The Azores: The $16M Cocaine Catastrophe

I’m currently on vacation (still soaking up life in France 🍷), so while I’m away, I’m sharing an episode from my travel + history podcast, Culture Cult.

And this one is WILD.

We’re heading to the Azores—remote Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic—for a true story that sounds completely made up… but isn’t.

A drug smuggler.
 A crashed yacht.
 And millions of dollars of cocaine washing onto a quiet island.

What happens next? Absolute chaos.

(Yes, This Actually Happened)

🧳 While I’m Away…

•  I’ll be back with regular episodes on April 27th
• Want more? Check out my other podcast the Culture Cult Show 
• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Apple Podcasts

Other podcasts I love to listen to while I'm away:

Personal Finance Podcast 

HINDZIGHT (my favorite mindset and self card podcast) 

The Dollop ( insanly funny history podcast) 

The Travel Creator ( great for monetizing content creation)

Boss Babe Reset 

DM Sales Gal  

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey y'all, it is week two, and guess what? I'm still in France. I'm still in France drinking amazing wine, eating amazing cheese, wearing beautiful dresses, walking in the markets, and I'm out. So that's why we're doing different episodes the weeks that I'm gone. I will be back the 20th for you guys. So, fun fact, I actually have another podcast. I actually have a travel history podcast on the side, and it's called Culture Cult. And I am trying to learn about every country in the world, and I tell y'all the craziest fucking story from that country. And if you're like, ugh, I just want to hear about business. Listen, I will leave my favorite business podcast in the show notes for you to go listen to this week. But if you're like, hmm, I want to see what else you do. Yeah, I have a very unhinged travel history podcast. And if you like it, yay, you can keep listening. And if you're like, ugh, I'll just wait till you come back from vacation. That's fine too. All right. So enjoy my other podcast, The Culture Cult Show. And I'll see y'all back doing our regular content April 27th. We actually have an incredible subconscious coach coming on to talk about money mindset and money mindset blocks and money trauma. So that'll be a good one. Keep in touch. Come back here April 27th for our normal content. Okay. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

Cheers. Cheers to being Portuguese. Or at least we all look Portuguese and so looking and being Portuguese.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Thank you, Carla. I take that as a high compliment. You should ultimate. Okay. Well, speaking of Portugal, how can I be more Portuguese? What are ways I can be more Portuguese?

SPEAKER_04 1:33

Um, you must talk with your hands. You also have to. I guess I don't think this is bad, but be aggressive in your tone and um how you share your stories. You know, we're not angry, we're just passionate people. Yes, I love that. This might all just be trauma responses. It actually might not have anything to do with being Portuguese. Get offensive. Okay, so okay, talk with your hands. Get defensive. We are passionate people, we are passionate people, and I have always appreciated that we are also truth tellers. That's yeah, that's a better term for it. We're truth tellers.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Okay, so for the audience, let's explain how y'all are born Portuguese.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

We have different fathers, uh, they were still Portuguese. So Josh is still like even though we're half siblings due to the fact that we have different dads, everyone's Portuguese, so we're still a hundred percent Portuguese blood.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

Wait, yeah, Josh, wait, your but your parents met in a weird way, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:45

They were born on different islands. My dad was born on Santa Maria, and my mom was born on San Miguel, and then he grew up in the States and then moved to California later on. And then when my mom was in her 20s, she moved straight to California, and that's when they met later on because my dad's sister, my aunt, was going to this Brazilian church, and so was my mom or our mom. And uh they befriended each other and then they met and they got married and they had me and yada yada yada.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

What a great memory! I didn't even know if he was born there or not.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

I just that's crazy that they're from the same remote islands in the middle of the Atlantic, and then they meet in the US. Like, that's just so crazy. Do you miss anything from the Azores? It's like very different than LA.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

I'm just I'm very much assuming, but I mean, yeah, I mean, even in comparison to this country entirely, because like I actually was born in the Azores, Sao Miguel Island, and was raised there for the first 10 years of my life. And I just remember as soon as I came here, I was even amazed at the sight of a semi-truck because I didn't even see that in my island. And we also had very narrow streets, even going from the village to Ponte Delgada, which is the capital, and that's more city-like of a lifestyle. And even coming here, I was amazed by a freeway. Like, I mean, everything just seemed so open, and I was like, What's this? What's that? All these things are available. What?

