Locked In with Ian Bick - Night Out Ends In Attempted MURDER Charges | Frank Benton

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

Growing up in a family of 8 in a rough neighborhood with no father, Frank Benton starts down a path of getting into trouble. One night in particular would change his life forever after it goes horribly wrong, resulting in a 5+ year Pennsylvania State Prison sentence. Listen to Franks upbringing, downfall and how he was able to turn it all around. Connect with Frank Benton:https://www.youtube.com/@Quite_Frank_Lee/abouthttps://instagram.com/quite_frank_lee?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA== Connect with Ian Bick: https://www.ianbick.com/Subscribe to our membership program on YouTube to get early access to interviews, see behind the scenes photos & more:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvVklIft6DMelVW18M0oBw/joinPowered by Q29 Productions, LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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give you energy, and keep you satisfied longer. So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk. It's Ian Bick, and we are back with another episode of Lock. in with Ian Bick. On today's episode, we have Frank Benton, who goes to prison after a night at the bar goes terribly wrong. In this episode, we dive in to the actions that led up to this event, how he gets sentenced to over five years in a Pennsylvania state prison, and what he's able to do to overcome

it and turn his life around. Make sure you guys sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Also, guys, if you could take a second, and please, please, please, leave us a like, a comment, a subscribe, a share, and also a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify podcasts to help us continue to boost our platform. Thank you guys for tuning in the show. Thank you for all the support and enjoy my episode and interview with Frank Benton. Frank, welcome to the show, man. Thanks for coming out here. You're coming from where, Philadelphia? Philadelphia, yeah. And you slid in on my Instagram DMs. I'm not looking for like a relationship right in you came to be on the show. What kind of, I'm curious, what prompted you to want to

come out here today and share your story for the first time ever? Um, so there's a few things that, like, intrigued me about what you do. Um, first of all, uh, being in prison is a part of, you know, my life since I was in prison before. Obviously, you interviewed people that were in prison. Um, just I like seeing what you're doing. Like, it seems like you're added value and give an insight to people that haven't went through this or people that don't know about prison. So I feel like I can add something to that even if it was like before, dawn or after prison. And also, just to see like the podcast world, because that's something that I do want to do going forward eventually at some point once I get some free time. Yeah. I wanted to open up with that today because I want people to know that are

listening to our show as we're gaining, you know, a lot of viewers that they can come on the show. They can reach out. If they go to Ian Bick.com, they could fill out. the interview request form. If you're listening to this, if you're watching this, and they could come on and get interviewed and share their story. Everyone has a story and it has the ability to change people's lives. So that's why we're here today to get your full story. Let's take it from the top. Where are you from exactly? Where did you grow up and what's your childhood like? So I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born and raised until my teen years in Kensington. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the area, but Kensington is one of the roughest areas in the city.

Luckily, in my early teens, my mom got me out of that environment. She moved us in a little nicer neighborhood porch when in Fishtown after, which isn't Beverly Hills, but it is in Kensington. I mean, it's a neighboring neighborhood, but yeah, growing up in Kensington, it was rough. You know, uncle was involved in illegal activities. Gun shots on. on the corner every other night. Family, history of drugs, just like that inner city life, you know. My mom had eight kids, six of her own. She was raising my aunts, two boys.

So it was eight of us, worked as a waitress, bartender, never like a real career path. No father in my life until my teens, I had a stepdad that stuck around. But by that time, I was kind of set in my ways and, you know, my boss or not my dad type of, you know. So getting, going to school, just doing the legal stuff, you know what I mean, ditching school, selling drugs, smoking weed, partying, not really, you know, no motivation, no goals, no real destination to like, nothing to do with my life, honestly, like no purpose.

Did you know your dad at all? Yeah. So my dad. left when I was very young, probably like not even one years old. But his mom, which is my grandmom, and his sister, my godmother, his aunt, stayed in my life. He moved to Florida. So when I was like 10 years old, they like paid for me to go down to Florida to visit him for a week. And I didn't see him in 10 years. I didn't know him. So two days into this week trip, I'll send me back. I don't know to Scott. And what did he do? Did he do something for work? Like was he like a criminal in any way?

I don't necessarily him and my mom. I hear multiple stories about their relationship, toxic and it didn't work out. I think he had an alcohol problem and he had responsibilities that he fled from. I talked to him more recently, and it's just I don't think he's all there in the head at this point anyway,

but I don't have no ill well against him. My mom might have did something to him, and I don't know the full story. So, yeah, I met him once, and then, you know, more recently I met him a few more times, but don't know how to hold no grudge against them. Now that you're older now and you're able to reflect back on it, do you think not having that father figure help lead you down the path you're going to take that we're about to hear about? Absolutely. But him being a father figure, not sure if it would have made a difference,

if that makes sense. So if it was a man that, you know, had values and morals in my life and, you know, was a decent and love and care in person, then yes, but if it was him, and I don't know exactly how he would have been, but probably not because of the environment. And out of the eight kids in your family, where do you fit in? Are you the oldest, youngest middle? So I have an older sister, and then I'm the second oldest, and I'm the oldest boy. And did you feel like the responsibility to, like, be that father figure as the oldest boy to everyone? That was always on my shoulders because, So my next stepdad after, you know, my dad fled or left, was my sister and my two brothers' dad, and he ended up passing away when they were young. So he was in my life for a couple years and then he ended up passing away.

And then my mom didn't get in another relationship until my stepdad came along, which was years and years later. So that time period of like no consistent father figure, it's just like I'm the oldest boy in the house. So, yeah, it was kind of like, and they look up to me. All the younger siblings look up to me. So it was, yeah, I had that responsibility. I felt like. That's a big responsibility at that age to kind of like assume that. Yeah, but it's like when you're young and you're like tough from the city of Philly, you're like, I'll take that on.

You're like, you know, it's something that you endure. You want to be the big brother. You want to be the man of the house. You gives you a sense of power, right? Yeah, now eight kids and your mom's just working as a waitress and a bartender. what's like the financial system like the financial system is people living with us helping with the bills um my mom on welfare getting social security because of you know my other stepfather passed away so she was getting you know the money from him passing away per month it was helping with the

bills so she always made it happen i'll tell you like we never went without always had food christmases stuff like that um but it was never like now that i grew and i learned a lot more it wasn't never like the family white picket fence you know do you have more appreciation for your mother now though knowing like what she was able to provide with how little you guys had absolutely yeah it you take it for granted when you're younger and you want they got the new jordan's i got your hand me down rebought classics yeah but you know as she gave me what she had and then you know i appreciate it now yeah i mean i reflect back on my childhood lately like when i have more time to think and and talk to people and it's just It's like that stuff I definitely took for granted and how much we had and everything compared to what others have.

And it's like the things that you think are not monumental or big at that age are so much bigger as you get older and you realize that it's kind of like scary and like surreal to think about. Now in middle school and high school, do you get bullied at all or what's like your social status? Are you popular or are you not popular? Are we talking like middle school, high school? Yeah, middle school, high school, those elementary years. I want to say like popular, but I wouldn't get, and I was like right in the middle, I guess you could say. Like, I didn't get bullied. I was like, got along with everybody.

I didn't have the best of the stuff, so I wasn't really popular. But the town's poor anyways, so it's not like you were really standing out. It's not a wealthy town. Well, if you're from the inner city, right, it's like the things that make you feel like you come for money is sneakers, the newest video game. have, you know, we got, my dad got a ticket to the Sixers game or you're doing more stuff or your dad has a nice car dropping you off of school. Like, I didn't have any of those things, but 50%, 80% of the people didn't. So it was like I was in, you know, middle of the wrong normal. When do you say it starts to turn? Like, when do you start bucking out against a system

becoming like that bad kid? So I was always bad growing up, not bad, like, I was always like defiant. I was always, I got diagnosed with like ADHD and all that stuff when you're a kid. It's a little rebellious sometimes, but, you know, still respectful to elders and still like trying to be sneaking, get away with it and play the innocent role. Never a full-fledged maniac and then out of like childhood placement or nothing like that. But I would say like 15, 16, 17, like as you get into that age of like you're creating an image for yourself as a young adult. smoking weed or hustling or saying out past curfew, cutting school. Like, I'll say around like 15, 16, 17, really.

