Locked In with Ian Bick - How I Survived 10 Years in Brutal Texas Prisons As A Tango Blast Gang Member | Anthony Sanchez

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Anthony Sanchez grew up in Texas surrounded by chaos, violence, and the lure of street life. By his teenage years, he was caught up in robberies and assaults that eventually led to a 16-year prison sentence in one of the toughest state systems in America. Inside, he became part of Tango Blast — the most violent and feared prison gang in Texas. #TangoBlast #TexasPrisons #PrisonStories #GangLife #SurvivingPrison #TrueCrimePodcast #LockedInPodcast #prisoninterviews Thank you to BLUECHEW & PRIZEPICKS for sponsoring this episode: Visit https://bluechew.com/ and use promo code LOCKEDIN at checkout to get your first month of BlueChew & pay five bucks for shipping. Prizepicks: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/IANBICK and use code IANBICK and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Connect with Anthony Sanchez: https://www.instagram.com/illuminating777solutions?igsh=NGFwNWRrZG12czB6 Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Surviving Texas Prisons 02:18 – Anthony Sanchez: Growing Up in Houston’s Toughest Neighborhoods 05:12 – Family Struggles, Street Life & Early Influences 12:27 – Teenage Hustles: Money, Respect, and Consequences 15:55 – First Crimes, Violence & the Path to Prison 23:10 – The Arrest That Changed Everything 27:00 – County Jail Reality: Corruption, Chaos & Survival 38:18 – Sentenced to 16 Years in the Texas Prison System 41:00 – Inside Texas Prisons: Gangs, Power & Survival Tactics 47:01 – Tango Blast: Brotherhood, Violence & Earning Respect 01:00:01 – Daily Life Behind Bars: Fights, Checks & the Code of Prison 01:10:17 – Staying Alive & Growing Through the Madness 01:13:01 – Finding Purpose: Education, Mentors & Redemption 01:18:18 – Freedom After 16 Years: The Struggle to Rebuild Life 01:21:40 – Hard Lessons from Prison & the Streets 01:26:26 – Giving Back & Building a New Future 01:32:00 – Final Reflections & Message to the Youth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Bad advice? You talking to me? Kayak, got that right. Man, we're the most violent, ruthless prison gang. If you ain't blasting, you ain't lasting, and that's a real life saying. Were you scared to go to a real Texas prison? So I tell him, like, bro, don't you know who I am? Like, you need to rewind yourself.

So what do you think I did? I pulled that burner out on them. So when you're sitting in that jail cell at that age, face with that much time, what's going in your mind? At just 18 years old, Anthony Sanchez was sentenced to 16 years in one of the most dangerous prison systems in America. Inside, he joined Tango Blast, the most violent gang in Texas just to survive.

Anthony, welcome to Lockton, man. Flew in straight from Texas last night just to be here. I appreciate you. Hey, man, first and foremost, I want to say thank you for the opportunity, for allowing me the opportunity to be on your platform. It's a major thing, especially coming all the way from Houston, Texas, to be able to tell my story to educate the masses on TDCJ, reintegrating back into society,

and how many obstacles and trials and tribulations that we face being convicted felons. Yeah, I appreciate you. I'm sorry, it took so long. We connected back in January. We were supposed to do this a while ago, but I'm glad we remembered and followed back up. It's all on God's time. And remember in the book of Ecclesiastics, it says there's always a time and place for everything under the sun. I believe it's Ecclesiastics chapter three.

Yeah, and I think you must be our freshest-looking guest. I mean, walked in here like a Bafioso this morning. Hey, check game. One thing of real gang's nose, man, we wear suits. Perception is reality. If you're in the hood and you're just walking around looking like a thug, the laws are going to mess with you. They're going to approach you. They're going to profile you. But if you're dressing with a suit eater, they're going to think that you just came from court or you're standing on business. You look like you just got done working. You're a lawyer or something like that. So it's to change the image. That's why I wear suits. Because I am a convicted felon. I got gang tattoos on me.

I got diamonds in my mouth. So I'm going to be profiled if I dress with a tall T, some dickies, and some house shoes. So you have to change the image. And me being where I came from dressing in a suit, it inspires a lot of young kids to show them like, hey, this is how we need to conduct ourselves. This is how we need to dress. Because you've got a lot of dope beings right now that claim that they're gangsters, OGs, misguiding the youth.

And that's why I believe the crime rate is so high because I was one of the youth that was misguided. I was one of the kids that listened to these old dope fiends that were like, man, you got a rob, steal, you got a pimp, you got to jail, you got to do this. And they gave me the game wrong. And nobody ever told me that aggravated robbery is 5 to 99 years. My first offer when I went to TDCJ was 66 years. and they don't tell you about that time. They just tell you, hey, this is what it is, this is what it is, but they don't tell you that there's repercussions

and consequences to your actions. Where did you come from? What's your upbringing? Like, what do you mean? Like, where are you from? I'm from Houston, Texas. I'm from the south side. I'm from Revely Park.

What was that like growing up there? Growing up, you could say, like, I'm Mexican, right? So, growing up, I lived with my mom. I see my mom overdose when I was seven years old. So I was forced, like, I was abused as a child. My mom used to beat me. She used to skits out on coke all the time and just, like, abuse me. And that's what I thought love was.

And that's probably why, like, I had a lot of trauma, thinking, oh, like, if I'm in a relationship with a female, they're supposed to hurt me or abuse me or something like that, verbally abuse me or hit me. But at seven years old, I see my mom die in front of me. And when I seen her die, like I was a kid, I didn't know that she was dying. She was just on the floor bleeding. And I'm over here playing with her blood, whatever. My brothers come in from, I guess, the swimming pool. My older brother, he slapsed me like, man, get in the room.

She's already dead. I don't even know that she's dead. I'm like, man, what's going on? I thought my mom's playing with me. Well, she ended up dying. I was forced to live with my dad. but my dad, he's a dope fiend. He's strung out on crack.

He ain't never around. So he was living with my grandma and my uncle. My uncle was the breadwinner, the house. So I was forced to live with them, and it's me and my three other brothers. So growing up on the southeast side, it's the hood. You could say that. And you could say, like, being a kid and not having a role model, a positive role model, someone that could inspire you, you go through an identity.

crisis and being Mexican, we don't have positive role models. You don't have positive leaders. The educational system failed the Mexican people. And when I speak, I speak for the Mexican people because I feel like we don't have community leaders. Unlike other nationalities, you're going to see that they have leaders in the history books and the educational system books. But for us, we don't have nobody. They say that we're immigrants, that we're supposed to be deported, that we're We're savages, this, this, and that, that we're criminals, we're part of the cartel. But being a kid, not knowing this, and being in the environment, I'm like a hot cup of coffee. You set it in the room eventually it becomes room temperature.

We become products of our environment. So if I'm only seeing robbing, killing, stealing, pimping, I'm going to do that because I think it's right. Nobody is born a criminal where victims are a circumstance. We never committed a crime that we didn't have to do. We're forced because we are underserved in the hood. We don't have enough resources. We don't have enough opportunities. And it's not that we're dumb, but we're ignorant to the tools within the system.

So growing up and seeing all this, I was thinking like, okay, this is how I make money. I would see other kids with their mom and dad, they have Jordans. I won Jordans. So, okay, I'm going to go hit a lick. I'm going to go sell some dope. This is what I want. And listening and being misguided by, you could say, these fucking dope fiends that were talking about, they jeed up, their OGs. But they're still living at their mom's and daddy house.

They ain't never left the hood talking about, hey, go do this, go do that. This is how we do it. Thinking, okay, led me down the wrong path because I looked up to them. And especially in Houston, our culture is 80-4s. sip and drink, candy paint. And I went down the wrong path. I went down the wrong path, and I could only take accountability for myself

for idolizing these false leaders, these false you could portray and say gangsters or OGs. Because my ideology of OG is someone that elevates our community, I uplift our community. That's why if you look at my content, And when I say one thing a real gangster knows, it's a real gangster supposed to uplift, inspire, and redirect the youth. Because we're not out here stealing. We're not out here, robbing.

We're not out here. Killing if you're a gangster. You're supposed to be OG. Teach the kids, DBAs, EINs, LLCs, teach them about a ROTRA, teach them about life insurance, teach them how to get generational wealth. but they're not going to teach us that. That's why I use my platform to try to educate the masses and show it doesn't matter about where you're from. It matters about where you're going because I'm going.

