GlaDEAtor: DEA Legend Abe Collins

We finish off this exclusive interview starting  back where we left off with Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman, as he continues shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU's as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald's experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  .  This was a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.    (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

We start back where we left off with Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman, as he continues shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU's as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald's experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  This is Part Two of a Three-part episode with Gerald.  This is a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.  Stay tuned next week for PART THREE.  (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

In this episode, Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU's as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald's experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  This is Part One of a Three-part episode with Gerald.  This is a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.  Stay tuned next week for PART TWO.  (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

This episode is to honor a fallen DEA Special Agent whose death shocked us all, Lynval Smalling, known as “Val”, who was friends with our guest Jimmy Connelly and the host. Jimmy was Val's and the  host's boss in March 9, 2012 at the time of Val's shocking death while on assignment in one of the remote locations in the Bahamas.

We continue from last week with part 2 of The Colombian Hit Squad, as Abe is joined by a fellow DEA legend, retired agent Joey Mundy. These two legends finally got a chance to work together on a memorable drug case, when they faced off with a violent Colombian Cartel hit squad sent to America on a killing spree.   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

In this special episode, Abe is joined by a fellow DEA legend, retired agent Joey Mundy, as they reminisce about some of Joey's special training and wild missions abroad earlier in his career before he and Abe joined forces on American soil.  These two legends finally got a chance to work together on a memorable drug case, when they faced off with a violent Colombian Cartel hit squad sent to America on a killing spree.  They just get started recalling this Colombian Hit Squad case in Part 1 of this episode, but the story is continued in Part 2.   Tune in for part 2 of this episode next Sunday!   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

On this episode, Abe tells the story about a memorable case he likes to call, "The Mayor of Boxtown".  (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

We continue where we left off as Abe chats with DEA legend, John Mark Chism reminiscing about his case of Alice Marie Johnson, who years later Kardashian had convinced former President Trump to release from prison in 2018.  Here is the story and case... Y'all think she should have been released... Here's part 2!  (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

This episode is an interesting one, that may sound quite familiar to some of you listeners.  Abe chats with DEA legend, John Mark Chism and his case of Alice Marie Johnson, who years later Kardashian had convinced former President Trump to release from prison in 2018.  Here is the story and case... Y'all think she should have been released... Here's part 1 of 2.  (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

We're back for another season of GlaDEAtors: with DEA Legend Abe Collins. In this episode Abe reminisces about the one and only, Brian Flores case.   (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

This is a PLAYBACK of the first episode of DEA LEGENDS when legendary retired DEA Special Agent Abe Collins recalls one of his first cases working as a DEA agent thinking it was going to be a big drug bust, but (SPOILER ALERT) it ended up being a homicide... (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

While we await Season 2 of DEA LEGENDS, let's revisit some of the most compelling stories from Season 1... (From Episode 3)  Before Abe became a living legend in the DEA, he was making legendary moves within the Memphis Police Department.  In this episode, Abe recalls the unfortunate, yet necessary first time he had to use deadly force with a suspect guilty of a double homicide.  This was decades ago, yet he recollects the events in so much detail, it's no doubt the first time a police officer uses deadly force is something they will never forget... Every single detail of it.  (Soundtrack Courtesy of Pond5.com & BenSound.com.)

This marks the end of season 1.  Stay tuned for season 2 coming soon! 

We finish off this exclusive interview starting  back where we left off with Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman, as he continues shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU’s as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald’s experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  .  This was a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.    (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

We start back where we left off with Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman, as he continues shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU’s as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald’s experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  This is Part Two of a Three-part episode with Gerald.  This is a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.  Stay tuned next week for PART THREE.  (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

In this episode, Retired DEA Special Agent Gerald Chapman shares his experiences of growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, and making history with giants in the Civil Rights movements. Gerald‘s years at two HBCU’s as a Chemistry Major, led him to a life in law enforcement. Gerald’s experiences of traveling across the U.S. as an Undercover Agent, led him and other Black Agents to create a mentorship by establishing NABNA, as a co-founder to assist others in their search for fairness and inclusion in the dangerous world of narcotics investigations. Gerald started his career with BNND and later DEA and became a legend throughout his career in making significant impact on the equalization and inclusiveness, without the help of DEA and strived towards encouraging inclusiveness through movements that continue making a difference to this day.  Abe and Gerald discuss many stories of his life full of significant moments of history, which are both enlightening and inspiring.  This is Part One of a Three-part episode with Gerald.  This is a fabulous story of perseverance, truth and history.  Stay tuned next week for PART TWO.  (Soundtrack provided by https://artlist.io)

