Locked In with Ian Bick - I Was a Chicago Gang Member Running Drugs for the Cartel — Then Got Locked Up in a Mexican Prison | Julio Almanza

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Julio Almanza grew up in Chicago after his father walked out — and that loss set everything in motion. The streets became his family the Satan Disciples became his identity and the Mexican cartel became his employer. At just 17 years old he was caught smuggling drugs on the Mexico side of the border and spent the next four years locked up in a Mexican prison before being transferred to federal custody in the United States. When he got out he went straight back. Ten more years in federal prison followed. He left the Satan Disciples and joined the Latin Kings — and his former gang immediately put hits out on him. He survived moved to Arizona to start over ended up back inside and finally turned his life around completely. _____________________________________________ #cartel #prison #truecrimestories _____________________________________________ Thank you to GLD & FACTOR for sponsoring this episode: GLD: New customers get 40% Off with code LOCKEDIN at https://www.gld.com/ _____________________________________________ Factor: Head to http://factormeals.com/lockedin50off and use code lockedin50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box, with new subscription only, while supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details). _____________________________________________ Connect with Julio Almanza: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wrongtostrong/?hl=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/wrongtostrong Website: https://wrongtostrong.com/ _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Julio's Early Life and Family Pain 05:00 Surviving Abuse and Finding the Streets 10:00 Gang Life and Chicago's Dark Side 15:00 Early Cartel Ties & First Smuggling Runs 20:00 Inside the Drug Trade as a Teen 25:00 Getting Caught and Surviving Mexican Prison 35:00 Mental Health, Trauma & Hustling in Prison 42:00 Addiction, Rock Bottom and Hard Lessons 48:00 Transfer to US Prison & Early Federal Release 54:00 Life After Prison: Back in the Game 01:00:00 Cartel, Betrayal, and Escaping Chicago 01:07:00 Arizona: Trying to Go Straight & More Mistakes 01:12:00 Turning Point: Inside for the Last Time 01:18:00 Final Release and True Transformation 01:24:00 Reflections, Redemption & Helping Others _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact [e-mail] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. news. The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027 volt and 2026 Equinox EV models. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer

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That loss pushed him straightforward to the streets and eventually into gang life and the Mexican cartel. At just 17 years old, he was caught smuggling drugs on the Mexico side of the border and spent the next four years locked up in a Mexican prison before being transferred to federal custody in the United States. When he got out, he went straight back to the same world. Ten more years in federal prison followed. He left his gang and joined their rival gang, and his former crew immediately put hits out on him. He survived, moved to Arizona to start over, and ended up back inside and then finally turned his life around completely. His name is Julio Ammanza and this is his story. Grew up on the south side of Chicago, 26th Street. What was your upbringing like there?

My upbringing was rough, man. My dad fell in love with the street life, the gangs and the women and all that stuff. And he ended up abandoning my mom and my sisters. And, um, I like to tell that story just because it shows people where I started. And I remember my mom's look on her face the day that my dad just left us at the hotel. You know, I remember how she looked. And that's when my nightmare started. You know, that's when my mom moved in with her brother. And that's the person that stepped in after my dad and did all the damage.

From the age of four to nine, the person that was supposed to be. protect me uh raped me drown me um it was a form of torture that i tell people it created a lot of mental health problems in me by the time i was nine i i knew exactly what fear was i knew what torture was i knew what rape was so by time i was nine man i really was just kind of out for blood man you know um i wanted to hurt people the way i had been hurt and i hit the streets running man every gang member loves a broken kid um became friends with all the major gang members in Chicago and started working my way up I guess you could say to uh graduate into bigger things did you ask your mom why your dad left no you know um to this day honestly I haven't really even

made peace with my mom yet um I still have some some stuff that I can't let go so I really don't I really don't speak to my mom too much or my dad. Yeah. Now, young J.C., what did he want to be when he was a kid? Oh, man. Before the trauma happened, before the streets, before gang life. You know, my dream was to go to the Marines, man. I wanted, I don't know why or where I got it,

but I was very patriotic at a very young age, and I wanted to be a Marine. I wanted to fight for my country. I don't know. It was just, it was in my heart. That's what I wanted to be. Where do you think that came from? I sit here and I try to think about it and I think maybe because of the abuse,

maybe because of the abandonment, many things. But at the end of the day, just like Taylor told me, he's like, you were just born a warrior, man, you know, and you just wanted to be a warrior. So that's the one I'm going with. Why do you think you couldn't have still went down that path? I tried. I tried.

Actually, when we went to, War, the army was actually going to, they were going to sign me up if I got my gang tattoos removed. But it's actually when I caught my federal case in 2009, 2008. I ended up getting caught with a couple keys of cocaine. That went out the door. I couldn't go to the army no more. So, yeah, man, you know. Now, when you say you started messing with gangs, which gangs were they?

When I first became a gangber, I was a Satan disciple. They're called SDs. I was one of the founders of the 59th Street SDs. They're very known in Chicago. And after they try to kill me and they try to set me up, I became a Latin king after that. And that's a no-no. You really don't. Not too many people get to do that and live to talk about it.

Now, how do they differ from the gangster disciples? The same disciples are part of the gangster disciples. They're like a family. Like, the disciples are like a big family, blacks, whites, Mexicans. They're just different pockets of gangs, same disciples. They got Spanish gangster disciples, GDs, but they're all part of a family of disciples. So it's a, like I tell people, the gangs in Chicago, very organized, man. They got colors, they got, you know, signs, they got dues you got to pay every week.

Just very organized. And I think it's because we took, like, the footnote from the mob, you know, Cicero's Acapone City. So I think we took a note from the mob, and that's why all the gangs are really organized over there. It's so powerful because when you have 70,000 members, man, that's an army, man. That's not just a gang no more. What did Chicago look like at that point in time when you were growing up? Violent, the same as right now. People think that Chicago just got bad.

No, Chicago's always, there's always been mass shootings. There's always been, it's just, it's Al Capone City. Like, I don't know how other way to explain it. There's, there's so much money in that city. There's so much greed. There's just so much bad stuff that can happen. It's a beautiful city. but it's also a dark one.

Was there anything your mom did or tried to do to keep you away from the gang life? No. No. You know, I think that by the time that I was already severely damaged, I don't even think my family even knew what to do with me. Because that's the truth. All they did was move me around from uncle's house to parents' house. Nobody knew how to deal with me, but it's because I don't think nobody took the time to ask me what happened to me.

You know what I'm saying? It was just like, why are you acting this way? Why are you this way? And the question they should have been asking is what happened to you? What about your friends? Did you have close friends that weren't affiliated? No. No, I lived and died by the hood, man.

All my friends are from 59th Street. I mean, to this day, I still talk to a lot of my guys. I grew up with them. Only the guys that try to kill me, those are the only ones that I don't talk to. When you look back at it now, what's one experience, a kid that you wish you got to have

that a normal, say, upbringing child would have? Damn, do you going to make me crying? I'm going to tell you a story that I've never shared with nobody. As a kid, when we lived in Mexico, I had friends that were rich, and they were part of the Boy Scouts. My mom couldn't afford for me to go to the Boy Scouts. So what all my rich friends did,

they pitched together and everybody threw in a T-shirt, the shorts, like all the stuff that they were, you know what I mean? And they all gave me my stuff. So I pretended to be a Boy Scout every Saturday, but I only got to pretend because like once I showed up, they got to leave with their dads and everything. They got to go do whatever the Boy Scouts do. I went to go play by myself because I wasn't a Boy Scout.

