Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Official Hector Bravo Podcast
Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Stories of Courage and Conflict with David Contreras
Hector Bravo Unhinged Chaos is now in session. Welcome back to another episode of Hector Bravo Unhinged. Today, special guest is none other than David Contreras, who spent 42 years of his life in law enforcement. And all that good stuff, the California Department of Corrections, San Diego PD. So hey, how's it going, dude?
Speaker 2:You know, actually he's 32 in law enforcement, but 10 years as a private investigator. So yes, 32.
Speaker 1:He made it a point to tell me he's 32, but I summed it all up because of the knowledge and experience that you gain, man, as a private investigator, sometimes you're doing more sketchier stuff than law enforcement.
Speaker 2:Wait till you hear some of the stories. Very interesting stories, yes.
Speaker 1:So what year did you first start law enforcement and what agency?
Speaker 2:You know what I started with the California Department of Corrections. I started in 1985. I went through the CDC. It wasn't CDCR back then, it was just California Department of Corrections Academy in Gulf California. Don't ask me how long the academy was. All I could tell you it was in Gulf California and we slept in dormitories.
Speaker 2:And then we were pissed off because all these probation officers and parole agents, they had the apartments, they had us running every morning. And I'll tell you my first day through the Department of Corrections, I was never in the apartments, they had us running every morning. And I'll tell you my first day through the Department of Courage I was never in the military, so it was a rude awakening. As soon as they welcome you and then all of a sudden they have us tear down the I guess it wasn't the chow hall, it was one of the buildings three or four times and back then I mean these guys would come up to you and you motherfucker you piece of shit and make you right there and then, and I think the first day, we probably lost probably about 20 people to be honest with you, you think due to the stress factor.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it was a stress factor. I don't think that they were ready for that. I wasn't ready for that, dude. I've never marched in my life Right and I was the worst marcher. But I'll tell you it was a lot of discipline. It was a rude awakening. I had never been in the military. But you know what? I caught on quick and I got a chance to work with some great people in the Department of Corrections.
Speaker 1:From what you remember. Do you remember of your instructors at the academy had a lot of time in and were they giving you information based on experience?
Speaker 2:You know what? Yes, I remember one guy. You know it's funny, certain people you'll never forget I'm talking about 1985, dude, a guy by the name of Paul Pacifico and he was a canine officer. I believe he was a sergeant, or was going to be a sergeant, out of Chino. He was our training officer and I never forgot him because you know what the dude was a former Marine, tall Chicano. He actually looked like a boxer. I think he was a boxer. I think he was a boxer. I think he mentioned that he had boxed in the Olympics and him and I um, you know, I was 24 years old at the time A lot of the guys that were there actually, you know, believe it or not, I wasn't the youngest one, uh there, or the oldest, because we had a lot of retired military, really, yeah, but the PD, I was one of the oldest, but going through the department of corrections.
Speaker 2:Uh, I got a chance to work, go through the academy with some great guys that I lost contact throughout the years. But, paul pacific, if you're watching the show which I know you probably are, everybody that works in corrections watches this show hey, saludes, or whatever you. Whenever you taught us back then, I still remember it. Mil gracias de todo corazón.
Speaker 1:That's awesome dude. That's heartfelt man. Yeah, you were a youngster, 24 years old. What was the driving force Did you want to serve? Were you an adventure seeker, an adrenaline junkie? What was the driving force behind you? You know?
Speaker 2:what, hector, I was that kid growing up in Chula Vista, right next to Otay. I went to Castle Park Junior High, castle Park High School and I was that kid that I knew at five years old, six years old, that I was going to be a cop. I grew up. All my friends, a majority of my friends, they were all gangsters from Otay. They were all tecatos, just like you. I mean, you grew up in Brole. All these dudes become tecatos like Benny, all these guys that he knew. But I never used drugs, I never got in trouble but I hung around with them. But I was always that kid. That was always. I think I mentioned it on the gray line. We talked about my life.
Speaker 2:I was always fighting against the bully. I was literally. I was never that bully. If anybody's watching, we were kids. If you say I was really, you're a liar. I was that guy that was always protecting the kids. Back then we didn't have spectrum. You know this kid is special Dude. We had kids that couldn't read. We didn't have special schools. So I was the one that the guys that hung around with me were all special. They literally those were the ones. And I was always a good football player baseball player I was was always very athletic, but I always took time to protect the ones that needed protection. I was the one fighting at four years I mean at fourth grade, fighting against a sixth grade bully. You know what I mean, but I was always so. Going back to your question, I always wanted to be a cop, but I didn't get a chance to become a cop till I was 24 years old blessed are the peacemakers, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so once you, where'd you go, donovan?
Speaker 2:your first prison, no, actually my first prison. I was supposed to go to Tehachapi State Prison. That's where I was supposed to because they were opening the first level four there. Wow. So me and a group of guys were scheduled to go to Tehachapi. During that time I was married to my first wife and we had two daughters. So I had her while I'm going through the academy, looking for a place for us to live in Bakersfield or in Tehachapi. Dude, we had never heard of Bakersfield or Tehachapi.
Speaker 2:I'm from San Diego Right, born in Tijuana nine months old, grew up in San Diego, chula Vista, not San Diego County, so we didn't even know where that. So, as I'm going through Academy, my wife's looking for a place there. At the time they sent all of a sudden I probably within what was it? Maybe about a month before we graduate, they say level four is not opening yet. So we got to find you a new prison and during that time I don't know where you went for your OJT. I think they sent us once to Preston and then the next time they send us, I believe three or four days to Tracy.
Speaker 2:So when we get to Tracy, that's a long story, but you could watch it on my show when I talk about my first experience at Tracy. I'm at Tracy, uh, I'm there, and you know everybody's good people. They have me working at K wing and different areas and I'm starting to like it Right. And all of a sudden one day I'm coming back, they go do you want to stay there? I go, well, is there anything else available? They go to San Luis Obispo and everybody's going, man, san Luis Obispo, next to the beach, it's beautiful, and Tracy's in the middle of nowhere. So I call my wife I mean soy a mandalon, yes, I am, but we got divorced afterwards. But I call her up and I go wait, man, beach or and Beach or Tracy, she goes Beach. We're from San Diego.
Speaker 2:So I ended up going to CMC and I'm telling you, hector, that was the biggest blessing going to CMC, because it was a PC joint, right. So we had all the MM members there. We had all the Watson, the Charles Manson killers there, all the cops there, all the NF ABs, all the dropouts were there. So I got a chance to have Tiny Contreras, the one who killed Cheyenne Cardizio. He was on my tier. I had all these dudes on my tier that I got a chance to literally I mean literally talk to them every day, and that's another story on its own.
Speaker 2:Once again, if they want to watch how I got involved in prison gangs. But I don't know if you've ever heard of a guy by the name of Hawks. Devin Hawks, yeah, he's a legend in Department of Corrections. Well, I believe he started and he watches your show, devin, my respect, this guy is a legend in Department of Corrections, he really is. Well, he was working there as one of the gang coordinators, okay, and I got a chance going to Department of Corrections to picking his brain, to working with a real legend who later on I mean literally Devin Hawks is a legend. So I got a chance to really get to work with the best of the best when it comes to prison gangs, to interviewing gang members and so forth.
Speaker 1:No, that's awesome dude. And we were saying how different generations and back then that's how it was People would school you or the OGs would take you under their wing and show you the ropes man. That nowadays, that's a thing of the past, that's non-existent these days. So you got the introduction of gangs, you got the introduction of law enforcement. You got an introduction to hardcore criminals yeah, and then you transferred somewhere else yes, and then from right there, right there, they were going to open up Donovan.
Speaker 2:They were going to open up Donovan in 87. Right there they open, they're going to open up donovan. They were going to open up donovan in 87 and they were also thinking they were in the process and about they were about a year away, I believe a year away to open up pelican bay. So I remember having a conversation with devin and him going man, why don't you go to pelican bay with me? I'm going to be up here and I'm thinking pelican bay, but, dude, my dad, my family, my sisters, everybody were in. It was in san diego. But you know what, before I go there, let me tell you how Department of Correction was very different back then.
Speaker 1:Sounds like it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I don't know what year your dad went in 93., 92?
Speaker 1:93.
Speaker 2:93? Well, in 85, dude, it was very different. I mean it was very racial within the prison guard, especially at the California Men's Colony. I mean it was all white. There was only a few Chicanos. And the Chicanos, uh they, you spoke Spanish, whites officers, white officers. They would come up to you and they were literally saying man, you're in America, fucking speak English. You know what I mean and you just be quiet. But yet when it came time to interview somebody, you know what I mean, and the use of force was very different Over there. If an inmate talked back, I mean they got a. It was very different. I mean they got a beating coming. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:No, I do know it was very different. I do know what you mean, man, and I like to dissect and see how we got to where we're at these days and how things were back then. Right, and again you hit the nail on the head. Yeah, use of force was different, it was very different.
Speaker 2:Yes, from your opinion, from your experience, did you find that use of force to be effective? You know what to a point, to a point you elaborate on, yes, yes. And to the point where some I dude we know as cops and I'm going to go as a cop, san diego cop and as a correctional officer we knew which correctional officers or san diego cops had their lunch money taken when they were kids. We knew who you were, you know who you are, you know what I mean. We didn't like you. You know what I mean. And the inmates didn't like you and the people in the community didn't like you because we knew, and the majority were short little fuckers. You know what I mean. The majority were little guys that literally had a beef against the world because they were always picked on. So it was those guys that I was always looking at, because they were the ones when the guy was cuffed. They wanted that last slap, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Correct so yeah, so I think. Going back to your question, yes, I think that it was effective. When the cuffs were on, the fight was off you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:The fight was on and you know what to me. I've always told people I didn't get into a lot of scuffles, I would say because you know what, I knew how to talk to people right. But every inmate that's ever dealt with me knows that you know what. You cross that line, we go. You know what I mean. But I, we, we, we, we draw a line I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's simplify it for 2024, man. Yeah, if you were in a tussle with a cop, it's all fair game until the handcuffs come on. Yes once they come up I mean, and I think that should have just been, that should have been, that should have just been yes from but it was always those little little guys that always, you know, wanted to use that extra amount because they had their lunch money taken no, I hear you man, I mean, I'm sure you saw it right yeah, I seen a lot yeah oh, yeah, I'm sure you saw, but you saw the ones that you know what.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll be honest with you on this heck problem. Yeah, I seen dudes do a little extra yeah, and you know what we knew when to stop right, yeah, and then we, we, then we would actually tell them dude, I don't want you in my beat, get out of my beat, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're making me break a sweat, bro, because you don't have to do that, right you? Don't have to, you can accomplish the mission without having to do that Exactly yeah, man bro, now let's jump to, because we've got a lot to talk about. Oh yeah, we do, we do so. San Diego PD. Okay, did you ever consider staying in CDCR or were you using that as a stepping stone to get to the PD?
Speaker 2:You know, what happened was when I got transferred to San Diego. I was working R&R and I don't know if you remember the old or the new R&R there was a water fountain and then below the water fountain there was like cement and there was like five names on there. One of those was my name. Okay, it was David Contreras, Blackie Ramirez, jackson, turi and some other guys. We were the originals that started Nice. I was literally the one that when the first bus came to Donovan in 87, I can't tell you the month, but it was on the news and I can't tell you the month, but it was on the news that when those inmates, literally they went to a three yard, a three yard where you now have the hole.
Speaker 1:What building is that? That would be the two yard. Is it two yard? We got building six and building seven Building six.
