Locked In with Ian Bick - Ex-Gang Member Exposes The Truth About Gang Members Using Witchcraft In New York City | Alexander Cordero

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Alexander Cordero, a former gang member, shares his unique story of turning to witchcraft to protect himself on the streets of New York City. Alexander dives into his experiences with gang culture in NYC, the constant threats he faced, and how he embraced spiritual practices for protection and guidance. He reveals the rituals, beliefs, and encounters with witchcraft that helped him navigate one of the world’s toughest cities. Join us as Alexander opens up about his journey, blending the gritty reality of NYC street life with the mystical side of witchcraft. #NYCWitchcraft #GangLife #StreetSurvival #NYCStories #WitchcraftProtection #TrueCrime #NYCStreetLife #spiritualprotection Thank you to our sponsors this week: MAGIC MIND: They have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code LOCKED20 at checkout. You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/locked Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Alexander Cordero: IG - https://www.instagram.com/fsglexy/ Facebook - https://m.facebook.com/FSGLEXY/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fsglexy YouTube - https://youtube.com/@foreverservinggodministry?si=FJOvSvmQoCp77wMD Linktree - https://linktr.ee/FsgLexy Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://www.ianbick.com/shop Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introduction and Special Guest Alex 00:03:59 Growing up in Brooklyn with Family Challenges 00:08:09 Transformational Journey through Spiritual Rituals and Consequences 00:12:37 Near-Death Experience and Spiritual Awakening 00:17:27 The Influence of Voodoo in the Music Industry 00:21:56 Secrets of Black Magic and Spiritual Protection 00:26:08 Growing Up in a Gang-Infested Neighborhood 00:30:12 Growing Up Amidst Gangs 00:34:23 Transitioning from a Troubled Past 00:38:33 Transformational Journey through Faith and Music 00:43:01 A Spiritual Awakening and Life Transformation 00:47:38 Escaping a Life of Crime: Living with Mom 00:51:42 The Meaning of Tattoos After Renouncing Gang Life 00:56:03 The Role of Community in Youth Mentorship 01:00:03 A Journey from Witchcraft to Ministry 01:04:21 The Power of Forgiveness 01:08:48 The Importance of Listening and Compassion 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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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Alex, welcome to Lockton, man. Pleasure having you on the show today. Thank you for the birch, bro. Definitely, man. It's a true honor to be here, man, with you. Yeah, it's an honor myself, man. You're probably one of the first guests that have guessed my size, right? Because everyone thinks of so much smaller because they only see me sitting down. Yeah, because you look short, but in real life, you are huge, bro. Yeah, you guessed it right, man. It fits comfortably. But I'm losing weight right now, so some of the other shirts people got me fit, too. Oh, okay. But it's so cool that people bring like, every guest always brings like a souvenir or something. And we put it in the studio.

Like you see, we're kind of like filling up the spot with pictures, memorabilia and everything. So thank you for that. No, truly. It's an honor, man. You know, you're doing amazing things. You know, you're bringing out people's testimonies, you know, so it's amazing. Yeah, do you want to tell people what the shirt means to you and where they can find it? The shirt means forever serving God, ministry.

I also have a rec label. I also have a ministry that we go out to the streets, we go out to the prisons, we go to to the juvenile centers and we minister the gospel. Awesome, man. Well, I'm so excited to hear your story today. Before we start, not sure if you're into energy drinks or not, but I've been doing like these magic mind shots are right there. You ever have matcha before?

No, I never had this. Dude, you got to try. They're macha flavored because we were just talking out there that I've been doing like one episode of recording every day. So I got to stay focused and, you know, dialed in. And these don't give you like a crash and a hangover. They just, it feels good. Better than those five-hour energy shows.

So if you want to take it, you're welcome to. Oh, yeah. They're really good. And these are, you know, served good cold. And I've been taking one or two of these puppies a day. Yeah, I'll take a shot. Let me know what you think about that. It's like a good, it's like a different flavor, you know.

This is good, man. I'd rather drink this than Red Bull all day. I haven't had a Red Bull in years. I was out to dinner with one of our friends the other night. Yeah, he casually orders a Red Bull at the table. I have to stop there or a dick thing. I'm telling you right now, especially because I've been traveling. everywhere doing podcast and I get so tired

I need to stop especially because I have a kidney I had a kidney transplant so I have to make sure I'm right like my body wide so so you probably don't drink or anything too no I don't drink I don't smoke I don't do none of that wow awesome good for you man well um for you know the people listening that want to try magic mine will have that description with the promo code in the bio it really is good you know at first I didn't know what to think because it's like green you know yeah I got a little nervous I was like

is this ginger or something yeah Ginger is good. I've been taking the ginger energy like vitamins. Yeah. Like D-2 or B-12 or something. Right, right, right. Every morning I've been big on my vitamins. I take the pills, but I can't drink it straight up.

It gives you that burning sensation. I don't know. What, like the chewables? The shots? Because some people take ginger shots. Oh, yeah, like at Whole Foods and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Those are tough, man.

Those are real tough. I can't. I can't do that. Yeah. I get sick, like, really bad every year. Like, flu. Last year I got sick like three times. said in the beginning of this year, so I've been like elderberry, uh, blackberry, all these

different stuff, lots of fruits. That's why I moved down south, because I was getting sick like crazy. I said, let me move down south. And you just escaped the hurricane, uh, to come here. But we made it. Yeah, we made it. We made it. So, both of us made it.

Yeah, we both made it. Uh, so did you grow up in Florida or out here? No, I'm born and raised Brooklyn, New York. I just moved out to our Florida just to be obedient to God. God sent me there, you know? I was praying. I was fasting. And God was like, there's your time.

to spread your wings and start, you know, ministering everywhere. So it's affordable. It's not as affordable as New York. I mean, New York is more expensive. But, you know, Florida, I can travel more, you know. Yeah, Florida is definitely cheaper. I mean, I was looking at apartments in Nashville, just like curious. Oh, Nashville, yeah.

Yeah, and it's like $4,500 cheaper than what I'm paying now and here for a nicer, because I have a studio now. Right. So that would be a one-bedroom nicer for cheaper. Yeah. I got to get out of here. Nashville is beautiful. I've been there.

Yeah. So Brooklyn, what was that like growing up? And did you have a big family, siblings, mom and dad? So I have in Brooklyn, I was born and raised in St. Mary's Hospital, which is closed right now. My father wasn't really around. He was a gangbanger dealing with the drugs. And he was addicted to crack as well. He was a big gang leader for the Nietas, Puerto Rican gang that was established in prison.

