In this gripping episode of Gangland Wire, Gary Jenkins sits down with Ted Pryor, a man whose life story is a rollercoaster of discipline, danger, and redemption. Ted’s journey begins in law enforcement, where his martial arts expertise earned him respect among police departments. But a fateful decision led him down a very different path—one that plunged him into the high-stakes world of South Florida smuggling.

Ted recounts how a family member introduced him to the trade, starting with a seemingly simple marijuana operation. Before long, he found himself entangled in a dangerous underworld, rubbing shoulders with major players in Miami’s drug scene. As a bodyguard for a notorious trafficker, he balanced his life as a kickboxing champion with the risks of organized crime, struggling to reconcile these two identities.

The stakes escalated when law enforcement finally caught up with him. Ted shares the harrowing details of a dramatic police chase and his courtroom battle to reclaim his future. His firsthand insights into the legal system, the pressures of incarceration, and the turning points that led him to change his life make for a compelling narrative.

Ted has now dedicated himself to a new mission—helping at-risk youth break free from the cycle of crime. Through his foundation, he provides educational opportunities for underprivileged children, believing early intervention is key to keeping them off the streets. His story of transformation, resilience, and giving back is inspiring.

Ted’s book, Three Times World Champ, chronicles his extraordinary life, with all proceeds supporting his charitable efforts. Tune in to hear how one man went from the depths of the drug trade to becoming a champion for change.

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Transcript

[0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretapers, welcome back here in the studio of Gagland Wire. It’s great to have you back. I have a very interesting character, if you will, a guy that’s lived more lives than you could believe. You know, I’m Gary Jenkins, a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, and I have this podcast now, and I’ve been putting out these shows for about seven or eight years, guys, and I really appreciate all you guys that have been with me from the start. There’s several of you I know and I’ve gotten to know been with me from the start. So go on to my Facebook group or make comments on my YouTube page. And let me get to know a little more about each one of you, because I always respond to any kind of a comment on that or the Facebook page, Facebook group. So we have Ted Pryor. Ted, welcome.

[0:48] Thank you, Gary. Thanks for having me on. Now, guys, Ted’s written a book. You know, I get a lot of authors on there. Saves me doing the research, Ted. I have to admit, it saves me doing a lot of research. You guys know your stuff. The name of the book is Three Times World Champ, the death-defying true story of a kickboxer turned drug smuggler turned business icon. And believe me, guys, that is J. Ted Pryor. What a hell of a story from the middleweight kickboxing champion of the world to world champion marijuana smuggler down in South Florida and right in the heart of drug smuggling territory, which is, you know, really carved out a niche down there. But later on, businessman and a chef. And I just don’t know, Ted, start telling us about yourself, kind of how you got going and where you’re at.

[1:37] Gary, it’s interesting that you were in law enforcement and you retired as a detective. And, you know, I was in law enforcement my whole life as a young kid. I used to be, I used to be, when I was training, I became a black belt and started training to become a world champion kickboxer. And I used to train all the police departments in West Palm Beach.

[1:58] And I was a tactical commander, teach them how to search and seizure, teach them how to cuff a guy, put him in a till cold without killing somebody. So I was very influential with the police departments in all of South Florida. And then I started teaching the DEA, FBI, Secret Service through a guy named Joe Hess, who was the heavyweight champion of the world.

[2:18] So I was in law enforcement most of my young life, I would say from 17 to my mid-20s.

[2:26] And as I was doing that, I got into the pot smuggling business.

[2:33] I noticed one thing in your book, you became Elvis Presley’s bodyguard for a period of time. Yeah, I did. And I got that through Joe Hess as well. Interesting story. I was working at the police academy. I mean, I was number five in the world kickboxing champion in my division, which was a super middleweight championship.

[2:50] Elvis Presley, Shelton Parker was a martial artist. And Elvis Presley did a little bit of martial arts when he went to the service. And not that he was good at it, but he just loved the martial arts and karate. And he liked the aspect of it. He became an honorary black belt. Shelton Parker was a big martial arts guy. And Elvis said he wanted the best. He wanted the world champion. So he reached out to Joe Hess. And I just won the world title as well. And he wanted us to bodyguard him so we had the privilege of bodyguard him for his last year of his life and it was fantastic because you know i was like 20 years old and i was the last of the defense me and joe for the women to get to him and it’d be a stage and i’ll tell you tell you a funny story is we’re at a concert and mostly women gorgeous women and we’d have about 20 guys in the front anybody that got past those guys had to come up to me and joe and we would put our arms around their waist and lay them down. And, you know, this one particular time, this girl had Elvis’s scarf and put it around my neck and started choking me as I was bringing her down to the floor. It was, you know, she was beautiful. I laid her down and she left the scarf on my neck. And I still have it to this day. And Elvis goes, how’d you get that scarf? I go, one of your fans tried to choke me. He goes, well, you earned it, keep it.

[4:09] But it was a You know, we did it for about a year, and then we got a phone call one day that he passed, and it was kind of bad. But, you know, it was a great experience, and he was a great guy. And he was in his, you know, later years. He was very overweight, and, you know, he didn’t even like to be touched because he was perspiring so much. But overall, it was a great experience, and, you know, it was one of the most fabulous times of my life. I can only imagine traveling with the— All the beautiful 20-year-old women. And he had all the beautiful young girls and what they call his mafia.