But that's still, you know, people say, oh, that's the saddest story ever. And I'm like, no, it's sad to you. To me, it wasn't sad because I went to go pretend to be a Boy Scout. Like, I was in the state of mind that I think most, kids would never be able to be. And I smiled when there was nothing to smile about. I conditioned myself to make the best out of a worst situation, I guess.

Do you think that created anger in you? Yeah. Yeah. It created anger, created bitterness. And it's why I did a lot of the stuff that I did on the streets. If you're someone who uses nicotine pouches, I've got a recommendation for you. You guys know I'm not switching products just because some of the stuff. someone sends me a sponsorship.

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I had too many voices in my head, man. I had too much, what do they call it when you can't sit still? ADHD, all that stuff. I mean, I guess I had a combination of all kinds of stuff. And, you know, people don't realize the severity of my trauma, man. They don't, they don't, only if you really get to know me, you live with me. me, then you'll see the real JC with the PTSD, the JC that was drowned, the JC that was right. Because, like, dude, like, I, I have my moments where, like, I hear shit. You know,

mental health is not a joke. It's not a joke. And I've had to learn how to deal with my problems my whole life. And I'm just getting better at it just this year. There was no teachers or other family members or anyone that could have stepped in to help you? I had uncles that tried to step in, but like I said, you know, it's not the same when you're not their kid, man, you know, it's not the same. I don't care what anybody says. You know, you try to help, but it's not your kid, so you're really not, you're really not emerged into it.

You really don't care. You know, so I had uncles that try to help me, but it was just like, I feel like it was like a good deed to do, like, oh, you know, good job for taking. care of JC. It wasn't really like from the heart because if it was from the heart, then no matter how bad I would have been, they would have still kept me because that's what family does, right? But now, like, I got, I got pushed. I got astronauts. Like, I got, I was a black sheep, so nobody wanted me around. So when I went to prison of Mexico, I didn't get no visits. I didn't get no money. I didn't, nobody was helping me but the cartel. So what do you think is going to go through my head?

I'm going to think that that's my family. You know? For a long time, I was, I believed the lies. I believe that the gangs were my family. I believe that the cartel was my family. I believed all the lives for a long time because I didn't know, I didn't have nothing to compare it to. I have something to compare it to now because I live a whole different life now.

I'm way more healed. Just, I'm on a different spot in my life, so I know the difference between love and hate now. before I didn't even know the difference. Now, was it normal for gang members in Chicago back then to associate with cartel members? It was known, but you were like the lucky guy that was connected. You know what I mean? Not everybody was plugged back then.

I feel like now everybody's plugged. Back then it was like, like everybody hated me because I was like so young and I was always in the car with the big guy that was connected. And they would always be like, oh, he's in the car. He doesn't do nothing. But, like, I was actually getting, like, trained by these guys. You know, I went on my first trip when I was 15 years old. What 15-year-old is driving 40 kilos over the border driving all the way from Mexico to Chicago. You know what I mean?

Like, 15-year-old kids are usually in high school. Now, do you guys drive there first or do you pick up another car at the border? No, you take the car from Chicago all the way to Mexico. go to Michoacan you once you get there they do their work and then you drive all the way back just like you went on vacation so they would send seven eight cars at one time I mean if you do the math it's ridiculous is that just in case one gets caught well one's always gonna get caught always they they they know that that's why they send them the way they send them you know it's uh but it's still it's still making money what people don't realize is that the

you're paying $20 for something that you're selling for $500 in Chicago. So the markup is so crazy that even if you lose a shipment, it's still profit. What do you think as a 15-year-old kid absorbing all of this in, even going on your first trip and seeing what you're seeing? Well, I thought I had made it. I thought that that was like my career. Like I had really, you know, I wanted to be a gangster. So I was like, man, I made it.

I made it to the best school. I made it to like the best because I didn't want to just be a gang member. I already know what comes with that. All it is is you're just fighting. No, I wanted to be a cartel member so I could fight and make money. So, you know, when I got into that life, I really fell in love with it because I was listening to the music. I was living it. I was getting into shootouts every day.

It was like it was delight. But the only reason why I thought it was normal is because I had never seen nothing else. Now I look at that and I'm like, man, what was I thinking? Like, it's crazy to even think that you believe that's normal. When you were doing the ride-alongs at first, were you getting paid or that's just to watch? No, I was always getting paid, man. That's the one thing I told people is why I fell in love with money at such a young age because, you know, I was rolling around with these older guys and they're,

They're giving me 100, 200, 300, just to be with them. But at the same time, you're learning, you're picking up game. You're seeing who their connects are. You're seeing where they're dropping off stuff. So, like, I was picking up game throughout the whole thing. And, I mean, it's what made me turn into who I turned into. What did money mean to you at that time as a kid? I guess at that time, it was just like a tool to not feel like poor, man.

you know, everybody had new shoes at school. Everybody had just, I didn't, I remember the, when the Bo Jackson's came out, the Bo Jackson's gym shoes, and they were like, $200 bucks. And I'm talking about mid-90s, 200 was like a thousand back then. And only the kids that had dads, they were drug dealers, were the only ones that had those shoes in the neighborhood. And I remember when they came out and I was like, man, I'm going to start selling weed, man.

So I could buy these shoes. And that's what I did. I went and I bought an ounce and I broke it down. And I remember I made $120 off the ounce. And then I bought another two and slowly saved up to buy those shoes. And then that's when money turned into like a tool for me. Now, because you're rolling with the big dogs and you're kind of ahead of your time, are there people that are jealous?

Is there a target on your back? Well, that's eventually what pretty much destroyed me is that. My own friends ended up robbing me. My own friends set me up with a gun in the truck. They tried to kill me. It got so bad that I had to turn into a land king. I had to run to another gang to pretty much fight my old gang. And I mean, that's a no-no, man.

In Chicago, they call that being a pancake, you know, going from one side to another. But I tell people, man, I was just trying to survive, man. You know, when the whole city's trying to kill you, like, I mean, what are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do to just roll up and give up? That's just not me. If you've been watching the show lately,

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change the game for a limited time only, new customers are getting an insane deal. Use code locked in to get 40% off at gldd.com. That's 40% off with code locked in at glde.com. After you purchase, they will ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. How long's it take before you do your first run on your own? Shoot, they sent me the first time. Oh, when you were 15, that was by yourself? You were driving the car? I went by myself. Isn't that risk? You have no license. I mean, I went by myself.

No, no passenger. They didn't even play it off. Nothing. But I was so thirsty for those. The first trip, they paid me $7,000. They robbed me. That's great money for a 15 year. Yeah, I know.

But as soon as I got there, I picked up game because I saw who was in charge in Mexico. I saw, like, I met his uncle. I met all the main people. So as I started going more and more, they started trusting me more. and more and then they started giving me where they were like, hey, you can have that car for you, just get rid of it. And I would make more money on top of that. So like it got to the point where a lot of the guys that were my age,

my friends started hating on me. And those are the guys that ended up, you know, one of them, my best friend. I mean, we grew up from where we were kids. He was my runner and I paid him very well every day. He made like $2,000 every day. And he ended up robbing me, robbing me, tried to kill me. And it was all for the money. You know, money is the ruler of all evil.