Is that because of the people you were with and growing up with? Or is that just something you started doing on your own? I would say the people you're around. It's just like you got groups of people. You got the kids that stay in school and do good. Then you got like the kids that just stay in school and they don't get involved in no BS, but they do what they have to do to pass and graduate. Then you got like the kids underneath the day.

tier probably the violence trying to prove a point trying to make money selling hustling uh then you got just the kids that are just blatantly no respect for law or you know any rules or anything i wasn't that but i was like right teeter in you know between being an okay decent kid and breaking a law still and how's your relationship with your mom throughout high school i was a mama's boy um growing up like i was her oldest boy. I was mom's boy. We had a very good relationship. She gave me anything I wanted if it was possible with me having. She would let me stay home from school sometimes. I don't feel good or you need me here. And, you know, she's juggling eight different kids. So it's hard. It's hard for and if she says no, I would probably do what I want to do anyway. So she made it, instead of me acting

like a maniac in the house, all right, stay here and do this, this and this while you're home. Yeah. And what about the relationship with the rest of your siblings? Like as you start, to maybe get into trouble a little bit. Are you moving away from being like that father-type figure? I'm starting to lead poorly by example because they start seeing what I'm doing and they start thinking they can get away with it. That's a whole lot of kids now getting into trouble

your poor mother. Yeah, yeah. It was so the younger ones weren't like really at that age to where they were leaving the house yet. But I have a brother that's two years younger than me and then my other little brother's four years younger than me, and then my cousin's like three years younger to me. That's the one that my mom brought in.

Now, towards the end of high school, does anything like traumatic happen to you at all? So towards the end of high school, there was no end of high school. I dropped out. You dropped out. Yeah, I dropped out in 10th grade. So I passed 9th, went to 10th, failed 10th, tried again,

and that was, I just threw in the towel right there. You just didn't care? You weren't? What was it? you weren't going to help? In the back of my head. So in the back of my head, I got hit by a car when I was like 12 years old.

Oh, wow. And I had a lawsuit coming. So I had a lawsuit for, it was my mom's telling me it's for all this money. Here it's for like $20,000. Now $20,000 when you're 18, I'm like, I'm going to start a business. I don't need school.

I'm going to do this, this and that. I get the money and you get up out of school. You got to keep all the money. Yes. Okay. Yeah. At 18, yes. So it was 20,000.

Everyone thought I would have got like, half a million dollars but it was 20,000 but from 17 until like you know I still always maintained some sort of job whether it was like a short order cook or if I was working at my grandma was working at the restaurant I was a dishwasher so I was still like making money a little bit selling a little bit of weed and so you had somewhat of a work ethic like you yeah yeah I had somewhat of a work ethic and then when the money came it's like well this can just enhance the legal stuff that I'm doing and so that 20,000 went down really quick I gave my uncle had passed away. I gave my mom money for my uncle's funeral. I gave my mom money. It turned

into like 10 really quick. And then, you know, I bought a car and some clothes. Next year, you know, I'm down to like a couple thousand bucks. But I have this image of that I have money. But you're balling out. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And do you think getting that money was a negative impact on you in the long run? You can say that, but I like to see the positive and everything. But yeah, it was a negative impact because what it did is it gave me an ego. It gave me the appearance of having money, so you attract more people, the wrong kind of people probably, whether it be females or people that are hustling and think they could do business with you because you got money. So, yeah, it was definitely a negative. So you blow through this money, what happens next? Are you committing more crime? Are you working? What are you doing? So that's still on teetering with working and petty sales of, you know, I don't want to discriminate myself, but petty sales and stuff like that. But I just like keep living the

egotistical lifestyle of going to the bar, wearing fresh clothes, going to like, you know, going out places, feeling like I'm the man. It was, it really made me feel like I was someone I wasn't and I embraced it because growing up I didn't have any of that stuff. So, So it gave me a feeling of like self-worth because I never had that growing up. Yeah. So how does this lead to you eventually getting like shot? So, you know, I'm in the streets. I'm doing stuff. I'm not supposed to be doing, obviously. My brother also now I was 22 when I got shot or 21 or 22. So my brother's two years younger to me. He's kind of following him my footsteps, right? He asked me to go somewhere with him.

it's like 1 o'clock in the morning almost 12.30. I'm like, but I really don't want to go with you. Like it's nothing good out there this time. It's like, oh, I'm going to go by myself then. It's my little brother. I can't let him go by himself. So I give him a ride there.

Something, you know, transaction happens. And he comes over running and screaming, oh, they got the one, he got the money. And you're just sitting in the car waiting for him. Until he runs over. Now I think something happened. I've got to jump out. That's my brother.

And you don't know what he's there for? Like, did you know he was doing? doing anything? Yeah, I know he wasn't supposed to be there. Okay. So I, um, he comes down. He got the money. I'm like, who the fuck took your money, Bill? So I'm running. I chase the dude. The guy turns around and he shot once, boom. Pulls out a gun just shoots you. But we were like, um, he was already probably like 30 feet in front of me, maybe 40 feet in front of me. So he was a little distance away. Yeah, turn around because I'm chasing him. Uh, and the bullet hits you right away? Yeah, one shot hit me my hip. What's that feeling like?

to get shot. Like, you didn't expect that at all. The last thing you expected was this guy to pull the gun on you. So, so we're in the city of, it happens. Like I said, I was in Kensington, bad neighborhood, moved to a slightly better neighborhood, but it still shit happens, like in there. It's not like Beverly Hills, like I said, it's still shit happening all the time, gunshots and fights and all type of stuff happening. Yeah, I was surprised, but it wasn't like, this could never happen to me living, you know, in the city of Philadelphia. So my leg gave out on me. I'm running my leg gave out. That's how I know I got hit. It didn't hurt, but my leg just gave out on me. It was like the adrenaline rush. Yeah, so I'm scoot myself to the curb and I'm like, you know, calling

ambulance. The ambulance never comes and they throw me in the back of the car. And I just remember laying in the back and just seeing red lights, they're blowing red lights taking me to hospital. I'm just seeing like red lights fly by me. It was my ex-girlfriend of my brother in the car. they drove me to the hospital. Are you bleeding a lot? Like, what's the situation? So they had to cut my left leg open, and so they hit a main artery,

and then it bounced and hit like a piece of my intestine. So I had to get a colosomy bag, and they had to cut each side of my leg to relieve the pressure from the blood building up, because since I hit it made artery, my blood had nowhere to flow. They're giving me blood inside of the ambulance, but it's not going anywhere, but to my leg.

So my leg's like, this fat. They had to cut it open, nerve damage. Are you aware of what's going on while this is happening or this is all afterwards? No, this is, I wake up probably two days in the hospital. They said I had like six surgeries. And you almost died? Yeah, yeah. What's that feeling like for the doctors to say, hey, you almost died?

Like, do you have any recollection of that at all? You would think that, like, I'm doing something wrong that I almost died from. And it was just like the normal. It's like, ah, wrong place, wrong time. It really was. I mean, this isn't one of those situations where we hear that you were dealing like drugs and you got caught up in something gone wrong and in that situation and you got shot because of it. This is just literally, it was literally wrong place, wrong time. It was, my brother was in the illegal activity, so I knew what it was going into it. Yeah, but I mean, even still, you weren't like directly involved in it. You didn't plan to be there that night. No, I did not. And you also shouldn't have to, like, it's crazy to think that I could be in one. one city sleeping peacefully, not ever having to worry about getting shot and someone that's the same

age as me could be living in an entirely different city, always worried. And that's just like the normal to say, oh, that bullets are flying and stuff and that's normal. That's crazy. Yeah, I think the chances increase when the things you, when you're doing the things you're involved in. So although I was at the wrong place, the wrong time, it was still, I feel like it was my karma for being involved in that lifestyle in general. Like if my brother wasn't involved in it, I was never involved in it, I would never be there. If I had a career path or was in school or college, I wouldn't have been there, you know, so. Did it take you years to figure out that reflection now, or did you know that at the time? No, it took me years. So it took you a while. What do you think about, like, karma and that concept

and stuff? I don't believe in karma is like a direct thing. Like, if, you know, I run this red light, I'm going to get hit right after. I don't think, I think, like, just, After a, you know, in a period of time, something's going to catch up to you, whether it's good or bad. It's like inputs and outputs, right? It's more like a thought in a way. Yeah, yeah. So if what do you, your input is going to be, your output's going to be reflected by that. So if I'm doing negative, doing negative, doing negative, negative is going to come back to me.