He was one of the head members for the whole northeast. So I didn't really get to know him as much. But I was raised by a single parent, my mom and my sister. They tried to keep me out of the streets, you know, by playing baseball in different sports. But pretty much, for some reason, I always found my way going into the streets. Always, always. I did play professional baseball. I played for independent ball in the Frontier League.

I was one of the top baseball players in New York City growing up. But after that, I got into witchcraft, Santadilla, you know, gangbanging with the bloods. But my main story was me being a warlock, a big warlock. If you don't know what a warlock is, basically Haitian voodoo, Dominican voodoo, African voodoo. I grew up in that lifestyle. My mom's side was dabbled in that. My mom didn't dabble with that. I just found out recently since my dad came out of jail.

He told me that they dabbled with it, the whole family. So if you don't believe in generational curses, I can tell you right now, generational curses are real. Even though I wasn't raised by my father, I walked the same footsteps as him, as doing selling drugs. following the streets, the gangbang life as a blood, even having multiple kids, just like my dad.

And I had no, like, I never even met him until I got as an adult. So if anybody doesn't believe in generational curses, I can tell you right now that generational curses is real. And God saved me from all these things. and I can break it down to you right now. So as I was growing up in the streets, I got introduced with 21 divisions. 21 divisions are starting off with Dominican voodoo.

I went into a gathering, like a house. And when I walked into the house, I thought it was just a regular, like, you know, gathering, partying and stuff like that. And when I went into there, they were doing spiritual sacrifices, rituals, and stuff like that. They all started with a gathering in the circle, doing prayers, trying to bring the spirits up. And I was intrigued. I was like, wow, this is like so dope.

Like, I never saw this in my life. And you can see, you know, spirits going into people and they will start manifesting. And if you don't know what manifestation means is when a spirit comes inside of you and it starts becoming that person. The spirit becomes them and they start doing rituals, smoking cigars, drinking,

talking about your life and who you are in life. And there was one spirit that came into me, came towards me and he says, you don't know who you are. He says, you're very powerful. And we could use you. and I said, like, I was intrigued by that. I was like, yeah, like, I want, I want that power.

I want that. I want that fame. I want, like, I want the money. I want the riches because I just came from getting released from baseball, and I lost everything. I pretty much lost everything. So I wanted, I wanted the fame, I wanted the money, I wanted the delights. So they said, okay, we're going to start doing these rituals with you.

You start getting baptized. started doing the perfumes. So when they started doing the perfumes and stuff like that, the spirit started coming inside me. And as the spirit started coming inside me, I started getting this anger, this rage. And I became somebody that I wasn't. Wasn't at all when I was growing up.

I was raised by my mother. I was raised by my sister. I became this angry man that started selling drugs that started gangbanging because I wasn't gang banging yet. I started gang banging as I got older because a lot of people that would come to these meetings were rappers, drug dealers, and people who want the same power.

And I didn't know that because they made it seem like it was God because they also believed in Jesus. They also believed in other things. And I didn't read the Bible. I didn't know the difference. The Bible says that we should not be worshipping idols. I didn't know that at that time

because I was so lazy not wanting to read the Bible. So I was so intrigued. I was like, yo, I just want that power, like that same power that you have, how I can just walk on fire, how I could just speak to people's lives, and I want to help people. But I don't know how to do it.

So they started teaching me how to read cards. They started teaching me how to, do spiritual baths and baptism and stuff like that. And I became this warlock. Throughout this whole thing, I became this warlock. But before I became this warlock, I started being disobedient. I don't know if you know what disobedient is, but disobedient is basically like I was doing my own thing.

I wasn't following orders, you know. The same thing as gangbanging, the same thing as you were in prison, you had to follow order of a leader or anything. and I didn't want to follow their order. I wanted to do my own thing. So what they did was they put a curse on me. They put a picture of me into a pot and made me sick. So after a couple months later, I lost my kidney.

I lost my kidney. I don't have diabetes in my life, in my family's life. I don't have another of that. Heart disease, yeah, but I didn't have no heart problems. The only thing that they found was I lost high blood pressure. I had a lot of high blood pressure. And I was going to work. And when I went to work, I was getting these bad headaches.

And I was torn my foreman at that time. I was doing scaffolding. I was like, I got a lot of headaches. I'm about to go to the hospital. He said, all right, go out in the hospital and tell me, like, what's going on? So when I went to the hospital, they found out my blood pressure was over the hospital. they found out my blood pressure was over 200 and when I went there

they were like you know they did my blood work and they were like you know you lost your kidneys I was like how like I'm fine I'm healthy like how's this happening to me you know like I was I was one I didn't understand about kidney disease and I want to encourage people

like right now like take a yearly checkup of your body please check your body yearly to see what's going on with you because I didn't know what kidney disease was and I thought I thought I was going to be fine okay I got kidney disease am I going to go home now like no you have to do an emergency surgery to get a catheter so that we could do dialysis and take out all the toxins out of your blood and all the fluid

that's inside of you and clean it up and then you could be much better So I was in the hospital. And as I was in the hospital, I was there. They did the surgery. They did the catheter. And I'm going into the Dallas Center that they have in the hospital, in Jamaica, Hospital in Queens.

And I had to be there for four hours in the machine. Within that four hours, my blood pressure dropped from 200 all the way down to 64. And when they went down to 64, I caught a cataract with arrest and I died. I went black. They had to re-rise me back to life. And after they revised me back to life, everybody in my family started crying. They were telling me, you know, you passed away, you died. And I was, I didn't understand at that time.

Like, are you serious? That I died? Like, I didn't know about that. So as I was there, and now. hospital, you know, my grandmother came, my aunt came, and they was like, you know, you have to give yourself to Christ. And I said, I said, okay, I'll just go, I'll give myself to Christ, you know, what is it? I almost died. So I, she did the prayers and all that. And I was in the hospital for a whole month because I didn't have insurance at the time. So within that time, that whole month

that I didn't have insurance, I was just there sitting in the hospital, constantly getting dialysis, hours, three times a week, three days a week, three days out of the week. And finally, I got a chance to get out the hospital. And nobody from that I was going into witchcraft, and none of them came to visit me, none of them checked on me or asked me if I was okay, which that was weird to me. That was real weird to me. So I end up, you know, getting out the hospital, going to this church. And I want to talk about this.

