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Show with your host Michael Costa's Well, welcome to the Mail Show.
I'm Michael Costa. We have so much to talk about tonight. It's happy hour at the Pentagon. Joe Biden is making a list and checking it twice, and Mangioni drops a manifesto. So let's get into the headlines. Let's begin with the story. Everyone is still talking about the arrest of Luigi, alleged CEO killer and the reason conjugal visit is trending on Google. Everyone's been wondering what his motivation was, and now they have his manifesto. Although for a manifesto, it's surprisingly modest.
The US has the number one most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly number forty two in life expectancy. Obviously, the problem is more complex, but I do not have space, and frankly, I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument.
Okay, okay, I don't really know what I'm talking about. Is a surprising thing to put in a manifesto. This is the first murder manifesto I've read that could have ended with but no worries. If not, you know, either way you never see the Taliban like death to America. Although we're not experts, so grain of salt. Now. Whether he's guilty or not will be decided by a trial. But one thing we know for certain, MANGIONI is making everyone Menja horny.
Emily, I know you were inside that courtroom today with the suspect.
How was he behaving, Norah? It was remarkable. He walked in confidence at times that he seemed defiant.
He was looking around, he kept looking back at a couple of times I felt like he was.
Making eye contact. Oh, he looked at me, he saw me. We had a moment, and Nora, I'm getting new reports just now that I can change him. Okay, Can I just say this is confusing as a straight man to me, I don't know what I was supposed to do to attract women. One day, Let's do more work around the house, the next, it's be a better listener. And now apparently it's execute the leader of a fortune five hundred company. Which one is it? Ladies, Let's move on to someone
who never has to go to court again. In another edition of Trump two point zero Coming for the White House.
I'm gonna come.
Look. Look, there are over twenty countries in the world, and the president has to appoint an ambassador to every one of them. And being an ambassador, it's a pretty sweet gig, all right. You get paid six figures to move to some mansion in another country, and you can't even get arrested when you plow into a group of tourists with your motorcycle. It's basically a dream. And Trump just announced the latest lucky person to get one of these coveted positions.
President ELEC. Donald Trump tapping another loyalists with close family ties to fill out his administration, naming Kimberly Guilfoyle to be ambassador to Greece.
Kimberly Guilfoil, Kimberly guilfo Why does why does that ring about? Why does that hurt my ears?
She has no diplomatic experience, but she's a long time Trump loyalist. Firing up the Republican National Convention during his twenty twenty reelection campaign, The best is.
Yet to come. That's it. I remember the screaming lady. That's the screaming lady, although I guess in Greece that's considered normal volume. Maybe now you might be wondering why is Trump appointing Kimberly Guilfoyle if she has no diplomatic experience and seemingly no ties to Grease. Well, it turns out it might be a consolation prize.
In a statement, the President elect calling her a close friend and praising her sharp intellect, but he made no mention of her four year long engagement to his eldest son, amid tabloid rumors that Donald Trump Junior is now dating someone new.
Wow, Wow, what a great way to end a relationship forget about Listen, it's not you, it's me. Now we've got listen. How would you like to be the ambassador to Grease? Good for Kimberly to score this position after a breakup. Last time one of my relationships ended, I couldn't even get my Valtrex back. Now it's okay, she needs it now too, So boh, by gosh, kimber lady, your relationship is over. But now you get to move to Greece, or, as you might say.
The best.
Oh my godness hurts still. Meanwhile, things are a little rockier for a different Trump appointee, Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense and veteran of multiple tours with Captain Morgan last week. Last week, his nomination looked like it was in big trouble, probably because people were worried he'd have to blow into a breathalyzer before entering the situation room. Let's check in on how it's going now.
After a rocky start, Pete hegg Seth, president Elect Trump's intended choice to lead the Pentagon.
He's on the rebaand.
He's much better off this week than it was last week.