If I'm being positive, being positive, being positive, positive should come back to me. It don't always happen, but usually nine times out of ten, it'll start catching. up to you. Yeah. Now when you wake up, are you thinking, man, I got to get out of this lifestyle. I don't want any, I don't want to do anything bad. Like I want to get in the straight and arrow or are you having an entirely different, you know, thought process? Uh, nope. I, believe in it or not, it didn't affect the way I was thinking still. I was 22 years old and I just, uh, continued to doing the same stuff that I was doing after I healed and recovered and why do you think that was? Like, how do you almost die from a legal activity, like being somewhat involved in it?

It's not a little bit. But, like, no, it's like, it's interesting to reflect on, you know? How do you almost die and wake up and go back to doing that? That's like the people that have an overdose and go back and do the drug after. What do you think that logic is behind that? I didn't hurt enough to learn my lesson, I guess. The burn didn't, you know, if you touch your, it burn, a hot stove, it burns, you're not going to touch it again. It didn't burn bad enough, I guess.

And I guess different levels of pain affect people. Like, I'm a big believer and you have to go through pain and experience pain in order to make the meaningful changes. But each person has a different level of that pain. Like, you could get pricked by a thornbush and, you know, you won't go past that same route for someone. But another person can get pricked by that thornbush a thousand times and keep going, you know, pass that same route. Yeah, I guess people have different thresholds for pain, physical, mental, whatever. But, yeah, for me, it was business as usual back to my bullshit. Yeah.

And so what is the bullshit? What do you get into? Does it get worse from what you were doing before? I probably, no, it was the same, man. It was working here and there, hustling on the side. Is your mom, like, having a comment? conversation with you at all saying hey you know you almost died to not digging it at it's the normal to her too she grew up in that so my grandma my mom is like an image of my grandma and that was how she grew up

and that was the normal for her and then you know for me it's like you know her brothers might have been into that or so it's kind of like just the normal did you like see a therapist after this or anything was there any like mental health treatment physical therapist there's no mental no no you probably have like so much bottled up in your mind at that point too like are you processing your thoughts well like so they prescribe me narcotics right i get you know they prescribe me to percocets and i start doing them getting rid of them i'm you know still going at a bar i'm working on the side i'm dealing with different females and it's just like a bunch of distractions of negativity yeah and just you know no real direction yet no real purpose yet you didn't have purpose in your life yeah 22 years old just kind of like lost and

And that's a dangerous spot to be in. It's a horrible spot to be in. And that's kind of why I'm on this podcast, too. Do you think that if you finished high school, this wouldn't have happened? I don't, if I would have had goals, purpose, and guidance, I probably wouldn't need to finish high school because I didn't finish high school now, you know? Yeah. And we'll get into my story afterwards.

But, yeah, I think guidance, purpose, and motivation and really just like, you kind of need like that image of and the possibility of who you can be without that it's just I'm doing what everyone else is doing and where I'm accepted at but it's I mean it's tough at that age too because you're not supposed to have it all figured out no you know like people don't have it I'm just figuring out now what I'm supposed to be doing my life and I just turned 28 you know so it takes years and years I think what we need as as young individuals is the direction just like someone there to keep us on track and maybe and like Like in your case, it was not having the father there to do that or someone, the friend group or just it was a product of like your environment.

I guess there's like so many different ways to look at it and and like divest from it. Well, I'm sure you probably heard this one in your podcast a bunch of times. Your brain isn't fully developed. Like, you know, people get back jail time from their brain not being fully developed until you're 25 years old. So I was 22 years old. I'm still childish. You know, I'm still no real regards to the repercussions of my actions. and even after you get some repercussions, it's like,

nah, that's it. Yeah. No, I mean, that's just like my situation. Like, I kept pushing and pushing and pushing like the court and stuff. Like I'll say all the time, I only went to prison because it was like my own fault going out of state to gamble against like my bond violations. I didn't have to do that, but I just kept pushing the boundaries.

And it makes you think when it actually, when you actually hit rock bottom, that's one year going to make the change. you put your toe in that line and then the line goes a little more and then keep putting your toe on it then you got your whole foot on it and yeah you push your limits and by the time you push it then it's you realize it's too late oh yeah so how you keep going down this path how do you get prison time where does it really go wrong so i did uh i got locked up for a fight down to wildwood and i actually wasn't a part of the fight but i was there they had they got me for like fleeing a crime scene did like a day and a half in there felt like a lifetime at the time

when someone coming to get me out of here um then i had a DUI did a you know i fought the DUI i'm thinking like i got money i got a lawyer clearly smoking weed when i got pulled over they had my blood and i still fought the DUI thinking um i got all this money for a lawyer yeah lost and had to do a weekend in jail um then i get a you know the crime that i went away for you know i had two assault one they tried to charge me was an attempted murder

with a deadly weapon and then the other one was just an aggravated assault No you say attempted murder what happened Like what went down So it was a situation With somebody that you know

grew up in the same neighborhood As me and it was basically Over a female It all starts with the female I'm going to tell you this right now Crime nine times out of ten It's over a female Whether it's you're getting money

Trying to impress a female Whether it's a crime of passion nine times out of ten it's probably over a female now this is your girlfriend or his girlfriend it was his ex-girlfriend um she told me but and you're seeing her not seeing her like that but i've seen her and you're friends with this guy no okay so this it really i don't know it didn't it wasn't too big of a deal that that the girl was involved yeah to me um but to him it was a different story yeah so we had an incident at a bar and you know they showed up and are you guys drunk yeah And why are you like you're carrying a knife or a weapon, I'm assuming?

Yeah, yeah. And why did you have that on you at a bar? Oh, no. So the first incident was he came up on me with all his buddies and, you know, had a scuffle and it was over. But I thought another time I run into him a couple months later and I seen him outside a different place. And as I'm walking in, you know, I'm thinking that it's over with.

I'm not a person to really initiate. I'm more of like, in my head, I'm like, I'm more like, I defend myself. I'm not going to initiate. I'm probably think I'm pretty big and got these tattoos and I'm mean, but I'm really not. Like, ex-any-one, you know. I mean, that's like me.

I get that all the time. Yeah, I'm like, try to be the nicest person. I try to, like, defuse a situation before, you know, anything. Start to swing, the guy, see the guy, started swinging on me. I did not have denied full of me. I really don't even know where it came from. This is still all over the girl. that's yeah it's the same situation i didn't do anything afterwards no it's like a scene from a

movie man like that like the bully like jumps the other guy for seeing it the girlfriend or this and that so a big free-for-all broke out um you're by yourself or you know i had it's i had some friends with me um he had some friends with him and then a big free-for-all broke out and how old are you at the time 24 25 and the free-for-all happens and someone ends up getting hurt yeah two people end up getting hurt, the ambulance come. I flee the scene. And yeah, for a couple days, I was away. Did you know what was happening?

Like, did you know you hurt someone? What did you know? So it was, no excuse at all. I'd take full accountability for my actions. I was really intoxicated and pretty much blacked out. I remember bits and pieces from the night. So I went to my sister's house. She was in Jersey, and then I hear people were saying,

like, the range was really bad. the cops are looking for you, but no one went to my address at the time, so I'm like, nothing happened. Now I had... So you didn't even remember when they're telling you that the cops are looking for you, you don't think anything by it, that you did anything? Yeah, I know that we got into a scuffle and, you know, there was people that were injured, I injured people.

I know that. But I didn't know that these guys were pressing charges on me because I feel like I didn't initiate it. You figured they wouldn't have told or anything. thing because they kind of provoked it. Yeah, I'm not going to put the blame on them 100% saying they provoked it, but I didn't go there to start, you know, it was a coincidental that I ended up in the same spot they were. It wasn't like premeditated or not like that. No. And what happens next? Once you find out the cops are looking for you. So, but this is how I found out. Remember I told you I had the thing in Jersey and Wildwood. I go there to pay fines because it was like a five-day period.