You know, it does change people to where, you know, they want to kill their friends. Now, are you just moving the drugs or are you guys selling them as well when they get back to Chicago? Well, it turned into where I got greedy, so I wanted to be part of the whole operation because at first it was just unloading everything and just handing it over. But I wanted to make more because I knew. I mean, back then we were buying a pound of weed for $20, dog. And it was already up and loaded in the car. So once they got to Chicago, that that $20 bucks turned into $5.50. 40 of those, it adds up pretty fast.

Now, is it just weed you guys are bringing? Yep. It was a golden era where it was just, you made a lot of money off the weed. What time frame was this? What years? Mid-90s, early 90s. Um, and then after that, you know, once I started gaining my hands on, on more cars, uh, I started selling wheat. So it becomes, it becomes like a high man.

I'm not going to lie. And you want more and more. Now, when you're doing the runs, do you have to kick up to your gang? I, I wasn't. Um, and it's probably why they got mad. They got jealous, man, because they wanted, they wanted what I had, man. And people don't realize even a connect, man, a connect, to me to connect, it takes work. And I had put in the work.

Like I had met the introduction. I had put in the work, all that stuff. But people always want what you have, especially if they see you doing good. So it became dangerous for me. I'm not going to lie. And once they killed Cato, that was the leader of the land kings, I had to live. leave Chicago because I just didn't feel safe no more. Like, they were going to try and kill me now because I was an enemy's from the get-go.

So it's a nasty life, man. How often were you doing the runs throughout your teenage years? Once I became addicted, I was over there every month, sometimes three, four times a month. I didn't care. I'm a workaholic. As soon as I would get back, I would tell them to have the key. He's waiting for me on the table and I would just drop off the car and I would take off again. I mean, who doesn't want to make money like that?

Now, the border doesn't get suspicious why you're coming back multiple times? You know, let me tell you something. The border was the easiest part to pass. It was harder getting out of Mexico because guess what? The dogs on two feet are smarter than the dog on four feet. So, yeah, dude, you. The hard part of getting out of Mexico Because all the Federales

All the competition Everybody's looking for what you're moving So they can take it So it's the hard part of getting out of Mexico So you think the U.S. didn't really care? Once you get to the border, bro, That's so busy You got hundreds and hundreds of cars

Crossing over Usually what they say You're American citizen Yep. Okay If you don't Raise any red flags, you're passing through. Are you even showing a passport?

Yeah, just your ID. Your driver's license. Wow. That's what people don't realize is that like it's, it's that easy to do, but it's also that easy to get 10 years because that's the minimum. This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. Last year, I went through many different life changes. I needed to take a pause and examine how I was feeling in the inside to better.

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space 80 when you go to talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com. Save $80 with code space 80 at talkspace.com. If you get caught right there. Now how is it being hidden just what we see in like the movies and the panels of the car and whatnot, the compartments? We always worked with secret compartment. We always had compartments in the gas tank or in the glove compartment, depending on what was being moved, just because we were a bigger operation. And once you're a bigger operation, more money is being moved.

So, like, you can't take small hits like that. Everything has to be hidden. Now, don't the Federale know about this? Well, that's how I got caught. They knew exactly where to look on the tank to see the cut. And once he saw the cut, he was like, take the tank down. And that's how I got arrested. And you got caught in Mexico?

Yeah. Okay. But this is later on in the story. Well, yeah, it's later on because I was, what, going on 17 when I got caught. Oh, you were 17 years old. Yeah. Oh, so you had a couple of year run, and then that happens. Everything happened really fast for me.

Like 17, I go to prison. I got caught by the Mexican Army. They beat the crap out of me that night. Man, if you've never been hit by a rifle in your stomach, you need to try it. Because, man, I had never got hit like that. The way I felt, I mean, I'll never forget that day. Honestly, tell you the truth.

I'll never forget that day and the day that they took me to the Mexican prison. So walk us through the story of getting caught. I had gotten slid. Loppy. I had gotten cocky. I was driving with a full car loaded drunk. I was doing coke while I was driving because I was in Mexico's. I didn't care.

Driving like a bad out of hell. Because we would drive those Nissan 300 ZX sports cars. Yeah. So they were souped up. And I got to the checkpoint, man. And I already knew when I got there that I had messed up. I already knew. My nose was running.

I was paranoid. There's no way I was going to make it out of that. And I knew that as soon as I got there because the guy that was in charge was, he was like, why are you acting so paranoid? And I said, well, it's because law enforcement scares me. And then he's like, get out of the car. And I was like, I'm an American citizen.

He's like, I don't care. And they pulled me out of the car, man. And, you know, they dropped the tank. And they thought that I was getting caught to let a bigger load go by. So that's why they were hitting me. They were beating me because they thought that I was, you know, getting caught.

And I was like, no, this is it. This is, I'm the one. So they ended up taking me to the jail. I'm there for about five minutes and I get stabbed for my shoes. I didn't even see it coming to tell the truth. I walked in, the guy was like, hey, what size of a shoe do you wear? I try to, like, be tough.

And next thing you know, I just, I felt something really, like, sharp in my back. And I just felt to the ground, man. I told people I couldn't catch my breath. Every time I would breathe, like, my stomach would hurt. Like, I had done, like, a bunch of crunches. And I thought I died, dude. I just closed my eyes and I went to sleep, right? Next thing you know, I wake up and I'm in the hospital.

and the doctor comes rushing in, and they're talking about my lung is collapsing. So the doctor runs in, and he stabs me with the tube right here. So technically, I got stabbed twice that day. And so I'm there. I'm in the hospital. The people come in that I was working for, and they tell me I'm going to be good.

You know, nothing's going to happen to me no more. That was a misunderstanding. I was like, oh, misunderstanding. I was like, cool. And then for the next four years, do you know, I just, I sat there. I sold drugs for the main dude. I was connected while I was there, but I messed up when I was there. I put my hands on the wrong guy while I was in prison in Mexico, and it almost cost me my life.

Who stabbed you over the shoes? There's a lot of poor people that are like gang members over there, you know, Mexican gang members. and over there, they're so poor dog that as soon as you come in, they're like hyenas at the front door. Like when the sex offenders come in or just people with bad crimes get there, they're waiting for them at the door like hyenas.

And they don't get special placement like they do over here and stuff like that. I saw one of the most, I mean, they stuck a whole broom of the guy's butt. Like, it looked like a cartoon. It didn't even look real. I mean, that image in my head

that's not going to go away. He was a sex offender. He had raped a little baby. And they were waiting for him because over there in Mexico, they put your picture in the newspaper a day before you get to the prison. So everybody knew he was coming.

So, yeah, that was a scene to see. Now, these are American. sex offenders or just the ones in Mexico? No, Mexico. Is that a common crime in Mexico? It happens, just not as much as over here, you know, but it happens. But over there, they deal with them over there. Like, there's no hiding over there.

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would he have still stabbed you or no? No. So it was just a mistake. That's what you meant. It was a mistake. And I still had to go take care of business. Like I still had to make my name good. I tell people when I share, you know, I had played with guns. It's nothing to shoot from far away. When you have to

stab somebody, it's up a plusing. It's personal. It's a whole different ball game and you have to have a whole different nervous system to be able to do that. And I remember I was so scared the first time and

you know, them telling me you have to do this because if not, you know, you're going to make all of us look bad. And you know how it is prison life, man. And being a kid, man, I mean, I went and I did it. And, you know, after that, I couldn't even sleep right, man. Like, a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff started to haunt me that I was doing in there. Now, how much weed was caught that day? 83 pounds.

