Locked In with Ian Bick - American Drug Smuggler Reveals INSANE Story Of Surviving 7 Years In An Ecuador Prison | Oscar Castro

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

A failed smuggling operation in a foreign country lands Oscar Castro in a Max Security Ecuadorian Prison for 7 years. In this episode we hear an inside look on what life in prison is like in a foreign country, his fail escape attempts & how he was ultimately able to survive. Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?h... https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Oscar Castro: https://youtube.com/@GLOBALOCKDOWN?si... https://www.tiktok.com/@globalockdown... Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:13 - From Hustling to Dealing 00:08:58 - Kidnapped in Ecuador 00:13:30 - Party Inside the Jail 00:17:50 - Desperate Call to Mom 00:22:19 - Conditions in the Ecuadorian Jail 00:26:28 - corruption 00:30:51 - Transfer to the max 00:35:20 - Attempted Escape from Prison 00:39:23 - Life inside 00:43:41 - Making Liquor 00:47:51 - Difficult Choices 00:52:20 - The Power and Presence of the Life of Crime 00:56:31 - The Adrenaline Rush 01:00:44 - Overcoming Adversity and Building Success 01:04:46 - A Crazy Story and Meeting My Wife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The day before I'm supposed to leave, I get a phone call, and it's the person that was bringing the drugs from Colombia to Quito Ecuador. And he says, I should be there in about two hours. I'll meet you in the lobby. So I said, all right, no problem. So two hours passed by, I go downstairs to the lobby, and I'm sitting there waiting. And this gentleman walks in, you know, he says, hey, I'm Diego. How's it going? Everything on.

I'm like, hey, man, what's going on? You know, we act like we're old buddies. Like, everything's all right. He hands me a bag where I think, you know, the shoes and stuff are coming in. And next thing you know, I go to get up and just. everybody is all over me. They throw me to the ground, you know. They handcuff me, they pick me out, they put me in the elevator,

they take me upstairs to my room. When we walk in, there's already police inside my room going through everything. They got the safe open. They're, you know, looking at my jewelry. They're looking at my, you know, my passport. They're like, oh, this passport's faith. Ladies and gentlemen, I have to warn you, this is going to be one of those stories that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Today I have Oscar Castro here to share how a failed drug smuggling operation in Ecuador landed him in an Ecuadorian maximum security prison for seven years. We get all the behind-the-scenes details of life in prison in a foreign country and how different it truly is from the American justice system. Oscar's story deserves to be a movie and I'm honored and excited to share it with you today. Now sit back, relax, and get ready to lock into this roller coaster, episode with Oscar Castro. Oscar, welcome to Lockton, man.

Thank you, man. Ian, it's a pleasure to be here. I'm so happy, you know, you're giving me the chance to tell my story. Dude, I love your energy. You know, it's always good. You know, it's going to be a good episode when a guest comes in, all hyped up. Thank you for the gift. I'll have it on my YouTube community wall.

Literally the coolest thing. No problem, man. Anyone's ever gotten for me. Describe what it is so people know. So basically, you know, it's a funco pop. You know, you pop your stuff. yourself go online, you can make a character, you can make anybody you want. So I thought about it, you know, what could I bring you?

You know, something to show just, you know, you know, how I feel, you know, just the appreciation. So basically, you know, went online, found it, you know, tried to make an exact mark like you are and it came out pretty good, I think. What do you think? It's spot on, man. Right? When I was at dinner with Chevy last night, he had like this little painting and it's like me

with the glasses. Now anyone, anytime anyone sees a kid with glasses or whatever, they send it to me, like, look at your twin. But that thing is literally spot on. Coolest fucking thing ever. Perfect, man. I'm so happy you liked it. Thank you, man. But I appreciate you coming out here today. I'm glad we got to your episode before our good Fred Joddy Mitchell. That's right. Johnny, we love you. Tees him. Yeah, we love Johnny. And excited to dive into your episode today. You're our first person on the show that's been to a foreign prison. And that's incredible.

Everyone's always asking about like out of the country prisons, a lot of like, you know, like Russia, Europe, everything like that. And so you bring an interesting perspective on it today. But before we get to that part, let's start with your story. Where are you from? Where do you grow up? All right. So basically grew up in small town in Jersey.

You know, just got with the wrong crowd around the teenage. you know, era. Wasn't doing good in school. Really didn't like to go to school. Didn't do homework. None of that stuff. Got into smoking weed with the wrong crowd early. And I guess that was like my gateway entrance was marijuana into the game.

I was in seventh grade, you know, selling weed. You know, people would come from the high schools to come, you know, grab, you know, five for 20 from me. It was insane. You know, the teachers would be like, why are these people waiting outside for you? And I'd be like, oh, no, we're going to go play football at the field, you know, but it was crazy, man. Good childhood, you know, my parents were great, amazing, you know, it's not always the parents' fault when the kid goes off track. You know, that's number one. You know, my family was great.

They always gave me everything I wanted. Hardworking, you know, immigrant family. And I had great examples, you know, my mother hardworking, also my father. and that again examples that i just didn't you know follow through with at the end of the day i liked making money easily so you know i was always hustling something from a young age i would hustle anything from you know basketball cards you know baseball cards football cards autographed plaques like jordan patrick ewing you know i would buy him at one price selling for another to friends at school and um i guess that just grew with me and then i just took it and used it somewhere else but um i

dropped out of school at 17. And my father told me, you know, if you want to drop out, you're going to have to get a job immediately. So basically got a job. And my first job ever was working at a Barnes & Noble's warehouse. Now, this is where the story basically begins because this is where I meet my contact into basically a Colombian drug family. Okay. I'm working at this warehouse. I meet this kid.

We'll call him G. And he invites me to a party, show up at the party. And there's a bunch of people, you know, well-dressed. You know, you could tell they're, you know, upper-level drug traffickers there, you know, big cars, a lot of gold, you know, a lot of beautiful women. And end up speaking with a gentleman that actually tells me, you know, you'd be great to bring up drugs from South America. So I tell them, all right, you know, what is it? What do we do? He said basically you'll just catch a flight, you know, you'll go on vacation.

We'll give you money. You know, you could have whatever you want. Women, you want, you know, drugs, cocaine, marijuana, whatever you want down there. You'll stay maybe a month or so. Then you come back. Now, in those days, I'm talking pre-9-11. So, you know, airports were a lot different. There wasn't the scanner machines.

There was none of that. So basically, I went down, you know, had my vacation. you know, had a good time, went out to all the clubs, and had fun. And then when it was time to come back, you know, they'll give you a pair of shoes. Each shoe has 400 grams in it, you know, and then maybe they might give you another pair of shoes that you could throw in your back. So this is what I brought back my first time coming from Columbia straight to JFK. Landed, you know, the people that I was connected with here basically picked me up at the airport. You know, we go back to an apartment, take all the drugs out.

They take everything out of the shoes. They unpack everything. You know, they weigh it, and they pay me $20 a gram. So first score was a kilo, right? So basically $20 a gram, you're making $20 grand. After that, you know, I get more involved with them, basically, you know, helping them go charge money. spots where, you know, people that owe them. Basically, they would give, you know, a couple bricks of heroin,

maybe to say one of the project dealers, we would have to go pick up this money and bring it back to them. Just little by little getting more involved and deeper into the drug game with them. So this is about 98. 1999, I decided to go on another trip. Once again, flying to Medell Jean, this time, Columbia.

