Denise Trigo Fleming is nobody’s drug mule. She may have technically gotten arrested for moving drugs, but as she tells her friend and former cell mate Heidi Fleiss , they weren’t even her drugs: “ I’m not an innocent girl, but when I got arrested, I was fucking innocent. So that pissed me off.” In her new memoir, Dealing: Memoirs of a Cocaine Teenpin , Trigo Fleming is reliving those freewheeling days dealing cocaine and getting rich in the ’80s, and how that led to a 7-year stint in federal prison that ignited her passion for criminal justice reform. Now a successful CEO, advocate, and mother of two married to Atlas Artists president Dave Fleming, she says that time in her life feels at once far behind her and like it was just yesterday. To mark the release of her memoir, the two ex-cons got together to rehash the highs and lows of life in prison, their favorite moments breaking the law together, and the secret to getting contraband burritos delivered in lockup.
MONDAY 2:00 PM AUGUST 17, 2026 LOS ANGELES
HEIDI FLEISS: Oh, terrific. I love being recorded. So Denise, why write a book?
DENISE TRIGO FLEMING: I’m a glutton for punishment, obviously. I always pick the hard route.
FLEISS: Is this a guide on how to be a good drug dealer?
TRIGO FLEMING: Exactly. I did have to scale back because I had some secret recipes in there and I was like, “What am I doing? I’m going to teach people to be Breaking Bad at home.” You know what, Heidi? I’ve had such a crazy life and there’s so many crazy things that happened to me, I thought, “I need to write this stuff down.” And then once I started writing, it kind of became a healing journey.
FLEISS: What I love about your book is that you’re no drug mule. To do what you did takes a lot of balls, so to speak. What made you decide to do that? I could never deal drugs, I just didn’t have the guts.
TRIGO FLEMING: Because I was young, man. I was fearless and invincible, and that’s the best thing about drug dealing. It wasn’t the money. Money comes and goes. It was just being rebellious and fun. It was the ’80s. Honestly, I miss that part of me still.
FLEISS: Wait, I want to give a PSA that Denise is an anomaly. Nobody goes to prison and comes out and has a house in the south of France, and lives under the Hollywood sign, and [their] kids go to private schools. I don’t want people thinking they can go to prison and come out and be like you because it’s not going to happen.
TRIGO FLEMING: Thanks. I appreciate it. It took a lot of hard work. It’s the prison that still haunts me because I’m, like, a natural-born hustler. It’s still in me. It’s about prison not stripping away who you were before, and I think people lose themselves a little bit.
FLEISS: Doesn’t it seem like it was a million years ago?
TRIGO FLEMING: It does. And then, sometimes, it seems like yesterday. I don’t know how I got through it.
FLEISS: I met Denise at this prison camp in Dublin, California, which is now closed down, and they call it the what?
TRIGO FLEMING: It’s insane that they would send us somewhere where people are getting raped on top of it. Like, thanks, government. And you know what sucks is that I saw so many people coming and going. They were just like prostitutes—
TRIGO FLEMING: Prostitutes and street junkies, but they weren’t high-class call girls like your girls. It was sad.
FLEISS: My girls didn’t go to prison. Did you feel like it was worth it looking back?
FLEISS: No. What led up to your sentence and everything. The risk you took, dealing drugs and being a shot caller, was it worth it?
TRIGO FLEMING: That’s a really, really good question. I think that’s something I battle with because it’s like the would-haves and the should-haves. But looking back now, wow, I got everything I ever wanted. I have a great life.
FLEISS: How has being a convicted felon impacted your life?
TRIGO FLEMING: Not much. I think it’s pushed me to be creative. It’s pushed me to own my own business because I wasn’t trying to get a job where they’re going to do a background check because I knew I would never pass it. So it just put me in the right—
FLEISS: I can’t stand when people use it as an excuse for not getting hired and not finding work. If you can’t get a job being a convicted felon, that just means you’re lazy.
TRIGO FLEMING: Listen, there are drawbacks. They make it impossible. I had to go test when I did get a job. I wasn’t even using drugs, and sometimes I would get these, I don’t know what they’re called.
FLEISS: False positives. So what about when you got out of prison, we hung out?
TRIGO FLEMING: It was amazing. And you know what we did? We broke the law. We weren’t even allowed to hang out. We were both convicted felons, but you were the only person I could relate to. We did drugs together, we drank, and I fucking met my husband and I have two beautiful children because of you.
FLEISS: You have a beautiful life. Your office is a penthouse on Melrose Place above Balmain. But like you said, you’re an anomaly. And what are you working on now?
TRIGO FLEMING: I’m doing a lot of things. I’m working with Hunter Biden right now.
TRIGO FLEMING: Yeah, he’s with the Peak Path Health Foundation, so it’s about recovery and rehabilitation.
FLEISS: Is he boring or what? What’s his deal?
TRIGO FLEMING: No, I thought he’d be stuffy. He’s so cool. You would absolutely love him.
FLEISS: What was the most painful part about your whole prison experience and your arrest?
TRIGO FLEMING: Listen, I’m not an innocent girl. But when I got arrested, I was fucking innocent. So that pissed me off. It wasn’t my drugs. I’m not a mule. That was a complete setup. The second thing, the food was totally disgusting. I’m an Italian, and that was torture in itself. Then, not knowing how much time I was going to get. What people don’t know about the prison system is that every single little crime that you do adds up. Now, mind you, I never had a drug conviction, but I’m criminal history three like I’m some huge drug person. It was those little crimes that I didn’t think mattered.
FLEISS: What were these little crimes that didn’t matter?
TRIGO FLEMING: It was the fucking hit-and-run.
FLEISS: You did a hit-and-run? What the heck? What went down there?
TRIGO FLEMING: It was a Porsche into a house. I was wild. It was great.
FLEISS: Oh, you drove a Porsche into someone’s house and ran?
TRIGO FLEMING: I know. Oh, the ’80s were fun. Like when you put me in your trunk and you—
FLEISS: It was, I think, the Midsummer’s Night Dream or Halloween party at the Playboy Mansion. I still had a drive-on pass and very few people still had drive-on passes there. There’s a long line to get in, and right as we’re getting in, I remember some playmate came up and was like, “Heidi, Heidi, let me go in with you.” I already had you in the trunk and it was skateboard in the—
FLEISS: Kelly Slater was in there. And then the playmate wanted to come in and I’m like, “No.” Then it comes to our turn, and they opened the truck and pulled you out like I was smuggling illegal aliens over the border. I lost my drive-on privileges permanently.
FLEISS: I was like, “Why do I always have to do something you’re not supposed to do no matter what?”
TRIGO FLEMING: Well, buddy, we did it inside prison, and we did it after prison. I think the law can put us in jail and give us fines and sentences, but we’re still going to be us.
FLEISS: If you’re a shoplifter when you’re young, you’re going to shoplift when you’re old.
TRIGO FLEMING: Well, not that I sell drugs anymore because drugs are not the same. When I was doing it, dude, people were having a good time. They weren’t dropping dead.
FLEISS: In some ways, when I got out of prison and lived my life like a law-abiding citizen, some things were so much harder. I learned at a young age, you can pay for anything you want. My favorite politician is one that you can pay. Everything is about pay. How do you feel about the prison system now?
TRIGO FLEMING: I don’t want to go back, but I’ll tell you what, I do miss that track.
FLEISS: I thought you were going to bore me to death with those reforms you’re working on that I am not into at all.
TRIGO FLEMING: Listen, you like to save the birds in a cage and I like to save people.
FLEISS: When I was there, I’d look around and I’d go, “I hope they never let them out.” Where you’re trying to get everyone out, there’s such a big difference.
TRIGO FLEMING: Well, I’m filming Ex-Con to Icon , and we are mentoring people and trying to help them because, look, I went out and I pushed the envelope. I don’t really have any regrets, but I got lucky. My number could have been called and I could have been sent back. Total luck, god, call it whatever it is. But I don’t want these kids—
FLEISS: Not everyone is made to thrive. Has that ever occurred to you?
TRIGO FLEMING: Not everybody’s made to be in a cage, right? Like your birds.
FLEISS: Oh, no, that’s what cages are for. Humans, not birds.
FLEISS: I’ve always been a tree hugger, and always misanthropic.
TRIGO FLEMING: True. Everyone has their passion, and just because you went through the prison system doesn’t mean you have to help people.
FLEISS: Not everyone has a passion, let me tell you that. Most people search their whole lives for purpose and never find it because there is no purpose.
TRIGO FLEMING: Well, I think everyone has one. They just haven’t found it.
FLEISS: I disagree, but that’s okay. When is your book out?
TRIGO FLEMING: It’s out September 15th, and I hope people like it. Like I said, I wrote it for my own therapeutic reasons, but it’s a fun ride. If it helps somebody not overdose, great. If it helps somebody stay together, great. And I am proud of myself for writing a book.
FLEISS: You should be because it’s so hard to get published. Did you ever have sex with any of the male or female guards when you were there?
TRIGO FLEMING: Heidi, you know me better than that. You tried to send me to France with a full wardrobe and more money than—
FLEISS: I tried to send you to the French Riviera. Don’t just say France.
TRIGO FLEMING: All right. The French Riviera.
FLEISS: For $10,000 a night, come on now.
TRIGO FLEMING: Do you think that I’m going to have sex with a guard for a bucket of chicken or something?
FLEISS: It was just a question. You don’t have to be offended. How about an inmate?
FLEISS: Well, you know what? You have to live life to the fullest no matter what. If you’re bored, you’re born bored. Denise, you are like me. You find excitement and adventure no matter what you’re doing.
FLEISS: What’s a horrible experience you had with the guards in there?
TRIGO FLEMING: They don’t know how to talk. They bark at you like you’re a dog. “Do this, do that.” It’s like, calm down. I think the whole thing is humiliating.
FLEISS: Did any of them sneak you any contraband?
TRIGO FLEMING: Of course. Are you kidding me? I ruled those guards.
