A self-described “gay, gun-toting cowboy with a mullet,” Joe Exotic was a charming local legend in Oklahoma — until he got arrested for plotting murder.
The life floor of Joseph “ Joe Exotic ” Maldonado - Passage is so unknown that only a Netflix documentary series could do it justice . The seven - part product come after the ego - proclaimed “ Tiger King ” as he melt down his controversial alien animal park , fought detractors , and cozied up to tigers .
The gay , gun - add together Oklahoman resembled a splashy animated cartoon character more than an factual somebody , let alone somebody who spearheaded an extensive wildlife operation that involved lions , World Tamil Association , and chetah . Then again , Exotic was n’t as professional as his job verbal description implied .
As the owner of Greater Wynwood Exotic Animal Park , Exotic hired X - convicts , roofless the great unwashed , and drug addicts to lick there . He pay them next to nothing for extremely dangerous work .
NetflixJoe Exotic ran as an Independent candidate for U.S. President in 2016.
NetflixJoe Exotic run as an Independent candidate for U.S. President in 2016 .
He also routinely coiffe off explosive when he was n’t filming a World Wide Web serial publication out of his compound and jeopardise the life of beast rights activists who were concerned with his treatment of tigers . Exotic accumulate a series of husbands and borrowed their last names , possibly to keep off lawsuits .
Now dish a 22 - year sentence in Union prison , Exotic ’s escapades have garnered reincarnate fame with theTiger King : Murder , Mayhem , and Madnessdocumentary that some say is so ludicrous it can scantily be believed .
FacebookJoe Exotic was found guilty of selling baby cubs and killing five tigers in addition to his failed murder-for-hire plot.
Who Is Joe Exotic?
Joe Exotic was born Joseph Schreibvogel on March 5 , 1963 , and was raised among animals as the middle child of four sibling on a Kansas farm . He claimed his parent never told him they screw him , and that an older boy violate him when he was five — in his own family .
FacebookJoe Exotic was found shamed of selling baby cubs and obliterate five tigers in addition to his fail slaying - for - hire plot .
His homosexuality became an issuing when bullies bemock him for favor to socialise with girls alternatively of boys . His penchant for criminal retaliation became a job then , too , as he popped the tyre of a hundred car to get back at them .
Google MapsThe entranceway to the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park in Oklahoma.
“ I had to get a chore and pay for them all,”he allege . “ But they never f – ked with me again . Never . ”
Young Joseph Schreibvogel dream of nothing more than palisade himself with brute and their unconditional love — and harnessing some gloss of ascendency over his life . After becoming the police force chief of Eastvale , Texas , he research gay night life and had what he called “ the speculative year ” in 1985 .
alien sample to kill himself by crash his police cruiser into a nosepiece embankment . At least , that ’s the story he told everyone , though nobody in the tiny Ithiel Town of 503 citizenry recalls the crash actually happening . He just offered a picture of the totaled elevator car as proof .
InstagramAnimal rights activist Carole Baskin said Maldonado-Passage wanted to see her die.
Google MapsThe entranceway to the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park in Oklahoma .
It was this form of myth - get that he would later on employ as owner of his exotic animal bema . After his brother Garold Wayne died in a car crash in 1997 , a hefty settlement saw Exotic rosiness with cash .
What good fashion to spend it than by open up a tiger - centric park ?
NetflixExotic routinely set things on fire and shot a variety of guns on his property.
The True Story Of TheTiger King
Joe Exotic purchased an Oklahoma horse ranch he named after his brother , though the initial handily served to signify the Greater Wynwood area as well . Before he knew it , Exotic had purchased so many Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , Leo , and dogs that he was living in the middle of a boom wildlife park .
InstagramAnimal rights militant Carole Baskin said Maldonado - Passage require to see her dice .
His life-style rapidly evolved into a P.T. Barnum - esque sideshow , though more crimson and far more freaky . to feed his big cats , he ’d only shoot horses . Of naturally , his customer never noticed these incident — and just saw Exotic as an enthusiastic , mirthful , tattooed zookeeper .
InstagramThe self-proclaimed “Tiger King” enjoyed sitting atop this makeshift throne.
With a naive realism TV show operate out of his chemical compound that often streamed ego - bring on country music songs and television , Exotic became an entertaining local legend .
This garnered the attention of Carole Baskin , an animal rights militant who publicly criticized Exotic ’s parking area .
NetflixExotic routinely place things on fervor and burgeon forth a variety of guns on his property .
NetflixExotic (center) with his two husbands John Finlay (left) and Travis Maldonado (right), who accidentally shot himself in the head and died in 2017.
alien thought her commentary was indefensible , especially since Baskin herself kept big guy in cages and charge the great unwashed for enlistment of her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa , Florida . It ’s also debated to this twenty-four hour period whether or not Baskin hit her husband in gild to fund that venture .