Speaker 2:It was building six. That was R&R when they first opened. The first day they opened the first two months R&R was in building six and the bus came out through the back.
Speaker 2:So I was, my sergeant was Blackie Ramirez. Blackie, I know you're watching, love you, brother man. You were one of the best sergeants I ever worked for in Department of Corrections and Blackie was my sergeant. He was a former Marine. He, he came from cmc. The dude wouldn't take any shit from nobody but he was respectful. But you crossed the line. You had it coming. You know what I mean. But he was the best of the best man. I mean he was backing us up but we had a bunch of men right that we weren't going to be slapping nobody around. You know what. But if you had it coming, we deal with it correct, but we weren't that kind.
Speaker 2:We didn't nobody around you know what, but if you had it coming we'd deal with it, correct. But we weren't that kind. We didn't have any guys that got their money taken. All these dudes were bigger than me.
Speaker 2:Right you know what I mean. So, going back to that, you know it was great man, because I did, I think three years, yeah, two and a half years, at Donovan and what happened was I was scheduled to go to the security squad and I was that guy in R&R that, as soon as we'd get all these inmates, I was the one documenting the gang members Sureños, norteños and, dude, because I've always loved working prison gangs, you know what I mean Even street gangs. So I had my own index card, I would be sending the information, so I was supposed to go to the security squad. I had my own index card, I would be sending the information, so I was supposed to go to the security squad. But what happened? The warden Rattel selected somebody else and you, dude, that was literally the last thing that broke the camel's back.
Speaker 2:Carlos Chacon at the time, which another one of my mentors, san Diego PD Sergeant Detective, sergeant Chacon, thank you, brother. He's the one that basically recruited me to go to San Diego PD. And you know what? I didn't regret it at all, man. I mean, I love Department of Corrections, I love the people that I work with, but once I went to San Diego PD, dude, I was there to stay.
Speaker 1:Well, I could only imagine how much of a better cop it made you having those communication skills.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, you cannot believe that man. I mean, I'm going through training and I got this training officer who later on became assistant, deputy assistant chief of police, todd Jarvis, and I'm teaching him. Right, you know what I mean? Hey, that guy's a parolee, that guy's a parolee and he used to always say man Contreras used to call me clusterfuck. He goes oh, clusterfuck, because, dude, we'd be driving 11 o'clock at night. He was assigned to downtown. At the time was my first training officer. Assigned to downtown. At the time was my first training officer and I still practice things that he taught me. Believe it or not, that remember I told you pacifico. Yeah, jarvis is another one that I still today drive my, my personal vehicle. In tampa, a car pulls up next to me. I you know where a stop sign or stop stop light, I always pull behind him, dude, he taught me that. And no matter how cold, or I always have the window down because you're listening for gunshot, dude, I still practice.
Speaker 2:It's funny how that, how it went, but but yes, uh, you know yeah, I always leave enough room to be able to get out of there and the other thing too, that I still practice today because of him dude, we're talking about 1989 man I still, even today, if I stop a stop and I'm gonna get exit my car. I never go in front, I always go through the back.
Speaker 1:Really, what's the reason behind that one?
Speaker 2:Well, the reason? Because if you ever went to the front of a traffic stop and I'm not talking about, but I still practice it, no matter if I park, but on a traffic stop you get out of your vehicle and you go in front of your car, he could rear in you and take your legs out. So, no matter what, if I was in a traffic stop, and always, whenever you come near a car, first thing you do you touch the trunk. Why, I don't know, but I still do that. Dude, I'll go to the supermarket, I'll walk in my pam and I'm just going. What the fuck did I do that? For you know what I mean, but but you know what? It's things that you learn, right, you know?
Speaker 1:and I, because of him, yeah, I still practice some of those things back then in san diego, pd um, was there less stations, substations was there less, probably. I'm assuming. Maybe now they cover more ground, or was there?
Speaker 2:you know what? No, we still had the same crown that we covered. We still had the same ground. I believe we have maybe one or two new subs. Back then we didn't have the logan heights substation at 25th and imperial. We were all central. Division was logan heights or sherman heights. Lo Heights, grand Hill area and downtown was all at police headquarters right down the street here at 14th and Broadway. Later they opened up the substation. I never got a chance to work there at 25th and Imperial. 25th and Imperial was probably the worst part of the city. It used to be the welfare office. So dude, we used to have shootings there, stabbings.
Speaker 1:What year, what time frame?
Speaker 2:this is from 19. There's probably there from 19, probably early 80s. Uh and I was uh probably 1995, 1995. They finally put this, the substation there, they got rid of it of the uh welfare office and probably 94, but I never got a chance to work in there so in.
Speaker 1:In your opinion, do these San Diego's downtown streets look grimier now or grimier back then?
Speaker 2:When I left the department in 2015,. They look much better than they do right now. Right now that I drove in here and I saw all the homeless dude, I had valet parking. I had to bring my bag with my gun inside because you know what I wasn't going to trust. Even if there's valet parking at one of the nice restaurants here, nice hotels, I didn't trust it. And, walking over here, I've never seen the homeless problem as bad as it is now. And you know what? We just had the new chief of police, scott Wall, on our show and that's one of the things biggest thing that he is currently currently working on on the homeless issue and he brought it up. We were bringing up gangs, cartels. He goes my biggest problem is a homeless and you know what? Now I know you're talking about chief and please take care of it, because it's not fair for the people that live downtown and I know you're going to take care of it or anybody in general man, people that come visit out of state.
Speaker 2:San diego is probably the most beautiful city it is very beautiful, ain't nobody trying to, you know? Bums peeing, you know yeah, so I think I've gotten worse downtown, yeah man, so did you as a police officer work?
Speaker 1:the logan heights and or gang infested neighborhoods?
Speaker 2:oh, yeah, man, when I came on, uh, back then, after I graduated from the academy, I think we had four phases. We went to different commands. My first phase I was at central division. Second phase, uh, southeast, and then we'll go on southern and so forth. Dude, back then, I'm not, we went to different commands. My first phase I was at Central Division. Second phase, southeast, and then we'd go on Southern and so forth. Dude, back then.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying I was the best, I say this humbly, only the best of the best came to Central, central Division and dude, and if somebody now I hear the best of the best, go to Mid-City, other commands, southeast, back then, central Division, dude, that was Logan Heights. It was yeah, oh yeah, and people always said we used to call it downtown cops, we used to call them downtown clowns and I know none of you are watching because none of you were correctional officers but we used to call them downtown clowns because, dude, we were the Logan Heights cops. Dude, it was the brotherhood, it was like the marines, right, you know what I mean? I mean we were, I mean we love our guys downtown. Yeah, dude, it was a different mentality, it was a brotherhood.
Speaker 1:Only the best of the best worked down uh logan heights at the time dude you were primed and ready for I would only assume would be the early 90s gang.
Speaker 2:Oh boom, dude, when I was working logan heights. All these guys that became assassins for the ariano cartel, every one of them, david, barron, dude, they lived. My gang was Calle Treinta.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You know, don't ask me about Red Steps, don't ask me about Trece. You could ask me about Sherman. You could ask me about Lomas. I knew them very well but, dude, my gang said where they knew me and I knew every. I knew their parents.
Speaker 1:I had so many informants into calle 30, it was unbelievable did you ever know an individual or individual by the last name of blanco?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, well, I knew the blancos very well. Yes, I knew the blancos very well.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I bring that up. Somebody told me that hey, ask him if you know about them and I actually know one of the dudes who's in prison man, very respectful inmate, very respectful dude. He has life without man and since the governor wants to let people out like the Menendez brothers, I think to myself well, why not let this dude out?
Speaker 2:Oh, dude, you're talking about the youngster Adoriram.
Speaker 1:Yeah, arath, arath.
Speaker 2:Arath, arath, arath. Oh, dude, that little boy. You know what man, that little boy? He's a victim of circumstances. Can you elaborate? I didn't even I'm getting chills because I didn't want to bring this up, but I wanted to get your honest opinion, dude. I'm glad you did. I'm a fair man, dude. I'm a fair guy, you knew him, I knew him at.
Speaker 1:Centinella, and I knew him at Donovan.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Very respectful. Got visits every weekend. Yes, for his beautiful wife, and I hope he gets out dude.
Speaker 2:Dude, that kid right there grew up with Conejo, his brother Beto. I was there when his brother Beto was shot. Actually, his brother Beto, when he was shot didn't die in my arms, but I was holding him when Shelltown came and shot him at 1 o'clock in the morning. I remember it was a Monday night. I believe it was January and we're talking about 1992, 1993. Don't quote me on the exact date, but, dude, that's one thing that I'll never forget Beto was David Barron. You've heard of David Barron, absolutely Popeye's godson, really.
Speaker 2:When beto died that night, that weekend, david barron came across the border. How he came across the border, dude, through a tunnel and he went to shell town. And that was the first time during that era that ak-47s we used to hear shotguns, barrio against barrio, drive-bys, always shotguns 22s, maybe a 45, maybe, dude, I was there during that time Never an AK-47. Because they killed his. As a matter of fact, david Barron named his son, Alberto, behind Albert Vasquez. Dude, what a small world.
Speaker 2:Well, going back to that, his brother, his tío, was another guy by the name of Jesús Araujo. He was one of the main leaders of Logan Heights, calle 30. I mean, they don't have an anarchy. You know where they have leadership, but there's always those tough guys that run the barrio. It was Papay. It was the other Papay, aguirre, dude. They all came out of the Araujo house. So, going back to Arath, me and my partner Van Cruz were working Logan Heights at the time. Dude, we saw Arath growing up. We used to go out there in uniform and play basketball with him. Nice Play catch. He was that good kid that we. He was going to La Jolla because they were coming busing him at the time. I hope his wife's not looking, but she probably is. Dude, that guy was a little player.
Speaker 2:We're going to have to edit that part out, man he would come back.
Speaker 1:My boy's not going to get no more visits, man he would come back.
Speaker 2:Well, that was before he met her.
Speaker 1:His beautiful wife. I met his beautiful wife.
Speaker 2:Well, he would always come back and dude, he'd tell us stories. Hey man, today man, I got a blonde. Today I got a Dude. We used to sit. He was that kid that I would have invested money in his college. You know what I mean? I would have said you know what? Arad, wow, man, he was a good kid.
Speaker 1:Did he ultimately get?
Speaker 2:What happened was I get transferred out. I think I went to community relations for a year and a half and then I get transferred to San Isidro and when I'm in San Isidro I don't come back to Logan Heights, I'm in San Ysidro. I was there for a year and a half, a year and a half. Then I went to gangs and now I'm in gangs. I'm all over the city. So I never saw him again.
Speaker 2:But I remember Van Cruz continue working as a Sergeant at Logan Heights. One day he calls me and he goes guess who got arrested? And I go who? He goes, arath, and he tells me about what happened, about the murder. Dude, he got screwed on that case.
Speaker 2:And I'll be the first to say you know what, out of all those guys, if it was eight guys that got arrested, dude, I knew all of them. I knew all of them. He was the one, one of the guys ratted on him, one or two of the guys ratted on him. Dude, he was not a leader, he was probably drunk at the time, but he was that kid. If I would have bet money I'm not a better, but I would have said he is going to make it, but, dude, he grew up in the worst of the worst and he wasn't like them, dude. He wasn't a gangster. He was that kid who wore jeans, who wore tennis shoes Everybody's all, dude. He was never a gangster.
