Danny Trejo’s Journey from Prison to Paying It Forward | Wide Open with Tony Gonzalez

[Music] Gracie you look great thanks for coming through so that's how tall I am in the movies look at that huh look at that go get some of these [Music] all righty all right welcome back to the next episode of why to open the podcast I'm your host Tony Gonzalez and right now I am sitting next to Danny Trejo what's up and before we start talking I want to give everybody a brief background about yourself you've been over there and been in over 200 movies yeah yeah an empire IMDB has me at like three hundred and eighty eight appearances 388 says I believe it because it seems like every time I look you've been doing it for a long time 1985 since 1985 and now you've gone into along with we're still doing movies but now you're doing food and you're a ho tacos and doughnuts and canciones we started four years ago with Creoles tacos and it just kind of blew up so now we've got seven restaurants with one donut shop we've got one one restaurant with the book guy at the at the airport I swear at the airport now - yeah that's what I'd heard that what makes you legit better let's print money - I love to talk about people's backgrounds because I do believe that's that's what makes them especially the the movers and shakers I always talk about them the people that are doing extraordinary things they usually their stories are just amazing and your story I'd met you I don't know if you remember last year we had met after after that the airport after a Super Bowl and we got to sit down and talk and you just told me briefly about how you came up and I was blown away because I had no clue I had absolutely had no clue and it's an amazing story but let's let's start there are you growing up in Echo Park what was it like back when you were younger was the neighborhood like in Echo Park which is in Los Angeles Echo Park at when I grew up was was ninety nine and nine-tenths percent Mexican and out of that there was uh probably 98 percent total yeah I mean it was basically a ghetto you know and I lived at 1934 Preston's tinkle biloba nobody and uh it was a trouble it's like we were from EP Echo Park in and then there would be to always fight with the temple street gang and and uh it was just chaos all the time you know you fight on the way to school fight on the way home and uh and you had to keep people out of your neighborhood which was ours Echo Park the only problem is Echo Park is a great big park so it was really hard kind of defending that turf heathens Temple Street and planting a whole lot of people want to go that part so in your house though you got brothers sisters now I grew up just by myself you're by yourself and your mother and father in the home or was it my stepmom and my dad my dad my dad married my mom really when I was 3 I got taken away from my real mom and my dad kind of married my mom really kind of take care of me mm-hmm but she didn't like kids we get along for a long time and but but that's kind of what I kind of just grew up on the streets of I had two good friends a guy that I used to protect me Mike Schwartz and Rudy and the modal to protect him Guzman because there was a lot of Mexicans in them Schwartz isn't the Mexican name remember I go over to his house and I go being Jewish people sure got messed up doughnuts and is it not a doughnut but what is it it's a big my stepdad is doing it was doing my wife you Jewish really I love bagels now finally when he put them like the cream cheese on it mr. Boies damn these are good every dad stop it's awesome little bit big little bit different than tacos are so when you're growing up in that type of environment I mean what what choices did you feel like you had back then it the you don't want to me I had I had an uncle I don't know my uncle Gilbert mama Gilbert was a dope fiend in an armed robber and he was my dad's youngest brother out of like six brothers so mom and dad kind of like are done after the fifth one and the sixth one is kind of just uh hell and so he was kind of left by himself I was a only child as far as growing up so me and him tied up real close so he started smoking weed really early on money and then III III caught him fixing heroin when he was when I was 12 and I I told to give me something he said no I threatened to snitch on him no wait well I'm threatened to be a whistleblower that's a new word for ya it's again threatened to be a whistleblower so I got like my first week stay here that's why should I really start to get in trouble that's why they sent me to Texas uh-huh and so you go to Texas and then you come back at what Italy yeah I was only stayed there three months in Texas for three months I went there well but but 12 and a half came back when I was 13 I just played good three months and then I couldn't you know I don't want to be anywhere already you gotta shoot a mosquito with the 20 do business but when you get back now I'm in Pacoima so what happens now I mean when you're between the ages and when was the first time that you that you went to prison for time I went to juvenile hall 12:13 result and it was just petty stuff back then or is it uh everything was petty I mean just anything you did you know I I you know fighting and assault strong-arm robbery like if you take take money from a paperboy uh-huh you know it's strong-arm robbery give me it I'll beat you up that's drawn robbery no just kidding trouble and that was just the way of life we just got in trouble mm-hmm you know I got thrown out of middle school because me jr. missile about eleven times from being being being intoxicated or loaded or by a döner did you get you had a middle school with four different neighborhoods in its own and and then the gangs or you said you're in a gang write a book or my was from Pacoima from this neighborhood so basically that's the gang you this was a long time before people started actually like having street gangs this was like my neighborhood gang those Pacoima San Fernando North Hollywood all these were gangs uh-huh and and that no did you have any mentors while you were yeah that was your uncle oh well cuz he was the closest to my age of my uncles mm-hmm you know so they always kind of left him they always kind of you know pushed me to him cuz he wasn't doing nothing everybody else was working so I you know like I said he was a drug addict armed robber best best guy best dude I've ever met my really yeah he taught me everything I was gonna need to know in prison mmm yeah that's simple you know and that's the choices that we had growing up it's not we had you had you could either be a laborer or a laborer or a criminal or a hustler do you know uh-huh so so you're looking at it and you're like okay my choices are either either a life of crime yeah and was there any role models yeah but you don't look at it that you don't look at like a life of crime it's just a way of life yeah just this what do I do do I want to work as hard as this Mexican or do I want to work as hard as this man the guy that's got the new car and the money my uncle always had a roll of money like that always and give you a couple buzzing Peter they're here I'm here you know like I can remember when oh wait there's the lady I was good bike I was trying to get that