WEBVTT - Episode 1: Start Your Engines 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:10.000 Campsite, media grace fans, the moment has a ride your 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:21.720 Rights shot. Yeah. It's July and we're in Loudon, New 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:27.080 Hampshire at the Magic Mile. We're going racing baby, who 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.880 will hoist the lobster At the end of three hundred 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.240 and one laps from New Hampshire Motor Speed WYT. Three 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.800 of the country's best drivers have gathered here for the 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.640 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series five hour Energy three oh one. 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.920 On the line is a checkered flag, a quarter million 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.080 dollar purse, and NASCAR's only living trophy, a twenty pound 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.599 lobster named Loudon. I want to take a look at 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:53.760 our starting grid as the cars about to roll off 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.280 of pit Road. On the front row Carl Edwards with 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.760 its first Magic Mild full and first and thirteen. He's 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:04.320 next to two times to get Shore Winter and then 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.880 way way. In the back, starting in forty second place 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:11.480 is the Jet Black number thirty three Chevy driven by 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:15.840 a man named Derek White. Even though Derek is forty 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.360 five years old, he's a rookie here in New Hampshire. 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.120 It's his first time ever racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.920 his first time running with the big dogs for a 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.680 guy that's been racing since he was a teenager. This 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.760 is a dream come true. Fans are on there, made 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.400 here in New Hampshire. Water speed like great flading is 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:37.720 in the air, getting up and go the green flag. 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.640 It's a call Derek an underdog wouldn't be totally accurate 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.920 because Derek doesn't stand a snowball's chance and how at 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.320 winning this race. He's starting last in a car that's 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.480 a few miles per hour off the pace even on 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:55.520 its best days. Behind the idea Timmy close Wi that's 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.720 little lay cowards the inside. Can he make it stay? 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.440 In the end, he finished in thirty ninth place, ten 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.760 laps behind the leader. The TV announcers never mentioned his 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.200 name and the cameras only showed his car for a 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:12.239 split second. But that's a damn shame because Derek is 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.040 making history here. Derek White is a Mohawk from Canada 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.280 and he's the first Indigenous person ever to drive in 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.400 the NASCAR Cup Series. Instead of putting up ads for 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.520 Oscar Meyer or Viagra on his car, he chose to 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:30.000 paint the Mohawk Warrior flag on his hood. Derek was 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.840 a real hero back home, an inspiration for his community. 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.440 What he didn't know was that police were watching his 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:43.720 every move. They were wired tapping his phone, tailing his vehicles, 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:48.880 and intercepting all his messages because they believed Derek was 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.040 a major figure in a criminal organization made up of 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:58.560 South American drug cartels, Canadian gangsters, and outlaw bikers. Just 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.919 a few months after his NASCAR debut, Derek White would 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.400 go from being the pride of the community, someone the 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.200 entire Mohawk Nation could stand behind, to the person splitting 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:18.160 it apart. M from Campsite Media and Dan Patrick Productions, 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:23.119 This is Running Smoke, the story of a race car 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.720 driver taken down in an international police stay and how 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:43.280 we might change the future of Native rights. Episode one. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:49.000 Welcome to Ghanawage. My name is Roger Gola, and I 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.800 grew up in Florida between the Volucia County dirt track 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.480 and the day tone of Speedway. If I hadn't been 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.920 blessed with severe motion sickness and a voice made for podcasting, 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.400 I might have become a race car driver instead of 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.400 a journalist. So you can understand why I've been hooked 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.600 on Derek's story since it made headlines back in and 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.080 what had called the largest grade of its kind in America. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.880 Quebec Provincial Police carried out Operation my Gale aimed at 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.280 dismantling what they called a drug, tobacco and money laundering ring. 