Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Celebrity Barber Exposes Secret Crime Ring

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Starting point is 00:02:14 I'm going to bring more creativity if I have other things filling my life. And more. That's how she does it with me, Karen Feinerman, wherever you get your podcasts. Dude used to cut DJ Callet's hair, and they raid the barbershop. Lay everybody down, jump out of unmarked vehicles, grabs me by my neck, and takes me down. Because I was born in Brooklyn, New York. My mom, she's of Puerto Rican descent. My grandmother's Puerto Rican.

Starting point is 00:02:41 And my dad is Dominican from Dominican Republic. But he had a whole other family. I've actually heard this. Yeah. We had, we talked, we interviewed another guy. He's got hit up. He has a whole other family somewhere. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:56 It's crazy. And, you know, basically, he caught some type of charge. he was moving that boy. Oh, okay. And so it was wild. Two families is expensive. Right, right. You can't knock him for that.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Right, right. Well, the crazy thing about it is my mom used to tell me is that he actually gave my mother money for an abortion. And so she looked at him and said that she was going to take it, but she never got the abortion. Right. And then she had me. And he caught a charge. and he was dealing with some Italians in New York at that time.

Starting point is 00:03:36 And he said, hey, look, if they let me out on Bonn, I'm going back to DR. So they let them out on Bonn because obviously if you're dealing with Italians, it's during that time in the 80s and you're the main guy, you know, you might not make it out.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Right. And so he... If they don't think you're... They don't think you're cooperating. There's one way to be sure that you're not going to cooperate. Kill them. Right.

Starting point is 00:04:01 And so he moved his whole family besides me because, you know, I wasn't part of the family. He didn't know about you or did know. He knew, but didn't have time to even think about it. Right, right. So he moved, just picked up and left and went to Dominican Republic. So I grew up in a single parent household. I thought my dad was somebody that, somebody else. My last name is Serrano.

Starting point is 00:04:27 It's not supposed to be Serrano. It's supposed to be Ujoa. because my sister's dad, I have a sister, she has a different father, and he adopted me. And so for all the way up until me being eight or nine years old, I thought somebody else was my dad. Long story short, man, like the path for me was not paved in gold, right? It was tough. So sports was kind of like my outlet, so I'd continuously try to play sports, any sport that I could. And she didn't know how much that meant to me, so she would actually use that to punish me. And I would hate her for it, right?

Starting point is 00:05:04 Because I don't have a dad. I'm trying to live my life through sports. I want to be a professional athlete. I'm getting picked up on these teams, and then she's keeping me from the games, right? And then she's also abusive at the same time. So she's verbally abusive. She's physically abusive. I used to get my ass, what?

Starting point is 00:05:26 And so it was just like I didn't have an outlet, like a consistent outlet. like a consistent outlet, stability either. We moved all around the country. I lived in New York. From New York, we moved to Buffalo, New York. From Buffalo, New York, we moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. Well, that's got to be a culture shock. Yeah. It's like my whole life is almost like, no matter, once I start getting comfortable, we're up and gone. So, and then we're up and gone to places where like I'm like I'm not even like obviously growing up in New York right I'm Dominican American right Dominican Puerto Rican American going to Salt Lake City Utah I'm like not Mexican just a lot of blonde hair blue eye yeah I've been there and

Starting point is 00:06:13 went to like a Starbucks or something it might have just been the area I was at but I got my side I kind of looked around and went where am I at you know what's I'm noticing a lack of something here. Right. Yeah. And then here's a thing that they don't... My buddy, Zach, he's black. He lived there.

Starting point is 00:06:31 He said he was the only black person that lived in Salt Lake City. It's crazy. It's crazy. And so I'm Dominican. They're calling me either Mexican or they're calling me a black dude. Like, they're calling me the N-word. And so I'm having a lot of resentment, right? You can't get a good haircut.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Right? Not just that. I'm not Mormon as well. So, So like a lot of people don't understand Salt Lake, right? And the religious aspect in there as well is like their idea of drinking is soda. Right. Right.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Our idea of drinking is like, yo, let's have a party. Let's get twisted, right? Doesn't happen. Also, you could be white, but you will also feel prejudice if you're not Mormon. Because it's the Latter-day Saints capital, basically. Yeah. No, they're everywhere. They're like living in Clearwater.

Starting point is 00:07:24 and not being a Scientologist. Yeah, right? It's crazy. And so growing up that way was, again, I had a lot of resentment. So my only outlets were sports. And then my mom would be upset, taking me away, and she would kick me out the house. Finally. At how old?

Starting point is 00:07:43 So I first, it's kind of crazy. First time I ever got kicked out the house was like nine years old. And that's like, and the reason why I say that is because I, and it's not a name. excuse, but it's something that built up over time where I had to learn at an early age to get it out the mud by myself. She would kick me out the house. I'd wait outside the door for like two or three hours. She wouldn't open it up and I go walk to the basketball court. Then she's calling the police to come get like my son is missing. He ran away type stuff. And you know, it's my mom. I'm not going to say my mom. You know, I'm not going to say anything. I'm not, I'm never one

Starting point is 00:08:19 time, you know, I don't believe you anyway. Right, right. But my mom was like physically abusive. Like she would, one time she cracked my head open with a painting. She was so upset. She threw a painting off the wall and threw it at me and the corner hit me. It was some wild stuff. And I'm looking at it and I'm trying to figure out like this is my mom, right? She gave birth to me. Why am I feeling this way?

Starting point is 00:08:41 And it was traumatizing for me. Like honestly, like I'm just talking about it, I've like repressed a lot of these memories. And so, right, so to kind of get my background, You kind of got to know, like, I was not raised to be in the streets. All my family was, but sports was my outlet. Finally get really in a place. The team loves me. I'm in a small town, Watertown, Connecticut.

Starting point is 00:09:08 It's like 4,000 people maybe. Finally starting to play football, play basketball, and then my mom kicks me out. Mind you, she's been kicking me out the house. This time she kicks me out. She says, you're moving to Florida. that's it. But by yourself? Sending me to my aunt's house.

Starting point is 00:09:27 How old are you? I'm 14. Okay. She sent me over there when she sends me, I'm like 14, 15. When she sends me over there, my aunt's in a bad situation. She's got three kids, almost four. She's a single parent mom. Now you're going to bring this 15-year-old who's got kind of issues as well.

Starting point is 00:09:49 in the middle of a season to their house in Florida I've never been there I told myself when my mom put me on that plane she sent me and my sister I said I'm never going back there I need stability I'm never going back three months with my aunt

Starting point is 00:10:06 my aunt starts tripping I leave the house I go to my friend's house I ask him if I could stay there it's crazy because at 14 15 years old I'm like on the streets I'm like sleeping on a park bench. I'm going to my friends leaving, saying I'm going to leave, and then, like, just being on the street.

Starting point is 00:10:29 My grandmother finds out. My grandmother, she was in New York, but she moved to Florida. She moved to Fort Myers. She ends up paying my friend's mom to house me, but they missed a paycheck or whatever. And they called him, like, look, he can't stay here, man. Like, we can't be taking care of a kid. He's not our responsibility. if you're not going to send the money, like we can't just do that.

Starting point is 00:10:51 So she comes and picks me up. Got to leave again. But I told myself, I'm going to stay with my grams because I know she's stable. My grandmother is like my mom, no matter what happens. Even though through all those times where I was gone in different places, the only person that was really a constant in my life was my grandmother. She would always check up on me, visit me, and stuff like that. She just felt bad, right?

Starting point is 00:11:12 She was a grandma that knew that I was kind of like dealt a hand that wasn't the strongest. And so she was always there. She picked me up, drove to Fort Myers, we go to Fort Myers. From that point on, she raised me all through college, all through high school. I end up graduating. I get a 3.7 average. I get a bright future scholarship. She makes sure I get to every basketball game, make sure I went to school. I end up getting a scholarship to go to Iowa, Central University of Iowa and play basketball there. My dream now is to make it to the league, make it to the NBA. I'm like six one okay so but I was extreme I was sorry I just think I was think tall I always think like five six right you know so in high school I was always on

Starting point is 00:12:00 like I told you I was immersed in basketball like I was the Kai who had a backpack in my basketball I'm walking around I'm walking to school there's that that's my life I get obsessed with stuff right and later on you'll find out I'm obsessed with anything that I do, including a drug enterprise, right? So I just immersed myself. There was nothing more important than basketball getting a scholarship. I did well. I told you I were made the freshmen's teams. We were on AAU teams with people who played ball. And I was good. Wasn't great, but I was good and I worked hard. That's what got me the scholarship to Central University of Iowa. End up going out there, and it's, I didn't even tell you, I end up having a kid.

Starting point is 00:12:50 I get a girl pregnant while I'm in high school. And I end up having a son, right? So I'm trying not to, I'm trying not to leave my kid, but I also need to accomplish my goals. So I go to college. My baby mom comes with me, right? And everybody told me don't bring her. Long story short, again, she goes and she is making my life hell.

Starting point is 00:13:17 I go from there. I have a bad attitude. Something happens, right? We get into a little argument. The cops get called. Nothing crazy, but I end up leaving there, and I can't get back into the house. So now I'm on scholarship, but I can't get back into my own house. I'm sleeping on my friend's bed.

Starting point is 00:13:35 I end up leaving school. I get kicked out, lose my scholarship. I said, bump it. I'm going to go play. ball in Dominican Republic because I had lived there at one point during that time. I went to Dominican Republic. My dad was there and I had met my dad when I was 14. I kind of tried to skip through. Yeah. I end up meeting my dad when I was 14, you know, on, on a whim after I found out my aunt that I didn't even know at the time, called my mom. It was like,

Starting point is 00:14:00 look, he needs to call his dad. My stepmom ends up kind of getting involved and paying for my ticket. My dad didn't even want to see me. Crazy. Crazy. And so, but when I do see him, he, I'm the kid that looks most like him. Right. So I do see him. So when I leave college, I end up going back to DR. Stay with them. Play basketball professionally in Dominican Republic for two years.

Starting point is 00:14:23 I miss my kid, though. So I come back to the States to come visit him. When I get back to the States, my son's mom is waiting for me with my son. We go into the house and then she serves me. The sheriff's come and serve me with child support papers. And from that moment on, they took my passport basketball dream over with. I can't get out the country. Go to get put on.

Starting point is 00:14:49 I was going to say, people don't realize that they'll shut your shit off. Yeah. Yeah, can't leave. And the president of the team is calling me like, yo, you just signed a contract, bro. Like, what's going on? I know a guy who had tickets to, like, Brazil. and he and his girlfriend were going to go. And I said, are you sure you can go?

Starting point is 00:15:12 And he was like, yeah, I said, I think, I said, don't you back child support like your own payments? And he had like three kids and he's paying three different, but he was behind. Yeah. And he was like, what's that got to do? I was like, I would call. And he fucking called and came back. Fuck.

Starting point is 00:15:27 Yeah. I was like, hey, bro, better, better than you being in the airport or even getting there or something and not going. Right. I mean, it's, it's a serious situation, you know? And I was in arrears too. Like, they don't know. once you get put on, if you haven't paid up to that point, they're getting it.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. Yeah, so. You just owe it. Yeah, exactly. And so they snatched my passport right away. Basketball dream dead. So now I'm like, yo, I've tried to do everything right. I've tried to be, you know, stay out of trouble.

Starting point is 00:15:55 I've never had handcuffs put on my, not, no issues, right? And I just get dealt the wrong hand. So I was like, fuck it. I'm going, I'm going the other way. Because I used to hear it, I used to be just like my, I'm just like my dad, I'm just like my dad, I'm just like my dad, I'm just like my dad. So I'm like, fuck it. I'm going to find out what that feels like. So I have a question.

Starting point is 00:16:19 How old are you? Now I'm 43. At 43, when you think back on that, how stupid does that decision sound to you? Yeah, it's an idiot. Yeah. Because the decisions, because the decisions that I made, it's kind of like the first time I got in trouble, first time I got in trouble. Yeah. Everybody's like I now look back and think claim bankruptcy

Starting point is 00:16:40 Move into your parent move into your old bedroom Restarge your go sell used cars like what are you doing instead I double down and did the dumbest thing possible Expand the scam right it's like I look back now and I'm like but at that moment It seemed like such a logical decision. Yeah, this is clearly the right decision and it was like looking back I'm like You know it's the difference between being a kid making those rash stupid decisions and being an adult and saying, no, this is, this is, this has got nothing but downside, even if it's upside for a few years. Right.

Starting point is 00:17:13 I feel like I didn't know how to handle adversity at that time. It was something that was, that. It's a rebellious decision, but, you know, but it feels good. It, it, and the crazy part was, I didn't even start anything big. It kind of was like, local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void. And it gets harder to separate truth from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada,

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Starting point is 00:18:28 When McDonald's partnered with Franks Redheart, they said they could put that shit on everything, So that's exactly what McDonald's did. They put it on your McChrispy. They put it in your hot honey McNuggets dip. They even put it in the creamy garlic sauce on your McMuffin. The McDonald's Frank's Red Hot menu. They put that shit on everything.

Starting point is 00:18:51 Breakfast available until 11 a.m. At participating Canadian restaurants for a limited time. Frank's Red Hot is a registered trademark of the French's food company LLC. Dope was kind of like introduced to me. I hadn't smoked. I never smoked. didn't drink. You weren't already ingrained in this environment.

Starting point is 00:19:08 This is something like now you've got to go learn. Literally, I had to go learn. And how it happened was one of my high school friends. Like I was just kind of like moving without a purpose, trying to go to school again. I had a bright future scholarship. So that was like an academic scholarship, trying to get a job, just trying to do the right things. I just felt like every door was closing.

Starting point is 00:19:28 Like jobs didn't want, you know, they were like, oh, you go into school? Like, go to school. We need somebody to work. And I couldn't balance. I didn't have a good balance. And I feel like I was just searching for the wrong thing. Like people were, I started seeing people party in. So I would go over there to try to have a good time.

Starting point is 00:19:45 And, you know, one of my friends was like, oh, yeah, this is blow, you know? And I'm like, oh, I want to stay away from that. They were like, I don't do it. I sell this stuff. And I'm like, yeah, and he pulled out a lot of money. Now, I had seen my cousins do stuff like that, but I kind of stepped away because I was like, okay, there's a lot of money. on the table. There's a lot of drugs.

Starting point is 00:20:05 I got to get out of here. And I feel like this time, I was just like, yo, how much money would you make on that? And he was like, well, for this bag right here, I make $3.50 for this little thing. I'm like, what?

Starting point is 00:20:16 It was kind of like a half an ounce. And I'm like, for that? And he was like, yeah. And you could do stuff with it. And I was like, man, what do you mean? So he kind of like was schooling me on a game. So he gave me,

Starting point is 00:20:31 he gave me an eight ball. Right? First one. He was like, you take this. If you put 0.8s in it and take a little sandwich baggies, you can make $50 a pop. So I'll charge you 150. You can make like $400 or something like that. I was like, what? The numbers are not crazy, right? So I go, I bag it up. At a 350, I made 8. Yeah, 0.8. It's 3.5. It made about eight bags. Sold them for $40 a piece, $50 a piece. And it was really good. it was really good. So I made 400 bucks. Right. And what, a day or two days? No, it took me some time. At first I couldn't give this shit away.

Starting point is 00:21:11 Right. But then... You don't have a client. Yeah, I have no idea. So I'm telling him like, yo, he's like, where's the money? And I'm like, man, I'm still trying to get off this. And he was like, listen, man, like, you need to go out. You have friends.

Starting point is 00:21:24 They go to the clubs. Yo, just tell them that you got something. They're going to spread the word. So I did. And sure enough, those that, like in the... like two weeks, right? The 150, I gave him the 150, and then I had another 250. And I was like, yo, could we do it again?

Starting point is 00:21:40 He was like, yeah, you want me to front shoot another bag? And I don't like own people money. Yeah. So I'm like, nah, I got my own. I'm going to take the money, put it in. So he gives me another eight ball. How old are you? 21.

Starting point is 00:21:52 Okay. 21 years old. I go, that one takes like three days. So now I'm making money, right? I've got like 500, $5.50 in my pocket. My phone bill, I only have a phone bill. I'm living with my grandmother at the time. Trying to figure out life.

Starting point is 00:22:10 I tried to get a job at a McDonald's. They called me Jason. I lasted 45 minutes. So I was like, I'm not getting a real job. This is not it. This is where I'm, you know, this is what's making me money. I think my check for like, you know, a day. I was doing day labor stuff.

Starting point is 00:22:26 My check was like 50 bucks. Right. Now, I'm like, I'm not meant for this. I can't, this can't be my life. I'm not going to be doing this. So I was like, make 50 bucks a day or make $450, like make this money. So I would come back and I asked him, hey, look, can I double it up? Like, can I get two of them?

Starting point is 00:22:44 And he was like, yeah, I'll give it to you for 200 bucks. So I was like, okay. So he's learning buying ball. Right. Yeah. So he's giving me the game. The stuff was, it was straight, you know, it was stepped on a little. I had no idea, though.

Starting point is 00:22:58 I'm just taking it, running it. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how I'm doing. I'm just basically just doubling my money every single time. And then now I'm buying, you know, I go from an eight ball to a seven, right? We called it a Vic. You know, we go to a Vic. Then from a Vic, I did the same thing.

Starting point is 00:23:17 I'm like, yo, how much is it for a half, a half an out? He was like, whoa, at the time, at the time ounces were going for like $750 to $1,000 depending on how much they were. So he was like, hey, I'll give you that one for 375, right? So I get a half ounce. And one of the people that I was giving it to was like, yo, man, I like the fact that you're consistent. But this shit is garbage. Right.

