EX-UNDERCOVER ATF AGENT - IGNACIO ESTEBAN [EP#18] GUNS/GANGS & THE CARTELS OF AMERICA] I.E MEDIA PODCAST

On Episode 18 I’m joined by Ignacio Esteban Retired Undercover ATF Special Agent (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)-The US Department of Justice, with over 26 years experience to publish over eighty books on Amazon (search Ignacio J. Esteban) including his autobiography ‘ATF Undercover’ detailing his most dangerous cases - infiltrating dangerous armed criminals and international traffickers.

He is called on as an expert media source, with currently 200+ interviews, and climbing, on various media platforms providing insight into current events as well as discussing his books.

Ignacio says: While my experience is always in high demand, this led me to create numerous screenplays suitable for a TV series based on my true crime experiences as an ‘ATF Undercover ‘ that includes gang members, armed drug dealers, international firearms traffickers, armed home invaders, repeat violent offenders, and other types of federal investigations.

Ignacio’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/Ignacio-J.-Esteban/e/B09NCKP6F8

Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?crid=c64916a5a9a3450f9ff93fbf93078ed7&i=na-audible-us&k=Ignacio+Esteban&keywords=Ignacio+Esteban&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss_2&sprefix=ignacio+esteban%2Cna-audible-us%2C144&url=search-alias%3Dna-audible-us

His YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@ignacioesteban1542?si=Al34D9goanRLn6fo

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Also want to say thank you to Alabama 3 for letting me use their Soprano's theme song cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6EFzthaEDk&list=LL&index=6&ab_channel=ISolveThis

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Transcript

Marty (00:00.624)

Guys, welcome to episode 18 of the iMedia Podcast. Thank you for tuning in. Today is going to be a very special interview indeed. It's the first in a series of remote interviews after having over 130 requests for people to join the show. If you are waiting to come onto the show, please bear with me. There's a lot of work involved and emails back and forth and obviously being limited to dates and when I can get on and they can get on. But bear with me. We will get to you at some point.

So today I'm bringing you Ignacio Esteban. He's a retired ATF agent and author of over 80 books. I will of course put all the links to his stuff in the description and the show notes if you're listening on one of the podcast platform apps. And yeah, I know this man's a wealth of knowledge and he's lived some life somewhat short of a movie. Would you say Esteban?

Ignacio Esteban (01:06.956)
Yeah man, thank you Marty. Thanks for having me on the show, I appreciate it. It seems like this is a great opportunity and I'm happy for you to have all the success of having all those potential new guests on the show. Awesome.

Marty (01:18.256)
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it's going to be a very busy year for me. I was at a point when I was struggling to get people into the studio to come on and then did a little bit of research, found the podcast guest platform and they featured me in the newsletter and yeah, here we are. So you're the first one looking forward to this today. So thank you for requesting to come on.

Ignacio Esteban (01:21.388)
Good.

Ignacio Esteban (01:37.164)
I appreciate that man. Yeah man, and I've been doing these shows now, I think I've done over in two and a half years, I think close to over 200 plus, easy. 200 plus around the world. Second or third from the UK, a few, I've done from Australia, Canada, and of course I've done one from India, but that was more of an interview, written questions, and of course all over America. So that's cool.

Marty (01:46.)
wow. Wow.

Marty (01:54.608)
Wow. Wow. OK, so just in true podcast fashion, what I normally do is try and get a little bit of a back story before we get into the meat and potatoes. Could you give a little bit of a background of sort of where you grew up, how it all began, and what inspired you into law enforcement?

Ignacio Esteban (02:20.396)
Yeah, yeah, I was born in Los Angeles, LA, raised in Miami, right? My parents, grandparents were Spanish. My grandparents were grandparents, but they came to Cuba. And because of Castro and the communist revolution and all the problems there, they had to leave. Everything was nationalized. You know, with the communists, they took everything. And they came to the US. My parents in the early 60s, America was a great country. A lot of people came with political asylum. It was pretty much a brain drain of knowledge professionals.

Marty (02:35.808)
You

Ignacio Esteban (02:50.302)
in the early 60s that came from Cuba, mostly Spanish. Other groups also came to the United States.

And fortunate enough that I was raised in Miami. Lots of Cubans in Miami, right? That's why I'm bilingual. I speak Spanish also because it's like a you also take it in school too. So it's you know, obviously English is my first language and I spoke with my grandparents because they didn't speak much English either. They came a lot later. It's tougher for people sometimes to learn a different language when they're older. So I spoke a lot of Spanish with them. You have it in the community there. And I started, you know, in Miami and one show I watched growing up.

Marty (03:04.816)
Cool.

Ignacio Esteban (03:26.558)
Which kind of influenced me a little bit, but never thought I really go into law enforcement. Be honest with you, I didn't think I was going to was Miami Vice Miami Vice I don't remember Miami Vice in the 80s was really popular and being from Miami I mean you have Don Johnson there There's a long hair the beard the cool Ferrari right undercover right cool weapons flash and all that I think man That is pretty pretty cool. And then the nice thing is I'm also in that area So I'm seeing all the locations are filming at you see what's going on, but I put it back in my head said you know That's that's pretty cool

Marty (03:34.208)
You

Ignacio Esteban (03:56.414)
But man will I ever be part of that? I don't I don't know I don't think so and it goes back in my head and then off it goes because of course I did not a cover I didn't look like this and I didn't sound like this I had a long big beard myself have really long hair back of my my back My English were broken and no no movie being and you know I'll bring that in almost like a Scarface type Tony Montana type mentality out there Yeah, you can't let those guys think that you have like almost a master's degree and working

Marty (04:03.408)
So you're having to act as well.

Ignacio Esteban (04:26.27)
on this I think this guy's way too sharp down here you gotta be a guy that came off maybe off the boat in 10 years and and now you're hustling to make some money and maybe working for the cartels and that's the kind of story I would tell so but before I get to that I said so I almost actually see the poster behind me ATF undercover that's name of my autobiography I almost called the book the accidental agent because I actually was going to go to this is back in the mid 90s had graduated from college with a bachelor's in political science and history and I was studying at FIU which is

Marty (04:31.632)
You

Ignacio Esteban (04:56.126)
in Miami, Florida International University, I'm a master in international relations. I accepted to go to law school, but it's going to be in Lansing, Michigan. And those who know the United States, Miami and Michigan are very far and Michigan is very cold.

Marty (05:00.88)
Yeah. Polar opposites. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (05:11.564)
Polar opposite polar of the worlds right complete different, but it's nice to have that option But I didn't have a scholarship because in college I had a tennis scholarship. I play a lot of tennis so that helped me in there But this would have to pay and back then in the mid 90s schools about 25 30 ,000 a year per semester right per year So that's still we hundred thousand dollars to get there get a loan everything else at well Let me see there's this thing that came out in the mid 90s. I'm gonna be a little older than you Marty that that was called Windows 95 right and the internet

Marty (05:30.16)
yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (05:41.47)
started coming out and dial up and all that people like what is this thing here the paint right and you can't use your phone and all that if you what's this internet thing said man I was looking researching for work and information travel and everything else and he was in this is gonna be the future appeals in our way know what people gonna be on that's for hours you want to be outside who wants to be inside cooked up with that thing and I said you'd be surprised you're gonna be surprised I had a prodigy email in my and I used to use a search engine a well remember

Marty (05:59.312)
Yeah. Yep. American online.

Ignacio Esteban (06:11.326)
AOL those were the big ones before Google Those are the big names back in the 90s So things will obviously change and Google will take over all that stuff here, but I started looking for work

And a lot of people didn't know that federal jobs, government jobs were available online. And it was the easiest way. So I was going through the paper and trying to find work, which was kind of impossible. You had right there on the tip of your fingerprints all this kind of work. So I put in for customs because I was a very athletic guy. My father was a gun enthusiast. I learned how to shoot early when I was younger, right? In Florida, if you don't know, it's a very, very pro -gun state. I mean, there's lots of firearms. It's part of growing up. It's for self -defense. And you shoot to train and everything.

Marty (06:27.696)
You

Ignacio Esteban (06:53.054)
I'm very proficient. I know very different out there than UK and I'll talk a little bit about gun laws and how the blue state red state mentality plays out especially being an ATF agent How that works out but and where I grew up where I grew up it was a very pro red gun state So that's okay. So, you know professional with guns. I'm athletic because academies are tough. You got to be fit You got to work out you got to run and a lot of people get washed out So I had that going for me and said I think I can do this and I speak Spanish and 90 % of the flights coming in

Marty (06:57.856)
You

Ignacio Esteban (07:22.91)
into Miami which is MIA, we're from Latin America. So you want people to be able to communicate with those who are coming in to catch the smugglers and everything. I said again, a translator, which sometimes is tougher to do that.

Marty (07:26.96)
Wow. Yeah, definitely.

Ignacio Esteban (07:34.476)
So I put in for the job and about six months later I got the job. So I went from almost going to law school to now making good money because with customs, I don't know how I was in UK, but I met some guys before out of Britain. You know, it has a lot of good overtime, a lot of good benefits. So I would have a lot of healthcare benefits. I would have a retirement pension and everything else with federal law enforcement. So that was it, man. This is pretty good. I had a degree and now I go right into the frontline, the war on drugs. Really different.

Marty (07:56.4)
Wow. And especially in Miami as well, in that era. Yep.

Ignacio Esteban (08:04.382)
front lines.

Miami in the 90s Miami in the 90s frontline the war on drugs eye -opening waking up not just with amount of drugs coming that I expected because it's Miami and and that's where they were going they at the time the cartels in in Colombia were thriving and Mexicans will take over later right but the Cali and the Medellin cartels were thriving at that time and the fastest way to get drugs from from Colombia into the United States was through airplanes right and they would get them in there right 747

Marty (08:19.824)
Pablo Escobar. Yes, I've heard this, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (08:36.766)
because they would get a lot of flowers you know imagine this 747 full of flowers right a lot of drugs coming in and one thing I really didn't expect was the amount of corruption lots of corruption lots of corruption not only among the ramp workers knowing among the longshoremen but among their own ranks

Marty (08:50.16)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (08:57.356)
Mono own ranks and it kind of opened my eyes up a lot when I was working there for about again I'm a guy my early 20s at the time mid 90s early 20s I'm throwing this very dedicated hard -working guy I had one thing you're gonna have especially when you go into this kind of business You have a good moral compass Marty You gotta have a good moral compass because guys who don't they kind of fall because there's a lot of money a lot of access a lot of drugs and if you think you can play both sides My freedom to me meant too much to me and I didn't want to tarnish my family's name

Marty (09:20.272)
Yeah. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (09:27.262)
or my own name, right? And I don't want to spend 10, 15 years incarcerated. That's for sure. But some guys get greedy and one of our supervisors, he fell down that path. He fell down that path.

And it's one thing when you talk to him, the next thing you see him getting arrested and he was arrested by the internal affairs from within customs, an investigation where you had MIA, Miami International Airport, and then nearby you had a smaller airport for those who know the area, it's Tamiyama Regional Airport, where smaller planes would come in to be cleared.

