Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth (2020) - full transcript

In 2016 we faced an attack
of a new kind.

The Russians hacked democracy.

The Russian interference
only worked

because America was
a vulnerable target.

In the alleged collusion...

These allegations are just
absolutely preposterous.

Of course Russians preferred
Trump because Trump said

that he preferred Russians.

The following is
a presentation of HBO Sports.

- My name is Craig Carton.

I have lived
through the most public,



vicious, self-inflicted
fall from grace.

I was the cohost
of "Boomer and Carton,"

one of the most successful
sports radio shows in America.

I fought my way to the top,

and for ten years,
I had the dream job.

But it was never enough.

Never enough to make me happy.

Never enough
to chase away the demons

that have haunted me
since childhood.

I had it all.

The career.
The beautiful country house.

I made more than $2 million
a year.

And now, it's all gone.

I've hurt my wife
and kids deeply,



and I've promised to shield them

from the public spotlight
that's on me.

But I am going to tell you
my story

of how stupidity, bad decisions,

and a secret addiction
cost me everything,

including the one thing
I took for granted:

my freedom.

- Cross Island Parkway
northbound left lanes

locked up with a crash
by the Grand Central.

- Offer ends March 29th.

Terms and restrictions...

- With great offers
on everything

from airfare to accommoda...

- It's Boomer Esiason
and Craig Carton on The FAN.

- Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton
on The FAN

and, of course, worldwide.

September 4, 2007,

was the very first show
for "Boomer and Carton,"

and ten years later,

it was the number one
most listened to morning show

in New York and in America.

There you go.

- What am I doing with my life?

- "Boomer and Carton" became
a sensation.

Boomer had the big name,
but Carton had the skills.

He had that magic.

Now sometimes, he'd go
a little too far,

but he could really make a show
out of nothing.

- We're doing what manly men do.

We're exfoliating.

We have cucumbers on our eyes

and we're picking
football games.

Hit it, boys.

- I have never met
anybody like him in my life.

He is like a cross
between a Martian

and, like, Don Rickles.

- So LeBron James being a loser,

a big choke-arse, a big donut,
a big nothing.

At 6:00, when the music rolled

and the light went on,

something just overcame him,
an energy

a passion for what he was doing.

- I win. Yes!

Whoo!

Adrienne!

I did it!

- In terms
of morning sports hosts,

I would put him at the top
of the list.

I couldn't even think
of a close second.

- Jerry, good morning.
How you doing, buddy?

- Craig, don't ever lose
your sense of humor.

- I never will.
I've seen myself naked.

- Craig comes from a line
of shock jocks.

You know, he's sort of happy
to portray himself

as a bit of an asshole.

- He got a reaction, no matter
what you thought of him.

You wanted to throw stuff
at your radio,

or you wanted to be
one of his gang.

- It really was a "love him
or hate him" relationship.

- If you wanna go into it,
let's go into it,

but not today, because I got
other people who wanna talk

and you're boring me.

Good-bye.

- I mean, he had the will
to do some stuff

that was just outrageous.

I mean, he walked
across the Brooklyn Bridge

in a Speedo with a sausage
in his pants.

I mean,
what are we talking about?

- This business is about
ratings and revenue,

and Craig Carton has proven
he can get both.

6:03 a.m.

Good morning, everybody!

Boomer Esiason,
Craig Carton on The FAN.

As you wake up this morning,

the New York Jets have been
knocked out

of the post season,

but in addition to that,

what else do you need to see

to understand
that Mike Woodson can't coach?

On the radio, I'm a big mouth,
I'm loud, I'm obnoxious,

it's boisterous,
and I'm successful,

and I'm gonna throw that
in everyone's face,

because that's the type of show
I did.

You have 500 other choices
on the radio

and guess what you do.

You listen to me.

'Cause you can't live
without me.

- Craig's on-air personality
is an act.

It's a very polished,
well-rehearsed act.

- He was funny, he was edgy,
he was into the show,

but at the end of the day,
when the show was off,

he became
one of the nicest people

you ever wanna meet.

- There are a lot of different
angles to that guy.

There's Craig,
who is very thoughtful,

very kind, very timid, very shy,

and then there's Carton.

- You have to listen
with your ears,

not with your fat face.

- And he's an asshole.

- But off the air, he's kind.

He's generous.

- He also cared about charities
that he worked with.

You know, fire department,
police department,

the 9/11 first responders.

- You're the brave men
and women that show up,

and we're indebted to you
for doing that.

- He has compassion for kids
who are misunderstood,

'cause I think
that's how he sees himself

when he was growing up.

- When I say "camp,"
you say "Carton."

Carton!

Carton!

- I love Craig.

I owe a lot to him
for our success on radio.

We were a team.

We had the world
by the balls, man.

We had built the brand,

and the brand
was unbelievably popular,

and he went off the wagon

or however you wanna describe it

and just, you know, ruined
what we all had.

- July 6, 2019.

Day 20.

This is my first month
in prison,

and I'm keeping this journal
as a part of rehab.

I'm just another prisoner,

and everything I own fits

into this 7 foot
by 7 foot cubicle.

Lunch is at 10:00
in the morning,

and dinner at 3:00
in the afternoon.

Every meal seems to be served
with rice and beans.

One wrong move here
and they send you to the hole,

solitary confinement
in the big house next door.

Lewisburg is a notorious prison.

Jimmy Hoffa and John Gotti
did time here.

Ever since I was a kid,

my greatest fear
was being sent to prison.

My dad once had me locked
in a cell

in our local police station
for a couple of minutes.

That was only a prank.

This is all too real.

From the outside looking in,

we had a very basic, typical,
middle-class family.

I had an older brother

and a younger sister.

- My dad's name was Paul.

He was an orthopedic surgeon,

had a very small practice
in Yonkers, New York.

My mother's name was Bobbi.

She used to be
a registered nurse,

then became a real estate agent.

I was a good athlete

and I had my core group

of, you know,
five or six buddies.

You know, we did
what normal kids

in the '70s and '80s did.

Play outside
as much as possible.

We'd play cards
on Friday nights.

I got Intellivision.

It was a gaming console

which had blackjack
and craps on it.

I turned that
into a living room casino,

and that came to an end
when a kid's father came

to our front door,
knocked on it.

He goes, "With all due respect,

"if you just look
in your backyard,

my son's bike is there."

"Why is your son's bike here?"

"He lost it to your son
in a game of blackjack."

I mean, I was a middle schooler
at that time.

Now, I know my parents love me,

but they just never said it.

I didn't think
that my voice mattered,

so I was always fighting
for approval,

and I grew up,

you know, very protective
of my emotions.

I was also hiding
from some childhood trauma,

demons I had
mentally, emotionally,

and that goes back to something

I didn't tell anyone about.

Something I clearly built up
bad coping habits

to get through it.

Living a life of secrets

and lying and protecting myself

really became my salvation

and my life preserver.

And I've been doing it
ever since.

When I left home at 18
for college,

I got into Syracuse

and was enrolled there
in the fall of 1987.

