The Daily Signal - Best of 2019: He Killed a Man. Then, in Prison, His Life Was Transformed.

Episode Date: January 2, 2020

At 16, Casey Diaz went to prison for murder. The son of an alcoholic father, Diaz grew up in a rough neighborhood and first saw three men killed when he was 8. By the time he was 11, he had joined a gang. But after years in prison, Diaz, the author of new book “The Shot Caller,” had a radical conversion, and his transformed life began to have an impact on others, including a founder of MS-13. Enjoy this top episode from 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast, and I'm Kate Trinko. We're on a short hiatus for the holidays, but we wanted to share one of our favorite interviews from 2019 with you. We'll be back to our regular programming on Monday, January 6th. If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism, and we'll fight four conservative solutions that are making families more free and more prosperous.

But we can't do it without you. Please join us at heritage.org. We're joined today by Casey Diaz, the author of the new book, The Shot Collar, a Latino gangbanger's miraculous escape from a life of violence to a new life in Christ. Casey, let's start from the beginning. Can you tell us about growing up and how you ended up joining a gang when you were 11? So I was brought here by my parents when I was two years old. Our family comes from El Salvador, and they came in here legally.

But unfortunately, we landed in an area which is called the Rampart District of Los Angeles. And someone you might know with reference to the rampart scandal that made the news. So that's the area I grew up in. And my mom was a seamstress. So she would get up early in the morning, four in the morning. You'd go out to work. And I wouldn't get to see her until about 10, 11 o'clock at night. And my father, on the other hand, was very just an alcoholic, abusive, physically and vocally or verbally.

And so here comes my mom from, you know, pulling two shifts to getting attacked physically by my father. So violence started very early in my house in our apartment. And then at the age of eight, I witnessed a triple murder right before my eyes. In L.A., in these older buildings, they have fire escapes, kind of like the ones in New York. And I would be, I would go outside. We lived on a third floor. And I'd kind of sit there and dangle my feet from the fire escape. And that was kind of like routine as a kid. And on this particular day, it was broad daylight. And the car pulled to the side.

Three males were walking up an alley. And the guy driving simply gets out of his car. Doesn't run. Doesn't scream anything. Just walks up to these three guys and puts bullets in each and every single one of them. And then once he's done with the bullets, he reloads. So he takes out the, you know, takes out the shells. and then reloads and finishes his execution of three guys in that alley.

So I was there watching the whole thing. And so you got violence in the apartment and then you got violence outside. So what happened right after you saw? I mean, I can't even imagine being aid and seeing this. Did you go inside? Did you cry? How did you act? And that was a surprising thing.

I remember I just, I kind of looked at, you know, I remember seeing one of them yell. He was actually yelling for his mother. and he was holding his abdomen and he was under a carport. He kind of struggled his way to try to get away. But he fell a few steps under a carport. So there they are. And, you know, you kind of get desensitized in the way because you're just seeing brutality. And as a kid, you kind of look at that incident and what's going on in the home.

And you go, well, I guess this is. how you handle matters when somebody steps over you. And so that's, you know, and then at 11, I got introduced to this local gang. And I found a gang leader that just took me under his wing, very popular guy. And he was very violent himself. So I got introduced to the gang, jumped into the gang, and then normally what happens is you'll end up giving an assignment. and that would mean it could be anything from a robbery to, you know, up to a murder, to anything.

And because I was with him, he took me to an area of where rival gang members were at, specifically to 18th Street and where we captured one of them. We beat him, and he did most of the work, and he stabbed him. He stabbed them, and then when he was finished stabbing him, he kind of just gave me the a screwdriver and said, no, it's your turn. And so my first stabbing was at 11 years old as well. Wow. So five years, you were in a gang from 11 to 16. So what was it like during those later years? What kind of stuff were you involved in? Many robberies, you know, break ends of homes. But more than anything else, it was just the violence was what drove me. You know, I explained my story.

and in many ways there's different ranking within every gang, especially the ones that are organized. You have the guys that are just kind of drinking beer at a liquor store. They're harmful, but they're not doing really anything. They like to play the part more than anything else. They like the parties. And then you have the gang leaders or the potential gang leaders that are out there and what we call putting in work.