Like, spiritual warfare is real. Demons are real. I went to this church. I went to go visit my grandmother's church. And when I went to my grandmother's church, I saw a witch there, which I knew because I was a warlock. So there was a witch there. She's not supposed to be there.

She's going to a church. So when we went to the church, I saw her. We locked the eyes and we said, you know, we said hi to each other. And as the service was going on, you know, certain churches, if we go to a Pentecostal church, I don't know if you know about Pentecostal churches. But certain Petticoxal churches, you know, they dance and they scream in. Hallelujah. They're going crazy.

But this Pacific, Pacific Day, this woman was there. was there, she started manifesting into this, this, um, demon. And she started speaking in demonic tongues. And then everybody around her started manifesting in, in a bad way. Like, nobody didn't understand this. Like, nobody, no churches knew about this. And everybody around, they're thinking, it's God and it's not God. And that woman is having everybody else turn into, into demons. And then me, I'm watching this. I'm thinking this is cool.

I was blind at the time. I didn't know like this wasn't a good thing. I thought this was good. So I started seeing people manifest and I started tapping my cane because I was a warlock. I was taught my cane and I'll have other people manifesting around.

The pastor starts seeing and he says, this is not good. So he shut down, He shut down the worship. He shut it down. He stopped it. When I saw that, I looked at it. I was like, oh, okay.

This is not for me. This is not for me at all. So I went back into the lifestyle of being a warlock. But I left 21 divisions. I left 21 divisions. I ended up doing Orishas. Orishas is, you ever heard of Beyonce? Of course, yeah.

No, Beyonce, right? Yeah. So, Beyonce wishes Ifa. Ifa is Achun from Dorishas. That's who I had. I had Achun, which is the goddess of the ocean, of the lake. Excuse me, the goddess of the lake. And there's another woman called Yamaya.

She's the goddess of the ocean. So I transitioned from 21 divisions, 21 divisions, Dominican voodoo, into African. voodoo. It has African, Cuban, and Haitian voodoo. And when I went there, that's when it got real.

That's when I started dealing with big-time drug dealers, big-time artists. I'm not going to say who are they, but there were big-time artists that were paying. They were paying the high priest that

I was going under, paying him so that they can get fame. And they were used the music of the African beats as samples into their music to conjureate people to like their music. It's bugged out, but it's true. And then the drug dealers, they were used,

they would pay off the high priest to protect them from the cops, protect them from the ops and stuff like that. Today's episode of Locked in, is brought to you by Magic Mind, the world's first productivity shot. If you're like me managing a pack schedule of interviews, editing, and planning, you know it's tough to stay focused and energized all day. That's where Magic Mind comes in.

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Magic Minds got you covered. Try it out and see the difference it makes. Thank you again to Magic Mind for being a proud sponsor of Locked in, and I hope you enjoyed the rest of this episode. And the priest condones this? This is voodoo. This is different. This is evil stuff.

They call the high priest, basically in Spanish, they call Padrinos, meaning like godfathers. This is like evil and demonic stuff. but they make it seem like it's good, but it's not. And I became under him, so I got to learn how to do these things. And also I was a gang member myself, so I was intrigued to stuff like this. I was like, okay, I'm going to get people to come. I'm going to know some artists because I'm already in the industry. I'm going to have them come.

And that's what we used to do, like constantly, like do that. And when I was saying when I lost my kidney the first time, because I happened twice, the people from 21 divisions, they put my picture in an altar to punish me. And I got sick. So when I went to Orishas, which is the high priest that we was talking about, he actually shielded me, he protected me from not getting sick. which that's not true. I was still sick.

So, you know, I used to just, you know, do that, sell some drugs. I would know, like, what's going on. I would tell me, oh, you need to protect yourself. You know, the Atun is telling me, the demon's telling me, this is what's going to happen to you. You know, you need to watch out. And they will listen or they won't, and it will really happen. And it's this, this is all, like,

spiritual, like, demonic warfare. I don't know if you probably heard this in prison. When you've been to prison, they talk about this. No, you never heard about this? I think because, like, I was in federal and I wasn't really in, with a lot of gangbangers, so to say. Or anyone from, like, that, that crowd.

Were there other Bloods members that were into this, too? There was a lot? All different types of gang members that are into this. And was this common more along Spanish or black, or it didn't matter the race? It didn't matter the race. See, because Haitians. It doesn't, it could be, it could be Jamaicans, because Jamaicans believe in voodoo, too. Regular African Americans as well.

Even white American people, they believe in it. Because it doesn't, it doesn't matter what race you are. As long as you believe in this spirit, you could be part of it. So can you give us an example of how the spirit protects, say, you from law enforcement, whether you specifically or someone else that's a part of it? So basically, you will, you will come. to a high priest and you would tell the high priest, listen, I'm about to do something, right? And would you ask your protector to protect me?

So what they would do is they would have a coconut and then they would have shells and they will read from the shells, they will read the shells and they would tell you the future. They would tell you by the spirit, the spirit would speak to them and they would, this is real like real stuff like black magic. They call black magic. I heard of that, yeah. It's the same thing. Yeah, it's the same thing.

So blood rituals, they were sacrificed animals. Like a chicken. A chicken, a goat, it could be anything. And they would feed their saints. They would feed their saints. That's what they called idols.

And they'd be like, hey, you know, make sure you protect this person. And then they have to pay a lot of money for it. It's not something that's, oh, you know, we're going to do it for free. So you got to pay the high priest's good money. So you can get protected. And no one's like raising any eyebrows of like goats going into this building or chickens or nothing?

No. Because in New York City, they have marketplaces that they can cut, you know, the butchers. They can do it there. So what they do is they buy the butcher, they buy it from there, take it and they'll do sacrifices. But they will do it in a place that nobody won't know. It's very secretly. Like everything I'm saying is very secret. like nobody doesn't know, you know, people do know what it is, but they won't come out and say it.

They won't expose it. So what's a scenario where this has protected you? Say if you were dealing drugs or running something or whatever you were doing, how did this protect you in a moment? In a moment, it will keep me away, like, it will keep the police or whatever, the ops, away from the situation spiritually. Sometimes they won't. Sometimes it will. It's like a guessing game. And this is the thing about spirituality.

Like people, people do it for the money. Or sometimes the people are really, like, really, really warlocks. And they can speak to the dead. Do you think it has anything to do with luck in these scenarios or no? No, because spiritual warfare is real. Like, spiritual things are real, like real. Demons are real. As I've been through it, I've been to, I've been spiritually attacked many, many times.

because I gave myself to Christ and I got attacked. They wanted me back and they couldn't do anything because I gave myself to Christ. So if you never left baseball, you never would have went to that group to begin with? I can't say that.