I majored
in broadcast journalism.

Good evening and welcome
to "Sports Look Tonight."

I'm Craig Carton, and tonight,
we'll take a look

at how the Celtics are doing
without Bird.

I got very little experience,

so I immersed myself
in being on the radio,

and I fell in love with it.

Radio allowed me to be
whoever I wanted to be.

It gave me an outlet
to be opinionated,

to be boisterous, to be loud,
to be confident,

all the things I really wasn't

in my interpersonal
relationships,

so I basically was able
to create

an on-air version of myself
that I liked.

When you turned on a microphone

in front of my mouth,
I could just do it,

and that's what I did.

- WGR with Craig Carton.

- Yeah!

The weekend is back.

Here on 3WE.

A little bit less
than a half hour to go.

"Sportsline" and you till 7:00.

Craig Carton...

Sports radio, 610 WIP.

Well, a lot of stuff going on
this morning.

It's a radio station in Denver.

You're on the air.

We're doing a search for Busch

and we're wondering
if you have Busch.

Is this a joke? both: No.

- We're doing a search
for Busch.

It's called a radio show.

I always viewed it as that.
It's a show.

So I'm putting on a performance.

Doesn't get any weaker
than that.

Lethargic. Pathetic.

I mean, if I had a thesaurus,
I'd give you ten other words

to describe
how the Cavs played yesterday.

I wanted to be the guy
that had the balls to say

what most people are thinking
without fear of retribution.

- He's shown in every market
that he's been in

that he gets ratings,
that he pushes buttons,

he creates headlines.

For an audience,

if they love him
or they hate him,

they can't resist him.

- Is this a picture
of your daughter?

This is not
an attractive daughter.

I got an email one day

that the morning show at WNEW
in New York,

they had just fired
one of the hosts,

and they hired me
off of two demo shows.

The "Sports Guys," WNEW,
here in New York City.

I was now the morning man
in the city I grew up in.

Sid Rosenberg was the cohost.

- We became very friendly
very, very quickly,

and he was really okay
being that second guy, right?

"I just got here.
You've been here, Sid.

You're the host of the show.
You're the guy."

- Hey, I got a new tagline
for you.

"One sports guru,
one sports idiot."

- Why would you refer to Sid
as a sports idiot?

- No, it's not... Craig.
It's not Sidney.

- Oh.
- It's Craig.

Craig, come on.

You gotta get off the horse.

- He agreed to be
that second wheel

until one Monday morning

when I saw Craig
sitting in the host's chair.

He was the better talent.

He should've been in that chair.

But when you come up
a month or two before

with your tail between your legs

and your balls
basically in your mouth,

thankful to God
you got this job,

you don't sit
in the host's chair.

So needless to say,
that Monday morning

was the very beginning

of what turned out to be
many, many years

of a hateful relationship.

- In December of 2001,
they said,

"Well, you're not being fired,
but you're not being renewed."

So I walked
into a last place show

and left... I'm pretty sure
it was a last place show.

And in May of 2002,

I started doing
the afternoon show

in New Jersey.

2:34, "Jersey Guys."

Craig Carton and Ray Rossi.

- He was one of the Jersey Guys

on New Jersey 101.5.

Craig was one
of the afternoon drive guys,

and I was the United States
Attorney at the time,

and that's how we first met
and we became friends.

- I got in a lot of trouble
publicly,

but I always viewed that
as a good thing.

Instead of saying West Virginia,

you know what they put
on the screen

on ESPN last night?

What? - West Virgina.

Very quickly became

the most listened to
afternoon show in America.

- I had the best seat
in the house.

I was sitting back ringside
watching it all happen.

He got to pull back
a lot of the curtain on things

because he wasn't afraid
to expose you.

He wasn't afraid
to call people out.

- The real question
was gonna be,

would his outrageousness on-air,

would that prevent
a bigger broadcaster

from being willing
to take a chance on him?

- And I'm sitting there one day

and Don Imus utters the words,
"nappy-headed hos."

Those words changed my life.

- Some rough girls from Rutgers.

Man, they got tattoos and...

That's some
nappy-headed hos there,

I'm gonna tell you that now.

- Don Imus got suspended
and then fired for what he said

about the Rutgers women's
basketball team.

- "Imus in the Morning"
had been a legendary show

and really had helped create
what became WFAN,

the most important
sports talk show station

in the country.

- The FAN, Sports Radio 66.

- When Imus was removed
from the air,

it was a giant blow.

It was ratings,

but even more so,
it was revenue.

- Everyone well-known Tom,
Dick, and Harry wanted the job

'cause, you know,

it's the single best platform
in radio.

- I tried Jim Cramer,
I tried Lou Dobbs,

I tried Joe Scarborough,
I tried the McEnroe brothers,

I teamed up Boomer Esiason
with Monica Crowley.

Thought the show
was a little too political.

I said, "I don't think that's
the direction we wanna go."

- I got a phone call,

and they asked
if I'd be interested

in doing the morning show
at WFAN.

- Craig and I talked a lot
about the really short leash

that his contract
was putting him on,

and if he did anything

that they found to be
objectionable, distasteful,

that they could
terminate him immediately,

and I said to him, "I think
that's the only contract

"you're gonna get to sign.

So I'd sign it if I were you
and behave yourself."

- They wanted me to have
a cohost,

and I said,
"Who's the cohost gonna be?"

And they said,
"New Yorkers love him.

"He was a quarterback,
he's blond,

and he played in New York."

And I said, "Great. Phil Simms.

He'll be a great partner."

And they said, "No, this one
didn't win the Super Bowl."

And I've always made the joke,

I was like, "Shit, it's Boomer?"

- Well, I mentioned it
to Boomer,

and he didn't wanna have
anything to do with Craig.

I said, "Boomer,
he's really talented

"and, you know,
it might be a good mix.

It's worth a shot."

- We met at the Brooklyn Diner.

Kay, we had never met before,
and he said...

- "Let it rip
and let's see what happens."

6:06 on The FAN.

Good morning and welcome
to the first ever edition

of the "Boomer and Carton" show.

Boomer Esiason, Craig Carton.

Good morning, Boomer, buddy boy.

How are you today?

- I'm wide awake
this morning, Craig.

It's good to see you.
It's great to work with you.

- When they brought in
"Boomer and Carton,"

they didn't know that they'd
be able to replace Imus,

and they made it
a number one hit.

- You know what's happening
right now?

Every guy that listens
to this show,

all 3.7 million of 'em, right?

- Boomer's sports knowledge
was great,

and I knew Craig
was an entertainer.

No one gave them a prayer,

but here, 3 1/2 years later,

they dominate
the radio landscape

with booger jokes.

- He was able to articulate

just absolutely crazy opinions
with a straight face.

- Dwarves.

That's my answer.
- That's your answer.

- You bring out...
You give every dwarf

in the tristate area...

- A free ticket.
- A free ticket to the game.

- The only time
that I even was concerned,

they would sometimes make
what they call fart jokes.

That's right. I had gas.

- They don't need five minutes
of gas noises.