And that meant going out there and looking for rivals. So for me, it was. very easy. It became very easy at that age to, my preference was the violence. So I went out there and always looked for rival gang members. Yeah, so mostly against other gangs. Yeah, mostly against other gangs throughout Los Angeles. And yeah, it just became a pattern to the point where I really couldn't sleep unless I went out there and did something. And I didn't like the drive-by shooting thing. Unfortunately, I was more of a half. Zangai. And so

stabbing was what I preferred to do with these guys. And so what besides the violence do you think attracted you to life within the gang? What did you enjoy? It gave me a false sense of family, of belonging, of being

respected, of being validated by them and, you know, not having a father figure or a mentor at that young age. The streets has a habit of embracing you very quickly in that in those times of you know where you need to be told

you know what's a good direction to take so unfortunately I ended up in this kind of lifestyle so you were 16 when you were arrested tell us how that happened in this particular day you know back in in the 80s you were able to drive trucks and you were able to hang out in the back of the truck those seat belts were required or anything like that. It was not against the law. Wild time. Yeah. It was a wild time. And I happened to be at a little burger joint when I was,

some members of the 18th Street gang came by that recognized me. And a fight ensued inside the little burger joint. And I ran to the vehicle that I was outside. And unfortunately, I ended up killing the guy that was the first guy that approached me. So were police on the scene? Did they arrest you then? No, I was a fugitive for 21 days after that. So I ended up living in abandoned apartment buildings, construction sites. One of the moms from one of my gang members, she took me in for a few days.

And I was just trying to keep a low profile. I kind of disappeared for a minute. And then I got captured by the Los Angeles Police crash unit. That's their gang special unit. And was the guy whose life you took, was he a gang member of a rival gang or what did you have? He was one of the leaders of 18th Street at that time from a clique called Columbia, which that was the headquarters of 18th Street in Los Angeles. And that was a rival gang to yours? Well, so.

I'm not very familiar with the gang world. That's good. 18th Street was a gang that we used to get along with. we had, you know, fathers, sisters, brothers that were in the same gang, you know, and I never liked them. So I was the one that called a shot to go against them. And I didn't like them. I didn't like how they did business out there. And I'm young, but violence was just, you know, my thing.

And so I was the one that made that decision to go against them and to take over their territory in which we ended up doing eventually. and it made big news because a lot of us from my gang, unfortunately, again, it was a lot of a spilling of blood throughout the streets of L.A. So what was your trial like and how did you feel when you heard your sentence? I didn't really care. I mean, there was no, you know, that's what's expected of you. That's what, you know, you really don't, I don't know of a gang member that journals. and, you know, says, hey, maybe I shouldn't be doing this.

No, we all had the mentality. And everybody was trying to updo the other person. So every gang leader in these gangs were just trying to, you know, if you're going to do, you know, three murders, we're going to do four type of doing. And then the bloodshed and in Los Angeles in the 80s, I mean, you see the reports from back then. And it was vicious. It was a lot of a lot of violence. So what was prison like for you?

I believe you said you were in solitary confinement? Yeah, so I ended up, CDC has this point system from one to 100, and so the higher you score, the more security level that is needed for you. And at that time, I don't know how they do it now, but at that time, the higher you scored, more security. So I ended up going over there with 97 points,

which meant going into the shoe program from the bus to the shoe, no questions asked, and just serve an undetermined sentence, meaning I have to finish my whole sentence in solitary. So, you know, I was prepared for that. I didn't care. I was just, you know, my first meal in New Folsom was served by the Hillside Strangler. So these are the guys that, you know, that we heard in the news and I live with, the Menendez brothers, one of the guys from that bunch of.

The ones who killed their parents. Yeah. He was there in the A-yard. So, you know, you're surrounded by nothing but like-minded people, you know. And so you really don't care about your actions. You really don't. And it was on my third year of solitary confinement where a little church from this little Baptist church came. And a little lady, a little black lady by the name of Francis Proctor,

She was very, very bold and requested to approach myself. And you got to understand that in the shoe, you know, you got Pelican Bay. You have the Corcoran shoe, which made the news big time. And you have New Folsom. Those are the three major prisons to go to in California. If there's any influence in you, this would be like your Harvard, Yale, and Penn State, you know, in the street world. And so here we are And here's this lady coming into one of the most darkest places in the prison

And she is so bold with this correctional officer And who, by the way, the CEO is telling her You really don't want nothing to do with them, you know And I didn't know that they were talking about me Until the very last approach with her is, you know, You know, Jesus came for everybody can I have permission to approach yourself? And she was granted the permission to do that.