And I was there for about 15 days, not too long. Same thing, you know, partying, going out every night. And when it's time to come back, you know, just grab your pair of shoes and hop on the plane. There was no problems. You know, I thought it was the easiest way to make money ever. I couldn't believe it was happening. And I was so young, you know.

And just thinking about the money you were going to get when you come back and then, you know, young and stupid, not thinking about maybe putting money away. saving it, you're coming back, you're splurging on everything. You know, you're going out best food, you know, let's get a Mercedes, let's get a gold chain, you know, you know, the drug dealer kit, you know, you know, the way it is. And little by little, you know, the money goes away. You know, if you don't have a plan, you know, and the drug came, it's the money as soon as you get it, it just goes away like water. So, you know, another trip comes up. Let's do the third trip. This one, we're going to Ecuador, Quito because, you know, I already had two trips in

Colombia, so, you know, let's go to Quito. Now, when I fly to Ecuador, we're supposed to meet up with somebody that never arrived, never showed up. I never met anyone, you know, and from day one, it was just bad. I had a bad vibe, you know, the whole way, the whole way down, I was just, like, nervous. So, um, I just knew something was off. The guy never called me when he had to show up. You know, he never sent any, any signals. You know, I was calling back to New York saying, I need help. Nobody's coming to the hotel. You know, my bag got lost at the airport. I didn't have any clothes. I had to go to the mall, buy clothes. So from day one, it was horrible. Now, finally on the day before I'm supposed to leave, I get a phone call,

and it's the person that was bringing the drugs from Colombia to Quito Ecuador. And he says, I should be there in about two hours, all right? And I'll meet you in the lobby. And so I said, all right, no problem. So two hours passed by, I go downstairs to the lobby, and I'm sitting there waiting. And this gentleman walks in, you know, he says, hey, I'm Diego, how's it going? Everything on. I'm like, hey, man, what's going on?

You know, we act like we're old buddies, like everything's all right. And he hands me a bag where I think, you know, the shoes and stuff are coming in. And next thing you know, I go to get up and just everybody is all over me. They throw me to the ground, you know. They handcuff me, they pick me out. They put me in the elevator. They take me upstairs to my room. When we walk in, there's already police inside my room going through everything.

They got the safe open. They're, you know, looking at my jewelry. They're looking at my, you know, my passport. They're like, oh, this passport's fake. I had traveled a lot, you know, prior to go into Columbia. And my passport was a little old. So the plastic was like unfolding. It was like ripping up where the picture was.

Everybody thought it was fake. So, you know, the police officer smacked me, said, you're not American. Where are you from? What are you Colombian? I was like, no, I'm American. Call the embassy. I'm American. And they were like, what do you have there?

I said, no, it's just money. Oh, okay. Well, we know it's heroin. I said, no, I thought it was just coming to pick up money. Well, no, it's heroin and you're going to be in jail here for the next 25 years. I said, okay. So, you know, basically you put me in the elevator, take me downstairs, and now we're on our way to Interpol. So when I arrive in Interpol, I walk past the room where I see the person that brought me the bag. he was sitting down speaking to some agents.

And then, you know, obviously, you already know, he gave me up. From there was just like the worst night of my life. You know, young kid in a foreign country, you know, didn't know what was going to happen, had no idea what my future was like. They put me in a holding cell. This was on December 18th. And I didn't talk to anyone until, like, December 20. They came up to me and said, you know, it's time to go.

You know, we're going to be taking you to a small jail in the border with Columbia. I asked why, and they said, this is where your case starts. The person that was bringing the drugs got caught coming through the border and gave me up, basically. So he travels to Kito with the police. They do an operation on me. They lock me up. And now they're taking me back to the small jail. jail. So six-hour ride, you know, all the way to this small jail, in the back of a truck with no top on it, anything. We're going through the mountains. I mean, it was insane. We arrive at Tulkan, which is the city in Ecuador that is border with Colombia. And they put me in this holding cell with about three other people. They were there for, you know, local crimes like robbery or whatever. And they, um, they put me in this holding cell with about three other people. They were there for, you know, local crimes like robbery or whatever. And, um, um, they put me in this holding cell with about three other people. They were. And,

They immediately, you know, they talk to me. And I speak to him back in Spanish. And they're like, oh, my God, you speak Spanish? And I was like, yeah. They're like, oh, don't worry about it. You're going to be fine. This jail over here is great. You're going to love it.

So immediately I'm thinking, like, where am I? What do you mean? It's going to be great. I'm like, yeah, don't worry. It's going to be a party. So a day later, which is December 24th, they walk me from the cell. This is basically like the police.

where they have some holding cell. It's like outside, like wooden metal, you know, thing of a jig that they just made to hold some prisoners there. You're in, like, basically the quartel of the police. So you can't go anywhere. There's no way you're going to escape. There's 500 cops all around you. They walk me down to the prison, which is a small prison.

As I'm walking, I hear music in the background, real loud. Like, somebody's having a party. So as we get to the front of, entrance you know they open the doors and the music's even louder all i see is a bunch of guards and the guards are like hey how's it going you know speaking to me in spanish i reply back and they're like oh you ready and i was like ready for what they're like it's time to party inside man you're gonna love it here and i'm just like you know everybody's so nice there's this ladyguard that looks i mean she's like oh don't worry you're gonna be fine here everything's gonna be all right

So it okay Once they walk me through Like these these hallways I see at the end of the hallway A bunch of faces like moving around Trying to look down the hall And this is the entrance to I would say you know like the basketball courts

The patio Once I get to the door I see that there's women inside dancing And I'm like What is this? You know they got salsa music There's women dancing There's kids

I'm okay They open up the doors I walk in. Everybody's like, hey, fresh meat, yeah. Everybody's yelling. You know how it is when you walk in. Looking at this white boy, you know, little young kid. Everybody's like, fresh meat, fresh meat.

And then this one guy walks up to me, tall white boy, green eyes. And he speaks to me with no accident at all. He's like, what's up, white boy? Come with me. I look at him. I'm like, what are you speaking? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, let's go. So he takes me.

We're going to the guy that's in charge of the jail, going to his cell. So they walk me up the steps. You know, I'm looking around. I see people dancing salsa. I mean, full-blown dancing together, women and men. There's kids running around playing soccer. You know, I see three wooden huts, which I didn't know what was at the time. Later on, I would own one of those wooden huts.

It was a store. One of the stores inside the jail. All right. So I walk up the stairs. We go into the cell, and it's basically its visit day. and everybody's there. You can have your family inside with you. So I walk in and it's this guy, which is what they call caporal.

So it means he's like, he's the head honcho there. So I walk in, he's like, hey, how's it going? Have a seat. This is my wife. These are my kids. You know, this is my home for the next eight years. So he's like, tell me your story. Why are you here?

Explain everything to him. And he's like, all right, you know, you got set up, right? And I was like, yeah, of course. He's like, okay, where's the other guy? And I said, I don't know. They just transferred me by myself here. He said, okay. He's like, don't worry.

