Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#22I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
When you grow up in poverty you don't have a lot to lose. A jail bed and food might even be better than your own. Throw in any kind of abuse or trauma in your past, and you'll also tend to have little regard for your own life. Throw in the overconfidence of youth and I'd imagine it begins to seem like a huge upside with a small risk of an inconsequential downside.
Thank you. And I recognize it as true that many criminals had a hard childhood in particular. But some don’t - and I wonder what the motivation is.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#23> “The paradox of the Azores is that you are always wanting to leave when you’re here, and always wanting return when you’re not,” Tiago Melo Bento, a local film-maker, told me.
I felt that while spending time in the Azores but I can feel it anywhere. Now I think it's quite lucky if a person never wants to leave and feels content.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read a brief post by someone why made decent money smuggling drugs in a prop plane across the US. He only did it a couple of times (didn't let greed take over). He didn't go into details, but I imagine some people feel like they can mitigate the risk, or don't have much to lose.
I remember reading that you have 2 years max to make money and get out before your guaranteed to get busted. It was a fun book. Personally I wouldn't recommend the lifestyle choice.
...your investment may go up as well as down...
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#25I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
Large-scale smuggling is highly professionalised and hugely lucrative. We're not talking about some guy with a boat, we're talking about an organisation that rivals a multinational corporation by almost any metric.
One of the biggest exporters of cocaine in recent years was FARC, a Columbian rebel group that acted as the de-facto government of large areas of Columbia. Their operation was sufficiently sophisticated that they built their own submarines. If you're part of an armed rebel group engaged in a brutal civil war, being arrested for drug trafficking isn't anywhere near your biggest worry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine
At this scale, individual psychology isn't particularly relevant. It's a self-reinforcing culture of drugs, violence and obscene amounts of money that subsumes individuals. You might as well ask about the individual psychology of an infantry sergeant in the second world war - his mindset is a product of the war, not vice-versa.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#26I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
Probably the same psychology as any extreme sports star. A mix of loving the rush, thinking that it will never happen to you and balls.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you grow up in poverty you don't have a lot to lose. A jail bed and food might even be better than your own. Throw in any kind of abuse or trauma in your past, and you'll also tend to have little regard for your own life. Throw in the overconfidence of youth and I'd imagine it begins to seem like a huge upside with a small risk of an inconsequential downside.
Thank you. And I recognize it as true that many criminals had a hard childhood in particular. But some don’t - and I wonder what the motivation is.
Money, fame, reputation, a fast life that isn’t minimum wage and hopelessness. We worship a certain story in the USA and it isn’t 30 years of remedial work so we can retire and garden :)
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#28I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
I might be generalizing and basing this on anecdotes but often people that work in the drug trade are users/addicts themselves, including the ones who are drawn to positions where it grants them the illusion of unlimited power & material excess. It's ironic that becoming a drug kingpin is the least efficient way of attaining those things, but when you live in a region where there is little to no economic activity, getting a Netflix drama portraying you is the highest point, even if it means doing consecutive life sentences in a maximum security prison where you can no longer enjoy the very things you've worked hard towards.
The "entrepreneurs" who simply come from the same pedigree but who has access to both capital and network with capital that propels them to force the transfer of wealth through deception, including imitating the attires of those that have successfully convinced us they are the good guys, whose popular products produce so much human misery in another country where people couldn't care less about.
Similarly, that same banality we feel towards another far away country, can be amplified towards anything in life. If you ask a criminal why he did it, the answer you get is very much the same as a consumer--"because the opportunity existed". To you it may mean indifference to the children to adults working in horrid conditions overseas, to a criminal, that same indifference is just far more profound and pervasive. Literally a criminal will describe robberies, scams in full pride-just like you they were indifferent to the suffering and damage caused around them, instead these were "opportunities" that they took advantage of because no other options were desirable.
My 2 cents in reply to your question.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#29I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
I used to deal small amounts of MJ in college, it was a great way to have a side income and honestly was pretty low-risk.
When I graduated and was getting ready to move to CA, I had mentioned to my dealer that I was moving and was obviously pretty broke as I had not started working yet.
He told me he could hook me up with a one time job to drive an escalade towing a boat filled with MJ from CA to the midwest and I would be paid 20k.
I thought long and hard about that and ultimately decided it was a terrible idea. However, if he had made that offer to me a year or two before, I probably would have taken it. For someone like me, 20k at that age is a massive boost.
Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island
#30I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…
I used to deal small amounts of MJ in college, it was a great way to have a side income and honestly was pretty low-risk. When I graduated and was getting ready to move to CA, I had mentioned to my dealer that I was moving and was obviously pretty broke as I had not started working yet. He told me he could hook me up with a one time job to drive an escalade towing a boat filled with MJ from CA to the midwest and I wo…
For real for real? An Escalade? You think cops don't watch COPS?