868: Remi Adeleke | The Ex-Royal/Ex-SEAL Who Fights Organ Harvesting

24:42His dog attacked him and my dad. And I want to be careful. I say he contracted rabies, but he got bit by a dog. So he went to the doctor to go get treated in the case the dog had rabies. And he was poisoned, essentially. So the medication that he was given in order to treat him on an autopsy report, the medication was bad medication. That's terrible. His heart died. And essentially that's what killed him. Corruption, man. Because the bad medication was because somebody put something in there that wasn't supposed to be in there or just put no active ingredient in there or whatever. Or poison. Poison man.

25:17Pretty much he was poisoned. The short end of it was he was poisoned. Do you think it was deliberate that they did that? 100%. Oh, I see. Because my dad, you know, he was a very powerful man in Nigeria. And with Mariko, after that was taken from him, he fought them for years and eventually had to relent and give him swamp. And they knew that my father would not stop fighting them. And they knew that that island would be worth billions of dollars. My dad had already, I mean, put the eight million pounds aside. My dad had already invested. He signed contracts with Marks and Spence, McDonald's, other companies to already start come work on to be housed on the island.

26:01He had signed deals with construction. I mean, he invested millions and millions of more dollars. I mean, even dredging the foreshore and creating the island cost millions more. And so he wasn't going to let that go. Right. He was a very vociferous man and he wasn't going to let that go. and the Nigerian government knew him. As a matter of fact, one of the top generals in Nigeria who's still alive to this day, who benefited from my dad, who my dad did favors for, you know, that guy, we believe, played a role in my father's death. I'm sorry I'm even making you talk about this because it's so disgusting.

26:35It's so gross. I don't mind talking about it because the truth needs to get out there. And I think that in what's happening on social media now with, you know, so many Nigerians are reaching out to me and saying, hey, this politician, The current president of Nigeria was the senator of Lagos during this whole situation. And all of these Nigerians are reaching out to me and saying the president said that he was the one that discovered the island. And now I'm seeing he's lied about so much. But now we're seeing how it's a lie because you've shown all of the receipts and you've shown all of the evidence that it was your family's.

27:09And so they killed my dad. Yeah, they had to because they knew that my dad being a chief and my dad being connected and my dad was not going to give that up. Yeah. He sounds like a very driven slash very stubborn kind of guy. Like you're not getting one over on on chief from the sound of it. Exactly. And so he died three weeks later after he started after it was taken and after he started fighting them in court and busting ass and showing receipts and doing all the things. They said, OK, this guy is not going. He's not going anywhere. Do you feel safe going back to Nigeria? Would you go back now?

27:42Because it sounds like you got a lot of attention that maybe wouldn't do you any favors if you go back now. Yeah, I'd go back now. Yeah. I have a half brother who's out there now. He's a lawyer. He's actually the lawyer on the case. He's been on the case since 1987. In fact, the Lego state government offered him eight million dollars four years ago in compensation. Oh, because is it starting to creep up like he's just making enough noise that they're starting to. Oh, yeah. Well, a few things have happened. One, they offered him$8 million. He turned it down because he said, listen, my dad, he bought Maracle for$8 million.

28:18And this was in his 70s. And his compensation was the swamp. And then all the other money he invested in just for inflation, the value of it now, it's worth billions of dollars. So he turned down the$8 million at the Laco state government. Yeah, inflation and interest, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, and interest. So he turned all of that down. And a few months later was, maybe a year later, was the End SARS movement. I don't know if you remember the End SARS movement that happened. End SARS? Yeah, E-N-D and then S-A-R-S. It was almost like the BLM riots. Like ending the disease of SARS? Or is this something else?

28:55It was a police force. Oh, okay, because you know what SARS is, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a respiratory disease. I was so confused. So it was a police force. And so there were big riots and protests. And conveniently, some protesters went into the courthouse where the case has been for 30 years, 30 plus years. And they found all of the documents, all of the evidence, everything that pertains to Banana Island and Lagoon City, my dad's case. And they burnt those files. and it was protesters right nothing else burned down in the in the courthouse sure but just those files were burnt by protesters and so my brother was in my half brother who's a lawyer happened to be in the uk was in the uk at the time when all this was going on he jumped on a plane flew i mean the guy had brain cancer you know you know had a tumor he has to wear like a helmet on his head now because they had to take a piece of his skull out and the doctors have to go in every so often and do some work.

29:52And, you know, he flew down there and, you know, confronted the judge and he said, what can we do? It was the protesters. Yeah. They wanted to fight for what they thought was a just cause. They didn't even take a pen off the judge's desk, but they burnt your files only. Such transparent bullshit. Yeah, yeah. For the listeners listening to this right now, how frustrated are you listening to this story? Imagine living this as your reality every single day and you're trying to get something done. You're trying to open a restaurant or go to college or anything, I know we're going to get Nigerian listeners being like, thank you because no one talks about this.

30:26Because I'm sure that this is just a reality every single day for every single person growing up there. It's so sad. 100%. Yeah, it's a kick in the nuts. So Chief passes away and you move to the Bronx, which is a different kind of neighborhood I would imagine that you're used to in Africa. Yeah, it went from riches and wealth to the Bronx, man. And it was, you know, I would say in my early years, my mom, you know, such a strong woman, much credit to my mom. She did a great job of masking the reality of what had happened. You know, she we didn't have much, but our little apartment that we did have, she always kept it clean.

31:04There was some art that she was able to bring from Nigeria that was peppered around the house. So she did the best that she could to mask the reality of what had happened and also our environment. And she would work multiple jobs. She started out just working as a teacher in the South Bronx. And then she would take jobs at museums and art galleries and even playhouses in order to be able to expose my brother and I to the arts. And then she would educate us on top of sending us to school, public school, because the public education system was really bad. She would homeschool us as well so that that way we could stay on par with the standard, which wasn't the best at the time either, at a minimum.

31:44And so, yeah, it was really, really rough, man. But it wasn't until I was about eight years old that I began to become conscious of our surroundings. I would go out and see guys handing other people who didn't look too healthy bags of stuff. And I would put two and two together, whereas my mom would tell me, oh, they're just giving each other some treats. It's nothing. That's drugs. I would see these people looking like zombies. And my mom would tell me, oh, they're just sick. No, that's a crackhead. I would go into these bodegas and see the mafia guys because the Italian mafia was very prevalent at the time in the late 80s and early 90s going with their cows and shake down the Dominican store owners.

32:29And I was like, that's not right. I think that guy might be a mobster. You know what I mean? And so as I began to really, as I grew up and began to venture out of my mom's apartment, this bubble that she created, that's when I began to understand the environment that I was in and understand that I'm not in Kansas anymore. And that rich life that we had is never going to come back. How old were you at this point in time? Yeah, so I came to the States in 87. So I was five at the time. And then it was around eight when I was beginning to eight, nine years old, when I really began to become conscious of my surroundings.

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34:16And many of the guests on the show subscribe and contribute to the course. Come join us. You'll be in smart company where you belong. You can find the course all for free at jordanharbinger.com slash course. Now, back to Remy Adeleke. That makes sense. I guess the change in lifestyle would be something you would notice, but not as much at age five, right, I suppose? I mean, you remember things, but you don't. Your mother's change would be dramatic and almost impossible. Like, I don't know how I would deal with that if I had to move now to the Bronx or whatever the equivalent is. I think the Bronx is probably, you know, you probably got$4 ,000 studio apartment in the Bronx now.

