The Anarchists (2022) s01e05 Episode Script
Damage
'Twas a dark and spooky night.
The anger fuels me.
It makes me alive.
Reminds me of the war that I never left.
There can only be victory or Valhalla.
I do not settle for less.
Glory and gore go hand in hand.
I wake up every day, hoping for a chance
to dismember my enemies.
Now, I will be fucking frightening.
Yeah, so the bounce house
would be where then?
Over here by the pool. 'Cause we want
the slide to go in the pool.
- Remember? Yeah.
- Okay.
This is Bambuddha Holistic Center.
We're about 15 or 20 miles south
of Acapulco.
And we're here for AnarchAwakening 2019.
- First annual. Yes.
- The inaugural AnarchAwakening.
It's a bit of a different vibe
than the last time
we put something together.
It's much more chill.
And the focus is going to be on healing
in all different modalities.
And when I ask the energies,
"What is the true purpose of me?"
To be a guardian.
To be a shepherd, not looking for sheep.
For the first time in four years,
Nathan was no longer running Anarchapulco.
What were the events
that led this to come to be?
How much time do you have?
Last year, I was the chief cat herder
for Anarchapulco 2018.
We decided at the end of that event
that we wanted to go bigger
the next year.
So my partner in that, Jeff Berwick,
he hired a person
that has since dubbed herself
executive producer, named Jessica Kill.
And they sort of just kinda
fired me after that.
There was never really
any kind of official decision.
It's just that one day I couldn't access
the Slack channel and then another day,
I couldn't access my email.
pretty loud and clear.
I give thanks to those of you,
the truth speakers, who speak your truth
and then follow through with your word.
That's what it's gonna take
in this world.
This conference
is about fixing you.
Anarchapulco is about trying
to fix the world,
and I think the problem is
if we're out fixing the world
but we're still damaged,
we're just bleeding
on everything we touch.
And I'm thankful to welcome
in new people to the family,
to the close tribe
The team that's there now
does not understand that
Anarchapulco was built on love.
It was built for love of oneself,
love for others,
and love of truth and integrity.
And now, it's a very,
very different vibe.
Hey, guys.
Welcome to 2019's Anarchapulco.
This event has just barely gotten started,
it's still not too late
for you to come down here,
it's gonna be going through the weekend.
So, I'm here for the Anarchapulco event.
is stronger than ever.
Some of the people that may have canceled
because of, you know,
fears of this thing or that thing
John Galton, he and his friend
The murder definitely
was a topic of discussion
among the people
at the conference.
Yeah, well we don't know
exactly what the motivation
of the killer was, right?
Beyond that,
the conference was affected
by all kinds of drama.
We have people dying,
we're getting death threats.
Tonight, we celebrate with a hunt.
Paul posted photos at the event
with all these people.
And they were losing their minds
that he was roaming around
the conference somewhere.
The conference
beefed-up security.
This guy was just
out of control.
God, it was so chaotic.
Berwick, sweet dreams,
you duck faced bitch.
That Paul guy,
he was threatening
to kill me and my family.
There was definitely a lot
of negativity and weirdness.
We were kinda told
through back channels
to stay away from Anarchapulco
because there was
too much heat on us.
And they're afraid
that we'll ruin the events,
and people will come up
and cause violence
and scare everyone off.
They're all like,
"Where are you staying?
Where are you staying?
Where are you staying?"
Nobody knew where I was.
We weren't telling anybody.
It was the only way
we could sleep at night.
I was extremely paranoid.
Three days ago, I had kids,
like, five or six neighborhood kids,
girls, just like knocking
on my door
trying to get me
to come out with my dog.
But my anxiety and my PTSD was like,
"Don't answer the door!"
I 100 percent agree
I don't like answering the door
and when I do,
I have a gun in hand,
and I'm ready.
Yeah. Paul essentially
passed his PTSD onto me
like a fucking flu or something.
If I'm being perfectly honest, like,
I'm afraid he is gearing up
for something much uglier.
Check, check, check.
The man I will introduce to you now,
he's made
an awesome career for himself
through his own choices
and he has influenced
millions of people.
I'm very pleased
to introduce to you,
the destabilizing Thaddeus Russell!
My business partner is gonna be
very pissed off with me
because I was supposed to be
giving a big pitch
for my podcast
and for other projects.
I'm not gonna talk
about any of that shit.
I don't know everything
that happened in this case.
But I am now pretty
goddamned convinced, still,
that Lily and John, and Jason,
those people are my heroes.
To me the focus in that moment
was only about helping Lily.
If you're really invested
in freedom and liberty,
maybe think about these people
the way that I do.
She was in a uniquely terrible
and vulnerable position
and it looked to me like
the anarchist community
in Acapulco
was abandoning her, or worse,
blaming her
and throwing her under the bus.
Now, I would never ever
tell my son to do anything
that John and Lily did.
In fact, I would beg him
to do the opposite.
of that kind of freedom.
But because I know that
that kind of freedom
makes us all more free
in the long run,
those people are my heroes.
Lily is very scared
for a lot of obvious reasons.
She just needs
a little bit of help.
So far, she has put out calls,
I have put out calls for her.
Come on, people.
Come on, people.
I thought this was
a crypto community.
I thought we cared
for each other.
I thought we honored our heroes.
Just a little support for people
like that on the fringes,
who are risking their freedoms
and their lives for us!
Those people are at
the front edge of this movement.
and I just want your help.
Thank you very much.
It's very easy to escape governments,
banks, and states
if you're already
a Bitcoin millionaire.
If you're like John and Lily,
you got no resources, nothing.
It's hard, it turns out,
and dangerous, in fact,
to be an anarchist in Mexico.
It's Free Talk Live.
We're at Anarchapulco,
kicking off day number four.
Four wonderful days here
in the sun and beaches
of a world-class resort.
We're getting close
to wrapping this out
for the weekend.
The energy of the conference
was so, like, stale.
So why did you guys even decide to go?
We went 'cause we had so many people
reach out to us and say,
with Nathan not there,
the conference was dismantling.
Their volume the years before
were on, like, full blast, you know.
Everyone felt like they were positive,
that there was like hope
and excitement and passion.
And this year, it was like,
"Yeah, we're here,
we should make the best of it."
Jeff, basically, hired an outsider.
Somebody who, all the way,
wasn't connected to these ideas.
It felt like somebody came in,
who was not on the same page with us.
Who was actively working against us.
Greetings everybody,
it's your boy Elamental here.
I'm trying to vend
our shirts for Anarchapulco.
Immediately, when we start
setting up our tables,
Jessica comes over.
She basically is telling us
to leave and get out of there.
I think you are super disrespectful
I wanted to acknowledge you
and deal with it but it's ok.
Be that way.
Even though we were told that
we're allowed to set up here,
Jessica doesn't like it for some reason.
The last time I heard,
this was an anarchist community,
and that means
if you're not hurtin' anybody,
nobody's gonna tell you what to do.
What're you up to?
We're selling our AnarchAwakening shirts.
We had them printed up
for the AnarchAwakening event.
But are you allowed?
I'm sorry, what word did you use?
I didn't ask for permission.
So I have no idea whether I'm "allowed."
