Locked In with Ian Bick - Armed Heists Lead To The Craziest Thing I've Ever Seen In Prison | Juan Hernandez

Episode Date: February 18, 2024

Strap in for a riveting ride as we sit down with Juan Hernandez, recounting his wild ride growing up in Florida and diving headfirst into street life. Join us as Juan spills the details on the trouble he found, the thrilling escapades on the run, and the inevitable showdown that landed him behind bars. It's a rollercoaster of a tale packed with twists, turns, and a powerful message about second chances. Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Juan Hernandez: https://www.instagram.com/jhernandez561?igsh=NzU1M2gza2gxODMz 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 00:04:01 - Sharing My Story 00:08:32 - Survival 00:12:50 - Breaking the Cycles 00:17:04 - The Hustle 00:25:02 - Lack of Empathy 00:29:07 - The Ignorance of the Past 00:33:28 - Robbery 00:37:56 - The First Arrest 00:42:08 - Robbing the Restaurant 00:46:53 - The Downfall in Miami 00:51:16 - Life on the Run 00:55:36 - A High-Stakes Robbery 00:59:52 - Heading to prison and the intake process 01:04:20 - Life in Prison 01:08:32 - Prison Tales: Tattoos and Unorthodox Practices 01:12:53 - Leaving the Lifestyle 01:16:58 - Discovering my Adoption and Meeting my Biological Family 01:21:41 - Rebuilding Relationships 01:26:20 - Never Give Up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I was with this guy. He was a friend of mine, and he wanted some beer. He talks me into going up to, they had these, in Florida, they had these quick stops that were like drive-thrus. It's like a convenience store, but it's a drive-thru, so it has a lane on both sides. So he takes me up there in his truck, and I jump out of the truck, and I go around to the other side. And so when he pulls up to get the guy's attention, I walk in behind him and go to, I pulled the gun out on them and I'm like, you know, give up the money in the register or whatever. So as he's doing that, the car behind the guy I was with was like this old cop.

And he had a gun on him and everything. So as I'm holding the store up, this old guy comes around with a revolver and sticks it in my face and says, freeze. And I was just like, I didn't know what to do. So I take off running. Strap in for a riveting ride as we sit down with Juan Hernandez, recounting his wild ride growing up in Florida. diving headfirst into street life. Join us as Juan spills the details on the trouble he found, the thrilling escapades on the run, and the inevitable showdown that landed him behind bars.

It's a roller coaster of a tail packed with twists, turns, and a powerful message about second chances. If you enjoy the locked-in podcast, remember to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify and subscribe to the Ian Bick YouTube channel. You can also stay up to date on upcoming guests and what's going on in my day-to-day by following me on Instagram at Ian underscore Bick and shoot me a message I try to read as many and respond to as many as possible. Now sit back, relax, and get ready to lock in with Juan Hernandez. Juan, welcome so much, man, to Locked in, man.

It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me, dude. Where are you coming to us from today? So today I'm coming from Holyoke, Massachusetts. I've heard of Holyoke before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's had its, like, ups and downs. and like it's a it's a city that's been trying to come back and it's it's on its way up now again, I guess, because it's, there's been a lot of trials out there for sure. It's like Springfield. It's almost like that same type of vibe, inner city type deal. When I hit you up, weren't you like in the middle of a blizzard or something? I was in the middle of a blizzard. I was riding a bicycle in the middle of a blizzard, actually a fat bike. It's like my new, it's my new addiction. What's a fat bike? So a fat bike is just, it's a, it's a bicycle that.

can clear like five-inch tires. And the tires are like, they can be studded, they can be whatever. And that's like how you can sit on top of the snow and ride across the snow and all that. So it's just a bike with big fat tires, basically, like big balloon tires. That's awesome, man.

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's been great, you know, connecting with you over the last couple weeks. And I've been on like a binge of, like, hitting people up. And everyone's like, is this really in or this and that? Yeah, right. No, no, it's almost like a, like, what is it called? when you get like Starstruck, it's like, is this really him?

No, let me check. I try to do as much as I can on my own now. I have my brother working for me who's going to be helping with bookings and stuff. But I think it's so important to like keep it in house so it's relatable. Like people are able to call me, connect with me so it's comfortable going in. Dude, it's amazing that way. Like you don't find that usually like, like, you know, people like that that are that, you know, that they're in contact with people like that. When you're as busy as you are, I would imagine, you know.

Yeah, I want to. I think as the show continues to build, I think I should always maintain that because it's important because that's what differs from other shows. We don't need to go through the red tape, the bullshit. I was talking to someone, this woman yesterday that I saw on TikTok, who I invited on the show.

And she was like saying how she did this show for VH1, the one with Remy Ma. Okay, yeah. And Remy, that show, they actually asked me to go on that show last year, and then they never followed up. But they're doing like everyone in my circle of the show, except for me. Yeah, stuff like that.

But anyways, she said there was a lot of red tape, and they scripted what she couldn't, couldn't say on the show. I was like, listen, on our show, you come talk, and we were just talking about that earlier. We just let the guest talk. Yeah, that's what I appreciate. And I saw someone's comment this morning. They were like, we like the stories that no one's ever heard of before.

And this is your first podcast, right? This is my first podcast. This is like I'm not big on sharing. I'm not big on talking. I'm not big. So I've never really shared my story ever. I've never really, like I've always kept it inside because I've always thought it made me not like normal society. So I've always tried to hide it because it's something that I always felt like was something that was like looked down on, you know, being a ex-convict or whatnot.

And especially with the charges that I had were like, you know, pretty extreme. So it was like I always kind of kept it to myself. And something important that you said, well, one, we want to change that stigma. But two, you said that this is almost like a therapy. section. It's like therapeutic. For me, yes. So, you know, the stigma about therapy and men and not needing therapy and not having feelings and all that stuff. Like, I'm now 43 years old and I'm just starting to learn who I am. I'm just starting to find out who I am because I gave into that stigma and I, you know, and I went out and I looked for help and I found a therapist that has been just

changing my life, leaps and bounds, and it's affecting everybody around me, my family. I'm like, I'm breaking chains. I'm breaking cycles. Like, so it's just been incredible for me of a journey because I let it go and I decided to go ahead and see what it was all about. And it really helped out. I love that, man. I'm glad we got to front load that in the beginning of the episode, and we'll circle back to that at the end, but it's so important for men to hear that, you know, the therapy. They need to hear that. Absolutely. So, So let's dive into it, man. Let's start at the top of your story.

Where are you born? Where are you from? Did you grow up in the current city that you live in now? So I grew up in, I mean, I was born in Holyoke. But early age from like baby to about 10 years old, we were moving a lot. I have two, I'm the baby of two sisters and a brother. So I had three siblings. My family was like, you know, poor, very poor, like, and like almost like immigrant because my family was Puerto Rican, but my dad didn't speak great English.

My mom didn't speak great English. So we were moving around a lot is what I remembered in those years. And then we ended up in Florida. And Florida is basically where my story starts and continues until I made it back here. later on in life. So in Florida, we first went down to Orlando briefly, and then we went down to Miami briefly, and then we ended up in West Palm Beach, Florida.

So in West Palm Beach, Florida, it was a road called Sea Grape, 520 Sea Grape Road. Like, I can never forget this whole experience there. So when I moved in there, prior to moving in there, I grew up in a family where, like, my dad worked. And as long as he worked and paid the bills, like, his job was done as a father. My mom was like a stay-at-home mom, and she would just, like, you know, cook, clean, do the daily motherly thing. And I was just left to my own devices. my parents didn't have the education to teach me anything really.

So I wasn't being engaged, you know, I wasn't being engaged by my parents. I wasn't being interacted with. I was just basically left to my own devices. And then when we moved into this neighborhood, this neighborhood was extremely, extremely violent and dangerous. There was a literal crack house across the street from my house where, all the people from the neighborhood would hang out. And so I got to give you a little more backstory. So in my neighborhood in Florida, in Florida in general,

especially for the lower income places, like things are very segregated. So like the blacks hang out with the blacks, the Spanish hangs out with the Spanish. You got the Haitians that hang out. And they're like little communities. And it's like, oh, little Haiti. You know, and it's like that there.