Some Republicans, including ones like Senator Tommy Tubberville out of Ballabama, someone who's very close to Donald Trump, have brushed off these reports of excessive drinking.
Is he a drunk? I mean, does he hang out in arge? Does he drink for lunch and dinner and recklessly?
Does he piss Martiniz and shit olives? Now? Well, then give this man to care, Declarence. I'm sorry, but he's not drunk every second of his life. It's a pretty low bar, which, by the way, is the only bar that peak Hegseth hasn't been thrown out of Look, you can argue what the exact definition of a drinking problem is, but I think a good barometer is is everyone in the country talking about how much you drink, then you probably have a drinking problem. So that's one excuse for
putting heg Seth in charge of the Defense Department. Well, let's hear another one from Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. Yes, that's his name.
What I'm saying is, when you're talking about drinking at ten in the morning, that's a drinking problem.
Now, it doesn't mean that there's well, there's a lot.
Of politicians that have a drinking problem, Jake, Yes, of course.
But I guess my question is.
Yeah, and then there's probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too.
Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people have drinking problems, but they're not trying to run the Pentagon. So yeah, it's different. It's different when you agree that's why you're crapping. It's like he's saying, Oh, nobody cared about my drinking before I got behind the wheel, and now all of a sudden, it's a problem. Yeah, it's a problem. Yeah. Ultimately, it's worse if you're an alcoholic in certain jobs, Like you don't want to have an alcoholic pilot, but a drunk
daily show host. What's the worst that happens? I pee myself behind the desk, and I need LaToya to bring me new pants right now. LaToya new pants. LaToya new pants. But even if he's confirmed, Pete seems to understand that being blackout drunk twenty three hours a day might be a problem, which is why he's offering to change.
He's been telling members of the Center Republican Conference that if you were confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he would not drink alcohol at all.
You'd abstain from drinking.
This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won't be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I'm doing it.
It's good enough for me when has an alcohol I ever promised to do better and not followed through. What a deal. Just put me in charge of the largest military in history, and I'll stop drinking. By the way, jello shots don't count as drinking. That's eating. That's a solid And it seems like it's good enough for Donald Trump too.
The fact that there are these allegations against him, the fact that he said to some senators reportedly, he'll stop drinking if he gets this job. Does that worry you?
No, I think that everybody has something that they can stop.
Some people can stop eating.
I'm lucky.
I'm not a drinker, but he could stop eating.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, sir, no, you couldn't. All right, I guess he means eating junk food. But still, there's a big difference between alcoholism and eating. No one's ever said, dad, you came home full again. You know what's weird. It's almost like the revelations about Hagset's drinking have helped him, because now it feels like if he can just steamroll the centators on this one issue, he wins, like the whole completely unqualified part about his
resume is totally forgotten. But don't forget. If this guy quits drinking to become Secretary of Defense, his only qualification is that he quit drinking to become Secretary of Defense. But hey, maybe this nomination isn't the worst way to get someone off the sauce. In fact, some rehab centers are already adopting this strategy.
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Five Star. The journey to recovery starts with one confirmation boats and by the way.
If advice see those those cults guys the help.
When we come back, Well, who's Joe Biden? We're pardon next, don't blow up. Welcome back, to the Della shop. Last month, Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter, causing people to ask, Joe Biden is still president, But he is, and he still has pardon power for another month. Our own Grace, Coole, and Schmidt hit the streets to ask New Yorkers who they think he should use it on. Next.
President Biden pardon two turkeys.
Named Peach and Blossom on Thanksgiving and a human man named Hunter. Biden a few days later to find out who else he might pardon before leaving office, I decided to ask my fellow friendly New Yorkers. Oh sorry, pardon me, Pardon me, pardon me.
That's my first. That's my first, that's my first. I love this city.
So they're saying that Biden might pardon enemies of Trump. Can you think of anyone else who might be on Trump's enemy list?