[4:44] Mafia, exactly. Elvis’ mafia, all his buddies, his entourage. He’d have a hell of an entourage traveling with him. And he bought everything for everybody. Hell, I understand he would go into a town. If he liked some cops, he might buy some cop a brand new car because he loved cops. Yep. It was nuts. Very generous guy. And he gave so much faith and so much trust in his manager. As we all know, he pretty much took all of his money and gambled it all away. And he was just a generous, beautiful person. So, Ted, how did you end up in the drug dealing business? I see. Well. I’m reading through this, and I see you started out at a young age. As many guys do, somebody said, hey, man, you want to make a run, make some really good money for just a little short run? Too good to be true. Yeah. So as I was training, I was working at a correctional counselor and guys coming out of state prison. I was called the CC1. And basically, they’d come out of prison. I’d find them jobs. And it was a work release camp. And it was getting them to basically get themselves back in and not just throw them on the street and have them go back to crime.

[5:52] They had got a job. So I was a counselor. And now that was a counselor, my mom was like 47 years old and she had cancer, pancreatic cancer. And my brother and my sisters, they all smoked pot. I never did. When I found my brother’s pot, I’d throw it and flush it down the toilet because I was like a mini law enforcement guy at that point, guy in my life.

[6:12] And my mom would get really sick with the chemo and stuff. And the only thing that would help her, and I’d stop hearing her moan and cry all the time, is when my sister and my brother gave her a joint and she’d smoke it and it took the chemo pain away from her. So one day, my brother-in-law said to me, he goes, hey, Ted, you’d like to make $5,000. I go, well, yeah. I go, I make $7,000 a year in the law enforcement. He goes, well, you make $5,000. That isn’t 1977, 78. And everybody knew what Florida was becoming. And he goes, you’re just going to drive this car from Hollywood to Naples across Alligator Alley. He goes, in fact, take your girlfriend with you. So her name was Tanita. I put her in the car, took the car to the other side of Alligator Alley and came back with another car. And I had like 500 pounds of pot. I didn’t know what it was in there. I kind of figured, but I dropped it off, came back with maybe $50,000, $60,000. And I got $5,000 a month. So that’s how it started.

[7:15] And I did that probably once or twice a month. Next thing I know is I have a safety deposit box stashed with $50,000 or $60,000. Now I’m 20 years old. That’s like $5 million to me today, right? And I’m like, I’m thinking I’m the cock of the block. I’m rich with $50,000. And so I’m working at the workplace center, and I’m getting ready to fight for the world title. And I win the world title. And, you know, well, let me back up. Before I won the world title, I started buying boats, and I started running pot myself, me and my brother. And we bring in a couple thousand pounds at a clip. And that’s how I got started into the business.

[7:58] Well, I get all marijuana marijuana. Yeah. And I guess I’m always interested in the more, the details of how these things work, how, you know, I see your brother-in-law got you to haul that one load and he probably told whoever he’s working with, you know, Hey, this guy’s Tad, Tad’s okay. You know, he could trust him. He did this. He did it perfect, did it well. And so then you get introduced to another guy who, who wants to offer you a little more opportunity. Is that kind of how it worked yeah this next guy who was this next guy the next guy was named little ray thompson and he was the king thing of the cartel of miami and fort lauderdale area and this guy would bring in you know 10 000 pounds of pop and he’d have five 58 foot hatteras but he he knew i was getting ready to fight for the world title and he didn’t want to ruin my reputation he goes i want you to be my bodyguard. And I says, okay, I’ll be your bodyguard. So I was his bodyguard and he wouldn’t let me get involved with anything.

[8:58] Nothing to do with the pot business at all. And I knew all the people that he didn’t think that I knew and I would do it on the side. He would know it. And I’d do my little runs and I’d make my little money. And he thought I was keeping me clean. And then one day, uh, you know, he was like one of the biggest pots mongers

[9:15] in the, in the country at that point in time. One day he called me up and he says, Ted, he goes, that you know i’m giving you an opportunity i go what’s that he goes i need you to drive this van out of the boatyard he owned his boatyard called amity boatyard and there’s about 35 000 pounds of pot there he goes i need you to take a van and drive it to a certain location it’s 1500 pounds and you’ll make 20 000 bucks i says okay i’ll do that so i get in the van and my brother-in-law is the security guy he gives me a wave go ahead and go i go pull out of the garage of the marina and this Camaro comes flying behind me and I’m going oh boy it’s not good and I make a right I make a left I make a right and this guy’s on my bumper and I’ll never forget it was on Davy Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale changed my life it was 1981 June and I pulled over and all of a sudden I said ah something’s going on all of a sudden the blue lights come on cops come over pull me over.

[10:12] And these guys were just rookies and they just joined just came out of the police academy that I train these guys, you know, and they open the van and they go, it’s Ted Pryor. He can’t get against the man. They can watch him out. He’s dangerous. He can kill you with his hands and feet. And they got a gun on my head. I go, guys, I’m okay. You got the wrong guy. No, we got you, Ted. We got you. Don’t move. And they cuffed me and they put me in the back of the car. And, you know, they’re just, they’re all in shock. There’s like 20 cops at this time. And every one of these guys went through the academy at some point in time in the last five years. And, you know, they were kind of devastated. This is Joe Hess’s boy. You know, he was our commander and tactical commander. He trained all of us. He went bad. So they bring me to the police station.

[11:02] And, you know, this is right out of like Dragnet or, you know, the show’s good guy, bad guy. In your case, Miami Vice. Yeah, right. Miami Vice, right. So they got me in the interrogation room and they have my feet shackled, you know, with Ziploc. And then they have me tied behind the chair with a Ziploc. And there’s another guy, it’s a Sergeant, Peter, I remember him. And he’s hitting this phone book and he’s going, Ted, I hate to do this to you. And I go, listen, I know what you’re going to do with that phone book. There’s going to be a problem. And I stood up with my hands tied behind a chair with the chair on my back. And I said, if you think you’re going to hit me with that phone book, we’re all going to be grappling here and someone’s going to get hurt. I had no idea how I was going to defend myself. And I was shackled. And I talked to them. They knew how good I was that they said, Ted, sit down. We’re not going to hurt you.

