The California Kid Owen Hanson: From USC Star to Crime King
August 4, 2025
Why I Wrote The California Kid: My Story Had to Be Told
Introduction
People ask me all the time why I decided to write The California Kid. The truth is, I had no choice. After everything I’ve been through, from winning national championships at USC to running a multimillion-dollar criminal empire, I realized my story could either inspire people to make better choices or continue to be twisted by others who don’t know the real truth.
I’m Owen Hanson, and this is why I had to tell my story myself.
The Real Story Behind The California Kid
When I was sitting in federal prison, I read article after article written about my life. Rolling Stone wrote about me. VICE covered my story. The LA Times ran features. But none of them got it right. They all focused on the sensational parts without understanding the real journey or the lessons that could help people avoid the mistakes I made.
Recently, my story gained even more attention with the release of the Cocaine Quarterback documentary produced by Mark Wahlberg. Major outlets like Deadline covered the documentary release, Yahoo Entertainment wrote about my story, and Bleacher Report featured the Prime Video series. But even with all this media coverage, I knew people needed to hear the story directly from me.
The book isn’t just about crime. It’s about the psychology of ambition, the power of connections, and how quickly success can turn into something you never intended.
My USC Days: Where It All Started
My story really begins at the University of Southern California. I wasn’t some big recruited star. I walked onto the USC football team from volleyball, not even knowing how to put on shoulder pads properly. But I had something else: the ability to connect with people and make things happen.
At USC, I was part of back-to-back national championship teams under Pete Carroll. I played alongside future NFL stars like Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and LenDale White. While I barely saw the field, I earned team MVP because I knew how to bring people together and get things done behind the scenes.
Those USC connections would later become instrumental in everything that followed. The wealthy alumni, the high-profile boosters, the lifestyle I got exposed to. USC gave me a taste of a world I wanted to be part of, and I was willing to do whatever it took to stay in it.
In The California Kid, I break down exactly how those relationships formed and how they influenced every major decision I made afterward.
From Sports to ODOG Enterprises: The Descent
After USC, I briefly tried legitimate business through real estate development. But when the 2008 financial crisis hit, those opportunities disappeared. I was left with connections to wealthy people who lived high-stakes lifestyles, but no legitimate way to maintain that level myself.
That’s when I started ODOG Enterprises. What began as illegal bookmaking evolved into an international operation spanning the United States, Central and South America, and Australia. At our peak, we were generating $1 million a day.
I write about this period in The California Kid because people need to understand how gradually these things happen. You don’t wake up one day and decide to become an international drug trafficker. It’s a series of small compromises, each one seeming reasonable at the time, until you’re running a criminal empire and can’t see a way out.
The book details every step of that descent because I want people to recognize the warning signs in their own lives before it’s too late.
The Investigation and My Arrest
In 2015, my world came crashing down. The FBI arrested me as part of one of the largest coordinated law enforcement actions in history. 800 people were arrested in a single day. I was sentenced to over 21 years in federal prison.
Writing about my arrest and trial in The California Kid was the hardest part of the book. Reliving those moments, understanding how I had hurt people, facing the consequences of every choice I made. But it was necessary because that’s where the real lessons are.
Prison saved my life. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. It forced me to confront who I really was underneath all the money and power. It’s where I developed California Ice Protein using mop buckets, turning what should have been the lowest point of my life into the beginning of something meaningful.
Why The California Kid Matters Today
I wrote The California Kid because stories like mine are happening every day. Young people with talent and ambition are making the same mistakes I made, thinking they’re smart enough to control situations they don’t understand.
The book serves multiple purposes:
Education: It shows exactly how criminal enterprises operate and grow, helping people recognize and avoid these situations.
Accountability: I take full responsibility for my actions and their consequences, showing what real accountability looks like.
Redemption: It proves that no matter how far you fall, you can rebuild your life in a meaningful way.
Empowerment: The lessons I learned can help others channel their ambition in positive directions.
The Message Behind The California Kid
The core message of The California Kid is simple: your choices define your life, but they don’t have to define your future. I made terrible choices that hurt people and destroyed lives, including my own. But I also made the choice to change, to learn, and to rebuild.
