Locked In with Ian Bick - I Was a U.S. Soldier — Then I Went to Prison | Matt Runge

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

Matt Runge shares his honest & cautionary life story — from joining the U.S. Army because he didn’t know what else to do with his life, to being kicked out of the military and sent to military prison for selling drugs. After his release, Matt explains how he continued down the same destructive path, dealing drugs on the outside and repeatedly landing in both federal and state prison. In this episode, he breaks down the mindset that kept pulling him back into crime, what life was really like inside different prison systems, and how those experiences forced him to confront his choices. This honest conversation dives into military life, prison, addiction, accountability, and the long road to breaking cycles, making it a powerful watch for anyone interested in true crime, prison stories, and real-life redemption. _____________________________________________ #TrueCrime #PrisonStory #VeteranStory #LifeAfterPrison #CrimeAndPunishment #RedemptionStory #FederalPrison #reallifestory _____________________________________________ Thank you to FRONTLINE HEALING FOUNDATION for sponsoring this episode: Visit https://frontlinehealingfoundation.org/ to donate or share their mission. _____________________________________________ 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 & Guest Background 02:30 Growing Up in North Jersey 06:00 ADHD, School Struggles & Early Trouble 09:00 DJing, Nightclubs & the Party Lifestyle 12:00 High School Expulsion & Losing Direction 15:30 Joining the Army & Being Stationed in Korea 18:30 Club Life Overseas, Drugs & Selling While Enlisted 22:00 First Military Arrest & Getting Busted 26:00 Inside Military Prison: What It’s Really Like 30:00 Release, Returning Home & Going Back to Hustling 33:30 New Jersey Arrests & State Prison Experience 39:00 Hustle Mentality & Surviving Prison Life 42:30 Repeat Offenses & Catching a Federal Case 50:30 Federal Prison Life: Hustling, Cards & Food 55:00 Release, Club Work & Finding New Hustles 01:00:00 South Carolina Arrest & Another Prison Stretch 01:10:00 Parole, Final Sentence & Looking Back 01:15:00 Life After Prison & Lessons Learned 01:18:30 Final Reflections, Regret & Closing Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So a military prison, tell us about that. What was that like? We got extorted until this last little bit. They tried to extort me down into South Carolina. How do you feel about going back to preempties? prison again. In this prison, people live in bodybacks. He joined the U.S. Army because he didn't know what else to do with his life, but getting kicked out, sent to military prison for selling drugs, and later cycling through federal and state prisons would take him down a path he never imagined.

Matt, welcome to Lockton. Thanks so much for supporting the show and coming on the show. Thank you for having me. It's always cool when we have guests that enjoy watching the show, or you said the clip, so it's cool to have them in the hot seat. You know, the content is, like, it's, it's up my alley, I get a lot of it. I will be, I will be honest. Like, B.C., I'm like, all right, well, I'm coming up there. I wasn't moving keys, you know, like, but I was doing my, I didn't, I haven't worked in 20-something years. And I moved with carte blanche.

I was in the club, I was a DJ. So I was, I was in the club scene. Everybody loved me. I was able to do whatever I wanted to do. I never got caught. I was always snitched on. So I was really, I was. At some points of time, I had my own security team watching out, you know,

beep, beep, hey, so-and-so's here, whatever, just sitting on my ass, make two, three, four thousand dollars on a Friday and Saturday night. Hey, but that's what makes a show special. You don't need to be a kingpin to come on. You don't, you don't. Where'd you grow up? I'm from North Jersey. Okay.

What was that like growing up there? Fast. It's very fast pace. You know, like I was telling her, she's my friend, she's not kind of, you know, environment. She grew up in like a loud cabin. And I brought out to where I'm from. Like, it's just, you know, it's very fast-paced. So you got to have a hustler's mentality to make a buck. Who raised you? My parents, you know, they're still together. My mom has passed away for most ago. But yeah, they were steady old in the house. My old man working and my mom

doing the house quite kind of thing. I'm sorry for your loss. Yeah. What did your dad do for work? He worked for Verizon, who's kind of high up in the Verizon. Was it just you as a child? No, I got, had a brother and two other sisters. Were you guys close? No, because it was like a six-year difference in every sibling. So did I kind of feel like you're an only child? In a way, you know, I was, it messed my life got messed up. I got, I was grounded a lot for my grades.

So my family was very strict. You know, like one D, you get a week, ground me. And one F, that's two weeks. That's a whole marking period for me. You know, a D, two out. I'm fucked. You know, I'm grounded the whole time. in the basement, no TV, no outside.

And just from September, like the middle of September to the middle of August, just grounded. Why did you struggle in school? It wasn't for me. I don't know. I just, I wasn't retaining it. It wasn't until years later. And I'm older.

So, like, the ADHD was just surfacing. They really didn't know too much about it. But I was diagnosed when I was younger, you know, pin dropping. You know, why am I looking? at that pin drop. Why don't you haven't picked the pen? It wasn't until years later.

I was like, oh, you got severe ADHD. So that might have had something to do with it. Just if it doesn't, if I'm not interested in it, I don't retain it. Do you think your parents handled it the wrong way? Yeah. And they realized that years later, you know, like it's, you know, it is what it is. I grew up at a different time where things were handled differently. What were you passionate about?

What do you like as a kid? Music. It's a guitar playing guitar. I was young. Entertainment, anything in the entertainment business. I was like, you know, movies, TV, you know, good books, things like that. Did you know you were going to get into that later in life? No.

I fell into my DJing on accident. My roommates were DJs. And they were off working. I'm just cleaning up. I kind of looked over and I saw like this record and it had this emblem on it. It looks really familiar. Put it on. I was like, oh, that's the song I heard from the other night,

and my buddy was playing at the club. And I, yeah, okay. And I started messing with the mixer, with the knobs. I was like, okay, I can understand why somebody would like to do this. And then from then on, because I had a love for the music, I started DJing. How were you in high school? What were you like? Unaccepted because I wasn't, you know, I was cool, but, like,

I was ever given a chance to be cool. You know, I grew up, I grew up, like, the only white kid on the block. so it was different different environment growing up and I was always the scorny kid with the glasses you know always by himself whatever I wasn't the one of the popular was once I got kicked out of school because I got kicked out of high school for some stupid stuff

and I met more delinquents I kind of found a liking to hang in that with people more like-minded I guess why'd they kick you out uh something was said that I shouldn't have said Yeah. You get bullied? I was very bullied.

I was bullied very excited. Yeah, a lot. And I went into the Army and all that stopped. So you skipped college, went right into the Army? Yep. After you got expelled? No, I went to that, because I did the homeschooling, and then I went to a mostly strip school for another,

to finish the last three years of high school. That probably must have been a very different experience than other kids guys guys. Yeah, these kids were, like, bad kids. So, yeah. How'd your parents feel about you getting expelled? I think they just didn't understand what the fuck was going on. Like, what's wrong with you? So, yeah, they weren't very happy about it at all.

I was grounded again. I was grounded for a long time after that. Now, how does a guy that describes himself as a nerd get the idea to join the military? There's nothing else for me to do. You know, I wasn't qualified for anything. We get out of the hood and go home, go do something. Which branch of the military?

I was in the Army. The Army, okay. And you go to basic training, you get in everything? Basic training, everything was good. They sent me to Korea. And that was, you know, culture shock. It drank a lot because, you know, drugs weren't prevalent. And then they decided to put me in Fort Stewart, Georgia,

which is ripe outside Savannah, Georgia. She's a beautiful city, and nothing but. but clubs. So I remember I was playing my music one day and the guys came by like, oh, you listen to this music, you come with us. And put a raver kid in a raver city. And after a couple weeks, like, going to the clubs, people recognize you. Okay, yeah, I remember him. He's, you know, been coming here recently. Hey, hey, can he get such and such? Can you get such and such? And after a couple weeks, running around the club all night, fetching for somebody else is, like, going to start selling drugs again.