Starting point is 00:23:44 Like, and I don't know because I don't do it. So I'm just giving basically hand-to-hand stuff. And I got a lot of it now to me. I got a lot of it, enough where I can make at least like a third. thousand dollars right because I can double it up um so and and I'm not giving people full grams either right I'm taking the bag and I'm like I'm like pinching to try to maximize profits right I've always been the guy that's like how can we maximize and be efficient and these things literally have a business brain business acumen but not

Starting point is 00:24:21 applying it to that I'm putting it to the streets right I would I got a job at a club in Tampa called High Park Cafe as the security. I made sure that I did... That's a nice area. High Park, right? Yeah, because I was like, this is where the people are hanging out at. And a lot of people where I was at,

Starting point is 00:24:39 they were broke, right? So they're not... High Park is a... It's a young, trendy area of Tampa, right? So it's not... You know, it's the hip crowd, right? But not broke. Not broke.

Starting point is 00:24:52 South Tampa, where they got money, right? Ebor City is the trendy. broke crowd. Right. And I was like, I can't, I can't do that. So I need people. They wanted like, like, whittenden. They wanted something.

Starting point is 00:25:04 I'm like, I don't know, that's not me. I don't want anything that smells. Blow was small. Right. It was easy to carry, right? It was easy to break up. I could hide it. You know, nobody, it didn't leave any lingering smell.

Starting point is 00:25:17 And I could make a lot of money. Right. So I wanted to get that, but I needed to find the people that would buy it at a high clip. So I was going to this boxing gym And the owner of the gym Did security at Hyde Park And he was like, yo, you want to do security?

Starting point is 00:25:34 And I'm thinking to myself, Yeah, I'm going to do security at this place But I'm not, they would pay me $60 a day, $100 a day. I could only work like three days, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. But I was like, look, I'll take the hit on the hundred bucks a day But I know I'm going to find people in there that have money. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:51 And then if you, even if you work for a month or six weeks, you build up a huge clientele. And if I get fired, I get fired. Well, and I wasn't getting fired because that ended up being a bank for me, basically. I walk in. I was dressed up in a suit. You had to dress up in a security suit, right? An actual suit.

Starting point is 00:26:09 Man, the people that I was looking for, I was looking for the young people, I ended up selling blow to the security people that are there, right? And then they're taking it and they're giving it to the other people that are buying it. So they'd come to me and be like, yo, I need, and I'm like in the cut. I'm like not in front of the door, kind of like on the outside door where I'm just sitting. So I'm basically posted on a block. But across the street, the cops are sitting there. But all I have to do is go inside. It was okay for me, right?

Starting point is 00:26:45 I want to say it's foolproof because I was always paranoid. But I was making money. I'd walk out of there with like $1,000. I'd run out of work. I graduated to an ounce real fast. I was grabbing zips left and right. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, those weekend warriors, that's what they called themselves. It was over with.

Starting point is 00:27:04 But I couldn't leave. I realized, like, I'd come out with like $2,000 or $3,000, but I'd run out of work. And then I couldn't leave because I had a job. Yeah. So after doing that for two or three months, I was like, man, like I was content with what I had, but I was like, man, I could be making more if I'd just, got something, you know, if I didn't have to work here. It's starting to become a flow. People, now people are calling me on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I have friends now

Starting point is 00:27:35 who, some of them, you know, that I grew up with, they're coming out of like situations. And they're like, yo, could you put me on? And I just didn't have, I didn't have enough work to give them. And so I had to find a plug. I had to kind of graduate. And so I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, would flip, flip, flip. I had about $20,000 saved up, you know. And this is like my first year. Like, this is my first year. I'm making money.

Starting point is 00:28:02 I'm getting my life. I wouldn't say I'm getting my life together. Right. But I'm starting to. You've got an apartment. You got furniture. Right. You've got a vehicle you can drive.

Starting point is 00:28:12 Right. You're not broke. I'm not broke. You're not rich, but you're not broke. Right. Right. Like, your life is worth. It's a decent life.

Starting point is 00:28:20 Yeah. I'm not struggling. Right. And so that's where, like, said, it's like, yo, at the beginning, like, I tell myself now, I was like, man, you're, you're, you're, you're an idiot. But for real, though, like 20K, like being 22 years old, you're having fun, you're the man, people love you. It's hard to walk away from stuff like that. Now you're making $3,000 on, on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. People are calling you Monday,

Starting point is 00:28:46 Tuesday, Wednesday, right? My slowest days were Wednesday because I guess people needed to go to work, right? My slowest days were Monday. But those, like, I'm, I'm, I'm caking like $4,000 a week and maybe spending like $1,000, $2,000 on, you know, on work and doubling it every single time. But I, people would tell me, like, they would say, hey, look, man, like, it's kind of like, it's mid, right? It's not very great, but it's good for the club. And so I needed to find a plug and so I was with better product with better product right and um in Tampa man like people were stepping all over the shit and it was just it was so you and I because I didn't grow up around the stuff I had no idea what it what good blow looked like yeah yeah

Starting point is 00:29:34 and my friends didn't either because they were getting the trash stuff too so I I had to like talk to people and I would I would go down they told me like the further south you go the better that's So I was just thinking Miami is coming into Miami. So it's pure when it's coming in. Exactly. On the way here, it's being stepped on. Right? And so I'm going down 75.

Starting point is 00:29:54 I end up finding a plug in Sarasota, right? That plug was good, but then, you know, not as good. Then I get one in like, you know, Fort Lauderdale. Go out there to Fort Lauderdale. That was all right, but it was more like I started seeing the differences, right? And then I'm starting to see like, okay, if they're stepping on it, what are they using, right? And so I'm seeing that. And then finally, Fort Lauderdale was probably, you know, better than Sarasota, way better than Tampa, but it was still not great.

Starting point is 00:30:26 But then I had a friend that was from Miami and Tampa, and his cousin was from Miami, lived in Miami. And we met a couple of times, and we kind of clicked. Cool dude, you know what I'm saying, and was like, yo, man, I get it. Like, I really do. I get it. I'll bring it to you. He brings me four ounces. And it's in a little brick, right?

Starting point is 00:30:54 And everything that I got was like in bags before, right? It was like powdery substance, this and that. This one is like really stamped. And it's got like a, like when you broke it, I always heard these rap songs, you know, Rick Ross and Gizi at the time. They're talking about fish scale. It's fish. It's fish.

Starting point is 00:31:13 I had no idea what that really meant. I'm just listening to these songs, right? But when you broke it, it really did look. It had this glitter to it and it was like fish. And he was like, you see the scales? And I'm like, the fish scale. And I'm like, what? He's like, look.

Starting point is 00:31:28 And he breaks it to me. He's like, this is pure blow. This is that thing. And I was like, he's like, this is fish. And I looked at it and I could see it. And then it had this smell to it where it was like just like potent. Like it was like the other stuff had. like, it was like supplement smells, like niacin.

Starting point is 00:31:51 Other people were- Or like what the, they were cutting it. Cutting it. Right, like Bolivian rock. Like there was these smells that you could get from like these smoke shops or these little places. But this had this distinct smell. And so it had this glitter.

Starting point is 00:32:06 And then sure enough, when I, he was like, you could step on this thing two or three times and triple your profits. Right. And I was like, man, whatever, man. He was like, no, for real. So I end up taking it. He's like, just do me in favor. Just take.

Starting point is 00:32:24 He gave me this supplement. It was called niacin. Right? He's like, take this. Grind it all up, blend it up in a little cup. And there's like those little shakers, the little, the shake makers, the smoothie makers, right? Something like that. Take that, blend it up.

Starting point is 00:32:43 Take the same. Make sure you weigh it. take the same weight, put it in there. Don't just take one ounce and put one ounce of the same niacin in there. Put it in a bag, put it in a sock, then put it under your tire. Roll over it and let it sit there for the night. When you come back, it's going to be just like it was, a brick. That's how good the stuff was.

Starting point is 00:33:07 It's going to all mix, and it's going to be like a brick. So I did it. The dude knows what he's talking about, right? So I did it. I end up taking it off of my time. it came like this little cookie at the end, right? It was because the tire smashed it. But when I broke it, it looked exactly, not exactly, but it had that look.

Starting point is 00:33:25 So I was like, okay, I just turned one ounce into two ounces. I go and I put it in the little bags, right? Now I'm selling like, I'm selling like grams. I'm selling eight balls and I'm selling Vicks. So I'm making money. I'm making, and they're all going for, you know, sometimes if it was trash work, I didn't, like I said, somebody complained I would give them for 40 instead of 50, right? So 40 for the gram, 135, 150 for the, for the eight ball. And then like 300 or 280 for the for the for the seven. And this would happen all the time, right? And people would come work. I end up taking these grams and giving it to to one of my, my customers, man. This guy called me back like 30 minutes later. yo this is fire

Starting point is 00:34:16 I don't know what you did but I need I need three more of them right and this is cut this is cut this is one on one what 28 ounces 28 grams of of niacin 28 grams of blow and he's like boom man that night I'll never forget he called me like 10 times the whole weekend they were

Starting point is 00:34:37 they couldn't sleep they were and I'm you know like I said I never I never I'm never I've touched COVID, but I've never done cocaine. And still, maybe through my pores, right? Maybe through our pores, but I've never done it. So it got to a point where I was like, some of my, some of those people, I would give them a gram to see and be studying them like a doctor just looking at them like, hey, is this good? Like, just watching them.

Starting point is 00:35:05 So they tell me like one every single time, that whole weekend, man, they were calling me five, six. I got no sleep. Do you sleep hot or cold at night? You know, the temperature in your room can really ruin your sleep. That's why I switch to Miracle Made Sheets. Miracle Made Sheets are inspired by NASA Technology and made with silver-infused fabric that helps control your body's temperature. Whether you sleep hot or cold, these sheets help keep you comfortable all night long.

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Starting point is 00:36:42 I turned those into eight. And I don't think it lasted the weekend. I was able to give some to those people who were asking me. I called them. And I was selling those same cut, stepped on, right? The stepped on product. I was selling them for what they were selling them in Tampa for, for $1,000 an ounce. So we used to call them onions.

Starting point is 00:37:01 So I used a thousand an onion. I sold four of them, right? I think he charged me $2,800 at the time, or $28 to $3,200 at the time for those four ounces at $800 a piece. I turned them into eight, and then I broke down four of them and sold four of them, right? I ended up with like $10K. Right. Called them again.

Starting point is 00:37:24 Hey, man, like, I got the work on Thursday, was done by Saturday or Sunday, called them Monday, was my slowest days. I'm going back to Miami. He's like, cool. I'm like, can I get another one? He's like, yeah, I go get another one. Same thing. Now they're calling me.

Starting point is 00:37:40 I told you, Mondays were my slow days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I run out of the work again. And I'm like, yo, I need to buy more. This is horrible, bro. You know why? It's horrible because I had a buddy who was, I think I mentioned this story like years ago. We interviewed somebody.

Starting point is 00:38:01 And he was selling out of a one bed. This is when I was like 18, 19 years old. We actually had a one bedroom apartment together. Like, you know, you're 19. You got no money. Yeah, of course. But we both had girlfriends and we're tired of, you know, trying to sneak him in the house.

Starting point is 00:38:19 And we rented an apartment for, I don't even know if we were there for seven or eight months or a year. But we rented the place. I wasn't there, but maybe a few months. Because he starts selling, right? He's got had a couple of shitty jobs. Same idea. So then he starts selling.

Starting point is 00:38:36 And I remember one time he sold to a guy. I remember the guy's name, the name Ross. Literally Ross comes at like four o'clock that day. Then he comes back at like seven. Then he comes back at like 11 or 12 at night. And he says to him, he says to my buddy Trent, he says, listen, man. He said, if I come back, don't give me anything. You understand?

Starting point is 00:39:00 He said, this is my, he said, all I got left is my rent money. Yeah. And Trent goes, bro, absolutely. I'm not going to sell you anything else. When did your rent do? He's like, his rent and my rents do like two days from then, don't. And he said, don't worry. I got you.

Starting point is 00:39:14 Two or three o'clock in the morning, he shows up. My buddy, Trent's pager's going off. He shows up. He's knocking on the door. He goes, Trent opens the door. And he's like, man, I know, I know I said not to sell me. He said, no, bro. he said, you're going to figure it out.

Starting point is 00:39:31 You're going to figure it out. And he walked back and I said, you're a fucking horrible human being. He said, he'll be fine. He'll be fine. I'm just like, God, this is horrible. I had to move out. I'm like, this is getting bad. Yeah, this is getting arrested or they're going to come in the house.

Starting point is 00:39:46 Like, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm getting scared now because this guy. So I ended up moving back home. It's crazy. But you see that, though? Yeah. And so a lot of people don't know, but like my main. clientele at that time i'm 22 23 starting to get into the groove um my clientele is not clientele from the street my clientele they're 35 yeah 40 yeah these are accountants lawyers uh if they're

Starting point is 00:40:19 they're living in an oh high park like they've got like south tampa they have means right they they got some of them are like i'm not going to say their names but they got they're prominent people, right? There were, I would go, they would be having these parties where they're drinking and they'd be all in their house in South Tampa or someone's house. I end up, hey, come to this persons or come to this person's or come to this person. So there was a whole click, business owners. Some of them, one time, one of them was a cop. Right. He's a detective. Yeah. And he's like, yo, man, I just want you to know, like, I'm a detective. And I'm like, oh, what are you telling me? I go and he's like, I don't know, I've seen a lot of stuff.

Starting point is 00:41:03 Yours is the best. I'm like, what? So he's like, yeah. And I would see him at these parties do him blow with these people. And so the reason why they would do blow is because they would get drunk. Like they were drinking, drinking, drinking. And they didn't want to pass out. So they would just be doing blow to stay up.

Starting point is 00:41:23 And they would go all. They were like vampires, man. They would just be all different types. But they weren't, I trusted them. Some of them would have me over for dinner. Some of them were roommates. They'd be chilling. They'd be asking me like, hey, man, you're a real cool dude, man.

Starting point is 00:41:38 Like, you're solid, man. You seem smart, man. I hope it's worth it. I'm like, yo, it is right now. At that time, I'm like, yeah, it's worth it, man. Like, it's worth it. Because anything was better than the life I was living. Right.

Starting point is 00:41:51 Where it started getting crazy was, obviously, I'm starting to take more and more, these trips down to Miami, right? And now I'm graduating from an eighth to a half, to a half, to a, you know, three quarters of a key to finally start and say, hey, look, man, I need the whole thing. Like, I want it. And them giving me one at a time,

Starting point is 00:42:18 me paying for one, paying 19, and then fronting me another one because they know I'm good for it. Because now I have people, who, you know, I was like putting people on. Yeah, yeah. So now it's turning into it instead of basically sales, is turning into distribution.

Starting point is 00:42:37 Distribution. You're getting your own guys that are doing. Right. Same thing. I would give them the blueprint. Hey, man, get a job at the club or get in with the manager. So we would, we were, they would go into the clubs, meet the managers of the club or the bartenders.

Starting point is 00:42:53 And then let them, you know, hey, you know, anybody who has something? they would ask if they knew, get good with the bartender, ask if they knew if somebody was, they'd be like, yeah, I got a guy, da, da, da, da. And then maybe buy from them and then being like, man, this stuff's trash, you should get from my people giving them one, and now it's an epidemic all through the club. Right.

Starting point is 00:43:17 So it was kind of like a sales process, right? Yeah. That was like, and this is crazy because it was, it was, we had so many. different clubs in different parts of Tampa. That it was, like I said, I needed to, I would put people on. They would be running out. The work was great.

Starting point is 00:43:38 And I was telling you, it was stepped on at least one time by me. So I'm doubling my money every single time. Where it started getting crazy for me was one of my friends who came to me was like, hey, man, he had experience in the street. I was kind of like the green one. I was the dude that didn't really have experience. I just got a plug, got in the game, and just started moving. He was like, yo, Vince, I know you go with this kind of money here, man, but I need fast money.

Starting point is 00:44:10 And I'm like, well, this isn't fast for you? He's like, nah, like, I need like fast money, like consistent. Like, this is cool, but it's not really the fast money that I'm used to. So I'm like, well, what's you talking about? He's like, yo, I need whip. I need hard. hard. That's what my clientele. That's what I know we can get off that. So I was like, all right, but I don't. This is more of a street guy. There's more of the streets. And so remember, like,

Starting point is 00:44:37 I'm, especially playing basketball, being in these areas, all, all, I would still be playing ball. I'd still be doing my thing, but I was, I was a hustler. Yeah. So I'm in these areas where, you know people people know me for being in the hood but I'm not necessarily from the hood I'm just there and so he would be like yo you're you're in all these areas bro like just give it to me I'll show you what to do with it and I'm like yo bro that's cool but I don't know how to turn it from powder to hard he's like don't worry about I'll show you how to do it you just got to get it so I end up getting the same thing and I he's like don't touch it though because if you touch it, it's over.

Starting point is 00:45:26 You can't... Yeah, you can't do the chemical breakdown and turn it into rock if it's been cut, right? It's been touched, yeah. And so it has to be pure. As pure as you can get it. Because a lot of people don't know, like, it's not always pure, right? It's still mixed with certain things like kerosene. It's still mixed with certain things to get it to that point.

Starting point is 00:45:50 And so it's got to be as pure as you can get it, right? And so he called it comeback or glass, right? But he wanted, he didn't know how to do it. And so we would grab, I was like, all right, cool. I'd grab something, right? Oh, man, it was a crazy process. I'd never done anything like this in my life, right? So he'd get one of his friends from a straggler from around the way.

Starting point is 00:46:18 and we'd be talking about, hey, look, this is what we're going to do. We're going to cook it. This is how we're going to cook it. You're going to put it in a baby jar, blah, blah, blah, blah. Man, we put it in a baby jar, put it in the pot, lift it up, pot break all over the pot. One time we put it all the burner, glass break, all in the stove. So it's just wasting. I'm just losing money.