I was already living that lifestyle, but I wasn't too deep in it. I wasn't really too deep. I wasn't really too deep in it. I was like, yeah, I was go to the parties here and there. But when I fully left baseball and I fully gave myself to them. Then I got that taste.

I was like, oh, wow. Like, I really want this. How old were you when you realized your dad was who he was? I didn't know. And two, I lost my kidney. And I think when I was like 24 years old, I lost my kidney. But I was already doing witchcraft because I got released in an independent boy when I was 19 years old.

And that's when I kind of started 19. But I didn't really, like, I met my father when I was 24. He came out of jail and I met him. But I was already in it. I was in the deep. Oh, so it's not like you knew of him at an early age and you wanted to become that or anything. You had no idea that it was in your blood.

No, because my mom shielded me from that. She protected me from that. That's interesting. Do you think the neighborhood had any influence on you? The neighbors? The neighborhood. Like where you grew up? Was it gang populated?

Yeah, it was heavy on gang population. Like, where my grandparents lived, they lived in Topscot, 175 Top Scott. That's Bronsville, right around the block from Mike Tyson, which I told you the story about. Like, my grandfather got robbed by him. Like, rest in peace, my grandfather died at the age of 4th grade. Like, I was in 4th grade, he died. But my grandfather was a drunkie. He was a drunk before that.

Before I even came into life, he was a drunk. he was a drunk. So when Mike Tyson robbed him, he was already a drunk. He was like giving out his money, per se. So I lived the Top Scott. Top Scott was like a Crip area.

I grew up in Hall Street for a little bit, and then I ended up moving to Eastern York where there's a bunch of bloods and Crips and Latin Kings. Latin Kings was heavy there. The leader was King Tone. King Tone was the leader in the area that I used to live.

live at. But I was always around bloods for some reason. So how do you pick which gang you're going to go to? Because they're not race-based, right? Because I've met white bloods. No, no. Spanish, black. Well, in New York is usually like either

Spanish or black. Now I'm noticing now as they, you know, I'm older I'm starting to see a lot of white bloods now. But when I was back in those days, it was Spanish and black. Plus I was part black too. I'm part black. So that's why, and I was always, as who you hang out with basically. So I was hanging out with a crew that was

mostly your bloods. So you end up becoming that. Did you graduate high school? Did you graduate high school? So you're still able to make it through despite the kidney issues and everything that was going on? Oh yeah, yeah. I lost my kidney at the age of 24. But you had kidney issues as a teenager, too, you were saying? No, I never had kidney issues as a teenager. When I started doing witchcraft, that's when I started getting kidney issues. Okay, so that came after. Yeah, that came after. So the sports stopped right around when you, after high school, and then the kidney injuries.

Yeah, the age of 19 years old. Okay. How are you supporting yourself financially? Financially, I had regular jobs, but I used to hustle on the side and stuff like that. And then when I lost my kidney, I ended up collecting disability as well. But basically, I was just hustling, hustling, hustling. Do you think the kidney loss came from? from like the evil spirits

with the, with the, with the, tied into the gang bang, like they knew you were doing something wrong. Yeah, I believe it came to witchcraft

of me not like, be, like betraying them because I wasn't following their orders. The same thing about the gang life. You know, the gang life is the same way. Like,

if you don't follow orders, you're going to get beat down. You're going to get 30 seconds. And that's how you get jumped in to these things too, right? Yeah, when you first get recruited, you got to get jumped in, it's blood and blood out.

That's right. That's right. I'm learning. But if you give yourself to Christ, you could tell them, you know, you could drop your flag like that, and they allow you with religion. Oh, that's the exception to exiting these gangs. Either dead or religion.

Really? Yeah. Oh, interesting. So before the kidney incident, what was a typical everyday life as a gangbanger in New York City? Everyday life, I was more of a, like, a hustler. I wasn't the one that was always, you know, out there cutting people or trying to kill somebody.

I was more of the hustler aspect with the drugs or meeting up with the right hand man or whatever. That was my main, that's the main thing I did. And how organized is it? Is it like motorcycle clubs, these types of people? It's really organized? It's organized, yeah. It's more organized than a lot of things. It depends on what set you from, too.

There's all different types of sets and bloods. In New York, there's a lot of sets. And a set means, like, what city you're from or what group? A crew. Okay. It's like a crew, yeah. Kind of like a chapter in a motorcycle club. Yeah, chapter, like a motorcycle club.

And was it dangerous to be a blood in your time? Oh, yeah. Like, do you always have a target in your back? Yeah, big time. Like, my age, it was a lot of fights with Chris. and bloods heavy, even with Nyeta's too, which is crazy because that's what my father was. And I didn't know at the time.

Why do you think you didn't become a Nyeta? Because I didn't know my father. I didn't know that my father was a Nyeta. And honestly, I didn't, like, I didn't know if my father was in my life. I don't think I would be doing that. You know what I'm saying? I think a lot of things that I've done, was because I didn't have a father in my life.

And I think most of people that grew up without a father in their life do a lot of bad decisions because they don't know. Now, because he was high-ranking in the Nietas, he didn't have people that were, like, looking after you or anything? No, because he was constantly in jail. He was in more of the northeast. Okay. He wasn't born from New York.

He was born in Puerto Rico. He grew up in Verland, New Jersey. and then he stood mostly in Boston. So he didn't really know as how many people in New York. Okay, that makes sense. And what about your mom? How did she react when she found out you ended up

getting into gang life? She didn't really know as much. Like, I tried to kept it quiet, you know? I kept the real quiet. The only thing she knew was that I was doing witchcraft because I would bring idols and stuff like that in the household. But she didn't really know about the gangbang life

because I kept it. hiding. Because I didn't deal with, like, a lot of criminal, like, I didn't kill nobody or cut nobody. I was more of a guy who was helped sell and stuff like that. But I was more into witchcraft than anything. So I would bring the people into that lifestyle. You would recruit them into that? Yeah.

Do you get paid to recruit? Yeah. Oh, so you do get a cut to recruit? I do get a cut because I became a warlock. I didn't become just a regular Santero. whatever, I was a warlock. How many people do you think in New York are involved in this?