I started hustling in the Army. And you had sold drugs in high school before? Yeah, I sold weed. And these kind of drugs were the same weed or something else? Existency, acid. What did you know about that at the time? Had you tried it before? I've tripped before.

Ecstasy was new to me. I had been around, but the description of how it made you feel that I was told by somebody was totally the opposite of what it was. So it were years where I could have tried it and didn't, because I didn't. didn't want to feel drunk because I don't like the drunk feeling. So it's definitely not that feeling if you haven't, you know, missing around that kind of thing. What do you think propelled you to sell the drugs? Was it money or did you want to fit in or you just bored? Money and I can party for free. I had a knack or I have a knack for finding things, finding things at good quality prices and the

quality of whatever is superior. So I'm looking around. I was like, oh, you, you're, you're making that money, but I can do it and do it better. And that's just what happened. How did you improve the system and what kind of money are we talking about? Take, for instance, all right, so the last little bit of E-Pills, but I was getting them for about a little under $3 a piece from Amsterdam, selling each one for 40. That's a pretty good markup. It's a great markup. It's a great markup. I was going through 2,000 E-Pills a weekend on Friday and Saturday.

Every week I would go back to Jersey and pick up two. You might get them for $800 for a hundred pack. I might sell them to you for $1,500 for a hundred pack, and it depended upon who you are. But the money was me sitting around the club on those nights and sell them individually. I already sold the hundred packs. Those are out in the club.

My friends and the DJs and the promoter and the club owner, those are coming out of pocket, $20, $30 a pop. I'm just killing it. Now, did it register in your mind that, hey, you're in the military. If you get caught for this, there could be even more repercussions? Wasn't even going through my... And I never got caught. I got sent on every time.

I was very safe in how I did things, you know. In my way, I was always on the lookout. I was never inebriated when I was doing what I was doing. I was pretty aware of my surroundings just so I didn't want to get in trouble. And, you know, there's a lot of stitches out there. So you didn't get caught right-handed. You just got snitch done. Four times.

So tell us about this first time while you're in the military. His name was on the paperwork. His name was Robert Hurley. And he had a sign on the bottom. So you can see the R. You can see the T. They just put one marker line through it to redact it. You can see the top of the age and the Y.

I'm like, this motherfucker. What? We used to party with you. We let you tag along. And you told on me, So the kid was going to, they were going to kick him out. So when you get kicked out of the military, they don't just, okay, go home, they're going to lock you up for a little while first and get some work out of you.

And he's like, oh, no, that's not for me. How about I tell on you somebody? And he told him me. So he was in the military too. He was in the military as well. And he had got Boston. Yeah, but DUI's all kinds of, you name it. They had it.

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This podcast is supported by Gofund me. Yeah, lock you up. So when he snitches and he says everything about you, do they come grab you right away or do they like go undercover? They had, this is weird and actually I got clemency from the judge.

They had a special formation with bring your kids and bring your wives and some of my friends have gone out to PLDC which is sergeant training is too cool

and these guys are supposed to be getting the stripes that day supposedly. So you got hundreds of people out in this tarmac whatever in formation

and they call my name. I just stay there I'm hearing things and then you hear it again Run and just post on the post I'm like they're calling you I'm like no no shit You're kind of like come out of the formation

I'm out of my corner of my eye I see these two suits with badges Flinging what happened And they just they Runs you're under arrest You know pad to be down Everything in front of everybody which is illegal You're not allowed to do that

Um You're under arrest for LSD distribution, whatnot, and come with us. And I thought I was going away forever. But they do it differently. They let me out. They let me away. And it was like, you know, things are being investigated since then that.

That was a military police that arrested you? CID, criminal investigation division. And they didn't need to have any evidence, like no drugs on you, nothing? No, and that's how I could have gotten away with it all. But they were having me do special duty because they didn't like that. They had like parade grounds, which are like soccer fields on top. Soccer fields is grass forever. Here's a little pushmower.

Go go out there in August and just go push that grass. You know, just to punish me, clean out a rock garden. You know, in the August heat, go pull those weeds. And I was like, no, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm going to jail regardless. I'm not going to come of work. So when we got our discovery, they give this kid the money in point A. And say, go all the way across the street to the barracks where thousands of people are and go get your stuff and call us in an hour or whatever.

And I'm like, he could have gotten this from anybody. This doesn't even make any sense. She's like, yeah, right, we have this beat. And she called him up. And I'm like, well, your client hasn't been to work in 18 days. So we're going to either max him out on this. You might, you know, get not guilty on the other thing. But we're just going to max them out on all these little stupid charges and he'll get a lot more time.

And so I was like, fuck it. What do you want? Just plead guilty. I'm like, okay, fuck, I guess I'm bleeding guilty. So could you avoid a jail time or if you just did the job? Yep. Do you regret that to this time? Oh, my God, do I regret it?

Yeah. How old are you at that time? 21. Now, when you have an attorney, is it a military attorney? Yeah, it was military. And they're very good at the, from JAG, you know, just like the kind of, like the TV show. Very good. She wasn't biased.

And their military personnel, there wasn't biased. I thought I was going in there and she's going to look at me. some scumbacks selling drugs in the military. I was getting it from Marines. He's like, there's more drugs in the military that are not on the streets. Do you think still to this day? Yeah, yeah.

People party. Everywhere, people party. It is what it is. Was it like an escape for soldiers dealing with, say, PTSD after returning from war? No. It was just party. I mean, I'm not saying that people weren't using it for PTSD, but, like, no, it's just people partying.

Now, are the lawyers paid for, or do you have to pay for it? Everything's paid for. It's not bad, but it's a stricter sentence than what it would probably be outside. It's just different scenario. Military prison is different than like state or fed. I was telling Matt, you don't have your typical CEOs. You have military personnel looking at you. And you're scum.

They look at you like scum. You're not getting any personal favors. There's no budding up to them. You know, I'm sure, you know, there might have. I've been a few people that are buddy, buddy, but it's not like the CEOs, laughing and joking with the CEOs every day. No, you're scum.

Your, the patch with your insignia is ripped off. The U.S. Army stuff is ripped off. The only thing that's on there is left is your name. And they didn't like us very much. So how much time do you plead out to? 15 months, but then I got like seven months to clemency. So dropped it down to nine months,

and then I had to just do six months off of that. Off of them fighting 11 hits off. They got 11 hits of acid for me. And how does it work? Is it a felony? Does it affect you in the real world? How does, you know? So, all right, so it's a felony.

So you know, all right, so with Fed time, okay. My, that one charge when I went to, when I went federal, I think it went federal because they were like, we got them. This is this third time with the feds. A felony is a year or more in jail. So that would have been my third strike Boom, we can career criminal now And the prosecutor, that's what he was going for

When the career him out I did my lawyer did it I'm my PSI But my lawyer's doing the math He's like you're doing 12 to 13 years Are you sure you don't want to cooperate? I'm like No

Just rock it out I was like I told him I was like This might be a loophole But on paper The military charge said 15 months But I didn't do 15 months went from 15 to 9, and I only did six months.

So technically, this isn't my third felony. He's like, no, no, no. He's like, you're going to do time. And then when I got my PSI or whatever, and you put it on the grid with the guidelines, I'm like, wait a minute, that's three to five years, as opposed to this. It's like, I already got a year in.