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.159 Seven hundred police officers carried out a bus that netted 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.520 more than a hundred thousand pounds of contraband tobacco, eight 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.919 hundred pounds of cocaine, and millions in cash. Nearly sixty 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.520 people across Canada and the US were arrested on narcotics 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.080 smuggling and money laundering charges. It was the biggest bust 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.480 in years, and Derek was accused of being a major 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.400 figure in the criminal organization. Then I learned that Derek 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.640 was taking his case all the way at Canada's Constitutional Court. 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.320 This rookie race car driver who was accused of being 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.880 a major player in a criminal operation was taking on 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.120 the Canadian government for his rights as an Indigenous person, 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:00.400 and it looked like he actually had a case. So 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.200 I started looking into Derek's story and put thousands of 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.360 miles on my car, tracking down indigenous leaders, undercover investigators, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.880 and contrabands smugglers. And what I learned was that this 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.360 story is about much more than race cars and a 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.840 drug bust. It's about what it means to be indigenous 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.880 in the modern world. I knew that the first step 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.039 to telling the story was to find Derek and find 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.719 out who he really was. So that's what I did 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.640 back in twenty nineteen, shortly after he appealed this case. 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.800 I packed my car and spent three days covering the 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.160 four miles from Florida to Montreal. When I got there, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:38.800 it turned out to be a lot easier to find 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.000 Derek than you might think. I knew that, aside from racing, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.919 he ran a grocery store in Gottawauge, the Mohawk Territory 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.080 where he lived. So I left a message for him 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:48.800 at the Mohawk Market and he met me in the 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.080 parking lot about twenty minutes later. How's it going all right? 0:05:54.320 --> 0:06:03.400 Oh yeah, we've running around drugging. Yeah, man, he just yeah, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.800 just last night. It's gonna be here for a month. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.400 A month. Derek copped out of a black workman wearing 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.920 roughed up boots, some old jeans, and a dusty car 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.760 Hart jacket. He looked like any good old boy I'd 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.720 seen down at the track in my hometown. I made 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.480 my pitch, said I wanted to tell his story. He 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.080 crossed his arms and chewed on a toothpick while I talked. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.919 He was just totally unreadable. He didn't seem too happy 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.480 I was there. But then Derek saw my Florida plates. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:33.880 He seemed impressed that I had driven all the way 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.599 up just for him. He got back in the van, 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.040 popped the door and told me to get in. You 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.479 know new your seat bill, and you're with me, so 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.000 I'm gonna be a seat bill. I put my seatbelt on. Anyway, 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:50.920 what do you want to go? I wanted to see 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.400 Gnawaga through Derek's eye, so I asked him to give 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.880 me a tour of the place he called home. Oh, 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.880 we could start off at weever, he started off with 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:06.880 my grandmother starting up her own little smoke shop right 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.720 in her yard. Boa by air right now and have 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.720 a look at it. On the way there, we passed 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.920 a micro brewery, the cigar Lounge, golf course, a bunch 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.720 of mom and pop restaurants, and of course a Tim Horton's. 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:23.760 This is one of my buddies. He's opening up some 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.240 kind of I'm not even sure what it is. A 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:32.679 juice place, or juice or some kind of healthy store. 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.960 Donawaga didn't look like the stereotypical reservation I've seen in movies, 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.760 some dusty, barren piece of land with tumbleweeds and mobile homes. 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.160 Donawaga looked well off. The houses were big, the yards 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.960 were tidy, and there seemed to be a new pickup 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.720 truck in just about every driveway. If you go by 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:54.720 the the statistics, I think we're one of the wealthiest 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.640 reserves in Canada. Where do you think that is? If 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.600 you look across, you see the bridge there. Montreal is there. 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.920 This is the main artery to cross and you have 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.560 to come through Guna August. So whatever we sell on 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.840 the reserve, people are gonna bite because we're always our 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.000 prices are always better than the old site, so we 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:21.160 have a lot of traffic control. The reason prices are 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.120 better in Gnawaga than in Montreal comes down to one 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.640 simple fact. Gnawaga is a sovereign nation, separate from Canada. 