Yes, me and all of my friends. Okay, gotcha. So doctor bout to be pardoned for the crime of doing science. We have to pardon Baucie. He got us through a hard time.
Yeah, he got me through actually a really really bad breakup.
Do you think he should pardon Eric Adams, Eric Adams.
Eric Adams, Eric Adams, who's Eric Adams The.
New York saying, now, do you think that he should pardon Giuliani for going goblin mode?
Twenty four to seven?
What's goblin mode?
Well, it just kind of looks like a goblin.
I think he's really disgusting.
He shouldn't be pardoned for anything.
Okay, So if he committed a crime, you're president, are you pardoning him? The crime is actually disgusting, it's anus murder?
One hundred people we've.
Asked the conversation about our love is actually conditional and really one of the things.
Oh my god, all.
Right, let's play Mary pardon you ready? Okay, Yeah, let's do it. The QAnon Trauman O Trump, Eric.
Adams Okay, and you can't lock them all, Okay, I probably Eric Adams.
You could watch this so you might have a chance, just.
Because he's weak, and you know, you can like put your kingerhooks balls and like make him square.
Okay.
You know what, I'll marry I'll marry Donald Trump, you know what.
Okay, I think i'd live a good life.
I'm gonna marry Eric Adams interesting, just so that I can play mind games with him.
Love it thinks gaslight hate.
Keith boss being in the city of New York. I guess I'll pardon sure Adams.
Congratulations, you're Cuana Truman. I forgot about that.
You didn't.
If you could get pardoned for one crime, what would it be?
Arson?
That was a really quick answer. I like you like fire. Let's get the matches away from this guy. Have you ever done anything that you would need a pardon for? Uh, marrying my first husband.
I did pirate a lot of you know, LimeWire back in the day.
All LimeWire users should be pardoned.
Absolutely.
Do you ever like you're at or something and you're holding a bunch of things and you forget to ring something.
When you're doing self check out?
To me, part of self checkout is maybe I am gonna shop. Do you want to look into the pardoning cam right here and ask Joe Biden to be partnered for your linewier usage?
Joe Biden, I'm sorry, I just really wanted that Lincoln Park.
Single President Biden. I would like to be pardoned for the occasional mistake of missing an item on self checkout?
Right, she does it every single day, but she doesn't mean to. Is there anything that you've done that you think that you should get a pardon.
For I guess telling people I love them when I don't.
If you wouldn't mind looking into our pardon cam here and asking Joe Biden for a pardon for that.
Yes, Joe Biden, please pardon me for lying to men all over the while. That's why Dave went, I'm black to you too. This is the first time I'm mat it on camera. I guess I am growing up, Biden.
I need a pardon.
I outed someone not buy television.
To be fair, she said it herself.
That's right, but I feel as though I was a lesbian accomplice in this situation.
I would date you by Did I need another pardon? I picked someone up on camera. I'm an absolute player.
Thank you Rich when you come back. DJ's English are the joining me on the show?
Don't go away?
Welcome back to Girl Show. My guest Tonight is a journalist and best selling author whose new book is called The Last Kilo. Please welcome TJ English. It's got it all, It's got it all. This book is so fun to read.
Thanks.
When I was the first half of this book, I said, you know what, I want to quit my job and become a cocaine smuggler. It changed.
Yeah, But with that by the end of the book, you had a whole different view on that. I'm sure.
Yeah, I mean should I do that?
Should I?
Should I?
If you do it as well as they did it, yeah, you could possibly create a whole era of cocaine. It would last for ten years. Yeah, and you'd be very popular, and you'd be the king of the hill, and then it would all come crumbling down.
Yeah. And who's they? Who do you write about so well?
In here? I write about a group that was called Los Muchachos. They were led by a man named Willie Falcone, who was a Cuban exile whose family had been chased out of Cuba at the time of the King Cuban Revolution, and he came to the United States in the seventies. He kind of was working construction, and then some members of the anti Castro movement came to him and said, we need some young guys who will partner with us
on a plan. We have to bring cocaine into the United States and to sell it in the United States and use the proceeds to buy guns and explosives for the contras in Central America.