- And the TV aspect of it,

by being on CBS Sports Network
and also on MSG Network,

that just gave it a bigger feel.

- The thing I did very well

was create compelling content

where the listeners,
even if they didn't like me,

didn't wanna miss
what I was gonna say next.

- Oh, my God.

- I wanna make love
to Mark Sanchez

while Rex Ryan tickles my feet.

- He was the crazy,
zany radio guy

that had ludicrous ideas,

and then you had
the common sense athlete

that would be like,
"Look at this idiot."

- So I'm just gonna put 'em in.
- Hey.

- Okay, now I want you to take

an M&M out of the cup
and eat it.

- You know what,
Gary Bettman right now...

- Loves me.
- Is just absolutely sweating.

- Do you want me to eat it?

- He knew what he was doing.

He was the fire starter,

and I knew that I had to be
the older brother,

I had to be the mature one,

I had to play off of him.

- I mean, we can't all,
you know, tuck our shirts in

and pull our jeans up
to our nipples, Boomer.

I mean, some of us actually
like to be casual and relaxed.

- Although Boomer
was the true quarterback,

Craig was the radio quarterback.

- I have a lot to say today.
I just started.

I wanted to get to you quickly.
- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you had a lot to say
last week too.

- Yeah, I did.

- You have to be
thought-provoking

and entertaining and nasty
and nice.

You have to evoke emotion.

Just so... I gotta tell you,
the Yankees are great.

- And you can't teach it.

Craig's got it.

- Right, so zip your lip.

I mean, you decided
to get a job in TV,

and you ain't that attractive.

- There's almost
something Trumpian

about his nose
for what will work on TV,

what will work for a crowd.

Bang! - One more.

Bam! Bam!

- One more, one more, one more.
- Nice!

- He clearly had
this great knack

for radio performance.

- We will play the audio

of the foot fetish video
for you...

- Why?
- At 7:10 this morning.

- Why?
- 'Cause it's what we do.

What made "Boomer and Carton"
special was

the thing that came
most natural to us,

and that was our
on-air relationship.

- Went out and framed
your article

that was in
"The New York Times."

- That's a nice frame
you did there.

"What were you doing
when I was playing

"in the Super Bowl, Craig?

You were inside, probably
playing Intellivision."

- As goofy as you are
on the radio

is as good a dad as you are
at home.

- Well, thanks.
- You are a tremendous father.

- It got better and better
from year to year.

The closer they became,
the better the show became.

J! E! T! S!

Jets! Jets! Jets!

- He made Boomer laugh
a lot more.

Boomer would sometimes sit there

with his arms folded like this

just listening
to what Craig had to say

and belly laughing.

- Your name is Punto!

Boomer's wearing
the Pajamagram hoodie footies

and really getting into it.

Let me see what you got here.

Oh, yes. -

- I've seen guys that are famous

from something other than radio
come into radio

and they don't really like you
busting their balls.

- I have procured...

- Boomer was okay
being made fun of.

- That's a handsome guy
right there.

- The oil painting
of Boomer Esiason

that he does keep in his home.

How 'bout that?

My greatest gift to him
was humanizing him.

I made Boomer Esiason
a real person

with a family and a dog,

put his pants on
the way we put our pants on.

And the greatest gift
he gave me was,

he bought into my vision

of what would make
the show successful.

It's surreal that I'm the guy
on the morning drive show

that Imus held for all
those years successfully,

and we get to do that
every single day.

They overpay me,
unless they're here,

and then
you underpay me greatly.

I wanted
to prove everybody wrong

that said I wasn't good enough

to be major market successful.

You know, the vindictiveness
of proving people wrong,

to this day,
is very important to me.

It's a driving force of my life.

Day 68.

One guy here says
he's a member of the mafia.

He tries to talk tough
and use Italian phrases.

One guy here really is mafia

and made a call
to check him out.

Turns out the guy
is full of shit.

So he's been given
the unforgettable nickname

Phony Soprano.

Not long ago, I arranged
a huge charity softball game

at Yankee Stadium.

- Carton might try to go
all the way.

- Come on home!
- Let's see.

- Now, I've been drafted
by the Yankees

in the prison softball league.

There's trash talk,
and guys get into beefs.

It's all pride and ego.

So I say nothing.

I feel like life's passing me by

while I sit here.

I wanna scream and explode.

Every day feels like a marathon.

My days used to be my shows
and planning new ventures.

Now it's walking 3 miles,

reading,
and learning to crochet.

Real men crochet.

Or that's what I keep
telling myself.

- Now let me ask you
this question:

how are we doing the picks?

Straight up, right?
These are straight picks?

- Against the spread.

- They are against the spread?

- It's gotta be
against the spread.

- No, I don't think it does.

- How do you make picks
not with a spread?

I mean, what am I, 5 years old?

- Just like we do it
on the NFL today.

- I think
the Cowboys are gonna win.

- Oh, you're an idiot.

You really are.
- I mean, come on, dude.

- Gambling was a big part
of the show.

- The Green Bay Packers will
beat the Chicago Bears,

and I also love the under.

- Talking about the games

and, you know, who to bet
here or there.

- You can have your 2 grand back

and I'll double it
and give you 2,000 more.

Gambling has always been,
you know, a part of my life.

- I always had an affinity
for gambling.

I enjoyed it. I liked it.

The action,
the energy in the room.

I was a good card player
as a kid,

but later on in life,

the majority of my gambling
was sports-related.

My biggest wager was probably
a thousand bucks,

and it was many years later

that I really started
playing blackjack.

- Craig's infatuation
with gambling was never

a secret to me.

Even when we were at 101.5
with the Jersey Guys,

we would be in Atlantic City.

The tables were $10 a hand
up to $200 a hand,

and even at that time,
he was a social butterfly,

spinning around,
going from table to table,

having a good time, gambling.

- About 2013, '14,

I'm now playing more blackjack.

I thought that if I treated it

with the discipline
of a stockbroker

and thought of it as a job

that I could actually be
very lucrative doing it.

- He could play one, two,

sometimes three hands
at one time

and never skipped a beat.

I've played blackjack.
I love playing blackjack.

I have trouble with my one hand.

- I had been around him
a couple times

where he won a lot of money.

I would start to think
to myself,

"He has this figured out.
Why can't I figure this out?

This seems like
great additional income."

- When it came to gambling,
I thought I was the best at it

and I didn't think
any casino could beat me.

The cockiness
that I'm really good at it,

I'm gonna win,

that plays into your ego.

So there's an arrogance to it...

There was for me, at least...

Where, you know,
I always compared it

to Tiger Woods on a golf course,

Michael Jordan
on a basketball court.

When they stepped on the court
and the golf course,

nothing else mattered.

So when I sat down at a table
to play blackjack,

nothing else mattered.

- I'm not really a gambler,

but Craig and I sat down
at a blackjack table,

and after about 20 hands,

I had won $3,500.

And I said, "I'm done.
I'm leaving.

I got my 3,500. I'm good."

You know, everybody said,
"No, you gotta stay.

