Locked In with Ian Bick - Ex-Addict on How He Became a High-Ranking Massachusetts Prison Guard | Bob Balfour

Episode Date: April 20, 2025

Bob Balfour reveals how he went from struggling with addiction to becoming a high-ranking Massachusetts prison guard. #PrisonGuard #LawEnforcement #TrueCrime #PrisonSystem #Authority #CorrectionalOfficer #JusticeSystem #security Thank you to LUCY for sponsoring today’s episode: Let’s level up your nicotine routine with Lucy. Go to HTTP://LUCY.CO/IANBICK and use promo code (IANBICK) to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind.  Connect with Bob Balfour: Faceebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1CuDUBcJ8t/?mibextid=wwXIfr Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://convictclothing.net/collections/convict-clothing-x-ian-bick Timestamps: 00:00:00 Overcoming Adversity: From Corrections to Marathon Running 00:08:41 Breaking the Cycle: A Family's Story of Change 00:17:34 Life Before Corrections: A Chaotic Path 00:26:40 Struggles with Addiction and Paranoia 00:36:03 Transition to Department of Correction Career 00:44:54 Navigating Peer Pressure as a Correctional Officer 00:53:47 The Challenges of Navigating the Prison System 01:02:08 Painting Crew Scandal at the Massachusetts State House 01:15:59 The Work Crew Program Evolution 01:22:29 Handling Chaos at a Green Day Concert 01:28:36 Unconventional Security: Inmates at Green Day Concert 01:37:18 Navigating Work with Nonprofits and Policies 01:38:10 01:45:50 Workplace Conflict and Uniform Dispute 01:54:22 Confrontation with DEA: Misunderstandings and Resolutions 02:03:01 Reflections on Life in Correctional Facilities 02:12:27 Advice for Families Affected by Addiction 02:19:49 Urgency in Addressing Youth Issues Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Bob, welcome to Lockton, brother. You walked in this door today and you got so much energy. The audience is going to love you. That's where you're all, brother. Man, I got a passion for life. Thanks so much for reaching out, man, and making the drive out here and to your friend that drove you today, which was a former inmate under you.

That's incredible, you know, to see that. You don't really see that in today's world, you know, but it's so cool to see. And I'm very grateful you made the journey today. Yeah, we'll get into that. Like I said to Jake on the phone the other day, I said, you know, I retired 10 years ago. When I left 25 years in corrections, not many CEOs were friends and none of them were good friends. And today, 10 years later, I'm best friends, brothers with a lot of guys that did some serious time. And then when I worked as a just doing recovery groups and stuff at the local jail and stuff, some of the guys I met there that, like I,

whatever. I'm still, I'm good friends with them. I got their back, man. I don't, uh, I believe passion can change your life and we'll see, but I'm a perfect example of that. And now you got me as a friend too, another fella. You fucking, dude, you ain't seen nothing. You're gonna get sick of me. No, we're good with you. I love you doing Iron Man's running the Boston Marathon. I've always wanted to run a marathon, honestly. Let's roll, brother. I'm ready. I don't know if I could make the whole one, but I said that too. I started Iron Man's when I work for corrections

and I knew my career was coming to an end and I was going to be out of work for nine months pending investigation but I said I wanted to do an ironman I asked my buddy and recovery guy and I said could I do one of those things and he said of course you can you're fucking crazy you can do anything and I'm like

I'm afraid of water I'm the youngest to five my brothers used to try to drown me in a freaking cup of water if they could but I wouldn't go in the water above my neck and I don't know how to swim and some of my guys taught me my buddies and sober guys and all that and next thing you know

I'm banging out the laps at the pool I can't count. You know how many yards was that and I just did it and that was 12 years ago and I've done eight full Iron Man's a whole bunch of shorter ones and everything and needless to say

I think I've talked to everybody that does Iron Man triathlon. I've met them one way another and in their families. But yeah I just got a fucking passion for life man and I'm here to talk about the guys that gave me that. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Marlowe's

just outside of Boston, real small town, dry town, no booze, but there's a lot of legends that came out of Maros and just you could go to Maine and out in the woods and say you're from while I was in there, please, we don't want any trouble, you know.

And yeah, it wasn't, you know, kind of funny that, like, not many people that I went to school with or knew growing up ended up in the can. A lot of dead, a lot of knives, guns, naturally overdoses, suicides, car accidents, motorcycle accidents. The first one was probably, I think it was like 15, 16. that was the beginning of it and it was just like you know and then when the drugs come on scene it took my brother and tons of my best friends and close friends and all that but that that is what it is you know but were your parents together growing up yeah it's um back in the 60s and in the

70s of the big bad Bruins I they were together and from what I gather from my brothers and I'm the youngest my uh my sister and my brothers that like I was a let's try to say the marriage with another one. And I came along, so, needless to say, it didn't work. You know, we had a big house. It was always full of people party in. The Bruin games were on.

You know, Sunday afternoons, everyone's drinking and raising hell. And, you know, my mother was, she was cool with everybody. My father was never around. You know, he was, back then, he was a ladies man, I think, you know. And same as me.

No education, right? But he had the heart. me that, you know, thank God. But, yeah. What they did for work, your parents? My father was a fireman in Melrose. And back then they were hardcore, man, they were smoky. They just ran into buildings.

And I remember when he died from cancer and he's like, we didn't wear those masks. Come on, you run into a building, you grab something. If you think it's a person or a TV or whatever, you come out and puke and then run back in. And so he was really active in the fight department, active in the union, became an alderman, and then further on down the road, he'd jack of all trades, a police commissioner, thank God, kept me out of jail. And my mother was, you know, stay at home. I think the pills and all that stuff, they had just kind of a houseful of chaos on the inside,

but people on the outside thought it was all good. Did you guys grow up struggling or wanting more because only one parent worked? Not really, no. It wasn't like nowadays with kids have phones and everything else. You know, I remember going to a grocery store and putting bags in people's cars for them

and they give me a tip. That's how I bought my first mini bike, right? And it was a little bit older. You want drinking money? You save your lunch money. You know, you don't spend money in school and, you know, maybe cut a lot of two. And, yeah, there was money.

was never handed out in my house to any of us. You wanted something. You just figured out a way to get it. It was a different world back then. Oh, yeah. Drinking age was 18, right? Drinking age was 18, yeah. Yeah.

And I had a fake ID when I was 16. And then again, my family and my girlfriend at the time that eventually actually became my wife, who's, thank you God, for her patience. But, um. Wait, that was your high school sweetheart? Yes. Yes.

We love a good love story. So growing up like that, seventh grade, like Big Bad Bruins, I played hockey, but I sucked, right? I'd fight guys on my own team. And then I always watch my brothers and all of their friends. Seventh grade, within a week, I found the pretty girl down the end at the lockers and big boobs, blonde here. I fell in love, right? And it turns out her brothers, I knew them. They would, you know, they hung around my house and stuff.

And like she was, people used to say we looked alike, right? And it looked like brother and sister. And, you know, very long, years and years later, she's always been instrumental in my life. At 16, I got thrown out of school. And she was, you know, I was trying to live the, be a bell for a legend, ladies man, frigging Hugh Hefner and Merrill's middle school.

But, you know, I didn't know any better. And that's what my father and brothers did. But so I She disappeared Went to college Comes from a real family You know legit And when I got sober

At 26 She ran into one of my buddies And did you hear about Bobby And she's like Oh no What? He's dead No he's sober

He's in AA right And She ended up calling me She was out with her friends College friends I think You know Having a few or whatever

and, you know, one thing led to another. I was down. She was teaching in Rockport and living at her sister's house for the summer on the beach. And I said, I'll be down tomorrow morning. And I jumped on my motorcycle and rode down there and never left. And, you know, it's, she's the exact opposite of me. Everyone's like, God bless her. She got a front row seat in heaven for putting up with you.

And, man, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's, It's a very, very special relationship where I couldn't read or write when I got sold. I couldn't cross the street without screwing it up. And she frigging took me in and held my hand and taught me everything. And two beautiful daughters now in their 30s, they'll never leave home, right? The four of us are all best friends and, like, they tolerate me, I guess. Oh, they live at the same house as you? Oh, yeah, yeah.

You're okay with that? Fuck, yeah. They're good kids. Yeah. I broke the cycle. They're not like my brothers were, you know. That's true. And like, yeah, we got big German Shepid. They take care of it.

It's like, that's my Rocky, all black. It's the second one we've had. What do they think about you doing this show? They just shake their head. Like, you're fucking not. You're crazy. Right? And they know my whole, like, background.

And they've had friends in school and stuff like that, that they, with like they got the call. Suki's in trouble. We had this exchange student. It's a whole other story. But, you know, she was, she had a problem.

And like, we got to take care of Suki. And it's still today, all these years later, she's married, she has kids. But, you know, if Suki's got a problem, or Brandy who came from a Charlestown family or whatever, and, you know, she got no place to live. Bring her home.

And my daughters are like, they got it from me that, like, they're caring, they give a shit, you know. And, but they were never part. is my girls are never like they know all about it and um they're perfect citizens in this crazy world you know which is for me i broke the cycle that's not again the way i grew up and it's um it's awesome i give my my wife gets all the credit you know because she brought me up in my daughters you know but um you know it's and like talking to jake on the way down my house is a home right i grew up in a house

which was okay there was no love that word was never used but we got the four of us love is used you know they know even they screw with me all the time and fucking harass me

and make me move the cars and clean the snow they love me you know and again that's one more like my gratitude is like you gotta be shitting me I shouldn't even be alive

and I got these two little kids that are you know just do live such awesome life Was college ever a thought for you at all? Like, did your parents push you for it? College? Yeah. Oh, my God, no.

I didn't know, like... No, I know you didn't know how to read or write, but did you ever think about it? Like, was there ever a want for it? I remember my father and mother saying, if any of us kids want to go to college, he'll pay for it. But I was in, like, seventh grade, maybe, you know, in like, I didn't even know. I didn't even know people pottyed in college until years later. And I got thrown out of middle school, and I wasn't a... punk I wasn't a troublemaker but I always found my girlfriend right and um you know if like

talk people into skipping school I got my brothers to buy far as we can go to my house and you know and um but I'd always be back at two-third in the afternoon to meet my girlfriend or whoever you know and you know drunk and it's just like he's a good kid but he's just like he never goes to school we got to get him out of here you know And so college was out. I just kind of bounced around middle school, you know, in seventh, eighth grade. But when they push up the high school, and my oldest brother was a football player, man about town, you know, and he went on to work in politics with the president,

with Bush and all that stuff. But my brother Jackie, who's no longer here because of drugs and all that stuff, the principal grabbed me and my first week or two in high school and this guy was he was an asshole right and people he liked who he liked and he didn't like me

but he said if you think you're gonna be like your fucking brother I'll have you out of here and he's talking to me and he's getting spit on me and everything and I'm like whoa I'm just a good kid that like skip school I'm not my brother Jackie's a nod he'd be to anybody

everybody up, right? And he was just a alien. But within, I don't know, two weeks, I'm thrown out of school. And at first he accused me, he had a bag of weed. He said, he saw me selling it, and he wasn't. I wasn't. You know, I was still a kid, really. And two weeks later, I'm in his office. my father's in the office I'm leaving and that's it and I didn't want to I actually have nightmares about that

maybe every year or so of walking across out in front of the school with nowhere to go there's no cars there's no people nothing's moving but I want like I

I guess I took my father's advice to we got to a job this guy didn't want me there and you know he was buddy buddy you know sucking up to my father and um but it was It was bad.

And, you know, if I played hockey or football, and I'll get into that part later because one of the football players turned into a whatever. But, you know, it was, I got cheated out of an education. You know, I was barely old enough to get thrown out, ADD, all that stuff. And they just get this kid out of here because he's going to, you know, recruit people every single day to fuck off. And, you know, so whatever. I moved on, went to work for the highway department where more shit happen.

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never have to worry about running out. Let's level up your nicotine routine with Lucy. Visit lucy.com slash Ian Bick and use promo code Ian Bick to enjoy 20% off your first order. And remember, they offer a 30-day refund policy if you're not completely satisfied. Once again, that's lucy.com and use code Ian Bick for 20% off. And here comes a fine print. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Now let's get back into today's episode. Do you regret not getting an education looking back on it? I know everything turned out well in the end for you, but looking back on it, is that something you wish you to change? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because again, I didn't know. There was no such thing as

ADD back then or a special ed or anything like that. And someone should have grabbed me and said, listen, you're skipping school. Like, we're going to fix this one way or the other, you know. But, you know, it got so bad, like I'd stay home probably four days out of the week. And my mother was working at the time. They'd call it at 9 o'clock, the Truman officer. My mother would pick up. Yep, you're sitting right here.