Eventually, I think they'll bring him here. And he's like, then you could see your friend again. And I was like, all right, sounds good. So he's like, you need anything? I was like, I really, I need to make a phone call. I was like, I haven't talked to my family in days. So he was like, all right, no problem. Cell phone.

Guy pulls out of StarTack. I'm talking, you know, the year 2001, he's fly. cell phone inside the cell loop. Here you go. I'm like, I can make an international call with this? He's like, yeah, yeah, go ahead. Called my mother. Now, this is funny because, you know,

it was a funny moment and a very sad moment at the same time because, you know, I call her up. There's music in the background. We got kids yelling and crying. You hear everything. I'm like, mom, are you sitting down right now? This is December 24th. She hasn't heard from me.

And, you know, and I'm the person that speaks to his mother every day, even now. You know, even if she's not living with me, maybe she's on vacation somewhere. I speak to my mom every day because, you know, she's everything to me. She's always been like that. So I haven't spoken to them, you know, my mother and my father in days. So they're really worried. So she picks up. She's like, oh, my God, I thought you were dead.

What's going on? Why don't you call? And I'm like, listen, you need to sit down. All right. I'm in an Ecuadorian jail. And, you know, it's not looking good. And she starts going, she's like, you're such a liar. I hear the music in the background.

What is wrong with you? Why are you lying to me? Where are you? I'm like, mom, listen, I'm telling you the truth. All right? What you have to do right now, hang up, call an embassy. All right? Call American embassy and find out.

I'm telling you the truth. Write down this number. I asked the guy for the number. He told me, we gave her the phone number. And she said, all right, I'm going to find out. and it was like that. The next day she called me back. You know, it was horrible.

You know, she was crying, you know, very upset. But those were the first moments walking into the jail. You know, one of the most craziest moments of my life. Because who would think inside of a jail? You know, people are dancing. There's women. There's kids. You know, there's stores.

There's pool tables. You know, there's people playing pool. You know, there's people standing there with a coach. can just drinking coke, you know, like in the middle of the day. You know, I've never been locked up here. You know, I've been arrested. Never made it to a jail. But, you know, they're way different down there.

It's just crazy. So. I can't believe that like this is just insane. Like, it's literally wild. How much did you make off of those three runs? Basically, uh, 20 to 22,000 each run. And, and does it matter the weight or is it just a run like? Could they give you more than one on one trip?

It was basically $20 a gram they were paying back in the day. Around that time, the key was going for like 60 to 65, depending on where you sold it around New York or Jersey. And it was a little bit more expensive in Jersey. So we would actually move weight from Queens to like Elizabeth or Newark. And we could get it, say, 52 a gram. And we could sell it like 62. So we'd make 10 grand.

just for transporting it. So you were selling it too? Of course. Yes, yes. So you were getting it for them and also being their dealer on the street? Of course, yes. Also, you're double dipping a little bit. I mean, it was a good group of us.

You know, we were about five. We all worked together. We all did different things, but we all sold heroin and cocaine and, you know, a bunch of other things besides that. That's crazy. That's a lot of money, too. It was good money. For back in those days, it was very good money.

Nowadays, not really, but... Well, what do you think that group of individuals would have titled you as, like, within their organization? Are you, like, a smuggler, or is there a different word? Yeah, probably. I mean, I was more of the smuggler. You know, we had the people, I mean, I had my boy that had the connects where we could go sell it. Like, we had a couple of connects in Elizabeth, another connect in Newark, you know, and once we got it here to Queens, we would just have to transport it. And, of course, get the money and, you know, it's not only just transporting it, but then, you know, you have to go through with the whole deal, which is always risky at the end as well.

All right. So you're in this jail. How's the legal process in Ecuador? Not good at all, man. I mean, they're backed up, right? They got tons of traffickers in jails. They had just gotten rid of the two for one law. So I got, I got arrested December 18, 2001. They just took it off in November. Basically, anybody locked up before November, they were getting two for one. So if you got an eight-year sentence, you'd do four. Now, a funny thing is, listen to this. People were charged with murder. They would get 16 years.

They would get the two-for-one. So they'd be out in eight for a life. That's insane. Now, when I got locked up, you know, they charged me with international drug trafficking. So they gave me eight flat. And I mean, it was just like one of the worst days in my life, you know, just to get the, you get the door shut on you at such a young age. Is there a trial? Of course, yeah.

It lasted for more than a year. So basically we would go to trial, come back, you know, present evidence. A year's long trial? Yeah, it was a little bit more than a year. Some people were there for two years without being sentenced. Yes. Really? So this is way different than the United States.

It's brutal justice system. Way different. Are you assigned an attorney? No. You don't get, you don't, there's no public defender over there. If you're not have an attorney, you're screwed. You have to get your own. And those are thousands, especially when you're talking about, you know, I need help to get my American son out of jail.

You can imagine how that goes. What about the embassy? Are they coming to visit to check on conditions at all? So basically this is the, when my mother called the embassy and found out, they told her, no, you can't come down yet because at the time there was a lot of guerrilla warfare going on at the border of Colombian Ecuador with these people called Las Farc, which are their guerrillas. They traffic, they kidnap, you know, they rob, they steal, they rape, they do everything. So she, the embassy, from the embassy, they actually came to visit me in a helicopter. They took a helicopter

from Quito all the way to the border. They went to go see the jail how it was. obviously once they went inside and saw me, I'm all smiles and giggles, you know, they were like, oh, you seem like you're pretty good here, you know, dressed like the way I am, you know, no problem, watch on sneakers, hat, glasses, you know, it's all, there's no prison uniform inside, you know, and I didn't look bad. I mean, no one's beating you in that jail. So, I mean, that jail was, it was amazing compared to where I went later. So the outfits, how does that work then?

If there's no uniform, are there other clothes or are you in the same pair of clothes the entire time. You, you use whatever you have. So, but you didn't have anything. Just the clothes I, I had at your hotel. Just the clothes I had in my hotel. That's all I had. So I had, you know, change of clothes.

But then, you know, you have to buy, right? Luckily, there's people there. They have visits come in. I'm like, hey, here's $200. Can you buy me, you know, underwear, socks, sneakers, you know, things, all kinds of stuff. Because everything I had got robbed, you know, watches, chains, the money. You know, I had cannon cameras with huge lenses Because when I came down, you know, I was taking pictures

I was going to the volcanoes, you know, like a tourist, right? You know, so I got the whole setup, but they stole everything. Are you worried that the people you're working for Are going to thinking that you're cooperating or anything? Of course, yeah, that's always a worry. At any time you get caught, you know, be wherever it be. But, I mean, what could I do? I couldn't do anything.

I mean, technically their employee fucked it up, right? the first guy that got caught. The guy that was coming to bring the stuff gets caught. He got nervous. He got caught. And then he sets up the operation with the police. They call ahead to Interpol and Quito. So they're keeping an eye on me for a whole day before, because they have to travel from the border.

Remember, it's like a six to eight hour trip. So they call ahead. And even the hotel knew because then later on when I go to trial, I hear all the evidence. You know, the evidence of, you know, they saw me when I left the hotel. until that day. They were watching me where I went. When I came back, I went into the casino that was you know, across the street, you know, they knew everything. They were watching. Is there any chance of winning in a Venezuelan court or no? In an Ecuadorian court. Ecuadorian, yeah, Ecuadorian. With a lot of money. Okay. So I don't know if you've seen the news lately, but in Ecuador,

there's corruption all the way to the top. And it's always been like that. Now, when I got locked up, There was, you know, tales of, oh, pay $10,000 here. They'll transfer you to this jail. Then you pay another 20 there. You might get out. You know, things of that nature. But, I mean, can you really trust, you know, giving someone that amount of money and then they don't let you out? I mean, I don't know.

