Agencies London

In a startling new podcast, Tirso ‘TJ’ Dominguez, who became Pablo Escobar’s primary cocaine pilot, revealed he initially rebuffed the notorious drug lord’s employment offer. Content with his $4 million monthly earnings flying for a competitor, Dominguez only changed his mind when Escobar, "the Patron," presented an astronomical counter-offer: $20 million a month. 

“I had 30 Lamborghinis, and I dressed well,” Dominguez recounted in the eight-part documentary podcast, Cocaine Air. “They brought me the car that matched the shirt that I decided to wear that day.” This interview, believed to be his first since his 1988 arrest, offers a chilling first-hand account of the motivations behind working for one of history's most infamous criminals.Dominguez claims his foray into drug smuggling in the late 1970s was an unexpected turn of events. 

After his father’s sudden death left him, at age 20, struggling to fund a sugar mill project in Haiti, ruthless Miami bankers scammed him out of a crucial loan. Desperate, Dominguez learned to fly, initially smuggling marijuana from the Bahamas and Colombia into the US. His graduation to cocaine came after a disastrous marijuana drop, costing him $800,000 and leading to his kidnapping by enraged suppliers who threatened his family. To quickly recoup the loss, he accepted a cocaine shipment from another supplier. 

“I never wanted to get into cocaine because cocaine [smugglers] were the bad guys … doing all the killing,” Dominguez stated, asserting he was a "victim of a con" that pushed him into the illicit trade, and that he never used drugs himself. That first cocaine flight earned him a cool $1 million, enough to repay his suppliers and convince him to become a full-time cocaine pilot. His punctuality, professionalism, and perfect delivery record eventually caught Escobar’s eye. 

Yet, Dominguez, also known as Tito, initially scoffed at Escobar's recruitment attempts, feeling secure in his $4 million monthly income. "I’ll be honest with you – Pablo Escobar didn’t mean anything to me,” he said, admitting he was "full of myself."The game changed when Escobar offered $5 million per trip for four flights a month—a staggering $20 million monthly, equivalent to $60 million today. This irresistible sum led Dominguez to fly exclusively for Escobar. 

Eventually, Escobar began paying Dominguez in cocaine, transforming him from a smuggler into a full-fledged dealer who managed the entire process from flight to sales, money laundering, and investment. "I did what no other smuggler had ever done in the history of smuggling,” Dominguez proudly told Cocaine Air host Johnathan Walton.