In this episode, Abe recalls a case from back in the 90s when cellphones were just recently becoming more prevalent, and more within the drug underworld.   While working this case, DEA teamed up with the Secret Service to take down a cellphone cloning operation where drug dealers had a source for where to buy cloned phone numbers to use on burner phones.  Even though burner phones are still used to this day, Abe recalls the case where this was just getting started.   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

This episode is to honor a fallen DEA Special Agent whose death shocked us all, Lynval Smalling, known as “Val”, who was friends with our guest Jimmy Connelly and the host. Jimmy was Val’s and the  host’s boss in March 9, 2012 at the time of Val’s shocking death while on assignment in one of the remote locations in the Bahamas.

Abe and special guest retired Virgin Islands Police Department Sergeant Mark Joseph continue their chat about another significant case in his career on the DEA Task Force, where they formed a unique task force that brought together several Federal Law Enforcement agencies together, such as the FBI, DEA and others to form the PUBLIC CORRUPTION TASK FORCE.  This task force was extremely successful at taking down some of the most corrupt public figures and organizations in the United States, and its territories, that has influenced other similar task forces to begin operations to this day, continuing to fight corruption.  (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

Abe and special guest retired Virgin Islands Police Department Sergeant Mark Joseph continue recalling big moments of his career on the DEA Task Force, taking down some of the biggest drug traffickers in this US territory. Stay tuned, as we run out of time once again in this episode, but make sure to meet us next week for part three! Tune in for part 3 of this episode next Sunday!   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

As we've heard before, paradise also has it's dark-side and in this episode Abe is reminded of his days working in the Caribbean, as he welcomes special guest retired Virgin Islands Police Department Sergeant Mark Joseph who spent a good amount of his career on the DEA Task Force, taking down some of the biggest drug traffickers in this US territory. Stay tuned, as we run out of time in this episode, but make sure to meet us next week for part two! Tune in for part 2 of this episode next Sunday!   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  

We take a break from DEA cases on this episode, as Abe welcomes a long time good friend of his, Donald Crump, who joins him on this episode to honor and recount a mutual friend and decorated Memphis Police Officer Don Williams and recall the day he was killed.  Donald Crump was never a member of law enforcement, but a very well-known restaurateur and bar owner in Memphis.  He owns one of the best hot wings spot in town, Crumpy's Hot Wings..  If you know you know!  Donald also once owned a very popular comedy club called Crumpy's Comedy Club, that hosted various heavy-hitter comedians over the years.   (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

On this episode, Abe welcomes an old friend and retired DEA Agent Ted Golden, who tells us all about his experience joining the DEA and the constant systemic racism he faced along the way but stayed strong and had quite the memorable career.   Ted also shares some of the more memorable cases while working with the DEA undercover along with a few others. 

We continue from last week with part 2 of The Colombian Hit Squad, as Abe is joined by a fellow DEA legend, retired agent Joey Mundy. These two legends finally got a chance to work together on a memorable drug case, when they faced off with a violent Colombian Cartel hit squad sent to America on a killing spree.   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  Contact Us: van@vanechmedia.com 

In this special episode, Abe is joined by a fellow DEA legend, retired agent Joey Mundy, as they reminisce about some of Joey's special training and wild missions abroad earlier in his career before he and Abe joined forces on American soil.  These two legends finally got a chance to work together on a memorable drug case, when they faced off with a violent Colombian Cartel hit squad sent to America on a killing spree.  They just get started recalling this Colombian Hit Squad case in Part 1 of this episode, but the story is continued in Part 2.   Tune in for part 2 of this episode next Sunday!   (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)  Contact Us: van@vanechmedia.com 

Abe just loves the Bahamas not only for the amazing crystal-clear waters, food, music and overall island paradise it was, but also for the unique work experience while working there in drug enforcement. While his main goal was drug enforcement, Abe recalls a time when he found himself uncovering an elaborate international auto theft ring!  (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

While helping out with drug enforcement cases in the Bahamas, Abe constantly experienced moments you'd only see in action movies like Bad Boys, but that's how things went down in the Caribbean.  Even though most of the drug cases took place on the islands or out on the water, this particular case Abe recalls took place on the main land.  From boat chases on the open water, Abe got a taste of home with a good old fashion car pursuit, but this was unlike any he had been used to.  High-speeds and shooting at suspects from a moving truck was one memorable experience, but at the end of the day, they got the job done, seizing over 500 lbs of illegal cannabis.  (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

