All language subtitles for episode_6_mexico_-_boy_from_the_ghetto_-_busted_in_mexico

Marijuana, not wild, you know,
dangerous.

What the hell did I get myself into?

That desperate feeling, not being able
to breathe. I'm dying.

This is the worst place I've ever seen
in my life.

Murders, rapists, this is hell.

I'm going to try to escape.

All of a sudden I hear a pop and then a
whoosh.

They were shooting at us.

Little did I know the worst was yet to
come.

I grew up in El Paso, Texas, in projects
and low -income neighborhoods.

Growing up in a ghetto, school wasn't
fun.

So I started ditching school at a very
early age, buying my own clothes and

being my own boss, taking care of
myself.

My mom, being a single mother, had to
work most of the time.

I'm going.

I felt that she was almost not
interested in me, almost didn't care.

By the time I was 16, 17, I just felt I
wasn't going anywhere, and I wasn't

going to go anywhere because of the life
that I was leading.

I wanted to leave, but my uncle, he
wasn't going to have me just walking

my own. So he found me a job in El Paso.

I made the choice of going ahead and
jumping into the world.

The job that my uncle got me was at a
tire shop.

It was a family business.

The owner did most of the work.

He told me I would be getting $250 a
week.

Coming from where I was coming from, I
felt relieved.

I finally had some income and I could
get a place of my own and basically

my new life.

One day, I was working on a tire when
three Mexicans walked into the shop.

When I first saw them, to me, it seemed
like they were presumiendo, which means

that they were flaunting what they had.

I was impressed by them. I mean, very
well dressed, expensive ostrich boots

belts.

A couple of them had real expensive
Stetson hats on.

Right away it was like, hey, you know,
here's some good customers.

After that, every time they brought in a
car, it always came to me.

So they kind of became my regular
customers.

What's up?

I've never been around people with that
much money.

It wasn't like anything I've ever seen
before.

It became almost an obsession to figure
out what they were doing and what they

were about.

I had to. I had to know.

I had to get a piece of it and become
part of it.

I finally gained enough trust with them,
and I almost think it was a drunk

moment.

I thought, well, you know, here we are
alone. I might as well ask them.

So I went on ahead and asked them what
exactly was it they were doing.

So what kind of business are you guys
in?

The answer shocked me. It shocked me.

We bring marijuana in from Mexico in
cars.

It turns out they were smuggling
marijuana in different cars every time

came in. So that's what they were doing
at the garage.

He was telling me about a crime, so as
soon as I heard it, it was like... I got

that scared adrenaline rush.

But I thought, this is a great
opportunity for me.

In that moment, I asked, Do you think I
can get in on it?

And he just said, OK. He goes, I'll talk
to his older brother about me.

The oldest brother showed up and said,
we're going to set you up with

I felt like one of the crew when he told
me what I had to do.

It excited me, but at the same time, I
thought, wow, you know, dangerous.

The first thing I had to do was cross
the border into Mexico.

You have to walk over this bridge and
you end up in the city of Juarez,

So much was going through my head.

Now with a drug transporter versus just
a nobody sitting in a garage, I didn't

think there was any consequence, or if
there was, it was very little.

I didn't like where I came from, but I
wanted to go forward with it.

The boss told me the car's parked on the
other side, parked in the parking lot.

He told me exactly which one and where I
would find the car.

My heart's pounding. I'm nervous.

I'm jittery.

I just remember the first thing I did
was look at myself in the mirror.

I know this car is stuffed with
marijuana.

I saw a scared little kid.

My job was to get it back across the
border and to the United States.

So I get to the border. I'm feeling
myself getting nervous.

And I'm getting a little anxious.

What was I going to get asked? What if I
get caught? What if?

What if?

What if? What if?

I started thinking, hey, you know, maybe
we should turn back and get out of this

car.

But I was stuck in this line.

So I had to try to find a way to calm
myself down.

The deep breaths weren't working, so I
figured I got to do something. What can

do?

So what I did at that point, I rolled up
all my windows.

Just took a deep breath and just
screamed as loud as I could.

But again, I

just, you know, calmed myself down.
It'll be okay. It'll be okay.

You're just visiting your aunt. You're
just visiting your aunt.

So my turn came up to go through the toe
booth.

He just barely even looked at me, just
with his hand waves for me to continue.

I felt relief.

Then I'm finally getting out of there.

I was excited because I knew I was going
to get paid.

No big deal.