To this day, I think it's still like that down in Florida. And so everything was always very segregated. And so we ended up in the, you know, in the Spanish area. So across the street, everybody that would be out there selling drugs, doing whatever, all were like from that road or from that neighborhood or from that block. And so it was a really tight-knit group that was there. I was like 11 years old moving in. And it was, it was obvious that it's dangerous here.

So I had to go to school. I had to integrate into school. school. I had to, I had to navigate this, this landscape with no direction, with no support, with no anything. So I had to figure it out really fast. The block that I lived on was like, even the cops that were always there trying to like fight it, you know, trying to stop it, were, um, were like, you know, they would even call it like the million dollar block because there was traffic 24-7 up and down this and people would just sell drugs all day long. It didn't matter. So me going in there to this environment as innocent as I was because I was a very innocent,

you know, I was just a kid. I didn't know about living like this. I didn't know anything about it, but I had to adapt to it really quick. So early on in life, I taught myself how to be like a chameleon. I would blend in to my environment and I would try to fit it. because if you didn't fit in, you were getting picked on. So you had those choices. It's like either lay down or get down. So I chose to get down and pretty quickly it was the streets that started to raise me. I started to see it.

I started to see it and I would hang out. And once I started going to school and then school was a very dangerous, violent place. So like I was on my way up here, I was like thinking about all that back then. And it was like, the best I can come up with was I was always in fear at all times because there was just always some kind of violent thing going on at all times. So I started to integrate myself into the school and the school system. There was these things there that would happen once or twice a year called color wars where these segregated groups would fight each other just for the hell of it because it was color wars or whatever. And the cops would like come out and like have dogs. and like try to make it not happen,

and they would still pop off. Like, it was this neighborhood, and you can look up this neighborhood. It was just insane how crazy it was there. And so having to figure all that out, being as poor as possible, like I never had much of anything. I was always very insecure.

I was always a people-pleaser. I was always just trying to fit in and be accepted by people. So, of course, I went on that path of following, the wrong people, doing the wrong things, and yeah, and pretty soon I started to commit crimes and started selling drugs at an early age. I started smoking and drinking at like 11, 12 years old. I was selling drugs by 13, 14. I left my house by the age of 15. I was already on my own. I bought my first gun when I was 12.

And it was because I felt like it was necessary and it was something I needed to have on me to protect my own life because it was very violent. Do you think if you never had moved to that area as a young kid, your life wouldn't have turned out the way it did? Absolutely. Just with a little guidance my life would have been different. Because knowing myself today

and the drive I have in me today and how I am today, like all I needed was just a little guidance. a chance. I did not have a chance. I was thrown out to the wolves and say, hey, figure it out because we're here doing the best we can. And that's all there was to it pretty much. Do you have kids now? I have four kids, yeah. Do you think about the way you raised them now based on the way you were raised in that environment? Today, yes. I am, like I said, I am breaking the cycles. Yeah, I give my kids the best life possible because of what I went through. And I was, work as hard as possible because of what I went through.

So they don't have to go through that because it was serious. Do you think the universe puts one person through a horrible situation so they could change multiple people's lives? Like, look, so you had a rough childhood and it led on a bad path. But now in return, you're able to affect, bring four people into the world, give them a great perspective. And that kind of sets it up for the future when you think about the long-term perspective. As the words flow out as the words flow out.

your mouth, absolutely. That is wild to think about it. That is absolutely right to think about it in that fashion, dude, because you know how they always say God can, God will only give you what you can handle. Well, he, you know, because my issue was, growing up was that I never thought

I would make it past 25 years old. I don't know why that number always stuck in my head, but I thought I would be dead by 25 for some reason. And so I lived my life day for day. Like, I wouldn't think about what I'm going to do next week or what I'm going to do next month because it wasn't promised to me. And I couldn't even picture that far out because of how crazy day-to-day stuff was.

So, like, I just, I lived every day for that day for a long time. Yeah. So you buy your first gun at a young age. You're selling drugs. What happens next? So, so at first, okay, so on that block that I was on, I wasn't accepted there. first because I was, I showed up there late. You know, they already had their tight-knit crew.

So I wasn't, I wasn't really accepted in there. So I ended up going a couple streets down, hanging out, because I had some more friends from school that all lived in the neighborhood as well that I started hanging out with. So with that group of friends, I started hanging out. And we would just try to come up with ideas to make money because we were, because the whole neighborhood was broke. Like, in the only way, the only thing you saw that can get you out of there was

you know, you had at that time, it was like minimum wage job at $5.25 an hour or sell drugs, because there wasn't anything really in between that was like obtainable. So we would get together. And then so one of my friends' uncles was like a plug for like Mexican brickweed, like that cheap brickweed. And we ended up figuring out that we would, we started helping. him is what we started doing and he would like throw us a pound a piece. He was like, oh, here, here you go.

And we were like, you know, 13, 14 years old. And with a pound of weed that we were bagging up in Nix, like we were like, we felt like we were kingpins at the time. So we did that for a good while. And that went on for a little while. And then I started to like sort of like make a little name for myself in the neighborhood. And then my street caught wind of it. And one time they came and they tried to shut us down because we started taking all

the weed sales because on that block they sold everything it was like a pharmacy they would sell pills crack coke didn't matter they had it all they would call themselves a pharmacy um so all we were doing is just selling weed as little kids you know what i'm saying so but they came over and they shot in the air and they like tried to shut us down and i stood up to them and was like hey if you're not going to let me make money on your block i'm going to go make money where i have to because you know i'm hurting bro so they respected that and then i befriended a couple of the kids that were my age because they were an older group but had younger brothers. And the three or four younger brothers that they had all sort of became like my primary group

that I ran with a little, you know, by the time I was like 15. And so, but their older brothers were like all like the plugs in this whole area of West Palm Beach. And so like it was like there's just, it was just like this. Like for what I was trying to do, I was put into the perfect situation because I had all the proper connections. And then since I was a people pleaser, I always love to, I would love to be a middleman. If you needed something, I wanted to go find it for you to make you happy. And then in between, you know, I'll make my little cash in the middle there. So I love the whole middleman aspect of hustling.

And that's basically what I was doing for a good while. If we had one of your friends here from that time period, what would they say about you? What are like a few key words that they would describe you as? Loyal. Loyal. Fun. Energetic. Spontaneous.

Like, very spontaneous. Yeah. And so we did that for a while. And we just continued. And like we would like set up shop in front of his house. Like we were selling weed right out of the front of the yard of his house. and then there was so much drugs going through that area that that the that the sheriff department the west palm beach sheriff department decided to put a substation like right in the

middle of the neighborhood and they made it into sandcastle community and then they put these like like robocops out there that would come and like shut us down they would do reverse things they would make a stand out there with them and they would arrest the people coming in to buy the drug It was like crazy the way they would run the thing. And then at that time in Florida, too, they had private prisons just coming in. So Florida started to like make the laws. Like they started to come out these zero tolerance laws that like for a seed, if they would find a weed seed, that was enough to lock you up and take you to jail.

So they were doing that because of the private prisons because the private prisons needed, you know, they wanted a 90 whatever percent rate of people incarcerated in their prisons at all times. So when that happened, like there was just people going to jail left and right. Like the cops came out at full force and they were just like doing away with everything and everybody they could. And so things of, you know, the days of standing on the corner sort of like vaporized with that. And once we all got on cell phones, that's when the game sort of changed a little bit. And things got very lucrative and great. But then not too long after addiction.

it's ugly face and that's when the journey really begins. And you got addicted in yourself. Oh, super addicted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was like, like I was telling you, like I was living day for day. So I was like, and I was wrapped up in the lifestyle of like,

because we weren't like gang banging. We were more like hustling. It was like more of the hustling aspect, being loud, being flashy. Like it was just the cars with a, big rims. I don't know if you know about the Sutton or the Florida lifestyle and like... Not really. Yeah. So it's like riding cars with humongous rims and just a lot of jewelry, all the big gold teeth. It's like GTA a little bit. Yes. It was like that. And Florida's like that till this day. It's still just like that. Like the vibe down there in the environment. So it was all about that. I was all wrapped up in that. And then I started from the weed. It went into cocaine and then started selling coke. And

Then I got into the hallucinogens and the mushrooms, the acid. Like, it was just a non-going ball of madness. So you didn't realize that with the people you were selling to not to get addicted at all? Like, that didn't. Like, what encouraged you to try your own products? So it all started, you know, we smoking weed. Everybody smoked the weed. And, like, I always had this void in me.

