are in the wind. And some of these people are way more trained than I am, you know. It's interesting what it,”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know. I mean, I'm pretty good at what I do now, which is teaching people how to detect it and kind of fight against it. So I think, uh,”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No options, so you have a kid somewhere who is working on a field, or you have a kid like me that was out of the job, out of school, and the only options for me was this ad in the newspaper, which seemed like a long shot or going with some of my friends that had cars now and were hanging out all night at these bars and some of them had this Draco, AK-47 pistols in their cars, and it would look cool, you know.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The thing that happens over time. There's always been a big effort, even when I was to buy or own certain members of the police force, even when going through training. Some people get pulled out during training because they were found out to have some sort of parent or sibling that was a cartel member or their FBI background check came back negative when they were already in the training program. So I think part of it is First off, they take advantage of the fact that Mexico is a young country. It's a country of young people. We have a big group of young people that have little to no opportunities to come up. When I was to take that career path, a lot of my friends took the other option. They went to work for some of these criminal groups. So they have this going for them. They basically have a lot of bodies to hire cheaply.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Clandestine graves stinks or not. If they find IDs or clothing, they kind of gather that and they basically present it to the investigative authorities in the towns or the states they live in, which basically they're doing their jobs. You know, over 90% of all murders in Mexico were never solved. I mean, so they've even stopped trying to get rid of bodies in that way, you know.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think that was common back in the early 2000s and maybe the late 90s when some of these things were going on, but they've lost even that as far as respect for the government or bodies being found right now. What you usually see is just bodies being burnt to a crisp and buried in a field somewhere. That's usually what you'll see. Some of the groups like this woman belong to basically taking upon themselves to go out to find clandestine graves in the outskirts of the towns that they live in, probing the ground with these metal probes. Seeing if whatever they encounter in the bottom of”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's tradecraft and there's a link to the US as far as that trade craft. You have to remember that the United States had a thing called School of the Americas and the CIA and they showed things and a lot of that stuff is out there in the hands of people that are of that generation.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You open up the intestinal tract, put rocks inside, you cut where tattoos are, you take off hands and faces and throw them somewhere else, and you wrap them in chicken wire.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not sure exactly where these tradecraft skills are coming from specifically. You hear discussions of Israelis training some of the cartel groups back in the late 90s, specifically the Ariano Fizz cartel. There's a lot of stories about that. A security specialist coming down and showing them things like how to make caustic soda, how to put rocks inside of bodies and then chicken wire them around and throw them into the ocean or river so that their bodies don't float.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's many groups out in Mexico who basically have given up on trusting the government to find their kids. The number of missing in Mexico is a debated topic because the government itself doesn't release those numbers or at least hasn't done a good job about keeping them and or releasing them. Mexico was a country that has industrialized body disposal. And Tijuana, we had the stewmaker, the legendary stew maker, which is a guy that basically used caustic asid to get rid of bodies at a massive level.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Have no idea. I don't think there is realistically. I mean, anything that kind of supports some of these groups, you're supporting things of a horrible nature. I just posted recently on my Instagram account of a lady that was in Guanajuato. One of seven recently assassinated women that are looking for their kids, basically. There's a bunch of groups and organizations out there in Mexico and some in Tijuana that I've actually walked with who are Taking control of trying to find the bodies of their kids That's her up there.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just seen the arrest and prosecution of the head of all Conrad Cartel operations when I was active in the form of Garcia Luna, who was the guy, Felipe Calderone, who kicked off the drug war. That was his guy. Turns out he was on the take at a level.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, we are living through multiple assassinations on political candidates down in Mexico right now. And most of those assassinations are motivated by one side sponsoring one candidate and the other side sponsoring the other. What I mean by sides, I mean cartel groups. So they have elected officials that are on the take. And this is, we have many governors who are under investigation on the run or in prison right now state governors. So politics is involved in it. That's a big player as well. When you think about the cartel problems, you don't think, well, at least most people don't think about that aspect of it.