About
- Home
- About
The Pilot Who Put The Medellin Cartel On The Map
Roger Reaves Flew
So Pablo Could Rise
Before Pablo Escobar became a global name, Roger Reaves was already moving millions — flying loads through jungle airstrips, dodging radar, and building the very network the cartel would use to take over the drug trade. He wasn’t a soldier in the operation. He was the one showing them how to run it. Roger didn’t just fly the planes. He connected the players, opened the routes, and turned smuggling into a billion-dollar blueprint.
WATCH ROGER'S STORY
Barry didn't lead. He answered to roger.
Roger Gave Barry Seal His Shot
Barry Seal didn’t rise on his own. Roger Reaves picked him, trained him, and brought him straight into the heart of the Medellin Cartel. Before the CIA, before the betrayal, before the headlines — there was Roger. He didn’t just open the door for Barry. He handed him the keys and showed him how to fly through it. Barry may have made the news, but Roger made the move that started it all.
ROGER WAS THE MAN
WHO CONNECTED ALL THEM ALL
These are the stories hollywood couldn't even come close to telling
Roger's Life Has Certainly Been Crazier than Fictioin
Plane crashes, jungle escapes, prison breaks, and face-to-face deals with the world’s most dangerous men — and that’s just scratching the surface. These are the real exploits that make movies look tame and fiction feel lazy. Because the truth? It was way wilder.
Tortured Twice in Mexican Prisons
Brought to the limits most men would break under, Roger was tortured not once but twice — and still never gave up a name. Beaten, burned, and left for dead in cells that swallowed weaker men, he held his ground and outlasted the worst they threw at him. No deal. No confession. Just pain, silence, and survival.
Crashed in the Amazon and Walked Out Alive
After being shot down by the Colombian Air Force and surviving a brutal crash deep in the jungle, Roger pulled himself from the wreckage with nothing but grit and instinct. Wounded, alone, and hunted, he hacked through dense rainforest, dodged patrols, and battled the elements for days. No rescue. No map. Just raw survival and a will stronger than the jungle around him.
Escaped 5 Times
Roger didn’t just break the rules — he broke out of the systems built to contain him. Escaping from custody five times across multiple countries, he slipped through fences, dodged guards, and vanished without a trace. Every time they thought they had him locked down, he reminded them who they were dealing with. No fear. No hesitation. Just timing, nerve, and a mind built to escape.
Australia's Largest Drug Bust
Caught in a sting that made headlines across the world, Roger was tied to what remains one of the biggest drug seizures in Australian history. The weight was massive, the charges stacked, and the fallout brutal. But even under the spotlight, Roger never cracked. No testimony. No cooperation. Just another chapter in a story too big for borders.
You Can Call Him a Criminal if You Want
You Just Can't
Call him Ordinary
Roger Reaves is more than a smuggler. He’s part outlaw. Part Philosopher. Part-time Poet. But he’s all Heart. His story isn’t just about crime. It’s about a man who’s done what most wouldn’t dare — and lived to tell it all. He’s survived plane crashes, escaped prison fences, and built a life full of grit, wit, and guts. He is a larger than life character like no other.
Join the Smuggler's List and
Get a High Better Than Drugs
This is the only place to stay locked in with everything Roger Reaves is doing. Get updates on new content, appearances, podcast drops, and behind-the-scenes stories that don’t make it to social. Plus, exclusive access to book deals, Patreon extras, and early looks at whatever’s coming next. But if you’re the DEA, Click Away!
A book like no other
THE GREATEST ADVENTURE EVER LIVED
Roger Reaves lived through more chaos than most action heroes combined — and none of it was made up. From smuggling multi-million dollar loads to surviving torture and breaking out of prison five times, this book doesn’t skip the ugly, the wild, or the unbelievable. Told straight from the man who outran the world and lived to write it down.
Reader Testimonials
What People are Saying about The Book, "the Smuggler"
"Wildest Life Story You Will Ever Read"
"He calls his book "a Memoir" and that is what it is. He has had the craziest life story you will ever read about. They say cats have nine lives this man must have had a hundred. He has a scar on his skull where a bullet grazed it, one on his cheek, and a missing big toe that was shot off. He almost died in several airplane incidents. You have to keep reading to see what is going to happen next."
Wild Ride and a Great Story
"Roger takes you through his wild, crazy, and dangerous life. His stories are super interesting and captivating. His attention to detail and ability to relay his story is impressive. Definitely get the audio book, as Roger’s voice and how he tells the story makes it even better (although you miss out on the pictures that the physical book has). Great book that is worth the time and money."
A Good Story Well Told
Roger Reaves is a good storyteller with a good story to tell--his life as an international drug smuggler, as he says, the most prolific of the 20th century. The reader is kept turning pages by vivid depictions of people, places, heart thumping exploits, and weather, the weather being a key factor when the author is flying home across borders overloaded and running low on fuel. The reader is there when Reaves crash lands in Columbia, is waylaid on foreign soil by authorities, and is tortured in prison. I'm not sure what it is exactly the good storytellers have, but whatever it is, Reaves has it in abundance. The book is the man. Obviously he has an excess of energy, ambition, bravado, daring, and no limits. Others may judge; I recommend Smuggler for the fun of it. Reading it added spice to my otherwise quiet, ordered life.
I Hope Netflix is Paying Attention
"'ve read a few such books, I enjoyed Traffic by Berkley Rice, and reading about George Jung's exploits and the movie about him, and a few others. Sort of lost interest in the matter, over the years. But I stumbled across a podcast on Youtube talking about the world's most prolific smuggler that you never heard of, and they were right, I hadn't, there was Roger Reaves. IMO, all others pale in comparison to this man's daring sense of adventure. Obviously a smart and and well-read man, but mixed in with some seriously foolhardy decisions along the way. After all the years he had already spent in the US prisons, all the times, dealing with the nincompoops, scoundrels and rascals, with some occasional competent and good people mixed in, the latter not being often, I was really surprised, he still wanted to make the Australian run."