What do you want me to do with them, you know, and hang up. And then she'd go to work and I'd go out and do, you know, whatever. And so, yeah, yeah, I was cheated out of an education. I ended up taking the GED two or three times and just whacked out. And it's been a struggle all along, you know. By going into corrections, you know, I had a GED, which is whatever. But, you know, if I had college education, I would get more money in my pension now. Would have helped with my promotions when I got my addictions, counseling license,

LADAC. It would help with that. You know, I would be in a, you know, business-wise, I'd be in a different place, money-wise, probably. But I learned the fucking odd way. And it's been tough. It's like a lot of struggle, a lot of frustration, you know, because, yeah, it's, it's been tough. If I had a chance to do it again, I would have put me right into a vocational school and said, we'll friggin lock you in there. You're not going anywhere, you know. And if a teacher took an interest in me, I would have been fine. Now, most of the correctional officers we've had on the show were, you know, outstanding citizens or people that couldn't become cops and became correctional officers or wanted to get into corrections. And I think very few times we hear those law enforcement stories where

they were pretty much going down a bad path and something miraculously happened to put them on track. And I think that's so inspirational to the former inmates and even maybe their parents are loved ones and law enforcement in general who might be, you know, kind of scared about their past and talking about it, which is why I think, you know, you sharing with the audience, what was happening in your life before you got into corrections is so powerful. Right. I just, like when I left school, I went to work for the state, the highway department, and the park department and stuff, and they teamed me up with my brother Jackie,

who was the craziest person that walked the streets of Massachusetts and the two of us together we were like nuts and we'd still you'd have a new picnic table out here you didn't even want it right and I remember like

in sixth grade him and all the workers would come over our house and drink during the day and like I'd skip school to go with them and we had a big rack-body truck we were stealing picnic tables and we're driving around giving them away to people, you know. And so that just like that's the path I ended up on. Like I put all my eggs in my brother's basket because my father was never really there back then.

And if I followed my other brother, who knows where I would have gone, you know. But I like my path. And my brother Jackie's who, you know, he went down very hard. but you know and I went on to so I work for the state and then you don't get fired from these jobs and I did city of Malden I worked there in the traffic department late at night painting lines in the street I made the they were doing downtown Malden Ova and there was one street that I put lines down the middle of it and it was a one way street I turned into a two way right and like the chief of police police who was a friend of my fathers that gave me the job. He'd come in the next day. Like, what the fuck did you do? You know, and then it was like, don't let him use the paint machine, right?

And so I did that. Then, like my poor father, trying to do the best, he calls me up one day. You're going to be a correction officer. What do they do? Prison guard. Where? Cambridge jail and, you know, Bill Rick, the sheriff's department. What do I do?

I'm like, man, I get a lot of shit going on, man. I was hanging around with a motorcycle club and I had a stolen holly, whatever, you know, and I'm like, oh, man, what am I going to do there? And like, I'm going to go straight, right? And it didn't last. But I went to work at the jail, like, as naive as can be going in there, I knew, like, I love crazy people and, you know, the, you know, the hell raises, but I didn't know there was con side to it, right?

So I went in there and I hit it off of the few guys from South Boston and, you know, they're doing time, Tommy, who's an interesting guy that, you know, ended up doing a real lot of time. But so I was only there for seven or eight months. I, they did a shakedown once. I found a handcuffed key and they ripped it up, right? and I wrote the report, right, barely able to write, and they ripped it up, so, like, you'll never write a report again. So needless to say, I was escorted off the property, and it was highly suggested that I forget I ever work there. And, you know, it's back up a little bit.

The guys I hung with, I was a lot younger, and that's where my crystal meth obsession came from. So these guys, they used to make it. They'd give it to me and do whatever you want with it, right? And just if you sell some, give us some money. And one of the top guys in the club took a gun. I was probably 17-18, and he put a gun right up my face, right? And he said, if I ever catch you with a fucking needle in your arm, I'll kill you, right? And I'm going to do it for your family.

And like I always remembered that, right? and like these guys looked out for me. They respected my father. He was a police commissioner, and he respected them. You know, kind of looked out far as I'm like a movie. But back to the sheriff's department,

and I had to go back to that. My first night there, I hit it off with another CEO. We're talking, blah, blah, blah. You know, I smoke weed a little bit. Oh, yeah, me too. I did coke at a wedding once. Oh, yeah, me too, right?

Within an hour, it's like, I'm going to make a phone call. We're going to get an eight ball dropped off out front, you know. Wait, you got an eight ball dropped off? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so what do you guys say? You're just going outside to do a line? Yeah, we'd bring it in, you know, and they put us,

we would be legless walking in. And this really was different times back then with the sheriff's department. That sheriff ended up getting some federal time himself. But, you know, I could know, you know, and like they put us together. like we'd work four to midnight and then there was another dude, a black dude with us, Mike, and he would drink vodka by the quat, like,

bad. And we'd be legless walking into that place. And, you know, it, thank God I got out of there alive or whatever. But, you know, we, I was over this, you know, the other CEO's house,

six or seven months into the job there. And now I'm thinking of the guy that told me, no needles, right? I will kill you. And that's kind of like where I learned the beginning of my respect. But here I am now with my buddy Timmy,

who died last year. But, you know, I got my uniform, my name tag, my badge, American flag, right? And he's like, just try shooting at once. Right, three in the morning. I got my sleeve rolled up. And he's hitting me with some coke, right?

And a known very bad actor told me not to do that shit and hearing him now with a cop so yeah it's okay okay you know and thank God I didn't like it I always remembered what this guy told me to don't fuck with that stuff and I never did but kind of a

crazy where the bad guys tell me not to do something and the good guys supposedly good guys are telling me it's okay you know so yeah when I left the air it just it was a nightmare huge embarrassment it didn't

make the papers and they threatened, but, you know, I said, it's up to my father. I don't know if I want to fight this or not. And my father being, you know, the enabler, he's like, we're going to fight this. I'm like, Dad, no, right? We're not going to fight this. And I got to take a lie detector and everything. It was crazy. And, you know, it's like after the lie detector, I admitted to bringing drugs in for other staff members, not for, you know, the inmates. But, you know, me and my father and this kid, Timmy, went over to Dorchester across from the airy pub, and I went upstairs on the second

floor of this place, and there were two retired state troopers that came a lie to detect a test. And then we walked back, five questions, we walked back next door, and the trooper looked at my father, he goes, Dave, you know, retired trooper. Dave, your son, can't tell if he's lying or telling the truth.

He's a fucked up kid, you know. And it was the drugs. I was, you know, and neither is to say, where my love of fear with addiction, Crystal Meth stole my, you know, my passion for Holly Davidsons and fast bikes and, you know, the brother stuff and all that might be a good thing or a bad thing, but, you know, I didn't take that avenue. But I learned it back then that, you know, you listen to the real people, you know. And so, yeah, that that short trip and corrections didn't last it was I was still I think I was still a probationary guy so they said just

get them out of here man you know and um problem was solved um down it just goes on I you know I got another job I existed for another probably five or six years just doing the meth trying to ride trying to do whatever um you know I had a broken Holly you know a stole and Holly, a broken shotgun, right, a triple beam scale that was wrong. And, you know, I was struggling trying to have that big comeback, you know. And needless to say, it didn't happen until, should I keep going? Yeah, keep you on a roll. Yeah, it didn't happen.

And, you know, just a lot of lonely nights then. I had a little room. Again, my motorcycle was like, don't ride that. around here. You know, don't leave town because your father, you know, if you get stopped somewhere else, your old man won't even get you out of that. And so I ended up in a room just totally depressed, scared, lonely, very paranoid to the max. And I'm afraid to leave my room.

I'd go out for four or five days on the meth, bender, drinking, sniffing that shit, and, like, loving it. right and uh and then i'd go back and i'd take me two or three days just to fall asleep i'd lay there and all these people doing the methadone and all this shit now it's like i used to kick crystal meth once a month man and like that was bad you know i'd shitting and shaking and paranoid and staring at the ceiling and afraid to leave my room and like it was like that was cold turkey for a couple of years straight once a month or so.

But Dad came to the rescue again and got me a job at General Electric in Lynn, late night shifts, sweeping floors. I was paranoid and Lynn is all,

you know, GE is all Lynn people that work there. So I was an outsider. And I'm paranoid, so they probably thought I was undercover or something. You know, I'm sneaking around, looking around machines and like I just didn't fit in.

I was fucked up. Thank God there was one guy there that would listen to me. And Sully and I stand there and you just whacked out on meth, bending his ear, talking, you know, and he mentioned something about, oh, well, the guy I shared a locker with, I drank with. Rich, like, big secret around GE. Rich went to the ranch. A fucking ranch, what he's talking about? Right? And it went on and I'm like, Sally, what's the ranch?

Where did Rich go? And he's at the ranch, right? No idea. But Sally says, oh, he goes, no, it's a place in New Hampshire. It's a dry out there. It's a rehab, 28-day program. I'm never heard of it. He goes, oh, my God, they got broads there.

The chef cooks prime rib on weekends. They got boats, fucking fish. everything, right? They got a gym. I'm like, really? Because you want to go? I'm like, but for why? Why? Right?

It's for alcoholics and drug addicts. I'm like, I don't have a problem, you know? And like, I just didn't know, right? And he said he could make a phone call to the EAP guy, which I didn't know what that was. At like three in the morning he called. And I'm like, if you can call someone at 3 a.m., they're on the shit too.

I want to meet that guy. Right. And two or three hours later, I'm at home. I actually at my brother's house. And his wife was, I think she was pregnant. And I'm going to the ranch. And I'm like, Rita, what the fuck is the ranch? What did, no, right?

And they called and they said, you're ready to go? I'm like, no, I got to call my mother. And the guy goes, when was the last time you talked to her? I don't know, a couple months ago, you know? I could do laundry because we'll do your laundry for you. and the next thing you know, a van pulls up outside with this freaking big tall guy.

He looked like McLevin plus another six, eight inches, right? Big tall guy with a yellow sweater. And he's like, how you doing? I'll carry a bag. I'm like, I can get out of here. You know, what's going on? And he had a minivan.

And I was terrified. And my brother's wife was dying laughing. It's for the better. It's for the batter. And I had never heard of it, right? I never heard of AA, NA, NA. guard 12 steps, nothing, no idea. And they could have taken me to some cult in Waco, Texas,

and I would have like, I guess. You couldn't even spell the letters on paper. Right, right, no, no way, right? And I get in the van. And in the front seat, there's this fucking guy on the floor that looks at me, right? And his glasses are on sideways, and there's a bunch of nips on the dashboard.

And he goes, how you're doing? I'm rolling. He goes, you want a nip? And I'm a beer drinker. When I drank, if I drank, probably Jack Daniels maybe a dozen times of my life and it ended up ugly. So I just drank

meth, coke beer. That was me. So nips, I go, I don't know. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a beer drinker. And the guy driving's like, oh, there's a liquor store down the street, right? I'll get you a six pack of two

when he gets me a six pack of Bud Talls and we were off to all, on our way to the ranch up in Sonopin, New Hampshire, in the middle of February. It was 38 years ago. Today is when I got out, right? And I went in that place in like two or three girls. The lake was frozen.

There was nothing on it, right? No boat, no, you know, they had the prime rib. They're a fireplace and they're doing groups and I'm like, I never even watched the shit on TV. You know, and they come on in, Bob, and I'm like, no, I'm all set, you know. And like, I don't know what their method was, but they got me. And I just kind of stayed on the outskirts. It was a lot of people from GE and Lynn.

And I just watched, like, what they were doing. And they said, ask for help. Like, whatever, right? So I asked my roommate, like, who do I ask? Am I supposed to ask you to help me? And he was a Portuguese guy missing two fingers. No, you're stupid. You go, you're on the floor.

You go like this, you're God. Yeah, I'm like, huh, God? I thought this was a cult, right? And so whatever, I just kind of rolled with it, ignored it. Did a couple of groups. And, like, he's been over 10 years. I had never, you know, last sport I played was hockey. And so I'm in there.

escape was going to be in the middle of freaking February in a snowstorm. I'm going out for a run, right? And like I never ran. I didn't, you know, and there was a little parking lot. Someone told me, oh, yeah, 14 times around is a half mile or whatever. And like anything but these groups, I went out there and I'm running around, right? And I probably did twice. And I go back and say, oh my God, I just did a run, you know. And I had work boots on and jeans and it was comical. But, you know, I, fast forward, I stayed with running, I run all over the world and blah, blah, blah. But, you know, we went in there and they said,

they talked about God a little bit, right? And you don't have to have a God. And I said, I'll have one. I don't know. Where do you get them, you know? And GOD, group of drunks, right? And if millions of people around the world can stay sober by getting together in meetings and, you know, talking about it and kind of building on it.

Group of drunks is God. I'm like, I'll buy that, right? So I use that for a while. And someone in there said, my counselor, you know, ask God for a positive attitude and a grateful heart. Now those were like high up, Harvard level words to me, right? Gratitude, positive? Like, whatever, you know, but I did.