Starting point is 00:46:41 I'm telling this guy, like, hey, br, we, like, all the work is on the kitchen counter right now. I'm losing 750 because that's what they were charging me at the time. Anywhere between $750, $6.50 and $750 in the damn stove, bro. Like, what, what's, like, we can't be doing this. Yeah, you got to get somebody who knows what he's doing. I'll never forget. He's the eye, bro. I got you.

Starting point is 00:47:05 Next person that comes in is mom. Right. His mom comes in. And she's like, I'm going to teach you the real way to do. I ain't from teaching none of this other stuff, the way that these other people, are doing it. I'm going to teach you how to cook what they call glass. She comes in. She's like, you got to have it on low heat. Take this, put the baking soda in it, let it cook, stir it with your wrist. But easy now. Don't let anything come. Don't let it get too hot. Let it sit. I'll never

Starting point is 00:47:37 forget when she let it sit, it just kind of like hardened up. You took it out of the baby jar. and it was like this yellow cookie. And I'd never seen it. And we cooked like a, because I got smart. I was like, I'm not losing any more ounces, right? We cooked a seven and six and a half came back. And she was like, this is really good stuff. And we picked it up.

Starting point is 00:48:05 And it was like this little like butterscotch cookie and it was hard. She was like, this is dope. And I was like, all right, cool. So we chopped it up. And we ended up going to a certain area in the hood. Now, I'm in my car, right? Now I have cars. Right.

Starting point is 00:48:24 I'm chilling. But now we're in one of my cars, right? And we're like, all right, I don't have to do this, but I want to see what's going on. We can't, again, like I said, we can't give this stuff away. Like, we have to actually get out, go to the gas station, go to the hoods, and, like, give out free samples. Like we would see people and be like, yo, like, yeah, and they would think we were cops. Yeah. Like, they were thinking we were cops.

Starting point is 00:48:48 They don't know you. Have no idea. You never seen you before. Right. And even if they, like, even though I would play ball in these hoods, like, they don't know me for that. They don't know me for slinging dope. Like, boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

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Starting point is 00:50:05 but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. You look healthy. Right, yeah, exactly. And it's like two in the morning. It's like anywhere between... Drug dealers have a look.

Starting point is 00:50:19 Yeah, anywhere between 11 and 12. And now we're out all night trying to figure it out. We end up meeting this guy named Preacher. Preacher's on a... He's at this gas station off of 50th and Columbus, right? By the motels, you know. And Preacher, I'll never forget. He's just like loud, right?

Starting point is 00:50:40 loud black dude strong but he's like you can tell he's a you know he's a crackhead um my boy he's he's a black dude and he goes up to him he's like hey oh g he's like he's like he's like he's like yo you smoke he's like yeah but i don't smoke that i don't wonder what he's like no no no i got what you smoke so he's like take this and he gives him a bag and uh preachers like he's about to like he's like you're giving me this he's like yeah i'm giving it to you come back if you want some more so preacher goes outside and he he takes the um the bag and when we walk out of the gas station because we're grabbing like sodas you know whatever um he's like hey young buck yo i ain't see no shit like this since the 80s right and i'm like yeah he's like man is that glass and he's like he's like

Starting point is 00:51:29 you know what that means and he would go and he took the little rock and you know where the ice cooler is, the fridge where they put the ice, he drops it on the top of it. And you hear, he's like, ooh, and I'm like, yo, I'm thinking this kid, this guy's hot. They got to be hot. He's all. Yeah, he's all.

Starting point is 00:51:51 You just gave them. Yeah. Right. But he hasn't smoked to yet. Oh, okay. He has a smoke to you. He's just looking at it. He's like, I heard that sound since the 80s. He's like, this is glass. He's like, well, I'll be right back. He's going to spread the word. Everybody's going to, all the

Starting point is 00:52:07 crackheads were coming out of that. All the woodwork. It was crazy. It was like, okay, cool. So now we give them the number. We have at that time, it was like Metro PCS. We got a burner Metro and we're like, take the number down, just text it. Did not sleep the whole entire night. He gave words, people were calling me from different parts of Tampa. I never seen, it was like we printed money. It was kind of crazy. And mind you, I'm getting this, this, we did a seven, and then we did it another seven. And then I was like, bro, let's just do the whole ounce because like, it would, like, two hours.

Starting point is 00:52:48 And you could sell it for cheap, like littler pieces for more than anything. And they were calling back and they would be paying. And so now I'm dealing with a different type of clientele, right? So we're dealing with crackheads. Yeah. Yeah. And they're calling back and now they're like giving you like $25 in ones. Right.

Starting point is 00:53:14 Like you're like, then they're like some of them had money, right? So some of them are staying in rooming houses. I think we talked about that, right? They're in different rooming houses. They're asking us to come over to the rooming house. They're living in rooming houses and the owners of the rooming houses are other dope dealers. So we're coming in to these rooming houses. rooming houses and they're they actually have those trap houses to sell to these people and they're

Starting point is 00:53:41 not making any money we're making all the money and so they're coming out to us we're thinking their crackheads they're like hey man what you got there's like oh no what you mean what i got you went in Nissan so like they buy something from us and they find out that it's glass and they're like yo what did you get like so they want us to put them on and we don't know them and they want certain kind of prices and we're like, no, bro, we can't give you these kind of prices. Like, this, this is what the price is, period, period. And they would get mad. So they were like, don't come back here. So my boys, like, you know, we just literally made like probably like 10 grand cooking up a whole ounce, like breaking it down, getting off of it. And these people

Starting point is 00:54:29 are telling us not to come back. So my boy's like, listen, man, we're going to keep getting this money. And this was one of my guys, right? Like, we, we would, we would, we were really tight. Right. We were really tight. And, uh, he would, he was like, listen, man, I, I, I didn't have any record. He had records, right? I'd never been arrested. This guy's arrested a million times for gun charges too. So it was like, you know, but I had, I loved pistols at the time and I could buy, walk into a pawn shop and buy them in Florida, no problem, like, wait three days and get them. So I had guns. Man, the dude come up to us

Starting point is 00:55:08 talking crazy. I had a gun on me. So the first thing I did was pull it out. Hey, bro. Like, back up. Like, don't, because they're getting aggressive now, right? They're telling us we can't come back. So they walk off. Weird. I'm getting in the car.

Starting point is 00:55:24 And now they come back out with guns. And they start shooting at us. And we're shooting back. They're shooting at us. A bullet went through my windshield. and shot through, we were, my boy was ducking, and it went through the seat, the seat rest, the headrest, headrest, headrest,

Starting point is 00:55:44 and into the dashboard, the bullet was in the dashboard, man. And, like, we didn't know until we stopped at a gas station and saw the window and I'm like, man. And he's like, bro, there's a bullet in the dashboard, bro. That thing could have hit me. We, when we're buck, we're shooting back at them, They're shooting at us. And I mean, we all have bad aim.

Starting point is 00:56:07 I don't know. Yeah. Like this, it is what it is. Yeah. Nobody's a train. Barre. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? But we're like.

Starting point is 00:56:15 Plus they're probably holding it sideways. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So we're holding it sideways too. Like we're all, I'm driving. And this is like a life that I was not accustomed to. Right.

Starting point is 00:56:30 You know, I like I like, I like, wasn't my life, right? I had never shot at nobody, no crazy stuff like that. There was a first time actually being in some gunfire. So I'm like, I'm like, like this is real now. Like this is,

Starting point is 00:56:48 this is the part of the dope game that, that comes with that. And my boy's chilling. He's like, man, no, we almost got hit, but we could.

Starting point is 00:56:55 We can't, like, he's, he's like, he's like, we're escaped, bro, we untouchable.

Starting point is 00:57:00 And I'm like, tripping. Like, I'm like, I can't believe, like, It's nothing to him. This is like life.

Starting point is 00:57:05 Yeah. And it's like, yeah, this is part of game, bro. Like, we, you know. No. Well, I'll go back to the club. Right. I'll go back to the club. I'll go back to the distribution.

Starting point is 00:57:13 I'm perfectly happy there. I don't get to get shot at. Right. These crackers in Old High Park ain't shooting at me. They're not doing that, right? And so I tried to do it for like another month. Was it College Park? College Park.

Starting point is 00:57:26 College Hill? College Hill. That's exactly. That's the area. Yeah, yeah. So that's the area. He's to own a bunch of. Houses in that area.

Starting point is 00:57:34 Yeah. It's rough. Yeah. So 20 second. You own the house or not. 20 second and late in that area. That's all. And so again, man, like, well, I was in Tampa and I was sleeping in the in the streets, right?

Starting point is 00:57:46 During that time where I was homeless and stuff like that. Those were the areas that I was in. And people knew me for playing basketball. Now, fast forward 10 years later, now they're knowing me for singing dope. Yeah. And so I told myself for like a month after. After a month, I was like, look, man, I told him the same thing. Like, hey, man, like, I'm not getting no sleep.

Starting point is 00:58:09 Partly because they're calling me, partly because I'm thinking that something's going to happen to us. Right. They poured gas. They poured, we were outside of one of those rooming houses. One of the dudes, I guess, they saw us coming in. And they poured diesel fuel into my gas tank. And so when I'm driving out, all of a sudden, I blew an engine head.

Starting point is 00:58:31 right because it's i had a charger i had a charger with you know 24 inch rims on it i was living the lifestyle like i was really out there yeah and make sure you want to drive around in a vehicle that looks like you're a drug dealer right right that's important it's important that we that we uh we put that out there marketing right um but also i do you i don't know why the cops keep pulling me over why do they keep searching my car here's the crazy part though like i would never get pulled over my license was clean right i never got i never had any of the little things like I never I would be in and be out and that I'm not in that area plus I was doing music I still do music but I was doing my music at the time so I'm rapping

Starting point is 00:59:13 like nowadays it's the same day right I'm rapping my life like right struggling that a dope saved my life type stuff and I'm like yo I wouldn't be shit if I didn't have these things just wild young thinking you know where Jefferson Street is yeah of course gladys Glad, yeah. Yeah, so I'm from that neighborhood. So, you know, so basically it's, what is it, Tampa Street and Columbus, right? Yep.

Starting point is 00:59:41 Okay, and there's like Amelia, Francis. Yep. So I owned 40 houses. I owned a, listen to this, I own on Jefferson Street. I owned three rooming houses on Jefferson Street between Florbraska and. And Columbus, it's not a good area. No, I'm from that area. I know.

Starting point is 01:00:06 I'm from Columbus and Central Avenue in those apartments from there. Central Court. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Central Court. I lived on Amelia. Amelia's like the street directly behind it. And Jefferson is right next to it, right? I own one, two, three, four houses, four, at one point I owned five houses. And I had a friend that owned another house and another friend.

Starting point is 01:00:31 We basically on a meal, right behind there. Yeah. Matter of fact, it's a, I owned a, it's a two-story Mediterranean. Yeah, the one on the corner, right? Yeah, bro, I used to look at that house and be like, what does this house do in Tampa? Yeah, it's got like a four-car garage. We put a four-car garage in the back. That's crazy.

Starting point is 01:00:46 It used to be, it was abandoned. It had, it was all boarded up for a while. We bought it, renovated the whole thing. I lived upstairs while I was, yeah. But on, on Jefferson Street, we owned a, I bought a, I bought a, I bought a rooming house that was on two, it was two houses, on two. It was on two lots. We just bought it to bulldoze it. And when I went to the closing,

Starting point is 01:01:06 there was an old man, old Cuban guy who owned it, right? And I bought both houses for 80 grand. Yeah, no, you did. And he, when we sign everything, he goes, oh, you follow me? And I was like, for what?

Starting point is 01:01:18 I'd never even been in a house. And I went for what? And he goes, oh, introduce you, the collect the rent, the rent. And I was like, the rent. And I was like, oh, that's right. This is a rooming house. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:01:29 I'm just thinking we're going to evict everybody. and bulldoze it. I'm like, yeah, okay. So I go there, we walk in. All the walls inside are, shoot, what do they call? Waiferboard. You know, painted black, flat black. It's crazy.

Starting point is 01:01:44 It was like a haunted house. Yeah. You open it. The first guy, he bangs on the door. The guy gives me a check for like, I want to say 300 or is like, maybe it was two, it's two or 300 bucks. Right. So he gives me his whole check.

Starting point is 01:01:58 This is his social security disability check. Damn. Whole thing just gives it to me. That's his whole rent. Oh, so okay. And I realize there are, in these two buildings, 14 rooms. Yeah. I walk out of there with like three grand.

Starting point is 01:02:13 Yeah, and you guys. And I went. This is a moneymaker. And this, you get this every week. He's like, well, no, except for the guy in the first. He paid for the whole month. But he's like, yeah, pretty much. And I went, oh, I can't, I can't sell this place.

Starting point is 01:02:26 Yeah, no, you're winning. No. Then we bought the house next door. turned it into a rooming house. Then down the street is Gladys. Bought a property on Gladys turned it to a rooming house. The rooming house has made a lot of money, but, but yeah, they're selling drugs. So much traffic.

Starting point is 01:02:43 Everywhere. There's drug dealers everywhere. Yeah. And it's, you know, I never had a problem, but you can tell, like, you pull up and it's like, at some point, I'm going to get, they know me as a rent man. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to get, this could get dangerous. Like I could get robbed here.

Starting point is 01:03:01 Yeah. So then I got to a point where I didn't even get out of my, my, um. Your car. I didn't get out of my car. I had a guy, we had a houseman. He collects the rent. He brings it to you and gives you that we at one time we tried to put up cameras. They ripped the cameras down.

Starting point is 01:03:13 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like you, I have a camera on, I mean, I have a camera on my house. And it's a big one. It was a big, it had a big arm on it. It was a big one. It looked real official.

Starting point is 01:03:26 We had it on both. They don't give a shit. Yeah. they're grabbing that because bro, this is my money. Yeah. And you have no idea like how many other, I mean, you do because you built them, right? You saw them, you bought them. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:03:38 Man, during that time, all in that area, those were like banks. Yeah. Oh, no. I stopped going. It's funny. My accountant said, what's going on? What, what? Around, like, he was like, around March, something happened.

Starting point is 01:03:52 And I go, what do you mean? He said, this is back when people took cash out of ATMs. He's like, like, you don't. You stop removing any cash from your ATM because that was my cap. That was my ATM. I pull up. I go in. You walk out, you know, sometimes people don't pay on time.

Starting point is 01:04:08 You show up. They're not there. So maybe it might take a day or two to get all the rent. But, you know, you're getting a couple thousand dollars in cash every single. It's really more than that, but every single week. Yeah. So why would I go to the ATM? I'm just, and I'm lying to the IRS for what I deposit.

Starting point is 01:04:25 I'm telling them it's rented. I'm losing money. Right. All the appreciation, depreciation, deprecation stuff. Yeah. But it's, it's, in those areas, those were the areas where we're going in.

Starting point is 01:04:37 Man. That's dangerous. 10 to 6 in the morning was crazy. And so I did that for like, like two, like this, I was tired of it by the third month. And like you said, I went back to, hey, look, man, I got to go back to my regular people because they're still calling me Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Starting point is 01:04:58 And I'm not doing, I keep the real, the ones with a lot of money, right? Yeah. That are willing to spend. Like I tell them like, look, man, I'm not leaving my house if it's not for, at night. If it's past 12, 150 or more, I'm not leaving my house. Right. And that's a 30-minute drive to go get $150. Like, I'm cool.

Starting point is 01:05:17 I would, they would not want me to leave. So I'd keep them. I'm coming out of there, at a party, making $1,000 every single night. like Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And then plus distributing. So I would keep like a zip for myself, which is an ounce for myself, and then off the rest. So anywhere between 20, you know what I'm saying? Like during, it would take me like two weeks because I kept going to Miami.

Starting point is 01:05:44 Like I would be driving. So I would drive Sunday or Monday to Miami, driving, come back, stay there for maybe a day, right? Come back. Do it all over again, right? This is a full time. This is a whole-time gig. Yeah. Like it's, it's feeding the streets.

Starting point is 01:06:02 That's what we used to call it. We feed in the streets. I'm taking money. I got money now. I've got, you know, I'll never forget, man. Like during that time, right? You're buying these houses for 80 grand. And people are telling me, man, you need to put it in a real estate.

Starting point is 01:06:18 You need to grab real estate. And I'm like, how much money you got? You can't tell me what to do with my money. I'm just like ignorant, young. I'm starting to get into that life where it's like just arrogant, right? Thinking I'm untouchable. Now we've gotten into a little bit of issues with other people now, right? Because now we're the major players in the game.

Starting point is 01:06:40 People are starting to, my name is starting to ring bells. I'm putting money into my raps. I'm putting money into marketing for raps. I'm starting to kind of blow up. And, you know, I'm in the crowd. I'm in the clubs. You know, I'm blowing 10,000. in the club where, you know, my plug is coming up to Tampa.

Starting point is 01:06:59 He's, you know, he's spending 30 grand in the club. I don't even have to spend anything. It's starting to get kind of crazy. This is, now this is around 2007, 2008. Now it's, the lifestyle is getting crazy. We're getting into shit just because we got money now. Now we're getting into, like, arguments, like, who can spend the most bread, right? With other people in the club and the sections, like, we're just, like, really just

Starting point is 01:07:25 living that life, like paid in full, like, you know, like young kids who never had money before, right? Buying bottles. I didn't even drink at the time. I'm buying bottles for people, you know? Buying ounces. You know, I started smoking, you know, just getting real, like, reckless with it, right? Also, I felt like during that time, I don't want to say that I wasn't worried about

Starting point is 01:07:48 getting caught. I didn't care. I didn't care. I was like, the risk is. worth the reward. Where are you living? So I would have two apartments. I had two apartments, right?

Starting point is 01:08:00 I had one in West Tampa right off of Hillsborough and Himes because there was a club called Mirage right across the street. So go down the street and we'd be there. And then I had another apartment in South Tampa off of Estrella and McDill. So by the Palmacia Yacht Club, I had an apartment there. So I would alternate apartments during the week. I'd be over here because this is where, you know, the, The club, Mirage used to be kicking on Monday and Tuesdays.