It's like, wow, I can do this again.

I had no idea what they were going to
give me.

Right after I handed him the keys, he
handed me $300.

Hands felt full.

It seemed to be, you know, the great
escape ticket to the perfect beginning

something great.

I felt more powerful.

I was more accepted, more trusted now.

I had passed my initiation.

The boss asked me if I wanted to get
into the bigger game.

You really wanted to step up?

And I immediately said, yes, of course.

Yeah? I knew I was a soldier. I had to
work my way up.

He said the risks were bigger.

It involved going all the way into
Mexico.

Around a 24 -hour drive, pick up drugs,
load them up into the car, and then

bring it across the border and through
another checkpoint and further into the

United States, into Denver, Colorado.

It kind of scared me, but then again, it
was bigger money.

He offered me $3 ,000, and I thought
that was a huge amount of money.

I felt I'd get rich off of the one trip.

The next day, I got a map.

I had to figure out the way to Michoacan
and just kept driving.

The big picture of the money was going
through my head.

I wish somebody would have told me, hey,
you know, you could be the fall guy.

The fall guy meaning the one to take the
fall for everybody.

The plan was that I was going to wait
for them in MetroCon.

But when the boss finally made it into
town, it wasn't the same anymore.

It was different.

It felt very serious.

Nobody was laughing and joking anymore.

I didn't know where I was going.

Driving up felt very uncomfortable.

I always thought to protect myself from
never going to something that I don't

know how to get out of, and that's
exactly what I was doing.

I mean, do you really know these people?

And I didn't.

I had no idea who they were. I just
vaguely knew them.

In all reality, I had no idea what I was
getting myself into.

There was nothing but trees, absolutely
nothing, no people, almost no

civilization.

And then a little bit further up, I see
this kid

with some type of a rifle.

It was pretty shocking to see somebody
stare at you that way.

It sounds very quiet.

There's almost nobody walking around
outside.

I felt like we were being watched.

It was unsettling. It felt weird.

It was just very odd that we were
exchanging drugs and money, you know, in

public.

And it, of course, made me nervous and
scared.

But the guys, they were very calm about
it and nonchalant. You know, it was no

big deal.

I just would not let myself panic. I was
able to calm myself down and just go

with it.

After about 15 minutes, this guy pulls
up in his truck.

And in the back of the truck, these huge
bags, like pinto bean bags that you

find at the grocery store, with the big
industrial -sized ones.

The first thing was helping him on the
lower.

I grabbed one, and then you could smell
it.

But I've never seen anything like it. It
was somewhere around 100 pounds or

more.

How can I get all that across the
border?

I kind of knew, okay, they're going to
show me.

And when I found out their system, I was
very impressed with it.

They made these boxes.

And then you fill up the box with
marijuana.

And then we took a sprayer and sprayed
it all down with marijuana tea for it to

be able to stick to itself.

With a bottle jack, you compress the
marijuana into this box.

You come up with these bricks of a pound
or two and do a few rolls of saran

wrapping them.

Start sprinkling coffee.

And the coffee was, you know,

because it's milk.

And, you know, we did that all day.

I thought, God, these guys are genius.

In my mind, I was very confident that
nobody would ever catch us.

In the trunk right by the tire
compartment, there's the hollow space,

where they were storing.

The marijuana.

They said I had 33 pounds.

Now we're going all the way into Denver,
Colorado.

In Mexico, there was always the chance
that I would get pulled

over by police.

But it didn't even worry me.

If I was to get pulled over, I would
just offer up money.

Because in Mexico, all cops are corrupt.

That's what I was told.

Just drove straight through without any
problems. Didn't even run into any cops.

But my next step would be crossing over
the border.

But I can't take the car over like this.
It's a car from a road trip.

It's going to bring up... You know, the
red flags and suspicion, and I'm going

to get searched.

I've got to get it cleaned up.

I get to the border.

The last trip, everything went fine.

So I didn't think of big what -ifs.

As I'm driving up, he just kind of
looked at me.

He waved me on through.

Okay, go.

My neck popped.

It's going to be crossing through a
second checkpoint.

There was more risk. They're checking
every single car.

So I know I'm going to get questioned.

I knew they would ask where I was going,
so I had to figure out a plan.

I'm thinking, brainstorming, and I come
up with, hey, well, you're a mechanic.

You know, get your mechanic's clothes
on.

Tell them, I got a car broken down with
a customer in the next town.