And were you worried that the cartel would retaliate? Not really. I had done, I had done well by them. Cars that had been lost, I had made sure they got back. I know how to win people over. I've been in really dangerous rooms where like people that are really bad people. And I've had to learn how to negotiate at a very young age. And I believe that that's what helped me stay alive all these years.

What's the secret for dealing with those types of people? Just knowing how to read people, bro, their eyes, their everything. You know, I've been in rooms where they were plotting my death and I felt it. And me just stepping back and leaving and then calling them calling me and I was like, yeah, I was right. Like people tell you who they are really quick if you just want. watch them for about five minutes. Like, you don't even have to hear them talk. You can just watch them and they'll,

you'll see who they are. It's just, I think me at such a young age, learning to survive through some of the really dark moments because, you know, I could tell you that my childhood was like the rape, the drowning, and it's just words.

People don't realize how bad it really was, mentally for me. me being locked in that closet for hours, sometimes days, I created friends to talk to. So I got diagnosed with multiple personality disorder because I talked to myself and I answer myself and there's a couple of people in there that, you know, I created through my childhood trauma.

and it's why I got like diagnosed with that kinds of stuff P-T-A-D or kind of stuff but I don't I don't know I don't let titles or diagnosis like I don't give up like that like this is why like I worked the way that I work no one can outwork me I'm up at 2.45 in the morning I'm in the studio by six I mean I just got hired by ASU It's going on and on and on. Like, the hard work is finally, like, paying off,

but it's because of everything that I went through. Like, if I wouldn't have went through what I went through, I wouldn't have the career that I have right now. That's crazy, though, right? Yeah. I mean, I think about that every day. If I didn't get a prison, I wouldn't be sitting here. And I was watching your video that I was cracking up

because the guy was saying that they thought you were a sex offender because of how you looked. I think it was, what's his name? We were just talking about him. J.D. Yeah, JD. And I was like, nah, he's in there. He's in there for some tax shit.

And then I started looking at your story. And I was like, yep. And I started seeing how you own the nightclub. And I was like, it was about money. It's so easy how it could pull even the squares person because money's money, man. Money attracts everybody. Yeah, too bad the guys in prison didn't think that way. Yeah, it's not your job to have to prove it to the...

How did the legal process play out in Mexico? What was that like? Well, it was the worst, I guess, worst case I ever had because there was no guilty, non-guilty. There was no discovery. There was nothing, man. I just got a paper one day and they said 15 years. And I was like, wait, who's my lawyer? I didn't even know who my lawyer was.

And there was behind a gate. Like, there was no judge, no, there was just a dude in a desk. And he's like, here's your paper. And I'm like, what is this? He's like 15 years. And I'm like, wow, 15 years. Because in my head, I thought it was like nothing. It's like just weed, dude, it's nothing.

That's not what they thought. Do the Americans come and see you at all because you're an American citizen? Yep. The American council would go there. every month to take us vitamins, and I would sell them. That's it. They just bring you vitamins? Vitamins, sometimes blankets, stuff like that.

But, you know, it's funny because, like, everything they brought me, I would sell it because all the cartel members wanted the American stuff. So I would sell it at top dollar. The vitamins that they would bring us, I would sell us for, like, $100. Dollars, not pesos, dollars. you know and I would tell man these are the best ones man I come from America I was already into marketing you know I mean sales but yeah they they used to go every month but they really don't

they really don't do nothing for you man like they didn't they you know when I was there there was an American they almost got killed and they didn't do nothing about it man like they they'll transfer you when you pay because you have to pay to get transferred you don't just get transferred So I paid the 4,000 and I got transferred, but when they picked this up, they picked up all the Americans in one plane. And when we got to Latuna,

I saw all the Americans how messed up they were mentally. I saw all of them. And I was grateful for me being young and like in the prime of my violence. because I saw all the other Americans that were coming back with me and they were like, a lot of them committed suicide, dude. Like the dudes that I came back with,

they were not well. They saw too much. Saw too much, went through too much. Prison in Mexico is, it's a junk. My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This July,

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That's my responsibility. Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. Spider-Man, brand-new day. In theaters, July 31st. Cool. It's not like American prison. Now, what do you mean pay to get transferred back to the U.S. to serve the rest of your sentence?

Yep. You can do that? Yep. Who gets that money? The government. U.S. or Mexico? U.S.? So how does Mexico benefit? They don't benefit. The only thing that they benefit is because they had a treating back then

where they were exchanging inmates. So Maxwell gets to bring some of his people back while they exchange Americans. And obviously that always has some kind of political tie because if they're bringing someone, it's because they want them to be over there. So it's all money in politics, man. You know, when I got transfer over to you, United States, and my case got reopened. Every day that I served in Mexico, counted as two. So the four years that I was there was eight years.

Okay. Then I got time, good time for pain and suffering for getting stabbed. They gave me five years off my sentence. So I'll take it. How much do you have to pay the U.S.? $4,000? That's it? Yeah.

Well, when you think about it, I guess it's worth it because the U.S. is paying for your incarceration and it's better condition. So if you, well, this is, this is my logic. In Mexico, it costs money to be in prison. It's not like the U.S. In Mexico, you have, your family has to bring you food, has to bring you clothes, has to, you don't get none of those. You don't get hygiene. You don't get the envelopes. You don't get nothing over there.

So if your family is not helping you out, you're going to do some really hard. time. Yeah, tell us about the prison what it's like. You know, um, over there, it's pretty much survival of the fittest. Um, when you walk into the prison, you have to find your own cell. You have to pay for your cell. Um, they have restaurants in there. So if like, if you're like a dude that has money, you go eat at a restaurant. They have stores. It was so funny because I had credit cards and they were made out of cardboard. And I had a credit card for every drug dealer in every unit. And I had a credit card for every store because in every unit,

there's a different cartel. So every unit, there were seven units. Every unit had a major drug dealer and a small one. So I had credit cards to everybody because everybody knew that I was the American that got, I got money sent in. I mean, they were sending me about $1,000 a month for the first, Two years. I was living it up.

So $1,000 could fare very well in there? I had my room with carpet. I had a big screen TV. I was walking around with Nike suits. Yeah, I was living it up until I wasn't. I made the mistake of trying crack cocaine while I was there. And I did it just because all the big cartel members were doing it. It was like over there, the heavier the drugs, those are the ones like the, the, the,

the rich people do. So when I started smoking that, I became very addicted, man. And I became an addict. I sold everything. I mean, I became a crack kid. I became a crack kid. And they were clown on me, make fun of me,

because I went in there as somebody. And now I was like this crack kid. I remember the day I got transferred, I was crying because, I had, I would, I would never have thought that I would turn into that person that I had turned into. Because I sold everything. I was sleeping on the floor in my cell. I had one pair of boots that were a size 15.

I'm a size 9. And it's just because I found them in the trash because I sold my shoes. So I had gotten to a point where I had sold everything and I didn't have nothing, not even a pair of shoes. but I thank God that I that I became an addict in prison because if it would have been out here it would have been a different story and that that drug scared me so much

that after that I never tried it again were you smoking pot before you went to the Mexican prison so do you think this was like your vice that you needed to do something I've smoked pot my almost my whole life I would like to say that I've used it for medical purposes, but I'll be lying. You know, but it's always calm me down.

