Jojo - From Gang Life to Redemption: A Journey Through Resilience and Hope - Hector Bravo UNHINGED

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hector Bravo unhinged .

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Chaos is now in session.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome back to our channel Warriors.
We are still growing.
Today we have another specialguest by the name of Jojo, who
just drove all the way down fromLA Bro, what's up man, what's
up man.
How was the drive dude Any?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
traffic, just little spontaneous spots here and there
, but it was pretty good.
Just some construction going on, but it was all right cool
drive you.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let me know that you were a lifer at one point, that
you actually paroled.
That is correct, damn dude.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, so where did you grow up at?
I grew up in the city of LaPuente, the SGV San Gabriel
Valley of LA County, bridgetown,yep, bridgetown.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Now, were you involved in any gangs when you
were growing up there?
Yeah, I was involved.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well shoot, I was in the mix of gangs my whole life.
I officially didn't get jumpedinto a clique until probably
when I was like, I want to say,13, 14 years old, but prior to
that, though, I had always beenclaiming Puente for a lot of
years, just because that's whereI was from, that's where all my

(01:15):
neighbors were from you knowhow much percentage?

Speaker 1 (01:19):
would you say your friends and family were part of
that gang or culture?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I would say my friends growing up.
I would say probably 90%, damn,yeah, almost all of them.
I grew up on a street Hectorwith almost 25 kids all the same
age.
It was a regular middle-classcommunity.
It wasn't the projects, nothinglike that, it was residential
homes, but there was a lot ofkids my age and you know.

(01:44):
We go back to the 70s wherekids were running the streets,
riding their bikes, playingkickball, not like today.
We, you know, we, we didn'twant to be inside, we were
outside, you know, and whenwe're outside in the streets,
you know, we saw a lot ofinteraction with the older kids,
because I'm talking about likefive years years old, six years
old, playing in the streetsright, and seeing our older

(02:06):
brothers and sisters that arealready involved in gangs.
We saw a lot of fighting,shooting, stabbings, running
over of people.
So it was, um, it was a part ofmy life very young, that gang
culture how big were rivalries?

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Were all these attacks against rivals or
amongst each other?
Oh, no, no.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh man, See, when it comes to my neighborhood, it's a
pretty big neighborhood with alot of cliques and during, you
know, the 70s, 80s, even 90s, wewere at war with each other.
Our greatest enemy was withinLa.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Puente yeah, I hate to say it like that.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
there's different sections, different sections.
So we have we have what, whereI grew up, which is considered
east side puente, that's like onthe east skirts of the city
from downtown east side would beus, and then there was the west
side, which was a lot ofdifferent cliques which were
closer to our enemies on thatborder.
So we were surrounded bydifferent neighborhoods but

(03:09):
there was really like twospecific neighborhoods that we
were really really at war withoutside of our own cliques.
But yeah, though I mean growingup in my neighborhood, if
somebody drove by and threw us apee for Puente, it was kind of
still like our hands were on thegun, like what part of Puente
were you Really, especially ifwe didn't recognize them?
Yeah, yeah, that's just the wayit was.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
You know it's a lot different today, but At that
time or in that area were thereany racial gang issues?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Not really.
There were some Crips that werelater on in the West Covina
area, which is the next citylike later on in the West Covina
area, which is the next city,like kind of north of us, but it
wasn't really like a big, youknow big factor of us
gangbanging against them.
But if we ran into them we weredefinitely going to attack,
yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
So did you eventually find yourself in like juvenile
hall or jail?
I'm sure you didn't landyourself in the big house right
away.
Man, yeah, nah.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
I started off in juvenile hall or jail.
I'm sure you didn't landyourself in the big house right
away, man, yeah, nah, it was.
I started off in juvenile hall,um, and it is crazy, hector,
because back in the like I'msaying, the late 70s, early 80s
I would get in trouble forstealing, for vandalizing, for
breaking into private privateproperty and stuff and the cops
would literally like take mehome, like take me home and

(04:26):
watch my dad whip me at thefront door.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Really yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
But after a while they're like you know what man,
you've been getting in troubletoo much.
And then I get put on probation.
And then by the age of six, Iwas on probation, probably from
like 13 to 15.
And then that's when I hitjuvenile hall.
And when I hit juvenile hallfor the first time it was for
actually for my commitmentoffense in which I got life for,

(04:51):
and when you hit juvenile hallfor the first time, that was
your commitment offense, thatwas my commitment offense, even
though I had prior contacts withwith the cops, this time it was
like I wasn't going home.
What was your commitment offense?
It was a conspiracy to commitmurder and six counts of
attempted murder.
And then I ended up having um,like some other intimidating

(05:13):
witnesses, cases that wereattached to it, and I don't mean
to laugh, bro.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
You hit me with the six counts of attempted murder,
dude.
Yeah well, it must have beenlike a gang injunction type of
shit.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, we didn't have gang injunctions at that time,
but there was the crowd in whichI shot.
Oh, they were all running at me, oh, shit and I like shot at
them.
So all of them were on file.
All of them identified me asshooting at their direction and
stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
So Now me as shooting in their direction and stuff.
So now I don't know how muchyou're willing to talk about
that uh offense or crime, butlike uh, was this like a fluke?
Was this bound to happen?
Was this wrong place, wrongtime?

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I'm gonna say, wrong place, wrong time, but but very
common I would say like that,that's cool.
So my story in a nutshellectoron that situation was I was in
my neighborhood kicking backwaiting for some girls.
We're kicking back in thegarage, you know me and a couple
of homies kicking back.
Two other homies rode up in astolen truck.

(06:15):
They were like, hey, what areyou doing?
I said I'm just chilling manwaiting for these broads to show
up.
And they were like, well, gowith us real quick, go pick up
these other bros.
And I said where at?
And they told me the highschool.
And I was like, oh man, Ialready knew that's in my
enemy's neighborhood.
Okay, and I'm not messing withthem.
Girls, I'm already waiting forthese other girls.
Yeah, uh, but because they'remy homies, they're going over

(06:35):
there.
Good chances are we might getinto something.
So I'm like all right, you know, let me god.
Honest truth, though i't haveno, I didn't have even a knife
on me.
If anything, I was thinkingwe'll just throw some blows or
something.
I didn't have a gun on me,nothing.
I wasn't going over there withthe intentions to gangbang, but
I knew there was a possibilitythat we may bump into something.

(06:56):
We're on school grounds.
I'm not thinking any of themkids are taking, they might have
a knife on them.
I'm not thinking, no, guns, aknife on them.
I'm not thinking no gun.
So I'm like, okay, whatever,you know what I mean.
Um, so I jump in, jump in theback seat.
My two homies are going.
We're just going like nothing.
I said, hey, you fools, betterbring me right back, though I
want to come right back becauseI'm waiting for them.
Girls, we go to the high school.
It's about two o'clock.
They're getting out of schooltwo o'clock in the afternoon.

(07:17):
Um, we pick up two girls.
Since it was a homie that wassitting shotgun, that was his
interaction I went to the front.
Now, he went to the back withthese two girls.
Right, as we're driving off theschool ground, everything was
cool, we didn't see nobody.
Everything was cool.
We got the girls.
Bam, let's head back.
So, as we're coming back out,though, we got to cut on the

(07:38):
street, because to get into aschool parking lot, you go in
one way, and then you got toexit another way just to avoid
all that traffic collision.
Right, yeah, but in order to gothat way, we have to go
slightly through our enemy'sneighborhood, and as soon as we
were coming out, the homie thatwas driving.
He tells me, yeah, the otherday we chased some fools right
here and I was like, is thatright?
We're at.
He said, matter of fact, rightthere where the garage doors

(08:00):
open.
And I said, is that right?
So as we're going by, hector, Ilook in.
I said oh damn, there, they areright there.
And um, there was a bunch ofthem and it looked like they
were working on the driveway orsomething, because it looked
like asphalt, like you know thebig old chunks of like tar, you
know the asphalt.
It looks like there were someright there in the front yard
and stuff.
So we're driving by, I'mthrowing up the neighborhood and

(08:21):
stuff, and they start throwingup their neighborhood
neighborhood, start flipping out, you know, just disrespecting
all that stuff, and they startrunning out and I seen them
starting grabbing like shovelsand ice picks and stuff.
And I tell my homeboy man, likejam fool, you know, like take
off.
So he goes to the corner, hemakes a U-turn and when we're

(08:45):
right there at the U-turn, thehomie in the back says open up
the glove compartment.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, big old 357sinside the glove compartment.
Wasn't mine, didn't even knowit was there.
I grab it though, you know andum.
So my intentions were just tolike kind of flash it at them,
like, hey, like we spared you.
You know what I mean.
Like it's broad daylight, Ihave two girls in the car, my

(09:06):
homies.
They start running though.
They start running at us andI'm like, come on, boy, like he
coming, I tell my homie man,just run them over, for like
they're all in the street, likewe're in a stolen truck, we're
in a forerunner, a toyotaforerunner, and I'm telling my
homeboy, just run them over.
And, uh, my home in the back's,like blast, blast them, like
blast them.
So I'm like it happened so fastwhere I got out the truck and

(09:28):
they were still running.
I'm like, come here fool theywere far.
I got out the truck and theywere still running in the middle
of the street and they werethrowing pieces of that asphalt.
And it was like coming kind ofclose to the car and stuff.
Already they were still adistance.
So I just picked up the gun andI outed up and I shot at him
three times.
I think it was like three times, Like bah, bah and I was like
what fool you?
know what I mean.
And I just jumped back in thecar and I told the homie, like

(09:50):
jam, fool, like let's jam, and Iwasn't even really thinking of
it as anything.
So when we jam, I tell myhomeboy like other side of the
hill, so I tell them hey, justdrop me off at the pad man, get
rid of these girls, get rid ofthis truck man.
You know, just go do what yougot to do, because there was

(10:11):
this spot where we used to likeburn the trucks, and you know
all our stolen cars.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Real quick, man.
I heard you mention stolen carlike if it was nothing.
Man, was that a common thing?
It was common thing.
It was on our block.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Stolen, freaking vehicles on our block in the 80s
we had at least three, fourstolen cars just what was the?
Technique back then, the hotwiring, no, no, the technique
was dent pulling the dead.
Yeah, so a dent puller, justscrew it into the ignition and
we used to just bang it out.
Boom and and forerunner toyotaforerunners were like the
easiest, they were like youcould ram cars with it, you

(10:44):
could run over people with them.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
It's like grand theft auto bro.
You were living grand theftauto man, the video game at
times, you know I mean at times.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Um.
So yeah, that's what happened.
I end up going home, I go and Ishower, I do all the techniques
that we thought we we knewbeing streetwise, go home and
put bleach on our hands.
Well, you know, at that timeI'm putting bleach on me.
I think I even urinated on myhands, you know, because we knew
already from prior incidentsthe cops would get us and take

(11:17):
us in after a shooting and theywould do the swabs on us and put
our hands under the purplelight and if they see gunpowder,
they kind of kind of attach itto us, but back then there
wasn't ring doorbells like thereis now.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
No so how would people get caught up like
witnesses or or the otherwitnesses?

Speaker 2 (11:32):
identification.
Most of the time it'sidentifying us, you know, in
lineups and whatnot.
So, um, of course, all of us.
We already had our pictures inthe gang file and stuff, so it's
easy to bring the witnesses thestation.
Yeah, it was the guys frompuente.
Okay, here's the active gangmembers right now.
Do you recognize any of them?
And that's what it?