You gotta stay."
I'm like, "No, I'm leaving."

And really, when you think
about the difference

between me and Craig
when it comes to gambling,

there it is right there.

I left, he stayed,

and then later on came the bet
for the Borgata

because I guess he felt like,

you know, he had to prove
something to me.

- We were doing a show

at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

We would go down there
once a year,

do a broadcast from down there.

- In a strange way,
it kinda happened overnight.

An infamous event
called the Boomer Bet.

- If you show me
how to win some money.

- Here's what I would do
for you at Borgata.

You just have to take
the leap of faith.

- He was on such a roll
and so cocky and confident

with his blackjack winning,

Craig brought up on the air

that he would double
Boomer's money.

- Talking about
what a great gambler he was

and that he could take $10,000
of my money

and double it
and all this other...

I said, "Oh, really?
You could double my money?

You could double my money?"

And I just kept, you know,
pushing him

and pushing him and pushing him,

and he kept saying, "Yeah,
I could double your money.

I could double your money."

How 'bout if I give you
10 grand?

- If you gave me 10 grand?
- Yeah.

- I'd guarantee you 25,000.

- Guarantee me... I'm in.

- To guarantee a win
is just stupid,

but I said it on the air
and he called me on it.

Boomer came into the studio
with $10,000 in cash

and counted out
every single $100 bill.

- I gave him 10 grand.

It was crazy radio.

You had gambling and the Borgata

and money and cash.

- We talk it up and talk it up

for the weeks leading up
to this Borgata remote.

- I remember
listeners calling up

and saying, you know,
"You're full of baloney.

You're not doing that.
That's not real money."

- Alan and I were, like, trying

to do the math in our heads,

saying, like,
"How is this gonna work?"

- That night,
I won about $80,000

playing blackjack.

"Boomer and Carton"
live at the Borgata.

We're inside the B Bar.

At 11:00 this morning,

it's the first ever
"Boomer and Carton" deep stack

Texas Hold'em tournament.

Normally, when we did our show
at the Borgata,

a hundred people came

to watch us do the show
Friday morning.

That Friday morning,

there might have been
a thousand people there.

- Craig has a sack of cash.

He takes it, puts it down
on the desk,

and presented to Boomer,

and there was much rejoicing.

- So I gave him the 25 grand.
The place goes crazy.

- And that bet
was the coolest thing

and, as it's turned out,

probably the worst thing
that's ever happened.

- The real problem
with the Boomer Bet

is that I won.

As a result of that win,

I'm now, you know,
the blackjack whisperer.

- I would get calls
from callers,

"Hey, let me give Craig
10 grand."

You know, I'd hang up on 'em.

I never would
put anybody through,

'cause that seemed silly to me.

Well, he's not gonna take
some random dude's $10,000

and promise to double it.

That didn't make sense.

- So I started to get approached

by a number of these types
of people

who heard the bet,
knew that I had paid it off,

and then wanted to know

if I wanted to be in business
with them.

"Hey, Craig, I'll give you
100,000 bucks.

Give me 110,000 back
next month."

- That's where
the craziness began,

and I guess it just got worse
and worse and worse for him.

- Once people started
giving me money to gamble

on a regular basis,
and significant sums of money,

then I was all in.

There were
four different individuals,

two of whom I've never met
to this day,

who extended me loans
upwards of a million dollars.

There were times
when I met a buddy

on a street corner
in New York City

and he would hand me a knapsack,

and inside that knapsack
was a million dollars cash.

Blackjack became a drug for me.

- A blackjack player is like
somebody doing cocaine.

You have to keep taking cocaine
to maintain that rush,

and blackjack
is extremely similar.

- Everyone knew that I gambled.

They all knew I liked to gamble.

Nobody knew
the amounts I was gambling.

There was one time
I won $325,000

in, like, nine minutes.

Two hands, $15,000 per hand,

so 30,000 bucks every deal.

I won 325 grand

and walked out the door
to go to work.

When I decided
I wanted to gamble,

I would reach out
to one of the investors.

I would then wire that money
to the casino.

It's called front money.

Most of the time,
I was there after I worked,

and I would go there
right after a show.

- If you really think about it,

what normal person,
at 12:00 noon,

decides to drive 2 1/2 hours

to go play blackjack for an hour

to drive back 2 1/2 hours?

I mean, think about that.

Five hours of driving
to play blackjack for an hour?

Who the... why?

- When I was gambling
late at night, nobody knew.

I didn't tell anybody.

I would leave my apartment
at midnight,

everyone was sleeping,
and I was gone.

I got on a helicopter
in New York City

and flew to Atlantic City.

I had a $600,000 wire

that was sent on my behalf,

and I wagered
from about 1:00 in the morning

to 3:30.

3:30 was always the cutoff time

for me to be able to get back
on a helicopter

and fly back to the city

to make it
to the Tribeca Radio Studios,

where WFAN was.

Good morning, everybody!

6:03, Boomer Esiason,
Craig Carton,

on The FAN.

I didn't realize that
I was an addict at the time.

I really loved playing,

and I convinced myself

you know, as long as I'm doing
a good radio show

and we're number one
and they don't know about it,

well, I'll just continue
to do it.

I will give the Jets credit
for this.

We'll start Jets, I guess, okay?

- All right.
- Jets are down three...

Gambling aside,
I always got involved

in other types of businesses.

- Craig was one of those guys
that always had an idea.

He always had, you know,
the next big thing.

- I have a cologne deal.

- You have a cologne deal.
- I have a cologne deal.

- That's what I wanna do.
I wanna smell like Craigy.

What's the name of it
gonna be called?

Fart?

- He felt he was a businessman.

Like, he thought he
was a real businessman,

not just a radio personality.

- There were a million
of these little side projects.

- I did come up with another
genius idea this weekend.

Junk Balm.

- Which is, like, deodorant

for your nether regions,
I guess.

- Al and I always thought,
"Just do the show.

Why do you have to do
all this other stuff?"

- You know, he was sort of
a serial entrepreneur.

He had this sort of
restless spirit.

He obviously wanted to do more
than just talk on the radio.

- I think Craig wanted
to see himself

as a, you know, $20 million
a year entertainer,

where he wanted to live

in the penthouse
in New York City,

where he wanted his kids
to go to private school

and he wanted to make sure
that he could drive

around New York City
with a driver.

At the end of the day,
he was always striving,

you know, for the next thing,
the next big thing.

- If I was just content
being successful

and number one on the radio,

well, we wouldn't
be sitting here today.

In May of 2016,

I started a company
called Tier One Tickets

to resell tickets
to concert events

on the secondary market.

- Talent on the radio
doesn't equal talent

in business,

and I think he had a hard time
understanding that.

- I will always remember
saying to him,

"Just keep it real, man.
Always keep it real.

"Don't get involved
with the wrong people.

You gotta keep it real."

- He surrounded himself
with some real beauties.

Joe Meli, if he was a conman,
he was a brilliant conman.

Craig said, you know,

"He's the smartest person
I've ever met."

He was, you know,
the smartest person

in every room we were ever in.