Sign me up. I'm golden. I should be golden. And I'm so happy that I've ever stenched. That's not in my grade. it's not my dream but uh you know how they check the paperwork when you get there it wasn't in my PSI and it says it word for word if it's on your PSI and your your time adjustments or all that that 5K1 wasn't in there of course not so military prison tell us

about that what was that like all right so you know how like you go to jail and you're the white boy and you don't know anybody um I've had that situation so many times but then I'm in the bullpen with some black guys and I'm cool with them and you know buddy buddy with them and all of a sudden they go up to the main population and oh there's my cousin there's my next door neighbor he knows people from the block

and I'm still by my now I'm by myself again and I got there a few of my friends are already waiting for me because there was about six of us that all got individually popped in different charges different cases and he was there at the spade table hey come on over

the food was spectacular you had to work so I was working in the kitchen it was just single cell that was pretty cool otherwise it was just boring prison yeah we had uh some things were nice just had like two

sand volleyball pits um a decent decent weight room whatever but the library was very dope I read I read it I read and I sleep my time away. Do they make you work out there?

No, no. And there was only a few, you don't already be a few people in the room to work out, so you have to sign your name. So most of the time, you know, the names are already on there, so you're not allowed to go to work out anyway. Is there commissary there?

No. Oh, there was, the only common commissary we were allowed to have with cigarettes. That's it. That's it. So otherwise, you just have to eat their three meals? There's three meals. Any snacks?

No. If you get caught bringing food back, you get in trouble. So the rules are very strict. Very strict, yeah. Is there ever contraband there? Because the officers are military personnel, they're very strict. Yeah, I've never seen anything.

I didn't see any confidential ban at all. Basically, the only rule was don't smoke in your room. And they had the fire alarms in the rooms, and eventually somebody's going to do it. And everybody goes out, like, who did it? I was sleeping. And now we're outside in our fucking, in our boxers. And each room is triggered, like, goes to like a main line.

So if room 13 was smoking, room 13 is lit up in the officer station. So I knew which one was doing. You're dumb. You have five smoke breaks a day. If you didn't have any money, they'd give you a carton of cigarettes. So it was just different as opposed to all the other bids that I've had. And you said the food was good. What kind of food is it?

I was in a Navy brig. So the Navy was cooking for us. So it was just real food, man. Real food. There was no slop. Every Sunday was burrito day. So you yell out what you want and your side of your burrito. It was different.

It was the pros and cons, man. It was a Charleston neighbor bring in South Carolina. And you had like a whole section with child molesters. From the military. Oh, yeah. Like all the child sex offenders, they had their own section. They weren't allowed to be around us. And are they treated harshly?

I mean, we just called Chili Mode, you know, when you're walking by, but we had no interaction with them at all. They kept them away from them. They had to eat separately and everything. Like, they had their own section in jail that were three sections, A, B, and C, whatever, and they had C. They were just in there. Nobody else was allowed to interact with them. So what are the, what's the most common charge to be in military prison for during your time? I don't know.

I never really, never really asked, probably drugs. Is there TVs? Yeah, there was two TVs. Every Saturday or Sunday was movie day. And could you get a visit? Yeah, there were visits. Luckily, I lived right about an hour away, Savannah was about an hour away from Charleston.

So I have visits on Sundays and Saturdays. How did your family react? They were pissed. Yeah. Pissed. Would they come and visit? No, not at all. So your visit was only from friends?

Friends from Savannah. Yep. How did you feel about kind of, kind of, ruining your military career or you just not really passionate about it? I felt like a piece of shit, really. Like, I was given a chance to better my life than here I am, hustling the military.

And, I mean, we were all partying together. All sergeants and all that, we were all partying together. I think they were more pissed because I was the captain's driver and everything, all this stuff was happening underneath their nose. So they were a little more upset than usual. And you were selling versus just using? Yeah. Now, do you feel like you had a drug addiction going into military prison?

I'm going to call it an addiction. Just more of a liking. Like, I can put it down anytime, and I have put it down any time. It's just I enjoy the... I try being high. When you were in there, what were you thinking about for the future? Because your career was over. What was the plan?

Going back to house and get out of here and go back to partying. I know it was waiting for me when I got out. So you didn't care that there could have been more ramifications? Well, funny thing is I get out and I was just kind of like couch surfing until I found my spot. But I was just always hustling. I always, my bed or whatever was always paid for. Everything. I was barely living at the time just partying every night, getting high, selling whatever I could to get through to find myself.

I mean, I got out of there with nothing. I was wrong by myself. my family's back home in Jersey my family's like come home son you know it's a shame what happened to you you know

so I started hustling again and I got in trouble doing, I forgot what it was but I'm sitting in the county jail trying to sell weed so we can get gasoline and I

just stupid but I'm in the jail cell and once I let me out like six months later for a 20 bag of weed I've heard a letter to my mom I'm sitting there party at my friend's house. Like within a week later, I'm just,

this is really not going well for me. I have to call home and beg to come home. So I did that the next day I called him, just explained to either jail or dead. It's like the way I was going. I just can't keep doing this. I want to come to Jersey. And then just Jersey's Jersey.

Everything's in your face. That's how you end up in Jersey. Handed back in Jersey. and I start selling weed and when I get COVID ecstasy it just leads someone to another

like well I can oh you want 10 pills I might not have it but I can get it in a couple minutes and I'm going to make that money I got you 10 pills right now Frontline Healing Foundation exists for the warriors among us

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or offer quick fixes. They subsidize the cost of clinically proven treatment at bedded facilities so warriors could focus on healing, not finances, because asking for help isn't weakness, it's courage. If you believe the people who run towards danger deserve a real path to recovery, I encourage you to learn more or get involved. Visit frontline healing foundation.org to donate or share their mission. Healing is possible and no warrior should have to fight alone. How hard was it to find a new connect once you went back to Jersey? I don't, dude, I got a knack for finding things. Asking questions, you know, people partying. What did you get this from? Oh, I got a Joe, you know, da-da-da-da-da,

introduce you to him. And then it just happens, man. I really, and I think about that all the time. How I have I met such and such and such and such and always been in the right spot to meet these people and get these killer deals on phenomenal products. And that's, ask anybody around me.

I've never, never fucked anybody over. You know, everybody loves me. It was accepted. Everybody wants to get hot. and they want the best of the best, just so I happen to have it, and a really good price. So how long are you selling for now until you got popped again?

About a year. And then, yeah, I got snitched on for acid again. So I went to a state prison in Jersey, which was not fun. Who snitched on you this time? Up here. Somebody I looked at, he was a guitarist that I knew when I was a kid,

and he got caught with a couple, I think he had a couple of roaches in his astray And he was pulling out of his Part of his housing development or whatever Without a seatbelt and a cop pulled him over So instead of getting some probation He's like, well, I know a drug dealer And who does that?

Him And do they do an undercover up on that for you? They gave him money for a controlled buy And I bought some acid for me And the next thing I know A couple days later I got cops in my house Now, how much time do you get for this?

I got five with a two and a half. So in New Jersey, the two and a half of me is your step. That's exactly what you have to do. The five is just lingering. You can have a good time. So in Jersey, they put you automatically go to a drug program. If you have any kind of drug charge, whether you're hustling or you got caught the crack pipe in your pocket,

you go with this drug program. And if you deny it, then it put you in general popularity. and they take a good time way. But the good thing about this is, is if you complete this therapeutic community, which is like an 11-month program, you get automatic halfway house. And I thought automatic in a lot of prisons,

you get in half-way house. Everybody wants to get out of jail as early as possible, you know what I mean? What do I got to do to get out of here quicker? Same thing with the feds. I do the R-DAP. You know what R-DAP is? Yeah, you got the year off plus the mandatory at least to six months or whatever, right?