I just did my own thing
and I just ignored the hierarchical rules
that were trying to be laid down upon me
by these so-called authority figures.
some other people have attempted
to sell merchandise and have been run off
by some nefarious security group
of some kind.
Of course, of course
you could just come here
to people who want to buy.
Like, you come here
and you hear speeches
about the importance
of free markets.
And yet,
there's a controlled market
in the venue itself,
which is silly.
I found that
to be quite shocking.
like, they really tried
to undermine Jessica so much.
It's like, "I can't even sell
T-shirts over there!"
It's like, "Well, that's because
she actually sold a sponsor
to be over there and they paid
for their tables,
she can't give you
a table for free."
She very clearly came in
with her own mindset and agenda
of how things should be done.
She didn't just come in and go,
"Okay, Jeff, what do you want?
And, speakers, what do you need?
I'm gonna facilitate this,"
the way Nathan did.
She comes from Hollywood
and she comes from DC.
She's spent her time putting
on events for the people
who are literally working
the exact opposite of the world
that we're trying to create.
with Jeff Berwick before,
and I said, "I think this
"All the things
we say about the state,
this person is going to mess up
the conference,"
and the response was, "Well,
I think she's got it handled."
People did not give Jessica a chance
from, like, day one.
So many people
were just all giving us flack
and, you know, trolling us.
Everyone was like,
"This is terrible.
She's a Nazi."
Everyone was calling her a Nazi.
And she had done nothing wrong.
To wrap it all up for tonight,
I'm very pleased to introduce
Jeff Berwick and Dayna Martin.
Personally,
if you saw me this year,
I've been pretty relaxed,
and I have not been this way
ever before.
And it's because all these people
so amazing, and it all stemmed
from Jessica Kill.
I don't know, she probably
doesn't wanna come up here.
She doesn't wanna come up.
I think closer to the event,
a lot of fear came
into people's minds
because some incidents happened
that were really tragic.
And I was wondering to myself,
"Well, how was this going
to affect the movement?
And are people going
to be too afraid to come?"
And the opposite happened.
We proved to the world
that love and freedom
- Yes.
Freedom!
Thank you so much.
So, we'll see you guys in 2020!
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
Bullshit detector.
Sorry.
In true anarchy fashion,
may I have everyone come
to the front of the room!
Come to the front of the room, please.
There was a board,
a big whiteboard and markers
that had, "Anarchapulco 2019,"
you know,
"Leave a note for next year."
There were
a lot of people that were like,
"Bring Nathan back.
Kill Kill."
A lot of people were disappointed
in their experience.
And do you want
to elaborate on that?
No, I just think,
you know, if I get asked,
I might consider it.
But I haven't been asked
and I'm not sure I'd say yes.
I did this thing
- Oh, yeah. Yeah.
I can't believe
Jeff actually said,
"I'm more relaxed this year
than I ever have been
in Anarchapulco."
In 2017, he was drunk the whole time!
He literally never left the bar
except for when he was supposed
to give his speech,
and he was hammered
when he gave his speech.
People were asking
for money back
because he was so drunk
when he talked.
Like, this is the year
that he's the most relaxed?
I don't know, I feel like,
"Am I a bad person?"
Did we give too much
to the conference that now
the universe is giving us bad karma?
Like, I don't know.
It feels like it.
Just a quick stop
on the way home.
Trying not to lose my cool
any more than I already have.
That we're safe
and we're relaxed through it.
Oh, man. That was hard,
that hurt a lot.
Not there now.
No shots fired.
Paul was never actually
seen at the conference.
And simply laughed it all off
with a Facebook post.
Eat a wick. Berdick.
Over the course
of the two years,
Paul and I would talk
on Messenger.
I'm a mom and he clearly
needed some guidance.
And I kept trying
to explain to him,
making people afraid of you,
and this community
is supposed to be
about bringing people together
and we're trying to heal,
we're trying to co-exist,
and you're threatening people's lives.
This is where the drugs
and the alcohol
and the "fight or flight" responses
were starting to get really absurd
and crazy with him.
He was very dangerous,
in my opinion.
So, I finally talked Paul
into going back to the US.
I said you need to leave,
you need to go back.
The community is unable
to move past this with you here.
I bought him a ticket.
I helped get his stuff.
I got him out of Acapulco.
Paul's exit from Acapulco
was a relief to the community.
But the grief and confusion
from John's murder still lingered.
If he had been
such an inspiration
to so many of those
who came here,
what did it mean
for the Acapulco anarchists
now that John was gone?
He expected you
to say what you mean
and stick to it no matter what.
And a lot of these people,
they don't always stick
to what they say,
so they sound like liars.
They're feeling their way through it
and they haven't thought it through.
John had thought everything through
and picked his life
and just went in that direction.
There's so much
that is more free
about where we live here,
than wherever we came from.
Like we could never do
To better understand
who John Galton was,
I traveled to where he grew up
as Shane Cress.
I think we're good.
I know you keep saying
not to stress,
- but I'm stressed.
- We know you're stressed.
Go down, we'll come down
in the next one.
I'm not gonna try
and squeeze us all in there.
Do you wanna sit?
Do you wanna put that on the table?
Actually, I just need
to set Shane down.
He's heavy, that damn kid!
Oh! There, here you go.
He's not exactly light.
I knew Shane would not have
wanted an actual memorial.
That he would want
something natural,
a celebration of life.
I know I needed
to come here and do this
for myself and for him,
but it's been hard.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
I'll get out of the way.
No, you're not
in the way.
When I was 16, I got pregnant.
I look back now,
and so much I didn't know.
So much I didn't know.
I kinda wish
I had done things differently,
but I wouldn't trade having Shane
for anything, you know.
I mean he was
the light of my life, you know?
I'm sorry.
When there's a little more
- Yeah.
- and wire to Lily.
As a child growing up,
Shane struggled
with his emotions
all the way around.
He could become very volatile
and destructive.
And then, at times,
he could just be
just as sweet
as he could possibly be.
He had anger issues,
and his father had anger issues.
Steve was Shane's dad.
When I met him, I was 15.
Yeah, and he would've been 24.
I just wanted a normal life.
You know, I wasn't looking
for anything fancy.
I didn't care where we lived
or what we had,
I wanted a normal family.
Unfortunately, Steve had
his own issues.
You know, I didn't really know
what bipolar was.
You know, I didn't understand
mental illness.
And he ended up
choosing suicide instead.
Put your arm up there.
There you go.
Pick up your feet. Move your legs.
When Shane was about two and a half,
he started showing some of
the same issues that his dad had.
He would have these meltdowns,
not just normal two-year-old,
you know, meltdowns.
They would last for hours. For hours.
By the time
he was about five years old,
it got to the point
where we actually had to put
an alarm on his bedroom door
because he would
come out of his bedroom
in the middle of the night
and just go
into one of his rages
and destroy things.
And there was
just nothing I could do.
We finally found a guy
that worked with kids,
and diagnosed Shane as bipolar.
He had to teach me how to hold him
where I wouldn't hurt him,
but where I could secure him
until he calmed down.
It helped a lot,
but sometimes I think
it actually just made him angrier
when he was being restrained like that.
But I don't think my son was bipolar.
Maybe he even was
on the spectrum.
And I wish I'd known that
when Shane was little
because I think things would've been
very different in his life.