I think he was seduced
and besotted by Meli.

- Everybody in
that ticket reselling business

seemed scummy to me.

- As we started to acquire
more tickets

and sell more tickets,

I reached out to a hedge fund

to loan me money personally

so that I could buy
even more tickets.

The hedge fund gave me
$2 million

specifically to invest
in the purchase of tickets.

I took $950,000 of it

and used it
for gambling purposes.

That was the single
biggest mistake

I've made in my entire life.

It's at 2 1/2 right now.

The "Boomer and Carton" program
does not condone

illegal gambling.

Bet it today
before it gets to 3.

You don't wanna start
buying points.

- All of us would hear him
talk about it

both on the air and off the air

about what a central part
of his life gambling,

blackjack in particular,
was becoming.

- I think he was in Bimini,

and he told me he had won
$2 million.

I said, "You're paying taxes
on that, right?"

And he goes,
"Yeah, I gotta pay taxes."

I said, "Fine.

"Put half of that money away
for your kids

"and their education.

Don't do anything stupid
with it."

I'll never forget
that conversation.

And then after that,

that's the last I heard of it.

You know, and I had no idea
how much he was gambling.

I had no idea
where he got the money from.

I had no idea that anybody
was contacting him.

- I knew Craig liked to gamble

'cause he talked about it
on the air.

He wrote about it in his book.

But that doesn't mean you know

that somebody's gambling
millions of dollars.

- I don't think there was one
person at that station

that had any idea
how bad it was.

- You know, how stupid were we
to not really see

that this guy
was sort of falling apart?

- I got to a level

where I'm now wagering $125,000

on the table to start.

I was winning and losing
obscene amounts of money,

and it didn't bother me.

I just wanted to play more.

The worst trip was,
an investor gave $1/2 million.

He expected a 10% return.

Everything beyond that, I keep.

I was there to gamble,

so I did it as much as I could.

I fell asleep at the table
in the middle of a hand,

and I remember waking up.

I popped up and I said, "Hit,"

and I won a $20,000 hand.

In the first 12 hours,
I had his 550

plus 1.5 million.

- There are so many incidences

where even a casino employee
says, "You're winning.

Go home."

- And you walk out the door

with 1 1/2 million in profit

that I'm keeping.

I walked out with nothing.

I lost the 1 1/2 million
I had won

and I lost the 500,000
he had given me.

So I essentially lost $2 million

in a 24 hour period.

So I took a personal loan

to pay back
the blackjack investor,

and that's when I really
started getting in trouble.

'Cause now you're borrowing
from other people

to cover debts,

and when you start going down
that slope,

that only ends one way,

and it's not good.

- We have this idea
that gambling is about thrill

and risk and uncertainty,

'cause certainly you are

technically risking money,
right?

But when you're actually
in the zone of gambling,

it doesn't feel that way.

- There was no emotion
to winning.

There's no emotion to losing.

Blackjack became an escape.

- They say,
"Everything in my life felt

"so uncertain.

"The one place that I
was certain about anything

"or that I could calm down
or get away from my anxieties

was when I was gambling."

- Gambling allowed me to escape,

you know, the "demons."

I felt like I was kinda
in this protective bubble

when I played.

- Solitude is very important.

Gamblers used to tell me,

"I liked to go into the corners

"where I could hide.

I felt safe."

He was gambling
at a high enough level

where the casino would cater
to his wish

to really be alone.

- I was not looking
for attention.

I was looking to hide.

And every casino in the world
would allow me to gamble alone

in great privacy.

- The thing
is that they care more

about staying
in the flow of action,

staying in that continuous zone,

than they do about winning.

- It was the only thing
I found in my life

that matched the speed
of my brain,

the speed of the cards
coming out.

I used to have
multiple tables reserved,

and I used to make sure
that they shuffled

before I sat down.

I couldn't wait the five minutes

for the dealer to shuffle.

I hated it.

It felt like an eternity to me.

- When somebody has a sickness

and somebody is wrapped up
in something

that you're
not really that aware of

and you can't
get out in front of it

and help that person stop,

there's a level of guilt
that you have as well.

- I was as much of an enabler

as anybody was.

There was a moment
when his wife had asked me

to stop going with him,

and I just remember
looking in her eyes

and realizing, "All right,
you know what?

I got it. I understand."

- I know Boomer
was concerned about it.

Al Dukes was concerned about it.

I know there were others
who were concerned

about it as well.

I talked to him
a couple of times about it.

"Hey, do we have
a problem here?"

You know, "Do you think

you should be talking
to somebody?"

And he perpetually denied
it was ever a problem.

- Hiding the gambling
was so easy for me.

But then you start lying
about everything.

- With gambling,
there's no saturation point.

Like, you could only do
so much drugs

before you're gonna pass out
or die,

whereas with gambling,
it's virtually unlimited,

so you could imagine the high.

Eventually, everybody runs out
of money,

and then, like a house of cards,

it all collapses.

- Day 210.

I used to make millions.

Now, I get 5 bucks a month
as a prison tutor.

But the real currency here

is stamps
and packets of mackerel,

things other prisoners want.

I bought some basics
to make my own prison meals.

My best is Ramen
a la Carton y Pollo.

It's chicken breast
and turkey log

with ramen noodles.

Now, you gotta make sure
to shake the chicken

in an empty Dorito bag
for extra flavor.

Visiting day is the best
and the worst day of the week.

I live for the visits
of family and friends,

but it's tough when they go.

Being here makes the decisions
and risks I took

so unfathomably stupid.

Why wasn't being number one
on the radio good enough?

Why wasn't my family
more important

than my selfish desires?

I'm trying to understand
what I was chasing

and why that chase
was so important.

I had every single thing
you could ever want in life.

I made a lot of money,

I had a beautiful family,
great apartment,

but I was clearly living,
you know, kinda two lives.

One, the affable, outgoing
radio talk show host

who had achieved everything
he ever wanted in life,

but at the same time,

I had these personal demons
chasing me.

And that goes back

to, you know,
the unfortunate reality

of being molested as a child
at a summer camp.

I was abused every night
for eight weeks,

something I withheld

for more than 30 years
of my life.

I still had shame over it.

You know, it still haunted me
and bothered me.

I was never living
a full life emotionally,

'cause I had this secret
which gnawed at me.

I wish I had been strong enough
much earlier in my life

to tell people.

You know,
I wasn't able to do that.

The first time
I wanted to put it out

was when I wrote
my book, "Loudmouth,"

and I wrote a chapter on it.

Simon & Schuster
actually made the decision

that I shouldn't put it
in the book

because the rest of the book is

hijinks and laughter
and fun stuff.

So I regrettably took it
out of the book.

I still read it now and then.

So you want me
to just read it, or...

- Yeah.

"And I never cried again

and haven't cried once
since that night."

- Sexual abuse
is obviously something

that he hid deep inside himself.

And I don't know who knew,
but I could tell you I didn't.

He never talked to me about it.

- He never, ever shared

the most intimate details

of that part of his life
when he was a child.

- I found that out
just this year.