Yeah, I did the ARDAP. And that was easy. It's just structure. I already know what discipline is. So you did this program in the state? I did the program in the state. Send me home to a halfway house. Got out of the half of house and I started selling weed again.

So how much acid did they have to catch you with the mandate of five-year sentence? That was half a sheet. That time, I could call the half a sheet. What does that look like? It's about two inches by about an inch and a half. Half a sheet is about this big. Okay. 50 hits.

And how much is that worth? Like what's the street value? I get him for, I was, you know, $2.50 each, and I sell him for $10. $10? Yeah. And you only get him for $250? Yeah. And that supplier was in the same state too?

Yeah. Okay. Was it popular at the time? Acid? Acid is always popular. Even still to this debt? Mm-hmm. Never tried it.

It's a long buzz. that does things that most drugs don't do and it's cheap. It's definitely an experience. So tell us about New Jersey prison. What was that like? Gangland. Everything's ganged up. I've never had an issue in any jails.

I don't know. I just very lucky. I never got pressed up on. Never got extorted until this last little bit. They tried to extort me down in South Carolina. but I think everybody when you go into this drug program everybody's trying to go home

so it really wasn't too much um too much commotion you know people weren't really as on edge I'm ready to buck as opposed to if I bucked and I'm my program

all this time I didn't waste it I'm trying to go home um it's just not fun what kind of gangs Bloods, mostly bloods, crips,

you got your Latin kings, nietas. That was about it. So where did the white guys fit into this? Fit in where you fit in. Just move.

So when I got to, when I got to state prison, I used to cut hair in the county. And they called me Mighty Whitey. All right. So when I got to

to prison, except that of my cell and I heard Mighty Whitey. I'm like, fuck. Followed me. I knew the guy, and he already knew people. And he's doing the hookups.

I never heard of what a hookup was, even with the ramen noodles and all that stuff. You're going to eat with us and this and this and that. So I kind of eased into that thing. My charges were always good every time I always got locked up. You know, like drug dealers are kind of like on a higher echelon as opposed to most white boys that are in there for stealing. or, you know, sucking a meth pipe or shit, you know, not, not, oh, you were making money.

Okay, you're, you're on a different level. Are you not, you know, white boy with glasses, are you touching kids? No, okay, you're good. You didn't snitch on anybody. You're even better. And then it's like, it's yours to fuck up. Did you learn how to cut hair in the county or you knew before? I was doing, like, edge-ups or whatever before I went into, into the Army.

and I bought my first pair of clippers in boot camp because he had to get a haircut every week every other week and pay such and such dollars. And I said, no, the hustling mentality went to, how about I buy that $15 pair of clippers and charge people $3 for haircuts? And that's what I did start doing. Where do you think you got that hustler mentality from?

Who does that come from? In my blood, I think. The more I learned about my old man, even though he's straight-edge as opposed to a lot of things, hustlers mentality. North Jersey is very full. fast-based, a lot of hustlers. I used to sell cigarettes.

Cartons of cigarettes we get from Indian reservations. $24 for a carton of cigarettes. And then I'm selling for $40 and they're selling them for 50 or 60 in the stores. How do you guys get them in? And how do you get to connect? My old man, this is before the Fed's cocked down. And they got them for like $10,000 to $1,000 of back pay. You know, they had to pay.

But he was getting them. I was, where are you getting these cigarettes from? And he was just doing it for himself, he's smoking. So I'm like, well, should I know everybody that smokes? You know, I played softball in a bar league. Everybody smokes cigarettes. You know, so I sell them 10 and 15 cards of cigarettes a week. Making $8, $900.

Doing nothing. So where would he drop them off? In a box to my house every week. Or my old man's house. And I'd go to his house and I'd get the cigarettes and I'd go make my deliveries. Yeah, but when you were in prison, how could you sell it? Oh, no, no, I wasn't selling cigarettes. Outside prison.

Exactly. Oh, okay. So that was a good hustle then. It was a very good hustle. Okay. Yeah. Now, in New Jersey prison, did you have to click up with anyone or are you? Nope, I never clicked on it.

You were solo. I mean, if I was solo, never asked. It's funny as so the Fed, when I was in the feds, my cell, you know what the Nordic nation is or whatever, the religion that worships lore, they kind of, they have like, they have, like, the hammer or whatever. Yeah, yeah. The shot caller was my, you know, the little cubicles that we had three, three, the three bug cubicles. And he's like, you know, where from?

What are you charges? You have some paperwork on you? I was like, no. I didn't have, you remember a lot of bring up PSIs. I was like, well, how do I, how do I do that? He's like, why don't you go talk to the counselor? Get some paperwork. I said, oh, yeah, I'm going to do that.

right now because I'm letting these people know that I'm not a child molester and I'm not a snitch. How do I do that right out? So I knocked on the counselor's door. He had just dismissed me five minutes ago. What do you need? And I was like, can I get like some paperwork to, uh, and he looked at the, the betting chart? He's like, oh, you get impressed by such and such and such such, nope, nope, I'm not saying that. I just got a few years.

I don't know, I've got to try to do my time. everybody know they don't fuck little kids and I'm not a snitch and I guess he looked on the computer and he realized he's not lying and he gave me some paperwork there you go go ahead yeah I don't think they do that anymore yeah he did me a solid it wasn't a PSI didn't you know didn't say the 5k1 but it showed my charges or whatever so he's like all right you started to him he's like oh you're cool here's some headphones here's a there's a coffee cup and I got welcome so I remember you know I watched your your little short and when you got there, you went to eat,

you don't know anybody, I got brought to the cafeteria. Lucky you. I lucky me. So, you know, I was already, oh, hey, this is so-and-so. Oh, hey, how you doing? You know, I watched the episode

where you're talking about knocking on the table and all that, and I got that. So weeks who went by and I asked him, I was like, why don't you ever ask me to join your little, and he used to call me weird kid, because I'm from Georgia. I got that, you know,

and I'm very fast and whatnot. He's like, you're just different. I knew right away it was going to work. I was like, not that I was on a short... Not that I wanted to join your little click or whatever, but why didn't you ask... Bonjour, compadre. It's the...

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experience so bad. So going back to Jersey for a second, was there a lot of violence because it was gang oriented or? I mean, I've seen some stabbings with like pencils. But where I was was mainly bloods. You had a few crypts here and there and they kind of kept to themselves because they were outnumbered. But the yard that I was on were mainly bloods.

And how would one of these stabbings unfold? Why would it happen? In the cell. You know, people were somebody, you know, talk shit talking. All right, come on, come on in. And then you poke them up with the pencil. couple times. And how would you compare the food there to military prison?

Military prison was food, bro. It was like Thanksgiving dinner every night. Like, yeah, you had two different kinds of protein, real beans. It was not slop. It was, you had a Navy guy cooking for you. Cake. Like, fresh baked cake every day. Like, legit food, man.

I can't, I really can't explain the kind of food. Like, so the feds is good. the food and the feds are you talking about how they could have the salad line and whatnot um where i was they had two sections of of the chow hall you had the main line and then you had the fast line which is like you you go your burgers or hot dogs whatever or the main line was whatever the real course they were serving for the night oh so they got i think they got rid of that second line like to have an option i think it's just the same main line the whole time okay so i was in elkden oh i was just that's that's the way the guy i interviewed the other day um was it yesterday

Oh, it was two days ago. He went to Alton, too. Yeah. Yeah, but recently, like 2000, in 2020s, I think. Okay. So after you get out in New Jersey prison, you served the full two years there? Yes, the two and a half years done with, the last six months was the halfway house. Okay.