And I still do today. You know, I think that pretty much made me who I am, what I am. You know, I got out and it was, I went like a couple of those meetings, right? It was okay, you know, some women there, so I'm like, I'm good with that, you know, bring me another one. And they had cookies and all that shit. I'm like, yeah, they got cookies, right? But, you know, I just kind of showed up and I went out, a kid that I was in the rehab with, called me and I just started

pump an iron, right? And like I couldn't lift the friggin' bar, but a kid called me. I was at the YMCA lifting and this kid. He couldn't have caught me because they didn't have cell phones, but somehow I end up talking to him. And I said, yeah, I'll meet you and Lynn.

I went over there and he had a half ounce of Coke with his buddy that had a 357 and his buddy was a fucking whack job. And here we are, sneaking around his buddy's parents' basement for probably, I don't know, 16, 18 hours. This kid wants to shoot people. He wants to shoot me and we're smoking the coke.

I don't even like smoking the shit, but I'm in. And, you know, so I kind of relapsed and bounced around for about nine months. But, you know, that call came in from my seventh grade girlfriend, which was probably key, that, you know, would have somewhat of a normal person in my life. And, you know, so, you know, going to meetings, they said get a sponsor, right? And a little bit touchy-feely for me, I thought. But, you know, get someone, get a sponsor that has what you want. And I wanted a Harley.

I wanted a girlfriend quick, right? Maybe she's got, you know, an apartment and a couple kids or whatever. But, you know, I met this guy, old man, Bill, and he was probably in his 50s. smoked a pipe, had white hair, white beard. He skied all over the world. He drove a race car. Just a nice guy. And he had a wife and a girlfriend, right?

And I'm like, his girlfriend was probably 15 years younger than him. I'm like, that's the life that I want, right? And so I grabbed him as a sponsor. And like, again, he was very patient with me. And a couple months into it, he said, hey, do you want to work for the Department of Correction? And I'm like, get the fuck. out of you, come on, right? And I like, you know what happened, you know, and no. And I said, I'm not even buying this AA shit yet, you know, I got to, my gun is still at home. And like,

I don't know. And he said, you got to give me the talk about, you got to take risk. You got to, you know, think ahead, grow up. So I took them up on it. And next thing you know, I went to work as a maintenance man real quick at a drunk driving jail in Boston that was run by state DOC and someone must have liked me because I took the correction officer's exam I didn't do good but they

got me in and they gave me, you know, they didn't give me passing scores they got to me on the list and that started my whole career working in the Department of Correction. Now the state didn't check with the sheriffs to find out what? It was never there.

I was never convicted. I was never even, you know, arrested. It was just hearsay of somebody said that that kid's always doing coke and he's bringing coke for the other offices and, you know, they're drinking on the job and all that. You didn't have to write that down as your past experience or they just push it through? No, no. And the sheriff's never found out and said, hey, that guy got booted out of here. Yeah.

So the sheriff's department in mass were very, very crazy in the past. most people that worked there back then, not most, but a lot of them had a father like I had that like, here, take care of my kid,

he's too fucking stupid to be a cop or whatever. Here's a good place to get him a job. Basically babysit him. No academy, no training,

nothing like that back then. And thank God they don't do that anymore. You know, they're legit now. But back then it was there were ex-cons getting jobs, right?

as CEOs. And, you know, and that sheriff ended up going to jail. He's a great guy, you know, everybody, very well known in the Boston area with the teamsters and all that. Is he still alive? No, it passed a couple years ago. Oh, I love to have him. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And then he was a man to a lot of people, man. And I ran into him. Actually, he was in federal halfway house. And I had gotten sober and, you know, working in corrections. And he called me to see if I can help him get the next step. to another program, you know? It's like, wow, it's kind of weird, you know, you're calling me. And but another sheriff, same county, he ended up killing himself, Jimmy DePaolo, I knew him.

And, you know, ego all the way, it's an elected position. If you get elected, usually you're there for life. And he went in and just people handing him money all the time. Take care of my kid, do this, campaign. And that money used to be untraceable, you know. And he was a Maldon detective when my father was commissioner, actually. And I knew him back then. But he ran for senator or whatever, Senate in Massachusetts and won that.

And his ego blew up. Then he went for Sheriff's Department. And his ego blew up even more. He could hire people. He was hiring friends. there were, you know, good people that grew up with them. And then some other guy like my father would come along to put my kid a job and here's an envelope or whatever. He would fire his good friends or, you know, transfer him out of good positions to put these other guys in.

And, you know, kill himself. And just before the feds locked in on him, he went up to a hotel room up in Maine and tried himself, killed himself. and, you know, he didn't have to have alcoholism and drug addiction. He had ego, you know. And he really worked at Sheriff's Department like an asshole, you know, and like people that liked them. And he liked them, they were great, but, you know, if it was just so-so, he'd call you out in meetings, he had embarrassed the shit out of you,

just his ego would take over, you know. And it was sad to see you go, because he had, a family and, you know, they ended up, you know, he killed himself. They went to the house. They found money hidden in the walls in the basement. And, you know, he left his wife and kids holding the bag for that, which is sad, you know. And again, ego is one of the things I've always, I'm fucking terrified of, you know, and because of stuff like that, you know. So, yeah, so anyways, old man, Bill gets me a job in the sheriff's department.

and like I was totally clueless. So through my therapist and a lot of work and step work and shit, I realized, you know, when I went to work for corrections, I was terrified of anyone with a suit and tie, right? Captains, lieutenants, fucking see you later. And like I used to do swaps and just work weekends because I didn't like management. I was terrified of them, you know,

and that probably reflects back to the principal at the high school, you know, an authority figure telling me I'm going to fucking get you, right? And so a lot of shit like that, like went on in my head in early recovery and I couldn't figure it out. But, you know, as it went on, I transferred up to Concord and Concord Farm, which is a minimum security. Back then, they had the second degree. Life is in there. they were eligible for parole within a year or two and stuff. And so I went there and again, I was very green as a CEO.

But I knew to keep my mouth shut as about my past. And I was terrified to open up about, you know, being an AA guy. Back then CEOs didn't let, you know, if you don't drink, man, you ain't hanging with us. You know, we don't trust you. We don't want to trust you. and so I was like I used to think of these CEOs man if I ever took them drinking

I'd get them on that fucking crystal meth man we'd take that place over you know and to me they were images when it came to drinking and potty and raising hell but so who did I have I had the guys the cons you know

and a lot of long-term guys you know a couple of bikers that You know, knew we talked bikes or whatever, and they kind of, they figured it out, I guess. And then some of the wise guys, some of the, you know, very well-known killers from back and way back in the day, they somehow, they didn't take advantage of me, right? And where I was just a couple of years sober, still the people please are trying to fit in. I knew I couldn't fit in as, you know, a super CEO. I didn't have the smarts, first of all, to work my way up.

But these guys didn't, you know, they could have said, Bob, hey, here's the deal. You're sober, so you can do this, right? You know, transfer to Walpole, right? And you can bring guns in the back. Like, just will make you rich. And I probably would have fallen for it. But thank God they didn't, you know. And so they taught me all about, you know, respect and they were good with me.

And I learned real quick of, you know, what a piece of shit inmate would be and what, you know, guys that just mind their own business and I kind of was taught by them to just leave them alone, leave everybody alone, right? If you see something, do something. But don't fuck with these guys, you know, and many times I'd be standing around and, you know,

and I've seen many great guys start off as correction officer and just disintegrate the first year or two, you know, and I don't know if it's peer pressure or what, but you're standing there, the desk or whatever and hey can I get a bar a soap right and if the mr. bigshot CEO is there I'm going to say no right mr. big should get the fuck out of here right and just you know disrespect the guy right and I just watch it I took it all in and um I never took that route I wasn't a follower to them so the cons knew you need a bar of soap or you need you know whatever

you want to you know get out and make a phone call after lock in or whatever Bob's a good guy right and I didn't fall to the peer pressure. And the CEOs that were good guys were mostly the family men, right? I stuck with them. And the cons somehow my respect kind of started to move. And it wasn't planned. Trust me. You know, I was working there in the beginning.

I'm lighting barrels on fire. I'm fucking raising hell. And these guys are like, Bob, you've got to calm down, man, you know. And I got married. You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough.

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with all nine essential amino acids to help build muscle, give you energy, and keep you satisfied longer. So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California. of your milk. My first year working there and, uh... What did she think of your job, your wife, when you met her?

What did she think of anything? How the fuck did she end up with me? Right? You know? She, um, she believed in me, man, and it's like no one in my life did. But she, it was the first job I had where, like, I, the money went in the bank and stayed there. Where I got vacation time and didn't use it right away.

I didn't call in sick, like, all the time. And so 3 to 11, it was like I was loyal to the department showing up. I didn't fuck around, you know, and I think I needed that structure when I first got sober, right? And it's like they don't screw, you can't, you know, bring a package of cocaine or you, you know, you'll get jammed up, right? You know, whatever. I did that already once. But, you know, and you can't, you can't come in late. Because if you do, you're relieving somebody that's going to be pissed off because, you know.

So I kind of learned from that. And when I first got that job, my father was working on getting me a job for the state for the water department when my brother Jackie had ended up transferring. And if I went with him, I wouldn't be alive today, no way, right? But corrections was the first job I ever got on my own. It was like I learned everything by going there. And I didn't, like, I would have fucking panic attacks going to work because the shift commander doesn't like me and like, you know, or whatever.

I would, like, I would, headaches, anxiety, and I didn't know what the hell it was. You know, I was sober. I was just, you know, new to this life. And, you know, but I just did it and I went in. And, you know, I started running the visiting room, right, up at the farm. And, you know, the girlfriends and the wives and the grandmothers would come in and I'd be nice to them. And, you know, it's little Spanish grandma. It's like they used to be able to bring food in, right?

And, like, just put your car all the way up. Drive up the driveway. I'm not going to make it carry the bag from down the bottom of the hill and stuff like that. Just being nice to people. I'm sure the cons realized it like wow he's he's a good guy you know where other people that other offices might

would never do that would never learn the names of the little you know the little Spanish kids running in the door and all that shit raising hell and I I don't know I that kind of started again more of forming who I was going to become

right and man it was a long road and working there was it was cool, you know, and I, there are some fantastic correction officers, you know, you know, there's some real good guys that, you know, but some of the assholes are like, like the ringleaders, you know, and a new guy, if, you know, a new officer is not going to answer your question, no matter something simple with the bully next to him who's teaching him. Right? See this kid coming. He's a fucking piece of shit. Skinner, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, it's like, decide on your own. Right. And so by doing, kind of taking my own path, I learned, got a lot of respect. And I didn't even know that's what it was. They gave me respect because I was giving them respect. And I have always said, like, it's kind of even on the street with cops, it's like, who's going to reach out first? I'll respect you, but you got to respect me first, right?

And I was a knucklehead that, yeah, what's up? You know? And it worked for me. It brought me to who and what I am today. And again, it wasn't planned that way. But in DOC, I never ran into any trouble. You know, I was never afraid. There was no one, I never fucked with anybody. You know, I saw, I never, you know, I don't get to beat them up stories and all that.

I was mostly minimum security for the most part. Now, did you ever look at any of these inmates and think to yourself, wow, if my dad didn't do what he did or had the position he did, I would have been there. There was guys doing time for less shit that I did, much less, right? And even my early sobriety, like, owning a gun, you're not supposed to. That's, you can go away for that, right? And like, so I could have, like, I got rid of those real quick, but, you know, some of the shit that I did and places I went and people I was with, that ain't freaking cool, you know? And so, yeah, I looked around a lot,

and there were a lot of guys in there, you know. And back in my day, I got, yeah, I was a big shot in town, you know, fucking 15 years old and a few kids from out of town hanging around and I'm pushing them around because I got a, you know, a huge crowd behind me. And I had hair, I had long hair, I had my leather jacket, I was a buck knife,

I was a rat. Melrose had rats and jocks. But, you know, then I'm, later on that night I'm walking home. A car pulls up next to me in, you know, a small town, I thought I knew him, and walk over to the car and, you know, put my face up and whack, and hammer it in the back of my head. I ran.

They got me on the ground. I got 63 stitches, I think, on the inside and the outside of the back of my head. And by being a punk, I deserved it, right? And they certainly could have killed me. but I've been in situations, you know, where I had the bad or the whatever, the nonsense. But, you know, and people don't realize that a lot of people in prison are fucking real good guys, right? And they were in the bar room fight and they, you know, instead of just punching the guy, they picked up a chair or whatever and smashed it over his head or jumped out at an intersection.

Can someone cut them off and they fucking punched them out and there's a death involved, right? And they go to the can. And, you know, there's, there's, like, I, I learned so much. I could walk in, like, any prison now. And, like, people in corrections would say, that's bullshit. But between recovery and prisons and all that stuff, I can pick out good guys. I'm good at it, right? And, you know, there's a lot of them, like I did.

I got a hot, I didn't even know I did, right? Like, I didn't want, what am I doing with these people? but I can look now like that guy over the, you know, he's a fucking badass. He killed a few people, but conversations with him and everything like that, just a good guy that fucking went the wrong way and it was no turning back, you know. And yeah, I've got a lot of friends today that were that guy with the bat, with the gun, with the whatever, you know. And that shit happens. And it certainly could have happened to me.