Marty (09:49.52)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (10:01.356)
Well, he will come on the weekends, clear those flights with local police from Holland Hill and Hollywood Police Department to help him clear 300 pounds of cocaine. They were coming in from Columbia, 300 pounds of cocaine or wherever else, clear the flight illegally, obviously, that's trafficking and smuggling, and then escorted with police escort to a warehouse. That's one of my supervisors.

Marty (10:18.832)
Wow. What happened to him?

Ignacio Esteban (10:26.316)
Unbelievable unbelievable. Yeah, he gets hammered he gets hit hard But then I think here cooperates and all that's out there and then I see other people who I knew who work on the same teams And they're getting popped right they're getting arrested and it's it's an impression when you're working and You're seeing them escorted by IA internal affairs in the concourse international concourse. They got their leg irons on they're being handcuffed in the front You got the belly belly chains on and they're wobbling around like this, right? Thank you

Marty (10:48.08)
Wow. So I guess you kind of lost faith in the job role that you were doing with the people surrounding you and stuff.

Ignacio Esteban (10:56.222)
and you're thinking, man, I used to work with that guy. Now he's looking at a shitload of time, and you're like, man, I don't want to be doing that again. It catches your attention.

Ignacio Esteban (11:10.412)
Some people, you just gotta make sure that you're careful. Watch your back. Watch your back, keep it clean. I did my job, I did it by the book. I did things right because I didn't wanna be that guy that they made an example of, right? So I learned that early.

Marty (11:25.168)
course.

Ignacio Esteban (11:28.524)
So you make a lot of contacts. We get customs. I mean, it's not only seizing a lot of drugs coming in, but you seize guns going out. Remember, the cartels bring the drugs in. They want the money also to come out, right? So a lot of money comes out. And we have a lot of different operations to seize all that. But that's also unfortunate, a lot of corruption. You also have counterfeit currency coming into the country. You also have counterfeit credit cards. I mean, you can only imagine the kind of stuff that we see coming in. So I network a lot.

Marty (11:55.12)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (11:58.43)
But with border authority and customs, I don't need a search warrant or any probable cause. Everybody's subject to a search that comes in internationally, right? The product comes in, the merchandise, humans, everybody gets searched if need be. Not everybody has to be searched, but if you've got intelligence or you suspect something, you develop pretty good suspicion. One thing that I thought was really sad, you see a lot, is to see the human mules that swallow the pellets.

Marty (12:24.624)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (12:27.02)
full of cocaine and heroin, right? And they have this, and I feel bad because some of these people were very poor peasants or people who were doing it for desperate means and they kind of get used by these organizations. It's pretty much if you do it or your family's gonna suffer badly and it's dangerous because they leak, they die. Sometimes they're playing you, you say, hey, we got another one, DOA, dead on arrival, right?

Yeah, it's awful awful and and if you can't pass it fast enough, let's say we don't catch everybody I have to admit I mean it will be sometimes planes full of these mules right full of them Maybe we catch 10 % 15 % right and then they make it and they you can tell they go some of these You know cheesy hotels near downtown Miami where they got to pass it quickly and then they get paid but what happens if they can't pass it because I've been at the hospitals when you catch them you got to give them this laxative we got to take it takes days for them to pass it so if they can't

Marty (12:53.808)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (13:19.71)
can't pass it fast enough. What do you think these guys are going to do? You think they're going to wait for days? This is business, right? This is money. No, they're going to kill them and gut them. Take it out. Gut them. Gut them. No, these guys, this is a ruthless, ruthless business, man. Ruthless. These guys have no soul, no conscience. They don't care. It's kill or be killed. It's their mentality. Absolutely ruthless people.

Marty (13:23.088)
And take it out of... wow. Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (13:44.108)
So that's why I was watching firsthand. Interesting looking there. So I networked a lot and I want to make my cases bigger. Marty, I want to be able to not just work at the airport or within the area. I want to be an agent. I want to be a full time agent where I can go wherever necessary. It's going to be a little bit harder. You have to develop probable cause and then you may have taken from a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and make your cases and work. But I felt like it's a better challenge where I can do better cases. So I had, you know, networked with ATF, DEA, FBI, Secret Service,

Marty (13:52.208)
Ignacio Esteban (14:14.014)
And I put in and ATF was the first one to pick me up so in 2000 after five years with customs I go and I'm fortunate enough at least they didn't send me to Puerto Rico They didn't send me to some southwest border which can be you know Really difficult and challenging to be out there to live in those conditions. I got Tampa, which was good. I stayed in Florida I was in Miami, but I went to school up in Tampa and at San Luis University So I knew the area somewhat and I was able to start working in there so that that was good

Marty (14:20.832)
You

Ignacio Esteban (14:43.788)
How did I get into undercover work? Well, I was fortunate enough that the group I was working with did a lot of undercover work. It's not for everybody. You have to really learn it because you can get yourself hurt and killed pretty easily if you don't know what you're doing. So, the only thing I did is I studied it a lot. I had mentors that worked on it. And one of the guys I worked with, Carlos, we call him the Puerto Rican bullet catcher.

Marty (14:49.744)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (15:06.86)
Listen to that, the Puerto Rican bullet catcher. Why do we call him the Puerto Rican bullet catcher? I'll tell you a quick story here. In 1987, he was involved in a shooting. And this is in Hialeah, which is in Dade County, if you know the location there, in the Westland Mall in Hialeah. And they're arresting a really bad guy. And the guy's in the car, like here. Carlos is right here on his car. He comes out. And the SWAT team is in the back over here, right?

And he has a 6 hour 9mm and the bad guy happens to have a 6 hour 9mm. The same gun. So they come out to arrest the guy. He's a bad dude. He's a career criminal. They have a warrant for his arrest. And he pulls out and the bad guy shoots at him and he puts his gun out and the bullet goes right through the muzzle and plugs his barrel.

Marty (15:47.408)
Wow. Wow. Yep.

Ignacio Esteban (15:58.764)
Look where the guns at. Imagine where that go on his face, right? That's not good, man. So the SWAT team then opens up and takes care of that guy in the back. Fortunately enough that he had those team there. But I always told him, that's your birthday, man. That's the day that you were born that day. One in a minute, it's like the matrix, man. You're a bullet catcher there. You can't do that once. You can't do that again. He retired later and he did a show with Ripley's Believe It or Not.

Marty (16:15.76)
Of course, yeah. If you've seen that in a movie, if you've seen that in a movie... Sorry. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (16:27.34)
He did a show with Ripley's Believe It or Not later and some other local newscasts about that story. And I think he still has the weapon and he keeps it. And he was a big karate guy too. He was like a 10th grade black belt and everything else. So I learned a lot from Carlos. I learned a lot how to do undercover work. I developed my own style. His English was broken because he's from Puerto Rico. So I kind of used my own style. And some people like to talk a lot. I was like in the middle. I would talk. But the jury wants to also listen to them talk. And what they want to talk about is the way they talk.

Marty (16:39.392)
you

Ignacio Esteban (16:57.246)
They're gonna do what they have done So I wanted to make sure I painted a good picture for the jury and that was important for me And so I always try to have everything like almost like a movie Audio and video so you can see the guy and everything else So I want the jury when they have to deliberate to make them feel good about their decision I don't want them not to be so that's why I might will undercover work I had a hundred percent conviction rate on that now. I also did ATF

Marty (17:08.304)
Yeah. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (17:24.46)
It's a lot smaller for your audience. What's ATF? ATF is Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Used to be part of the Department of Treasury, but after 9 -11 it went over to Justice Department. And that's where I spend most of my career work for DOJ, for the Department of Justice. And it's a smaller agency than the FBI and DEA. I mean, I think we had maybe a little less than 3 ,000 agents, right? We have about 5 ,000 employees over there. We had inspectors, they call them back then. Iowis, they call them now.

Marty (17:36.656)
Ignacio Esteban (17:54.414)
their admin people. So FBI, DA, a lot bigger. So we had to do a lot more with less. So I was also the case agent. I was the undercover. I did my own workups. I did my own property. It's taxing, taxing. Other agencies, they can delegate a lot. Not so fortunate.

Marty (18:05.68)
Yeah, I can imagine. Now, when you're going into these undercover operations, do you have to have your own backstory and memorize everything? You can't be...

Ignacio Esteban (18:17.548)
Yeah, I am.

Yeah, you have to have a good story. You gotta have everything comes with it, identification, everything else that you need to match up who you are, who you're saying you are, in case you get called out on something. And I did that, and I talked about it in my book, and there's some, I dealt with repeat violent offenders, I dealt with gang members, I dealt with international traffickers, domestic traffickers, I dealt with armed home invaders, murder for hire cases. So a nice variety of cases, that's what ATF does.

Marty (18:40.352)
You

Ignacio Esteban (18:49.15)
So, you know, ATF is a joke I made up but the used to be the days of Elliott Ness Bureau of Prohibition. He's a legacy ATF agent It used to be then big a but after you know alcohol was legalized a alcohol became a small a small T for tobacco tobacco diversion Not a lot of big cases on that. There is some issues going on, but you don't get a lot of time Okay seizures huge F for firearms

Marty (19:09.232)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (19:14.892)
And then medium E for explosives. So the guns is where it's at. That's where we have major problems, lots of violence. What we call the trigger pullers. The guys involved in homicides, robberies, burglies, you name it. Those are the kind of guys we want. And those are the kind of guys I dealt a lot of cases with too. So that was interesting.

I'll tell you a few interesting stories there. One of the cases I dealt with was this guy, we'll call it Chino. My last name was Blanco. And this is about...

maybe 2009, 2010, the exact date it's in my book up near Tampa area, because I worked there for 12 years in Tampa. Then after that, I would come to Miami. I'll work in Miami for about seven years. And then I would promote and go ATF headquarters, where I would see it up in DC, because I'm here now in Virginia. And I would be saw her two years ago. And I will see behind the scenes how things would work. And I worked with the number one command in the central division, who later became number two.

Marty (20:06.864)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (20:17.022)
doing command for ATF later. So that was fascinating too, how things work behind the scenes and doing major briefings and everything else. So I found that interesting. But this guy, Blanco, he was an interesting character. He was involved, and I'm gonna give me a little backstory on him.

1980, he was involved in a shootout with police in the city of Miami. He was in the passenger seat and he was with an accomplice in a driver's seat and in a high -speed pursuit. They suspected he was a Bolo beyond the lookout. He matched for description for possibly being involved with having a load of drugs inside the car. But unfortunately, the officers who were chasing him...

Marty (20:36.176)
Ignacio Esteban (20:54.444)
They had hit the brakes and the doors open up and had fallen out of the cars. He had positioned the car a certain way That way his partner could open up and shoot at him. Fortunately enough, he didn't kill him, right? But later they were captured and charged with attempted murder on Leo, a law enforcement officer.

Marty (21:04.4)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (21:13.644)
So my opinion, that guy should have got Chino, I'm gonna come Chino, because the name he introduced himself to me as, he should have, he had about 30 years, maybe a little less, maybe a little about 27 in the state. He should have been life, because then he gets out later, in about 2010 or so, right? So he gets out, a guy who's had a horrific history, he's been doing armed burglaries, robberies, he's been involved in everything you can imagine, attempted murder and legal, should never have been out, he's out. So now I go back to 2010, I get a call about Sunday night,

Marty (21:33.888)
You

Ignacio Esteban (21:43.66)
And this guy I've been dealing with, his name, I call him Small Block, his name was in the book, I have bought guns from him, he has a good criminal history, I've been buying guns and drugs from him. He said, hey listen, we got these guns that are stolen, and I got this guy, Chino, that wants to talk to you about it. So this is about Sunday. So being undercover, I mean, it could be a Sunday night.

