1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: Hollywoodland is a production of Double Elvis. 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:11,720 Speaker 2: Well the Same Time, Loyety and The Livey What All 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 2: Your Nameing Madmen They Come. 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: All the stories about Danny Treo are insane. He holds 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: the record for most on screen deaths by an actor. 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: His go to role is the bad guy, the baddest guy, 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: the guy you do not fuck with, and for the 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: first twenty five years of his life he was that 9 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: guy in real life. He bit off a piece of 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,959 Speaker 1: someone's face. He robbed a liquor store with a grenade. 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: He did time in just about every hardcore prison in California, 12 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: including Folsom in San Quentin. On the inside, he ran 13 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: protection rackets, He ran the gym, He ran drugs, and 14 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: he did drugs three to four grams of heroin a 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: After he bottomed out, naked and afraid in the hole 16 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: that sol Dad State Prison, he made a pledge to 17 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: stop striking fear in the hearts of others and instead 18 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: dedicate his life to helping others conquer their own fears. 19 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: And because art imitates life and life is off in 20 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: bat shit crazy, Danny Treo eventually found himself making great films. 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't a clip from a great film. 23 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: That was a fair use sample from the Library of 24 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: Congress of Henry Burr performing good Night Everybody in nineteen twelve. 25 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: I played you that clip because I can't afford the 26 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: rights to a clip from Gene Sachs as the Odd Couple. 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: Bachelor pad Cheese. Could I afford it? Because that was 29 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: the number one movie in America on May fifth, nineteen 30 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: sixty eight, And that was the day that Danny Treo 31 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: was accused of throwing a rock at a soul Dad's 32 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: state prison guard during a riot on Cinco de Mayo, 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: an offense that came with the most extreme punishment imaginable, 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: a gas chamber. On this episode Grenades Undercover, Feds, Hardcore 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: Prisons and Danny Treo. I'm Jake Brennan and this is 36 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 1: Hollywood Land. Danny Treo saw fear in the man's face. 37 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: Reading fear was one of his greatest gifts. Fear was everywhere. 38 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: You just had to know how to spot it, manipulate it, 39 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: put it to work for you. One man's distress is 40 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: another man's opportunity. And sometimes you have to manufacture it, 41 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: make yourself the thing a man fears more than anything. 42 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: You walk into a liquor store or off coing a 43 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: boulevard with a grenade in your hand, one finger wrapped 44 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: around the pin, your friends standing behind you cocking his 45 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: shotgun for maximum effect. That's gonna make the man behind 46 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: the counter fear for his life. He might even piss himself, 47 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: and they'll definitely do whatever the fuck you tell him to. 48 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: Danny Treo knew it would work, just like it worked 49 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: every other time at restaurants and retail stores. A liquor 50 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: store was just a variation on a theme that had money, 51 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: and Danny wanted that money. It had an employee behind 52 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: the counter who would cower at the side of Danny 53 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: and his friend, strung out on junk, ready to kill, 54 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: equally ready to die. He was holding a fucking grenade 55 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: in his hand. He'd level the whole block if he 56 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: had to. The liquor store employee knew this, and so 57 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: he did as he was told. He opened the register 58 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: and handed over every last dollar. Danny Treo knew fear 59 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,480 Speaker 1: from a very young age, growing up in Pacoima in 60 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: an La neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, which at 61 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: the time had a low medium income and a high 62 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 1: crime rate. The son of a zutsu Pachuco, Danny spoke Spanish, 63 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: English and fear like when he was laid out on 64 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: the ground pretending to be unconscious after his father's fist 65 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: had put him there, or when his father, angry and drunk, 66 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: locked him up in the car on one hundred degree day, 67 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: the greatest fear was reserved for Grandpa. Grandpa would threaten 68 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: your life and then give you a beating so bad 69 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: he'd welcome death as a means of escape. But there 70 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: was another way to escape, and Uncle Gilbert had the map, 71 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: or rather, he had a syringe and a belt. Gilbert 72 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,160 Speaker 1: was only six years older than Danny, who was all 73 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 1: of the time. Danny caught Gilbert shooting up after Gilbert 74 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: returned from a Stinton County lock up. He saw how 75 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: good it made Gilbert feel, the needle piercing the skin, 76 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: the glass to cloudy with blood. It took Gilbert somewhere. 