WEBVTT - Running Smoke Episode 1: Start Your Engines 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 We interrupt your usual DP show feed. Do introduce you 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.439 to Running Smoke. It's a new show on my podcast network. 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.680 It's a white knuckle true story about fast cars, organized crime, 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:14.400 and a NASCAR driver fighting for the future of his nation. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:21.560 Here's the first episode. I hope you enjoy. Campsite Media 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:36.160 race fans a moment has a ride Drivers Shia. It's 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:40.000 July nineteenth, twenty fifteen, and we're in Loudon, New Hampshire 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.120 at the Magic Mile. We're going racing baby, who will 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.839 hoist the lobster at the end of three hundred and 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:52.239 one laps from Hampshire over speedy Forty three of the 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.600 country's best drivers have gathered here for the NASCAR Sprint 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.160 Cup Series five hour Energy three oh one. On the 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.360 line is a check flag, a quarter million dollars purse, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:07.280 and NASCAR's only living trophy, a twenty pound lobster named Loudon. 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:10.000 I want to take a look at our starting grid 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.240 as the car's about to roll off of Pitt Road. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.639 On the front row Carl Edwards with its first Magic 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.920 Mild Pole and first since twenty thirteen. He's next to 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.600 two time New Hampshire Winter Joey Logano and then way 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.240 Way in the back. Starting in forty second place is 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.399 the Jet black number thirty three Chevy driven by a 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.800 man named Derek White. Even though Derek is forty five 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.000 years old, he's a rookie here in New Hampshire. It's 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.920 his first time ever racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.720 his first time running with the big dogs. For a 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.440 guy that's been racing since he was a teenager, this 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.680 is a dream come true. Bands are on their fadeer 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.720 in New Hampshire Water Speedway. Green flating is in the air, 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.120 getty up and go the green flag. To call Derek 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.000 an underdog wouldn't be totally accurate because as Derek doesn't 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.520 stand a snowball's chance and how at winning this race. 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.760 He's starting last in a car that's a few miles 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.000 per hour off the pace even on its best days. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:17.800 I'm behind the side candy making snake. In the end, 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.359 he finished in thirty ninth place, ten laps behind the leader. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.800 The TV announcers never mentioned his name and the cameras 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.760 only showed his car for a split second. But that's 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:32.160 a damn shame because Derek is making history here. Derek 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.840 White is a Mohawk from Canada, and he's the first 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.280 Indigenous person ever to drive in the NASCAR Cup Series. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.560 Instead of putting up ads for Oscar Meyer or Viagra 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.600 on his car, he chose to paint the Mohawk Warrior 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.840 flag on his hood. Derek was a real hero back home, 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:54.799 an inspiration for his community. What he didn't know was 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.880 that police were watching his every move. They were wired 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:03.160 tapping his phone, tailing his vehicles, and intercepting all his 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:07.720 messages because they believed Derek was a major figure in 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.320 a criminal organization made up of South American drug cartels, 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:17.160 Canadian gangsters, and outlaw bikers. Just a few months after 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.320 his NASCAR debut, Derek White would go from being the 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.600 pride of the community, someone the entire Mohawk Nation could 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:34.079 stand behind, to the person splitting it. Apart from Campsite 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:39.640 Media and Dan Patrick Productions, this is Running Smoke, the 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.400 story of a race car driver taken down in an 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.960 international police stay and how he might change the future 0:03:46.040 --> 0:04:05.320 of Native rights. Episode one, Welcome to Ghanawage. My name 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.240 is Rodigola and I grew up in Florida between the 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.760 Volucia County dirt Track and the Daytona Speedway. If I 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.560 hadn't been blessed with severe motion sickness and a voice 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.360 made for podcasting, I might have become a race car 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.560 driver instead of a journalist. So you can understand why 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.000 I've been hooked on Derek's story since it made headlines 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.520 back in twenty sixteen and what had called the largest 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.520 rate of its kind in America, Quebec Provincial Police carried 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.440 out Operation Mygale, aimed at dismantling what they called a drug, 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.040 tobacco and money laundering ring. On Wednesday, seven hundred police 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.440 officers carried out a bus that netted more than one 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.640 hundred thousand pounds of contraband tobacco, eighteen hundred pounds of cocaine, 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.880 and millions in cash. Nearly sixty people across Canada and 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.200 the US were arrested on narcotics, smuggling and money laundering charges. 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.880 It was the biggest bust in years, and Derek was 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.919 accused of being a major figure in the criminal organization. 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.280 Then I learned that Eric was taking his case all 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.320 the way to Canada's Constitutional Court. This rookie race car 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.200 driver who was accused of being a major player in 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.920 a criminal operation was taking on the Canadian government for 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.360 his rights as an Indigenous person, and it looked like 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.120 he actually had a case. So I started looking into 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.720 Derek's story and put thousands of miles on my car, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:27.160 tracking down indigenous leaders, undercover investigators, and contraband smugglers. And 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.800 what I learned was that this story is about much 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.080 more than race cars and a drug bust. It's about 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.680 what it means to be indigenous in the modern world. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.640 I knew that the first step to telling the story 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.000 was to find Derek and find out who he really was. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.200 So that's what I did. Back in twenty nineteen, shortly 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.160 after he appealed his case. I packed my car and 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.400 spent three days covering the fourteen hundred miles from Florida 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.640 to Montreal. When I got there, it turned out to 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.520 be a lot easier to find Derek than you might think. 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.720 I knew that, aside from racing, he ran a grocery 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.760 store and gottawauge the Mohawk Territory where he lived. So 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:05.719 I left a message for him at the Mohawk Market 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:07.720 and he met me in the parking lot about twenty 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:12.599 minutes later. How's it going right? All right? Oh? Yeah, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:21.200 up to running all yeah, he just came a yeah, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.400 just last Night's gonna be here for a month, a month? 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.160 Yeah what? Derek hopped out of a black workman wearing 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.640 roughed up boots, some old jeans, and a dusty car 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.560 Hart jacket. He looked like any good old boy I'd 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.479 seen down at the track in my hometown. I made 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.240 my pitch, said I wanted to tell his story. He 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.839 crossed his arms and chewed on a toothpick while I talked. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.680 He was just totally unreadable. He didn't seem too happy 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.200 I was there. But then Derek saw my Florida plates. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.840 He seemed impressed that I'd driven all the way up 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.960 just for him. He got back in the van, popped 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.800 the door and told me to get in. Hey, you 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.240 on New year seagull unders, and you're with me. So 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.800 I'm gonna need a seat Bill, I put my seatbelt on. Anyway, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.680 where do you want to go? I wanted to see 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.200 Gonawage through Derek's eye, so I asked him to give 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.600 me a tour of the place he called home. Oh, 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.960 we could start off at Reverening started off with my 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:24.760 grandmother starting up her own little smoke shop right in 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.440 her yard. Boa Boah by there right now and have 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.480 a look at it. On the way there we passed 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.680 a microbrewery, a cigar lounge, a golf course, a bunch 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.280 of mom and pop restaurants, and of course a Tim Horton's. 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:41.480 This is one of my buddies. He's opening up some 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.000 kind of I'm not even sure what it is, a 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:50.440 juice place or juice or some kind of healthy store. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.720 Gonawage didn't look like the stereotypical reservation I'd seen in movies, 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.520 some dusty, barren piece of land with tumbleweeds and mobile homes. 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.920 Gonawaga to well off. The houses were big, the yards 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:04.720 were tidy, and there seemed to be a new pickup 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.480 truck in just about every driveway. If you go by 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:14.240 the statistics, I think we're one of the wealthiest reserves 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.480 in Canada. What do you think that is? If you 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.360 look across, you see the bridge there, Montreal is there. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.680 This is the main artery to cross and you have 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.920 to come through Gnawaugus. So whatever we sell on the reserve, 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.160 people are gonna buy because we're always our prices are 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.319 always better than the outside. So you have a lot 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:39.880 of traffic control. The reason prices are better in Gnawogue 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.960 than in Montreal comes down to one simple fact. Gnawogue 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.480 is a sovereign nature, separate from Canada. They have their 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.600 own flag, their own laws, and their own government. When 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.280 you cross the bridge from Montreal to go to Gnawage, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.240 there might not be a customs agent or a passport check, 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.720 but you're essentially leaving the country of Canada and stepping 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:05.079 foot onto the independent Mohawk territory of Gnawauke. And one 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.479 thing you'll notice right away when you cross into Gonawauge 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.640 is that sales tax is not collected here, so tax 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.720 free shops line the main roads. You got all smoke 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:22.760 shops all down here. That's one, two, three, four five 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.439 in a road that are within one two hundred feet. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.360 It's impossible to miss the smoke shops in Contawauge. There's 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.520 ubiquitous as beer bellies at a NASCAR race. You can't 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.640 go more than a few hundred feet without running into one. 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.200 There's mc Smoky's with the golden arches. Then there's Best 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.280 Butts on the yellow best Buy logo. There's Smoke King, 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:47.280 Crazy Horse, Burning Leaf, Redman's, and so anymore. These smoke 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.360 shops range from the size of a tool shed to 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.839 a full sized truck stop, and inside you can get 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:56.000 any cigarette you can imagine, plus a bunch of local 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.360 brands you've never heard of. They come in boxes of twenty, 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.599 car of ten boxes, and cases of fifty cartons. You 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.200 can even buy them in ziplock bags of two hundred. 