Do you think that's what makes the criminal justice system unfair even in today's world situations like with your dad? Because that still goes on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, it's, I don't know, I got my own thing. Like I'm street smart, you can call it, prison smart, I guess. I'm kind of a two-hat guy. But, you know, I'm a counselor. I got all that licensed shit.

I've done, you know, addiction, help behind the scenes with, you name it, right? And, um, but the highly educated and in the, like the pharmaceutical con, they don't want people like me around, right? And the system now, they don't, they go by how high you score in a test, um, you know, what kind of degree you have and all that stuff. And they put all their money into these high tech, big money psychologists and all all that stuff come into prisons. And, you know, all my guys, all my people,

all my go-toes now that are program directors and, you know, involved with courts and kids and you name it, are guys that learned on the street, you know. And, you know, and I've sat in meetings with people and it's like, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Right. And like they just don't get it. And somewhere after money, you know,

the insurance companies in these programs. And, you know, so the system, it's crooked like that. And I'll tell that the end of my career, it was fucked up, I'll say, you know. But, you know, it's just like, it's backwards. Perfect example. To get an ex-con to go into a prison and talk to the inmates, I'm sure you know that. It's most places won't let them, right? It's interesting.

It's like I get an easier in the southern states and here I've never been invited out here in Connecticut ever. And I'm from Connecticut. I have a platform in Connecticut. No one invites me. Right, exactly. And it's not like I'm charging. Right. You know, it's free.

It's volunteering my time. Arkansas is great. You know, Tennessee is great. Texas is great. Connecticut? Come on. Same with Massachusetts. Yeah.

Schools, you know, colleges. Yeah, yeah. I know there's speakers out there that get paid thousands of dollars, you know. I'm not asking for buddy. I don't want a cent. I just want to go in there and do the right thing and give some inspiration because I know when I was there in prison, I didn't have that. And I know how long of a way it can go when I go into these facilities now.

Just that little bit of inspiration. You're changing lives like that, you know. You're going into a youth services program and tell your story and show all this stuff. Those kids would melt in your hand, right? But no, you can't. Oh, no, no, no. You can't come in. Right?

And like, yeah, guys, you know, it's like, D.Y.S. You get out. Do you want help? Yep, I know a guy here that will help you with this. And I know guys in the union, but you got to, you know, you're going to have to work on attitude and the crime and the gang shit. You know, I can set you up with a guy that, you know, he was in the gang or blah, blah, blah, Connecticut.

He's the man. You want to fucking get your shit together. Stop by the studio. We can call him when you get there. Yeah, the inmates don't want someone that went to college. to learn about addiction. They want someone that suffered addiction and is there to teach them

how they got sober or went through prison or even cops that lived on the job and saw that side. Right, right. They don't want... And even the dysfunctional homes and everything like that.

Yeah. You know, they don't want to sit there. And how does that make you feel? You know, it's like, fucking come on, will you lady? You know? But you know, a lot of the problem is it's a good thing you brought up the youth.

Like, I mentor the youth. Oh, really? All right. I do this. I got into this program where in Connecticut like I have like some mentees that are affected by the juvenile justice system. And really all it's kind of turning into is me picking them up and taking them to dinner

or bringing them here to play some video games. And that goes a long way because they don't have that. And these kids keep getting into trouble and trouble and trouble because these are unfit parents that had kids that are single family homes and they don't care or give them attention or love or take them to a dinner or give them the things that give them a little bit of hope. And they keep going in and out of these juvenile of the time. attention centers from stealing cars. Like when I grew up, no one was getting in trouble for stealing

cars. Right. You know, they were getting in trouble for fights or drugs. These kids are out here stealing cars and going to school with guns. Right, right. It's not needed. And they're not even necessarily in gangs. They just, you know, there's no direction. Right. So something's going on here. And the state just looks at it as a financial opportunity because they're paying mentors or they're paying people to do it. And it's just a revolving door of money profiting off of these kids. go into prison or juvenile detention. It's literally sick. What's going on here?

Right. Absolutely. And, you know, all these kids want is love, man. Listen to them. You know, and like people in recovery, I love people that are all fucking banged up. And, you know, I've done a lot of work with young kids, everything. But it's like the last thing they want is someone with their finger in, you know, in their chest. You got to do this.

You got to do that. You know, and I'm like, do it. I don't judge. Right. You know, you could die tomorrow, but I'll guarantee you. You're going to be smiling tonight. We're going to be joking around. We're going to have fun.

We're going to give it our best try. And, like, trust me, you know, you can't burn me out. I'm with you all the way. And the kids like that, you can build a trust up quick, no matter who they are or where they come from or in the inner city or whatever. And but they don't want to pick up on that, the system, you know, which is sad. But I could go on forever about that, you know. Tell us where you go in your career. Do you just stay as a correctional officer the whole time or do you get a promotion?

Yeah. So thanks to my guys that started me off on respect and no political backing, no help from my father, no help from anyone other than AA where, you know, be true to your word, right? You got to, Bob, you got to learn honesty, right? You got to give up the lying, the cheat and the stealing, the cutting corners, is trying to, you know, take care of everybody and stuff like that. So, like, A.A., the whole of the 12-step thing is just fucking do the right thing, right? And I was never taught that.

So I was up at working to the farm, and, you know, and I put in for a position for a work crew, community work crew, which back in 89, there was no such thing in Massachusetts, right? They would go out to the local, you know, neighborhood and pick up. trash out on the highway or whatever but there was never a real program and um so there was they were hiring two offices for community work crew and I'm like no idea what it is and uh I put in for it and um I wasn't going to take it but a girl that I'd work the visiting room with uh Cheryl she uh she called me and like I had a good gig I would work doubles on weekends and be off all week could be on the beach at my wife's sister's house.

But so Cheryl called, she goes, Bob, me and you finish first and second, right, for that job. Work crew, I'm like community work crew supervisor. And I'm like, supervisor freak me out, right? And I said, I like what I'm doing, man. I'm off of you. Like, I never work. I got it made.

And she goes, no, it's taken out a van with a bunch of, you know, with 10 guys. And it's going to be painting in the state house. Boston. No uniform. I'm like, really? I said, wow, I'm going to call the guy. And I said, I'll do that, right? And it was a new unit that you, different bosses than at the prison and stuff, which was pretty cool. So I got the job. I go up to MCI Shirley minimum, and I pick up 10 guys and to go into paint to the state house. And so we got two crews and I knew one of the guys who did second degree,

he killed the guy. He was involved with a murder down at Revere Beach with bikers or whatever. And so I knew him and again, like, what's up, you know? And so we brought him into paint and like this is pretty cool. And I like, no idea, right? And so we had a family get together. My brother David was there, and he was the big Republican, worked for old man Bush, was head of advance for Dan Quill and all that.

So when the governor, well, in Massachusetts won the election, I guess my brother was friends with him. And we said, come on back. I'll get you, you know, working administration here and blah, blah, blah. And so I had a family get together. and my brother, like, he remembers me as a fucking nut, right? And throw him working for corrections. He goes, oh, I've talked to this guy, and he mentioned the guy's name, and I said, it's my boss.

Go down bringing inmates. I want a bunch of inmates in the state house to paint. And I'm like, I put him for that, right? And we were never best friends, me and my brother. So I go, is that a problem? Meanwhile, I work for the state first. and he goes, no, no, right? So we were going on with a paint crew and, you know, a crew, two crews.

And they had spent a ton of money on ladders and all kinds of equipment and huge. The state house and mass was a fucking mess, right? So I'm in there with these guys. All these guys had a lot of, you know, at least 10 years in. They were going home on parole soon within a year. And we were in there scraping paint the middle of the day. This fucking paint dust every. everywhere. And it was the first night. Channel 5, my brother called, hey, watch the news.

And it was channel 5. They had lightning bolts going through the dome of the state house. It was a all-led paint, right? And someone, you know, dropped a dime to the press, and the state went in, the city went in, they shut the whole thing down, they shut the building. And I'm like, right? And like, what am I got to do? You know, and so I told my brother, what should I do? And he said, we'll call, you know, the boss and tell him, but we need you. We definitely have to come in tomorrow, right? And the building was like all taped off and everything like that. We were scraping.

And so we, I said, what do, you know, what do we do? And he said, just go front rake leaves, do something. But, you know, we'll find some work for the day. So front raking leaves, it was union guys, you know, lead paint union. All over the street, they got their suits on. They're handing out paperwork. to the people driving and, you know, it was a big political thing. And so one of my guys was OV, it was his name.

And he was a real OG. But one of the union, you guys, hey, how do you feel drinking? How do you feel, you know, breathing, lead paint all day yesterday? And the kid goes, I've been in the can 15 years, man. I used to drink turpentine, you know, paint dinner. But we kept with it. And we ended up getting the guy certified and lent paint removal, you know. And that governor's whole pitch was he's going to be tough on crime.

You know, when he took out the gyms, he canceled all the Avo units. He, you know, no more TVs and cells. And this guy really cracked down. He was, you know, former prosecutor, you know, hot on crime. That was his pitch. That was fine. But he brought us in. And when he said, you know, I'm going to introduce these guys to the joys are busting rocks.

That's what he meant. Right? Get them out there and do something. So that was my crew. And, you know, one thing leads to another. We're working snowstorms. And I get a little bit of overtime. The other crew's coming in. They were in a different building.

And, you know, everybody loved us because they can get, you know, the carpet torn up in the office. So they, you know, get painting and different stuff like that. And, you know, one thing led to another. We were basically a household name in the street. state house doing all kinds of work, no problems, right? And, you know, and again, it comes back to the whole respect thing, you know, I'm my first day, I'm like, guys, listen, well, what the hell was I doing, right? And it's like, we can't fuck this up. I don't, don't you know what I am, don't

fuck around with, right? You know, and we went in and they gave us a break room. And, you know, a few weeks into it or whatever. I'm like, all right, guys, there's pay phones everywhere. If I ever see one ring or I ever see anybody on a phone, you're going to pay. And once in a while, it's right. You can use the phone before, you know, if we're in early, before 7 a.m. or whatever, but, and they respected it, you know, they could carry money with them back then. I'd say, all right, we get in it like we used to go, I drive to the prison, which was an hour from my home, pick them up and drive back into Boston. But I said, right, basically the first in the building. building, go up to the coffee shop upstairs, get your coffee, your bagel, whatever you want,

get it and come downstairs. The rest of the day, no cafeteria, right? Because politicians, there's press everywhere. And thank God they respected me, and they respected it. No escapes, nothing, never? Never. I guess they would have shut down the program. I had one escape that was, we were painting in one of the buildings, and there was a different

offices. I was kind of acting as the boss. organizing all the crews, but I stopped by one evening. They were painting up in the high rise. The building was empty. And I went up and I brought donuts and coffee, right? A dozen donuts, 10 inmates, the officer, and me. Give everybody, I'm walking around, you know, all the cons in me and, you know, it was good.

One donut left over. I'm going on. Where is he? Where is I'm looking around, right? And I go in one of the rooms, a kid painting, he goes, I'm like, huh? He's gone. Get the fuck out of here, right?

So I went to the CEO, hey, you lost one of your guys, right? And, you know, we set everything up, and one of the other cons gave it up that his girlfriend had been clean. She started using again. Their little kids were at risk. So this, I would have left too. So this kid took off.

He found her, did whatever, you know, got to help for the kids or something. And the next day he turned himself in. but that was the only escape. And then we had a lot of broken windshields when they were cutting grass and, you know, using weed whackers, lost a finger, went on a snowblower, right? And, you know, stuff like that.

But there were a lot of people that lady fell in the stairs at the statehouse and, you know, broke her ankle, couldn't get up. And my guy Nelson and one of the other guys were there that, like, helper, Nelson took off his sweatshirt because they were, like, family. there. They were respected because, you know, the trust was there. There was never any question of them screwing around, right? And again, I didn't plan it like that, but thank God, because they kind of, they led me, right? Because, you know, it just, you know, without the proper training on respect, I would have said, whatever, your brother owns a restaurant, bring in the pizza, get a cotton

the cigarettes, I don't care, you know. And but I, I really respected the job. I respected the guys. I knew it was turning into something big. And I used to say, guys, this is, this program could be around a long time. We have a good time here, right? And they'd feed us like kings. And, you know, then they started doing big events up at the state house.

My brother, the one from D.C. was huge and a big event guy, huge. And so he said, you know, they were renting the building out, the state house out for big events. Harvard would have their graduation there and not graduation, but class reunions. And they'd have the best caterers come in, right? And whenever there was something like that going on, I could have my crew come in. We'd work overtime. And I'd go up and tell the caterer and whoever, you know, was having the event that, like, we got these guys from the prison there, you know, minimum security, good guys, blah, blah, blah.