I've heard tales. I never knew anybody that did it. I never knew of anybody that actually paid and got out. And I knew them. And I was like, wow, let's do it. And I'm sure I would have if that was the case. but yeah, no. Ecuador is, the judicial system is horrible.

So you get found guilty? Is it by one judge, a panel judge? It was just one judge. Okay. One judge looks at the evidence. Here's the case. And basically sentenced me to eight years flat. And is everything in Spanish, all the proceedings?

Everything is in Spanish. Yes, everything. I couldn't imagine being there. And not knowing Spanish. Yeah, if you, that's like I look at these people that are in Russian court. Yes. that we see on the news. And they have headphones on that translate, luck of me.

But what about back in the day? Who knows? Yeah, that's literally my biggest fear of like foreign traveling. Imagine you're just in a foreign country and then like. Something goes wrong. Something goes wrong. Like those stories are devastating about the murders with the roommates like and overseas and this and that.

Like that one girl. What's her name? That's popular. Her roommate was like murdered and they put the blame on her. And she went through a whole trial. overseas. I forgot her name. Amanda Knox, is that her story? I think so, yes. Yeah. And just, it's just so scary. Yeah, no, it's terrifying, man. So, I mean, luckily when my first day and first year in the jail I was in, was not bad. You know, besides the fact that you're locked up,

you can't go anywhere, I mean, we had it all. You know, the cells, you have your own TV. You know, I had PlayStation, you know, I mean, I would spend all day playing PlayStation, you know, things that you could never even imagine, you know, and pay a guard $20 to go bring in some liquor. Wow. So that's like what we hear about European prisons, some European prisons. Yeah, I mean, basically, I think everywhere around the world

there's going to be corruption. There was just a lot of corruption in Ecuador. The guards were making $180 a month. By the government. By the government. So they needed to. So imagine making $180 a month, and then you got to go take care of these drug traffickers

that make more money in jail, you know, sitting there even selling drugs inside the jail, then you do working every day, you know. So corruption is just everywhere. From the, you know, the director of the jails to like, you know, the guards, you know, psychiatrists that are in the jail that you could pay for them. They will send you a letter so you can come out, you know, and relax and not be inside for a couple hours.

You know, things like that. Everything has to do with money. You know, you could get drugs. You could get guns, knives, anything you could think. Now, when you're found guilty, do they sentence you the same day? Yes, automatic sentence that same day. So since after a year, I tried to escape, they sent me to the big jail. After, so you went back, you got sentenced to the eight years, seven years?

Yes. And they sent you the first jail. So I got sentenced to eight years, but before getting sentenced, I tried to escape. At the original jail. The original. At Hyundai of Glendale, Lisa New, 2026, Hyundai, 2017. on SC Front Wheel Drive for 269 a month plus tax for 36 months with owners assurance in America's best warranty 10 year 100,000 miles. Stop by Hyundai of Glendale today or Hyundai of Glendale.

36 month lease, 4,49 to its signing. Tax title license and dock fees extra plus government fees and taxes. 7,500 miles per year expires 6126. Who available at this payment? BH 71529, ph.ph.6500. Smaller jail. Okay, just tell us that. So basically, there were six of us in the cell, all right? One of them was a Spaniard, which was he weighed about 400 pounds, so this guy couldn't go with us. So what we did was every night we would make it accustomed to when we get locked in ourselves at 7 p.m., we would have like chocolate and bread with ham and cheese, like sandwiches, you know. So we would sleep this guy.

We would put something that would make him go to sleep, you know, in his, chocolate milk or his coffee and then we would go to work you know on the top bunk we had a huge dresser because even that we could have you know it was basically set up like you know if you're in an academy and there's two bed bunks on each side you know everything's made out of wood and then you could make dressers so we all had our own dresser where we could put our stuff you know we had all our clothes all our you know cosmetic stuff and all that but um we would bring down this dresser that was attached to the roof and we would start cutting. So little by little, every day we do a little bit of work to make this hole.

Now, once we cut through the entire wall, on the top of our wall, there was a cage. It was basically all, like threaded rod, basically. It was just all throughout the entire top. You could stick your head out through the top of the hole and you could see that there was just rods everywhere. So now we need a saw-zole that'll, you know, cut that metal. And obviously there's a workshop there. So we pay somebody to get us, get us these blades. And little by little we're cutting.

And this goes on for about four or five months. Every day we would cut and then put it back, secure it. In the meantime, there's guards coming to do searches and cells, you know, because they want to check and make sure we're secure. So every time they're coming in, your heart's beating. You never know what's going to happen. You know, first floor cells were even worse. They would come in with these huge metal bars and just start banging on the ground because they know, you know, people want to make tunnels.

They could make tunnels from the inside out. And if you got a lot of money, you could have it done from the outside in, you know, like Chapo did. So we finished doing the cutting. Everything's set. You know, we're waiting to go. we have a search. The police coming and do a search. And there's about, I don't know, 200 police officers all masked up.

They looked at the Ninja Turtles, you know, black, these black things on with all the vests and, you know, everything possible. And they're running through the cells. They're throwing, you know, everything out. You know, they're hitting us as we're coming out, you know, kicking, you know, batons. There's no human rights over there. I mean, it's serious. So they find the hole and immediately begin to beat us. I mean, they beat us for, I would say a good five minutes without stopping.

After that, we're all putting the hole, everyone in the cell. They took us to the hole. They immediately closed the cell. They put their own locks on it. And the next day, you know, basically they told me, you know, get ready because, you know, you're going to be transferred soon. So about a week later, three o'clock in the morning, you know, you hear the rattling of the keys and the locks when they're open up doors. So immediately I go to my door, I stick out the mirror.

I'm looking and I see that they're coming. So, boy, here we go. 3 a.m. I'm on my way to Quito to the big jail. So that was another, you know, six, seven hour drive. Got there. It was early morning. We stopped somewhere to get breakfast, and about 10 minutes later, we're walking into the big prison.

Now, this is the big leagues. You know, this is not where I was and nothing I've ever seen before or even thought of in my life. As soon as we walk in, you know, they're like, these are the guys that tried to escape. They already know why you're coming. And immediately start getting beaten. And the hole in that big prison was about four floors up. so you'd have to go up the steps and they had a line of officers and guards

all the way up the steps just with waiting with batons to hit us. So we're running. You know, I'm gunning it. From the first floor up there like, move, move, move. You know, they're all screaming at you in Spanish. Go, go, go. And you're just running.

You're just feeling all these hits left, right. You don't know where it's coming from. You know, I fell a couple times, got kicked, got back up, ran. Crazy. So finally get to the hole, they open up the door. Now, this is like the movies. Gloomy, dirty. The lights like flickering.

It's like a horror movie. When they open up the door to the hole, you know, I go in, I see there's like five or six people on the floor on these little thin mats. And then we have six beds, which are like bunk beds. They're made out of concrete. the first thing I hear is white boy and I look and it's it's another white boy just like me. I'm like, what's up, bro? He's like, hey, man, what's going on? He's like, finally an American.