- Obviously, Sandusky's
the bad guy here.

He's, you know,
the Big Bad Wolf,

but the reality is that
Joe Paterno is the godfather

of everything in Penn State.

The worst moment for me
in not coming forward was

being on the radio

during the whole Jerry Sandusky
situation at Penn State.

This is a predator, a hunter,
of young boys

who did
the most despicable thing

you could ever do to a child,

and the guy that was in charge
of everything at Penn State

allowed it to go on

without thinking twice about it.

- I had never seen him

react to something so viciously.

- Here's a man that was told

that a 10-year-old boy
was being sodomized

in his backyard

and did nothing about it.

- And I now think

that all the things
that he has been through,

the way that he is,

obviously stems
from some of the things

that happened
while he was in camp.

- From the minute I decided
not to share

being molested at summer camp,

I became good at lying.

Because your...

all your emotions are now lies.

'Cause you're protecting
how you really feel.

You build up
these defense mechanisms,

really, as a way
just to get through life.

Ultimately, I transferred that

into lying about gambling,

and they're very much connected.

- When you have trauma issues
that are unresolved

and you're having
these big wins,

it makes you really forget
about that trauma.

Gambling is one
of the perfect drugs.

It almost always works.

- Which number will be higher?

Rangers' shots on goal
tomorrow night

or Carmelo Anthony points
tonight?

- Rangers' shots on goal.
- I will take Carmelo.

We got a hundy on that though.
We shook like men.

You wanna pinky swear
like men too?

- I'm not gonna
pinky swear anything.

- Well, I'm just saying.
- I shook your hand.

- It made sense to me
at the time,

but the very first loan I took
to gamble with,

it's immediately wrong
and out of control.

If you lose their money,

you have to pay them back
out of your money

with interest.

If you add up all the loans
over a couple of years,

I borrowed over $30 million
to gamble with.

In 2017,

I was the net loser
of a couple million dollars.

I had to cover
the losses personally.

- The amazing thing about Craig

and one of the reasons
we were all sort of blindsided

is that when the light came on,
he was ready to go

and still performing
at his best.

- Now I'm sure, guy,

your intellect
is probably illiterate,

so I read the newspaper for you.

- He was the mailman.
That guy delivered.

No matter what was going on
around him,

he could block it out
and just zoom in on that camera

and capture that audience.

- What do you have a thing for?

- Lasagna.
- Okay.

- Yes.
- Good. Nice.

- And I will admit,

hot chicks in nothing at all
but football jerseys

and me pouring barbecue sauce
all over them

and working them like a rib.

But that's me, Boomer.
That's my fetish.

- It is absolutely shocking
to me

that he was able to come in
and do radio shows.

I can't imagine
the stress he was under.

- All hail the king!

- Even though you knew
there had to be bad,

you never saw it.

He was a master of disguise
in that manner.

- Part of the appeal of Craig
and the tragic nature of Craig

is that, you know, he manages
to screw things up for himself

even when things are going
really well.

Self-sabotage, it's like
it's part of his arsenal.

- There was one time
that he had called me

to meet at the Greek downtown.

He started rambling on
about this pitch

and, you know, tickets,
and, you know, investment

and this business that made
no sense whatsoever to me,

and at that moment,

I said to myself, "Hmm.

"Something bad is going on here.

He's in trouble."

- And then a guy
that I've partnered with

in a ticket business
gets arrested by the FBI.

- We investigated Joe Meli
for some illegal activity

around secondary market sales
of tickets,

and in the course
of that investigation,

we saw some communications
and some financial transactions

that he had with Craig Carton,

and so as we began
to look into Mr. Meli,

we started to look
into Mr. Carton's activity

as well.

- The FBI picked up Joe Meli,

and once Craig got wind
of the story,

he started to talk to me
more and more about,

"I can't believe
this is happening.

"How come nobody told me
this guy was no good?

I can't believe
I'm wrapped up in this."

- Ultimately, what Craig did was

defraud a hedge fund of money
that they invested

in what they thought
was legitimate business.

- What he actually used
the funds for was to pay off

old investors in some
of these other similar schemes

and to repay debts,
particularly gambling debts.

- The one thing I'm guilty of

is misappropriating
the hedge fund's money.

I spent their money

five weeks before the money
should've been spent.

Now, I still bought everything
they expected me to buy,

but still,
the timing of when I did it

is illegal.

- You can't take money
for one purpose

and use it for another
in business.

- It's mentally draining
to live life,

and then live a secret life

and to mentally process
all the lies you've told.

Clearly, the amount of crap

going on inside my head
was overwhelming.

I've got my gambling crap
over here,

I've got my work
responsibilities here,

I've got my family
responsibilities here,

and now I'm juggling,

and I'm juggling on a high wire.

Because now I'm worried,
"They arrested this guy.

"They're gonna come talk to me
at some point.

We did business together."

I was mentally drained.

My wife and I went to Whistler,
British Columbia,

for just an adult vacation.

So I get on the lift

and I took it
to the top of the mountain

and I'm kinda admiring
the scenery on the way up.

It's a beautiful place.

I eat lunch,
I have a couple drinks,

and after about an hour or so,

I decide it's time
to go back down.

I'm gonna meet my wife.

So I get on the lift chair
by myself,

and as I'm going down,

I now have a desire to jump...

off the lift chair,
down to the mountain.

I lifted the bar up

and I'm now inching closer
to the edge of the seat.

And I got very upset.

I started crying,

and I had this...

out loud conversation
with myself.

And I'm tell... "Don't do it.
Don't do it.

You're better than this.
You're not jumping."

And as I'm telling myself
not to do it,

I'm inching closer and closer
to the edge of the seat,

'cause I'm going.

There's no doubt in my mind,

I'm jumping off this chairlift.

It's just a matter of when.

Fortunately, I had my phone
with me.

And I just called the first
person whose name I saw

that I knew was a friend.

- I'm just going about my day.

I get a phone call from Craig.

I didn't understand, really,
what he was saying.

He was outta control,
inconsolable.

He was truly in
a desperate situation.

- And I said, "I need you
to just talk to me.

"I'm gonna hurt myself.

I'm about to jump
off a chairlift."

And I'm crying.

- Really, it was only
maybe five seconds

before I went from him kidding
to "This is actually real."

- He talked.

He talked to me
for however long it was.

- So all I could say

at that point was, "I love you."

"Listen, I love you.

"You're gonna make it
to the bottom.

"You're gonna get to the bottom
of this thing.

You're not gonna jump."

And slowly but surely,
the yelling stopped

and the breathing started
to slow down.

I just kinda coaxed him down
for the last few bits.

And the crazy part about it is,

just as he gets off
of the ski lift...

- I said, "Go eff yourself.

I'll talk to you
about this later."

- Click, and just hangs up,

and I was like,
"Oh, uh, that's it."

He needed me, I was there,

and then on to the next.

- Thankfully, I haven't
felt that way since.

But I absolutely was gonna jump.

There was no doubt about it.

The morning
of September 6, 2017,

that was our first night ever

living in this new apartment
we had moved into.