Marty (22:02.832)
Yeah, so you're fully immersed in that world and...

Ignacio Esteban (22:03.756)
You still gotta take your phone calls. You still got working, you know, you think it's not a nine to five job Well good. I'm done get to relax now you got undercover phone man Those things blow up all the time and you've got issues with your informants that never stop You have your own personal family issues You have issues with informants you got to deal with and then you got issues with the bad guys you got to deal with

It's a busy day man, a busy day, busy weeks and you get used to it. Maybe that's why I just got busy doing books and everything else and I wanted to keep busy. I don't know. Having two teenage daughters also keeps me busy too. That's as challenging as dealing with some bad guys, I tell you.

Marty (22:31.504)
yeah, I can imagine. I've got a teenage boy myself. Yeah. You could probably write a book on that. So did you ever have any dangerous moments where you nearly got exposed? Okay.

Ignacio Esteban (22:45.228)
Yeah, I need to. Not one, but two.

Ignacio Esteban (22:52.876)
So I'll finish this story and then we'll go with it because it's pretty interesting. So, alright, so he told me he had more guns. I said, okay, so he passed the phone to me and I started talking in Spanish and I could tell by his accent he was also, he was Cuban.

And he said these guns were hot and I said what kind of gun so I started talking about what kind of calibers he told me the calibers he had he said man this guy has a lot of different guns we negotiate prices but in the real world you know I just can't just say okay let's go now and get it because I need a I need a team to help me out have to do an operational plan I gotta plan stuff out I gotta set up the apartment because I had an undercover apartment that I used that was fully wired up so I was gonna have them meet me out there in the Pasco area Pasco County so I have to buy time.

Marty (23:07.344)
You

Ignacio Esteban (23:32.812)
So I gotta buy a couple days, get everything approved, get all my ducks in a row. And when everything's set, then I call him back and say, okay, let's do it here. The other guy, small block, he knew where the location was. Hey, bring him over and we can do it. And we go to the price, everything's set. So they come in, they both show up in different cars. And one of them has a red truck. I remember having in the book, what was it? But they have an addresser. And it said, Dahlia, I said, what's with the dresser? He said, all the guns are inside the dresser. I said, really?

Marty (23:37.488)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (24:02.54)
Right, well bring it in man. The apartment was all set up there and they had the plates to the dresser. They had taken the drawers out so they glued them on. So if they say the police stopped them, they won't think anything of it.

Marty (24:06.976)
You

Ignacio Esteban (24:16.62)
It's getting guys are creative. So, okay, they had the tools crowbars They popped out the plates up there and they start pulling all the guns out all 16 of them were out there and they're start showing them and have all the video up there and remember he's a career criminal and he's grabbing all the guns and he has him in his hands and possession everything else you can't be doing that so He's not only that so he says to me the backstory what happened said well, yeah I mean we have this company we work for which is a window compass always be careful. This is a lesson I learned you had a legitimate company, but on the side they see house They thought were vacant or no one's home

Marty (24:36.016)
Of course. Yeah. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (24:46.574)
what it's a legitimate company neighbors would think they just work on the windows they go on the backside pop the windows go in there and clean house right because jewelry and everything else but unfortunate this house it was very connected with the sheriff's office he was the veterinarian for the sheriff that worked on their horses

So yeah, the big mistake they made on that one. So I said, okay, they talked about the whole thing. Fantastic. I paid him what they owed. And he said, all right, let me pick the dresser back. They took the dresser back. They left me all the guns. And I said, I wonder when they come back and they're going to talk about, if he's actually going to talk about the shooting with the city of Miami back in the 80s. Well, sure he does. He gives me a little background about himself and he said, man, he gives me the whole story. He said, man, they couldn't kill me. They couldn't do this. I lit them up and he starts bragging all the stuff he did. And I was like, man, keep on talking. That's pretty good. It's being recorded. So that's, that's awesome.

Marty (25:06.176)
you

Ignacio Esteban (25:33.934)
And I said, okay, very good. I said listen, I got some AK -47s I can get you next time I'm gonna ask you with this I said, okay, man, that's good I said I like this area better than Tampa Tampa is way too hot I can do a lot more business here after all the stuff we do. We're always cleaning house I said excellent. So after they left I said, okay We're gonna start organizing and taking these guys down and about a few weeks later They were arrested all these guys right and he ended up getting 30 years

Marty (25:34.48)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (26:00.972)
30 years a guy and he was in his 50s in his 50s and again 30 years he had to first estate time so in essence a guy like that it's a life sentence for him and that felt really good really satisfying putting someone like that away.

Marty (26:03.632)
Yeah. Because you know that these weapons are going to be used for gangs and organized crime more than likely and people are going to get killed with them.

Ignacio Esteban (26:19.756)
yeah, I mean...

Kill them and plus you're going in there in a company that's supposed to be working doing a legit job and on the side you're stealing from people. I mean that's his guns, his collection, right? Of weapons and you're going in there and as a criminal stealing, he hasn't learned. Some people maybe get rehabilitated, this guy could never be rehabilitated. These are the kind of guys that get out there thinking, hey man, how can I do my next lick, my next robbery, what else can I do? And they don't think about improving their lives or learning. No, he had a good job.

Marty (26:37.968)
Yeah. Yeah. Saved some lives there for sure.

Ignacio Esteban (26:50.668)
But he was using it for the wrong reasons. And that's wrong. And I felt good about that case, really good.

Ignacio Esteban (26:59.82)
Yeah, absolutely and brought the guns back to the owner and he was very appreciative to get the guns back instead of being the streets and you're right. They're going the wrong hands.

Marty (27:06.96)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. So would you say that it's been, would you say it's very dangerous, the work that you was doing, like on the verge of being exposed and all the time?

Ignacio Esteban (27:21.036)
Yeah man, it's... Yeah, it's not for everybody. It's not for everybody. You gotta be all in. Like I said, the look I had, the beard. You have to be committed. It's a lot of long hours. And you deal with all different kinds of characters. All different kinds of characters.

I dealt with one other interest case and I have it on my book there ATF undercover that that guy is one here and I would work this one case from A to Z this one was back in again in the Tampa area 2010 2011 time I have it in my book where I start and it's always important to have good informants you have good informants they can make or break your cases you have some bad informants of course they can destroy you and really get you jammed up with your cases but and that's why I like to undercover work the second

I got a good introduction to a case or to what I'm doing. I try to cut him out So it's just me and him so everything's recorded. We know what's going on. These guys are predisposed This is what they're actively involved in Nothing's worse when you have an informant that's in something I may have to bring them in to find out hey make sure everything's okay Just talk to him make sure everything's okay with me. It doesn't expect anything right? He doesn't think maybe I'm I'm a I'm a Fed or cop or something So it's always good to keep that there open so with this case I had

Marty (28:11.472)
You

Ignacio Esteban (28:36.814)
an informant cooperator who then introduced me to a guy that had been popped for selling, he was a FedEx employee, running guns to Puerto Rico out of Tampa. He was convicted in Puerto Rico.

Marty (28:40.752)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (28:53.228)
right pending sentencing he had he had pled guilty he had returned back to florida right and i've been and he he's already convicted felon so he can't have weapons but he was introduced to me already and he was going to different gun shows buying guns because they didn't have background checks right at the gun shows loopholes right and he was selling guns to me

Marty (29:09.84)
Yeah, I believe so. Wow. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (29:13.484)
So the guy doesn't learn his lesson. He's convicted felon, right? He works for FedEx. He has sold guns in Puerto Rico, right? Trafficking guns. That's a big hub over there because he had a lot of violence in Puerto Rico also. And he's himself back with Puerto Rican. And then he sells me a lot of guns. We popped him and then we get, I think I ended up seizing, he sold me a, a Tommy gun with a 75 round drum.

FN of FN pistol with fabrique national 5 .7 millimeter, which is considered the cop killer for weapons, right? It's supposed to go through body armor. So i've taken a cache of weapons Yeah, yeah. Yeah, i've taken a cache of weapons from this guy here convicts me and they don't they don't care whatever so

Marty (29:39.312)
Wow. That's the, that's the big, the bigger rounds as well. Wow.

Marty (29:53.872)
and he doesn't know that you're obviously undercover.

Ignacio Esteban (29:56.204)
He had no idea. No one ever has an idea about me until afterwards I introduced myself and this is the gig and this is what's going on. He ends up getting, like I said, you don't get a lot of time unfortunately for firearms trafficking but he got about three, five years because he had already had one other conviction. I get introduced to him through someone else and another guy is a high school teacher. He's a high school teacher up in that area of central Florida.

Marty (30:06.704)
You

Ignacio Esteban (30:22.444)
And he's also trafficking guns. Repeal your buying and selling guns. You know, teacher by day, gun trafficker in the afternoon, you know, does what he can. And I get quite a few guns at him. One time when we arrest him, I had, he just buys, he would call me and say, listen, I'm at the gun show, what are you looking for? You know, gun collectors collect, they like their guns, I like to collect guns. Traffickers are flipping guns for profit, right? They need to make money. Buy and sell, buy and sell.

Marty (30:36.816)
Wow. Yeah. And so, so let's, so, so if, if somebody, if he purchases a weapon from the gun show and then sells it to a criminal and then they commit a murder, there's no way to trace it back that he bought that weapon. you can. Right.

Ignacio Esteban (30:57.932)
Now you can. You can. Yeah. It's different now. Now, if you talk about a traditional way, if you're talking about these ghost guns, right? I don't know if you know what a ghost gun is. It's an untraceable guns where you can make them through 3D printers or you can make them through parts. Well, that's a big problem. That's a big problem. That's a big problem. Unfortunately, technology is good. Anybody else can be used for bad.

Marty (31:12.528)
I've seen the documentaries.

Marty (31:17.648)
Yeah, I can imagine. Yep.

Marty (31:23.728)
Yeah, of course.

Ignacio Esteban (31:25.58)
And you see a lot of people, the cartels are getting really good at that. They're good at bringing people in and order the parts, especially Americans who are gunsmiths, and bringing them in over the border and then let them start putting the guns together on traceables. That way, because we have agents in Mexico, and part of the jobs we do is any recovered weapons to try to trace it to see where it came from. But if you don't have those numbers, those serial numbers, well, how can you trace it?

Marty (31:52.4)
Course, yeah. So it's getting harder. Getting harder, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (31:53.548)
untraceable, right? Untraceable. Scary time. 21st century. Yeah, scary times. It's only getting worse and tougher. So he was a high school teacher.