one of the one of the girls the neighborhood eyes about 9:00 we were breasts hmm you know and and she wouldn't do it wouldn't do it and then my uncle and the guy named Charlie dear that just did a robbery and they came home now they weren't like like these have papers like black bigger pants black shoes black shirt top coat there was a like uh you know the top coat that her that her cashmere but it wasn't like Kashmir was like fake Kashmir but look good mm-hmm and they pull up and they branding they just did a robbery they had all these runs and they were like four showings here here I don't what do you think so they each gave me about eight ones mm-hmm I'm nine years old with eighteen one yeah that's a lot of money God and this is like you visit the 50s yeah and I remember going back to that girl with a hey I'll give you three dollars so money buys everything yeah and you start learning that and the guy that was working hard you're coming home sweating you know that stinky lunch bucket he's not making that kind of money only problem is there's a bigger price to pay with the money that you make yeah then the money that he you know you know I mean I do it but you don't use it that doesn't it's just like that self gratification we did our first robbery with a fourteen years old I mean a guy named mike serone up and we rob though the Far East market on Lankershim as the old Chinese people don't ever rob Chinese people is that they will not give up money but I had a I had a pistol that that came down like this and he put the bullets in a revolver but the only problem that it was broken so he had to hold it like this you know and I'm screaming getting the money gave me the money and so she gave me like eight dollars out of the cash register but do you know that like they keep the fives and the tans in the cigar box underneath I said no give me that money yeah well I said that's when the gun broke in half you know and so then the guy from back came running out and me a mic cirno went running down Lankershim laughs hand crack and I'll be with me we got eight dollars out of our first robbery so so when obviously this it catches up to you and the prison yeah and so when you got to prison though what did was that a fearful thing for you know cause it was that like the first ten years he went to the toy if you grow up in the system okay it's it's like you like you okay you played pop why don't you play public Warner then you played high school then you played college then you went to that to the to the NFL so now when you heard you weren't afraid you were like oh anxious because you knew most of the guys there you know you knew some of the guys on the team and it's a state that's the same that way I was in June all I was in camp I was in Youth Authority when I got to the big what it's it's a it's the same kind of just kind of a alternate universe uh-huh but well for me with football though as every time I moved up um when I first got the cause I show up on campus right coming from high school and I was the man back then but then when I get to college you're doing with these grown men now and I got to believe it's like that from the juvenile system to the the prison assess me well you go from Julian were scared at all though you weren't scared at all it's not it's not fear its anxiety and find out what enemies you got there and you gotta remember you always have a crew I never I never was anywhere alone I've never had a fair fight in my life don't hunch I think fair fights are stupid uh-huh but what is what would a prison teach you about fear and anger you see in in prison there's a there's people that have fear see and and in prison you learn how not to have fear it goes straight to rage you understand yeah do you have a temper no you go straight to rage so if you give me a dirty look and if I become a little bit what you call fear largest comes out it's like wait a minute i I don't have time for this because this is this is a killing situation there's only two kinds of people in prison there's predators or prey I'm kind of big you are who you are you gotta choose every damn date which you're gonna be because you might be a predator but I might be over here thinking you're break yeah you know I mean it's that simple and if if I'm doing ten years you're doing 18 months and you got money you're in trouble and I'm gonna tase them I'll kill what celebrity what athlete didn't give a [ __ ] they went to prison paid protection every one of them I know some of the guys right now that are in the joint paying protection and they won't call it protection they'll say no I'm taking care of my crew that means yeah okay yeah take care your crew see what happened yeah your name will be Alice so it seems like it seems like a smart thing to do that's a presentation I'd like when we're acquitted me Tyrone right cookie I'm frog and we had like this little protection ring right only problem with the protection ring is that you have to prove that you can protect whatever your whatever you're protecting so if somebody comes in that you know is pray you go to them they look you're gonna have a lot of trouble in this joint now for this much money we'll take care of you mm-hmm and they've got a choice to make you know and it's so funny so now I'm area plan first let me come with a black eye okay what do I gotta do yeah you know I mean yeah cuz first of all it's like there's no real fights in prison nobody fights if if I sock you you're gonna sock me back and then we're gonna tussle do you do right yeah if I come up behind you stab you three times and walk away I'll get it I'll get I'll get away with it huh I've never seen a fair fightin in prison in my life and I've been in every prison in the state of California there was built when I was I was gone uh-huh so so offer that though so while you're in prison what did you think about your future did that ever cross your mind what did you but if what was your your dreams your goals why your while you were at that age in prison I think I think your goals in prison are very very shallow they're like that like making it through the day right I was lightweight and welterweight champion boxing at every joint I was in and that's that was my goal that was my goal that's as far as it went and I'll never forget kid civil wait a minute aren't you cutting yourself kind of short and what do you tell mother well there's such things championing the world mm-hmm and but you can't you can't think that far ahead I'm doing 10 years you know so it's like my future is today I think I mean prison is the is the the best way in the world that you learn how to live one day at a time uh-huh really yeah because the future depends on whether that guy got a letter or that guy broke up with his wife or that guy thinks you're looking at it uh-huh you know that's kind of like your future so it teaches you to head press always meaning look ahead and you can't think about the Divine's you know what for the term I got your back yeah came from it means that when me and you were talking I'm I got your back that it came from prison because we're talking that means you can't see behind you blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I got your but you're doing the same thing that's where it came from I got