Get Out Of Your Own Way | Bruce Cardenas, USMC + LAPD

About this story

Bruce Cardenas grew up in a New Jersey steel mill town of 1,200 people. He wanted one thing: a badge. The police chief looked at him and said "you're young, dumb and immature." Then he told him exactly where to go instead. The Marine Corps.

What happened after that doesn't make sense on paper.

LAPD, January 1988, right before the most chaotic decade in the city's history. The riots. Rodney King. The earthquake. Every single day of the OJ trial, standing at the courthouse. He was involved in all of them, and what he says about the officers he knew will stop you cold.

Then he walked away from full-time patrol and everything changed again. A gym conversation with a woman making protein bars in her kitchen turned into Quest Nutrition. Celebrity protection turned into a multi-million dollar company. Mariah Carey. Ricky Martin. J-Lo.

Today he's with Legendary Foods, a snack company spending $20 million a year of its own money on cancer and heart disease research. He's a patient in one of the studies. He'll tell you why.

And he's still a cop. Seven dollars a month.

This episode is about what happens when somebody tells you no and what it costs to prove them right about where to go instead.

Vegas Veteran Voices
Stories Over Stigma

Chapters

1. 00:00 Intro
2. 01:53 Slap boxing in Kyrgyzstan
3. 04:36 Small town cops get bored
4. 05:29 "Young, dumb and immature"
5. 08:07 Why he never needed to be the front guy
6. 14:47 The dealership that tried to buy him
7. 17:17 "We hire from the human race"
8. 18:11 The riots, Rodney King, the earthquake, the OJ trial

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9. 24:30 The face with no mouth
10. 26:27 Push-ups on the stoop
11. 28:01 Federal prison, better entrepreneurs
12. 29:23 The man who cried robbing a bank
13. 31:37 The brick of weed and the captain's office
14. 33:42 Grind it on the brick wall
15. 37:21 How protein bars ended up on the red carpet
16. 38:49 "God, this place is a dump"
17. 39:47 "Don't put me on the payroll"
18. 45:01 Grateful other people were lazy
19. 48:59 "We sell donuts to help cure diseases"
20. 50:09 When the helpers had to ask for help
21. 51:41 "Watch me"
22. 54:39 Seven dollars a month
23. 59:03 There's a Starbucks under Las Vegas
24. 01:01:37 The weekend brief