The One They Couldn’t Catch https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com Once the most-wanted pot smuggler on the West Coast, Robert Brewer — pilot, yachtie, racecar driver — has fashioned a life of pure adventure. This is his story, in his own words, a remarkable tale of moonlit flights over the Mexican desert, of trimarans filled with kilos of pot, of betrayal and deception; a story set in the lee of the Channel Islands, on a beach in Costa Rica, in a prison cell in San Salvador. There are Panamanian drug traffickers, bumbling DEA agents, gun-wielding Sandinistas, and an Egyptian girl with an ounce of pot in her panties. For thirty years, from the first Cessna load to the last wiretap, the government tried to bust him.

Meet Bob Brewer, the one they couldn't catch...

]]> Wed, 06 May 2026 17:58:27 -0300 https://podbean.com/?v=5.5 en Copyright 2026 All rights reserved. True Crime 1440 episodic theonetheycouldntcatch theonetheycouldntcatch No false https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/21984428/BirdlessThumb.png The One They Couldn’t Catch https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com 144 144 Episode 6: Up in the Air Episode 6: Up in the Air https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-6-up-in-the-air/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-6-up-in-the-air/#comments Wed, 06 May 2026 17:58:27 -0300 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/b23679b2-9e32-327a-bbf3-1254d8653676 Bobby and Pete have a good thing going, and they're figuring out how to improve on their smuggling operation with every flight. In this episode, we hear about the dozen flights that happened after the initial one, the dangers faced, the obstacles overcome. Along the way, Bobby starts to learn the truth about his partner...

]]> Bobby and Pete have a good thing going, and they're figuring out how to improve on their smuggling operation with every flight. In this episode, we hear about the dozen flights that happened after the initial one, the dangers faced, the obstacles overcome. Along the way, Bobby starts to learn the truth about his partner...

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 2674 6 full Episode 5: Marina del Rey Episode 5: Marina del Rey https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-5-marina-del-rey/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-5-marina-del-rey/#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:30:59 -0300 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e4e210b1-27d3-3f97-beac-4e7535b9b340 It’s 1968, and Bobby has gotten rid of most of his worldly possessions, even throwing out the trophies his father won as a celebrated yachtsman in the ‘30s. He’s sold what was left of his formula B racecar after the crash at Riverside…and, inspired by a free spirit he encountered as a boy in the harbor in San Pedro, has moved aboard his new sloop, Serenade. Finally under his own power, Bobby goes about fashioning the life he wants to live, and meeting some of the key people who will animate…and bedevil…that life for years to come…

]]> It’s 1968, and Bobby has gotten rid of most of his worldly possessions, even throwing out the trophies his father won as a celebrated yachtsman in the ‘30s. He’s sold what was left of his formula B racecar after the crash at Riverside…and, inspired by a free spirit he encountered as a boy in the harbor in San Pedro, has moved aboard his new sloop, Serenade. Finally under his own power, Bobby goes about fashioning the life he wants to live, and meeting some of the key people who will animate…and bedevil…that life for years to come…

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 1941 5 full Episode 4: Cheechako Episode 4: Cheechako https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/cheechako/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/cheechako/#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:21:33 -0300 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/96127922-ba9c-33cb-b3fa-c5a1a7c83b18 Bob goes off to college...but not for long. Instead, he takes his first real step as an adult and strikes out on his own when he and a couple of friends split for life in the wilds of Alaska. They don't make it. Back in southern California, Bob gets into auto racing.

]]> Bob goes off to college...but not for long. Instead, he takes his first real step as an adult and strikes out on his own when he and a couple of friends split for life in the wilds of Alaska. They don't make it. Back in southern California, Bob gets into auto racing.

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 3480 4 full Episode 3: In the Navy Episode 3: In the Navy https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-3-in-the-navy/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-3-in-the-navy/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:43:45 -0400 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e4f9eb34-8cef-324c-82ab-5c4e5ef17f50 Bob enlisted in the Navy at 17 and set set off to see the world, or at least the parts visible from the deck of a destroyer. 

]]> Bob enlisted in the Navy at 17 and set set off to see the world, or at least the parts visible from the deck of a destroyer. 

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 3524 3 full Episode 2: Playa del Rey Episode 2: Playa del Rey https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-2-playa-del-rey/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-2-playa-del-rey/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:40:18 -0400 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e07cd351-8669-3288-8705-aa8e20e2151f Bob's childhood in Playa del Rey, before the marina, where he learned to hunt and not be seen...and disregard consequences!

]]> Bob's childhood in Playa del Rey, before the marina, where he learned to hunt and not be seen...and disregard consequences!

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 3012 2 full Episode 1: The First Flight Episode 1: The First Flight https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-1-the-first-flight/ https://theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/e/episode-1-the-first-flight/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:38:52 -0400 theonetheycouldntcatch.podbean.com/47bcb305-478d-3360-974e-f72a9a623788 Climb into a Cessna 210 with Bob and fly off into the Mexican night as he recounts his first flight to Mexico and just how he came to be a smuggler.

]]> Climb into a Cessna 210 with Bob and fly off into the Mexican night as he recounts his first flight to Mexico and just how he came to be a smuggler.

]]> theonetheycouldntcatch false No 3218 1 full