And Willie said drugs are not my thing, goodbye. End of the story.
He probably maybe wishes he had said that. No, he said I can do that. I mean, his main motivation was to get rid of Castro. I mean that was that generation of Cubans woke up in the morning dreaming of a dead Fidel cast So, in fact, they woke up in the morning dreaming of strangling Fidel cast to death with their own hands.
But in a way, doesn't that romanticize this a little bit? I mean it's like, it's easy for Willie Falcon to say, it's okay that I'm doing all this because it has a good I have fedibility, because I'm overthrowing this regime. Yeah, But I mean it grew bigger than that.
For Yeah, I think we refer to that as a false value system. I mean, he believed in it. He believed in it, believed in the cause, and he was willing to do anything for the cause. And so when they they asked him to do this, he was all for it. Now, you got to remember, in the late seventies when this started, cocaine was only used by the very rich in Hollywood, rock stars and some professional athletes. Nobody else could afford it. So the first thing they
did was they made it affordable. They brought in so much quantity that they could lower the price and sell, and they started to sell it, and it was available at the working class level. Everyone was using.
How much cocaine did you do to research this book?
Well, if you look at to cover the book they showed me to cover the book, I say, could we make the cocaine embossed so it looks like a real looks like a real line of cocaine. I think we'd sell more books.
That way, And they probably said, sell more books, and then Alabasa. This book has forty pages of reference notes. So you know this is an entertaining read about cocaine smugglers and speedboat racing and and sex and women and buying sheriffs to create airfields so they can fly in cocaine from Columbia. But you tell me you actually research this shit, hey man.
When I started this book, I thought I knew this era like a lot of people. I saw the movies Scarface, Miami Vice. You know, this era existed in our culture, and I came to believe that a lot of that is not untrue. But sensationalized. Sure, there's a lot of stereotypes in the presentation of the cocaine era. For instance, this group did not use violence is part of their operation.
That was startling to me. I was even concerned. I was like, how do we tell a cocaine story without uzi submachine guns and chainsaws.
It seems like their philosophy was he catched more flies with honey than vinegar. I mean, there's examples of people people lying to them and they actually don't use violence. If anything, they would call them in for a meeting and give them some money and say we should be friends.
Right, Well, you know what they would do, They would cut them out of the business. And Willie and his partner Samagluda, William sal and Loso Muchacho's that was the name of the organization, were so predominant in the cocaine business. If you got cut out of their operation, you were cut out of the business. They had the best product at the best price. And we're talking about Miami as a base, but what they were known for was their distribution system. So bringing cocaine to La to San Francisco,
to Chicago to New York. They really created a system that touched off that entire era.
And you sat with Falcon, I sure did, yeah, once twice.
Seven or eight times. Wow. And then we communicate a lot through.
Is he still doing blow a lot of times or what? No, you know, I gotta wonder that. It's like he's doing blow, he's on speedboats, they're doing this. And then I'm like, then he goes to prison. I'm like, well, he's got to be addicted to cocaine at this point.
He was doing blow in prison. I'm sure, Oh wow, that's that's one of the easiest places to get both.
Yeah, you don't have to tell me TJ. Yeah, I've never been to prison. So you sat with William bunch?
I sat with him a bunch, Yes, And I traveled to where he to the country that shall remain nameless, where he is.
Sure.
And it wasn't easy because with the middle of the COVID crisis, so flying in and out in the country was really difficult at the time, but it was really important. I knew I couldn't do the book unless we I could take stock of him face to face as a person.
There's kind of a funny party vibe with cocaine. It's done at the club. That's what I hear, right, and then but then you say crack and it changes quickly.
Oh man.