As for Exotic , he could n’t have ask for a better impish - bane . With every instruction Baskin posted about him on her site , he made a music video portraying her as a murderer or mocked her on his web serial publication . But all the while , G.W. Exotic Animal Park was running on smoke .
With a litany of untrained , often toothless employees managing the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. - to - day tariff came serious repercussions . One cleaning lady had her weapon ripped off during a seemingly routine feeding academic term .
As the Netflix documentary film shows , Joe Exotic simply told his client that a woman had just been mutilated and offered repayment .
Baskin , meanwhile , had pockets abstruse enough to win a financially draining feud against Exotic , while he most certainly did not . In 2011 , Baskin secured $ 1 million in punitory damages against Exotic and his job .
Nonetheless , the ego - proclaimed “ Tiger King ” would n’t blockade jeopardise her life on the cyberspace . And his increase visibility saw him targeted as a effectual problem before he knew it .
Joe Exotic Goes To Prison
Exotic eventually discovered a cache of document that allegedly hint Baskin killed her husband . A former employee of hers give him her diary , from which Exotic naturally posted entrance on his web series . He began offering $ 10,000 to anyone bring home the bacon selective information leading to her apprehension .
“ Carole will go to jail , if it is the last matter I see in my aliveness , ” he wrote online .
In his two - pronged quest to both become illustrious and destroy Baskin ’s business , Exotic was slowly but surely destroying his own — and remove any prospect to love his potential fame .
InstagramThe ego - extol “ Tiger King ” enjoy sit atop this jury-rigged crapper .
Though he hired producer Rick Kirkham in 2014 to help him turn his vane serial into an actual show , the undertaking eventually went up in heater when a 2015 burst destruct his goggle box studio apartment — and killed a identification number of his alligators .
It ’s still contend whether or not Exotic himself ordinate arson . He was ensnared in legion lawsuit with Baskin at the time , and some of the recorded footage may have been quite incriminating against him .
Exotic then unsuccessfully strain to run for Chief Executive in 2016 , though his architectural plan to have Baskin murdered soon became his most pressing issue . After his 23 - year - sometime husband Travis Maldonado accidentally shot himself in the headland with a pistol and give way in 2017 , Exotic met Dillon Passage .
NetflixExotic ( core ) with his two husbands John Finlay ( left ) and Travis Maldonado ( right ) , who accidentally shot himself in the head and died in 2017 .
The two marry two months after Travis break — after which he unsuccessfully ran for regulator of Oklahoma .
to continue run his byplay , he hired a man with a teardrop tattoo named Alan Glover . And desperate to remove Baskin from his life , Exotic offered Glover a macabre business proposal :
Kill Carole Baskin for $ 5,000 before the problem is done , with the hope of $ 10,000 once sodding .
That November , a friend of Joe ’s appoint James Garretson came by to chitchat and casually inquire about the murder . Glover told him everything — entirely incognizant Garretson was an FBI source .
Glover said he had accepted the offer , and that nobody would get word from him until Carole ’s slaying hit the news show .
“ And if anybody rats me out and I get pour down , everybody that they make out , I ’ll have them burnt live , ” enunciate Glover . “ Every f – king single person . And I mean that from the bottom of my heart . They will be burn up the f – jet alive . ”
FromTiger KingTo Prison Inmate
Joe Exotic was found guilty of the failed murder - for - hire secret plan in April 2019 . He is nowserving 22 class in federal prison house , with additional charges comprising eight numeration of falsifying wildlife record and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act .
“ If he completes his judgment of conviction and is free , we will cease up spending the sleep of our life sentence , constantly looking over our shoulders , for a threat to our lives,”Baskin aver in court . “ I hope you will give us as many years free of that scourge as you could . ”
In the end , whether Exotic maintains that it was necessary to publicly mock and endanger Baskin after she secured a million - dollar judgement against him is unreadable . Though he apparently want fame more than anything else in the world , basking in it behind bar is likely not what he envisioned .
As forCarole Baskin , the Netflix documentary explore both her potentially ominous yesteryear as well as those of other character from this unsafe and eccentric world of wildlife partizan , such as the purported inspiration for Oliver Stone’sScarface , Mario Tabraue .
The tale of Joe Exotic — including the accidents on his holding , the personalities he border himself with , and the exorbitant sound troubles he base himself in — is certainly emblematical of the age - old enounce that truth is stranger than fiction .
After learning about the many crimes of Joe Exotic , read about the ugly abuses inside Thailand’s“tiger temple ” . Then , see what authorities launch insidea gruesome Czechslaughterhouse for Tamil Tigers .