I'm going to fuck up. I don't messed up my whole life. I did 10 and a half years in prison. I was sentenced to 16 years. And if I could make it, anybody could make it. Do you think your mom's passing at such a young age for you really robbed you of your childhood? No, I actually think that,

It's probably, I could say that's probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. Like, I'm not the type of individual to say that because this happened, it caused me trauma and led me down the wrong path. It made me do drugs. When I was a child, I thought that, and I used to take Xanax and go off. I probably smoked a shitload of Sharm with Xanax, pride out, talking about I'm numbing the pain. and but I'm not going to say that caused my trauma. I'm going to say it was the environment that caused my trauma. It was the things that I seen.

My mom dying is probably the best thing to happen to me because it's my story. If you embrace your story because we only live once that everything happens for a reason and you've got to love it because where other individuals didn't have their mom die, my mom's passing was a lesson to make me strong. to make me more able to the challenges that I face ahead that I'm going to face probably today,

tomorrow or 10 years down the line. Compared to another individual that never had a close relative past, when tragedy strikes, they're going to go through mental depression. I'm not going to go through mental depression because I already experienced it. So I'm not saying that I'm emotionally numb, but I'm more than capable of dealing with any adversity coming my way. you do you think you lacked love as a kid did i lack love like that people giving you love your family especially experiencing that much trauma at a young age no i'm mexican like being mexican like our family's very like

man we love each other we're never going to let our family fall like if you're homeless you're not going to be homeless you're going to have like 10 15 30 mexicans and owls together that's one thing i love about being Mexican. Like, we're never going to let our people down. We might not have a lot of money. We might be poor. But, man, we're going to eat beans and rice and tamales. We're going to be happy.

I'm not going to say that I lack love because the love was always there. I just lack guidance. So now young Anthony, right, what are you dreaming of for the future? What are your aspirations? What are your goals as a teenager? My goals, man, my goals as a teenager. I really didn't know I was lost. My goals was just to make a shitload of money, be rich, make a shitload of money, or die crying.

There was really no goals being oriented. But when I was younger, though, I was always educated. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to get into politics. I wanted to be a revolutionist. But being caught up in the streets, there was like there was no way out. I never thought I could accomplish anything because I was stuck living in property.

Where do you think that desire for money came from? It was out of envy. You're walking to school with sketches on. You're wearing, you only have two pairs of clothes to go to school every week. You don't got no haircuts. And then you see the other kids with Jordans. They're nice jewelry. Then you go to high school and you see them with cars.

you don't got a car, and it makes you feel very insecure, especially living in America that we are idolistic and we idolize material things. We live in a material world, and people are mean, kids are mean, they're going to look at you and be like, man, you got that, you got them strawberries on. That's, it's a shoe, I guess, from sketchers. They were right down on you. Oh, you got the, you got them sketch your adventures on, like, because, you're, it's, it's, it's a shoe, I guess, from sketchers. Like, because I didn't have it. So the desire for money was I wanted material things. I wanted to look good.

I didn't want to be cloned on. So I think that's what, like, made me want money. Guys, enter the room, rooster first. Blue Chew isn't just a tablet. It's a cheat code for your crotch. Stronger, harder, longer lasting. Like someone gave your downstairs a pep talk and a gym membership. Blue Chew is the original brand offering chewable tablets for better sex.

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They would say I was ruthless. They would say I was ruthless that I'm not the same person I am today. They would say that I'm probably, they would probably say I'm a demon, I'm a savage, that I was really in the streets, and that I surprised them that I'm not the same individual. When I was a kid, my way of thinking was different from all the other little kids. I used to see them go party, go drinking shit like that, and I always wanted money.

I didn't want to party. I would be in a room. You have 15 motherfuckers over there. Everybody's just chilling. They're getting high. And I'll go pull out some Coke, give everybody a line off 15 of them. And then they'll come, hey, give me another line, oh boy? That's why I say, I got 20s for sale.

I got it for sale. And I would bleed them, I'll pop them. You won't come off them. You won't come off that gold chain. Your mama bought you. So I really didn't have a lot of friends because I would exploit their addictions. Because I always knew, like, you have an addiction. I'm going to pray on that addiction.

And you're going to give me what I want. And I think that's what, like, my best friends would probably say about me. but one thing they can say is that I was a loyal motherfucker. If they got into it with somebody, they already knew I was the first person to call. What was your first memory of really, really being in that street life? So what really, like, made me go in the streets, I think I was like 10, 11 years old.

My best friend, he called me, and he was like, man, they're trying to jump me in the hood. I guess he was trying to go like across the railroad tracks. I'm like, what? This is our neighborhood. We grew up over here. So I'm like, don't worry, I'm going to be there. I went in my uncle's toolbox and grabbed a screwdriver.

I got my bike. And I rode all the way down the street. And I'm like, who's doing it? He's like, man, then people over here at these apartments, they're not letting me walk by. They're trying to jump me every time. I said, man, don't worry about it. We're going to go walk by right now.

I left my bike at his apartment. So we start walking And They came out Sure enough They like hey I already told you Woo woo woo

And what do you think I did I stabbed them with a screwdriver We're all young They're young too He's probably a little older than me But he didn't know that I was gonna stab you with a fucking screwdriver You're not gonna tell me

What the fuck I can or cannot do Because like I still have morals I was raised By my uncle and my brothers and having three older brothers, it's kind of tough. They whip your ass every day. If they say or hear that you got whoop that school,

they're going to beat your ass. They're going to tell you to fight. So I think when I did this, I think that's what really made me get in the streets because I didn't know nothing about the streets till then. I didn't know about different gangs. I didn't know that the side of the neighborhood I lived in, there was gang banging or there was hood plexing.

So I went and go stab them, not knowing out, I just made a shitload of fucking enemies. Do you think you're born with that capability for violence, or is that something that's instilled in you and taught and learned along the way? I think it's learned along the way. It's instincts where human beings, we just want to survive. So we're going to do anything to survive. It's like a lion, for instance. A lion sees its prey. It's going to pounce on its prey.

compared to a human being, when we first made a random human being that we never seen, we're going to look at them, we're going to either smile or be shy, and it's just like, in our first instance, can't, oh, I want to kill them.

No, it's like, we're compassionate by nature until we're pushed their point, and then we're going to have to survive. We're going to be in a do-or-die mode. What happens after that incident? What happens? Really nothing. I didn't stab them. I didn't stab him that much. I just stabbed him like one time. And he's like, well, what the hell? We were young. Like I said, he didn't want to keep coming up. He thought he was just going to run up on me. I stabbed him, poked him one time. I didn't hit him that hard. So he was like, oh, what the hell? So they don't go. We go past. But after that, it was like a chain effect. Because now, like, I have Plex with all these people. but everybody from my hood that knows me, knows my brothers,

they hear about it. And like, nah, you ain't fucking with Lil Antheo. That's our people. He's from our block. So now it's like starting conflicts with, like, all the Crip Cartels and all the Brown Pride gangsters on the other side. And we're whipping them holes. And I'm involved in it.

I'm jumping out, out the cars. We're catching them one by one. I'm beating these holes up with baseball bats. Like, we're riding around and, In these bands, oh, we see them. That's him. Boom, I jump out. Man, what's up?

My homeboy let me catch my one with one. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then they start whooping them, start jumping them. So it just started like a whole chain reaction of things that I didn't know I was ignorant to. And I never gang banged. I'm not going to sit here and say I was a gangbanger. No, like in Houston, people get the misconception that they're super gangbanging. It's not like California.

It's not like other states. Like me growing up This is for me growing up I don't know about other people In the 90s, 80s How I was But during my time We were more like

Hoodplexing Like I'm from Beverly Park You're from Broadway Man fuck y'all You're from Edgebrook Man fuck y'all And they're the same back Fuck us

We're around in their hood They're like what you doing here Who gave you permission So it was like more hoodplexing Because like you see Houston You have Bloods and Crips They're chilling together It's not like California where you have bloods and crips killing each other.

You got Souranios and Nortennials killing each other. In Houston, people chill together unless you're from different hoods. Did you end up graduating high school? No, I actually was sending some prison when I was in high school. So tell us about the incident that lands you in prison. So I was around 17 years old. I was already fully in the streets. and I remember I was going home.

I just got done doing a play, sold some dope, and two individuals approached me at my grandma's house. And I knew one of them, he was my neighbor. He lived like two houses down. And the other one, I seen him around. I know he's from the hood, but I didn't know him like that. He's an older cat than me. And he comes up, approaches me.

talking some crazy shit. Like, well, you did this and that to my sister. Or, like, basically, like, I dogged his sister out. Like, I don't fuck this sister and then blocked her number or something like that. Some dumb shit. I don't know who the fuck he's talking about.