We're here all the time. And throughout the night, I'll send two guys up at a time. They'll empty trash, do whatever. And then at the end of the night, we break down the tables and cheers and everything. So it turned into cool. All the caterers got to know us. But I just said, guys, don't be going up there begging for food all night long, right? I'll ask, and they'll tell us when it's not busy or whatever or maybe wait to leftovers.

And so it worked out. It was unreal, right? And we had some good food cooked by top chefs, but it was all legit. You know, it was nothing, you know, don't tell anyone. There was none of that shit. And, you know, we ended up doing events every, you know, every couple weeks, it was something big going on. You know, and my guy Roli that I knew growing up, who is, he took years off my life. and he died a few years ago, but he, like, everyone knew him,

and he was doing, like, eight years involved with a drug deal that went bad with the state police and everything. But he was on my work crew, and I remember going to my brother, which I didn't really, you know, I kept my stuff quiet, but I told my brother because he loved this kid. I'm like, Dave, we got to get rolling out of it. He's fucking crazy. It's like all I do is laugh with him, right?

and he's a big, loud, obnoxious Marine doing time. He's got shorts on, the muscle shirt. His muscles are coming out of his friggin' ears. And every day was funny with this kid. He was loud. He was crazy. But he looked out for me too. You know, he looked out for the guy, after the guys.

And we're working a late night, one night, and probably like two or three o'clock in the morning. We were cleaning up. And I had a little office with the TV. I used to rent movies and bring them in, whatever. but, you know, they're just basics. And Roli comes through the door with this big Tupperware thing. 75 pounds of shrimp, the big ones, right?

And I'm like, fucking Roli, bring him back, right? And I was pissed. He goes, no, no, they gave him to me. I'm like, no. God only knows what that cost. 75 pounds. I said, let's go. We go down to the Loden dock where the caterer's had all their stuff set up,

and they're driving down the hill. He goes, Bob, they gave it to me. I'm telling you, right? I'm like, all right, whatever, you know. So we ate shrimp that night. We ate trip every night afterwards, you know, I dropped no off at like three in the morning at the prison, got them all, you know, checked in.

And the next morning I pick them up and we're on the thorough drive in Boston with his traffic cones everywhere. We got the lane shut down in the middle of a heat wave. We're cutting the grass on the median strip. And I had a white bus back down, a 22-passenger bus, so you could walk around and then we're in there.

All the truck drivers are in there with us and we're eating shrimp, throwing them out the window, right? And it was crazy, you know. It was definitely a roly moment of, you know, eating shrimp, like, the hell am I doing? He goes, we're doing fucking time, right? Right. And it was cool.

But again, you know, that program there and never had a problem. One guy that there was a kid from New York that was my, he was like my kid, you know, Mike, and just a gentleman all the way, a little puppy of a kid and gang member. But I used to walk her like, I didn't have to stay on top of him.

I'd walk around the building and check on his home every hour. And I was upstairs, I'm looking out the window, watching him cutting the grass, and he goes over, comes back, takes a bag, puts the grass in the bag, and it's like, what are you doing, right? You know, and he, fuck is he, doing? I went downstairs under the front steps of the state house. I know what this fucking

kid is doing, right? And I go in the bathroom and I kick the door open. I go, motherfucker. What are you doing? Nothing, man, nothing, nothing. Right? I go, dude, you know my rule, man. You know, and you're my best guy. And there was a pocketbook and a walkman radio on the back of the toilet seat. And he had his girlfriend drive up from New York, right? I said, my fucking, dude, I don't want to do this, but guess what?

You know, come on out, turn around. Fuck, we're not going to go there. I said, fucking don't even start, right? I said, you got to put the cuffs on, dude, you know the rule. You're done, right? I said, give me your gold chain,

your jewelry, what do you got? You know, they had money on back then. I said, give me what you got. And I'll give it to, you know, one of the other guys, they can call your mother and meal or whatever, but this is my fucking place, pal. You know, we play by my rules

and like that's number one. It's sneaking your girlfriend in here. No way, right? And he tried to be tough, and then he tried to like, I'm sorry. Then he was tough and then back and forth. And I called back to the unit in Boston. They come out and picked them up.

And it's like that's probably one of the biggest things that went wrong, you know. And I think I handled it well because I ain't a fucking push over here. I would love there. anyone, it was him. He was my go-to guy, man. He sat in the front seat in the van. But my rules, my rules, you know.

So anyways, it went on and the program grew. The work crew program and that was around 93. They had the 100th anniversary of the Boston Marathon. And I took up running in the detox. I did some local 5Ks and everything.

I, you know, not much. But so the 100th anniversary of Boston was almost double the size. And so all the barricade fencing and everything, like they had pretty much line from Boston to Hopkins. So they said, can we use your crew,

the guy that owns the event company? I'm like, yeah, I think. Let me check with my boss. They said, yeah, long as they want to pay the overtime. So we did it. And then, you know, it's like, can we get another crew? And I'm like, let me see, you know. And they said, yeah, we'll say.

spend them out. And that was over like a week period that we brought in a few more crews and me like that. And I kind of inherited the job organizing it all as well as having my 10 guys. And so we're out in Hockington at the starting line, right? And like, you've got to be fucking kidding me. Look at all these people, right? That town shuts down. There's people everywhere, you, right? Runners. Everyone's healthy. Everyone's looking good, right? And the F-16s come over. They fly along the course before the side of the race. And I'm like, holy shit. I remember telling one of the cons, I'm fucking running this thing next year without it out, right? And he goes, me too. Right? But yeah, I met a friend of mine that owned a running store in, you know, downtown Melrose. And I asked him,

could I run a marathon? Sure you can. And he set me on a training plan. And I went and did it and that kind of put me into my whole you know as long as well as corrections my whole passion for running and runners in recovery we started a group we had you know meetings before the marathon every year and hosted people from all over the frigging country coming in and some awesome stories out of that but um you know in that program built the work crew program went more and then the um you know the jimmy fun walk which is real big they asked you know can we get a crew i'm like Yeah, I guess, right? And then, so one thing led to another, whenever there were big crews,

I'd drop mine and I'd organize, right? And I'm a CEO, but I'd call one of the prisons. I need, you know, five crews, 50 guys, five offices, and they'd set it up and send them out, and I'd be like a dispatcher or whatever. And so that turned into a full-time thing for me. I didn't take out a crew anymore. I always had my A-team, right?

So by being the community liaison or whatever the fuck you call it, right, we worked everywhere, right? All the Boston film movies, we worked on those. If it was on state land, we would prepare the buildings they used. Fourth of July fireworks, heavily involved with that. You know, and again, these crews, when they came out, now you got CEOs that you don't know who they're going to be. with the, you know, could be an asshole, could be a good guy, whatever, but they were on overtime, and a lot of them worked behind the wall. They weren't used to like unleashing fucking their 10 cons in the crowd of 100,000 people.

But I was, you know. So, you know, as the vans pulled up, you know, I'd tell the CEO, A, take a walk for a minute, will you? And guys, here's a deal. You can't fuck around, all right? We're at the AIDS walk. There's a lot of gay people. We're at the 4th of July. We're at the marathon, a cancer walk.

It's like you can't be bumming cigarettes, right? It's a fucking cancer walk. Use your head, right? And, you know, no fucking around. It's my job to get you guys some food, right? I'll hook you up. 99% chance. And then, you know, and then I tell the CEO, you're on overtime.

You know, like, when they come out here, like I got them. And I would tell them, you know, if one person in this v. Fucks off, does anything wrong, you're all going to pay. You know, you'll be up on the highway and during a heat wave or a fucking blizzard picking up hubcaps or something, right? And there's a lot of events. We walk the beaches in the morning. They do, you know, all these concerts on weekends.

Just so many events going on that I'd give each crew a piece of the pie to come in and work and do whatever. but you've got to play by the rules, right? And like the CEO, oh, he's a fucking asshole. I said, whatever, don't worry about him. Worry about yourself. I talked to him. He's going to stay right there by the van.

There's a porter John right next to the van. You use that one, right? Two guys walk that way. First five barrels, empty him and come back. And then two guys go that way and then come back. And meanwhile, they're sitting there watching Uncle Jesse, right, from that TV show. They've been playing with the Beach Boys.

And, you know, Fourth of July, they got to see Arrowsmith. You know, Stephen Tyler and Joe Perry came in and did, you know, with the Boston Pops. Cindy Lopper, you name it. There's some serious shit and big concerts. And if you play by the rules, you'll get fed and you'll come in and see that. But I don't want to, you know, and I used to say, guys, don't walk around like a bunch of fucking convicts. You know, you get the limp walk in and you walk in, you know, you look, tuck your shirt. it in, right? Walk with your head up. You know, be nice and, you know, and like, so by doing that,

they became respected by the state troopers and insecurity down there. And like they, everyone kind of got to know them. So they were always being, they were always being watched. And it was very helpful to me and the pro, but I was worried about the program. Because it helped these guys. It was very important and instrumental to them, right, for their future if they wanted. So back up a little bit. The first, God, the first six months, there was a concert on the Charles River, a back-to-school concert in September. And there was a Green Day was playing. And I never heard a Green Day, right?

They played Woodstock like a week before that, and it was a total riot. And it was too late for the radio station to cancel it. So I'm hearing everybody talk about green what the fucking green day I thought it was green piece or something right So um you know we went down there we put out some barrels and fencing and stuff like that and like holy shit this place they were all kids are all tripping and everything there it was like a madhouse at two in the afternoon So we backed up went down the highway department yeah and I'm just going to wait till the show is over and the um the captain of the state police in that area like call me and he's like Bobby, you gotta get down here. We need you, right? You know, we're bringing in two more truckloads of fencing

to put in front of the stage. Someone's going to get hurt. And like, I'm like, no, no fucking way, right? I'm watching it on the news. And he, I said, you got my back if something goes wrong and corrections ends up in the shit. He goes, Bob, this is almost a state of emergency.

We need you down here. Right? I met the trucks. We went and loaded up the fencing. We went down there. They backed the trucks in. State troopers blocking the crowd, everything like that. We're unloading fence.

And they had, we called a Euro fence, but, you know, bicycle fence. It looks like bike racks. Then they had riot fence for concerts. And then we had bringing in more of the Euro fence. And we're on low, we're putting it out there. And there's freaking beer bottles coming out of the crowd. Cool as shoes, sneakers. is people body surfing, these chicks getting their shirts ripped off.

And they're like, this place is insane, right? And so I'm like, I got my guys basically, you know, working the line as the troopers or widget security would pull somebody out of the crowd that was getting crushed, would put them down right where we were. And like, my guys would just kind of like walk them out to the street, to the cops out there or whatever. And like, holy shit. and without a doubt the craziest night of my career right and um and just watching it was insane and so they

all right the band is up there playing they everybody inside right and i pulled my guys back at them all kind of stand off to the side and the state trooper was going fucking crazy because i want these guys off the stage i want they're under arrest and everything and the guy from the radio station it's like this is what kids do now it's a march pit right and um It was out of control, right? And you tell that guy to fucking tell these kids to back up before someone gets killed. And Billy Joe, the lead singer, right?

Now, Green Day was barely heard of. And ladies and gentlemen, the Massachusetts State Police want everybody to take two steps back. And he does it on the stage, right? And he goes, but I say fuck them, right? Starts blasting away. That's it. Right?

back inside and they're under arrest and the manager's under arrest and so it's like they set it up like in two minutes kill the lights this fucking show is over right and I got my guys all right right you can see it on on YouTube on that you know it's on real stories of highway patrol and there's my inmates running around right so I'm screaming in the area like if a TV camera's near you don't do anything. Don't touch a person. That's, you know, and I said, I'll be on the stage and there was a trap door in the back of the stage and like, guys, when I get up there and I told every one of them run to me, right? The lights are going out and I'm screaming and there is. And sure enough, I get up there, I'm like, and they come fucking running over to me up the stairs. We go down in the

basement down there's a little catwalk. The band follows us. We're downstairs. The lights went out and the troopers had no, there was no, back then there was no organization with, you know, what's going on. They just called them from all over the state. And the lights went out

and you could hear that place empty out so fast, right? Troopers came, they were coming up this side because the roads were blocked, they couldn't drive up, so they all kind of marched up. And then the ones out in the street that were forming to come in, And no one knew who was on the other, you know, they didn't even know what they were doing.

Luckily it worked out. But they emptied that place out so fast. And we're downstairs, locked in in the band of smoke. And we talking to my inmates, right? They got autographs on their shirts, which I wish I kept one. But, you know, and afterwards we go outside and it looked like a freaking bomb went off. They were cool as there was freaking blankets. Like people just ran pocketbooks everywhere.

you. And I called back to the prison and said, hey, we're probably going to be out most of the night. And the sergeant was a buddy of mine. He goes, superintendent just called. If Balfour checks in, tell him to get those fucking guys out of me, right? And like, ah, shit. Like, I want to stay, right? And I said, can the commissioner of the MDC, where the agency we were working for, can they call the superintendent, Sergeant calls me back. Absolutely not. Get them out of there.

