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Owen Hanson is a former athlete who gained fame as a walk-on on the University of Southern California (USC) football team. With a reputation that was growing both on and off the field, he had played on a championship-winning team and had a reputation that was built on his physical strength and work ethic.
With his college and athletic network, Hanson used his post-graduate years to continue his commercial ventures. However, instead of conventional deals, he made the shift to organized crime, which eventually led to one of the most prolific drug trafficking and gambling businesses the federal authorities discovered in recent years.
Hanson is again in the spotlight after Prime Video released a three-part docuseries based on his life. Titled Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel, it reveals how he started as a local athlete in California and became an infamous kingpin involved in the business of one of the most dangerous cartels in the world.
The docuseries employs interviews, archival videos, and first-person narratives to address Hanson’s journey and his eventual downfall at the hands of the FBI.
Who was Owen Hanson? From athlete to criminal mastermind
Hanson began as a well-known athlete in Redondo Beach and at USC after impressing coaches with his physical capability and determination. Nevertheless, as a college student, he started selling recreational drugs and steroids to his teammates, a move that foreshadowed further indulgence in the criminal world.
After leaving college with a business degree, he seemed to have made it in some above-board business and real estate projects, but soon became known as the mastermind of an extensive illegal gambling, drug smuggling, and money laundering enterprise.
Hanson started with operations in the U.S. but spread to Central and South America and Australia. He also operated a sophisticated online sports gambling business with bookies, accountants, and enforcers. His gambling business was infamously marked with violence and threats to collect money, even to the extent of sending grisly photos to collectors.
Dissatisfied with sports betting only, Owen Hanson quickly became a partner of a major Mexican cartel, evolving his activity into international drug smuggling of cocaine and methamphetamines. His organization is officially reported to have smuggled away thousands of kilograms of narcotics and millions of dollars across borders.
In 2014, federal law enforcement initiated an investigation into the activities of Hanson after discovering the extent of his criminal transactions using electronic surveillance and undercover operations. In September 2015, Hanson was arrested by the FBI, and in late 2017, he pleaded guilty to operating a violent international drug-dealing and gambling syndicate called the O-Dog Enterprise.
Owen Hanson was sentenced to 21 years and three months in federal prison and a $5 million forfeiture. Additionally, 21 of his associates also pleaded guilty.
However, Hanson became a witness in the cases against other criminal associates, especially in Australia, and substantially cut his time in prison. In March 2024, he was released into a halfway house out of federal prison and completed his supervised release by June 2025.
Where is Owen Hanson now?
Owen Hanson publicly adopted a new, lawful entrepreneurial direction after completing his sentence. He started California Ice Protein, a high-protein ice cream enterprise, inspired by his ideas during his incarceration. He has since publicly discussed his criminal history and has been interviewed in the Amazon documentaries, trying to encourage others not to follow the route he did.
Even though he will be under federal supervision for life, Hanson presents himself as an author, legal entrepreneur, and motivational speaker, seemingly leaving behind his criminal life.
What is Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel about?
The show follows Owen Hanson through his humble origins and time in the USC football team to his turn to running illegal gambling rings and drug trafficking organizations, and ultimately, links up with the Sinaloa cartel to conduct enormous dealings in cocaine trafficking.
The documentary explores the dual identity of Hanson as a charming athlete and a brutal kingpin using interviews, recreations, and archival news reports. It shows how fast he rose to the top, making up to an estimated $1 million a day at one point, and the lengths to which he went to evade the police, including going to other countries and laundering money in unusual ways.
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