I'm like, what? And he's like, yeah, he's saying he's going to whip me. So I tell him, like, bro, don't you know who I am? Like, you need to rewind yourself. He said, I don't go, fuck who you are, woo, woo, woo. So what do you think I did? I pulled that burner out on him. So he looked a little shot,

but I guess he thought I wasn't going to do nothing. And everybody thought that I just ran down and shot him at gunpoint. The truth is, I didn't. The reality of it was that I pistol-wipped them. And when I pistol-wipped them, the gun went off and shot him. They shot him inside of the head. And, yeah, I was locked up that day. I was locked up.

in broad day, like, I was shocked. When the gun went off, I was like, oh, shit. Did he survive that attack? Yes, he survived. Because when I hit him, it didn't, like, it just, like, on the side of the head. It was like a little graze. Why did they call it a robbery?

No, that's the aggravated assault with deadly weapon. I'm going to tell you what happened. I'm going to get into that. So, look, I get locked up that day. I had a lawyer. His name was Ricardo Rodriguez. And he told me, man, easy case. He's like the,

guy that you shot, he's saying that you walked over to Homeboy's property and just drew down on him. He can't go on the stand and say that. You got self-defense rights. He said, because old boy that was with him said they came up to you. You're saying he came up to you. The only thing they got against you is that you're a minor and then you're running around with a pistol. So you probably get some probation. You won't be good. Give me two weeks. We got it. So I'm like, I ain't bad. I'm hyped about it. man two weeks guess what happens they wake me up talking about hey you gotta go to court i'm like man today's not my court date man they hit me with so many aggravated robberies

i got indicted for five aggravated robberies i was like man what the fuck is going on he's right there and he's like yeah they they hit you with ag robberies and uh real. People be snitching. Like, once they have me in the system, like, I got away on all my robberies. But what people don't know is, man, don't post shit on Facebook. Don't post shit on my space. Don't post shit on Instagram. Because them laws be watching. Like, I robbed all these places. I guess, you know, everybody knows me from the hood. I just fucking shot this motherfucker. I'm pretty sure he's probably the one that called 2-2-2-2-tips.

But they indicted me. They used my face as a picture because they finally got me in the system. I've never been juvenile or nothing and they went up to all these places. Hey, is this person that robbed you? And they're like, yeah, that's the person. That's the person.

So that's how they identified me. In the state of Texas, that he said, she said, if I say, Ian, you rob me. Ian, you're going to jail. You're facing and five to night nine is fucked up how the system is

and you're probably innocent but guess what in the state of Texas but I say you robbed me that's a rap you're gonna do some time what were the photos you had on social media

I guess I have photos of me with guns me showing money from the robberies I was young and dumb nobody told me they gave me the game wrong I thought I was

the fly-stakes and airplanes I thought I was flexed I got me a couple thousand I'm like you know how they put put the money to their ear and shit like that.

Over here buying jewelry, buying grills, just flexing with it. And I'm like, I feel dumb right now, even talking about it. But that's the truth. So they indicted me with all these robberies. And they told me my first offer is 66 years. Man, I'm going to tell you this.

I'm not going to sit here cap and say that I was square business. I'll stomp the buck down. Oh, bro. I went back in that cell and I cried. I cried, that shit hurt I didn't understand like 66 years for everything I did I was like, what the fuck?

And yeah, man, that that's what happened. That's how I got the aggravated robberies. How old were you when that happened? I was 17 years old. I was 17 years old. You were charged as a minor as an adult?

I was charged as an adult because I was barely going to turn what's it called 18 in a couple months. So they charge me as an adult. And were you charged singly or were there co-defendants on this case? No co-defendants. I did everything by myself. I never, like I told you, I was never part of the gang.

I never, I never been the type of person to move with a whole group of people. I always been the type of individual. Like, I handle business. I handle business by myself and I really don't need nobody. So when you're sitting in that jail cell at that age face with that much time, what's going in your mind? What are your thoughts? Honestly, like, to think about it, man, I was scared as fuck.

I was scared as fuck. I was scared. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't understand what was happening. It was like unreal. It was unreal. Like, to be offered that much time, I was like, man, it's my first time. I never been locked up.

And then I'm around the environment of people that I don't know nothing about. I see gangs in there. I see people doing weird-ass shit in there. I'm like, man, what the fuck? Where am I? And it's weirdest fuck. The Harris County in Houston, Texas is weird. It's renegade.

It's not like prison. People get the misconception that it's like other states where they have the gangs. No, it's renegade. You got people, if you come in with it, they let you have your shoes like Jordan. So it's like rotation door. People come in and going. You'll go to. take a shit, shit.

You're going to have six motherfuckers run down on you. Beat you up while you're on the shitter. They don't care if you're black, white, Mexican. Take your shoes and one of them's going to take your shoes. And he's going to go home with him. Like, bro, why six people beat you up just for your shoes while you're on the shitter? You got people doing weird shit over there. It's real renegade.

There's no politics. It's survival of the fittest. And being in that environment, it showed me that. I'm made to survive. I'm going to fight hard as fuck. Every day I'm going to fight hard as fuck. And I got a lot of backlash, especially from the Mexicans, because I grew up on the south side.

I grew up in the hood. So, like, I grew up with blacks. I grew up, like, interacting with them. I didn't know about racism or segregation or understand it until I went to prison. So when I went in there and I had black homeboys and I'll chill with them and the Mexicans would be like, bro, you're going to learn when you go to prison. And I end up beating them holes up. up. I wasn't blasting in the county. You can't blast in the county. When people be like,

oh, in the county you could be, get down with thongoblast, that's cap. They don't know what the fuck they're talking about. But yeah, I was beating them up. I didn't, I wasn't thinking about joining the gang. I was over here trying to survive and fight for my life at the time. And, yeah, man, the county was crazy. It was very renegade. I got beat up by the laws a lot. Like, the laws, it's real corruption. Like, right now, if you look, inmates are dying in Harris County all the time. I remember, like, they grew me in a holding cell because I beat up my neighbor that was sitting next to me.

I was laying down, and I was on 1,200. I was on Baker. There's a psychpatient room. Like, they have me with all these crazy motherfuckers. I don't know why they got me. They got me on the second floor with all these crazy motherfuckers. And this motherfucker, it's in the middle of the night, wakes me up screaming, you killed my mom, bitch.

A black guy, and he beeps off on me. Man, I ain't gonna lie, beat the fuck out this hole. Like, I slaughtered this hole. Stomping them out everything, the laws come in, they slam me, they throw me in the holding cell. So I'm in this cold-ass holding cell now for about three hours. It's cold as fuck. So I start kicking the door, bye, bye, bah!

Ah, screaming! So the officer, they come up to me. They're like, man, shut your bitch ass up. I'm like, I ain't shutting up. Nigel, fuck you. Ba, bah, bah. I'm kicking the door. He's like, I bet.

So I'm like, I'm still making noise. So I see like six or eight of them coming and they got the little gloves on with the knuckles. So I go run to the back. I sit down. So they come in. They say, get up. I'm like, for what? They're like, get up.

So I get up. You know what they tell me? You know what they tell me? What? You know what it is. And they beat the fuck out of me, bro. I ain't gonna lie. Ballup game of fool, though.

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Like, they abuse us in there. Like, it's real bad in the county. Now, what are their races? Are they Spanish? Are they white? Are they black? In Harris County, the officers are all nationalities. Whites, blacks, Hispanics, and it's fucked up in Harris County. It's like I said, it's renegade. There's no structure. There's no order. Aside from that, what do you think was the worst thing you witnessed or that happened to you while you were in the county jail there? The worst thing that I could say that happened to me

Really not Probably got I got a good ass whooping I got a good ass whooping I got a good ass whoopin Like I told you was Renegade I didn't know what the hell was going on So like I was fresh in the system And I didn't understand

Emates jacking off on the female officers at the time Right So you got this black motherfucker He's on top of the table Jacking off on the Guard And I'm like man what the fuck That's the first thing I see like The fuck you got going on

He tells me mind your own business youngster Sit your bitch ass down Man fuck you woo woo woo we exchange a couple words So I'm over here putting on my shoes He's already He's off Like I guess he's coming towards me in the back I guess he's trying to check me

So I already know I'm gonna take flight on him He's bigger than me he's like 220 And I had a growth spurt in the county when I first went in, I was only 5-5-117 pounds. So I know I got to take flight. So right when I start trying to take flight, he don't do no punching. He picks me up and dunks me on my head. So all my air comes out and he ground and pounding me.