Speaker 2:And why? He got life without parole. I wish I could do something for him. He doesn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve that he doesn't deserve. He's already done, I believe, 30 years, and I know that that murder was gruesome, I know all about it. But if there's anything that I could ever do for him because I know that, you know what if anybody deserves a chance, it's Arath. I'm telling you, I'm not one of those bleeding hearts, dude. I mean people that know me, they know who I am. I mean I'm as straight as can be and as truthful as I can be, but Arath is a special case man.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm a firm believer in God, bro, and I feel the same way.
Speaker 2:I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, and you know what side of the fence I stand on.
Speaker 1:But I know what fair and fair is. Yeah, right, so yeah, and I knew those guys that he was with, they were killers.
Speaker 2:I could tell you I'm not going to mention their names out of respect because they're all out now except him, but I tell you, every one of those guys I arrested for 245, for shootings, for stabbings, every one of those guys I knew, and you all know who I, you all remember me very well, but Arath, I'm telling you, arath, dude, he was not one of them. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time and probably high, and he was a good kid. What a small world brother. You mentioned him. Yeah, he's been so that I get off on it, because you know what I like that kid. He had potential, he has potential, he has potential yeah.
Speaker 1:And again just to emphasize, he was very respectful man when I was a CO at Cincinnati and I came to donovan when I was a sergeant lieutenant, I'm like hey man, what's, what's up, and you know. But he remembers.
Speaker 2:He remembers me and van cruz yeah, they used to call me, and my partner van cruz is a filipino. So you know everybody has these cool named cops. You know they have batman robin yeah they got pac-man dude. They used to call us rice and beans. I was the beans and my partner was rice you.
Speaker 1:So during that time frame there was a lot of cross-border interaction. Was that up to the San Diego PD to get involved in that, or were there other agencies that kind of took the lead?
Speaker 2:You know, it's during that time that we my partner Van Cruz and I I mean, dude, we were treinta I'm talking about from 89, 90, from 90 to 93 and a half, yeah, 94. Dude, we were in Calle Treinta every day. They knew us. And one thing about my partner and I we weren't just beat cops, dude. We would go and we would buy gifts for maybe never for Arath, but for other kids in the community. We would have Christmas, we would dress up, we would dress up like Santa Claus in Calle Treinta. Like I said, don't ask me about rat steps, dude, I don't know anybody. Or Sherman, I knew a lot of those guys, but Treinta, for whatever reason, god placed a burden in my heart to help Treinta. So I knew all of their parents. I knew Arath's mom, I knew all the parents, they all knew me.
Speaker 2:I was that cop that I'd be driving by Señor le tenemos tamales. Hey, señor, aquí le tengo un chapurrado. As a cop, as a cop, dude, I'm in a patrol car, I'm that guy and I was that cop, me and my partner, that whenever you'd let's check this out, dude Whenever you'd be driving by, they'd see other and they're all Corale, contreras, corale, rice and beans, right. So you know what I used to do. I used to get on the microphone because I mean, I came out of the pinta, right.
Speaker 2:And I'd go Puro Norte, Puro NF, aquí cabrones.
Speaker 1:Would they laugh, Contreras? They were all laughing.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:We were, I, but yeah, and that's the fun part, man like you were stating earlier. That's the fun part. We were able to interact and maneuver, yeah, in that environment. Exactly that environment is not for the faint of heart.
Speaker 2:But I'll tell you. But when it came time to take care of business, right dude, they knew, you know what. We would jump over fences. You shoot at me, right you, uh, you hurt. There was one guy I'm not going to mention because I don't want to give him any power that while we're working, treinta, this little monkey decides to start taxing the viejitas in Calle Treinta. So I go up to one of the older homeboys, I go, hey, ¿sabes qué? Take care of this little dude man. He's taxing viejitas. He's threatening to burn their houses down. We'll take care of it. Next thing, you know, one of Yajita's house burns down. Only God knows whatever happened to that guy. We never did find out whatever happened to him because they took care of their own.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. What kind of sidearms did you have back in the day? Revolvers, or did you have semi-automatics?
Speaker 2:When I came out of the academy they gave me a revolver, came out of the Academy, I think I was one of the first classes that they allowed us to bring in our nine millimeters and I remember buying my Smith and Wesson model I believe 469. And, as a matter of fact, I gave it to my grandson and I still have my original model.
Speaker 2:I believe it's 416 or 659, but it was, I believe seven or eight shot, and I was one of the first on my Academy class, I believe seven or eight shot, and I was one of the first on my Academy class. But we had to buy them and uh, and I remember for years I still kept that, uh, that gun that they gave me, that, uh, smith and Wesson, five, five shot, whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I never trained with it. I I trained with my own gun. So yeah back then a nine millimeter. When chief lansdowne came in he opened it up to 40s, to 45s. He opened up for other weapons to come in dude.
Speaker 1:That's interesting man, so now walk me through. You wanted to tell me about the story about mexico. How does this, how does this evolve, man? Does this? Was this during your private investigator days or when you were still a cop?
Speaker 2:well, you know what I like. I said I started in lo Heights, okay, and I'll tell you, one of the things I never really talk about is my last year and a half in Logan Heights. I wanted to get transferred to Community Relations because community, really, you know, you always talk about you being the PIO.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Remind me to tell you I was San Diego PD's PIO, were you To the Latino community? Okay, yes, and, but that wasn't during the time. But I got a chance now for a year and a half of 84 to 95, for about a year yeah, a year to be the community relations where I actually wore a suit to work. I had my own office in Barrio Sherman and I would go and I would work with the parents and I would go and I would work with the parents and I would go and I would work with the teachers, I would work in the community. I was. If they had burglaries, I would say you know what? Let's deploy 25 officers here. I was working with the command, I was the liaison to the community. I got a chance to do so many things. Let me tell you a quick story about one of my first almost shootings, almost shootings. How God works.
Speaker 2:I know, dude, we only have two hours, but you need to hear this story, one of the things that when I came on we were on a squad that we were very proactive.
Speaker 2:So what my partner and I did, we would go like to the thrifty store you know, where they sell used clothes, and I would buy these big trench coats. So when we're working graveyard, when the night was slow, we would put trench coats on and we would get empty bottles of whiskey and we would walk around like we were drunks, we would put a hat on and walk in the barrios, literally hey, cabron orale, you know. And then we see guys making deals and then when they make the deals, we take off the jacket, tackle them and we'd arrest them, right. But I remember one night we're walking, my partner and I, van cruz, we're walking through the south alley yes, it's a south alley of 2400 j street, and as we're walking we have our trench coats on and it's slow so there's no radio calls, but we got a little radio piece on so we're listening. Uh, it's three o'clock in the morning and all of a sudden we hear Viva.
Speaker 1:Mexico cabrones.
Speaker 2:And this guy comes out and we hear we don't know where it's coming from. We hear pow, pow, pow, five shots. And then all of a sudden he go in. By now radio calls are coming in, somebody's shooting. I mean you're in Sherman Heights, somebody's shooting rounds, and by now we're literally like like every 10 minutes he would come out and he'd go in the house, drink tequila, come out and shoot. So my partner and I see it, so we start calling everybody in. Hey, you know what? We we got the shooter. He's on the second floor at 2235 J street, the gray apartment complex. He's on the second floor. Contreras is taking the staircase. I'm taking the side. I mean we're setting a perimeter. You know how we do it, setting a perimeter. Everything's getting set up. And I remember one of the times he comes out, I mean literally every. We were timing it nine minutes. He'd go in, load up a .22, load it up, come back up.
Speaker 1:Viva Mexico.
Speaker 2:And he'd shoot it off right. So now I'm at the bottom and there's a guy right next to me I'm not going to mention his name because he's not here to defend himself. He's a piece of shit, he's a cop. He's standing right next to me and he's the Mexican man. Big fat guy comes out and when he comes out, typical comes out, viva Mexico. And he shoots up. Now I know he's Mexican, I know he doesn't speak English. He's probably illegal.
Speaker 2:Right, I'm at the bottom of the staircase, I'm looking at him and I got my gun pointed right at him. Van is over there, we got the whole place around it. And as I'm pointing up, the cop next to me is whispering in my ear. I'm yelling, I mean I'm using every word possible to get him off. I'm pointing my gun at him. I remember he looked at me and when he looked at me he had the gun up here because you know he shot off and he'd go back inside drunk tequila. And he looks at me and he's bringing the gun down.
Speaker 2:As he's bringing the gun down, this cop is whispering in my ear. I mean he's right here, he's going let's kill this motherfucker, let's kill this. And I'm yelling at him and I got my finger on the trigger and I'm ready to blow this guy and I'm thinking you know what? Pop, pop, pop, pop, three shots. He's down, he's going to come down. I'm already thinking I'm going to move out of the way because he's going to splatter over here. But, dude, he's kill him, let's kill him. I mean, swear to God, he's yelling. Let's fucking blow this motherfucker. He's doing this and I look at him. I'm still got my eye on him and I go there's no threat. I go, there's no threat. He goes. I go, he's bringing it down, man, he's bringing it down, dude, I'm not afraid to kill anybody, right? But when there's no threat and there wasn't no threat he put the gun down. Actually, he dropped the gun and he falls down. We had to call an ambulance for him because, it was a staircase made out of cement.
Speaker 2:And he comes, we handcuff him, dude, three weeks later, that same cop that was whispering in my ear and I remember he goes we could have killed him, I go, we could have killed him, I go. Dude, where's the threat? You know, dude, where's the threat? Right, you know, dude, I'm the first I'll blow you away if I feel a threat. But there was no threat. Well, let me tell you what happened. So, three weeks later, that same cop gets arrested for being. He was exposing himself at an elementary school.
Speaker 2:No, Three weeks later that same cop that's yelling at me kill that motherfucker, he gets arrested. So everybody's all. He got arrested and, oh my God, because the guy was, I mean a good cop, I mean felony cop. But I'm thinking, no, you know what If I were to pull the trigger? Well, going to community relations, one of my jobs was to, if there was shootings, a lot of gang violence, we would get the community to come out and basically work with the community to march against gang violence and work with us, with the churches, right. So one day I'm holding, like I said, I was here for a year and a half. I got a chance to work with the pastors, with the churches, superintendent schools. So I'm holding this get together and I need people to help me pass off flyers and to march. And I'm working together with the police. I'm the liaison this man shows up.
Speaker 1:The old man.
Speaker 2:No, the drunk. The drunk shows up with his little daughters. And when he comes up to me, dude, those are things you never forget, right? And I remember looking at him in the eye. And I go do you remember me? And he goes señor. And he sees my name, actually me. And he goes señor. And he sees my name tag Well, actually I didn't have it, I had a suit and tie he goes no, I go, I'm a cop, I go, soy policia.
Speaker 2:And he goes okay, I go. ¿te acuerdas una vez, cabrón, estabas bien borracho? And I tell him, dude, and he goes sí, señor, yo era. I go. I know, because he's still had the scar right. And he looked at me and I didn't tell him oh, I got a shot, no, I just go. But do you know how close you came? I go, and he goes. Look at me now. He goes. I'm not, I don't drink anymore, I'm with my children. But I mean, that's how destiny and God works. You know, hector, because I know that if I could, it would have been a justifiable shooting. But down inside, you know when it's time and when it's not you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Well, there's no doubt that you took, in all the circumstances, I mean facial expressions, his, you know. Yes, his moves aggressive, are they not? Yes, you know, does he want to hurt me? You can tell when a person dies. If they want you, you could see hurt.
Speaker 2:Yes, you could see it, and you know what. Luckily for me that I was right correct, you know I mean. But I'm telling you the minute that gun.
Speaker 1:he was gone, I know without a doubt, You're a good cop man. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:He was gone. But what I'm trying to say here is that you know, you know what, if you're in it to kill, if you're what I mean, there's two extremes to that, though. Oh, there is two extremes.
Speaker 1:There's that extreme, we're bloodthirsty people, yes, and then the prey yes, and you know what?
Speaker 2:uh, I was never a prey and I would never allow myself to be a prey. I mean, you ask anybody that knew me do you have a?
Speaker 1:message for those that will maybe hesitate, or maybe not. Don't, maybe they just show up to the job because they want a paycheck.
Speaker 2:No, no, you know what. Don't believe anybody. That's one thing. That why I was a pretty good I say a pretty good cop, because I never believed anybody and I don't care if they were my informants. When I talk about Arath, yes, you know what the kid we wanted to help him, but I always knew that you know what. Yes, he wasn't perfect and you know what. He could kill me and no matter who I dealt with at the time. You know what, that guy if I would have seen him just come up he was coming down because I spoke the language but I would not have hesitated to empty my chamber into him. I would not have. And don't ever hesitate, don't ever. You'll know. You know, you know what I mean. Don't ever question yourself. Once that bullet leaves, you can't take it back and you know what. You stick to it and you did the right thing. You definitely did the right thing, but you will know.
Speaker 1:You will know. You know, what is a current problem in 2024 is peace officers. Law enforcement officers are actually more afraid of getting fired and prosecuted than actually losing their life, which caused them to hesitate. What do you have to say to that? That they're thinking I mean you'll have a bad guy drawn on you and they're thinking, fuck, I'm going to get fired. You know what? Quit.
Speaker 2:Quit, quit the job. It's not for you. Quit the job, quit the job. I'll tell you, hector, if you ever talk to any cops I know you've seen, you've had a thousand cops on your shows and if a cop ever tells you you know that's bullshit. Having cops, having cameras, you know what? I love it. I love it. You know what I wish?
Speaker 2:When I came out in 89, I had cameras. Three quarters of 99% of my internal affairs complaints wouldn't have gone anywhere because there was a camera. You know what? If you have something to hide, then quit. If you have nothing to hide, you're doing everything the way it's supposed to. You're supposed to. Then you know what? Hey, more power. So I believe in cameras, but if you're afraid to get prosecuted, please quit. Please quit, because you're going to get yourself hurt or you're going to get your partner hurt, but you're going to get yourself hurt, or you're going to get your partner hurt, but you're going to get hurt. If you're afraid to pull that trigger or afraid of getting prosecuted, you're doing the right thing when you press that trigger. Just know that you're doing the right thing.
Speaker 1:You stand by it. Speaking of policy and procedure and law, was it policy for you guys to don freaking trench coats and hats? Oh, dude, we were.
Speaker 2:I would have gotten fired. You guys would have gotten fired. Yeah, hector, hector, I had, I had. I had eight months on the police department, eight months on, and I think that I'm the only one that's ever done this San Diego PD, and I'm not bragging about it. But I'm going to tell you, benny, on my, on my life. You know we did that two hour special. He started off reading my commendation. I had eight months on, but I came out of the pinta so I knew you know what I mean. Well, what did I know? Not a violent policy dude. I went at eight months on, put a trench coat.
Speaker 2:I went into a house there in sherman heights, knock on the door with my police radio, with my uniform, but a trench coat, and the guys are quantcuántas dos and he, I take out my $20 bill, I put my social security. Who puts a social security number? I put my whole social security number and I pay with it. He gives it back to me. I go back to headquarters. Luckily I had guys that had been on longer than me. They helped me. I didn't write it. Well, I wrote it, but they showed me how to write a telephonic search warrant. Dude, without the sergeant's permission. He never knew we were doing that. At the same time we're answering radio calls. We're answering radio calls and I'm at the station. They're covering for me. I'm writing the search warrant. I swear in front of a judge. We get the search warrant. We go without our sergeant. We served the search when we got something like 70 bendles, like two thousand dollars what was the point of the social security number to?
Speaker 2:confirm. To confirm, once I got the money I could, I put on my report. I took a picture. This is what I sold them. So when we hit the house with the search warrant, I got my money, you know what I mean? We arrested like five boyos they were illegals at the time, selling and then we called my sergeant a hey, by the way, he served the search warrant. What, oh dude, he was going to fire me. Really, oh dude. But like my father used to say, a veces es mejor pedir perdón que permiso. Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness. But, dude, I was young and dumb, dude, he could have fired me, but instead he was a good dude man. He, he was a good dude man. He was a good dude. He goes, you know what? Because you're new.
Speaker 1:But the older guys pushed me into it right, right, absolutely, and he goes, don't you ever do this again.
Speaker 2:And he actually gave me a commendation. Really, he gave me one of the highest, which is a commanding officer citation Dude, those are very hard to get and he gave me one of those.
Speaker 1:Now, was that common practice? Was everybody doing this, or was it just a small dude? It?
Speaker 2:was just us yeah, dude I, I guarantee you, no san diego cop ever did that in uniform. I was probably different. I'm not bragging about it, but yeah, I am. You know what I mean, because you know what? Nobody was doing that. No, now they were wearing trench coats walking but actually buying dope in uniform dude, I don't think anybody.
Speaker 2:And getting to search one at eight months on, eight months on, yeah that was uh, yeah, but but that's the way we worked, every day in logan heights, like the movie training day. Oh, dude, we were, we were out there, man yeah, that's good though, man.
Speaker 1:I like it. That's what I like, bro. It gives me like a, like an, like a rush oh, you know what I mean. Yeah, it was great were you part of any major news like events that happened, incidents where that got media, major media attention?
Speaker 2:well when, when the arianos came and started recruiting. I actually have a really good video. I'll send it to you. Take a look at it. I got interviewed by a numerous uh uh. As a matter of fact, I have some videos from uh, from uh uh, germany, from mexico, dude. I got interviewed world news because, for whatever reason, everybody, as a matter of fact, I have some videos from Germany, from Mexico, dude. I got interviewed at World News because, for whatever reason, everybody thought I was like the gang expert and I really wasn't. I was working at Logan Heights, dude, but the gang expert was Steve Duncan. I don't know if you know Steve. Yeah, yeah, if you ever get a chance, get him on your show.
Speaker 1:Actually, there's a person that told me to bring up and told me about, about duncan, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, send him my way and we'll knock it out he lives nearby here, saying you know what he would love to that guy. He's a legend, steve. You know what? Without a doubt, brother, you're a legend. He's the one that knew all those he's working at the juvenile hall when they were kids, right. So he knew him. I worked, I worked the streets and he worked juvenile hall.
Speaker 1:And steve duncan, I'll tell you that guy's a legend, without a doubt well, to me, all you guys are legend man, everybody on the gray line podcast, all everybody that came before us oh yeah, dude you guys set the. You've set the way, man. Yeah, you mentioned Arellano recruiting from Logan Heights. Yes, what type of individuals were getting recruited? Were they dummies? Were they hardcore? Were they tecatos, or was it a gamut of?
Speaker 2:Dude no tecatos.
Speaker 1:No tecatos, no dude these were soldados, these were kids.
Speaker 2:I mean, the only tecatos you hear of is Albert Marquez, this guy, pardo, these were all stone. They were nothing. Albert marquez, in mexico, bat marquez, everybody talks, get back, dude. Bad was a cristolero, you know what I mean? He was a drug addict. He was nobody, you know, it was guys like, uh, pato quinones. It was guys like uh, uh, uh at the time, uh, um, uh, puma, uh, a lot tarzan, a lot of those vatos. They were not gatos, dude, they were stone killers.
Speaker 2:Villegas, these dudes, if anything, maybe PCP once in a while, but no, these guys were kids, dude, they were kids. Who were they pushing that hard line for? They were pushing it for money. And that's when we started seeing the change in Calle. They were still calle 30, but, dudes, they didn't, they, they didn't, they did not dress like with the khakis. No, they started dressing like, you know, uh, uh, when you go to a mexican disco, you know what I mean with those nice shirts, nice pants, cartel type, cartel type. They weren't driving the lowriders anymore, dude. And then we started seeing I went through the stages in Treinta and I mention a lot Treinta because that was my gang scent when I would go always to the funerals when they would have everybody dressed, you know, with charger, huge charger jerseys, big khakis Pendletons, and they would always be playing Angel Baby sit in the park.
Speaker 2:And then I went to the stage lowriders Dude when all of a sudden you wouldn't see lowriders anymore. You would see a couple of guys, you know, with the big jerseys on or the big pants, but you would see them come up in black SUVs and they would have a banda playing corridos.
Speaker 1:How common was it to see Fallons come in and out of the streets?
Speaker 2:Oh, dude it was. I mean, well, dude they were when I was working Treinta or working Logan Heights. They knew they better not come out when I was there Because I knew them from the Pinta and anybody that I saw there, dude, 3056, pc, which was parole violation, they were mine. There was one dude that I literally arrested eight times in one day, dude, and you know what I knew as soon as I would see a felon I mean, if they were black, my my way of looking at the blacks, because they were huge but they had chicken legs.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:This dude just got out of the joint and my partner would say how do you know, dude? Look at those legs, you know what I mean. And the Chicanos, oh dude, they came out all. Oh dude, they came out all I mean. I knew immediately the shoes they were wearing, the brown shoes back then, yeah, spit shoes, yeah, they were wearing the brown shoes.
Speaker 2:And then, as I'm going through their clothing, they used to have a little red notebook. And, dude, that red notebook, I've never done time, dude, I gave you that when you got out. You know what I mean. So, dude, nobody was safe If they were a parolee at large, a parolee in logan heights, when I was there, because, dude, I knew him like the palm of my hand. But, yes, they were coming in and out, so a lot of them got deported back to mexico, so a lot of them, uh, were deported. And that's when they joined the arellanos, because a lot of them got deported once they got to tijuana. These dudes grew up in LA, grew up in San Diego. They had no ties, but they got deported, and that's when they joined.
Speaker 1:So for the viewers and to help refresh my memory, what were they doing? Providing gunners to them in exchange for dope to come up north. What kind of business arrangement was it?
Speaker 2:What they were doing at the time was they were basically recruiting them, taking them to Tijuana and Ensenada, mexicali, tecate, and training them to be assassins. And they were assassins Down south, down south, no, but they would also come to San Isidro and commit a murder. They would go to LA to commit a murder. These aren't gang members now. I mean, they were gang members at one time. They don't act like gang members. They're still tatted out. But a lot of the youngsters Puma, dude, these guys never had tattoos. These guys had Straight fucking sicarios, sicarios, that's what they were Straight sicarios and they would put a bullet. They were really good shots. They knew how to use a .308. They knew how to throw a grenade. Dude, these guys were very well trained. We had I can never prove this that the Arellanos were hiring Israelis to come and train them. We had heard that never confirmed it. It was all rumors, but without a doubt, they were definitely being trained by different military personnel, whether it's America or Mexican, but they were trained by military personnel.
Speaker 1:Now, did San Diego PD take a different approach? Were they putting out bulletins like hey, be on the lookout, bolos, for these motherfuckers may have military arsenals and training?
Speaker 2:You know what, once the incident happened with the Cardenal Posadas in Guadalajara? Yes, we did, but during that time, the only place that you would really hear about them was us working Logan Heights.