I go there pay fines, they let me pay my fines and walk out. I'm in a courthouse. Oh, nothing, I'm fine. They ain't looking for me. They would have got me right here. They got me. So my God, I'm going back home. So I go back, you know, to Philly and the same day I get back is the same day they come

by hanging on the door. Coincidentally, it's funny because I'm thinking it's all over with, like, I'm not going to jail. I'm, you know, maybe they didn't. You know, there aren't. It's the price line negotiator How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget

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Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. for me. So, yeah, they'd come and they say, we want to take you down for questioning. Okay, it's like neighborhood cops that know me. So it wasn't like a SWAT team busting down your door. No, it was it was like two cop cars. So you're not thinking it's too serious at this Yeah, yeah, I didn't know like I thought it was just like they're questioning me because someone got hurt beat up. And did their neighborhood cops that know me from just seeing me around and probably grip me up before and they know my family, stuff like that. So I'm like,

what am I going down there? They're like, you're just getting questioned. I'm like, okay, I get down there and there's no question I'm being charged. No, they booked you right away. Yeah, didn't talk to no detectives, nothing. So why didn't they just arrest you at your house? They put me in cuffs. Oh, they did put you in cuffs. But they probably said it at the like, not see if I would like make it run or try to get away. Did you get a lawyer at all right away? So I did get a lawyer when I'm in there. So this is, I'm thinking two people got hurt, you know, an assault charge. So I'm in the getting my charges read to me to get my bail granted.

Now, mind you, I'm on probation for an assault before. So they say, you know, you have a case on this date, this date, this time, this person aggravated assault, your bail is 25,000. So I'm like, okay, 10%, 2500. you have another charge. I'm like, you know, this person at this time, this date, attempted murder, $250,000. At the same incident, right? The same time, the same, on front of the same screen in front of the same judge. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not making this. So why is one attempted murder and the other one's just assault? The injuries were more severe. And there was no, did they have like corroborating, corroborating witnesses, like to say that you intentionally did that? Because that's one of the, you know, yeah, so there was

the two people that got injured in and there was a few witnesses. And how bad are there injuries? Reading from this report. Seriously bodily injury. And this is the first time you know it's serious. Yeah, this is when I know, like, I've really hurt these people. What's going through your head? Are you feeling bad?

So it's selfishly, I'm like, I don't care about them at the time because it's like my life, it's, you're like everything gets zoomed in on you and your situation. Yeah, you're focused on yourself. Yeah, I'm focused on, like, at first off, it's everyone okay. Like, are they going to survive? Okay. But this is already, like, a week later. This is like a week later. So I knew that they, like, were okay.

But I didn't know the extent of the injury. So I'm like, are they say hypothetically, right? In my head, I'm thinking, like, what if someone got to get a plug pulled on them, they're on a machine? And then I'm charged for murder. You know what I mean? So at the time, I didn't know what was going on with them. I haven't spoke to them, didn't have anyone reach out to them, didn't have no communication with them.

Now I'm charged for attempted murder and aggravated assault with a quarter million dollar bail on probation with, yeah. And you get out on bail? No. No, so you're held on bail. I get a detainer on me. My bail was $250,000, $275,000 altogether and 10%, so like $30,000. But even if I made that, I wouldn't have got the bail because a detainer was dropped on me. What's your first conversation with your mother like after this happens?

Give me a lawyer. And is she like mad? Is she sad? Is she crying? I guess people were trying to justify knowing a situation. They were like, you know, I wasn't in the wrong or there has to be a reason Frank acted like that or whatever. I mean, something I always think about is like things like this. situations like when someone's drunk at a bar and situations like this happen accidentally or it's like a it's based on the environment like if you think about the people that go and drunk drive like just if if if you don't do that think about what could like couldn't happen or what doesn't need to

happen in that moment if you if you don't drink and drive or if you don't you know put yourself in an environment like that because this could have, your situation could have been avoided. Absolutely, yeah. And even just like maybe not even seeing, if you saw those people at the bar, maybe walking away, like, the influence of drugs and alcohol is a big effect. And we hear that in a lot of these stories that we interview people that usually plays effect in their crime. Yeah. Whether they're battling addiction or just like in the moment alcohol, like I know like when I drink, I'm very hesitant about drinking too much like at a public spot. Do you still drink? Me? I mean, I'll drink occasionally socially I've never been like addicted or an alcoholic or anything but it's like it's I'm very like

aware I got to make sure who I'm around because I don't like being out of that headspace I like to be in control right it's it's recklessly drinking and I mean recklessly in the sense of like who you're around what you're consuming and then also just being conscious and doing it to enjoy yourself and not be an asshole has this situation made you rethink drinking I don't drink you don't all because of this not all basically because, you know, we'll get into the story of why I don't do things I don't do and do things I do do because I don't see no, I told you output and input, I don't see the output being positive if that's my input. And do you think that was based, though, from this incident being the trigger?

Yeah, if I wasn't drunk it, I wouldn't be at the bar, it wouldn't happen. Now, you get charged, no bail, you talk to your mom, you get a lawyer, how much time are you facing? So the first deal they offered me was 10 to 20 years. That's a long time. Long time. And, and, you talk to your mom, And with the possibilities of losing it being 20 or more, if I fight the case. You went to trial? Yeah, and lose. Are you thinking a self-defense claim at all here? My lawyer was.

I kind of was. But in Philadelphia, it's very, very hard to get a self-defense case. Is the evidence overwhelming against you? They have witnesses. They didn't have no weapon. They didn't have no camera or nothing like that. So it was like witnesses hearsay Obviously the victims and their testimonies

Even though the victims kind of One said that they don't know me The other one said it wasn't me Honestly One did say that The one said it wasn't me I don't know him And then the other one said I don't know him

So the case doesn't sound too strong It wasn't I don't think it was But you know the witnesses It was like three of them So what do you end up doing How does the legal process play out So I'm in court. I mean, I'm in CFCF, which is Philadelphia's county jail for two years fighting my case.

Two years. 26 months. Not even sentenced and you're in for two years. Not even sentenced. Do you think that's like to sweat you out? Like what do you think that experiences? Witnesses weren't coming to court. So they were giving me three month court dates.

So first my pre-trial was pretty long getting people to come to court. then they finally got someone to come to court after like six months. Then my trial was like three to six month dates after that. So, you know, three must be tried is supposed to cases you want to get thrown out if they don't have evidence and people aren't showing up. And it got to the last must be tried and witnesses came. But yeah, 26 months in the county in Philadelphia County. Isn't it crazy that you could just be held in prison before even being found guilty?

like I understand certain situations like terrorism or someone kills someone like you know like that that person is guilty of that. But a situation like yours, it seems like there was a gray area that there could have been a self-defense claim. And for you to sit in prison that whole time, I don't know, like I saw a lot of people that were like in prison fighting their cases where it could have went the other way and they could have been found not guilty. Well, there's cases that people sit in prison and they were actually guilty, right? Yeah. That happens and lawsuits get made and yeah. It's just that the system is so flawed. But they get paid to, the more people they keep in there, the more money they make.

They have to keep themselves occupied. And I think like that's, it's also the worst feeling when you're in prison, not knowing your out date. Like, you could be there for who knows how long. That was every night going to sleep in there and I don't know if I'm going home on this next court date or if I'm not going to be home for 20 years. It's the feeling of not knowing. That's the scariest.

If I would, if I'd say my maximum on this is five years, I probably would have felt a little better. I know the minimum I'm getting this, the maximum I'm getting this. If your maximum can be 40 years, if they wanted to run both of these cases separately and charge me the most time each, now I'm looking at 20 to 40, 20 to 40, 40 to 80. They want to run it a consecutive. Yeah, I mean, I sat in county or holding for only 30 days before sentencing and that that was just like, it's mentally draining because you just don't know. You don't know when you're going home. at least once you get your date, whether it's however much time,

then you have your answer. So I can't picture the guys that get life and then you're like, you're never leaving this spot. Like, that's scary. Accept it. Acceptance is key in that situation. So do you end up getting a deal? Do they offer you a good deal later on?

The lowest deal we'll come down to was a three to ten. I mean, I'm sorry, a six to twenty. So three to ten and then a three to ten. And what does that mean? So at 3 to 10 for this case, a 3 to 10 for this case, but they're running it a consecutive. So after my three years, I got to do three more. So six years or 20 years will be my total sentence. Now, what are the chances?

If you take that deal, what are the chances you get out at the six? It depends on your behavior and all. But my lawyer, I had paid my lawyer some good money, thanks to my family and friends, paid the lawyer. He said, we're not taking it. He said, we're going to take it to trial. So with the thought of them not showing up anyway, plus my lawyer being confident, I took it to trial. But I went head up with the judge rather than picking a jury because with the jury, they can hold you to maximum on each count. So you did a trial by judge.