your back so you talk about boxing though yeah I got into boxing when you were that use something you picked up on your tourism my uncle started boxing boy when I like he was in the Golden Gloves that he could thought he thought you know actually heavy handed and I was his I wants a sparring partner but it really I was his punching bag you know and and I had to kind of learn how to like duck move block punches rather my head beat and then that's what we did so he he got me started boxing and then I boxed I boxed I boss said and uh juvenile hall you know same thing you set up fights and just have fights and and but those were like just bear fishes to fight and and I was good it's like I knew straight punches straight punches because everybody that comes at you like in his straight punches and so when I got to use the first started boxing Tracy we used to box all the time they had him boxing and that was Tracy was kind of uh at the time in the 60s it was kind of like like a Youth Authority which is young guys you thought an a numbers uh-huh you know to which you're adult so you had some great great boxing matches there because some of the youngsters were pretty good some of the old guys and then from there you go to Quentin vultureman did did boxing kind of like exercise does for a lot of people were bar you know you exercise you go get workout but helps you release some of that stress get some of that anger out or whatever it is the delimit soak it was boxing that ryu that it kind of was ever at least for you while you were there absolutely and it's a reputation you know it's like the most important thing in the penitentiary is your reputation and you bring your reputation follows you and and i would start running the gym because everybody knew me and they knew i could fight and they knew so i would run the gym the gym is the best place to make bruno is the best place to hide weapons it's a bit the best there's all kinds mm-hmm you know and so so it was the best place kind of it be to be hustling and to be doing whatever you got to do did you ever hit rock bottom or absolutely while you're in prison today mean I got clean what was that moment like well not am I talking about that 1968 Cinco de Mayo mm-hmm and bring in solid air and Cinco de Mayo everybody thinks it means fifth of May but if you really imagine like from Bora you know I mean Cinco DeMayo means you better get bail money because you're going to jail or you're for whatever you know for your wife stabbing you or you beat her up or shooting a gun or fighting with your neighbors or crashing your car that's what cinco mio me jamort to most people and so Sinclair Michael everybody in this pennant every Mexican in a penitentiary was drunk loaded on clue pills hair or whatever they do and we got an outside baseball team that came in to play our team and me rape a check on Henry kilala we were just waste it out of our minds and we were like on the third base bleachers here and third base was just right there and they had a guy about that I'd sympathies about six-one now we're male Mexican numerous tattoos of this guy ad were all like five seven five eight and we're looking at it and he's chewing gum and this was your perfect athlete I hate to say it old but he was about like your size you know I mean and chewing gum and we're not allowed gum in the penitentiary and this was a guy that you knew was like athlete and rave rave come down from Tesco Sderot he had a double murder he came down because task Adaro is the the the mental hospital but it's run by the Department of Health you know Thakur Ville is the mental hospital for the criminally insane but it's run by the Department of Corrections so he came down from task Adaro with a seven-year top because his medical and so he's their end of the shock treatments and all the medication that he was under started worrying off I still love the teaser might come up behind you [Music] shut up daddy and so I knew this stuff was wearing off cuz he was like yeah you know and he was like look at this guy to come and he was like almost like a Lucas tell me I want some gum you not me and I said shut up ray don't shut up though that might goes bad don't mess with that my father what would you know doctor knows karate don't please don't ask him it I don't want to I don't want that I don't have to help you out of that and raises lost it hey give me some gum this guy tore up I can't they don't not to give you guy and that's as far as he got bow race octave sucking a free person in the penitentiary is a gas chamber offense not when when something happens in the pen it just blows up it just blows up Henry Keala ruptured coke code straw mire it was alleged that I threw a rock and hit lieutenant Givens in the head and paw and the next thing I remember his start is Captain Rogers going like this and that means shoot there to the gun tower yeah point down to shoot there yes and I followed his finger and him me and Ray were right there so I just grabbed ray we went to the ground and they took us to the hole and it was like we're done Dennis they were done is that we knew it it's like this go to the DA we got three gasps same Rapids and I remember seeing a movie years ago with the Eastside kids they were like from Brooklyn they were like from New York and [ __ ] yeah but it was a gang and the bad gang in there the bad guy in their gang the main guy was going to the chair you know and all these youngsters die he'll spit in their eye he'll tell him come get me copper and and the Pat O'Brien had to come and say now he went out like a [ __ ] and he was screaming and yelling and pissed his pants and they were heartbroken but it kind of showed you that you know nobody's tough and I remember just asking God let me die with dignity Lord just let me I got a reputation I with dignity I will say your name every day and I will do whatever where I can from my fellow man that was my my spot and I but I thought it was only gonna be like a couple of years and they were gonna kill us it wasn't Yoshi tofu me and sister I bought at the rest of your life to hold up that promise you know what Tony the rest of my life since 1968 Cinco DeMayo I've done everything I can for my fellow man I've said his name five six seven eight times a day every one of my friends to be my friend you gotta have thermal underwear you gotta have socks and-and-and and t-shirts in your trunk of your car to pass out to the homeless mm-hmm everyone my friend you go check that check their trunk no no I can you buy him downtown and cost nothing you know yeah that's right you that's what we do me and Mario were the kind of Mario right now is working what we're doing we're working with uh the lifers all the guys to get out of the pen they got life and they're still basically in the pan but they're able to come out on the streets and and and and finish their time yeah all of them have done 35 40 42 tooth fairies kills their what 52 years locked up now what chance do they got what take their ring that family left their on the street so it's like what would do is like look at we're gonna show you how to other game out here uh-huh and it's just like one of the veterans getting us a judge Alaimo sure the game up here yeah so that happens in 1960 I think of the round see you