[11:56] And I says, OK, put that book down first. You put that phone book down because

[12:00] that phone book is going to go across my head because it didn’t show any marks when they hit you. You know, because they don’t have any battery and stuff. so you know and they said what were you gonna do like that and i go i have no idea i said but we’re all gonna be grappling and get hurt somehow yeah but that was that was the first encounters i had with you know my friends and you know it was kind of ups and downs moments because i was in law enforcement yeah and here i here i become you know i’m a guy smuggling pot and it was kind of uncomfortable and you know obviously i didn’t have my job anymore at the police academy but you know a lot of guys still stuck by me, believe it or not.

[12:40] And now everybody thinks I got a real soft sentence because I knew a lot of people, possibly true, but not with the judges. And, you know, I had a lot of references that I was a good guy and made a mistake. And so, you know, it was a usual experience, but, you know, terrible for my family. And for me, I was, I wouldn’t come out of the house for about a month because I was embarrassed, you know? I can imagine. Yeah.

[13:05] I guess you had enough money to hire a pretty good lawyer too, and that always helps. And then with your connection background, first-time offender, young guy, been working with the police department. Hey, it’s pretty easy to sell that story. He made a mistake. He needs a second chance, right? Yeah, exactly. It was an interesting ride. And when I got arrested by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, There’s a thing called motion suppressing evidence. I’m sure you know what that is, but most of the viewers wouldn’t know it. But basically, when you read the story, you’ll see that they have to have probable cause to be able to pull you over. And actually, the judge I had was Stan Kaplan, who was a, they called him the hanging judge. He was really tough. He was in a wheelchair most of his life.

[13:47] But he followed the law as it was written in the law, and it didn’t vary off of it. And basically if you made a clean bust you know you’re going to get the maximum sentence well the bus when they busted me with the van they actually lied and they said the bumper was dragging on the van and that was your probable cause and basically in court i had a great lawyer like you said and we’ve proven when we got the van out of out of the compound from the police we loaded up with 1500 pounds of uh of weights and the they said the bumper was dragging on the ground and it didn’t move a quarter of an inch yeah and when we got the judge for the motion to suppress the evidence what happens is the judge says well you said the bumper was dragging on the ground the prosecutor says yes sir the police officers say yes sir and he says well how can this be the same band with the same amount of weight and it didn’t move a quarter of an inch he goes so you guys were lying because it’s impossible that you pulled him over and now you’re lying to try to bring this man in front of me he goes this.

[14:51] Is i’m throwing this out because you guys lied and you tampered with evidence and the probable cause you know you should have told us the truth but you’re lying so he threw it out yeah and what what they probably had was an informant that they were trying to protect they had they had an informant that they were trying to protect and they should have used that informant and i would have gotten the full maximum term which would have been 15 years at that point in time so judge kaplan threw it out and then he knew my background of becoming a professional fighter i was getting ready for the world title fight i didn’t win the world title at that point that was 81 so i was free.

[15:30] To go. And I fought, became a world champion. I was in the newspapers all the time, Fort Lauderdale News. I was on a TV show called PM Magazine, which is very popular in the eighties. And Judge Kaplan seen me turn my whole life around. And then all of a sudden knock on the door, the feds come in and they want me to cooperate. And I said, no, I’m not going to cooperate because I think I’m, I’m, you know, I think I’m God now because I, I won. Right. And didn’t realize about, you know, double jeopardy. And it wasn’t, they just gave me a different charge. They called, you know, they hit me with conspiracy to import marijuana. I was looking at five to 15 years and the federal government, you know, they, they charged me with conspiracy. And then what happened was Nancy Reagan and Reagan just got into office and she just says, say no to drugs. And I was the largest seizure of the United States history, 1981, 32,000 pounds. After they busted me, They went back to the boathouse and they got a warrant and they got 32,000 pounds. It’s the largest seizure in United States history. And they got one guy and it’s me. And I got off. So those feds put the pressure on him because Nancy said, just say no.

[16:38] And they got it overturned. I got to go back in front of Judge Kaplan. And he says, you know, Ted, he goes, I think you’ve done an incredible job with your life. Turn it around. 1982, you become a world champion. You’re in the movies. You’re flying all over the world. He goes, I made the right call. He goes, but I got overturned by the appellate court in the state here. And it had something to do with the federal government. And I made the right call. I made it in the law. And he goes, other people have other agendas. He goes, and I got a sentence here. So he gave me the minimum sentences, which was a year. And he gave me a year. And he said.

[17:13] In the courtroom, John Sayles, he used to be Julie Rudiani’s right-hand guy. He actually was one of the lawyers that got Nixon out of the White House. So he was with a federal prosecutor. He was a very, very influential guy. And the judge said, I’m going to give you a year and a day in state court or 18 months in penitentiary. So John Sayles says, we’ll take the 18 months. And I said, excuse me, Your Honor, can I talk to my lawyer outside? Because I don’t think he knows Matt. He goes, sure, Ted. So I go outside. I go, John. 18 months is a lot longer than a year and a day. He goes, well, the judge doesn’t know. If you go to state court, you get a day off for every day you do. He goes, I’ll have you out back in your work release place in nine months. I says, okay. So I go in, I tell the judge, I’ll take the 18 months. So sure enough, three months I was on work release. And where I go is right back to the place that I actually started, you know, helping convicts coming out of state prison. And my dear friend who I started with is now the chief.

[18:11] And his name is Barry Arringer. and he’s the chief of police he comes in he goes head you messed up your life look at you you’re a convict i go jerry i go barry i don’t need to hear this from you i know what i did wrong i go i’m i’m just want to get my time and get over it get and he goes look i know you’re too stupid to get a job because you bring you can have you know your volkswagen car come here and you can go do what you want he goes i’m gonna give you a beeper five o’clock you make sure you’re back here by five o’clock every day and don’t you screw me, Ted. I go, Barry, have I ever screwed you before? He goes, no. He goes, but you went bad and I’m giving you a chance to go ahead and just be back and, you know, not five o’clock. Well, during I was in the penitentiary at this point in time.