And so we stayed a while. Our lunches came. They had us big roast beef sandwiches and stuff. And so I brought them back. And, you know, two or three weeks later, the guy I reported to said, I was away then.

If I was around, you would have been fired. I'm like, no, you don't understand. He goes, don't even just end it. Okay. But, you know, a few weeks later, I ran into a kid in Boston up by the Statehouse, and he goes, Bob, look at this. And he showed me a magazine from a rock and roll magazine. I got was printed in England somewhere. And it was a whole story about that show and who Green Day is coming up.

And they interviewed the drummer. And it said, we had these inmates doing security at our constant. These guys were huge, right? And I saved the article. I got one that's all blurry from coffee in it so many times. But, you know, and it's, you know, the best part about it, these guys were all huge, blah, blah, blah, blah. Because they all went home at the end of the night.

They all went back to jail, you know. And so that was, that for me, like, throughout my career, that was pushing it, right? And because I know, I know how to do shit wrong. I grew up in a family with, you know, I know what can get me in a lot of trouble or embarrass me or embarrass the department or my boss. So anyways, we went on. We did projects everywhere. You know, I had the freedom to, as a CEO,

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Savings may vary by state. Fuel restrictions apply. See site for details. Let me go talk to him, right? Why do you think you got pushed out then? If you were running such a successful program and for the most part you played by the rules, you weren't corrupt. Yeah, yeah. So I could go on.

These stories are so long. But, you know, we were down on the river one day and we were working. Everything was going great. We were sending crews everywhere. And like we'd clean the beaches at 4 a.m. Start and be out of there by 738 before the crowd showed up, right? I had a female crew that would come down. They'd clean the bath houses at nighttime when no one was around.

And it was successful, saved money. It made a lot of sense. It was unbelievable. And even on the Boston Marathon, We do recycling. It was one of the guys' ideas that cardboard, pallets, plastic bottles, cans, all the extra clothes that get thrown away.

That stuff should all be recycled. And we created the green team. And, you know, it was unbelievable. People like, oh, my, what an idea, right? And so we're down the river in work, and along comes this little guy with a briefcase. picking up trash himself and it was Mike Dukakis, the former governor

and who ran for president and was almost president and he's looking for Balfour and I'm like Bucky, don't tell him no he must want my brother the, you know, no no he goes, I want to see you, right?

And nice conversation with him and he's quite a guy, right? He'd fame my buddy. And so he goes, Bob, how many guys are in Massachusetts doing time? I said, ah, probably, I don't know, 13,000 maybe. How many do you think could go out on these crews?

And I'm like, well, other states where they, you know, they take out the medium security guys and everything, they have plenty of space. But around here, it's, you know, you couldn't really do that. But a lot, you know. And I said, I had a proposal for a specialized unit with, say, 10 vans, all the equipment, training, everything, and bring work crews out and do this stuff.

I go, but it was returned. You know, they didn't, nobody wanted to follow through, right? Oh, all right. Can I get a copy of that proposal? And my boss was the deputy commissioner, Jim Benda, who, anyone that knew him respected him, and he's no nonsense, but very, very real corrections, right? No bullshit, no, you know, wasn't an asshole, didn't put up with asshole staff.

And he knew about the proposal. We put it in together, actually. So this Dukakis, I give him the proposal, and two days later, we get a phone call by Deputy Benda, get in my fucking office. What did you do? I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, throws a proposal on the table.

He goes, you get in your unit. You can hire three offices out of every academy class for the next two years. Post the job now to hire three guys. you have an office wherever you want to have it go to the motor pool and pick up a car blah blah blah so it was like holy shit right and he made me high enough in management

where I could still get overtime and he goes I don't know how the fuck you do it with these guys but if anything ever goes wrong you're on your own right I go sir you know my background you know where I come from You know the bullshit I put up with, you know, with my brother and he's a political, you know, bully or whatever. And like I walked the line, man. I learned and I said, if anything ever goes wrong with me, you will be the very first person to know, right? Because I, you know, I had to respect this guy.

And because he trusted me so much. And it kind of went right down to the cons and every work crew and the CEOs. And at least under my watch, they went out in other parts of the state that, had nothing to do with my program, but, you know, when I was there, there was no swimming in the ocean and no, you know, no bullshit. And so I ended up going into management. I had 20 years in, so that gives me my retirement. And I went into management. Everything's going great. We got the green team. We, we, you know, we did so much. I tried to get training. I wanted to do, you know, I think every convictory in the country should know CPR and first aid.

You know, it's just whether they're getting out or not, you know, most of getting out. But, you know, it would be free to teach. We've got academies. We got the dummies. We got the mannequins, all that shit. And, but, you know, I wanted to do stuff like that. I got as far as the OSHA cards. They get certified in OSHA.

But, you know, there's so much that could be done. And, you know, we got the highway department. We got front end loaders, Bobcat. That's all their trucks and equipment. You know, why not set up a training program where, you know, one or two guys work their way into it? You could have the heavy equipment operator work with these guys to train them. You know, just in the yard, they had to learn the basics. And so when they get out, they already, you know, have the knowledge of driving this equipment.

But so as we went on, we had some great ideas coming up. And I was senior staff, which, like, I got called by. by the deputy's assistant who was a biker girl, who was, you know, cool. And like she knew my background. Very, very few people in corrections knew. And, like, I'd go in and see it. Like, Mitch, she called me. She goes, Bob, the senior staff Thursday, 10 o'clock.

And I'm like, am I in trouble? She said, no, Bob, you're part of senior staff now, right? Okay, right. And you've got to show up with, like, agenda items? the fuck is that, right? I had to wear a suit and tie. And I'm like, okay, right? So I'd go in, it was no nonsense.

So it was the department head, head of, you know, medium security, head of maximum security, head of community programs, blah, blah, blah. And I'm sitting there looking at these guys and whatever, my own opinions and my own opinions about people like that. But, you know, I think the deputy knew me that, like, He knows I'm not sucking up. I'm not blowing smoke up anyone's ass.

I'm not going to try to use big words. And so I'm sitting there like fucking terrified, right, in a room full of suits and ties. And I'm one of them. And so Mitch, who was doing notes on the whole, you know, taking the notes on everything, she writes on a piece of paper, you look terrified and slides it over to me, right?

And I wrote, have any of these guys ever done an eight ball that have been stabbed, right? And I slide it back and like, what the she goes, you're a fucking nut, right? And like she had to walk me through this every two weeks

whenever they had those meetings. But so it was going good, going great. And we worked at all kinds of events and nonprofits. And I was the guy that wrote the policy on it and this bender, you know, the deputy said no churches. And I'm like, that's fucking weird. Well, it's a separation of church and state.

I see the county crews at the church next to my house all the time, and the court crews. No, no separation of church and state. So, like, yeah, whatever, right? And we, you know, we did all kinds of stuff. And then so the governor changed again, and they brought in a new governor, and he promoted this guy, Louis. I won't use the last name. But I'd known to my whole career.

Like he would call me, Bob, I need, you know, can you get me a, you know, front and load of the snows all piled up at the prison, blah, blah, blah. He was superintendent of the camp down in Plymouth. Oh, let me see what I can do. I'll him down there by the end of the day. They wanted, you know, tall ships came to Boston. They want to bring their kids in and everything. I got my crews on this.

I have a golf cart ready for you and all this shit. And like I did that for the superintendents and whatever. And so. he gets promoted to commissioner because you served as, you know, the governor's pick. And my guy got passed over, Jim Venda got passed over, who was probably one of the most knowledgeable people in corrections in the country. And they passed over him. And I guess he was in the office and he stood up and said,

fucking see you later. That guy, Louis, is not going to be my boss. I don't, you know. And so he walked and he actually kind of an honor that so many people knew. and respected him that he called me and he said hey bob thanks so much you've done a great job i just you know i know it's been difficult trying to fly under the radar with your brother causing you know thinking everything's a fucking joke and everything and uh so he goes you know blah blah blah this guy louis gets in and i go to the first senior staff meeting with him there and it was just a total different

vibe nobody respected him right you know with with jim bender there you didn't walk in the door with a coffee cup in your hand and, you know, no joking around. You sat there at attention, basically, right? And this guy, Louis, is in there. And they were all joking and, you know, laughing and all, you know, good old boy talk. And so they're going around talking about stuff. And, you know, two or three senior staff meetings. And I said, you know, I'd like to get, you know, we got probably two or three hundred guys

a day coming out. And they want to come out. They get paid two bucks a day, which is nonsense, but they get treated with respect. They usually get fed, you know, and like they, it's run properly so they don't want to screw it up. But we should get something out of it, right? And that's when I brought up the CPR first aid.

And he's like, don't even go there. I'm like, okay. And then I said, you know, I'd like to, there should be something in it we should get something else out of it, whether it's A-A-N-A Bible study, right? Whatever.

To be involved with this work crew program, they should have to do something. You know, and he said, don't even go there. And I'm like, okay, sorry, you know. And I go, it's almost like you want these guys coming back. Yeah, it keeps the doors open, right?

And I'm like, you fucking asshole. You know, and three weeks later, I'm under investigation. I'm delivering tables at a Catholic school, which was nonprofit, and I'll say my daughter went to that school. There were probably 30 students. She had a school phobia. And they had a fashion show that weekend, and I dropped off, I think, six tables. And in the back door to the cafeteria, we used to go by there and shovel snow all the time.

And we did it at a lot of schools. We did it all over the place. And so I'm... Back the truck up that was assigned. I picked the truck up at the dealership myself. We backed the truck up to the door, and I get surrounded by a car comes flying in. I'm like, oh, fuck is this guy, right?

And five or six guys surrounded him. I knew one of them that used to take advantage of the overtime on the cruise. It was internal affairs. I'm like, what the fuck of a deal? What's going on, man? I know I'm clean, man. You know, it's the way. And the guy goes,

I go, I'll move the truck in a minute. I thought he was a caterer or something, right? And I go, I'll move the truck. You know you won't. I'm like, sorry, what's the matter? And he hands me a piece of papers, they're already typed out. So, whoever his name was, internal affairs. This is an illegal job site or something.

And I got a work crew with me, right? They were out in the street. Fuck you're talking about, right? And it goes, where did you get these tables? I said, a place in Boston that does tons of work. work with the state and any state agency that wants to you know firefighters are having a union cook out or if it's the state house needs extra tables they just call and they you know whatever so um they turned out they took my truck they took brought the tables back to the company that i did all the

marathon work with and everything and um and they went over the i guess they were following me the day before they had me on camera picking up tables and like, fucking who cares? There was a Boston fire truck parked next to me, right? And I get the paperwork suspension, pending investigation. I'm like, for what? Right? And I'm like, so I said to the guy,

the lead fucking Nips guy, whatever he is, and I go, why don't you just tell me or just ask me, right? And they try to make it sound like I look for a tip off, right? Or just tip me off. I'm like, yeah, to what? Right? Well, you're at the school. And during the investigation, they think they got this big thing that I'm sneaking to the school. I said, well, last summer we painted the basement. We go by this school and the school down the street and two over there that we shovel the snow at every time it snows. I don't even know if they know we do it. And so I started a nine month like, fucking, I knew I didn't do anything wrong. I know how to do shit wrong. I've done shit wrong in my life, right?

and I knew there was nothing there, but someone's got it out for me. And I wasn't quite sure who it was. And so I had to get a lawyer, my wife and kids and like fucking therapy for the family or whatever. And, you know, it's like all because of this little tiny school, right, that doesn't have a maintenance man that we're bringing, dropping tables off. Right?

Oh, the kids in the school. I said, yeah. It's like a place is huge. So they were on the other side of the building. I told them we're going to drop them off at, you know, 10 a.m. So anyways, they took the truck. They tried to say I signed out a state truck without authorization. And I said, that truck has never been parked overnight on prison property.

It was always parked at the highway department garage. And, you know, that's a school separation of church and state. Yeah, but it's also a nonprofit, right? They didn't even bring up my daughter, you know, saying I was trying to shake them down. for the school for tuition or whatever. There was never an issue, thank God, that they didn't, you know, even try to go there. But it was five foolish fucking charges.

I didn't tell my boss I was doing that job and like, I don't even know who my boss is, right? I'm a fucking director. I wrote the policy. And so it just started and they interviewed every one of the inmates on the work crews. They interviewed all my offices. The woman that worked for me, who, whatever, you know. But I'm like, there's nothing there.

They were looking for my office. They'd go up to the garage up by the zoo. And like I used to hang around up there. Like, where's Belfort's office? It's on the second floor. And they're like, it's a garage. There's no second floor here. You know?

So they did their thing. I did my thing. And we went in. They thought, you know, real quick on the investigation. and the commissioners hearing. They thought it was going to be quick. And I brought in a guy, a former cop that, you know, became an attorney.

And he's like, they said, oh, this will be over, you know, take us about an hour. He said, well, this isn't going to take an hour. This is fucking, plan on being there all day, you know. And I was just hurt because I created that program. Like, I didn't have to. I'd be on the, you know, down the Cape for the weekend or a week with my family. And I'd be making calls to make sure things are going all right.