77 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: His body was still there, but his mind was gone. 78 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: Away from it. All the violence, the fear. Danny wanted 79 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: to go to that same place. He told Gilbert he'd 80 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: squeal if he didn't tie him off to Heroin made 81 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: Danny feel warm and safe. It also made him want 82 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: to do more heroin. And to do more heroin, Danny 83 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: and Gilbert and needed cash they stole to support their habit. 84 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: They sold balloons of heroin down in Sun Valley Park. 85 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: But Gilbert wasn't just Danny's gateway into hard drugs. Gilbert 86 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: taught Danny how to survive and thrive. First, you have 87 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: to conquer your fears. You become fear, you get busted. 88 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: No importa. They put you in to sell for Juvie, 89 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: No say prey, occupay you know puto. You come out 90 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: harder than you were when you went in. You find 91 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: the other Mexicans on the inside, a couple of guys 92 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: that you know, of your back no matter what, You 93 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: need them now more importantly, you'll need them again down 94 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: the line. Don't beat on someone smaller than you. Don't 95 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: humiliate fuck bullies. Sleep with one eye open, be ready 96 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: to pounce if pounced on. But when someone does pounce, 97 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: when some Vato comes up real close with his chest 98 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: puffed out and a challenge on his tongue. When he 99 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: tells you, there's no need to take it outside because 100 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: it's going down right there, right now. You look him 101 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: straight in the eye and you say, fuck your mother homes. 102 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: No one expects that even the biggest, baddest motherfucker's thrown 103 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: off when you fail to play the operatic game of 104 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: escalating threats like all the other assholes. Tell them, I 105 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,239 Speaker 1: am not fucking around. I don't play by your rules. 106 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: I will fuck your mother well first, I'll break every 107 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: bone in your fucking body. They make no mistake. I 108 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: will do what I need to do to get what 109 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: I want money, drugs, respect. Gilbert's advice made Danny tough, 110 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: and it helped him survive his teenage years. He felt 111 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: awkward as the only Mexican kid at North Hollywood High, 112 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: but the white kid who dared challenge him felt something worse. 113 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: Pain searing, debilitating pain he felt that were part of 114 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: his face used to be. Danny spat the bloody hunk 115 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: of flesh on the pavement after tearing it out with 116 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: his teeth, and that would make any of those motherfuckers 117 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: think twice before fucking with Danny Treo again. But that 118 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: same advice also put Danny in some of the same 119 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: places uncle Gilbert E. Bent Juvenile Detention Centers, County Jail. 120 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: At an age when other kids were graduating high school, 121 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: Danny was starting a three year term at a different 122 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: kind of school, youth training school, a prison in Chino 123 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: where he was sent for dealing weed. When he was 124 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: released on parole in nineteen sixty five at the age 125 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: of twenty one, Danny Treo tried to fly straight, but 126 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: the life he had left was still there waiting for 127 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: him found him. Just as soon as he got out, 128 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: it pulled up alongside him while he was walking down 129 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: the street. It pulled up slick in a red and 130 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: white nineteen fifty nine Chevy and paula his friend Dennis 131 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: behind the wheel. Dennis wasn't a Mexican. He was a 132 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: white kid a few years younger. But he was one 133 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: of the guys Danny could trust, one of the guys 134 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: Gilbert had taught him to seek out, the guy who 135 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: had his back. In the IMPALA's trunk were two sawed 136 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: off shotguns, a machine gun, and a hand grenade. Two 137 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: revolvers in the backseat. Dennis is going to bring them 138 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: to Richard Berry, not the same Richard Berry who wrote 139 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: Louis Louis, but the valley's pre eminent heroin dealer trade 140 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: guns for dope. Danny couldn't resist. He got in the car. 141 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: Barry only bought some of the guns, so Danny and 142 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: Dennis took the remaining firepower along with the smack. They 143 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: scored the deal to achieve motel For over a month, 144 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: they operated out of motel rooms, dealing, getting high, holding 145 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: up liquor stores with that hand grenade, and the deals 146 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: got bigger. Dennis met some guy who wanted to buy 147 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: four ounce as a pure heroin fifty hundred knots Jesus Christ, 148 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: who says crime doesn't pay. But there was a problem. 