And at first, with the cocaine, it was. It was just like when we would go to the club or we wouldn't go, you know, you would just take a couple bumps while you're drinking or whatever. It wasn't a big deal at first, but I've found out that I have an addictive personality. I get addicted to anything that makes me feel good. So maybe food, sex, drugs, it didn't matter what it was, what the substance was, as long as it made me feel good. I would get addicted to it, like, instantly. So, yeah, I don't think it mattered what it was. It was just I wasn't aware of my own behaviors and how like, you know what I'm saying,

and how they were going to affect me because I just didn't know at the time. And I had like this void that I was just trying to fill the whole time. That's, yeah, a reoccurring theme with people that battle addiction too. It all, it comes down to emotional. Like that emotional void is what puts them on to that path. And I was very immature and I was very like, like I said, I had no direction. And my learning process was everything I just learned in the streets. And I was just always in the streets.

What's something you wish someone had told you about drugs back at that point? Like, I know we have programs like DARE program and this and that and school and we have all this stuff. But what would have worked to tell you back then to get you to save you from the path you were going to choose? Back then, even the DARE program, you know, I got that, but that was no good. What they could have done was just bring crackheads into the day of school. Live experience. Have lived experience people come in their bad conditions to show you. You'd be like, you know, this is your end result.

I mean, if that's not an eye opener, you're going to go through the journey. You're going to go through regardless. Why do you think they don't do that? And actually, I think a part of it is I think it relates to the stigma. Like, they want to make changes, but they don't want to incorporate the people that came from that as a part of the change. Yeah, because even me, because that's like, I feel like that's my calling is to like give back and go. speak to the youth and go to these institutions and speak like I used to do that in the past but now since I've been out I've had I have trouble with my felonies to do these things because of the

way you're saying like why not use me for my experiences perfect example I reached out to this congresswoman in Connecticut Johanna Hayes right and she's from Waterbury represents that that area which is a highly crime populated area and all these politicians now want to get into reentry talk about it, like the community reentry and help those that were incarcerated and this and that. I reached out to her team on email, said, hey, I have this great platform. I'd love because there's a lot of, like, prison influencers that are getting involved with politics and states, but Connecticut doesn't have anyone that they're utilizing. I'm from Connecticut.

I went to prison, and I have this amazing platform that's probably one of the largest in the, in the country just for this specific niche. And they said, great, you know, like we'll set up, we'll talk to her about schedule a meeting, do you want in person over Zoom in Connecticut or D.C., this and that. And then, like, a week ago or two weeks ago, they emailed me back saying she won't take a meeting with you. See? Like, just, like, cut it off completely, burned a bridge with me for forever because of that.

Why not even offer a phone call? At least. And you know what it comes down to? This year is election season. And, but they don't want to be, they only want to be seen with individuals like us when it benefits them. Correct. But not afterwards.

And that's going to bite her in the ass one day. Exactly. It really is. I mean, everyone's listening on this podcast, you know, when this comes out there and here is. Why wouldn't I utilize you? And especially with like, you know, like your image and everything, like you would be accepting to people. You know what I'm saying? And then you can hit them with your story and be like, yeah, this is what it is.

So like, yeah, for somebody to do that, and it's just that, they just don't care. I just think they just don't care. And as I get more comfortable with this platform and as it grows, I'm going to use my platform to do good to back the people that want to make real change. Not like someone like her or her team that kind of push. us out to the side because that's where the problem is. Exactly. You know, that's where the problem is. And I'll never make this podcast like political or anything.

It's not about Republican or Democrat or this or that. It's about human beings. Exactly. And that just showed a clear she does not give a fuck about you or me or the people that came from that. Only when it benefits her. And that's the problem. That is the problem right there. That we need to learn how to have empathy for others, bro.

Yeah. It's crazy. Your past doesn't define you. Absolutely not, right. Especially, and I'm like a walking testimony of that, dude. I really, really am. Yeah. And I have people on the show, like you would never guess went to prison.

And then you have people that you would assume. Correct. It really doesn't matter what the person looks like. Listen, it does not discriminate. Yeah, it does not discriminate. It definitely does it. Same thing with addiction. It doesn't discriminate.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely doesn't. So did you end up graduating high school? So I did not. So me and school did not get along well. and especially going into this neighborhood. So before me moving into this neighborhood and going to Congress Middle School, which was the middle school of this town,

I was doing fine in school. I always had learning disabilities and all that stuff growing up. So I was always like in SLD classes and things of that nature for certain subjects, not for everything. But then going into this school, they had so much trouble trying to. to deal with all the bad kids that they weren't focusing on helping the kids. So I kind of got lost in the school and then I just stopped caring. I stopped, you know, because I was worrying about staying alive, basically.

And I made it to ninth grade. And in ninth grade, I dropped out because I was already too far gone in the streets at that point anyways. Like school had no purpose for me at that point. So after that, then I ended up getting my GED in prison is where I got my GED. So would you would say that you were running with like a gang or is it just like a group? So they would call, I mean, so it's funny because they weren't like a real gang. They called themselves like CIA. It was like criminals in action is what it was.

I've never heard of this before. No, no, you would have never heard of it because it was like a local little thing. It was just a click and they weren't really gang. bang and they were just like, it was more money focused, but they had beef with local gangs like folk or this or that. And they, and sometimes they would get into it. But for the most part, they were just like a group of kids just trying to make it. You know what I'm saying? They were just trying to get by any means.

And so. And it wasn't based on race or it was? Everybody was Spanish. Yeah. Yeah. Because again, like you didn't really hang out with your rights. race. Like, you would always be with your race, no matter what. Even, like, if you had a friend that you went to school with that was black, like, you wouldn't normally hang out with him

on a normal, in your neighborhood, if he wasn't from there. Because, like, I wouldn't go to, you know, the black neighborhood and hang out because I'm not, I'm not from there. So, you'd probably end up getting caught up in some crap for being out there and not being from there. Did you guys ever question that? Like, why can't I hang out with someone that's from a different, you know, ethnicity or was it just like that instilled in your mind at such a young age? It's just the way it was there. Yeah, right. It was just the way it worked there. Like you can like I can I can I can go over there but you wouldn't want to hang out there because like I don't I can't explain the mentality of it. Because like somebody would like they would just like instigate shit and be like what are you doing over here?

And then it was just escalate and then before you know it there you're you're you're you're. shooting at each other. Like, it was, it would happen just like that. Like, it would be like, you're just hanging out, you're hanging out with your boy, and then your boy, and then this guy's like, hey, what's Chico doing over here? And then you're like, oh, I'm just hanging, bro. He's like, well, you don't need to be over here. And it's like, but what's that to you?

And then from right there, just from those words, it would literally escalate to the point where somebody's shooting at somebody. And that's the way it was for most of it. You say it so casually. But it was seriously like that. I know, I know. I know. Like for me to think back, like, I've been reflecting on my life and just like the stuff I've been through and like how lucky I am to be alive today.