(11:52):
That was part of it.
The story twists a little bit,though, because homeboy in the
back seat, the one that told meabout the gun, yeah, ends up
turning state against me, ofcourse so I mean, they really
didn't need any other witnessesbesides him, but he ended up
turning against me, and this wasa homie that had barely like
moved into the neighborhood too.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Man, Did he turn on you?
Because they jammed him upfirst and they were putting the
heat on him.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Well, remember, they dropped me off, they took off.
They were supposed to get ridof the car.
You know um, get rid of thegirls, not, not, not get rid of
them like that, but just go dropthem off, take them home,
whatever, right?
um, but what happened is theyend up cruising around in the
stolen car right after theshooting.
They end up getting into ahigh-speed chase, they crash

(12:37):
holy shit, one of the girls andthe guy in the back got got
caught.
I find out about all thisbecause I go back to my
neighborhood later on in theevening.
Remember it was at two o'clockwhen it happened, so I go back
to my neighborhood about sixo'clock, seven o'clock.
This was in january of 89.
It's already dark, um, andwe're right by the police, but
sheriff's station I should sayright by the sheriff's station

(13:00):
and we seen a gang of sheriffsjust rolling and we had police
scannersanners and we'relistening.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
We're like where are?

Speaker 2 (13:04):
they going, where are they going?
And they were like, nah,they're going to the other side
of town or whatever.
So I told the homies like, hey,this is what happened earlier,
you know, beyond lookout, youknow we didn't have cell phones
to call everybody.
So I had to get there later onand all sweaty and dirty, I was

(13:31):
like what happened?
He's wearing a high-speed chaseman and he starts telling me
hey, homeboy got busted.
I think one of the girls waswith him too.
I was like, oh shoot, I wasn'tworried about the home, I was
worried about the girl, you knowyeah, but then again, I'm like
the girl didn't even know me.
I didn't even know her.
So I'm thinking she don't knowmy name but she could identify
me.
That's the, that's you know thething.
But I didn't know her.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
I've never seen her before but even then you
probably still, like you said,didn't think it was a big deal.
You just popped a couple shotsand, yeah, I didn't think
anything of it.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
So come to find out, I go home.
I actually go home.
When my homie said he gotbuzzed I I went home and I
packed a backpack.
I told my mom hey, mom, I'mgonna have to head out for a few
days.
Um, I'll call you later.
You know, I gotta go, though.
And she's like where are yougoing?
I said I'll call you later, Igotta go.
Something happened, um, butbefore I took off, though, I
called my homeboy, the one thatgot caught.

(14:20):
I said what happened?
He said they got me for GTA.
I said GTA, only that's it.
And he's like yeah, that's it.
And I said what about the girl?
He said nah, she wasn't there.
And I was like what do you mean?
She wasn't there.
Homeboy already told me thatshe was with you guys still, and
he's all nah, but she didn'tsay GTA.
I'm like okay, maybe it wasjust GTA.
I went to the girl's house,though, and I started jamming

(14:50):
her up.
I found out where she lived.
I went over there.
I said hey, let me talk to you.
I said what did the cops tellyou?
You know what they say.
She said they were just askingme who was in the truck, and I
just told her my boyfriend.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Wait a minute.
Didn't you tell me you got itfor intimidating a witness?
Was that it right there?
No, that's not it Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
I was already busted when they actually added them
charges.
So I'll tell you so.
Anyways, she said she didn'tsay nothing.
She just said that herboyfriend was dropping her off.
I guess they had dropped heroff and the cops pulled up right
behind them when she wasalready outside of the car.
And then when he got busted hewas saying, like how do you know
that, well, that's my boyfriendor whatever, but he, she didn't
know anybody else.

(15:26):
She said so I'm like OK, so Ikind of just shined it on.
I was still in the neighborhoodfor the next couple of weeks and
then I remember I was sick inbed one morning.
I didn't go to school, I wasgoing to continuation school at
that time and I heard all thedogs barking All at that time.
And I heard all the dogsbarking.
All my neighbors have dogs andthey're all barking.
So I peek out the blind and Isee nothing but sheriffs right

(15:48):
there.
So I go to the back door and Isee them lined up on my wall
with guns and stuff and I'm like, um, I didn't know what to do.
I just went back to my bed,jumped in bed.
I was like I'm done, you knowwhatever.
So they end up banging on thedoor.
My sister opens the door forthem.
They come in and they starttelling me that I was being
arrested for 187.

(16:09):
I was like what?
I was like man, you tripping,and the whole time I'm just like
my mouth, I don't know whatthey're talking about.
You know, I'm just holding mymug.
And then when I get to thesheriff's station I see my
homeboy.
My homeboy was there, not theone that was in the back, the
homie that was driving, and hewas like what's up.
And I was like what's up.
And so I'm looking for theother homie.
He's not there.
And they tell us yeah, is thereanything you want to tell us

(16:30):
about?
You know that incident.
You know, three weeks ago.
And I said what incident?
I don't know what you'retalking about, I'm playing
stupid, I don't.

(16:51):
When you're being tried as anadult, you got to go through all
these fitness hearings andeverything and you have to.
It's just a long process.
So finally they're saying, okay, we're going to start pretrial,
but the thing is they can'tbond you over to superior courts
on hearsay and what I mean byhearsay.
Up into this time, all thewitnesses had said it wasn't me,

(17:14):
all them guys.
When it came time to testify,all of them said it wasn't me.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Did they interrogate you in an interrogation room?
Yeah yeah, how was that?
Was it a long process?
Because I've been watching alot of YouTube videos lately
where they interrogate the shitout of people.
Did you ever think aboutgetting lawyering up?

Speaker 2 (17:30):
I did but not at that point.
But I already knew I hadalready been busted.
They had already picked us upmany a time.
I already knew Just shut up, Idon't know nothing.
I mean, I don't know anything,and they even try to tell you
too, like, yeah, you know, he'stelling on you already.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, you know this is your chance, you know.
Do you want to tell on himfirst before?
I'm like man, I don't know whatyou're saying.
You know what I'm saying.
Like many of times they hadpicked us up, just raid the
whole neighborhood, take us allin and try to fish for
information, just go with theplan Like we don't know nothing.
Right, you know.
And so, yeah, I went throughthat interrogation.

(18:06):
I wasn't scared or nothing, Ireally wasn't.
And next thing I know, that'swhen I go to juvenile hall.
And when I went to juvenilehall for the first time, I
already had an indication ofwhat it would be like and it was
crazy because as soon as I walkin, everybody's throwing in
their neighborhoods and stuff.
And Los Padrinos is a juvenilehall I went to.

(18:26):
So LA County has threedifferent juvenile halls.
We have Los Padrinos, we haveCentral, which is Eastlake, and
then we have Sylmar for, likeSan Fernando Valley, but all the
SGV Harbor area, south CentralCompton, all of them areas go to
Los padrinos.
So almost all them gangs areright there probably the worst
one.
Then I mean, um, it's the.

(18:48):
I would say it's the most mixedrace one because, like, when
you go to the central, you gotnothing but boyle heights.
East ala is mainly all rasa,you know.
I mean, there's blacks and acouple of whites, but majority,
that's what it is, you know.
But in, in lp, we got a lot ofblacks, a lot of mexicans, you
know, a little bit of whites.

(19:09):
But uh, as soon as I got there,I got jumped by two of my
enemies.
I didn't even have a chance.
I went into my.
They gave me my, my, my blanketand my pillow and whatnot and
they said, yeah, go make up yourbed.
As soon as I went in there,they had already rushed me.
Was it a dorm setting?
No, no, it was rooms, rooms,yeah, it was.
Uh, I think I was in a singleyeah at that time.

(19:30):
No single man south.
Yeah, it was just a single manbunk, wow, yeah.
And I had my back the wall,there's a window, there's a bunk
, and then there's the door.
And I heard the door open whenI turned back.
They just came in rushing mebecause as soon as I was walking
in and everybody's jamming youin like from the door.
There's one door when you firstcome in and then everybody's
right there in a day room andthen the rooms are off to the

(19:52):
side right.
So as soon as you're walking tothat day room they're like
where you from man yeah Likepuente, boom boom.
They're like all right, allright, boom, boom, boom.
I didn't know who was there.
Next thing I know I'm gettinglumped up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
And how long were you in juvenile hall for?
I ended up staying in juvenilefor a year fighting my case.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
And at what point did you realize the severity of the
matter?
I think when my attorneystarted telling me like they're
like you know what, if we couldkeep you in juvenile, then
you'll probably end up with like, like a juvenile life where you
get out at 25.
But there's always apossibility, though they may,
you know, if you get tried as anadult, then that might be out
the window.
And I said so what am I lookingat as an adult?

(20:36):
And he was like you're lookingat life, for the conspiracy,
that's life by itself, and theattempt at murders is also life.
And the reason why they got theconspiracy though, after I told
you I was just kicking it andthey came and picked me up right
in order to in order to, um,prove a conspiracy, you had to
have, like, map timed accounts,like you had to have certain

(20:58):
things planning it, what's?

Speaker 1 (21:00):
the difference between conspiracy and first
degree isn't first degreepremeditated.
What's the difference?
It all depends first degreeIsn't first degree premeditated.
What's the difference betweenpremeditated and conspiracy?
It all depends on thecircumstances of your crime.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, but because my crime partner opened his mouth
and said that we had planned togo look for somebody then that's
how they attached it to me.
But there was never no proofother than his word and I ended
up getting that overturned inthe appellate courts because
they have what's called overacts.
They have to have theseoveracts to prove, uh, the
conspiracy, like I said they hadto have, like nowadays it would

(21:32):
be a text message, it would bepictures, you know, monitoring a
house or something you know,but they didn't have nothing
besides his word.
Damn, yeah.
So and the intimidation came inright after I got busted, my
homeboys went and shot up theother homies house, so that came
back on me.
How did that come back on you,they said.
They said that I'm the one thatordered it.

(21:54):
I'm like, yeah, it was crazy.
And the intimidating witnessescame in through homeboys that
were in the courtroom, that weretalking crazy to the witnesses,
and I'm like I'm up here withtalking crazy to the witnesses
and I, I'm like I'm up here withthe da, the attorneys and
everyone else how, how am Iintimidating them, right?
Yeah, so, yeah, they were.
Just they were back then,though, in 89 man, they were

(22:17):
trying to railroad all thosegang members.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
They were making an example, they were making
examples out of all of us.
Well, you said the 89, 90,.
There was that big boom ofprisons being built in the early
90s.
I'm starting to freakingobserve how the government
operates, man.
It's like they'll give up thehouse and let everything go wild
and then they'll just crackdown.
It's weird what they do.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
I shared this on another podcast and man people
twisted, especially the host onanother podcast, and man people
twist, especially the the host.
I'm not going to say which one,but I had said that during
during that time, like drive-byswere the given?
There was no, there was norules.
There was no rules togangbanging.
For the most part, I meanthere's like common sense.
And then there was likegangbang is gangbanging.

