Episode #250 | 9.16.25
Jimmy Buffett: Escape Artist, Incorporated.
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In this episode
Key West drug traffickers, God’s Own Bad-Ass, flying bullets, and the billion-dollar business of escape. Jimmy Buffett wasn’t just the “Margaritaville Guy” – he was a hustler, a ham, and a near pirate who turned a hangover into an empire.
Sources
A Pirate Looks at Fifty, by Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way, by Ryan White
‘Jamaica Mistaica’: Jimmy Buffett Song Inspired After Plane Sprayed by Gunfire (NY Times)
Remember When Jamaican Police Shot at Jimmy Buffett and Bono From U2? (Taste of Country)
How Jimmy Buffett Created an Empire (The Atlantic)
The Untold History of Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett nearly became a drug smuggler in Key West (Daily Mail)
The Legend of “Bum” Farto, the Key West Fire Chief-Turned-Drug Dealer Who Vanished (Mental Floss)
Jimmy Buffett Says French Authorities Can't Tell Ecstasy From Vitamins (Rolling Stone)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Jake Brennan.
Copy edited by James Sullivan.
Mixed by Matt Beaudoin.
DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak