Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Official Hector Bravo Podcast
Hector Bravo UNHINGED
Anthony - From Meth Addiction to Personal Freedom: Navigating Incarceration and the Power of Forgiveness
An inspiring narrative unfolds through Anthony's transformational journey from addiction to redemption. He reflects on his early encounters with drugs, the repeated cycles of incarceration, and the ultimate awakening that shifted his trajectory toward sobriety, as well as how forgiveness played a pivotal role in his healing process.
• Early childhood trauma impacting life choices
• Descent into addiction through peer influence
• The cycle of incarceration and self-realization
• Spiritual awakening in jail leading to change
• Post-release challenges and rebuilding life
• Recovery as a holistic process involving forgiveness
• Importance of discipline and daily action
Anthony offers listeners a message of hope: with commitment and faith, true transformation is possible.
Hector Bravo unhinged chaos is now in session.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to our channels, warriors. We are still growing. Today we have another special guest, Anthony from unchained fit. This guy has six years of sobriety, has been to freaking every county jail there is OC, San Diego, LA, and did some time in the Fed. So we're going to get into his story and how he ended up getting sober. What's up, Anthony? How's it going?
Speaker 2:man what's?
Speaker 1:happening? What's up, Hector? How's your day going so far?
Speaker 2:Pretty good man, blessed, super fortunate man. Just life continues to grow. That's right every aspect. And you know, first and foremost I got to thank God man. Just super grateful today and just a blessing every day being sober man. It's just biggest game changer in the world.
Speaker 1:Has God always been in your life?
Speaker 2:I was born, raised Roman Catholic up until like a little after 10 years old. So I've always been a believer, but I definitely strayed away from it up until I decided to get clean and that's when I had a real epiphany. God really sat me down and I just kind of, I just, I just, I just quit. I gave up, man, I quit banging my head against the wall Once. I just kind of figured that, like I figured, my addiction was a common denominator for all the troubles I had got in. He sat me down, I was in a jail cell and I just gave up. I was like all right, man, I'm done. Like let's run it. What was your drug of choice? I've gone through pretty much everything. What really really destroyed my life was meth, and that didn't happen until I was 30 years old.
Speaker 1:Were you smoking it, snorting it, injecting it, smoking it, smoking it, smoking it? And you said that you were able to identify your incarcerations. You were able to identify it with meth usage. That correct, yes, how were you able to identify that after did? Did it take a few times to trip to jail? Did you finally get an epiphany? I say that because my dad told me one time Hector, every time you've been to jail, alcohol has been a factor. Do you not see that? And I was, like I don't know, still in denial. How was it for you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It took a lot of times. It took countless times. I really don't even know the specific count I could count, as in years. The first time I got in trouble was 26, 27, and it took about 10 years and there was constant incarcerations, getting out, violating, going back and just repeating that crazy cycle for 10 years. So you grew up in Los Angeles, la yes, sir, what part I'm from. The west side, like Santa Monica, venice area Spent a lot of time in like mid-city area, but I grew up in the Palisades just recently burned down, damn dude really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I grew up in the Palisades, so it came from a good middle-class home.
Speaker 1:So if you grew up there, how did you feel seeing it all burn down on the news recently? Yeah, it was a trip man, was it?
Speaker 2:It was a trip man. My cousin still lives there, his grandma and his mom. His mom partially lost her place, grandma, they had to remove from the house. They removed her from the house. That house burned down in the Alphabet Streets and then, like two days later, she ended up passing away. Oh man, I think, just from like all the trauma and everything. Sorry to hear that, dude. Yeah, it was. Uh. For the most part everybody was safe, though everybody lost everything, but everybody, you know, stayed safe. So right, yeah, damn dude.
Speaker 1:So you, you mentioned 10 years old. A lot of you said that's when you started using drugs. Yeah, how did that come about?
Speaker 2:seven years old. Christmas Eve, our parents come to the door of my bedroom and uh come in and tell me that they're getting a divorce. And I was like I laughed at him, I guess, and uh, but next morning it was real went downstairs. Mom was sitting there by the Christmas tree, kind of her head in her hands, and uh I was like okay, I guess this is real. Went up kind of supported her and then my brother came running down who was uh three years younger and uh kind of grabbed on to me. I was like, damn bro, like just became the man of the house at seven years old shit damn dude.
Speaker 2:And you remember that at seven years old that they told you they were getting a divorce yeah, I, I remember them telling me that, and I don't remember laughing in their face, though Fuck dude, did that harm the family dynamics between you 100%?
Speaker 2:You know I was too young to really kind of understand the whole thing, the whole thing. But unfortunately I did realize that I could use that as an excuse for me to start screwing up as a kid or getting into trouble Like that. That year I was going to a private school and we got caught in the bathroom with a celebrity. Her first name is Kate I'm not going to drop her last name, but I got caught with her in the bathroom and principal comes in there and she's like oh, she tells her to go back to class and then she tells me to wait and then sends me to the office. She starts cussing me out. And so I remember I like picked up a basketball and threw it at this assistant principal, but I got kicked out of school. And I remember using that I could use that. They would say like oh, his parents are going through a divorce, it's okay, he's having trouble.
Speaker 1:And so I was just like okay, I guess I can do what I want now and not get in trouble did you feel that because there was a lack of a male, male authority figure that you could a wild out like that?
Speaker 2:I think that might have been an issue. I don't think I really realized it. He was still. My father was still pretty present. He just was not in the home. He'd come, maybe like once or twice a week, to pick us up, take us to school. He would still come to my played a lot of sports, so he would still come. We would throw the ball for baseball. He'd be at all my sporting games. Yeah, he'd still go with me like on a lot of the boy scout stuff that I did. So he was still pretty active but wasn't really wasn't in the house and I think that's kind of the main thing. I'm a firm believer today that, like both roles a man and a female needed to be present in the house. You know, raising a kid damn dude.
Speaker 1:That scares me because I left my home freaking six months ago through the dynamics that was happening there, you know, and I do have a six-year-old daughter, but I mean it's good to hear this insight, man. Um so how did you get introduced to dope at such a young age?
Speaker 2:so a few. Just a couple years after that I was 10 years old and, um, it was actually some of my buddies that I was in the boy scouts with but also going school with. A lot of them had older siblings, and so it all started off just like smoking, weed, drinking alcohol, stuff like that. Unfortunately, some of the older siblings got into heavy drugs right away. So I remember being like 12 years old and my buddy, his older brother, overdosed on heroin, and so there were kids dying in this upper-class neighborhood, like the Palisades, that were overdosing on heroin all the time. So I ended up getting into all the other stuff though pharmaceuticals, hallucinogens, cocaine. I had just stayed away from the heroin and I seen what the meth was doing to people and I was just like I got to stay away from that.
Speaker 1:Now, did that affect your schooling? Did you drop out? Did you?
Speaker 2:stay. Stayed in school. Stayed in school. I got kicked out of um. Got kicked out of a few private schools. You know it was one after another after another. Then started going to public schools. Uh, managed to um stay at the fifth grade one. It didn't get kicked out. Um got caught throwing fireworks at kids with my same group of buddies that I was smoking weed with.
Speaker 1:Bro, you were like the problem child junior from the movie Problem Child.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I didn't see it then, but I can totally see it now. You know what I mean. In sixth grade I ended up getting caught with weed, with a sack of weed in class. It was at Paul Revere Middle School.
Speaker 1:How did you get caught?
Speaker 2:somebody told on you, my buddy wanted to see the sack in the middle of class. And I'm like, dude, like seriously. He's like, oh, let me see it. So I slide it to him. He gets it and then he like looks at her or whatever. And then like reaches over and hands it to me like this, and I like snatch it real quick. And the teacher sees it and she's like what's that? I'm like, uh, it's a note. She's like it's a note. She's like what does it say? And I'm like, uh, we think you're hot. She's like let me see the note. And I'm like, no, I can't do that.
Speaker 2:So she comes up and literally like starts, like tackles me out of my chair, out of the little desk with the wood thing, yeah. And so I like kick it back to my buddy behind me. He gets it and runs to the back door God damn, a bunch of little inmates, bro, bro. And he stops at the back door. I'm like, dude, what are you doing? Like go run. And she's like hey, come back, come here. So he walks back up and hands it to her and she seizes a sack of weed and she's like oh my, and. And she's like oh my, and. So this was a public school and so we had a school officer there, so she calls them. It was right before lunchtime, so they come up, put us in handcuffs and walk us down in front of the school right at lunchtime, in front of everybody.
Speaker 1:How'd that make you feel Like a badass? Yeah, I thought.
Speaker 2:I was kind of cool. You know what I mean. Damn bro. Yeah, it was ridiculous. And uh, didn't kick me out, just put me on a week suspension.
Speaker 1:Um, hung out with my dad at work for that week and that was pretty much it now at any time, with your like dad telling you stuff like hey, you shouldn't be doing this he wasn't really.
Speaker 2:My dad was has been a pretty, you know, straight laced. He never got into drugs, never really drank too much. He would have a couple of beers but but never seen him intoxicated. He was a big martial arts guy. He used to work out at Gold's in Venice back in the day when Arnold was there and all them. So he never really got into that. So he didn't really know, I think really have much experience so he didn't really know much what to do about it really.
Speaker 2:Now would you say you're an addict much what to do about it. Really. Now would you say you're an addict for sure, absolutely, man. Yeah, it's just like once I first started doing that, once I first started smoking or anything, it was just like a habitual thing and did it progressively get worse?
Speaker 1:absolutely yeah. So after high school, dude, like I can imagine that school in itself should keep you structured right in some sort of fashion. What happens after, when you have no more structure? What do you start doing, dude? Imagine that school in itself should keep you structured right in some sort of fashion. What happens after, when you have no more structure? What do you start doing, dude?
Speaker 2:uh, again, it was like the older I get, so I always had like a crew of guys that I ran with when I was getting into high school, had a crew of buddies, and we were, we're in a crew, you know, like a like a tagging crew, you know what I mean, and so, but we got to be a pretty big crew and back then like, uh, gangs wouldn't beef with crews, you know what I mean, it would just kind of be separate. And but we ended up getting big enough to where it was like gangs started beefing with us and so, um, it got pretty wild, man, it was like we were going at it with gangs and stuff. And, um, then by the time I'm in the we're in the teenage years, a lot of my buddies started, you know, getting from the neighborhood that we were around, that we were in, and you know that's when stuff started getting pretty real man did your uh drug usage escalate during that time period?
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:It moved in through all those substances became pretty heavy Around. That time I was doing a lot of hallucinogenics. I remember going we'd be like in mid-city area, We'd be going to schools there and I'd be giving a bunch of the homies a bunch of acid and mushrooms and they'd be tripping out, going all over the place. And so it definitely progressed, got pretty heavy. It got to the point where I was doing so many hallucinogens that I would take a certain amount and it would be. I'd only supposed to be tripped for like a day or two and I would end up tripping for like three or four or five days. No way, dude, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I was like, oh, this isn't good, I need to like stop doing this now, I don't know anything about hallucinogenics, I don't even know how to pronounce it, but I thought it seemed like maybe a couple hours or one hour you can you get the effects. What do you mean like days or days?
Speaker 2:yeah it can be like a day, depending on you know what you're doing're doing Like you know, like some mushrooms or something. If you do a little bit, it can be like you know a few hours stuff like that. But if you take a decent amount it can be like a 24-hour period. And what if you have a bad trip for 24 hours? Is that?
Speaker 1:possible.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:A lot of the time it's just due to like people that you're with because you know you feel a lot of energies and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:If somebody starts getting all bugged out, you can start feeling that.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, do you ever have a bad fucking trip? Yeah, I've had bad trips, man, is it horrible? I mean, can you describe one?
Speaker 2:I don't know what that is uh, yeah, it's uh, it's hard to describe man. It's uh, like I said, you feel a lot of energy and so, um, do you, do you see things that are not there? Yeah, you can. Yeah, absolutely, and it's funny like I'd even been to places where um there was. I used to go to Topanga Canyon, a lot uh, up in LA, which is like up in the mountains there close to Malibu, and um, there'd be certain areas in Topanga Canyon that used to be like Indian burial grounds and like and all sorts of stuff and you can totally feel, feel that energy, um, which is.
Speaker 2:It's a real trip, man, but a lot of it like comes down to if you're, if you're like a good person, like you have a good, good soul, like if you you know it's. It's hard to describe man, but uh, bad trips do happen. You can't, you can't visually see stuff.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, it's just not for me anymore, man I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but like, maybe people smoke weed to relax, right. Maybe people snort Coke to stay up and party. What do people do hallucinogenics for?
Speaker 2:I think it's a few different things. Some people can want to really like have a connection with whatever. I'm a man of faith and so that's where my belief system is at but a lot of people feel like they can trip and have like a connection with the world or the earth. Okay, okay, yeah. So I mean you definitely feel like you know what is reality. Technically, I mean, it's a hard thing to describe. It's like we only see like visual wavelength, I think, is like 0.002. I think everything else is like dark matter and stuff like that. So I mean there's a whole lot that happens in our, in our atmosphere that we don't see. You know, we don't see like wi-fi, we don't see. So it's like there's a lot of things taking place that we just don't visually see, that we're not conscious to, and so by doing that stuff, sometimes you're able to kind of tap in or feel a lot of what other?
Speaker 1:what other things are going on damn bro, you're a professional drug user man, unfortunately I was. So tell us about the first time you got landed in the can bro like, like a good long term, or was this? Which county was it?
Speaker 2:so first time man, I was a rookie man, it was biggest mistake I made in my life. Um, I had come back to la, um from from, I from, I'd left the States. I left, like in 2000,. Stuff started getting pretty active. Man. I had a few buddies of mine getting in a lot of trouble, people looking at all day being locked up. Some friends ended up missing, some friends died. So I got out, got out of California.
Speaker 2:I was in Arizona for a couple of years, went to Texas for about four and a half years, being gone from family for so long, decided to come back, came to San, came here to San Diego. My brother had started a construction company was with him. We got up into LA to work on some custom spec houses in in Bel Air, brentwood area Big, big stuff, right, and ended up getting hooked up with a girl that I knew from high school. Ended up getting hooked up with a girl that I knew from high school and we started talking, we started dating and it turns out that this girl is just like crazy bro, like batshit crazy, and so she was. She used to drink a lot and so there was a one night she was drinking, wasted and basically attacks me and cops get called, I get arrested. I got like eight hematoma bite marks all over me from where she's you know.
Speaker 2:And um, was she mexican? No, she's a white girl. I would have figured she was mexican bro. Yeah, she's a bro, that dude, yeah. So, yeah, it was horrible man. It's like so, whatever, like so I mean, I'm in there and I call her and I'm like, hey, this is crazy. Like like. She's like, okay, I'll take care of it. You know my, you know this is. I know it's not right, I'll take care of it. I'm like okay, cool, so we go to court, like a week later or whatever, and she shows up with her mom and her mom knows me from back in the day when we were in high school together and she doesn't like me. She's like, oh, this kid's bad. Yeah. So I guess apparently she was being supported by her mom still, and her mom was like if you don't testify against this dude, I'm gonna cut you off damn.
Speaker 2:So she ends up flipping and says I like put hands on her and she's got no now.
Speaker 1:Were you bailed out? Were you in custody? I was in custody holy shit I was in custody and uh.
Speaker 2:So that's like when I first started going to court. I'm in the LA, I'm going to Boucher Street Court, ccb Court, and so when I'm going to court I was at first a trustee and so I'd go to court, be in the court tanks and I'd get pushed up on. They'd be asking me for my shoes or my thermal.
Speaker 1:And you know you're just not supposed to give this stuff up, so I'd be in the core tanks. I'd end up getting this in san diego or in la, in la, in la, yeah where did this, this domestic incident, happen, san diego or in la?
Speaker 2:oh, it happened in la.
Speaker 1:This was in la, all right it's because you had said your brother was working construction down in san diego. I had thought of right, yeah. And then we moved up to la to start working on the houses in la so now you're in a trusty area and you got the hispanics pushing up on you because they like your shoes, yeah, or they want to take them from you pretty much. You're a tall ass, dude. Dude, how tall are you?
Speaker 2:uh, six three and change. Yeah, yeah, I'll say like six four. Yeah, I got some boots on so I'm probably right um, and they just would all jump you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like 2008. So I got in trouble actually January 21st 2008. And so this was going through like February, March, and they would just ask me for your shoes and I would already know. When I went in and I was housed, they're like, hey look, when you go to court they're probably going to bump you up and you're just not supposed to cough your stuff up. I'm like, OK, so I just, you know, I just need to notch your size, homeboy. And so I end up getting smashed by a tank full of dudes.
Speaker 1:Now, do they end up taking your shoes, or do they just smash you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, they'll end up getting them. You know what I mean. Once, like you know, while I'm getting stomped or whatever they'll take them off your feet, yeah, yeah, and then they'll end up somebody, somebody will take them and they'll end up giving you their blown out shoes that are all got holes in them and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So it's all good, it's part of the game, you know now do you think for the viewers out there that never been to jail and they want to know how to survive, what would happen if you just said like, oh yeah, you could have these shoes and just handed them over? Yeah, so what happens is you'll be sucking dick like next week no, but reputation carries quick right everywhere, like wherever you go.
Speaker 2:So like trust and believe, like if you do that and then when you get back to your unit they will know what happened, people will know and talk about it and like so and it follows you everywhere you go. Like a lot of the time like I'd end up being places where I'd end up having the pad and like I would know ahead of time. Like that some guy was coming over that was like either no good or something had happened, like I'd hear about it before they'd even get to where they were at. Wow, dude, yeah, I mean, it's a real communication.
Speaker 1:So for the viewers out there, it's not in your best interest to just give everything up right, there is not in your best interest to just give everything up, right, right?
Speaker 2:no, uh, yeah, and it's not a, it's not a big deal, I mean a lot of stuff. Most of the time, like those ones in the court tanks are going to last a little bit longer because you know it's a while before the deputies come through, but usually, like, if you're in a unit and something's going to happen, you just got to do what you got to do and it's not going to last long. Before you know it, they they'll be at the bars with the, you know, with the paintball guns or the gas, and you know all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So talk to me about the different units and levels of the LA County jail.
Speaker 2:So, um, initially so I ended up getting so like I I I fought that case to April and at that point in time I had brought in a private attorney and it was at jury selection and so he ended up not showing up that day because he had another case. And so they were like you got to take this deal or go to trial. And the deal was it would make me a felon. But they were like, if you take this, you get out today a week or like two weeks and I'm like, okay. So I took the deal Worst decision I ever made became a felon. You took the deal, you got a strike, no strike, but I took a felony. I took a felony a year in county, 52-week anger management course, three years probation.
Speaker 1:Once you took the deal, did you?
Speaker 2:get released. No, they told me. They were like, if you take it, you could be gone today. This is what they told me, verbim, I pull, I wanted to pull the minute report. I'm like they said today, a week or in two weeks. I'm like so, basically, if I take this, I'm out of here in two weeks. And they're like yeah, I'm like okay, shoot it. Yeah, took it. That was um April 10th, 2008.
Speaker 2:My birthday's in May. My birthday comes up May 24th. I'm still in there. I call my attorney. I'm like dude, what's up? Man, this is more than two weeks. He's like dude. He's like I looked on the, uh, on the, on the in the computer. Your date is August 3rd. I was like what? I was like how is that even possible, bro? Like they told me in court like a week or two weeks. Like what's, pull the minute report. And he's like that me a security level, I think seven. La court, la County, has a security levels that goes from one to 10. And so, being a seven, it's a higher end.
Speaker 2:So whenever, so like at that point in time after that case happened, I got booted out to Supermax, which is at a North County correctional facility, uh, wayside, uh pitches detention center. It's out there by magic mountain and so I would go there. So I mean, I've been to every facility in la county jail, um, initially going there, uh, I started off. I think it was in like the um, I think it was like the five or six hundreds, something like that, but they have like 500, 600, 700, 800. Then is like high security, and then nine hundreds is like high power. That's where, like, celebrities are at. While I was there, suge Knight came through there.
Speaker 2:And the nine hundreds, yeah, and the nine hundreds. And then Chris Brown came through there looking all smoked out.
Speaker 1:Now I've seen some pictures of LA County Jail. Is it like the cells?
Speaker 2:and then you're staring at a wall, um, that, yeah, that's, that's where that's at. Is um, is downtown, that's in like um, I think it's central or old county where you have, or there's the towers like in the dungeons, because a lot of it is like subterranean. Uh, you go down and I think it's like I think it's the two thousand, 3000, 4000, roughly about that, but those are all subterranean and so it's the cells, a small walkway and then it's the wall right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What type of inmates go there?
Speaker 2:Uh, it just everything depends, like uh, security levels, um, if you're going to court, if you're not going to court, uh, I got stuck there, housed in um right around one of those floors, uh, cause I had come down for medical, for like a dental issue, and got stuck there. So I mean it just it just it just depends where you're at If you've been sentenced, not sentenced, if you're fighting some, you know, uh, a lot of variables.
Speaker 1:And during that time?
Speaker 2:how were the deputies? How were the deputies? How were the deputies, man, I know you mentioned what did you call them? What did you call them? Yeah, so, uh, 3 000 boys, yeah, yeah, let's talk about that. So, uh, around that time, like late, late aughts, like 8, 2000, I think might have been earlier, like 7, 8, 9, 10, um, there were these sheriffs that all worked the 3000 floor, which was part of that subterranean uh floor, and uh, there were a bunch of, uh, mostly white dudes, big dudes. They were all juiced up, you know, juiced out the game bigger than you or your size, not bigger man big dudes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like had a. Most of them had like an inch or two on me and they were like yoked yoked and they wouldn't even wear a belt. You know a lot of deputies wear a belt with everything on it yeah they got no belt, they got a mag light in their back pocket and they'd be walking around carrying like a monster or a rock star. And they're all bald-headed, they're all blasted up, they're all blasted.
Speaker 1:All blasted, sleeved out, next blasted and this is the first I'm hearing about this, so now I'm super intrigued, intrigued bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was their gang and they would all have three X's on them, 3,000 boys, and they were smashing people Like if you came, they were like regular dudes, like if you came through, they were like what's up, man, you're like what's up and like if you look at them they'd be like what the like? If you went, you looked at them, they would. They would smack you with the mag light, bust your shit open and now I know so.
Speaker 1:Um sheriff vianueva, I know he was under a lot of scrutiny for the alleged gangs in la county sheriffs. Is that one of the gangs that they were bringing up?
Speaker 2:uh, I'm not sure. I know that. I think this was under when it was like tanaka, when uh, tanaka ended up getting indicted, okay, and uh yeah, because there was actually tanaka who?
Speaker 1:who was that before? So one of the sheriffs got indicted?
Speaker 2:yeah, holy shit yeah, the, it was the main, I think he was. I don't know if he was the direct direct under the sheriff, but he was. One of the top guys was tanaka, and then another guy, it was it was an old guy, bro.
Speaker 1:I can't fucking remember his name right now, though Was it Lee Baca, baca, baca.
Speaker 2:Baca yeah, it was him dude. Yeah, it was Baca he got fucking federally indicted.
Speaker 1:I believe, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:Baca, and then Tanaka was under him, I think, and then, but yeah, they were like what, and they smashed this dude and he died and that's what started the whole thing, this like whole big thing with him now, does that scare you as an inmate like damn dude, these guys ain't fucking around absolutely man, it does.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it's just like it just caused me to just be really on point, right? You know, pay attention, don't be stupid. Like what do you? You know, just so. I just was just had my head on a swivel. Listen to whoever like. Wherever you go, people give you the rundown like, hey, this is the program, this is what you, this is what we do, this is what you don't do, this is where you do that. This, you shower, this is so. I'm just taking notes and I just would follow the program.
Speaker 1:Now, were you accepting of the program or did you have a hard time adjusting?
Speaker 2:No, I just followed the program. Just follow the program A hundred percent and it wasn't an issue to you. No, uh-uh Cause you would see people that didn't follow the program and what happens, and it's just, it's just better to follow protocol yeah, for sure, dude.
Speaker 1:Um, what about like day room activities or yard recreational? Did you have any of that while you were in jail?
Speaker 2:uh, yes, uh, everywhere was different. You know it's like uh, so we'll just talk like super max. There's a lot of time in super max and so, uh, there you don't see any daylight. It's all inside the facility, um, and so we ended up. You get so their units. It's kind of like a kind of like a two, 70 yard.
Speaker 2:Uh, you go and there's a few units within a corner, um, and so you have a day room. Uh, you have probably about, like you know, 50 racks on the bottom floor, towards the back, you a few day room tables, and then you have stairs that go up and then you have some racks upstairs. There's a shower upstairs, you know, sink, pisser, and then the same downstairs, so there's not too much activities that go on with the day room and everything, um, and you would get yard once a week for like about three hours, so you'd only see daylight. What did the yard look like? Uh, supermax, you have a like a few different yards, depending where you're, where you're housed at, but for the most part, um, you come out, it's pretty like you come out, it's open, it's pretty big, they have a few basketball courts, a couple little volleyball, uh, nets, um, and then most of them, depending.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you have a fence or sometimes you have a wall, but it's a pretty big open area, uh a track that people walk around, uh some pull-up bars, uh pissers and sinks, stuff like that deputies on the ground level yeah, deputies on the ground level, they have a uh there's, there's uh towers, so there'll be guys in the towers with guns and then, uh, you have a, a bubble not they call it a bubble, but it's where it's like a fence. And uh, a lot of them were all right, some of them, they would come in, they'd have, like, they'd bring music, they'd bring an mp3 player or something back then and they'd have a speaker. So we did get to hear some music and stuff. So, uh, you know, everybody's on there just doing pull-ups, walking the track, um, what about mandatory workouts?
Speaker 2:mandatory workouts? Absolutely so if you're 36 years old or younger, mandatory to be working out. Uh, I just kind of like I said I would see I would just always be observing and see like how, how people operated, you know, see like what guys kind of seemed like they had things going for them, and just kind of see see what they did on their day to day things and just kind of mocked that it was like okay, you know, be up early, keep my bed or bed area in order, keep my mat. Like you know, usually for white guys it's not like mandatory to have your mat rolled up, but I would roll my mat and have all my stuff folded and put away, like you know.
Speaker 2:Uh, so I just ran a real tight program or tight routine myself and, um, just from being there, from from doing doing time, from being in there, like eventually a lot of times I'd end up having pads, stuff like that I end up running the, running the unit, you know. So you, you got used to it. Then I did, got used to it. I never used like my addiction would always. It's just it's just as easy to get high in there as it is on the street. You know, it's pretty. It's pretty expensive, um, to get high in there, but people are doing it all the time. They'd have like in each unit there'd be like one binky which would be like a homemade needle and like everybody in the unit would share that thing.
Speaker 1:God damn bro. That's a good way to get hepatitis C and that's why a lot of people have it All sorts of stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's MRSA, all sorts of crap, man, and so I never got high just because of everything. That's Staph infection, bro, like I dude guys would have stuff so bad that.
Speaker 1:So the reason you didn't get high is just I wasn't trying to get messed off.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. I just you know. I just it was real serious.
Speaker 1:In there is, like you know, stuff would be popping off all the time and so I just was trying to make sure I just didn't didn't stay out of the mix, you know 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 description below. Now, you were telling me before we started the show that the mexicans were trying to incorporate you guys into their program, such as like adding to the kitty. Yeah, yeah, tell us about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so each everywhere, like each facility, was a little bit different.
Speaker 2:People would, I mean it'd be different in how they, how how the homies Southsiders would try to push up on on the whites.
Speaker 2:In regards to because before I don't know when it was, it was maybe, like I don't know, maybe early, it was early aughts, like early aughts that it kicked off because before we would have to contribute to the kitty, but we fought over it and it kind of was declared that OK, we don't contribute, we run our own program, they run their program, but we still back each other if something pops off. And so, depending on different facilities, they would press a lot harder than other places. So but I knew what it was and so I just always drew a line down there. I was like, hey, look, this is what it is. And a lot of time, fortunately, just due to on the street, I grew up with a lot of Hispanic dudes and so if it came down to it, I would, you know, I would call in like hey, you know in, like hey, this is who I am, this is where I'm from, this is who I grew up with, and they would get found out and things would be made all right.
Speaker 1:So, since you were not using in jail, how did you view it? Did you view it as a timeout? Break away from the real world, getting yourself together? How did you view that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really always kept things real separate.
Speaker 2:How did you view that? Yeah, I really always kept things real separate because I would see people that would always be on the stress box or on the phone and they would really be caught up in everything that's taking place in the world. And it didn't work out good for them. They would have a really hard time, and so I knew I just had to keep everything separate. So it was basically like everything was just put on hold, like I didn't think about the outside world when I was in there. I just focused like that was my world, that was my day to day, like make sure I'm doing this and this every day, um, just to make sure everything was running smoothly for myself.
Speaker 1:Now you told me, you landed yourself in federal custody, was that?
Speaker 2:here. Uh, yeah, eventually, so, eventually. So I uh, I was doing this nonsense man it was. Uh, started smoking meth at 30 and really started falling off. Uh, eventually lost my job, lost the place I was living in and then just was running the streets like did you get sucked up?
Speaker 2:sucked up, bro. Yeah, I got some pictures. But, yeah, sucked up, yeah, not good, no-transcript. And I was with a buddy of mine and we were going and picking up some stuff, doing some crap, and got stopped and basically figured out that they had our pictures in the car for LAPD Pacific Division and I ended up being on their most wanted list, I guess. And it was crazy, bro, this was right before I lost my place. They came to my house, knocked on the door.
Speaker 2:Long story short, they ended up chasing me through the apartment, I like Superman, off the patio, really, in just my boxers, and I'm running down the street in just my boxers, get away from them. And then a couple of days later I'm over there by, like La Cienega in Venice, at my homeboy's house. They see me on foot and I end up getting a foot pursuit, outrun the unit. Then the ghetto bird comes. Got away from the ghetto bird, and it was crazy man. Eventually they ended up snatching me up and, um, it was. I never realized how, like what I was doing, or it was, I guess, some sort of a big deal. I remember being in the tank, uh, one of the substations in LA, when they finally got me and like dudes were coming, you know, coming to their shift or leaving their shift, and they'd see me in there and they were like, yeah, hell, yeah. And I'm like like over me, like what the yeah? But um, yeah, so it got, it got pretty out of hand and um, eventually I was, uh, eventually they maxed me out one time I was I had gotten a program and was they ended up. I didn't go back to the program, they stopped me and so I went back to court and he was like, oh, you're back so soon. I told you I'm gonna give you your joint suspension. So he gave me my prison term suspension, which was three years with half, so I get locked up.
Speaker 2:That was in january, this was january 2014, and then, and then, uh, in april, I was at um medium south yard, which is out at uh at wayside as well, where supermax is at. That's like the low security camp, snoopy, you got like a sand volleyball court and, um, I'm there on a sunday and they call, they call, they call me and I go outside and they're like, hey, you need contact home. What? So? I call home, I call my dad and he's like hey, angelo's dead. And I was like what? And that's my younger brother. Um, we had a owned a construction company. He got into it with one of the guys that worked with us. Dude, uh, knew where, knew where my brother lived, pulled up to the pad, hopped out and just started dumping on the way, no way, dude yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sorry, and you were in jail at this time. Yeah, I was in. Yeah, could they let you?
Speaker 2:go, so started going through the process like you can go to a funeral, you know what I mean. So I followed the paperwork, judge denied it and then approved it, and then it ended up getting denied again because they took the body from LA here to San Diego and it was going to be awake in LA but the body wasn't going to be present, and so they said that since a physical body wasn't going to be present, I couldn't go. So missed all that and I didn't get out until about a year and a half after that. Damn dude, yeah.
Speaker 2:So at that point I was off paper and really wanted to stay clean. I came down here to San Diego to be close to my mom, help support her, and things didn't work out. I was starting to work for the family restaurants and me and her husband we don't really get along too well and so that lasted a few weeks and the next thing I know I had no job and, uh, I take full responsibility. All of this was my decisions, my choices, and I made a you know, a bad decision to start getting high again. So started, you know, smoking meth again and just ripping and running in San Diego man turned this place into a playground, like I did LA and um at that point, do you believe you were self-medicating?
Speaker 2:for sure Self-medicating, and it was like at that point. It's just like that turns like to the my. My whole world is like just is, is keeping up with my addiction and like supporting my, like my survival needs. You know everything else is out the window. It's just like completely consumed by my addiction.
Speaker 1:So here in San Diego, I mean what were you doing, dude Hopping on the trolley going around bouncing around downtown? I mean what were you just? Uh, not, Santee, where were you at? Just all?
Speaker 2:over. I was, I was, uh, I was pretty much like like mission Valley downtown, uh, mostly out this way. Way didn't get out out east county very much. Um, I'd always have like a car. I'd end up having like a stolen car. Uh, I was staying at the momos all the time and uh just ripping and running, peeling things from stores and selling them and uh just living a crazy lifestyle. And uh, eventually then that went for a few years and then 2018, I got caught. I was coming into downtown here in a G-Ride, in a new Audi, and next thing, you know, I had a swarm of cop cars on me. They called it in, I guess, and so I took them on a high-speed pursuit through downtown on like a Friday at like 5.30 pm. It's like people, cars everywhere.
Speaker 2:Traffic everywhere, managed to get back up and get on the freeway here and lost most of them. But then somebody pulled into me, I caught a flat tire, got it off the freeway around like Sassafras and then I ran and started hopping fences. I was going to run back across the freeway but all the cars were there, all the cop cars there. But they, all the cars were there, all the cop cars. There's like 15 of them or something. And so I started doubling back and I can hear them coming. Were you high, high, as high as a kite man? Fuck dude. So I've, I've found a crawl space under a house. I went under a crawl space. Most of them came, went left. Finally, one came in and, like, went up under there, found me, pulled me out and, uh, that's actually my clean date, so that's october 5th 2018 october 5th, 2018, the day you got twacked out of your mind and went on a fucking car chase from hell crazy.
Speaker 2:I had like a big bag full of car fobs. I had like streets with cars parked all up and down them. I was just madness, bro. I had the key to a bentley in my pocket and they like pat me down. They're like what is this?
Speaker 1:I'm like I don't worry about it, you know dude madness is that when you got charged with a federal crime, no, so that's so they charged me was a gta felony, evading, felony, resisting, uh, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:And that's when I was in, uh, I was at, um, uh, what's the name of it? It's at george bailey, it's one of the facilities right there at George Bailey and and so I'm in there and I just was like, so this was October, it happened October, so, like November, my brother's birthday is in November and the holidays were coming up and I'm like going through it, man, I'm like dude, what am I doing? Like here, I am locked up again, the holidays are coming again Like started counting and it was like more holidays than I wanted to admit to that I'd been locked up consecutively for. And so I was going to church service there and had a breakdown, bro, I just straight broke down in the church service. I was like, just like, just just hit me, man Just broke. And I was like I'm done, man, like, and so I'd be in my cell and I would just be talking to God. Man, that's when I first started talking to God, just like he's my homeboy.
Speaker 1:Let's back up real quick. When you were using, at that point in San Diego, did you have a will to live?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did. Yeah, it was just a will to live, to get high, I don't know. I mean, I just knew. I knew, I've always known that like I'm, I was better than what I was doing. But I was just so consumed by my addiction and then all the relationships had kind of I had kind of pushed them all the way or they, you know, so I just didn't really have it. Did you want to?
Speaker 2:stop but didn't know how, or you didn't even want to stop. I didn't want to live that life anymore, I know that, but you kind of just didn't stop it. Yeah, there was no. There is no really way of like of stopping it. I get it, man. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, it was rough and um.
Speaker 2:So I just started talking to god in my cell. I was like man. I was like I'm just done, man. I was like that's, when it hit me, it's like my addiction. I mean, I already knew it, but it was like that's when it was really like okay, and I was. I was like I was like, all right, god, I was like man. I was like give me a program, bro, and I'm done, dude.
Speaker 2:And there was no program option on the table at court. And uh, so I was on the bus going to court talking to God and I was like asking him for a sign. And I passed a church and I'm like, okay. I was like, but I need another sign, god. I was like you know, I'm hardheaded. And so we passed another church at that point and that one had a crow on top of the cross and I always seen my brother in crows. We had lost another buddy before my brother died and he was would feel him in crows and stuff like that. So there's always been a connection there. And so after that second one, I'm like all right, man, I hear you talking, man, let's go. So we got to court and uh, the judge was like all right, he's like for some reason I want to offer this guy a program. And I'm like he's like, would you be interested in taking a program? I was like yes, sir, is that an alternative to prison time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So. I w that wasn't up a program, it hadn't been spoke about and it was like, for some reason, the judge was just like you know, I feel like. I went off from a program I was like man, let's go. Yeah, took the program and, um, I'd been through programs before and seeing how people were successful so I just knew that like get to the program and just jump right in and be all in like volunteer to help out.
Speaker 1:Where was the?
Speaker 2:program located. Just jump right in, be all in like volunteer to help out. Where was the program located? Vista, vista, yeah, it was called Choices, choices, choices in Recovery.
Speaker 1:Now is that a halfway house.
Speaker 2:No, it's a residential drug program, so a lot of they'll have. They have a lot of people that come in that are referred from the court systems and then there's also people that come there for private.
Speaker 2:You know, okay, okay. So it was a live-in residential drug program Rehab, rehab. Yeah, it was a three-month residential and then it would go to outpatient, okay. And so I'm there crushing it, doing really good, volunteering to help out, do everything, just like fast-tracking. I was going to be like a house manager, I was just doing really good.
Speaker 2:And um, a couple of weeks away from graduating the program, and, um, I'm in the house and they tell me I have a visitor. And it's like the middle of the week and we don't have visitors during the middle of the week. And so I get up and I look out the window and I see a bunch of black vehicles and I'm like, hmm. And so then I sit back down and I see some dude come in the house with a badge on his neck and I'm like, oh man, he's like are you Anthony Autry? I'm like, yeah, he's like I'm a U S Marshall, I got a federal warrant for you.
Speaker 2:I was like. I asked him, like, I'm like, what does that mean? And he's like he's like that means you have to come with us. And I'm like what's up? And so I called my attorney when I'm in the car and he's like not good. I'm like what do you mean not good? And he's like not good. He's like I don't know, but it's not good. So it turns out the feds have five years statute of limitations. So it was about like three years prior roughly that someone made a control buy off of me for two ounces.
Speaker 1:And so made a, made a control buy off of you, so you were the seller, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep and uh. And why did they wait so long to snatch you up? I think cause they seen I was done. You know what I mean. Like this dude's clean, he's on the straight and narrow. Like this guy's not going to be messing around anymore, whether I think there was like, okay, well, we need to get this dude for something, so like we can get them on this, cause they didn't give me on anything else.
Speaker 1:So and what County was that based out of? It was here San Diego. The control by was in San Diego, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was here in San Diego, the U S Marshalls scaffold.
Speaker 1:You, was it the marshals? Uh, they collect for the feds. So, um, yeah, they just those are the ones that collect. So then they freaking gaffle you up. Yep, well, that's embarrassing, like how do you tell the rehab? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:like it was it was tough man it was like you know, because things are going really good at that point. At that point I had like eight months clean.
Speaker 2:So dude yeah, so relationships are restored with family, right, everybody's super proud of me, everybody. You know I was getting in good shape. I was going to the gym all the time I was just like really crushing it, um, and so it was a tough pill to swallow, um, and but I like I just I knew that it was like to me, my opinion, like everything in this world comes down to good versus evil man. Yeah, I feel that way 100. And so I know that it was like I had been playing for one team for so long and then now, like I'm all in, bro, like when I'm in, I'm in, and so it's like now it's like okay, like I'm, I'm on god's side, bro, yeah. And so I knew that it was just kind of like, you know, the evil one stopped trying to just get me off course, give me to to. So I was like, okay, like it's something I did, I take accountability for it, I take ownership for it, um, and I'm just going to?
Speaker 1:at what point did you? Did they explain to you? You did a control by three years ago and this is what we're giving you for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I, when I went to court and I talked to the defense attorney, did you remember that by at?
Speaker 1:all Yup, I did. Was it any different than any other?