(23:00):
You know, I mean it's justbarbaric.
You know the tactics and um, Ihad said that, um, at that time,
at that time in my life, myhouse was always being shot up.
I had little nieces, littlenephews in there and I had
shared how, like yeah, I didn'tcare who was, you know if you
were my enemy and I knew whereyou were and I wanted you like

(23:22):
you did something.
It was, I was gonna come and Ididn't care who was in your
house, you know, I mean I wasgonna try to, um, you know, make
my and I was like 14 at thetime, by the way very stupid,
very just running amok, you know.
But yes, this was during the80s when all this happened it
wasn't later on is when rulesstarted being implemented in

(23:42):
neighborhoods on right andwrongs.
But yeah, there was a lot ofstuff going on.
So there was a lot of homiesbeing picked up for murders,
attempted murders, homeinvasions, and yeah, it was
crazy.
And when I got to Juvenile HallLos Padrinos, I probably had
like 20, 25 homies there with mefrom the streets that I knew,

(24:04):
you know, for like violentcrimes.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
How was your adjustment to being in
confinement?
How did you like being in acell?
Did you get claustrophobia?
Did you miss the luxuries ofbeing able to go to the store
and buy some chips or soda?
I didn't.
To tell you the truth, I didn't.
I was okay, you were good.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, yeah, I was good.
I mean, I prefer to like beingmyself.
I mean, I I used to like to goout and play ball, right, I
didn't mention that, butthroughout all my childhood I
played ball.
I played baseball, you know.
I played football, pop warner,little league.
Uh, I did some kickboxing.
I played basketball.
That was my thing.
I was very athletic.
You know, that's one thingabout my dad.

(24:46):
My dad always had me in sports,you know, and a lot of my
friends would play sports, youknow.
So, so when I got to juvenilehall, that's what I, that was my
go-to even in prison, that wasmy.
Anybody that knows me throughoutprison, oh yeah, that was
always on the handball court.
I was always playing basketball, playing softball.
That that's the way I did time.
And in juvenile hall, that'swhat I was doing too.

(25:09):
You know, besides fighting, allthe time, were there a lot of
fights going on.
It was a lot of fights all thetime.
You know, that's what's crazyis juvenile hall.
You're in there gang banging tothe fullest, and then you go to
county jail and now there's nomore gangbanging, right?
And then, for me, I end up inYA, where it's even more extreme
gangbanging.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
So you went from juvenile hall to county jail, to
YA.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, to CDC yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
That was your path.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
That was my path.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
yeah, holy shit, dude .
Yeah.
So, as you're going up thattrajectory, are you starting to
notice rules?
Are you starting to notice thereglas?

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, when I first got to Juvenile Hall, you know,
it was just all about myneighborhood, all about Puente.
Then when I got there, it wasstill all about Puente, but now
there was like the SGV car.
You know, because out on thestreets we got along with
certain neighborhoods like Azusaand Flores.
They were like our, our, theywere like other big

(26:09):
neighborhoods, but we were coolwith them and we kind of had the
, the mutual enemies too, youknow yeah so it was kind of like
we had each other's backs inthere.
You know, I'm saying if we hadan enemy and we really want, I
mean of course we're going toget on one-on-one, but then
eventually, eventually, if he'sstill running his mouth, we'll
probably just jump him and tryto get him to roll it up or
something.
But yeah, it was juvenile, butI never felt fearful of my life

(26:34):
in juvenile hall, like I wasgoing to get killed, like on the
streets, you know, becausethere was no guns, and I got
stabbed a couple times withpencils but it was kind of like.
You know just gave me a shotfor an infection.
I think they gave me atechnique shot, but that was it.
They used some tweezer one timeto pull it out, pull out the
lead, but I never felt like Iwas going to die or nothing like

(26:56):
that.
But I always, like, when Iwould fight in there, I would
like protect my face, because Iused to think they were going to
try to stab me in the eye orsomething.
So I would, you know, I wouldbe and and I had a lot of
experience.
I mean, my nickname was boxer,so I I was always fighting in
the streets prior to juvenilehall, so going in there and
fighting it wasn't really a bigdeal to me.
So during this process.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
At what point did, uh you stop fighting the case, or
was the case over with so?

Speaker 2 (27:23):
let me tell you this.
So, juvenile hall, I said I wasin there for a year.
I went through my fitnesshearing as a juvenile and they
ended up trying me as an adult.
So we went to adult court.
This is where the preliminariesand everything that was going
on, where they couldn't presenta physical witness to testify

(27:46):
against me All them guys Ialready had the paperwork on
them.
They all said it was me onpaperwork.
They did, I have that, yeah, Istill have that, yeah.
But in court, though, they allchanged their statements.
No, that wasn't him.
I don't remember him lookinglike that.
So I'm like, okay, I'm notknowing that, even though I
already seen the paperwork andthey already said what they said

(28:08):
.
I said is it still going toaffect?
I didn't know.
This was my first time goingthrough this process of a trial
like this, you know, and so,after all of them testified,
they called my crime partner,but he never showed up.
What I ended up finding out,though?
He, by the way, though me andthe driver were facing the life

(28:29):
sentences, right, the guy in thebackseat that got the girls,
the one that told me about thegun he took a year of probation
for gang terrorism.
They offered him a deal a yearof gang terrorism in order to
testify against me and my crimepartner.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Now, was that your homie or was this a random?

Speaker 2 (28:46):
dude, he was from my homie.
He's originally from LA, fromHuntington.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Park.
Oh, you said he was new to thearea.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
He was new to that neighborhood, but he was already
gang-related, though.
He came from LA gang-related,and it's kind of weird.
I could honestly say he'sprobably the only hom only home.
But he was down, though, and hewas fighting with our enemies.
He would be right there with usand, uh, enemies started
shooting at him too.
So we're like man, you might aswell be from the neighborhood,

(29:14):
they're shooting at you, you'refighting, you're like, you're
right with us.
And he was like all right, boom.
So he got jumped in theneighborhood.
Not long after that, we getbusted.
Yeah, so anyways, he doesn'tcome to court.
Hector, they had to release us.
We got released.
No way, we got released.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
No way.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
We're going to adult court from juvenile hall.
At this time we're in centraljuvenile now.
When they tried to send us asadult, they took us out of Los
Padrinos and took us to centralEastlake juvenile hall.
That's where they took us whenwe were going to adult court,
right?
So we went back and theyreleased us and what happened is
we had what's called a DAreject.

(29:53):
It's not like we were acquitted.
It's not like they just kickedit out, it was a DA reject
because of lack of evidence.
So me and my home, we get outand we go right back to the
streets, we go right back to theneighborhood, you know, and
everybody's happy.
They throw us a big old party,just like the movies.
We're home, we think we'reveteranos.
Now we're barely we're.

(30:13):
I think my homeboy had turned17 in there.
I'm still 16.
And we think we're all thisstuff.
You know, there's all kinds ofnew homies in the neighborhood,
new homegirls in theneighborhood from that year.
A lot of things happened.
So when we got out we foundourselves right back in the mix.
Homies were telling us what'sbeen going on.
Homie gives me a brand new ninemillimeter and tells me yeah,

(30:36):
you know this for you, you know,and, um, I get the whole
wardrobe back over again, thekhakis and the van davisesises
and just the whole gang attireright.
And during this time, though,I'm talking to my mom and my dad
I come from a good home, by theway, hector, I do.
I come from a really good home,my mom and dad.

(30:57):
My dad was a Marine, a Vietnamveteran.
He grew up in the Liso Villagein the projects of east la uh, a
gang member, but the marinesaved his life.
That's what he would alwaystell me.
The marine saved my life andgave me a whole different vision
of life.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
Would he ever try to encourage you to join the
military?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
oh yeah, I mean since I was a kid.
I mean since I was a kid Iplayed um, played soldier or
whatnot you know, pretendinglike I was in vietnam.
Because my dad had all thesephoto albums and it's some crazy
stuff I'm talking about.
My dad had pictures of himwearing um necklaces with
earlobe, with ears on them andstuff, and yeah, my dad suffered

(31:36):
ptsd.
So bad, hector, but I love mydad.
He was an alcoholic.
He's a hard worker, though.
He was a functioning alcoholicbecause he was a steel worker,
um, and he went to work everymorning, like I want to say,
like 5, 6 o'clock in the morning, he would go to work and he
would come home with a 12-pack,6-pack, whatever, a box of beer

(31:58):
and he would pound.
My mom would feed him in theroom with the old-fashioned TV
trays.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sometimes thelittle tv dinners, the aluminum,
you know I mean he would eat,drink, pass out and do it all
again the next day.
You know.
But my dad was very disciplined.
My room was had to beimmaculate at all times.
It was like, I mean, he was asergeant and he would come in

(32:21):
with his literally it seemedlike white gloves checking for
dust, didn't allow me to havetrash in my trash can.
I'm like why do I have a trashcan if I can't have trash in
there?
You know, like dump it out.
And my bed had to be madeperfect Every day.
He would do like an inspectionof my room.
And it gave me a lot of pridebecause I know I grew up like

(32:42):
that, so it wasn't like a bigthing by the time I was, you
know, five, six years old.
You know, um, I had, I hadhouse tours that I had to do.
I had to rake my front yardbefore we had all these uh uh
gardeners, these landscapers.
I had to do all the landscapingwhen he would drink.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
Would he ever tell stories, or would he tell
stories?

Speaker 2 (33:02):
slip.
My dad was a marine my wholelife, whenever he had the chance
to share stories with somebody,because you know a marine.
They say once a marine, alwaysa marine you know, I mean
there's that brotherhood wherethey don't let go of it.
And, um, yeah, my dad, I meanand I know some veterans that
don't like to see any of thesewar movies my dad stood with the

(33:25):
military channel on.
My dad, I mean, and he had likehearing problems, so his tv was
always like so you just hearboom, boom.
You know, yeah, dude, yeah thatwas my dad, though, man, and I
remember being so young.
I think it was a movie in the70s apocalypse now yeah seen
apocalypse now, like over andover again, and my dad would
tell he would be navigating thestory, uh, telling me about the

(33:49):
canuck helicopters and the hueys, and telling about you know the
foxholes, and telling me, andyou could see the passion when
he, when he shares, you know, Imean, and I grew up watching,
looking at these photo albums,and all my uncles were in
vietnam too, in differentbranches.
I had all my uncles were inVietnam too, in different
branches.
I had one uncle, two uncles inthe Army and one in the Navy,
and then my dad was a Marine,all brothers and I have other

(34:13):
cousins and all my family.
So, yeah, I always wanted to bea Marine.
I couldn't wait to get out ofschool to be a Marine.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
So did he ever get to the point where he like just
gave up trying to keep you inline?

Speaker 2 (34:25):
yeah, later on, later on, he did.
My dad was very disciplinary,by the way, too.
I mean, I never felt I wasabused by my dad.
Yeah, yeah, but I know I meantoday many would consider it
because I mean, my dad threw methrough drywall.
I mean, damn, my dad done, youknow, smack me quite often.

(34:47):
You know, um, in my house therewas no mistakes.
If I did something wrong, itwas on purpose.
In my dad's eyes, there was nomistakes.
If I dropped a glass of milk,broke the glass, I did that on
purpose.
You know, if I broke the windowoutside playing bass harder, I
did that on purpose and I wasgoing to be hit for it.
You know, I mean, but my dadwould hit me.
But then he would talk to melike, don't break the window, no

(35:10):
more, don't be more carefulwith the milk.
You know different things likethat.
And and uh, I, you know, overthe years I have given a lot of
credit to my dad for a lot of myanger, my animosity and
everything towards him, becausemy dad didn't allow me to
express, um, my feelings as faras it was like a weakness.