say to yourself you make this vow to yourself yeah that I'm not gonna be that person that I was I think God killed that guy I was okay where does that come from though because all of a sudden was about giving me looks like was that there if we obviously it had to be there before you learned what helped you integrate then like I knew about about Alcoholics Anonymous I knew about Narcotics Anonymous because you do all that [ __ ] in the joint you dude and so it was like that's where I started going I don't wait this is what I got to do there's got to be a way to take drugs and now go all out of your life yeah period dunno I mean drugs and you gotta take them out of your life and that's number one from there on when my uncle got out of the joint 1972 I'd been out 1969 August 23rd I've been on and he came to the shop I was working up in a wrecking yard hey yeah start dealing dope one I couldn't again and that punk shows up you know 1969 Lincoln you know 1970 lay beautiful Lincoln Continental he's got on those bolero slacks the seventies are so cool real high waisted he's got on a like $80 shirt you know I mean he's got $200 shoes and that was like for the left one you didn't mean enough anything come on you and that doorman he's only been out of the joint about two weeks already got everything going for him mm-hmm and I'm looking like a escape from a Vietnamese prison I Americans covered in grease I'm looking in a wrecking yard yeah you put $1,000 down hits here thousand dollars down into quarters heroin just deal it for me get it I scream I can't man I grabbed a thousand I went the bed I got the money but I didn't take the other one uh-huh but then three months later he was shooting it out with the guy wow that's amazing um so you go through that change well how was that with the people that knew you from before funny and how do you because because a lot of people go through that okay let's say especially you you're in this life at first how do your friends and your family accept those game version of yourself you have to you're locked in this drug world you're all your friends are are drug-related so you didn't clean the last thing they want to do is just stay with you but I can remember the first person I tried to help I'm sitting from it I got out of the joint on a on a Saturday Sunday I'm standing out in front of my mom's trying to figure out how long this am I gonna be a nice guy you know I mean and I'm looking around and Monday was the trash day and I seen this old lady pulling out her trash and cuz this before they had the big cans that they got to be rolling you used to put everything in that Deana and pulled it out and uh ice that's what I'll do it I walked over to her to help her never forget her words my god yeah grabbed a can and I pulled it out and then I went to the backyard to get her other can she never took her eyes off me she's like cuz you know I was gonna run to the garage there's a lawnmower steel brother came out again and as I started doing I started taking out the old people's trash on Sundays for my why my mom's Mira and these are all the people I brought their garages baby it and so I had to I had to prove to my somebody said who you had to hum no no I did at the humble myself I had to help people yeah you know me how'd that make you feel when you're out there helping people what was that feeling like I gotta say it was like first of all it was like doing the chore and then what one day I came home and uh and there's this jacket it was a fake suede double-breasted blazer you they were popular in the seventies old you know and the rich people had like real suede this was fake but but it was hanging on uh and as a clothing bag mama was is it me or that old man with the with the he had we had real bad uh off the writers in his hands and he couldn't he would have to like push his trash getting couldn't grab it with his hands and and he gave you that and I gotta say that that Wow well like will you get presents for being good I know it sounds stupid but he was like I got something for being good and it wasn't like I like this is what I work for you know I mean them Labor's and stuff they work for that this I didn't do I don't you take people's trash out I think it paid for it I think I got a an over overwhelming feeling of like like okay I'm holding up to my promise you know I mean and I'm telling you is like we're we're like all my friends were like helper guys yeah uncle hey I got a plumbing problem we got plumbers we got guys at mechanics we had everything well I remember I remember when were sitting in in the airport when I met you one thing that that really stuck with me is you said everything that's good that's ever happened to you that's how every because you were doing something good for somebody else everything good that's happened to me what a lesson right I mean that's something that and you look hold were you at that at that point in the 1970s oh okay why come out of the joint out of 27 27 and you didn't do your first movie in two you were 41 right yeah I did my first movie in 1985 that was I was trying to be an extra but just you know there for 50 bucks I wouldn't I wanted one to be an actor I just as I was a drug counselor and that's what I did so between doing movies and getting out and 60 and set out so what were you doing those when I got a 13 14 15 years ago when I first got out I worked in a wrecking yard and then me and a kid named Danny levitoff started a gardening business you know it was funny because I loved Danny because he took a lot of acid who's a young kid and I was going to this group of kids that my sponsor took me to to like help them write because I was old con vague right and so he was like he would just laugh that's all he didn't because he spun out on acid right and when he told me he was robbing jack-in-the-boxes on Ventura Boulevard and he he robbed one and he stashed his gun right and he was walking down the street he forgot to take the ski mask off rolling up on him he's wonder what the [Music] ski mask and so I love we started talking writing and I said come on you know let's start a gardening business and do something rides it and no so I would send him up to the front door he'd knock on the door - good look at a little white Gideon he hey Kim can I mow your lawn sure look and then okay do you have a lawn mower we'd have a lawn mower then nothing do we have trash bags and we would borrow all their stuff know what I had I had a 59 Impala Chevy and the 59 Impala Chevy has a trunk this long that's a big long trunk so we would put all the trash in the in the Paula and then take it to Vaughn's and dump it in their trash can so he would never like pay a dump right Nana and then we haul trash throw everything so we've made a little money and like everything good that's happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else when I left to go to the joint there was a lady beautiful yard and it was my mom's there a beautiful yard she had two sons they were youngsters and you know one of them got killed in a gang or one of them who got killed in Nam and her husband committed suicide so she turned into like the the the brouhaha the would either so which lady you know everybody knew she was a wit so watch out and she turned into a cat and