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Seen a Loa cartel, which is probably currently the largest and most powerful one in Mexico. And the new generation cartel, which is growing exponentially right now. So these criminal groups are players in that conflict. then other player that doesn't get talked about is politics politicians there's a there's an ongoing discussion that has been going on I think since Trump was elected about cartels being a terrorist being terrorist organizations or not or if they fit that description”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not only do the cartels make money off drug trafficking, but also extortion, money laundering, paid protection schemes, any mining operation in Mexico will have to pay protection, or else they'll get hit. A lot of times the largest money makers for some of these criminal groups are protecting and taxing anybody that goes across the border. So that's also a big issue. And it's not just, again, some Americans think it's like the cartels, you know, they imagine this single or maybe two or three groups. There's several out there. I don't have a current estimate, but last time I checked, it was somewhere in the vicinity of 50 to 70. Different groups, some small that just dedicate themselves to a single little town somewhere. There are armed groups that are basically in control of that area, to some bigger federations like the...”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, there's not a lot of people and vehicles getting checked when they drive down. Tijuana is being called San Diego South now because all the economic migrants are living down there. 90% of all houses in Tijuana new houses are being bought up by Americans. So that'll tell you something about the impact and change that's going on down there. So you have these local drug markets that are being fought over. You also have these drug routes that go through Mexico up into Mexico, around Mexico, through the ocean, under the wall, you know, drug tunnels, over the wall. And on backpacks on migrants that go up into the United States.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A start. Yeah. So a big problem in Mexico is basically those local drug markets. And an example of that and when I have a lot of experience with is the one in Tiguana, which not only feeds the local populace, but also feeds the populace from San Diego that crosses down into Tijuana and buys their product there. And now a phenomenon that's occurring now is marijuana trafficking is going from California down into Mexico because they produce better weed, you know, which is fascinating to see now.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First off, there are giant local drug markets in Mexico that are fought over, just local drug markets that are huge in scope.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Mexican drug war, which is, you know, it's hard to pinpoint. Stuff going on. I went into training in 2004, and there were already, you know. Major cartel related events all over Mexico by then, but not at the size or scope as I was about to go into when President Felipe Calder ⁇ n kind of took office down there and actually officially kind of kicked it off by Putting the military in play as part of its basically militarize the drug war, including us.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We got to shoot 20 rounds out of that gun. And then when we got out, we were handed a glock 17, which I've never seen one in my life. I was trying to figure out where the safety was. A few other people there were handling those guns in a horrible manner. So we were very undertrained, under equipped, and there was a lot of assumptions about what we knew, and all of a sudden we were being cast into this start of one of the... Know bloodiest and longest lived modern conflicts in our history that doesn't get called that, but it's basically been an ongoing war in Mexico that Still to this day, amassing bodies.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I got into my, I mean, it's indoctrination. It's a paramilitary group. So everything there is basically model after the military. So that's what they were trying to kind of instill in us. I was a team leader in there. After three months, basically. We went through a bunch of trials, physical trials, mental trials, and stuff like that. Some of us were named team leaders. And I bought into it. I'm supposed to be here looking at me. I'm making headway. Sticking out a bit, you know, and I was pretty proud of what I was going through there, six months. Then you get the reality check when you sign the dotted line and how that none of it really meant anything as far as what we were about to go out and do. Example of this, we were trained with a 92 FS Beretta, which is a nine millimeter pistol Italian made.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had this motivation, this idealistic motivation in my head of making a difference. And they drill a lot of... Nationalistic kind of, you know, the flag marching, it being part of a group and the group being behind you and all of this.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Always, you know, you're in a place like that, and there's females in the environment and some of the instructors are doing what they do. So that was like a cause for alarm. I mean, these people are in charge of our safety and education and look at what's happening here. So you could see some of the smarter ones leaving, not looking at this as a viable choice for life.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Several times. Several times specifically seeing some of the ways that people that I thought were better Stronger than me. We're walking out or quitting because of something that happened in there. Some sexual assault stuff happening in there as well.