Alchemy of Violence: Narcos, Reapers and Survival

Alchemy of Violence: Narcos, Reapers and Survival

In this multi-part podcast, “Alchemy of Violence: Narcos, Reapers and Survival,” host and Marine Staff Sgt. Johnny Joey Jones will guide you through a series of wide-ranging interviews with Ed Calderon, a former paramilitary law enforcement officer from Mexico who took on the country’s ruthless drug cartels face-to-face at a time when their gruesome violence was reaching a fever pitch in 2006 and beyond. Calderon’s dangerous career south of the border, and the rampant corruption he says came with it, ultimately forced him to run for his life. It also left him with a lifetime’s worth of on-the-ground experience, and a set of unique survival skills akin to a real-life McGuyver, just a few years shy of his 40th birthday. In his own words, Calderon shares intimate details on everything from his childhood and family inspiration, to the horrors he witnessed firsthand in his career, and how he’s using those experiences now to help others who might be recovering from similar traumas -a new career in what he calls his “after-life.”

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ALCHEMY OF VIOLENCE

Ed is an impressive guy to some special operators, but he says the people who have wound up impressing him the most are typically...

Our podcast ends with a story of "fever dreams," fallen friends, and a fighting rooster who lived to see the after-life. Ed Calderon now...

After years of trauma, even someone with the mindset of a Sneak Reaper needs a hand on their journey to recovery. That was certainly...

Ed says saving your life, and the lives of others, can often come down to having things on your person that are small enough...

Change is one of the few constants for Ed Calderon, and moving too fast can sometimes result in important stories of heroism being forgotten,...

Ed uses the skills he acquired working anti-abduction details for Mexican government officials to help train others who face the threat of violence or...

Ed Calderon is perhaps best-known for his escape skills; picking locks, getting out of handcuffs, discretely carrying the tools needed to do so and...

Ed runs for his life, literally, when his new bosses ask him to start targeting one cartel and ignoring the others. He also discusses...

Ed forges the Sneak Reaper mindset, whether he knows it at the time or not, with a little inspiration from "Santa Muerte," aka "the...

A bribe or death. Silver or lead. The evil Ed faced in his career was nothing, and everything, that he knew it would be...

Meet Ed Calderon, a former paramilitary law enforcement officer from Mexico who acquired a set of unique survival skills over a career confronting drug...