I'm like, oh my God, bro, you don't know how happy I am. I was like, what's your name? So immediately, you know, I go to his bed, sit down. He's like, bro, come here, come here. He made a little spot for me, you know. He's like, bro, you good. You want some yogurt, Coca-Cola. He had everything, you know, snacks, all that good stuff.

stuff. Cigarette. And I'm like, bro, let me get a cigarette, man. Please, I'm stressed out. He's like, what are you here for? So I'm telling my story. He was like, oh, man. He's like, you try this cave too?

He's like, what do you think I'm here for? I was like, you try the escape? He's like, yeah. He was like, I was banging the psychiatrist upstairs. You know, I got her to bring me in a police uniform. And he walked out the front door with it. He went through three, three spots, three security checks. And they didn't notice him.

Now, when he's walking down the street, Because the jail was like on a hill. He's walking down the street. This is the change of like, you know, the duty change. They're coming, you know, they work from 12 to 12. So now it's the shift change. The other shift's walking up the hill while this shift's walking down. And he's walking down.

He was a tall kid like me. And, you know, he's white. Ecuador ain't too many white people. You know, I mean, you could find them, but it's very rare. And then one of the guards looks up and sees him. And he's with another guard and they tackle him to the ground. and they catch him dressed up with the whole uniform

the boots everything now the psychiatrist got she was she they threw her in jail obviously because you know they knew that he had gone out on a pass to see the psychiatrist because it has to get signed by a couple people

and then the guard goes and gets you and says you have a pass to go so obviously she went to jail I never heard about her again but yeah that was my first moment walking into the hole which was crazy Holy cat. What's a food like in the max This max security one? What are they feeding you? And are you in a cell all day? Or is it more free?

So if it's, yeah, the max part is 22 hours closed and two hours outside. But you got a bunk mate. You got a bunk mate, all right. Some people have, they live by themselves. They're lifers, you know, they don't want anybody and they're not going to put anybody in there. So, you know, the lifers you respect, and these are the people that are running the jails. Yeah, I mean, it's just crazy. There's a lot of rules, you know, I can.

Imagine same rules is here, you know, lifers, you know, you have to know somebody to talk to them. You know, you can't just, you know, go and talk to anybody. And plus, back in the day over there, there was, you know, a lot of big mobsters. You know, the big traffickers, you know, they have walls around them where, you know, you can't get too close to them. You know, and then, I mean, it was just, it's like out of the movies. You can't believe it. Now, doesn't the cartel have a lot of influence in these prisons? Like, couldn't they have helped you at?

out. So I didn't work for a cartel. That's the thing. I just worked for a bunch of guys that were, you know, doing their thing. You don't think they were connected at all? We all worked together, but no, no, no, I don't think they were connected to the cartel in any way. So they just happen to have foreign connects? They have foreign connects because, I mean, the guys I was working with, like one of them had his brother down there. So, you know, his brother could get the connect to get the drugs cheap. You know, he could fly some people down, you know, get them to bring it back. So, I mean, it was just a small group of people just doing a thing. Yeah. Yeah. So what about the food aspect of it? Food was horrible. I mean, just think about, you know, we have food in jail where they're making food for, you know, I think it was 2,800 people when I arrived at the jail. On a visit day, there could be anywhere between 3 and 4,000 people with all the people that are coming in, visits, mothers, fathers, you know. But the food that is made at the jail is the worst.

You don't want to eat that. Now, if you don't have a choice, you have to. If you're in the max, you have to eat that food. You can't eat anything else. If you're in general population, you have your choices. You have stores. You have restaurants. You can even send to buy things outside.

Like I could send, go get me pizza hut. You know, bring me McDonald's. Where does that money come from? Money I had, money that would be sent by my family. You know, you could hustle in jail. You could make your own, you know. But is there like an electronic system? Everything is cash.

So they're sending you an envelope to the prison? No, basically Western Union. So Western Union is somebody, that visit, or if it's your girlfriend, your wife, they'll bring in that money for you. They could bring you food. So, you know, like my visit would go, go to the supermarket, bring me all the stuff, you know, meat, you know, cheese, milk, yoghirts, Coca-Cola. And I had a fridge of myself where I could put everything.

And this is even in the max. No, in the max, no. This is in general population. maximum security, you don't have anything. It's just you and yourself. But General Pop is where you served the majority of your sentence? Correct. Okay.

Now, I'm so grateful for you that you were able to speak Spanish. Correct. Because I couldn't imagine dealing with this if you couldn't speak Spanish. If you couldn't speak Spanish, it was going to be very difficult. And I had the chance to deal with people that didn't know how to speak Spanish. Delta, you know, I was a translator. just like my friend Lenny that's outside. He, you know, he was a translator sometimes for some people that didn't know how to speak Spanish.

You know, we knew people that came in from England. You know, he got locked up with his father for trafficking. They didn't know a word of Spanish. And the mobsters were calling me and calling him. Translate for us, you know, let them know. Are the majority of the people there for smuggling? I would say everyone that's a foreigner in that jail is there for smuggling. So, like, we had Africans, Haitians, you know, Americans, people from Sweden, people from England.

Everybody in the globe was over there, you know. But everybody that's Ecuadorian, they're mostly there for murder, robbery. You know, they love to rob banks. They love to rob the Brinks trucks down there. Yeah, they're big on that. And they're big gangs. You know, when I was down there, that's what the gangs would do, to fuel their gang to buy more guns, to buy more drugs. You know, they would go into a bank, 10, 11 of them, you know, and stick up everybody starts shoeing, you know, and it was like the wild, wild west.

Were there uniforms in this one, the second prison you were in? No uniforms. So you're still using the same clothes? Everybody, everybody uses their own clothes, but you can go, you buy clothes. You have clothes brought in. I would call my mom, ma'am, you could send me a pair of Nikes, yeah, yeah, sure, no problem. She'd send me a little gift package, you know, T-shirts, some sneakers, you know, a cologne, whatever. You could bring anything into the jail.

Are they making you work? Do you have to have a prison job? There's no jobs there. Nothing. This place, it's funny because it's called the center of rehabilitation, right? But there's no rehabilitation in there. All there was was murder, extortion, you know, drug dealing. That's it.

There was no rehab there at all. Now, is it like a clean place or is it like dirt floor cells? What is this all like? So basically it's all made of concrete. This was the barracks for a fight. that freed Ecuador back in the day. His name is Eloy Alfado. You can look him up on Google.

They basically, this was like their base. Now years later, it was turned into a jail. So it's all concrete and metal. All right. Inside, I remember I would wake up sometimes 6 a.m. and open up the door and you could breathe and see your breath. Like if you were in Jersey, like if it's about to snow. Because it's all concrete and it's all metal.

So it was really cold in the morning. You know, but dirty place, wires hanging everywhere. You know, now when you buy your cell, because obviously you have to buy your cell over there. That's another thing. You don't just get assigned to sell, you know, you have to buy your own. So I bought my cell. You could fix it up any way you like you paint it.