Yes. Really? Yeah. What's that like to go by a trial by judge? You're putting your faith in one person's hands and hopefully they're here in your side of the story. They're going more by the law and the facts Rather than maybe a jury That could be a loose cannon

Yeah and Regardless like The system's flawed right My lawyer has a relationship with this judge So If I do lose He's like you're going to get the same thing anyway He said well why

What do you got to lose Oh so they wouldn't throw the book at you if you lost Would a judge no? Really Yeah certain judges might But He was confident in this judge Yeah

So you're putting your fate, though, and your attorney heavily. And I used my attorney before, and he had success. He had success, and I know other people that had used them. And I just, like, I told him I would have took a deal. Like, let's get, he didn't want to. I'm like, if I'm telling you, and I don't make out, then just tell me now. Like, I'd rather just get this over with it. I already had two years in the county. I'll take a five to ten. I'll take a six to twelve. But I already got this time in. I don't want to go to trial and lose and then get 20 to 40. After seeing all the evidence and everything, did you know that you did it, whether you remembered it or not, did you finally come to terms

that you were the one that committed those crimes? Yeah, yeah, I accepted that and, you know, it's the proof's the proof. Yeah. So was there an air, was there a time before you actually saw the evidence that you were like, there's no way this could be me because you were so drunk and didn't remember? No, I knew what I was capable of doing with the mentality I had at the time. Did you have any, like, traumatic flashbacks at all while you were, like, sleeping in prison? No. Your mind didn't like wander or anything?

No, yeah, your mind wanders, right? But it wasn't like flashbacks of anything. It was like flashbacks of good memories not being in prison. It wasn't like, you know, about getting shot or about committing a crime or about it. It was just flashbacks of, you know, the things you love and care about because you don't have that anymore. So you go to trial by judge, what happens? Witnesses come to court, victim come.

One of the victims come. The victim says he don't know me. He don't know what happened. And, you know, the witnesses, you know, they say that their testimony, they spoke their testimony that they originally signed on. And the judge knew the case, right? She seen evidence. She, I got found guilty.

How long was this trial? So I got found, she dropped the attempted murder. Oh, you got the attempted murder, which was probably a big win. That was, yeah, and then she found me guilty of the assault. Okay. So that was a win in itself. That was a win, but you still don't know. So now I got to come back in the case.

couple months to get sentenced. How long was the trial though? That day. That's it. And she had her decision. Yeah. So do you get the feeling that she had her answer going into it before the trial was even actually underway? Do you think she knew? Probably like a percentage, but she needed to hear, you know, she probably wanted to hear and see and talk. Yeah, because I feel like the judges know a lot of the evidence. And that's why it's interesting when like you're seeing jury trials because the judge probably has an opinion knows what the answer is if this person's guilty or not and the jury could have a totally different perspective of it yeah um i think the judge uh she knows the right questions to ask right she she's digging through to see like what's legitimate here what's somebody just telling a

drunk testimony yeah so so after you lose what's that feeling like you lose a trial and you're going back to county yeah i go back to the county um waiting to get sentenced um how's your mental health I'm optimistic at the time because I talked to my lawyer plenty of times. I got support, family and friends support, anticipating on going upstate. Just don't know how long, right? So then we get sentenced two months later and she gives me, she's reading off my charges and telling me the time for each charge. So you're trying to sit there figuring out what it adds up to. And then she's like, that's this case. And then she's reading off the same. charges because it was the same for the other case and she's like you're getting this much time for this

this much and I'm like it's adding up right and she's like all running concurrent so with the running concurrent the maximum the minimum and the maximum is the same so if it's a five to 10 two to four you're only going to get the big numbers that are in that yeah so what did I end up being all added up to five and a half to 11 which wasn't it was better than you expected going in it could have been worse it could have been worse yeah was your mom at sentencing um yeah so I had had probably 20 people in the courtroom. And what was their reaction once you actually got sentenced? So before I got sentenced, the judge X me if, you know, I had anything we say. Yeah, did you speak at your sentencing? Yeah, I spoke in my sentence in, yeah. And how was, was it, was it was meaningful,

like what you said or do you think you were just saying it just to save yourself? No, it was, it's, it's embarrassing, right? You, like, let your family down. And you're all, like, in a jumpsuit, chain? No, they brought me clothes up. They want me to close up. They want me to change of close up um so it's it's embarrassing to your family right and uh you got your people like my grandmother never seen me since like the 12 year old boy that was innocent like them years from 12 to 18 or 20 i'm like not around her she didn't see me develop into this person i was so it's like kind of like you know you uh take accountability and that's what i did i said you know i let my family down um I let the community down and I apologize for my actions and, you know, I'm going to do the best I can to become a better person coming out of this other side.

So I think she was lenient. She mentioned that when she sentenced me. Like, I see you got family here. You took accountability. Do you think you meant it at the time? I did. I did because when I lost my case, knowing I was going to go upstate, not knowing for how long. I wrote like, you know, my action plane right there.

You're in your thoughts. Yeah. I wrote my mom. I said, look, it's going to be a different outcome when I come home. You wanted to change this was like the finally the situation. Yeah, it was like sitting in an cell knowing that like I'm going to be here for a while. I'm never going to get this time back. What can I do to be, make it as positive and productive as possible?

Do you ever think that like had you had that realization earlier like after the shooting that your life would be totally different? Yeah, I mean, you know, I've been home three and a half years now and I feel like I'm doing very well for, you know, that's a small amount of time I've been home. If I would have been, never went away. And from 22 to 35, what I am now, 12 years, 13 years, would have been, you know, where I'm going to be at when I'm now going to be 45. Yeah, I mean, I think about all the times I did shit repeatedly and it didn't process and it could have saved me so much like heartbreak, so much trauma, so much everything if I just like learned it the first time. But it takes, you know, like we were talking earlier, it takes so many different things and different

trial and error. And that's just like when you keep going through relationships and you're going through businesses and everything like that, you have to keep failing for something to finally stick. And it sucks. But that's what makes us who we are. To sum it up, it's like when you get a shitty outcome, it's you probably did something shitty to get the outcome. Just do the right thing. If you do the right thing, you don't have to worry about the outcome. I mean, life happens to everyone. You're going to get, you know, someone might hit you in a car and an accident happens. or someone might steal money from your walking down the street, whatever. Like that stuff's going to happen.

That's why I say karma is like, you know. Yeah. But if you nine times out of 10, you do the right thing, goods are going to come back to you. Yeah, in some way, shape, or form. And you also can't live your life scared that the bad's going to happen. Because you're going to attract it. Law of attraction. I don't know if you ever read up on that.

But, yeah, if you think about it, it's going to come. Yeah, no, you got to manifest that. Right. You know, like, that's how I am very much now. Like, I'm very persistent and consistent and just very focused. Thought control? Yeah. think for the first time, like, growing up, and even the last 10 years, like, I've always heard,

like, you know, you keep putting in the work, success is eventually going to come. A lot of these famous entrepreneurs, they say, no, there's no one out there that works ridiculously hard and it doesn't see success. And when you're working hard and you don't see it, it's kind of discouraging. But then recently, like, when I start to see everything coming together, I was like, wow, they were right. If you're consistent and persistent and you continue on that journey, something good's going to happen you get what you put into it yeah absolutely um so it's whatever is whatever you want is out there for you it's two things that's coming to play how hard are you willing to work till you get it and how patient can you be until you get it after that it's just like put the

working weight put the working weight yeah patience is ever i'm learning patience daily i'm probably one of the most impatient people because it's always got to be like now now now now and um that's what got me into trouble because I wanted to be successful and I wanted to do all these big things now, now, now, now. So that's something I'm learning and working through and, you know, we get better each day. So you get sentenced, you're hauled back and you eventually go to the spot that you're going to serve the rest of your time. Yeah, well, you go through like the processes of it, you know, intake and then you go to another place where they're doing like your mental health evaluation, stuff like that. And it's like a jail, a jail, and then you get to your home jail. Now the home jail you're at

What type of prison is it? Low, medium, max. I'm in a maximum security prison in Pennsylvania. Because of your charges. There's people in for all different stuff there. I think they try to separate, like, Philadelphia is so populated in Pennsylvania with inmates that they try to disperse them rather than have a bunch of Philly guys and a couple, you know, Pittsburgh or Erie guys in the jail.