I don't even know how to explain it, man. It's always brought me down to a level where people that get to know me, like my wife or my close friends, they'll see me acting a little crazy and they'll be like, hey, why don't you go smoke? I think you need a break right now. But it's, I mean, you'll see it, man. The more you get to know me, I get into Maddox state and I'll be like all over the place. It's just my characters, man. Now, this credit card system is it just, you know, you're giving someone cash and they're giving you this, you know, fake type of card that, you know, just shows that you're good?

Well, I was just showing them how much I owed them because once the money came in, I had to pay everybody. And over there, everybody knows when you get money because they come in as like telegrams. That's how the money comes in. Like a Western Union. Yeah, like a Western Union. So when you get your money in, the guy that does the mail walks into the unit,

and he's like, Almanza! Almanza! And they say, electronic, Corre, and everybody knows that you got money. So I used to try and pay the guy sometimes to not come into the unit. But guess what? The guys that I owed money to had already paid them to tell them when I got my money.

Now, you're saying restaurants in there. You mean like little shops that individuals have made, then they're making like prison type food? Yep, they had biria. They had camarones. They had, I mean, just like if you were at a Mexican restaurant. An authentic Mexican restaurant. I mean, some of the best food I ate was in there. You know, Thursdays and Sundays were visiting days.

And I don't know if you're familiar with Mexico, but over there, there's conjugal visits. The families come into the prison. You lock yourself in the cell with your wife or your girlfriend or whatever. You know, so Thursday and Sundays, it turns into a party inside the prison. Was anyone visiting you? No, but I had friends that had sisters that were like cook me up and, you know, I wouldn't be surprised there a couple of JCs over there. Yeah, there's probably no condoms or anything, right? Nothing.

Now, are the beds comfortable that you're able to get in? Well, it was whatever you bought. Like, there was, I mean, some of the drug dealers had beds that were like, probably a million dollar beds, like, you know, wood, like handmaids. You know what I mean, like top-notch stuff. No, it's whatever you could afford. Like, I had a big screen TV. I had carpet.

I had a shack carpet. I had a queen-sized bed. I had a stove. I had all the amenities of like an apartment pretty much. And drugs, drugs was a big thing in there because drugs were really potent. So people would even come in from outside just to buy drugs inside because they were way more strong. But I tell people the four years that I did in the Mexican prison, not once that I look at a calendar. So what that time feel like?

Does it feel like four years when you reflect back on it? No. What do you compare it to? All I know is that they said Biggie Smalls was killed. And that's all I remember from that era. And I remember because they were saying it in Spanish and I was all cooked out and I was like, oh, they killed Biggie. But I don't remember ever looking at a calendar. I don't even remember like, I just don't.

And the time was going so fast because it was survival, get high. It was just, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. When I got transferred, it was the very first time that I was able to take a breath and be like, because when I got to the feds, man, the feds were not the feds. When I got to the feds,

they still had like pop machines, Wendy's with like the burgers. The feds were a whole different ballgame back then. Yeah, you could get fresh made breakfast and stuff, right? Like they, we had a whole weight pile. You had chocolate and real,

like you would, go into breakfast and you got to pick whether you wanted waffles or pancakes, sausage or bacon, we had Wendy's for all our burger stuff. It's when the feds had money. It's when the feds were putting fed cases in the feds, not stupid gun cases gang. Now the feds are just full of all gang members. Back then, it was just all like mafia guys. I mean, what's his name was there when I got there? Boston George was there when I got to Latuna. And that's a pen, Latuna at the time? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. It's a medium security prison. It's the one that takes all the transfers, like international transfers. So when I got there 19 years old, you know, I'm seeing all these guys in robes, bath robes, mob guys, the Azteca. There was an organization there called the Aztecas. But 19 years old, I'm looking at all these people and I'm like, man, that's what I want to be. That, that dude right there.

He made it to the top. even though he's in prison, I'm like, he made it. So I want to be like him. And I start hanging around with a lot of people in there. And I made a lot of connects to the point when I got out. I hit the floor running. Now, are you still with the disciples in that fat sentence? Yeah.

Were they big in there at that time? No, there was only one guy that was the same disciple that was there. There was nobody there. I hung around with the Suleinos. That's who I sat with. That's who I pretty much. hung around with uh it was only them and the as tecas they were on that yard uh but after that i got released and um i had to go do county time in el paso so i spent the next 30 days in alpaso

county jail after i got released from the feds how long did you do in the feds after i got transferred from mexico it was a year my immediate release came in just one day i was in the kitchen and the CEO comes in. He's like, oh, Manza. And I'm like, what? He's like, time to go, roll it up. And I was like, yeah, right. I was like, I got 15 years sentence, dude.

I was like, stop playing with me like that. And he's like, dude, roll it up. Your good time came in. So I'm like on Cloud 9, dude. I'm like giving away everything. You know how it is when you're going home. Giving away everything. Even money that I had on my book.

I gave everything away. I'm walking out and the cops are waiting for me off on front, the Texas Rangers. And it's so cool, it's so funny because, like, I come out and I see them, you know, right away I think of the show, Texas Rangers,

and I'm like, oh, how cool, you know, Texas Rangers are going to give me a ride to the bus stop. And, yeah, they gave me a ride, but not to the bus stop. So El Paso still wanted you for crossing the border and doing there? They, it wasn't that. I had an open case on a shooting case in Chicago and they had to put a warrant out for my arrest.

So they, they got me on that warrant. Even after all those years? Yeah. And this was the funny part. They were like, hey, so Illinois is coming to pick you up. So sign this paper that gives them 30 days to pick you up. I said, okay, I send the paper. It's 30 working days.

So Saturdays and Sundays don't count. on the very last day of my transfer they're like almanza pack it up you're being moved and i said where am i going they're you're going to annex the annex prison it's an underground prison in el paso in the middle of the highway in the middle nowhere and i was like dude you can't move me i'm leaving tomorrow and they're like no you're not leaving they're coming to get you and i was like man Okay. All right. So they move me.

They take me over there. The next day they come into the unit and they're like, hey, immediate release. And I'm like, all right. Dude, they released me in the middle of the desert. Like, it was a road. I remember, you know how when it looks really hot and it's just like, I don't even know what it's called, but it just looks hot. The waves. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I remember looking this side and then looking that way and I'm like, I don't even know. know what way to walk. So I go back and I knock on the door. The CEO's like, if you don't get out of here, we're going to arrest you. So I'm like, all right. So I just start walking. This low rider pulls in and he picks up some dudes. And this is the first time, dude, that I'm seeing guys that are tatted up on their face.

That doesn't exist in Chicago. Though, like, that doesn't exist over there. For me, at least it doesn't. I'm scared and I walk up to this lowrider and I'm like, hey, um, you guys mind giving me a ride to the city? I'm not from here and I'm lost and man, bro, they took me in like I was one of them.

They were like jump in the car. They jumped in the car. They were like, hey, we're having a little party at the house. You want to come? And I was like, fuck, let's go. So I go to their house. I'm over there drinking, eating. By the end of the night, dude, I'm about to marry his sister.

his dad loves me so they take me to the Greyhound Station I get on the bus I finally start going back to Chicago once I get to Chicago I turned myself in and the judge was like

she was like wait a minute she was like so you just got out of prison in Mexico and I'm like yes your honor and she's like and you were arrested in El Paso I said yes you know and they released you and you showed up like right away I was like yeah I was like I want to get this over with because I did that she took all that into consideration and she sent me to a

special gang program instead of giving me the 15 years for that shooting and they they counted all my time from Mexico like she actually felt bad for me she was like he's barely 20 years old and look at everything he's been through already and you guys want to set because the prosecutor was trying to send me away um she gave me an hour to go into her to her uh office and spent a little bit time with my daughter my daughter had just been like been born um and she sent me to that gang program she gave me a chance man i've had lots of chances in the system man i can't i can't sit here and lie she sent me to the gang program i went to the gang program messed that up Got kicked out.