(35:31):
It was like if I came homebleeding when I fell off my bike
I'm bleeding from my arm justdripping.
Heck, they're dripping and I'mcrying.
I'm probably about six yearsold.
I'm crying, you know yeah andand he grabbed me, shoved a rag
in my mouth, told me like, like,take the pain, like you're
right, you're not going to die.
Bring it over here, put me overa sink, cleaned it up, threw

(35:52):
some peroxide or alcohol on it,put a, put a gauze on me and
said you're fine, go play.
You know, I mean, and it neverfailed.
It never failed.
Every time I hurt myself and Iwould cry stop being a little
girl, man up, you know you'renot dying, you know.
And I learned to suppress themfeelings later on and when I
would gangbang, I would, I Icarried that suppression, you

(36:16):
know, I mean, and it was kind oflike, um, I don't want, I don't
want to over exaggerate andfeel like I didn't, I wasn't
human, but I, like, I didn'tcare for my victims no, I get it
.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Um, did you ever become enraged, or yeah, or you
or utilize rage to fuel thatfire I did.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
There was many a times, like I said, I was
fighting in the streets a lotand there was times when I would
catch myself blacking out,depending on the situation, like
sometimes if I just got into anargument with my dad and I was
like man, I can't wait to getolder and stronger, because my
dad was always like that man'sman.
You know what I'm saying whereI mean he was tough, you know,
and I knew I couldn't stand upto my dad and and I reverenced

(36:55):
my dad.
You know I never cussed at mydad, I never raised a hand at my
dad, uh, but when I was out onthe street so I pretend some of
my victims were my dad, I'll belike, yeah, so you were.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
You were let go of juvenile hall, but you
eventually went back into thesystem.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Yeah, so let me tell you when they let me out.
I told you, I went back to thestreets and I started that whole
thing about my dad and my mombeing good people and I had told
my mom, mom, I'm going to dogood for you this time.
You know, like I'm going to dogood, I promise you.
Like I'm gonna go back toschool, I'm gonna.
You know, I'm gonna get my gd.
Because she knew I wanted to bea marine.

(37:32):
I had already started workingout with one of my recruiters
that was right there in myneighborhood.
Uh, he was a.
He was an asian dude, thechinese.
His name was sergeant lee and Iwould come to camp penultim
with them.
Yeah, I'd come to mcrd with him.
Um, the parade field over there.
I started seeing that when I wasyoung.
You know what I mean and solike the values and everything
of a marine.

(37:52):
It was like my dad wasinstilling all of that in me
young, about honor, respect, youknow, and all of this stuff,
man, like I lived up to.
But I put it into my gangculture, right and um, so, yeah,
so I tell my mom all that stuff.
But it seemed like theneighborhood just kept getting a
grip on me, a grip on me.
But during that time I got withone of my homegirls Right, and

(38:15):
she was, she was just like me,she was a gangbanger, she was,
you know, there wasn't really Iwouldn't say no shock, but she
had a lot of influence among thehomegirls, you know what I'm
saying.
And she was down for hers and Ikind of like took a liking or
and I was like kind of like tooka liking to her and I was like
kind of just messing with herfor a little bit and we started
getting serious and we startedtalking about starting a family.
And I'm 17 at this time.

(38:35):
Now I'm 17, and right after Igot out I think it was a month
late, november, december, liketwo months I got out in November
, remember, I got, but inJanuary, then November, I got
out, so almost a year, and thenin January I turned 17 and we
started talking like likegrown-up, talk man.
Like I told her man, like weneed to get out of here.
A lot of my homies my age werestarting to die, getting washed

(38:58):
up, and I told my wife like Itold her she's my wife now, but
at the time she was mygirlfriend.
I told her, man, somethingneeds to change, you know, I
mean, and uh, it wasn't long, Igot her pregnant, hector, and I
told, I told my mom and my dad.
My mom and dad were excited,they were like well, that's cool
, you know, and my dad had thatfather talk with me.
He's like so you're going tokeep playing these games, you're

(39:19):
going to man up, you're goingto be a father to your son or
are we going to have to raisehim?
You know, you're going to diein these streets, in these
streets.
And I was like, nah, dad, I'mgonna get a job, I'm gonna do
good.
Man, we're already talkingabout getting an apartment and
stuff.
And um, he said, yeah, all thatdrug money you got, you should
put it away and, you know, dosomething with it and stuff.
And I told him I am dad forreal.

(39:40):
It's like I'm gonna do good andand that was my real righteous
intention to do good, yeah, Idid get a job.
Well, the first job I got, itwas kind of like a fluke because
it was right in my neighborhood.
It was a brand new pizza placeand I know when my homeboys see
this they're going to startlaughing because it was called
Double Deal Pizza.
It was right in my neighborhoodand there was grand opening,
balloons and everything.

(40:00):
I said I'm going to go in thereand ask them.
You know, I want to get hiredand stuff.
So I go in there and I'mtalking to they're Indian,
they're from India, right, theIndian owners.
And I was like, hey, man, youguys hiring.
And he's looking at me and Iwas like, yeah, I need a job,
man, I really need a job.
And he said are them yourfriends?
All my homeboys were rightthere in the front, probably

(40:25):
maybe like a good 15, 20 homies.
He said if we hire you, will mystore be protected?
Because the other day we gotrobbed and we're not even open.
And we got robbed and I said,um, yeah.
I said yeah, if I'm here,everything will be cool.
Man, this is my neighborhoodright here.
And he said well, do you thinkyou could get our money back?
It was like probably, like like300.
But I said I don't know aboutthat, I don't know who robbed

(40:47):
you.
And I ended up getting that jobman and they let me do
deliveries right.
I was doing deliveries in mymom's car, which was marked it
was hot.
It was a 79 orange Pinot.
It was hotter than afirecracker in my neighborhood
at that time.
I mean that thing had bulletholes in it and everything and I
was driving.

(41:07):
I was driving it deliveringpizzas, but I told the owner we
had a map right there in thestore.
I told him this is the onlyarea I could deliver Anything
else.
You need to send someone out.
He said, all right, let's do it.
So I started working therelegit Minimum wage I think it
was $4.25, where they werestarting me at $4.25.
And I started working, startedsaving my money.

(41:30):
We're going to be having a baby, right, I think I want to say
she got like January, january,yeah, I think it was January.
She got pregnant.
We got married in April.
We had a shotgun marriage.
Our parents had a sign for us.
We were underage, we were both17.
And all my always, a lot of myalways.

(41:51):
We all went to las vegas andhad one of them, quick little
las vegas weddings.
And uh, came back and, um, myhomies are happy for me.
They're like that's cool fool,you know what I'm saying.
And and um, I was working,doing good, I had moved out of
my neighborhood, I I went to mysister's house, which was just a
few cities over in El Monte,and I ended up going home in

(42:15):
July Remember we got married inApril.
In July I went back to theneighborhood, to my mom's house,
and me and my brother, one ofmy homies I call him my brother,
though, my homie Flaco wewalked to the St Levin right
there in the neighborhood andwhen we came out there was a
sheriff that was pulling in andput the light on us, told us put
our hands on the car and stuff.
And I didn't have no reason torun or nothing.

(42:35):
I'm working, I'm legit, I hadmy, my right, I had a driver's
license.
I just got my driver's license.
I was like here, you know, likewhat's up?
They're like where you guys youknow coming from.
We're like you've seen uswalking out of 7-eleven.
What do?
What do you mean?
Where we come from?
What are you guys up to?
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm like nothing, man, you know, let me see your ID cards.
Give them our ID cards.
They sat us on the curb rightthere, had all our stuff on the

(42:56):
cop car and there was two ofthem.
So the guy's talking to us.
The other guy took our IDsrunning, got a warrant for your
arrest and I was like man, socome to find out.
I'm in the substation and theyit's like two o'clock in the

(43:23):
morning they wake me up and theysaid, yeah, come out here.
And I go out and it's a gangunit, gang units right there and
they're're like what's up, jojo, how you doing, man?
I heard you heard you having ababy.
I heard you got married.
I heard you're doing good.
I said, man, if you heard allthat, why are you messing with
me?
For you know, remember I toldyou earlier they had a habit of
picking us up and just trying tofish information.

(43:45):
Yeah, so I'm like why are youmessing with me?
For, man, come on, if you knowI'm doing good, why mess with me
?
They're like this ain't even onus.
I was like what do you mean?
It's not on you, who's it on?
Then they were like the districtattorney from pomona court
refiled on you, refiled on me.
I said what do you mean refiledon me?
They're like yeah, that casefrom two years ago.
By now that was 89, all the 90I was out, it was already almost

(44:07):
.
They refollowed on me.
They reopened that same case onme, damn dude.
So here I am repeating theprocess my wife's pregnant,
married, her doing good.
And now, even though I was 17 atthat time I didn't know this,
but once you're tried as anadult, every time you're
arrested after that it'sautomatic You're an adult.

(44:28):
So, at 17 years old, they'retaking me to LA County jail.
And once I found out what itwas for, though, I was like man,
they're just messing with me.
Man, I already beat that case.
I'm thinking I beat that case.
So I ended up getting anattorney.
I tell him it's actually in thejuvenile case.
In the two years ago I had gotthis attorney a paid attorney.

(44:49):
My family got me an attorney,so we called him.
He said yeah, they're filingthe same charges, everything's
exactly the same.
And I was like what?
So he said yeah, we're going toput in a motion for discovery.
We want to find out what'sgoing on here, blah, blah, blah.
And he said everything looksthe same.
He said I would suggest ushaving a speeding trial.
Speeding trial means you haveto start picking jury within 90

(45:12):
days.
You have to.
That's your civil right to havea speeding trial.
So that's what I said, let'shave it, I'm calculating, man, I
still might be able to makethis delivery of my, my baby,
yeah and um.
So when I got to county jail, Iwas trying to like lay low
profile at this time because I'mthinking I'm going home Right.
And even my homeboys, my olderhomies that were there, they

(45:35):
were telling me, yeah, just, youknow, it's a lot different here
.
You know you don't got a gangbang, you don't got to do none
of this stupid stuff, you don'tgot to raise your hand, just be
cool.
You know, if something happens,do what you got to do, but just
be cool, don't be stupid.
You know what I mean, like, andI was like all right.
So that's the way I was tryingto do my time, you know, trying
to, within them 90 days, to tryto like just keep my nose clean,

(45:58):
not to pick up nothing new andand hopefully get out on this
case again.
So that's what I'm doing.
I'm kind of laying low.
You know what I'm saying, justkind of just going through the
motions of things.
What happens, hector, is westart trial, right, start trial.
We pick the jury, everything.
Them same witnesses I told youfrom before they got on the

(46:21):
stand said it wasn't me thatgirl that I told you that was in
the car.
She pled the fifth.
Remember, I told you we pickedup two girls.
One of the girls had gotdropped off so she never got
caught up in none of this.
The cops didn't know about her,nobody knew about her.
It was just the one girl.
So she ends up pleading thefifth in court because she was
in there.
She had that right to plead thefifth, not to say anything.

(46:44):
So she pled the fifth, but onpaperwork I still had her
testimony as well.
So everything's looking justlike it did the last time.
So I'm like all right, I'm cool.
You know, every day I'm goingback telling the homies yeah,
everything's looking good.
They're like you're going home,fool, you're going home.
You're going home and I'm likeshoot, I sure hope so, you know.
And all along my wife's gettingbigger, bigger, getting ready

(47:04):
to deliver this baby.
And, um, the last witness is myactual crime partner.
He shows up this time.
Last time I didn't know this,but he ended up fleeing to
Mexico for a while and then whenhe came back he got busted and
when they ran his name he had awarrant for not showing up on
that gang terrorism, probationviolation for not testifying.

