Your Crisis Coach Podcast: How Cartels Built a $50 Billion Empire

Aug 4, 2025

This video interview first appeared on YourCrisisCoach.com.

Former U.S. DEA Agent and current Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, Michael Brown, recently joined Scott Silverman on his podcast titled Your Crisis Coach.

With over 30 years of experience battling cartels in South America and beyond, Michael pulls back the curtain on how global forces - including Mexican and South American cartels and chemical suppliers in China - interconnect to flood the U.S. with counterfeit fentanyl. The result? A deadly crisis claiming lives every single day.

Michael shares real-world strategies for stopping the flow of fentanyl at the border through advanced detection technology. But he also stresses that enforcement alone isn’t enough. Education, prevention, and mental health support are vital pieces of the puzzle to reduce demand and save lives.

Listen to the episode here

 

Views expressed in this interview are the opinions of the correspondent and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rigaku Analytical Devices.

 

 

Michael W. Brown is the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. He has a distinguished career spanning more than 32 years as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He served as the country attaché in India and Myanmar; During his tour in Myanmar, he provided foreign advisory support for counter narcotic enforcement that, to date, has resulted in the interdiction of over US$250 million in precursor chemicals and implementing the regions first use of Raman spectroscopy to degrade the supply chain for narcotics production. He was also part of a special specialized counter narcotics unit operating in the jungles of South America tasked with locating and destroying drug labs and narcotic supply chains. Most recently he was the DEA Headquarters staff coordinator for the Office of Foreign Operations for the Middle East-Europe-Afghanistan-India. Michael is a graduate of the United States Ranger Training Battalion and has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary technology and management from the University of Eastern Michigan.

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