[18:59] You know, I was still working in the business. My brother had a boat and he was continuously running marijuana runs. And, you know, I never ratted him out. And a lot of my other friends, I didn’t rat him out. I just kept it to myself. So as I’m on work release, I get a call from a friend of mine, Dennis McGuire, and he was very close with Governor Graham. And basically he says, I need you to come meet me at my restaurant called Crackers in North Miami. So I said, sure, I’ll come meet you. So I come meet him. he walks in with a briefcase and my brother told me that we did a run and he comes in with the Miami Herald. He goes, you want the good news or the bad news? I have a beeper on my side. I want a work release.

[19:40] I says, give me the bad news. He throws the Miami Herald on the counter. He goes, Ted Pryor, champion, indicted with 30 other people, biggest marijuana drug smuggling ring in the country. And all of a sudden my beeper goes off and he goes, what’s that? I go, that’s my beeper. He goes, who’s beeping? Yeah. I go, that’s Barry Aaron’s. It’s the chief where I’m at at the workplace. He goes, you’re one crazy effed up dude. He goes, here’s your briefcase. He goes, you want to count it? There’s a million bucks in there. I go, no, I trust you. You never screwed me before. So my beeper’s going off because I’m out of here. So he leaves and I got a million dollars in a briefcase and my beeper’s going off. It goes off once, goes off twice.

[20:21] So I go to a pay, you know, back then they didn’t have cell phones. So they have like a little rodeo phone, you know little pay phone so i go in the back put a quarter in and i call up barry and he goes ted the fbi the secret service dea he goes the treasury department the whole effing government’s here where the hell are you i go barry i go you tell them that you just talked to me i’ll be back in three hours he goes three hours my ass i go i got a little bit of an accounting problem i’ll be right back i made the next call i made was to my brother i said get me some pvc pipe meet me at the townhouse because we got to bury some money and i i did that i went back to the work release center and five of my friends that i smuggled with are there with me and they sent us to this really really tough prison which was called bell glades it was a state prison and it was tough it was like you know i think i was like maybe there was 10 white guys in the whole whole penitentiary and everybody else were either cuban refugees and all you know really like murderers and it was really a tough, tough experience. But three months in there, But that was just one of the stories that I wanted to tell you about while I was, between my friends that gave me a little bit of lead way and I came back and thank God he didn’t get in trouble.

[21:42] Yeah. They put you guys in that prison in order to try to soften you up a little bit, try to get somebody to break. I know that. Exactly right. Yeah. And when they put me in that Bell Glade one, Gary, it was, you know, I got there and the first month I was a recreation ref, a recreation guy.

[21:59] And, you know, and it was a big, huge, you know, guard tower, maximum security. And through my connections, I got a job at the recreation department.

[22:10] And Mercury Morris, football player in the Miami Dolphins. So he was there with me and we would run every day. And there was a guy named germany who was a big big badass black guy and he was a boxer, and there’s a white guy there named joe and joe was a mafia guy and he goes ted i bet on you you’re gonna go in the ring you’re gonna fight the german and i go listen man i just want to do my time and get out of here he goes no it doesn’t work that easy he goes you little white boy running around there he goes all the black guys they want you to be their bitch and i go i’ll handle that myself he goes no you won’t he goes you gotta you you gotta work for me here and i go he goes i pulled the strings and he was a mafia guy and he knew the guy ray thompson i worked for and he goes i know little ray he told me that you’d do this for me he goes i’m the kingpin here you gotta do it and i said i’m not doing anything the day before he wanted me to you know he kept pressing me to do it i kept telling him no i just want to do my time and then all of a sudden right in front of me a guy gets shanked kills him because he cut in line guy’s dead i’m like holy shit and i’m like turning white then i get to the mess hall and i see him i’m sitting next to joe sorrentino his name was and he’s sitting there he has a big beautiful steak you know like something you’d eat in a steakhouse right mashed potatoes eating really good my food i look at my food and i see my potatoes my potatoes are moving and i’m going what the hell is this i look at that it’s maggots.

[23:39] And I’m going, I’m not eating this shit. I’m not eating this shit. And he goes, you want to eat meat like me? I go, yeah, I’d like to eat like you. He goes, get in that ring because you’ll eat just like me and you’ll be a king.

[23:51] And I said, set up the fight because I was starving at this point. I have a bite of your steak now. He goes, I’ll give you a bite of my steak. So he gave me half of the steak, but now I had to fight the Germans. And so he says, two days, you’re in the match. So he made a big betting match. Yeah. So big black guy against a little white guy. And I wound up fighting him. It’s in the book, three or four rounds. I knocked him out of the ring, knocked him out on conscience. All of a sudden, about 10 black guys came running in, grabbing me. And Joe’s screaming, German. German gets up. He goes, don’t you touch that white boy. Anybody touch that white boy? Your ass is mine. He says. He goes over. He puts my hand up. He goes, this white boy, he won fair and square. He’s a badass. And so I started training him. And he told all the guys, because 90% of it was a black, you know, it was like the Black Panthers. They were really tough, badass guys.

[24:45] And the experience was like, I was the white hope there. And then, you know, what happened was the government found out that I had it really easy going there. And that’s why they couldn’t break me. I’m sitting in my bunk the first night the first my first experience I was in a double bunk and and this place is so dangerous they have the guard in a wicker and I’m sure you know the wicker but the the viewers don’t it’s a cage where actually the guard is in the cage he’s actually the prisoner and we have a dorm with bunk beds with 300 guys that are murderers and the average guy doing time here is you know 30 years to life and here I’m doing a nine-month sentence and they’re trying to break me. First thing I see, you know, I’m sitting on my top bunk. I’m like 20 years old. I hear this moaning and groaning. I’m seeing this guy do these horrific things to this other guy. I’m like, oh God. And I’m getting little tears on my eyes. And I say, I can’t let anybody see this. 10 seconds later, a guy comes running by.