I went back to the story and we popped him and again he got a little bit of time I think probation what have you but he cooperates and I keep on going higher and higher to a FFL which is a federal firearms licensee this is someone who has a public trust who has a license issued by ATF right to sell guns legally right but you gotta do the paperwork right

Marty (32:08.496)
Hmm

Ignacio Esteban (32:26.508)
You gotta keep the paper. You gotta do the background checks. You got all the things that come responsible as a gun owner of a gun shop, right? And he wasn't doing that. He wasn't doing that. I met with him and I told my backstory and we started talking and he told me how he circumvents the system. He uses his license to buy from wholesalers. He gets a discount, right? But he doesn't put it in the A &D book, Acquisition Disposition book, which is supposed to, where it came from. He says, no, I leave that.

Marty (32:37.648)
Hi.

Ignacio Esteban (32:56.414)
out. So ATF, when they come in to look at my book, they have no idea my true inventory. And I'll sell to you what they call off paper. and I'm recording all this. So we'll keep on talking.

Marty (33:04.944)
Yeah, yeah. So are you wearing a wire when you're doing this or stuff? Okay.

Ignacio Esteban (33:09.836)
Yeah, you have recorders. Yeah, a lot of recorders and stuff. And like I said, I want to make it so the jury, if it goes to trial, but most of my cases, very few went to trial because the evidence is so overwhelming, they plead guilty. And the federal system of the United States, 90 % plus plead guilty because the case is overwhelming and they want to cooperate. So they get some consideration for the cooperation. That's what a lot of them want to do. That's how the American system is over here. So he gets popped.

Marty (33:32.364)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (33:39.724)
He sells me those guns and everything else after a few months investigation and talking. And he loses his license, which was satisfying. He does a few years, right? He's an older guy. So I dealt with a variety of people. A guy in his mid -20s, someone who's a teacher in high school, and an older man in his mid -50s, I think 60s, and licensee, all from different parts of walks of life, but all has something in common. They like to make money selling guns.

Marty (34:01.872)
Yeah. Yeah. Even like organized crime and stuff like that, did you ever come across all sorts of guys?

Ignacio Esteban (34:06.06)
So you can't really say, this is a typical farms trafficker. If you ask me what's a typical farms trafficker, man, it could be anybody. It could be anybody. Anybody knows about guns.

Ignacio Esteban (34:23.66)
Yeah, we worked on a lot of different cases and I also wrote about it. Gang members, I did a lengthy case about two and a half years on the Valentine Bloods.

which is probably one of the most violent groups in Pasco County at the time, working with the Sheriff's Office and the police department out there in that area, New Port Richey. And it takes a lot of work. You have informants, you got to work cases, surveillance, and it's satisfying when you can dismantle a group like that, which is involved in shootings and drug trafficking, weapons and all that, and all kinds of guns, because they really make an impact in the community. And that's satisfying. And those kinds of groups...

Marty (34:43.664)
Hmm.

Ignacio Esteban (35:01.42)
are dangerous. Unfortunately, it's a culture. One thing I've seen and I've read about in my books and everything else, it seems like the gangs and the cartels are still thriving in America, while the mafia is pretty much done, Italian mafia, in America. The biker groups are also suffering a lot, but these other groups are getting stronger and thriving because the culture is passed from generation to generation. Also, the corruption is so immense in Mexico.

Marty (35:13.552)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (35:31.326)
We don't have an equal partner in the war on drugs. It's just a corruption in Mexico is enormous. Not just Mexico, I have to be honest with you. Mexico, Central America, and South America. When you have Nicolas Maduro, which is an indicted narco terrorist under the Trump administration, Maduro was an indicted, he took over from Chavez. He said he was a communist, but man, he likes the money he makes from selling drugs, that's for sure. They live well. They talk from both ends. And when you have that kind of massive corruption in this hemisphere, and they don't care.

Marty (35:42.928)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (36:01.23)
I mean if you look at Lopez over the order the president of Mexico He had a famous interview 60 minutes a few weeks ago Maybe a month now where he's saying that well if America wants us to enforce more What's going on the border on our end? We need to pay us more That's a bribe right there a shakedown. It's like you don't pass enough his his mentality in Mexico has been hugs for thugs We think that's the Americans problem

Marty (36:12.144)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (36:26.668)
That's the Canadians' problems. That's the Europeans' problem. They can't stop their people from consuming drugs or you know what? It's a business. They see it. But they don't like the guns coming down with the violence. They want us to enforce our side, but they're not really doing a good job on theirs. So I write about that. I write about the cartels. I write about politics. I write about the failures also with some of the problems we have with the Biden administration. Open policy, open borders.

Marty (36:39.664)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (36:52.684)
That's a big problem in this country. We need to finish the wall. We need to make sure mass deportations for those who come in legally. Because those who come legally, it's not fair if you wait in line to come to the United States legally with your plight to become a resident, while the people who try to sneak through, and that's just wrong. That's wrong in all different counts. So. is it?

Marty (37:09.584)
Same issue here in the UK as well at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, it seems to be quite widespread. Usually over across through France, across the channel and stuff in like trucks, boats. There's a thing called the migrant crossing and they're just coming across, you know, in droves, just boats after boats. And a lot of them unfortunately like die as well, you know, accidents out in the sea and stuff like that.

Ignacio Esteban (37:15.468)
Where do they come from? How do they come in illegally from the UK?

Ignacio Esteban (37:21.804)
Okay. To the channel.

Ignacio Esteban (37:36.684)
Yeah. Yeah, we see that. We saw that.

Marty (37:39.152)
and it's quite devastating but I mean if you're coming from a war -torn country and you're genuinely just trying to find a better life then there's kind of no problem but the majority of them are involved with gangs and the Albanians and it's become a big problem in the UK.

Ignacio Esteban (37:59.276)
Yeah, you don't want organized crime. That's for sure. You don't want more headaches, more mafia, more groups involved. That's just bad. And the cartels are thriving with that too. See, they're involved in a lot of things. Even if it would stop the war on drugs, people stop using. I say what they need a lot is people getting treatment, rehabilitation. We're trying to get that better because people have to get their lives together because it doesn't end. A lot of these groups want to see America and Europe and Canada fall like a rotten apple from within. The other generation get consumed with drugs because fentanyl...

Marty (38:09.392)
Yeah. yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (38:29.182)
really destroys people. Fentanyl, drugs, you look online all that. Legalization I don't think is the answer. If you go to online, you know, YouTube or wherever you go, and you look at, I think British Columbia and Vancouver has legalized drugs and you see the zombies, the picture of people just falling on the streets using drugs and all that. You can't just, you gotta get them to help, but just legalizing completely I think is a big mistake.

Marty (38:38.608)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (38:55.372)
It just destroys people and drugs. I know in Virginia and all parts like in Florida throughout the US Marijuana, I'm not sure about the UK has been legalized for medical use and someplace small amount for recreational use Marijuana, you know, not cocaine not heroin not fentanyl nothing like that. Is weed legal in the UK? No.

Marty (39:07.856)
Yeah. No, it's not. No, I think you can obtain like a medical prescription somehow, but I think it's, they don't make it easy for people. And I mean, that's a funny thing as well, because I've been seeing different, I listen to a lot of podcasts.

Ignacio Esteban (39:23.628)
or medical.

Marty (39:31.984)
And apparently it's becoming a big problem, especially in the States, because it's not like the regular weed. People are smoking like these concentrates. It's like 90 to a hundred percent THC. And you've, you've got these young kids now that are going not from the traditional part from back in the day, but they're going to the super strong stuff and they're getting all kinds of problems, you know, and it's, it's caused a massive influx of mental health and psychosis and stuff, which the younger kids may be watching this will disagree with, but you know, this,

Ignacio Esteban (39:39.788)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (39:49.772)
Super strong. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (39:59.659)
Yeah.

Marty (40:01.36)
It's a yeah, it's become a problem. Definitely.

Ignacio Esteban (40:05.1)
Yeah, some of that you can do it without getting high and get the medical benefits of marijuana They have pill form and everything else but now the kids want they want to get high and and the combination of the stronger THC like you're saying with the alcohol it is having a really bad effect with a lot of people a lot of mental health issues and you're seeing with the youth in college because we didn't have that kind of issue when I was going to kind of never was my thing obviously, I like to have good time and everything else but Obviously I was drug tested in college a lot of people complained

Marty (40:14.608)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (40:35.054)
sports and I never liked smoking a lot. It just wasn't something I liked, wasn't what I was involved in. But some kids, man, they're just all into this and I think it ruins your life with a combination of alcohol with that. That's a bad combination. That's just a bad combo.

Marty (40:44.4)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (40:51.052)
It's tough to see that and then you add all the other heavy drugs in the mix that you know, they say, let me try some coke or let me do this and they start popping the pills and mixing with alcohol. That's all just bad news. That's a recipe for a disaster. That's a recipe for disaster. Try, try stay away from that stuff. Those who are watching and get yourself clean and sober. I mean, have a good time when you can, but it's a way and you hate to see it. And that's, and that's what these, these horrible organizations, cartels thrive on. The weakness of people.

Marty (41:13.584)
Mm -hmm.

Ignacio Esteban (41:21.006)
and they're trying to exploit their addiction, destroy their lives, and it has a ripple effect in our country and our work ethic too. And I think you probably have the same issues there because they don't care, because maybe in their country it's expensive and a lot of people here don't use it, so they say, hey, that's their problem. And we have the massive amount of money, the carrot or the stick. One thing that's different between the cartels and the mafia...

Marty (41:42.992)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (41:46.508)
With a mafia, when they come after somebody, it's for a purpose, right? You wronged us. It's business related.

When you're dealing with these gangs and the cartels, sometimes they like to terrorize people. They're very bloodthirsty. And you hear the horrible stories when they say, hey, you know what? Let's say, Zethos, for example. They were a horrible military group that split off from the Gulf cartel. And they really enjoyed killing and videotaping. You can look all this stuff up online. You can see it all. So let's hijack this bus here. Let's take it back to the ranch. And let's do house of horrors like we did from the Roman Colosseum. And they said, OK, first, we're going to take the bus.

Marty (42:12.24)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (42:22.542)
round we're gonna give this guy a hammer and this guy a bat and let's see who survives the first round and then we'll take it to a different level and then the winner at the end gets a position as a Sicario killer for the Zethas so one day you're in the bus next thing you're killing your fellow you know mates in there in the bus and then you're working for the Zethas.

Marty (42:41.328)
Hmm. I heard you say on a previous podcast that I listened to that it is like a form of terrorism as well. What some of these groups are doing. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (42:47.788)
Yeah, yeah, you're terrorizing people right domestic. They're very some of these guys because they become psychopaths You know the same way 14 year you desensitize people to kill early you teach up to kill early It's okay to kill early. It means nothing to kill early and that's how you're successful El Chapo Guzman said he was killing early himself and You know, he was interviewed by Sean. That's unbelievable Yeah, I don't know if you saw the interview with Sean Penn and and and it's not a little mountains with Kate Del Castillo now You have to escape once now escapes twice, but the

Marty (42:53.264)
Hmm.

Marty (43:06.896)
No. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (43:17.742)
third time is on the run there. It's a shame that the Mexican government cannot keep their guys incarcerated. And the US has to pick up the tab, put them in the supermax, have the trial, all the expense on our dollar, right? And then keep this guy now for life on our dime. That's shameful.