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Yeah, I also did you realize how remote you were while on those islands because it's really in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

No, no, no, I I mean I was too young and I didn't know what else was out there. True. I mean, I had the idea because of my family situation at the time, uh, because I was raised by my grandmother. Uh, I realized that my mother was in a completely different area of the world, so I knew that much that there was more out there, but um I didn't feel like internally I was lacking anything, just like being raised and being born on an island.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Yeah. And you guys relate with being part of Portugal, or do you feel like there's kind of a separation between like, oh, that's Portugal and we're the Azores?

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Um when I was younger, I didn't even have those thoughts. Yeah, yeah, I didn't realize any of that until I got older and had more information to know. I just thought it was all the same, and then you later know that like you kind of have to share that information because people are not even aware about the Azores, but they're very well aware of Portugal. So it's like I say, Oh, I'm Portuguese, and they just assume I'm from the mainland, and then I have to say, like, oh no, I was you know born in the island, the Azores, which are part of Portugal, but you know, you don't even think about that or realize it until you get older and you know that more. Did you realize how beautiful it was? I always knew because I was able to appreciate and be grateful. Yes, but I don't know if that was just my mentality or if yeah, I didn't really have anything else to compare it to, but I was okay with it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Yeah, it's like one of the most beautiful islands I've ever seen. The waterfalls and it's green. It looks like a mix of like all the things you love about southern Europe, all with with like Scotland or something. It's very dramatic looking. And Josh, you just went to the mainland. I know this episode's mainly about the Azores, but like how was Portugal?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

It was super fun. Honestly, it was I had an amazing time. It was special too, just because I had never been there before. Like Carla got to grow up there. I'd never, you know, I was born here in the States, so and we never went like on any on any family trips or anything. So it just was special in the fact that I finally got to go there and like be in the motherland and experience my culture firsthand. So it just was special from that standpoint, but it also was beautiful on the mainland, like Lisbon feels like a European San Francisco, it's very hilly, the architecture is very Portuguese, but you know, they they have a bridge there and it's on the water and it's very hilly. And I actually found out that the person who designs the Golden Gate Bridge designs that bridge because it looks exactly the same as the Golden Gate Bridge. Exactly the same. But the more amazing, the food was phenomenal, and it's so affordable there. Like when Kenny and I like went out to eat, we would uh just for reference, like we would buy a bottle of wine, we would buy a whole bottle, and we would get two appetizers, one for each of us, like do our own entrees, and the check would be in US dollars around$37. Two.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

It was that's why everybody wants to move there now. Because it's not only beautiful, but it's grown a lot, and it's it's actually quite affordable. Oh my gosh, that is so crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

So it's like any music there. I I know Portuguese music.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Oh, yeah. So so Fadu is like Portuguese, almost traditional Portuguese music, which I think has influences of jazz and a lot of um folk, and we would go out to eat, and they would just have like uh Fadu singers just hanging out and they would like take breaks and they would sing, and they just had it was just so beautiful. So I got to like experience that. And oh my gosh. Honestly, some Portuguese music, if you go beyond like the Fadu's, I feel like it has like polka thing, polka things because it has like the accordion. Yeah, the music was awesome. Like, I got to experience a little bit of it from that kind of standpoint.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Would you want to go to the Azores? Like see where your family's from?

SPEAKER_02 8:25

A hundred percent. Like, I have to go at some point because I mean Lisbon was special in and of itself, but like I want to go to the islands, like where both sides of my family are from, and kind of see that because I feel like that would be a special thing too.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Yeah, if anyone's listening, look up the Azores. I cannot believe you grew up there. That is the most beautiful place on earth. Like, to me, it's gorgeous. I love to go to Portugal. I'm so jealous you got to go recently, Josh. Okay, so how this works, Carlot. I'm gonna tell you a story about your island, actually. It's you're from Sal Miguel, right? This is the craziest story, and I'm very surprised me these days, so go for it. This takes place on your island, Sal Miguel. It takes place in your lifetime.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

