Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
America’s First Drug Cartel: The Criminal Empire That Changed History
15 Mar 2025
Seth Ferranti's "Dope Men" Explores America's Original International Drug Cartel. They got in the dope trade before prohibition even ended, about the same time that America's War on Drugs started. The mob and the government have been fighting this battle on opposite sides for the last 100 years. Dope Men explores this history.Seths IG https://www.instagram.com/sethferranti/?hl=enSeths Channel https://www.youtube.com/@sethferrantistruecrime/videosFollow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcoxtruecrimeDo you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: [email protected] you want a custom "con man" painting to shown up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Like I know that the mob became successful and really blew up during prohibition. What I didn't realize was the mob really pushed the, hey, we don't deal with drugs. We don't deal with anybody that does deal with drugs. We're against drugs. And then you started showing that that's just Hollywood.
El Chapo, you know, it was Pablo Escobar, you know, El Chapo, but they don't see like a guy like Lucky Luciano as the predecessor to all this. And really he was. You know, he was like the first, you know, big heroin kingpin. And and nobody kind of views it as this in history because of all the Hollywood movies and stuff.
So, you know, like people think this is recent, you know, all this, you know, racism and the drug war and stuff like this. It's not, you know, and it's even came out, you know, like they say Nixon was going after the blacks and the hippies. I mean, this doesn't it doesn't start in 1970. It goes all the way back to the 20s. So why do we have some of these substances like, you know, alcohol, drugs?
nicotine, caffeine, even sugar. I mean, they're all basically, you know, like substances that, you know, can alter you in some way, you know, and it's just like, oh, well, these ones are okay. and we're gonna regulate them and make money on them. But these ones are not okay because the Italians, the blacks, the Mexicans, so the whole system is so racist on its face.
Like, oh, white people control these, well, it's all good. You could make the analogy that the drug war and law enforcement you know propped up you know these rich people so they can make money and kill all of us and pollute the pollute the world so it's just it's like it's like the dark side of capitalism
Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I'm here with Seth Ferrante. He is the writer-director of a new documentary that just came out called Dope Man, and we're going to be doing an interview and talking about the doc. Check it out. You know, I almost, I was going to throw in there the white boy Rick, you know, but I didn't know if you wanted, you know, I mean.
Yeah, I don't care.
I mean, that's my biggest credit, the white boy doc. I mean, it's still on Netflix right now. Right. Um, yeah, I saw, I saw it. I don't know. I probably saw it like a month or so ago. I was flipping through, you know, I'll flip through docs. Uh, when I'm doing stuff, I watch, you know, I'll watch documentaries and stuff.
I flipped it through and I saw it and I was like, Hey, so, um, but I also saw that you came out. So you came out with this, uh, with, uh, dope man. And what's the other doc? Don't you have another one that just came out? Cause you had another one or something, right?
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