You could put separations in it. You know, you could have someone from outside, bring you in some wood, you know, and the tools you need to do like separation. where there's a door between where you sleep and the bathroom, you know, which I had made, you could have a shower put in,

you know, brought in a TV, a microwave, your stove, you know, we had everything there. This is just mind-blowing, like just,

wow. Yeah, another thing is we used to make liquor there. Hooch? What would they call it? Well, like, we called it Hooch in Prison and White Lightning.

Basically, it was like Hooch, but what we would do is, We would get yeast like two or three pounds. And then we'd get 10 pounds of sugar. And then we'd pay the guards to bring us in some fruits, like oranges, grapes, and all that stuff. And I'd put in like those Home Depot buckets. And we'd stick them under the bed and just cover where plastic and put the top on.

And we'd leave it for like eight to 10 days. And that's just bubbling. It's all bubbling inside, turn it into liquor. Then we created a contraption where we could actually put something inside the bucket that would heat up this hooch and it would bring all the, you know, condensation up. Condensation is the actual 100% liquor and it's just coming out a hose. You know, I have pictures I forgot to bring, but I could send them to you. It was amazing.

You know, we were making liquor inside the cell. I have pictures with my mother inside the cell. She's on a cell phone. We're making liquor, you know. She's just allowed to come in. She's inside the cell with me. We would have visits, you know. We would, every 15 days, there was sleepover.

So you got your girl, your girl walks in the jail at 8 a.m. And she walks out Sunday at 5 p.m. And she's sleeping in the jail? She's sleeping in the jail. And we're partying at night. Did you have a girlfriend? Of course, many. Wait, these are just ones you met out there?

In the jail, yes. When, you know, this guy's wife would come and she'd bring along a friend and, oh, let me meet her. Or, you know, there was girls you could call up, you know, the prepaid girls. You know, there was prostitutes coming to the jail just to look for work. Holy cow. I'm shocked you. I haven't been on like 100 podcasts yet. It was a party, man.

Yeah, it was a party. This is fascinating. How are the people that are from there treating Americans that are housed in jail there? So let me tell you, not too friendly, all right? Number one, because, you know, I never like to, you can't show too much, number one. And that's a rule I have anywhere in life, you know, because sometimes, you know, the people don't like to see you doing well. Sometimes people don't like to see that you have visit,

but I'm a lifer and I don't. You know, that was difficult because, you know, I wanted visit. That's half of your jail time. When you have someone or something to look forward to, you know, every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, those are three days out of the week where I'm chilling. You know, I'm not worrying about the gang banging that's going outside.

You know, I'm not worrying about the stabbings or because when it's visit day, 100% the visits are respected and you cannot do anything on a visit day. You know, it's everybody's in their own world. You know, there's kids running around. You know, there's restaurants open. There's family sitting down eating, you know, and you just got to be careful. It's a delicate situation. You know, you can't get into trouble because the mob will have your head.

And what about is there like gambling and card playing? Every day, everywhere. I mean, everywhere you looked, you know, I told you I had a, I had a pool table. There was multiple pool tables in that jail. I had one. I had it for about two years. I mean, it's not like you're making a ton of money

because you're renting out for a dollar an hour, right? But the thing is that that's the gambling spot. So you're making more money off it because you're going to gamble. You know what I mean? Everybody's going to gamble. We're playing cards. We're playing Part cheesy. We're playing...

You guys had Part cheesy? We're playing everything. We're playing with the guards. The guards were coming in, sitting down with us, playing outside on the courts. because we had like basketball or soccer courts. Everything is concrete, but we're outside. And they would walk the yard with us, and they would sit down and play.

They'd be, hey, you guys, when you're done, I got 10, you want to play. All right, no problem. Come back in like 10 minutes. Do you think the prison is still like that today? Have you talked to guys that are still there? Let me tell you this. The jail I was in shut down because they built new jails of the American style. So now everybody's wearing uniforms.

you know, now the cells are all bars. There's no doors or walls where I was. I had a wall in the door, and I could even lock my door from the inside. If I don't want you coming in my cell, you're not coming in. You know, like, if I see the police coming in in the yard, I'm running to myself.

I'm going to lock the door. I'm going to hide and get rid of everything before you even get there. You know, the new jails, you can't do that anymore. Everything is just bars. You could see right through it, and it's just horrible. It's even worse than before.

I got to say that's actually a very smart thing that you could lock from the inside. I think prisons in the U.S. would be a lot safer if you could do that. And then obviously there could be an override for like if a prison guard. Of course. But think about in these penitentiaries, they pop the cells in the morning. Yes. How many stabbing, like we read about these famous people getting stabbed up and whatnot? That's because they're popping all the doors and it's a free-for-all.

So I have a story that has something to do with that. Okay. So basically my first time, I was in Max, you know, I met this guy. We're going to call him Lizard. Lizard. All right. He was a top dog out there.

And later on, when I got out of that Supermax and got back in the general population, I got put in a cell with this kid called, he was called Chico Mi Jon, which means the million-dollar kid. Now, this kid was known for setting up robberies on the outside. He had the connects to people that worked in banks and brink trucks. So he would get the drop on the trucks or the bank, the info on how much money's getting pushed through that day, who's going to have it, where it's going to go down, and he would get together groups that would go and take over,

take these bags of money. And when I got at Supermax, I just so happened to land in his cell. Now, about two months prior, a group of about 10 got tortured and killed. So I'm saying a group of about 10, This is a small gang. And he put together the robbery. So within that group of 10 was one of Lizard's brothers. So since I'm living in the cell with this kid now,

you know, someone approaches me and it's like, hey, Lizard wants to talk to you. You got to call him now on this number. He gives me the cell phone. I call him up. So Lizard basically says, you know, we know you're living with, you know, the million dollar kid. you know, so I know you already know what happened the other day.

My brother was involved, and I need you to open the door at 6 a.m. tomorrow because Giovanni's going to come in and he's going to take care of him. You know, I'm not a lifer. You know, I have something to look forward to and a family that I want to get home to. So obviously, this situation for me was tough. You know, I've already been living with the kid for like two weeks. You know, you become friendly.

Once you're living with somebody in the cell, You know, your stories, your friends. I knew this guy, knew that guy. You know, we eat together. You know, it's hard. And, but you have to make that decision. Is it going to be him or is it going to be both of us? So at the end of the day, you know, I agreed.

And 6 a.m. comes the next day, and I open up the door. And luckily, there was nobody there. So the guy that was supposed to come and do the hit, he didn't want to do it. We get a call from Lizard again. What happened? And basically he's like, you guys got until tomorrow. It better happen.

So tomorrow, the next day, you know, that night, I'm on my bed. I was on the top bunk. He was on the bottom bunk. But on the wall, on the other side of us, we had a huge mirror. So, you know, we're watching TV at night, you know, smoking a J.

And I'm looking at him in the mirror. mirror like you don't know this is going to be your last moments you know and I'm sorry to say but I'm going I'm opening that door you know and um the next day I open the door I walk out he's not there again my heart drops I'm like now we're in trouble because now lizard's not going to be happy you know and now we're both in it so basically um I go up to the kid's cell I'm like what's going on man, are you going to do this or what? And he's like, I'm not doing it. I'm not going to be a robot for this guy anymore.