[25:44] My bunk on fire he stole some pot from some guy they put lighter fluid on him threw a match on him and you can smell the flesh and this is my first night in this prison right oh my and they finally they spray the guy he’s dead on the floor choco you can smell it it was awful so then after i fought the german they put me on the chain gang and they wake me up at four o’clock in the morning take me out to the sugar cane fields and i’m in a bus we’re all shackled about 30 guys shackled handcuffed to shackles, just enough to be able to swing your blade. Because I’m with guys that are doing, they’re all like murderers and they’re like rapists and they’re really, really bad guys. And here I’m, marijuana. I have a nine-month sentence and these guys are there for life and the feds are trying to break me. Well, they broke me. I was swinging that little blade in the sugar cane, 10 o’clock, you go underneath the school bus, you get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, drink some water. It was awful. I did this for about, I called John Sales every day at the payphone. John, you got to get me out of here. If you don’t get me out of here, he goes, I’m not going to make it, man. He goes, they’re trying to kill me. He goes, Ted, you know what you got to do? You got to tell them your side of the story, just your side of the story. I go, John, I’m not doing that. Just tell him what you did. He goes, you just got to tell him what you had to do for Ray.

[27:04] About two weeks went by and I just said, John, make the call. Get me the hell out of here by Friday He goes I don’t know if I can get you out by Friday But I think I can get you out by Monday So he got me out and then the feds took me to federal Penitentiary in Miami.

[27:19] But that was the toughest time of my life in prison. That was a real, you know, hey, William, go shut the door, please. It’s cold. Sorry about that, Gary. So, you know, that was the toughest time of my life in state prison. And then I had a whole new challenge with the federal prison system after I got indicted by the feds. Well, you guys have to read the book to find out about the federal system.

[27:42] But there’s good stories in there about that. So I tell you one story I do want to hear. And that’s the story of Jimmy Biggs down in Jamaica. This is a hell of a story, guys. I tell you what, dude, you have been to hell and back. And I don’t know how you did it and survived to be talking today. But tell them about Jimmy Biggs down in Jamaica.

[28:04] Yeah, I’ll tell you about Jimmy Biggs. Let me tell you one real quick story about one of the famous guys that I went to prison with in England Air Force Base. I was sitting on my bottom bunk and this old guy comes in about 72 years old and it’s Aldo Gucci. I don’t know who Aldo Gucci is. I’m saying, who the hell is Aldo Gucci? Well, you know, he’s a famous designer and they got him for tax evasion. And so I said, Hey pop, I go, you know, I’ll go up top. You stay on my bottom bunk because you can’t get up here. And then I found who Aldo Gucci was and I protected him. And Aldo Gucci was such a nice man. When we both got parole together, I was walking on Worth Avenue with my wife, Danita, and he was working in his Aldo Gucci store in Worth Avenue, which is one of the most glamorous places in the world. And I walk in there with my wife and he says, Ted, this guy took care of me. He goes, anything you want, you take. So I said, now you don’t have to do that. But my wife walked out of there with purses and shoes. I’m embarrassed to say it was like a down payment for a house. She must have had like $40,000 of purses. And he says, take it all. Don’t charge him anything. And it was just one quick story before I try to tell you that story. Yeah, that’s a good one. That’s a good one. Thanks for sharing that one. That’s a good one.

[29:18] Dump. Dump. Yeah. Well, I’ll tell you about the Jamaica story. So my friend, Patrick Bill, he was a young guy who was my partner. And we were doing these runs and we had these boats. They were hidden holes and we’d hide like 3,000 pounds of marijuana into a hidden hole, which the dogs couldn’t smell it. No one could see it. Only the captain knew where it was. But long story short, before I got involved with him, one of his captains was getting a load back to Jamaica and it actually sank. And it caught on fire and sank. and Patrick said to me, he goes, you know, the boat sank. Jimmy Biggs wants his money. I owe him 300 grand. I go, Patrick, you got the money, pay him. He goes, no, I’m going to go over and negotiate a deal and get another boatload and pay for the first one and the second one. I go, Patrick, it don’t work that way. I go, listen, man, you’ve got to just pay him. You have the money. You blew it, just pay him and then get your next load and make up for it. He goes, no, I’m going to go over. He goes, will you go with me? I goes, Patrick, it’s not a good idea. I said, all right, listen, man, I feel bad for you. I better go with you because I don’t think this is going to be good. I said, I’ll go with you. So we jump on the Learjet, and him and I fly over to Jamaica. Now, Jimmy Biggs is the second guy in command underneath the prime minister. He works for the Jamaican Defense Force. He was a general. So we land in this Learjet.

[30:40] And all of a sudden, I see these jeeps come up with machine guns on them. And I go, Patrick, this is not a welcome. This is not good, brother. He goes, no, no, it’s fine. I go, it’s not fine, man. I go, I go up to the cabin, to the pilot. I go, keep going. He goes, I can’t. They got me boxed in. He goes, I go, oh man, this is not good, Patrick.