They try to distribute the guys as evenly as possible. And then you also have race. That's another thing. they don't want to make like all white jail and a couple like because you know the gang stuff's real in there and the people running packs so how old are you when you get to this jail 27 or 28 but going into it you're probably a lot more confident because you've already been in the county for two years yeah it was like um I had got dugging into being in prison by that time and do you have the tattoos you have now going into this prison like do you look the way you look

now. Yeah, yeah. And do you think that helped you too? Like if you were tattooless, not really muscular, like a young white kid, do you think you would have had a harder time? No, because like the thing is with with PA jails, it's, you know, you got people that might try to mess with you if you're skinny, scurny, white kid, but it's like whatever you want, whatever you're into is up there for you. So if you're a person to mind your business, does your programs, works out, no one's going to mess with you. If you're someone at gambles or gets into drugs or gets into, like you're going to, got what you, you know, what's coming to you. So. Yeah, like I was talking to someone on the pod. You got, you got people to try to be boys and all, but like there's other people that are more seasoned

in prison that ain't going to let somebody just pick on somebody. Yeah, no one just gets stabbed randomly in prison. Right. It's always like provoked. Right. So what type of person are you in prison? Um, are you the protector? Are you the person, you know, I stuck to myself, um, you know, being in the county, I learned how to play card games, play chess. Um, so I was occupying my time at first with that kind of stuff. Started really working out when I got up there. I didn't work out in the county. Can you describe working out in prison?

What's that like? So you got a yard with some weights. Weight pits. They're all machines. They don't give you free weights up there. Pull up bars. You just got like, you find your little niche of like your goals of like, all right, this guy wants to be big.

I'm going to go work out with him. This guy just looks like he's real cut up. I want to be. And you go over. You just start talking like it's politics, right? you're like, oh, what's going on where you're from? And, you know, you just find people to have similar interests as you, whether it's sports, whether it's music. And you kind of like get people that you socialize with in there. Same thing like you would on the streets. But there are people you

probably work out with, you know, one day you do their workout routine. And next day you come up with chores. What's like a typical workout routine? For me, I was doing a lot of cardio, a little bit of weights. I wanted to be in shape. I didn't want to go and get all big. I'm already like tall. and I was like a little heavier from being in the county eating a lot. So when I went up there, I wanted to just be like, you know, cut up, but be in shape, be ready to like handle something if it happened. I didn't want to be like out of breath quick. So I did like a lot of cardio, calisetics, pull-ups, push-ups, dips.

And do you think that had like a really good effect on your body? Like, they say the body weights are the best types of workout. I still do it to this day. Yeah. I, my warm up now is it's pull-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, and dips. every time. It's all you really need. And squads,

you want to get your legs involved. Yeah. And it's a great workout. Like I've seen so much, you know, definition in my arms and my back just from doing those things. And it's just like,

it's a great pump. And you leave that for granted, too. Like, you don't need much. Exactly. Do you see any prison fights? Are you involved in any prison fights? No,

I'm not involved in any prison fights. I'm like, really like. Staying out of the way. My whole mindset, when I got positive and productive, I only want to be involved in it if it's positive.

and productive. It got to the point where I would catch myself playing too many games of chess. It's not positive or productive. I want to read a book. That's crazy how much your mindset has changed. I was like laser focused on being better. What types of books are you reading? So I was reading like thinking grow rich. Rich dad, poor dad, like all entrepreneurs, self-help, John Maxwell. What else? Who Move My Cheese? Did that really help to like develop your mind? Yeah, yeah. First, it was like I was reading the past time, but then I was reading, and then I realized how much I didn't know. So you go in there, you think, like, you know it all. And then I'm, like, going to school, I got my diploma in there. And there was just some small little things. I'm like,

how didn't I know that? How did I know? And then I started, like, I get the book to itch. Like, what else don't I know? Now I'm just reading and trying to learn everything I could because what else am I going to do besides work on my body in there? You know, try to work on relationships with your family, but then what? Yeah. Did you have money? in prison or did you need like a prison hustle? No, I had, you know, friends and family looking out for me. I actually saved up some money while I was in there. I was there upstate for probably three and a half year. So every time I would get a J-pay, which is an electronic payment, they would send. I would get the J-pay. I was putting half or more away in savings because I had that, I had a plan set for when I came

home to start my own business. Yeah. And did you have any type of restitution or anything? Yeah, I'm still paying it. It's a large amount or how does that work? It's, yeah, it's a couple thousand, and I'm paying it monthly. Monthly. Yeah, and they were taking it out in there. They were taking like 20% of my J-Pays, and I was still saving 50% of my J-Pays. That's for like, court-offs. I learned how to live off of, like, a little bit of money.

Yeah. Because the county food was trashed. Yeah, what's the food like? What was the food like? It was like to stop you see in the movies, right? They had some food, some good food sometimes, but it's like, it's not home food. It's like set days have separate set items. Right, yeah, like they would do it like.

a monthly meal schedule and some weeks it's like I probably two things on this whole thing sometimes you're like oh eat a couple things and you know you go back you make your cheat cheese you make you know you got your peanuts you got your protein you got your fish I was like eating off a commissary when I needed to and then eating the trees when I'm what was your favorite food that they served at the trial hall I can't say favorite none none nothing stood out do you guys have like a pizza day at all yeah they had like a leos pizza day at all yeah they had like alios pizza. Yeah, like they put it's like the frozen pizza that they put on that.

It wasn't terrible. What about commissary? What's your favorite commissary dish? I liked a yellowfin tuna. It tastes really good, baby clams. The spicy yellowfin tuna with the sauce? Yeah, in the pack, those things are good. And I worked out a lot too, so I was like a lot of fish, macaro, tuna.

And now back to like the fight aspect. I know you didn't fight, but did you see anything bad? Yeah, I'd seen people get stabbed on the face. walking down. So it's not like the movies, right? It's not like every day it's wild, but people, you know, you see people get lock in the sock. You see COs get, you know, beat on. It's, you have, you're there for a thousand days. You're going to have 50 days where something pops off. And what happens when something pops off? Depending on the situation, if it's with a weapon, if it's a CO assault, if it's, you get locked down for a day, two days a week until they search

the whole jail. And how do, how do prison lockdowns work in these scenarios? areas. So you're locked down. They usually water lockdown. So if it's locked down, the COs don't have much to do besides coming and looking your cell. So now they're going cell to sell. They're searching, throwing your stuff around. You're not supposed to have two of the ease. You're taking this out of your cell. They use it as like time, downtime to search cells. You might get out for a shower. One at it, so if you're locked down like four days, you might get two showers out of that four days. You might get all four, depending on how to run into jail. What's the longest you were locked down for? I think two weeks. Two weeks. It's stuck in the cell all day. Two weeks. It was

back in 2018. It was when like they started, they were like in fentanyl in a mail or something. They like shut the whole state down. Do you know Colin, right? No. Oh, he was in PA prisons and he was there at the time. You guys might have even been in the same prison, uh, because this happen to him. They shut the mail down. They locked them up. All PA prisons, they shut down for that. Wow, that's crazy. Two weeks, like, you weren't allowed to go on the phone, nothing. Can't plug your tablet up to download anything. Can't. You guys had tablets in prison. Yeah, we had tablets. How does it? How does it have a tablet work? What is that? So you buy credits for it. You can send out emails, but you can only send it out. It's hooked up

to the machine. You could download music, download games. Is it like an iPad? What does it look at? It's like an iPad. It's like an iPad with no internet. What kind of games are on it? Tetris, maybe like a race car game. I didn't play too many games on it. I was just using it for like communication and some music when I worked out. And are there movies on it? No. No movies. So it's just games and emailing, but you have to plug it in. So if you go to download a game, you got to plug it in, let it sit on until that game's done download in. So you have to charge it or you do all your writing at night and then you go plug it in and it sends out. Yep. How much do these tablets cost? like $150, $200?