I'm done with it. You know, if anything, you know, he sends anybody to this block to take care of me. He's like, you got to help me. I'll take the charge. You know, because over there, it could be multiple people that go in and, you know, take care of somebody. As long as there's one person that say, I did it, they'll be like, all right, he did it. So that's why there's people in there that'll take charge for a murder easily because they're

lifers. You know, once you get a life sentence, you know, they could take care of, you know, three, four, five, ten people. They don't really care because they're not going anywhere. So this kid was a lifer and he said, I'm not being a robot anymore. You know, I'm not doing it. And this kid Lizard had the hitman's brother killed in another jail. This is how much power the kid had. Lizard had a lot of power. He was a young kid just like us. He was like 27, 28. I was probably 25 at the time. But he was running. in a gang of about 3,000 people easily, in the streets, in other jails, in Ecuador, and in the jail I was. And he was in the max, but he would send the kite, he would send, you know, a text message,

and you would have a lot of problems. You know, once he got to any jail, he would call the drug dealers. I'm here. What do you send in me? You know, until everybody got tired of that. And then one day they took care of him. Wow. Yeah.

Fucking nuts Crazy story, man Now, you know what's interesting About all this is that You probably would have gotten The same amount of time In the United States Really

For for that much weight You know, it probably would have been A five-year mandatory minimum Okay It probably would have been You know, five to ten First Defense You probably would have gotten seven

So it's kind of interesting How on par Their system was at the time with ours Because I know in other countries It's nowhere near that It's a lot stricter Yeah But you weren't actually

caught with the weight kind of though you were i mean you almost exchanged it that was more i don't know it's complicated than that aspect if i was in the states i probably would have won the case i'll tell you why because i did not have a hold of the full key right when they gave me whatever was in that bag it wasn't all of the of the merchandise so you know that should have played a big part but obviously we're in ecuador and they're not hearing it um you know it's just it's just crazy Did you get any word to your partners over those seven years? Do you get to talk to them? I spoke to them, you know, probably the first three months I was locked up.

They sent a couple care packages, but after that, man. They didn't take care of you the whole time. If you're not around, it's like you're a dead man walking. Nobody cares. And how do you become the smuggler? Why couldn't any of them do it? What made you special? I was the only American.

These guys are all. Yeah, I was the only one with the blue passport, man. You know, new English, new Spanish. you know, it was a young kid and I was willing, you know, at that age I was scared of nothing. You know, I wanted to do it all and I had to just, you know, find out the hard way. Did you ever talk to them again? Never. Are you ever curious about what they're up to?

Not at all, man. Yeah, because, you know, once I came out, I was just, you know, happy to be alive, number one. And I'm happy to have, you know, a family to come home to. and then, you know, the moral of the story is, you know, you could have gone through whatever you went through. But if you want to, you could be successful. You can be whatever you want in this life, you know? You don't have to sell drugs.

You know, you don't want to end. All right, class, settle down. Today's lesson is on the Argo Rewards app. Try to stay with me. The fundamentals are simple. Earn at least five cents a gallon in rewards, then redeem them later for up to a dollar off every gallon. Now here's where it gets complicated.

Oh, wait, it doesn't. It's as simple as downloading the ARCO rewards app to get started. Class dismissed. Savings of up to $1 per gallon were being able with $20 rewards dollars in your law of the account. At participating locations, terms and conditions apply. Up into jail like I did in a foreign country, you don't want to traffic. When you look back on it now, was there another thing that you were kind of leaning towards, like maybe going to college starting a career?

Was there anything like that? No. I wanted to be in the life. Okay. That's what I wanted from a young age. Where does that come from, though? I would say it has a lot to do with movies, you know, listen to the music. It was just, you know, like Scarface, good fellas, you know.

It's just something that, like, it captured me, captured, you know, the power you get. Or when you walk in somewhere and they know you, you know, the presence that they feel when you're in the room. You know, something like that is just, you know, it's like an address. adrenaline rush. And when you're trafficking, that's another one. When you got keys on you, you know, you're going to sell some keys. You're bringing back $150,000 back in those days. You know, you get an adrenaline rush, you know, and you're walking around with a gun on you. You know, it's all these things, you know, you make you feel powerful. Okay. So that stirs the debate up with people, though, about our video games, our movies, are, is music a bad influence? Is it those things

themselves or is it the person that's consuming that? No, yeah. It's all about the person. Everybody's different, you know. Like I said, you know, a lot of people say, oh, blame the parents. But it's not like that. You know, it's all about that person. Everybody's different. So the day you released, do you do a full straight seven years? There's no good time, nothing like that.

There's nothing. I did six years, 10 months, and 26 days. So you get out, what's that day? Like, do they give you a plane ticket or you got nothing? So basically, I was free for like three months while I was still in jail because immigration was backed up. I was in the Supermax for the last nine months of my prison stay. And basically one day they just showed up and said,

Immigration's here. They're going to take you. I was like, all right. Then they took me to an immigration jail that I was there for about two weeks until my beautiful sister bought me a plane ticket and got me back over to the States. What does the United States say to you when you come back after seven? Like your passport hasn't been stamped in seven years, right? So, no, I didn't have a passport that's funny.

So when I went to leave, obviously I need a passport to travel. So I go to the U.S. Embassy and they're like, sure, yeah, we can get you a passport. It's going to be $250. I said, lady, I've been in jail for the past seven years. Where do you expect me to get $250? And she was like, oh, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We'll get you a temporary passport. So that's what they did.

It's a passport like this thin with like two pages on it. And it was temporary. You had holes in it. They punched holes through it. You know, and that's it. I got back on the flight. Are you ever going to go back to Ecuador? Never.

Are you ever going to step foot outside the country? Yes, I have already. Flying back is a hassle. You know, you know your red flagged with Interpol. Every time I come back. Yes. Of course, yeah. Really?

For the rest of your life? I would say, I mean, every time I come back from an international trip, you know, they get sent to the room. They're like, oh, follow that line, sir. So I have to go that way. Are there countries you can't travel to? I couldn't travel to Ecuador for the first five years when I came out. Not that you would want to. Yeah.

They said I couldn't travel there. I couldn't do any money transactions. And that's about it. But I can go anywhere in the world. Luckily, I was arrested over there and went to prison over there. So over here, there's no record. Yeah, I guess that's the other end of the foot. That's another, you know, plus.

There's pros and cons to that. Of course. Because it would be more detrimental if it's ruined over here. Yes. So how does that work when you get back with tax? with everything. Like, how is your life affected by being in a foreign prison? Just like from a regular standpoint, not even a psychological standpoint, just like with the way, you know, the structure is of your life. Yeah, so, I mean, what can I say? I lost a lot of years over there, you know?

And when you get back, you know, obviously you're not the same person. You know, I know jail changed me a lot. It'll change anybody. Especially where I was and the way you have to handle yourself, the things you see, you know, it's a lot different. So coming back was a challenge, you know, getting your first job was a challenge. I came back in 2008. We were in the middle of a recession. You know, there was really no work. You know, no resume because I've been out of the country, you know, for the past seven years.

It was a challenge. But, you know, I like challenges. So basically, you know, no car, nothing. Just, you know, I had my family that was there for me, my mother, my father, you know, my sisters. You know, she was great as soon as I got back, you know, took me to buy me all new clothes. You know, it's like starting over again. So basically that's what I did, you know, got a job and just started little by little, you know. Now, thank God, you know, I'm successful.