Starting point is 01:08:28 And then my boy needed, you know, I'm not going to have them come to South Tampa for dope, right? There's cops everywhere. So you come to West Tampa and do that. And then on the weekends, I'd be in South Tampa with the weekend crew and be just selling. Nobody knew about that apartment, right? Because I wanted to have a place where I could have the work at. Nobody was around. And so I was in two places.

Starting point is 01:08:52 Before I was sleeping on a park bench. Now I got two apartments. Right. I got three cars. I bought a bike. I didn't even know how to ride a bike. Right? Like my, the goal now is just, I'm stacking money.

Starting point is 01:09:06 I end up having another kid, right? I'm paying for my child support, mind you. I'm actually paying more than what my child support is supposed to be. I'm giving it right to his mom. So I'm paying the child support and then giving her money on the side to make sure my kid is good, right? I'm just living that life, right? And so I was like, yo, this is it. Like, you know, get rich or die trying, right?

Starting point is 01:09:29 That was my goal. Yeah, we got into scuffles. We got into heated arguments. Sometimes we, you know, in the clubs, like, one time I'll never forget. They beat up one of my friends and we waited outside for the security guards. It was crazy, doing real crazy stuff. Like, now the money is just coming in. It's coming in in a high clip.

Starting point is 01:09:51 But then. Yeah, I was going to say, do people get, busted? Does anybody ever get busted? Like what happens when? Yes. So I, I kept a real big, like, I kept a small circle of people. So I hung around my plug. I hung around my, the people that I would distribute to, right? But they were getting money. So we're not together all the time, right? We're probably linking up one or two nights a week in the club, right? Making life. making it rain after we're all done. After we're done, we leave. Cool. Go back to our regular life. Go back to our own thing. So the real downfall of the operation, if you want to call it,

Starting point is 01:10:37 first they happen with... I'm sure that's what the feds called it. Yeah. Operation get them. So what ended up happening, so there were, again, like I had a small circle, but my plug end up catching a charge. How did he get charged? Did he just it got pulled over? Randomly? Oh, okay. But that's better than, that's better than 120 hours worth of wiretaps.

Starting point is 01:11:02 Right. And them catching it with, you know, six, you know, six keys. So, so he ends up catching a charge. He has, he's making a move, and he ends up getting caught and having to do a year. He gets caught with like under, like, 28, 28 to 120, I think it is, is the charge. So he ends up having to do, maybe it was under 28 grams, but he ends up having to do a year and some change.

Starting point is 01:11:30 Okay. Is it state or federal? State. Okay. So because it's a slap on the wrist, but he still has to go in. Yeah. And so you're, I need to do another, I have to find another plug. And so now I'm taking.

Starting point is 01:11:43 Does he go in and get back out like on bond or he goes in and never gets out? He goes in, gets back out on bond because, you know, Can he hand you off to his guy or he doesn't want to? So he had like a family operation, and they did, they did hand me off to other people. But because he was the one that facilitated a lot of it, he was kind of like the brains. And we had a good relationship, right? So he would be able to do things. When you start dealing with other people, it's not the same kind of love that they're showing you.

Starting point is 01:12:13 Right. And so it was almost like I would go down to Miami. And before I go down to Miami, a day, and now I'm having to stay down there three days. The guy, you know, doesn't know where, you know, can't get it in time. The same, like, it's just a domino effect, right? It's not the same kind of love that I was getting. Now it's taking me longer. I'm losing money.

Starting point is 01:12:35 Yeah. So these guys are not, they're not running a professional operation without him. Right. Exactly. And so I have to start going to other people. Now, I end up finding other people, but the work isn't as good. or they start charging me out the wazoo for it, right? Because I'm getting great prices from him.

Starting point is 01:12:54 And now these people are seeing me as more of like a come-up. So they're starting to charge me like prices that. Also, a lot of them knew that I was the man. And now I'm coming to them to see if they can get anything. And they're like, oh, yeah, well, now I'm the man, right? So it's more, it's an ego thing as well on both ends, right? I'm like, I can't believe I got to buy this shit from this dude. This shit is trash.

Starting point is 01:13:15 Like we're taking step backwards. Like my boy now because my plug gets locked up, you know, I'm losing people. And so it's kind of like a setback, right? So for a year, I'm losing people. I'm not making the same kind of money as I was before. I'm not getting the same kind of work. I still have the loyal circle, but they're even telling me like, hey, man, this shit is kind of like getting worse. Like what's going on?

Starting point is 01:13:44 Like you falling off or something? and so I have to start taking more chances. He ends up getting back out a year later, and things are good. But what ends up happening is someone that he introduced me to his barber, he goes and he was cutting our hair, right? Whenever he would come up to Tampa, he introduced me to him. The dude used to cut DJ Callet's hair, all these things. He was up here. Whenever these celebrities would be up here, he'd cut their hair. And so my plug, you know, he's a moneymaker, right? He wants to spend money. So he would go get his haircoat by this guy. He's the best barber in Tampa who's a celebrity barber. And then I go meet him. And so I developed a relationship with him, right? But I never did business with him. Never. He wasn't like that. He was a good barber, right?

Starting point is 01:14:37 while when my plug gets out you know it's not the same right it's not the same and then i don't have the demand for as much as i was grabbing so we're not spending as much time with each other and we're not spending as much money okay but i'm still seeing the barber one day the barber calls me and he tells me hey man like i got uh i got a plug right because i'm looking for work i got a plug, he says he's got five keys for 17 apiece. At the time, this is in 2008, at the time, they were going for 24, 25. So for him to say that he had it for 17 apiece, red flag, like, whoa, how do you, I've never done business with you. He knows what I do, obviously, because of the plug, but he, and he's my barber, we talk, but I've never sold him, I haven't sold him a

Starting point is 01:15:34 bag of right so it's like this guy is just all of a sudden calling me out the blue so I'm like yo how you got it he was like oh this dude from Miami is up here dude named Mike Mike

Starting point is 01:15:47 so I'm like okay so I call my plug in Miami I can't buy five of them so I call him like yo this dude said that he got the barber said that he got he can get

Starting point is 01:16:01 five keys for 17 a piece and he And he was like, my plug was like, what? I can't get him for lower than 23 right now, 21. Like, how does he got him? He's like, tell him if it's legit. I'll buy five of them right now. And then as he's saying that, he's telling me like, who's he getting it from?

Starting point is 01:16:22 And I'm like, he says some dude named White Mike in Miami. He was like, yeah, he's up here. So he's like, White Mike. Let me make some calls. Let me make some calls. So I'm like, cool. I called a dude back. I'm like, yo, I can't do anything.

Starting point is 01:16:34 with him right now because I just don't have the demand for it. But I call my boy that you know and we're going, he might grab him. He was like, but he wants to check on who you getting them from. He's like, all, yeah, that's cool. When my plug calls me back about an hour later, he's like, yo, tell your boy, tell the barber not to do the move. I'm like, why? He's like, bro, I've called the round, right?

Starting point is 01:17:01 I've called my plugs. I call everybody. and everybody's saying that there's no way that he'd be able to get him in Tampa for 17. He's like, and the dude that he's talking about, like there's a lot of white mics in Miami, but the dude that he's talking about, there's one particular one that got jammed up down here in Miami

Starting point is 01:17:20 and he didn't want to snitch on anybody from Dade. So now he's in Tampa. People are saying that he's in Tampa, rolling people from Tampa so he can come back to Miami. So I'm like, I'm like, yo, he's like, yo, then after you tell him that, change your number. Right. I'm like, all, cool.

Starting point is 01:17:39 So I call him, tell him, hey, bro. The plug, call back. He said, don't do that move, bro. That that dude that you call him is, he's rolling on people, bro. He's talking. He's telling. And he was like, oh, yeah, I was like, yeah, yeah, for real. Like, don't.

Starting point is 01:17:55 The barber's in on it. Yeah, right. So I'm like, he's like. You should have told the barber. You should have said the barber like, yeah, man, Mike, I just can't do it, bro. Well, because we're trying to help you out. I know the kids. I know his wife.

Starting point is 01:18:08 I know everybody. I've been to this guy's house. So I'm telling him like, cool, right? No. You know that now you must know that doesn't mean anything. For sure. There's this thing, though, right? And it's a tough situation for me, right?

Starting point is 01:18:22 I have like this honor code, right? I'm not going to watch. If I know something, I'm not going to watch anybody just, I'm not going to send my people in a headcracker. I'm going to give you a. chance and that may be my downfall for sure i think i mean obviously it was um and i i get to that right now turns out he hangs up the phone i changed my number the idiot does the move anyway they so he wasn't in on it he wasn't he was just trying to facilitate that he was trying to facilitate it but what ends up happening is he gets in the car with the guy and the guy's car is

Starting point is 01:19:02 wired. He doesn't have the money. He just wants to see if it's real. I guess he's never seeing a whole brick in his hands before. He's in the car, the guy puts the brick in his hand, he opens it up, closes it, gives it back, and says, hey, look, I'm going to find out, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, he leaves. He doesn't find anybody to sell it to, right? Because nobody will touch it. This is five keys or just he picks it one? He pick up one, but the guy says I got, there's a four more.

Starting point is 01:19:35 He pulls it out, he pulls it out of a bag. Then, and two days later, they pick him, like, they lay down the whole barbershop. Right. Lay down the barbershop off of Bush right across the street from Schaubberone High School. Layed, they jump out all going to the barbershop. Lay down. This is a DEA. D.E.A.

Starting point is 01:19:55 Every bet. Everybody. They pull up. I'm not even at the barbershop. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. The whole lay everybody down, jump out of vehicles, unmarked vehicles. You understand.

Starting point is 01:20:06 Some of the people watching this might not know what lay everybody down. Right, right, right, right. So they go in there and they raid the barbershop. I'm not at the barbershop, and I hear that they are raiding it. Like, they're like everybody is getting put to the ground. The only one that ends up in cuffs is the barber. Can you imagine you're a celebrity barber? You're doing fine.

Starting point is 01:20:32 You're making good money. You've got a good reputation. You're doing okay. And you just decide, you know, I kind of want to be, I'm going to help this guy out. I'm going to be in the mix for a minute. This is kind of cool. Like you feel safe because you rub elbows with these guys. So you start to think that you know what they know.

Starting point is 01:20:48 And you're just really in his mind, he's probably just thinking, probably not going to really make any money. they probably give him a couple thousand. Right. And he's probably thinking, I'm just helping this guy. I'm not really even necessarily in the mix. I'm just helping him out.

Starting point is 01:21:02 And now you just got hit moving five keys. Conspiracy to move five keys, which is the hardest and they got you on video. I mean, you're just done. Now you're done. I need to take, can I get five years? Can I get five years? So I'm glad that you said that.

Starting point is 01:21:20 His wife calls me. She, this is the crazy part. she, how she got my number was crazy because I had changed my number. Right. So how she got my number was wild. I had to end up changing my, another phone. So she calls me, she's like, hey, they picked him up. He needs bail money.

Starting point is 01:21:44 He needs this and that and this. You told him not to do it. Yeah. How close are you? Yeah. And that's what I'm telling myself, like, yo, he was my barber. Like, yo, we kicked it. few times, but it's like, it's kind of crazy. And she's like, she's like, they're saying that he's

Starting point is 01:22:01 going to get 20 years. They got him. I was like, what was the charges that they gave him? I told him not to do it. Like I told him she was like, they're looking at 20 years. The life, it's conspiracy to buy five kilos of co-cline. It's fed, right? They're asking him to, she didn't say they're asking him to say he's got two kids and he's got two kids and me. And he's got two kids and me. I'm not staying around 20 years. He better tell them what he knows. So I changed my phone number, right? I'm like, I call you back.

Starting point is 01:22:34 Yo, I call the plug and I tell him, hey, look, I'm going to change my phone number again. He got picked up, conspiracy to buy five keys, and his wife just called me. I have a feeling that he's going to tell. So it was like, all right, cool. Change it. I lay low. for a couple of weeks. Like, I'm, like, not doing anything.

Starting point is 01:23:01 Me and the bar, me and the plug talk about it. We're not doing anything, right? I feel like they could get you for at least obstruction of justice for telling him not to do the deal. I feel like you, even though you haven't done anything, they could still rope you into the conspiracy because you called and you checked for him. And obstruction of justice isn't necessarily whatever. thinks it is, but you, you did help further hit the conspiracy by, that, that seems like an easy charge to get you with, if not the conspiracy in general.

Starting point is 01:23:35 So I'm not sure if he actually knew that he had, that, that it was real or not. Because, and this is what I'm saying, is like, he called me telling me something that he had. If the guy's wire was tap, dope, what they end up, what, ends up happening, and this is a huge thing around Tampa, people start going down left and right in Tampa. Like, I feel like he couldn't, they asked. He couldn't have pulled this up. Like, the barber wasn't in a position to start cracking everybody else off. No. Right? Or you do think so. Yeah. So like, oh, you think he made a bunch of calls. He made a bunch of calls. And they told him, we got you. If you don't want to go down, who were you telling, who was, who was, who, who,

Starting point is 01:24:24 Who were you going to get to help? But is that enough? His word isn't necessarily enough. He's got to set them up. He's got to make some phone calls. He's got to... He all of a sudden people's stuff got raided. Everybody started going down.

Starting point is 01:24:37 Remember I told you the dudes that would give me work? Yeah. That was trash? They go down. One of these guys had a Panama, like a Porsche Panama at the time. He goes down first. Some other barbers go down. Like people are starting to drop.

Starting point is 01:24:52 And he didn't necessarily. know a lot about me. He didn't know where I lived because I would go meet him at the barbershop. He didn't know any of the people that he had from me. Like it was... But the other guys, they know me, but they don't know anything. Remember, I have two apartments. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:25:09 I have, I'm not really giving them work. I'll have to buy work from them. Right. I'm not picking up any of their phone calls because I changed my number. They're not calling me. And then they have their own operation. People started going down left and right. So I'm thinking to myself, the word around the streets was this dude is snishing.

Starting point is 01:25:28 He gets out. This is the barber. The barber. I still don't see how a barber is in the middle. I don't see how he's, but he maybe he might. I wonder how long this process was going on. So this is the crazy part, right? Remember, I'm laying low.

Starting point is 01:25:42 I'm not talking to him. He gets out on bond. He gets out. Right. Because he didn't have a bond. Right. That's a surety bond. You just sign.

Starting point is 01:25:51 I mean, obviously they're not. I mean, obviously they're going to let them out. Yeah, he gets out. And then he's starting to tell people that he's going to get probation. That's tough to pull off. He had a good lawyer. He had a good lawyer. If you get a good lawyer, you get caught with five keys and get probation.

Starting point is 01:26:09 You're just a really good lawyer. And you roll on half of Tampa. Well, that's just part. And so this is the part, right? So we, I'm not going to go see him as the barber anymore, right? Right? I'm not checking him anymore, right? It's, what is it? Great clips or what?

Starting point is 01:26:27 Yeah, yeah, right. That's never happened. Yeah, exactly, right? So I stopped. I just started growing my area out of the last. So I was like, you know, I just, I cut ties. I start doing things differently. I end up, my grandmother has a heart attack, like, too,

Starting point is 01:26:51 two months later. She was living in Puerto Rico at the time. She has a heart attack, and my aunt works in Miami Jackson Hospital. And so she needed to have heart surgery. And so my aunt was like, come to Florida, stay with us, or have heart surgery. I just,

Starting point is 01:27:15 my grandmother, come. My grandmother, right? Yes. And stays with them, stays in the hospital. I end up finding out about it. I'm about to have a second kid, right? The girl ends up being pregnant. And so I want my grandmother to meet her,

Starting point is 01:27:31 because I'm thinking my grandmother's going to die. Right. I don't know why, to be honest with you, like we were going through it at the time. Maybe I just, it was a hard time, right? I wanted her to meet my grandmother. I go down to Miami Jackson, go meet her. I'm not playing.

Starting point is 01:27:49 I told you. I'm laying low. I'm not planning to do nothing. Everything that I'm doing is small time. Nothing. I'm not giving nothing to nobody. The water is cut off, right? Everything's good.

Starting point is 01:27:59 Have you already been indicted, though? Me? Yeah. No? No. No, this is how I get arrested. Okay. So I never make any moves with anybody else in the car.

Starting point is 01:28:11 I always stay by myself. I had like this system that I would not go away from. Don't smoke in the car. Never make any moves with anybody. Always do things. myself. You know what I'm saying? Don't don't be flashy. I had a little beater. Man, I wasn't making any moves. I was laying low. I took my charger down there. I had this girl with me, right? We're chilling. She's like, she's my girlfriend at the time, I guess you

Starting point is 01:28:35 could say. My grandmother has this heart attack. I go down there. I'm taking it with me. Hey, you know, we're down there. I'm down there a few days. She meets my grandmother. My grandmother's doing all right. On the way, right is I'm leaving. leaving, my plug calls me. He's like, yo, you in Miami? I'm like, yeah, he's like, yo, I got something for you if you need that. I know you're laying low. And I'm like, all right,

Starting point is 01:28:59 cool, yeah, what's up? So we always kept in touch. Me and him will keep in touch, but I'm not getting nothing big. I'm always getting something small, like, very light. This is the original plug that went to prison and got back out. Okay. So you know he doesn't want to go to prison. Yeah, no, he's, he's...

Starting point is 01:29:14 Okay. He's... Right. So he's been to prison once. He understands. You know, I didn't have to come here at all. Right. Really. Right. And, but he's, but he, he, he's a, I actually thought about that. But he, he was solid, he was a solid dude.

Starting point is 01:29:32 Like, when I got locked up, like, he took care of my kid and everything. But long, long, like a longer story shorter. He, he calls me and he gives me a half, half a brick. Right. Right. I know somebody in Miami. that needs something. So I'm thinking of myself,

Starting point is 01:29:51 I'm going to make quick five grand, right? And then I'll take the little stuff back up with me. Even though I don't move like that, I'm just going to make this money. I'm going to take the little stuff with me back up. Man, I get the work. I go up, I get rid of half of it, right? So now I've got four ounces left.