Speaker 2:it was. It was like a dude that I knew, was like he had done something for me, so I kind of owed him a favor. Yeah, he was like, oh, this is my home girl. And I was like fuck dude. And he was like, oh, I know, I know her from the, from the neighborhood, from, because he was from up north and this and that and the other, and I was just like I don't know man. But I was going through it at that point and I needed as much money as I could and so I just did it and I knew and I just had a bad feeling about it and turned out that I don't know she was an undercover or something, and so, um, it was initially. I walked in the courtroom and they were like cause it's over 50 grams and that can carry a mandatory minimum which is 10 years, over 50 grams, over 50 grams of meth or heroin with the feds can carry.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not a mathematician. Grams and ounces. Grams 50 grams, but grams and ounces. You said it was two ounces.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was technically. I just saw the paperwork the other day. It was like 52.7 grams, Grams, Okay. So cause I had pinched a little bit of the two ounces and so it was just over their 50 gram minimum. Wow yeah, and so then they were. They also had a charge that was a criminal forfeiture, which was like having things in your name but I didn't have nothing in my name. So, um, I spoke to Jan Ronis, who's a friend of the family. He's a how many grams is an eight ball Three?
Speaker 1:and a half.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah. And so uh, jan Ronis, who's a friend of the family, he's a super attorney, he defended, like the Arellano brothers, uh, big time guy. And so uh got on the phone with Jan. I'm like what's up, jan? And he's like dude, no good. I'm like what do you mean?
Speaker 1:All these people are telling me no good, I'm like what?
Speaker 2:the fuck. And he was like dude, he's like you just have to sign. He's like, if you sign right now, they won't impose the mandatory minimum. And I'm like, okay, so what does that mean? He's like I don't know. He's like but just sign and you won't get the 10. I was like, fuck, okay.
Speaker 2:So I signed and, um, waiting for sentencing, I went, got housed in orange county jail there for about nine months waiting for sentencing and, uh, I went through. I was at theo Lacey facility there I ended up. You know I was running one of the units there F East. I ran that unit there. I got into the trustee unit, ran the trustee unit there for a while. They didn't like a guy from LA running the unit there in Orange County, of course, but same thing, just run a good program. You know what I mean. It just makes everybody else run a better program, so deputies always supported it. You know what I mean. It just makes everybody else run a better program. Um, so deputies always supported it. You know what I mean. Like I ran a tight ship and so it was like in our unit there they usually wouldn't turn the TVs on until later and, like on Sundays, you'd miss some of the early morning football games.
Speaker 2:And so, like in my unit, I'd have the TVs on early because we run a good program in there, and so I just always kept a good relationship with the deputies because we just took care of business on our end and they respected that, you know, and made their job easier, and so it's just how I operate. You know, I've always had like a pretty good relationship with with the authorities, just because it's it's a mutual respect, there's a line there and we don't cross it. But it's like you already. You already know what I'm talking about. So, um, it was in orange County waiting to get sentenced. Uh, finally they sentenced me. Um, the uh, the prosecution, kind of.
Speaker 2:Seen what was up, I think they saw that I was in the rehab, I'm clean, changed my life, uh. So they offered me 90 months. I tried to ask him for like 50 months and the judge was like no, uh, what does 90 months equate to? Uh, shoot, I don't even know that's. Uh, I ended up. I ended up getting 77 months, which was six and a half years. God damn dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for two ounces of dope. You got sentenced for six and a half years For two ounces of dope In the feds, in the feds. How much time did you end up?
Speaker 2:doing so, I got the RDAT program, which is Residential Drug Abuse Program, which is a year-long program but it gives you a year off your sentence and you do that at the end of your term, and so I got that, uh. So that ended up sending me only a few facilities in the Western region have the RDAT program, so I ended up going to FCI Sheridan, which is a medium facility in Oregon, uh, where they have the RDAT program.
Speaker 1:So you did fed time in Oregon. Yup, how was five years way out freaking years, five years. How was that dude, crazy dude.
Speaker 2:Why because you got like you know feds are a little different. It's like everybody would always tell me just keep your blinders on there. You know what I mean. Because me it's like where I'm from, from la, like we run a tight program and so it's like everything is kind of segregated, but not like people like, like like in LA County, like you don't play cards with other races. So it was a looser program, a much looser program and that's why they say keep her blind.
Speaker 1:On it You're a lot see a lot of shit you don't agree with or it's foreign to you Absolutely 100%.
Speaker 2:So it was a real learning experience. I just kind of kept to myself, you know I didn't, you know, didn't you know, I still kind of ran my normal program yeah you know so which?
Speaker 1:but there was like how many other people were running a tight fucking program?
Speaker 2:uh, a few, a few. There was, you know some, but there was a lot of man, there was a lot of.
Speaker 1:You know, what's really bad in the feds is the is the spice well then, now that isn't really fucking bad in the state as well, dude. Okay, yeah, it's. You seem to get fucked like lose their mind.
Speaker 2:Epi and out.
Speaker 1:Epi and out is like a psychotic episode did you ever see the guards getting get into it with the guys on spice and try to subdue them?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, it sucks, dude, it's horrible dude, it sucks man. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's crazy man. You see guys, epi and out all the time.
Speaker 1:That's a big thing in there they're hallucinating, they're throwing up, they're fucking screaming, they're naked. Yeah, all that Dude. All the time you got to fucking wrestle them and put them in handcuffs, man.
Speaker 2:Dude. It'd be a regular occurrence. At least once a week or twice a week somebody would be epiing out and they'd lock everybody down. Yeah, it was crazy. And then you see all these dudes that you could tell they just lie to their family and their family puts all their money on their books and it's like you know, it's like these families are going through it out here trying to like make money and put it on their books and these dudes go to commissary load up and they go to the dope man's house dope man sell, unload all their commissary and it's just like you know, that's one thing that I never respected.
Speaker 1:Now that you bring that up, the dudes that are hustling their family members to put money on their books for dope when the family members are struggling out here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because everybody's struggling out here yeah, I, I don't like it either. It really bothered me, man, so I just really I wouldn't, that's like I just kept to myself, ran my own program, like I mean, I ran, I ran the program. I didn't run, like you know, but like I wouldn't associate with a lot of people. You, you know. Yeah, it was interesting man. I was in the unit there. Big Meech was in my unit man. He just got back recently. He was a pretty good dude, ran a good program. You know, we'd, you know we're all just like. I'd be up early and I'd be working out. He'd be working out too, with his little few dudes that he'd work out with. We'd go to the yard, I'd go straight to the pull-up bar, he'd go straight to the pull-up bar too.
Speaker 1:Now were you guys racially segregated there in Oregon? In the feds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's still racially segregated for the most part. You have, like, in a unit you'll have like five TVs and each race will have their own TV, and you have an MP3 player or a radio and you can tune in and you hear the TV that way, damn, every race has a TV there. Yeah, wow, dude, for the most part. But, like where I landed at and the unit I landed, sometimes you'll have two TVs. Like if you have a big, like if a race is really big, you'll have two TVs Right, and so the unit I landed in we only had one TV, although we had a lot of people in our car, and that's because the dude that was there prior had a dope debt and sold the TV off to the other race yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so after you serve out your sentence, you're still sober. You're clean this whole time, yeah, and then what happens? You get out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm doing the program, the RDAP program. I was a mentor in that program and you have four months halfway house that you have to do. So I got out and within the first month I got home confinement like house arrest, just because I just was doing everything I was supposed to do. I was talking to my case manager hey, what do I need to do? What do I need to do to get, to get home?