What's your mindset? How are you feeling getting out that time? I went right back to hustling. I just, you'll hear this. Well, I'm not going to do it that way. I'll learn from my lesson. I'm going to do it better this way. I did.

So I vowed myself. I'm never selling acid again. I've been locked up twice selling acid. It must be that thing. I'm just going to stick to the weed. And I'm, you know, selling, you know, paying my bills. Just selling weed and weed cigarettes. And it was like a convenience store.

You can come to my house and get your Dutchmaster. You're blunt. You pack of cigarettes and your weed. And you have to come to the hood. But like, would you rather go to the bodega? and risk getting robbed. You don't know how much weeds in that bag. You know, when you come to my house, everything's right out.

There's a cigarette. You want to play some poker. We've got a poker table stuck it up. You were run poker games, too? I was running poker games out of my house. We'd be up all night doing poker and then go down to AC. And I'd lose everything that I just made. Now, how do you make money as the host on a poker game?

I would charge entry. Just $5 a pop. Oh, you spilled something? I'm taking a $5 a shit. Things like that. And then on top of selling the weed and all this and cigarettes, it was just, what do you need? What do you need? What do you need? What do you need?

Gotcha, gotcha. So it's a pretty low limit table if you're only charged at $5? No. It was, I was playing cash games. We were playing tournament style. However much money you want to buy in, you come in with $20, you buy him $20. And how much do you think you would make it that night? A couple hundred bucks.

Just hanging out with my friends, not doing nothing. Did you have any thought of going legit, like having a real career after that second time, or it was just, I'm going to hustle? I was just going to hustle. I mean, I remember landscaping and driving, looking outside and saying to myself, this is what I do on my time off. I'm fucking cutting grass. Like, I make my money so weird. It is very lucrative. I knew a lot of people.

and the money isn't selling the pounds. The money's getting a quarter pound and selling dubs. And eighths, that's where the money is. It takes a little bit longer, but it comes too. So how long does this go on for until you get caught? Years later. So I went from doing that to DJing again. and then now I'm back in the rave unit

in a rave environment so the weed I left the weed alone now I'm selling acid in nexosy again that's when I went to oh I know everybody very quickly I know who is selling very quickly are you paying how much for these pills no I got them cheaper

and there's so much better and come with me that's what happened why do you break your rule and go back to acid just happened it's money to be made and what year is this 2007 2006 2007

I got busted again about 2008 and someone snitches on you tell me something else on me what happened this time my coke dealer said it told on me he had they so he's a 17 year old kid and he was selling coke and he got in trouble

so the cops went into his house into his mom's house and they went to a safe and they just happened to find not only was it a pistol but it was a stolen gun that somebody stole from a cop and this little 17 year old kid has a stolen cop's gun

you're going away for a long time buddy oh well I know such and such so he told on me no man that time they had got me for about 200 pills I wiggled my way out of it like I was I was listening to the phone conversation

the main task guy was talking to the DA and I heard the I heard the DA say you know him say well if I get him to cooperate which I do and I heard the VA say cut them loose

so my mind ding ding ding ding oh shit they're gonna let us go so I leaned into my girls whatever I say now in the next just don't think what I you know it's not what I'm gonna do

just keep mouth shut the cops like oh am I going to have to separate you you know no no I'm thinking about going against my grain and helping you out he's like oh go ahead and converse converse he's like I got him right

so I told him I told him a cockamaney story just to get these motherfuckers out of my house what was the story my guy is you know I'm Jersey and now I'm telling myself I'm in Pennsylvania at the time

I'm like damn I just admitted to trafficking and then they're talking about damn now we got to get the feds involved because he's going without lines and then one cop's like no it's okay I know somebody from Jersey We'll work around it

So I'm like, so let's go to Jersey I'm like, well my guy's in Mardi Gras right now He's cool, we're just going to Mardi Gras I've never been at Mardi Gras I'm like and I'm like Dude the guy doesn't just Walk around with thousands of e-pills I come up once a week

This is how we do it And it was Valentine's weekend You know, President's Day and all that stuff He was like, all right Call us on Tuesday and the whole time they're walking underneath 700 e-pills I got the airwick automatic air fresheners

that spray every 15 minutes I got 700 pills above the door frame they just keep on walking under granted they got me for the 200 that were they found but they find those it's a lot more and so I'm a lot more trouble I'm really trying to get these motherfuckers out of the house

and they leave put stuff in an evidence bag I got ninted. They're all ninned out, ski masks and all this. I looked at her. I'm like, wow, that just happened. So I remember I just lit a blunt when they knocked on the door. So the blunt was still behind the couch.

Lit that for a second. I was like, no, fuck this. Let's just get out of here. I made a phone call. Can I come to my house? And my friend's wife at the time was a paralegal. And I explained the situation. She's like, that doesn't sound right.

I was like, I know, why would they just let me go? I called my another friend, and he's like, do you think if he just got robbed? And I was like, no, these are cops. He's like, yeah, but I'm from Manassas, and that's what they do down here. He's like, what should I do? He's like, he'd get a lawyer. I was like, yeah, okay, cool, the lawyer sounds good. So I got a lawyer on President's Day, and he called the guy.

He's like, oh, yeah, we were definitely in his house. I'm like, fuck. So I just kind of like let it rock. Wait, so they actually robbed you? No, they didn't rob me. It was an actual bust. I don't know. They thought that I was going to cooperate.

I was just trying to get him out of my house. So months go by. Nothing's kept in my house. I'm still hustling on a low, on a very, very low. But I knew who snitched on me, so I wasn't really associated with that, dude. And like, months, months go by. Nothing's happened. I remember calling to the, to the,

office and I'm like do maybe they not dot an eye across a tea like have you heard anything she's like yeah no charges have been brought against you yet and I'm like maybe they fucked up so I get cocky and now I start bringing stuff back into the house and then one Tuesday they kicked my door down again I got like 700g pills on the fucking ottoman you know they were and they kicked my door down they burn the law to do that they had an arrest warrant but I have a lawyer so by law you have to call the lawyer, hey, tell Runge, you know, you guys going to cut him down. They didn't do that. They didn't afford me that luxury.

It is busting my door down and more ninjas of my house. We got them now. And that state bid turned into a Fed bid. So if you never started selling again, you think you would have walked away from that first bust? I don't know. Probably not. Probably not. So you would have done time either way?

Yeah, I would have done time either way. Would there have been a big difference in the amount of time? I don't know. No, because it's not how much you get caught with it as a felony. It's how much jail time you can receive that's counted as a felony in the feds. Like based on your guidelines? Exactly. So they arrest you and they bring you to booking or whatever to jail.

Do they give you bond or? So, yeah, I had a bond and I was trying that nobody would take me. we were calling it all over the place even Hawaii nobody would bomb me out I think I was a 50,000 bond and I was trying and trying because fighting the case in a suit or whatever

as opposed to fighting a case in oranges big difference you know it looks better on you when you're out of jail as opposed to rotten in the county oh you wanted to go to trial no I don't want to go to trial but just having a better lawyer and it just looks better on you

You go to trial in the feds, you're going to lose. But I could, but it wasn't even federal at the time. It was state. And then my lawyer came to see me, and he's like, I don't want you to bond out because it's going federal. So they would have just picked you up anyways? They would have wasted that money. And I would have lost all that bond.

