Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Beating a 35-Year Sentence: Smuggler’s Insane True Story
25 Jan 2025
Joe Tarasuk’s shares his journey that included time in a mental hospital, being a major East Coast drug dealer, and involvement in a cult trying to revolutionize the world through music. After his arrest in Georgia in 1986, Joe was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison. Despite many challenges after his release, the Lord placed a mission in Joe’s heart to reach out to men and women like himself who were caught in devastating cycles of addiction and shame. Joe Book https://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Odds-Miracle-Recovery/dp/098917350X CrossRoads Freedom Center https://www.crossroadsfreedomcenter.org Follow me on all socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcoxtruecrime Do you want to be a guest? Send me an email here: [email protected] Do you want a custom "con man" painting to shown up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrime Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart Listen 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/B0851KBYCF Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8 Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438 The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402 Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1 Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel! Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here: Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69 Cashapp: $coxcon69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
You learn how to be a good drug dealer by experience. Nobody can teach you. And it's quite thrilling. Every cell in your body is trying to understand and be calm. And my reality was so far out there, I could not even function and got put in a psych ward. I was shackled, legs, arms, hands, put me in front of a grade school. And it really let me see of the bondage I was in.
I knew I was being watched. And I had the DEA, the FBI, and the CIA all all around what I was doing. So my reputation started traveling back in Bolivia. We got a guy in the United States that he pays and we trust him.
This is like the president of a country and one of our allies. And then Reagan sends in troops to arrest Noriega. And there's a huge gun battle.
I would die before I would tell on them. I didn't get in trouble. I didn't get shot. I mean, my friends were getting shot. I mean, I had no fear. Drove down, parked, and was walking in this alley, and there was a beautiful Bolivian, looked like a model. And I said, okay, this has got to be a setup.
Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I'm here with Joe Tarsik. And we're going to be talking about his story. Can I say drug smuggler?
Yeah, interstate transportation is what I got. Or narcotics is what I got arrested for. But yeah, drug smuggler. Drug smuggler, let's go. Yeah, all of the above.
Okay, all right. Do you want to go with that? Yeah. Is that good? Yeah, all right. Okay. I was going to say, I was going to redo it, but, um, uh, yeah, let's go with drug smuggler. Uh, well, it's funny, you know, it's like people say, you know, oh, you were arrested for mortgage fraud. Now it's bank fraud. Like, you know, there is no mortgage fraud. So same thing.
You're giving the technical name and most people would just say smuggler. I want, I appreciate you coming out obviously. Let's just start at the beginning. Where were you born, your parents, brothers, sisters, anything like that?
I was born in Washington, D.C. I have two older sisters. Dad was a military man. My mom was considered the debutante, and we lived on 17th and Upshur Street in Washington, D.C. until I was three.
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