That's a case after case after case after case and we have to do it because these guys can't do it because they're so corrupt the system So now we don't have an equal part in the war on drugs It's it's unbelievable legalization people say why not legalize it for those reasons. I said earlier I don't think that's a good deal because look at British Columbia right now Look at Vancouver when they legalize in Vancouver. It is awful to see the video people all over the street collapses It's like watching zombies everywhere in Vancouver. I heard was a nice city before never been there

Marty (43:37.072)
No.

Ignacio Esteban (44:05.902)
But images before and after I should want to be there now. That's for sure Yeah, so

Marty (44:06.288)
Hmm... and I believe it's... is it the MS -13 that's pretty much controlling the system in America?

Ignacio Esteban (44:15.82)
Get it?

The MSL train is a violent street gang. They started here in the US from Salvadorian immigrants and they went, they were deported. So this is one of the things where you want to get rid of the bad apples, but the country you go down back to, Salvador or Honduras, they're very corrupt, very weak police state. So these guys got together and thrived and really, really made it even bigger and stronger. And yeah, they don't care. If you go after them, it's not uncommon for them in Honduras. It did a few years back where, you want to try making

Marty (44:35.632)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (44:46.926)
example of us again they pull over a bus full of women and children and they go out and execute these kids these poor children and women screaming and yelling because they can and they want to make you want to try to do things this is what we're gonna do so now MS -13 is it's part of gets their cult -like mentality where not only do they get involved in these things but they also are very bloodthirsty and they like to have body count and they want to see who's who's a bigger killer this guy has eight I'm gonna do ten and it doesn't have to have any purpose

Marty (45:05.712)
Wow

Ignacio Esteban (45:16.846)
like the mafia it's just about getting a body count so hey there's a couple in the car let's kill them because we can and they're there and their opportunity in LA a few years ago there was a couple and I said that one because they were hacked up in a federal park with machetes

Marty (45:34.192)
And that's just to make a statement as well.

Ignacio Esteban (45:35.404)
Awful.

That's to make a statement. Sometimes guys go on road rages. There was a famous case out of San Francisco. Mr. Dinguy was in a road rage because the father and son were parked a certain way where he couldn't pass them. And the road, he got out of the car and capped them both.

Marty (45:53.976)
Wow. It's brutal. Absolutely brutal. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (45:56.492)
Yeah, so violence, violence everywhere. It's brutal, unfortunately. It's one of our country of our size, 340 million. We have, just think just 1 % of that. You still have a lot of problems. The numbers are higher. We have to incarcerate a lot because of the culture. And on top of that, it's easy access to weapons. So you got psychopaths, people with mental health issues, and on top of that, easy access to weapons. That's a recipe for disaster. Maybe that's why we also have a lot of mass shootings too in the United States.

Marty (46:23.6)
Yeah, I was going to say that seems to be a bit of a problem, doesn't it? Especially with the assault rifles and stuff.

Ignacio Esteban (46:28.14)
Yeah, mass shootings are a big problem. My take on this, and I'm a very pro -Second Amendment, which is we protect the right to bear arms, or firearms and everything else, is the bad guys don't respect the laws at all. You have all these gun -free zones, allegedly, right? You think they're gonna say, hey, it's a gun -free zone, I'm not allowed to carry my gun here, I better turn around and walk home. No, they don't care, they don't care.

Marty (46:52.656)
Yeah. Yeah. And I know when I used to do the radio stuff, statistically, you see that there's more violent crime in the states that have stricter gun laws, statistically. And I've got a family in Indiana and it's like, yeah, and it's concealed carry state, I think. So, and they've basically explained that, you know, if a mass shooting was about to happen, then members of the public could quickly stop it. Whereas if you're in a...

Ignacio Esteban (47:03.564)
Yes? Yes? you do? Okay.

Ignacio Esteban (47:11.884)
Okay.

Ignacio Esteban (47:20.812)
That's the idea right a good guy with a gun hopefully can step a bad guy with a gun But nobody with a gun can't step back out with a gun, right? Yes, you're getting slaughtered and you get slaughtered. It's awful awful awful You mean you look at the scene. I don't remember Steve Paddock in Las Vegas the worst mass shooter in US history a few years ago He was set up like a sniper style, right? But

Marty (47:22.16)
Yeah.

Marty (47:26.256)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. gosh, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (47:43.468)
This is such a complicated story and I talk about this in my book the worst mass shooting in US history how we can stop them happening again He had mental health issues. He had other stuff going on, but he gradually he was at a very nice hotel up there and there was a farm and I have the name of the hotel I think it was the nice case for my name right now It's in the book and he was he was a sweet. He was a heavy player So they comped him a nice room But he helped the hotel staff because he had all the guns so you don't know if you know this they don't x -ray, you know your

Marty (47:56.496)
I mean, I've seen the CCTV footage of them just bringing them in and, you know, crate after crate. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (48:13.422)
back to going to hotels, right? He lived in Nevada.

Ignacio Esteban (48:19.788)
They helped him. They helped him. He had two suites. And he took him three days to go back and forth from his home. He wasn't too far. Back and forth in Las Vegas. Back and forth. And they helped him load it up. And then he was set up like a sniper style with all these weapons, 30 plus weapons, right? He even had bump stocks in him to help him shoot fully automatic. And he killed 50 plus people. 50 plus people.

Marty (48:42.832)
Yeah, just indiscriminately shooting into the crowds and it was awful. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (48:47.052)
They were there to have a good time, enjoy life. And so many more got injured out there. Awful, awful, awful. Police responded quickly on that one, which was good, and he committed suicide. He had a handgun, he committed suicide. And that picture's out there too. And that was leaked out there, if you want to see that too, on Steve Paddock, the work mass shooter. But I think you have to act quickly. That was a good one. And Sunset said police responded quickly, local authorities. A bad one would be Oval, Texas. What happened there at elementary school where all these kids were

Marty (48:54.992)
Mm -hmm.

Ignacio Esteban (49:17.006)
killed while the police stayed outside.

Right and the parents are even trying to get in knowing which classroom is shooting on and they are arresting the parents they're tasting the parents and and and and they're spreading the parents while the police sitting back and One teacher was interviewed later who survived when the one few teachers said he was shot on the table He couldn't move he was kind of like paralyzed and watching his kids being executed And he said he heard them outside the classroom and they did nothing they did nothing That's not the way to do I did after shoe training once they start opening up you got to go in there you got to try to say them out there but wait 70 minutes and

treat it like a barricade situation where the kids are bleeding out. And then one of the kids used the teacher's phone to call and said, we need help. We're getting shot in here. And they stayed outside. It took a, a Borac team from board patrol to go in there who was miles away, responded, who was like a SWAT team to find, go in there and neutralize the threat and kill this guy. 80 minutes.

Marty (49:53.456)
Wow. Wow, it's awful. I mean, I do listen to a lot of true, I do listen to a lot of true crime stuff and you know, I can understand that sometimes people are a victim of circumstance.

but I can't get my head around the psychology of what would possess somebody to go and shoot a load of children or innocent people in general, you know.

Ignacio Esteban (50:27.692)
It's awful. It's awful. It's awful. We get quite a few of those in this country and I wrote a book about that. And the mindset is, I think the trend is, they never got the help they needed. They never got the help they needed.

Marty (50:39.856)
Yeah. We have, we have had a couple of, we've had a couple of mass shootings here in the UK. one probably quite famous was I think in the late eighties, there was a guy down in the South, I think London kind of area. He went crazy with an AK 47, killed about 19 people and then assault rifles were banned. And then about five or six years later up in Lockerbie, Scotland, there was a guy that went crazy with two handguns, shot loads of kids in schools. And then that led to them.

Ignacio Esteban (50:44.588)
Hmm.

Marty (51:08.496)
you know, banning handguns in this country. I mean, currently people can get shotguns and hunting rifles with very strict checks and they have to go through tests and get licenses and stuff. But then we did have like a cab driver that went crazy a decade ago with a shotgun. And then they were, you know, they were talking of possibly banning those too, but...

Ignacio Esteban (51:21.164)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (51:29.932)
But shotgun so yeah, it's It's not it's not that I don't I hate when they demonize the weapon It's not the weapon the weapon is just an object because most people law -abiding citizens have weapons and it treated rates at 1 % That does the bad things you have to address what happened there the mental health crisis. So my solutions were

Marty (51:36.368)
Yeah.

Marty (51:41.84)
Yeah, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (51:50.092)
What can help prevent the numbers you know, it's gonna have you know some people dying but to have the huge numbers If you can especially schools to have you know after 9 -eleven I'm gonna change here after 9 -eleven What they did is with their pilots could be armed in the cockpit if they want to right they can be trained in the cockpit We have a gun in case there's no air marshal like as a federal agent I was crossed a cross designated that I would notify the pilot and I said I have my weapon on me in case you need me Let me know on the flights. So as a force multiplier for the air marshal

Marty (52:10.992)
Of course, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (52:20.046)
for federal agents to also be armed on the plane when flying. So that would help. A lot of things happen after 9 -11, so a lot of pilots want to do that because they're prior military, gun enthusiasts, or they want to do the training, and they want to at least be prepared to address a terrorist as they're trying to take over the plane.

So maybe a lot of teachers, right, who have prior training, right, military, law enforcement, or gun enthusiasts, they all said, you know what, we should have guns somewhere secure in the classroom where at least we can fight back and not be slaughtered, right, and stuff like that. So that's one solution I said, teachers who want to.

Marty (52:40.272)
Yeah, of course.

Ignacio Esteban (52:56.076)
Also have a resource, some counties can have resource officers, or maybe there should be a federal force that can provide protection for schools, right? Or maybe you have to hunker down with more protection at one way in, one way out, making it harder for the people to come in into these places. Hunker the schools down, make it harder for them to come in. Not easy access anywhere you want and open up. So there's a lot of things you can do to try and minimize it, at least at the schools. You know, when you look at theaters, shopping, because it happens everywhere. Theater, shopping centers, what have you.

Marty (53:08.592)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (53:26.03)
then you need more trained professionals, either security that's armed or you need police officers at these locations. If I had a business, I want to make sure my patrons were protected, right? Some of them don't care. They don't want you armed and they offer no protection. Man, that's bad news.

Marty (53:38.8)
Course, yeah. Sitting ducks. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (53:43.084)
These guys are gonna come in. You say they're gonna come in. It's awful, awful. And what you want is to have the police to do the job too. Because you don't want them waiting outside like with all the Texas or happened in Parkland with the high school. We had resource officer who was there, right? And kids are getting slaughtered. And you know, teachers are trying their best to try and save the kids and they're getting shot. And they have this guy has a an assault rifle. And the guy say outside and you need to go in. I mean, at least get their attention, do something. If you have one or two of you.

Marty (53:50.32)
Hmm.

Ignacio Esteban (54:13.038)
you, you have your weapons, these kids have nothing, you gotta do something. You can't say outside, I don't know where the shots are being fired or go inside and at least render some aid to those who have been shot. Do something. Don't just wait outside and let them die out there like that. So we've had some bad incidents there where people are very upset what happened in there and you know it's I think the UK has a population of what 40 million?

Marty (54:19.76)
Yeah. I think 60s, 60 something. Yep.

Ignacio Esteban (54:36.236)
60 something? Yeah. So, you know, those things might work there, but 340 million, especially if you live, and I always say to people, especially if you're at home, you should have some home defense, especially in a more rural area, because if you expect the police to come and save you when you have a home invader in your house, it's going to take them at least 20, 30 minutes to get there, right? It's going to be an investigation after the fact.