Through the journey of getting Shane home,
we entered this shop & spotted this bag
- Oh, my God. It's so good to see you.
- Sorry.
- You're grounded.
- You're grounded.
This our live Facebook
so Lily can see everybody.
Say hi to Lily.
- Hi, Lily.
- Say hi to Lily.
Hi, Lily.
Lily was still in Mexico,
and couldn't risk traveling
to the US
because of her legal status.
But Jason Henza
was able to make the trip.
Lily was at the point
where she can stand on her own.
And I was
just thinking to myself,
it was just time to get
out of town for a little bit.
And that's what I did.
- How've you been doing?
- I've been doing good.
The doctors say I won't need surgery.
I should make a full recovery
in about six months.
I've got most
of the use of my arm.
I try not to let the incident
affect me at all,
as much as I can,
because I think
that's what it was meant to do
There have been some
threats against you
on Facebook.
Paul had moved back
to Pennsylvania,
but he continued
to threaten Henza.
I just let him go live
his happy life.
I'll leave him alone.
If he chooses to leave me alone,
he does. If he doesn't,
I'm sure he'll meet
his consequences eventually.
I scouted out the parking lot
hours beforehand,
looking for Pennsylvania plates.
I felt like he could've showed up
and done something.
So I always kept
a soft eye on Paul.
Whenever I popped out in public,
I would just check his Facebook page
and see what the chatter is.
And then if I felt safe, I'd go out.
Do you think that Paul
is capable of murder?
Yes.
What really gravitated me about Shane
was that he was completely stateless.
He couldn't even fall back
on his state if he wanted to.
And he had to figure it out
on his own without the state,
and do everything
the innovative way,
the way that people like me
constantly preach,
but never really, really
follow through and live by.
I went through all
of grade school with him.
I went to college with him,
and I even went
after college with him.
No matter what it was
that Shane had in mind,
he figured out a way to do it.
That's Shane, though, for you.
Like, nothing's gonna beat that kid.
When I was a kid,
I had got in a BB gun accident
through my eye.
If you feel right here,
you can actually feel the BB.
So if anyone's curious,
You can touch the BB, it's cool.
John was very curious
on the medications
that I was given
by the hospital.
He actually researched
different strains of marijuana
that would help
with my eye pressure.
He created a whole strain for my eye.
I've actually gotten vision back.
But none of
the medical eye drops,
they were just sustaining
my eye pressure
and limiting what pain it could.
But what John came up with
was such a blessing.
Now, not only do
I have the medicine
that was helping me
in my daily life,
but John himself
got to build something.
He started getting into the marijuana
and he became
very passionate about that.
In the beginning, Shane wanted
to become a lawyer.
He was gonna help change
the marijuana laws
so that people weren't going
to jail over a plant.
He moved to Oklahoma when he was 17.
He followed a girl there.
Thought he was in love.
It didn't work out
with the girl,
but he got two jobs
and he got his own apartment.
Unfortunately, he liked
to grow his own weed.
He had a small coat closet
in the apartment
that he would use
to grow his weed in.
The landlord found the pot
in his closet.
And he got arrested.
And Oklahoma
is not where you want to be
if you've got weed.
He was facing
up to life in prison.
The judge said, "Promise me
you're gonna leave the state
and never come back.
Do this boot camp."
Get out your bed!
Jumping jacks, let's go!
Jumping jacks, go!
There was like
a lot of classes
Get down!
Let's see those climbers!
He didn't think
they had the right to do that.
It changed him.
And he started becoming
very anti-government.
It was after that, that he decided
he was gonna do the dreadlocks
and that was gonna be who he was.
The dreads, they were a way
to express himself, saying,
"I do not want to be
a part of this 'society,'
I want to do my own thing.
I want to make sure you see me."
Shane Cress.
That's his real name, Cress?
Okay.
I went there for one reason
and one reason only,
in support of Miranda.
Because she was
in love with him.
Remember me? Ricky?
you had your shop
and you were doing all the cars
- and paintings and stuff?
- Yeah.
I was there with Shane
and Miranda and stuff.
Last time was, like, eight years.
- Has it been that long?
- This is Jason.
- Hi.
- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Jason is friends
with Miranda in Acapulco.
- Okay, I'm Miranda's father.
- Yeah.
Wow. She's quite a person.
You have nothing to worry about.
She's gonna be okay. I'm telling you.
I have lost touch with her
in the last four or five years.
She's always wanted
to talk to you.
But she's more worried
about spending 25 years in prison.
- I understand that.
- Yeah.
And she was quite concerned
and Shane was very concerned
to the point where he wasn't reaching out
- to family either.
- Yeah.
And they had completely
closed themselves off.
I didn't know until after
the shooting and everything
about family, their real names
and all that stuff.
- Hey, guys.
- Yeah.
This is Shane's mom right here.
Lily's watching on Facebook right now.
- I wanted her to see a little bit more.
- Yeah.
We're gonna go
for a little walk
- in a little bit to the ledge.
- Judy, this is Randy.
- Hi. Good to see you.
- Hi. You, too.
I'm trying to share
as much of it with her
- Yeah, of course.
So she's watching us now?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. She's on there right now.
She popped on a minute ago.
So she's watching from Mexico.
I really wanted them
to rebuild their relationship.
I didn't have the chance
to do that with Shane,
but he had the chance with her
and I wanted to see that.
Is Shane in that cup?
There he goes.
Farewell, Shane. Rest in peace.
Shane's dad was buried
on his first birthday.
And here's Shane
playing RollerCoaster Tycoon.
His Christmas present from Angela.
The vibe that there was always
something missing in his life
came from that.
He's home.
Shane, from a young age,
had planned
on leaving the country.
He felt that
he could have a better life
in a place that was less,
in his mind,
less structured.
He was a good person
who sometimes made bad decisions,
but nothing he ever did
hurt anybody else.
He just wanted
to live his own life.
Do you remember where you were
mentally at that time?
I just had no idea what to do.
I was just starting
you can see that house
from all over the city.
It in itself is a ghost.
And, like, everywhere I look,
it's like,
memory, memory, memory.
My life is a constant series
of flashbacks.
And like every few months,
something will resurface.
At one point, I thought
about the day we ended up
in this parking lot
at a Kmart in San Diego.
John and I were fighting.
And there was this crazy lady
walking around.
broom that she had made
out of palm leaves.
"When you guys get to Mexico,
go to Tecate."
And we never told her
we were going to Mexico.
And she kept saying,
when you go to Mexico,
when you go to Mexico,
She had us both, like,
questioning our, like,
really atheist, anti-spiritual,
like, views at the time.
At one point, she was running
around the parking lot
just yelling numbers
into the air,
and then comes back to our truck
and gets real serious
and looks at us and goes,
"You're the pilot," to John.
And she goes,
"You're the co-pilot."
And then she goes,
"But you, you need
to learn how to be a pilot
because he's not gonna
be the pilot forever.
You need to be the pilot."
I thought about her
a lot after the murder.
I was just like, "Fuck.
I have no idea where, like,
John Galton ends
and where I started."
So I was like,
"Man, who the fuck am I?"
Threats were still coming in.
He had me short-cycled in his mind.
I was still feeling like he may
just do something irrational.
