Disorganized Crime: Smuggler's Daughter

Rainbow Valentine grew up on a beautiful hillside in Mill Valley, California, in a comfortable home filled with plenitude and love. But now, as an adult, she's discovered that her idyllic childhood was supported by her dad's career as a big-time pot smuggler. In this first episode of "Disorganized Crime," her parents break their silence for the first time about their lives as illegal pot smugglers. Special thanks to Rita Abrams for her song "Mill Valley," included in this episode...

Rainbow Valentine explores the early lives of her parents Walter and Taffy Lemur as psychedelic pioneers of the 1960s, uncovering the backstory that led to their double lives as Pot Smugglers...

In June of 1971, President Richard Nixon declares drug abuse as America's public enemy number one. Drugs and the people who distribute them are the most dangerous enemies to the public. Rainbow Valentine talks with her dad about starting a pot smuggling career in this environment -- from smuggling lime green pot and rose cocaine to landing in the Redwood City Jail. Special thanks to songwriter Peter Rowan for his song "Panama Red" featured in this episode...

On the night of Rainbow Valentine's birth, the Lemurs lose all their money in a deal gone wrong. Walter and Taffy try to restart their lives in the clothing industry, which ends in a colossal failure. Broke, alone, and disillusioned, Walter tries to rebuild his pot smuggling career with the help of 60,000 pounds of Lebanese Hash.

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As Rainbow Valentine's dad continues to open up about his 20 year smuggling career, he begins to discover that longtime friends that he thought were "straight" were actually as deep in the world as he was. Rainbow Valentine talks with two women involved in the smuggling world whose stories parallel her dad's. 

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Pot smuggling comes with its own financial issues as it's exclusively a cash industry. Where do you store a million dollars in cash? The yard (known as Savings & Loam)? In a futon? In a safe under the sink? And how do you clean your money (literally and illegally)? In this episode, Rainbow Valentine learns all the tips and tricks of a cash-based illegal industry.

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In the wake of President Reagan’s Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 which institutes mandatory minimum prison sentences for pot, my dad completes his most successful smuggling trip ever, then doubts himself, leading to the biggest rip-off of his career.

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Rainbow Valentine visits with Grandma Bella whose family was torn apart after a disorganized smuggling trip. Rainbow Valentine also talks with a lifelong friend who went to federal prison in the 90’s for pot. 

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After 22 years, RV’s dad’s pot smuggling career comes to a dramatic end in a standoff that involves the Mafia, Mexican Cartel, lost millions, lost friends - and a buried secret revealed for the first time.

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Rainbow Valentine reflects on her parent's life since smuggling and talks with an old friend who had a completely different childhood with her psychedelic smuggling parents. And The Lemurs make a phone call 30-years overdue. 

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