A lot of people. You'll be a lot of people. Not just only in New York. You got it in everywhere. You got it in Connecticut. You got it in the whole world. Are there any like shows or movies that have become of this? You ever saw there's a movie called El Cantate

with Mark Anthony and Jennifer Lopez? Oh, okay. I haven't seen it, but I know what you're talking about. There's a, there's a scene. There's a scene there that he plays Hector Lavo, which is he was one of the biggest Santeros. And he was from Puerto Rico and he moved to New York.

And they were doing a ritual there. If you see the, if you see the clip of El Cantate, you would see a clip of him doing a ritual. And that's real life. And you will see more of that. And if you watch movies, you start seeing stuff like that in different types of

movies. I can't put it in the cross of my mind right now, but there's a lot of movies. that you would see that they were doing voodoo. Now, do people have to pay to do these? Like, once you recruit someone, you convince them to come with you. They have to pay. How much is the price?

Depending. Depending on what they say is the price. And the spiritual, like I said, they do the shell readings. They do the coconut. They do the blood sacrifices. And they ask the spirit, how much should they charge them?

If they know you have money, you're going to get charged a lot. It's the truth. Now, what would you do when someone was a non-believer? Like, I'm sure you got a lot of pushback for maybe fellow gang members or stuff that doesn't believe in it? Oh, yeah, yeah. A lot of people are scared of it. That's why they don't talk about it.

It's a scary thing, believe it or not, you know? So, yeah, of course you get a pushback. People were scared. People would tell you, what are you doing? I don't believe in that stuff. stuff like get out of here it was done you could do about it honestly so you don't try to persuade them or anything like that or cast a spell or anything no no no i wasn't that type of person in general like i always had a heart because my mom and my sister raised me to be a good person i just fell into

something that that was too deep in it when you're into something that's so deep and you don't know how to get yourself out of it you just continue going keep keep going in that lifestyle How does your mind, like as you get older, shift away from that? Like, how do you start to move on to a different, because your religion now is very different from what you were doing before? It was actually my wife. My wife, when I met my wife, I got baptized into this religion. I went to Cuba.

You know how hard it is to get into Cuba? Pretty hard. It's pretty hard. I was in Cuba in 2017. Is it 2017? 2016? I think 2016, when Fidel Castro passed away, I was there.

You know how hard it is to get in there? And oh, you had to tell them that I was going for religious purpose and they already knew what I was going for. And I had to wear all white. If you see people wearing all white, you know that's the lifestyle they're living because you have to wear all white for a whole year. So I did this baptism.

I did the whole blood rituals and everything in Cuba. I got bathed. It was me and another woman. I was A-Tune and she was, yeah, my yaw. We will be there in a room for a whole week, seven days, seven days. They will do blood rituals. They will have a dove and a pigeon. They will cut their heads off and they will have us sleep with it for a whole week.

Next to you. Yeah. Just dead. Dead. The head chopped off and they're dead right there right next to you. And what does that do? What's the purpose of that? That purpose, I don't know.

I never asked what was the purpose of that. but then the dove, it makes sense. It's like they're mocking the Holy Spirit because as a Christian in the Bible it says that when Jesus got baptized, there was like a dove that came over him.

And that's how they considered the Holy Spirit as a Christian. So it's like they're kind of like mocking God. That's how I see it as. And we was there for a whole week and then we did this big ritual that they brought all their idols. They like Christos and stuff like that.

And then they would do the blood sacrifice of animals. And they will cut the goat. They will cut all different types of animals and they will feed these saints all around. You feed them. And then after that, they'll do a circle and then they'll start doing another ritual where they cut your hair off.

That's why I keep my hair long. And they will mark you right here from the crowns of your heads right here. This is like an open, door, if you're a Christian, Christians know what an open door means. Basically, it's an open door. Like, you know when you're a baby, you know where they breathe, they breathe from the crown of their heads.

Well, in the spirit world, that's where they come from. That's where they oppress you from. Oppression means, like, you get attacked spiritually. Not inside of you, but, like, outside of you, and they speak to you in your mind. A lot of, that's why you've seen in this world right now, a lot of mental health. Mental health is real serious.

Why? Because you get an oppressed by these demons. So they will shave my head, they would mark me, and then they were basically say I'm part of the, you know, Santeria, basically voodoo. And then I would do a whole, a whole week. After I do that whole week, we go and walk around the streets. I have to wear all white for a whole year. Don't let nobody touch you.

I would have beads. You ever saw beads of all different types of colors? Those are those are santeria. Those are all that. All that is all santeria. I'll wear that for protection. Those are gods. They consider those gods.

And they used that. I'll put that on. And so I think probably like six months later, I met my wife, which I knew my wife from high school, but she started speaking to my life, and she was telling me that the things that I was doing is not from God.

It was evil. And I said, yeah, you know what? I don't think so, you know. You know, I'm being nice. I was like, no, no, this is from God. She was like, no, this is what you're doing. It's not from God. And she didn't know that I used to go to meetings.

She didn't know what I was doing in my lifestyle. And I became, I was already starting to do music. Started doing hip-hop music as well, because I started to get introduced with hip-hop artists. I got introduced with drug dealers. And then I was like, you know, I started doing a little bit of music myself. So she goes, you know, what you're doing is not, you know,

it's not good. It's like, yeah, okay, that's fine. So I started, you know, speaking to my wife, my wife was telling me, you know, you come to my house. She was living all the way upstate New York. She was living in, um, Poughkeepsie area

and I was all the way in Brooklyn so that's like a good three hours right there good three hours and she was like you know you can't come to my house no more with those beads on and I told her what what do you mean like I'm like 30 minutes away from you like why are you telling me now she's like yeah you can't come to my house

like that because I'm I'm getting like there's stuff happening in my home and you're bringing those beads with me so I was like oh man I drove three hours so I took the beads off and I put it in my car and I came into her house. What I didn't know was that was like a stepping stone of being obedient to God, being obedient to Jesus Christ because she was already,

she was, she was already a Christian and I wasn't. So she was planting seeds. That's what we call it as Christians planting seeds into my life. And you know, we were dating and stuff like that and we were the movies and her best friend goes to me and she goes, she just saw us, I don't know where Adam all. She goes, you know, God wants me to tell you that that I'm your son.

And I said, what? I said, what do you mean? She said, yeah, she said, you're chosen. She said, I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm chosen. She says, yeah, I said, okay. I said, God bless you, thank you. She, so that was like, there's seeds that were planting in my life, little by little, and I didn't know this.

Until one day, I was doing dialysis still. Because throughout this whole thing, as I was in Santeria, I was in selling drugs and and gang banging, I was still doing dialysis three times, three times a week, four hours and 15 minutes, four hours and 15 minutes in the center, dialysis in Manhattan. and my wife invited me to a church. She was like, hey, I'm going to this church. I just want you to support me. I said, okay, I'll go.