I've been abused and fucked over
by almost everyone I loved
and trusted here.
I started an investigation
into the entire community.
I wouldn't get caught
near Jason Henza,
his lobotomized
mental patient girl, Lily,
or any of the Anarchapulco crew soon.
I came here to help these sissy bitches.
But now,
I hope they all rot in hell.
It was difficult trying to understand
what was going on inside Paul's head.
When I would try to get him
to be specific about,
what are you trying to accomplish?
What do you think
the problem is?
And what do you think
the solution is?"
It just seemed like
from pain and confusion,
there was anger
that he couldn't really explain.
I would never fit into
that Cultapulco community, anyway.
I'm not a degenerate,
sexually repressed,
socially awkward, pathetic nerd.
I'm just a broken old veteran,
who was lured down
to the cult of Anarchapulco.
I'm checking out.
This community was my last try.
You all fucking suck
as much as the rest of them.
It was the fourth of July.
I was doing
a normal checkup on him.
And I saw rest in peace on his timeline.
And I was thinking,
"Okay, he's just
screwing with me again."
I did some more
in-depth research
and then I got some details.
He had taken his own life.
After several bouts of self-harm
and hospitalizations
for his mental health,
Paul committed suicide
a few months after returning
to Pennsylvania.
If you can't appreciate
the world around you
and the beauty it holds,
I feel sorry for you.
You suck.
Paul's death
I knew I was involved.
I knew what I was doing
when I was pushing him away.
Because I knew
it was life or death with Paul.
There was no halfway with Paul.
Oh, my God!
It's fucking hot!
Just relax, Paul.
The one thing I did say was, "
Thank you, Paul."
I'm not saying I wanted him to,
I did not sleep until he died.
I couldn't really relax.
I didn't know what to expect.
Like I was expecting him
to pop up anywhere, you know,
'cause who knows?
Maybe he was gonna come back
and, you know, really fuck up
my life in the future.
And then when he died
that possibility went away
and I was like, "Okay."
he caused hurt
to people that I care about.
gentle, admirable things about him too.
And so that makes me feel conflicted.
That makes me feel conflicted.
Paul is just another sad,
lonely, misunderstood boy.
but it did not shock me at all.
He was a good man
who was broken.
Fuck you.
The story of the sweaty hat.
that had substance abuse issues
and PTSD and allowed it
to control his life.
Yes, he was responsible
for his behavior and his life choices,
but he didn't get
a good hand to begin with.
And what did Paul's death do
for you and Nathan's view
of your time in Acapulco?
fail.
Nathan and I always
wanted to try to help Paul,
but we couldn't save him.
And like somehow, it's our fault.
- You want some?
- Negative.
- It just smells divine.
- You can have a bite.
We always took ownership so much,
it was another fail.
Symbolically, like,
his aggression, in a sense,
was limiting our freedom.
Like there's no good story
without a bad guy
and he choose to be
the bad guy, you know.
And I think that was actually,
like, what he was trying to do.
One way of looking at Paul was,
he was just a troll,
he was just trolling us.
And he was a perfect troll.
He chose to be the bad guy
to teach us, kind of,
where we were naive,
and where were ignorant.
Because a lot of us
are not trained
in either conflict resolution
or negotiation or compromise.
So how are you gonna have
a cohesive functional society
without a conflict resolution strategy,
without a court,
without any plan at all?
Acapulco's anarchists
had seen two deaths
in five months.
And as the community
seemed at its lowest,
along came another shock.
Cryptocurrency
Ponzi scheme bilking
three-quarters of a
At least five people were accused
of conning investors out of
more than 720 million dollars.
According to the indictment,
they duped people into joining
their investment club,
known as BitClub Network.
BitClub was one of
Anarchapulco's largest sponsors in 2018.
And had deep ties
to the conference.
I've been sitting here on my laptop
literally living on this ship
making money with Bitcoin.
Joby Weeks,
who is one of the top promoters
in BitClub's multi-level
marketing program was indicted.
And the US government accused BitClub
of being a Ponzi scheme.
Joby came away
with two lesser charges,
not directly tied
to the fraud allegations.
But the scandal further tainted
the Anarchapulco brand.
Joby!
I'd be remiss not to mention Joby Weeks,
he was kidnapped
by the government.
Hopefully, he'll be able to join us.
And we're just, you know, just so excited
about what's happening
Jessica Kill was also connected
to BitClub as a promoter for the program.
She first appeared
at the conference in 2018
and immediately faced
broader skepticism.
I think if you're gonna
come into a community
of people who are conscious,
and you're going to try
and divide and conquer,
you're gonna be
found out really fast.
This is a needed test to see,
are we really sharp?
Are we really conscious?
Do we really know
what we believe and why?
The test isn't over, right?
There's one person
that has to see it.
- Yup.
- Right?
'Cause there's one person
that does have the capacity
to change that choice.
Honestly, I'm not sure
if BitClub was a complete fraud
from the get-go.
A lot of people were asking me
to get rid of Jessica,
but Jessica did a great job
of running the event,
especially given
how most people hated her
for no reason.
So I just said,
"Okay, let's try it one more time."
The Freemans,
now they hate me
and all that kind of stuff.
So that's where
it got really weird.
Well, what do you think
their perception was,
if you try to put yourself in their shoes?
when we first got to Acapulco,
we spent a lot of energy
on community building,
strong relationships with everyone.
I don't know,
it just got a little weird, just weird.
Through that experience,
we found that
it didn't really
pay off all that well.
It was really disappointing.
The integrity was no longer there.
The leader of the "conference"
was just pushing us
further and further away.
like, strange reality.
I have a real connection with Acapulco.
There's something magical about here,
and my wife knows a lot
other dimensions.
And she says
there's numerous portals here,
but they can be good or bad.
There's something
very special about here,
but it's also very dangerous,
I would say.
Like if you come here
and you got some problems,
you might have a bad time.
I'm not saying
you're gonna die if you come here.
got killed because of that.
What I'm saying is,
be careful about this place.
There's so much energy here.
Whatever you put out there
will come back to you tenfold.
- That's a fire, folks. Yeah!
- That's a fire.
We had been burned
by the leadership.
The people who are so disconnected
Fuck off! Fuck off,
you control freaks.
of the mistakes that were made.
Fuck off, bitch!
Go die in a fucking hole!
- Go die, bitch!
- Yeah!
Anarchapulco is becoming
over 2,000 people now.
We're hoping
maybe three to 5,000 next year.
We're trying to change
the entire world.
this is only making us stronger.
The legend himself,
Jeff Berwick, with Lucy,
are gonna be talking
about the most exciting things
that are happening next year.
Forty percent off
There was another
conference next year,
but if you looked around
the community,
you could see everyone having issues.
This is so not Acapulco, this rain.
What was going on
around that time
with the community?
I just did not know
what was gonna happen.
Whoa, there's a storm.
Things were really turbulent.
Should I stay in Acapulco?
Should I leave?
'Cause I was just like,
"What the fuck am I gonna do?" You know?
Everything went awry.
I was watching my ideology
fail in front of me.
Not what I thought it was going to be.
I thought blue waters,
Jet skis.
Our community was literally
Holy shit!
as time went on.
So, where do you go from here?
What's the next step?