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.760 They have their own flag, their own laws, and their 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.640 own government. When you cross the bridge from Montreal to 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.360 go to Gnawaga, there might not be a customs agent 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.560 or a passport check, but you're essentially leaving the country 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.400 of Canada and stepping foot onto the independent Mohawk territory 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.560 of Ganawauke. And one thing you'll notice right away when 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.920 you cross into Gnawaga is that sales tax is not 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.960 coited here, so tax free shops line the main roads. 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.000 And you've got all smoke shops all the all down here. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:08.679 That's one, two, three, four, five in a row. That aret. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.559 It's impossible to miss the smoke shops in Cottawaug. There's 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.760 ubiquitous as beer bellies at a NASCAR race. You can't 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.920 go more than a few hundred feet without running into one. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.440 There's Mixed Smoky's with the Golden Arches. Then there's Best 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.560 Butts on the yellow best Buy logo. There's Smoke King, 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.520 Crazy Horse, Burning Leaf, Redman's, and so anymore. These smoke 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:31.600 shops range from the size of a tool shed to 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.120 a full sized truck stop, and inside you can get 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.240 any cigarette you can imagine, plus a bunch of local 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.600 brands you've never heard of. They come in boxes of twenty, 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.840 cartons of ten boxes and cases of fifty cartons. You 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.439 can even buy them in ziplock bags of two hundred 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.000 On average, almost half the price of a pack of 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.400 cigarettes that you might buy in New York or Quebec 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.240 is just tax. That's not material cost, that's not the 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:02.880 cigarette company's mark up. It's just tax. But here in 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:05.880 Gnawage you won't find those pesky tax stamps on any 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.360 cigarette packs. And what's the price difference between buying the 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:13.400 carton on the other side of the bridge we're over here, Well, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:18.199 you got the cartons on the outside, uh, the name 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.520 brand's demur or Explorer and stuff like that. The goal 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.199 for about a hundred and twenty dollars per carton two 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.560 hundred cigarettes, and you can buy two hundred cigarettes in 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:36.520 a bag for twenty bucks, so you're saving hundred dollars 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.440 per two hundred cigarettes. You can see how cigarettes sold 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.480 on a tax free reservation would be pretty good business. 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.040 And it's one that Derek's been involved in since he 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:51.120 was a kid. Derek pulled off the main road and 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.079 pointed through a window at a gas station with a 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.480 turquoise blue awning over two pumps. Off to one side, 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.280 there was a car wash that said O c R 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.360 Gas Bar. It was a logo I'd seen plastered over 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.400 a lot of Derek's race cars. The gas station looked 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.520 like any Shell or Snocco you've ever seen, except for 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:09.319 the fact that it was attached to a house with 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.560 a two car garage. This is what Derek wanted to 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.720 show me, his grandmother's place where he got to start. 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.680 My grandmother opened up her first, uh first and only 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.240 basically cigarette store was right in this little car poard 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.760 here where you see this car. That was a small 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.160 little store. She was a school bus driver for the kids, 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:30.840 so she would do her run in the morning, like 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.719 seven o'clock in the morning. When she would drop the 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:37.200 kids off, she would get in her money carlo and 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.160 she would drive down the cornwall. She had enough money 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.800 for half a case of smokes, and then she would 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.680 drive it all the way back herself, put in her store, 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.880 try to sell it off, and the next day she 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.080 would turn the profit over and that and then she'd 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.400 have enough to buy a whole case, and then so 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:58.640 on and so on like that. That's where she started. 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:02.120 Over this road here, like I said, was the main 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.840 artery to get to Montreal, so there was traffic all 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.520 the way down this road. So this little store was 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.400 pretty that busy. You know. Ever since he dropped out 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.880 of high school, Derek had worked odd jobs on and 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.240 off the reservation. He tried his hand at high rise construction, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:25.160 concrete pouring, even had a stint shipping vehicles internationally. Eventually, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.720 he decided to follow his grandmother's example. Tobacco and gas 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.880 in Gonawaga. You couldn't go wrong when we opened this place. 