I remember seeing her yard and me and dad seal come on let's do it so we just got first clean up here every two days we go and do something on her yard and she was like just look at us you know I mean and I had a I had a I had what'd he call it a fantasy of being in like in Las Vegas and gone hey bring me a drink and and hearing the the cocktail waitress bring a drink in like a real glass you know and you hear it ice in a glass is a lot different than ice like in a tin club for a tumbler you're in it in that crystal glass clink clink clink it's a complete different sound and she would always put lemonade out for us and one of them beautiful old people pitchers you know the ones with the the goals like around the top and and then these beautiful crystal glasses and she would put it out on the porch you couldn't step outside because witches burn up that's on it but she would like put him out like that and they'd be right there and and I knew she turned people into cats so I tell Danny I take a drink and he go oh is it good do you feel like going like that and but I remember hearing that that Crystal Eye really not exactly what I meant god this guy comes over a big hillbilly right come on you got that [ __ ] in his mouth and he said hey Pancho right there ten dollars or whatever you want [ __ ] he says are you charging lady and nothing she's crazy we're just helping her out and he said we'll come over to my yard I want you guys to check this out then called Pablo Pablo Danny levitoff is another $10 full one was are we going this guy starts telling us everything he wants to do you know what day is on there to change a change I mean we got him up to about 60 bucks a month homes yummy and now and then he says we go to his garage and he opens his garage and his garage was like uh I don't know one of those garages were if the hammer was gone you knew cuz it was a painted there was a hammer painted there you know and like Wow beautiful he says look I got this yet every every equipment known to mankind for mowing a lawn edgers will bear evidence he's look I love working on the yard my wife won't let me I had a heart attack I'm gonna give you this uh equipment if you mow my lawn [ __ ] I'll come over and wash your back home yeah I mean this is like this expense if there's no more like they were top-of-the-line so we are so much good and we went bought a van do I mean and then when I sold that that business we had two trucks four guys working for us and then and then our truck you know we work and uh my dad got us into some like big buildings would make us a bit a lot of money I'm good money then from there I sold it went end up being a drug counselor and at night I got big drug dogs 1974 and that's what I did toy till I got into the movie I'm still a drug officer I still work for Western Pacific rehab uh-huh you know we still work we still work there nice detoxifying drug addicts so tell me what so now the movie comes movie business comes how did the movie business start that was uh like I said I was running around trying to be an extra right and then I don't go to work I'm working with this one kid and he calls me up I said hey Danny there's a lot of blow down here on my set 1985 cocaine was crazy ok cocaine was everywhere I remember I remember one night late night TV Sammy Davis jr. and and and Johnny Carson were talking and and Johnny go watch this on TV Sammy Davis that's my cokes bull oh yeah grab let me start talk about cocaine yeah a lot of national TV oh damn and then so I go down this kid says can you can he come down here that's what we do we hang out with people that want to stay clean yeah and and it's funny because he says I think I'm gonna use I've been out of the joint from 1969 is 1985 nobody ever called me and said I think I'm gonna use everybody always called me loaded yeah yeah from a bar yeah you know and so this guy's yeah yeah come on over as I can't I got I got this job I go down to this job his job was a was a movie set of a movie called runaway train Jon Voight and Eric Robert I walked on that movie said that was the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life because all these guys were dressed like they were just like convicts right and but they're all walking around hey [ __ ] watch out bootleg and prison is the most polite place you'll ever be uh-huh because if I'm a murderer and you're a murderer you're the last guy I want off and yeah you betcha you've got a certain a certain look that you got a look and look away or exhaust there's a there's a whole a whole repertoire of things you have to do but I watch this guy one guy come lay hold this little tough ali-a be somebody's wife in prison and all their tattoos smeared I couldn't believe it this guy looks at me and says hey you ought to be in this movie and I see what I gotta do he said you want to be an extra an extra what he says exactly economy said that almost laughs I said I'll give it a shot if I take off my shirt they give me a blue shirt and this guy sees that tattoo and he was wait I'm trying to think what stupid gang sign is and and he says leave your shirt off I was standing there its other guy comes the older guy a your danny trejo yeah Danny I saw you in the lightweight and Walter roid title up and Quinn I see already bunker I know this guy this guy got famous writing Ritz in prison because Ritz have to be grammatically correct they have to be written in the language of the court or they just kick them out and anybody that goes to prison if you've got an attorney look at your transcript you got two or three writs where they were they screwed up and so Eddie would charge him like a hundred bucks to read it and then point out where they got rich and then charge him according to what the writ was so he made a lot of money in the joint and me and a we started talking his hey are you still boxing I go now mal gay in the face no more I'm 41 years old he said we need somebody to train one of the actors had a box but they're gonna give me 50 bucks for acting like economy's precious what's it pay and he's just 320 a day I says how bad you want this guy beat up that's a hit I wasn't makin 320 a week that's a no-no you gotta be careful Denny actor's real high-strung he might shock you I just Eddie for 320 a days give him a stick okay I've been beat up for free I started training an actor named Eric Roberts how to box for the movie runaway train mmm and Eric affected me you know I mean and uh and he had told him you lightweight welterweight champion of Quentin bad to Playa so Aaron respected me quite a bit I would do whatever I told him to do mm-hmm and Andrei Konchalovsky the director you gotta remember Eric it was a movie star at that time big movie star and movie stars are dicks okay they because they're just dicks and uh and so it was Andre had a hard time communicating with Eric and then he saw that I would he would do whatever I told him to do so I'll never get he came over and under a real soft-spoken Danny you be in movie and you fight Eric in movie and you be my friend no prison backgrounds you don't like hear people saying you be my friend yes because there's a lot of things can go around there and so and then it leads already kisses me up kissing me I want to kiss me other G and walks away and I told