And it's just like the ignorance and the craziness of it all. And it all had like no, it had no substance to it. It was just all just crazy, just spontaneous stuff that was just popping off left and right. Well, it was probably like the most dangerous situation you were put in as a, you know, a teenager, a part of this. gang, I guess you would call it. Well, like, again, so I wasn't really like, so I was part of like the underlink of the main guys, but we would always just get into stuff in the neighborhood. Like, we would run in, like, the worst part was always just being connected to everything

because every time somebody had a problem, you would have to go defend. And those things got really hairy a lot of times. like the battles that would happen out in the neighborhoods just because this guy has beef with that guy. And then the cliques would come together to like have these like these, these little gang battles, I guess. And those things would get out of hand and the fights. And just it was it was just really dangerous. So, I mean, there's been plenty of times that we had shootouts. There was, you know, fist fights.

We would meet up at the parks and like fist fight each other. We used to spar for fun with each other in our yards with boxing gloves just to be like on point all the time because you had to have hands out there. Because if you didn't have hands, you were going to get your ass whooped. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how to how to relate it. How, like. It was just a crazy period of time. It was a crazy period of time because everybody was like this.

so and it was like even in school like I said even the color wars like the color wars were like insane and the cops

couldn't even control them so I don't know what it was about that town and like that place why people were just so always so violent and then there's a couple times that these hurricanes

came by too and the hurricanes would like cause damage and then another big issue of that town was that the pawn shops would get raided and they would take all the guns out of there. And so there was just always a surplus of guns in the neighborhood that you can buy for next to nothing.

And so everybody was always strapped. Everybody always had an attitude and everybody always had something to prove. And so it was just a recipe for disaster. And then there was so much money coming through there because crack, crack was. crazy like because this is this is you know the late 90s early 2000s and crack was like insane in florida as well and then that right after crack was the the the the opiate epidemic with the with the pills and that was insane in florida too like the shopping the doctor shopping and all that stuff was just out of control yeah and the rehab facilities and all of that they were making a ton

of money oh my gosh it was out of control down there so that's that's the era that I was growing up when and then there's the ecstasy there was just so just drugs, guns and violence dude. When was the first time he got arrested? So I got arrested I got arrested early

probably 13, 14, all weed charges. Nothing major. Cell charges, weed charges, this, that and the other and then but it would escalate because you see in Florida or probably in any judicial system they like to put you on probation on probation.

But I smoked. So I would violate probation so damn much. It was just a revolving door. So one little weed charge would cost me so much because I would keep violating. It would put me in jail 30 days here, 60 days there. And like, I just kept going in and out, in and out, in and out. And so I would have to always rebuild myself, rebuild myself. And then finally, like, I started to graduate.

And I kept playing with the guns and I got into robbing. I started robbing people left and right and that got out of hand. Why robbing? Because weren't you making money from drugs? Why do you need to rob? I was making money from drugs. But the issue was is that my habit kept getting worse and worse. So as my habit got worse, it was just like what to do.

So I was with this, I was dating this older lady. I was like, let me see if I want to go that forward. Because I had, I had, I'm a grandfather too. Your grandfather? I'm a grandfather, dude. Yeah, I have two grandbabies. So I had my kids, my first two kids I had early. I had them when I was like 17.

I had one at 17, one at 18 and different mothers. And so the mother of my, the mother of my older daughter, she was a gang member as well. and she was like Mexican and she was rolling with the with the 13 with the what were they called something 13 um ms 13 it maybe ms 13 it was one of those Mexican gangs and she was like in it like like she was like as a female yeah as a female and held rank and head hands dude we got got her out of the show she's a beast bro and if you if you could see what she's doing now she's like uh now today she She works as a judge's assistant. Really?

Yeah, dude. Was she ever arrested? Yeah, she was arrested. Yeah. That's great for her. Yeah. So it's crazy now what she's got going on. So yeah, so like I was, you know, with her and then I had my other daughter.

And then like I met this, this older woman that I was dating for a while that she's the one that sort of like convinced me to that, you know, it's, you know, we can, we can rob people. And I was like, okay. So between me and her talking about it, she, you. She gave me the courage to go try it the first time, and I did it with a BB gun. And it went horribly, bro. Like, it failed completely. Like, I didn't know what I was doing.

You can take us from the top, man. It brought us the story. So it was like, so we were down bad, and I was trying to just look for options to try to, like, make money. And I had a BB gun, and then we started talking, and then we just came up with a plan. We're like, you know, we'll do this. We'll take it like that.

We'll take the car here. We'll go to this spot. So I went and I remember just going out and picking a victim. It was just at a normal convenience store. And I just waited for them to come out. And when they came out, I approached them. I stuck the gun in them. And then I was like, give it up.

And then they started to like resist, jump in the car. And then it all went south. And then I was like, oh, you know what? I'm out of here. But prior to that, actually, my first robbery was when I was 15 years old, I was with this guy. He was a friend of mine. And he wanted some beer.

He was like, I need some beer, this and that. And this is one at the time when I had, when I bought that first gun, that little 25, I was like 13, 14, something like that. And he talks me into going up to, they had these, in Florida, they had these quick stops that were like drive-thrus. It's like a convenience store, but it's a drive-thru, so it has a lane on both sides. So he takes me up there in this truck, and I jump out of the truck, and I go around to the other side. And so when he pulls up to get the guy's attention, I walk in behind him and go to, you know, I pull the gun out on him. And I'm like, you know, give up the money in the register or whatever. So as he's doing that, the car behind the guy I was with was like this old cop.

And he had a gun on him and everything. So as I'm holding the store up, this old guy comes around with a revolver and stick. it in my face and says freeze and I was just like I didn't know what to do so I take off running the guy goes around jumps in his car my friend comes out and he ends up catching me around the corner I jump into the bed of the truck and we're on a high speed chase now he's bending corners bending corners I have to and then on one corner I jumped out of the back of the bed as the guy's coming up and I started hitting the fences on the yard and I was able to get away from the guy but that was the first felony I committed.

It was either, it was between 14 and 15. And you got arrested for that? I did not get arrested. I got away. Oh, you got away, okay. Yes. And then the first crime I committed was I shoplifted when I was 11 years old. I remember this like it was yesterday.

I went with my mom to the grocery store, and you know how they used to have the cereal? They used to have the little toys inside the cereal box. I wanted the cereal because of the toy It was a little hot wheel A little Max botched car And she told me no no no And I was like whatever So I was upset

So I went and then the grocery store Was like right behind my house So when we got back home I went back to the grocery store Open the box Stole the car out and got caught for it And they just set me home Or whatever I was young

I was really really young So I don't know why I always thought that way Or why I always did these things Like I never knew why I would just like if I wanted something, like, I would just go get it. No matter what it did or what it had to do to get it, I would just, I would do that. And just, so it was always crazy that I was always like that.

But, yeah. So how does it progress? Because you eventually do a robbery that lands you in some serious trouble. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So, okay, so I'm doing this. So this, so after that with the girl, she was my driver. She would drive for me. And we were using her car.

and so that first one went pretty bad and then so we regrouped and at this time I was on a lot of Xanax too I was eating a lot of Xanax and I had them prescribed and then I got addicted to those too so then I was getting them unsprescribed but then she comes up

with a bright idea that her ex-husband owned like out in the sticks in Florida it's like where all the Mexicans live and stuff and like they have all the fields where they do all the field work and all that stuff. So her husband, her ex-husband was like a head guy in one of those fields. And he would pay, and on payday, he would give cash out to all the workers because a lot of

them were all, like, they would be immigrants or whatever. So he would pay them all in cash. And so they would be leaving out of walking down these desolated dirt roads at night with $1,000 on them or whatever. So she was like, hey, why don't we just try to go get some of those? guys and so here I go me and my people pleasing ways I was like yeah let's go try that and then that got very successful like it got to the point when I was doing so many of those that it was just out of hand like the cops were after me like I don't know how I I don't know

how I didn't get caught doing these things because we were just like we would do them I would get this guy here we'd go to the next street get that guy there go to the next street get that guy there and just and roll out and it would like and we were doing this like every Friday every Friday every Friday every Friday every Friday every Friday every Friday like clockwork for way over a year um and so that continued on and I would still sell drugs on the side whenever I could if I wasn't using them all and um so finally that continued for a while and that wasn't sustainable it was not good um I had this kid that owed me money. His parents owned the Chinese restaurant around in my neighborhood. This is a restaurant that I frequent regularly. I would buy out order food from there regularly. Um, and so one night I was just going to go up there to get Chinese food. He owed me and it wasn't even a lot of money what we were talking about was just a couple hundred bucks or whatever. And so I was up there, but I was on Xanax that night as well. And, and,

I ordered some food from my house. I ordered it to go pick it up. I go over there. And the guy's like, he's there, whatever. And I'm like, hey, dude, he's like. And I seen him. And I'm like, hey, can you cover my, cover, you know, because you owe me the money anyway.