Speaker 1:because we knew dude, but nobody else knew that's interesting dude. Yeah, nobody knew.
Speaker 2:So that's why I was telling you. When the cardinal came out, they had all these cameras come and the pd would always say send me to contrarians, and I'm working patrol. I have videos where I'm in a patrol car and they're going. I go, hey, well, listen, let me bring this kid over there. And I actually go up to a group of gangsters that go, hey, tell me about this. Hey, contrarians, you know we can't, but it's on video. You know what I mean. So, but yeah, I was, yeah, I was an expert on that excellent because I knew these kids.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, bro. That's history, man, that's history. So, uh, tell us about your time in mexico. You know, I know you mentioned juarez right before this, and then you mentioned. Uh, mayo zambada. Yes, yes, how did that come okay?
Speaker 2:now now. So now I'm working, like I said, um, you know, going through my career real quick. I work patrol, I worked community relations for a year. I get in trouble, go to Southern Could we get in trouble too? My penitence was going to Southern San Ysidro. That was like oh, you're going to hell, right, dude. I get to San Ysidro and I come in with a Logan Heights mentality. I am hitting houses, I'm getting dope and I last year a year, about a year and a half, and then I transfer over to GST gang suppression team, which is like the LAPD crash team. We're in uniform. So I'm working the PD. I think I was there like for four years, three and a half four years and then I make sergeant. When I make sergeant, I last in patrol for, I think, a year and a half and then I got promoted and I became the chief of police, bejarano at the time his special assistant.
Speaker 2:I was the liaison to the Latino community and then I actually, right before 9-11, I actually because, for whatever reason, I've always been a visionary I saw 9-11, not 9-11 happening, but I saw the war between Israel and the Arab community. So I actually the San Diego PD has always had groups that would meet with the chief, whether it was a gay and lesbian community, asian, pacific Islander, black community, hispanic community, and there was one more I'll remember. So we had these and we would meet with the chief. There were groups of community leaders, pastors, businessmen, and they would meet with the chief every month and they would complain or praise the police department. So when we had these groups, I was in charge of the Latinos, so I told the chief one day I go, chief, you know what? I don't know if you see this, but, man, it's hitting the news. It's all a matter of time.
Speaker 2:Arabs and Jews, we need to form our own advisory boards. And he goes, do it. So I actually put together the first Arab, american and Jewish American together. We had 30 people as an advisory board. I had imams from the Muslim, I had rabbis, I had community leaders, I had business leaders, I had community people. I had 30 Jews and it was funny when they would come in and meet with the chief.
Speaker 2:The Jews sit on this side, the Arabs sit over here. I'd sit on one corner and the chief would sit there, but we would break bread and we knew the imams, dude, they would literally sit down and talk with a rabbi, the biggest rabbi, the church in La Jolla, would break bread with the rabbi with the biggest church over here off of Genesee Avenue. That's nice, you know what I mean Beboa, beboa and 163. So I was able to form that. Now, as we're going. The Latino community kept me really busy, dude. I could tell you stories, but I also became the PIO for the Latino community. So every time there was an incident in a Latino community, dude, I'm the one that came out on Univision, on all the channels, and I'm the one Would you do it on scene at the? I'm the one de parte de la policia de San Diego los bienvenidos.
Speaker 1:Would you do it on scene, at the location of the incident, or would you do it at the headquarters?
Speaker 2:Dude, believe it or not, there were times I was always going to the scene, nice. But if I wasn't at the scene, there was times when it's a Sunday afternoon, I'm in my pool in Chula Vista, wow, I would literally just put a shirt on and put a tie on, but if you would see, I had shorts on. Wow, dude, and my background was, you know, a nice background, and I'd be by my pool and I'd have a suit on and I'd be telling them see the bar, because I'd read the incident, I'd call the watch commander. So, dude, I did that many of times. So, when you were talking about being the PIO, I was a PIO. So I know exactly. Yeah, so I was a PIO for all the Latino communities.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, consider becoming a patron, where you will get first exclusive dibs on the video before it airs to the public and you'll get to ask the guest special questions that you have in mind. So that's also another way to support the channel. Thank you, guys. Appreciate all of you. Keep pushing forward. Make sure you hit that link in the description below From there I go to Internal Affairs.
Speaker 2:I worked in Internal Affairs for two years. That was very interesting. There I left Internal Affairs, I went to gangs as a detective sergeant. Now I go back as a detective sergeant. Dude, we work some cases I'm not going to get into back. I mean some. I mean.
Speaker 1:Real quick. Is IA Internal Affairs out to burn cops, or is that a misconception?
Speaker 2:No, that's a misconception. Misconception, but you do have those ones.
Speaker 2:You do have that one that got picked on Dude, I had two internal affairs and we knew who they were and I would always tell Lieutenant in front of him dude, I've never been a backstabber. I mean, you see, what you see is what you get. I would say read this guy's report. You know what this dude man, you know what he doesn't think like us, and I would tell him right in front of him. You know what he doesn't think like us, you know what he's out to get somebody. You know. And because I don't like people like that, you know what it either. It is true, don't make shit up, don't make it up, but I always saw that old conduct.
Speaker 2:I'm becoming oh you know what I'm investigating this, but I got you on this. You know what I mean and, uh, that was something that I I always hated, and these little pricks, I'll call them. You know those two of them. They know who they are. Um, they were always that guy. I couldn't get you on this, but I got you on this I never agreed with that man.
Speaker 1:You know that. I know exactly what you mean, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, yeah so no, the majority of us that were in turtle affairs at the time when I was there I know how it is now, dude we were there to save the cops and you know what? We always gave the cop the benefit of the doubt. We always gave the cop the benefit of the doubt because we were there, we know right, right, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, maybe that's the problem these days. A lot, lot of them come from other agencies or back door or I don't know reach arounds or what's going on in there, man.
Speaker 2:So at the time I'm working gangs and dude, my squad, and dude, it's not me. I've always recruited people that were smarter than me. You know what I mean Exactly, dude, I always recruited if somebody knew how to write a search warrant in five minutes and it would take me three hours. Or take this guy, my best guy, four hours, I would recruit that guy. That took three minutes. For example, if I had a guy that had a memory, cause I forget everybody's name, dude, I would always recruit guys that were better than me and I would listen to them before I'd make any decision. I'd go around the room If I couldn't. If not, I'd make the decision and let's rock and roll, we'll die. I'll die with it, right? But so when I say I worked, dude, I worked with a great group of guys and I always had the opportunity of working with great guys. You know what I mean. But I'm in gangs, I'm tearing it up.
Speaker 2:I'm working for a Lieutenant named Andy Mills who's now chief of police in Palm Springs. Matter of fact, in three weeks I'm going to have a special on him. You're going to love this one. It's going to really go. That guy's a legend. But going back to that and then he gets transferred to CIU, which is criminal intelligence. He calls me one day. My dad had just died and it was January 8th of 2009. I'll never forget. He calls me and he goes David, he goes.
Speaker 2:I'm working this huge case. We're taking down a huge gang said 30 arrests, we saw five murders. I mean this was a huge. It was called Operation Stampede Huge, it was all over the news. We recovered like 100 guns, thousands of dollars dope. And I'm working, I'm getting ready to close, and he goes. I want you to come work for me in criminal intelligence. I go, yeah, sure, and he goes. I want you to work Mexico liaison. And during that time there was a guy that put a hit on me. Not a hit on me, but you know. You know, hector, when you're working the Pinta or you're working the streets, there's always everybody's always saying, oh, if you didn't have the badge, oh, you know what. I'm going to kill you and your family.
Speaker 2:And you're always dude take a number Because you know it's not going to happen. But there was one dude and I'm not going to mention his name because I don't want to give him any power, but there was one dude that you know what. He told me Contreras, when I get out because I got him on a parole violation he goes, don't come to Mexico. He goes, don't come. Looking, he goes. When I get out, I'm not coming back to Logan Heights, I'm going to Mexico, don't go to Tijuana, because I'm going to kill you and whoever you're with. And I mean this dude. He meant it and I felt it, he meant it. So when he's telling me this, I go yeah, yeah, okay, take a number, but dude, when he's telling you he's in the back of my car, Me and my partner Van Cruz are driving.
Speaker 2:Okay, I was going to get into Right, right, right but he had it coming.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Yeah, and he knows he had it coming, but the cuffs were off. You know, right, right, right, and it was over. But, dude, this guy, you felt it. So we get, I go. All right, little frog, I go right now, when I get you in the Sallyport, because that's the old county jail right here downtown. Before I go, little frog, the old one, the old county jail, I go right now, when we get there, brinca cabrón, jump. You know what I mean. That's when we took the handcuffs off, put your hand on the wall and you jump. You're mine, there's cameras. You telling me he goes.
Speaker 2:I'm just telling you, contraras, I'm gonna fucking kill you. You ever go to tijuana? Yeah, okay, so right now is the time for you. He goes. No, contraras, I'm gonna get you fair and square. I go. All right, goodbye. They open up the gate, I go. You had your chance. We could have done it again here. He went inside and he just looked at me and you know, you know what I better be careful, so I always kept in touch where, I think, six months, on the parole violation.
Speaker 2:I think it was a year that he did six months and I knew when he got out because I notified the parole agent. He was in Tijuana now and he went straight to the Arellanos and he became one of the main assassins for the Arellanos. So I didn't go to Tijuana literally for four years Did he abscond.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah. He came straight out to Tijuana, just like he said he was, and I kept in touch of what he was doing. He was all over the news in Tijuana, so-and-so killed three people, so-and-so part of this hip squad. So I did not go to Tijuana, dude, for about three to four years, cause I knew, sabes que este cabrón.
Speaker 1:He probably had people watching.
Speaker 2:Probably in Logan Heights. I wasn't working in Logan Heights at the time, I was working on gangs, but we were all over the place, but I never went to Iguana. So I'm okay. You know what I mean, dude, here he's mine, over there he's not. So now I'm closing the case. My father just dies. I'm getting ready to do an indictment. We're arresting 30 people, five murders, big case and, as a matter of fact, if you want to read about it I'll send you. It's on Rolling Stone Magazine. They hit a slow story on this case, operation Stampede, rolling Stone Magazine. They interviewed me on it. So I'm closing the case.
Speaker 2:Andy Mills gets transferred over to CIU criminal intelligence. They have Mexico liaison and he goes. Hey, I want you to come work for me, mexico liaison. I go, andy, I can't work Mexico, he goes. Why I go? You know what? I just don't feel comfortable crossing that border. I go and I told him the story and he goes. Okay, he goes. But what if I give you the Russians and I give you Mexican mafia Cause they're the ones that handle prison gangs and I give you a hell's angels? So now I'm thinking well, no, mexico, he goes. Well, no, mexico, I'll give you those. I go. Okay, I go, I'll take it, but no, mexico, he goes. Well, let me see what I can do and I'm telling you how God works. Destiny works, however you want to call it. I believe God.
Speaker 2:Within a month of him giving me that offer, all of a sudden I'm reading, because I always pick up El Ceta, the Mexican newspaper, for whatever reason. I love reading it, and I wasn't even working in Mexico at the time, I was working gangs. I read it and I read that this guy had just got arrested for kidnapping and he was now in Mexico City within a month of him offering me this job. So I call him back and I go. Hey, listen, he goes. We heard because I had told him who he was. And he goes. You got it. Listen, he goes. We heard because I had told him who he was. And he goes. You got it. I go. Yes, he goes. Would you come now? I go. Yes, I go. Do I still get Russians? Because I do, I love working Russian mob, mexican mafia or prison gangs and Hells Angels, he goes. No, only Mexico. I go. I'll take it Because, dude, I'm Mexican. I was born in Tijuana. Nine months old, we moved to San Diego, so I'm Mexican, I've always been Mexican American, proud of both. And so, dude, I went to and I started working in Mexico.
Speaker 2:The first thing the lieutenant did because, andy, wait till you watch our episode, it's going to be really good in two weeks on the gray line First thing he did was, before you even go into Mexico, he goes. You're going to get trained by the CIA. He goes, and they actually brought CIA retired operatives to my unit, to our gang mix not the whole unit to Mexico liaison. And he gave me a book. It was called Gideon's Army and it's about the Mossad. He goes, read this. And he goes, make sure all your men and your team we read this, because all men at the time, no woman ever put in for the job. Now they do. They're great. But he goes, read this book. He goes.
Speaker 2:You're not just going to be Mexico liaison where you're going to go eat tacos and have a beer and hey, everybody, we're America. You're going over there and your job is to recruit informants. Your job is going over there to gather information and you're not only going to give it to San Diego PD, you're going to share with FBI, cia, with ATF. You're an informational gatherer, but every time you cross. This is the thing about Andy Mills. He told me he goes every time you cross. You go with a purpose and you have a mission. You don't just cross. Dude, when I was working Mexico liaison before I worked there the teams before used to go over there drink with the Mexican cops. Dude, my team and I never had one drink. That's good, that's cool. Well, the reason why? No, but we bought drinks. I had a $3,000 a month budget just for drinks, drinks and food. I would never have. I never allowed my men. Now we pretended like we drank.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or la tequila, simon, but we would dump it because our goal was to get them drunk. And once they did dude our goal, we became experts at turning people into informants, and that's one thing that I learned from the joint Hector that I forgot to mention. I was a very good correctional officer because, believe it or not, I looked a lot different back then. I was pretty slim and had a full set of hair. The homosexuals loved me in the pinta. They would always go Contreras and dude. I would turn them into my sources and they would give me knives, they would give me pruno, they would give me heroin, dude. And that's one thing that I was always very good at, even working the streets, is having people trust me. But I never burned anybody. I always gave everybody respect and I thanked them for what they did. But I was able to make a lot of great cases through informants.
Speaker 2:So now I'm working Mexico, dude. I've had corrections to work with, I've had the streets to work with and now I'm working in high level. We're recruiting chiefs of police, we're recruiting I'm not going to mention any names, but we're recruiting politicians, we're recruiting businessmen, we're recruiting cartel members. I mean, dude, we are at a different level Now going to that. So now I want you to understand that my mentality wasn't like you. Have liaisons like no disrespect to other departments, to them. I heard one liaison once say oh, with fish, tacos and a beer, you could get any information from a Mexican cop. No, he's going to give you what you want to hear, correct, yes. No, dude, it's you having that relationship. You know what I mean and they will do. They've saved my life many of times.
Speaker 1:Really, oh dude. They've saved my life by giving you a heads up on what Let me give you a perfect example.
Speaker 2:After I retired from the San Diego Police Department, julio Cesar Chavez you've heard of him, the boxer. This is after I retired. Two years after I retired, my partner Oscar, and I'm a private investigator now with Oscar Admenta. Yeah man, I love Oscar, he's like a brother inside to me.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Oscar man. You introduced me to that guy. I do, yeah.
Speaker 2:Great guy and Oscar had left the police department. He's working now with me in Mexico. We're driving Literally we're in the same car we're working some kidnapping cases. We're working a lot of different types of cases in Mexico, all over Mexico at the time, and I remember one time we're driving across the border All of a sudden, I believe he got the first call. He gets a call from an old informant, because that's what I'm telling you, when I was an intelligence dude, the informants that we made, we made relationships with them. You know what I mean? I mean, it wasn't just hey, thank you for the information Dude. When I would take them to get a Starbucks, I knew that they took cream and they took two Splenda's one of them I knew the other one took it black and for Christmas.
Speaker 2:I knew they had three kids and I knew what ages and I would send my wife my wife is a parole administrator I'd call her, give me three dollars and give me a little GI Joe. What the heck's a GI Joe? Well, I need something. You know what I mean? It's for a little boy. So she always knew that we kept. Every year this came out of my pocket. This is in the PD, but it's building relationships.
Speaker 2:So now, two years after I retire, and it's five years after I left no, four years after I left Mexico, these sources are still calling me. A source calls Oscar and he says Oscar, have you heard of Julio Cesar Chavez? Source calls Oscar and he says Oscar, have you heard of Julio Cesar Chavez and Oscar? I could hear him because I'm driving, we're in Tijuana, we're driving across and Oscar goes. Yeah, I've heard of Julio Cesar Chavez. He goes. Hey, they're going to kidnap him, they're going to kill him.
Speaker 2:And this was a source I believe at the time it was from the Arellano cartel I believe it was Arellano and Oscar goes. Okay, when are they supposed to have? He goes? You know what he goes? We just heard through El Secre, which in Tijuana. Probably all the cartels have this. All the cartels have one central area where they all share information. It's like a little center they all share. Hey, so-and-so is getting picked up, okay, everybody okay with it. And then you know, let's say first example not all the cartels, but say the Arellano cartel would have a central database where they would get on the phone 20 phones and say, hey, we're picking up Chayo. Okay, is everybody okay with it? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Pick them up, but not cartel to cartel. No, no, it's just internal.
Speaker 2:Internal. So this is the Arellano, for example. Okay, so Oscar says, tells me he goes hey, I'm not going to mention the nails, kind of about to say that we had nicknames for all of them. He goes pa-pa-pa told me, and I go. Okay, I go, really I go. That's interesting, we don't jump on it because I mean it's a first call. Then, probably about a day later, maybe a couple of hours later, my phone rings and now my source is from the Sinaloa cartel and we had, like I said, we've, developed relationship. So he calls and he goes hey, contreras, ¿qué onda cabrón? Hey, muy bien, cabrón¿ Cómo está la familia? You know, wow, we're talking.
Speaker 2:He goes van a levantar a Chávez cabrón. They're going to pick up Chávez. I go, but then he tells me where his son is fighting, in Rosarito, on April the 22nd I have all the dates, but I'm just use that example. It was April 22nd and he goes, they're going to pick him and his daughter up, and I go a poco. Si, porque he goes? Porque los arellanos le traen ganas. The arellanos were the ones that were going to pick him up because he's from Sinaloa Chavez. And he goes and I go. Okay, so now we got corroborating evidence Okay, these are sources, dude that I had left five years before.
Speaker 2:And the third call I got was from no Oscar got. Now this one is from Cartel Nueva Generacion, jalisco, who's working in Tijuana in 2017. Oscar gets that call. Oscar was deep into them and Oscar gets the call. And now this guy says they're going to chop his head off and they're going to send it to Mayo Zambada as a trophy, and they were going to ask for $2 million. They all came up with where it was going to happen, when it was going to happen, how it was going to happen, except one said chopping the head off, but the ransom was all two million dollars. So that all three, without them even knowing.
Speaker 2:Once we found that out, then we went and we, uh, we go. Who do we know? I've always loved boxing, but I was never into boxing. I didn't know any promoters, I didn't know any boxers, but, dude, I've been watching boxing my whole life. At the time, now I do, but at the time. So now we're reaching out. How can we get a hold of Julio Cesar Chavez to tell him, dude, they're going to kidnap you. We couldn't. Finally, oscar talked to an attorney downtown, I think the attorney told him. Here's a number to Fernando Beltran. Fernando Beltran, he's the CEO and owner of Sanford Boxing, which is Mexico's equivalent to top-ranked boxing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And Fernando Beltran was Chavez's compadre and he's the one that basically brought Chavez up. We notify him, we go to his office in Tijuana. Imagine, Oscar and I look alike. I'm 5'11", Oscar's 5'8", 5'9", he wants to be 5'10", We'll give him 5'10" and he looks like me. Oscar, I mean, we could be little twins. We could be twins. He's shaved head like me.
Speaker 2:And so we show up, Two Chicanos show up at this multimillionaire who owns not only this huge boxing franchise, but he also owns Ferrocarriles, which are trains. I mean, this guy's a multimillionaire, has bodyguards everywhere. And I call him and I go hey, listen, I need to talk to you. I'm a retired detective sergeant, San Diego PD. I got a retired detective sergeant, San Diego PD. We got information that something very bad is going to happen to one of your best friends. I'm a private investigator, I need to meet with you and he goes, sure, as soon as we said American PD, come on in, Come on in. So he doesn't know what we look like and I don't know what he looks like. So imagine this we walk into his office. We had to go like three layers. There's three layers of security and every layer, I mean these are all former military, not even cops military little short guys with AK-47s, AR-15s, and we're going through three layers to get to him.
Speaker 2:We get there. When I walk into his office, dude, he sees a chicano. I didn't have a suit and tie on, I just had, you know, regular clothes. He sees me and he goes son policias, you know, you guys are cops, you guys are big dudes, right? Yeah? And I show him my ID and we're telling him this is what we got, they're going to kidnap him, You're sponsoring this fight at Rosarito Hotel and Rosarito Hotel. And we're telling him everything. He goes all this is telling me, it's true. So I look at Oscar and I go Oscar, do me a favor. I go, because by now we're already working with the FBI here, with the Violent Crimes Task Force. We're already working with them and I go please have the FBI guy at the task force. I'm texting no, I actually whisper. I go have him call this guy. I go have him call this guy. I go give him his number. Have him call this guy right now, Because this guy was who are you guys? You guys are the kidnappers, right?
Speaker 1:Because we're.
Speaker 2:Chicanos. He sees me and then he sees my arms. I'm a little tatted up. So he's looking at it's you guys. And all of a sudden I look at him and I go, I see that his phone buzzes. I go, please get that. And he goes. Why? He's sitting at a beautiful desk. I go, it's like the movies, dude. I swear to God, I go, please get that. You need to get that call. And he goes, okay. So he gets the phone and he goes, bueno, and he goes, oh, okay, so it is true. Yes, oh, okay, so it is true. Yes, okay, thank you. So how can I help you, dude?
Speaker 2:The FBI guy called him, identified him, said hey, I'm at the FBI. Those guys are not lying to you, they're former cops. Please listen to them. We're working on it on our side, but they're not representatives because they're private investigators. But what they're saying is true and that's how we ended up changing the fight. We ended up doing a lot of work. They ended up arresting 17 guys in Tijuana players of Tijuana I got pictures of all of them as a result of that.
Speaker 2:As a result of that, we ended up saving his life. Chavez became our client. No way oh yeah, dude, yeah, I got pictures with Chavez. He gave us a big hug, took us to his house. Was he in?
Speaker 1:shock that they had a hit on his life.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, yes, he was in shock, but we saved his life and his daughter's life and we told him exactly you're going to be driving this car, you're going to park, right, we knew exactly by now. We did our homework, so we knew where he was going to park, what room he was going to stay in. Dude, he goes. Everything you're telling us is true. So, dude, I mean what I'm trying to tell you here is it pays off to be good to people, to be respectful to people.
Speaker 2:Now, do these people eat dinner with me? Yes, I've had dinner with them. But do they go and meet my family? No, will they ever? No, because you know what. We always separated them. But they introduced me to their family and you know what we always gave them. Even today I mean, not too long ago, there was something happened in Tijuana I get the phone call from a newspaper, I mean a reporter from Univision. Hey, can you find out if this is true? Yes, I call my sources. They confirm. Yes, this is true. So what I'm trying to tell you is I still have relationships that are probably the day I die.