The sea is a
angry
Slut!
place.
I actually kind of like it.
The anger fuels me.
It makes me alive.
Reminds me of the war that I never left.
There can only be victory or Valhalla.
I do not settle for less.
Glory and gore go hand in hand.
I wake up every day, hoping for a chance
to dismember my enemies.
Now, I will be fucking frightening.
Yeah, so the bounce house
would be where then?
Over here by the pool. 'Cause we want
the slide to go in the pool.
- Remember? Yeah.
- Okay.
This is Bambuddha Holistic Center.
We're about 15 or 20 miles south
of Acapulco.
And we're here for AnarchAwakening 2019.
- First annual. Yes.
- The inaugural AnarchAwakening.
It's a bit of a different vibe
than the last time
we put something together.
It's much more chill.
And the focus is going to be on healing
in all different modalities.
And when I ask the energies,
"What is the true purpose of me?"
To be a guardian.
To be a shepherd, not looking for sheep.
For the first time in four years,
Nathan was no longer running Anarchapulco.
What were the events
that led this to come to be?
How much time do you have?
Last year, I was the chief cat herder
for Anarchapulco 2018.
We decided at the end of that event
that we wanted to go bigger
the next year.
So my partner in that, Jeff Berwick,
he hired a person
that has since dubbed herself
executive producer, named Jessica Kill.
And they sort of just kinda
fired me after that.
There was never really
any kind of official decision.
It's just that one day I couldn't access
the Slack channel and then another day,
I couldn't access my email.
pretty loud and clear.
I give thanks to those of you,
the truth speakers, who speak your truth
and then follow through with your word.
That's what it's gonna take
in this world.
This conference
is about fixing you.
Anarchapulco is about trying
to fix the world,
and I think the problem is
if we're out fixing the world
but we're still damaged,
we're just bleeding
on everything we touch.
And I'm thankful to welcome
in new people to the family,
to the close tribe
The team that's there now
does not understand that
Anarchapulco was built on love.
It was built for love of oneself,
love for others,
and love of truth and integrity.
And now, it's a very,
very different vibe.
Hey, guys.
Welcome to 2019's Anarchapulco.
This event has just barely gotten started,
it's still not too late
for you to come down here,
it's gonna be going through the weekend.
So, I'm here for the Anarchapulco event.
is stronger than ever.
Some of the people that may have canceled
because of, you know,
fears of this thing or that thing
John Galton, he and his friend
The murder definitely
was a topic of discussion
among the people
at the conference.
Yeah, well we don't know
exactly what the motivation
of the killer was, right?
Beyond that,
the conference was affected
by all kinds of drama.
We have people dying,
we're getting death threats.
Tonight, we celebrate with a hunt.
Paul posted photos at the event
with all these people.
And they were losing their minds
that he was roaming around
the conference somewhere.
The conference
beefed-up security.
This guy was just
out of control.
God, it was so chaotic.
Berwick, sweet dreams,
you duck faced bitch.
That Paul guy,
he was threatening
to kill me and my family.
There was definitely a lot
of negativity and weirdness.
We were kinda told
through back channels
to stay away from Anarchapulco
because there was
too much heat on us.
And they're afraid
that we'll ruin the events,
and people will come up
and cause violence
and scare everyone off.
They're all like,
"Where are you staying?
Where are you staying?
Where are you staying?"
Nobody knew where I was.
We weren't telling anybody.
It was the only way
we could sleep at night.
I was extremely paranoid.
Three days ago, I had kids,
like, five or six neighborhood kids,
girls, just like knocking
on my door
trying to get me
to come out with my dog.
But my anxiety and my PTSD was like,
"Don't answer the door!"
I 100 percent agree
I don't like answering the door
and when I do,
I have a gun in hand,
and I'm ready.
Yeah. Paul essentially
passed his PTSD onto me
like a fucking flu or something.
If I'm being perfectly honest, like,
I'm afraid he is gearing up
for something much uglier.
Check, check, check.
The man I will introduce to you now,
he's made
an awesome career for himself
through his own choices
and he has influenced
millions of people.
I'm very pleased
to introduce to you,
the destabilizing Thaddeus Russell!
My business partner is gonna be
very pissed off with me
because I was supposed to be
giving a big pitch
for my podcast
and for other projects.
I'm not gonna talk
about any of that shit.
I don't know everything
that happened in this case.
But I am now pretty
goddamned convinced, still,
that Lily and John, and Jason,
those people are my heroes.
To me the focus in that moment
was only about helping Lily.
If you're really invested
in freedom and liberty,
maybe think about these people
the way that I do.
She was in a uniquely terrible
and vulnerable position
and it looked to me like
the anarchist community
in Acapulco
was abandoning her, or worse,
blaming her
and throwing her under the bus.
Now, I would never ever
tell my son to do anything
that John and Lily did.
In fact, I would beg him
to do the opposite.
of that kind of freedom.
But because I know that
that kind of freedom
makes us all more free
in the long run,
those people are my heroes.
Lily is very scared
for a lot of obvious reasons.
She just needs
a little bit of help.
So far, she has put out calls,
I have put out calls for her.
Come on, people.
Come on, people.
I thought this was
a crypto community.
I thought we cared
for each other.
I thought we honored our heroes.
Just a little support for people
like that on the fringes,
who are risking their freedoms
and their lives for us!
Those people are at
the front edge of this movement.
and I just want your help.
Thank you very much.
It's very easy to escape governments,
banks, and states
if you're already
a Bitcoin millionaire.
If you're like John and Lily,
you got no resources, nothing.
It's hard, it turns out,
and dangerous, in fact,
to be an anarchist in Mexico.
It's Free Talk Live.
We're at Anarchapulco,
kicking off day number four.
Four wonderful days here
in the sun and beaches
of a world-class resort.
We're getting close
to wrapping this out
for the weekend.
The energy of the conference
was so, like, stale.
So why did you guys even decide to go?
We went 'cause we had so many people
reach out to us and say,
with Nathan not there,
the conference was dismantling.
Their volume the years before
were on, like, full blast, you know.
Everyone felt like they were positive,
that there was like hope
and excitement and passion.
And this year, it was like,
"Yeah, we're here,
we should make the best of it."
Jeff, basically, hired an outsider.
Somebody who, all the way,
wasn't connected to these ideas.
It felt like somebody came in,
who was not on the same page with us.
Who was actively working against us.
Greetings everybody,
it's your boy Elamental here.
I'm trying to vend
our shirts for Anarchapulco.
Immediately, when we start
setting up our tables,
Jessica comes over.
She basically is telling us
to leave and get out of there.
I think you are super disrespectful
I wanted to acknowledge you
and deal with it but it's ok.
Be that way.
Even though we were told that
we're allowed to set up here,
Jessica doesn't like it for some reason.
The last time I heard,
this was an anarchist community,
and that means
if you're not hurtin' anybody,
nobody's gonna tell you what to do.
What're you up to?
We're selling our AnarchAwakening shirts.
We had them printed up
for the AnarchAwakening event.
But are you allowed?
I'm sorry, what word did you use?
I didn't ask for permission.
So I have no idea whether I'm "allowed."
I just did my own thing
and I just ignored the hierarchical rules
that were trying to be laid down upon me
by these so-called authority figures.
some other people have attempted
to sell merchandise and have been run off
by some nefarious security group
of some kind.