her look Eddie I might train the kid for 320 but if I'm gonna be kissing that old man I want more money and you know he's European he I never I you know okay why we kissing and and I found out that's yeah what Europeans do they kiss you know I like it but you know I that was worth it I got a sag card I got I got all the all the things that actor gets from there the first five years of my career Tony I I played in made number one inmate number one bad guy tattoo dude you know that's I never had a name first name I got was art sanella in death wish for I played an Italian I didn't get to play max that's it's just like off off to the races and then it's just kind of a snowfall because the first time I ever got interviewed right by some get some girl fresh fresh out of interview school she says Danny aren't you afraid of a bit stereotyped and I says well you tell amaz well you're being typecast and I said that's what it says well you're always playing the mean Chicano dude with tattoos and I thought about it I never lifted up my shirt going I have to meet your carnal dude or death what are you talking about I'm making a living with what I got and that's well that's what it was I didn't know I was being stereotyped or typecast I just knew I was bringing I could work for three days and make more money than most people make in a month uh-huh you know I'd make it that was almost a thousand dollars and it was like about three days so I love being inmate number one here going over here being bad guy number two over here up here me yeah it was like that's all I was doing but you know there's something to be said about that we're embracing who you are and what gifts you already have instead of saying okay well let's try to be in that box over there hey embrace who the hell you are I have watched so many guys in the gym waiting to be no I'll only take a leading role well keep working out homes you know I mean i'ma go work yeah and I can remember I can't remember what Dennis Hopper I loved dancing one of my best friend's a sucker you didn't cast me did but there was a movie called colors yeah and I went out I know I got it made is he's my friend right and uh uh okay dinner's blood blood blood then I walked out right and I ended I go to the outside parking lot and there's a dude is crying and I'm like yo kid or your puppy or what yo yo lady God you found her with your brother what yeah what yeah I don't think I did that shut up what are you talking about let's go to the next one you know I mean it's like you gotta keep coming up to bat to get ahead yeah your baseball players get please millions and millions of dollar some strikeout you know it's like so you gotta keep coming off the bat to get it and that's the way I saw uh you know so more people a lot of guys hated like interviews I love them because it's the more you do the more people they get to know you all the people they're the users they're gonna remember you uh-huh yeah you know you might not be right for this but you'd be right for something else Dennis to give me a party guy that he chose I gotta say did a great job ah so with that it sounds like and one thing I talk about a lot because I know it's really helped me out a lot is doing the [ __ ] that you're afraid of that you want to do and really not caring about what other people think like how how are you able to to just not care but from a place of respect I guess I mean who you are huh how do you with what recommendation would you give to people listening you know what it's like about that I really don't I really don't want to live for anybody it's like like this thing life is not a dress rehearsal we got one shot at it you know and and and if you look at the big picture it's like the world period we're on the Titanic looking for a good seat dude I mean and it's like we got to do the best we can here so if all I want to do is please you or please you or please you I'm in trouble mm-hmm I lose me you let me so it's like I don't I don't I care what people think anybody that says they don't full of [ __ ] but that doesn't govern my life what people think don't govern my life yes I care what you think I'm sorry if I offended and I won't I try not to offend people I hate arguing arguing bottom line to an argument a murder last thing I want to do is argue so when people get in my face you know it's like I'm thinking what's killing the ho I'm sorry I'll walk away mm-hmm I mean if you hurt my family different story you know if you did something me personally you don't I mean you know but somebody's yeah shame j-money I don't care mm-hmm you know that's that's baby [ __ ] so now that you're famous or what I mean with with being out there in the public guys scrutiny comes good critiques come how do you deal with that part of I of the business or going it I don't know how much you audition I'm pretty sure you find out there's more but but I got a taste of it I have like tunnel everywhere I go outcome of you wake up in the morning I say my prayers dear Heavenly Father let me sign every autograph let me take every picture dear Heavenly Father let me help three people today at least three people and I do that I do that because that's my job my mom said you know what you think God made you an actor thing cuz Oh guru he made you a guy acted to sign every autograph and take every picture and say god bless you to everybody and they're listening when you say god bless you because because your did God put you in this position you don't like when I go to a school I don't know who you are I don't care who you are if you go to a class or an auditorium up let's say high school kids and you try to talk to him okay first you got to get their attention that's impossible because they have no attention secondly you've got to keep their attention that's impossible because of the number one they don't have attention three you have to show them you're cool if you're ten years older than them you lost your cool button mm-hmm then you deliver your message my message drugs and alcohol will ruin your life education is the key to anything you want to do okay biggest problem they're not listening you know Tony what meat are you walk on our campus yeah we've got everybody's attention from the start you because Bob Tony G damn they're running to the article even the kids that don't want it the don't usually go [ __ ] that [ __ ] I ain't goin that [ __ ] that's in trouble they're gonna go cuz they want to hear they want to hear the guy from the Kansas City chief they want to hear the guy they don't know they don't know Tony they won't hear the guy from the Kansas City chief they want to hear the guy from though come on man wanna [ __ ] a war dude that's the man when I show up it they don't know why they just want the guy from spike is the guy from heat the guy from desperado so I had to like say wait a minute pull me out and say let me give them what they want mm-hmm you know and and and so the good Lord put me in this position for that what do you call it that tool I know I forget mmm well good I should know there's a word for it where you talk where you got a something to talk about a platter no one know it's what is it called I know what you're talking about a pedestal no no that's like and and it's like you you walk on any