Starting point is 01:30:11 This is in Tampa? This is Miami. This is Miami. Because I, you know, I started knowing people when making quick flips. I off some zips. I have three left. And I'm like, y'all, I'm going to keep these for me

Starting point is 01:30:25 because I can do some small work, right? Still make, I got money saved up. I'm just chilling. And I can manage with this. So I go back up. I have this girl in the car. I get pulled over on an alligator alley. I'm doing the speed limit.

Starting point is 01:30:45 The cop comes up to me. He's like, I'm pulling you over for window 10. He turns around, pulls me over for window to. I'm like, okay, cool. My license is good. I always made sure I'm paying child support on time. My license is good. Never been stopped.

Starting point is 01:30:59 He comes in. He gives me a window tint thing, and then all of a sudden he gets a call on the radio, and he lets me go. So I'm like, oh shit, all right. Never been pulled over. One of the chances I'm going to get pulled over again. I'm good.

Starting point is 01:31:16 I'm in the clear. I go, so this is on alligator, Alligator Alley in, like, Collier County, like the end of alligator alley. I go up 60 more miles to Punta Gorda, Charlotte County. I'm doing like 67 now, because I'm like kind of spooked, right? I had this girl in the car. I'm a little spook, but I'm like, I'm going to do 67. I got it on cruise control.

Starting point is 01:31:45 I'm getting on a highway patrol officer. Now, the other guy, he's a Brown. He's in a Brown Highway Patrol, Florida State Highway Patrol. This next Highway Patrol officer gets on the side of me, gets in front of me, and starts slowing down. And, like, we're on I-75, and he slows down to, like, 40 miles an hour. So I get, I, you know, I'm, yeah, you go to turn around, you go to go around, right? He gets behind me, and then he hits the lights. So I'm like, yo, there's no way.

Starting point is 01:32:22 I'm about to get pulled over. I've never been pulled over on I-75, especially riding dirty. I'm not supposed to, now I'm getting pulled over again. Right. This guy did 30 in front of me. He pulls me over.

Starting point is 01:32:35 I have the warning that the cop, the first highway patrol officer raised me. Right, for the tent. So, and I'm an idiot for the way I did this, but I get out of the car really fast. Like, I'm like, yo, I already been pulled over. I'm waving the pink thing.

Starting point is 01:32:52 He's like, get your ass back in the car. This guy's not dressed like the other highway patrol officer. Okay. This guy has like vest, like looking like he's like drug patrol. He's like, we got another car coming. I pulled you over for Window 10. I said, I've already been pulled over for Window 10. Here's the warning.

Starting point is 01:33:13 He said, he came back to the car. He's like, well, I'm pulling you over for obstruction. of your license plate and he flicks the uh the you know the little light where the little light where the um the license plate is yeah he hits it and my license the the um the light comes out and he's like you see that and i'm like yo you you just hit that and he was like i'll stay right there he's like he's like he takes the tag and he runs it right he's like he comes back to me he's like i want you to step out the vehicle. I'm like, what am I, what am, what's going on? Like, what are you, what are you doing? He's like, take your shoes off. So he pats me down, then he tells me, take my shoes off,

Starting point is 01:33:57 I give him my shoes. He's like, I got another vehicle on the way here. Do you have any drugs inside the car? And I'm like, why would I have any drugs in the car? I got drugs in the car. Right. But it's like, why would I have drugs in the car? He's like, I'm asking you, do you have any drugs in the car? I want to search the vehicle. I'm like, you can't search the vehicle. He's like, I smell. I'm like, I don't. I don't. smoking my car. What are you talking about? He's like, I want you to sit over here. He brings a he brings a canine. The girl is still in the car, mind you, right? She's actually in the back seat because it's a long trip. She's sleeping. But when I get pulled over, I'm like,

Starting point is 01:34:33 yo, I'm getting pulled over again. She's like, what? She goes, he goes. He's like, I'm like, yo, there's a woman in the back of the car. He's like, all right, cool. But he's got me basically on the side of the road, right? He's, he's, He brings the dog. He has a canine unit come back. Come there. They bring a dog and obviously the dog sits. He's like, you have drugs in the car.

Starting point is 01:34:59 We're going to search the vehicle. He gets the girl out the car. They search. I had the stuff wrapped up in the side of the, in the trunk right next to the tire, right? So it was an easy find. They go into the trunk first. Boom. Find the three ounces.

Starting point is 01:35:16 They're telling me just like this. They're like, all right, you're arrested. You know, they put the handcuffs on me pretty much there. They put handcuffs on her. They're taking us both in. He's like, listen, man, this, he's basically like, he calls the other cop. He's like, how you let him go with a, you know, with a traffic warning, this guy had drugs in the car, blah, blah, like all this crazy stuff, right?

Starting point is 01:35:45 They have us on the side of the road. searching a vehicle for like an hour, hour and a half. So they bring me over and they're like, hey, you, you could take, you know, we could take this right now. Like, we could take this. We can make sure that you never, like this never goes, you get a slap on the wrist. Tell me who you were taking this to or where you got it from. And we're going to make the sit all go away.

Starting point is 01:36:09 And I was like, nah, I'm, you know, my mom never raised me like that. I'm always trying to take accountability. Well, first of all, you had no right to search my vehicle. Right. The, I smelled marijuana is a bullshit. Big facts. All of this one, when you saw the, when you saw the citation or the warning, you should have let me go. When you then came up with the, I smell marijuana and said, we're going to bring in the drug.

Starting point is 01:36:34 To be, there's multiple ways to get all of this thrown out. All that. And I'm thinking to myself that. And I'm like, no, man, just take me to point me to the vehicle, man. I'm good to go. I'm good to go. they do a search on myself, and they also search the girl that I was with. They arrest both of us.

Starting point is 01:36:58 They give us the same charges. I also remember I told you I had a pistol on me too because it was in my name. So now they're giving me. None of this means anything. Now this matters. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

Starting point is 01:37:10 And that's how I feel. And I got lawyer money, right? Right. The problem is, is that when we get in there, they give us both the same charges. So they give her armed trafficking. They give me armed trafficking. They give her distribution with intent. Right.

Starting point is 01:37:29 They give her possession with distribution and intent. The same charges on both of us, right? Then they do a pregnancy test on her, and she's pregnant with my kid. and I find this out in jail, in the holding area. It was crazy. The second kid? Yeah, my second kid. They also, this is the crazy part, I found out through the vent in the, in the hole, in the cell that she had, she told me through the vent.

Starting point is 01:38:05 So she says she, so she's on the, what, one floor above you or two? She's where she's on the, she's actually in the others on the other, in the women's holding facility. Oh, so she's right next door. That's why it's of it. Because otherwise they'd be the toilet. Yeah. She's on the other side. And they're like, she's tapping.

Starting point is 01:38:25 There's other people in there. She's like, I'm pregnant. They did a piss test on me. And I'm a urinalysis and I'm pregnant. I'm like, holy shit. I find out this girl, she was supposed to go to New York, back to New York. And I find out she's. pregnant. And now we got charges. And they gave me no bond. They gave us both no bond for the first

Starting point is 01:38:45 day, like first couple of days. So I'm, I'm kind of like going through it. We spend two days in jail. Then they finally give us a bond at the arraignment, right? Because of armed trafficking. Right. This is like a shirty bond or do you actually have to put up anything? It's a, yeah, it's a collateral bond. What's the difference? One, you're agreeing, like, they're like, oh, it's $100,000 surety bond, which means I promise I'll be responsible for the $100,000, but they just let you sign and you can leave. Yeah. And the other one is, no, no, it's $100,000 and you have to go get a bondsman to give us $100,000 and you pay 10% to $10. Exactly.

Starting point is 01:39:27 That's exactly. Yeah. So, you know, I end up being in the newspaper and everything. They made me look like Tony Montana. Like, yo, Vincent Serrano was caught. Like, it looked bad, right? Because I told you it was the weekend. They made us look really bad in the article.

Starting point is 01:39:43 They were saying that I'm not, like I'm trafficking, cocaine. I was caught with three ounces. Like, you know, they, 120 grams or something like that. So it was, it was wild, man. And it was like 96 grams of blow and whatever. So I'm like, I can't. You've never been arrested. Never been arrested.

Starting point is 01:40:02 First time nonviolent. But do you realize this when they're talking to it? Because, you know, you'll, you're sitting there. Like you now know, I've never been arrested. I had a weapon. The charge itself may not even stick for them searching the car. I never said anything. As long as she doesn't say anything.

Starting point is 01:40:18 Even if she says something, it's probably true unless you get guilted into doing something. But at this point, you've got to be thinking there's a chance I get out of it. And if not, I really don't get that much. Should get that much time. Right. You know what I'm saying? I should get a drug program. But that's not what the detectives are.

Starting point is 01:40:38 tell. That's not the, like, they're going in. They're like, damn, bro. Like, you'd be lucky to watch your son graduate. You're like, what? Right. You know, right. What?

Starting point is 01:40:46 We had a gun. That's a minimum mandatory. What? You know, none of which really applies to you. Right. So to me, you don't know. To me, this was easy. Right.

Starting point is 01:40:57 This was easy. Okay. So you felt like you were good. Yeah. But to her. Oh, yeah. She's, yeah. If they're talking about a month in jail, she's fucking freaking out.

Starting point is 01:41:06 She's like. And she doesn't live. live here, she lives in New York. And now she can't go back because she's out on bond. Right. And so it was a crazy situation. And now she's pregnant as well. And so I go to the bondsman.

Starting point is 01:41:26 They get us out. Cool. Give them the money. Get a lawyer. Yo, I can get you off. This is not, this is open and shut. No problem. Like you, worst thing you're going to get is a drug program.

Starting point is 01:41:37 I'm thinking to myself, all right, cool. I'll get a little bit of probation. During, like, I guess the discovery and all those things, right, and talking to them, it takes, I was out on bomb for about eight months, nine months fighting the case. These people would not move off of the minimum mandatory, state minimum mandatory. What is that? Three years. Three years, okay. And my lawyer is like, yo, they are saying.

Starting point is 01:42:07 that they have a narque. Somebody is narking on you. And the only way we can find out is if you go to trial. Yeah. So you have a big, you're a bigger problem. So they're not, the search isn't getting thrown out at this point.

Starting point is 01:42:22 No. If they actually have somebody. And they, and he's like, who can possibly be the narcs? So I'm, I'm thinking to myself as like, is it the plug?

Starting point is 01:42:33 Right. Is it the barber? Who could it be? because of the guys you were buying from before. Because you've got, you've got like five people just from this story that it could be. It could be anybody, right? So here's the crazy part.

Starting point is 01:42:49 During that time where I'm on bond, obviously, I'm moving more cautious. You didn't go get a job working at Wawa, you weren't working at cash register at Wawa? I was stacking up money. Jesus. I was stacking up money.

Starting point is 01:43:07 But I was definitely not living like I was before, right? When this girl, they're telling me, now the lawyer's changing his mind, right? He's like, listen, I can't come off of the minimum mandatory because if we go to trial, they're looking at 86 years for you. And if- Why lawyers do that? But you're still looking at a lot of time. I'm looking at some time. I'm looking at some time.

Starting point is 01:43:31 It's not 86 years. Right. He's counting out. Yeah, yeah, you may do it. You may be in there for a decade. Right. Or even if with good times, you may be, you're doing, you could do six or seven years. Yeah, five or seven, right?

Starting point is 01:43:44 I don't want to do none of that, but. Right. But he's like, and the worst thing is, if we go to trial, do you think that this girl is going to stay solid and face the same time as you? No. So now, because she's now my co-defendant. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Starting point is 01:44:03 So they may have two, multiple people that, one, whoever their informant is and the girl. And we're not winning at trial. I'm not winning at trial. And we end up when she's pregnant and we get into any arguments, the first thing she says is I'm not doing no time. I'll tell on you before that, right? So I'm like, I called a lawyer right after like,

Starting point is 01:44:25 yo, what do we have to do to plead out? Right? Like, what are we looking at? And the lawyers, I can't get no less than three. And so I'm preparing now for me to go to jail. I'm also preparing for her because she's got my kit. So help her get an apartment down here because she can't leave because she's going to get probation because that's what the deal is.

Starting point is 01:44:50 I'm going to eat the three years and then she's going to get put on papers. Her brother comes down from New York and is like, hey, I want to get my hair cut. And I'm like, yeah, I know a guy. Right? Just don't tell them that, you know, anything about me. Because nobody, I catch the charge in Port Charlotte. So nobody really knows that I'm catching this charge, right? I don't want anybody to know because it'll spook everybody out, right?

Starting point is 01:45:19 Because no matter what, no matter if you bond out or not in Tampa, man, if you get out on bond, you're telling. Yeah, yeah. Stop talking to that guy. Yeah, exactly. So, and that's really what have. I told my plug that I got jammed up. We really didn't do no more business like that. I told him, look, I'm going to eat it.

Starting point is 01:45:37 They asked me, I'm going to eat it. Don't worry about it. And then everybody else, I kind of just had to, like, live off the land a little bit. But I tell her brother to go to the barber to go get his haircut. I'm not getting my haircut from him, but this guy's a civilian. Yo, somehow in the conversation, he's asking about me. and he's telling, he's talking about my case and how, like, he, you know, like, I got jammed up. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:46:12 So he knows stuff that he shouldn't know. He knows stuff. And he doesn't know that this is my, this is that girl's brother. So he, we're super tight. So he's just like, he just referred me type stuff. And, you know, he referred me. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah. I heard he's got locked up.

Starting point is 01:46:28 Yeah, I heard he did a, da, da, da. nobody knows I got locked up. Like, you would have to know that I got locked up. So how do you know that I got locked up? And he's like, yeah, da-da-da-da-da. And then he says something. He was like, yeah, so how do you, you know, he's like, yeah, I got caught, da-da-da-da. But, and he was like, well, how did you get caught?

Starting point is 01:46:48 How much work did you get caught where? He's like, yeah, five kilos. Like, he's- But I got probation. I got probation. You got three ounces. And I got three years. So he's like, that's not. adding up. He's like, yeah, I had a good lawyer. Right? Like, I ain't have a good lawyer, right?

Starting point is 01:47:06 Right? They're amazing. Yeah. Yeah, he had the state's attorneys with him. So I was like, I was like, so, but I'm not, I'm not privy to, I'm not there. He's like, you know what, though? He goes to smoke a cigarette because the guy's from New York. He's like tripping now. Like he's like real antsy because he realizes this guy is like. Yeah, he's, yeah, he's knocking, right? So he's like, okay. So he goes out and he smokes a cigarette. And the guy comes out and smokes a cigarette with him. And he's like, yeah, man, though.

Starting point is 01:47:35 But, you know, it'll be good for him, though. Like him getting some jail time will be good. He's helping you, bro. He's helping you. It's about people helping people, really. It is, man, sometimes, right? It's about that. He saved my life, no, low-key.

Starting point is 01:47:49 Bitch-ass. But, like, this is the part where... You know, the problem is? It's tough love. You don't understand tough love. You needed this. Yeah, that's what he told him. That's exactly what he told him, right?

Starting point is 01:48:05 He said, I needed it, right? And, yo, it changed my life, man. Like, they wouldn't come off the time. I had to ask for, I went in, obviously. I had to ask for a furlough to see my son be born. Did they give it to you? They gave it to me. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:48:25 Listen, fucking feds are asshole. the feds you're not it doesn't matter somebody dies it doesn't matter anything but the state like my cousin was locked up uh and when his mom died they brought him to funeral he got to stay at the funeral he was there out for like four or five six hours yeah two marshals with them you have to pay them yeah but they'll do it the feds they don't care what you pay them they're not doing nothing for you you're doing day for day as much as you can man it's fucked up as the state is that's that's that's good Yeah. It was nice.

Starting point is 01:49:00 You know, I got to see him be born, but it was tough, you know, like she violated probation while I was inside. She ended up getting three years probation. 90 days before she violated probation. She ends up going to prison. 90 days before what? Before I get out. Oh, okay. She ends up violating probation.

Starting point is 01:49:21 And she ends up getting a year and a day in prison. My son is two years old. What does she violate probation for? Something stupid? Just drugs or what? She did, I think she did a, like, fake accident. Oh, okay. Insurance, frank.

Starting point is 01:49:35 Yeah. In truth fraud. Yeah. Violated probation. They kicked in their door when my son was there. Took her. My grandmother had to have my son. Then from prison, obviously she blamed me for all that, right?

Starting point is 01:49:49 It's all your fault. It's all my fault. So. Typically, you know, women are typically take account of, no, I'm sure you're different. or take accountability, but, you know, it's, it's odd that, it's, it's, it's clearly your fault. And it was, I felt like it was, right? I was locked up in prison while you were running your, your, your, your, your insurance scans, right?

Starting point is 01:50:09 Feel like that's my fault. Yeah. And, and, you know, I took the charge to, to, I pled out so that you would not go to jail. Once again, my, that's all your fault anyway. My 90 days before I get out, that happens. My grandmother has to raise my kid. Before I get out, she calls her mom who lives in New York to come grab my son. So I don't even get to go out and even see my son. I have to end up taking a plane to go to New York, go see my kid for the first time. It was crazy, man.