Are guys finding a way to like hack around it? Like I know in the feds we had these MP3 players and you could get it like jailbroken by someone that would make it so you can have different types of music or whatever. No, I haven't seen, I didn't see that. I haven't seen people jailbreak them to get like internet or nothing. It was crazy with the tablets because you'd be locked in and they would have like

you're slotting your tablet under your door to go get your messages because it's like a dopamine goes off. If you get like a DM in your inbox or if you get like, notifications or likes it's like it's a dopamine release when you see that it's the same thing like reflecting back now in the prison like when you get your tablet plugged in and then you got like three messages you're like oh shit people were you know hitting me up yeah so people were like yo go plug my tablet in for me I'm locked in or yeah we'll go up to my cell grab my tablet I want to put it on because it's like a line to get in to plug your tablet up yeah I can imagine that's how it was like

on the computers because we had the computers to email and there's always a delay response no internet it's just like uh well I guess there's internet on the computer but all you could do is doing the email. You have to pay per word or whatever per the email and you can download music. The music's like two bucks a song, three bucks a song, but you send the emails and people get the notification on

through an app and it's like a delayed response time too. Do they censor those emails you guys are? I think they read them and all that. Now, did you have a good relationship with your family while you're in prison? Yeah, so I expected more from them and that's what like really and even friends like I expect them more from some of my friends and my family and that's what really like made me take responsibility and accountability for my situation because

like I'm relying on them or depending on them or expecting them to answer or send money or whatever when really like it's my fault that I'm here how am I if I was never here I wouldn't have to rely on them or depend on them so like it drew me back to being like don't make no more bad decisions When you go to prison, you find out who your true friends are. Like those ones that stick by you throughout the whole thing and don't just come back around when things are better afterwards. That's when you know. Those are your lifelong friends.

I had a bunch, man. I was blessed to have a bunch of good friends in my corner there. What do you think was the hardest thing about being away when you were in prison on a mindset perspective? The hardest thing from a mindset perspective was probably feeling like I'm wasting my life when I could have been out here taking action and take my life in a better direction. And it was frustrating because I had all these ideas

and all this knowledge and I wasn't able to execute anything. Now, what about from a physical perspective? I mean, females? Do you think that crossed your mind a lot? Like, how do you go through that? Like, what was your way to solve that? So, you know, you call girls, you write them,

but they get boyfriends or they don't write back or you become more of like a burden or a duty to keep up with. Do you ever like think about past flings and stuff? Like I remember, I used to find myself like, no, I would just think about like past hookups and anything to keep you going to like have that connection. You have to bring yourself to a place where that happens. Yeah, because it's like your body needs that. You need that intimacy with a female.

I mean, I do anyway. And like you don't have it and you just remember times when you had it. All you have is your memories. So you were going back, you dig into the memories, like, oh, I remember this, that, yeah. I remember waking up to having, like, some fucking wet dreams because I'm thinking of memories from, like, past girlfriends and stuff. Because it's just, like, such a drought in there. Especially the first couple months when you're trying to figure out, like, how fuck do you jerk off in prison? Because I first get there and I'm like, I can't do it.

I'm always in the top bunk. Like, I'm not going to just be, like, whack it off of the top bunk. And I'm not going to, you know, I was too nervous to go to the. bathroom stall and sometimes the COs would like search under because if inmates had contraband phones. So I remember like the first time I like got off in prison was like a wet dream and I get up and like the the sheets are a little wet and like my boxers are wet and I have to climb off awkwardly in the middle of the night to like clean myself up. It was super and like embarrassing. I remember when I was in a county and I was you know didn't jerk off none,

I didn't have sex and I was like I'm going home. I like in my house. I'm I'm touching myself, I'm going home. I'll get, I'll get some pussy when I go home. That didn't last. That didn't last. As soon as it made a piss, preacher, I was like, okay, this is done. Yeah. I bet you I felt good afterwards, though, like that relief. Oh, that really? Yeah. All right. So, what year do you get out of prison? And after how long did you serve? 20, so I made my minimum in 2019. I did five and a half years. I got out on my minimum. That was including the county jail time. Yep. Okay. So you did five and a half you get out, good behavior. this is 2019 you get out what was life like when you get out is it hard what what is the hardest

adjustment so i get out um i had my home plan was to my sister's house my younger sister she's probably the only one with a stable house in the city i think at the time and i go to her basement she had like a room in a basement for me and i started staying there this is your younger sister my younger sister so yeah it was very like now the roles of reverse they're taking care of you Yeah, and it was like, uh, was that humbling? Yeah, it's like discouraging when you have all these dreams and aspirations and you go to your sister's basement at the end of the night, right? Um, so on the phone, I had multiple people, I got a job for you when you come home. I got a job for you. If this don't work out, I got a job for you. So I had a buddy in, you know, different trades and different jobs not come through for me like I were not hiring right now. And so it's like all these unfulfilled promises and which I understood like it's not their job to get me a job. But it causes some anger and. frustration so i jump right on craigslist um and i look for like some sidework yeah and what are like challenges about being on probation too during while you're fining for work did you think it helped you it was parole and my parole officer was really cool i actually reached out to him recently because he was

on my parole officer for like my first six months and then he got switched out and you know i told him all my plans and he probably heard it all before and then you know i showed him like everything i'm doing And he's like, wow, Frank, I'm proud of you. But he was just like, you know, we can help you. We got resources if you can't find a job. You can't, you know, get any steady work. Like, just don't go back to anything negative. But it was about like a month and then I secured like a full-time job.

What was your first job? My first full-time job was a painting job that my buddy had got me. And I didn't speak to him really the whole time I was away. And, you know, if the old me would have been in my feelings and been like, you ain't talk to me when I was away. don't try to talk to me now. He reached out to me, see how I was. I seen how he was doing, and he said, you know, we're hiring if you're looking to work. I said, hell yeah. Are your friends, like, trying to ask awkward questions? Like, I feel like our friends,

when we get out of prison, they're so curious. Even now, I've, like, been out for years now. People are curious? They want to know stuff. Are they asking you stuff? And do you feel a little awkward? I think where I come from, it's, you can go and X five people that's around you. So you don't need to hear from me. But they, you know, they're hearing it from, you know, being on the phone with or they X me like, you know, about just coming home, not like actually being in there because I was talking to him while I was in there, but they probably X like, you know, how's it like coming home?

What, you know, how's your mindset? What are you doing? What about like some challenges of having, you know, a felony assault on your record? Was that disheartening at all? Did that cause problems? On my way up here, I was looking for an Airbnb because I'm staying in New York for tonight

and that was pretty challenging because it said that I'm not allowed on the website anymore because I have an assault case. How do they, they background tracking? I put my credit card in, so I got tens of thousands of dollars in credit cards. And I got denied to go on to the website because of my charges. That is crazy. Yeah.

I mean, I didn't have any problem. They let me on the Airbnb. But you know what's weird about my case? I took a screenshot of it. I'm going to put it on my story, so. Yeah. You're not the first that has said that. I know Josh said that too, but what's weird about my case is like when I get

background checked, like when I was working for someone and stuff like that or an apartment, the federal stuff doesn't come up. It just says like federal sex offender registry, nothing. And then it's state charges from like when I own the nightclub and stuff. So I don't know if that's like a loophole in the system or whatever it is. I think it might have been because it was a violent crime. That that's affected. Yeah, that's what I think.

How does that make you feel when that happens? Knowing that you're a changed person now and that's still going to hold over. I had thoughts of coming here on the way up because I don't want like I hate that my health, my past can be held against me. Mind you, I have a pain company and I have 15 plus. employees that are relying on me. So, you know, that's challenging to even get on this platform and be open and, you know, people looking at me in a different way than they probably know me today and having questions. And I just don't want it to affect other people. Like, you can look at me all you

want, but don't look at my family and my friends or my employees a certain way because it's like they are who they are. I am who I am. And I'm not even the same person I was. So yeah, it's still discouraging that you could get looked at a certain way because of it. How is that affected like dating? It was it tough to date? Is it tough to date now? Like with having that? No, I have a girlfriend right now. We've been together two and a half years. Does she ask about anything? She knows my whole case. She knows everything. She knows to encourage me to come here today. She's very supportive, yeah. When you got out, was there like a certain aroma to you because you're like that bad boy with the tattoos? Like I know how people thought of me and I can use that as a strength. So were you able to use that? Yeah, but you attract you attract like trashy girls though. Like they might look hot or something, but they're like that bad boy with the tattoos. Like they're, like, I know how people thought of me and I can use that. Yeah. So were you able to use that? Yeah. So were you attract you attract like trashy girls though. Like they might might look hot or something, but they're They're not all trashy, but I don't, no, no, no. Some good girls like the bag guys, yeah. Or they're emotionally damaged. Yeah, and yeah, you got that or you.