And I wonder if Willie Falcon feels any remorse or does he feel I mean, the crack epidemic. You know, it's not a laughing matter, it's not a cocaine isn't either, But does he feel any of this or.
Yeah, the crack, the emergence of crack, which they had nothing to do with, was a phenomenon that was created kind of at the street level. Changed everything. Yeah, up until then you could say that the cocaine era was all parties and good times. Crack was ugly, it was violent. It brought it down to a street level and took all the fun out of it. Yes, all of a sudden, if you were a cocaine dealer, damn it crack. Yeah, all of a sudden you had blood on your hands if you were a cocaine dealer.
I remember in nineteen eighty nine watching George H. W. Bush Do Blow, Do Blow, And that's when I said, I will no. It was in the White House he did this press conference.
Ever tell anybody about that him doing the White House?
You know what it would it would help. Yeah, if there's a party that does blow, it's probably Republicans, to be honest with you. But he showed everybody this bag of crack. I was watching it with my father. I remember thinking, holy shit, drugs are bad. He says in this press conference that they've they bought this crack outside at the White House. I dare, don't do drugs, Nancy Reagan. Holy shit. Then I read your book. I find out that that whole bought crack at the White House thing
was fake. It was fake. In fact, the Dea said to a drug dealer, you got to sell us crack outside of the White House, and the drug dealer says, where the is the White House? I mean, this is all made up?
Right?
What?
Let's talk about the American government's role in all this, the war on drugs, the war on drugs, and also helping fund oh, the rebellion that started this.
This opened my eyes and again I thought I knew a lot about this era going into it, the ways in which cocaine was used as a political tool. Here's something that's interesting. William Sal's main money launderer was a banker in Panama City known as Kiermo and Dara. He was burying their billions and billions of dollars in bank accounts in Panama when they.
Would ship in drywall palace down to Panama. I mean, I read this stuff and I'm like, discuss should be the head of wal Mart or.
Something, you know what I mean. They're inventive, right, I mean, they basically were making it up as they went along. These are guys who are high school dropouts. I mean, it's ingenious. I find this in the criminal world quite often. Criminal organization people with very little formal education that construct these phenomenal criminal operations. If they had chosen legit form of business, they probably would have been really success for sure.
Willi's Ghermo and Dara. So they deposed Manuel Norega in Panama. The United States is done with him. He's no longer their buddy. They force him out, they bring him the United States put him away in prison. As a successor, you know who, President Bush chooses to be president of Panela. Guermo and Dara, William Sal's money launderer, becomes the president of Panama.
And there's an interesting partner here where they get worried that they're not going to get their money from him, and he says, don't worry, I'm going to become president.
Yeah. And they thought they were going to get their money and they lost four hundred million dollars in those accounts. Wow.
Yeah, the money. And then he ends up being in a cell next to Noriega and they're kind of chatting to each other, and he was kind of like, Noriega is annoying. I don't want to talk to.
A strange bedfellows.
Yeah, you write so much about the criminal underworld. You know some of your other books, The Westies, Havana, Nocturne, Dangerous Rhythms, Born to Kill. It's about the bloodiest Asian gang, the Cuba of Mafia, the Irish mob. Just admit it. You want to be a criminal.
This is what keeps me from being a criminal. It is yes, absolutely, what is it that?
I mean, it's very entertaining to read this stuff, But you are diving in.
I've always thought of organized crime not as some fringe aspect of American culture, but as the main vein of American culture. And if you research it that way and you look at it that way, you learn a lot about America, politics, sociology. It really is an interesting prism or angle to look at I call it from the gutter. It's looking at America from the point of view of the gutter. And you learn so much about it. It's an inexhaustible topic to me. I can go back in
history and tell stories. I can do contemporary versions of it.
I can't walk around Manhattan anymore because when Willie Falcone was hiding, yes he had to hide from the federal government, he did it here in New York on the Lamb. He didn't want to stay home where I think his wife was there where the living Upper east Side or.