[31:01] So all of a sudden, it’ll be fine. I go, no, you’re out of your mind. It’s not going to be fine. These are guns pointing at this plane. They’re saying we don’t want to go. We’re captured. He goes, no, you’ve got it all wrong. They opened up the door. I was right. They cuffed us and they took us to Jimmy Biggs’ place, which is a little stash house among his million dollar compound that he had you know millions of dollars compound and they take us there and we’re in this little room and they’re they’re they’re guy his guys are there and jimmy biggs there he says i want my money where’s my money patrick says i can get you your money i want to come here and negotiate and get another boat the boat’s here you can check on it it’s this logic too you know i have another boat ready for a load to take it in and i’ll give you your money because no man doesn’t work that way i need my money you get sent in here now and so i said you know we can get the money but we don’t have it we have to call somebody to get it he’s i’m not going i’m not you’re not calling anybody and these guys that are watching us now they’re really high and they have these machine guns and we’re in this little room and first break of the day we got we they took our our zip lines and they let them put it in front of us. So we had our zip lines like this in front of us. No, I had no shackles on our, on our legs. They didn’t know who I was.

[32:16] And Patrick and I are there and there’s three guys, Jimmy Biggs leaves, and they have machine guns and they’re really high. And I look at Patrick, I go on the count of three, I go, I have this pen, ballpoint pen. I take the pen off of it and I had just a point when I say on three, I’m going to lift the table up and I’m going to stick this pen in one of those guys’ throats and get the guns and we’re going to get out of here. Well, he’s so scared because there’s three of them. Now, they were so high that I think a five-year-old could have beat them up. So it was pretty easy for me because I knew my angle. I said, you just sit here and just make sure no one comes in that door.

[32:53] He goes, he’s got a pen. He’s got a pen. All of a sudden, they came over. They sent the pen in my hand, and they hit me on the back, you know, in front of my head with an M16, and it kicking me. And my eye was shut and bleeding and stuff. And I was not happy with Patrick. And, you know, that goes right up there with saying, hey, he’s got a pillow, right? He’s got a pen in his hand. I said, because Patrick was scared that we were going to get killed. Make a long story short, I’d get that shit beat out of me. And then a couple days later, Jimmy Biggs came in. And I said, Jimmy, I said, look, if you want the money, I can get my brother and my friend Scott to bring the money here. But you’re going to have to let them come here, let them come in to the country and go to a Marriott, something that’s universal that the United States owns so they have security. He goes, I don’t know. I go, it’s the only way you’re going to get to $300,000. You want us or you want the money? He said, I want the money. I said, let me make the call. So he lets me make the call. I call my brother. I says, listen. And they’re on the other line. I go, get $300,000, get Scott. And we’re captured here. Jimmy Biggs, you can fly into the hotel. They’ll take you to us, bring the money, get us free.

[34:03] I hang up. It’s in motion. So now Scott and my brother flying in on the Learjet. And they give him comp launch. bring him right to the Marriott. Scott was an enforcer. He had a couple of guns. He smuggled along with the money, came into the Marriott hotel. And now I got to convince Jimmy Biggs that I got to get the money and bring it to him. And he’s got to release Patrick when I bring the money to him. So I go, Jimmy, now these guys are here. You got to let me go get the money. He goes, no, man. No. He goes, we go get the money. I go, no, it doesn’t work that way. We are not going to be captured. And then you kill us and you have the money too. I’m not going to kill you, man. I go, I’m not trusting you. You got us handcuffed here for, you know, four days. I go, that’s not happening. The only way you’re going to get your money is I got to get it. When I come back, Patrick comes with me. He goes, okay, you can do it. He goes, you guys go with him. I go, no, no, I want my own car. You guys can follow me, but you’re not coming with me. So I convinced him to do that. So we get to the Marriott Hotel in Jamaica.

[35:05] And I get there and Scott, my brother there, so on a piece of napkin, I’m showing him the ground, showing him where everything’s at. They have big sugar cane fields, and I said, it’s a big compound. And I’m telling Scott, we’re drawing him up on that, And we come up with a plan that we’re going to go to the house. My brother is going to have the 300 grand in the car, which we did. Scott and I are going to be in the back of the car. And we got close to the compound. We jump out of the car and we run to the house while my brother drives up the driveway. And we told him to give us like five minutes because we had to run about a half an acre to get to the back door.

[35:41] And I told him, beep your horn, beep your horn. and then when you get close and they open the front door i just keep driving back and forth thinking that you’re scared so that they think you’re scared and gives us time to get into the house so my brother gets here a little bit early the last thing scott says to me he goes whenever you do don’t shoot now i go i’m not gonna shoot i go you’re the one i’m worried about shooting i go shoot he goes the defense force is gonna be all over this is jimmy jimmy’s you know this is this territory so i hear this car bb i go shit we’re late so we’re running to the back door and all of a sudden we see this other guy tony his name is he’s a jamaican dude he comes out the back door and scott bing takes a shot at him i go what are you doing so we keep going and all of a sudden i reach the back door and i hit the guy and knock him down i could i tie him up he’s done and i hear my brother going back and forth i hear another guy saying come on in come on in so my brother just stops in the driveway and me and Scott get into the, to the house and we’re start clearing the whole house. I got somebody, I got the guy around his head. He got a gun to his head and I’m looking for Patrick and Patrick’s not there. And I’m like, where’s Patrick? So Jimmy Biggs wife’s there and Jimmy Biggs there. And I go, Jimmy, where’s my friend? He’s not here, man. I go, what do you mean he’s not here? So I clear the whole house, his wife’s there.

[37:04] And I said, okay you gotta get take my brother to him with your wife and go get patrick and we’re getting out of here the 300 grand is in the trunk of the car he goes show me the money i go you’re not in a good position right now i go i got a gun to your head you don’t know what that means he goes yeah it was the same thing you did to me now it’s the other way you’re not in charge now i am so as we know we don’t know what’s going on there’s a big a kilo of cocaine on your dining room table it’s Probably about 20 straws in there. And I’m like going, what’s that, Jimmy? He goes, well, and all of a sudden I hear a knock on the door.