Went to go do my time. And I got out. I got out in 2001, 2001 right before 9-11. And how old are you at that point? I want to say about 25. And that was an Illinois state prison that you were in? Now, what happened to all your stuff, like your money or just apartment or whatever, your life before Mexico?

What happened all of that? You know, when you live on the streets like that, man, as soon as you, go away, your friends come and take everything. They wear your clothes. They take your money. They take your girlfriend. They kind of move in. And that's how, that's, that's why I don't have a lot of pictures.

I don't have, like, I don't have really stuff to remember myself as a kid. Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another. Your spreadsheet says, good luck. Odu brings your business together on a single platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, visit odu.com to book a demo. It's ODOO.com. I don't.

It's all been gone. Now that Illinois State Prison, how does that compare to Mexico and the federal prison you were in? State prison in Illinois was easy because the gangs run it. There's a lot of structure. So as long as you're good with your people, everything's good. No, state time was easy for me. Even prison here in the United States was easy for me. Even when I went to Victorville, you know, those Supermax prisons, it was easy.

I know how to survive in prison. You know, I had a hard time surviving outside of prison. So you get out when you're 25. What happens? Get out. I hit this floor running. I'm part of the cartel now. I'm bringing in bigger shipments, making more money.

I meet someone that's connected also, so I marry her specifically because of that. I get into a really big family. Pretty much the overnight sensation thing. Like we owned a restaurant overnight. We bought a house. I mean, racks to riches story pretty much. But it was still dabbling and all that gang life.

I was still, you know, cheating, lying. I was still doing a lot of stuff that I shouldn't have been doing. And it all catches up to you sooner or later, man. Best friend robbed me. One of my other friends tried to kill me. My other friend set me up with a dirty gun in my truck that I had to beat the case. And then it got to the point where when I turned the Lankan, you know, there was a day where they tried to assassinate me seven times in one day. The disciples.

Yes. And that's the day that I. I said, okay, it's time for me to move to Arizona. Because I already had family here in Arizona. So, like, I was like, it's time for me to move. It's time for me to run. Like, it was not safe for me no more over there. And the thing is, is that I didn't feel safe

for even the organization I was in. And I didn't feel safe for my old organization. So, like, I had to move. Now, why be in a gang when you're with the cartel? The cartel brings in the product, but the gang moves it. The gang is the phone lines on the street. The cartel is just Costco.

So, like, there has to be a connection, whether you like it or not. So it's not like the cartel provide you safety in any way? No, no. Their main thing is the business. So it's not like what you see on TV or the movies or Ozarks or anything. No, no.

You know, they, they over, Hollywood it sometimes and that's you know people want to watch that stuff but at the end of the at the the end of the the the whole thing like it's all about money like if you it's like when i got robbed for those 10 bricks they came to my house i remember they came to my house and i told them hey my house is paid for i have the deed i could just give you the house they said we don't want your house we want the money that's where i knew that Like, you know, I had to go get that money. To pay them back.

Yeah. So they're forgiving about you getting popped by the cops, but not about you getting robbed. Yeah. How much money was that, 10 bricks? I was close to half a mill. So they want the retail value of it, not the wholesale value. No, they want the retail. They want their money.

They don't want to lose. They want you to lose because you made the mistake. You know, and it's just, it's a dirty game. man, you know, but I tell people, not too many people survive it. I mean, you've talked to Jay before. He's one of my biggest, like, I guess you could say, not necessarily a mentor, but yes, a mentor where I saw how deep he was and just how he's changed his life now.

And I want to follow almost like the same steps, I guess you could say. I want to make a real change, not just, a fake one. Anybody could pretend for a little bit. Now, how much money do you think you were making at that point in time in your late 20s? So I got 100. 1-8-0 right there. That's a 1-80?

1-80. Do you see it? Do the flames? No. I can't decipher it. Hold on. Okay. I see it a little more now.

Yeah. Okay. That's how much I made on one of my. One of my deals on profit. $180,000. When I made that profit that day, I started the 180 boys. There was like six of us that had that tattoo. I was bringing in a lot of product,

but what made me make money is I created a system between my crew, where everybody was kind of doing something. And that's where we started to make money. But, you know, everybody wants the spotlight. Everybody wants what you have when you're doing good. Had smuggling changed since before you got locked up in Mexico? No, you know, I always tell people, smuggling has been happening since the Al Capone days, you know, it just, what you smuggles is the only thing that changes.

You know, obviously now there's different drugs. There's different stuff, but smuggling's always been a cat and mouse game. And I don't think it's ever going to stop. Like, the only way you're going to be. you're going to stop from bringing drugs into America is if you stop using drugs. And I don't think that's going to happen, you know. Did 9-11 impact the drug trade at all?

It did. It did because, you know, now they have, you know, those X-ray machines. They have way better, more, like, technology and stuff like that. They even have those scales now that if the car is not weighing exactly what the, like, the sticker says, they're checking the car.

So it's a different, it's a different game, but just like everything else evolves, the cartel evolves too, bro. Like, you know, it's why, you know, a couple of years back, do you remember in the news how you kept hearing in the news

that they kept finding submarines? They're not, you're not hearing that no more right now. But it's because they probably evolved into something else now. Because if you're making a billion dollars every month, I think you could evolve

into other things. But they're still bringing the boats over and they're still getting blown up. I mean, it's never going to stop. There's too much, you know, there's too much money involved. And that's what people don't understand that. Like, when there's billions of dollars at hand like that, people are willing to kill. They wouldn't do anything. Now, the day that they attempted to take your life, the gang, the disciples, that many times, did you know it was coming?

Yeah. Yeah, I had, I had did a big no-no, you know, um, you know, disciples and kings hate each other. Like, they hate each other, you know, there's a lot of bad blood there. And for me to go over like that was, it was, it was a big disrespect. But I had to do it. I had to. There was no choice for me. Now the Latin Kings didn't mind taking that heat upon them?

Well, at the time, didn't mind because I was friends with their leader, the main, main guy. You know, Cato was a friend of mine. He was married to my childhood friend, Valerie, you know, Jay's wife. So, you know, she co-signed for me. So, you know, he received me with open hands, you know, open arms. He told me to come home because I grew up in that neighborhood. I just never became a king. So you flee to Arizona then at that point when you become a king to get out of Chicago.

So no one just travels to Arizona? Arizona to get you, they just leave it. Yeah. It just ends at the state lines. Well, you know, I got a couple of phone calls. I got a couple of threats. But by the time those threats came in, I was already really well established in Arizona. I was already part of another organization over there.

And I was hanging out with like the Lost Dutchmen, the Hells Angels. I became part of a motorcycle crew. Oh, wow. And I told him, come to Arizona because I run Arizona now. You know, Arizona's different, man. Everybody's got guns. Now the cartel in Chicago, they don't care that you leave? No.

You just square up with them, settle any money, and then you leave. Well, I settled right before I left. It's nice that you ask that question. I had to do what I had to do. I had to do what I had to do to get that money back. So I got it, paid them, and then that's when I left. And then do you start with a new cartel or you just... No, when I moved to Arizona, man, I was really serious about getting my life together.