Starting point is 01:50:39 It's just a crazy situation. And I told myself, like, when I was locked up, like, I did state time, but I told myself, like, hey, man, I'm going to be out 15 months, like 16 months. I'd be a work release. nah man like I end up going a war with the police in prison um my attitude was like you know I had that arrogance um when I was locked up man I was in Orlando it's at a state facility it was supposed to be sweet um I got a job in the back gate the guard that was back there he was a rookie uh he wanted to make a name for himself this guy would strip search me

Starting point is 01:51:24 left and right out the back gate. So I'm getting strip searched because, you know, we have to take the swill out of the, out of the gate, right? That's my job in the back gate. And I had to go grab on Mondays after the trash has been there, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I got to unload the trash through each gate. That was my first job, and that shit stinks, right? We would have to poke it to make sure there was no prisoners inside there, take it through

Starting point is 01:51:52 that gate, take it through the other gate, bring it back. and every time he came in, like, the Sarge was cool. He wouldn't, he wouldn't, you're watching me. You're out there in the gate with me. You know I'm not doing it, but he was a dick. So he made me, he strip searched me every time for humiliation type stuff. Finally, I got tired of it, right? I wrote a job change form while I was there.

Starting point is 01:52:13 He didn't like that I wrote the job change form because he asked to sign it. He felt like I should have, I don't know what he felt, whatever, but I ended up getting moved out of there and going on the DOT. You know, being the work unit out there mowing the lawns, digging the ditches, all those things. And that was cool, but I would have to pass by him every morning. And he would be taking my gain time for nothing. Like literally just, I'd be working for my, you know, you're working for your freedom at that point. And he's taking it away, right?

Starting point is 01:52:47 So he just, Serrano, come here. Boom, boom, boom. Sign your CEC for nothing, just for passing through the gate. So, and it would happen at least once a month. That means I'm not getting, I'm working that entire month for free, and I'm going to do day for day. One time, you know, he finally, I got tired of it. He's like, Serrano, this is at 4.45 in the morning where we got to wake up, go out the gate, wait in line until they open the gate, go to the bus. Then they take us to the DOT yard.

Starting point is 01:53:19 And one time he calls me, Serrano, come sign his CC. and, you know, I played basketball. So I'm like, I'm not signing that. He's like, here. So he gives it to me. I take the ball, I take the paper, I ball it up, throw it to my legs two times, and shoot it in the trash can in front of everybody. And he does not like that.

Starting point is 01:53:40 Right? And I yell, Kobe. Right? He comes up to me. He's like, cuff up, motherfucker. And I'm like, you know, obviously it's one of these guys. Like, so I'm like, he's like, you're going to jail. which is the hole, right?

Starting point is 01:53:53 Yeah, yeah. I'm already in jail. That's what I tell him. I'm already in jail. I'm going on vacation. So he goes to cuff up, and he puts the cuff on my right hand. He puts it behind me. And then when he comes to grab my left hand, he grabs it,

Starting point is 01:54:10 and then kind of like jolts it. Like you yanked away? Like I yanked away. And he hits the panic button. And grabs me by my neck and takes me down. Now, I had a knee injury in college. Actually, not in college. I had a knee injury after college in Dominican Republic.

Starting point is 01:54:31 Like when I came back from DR and they took my passport, I ended up playing ball. You know, I told you I was playing ball, and I hurt my knee. So I had a bad knee. So when he grabs me and he pulls me back, I can't stabilize. I fall right with him. My head hits his nose, bleeding. So he's like, motherfucker, right?

Starting point is 01:54:50 So I see him bleeding. He's grabbing me. He's, like, punching me. I turn over and I just start wiling on him. I start wailing on him. Boom, boom, boom. Out of the corner of my eye. You see that the guards got the sears, yeah.

Starting point is 01:55:05 The guards are stuck piling up at the back gate because it's only him and the sard. The sard used to, it was early in the morning. The serge is the only other person that could open the gate. And he's reading his newspaper or whatever in the morning. So me and this guy are fighting. on the ground, the Sarge can't see nothing. He's reading his paper. Me and him are fighting, boom, pooh, boom, boom.

Starting point is 01:55:26 People are like, the COs are rushing to the back gate, but they're piling up. They're like, hey! I'm beating this guy up because he's trying to kill me. Yo, the Sarge comes out. I was cool with the Sarg. She's like, Serrano, what are you doing? I'm like, he hit me, Sarge. He's like, cuff up.

Starting point is 01:55:45 So I get down, I cuff up. He cussed me up. There's no problem. The dude gets up, it's like, motherfucker, and he kicks me in my stomach, pulls out the black Jesus, which is the mace can. Sprays me two times in my eyes, one time in my nose and mouth. He don't know that. I was going to say, is any of this on camera? Yes.

Starting point is 01:56:11 Okay. So, because they tried to give me five extra years for assault on a Leo. The crazy thing about it was is that while I'm on DOT, on the outside. I called some of my friends and had them bring in tattoo ink, contacts, contact solution,

Starting point is 01:56:31 and we brought it in. So I'm wearing contacts because I don't want to wear the box chevies that they make you wear in the prison. Yeah. Because things were ugly. So I'm wearing contacts

Starting point is 01:56:40 and this guy sprays me two times with the mace, the pepper spray. My eyes, I'm going blind, basically, and I'm being cuffed. Right. They finally open the back gate.

Starting point is 01:56:53 The whole compound basically comes out in the back gate. They take me out of there. I'm yelling. Please let me take out the content. These people do not let me. They're not letting me out these cuffs. I'm like burning. I'm burning.

Starting point is 01:57:11 Everything is burning. I can't breathe. I've got drool, spit. I can't even cry. I'm like so messed up. They take me to the nurse's office. They're sitting me, I'm begging them, please let me take these contacts out of my eyes. I'll eat that contact.

Starting point is 01:57:26 I can't let me get them out. They're packing up my shit because they're going to send me obviously to the hole, right? Or whatever. They bring me back out there. They finally let me take the contacts out. They bring the circle. They see that I have them. I take the contacts out.

Starting point is 01:57:41 Put them in, boom. They take me to go take a shower. These people don't tell you, don't put cold water all the stuff. You get in the shower. They're recording this, by the way, too. They're recording the entire thing. The COs that I was cool with, that I had a good relationship, that shit don't matter. They're the ones holding the camera.

Starting point is 01:57:59 Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? They make me take a shower. It's burning even more. My eyes, I couldn't see anything. I'm naked. I'm, like, going through the whole gamut of what not to do as a prisoner. And this, listen, I'm a first-time offender, non-violent offender, by the way, right?

Starting point is 01:58:17 getting going through it they send me to Y dorm which is basically the dungeon of the main unit the nurse comes and checks up on me on my on you know they basically when you're in close management they tell you what you're in close management for assault on a law enforcement officer right so now it's known that I like to hit COs yeah so the COs are always really really cool with you after that. Yeah, they're great with me. I'm their favorite. We better treat this guy with some respect.

Starting point is 01:58:54 They take me to the nurse's office a day after, right? They took me first to make sure I was in there for an interview. They take me next. And then on the way back, they dumped me. I don't know if you know what being dumped is. So I'm in a black box now because I can't come out. I'm a 24-hour lockdown. I come out of the cell, I have to have black box behind me.

Starting point is 01:59:22 They put your arms behind your back. You're in chains. You're not, you're being escorted through your arms by the COs. Being dumped, they took me to the nurse. Nurse says that I'm healed up. Right. And then on the way back, they front, like I tripped, and they dump your head into the concrete.

Starting point is 01:59:44 Okay. And I'm literally face first with one person's hand on their back, one person's hand on my front, dump me into the concrete, chip my tooth. They're out on the way up, they're kicking me, they're hitting me. They're basically behind where there's no cameras, and they beat me up. Send me into the office, and then they put a metal, not a magnet on the window, and they say that I'm a, that I'm a gunner. I don't know if you know what that is. Yeah, yeah. I'm supposed to.

Starting point is 02:00:17 Yeah, yeah. I know. That guy, right? So now the nurse is coming to check up on me. They're keeping me back there just to heal up. Yeah. And it was wild because I'm thinking to myself, man, I'm supposed to be going home, man. Like, my mail isn't coming.

Starting point is 02:00:34 There's no calls. All, I'm living like, it's crazy. I go from my life was like, hey, you know, I was finally doing. doing something, you know, finally had money, finally making a life to like the bottom of the bottom. Like, basically there's one step from dying. That's what I felt like. There was, luckily, and you know this, they, the prisoners who witnessed, you know, the inmates who witnessed the situation, there were 25 grievances that they wrote about what happened to me. And they wrote them.

Starting point is 02:01:10 Right. as hey look that guy attacked him it wasn't like that and you know inmates ain't no they're typically not stepping in into a situation they're like it's none of my business they all like that's what saved me from the camera too as well but the inmates actually saying it because they when they gave me a DR hearing a disciplinary hearing and they were saying that they were thinking about pressing charges but then all of a sudden I got shipped and they sent me from uh you know a low low custody, you know, community custody, to a maximum heightened security level four prison in Santa Rosa, where I spent 23 hours, I spent 22 months basically in the box. Close management, only showered three times a week or two times a week, 24-hour lockdown. And most of the time, man, I was there.

Starting point is 02:02:07 I end up being on the show locked up, which was close. crazy. I'm rapping because all I could do was write music. I didn't know if I was going to die in there. Right. And to keep my mind, like I spent six months in a room by myself. It was wild. It was wild. So it was crazy. I was going, it was crazy. It was just a crazy time. Like, it, like, I didn't, the last six months, I spent six months on the pound, less than six months, maybe four months on the pound, and then 22 months in solitary confinement with another six months in a room by myself to finally get in a bunkie. And 18 months, I end up doing an extra six months because, you know, I didn't like the way

Starting point is 02:02:55 they would treat you. Like, I was like that inmate was like, I don't care what you guys say. I got people who love me on the outside. Like, they would, like, want you to be their entertainment. Like, they would want you to be like their monkey, you know? I was literally on the chain game. Like, we're walking outside, you know, on close management. In order to get out, you had to be on the chain gang

Starting point is 02:03:16 and kind of like dig up the dirt or pick up the plants and stuff. And while you're out there, they're like stacking trays up and asking you to jump over the trays with your chains on. And the winner would get like cafeteria food or whatever. And so all these dudes were doing this stuff, man. And when they be like, Serrano, go ahead, jump over. I'm like, no, bro. I'm not your circus.

Starting point is 02:03:37 I'm not, I'm like, you don't want no food? I'm like, nah, I'll do. I'll get the food when I get out of here. And they did not like that. They didn't like the fact that I wouldn't like play into the game. So they would fuck with me, man, and I would fall right into their traps. Like, because I figured, yo, like, y'all going to either kill me or one day you're going to let me out of here. But I, I'm not going to, like, I knew who I was on the outside.

Starting point is 02:04:02 You know, I knew who I was. And they were just trying to strip my identity. And I just felt like I didn't. want that to happen, you know? Long story short, I end up doing an extra six months in CM because one of the officers was like, man, you've got a crazy attitude. Like, the other

Starting point is 02:04:17 CEO wants to beat you up. Like, you want to go behind the thing and just give them some time? And I'm like, yo, is there going to be a camera? Show? Like, he's like, no. I was like, no, I don't want no problems. And so they went up, they went up and I got another like threatening a law enforcement officer because I wouldn't fight the guy

Starting point is 02:04:33 behind the camera. Like, it was crazy. It was crazy. And I know. I know. I'm the guy that I don't like, I don't take disrespect at all. Like, I don't care where I'm at. I'm just not going to be, I'm not going to let you put your foot on my neck. I just can't live like that. I couldn't live with myself. I can't sleep if I feel like that. But they, they got some, they got rides for you in prison if you were that kind of person, man. And I basically got on every single one of them. Six months before I was released, they finally released me out of close management. and then, you know, thank goodness, man.

Starting point is 02:05:07 Like, my friends came and got me out of prison. I got released from DeSoto in Arcadia, Florida. So how long did you do? I did two years and 10 months. Okay. So I was supposed to do two years and five months, but gain time from six months only got me out 60 days early. Right.

Starting point is 02:05:26 I got let out on April Fool's Day of 2012. I thought they were fucking with me, man. I thought they were going to make a right chance. and I was going to get dumped again, but they let me out, man. So, yeah, April Fool's 2012. That locked up episode showed up. They put it on MSNBC 12 days later, and I got to see myself. Bad people called me.

Starting point is 02:05:50 Yo, it's crazy because when people see you on TV, somehow they find out your number. They don't know your number. No, no. You get on TV. I can't tell you how many people I bump into that tell me that will remind me what good friends we were growing up. But I'm thinking, I barely remember. Yeah. We were not good friends.

Starting point is 02:06:06 Right? Yeah. I think I went to a party one time where you were there? Yeah. It happens. It happens. So when I was out, you know, I told myself that I was going to do the right thing and I was going to get a job that lasted six months.

Starting point is 02:06:22 I got fired. Yeah, I got fired from a position. I was going to do door-to-door sales for alarms. Not I was going to do. I did it. I moved to Pittsburgh because one of the conditions of my release was like, hey, if I do these three years, I'm not coming out on papers. Like, I want to do my time and that's it. And so I didn't have any probation.

Starting point is 02:06:44 So I was able to leave the state of Florida. One of the guards told me, yo, when you get out, just leave Florida because you got a F on your record. They're going to pull you over every time they see you and you got trafficking. So get out of Florida. So I went. One of my friends had got a job. He changed his life. He did door-to-door sales in Pittsburgh, and I wanted to work on the music.

Starting point is 02:07:06 He said he made like 100K his first year. So I was like, okay, cool, I'm going to go out there. Ended up training with them. I mean, I just came out the joint, so I don't care. Like, I'm ready to do whatever, right? First door knocked, end up giving these people an alarm system. And who better to sell it? I was locked up with all of them, right?

Starting point is 02:07:23 I tell you exactly what they're looking for, right? I sell the first door, and I did that for like three months, made some money, and then they fired me because it. I, because of my record. When I wrote the application, I told him I had a felony. There was no problem. But when we went to go, we went to a different state in South Carolina. And when we applied, they made us apply for permits to go door to door.

Starting point is 02:07:45 And when they applied for permits, they called the company like, yo, do you know this guy just got out of prison? Like, yo, what kind of people do you hire? You guys have a reputational company. We should kick you guys out. And they were like, look, man, we got, we got to let you go, man. Like, can't have you on there. They won't do it.

Starting point is 02:07:58 All right. So I went right back. But all that time around police officers, I was like, look, man, I'm not doing blow no more. I'm not, no class A felonies for me. I'm going to start messing with weed or trees. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm going to do trees. Like, did I sit in the wrong way?

Starting point is 02:08:16 No. Oh, yeah. I'm going to start dealing with trees because it's damn near legal. And the same plugs that when I got out, like, they called me like the same day. Like, while I was locked up, they took care of my family. They took care for my son's birthdays. They would give them, you know, take them to build a bear and do stuff and get money. And, you know, they appreciated the fact that I didn't roll on them.

Starting point is 02:08:40 And so when I got out, they were like, yo, anything you want. So I tried to, I was like, nah, for six months. But then when shit got hard, man, I was like, I'm going to go back to what I know. Man, I can't live like this, man. I can't get no job. It was another excuse, right? To not deal with the adversity. And so I called him.

Starting point is 02:08:56 The next day I had 20 pounds in my door. long story short with that man I was doing that made money but then I lost a couple of packs through the mail because they were mailing them to me right and uh I was like yo why like we're using the mail system like they told me oh it's cool it's cool it's cool and then we we end up doing it and it worked for a while and then I started putting my own money up um and then they would give me whatever I bought they'd give me half front me up and um man I lost two packs in the mail, man, I lost like 15 grand. I'm like, yo, I'm just going to go to Cali

Starting point is 02:09:32 and build my own grow house and do my own stuff. So I sold everything that I had. I got in a car and went to Cali. And when I got there, man, they were like, I had like 50K in cash. And when I got there, they're like, man, you can't start a grow house in California with this. It's not enough money, man.

Starting point is 02:09:50 Like, you need like at least $100K for the first 90 days. So I was like, all right. So I put all of it into a, I put it, I was like, fuck it. Look, I'm the type of dude that goes big. I take risk. I'm going to buy all this. I'm going to take all the money.

Starting point is 02:10:05 I'm going to make a quick flip because I had plugs. People that would do it make a quick flip and come back. I have like a hundred. On the way back, man, I got one, I got one exit out, man, from Needles, Arizona, man. In Needles, California and the Kingsman, Arizona. I took a piss at a gas station, filled up the gas. and I've seen this freaking dude

Starting point is 02:10:29 this white dude with like a fisherman's hat man and a truck and he looked at me he was staring at me obviously I'm in Arizona he was staring at me he was just eyeing me

Starting point is 02:10:37 and I was like okay we're going to go use this bathroom I went to Carl's Jr which is like a hearties or whatever out there I got me a chicken sandwich and then I got on the highway

Starting point is 02:10:48 to go back to Florida with the I put the paint cans and I sealed them up because I heard I watched a little documentary that dogs can't smell through paint. Right.

Starting point is 02:11:00 And so I had them sealed up. I spent the whole night. Through paint cans. And paint, like the whole buckets. Okay. I don't know what I was thinking, man. I sealed them up.

Starting point is 02:11:12 They were good. They were brand new. Like, I got them in Home Depot. I spent all night at the hotel, like making this thing work. The paint cans looked new. I had got paint on putting them in there. So I used that, those clothes as, as, uh, Like, I'm a painter.

Starting point is 02:11:28 I bought paint stuff. Put it in the car. Man, that dude, man, I see it. I was riding by. I was on the phone. I seen, dude, I seen, I looked out the left. And in the middle, you know, obviously in the freeway, they have that space where the car, where the official cars are, right?

Starting point is 02:11:45 Like cops can wait. I passed by, man, and I was on the phone, man. And I seen that dude, man, looking at me, man. And they pointed, porty, porty, point. I was driving. I was going to speed limit, man. They got behind me, man. It was fucking border patrol.

Starting point is 02:12:01 Why? Why? Being Latino in Arizona, man. Driving while being Latino, bro. Bro, it was the same dude. That dude, I thought he was a, like, you know, fishermen, whatever. He was the canine. He actually had the canine in his truck.