So I went to the tire shop.

I got mechanic's clothes.

Took some tools.

Threw it in the back seat and headed on
my journey.

I'm getting to the checkpoint. I still
have that chance that it's not going to

be manned.

And it was.

I'm going to get questioned.

I'm just scared.

Almost freaking out.

Am I going to stutter? Am I going to
show nervousness? Which right away would

raise a red flag and get myself
searched.

He actually... stop to ask me a
question.

Citizenship? U .S.

Yeah, where are you heading?

Listening to myself tell the story. I
think I pulled it off very good.

I'm a mechanic.

I gotta go help this guy who's broken
down on the cruises.

I didn't stutter. I was calm about it. I
don't know why people get on the road

who can't fix their own cars.

Then he says, okay, but doesn't wave me
through.

Turns on his flashlight and starts
looking in the back seat.

I'm thinking, oh my God, this is it.

I'm going to get searched.

He took a moment and then started to
walk towards the back by the gas tank.

I'm thinking, oh, my God, this is it.

You know, it's there. He knows it's
there.

I'm getting busted.

I'm getting busted. There's no way
around this anymore.

I'm getting busted.

I'm getting busted. There's no way
around this anymore.

He stops to look around, then starts
walking back towards me.

I come up to the window and just, okay.

All right, you can go ahead.

Thank you.

As I'm driving away, I'm seeing him get
smaller and smaller in the rearview

mirror until he's finally gone.

I started shaking.

I'm starting to sweat.

Oh, my God, I was just so nervous, all
the adrenaline.

It starts coming out. I can't hold it
back anymore.

I ended up pulling over and throwing up.

I'm kicking myself in the butt. What the
hell are you doing?

Is this really what you want to do?

A decision had to be made whether I was
going to

take the money and walk away free and
clear.

I wanted it all.

So there was no way I was going to let
myself walk away at that point.

I wanted to do the next trip, so I went
ahead and called the boss, and he said,

go ahead and go.

I had a friend that I knew who was
struggling.

So I invited him to come along with me.

The trip was very fast. We got there
quicker than I did the last time.

Everything was going great.

Everything was feeling perfect, like
nothing was going to go wrong.

On the way down to Mexico, we met up
with the boss.

We switched cars.

We went ahead and got the merchandise,
loaded everything up, and got

going.

No tension at all.

So as we're driving up these curvy,
windy roads,

They finally turned the corner. There's
a cop sitting at the side of the road.

As I'm passing him, I could see him
staring at me.

It just didn't feel right.

I knew that I had to pull over.

In my mind, I'm battling what am I going
to say to him, what's going to be my

story.

I'm worried, I'm scared, and I'm trying
to calm myself down at the same time

trying to calm him down.

It just didn't feel right, especially
after seeing that look in the cop's face

when he saw me.

He asked me, let me see your
registration.

Where are you coming from?

I immediately go to tell him that past
town that I was just at, and I can't

remember the name.

At that point I froze.

He's got to know what's going on.

I saw him in my mirror go straight to
his car, tell his partner to get out.

I'm freaking out.

And they both approached the car.

He walks up to me and tells me, you're
carrying something.

I was like, no, no, I'm not.

He's like, no, you have something.

And I'm like, wait a minute, wait a
minute.

Let's talk about this. And he just
started telling me, no, be quiet, get

the car, get out of the car.

We'll talk at the station.

I'm like, oh my God, what the hell did I
get myself into?

I still thought at that point that we
had the option of buying our way out if

need to.

I was told in Mexico all cops will take
money.

So I told them, hey, you know, let's
make a deal.

I've got money.

How much? I don't know. You tell me how
much you want.

$5 ,000, $10 ,000? And he just laughed
at me.

That's not even enough for play money.

I'm like,

oh, my God, something's not right.

I asked for a phone call. They're like,
no phone calls here.

So they take us into this grungy
building.

I knew that this was just the worst
thing that's ever happened to me.

I've got to get the hell out of this
place.

I've heard horror stories about the
police.

If the gang don't show up, I can only
imagine what's going to happen.

Little did I know and realize that
something bad was really about to

The worst was just yet to come.

In my mind, I was still in denial,
thinking that everything was going to be

fine. These people were going to come
and get me, and everything was going to

just great.

And little did I know that the worst was
about to happen.

About two days later, they called my
name out.

They asked me to tell them where I had
gotten the marijuana.

I had to make a choice whether to go
ahead and spill everything out or maybe

face something worse.