As we was going to this church, I felt this heaviness in my leg. And I didn't have dialysis that day. Usually, like, when I have dialysis, I get cramps, you know, my legs be very heavy. But I didn't go. I didn't have dialysis at that time. So we were going to the church And as I was going to the church I felt this heaviness

Like chains in my ankles Like wasn't allowing me to go to church And I told my wife Which she was my girlfriend at the time I told her Hey I can't I can't go to the church She was like what you mean? You can't Because I feel something heavy in my legs

I don't know if I'm feeling sick or something So like no no no let's take a walk Let's walk a little bit and then we'll go to the church As I got close to the church, the chains got heavy. That's why I call them chains, but my legs got heavy. My legs got real heavy. And I was like, oh, I can't go in. She's like, come on.

She says, put your arm around me and just go. So as I went into that church, everything that was heavy just loosened out. And the church service was beautiful. They were praising. They were worshiping. And they were speaking in tongues. They were just, you know, sing to God. And I know this was God.

The first time that I went to the church and I told you that that wasn't God, that wasn't God. But this church that I went to, I knew that it was God. I knew that I was in the presence of God. I knew that God wanted to change my life that day. So when the pastor says, whoever wants to give themselves to Christ, you know, come. So I came, I said, you know what, I'm going to give myself to Christ. I'm tired of living this lifestyle. I'm tired of just constantly feeling the way I feel.

I'm just going to give myself to God. So when I gave myself to God, I walked into the altar. And when I went into the altar, I said, God, I realize it today that, you know, I wasn't serving you. I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do. I said, starting today, I would serve you more than I ever serve the devil. And I gave myself to Christ. And it was the best thing, that was the best feeling in the world I did. But you think that giving yourself to Christ that everything is going to be good.

Nah. After that, I gave myself to Christ a guy I even. worse. And how old are you at this point? I was about 30 years old. And were you still active in the gangs? I was still active. So even throughout all this, meeting your wife,

giving yourself, wow. I was still active in the lifestyle. That's what I call it. I call it lifestyle. I was in that lifestyle, heavy. Doesn't it kind of contradict each other to still be in that lifestyle and then still? The 26th National Sports Collectors Convention is

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Up front payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at MintMobile.com. believe in a religion and give yourself? No, because at that time I was still living that lifestyle but once I gave myself to Christ

I stopped. I stopped right away but I was still dealing with it because you know giving yourself to Christ there's a process that you have to go through learning how to cut things off learning how to stop

being a gangbaker learning how to stop selling drugs learning how to stop selling drugs learning how to stop worshipping the devil. Even when I gave myself to Christ, I still had those idols in my house because I was scared

because they threatened my life. They said, if you stop, if you stop doing this, like you're going to die pretty much because we saved you from being sick. So even though you go to dialysis, we're still saving you. We're protecting you from not dying,

from dialysis. And I was scared. I was scared. Even though I gave myself to Christ, that day, I was scared and I still had those idols there for three and a half months. And to one day I said, I'm tired of this and I threw it out. And then I stopped gang banging. I gave my flag up and I was like, hey, you know, I'm giving myself to Christ.

They was okay with that. You know what I'm saying? My big homie, my GF, that's what they call it. And they were okay with that. Um, everything was falling into place, meaning like, I have to stop what I'm doing. But spiritually, I was, I was, I was continuing, like, I was going through it a lot. I was getting sick. There were so many times that I almost died a couple times because of, um, because of, uh, dialysis and stuff like that.

So, but I kept going. I kept, kept following Christ. I got baptized. Real baptism. by the water and I continue going I will get I will get things in my mind that

that mental health was real like I said mental health is real I have things that will speak to me and say what are you doing this for like kill yourself and I'm like no like I'm following Christ like they would say you lost everything

like why are you doing this and I did I lost everything if it wasn't It wasn't for my mom that I would live with my mom at that time. I would have been homeless because I stopped telling drugs. I stopped doing all those things. So I didn't have no money producing. I wasn't producing any type of money.

So I would have lost everything. Thank God I didn't get an opportunity that I didn't get any like long prisons. Like I never went to jail. Thank God I didn't go to jail. Yeah, you were gangbang for almost a decade. How do you avoid, you know, arrest, jails, prison, you know, how do you not to tie-up? I was into the witchcraft. So you're saying that protected you all of these 10 years?

That protect me. Witchcraft protected me. Because I would know certain things to keep myself away. Or they would tell you, they would tell you, hey, don't go to this thing, don't go to that thing. So give us an example of that. Okay, so I'll be like, so I would go to see my high priest, right? And I'll ask them, hey, I'm going to go and sell this drugs to somebody. Can you ask the saints to protect me?

And they will go, okay, they will tell you, okay, this is the amount of money you need to do. This is what you have to do. You have to put a candle, a coconut and some flowers, and you need to throw it in the ocean. Chune is the one that's going to protect you and guide you. That's the saint that I worship. So what I had to do was I had to take a coconut. I would cut it, take out the juices, put a candle in there, a yellow candle.

Her flower is yellow, sunflowers, and I would throw it in the ocean as an offering. And that will protect me from anything I would do. Stuff like that. It sounds weird, but it did help. So would it tell you to, like, not go to a certain drug deal or not, like, where other guys would get arrested? Yes. That's what I'm curious about. Yeah.

So, like, let's say if I'm about to do something, the high priest will call me and be like, hey, wherever you're going to go, I don't know where you're going to go, but don't go. And then I will listen and something would happen, like you say. And that protected you for a decade in this. It's just like that. So now when you leave a gang like the bloods, right? How do they get the word out that you're out? And what about the rivals? Aren't you still a target?

Like you don't just go from, say, the Crips after you on a Tuesday and then you renounce yourself and they're going to stop being after you. Well, see, New York City is so big. So they didn't, like, I didn't, nobody didn't really know me as this blood thing. Like, I'm, like, out there, like, flagging, like, yeah, I'll flag. But I wasn't, like, banging like that. I was the side guy I was the one that was hustling

That was that was my main thing I was the hustler Now when you say flag that means rocking the colors Yeah like I rock the colors Like I wear red I always wear red and all that Or I would flag But I really didn't have beef for anybody

And that didn't make you a target for police too They didn't know Even though you're wearing red And you're associated with these people Because in New York City is different Compared to other states Other states New York City You have to like

they have to really, really investigate you to know if you are who you are, you know. What about snitches and informants and rats and all of that? They're not throwing you under for a buyer. Are you protected by that? I was protected by that, yeah. So how? I didn't have, I didn't, I wasn't around the cops area. I wasn't, I wasn't a big time like that when it came to drugging.