I got up at 3:00 in the morning.

I called Uber
to take me to work.

I walked out of the apartment.

There was a woman
coming up the stairs,

and she immediately said,
"Are you Craig Carton?"

"Yes, I am."

"FBI. You're under arrest."

That was my "day of reckoning."

I was immediately cuffed.

Then they brought me
to the park bench

and told me to call my wife.

I woke her up.

You know,
probably the worst phone call

I ever had to make.

And when she came down,
she had this terrible look

of, you know, sadness
on her face and bewilderment.

It's still dark outside,

and I'm sitting there
handcuffed to a park bench

surrounded by FBI agents.

- I drive in with Jerry Recco
on a lot of days.

We had just parked the car,
and my phone rings.

It was Craig's wife, Kim.

- And I remember him
looking at it,

looking at me, and saying,
"This isn't good."

- Kim said, "Al,
Craig will not be in today."

I said, "Okay."

I said, "Is everything okay?"

She said, "No, but I can't talk
to you right now about it."

- "Something's going on,
Craig's not coming in,

so you have to host."

That was it.

"Okay. That's fine.

"Maybe they had an argument.

Maybe one of the kids was sick."

Never thought anything of it
other than, "Ugh,

now I gotta go in there
for four hours,"

really unprepared.

- It's only a little bit
after 4:00 in the morning now,

so there's no traffic,

there's no hustle and bustle
yet of New York.

- There were two young agents.

One of them made a point
of telling me

how big a fan he was of mine,

and this was kind of
a surreal moment for him.

- He was, you know, shocked
a little bit at first,

but he was, you know, very calm

and he was actually
very respectful as well.

He did say to the agents
at one point,

"I just want you guys to know
that I respect you

and I respect what you do."

- They drove me
to Federal Plaza,

and there was a guard
in the guard tower,

and it was the first time
I ever heard myself

being referred to as a criminal.

They were very nonchalant.

"Hey, we got one criminal
in the back."

- All righty. Here we are.

Al Dukes comes to me and says,
"Kim just called.

Craig's not coming in today."

- As the morning show
was getting close to 6:00,

Craig wasn't there.

He had appeared to be
under the weather

for a few days before
and sluggish.

- He was a little edgy
the day before.

He was actually even,
I believe, sleeping

in between, you know,
some of our commercial breaks.

I figured
there was something wrong,

but I had no idea what it was.

- WFAN-FM, New York.

It's "Boomer and Carton"
on The FAN.

- September 6, 2017,
was my 55th birthday.

And I flipped on
"Boomer and Carton"

and only saw Boomer.

- I remember
opening the show as,

"Numb Nuts is not here today."

If you hear me
starting the show,

that means Numb Nuts
is under the weather.

And he's not here.

- And it was pretty clear to me

that they didn't know
why Craig wasn't there.

- They brought me
into a very small office room

and then cuffed me to something

on the side of the wall,

and I was sitting
at a table basically

for the next four hours.

- We don't handle celebrities
or people of any notability

any different
than anyone else we arrest.

If you're being arrested
by the FBI,

you're being arrested by the FBI

because you committed
a federal crime.

He definitely was not

the Craig Carton you heard
on the radio though.

He didn't have

that brash personality that day.

- They brought me, like,
a snack bar or something to eat

and a soda,

and then press release went out.

- And it was probably
in the 7:00 hour

when I started to see

the alerts come across
on Twitter

that Craig had been arrested.

Most of us thought
it was something...

smoking pot, maybe a DUI.

- It was about an hour later
that it comes out

that he was arrested by the FBI.

Boom.

- "Boomer and Carton" cohost
Craig Carton was arrested

at his home on federal charges

related to white-collar crime
early this morning.

It's unclear
what those charges are.

- I called Al Dukes

and I said,
"Al, what is going on?"

And he said,
"The FBI arrested him."

And I said, "For what?"

And he said, "I have no idea."

- All right, it's 7:36
on The FAN.

"Boomer and Carton"
in the morning.

Jerry Recco sitting
in the power chair this morning

for Craigy.

- I was stunned,

and you start to think, like,

"What has he gotten
himself into?"

Mark Chernoff,
our program director,

comes running into the studio
and says, "Don't say anything!

Don't say anything!"

And I'm like,
"Don't say anything?

"I mean, we're a talk show,

"and the talk show host
that is not here

"is arrested by the FBI,
for Christ's sake.

What am I supposed to say?"

- All right,
top of the hour, 9:00.

"Boomer and Carton" on The FAN.

I am sitting in for Craig

and Boomer will be back
in just a moment.

We got a lot going on.

- Radio's an interesting thing

in that it doesn't stop
for anything.

You kinda have to roll
with the changes.

- And I gotta look in the camera

and I gotta say, "Well...

"now I know why my partner's
not here this morning.

He's been arrested by the FBI."

I am aware, now, why Craig
is not here this morning.

Unfortunately, he was arrested
this morning.

Over here at the station,
they're aware of it as well.

They're cooperating
with authorities.

I'm taken aback
and surprised by it,

just like I'm sure
everybody else is.

I have no other information.
There's nothing else I can say.

I thought he called in sick
this morning,

but unfortunately,
my partner was arrested,

so I guess there'll be
more news to come, I'm sure,

from somewhere.

"But at this moment,
I'm as shocked

as everybody else."

Because I was.

And not only shocked.

I was angry.

I was brokenhearted
over the whole thing.

- And then it all started
clicking into place

that he was doing
the old shell game,

just pay off the gambling debts.

- The formal charges
that were brought

were securities fraud,
wire fraud,

and then conspiracy
to commit those offenses.

Basically, that just means
he lied to people

to solicit funds from them
and did that with other people.

- Shortly after that,
I was in front of a judge.

It's surreal.

Like, this can't
possibly be happening.

You know,
the courtroom was packed,

and it's all media.

The judge made
a wisecrack about,

"Apparently, there's a lot
of sports fans

here in the building today."

I remember seeing my wife,
my brother.

That was very upsetting to me,

to see people I loved
and cared for

who are there looking at me,

you know,
as a potential criminal.

- All right,
it's 9:59 on The FAN.

"Boomer and Carton" here.

This is me signing off
for today,

and it's been
a very interesting day

around here at WFAN for sure.

- I spoke to Boomer
after the show was over.

He said to me, "I think
he's got real trouble here."

- I knew we were popular,

but when I walked out
of that courtroom,

I mean, I've never experienced
anything like that in my life.

I mean, it was like
"Lord of the Flies"

amongst the media
to get in my face

with a camera or a microphone.

You know,
personal space meant nothing.

- When you see
the video footage of him

coming from the courthouse,

I mean, jaw-dropping doesn't
even begin to... I was stunned.

- I was hoping
it was some kind of mistake.

But it's highly unlikely

that federal prosecutors
are gonna drop these charges.

Especially with
a big public figure,

you usually shoot to kill.

You don't shoot to wound.

And you usually don't miss
the shot.

- I knew right away
that I was screwed job-wise.