(47:25):
He left on that.
That's weird, yeah, he left onit and when they arrested him
his name came back as hey, thisdude had probation, he was
supposed to testify.
He never did anything, he left.
But this time he comes in andwhen he comes in he just spills
his guts Handsome, I would say.
He started talking about otherstuff that I wasn't even

(47:48):
arrested for, for where they endup booking me again.
No, when I got back to thecounty jail, they were booking
me on other charges that hebrought up during the trial were
.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
You were in the courtroom when this dude singing
like a canary what was goingthrough?
The green?

Speaker 2 (48:01):
jacket, so at first I didn't think he was coming
though, and then I saw thesheriff jackets they were.
They were green with yellowright and I see two of them come
in and then I look and he'sbehind them.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
So he was incarcerated as well.
He was, he was, he was comingfrom the outside.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Okay, okay, cool.
So he comes in with like fivesheriffs, yeah, and when he's
walking in he's mad dogging me,like I'm snitching on, he's mad
dogging me.
And he gets up on that standand he starts saying everything
and some and what were youthinking?

Speaker 1 (48:32):
Oh, man, you didn't have to say all that.
I'm like, I'm washed up as soonas I heard him say the first
thing.
I was like.
Then, when I started hearinghim, say other things.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I'm looking and I'm like, oh my goodness.
And this time, hector, though,look at the whole juvenile time.
Remember the driver he, look atthe whole juvenile time.
Remember the driver.
He was with me.
We would go handcuffed togetherthis time around.
When they rearrested me at that7-Eleven, instead of calling
home, I called his mom.
I called his mom and tell herhey, they're looking for us.

(48:59):
Oh, you gave him the heads up.
He jammed Okay, I'm now facingtrial by myself, by myself.
I'm in there by myself, andwhen he comes in, the witness,
I'm looking at him like I don'tbelieve this and I'm thinking
he's going up there and I'm likehe ain't gonna say nothing.
He ain't gonna say nothing.
And then he just started.
He literally like startedcrying, talking about why he's
testifying against me.

(49:19):
And the whole reason whythey're saying that he's
testifying against me is becauseI put a hit on his family.
Remember, I told you they didthe drive-by afterwards on his
house, but by that time thewhole neighborhood knew that he,
that he already had, we hadpaperwork on him.
So the whole neighborhood wasalready aware, you know, it
didn't take me to tell them togo do something.

(49:41):
He did a no-no yeah so here heis, he's crying on the stage, on
the, on the stand, and I'm likeI'm done, I'm done.
And that day, when I go backinto the court, into the holding
tank, I go back into theholding tank.
I'm finding out, I'm findingout my son's being born.
Oh shit, dude, yeah, my son'sbeing born on that day and I

(50:03):
told my wife, I told my familyI'm like I'm, but I I knew at
that point it was I was done.
So I ended up coming back forsentencing and, um yeah, they,
they gave me the max they gaveme.
I ended up getting 30 to lifefor the 32 life, 30 to life for
the conspiracy and the attemptedmurders and the intimidating

(50:24):
witnesses.
I got like a bow-legged 13years.
I got the gang enhancement,which was 15 years.
Then they gave me a five-yearenhancement for the gun.
I was like dang.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
And what year was this?
91, 92 already, this was 91.
91?
This was 91.
Dude.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
So when you touched down.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
From 89, 90,.
This was 91.
Where'd you go to reception forstate prison?
State prison.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
So I ended up going through Y first when I went to
prison.
I ended up because I left YTS.
Yeah, all right, I left YTSunder investigation and it's
crazy.
It's crazy, hector, because wewere already on lockdown when

(51:17):
this counselor got killed.
The whole institution was onlockdown for something else,
right, I was what was called acritical worker.
I was working well in the joint.
It's called um inmate day labor, idl inmate day labor they're
like, they're the ones that getpaid minimum wage.
They get paid good money, right.
So in ya, I had a job that wassimilar to that.
I was working fora companyoutside which is contracted with
the youth authority.
So even though we were lockeddown, they still had a contract
to produce.
Ok, so me and like five otherdudes were out there working

(51:40):
during this lockdown.
Of course we had escort,everything like that, but we're
working.
But because this cop got killedin an unknown way they didn't
know how she got killed theyfound her body in a dumpster
outside of the jail.
So when she goes in, when yougo into the institution, when
you're coming to work, that day,when she came to work, she

(52:01):
grabs these ring keys calledchips or whatever that identify.
These are what she's checkedout, her alarm, whatever she
gets to work that day.
Well, she never turned themback in At the end of her shift.
She never checked out.
So they're looking for her.
Where is she at?
They couldn't find her in theinstitution and what was crazy
about it?

(52:21):
We were on lockdown.
We were on lockdown already,which I said right, but now
they're coming to the buildingswith dogs who killed her a ward.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
It was a ward.
So I'm familiar with this story.
Not the details, but I rememberkind of yeah, dude.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
So what ended up happening is that?
So let me just tell you thiswhen we were on lockdown and
they started coming to our roomsand normally they would come in
and, depending on what they'relooking for, if somebody was
fighting and they got away, theywould look at our knuckles.
They would take off our shirtsand stuff, look at our body.

(53:00):
But they didn't do none of that.
They told us to step out of theroom.
They came in with some roomsthey had dogs, some they didn't
and they just looked under ourbeds and they looked in our
lockers and that was it.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
They're looking for a person.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
And I said that.
I said, hey, they're lookingfor somebody, and we saw the
cops on the roofs from thebuilding across from us.
We could see out ourselves andwe could see them on the roofs.
I said somebody escaped.
That's why they're looking,that's why they have the door.
They're like, hey, put it onChannel 7 News, put it on
Channel 7 News.
We're like what's going on?
They were like, look, we're onTV, the institution on TV.

(53:33):
Helicopter news, helicoptersflying and they're sharing the
story that youth counselor suchand such is missing.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
That's so weird, dude , that they would fly it to the
news so fast.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Yeah, you know what I mean well it, this was like the
second day.
Oh, the second day, holy shitday.
Yeah, so I guess after thatshift and she didn't come out,
they're like did she leavewithout doing the chip?
So they were trying to contacther, but it was the next day
when they started searching well, it's because there's a whole
process of staff accountability.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Yeah, and for that reason, in case, somebody's
fucking dead in a dumpster.
So what?
What ended up happening?

Speaker 2 (54:11):
that's what it was though that's what they believe,
because they found her inpomona, at the waste, at the, at
the, the sanitation waste.
Oh, they didn't find her withinthe, they didn't find her
within the institution.
They found her out then how?

Speaker 1 (54:24):
was it that a ward was able to kill her?
He, he paroled or he escaped?

Speaker 2 (54:27):
no no, this is.
This is what this is, therumors of it and during us being
investigated, this is kind ofthe pieces we put together.
Is that the war that they weresaying was a part of it?
Right, he had scratches on.
They found dna on her.
They said that he had sexuallyassaulted her first and then got

(54:50):
her keys, because the trashcans have locks Right and in YA
it's like there's a ramp andthen there's the kitchen right
there and you go out that rampand you throw away the trash.
Yeah, they believe that heshoved her in the trash bag and
carried her out to the dumpster,locked it and went back, and
then the trash truck came andtook her out to the dumpster,

(55:10):
locked it and went back.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
And then the trash truck came and took her and took
her out.
No way, dude, wow, man, that iswild dude.
Yeah.
So then they went back and theygaffled him up wherever he was
at in there.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Well, yeah, so all of us were on lockdown already.
They didn't gaffle him downright away, yeah, right away
they didn't.
So they had us all on lockdown.
Next thing I know we're beinginvestigated and at that same
time, oh, that's why we're onlockdown, because they were

(55:42):
already getting rid of the Mnumbers.
And the story is and I don'tknow how true any of this is
it's all hearsay as far as Iknow.
But they were saying that theward was having an intimate
relationship with that counselorand now that he was getting
ready to leave, she had told himthat I'm not going to follow
you.
You know, like this is done,like our little time of playing

(56:04):
is done, you know, I'm not, I'mmarried, I'm not going to follow
you to the next institution,it's done.
Oh, and that like flip them outor something like that's what
caused him to wig out and end uptaking her out.
You know, and yeah, so anywaysthey come and they start taking
all the lifers first.

(56:24):
Then they start taking all theM numbers, which were adult
commitments, anybody that couldgo to CDC.
They took them Right by bus.
By bus they were bringing CDCbuses right onto the YA
institution, right down the unit.
So there's like A and B, c andD, e and F, g and H.
They were bringing the busesright to the unit and loading up
these buses.

(56:45):
Yeah Right, so I'm thinkingeverybody is still going.
I know I'm a lifer, I'm alreadyseeing other people go and I'm
thinking, you know they're like,okay, they were taking like
maybe 10 and then a little bitlater on in the evening they'll
take another 10.
They were just taking them out10, 10, whatever, whatever right
.
And come to find out they weretaking them to Tehachapi, wasco,

(57:06):
delano, chino, all thesedifferent places.
And I'm like, I'm like yellingdown the hallway, like who's
left, like who else is herebesides me?
Everybody was gone.
And here I am, like what arethey doing with me?
Why are they holding me up?
And I, at this point in time, Ihad no idea that I'm under

(57:31):
investigation for that murder.
Remember, I was out, not onlyme, but the kitchen workers were
also under investigation.
Anybody that had access to themtrash.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
You were under investigation for that murder,
for that murder shit, dude, noteven knowing it's so fucking
weird I didn't even live on theunit with her.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
That's so weird, dude , didn't?
I lived upstairs yeah she wasdownstairs in C&D.
I was up in G&H at the time andthen they moved me to the other
side, from G&H to E&F.
And when I got there, that'swhere the kitchen workers the
other kitchen workers that Iknew that were lifers and
they're like what's up, you'restill here too.
I was like, yeah, what's up,why are?

(58:10):
Why are we still here?
Yeah, so the next day they tellus all right, you guys are
leaving.
Now.
They stripped us down to ourshower shoes and boxers and they
came and tied us up.
They they tied us up with thebox around the waist down to the
ankles, yeah, and they put usin a van.
There was like five of us andwe're like what the heck Still
don't even know.
We're under investigation.
We thought we were just stillgoing.

(58:31):
We didn't know if that's theway they were transporting
everybody else.
I was like, dang man, we can'teven get a jumpsuit.
Like, where are we going?
They're like, oh yeah, you'reonly taking a two-minute drive.
Like you don't need no jumpsuit.
When you get there, you'll geta new jumpsuit.
So they going to chino prison.
So we're going to central umprison, to chino.
Yeah, when we get to chino,they're escorting us and, um,

(58:56):
they start telling us that, yeah, you guys are going to palm
hall until the investigation isresolved.
So, weird, dude.
And I'm like palm hall, likewhere's palm hall?
Like I don't know nothing.
This is my first time in prison.
Yeah, so when we get to palmhall, one of the officers the
guards comes and tells us listen, I'm going to give you a word
of advice Don't talk to anybody,don't look at nobody.