Because that's what they do. They do that on purpose just to get your money. So did you bond out once a turn federal? No, that's the thing. They could have just revoked it. He's like, if you buy them. bond out, they might just bond you out, they might allow it. And as soon as you walk out the steps, they get a pull the right back in and then you just lose that however much you put

up for that $50,000. No, when you actually made it to federal, did you get bail on federal once they charged you? No. No. It wasn't an option or? I don't even think, I don't, I don't remember if it was an option or whatever. I was, my lawyer was telling me, don't even bother. So what do they charge you with federally? the distribution of MDMA yeah that was that was the main thing and how long does this case go on for how long are you sitting in holding I was in county for a year

what was county like 22 and a half 23 and a half hour a day lockdown and a two-man cell just like that doing a lot of reading and they make it so you plead out faster I mean you fight the feds and you're going to get a fight and you're going to get more time. What was the first plea deal they offered you?

They didn't offer me a plea deal. It wasn't even like that. They went by guidelines. My lawyer said, you know, this is the guidelines. You're doing 12. We were like 12 in change. 12 years. If I had, if I didn't snitch at the time, the guy with the being my third felony,

you know, you get 10 years for a career criminal and then however much you got caught with. Added on. So it would have been 12 or 13. And it turned out to, I only go from like two to two to five or whatever the hell if the guidelines were. So what ends up happening at sentencing? The prosecutor is pretty much cursing at the judge. Your Honor, he's a career criminal. He's all this, this, this, this, and this and this and this.

This technicality is the reason he's not doing all this time. judge is like guidelines and guidelines. You know, and he wanted me to go through the ARDAP. So he didn't give me the, you know, usually they give you the lowest of the guidelines, whereas if he's got three to five, they give me the three. He gave me right in the middle. So I could do the ARDAP and get something out of it. Now, by this point, where are you at with your relationship with your family?

Not good at all. Not good at all. I'd call them once in a while, but, you know, I'm not. fuck up. Like, what do we, what do we go wrong? But like, the thing is, I live hood adjacent. So everything was there. I learned from looking across the street.

So do you blame your environment for the outcome? The environment didn't help. It's just prevalent there. How do you feel about going back to prison again? I can't do it. The last time, if I wasn't hustling the right way and had a lot of money put aside, that way I can pay the bond,

pay the 15 stacks to the lawyer, I'd still be locked up. I was looking at 40 years. I had two trafficking charges, each carried 20 years. And I found this lawyer by accident, and it put the 40 years, so she got me three.

This is that time in the feds. No, this is the last time in South Carolina. Oh, so, all right, let's stay on the Fed case then. So the Fed sentenced you to four years? I think it was three and a half. Three and a half? Yeah.

Tell us about federal prison. What was that like? After your paperwork got checked and everything. I went to, they put me in an art app, which is a behavior modification class. Then the thing that if you compete for 10 months, you get up to a year off.

I hate to say it, but you can have fun in jail. You know, you can not. have fun in jail or if I was always accepted so I made the best of it you know I had a hustle I was also cutting hair as the only white boy in the barbershop cutting hair but I made cards I don't know if you saw the people making cards yeah they made some beautiful cards mm not like mine see most of them were just doing on a piece of paper and you first selling for a dollar 50 or

whatever maybe some colored pencils I had a partnership I partnered with somebody and we 50-50 to Our card, people's cards were selling between $1.50, maybe $3. We were sold at my hours for five. So the legal pads, you know, the big yellow needle pads, the cardboard from there, we split it in half and used both of us. So you get a big, thick card, a card. And I was doing, I did all the artwork on paper, colored it in with the markers.

We had little expensive stuff. And then I was cutting out each drawing. And then his part of the job was to supply and decorate the background of each card with construction paper. And you had these durable, thick cards. And if you're making money in prison, you want to be, you know, look at me.

I'll spend it $5 on a card. Fuck your dollar card. Look what I got, right? So we had different plates for Christmas You know, I had three or four different styles. We had this one client that would come like once or twice a week. The guy had his own plane, so he had money.

And he would take cartoon strips that he got from the funny pages. And he's like, this is funny. You make this, put this on a card for me. All right. And I sit there, draw it out, color it out, and put it on a card. And I make so much money, I'm sending all the dollar stamps home. so they can bring them to the post office, and I'd come home with the money. So I had full commissary drawing my time off, rocking out to the headphones.

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No credit cards or alien encounters necessary. Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never. This is what I'm doing. And how do you compare the food and the feds to military prison and the state? State's always trash. The feds was decent food. But military prison was still the best?

Yeah. All right. It was real food, bro. Like, I just can't explain. And do you do all your fed time in one facility? Mm-hmm. So you didn't have any issues. They didn't transfer you around or anything.

You kind of stayed out of the way. Stayed out of the way. Now when you get released that time, what's your mindset? What are you thinking about? I was DJing full-time before. So I had a whole, the people that I took underneath my wing before I got locked up, I'm on the phone with them. And they're like, dude, been doing things. When we get out, we got you.

And I'm like, yeah, whatever. You know, just thinking that's just blowing smoke up my ass. when I got out they were like running probably the biggest rave production company on the East Coast

so I went from prison to being reincorporated into this club that I used to hustle out of now I'm working security for them DJing for them right at the bat And I stayed good for like seven years.

I didn't hustle anymore. I was just doing security. And I found what nitrous was. You know what nitrous is? I was like, well, I can make money off sell on nitrous. It's kind of illegal. It's not illegal to have the nitrous. It's illegal to put the balloon on there.

And that's what makes it illegal. So I knew the drug dealers had taken over when I came when I was away. So it was like, and they were selling nitrous too. I was like, hey man, can you put your tanks away? And let me sell it because I can't sell the other stuff. And not to be a dick, I wasn't trying to like say, I was King Kong around here before you guys came around

and put your shit away because all your clients were my clients first, but they kind of knew that. And I was like, look, man, I'm not trying to sell this shit. And if I do sell the other shit, you guys aren't going to make any money. Can I just have the nitrous? Yeah. And I'm sitting there selling I just making $2,000 $3,000 a night

selling balloons. And I was doing that for a while. Not selling anything. It was seven or eight years that I wouldn't even let somebody walk out of my house with a dime back of weed. And then I started DJing again. And go into, like, you know, every week,

every different week, we're doing a music festival somewhere. So I'm in my tent and I start hustling again. Just sitting in my tent. I know all the, like before I knew the promoters, the DJs. And I'm just sitting here making thousands and thousands of dollars. While I'm partying with my friends, the security people are my people because I started running security teams or whatever. So I've got carte blanche.

The people's property were my friends. I just feed them. Here's a balloon. Here's an e-pills. You know, go on. Thanks, man. no problem thank you for let me sell drugs in your property and nobody else is allowed to do it but me so um ego ego kind of kicks in a little bit like you know i'm the only one out here making all

this money and everybody loves me i can do no wrong even and the property was always respected you know um part of the agreement for me being the only one that was a lot of cell nitrous was not letting anybody walk out of my tent with a walking around the balloon so they didn't fall in the night um roll down in a cavee you're you're a broadcast and walking around the balloon either full of in case there are cops watching everybody stays in the tent no you're not allowed to leave like you know the owner doesn't like it and they respected the fact that i obeyed the rules so where does it go wrong what happens i got snitched on again You have some terrible luck.

Terrible luck. Different situation. I got down to South Carolina. Why South Carolina? I got booked to DJ. Okay. And I had a couple ounces of Coke on me and a couple hundred e-pills on me. It turns out to be a drug dealer's girlfriend.

I went down there and stepped on some toes. And the discovery said a female called the cops. And the only interaction I ever had with female was the guy's drug dealer's girlfriend. So they called a cop something to get me out of the way. Why didn't you just stick to the nitrogen? I'm selling everything at that time. Oh, you didn't want to just do it? It just happened.