There was no doubt in my mind.

- That was the moment
that that show was over.

- I wanna say thank you
to all of our listeners

that reached out
to me yesterday.

As you can imagine,
my phone blew up

as everybody was finding out
what was going on.

- For ten years, we were one

of the most listened to sports
talk radio shows in America.

And for those ten years,

we never had a single argument.

Never had a single fight.

We were kinda brothers in arms.

- I just want people to know
out there

that I loved my partner
for ten years.

I still love my partner.

We tried to have
a conversation here or there

and, you know,
it never went well

because he didn't
wanna understand,

I don't think he wanted
to understand,

that, you know, I have
other people in my life

that are like, "Get the hell
away from that guy.

He got arrested by the FBI."

- When you get arrested,
you don't tell the FBI,

"Give me a minute.
I gotta call 30 people."

So unfortunately, he found out

the way the rest of the world
found out.

He either texted
or emailed me back

that he needed a few days
before he could call me.

- It took me a while.

It took me a while.

And the reason it took me
a while was because

I felt like
I didn't wanna know, you know?

I just... I don't wanna know
all the seedy details.

I didn't wanna
get myself embroiled

in what he had to do
to defend himself.

They told me to read this.

"My cohost Craig Carton has
been suspended from this show

until further notice."

I remember him sending me
a pretty negative email.

When I read the email,
it made me puke, actually,

it was just so pathetic, but...

And I remember
that I was very angry

when I got the email because...

You know, he talked
about something

that we often talked about

when once of us
would be in trouble.

You know, "We're foxhole guys."

That was something
that we would always say.

"I got your back.
I got your back.

You got my back."

And I always would tell him,
like, "I'll be in your foxhole

"as long as you don't bring
a hand grenade

in the foxhole with you."

I was very angry at that,

and that even pushed me

further away from him initially.

- So he's mad at me
that I ruined

what we had created.

He can be mad at me for that.
He should be.

But I didn't do it on purpose.

I didn't set out to ruin,
you know, "Boomer and Carton."

- He told me, "Nothing to this.

"It's a bunch of mistakes.

"They're gonna get
to the bottom of it

"and then they're gonna just,

you know, drop any charges
against him."

- And I pleaded not guilty
to the charges against me.

I did that for one reason:

because I am
unequivocally not guilty

of what I'm being charged with.

- He took loans

and did not
immediately purchase tickets

with those moneys,

but treated those moneys
as if they were fungible

and purchased tickets
at a later date.

- If you are soliciting
investments from people

and you do something
other than what you say

you're going to do
with the money,

that is fraud.

- Radio host Craig Carton.

This afternoon,
a jury convicted him.

Carton was accused
of swindling investors

in a ticket reselling business.

- When it finally came
to fruition

that he was found guilty
and there was no defense,

he realized
that was the end of it

and that was the reality of it.

- On the day of sentencing,
Carton was subdued.

You know, this is kinda
the walk of shame here.

I think he was wearing a jacket
and even a tie.

I had never seen him
do that before.

He was like a chastised kid.

He got up
and addressed the court

and delivered, you know,

an emotional,
soul-baring account

of his gambling addiction,
of his sexual abuse,

of his regret.

His family was there.

You know, it was hard
to see the family.

- Judge McMahon sentenced Craig
to 3 1/2 years,

and he has to pay restitution

back to the victims
in his criminal case.

- The feeling you have
when you look

at Craig Carton's situation
is sadness,

because there are no winners.

There's nothing good that came

of the trouble
he got himself in.

There was only losers.

- You look at the talent,

the friendships, the lies,

and you just say to yourself,
"Why?

Why?"

- All of a sudden, it's like,
"Wow, that ten years is gone."

You know,
as fast as it happened,

that's how quick it ended.

- Day 371.

In prison jargon,
I have two sleeps and a wake

before I leave this place.

For the first month,
my wife and family wrote me

every single day.

I saved every one
of those letters.

They mean the world to me.

I've been away from them
for a year.

I'm going to work hard

to rebuild my relationship
with them

and everyone else in my life.

I'm excited and nervous.

Excited to leave
this place behind,

but nervous because I have
no idea what's waiting for me

beyond the gates.

I'm 51.

I had it all

and I lost it all,

and now I've gotta start
all over again.

- I see a number pop up
on my screen

and I hear
a very familiar voice saying,

"Hey, it's me. I'm out."

And it was Craigy.

He's paid his debt to society.

He did not get out
because of coronavirus.

He got out
because of all the things

he was doing in prison

to get early release.

What I heard was a happy
and relieved Craig Carton.

He was with
his family yesterday.

They all went to pick him up
at the penitentiary

and they brought him home,

and now the real work begins
for him,

and that's rebuilding his life.

- There was a point
where I thought

this day was never gonna come.

Greatest moment I had
in over a year.

Just seeing my wife,
seeing my four kids,

seeing the smiles on their faces

and the tears of joy

that their dad and husband
finally got out of prison.

And now it's just about enjoying

all the little things.

Looking up in the sky,
seeing the sun, clouds,

hearing birds chirp,

being able to walk
down the street,

being able to work, being able
to spend time with my family,

and just having my freedom back,

which is something, for sure,
I took for granted.

Boomer was the very first
person I called,

and I probably got to him
about 27 minutes after

I actually walked out of prison.

It was important that he be
the first person I called.

My relationship with him,
it's had its ups and downs,

but all the downs were
inflicted by my actions.

So I'm really happy to say

that Boomer and I are
in a very good place now.

Closer than we've been
in a long time.

He was mad at me,

and he had every right
to be mad at me,

and the other guys on the show,

they had every right
to be angry with me too.

I would love to just look
in that camera

and one day look them all
in the eye and just say

I'm sorry for being selfish

and into my own shit
way too much

and not taking account
of, you know, their wellbeing.

And I also have to be upfront
with who I am,

and I have to do that 24/7.

That can never take a day off.

The pledge I made to the people

who did stay with me
through prison

is that I'll do that.

They deserve me
to be straight with them.

Honest with them.

And if I ever go back
on that pledge,

I don't deserve those people
to be there for me.

If I falter, I lose everything.

If I make those mistakes again,

I lose my family.

There's no,
"Hey, you get another shot.

Hey, we're gonna sit
through this crap"... no.

No, no, no.

If I go down
the rabbit hole again,

it's over.

What's important
that it comes through

that I recognize
why I went to prison.

I take full ownership
of every bad decision I made.

Every one of 'em.

No one forced me
to do anything I did.

I was an adult
in clear control of my actions.

Going to prison
is a lifechanging experience,

and I emerged a better person.

What I learned about myself,

other than the fact
that I'm a compulsive gambler,

is that I'm a lousy businessman

and I'm good at one thing,

and that's hosting a radio show.

When you come to terms
with what you're good at

and what you're not good at

and can be honest about that,

man, that's liberating.

I've spent every day
for the last year

dreaming of the opportunity
to be back on the radio,

and I can't wait
just to flick a button

and welcome an audience
into my world again.

This has been
a presentation of HBO Sports.