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.920 I went to borrow the money at the bank and 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.320 they wouldn't lend it to me because they wouldn't They said, 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.240 there's not enough community members in the reserve for another 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.760 gas station. So she kind of they kind of thought 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.200 that it wouldn't work. But I showed them I borrowed 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:49.760 the money off my ground larder at the time to 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.839 open this station. And she she asked me, she goes, 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:54.880 were you gonna put it? I told her, so, I'm 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.280 gonna put it right in your yard. I had no 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.960 other land, So I mean, this is what started in everything. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.959 From that little gas station in his grandma's front yard, 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.600 Derek built an empire. I have three gas stations. I 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.240 have the Mowawk Market, the only grocery store under reserve. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.280 I got a car wash, the only car washing under reserve. 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:21.520 I also got a construction company um back hole was 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.480 dump trucks and in the same area and my property 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.439 there I have a garage, a small garage that I 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.679 do tires and oil changes for locals and non locals. Also, 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.600 Derek had an entrepreneurial savvy that I found remarkable. He 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.679 was constantly WHEELI in dealing, looking for the next opportunity. 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.600 His brain was wired for it, and it served him well. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.720 Derek had gone from constantly looking for work and getting 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.199 turned away from banks to calling the shots. You speaking 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:52.880 of French a little bit. I can understand a little bit, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:58.120 but not much. The people I deal would all speak English. Song. 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.680 If they've all by business, they'll talk English. Derek's success 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.280 was built on the foundation that Mohawks don't pay sales tax. 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.440 It was a fundamental fact of life on the territory. 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.480 But on the outside that exemption can be a bit 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:20.280 more contentious. Coming up after the break, they see we're 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.120 making money, boom, they want to tax us. You know, like, 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.400 just leave us alone, just bother your own people on 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.280 the outside and let them collect the taxes from them, 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:37.200 and just leave us alone. Going on, We'll be right back. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:46.040 You're listening to running Smoke media. When I met Derek 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.720 in He was out on bail in the middle of 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.160 one of Ghanawag's most watched court battles. He was facing 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.080 off against the Canadian government. He was hemorrhaging money to 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.960 legal fees, couldn't leave Quebec without permission and had to 0:14:58.040 --> 0:14:59.960 check in at a police station on a regular base. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.480 As he was simply trying to spend time with his 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.440 wife and his two sons, run his businesses and keep 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.480 a low profile, he had no reason to talk to 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.800 a journalist. But as I started to learn, there's more 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.560 to it, Derek had his walls up for a reason. 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.320 Folks in Gonawaga were tired of having their story told 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.400 by outsiders and having it told wrong. I think the 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.480 thing that people are wary about is they get burned 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.840 by the French media. Would just come in, uh, you know, 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.680 spent a couple of seconds here, get a bullshit story, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.920 and then and then view of their narrative and their 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.400 skewed view of us, said, they're ignorant view of let's 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.320 you know, kind of pointing at all of us as criminals. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.000 Steve Bonspiel is the editor and publisher of The Eastern 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.200 Door newspaper, one of the bigger papers serving Mohawk territories 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.080 across Canada. Steve's Mohawk himself and has reported on these 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.600 communities for nearly twenty years. It'll be actually nineteen years 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.920 in January. Could you mean just like the barest overview 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.000 of what Gottawaga is, like, how would you describe this community? 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.040 Many people are here? Like what's that? What's it like? Well, 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.360 you know, it's funny because even just the question of 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.359 how many people are here is is open to interpretation 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:14.200 because I think right now there's people on the Cahaga 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.640 of Gonawaga Registry, apparently there's eight thousand people that actually 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.080 live here, and apparently on the Federal registry there's ten thousand. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.400 So um, your guess is as good as mine. It 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.840 seems like every part of your existence here is open 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.440 to your interpretation. And it's just like this gray area. Well, 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.600 I guess that's the kind of you know, the intro 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.400 to this. You're you're right, I mean, it's it's unfortunately, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.280 there's so many things that have been left like that, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.760 you know, And and the the ones doing the interpreting 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.880 is not us, you know, it's usually the outside governments 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:52.360 and non native people. One major stereotype that Gonawaga deals 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.480 with is this idea that Indigenous communities are lawless places 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:00.000 that are totally run by organized crime, that their sovereign 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.840 t is really just a cover for illicit activity and 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.000 provides a safe haven for the criminal underworld. I think 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:11.119 it's a narrative that fits the running narrative of Mohawks 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.440 are outside the law, you know, are are doing things 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.240 in a gray area because they don't understand their rights. 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.400 You know, they don't understand why we have quote unquote 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.560 special rights. It's also the reason Steve says that Gonawaga 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.760 faces so much scrutiny from law enforcement. I mean, you 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:32.240 know it's sad to say, but you know, any kind 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.960 of police operations, it's it's just so normal to us. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.080 They're they're always looking for ways to get in the community. 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.840 They're always working, looking for ways to nail people. So 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.760 we're we're always vulnerable. They're always watching us. When I 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.199 tell people like our phones are bugged, people say, oh, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.320 he is, you know, he's crazy, he's conspiracy there. No, 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:57.080 it's just reality. Just in the last few years, there's 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:00.040 been several stories of folks in Gonawaga being busted and 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:05.080 high profile police operations that involve wire taps and undercover officers, 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.920 like the case of Floyd Latch, a former pro hockey 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.960 player who's taken down for selling wine illegally, or Wendy Mayo, 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:16.040 a grandmother who's arrested in a sixteen person cigarette smuggling operation. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.400 And there's the case of Canandio Ross, who was accused 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.439 of working with the Italian mafia to finance tobacco operations. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.960 By and large, these are cases related to gnawage's tax exemptions, 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.320 and depending on which side of the border you're on, 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:35.000 those exemptions are often seen in radically different perspectives. What 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.200 Mohawks se is tax free trade outsiders see his tax evasion. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.359 What Mohawks the is sovereignty outsiders see as a free 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:48.040 pass for criminality. As a businessman, Derek knows that double standard. Well, 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.399 every time we try to do something, the government always 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:56.320 has something to say or do they try to throw 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.280 They threw a wrench in our spokes. Basically we get 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.480 something going and then right off the butt they see 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:05.040 we're making money, boom, they want to tax us. So 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:06.600 that's what we're kind of fighting for it, you know, 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:11.560 like just leave us alone. Just just bother your own 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.440 people on the outside and let them collect the taxes 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.640 from them and just leave us alone. So when Derek 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.359 chose to put the mohawk flag on the hood of 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.600 his car in that NASCAR race back, it was more 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.879 than just a sticker to cover up a blank body pedal. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.120 It was a bold statement in an attempt to redefine 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:33.280 Gnawaga for the outside world. Um. Proud of who we 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.560 are and where we were from. We're not We're not Canadians, 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:44.120 were not Americans, were North American natives. Yeah, I live 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:48.119 in Quebec, but I'm not a Quebecer. Um born and 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:53.679 raised in Gunnawaga, and we are native people. We're we 0:19:53.760 --> 0:20:01.240 are our own people. Were are doing our best to cover, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.560 you know, every race he was doing, and it's something 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:06.320 you have to give the people. You have to give 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.760 them something to look forward to, you know, and and 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.159 make them understand you may just be some kid from 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.280 the rest, but you don't always have to be, you know. 