(59:18):
They'll get at you.
And we're like what you know?
Like what are you talking about?
And they're telling us yeah,you know, just, this is our
first time in prison.
This is our first time inprison.
This is our first experience.
Right, we're still in ourshower shoes.
They didn't give us no jumpsuit.
We're in our shower shoes andboxers and they're walking us in
and there's three tiers and thefirst two tiers look normal,

(59:40):
with bars and clothes hanging.
And it wasn't what I wasexpecting.
It was like the movies.
They start whistling at uscatcalling fish on the line.
Man, that tall one looks sexy.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
They did or they didn't.
They did, oh they did.
They're clowning us.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
They're like oh, put him with me.
Hey, that second one rightthere, put him with me.
I want him and we're tripping,we didn't know.
Then they take.
They take us up to the thirdtier, which looked a lot
different.
The bottom, remember, they'rejust regular bars.
When we get to the top, they'rebars but they're cages, it's
just all cages.

(01:00:18):
The whole third tier is allcages and it's quiet.
So I thought we were the onlyones going up there.
I didn't even know that therewas anybody else in there.
They put us in the in, like inthe, the four back cells, like
closest to the to the stair, tothe staircase, and right after
that the cop had, you know, oncethey took our things off,
they're like, yeah, somebodywill get at you in a bit.

(01:00:38):
And we're like who's gonna getus the cops?
Who, whatever, whatever?
And then next thing I know oneof the neighbors banging on the
wall.
He said, hey, homie, um, getthis line.
And so he sends over a fishingline and stuff.
And it's a little kite.
He's asking us you know, let ussee your lockup orders where
you're coming from, this andthat.

(01:00:58):
And I'm like lockup orders.
They didn't even give usnothing.
We don't even have nothing.
We're just in our boxers.
We don't got no property, wedon't got no tube, we don't have
nothing.
We're stripped, literally ourboxers and shower shoes, that
was it.
And I'm telling them back.
I'm like I don't got nothing towrite with or nothing.
I'm like, hey, like I don'thave nothing to write with.
I'm like talking loud, I don'tgot no paperwork.

(01:01:21):
And all of a sudden the guysfrom underneath are yelling up
don't give them your paperwork,they're gonna kill you, don't
give them your.
And I'm like what the heck?
So the homies like kind of um,he's like, hey, he said, all
right, let me pull that lineback or whatever.
So he starts telling, he startswriting me.
Little kai's telling me, hey,the first and second tier,

(01:01:42):
they're all pc, don't listen tothem, you know.
I mean I'm like what the heck?
You know like that many p whywe're not used to seeing a whole
, that many pieces, I mean, whywe don't see no pieces.
And even in the county jail Idon't remember seeing any pieces
.
And here there's two tiers.
So he's giving us a rundown andstuff.

(01:02:03):
And next thing I know isthey're taking us downstairs in
the morning, they put us in thelittle dog cages and they're
telling us, yeah, you guys needto go get an X-ray and this and
that.
And we're like, all right,whatever you know.
And then, when we're in thecages, at this time, hector too,

(01:02:25):
let me let me bring this tolight that at this point in time
I had a spiritual awakeningwhere I'm Christian, I'm a
Christian homie, I had anencounter with God.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
I gave my life to the Lord At the time that you were
in Palm Hall.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
Palm Hall.
I'm Christian.
Throughout all my YTS time Iwas Christian as well.
I had found the Lord, believeit or not.
After that county jailexperience, after sentencing,
all that stuff, is when I had amoment of clarity where God
grabbed a hold of my life.
That's a whole other story tosolve, bro, because it was like

(01:03:06):
I didn't know what was going on.
I had no previous encounterslike what I did that time.
I didn't know what I was facingto make a decision Like I
didn't even know what kind ofdecision I was making when I
gave my life to the Lord JesusChrist.
I didn't even know what kind ofdecision I was making when I
gave my life to the Lord JesusChrist.

(01:03:33):
No-transcript.
Let my hair grow out,everything.
When I went back that evening,I shaved my head, right, and I
said you know what it's on.
Like I knew, I knew, I knew Iwas done After that testimony.
Right there, I was done.
Yeah, even the next day when Iwent, you know to, not was it

(01:03:54):
the next day or whatever?
No, no, no, no.
I didn't even go back the nextday.
I was waiting to catch thechain for a documentation.
90-day observation in YA.
Now, right, and I had shaved myhead and I started raising my
hand Everything that I was toldnot to do in the beginning.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Yeah, and here I am now, so what was the purpose of
the x-ray in Chino?
In Chino.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
I don't know.
We had to see the medicaldoctor.
We hadn't been classified,nothing, remember.
They just brung us straightfrom YA to over there.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
So did they ever interview you?
Who the cops ISU?

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
No, no, it had nothing to do with ISU.
It had everything to do withChino Police Department.
Chino Police Department.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Holy shit.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Did the Homicide Detectives department, police
department homicide detectiveever interview?
They?
They did come to talk to us,yeah, and I told him I didn't
even know who the lady was.
I said I don't even know.
I I didn't live on that unitthough, right.
So let me tell you how.
I thought originally that I wasgetting caught up in that mix
because I was working right whenall of that happened.
Maybe they thought I had accessto the trash can or whatever.
Um, so all along I thought thatright.

(01:05:03):
But come to find out they werethinking that I may have heard
something, because supposedlyeverything that happened the
battle between him and her, thesexual assault or any of that
stuff that happened happened inthe cell right below me.
Because when they started askingme, yeah, did you hear anything
in the vents or whatever likethat I was like during lockdown,

(01:05:25):
everything was loud, everybodywas clowning.
It was like I heard a lot ofthings throughout all the vents,
because them vents don't onlygo down.
You hear ball, you hear yourneighbors.
I said I I didn't hear anywoman screaming, if that's what
you're asking.
But yeah, though, when we wereover there, chino PD came and

(01:05:46):
talked to us, but they justasked us, like what I just said,
you know what I mean and thatwas it.
But they kept us underinvestigation for quite a while
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
So after, that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Did you touch down at corcoran?
I know, while I end up going todonovan, I end up going to a
few other places before thattime.
But while I was in palm hallthough it was an experience
though, because I was onmanagement role, which I didn't
know what management was at thattime.
That wasn't a part of ourlanguage in ya, I never heard of
indeterminate shoe programs,right, I didn't hear of people

(01:06:21):
possibly having you know 300points.
Like that's ridiculous points.
You know what I mean?
Like that is crazy.
I didn't know what it meant tobe classified.
We didn't know nothing aboutprison.
We were just from that van tothat cell.
So they started taking us down.
We had to do I think we weredoing x-rays for TB testing or

(01:06:42):
something, because I guess weneeded that we ended up seeing a
medical doctor, then we went toclassification and then that's
when they I didn't even knowwhat close B was.
They were like, yeah, you'regoing to be close B.
I didn't know what that meant.
They were like right now,you're max A custody, we're

(01:07:06):
going to release you from max ato close b.
Yeah, uh, not realizing close b, man, at four o'clock your
program was over, you know, um,but yeah, I ended up being
closed b I from there, uh,standing, and I'm you know what
I'm grateful to this day that Idid go that when we first got
there, when we were in the dogcages, there was a homie next to
us and, uh, he was onmanagement with.
So he was talking to us, youknow.
He said, yeah, I'm cool, youcan talk to me, I'm on
management, you know what I mean.
And he started telling us yeah,I don't think the homies are

(01:07:28):
going to want you on the yardwith us because you guys are
Christian, nothing against you.
Just, I don't think.
What do I say?
Shoot, I'm going to go to theyard anyway.
You know what am I supposed tosay?
We're like all right, whatever.
So I ended up getting in thekayak and the homies were like,
yeah, go to yard.
You know, at Unlock tomorrow,you know when they come, go.

(01:07:48):
So I went to yard and theyasked me and the other guys from
YA if we would, you know, foryou, just work out.
I had no idea what that workoutwas going to be like.
Right, I didn't know that wewere going to have to stand in
cadence.
I didn't know we were going tohave to sound off the way we had
to sound off on that yard.
I didn't man, I didn't know wewere going to work out for two

(01:08:11):
hours straight were you able tocomplete the workout the first.
At first I couldn't actually.
I threw up.
They told me get off the goover there to the side and throw
up.
I was like, because we were onlockdown all that time just
sitting around, we weren'tworking out in y.
That was unheard of, dude.
Yeah, you know up and downs.
You know when we got there andit was august when we got
transferred, by the way, youknow and it's crazy because we

(01:08:34):
were there when tupac got killedwe were there in in palm hall
when he got killed, because Iforgot I think they were passing
out laundry or something in themorning and we were asking, hey
, what happened with the tysonfight?
You're like, oh, yeah, he won,but guess what?
We're like what?
Tupac got killed.
We're like tupac got killed,like what?
Yeah, after he was there at thefight, after he got killed in
vegas, we're like what?

(01:08:54):
So, yeah, I was there when Iwas there in the hole.
So whenever I think think ofTupac getting killed, I remember
I was back there in the hole,but yeah.
But I was grateful though,because we went out there,
started working out, met a lotof cool dudes.
It was crazy too.
My first real like prisonviolence was right there, the
guy that was running the wholething right there they stabbed

(01:09:19):
them good man, and that was inan ad seg yard on the yard.
Was that a group yard?
Yes, well, it was everyone fromthe third tier.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
It was management, it was all but the group yard,
because now what they have Imean, yeah, yeah, that's what,
that's what the group yard isnow what they have is the
individual dog cages oh no, no,we had a.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
No, we had a group.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
Yeah the group yard.
Yeah, that was, that was a good.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
And then you seen a dude get stabbed right there,
the main guy.
Well, he didn't get stabbed,actually, he got sliced up.
They sliced them up pretty, butthere was a lot of blood.
I didn't know what happenedwhen they, when they did it,
when they, when the yard wentdown everything.
We're on the floor and they, um, you know, they asked for
victim, can you stand up?
You know?
And, um, he stood up and hewalked off.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
What was he hit On the face?

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
On the face, the neck , fuck, and then, when we were
going the trippy part about it,though, is when we were going
back everybody was telling him,like you know, like that's right
, homie, like stay down,whatever, whatever, and I'm like
.
And then the next day in theyard, you know, I had learned a

(01:10:25):
long time ago not to askquestions.
You know, if it doesn't applyto me, don't ask questions.
I learned to turn my head theother way.
I wasn't one of them.
Ones, like you know, somebody'sgonna get hit.
Let me keep an eye out, for no,you go the other way, you know,
because I already knew fromprevious experiences.
You know, if you're around thefacility, around the vicinity of
something, oh yeah, yeah, nowyou've seen something now you're
, you're, yeah you're Now,you're in that conversation.
Who was there when it happened?
Who's seen it?
Who knew something?
So I already knew not to sayanything, so I wasn't really

(01:10:47):
asking nothing about him.
But it came up and I said likewhy did that happen?
And they're like nah, he'sstill good.
He was in CRC, he did somethinghe wasn't supposed to.
They said he was still good.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
Yeah, they were like he's still good.
Even though they were hittinghim in the face.
What's up with that?

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
They were like what they told me at that time.
That was just a checking.
That was a checking and thatwas like reality to me, hit like
dang, that was just a checkingand they all right, you know,
it's up to him which way he goesfrom here.
And I was like dang, you know,I mean, and this was like the

(01:11:25):
dude that was sounding off the,the whole routine and everything
, but is there any other violentencounters that you can
remember right there in thattime in?