Oh, so I might know them.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

No, you might know what happened. That was my uncle. Oh, wait, okay. Which when were you born? I'm very curious. What year? 1985. When did you leave Salmiguel? 93.

unknown 9:32

Damn it.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

Okay, this happened after you left. Oh, well, but you know what? There's another half of my family that I'm not too familiar with, so there may be a chance.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Oh my god. Okay, we're gonna have okay, so we're gonna jump to the summer of June 6, 2001. So think about it. It's 2000. I remember it well. Okay, I don't know what the Portuguese version of 2001 is for you. What were you doing in 2001?

SPEAKER_04 10:02

Well, I I was already here, so I was very Americanized at that point. So I was all about Britney Spears. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Okay, so that is the time period. Okay, Britney Spears. And so this takes place on Sao Miguel, very remote, I'm assuming, peaceful island, and not many events go on until they do. So I'm gonna need your help with this. Locals from Pilar di Bretonha. I'm sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

Is it NH? Because that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

Yeah, okay, thank you. Okay, a parish on the northwestern tip of the Atlantic Islands, Sao Miguel, saw a white yacht about 40 feet long drifting aimlessly near the huge cliff. This was a big yacht, and it's in this area, it's like really rocky. That's why he noticed it because he's like, Oh, they shouldn't be over here. Like they thought, okay, this is a first-time sailor. The man on the boat's, you know, probably just lost. Wrong. The man on the boat is actually an excellent sailor. He's done this route many times, he's crossed the Atlantic multiple times, going to the Canary Islands to Venezuela and back. He can definitely sail. That's not his problem. The problem is that he's now shipwrecked and he is not totally supposed to be there. On the boat is a man with many, many names. He has two Italian passports and two Spanish passports. So he was a pirate. Yes, kind of. Uh he had dark skin, scruffy, curly hair. His name is Antonino Quinci. Quinci. Antonio? No, Antonino. Oh, okay. Okay. Quinchi. I think I'm saying his name wrong. Again, he's done this route lots of times. So he's a good sailor, but the seas are really rough and his rudder was damaged. I know what that means, but doesn't sound good.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

So same.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

So point is he had to make a decision along the coast along Sao Miguel because he wasn't going to make it to Spain because of his rudder. So you're like thinking, okay, why isn't he just called the maintenance or a tow boat, whatever? Well, he can't because he's considered a major drug dealer for the spawn with tens of millions of pounds worth of cocaine. And he literally cannot call any attention to himself at all. So that's his situation. He has to get rid of this cocaine before anyone sees him or tries to come help him. So he decides to float the yacht near a cave near Polar de Bretagne and starts offloading the cocaine into a cave. And he's like, Okay, cool. I'm just I found this cave. I'm just gonna wrap it up, tie it to a rope, and sink it to the bottom of the ocean, Gucci, while I figure out what's going on with my boat. So that's his plan. And then he sets off 15 miles away. He goes to a nearby fishing town. So the ocean got a little crazy and it broke all the ropes and chains, and which means it released half a metric of ton of pure raw cocaine into the ocean to wash ashore your beautiful homeland island. So we have to think about this island. It's a pretty chill island. I don't think it's a place where like people go to necessarily party and do a lot of drugs. It's not like it's like Thailand or anything. So I don't know too much about drugs, but I know we are very good at drinking. Okay. Well, I mean, all this cocaine is now headed to your homeland. So the fishermen are the first people to find the cocaine. They start seeing suspicious packages along the beach. And this I got a lot of this from an article from The Guardian from a man they sent there to do the story. His name is Matthew Brimner. So I'm going to quote what he says. It says, quote, within the hours, local officers had registered some 270 packages of uncooked cocaine weighing 290 kilograms. It was only the first of many discoveries. On June 15th, more than a week after the first batch was found, a man stumbled across 158 kilograms, worth around 16 million dollars, just floating along the beach in the A's World. I mean, none of those bags bursted. They were it was all well. I think like it was probably tightly packaged. You know, it wasn't just like how you pick up cocaine, it's probably like super packaged.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Uh disclaimer, not that I would know that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

I just it's not like they're like little baggies. Like he was he packaged them because he knew he was gonna set them by a cave, this rocky cave, and sink it to the bottom of the ocean. But the chains broke. It's not that the cocaine bags broke, the chains broke. So like around$16 million worth of cocaine is just stumbling upon the beach. And two days later, a school teacher named Francesco Nigala alerted the police after finding 15 kilograms on the beach. He said, quote, I was scared and hesitant even to approach them. I thought someone may have been watching me, it might kill me if I touch it. Smart. I mean, what would y'all do?