149 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: They didn't have it, but they dealt it or shot 150 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: at all. So they filled up four balloons with sugar 151 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: and lactose powder and took it with them to the 152 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: meeting place. And maybe it was the fake drugs in 153 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: the balloons, but something didn't feel right. Danny started to 154 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: feel something that he hadn't felt in a long time, 155 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: something he had suppressed for years. Fear. Danny and Dennis 156 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: slid into the back seat of the car. It was dark, 157 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: Danny couldn't make out the faces of the men in 158 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: the front seats. The engine was idling, and the smell 159 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: of his sauce sweet and dirty. The driver asked if 160 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: they had the drugs. Danny couldn't bring himself to answer. 161 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: The whole thing stank, the car, The exhaust is fucking deal. 162 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: Danny's stomach lurched. It was going to be sick. Dennis 163 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: handed over the balloons filled with sugar and lactose powder. 164 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: The driver slowly turned around and held a stack of 165 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: bills in Danny's face. Danny got a look at him 166 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:00,959 Speaker 1: and double down on the churney, since, in his gut, 167 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: this guy didn't do dope. This guy made a living 168 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: out of fucking over people like Danny and Dennis, the guys. 169 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: He didn't fly straight. That driver, it was a fucking nark. 170 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: Take the money. Danny just stared at it, the bills, 171 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: six grand waving around in his face. Take it, Take 172 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: the money. Danny didn't move. He didn't know what to do. 173 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: He knew he was fucked, but maybe he'd be less 174 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:27,559 Speaker 1: fucked if he didn't actually touch the money. The driver 175 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: got impatient, Take the fucking money, man, And then Dennis 176 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: got impatient. He reached forward and grabbed the cash and 177 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: then they split. Danny told Dennis his suspicions they just 178 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 1: sold drugs to federal agents. He couldn't explain how he knew. 179 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: Dennis told him to calm down, it was all good. 180 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: The only thing they had to worry about was whatever 181 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: payback awaited them for selling fake heroin. Danny did not agree. 182 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 1: He took his half of the payday and brought it 183 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: to a waitress he knew at a restaurant that held 184 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: a lot of money in its safe. He had to 185 00:10:57,720 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: swap out his three grand for three grand from us, 186 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: and then he went back to the motel where he 187 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: and Dennis were staying. Dennis wasn't there. Danny waited. Dennis 188 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: finally pulled up in that red and white and palla. 189 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,319 Speaker 1: He barely opened the driver's side door when a fleet 190 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: of cars roared into the motel parking lot. Brick squealed, doors, 191 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: flung open, badge his guns federal agents. Danny and Dennis 192 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: were fucked. Dennis had never been to a prison before, 193 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: but for Danny Treo, this was a major violation of 194 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: his parole, which meant he wasn't going back to youth 195 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: training school. He was headed straight to the Arena, the 196 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: big House. You think you know fear, You don't know 197 00:11:36,200 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: shit until you stepped foot inside Sam Quentin. By the 198 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: time Danny Trejo got the San Quentin State Prison at 199 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: just twenty one years old, he'd already done time at 200 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: prisons in correctional facilities in Chino, Vaucaville, Tracy, Jamestown, Cannucdai, 201 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: and mcgallia. But San Quentin was different. He make it 202 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: there and you know you fucked up real good essay. 203 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,199 Speaker 1: San Quentin was not for the faint of heart, built 204 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: by the bare hands of condemned men. Just two years 205 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: after the Golden State was admitted to the Union, and 206 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: for over one hundred years, it continued to siphon the blood, sweat, 207 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: and tears of the condemned. Some of the most violent, 208 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: deplorable men in the United States serial killers, child killers, 209 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 1: men with unrelenting compulsions to kill, men who get off 210 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: on watching the life drain from another man's eyes. Visitors 211 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: to San Quentin are required to sign a waiver. The 212 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: prison does not negotiate over hostages. If an inmate gets 213 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: you while you're on the inside, you're on your own, 214 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: just like everyone else in that God forsaken fuck hole. 215 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: Even the ghosts were on their own. You could hear 216 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 1: them at night, moaning and howling alongside the screams of 217 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: the living, lost souls who were once made of human flesh, 218 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 1: the ones who were shanked, choked out, hanged, the ones 219 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: who bled out on a cold cement floor. There was 220 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: only one legal way to die inside San Quentin, and 221 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: the whole prison knew when it was happening. There past 222 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: the yard on the fourth floor of the North block 223 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 1: was condemned Men's Row aka Death Row, the only death 224 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: row for male inmates in the entire state of California. 