September 12, 2022 • 25 mins
American Me was supposed to help end gang violence — instead, it may have led to the murders of at least three people.
Host Alex Fumero unpacks the story of American Me, a film directed by legendary Latino actor Edward James Olmos, and his choice to base the film on a real-life gang called the Mexican Mafia or La Eme. Did Olmos' decision to fictionalize the lives of these men lead to the murders of several crew members?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The year, and actor Edward James almost is on his
way to becoming a Hollywood icon. Coming off an OSCAR
nomination for his iconic role in Standard Deliver, Edward James
almost earned the biggest opportunity yet for a Latino filmmaker
to direct and star in a major Hollywood release, and
he chose a controversial subject for his territorial debut, The
(00:27):
Mexican Mafia, a notorious prison in street gang that at
the time was at the height of its powers. It
was a bold move and it didn't end well. That
film was called American Mean. The critics liked the movie,
but the Mexican Mafia did not. Just weeks after the premiere,
(00:49):
several people who worked on the movie were murdered. Almost
never addressed the killings. He still hasn't. Maybe it's because
allegedly he himself was threatened and extorted. In fact, while
I've been researching and interviewing people related to this film
that came out thirty years ago, over and over again,
I get eerily similar responses like I won't talk about that,
(01:12):
or flat out told leave this alone. More than a movie,
American Means a podcast that digs into the history and
Mystery of American Mean, a film directed by and starring
Edward James almost that had a huge impact on Latino
(01:33):
culture and cinema. I'm your host, Alex Fumeto, and I'll
be diving into the controversy behind the movie. The early
was an explosion of pop culture in l A about
l a bloody blood out. So the nineties was just
(01:56):
the like hangover from you know, the Cold War. I
don't know, there's a lot of nineties nineties nostalgia now,
but I remember being afraid every day, like hy two
k hiv uh, the gangs, the police. Like it feels
very similar to like these past few years of COVID
(02:18):
in terms of like just the angst and fear that
you can just feel from the community. That's Eric Allindo,
a Mexican American writer and producer that grew up right
here in Los Angeles. Eric is right. L A in
the nineties was scary to a lot of Angelinos, but
the fear level went to new heights when the l A.
P d brutally beat a man named Rodney King. Another
(02:43):
movie came out from a script that had been kicking
around for years. It was a movie about Latino gangs
in l A. Al Pacino was allegedly slated to play
the lead role. We all know ol loves to play Latinos,
but in the blowback to Scarface, the studio got cold feet,
like a lot of movies in Hollywood have got put
on the shelf until the Latino actor emerged as a
(03:04):
potential movie star. Edward James, almost fresh off a nomination
for an Academy Award, was offered the role. In response,
almost all the studio he would take the part if
he could also direct. After some back and forth and
some assurances that are more experienced read white director would
be around to help Eddie, they agreed, but almost had
(03:26):
something different in mine for the script. He wanted it
to feel real, to be connected to his roots as
a Chicano in East l A. And to address what
he felt was tearing his community apart gang violence. But
to do that, he did something that many people thought
was brave but others thought was reckless. The Arian Brotherhood
(03:47):
and the Blood Gorilla Family shared the yard, but fulsome
belonged to us. The oldest clicker me the Mexican Mafia.
He made the movie about a real gang, one of
the most intimidating and dangerous prison and street gangs of
(04:09):
all time. The Mexican Mafia a k a. A gang
that survives today and was no less powerful thirty years
ago when Edward James almost decided to base the movie
on what he claimed was a true story about them,
then people started dying. The movie was called American Me.
Here's one of the actors, Danny de la Pass, when
(04:31):
he found out someone who had worked on the movie
had just been killed. We were in France, um along
the Riviera at the con Film Festival with American Me
when we heard the news of Anna's assassination basically, and uh,
I remember feeling a little bit scared. I was in
(04:52):
a foreign country, I was far from home, and I
was like, Wow, what am I going to be going
back home to The Anna he's referring to is Anna Lissaraga,
who was a gang interventionist hired by the movie as
a gang liaison, and on May thirteenth, she was gunned
down in her East l A driveway while unloading groceries.
(05:12):
So yeah, it made sense that Danny de la Pace
was scared back then. Today thirty years later, it's hard
to get people to talk about it. Here's another American Me,
actor Sal Lopez. My job was to do my part,
and I didn't feel uh, you know, intimidated or or
(05:33):
anything like that. I mean, I was focused on doing
the work and making a good film. I um, you know,
I don't want to speak about. This is a movie
people still don't want to talk about. Some of them
are scared of the consequences to themselves. Some of them
want to protect the movies director Edward James. Almost some
of them don't see why we want to dredge up
(05:54):
the past. I wanted to make this podcast because as
a filmmaker, American Me was an precedented opportunity for Latinos
in Hollywood, a Latino director, cast, and crew. But I
also think it's worth asking two questions. One why were
people killed for making a movie? And two why did
Edward James almost make this movie when people warned him
(06:16):
again and again it was dangerous. We'll dig into the
history and mysteries around one film that had a huge
impact on the culture. We're talking about American Me. Think
of this podcast like an audio documentary. The first half
of this twelve episode series is going to be about
the Hollywood rumors and word on the street that have
surrounded this movie for thirty years. In the second half
(06:40):
of the episodes, though we're going to do our best
to get down to the truth, let's start with the rumors.
Even today, people are still afraid to talk about this movie.
We had people canceled interviews or refuse to talk on
the record. I spent hours in person, over coffee or
on the phone talking to high level people who had
worked on this film, who, at the end of our
(07:01):
really candid conversation would say to me they would never
talk on the record. We had people call us from
block numbers so we wouldn't know who was calling. One
lawyer agreed to talk to us, then her husband told
her not to. He was still afraid for their safety.
Three decades later, I've pieced together the parts of the
story I can. It all started with a chapter in
(07:23):
a memoir by Danny Trejo, better known as or a
million other roles as the scariest looking motherfucker You've ever seen.
Here's Treho talking about it to lad TV. The person
in charge of that movie made a lot of mistakes.
American Edwards James almost admitted, do you know him? Yeah, yeah,
(07:44):
I saved his life, really, and he won't admit that either.
See Treho, who's not in the movie, is a pivotal
figure in this story. According to him, this is how
it went. Edward James almost never got permission from the
met Pxican Mafia to tell this story. Before it even
went into production, key members of the gang had read
(08:05):
the script and warned Trey Hoo not to work on
the movie. During production, Trejo says he was asked to
be a consultant, but refused to do it out of
respect for the gang. When the movie finally premiered, the
Mexican Mafia was enraged almost had fabricated important details about
their lives. Here's Treho again. You just gotta be real
careful about telling the truth. Okay. The leader of Mexican
(08:28):
Mafia was never raped, all right, So that's number one.
You can hear in his voice. This still makes Danny
Traho matt portraying the rape of the gang's leader, which
never happened and could never happen to someone elevated to
the leader of the Mexican Mafia got people killed. Now,
let's say this right away. Getting raped doesn't make you weak.
(08:48):
Getting assaulted isn't anyone's fault, but according to federal indictments
and according to Trejo, for the Mexican mafia, it's one
of four reasons to turn people away from the gang.
See the movie tends to make its point using rape.
I don't know how else to say it. When Santana
is a kid, he's raped in juvie. When his mom
gets pregnant, she's raped by a sailor. When Santana gets
(09:11):
out of prison, he starts to rape his girlfriend. The
gang uses rape as a punishment in prison, So of
course it enraged the Mexican mafia. And that's what Trejo
said numerous times during the promotional campaign for his book.
He talked to g Q, flat TV, Stevo, pretty much
everybody except us. Of course, Danny didn't want to talk
(09:33):
about American men anymore. I can't say why for certain.
Maybe it's because the book has been out already for
more than a year and he's done promoting it. Or
maybe it's because, according to one source, he and almost
had a difficult phone conversation after the book's release. But
even without Danny Trejo's account, rumors have flown about for years.
One of them is undoubtedly true. At least three people
(09:55):
were killed after this movie came out, and court records
say it was partly because of their volvement. But there's
other mercier allegations. The big one is that Edward James
almost had a price on his head. The rumor is
almost had to pay the Mexican mafia some amount of
money to stay alive. Some people told us it was
a hundred thousand dollars. One person told us it was
(10:15):
a million. But no one with firsthand knowledge has confirmed this,
and rumors are just that rumors. There's another allegation, this
one from Danny Trejo. At least four people in prison
were killed because of their participation in this movie. Trejo
says in total, eight or as many as ten people
were killed in connection with the film, without their names,
(10:37):
though we can't say whether it's true or not, and
when it comes to people's lives, there's a big difference
between eight and ten. Some of the stuff Trejo said
we were able to verify, some of it is directly
contradicted in our interviews, and some of it we can't
say either way. What I'm saying is take his account
with a big grain assault and Danny. If you ever
(10:58):
want to talk, our lines are open. We'll get into
it after the break. Welcome back to More Than a Movie.
I'm Alex Fumetro, and I'm here to take you through
(11:18):
the myths and legends surrounding American Me. The story of
American Me is the story of Montoya Santana, almost based
a character on the real life founder of the Mexican Mafia.
But let's try to separate fact from fiction a little
bit here. The movie puts a young Santana in juvie
where he starts a gang that also happened to the
(11:40):
real life guy. Santana grows up as the best friend
of a white guy with a prosthetic leg in a
Latino gang that's also based on real life, and Santana
gets stabbed to death and thrown off a railing in prison.
That's what happened to Gala. From reporting Trejo's book, court records,
and the stuff we learned in interviews and on back round,
it seems like the Mexican Mafia took exception with their
(12:03):
portrayal in this movie. Remember that white guy with the
fake leg, his name is Joe Morgan and he filed
a lawsuit in against Edward James Almost and the Studio Universal.
He said the movie quote invaded his right to privacy
by appropriating his likeness and life story end quote. What
(12:23):
that means is the movie stole his life story, lied
about him in that life story, then profited. Here's his lawyer,
Milton Grimes. There was some dispute as to some of
the things they portrayed Mr Morrigan in and there was
some disagreement with people that were knowledgeable are involved in
(12:50):
the Mexican Association. And uh, they disagreed with some of
the portrayals in their of Mr Morgan, and um, some
disputes and disagreements came out of that, and um that's
what happened. Joe's nickname was peg Leg for obvious reasons.
(13:12):
He claimed in the lawsuit that his character committed several
murders that the real life Joe Morgan was never charged with.
He said his kids and his grandkids would see the
movie and think it was all true. Rather than me
in a terror, a monster that would attack and I
was supposed to shiver in front of I remember him
(13:33):
being a mild mannered, grandfatherly type. To be honest with you,
the monster was not there, and I have to admit
that I had some concerns with meeting the infamous Joe Morrigan.
Only exhibit that Morgan's legal team entered into evidence was
a VHS copy of American Me. But most of the
people offended by this movie didn't take their problems to court.
(13:56):
The three murders we could directly connect to the movie
were of gang members and a gang interventionist hired by
the movie as a gang liaison. Her name was Anna Saraga.
Lisaraga was already marked for death before this movie, according
to federal court filings. At meeting recorded by the police,
a Mexican mafia member said that Li Saraga was interfering
(14:17):
with drug trafficking on their turf, but it wasn't until
she participated in American Me that she was shot thirteen
times in her driveway. One of the shooters was initiated
into the Mexican Mafia because of the murder. In line
with almost his commitment to making this movie true to life,
the production used people from the neighborhood as extras. Some
of those extras were in rival gangs and that caused
(14:39):
some problems. We'll talk to the casting director and the
location manager who had to deal with all that. One
person we won't talk to, and I want to be
up front about this is Edward James. Almost through a
mutual friend, he told us he quote, can't talk about
American Me. Can't let that settle in. When American Me
(15:08):
went into production, Edward James almost was on a roll
Blade Runner, Miami Vice and of course Stand and Deliver,
which got him an Oscar nam and probably more importantly
to him, positioned him as a role model for the community.
I wouldn't do that if I was you. When he
was a finger, I won't be able to come to tan.
Like many actors at the height of his fame, almost
wanted to direct, and he picked this script, a script
(15:31):
about a gang that's not totally unexpected after the success
Italian American filmmakers had seen with The Godfather and Goodfellas.
Who didn't watch those two movies and wish they were
part of the mob? I certainly did. When Andy Garcia
became The Godfather, I felt like I had been made.
But American Me was supposed to be about how the
gangster life is a total fantasy, a nightmare really in
(15:53):
that way. The story of American Me is a success,
but the story of American Me is also a failure
because the movie it was intended to prevent gang violence,
instead caused more of it. Here's actor Jacob Vargas. Do
you see any irony in a film that was intended
to stop gang violence that may maybe it actually recruited
more people to I mean, I guess there is some
(16:16):
irony in that, but but I feel like I'm sure
it probably stopped a few kids, you know, Like I'm
sure a lot of people will see that and say,
hey that I don't want any part of that as well.
It's like with certain movies, you know, it can it
can be singled out that American mu is the only one,
like you look at like, you know, the Good Fellows
and these other films that are that are cautionary tales
(16:37):
about the mafia, you know, in a way tend to
glorify it, you know. And then just because you know,
these actors did a really good job, and all these
characters work were cool and and uh, you know, Santana
was like a cool dude, and you know, he was
in charge and and uh, you know, it held a
lot of power. So I just think there's an intertract
(17:00):
and to to that, and some people will look at
that above above what the real meaning of of you
know the film is that it's a vicious cycle. American
Mew was successful in most of the ways the movie
is supposed to succeed. Roger Ebert gave it three and
a half stars. It premiered, it can It didn't make
a lot of money, but it wasn't a massive financial
(17:20):
failure either, and it went on to become a fan favorite.
But still the controversy surrounding it has always overshadowed the success.
This was a majority Chicano production film, Denis l A.
If it had gone right, it could have been the
next Good Fellas or Boys in the Hood, a movie
that launched careers. There could have been tons of mid
nineties imitation movies like How Standing Deliver gave Us Dangerous
(17:44):
Minds and my favorite Seven Stupid Any End. But most
of all, Edward James almost could have become our Robert
de Niro and our Martin Scorsese. Don't get me wrong,
he's a huge success. He has a career anyone would
(18:04):
be proud of. But that what if bothers me, especially
when latinos make up one in five Americans, but only
one in twenty actors on screen. I wonder if it
bothers him too. Welcome back to more than a movie,
(18:33):
American Me. I'm Alex flomto. About a month after American
Me premiered, an uprising broke out across l A. Stores burned,
people were scared. It was the result of racial tensions
and police brutality in the powder keg that was Los
Angeles in the early People complain today about how crime
(18:55):
is on the rise, but that's only true if you
look at the last two years. Today, a one in
twenty thousand people is killed each year in l A.
In the early nineties it was one in five thousand people,
four times higher. Joe Biden, who was a senator back then,
called the most violent period in American history, where in
(19:16):
the worst period of violent crime in the entire history
of this great country. Ninety thousand Americans will have been
murdered in the first term of this administration. Ninety thousand
Americans murdered by the end of this year. Murderer is
(19:37):
the number one cause of death in American Mr. President
among the entire American population of fifteen to twenty four
year olds. It's the second leading cause of death. Writer
Eric Galindo was in elementary school when he saw smoke
from the fires caused by the so called La riots.
And remember one day, like the teachers were just like, um,
(19:59):
they they took us all out to like the field,
you know, and we could see they were burning, uh Summerset,
which was Compton Boulevard at the time, and our school
was like, I don't know, it was definitely walking distance
from like the little liquor stores that were getting burnt
(20:20):
down the street, and you can see the fire. We're
waiting for our parents what was happening. But as soon
as we started seeing the smoke get really close to us,
they just had us run. And I remember running and
being so afraid because you know, by this time, the
riots have been going on for a minute, and I
had to hurd stories of the police shooting people who
were just running, you know. And I remember running and
(20:40):
being afraid that I was going to get shot by
a cop, thinking I had stolen some ship, you know.
And like I had my little brother who was only
two years younger than me, and I was just like
running home and then like getting home and locking the
doors and just not not knowing, like well, it's it's
it's weird because it was like you're afraid, there's chaos,
(21:04):
you know, and here's Milton Grimes again, who was also
Rodney King's attorney. But that verdict in Semi Valley, man Um,
it felt like a mew had kicked me in my stomach,
you know, like back in the country we always were warned,
don't go behind that horseboard, don't go behind that me
kick kill you. And it felt like I had been
(21:24):
kicked in the stomach. You know. It was painful. So
I understand the young people involved. I've represented Henry Watson
and I represented uh Damian Williams football after that on
other matters, okay, and talked to them about what happened
with Reginald Dinny and they said, no, he ain't do nothing,
that white man and do nothing wrong to us. It
(21:45):
was just our anger, that's all. It was anger and white.
We did get lucky in one respect. All the time
they were filming the movie, there was a documentary crew
following the production. What they made was a dot called
Lives and Hazard and it's great because you get to
hear from the real life gang members at the time
this movie was made. You struggle here and and and
you gotta find a way of making money. And you know,
(22:07):
my you know, robbing got old, and stealing got old,
and drugs seem to be easier to make money. And
my easiest way was at the time was pushing PCP.
I was liking it, and I was living the fast
lane toil like hit the wrong car and sold of
the wrong person, and that's what started my career in institutions.
(22:29):
I heard like the shot, so when I heard the
car behind me, I knew it was a drive by.
I turned as when I turned as when he shot
me in the back. We talked to the filmmakers of
that documentary too. This is one of the directors, Andrew Young.
These are people who are neglected, you know, they're not
paid attention to and in fact, that's that can be
(22:50):
cited as part of the problem. Um they look for
their own system of self generating self respect because they're
not getting it from society. American Me was a major
studio film released in theaters across the country, but it
lost money. It only played in about eight hundred theaters
and made thirty million dollars. My cousin Vinny, which was
(23:12):
released the exact same day, made fifty two million, but
in almost twice as many theaters. At first, I thought
that's some racist Hollywood bullshit. They didn't promote it or
didn't put it in enough theaters. But then we heard
in our interviews that this movie didn't play well with
older Chicano audiences at the time. Today, American Me is
a cult classic to young Latinos, but back then it
(23:35):
seemed to confuse or piss off their parents. They saw
it as a film that made their culture look violent,
But to me, it reflected some of the real problems
our culture still has to this day. We're gonna talk
in this podcast about issues like machismo and homophobia and violence,
how this movie both pushed back against it but also
reinforced it. We'll break down the decisions made by the
(23:58):
cast and the crew, both on set and in pre production.
We'll meet some of the people behind the scenes and
in front of the camera and try to tell the
stories of the people who were caught in the crossfire.
I'm a documentary filmmaker and a Latino who has been
working in the entertainment industry for twenty years. If there's
one thing I know. It's the way Latinos are portrayed
and treated in Hollywood. And that's why when I heard
(24:20):
the story of American Met, I knew it was about
more than just the movie, or the rumors or even
the fallout. What happened to American Me is about who
we are as a people and what could have been.
This is more than a movie. American Met more than
a movie. American Me is a production of Exile Content
(24:41):
Studios in Trojan Horse in partnership with My Hearts Michael
da podcast Network. The show is produced by me Alex
Fumetto at Anger Yuka on the Internets and our senior producers.
Nigel Dora, Rose Read and Cream Taps are the executive producers.
Production assistance from Sabine Jansen and out Valio and Stella Emmett.
Mixing and sound designed by the bottom Us. Our executive
producers at I Heeart are Gazelle Bonsas and Arlee and Santan.
(25:04):
For more podcasts, listen to the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
H
The year, and actor Edward James almost is on his
way to becoming a Hollywood icon. Coming off an OSCAR
nomination for his iconic role in Standard Deliver, Edward James
almost earned the biggest opportunity yet for a Latino filmmaker
to direct and star in a major Hollywood release, and
he chose a controversial subject for his territorial debut, The
(00:27):
Mexican Mafia, a notorious prison in street gang that at
the time was at the height of its powers. It
was a bold move and it didn't end well. That
film was called American Mean. The critics liked the movie,
but the Mexican Mafia did not. Just weeks after the premiere,
(00:49):
several people who worked on the movie were murdered. Almost
never addressed the killings. He still hasn't. Maybe it's because
allegedly he himself was threatened and extorted. In fact, while
I've been researching and interviewing people related to this film
that came out thirty years ago, over and over again,
I get eerily similar responses like I won't talk about that,
(01:12):
or flat out told leave this alone. More than a movie,
American Means a podcast that digs into the history and
Mystery of American Mean, a film directed by and starring
Edward James almost that had a huge impact on Latino
(01:33):
culture and cinema. I'm your host, Alex Fumeto, and I'll
be diving into the controversy behind the movie. The early
was an explosion of pop culture in l A about
l a bloody blood out. So the nineties was just
(01:56):
the like hangover from you know, the Cold War. I
don't know, there's a lot of nineties nineties nostalgia now,
but I remember being afraid every day, like hy two
k hiv uh, the gangs, the police. Like it feels
very similar to like these past few years of COVID
(02:18):
in terms of like just the angst and fear that
you can just feel from the community. That's Eric Allindo,
a Mexican American writer and producer that grew up right
here in Los Angeles. Eric is right. L A in
the nineties was scary to a lot of Angelinos, but
the fear level went to new heights when the l A.
P d brutally beat a man named Rodney King. Another
(02:43):
movie came out from a script that had been kicking
around for years. It was a movie about Latino gangs
in l A. Al Pacino was allegedly slated to play
the lead role. We all know ol loves to play Latinos,
but in the blowback to Scarface, the studio got cold feet,
like a lot of movies in Hollywood have got put
on the shelf until the Latino actor emerged as a
(03:04):
potential movie star. Edward James, almost fresh off a nomination
for an Academy Award, was offered the role. In response,
almost all the studio he would take the part if
he could also direct. After some back and forth and
some assurances that are more experienced read white director would
be around to help Eddie, they agreed, but almost had
(03:26):
something different in mine for the script. He wanted it
to feel real, to be connected to his roots as
a Chicano in East l A. And to address what
he felt was tearing his community apart gang violence. But
to do that, he did something that many people thought
was brave but others thought was reckless. The Arian Brotherhood
(03:47):
and the Blood Gorilla Family shared the yard, but fulsome
belonged to us. The oldest clicker me the Mexican Mafia.
He made the movie about a real gang, one of
the most intimidating and dangerous prison and street gangs of
(04:09):
all time. The Mexican Mafia a k a. A gang
that survives today and was no less powerful thirty years
ago when Edward James almost decided to base the movie
on what he claimed was a true story about them,
then people started dying. The movie was called American Me.
Here's one of the actors, Danny de la Pass, when
(04:31):
he found out someone who had worked on the movie
had just been killed. We were in France, um along
the Riviera at the con Film Festival with American Me
when we heard the news of Anna's assassination basically, and uh,
I remember feeling a little bit scared. I was in
(04:52):
a foreign country, I was far from home, and I
was like, Wow, what am I going to be going
back home to The Anna he's referring to is Anna Lissaraga,
who was a gang interventionist hired by the movie as
a gang liaison, and on May thirteenth, she was gunned
down in her East l A driveway while unloading groceries.
(05:12):
So yeah, it made sense that Danny de la Pace
was scared back then. Today thirty years later, it's hard
to get people to talk about it. Here's another American Me,
actor Sal Lopez. My job was to do my part,
and I didn't feel uh, you know, intimidated or or
(05:33):
anything like that. I mean, I was focused on doing
the work and making a good film. I um, you know,
I don't want to speak about. This is a movie
people still don't want to talk about. Some of them
are scared of the consequences to themselves. Some of them
want to protect the movies director Edward James. Almost some
of them don't see why we want to dredge up
(05:54):
the past. I wanted to make this podcast because as
a filmmaker, American Me was an precedented opportunity for Latinos
in Hollywood, a Latino director, cast, and crew. But I
also think it's worth asking two questions. One why were
people killed for making a movie? And two why did
Edward James almost make this movie when people warned him
(06:16):
again and again it was dangerous. We'll dig into the
history and mysteries around one film that had a huge
impact on the culture. We're talking about American Me. Think
of this podcast like an audio documentary. The first half
of this twelve episode series is going to be about
the Hollywood rumors and word on the street that have
surrounded this movie for thirty years. In the second half
(06:40):
of the episodes, though we're going to do our best
to get down to the truth, let's start with the rumors.
Even today, people are still afraid to talk about this movie.
We had people canceled interviews or refuse to talk on
the record. I spent hours in person, over coffee or
on the phone talking to high level people who had
worked on this film, who, at the end of our
(07:01):
really candid conversation would say to me they would never
talk on the record. We had people call us from
block numbers so we wouldn't know who was calling. One
lawyer agreed to talk to us, then her husband told
her not to. He was still afraid for their safety.
Three decades later, I've pieced together the parts of the
story I can. It all started with a chapter in
(07:23):
a memoir by Danny Trejo, better known as or a
million other roles as the scariest looking motherfucker You've ever seen.
Here's Treho talking about it to lad TV. The person
in charge of that movie made a lot of mistakes.
American Edwards James almost admitted, do you know him? Yeah, yeah,
(07:44):
I saved his life, really, and he won't admit that either.
See Treho, who's not in the movie, is a pivotal
figure in this story. According to him, this is how
it went. Edward James almost never got permission from the
met Pxican Mafia to tell this story. Before it even
went into production, key members of the gang had read
(08:05):
the script and warned Trey Hoo not to work on
the movie. During production, Trejo says he was asked to
be a consultant, but refused to do it out of
respect for the gang. When the movie finally premiered, the
Mexican Mafia was enraged almost had fabricated important details about
their lives. Here's Treho again. You just gotta be real
careful about telling the truth. Okay. The leader of Mexican
(08:28):
Mafia was never raped, all right, So that's number one.
You can hear in his voice. This still makes Danny
Traho matt portraying the rape of the gang's leader, which
never happened and could never happen to someone elevated to
the leader of the Mexican Mafia got people killed. Now,
let's say this right away. Getting raped doesn't make you weak.
(08:48):
Getting assaulted isn't anyone's fault, but according to federal indictments
and according to Trejo, for the Mexican mafia, it's one
of four reasons to turn people away from the gang.
See the movie tends to make its point using rape.
I don't know how else to say it. When Santana
is a kid, he's raped in juvie. When his mom
gets pregnant, she's raped by a sailor. When Santana gets
(09:11):
out of prison, he starts to rape his girlfriend. The
gang uses rape as a punishment in prison, So of
course it enraged the Mexican mafia. And that's what Trejo
said numerous times during the promotional campaign for his book.
He talked to g Q, flat TV, Stevo, pretty much
everybody except us. Of course, Danny didn't want to talk
(09:33):
about American men anymore. I can't say why for certain.
Maybe it's because the book has been out already for
more than a year and he's done promoting it. Or
maybe it's because, according to one source, he and almost
had a difficult phone conversation after the book's release. But
even without Danny Trejo's account, rumors have flown about for years.
One of them is undoubtedly true. At least three people
(09:55):
were killed after this movie came out, and court records
say it was partly because of their volvement. But there's
other mercier allegations. The big one is that Edward James
almost had a price on his head. The rumor is
almost had to pay the Mexican mafia some amount of
money to stay alive. Some people told us it was
a hundred thousand dollars. One person told us it was
(10:15):
a million. But no one with firsthand knowledge has confirmed this,
and rumors are just that rumors. There's another allegation, this
one from Danny Trejo. At least four people in prison
were killed because of their participation in this movie. Trejo
says in total, eight or as many as ten people
were killed in connection with the film, without their names,
(10:37):
though we can't say whether it's true or not, and
when it comes to people's lives, there's a big difference
between eight and ten. Some of the stuff Trejo said
we were able to verify, some of it is directly
contradicted in our interviews, and some of it we can't
say either way. What I'm saying is take his account
with a big grain assault and Danny. If you ever
(10:58):
want to talk, our lines are open. We'll get into
it after the break. Welcome back to More Than a Movie.
I'm Alex Fumetro, and I'm here to take you through
(11:18):
the myths and legends surrounding American Me. The story of
American Me is the story of Montoya Santana, almost based
a character on the real life founder of the Mexican Mafia.
But let's try to separate fact from fiction a little
bit here. The movie puts a young Santana in juvie
where he starts a gang that also happened to the
(11:40):
real life guy. Santana grows up as the best friend
of a white guy with a prosthetic leg in a
Latino gang that's also based on real life, and Santana
gets stabbed to death and thrown off a railing in prison.
That's what happened to Gala. From reporting Trejo's book, court records,
and the stuff we learned in interviews and on back round,
it seems like the Mexican Mafia took exception with their
(12:03):
portrayal in this movie. Remember that white guy with the
fake leg, his name is Joe Morgan and he filed
a lawsuit in against Edward James Almost and the Studio Universal.
He said the movie quote invaded his right to privacy
by appropriating his likeness and life story end quote. What
(12:23):
that means is the movie stole his life story, lied
about him in that life story, then profited. Here's his lawyer,
Milton Grimes. There was some dispute as to some of
the things they portrayed Mr Morrigan in and there was
some disagreement with people that were knowledgeable are involved in
(12:50):
the Mexican Association. And uh, they disagreed with some of
the portrayals in their of Mr Morgan, and um, some
disputes and disagreements came out of that, and um that's
what happened. Joe's nickname was peg Leg for obvious reasons.
(13:12):
He claimed in the lawsuit that his character committed several
murders that the real life Joe Morgan was never charged with.
He said his kids and his grandkids would see the
movie and think it was all true. Rather than me
in a terror, a monster that would attack and I
was supposed to shiver in front of I remember him
(13:33):
being a mild mannered, grandfatherly type. To be honest with you,
the monster was not there, and I have to admit
that I had some concerns with meeting the infamous Joe Morrigan.
Only exhibit that Morgan's legal team entered into evidence was
a VHS copy of American Me. But most of the
people offended by this movie didn't take their problems to court.
(13:56):
The three murders we could directly connect to the movie
were of gang members and a gang interventionist hired by
the movie as a gang liaison. Her name was Anna Saraga.
Lisaraga was already marked for death before this movie, according
to federal court filings. At meeting recorded by the police,
a Mexican mafia member said that Li Saraga was interfering
(14:17):
with drug trafficking on their turf, but it wasn't until
she participated in American Me that she was shot thirteen
times in her driveway. One of the shooters was initiated
into the Mexican Mafia because of the murder. In line
with almost his commitment to making this movie true to life,
the production used people from the neighborhood as extras. Some
of those extras were in rival gangs and that caused
(14:39):
some problems. We'll talk to the casting director and the
location manager who had to deal with all that. One
person we won't talk to, and I want to be
up front about this is Edward James. Almost through a
mutual friend, he told us he quote, can't talk about
American Me. Can't let that settle in. When American Me
(15:08):
went into production, Edward James almost was on a roll
Blade Runner, Miami Vice and of course Stand and Deliver,
which got him an Oscar nam and probably more importantly
to him, positioned him as a role model for the community.
I wouldn't do that if I was you. When he
was a finger, I won't be able to come to tan.
Like many actors at the height of his fame, almost
wanted to direct, and he picked this script, a script
(15:31):
about a gang that's not totally unexpected after the success
Italian American filmmakers had seen with The Godfather and Goodfellas.
Who didn't watch those two movies and wish they were
part of the mob? I certainly did. When Andy Garcia
became The Godfather, I felt like I had been made.
But American Me was supposed to be about how the
gangster life is a total fantasy, a nightmare really in
(15:53):
that way. The story of American Me is a success,
but the story of American Me is also a failure
because the movie it was intended to prevent gang violence,
instead caused more of it. Here's actor Jacob Vargas. Do
you see any irony in a film that was intended
to stop gang violence that may maybe it actually recruited
more people to I mean, I guess there is some
(16:16):
irony in that, but but I feel like I'm sure
it probably stopped a few kids, you know, Like I'm
sure a lot of people will see that and say,
hey that I don't want any part of that as well.
It's like with certain movies, you know, it can it
can be singled out that American mu is the only one,
like you look at like, you know, the Good Fellows
and these other films that are that are cautionary tales
(16:37):
about the mafia, you know, in a way tend to
glorify it, you know. And then just because you know,
these actors did a really good job, and all these
characters work were cool and and uh, you know, Santana
was like a cool dude, and you know, he was
in charge and and uh, you know, it held a
lot of power. So I just think there's an intertract
(17:00):
and to to that, and some people will look at
that above above what the real meaning of of you
know the film is that it's a vicious cycle. American
Mew was successful in most of the ways the movie
is supposed to succeed. Roger Ebert gave it three and
a half stars. It premiered, it can It didn't make
a lot of money, but it wasn't a massive financial
(17:20):
failure either, and it went on to become a fan favorite.
But still the controversy surrounding it has always overshadowed the success.
This was a majority Chicano production film, Denis l A.
If it had gone right, it could have been the
next Good Fellas or Boys in the Hood, a movie
that launched careers. There could have been tons of mid
nineties imitation movies like How Standing Deliver gave Us Dangerous
(17:44):
Minds and my favorite Seven Stupid Any End. But most
of all, Edward James almost could have become our Robert
de Niro and our Martin Scorsese. Don't get me wrong,
he's a huge success. He has a career anyone would
(18:04):
be proud of. But that what if bothers me, especially
when latinos make up one in five Americans, but only
one in twenty actors on screen. I wonder if it
bothers him too. Welcome back to more than a movie,
(18:33):
American Me. I'm Alex flomto. About a month after American
Me premiered, an uprising broke out across l A. Stores burned,
people were scared. It was the result of racial tensions
and police brutality in the powder keg that was Los
Angeles in the early People complain today about how crime
(18:55):
is on the rise, but that's only true if you
look at the last two years. Today, a one in
twenty thousand people is killed each year in l A.
In the early nineties it was one in five thousand people,
four times higher. Joe Biden, who was a senator back then,
called the most violent period in American history, where in
(19:16):
the worst period of violent crime in the entire history
of this great country. Ninety thousand Americans will have been
murdered in the first term of this administration. Ninety thousand
Americans murdered by the end of this year. Murderer is
(19:37):
the number one cause of death in American Mr. President
among the entire American population of fifteen to twenty four
year olds. It's the second leading cause of death. Writer
Eric Galindo was in elementary school when he saw smoke
from the fires caused by the so called La riots.
And remember one day, like the teachers were just like, um,
(19:59):
they they took us all out to like the field,
you know, and we could see they were burning, uh Summerset,
which was Compton Boulevard at the time, and our school
was like, I don't know, it was definitely walking distance
from like the little liquor stores that were getting burnt
(20:20):
down the street, and you can see the fire. We're
waiting for our parents what was happening. But as soon
as we started seeing the smoke get really close to us,
they just had us run. And I remember running and
being so afraid because you know, by this time, the
riots have been going on for a minute, and I
had to hurd stories of the police shooting people who
were just running, you know. And I remember running and
(20:40):
being afraid that I was going to get shot by
a cop, thinking I had stolen some ship, you know.
And like I had my little brother who was only
two years younger than me, and I was just like
running home and then like getting home and locking the
doors and just not not knowing, like well, it's it's
it's weird because it was like you're afraid, there's chaos,
(21:04):
you know, and here's Milton Grimes again, who was also
Rodney King's attorney. But that verdict in Semi Valley, man Um,
it felt like a mew had kicked me in my stomach,
you know, like back in the country we always were warned,
don't go behind that horseboard, don't go behind that me
kick kill you. And it felt like I had been
(21:24):
kicked in the stomach. You know. It was painful. So
I understand the young people involved. I've represented Henry Watson
and I represented uh Damian Williams football after that on
other matters, okay, and talked to them about what happened
with Reginald Dinny and they said, no, he ain't do nothing,
that white man and do nothing wrong to us. It
(21:45):
was just our anger, that's all. It was anger and white.
We did get lucky in one respect. All the time
they were filming the movie, there was a documentary crew
following the production. What they made was a dot called
Lives and Hazard and it's great because you get to
hear from the real life gang members at the time
this movie was made. You struggle here and and and
you gotta find a way of making money. And you know,
(22:07):
my you know, robbing got old, and stealing got old,
and drugs seem to be easier to make money. And
my easiest way was at the time was pushing PCP.
I was liking it, and I was living the fast
lane toil like hit the wrong car and sold of
the wrong person, and that's what started my career in institutions.
(22:29):
I heard like the shot, so when I heard the
car behind me, I knew it was a drive by.
I turned as when I turned as when he shot
me in the back. We talked to the filmmakers of
that documentary too. This is one of the directors, Andrew Young.
These are people who are neglected, you know, they're not
paid attention to and in fact, that's that can be
(22:50):
cited as part of the problem. Um they look for
their own system of self generating self respect because they're
not getting it from society. American Me was a major
studio film released in theaters across the country, but it
lost money. It only played in about eight hundred theaters
and made thirty million dollars. My cousin Vinny, which was
(23:12):
released the exact same day, made fifty two million, but
in almost twice as many theaters. At first, I thought
that's some racist Hollywood bullshit. They didn't promote it or
didn't put it in enough theaters. But then we heard
in our interviews that this movie didn't play well with
older Chicano audiences at the time. Today, American Me is
a cult classic to young Latinos, but back then it
(23:35):
seemed to confuse or piss off their parents. They saw
it as a film that made their culture look violent,
But to me, it reflected some of the real problems
our culture still has to this day. We're gonna talk
in this podcast about issues like machismo and homophobia and violence,
how this movie both pushed back against it but also
reinforced it. We'll break down the decisions made by the
(23:58):
cast and the crew, both on set and in pre production.
We'll meet some of the people behind the scenes and
in front of the camera and try to tell the
stories of the people who were caught in the crossfire.
I'm a documentary filmmaker and a Latino who has been
working in the entertainment industry for twenty years. If there's
one thing I know. It's the way Latinos are portrayed
and treated in Hollywood. And that's why when I heard
(24:20):
the story of American Met, I knew it was about
more than just the movie, or the rumors or even
the fallout. What happened to American Me is about who
we are as a people and what could have been.
This is more than a movie. American Met more than
a movie. American Me is a production of Exile Content
(24:41):
Studios in Trojan Horse in partnership with My Hearts Michael
da podcast Network. The show is produced by me Alex
Fumetto at Anger Yuka on the Internets and our senior producers.
Nigel Dora, Rose Read and Cream Taps are the executive producers.
Production assistance from Sabine Jansen and out Valio and Stella Emmett.
Mixing and sound designed by the bottom Us. Our executive
producers at I Heeart are Gazelle Bonsas and Arlee and Santan.
(25:04):
For more podcasts, listen to the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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