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My Wife Maya
Cast of Characters: My wife Maya Maya and I met in high school. She was always nice to me, but after my freshman year, when I left to go to a Las Vegas high school because of my father’s wheeling and...
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“Unresolved Grief”
Unresolved grief and my brother Albert, who was killed at age 28. Albert was 10 months older than I am, and the only stability in my life. He had tried to give me a happy childhood, which was a...
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Money Laundering
Money Laundering There’s a saying in Spanish “no jugar con dinero de grengo,” which means “don’t mess with the white man’s money.” If you do, you’ll encounter the...
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SkyCap @ Miami International Airport
Skycapping at Miami International Airport Skycaps are the first to greet and acknowledge the passengers in any airport. They’re the porters outside the doors of the airport, but they’re not airline...
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T.S.A. @ Miami International Airport
How to Protect Yourself from Theft Overall, T.S.A., the Transportation Security Administration, does a good job, but theft still occurs. Below are some tips to keep you and your...
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American Airline Cargo
Drugs in Cargo When I first got to Miami International Airport in September of 1990, AA Cargo was the most notorious place for drugs and thefts. Cocaine was brought in by the tons on our planes....
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Old Currency is Still a Big Hit
The Federal Reserve Banks are responsible for collecting old worn-out money and distributing new money to banks and other institutions. The branch in Miami, Florida, was responsible for...
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The United States Postal Service and American Airlines
The United States Postal Service and American Airlines The United States Postal Service uses all major carriers to deliver their mail across the United States and to other countries. After 911,...
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What Broke Me
What Broke Me In April of 2006 my daughter told me that a year before, a new member of her family had raped her in her bedroom in the middle of the day. She finally told me because the predator was...
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The One That Got Away
The One That Got Away Perfect girl at the wrong time in life. It’s all about the timing! Penny was my first true love. I was a decade older and much more experienced than she. Our first year together...
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“Dimelo”
Rookies, fresh from Farm! –the DEA training facility in Virgina When I was a CI (confidential informant), during a weekly debriefing with my DEA handlers, a dozen rookie agents, fresh from completing...
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“About” The Baggage Handler
Why, Do i think I’m the baggage handler. I made the impossible “EASY” in both World! Excerpted from the forthcoming memoir, The Baggage Handler.
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The Bad Mechanic
The Bad Mechanic Tim was a Lexus dealer service manager, who always gave me first class service. One day we got to talking and he told me that his father was in jail for dealing large amounts of...
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Special Agent Johnny.. My handler
English: Photograph of the head of Johnny Depp (Photo credit: Wikipedia) CAST OF CHARACTERS Over the next few weeks, I’m going to introduce you to the cast of characters in my forthcoming book about my...
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Captain of the Cartel “Mano”
Introducing the “Cartel” Mano, was my Columbia Connection! Mano, is a Captain in the Columbia cartel. (per the DEA) Mano was born in Bogota Columbia “Bogotano” age is 32. intimidating appearance, short...
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The Satellite TV Guy
The Satellite TV Guy Mano, my contact with the Colombia cartel, and I were hanging out at my home when the installer for a satellite TV company showed up. We all hit it off right away. El Gordo was a...
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Special Agent Steve “Team Leader”
Cast of Characters: DEA Special Agent Steve, Leader of our International Team. Agent Steve was a natural leader with a commanding presence. He was the planner, street smart, a no-nonsense kind of guy....
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Special Agent David My Handler
The Cast of Characters: David was my other DEA handler. David was an investigator. He gathered the facts and administered the cases I helped with. Don’t get me wrong, he was as tough as they come....
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We Broke the Chain
http://onebillionrising.org/livestream/entry/earlier-washington-square-park-new-york-city#.UR_K5Zg4I8I.email One out of three women will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. There’s something terribly...
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“El Griego”
Cast of Characters from my forthcoming book, The Baggage Handler: El griego El griego was the third piece of our drug operation. (The others were Mano and myself.) Mano shipped the drugs from...
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El Jefe
Characters of the Cartel: “El Jefe” El Jefe was the boss of our operation. I met him once in Bogota, Colombia, and I spoke to him four times on the phone. I don’t know very much about him — because I...
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JJ Gonzalez “The Baggage Handler”
I was an American Airlines employee for 20 years, a ramp worker (the guys with the ear muffs) and also a Skycap before I turned bad — helping a Columbia Cartel smuggle drugs through Miami...
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Crazy Cuban
Crazy Cuban In a rare phone call from Special Agent Steve, the leader of the DEA team that I served as a confidential informant, he said, “JJ, I’m throwing a bone your way.” This meant he was giving me...