I can't snitch off the people I work
with. They're going to come and get me.

So I told them I didn't do anything. I
don't even know why you have me here.

They walked me out to the backyard.

Ahem.

You're going to tell us what happened.
I'm like, you know, I don't know what

you're talking about.

You want to play games?

We're going to show you how to play
games.

They put a plastic bag over my head.

So I'm sucking for air, trying to
breathe.

I end up sucking the bag into my mouth,
so I bit into it.

And tore it as best I could and got, you
know, whatever little air I can get out

of it.

So the guys grabbed the bag.

I get punched in the stomach again and
get dunked into the water.

Just gasping and swallowing water.

That desperate feeling of not being able
to breathe I remember the most.

Freaking out. I'm thinking, I'm dying.

There's no way I can get through this.

That desperation, it's an indescribable
feeling.

And I said, okay, okay, I'm ready to
talk.

So I figured I'll just tell them I went
into the town on my own and I found a

random person.

I don't even know his name.

And that's exactly what I said.

They accepted the story and they sent me
back to the holding cell.

You know, it just brings back some bad
memories.

It's a place that I didn't like to be
at.

Well, after 14 days, they finally took
me out to the main prison.

If you're a drug smuggler in Mexico, you
don't have the option of bonding

yourself out during your trial.

So I got transferred to Morelia,
Michoacan.

This is a prison full of murderers,
rapists, you know, everybody.

And everybody looked alike.

Nobody looked like they were a murderer.

You just couldn't tell.

They had no care for life. It didn't
matter to them. They would kill somebody

without a problem.

Like, it didn't matter if you lived or
died.

You know, I'm just thinking to myself,
God, you know, this is hell. This is,

know, the worst place I've ever seen in
my life.

I thought there was a big possibility
that I could die there.

I mean, there was no value for life in
that place.

I finally broke down and called my mom.

It had been nine months the last time I
spoke with her.

Where are you, son? I've been worried
about you.

I'm in Morelia, Mommy, in prison.

It was hard to hear her cry.

No, son.

I love you so much, son.

It hurt in her voice, just, you know, it
broke my heart.

I love you too, Mom.

Yeah.

Felt like I let her down.

Okay.

Bye.

I'm sure she had better hopes for me,
you know.

Wanted better things for me, even though
she didn't show it.

Yeah, I'm sure she did.

After a year of being there, I had
adapted to the surroundings and pretty

just became one of them.

A friend of mine who had a girlfriend in
the women's area, he asked me if I

could go over there and pick up his food
for the day.

And he would share with me and whatever.

I got over there and washing dishes with
this girl.

I was immediately attracted to her.

I had to get to know her.

We just completely fell in love with
each other.

I found out she was an accountant for a
company.

Her manager was embezzling money.

She just got caught in the middle
because she was the one signing the

Her crime wasn't very big. She wouldn't
stay there very long.

But I had been sentenced to a lot of
years, and I didn't want to leave her

I wanted to be with her.

So I began to think, you know, I'm going
to try to escape.

I'm going to get out of here.

I started to associate with people.

One of the guys that I started
associating with, they called him Flaco.

He had escaped before from another
prison.

He was also a kidnapper.

So he was, you know, somebody who had
done things and could get things done.

He was like my right -hand man.

He was my best friend.

Any fights that went down, he was right
there with me.

El Diablo, we brought in as muscle.

He was an ex -gangster from L .A.,
tattooed out and just a really tough

Their whole intention was to try to
escape.

Started watching the guards in the
towers, watching their moves, see what

were doing daily.

The one thing that they did daily was
the cleanup.

Every single morning, they'd bring them
up in a broom,

walk into each individual tower.

The guard would come down, open the
door,

and meet these guys.

The guard would receive them up in the
room, go back up, clean this tower out,

and then throw the things over the side,
and they would continue to eat the

tower during this.

Flaco figured if we can get inside this
chain and fence before they locked the

gate, catch all three guards, With the
door open,

we could take over these guards and get
out through this tower.

It was a 10, 15 -second window.

Otherwise, he locks it and goes back up,
and there's no getting in.

I know they have guns, and we needed to
disarm them. So am I going to be able to

kill, or am I just going to get killed?

The one thing that they didn't know
about me is I wasn't a killer like they

were.

You know, I bragged to them that I could
if I had to, but I'd never actually

done it.

It was a dangerous and a scary
situation.