Marty (54:47.216)
Mm -hmm.

Marty (54:55.792)
Yeah. Well, I mean, the self -defense laws here in the UK are quite a joke, really. You're not allowed to possess any kind of weapon if it's for self -defense. So if you went to apply for like a shotgun license just for home invaders and you told the police officer who visits your home to get the license, I want it for self protection. No, you're not allowed it. That's it. It's a crime. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you're,

Ignacio Esteban (55:02.752)
really?

Ignacio Esteban (55:20.332)
It's a crime.

Marty (55:24.24)
found to have any kind of weapon and your reason for having it is for self -defense, then that's a crime. So it kind of gives the gangs and the home invaders the green light really because they can still get the weapons and they do, you know.

Ignacio Esteban (55:31.02)
That's a crime.

Ignacio Esteban (55:37.26)
Of course. That's what I've been saying. I might bookshare all about that. I'm very about that. I'm glad to. But it's amazing how many people, and I'm going to turn to blue states, don't see it that way. The liberals don't see it that way, right? They think the gun is bad. And if you have gun -free zones, I mean, the bad guys, no, they're still going to come. You're just victimizing.

Marty (55:40.688)
Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. And I think the problem with America is it three or four million? sorry. So many guns per person, per population, millions.

Ignacio Esteban (56:04.158)
that's a lot.

Some people do I mean something don't like guns all depends on individual like I said, I like collecting weapons plus I have good weapons for help from the fence from hung handguns rifles shotguns and keep it in sometimes in different rooms to secure because nothing is worse, you know, and don't put it I wrote an article about this good. I want to write books but also write articles They get published different places and my expertise I said you want to be open common sense things you do to protect your house and your family I'm just gonna put this out there

There may be also applies to you guys out there where you can you can do this too is try to have your house Or wherever you live lit well Don't keep it dark right don't don't have it give opportunity to be shattery going around if you can If you can't know it's expensive try have camera an alarm system, right? I know if you can't afford that at least put the signs out that you do have one This is the war psychology you got to play with these criminals right make it hard make them think twice so not to hit this house or this place because

Marty (56:51.888)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (57:04.798)
because, this might have an alarm, maybe put some fake cameras up, they don't have to be wired, but put the cameras up to maybe think, maybe I'm being watched, I gotta be careful, light everything up around you, right? Maybe have to put signs, I like to do this, bad dog.

Bad dog everywhere right make him think man this dog is really quiet I gotta be careful here and and this is part of the game. They even put like a big bowl out right and see how big it is and all these things you got to play with it that way he's saying you know what and don't and please lock your door some people like to keep the thing I can still sleep at night my doors are locked windows open do everything quiet and dark

Marty (57:21.168)
No.

Ignacio Esteban (57:42.668)
That's a recipe for doing disaster. That's a disaster right there. You see the horror stories happening all the time where these guys take advantage. And serial killers, guess what? They look for that too.

Marty (57:51.456)
You

Ignacio Esteban (57:52.556)
I know you guys have few and I we've had quite a few in America. You know, you think of of course, you know, Jack the Ripper and you think of the time H H Holmes and and other ones and but we've had quite a few in America and what they talk about like the Bundys and and the Domers and and the Gacy's and all these big names is they take advantage. You know Ramirez, you know, he was a night stalker. They take advantage of homes of people who they they leave the stuff open. You make it easy for them. They're going to watch you. They're going to stalk you. They're going to see your patterns and they're coming in.

Marty (58:20.624)
Yeah. Mm. Yeah, it's quite scary. It's a scary world, really, when you're not allowed to protect yourself.

Ignacio Esteban (58:22.51)
So that's the unfortunate reality we live in. Yeah, so. No, I can't believe I couldn't I would never live in a blue state. You know, America is divided by red and blue states and it's unfortunate. But you know, I live in I've lived in Florida my whole life. I would never live in California because I was born there, but I wouldn't live there because of how you know Gavin Newsom and I think it's important not to restrict people and the homeless population is out of control.

Marty (58:48.944)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (58:51.916)
different topic there. That's just insane what's going on there. They need to get that in order. It's a health issue there. It's a mental health problem. You just can't have people living in the streets. When I went to DC, I worked in headquarters and took the train and Union Station. I've never seen so many homeless people around there. To me, it's just sickening. It's just a health crisis. You cannot have people like... Countries should not have their citizens live like that. We have to have a solution for that, but living on the street is not a solution. That's...

Marty (59:18.16)
No. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (59:21.87)
doesn't work and and they're the same kind of crazy sometimes they'll do stuff you see in New York all the time they push people in front of the train right they lose their minds and they do awful awful things I would hate to go I have been on the train before the subway in New York City but they're so strict and they can't carry anything

And there's so many bad people out on the trains. That's another horrible recipe there. I wouldn't want to be on the train. I'll take an Uber. I'll be honest with you, man. I'm not taking the train anymore. And now that I'm retired, before I could carry. So I didn't care. And I'm retired. I'm on for it. I can go anywhere with my gun, right? You even have a concealed weapons permit. This is our crazy DC, New York, and it's all right. You can't carry. Period. Why would I want to put myself in that situation? I don't.

Marty (59:49.36)
right yeah what is it is it is it Chicago there's like the murder capital of the states is that still true and what's the gun laws like in Chicago same thing right

Ignacio Esteban (01:00:10.38)
Chicago has quite a few. Chicago has quite a few too. Yeah, same thing. The same thing. Blue state, right? Look at all the blue states, New York, Chicago. You see a lot in the northeast, parts of the Midwest, the West Coast, some people call it the left coast.

Marty (01:00:26.768)
Everybody's leaving.

Ignacio Esteban (01:00:26.956)
California, Oregon, Washington. Yeah, so it's a place I like, you know, Texas. I like the laws, gun laws in Texas, Florida, the South, parts of Midwest. Virginia has become more red now, which is good. Governor Youngkin. So it's it depends. You know, if you want, if you believe in your right to protect yourself and everything else, see, knowing all this now, it's like I like to visit, but I couldn't live anywhere in Europe where you can't protect yourself.

Marty (01:00:43.28)
Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, it is. I think it was, I'm sure it was a Florida sheriff or some kind of chief of police or something that I heard recently.

Ignacio Esteban (01:00:56.492)
That's awful. That is awful. Because these guys are, they're coming in, they think you have something they want, they'll take no prisoners.

Marty (01:01:11.76)
And they were saying that it's, you know, if somebody breaks into your home, we want you to kill them. You'd be doing us a favor. And I was like, Whoa. Right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, people in the UK are scared to like beat somebody up. They break into the home, you know, I mean, you can use reasonable force or the same, but I mean, if, if you happen to kill them because you're in a state of panic and fear and fear on life, then chances are you're going to be, you're going to be charged with that.

Ignacio Esteban (01:01:18.86)
Yeah, that's Sheriff, I think Sheriff Grady out of Polk County. Yeah, Sheriff Grady, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.

Marty (01:01:41.664)
It's going to be a very tough case.

Ignacio Esteban (01:01:41.836)
Yeah, hopefully have something called the Castle Doctrine which we have here where you can't really leave anywhere, this is your home, right? You're allowed to stay in your home and defend yourself. Now, other places like Florida has to stand your ground, and Virginia, and Texas, where you don't have to retreat. If someone is coming at you, you're allowed to stand your ground and defend yourself. Other places you have to retreat first.

Marty (01:02:03.024)
Right, okay.

Ignacio Esteban (01:02:06.508)
And after a while, then you're able to defend yourself. You have to give yourself a chance. I don't like any of these weird places. I said, no, I gotta run first. And then I got, my goodness, awful. That just means retired law enforcement. I'm just giving my opinion here.

Marty (01:02:12.016)
Yeah. And then you have to prove that then in the court, don't you? I should imagine.

Ignacio Esteban (01:02:24.94)
Yeah, if they charge it's awful man. Hopefully they don't charge it, but they do you imagine have to live through that You get victimized twice. This is my opinion you get you get victimized twice You almost got victimized by this guy and then the system victimizes you you have to justify your actions You

Marty (01:02:31.088)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:02:40.748)
That's awful, protecting your family. So that's just my views, things, and what I've seen. And I'm not happy with any state or any country that doesn't want me to be able to defend myself. Responsible. Now, if you're not responsible, I get that. Hold that person accountable. But don't just say, one bad person used this kind of weapon. Now we're going to ban this weapon.

Marty (01:02:59.568)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:03:01.612)
what happened with that bad person and what issues and where was the ball dropped and what kind of mental health issue this guy have and who said what about because always someone who said hey I don't like this person how they're acting you know social media they post some really weird stuff right they're saying stuff to say if you see something say something right reports authorities move quickly and how did that person get those weapons if you got these great gun laws how do they get all these weapons?

Marty (01:03:27.792)
I mean we've seen that time and time again from serial killers and mass shooters that have had YouTube channels, let's say, and they've been documenting how they feel and how they hate the world and there's all kinds of like signs there that this guy's not wired up right, he's planning something and then we'll always see it after the fact. this is his, you know, his YouTube channel and these were his, this was his manifesto and this is the sort of stuff he used to say and you know and then nobody's picking up on this. It's just, it's crazy.

Ignacio Esteban (01:03:34.348)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:03:54.508)
Yeah.

There's a lot of red flags and when you see it and some people are scared to get involved but you need to get involved because it just keeps on happening. We had a shooter in Maine do the same thing. He was a reservist, a sergeant, firearms instructor, but he was saying a lot of stuff on the base, making a lot of threats, right? Having a lot of issues and they have certain red flags laws to be able to take guns away from people who people think are a threat and a problem. The ball fell through the cracks so to speak.

Marty (01:04:15.696)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:04:24.91)
and he committed atrocities, the worst mass shooting in Maine history happened there a few months ago. So there's always issues there, at least he committed suicide, they don't have to deal with the trial and all that headache. Most of these guys who are being confronted by law enforcement do.

So the key is to get there quickly, confront this person so they stop the shooting and maybe they shoot themselves or they can stop the threat, neutralize the threat at least. So those are some of the things we deal with in the United States. But it's still very, it's a big country, plenty to see. Just be careful of common sense. Like if you're in London, you need common sense, right? And you go out in Paris, before the Olympics, common sense. Let's see how the Olympics goes. I mean, a lot of people are nervous. I'll be there before the Olympics.

people are thinking and French are not the most they've had some horrific attacks also by terrorism remember the one because try but look the guy who did political cartoons and then he like it yeah and they went after what a massacre what a massacre is out there and France another country which they have strict gun laws but the terrorists have all the guns they want right

Marty (01:05:14.096)
Yeah. Charlie Hebdo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. We're hoping ourselves, me and my family to leave the UK at some point in the future.

Ignacio Esteban (01:05:32.588)
Not for me. At least I want to go out fighting.

Marty (01:05:42.864)
you know, once we're in a better position. Yeah, I'd really like to go and live in Indiana or around there, you know, got a lot of family out there. So yeah, seems to be.

Ignacio Esteban (01:05:43.212)
really?