He ground and pounding me. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. They stop it, whatever. And I'm like, I want my one. I want my one. By then the law is running, shit like that because we're doing it right in the open. The county is wide open. And I think that's probably the worst ass-whiping I got while I was ever locked up.

Do you think you understood the severity of your actions while you're in county jail? Are you kind of just still being like a fuck boy kind of? I was kind of being a fuck boy. Honestly, I was more, like I told you, I was more worried about surviving at the time. I didn't, like I told you, I was taught what to think, not how to think. Growing up in the hood, like I was thinking this was right. So like me going in the county facing all this time, I felt like it was fucked up. Like, they're trying to give me all this fucking time.

Why are they doing this? It's my first time. I should be going home. I should get parole. And guess what? It was my fault for listening to the dope fiends in the county. Because you got these old dope friends talking about, yeah, youngster, it's your first time. You should get parole.

And they were giving me the game wrong in the county too. What ends up happening? So I end up fighting the case. I go to trial for one. One of my cases, I actually beat two trial, two aggravated robberies and jury trial. And people don't know in the state of Texas, if the victim does not show up during trial, you know what happens, right? You're innocent? It's dismissed.

Dismissed. Boom. I beat two. So I'm going to go to the crowd for the other two robberies and the aggravated assault. We're doing them individual. So my lawyer, he comes in, he does an attorney visit, he tells me, so look, I got to be honest with you. I could probably be two more cases at trial. Be real.

But the case that you lose, they're going to slap them the fuck out you. I look at him like, what? He's like, look, I'm be real with you. If you're white, you get probation. Slap on the wrist. Since you're Mexican, you're going to get a bottle. like 45 years, 25 years around there, 25 if you're lucky. And if you're black, you ain't never going home.

I'm just going to be honest with you. Your best bet is to take a plea. And I'm like, bro, I want probation. He's like, look, you could do a PSI, but I would not recommend it. The district attorney don't want to give you probation. They don't want to come off on this. offered right now they got 30 on the table and I tell them well we're going to do a PSI this is what we're doing I'm just going to go at the mercy of the court and go tell the judge I did this I did

this I did this give me something I can do and be honest about it I'm like I'm going to take my leg my attorney told me don't do it and you know what they call a PSI in the county no they call it Please stick it in me because they're going to fuck you with no Vaseline. What is a PSI for the audience? A pre-screen investigation. So they run all your background. They get character witnesses and everything like that. So I did a PSI.

I go up. I had Mark Ken Ellis, 351 court. For people that don't know about him, he's the same judge that's sentenced SPM. So I went up and I went and said, look, this aggravated robbery, I did it. I did it. The aggravated assault, but this is how it really happened on the aggravated assault. The fucked up thing was they were so mad that I beat them cases at trial. They closed their docket on me.

They hit me with something called extraneous cases. All the robberies in like a 15 mile, 40 mile radius, they grew it on me. They just said a little Mexican motherfucker. And I swear to God, it was like 20 cases. I did not do it. But they didn't have enough evidence to indict me. so they're going to clear their docket on them. They made all these people write statements and come on the stand.

A lot of them was like, we don't see them in there. But I would never forget, while I was doing a PSI trial by judge, this old white guy gets on the stand. They're like, do you see the guy that robbed you? It was him. And I'm like, bro, I don't even know you. I swear to God I didn't know this, man. I didn't rob them.

And I'm like, so I go on the stand. And I'm giving my closing statement. I'm like, look, I did this, I did that. And I'm here to confess to the crimes that I did. I'm not, but I'm not going to admit to something I didn't do. I'm here to seek mercy. All I'm asking is, give me something that I can do. I'm not trying to do anything older than me, right?

By this time, I'm already 18, and it's funny. they gave me 16 years in prison. They sentenced me to 16 years. I think it was a steal that I got 16 years, but I think that I think it was a blessing. I really do think it was a blessing. I didn't realize it at the time because other people get a lot of fucking time for robberies.

But at the time, I was crying. I went in there, I was fucking, I was sick to my stomach. Like, then I'm going to prison. I thought my whole life was thrown away. So, yeah, that's what happened. Do you think that was the first moment where you kind of got humbled a little bit in your life? I've been humbled a lot. God has a funny way of humbling me.

I don't think that was the most traumatic way he humbled me. I think it was later on in my sentence that he really, really humbled me. How long are you in county before they move you after you get sentenced? You were in there from like 30 days. They shipped me off in 15 days. Were you scared to go to a real Texas prison? No, I didn't know what to expect. And like from the county,

and I was lucky enough to get laced up by certain people. Like I told you, I wasn't going to gang bang or get him, get down with anybody when I was in the county. I got a good friend, his speedy, he laced me up about the blast and told me what it stands for. You got a lot of people, a lot of fake motherfuckers out here right now that do social media and they want to go out and be like, I started Thango Blass or I was this, I was that. The truth is no one motherfucker started Thangoblast. If he says that, he could suck

my motherfucking dick. That's the God honest truth. People have a false narrative of what Thangoblast really is. Thangu blast means together against negative gang organizations, be loyal and stay true. We're not like a phama. We're a democracy. We're the greatest prison revolution that ever occurred. So when I was laced up by homie, he done told me like, can't nobody give you a knife and say go stab that motherfucker. It's all what you want to do out your quota, out your heart. So I agreed with it because we're here for the people. We're here for, let's say a little Mexican comes in,

but he's going to fight for himself. He wants to be Solano. We're not going to let the Famos. We're not going to let the Morenos go try to extort them. When, nah, nothing like that. If he's fighting for himself, the blast is going to protect them. Because we are a prison revolution, something that's positive. But you have motherfuckers pushing a false narrative on us out here.

And then you have people that come out and want to be super tango blast. When we don't gang bang, we're not a fucking gang. When you're in the world, you're a civilian. We don't orchestrate in the world. We're not a fucking phama. And they give us a false narrative. So people like me, when I come home, I'm labeled as a criminal. No, I'm a fucking civilian.

That shit stays in prison because it's some prison shit. It's not out here. Is that where it differs from most gangs or prison gangs? Yes, because most prison gangs like Mexican mafia, Aztecas, bistolettos, RUs, Texas syndicates, they run by chain of command. You have lieutenant, sergeants and stuff like that. When it comes to tango blast, like I said, we're a democracy. There's not one leader.

There's not one person that, hey, I started it. I'm the lieutenant. No, it don't run like that. It goes like this. Like, who has the best trompah? You're going to have 500 motherfuckers on the rec yard, and we're going to raise our hand. I feel like Homeboy should speak for the blast.

He's respected. He conducts himself right. He's not going to crash the homies out. And he has amazing communication skills. And all the other gangs in here respect them. So he's easy to talk. talk to and he could de-escalate a situation if we have replics with the bloods, the crypts, the GEDs, or these other gangs.

What's the reputation of Tonga blast in Texas prisons? The reputation, man, we're the most violent, ruthless prison gang. If you ain't blasting, you ain't lasting. And that's a real life saying. We really stand on business. Most people would be like, oh, this, no, the truth is, everybody that ever opposed us, they're no more. Like Texas

Synegade, they don't even walk the unit. Ba-Maz, they don't even walk the units because we took it to them. We took it to everybody that ever opposed us. Like, now, let me lace you up. I'm going to give you some real live game. So, like I told you, you got a lot of fake motherfuckers that say

they started the blast, right? Ain't no motherfuckers start the blast. There's not one motherfucker. The way, when you hear, you stone, tango blast, the word tango, like I told you what it meant, but tango really means what city you're from, what tango you're from, home boy, it's just what city.

So you had Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth. That's tango blast. Four cities, one mission. So what tango are you from? I'm from D-town. I'm from Fort Worth. And then you have multiple tangos like tango Orohon, tango vayuku, tangu, tangu, Mexico,

tangu-chuku. That's the city. But the way the blast started, it was, where city boys were from and we got tired of the Texas Seneca, exploiting the Mexican people that were from Houston. We ganged up together

and we took it to them holes. Eventually we got Dallas forward, Austin all on the same boat and all four cities took out the biggest penitentiary gang there is. The way Tango Blast and it started becoming Tango Blast you have to understand that there's a history to everything, right?

Most people just think, oh, it just invented. No, there's an old movie. You ever watched Tombstone? No. They used to say, we're blasting. And it was four horsemen. That's where Thango Blast came from. That's where they got the ideology blast.

The Four Horsemen, Thangle Blast, they used to say, we're blasting. So that's the real history. and that's how we started. We're just homeboys. We're not a gang. We're a prison revolution that wanted to protect our people. We don't believe in extortion. We don't believe in rape.