It scared me.

That morning, everything fell into
place.

The plan was perfect. We were all ready
to go.

The guards went through with their
routine.

They opened the gate.

I had a hollow feeling in my stomach.

The adrenaline rushing, the nervousness.

The guard came down the tower, opened
the door.

As he opened the door, the gate was
still open.

Negro looked up at me.

and nodded his head as a signal.

And I froze.

I just couldn't go through with it.

I'm looking, just staring, and finally I
focused in on what was going on.

I thought, okay, I got to go, and I
jumped in.

My cop took off running.

I'm chasing him.

I'm focused on his gun.

So this guy trips and falls.

When he falls, I'm going to grab his
gun.

So I'm focused on his waist.

I'm noticing he doesn't even have a gun
belt on.

Because he didn't have a gun, I didn't
have to kill him, but now I don't have a

gun at all.

As I'm clearing the top of the tower,
Diablo's behind me yelling, Las

Where's the shotgun?

We knew there was a shotgun in there
somewhere, but we didn't know where.

I go to the other side, and there it is.

I immediately thought, you know, what am
I going to do with it?

I don't want this gun in my hands.

If I keep it, I might have to use it. So
my first thing was get rid of it.

I stuck my head out and yelled, and I
just said, here it goes.

I went ahead and dropped, landed.

I saw Flaco running towards the houses.

As I'm running, I can see off the corner
of my eye that there was a police car.

All of a sudden, I hear a pop and then a
whoosh.

They were shooting at us.

I turned around immediately and yelled
at Flaco, shoot at them, shoot at them.

He was left -handed, and he couldn't
unlock the safety on it.

We turned the corner of the houses, and
about two blocks down, we could see the

car that was supposed to be there
waiting.

It starts speeding off.

A cop car turns the corner in front of
us.

I just couldn't believe that I was
caught.

No longer was me and Claudia going to be
able to be free and together.

We're going to have to go back to the
plan of me being inside and her outside.

Months passed after that, and I'm still
waiting for my sentence.

I'm hungry.

Me and Diablo are walking to the store,
and we see the warden.

They said, oh, well, they're going to
transfer you out of here to the United

States. Papers just came in yesterday.

I was just reading them this morning.
And I looked at my friend and we're

really? I knew that if I did get
transferred to the States, I

would be, you know, it would be a
shorter time before I got out.

So I'm in shock. I'm like, there's no
way. There's no way that this can

I didn't think it was ever going to
happen, and here it was.

It's finally the day.

Claudia came to my cell.

She was a little sad, but excited.

She had some news for me.

She hesitated a little bit to tell me,
and then she broke down and told me.

She had missed her last period.

I didn't know anymore what to do or what
to decide.

It kind of left me in shock.

Knowing that she

was pregnant, it was scary because I
knew I was going to have to leave her,

I didn't want to.

I didn't want her to be alone, and I
didn't want to leave her side. I wanted

to be with her from now on.

Knowing that she was pregnant, I got
scared.

Scared, excited.

You're pregnant?

I didn't know what to do or what to
think.

That's great.

See? It's amazing.

See? Yeah.

All of a sudden I hear my name being
called.

I knew I was going to have to leave her
and I didn't want to.

She started crying, and I wanted to take
her with me. I didn't want to ever be

away from her.

The guard saw Claudia crying, and he saw
me, and he

said, You have a choice. You don't have
to leave.

The choice that I had was to go back in.

You know, be next to Claudia, but run
the risk of staying there for a lot of

years. My other choice was to go away
and leave Claudia behind with the

guarantee that I was going to be getting
out soon.

And as soon as she gets out, she can be
with me.

So I made the choice of being
transferred.

In my mind, I thought, hey, I won.

I'm still going to get Claudia.

And I'm still going to get my freedom.

To me, I won.

That's everything for me. Everything was
going to be perfect from then on.

Come to find out, I was only going to be
able to keep one of them.

During the time that I lost contact with
her, she became scared.

Didn't know what to do. She was pregnant
and ended up finding another guy.

I still think about her.

I still think about her and wish that I
could see her again.

And more than anything, I wish I could
meet my daughter because I haven't met

her. I never got to see her.

I hope that somebody

sees my story and takes to heart what
I've done

and sees that.

that they become aware of that fake
money, that it's not there, that it's

facade that's there, that doesn't
actually exist and changes their life

and gets away from the drug world.

If at least one person can do that, I
think that would be a big