The drug game from the inside...
Dan "Tito" Davis comes from a town in South Dakota that's so small everyone knows their neighbor's cat's name. But once he got out, he made some noise. While at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, he started manufacturing White Crosses, aka speed, and soon had the Banditos Motorcycle Club distributing ten million pills a week.
Exclusive Interview:
Your book is about your life as a wanted fugitive. How did you go from fugitive to a writer?
After I was kidnapped out of Venezuela, where I thought I was safe because there was no extradition agreement then nor is there now, I was brought to the United States shackled, belly chained and handcuffed. I was now in the US federal prison system. There I met many people, no one had the experiences, done the things I had, visited the places I had while I was an international fugitive.
In fact, I met very few other former international fugitives. None had traveled the world on stolen passports, lived with the cartel in Columbia, lived with a hit squad, had a female assassin as a Spanish teacher, been kidnapped, missed being captured several times, had international wanted posters, slipped through the hands of Interpol, been arrested in Cuba, or repeated the 3rd grade as a college graduate; it goes on and on. Most of the other prisoners wanted to hear my story, and many of them told me that I should write a book. They also said my life was definitely movie material.
While in federal prison, some authors and Hollywood screenwriters contacted me, but it was apparent that a movie could not be done in from a federal prison. They told me to put all of my thoughts down on paper before I forgot them. That’s when I went from being a former fugitive to a writer. I wrote, I wrote, and I wrote some more. I wrote about 800 pages, wanting to put my experiences down on paper before I forgot them. Even now, after all of these years, I will see something, and I’ll get a flash of some incident that I forgot to document.
Looking back now is there anything you would change about your life? About the decisions, you made in the past?
As almost everyone knows when you look in the rearview mirror everything is clear. When you’re actually out there, under pressure, not thinking, you don’t always make the best decisions. I am definitely guilty of that; obviously, if I had it to do over again, there are several decisions that I would change. One thing about history is that you can’t change it. It is the past, and you have to live in the bed that you made. You have to make the best of any situation you are in, think positive and go forward, there’s no other option. That’s my opinion.
Your book is a wildly entertaining ride in one that no doubt will keep people reading or listening now that that audiobook is live. Is there anything you would like people to learn from your life?
Listening to the audiobook about my life or reading about my life is much more fun than actually living my life. I spent days, weeks, months, years, and decades, being very, very lonely, looking over my shoulder. It was not good! I wasted years of my life and spent about a third of my adult life in prison. I also spent over half of my life either in prison or as fugitive, that’s nothing to be proud of or anything that someone should emulate. I guess all of my wild, crazy, exciting experiences are why my book Gringo has been such a phenomenal success, and why it is so entertaining. As I said, it’s much more fun to talk about it now than actually living it.
I hear you’re still traveling the world. Is there any place you haven’t been that you want to go? And what is your favorite place in the world?
In the last 18 months since my book went #1 on Amazon, I’ve been around the world 3 1/2 times I haven’t been in the same bed for more than five nights in a row. I have been to every continent on the planet except for Antarctica, but I want to go there so I can say that I have been on every continent.
As far as my favorite place in the world, that all depends on what you were looking for; I like warm weather especially now that I’m older. I like to stay between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. I have a special place in my heart for Venezuela, that country has it all - mountains, plains, jungles, tropical beaches, and beautiful people. Unfortunately, now the economy is not good, the ordinary people are suffering severely.
You are such a creative guy, where will you be putting your energy next?
Since my book has been such a success, I think the audiobook will be successful too. Now, I believe it is time for me to put my energy into making Gringo into a miniseries or a major feature film. The material is there, many, many people tell me it is going to happen, it’s only a matter of time, so, I am going to put my energy in that direction.
The drug game from the inside...
Dan "Tito" Davis comes from a town in South Dakota that's so small everyone knows their neighbor's cat's name. But once he got out, he made some noise. While at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, he started manufacturing White Crosses, aka speed, and soon had the Banditos Motorcycle Club distributing ten million pills a week.
Life on the run - After serving a nickel (5 years), he got into the weed game, but just when he got going, he was set up by a childhood friend. Facing 30 years, Davis slipped into Mexico, not knowing a word of Spanish, which began a 13-year odyssey that led him to an underground hideout for a Medellin cartel, through the jungles of the Darien Gap, the middle of Mumbai's madness, and much more.
The ultimate fugitive story - Tito didn't have a mega-mansion filled with pretty girls and expensive cars. He survived in the Third World facing adversity at every turn. Millions of dollars came and went as Tito stayed one step ahead of the Feds and the Federales.