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And an open door there always. So if you don't want to be here, you can just walk out. And the more you go into it time-wise, you're more invested you are. So in a way, you're kind of building your own chains while you're going through that process.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think it's a. It's a half done initiation process, I think, in a way, looking at it from now to the past. The shaving of the hair, the stripping off your identity. Everybody gets a Gets a number, the uniforms, the running around and being treated like human garbage. The first thing they said to us when we were lined up in that field was bread and dick to eat here and the bread ran out a week ago, right? I can't equate it to anything in the military here in the United States because people down there could actually get physical with us. I mean, they could actually hit us and punch us and shit like that, which is not allowed here anymore, at least in most of the military as horrible as down there. NK-47 is being shot around us to simulate reality, basically causing hearing loss, that type of stuff.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Prestigious elite, the people in charge of our draining were a lot basically ex Mexican Gotha people. Gothes are what the special forces kind of originated. A lot of their members turn into the Zeta cartel. So they were brutal in their training. We were sold this idea of it being scientific based a career path. And all of a sudden we're in this refurbished prison that wasn't good enough to be a prison and they turned it into a training ground And I quickly kind of realized that they were training us to be a paramilitary group, not a community policing organization, which in my mind, that's, I thought that's what we were going to be doing.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, at least that was my mindset going through that job. I remember I was in medical school before that, second year medical school. It was doing pretty good. And then 9-11 happened, and that wasn't an option anymore for me. The economy was horrible. Couldn't afford to stay there. I saw this ad in the newspaper, and my big brother, who's still alive, he's like. You're not going to do that shit. We wouldn't dare. And I was then there. I was in a field having my hair shaved off, and a bunch of the. Gaffers, the guys that later turned into the Zedduck cartel military were in charge of our training. And I went through that process.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He was the best of us, is what we would say He died, there was a there was almost like a concert at his funeral. I met three of his girlfriends that all introduced themselves, like the one, you know. To this day, every now and then I get pulled aside down, and when I go back home, your Eric's brother, despite all the stuff that I've done, I'm still, you know, every now and then I get recognized. That made my mom and my dad go into a horrible depression. And basically, left me to my devices when I was a kid. From 13 onwards. I had this self destructive. And have this notion that if I can only die good in some way, shape or form or for something, that it would matter and they would kind of look at me with the same reverence I did with my brother.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I lost my brother when I was 13 on it too. He was 19. He was like the. The VIP of the family, you know. All every day. He was a skateboarded BMX motorcycle hunter, one of the best marksmen that I've ever seen shoot.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Society as a whole down there doesn't reward it or at least doesn't see it in the people that don't take that route in Mexico. For them, all cops are corrupt. All of them. And seeing it from the outside, I'm not there anymore. There's almost like a why didn't you, Ed, you know? It could have been easier, maybe. Or you could have been dead long ago because people that are on the takedown there are usually owned by one side or the other. And when that gets found out, you know, if you have somebody that you're paying off that hints you off of drug operations in the area, your rivals are pretty keen on killing you.”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For me, it was I wouldn't get picked to get on board with some of the operations groups that I wanted to work with because I was known for not taking money or not being trusted by certain older segments of the organization that I was with stuff because they knew that I wouldn't get money. So there's always a weird sacrifice to it. And you're almost kind of like masochistic in that way when you get approached with it. They're like, why are you being an idiot? Why are you driving around that beat up car? Look at the hummer H2 that just drove in with the other guy that is doing exactly the same job”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“An interesting question. I'll say this, seeing him. I mean, his last assassination attempt he had took the use of his legs, he was with his kid. There was a recklessness to it. I can see that now that I have enough distance from it. I could see that there's a recklessness to being that way. And also putting Jeopardy people around you if you take that route. So I think there's a sacrifice to it, a very powerful and hard one to make for a lot of people”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“House, and you know, they never let me get away with things, and I think my mom was pretty big moral compass for me, but Lieutenant Colonel, kind of leading from example and seeing his work and how. Much profound change he caused in the people that work with him as far as we felt supported and we felt like we had a guiding figure during this. Was the most dangerous city on the planet when I was working there and he took charge”
2022-12-12 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #346 – Ed Calderon: Mexican Drug Cartels · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source