34:57Back then, it would be very, very tough to adjust. And she was also a single mom with two little kids. Two boys. Yeah. So we're talking about like drugs and drive-bys. And then you see the movie, was it Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, which is a funny movie, but kind of like, well, that's what inspired you? Like, tell me about the shift in mindset. Yeah. So the shift in mind, you know, I did a lot of bad things. So after I began to realize my environment and I began to unconsciously try to find a father to fill my void and I looked to the streets. So I started out, you know, stealing from my mom, the little that she had.

35:32And then that progressed to stealing from stores that progresses, getting jobs and stealing from jobs. And that progressed to selling drugs and that progressed to running high level scams where I was bringing in tens of thousands of dollars a week. and I remember in my teens when Bad Boys came out I was selling drugs at the time just you know hustling making money doing what a lot of other kids did in my environment and I went and saw Bad Boys and interestingly in in the movie the drug dealers were the bad guys and they weren't black and the uh and the good guys were were black dudes who I felt like I can identify with you know these were guys who look like me they seem to have come from somewhat of the same environment that I came from, but they were heroes.

36:16They were heroes with swagger. And that was the first time in, you know, in my life, well, since I had come to, from Nigeria to the Bronx that, you know, a light went off in my head and I was like, oh, I could, I could be something other than a drug dealer or an athlete or a rapper. Like I could be a hero and I could still be who I am. I could still maintain, you know, my, my swag and be a hero at the same time. So that movie really, enlightened me. And then a year later, the same director, Michael Bay directed another movie called The Rock. And, you know, of course, having so bad boys and love that movie.

36:53I never forget after I watched bad boys, I went and bought a bootleg tape version of it. And I would just watch it over and over and over again.

37:03Those are terrible. There's people getting up and walking out to get popcorn in front of the movie and everything. Oh, man. You know, after, you know, watching it a million times on cassette, you know, then, you know, a year later or two years later, The Rock came out. And as soon as I heard, hey, Michael Bay, the same guy who brought you bad boys is doing The Rock. I was like, I'm going to see this movie. And I went to go see it. And that was the first time I was exposed to Navy SEALs, you know, and growing up in the Bronx, in the hood, like no one knows what a Navy SEAL is or special operations or any of this stuff.

37:33We're not exposed to it. You know, we're exposed to things that I've already touched on, but we're not exposed to, you know, things like engineering or being a doctor because there's not a lot of engineers, doctors, Navy SEALs that live in the Bronx, you know? And so, you know, when I watched the film and I was just, I saw these guys coming out of the water and they had these cool guns and they were willing to sacrifice themselves for others and for a greater cause. And they were cool. And I was just like, whatever that is, if I ever turn my life around, I'm not saying I will, But if I ever turn my life around, that's what I'm going to do.

38:08I'm going to be a Navy SEAL. And, you know, I filed that away and continued doing what I was doing, continued selling drugs. And then, as I mentioned, after when I was about 18, this was definitely after high school, I began to realize that, you know, this is a huge risk. You know, I stopped selling drugs down in the Bronx and I migrated up to Poughkeepsie, New York, because there were less drug dealers up there. and then I was able to get in with a company called MCI Worldcom and when I got there I met a phone company yeah the phone company yeah and I said I call it a different name in the book but yeah that's probably a good idea so I got a job with WCT yeah there you go there you go a guy there was he was a hustler you know former drug dealer as well and he was like hey dude here's how you can hustle and make money.

39:00And so what he would do was he would get people's personal information, date of birth, social address, full name, and he would activate, he could activate three phones on one line of credit. And then he would sell those phones to drug dealers for anywhere between$300 and$900. And the phone for the first 30 days, it was no bill. After 30 days, the person who uses credit was used, received the bill. and then that person had 60 days to pay the bill. And then if it wasn't paid in 60 days, then 30 days later, which was 90 days later, was 90 days in total, the phone would cut off. So drug dealers liked the phones because they could have a free unlimited plan phone for 90 days and then it would cut off and they would get a new one.

39:41So it'd be hard for cops and people to trace them and track them down. And so that guy put me onto it and I was like, hey, I'm in. And so I started doing that. A guy I went to high school with, His girlfriend worked as a MA at a hospice clinic. And so she would give me and him, well, give him the information, sheets of information with people who were about to die. And I would take that and I would activate phones. Again, this is not something I'm proud of. No, no. This is the bad Nigerian side of me. Right. But this is the good side of me in the sense that I took my dad's ingenuity and I applied it in the in the applied it but i applied it the wrong way and that's how i ended up making a lot of money more money than i ever made selling drugs and you know with that money i you know would i essentially would launder that money i'm i'm reaching because this cd right here i'm dropping right here yeah i launder that money into a record company called eighth wonder entertainment so you know i signed artists and paid for studio time and did all of these uh different things as it relates to running a record company and I was able to do it and grow the company because of this illegal money and my goal was to get out I had an exit plan similar how Jay-Z and Dame Dash were selling drugs and their plan was to make it in the music business and not sell drugs anymore my plan was to do the cell phone thing accumulate all this money to build the business and then at some point sign a label deal with Def Jam or MCA one of the major record companies and so yeah that's that's essentially what I was doing so I'm guessing the rap career took a little bit of a right turn because you ended up in the Navy.

41:17Your mom had it hard with you, man. You're like, punk kid, sell drugs. And then it's like, just kidding. I'm going to be a rapper. And then it's like, nah, I'm going to go join the military during a time where the country is maybe going to go to war. Yeah. Yeah. What happened was I got involved in a deal with a drug dealer, sold him a bunch of phones that were supposed to last for like the 90 day period. They cut off in two weeks. He in return had flipped those phones. So if I sold him a phone for 500, he sold the 4 ,000. And so he was in hot water with a bunch of guys. And so he essentially came to my apartment and threatened my life.

41:48And that was a huge wake up call for me. I gave him his money back. And then that's when I decided I'm not going to do this anymore. And then fast forward six months later. Well, before that, I pursued, got a meeting with Def Jam, tried to sell a label deal to Def Jam, Kevin Lowe specifically. I'll never forget meeting with him and had some other meetings and none of them panned out, didn't end up getting a label deal. All the money ran out that I had saved. And so I was dry. Fast forward to June of 2002. That's when I really, well, that's when the change came. I kind of was in my mom's apartment doing nothing with my life.

42:26And I just felt something tell me, you need to get out of here. You need to join the military. And I battled with that idea for a few minutes because I hated the military. I hated the police. I associated anybody in a uniform as the police. I didn't like authority. I like my clothes baggy, my hats backwards. I still wear my hats backwards. Still wear the hat backwards, yeah. And so I didn't want to do it. But after looking around the room that I had grew up in, I finally realized, hey, what else do I have? I have nothing. My brother was at Syracuse University studying engineering at the time. I wasn't going to college.

42:58And that's when I decided to go join the Navy. And this was nine months after 9-11, actually. And so I get to the Navy recruiter's office and met this amazing Navy recruiter by the name of Tiana Nadine Reyes. And in my mind, when I went and saw her, I'm like, oh, I'm going to get me a new girl because she's fine. She's Puerto Rican. And in her mind, she was like, I'm going to get this fool into the Navy. And so she had me take a practice ASVAP test. That's like the SAT for the Navy or for the military, right? Yep. So it pretty much tests your aptitude in different areas. and I scored high enough to get into the Navy, but I didn't score high enough to get into SEAL training.