SPEAKER_04 15:07

If you just I would have assumed it was powdered sugar and started baking with it because we are very good at baking and making desserts. I would have done more harm than good. Story of my life. You're like, how fucking convenient?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

I don't have to go to the grocery store.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah, I feel like I don't know what I would do. I don't know. I feel like I'd be like, oh, this is copious amounts of cocaine. I don't know if I want to fuck with this because it's just gonna like I'm someone's gonna be looking for it and it's not the kind of people I want to be running into.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Carl is literally begging.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

It's not the kind of people that you're gonna run into at your local charity. It's the people that are gonna fucking cut your arms off if you don't give them what they want. So I'm like, you know what? I'm good off you, you know, uh, you know, float with the fucking, you know, otters and you know, wait till the fucking, you know, cartel comes back for you.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Yeah. Very ignorant when it comes to drugs, okay, due to my experience of or lack of experience, I should say.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Exactly. That's the thing. That's the whole point of this story. I'm gonna get to is that none of the people on these islands did not know what to do with all this cocaine. Like cocaine that could feed Europe is now just sitting on one island. And so this is actually leading right to my point. So they didn't really know what to do with it. Someone paid 300 grams of cocaine just to charge their phone. They were like, I have a zombie. Can I charge my phone? Yeah, a housewives, aka Carla, were frying mackerel with cocaine, and people were using it in their beers and coffees. Oh my god, that's me. That's literally wait.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Why were they clicking with it if they didn't know what it was? And why were they putting it in drinks if they didn't know?

SPEAKER_03 18:23

I think when like there's just so much excess of it, they're like, Well, whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

I don't know if I would trust something that I didn't know what substance it was, and just be like, Oh, let me put this with my fucking fish and my drinks and just consume it. I would be like, What is this? I'm not just gonna if you if you can't identify it, like why would you be doing that? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

I feel like I'm sure they heard eventually that it was cocaine and they were like, Hell yeah, like, but they have too much to snort. So they're like, put it in the fish, put it in the cake, put it in the coffee. Save too much. Apparently, they're running through a kilo a month of cocaine, an average person.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Oh my gosh. Wow, that's not or you should you're not supposed to be digesting cocaine, are you?

SPEAKER_04 19:06

I don't think you're supposed to put in your rectum either, but people do.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Well, that's just smart smuggling, you know.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Yeah, they just had so there's just so much of it everywhere, everywhere. So now this small sleepy island was now crazed in consuming cocaine, something that's really expensive for the average person. They're just like bathing in it.

SPEAKER_04 19:31

I'm actually surprised that nobody turned a blind eye to it.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Well, we are getting there, and so the police are like, what's going on? Who's responsible for this? And so enter, as always, the detective. And so Inspector Jose Lopez, he is now in charge of this case, and he's out for vengeance because I'm sure everyone and his cousin is doing it. So now the police are on Quincy, and Quincy's like he don't think he's I don't think he knows what's going on. So he's bunkered up in the boat, cut off from everything. He doesn't know Portuguese, he doesn't know how to get the rudder fixed, his boat's just sitting there, and from the day one, people had noticed his boat because it's a big fucking yacht and it's near all these rocks. It's very uh obvious, but he thinks he's okay, but it's too late. Inspector Lopez and the police are already watching him. We're gonna go back to a quote from The Guardian. It says, around 1 a.m. on June 8th, police watches a boat parked up against the yacht. Uh, sorry, uh a car, whatever. They saw something. They later found that the car had been rented at the airport by a man named Vito Rosario Quinci, who had arrived by plane the previous day. Vito turned out to be the nephew of the smuggler. So Spanish press prospectors would later claim that Vito was the link between Quinchi and the unnamed Spain's organization running the cocaine operation. So he's the link. And this boat is part of a larger operation running through Spain. Vito met his uncle Quinchi on the boat and they sailed back to the cave. They're like, let's just collect our shit and just row it out to Spain. I don't know. Let's go get our cocaine. So they're like, let's go get it. No cocaine in the cave, nothing. And they're realizing all their cocaine is gone. They don't know the police is watching them, but they do know that their cocaine's gone and they have to answer to someone. They work for the mob.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