225 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: It was impossible to forget where death Row was at Quentin. 226 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: A green light shone at the top of a metal 227 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: chimney directly above. Green was good, but when the light 228 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: turned red, that only meant one thing. Someone was being gassed. 229 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:56,080 Speaker 1: A gas chamber execution is excruciating. You're strapped to a 230 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: chair which is sealed inside an airtight chamber. When the 231 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,080 Speaker 1: hydrogen cyanide gas is released, they tell you to breathe 232 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: it in to make it go quicker. But you hold 233 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,040 Speaker 1: your breath, you fight it, you struggle. Soon you can't 234 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: hold it any longer, so you gulp down the poison air, 235 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: your eyes pop out of your head, your skin goes purple, 236 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:18,719 Speaker 1: Drool runs down your chin. It takes most men more 237 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: than ten minutes to die, and just the thought of 238 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: death by cyanide gas was enough to strike fear and 239 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: even the hardest of hardened criminals. But Danny Trejo had 240 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: other things to worry about inside San Quentin. It's like 241 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: the note that was passed into his cell on this 242 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: first night. It was from an old friend, also an inmate, 243 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: warning Danny that Samvato, he had screwed over on the outside, 244 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: was telling everyone that he was a cheat. Danny had 245 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: to be ready for anything, and he couldn't forget the 246 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: reason he was at San Quentin in the first place. 247 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: His friend Dennis was to play. Danny thought he could 248 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: trust him, that Dennis had his back, But when the 249 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: going got tough, when the shit hit the fan, Dennis 250 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: flipped sold Danny out. Dennis had never experience a prison before. 251 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: He was a pretty white boy, and pretty white boys 252 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: had one role on the inside. Was Dennis scared? You 253 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: better fucking believe it. The Feds had nothing on Danny. 254 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: He swapped out as half of the money from the 255 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: drug deal. He never actually touched anything when the deal 256 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: went down in that car, and since the balloons were 257 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: filled not with heroin but with sugar and lactose powder, 258 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: there were no drug charges to be made. The FEDS 259 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: had no choice but to turn them over to the cops. Dennis, 260 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: on the other hand, had a choice. If he pled guilty, 261 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: he'd get sixty days in a dark cell, But if 262 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: he testified that he witnessed Danny sell smack to an 263 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: undercover officer, his future would look a lot brighter. Besides, 264 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: the cops didn't want Dennis. They wanted the repeat offender, 265 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: the parole violator. They wanted Danny Treo. And they got 266 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: Danny Treo, thanks in no small part to his snitch partner. 267 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: He'd been set up, double crossed, left for dead, but 268 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: they fucked with the wrong Mexican. Danny got to work 269 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: inside San Quentin. He didn't have time to dwell on 270 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: how he'd got in there. He didn't have the luxury 271 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: to be afraid. He remembered the advice of his uncle Gilbert. 272 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,119 Speaker 1: He became fear. He sought out a few close confidants, 273 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: the guys he could call carnal Imano. Then the rest 274 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: of the general population flinched when he walked by. He 275 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: trained in the gym and showed off his three punch 276 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: combo in the ring. He fashioned shanks out of metal 277 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: pieces from his bunk. He got a requisite prison tattoo, 278 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: not just any tattoo. He had a long time for 279 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: us a guitar string in a melted down toothbrush to 280 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: paint the giant Chara, a Mexican woman who fought alongside 281 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: Pancho Villa on his chest. He ran protection rackets. He 282 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: collected debts for Richard Berry, the heroin dealer from the 283 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: valley that traded him dope for guns. Collecting debts went 284 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: like this. Find the guy that ows the money to 285 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: Richard Berry. Walk up to the guy that ows the 286 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: money to Richard Berry. Appreciate the fact that this guy 287 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: is twice the size of you. Try not to let 288 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: it bother you speak clearly and concisely. And when this 289 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: big guy and dad asked you what the fuck you 290 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: want you tell him. I want you to write your 291 00:16:57,520 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: family and tell them if they don't send the money 292 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: you o by tuesday, you're going to die. The deal 293 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: with Richard Barry was mutually beneficial. Barry got his money 294 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:11,919 Speaker 1: or even better contraband like Carton's a cigarette sold for 295 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,680 Speaker 1: an even greater profit, and Danny got paid in heroin. 