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Undercover
PRAY FOR THE BEST, EXPECT THE WORST This was DEA Special Agent David’s favorite quote. Although certainly better than going to jail, being a confidential informant was no cake walk. I was thrown into...
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“El Maestro”
Characters of The Baggage Handler Pedro El Maestro / The teacher Pedro recruited me and taught me the drug trade. Pedro was born in Cuba and came to the United States at a young age. He spent most of...
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The Golden Rules
The Golden Rules He who has the Gold makes the rules! “Breaking Bad” Once I decided to break bad, I wanted to learn from someone wise, someone who’d been smuggling drugs for a long period...
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Entrapment
Entrapment Definition: when a defendant claims that he or she would not have broken the law if not tricked into doing so by law enforcement officials. “Entrapment never happens,”...
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South Beach Colombianos
South Beach Colombianos The first thing the DEA asked of me, as a confidential informant, was not to change my cellular number. Well, from out of the blue, a Colombian guy I’d known for years, Lalo,...
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Fisherman
The Fisherman My DEA handler, Johnny, and I were the first to show up for a team meeting in the parking lot at the DEA headquarters in Miami. That gave us some time to talk as we ate our lunch. Johnny...
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I’ve been Nominated for the ” Liebster Award”
I am so proud to have been nominated for the Liebster award. It’s a big honor and I want to thank everyone involved in this process. Soon everyone around the world will be in tune with my past life....
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Luggage Thieves
Watch Your Bags! There are two types of luggage thieves: the professional and the moron. The professional works like a ghost. I’ve seen a pro open, search, and close a bag within 40 seconds. These...
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Old School Blue-Collar Workers
In this blog, I’ve told you about my being a drug smuggler and confidential informant and some of my painful upbringing, but I haven’t addressed my early, happy days at American before I got into...
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Money Flights
Money Flights In a recent blog, I talked about the two types of airline personnel who steal from passengers: the professionals who target other criminals and the morons who target everyday passengers....
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“Stuffed Flowers”
These are LD3 container How the Cartels Bring Their Drugs in Through U.S. Airports Baggage used to be the most popular way to bring in drugs, but due to the reforms in airport security after 911 that...
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I’ve been Nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award
I would like to thank Shruti Srinivasan, http://anushrusrini.wordpress.com/author/anushrusrini/, for nominating my blog, The Baggage Handler, for The Versatile Blogger award. To be recognized by such...
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Beautiful Blogger Award
What a wonderful week! First, I’m nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, and then when I share my fondest memories, as requested for the award, Jenness Johnston...
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“Sunshine Award”
I’m excited and I’m stunned. Another award has come knocking on my door! I would like to thank Spasmostar http://spasmostar.wordpress.com for nominating my blog for The Sunshine Award. I’m truly...
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Santeria
First and foremost, I respect all religions. What I’m revealing today is only about my own experience. I’m not saying it’s everyone’s experience. My father, like many Cubans, practiced Santeria, which...
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” The Interesting Blog Award “
First, let me thank Katie Sullivan : http://wp.me/p3oWn1-3V for nominating me for The Interesting Blog Award. As a follower of her blog, I definitely see why she was nominated, and I’m honored she...
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“The Very Inspiring Blogger Award”
Joseyphina, thank you for nominating me. I appreciate it very much. And I really believe that everyone on wordpress.com has something special and inspiring to say. Life have given me a lot of valuable...
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“I Flipped”
I was in a crowded parking lot at Walmart on a typical-for-Miami, hot and humid day. As I opened my SUV to complete a drug deal, suddenly I was surrounded by seven unmarked cars with their silent,...
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Debriefing
In my last blog, I told you about how I was busted in a Walmart parking lot for trafficking in cocaine and then taken to their conclave for questioning. They were trying to get information out of me...
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Rock Bottom
Rock Bottom Delinquency starts at home, not in the streets. Growing up, I saw my mother, on a nightly basis, drink herself to shame with all-night, loud parties filled with men. Things didn’t improve...
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“Family’s Award”
Hello, bloggers, it’s been awhile. I hope you all are enjoying your summer. In the short period of time that I have been on WordPress, I have found a home where I can talk from my heart and not be...
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Parental Guidance
Parental Guidance PG stands for Parental Guidance suggested, which is a guideline from the movie industry, letting parents know that they might want to pay a little extra attention to whether their...
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Leaving Miami
You do not have sufficient freedom levels to view this video.When I started working with the DEA, I really tried to change my ways. But I kept finding myself in the same dark place with the same...
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