So yeah, they also don't want to mess with the Portuguese. Great. Like you lost it and now you ain't gonna get it back.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

No, no, and not to mention digested. Yeah, you're not gonna get your cocaine back. You now probably know the police wouldn't even be on my mind. I would be thinking, oh my god, my bosses. The mob? They're gonna kill you. Yeah, they'll kill you, your family, your cousin, your mom, your aunt, like any way to get that money back. And they lost it, said it was like 16 million dollars worth of cocaine as well, washed up and in people's coffees. So yeah. Um, but the good thing is for Quincy and his nephew, they found someone who could fix their rudder by June 22nd, but the police were already on top of it, and they they acted really fast to arrest them. So on June 20th, 9:30 a.m., they raided the vessel and they found everything. They found maps showing where the route was to go to Venezuela and back, bricks of cocaine, and Quincy, who was very talkative to the police. And the article was like, sound that strange, but I was like, he's a cocaine dealer, like he's just talking so he's no, he's a snitch. Call it like it is. So uh he's caught by the police now, but apparently he was telling the police that he was very worried about all the people who would consume the cocaine. So at least he has a bit of a conscience as a drug dealer. He was like, How are they? Are they okay? No, what does he want? Like news flash, no one's okay. Like, no one's going to work, everyone's drugged. But in interrogation, he suddenly stopped talking and started denying things because he probably was like the cocaine probably wore off and he was like, I'm gonna get killed.

SPEAKER_04 23:17

So change of heart. Okay, reality stuck him.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

So again, the cocaine is where uh weren't off. And so obviously Quincy went to jail, but he had something in his favor. He's very, very resourceful. I will give that to him. He knew where a lot of the cocaine was. And he would exchange that for info on how to escape the prison and to get figure out who to call to get a motorbike for his escape. So on July 1st, he planned his escape. On his recreational time, he went out there with bed sheets wrapped around his wrists. And uh 11:25 a.m., he started climbing the barbed wire walls, and all the prisoners on the ground were like chanting him on. They're like, Go, go, go. And he started climbing the walls. And there was a guard though that saw him, and he had a gun and he fires a shot, but he misses Quincy. Later on, Antonio the Guard will claim that he purposely missed, so he didn't hurt anyone. So I would do the same.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Oh my gosh, I have to go to jail to find this kind of support system. Wow, what a lovely story. And that's right.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

That's the story. Get yourself in prison and find you some real friends.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

I wonder about the story behind that relationship. He definitely gave him cocaine. Something. Because one, you can't be that bad at aiming, okay, in that job position. And two, it's like if you missed on purpose, it's like, okay, if it has to do with your moral compass, like then again, why are you in that job at the same time? I feel like there was some sort of transaction there.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

Literally, I I agree. And yeah, he definitely missed him on purpose though. So good for everyone, I guess. I'm sure he lost his job, but uh, so yay, Quincy escaped. I mean, I'm I'm kind of on team Quincy. I don't know what who do y'all want him to get arrested? Like, how are y'all feeling? I mean, he was just doing a job. Yeah, everyone's just doing their job except for the guard. He didn't really do his job. Josh, how do you feel?