And I didn't have to. wanted to. I didn't get paid for it. I, you know, it's just like I can't about it. And so yeah, they pulled me out of there and then this guy sends me a message that I got to work at the Shattuck Hospital, 11 to 7, right, which is the Shattuck. They don't even count that as a prison. It's so bad. It's up on the top floor of a hospital that houses homeless and all that crap. And so I'm like, there's no fucking way. Am I going back in uniform? I said, I got my 20 years in. I just want to retire with that. You get that benefit. And you can have the five years in management. I don't give a shit. He goes, no, you got to come back in uniform for nine months. I'm like, so I work my way up.

And now I got to go back in uniform. That's bullshit. That gets way for everybody. He goes, it's not getting way for you. And I said, you're a fucking punk. You know that? You know, and I told them right out, I wouldn't disrespect anyone in authority, but this guy was an asshole, you know, playing this shit. And I said, no, I'm not going to do it, right? And then a bunch of people tried to talk me into it, and I faxed a guy, a letter saying basically go fuck yourself. And I think my wife was ready to lose her mind that I can't walk away from a pension and benefits for the rest of my life.

So I said, I can fucking, where do I pick up my uniform? What did they? Like, I had dark blue pants. with a stripe and a light blue shirt. The last time I wore a uniform, they had changed. So it was a BDU's that, you know, blue with the stupid thing on, you know. I'm like, all right, whatever.

Report to the Shattuck, 11 to 7, Tuesday, Wednesday off. Like the worst guy in the academy doesn't get that shift. But they gave it to me, right? And I go in, like, what the fuck am I in for? Right? And I said, I'm going to do like Klinger on MASH on the TV show, right? I'm going to walk in there and I'm just going to act crazy, right? I'm always happy.

I live for gratitude. There's no way they're going to break me. And my first two weeks for day shift training. So I went in and I'm, you know, shadowing a couple other offices. One girl, Cindy Lewis, that I was at work with years before. I'm with her. And then a captain comes out in the hallway, hey, Balfour, you go to lunch now. and now I got act crazy right

and I'm like okay thank you sir right and I go wait a minute Skip skip get over here skip and I'm yelling right and he's like fuck is this kid right and I can bark like a dog so I'm like skip get down here

right and Cindy Lewis is fucking dying laughing this captain that didn't even know me he's like this kid's fucked right I'm like skip get over there right and the guy's like and Cindy he laughed and I said, Captain, do you meet Skip?

My three-legged dog, right? Skip, get it? And he's like, just go to lunch, right? So I, then I realized that's a dumping ground of some just burnt out correction offices at the Shattuck Hospital. A week of two goes by, I go upstairs. I made three to eleven shift, and I'd go in every day with, and after you didn't get stuck on a post of sitting there watching, this guy, Lenny, who a big chomo, that was about to die, didn't talk, didn't, you know,

couldn't, could barely move and they just shit himself all night long. And my chair would sit right in front of his cell or office, well, not office, hospital room. And it stick his hand in his diapers and, fuck on his face and on the walls. And I just have to sit there. It's on my job, thank God. But I'd have to write it down. No newspaper, nothing. Just me and my coffee, right?

before masks were fashionable. And I'd be sitting there and I got all I want it was fucking man, I can do these nine months. I got my large coffee. That's all I want, right? And a few weeks go by and I come in and there's a sign on the door. No large, no coffees from outside the institution in unless they're like a 10 ounce. These fucking assholes. And all the other CEOs are like, who did you fuck with?

I'm like, I'm not even sure, right? So the next night I go down I buy like six small coffees And I'm out in the parking lot And as the CEOs come bring this in for me Bring this in for me right? And I put them all on my little table there And I drink coffee and like

Look at the camera I wouldn't give it the finger But I'd make funny faces and everything And there's no way I was going to act crazy They crazy right Is in there But the office is there You know so

So I just sat there and did it I get written up taking a nurse's parking space, right? I parked in the late night shift's parking space, and I wasn't supposed to. I'm like, fuck, come on, will you? Okay, written up. They docked me, a day's pay.

I'm like, fucking really, right? Everyone does it. And meanwhile, the offices are bringing their phones in. You can do whatever you want, but not me. And then I wrote up an inmate. He had put medication in his, mouth, and I didn't know I haven't done that shit in a long time. So I was standing inside of his door, right? And the nurse came in, gave him his fucking oxies or whatever. He put him under his tongue.

I said, sick on your tongue. He did, right? And okay, fine. And then the nurse says, I think he put the cheek that. I'm like, really? I went in and I caught him with it, right? So I call for help. Everybody comes in. And I get ridden up big time for that. I'm like, but I checked. right he's trying to beat us i found it i we caught it and i get called to the lieutenant's office who sadly lost a kid to addiction and this lieutenant didn't know me i would have certainly would have been able to help out but um before he died but uh i got called in and he goes you know you know you're getting the suspension i'm like not really so he turns on the camera i was standing in the doorway, right? So you can see the camera in the hallway when I told the kid the stick his

tongue out, right? You can see my head go, okay, like this. Then he puts a camera on in the room. Same thing. You can see the front of me say like this. It was measured. I'm supposed to be four feet and I was like five and a half away from the con, right? And they wrote me up for that and docked me a couple days pay. I'm like, what the, come on, will you? What the fuck? And every other week, every other day I'm being called into the deputies office who was in with the commissioner and I didn't even know who this was coming from, right? And the union guys are like, fucking dude, what are you doing?

Someone's out to get you and I said, I know. And it just, it was fucking relentless. And the CEOs didn't get along with the Haitian nurses but I went in within two hours. I was best friends with all of them and I'm hugging the nurses and I bought them all Boston Marathon jackets and everything like that. I don't have fun.

But I get called down again. I have about a month left, and I get called down. And I was in the operating room with the con, and the union guy comes in. They need them here to relieve you, and two union guys bring me over to the deputy's office. And there's a guy in a suit and tie. And I'm like, who's this guy, a new employee?

The fucking wants to meet the legend that doesn't know what, you know, I don't even know what I did. And the guy shakes my hand. He's DEA organized crime out of the North End. And I'm like, get the fuck out of here. Right? And I almost like, I knew I didn't do anything. And I've had enough, man.

I put up with anything. I don't fuck with people. I never did. And I'm like, what the fuck do you want? Right? And the woman deputy was there kind of like the driving forward. on site for that. One of the union guys said,

if you're a federal agent, she can't be here. You know, get her out of here. Luckily, so she didn't hear what was said. But I go in the office. I'm sitting down. I'm like, okay, whatever, right? And he goes, Mr. Belfort, you know,

I go, what's the fuck? What's going on? I said, I'm writing a fucking book. You're getting a chapter now. DEA after me. I've been sober fucking 30 years or 25 years. And he said, says, sir, I've been following you on Facebook.

And I've been, I said, you know, what? Are you out of your fucking mind? Right. And we're not supposed to associate with X-Kron's, right? You're a female correctional officer had her fucking head beat in a few weeks ago at MCI Shirley. And you're following me. And all this time and energy is going into me. right what the hell is going on here and he shows me

he goes well you're affiliated with some questionable characters right and I'm like I think I know exactly who they weren't but I go let me tell you something I don't fucking help ex-cons they don't want to learn anything from me right I help fucking kids and he's looking at me like what he's talking about and I said if a kid's got a drug problem I don't fucking care who it is if someone calls me and their kids in trouble I'm in that's what I do right I don't get paid for it. I don't do it during work hours.

And, oh, uh, wow, are you in recovery? And you follow my fucking Facebook. That's all I post is, you know,

positive shit about being clean and sober. And, um, so he shows me one of them. Well-known family in the North End. I said, he's never done time. The fucking guy,

he's like a, runs a school. Right? well, it's his last name. I said, well, I think I might be here because of my last name. Then he shows me another one from that club there, right, whose daughter was having some trouble. And I said, yeah, like, meet me at the meeting in Malrose Tuesday night.

There's young people. Actually, I started the meeting years ago. The young people's meeting for young kids in AA. They're fucking badass, right? And these kids make shit happen. And I said, all right, meet you there and brought the daughter inside. I'd talk to Michelle and Tiffany or whatever, and, like, they'll help her out. And I said, I'm not, you know, whatever, the guy thanked me, but it's not, he's not my buddy.

I said, you're fucking 25 years too late. And they showed me a Charlestown guy, and I'm like, yeah, you know, whatever. Then another guy from the North End, I said, I drove that guy to detox like four years ago, him and his wife. Actually, he bought him cigarettes. He fucking owes me money, right? And I said, I haven't seen him since. but like what the fuck do you want right I'm not you know and he's like I didn't even know I said you want to know about the state troopers that I've helped with their kids

people in the commissioner's office I've helped with their kids right it's like it you fucking didn't and you're not going to go there I said it's a federal marshal his daughter was in very bad shape and a very bad house in Boston they went in and got her out of there at three in the morning well maybe we should see if they had warrants right you know and they called me and it ain't about me

but some of these kids that I've helped all these years I called Michelle I gave the guy the number and said told the marshal I said here call this girl here the next day they helped the girl out they got her into treatment

and as far as I know she's probably still clean and sober today I said I dude this ain't about me I don't get fucking paid for I never did and never want to. But what the fuck do you want? Right?

And he's like, oh, I'm sorry. Like, we can make this go away. And I'm like, there's nothing to go away. You know, fucking don't even use those words. Right? My union guys are like, Bob, you got a right to remain silent. And I'm like, fucking no. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know.

And I was really hurt. I was pissed off. I was pushed to the limit. I'm a fucking nice guy everywhere I went. Like I never said no. If a city or a town or whatever requested a crew, they got it. I didn't play politics or any of that and now here these people fucking with me

and I wasn't sure where it was coming from and so the guy's like I'm and he basically said he didn't even know why he was following me right they gave him my name and my information

and said he's involved with these guys here get them right and he goes like I didn't know and so the next day he called me and I said hey that guy that you were looking for from the north end I heard he's ripping and running

he's in bad fucking shape man if I can find him out you know and he was no no no no no forget it I said I don't want someone out there all fucked up he's got kids he's got all this shit going on Bob it's a dead issue we never talked he goes your file is gone it's shredded I shredded it myself

and I'm like but he goes I saw Commissioner Louis and deputy de palo right and I'm you saw who who told you you could shred that they're the motherfuckers

that's behind all of this and sure enough they were right and like I had no idea why I never had problems with them I talked to them whenever I saw them and um

you know so I was about a month left in uniform everybody backed off right um And like it was torture, though, but they were still, like, working at the Chaddock. You know, Peter Liddetto, the Massachusetts most fared inmate. He killed a cop in Malden when my father was, not when he was commissioner,

but at the time my father was commissioner in, I lived there basically in Malden. But Liddo was all fucked up or whatever and had a shoot out robbing something or someone and ended up killing a cop and went into the DOC. he was a real fucking asshole to every CEO that he come across. And, you know, he was on TV on, like, Chronicle or whatever, one of those TV shows. And so, like, I had never met, I'd whatever, the legend, right? So I go in one night right before I was walking, you know, about to be done with my career. And the captain, like, Belfour, you got Leddo in your unit.

Fucking don't go in his cell without someone else, right? Without, you know, without me or a lieutenant. I'm like, fucking whatever, you know. and so I went down there and I kicked the door and there's a guy laying in these are fucking tubes and bottles hanging off of them with all kinds of gross shit in it and everything and he pigs,

hey, oh are you? I'm like, you don't fucking know me, man, you know? And I went in and there's a camera over my head I went in by myself and I talked to him and I go, Peter, you're the legend. And I heard about you when I was in the academy 25 years ago, right? And, oh yeah, you know,

and I said, you took fucking, you tore this place up, man, you know, and then like, you're leaving your mark, you know. And so we had a fucking conversation. And I'm on the board of directors of cops that killed the line of duty, the law enforcement memorial. And like, so no sympathy for me

than anybody that fucks with a cop, you know. But so I'm talking. I said, oh, I mentioned some names. My guy taught me Ward, my buddy that helped me, you know, that did a bunch of time. He got out sober, really doing good. And I said, oh, yeah, me and Tommy, we help kids, we got a running club,

we do this and that, we go to schools. And I mentioned a bunch of other guys. It was, oh, my, you know, if I took the right path, I could have knocked that down to second degree, I think. But I just started, as soon as I came in here, I was fighting and swinging and, you know, but he's, you know, whatever, you know, I go, you know, like, well, Peter, and I bang my hand on his hospital table.

Dude, the judge said life, man, you're fucking paid in full. You know, you're ready to go almost. You got maybe another day or so to live, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go, any fight left in you? And he's like, I could probably get a few. Can I give you a list, right? Just kidding.

And he's like, oh, you know. But we had this conversation. I said, dude, I don't know where you're going from here. I got a feeling, you know, you know, too. And I said, don't die tonight, right? I'll be back tomorrow, three to 11. I'll give you that thing. You know, I'm not a big church guy.