Like, it just, I went from the nitrous to selling weed. I was just selling weed for a while and cutting hair. And I would be cool with some of my clients from cutting hair and selling weed to them. Once I started going back to the music festivals and DJing, I was to invite them out. Hey, man. Come on out here. And then, oh, shit, you like the Coke, too? Oh, now, now I would just have it for the weekend and be gone for the weekend. Now it's like the stuff that I had left over for the weekend, the same people that I brought out there,

they're getting me up on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Hey, do you still have? Well, yeah, I sure do. I still have that. Come on over. And it just ballooned into what it was. You have this itch to hustle. Yeah.

Yeah. So they catch you, what happens? My life went before my eyes. How's they? With the amount that they caught me with, this is being my fourth time, I knew my life is over. And I just, fuck me, I'm going away for a long time.

That's two ounces of Coke, 200 E pills, I'm gone. My bond was $250,000. Again, nobody would take me. and we finally found somebody to take me out. They wanted to do this and this and just the ankle monitor, all that kind of stuff. Oh, you got to run.

I said, dude, I've been on bottom twice. I've never ran before. I'm not running now. I need to get out of here and fight my case in, you know, a shirt and tie. So they bonded me out. And, yeah, they put me on an anchor monitor, and I was, then COVID hit. So I was actually on bond.

for about two years and I started hustling again. Just stacking up money because I knew I was going away. You know, 15,000 to the lawyer. I was depleted in cash. Everything that I had was gone. So I had to hustle.

Pay my lawyer off and all that and was well worth it. And how are he or she able to get you off like reduced it by that much? I don't know. She was like an assistant lawyer to the United States all kinds of crazy

qualifications that she had. She knew somebody. So I had an altercation in there with a Muslim guy. And the word got back to her. I was trying to get off the unit because he showed me a big-ass dagger. He wanted to kill me for my TV.

So I was trying to get off the unit. And Brittany, who you met, was pissed. The guy who wanted to kill me for my TV owns the LT and he $500 a month per month whatever hell he paid

put her pocket to keep me on the unit so next thing I know I got the shot call out of the Muslims of the yard in my room we're locked down 23 and a half hours a day

how the fuck did you get my door open how are you here anyway you're not even from this unit and I'm thinking they're going to drag me off my bed and stomp me out. Turns out my lawyer knew, I guess she's

all of their lawyers. And she called the head shot caller or the Muslims of the state. That's on the street. And he called the prison shot caller and said, go stop that. We don't extort.

One guy probably got punished. You know, but we don't do that. But I didn't know that. I'm thinking they come in here to fuck me up. and my my the guy was underneath me he was like he was a gangster disciple and he's sticking up for me he's like nothing whatever whatever you guys are thinking he didn't do it he didn't say nothing he nobody no cops were called no names were dropped nothing like that and I'm like I'm still gonna what it doesn't matter they're just gonna stomp me and the guy was

cool and he's like you protected how did this even first come about like why the guy approached you for the TV he asked me he has to borrow it and I'm like, no, you can't borrow my TV. First of all, I just paid $300 for this TV. It was, like, I ordered one, but they were on back order for, like, months. So, like, there were, 125, I think, new from commissary,

but I paid $300 because somebody had one down the road, down the hall, and he would want to get rid of it. So now I have a TV. And the guy wanted to borrow it for football. I was like, no, it ain't happen. And he's like, I'm going to have to come in there, that and I'm like I'm some tough guy shit

but I'm not gonna give it to you so I guess I and by back of my mind I'm gonna stand up for my TV the next time I know he shows me this big ass piece of steel and I'm like fuck in this prison they leave people live in body bags

before I'd gotten there all right so they got the doors have windows all of these windows are blocked off you can't see into these rooms when the CEOs do count they just walk by each room and say room two

and somebody from the room would call out two people in here and keep it moving just take their word for it well there's one guy killed his cellie and they didn't find him

for like three days he was wrapped up in a blanket underneath the fucking underneath the bunk they had gotten some argument over meth or whatever and it's serious so I was talking to one of my buddies

and I'm gonna go to war over the fucking over this TV and dude's like you're going home and like is it worth it people leaving body bags here bro do you really want to

do you know go that route and his roommate was Muslim and I had no problem with none of these people but the Muslims's like so what do you want to do and they're all looking at me

on top of the tier just looking into that cell I'm like man this is that I was expecting you know I'm going to lose you can't you can't

you can't you're not going to win so I'm like fuck it just give them the TV where is it you're sitting it's right there

just behind you oh so he took it off he went off and took the TV to who I thought he was given the one who I had

the problem with no he brought it to the person who sold me the fucking thing he had a $50 debt the guy

who I gave the TV to had a $50 debt to the original guy who sold me the TV anyway. He just wanted the TV back. So he's like, I'll give you $50 off. He's go get my TV back. So the guy made $250 off a TV that he was going to get back from the bridge.

So it was a big plan to get me from the rip. So I thought the TV went to the person I was having problems with. So when I had the shot caller and him and the other people in myself, I'm looking at the guy. I was like, I thought the situation and was done.

But I still got a nod on the back of my head from when you gave me that three piece. Right? Like, I thought it was over with. And I think he had gotten in trouble. He's like, yeah, I do too. So the shot caller is like, what's really going on?

So they went down to the one guy's room and he tried lying on me. He's like, I don't know. He's talking about the TV. And he said, on Allah, I didn't have nothing to do with that. So then they came back to talk to me and I'm like, oh, my God.

I'm going to get in so much trouble. I'm going to get so hurt. And I'm just trying to say, look, this is what happened with the TV. I gave it to him. He's lying to you. And the one enforcer was like, oh, my God, he just put that on a law.

And you don't, you know, you know, we can say, well, he's word to God, blah, blah, blah. And it doesn't mean nothing to us. When you put it on a law, that means something to them. So they're like, yeah, the white boy ain't lying. So I went down there. The next thing I know, he's in a lot of trouble.

the next day they're parading up and down on every union if you have any kind of business with such and such he's not a part of Islam nation anymore they kicked him out of the nation because of this big situation and I'm like I'm just digging myself

a hole here how am I going to get out of this he couldn't do anything to me because now I'm on to protect the protection of Muslims it's just totally flipped on him and so like the next day he's like how can you do this how can you say that blah blah i'm like you know what you did you got the tv you can't just lie to me and say i didn't give you the tv

i gave you fucking tv and you went down there and you gave somebody else you did that i didn't do this you did this to yourself don't go blaming me now that you could he has no protection he has nothing he no more table nothing so yeah that was your own doing because you were a fucking fiend and you had the drug dealer $50 and you did that. How much time did you have left on your sentence after this? I hadn't seen parole yet. What was your total sentence for the South Carolina case? Three years.

Okay. I was already in about four months when that had gone down. I saw parole and they gave me parole, which was really weird. But I had a lawyer. My lawyer went and talked to parole board and all that kind of stuff. But it's just, it's gladiator school. It's gangland in South Carolina. They just don't care.

These people are walking around with swords. Big ass, they just don't care. Faces wrapped up in their, in their t-shirts, just walking around with daggers. No regard to human life. They don't, they just, they just, what the fuck? And I'm like, wow, this is a different kind of jail. I'm not having very good time here.

I just want to go home. So if you didn't click up with the Muslims, Do you think you would have been? I didn't click up with Muslims. It just happened. And I had no problem with them. Nobody had given me any kind of grief at all. I stay in my lane.