We don't do none of that. And we don't accept sex offenders. I want to clear that up because I understand that you had someone on your podcast a while back. Dongoblast does not accept sex offenders. We check paperwork through the door. If there are a sex offender and they come in, like I told you, we don't accept, we don't do extortion. but they could pay to stay. They pay rent.

We're going to extort them. They're going to pay rent to stay over there. All units check paperwork. Unless you're like on a transfer unit or a weeny-ass unit that ain't checking paperwork. Everybody, if you're Mexican and you're from one of our four cities, we're checking your paperwork. You're coming in. We're going to look it up either on the JAG. We're going to look all your paperwork up and see if you're a chomo.

We do not accept that. So you guys aren't violent towards bad. paperwork like other gangs are, you'd rather make the money off of it. Like paying to stay, like the Aryan Brotherhood or other gangs are not going to allow someone to pay to stay, they're going to just get rid of them. So we make them pay to stay. That's on some units or they catch out. It just depends, but we don't believe in extortion.

We rather make them catch out. So I'm going to give you a scenario. Let's say a Chomo comes in. Homeboy says, I'm going to make him my chabobob. A chava is like their bitch in there He's gonna wash his boxers He's gonna pay commissary Alright okay that's what you want to do

You take that as your own self As an individual Because let's say Someone starts fucking with him And he's a hoe and he's a chava So everybody wants to bully him And now you gotta fight for him We're all gonna fight behind you

Because you're my homeboy But after we go ride Because you wanted to have a fucking chaba We're gonna whip your bitch ass too Because we don't believe in that You crashed out good hook homeboys because you want to have a whole ass motherfucker under you. We don't

accept that. That's the difference. Like, he did that as a man. He didn't do that as a member of Tango Blast because we don't accept that. And that's how it is. Now, back to the situation we did have a guest on that said he was

Tango Blast and he turned out, I guess, to be a tromo. Yeah. How does that happen? I have no fucking idea, bro. I don't know what unit he was on or nothing like that. I really don't fucking know, but I know that

he is a tromo. He is a tromot. He is a sex offender. I'm not going to say that he's a homeboy. I don't think he is. Was he Tango Blasso? What unit was he on? Who could say they're on a unit with him? I don't know one person that says

they're on a unit unless he was just like on state jail or something like that. State jail or like it's not considered Tango Blasso. You feel me? Or was he on like one of them little kid units or something like that that never hit the real ID units? And they don't check paperwork. He probably did a turnaround.

And a lot of people, like I said, a lot of people come out. I want to use this star for fame. Because like, man, we got a little bit of motion in prison. And you got people want to use this shit for fame. Like I said, you got people that come out to say, I started tango blast. I'm the originator. And people don't know how it really is. So they're, oh, he's the one that start?

No, motherfucker you didn't start it. Then you got people come out and trying to get cloud off of it because they know how the homeboys look out for each other in prison. So if they see a homeboy doing good out here, excelling on something positive, we're going to support you. We're going to support you. Even though we're not in prison and we're not gang banging no more and we're civilians, man, we want to see our homeboys one

because that's what we're about. We're about making sure our homeboys go home. And when I say go home, I mean not in a body bag. We want you to go home at one piece. And then when you are home, we want you to be a productive member of society. But if you come back, we're going to whoop that ass. Because you got homeboys that ain't never coming home. So with him that was on the podcast, I don't think he was a homeboy.

I don't think he was a real homeboy. I don't know what unit he was on. The units I've been on, I've been on the worst prisons in Texas. I was on Clemens, Burning Hell. I was on Gibb Lewis, and I was on Ferguson. Now, going back to when you were first initially joined, could you have declined? Could you have avoided running with someone, or is there just no choice? I could have declined.

You don't have to do nothing. You don't want to do. You're a man before anything. I could have been in there and been solo my whole time. The way it goes, you go up to the blast and say, I want to be a homeboy. The blast don't go up to you and force shit. If people say they were forced to be, no, fuck no. That means you was just a hope.

Like, nah, like, I went up to the homeboys. I got knowledge. I remember I was in transfer unit on Garza West. I went up to the Homeboys. They're like, what city are you from? The Homeboys check you off the rip.

They're like, hey, what city are you from? They want to see your paperwork right off the rip to make sure you ain't a sex offender. You show them your paperwork, whatever. They run your name. Okay, you're good. They lace you up on the rules because they're leaders in the prison system.

They run prison. We run Texas prison. And they're like, hey, so like, what are you going to do? I'm like, well, I'm considering getting down with the blast, but before I make a decision, I want to watch because there's three else, look, listen, learn. I want to see how you're orchestrate and how y'all conduct yourself before I make a life-changing decision that might affect my time in prison.

And they're like, no, we respect that. They laced me up. Her homeboy Sleepy gave me a lot of game, old-school homeboy from the North Side, gave me a lot of game. I end up hitting my first transit unit was in Willisie, 2013 and I ain't a lie they ran my check instantly I went in there they're like what's up where you from I'm from H-town I'm a homeboy I told him like that they're like yeah I like this is my first time down but I'm blasting I let's run them they ram me beat the fuck out of me the way we initiate

it's two-on-one-one's like a 45 second or it could go longer they could backdoor you you can have 10 motherfuckers on the wing you can get a two-on-one two-one two-one two-on-one two-one two-one they're and keep beating you up until you fucked up. And they beat me up. I'm going to give them that was the first time. Like, I got jumped in. They tore me off the frame. And the way the check goes is like,

you want to see how much heart you got. I don't, you can't ball up. You can't put your head down. You can't do none of that. They're going to run check on you. What we want to see, though, is if you hit the ground, how fast are you going to get back up? And when you get back up, what are you going to do?

If you get back up slow as fuck And you're just Oh you toast bro We're gonna tear you off the frame Hey you ain't gonna be a homeboy You ain't a homeboy material Because if we have riots And you get snuck from the back

How can I know that you can have my back? You just got hit hard as fuck And you can't You barely protect yourself right now How are you gonna protect us? So stuff like that And that's when I faded my first check Who is the biggest rival or enemy

the Tango Blast have to worry about in Texas? We don't have to worry about nobody. There's got to be some type enemy, right? There is no enemy. So who are you guys rioting with and having violence with? Everybody. Everybody. We run Texas prison.

Like I tell you, like, when you go to TDCJ, you have the Mexican gangs. We have all our benches. We run it. Only Mexicans could touch the TV and that. Then you have the blacks. they have their own stuff. The whites don't got no say-so.

The units I've been on, I don't know on other units, but the units I've been on, they don't got no tables, they don't got no benches, they ain't got shit. So what do they do? They get raped by black people.

Even the good white guys? They get raped. Like most of the times, like the units I've been on, I've seen them getting raped by blacks. And who are the black gangs in the prison? You have bloods, crips, GDs, peace stones. You have Mandingo,

Warriors, you have a lot of gangs, right? Like, every gang runs different, right? And, yeah, like, we don't accept sex offenders. The units I've been on the blacks accept sex offenders. They'll be their bloods, their crips, and they publicize it. Like, man, that's the homie. Like, that's live. Like, they earn their stripes for doing that shit.

Like, that shit's playoff. Like, they do weird-ass shit. Like, we don't, the black ston. All our homeboys, they're, they're. They're going to have fresh whites on. They're going to be fresh. They're going to conduct themselves like, man. Our rules ain't rules.

Like I told you, we're not a gang. The way we set everything down is their morals. It's a code of ethics, how to conduct yourself to make sure your bed's clean. Make sure your hygiene's proper. Don't catch that pussy. Mandatory workout. It's self-growth and development. The only, I could say the only African-American gang in prison that I could say that was respected

because how they conduct themselves was the gangster disciples, the GDs, because they don't move like a gang, and they move like organization, but they conduct themselves real highly. So they follow, like, you have to stay clean, you've got to clean yourself. They have similarities towards the blast. Compared to, like, the bloods and the crypts,

man, they're like renegade. They fight amongst themselves. You have the bloods, you have the bounty hunters, fighting the, I guess, well, whatever they call it, the five-nines, the pyrues, they're set clipping amongst each other. You have the rolling 60s versus the five-duce. They're separated amongst themselves. There's no structure.

Can other races join Tango Blast? Yeah, they can. Like, we're a Mexican gang, solely Mexican, but, like, we have white boys that blast. That's normal. Like I said, the white boys don't got no say-so in prison. So if you have a stiff-ass white boy, he knows that. Who's he going to ride with?

I'm riding with the blast. He's going to fade the meanest fucking check. But guarantee that's a stiff-ass white boy. They got him fucked up. He's going to squab the hardest fuck. And then the blacks won't fuck with someone that's running in the blast from a different race? The blacks ain't going to fuck with no member of Ganga Blas. Like, I'm going to tell you this.