Speaker 1:confinement Because you have an ankle monitor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've got an ankle monitor and so when I get the first night, I get to the halfway house. So this was a real trip. I get out Going to the feds, you would go on con air. So it was like straight out the movies. Man, you're shackled up. There's dudes on the tarmac with ARs. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:No way bro. Straight up, bro, you left that part out, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's like con air, straight, con air going there. They let some people off, get back on. What does the inside of the plane look like? Hollowed out. It's like a. It's a commercial plane but it's kind of hollowed out and just has the seats. It's kind of weird, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then there's dudes. There's, there's, you know, marshals every like like six rows throughout the plane, armed or not armed. I don't know if they're armed or not. I don't think they Any Um armed or not armed, I don't know if they're armed or not. I don't think they. Any cages in there no, there was no cages, not like buses, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, it's Conair there, and then they give you your itinerary and it was like the dudes that take you in the van from the meet, the medium, where I was at. They're all from the camp, and these dudes at the camp it's like Disneyland over there. I mean, they got everything there, right Alcohol, cigarettes, they have like prostitutes, all sorts of stuff. And so one of these dudes in the van takes us to the airport and they drop you off and you have X amount of time to get from there to the halfway house. And so it was like we took the plane my first plane.
Speaker 2:There was a connecting flight. I almost missed the connecting flight because the times were so close. Landed here in San Diego and then they say you can't take an Uber, you have to take public transportation, and there's all this construction at the airport. Yeah, and so I mean we literally just made it to the halfway house before our time was up. Like it was crazy, and like I'm walking up to the halfway house and I seen my mom. That was the first time I seen my mom in like five years man, which was rough. You know what I mean, because people are older, they age a lot quicker.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. And so, yeah, that was real tough, but I was just doing everything I was supposed to do. Got home confinement within the first month, so went home. I just took the same program I ran in there of like being up early. I used to get up mad early. Like I used to get up three or four in the morning, read my Bible, stretch, uh, bust down, do a workout, all before the door opened. And uh, ran that program for a long time, for years, you know you still wake up early today?
Speaker 2:Uh, I I do. Just recently. Over the last month, man, I haven't been sleeping good and so I've been sleeping until like six or so, lately depending, but usually I'm always up same or right, you know, when it's dark out, get up, run the same program, you know I still get up. Get in my Bible, read some other stuff I journal, journal, gratitude that's pretty much where I'm at. Just, I'm grateful today because of everything I've been through you know so.
Speaker 2:I live in like gratitude, absolutely, and I just keep it authentic. Bro. I, just like you know, I started running this program out here. I was up early, going to the gym. I started working at the Ironworkers Union, so I'd be at the gym at like two. I'd be at the yard wrenching iron at like six 30, do that all day. Then I started going to victory.
Speaker 2:MMA started rolling doing jujitsu, so I'd roll in the afternoon, then I'd go home and just repeat that. I did that for like eight months no social media, nothing. And then a guy I met was like, hey, there's people online, uh, doing what you do, cause I always try to help people too, you know. And he was like, hey, this is what guys do. And I'm like, oh, okay, so I started checking it out and, um, I decided to just jump in.
Speaker 2:Man, being selfless, helping others, absolutely yeah. And that's one thing I always talk about too is like investing in oneself is a very selfless thing and people don't understand that it's like. But by doing so and investing in myself, whether it's financially or just getting myself, I call it improper alignment. You know what I mean getting my, my faith dialed in, having been dialed in emotionally, mentally, physically. You know, getting in proper alignment, running a good program motivates others to run a better program themselves and motivates others to do better. You know what I mean. So when I talk to people about getting on this program and bettering themselves, I say it's a very selfless thing. Absolutely, a hundred percent. A lot of people struggle to grasp that, though it's good, oh, I get it, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so where can people find you dude, on social media?
Speaker 2:So on IG it's's unchained underscore fit. I have a YouTube that I've just started doing. It's at GFC dash, autry, and then I just started a TikTok as well. There's links on everything there. So, if you, ig is my main thing, that's where I do all my marketing, that's where I talk to everybody at. Yeah, I'll link it in the bottom For sure For you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with all your life experiences. Dude, good and bad man, what closing final words do you have for the world to hear, dude?
Speaker 2:You know, if I'm able to do it with all the crap I've done, man, then you can do it too, and you just really have to make. Nobody can make anybody do anything. You know, all we have control over is ourselves, and you have control over yourself, and so you just have to make the decision to invest in yourself, find discipline. Discipline is where it's at, man, and the biggest thing really is to just take action. Period Like, take action, go Like, stop reading about it, stop researching it, stop doing all that stuff and actually do something about it. So the biggest thing I can say is just take action, man.
Speaker 1:Can you elaborate on the taking action part, because I know exactly what you're talking about. A lot of people talk a good game or come up with a million excuses of why they can't do it, shouldn't do it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh. So best thing I can, best way I can relate, it is like today I'm 42 years old and so I really know what decision needs to be made in whatever situation that comes up. And it's like so today we're grown adults, we know what we're supposed to do, so just do what you're supposed to do. Like fuck your feelings, fuck what you're going through, and just make the right choice and do that daily. Like focus on today. Like take what tangible choices you have. Like you can control what food you eat, you can control whether you work out or not, right, so focus. So, focus on today. Make the right, just make the choices that you're supposed to make.
Speaker 1:Fuck your feelings, do what you're supposed to what would you say for people that are hesitant or don't act due to being heavily influenced by outsiders opinions?
Speaker 2:probably one of the most liberating things that I've come across myself is to finally stop caring what other people think. Absolutely, dude, yeah, it's been that. That's been probably the one of the biggest freeing things, uh, and then also forgiveness. I'll touch, I'll. I'll end on that. Forgiveness is huge, uh, once I learned to to forgive myself, it was a very freeing thing. And then learning to forgive others, like I've learned to forgive the dude that murdered my brother. I've learned to forgive my parents for, for I know they did the best that they could, and so finding forgiveness has also been a huge thing too. And making amends Absolutely, 100% man.
Speaker 1:Cool dude. Well, it was an honor having you on here, bro. Glad you were able to share your story, dude, and this is why we do what we do, man, to help others, absolutely so. Thanks for coming on the show man, yeah, thanks for having me on there. You guys have it folks. Another banger man. We're gonna keep bringing it to you guys. If you like what you saw, make sure you hit that subscribe button at the bottom. Love you guys, keep pushing forward.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