campus you got everybody's attention yeah dude I mean okay now only gig ins walks onto a campus so I I wish more people do you know what like if JLo if JLo came too bad is High School in LA right and said hey you can all them little girls are gonna be listening yeah all of them cuz they worship her yeah she ain't got time a lot of people don't got time I remember one time they yeah they had a a big big thing in juvenile hall and they and they invited I only see their names but they invited for the bad dudes from from Hollywood right all the guys are always in trouble and [ __ ] right all of them and and and then this guy is an afterthought invited me this was viewed and he said okay so I wasn't there my biggest stars them guys so I I showed up and everybody called and said they couldn't make it and then the guy asked me Danny why'd you show up mmm I just cuz I Oh Holmes they don't know they don't know you know yeah I oh I paid up yet huh you know I mean you still feel that way hell yeah 1965 I sold five ounces of sugar four ounces of sugar to a federal agent you know I mean and dad was Della's gist yeah you know there's a lot to be said right place right time luck do you believe in that not believe in luck I don't believe in luck I believe in divine intervention I believe in the good lord I believe in you know what God's got a plan for all of us and it's not to live in prison it's not to be addicted to drugs it's like people talk about this are you against are you against alcohol hell no I sell beer I got a beer hey who's candy I'm a I'm a I'm against drinking beer and beating up your wife I'm against drinking beer and getting in a car I'm against drinking and screaming at your kids I'm against the the effects of taking something too extreme yeah you know I got prison at that drink I got friends that smoke weed and they're they handle it yeah I'm against weed if if that leads you to heroin yeah doesn't always tell about you later your latest film what do you got going right now I don't know I just did do cartoons I did a the almost I forget the name Green was one of them big-city green I got big city green and then I just did another one that's kind of a lot Tino really cool I'd really like it and I yeah I came Valentin open and I did a movie called uh slay it now come let's work you got going on and I love it my son just directed me in a movie called uh from a son and it's unbelievable I couldn't believe him it's the kid I used to put on timeout and cool how cool was that hard to be directed by Julie now I'm yeah I'm amazing watching him watching him look through the camera you okay I like that shot here watching him fix the Lightning everything little [ __ ] I wanted him to be an acid being but isn't good looking kid right yeah and I was always trying to put him in front of the camera and he's always talking to the guy doing sound and [ __ ] yeah yeah you know kids ah yeah just got submitted Sundance the film you did with you man I know I'm so proud go check that out people and then and then uh there's a the Hollywood film no what is it Highland Park Film Festival this Thursday and they might show some some clips of his of his movie and that's a five o'clock in Island Park uh and so and then on top of that so you're still doing movies oh you're doing doing anything I got a I got a record label and you gotta bring the music yeah man yeah that was like really cool we got uh we got we dropped our first album Chicano soul shot bottom one and uh it's like it's like cruising music you know it's not not real hard rap or none of that beating up hops or nothing like yeah soothing on to the soul like relax yeah and we did it kind of like art LeBeau like hey here's another good old good one from blue blue and then the song you know so I loved it I'm honored so you got all this stuff going on like I mean I got to know what is your routine like do you exercise oh yeah so you exercise daily or is this five times I get every time I put a gym in my house is like I don't sleep I will go to the gym do you still like boxing exercises stuff like I know not boxing but i lokking workout don't bag or jog a little but I don't wanna I don't want to like after a while the rope jump bouncing gets older yeah knees so you know like I'll just start you work up but I'm in great shape under 70 pounds right on it all the time nice and and so with what about new I know you and you got Trejo's tacos and you got fishing you got but we got a doughnut but I know you're not eating that all the time we do good food I eat it the restaurants I eat for free it's like butter like what that's what we demand a good food and then like I work with autistic children so what we did was doctors have said that kids with autism don't do good with gluten so I said let's do a gluten-free menu so we got a gluten-free menu were now we get a lot of moms and dads with their kid and and mom don't have to cook three meals yeah gluten free and so obviously you've done all these movies and and and and all the other stuff that you're doing what's uh what's a movie role that you would have wanted the plan anything out there that gay you know what that would have been a cool role to play I love westerns I know any Western anyway Nico I would have loved to work with John Wayne just I would have no idea I would just love them work with the Duke but I would I'd have my kids all it way every time John Wayne would come on every game we'd stand up and like salute that John well they were little John Wayne then when they follow it was just an actor right and then uh I had a dog named cash a big old Labrador Rottweiler mix right big and my daughter wanted her 16 and walking through the the the living room and and and my dog was right there we were watching John Wayne annealed oh he got John Wayne and I said cash like John Wayne II he would like bark if you ask me like what is your favorite film The Searchers John Wayne of all that of all time of all time you're moving your house sir tacos and doughnuts really you're gonna show the surgery you know what I've had the same 12 westerns on my III booty cause my iPad I think got it did they got it for me about five years ago there's a I want every time I get on a plane I watch the same one so searchers are one of them and there's another one called uh searchers and Red River huh John Wayne you gotta you got a favorite John Wayne quote you know I got a life life is really tough it's even tougher if you're stupid I love that that's what my grandma would say to me the the tattoo on your chest you showed it to us where does that come from that would come from Harry super Jew Ross the friend of mine I've known like God since we were 15 and uh and we doing robberies right we cross paths but uh but we hit San Quentin I hit San Quentin and he was there and we did the outline the first outline of it and then I got kicked queer had sent from Quinton to balsam and as I was leaving he was kind of like like West Side Story a love story because he's going there all guys are outlined he goes don't don't let nobody touch it oh I'll be a fulsome that's okay I'm the boss okay and then why about three months later he came into Folsom and we did a little more there's a big riot and Folsom I got I got sent to solid eight I don't know where