- (Interviewer) All right, so, Spooky. Spooky what neighborhood
did you grow up in? - (Spooky) I grew up in the
city of LA born and raised. On the, on west side, on 8th and Union. - And you're involved, uh,
with gangs (indistinct)? - Uh, I am a active gang member. At the age of 12 years old, a gang called Westside Orphans ninth street malotes. - So that's roughly what neighborhood? - West side crossing over Figueroa, in Westlake MacArthur Park.
Crossing over Figueroa is gangs, on this side open wholesale stores. - Yeah, a lot of gangs there.
Yeah, that's a, that's a- - 18th Street, Crazy
Riders, Mara Salve Trucha, Witmer, Rockwood, Easy
Riders, Orphans, I'm in there. - (laughing) Yeah, how much, uh, how much prison time do you got? - Uh, prison, I went in at the age of 21 and came out when I was 35. - What, what was, uh- - Uh, first one was attempted robbery. The witness came in
and the judge told him, "Could you point at the
one who tried to kill you?" "Yes your honor, he's right there." Son of a gun. 7 years with a strike. Let's go. Out of 7 years
you figure, you know, you learn something, I mean
there's John Doe writers and all this, you know, I'm
not changing, I have a dream. Only out 4 days and got sudden
re-robbery with a knife. The PD wanted to give me 21
years. 21 years for what? I didn't even, you know,
I went to a dope house that sold crack cocaine
to kids. I bought a ounce. He didn't want to sell it to me. They're counting dirty money on the table. "(indistinct) you know
what? No, fuck that, g-g-gimme-gimme that," and
there's a plate, right there, right by the door, but
I mean, good business, "here's the money." Didn't
want to sell it to me, got the knife, BOOM!
Fuck that. Cops came in, "Everyone down on the ground!"
He say, "He's a snitch." "Oh, is that right?
I'll see you in county." He bailed out, "mother fucker."
I went to court at CCB, He showed up in a purple
uniform, "What the fuck?" Sweaty as a mother fucker,
and he says, "Yes, Your Honor, he tried to kill me."
Mm, find my PD, "nah, I'm going propurp. I'm going
propurp, you know, you, you and (indistinct) gets me, but I'm, no. I know what's up, so, I
opened the blue book of, uh, our rights, and our, well,
we can get out of jail free, and, uh, read that blue
book, and wrote my codes, and defend myself for a
propurp. I had 21 years. I went before the judge and said, "Your Honor, I'm here before you again, in your same courtroom, when
you offered me seven years, and I guess I didn't learn my mistake, I-I am not perfect. But Your Honor, I guess I didn't learn my lesson. I didn't kill the man, Your Honor." He just points a finger
at me. "Your Honor, do the crime to the time. What
can you give me right now, Your Honor?" "I'm gonna say,
your a, (indistinct) okay? I'll give you 11 to strike,
let's go." 11 to strike. Got done only seven years, out
four days, and got 11 years. Paroled April 23, 2014, and
I've been out ever since. That high life privo, to
level three, to level four, the hole, the (indistinct), the 180. They put me at the last
end. With the big boys, breakin' all the rules! You're
gonna learn a life a yard, what respect is. And what they, wished they had one chance
to be in your shoes, to get a frickin' release date. Would be more than anything for them. Because they shared their
knowledge and wisdom to you. While they're in there facing
life. You're gonna learn. And I learned. I got my GED
in prison, I took fucking a course for Psychology
for four and a half years. Read every page, four
books, three times. Fuck. (indistinct) I better learn something! Out of four and a half years,
got me a masters degree in Psychology. (kiss) I rest
my case. It's not what you do, it's how you do it. How you speak and how you talk is amongst
yourself. But in this dope game, I wanna grow feelings, "That's
my boy! No this! No this!" And they rob you dry while you're asleep. I just do me. Only a
handful of two, three, that I-I give my heart to.