Something, the West Soupper west side along the park.
So his his work partner would pick him up in a van and he would had the Cebee radio and they would drive him around Manhattan. He would talk to Escobar on the Cebe radio, organizing every time I see a van out there, I'm going, that's cocaine smuggling happened right now.
You might be onto something there, right, Yeah, a mobile headquarters where he was consummating cocaine, international cocaine deals from the back of the van.
They were doing encrypted messaging.
Yeah yeah, well yeah, they really. I mean, I'm telling you if you if you bend your mind around what it is they had to do to create this operation, it's pretty extraordinary.
I love there's a speedboat on the cover here because they also.
Were powerboat racing champions, Champion power I mean it's like, but also, if you're doing coke, you want to go fast, So that if they became power.
Boat champions and they were high on marijuana, that'd be different. Now you're only going three miles an hour, really felt rope.
If they I am marijuana, they'd be doing their power bow racing in the bathtub.
I hate to say this because it romanticizes them, but it does seem like they were. They were winners, or at least they went big. Now it should everyone should know. It ends poorly. It ends very very poorly. And there's also a part of me that gets so mad at all the rules they broke. Yeah, that's not fair. You can't buy a sheriff fixing the jury they fixed, I mean that blew me away, and tell me a little bit about that.
Well, they finally go to trial, a big federal racketeering trial, and they're so popular in South Florida that they not only fix the jury, they fix one two three four, five jurors out of twelve they buy off to give them a not guilty verdict, and they're found not guilty. It was a shock to everybody. They own the system. They were like Robin Hood's in South Florida. They were revered by many Cuban Americans because they funneled money back
into the community. They've built baseball parks and they spread they spread the money around. They were very popular.
Some of the more powerful moments in the book are when they're faced with those decisions through their families. Yes, where parents who came over dangerous situations and almost act now embarrassed of their children.
That's very poignant. It was very poignant to me because you know, their parents were kicked out of Cubea. Some of them had been professionals, and they lost everything and they wound up in South Florida with nothing. And here's the kids eleven, twelve, thirteen are looking at their parents. They grow up watching their parents suffer. I think what was driving a lot of this cocaine generation was to
succeed and to make their parents proud. Ironically, that was their goal to show that they could make it in America in a way that would make their parents proud. And it was the parents that came to them, knew they were in the cocaine business and came to them and said, son, you got to get out. You got to get out of this business. It's not going to end well.
And that's easy. It's easy to cheat. It's hard to do it the right way.
It's hard to cheat too.
It's hard to cheat. And that's the lesson I want to ask you this. This is your tenth book. Yes, for any young writer author out there. Advice for anyone who wants to write. I don't even know if his kids read books anymore, but there is a kid out there that wants to write books. What would you say, it's a him or her at this.
Point, Write every day, write something every day, and get out into the world, because writing is basically transforming your experiences into the written word down on the page. And so get out. If you're a kid who's in school, get away from school. And I don't mean drop out. I don't mean drop out, but I mean there's a reality other than school, and that's the reality you got to learn. Let go with the side of the pool and push yourself out into the deep end. That's how you become a writer.
Well, you write wonderfully. My family was happy when I finished this book because they were talking to me and I'm going, like sex in prison, what the hell it's coin? But it's a great book. Thank you for coming and talking with us today. The last kilo is available out TJ English and there's a quick break and right back after that. How can I show up for time? But before we go, please consider donating to One Simple Wish, a charity that grants wishes to children in foster care.
If you can grant a wish or donate towards their holiday Wish fund, please do so at the link below. Now Here it is your moment of zep.
Isn't that enough to figure out what the drone is and who's behind it? I don't understand why we have no information on this. It feels I don't believe it. I think they do have information on if they're not telling us. I mean my guess is that it's China and they just aren't doing anything about it.
Am I right?
If the drone is large enough, we are going to be able to find out who made it and who brought it into effect.
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