The blacks in prison are quick to go to war amongst each other. They'll kill each other. But when it comes to going against the blast, guess what's going to happen? They want to talk because they know, like I said, if you ain't blasting, you ain't lasting, we're going to take it to you, we want to stab you up. We're going to poke you. They're going to be like, oh, the blast don't do no punching. They're always going to say that.

They always want to do riots and stab. No, we're going to kill you. We're going to kill you. We don't give a fuck. We're going to kill you. And dango blast runs prison because, like, they might get into it with the other. their homes, they're only one city tango. They're not that much numbers. You have like the Vayukals, all these stuff. They might get into it with a smaller tango. We're not going to let

another tango get outmatched by a big organization because the blacks are deep. And they'll be quick to take it to them, right? But that's when we step in. Once it goes a little too far, now like they're Mexican. We police prison and keep everybody in check. Let's say another tango, their homeboys fucking up and they're making the Mexicans look back. Y'all need to handle it or where Blass is going to handle it. You'll have tango on us because tango blasts were the originators. When people be like, oh, this, no, tango blasts are the originators of all tango. We're the reason why you have all these little tangles like tango Orohon. Tango Orohon came from Mexican mafia. They're under them. We gave them leadway because we took out the biggest Mexican family, Texas Syndicate.

So now you'll have leeway. That's God honest truth. Do you think prison made you do things you would never imagine your life ever doing? Of course. Of course. Give us one of those moments. So I'm going to tell you this. I remember, like, it was my first ID unit.

I was on Clemens Unit. I guess they stole homeboy's shoes out the shower. Whereas child time, all the homeboys tell me to fall back. Fall back, fall back. I'm like, I hate. So they're like, hey, they took home boy's shoes. We're going to set it off with the bloods. You're going to take it to these holes, right?

We're going to kill these holes. I'm like, I hate. Like, I'm thinking I'm going to do some punch and I'm going to fight. Man, look, there's about 20 essays. So everybody's passing these fucking shanks like this big, like samurai swords. So they're passing them around so I get one. And I look at it. I'm like, what the fuck?

And then I look up. And everybody's looking like a baby Chucky doll. Just smiling about it. And in my mind at that moment, I want to be like, now, bro, y'all tripping. Like, what the fuck? I wanted to really do that. But guess what I told myself, I looked.

I said, nah, these motherfuckers ain't stabbing me. I said, I'm going to go to that chow hall. And whoever needs to get stabbed me, I'm going to stab the fuck out of them. So it was like moments like that that, like, changed me. It was more survival. Like, I don't want to stab nobody. I didn't want to do this, but man, it's killer be killed. You're either save yourself or get hit by the bus. Like, that's how it is. You can't say, I don't want to do this. No, you're a part of this organization. We're going to go to war, and you got to be ready and you got to take it there. And then if you're not, they're going to kill

you after that. So it's like I, and that's what really like, made me like put in so much work when I was a member of Tango Blast. Like most people that say they're blasting, you're going to see them with Astro Stars on them. I got all four horsemen on me. I got Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth. On the back of my head, I got 1622. I got Foto Tango Blast. I don't got 822 for Houston Tango Blast.

I got PTB on me. I got all four horsemen on me. And I earned all my stars. Some people only earn an astro star Do you want to keep that on you for the rest of your life? Always, I earned that. I earned that's a part of my life And some people would be like, oh, you shouldn't be proud of that?

You didn't know what I have to do to get these stars. You didn't know what I had to go through. I really earned that and I'm proud of that. Like, I'm a survivor. I'm one of the few that actually survived prison and came home and I'm living my best life right now as a conduct as a as a member of society and being humble, being God-driven. But I'm not going to cover these stars on me. Like I have homeboys that died for these stars, homeboys that like for the principal, for the cause and the belief so that we could have these stars.

You got homeboys never coming home to make sure we could have these stars on us. Why would I cover that? I earned that. So when I hear people talking about, Oh, I covered this. No, you were just a hole. Let's just say that. If you covered your star, you're just a hole.

I'm just going to be real with you. We don't cover our fucking stars. We earn that shit. We earned that shit. If you love it the way I love it and you were really blasting, and guess what? There ain't no sliding back.

You got a lot of cats out here talking about they slid back when Christian. No, you was just a hole. Because I got a homeboy right now. He slipped back when Christian. But every time there was an issue with the blast, guess where he was at? With the blast?

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Wayfair, every style, every home. Blas, you think he covered up the stars? Fuck, no. Do you think that some of these other gang members, though, say, like, they are in Brotherhood, do you have respect for those guys that cover up their tattoos after, especially if they have, like, full-blown Nazi symbols on them coming out of prison? Like other gangs like A-Bs and stuff like that Like I didn't see a lot of A-Bs in prison

I'm just gonna be real There's a couple of them And like I said like the blacks will do them dirty I guess because I don't know if they thought because There were slaves or something back in the day That they needed to like Oppressed white people in there

Because like You see a lot of fucked up shit That the blacks do to like the whites Like when I was on Ferguson unit, they had a gang called GBNs. You know what that means? Get booty niggas.

We call them booty bandits. It's booty bandits. Same thing. GBNs, but it's a gang. It's clicks. And their whole agenda was the rape white boys. And I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Like, weird-ass shit.

But, like, Aaron Brotherhood is their family. And if they want to cover up their stars or swatsikas and stuff like that i understand why because they're a family they have to come home when they're out of prison they got to check in and they make them do crash dummy shit out here me i don't got to check in with nobody ain't nobody gonna tell me when i'm out here i need a check in no they're actually a gang erin brotherhood's a gang tango blast is not so i understand why they want to disassociate out here but when you're blasting we're not a gang so you should be

proud of these stars. Now, you were on some of the worst units in Texas prisons possible. What were some of those experiences in there? I could say that, man, it was crazy. Like, I remember my first unit. I went to Clemens Unit. So I actually got what's it called. Let me rewind it back. I was on Willisie. That was my transit unit. And I end up getting G-4 off of there. one of my worst times the reason i got g ford you know what k2 is the drug yeah so i was smoking k2 they didn't tell me that this shit they told me it was like weed now that shit ain't like weed bro so i'm like i so i ain't gonna lie i always knew how to use my mouthpiece and man i had a fucking female officer stuff in her pussy full of drugs for me when i was in prison and what you think i had a

shitload of K-2, Homeboy had it, it's a whole little thing going on, and they're like, it's like weed. So I roll up a fat motherfucker, right? Thinking it's just like weed. I'm over here popping top smoking. This is my first time. Ain't a lie, that shit killed me, bro. I'm fucking over here like, damn, I'm feeling weird.

And then I lay down, and I'm just, like, swallowing my tongue. I can't move. Now I'm shaking. I'm seizing up. I'm throwing up. And I'm trying to fight and get up, but that's what's making me shake. And it was one of the weirdest experience that I had. I, you know, I could say I died.

I don't remember nothing. Everything when black, while I was fighting myself, it was one of my first awakening moments. Or I was just high as fuck. Because whatever was talking to me while I was dying told me that I'm just a computer stimulation running my constellation that I failed my programming, that I'm getting terminated. It was weird as fuck. I see my whole life flash before my eyes,

and I'm over here fighting, and I just said a silent prayer, and I let go. Everything went black, and then I remember waking up. I had nurses and doctors over me, and they're talking about he's back, he's back. So I'm looking, and my brain's so chopped. I don't know who I am, my name. I don't know nothing at this time.

I'm like, I feel like a tomato. And I'm like, what the fuck? So I'm trying to get up. They had one officer as a sergeant that was in there. He grabbed me, like, sit down. So I pushed him and he acted like he was going to slap me. So I flinch. And right when I flinch, I said, man, what the fuck?

I took flight on this bitch ass. I started whooping that hole. So I'm on top of him beating the shit out of him now. All the nurses run out. I'm beating his ass, and all the officers come in. And, like, you see them, like, when them cops start beating up them people on drugs, and they have super strength, I had, like, super strength at the time. I guess I was still high.

But they started getting the best of me, beat the fuck out of me. They got me in handcuffs. They took me to the back. And they beat the fuck out of me, bro. In that moment, like, they were beating me up so bad, hitting my face, hitting me in the stomach. The only thing that came to my mind was the scream. I'll be like, ah, and they'll stop.