Of course, of course
you could just come here
to people who want to buy.
Like, you come here
and you hear speeches
about the importance
of free markets.
And yet,
there's a controlled market
in the venue itself,
which is silly.
I found that
to be quite shocking.
like, they really tried
to undermine Jessica so much.
It's like, "I can't even sell
T-shirts over there!"
It's like, "Well, that's because
she actually sold a sponsor
to be over there and they paid
for their tables,
she can't give you
a table for free."
She very clearly came in
with her own mindset and agenda
of how things should be done.
She didn't just come in and go,
"Okay, Jeff, what do you want?
And, speakers, what do you need?
I'm gonna facilitate this,"
the way Nathan did.
She comes from Hollywood
and she comes from DC.
She's spent her time putting
on events for the people
who are literally working
the exact opposite of the world
that we're trying to create.
with Jeff Berwick before,
and I said, "I think this
"All the things
we say about the state,
this person is going to mess up
the conference,"
and the response was, "Well,
I think she's got it handled."
People did not give Jessica a chance
from, like, day one.
So many people
were just all giving us flack
and, you know, trolling us.
Everyone was like,
"This is terrible.
She's a Nazi."
Everyone was calling her a Nazi.
And she had done nothing wrong.
To wrap it all up for tonight,
I'm very pleased to introduce
Jeff Berwick and Dayna Martin.
Personally,
if you saw me this year,
I've been pretty relaxed,
and I have not been this way
ever before.
And it's because all these people
so amazing, and it all stemmed
from Jessica Kill.
I don't know, she probably
doesn't wanna come up here.
She doesn't wanna come up.
I think closer to the event,
a lot of fear came
into people's minds
because some incidents happened
that were really tragic.
And I was wondering to myself,
"Well, how was this going
to affect the movement?
And are people going
to be too afraid to come?"
And the opposite happened.
We proved to the world
that love and freedom
- Yes.
Freedom!
Thank you so much.
So, we'll see you guys in 2020!
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
Bullshit detector.
Sorry.
In true anarchy fashion,
may I have everyone come
to the front of the room!
Come to the front of the room, please.
There was a board,
a big whiteboard and markers
that had, "Anarchapulco 2019,"
you know,
"Leave a note for next year."
There were
a lot of people that were like,
"Bring Nathan back.
Kill Kill."
A lot of people were disappointed
in their experience.
And do you want
to elaborate on that?
No, I just think,
you know, if I get asked,
I might consider it.
But I haven't been asked
and I'm not sure I'd say yes.
I did this thing
- Oh, yeah. Yeah.
I can't believe
Jeff actually said,
"I'm more relaxed this year
than I ever have been
in Anarchapulco."
In 2017, he was drunk the whole time!
He literally never left the bar
except for when he was supposed
to give his speech,
and he was hammered
when he gave his speech.
People were asking
for money back
because he was so drunk
when he talked.
Like, this is the year
that he's the most relaxed?
I don't know, I feel like,
"Am I a bad person?"
Did we give too much
to the conference that now
the universe is giving us bad karma?
Like, I don't know.
It feels like it.
Just a quick stop
on the way home.
Trying not to lose my cool
any more than I already have.
That we're safe
and we're relaxed through it.
Oh, man. That was hard,
that hurt a lot.
Not there now.
No shots fired.
Paul was never actually
seen at the conference.
And simply laughed it all off
with a Facebook post.
Eat a wick. Berdick.
Over the course
of the two years,
Paul and I would talk
on Messenger.
I'm a mom and he clearly
needed some guidance.
And I kept trying
to explain to him,
making people afraid of you,
and this community
is supposed to be
about bringing people together
and we're trying to heal,
we're trying to co-exist,
and you're threatening people's lives.
This is where the drugs
and the alcohol
and the "fight or flight" responses
were starting to get really absurd
and crazy with him.
He was very dangerous,
in my opinion.
So, I finally talked Paul
into going back to the US.
I said you need to leave,
you need to go back.
The community is unable
to move past this with you here.
I bought him a ticket.
I helped get his stuff.
I got him out of Acapulco.
Paul's exit from Acapulco
was a relief to the community.
But the grief and confusion
from John's murder still lingered.
If he had been
such an inspiration
to so many of those
who came here,
what did it mean
for the Acapulco anarchists
now that John was gone?
He expected you
to say what you mean
and stick to it no matter what.
And a lot of these people,
they don't always stick
to what they say,
so they sound like liars.
They're feeling their way through it
and they haven't thought it through.
John had thought everything through
and picked his life
and just went in that direction.
There's so much
that is more free
about where we live here,
than wherever we came from.
Like we could never do
To better understand
who John Galton was,
I traveled to where he grew up
as Shane Cress.
I think we're good.
I know you keep saying
not to stress,
- but I'm stressed.
- We know you're stressed.
Go down, we'll come down
in the next one.
I'm not gonna try
and squeeze us all in there.
Do you wanna sit?
Do you wanna put that on the table?
Actually, I just need
to set Shane down.
He's heavy, that damn kid!
Oh! There, here you go.
He's not exactly light.
I knew Shane would not have
wanted an actual memorial.
That he would want
something natural,
a celebration of life.
I know I needed
to come here and do this
for myself and for him,
but it's been hard.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
I'll get out of the way.
No, you're not
in the way.
When I was 16, I got pregnant.
I look back now,
and so much I didn't know.
So much I didn't know.
I kinda wish
I had done things differently,
but I wouldn't trade having Shane
for anything, you know.
I mean he was
the light of my life, you know?
I'm sorry.
When there's a little more
- Yeah.
- and wire to Lily.
As a child growing up,
Shane struggled
with his emotions
all the way around.
He could become very volatile
and destructive.
And then, at times,
he could just be
just as sweet
as he could possibly be.
He had anger issues,
and his father had anger issues.
Steve was Shane's dad.
When I met him, I was 15.
Yeah, and he would've been 24.
I just wanted a normal life.
You know, I wasn't looking
for anything fancy.
I didn't care where we lived
or what we had,
I wanted a normal family.
Unfortunately, Steve had
his own issues.
You know, I didn't really know
what bipolar was.
You know, I didn't understand
mental illness.
And he ended up
choosing suicide instead.
Put your arm up there.
There you go.
Pick up your feet. Move your legs.
When Shane was about two and a half,
he started showing some of
the same issues that his dad had.
He would have these meltdowns,
not just normal two-year-old,
you know, meltdowns.
They would last for hours. For hours.
By the time
he was about five years old,
it got to the point
where we actually had to put
an alarm on his bedroom door
because he would
come out of his bedroom
in the middle of the night
and just go
into one of his rages
and destroy things.
And there was
just nothing I could do.
We finally found a guy
that worked with kids,
and diagnosed Shane as bipolar.
He had to teach me how to hold him
where I wouldn't hurt him,
but where I could secure him
until he calmed down.
It helped a lot,
but sometimes I think
it actually just made him angrier
when he was being restrained like that.
But I don't think my son was bipolar.
Maybe he even was
on the spectrum.
And I wish I'd known that
when Shane was little
because I think things would've been
very different in his life.