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
in general?
Oh yeah, I saw a lot of dudesget blasted.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
You know, I saw the gunner shoot probably like three
different people during my timein prison.
Um, yeah, I've seen seen a lotof different things, but I could
tell you this much thoughprison was not as violent as the
youth authority, it was a longshot, not even close.
I mean, we had the helicopterair vacuum wards almost every

(01:11:56):
week from internal bleedingwounds, because in YA we had
trade shops.
We had metal shop, welding shop, we had masonry carpentry, we
had, you know, screwdrivers andman, I seen a guy when I first
got there in YA this was like inthe beginning I'm going to say
maybe late 91, early 92, thisguy stabbed this dude from the

(01:12:19):
back with a piece of rebar fromthe back.
It came out through the frontof him like like straight
gladiator, gladiator movie andI'm like what the heck, like
dang.
That was like my first incident.
Then, later on, I saw guys getlike locked up with um, with
battery we called it batterypacking in.
Ya, yeah, dude's eye was likehanging out of his socket and

(01:12:43):
stuff and I seen dudes getstabbed with with a saw, with an
actual wood saw.
Yeah, I saw him get like likesliced with it.
It was crazy Like why, though,that helicopter was always
landing bro?

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
So when you landed in Corcoran, was it the shoe or
was it a mainline?

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
No, always landing, bro.
So when you landed in corcoran,was it the shoe or was it a
mainline?
No, no, it was mainline.
Yeah, when I left donovan, whenI left donovan, um, the new
corcoran, this was like 97, itwas barely, it was really barely
opening.
I think it was the substanceabuse yards that opened up first
, and that's when iron man wasthere, robert downey jr, sad if
yeah, that was like the big high.
Robert downey jr was there andsh Downey Jr Sadef.
Yeah, that was like the bighype.
Robert Downey Jr was there andSharon Stone was in the visiting
room with the visitors and thenthey started opening up like
C-Yard, which was the four-yard,then A and B-Yard were level

(01:13:32):
two yards that were barelyopening.

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Then I think D-Yard was a level three that was
opening Because you know, sade,sad F that has hey guys,
consider becoming a patron,where you will get first
exclusive dibs on the videobefore it airs to the public and
you'll get to ask this guestspecial questions that you have
in mind.
So that's also another way tosupport the channel.
Thank you, guys.
Appreciate all of you.
Keep pushing forward.

(01:13:56):
Make sure you hit that link indescription below.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
And then a and B yard was barely opening when I got
there, which was level two yardsand my points had dropped.
I was in donovan on an override, level three override, and when
I got over there, um, I was alevel two.
So I went to b yard and b yardthe paint they hadn't even
painted the buildings yet, they,it was that.
I mean, I want to say I wasprobably like the fourth bus
there and when I got there, forit being a level two, that yard
was crazy.

(01:14:26):
I mean, I've never opened up aprison, but to open up that yard
in a sense where, um,everything was brand new all the
sheets, all the pillowcases,all the blues so everybody was
fighting for their territory andyes, exactly so we have the
southsiders, the northerns.
We had bulldogs on that yard.
Uh, we had the whites, theothers, all of that, the blacks

(01:14:49):
of course, and everybody wastrying to figure out who was
going to dominate.
What you know.
I mean, yeah, they had, theyonly had two different sets of
bar work.
So of course, one was going tobe south side, one was going to
be Southsiders, one was going tobe Black, southsiders and
whites, other ones, blacks andNortherns, and then the Bulldogs
kind of just fit in, kind ofwith us.
They were kind of like, coolwith us at the time, and when I

(01:15:10):
say us, I mean the Southsiders.
They were cool with theSouthsiders.
And yeah, man, but right there,there was so much tension
jumping off right there and itwas crazy.
I think I mentioned to you I hada homeboy named Buddha who was
a semi-pro boxer and he was allover the newspapers that he was
like one of the contenders tobox Tyson at that time and Tyson

(01:15:34):
was already up there.
But this guy was a regularMexican, but he looked like a
big old hawaiian simone type ofdude.
And this dude was a drunk andman.
This homeboy, it was one of myown boys from puente, and that
fool was in there beating up thenortherns left and right,
causing more and more problems,and then the homies wanted to
get rid of him.
They came and told me and acouple of my other homies from

(01:15:55):
puente, like, hey, man, yourhomie keeps on steering up too
much problem, and remember hewas a boxer.
So they started ended up tryingto regulate.
We're like, hey, that's on youguys.
You guys want him off the yard.
You're going to have to dealwith him.
So they tried to send somehomies over there and Buddha was
lighting them up.
Left and right, I mean, groupsof homies were going over there

(01:16:15):
and Buddha was just lightingthem up, and in the process,
buda's lighting up everybody,though, yeah, and finally me and
another homie from Puente justtold Buda like Buda, just go,
fool.
Like they're not asking you tolock it up, they're just saying
just go and tell him that youneed to go somewhere else.
Man, they're trying to.
Just, they just wanted him toleave.
And I was like, well, shoot,man, it kind of sounds like

(01:16:38):
you're telling him to lock it up.
They were like, nah, he couldjust tell him to go to another
yard.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
So you had got hit with that 30 to life.
At what point did you end upappealing it to be able to get
it?
I did.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
Actually, in 94, I was in YA and I went back on my
first appeal.
I ended up going back and beingresentenced to 25 to life, to
25 to life, and it doesn't soundlike much.
But the conspiracy got droppedfirst.
Yeah, it didn't sound like anybetter at all.
Yeah, it didn't sound better atall.
So I got the conspiracy casedropped.
First, like I said earlier,they didn't have enough evidence

(01:17:10):
on the overacts.
They never presented nooveracts, which they needed.
Yeah.
And then, two years later, Igot the gang enhancement dropped
because they messed up on thatone.
Wow, because they used crimesafter my crime.
Right, because you remember, Ihad that two-year gap.
So what happened is they usedcrimes after the fact.

(01:17:32):
If they would have just usedcrimes prior to my case, the
enhancement would have stuck,but because they used crimes
after it, the appellate courtsaid you can't use them.
Though, who was able toidentify that?
Your lawyer, the appellatecourts, well, my lawyer, I well,
I think my lawyer appealedevery decision, I think, um, and
when the appellate courts wentthrough it, it came back in my

(01:17:53):
favor.
Yeah, so when that happened, Iended up with life plus five
years for the gang enhancement.
No, the gun use.
I mean the gun enhancement Lifeplus five.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
What gave you the L?
The conspiracy to commit murder, the attempted murders, the
attempted murders.
Six counts, six counts.

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
That's what was carrying the life term.
Yeah, man, and at that time Ididn't think I was ever going
home.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:20):
Because no life was going home.

Speaker 1 (01:18:21):
So you went from 30 years to live, 25 years to live,
then life with five Yup, yup.
And then what ended uphappening?

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
2003, during the recall of Gray Davis, which was
the governor at that time.
Arnold Schwarzenegger ended upbecoming governor when he was
getting recalled.
During that time, during, likethe early 2000s, it was all over
the newspaper.
They wanted to dismantle theboard.
They really wanted to dismantlethe board.
Greg davis was being recalled,and here I am going in front of

(01:18:52):
um, in front of the board ofprison terms, and when I went in
I the first time, I went in foran actual suitability hearing,
because every three years,lifers go to what's called.
What are they called?
Not suitability hearings,they're called, oh,
documentation hearings.
They just want to documentwhere you're at right now.
That's it, though, but it'snever no deliberation on whether

(01:19:16):
or not you're suitable forparole According to the matrix.
None of that happens untilyears later, right?
So here I am, though, because Igot everything dropped and my
matrix is coming up wherethey're like yeah, you're now
eligible for parole if foundsuitable.
So my first year, they told meno, due to the seriousness of my
case.
Blah, blah, blah.
We're giving you a three-yeardenial in 2000.

(01:19:39):
When I go back in 2003, theyfind me suitable, they find me
suitable what?

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
but in 2003, man, the dudes were not getting action,
not like now not like now or not, like uh, 10 years ago?
So was that that had to havebeen a rare case?

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
right, it was a rare case very rare, so rare that
they didn't even know how toparole me when that time came.
I can see that, but whathappened, though, is that, when
I got suitable by thecommissioners of the the
governor's commissioners right,they stamped it just like in the
movies yeah, granted, granted,parole.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
That's what it said on the why were you the
exception?
This at that time?
What did they did?
They were the board members.
Like in favor of this, yourstory three years later I had,
by that time time.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
I ended up leaving b yard and I went to f yard, which
was the substance abuse yard.
They were paying for ourcolleges.
They were paying minimum wage.
They were paying us to be atthe yard.
They were paying for ourcolleges.
They were paying minimum wage.
They were paying us to beresidential, live-in drug and
alcohol counselors Okay, cool.
So they were paying for ourcollege and everything.
And I got involved in that.
I was one of the lifers,because there was only a few
lifers that were being chosen todo that and that agency.

(01:20:53):
Well, what ends up happening?
The governor ends up denying myparole.
He snatched my date.
He's like nope, you're notgoing nowhere.
So I got what was called anembankment hearing, where it
went before all thecommissioners in Sacramento.
All seven commissioners had todo a vote in my favor if I was
to be paroled.
This happened August 13th of2003.

(01:21:16):
I wasn't allowed to go to thathearing, but I could have
character witnesses go on mypart on my behalf, okay.
So what happened is the waldenhouse which was overseeing that
facility at that time, yeah,based out of san francisco.
They got attorneys for me, theygot psychologists for me.
They got all kinds of people tofight.
They told me we're going tofight the governor for you.

(01:21:37):
Who they did you a solid man.
They did very much.
So I mean I love them to thisday.
I mean they're, we're a familyput it like that, we are and
what happens is, um, they wereup there later into the evening
that night.
That night about 9 30 atnighttime.
We're already, yards closed,everything's happening.
It's august, right, hot as heckin corcoran.

(01:21:58):
They call me over the intercomGo Dines, report to the program
office.
I'm like everybody's looking atme.
What the Nobody goes to theprogram office.
I'm like what do they want mefor?
Why I need to go.
I'm like resisting.
I'm telling them like there'snothing for me at the office,
right and right away.
Somebody's like man, jojo.

(01:22:19):
They were like think somebodydied.
And I was like man, because Iremember before my mom died
while I was in custody, yeah,and it was kind of you know.
So I'm like dang.
Now that you bring it up, youknow what I mean.
I'm like shoot.
So I'm walking across the yard.
You know everybody's justlooking and stuff and

(01:22:40):
everybody's thinking like dang,everybody knew me.
I was cool with everybody.
So when I go, and they knewEverybody was kind of already
knowing that I was having thathearing take place that I wasn't
able to go to earlier in theday.
So I was like, but I wasn'teven thinking nothing about that
.
I was thinking, man, am Igetting bad news right now?

(01:23:00):
So when I get there, mycounselor is there, my CC1 is
there and he's all sweaty.
He's a white boy and he's allred in the face, sweating, and
I'm like what the heck?
What are you doing here rightnow?
He said you need to sign thesepapers, you need to sign these
parole plans right now.
You're going home in themorning and I'm like like what
the heck?
I said, are you serious?
And while I'm there in theprogram office, the warden calls

(01:23:22):
and they give me the phone andthe warden's like congratulating
me and telling me man, you knowyou, you worked hard to to get
this opportunity.
He said I'm telling you thatthere might be some red flags
because you're the first to gohome from this facility.
And I'm like what the heck like, is this real?
Did it feel surreal?
It did like.
It did like a dream.
It like what the heck Like, isthis real?
Did it feel surreal?
It did, it did Like a dream.