He's like, no, I can't do that right now. This is not mine. So I got upset with him. And I pulled the gun out on him. And I ended up robbing the damn restaurant. And, I mean, I can't even explain why I did it. I don't, it was. I was so strong out at that point that I just,

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Things had me out there. So anyway, so I pulled the gun on the guy. I take the money in the register. His family freaks out. It was just closing. So I grab everything and I take off. I go back to the house. The house is literally a couple blocks down.

Like the sense in this makes none. So I do all that. I get to the house. I tell the chick what's going on. I'm like, I got to get out of here. This shit is going to go south really quick. And so I leave, I get out, sure enough, the cops show up, they rope off the house, they do all that stuff. I think I ran for a little while, and then I ended up getting me an attorney and I turned myself in.

And so that robbery with my attorney, I end up getting blessed. in Florida in West Palm Beach, you have the county, which is Gun Club, and then you have the stockade, which is like, I don't know if like jails around here has a stockade. So stockade is like an annex. It's like another jail, but it's not prison. Like a county jail kind of? Well, Gun Club is the county jail, but it's like an extension of the county jail. It's almost like a work camp. I've never really heard of that.

Yeah, and then within this stockade, there was this program called the drug program. It was called the Drug Farm. That's what it was called. So this program was a boot camp style program with therapeutic values in it. And my attorney was able to get me in there, which with that type of charge, with the armed robbery charge, it wasn't supposed to happen. so I got blessed and was able to do this two-year program with a 10-year suspended sentence. So if I can't complete this program, I go to prison for 10 years was what I signed up for with 10 years of paper afterwards.

So I signed away on the dotted line and have you. I used to be a big boy. I used to be like 400 pounds all the time, like my whole life for the most part. I was between 350, 400. I was always really big. And so I end up in this drug farm program. And I didn't know what I signed up for because it was a life changer for me, that alone. But it didn't change there, though.

So I went through the drug farm. So we're talking about like PTs in the morning, running in the morning, marching in the afternoon, PTs in the afternoon. And it was like a work, like a work hall. go out and work and do all that as well. And so it was a two years, like a two year program. And I learned a lot there. And that's sort of the place that opened my eyes to,

there's other ways of doing this shit. You know what I'm saying? Because jail wasn't it. So I went through that program, completed it successfully. A lot of people took the time. They were like, get me out of here. I can't do this. Like a lot of people would quit because it was that difficult to get through this thing.

So I was able to get through. I became an alumni. I was getting better. I met a young lady at that time, too, after all that. And I ended up, after I got out of the program, I ended up getting married with her. And I moved to Florida. And I moved down to Miami with her. And she was this Cuban girl that had a family down there in Miami and everything.

So at that point, I thought I was good. And I was going to change my life and, you know, we're going to go live in Miami and be well. But my addiction followed me. And so I got out. Things were going well. And I started drinking. I got a job doing construction. I started drinking.

And I just got unbearable. I relapsed. Started doing cocaine again. and I ended up turning myself into a recovery thing because of my probation. So with me turning myself into that program and doing the program, doing the 60 days or whatever it was, they didn't violate my probation. So they left me.

And that was another blessing. So I got myself together there. I ended up starting going to like AA and NAA and doing all that stuff. and in those rooms I met some people that like that became really good friends of mine and everything

and I ended up starting working with a guy and I ended up becoming a scuba diver I used to clean the bottoms of yachts like the barnacles and shit and like I used to scuba dive and like and so I got I kind of got my life together a little bit for a couple years there

and I my wife after the relapse my wife left me in and so I was pretty much on my own. And so I was doing that. And then I was working at a strip club at night. I was the head bouncer. It was this place called Bottoms Up down there in Miami. People should know what that is. And I was the head bouncer there for like three years. And so, but there again, I got sucked right back into it because like in Miami is a whole different vibe, bro. Miami, the drugs, the cocaine. Like it was it was so prevalent there. Like it was everywhere.

everybody's grandmother, it doesn't matter. Everybody was selling cocaine. Like, it didn't matter who you were. You were probably selling cocaine down there at that time. So once I got in good with the strippers and all this and that, like, I started just a hustle on the side. I would, like, hustle through the strippers. And they would, like, sell to their customers. And I would just supply them.

And it was a cool little hustle for a little side hustle. And I was scuba diving during the day, hustling at night. And working the club. and it was great, but picked up my habit again, started snorting again, started hanging out, and then I would hang out with the strippers, and then we would go to the after-hours club, which was the gold rush, because the gold rush is a strip club down in Miami that's open 24 hours, or 23 hours, because they use an hour to clean. So we would hang out there to the sun came up, and that went on for a while.

And I was doing fine, and I was passing all my piss tests, imagine, you know, with the fake urine and all that stuff. and everything was fine. So one day I was at work scuba diving, and I called my probation officer. I was supposed to report that day. And I called my probation officer, and I explained to her that I was going to be a little late. And she was like, oh, okay, that's fine.

No worry about it. So the next day I was supposed to report, or how did it go exactly? Because I spoke to my probation officer and told her that I wasn't. going to be able to make it or something like that. And then, but the next day when I went to go check in, there was somebody filling in for her. And she was like, oh, but Mr. Hernandez, you didn't show up yesterday.

I was like, yeah, but I called so. And so, and I let her, and I verified. She goes, well, she didn't leave me anything here. And I'm going to have to violate you because, again, that's zero tolerance before the probation officer could have say in what happens. But in this time, they were like zero tolerance. We're going to have to violate you. So when she did all that, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, I'm going to go use the bathroom real quick. And I took off.

And so I don't know what the outcome of that would have been, but I know they weren't taking me to jail right then and there. So again, I fucked up and I take off and now I'm on the run. So back on the run, now I'm thinking I got a 10 years to spend a sentence over my head. What am I going to do now? So I left the apartment that I had because the cops were all over that. They were showing up to that shit all the time trying to find me. And, you know, they're looking for me. So I went back up to West Palm.

I continued to work a little bit at the club, but that got too dangerous as well. But then I, in the club, I met this guy. He was a cool cat. But he was introduced to me. and he was the one that really set things in motion. And so I meet him. I'm on the run. I'm staying in hotels now is what I'm doing,

is how I'm sleeping at night. I'll rent hotels and I'll stay in hotels. This guy, his name was a, I knew him by chocolate. He was like, he was a street dude just like me. But he had like, he was like, he was involved in. grow houses and he was just you know he was just a cultivator he was like a weed cultivator in Miami and Miami growing indoor weed was like a big deal back then and like people would like have these grows everywhere they would rent these houses and like really nice neighborhoods and like

blow out the whole house as a grow and like that was like the hot shit in the early 2000s so this was like one of the big dudes in that type of uh in that in that field and so he befriended me And, like, you know, he was like, hey, you know, want to help me, do this or that. So at first I was, I was trimming for him. And I would trim weed for him or whatever. And then he was like, hey, you ever, you ever, you ever, you ever, you know, like robbed anybody or like, or like, you know, played with guns or anything? I was like, yeah, dude, of course. You know, he's like, because I have these, he's like, I have, I know these grow houses that are like people I know.

But they're like my competition. And like, I would love to, like, lay these houses down. but I can't do it. Would you be willing to do that? And I'm like, yeah, sure, not a problem. Like, point them out. So this guy was like, he was a mastermind, though. Like, he set everything up.