Like, I would sell little stuff, like weed and stuff like that. Okay. I was more into the witchcraft than anything. I was more on the witchcraft. So I would help the bloods when it comes to witchcraft. That was my main thing. And I was, like I said, I was associate with them. Like I had the tattoos here and the tattoos there.

I was an artist. How do those tattoos affect you now that you've renounced gang life? I've been, by the grace of God. By the grace of God, I like, haven't, nobody has. and said anything to me or not like that. Like, do you want to get them removed? Yeah, yeah, I do. But I also don't want to, like, as a Christian now,

I don't put no tattoos on me anymore because that's the conviction that God gave me. You know what I'm saying? So whatever I have right now is what I have. But as you see me, I'm always rocking anything that has to do with Christ. Everything is Christ. I go to juvenile centers

and I'll talk about my lifestyle. I'll talk about what I used to do. There's game members. There's Crips and there's Bloods and there's Zos, there's all different, but they know that that's not my lifestyle no more. You know, I never did, I never killed anybody, but I lived that lifestyle, you know. So.

How do they respond to you? Like we were talking earlier about how, you know, kids who are involved in gangs, heavily active, they're very immature, you know, How do they responding to you when you're going into these prisons and they hear your story, your testimony about how you renounce gang life? How do they react to that? They respect it to believe it or not. Because a lot of them believe in God.

A lot of people believe in God. Maybe they probably don't believe the same God that I believe in, right? But they believe in God and they can see the change in me. Like if you can look in my eyes, you can tell that I'm pure. I'm sanctified and I'm all about love now. but that lifestyle I used to be I wasn't my face was like I was I was angry but when I go and I see these kids and I and I show them love and I and I show them listen I was that same kid that you was I felt rejected I felt depressed I felt like how you feel angry I feel like I needed a family

member a gang member to protect me I can relate to them the same way you can relate to other people when you go to juveniles or jails, you know? And it's, you know, it's the same thing as me. Now, I know a lot of, like, gangs have rules about, you know, like, no hurting innocent children, women, or even civilians. Why do they still recruit young kids to these gangs? Yeah, that, yeah, that is to continue building. Continue building.

Like, New York is different compared to L.A. and compared to other states. You know what I'm saying? Some of them, they grew up in that lifestyle. And that's all they know. So they start off like in junior high school. That's when they really start gaming in the junior high school. And they're in their schools and stuff like that to get, you know, to grow. But some of them, not a lot of gang members approve that, believe it or not.

They don't improve their brothers or young kids starting off early. But then there's other ones that are really like corrupt, like they're my minds is really about that money and really about that bag and they they feel like you know we got to get them got to get them young so that when I won't go to jail but that person will go to jail and they will get out early I've been to juvenile sense especially in the state of Florida it's so sad these kids are got attempted murder and you know and they're telling me like they're telling me in person like hey can you pray for me because I'm getting a murder charge and they're not saying to me that they didn't do it.

But you can tell that they didn't do it. But they'd taken the rap. Now, who's to blame for this? Is it the parents that these kids are getting involved and gang-activity? I just think about where they grew up, where they lived, the lifestyle, the area of what they see, you know? Sometimes you can blame it on the parents, depending on it. Or sometimes it's just, we all have free will, right? So it's what we see and what we watch.

like me as what I saw that I was intrigued by it, you know, when we have to understand that we cannot be followers, we have to be leaders, you know? I mean, I guess, and we were talking earlier, that community and neighborhoods has to be a big integral part because, like, when I went to school, the same public high school I went to is the same public school,

some of the kids I mentor went to, and it was, you know, some of these kids are involved in gang activity, but when I was in school, I don't remember any of that. You know, and I hung out with a very diverse array of people and people weren't actively saying they were in gangs, you know? But now I talk to some 13, 14, 15-year-old kids. It's a different generation.

You look at their charges and they're saying they're gang affiliate and this and that. We didn't do that. We didn't do that. That's what I was trying to tell you. Like, we didn't say, like, hey, I'm a blood and stuff like that. Unless I was with a different gang member, then they're looking at me and, like, then it's different.

But as, like, cops and stuff like, We didn't say none of that. You know, but now it's different generation. They bold. They really bold. So how do we fix that? How does that get fixed? Does going into prisons like you're doing as a renounced gang member, does that help?

Yes. I believe it helps. I believe us just talking about our stories and how we can help people and relate and just speak. Because a lot of these kids have a lot of rejection. A lot of them don't grow up with a father and a mother. Or some of them they do grow up and they do. just love their lifestyle because they like to follow. And we need to help them.

We have to disciple them what is right and from what is wrong. But how do you help a 13, 14-year-old gangbanger that's facing murder charges? How do you redeem? How do you recover from that? Is he lost and then you try to- No, I don't think he's lost because I deal with a lot of them. And some of them are just hurt. Some of them that's going through a lot.

Some of them that's going through that has been through a lot of trauma. mentally, physically. And all they want is somebody to speak to. Because some of them don't even have that in their lives. So you can speak to their lives and just be a mentor. I feel like mentorship is very strong. And I call it discipleship as well. But being a mentor to these kids, to these youth,

is very important, very, very important. Are prisons hesitant to and jail is hesitant to bring in former gang members to talk to other gang members? I believe so. I believe they are, depending on the criminal activities, like what they've done or how long they came out of prison.

Like, they are really, like, sketchy. Like, they don't really want people that just came out. And I think that's wrong because there should be an example. Listen, I just came out of jail. Look what I'm doing. You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying like somebody that's coming straight

fresh out of jail like a couple months no like give it two or three years you know and see them develop how they develop and let them come back and speak to the children and tell them listen this is what I've been through I've been locked up and when I came out of jail I still struggled I still went through a process of me learning how

to fix my life you know what I mean because like once you get out of jail jail, that doesn't mean that you're going to, like, things are going to be peaches and cream. You have to learn. You have to go through a process. If you had a felony, you know how hard it is to get a job? So you got to, you have to go through the system. So people like that, going into the jail cell, saying, I was explaining what they had,

what they went through to show these kids like, hey, I don't want to live that life. I don't want to go through that. I don't want to go through the system because of the mistakes that I make constantly. daily. So what do you do now? Like what's a typical day like now that you renounce gang activity? I know you go into prisons and stuff, but is that what pays your bills? What does your life look like?