Speaker 1 (01:23:41):
It was like what the heck?

Speaker 2 (01:23:43):
I was like none of this makes sense.
I'm looking at my counselor andhe's sweating and he's nervous,
like they're putting thepressure on him to fill up.
They didn't know what paroleoffice I was going to.
They didn't know the address Iwould go to.
They didn't know nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
Have you ever made anybody with a similar story
from that time frame?
Never.
Yeah, dude, that's what I'msaying.
That's a rare occasion thatthey were extremely rare.
Dude, we're not paroling yeahlifers were not going home.

Speaker 2 (01:24:11):
They weren't going home in 2003 yeah, and, and I
didn't even know what was goingon in the bank mini hearing.
I didn't know the process ofthat, you know what I mean?
I didn't know, but supposedlythey found I mean it is, they
found me suitable.

Speaker 1 (01:24:24):
So you were not even mentally prepared to go home.
I mean, you had gotten thetraining to be a drug and
alcohol counselor, but I mean,as far as you going to the
streets, you probably, mineprobably was not there.

Speaker 2 (01:24:34):
It wasn't thinking I was going home.
Because I didn't see nobody gohome.

Speaker 1 (01:24:39):
So did you go back to the yard and tell the homies
like, hey, I'm going home?
I did, I went back.

Speaker 2 (01:24:42):
I told them they were on lockdown already, though
they were already in their cells.

Speaker 1 (01:24:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
And they started banging on the door.
They were all excited for me.
They were all happy Shoot yourTV, shoot your.
I just grabbed my pictures, allmy legal paperwork and that was
it.
I left everything, my hot potmy stingers, everything I left,
my clothes, any extra stuff here, it's all yours right.

(01:25:07):
My Super 3, here you go.
Everything's right here.
And that next morning it wascrazy because they came and they
took out there was like twoother guys that were leaving
that day, right, and whathappened is they?
They didn't call my name andeverybody's like hey what about
Jojo man, what's up?
And they were telling me like,uh, they were like, yeah, he
didn't get, like they didn'tcall for your release.

(01:25:29):
So, anyways, as the day went on, that program, that drug
program, ceremony, going home,so they set it all up and I'm
like, oh man, like they'resetting me up, man.
So in the middle of that littleceremony, the, the ceo at the,
at the, at the desk, called myname over the intercom and they

(01:25:50):
take me.
And there was other people inthe building at the time that
weren't supposed to be in there,that were just wanting to say
their goodbyes.
And when I walked out of thatbuilding, man, it was like a
movie.
I had northerns, blacks, whites, all the homies from down south
.
They were all lined up givingme hugs and they were telling me

(01:26:11):
, man, you deserve it.
Fool like for real, you deserveit like.
Go out there, make us all proud, man, like you know, go handle
that, you know.
And I came home.
Well, I went to a program.
I went to a residential program, stood there for um, I stood in
the program for like a year anda half of residential
outpatient combined.
Yeah and um, no violations, man, my wife was waiting for me.

(01:26:34):
The young lady that I told youabout my son was already a
teenager by this time.
I ended up doing, um, a littlebit over 14.
So I have a teenage son.
I have a teenage son now.
My wife from my youth, you know, my wife was always by me,
though, man, god blessed me witha good wife and I had
communication with my son allthe time.

(01:26:54):
You know, you would always comevisit me and stuff.
Yeah and uh, here I was, cominghome to him, I paroled to
downtown la, and um, it was so.

Speaker 1 (01:27:03):
It was just unreal, man so I know, now you mentioned
, what is it that you do?

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
now you said you assist the family members of
yeah, so I started an onlinecommunity called trapped
families and, um, what I do is Ihelp families that are
incarcerated.
Um, because, when I got out alot of people that knew me, even
like my own homeboys, theirfamilies I started off with my

(01:27:27):
own homeboys' families like justtrying to be there for them.
This time I'm already aminister.
I'm there just helping themthrough the process.
You know a lot of them, theirloved ones, were just getting
busted.
I was helping a lot of theirfamily get into drug treatment
and it wasn't until like twoyears I was a behavioral
modification counselor,substance abuse counselor from

(01:27:50):
the time I got out all the waytill almost 2017.
And then that's when I startedmy own businesses.
I'm doing life coaching todayand I also have my own pool
business Awesome dude.
I do that just for the serenityof just being outdoors.
I just love it.
I'm my own boss.
I do what I do.

(01:28:11):
How do people find you?
You got a website or anything?
Yeah, I'm on Instagram.
Just Trap Families all acrossthe board on Instagram, tiktok,
on YouTube they could find methat way and what I do is on my
podcast.
I bring the families on toshare their stories and it's not
as easy as some people thinkyou know to put your laundry out
there or, and I tell people,just share what you're

(01:28:32):
comfortable with.
You know I'm saying because, um, and it's hard, it's hard for a
lot of these family members todeal with their loved ones
incarcerated but it's good.

Speaker 1 (01:28:41):
I mean that you're giving them the platform.
It's hard.
It's hard for a lot of thesefamily members to deal with
their loved ones incarcerated,but it's good that you're giving
them the platform.
It's good to let them knowthey're not the only ones going
through it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
And they can network and work together through some
of those challenges.
And my whole purpose in sharingmy story, Hector, for real,
it's not for fame and glory,it's really to give people hope
that you know what you canchange.
You know Absolutely.
I glory it's really to givepeople hope that you know what
you can change.
You know absolutely.
I hear I'm not one of them, onesthat that went through and my
experience actor through prisonis a lot different through other
people.
Yeah, I, I battle with ptsd,you know.

(01:29:11):
I mean I still hear peopleyelling.
I still, you know, see bloodsplattering and dreams and stuff
.
I mean, you know, not everynight.
I don't want people to think I'mjust, you know, a freak like
that, where every night I'm justcrazy like that, but I still
have my moments.
Certain noises trigger certainreactions from me, but I just
want people to know that youknow you don't got to go to

(01:29:33):
prison and just be a knuckleheadman.
You could be your own person.
And still People ask me all thetime how did you survive in
there all them years being aChristian?
Like going against the grain?
I said you know number onething is common sense and
respect.
I knew how to mind my ownbusiness.

(01:29:54):
I knew how to navigate throughthe politics without having my
nose everywhere.
Like I said earlier, I know howto turn my head when things are
happening where my name is notin the conversation of who saw
something or who knew something,or you know I'm not there
mandoling in the politics.

Speaker 1 (01:30:11):
It's street smarts, dude.
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
And I think for me too, hector.
I think my prior life beforeChrist gang bang, I knew a lot
of people from them, two yearsin juvenile, I knew a lot of
people that were considered downhomies.
That knew me and I'm not goingto say that I was a down homie.
I did what I did.
But other homies may say, yeah,that fool was down for his,

(01:30:35):
because that's what I displayed.
And then, like I said, when Igot to the county jail I'm not
going to mention some of thepeople that mentored me and took
me under the wings, but theywere of good standings, you know
what I'm saying where they hadsome say-so and it was them that
I reported to when I decided tomake this decision.

(01:30:56):
And their words to me, theystuck with me.
They said you know what, jojo,all power to you, this decision.
And their words to me, theystuck with me.
They said you know what, jojo,all power to you, man, go and do
what you got to do, just don'tplay games with it.
I didn't know what that meant,but later on I seen people
playing with religion, hidingbehind you know their Bible,
their Koran or something, andend up getting dealt with.
You know, and for me it's crazybecause, just like that

(01:31:18):
gentleman out there right now,he did 30 years, 30?
, 30.

Speaker 1 (01:31:22):
We started off in Hawaii together.
I have to interview that and Ihave a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:31:26):
I have so many, my wife trips off me because I have
so many friends from way backin juvenile hall that I still
try to help today when needed.
I'm still close to them and Ithink my testimony, if anything,
it stands pure becauseeverybody's like.
The person you were in there iswho you are today.
30 years later, you're stillthe same guy.

(01:31:48):
You never forgot where you camefrom.
You love the homies to a sensewhere you want them to do better
.
You get them in programs whenneeded.
You know you done helpedfamilies with financial support
when they got busted.
I I look out for my homies andpeople always tell me you know
I'm not that one that got savedand forgot about my homies right
?

(01:32:08):
no, I hear you I just setboundaries and there's like
standards in my life.
Now where, you know, I like, Isaid I would be out there
playing on the handball courtwith all the homies, I'd be on
the basketball court playingwith the blacks, I'd be, I'd
walk the yard with a bulldog, um, but I understood how much to
be around the politics,absolutely dude, without getting

(01:32:29):
myself in the mix where nowthings are being questioned,
caught up in a wreck, exactly.
You know, I was a man of myword.
I practiced integrity when Iwas a gangbanger and when I
became a christian, I lived as aChristian.
I didn't have one foot in, onefoot out and I think the homies
recognized that where, like,they didn't see me two-faced.

(01:32:49):
Of course I'm not perfect, butthank God, I never did anything
out of my faith.
That was you know where theysaid, oh yeah, he's a fake.
You was.
You know where they said, ohyeah, he's a fake.
You know what?
I'm saying and when I paroled,I'm proud to say you know, I
paroled from the main line, youknow, with a good name, you know
, and at that time there was no.
You know, I don't think therewas any SNY yards at that time

(01:33:13):
in 2003.
I don't even remember a lot ofpeople.

Speaker 1 (01:33:27):
I mean, the terminology back then was like
either you're in the hat oryou're not in the hat, and that
was it.
There really wasn't like a pcpopulation that I could remember
.
Oh, dude, you would, uh, youwould not even recognize the
department today, manunrecognizable.

Speaker 2 (01:33:33):
Yeah man, it's crazy.
I hear you and I'd be likeespecially that the new
california model man.

Speaker 1 (01:33:38):
You get to play sports with the ceos, give them
high fives, hugs, it's just dopeit just sounds crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:33:44):
I don't know.
There's some people that are,you know thinking behind all
that Well.

Speaker 1 (01:33:50):
I want to thank you for coming on, dude, sharing
your story, your testimony, bro.
I'm glad we chopped it up.
I know we had been in talks forlike a year and stuff.
We finally made it happen, bro.
So just remind the viewerswhere they can find you again on
the Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:34:01):
Yeah, you can find me on Trap Families on Instagram.
You can find me on TikTok, trapFam I think it's Trap Fams and
then on Facebook you could hitme up Jojo Godinez, and on
YouTube it is Trap Families aswell.
And, hector, I thank you foryour service.
Man, you know, I think that wasone of the things that caught

(01:34:22):
my attention when watching you.
And, man, you know, just someof the things you shared is like
I mean, you're just down toearth, bro.
You're raw with it too, man,but I appreciate you.
Thank you for having me, man.

Speaker 1 (01:34:30):
I appreciate it, appreciate you.
There you guys have it folks.
Another banger man.
If you guys like what you saw,make sure you hit that subscribe
button.
I'll keep bringing it for youguys.
Love you, keep pushing forward.

Speaker 2 (01:34:44):
You've been listening to Hector Bravo Unhinged.
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Jojo - From Gang Life to Redemption: A Journey Through Resilience and Hope

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jojo - From Gang Life to Redemption: A Journey Through Resilience and Hope