43:36And so the next thing she did after that was she ran my background and she discovered I had two warrants out for my arrest. I had a warrant in New Jersey and I had a warrant in New York. And, you know, as soon as she said that, I got off and ran towards the door and she screamed at me and told me to stop. I said, for what? And she said, asked me if I had a suit. I said, no. She asked me if I had a collar shirt, some nice pants. I said, I'm sure I could find something. And she said, come back tomorrow. I said, for what? So you could turn me in. And she just snapped at me and said, just come back tomorrow.

44:06And, you know, growing up in the Bronx, I had to learn how to read people. And that served me well when I got into human intelligence and the SEAL teams. And I didn't know exactly what she was going to do for me. But based off what I read and her reaction and the way she had been with me the last hour or so, I realized that whatever it was going to be, it was going to be good. And so I came back the next day and she was in her dress uniform and she took me to both judges, took me to the judge in New Jersey, judge in New York, advocate on my behalf, said, hey, this kid's made mistakes, but he has potential.

44:38He wants to join the military after an act of war, but he can't with warrants and a criminal record. And so both judges, they were they were impressed with the idea that I was raising my hand in the middle of a war. And and they said, all right, we'll expunge his record. So both judges unanimously expunged my record. I just had to pay court fines and court fees. And then she went a step further and fudged the paperwork to sneak me into the Navy. And that's that was how it all happened. And, you know, unfortunately, she died two years later. But I'm so grateful to her her decision for her decision, because if it wasn't for her, I would be dead or in prison.

45:15Wow. She risked her whole career, though, because she was obviously not supposed to do that. Not at all. Not at all. In fact, I get contacted by kids from all across the country. at least on a monthly basis who say, hey, Remy, I read your book, heard your story, and I can't get into the Navy. I had this little misdemeanor. I made this mistake or whatever. And no military recruiter won't touch me. And I tell them about your story and they say, hey, I'm not going to jail for you. So yes, and they asked me what to do. And I said, hey, you just got to find a recruiter who's willing to take that risk.

45:46And she did. That seems like a large oversight. Now I get why they don't want actual criminals to join the military. But I also think it's a huge mistake to write off a kid who has done something that is not really bad. Like if you get busted for selling weed in high school, that torpedoes your chance in the military. That really, in my opinion, should not be the case. I get it if you have three violent assaults or a sexual assault or something like that. I understand that. But even even then juvenile stuff, I don't know, man, it just seems like you're taking a lot of people's last chance to really get their shit together and being like, nah, we're not going to do that.

46:22And I'm really on the fence there. I'm sure there's a reason for the policy, but it seems like a lot of human potential is being wasted. I agree with you 100%. I want to, at some point, when I get a little bit more juice behind my name, I'd like to be able to go to Congress and advocate for some type of change because there are so many kids alike. I mean, I'm proof of concept. I'm proof that it works. You know, there's a lot of kids who just need that second chance. And if they could get that second chance, their whole lives would be turned around. And in fact, right now, there is a recruiting crisis across every branch of service.

46:57It's a national security issue. And I talked to a buddy of mine who's one of the head. He's a master chief at one of the recruiting commands. And he's like, dude, it's bad. I mean, the army is down 25 percent. Navy is down across the board. if we went to war right now, we would get crushed. And there are generals and admirals who are shaking in their boots. And so this is a prime opportunity to look at cases, look at kids who, you know, yeah, they made them. It's like you said, nothing violent, nothing crazy, not rape, nothing, but something that, you know, simple cases and say, hey, we're going to give you an opportunity.

47:31I'd like to advocate for that in some way, because something has to change on both ends. Kids need to be able to get an opportunity who made mistakes and the military needs bodies. We're going to be crushed as a nation. So I agree. It's a pretty good match, right? And you see a lot of people, I know a lot of people who are really just kind of pieces of shit and join the military and are really upstanding guys and gals now for that matter. And I'm thinking like, whoever's doing all that yelling, it's getting through to a lot of people. For sure. I know for me, you know, when I was in, I realized that I was the case study and I knew that if I followed up in any way, if I was disrespectful to a DI or if I screamed at somebody or if I fought somebody, did something stupid, then I would be messing it up for everybody.

48:18I would not only be screwing Tiana, but I would be screwing so many other kids and then, you know, who later in life want to join the military and they've made the same mistake. So a big part of why I chose and I strove so hard to do the right thing every single day and strive to get to that, you know, special operations is because I wanted to prove the system wrong. I wanted to prove to the system that, hey, there are people who need a second chance and deserve a second chance and who will take advantage of it in a good way. Yeah, man, I love that. Tiana, the recruiter, who you just, you couldn't let her down.

48:50I think that's amazing. And your aunt Oki who walked to the bank and didn't want to walk alone because she didn't want to carry all that money on her. You're blessed, man. You have a lot of good people around you. 100%. Again, speaking of aunt Oki, she died four months ago. I'm sorry to hear that. She would have been 105 in September. Wow. who lived a full life, needless to say. Full amazing life, yeah, yeah. Wow, that's good genetics. Yeah. Tell me about BUDS, the Navy SEAL training, for people who don't know, because my impression of Navy SEALs is usually like white people from upper middle class backgrounds.

49:22Not that nobody else can do it, but it just seems like that's what you get with those. No, you're spot on. It is what you get. I mean, you get a lot of guys who come from, you know, interestingly, this is one thing I found, they come from wealthy families, You get a lot of guys who are going to Ivy League schools. You get a lot of enlisted guys who graduated from Ivy League schools and then decided they wanted to go and enlist instead of going to an officer. I mean, I was in a class with a Rhodes Scholar. That's crazy. You get guys who are lawyers or engineers or like computer programmers making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

49:56And then one day they decided, dude, you know what? I think I want to be a Navy SEAL. And so you get, you know, like you literally, you know, I was in buds with some crazy stories, but you literally get the cream of the crop. And as you mentioned, the majority of them are white. There's not that many African-Americans. I think it's the community is less than 1 % African-American. I was around the 50th, not the 50th, but around the 50th African-American SEAL in the history of the SEAL team since 1962. And so when I showed up to buds, yeah, man, I couldn't get away with nothing, man. yeah i couldn't get away with anything because i stuck out like a sore thumb i was yeah big black dude and like in the sea of white dudes and literally and it's and and it's tough in and of itself i mean it sucks it's uh considered the toughest military training known to man you know people have died in still training yeah people have been permanently crippled i mean a guy died in my class right in front of me on a conditioning run and it's it's brutal how did he die i remember in the book it was it sounds like a heart attack or something is that what happened yeah yeah it was a heart attack we we were on a soft sand conditioning runs run which was about eight miles those runs are horrible and towards the end of the mile when you get to about the seven mile mark uh the instructors warn you they say if you if you're not up with the pack you're going to be in a goon squad and goon squad is essentially a section of the class that just gets hammered on a beach i mean up and down the berm you know push-ups to the surf and back i mean we call it a beat down session but it's a hand they literally throw everything at you and so um we were in the goon squad but we didn't we didn't make the cut and uh the instructors were just putting us to the ring there were guys quitting left and right and this particular guy rob better actually yesterday was his birthday his heart gave out his heart gave out and he dropped right in front of me um me being a corpsman uh which is a medic in the navy before uh i was a corpsman before i went to buds you know i saw what was happening i started cpr with some other guys until the lead buds instructor came up and i want to say they worked on him for a while and then finally they were able to get a pulse got him to uh the hospital on coronado island uh but at that point i mean he had been out for such a long time that he was on a ventilator and he was a vegetable for the most part and uh and then a few days later his uh family decided you know there's no brain activity So they decided to pull the plug.