Starting point is 02:12:23 I didn't see. It was a unmarked. pickup truck. Yeah. I didn't know that, man. Dog was probably going in the back going crazy or something. I don't know. I don't think so.

Starting point is 02:12:32 I just think he looked at me because he was like, hey, so they came up to me and they were like, you got any drugs or anything in the vehicle? I'm like, bro, you guys are going to ask for my license? Like, yo, and he was like, no, we just want to make sure you're not smuggling anybody or any drugs or anything like that. So when they pulled me over, I was actually on the phone. I was on a phone with a girlfriend of mine. and I was telling about, you know, I had sold everything and was moving to Cali and then I was telling

Starting point is 02:13:02 I'm coming back. You know, maybe we can link up or whatever, have a conversation. And then I'm like, yo, they're getting behind me. And she's like, oh shit. I'm like, yo, stay on the phone. You know what I'm saying? Stay on the phone. Record it because like I don't know what's going on. She's like, you keep the phone on. So I put the phone in the Carl's Jr. box with the, where the chicken sandwich was. And I put it in the middle. console and while they were asking me she could hear everything that they were saying right and so while they pulled me out the dog went around obviously noted that i had you know something was in the car they pulled me out once they found out i was a felon already they automatically put me in

Starting point is 02:13:45 handcuffs for their safety put me in the back of the truck uh put me in the back of the squad car and then while they're in there, they didn't search through the front or anything. They went right into the trunk. And they looked, they pulled out everything. I'm watching them. And I'm thinking like, yo, they're not. You know what I'm saying?

Starting point is 02:14:05 It's paint. It should be all right. They're sealed. Like, whatever. They pull out the paint buckets. Pull out the paint buckets. Start looking. They're looking at the paint buckets.

Starting point is 02:14:14 They're sealed. They're sealed. And then one of the guys is like, yo, let's open up the paint can. So they opened up the paint can And everything was good, man When they opened it up It was white paint

Starting point is 02:14:28 Right Paint It was good They looked away and they were like And then they looked down And the buoyancy I guess From the paint From the air that was inside

Starting point is 02:14:39 I think that's what brought it up Boom Dude it was so crazy Because I'm thinking I beat them Like I'm looking at the back In the squad car I have my hands behind my back. I'm like, okay, good.

Starting point is 02:14:52 This shit worked. Because they're like, yo, we don't know what that? And then all of a sudden, when they pulled it out, you should have seen these guys, though. These guys thought that they caught the biggest dope dealer ever.

Starting point is 02:15:02 When they pulled it out, they were like, yeah, we're on the side of the road on I-10 or whatever. And they're like, yeah, like they're high-fiving. I got like 20 pounds, right? But like it's not,

Starting point is 02:15:15 they're thinking because it's white, they're thinking it's dope. They're thinking that it's real, live like something serious. They're taking selfies. They're, you know, they're getting paint all over the car. And I'm like, oh man, I'm going.

Starting point is 02:15:30 The first thing I'm thinking is I'm going back to prison. Like, 25 pounds, like, yo. This doesn't seem like, is that going back to prison a weight for, for weeks? I,

Starting point is 02:15:44 I didn't know. Yeah. Because at the, I always told myself that I wasn't. going to do like it wasn't a lot um but i just came from like cali is that interstate trafficking is it you know i'm saying right what could what could it be what are the laws out here and the way that they were celebrating man it made me feel like i was going up right um and so they were taking selfies with the dog like yo this guy like on the side they had other a whole other crew come

Starting point is 02:16:16 they had they had like the m4s on the side of the road like one lane blocked off so i'm like yo what's going on like what's what's happening so they had me on the side of the road for like three hours and uh and i'm i know it was that long like i was asking them like yo what's going on and so they tried to get me to talk uh you know hey where where were you taking this like da-da-da-da-oh the car the car wasn't mine i made sure the car wasn't mine i kept i was like look man i don't know what y'all talking about. I don't know. What y'all found?

Starting point is 02:16:48 None of that's mine. That car's not even mine. Like, you just need to take me. LeBron James playing the Spurs at the time. So I'm like, just take me back to the jail so that way I could watch this go through count and go watch this game, man. So they were like, oh, you're not going to cooperate. So they would treat me bad. Like an hour later, hour and a half later, they're coming to me and being like,

Starting point is 02:17:07 yo, you want a Gatorade? Like, I'm like, yeah, I know I'm not going to have a Gatorade for a minute. So I'm like, yeah, hell yeah, let me get a Gatorade. They're like, yo, man, like you seem like a smart dude. So I'm like, yo, these dudes are getting too nice. Like, what's about to happen, right? So they take the handcuffs from behind me, and they put them in front of me.

Starting point is 02:17:23 I'm sitting there, chilling. And then I'm like, yo, what's going on? Like, why are we taking so long? And he was like, oh, we're just trying to figure out who's going to process you. Is it going to be state? Is it going to be fed? Is it going to be, you know? And I'm like, I'm like thinking to my head, like, okay, what's going on?

Starting point is 02:17:39 Like, that's what got me thinking. And then when he came up to me, finally, it's time to go. Um, they, they undid my cuffs from in front. And I go like this to go behind. And, uh, the dude's like, he takes off the cuffs. And I'm like, what's going to happen now? Like, and he's like, um, I'm thinking they're going to try to kill me. I was just thinking, run.

Starting point is 02:18:03 Yeah. Unbuckle the fucking dead run. Yeah. Right. Right. And so I'm like, I'm like, I'm like nervous. And he's like, listen, man, um, we're going to take. We.

Starting point is 02:18:15 we're going to take all, like, and when they were searching the car, they were all talking, and then all of a sudden they started, like, being on the phone, like, away from the car, you know? That's what had me, like, worried, like, what's going on. And so, like, listen, we're going to take the, right? And we're going to let you go. We can put all your stuff exactly the way you had it before, or you could just take your car and go.

Starting point is 02:18:43 No, no, no, I'm straight. I'll just take my car. I was like, what's going on? He's like, bro, you seem like you're a smart guy. Like, why don't, why don't you just try to do a regular thing, like get a job?

Starting point is 02:18:54 And I'm like, bro, does it look like, I was like, it looked like I want to do. He's like, you do construction work. I was like, it's look like I do construction work,

Starting point is 02:19:02 bro. Like, you know, and he was like, he was like, well, then sell your car, get some money, come back, and we could do this all over again.

Starting point is 02:19:11 And when he told me that, it like click is like man I have to be right 100% of the time yeah yeah and I have limited resources these guys have unlimited resources and only have to be right once for me to go down and I almost I felt like I almost lost my life again like you know part of my life you know made for whatever even though it's like weed even though it's there like I literally thought by the time I get out my is going to be dead because she's the one that raised me. You know, I'm not going to be able to see my kids. I had already gone through that.

Starting point is 02:19:48 All these things were going through my mind. And I was like, man, what am I going to do? And so I ain't have time. I was like, listen, man, y'all never going to see me again. Like, even when I got into the car, I still thought they might have had, like, planted something in there. So I kind of, like, got in, I drove off. And then I went up the mountain in Arizona.

Starting point is 02:20:10 And I was thinking to myself, oh, shit. Like, I need to pull over and check this car to make sure there's nothing in here and I don't get pulled over. I was trying to get off the interstate fast. And then my phone rang and it was the girl that I was on. And I was like, actually, my phone didn't ring. I grabbed the phone. I saw it. And I called the number back.

Starting point is 02:20:27 I called her phone number back. And she was like, hello? And I was like, I made it. They let me go. Then let me go. And she was like, I knew it. And I look at my phone and like, how the hell did you know it? Like, how did you know it?

Starting point is 02:20:40 Like, what do you know? I was like one step away from the pen just now. And she was like, I heard them talking about you the whole time. And I looked through the call log and it was an hour and 35 minutes that the phone was actually on. And she was like, I heard them from the point that they came up to you and they asked you for your license to when they put you in cuffs to the point where they were like, yeah, I just knew that guy wasn't a, he was no painter. They even said that they were about to be off, and that the only reason they pulled me over is because I looked like a drug dealer. And she heard all that stuff.

Starting point is 02:21:20 And so when they, and remind you, they went into the trunk first, so they didn't find the phone till last. And when they finally did find the phone, she said, when they found, I heard everything that was on there for like an hour. And then when they finally found it, I heard a hang up. And so I called back. And they were like, they were like, they were like, like, oh, hello?

Starting point is 02:21:42 Like, she was, she was like, hello, and nobody would sound on the other end. And she could just hear breathing. She was like, if you don't let him go, I'm going to call CNN. I got this whole thing recorded. Like, da-da-da-da-da. They hung up again. And that's what let them. You think that's that, you think that it had to be.

Starting point is 02:21:59 Maybe they didn't want to do paperwork. Fold him over because he looked like a drug dealer. Yeah. That doesn't. Spanish. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? She was saying they were saving all types of shit that, that they didn't, that they were

Starting point is 02:22:10 going to go out for burgers and a beer. They weren't even going to be. Yeah, they're about to get off work. It's only, first of all, it's only, it's only 25 pounds of marijuana. That's what I felt like. Like, if it was, if it was dope, they probably, there were so many things going through my head that I, like, I didn't know if they were really border patrol

Starting point is 02:22:27 because I never even saw a badge or anything. Like, I was like, did I just get robbed? Like, did these dudes try to kill me? But it was enough because Tampa, Florida is about 30 hours from where I was. I had all that time. They took, I put every dollar into those weeds. I even borrowed money from my friend because I was going to start at Grow House. And when I got there, I took some of his money and sold it because I was going to make this quick flip.

Starting point is 02:22:54 I had to go back to Tampa. I didn't have, I had 300 bucks in my bank account because I put all the money back into that. I owed child support that month. I pulled out the money, right? And I had to call my son's mom. and be like, hey, look, I can't send anything. I just got basically arrested almost and almost went to jail.

Starting point is 02:23:17 Like, I got to get on my feet. I was supposed to move to Cali. I had no money. I had to come back to Tampa with nothing. I didn't have a place to stay. It was like I was back, like, homeless, basically. I had to buy, I had to use that $300 for gas to get back to Tampa.

Starting point is 02:23:35 I had to go to my friend's house, like literally the one that I borrowed money from, knock on his door and tell him that I lost his money, but that I wasn't running. I need a place to stay. Like, can I stay here as well? It was just like a humbly moment. And on the way there, like, I'm literally telling myself, you know,

Starting point is 02:23:54 when you're driving through, like, Texas and all, like, this land, like, it kind of reminds you a prison, actually, like, the way that the prisons are set up. Like, it was the, I remember walking around the yard and, and obviously there were gates and the gun tower, but we walk around the track. and I would look at that country and be like, man, I can't wait to get out of here. And now I almost went back to that. And I'm thinking about how, like, how that looked and how it would have looked if I would have went back to prison. And, you know, I'm crying.

Starting point is 02:24:28 Like, I'm just looking up to the sky and asking God, like, yo, man, like, what's my purpose? Like, why am I here? Because I was a good basketball player. I was a good musician. You know what I'm saying? I was a good artist. But I was a great hustler. Like, that was, like, at the time, like, the best thing.

Starting point is 02:24:44 And I was just like, so what is my purpose? Like, what if I can't hustle, like, what am I supposed to do, you know? And I really didn't know, man. And so, but I knew that I beat them, but I didn't beat them. I still lost. So I needed to, I needed to find something different because there was no way I was ever going to win. and you know I went back to my boys crib and he let me stay there and I ended up getting a job man like the only place that would hire me was phone sales and so I it would have been wah-wah for me

Starting point is 02:25:19 dog like it would have been at that point I just told myself that I would I would rather be poor sleeping under the bridge but free than rich in prison right you know and so that that's that's been the motto ever since man I had a friend man that they actually when I applied for the job I had, I walked in there and it turned out that the supervisor was a dude that I smoked a joint with like three months earlier when I was in the street. He recognized me. And I could barely recognize him because he was in a suit and tied. You know, I was in a, I had to ask my grandmother for like a money to buy a suit for this job interview. And when I walked in, it's this dude, man, I spoke the choice.

Starting point is 02:25:59 So he interviewed me, took me to the office to interview me. He's like, yeah, yeah, you got the job. You want to smoke one later? I'm like, yo, it was just, I just felt like, door. doors started opening up for me because I was ready for it. And now being older, like, in my life, things started to, you know, I was finally, like, manifesting, like, hey, I'm not going to go to prison. Like, I'm going to make it, this is what I'm going to do.

Starting point is 02:26:23 And so doors started opening for me to go the right path. I don't think I was ready for that. When I didn't care because I was selling dope, those doors weren't ready to be open. But now that I was, like, closing those doors in the streets, those doors open. So I got a good job. That dude taught me how to sell home improvement products over there. I was making okay money. Nothing's ever the same, right?

Starting point is 02:26:50 To that, the adrenaline rush of the game of the hustle, right? So I was making okay money. I end up liking sales, right? Liking the sales. And we were selling home improvement products. So I was like, you know what? I'm always big on, like, distribution and trying to get the bigger fish. So they had us reaching out to contractors.

Starting point is 02:27:09 I reached out to Lowe's. I reached out to Home Depot. I reached out to Lansing Building Products. And I caught a big fish. They were saying, Vince is always fishing for whales. Well, I caught a whale. Right. But they wouldn't pay me on it.

Starting point is 02:27:24 They wouldn't pay me on it. They were like, nah, you know, they're buying in bulk. They're, you know, we're not, we didn't expect the pricing isn't the same. We didn't expect. No one's ever caught that. kind of client before so we don't know what to pay you so we're just going to pay you the I was like what? Man I saw one of my friends while I was upset I still had to keep the job because I'm sleeping on this dude's couch but I saw one of my friends on Facebook and uh during that time and he

Starting point is 02:27:51 I saw him six months prior when I was selling dope and he was struggling he was in little five points in Atlanta and he had it which is a neighborhood he's a white dude who's trying to pursue his music career in Atlanta. Atlanta's, you know, primarily black people. One day they pulled a gun on them. The next day, people are walking out of his apartment with all his furniture. He comes home to his stuff looked like the Will Smith episode where they were moving, like just looked bad.

Starting point is 02:28:21 And then during that time, Rose kind of reversed. I seen him on Facebook. He's got a three-piece suit living in Midtown Manhattan and making all this money. So I called him. He was my manager. at, he ended up being my manager at that alarm place when I first got out of prison. So I called him and I was like, yo, what are you doing? Like, yo, I see, I just saw you.

Starting point is 02:28:41 You were doing bad. And he was like, yeah, man, I'm done. Like, with Atlanta, I moved to New York and I got into the solar industry. I'm killing it. I'm making six figures. Like, yo, you want to get on? And I'm like, yeah, he's like, well, you got to move to New York. He's the guy that got you on with the alarm company.

Starting point is 02:29:00 With the alarm. He was the manager. Yeah. He was the manager. Okay. He, he, he, and bro, he did not work. Like, he's a good guy. Like, he worked, but he really didn't have work ethic.

Starting point is 02:29:11 Right. You know? He just kind of relied on it. I was like, I know I work three times as hard as this guy. And he was like, yo, he showed me paycheck stubs. He was doing it. And I was like, all right, so I packed up. I'm sleeping on this guy's couch anyway, right?

Starting point is 02:29:24 The only stuff I got left is the stuff that I had already sold. So I took my car and I drove up to New York. My brother lives in New York, man. I ended up sleeping on his floor for, like, two. or three weeks. I couldn't do that because we were all in a one bedroom, sleep it on a floor, so I slept in the office. If you sleep hot at night, you know how disruptive that can be. When you're not resting well, everything else feels harder. Your focus, your mood, even your recovery. Ghostbed is here to help you fix that. They've spent decades perfecting how to build a bed that's

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Starting point is 02:30:49 slash Cox and use promo code Cox at checkout. That's ghostbed.com slash Cox, promo code Code Cox. Upgrade your sleep with Ghost Bed, the makers of the coolest bed in the world. Some exclusions apply. See sight for details. Man, one of the managers took me under his wing taught me how to sell solar, man, and that changed my life. It taught me about sales.

Starting point is 02:31:14 You know, he told me he was like, yo, you don't know much about sales as far as, like, outside of drug dealing, but, like, you're a tough dude. And that's part of the, you know, like you said, like a lot of people quit. before they can, you know, when they have a down month, he was like, if you can stick through it, man, just follow me, man. This is the thing that will change your life. And I started making money. First year I made 100K.

Starting point is 02:31:37 The next year I made like 150. I ended up, my name started ringing the bells in the industry. And I got a job offer to open up a region. They had given me my own offices up there. And then I ran the Northeast region, became the director of sales up there. And then, you know, I helped that company make money. I hope one company make $20 million, which was crazy kid like me. I hope the largest residential solar company go public.

Starting point is 02:32:03 I'm actually in the picture in Salesforce. I'm in their IPO, their offering in NASDAQ. The CEO probably couldn't pick me out of a lineup. She probably would. But I'm actually behind her, Lynn Church, it was for Sun Run. So that's awesome, man. I got to be on NASDAQ. I got to see them ring the bell.

Starting point is 02:32:24 I got it really changed my life and then I ended up meeting my current wife my wife while I was living in New York I was traveling I was opening up different markets and working on my music I got a billboard and you know I wanted to focus you know I felt like I was like I was real lonely I was just working on focus the money was finally coming I started feeling like the man again like I started really like making like dope money and and I knew that yeah like I knew a lot of people were couldn't do what I was doing. Like, they wouldn't do what I was doing. We were going door to door.

Starting point is 02:32:59 I was teaching people how to go door to door. I was helping people change their lives. Like, I helped this kid from Ecuador and Nicaragua. Like, he was selling makeup in New York, you know, and one day he comes to me and, you know, I'm having a bad day, actually. And he's like, oh, is this for real? And, you know, I taught this. This kid sold 14 systems and basically brought his whole family from Ecuador.