They'll be like, shut up. Boom, boom, boom. Hit my head on the wall. And I'll be like, okay, I'll stop. And they'll stop. And they'll start going again. So they beat the shit out of me. They ended up stripping me out naked,

throwing me in a holding cell. They have fucking have my wrist bleeding from the handcuffs. So I wake up the next morning, my whole body hurts. I hear the warden like, Motherfucker wants to beat up my officers. We're going to hit you with more time. And woo, woo, woo. So I go up to the door, bitch, fuck you.

I got 16 years. That shit's going to eat up. I don't give a fuck. So he's like, who's you talking to? He goes up. He sees me. You know what he says? He says, oh my God.

Get the medic over here. ASAP. He gets on his radio. Get the medic. I didn't know how beat up I was. They come. I'm that fucking. They start taking pictures of me.

I didn't get a free roll case for assault on a public servant. I only got G4 because I was supposed to get G5 or sagged. I just got G4 off the unit. They threw me in the hole. They waited a whole month to ship me off to G4. And they let me heal up for a little bit, I guess, before they filed the paperwork. What is G4 mean G5? G4 is 20-hour lockdown, four hours out.

G-5 is 23-hour lockdown. So I end up going to Clemens Unit, burning hell. I remember walking up. You had an officer sitting. I'm on 3 and 4 row at the time. You had an officer sitting right there. Tell me why I'm walking up. Everything's on fire.

I'm like, damn, this is why they call it burning hell. I'm thinking in my mind. The windows are on fire. Crash can's on fire. Everything's burning. I'm walking by people's cell, their cells on fire. But I realized that afterwards they start the fire to kill the mosquitoes, because the mosquitoes are real bad.

So that was the first ID unit I went to, and it's considered one of the worst units, burning hell, baby Clemens unit. And it has a reputation that proceeds there because it's not one of the newer units. It's a red brick unit. When people be like I was on this, where you're on a red brick. Those are the real ID units that, like, they're known. Like, that's an old school unit. They move a little bit different.

Their segregation is 10 times harder. How did it feel to spend those milestone birthdays in prison, 18, 21, your early 20s? How does that feel? I didn't even count them. I was just lost in the sauce. Like, I didn't think about birthdays. I didn't think about nothing while I was in prison. Like, that was the last thing on my mind.

I was in there, I was in there thugging, but I could say I'd never been dumb. I actually self-educated a lot. Like, you ever studied quantum physics? No interest in that. Quantum physics. Time and space does not exist. It's only exist in this reality because gravity. Gravity creates time in our dimension.

And while I was incarcerated, I educated myself. I read a lot of books. I created a lot of habits for myself. And I had my awakening. I woke up. I seen life for what it really is. And I didn't count birthdays. Even out here, I don't count birthdays.

And people would say I'm institutionalized. I don't believe institutionalism is a bad thing because it has good habits. I wake up early in the morning, five every morning. I'm consistently working out. I have a routine.

And if you ever study a book by Charles Duggan is called The Power of Habits. It's a small habit. For instance, if you wake up every day and drink two cups of water, eventually you're going to acquire better habits. you start implementing good things into your life, good things are going to come back to you because we're creatures of habits. And if you pass by the same store every day, eventually you're going to stop there.

And now it's going to become a habit that you stop there every day because we're creatures of habits. So I think me being institutionalized is probably the best thing for me because coming home, I never forgot that. I never forgot that. I never forgot the pain, the adversity, or my habits. that I acquired while I was in prison. By other people get lost in the sauce out here, I think it keeps my edge because I am awake and I am enlightened and I have good habits, not negative habits. I'm not here trying to party.

I'm not here trying to get high. I'm here working out because I did host squad. You know what whole squad is, right? No. Waking up four or five in the morning doing like the slaves did. Aggie hit the ground. One, two, three floor. We're rocking on it for hours.

I know how to work. TDC taught me that. It taught me hard manual labor. So it's a habit. It taught me productive things. So I could say that me being institutionalized actually helped me. What were you thinking about for your future when you got out of prison while you were still in there? What were those goals, aspirations?

What was the vision? To be revolutionary. So when I got sentenced to 16 years by Mark Ken Ellis at the sentencing stage, She told me I was unfit for society. I was unfit for the world. And I took that to heart. I made a promise to myself in a devotion that I was going to educate myself. And I was going to show him and everybody that I am fit for the world, that I am way more fit for the world.

So while I was in prison, I started reading up on, like, Malcolm X. Hugh E. P. Newton. Emiliano Zapata. Napoleon. Julius Caesar. Hitler. I started reading up on people that were incarcerated. People that overcame obstacles that conquered. Great conquerors. People that are going to be remembered even after I'm dead. Because all these individuals I named made a revolutionary change. And some were freedom fighters. Some of them believed the cause that they thought was just, even though some people say it's wrong. They still accomplished a lot. They still accomplished a lot. And like I said, me being Mexican, being Latino, we don't have a positive role model. So me reading books and reading on these great men, those were my role models. Those were individuals that I aspired to be like.

and if you ever read Maccabelli to Prince, he said, to be great, you have to imitate great men. If you study Caesar imitated Alexander, Napoleon imitated Caesar, Hitler imitated all three. To be great, you have to imitate great man. So you have to, like, take portions of their life or characteristics that they had just thoughts that were noble incorporated in your life,

Not to say everything they did was just just because I don't agree with certain things. But I can't say that some of their ethics and their belief system, how strong they believe, I agree with. I agree with. And I could say where an other individual only lives one life, I live thousands of life through books because I read multiple books and lived through their experience. And it's like this, if I tell you this, if you ask me, who am I? I'm going to tell you, I do not come from any particular time or place. My spiritual being lives out its eternal existence outside of time and space. And if in my thoughts, I plumb the depths of the ages and stretch my essence towards a mold

or being distanced from which you perceive, I become what I desire to be. Here I am, a noble traveler. I speak in your soul thrills and recognition of the ancient words, a voice so long silent within you responds to mine. I could be anything I want to be if I think it. Remember, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions. We are a tiny reflection of the universal design, and we're all connected by invisible strings.

Your atoms, protons, photons in your body, That's the universe. That's why I asked to be studied physics. Were there other like-minded, like-minded members of Tango Blast that shared these beliefs, or did you feel like you were alone? I was alone. They used to be like, man, Homeboy puppet Crazy Spuck, reading them weird-ass books. And believe it or not, a lot of Homeboys see me now, and they're like, man, you're on your best shit,

and books helped you. Like, they thought I was crazy. I was a psych patient. So I think that books helped me, it educated me, and I want to thank my uncle for sending me books, my uncle and my brother, because they might have not, they sent me money and stuff like that.

They might not came to see me every weekend, but they cried as much as they can. But they never failed on not sending me books. They sent me books every time, and that saved my life. How much time did you end up doing on 16 years? I did 10-5 years. How old did you?

you when you got out? I think 27, no 28. 28, because I've been out 3 and a half years right now. I'm 31. Now, when you're leaving prison, where do you

leave off with the tangos? How does that happen? Nothing. Like I said, it's like, there's nothing. Like, I had a homeboy. The riot didn't happen. I didn't get locked up or nothing like that. Like, you're good.

We're going home. Like our main purpose is to make sure our homeboys go home. We want you to go home. We want you to go home. We want you to go home. Like I said, you got homeboys that come in. They might have five years and something happens. They got a life sentence because we have a riot with a different organization.

So is it hard going from being in prison one day and then being free the next day? What's that like mentally? I don't think it was hard. I think it was. I think I was ready. I think I was ready. I was more than ready. I think my biggest awakening happened when I was in G5 confinement. And I was hit with organized crime in G5.

And when I went in there, like a human's worst enemy is his conscience, right? It's going to eat at you for all the bad things you did. And I'm not going to say I was in St. while I was in prison. I did a lot of bad shit. And it's out of survival. when I was hit with G5 confinement, like I told you earlier, humans' natural instincts is not to be violent.

So it ate at me. It ate at me. In G5 confinement, you see people eat shit. You see people kill themselves. It's real, real bad. And I was driving myself crazy because you'll hear a knocking like this.

Just that knocking would eat at you, it eats at your soul. Your mind plays tricks on you. It eats. at you and I think that was my biggest humbling experience. As you asked me earlier, that was my biggest humbling experience because before G5, I could say I was a man that thought he was God. I was speaking for tango blast, so I felt like I had all the power. Nobody could fuck with me. And God found the way to humble me and set me down and showed me that I wasn't a God,

only a man. And I think that he was the one that brought me out of darkness to light. And it changed my whole ideology in G5 confinement because I had to understand who I am, what I am, and where do I want to go. I had to understand that my actions, reward or D, could affect another individual's life, that if we have a riot if I'm so quick to set it off that I could lose homeboys that they might never go home. We might all get G5. They might have parole. That I was more slow for violence and more willing to communicate now. Because when I was younger, it's like, we're and set this bitch off.