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Arrest him. I'm team police. Let's get these drugs off the streets. We need reforms.

unknown 25:36

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Say no to drugs.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Oh no to drugs.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

No, I team Quincy all the way. He put himself in that position. So my moral compass is okay. Yes, he he got busted and he should have done the time. Okay. I know his intention was to not hurt anyone. He was just trying to sell, but he did put himself in that environment where, you know, if it's illegal, those are the consequences.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

That's true. Okay, I could be convinced. I just I don't want the mob to kill him, is my main thing. I'm like, how can you be protected? That's how I feel.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Yeah, but if you don't want that fear, then don't do right mob activities. You're like, no, I want to make a bunch of money with, but like, I don't want to be threatened at all if I'm not doing it in an honest way. Don't threaten it. You can't have it all. You can't have it all.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

You're right. I don't know. I've tried to serve, I don't know where I am orally. I don't. Like, I'm on the wrong side of history. I'm gonna go team Quincy. Y'all can go team cop. Jose Lopez is your man, he's your inspector. So team Quincy, he is out, he's out of prison. He found his hiding spot. He found a motorcycle, he found his hiding spot 26 miles away in a house owned by a man named Rue. Here we go. Rui Rui. That's a cute nickname. R-U-I, Rui. Okay, he helped out Quincy. So Quincy just arrived at his house, just blood everywhere. His clothes were shredded from the barbed wire.

SPEAKER_04 27:18

And Ruby was feathered though, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:21

No, they didn't. He took a channel. And so Rui could have just been like, No, I'm calling putting you in the police, but he gave him refuge out of kindness. There was no deal made out of it. He didn't offer him cocaine or no money, nothing. He was like, Can you just please take me in? And Rui was like, Got you. So he let Quincy hide out in the chicken shed behind the house for weeks. Where and they actually ended up kind of bonding. They talked for hours and hours on end, and they grew to respect each other and have a bond. I don't know. I just I really like Quincy. But as always, I just like him.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

Well, you know what? I like Rui or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Ratatouille.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

That's we can all be talking about altruism, but yeah, we can all agree upon that.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Oh, but again, uh this is why I love Quincy. He's just resourceful, he's always one step ahead, you know. Like his ship got wrecked. He was like, Let me put this cocaine in a cave. That didn't work out for him. He I'll omit that for my man, didn't work out for him. He did drug the whole island, but then he always he always got a next plan. So his next step problem solver. Yeah, he is. So his next step was he knew someone on the island who already gave him a fake passport and money. A relative of his already bought him a boat and was planning on smuggling him off the island. He just needed to stay put, just stay put in the chicken tank. That's all he got to do. So some asshole tipped off the police that Rui was hiding cocaine in his house. Just cocaine. So 7 a.m. July 16th, they raided Rui's house looking for just cocaine, not knowing that the infamous cocaine dealer was in the chicken shed. They passed by the chicken shed, and Inspector Lopez thought he heard a noise, maybe a cat. So he just decided to inspect, anyways. And there he found Quincy covered in dirt, disheveled, and pinned in the corner. My man, he was so close. And that's it for Quincy. He was put on trial. He didn't escape. He was sentenced to 10 years for drug trafficking, which is pretty light, I feel like. Um and that was 2001. So I couldn't really find anything on him now. I'm pretty sure he's out. Hopefully, he's living the good life. Hopefully, the mob did not kill him. But he almost made it off the island. If that snitch of a bitch did not call in about Rue's cocaine that he might have had. So wait, how did they know again? Can you remind me? So he was hiding in Rue's house. Some neighbor or someone just called the police to be like, Hi, I think Rue has cocaine in his house. So when the detective Lopez arrived, he thought he heard a sound from the chicken shed. And like his gut told him to check. Quincy must have made it like a small noise. And Lopez is a very good detective, so he was like, I hear something, I'm gonna check it out. Okay, okay. And then he found Quincy hiding in the corner, and now he went to jail for 10 years. He's probably out, but considering he lost billions of dollars worth of cocaine or millions, whatever, lots of money.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Uh let's just hope that the mob he still has his life, exactly. Yeah, we don't know. That's the thing, though. Why haven't I heard no one knows where he is? No, I mean you're probably gonna change your name, your identity, and all that if you don't want to be found by the mob.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Yeah, I'm hoping everything's good with him. I hope he's not selling drugs, but the future of your island that you're from was catastrophic.