I'm proud of where I am. You know, I'm happy to be alive. I'm happy to be able to tell my story. You know, I want to share it not only just to share the stories, but to also let everybody know that, you know, like you said, I'm always the guy that walks in the room and says, yeah, I was in prison. I lived through all this stuff. That's what made me who I am, and I'm here, you know,

and I'm going to make it, no matter what. You know, be it here, be it in China. You can put me anywhere on the planet. You know, I'm going to come out on top. So, you know, that's the goal, just to push that message. message, you know, and just let you know, you know, any mistake you make, you know, you could overcome them. Just don't have to make the same mistake twice. You got to learn from your mistakes, you know. What did it take for you to get to that point, though? Because, you know, most people

when they get out of prison, they don't have that, that mentality they don't want to talk about. And I'm sure there was a ton of people in your case that were curious about your time in prison. So when did you finally overcome being able to talk about it? I'll tell you, since I've gotten out, you know, people that I get close to or, you know, people that have known, especially everybody in my family or, you know, co-workers that I get close with, you know, I let them know, you know, this is where I was, you know, this is what I went through. I really have no shame in it. You know, I have no shame in what I went through. I think it's maybe the man I am. You know, I just think, you know, everybody has different life experiences.

You just got to learn from them. Yeah. I really can see your, I know you're, I know you're long. launching a YouTube channel, I could see you telling, because you have seven or eight years worth of stories, you know, just because people are fascinated with this type of stuff. Yes.

I could see you building a very successful YouTube channel, social media presence, just telling stories from there because it's so unique. In a world where, you know, kind of like the prison content genre is like, it's a very, you know, wide and big and broad now, and then a lot of people are doing it, you have a very, very unique perspective.

that you could get into that. I feel like if you do it right, you could really hit it home and blow it up and you're well-spoken. And, you know, that's why I just let you go for the first half of it

because you have it, like, you're a good storyteller. And you knew how to put the pieces together, like with the hooks and what to say and this and that. Like it didn't, you know, it flowed really good. And I think it'll,

hopefully it'll help your story get out there because you told it so perfectly where other people can watch it and expand on it And, you know, it's just in a world where they're making TV shows about people in prison and this and that. That's right, man. I mean, let's make our mistakes, our success. That's all I say.

You know, I love what you've done. You know, you're an inspiration to me and many people. And yeah, you know, just because you got locked up doesn't mean it's the end of your life. You know, you could make something to yourself. You know, you could be successful, especially in this country, right? You know, other countries, it's a lot harder. But here, and we got it all, man, you know? What do you do now for work? What's your life like now?

Right now, I own a commercial cleaning company with my wife. We're also getting to the FBA, Amazon. You know, we're just, you know, surviving, man. You know, just living life day by day. I'm happy. You know, I have a beautiful wife. I have my mother at home with me. You know, I take care of.

You know, she deserves it after all those years of pain I put her through. You know, Mom, I love you. You're the best. And that's it, man. I just thank you for everything. I hope we could work together in the future. I'm really happy to meet you and, you know, I can't wait to

just continue. What does your wife think about this? She loves the fact that, you know, I'm open to doing this. She loves the fact that, you know, I have the push, I have the want, and I just feel like, you know, you know, don't listen to anybody, what they tell you, you know, do what you want to do and if you get up and do it every single day,

you're going to be successful at it. That's going to be it. How did you tell her about your experience? Because it's not like she needed to search. Like you could have probably got in a way with not even telling her ever. Like that you could have kept that whole Venezuelan thing a secret, right? I mean, not Venezuelan. I don't know why I keep saying Venezuelan.

So let me tell you, this is another crazy story which you're going to love. Okay. So this is how I meet my wife. I was working as a manager at a tower company. You know, it works for cell phone towers. You know, so one of the workers was taking the van home. Now his van gets stolen. He calls me at 5 a.m.

The work van got stolen. I don't know what's going on. I got to get to the office to go track the van. So I'm hustling. Get to the office. You know, I'm looking on the computer. The van's gone somewhere in Orange, New Jersey. You know, I'm like, geez, it's stolen.

Call the cops, everything. Now, the kid that got the van stolen, he has footage from his apartment building. And there's a van that pulls up next to our van, and the guy jumps out and steals it. Now, the van that they jumped out, of had a name on it. So I look up the name of on Google,

and it's like a place where you could send money to foreign countries, or you could send packages to foreign countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela. So I call up this company, you know, and somebody picks up. The young lady picks up. I'm like, yeah, I'm just going because, you know, one of your vans stole one of my vehicles. She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, yeah, so we have footage of someone using your company. company vehicle, pulling up next to my company vehicle, getting out, shaming the door, and stealing it.

I was like, you know, what are we going to do about this? She's like, hold on one second. And she goes outside, and their van is gone. So someone stole their van, then drove around and saw our van, stole that van as well, and then took off. Now, I'm in communication with the police telling them, look, you know, I'm looking at the tracker. It's here. So they're like, all right, we're on her way. I'm like, all right, I'm on my way too.

So boom, I'm heading down the parkway. I'm going to where the van is. You know, and she calls me on. She's like, did you see our van? I'm like, yeah, your van's right here. So I end up continuing the conversation because now we're mixed in with this, you know, her van was stolen, mine stole hers. We're getting the police reports, all this stuff.

And end up talking to this young lady. And I end up asking her out. And she is my wife now. Yeah. And then you had to tell her about. And yeah, as soon as I met her, you know, she was Ecuadorian. So I'm like, geez. You can't get away from it.

I can't get away from you, people. What's going on? You got to say, I'm never going back to your home country. I was like, Ecuador. And she's like, why? I was like, oh, God, it's a long story. She's like, tell me. I was like, all right, I did seven years in prison there.

She was like, what? No. She thought it was lying because who's going to believe you? You know what I mean? A young kid, you know, you don't look like you've been in prison all your life. I mean, prison life isn't like it is here. where everybody's tatted up. Nobody's tattooing in the jails down there.

Really? Yeah. In Ecuador, it was... Even with the gangs and stuff? I mean, it's very odd. I mean, it's not like up here. I mean, I got a tattoo down there and a bunch of people got tats, but... In the prison?

Yeah, in the prison. With like a prison tattoo? With like a pen. Well, they used to call me... Yeah. They used to call me Casper, you know, white boys. So I got a Casper with the flames. Casper.

I could see Casper. Yeah, so, I mean, that was a crazy... Eight-hour tattoo, you know, just horribly. You know what's cool, though, is that you could look back on it and you could tell the story with excitement after being through something so miserable and it could keep you alive. And, you know, you have this excitement to it and you're ready to share it and get out there. And, you know, own it, you know? And I think that's great.

And I think that's what the message is of the show. That's right, man. You know, and you just, you take it, you run with it and you wear it like a badge. And, you know, fuck it. What can anyone say after that? That's it, man. I lived it, nobody else did, you know? Yeah.

Well, Oscar, thank you so much, man, for the gift for coming on the show. I think this is going to be a huge episode. Thank you, brother. And if you need anything, let me know. And I'm excited to see you get that YouTube channel out there. Thanks a lot, Ian. I'm definitely going to hit you up for some help on that, all right? Absolutely.

Thanks, Dad.