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:16.720 So you have to fight against that narrative, to fight 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:22.640 against that view. And that's what he did. Racing made 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.840 Derek an inspiration for his community and offered an alternative 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:29.440 for the harmful stereotypes that have played Native communities for generations. 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.080 But racing would also eventually lead Derek into a gigantic 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:37.240 web of organized crime, making him a target for the 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:42.200 d e A Homeland Security and Canadian police that's coming 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:56.199 up after the break. Derek's garage is right next to 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.240 his house and almost exactly the same size. Inside pack 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:05.080 like sardines, are race cars, vintage vehicles, and power sports toys. 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:07.920 It's a site that would make any season podcaster forget 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.280 to ask every single question. He driven all the way 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:14.600 to Canada to ask. Gorgeous, Oh my god, you got 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:18.320 an eight seventy one blow around it. It's like horsepower 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:24.760 nine seventy Chevy pickup. There's a seventy five buick that 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.879 that one's ready to go to. That one's ready to 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.160 race tomorrow if you want it though. That are drag 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.880 car back there, a sleeper four door Bonnville, got old 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.760 ash folk car, Nova, got a drag car Malibu. What's 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:42.600 the car in here that you've had the longest? Here? 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.600 All right? I go through so many cars, you know, 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.359 I don't even Derek led me up the stairs to 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.720 his man cave, a beautifully appointed room covered in oak paneling, 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.520 sports memorabilia and a polar bear rug on the floor. Oh, 0:21:55.600 --> 0:22:00.600 this is where we hang out and watch racing. Or okay, 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.119 we've got a full bars, they say, invite some people 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.200 over there. They say, it's one of the nicest bars, 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:10.720 even in Montreal. Well, I just wanted to ask you 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:12.600 a couple of questions when we had a quiet place. 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:15.440 I wanted to understand how a guy like Derek ends 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.480 up being accused of being the leader of a criminal organization. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.680 As it turned out, it actually started with a trip 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.240 to Disney World. So were you into Nascar as a 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.800 kid too? No, you know what, it's it's kind of 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.720 funny that, Uh, I never really liked Nascar. I was 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:37.359 more like, uh in the drag racing and uh doing 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:41.439 the burnouts, the smoke and the loud noise and you know, 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:45.800 and after a while I kind of got boring a 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:50.320 little bit. And then we were in Florida and Orlando 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.560 with my son Jeremy, and they wanted to go to 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:58.520 the the team park and there's a track right outside 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:01.439 Universal Studios and I hear him ripping, you know, like 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:05.120 revving like like constantly. So holy shoo, what the hell 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:07.280 is that going on over there. So what Derek was 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:10.159 hearing was the Walt Disney World Speedway, basically a go 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:12.920 cart track for adults, but you get to race real 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:15.680 deal race cars. I dropped them off at the gate. 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:20.439 They went into the studio Universal Studios, and I just 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:24.560 took the car and I went follow the sound and 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:26.920 I come out. There's a big tractor. I think it's 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:30.400 a five eight mile track. So I pulled up there. 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:32.760 I went inside and I said, Uh, who are these 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.200 do guys driving? Are they tested? No? You could rent this? 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:39.359 What I said, where do I sign up? So I 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:42.240 walked in there and I never drove a NASCAR before, 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.720 I mean like a stock car before, and signed the waiver, 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.560 put the race foot on, the helmet on, and they 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:50.080 threw me in the car. I was like, oh. I 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:53.080 got in there and we went around the track. You 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:55.840 do one, one or two laps slow you and you 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:58.480 got to stay behind the pace car and stuff like that. 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:03.360 And but then after two three laps, I was like, Wow, Okay, 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.359 I could get used to this. I saw a little 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:08.640 picture plaque from his first day at the track. It's 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.000 a photo of him almost twenty years ago, wearing a 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.480 red and blue fire suit and sunglasses. That's what we 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:17.200 started it right there. Two thousand and six. Yeah, that's me. 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:20.840 I got in for the four laps, and then I 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:23.520