Alex starts stealing drugs from drug traffickers. This puts his life in danger, but also leads to the opportunity that would put him at the top of the smuggling trade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Episode 8: El Tigre

ESPN's 16-part Pin Kings tells the true-crime story of two friends turned sworn enemies in South Florida's drug trade in the 1980s and '90s. Alex DeCubas and Kevin Pedersen were undefeated, state-champion, All-American wrestlers on their Miami high-school team. They were photographed together in Sports Illustrated. Then Colombian cocaine upended their lives. Hosted by Brett Forrest and Jon Fish and named best podcast by New York Festivals, Pin Kings delves deeply into the deadly exploits of Kevin and Alex. Devastated by personal tragedy, Alex falls into the trade. Drugs destroy Kevin’s wife and family, and he pledges his life to avenging what traffickers have taken from him. Once brothers, each man grows to detest what the other stands for, but their lives and families cannot be disentangled. In their cutthroat worlds, Alex and Kevin can trust only each other. In a sweeping narrative that spans the 1970s to now, from Miami’s drug-charged growth, through the War on Drugs, and into the present, as aging drug runners muse on greed, regret, the adventures of youth, and the lasting power of brotherhood, Pin Kings breaks new ground in ESPN storytelling.