296 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: Being in prison hadn't curved his habit, If anything, it 297 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: escalated it. The only thing more surprising than how much 298 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: Danny was using at the time was the fact that 299 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: he could be so high and yet remain a major 300 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: player in San Quentin's ecosystem. Prison authorities thought he was 301 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: too good of a player. They classified him as a 302 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:38,680 Speaker 1: quote unquote institutional convenience. In other words, do whatever you 303 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: want with this fucking guy. You don't want him there, 304 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: send him somewhere else Wherever's convenient for everyone except Danny Treo. 305 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: He was making too many waves. He was way too organized, 306 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 1: which is how Danny Treo found himself an inmate at 307 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: Fulsome Prison, where he was taken directly to the whole. 308 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 1: The pit at Building five was, as Cash would later 309 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: sing at his famous Fulsome Prison concert, dark as a 310 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: dungeon six by ten cell iron door, heaviest shit you 311 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: lose track in a place like that. It wasn't long 312 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: before his institutional convenience designation once again got a moved 313 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:17,679 Speaker 1: out of Folsome and into the so called Correctional Training 314 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:24,360 Speaker 1: Facility aka Soladad Stay Prison in Monterey County, and solidad 315 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: Danny got his groove back. He ran a new protection racket. 316 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: He ran the gym. He ran drugs, smack, speed, cigarettes, 317 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: whatever you wanted. He want some women's panties, lipstick, it's 318 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: cool homes. If that's your thing, we can make it happen. 319 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: Danny kept the business of prison rolling while he rolled 320 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: deeper into his own addictions. Three to four grams of 321 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: heroin a day, weed, pills, whiskey, pruno, that's prison wide, 322 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,119 Speaker 1: raisin's oranges, table, sugar and yeast, twisted tight in garbage bags, 323 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: insulated in t shirts, and fermented on heating fence. On 324 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: May fifth, nineteen sixty eight, single de mio, Danny had 325 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: a head full of all the above while he observed 326 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: a bizarre scene a junior college baseball team playing a 327 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: pickup game with a group of sold that inmates. He 328 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: felt like shit and the cocktail of substances was slashing 329 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: around inside his head like a batch of pruno gurguling 330 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: on a tepid radiator. He sat on the bleachers along 331 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: the third base line out in the yard with his 332 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: friend Ray and watched the strange game unfold. These college 333 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 1: kids were way out of their element. They looked terrified 334 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: just to be there. Ray kept hackling the third baseman, 335 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: some pimply faced kid in his late teen smacking on 336 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: a water gum like a cow chewing its cut. Ray 337 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,959 Speaker 1: wanted to stick a gum. He yelled at the kid, 338 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: and the kid didn't respond. Danny told him to chill out, 339 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 1: and that just made Ray want to heck, am more, 340 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: Fuck you bitch, give me some gum. The third baseman 341 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: finally responded. He said they really weren't supposed to interact 342 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: with the inmates. No offense. The fuck he say? No offense? 343 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: That got to Ray. Danny could see it in his eyes, 344 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: fucked him right up, like there were second class citizens. 345 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 1: Ray wasn't gonna take that shit sitting down. Within seconds, 346 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: he was up right out of the bleachers and practically 347 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: sprinted to the field, straight to third base, and he 348 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: punched that intellectual caprol right in the mug, and the 349 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,640 Speaker 1: bleachers cleared. Bodies scattered throughout the yard, thousands of bodies. 350 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: The college kids were swinging baseball bats at anyone that 351 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: got close. But inmates weren't just going after college kids. 352 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: Inmates were going after inmates. Long standing grudges were being settled. 353 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: Mexican gains went after black gangs. Black gangs targeted the arians. 354 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,679 Speaker 1: Danny was just trying to survive. He threw punches at 355 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: anyone in everyone. His boxing training kicked in. He dodged fists, 356 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 1: He threw monster hooks. He grabbed something off the ground, 357 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: a rock or a piece of concrete. He didn't stop 358 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: to look. He just knew he might need it, and, 359 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: according to someone duty that day, he used it. When 360 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: the riot was finally subdued, one of the guards blamed 361 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: Danny for throwing the rock that hit him in the head. 362 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: Attacking a guard was a capital offence, which meant that 363 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: it was only a matter of time before Danny would 364 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: be the one strapped to the chair inside that sealed chamber. 