And the guard said, that's Diaz in there. You're wasting your time. That's when I knew that it was me. And she approached. And she asked me a very, you know, vibrant question. She said, how are you doing? And she had a very, you know, southern accent. How are you doing?

It was just being her. And I said, couldn't be any better. and she said, that's a pretty stupid question. I said, that's right. And she invited me to this Bible study thing to listen to this Bible study. And I told her, I was very respectful and I just said, you know, I'm not interested. Thank you, but no, thank you. And she said something after that that was very, that caught my attention.

She said, I'm going to put you on my hit list. You know, that's a word that you might not want to use in solitary confinement. Yeah. And she says, I'm going to pray for you. You're going to be on my prayer hit list. And Jesus is going to use you. And I thought, you know, at first glance at that answer at that, you know, at that statement, I thought this lady's crazy.

She doesn't know what she's talking about. She doesn't know where she's at. And then she asked for my permission if she could, you know, they came once a month, if she could approach myself and just say hi to me and pray for me. I said, you know, you can do whatever you want. I'm just letting you know that I'm not joining you. your Bible study. And so this continued for over a year and a few months where she was just consistent to stop

at my cell. And she would always end the conversation with, I'm praying for you, and Jesus is going to use you. And I had an experience in that cell that challenged me in my life to change. And it was very real, very raw. And I had a moment and an encounter with Christ in there. in which I had to make a decision whether I would continue in this organized crime life, you know, life of crime, or I was going to make that change.

And I knew that what I had experienced in that cell and that 8x10 cell was authentic. It was real. It brought me to my knees. I had never heard the gospel. I had never opened the Bible. Never went to church. That was the church or Christ or anybody like that. just wasn't in my radar.

And so I'm finding myself in the middle of this cell and weeping like a kid, you know, and saying to God, and, you know, this is going to sound a little odd, but, you know, I think that when you come to the Lord, you need to just be you. And for me, it was that. And I remember being very just open with him and saying, you know, God, I'm so sorry for stabbing this person. And I'm so sorry for stabbing that person. And it just went on and on and on. And, yeah, I say this to folks when I'm sharing my story is I have never tasted freedom like I tasted freedom in solitary confinement that moment because it changed my life.

And then I got some instructions a few days later where I needed to make a decision to step down for my leadership there in which I did. I knew that by doing that. Your leadership in the game. Yeah. Okay. By doing that, it would cause a green light, meaning a hit would be put on your life. And so a hit was put on my life. And for the next two years, it was a little rough.

We have this phrase that we use in California in the prison system. It's called Heart Candy. And that just simply means we're going to beat you close to your death every time we get a chance to. And that happened to me and to others like me. for the next two years. But the guy that came to do the hit, he became the first guy that I led to Christ in there. And then he joined me.

And so now there's two of us with Heart Candy, you know, and then two other guys. One of the founding members of MS-13 came to Christ through my testimony. And so very shortly, very short time, you have a guy from Florence 13, which had big heavy ties to the Mexican mafia. And you had a guy from Watts, a gang leader from there. And so here you are like four or five of us.

And we're willing to lay down our life for the gospel. And it didn't matter. We knew that God had touched our hearts. And so for you and these others, you mentioned that the Baptist lady had asked you to join Bible study and you weren't interested. Before you had your conversion experience, did you know, open a Bible? Did you have any familiarity or was this, you just sort of unprompted went to God? And how about for the other men you led to conversion? So for me it was, I had never opened the Bible.

I never, you know, just it wasn't part of my life. But for them, I knew that we had these things called, we called them kites or another word for that would be W-I-L-A. And it was just, it's a short term for a note. And usually a kite or a wheeler was something. something that you would pass to another gang member, like a trustee or through anybody else. And most likely on that kite, it would be the name of a hit that needed to be done or stuff that needed to be done outside the prison walls or within the CDC. So I knew that if I wrote something, you know, my testimony on these notes, and if they

took it from me, they would read it. because, you know, we have another phrase, and these are all, like, you know, prison slang, words that we use, you know, taking out the trash meant killing somebody and taking them out the yard. And so I knew that they couldn't hang out with somebody that was the trash, you know?

So, but if they took it for me, I was 100% sure that they were going to read it. And that's how I was able to reach every single one of them when I caught them by themselves. I kind of slipped them to note. And that's how I ended up, witnessing to the first four, and they became Christians from that point. What did the notes say?