52:16How does that affect your mind when you're doing the same thing as that guy and he just died from it right in front of you, basically? I want to say that it didn't affect me in any way because I would say once you make the decision to join the Navy, especially when you're pursuing a combat role in the military, whether it's Navy, Army, Marine Corps, you're essentially, in my opinion, you're giving up any fear of death. Once you make the decision, hey, I want to go to BUDS, I want to funnel this down and get even more dangerous, you have to cast that fear away. Because the reality is in a lot of things you do in training, you can die.

52:55I mean, a lot of SEALs actually, a lot of SEALs die in training. Once they get through, not just BUDS, but once they get to SEAL team and they're doing IADS or they're doing CQC. And there was a guy, Gane, you know, he's doing CQC training. Brand new guy, just graduated from BUDS, got to a SEAL team and went to a kill house to do CQC training. And there was a fracture in the wall. So when one team entered one room and they were shooting at a target, a bullet went through that wall right into his heart, killed him. Right. Oh, my God. You get guys who die on skydiving training and all kinds of stuff.

53:26So once you make the decision that, hey, I'm going to go into that program, if you have not given up the fear of death, you ain't going to make it. So for me, when that happened, I was just, he is part of the job. You know what I mean? He was close to me, and I talked to him at lunch and breakfast at times because we were in the same boat crew. At the same time, I understood the risk. That is a mindset that's hard for, I think, a lot of us to wrap our head around. Because for me, I feel like it would either be so demoralizing or so terrifying that I would probably want to quit, which doesn't surprise anybody listening to the show because me and Navy SEAL do not belong in the same sentence.

54:02but that's, you know, there's a reason I'm not a Navy SEAL. You are. But I will say, it's a little weird that you joined SEAL training and you couldn't swim. That's unusual. Yeah, I think, you know, I've been a masochist since an early age, I would say. Yeah, it was, that wasn't fun. But I wanted it, you know, and I tell people all the time, when you have a dream, it's called a dream for a reason, because you're going to have some obstacles on your journey towards attaining that. And either you could throw your hands up and say, I can't do it, or you could do the extra, extra hard work in order to overcome it.

54:39And it was brutal. I mean, before I even got to Bud's, I remember jumping in the shallow end and trying to figure it out. And it sucked. And there were some times where I was just like, ah, am I going to be able to do this? But I just kept on showing up, rain, snow, cold, hot, whatever it was. I ran to that pool and tried to figure it out. But I wanted it. I wanted to be part of the best. I wanted, and everything that I read, everything that I saw, SEALs were the tip of the spear. They were the best. I know there's other special operations units, but they were the best. And, you know, my mom beat into me the importance of whatever you do, do it right the first time and go for the top.

55:17And so, no, I was totally disqualified, you know, because there's not a lot of pools in the Bronx and a lot of fire hydrants, but not a lot of pools. I, yeah, that was brutal. This is the regular training. And then there's Hell Week, which is like they don't even let you sleep. You're talking about weird diseases people get from suppressed immune systems. That could kill you too, I would imagine, getting two hours of sleep and then running, I don't know, 50 miles or whatever in some sand. I almost died in hell week. I got pneumonia, sype, and rhabdo, where essentially my muscle tissue started eating itself because my immune system was suppressed.

55:53I wasn't getting as many calories and I was just broken down. But yeah, hell week is horrible. I mean, six days starts on Sunday, ends on Friday. You get two hours of sleep on Wednesday, two hours of sleep on Thursday. But by the time you've gotten to Wednesday and Thursday, your brain is just so wired. Most guys can't even fall asleep in those two hours. And then also you're hydrophobic. You become hydrophobic because they keep you wet and cold and tired. Every single moment you're wet and cold. So when you put on your dry clothes and you get in that rack, if you're lucky enough to get into the rack with dry clothes on, you can't go to sleep because you know that you're going to be woken up at any moment to get wet and sandy again and be cold and sandy.

56:35So you can't even sleep. So it's very, very brutal, but it's a necessary process because essentially what they're looking for is they're looking for that guy who has been stripped of everything, been stripped of sleep, been stripped of food, been stripped, been is tired, is beaten down, a zombie pretty near death, but still willing to keep fighting and keep moving. and uh it's necessary because and i remember being in training not just in hell week and uh and how we ended and in training in general and hearing instructors and you think this sucks with you i've been on ops that suck worse than this and i just remember being a butt student saying bullshit yeah no way there's no way you've been on until i actually went on an op oh really that was a kick in the freaking nuts and we're getting shot at and we had to crawl through a swamp to get to another end.

57:26And it's supposed to be a quick direct action mission where we just go in and get the guy and go out. But it turns into a 14 hour chase in the sun at night and you're beat down and it's like, you can't quit. And when you're in that situation, you're always, you're, you're able to fall back on, I went through hell week. And if I made it through hell week that I could do that. So it's absolutely necessary. I mean, think about what happened with the guys on, on operation red wings, you know, and, and Marcus Luttrell and long survivor, you know, like, you know, they were four guys against a large number of guys with guns, outgunned, outnumbered, right?

58:02But those guys kept fighting for each other and didn't quit, didn't give up on each other. And three of them died, one of them survived. But that one guy, Marcus Luttrell, wouldn't have survived if those three guys didn't go through the same training that he went through and then again, push way past their perceived limits so they knew what they could do. And so it's a brutal process, but it's a necessary process. And that's why the attrition rate is as high as it is. I mean, the class that I eventually graduated with started out with 270 guys, only 29 of us graduated. And that's the way it is every class.

58:35You'll get 10 % that'll graduate. You'll get 20%. You'll get 15 guys. It was a class that just went through hell week a few months ago. And the class started with 250 guys. Only 14 guys made it through hell week. They haven't even gotten a dive phase and third phase yet. These are guys that just got spit out of Hell Week. Oh, my God. It's a necessary process. How long are you sore after Hell Week? That's what I want to know. I'm still sore to this day. That was over decades ago. But, no, you have a week after Hell Week called Walk Week where you kind of get a chance to recover and just walk everywhere instead of run everywhere.

59:13And then after that, you're right back in it. But yeah, you're sore for a while.

59:19This is the Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest, Remy Adeleke. We'll be right back. If you like this episode of the show, I invite you to do what other smart and considerate listeners do, which is take a moment and support our amazing sponsors. All of the deals, discount codes, and ways to support the show are at jordanharbinger.com slash deals. You can also search for a sponsor using the AI chatbot on the website as well, jordanharbinger.com slash AI. Don't forget, we've also got our fundraiser at givedirectly.com slash Jordan. Thank you so much for supporting those who support the show. Now for the rest of my conversation with Remy Adeleke.

59:57You got really sick. I know you ended up getting med rolled and I thought, oh good, they put you back where you get a chance to rest and you go back, but they make you start over again, which is just cruel, terrible. Day one, man. Yeah, day one. It was so funny because the instructors, They didn't know that I was sick, you know, because you get a lot of guys who want to quit, but they don't want to quit. And so they, you know, they fall on medical reasons and they fake injury or they fake being sick. So when I was sick, I was spitting up blood and I had all this stuff going on. Instructors, you know, they didn't see that I was spitting up blood.