Through the journey of getting Shane home,
we entered this shop & spotted this bag
- Oh, my God. It's so good to see you.
- Sorry.
- You're grounded.
- You're grounded.
This our live Facebook
so Lily can see everybody.
Say hi to Lily.
- Hi, Lily.
- Say hi to Lily.
Hi, Lily.
Lily was still in Mexico,
and couldn't risk traveling
to the US
because of her legal status.
But Jason Henza
was able to make the trip.
Lily was at the point
where she can stand on her own.
And I was
just thinking to myself,
it was just time to get
out of town for a little bit.
And that's what I did.
- How've you been doing?
- I've been doing good.
The doctors say I won't need surgery.
I should make a full recovery
in about six months.
I've got most
of the use of my arm.
I try not to let the incident
affect me at all,
as much as I can,
because I think
that's what it was meant to do
There have been some
threats against you
on Facebook.
Paul had moved back
to Pennsylvania,
but he continued
to threaten Henza.
I just let him go live
his happy life.
I'll leave him alone.
If he chooses to leave me alone,
he does. If he doesn't,
I'm sure he'll meet
his consequences eventually.
I scouted out the parking lot
hours beforehand,
looking for Pennsylvania plates.
I felt like he could've showed up
and done something.
So I always kept
a soft eye on Paul.
Whenever I popped out in public,
I would just check his Facebook page
and see what the chatter is.
And then if I felt safe, I'd go out.
Do you think that Paul
is capable of murder?
Yes.
What really gravitated me about Shane
was that he was completely stateless.
He couldn't even fall back
on his state if he wanted to.
And he had to figure it out
on his own without the state,
and do everything
the innovative way,
the way that people like me
constantly preach,
but never really, really
follow through and live by.
I went through all
of grade school with him.
I went to college with him,
and I even went
after college with him.
No matter what it was
that Shane had in mind,
he figured out a way to do it.
That's Shane, though, for you.
Like, nothing's gonna beat that kid.
When I was a kid,
I had got in a BB gun accident
through my eye.
If you feel right here,
you can actually feel the BB.
So if anyone's curious,
You can touch the BB, it's cool.
John was very curious
on the medications
that I was given
by the hospital.
He actually researched
different strains of marijuana
that would help
with my eye pressure.
He created a whole strain for my eye.
I've actually gotten vision back.
But none of
the medical eye drops,
they were just sustaining
my eye pressure
and limiting what pain it could.
But what John came up with
was such a blessing.
Now, not only do
I have the medicine
that was helping me
in my daily life,
but John himself
got to build something.
He started getting into the marijuana
and he became
very passionate about that.
In the beginning, Shane wanted
to become a lawyer.
He was gonna help change
the marijuana laws
so that people weren't going
to jail over a plant.
He moved to Oklahoma when he was 17.
He followed a girl there.
Thought he was in love.
It didn't work out
with the girl,
but he got two jobs
and he got his own apartment.
Unfortunately, he liked
to grow his own weed.
He had a small coat closet
in the apartment
that he would use
to grow his weed in.
The landlord found the pot
in his closet.
And he got arrested.
And Oklahoma
is not where you want to be
if you've got weed.
He was facing
up to life in prison.
The judge said, "Promise me
you're gonna leave the state
and never come back.
Do this boot camp."
Get out your bed!
Jumping jacks, let's go!
Jumping jacks, go!
There was like
a lot of classes
Get down!
Let's see those climbers!
He didn't think
they had the right to do that.
It changed him.
And he started becoming
very anti-government.
It was after that, that he decided
he was gonna do the dreadlocks
and that was gonna be who he was.
The dreads, they were a way
to express himself, saying,
"I do not want to be
a part of this 'society,'
I want to do my own thing.
I want to make sure you see me."
Shane Cress.
That's his real name, Cress?
Okay.
I went there for one reason
and one reason only,
in support of Miranda.
Because she was
in love with him.
Remember me? Ricky?
you had your shop
and you were doing all the cars
- and paintings and stuff?
- Yeah.
I was there with Shane
and Miranda and stuff.
Last time was, like, eight years.
- Has it been that long?
- This is Jason.
- Hi.
- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Jason is friends
with Miranda in Acapulco.
- Okay, I'm Miranda's father.
- Yeah.
Wow. She's quite a person.
You have nothing to worry about.
She's gonna be okay. I'm telling you.
I have lost touch with her
in the last four or five years.
She's always wanted
to talk to you.
But she's more worried
about spending 25 years in prison.
- I understand that.
- Yeah.
And she was quite concerned
and Shane was very concerned
to the point where he wasn't reaching out
- to family either.
- Yeah.
And they had completely
closed themselves off.
I didn't know until after
the shooting and everything
about family, their real names
and all that stuff.
- Hey, guys.
- Yeah.
This is Shane's mom right here.
Lily's watching on Facebook right now.
- I wanted her to see a little bit more.
- Yeah.
We're gonna go
for a little walk
- in a little bit to the ledge.
- Judy, this is Randy.
- Hi. Good to see you.
- Hi. You, too.
I'm trying to share
as much of it with her
- Yeah, of course.
So she's watching us now?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. She's on there right now.
She popped on a minute ago.
So she's watching from Mexico.
I really wanted them
to rebuild their relationship.
I didn't have the chance
to do that with Shane,
but he had the chance with her
and I wanted to see that.
Is Shane in that cup?
There he goes.
Farewell, Shane. Rest in peace.
Shane's dad was buried
on his first birthday.
And here's Shane
playing RollerCoaster Tycoon.
His Christmas present from Angela.
The vibe that there was always
something missing in his life
came from that.
He's home.
Shane, from a young age,
had planned
on leaving the country.
He felt that
he could have a better life
in a place that was less,
in his mind,
less structured.
He was a good person
who sometimes made bad decisions,
but nothing he ever did
hurt anybody else.
He just wanted
to live his own life.
Do you remember where you were
mentally at that time?
I just had no idea what to do.
I was just starting
you can see that house
from all over the city.
It in itself is a ghost.
And, like, everywhere I look,
it's like,
memory, memory, memory.
My life is a constant series
of flashbacks.
And like every few months,
something will resurface.
At one point, I thought
about the day we ended up
in this parking lot
at a Kmart in San Diego.
John and I were fighting.
And there was this crazy lady
walking around.
broom that she had made
out of palm leaves.
"When you guys get to Mexico,
go to Tecate."
And we never told her
we were going to Mexico.
And she kept saying,
when you go to Mexico,
when you go to Mexico,
She had us both, like,
questioning our, like,
really atheist, anti-spiritual,
like, views at the time.
At one point, she was running
around the parking lot
just yelling numbers
into the air,
and then comes back to our truck
and gets real serious
and looks at us and goes,
"You're the pilot," to John.
And she goes,
"You're the co-pilot."
And then she goes,
"But you, you need
to learn how to be a pilot
because he's not gonna
be the pilot forever.
You need to be the pilot."
I thought about her
a lot after the murder.
I was just like, "Fuck.
I have no idea where, like,
John Galton ends
and where I started."
So I was like,
"Man, who the fuck am I?"
Threats were still coming in.
He had me short-cycled in his mind.
I was still feeling like he may
just do something irrational.
I've been abused and fucked over
by almost everyone I loved
and trusted here.