But being associated with them protected you. Nobody was fucking with me. I think the unit was given instructions to leave the white boy alone. Were you the only white boy there? There was like four of us there. But they were all tweakers. When I first got there, I was offered every job.

drug under the sun for free. I don't get high in jail. You know, I smoke weed on the street. You know, if I go to a club, I might take an e-pill or do a couple lines. I'm not your typical white boy that's in there for selling his PlayStation. You know, I'm not a fiend. And they realize that. Wow, he's not taking on free drugs.

And that's how they get you. They want to see what you do. They want to, oh, okay, cool. Now you know where to come and get it. that kind of stuff and you know and do that how long are you in there for before they give you parole I was there for about nine or eight months before I got parole well so you didn't have to do anywhere close to the three years no I did I was out in 15 months I think not even you really got a second chance I got I got a second third and four yeah it was it was it was I don't when I got that

phone call and she said I got you three years I had to pull over I was driving I pulled over I was like say that again it's like I got you three three years I was I got you three years I was driving I got you three she'd be out in whatever the time it was. Like nine months, she said, I think. So I'm like, nine, ten months. I could do that. When I got down there, first of all, they want to put me in a cell with this one guy. He said, you can tell he was crazy and the people across the hall, come here, boy, come here, let me talk.

You don't want to go in there. I'm like, what? I thought they were souping me up. I don't want to go in there, man. He's like the last person. And then he slammed with, you know, he had the metal table up there. in your inner inner cell slam this white boy through it,

picked him up and body slamming through it. You see that table right there? That's his body. You can see the V of his body. Another guy woke up to getting a soup can thrown at his face from close proximity. He's like,

you don't want to go in there, bro. That dude's crazy. And I'm like, you can't just tell the guards. I'm not going in. So the guards weren't, and I'm in there talking this guy for like five, ten minutes.

The guards aren't doing jack shit. haven't let me in. I've never experienced something like that before. So I go back by the door, thinking the guys blowing smoke on my ass. And now the guy's at the window that he had punched out, so there's no glass. He said verbatim,

tell her to let you in here. That doesn't sound good. So I went back over across the streets. Yeah, you tell me again what this guy did to these people? So the lady's like, all right, you're about, you ready to go in? I was like, yeah, I'm not going in there. It's like, excuse me?

I was like, I'm not going in. I want to talk to a white show. I want to talk to Catherine. I want to talk to somebody. I'm not trying to buck. I'm not trying to invite. You know, if I got to go to the hole, that is what it is. But that dude apparently is crazy, and I'm not going in there.

Right. So she put me on the phone with the captain. So I told him straight up. It's like, look, you know, my snitch, my child molester. I'm a good person. I'm just here to do my time. Apparently this dude's crazy. And there was a guy that was next door to him.

who was allowing me to go in his cell. Hey, I got to bunk up open. And I think these guys are fucking with me. The whole time, I'm thinking, what's going on here? You know, they're all gang. I mean, who's got tattoos every inch of his fucking face. And I'm like, there's some kind of ulterior motivation. But it wasn't.

They saved my ass. They're like, oh, so if you go in that cell, everything's going to be good? Yes. I just don't want to go. All right, well, we'll switch the bunks. And he stayed with my ass. And he was the coolest fucking guy.

To the day, guy's name was tattoo, man. He took him, you know, just really good guy. And we stayed up all the night talking. For the next six months, you heard this guy screaming next door to nobody. Come on in here. I don't care. And just going off, talking like he's talking to a squadron of cops, trying to break in there with mace.

You know, that dude's fucking crazy. People are full of surprises, especially when you travel together. Thankfully, Verbo is not. When you book a Verbo, you get Verbo care and 24-7 live support. So your house doesn't surprise you like your friends might. If something's not as described or doesn't work,

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and their balsamic chicken salad, available at the prepared foods counter. Get Summer Splash Savings Now at Whole Foods Market. Leaned underneath the bunk. Thanks again, bro. You saved my life. You saved me. Are you going to sell most a day in South Carolina?

23 and a half hour a day, you're locked on. So it's pretty rough. Pretty rough. Yeah, dumb. And there's wreck time, like a wreck yard and stuff? No. No. Your wreck time is go to bed to go shower.

Yeah, it's not a fun way to do time. No, you know. So when you leave there, do you go straight back to Jersey? No, I went back to Virginia. Because I've been living in Virginia for the past 10 years. Okay. So my friend was actually watching my house. My rent was paid for the year.

Because of money you saved from selling drugs? No, actually, what the hell is it called? COVID helped me out. Because COVID messed up so many people's jobs or whatever. There was some kind of rental insurance or whatever that they paid for your rent. If you only made a certain amount of money. Yeah. Yeah, it kind of helped me out.

So I paid for a whole year. Now, getting out of prison, what's your mindset this time? Staying out. What changed? Knowing that something saved my ass from getting all that 40 years, knowing it getting three years and only doing nine months. It was nine months off of it. That's what I did, nine months off of three.

With a record, too. With an extensive drug dealing record, yeah. Have you ever thought about why it was that happened that way? What you mean? why the universe allowed for it to go down that way? Money. If I didn't have the money, I wouldn't have had the lawyer to do that. But do you ever think it's bigger than that or no?

But you are running with the second chance. You're doing well for yourself ever since. Yeah, back to cutting hair full time, work, you know, work five days a week, cutting hair. Haven't sold the single drug since? No. What about using? I smoke a lot of pot.

Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. Do you have an itch for other drugs? I get high once in a while, but I didn't do it. I did just to get high. I wasn't like I woke up in the morning and you need to. I wasn't a fiend. I wasn't addicted to drugs.

Some people I feel bad for them, you know, but they wake up and they got their bones are itching and they have to do it to survive. I did it because I was bored. I did it because I had it. And it's free. Do you feel like you wasted a lot of years of your life? Yeah, definitely. I lost both my grandparents when I was locked up.

You get that chapel call. Runs come to the chapel, you already know. Somebody and family died. Lost a lot of things. What about your relationship with your parents? Have you rebuilt that? Yep, everything's good now. I just saw my dad last night.

Everything's good. What do they think about your journey and where you're at now? It was my journey. I remember saying one day, before my last bid, and my old man like not ram with the mafia but a lot of his friends are all

that lifestyle and I said to him I was like you know if anything you should be proud of your son because maybe the 16 or 17 year old punk kid might have told to get himself out of trouble and I never did

and that's honor so you can look at me and say yeah you're doing whatever but you were in a piece of shit in telling on somebody, just get yourself out of trouble. What do he say to that? It just resonated.

Like, I knew he understood. He had his own life, and I did my own things, and you don't have to agree with what I did. I did it. Has your record derailed you at all from opportunities? No, no. I've never had a problem getting a job. If you want to work, you can work.

There's a warehouse out there that's going to take you. There's wah-wah or something out there. there is, there's a job for you, unless you're, if you have theft on your, on your record or any kind of violence, like assault, jobs don't like that. Mine were always drug convictions. So if they do a background check, they don't care about that. They look for the theft and violence. What about housing? Never had an issue. Never had an issue. Um, my last time, actually, my realtor was my friend's dad, with my friend's mom. So she helped push some of the paperwork through.

So maybe I was lucky there. Again, I just know the right people. What's one piece of advice you would tell your teenage self before joining the military, before ever getting into trouble? Don't smoke pot. If I hadn't smoked that first joint and we're like, whoa, I might not have ever gotten in trouble. So it doesn't scare you smoking it now?

No. No. I didn't know what feeling? how I was and that messed my whole life up. So just a little bit more education on it and how to control it. Drugs are bad, okay? Oh, good advice. Well, Matt, I appreciate you coming on the show today, man.

I appreciate you having me. Yeah, thanks for supporting us and have a great holiday season. Thank you, too. Awesome.