While most of the classic DEA cases involve the common street drugs, like cocaine and heroin, in this episode Abe recalls a memorable case involving  a different type of market.... Steroids!  Instead of taking down gangsters or the typical drug trafficker, Abe was faced with infiltrating an operation involving a juiced-up veterinarian drug supplier and professional wrestlers... This was a unique one for Abe! (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi Roc)

Throughout Abe's career, his main goal has always been to take down the top dog dealers and Johnny Reyna was one of them.  Johnny Reyna was supplying several big time dealers in Memphis bringing large loads of cocaine from Mexico that he brought in using 18-wheeler tractor trailers disguised by his legitimate produce shipping company.  Abe was working a case against local dealers they had taken down, the Bohanon Brothers, which helped Abe get the first Spanish speaking intercept up and running as a main tool they could use in the Western District of Tennessee Memphis (the Spanish Wire).  This takedown was a big deal, but what Abe eventually found out from this takedown was that there was an even bigger king pin flying under their radar all this time, and now because of this Spanish Wire and the Johnny Reyna takedown, Abe had a new target in sight... Somebody who became one of the biggest drug king pins in US history.  (Soundtrack courtesy of Shadi roc)

As Abe always says, the best person to help catch a crook is another crook…  Flipping criminals, turning them into informants has always been a valuable practice during investigations.  The Lemon case was a great example of this tactic, however, what ended up happening was while initially Abe was hoping to get intel about a huge case he was investigating, his informant ‘Lemon’ ended up giving him different information leading to an entirely different case that helped the DEA take down a elaborate corrupt operation, orchestrated by civilian MPD employee who worked as a supervisor of the police property and evidence room, who had access to every drug seizure that came through the Memphis Police Department. This particular Memphis Police Employee had been stealing cocaine and other drugs from the police property and evidence room and selling them back on the street for years, making millions…  Abe, along with a special task force, and with the help of his informant “Lemon”, they were able to intricately take down this corrupt operation ran by civilian staff  working this illegal operation from within the Memphis Police Department.  Thanks to Abe and his team, the MPD has since reformed the entire operations and structure of how the police property and evidence room is ran, so that this will never happen again. 

"Spanish Cay" - The Bahamas is an idyllic island nation filled with sparkling sandy beaches and crystal blue oceans. No wonder it is a hot destination for tourists and international holidaymakers, however protecting these islands from various criminal activity is a feet unlike typical policing, especially when it comes to fearless drug traffickers.  This tropical paradise was a completely unique experience for Abe when he was assigned there for a couple of years to help out with a special task force teaming up with various Bahamian law enforcement.  Abe was ready for something new, but he did not expect to find himself in the middle of something you'd watch on Miami Vice, as he was right dab in the middle of a wild boat chase throughout the ocean which turned into a machine gun shootout on the open waters, trying to take down relentless drug traffickers.    (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

Abe made it his mission as a DEA agent to take down all the top drug king pins that came around and one of the first big top boys he took down was a trafficker that went by the name "Skinny Pimp".  (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

The only thing drug dealers fear more than the police is other drug dealers trying to rob from them. Police will try and lock you up, but "stick-up" boys will rape, torture and even kill you for your stash and/or money. This case is called Karl & Karl, where two armed thugs decide to rob a drug dealers home,  which was part of a much larger drug case that Abe will later get more into. *BONUS STORY:  Abe's first time going undercover with the DEA. (Music courtesy of Pond5.com)

This particular drug case was highly impacted by the infamous Unabomber back in the '90s.  (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

As a DEA agent, Abe seized a ton of cash throughout his career and this was one of the first huge cash seizures that launched him towards his legendary status! This is the case of Memphis Drug Kingpin Danny Hughes. (Soundtrack courtesy of Pond5.com)

Before Abe became a living legend in the DEA, he was making legendary moves within the Memphis Police Department.  In this episode, Abe recalls the unfortunate, yet necessary first time he had to use deadly force with a suspect guilty of a double homicide.  This was decades ago, yet he recollects the events in so much detail, it's no doubt the first time a police officer uses deadly force is something they will never forget... Every single detail of it.  (Soundtrack Courtesy of Pond5.com & BenSound.com.)

Retired DEA Special Agent and legend Abe Collins recounts one of his earlier cases when working at the Memphis International Airport, where they bust a female drug mule working for a couple of local amateur drug traffickers, who was looking at quite a bit of jail time if she didn't work with the DEA to help take down her traffickers, "Fats" and "Binky"...  

The legendary retired DEA Special Agent Abe Collins recalls one of his first cases working as a DEA agent thinking it was going to be a big drug bust, but (SPOILER ALERT) it ended up being a homicide...