he went I think he didn't vote them and then about six months later he came to - solid debt and that's what we finished it so really young you've had this your whole life right had yeah three Penitentiary's and two and a half years uh and and and we'd finish the debt - probably that it's funny cuz this was his first tattoo he hated it right because he got so good at tattooing and if you look the lines on this are all real thick right and and and and they've gotten to the point where they can do fine fine lines right and uh and this is all Pope needle and poke this is no machine right that hurt but you can't see and so when he wouldn't when when he finished it and he got faint don't anybody shut up it made you famous yeah it is it's the most famous that deep in the world funny cuz he passed away and he just died you just kept using and died as a as an old crank addict right nobody know nothing he just died and stayed in the in the morgue for like six months you know for somebody buried him in and then I remember Jerry his girlfriend in junior high school called him was crying and said man you know TVs just nothing nothing he's just gone and yeah and I just did an article in international tattoo magazine and so I I just said I gave him prospect and I remember when she got the articles he's just just karana like Hulu is just something I love hmm hmm three wishes that you get to have what would be your three wishes Wow that's off all three kids be successful huh that's one and my kids went through some pretty tough times two of them with drugs real heavy and and now they're doing great so they continue to do that and I think Diane with dignity still and that brother oh there's the inspiring just a really inspiring conversation I'm with you if you had to choose one last bite what would it be what would be your wow that's I know this is a toss-up between Trey hose part about core or mu so at Frank's chicken pot pie is mu so that breaks where's where's that it that's all I think it's on Hollywood Boulevard that's the oldest restaurant in Hollywood 1919 I just did their 100-year anniversary and they got the best Eggs Benedict in the world I've gone already look at me and they've got the best chicken potpie ever really chicken chicken potpie fan oh I'm telling you it is - take your family there uh-huh you know I mean it is like the best it's on Thursday nights only okay you know and come early because literally that's everybody knows and and you got to remember that Musso and Frank's there's a lot of places in Hollywood that people go to be seen okay Musso and Frank's is for the people that don't have to be seen mmm you know what I mean they don't have to be seen yeah and you're like in order to stay in the tabloids you got to be seen so you got to go to coal we have their bad you know yeah and and and move so to Frank's you order dying it's like old it's unbelievable i'ma try that one out let me know when Baba I person in history you'd want to sit down with and hang out with have a cup of coffee with free-living her death oh I was gonna say Charles Bronson but I did but I gotta say I was a John Wayne out of John Wayne's the guy huh the Duke Woodrow Duke I would have loved to talk to him yes just because of his whole deal you know love Mexicans married a Mexican and they lived on house old Ranch in Durango uh-huh and he built this this western town down there you know I mean enough and I just think he was like uh you like the guy mm-hmm yeah it was tough that's my mom baby still to death yeah all right last question as you know this shows called wide open what's winner of your life that you'd like to improve in that you're wide open to learning more about and eating any area of your life that looking at saying hey all of you better list what he lighted on a minute I would love to learn be better period I like to I think I'm in competition with myself I want to be a better man today than I was yesterday and I want to be better man tomorrow then I was today and just that's it cuz it's like I find that the better you are the more good [ __ ] happens to you mm-hmm you know I mean just that's just the way it is it's just just the better you are the better person you are I got Dave what we do today if it was a lady I know this is gonna sound real phony okay but there was a lady and she comes in to pay her phone bill at this liquor store where I buy lotto tickets right and I'm buying a lot of tickets and I buy for lot of tea 120 bucks 30 or 120 but so I do three of them she comes in and she's counting okay work on today what didn't they were charging me 30 31 32 33 no she counting right the phone bill and and I went I window well the numbers is 48 48 in that's a winner that's a winner and the guy knows right and use he also where are all words away was I to winner and says hey you're on about your bills paid you know I mean and and your bills paid Senora so bit and you do you pick no no no I depends is the Machine got this you know she left take this and walk down the store right and so another I owe him 40 bucks so next card to help me God I want 400 bucks god haha that's Mario that I check this out more today I believe that and I'm not I'm not doing that jet just because I got money I really wanted to just hit wait a minute man I know that's not my grandma that's my grandma Carlos those those quarters and them nickels and dimes to come up with six dollars yeah you know I mean and and so it was just like really cool and how do I feel I felt great we sell a brewer like screaming and yelling huh and we were screaming and yelling more for her and then for the 400 bucks water feeling I love it honestly that that I love that store because it says a lot just like your quote you might even get that on a t-shirt the the better person you are the more good [ __ ] have to be a damn t-shirt because it's so true and it works it works first what makes you feel better but it also is helping people which is really kind of what this shows up times what's so funny sometimes when we give stuff to home will be given like thermal underwear as homeless and somebody look why are you doing that but what do they call like when you're you're helping somebody yeah you're an enabling I think [ __ ] is cold at night yes so but what are you enabling it they wouldn't be that people don't want to be almost it's a this [ __ ] happens and right now the way stuff is the way our economy the way stuff people can't afford to live yeah do you like me if you get a high school graduate coming out of school and they can't like all of a sudden go read an apartment yeah yeah you know what it's like whoa we can go get a job minimum wage yeah and I'm like so life is tough yeah and it's like ah it's even tougher of you're stupid I love it Danny thank you so much great day yeah thank you thank you I'll be seeing you yeah yeah chatter 11:00 [Music]

Channel: Tony Gonzalez

Views: 66,399

Keywords: tony gonzalez, wide open, podcast, learning, leveling up, health, wellness, motivation, inspiration, self improvement, self help, personal development, interview, danny trejo, hollywood, actor, breaking bad, machete, prison, drugs, addiction, addict, growth

Id: qH7NHN5v3Pw

Length: 71min 32sec (4292 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 21 2019