FLEISS: Let’s hear what contraband you got.
TRIGO FLEMING: Oh my gosh. They would bring in movies for me and Stacy, Blockbuster. They’d bring in candy for her. I got a burrito once. God, that was a highlight of my life when I was in Oakland. Just stupid shit to make you feel alive.
FLEISS: It’s weird when you’re in a place like that. I remember the work cadre that went to the men’s army base, one of them wanted an autograph from me, I don’t know why. I did it for some organic cashews, unsalted.
TRIGO FLEMING: [Laughs] I ended up starting a smuggling ring of my own, so that was fun. I used to have four barracks. I would have contraband dropped at the army, and then I’d have people from the food service pick it up and deliver it from UNICOR. It was a whole operation.
FLEISS: So you have the criminal mind no matter what.
TRIGO FLEMING: You know why? Because I needed my MAC lipstick, fuck.
TRIGO FLEMING: I needed to feel normal, and people will do whatever they can just to live again, just to feel like themselves.
FLEISS: I think some of the prison thing is in your head. I hope I never go back, but who knows? I might have to one day.
TRIGO FLEMING: Don’t say that. That’s so negative, good lord.
FLEISS: You want to hear how negative I am? If I bought a Mega, a Powerball, and a CA lottery ticket, know what I would think? I hope I don’t win all three because there’ll be an FBI investigation and it’ll take too long to get paid. That’s how negative I am.
FLEISS: Could you ever see yourself being a prison guard?
TRIGO FLEMING: Me, a prison guard? No, I would let everybody out. I’d be arrested.
FLEISS: I would lock everyone in forever.
TRIGO FLEMING: You’d flip the switch for sure.
FLEISS: So when you got out of prison, what’s the first thing you did?
TRIGO FLEMING: I drank. Actually, no. 10 minutes out of prison, I broke the law, buddy. I didn’t mean to. I got picked up from the court by a friend of mine, and he had 10 pounds of weed in the trunk. I went to the beach, he did his drug deal, and he asked me if I wanted to be on Baywatch , funny enough. I was like, “No, I have really bad tan lines.” Then I ended up going to the bar.
TRIGO FLEMING: I went to the bar at the airport, drank when I wasn’t supposed to. But I knew it’d be out of my system, I knew the law.
FLEISS: How did we start hanging out? I totally forgot.
TRIGO FLEMING: I think it was when I finally got transferred back to California. We were on the phone a lot, so then I came up to L.A. and you used to bring me to Jeff Greene parties.
FLEISS: I took you on my wild excursions.
TRIGO FLEMING: Yeah, it was great. I was like, “I love this girl. She’s exactly what I need.”
FLEISS: I’m so glad we maintained our friendship because I feel like you’re definitely a lifer.
TRIGO FLEMING: For sure. We might have different views of life, but you and I were in the trenches together. We know without a doubt we’re there for each other and we have each other’s backs.
FLEISS: So tell me about when I had you pick me up at the—
TRIGO FLEMING: Oh, Jesus Christ. You talking about your lube?
TRIGO FLEMING: No way, buddy. You’re a freak and I’m working.
FLEISS: There’s no freak-offs in my world. It’s the real deal.
FLEISS: I love how they’re describing the Diddy freak-off and they’re like, “Oh, the male sex worker got $2,000 a day,” or some fucking measly, piddling amount. I was like, “How can he be so cheap?”
TRIGO FLEMING: I don’t know too much about that.
TRIGO FLEMING: It’s good. I’m very happy.
FLEISS: It’s weird how your life looks so fairytale. Everything looks so perfect.
TRIGO FLEMING: Yes, I don’t know. I still think there’s a stigma [to going to prison].
FLEISS: Patty Hearst was in prison, Leona Helmsley, Martha Stewart.
TRIGO FLEMING: Well, Martha Stewart is Martha Stewart. She’s a queen.
TRIGO FLEMING: I feel like I get judged sometimes, but I don’t care. Prison’s a dirty word.
FLEISS: Well, there’s a lot of criminals. They deserve it.
TRIGO FLEMING: Jesus Christ. Love you, bud.
FLEISS: I love you too. Are you happy with things?
TRIGO FLEMING: I’m good. What I hope people take from reading the book is: If you’re struggling and on the wrong path, it’s never too late to turn it around. That prison jumpsuit didn’t define me, and your mistakes don’t define your future. Please be careful of fentanyl—I lost my little brother to it, and I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone.
FLEISS: Oh my god. It’s so fucking politically correct. She hopes everyone buys it. That’s what your answer should be.
TRIGO FLEMING: You’re such a crazy bitch. But I’m serious, that jumpsuit doesn’t define you and it doesn’t define your future. We just say it differently, Heidi.
FLEISS: Like I said before, how boring this world would be if everyone thought like me. Sorry, I got distracted because my birds were screaming.
TRIGO FLEMING: It’s always about you, Heidi.
FLEISS: Isn’t that the truth? I’m a sociopath, a psychopath, and a narcissist. So what are you going to do?
Source: Fashion
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