Starting point is 02:33:20 Like, it was crazy. And there's been hundreds of people that I've been able to teach. teach that. And then finally, I wanted to, I met my wife. I wanted to be here with her. I wanted to take the next steps with her and, you know, I basically opened up my own business and decided to come down to Florida and live with her. And, you know, it was dope. It was great. I had a solar company for six years. I ended up selling it to the contractors that installed my systems, which was dope. But it was, it was taking a lot out of me. And we wanted to work on more of my entertainment stuff.

Starting point is 02:33:58 So we started a company called Rawlink Media. I have a podcast called Youngness in the Yacht Club. What's it called? Rawlink Media. Okay. And then we shoot content. And, you know, it was crazy because I was working on solar, but we'd be walking around going to dinner.

Starting point is 02:34:13 And my girl would be, my wife, Jenny, she would see people taking pictures. And, like, we would have to stop. And I'd be watching, like, this mini photo shoot happened. And she'd be doing it for, free. And I'm like, she'd go out the gym and she'd be creating this content. I do music and she'd hold the camera for me. So I'm like, yo, you know people charge for this, right? And she's like, yeah, but you know, they weren't, you know, I'm like, yo, we got to get paid for this. So we decide to take it. After I sold my company, we decided to take it seriously. Now we have a space

Starting point is 02:34:42 here in Tampa. We've got two podcast rooms. We've got like six cameras. We shoot content for businesses, schools, organizations. What made you want to do the podcast? Um, well, I was, when I was locked up, I was writing guys stories. They're true crime stories, right? And I started writing, I started writing books first. I wrote my book and then somebody else. So, hey, you ought to talk to so-and-so. He's got an amazing story.

Starting point is 02:35:03 And it's like, what else am I going to do? Yeah. So I started right. I wrote this guy's book. And then, you know, people see you walking around. And he's, oh, yeah, no, he's writing my boy. Oh, really? Next thing you know, they're lining up.

Starting point is 02:35:13 Everybody. Yeah. And then I started realizing, I, I optioned the rights to a guy's story. Right? Like, I, I wrote a, he didn't really. He was like, oh, you got to write my book, you got to write my book. I was like, yeah, but you don't have much of a story. Like you do, but you got a story that I could throw a rock and hit 12 people with that story.

Starting point is 02:35:32 Right. And as he told it to me, it was a little bit more interesting because he was a white guy that they were doing, you know, doctor shopping. And then it had some kind of felt like, that could be something. Right. And I said, well, let me see if I could get you like some press because you have no press. Like nothing isn't, the numbers aren't impressed. Like, you didn't, it's not $10 million. It's not, you know, it's a bunch of young kids, but I liked that.

Starting point is 02:35:54 They were clean-cut young kids that were in the whole doctor shopping, and then they ended up going to different, getting scholarships for wrestling. They were all in the wrestling table. So they all go to different areas. They're shipping it around the country. And I thought, you know, I could do that something. If I focus on certain things and it could be good. And I was like, let me see if I can get you some press.

Starting point is 02:36:16 Maybe we could then, you know, because otherwise I'm just, I'm trying to, I want to do something with these. I want to get a book deal. And I'd already had one book deal. And so anyway, I said, let me write a synopsis. I wrote a synopsis for the kid, which is like a 10,000, word article about his story. And I sent it to like six or eight reporters, like, you know, mailed it. Because, you know, yeah, you got, you got a stamp. Yeah, what am I doing? So I mailed it. Three of them responded, three or four responded. And, you know, and, you got a stamp. And, you got a stamp. Yeah, you got a stand. And, you got a And one said, but they were all like, I'm interested, but I'm in the middle of the project. I can't even look at this for eight months.

Starting point is 02:36:56 And then it'll take, okay. Then it turned into one guy said, hey, I can jump on it right now. Yeah. And then he wrote for Rolling Stone Magazine. He got it in Rolling Stone Magazine. Optioned the life, the film rights for it. And so I was a part of that option. Obviously, we all split it up.

Starting point is 02:37:12 Yeah. He, so I got that. But I realized at that point, like, okay, this is, this is valuable. Yeah. And keep on, by that point, it's 2011, 12. So I start writing guys books and then I write synopsies for guys that I'm like. Maybe on the fence about. Well, yeah, maybe, you know, I realize like, hey, the synopsies, you know, like maybe I fuck the books.

Starting point is 02:37:35 Maybe just get these things into, into, get articles made and option the life rights. That's a thing. Right. And so I ended up that one guy that got in a Rolling Stone. I got a book deal for him, so they paid me in advance. So now I'm in prison and I'm making, and the option, of course, the option, my part of the option was like seven grand. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:37:51 So I'm bad. Yeah. For zooms and wams. Yeah. I was like that. So, but now I got guys, I had guys just lined up.

Starting point is 02:37:58 Yeah. Because now the, the synopsies that I'm writing that are maybe 10, 12 pages are going around the prisons. The guys are coming up to me that I don't even know. And they're like,

Starting point is 02:38:06 yo, bro, you got another one. Like you wrote one for, you know, T dog. Yeah. And I'm like, uh, like, I'm thinking, I don't even know you. You know, I'm like, I,

Starting point is 02:38:15 okay. He's like, yeah, I read that, bro. you got any more than I like, drugs and I'm like, well, yeah, I actually do have one. I just didn't it. And I give it to him and give it back to me and he'd give it back to me. You're renting these things basically. Yeah, I'm not rid of. But like the books, you know, but it's getting out there and you start getting kind of reputation about the same time guys are coming to me telling me when you get out, you need to do

Starting point is 02:38:37 a podcast. That's fine. And I didn't even know what a podcast was. Right. So, because that they're saying that. Right. 2009 is when podcast became, the word was invented in 2009. So by 2013, 14, I mean, about that time people start bringing me articles like, hey, here's the top 20 podcast. 11 them are based on true crime. Damn. And I'm like, okay. I've never heard one. I've never been on YouTube.

Starting point is 02:39:00 I don't really know what it is. I've never been on Facebook. Right. And I'm like, okay. And they're like, you got to do this when you get out. I'm like, well, how does it work? What is it a lot? I don't know.

Starting point is 02:39:08 Is that a radio show? No, kind of. You know, and they're explaining. Right. So when I got, when I hit the halfway house, I kind of knew I wanted to do one, but I didn't really know how or what. This was not the version that I thought. I thought like a heavily produced with music and I'm interviewing you and then I'm interviewing

Starting point is 02:39:26 somebody else a part of the case. You know, like a documentary. Right. And there are 10 parts and you get a deal. But then after about six months of being out to a year, I realized like nobody, that's somebody has to invest a couple hundred thousand dollars in and pulling that off. For sure. Nobody's going to do that. You're a guy that just got out of fucking prison.

Starting point is 02:39:44 You're still on probation. Like nobody's going to do that for you. Right, right. And so at that point, I went, by that point, I'd been on some podcasts. Like, I've been on Patrick Vet David. Oh, wow. I'd been on soft white underbell. I'd been on Danny Jones, you know.

Starting point is 02:39:57 So, and all of them were like, yeah, you need to start a podcast. Yeah, so they're telling you, yeah. Yeah. And, of course, Danny Jones is the first podcast I did. Got like over two million views within, you know, a few months, but it blew up right away. He's already telling me this is going viral. I don't know what the fuck that means. Yeah, yeah, you're true.

Starting point is 02:40:14 Yeah, there's no definition. Right, right. I looked it up. There was no definition. So it's just whatever's popular or whatever's extremely popular for the channel, does well for that channel is how the definition is. But he's telling me he's going viral. And I remember he told me

Starting point is 02:40:28 to keep mine, and then we can start, this is quick, though. You'll realize just the stupidity of my thinking at the time. It's how fucking delusional I was. I'm living in someone's... I'm living in, basically, I'm living in a room. There's a cop living in one room. I'm living in a room. A couple of kids from the woman that owns the place. Her husband lives in a room,

Starting point is 02:40:46 because they're divorced or separated. She lives in a room. Like, it's a rooming house. It's a nice room out. But it's still, I'm living in a fucking, I'm really living in the closet of the room. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:40:54 It was a big closet. No windows. Right. And I'm trying to figure out. So I'm in there. I go to do Danny's podcast. This guy, Danny Jones. He's got like over a million subs.

Starting point is 02:41:05 Yeah. I do his podcast. He takes me out afterwards at like 11 o'clock at night. We go to Waffle House. And he's telling me, you need to start a podcast now. People, I don't, I can't be sure, but I'm telling you this is going to blow up. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:41:17 Because I feel like it. I don't know for sure, but it might. And people are going to, and you're an interesting guy, people are going to want to follow you and this. And you said you want to start a pot, true crime. I think this is it. I'm like, no, no, but I want the music. I want, you know, and I want the interview.

Starting point is 02:41:29 And he's like, no, I know, but that's a big, that's a big budget thing, bro. You can do this with your cell phone. I get my cell phone. And I was like, yeah, disgusting. Yeah. My cell phone. Yeah. I'd watch enough videos that I was like, no, I need the right equipment.

Starting point is 02:41:43 I need a producer. I need, can't, no, I'm not going to do. that. He's like, okay, well, you do it. And he said, it'll be shit for a year. But in a year from now, when you upgrade your equipment, he said, people will be like, I remember when you were doing stuff on your iPhone and your kitchen. People love the glow up. Right. And I didn't know that. I don't know that. Right. I'm a couple months out of prison. Yeah. You're trying to jump. Right. And so he tells me all this. And this is a guy who makes his living doing what I want to do. I live in a rooming house. I live in a club.

Starting point is 02:42:16 Yeah, in a closet. Right. And I'm telling him, you don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Did you see the fucking delusion? Yeah. And so I'm like, I'm not doing that. So after about six or eight months, I finally say, okay, I've been out about a year and I was like, yeah, it's not going to happen.

Starting point is 02:42:34 Like, I've been dicked around by so many producers and everything. And I went, no, I'm just going to have to start at the bottom. And maybe it'll work. So I started the podcast. And then I met Colby six months later. and he jumped in and we got the cameras and then he's like we'll set up like this and we'll do this and so then it started growing. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:42:54 And so then it eventually became this. But it's I look back and I think like and I always say this that Danny gave me the best advice that I completely ignored in my life. Where would we be if I had started a year prior in the middle of COVID? COVID's kind of wrapping up. Yeah. By the time we start, it's like, what? Yeah.

Starting point is 02:43:17 What were you doing? Yeah, you would have had a million eyes on you for sure. I mean, you already have a lot of subs you're on, but you would have had even more. Of course. It would. And I was going on big podcasts, and every time I would go on, they would get a couple million views. Like now if I go on a podcast and it's a big podcast, it might get a couple hundred. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:43:34 The algorithm chewed me up and spit me out by that point. So I had a wave. I had a ride that I was, but by the time I do it, it's already coming down. Yeah. And, you know, more people's at times. attention spans at that time, like right now. Of course, they're locked in their house. Like, what an operative?

Starting point is 02:43:49 Yeah. Yeah. It's all good, though, because sometimes, you know, look, what I've seen now is beautiful. And we even, so she, we produce, we have our own podcast set up. And when we look at it, we're like, we like, we like to see what other people's setups look like. Yeah. Man, this is top tier.

Starting point is 02:44:03 Yeah, this is top tier. It's dope. It's dope. You guys have grown, you know? The only thing I would have done different if I could, if the ceilings had been higher. Yeah. I would have built a platform. Like a 12 inch or whatever a step is, 10 inches.

Starting point is 02:44:18 So this would sit on it. Not because of aesthetically, it would have changed anything. Right. But that's how Patrick Bet David had it. And I thought it was the coolest fucking thing. Changes nothing. You wouldn't see. Anything would be different.

Starting point is 02:44:29 Right. Except that you'd kind of step up here. But it was so cool. It makes it like a stage. Yeah. He had, listen, his podcast, it was so cool. Yeah. You know, and it had cameras on strings that were, as you're talking,

Starting point is 02:44:43 it's they're going by they don't make that's no one yeah yeah they're gliding by and I'm just like and you know they're like don't don't look at the camera I'm thinking this is like it was so high-tech and that other than that yeah this is perfect yeah one thing patrick bet david tumor he got he's got snoop in yeah he could and I went when he was in in Texas Texas what I was he in Austin maybe I don't know he's in Texas he they flew me out brought me there I walked in walked in, he had his insurance company there. And so it was a massive room, massive. Yeah.

Starting point is 02:45:22 And it was just people in cubicles, on phones. So I walk through that. Like they walk, it's in this huge, like this, but it's like he owned the whole building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You walk through the whole thing. And he owns everything, he owns everything. Right. You get all the way back to where the podcast was.

Starting point is 02:45:37 I walk in there. He's 6'6. Yeah, he's a tall dude, right? He's on a 10-inch platform. So as soon as I walk in like five feet He stands up and I'm like My God This guy's in fucking dude

Starting point is 02:45:49 He's got like the Hulk He's got all these big This is when he had those big Figures like Batman And the Hulk And he's got all these feet I mean it was just like Over the top

Starting point is 02:45:59 When you walked into his The Not the studio But the main area He had a huge Is it Optimus Prime A huge Like probably

Starting point is 02:46:12 I don't know how big it was 10 feet. Just a big kid, huh? Massive. Yeah, he's just like that. A big rich kid. Like, he got rich for the, you know. But I love his story too. Yeah, yeah, it's dope. Yeah, he's got one of those stories. Yeah. Yeah, it's inspiring. Yeah. For sure. I feel like that, I feel like that too, man. That's what

Starting point is 02:46:30 we got to get to, you know. We got to keep growing in that, you know, especially how far you come, how far we've come, you know. I feel like it's important, man. I feel like most people, they just can't whether you have a bad month or two, and they just can't weather it, and they get depressed, and they quit. It's like, you know, you just help on a little bit longer.

Starting point is 02:46:48 Yeah, yeah. You know, you think there's not going to be some dips? Yeah. It's always like that. Yeah, it's the consistency, you know, put up something, you know, even if it's like, if you're putting up three videos or one video a week or three videos a week, then it's like, oh, yeah, we don't really have a good video.

Starting point is 02:47:03 They put up some, put up dog shit. Right, right. Because the algorithm expects three videos. It's ingrained. Here are the days. here the time to put it up, even if it's, oh, I'm going to talk to my neighbor who's got a semi-interesting guy. Well, let's talk. Yeah, yeah. Because something has to go up. And most people, they, oh, well, you know, I'll wait a week. You're going to wait a week. What do you, what do you, yeah,

Starting point is 02:47:24 you're tripping. Yeah. Talk to your, yeah, talk to your girlfriend. Where do we meet? Yeah, exactly. We met and, you know, why did you even date me? I could talk for an hour. Talk to Jeff for an hour, my wife. Right. You know, there's a story there's a story probably And everything. Facts, facts. I'm with it, man. And you have a podcast. What is your podcast?

Starting point is 02:47:44 It's called Youngest in the Yacht Club. It's basically industry leaders in whatever industry they're in to be able to tell their story and inspire people. Okay. Yeah. So it's like for entrepreneurs or musicians. Sometimes we have fighters on there. Musicians and entrepreneur.

Starting point is 02:48:02 You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's like the ultimate, right? Yeah. Ex dope dealers that have changed their lives, redemption stories. I do music. My name is Vince Serrano, and we end up catching a billboard focusing on the entertainment. Like, yo, I got a billboard.

Starting point is 02:48:18 We were number four, number 16 on the Billboard charts, number four on iTunes. It's crazy because I was all on My True Crime Story, the show with Remi Mile. Yeah. We, it was, I basically wrote an email to my friend was like, hey, my friend's doing this writing for my true crime story. your story would be dope write them an email it hadn't come out yet it was nothing about it was an idea and so I wrote the email to the guy and then I messaged him on on on on I DMed them and I was like on on Instagram and I was like listen read my email and if you think I'd be a good fit I basically sold it to him I was like if you think it's a good fit let me know and we'll get more and he was like yo

Starting point is 02:48:59 that's a dope email let's talk Monday and I'm telling him the story that I told you and he was like yo this is sick we need to connect you in the 45 minutes, bro, because it's a whole movie. So, long, you know, they end up, I was on season one, episode three. During COVID, they wanted to change, like, how true crimes was. They wanted to make it more of, like, a redemption because everything was so negative with true crimes. Right.

Starting point is 02:49:24 So that's why they came out with it to kind of attract, you know, change the mindset of people. I didn't know Rememey Ma was going to be on it. They ended up licensing two of my records on there, so I got paid for licensing on there. Nice. and number four on iTunes the day of recording. So I was able to show them, like, my excitement.

Starting point is 02:49:42 That day, it was crazy. They recorded that stuff. And, you know, everything's come. They just recently played it on Christmas, my episode again. They got greenlighted again for the rest of the seasons because of, you know, the, I'm not going to say it's because of my episode, but they said that one of my, my episode was one of the most streamed on the, on the series. So I taught to the music supervisor.

Starting point is 02:50:05 I also talked to some of the people who wrote it. especially the friend of mine who, the friend of the friend of mine, who wrote for them. You know, we keep talking. His name was Danny Peralta. I want to thank you for get me on that show, man, because he was like, yo, man. It's like, you're like Kobe, but like Tony at the same time. And I was like, I was afraid that they might, like, sensationalize it a lot. And I didn't want to glorify the whole street thing a lot because I didn't come from that, right?

Starting point is 02:50:30 Like the beginning of the story is, like, I kind of just felt like I did all those things. and I wanted to, I just took the easy way out. And I realized now that that wasn't it. So yeah, man, that's my story, dog. Hey, you guys, I appreciate you watching. Do me favor, hit the subscribe button, hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this. Also, if you want to check out Vince's music or follow him on any of his social platforms, we're going to leave all of the descriptions in the description box.

Starting point is 02:50:59 You can go there. You can check out him on iTunes, on Spotify, on... What's the other one? Everywhere. everywhere and you can just click there go there follow him i really appreciate you guys watching thank you very much see you

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