All he needed was just for me to go execute these things. And it was great. It was great for a good while. Like, every single thing he would say was always there. And it was, you know, like a lot of times. people weren't even home and like it was crazy so that continued on for a while and they were big halls like we were we were taking because he had this middle man he had this guy i'm rambling everywhere but he had this guy that was like his he was like a high-end middleman

where he would go to like grow houses and he would check out the product and if he liked whatever he was like yeah i'll take half the house or i'll take the whole house and then he would just take all the product, you'd go sell it and bring you back cash. And this is what this kid did. And this was like what he did for a living. And I'm like, dude, this guy's amazing. So we would clean out these houses and this guy would bring us 50 grand back, 30 grand back. And chocolate would just literally just split it and be like, he goes your half, bro.

Thank you, bro. So you were making great money. I was making decent money at this time. But I'm living out of hotels. I'm eating out of it. So the money was just like, as quick as it came, as as it went. I would go to strip clubs and rent the VIP out and just act an idiot, bro. Because now that I think about it, though, it was because it's just I didn't see a future for myself.

Like I said, I thought I was going to be dead, bro. So, like, I would just live, like, every day was my last, basically, was what I was doing in this period when I was on the run, especially when I was on the run, because I really didn't know what my future held for me. So, yeah, so just every day was just a party. And, like, whenever he would call me for something. I would just go do whatever it was. And then one time I had one go really bad. And so that's the one that made me decide to turn myself in, basically is what I did.

So one night he calls me, he's like, hey, I have this crib. It should have up to a kilo in it, a bunch of weed and maybe some pills and some other things. there might be three or four girls and a couple guys. He's like, do you want it? I was like, dude, let's go check it out. So with this one, he came with me, and he wasn't going to go in with me, but he was just going to go and show me the area and whatnot. So we went.

He supplied me the car. He supplied me the firearm, and we went, and we checked it out. We were in separate cars, and we were talking on the phone. So when I pull up to the house I see that they have like a little They're having like a little get together And like you said it was like three girls And a couple guys

They're all hanging out inside Like they look like they're having like a little Shing dig or whatever And so So I'm out there just scoping it out And but the house In Miami It's like they have this iron work

That they put outside Like in lower Income neighborhoods They put like bars and shit on the windows And stuff but they're like designed, you know, they have like, they're like decorated bars, but they're iron and like, like, you can't get through the window. You can't get through the door because it's all locked down. So it's like, so I'm telling him, like, bro, I don't see how I'm going to be able to get inside this house, bro.

Like, what are we going to do? So I got the bright idea. I ordered a pizza and a pizza guy came to the house. And when the pizza guy knocked and they opened the door, I ran in, pushed the pizza guy inside with everybody and laid everybody the fuck down. and as I'm trying to zip tie the guys, the girls get up and they freaking take off on me, dude, and they go outside screaming. So I'm rambling through the house. I'm trying to pistol whip the dude on the floor to freaking tell me where everything's at.

And like, things are just not working out. So I was able to find, I found some money on the dresser. I found a little bag of shit over here. And I took the guy's jewelry because the guy had, the guy had, some big time jewelry on. So I went ahead, took the jewelry off of them, took what I can find, jumped in the car, and as soon as I left the block this way,

the cops were coming in this way. And I was just like, okay, turned out, got onto the main Ave. As soon as I get onto the main Ave, a cop gets right behind me, literally right behind me, and he's following. And I'm just looking in the rear view, like, I got a 357, a bag full of shit. like I'm done dude like I am done so I send my prayers

prayers up to heaven I ask God to help me with this because if he gets me out of this one I'm something's gonna give so I'm driving driving driving I'm figuring this guy's gonna light me up soon and I'm thinking as soon as he lights me up I'm just gonna hit it I keep driving and I get into a turning lane and he sort of just keeps going, I busted you, and he left, and that was it. And I went and met up with the dude chocolate. We split up whatever. He took the jury with him, and he went and sold it and gave me a couple grand for that

shit. And that day forward, I was like, you know what? I think it's time to go take care of this shit. So I made that promise to God. He saved my motherfucking ass, and I went ahead and kept my word, bro. And so I ended up turning, oh, I mean, I partied a little bit more, and then I ended up turning myself in. And then that's when that whole, yeah, DLC program starts there. So how much did they give you when you turn yourself in?

So they ended up giving me 70 months. What is that? Five years. Five years. Yeah. I took it with a smile because I had a 10 years to spend it sentence. Did they know about that? Yeah.

That was packaged altogether? It was packaged altogether. So there, because the issue. I think was is that I did so much time because I did about five or six years on probation. So I think they counted that towards that 10 years to spend it and they only gave me the five. Were they able to tie you into that robbery, that last one you did? Oh, so that's probably why you only got. Oh, yeah, no, no, I didn't get caught for that at all.

No, no, I'd say, like I said, when the cop left me and let me go. Yeah. Because I was praying to God. I was like, Lord, if this guy lets me, like, if he doesn't pull me over right now, like. That was the wake-up call. That was the wake-up call, right? So sure enough, I was like, okay, so I ended up turning myself in. I went and got myself an attorney again because I had a lot of money at this time.

So I was able to afford the attorney. So I paid the attorney. I gave my family members a bunch of money to put away from me. And I'm like, let's go handle this. So I had my mother always begging me to turn myself. Like people, this was long coming. Like I was running for two years. It was like two years that I was on the limb running from the vice.

violation. So it was way past due. But in those two years, man, the stuff, bro, like, it was left and right. It was intense. So I am highly blessed, bro. And so took the 70 months and started the journey. Where do you serve your time in Florida? In Florida. So started in the gun club. And I mean, I've been to gun club since 13. I've been going to gun club all the time. So I know Gun Club, not a big deal. County jail sucks. Everything's indoor. They don't let you outside too much. Sucks. So once I got sentenced, you know, the bus took like, it wasn't long.

It was within that week. They told me to roll it up. I get on the bluebird and start heading to fucking prison. So, you know, how you always, since you've never been to prison, you know, you start asking questions. You try to figure out what's going to happen. What's this and that. So everything everybody has to say is horrible. So my expectation of it is like, oh, fuck, man.

So when I was on the bus, bro, heading up there shackled to everybody and shit, I was just like, fuck, man. Like, what's going to happen here? So as soon as we get down, they take us down to South Florida reception center, which is like, you know, the reception center for Florida, because they have one in Orlando and they have one in Miami. So they take me down. That's where everybody goes for intake.

So they take you in there. The bus had about, I want to say like at least 50, 50 inmates, something like that. But there was like three or four buses. So it's probably like 200 people being taken in at that time that day. So as soon as the bus pulls in, you have about three or four muscle-bound ass COs that get on this bus and just start like yelling and screaming and pulling. and pushing and shoving and like they were trying to like intimidate you from the jump to let you know this is our house and they do a good job at it um so you know they're they're putting on their show and then they bring you into the little box there so there was like two groups like so they split up

those two so there's probably a room with like a hundred here and a hundred over there everybody stripped butt naked and like they wanted you butt-ass naked so it was i mean just the whole intake process was just, it was crazy. It was crazy. So once I started to get to get through that, I realized like, yep, this is, this is where I've become. Like, you know what I'm saying? This is where it's at. This is going to be my life for the next whatever, whatever time.

Did any, like, gangs or groups approach you? I know, like, it popular in prison, a lot of, like, the Spanish groups will approach other Spanish guys. Yep. So, so, yeah, absolutely. that did happen. So the Latin Kings approached me pretty quickly. I've never been into the whole gang culture. But come to find out my bunk.

So anyways, when I got to the reception center, when I went through the whole process of everything, I ended up staying there as an orderly, which was amazing. So being there, I was able to stay at the reception center. and so they have a dorm for their orally. So that's the people that just run the reception center. So, you know, you start in the kitchen and you find other jobs.

