With Fathers’s Day fast approaching, I take a break from the drama and violence by offering these short, sweet and very much heartfelt memories.

Dad -

Thank you for your unconditional love, your strength, and the countless sacrifices that you made. Your guidance, kindness, and unwavering support have shaped who I am today. I am grateful for every lesson, every laugh, and every moment we’ve shared. I love you and am proud to be your child. ❤️

Happy Father’s Day to all responsible and loving fathers everywhere!

Motherhood is a badge of honor as great mothers maintain unwavering love as it is meant to be. Mothers sacrifice for their families… some more than others. Throughout history, surely millions of parents have given their lives to protect their children.

This episode is a startling - perhaps shocking tribute to motherhood and timed to be released just prior to Mother’s Day.

As mentioned in the episode, there are some graphic descriptions of violence not suitable for young listeners and perhaps those easily affected.

This is a True Crime podcast and at times gritty. Man’s lack of kindness and respect for others numbs the senses indeed. It’s all historical and with the exception of this story, it’s all factual. Yet the fictional events described in this episode are inspired by true events and loosely correlate with my experiences shared in Episode 5.

My Law Enforcement career included various assignments. After nearly a decade working undercover as a Vice cop, I transferred to the Robbery Bureau. The perps were not the big names of Organized Crime figures, but their evil doing was just as damaging to Society.

How about the 12 year old kid who, with his partners, knocked off a series of all-night stores and gas stations in and across two South Florida counties while armed with shotguns. The oldest of the group was 17. At three in the morning, my partner and I were eating “lunch” and witnessed - through a plate glass window - the perps fleeing from a gas station across the street. Leaving my delicious chicken wings on the table (my partner left his French onion soup and fried clam strips), we jumped in our unmarked vehicle and gave chase for miles down the Palmetto Expressway and into Pinecrest near the area of the infamous FBI shootout of 1986. After crashing their car into ours, we jumped out and took them down before they could gain their senses.

Turned out the 12 year old was charged with murder at 9 years of age. “Ohhh… but he’s just a child!” Yeah, right!

I handled a few home invasion robberies over the years, and the modus operandi ranged from kicking in doors, knockin and sockin, driveway ambushes then into the house at gunpoint, and climbing through windows.

I offer only a few home invasion cases I worked in this episode. And unfortunately they can only be told in a graphic way. There’s no other way to describe these stories.

Just know this! Violent crime and horrific victimization doesn’t happen to everyone, but it can happen to anyone. So, be careful and mindful of your surroundings … even while at your home sweet home!

Welcome to Episode 4! FINALLY!! After all the heralding I made during previous episodes about our Halloween Show, IT IS HERE! This episode features an edited recording of a local radio show I hosted 22 years ago here in the Miami, Florida area. And it was one of my favorite shows while on the radio. DeeJaying radio shows became my so-called “night job” and producing the radio and TV shows on various OTA (Over-the-air) broadcast stations demanded serious creativity. Of course, I did this during my later years as a law enforcement officer with assignments that permitted me to take on outside endeavors that added to my quality of life… physically, emotionally and mentally. It helped to keep potential PTSD at bay. So, tune in and enjoy this episode that has been a pleasure to produce!

By the way, I hosted shows on various radio stations using different monikers. My alias in this show, “Mega Nights” was “Joey G the Iceman.” LOL! And that in itself requires a separate episode to explain why this name.

Welcome to Episode 3!! I’m your host, Jonas Sears and I have repeated time and time again, “nothing is new under the sun!” As U.S military warships build up in the Caribbean and the sinking of governmentally-professed drug boats pushing through the waters of the long-used “Cocaine Superhighway,” I am reminded of former strongman, Dictator Manuel Noriega who took the people of Panama through a myriad of madness. His name came up many times during my assignment as a Vice cop working narcotics during the 80s prior to Noriega’s capture and imprisonment for massive cocaine smuggling into the United States and beyond.

CHECK IT OUT! And enjoy!

What’s a successful, illegal drug business without money laundering? Drugs ship out… cash avalanches in. This is the episode of a Taste of Vice Podcast, when your host, Jonas Sears discusses the invasion of foreign gangsters during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 - some of whom referred to members of his unit as “Los Perros Locos” (the mad dogs). He also talks about a money laundering investigation and corruption case that his outfit partnered with the effective Federal task force, Operation Greenback. As smuggling boss, Frank Lopez told “Marielito“ Tony Montana in Brian de Palma’s Scarface, “You're gonna move up fast. And you'll find out your biggest problem is not bringing in the stuff, but what to do with all the f*cking cash!”

It was supposed to be a routine coke deal with Coco. Are they ever routine? Thankfully.. most people wouldn’t know. Yet, early in my career, I learned that nothing in such a dark, dangerous world is routine. And those who treat an underworld life as routine will not die routinely!