I started an investigation
into the entire community.
I wouldn't get caught
near Jason Henza,
his lobotomized
mental patient girl, Lily,
or any of the Anarchapulco crew soon.
I came here to help these sissy bitches.
But now,
I hope they all rot in hell.
It was difficult trying to understand
what was going on inside Paul's head.
When I would try to get him
to be specific about,
what are you trying to accomplish?
What do you think
the problem is?
And what do you think
the solution is?"
It just seemed like
from pain and confusion,
there was anger
that he couldn't really explain.
I would never fit into
that Cultapulco community, anyway.
I'm not a degenerate,
sexually repressed,
socially awkward, pathetic nerd.
I'm just a broken old veteran,
who was lured down
to the cult of Anarchapulco.
I'm checking out.
This community was my last try.
You all fucking suck
as much as the rest of them.
It was the fourth of July.
I was doing
a normal checkup on him.
And I saw rest in peace on his timeline.
And I was thinking,
"Okay, he's just
screwing with me again."
I did some more
in-depth research
and then I got some details.
He had taken his own life.
After several bouts of self-harm
and hospitalizations
for his mental health,
Paul committed suicide
a few months after returning
to Pennsylvania.
If you can't appreciate
the world around you
and the beauty it holds,
I feel sorry for you.
You suck.
Paul's death
I knew I was involved.
I knew what I was doing
when I was pushing him away.
Because I knew
it was life or death with Paul.
There was no halfway with Paul.
Oh, my God!
It's fucking hot!
Just relax, Paul.
The one thing I did say was, "
Thank you, Paul."
I'm not saying I wanted him to,
I did not sleep until he died.
I couldn't really relax.
I didn't know what to expect.
Like I was expecting him
to pop up anywhere, you know,
'cause who knows?
Maybe he was gonna come back
and, you know, really fuck up
my life in the future.
And then when he died
that possibility went away
and I was like, "Okay."
he caused hurt
to people that I care about.
gentle, admirable things about him too.
And so that makes me feel conflicted.
That makes me feel conflicted.
Paul is just another sad,
lonely, misunderstood boy.
but it did not shock me at all.
He was a good man
who was broken.
Fuck you.
The story of the sweaty hat.
that had substance abuse issues
and PTSD and allowed it
to control his life.
Yes, he was responsible
for his behavior and his life choices,
but he didn't get
a good hand to begin with.
And what did Paul's death do
for you and Nathan's view
of your time in Acapulco?
fail.
Nathan and I always
wanted to try to help Paul,
but we couldn't save him.
And like somehow, it's our fault.
- You want some?
- Negative.
- It just smells divine.
- You can have a bite.
We always took ownership so much,
it was another fail.
Symbolically, like,
his aggression, in a sense,
was limiting our freedom.
Like there's no good story
without a bad guy
and he choose to be
the bad guy, you know.
And I think that was actually,
like, what he was trying to do.
One way of looking at Paul was,
he was just a troll,
he was just trolling us.
And he was a perfect troll.
He chose to be the bad guy
to teach us, kind of,
where we were naive,
and where were ignorant.
Because a lot of us
are not trained
in either conflict resolution
or negotiation or compromise.
So how are you gonna have
a cohesive functional society
without a conflict resolution strategy,
without a court,
without any plan at all?
Acapulco's anarchists
had seen two deaths
in five months.
And as the community
seemed at its lowest,
along came another shock.
Cryptocurrency
Ponzi scheme bilking
three-quarters of a
At least five people were accused
of conning investors out of
more than 720 million dollars.
According to the indictment,
they duped people into joining
their investment club,
known as BitClub Network.
BitClub was one of
Anarchapulco's largest sponsors in 2018.
And had deep ties
to the conference.
I've been sitting here on my laptop
literally living on this ship
making money with Bitcoin.
Joby Weeks,
who is one of the top promoters
in BitClub's multi-level
marketing program was indicted.
And the US government accused BitClub
of being a Ponzi scheme.
Joby came away
with two lesser charges,
not directly tied
to the fraud allegations.
But the scandal further tainted
the Anarchapulco brand.
Joby!
I'd be remiss not to mention Joby Weeks,
he was kidnapped
by the government.
Hopefully, he'll be able to join us.
And we're just, you know, just so excited
about what's happening
Jessica Kill was also connected
to BitClub as a promoter for the program.
She first appeared
at the conference in 2018
and immediately faced
broader skepticism.
I think if you're gonna
come into a community
of people who are conscious,
and you're going to try
and divide and conquer,
you're gonna be
found out really fast.
This is a needed test to see,
are we really sharp?
Are we really conscious?
Do we really know
what we believe and why?
The test isn't over, right?
There's one person
that has to see it.
- Yup.
- Right?
'Cause there's one person
that does have the capacity
to change that choice.
Honestly, I'm not sure
if BitClub was a complete fraud
from the get-go.
A lot of people were asking me
to get rid of Jessica,
but Jessica did a great job
of running the event,
especially given
how most people hated her
for no reason.
So I just said,
"Okay, let's try it one more time."
The Freemans,
now they hate me
and all that kind of stuff.
So that's where
it got really weird.
Well, what do you think
their perception was,
if you try to put yourself in their shoes?
when we first got to Acapulco,
we spent a lot of energy
on community building,
strong relationships with everyone.
I don't know,
it just got a little weird, just weird.
Through that experience,
we found that
it didn't really
pay off all that well.
It was really disappointing.
The integrity was no longer there.
The leader of the "conference"
was just pushing us
further and further away.
like, strange reality.
I have a real connection with Acapulco.
There's something magical about here,
and my wife knows a lot
other dimensions.
And she says
there's numerous portals here,
but they can be good or bad.
There's something
very special about here,
but it's also very dangerous,
I would say.
Like if you come here
and you got some problems,
you might have a bad time.
I'm not saying
you're gonna die if you come here.
got killed because of that.
What I'm saying is,
be careful about this place.
There's so much energy here.
Whatever you put out there
will come back to you tenfold.
- That's a fire, folks. Yeah!
- That's a fire.
We had been burned
by the leadership.
The people who are so disconnected
Fuck off! Fuck off,
you control freaks.
of the mistakes that were made.
Fuck off, bitch!
Go die in a fucking hole!
- Go die, bitch!
- Yeah!
Anarchapulco is becoming
over 2,000 people now.
We're hoping
maybe three to 5,000 next year.
We're trying to change
the entire world.
this is only making us stronger.
The legend himself,
Jeff Berwick, with Lucy,
are gonna be talking
about the most exciting things
that are happening next year.
Forty percent off
There was another
conference next year,
but if you looked around
the community,
you could see everyone having issues.
This is so not Acapulco, this rain.
What was going on
around that time
with the community?
I just did not know
what was gonna happen.
Whoa, there's a storm.
Things were really turbulent.
Should I stay in Acapulco?
Should I leave?
'Cause I was just like,
"What the fuck am I gonna do?" You know?
Everything went awry.
I was watching my ideology
fail in front of me.
Not what I thought it was going to be.
I thought blue waters,
Jet skis.
Our community was literally
Holy shit!
as time went on.
So, where do you go from here?
What's the next step?
The sea is a
angry
Slut!
place.
I actually kind of like it.