No, I do music as well. But my second full-time job is becoming a minister. I'm constantly, constantly serving God. And I do music. You know, right now that's what I do. Do you ever think about the witchcraft stuff and everything from the past? Do you think about that at all? I think about that.

Do I think about going back? No. What I think about is how can I help, right? Like, I want to help the people that has been through that, you know, that situation of them getting oppressed, attacked, or living that lifestyle and want to get out because a lot of them don't know how to get out, you know, because it's tough. Do you still believe it was a true thing that those powers and spirits were real? I believe in that. Even though you found a new religion, does your current religion not believe in those other things?

Or do they acknowledge it? They acknowledge it, yes. We believe in deliverance. We believe in casting them out to the pit of hell. Yes. And that's what I do. I pray for people. That's what I'm known for.

Praying, ministering to them. talking to their lives and talking about my testimony like I'm doing now. I'm telling them what I've been through, you know. So, yeah, we believe in that. Now, if someone pulls your criminal record right now, what are they going to find? Nothing. Just little petty crime things. But pretty much I'm clean.

I don't think many gangbangers can say that. I know. Because I was, like I said, I was more like in the side. I wasn't really in deep into it. What about the other ones that were practicing what you believed in at the time? Were they as clean as you? No, no.

So they were still some that believed in it, followed it, and still got caught and jammed up. Mm-hmm, of course. So you don't think there's more to it than that then? What do you mean? Like maybe destiny or luck or whatever it is you want to call it? No. No, I don't think it's luck.

I really believe that principalities, spiritual warfare is real. I really believe that. And I believe that even those people who made those mistakes, I believe that they gave themselves to Christ. I know a couple of them that did. Some of them I still live in that lifestyle. And some people, they just love it.

And, you know, like I said, God gives us free will. Free will is a choice. Like, you know, everybody else got to be. choice. What about your dad? Do you have a relationship with him now? Yes. Now I got, he just came out of jail. He came out of jail last August. He's been out for a year. He gave himself to Christ. He works in Arizona. He's in Arizona on the west side. He works with the homeless and the drugs. He does that full time. So he renounced gang activity. Yes, he renounced gang activity in the gangs. And like while he was in prison. In jail. Sorry, excuse me.

In jail, yeah. Okay. He stopped. But he's 62 years old. How does he feel learning about your journey and what you've been through? Does he take any responsibility for that? You know what? I haven't spoke to him about that.

But I know that he's proud of what I've been through. Like, he's like, you know, I'm proud of you, like, where you came from and who you are now. And we just thought we're building a relationship. Building a relationship. Like, I forgive him not being in my life. You know, my mom and my sister did the best that they can do for me, you know. So I love my mom. I love my sister.

They help me out so, so much. There's a lot of people that have blame for a parent not being there who tries to come back in their life. And I've interviewed people who have themselves have abandoned their kid or, you know, all those years in addiction in prison. And when they get out, they try to build a relationship and they regret that, but the kid won't let them back in. what advice do you give to like children, young adults, or anyone that, you know, had a father or a mother in prison is trying to come back into their life. How do you forgive?

Well, what I can say is, and I'm going to be transparent. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount. New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up?

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These savings won't last. So don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Memorial Day clearance now through May 25th. Wayfair, every style, every home. I didn't know I had daddy issues until I was an adult into a couple years ago. I didn't know that. I was just, my mindset was not even worried about that. But what I can say is, you know, forgiveness is powerful.

Sometimes forgiveness is, for you to forgive that person is not for that person. It's for you so that you can move on. if you want to have a relationship with your with your parents and so be it do you if you don't want to have a relationship that's fine as well but forgiveness is what breaks everything truly is what do you think are the biggest takeaways you want people to take away from your story the life lessons um let me see knowing what's right and wrong understanding that we're not all going to make the right decisions at one time. We're not.

But finding something that you believe in can help you. My faith is why I'm here. Like, if it wasn't for my faith, I think I would be dead. Everybody, like, Jesus Christ, like, literally saved my life. And I give everything for him, like, everything. I would not be here to this day if it wasn't for him. Some people would say something else, but for me, for me personally, is Jesus Christ.

So I'll say is that for me, God is the way the truth in the life. That's why I'm going to say, I know a lot of people don't believe in God. I know a lot of people don't believe in Jesus Christ. But I believe in them. And what God transitioned into my life and made me, the man that I am today is why I'm here today. I mean, that's what I can say about that.

Well, Alex, thank you so much, man, for coming on the pod and sharing your story. Thank you, man. Thank you for the merch. Oh, man. And keep doing what you're doing, man. It's so important to go into these facilities and share your experience and how you overcame that, whether you're religious or not, you know. That's so powerful.

I mean, I was in a jail yesterday. I spent the day there in Tennessee, you know, just talking about. talking to people and letting them know that there's a whole life after this that you could rebuild. And there's a power in using your past, you know, that the most negative things is an advantage. Like, we're sitting here because I went to prison, you know? Not because I went to college or went to Harvard, you know. I've been able to build something from that. And I think that's the message we have to get out to people that are already going through it. Yeah. Yeah. And I truly believe that, you know, changing your lifestyle helps a lot.

and who you surround yourself with. And who surrounds yourself with, you know. And I believe that God will remove the people away from you. I believe that because that's what God did to me. Like, God removed people away situations. I'm in Florida. My family's from New York. My friends are from New York.

I'm in Florida. Like, what am I doing over there in Florida? I have no family, have nobody there. But I'm doing what God wants me to do there. So you think if you stayed in New York, you would have had a harder time, staying away from gangs, getting into trouble, anything like that?

No, because I was already, like, I just moved to out in Florida in January. Okay. And I already gave myself to Christ for eight years now. And I come, I still come back to New York, and I still come out on these streets. Like, most of my followers are not Christians,

believe it or not. And which I love the most. Because I can sit down and break bread with somebody without even judging them because why I've been through that same situation that you've been through. And I could look into you and I'm like, listen, it's all right. You know, there's going to be a way.

You know, if we show a lot of love and compassion to somebody and you just sit there and just listen to them, because most of the people, they just want to hear, they just want you to hear them out. And, you know, that's it. And, you know, you can relate. Just like you, you can relate to the people. Absolutely.

Well, thank you again, man. And then safe travels back to Florida. Thank you so much. Thank you.