I tell people, I tried and tried, but I just didn't know how. You know, when I moved to Arizona, I was like really serious about not selling drugs no more. When I moved to Arizona, I moved... I had $180,000 cash. I had the Harley-Davidson pickup, I had the Mercedes. I had a lot of stuff. and I figured that when I moved to Arizona, I was going to be good.

I was going to open up a business. I wasn't going to be a criminal no more. But when I got to Arizona, Arizona's different. There's a strip club on every corner. Sex is very, very, like, high demand over there. Massage parlors, naked strip clubs. I mean, they're on every corner.

So, you know, me being raped as a kid, me, all those stuff, those were one of my big, demons, sex, all that stuff. So when I get to Arizona, I start hanging out of all the strip clubs. Everybody knows who I am. I'm DMX's best friend. They play the song when I come in, DMX's song. I'm broke in six months.

Six months, I blew all my money. Sold all my cars, sold all my jewelry. Now I have to look for a job. Never worked a day in my life. I get a job. at U-Ha checking in trucks. I was so depressed because I went from being a kingpin to making $10 an hour to check trucks

and get yelled at if I didn't clean the truck right. So then I was like, man, fuck this, man. I was like, I'm better than this, man. I survived and I always give myself pep talks. And I went to go work for a construction company. They did streetlights and fiber optic. my first day there, I'm digging. They're paying me $10 an hour to dig trenches by hand with a shovel.

And I'm down there with all the Mexicans, don't speak English, nothing. They're fresh here from Mexico. And I'm like, man, I'm an American. I said, I speak English. Not that it's bad, but I just, I got up from the trench that I told my boss, what can I do to not be down there? And he's like, well, you got, you got to learn how to do something. And I was like, what can I do?

I don't want to be down there. He's like, well, get certified through OSHA, learn how to drive the heavy equipment, blah, blah, blah. I said, bet. Okay, bye. Every day after everybody would leave to work, I would stay behind for four hours and practice on all the heavy machinery.

I went to school for the next couple of months. I became OSHA certified in safety, heavy equipment, streetlight level one, street light level two. I mean, you name it. I have a very addicting personality When I want something, I get it. Six months later, I came back, certified OSHA, CDL, everything. They made me the superintendent for the whole company.

I was making about 3,000 a week company truck. I mean, I was getting paid, but I was still a piece of crap. So it was only a matter of time. I started drinking again. I started womanizing again. I started women and money for me are really bad. because then that leads to drugs. And I lost everything.

They fired me. They got rid of me and they let me go. I got back into using drugs again and just being on the streets again. And that's when I started dealing again. And I got caught. I got caught with those bricks. When I got caught with those bricks, I was this close to committing suicide.

Um, because when they found me, because I was, I was, I was hiding somewhere when they found me. They had already been following me for a couple of weeks. And when they found me, I was about to raise my sunglasses up because I already knew what time it was. Like I was going to go away. But something in my heart just told me to not do it. I don't know, I don't know why or how, but I, I didn't do it. And I got arrested and, you know, that, that arrest ended up changed. changing my whole life, man.

It started like a chain of events in my life where I started to realize that I wasn't a bad dude, that I wasn't, I wasn't all those things that I convinced myself that I thought I was. I wasn't. I was actually a teddy bear. I was scared.

I wasn't tough. I wasn't none of those things that I had lied to myself, none of them. And that's where the first time I got to prison and I started asking for help. Like I started taking classes for GED. I don't know.

I just started not being afraid to tell people that I didn't know how to read and write. Like, uh, because, you know, my gang used to get out of me all the time about not knowing my prayers, not knowing all my stuff. And I'm like, man, these guys only knew that. I don't know how to write and read. That's why I don't know it.

But, you know, it started, starting a chain of events, man. And, and it was, tough for me bro because i wanted to change while i was inside but i was so plugged with the land kings that it was really hard to politic and try to change at the same time you know um so i did what i could i did what i could and and i ended up doing the ardat program in uh in florida and mariana and graduated came home um but still was was i was terrified because i was terrified because i I knew it was only a matter of time before I was going to go back again.

And it was because I didn't know how to stay out. My very first mentor was a street light. The day I got released from the halfway house, I saw how everybody was just signing their name and just running out, like they were running out to the wilderness, like animals, just like someone would run that way, somewhere around that way, somewhere around that way, across the street, the drugs, the women. And I remember walking out of the halfway house and saying to myself,

I don't know how I'm going to change, but I'm going to do it this time because, like, I just don't want to go back to prison no more. And I remember pressing the button on the streetlight thing, bro, and it said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That was my first mentor. That was my first lesson in doing something without anybody. telling me to do it, would anybody watching me? Nothing. That was like my first verse, first mentor.

And then when it told me to walk, I would walk. Every week for the next six months that I was in the halfway house, I did that like clockwork every time I got released in the morning. And there was people that were clown on me at the halfway house because it would be like, what's wrong with that, dude? Why does you always walk up to the street line just stand there? And my buddies will tell me, you know. And I'd be like, dude, we'll see who's out the next couple of months.

Because, you know, half of those people always end up back. And I made it a point to myself that I was not going to go back, man. And I was tired of being in prison already. And I just, I knew that I had to build someone different in order for me to never go back again. And that streetlight was the beginning. How much time did you get that sentence? I ended up getting 10 years, but I did the ARDEP program, and that's when we were still getting,

we were still getting a whole year of halfway house back then. They don't do that no more in the feds, but we were still getting a whole year. So almost altogether four years were knocked off my sentence. And that's when you went to like Victorville and other kind of that's right. No, that's when I got, So when I got out in 2014 from all that, I was out for two years and I got violated.

I was using drugs. I was on steroids. And that's what got me caught. My PO showed up when then I was like, my veins are popping on a hundred. And he's like, are you sure you're not on nothing? I was like, no, why? It's like $300.

And he's like, I think you should. come to the office and get tested and he tested me and he violated me and I got sent to Victorville. On your first violation? Yeah, dude. That's a little strict. First violation and I only had six months to do like for the violation and they sent me to the worst place that could have sent me to. Wait, they said you do a ped for six months.

Wow. And the thing, you know, and the thing is like I tell I tell everybody it was so mine like the way they did it. Like they stopped at the first one, the second one, third one. And then they roll up to the pen, right? And the pen is, I don't know if you ever seen the doors. It's like humongous, black doors. And then it starts to open. And there's only me and one other dude on the bus, right? And I look at the dude and I'm like, are we going to the pen? He's like, yeah, dude. I was like, wow, for a violation. So we get there. Dude, we're in the kitchen for maybe 10 minutes. They're already killing somebody in the kitchen, stabbing him the death.

Like, his hands were all over the wall from him trying to get away, all over a piece of chicken that he owed. And I remember just sitting there and I was just looking at everything because, like, and the first thing that came to my mind is like, look at how crazy you've gotten because that just happened and you're sitting there eating lunch like nothing. And I told myself, I think it's time for me to go, man. Like, I don't, I don't want to live like this no more. That day when I was walking back to myself, the CEO that was escorted me, he looked at one of my tattoos and he said, five percent.

And I say, yeah. He said, Rich Piana? I said, yes, sir. He's like, get out of here. I was like, yeah, I'm a sponsored athlete. He's like, what are you doing in jail? I said, man, made bad choices. What does that have to do with me being a sponsor athlete?

