Those drugs won't fly themselves

Sometimes you read a book wondering how somebody stayed alive as long as they did (and then wondering if he really did get away with it and is living in some tropical paradise). Running drugs, foreign prisons, plane crashes, and stalked by the lawman. Wally Thrasher was a wild one and seemed so remarkably good at surviving numerous near-death experiences surrounded by guns and airplanes that you have to wonder if his luck really did run out.

Man addicted to smuggling learns it pays for a really fun life if you can avoid getting killed by a lot of things that can [and sometimes try to] kill you.