SPEAKER_04 30:41

Um, it sounds like they had a great time and a crisis.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Sounds like they were living it up.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Yeah, and so the cocaine like our day, baby.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

No, um, yeah, uh Samago was not known to have a lot of drugs on the island, and then suddenly, like this cocaine wasn't normal cocaine, it was 80% pure on top of the quantity that was on the island, like this everything, like this was catastrophic. So they developed superpowers, yes, 80% pure cocaine just unleashed upon this island. Um, and a lot of people on the island are massive addicts. This is why I was wanting to know about your family history. How's everyone doing in your family?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Well, our uh our grandpa on our mom's side. Well, our grand our grandpa on our mom's side was an alcoholic, so but I don't know if he had a cocaine addiction.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Yeah, I was saying there's yeah, but who knows if there was cocaine sprinkled on that beer, Josh? This could have been happening who knows, like for how long, like all of our lives, or even before 2001.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

No, but Sam Miguel didn't have much of a drug problem at all about until this moment. And now it's a huge drug trafficking spot.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

Word is out because he's an Amy.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

That's why he went to Portugal.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

This is actually really informative that you bring up this story because for the first 10 years of growing up in the Azores, now that you've mentioned this, the only form of addiction that I was aware of was only alcoholism. I had never really heard of drugs or anything of that sort. And I left in '93, and you said this happened in 01. And now, if there is this sort of like drug pandemic going on in the Azores, I never really experienced it or heard of it. And if it has now grown, who really knows if it has to do with that story? Probably some. I think it was like once you once you get a taste of it and you become an addict, and you know, that was already in your personality or genetics, and now it's become a huge problem. Has could have to do with that story or maybe with times, you know.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Yeah, that's so true. Like they're already addicts. Well, and anyone's addict personality, this is gonna are it's just another thing to add on to it, you know. And that's the thing is I'm sure like Quincy was like, Oh, I just sell cocaine, it's probably sold in small amounts to party people. Like that's I'm sure he's rationalizing it in his head, how it's okay what he's doing. But that's why he started feeling guilty because he's like, No, this is raw cocaine. There's this is too much for this many people, and he knows the havoc of it. So I'm sure he felt so guilty because, like, this is too much cocaine, too much cocaine.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

Marie, let's not, Marie, don't make excuses for him. I know you're in love with him. Yes, but you're making excuses because okay, if he really thought that, why would he then try to be he said he felt bad or trying to sell it?

SPEAKER_03 33:56

He said he felt bad. So let me just love him, okay? Words are very different than actions.

unknown 34:02

True.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Quincy, stop selling if you are, please. If you hear me. No, no, but like now this spot is known as a drug trafficking spot because it's positioning, like it's literally the first spot. Yeah, because it's the one of the first spots you hit when you're headed back from Latin or Central America. You gotta pass the Azores to get to Europe. If you're headed towards like I guess southern Europe. So now it's like this whole little spot that people weren't really aware of. Just how you were saying, like, you're like, oh, I'm from the Azores. You'd be like, What? Well, now if you're in the drug circle, they're like, ah, you're from the Azores, you know.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Oh no, oh no, they always tried to ruin a good thing, damn it. So now you're telling me I shouldn't tell people I was born or that I'm from the Azores because they're gonna be like, Are you into drugs? Do you like to travel? You want the easy life? Like, damn it, get away from me.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

No, I don't know what this means now when you say you're from the Azores. But this story honestly isn't that big. Like, I would love to know if people were like, I would love to know if you're any Azorians out there, like, do you know about this? Like, because you left, you left in 1993, like this is 2001, and I mean this clearly affected people. I mean, yeah, besides the horrible effects of addiction from the story, which I'll think and me being in love with Quincy.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

The world's a crazy place. I mean, you know, you can just be walking your dog on the beach and just find 16 million dollars worth of cocaine. So, I mean, you know, I see I see these bimbos out in California and Hermosa Beach with their little metal detectors. I'm just like, you're looking in the sand, you should be looking on the ocean front. Like you should be Azores. That's we're gonna find the real gold.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

That's the real reason why you should travel.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

That fucking Sebastian Crab brought that shit up from the bottom of the ocean. He said, Under the sea, on the sea, or it's wetter, down where it's better. Take it from me, honey.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

Where the cocaine is.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

I wanna wanna see, wanna see them snorting.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

Sprinkling on the what you call it, on top of the beer.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Up where they tweak, up where they twitch, up where they all they want is a sniff.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

This seafood is right.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Out of your drugs.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

I'm probably gonna get soon.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Oh, there you go. You're gonna get fucking copyright infringement for using Disney songs.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Not that many people live in Disney, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah, I'm just telling the truth. Ariel ain't a real person, but Quincy is.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm a huge Ariel fan. Be careful now. What do you mean she's not real?