1:00:32You know, they just heard me say, hey, I spit up blood and they thought I was faking. so when i was like passing out they thought i was you know i just didn't want to quit and uh which i didn't want to quit but they thought that i was you know i wanted to quit but didn't want to quit what's it called malingering where you just fade yeah yeah yeah sandbag sandbag yeah yeah and so uh they were laying into me and finally um after i went down hard uh and ended up in the icu they were like holy crap like dude like you you almost you almost died bro like we're sorry remember when I told you I was spitting up blood.

1:01:07That was a good indicator. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I remember the instructors came into my room and they were just like, hey, you crushed it. Glad you didn't quit. And I'm expecting to say, you're not going to have to start from day one. First phase. You're just going to have to start from day one at Hell in Cup. They said, but you're going to have to start from day one. And I was like, oh, my God, I got to go through all of this again. But hey, you know what? I wanted it. I wanted it. And when you want something in life, I tell people all the time, you know, when you whether you want to be actor, podcaster, writer, director, you know, doctor, whatever the case is, you got to have a deep rooted emotional reason as to why you want to do it.

1:01:45Because that deep rooted emotional reason is going to anchor you when the winds and storms and setbacks of life come. And if you don't have a deep rooted emotional reason as to why you want to do something, when those waves and the wind comes, it's going to blow you right away. And I had a deep rooted emotional reason as to why I wanted to be a frogman. And so when, you know, I almost died in hell week, you know, and had to start all over. I was anchored in that. When I got kicked out of SEAL training after getting a diet phase and, you know, had to start all over again. Like, you know, I was anchored.

1:02:15Like I was I was just anchored because I like my dad. And that's why I say I said early on in the podcast. They had to kill my dad because my dad wasn't gonna stop. And I inherited that aspect of him along with many other things. I inherited that from my dad and there was no way I was going to stop. The only thing that could have stopped me was death. And it came from the fact that I was anchored, you know, and so that's what ended up getting me through. Do you think having your dad passed so early in your life maybe caused a strong desire to be affirmed or approved of by other people? Because that obviously that drive comes from somewhere and it's not like.

1:02:56You are not a division one athlete before SEAL training or whatever. A hundred percent. I think every boy needs a man, a father to affirm him because if not, he's going to seek affirmation from others. And every girl needs a father to affirm her so that, again, same, same. She doesn't seek out a toxic relationship in a man to affirm her. And in the absence of my father, I didn't. And that's why I sold drugs. That's why I did that. I mean, at the end of the day, when I look at the root of it, in retrospect, the reason why I did those things was because I wanted that affirmation from my peers. I wanted what I couldn't get from my father.

1:03:35I wanted that patent. Yo, you're the man. Oh, look at all those girls you sleep with. Oh, look at all this money. Look at the car, all these things. I wanted that affirmation. And then, you know, I think that that also played a huge role in me wanting to get through SEAL training because part of it, I had my deep root of emotional reason why. But I would say my selfish reason was I wanted to be affirmed. I wanted people, whether it was my friends I grew up with or whether it was my mom or whoever, my brother, to say, you're the man. Good job. Well done, son. Well done, son. And so that did play a role and it worked for the good.

1:04:10But as I went on and after I made it through SEAL training, it went south and worked for the bad as well. There's a lot more to SEAL training and things like that, I'm sure. but, or I know because I read the book, but you become a human intelligence specialist. Tell me about that because that's a pretty rare specialty, isn't it? Or it's not something most people want. It's something that I never knew about. It's not something that was talked about much, but it is a very, very unique specialization in the community, not just in the SEAL teams, but in special operations in general. And in order to get into the school, it's pretty hard, but a lot of SEALs don't even want to go to the course because it revolves around a lot of writing.

1:04:48Not only do you have to go out and have meetings with sources or assets, agency guys call them assets. We in our community, we call them sources. And the policing community, they call informants. But not only do you have to go have meetings with these people and learn how to run these people so that they can do stuff that you need to be done and collect intelligence for you, you also have to write detailed reports. And you have to write reports in a way where a CIA agent, a DIA agent, an NSA agent, or even another SEAL, a human guy, can pick up that report 10 years later and read it as though those events happened that day.

1:05:23So it revolves around a lot, not just writing, but visual writing. And there's a course that you go to. It's basically an entry-level course. And then after that entry-level course, then you operate Forbidden. After you operate in that capacity, then you get the opportunity to go to some more advanced courses. And so human stands for human intelligence. And essentially all it is, is you're somewhat of a spy, really. I mean, you're running sources and you're collecting intelligence and you're building intelligence packages. And when I went overseas, I tell people all the time I got to live the best of both worlds because this is misconception as it relates to the military and special operations as well, that you just get told to go after that bad guy or you just get told to go do this mission and you run off and just mindlessly do it.

1:06:10And that's not the way it works. You can't go on an operation without intelligence. And it can't just be one piece of intelligence. It has to be vetted against another piece of intelligence, which has to be vetted against another piece of intelligence, which has to be vetted. And then once it's been fully vetted, then you can go into operation. And so there were times overseas where, you know, we had ISR drone footage of something that a bad guy had done or had planned, but we couldn't just go after that bad guy. I had to then task some sources to go get some more on ground, you know, information, whether it was through taking pictures or whether it was through talking to other people.

1:06:44And then I would then take that information, add it to a package, and then maybe we get what's called, you know, in the civilian sector, we call it a wiretap. But we tap that person's phone and we now we have that person confessing and then put all that together into a package, send that up a chain of command and then we're able to go on a direct action mission. So I handled the intelligence side of things, but then I also suited up. And there were times when I suited up when I had to bring a source with me because, you know, he or she knew what that target looked like or knew the specific house or the specific door we needed to gain entry through.

1:07:19And so we that source had to go with me and we had to go do the op. I mean, they weren't kicking down the door, but they were in the back of the train and we went and kicked down the door. And once we got to where we got, if we needed that person to verify, you know, who was who, then they would come in and obviously we'd keep the mask and keep them protected and verify that. But it's a whole world of intelligence that's very, very fascinating, very cool. And I say that not only did my mom having my brother not right as kids prepare me for that job, but growing up in the streets of the Bronx prepared me for that job.

1:07:49I was going to ask about that. If you think your instincts being growing up in that area of New York at that time, that's as close as you get to dealing with terrorists, I guess, in the Middle East as you can get in the United States. 100%. 100%. Because growing up in the streets in the Bronx, you have to, especially when you're selling drugs. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You're selling drugs and selling illegal phones. You got to be able to read. Is this person an undercover cop? Is this person going to snitch? What's going on? Is this person going to kill me? You know, so I was able to say it's so interesting because I remember being in the entry level course, the first basic course for the human program.

1:08:27And I remember being in the classroom and our instructors were former CIA guys. They were former like Green Berets guys who did this type of work for decades. And I remember that they would teach you stuff. I was like, oh, I know what that is. I just didn't know that that was a title for what happened. I did that in the Bronx. You know what I mean? So it's like all of these things translated really, really well. And it prepared me. And I remember the cool thing, too, was because less than one percent of SEALs are African-American, you know, and then once you when you get to the human side of things, that number dwindles even more.