365 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: Back at San Quentin. He would breathe in the cyanide gas. 366 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: The light on top of the chimney above death Row, 367 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: just beyond the yard, it would change over from green 368 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: to red, and everyone there would know Danny Treo was 369 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 1: a dead man. We'll be right back after this. 370 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 2: We're were were. 371 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: There was shits smeared all over the wall, and not 372 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: just haphazardly smeared. It spelled out two words, fuck God. 373 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: No one would be surprised to learn that the Hole 374 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,160 Speaker 1: and Soul Died was a godless place. It was cramped hot, 375 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: a pit of despair, self loathing, and human filth. It 376 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 1: was hell. Danny Treyo didn't know what was worse, being 377 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: stuck in solitary alone, buck naked, with nothing but shit 378 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: on the walls for company, or not knowing what was 379 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: going to happen when he got out. Would they prove 380 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 1: that he had thrown the rock to hit a guard 381 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: in the head. It wasn't denying that he had thrown 382 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: a rock, but he didn't deliberately throw one at a guard, 383 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: even in the heat of the moment, even in the 384 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: middle of a prison riot with a thousand other men, 385 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: all of them raging, raring to draw blood and drop bodies. 386 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: Even then, he wouldn't do something that fucking stupid. But 387 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: who was he? An inmate, an institutional convenience. They could 388 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:37,200 Speaker 1: do with him what they wanted. Fuck was over. Life 389 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: as he knew it was over. Would they take him 390 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 1: right back to San Quentin, or would he be on 391 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: death row for long? He shuddered at the thought. He 392 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: also shuddered because he was being forced to abandon his diet, 393 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: that steady diet of heroin, pills, weed, whiskey, and pruno 394 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: that had powered him through his short life thus far. 395 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: Cold turkey was bad enough in the best conditions. Here 396 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: it sucked hard. Here, Fear lurked in every corner. Fear 397 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: was tucked inside every shadow. He couldn't avoid it forever. 398 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,360 Speaker 1: It would either defeat him or he would defeat it. 399 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: His mind raced, He thought back to the hole and 400 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: fulsome where he passed the time doing push ups and 401 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: sit ups and kept his body sharp, kept his mind sharper. 402 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: He played out movies in his head, the Wizard of Oz, 403 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: the Hunchback of Notre Dame, movies of his youth. They 404 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: took him back, carried him away, helped him escape, at 405 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: least in his mind, not unlike Heroin. But Heroin took 406 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: him to all the wrong places, took him to San Quentin, 407 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: the fulsome solidad took him to the hole. Heroin wasn't helping, 408 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: and Danny Treou needed to help. He emerged from the 409 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: hole three months later, for the first time in over 410 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 1: a decade, he was sober. He couldn't stay sober and 411 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: keep dealing. Only a hypocrite would do that, So he 412 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: stopped slinging dope, but he kept protecting. He joined the 413 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: prison's twelve step program. He looked out for the people 414 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: consumed by fear, the ones who needed help as badly 415 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 1: as he needed it. In solitary, he helped him get clean. 416 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: And these are hardened criminals are talking about all because 417 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: they thought, shit, if a badass Voto like Danny Treo 418 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 1: can do it, why can't I? Unlikely? Sure, impossible, Nah, 419 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 1: anything was possible, even the unlikeliest things, especially the unlikeliest 420 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: things like when that guard was pressed to testify on 421 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: exactly what happened at the single demile riot, and he 422 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,399 Speaker 1: admitted that he really couldn't remember who it was that 423 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 1: through the rock, when fellow inmates eyewitnesses asked who did it, 424 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,640 Speaker 1: and they responded it was Mickey Mouse. They could even 425 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: track down the third basement, the one where he clocked. 426 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: There wasn't enough evidence. After three months in the hole, 427 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: drastically turning his life around, Danny Treo was rewarded with 428 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: absolution and then on August twenty third, nineteen sixty nine, 429 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: almost one year after his release from the hole, the 430 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: next unlikely the thing happened. Danny Treo was released from prison. 