SPEAKER_03 37:15

The Portuguese coming out. No, but seriously, y'all, whoever's out there, um, please let me know personally if this is like happening to you in your town in Sal Miguel. Let us know how you got started into drugs.

SPEAKER_04 37:33

Did it have to do with the story? Did you happen to find anything in the sea? Let us know the root of it. We'll connect the dots for you. Free therapy here again.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

I found it very educational.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Yeah, no, that was a great story, and I mean, I feel like it's very modern, like it's very applicable to today.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

This is not a history story. This is I'm bad at math, but 20-something years ago.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

I mean, that's history though.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Yesterday is also considered history. That is true. That is true.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yesterday history. Wait, yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery, but today is the present. Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Oh, I like that, Josh.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Yeah, anything else?

SPEAKER_02 38:25

That was a that was a quote. I forget who said one of my teachers in junior high school said it. Yesterday's a history, tomorrow's a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the presence.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Gandhi. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Mahatma Gandhi.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

She made memory facts on you.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

I do love Gandhi too. Be the change you want to see in the world. That's my favorite Gandhi quote. I always remembered that.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Oh, I don't even know any quotes off the top of my head. I'm a very animal.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Oh, I know a lot. Life is like a penis. Oh sometimes it's that why I don't like it. No, I gotta finish it. I gotta finish it now. I mean, I that was only the first part of it. Life is like a penis. Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. It's not gonna be hard forever, so just write it out.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Oh, I remember that one, yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

You sent me that, and I was like, oh my god. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

I tried to send you things that you can relate to.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Oh my god. Well, Portugal also starts to pee just like penis. So wrapping that back around and it's all if you know affected us differently. Well, do y'all have anything y'all want to promote or say?

SPEAKER_04 39:46

Thank you, my dear.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

I appreciate you for inviting me. Of course, uh, obviously, y'all are definitely coming back on cocaine or not.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Yes, I have nothing to promote. Personally, I have nothing going on. I am creatively um destitute. Um, so no. But continue, continue to support this lovely podcast from my friend Marie. All of you listeners out there, I really want you to. She's a gem, she has very informative things to share, and you better listen.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

Oh, damn it. Yeah, you'll better with love.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

With love. Love Josh. The other episode we did uh together that was very fun. Honestly, that one was a really good episode.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

So yeah, first season Greece, I changed it. It's famous people, not a famous story. Oh I need a title for this. I don't know what to call it. Y'all think about it.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Azores, the drug destination, the root of addiction, and generational trauma.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Well, I don't think it's gonna get any better than that. That's the best title. Yay! Well, that was fun. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

I look forward to your editing.

SPEAKER_03 41:03

And that's our story for today. Uh I hope you all enjoyed it. I also would love to do more on the Azores. I just don't I couldn't find like another story besides this one. I know that it's a place that has won awards for sustainability. It's just beautiful there. So if you ever want to reach out and be like, hey, I got a story for you, or I'm from the Azores, also, I'd love to come on. Or if you also want to confirm this crazy cocaine story, please, in general, always feel free to reach out to me at my email, culturecult show at gmail.com. My Instagram is at culturecult show. And yeah, if you like the episode, feel free to share it with a friend. Maybe not a family member, but a friend. Word of mouth is everything, people trust you, and it just helps the show so much. So, yeah, we have a couple of travel stories coming up after this. And then the next country we are diving in will be Croatia, where I'm telling a story with my comedian friend about a man who's almost died seven times. And then we also tell a really, really empowering Holocaust hero story with my friend Petra Petitra Croatia. So the next country will be Croatia. Let's see y'all then.