1:08:59because now not only are you dealing with a seal, but you're dealing with a seal in human intelligence. You know, it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. I would meet with sources and I'd be the first black person that they ever saw in their entire life. You know, or had a conversation with. They must be like, oh, Will Smith, Will Smith. Like the stupid stereotype, like the economic. That would happen. Well, I would, but I would, again, I would utilize that. I would utilize that because I didn't, I learned when I remember doing my first deployment, I learned that, you know, a lot of people in not just the Middle East, but other parts of the world, they love American movies and they love African-American comedians.

1:09:38Yeah. And so I remember going into my first meeting and the guy saw me smiling as I walked in. He's like Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy. And so I just use that. So when I would go into my meeting sometimes in order to kind of break the ice or if a source was scared or had, you know, didn't want to talk to me that day, whatever, I would go in and I would just, yo, what's up, what's up, what's up? And they would look at me, they would just start laughing. They would look at the interpreter. They'd be like, ah, I like this guy, I like this guy. And that would break the ice. And then we would go to work and do what we needed to do.

1:10:08So it all worked to my benefit. And that's why, again, you know, going back to what we touched on earlier with the recruiting crisis and also giving more people opportunities, especially people who come from the background I come from, it only benefits, benefits the military benefits because, you know, diversity is, you know, proper diversity is important, especially when you're trying to go into other countries and build common ground or have somebody like myself. You know, these guys, they were so I already had a foot in the door when I went to go talk to them because they were just intrigued by the fact that, oh, this is a black guy.

1:10:43Yeah. And then I felt like I was able to identify with them because, yes, it's not the Bronx per se, but they are living in a very volatile environment. They're living in an environment where at any moment they can be killed or they can die. And, you know, it's the same thing in the Bronx. So there was that natural, you know, identifying factor that we had. and we could kind of, it was almost like a look. There was a certain look in their eye that I could see and be like, we bros, right? And then there's a certain look in my eye, they're like, whatever, right? That's funny. What a unique way to connect.

1:11:15Because I can imagine if some dude was on the Harvard crew team and he's a Navy SEAL and he's in human and he's got to talk to this guy, he's not jumping into an Eddie Murphy bit to connect with that guy in an authentic way. I just imagine you being like, Ahmed, what have you done for me lately? You remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. with a purple purple leather suit on and i remember being in me i remember when i first got in country on my first appointment i remember like watching and listening in on a meeting and because we did like somewhat of a turn we call it like a turnover up and i just remember the guy the previous it was like no real it wasn't that he was doing a bad job like he was doing a good job he was getting the information but it wasn't as smooth as it could have been because it's just white guy from Harvard.

1:11:59It's like, hey, so tell me where the bad guys are. You know what I mean? Versus, you know, which is not a bad thing because the job was still being done. But the background that I had really played a role in making the job a bit easier. That makes a hell of a lot of sense, actually. Those guys, those sources must be scared out of their mind when they have to go with you on a mission. Oh, my God. Yes. Yes. They're not in your unit and you're like, follow us. And they're like, OK, but we're going to go into this neighborhood and everyone's going to be shooting at us. And I just have to sit behind you and hope I don't get killed.

1:12:31This sucks. Yeah. Well, before we even would get on the op, so what would happen was I would go into, I would, you know, when I would do my meetings, I wasn't wearing uniforms and kidding. I would just have on a college shirt, slacks, pants, you know, and, you know, I'd have a cig on my side, you know, that they couldn't see was concealed. So I was in normal clothes. so they would see me and that's how they would that's how all my sources knew me because that was the only capacity they would see me in and so they would see me like this and then I was like alright talk them into going on the op and they was like ah and they were scared about it and then they was like okay okay I would finally convince them they would do it and I was like alright be right back just give me about 15 minutes and I would go to my trailer because we all had on our trailers we're on rooms and space and I'd get on my kit I'd get on my uniform I'd get on my ballistic vest with my my ammo and grenades and all of that and get my m4 with the suppressor the silencer on it and every all this stuff and i had my ski mask and helmet and night vision goggles and i would go back in that's what reality was said and like they're like oh my god like yeah what who are you you know who i was like hey it's me yeah yeah yeah they're like oh this is real things have gotten real real and and the fear would set in right there right away but you know i would kind of you know coach them and talk them through and then yeah when we would we would get out there they would piss in themselves i bet man because because you're carrying that body armor that stuff's heavy yeah do they get the same armor with the same plate or you just give them like yeah yeah okay i would give i want to i want to give them we want to give them weapons right obviously kit and ammo but yeah we take care of them make sure they have one and also make sure that they're completely concealed from head to toe so they couldn't be identified in any way but if you have to run all of you guys are like able to sprint on sand for eight miles and this guy is just some dude.

1:14:19He's never going to keep up with you guys. Yeah, we figure it out. Yeah, you figure it out already, I'm sure. You've been in movies like Transformers, of course, directed by Michael Bay, directed The Rock. Now you're doing a lot of your own film stuff. That's actually how I found you because you were doing some human trafficking, organ stuff. We've done shows about organ harvesting on this show with David Kilgore, who was a Canadian human rights lawyer, episode 497. And he talked about that happening in China, like Chinese prisoners of conscience and things like that. I didn't realize this was something that was even more widespread.

1:14:54Tell us about what you're doing now besides kicking Dr. Drew's ass on a reality TV show about Navy SEALs. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm making films. I did the short film, The Unexpected, which is on YouTube now. And I'll get into how I kind of got into that side of it. And then that film, that short got picked up. Since we've spoke, it got picked up to be a feature film. So we already got fully financed. We got a major star. We signed on to play one of the roles. We got another major star. So it's going to be a bigger film, which is good because now we're going to get the word out to a wider audience. But yeah, when I got out in 2016, I still felt that passion and need to serve in some way.

1:15:33And so I would have I would connect with nonprofits and that would have nonprofits reach out to me. And the one type of nonprofit that continued to reach out to me was human trafficking nonprofits. You know, I would have had various human trafficking now probably and I didn't know what human trafficking was I wasn't familiar with the term and long story short I would go do a job or help out with a nonprofit or help raise money And then one day I got approached by another human trafficking nonprofit that actually employed former seals and former agency guys to go to other countries to rescue kids trapped in sex trafficking But specifically kids who are being purchased by Americans Americans would go down to some of these Western from these countries like Dominica Republic Haiti You know other places and they would go have paid for sex with these young, you know, 12 10 11 year old girls and boys And so I remember this one particular nonprofit sent me a video documentary video short documentary clip of what they did And I watched and I was just like my blood was boiling My wife's a doctor and and you know, she was working in community medicine at the time So she had seen a lot of stuff and she told me she's after she watched the clip.

1:16:37She said, Remy, you go do whatever you got to do, like go help those kids. And so I went overseas and that's when I got exposed to it more. And then that's when I was actually working in the film and TV industry at the time as well. I was about to work on Six on the Ground at this point for Netflix. And yeah, when I when I got down there, my eyes were just like open fully. and I just remember being appalled and I remember going into these uh I was in this particular village in DR where the parents would sell their daughters to traffickers in the north Dominican Republic for for people who don't know what the DR is yeah and uh I just remember being disgusted and our guide and our job in this particular mission was to educate the parents so we were there to say essentially tell the parent hey here's what's happening here's what these traffickers are doing to your daughters.