Ignacio Esteban (01:05:48.716)
In the Midwest. Nice, well good for you man. Hopefully you can. The weather gets a little cold, but I mean you're used to it there in Manchester too, right? Virginia gets cold. I mean, I don't know how cold you get a lot of snow in Manchester.

Marty (01:05:57.04)
Yeah.

Marty (01:06:03.44)
Hmm, no, not really. No, I mean, you seem to have periods where every so many years you'll get a bad snow and then you don't really get any, but it's... England is just grey, very grey. I've got a good friend from Texas actually, who's lived over here now about 15 years. And when he first got off the plane, he couldn't believe how grey it was. And then...

Ignacio Esteban (01:06:05.964)
Okay.

Marty (01:06:29.072)
He's woke up the next day, it's grey again, grey again, you know, and coming from Texas where it's just sunshine and blue skies and yeah, it could be quite depressing. So I think a lot of people in the UK suffer from seasonal affective disorder. So they kind of get depressed and then rarely when the sun comes out, you can see everybody's happy and the mood changes and... Yeah. Is it?

Ignacio Esteban (01:06:35.628)
Sun sign, yeah. Yeah, Florida.

Ignacio Esteban (01:06:53.068)
It's like Seattle. They say Seattle the same way.

Yeah, they say the same thing people. It's very cloudy weather and everything else and Virginia is nice weather. I mean we do get some snow. We had about foot and a half a few years ago. That was intense. We lost power for a week. It was so bad. So this story here at I -95, a major thoroughfare that goes from New York City to Miami and parts right there in the county I was in and Virginia was shut down because of massive snow and people were couldn't leave their cars for over a day.

Marty (01:07:05.328)
Wow. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:07:25.484)
Luckily no one died, but that's a lot of snow. But the Midwest does get a lot more than we do. So get aware of that. They do get a little more, but like anything else in the summertime. But when I have visited London, I visit in the summer and it seems like the weather's nice in the summertime.

Marty (01:07:35.216)
Yeah, yeah. Well, the further down south you go in the UK, it is a little bit nicer, to be honest. But up here in the north, it's, yeah, it can be kind of grim.

Ignacio Esteban (01:07:48.876)
Okay.

Ignacio Esteban (01:07:53.772)
Grim weather, gotcha, gotcha. It was nice in London in the time there, so I did enjoy that weather there. But like anything else, folks, going back, common sense. And if you can't be armed, there's a lot of things you can do that can protect yourself at home and just make it more difficult for these guys to come in there because every city you go to, wherever you go, there's crime, unfortunately. And that's a reality. We live in the 21st century world and it's been like that for generations, unfortunately.

Marty (01:08:02.512)
common sense. Mm. Yeah. So did you ever have any involvement with the mob or any kind of operations against like made guys and yeah. No.

Ignacio Esteban (01:08:24.396)
The Italian mafia? Not the Italian mafia, no. But I did organized crime with, you know, biker cases or you work with, you know, like I said, street gangs or you work, you know, one thing is, and like I always said, dealing with home invaders, guys who are looking to do a like an armed robbery, obviously a cocaine stash house, and dealing with those guys and their mindset. Imagine the kind of person that says, I'm going to do a home invasion of a place protected by armed,

Marty (01:08:38.992)
Mm -hmm.

Ignacio Esteban (01:08:54.302)
guys, armed guards working for the cartels to protect a load and try to take it away from them.

Those are intense individuals. Those are bad dudes. And those are kind of dudes who also come to your house. Not just yours, but anybody else's. They take no prisoner mentality. So I did those kind of cases also. Those were intense. And in my book, I go in detail. So if you like what I'm hearing here, you can read an ATF Undercover. And if you don't like reading books, my books are also inaudible. So yeah, I had a professional voice actor help me with them. Shout out to Sean Milo. And I'm doing now with one with Rick Fontz on Tyrants and Killers. ATF Undercover.

Marty (01:09:08.208)
cool.

Ignacio Esteban (01:09:31.246)
about maybe two hour listen and then the one I did about the most dangerous crime syndicates of our time it's just a short eight hours and tyrants and killers are gonna be about eight hours also and that should be coming out

Marty (01:09:37.296)
wow.

Ignacio Esteban (01:09:43.916)
about a month or so. So I'm hoping to get more more books and I also did books on you know like I said from you know True Crime. If you like Serial Killers I did an interesting book on Psycho Killers which is an interesting read there where you can look at it and it's not just the US but internationally too. So since you guys are in UK obviously Jack the Ripper and another comparisons to you know the obviously multiple Jack the Ripper and copycats it seemed like it was the same guy who started early in 18 and fall 1888 and the ones the following year seems like a little

Marty (01:10:06.736)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (01:10:13.87)
different and I talked about that and and also about HH Holmes and people thinking maybe he was also Jack Ripper two of them doctors that became infamous serial killers right Chicago yeah the famous murder castle where he set up his hotel allegedly where he could kill his patrons in there and make him disappear with different contraptions and and trap doors and and torture chambers and everything else 1892 yeah.

Marty (01:10:37.008)
Wow. Well, so I guess, I guess you're quite well astute in psychology, criminal psychology and...

Ignacio Esteban (01:10:47.084)
It's interesting, you read enough of this, you start piecing it together and say, man, this is a common practice. Something wasn't right. Either they're born that way or they're made that way. Or maybe a combination of both. Something triggered them bad. Abuse, they want to punish those. They were punished in life and now they want to inflict that punishment on others. And that's what I was reading and noticing of that. I said I need something, but when I started researching and writing, I said, man,

Marty (01:10:58.768)
trauma or some experiences.

Marty (01:11:10.128)
Yeah. Yep. Not too far from Manchester. Well, in Manchester actually, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:11:16.396)
You see a pattern developing here with these guys Dr. Shipman you talk since you're in the UK The good the good doctor the angel of death himself right I have a chapter on him

His mother died a certain way that he didn't like, right? His older ladies. And he's just giving them the morphine too. And then they start turning over all their wealth to him, right? And then he's able to rig the death certificates. And then a taxi driver picks up the pattern and said, hey man, every time I'm taking these ladies to see his doctor, Dr. Shipman, they don't make it back. And it was a pattern of that. And he, the nurse, yeah. It happens a lot.

Marty (01:11:48.72)
Yeah. Did you hear about the nurse recently in the UK? Yeah. She was killing all the babies and stuff.

Ignacio Esteban (01:11:56.652)
People get ideas in their head and they think, all right, this one doesn't have a doctor, Dr. Death also Dr. Kovorkian and out of Michigan, right? But he was a little different because he wouldn't actually inject them. He was set you up, right? Cause you're sick, right? And he said, all right, now you're the one and you say six minutes now you're the one who's going to inject yourself. So, but then eventually.

Marty (01:12:14.992)
OK. Wow. No way. Yeah. I really did it. It's the easy way out.

Ignacio Esteban (01:12:21.068)
But Dr. Shippen hung himself. He escaped justice. He escaped justice. He hung himself.

He took the easy way out and whatever reasons. Maybe he had an issue with I think something going on with his wealth he had. I don't know. I write it by my book there. So quite a few people around the world. The Russians have had their fair share. The Europeans, the Germans have had their fair share. Here in the US we've had quite a few. And even in South America, the monster, Peter Lopez, who could be the most prolific serial killer of all time, Peter Lopez, the monster of the Andes himself. And you know,

Marty (01:12:44.528)
Right? No. Really?

Ignacio Esteban (01:13:00.126)
You know what he used to kill these indigenous children and women? His bare hands. He would just suffocate them and look at them with his last breath while he suffocated them.

In Ecuador, he was arrested for this and the most time you get you kill a hundred people But no matter the most time you guys take one of those countries only get 15 years no matter what you do 15 years of most time you get so he got out, you know killing guy knows how many kids he killed and whatever 300 plus I think they had it he gets deported and I'm kind of short in the story here I've got more details in my book psycho killers about him and I didn't know much about him either He gets to port back to Colombia and the Colombians don't have much on him So they let him go and some people think he

Marty (01:13:13.968)
Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (01:13:40.878)
may still be alive today. He's still the most prolific serial killer of our time, might still be alive today. 300 plus.

Marty (01:13:42.192)
Really? It makes you wonder why they can have laws like that, you know, like maximum, like say 15 years and...

Ignacio Esteban (01:13:53.036)
Those are the countries, well, every country man, you're looking, you scratch your head and it's like, man, that's all the time someone like this guy, he should get life. But look at the guy from Norway, right? Who killed all those kids, right? At that summer camp, right? Horrible, almost close to 100. And he laughs at the system, he's crazy as hell. And he's complaining because he can't get his wifi access. And what? What? What kind of country? What? That guy should have been executed. Done.

Marty (01:14:02.36)
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna ask you that as well. Do you think that for people like that, the death penalty should be a given? Or do you think that's too easy for them? Or what do you think?

Ignacio Esteban (01:14:27.852)
Me?

I like that Bundy was executed. He said Bundy in Florida, Ol' Sparky. Ol' Sparky's had some good ones in Florida and he's up there. They have this guy, look at Ol' Sparky, that's an electric chair. If you don't know what Ol' Sparky is, they don't have that anymore. They stopped doing electrocution, deaths. Now it's lethal injection. Many states are going to lethal injection. I'm not sure, the UK doesn't have that, right?

Marty (01:14:38.576)
Hehehe.

Marty (01:14:45.68)
No, unfortunately not. It should do, definitely, for those high profile killers and stuff. Where you're 100 % certain that they committed the crime and there's clear evidence then, yeah, I think it's a drain on the resources, yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:15:00.396)
Imagine that.

Ignacio Esteban (01:15:05.708)
Why keep them?

Why keep them forever? And you have to fund them. I mean, that's just unbelievable. It's a huge burden. But so I get the blue states, they'll keep them. The red states, you know, Texas, Florida, you know, Virginia, the South. No, done. You get your appeal process. You exhaust all your appeals. You commit this atrocities, these horrible murders. Goodbye. You know, that's that's that's the way it should be. Lethal injection. Yeah, before they used to be all different ways of before they went to leave him. They should be hanging.

Marty (01:15:30.228)
Yeah. Hmm. Because I suppose from the criminal's mindset is that I can do whatever I want and I'm just going to be putting a cell. Nothing's going to happen to me. I mean, they might get

Ignacio Esteban (01:15:37.742)
They used to be executed by shooting. Yeah, of course, Zangara was another one. Yeah, in Florida they've had quite a few murderers, serial killers, and they get executed.

Marty (01:16:00.208)
beat up in prison or whatever but the state can't kill them and I think that if they had that mindset they'd think twice before they went in, you know. Was it Andras Brevik or something? Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:16:06.956)
I agree. I imagine that's a big problem in Europe. I think a lot of European countries are the same boat. They don't have death penalty. And that one guy, he's awful. I can't remember his name right now. Out of Norway. But that guy's awful. He's mockering the system.

It's awful, awful, awful, awful. Those poor kids suffered the way he executed them. And they went there to a nice camp to enjoy their time. They never had a chance to enjoy their lives. He snuffed it out on them. And the way he's acting, he's had no life at all.

Marty (01:16:31.92)
No, no I agree, certainly. right, okay, yeah. Yeah, I listened to a show recently, I think they were saying that there was possibly somebody else involved with that, but I don't know, I'm not sure.