[37:38] So Scott’s there. Scott’s a fugitive now for the feds. And he’s looking at 10 to light. He’s still in prison, by the way. But so he’s drinking a little bit to search, you know, just calm himself down a little bit. And all of a sudden, I open up the front door. There’s a guy and a girl. I put him on the floor. We zip line him. In 20 minutes, we have 20 people laying on the floor. He’s throwing a party. He’s throwing a party. And I go, how many more people are coming, Jimmy? And, you know, we’re hearing knocks. So we’re just thinking that the defense force is going to come, right?

[38:11] So he goes, there’s only 20 people. So Scott is grabbing the cocaine and he’s throwing, goes, here, you guys, you want some cocaine here? He throws more on top of these guys and he’s throwing cocaine all over the floor. I’m going, Scott, knock it off. And he’s drinking vodka street and he’s throwing the Coke on him. I’m going, Scott, knock it off. I go, it’s not funny. And all of a sudden you start seeing three of these guys with zip lines on and they’re crawling and they’re snorting their stuff off the floor. And I’m laughing. I’m going, boy, these guys are desperate guys. And Scott goes, yeah, you came here for a party. Here, have some more. And I’m saying, Scott, knock it off, knock it off. So finally, I get Jimmy Biggs’ wife and my brother. I go, go get Patrick. And I go, bring him back here right away. And he says, and if you don’t get back here, I says, Jimmy, your husband’s dead and I don’t think you’re going to do well yet. She goes and gets my brother and come back in about 10 minutes, maybe five, come back. And we take Jimmy Beggs, keep everybody handcuffed, zip tied. And we have to get off the island now. So we radio to Eddie. We called him Captain Crunch. He’s our captain. We had a 36-foot fishing boat down there. And that was our escape. So we called him to get close to where we were because the mansion was right on the water. We were about a mile off of the shore. So when…

[39:34] We radioed him in. He came in. We have the boat waiting for us. Now we got to get off the compound. And when you go off the compound, there’s security. Because Jimmy Biggs is the head of the defense force. He’s protected.

[39:47] So I got Jimmy Biggs is in the back seat. Scott’s on the right. I’m on the left. My brother’s driving. His wife’s in the middle. And Patrick is on the passenger side. And Scott has his .38. And he’s got the gun inside of Jimmy’s side. And he goes, you move.

[40:03] I’m gonna blow your your your guts away and i go hey scott can you do me a favor he goes what did you put that in his belly instead of his ribs so it doesn’t go right through him and hit me he goes oh yeah good idea yeah so he puts it in his belly has a coat over it and we got to go through the defense force as in jimmy you don’t say the right thing i go you go first your wife goes second we better get past this guard gate so he goes hey jimmy jimmy goes we’re good you’re okay yeah we lives is true we get through i tell my brother that you know just floor it and go right into the bay because like a little clip about probably about you know 10 feet high my brother floors it we get the car goes into the bay the doors fly open the roof comes there was the dumbest thing i told him to do you know the car landed onto a sandbar right and the trunk’s open and i go to my brother i think jimmy biggs and they go leave him here i don’t know he’s coming with us We got to get the international waters. Thank God I was smart enough to take them. So I’m taking him with me. I got him cuffed in front and, and he’s able to paddle out. So I got him by the neck and I said, I’m a brother go, Tony, get the money. And he’s going like this swimming. I go, stand up. You idiot. I got this three feet of water in a sandbar. Get that money. He started laughing. He grabbed the money. I grabbed Jimmy Biggs and we swim out to the boat.

[41:20] We get Jimmy Biggs on the boat and we have them ziplined in the front, ziplined in the top. And I got them on the top of the bow and we’re flying out. And I says, Eddie, you got to get into international waters. I go, cause if we don’t, we’re done. Sure enough, we’re about a mile from international waters. And all of a sudden you see two, two cutters and your Jamaican, your Jamaican task force. And they go, you know, like those big machine guns across your bow. The defense force, hold your water. So we stop, you know, we just stop a mile from international waters.

[41:58] In other words, I bring Jimmy Biggs on top of the bow and I put the gun to his head. And Eddie tells him, he goes, the next time you shoot on this boat, he’s done. Then you hear, this is the United States Coast Guard. A helicopter comes flying over. And it says, if you fire on that U.S. vessel again, we will blow you out of the water. And there’s a Coast Guard cutter in the international waters. And this thing’s got, you know, cannons on it, all kinds of crap. And they said, repeat, you shoot on that U.S. vessel one more time and we will blow you out of the water. You let that boat come into international waters. It’s a U.S. Vessel. Now, there’s no smuggler in the world that wants to start at any point in time. But this was a blessing because all we had was money on the boat, right? Right. So, with that, we started going inching across, and I brought Jimmy Biggs to the back of the boat, and I clipped off his stuff, and I kicked him off the back of the boat, and he swam in the defense force, got Jimmy Biggs, and we got to the Coast Guard. We threw the guns overboard. We kept the cash on the boat. I have no idea why.

[43:05] And it was probably a good thing. So, when we got to International Waters, we didn’t know this, but the Coast Guard, if they’re International Waters, they can’t bring you to the United States. They got to bring you to the closest country that they’re in when you’re international warriors. And that was the Cayman Islands. So when they brought us into the Cayman Islands, I says, we’re, we’re good. They go, what do you mean we’re good? What are you kidding? I says, cause yeah, we’re going to let them take the boat, let them take the cash and we got our freedom. Well, it worked. We got over there and they said, you know, what are you doing? I says, yeah, we had some cash in the boat. You can have the boat. You can have, you know, you can have the boat and the cash and the Caymans gave us the boat and gave it to them. And we were free. We got back to the United States, But obviously, you had to co-scred, they had all of our names, and they were watching us very closely. So that was an interesting story, and one that I luckily got away with alive.