You got laundry. You got administration. You got this, that, or the other. So since I'm from Miami and I'm able to stay in Miami, that was the best, you know, outcome for me. So once I got accustomed to the workings of prison, things got pretty. pretty decent, I guess. I mean, I got a custom to the routine there quite quickly. So I was put in the kitchen at first, you know, waking up at 4 in the morning or whatever.

They had me in the bakery. They had me, well, first it's pots and pans, of course. You're washing pots and pans. And then you get on the line. And then if you can get a bakery job, you get a bakery job. That's literally the same process that happened. Yeah, that's exactly how it works. And then you go to put next.

Down there in the reception center, though, bro, every morning we used to have to fight these fucking field rats, bro. These fuckers were vicious, dude. They would come down on the line. They would snatch food and take off. Like, that place was crazy, man. So, yeah, so did that for a little while. Then I ended up getting a job in sanitation where it was like where we would like, we're, all we really had. to do was like like once a week we would go to where like all the shit goes and like unclog

some stuff and that was like your job for the week so the rest of the time I would just hang out in the dorm and play poker so then that's when I started like running the poker table and and this and that so anyway so the guy uh my bunk my my my bunk mate at for a while there was like the the head the head Latin king from like but he's like an old head from like New York he's like an OG OG original Like dude had rank And he He took such a liking to me

Like almost like a father figure And he would just like Just try to educate me He would try to teach me All the all the gang stuff And I was just always just like Dude this shit ain't for me bro So

But You know We respected each other And so I was affiliated with the Latin Kings I never joined never became part of, but definitely affiliate. You have to affiliate yourself with somebody

because that's the way it works down there. Like how you guys talk about the cars and stuff like that, like down there, it was just like whatever the groups are. If you're white, you're white, if you're black, you're black, and so on and so forth. What would have happened if you didn't affiliate with them?

Did you see what happened to people that weren't affiliated with a gang? So you become a fucking target, basically. No matter how big and bad you are, if you weren't affiliated in someone, way, shape, or form, sooner or later you would be tested to the point where it's going to be a problem and something's going to pop off. Life moves fast.

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Member FDIC. And so, and even being affiliated, it's just that you just, you know, just being Spanish, you're already kind of like affiliated. But I had a good relationship with this guy. So I never really had any troubles down there. then I started I had one of my stripper friends would come visit me

and she started bringing me weed and through convasory I would give it to the canteen man the canteen man would bring it in for me and I would just give them a portion of whatever I brought in and that went on for a good while it being a reception center there was a lot of cash like paper cash there I don't know if they were taking it off the people's property

when they were coming in or whatever but I was able to get my hands hands on a lot of cash. So I was able to sell weed there for cash. So you're still hustling. Yeah, I'm still hustling. And then, like, you know, give the money to the canteen man. He would bring it out and give it to my girl.

And she would put it on my books and stuff. And she would pay some of her bills with it and everything. And so I had a little hustle going on in there. And that was, and it worked great for a while. And then fucking, I had my competition in there because there's this other black dude that was in there that was getting weed in through his aunt that worked in the kitchen. And she was like the head kitchen lady there. And she was bringing him in weed.

But she was bringing him like this dirt weed. And I had like better weed. So the dude fucking tells on me, throws me under the bus, sends a kite. And I end up getting drug tested. And I pissed dirty. And they fucking throw me in the box. And I spent like, dude, I spent like 10 months in the box. And I got transferred to.

bum-fuck panhandle like redneck like bro where they sent me was like the twilight zone that's the thing about prison when you're stepping on another man's hustle they'll snitch on you to get you out of there

so that sort of changed me to where I didn't care about the streets anymore when I left like because I was always so loyal and always so down that when I saw that you're like fuck this I was like, this is not for me, bro.

For me to be wasting my life in this place for somebody just to push, like, we're in here together, bro. Like, I didn't. You know, that's how a lot of mobsters think when they get to a certain point. They're like, wow, I'm a part of this whole mob life. And then you realize you get to a certain point. You're like. And it's not what it was. Yeah.

I'm given my whole life for this. And that's, see, and so I was in 10 toes deep, bro. Like, I believed in what I was doing. I believed in like the street. life and when I got exposed to prison and I saw people for who they are, when you spend 24 7 with people, you start to see people's colors and you start to see people for who they are. And when I saw that and I saw how grimy and just how dirty everybody and everything was, I was just like, you know what?

This is not for me. Like, I'm, yeah. So that started to change me in there seeing all that. But yeah, so like I saw so much crazy stuff in there. man. I got a bunch of tattoos from prison. You got a prison tattoo? I got multiple prison tattoos.

Yeah, people are always fascinated by prison tattoos. I mean, like, I get comments all the time. I was fascinated by how, how, how, like, how innovative people are in there. Like, the way the tattoo guns are made, like, the way, dude, the craziest thing I saw in there was people putting pearls into their penises. Pearls and their penises. They would take dominoes. Shave them on the concrete. Listen to this shit.

Shave them on the concrete. When they were short time, this was up in the panhandle, up in that one camp. They would make them into little hearts. They would make them into little pearls. They would make them into little shapes, little bones.

They would sanitize them. They would pay somebody $50 to cut their fucking dick and stick this thing inside of them so they can have that little pearl is what it's called, right? You know, I've definitely heard. heard of this before. And I seen this shit with my own eyes, bro.

People doing this, like, when they're going home. Like, when they were, like, short time, they would do this. Like, and so, like... It's definitely a first on this show, though. I'm telling you, bro. And, like, I've watched all your episodes, and I, like, I've been waiting to hear somebody say something about this, and nobody has... This is a Spanish thing, though, isn't it?

I don't know. I think it's just Spanish in prison. I don't think the white guys were due with this or the black guys. Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I've heard of this before. Now that you bring it up. Yeah, they would take a, so they take a pencil, like the rubber, you know, the eraser from the pencil, they would fold the skin over and hit it with a razor.

So it makes a whole, an insurgent on each side. And then they push it in there. And then so one can drain or something. Like, I don't know, dude. Like, it was just, I was like, wow, you guys are brave, bro. So that was the craziest thing. Man. And then another thing.

another crazy thing I saw in there too was one time we were out playing Domino's on the rec yard. There was this particular guy that was like, you know, he was always going into the crazy, into the site work, and they would release him back into GP. And he's like, no, I don't want to go to GP. And they're like, no, but you got to go. And so one time they made him leave and he didn't want to go. And he went to his cell, whatever bump they put him on. put his stuff down

I guess went to the officer got a razor to shave with took the razor out went to the yard and the guy that was sitting across from me randomly just hit him cut him from side to side bro the guy was leaking like it was insane

if the guy wouldn't have ran to the affirmative the medical he would have probably fucking passed out bro he would have probably bled out you know what I'm saying and so that was probably the

the most ugliest violent thing I've seen in there. But for the most part, it was just, you know, a bunch of fighting. You made it out. I made it out, dude. Yeah, no. Like I told you, man, I learned how to be a chameleon, bro. Like, I would just... You blended in, stayed out the way.

I blended it, stayed out the way. Just stayed to my lane. Whatever hustle I could find, I would do. I would run the poker tables. I would... You were kind of over the life by that point, too. I was, bro. Like, it wasn't for me anymore.

I know I didn't want to do that anymore because I got tired of having to rebuild myself. I rebuilt myself so much, bro. Like, every time I would just go to jail and have to start all over again, go to jail, I have to start all over again. By that time, I was just like, bro, I'm tired of doing this shit, dude. What year did you get out? So I got out in 2010.

2010. August. So 14 years ago. 14 years ago. Almost 14 years ago. And you haven't been back since? I've had a couple stupid little slips here and there. But nothing major.