1:17:26And, you know, so, you know, kind of telling you that you need to stop doing this. What did they think was happening? Like, if somebody wants to buy your kid, what do you think they're doing with your kid? They knew it was for sex trafficking, but, you know, it's one thing to, they didn't visually see. It was just like, okay, yeah, go take my daughter to the north. Oh, man. To go party or strip or whatever the case may be and people are going to pay, but they didn't really know that it was going to be actual sex. Oh, my gosh. We went down there. and I remember being in this village and like I said, I was appalled and our guide saw, because it was really tough for me.

1:18:00I mean, being a human guy, I learned how to calm down and talk to people to get information, but being a father, I wasn't a father for the majority of my career as a SEAL. So now going down there and being a father, it was hard for me to stomach and talk to some of these people. And our guide pulled me aside and he was like, he took me into this chapel that was no bigger than the size of two toilet stalls. And And he was just like, at the end of the chapel was a dead six-month-old baby. Oh, my God. The baby had died because the mother's breast milk ran out. And so she got some formula and mixed the formula with the local water from the slump.

1:18:35And that's what ultimately killed the baby. So he wasn't showing me this to help make me justify what was happening. But he wanted to help give me some level of understanding. because he saw that it was hard for me to communicate with these people without the full understanding, without some level of empathy, which I know that sounds weird. And so, yeah, that helped me. And then, you know, we continued doing the job and, you know, doing rescue stuff. And then when I got back from that trip, my phone had all these messages from Michael Bay's producing partner, Mike Case. And he was like, Remy, where have you been?

1:19:13Your phone's been going straight to voicemail. What's going on? and I said, dude, I've been down to DR. I was like out of it. I was like, dude, like it was horrific. And he's like, oh, okay. He was like, oh, Michael Bay wants you to work on his next movie, Six Underground. He needs you to fly out to LA to start training the actors like now. And I was like, all right, cool. But after I got off the phone, it was like these two worlds collided, right? This world of human trafficking that I had just been working in and then this world of film and TV. And that's when a light went off in my head and I was like, how about I combine these two worlds because I can go down to South America or other parts of the world and rescue 10, 20 kids.

1:19:48But it's such a global issue that there's going to be 20 million more kids, not 20 million. Yeah, you're pissing into the wind. Exactly, exactly. And I felt like knowing how film and TV affected me as a kid and changed the trajectory of my life and talking to other SEALs and other people who do specific jobs, changed the trajectory of their life, I figured that I could have a bigger impact on this fight against human trafficking, specifically organ harvesting because so many people talk about human trafficking when they hear the term human trafficking they just think about sex trafficking but human trafficking is a blanket term under human trafficking you have sex trafficking you have organ harvesting you have forced marriage you have forced labor but you have you also have stuff like you know blood trafficking you also have stuff like you know i interviewed this guy around the time when the film um released a short film release and he had been trafficked from uh venezuela to uh columbia to Mexico with the promise from the cartel that they would move into the U.S.

1:20:45And essentially what the cartel has been doing is they've been sending out e-pamphlets and messages, not just throughout South America, but to other parts of the world saying, hey, come to this particular part of Mexico. If you can get here, we'll get you in the U.S. And these people are coming to this particular part of Mexico and they're getting abducted. Oh, man. And they're getting trafficked. And the girls are being used, the women are being used for sex trafficking. The men are being used for labor trafficking. and then the kids are being used as mules for drug trafficking. They're being used because they could fit through the tunnels that move from, that go from Mexico into the U.S., these really small tunnels that adults can't fit through, they could go through.

1:21:20And so, you know, there's all these different forms of human trafficking, but I chose to focus on organ harvesting, and that's when I created the film. And the more I, you know, having worked in the human trafficking side of things and then, like, researching and doing all this stuff, the more I begin to learn how big and vast organ harvesting is. I mean, Egypt is considered the organ harvesting capital of the world. Really? Why? Because there's a lot of migrants that come from Africa and other parts of the Middle East, and they try to use Egypt as a way to get into Europe and get to more civilized places, so to speak.

1:21:55And so a lot of kind of like what's happening in Mexico, a lot of these migrants and these poor people are getting stuck in Egypt, and they're getting told, hey, if you sell a kidney or if you do this, we'll get you into Italy and we'll get you into France and we'll move you into these other countries. And the poverty level is so, I mean, poverty is so out of control in Egypt, especially Cairo, Egypt, that you're having a lot, you have this organized crime that's going on. As a matter of fact, there was a, you can look it up, I'm sure you can find it, but you Google it, but there was a international organ harvesting ring that was based in Egypt that got busted, I want to say in 2015 or 2016.

1:22:34And the majority of the people that were part of that ring were doctors and nurses. And there was also a computer science engineer that was running a website and using the website to get people to find donors and to also find people who were in need of kidneys. And so it's not just in Egypt, in India, it's massive. And there's a story that came out recently down in Costa Rica of a doctor who was brokering kidney deals. Essentially, he was, when people in Israel needed a new kidney and they couldn't wait on a waiting list too long because they were going to die, he would find poor people in Costa Rica and kind of like bargain with them and then play on the fact that they were poor and essentially get them to sell their kidneys.

1:23:19So it's a very, very vast topic. And like I said, the reason why I wanted to make this unexpected short film, and I didn't make the short film with the intent of, hey this is going to be a big feature film i made it it says two could be continued at the end but i i was my goal was to do another short film but you know i made the film in order to be able to expose more people to this atrocity of organ harvesting and also warn americans who are going to these other countries like dominica republic like haiti they go into some nefarious places cutting deals with people that they shouldn't be cutting deals with in order to get organs and i kind of get it because a lot of me i mean it's like four thousand uh americans die here waiting on the kidney waiting list.

1:24:02Yeah, I know people die on the waiting list. And I was going to say, like, it's a complex issue because I kind of understand why people buy organs. But I also wonder, do they know where they came from? Because if I bought one to save my own life, I definitely wouldn't want to know that somebody was tricked, kidnapped, and then murdered for that organ, potentially murdered for that. A lot of people don't know. A lot of people don't. When they get into these deals, then a lot of people don't know where these organs come from. They just know that they're a match. It was a story that came out actually a couple months ago.

1:24:34This girl who she fell in love on this dating app and went to, I can't remember what part of South America. I think she was actually, I think she was American. And this med school student, you know, chopped her up, took her organs and was going to sell them. and the people who were going to buy them didn't know where those organs came from. That was a TikTok romance scam, wasn't it? Or he sold the organs on TikTok and that's how he got caught? I vaguely remember this. Yeah, it was something like that. It was something like that. Yeah, it was something like that on TikTok. Ah, man. And that's where a lot of these traffickers are using social media.

1:25:09Yeah. They're using social media. They're using Instagram. They're using hashtag. They're searching hashtags for people who are, you know, I mean, that's why we have to be careful what we put on social media because if somebody's sick, my kidney problems are still bothering me, but here I am in a dialysis clinic. And then all of a sudden that person gets a message in their DMs. Hey, I think I know somebody. They get a message from someone who seems upstanding and normal. I think I know someone that can get you a kidney. They can get you bumped up on a donor list. Oh, you really do? Okay, next message.

1:25:42They couldn't get you bumped up on a donor list, but if you pay X amount of dollars, that person said that they know a clinic down in TJ or a clinic down in wherever the case may be that does everything up front and right and they have organs waiting for you. All right, I'm about to die. I'll do it. So it's very organized. A lot of it is happening on social media. Social media is a driving factor. As a matter of fact, there was a report that came out, I want to say like three weeks ago or four weeks ago, as it relates to Facebook and Instagram, that's not intentionally, but they're responsible for a lot of these trafficking operations that are happening with these nefarious figures.