It was easy. I said, you know, one of the notes, one of the first notes was, you know, look at me, and why would I give this power away? Why would I surrender my leadership in this place unless something really happened in that cell? And I didn't know the Bible. You know, these are just words, but I believe that the Holy See. Spirit was the one that was behind these words and it was the simplicity of the gospel written just handwriting, you know, and giving them to these guys that understood where I was coming

from. What are the reason? What did I have to gain from stepping down from a high position like that inside the shoe program? So when they took it, I knew that it would affect their life and these guys became born again through my testimony there. Wow. So what's happened with you since you left prison. Tell us about that. Well, it's been over two decades. I've been married. I'm about to celebrate 20 years with a believing wife. I got three kids, all in private school. I'm a pastor now. And God has blessed my life. I mean, that's such an unusual conversion story to put it mildly.

How do you think it's shaped your life since? And does it change how you look back at your past? Yeah. I'm, you know, one of the things that makes you, it makes you grateful. It makes you, you know, somebody asks me in another interview, do I feel like I deserve to be out here? My answer will always be no. I know that what I've done, and I know that I've sinned before God.

But I also know that God gives second chances, and I also know that the blood of Christ covers all sin, including what I did. I wish I could rewind time. I wish I would have never done that. I wish I would have never got involved in gangs. Unfortunately, that was my case. And so what do I do with the time and the second chance that God has given me?

And the only thing that I can find to do is to educate people, to be a voice in low-income families, low-income cities, and to tell them that there is still hope. And you could be in my position right now, and Christ is still there with an outstretched arm, ready to save. And if you call on his name, the Bible tells us that we'll be saved. And man, everything that comes after that, you know, I'm just, I'm grateful.

And every morning that I wake up, I have these friend's doors in my bedroom. And I always wake up at 3 in the morning, and I open those curtains. And it's still dark out there. But that's when I wake up. And I look outside and I can't believe where God has me and what God has me doing in this time in my life. So, you know, the story wasn't told for over, you know, two decades, and it wasn't the right timing. And we look at what's happening here in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Los Angeles, New York, with all the gang activity and all that across America.

I think that the story needed to wait till this time to come out. And, you know, there's a lot of crime books and true crime stories. But I think on our end is we might have made sure that it wasn't really. We weren't just being raw for the sake of being raw and real, but we wanted to make sure that people, when they finished this book, that they would call on to the Lord and really do a change in their heart by accepting him. You mentioned inner cities and gangs being a growing problem in America. What would you say to parents who are concerned that their kids might get involved in gangs?

I think that I can only recommend what worked for me. and for me the only thing that or the only person that worked for me was the Lord. So I would say, you know, find yourself a local church, a Bible teaching church, and get your family involved. It's never too late. There's youth ministries that are in these churches that are vital, that will be helpful that where young pastors, young youth pastors have a heart for these kids. And they'll mentor, they'll, you know, they'll lead them in a right path. and or get them into sports, you know, get them. And absolutely if you can, by all means, getting them out of that neighborhood, by all means.

And then starting over, I think those are so important. You know, I talk about that in the book as well at the end. There's some advice for parents and single parents as well. So, yeah, it's something that's dear to my heart. And you mentioned, of course, so the issue is newly relevant right now. Of course, President Trump has talked a lot about. MS-13, which you've mentioned. There's other gangs.

What do you think the U.S. should do? Well, I think I'm in full agreement with what he's doing and what he intends to do with the border and border security. You definitely, you know, there's so many people in Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala, you know, Central America and all that. And I think there's noble people that really want to come here in pursuit of their dream. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think that there's a system in place.

that they need to respect. And that's come in through the turnstiles. Come in the right way. Let us check you out. And if it all turns out well, then, you know, by all means, pursue your dream here. This is the only place that gives you the opportunity to build a dream in this place, like no other place.

And, but in these, like, let's say these caravans that are underway right now, I can tell you, and I can tell you from experience that from an 8 by 10 cell, there is much activity and shots are being called to Mexico, to Guatemala, to El Salvador, and they are being prepared to come in here by all means. And if that means disguising themselves in these caravans, they will do that. And so I think that it's important that we listen to what the president is doing right now. And if that wall needs to be built or the border be shut immediately,

then it needs to do that. The safety of America is that. hand, you know, and we need to pay attention to that and not be naive to the dangers of gangs and predators that want to come here and harm Americans. That's it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed the interview, and again, we'll be back to our regular podcast programming on Monday, January 6th. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Lauren

Evans, the Leah Rampersad, and Mark Geinney. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.