You got that, you know, that glow to you. And, yeah, I use it to my advantage. But I didn't go out, like, looking for girls too much. But you got a sweet side, do you? You definitely have, like, a sweet side. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, you have, like, you hit it.

You could tell, like, you're charming. Yeah, you're charming, like, your clean cut. Like, if someone looked at you and knew you went to prison, I'm going to have a different opinion for you knowing that and then talking to you afterwards. Yeah, so when I started my business, even then we can go back down that route. But when I started my business, that's one of the things that helped me back, knowing that I have a criminal background,

knowing I have all these tattoos, knowing I have a history of not being a positive person, that it's like people aren't going to trust me giving me thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars with their projects because it's like my own self-beliefs. Did you think you use that as a motive? of Vator though? I just knew

when we were talking about the hard work and patience thing I'm just going to keep working and this is you know if it doesn't work I'll just keep working Yeah so how do you go from working for your friend's paint company to now owning your own

paint company and this is just in a few years time now you have a successful business Yeah against all odds How did you pull that off and find the head space to do that? So I was working so I had a game plan when I came home it was save all my money from working a regular job and then working another job to pay my bills, pay for gas food, and get by.

So I was saving all my paychecks from the company I was working at, and then I was delivering food on the side for a hoagie shop. So all the paychecks got saved for a year. All of the money from the hoagie shop was nieces and nephews' birthday parties, clothes, gas, food. That was my get-by money, and then the savings was to eventually start a business, which was either going to be the painting company or it was going to be a renovation company, some type of home remodeling, or real estate. So, you know, the year went by. We got hit with COVID

in 2020. That was, I was home 2019 September. Six months later, we got hit with COVID. The Hogi place shuts down. Construction got paused for like a month. I'm still working on the side, but there's no second stream of income now. I started painting on the side. I'm not going to say I'm the most popular person, but I know a lot of people in my neighborhood, a lot of people, you know, use my services, and it just got to where the, it tipped to where the time spent at a painting for someone else rather than myself just didn't make sense anymore. I was fortunate enough to have my buddy that had his own painting business before, and his brother started taking on the work while I was still working a regular job, and it got to the point

to where we were getting so busy, I had to quit my job and go and help these guys out, you know, bring this vision to life all the way. What kept you grounded to stay on course? Like it takes a lot of, you know, discipline to say, hey, I'm going to work the second job. Even though I missed all these years of my life and I could go out partying doing this, doing that, how did you stay disciplined to say this is my goal and I know what it takes to get to that level? I believed in myself. I believed in the vision. I was so hungry and I wanted better for myself so bad from coming from nothing that so you're if you're born poor it's not your fault right

if you die poor that's your fault so I was doing everything in my capabilities of trying to become successful that's it it was just pure will and desire of wanting better and was there outside forces that motivated you too like people saying that you couldn't do it or you know those times where

you know your past catches up to you with the felony like you're talking about the Airbnb situation being banned from there do you use that as a driver too yeah so you have um people have this predetermined image of you from your past life and they try to get you to be involved in things you were involved in before or they're like laughing at you when you're starting a business because they think like you know you're not going to go anywhere um so it's yeah that does like the hating and outside noise is like fuel um and my mom has great intentions but i remember when i quit my job i told her i want to be an entrepreneur

I quit my job. And she turned around and laughed. She's like, you don't even know what entrepreneur is, Frank. I said, all right, mom, we'll see. And I bring it up to her to this day and she's like, well, motivated you didn't it? I'm like, yeah, it did. And, you know, multiple businesses later and the whole business venture later, here I am. And, you know, the people with stories and past like ours, literally if they can dig deep

and find the motivation, you literally have unlimited motivation because we've been through so much shit. You literally have a mound and that fire can't be extinguished like once it's lit and you use that. You just keep adding to it. Exactly. Like I have so much motivation because of how bad I failed. Like every rejection, every heartbreak, every dollar I lost, that's motivating as fuck. Even like when I was like overweight and chubby and I look at all those pictures on Google that Google won't take down.

But I look at those and it's like, holy shit, like I can't ever get lazy because I don't want to be that person again. to be the person I was yesterday. I know a lot of people hate on some of these social media guys on YouTube that are very polarizing that say certain things that people may or may not agree with, but there are some people where it's like, you know, some of the best motivation is when you get heartbroken or broken up with when you get experienced failure or anything like that because you use that to do better. You need that though, right, because of the heart breaks, the failure, the being poor, that is motivation to get to the next level, but it's also a part of going to the next level.

People run into them obstacles and they stop. I'm not stopping. Like, that's just one thing. Like, I am not stopping. There's nothing that's going to stop me. I know that there's going to be another level. How do I get to be other level? And a lot of things what people don't realize is when you're,

be a decent human being, right? That's first and foremost. Be a decent human being, add value to other people. and you can only put so much stuff on your plate. If you want to be successful, but you want to go to the bar every night, or if you want to invest in the real estate, but you don't want to save your money

because you want to buy the nicest shoes and the nicest cars, well, you can only put so much on your plate to take you in the next direction. So swipe off all that stuff off your plate that's not going to take you there, add the stuff that is going to take you there. And that's pretty much it,

and just keep your head down to work hard. You've got to be the hardest working and work for the longest to be successful. Yeah, I love it. that man what's your relationship like with your mom and your family now um it's good um you know i i've seen strides in all my siblings since i've been home whether it's you know getting a house getting their license back getting clean sober um working on their credit like there's these things that i've learned that i didn't learn before since i've been away whether it's bank accounts

whether it's credit whether it's business that i try to instill in them because it goes back to being like the father figure, the older brother. And I do it to my friends and I do it to anyone and I'm around. I'm just like, if I'm not soaking off of you, I want you to soak off of me because I'm giving out everything I know. Now, let's rewind for a second. If you could go back in time and maybe sit in the car next to your old self before he started drinking at the bar that night, what would you say? Would you tell him don't drink or would you tell him to keep going down that path because it's going to get you to where you need to be in life. Knowing the outcome?

Knowing everything, knowing the success, knowing the failure, knowing prison, knowing every heartbreak, every piece. This is the thing. This is the thing with that. I regret what I did. I do. I sincerely read it. Who wants to hurt another person, right? But I don't regret going through what I went through because I wouldn't have been this person today. I wouldn't have had as much time to work on myself. I wouldn't have enough time to reflect. I wouldn't have been able to become the person I am today without going through that experience. And it's unfortunate that someone got hurt and family members of their, you know, probably felt pain and stuff like that too. And that's the worst part about everything. But I wouldn't have changed my situation after that point. Are there guys that you've

been in prison with that don't have the positive outcome that you've been able to experience? That are here now? Or at home now or still in there? That are still on. Maybe if they've gotten out that you stay in touch with and went back. Like, how does that make you feel when you see those cases? Because not everyone can pull it together. Yeah, it's the temptations, this is distractions. They can't give it up. They're just like, they're not self-aware, I think, to say, like, this isn't going to be positive outcome.

And they don't like, they have no self-awareness. I had seen people come home and be just as successful as me or more. I've seen people that's in there that got there, they're starting to get their life together. I still talk to on the phone and I encourage them and I send them pictures. show them that there's possibilities out here when you get out here if you do the right thing. What do you think your message is? Like your underlying purpose, the reason that it caused you to drive yourself out here and share your story with the world to all these viewers, all the people listening?

Really that your past doesn't determine your future. So like I basically, if you talk to me 10 years ago and talk to me now, you're going to be talking to two different people. vocabulary um just mindset thoughts it's going to be two different people so you're going to have to reinvent yourself it's possible to reinvent yourself and you know if you just do the right thing and if you stay away from the negativity that there can be like look you don't have to be uber successful you don't have to be a multi-millionaire like there's a chance to live a good life if you just do the right thing um and uh change is possible like that's my overall message is change is possible if i can do it

if I can make something out of nothing than anyone can, because I didn't have any, like, help. I had help, but I didn't have, like, I didn't have a rich uncle. I didn't have, my mom or dad wasn't an entrepreneur and gave me this mindset. I didn't have, like, anything to catapulted me above anyone else besides hard work and learning. Absolutely. Well said, Frank. This has been a great conversation, man. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, thanks for making the drive out here, you know, keep staying humble, staying the hardest worker in the room. And, you know, we're excited to see where you go from here. And, you know, thank you for sharing your story, definitely going to have a positive impact on a lot of people yeah thanks for having me on man

and catch up with me again sometime awesome