Ignacio Esteban (01:16:41.516)
Another case, I did book an infamous LA murders and since we're talking on this topic here, death of OJ Simpson recently, right? Remember OJ just passed away, he had cancer and

Ignacio Esteban (01:16:57.772)
Yeah, there's always theory, but I don't see that. I see OJ. He had an obsession with his ex -wife.

And he was very jealous guy and everything that I researched and looked at and looked at the videos and his actions afterwards indicates that he's the only guy. Ron Goldman, they weren't lovers. Ron Goldman happened to be the waiter at the restaurant. She had left her glasses behind. He was returning them and happens to catch OJ in the act. Tries to do the right thing and he gets hacked up, right? He goes into rage. He said blood was everywhere, right? Outside the apartment complex there in Brentwood.

Awful, awful. And then he disappears like nothing. He has the cut in his finger. He goes, I think everybody remembers the slow chase on the Bronco with LAPD. He's putting the gun to his head. And his guy, I mean, all the indications are there. But what I said, and I wrote about this, is if it wasn't for Rodney King and the riots two years earlier, I think this was jury nullification. Remember, if it doesn't fit, you must have quit by Cochran, right? He's one of his attorneys. He had the dream team out there.

Marty (01:17:41.008)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:18:05.1)
The gloves, I mean, why would they have him try them on? Obviously, it's covered in blood. It's leather. It's going to shrink. I think that was a bad idea. Hindsight, of course.

Marty (01:18:10.416)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, growing up, I've been under the impression as sort of common knowledge that he was guilty and it's this big famous case that he got away with it. And then I've heard different reasons that there was issues with the police and the black community and they didn't want to look bad. And they had to be very clear on the evidence and maybe some sort of corruption as well. And, you know, he probably had the money to...

Ignacio Esteban (01:18:19.756)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:18:38.664)
he

Marty (01:18:38.768)
pay people off.

Marty (01:18:48.464)
Yep. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:19:08.51)
Investigators if you don't do things right you can say it's been contaminated this happened here They did all the right things to break apart the case bring enough doubt the gloves don't fit you must have quit the whole nine yards and Unfortunately did and never no one's ever rested again because they knew OJ killed he had the motive He had the opportunity he had a history of violence. He had domestic issues with her Nicole Brown, right? Yeah, the issues you've seen the pictures of her you go back you see the abuse she's taken

Marty (01:19:17.712)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:19:37.644)
You know, psychopath, an absolute psychopath. He had the image, Buffalo Bill's football player, commentator, and in my opinion, you know, murder. He was convicted in the civil trial, though. He was convicted in the civil, but not in the criminal. So, interesting story, and I talk about that there, infamous LA murders in my book there. Quite a few different ones there, but that's up there because, you know, he died. He did get convicted in Las Vegas for trying to rob, get back his sports trophies, right?

Marty (01:19:46.992)
Right. Yeah. Right. No.

Ignacio Esteban (01:20:05.484)
Remember that? He about eight years in Las Vegas for that. So there was some justice there. The irony, he did a lot more time for an armed robbery attempt than he did for murdering Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.

Marty (01:20:16.208)
And the thing is with a lot of these cases that it's always after the fact when the person's dead then we can talk about it now because there's no libel and stuff and then new information usually comes out and it's too late doesn't it?

Ignacio Esteban (01:20:30.444)
Yeah, yeah, at least maybe he's a family, he had cancer and he died. He was in his 70s, but I can tell you one thing, a lot of people didn't shed a tear for him when he died.

Marty (01:20:43.648)
So is it 80 bucks you've wrote? Over 80 bucks now? Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (01:20:48.62)
Yeah, almost 80 right 80 books. I got some on audible to Like I said, I've got quite a few from ATF undercover the exclusively on Amazon I know my number one market is the US but second is the UK a lot of people like my books in the UK it's a US UK Canada and then different parts of Europe and India to in English like in India to so it's pretty cool You know have your books out there people reading and then and then of course I also do a lot of shows a podcast show so if you like this content

Marty (01:21:02.288)
wow. Wow.

Ignacio Esteban (01:21:18.574)
in here. You can find me all over YouTube, Google me and you'll see all my shows out there, 200 plus and talk about a lot of cool things. I do a lot of politics too, but I can start about gun control, but I also do true crime. I always talk about my background and talk about things happening and I've been writing some screenplays. Hopefully, hopefully I can get my book major TV series. So we're working on that too. I got the PR firm behind me and I'm also writing a lot of articles for different magazines or books or what have you. So.

Marty (01:21:32.272)
wow, cool. Yeah. And.

Ignacio Esteban (01:21:48.494)
I'm doing a lot of different things. I enjoy it. It's something that is current, passionate about it. I put it out there and talk about it. So I do a lot of that. We'll see if a convicted felon can be president of the United States. That's what I said.

Marty (01:21:59.536)
Yeah, well, we'll get into that briefly before you go. But I'd say that I reckon that a lot of people within law enforcement learn a lot as well from your books and from your experiences. It's probably been quite an insight to them as well.

Ignacio Esteban (01:22:11.852)
I hope so. I hope so.

And hopefully people who are not law enforcement learn a lot too and like just stuff we talked about just things you have to do to protect yourself. And I think it's important people, there's that white, they have different colors of your mindset when you go out in public. If you're oblivious and you're in your latte world, right? And you're just drinking your lattes and you have your, if you're in that world and someone comes up and puts a gun to you, what are you gonna do? If you're in that kind of world, you're not gonna do anything, nothing. If you're kind of careful, you look where you're sitting, you're seeing, okay,

Marty (01:22:21.92)
Yeah. The smartphone and...

Yeah. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:22:44.558)
If I'm sitting in a restaurant with my back to the wall, if I have to leave, exit somewhere, where's the quickest exit I can go out and move with you anywhere. Okay, now you're up there a little more. If you can be armed because you're a professional, that's even better. But if you just sit down and you're clueless about everything, it's not gonna be good. When it happens, you're just gonna panic and nothing good's gonna come out of that.

Marty (01:23:04.976)
Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine. It's a scary world we live in, isn't it?

Ignacio Esteban (01:23:07.532)
It's just.

Ignacio Esteban (01:23:11.596)
Unfortunately, it is a reality but those who want to prepare themselves can't prepare themselves. Those who choose not to then you deal with the consequences of that. And then with politics here talking with Trump here, I had an article just wrote here called even a 32, 34 count conviction cannot stop the Trump train.

Marty (01:23:25.424)
Okay. Yeah. terrible. Yeah. The cost of living is just through the roof, like groceries and stuff, just and fuel and.

Ignacio Esteban (01:23:32.044)
The people are just so done with Biden. He's just rumbling, stumbling, mumbling Joe Biden there. Trump has his flaws, but he's going to do a lot better with inflation. We have that probably in the UK also. Inflation is pretty high over there, I imagine. In the UK, highest it's been in 40 years.

Ignacio Esteban (01:23:53.548)
Yeah, it's awful.

Marty (01:23:54.736)
utilities is crazy. Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:23:57.644)
No, it's awful. Awful. We need people. Three things he has to take care of. Trinitarian inflation again. The open border policy. You got to shut that down. I mean, I've already said since so many people have come in, not just it's documented, not just from Latin America, they come in from Africa, the Middle East, China. We have already sleeping souls, probably the United States. And unfortunately, because of this, probably another 9 -11 is going to happen. Unfortunately. It's horrible.

Marty (01:24:14.224)
Yeah, what's your kind of views on the possibilities of maybe a civil war as well at some point because seems to be a lot of armed groups and militias and a lot of tension building up and stuff.

Ignacio Esteban (01:24:33.612)
There's a lot of tension. I don't see a civil war because you see the country people move all over the country. So you might have people not like each other, but the government is pretty strong and it would crush any rebellion and secession pretty quickly.

Marty (01:24:48.976)
Yeah.

Ignacio Esteban (01:24:49.708)
That's treasonous behavior. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution from terrorism, from domestic threats or foreign threats. Not to be put up with this. The country went through it once, different times. It's not gonna happen now. So I think it's interesting with Trump. The other angle is a lot of people think maybe something will happen with him with the election. I don't know. I hope not. It is gonna be interesting. But then you add in the mix.

Marty (01:24:54.224)
yeah so can he still run then that he's been is it convicted or so I'm hearing? right? no way

Ignacio Esteban (01:25:18.412)
Yeah, he still can run. He can still run. And he's leading by, in fact, he's gaining ground big time. The more they indict him or they convict him, the more people think that he's getting railroaded. And this is a political witch hunt.

Marty (01:25:33.264)
Right, okay. yeah, yep. No, it's kind of ridiculous.

Ignacio Esteban (01:25:34.988)
Blue State going after a red Republican, right, in New York City, and the comments were made by the AG and the district attorney's office out there, seems very political. I mean, they have some serious crime to be dealing with, and they're dealing with a paper crime about back six, seven years ago, with paying hush money to a porn star, to Stormy Daniels. Really? This is what you're going after because he's Trump? You wouldn't go after anybody else for that.

That's political. That's wrong. That's wrong. That's the things you see in a banana republic. And we're better in that. And people don't like that. So I see Trump winning.

Marty (01:26:03.408)
Mm -hmm. So it's certainly going to be an interesting 2024 election year, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. We'll have to touch base again some point in the future, if you're willing to come back on the show and...

Ignacio Esteban (01:26:14.444)
Yeah, keep an eye. If you like American politics, I think you'll like what's going on here.

Ignacio Esteban (01:26:22.156)
Absolutely, Marty. I enjoy it. I enjoy it. And definitely let me know if you're coming to the US to pay a visit. Where to go, where not to go. Yeah, man, for sure.

Marty (01:26:32.016)
Yeah, you can be my tour guide. Definitely. No, it's been absolutely amazing speaking to you. And I know we could just go on for hours and hours and hours with your wealth of knowledge and experience in life, but I don't want you to give too much away. And I would like people to check out the links and go and check out your other content. And of course your books and your eBooks and the, I'm looking forward to the possibilities of your screenwriting and what happens with that. You'll have to definitely keep me in the loop.

Ignacio Esteban (01:26:58.412)
Thank you, man.

Absolutely Marty for sure. Thank you for having me man. Enjoy your show and look forward to keep on watching you too. Alright man.

Marty (01:27:02.352)
Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much for coming on. It's been amazing. Thank you. So guys, if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget that the podcast is available on all the streaming platforms, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, just to mention a few. Too many to list. And likewise, if you're listening to them and you want the video version, head over to my YouTube.

IE media podcast and you'll find my other types of content there too. I recently met Michael Francis, the ex Italian mob capo here at event in Manchester. And yeah, you can check the video out of that. And yeah, I'm looking forward to the rest of this year with the interviews that are coming up and big thank you to you guys wouldn't be possible without your support and to Ignacio himself for coming on today, being my first guest in the series of remote interviews and it's been.

Ignacio Esteban (01:27:53.868)
Thank you, man.

Marty (01:27:57.488)
everything I thought it would be and more. So definitely come back on soon. Okay, thank you.

Ignacio Esteban (01:27:59.532)
I appreciate it. Thank you so much, Marty.