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.760 On average, almost half the price of a pack of 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.080 cigarettes that you might buy in New York or Quebec 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.000 is just tax. That's not material cost, that's not the 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.640 cigarette company's mark up. It's just tax. But here in 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.680 Gonawage you won't find those pesky tax stamps on any 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.079 cigarette packs. And what's the price difference between buying a 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.160 carton on the other side of the bridge vers over here. Well, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:36.360 you got the cartons on the outside, the name brands 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.400 Damie or Export and stuff like that. They go for 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.880 about one hundred and twenty dollars per carton two hundred cigarettes, 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.760 and you can buy two hundred cigarettes in a bank 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:54.480 for twenty bucks, so you're saving one hundred dollars per 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.319 two hundred cigarettes. You can see how cigarettes sold on 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.920 a tax free reservation would be pretty good business and 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:03.920 It's one that Derek's been involved in since he was 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:09.240 a kid. Derek's pulled off the main road and pointed 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.400 through a window at a gas station with a turquoise 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.440 blue awning over two pumps. Off to one side, there 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.400 was a car wash that said ocr gas Bar. It 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:19.480 was a logo I'd seen plastered over a lot of 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.040 Derek's race cars. The gas station looked like any Shell 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.839 or Sinocco you've ever seen, except for the fact that 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.200 it was attached to a house with a two car garage. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.920 This is what Derek wanted to show me, his grandmother's 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.120 place where he got a start. My grandmother opened up 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.960 her first, first and only basically cigarette store, was righted 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.000 into this little car poort here where you see this car. 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.880 That was a small little store. She was a school 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.720 bus driver for the kids, so she would do her 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:49.720 run in a morning, like seven o'clock in the morning. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:51.440 When she would drop the kids off, she would get 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:56.400 in her nineteen eighty money Carlo and she would drive 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.559 down to Cornwall. She had enough money for half a 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.199 case smokes, and then she would drive it all the 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.719 way back herself, put it in her store, try to 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.079 sell it off and the next day she would turn 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.280 the profit over and that and then she'd have enough 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.559 to buy a whole case, and then so on and 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.599 so on like that. That's where she started out. This 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.800 road here, like I said, was the main artery to 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.120 get to Montreal, so there was traffic all the way 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.440 down this road. So this little store was pretty that busy, 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.760 you know. Ever since he dropped out of high school, 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.520 Derek had worked odd jobs on and off the reservation. 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.080 He tried his hand at high rise construction, concrete pouring, 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:43.480 even had a stint shipping vehicles internationally. Eventually, he decided 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.239 to follow its grandmother's example. Tobacco and gas and gnawage. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.959 You couldn't go wrong. When we opened this place. I 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.840 went to borrow the money at the bank and they 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.080 wouldn't lend it to me because they wouldn't They said 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.719 there's not enough community members in the reserve for a 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.520 gas station. So she kind of they kind of thought 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.000 that it wouldn't work, but I showed them I borrowed 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.840 the money off my groundlar at the time to open 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.120 this station. And she asked me, she goes where you 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.079 gonna put it? I told her, so I'm gonna put 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.600 it right in your yard. I had no other land, 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.920 So I mean this is what started everything in the 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.200 ninety six. From that little gas station in his grandma's 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.240 front yard, Derek built an empire. I have three gas stations. 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.000 I have the Momauk Market, the only grocery store under reserve. 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.040 I got a car wash, the only car washing under reserve. 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:40.120 I also got a construction company back hole was dump trucks. 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.520 And in the same area and my property there I 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.120 have a garage, a small garage that I do tires 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.559 and oil changes for locals and non locals. Also, Derek 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.559 had an entrepreneurial savvy that I found remarkable. He was 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.040 constantly wheeling in dealing, looking for the next opportunity. His 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.360 brain was wired for it, and it served him well. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.480 Eric had gone from constantly looking for work and getting 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.000 turned away from banks to calling the shots. You speaking 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.640 of French a little bit. I can understand a little bit, 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.600 but not much. The people I deal would all speak English, 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:20.960 so if they want my business, they'll talk English. Derek's 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.280 success was built on the foundation that Mohawks don't pay 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.520 sales tax. It was a fundamental fact of life on 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:32.920 the territory, but on the outside. That exemption can be 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:37.520 a bit more contentious coming up after the break. They 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.840 see who're making money, boom, they want to tax us, Like, 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.120 just leave us alone. Just bother your own people on 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.000 the outside and let them collect the taxes from them, 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:54.960 and just leave us alone. Hold on, we'll be right back. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:04.720 You're listening to And when I met Derek in twenty nineteen, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:06.640 he was out on bail in the middle of one 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.160 of Gonawoge's most watched court battles. He was facing off 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.480 against the Canadian government. He was hemorrhaging money to legal fees, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.080 couldn't lea Quebec without permission and had to check in 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.760 at a police station on a regular basis. He was 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:20.760 simply trying to spend time with his wife and his 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.040 two sons, run his businesses, and keep a low profile. 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.680 He had no reason to talk to a journalist. But 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.840 as I started to learn, there's more to it. Derek 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.200 had his walls up for a reason. Folks in Gnawoge 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.160 were tired of having their story told by outsiders and 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.160 having it told wrong. I think the thing that people 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.280 are wary about is they get burned by the French media, 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.240 who would just come in, you know, spend a couple 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.480 of seconds here, get a bullshit story, and then view 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.960 of their narrative and their skewed view of us said, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.120 they're ignorant viewlests, you know, kind of pointing at all 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.560 of us as criminals. Steve Bonspiel is the editor and 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.320 published of the Eastern Door Newspaper, one of the bigger 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.600 papers serving Mohawk territories across Canada. Steve is Mohawk himself 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.480 and is reported on these communities for nearly twenty years. 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.640 It'll be actually nineteen years in January. Could you meet 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.440 just like the barest overview of what Gottawaga is like, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.920 how would you describe this community? How many people are here? Like? 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.280 What's it like? Well, you know, it's funny because even 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.320 just the question of how many people are here is 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:29.720 open to interpretation, because I think right now there's sixty 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:34.840 five hundred people on the Gohaga of Gonawaga Registry, apparently 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.920 there's eight thousand people that actually live here, and apparently 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.680 on the Federal registry there's ten thousand. So your guess 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.680 is as good as mine. It seems like every part 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.720 of your existence here is open to your interpretation. And 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.760 is just like this gray area. Well, I guess that's 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.640 the kind of you know, the intro to this. You're 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.720 you're right, I mean, it's it's unfortunately, there's so many 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.480 things that have been left like that, you know, and 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.800 and the ones doing the interpreting is not us, you know, 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:08.000 it's usually the outside governments and non Native people. One 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.520 major stereotype that Gonawaga deals with is this idea that 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.679 Indigenous communities are lawless places that are totally run by 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.000 organized crime, that their sovereignty is really just a cover 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.119 for illicit activity and provides a safe haven for the 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:25.520 criminal underworld. I think it's a narrative that fits the 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:31.080 running narrative of mohawks or outside the law, you know, 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.920 are doing things in a gray area because they don't 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.720 understand their rights. You know, they don't understand why we 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.320 have quote unquote special rights. It's also the reason Steve 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.720 says that Gonawage faces so much scrutiny from law enforcement. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.680 I mean, you know, it's sad to say, but you know, 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.320 any kind of police operations, it's it's just so normal 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.399 to us. They're always looking for ways to get in 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.960 the community, they're always working, looking for ways to nail people. 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:04.520 So were always vulnerable. They're always watching us. When I 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.960 tell people like our phones are bugged, people will say, oh, 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.160 is it always crazy? He's conspiracy there, No, it's just reality. 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.840 Just in the last few years, there's been several stories 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.960 of folks in Gonawage being busted in high profile police 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:23.080 operations that involve wire taps and undercover officers, like the 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.359 case of Floyd Lahtch, a former pro hockey player who's 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.960 taken down for selling wine illegally, or Wendy Mayo, a 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.760 grandmother who's arrested in a sixteen person cigarette smuggling operation. 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.160 And there's the case of Gnandio Ross, who was accused 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.200 of working with the Italian mafia to finance tobacco operations. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.720 By and large, these are cases related to Gonawage's tax exemptions, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.040 and depending on which side of the border you're on, 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.720 those exemptions are often seen in radically different perspectives. What 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.959 mohawks see is tax free trade. Outsiders see his tax evasion. 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.840 What mohawks see is sovereignty. Outside signers see as a 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.840 free pass for criminality. As a businessman, Derek knows that 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.200 double standard. Well, every time we try to do something. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.959 The government always has something to say or do they 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.200 try to throw They threw a wrench in our spokes. Basically, 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:18.840 we get something going and then right off the bat 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.760 they see who're making money, boom, they want to tax us. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.359 So that's what we're kind of fighting for, is you know, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:29.320 like just leave us alone. Just just bother your own 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.240 people on the outside and let them collect the taxes 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.440 from them and just leave us alone. So when Derek 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.119 chose to put the mohawk flag on the hood of 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.480 his car in that NASCAR race back in twenty fifteen, 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:41.679 it was more than just a sticker to cover up 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.720 a blank body panel. It was a bold statement and 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:49.359 an attempt to redefine Gnawage for the outside world. M 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.520 proud of who we are and where we were from. 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:58.440 We're not We're not Canadians, we're not Americans. We're North 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.760 Americ natives. Yeah, I live in Quebec, but I'm not 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:08.119 a quebecerum, born and raised in Gunnawage, and we are 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:18.080 native people. We are our own people. We were doing 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.720 our best to cover you know, every race he was doing, 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.639 and it's something you have to give the people. You 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:25.840 have to give them something to look forward to, you know, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.240 and and make them understand or you may just be 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:31.320 some kid from the rest, but you don't always have 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:33.720 to be, you know. So you have to fight against 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.600 that narrative, to fight against that view, and that's what 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:42.280 he did. Racing made Derek an inspiration for his community 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.280 and offered an alternative for the harmful stereotypes that have 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:50.040 played Native communities for generations. But racing would also eventually 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:54.040 lead Derek into a gigantic web of organized crime, making 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.840 him a target for the DA, Homeland Security and Canadian 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:13.440 police that's coming up after the break. Derek's garage is 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.520 right next to his house and almost exactly the same size. 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.639 Inside pack like sardines, are race cars, vintage vehicles, and 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.280 power sports toys. It's a site that would make any 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.680 season podcaster forget to ask every single question. He driven 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.440 all the way to Canada to ask. Gorgeous, Oh my god, 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.520 you got an eight seventy one blow around it. It's 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:41.280 like twelve hundred horsepower nineteen seventy Chevy pickup. There's a 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:43.960 seventy five buick. That one's ready to go through. That 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.160 one's ready to race tomorrow if you want it. Though, 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.040 that are drag car back there, a sleep or four 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:56.520 door Bonville, got old ashfall car, Nova, got a drag 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.639 car Malibu. What's the car in here that you've had 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.399 a long all right? I go through so many cars, 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.760 you know, I don't even Derek led me up the 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.720 stairs to his man cave, a beautifully appointed room covered 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.520 an oak paneling, sports memor abielia and a polar bear 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:14.600 rug on the floor. Oh, this is where we hang 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:19.480 out and watch racing or fully, we've got a full bar, 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:23.040 they say. By some people over they say it's one 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:27.480 of the nice as far as even in Montreal. Well, 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.560 I just wanted to ask you a couple questions when 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:32.080 we had a quiet place. I wanted to understand how 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:34.400 a guy like Derek ends up being accused of being 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.840 the leader of a criminal organization. As it turned out, 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:41.240 it actually started with a trip to Disney World. So 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.240 were you into Nascar as a kid too? No? You 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:47.800 know what, It's it's kind of funny that, Uh, I 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:52.000 never really liked Nascar. I was more like, uh, into 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:56.560 drag racing and doing the burnout. It's the smoke and 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:00.960 the loud noise, and you know, and after a while 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.400 I kind of got boring a little bit. And then 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.560 we were in Florida and Orlando with my son Jeremy, 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.480 and they wanted to go to the Team Park and 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:17.840 there's a track right outside Universal Studios, and I hear 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.920 them ripping, you know, like revving like like constantly, So 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:24.000 holy shit, what the hell is that going on over there? 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:27.080 So what Derek was hearing was the Walt Disney World Speedway, 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:30.080 basically a go cart track for adults, but you get 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.000 to race real deal race cars. I dropped them off 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:37.120 at the gate. They went into the studio Universal Studios, 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.159 and I just took the car and I went follow 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:44.160 the sound and I come out there's a big tractor. 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:47.560 I think it's a five eight mile track. So I 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:49.479 pulled up there. I went inside and I said, uh, 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.080 who are these do guys driving? Or? They tested, No, 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.320 you could rent this? What I said, where do I 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.600 sign up? So I walked in there and I never 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:01.560 drove a NASCAR before, I mean like a stock car before, 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:03.720 and signed the waiver, put the race suit on, the 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:06.240 helmet on, and they drew me in a car. I 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:10.040 was like, oh. I got in there and we went 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:11.959 around the track. You do one and one or two 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:14.680 laps slow you and you got to stay behind the 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:18.680 pace car and stuff like that. But then after two 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.119 three laps, I was like, wow, okay, I could get 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:24.879 used to this. I saw a little picture plaque from 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:26.800 his first day at the track. It's a photo of 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:29.280