And he's like, I don't believe you. He leaves. He comes back like 10 minutes later. And he's like, hey, dude, he's like, I looked you up. He's like, hell yeah. He's like, what are you doing here? I was like, I don't know. He's like, dude, they sent you to a really bad play.

I was like, you think I don't know? I was like, I know, dude. And that guy is my guardian angel to this day, man, because he got on the phone that day. And he's like, let me check some stuff. A month later, I was getting transferred to Lampock low. I had never stepped foot in a low prison. I tell people, when I got there,

I had never seen so many white people in prison in my life. Because it looked like a college dorm. They had grass, they had palm trees, they had weights. They're out there playing botches. like in nice jogging suits. And I was like, wow, like I could do 20 years here. So when I got there, it was the very first time that I didn't have to politic. It was the very first time I didn't have to pick who I sat with.

It was the very first time that I didn't have to be in survival mode. And I was able to go to school. I was able to learn all those white people that were there. They were there for white collar crime. so I was able to learn about LLCs, nonprofits, what not to do, what to do. I was that kid that, you know, I was so hungry for information,

but at the same time, I was so different from everybody there because I was almost like the only one that was like a full-pledge gang member almost. There was a lot of baisas there and stuff like that, but so I was running around all these banker white dudes that I knew they had the information that I wanted and they would run for me

because I don't know, They probably thought I was trying to, you know, get something from there or whatever. But I just wanted information, man. I wanted to know about LLCs. I wanted to know about nonprofits. I wanted to know about college. And I wanted my vocabulary to improve. So I wanted to talk to different people.

I wanted a lot, man. And when I came home, I just, I made a promise to myself that I was going to educate myself to be able to learn, like, how to be a better person. What's crazy is that month at that pen could have got you killed all over a violation and force you back into just everything, your old life. And that's what people don't realize is that one small mistake could turn into something big and people don't realize how dangerous it is in there for real. Like, you can never come home. If you really had to handle business, it's a dangerous place. Did you have to click back up with your gang when you were.

were there or did they leave you alone because you were there for a month? No, when I actually, when I got to Lampock, there was nobody there from my organization. So that's why I didn't have to sit with nobody. I didn't have to politic, nothing. It was a low yard, dude. I mean, everybody was walking around in sandals. I remember the day that I was walking to the shower and I had my stilted boots on. And one of my homies is like, dude, this ain't that kind of yard.

And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, look down and look at everybody's feet. And I looked down, everybody walked around in sandals, and I was like, okay. But, you know, what's sad is that that identity wasn't good no more. It didn't serve a purpose no more. So, like, I didn't even know what to do with myself. So do you think you needed that extra six-month sentence to really get it together? I think so.

I think that I had to really, I don't say, feel it, but I had to, I had to learn from other people that had done it, I guess. I had to see it because when I was at Lompoc and I started learning about college courses and I had like this dude telling me, because I got a couple of credits while I was there. You're actually pretty smart, JC. You know, it motivated me. Like, I don't know how to explain it, man. It did something for me.

it really made me think that I could do something. Like the people there changed my life. What was going on with your kid throughout these years? My kids? Yeah. You just had one going into that 10-year sentence? No, I have five kids. I have five kids and they were all made throughout my whole prison sentence.

My oldest one is 30. my youngest one is eight years old i always thought that a baby is going to fix me man i always thought that me getting married having a baby was going to fix me make me into a better man and i was it was i was far from from that i needed to change so you know i i have five different kids with five different uh women um but i'm all i'm good with them now you know my kids my my daughters love me and um i've been able to rekindle that that relationship. Tell us about getting out of prison that last time and how you changed your life after that. That was the hard part, getting out.

I always tell people, everybody thinks that the day that your release comes at, that's like the magic day, and that's like the day that it all really starts. When I got released in 2017, I came home with a dream. I came home with a dream of wrong to strong. And back then it was more of a fitness dream. I was competing in powerlifting competitions. I had so much rage in me that it made me strong. And I was breaking records.

I broke the state records and then I went to compete nationally. And wrong to strong was about fitness, about supplements. I was doing videos with big boy in the strength cartel. muscle cali i was all over youtube and and it started feeding that eagle monster again my head started getting big again and i started falling back into my old ways again and it's where i realized that i couldn't i couldn't keep none of the old jc like the old jc had to completely get removed completely destroyed and i had to build someone different and it took me eight years dude i've been out for eight years and I just last week I started to feel free for the first time.

No, no more supervised release or probation or anything like that. Nothing. I'm complete. The feds drug tested me for five years straight every week. You think that helped hold you accountable? Yeah. All that helped me. I tell people, you know, some of us are just a little bit more hardheaded and we just need

a little bit more time to get it. you know, I'm that person. So, you know, but once we get it, we run with it. Do you still think about the dangers of your past life? Does that feeling of looking over your shoulder ever go away? I have my days. The other day we were pulling up to the house in this white van, like came right behind us.

And I hit reversing my car. I was about to smash the van out of the way. And I ended up being our dark groomer. So, you know, I have my moments, man. But I don't think that's ever going to go away. And I don't want it to go away because I see a lot of stuff that other people don't see. You know, the life that we've lived, I think we can notice danger if it's lurking around. I mean, and I think that's one of the triggers that I have.

You know, I don't want to, like, I don't want to lose it. Do you think about what you could have done differently at all? Would you have changed anything? I wouldn't even know what to change, but it tells you. to choose because like I tell people the only blueprint I got handed was the one that I got handed like I didn't even know what a good man looked like until now um you know now that I'm that I'm actually teaching men how to be good men now I actually see the blueprint but I wouldn't be able to answer that question because I wouldn't even know what do you think makes a good man a lot of

things um me i'm gonna just speak for me personal um being faithful to my wife um not lying um you know being that leader for your kids going to work there's a there's a lot of things um that i say to myself uh even calling my daughters you know i call my my oldest one and it's her birthday this month and I'll send her just Starbucks out of nowhere and I didn't know what that like I'm doing that because that wasn't done for me so like um I believe that's being a good man man just you know being vulnerable being able to when I'm when I'm wrong now like I actually tell my life hey I'm sorry for that and you know I would have never done that couple years back because nothing was wrong with me it was everybody else that was wrong nothing was wrong nothing

wrong with me. Now I know when I'm wrong. What advice would you give to your teenage self before, you know, you started smuggling and gotten to gangs? You know, my teenage, my teenage self was, um, he was really messed up, man. He had a lot of voices in his head. He, he was, uh, he was, he was fighting a lot of things that were unseen to a lot of people. Um, really the only thing I could say to man, you really screwed up your life, but you'll get it back together. You know, there's not too much I could say, really to tell you the truth, man. I'm lucky to be here.

What's your life look like now? My life is beautiful. My kids are back in my life. I'm a business owner. I work for ASU. I go into the prisons on daily basis and teach. how not to make the mistakes I made. I've created programs,

you know, be the man, Wonder Woman, USP Max. I mean, life is good, man. I feel that I'm in a season where I'm learning about money. I'm learning about education. I'm learning about AI.

I'm in a season where life is good. Like, life is good. And I'm happy, man. I'm happy. That's why I made this trip because, you know, I needed like a little time away from home. I just needed to do, I needed to come out of retirement for a little bit. Well, I appreciate you coming out of retirement to be here.

So, yeah. Yeah. And thanks for coming on the show today, J.C. And, you know, I wish you all the best and looking forward to seeing you in Phoenix and seeing what you got going on out there. Appreciate it, brother. I appreciate you. And safe travels back.

Thank you, man. Thank you.