And I give you the last rights, man, you know. You're going. You're paid in full, you know? And he's laughing. So I'm walking out. He goes, hey, CEO. He goes, you're the best CEO I ever met, right? And I said, I knew you were going to say that.

I said, dude, fucking whatever, man. I don't, you know, you're not there to judge skinners, fucking killers or pieces of shit or whatever, you know. And so that's what I did. I, you know, I just like whatever. And again, by saying that with him and there was another, a young girl that I would helping who was like part of my family with my wife and kids got sober at like 14 15 beautiful kid and she ended up dying and she was like my my daughter fucking best friend everything right you know

we'd come home from work my wife me my wife and the kids and my shepherd would be gone like call Kayla Kayla where are you I got Rocky Ruppet you know gangamangas right and uh I got a call one night that from her mother that she died you know, her body just, whatever, she would elapsed, and it broke me, you know, that really fucking hurt. And here I am, I'm walking into the prison. No one being watched. I can't bring my phone in.

I can't call the mother back. I can't walk in late. So I'm like, okay, thanks, bye. And I can't go in the office and call. So I went in, and one of the guys from Salem was in there having his knee done. And, you know, growing up, he was from Mald. And I used to look up to him. He had a bike shop and all that stuff there.

And I had some good conversations with him a few nights before that. And so I went in and I said, oh, fucking dude. You know, I was telling you I helped the kids and blah, blah, blah. And fucking tears in my eyes. And I got to go to one of the guys like that because there's no one else to talk to, you know. And so, you know, finally I did get to retire and no problems, you know. And the last of that whole thing, there was, again, the kids I'm helping.

As a young girl, I was helping out. I'm doing iron man's, you know. And she was a life guide at my pool. And she coming and drunk, beautiful girl. Coming and drunk. And, like, she had a black guy. I'm like, what the fuck did you do? Right?

And she got sucker punched in a blackout in South Boston at the parade. So one thing leads to another. Her mother called me a few weeks later. I say, you know, thank you for kind of mentoring Megan. And, you know, I said, she's such a good kid, man. You got to keep an eye on her. and so it wasn't even alcohol and drugs of just a lot of whatever shit going on in her life

but her mother goes you should go to work up at Bill Ricker and I'm like I'm all set man I'm fucking those days are over no uniform for me she goes no you can be a consultant up there and do recovery and reentry I'm like really she goes I'm the superintendent like really she goes yeah put together a real quick contract I went in there I get paid very well come and go as I please and started doing groups

and my first day walking in walking up the hill who do I see but Louis right former commissioner he ended getting fired from the Department of Correction I think there was a death of an inmate and it got all screwed up the paperwork and everything

so the new governor then chit canned him he wanted his pension right and he thought he was going to retire as a captain but they knocked it down, I think, to a sergeant. But I walked in, I knew on my side of the street was clean. I looked right at him. I'm like, at first I thought it was a setup.

But it's like, dude, fuck you, man. I ain't going to say anything. I'll take the high road all day long. Karma. Yep. And I just looked at him. And I went in and like, I'm just walking in. I don't know any of the CEOs here.

I go to the kid at the desk. What the fuck is he doing here, right? He's always a piece of shit. He's a friend of the commission. I mean, there's sheriffs or something like that. He's a consultant. I'm like, oh, my God. And I go in, a day or two work, and I'm like, hey, you know that guy that walks around here?

He fucked me. He's no good. And I told everybody, right? And I also said, if he ever walked up to me and shook my hand, I'd say, you know, all right, man. What was your fucking motive for that? But he'd walk in within the offices, you know, the staff child, door opens, hit. I'd be sitting there eating. And he'd be sitting there, and he'd be running to me.

And he knew, like, all kinds of people there. He didn't know if I was going to fucking hit him, say something, ignore him. or whatever, but my side of the street's clean, man. I didn't say anything. And he had to go, hey, Martha, I'd say hi to everybody. But he didn't say it to me. I didn't fucking nod my head, nothing, you know. And it's bullshit, man.

And I've had a lot of jealous people fuck with my career and my mission and my passion. I help people. I don't want to fucking, you can have the CEO business cards and all the bullshit that goes with it. And, you know, this is the first time. second time I've ever been on a podcast. The last one was in Utah. Wow. Well, you did great. Yeah, it's not my thing. You know, I don't want credit for anything. I got a fucking beautiful

wife that believed to me when no one did. I learned from the best of the best, the fucking convicts at Massachusetts, right? And I sent a message to two guys today. Danny from the boxing club down in Charlestown, stuff like that, big union guy and everything, legit, sober. They have a a big teamsters meeting for all a bunch of ex-cons and everything and like I'm at home there. Those guys fucking respect me and love me and everything

and you know him and to Tommy Ward I sent them both saying guys fucking 38 years ago I walked out of a rehab I didn't even know where the fuck I was and I went to work for corrections and you guys looked out for me

right? And then when I you know started running Tommy Ward actually Tommy called me this morning and he's a key you gotta get him in here He's a fucking character, right? 80 years old, he acts like a teenager, right?

Judges call him like, Tommy, I need help, right? And unbelievably, he still has money left over from back when he was in the recovery helps back in the early 80s in MCI Shirley Minimum, right? And he goes, we used to, we had fucking, it was on the news. We had beds down there. We had fucking hookings coming in. We're selling kilos and everything, right? And so he said, this morning he said, you know, you said, you know, you said, you said, said you walked out of rehab, he goes, my anniversary, the last time I got pinched was on

Valentine's Day, 1987, tomorrow, right? And he goes, I'm being chased by the cops, I got no license, I'm fucking throwing kilos out the window, right? He goes, I had an ounce left. I knew they'd get me on trafficking, so I took a bite of it, right? So it would be under an ounce. And he's funny as hell, right? And so I said, Tommy, you know, and he loves me. He loves me. my family. My family loves him. Same with Danny. Like, you know, he's, these guys are brothers to me, right? When I retired, I didn't get a fucking thank you from the department. I didn't get a gold badge that the union gives out. I didn't get an invite to anything. And one or two people were, okay, friends, you know, there's a lieutenant that has always been a mentor of mine. He was up at the

farm with me and he was legit he was a family man right and like the guys used to you know three to 11 hey we want to make a packing run he said no you want to get your beers after work fucking get them before you come in but i'm not letting you guys go down there in fucking uniform and he was just a legit law enforcement professional in corrections the nicest guy in the world everybody liked them and they respected them the cons liked them there was never any bullshit, right? You know, and so I learned a lot from

a real lot from him. I used to drive in with him and, you know, when A.A. said, stick with the winners. He was my guy. I'm friends with his wife on Facebook and him. And it's still, it's like, he didn't know, he never knew I was in recovery. And he probably scratched his head like, what the fuck do you do with all these fucking junkies out there

that you're helping, you know? And, um, but he's a fucking real man. He's a family man. He's got two kids of growing up. He's got grandkids now, but I followed him. I followed the, you know, God, I won't say the names, but a lot of guys that were in there that were just fucking good guys and they gave me the respect, right, that thank God it started off like that. What advice would you give to family members, loved ones, spouses that have someone that's battling addiction in their life or is incarcerated?

incarcerated and in full out addiction. The families are sicker than the person, right? The addict, the alcoholic, the drug addict, the guy in the can, he's safe, right? Even the young kids, they got a roof over their head. You know, and some of the, like, I have a nephew that fucking terrorize his family, and he's running amok now, tattoos all over his friggin' face and everything else. But, you know, it's like the family would call me in PANN. that we want to get the best attorneys.

We got to do the... It's like, no, leave him the fuck alone, right? And it went from a teenager. Now he's an adult. Now he's 35, and he's a fucking dangerous dude, but he's got a heart. But he's never heard no, right? And so many families out there

are sick, this help for families has learned to cope is probably one of the most successful recovery programs that definitely, I think. It's out of Massachusetts. It's run by professionals. And the professionals are the parents that walk that fucking road. You know?

And like, yeah. And, you know, guys in the can, they got six fucking girlfriends, and they're calling this one and send me a 20 and send me a 50. And you can only visit me on Sundays that, you know, every other Sunday. And then they got the other one coming. And it's like, leave them alone. Love them from a distance, you know. And this whole addiction thing, especially now,

there's a lot of avenues out there. There's a lot of help out there. You know, when I got sober, and go to AA and go and go and go. And like, AA is very successful, but it's fucked up. It's not meant to be a clubhouse. It's not meant to be a three times a day meeting for life, you know, and like I know guy sober 35, 40 years as long as me. I wouldn't let them walk my fucking dog, right?

And like, all they ever did in life was go to meetings. Why don't you take your family away and go home, you know? and it's sad that it's like that. You know, I kind of broke away, running an Iron Man and all that stuff kind of gave me that balance where they're running an Iron Man and helping people and AA and stuff. That's all my, that's all recovery to me. And I got it all put together. And it doesn't affect my family.

I'm not, you know, skipping my daughter's birthday because I got to go to either meetings or, you know, whatever, looking for an out. And, you know, it's so. So the families, they can contact me again. There's a missing on Mass Ave page in Boston, and that's Methodone Mile, and like so many people on there that are just fucking parents terrified. You go in there, there's freaking Volvo's driving around the block at night,

looking for their daughter and their son. It's a fucking sin, you know, and somebody, oh, my daughter's missing, my son's missing. Everybody's like, oh, yeah, we'll pray for him. We'll pray for him. And I'm like, fuck you. Give my number. Call me.

You're like, I'm not, I don't fix anything, but I can just give you some information. Take a deep breath and fucking relax. Right? You're reading the paper. How old is? Fentinol is everywhere? Yeah, it is.

People dying everywhere. Yeah, it is. But there's a freaking million people in there. Your kids are not going to die tonight. Your daughter's not being trafficked hopefully. Right? And I've done some good things with parents. And like, let me see what we can do.

Put the picture up there. See if anybody knows. There was a girl this morning. I didn't know her, but they posted her picture, and, like, seven or eight people said, oh, I was in rehab with her two weeks ago. I was in rehab with her yesterday. She left, she walked out. So now they got a line on where she is, right?

And, like, I wish there was something in between where we could kind of track them and say, hey, we're going to put you in treatment. We'll walk every step with you, you know, instead of throwing you in a spin dry where they don't really, you know, they're so overwhelmed, they do the best they can. But, you know, so the parents. get help, get a fucking good therapist, go to church and pray a lot, a real lot. You know, it just, it sucks.

It fucking kills me to see this out there. And on my side, as I just explained to you, there's a key to fighting the shit that most places won't take advantage of. And that's guys like me and you. Or guy not like me, guys that have done time, right? Tommy Ward, Danny, right? All these guys, I got hundreds of them that are fucking legit.

If I call and need to get a young kid a job or a girl that's in trouble or need a bed in a detox, fucking we all come running for each other. Absolutely. But the system, oh, no, no, no, no, we don't want that. They can't be, you know, no way. They can't go into the jail and talk, you know. And up at Bill Rick is Middlesex County when I got hired up there to just being a consultant. They said, okay, I said, can I bring guys in that have done time?

and Bob, do whatever you want. Have them fill out the paperwork, right? And no problem. We will run a background along as Internet warrants. And so for about a year or two period before COVID, I got to bring guys in. And we had some huge success, right? That's awesome.

Of helping guys out when they got out. There's a kid from Boston that has a podcast. I forget his name, but he has all the X-cons on and everything. And when he got out, I got to prove Facebook. I love Facebook. Fucking old guy. But he sent me a thank you.

And I'm like, I don't remember. He goes, oh, you showed David Gaghan's videos in group at Bill Ricker. And that day you showed me that. I learned that I got to fucking do this myself, you know? And it was awesome. And when I stopped my groups with those guys, I was the last thing. It's like, guys, I was a former CEO. But don't worry about it, right?

I'm legit. Just ask, right? After group, the speakers are on, they're listening. After group, Australia, my prison tattoo. And they're like, no way. And I'm like, yeah, right? And I got an iron man tattoo from a girl that's like, again, another best friend of mine. Her husband did a bunch of time in New Hampshire.

And she said he owned a tattoo shop. but he didn't own a tattoo shop for 15 years. He did tattoos in Concord Prison in New Hampshire for 15 years. So he did my I-M-N tattoo. It's all fucking crooked and everything, you know. Well, Bob, thanks so much, man, for coming on today. You know, what an incredible interview. You could go all day, man.

You have so much energy. I could go into the IMA on the running and whatever, you know. We'll have the links to all your stuff in the description in this episode where people could reach out to you. Anything. If anyone, again, no fucking egos. Anyone wants to get together. I like to take on the fucking prison system throughout the country and say,

why can't these guys come in and speak and put on meetings, right? And background checks, they're legit. The guy's out for 20 years. He's a fucking CEO of a multi-million dollar rehab program, but you won't let them in. The fuck is wrong with you, right? And that's who they listen to, you know, but whatever. Like I very respectfully out to the department to all the other people, but you know what it's like our fucking kids are dying out there so let's roll man get creative

my guys are ready all my guys that have done time