Speaker 1:It's that professional courtesy. Yes, it's almost like an art man. It really shouldn't be that hard to be a good person and to hold a hard line.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah. So going back to that, going back to that. So now you understand where I'm coming from. Now I'm working in Mexico. At the time I'm getting calls from New York PD, from Green Bay PD During the time that I'm there in Mexico. I'm there for four and a half close to five years.
Speaker 2:We brought back, I believe, 17 homicide suspects, and I'm talking about these guys. One of them, for example, I talk about on my that last show that I did. He murdered Diane Gonzalez here at City College, armando Perez Borjon. He took me two years to get him and so we're. And when I say we bring them back, for example, green Bay PD notifies us where they're at, where they could possibly be.
Speaker 2:We go with Tijuana SWAT team. I never put handcuffs on nobody. I don't want everybody to think that I'm this Rambo, that I go dude. I always took a vetted team with me and our intelligence helped nab these guys. I mean one guy. This is how good we were at the time. I swear this happened and I could send you a video not a video, but I could send you the clipping on it. This guy murders his wife coming, I believe, coming from LA. He stops on La Jolla exit. He strangles his wife. He sets the car on fire, with his wife inside. The car burst into flames. How he got from there by the freeway, how he got from there to Tijuana, I don't know.
Speaker 1:From La Jolla to Tijuana. From La Jolla to Tijuana.
Speaker 2:Within 24 hours we had him in custody. Wow, and this guy was a mexican citizen. But since he was caught through our intelligence, that fast, I called the district attorney. I go, we got him in tijuana. He's in custody. Actually, alex lattice, who was a liaison at the time, became the chief of police. We sent him the flyer, we sent him everything on him immediately, right once it happened. Anytime anything happened in mexico, they would send me and I would either cross the majority of time I would cross and I we'd start hunting with them. Right, so literally, we'd start hunting when we'd be in their cars. As soon as I get in the car, some of them would give me an ar-15, some would give me my nine millimeter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, contrarians were on and we're going like crazy.
Speaker 2:We're in the cars with them that night. We're on and we're going like crazy. We're in the cars with them that night. We're down there and Alex Lattice the intel that we had within 24 hours. 24 hours, we catch him. Alex talks to him, takes him into a room the murder he murdered his wife and tells him we got you, we're going to take you to Winami, the warrants coming from the United States. We're going to take you to Winami, the warrant's coming from the United States. We're going to send you to Mexico City and we're probably going to put you in there with some pretty heavy players from the cartels.
Speaker 2:Do you want to go to Mexico City on a plane and go to this prison, Almoloya? No, what do you want to do? Do you want to go, walk back to the United States? Yes, want to turn myself in. I murdered my wife. So, dude, we, literally when I call the district attorney up, Bonnie Dumanis, and we tell her hey, listen, we got the guy, David, we don't even have the paperwork done. Do you want them, yes or no? Oh well, we got to get him extradited. No, he's walking across. Are you kidding me? You can't do that. I go. Yes, I can, I goes. Well, we need to video Dude. They didn't believe me. So they actually send a district attorney investigator, a San Diego PD homicide detective, David Johnson great guy. They go to the border. I tell them okay, you guys ready, they have a video camera. Because they don't believe me that this guy is literally dude. That never happens. So what does he have to do on camera? Say that he is willing. Yes, he is willingly, he is willingly turning himself in for the murder of his wife wow, murder of his wife. And he is a foregoing, uh, extradition wow he is at, so he comes across illegally.
Speaker 1:that way he can't say, hey, they illegally captured me hostage, yes, and when we took me, and when we're at the border.
Speaker 2:I mean we got the cameras on this guy. He's standing there, he's looking at him and I tell Lattice, take the handcuffs off. And Lattice takes the handcuffs off so it doesn't show, but it shows him coming because he got arrested in Mexico for the murder.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So they bring him to the border submits to handcuffs submits to handcuffs. He germs. I turn around and I go, I'm handcuffing him and it's all on video. Not even the sergeant, believe me, but a san diego pd sergeant was like you can't make that, I guess I can't.
Speaker 1:It's like that's how good we were, that's awesome, that's how good dude within 24 hours did you guys bluff him saying the mexico prison, or was that actually an option for him?
Speaker 2:no, dude, that had to be an option. No, we didn't lie to him. I mean no, there was no lies, no coercion other than a couple, no, no no, no, no, dude, it was it was no coercion, dude.
Speaker 2:He didn't want to go. Why would he want to go to Mexico when he would go with you? You feed him three times a day, you fix his teeth when you were working corrections, you know what I mean. So, so no, dude, I mean, but that's how good we were, that's how good my team was. There was another time when we were in Rosarito and they had arrested, they were detaining a guy that was full of tattoos and I'll never forget this one because I'm down there, dude. We got into a lot of really heavy, hairy, hairy stuff. I got one commander murdered.
Speaker 1:In Rosarito.
Speaker 2:In Rosarito, not behind this one, but just it's right now just thinking about it. But we were there at the time and, and on this case, this guy had gotten arrested because he had gotten into an altercation with another car and I guess he crashed it or just barely nicked it. But when the Mexican cops in Rosarito saw that he was an American, he had money, oh dude, they snapped him. So we were driving back from giving some intel where a Mexican comandante was just murdered. And I remember, driving back Rosarito, they call us on the radio because we had one of the radios. They go hey, contreras, where are you? I go, I'm ahorita pasando Rosarito. I'm passing, rosarito. They go can you come to the comandancia? We have a guy here, because they all knew that I knew how to read tattoos Because I used to give them classes, the Mexican cops. I go yeah, yeah, sure. So we go there.
Speaker 2:And when I get there, the dudes all tatted up and I looked at them and I go PD, we had a laptop and on the laptop we could run from Tijuana or wherever we were to our database to see their criminal history and all the names that he was giving us were wrong. So we're going, dude, you're not who you say you are. Oh, yes, I am, I go. No, you're not man, dude, it's not who you are. Somehow or another, we went to search the car and we found some name or something. We ran the name Dude. He had a no-bail warrant for a double murder out of Green Bay.
Speaker 1:No way man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he had murder. It was a murder-for-hire case. He had murdered a wife and a husband and he had decapitated the husband and, as a matter of fact, he still had the husband's baseball cap. And, as he's telling me that one guy had, they had let one guy go but they had his name I immediately called the border, I go this guy's wanted for murder and as we got this guy, I'm interrogating him. They get the guy across the border. So we got two guys that day that within an hour, two hours, for that double murder, the decapitation in Green Bay. So it was stuff like that, people like that, that we got.
Speaker 1:Now does he have to be extradited back to?
Speaker 2:No, no, he was a US citizen. All we did right there is take him to Inami. Once we was Inami, once we got the warrant in process, we literally I literally walked him across the border, walked him across the border and he was no, he was a US citizen. And he was no, he was a US citizen. We took him Inami as Mexican immigration and what they do? They deport him right there and then they get the hell out of our country.
Speaker 1:Do US Marshals get involved in?
Speaker 2:any of this. Well, we didn't call the Marshals that day but I could have, I mean, a lot of my cases we did with the US Marshals, great group of guys but a lot of them we did jurisdiction, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's a, there's a warrant and, like I said, I never put handcuffs on, uh, but um, it was our intel that arrested all these guys. I had no idea you were doing that down south man, I stay away because it's sketchy. Man, I start getting the butterfly, the anxiety and it was after I retired.
Speaker 2:That that's the reason why I opened up my pi company in mexico, because I was addicted to adrenaline. And you know what? The only way I'll tell you, I've had a. I have a beautiful wife. Her name is Wavelyn Contreras. I love her very much and I've been blessed with her and we've never had problems.
Speaker 2:After I retired, I had a knee surgery, a knee replacement, the next day after I retired, for two months I was healing. The next day after I retired, for two months I was healing. Dude, she left me for a month because I was like a caged lion, because I never knew that I'd suffered from adrenaline addiction. I was like a caged lion, I mean literally. Even today, I'll check my phone when I'm working out. I'd be working out and I'd check my phone Texas, dude, even today I've been retired eight years, who's going to call me? But, dude, I was that guy that I was always getting calls, always especially when I was working in Mexico, or narcotics, always getting calls from the CIs and so forth. So, dude, I was unbearable and I didn't know that I was addicted to adrenaline. I mean, hector, we're talking about a police officer. I did a study when I wrote that book. When the Music Stops, the Pain Begins. I know we're going off subject, but I think your listeners need to know this.
Speaker 1:Where can they get that book?
Speaker 2:Oh, they could buy it on Amazon, amazoncom or Police and Fire.
Speaker 1:What was the name of the title?
Speaker 2:again it's called when the Music Stops, the Pain Begins. And it's three of us. It was Benny Cruz, myself and Pete Bollinger. Pete Bollinger is a 26-year or 30-year veteran from the Santa Ana Police Department, benny's a 42-year veteran. He was on the show for the Sheriff's Department and I'm a 32-year veteran for the San Diego and Department of Corrections. So we put all our stories and they're stories, stories about our life, things that we've gone through, things of us wanting to commit suicide or myself, not them. I put that story on there that there are very truthful. Having a gun to my head, I mean I'm there, but on this occasion and I talk about it in the book Hector a normal person in America will have 7 to 11, maybe, and that's a lotrenaline rushes where I'm talking about from zero to 100.
Speaker 1:Really yes in a lifetime Seven, no way.
Speaker 2:Seven to 11. On the book it talks about it.
Speaker 1:A CEO can do that in an eight-hour shift.
Speaker 2:Well, a normal person I said Right, correct, correct, a civilian, correct, a normal person, a CEO, a San Diego police officer and a CEO of San Diego police officer and you know, I'm not talking about all police departments, dude, we could have two to four to five in one day easily, when that alarm goes off as a cop, when all of a sudden you're in lineup and all of a sudden you leave and all of a sudden there's a chase, whether it's a running chase or it's a car chase, or whether shots fired and not every day are shots fired You're getting a call of a suicide, dude. You're getting a call of a guy hanging. You get a call of a stabbing. You get a call, dude, every day. Could you imagine? Five days a week, five days a week you're working. You've had two to four every day, five days a week. At the end I did a tally it came between four and 5,000. That police officer of 25 years, four to 5,000, adrenaline rushes. You know, you're like this, like this your heart, yes, your heart.
Speaker 2:But Hector, and all of a sudden you retire and literally no more rushes. So that's why I didn't have a rush anymore. So what I did? I go, you know what? How could I get my rush? I, I didn't want to go back and work in mexico. But you know why I did it? Because I needed a rush. And every time I cross that border, you know when you were saying when you go to mexico, you get that I get that I got it too, but I loved it no way, man.
Speaker 2:I like my head attached to my body, man dude, there was times that I was in cuernavaca doing a threat assessment. There was a time that I was in hermosillo doing a threat assessment at one of the biggest prisons there. Yeah, I'm in my hotel room and I think I was getting set up. That's a long story. But, dude, where I wasn't sleeping, where I literally had my socks and I got the sodas out of the refrigerator and I got the socks tied up and I have my socks, I got my knife and I'm literally not sleeping.
Speaker 2:but doors, because the majority of time, whenever we would travel, we would have security. That time I did not but, dude, I loved it. I woke up in the morning.
Speaker 1:It's probably similar to how a war veteran wants to go back into battle or wants to go back to war.
