The Hopeaholics
The Hopeaholics
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From USC Football to Cartel Cocaine w/ "Cocaine Quarterback" Owen Hanson | The Hopeaholics Podcast #347
1 hour 32 minutes Posted Jul 24, 2026 at 12:00 am.
Cold open
Podcast intro
Owen Hanson, one year out of federal prison
Buying steroids from a vet in Tijuana
The transformation: 185 to 240 pounds in six weeks
Making the USC football team / Pete Carroll era
Black market concierge
Grew up broke at a school full of money
Reggie Bush, and Matt Leinart
California Ice Protein taste test
Getting high on his own supply in college
2008 recession kills the real estate job; becoming a bookie
Uncle Tony and the Italian bookmaker introduction
Going to Costa Rica, starting his own sports book
The cartel whale: $750K lost in three weeks, paid on Monday
The offer: $1 million a day to go to Australia
The laundering scheme collapses
The call from the New South Wales Police Department
Back in America, the cartel wants $3 million immediately
Figuring out how to move cocaine into Australia
The wine bottle method
Five years of FBI building the case
The arrest at Aviator Country Club in Carlsbad
RICO charges: distribution, money laundering, bookmaking
Sentencing day
Mark Wahlberg's team takes the story
The halfway house: Bureau of Prisons curfew and 20 months to build the brand
Coming out with nothing, the warehouse, the Murphy bed
Protein ice cream from mop buckets, sold for $15 a jar
"It's a second chance ice cream"
Federal vs. state prison: 85% time served, no early release
Getting sober in prison and eating clean
Coming out to Amazon Prime, Instagram, and Apple Pay
Living in the warehouse, the grind, proving people wrong
Why he never cooperated with the cartel
Little things you don't realize until they're taken from you
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Show notes
From USC Football to Cartel Cocaine w/ "Cocaine Quarterback" Owen Hanson | The Hopeaholics Podcast #347 The "Cocaine Quarterback" Owen Hanson was a volleyball player at USC who wanted to get stronger and start again. That led him to smuggling steroids in from a vet in Tijuana. He walked onto the football team and began selling Adderall, Xanax, and cocaine to teammates. After the 2008 recession killed his real estate job, he became a bookie, landed a cartel lieutenant as a client, and lost $2...
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