Nothing major. So I gave up on the lifestyle Because the lifestyle was the biggest issue Because I was like I told you I was 10 toes deep on that shit, bro Like I lived for that So I gave up on that And I knew I wasn't gonna go back to that

So I get out August of 2010 With a bus ticket And a $100 check And they're like, here you go Have a nice day And I was just like Okay And so

I jump on the bus and I'm headed down to my or I'm headed yeah I'm headed down back down to Miami I have a friend of mine picking me up and I'm now 30 years old and have to figure out what the fuck I'm going to do with the rest of my life so I go down to Miami meet up with my friend or whatever

I end up going to I end up flying out to Puerto Rico my mom at the time was living in Puerto Rico at our house we had a house in Puerto Rico like their old house that they used to live in back in the days. So she was staying out there for a little while. So I went and met up with her out there. And then I was hanging out there just trying to like just see what I was going to do with my life. I knew I didn't want to stay in Florida.

I knew I didn't want to, you know, go back to that. So I knew I had ties up here in Massachusetts. So my sister up here in Massachusetts was like, hey, if you want to come stay up here with me, until you figure out what you're going to do, you know, let's do it. So I was like, all right, cool, I might take advantage of that. So in Puerto Rico, I was hanging out. My mom always kept old pictures of the family.

And I used to like to go through them, just reminisce, check them out, looking through them, looking through them. And I'm digging through these pictures and I'm reminiscing. And I'm like, wow, man, like, look at all these fucking cool-ass old pictures. When I get to the bottom of this bag, Ian, there was a freaking piece of paper in it. I was folded up in an envelope, and I'm like, what the heck is this? So I go to open up this piece of paper, and I'm like, what is this? Dude, it was adoption papers for me.

And I'm like, it has my name on it. And I'm like, I'm trying to figure it, bro. I'm like trying to figure it out. I'm like, is this real? Like, what's going on here? So I'm like opening up the paper. I'm looking at all the names. I'm looking at the names that it says and who it says.

And I'm like, what is going on? So I'm confused. So I walk out to the living room. I'm like, hey, mom, what's this? And as soon as I show her, this paper, she just like breaks down. And I'm like, oh shit, what the fuck is going on here? So come to find out, dude, I'm freaking adopted. I'm not, I'm not even Puerto Rican. Like, I'm like, what the heck's going on? So she's like explaining everything to me. And I'm like,

okay. And then come to find out my biological mother reaches out to me out of the blue. And I'm like, What is going on here, dude? So that stuff threw me for a loop. And, yeah, that kind of blew my world up. Like, I didn't know what to do, what to say about it. I didn't know how to feel about it. I'm sure you had a lot of questions. I had a ton of questions.

Like, I'm still dealing with that stuff today. And, yeah, so. Did you ever find out where your real parents were? So, I don't know. met my whole other family. So I'm, so my biological mother lives in chickapy. Chiquipay. Come to find out, which is really close to where I live.

And I start to visit with her. And I met her and I met my siblings. So I have siblings. I have, I have four other siblings that are my actual half brothers and sisters. And, um. Is there any resentment? Like, wow, I wish I had that life.

And then things wouldn't have, I wouldn't have gone. through all that pain and suffering that I did? So, so to be honest, my life would have probably been worse. Oh, shit. If I would have stayed with that lady. Yeah,

that lady definitely didn't have her life together. And she just, she was no good. And so, and even my brother from her that me and him are like so much alike. We're like splitting images almost. And come to find out,

he went to jail for armed robbery. as well. He did the same amount of time as I did. He, like, around the same time, and I'm like, what are the chances? Like, you know, us half-brothers, like, is it, you know, that nurtured, you know, like, you know, what is it called when they say, like nurtured and provided for? No, no, no.

Nurture over. It's slipping me. Because it's about, you know, like, the way you're raised or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, genes like nurture over yeah I can't get it um so yeah so it was just weird that you know he had like pretty much the same the same upbringing as me so that led me to think like is it is it in my jeans these issues that I have with this like kind of mentality that I carry inside of me and so when I met him and I met her and I seen their background

and like just because her, because that whole family is like just drug infested alcohol, like all the way down the bloodline. So I'm like, oh shit. No wonder. You know, so I started to connect the dots. And that's when I started to like realize that,

hey, I have a fucking problem. You know what I'm saying? And then that's when I started to try to figure myself out. That's when I went, and that's when I started to dive into myself and I just like, you know,

I need to figure out myself before I end up just throwing my whole life away because I'm too ignorant to know what my issues, what my problems were at, you know, growing up. So, yeah. So then that's when I ended up starting to, like, lean towards therapy and look for help. So, but, again, I ended up catching an OUI. So I started playing poker because I was so good at playing poker in jail. So I came out because it was along that whole, you know, world polka tour storm that happened.

and, you know, around that time. So I started playing poker. You know, I was doing pretty well here and there. I would win tournaments and things of that nature. And then ended up one night, I hit a big tournament, made a bunch of money. I got fucking wasted, passed out in my car, and in the parking lot, never moved the car or anything, but ended up catching an OUI for that. And then my drinking continued.

So that's while I was up here. So I met them. I ended up meeting my partner, which I'm with right now. And I had a child with her as well. He's my little 10-year-old, my little mini-me. It's like a splitting image of me, this guy. And so I met her and I put her through a bunch of shit because I continued to drink. And I was always like, you know, I was always a,

I was an alcoholic, but I was always responsible. I always went to work. I always took care of all my business, but I was always just drinking and drinking and drinking. And again, I was just feeling that void again. And stuff just got out of hand all the time. And finally, I ended up, during COVID, I ended up, I was to the point in COVID, my drinking was like out of hand. But I was hiding shit places. Like, it was just bad.

And then I ended up getting into an altercation and I got another charge like a domestic dispute because I got into a fight with the neighbor. I ended up beating up the neighbor. I got in a fight with my partner and like it was just bad. So that time was when I finally like just, I just gave in, bro. I gave up. I gave up. It gets tiring after a while. I gave up, bro.

Like I literally gave up. And then I found the program there in Northampton. It was called On Call where they, like, give you this. It was like a Vivitrault. It's the drug is called Vivitrae. It's a shot that, like, the way they explain it to me is that it stops the cravings, the receptors that crave for heroin or alcohol or anything like that. And if while you're on the shot, if you consume, it'll make you sick.

So I started doing this because I could not find any other way to stop. to stop using. So I ended up doing this for like about a year and I would get an injection once a month. And that allowed me and gave me the time because in that year that I was doing this, I ended up finding my therapist. I ended up finding all this stuff and I just put everything into place. And now I've been like, you know, I've been sober like four going on to almost five years. And like, dude, it's been quite a journey, dude.

That's awesome. And what do you do for work now? So now I so that's the thing too. Getting out of prison work was tough dude. When I got up here the first place I went to because I just just try and shit out. I was filling out applications everywhere, but I filled out an application at Walmart of all places. Walmart reached out to me. I went through their hiring process. I went through the second interview. They gave me my position. They gave me my schedule. As soon as that quarry came back, they were like, no, we can't, we can't. They gave me another excuse, but the excuse was stupid for, you know, already have hired me. So I felt that it was because of the quarry coming back that they didn't. So, but I did have a skill where I used to screen print. So I screen print T-shirts and I do embroidery. So I ended up doing that. And now I do, I'm a press operator for a for a for a pretty big company. And I do security on the weekends at a club and I've been doing I've been doing both things for like since I've been out for you know like at least 12 years each and has a relationship with your kids.

So now after all this therapy and after all this help now my relationship with my kids are getting better. I have a really bad relationship with my older daughter and I've been trying to rekindle that forever now so that's now what my goal is in life is just to to you know fix all the broken relationships I have with my children and just the day I can get all my children under one roof would be the day that I can die a happy man dude you know what I'm saying I just want my family I just want to

I just want to spend time with them and just you know, try to make up for all lost time because I was not there for my two younger children or from my two older children, I was not there. The way I am now for my two children that live with me. So, yeah. What's something you want people to take away from your story that are listening?

That, so what I can say is just to never give up on yourself would be one. And just to give yourself a chance because like I was in situations where I thought was the end and I always prevailed and I always came through and just to never give up like even when you think things are at their worst and like there's just no other way

if you can just hold on and stay strong like there's always going to be you know a light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dire the situation feels or seems like you just have to keep pushing forward bro Thank you.