Nope, nope, nope, nope. Man or woman. I'm not
trying to freak no funk. However my demeanor looks
whenever I show in front of you guys, I guess I stand
out I guess, I don't know why. Still trying to figure that
out. Daniel when he's sober, Spooky when he's a gangster,
and a question mark. Still working on him. Respect
me and respect others. Do unto others, others will do unto you. Don't fuck with my money,
don't fuck with my dope, I won't fuck with you. That's
why my fam bam, my family, pay the price, you know what I mean? You know, common sense pays off, but if you don't have common
sense then, this ain't no YMCA. I'm not here to take care of
you. I'm here to just do me, and then, "Care if I sit with
you?" Now we got a problem. - What's your grudge? - My father was a
heroine addict, you know, when I was 12 years old. You know, uh, heroine was my first drug
of choice at 12 years old. 12, 13, 14, 15, and
17, ODed, in the hotel. Ask Stewart, never once
went to the hospital, my homies were on parole,
woke up in the tub, because I thought I was
chingon, primos, coco puffs, drawing, look at the window, on his phone. Spooky had the coke can and everything, trying to do the little thing.
Like, "you ain't stupid." "Don't worry about me, worry about you." But I'm trying to be something I'm not, because I'm trying to
grow up in the fast lane. I guess as a kid, doing heroine was some good shit back
then, and you did too much. And your other homies, had to
throw you in the fucking tub, to frickin' save, save your
ass, and they don't get busted. Five ODs. You look at them,
it gets worse. Teenagers, nineteen in high school. "Lemondrop." "Lemondrop? Can't even see it?"
"Bomb. Mix it with heroine." "The fuck is wrong with
you?" "Don't mind me." It only gets worse, it never gets better. - Tell me about your childhood. - Childhood? My father was a drug addict, he slammed in front of me.
Transactions in and out of the house like it
was a fun thing to do. "Come here bro, come here
gimme your arm-gimme your arm." "No dad!" "Come here
gimme your arm!" "No!" "Good, I hope, you know,
I mean, I love my son, love my son." I was an only child. Parents divorced at six years old. New step-father became
involved, had no kids. My mom, been working
in the banking business for almost 24 years. Right
here on Hope and Flower, City national bank. My mom
raised me as a gentleman. Always saying, "yes please,"
always saying, "no, thank you," always say, "bless you,"
always say, "excuse me." Never say, "Yeah. Okay."
No, never say that. Always be polite. I thank
my mom for that. My dad, over the years, encountered
that, you know what, what he did was wrong, and
he always try to make amends. Was never mad at him, just
how he treated my mom. Step-father came in, abused me, slapped me. Wow. Hold it in, huh? Hold
it in. Okay, cool. Whatever. He bought me a bike, a
Dino crisis. "Oh, cool!" Same day he fuckin' bought it for me, I went to the fuckin'
store to get me a soda, and there's some chips,
and they fuckin' stole the bike when I went in and
out! How fucking crazy is that, I just got this fucking bike,
and you stole it from me. My mom came home from work, "Hi mijo." "Hi mom I have a problem with John's bike that he
bought for me, they stoled it." "What do you mean?" "Mom,
I went to the store!" "Oh my God." "Yeah,
yeah." When he comes home, you know, I'm scared shitless
man. I didn't, you know, do it on purpose. He came
home, I was so scared, I went in the back
yard, played basketball. First thing he said,
"Where's your bike?" I said, "John, I went to the
store." "You know what? I made you something
today." We went in the room, he made a fuckin' wooden
paddle. "What's that?" "Put your ass on the bed." "No!" I fought him for about
two, three, minutes. Damn, fuckin' 12, 13 years old fighting, him trying to pin me down.
He finally pinned me down, and smacked me, and
smacked me, and smacked me, and smacked me, and smacked
me, so many times I lost count. My ass was numb. My mom took
me to my dad's for the weekend. My dad was busy, as I was
getting ready to take a shower, "You have a towel? What the
fuck is that on your ass? What is that on your ass?"
I was scared shitless. "My dad's, my dad's
yelling at me now? Oh, no." My dad wanted to kill
his ass. I've been abused by my step-father, until
he had a kid of his own, my step-brother, whatever.
He's just like his dad. I learned fast lane, how to
run away at twelve years old, and I've been living, since
twelve years old, I'm forty now, a decade and a half, of prison life, and six years of my
freedom. I'm still blooming, I'm still developing,
but I ain't going back. It's not what it is how
you do it. I do heroine, smoke crack, I stamp crystal,
smoke crystal, smoke weed, (indistinct) pineapple, "Ay, cool." I'm the most coolest person,
I come by, I get waves. "Hi, