November 24, 2022 • 27 mins
We recap what we've learned, especially the whirlwind final months when we got to the bottom of what happened here.
We set out to find out what happened during and after the production of the movie American Me. It took six months, but we think we've determined who did what, and why they did it. Instead of fuzzy memories and street rumors, we finally talked to some of the people closest to the events. We put the events in context for the listener and provide our major takeaways. For perhaps the first time ever, we learn the "why" to one of the most notorious movie productions in American history.
More Than a Movie: American Me is a podcast that digs into the history and mystery of American Me, a film directed by and starring Edward James Olmos that had a huge impact on Latino cinema and culture. In every episode, our host, Alex Fumero will be diving into the controversy behind the movie.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The person in charge of that movie made a lot
of mistakes. American met Edward James almost yeah admitted do
you know him? Oh yeah, I saved his life really
and he won't admit that either. Welcome to more than
a movie American Me. I'm your host, Alex Fomento. Today's
(00:23):
our last episode of this season. We've been learning about
this movie in pieces, from the actors who were on set,
to the filmmakers behind the scenes, to the gang members
who gave us the inside scoop on the murders associated
with the movie. It's time to take everything we've learned
in our last six months of digging in our hours
(00:43):
and hours of interviews and wiki holls and YouTube videos
with two views to try to put together some sort
of complete picture. Who is the real Edward James almost,
why did he make American Meat, who actually got killed
because of this movie? And most importantly, was it all
worth it. Let's start where we always start on this podcast,
(01:06):
the one big interview, the guy we wanted to talk
to but didn't want to talk to us. By now
you should know who I'm talking about, Mr Edward James.
Almost none of this happens without him, not the good
stuff like a Latino director getting a major movie made
thirty years ago, and maybe none of the bad stuff.
More on that later, but first, that voice you heard
(01:28):
at the top, that's Danny Trejo. He's probably the second
most important person in this story. He wouldn't talk to
us either. Maybe it's because we found out that a
lot of what he wrote in his twenty nineteen memoir
might have been embellished, misremembered, or just playing wrong. But
we probably wouldn't have done this podcast where it not
for Trejo and his attempts to sell his memoir off
(01:49):
the back of American me stories like the one about
when almost showed up to a Jewish Deli method acting
in Prison Blues, or when a Mexican mafia leader supposedly
called him from prison and to warn him not to
act in the movie. From what we've heard, those stories
probably didn't happen, or if they did, they happened very
differently than how Trejo told them. But maybe he has
(02:10):
an explanation for the discrepancies, like how Joe Morgan managed
to call him from the Pelican based Special Housing unit
where he was in solitary confinement for twenty two point
five hours a day with more or less zero access
to the outside world. If he calls us back, we'll
do another episode. Phone lines are open, Danny. But Trejo
had a lot to say about Edward James Almost while
(02:31):
he was promoting his book. He's still pretty mad about
the whole thing. Okay, the leader of Mexican Mafia would
never raped Hey, at least that's one thing we agree on.
But enough about Danny Trejo. After all, whether you believe
his story or not, he wasn't the guy who made
American Me, and what transpired after the release of that
movie probably plays out the exact same way no matter
what Trejo's involvement may have been. Throughout this season, I've
(02:55):
been trying to get inside the head of one Edward
James Almost, particularly the almost of the early nine nineties. Obviously,
understanding the director of American Me would help us understand
the movie itself, but could it also help us understand
the version of America that the movie was made in, and,
by extension, explain why Edward James Almost would make such
(03:16):
a dangerous piece of art in the first place. Remember,
this isn't Admiral Adama, this is Edward James Almost circa one,
the rising Hollywood star, the recent Academy Award nominee, the
household name from five seasons on Miami Vice. But also
a family man with kids at home, an active community
leader with a vision, a spokesperson. If you will, one
(03:39):
clue into Edward James, almost as Psyche might lie in
a story that we heard about him early in our process.
It's the kind of story you think was made up
or that's being taken out of context, if not for
the fact that it's right on his website. It's about
the civil rights uprising in Los Angeles, sometimes better known
as the l A Riots, the culmination of a decade
of reaganam X and militarizing police forces reaching a fever pitch,
(04:03):
an event looking back that shows us Rodney King was
just the straw that broke the camel's back. Uh. In
our review or, we find that the officers struck him
with batons of between fifty three and fifty six times.
I was scared. I was scared. I was scared for
my life. The inaction of the seventeen officers may now
(04:24):
be investigated by the U. S. Attorney's Office for possible
civil rights violations. That's right. Seventeen officers were involved. Four
took turns beating up Rodney King while the others just
looked on. All were caught on tape, and the tape
was broadcast by every major news outlet. This was thirty
(04:45):
years ago, when not everybody owned a cam quorder. In fact,
this is so long ago, simme, y'all don't know what
the cam quorder is. And just a couple of months
after the event, those four officers were acquitted and the
city of Angels just erupted for five days. There were riots.
Even Sublime wrote a song about it. Where were you
(05:13):
at this point? American Me has been out only six
weeks and then all hell breaks loose on the same streets.
Edward James almost is trying to keep clean. He made
a movie to stop violence in Los Angeles, but how
does he deal with the most violent period the city
had ever seen. I'm gonna read you what he wrote
about just that, though my voice is nowhere as cool
(05:34):
as his, So just imagine Edward James almost talking to you.
I was out on the morning that the military were
scheduled to start to shoot to kill anyone left on
the streets. That's why I went out. I wanted to
see if they would shoot me with a broom in
my hand. Then people saw it and turned out by
the tens of thousands. The riot had not stopped, not
(05:55):
until the afternoon of the friday we went out. It's
funny how people think we went out after the fact.
We were the fact of why the riots stopped. One
person with a broom in his hands. It just happened
to be me. And this is how his right hand man,
Danny Harrow, explained that day. It was amazing. It was amazing. Um,
(06:16):
you know, I remember coming we started, I think any
myself and maybe three other people. Five o'clock in the morning.
We got brooms. Okay, that's what we're getting. Just that's
all right. As as as it got light, people were coming. Amazing.
People would come grab your cleaning stuff it with the
little cleaning army would would rise in numbers. And I
(06:38):
and I specifically remember we came to an intersection where
there were rioters going on and they were the National
Guarden and police, and they actually stopped for us because
they were about to go at it. They stopped for
us and were going across the intersection. Okay, you know,
so so people like I remember Denzel Washington later in
(07:00):
the day coming and spoke with Eddie, And you know,
I'm not saying they weren't doing their thing, but I
just remember that. I can't remember anybody that thought of
this and and and actually started implementing it in the
middle of it. But I know that he reached out
first to the African American community of leadership, and they
were afraid. I don't blame him, like I was afraid too,
(07:22):
but I thought, hey, we got you know what, at
least if we get killed, we're doing something that's honorable
and we're giving back. So Okay, he's in it, I'm
in it, let's go. I think it says so much
about this guy. He genuinely wanted to do something good.
He made what is ultimately a small but theatrical gesture,
and even today, seemingly he stands by the idea that
(07:43):
him and a broom stopped the violence. Doesn't it sound
a lot like the same kind of thinking that could
lead a man to believe that a movie criticizing a
very dangerous gang would somehow stopped children from wanting to
be gangsters. I try to think of this bold claim
by almost in the context of the Edward James almost
that I met, Yes, I met the man years ago
(08:06):
at a dinner for a magazine called Latino Leaders. The
prize for being a Latino Leader was a dinner with almost,
which frankly sounded pretty cool to me. The discussion at
dinner became a big pep talk about how to navigate
a Hollywood ecosystem that doesn't include you or even understand
you most of the time. But two things surprised me
that night. Almost asked us what the most watched movie
(08:29):
of all time? Was not the highest box office, but
watched the most times. We shouted out things like Titanic,
Star Wars, and Avatar. Wrong. He said Stand and Deliver
was the most watched movie of all time because it
is played to this day in every school in America.
(08:50):
A bold statement, but you try and prove him wrong.
And he asked us if he was better known for
his acting or his activism. I think we thought the
point he was trying to make was that he was
under appreciated for his activism. So every single person in
the room shouted out acting, no activism. He shouted back.
(09:13):
What became clear to me was that this was a
guy who saw himself first and foremost as an activist,
and that the work he did on screen followed that
guiding light. And he believes he is someone who can
personally make huge changes in our society. I mean, he's
the type of guy who thinks he in a broom
single handedly ended the l a riots. That makes it
(09:33):
a little easier to understand why he'd go to such
lengths and take such great risks. In American meme, coming
up More Than a Movie, We're going to hear some
of Edward James almost his sixties rock band, and we'll
recap what we learned about the murders. Here are some
of those commercials that you love so much. Welcome back
(09:55):
to More Than a Movie, American MEA, Alex Fumeto, thank
you for listening with us for the last twelve weeks.
That's longer than my producer's marriage lasted. Unlike him, at
least you know what commitment means. Let's talk about some
fun ship we found while we were reporting this story.
The man, the activist, the singer, Yes, Edward James almost
(10:16):
his first performances on stage where as a rock and
roll front man. Let's rewind a bit from ninety two
Back to sixty two. Edward James Almost grew up in
East l A And taught himself to sing and play
the piano. By the early sixties, he was good enough
to join a band, the Pacific Ocean. The band's name
was Eddie's Idea because it was the biggest thing on
the West coast with waist long hair. Eddie was the
(10:37):
band's lead vocalist. I was a terrible singer, says Almost,
but boy could I scream and dance means bitting his
new dance. That was a song entitled Mickey's Monkey off
the album Purgatory, the band's only album. It includes such
(11:02):
classic tunes as the bluesy tracks of My Tears, Look
at the Base, the seemingly James Brown inspired I Want
to Testify, and even a funkified version of Bob Dylan's
(11:33):
subterranean Homesick Blues Did. Why does it matter one because
it's cool and it's a fun way to come back
from commercial to the guy wasn't the bassist or the keys.
He was the lead singer, the front man from day
one and three. Because almost is always looking to push
(11:56):
the envelope. As we've covered before, this is white dominated
l A. So this makes almost who played at legendary
l A rock venues like Gazari's one of the first
Chicano frontmen on the Sunset Strip. So fast forward back
and Almost has hung up his microphone and picked up
a camera. Figuratively speaking, he's directing the story of the
gang leader who created the Mexican Mafia, and once again
(12:20):
he's leading the way, becoming one of, if not the
first movie to shoot inside an active prison with real prisoners.
I do remember on the yard, the big open yard um,
there were uh, you know, people in towers with rifles
and they were you know, they're they're on shoot to
(12:41):
kill orders. These are the directors of the documentary Lives
and Hazard, which shot alongside American me. If if if
anybody had messed with us, you know, they would have
been in you know, lockdown for years. That's that was
That was kind of what the guards told us. So
everybody was, you know, trying to be pretty polite. I
would suffice it to say, when Eddie asked you to
(13:04):
do something, he's pretty convincing. So he's pulling out all
the stops making a movie that's going to change society
as we know it. Then the movie comes out and
people start getting killed. Here's one of the actors, Danny
de la Pace. We were in France, um along the
riviera at the con Film Festival with American me when
(13:26):
we heard the news of Anna's assassination basically, and uh,
I remember feeling a little bit scared. I was in
a foreign country, I was far from home, and I
was like, wow, what am I gonna be going back
home to, you know, I it was an eye opener
from me. I I I didn't know what to think.
On the streets of Los Angeles, word was out about
(13:48):
the movie and the Mexican mafia was very unhappy. Eric
Galindo remembers, I mean I had heard that, you know
when they made it, that had you got special permission
from the real game ings to tell the story. Um,
you know, definitely had heard that he was on green light.
(14:10):
Um you know, so green light what it basically means
is that you're you've been marked for death. There are
so many stories about that movie. This is this was happening.
There's these rumors, you know, like, but all I really
did for for like my my little group of friends,
was like it just added to the authenticity, Like it
(14:32):
was more like, that's how fucking real this is, that
there are real gangsters involved, that people are getting killed
over this, and that's kind of the tragedy of this movie.
Edward James almost wanted to make an anti gang movie instead. Well,
I mean it's definitely not a movie that my parents
would go watch, you mean, to be honest with you. Um,
but I remember watching it with like sold out crowd.
(14:54):
Remember there was like line out the door. It was
sold out, and people loved it, you know. And and
the funny thing was, I remember walking out, you know,
people were like, oh, that's cool. Man Santana was a badass. No,
young Jacob Vargas. That's not what Edward James almost wanted.
Even some folks in the gang life were fans from
(15:15):
the actor Sal Lopez. Well, uh, one of my brothers was,
you know, it was a little bit involved in the
life for a little bit of time. And uh, heat
to this stage is loves that movie. He loves the movie,
you know. Ship the former Lamb and member we spoke
to even said members of the Mexican Mafia like the movie.
(15:37):
Beef over the rape. Notwithstanding, I think they glorified and
they wallowed in the attention, American Me actually put the
Mexican mafia on the national international stage. Coming up in
the very last segment of our deep dive on American Me,
what do we know now about the extortion and threats
made after the movie premiered? And did people really die
(15:59):
because of America? Can me? Welcome back to more than
a movie. I'm Alex Flumeto, and this is it. Thank
you for sticking with us all the way through it.
While we get to the bottom of what really happened
in the fallout to American Me, Let's listen to one
more anecdote from Almost and the l A Riots that
(16:21):
illustrates an important part of his worldview. And now we're
here to discuss some grimmer realities in the city of
Los Angeles. Have you been out today? What have you seen? Yeah,
you gotta understand that we've been uh understanding this problem
for a long time. We tried for many years and
we have been for many years trying to bring awareness
(16:41):
to it. Who exactly is the we he's talking about?
It's hard to say. Could be he was just with
a friend or his wife or a colleague, but I
don't think that's it. Could also be the royal weed.
But he doesn't strike me as that kind of guy either. No,
for me, this is a kind of Freudian example of
how almost Fuse himself always is a part of a
(17:02):
larger movement. It's not him ending the l a riots.
Actually we are doing it. It's not him ending gang violence.
We are. It's as if he isn't deciding to do
any of the things he's doing. The movement is sort
of carrying him there like it's inevitable. And at the
same time he's clearly someone who wants to control the process.
(17:24):
No matter how much Edward James almost thinks he's acting
on behalf of a movement, he's really the one making
the decisions, and decisions have consequences. You could argue that
his insistence on using the word we and always acting
in the interests of the community is altruistic and selfless,
but it also centers him as the leader of the action.
(17:46):
He's the lead singer, he's the man, and as such
he bears responsibility for the consequences of his actions or
the actions of the people he chooses to represent. So
what is Edward James almost ultimately responsible for when it
comes to American me. There's really just two elements of
the fallout that we have to look at. One did
(18:08):
he face any personal consequences for making the movie? And
two did the people who got killed after the movie
came out get killed because the movie came out. For
the personal consequences part, we're really just talking about the
supposed green light on almost and the potential ransom that
he paid. We've got two opposing stories to resolve, and
(18:28):
both of the people were intimately involved in the fallout
from the movie. The first is Danny Harrow, who was
almost his assistant at the time, and his take on
whether the extortion ever took place. What's your experience of
the threats and aftermath that came to him as a
result of give you Eddie's response to something like that,
do you think if if anybody gave money, if you
(18:52):
gave me a hundred fifty dollars and I'll leave you alone,
So somebody gives on you think they're going to stop?
That's That's the simple answer. That if you say yes
to any of that, it won't end. They can always
go back, Well, we need another hundred fifty and we're
gonna do you see what I'm saying. So, so that's
the answer right there. It's preposterous. I mean, I think
(19:15):
that's because I think that's a very viable, uh answer. However,
I think from what we've learned from our source within Liama,
they see themselves as a business, right, And so if
I was running a business and my business revolved around
me telling you better give me fifty dollars, you're gonna die,
and then I asked for thy thar, and then I
(19:35):
asked for another and another another, probably people are going
to stop paying me. But if you give me fifty
dollars and then I don't kill you, well then we've
completed a business transaction. Turned that around. Give me another fifty,
I'm going to kill you. I mean you always have
that as you're operating motive operandi. You know, I have
your your life in my hands. So how value is fifty?
(19:58):
Is fifty or is it more? I mean, think about
it for you know. I mean, that's unfortunately the way
these guys operate. So so without being specific to my answer,
that's the end that gives you the the the idea
of whether there's truth in that or not. Does that
make sense? It does? But then we have our source
(20:22):
from the last episode, the former Mexican Mafia member. Was
there ever a bounty on Edward James almost as far
as you know, No, No, there was not a bounty.
The Mexican Mafia never paid for a hit, and it
doesn't pay for hits. You do a hit, it's for
the honor and the glory and the privilege for killing
for the organization. So I mean, he was a target,
(20:44):
but not really a viable target. I mean, would they
have killed him if you walk into gang territory and
they were shooters there, sure they would have killed him.
But I think he was more valuable being the target
of extortion. So I mean you have to look at
it through the prism of the mob, all right. They
guys don't pay money, and he was a valuable asset
of the organization for the period that they used them.
(21:04):
Do you know what he paid them? Yeah? Wow, Okay,
that's that's actually less than what we heard. But I
guess fifty thirty years ago is a different story. So
it wasn't a bounty in the sense that they'll pay
for anyone who kills him. But what it would have
happened if almost hadn't paid Oh yeah. I mean, if
(21:27):
you wouldn't have paid, it would have got whacked. We'll
let you decide which story you believe. And then there's
the people who were killed. We've narrowed down from Danny
Trejo's vague eight to ten really to three individuals. Their
names were Annalys Sa, Charlie Mandriquez, and Manuel Luna. Between
(21:47):
all the rumors around the movie and the fact that
Edward James almost was maybe extorted by the Mexican mafia,
some people around and believe that the movie actually caused
the murders, to the point that they're still afraid today
that they'll get killed for talking about it. But as
we know from our source from within the Mexican mafia
at the time and from the federal indictment, these people
were already on green light. So why why did the
(22:11):
street react to this movie more than people in prisons. Well,
you know, a lot of the stuff, a lot of
it was filmed in hazard So smile long Guiado. He
was headstrong and it was an opportunistic for him to
eliminate people. They used to call Rocky Luna the godfather
of the projects, right, So it was opportunistic for a
Guyardo to utilize, you know, what was happening in the
(22:31):
political world of mafia to get them whacked. You know,
Charlie Brown Mariquez, we had conspired to kill him. You know,
I had volunteered to kill that guy years before. He
wasn't even were killing though, right and the Lozarego was
known as a rat through and through the hood, you know,
because she went through Youth gang Services and she spoke
to cops all the time, so she had smart on her.
Charlie Brown Mariquez has smut on him for being a bum.
(22:52):
He was degrading the organization by living in cars and
being a crackhead, and Mauel Luna became a crackhead, so
you know, they were diminishing the statue of the organization.
So Smiland used this opportunity to gain a foothold and hazard.
It turns out Puppet and Little Puppet were right all along.
My understanding that she she had a relationship with prior
(23:15):
to the movie. Obviously she was our our technical advisor,
and then she ended up in the movie. But she
was run in because she knew the world. And so
my understanding was that there was some kind of thief
that has something to do before the movie. I don't
really know. I don't either, but I think American Me was,
(23:36):
you know, maybe the straw that broke the camel's back.
But there was more to it than just American as
what you're trying to say, Like Rodney King, American Me
was more of the straw that broke the camel's back,
not the reason itself. Liss, Saga, Manriquez, and Luna would
have been killed eventually for their trespasses against Lamy, So
putting that on almost isn't any more fair than saying
(23:57):
the entire l a riots happened over court case. In fact,
unlike the Rodney King case, American Me had almost nothing
to do with why these people died. I wish I
could tell Edward James almost that directly. Would it make
him feel better? I don't know. I think ultimately my
quest to hear from almost or at the least to
understand him, is really about the desire to understand the
(24:21):
power of the artist himself. Is he right to believe
that we can have that kind of impact, the kind
that stops gang violence or riots through art and activism,
or is that just a messianic complex? I'm not sure.
What the answers to those questions are. But I have
to think that was a humbling year for Edward James. Almost.
(24:43):
What we do know is that, well, maybe he didn't
become the Chicano Martin Scorsese. He did find a more modest,
if not painstaking way to make an impact in the
lives of young Latinos. I mean, the chairman of the
a Cinema Project how found it. It was an evolutionary
(25:04):
process that started back and then kind of evolved, almost
turned his attention to the classroom, perhaps inspired more by
him Escalante than anything else. Film influences the human mind.
It's a very powerful medium. The way you address diversity
is by going back to the drawing board and starting
(25:26):
in fourth grade. The mission of the Youth Cinema Project
is very simple. It's about closing the achievement gap in
the classroom for our most underprivileged children and to close
the opportunity gap in the entertainment industry for our communities
of color Fi cattic to The program involves two filmmaking
mentors going into the classroom and they teach the entire
(25:47):
process of film, so how to generate ideas, how to
write the script, all the planning and pre production, filming itself,
in production as well as post that. They go through
the process treating the students as colleagues rather than lecturing
to them. It's inspired the community to the point of
(26:09):
where kids are actually attending school mare. I mean, I
wish I would have been had this class when I
was in the fourth grade. My work would have been
completely different. Our ultimate goal is to try to get
the Youth Cinema Project inside every fourth grade class throughout
the United States. I am the founder and the creator
(26:29):
of the Youth Cinema Project, and I'm very honor and
proud of it more than a movie. American Me is
a production of Exile Content Studios in partnership with My Hearts,
michaela Podcast Network, and Trojan Horse Media. This show is
produced by me Alex Fometo at Angry Yuk on the
Internets and our senior producer is Nigel torm Rose Reed,
(26:50):
Nando Viela and Cream Taps are executive producers. Are Supervising
producer is Sabine Jansen. Mixing and sound designed by Eduardo
Albornos are executive for users at I Heart are just
cl Bansas and Arlene Santana. For more podcasts, listen to
the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. H
The person in charge of that movie made a lot
of mistakes. American met Edward James almost yeah admitted do
you know him? Oh yeah, I saved his life really
and he won't admit that either. Welcome to more than
a movie American Me. I'm your host, Alex Fomento. Today's
(00:23):
our last episode of this season. We've been learning about
this movie in pieces, from the actors who were on set,
to the filmmakers behind the scenes, to the gang members
who gave us the inside scoop on the murders associated
with the movie. It's time to take everything we've learned
in our last six months of digging in our hours
(00:43):
and hours of interviews and wiki holls and YouTube videos
with two views to try to put together some sort
of complete picture. Who is the real Edward James almost,
why did he make American Meat, who actually got killed
because of this movie? And most importantly, was it all
worth it. Let's start where we always start on this podcast,
(01:06):
the one big interview, the guy we wanted to talk
to but didn't want to talk to us. By now
you should know who I'm talking about, Mr Edward James.
Almost none of this happens without him, not the good
stuff like a Latino director getting a major movie made
thirty years ago, and maybe none of the bad stuff.
More on that later, but first, that voice you heard
(01:28):
at the top, that's Danny Trejo. He's probably the second
most important person in this story. He wouldn't talk to
us either. Maybe it's because we found out that a
lot of what he wrote in his twenty nineteen memoir
might have been embellished, misremembered, or just playing wrong. But
we probably wouldn't have done this podcast where it not
for Trejo and his attempts to sell his memoir off
(01:49):
the back of American me stories like the one about
when almost showed up to a Jewish Deli method acting
in Prison Blues, or when a Mexican mafia leader supposedly
called him from prison and to warn him not to
act in the movie. From what we've heard, those stories
probably didn't happen, or if they did, they happened very
differently than how Trejo told them. But maybe he has
(02:10):
an explanation for the discrepancies, like how Joe Morgan managed
to call him from the Pelican based Special Housing unit
where he was in solitary confinement for twenty two point
five hours a day with more or less zero access
to the outside world. If he calls us back, we'll
do another episode. Phone lines are open, Danny. But Trejo
had a lot to say about Edward James Almost while
(02:31):
he was promoting his book. He's still pretty mad about
the whole thing. Okay, the leader of Mexican Mafia would
never raped Hey, at least that's one thing we agree on.
But enough about Danny Trejo. After all, whether you believe
his story or not, he wasn't the guy who made
American Me, and what transpired after the release of that
movie probably plays out the exact same way no matter
what Trejo's involvement may have been. Throughout this season, I've
(02:55):
been trying to get inside the head of one Edward
James Almost, particularly the almost of the early nine nineties. Obviously,
understanding the director of American Me would help us understand
the movie itself, but could it also help us understand
the version of America that the movie was made in, and,
by extension, explain why Edward James Almost would make such
(03:16):
a dangerous piece of art in the first place. Remember,
this isn't Admiral Adama, this is Edward James Almost circa one,
the rising Hollywood star, the recent Academy Award nominee, the
household name from five seasons on Miami Vice. But also
a family man with kids at home, an active community
leader with a vision, a spokesperson. If you will, one
(03:39):
clue into Edward James, almost as Psyche might lie in
a story that we heard about him early in our process.
It's the kind of story you think was made up
or that's being taken out of context, if not for
the fact that it's right on his website. It's about
the civil rights uprising in Los Angeles, sometimes better known
as the l A Riots, the culmination of a decade
of reaganam X and militarizing police forces reaching a fever pitch,
(04:03):
an event looking back that shows us Rodney King was
just the straw that broke the camel's back. Uh. In
our review or, we find that the officers struck him
with batons of between fifty three and fifty six times.
I was scared. I was scared. I was scared for
my life. The inaction of the seventeen officers may now
(04:24):
be investigated by the U. S. Attorney's Office for possible
civil rights violations. That's right. Seventeen officers were involved. Four
took turns beating up Rodney King while the others just
looked on. All were caught on tape, and the tape
was broadcast by every major news outlet. This was thirty
(04:45):
years ago, when not everybody owned a cam quorder. In fact,
this is so long ago, simme, y'all don't know what
the cam quorder is. And just a couple of months
after the event, those four officers were acquitted and the
city of Angels just erupted for five days. There were riots.
Even Sublime wrote a song about it. Where were you
(05:13):
at this point? American Me has been out only six
weeks and then all hell breaks loose on the same streets.
Edward James almost is trying to keep clean. He made
a movie to stop violence in Los Angeles, but how
does he deal with the most violent period the city
had ever seen. I'm gonna read you what he wrote
about just that, though my voice is nowhere as cool
(05:34):
as his, So just imagine Edward James almost talking to you.
I was out on the morning that the military were
scheduled to start to shoot to kill anyone left on
the streets. That's why I went out. I wanted to
see if they would shoot me with a broom in
my hand. Then people saw it and turned out by
the tens of thousands. The riot had not stopped, not
(05:55):
until the afternoon of the friday we went out. It's
funny how people think we went out after the fact.
We were the fact of why the riots stopped. One
person with a broom in his hands. It just happened
to be me. And this is how his right hand man,
Danny Harrow, explained that day. It was amazing. It was amazing. Um,
(06:16):
you know, I remember coming we started, I think any
myself and maybe three other people. Five o'clock in the morning.
We got brooms. Okay, that's what we're getting. Just that's
all right. As as as it got light, people were coming. Amazing.
People would come grab your cleaning stuff it with the
little cleaning army would would rise in numbers. And I
(06:38):
and I specifically remember we came to an intersection where
there were rioters going on and they were the National
Guarden and police, and they actually stopped for us because
they were about to go at it. They stopped for
us and were going across the intersection. Okay, you know,
so so people like I remember Denzel Washington later in
(07:00):
the day coming and spoke with Eddie, And you know,
I'm not saying they weren't doing their thing, but I
just remember that. I can't remember anybody that thought of
this and and and actually started implementing it in the
middle of it. But I know that he reached out
first to the African American community of leadership, and they
were afraid. I don't blame him, like I was afraid too,
(07:22):
but I thought, hey, we got you know what, at
least if we get killed, we're doing something that's honorable
and we're giving back. So Okay, he's in it, I'm
in it, let's go. I think it says so much
about this guy. He genuinely wanted to do something good.
He made what is ultimately a small but theatrical gesture,
and even today, seemingly he stands by the idea that
(07:43):
him and a broom stopped the violence. Doesn't it sound
a lot like the same kind of thinking that could
lead a man to believe that a movie criticizing a
very dangerous gang would somehow stopped children from wanting to
be gangsters. I try to think of this bold claim
by almost in the context of the Edward James almost
that I met, Yes, I met the man years ago
(08:06):
at a dinner for a magazine called Latino Leaders. The
prize for being a Latino Leader was a dinner with almost,
which frankly sounded pretty cool to me. The discussion at
dinner became a big pep talk about how to navigate
a Hollywood ecosystem that doesn't include you or even understand
you most of the time. But two things surprised me
that night. Almost asked us what the most watched movie
(08:29):
of all time? Was not the highest box office, but
watched the most times. We shouted out things like Titanic,
Star Wars, and Avatar. Wrong. He said Stand and Deliver
was the most watched movie of all time because it
is played to this day in every school in America.
(08:50):
A bold statement, but you try and prove him wrong.
And he asked us if he was better known for
his acting or his activism. I think we thought the
point he was trying to make was that he was
under appreciated for his activism. So every single person in
the room shouted out acting, no activism. He shouted back.
(09:13):
What became clear to me was that this was a
guy who saw himself first and foremost as an activist,
and that the work he did on screen followed that
guiding light. And he believes he is someone who can
personally make huge changes in our society. I mean, he's
the type of guy who thinks he in a broom
single handedly ended the l a riots. That makes it
(09:33):
a little easier to understand why he'd go to such
lengths and take such great risks. In American meme, coming
up More Than a Movie, We're going to hear some
of Edward James almost his sixties rock band, and we'll
recap what we learned about the murders. Here are some
of those commercials that you love so much. Welcome back
(09:55):
to More Than a Movie, American MEA, Alex Fumeto, thank
you for listening with us for the last twelve weeks.
That's longer than my producer's marriage lasted. Unlike him, at
least you know what commitment means. Let's talk about some
fun ship we found while we were reporting this story.
The man, the activist, the singer, Yes, Edward James almost
(10:16):
his first performances on stage where as a rock and
roll front man. Let's rewind a bit from ninety two
Back to sixty two. Edward James Almost grew up in
East l A And taught himself to sing and play
the piano. By the early sixties, he was good enough
to join a band, the Pacific Ocean. The band's name
was Eddie's Idea because it was the biggest thing on
the West coast with waist long hair. Eddie was the
(10:37):
band's lead vocalist. I was a terrible singer, says Almost,
but boy could I scream and dance means bitting his
new dance. That was a song entitled Mickey's Monkey off
the album Purgatory, the band's only album. It includes such
(11:02):
classic tunes as the bluesy tracks of My Tears, Look
at the Base, the seemingly James Brown inspired I Want
to Testify, and even a funkified version of Bob Dylan's
(11:33):
subterranean Homesick Blues Did. Why does it matter one because
it's cool and it's a fun way to come back
from commercial to the guy wasn't the bassist or the keys.
He was the lead singer, the front man from day
one and three. Because almost is always looking to push
(11:56):
the envelope. As we've covered before, this is white dominated
l A. So this makes almost who played at legendary
l A rock venues like Gazari's one of the first
Chicano frontmen on the Sunset Strip. So fast forward back
and Almost has hung up his microphone and picked up
a camera. Figuratively speaking, he's directing the story of the
gang leader who created the Mexican Mafia, and once again
(12:20):
he's leading the way, becoming one of, if not the
first movie to shoot inside an active prison with real prisoners.
I do remember on the yard, the big open yard um,
there were uh, you know, people in towers with rifles
and they were you know, they're they're on shoot to
(12:41):
kill orders. These are the directors of the documentary Lives
and Hazard, which shot alongside American me. If if if
anybody had messed with us, you know, they would have
been in you know, lockdown for years. That's that was
That was kind of what the guards told us. So
everybody was, you know, trying to be pretty polite. I
would suffice it to say, when Eddie asked you to
(13:04):
do something, he's pretty convincing. So he's pulling out all
the stops making a movie that's going to change society
as we know it. Then the movie comes out and
people start getting killed. Here's one of the actors, Danny
de la Pace. We were in France, um along the
riviera at the con Film Festival with American me when
(13:26):
we heard the news of Anna's assassination basically, and uh,
I remember feeling a little bit scared. I was in
a foreign country, I was far from home, and I
was like, wow, what am I gonna be going back
home to, you know, I it was an eye opener
from me. I I I didn't know what to think.
On the streets of Los Angeles, word was out about
(13:48):
the movie and the Mexican mafia was very unhappy. Eric
Galindo remembers, I mean I had heard that, you know
when they made it, that had you got special permission
from the real game ings to tell the story. Um,
you know, definitely had heard that he was on green light.
(14:10):
Um you know, so green light what it basically means
is that you're you've been marked for death. There are
so many stories about that movie. This is this was happening.
There's these rumors, you know, like, but all I really
did for for like my my little group of friends,
was like it just added to the authenticity, Like it
(14:32):
was more like, that's how fucking real this is, that
there are real gangsters involved, that people are getting killed
over this, and that's kind of the tragedy of this movie.
Edward James almost wanted to make an anti gang movie instead. Well,
I mean it's definitely not a movie that my parents
would go watch, you mean, to be honest with you. Um,
but I remember watching it with like sold out crowd.
(14:54):
Remember there was like line out the door. It was
sold out, and people loved it, you know. And and
the funny thing was, I remember walking out, you know,
people were like, oh, that's cool. Man Santana was a badass. No,
young Jacob Vargas. That's not what Edward James almost wanted.
Even some folks in the gang life were fans from
(15:15):
the actor Sal Lopez. Well, uh, one of my brothers was,
you know, it was a little bit involved in the
life for a little bit of time. And uh, heat
to this stage is loves that movie. He loves the movie,
you know. Ship the former Lamb and member we spoke
to even said members of the Mexican Mafia like the movie.
(15:37):
Beef over the rape. Notwithstanding, I think they glorified and
they wallowed in the attention, American Me actually put the
Mexican mafia on the national international stage. Coming up in
the very last segment of our deep dive on American Me,
what do we know now about the extortion and threats
made after the movie premiered? And did people really die
(15:59):
because of America? Can me? Welcome back to more than
a movie. I'm Alex Flumeto, and this is it. Thank
you for sticking with us all the way through it.
While we get to the bottom of what really happened
in the fallout to American Me, Let's listen to one
more anecdote from Almost and the l A Riots that
(16:21):
illustrates an important part of his worldview. And now we're
here to discuss some grimmer realities in the city of
Los Angeles. Have you been out today? What have you seen? Yeah,
you gotta understand that we've been uh understanding this problem
for a long time. We tried for many years and
we have been for many years trying to bring awareness
(16:41):
to it. Who exactly is the we he's talking about?
It's hard to say. Could be he was just with
a friend or his wife or a colleague, but I
don't think that's it. Could also be the royal weed.
But he doesn't strike me as that kind of guy either. No,
for me, this is a kind of Freudian example of
how almost Fuse himself always is a part of a
(17:02):
larger movement. It's not him ending the l a riots.
Actually we are doing it. It's not him ending gang violence.
We are. It's as if he isn't deciding to do
any of the things he's doing. The movement is sort
of carrying him there like it's inevitable. And at the
same time he's clearly someone who wants to control the process.
(17:24):
No matter how much Edward James almost thinks he's acting
on behalf of a movement, he's really the one making
the decisions, and decisions have consequences. You could argue that
his insistence on using the word we and always acting
in the interests of the community is altruistic and selfless,
but it also centers him as the leader of the action.
(17:46):
He's the lead singer, he's the man, and as such
he bears responsibility for the consequences of his actions or
the actions of the people he chooses to represent. So
what is Edward James almost ultimately responsible for when it
comes to American me. There's really just two elements of
the fallout that we have to look at. One did
(18:08):
he face any personal consequences for making the movie? And
two did the people who got killed after the movie
came out get killed because the movie came out. For
the personal consequences part, we're really just talking about the
supposed green light on almost and the potential ransom that
he paid. We've got two opposing stories to resolve, and
(18:28):
both of the people were intimately involved in the fallout
from the movie. The first is Danny Harrow, who was
almost his assistant at the time, and his take on
whether the extortion ever took place. What's your experience of
the threats and aftermath that came to him as a
result of give you Eddie's response to something like that,
do you think if if anybody gave money, if you
(18:52):
gave me a hundred fifty dollars and I'll leave you alone,
So somebody gives on you think they're going to stop?
That's That's the simple answer. That if you say yes
to any of that, it won't end. They can always
go back, Well, we need another hundred fifty and we're
gonna do you see what I'm saying. So, so that's
the answer right there. It's preposterous. I mean, I think
(19:15):
that's because I think that's a very viable, uh answer. However,
I think from what we've learned from our source within Liama,
they see themselves as a business, right, And so if
I was running a business and my business revolved around
me telling you better give me fifty dollars, you're gonna die,
and then I asked for thy thar, and then I
(19:35):
asked for another and another another, probably people are going
to stop paying me. But if you give me fifty
dollars and then I don't kill you, well then we've
completed a business transaction. Turned that around. Give me another fifty,
I'm going to kill you. I mean you always have
that as you're operating motive operandi. You know, I have
your your life in my hands. So how value is fifty?
(19:58):
Is fifty or is it more? I mean, think about
it for you know. I mean, that's unfortunately the way
these guys operate. So so without being specific to my answer,
that's the end that gives you the the the idea
of whether there's truth in that or not. Does that
make sense? It does? But then we have our source
(20:22):
from the last episode, the former Mexican Mafia member. Was
there ever a bounty on Edward James almost as far
as you know, No, No, there was not a bounty.