[43:54] One of many, guys. I’ll tell you what, guys. This book, Ted Pryor. Got lots of good stories. It’s got lots of great stories, guys. You need to get this book. I didn’t read it word for word, but I read through it looking for stuff, and I found several stories just like that. That was probably the most dramatic maybe of all of them, but that was a good one. That was a really good one. Ted, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Is there anything else you’d like to tell people?

[44:24] No, I just want to let you know that the book is three-time world champ. My life now, for the last 35 years, has always been children in my life. When I used to have my karate schools, I taught kids from a very young age. And I’ve always compelled. I got into, when I got out of prison, I had some car washes. And then I got into child care.

[44:44] And I’ve been in child care for 35 years. We’re the seventh largest child care provider in the country, Children of America. My son runs the company for the last six years now, doing a fantastic job. We started the Prior Foundation, and the Prior Foundation is for children that are left behind like I was left behind. I barely got out of high school, couldn’t spell college, and so I was that kid left behind. So anything, proceeds, whether it’s a movie, whether it’s a miniseries, buying the book, all the proceeds go to the Prior Family Foundation, and all that money goes into unprivileged children, children left behind like I was. We help children we pay for their tuition we give them free tuition the family foundation all the money goes back to the kids but the kids that can’t afford to come to our schools we want them to have the same privilege as the kids the parents do have the money to be able to give them good educations so and we’re in like 15 states right now we’ve got about 70 locations all the proceeds go to children and their families that that need help and that don’t have the privilege of being able to put their child into a a good preschool to get them

[45:49] a good education a good head start Yeah, that’s immensely important. I understand that whole Head Start program the government did. They found that for kids to succeed later on in life, that early education before they actually go in the first grade is huge. And, you know, three meals every day. I’m sure your school does that. Make sure everybody’s fit and rested and learning. And so that’s a great program, Ted.

[46:14] Yeah. If you go on the back of the book, there’s a QR code. That’s the family foundation. My daughter’s on there. She’ll explain a little bit. There’s also things in there about Children of America. So it’s a great organization and it’s all about the children. And I don’t want children to have to do what I had to do earlier on in life. I want them to get a good education so they stay away from the bad problems that I did. Yeah, you’re not the only one that’s entered into a life of crime because they didn’t have any opportunity. I mean, when you’re young, you’re strong, you’re bright, you’re smart, but you don’t have the education, you don’t have the opportunities just to handle it to you. You don’t have anybody’s shoulders to stand on. Crime and organized crime is

[46:52] really a way to go and a way to use your talents and make money. So it’s a good, you can’t even think what I call it, a good program, if you will. And I’ll have links to it, guys, at the end of my show notes, and I’ll have a link to Ted’s website. And then you can get his book there if you want to and learn more about the program.

[47:10] Yeah, I appreciate your time, Gary. It’s been a real fun talking to you about this. And I just want everybody to know that, you know, all the proceeds go to the children. That’s what it’s all about. And changing one child’s life. I know I’ve changed thousands of them and I’m very proud of that. And I’m thankful to this day to God. I’m very blessed to have the lives that I have and be able to give back and take a negative and make it into a positive. And a lot of federal government prosecutors and Secret Service guys and guys that know me, you know, some of them said that I’d never make it. And now they’re all calling me, texting me, saying, we are so proud of you. And I’m glad that they actually gave me an opportunity to be able to change my life and make it into a positive instead of a negative. All right. Great, Ted. Thanks a lot. Thanks for being here and sharing your stories and sharing that beautiful background behind you guys. I want you to notice what’s behind Ted. And in the book, the house is in there too, Gary. It’s one of the most important things is I had to do a lie detector test. You probably don’t know this, but I had to do a lie tech test to get this house. It was the first house I bought when I won the world title 40 years ago, and I was able to keep it. They wanted to take it, but I was able to keep it. Guys, I know about this. I know about that seizure. Back in those days, law enforcement would pick people just because they had a lot of assets and try to make a case on them in order to get those assets.

[48:37] Yeah, that’s for sure. You were lucky to hang on to that house. It’s the only thing I got out of it. Everything else they took. I can promise you that came from money that wasn’t earned through the drug business. Well, this is my world title fight. I used to run up here five miles from the ground, and that was my world title fight. And I was able to prove that I made the money to buy this house. It was $180,000 back then.

[48:59] But some of it was mixed with the drug smuggling money. But when you read the book, there’s a part there about the federal government wanting to attach it and not give it to me. And you’re going to love that story in the book, too. All right, great. Well, guys, you know, if you have a problem with PTSD and you’ve been in the service particularly, go to the VA website and get that hotline number. And with PTSD, many times you have problems with drugs and alcohol or compulsive gambling. So, you know, our friend Angelo Ruggiano, who was a former Gambino proposed memories, dad was a made guy, is a drug and alcohol counselor. And he has a hotline number on his website. and there’s 1-800-BETS-OFF if you have that problem. So those problems affect a lot of people, myself included, and there is help out there. So don’t forget that I have a book or two out there for sale on Amazon and just go to Amazon and search Gary Jenkins and Mafia and you’ll find everything that I’ve got out there for sale. I’ve got two documentaries that you can rent for $1.99 and learn about my career and about the Kansas City Mafia family. And I think that’s all I got to sell, Ted. And we sold some stuff for Ted and sold some stuff for me. And Ted, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Well, I’m going to buy a bunch of your books.

[50:18] I didn’t know you were in law enforcement. And it’s an honor. My heart’s with you guys because I was a law enforcement agent. And I wouldn’t say I went bad. I would say that I thought that I was helping my mother, but it was really pure greed. But law enforcement is very, very important in this country. And I still have a lot of good friends that stuck with me and God bless you guys like you keep us safe every day all right thank you Ted.