The Blackstone Shooter, Cartel US Networks, Darkest Crime & Shawn Ryan | Dalton Fischer • 335
Julian Dorey · 14 Sep 2025 · 3h 6m
Guest: Dalton Fischer · Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
This conversation brings together two interview-podcast hosts who trade notes on building a show from scratch, then move into the dark, high-stakes material both of them cover on their channels. The guest describes how he broke into podcasting by cold-calling established hosts, landed a former CIA officer as his first-ever guest through a chance airport conversation, and gradually built relationships with special operations veterans and undercover agents. Much of the discussion centers on specific stories the guest has covered: a man who killed his childhood abuser decades later, a former Delta Force operator who carried his best friend's body to a helicopter, and multiple undercover FBI agents who infiltrated biker gangs and a neo-Nazi accelerationist cell planning a political murder. The two hosts compare notes on Shawn Ryan's influence on the genre and debate a claim Ryan made on Tucker Carlson about intelligence agencies seeding narratives into podcast interviews, with the host alluding to an unconfirmed suspicion of his own that he declines to detail. They also discuss a recent Manhattan office shooting connected to Blackstone, cartel infiltration of the US financial system, and reflect at length on 9/11's role in shaping the careers of many of their guests, mixed with personal reflections on mortality, family loss, and the ethics of staying neutral on camera while asking pointed questions.
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What comes up
Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- Getting into hiking and West Coast vs East Coast people
- Guest's path from selling software to full-time podcasting
- Cold-calling Danny Jones and landing John Kiriakou as first guest
- Clark Fredericks: childhood abuse and killing his abuser
- Grooming, secrecy, and spotting abuser behavior
- Shawn Ryan's influence and what makes his interviews work
- Grandfather's death and reflections on mortality
- Delta Force guest Brent Tucker and role-playing in NYPD SWAT training
- Blackstone office shooting and skepticism about the coverage
- Cartel networks inside the US and undercover CIA/FBI operatives
- Undercover agent Scott Payne infiltrating a neo-Nazi accelerationist cell
- 9/11's lasting impact on guests and geopolitics
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“These are incredible stories, man. They are the best of humanity, the worst of humanity.”
“Dennis turns to the door and stabbed him to death. He'd never told anyone prior to that night.”
“He talked about the CIA infiltrating podcasts and I know one of them I'm right about.”
“the definition of of an undercover is building friendships that you are going to betray”