The Mexican Mafia never paid for a hit, and it
doesn't pay for hits. You do a hit, it's for
the honor and the glory and the privilege for killing
for the organization. So I mean, he was a target,
(20:44):
but not really a viable target. I mean, would they
have killed him if you walk into gang territory and
they were shooters there, sure they would have killed him.
But I think he was more valuable being the target
of extortion. So I mean you have to look at
it through the prism of the mob, all right. They
guys don't pay money, and he was a valuable asset
of the organization for the period that they used them.
(21:04):
Do you know what he paid them? Yeah? Wow, Okay,
that's that's actually less than what we heard. But I
guess fifty thirty years ago is a different story. So
it wasn't a bounty in the sense that they'll pay
for anyone who kills him. But what it would have
happened if almost hadn't paid Oh yeah. I mean, if
(21:27):
you wouldn't have paid, it would have got whacked. We'll
let you decide which story you believe. And then there's
the people who were killed. We've narrowed down from Danny
Trejo's vague eight to ten really to three individuals. Their
names were Annalys Sa, Charlie Mandriquez, and Manuel Luna. Between
(21:47):
all the rumors around the movie and the fact that
Edward James almost was maybe extorted by the Mexican mafia,
some people around and believe that the movie actually caused
the murders, to the point that they're still afraid today
that they'll get killed for talking about it. But as
we know from our source from within the Mexican mafia
at the time and from the federal indictment, these people
were already on green light. So why why did the
(22:11):
street react to this movie more than people in prisons. Well,
you know, a lot of the stuff, a lot of
it was filmed in hazard So smile long Guiado. He
was headstrong and it was an opportunistic for him to
eliminate people. They used to call Rocky Luna the godfather
of the projects, right, So it was opportunistic for a
Guyardo to utilize, you know, what was happening in the
(22:31):
political world of mafia to get them whacked. You know,
Charlie Brown Mariquez, we had conspired to kill him. You know,
I had volunteered to kill that guy years before. He
wasn't even were killing though, right and the Lozarego was
known as a rat through and through the hood, you know,
because she went through Youth gang Services and she spoke
to cops all the time, so she had smart on her.
Charlie Brown Mariquez has smut on him for being a bum.
(22:52):
He was degrading the organization by living in cars and
being a crackhead, and Mauel Luna became a crackhead, so
you know, they were diminishing the statue of the organization.
So Smiland used this opportunity to gain a foothold and hazard.
It turns out Puppet and Little Puppet were right all along.
My understanding that she she had a relationship with prior
(23:15):
to the movie. Obviously she was our our technical advisor,
and then she ended up in the movie. But she
was run in because she knew the world. And so
my understanding was that there was some kind of thief
that has something to do before the movie. I don't
really know. I don't either, but I think American Me was,
(23:36):
you know, maybe the straw that broke the camel's back.
But there was more to it than just American as
what you're trying to say, Like Rodney King, American Me
was more of the straw that broke the camel's back,
not the reason itself. Liss, Saga, Manriquez, and Luna would
have been killed eventually for their trespasses against Lamy, So
putting that on almost isn't any more fair than saying
(23:57):
the entire l a riots happened over court case. In fact,
unlike the Rodney King case, American Me had almost nothing
to do with why these people died. I wish I
could tell Edward James almost that directly. Would it make
him feel better? I don't know. I think ultimately my
quest to hear from almost or at the least to
understand him, is really about the desire to understand the
(24:21):
power of the artist himself. Is he right to believe
that we can have that kind of impact, the kind
that stops gang violence or riots through art and activism,
or is that just a messianic complex? I'm not sure.
What the answers to those questions are. But I have
to think that was a humbling year for Edward James. Almost.
(24:43):
What we do know is that, well, maybe he didn't
become the Chicano Martin Scorsese. He did find a more modest,
if not painstaking way to make an impact in the
lives of young Latinos. I mean, the chairman of the
a Cinema Project how found it. It was an evolutionary
(25:04):
process that started back and then kind of evolved, almost
turned his attention to the classroom, perhaps inspired more by
him Escalante than anything else. Film influences the human mind.
It's a very powerful medium. The way you address diversity
is by going back to the drawing board and starting
(25:26):
in fourth grade. The mission of the Youth Cinema Project
is very simple. It's about closing the achievement gap in
the classroom for our most underprivileged children and to close
the opportunity gap in the entertainment industry for our communities
of color Fi cattic to The program involves two filmmaking
mentors going into the classroom and they teach the entire
(25:47):
process of film, so how to generate ideas, how to
write the script, all the planning and pre production, filming itself,
in production as well as post that. They go through
the process treating the students as colleagues rather than lecturing
to them. It's inspired the community to the point of
(26:09):
where kids are actually attending school mare. I mean, I
wish I would have been had this class when I
was in the fourth grade. My work would have been
completely different. Our ultimate goal is to try to get
the Youth Cinema Project inside every fourth grade class throughout
the United States. I am the founder and the creator
(26:29):
of the Youth Cinema Project, and I'm very honor and
proud of it more than a movie. American Me is
a production of Exile Content Studios in partnership with My Hearts,
michaela Podcast Network, and Trojan Horse Media. This show is
produced by me Alex Fometo at Angry Yuk on the
Internets and our senior producer is Nigel torm Rose Reed,
(26:50):
Nando Viela and Cream Taps are executive producers. Are Supervising
producer is Sabine Jansen. Mixing and sound designed by Eduardo
Albornos are executive for users at I Heart are just
cl Bansas and Arlene Santana. For more podcasts, listen to
the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. H
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