1:26:18It's crazy. And I know that desperation in willful blindness and it's just it's a potent mixture, right? When you're desperate, you're dying. Yep. You don't care what it costs. And also someone's willing to lie to you about the source of the organ because they're not going to say we're going to kidnap some poor guy and just steal his organs. They're going to be like, no, there's all these organs going to waste from these people. They die in car crashes and they're just too far away. But for an extra 25 grand, we can make sure that they're medevac to a clean hospital and we'll get the organ. And you're like, cool.

1:26:49I don't want to ask any more questions because even if I have a suspicion, this is my lifeline. So it's complicated because I get it, right? But it's so horrible. Yeah. There was a story. I think you shared this to me or maybe it was Dr. Drew. Maybe this is how we got in touch. But these girls went to the DR for cheap surgery and she ended up getting her kidney stolen during the surgery. Do you know about this? Yeah, I sent you that. You did send me that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She went down for plastic surgery. I think it was for BBL or something like that. Yeah, yeah. She wanted a bigger butt basically.

1:27:21And people were laughing about that. But I was like, hey, not funny. She got it. Oh, no, no, no, no. Actually, it was a tummy tuck. Oh, yes. You're right. She went in for a tummy tuck. You're right. It was a tummy tuck. It was a tummy tuck. And so she goes out on anesthesia and wakes up. Tummy tuck surgery was done. She liked the results. a few days later she gets back to I think Houston I think she was from Houston and she's just not feeling well you know it's just you know not holding down foods properly she's feeling fatigued feeling lightheaded things and she's suspecting it's from the surgery but you know another month goes by and she's like this can't be the surgery because my stomach feels fine and then she goes to the doctor and you know doctor says long story short there's more to the story you have one kidney did you give a kidney oh my god no uh you have one kidney and the doctor in the dr took her one kidney that's terrifying and sold it i tell people all the time as it relates to this organ harvesting thing people think that the i know i did but the perception of these traffickers is that they're these scraggly evil looking uneducated you know on a corner type people and the reality is the majority of people involved on the organ harvesting side of things are highly educated, learned people because they're doctors.

1:28:42Yeah. They're nurses. That was a doctor that performed her tummy tuck. He was educated. He knew what he was doing. And then he took her kidney and then he sold her kidney. Yeah. You know? Oh my God. So it's crazy, man. That stuff is so disturbing. So, all right. I know it's been a minute and you probably got to go to the beach with your kids and I don't blame you. I got to do the same thing. Yeah. So you're rescuing children. You're exposing human trafficking. We'll link to the short film in the show notes if we can do that. I'm not sure if it's public. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're exposing organ trafficking.

1:29:12Do you feel like the hero you set out to be in the Bronx? No, I don't think I ever will. I don't think, for me, I won't attain that status until my kids have grown up and become upstanding citizens. I think just a part of my life is to be a blessing to other people, is to fight the good fight. It's part of my DNA. I think it comes from my dad. The reason why he wanted to create Lagoon City was not so that he could be rich and wealthy. He wanted to create a place where people from all around the world could come and do business in Africa. He wanted to generate an economy for Africa so everybody up and down the food chain in Nigeria can benefit from it.

1:29:53And that was his legacy. And I think that that's a part of who I am. It's just part of my life to serve and to give and to fight. So I don't think there's anything heroic about that. But for me to reach that status of being a hero is to have invested in my kids and for them to be great people. Once they become adults and become great people, whatever it is that they do in life and they're a great part of society, then I can claim that title. But until then, I can't. That's my personal standard. Remy Adeleke, go spend time with your kids. Thank you for doing the show. This is really, really interesting, man.

1:30:26Thank you so much. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. God bless you, man. You're about to hear a preview of the Jordan Harbinger Show with Ishmael Beah, who at the age of 13 was forced to become a child soldier. To hear about life in a war zone where he fought for three years before being rescued by UNICEF, check out episode 622 of the Jordan Harbinger Show. I started when I was 13. The first day that we went to war, I think it was the most terrifying thing that ever happened to me just on the way there, knowing what we were going to do, but it hasn't yet happened. Having this feeling that I was descending into some kind of darkness, into some place that was gonna chip away from who I had been, that I would no longer get back truly.

1:31:10And then there was an ambush, and then we started exchanging fire, and people who looked like us were shooting at us. And there was a kid that, when we were training, had looked up to me, he was next to me, and there was an explosion, and his body flew, and he was scared. There was blood all over my face and everything, and I just lost it. I realized at that moment that, listen, if I don't shoot, I'm going to end up like everybody else who's been killed next to me. And I started shooting. Shooting to kill. And whatever could get you as high as possible. So you feel like you're kind of in a long nightmare.

1:31:43You took it. That becomes a new reason to fight. You didn't want to come down from the high. But there's also, because you're on the high, you also get addicted to the violence itself. So you constantly keep yourself moving, being high, engaging in more violence, until you're removed from it. Which is why sometimes people are shocked when soldiers come back from fighting and they're traumatized. Sometimes they shoot themselves, they become violent. When you go and take out another life and dehumanize it, in reverse, you dehumanize yourself, your own spirit, your own being. And it takes a lot of undoing.

1:32:15I was once a kid who loved hip-hop, run DMC, LL Cool J, learned Shakespeare, wanted to be an economist. And then I became a soldier and I started doing things that I didn't think I would ever be able to be in a position to do, but I did them. To hear about life in a war zone where he fought for three years before being rescued by UNICEF, check out episode 622 of The Jordan Harbinger Show. Proud to be this dude's friend, man. He's an awesome guy. Really a good dude with a good heart, and what a story. More on organ trafficking, by the way, we've done here on the show with David Kilgore. Episode 497, Blast from the Past.

1:32:53We really go into the organ harvesting thing. Kind of gross. That one focuses on China, but this is apparently now a global problem. Yuck. All things Remy Adeleke will be in the show notes at jordanharbinger.com or ask our AI chatbot. Transcripts in the show notes as well. Advertisers, deals, discount codes, ways to support the show, all at jordanharbinger.com slash deals. I've said it once, but I'll say it again. Please consider supporting those who support the show. And if you're not a consumerist type, go support our fundraiser at givedirectly.com slash Jordan. Once again, a reminder that the Stitcher app will no longer work for any podcasts as of August 29th, 2023.

1:33:32So if you're using the Stitcher app, time to switch. If you're on Android, Podcast Addict is a good one, CastBox. And if you're on iOS, I suggest Overcast or Apple Podcasts. The Stitcher app is going away, folks. Newsletter at jordanharbinger.com slash news. Would love your feedback. A lot of great feedback so far. Highlights and takeaways from the most popular episodes of the show going all the way back. Six-minute networking also on the website at jordanharbinger.com slash course. I'm at jordanharbinger on Twitter and Instagram or connect with me on LinkedIn. This show is created in association with Podcast One.

1:34:04My team is Jen Harbinger, Jace Sanderson, Robert Fogarty, Milio Campo, Ian Baird, and Gabriel Mizrahi. Remember, we've rised by lifting others. The fee for this show is you share it with friends when you find something useful or interesting. the greatest compliment you can give us is to share the show with those you care about. If you know somebody who could use a story like this or is just going to be interested in a story like this, definitely share this episode with them. And in the meantime, I hope you apply what you hear on the show so you live what you learn. And we'll see you next time.