Speaker 2:Yes, why they go back?
Speaker 1:um, that's why they go back correct, but but mexico is a whole nother monster and I know people from mexico like oh hector, it's not that bad no, because you know what they're used to it probably yeah they're used to it.
Speaker 2:But going back to that, going on the mayo sambado and you know what, like I said, dude I, I don't know how long we've been on so far. It's probably been a long time. So if you want to, I can come back on the model.
Speaker 1:We're gonna have to wrap that part up, but holy crap, man, that's a very interesting one. Let's, let's end it on the note of helping law enforcement officers or anybody dealing with that. That trauma, that adrenaline rush, man, because, like you said, and me thinking in hindsight, my wife and I survived the marriage for the 17 years of my duration of my employment. It wasn't until after I resigned that we separated. I'm wondering and then you guys see me wild out on the YouTube Is it part of that adrenaline that I'm seeking?
Speaker 2:Well, hector, it's not only the adrenaline. You know what One thing that I was that guy that, as a cop, whenever I would see one of our fallen officers die and I would see a female officer, especially female officers I still could see them, right now, as I'm talking to you, crying on camera and they're not interviewing her, but she's crying and she's a Sergeant and they're wrapping the body up and they're taking the body and they're crying and I'm thinking are you fucking kidding me? You're crying on television, save that for later. I'm thinking that, as I'm at home or I'm there, and I'm thinking you know what guys, you know what. We stick together, we'll get payback and you know what? He's in a better place.
Speaker 2:I was that guy that never thought that cops suffered from PTSD. I always thought it was combat veterans, trigger pullers and I'm not talking about combat veterans, not just a veteran, a combat veteran, a trigger puller. I thought that they were the only ones. But it was after I retired, hector, that I realized that you know what I suffer from PTSD, because you know what thing that I know. I didn't make up the word but, dude, it just came to me that we compartmentalize everything we have to. We compartmentalize everything, we have to All the suicides, all the shootings, all the overdoses, all the killings, all the rapes, every evil thing. Especially you working in the Pinta, working in the joint Dude. You're in an ugly element, but you get used to it. But you're in, you get used to it. It's home, but you're in an ugly spiritual, physical element. Me working the streets, logan Heights Right now, when I was talking about Vento, I could still feel him.
Speaker 2:I could still smell him. Wow, you know what I mean? I could still smell the blood. It's those things. How many times did you respond? There's a dude stuck. 30 times you could times, you could still smell the blood.
Speaker 2:But during your time there, 17 years, during my 32 years, I never stopped because if I did number one, I was weak. Number two, I didn't know how to stop because if I stopped, dude, I couldn't go back to work because I would probably have a nervous breakdown. So I would just compartmentalize it, I would hide it. And that's why, after you're divorced, after you retired, after I retired, my wife left me. Like I said, she came back. Thank God, but it was after, because what happened is, all of a sudden I'm sleeping at night when before I would go to sleep. Yeah, drink or whatever, I'd go to sleep. But now, all of a sudden, the adrenaline's kicking and I'm like what the heck is wrong with me, man, I miss it. But, above and beyond, you start having those dreams. Let me just end it with this, dude, you're going to find this very interesting.
Speaker 2:When I first moved to Fort Lauderdale, I moved to Fort Lauderdale and it's a long story, but it's a long story short. I tell my mom I grew up in Chula Vista. And I tell mom I'm moving to Fort Lauderdale. She looks at me. By now I already have sold my company to Oscar. Oscar's running the company. He's doing well. I already sold my house. I'm getting ready to leave and the last person I want to ever hurt is my mother.
Speaker 2:But I tell her mom, I'm leaving to Fort Lauderdale. She looks at me and she in my life, I go, I need something new. But I didn't know that I was running, I didn't know about PTSD until I got there. And then she goes. But why I go? And I remember I said this, as stupid as it may sound. I go, mom, because I'm going to go solve a murder. And she looks at me and she goes ¿estás tonto? Which means, are you a dummy? She goes you're not even a cop or even a private investigator. I go, I'm still a private investigator, but not over there. I go, but I'm still private. I go, but I'm going to solve a murder. I remember just saying that, hector, just saying it. And then her looking at me, she goes estás loco. You know you're crazy, but let me tell you what happened.
Speaker 2:I get there within two weeks that I'm there. We get there. This is just a vacation home, but I took a lot of my stuff with me. We put everything in pods, but a lot of stuff. So I needed to rent a rental space and over there the rental spaces they're like three stories high and they're indoors because it's so hot and humid, so everything's air conditioning. But I remember walking in and when I walked in for the first time they give me my space, 3101a, whatever.
Speaker 2:I walked in and as soon as I walked in I look at my wife and I go. There's a dead person here and my wife looks at me and she goes David, she goes. Are you another? They all think I'm fucking crazy. She goes are you crazy? I go, she goes. It's a dead cat. I go. No, I go, it's a dead cat. I go. No, I go, it's a person. She goes. A dead animal, I go, no.
Speaker 2:So I go up to the manager and I tell the manager sir, um, I go, you understand, you have a dead person in here. He goes oh no, we've had that smell for three days. Uh, it's, it's an animal. And he goes. I go, have you found it? He goes. No, I go. Where's it coming from? She goes. I don't know it's coming. I go, it's a dead person. I go.
Speaker 2:Do me a favor, I go, go call the Fort Lauderdale police department, have them bring a cadaver dog and you're going to find out that it's a dead person. Dude, I don't I feel stupid saying that, but that's a smell you never forget. Well, let me tell you what happened. So he looks at me and he goes. I go, please. I go, please. There's a dead person in here. And he goes. Okay, so I leave. I come back the next day. I go, did you call the police department? He goes no, I didn't call the police department. I go. Why he goes? Because it's a dead. It's a dead chicken. I go. Why do you say that she goes? Because I. I come from the caribbean and we know what ditch I go. It's a dead person, bottom line. Dude, it was a dead person, it was. It was, yes, they had murdered. It's a dead person, bottom line dude, it was a dead person.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:It was, yes, they had murdered. It's a long story, but the long story short. They finally, finally, a day goes by. I come in and I talk to the same manager this is three days later and I go did you find it? He goes, yes, he goes. It's up on the third floor, uh, 306. And uh, I saw blood coming from inside of the.
Speaker 2:Uh, the, the, the little, uh, what do you call it? Uh, where the rental space. And he goes. So I called the owner and I go and what happened? This is all within three days. And I go, what happened? He goes.
Speaker 2:I called him and I go hey, uh, sir, sir, is David there? He goes, no, david's dead, quit calling fucker. And he hangs up and I go, what'd you do? He goes. I called again. I go, what did you do? Because the guy's name was David the David. That was the guy that ran the space.
Speaker 2:He goes, hey, is David there? David's dead fucker. And he hangs up on him and I goes hey, well, listen, there's blood coming out. He goes oh, we have dead chickens in a refrigerator. I'm on my way to go pick it up. So what he did is he hangs up, he, they come and they have a refrigerator that is one of those standalone, but it's not standing, it's on the side and and he goes open it up because they opened it up there was blood coming out of the refrigerator, out of the freezer it was a freezer Out of the freezer and he goes open it up.
Speaker 2:He goes no, there's dead chickens in there. And he goes well, open it up. He goes I can't because they're riveted in. You know they riveted in the top. And he goes I'm getting it out. So he brought a dolly and inside they're taking it out. They bring all kinds of Clorox and they're cleaning it. This guy now says you know there's something not right here. So he calls the police. They leave, the police gets there and they get there. They ended up seeing the blood Dude, they ended up arresting and they did. They had a dead body in there.
Speaker 1:In the freezer, in the freezer.
Speaker 2:They ended up arresting them and it turned out to be a big case. What I'm trying to tell you with that is those smells you never forget. And if those smells you never forget, could you imagine that's why it's after you retire that a lot of the times the dreams come, triggers, certain things. I mean you know only you know we all have different. I could go on and on with my triggers, but I'm telling you, certain things happen to me and they're triggers. Because, why? Because we have them in there. So what do I recommend? Seek professional help. Seek professional help because you know what?
Speaker 2:The ones that suffer the most are gunslingers, not administrators. It's the gunslingers, the ones that went to work with a passion that you wanted to make a difference in somebody's life. You're the one that's going to suffer. I'm telling you, if you're watching this show, you're a gunslinger, you're going to be. You're the sufferer. Those of you that just went to work because it was a paycheck and you didn't care. Dude, you're going to sleep like an angel. God bless you. God bless you for being that guy. But guys like me, guys like you, you gunslingers. I know you're watching this show. I'm telling you seek professional help, seek god, seek god. You know what? Without god, we are nothing. Without god, we are nothing.
Speaker 1:Yes oh amen, dude, and uh, yeah, it's the ones that care. Yes, because you know, even being out two years now and looking back in hindsight, I can see not everybody gave a fuck.
Speaker 2:Oh no, dude, we had, we had. We had I call them administrators and not all administrators. A lot of them are you know what. They were damn good cops, but a lot of them and I and you could be a patrol officer, you could be an administrator mentality where it's just a job, dude, to me it wasn't a job, to me it was a career. And I'm going to end it with this. You know what?
Speaker 2:I was a cop for 32 years and I'm telling you guys, those that are watching the show, I mean it when I say this. My dad used to always say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. I never worked one day in my life. Yes, I had problems with administration, yes, I got disciplined, yes, I got spanked and know what, but I'm telling you I loved every day of it and I hope that I was able to to, uh, touch a lot of lives, save a lot of lives, and you know what put people in jail that needed to be in jail. We brought justice, justice to the weak so thank you for that, david.
Speaker 1:So can you tell us where your uh gray line, where they can find your podcast?
Speaker 2:yeah, you guys could watch us. Actually you could watch us every tuesday at six o'clock. The gray line, the the Story Behind the Blue Line. I got Benny Cruz.
Speaker 2:Like I said, that guy's a legend man with the Sheriff's Department. We got Chalo, former chief of police, with Calexico. We got Sean, former SWAT dog, san Diego PD. We have that show on Tuesdays from 6. It's only a one-hour show so it'll only take an hour of your time. And then also, if you want to watch another show which is the following day it's called ash wednesday, where actually myself, doug collier, a former detective sergeant, san diego pd. The guy's a legend with with gangs. And we got, uh, bobby arce. The guy's a legend when it comes to narcotics, working around the world as an attache for the federal government. The guy has great stories. We actually smoke a cigar, we have a drink and that show on Tuesdays very formal, we have beautiful videos, powerpoints. On Tuesdays we literally sit down, smoke a cigar, have our drink it's either a tequila or it's a good coffee, or it's a bourbon or a scotch and we talk and we have some great guests. Come on, great guests. And Hector, you've been around with us three times already. I believe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, it's a blast. Oh, dude, we have a great time.
Speaker 2:We have a great time. So, yeah, if you guys want to watch us, like I said, and then on Fridays I have a boxing show. It's called Los Tres Chingones. If you guys like boxing, I have a wonderful time talking boxing yes, dude well, thank you for coming to the studio.
Speaker 1:Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule, man, and uh, wow, dude, another banger. There you have it, man. This wisdom, this knowledge, this experience, you're not going to find anywhere else. Man, you're not going to thank you for watching. If you want this knowledge, this experience, you're not going to find anywhere else. Man, you're not going to Thank you for watching. If you want to see more, make sure you hit that subscribe button on the bottom. Love you Keep pushing forward. You've been listening to Hector Bravo Unhinged Follow for more.