But while I was in there, I'm like, damn, I understood that my actions hurt a lot of people because it was me being prideful when me listening to older individuals that were in prison that told me this is how the blast is this is how we got to do it we have to be like take it to everybody so I believed in that

and then finally I got humbled by God and it was the worst time I could say that like the worst time and I think it it changed my whole life prison and we're coming home and me wanting the better change to youth and it formed my identity and it gives me motivation today that we need more positive leaders and role models. Something I learned from my experience is that it's easy to be in prison and think about

a better future and all of the things you're going to do when you get out, but it's a lot harder to execute that and be that change once you get to get out. So what was that process like for you to becoming the man you are today that's sitting across from me once you got out of prison? So I actually, like I told you, I wanted to imitate great man. I wanted to be like Julius Caesar. I got him tattooed on my stomach. That's like one of my biggest role models.

I want to be like Emiliano Zapata. I wanted to help to underserved people because I was that kid without guidance, without a dad and a mom. and I visualize I want to do change. I want to change people. And I started incorporating change while I was in prison amongst my homeboys. Because like most units that I was on, I spoke for the whole unit. Gibb Lewis, I was speaking for all the thongoblast. And when I came home, I struggled reintegrating back in the society my first week out.

People looked at me wrong. They looked at me crazy. I tried to get a job. You know what they told me? No, you're a convicted felon. You got aggravated cases. So my best line of action was I'm going to go to school and be a barber. I went to all these colleges.

You know what they told me? No, you got gang tattoos. Give me $10,000, one finally told me. I'm broke as fuck. And I went to one called Northwest Education. Center. And guess what? They accepted me. They accepted me. And they gave me the program debt-free at no cost to grants and scholarships. And me wanted to help the youth understanding poverty, I made a video giving out free haircuts saying that giving free haircuts for kids

coming back to school. And there's a big influencer in Houston. named grizzy hood news, millions of followers. She took that video and blasted it everywhere. And that was like, the plan was always to help, those that are less fortunate. But God connected me with people to use my voice to actually help. And maybe even being on this podcast, my voice or a young kid hears this message,

and it shows them that we can't overcome. poverty and what really made me like think about like helping was like it's your heart like I told you G5 confinement like it tortured me and I wanted to make a change and I seek redemption I seek my own salvation I did a lot of bad and I'm scared to go to hell I believe in Jesus Christ as my lord and savior and I want to go to heaven I want to go to heaven and I know I did bad So I think that was like That's what motivated me coming home to do good Even if I struggled because it wasn't about materialistic things

It was about helping and God provided and he gave me an abundance And he put me around the right people Because I just went to cut hair And eventually I started doing Halloween events And people were supporting me The owner of the college I actually worked for a college, Northwest.

I'm a convicted felon. I'm the only one at the college. Like, how is that possible? And how I started working for them was, like, damn, I'm giving out free hair because I help people. I told everybody, Northwest, saved my life. I started using my testimony. Man, I got 348 people enrolled in one day.

The next week, I got 216. What do you think the owner told me? He comes up and says, man, I got employees here with degrees, and they never brought me this much enrollment. He's like, they do their paid ads, whatever. He's like, the difference between you and them, you actually care. You're going not to the rich neighborhoods. You're going to the hoods because that's who I marketed to.

I'm very known in the neighborhood. I went all to the hoods. I use social media. I market. I told everybody from the hood. And everybody from the hood came. And he offered me a job, and that was my, that's still my job to this day. And he allowed me the funds, the resources, and taught me marketing, how to organize community events.

And Steve Modis, he actually mentored me a lot. And that's why I wear suits now. And that's, that's been a big blessing in my life to have mentorship coming home. Someone to guide me and teach me, taught me LLCs, DB, He A, Z-I-N's taught me how to conduct my business, how to... Where is Daredevil? A minor. Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil, born again.

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That's F-O-U-N-D.com. Found as a financial technology company not a bank. Banking services provided by lead bank member FDIC. Get community partners, how to get sponsors, and how to build my own brand in the process. What's something you know now that you wish you knew when you were 13, 14, 15 years old? Something odd. But I could say anything. That's a good question.

I try. Now, that's a good question. It's deep. Before you could take care of anybody else, you need to be able to take care of yourself. I wish I knew that I think that's a lot of people's downfall that people in prison they'd be like, I want to go home

to take care of my mom, my dad, I want to do this and they go home and they go right back to the streets because they care about everybody else. I came home and I was selfish as fuck. I only worried about myself and when I was able to in a position to help my family I do now because they helped me while I was in prison

And I wish I would have known that then. Like, you got to worry about yourself before you worry about anybody else. Anthony, I appreciate you coming on the show today, man. Man, I appreciate you. Like I said, man, this is an amazing opportunity, your platform. And for me to give my message and hopefully scare people straight about, like, going to prison, the shit that you're going to see over there. Like, a lot of people don't understand.

understand like what actually happens in Texas prison the adversities or the struggles that's actually going on in there they're just oh they think it's cool we're going to gang bang no it's not like I was in prison fucking playing with my own shit going to war with people fucking acting like an Indian like you ever heard of that before no you shit and piss in a cup you get these wires you dip it in there pop the slot and go the war and fucking like a slingshot because you use the bands of the fucking the boxers and shoot it at the Famos. Wait, this is the craziest thing I've ever.

Yes. You get a poet's metal. You get it from the SSIs. You dip it in there. You let it sit for two weeks. You dip it in there and you start going to war with them. Because they're going to do it to you. That's why the officers walk when they walk you out of G5.

They're walking and they got to protect you. I'm going to war with them. I was going to war every time. Oh, my God. Or like I had a T.S. behind me because there's holes in the walls. Like I told you, I was going crazy in there. I was going to war, too. I had T.S.

He always used to ask for coffee. I acted like they had like a C. Spire, they said. I was still young and hot-headed. Remember this. They had a C-spire. I used to crunch up pills and Slot put it in his coffee and give it to him. He didn't even know. I'm like, yeah, that shit good.

I just didn't like the motherfucker. He would try to offer me shower and I'll get shit from him I'm not taking nothing from the enemy So one day I made a shit bomb Shit in a bag, put it in there Look out homeboy here I got a black bag for you

Y'all are wild He's getting it And then I pull the line and drop the bag Close the hole Now you got shit all in your cell Like shit like that Like this is what we do in G5 We go

war with our neighbors and they shit you down they're gonna throw shit bombs they're and get a bottle like that put shit and piss all in it put it on the line pop the slot and swing it at your cell it hits your cell now you got shit smell shit and piss all on your door and stinks in the cell yeah it's it's wild right well i hope you don't do that anymore anthony no like honestly like i told you god has blessed me with a abundance he blessed me put me around the right people. He put me around you. And like, right now what I do for your viewers to know, like, I am a community activist. They call me the Texas mogul. I am Czech game. One thing of real gangster knows, you feel me? And I work with multiple individuals all over Houston. I work with

attorney Kim Bruno. She's actually the number one immigration lawyer in the state of Texas. So I'm real big on me being Mexican because right now they're trying to portray us as savage. criminals and trying to support our people. But I'm here to say, man, our people ain't never crossed no borders. The borders crossed us. We've been here and we're going to stay here and we're going to resist. We're going to fight back. But we're not going to fight back through violence.

We're going to use the system for our advantage. So I work with attorneys. I work with car dealerships. I help people get approved. I do education. So if you want to come to school, if you're watching this. And I do check game videos. I host concerts for Native Entertainment.

I'd hosted boxing events, professional boxings for Texas combat sports, and God has opened many doors for me. So anybody watching this, I want them to know, like, man, embrace adversity. Because it's not the past that defines us, but our actions in the moments of adversity and controversy. If you could live off 25 cents soups, when you come home, you could live off the bare minimum. Stack up your money invested in the Roth RRA. man go open up a couple lines of life insurance on a couple family members and just let that money sit like simple but you have to invest in yourself and struggle love struggle love adversity and man embrace it because you already been at the bottom like you were locked up how long were you locked up

almost three years three years so you know how it is a struggle a lot of people out here don't know adversity so they want everything and then you got people come home they want to catch up with everybody no slow down you know struggle embrace it embrace it love it i appreciate you my brother no i appreciate you like i said like man this is legendary for me to be on your podcast out of anybody else's podcast and it's locked in speaking on prison i'm just hoping this podcast changes one person's life awesome safe travels back hey thank you Thank you so much.