431 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: He was a free man who was a new man. 432 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 1: But the most unlikely thing of all was yet to come. 433 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: Danny Treo heard the fear and the voice on the 434 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: other end of the phone. The kid was seventeen, maybe eighteen, 435 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: one hundred and eight days clean, but he felt like 436 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: getting loaded. It was cocaine all over the place at 437 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,679 Speaker 1: his job. He didn't think he would make it through 438 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: the night without using. Danny was used to this kind 439 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: of call. He fielded them day and night. He was 440 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: always on. Ever since his release from prison, he walked 441 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: a straight line and never looked back. He even forgave 442 00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 1: his old friend Dennis for throwing him under the bus 443 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: and landing him and Sam Quentin. And he helped himself 444 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,400 Speaker 1: by helping others. He opened treatment centers and sober living 445 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: houses throughout la like the ongoing Unity and Recovery House 446 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,359 Speaker 1: or Our House in Koreatown. Guys just out of the 447 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: pen were sent his way by Uncle Gilbert, who was 448 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: back in fulsome doing time. Yet again, Danny vowed never returned. 449 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: Too many people relied on now, like this kid on 450 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: the phone. Danny told him to come on over to 451 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: the house. Carson would be on soon. The kid couldn't 452 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: get a stay at work, and Danny told him to 453 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: hang tight. He was on his way. Danny didn't know 454 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: what the kid did for work, but when he arrived 455 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: at the address, it wasn't what he expected. Lights cameras 456 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: action was a film set. There were people everywhere running 457 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: the equipment, telling the actors what to do, managing crowd control. 458 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: So many people, but Danny couldn't find the kid. Some 459 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 1: important looking guy walked up to Danny wanted to know 460 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: what he was doing. Looking for a friend. Danny replied, 461 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: but I think I'm too late. The man introduced himself. 462 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: He was the assistant director. The movie was called Runaway Train. 463 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,400 Speaker 1: He asked Danny if he had any interest in being 464 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,199 Speaker 1: an extra. He was for a prison scene. Can you 465 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: play a convict? He asked? Hold up, you're sitting there 466 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: thinking no way, man, no way. This is how it happened. 467 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: Danny Trejo, clean and sober and doing God's Where It 468 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: wanders onto a movie set and is asked if he 469 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: can play a convict, but I swear that's what actually happened. 470 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: And you want to know what's even crazier, Danny says, Uh, yeah, 471 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: I can play a convict. Does the pope wear a 472 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: funny hat and he goes to change into his prison 473 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: blues for the scene. He takes his shirt off, and 474 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:37,840 Speaker 1: that big ass tattoo of the chara is there for 475 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,719 Speaker 1: all to see. And suddenly this old white guy from 476 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: across the room goes Danny. Danny Trejo turns out the 477 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,360 Speaker 1: guy who wrote the screenplay for the movie, Eddie Bunker, 478 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,640 Speaker 1: a career criminal, was an inmate at San Quentin when 479 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: Danny was boxing there. Small fucking World Man. From there, 480 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: Danny kept scoring small roles, first as an extra. By 481 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven's Penitentiary three, he was playing characters with 482 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: names that appeared in the credits. He always played the 483 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: bad guy, the baddest guy, the guy you just do 484 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: not fuck with, the bad guy in movies with names 485 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 1: like death, Wish for Bulletproof, lock Up, Maniac Cop two, 486 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: and Marked for Death. His face struck fear in the 487 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: hearts of the good guys, that long black ponytail, the 488 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: sinister mustache and those tattoos, the lines on his weathered 489 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,119 Speaker 1: face that told a story you wouldn't fucking believe. A 490 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: journalist once asked him, you always play the Mexican with tattoos. 491 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: Are you afraid of getting typecasts? And Danny responded, I 492 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: am the Mexican with tattoos. Danny graduated the bigger and 493 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 1: better films with directors including Michael Mann, Robert Rodriguez, and 494 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: Quentin Tarantino. He poked fun at his Badass rep and 495 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: the Spy Kids series. In twenty ten, he finally graduated 496 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: from supporting character to badass, vengeful lead in the exploitation 497 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: B movie Michelle. Over the years, he managed to get 498 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: himself killed sixty five times, the most on screen deaths 499 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: by any actor. Turns out, this one time cold blooded 500 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: criminal would have killed to be in pictures. I'm Jake 501 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:24,960 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is hollywood Land. 502 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 3: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced 503 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 3: in partnership with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate and review 504 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 3: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts and get in 505 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 3: touch with us on social. 506 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: Media at Double Elvis. 507 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 3: If you like hollywood Land, check out my other show, 508 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 3: The Award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of 509 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 3: music through the lens of true crime. Just search for 510 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 3: Disgraceland or wherever you get your podcasts 511 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: That there's a lie