On this episode of American Archipelago, I basically introduce myself as your new favorite convict for our historical analysis of the prison-industrial complex. So as a form of commencement, I tell about getting busted with a whole bunch of heroin back in 2005—Omaha, Nebraska, to be exact—and this basically set the tone for the s**t-show that is my life. Me and my Pops, Jeff Krupka (rest in peace, dead in 2014), got popped with this 20-gram clavo of black-tar heroin.

Instead of trying to get help, getting his boy out jail, my Pops just got bail and hit the road driving on to Cleveland, Ohio, so he get a car he crashed while nodding out on hardcore narcotics. It was an interesting childhood—it’ll show you, the audience, who I am and how I grew up—so it’s a good place to start as any…

Background music:  “Midnight Special” by Leadbelly

“Junkies with Guns” by Ill Bill

Available wherever you get your podcasts, YouTube—coming to Odyssey and Bit Chute—anywhere I can find you tricky b******s: people who’re interested in crime and prison and macabre, revelatory history.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit usarchipelago.substack.com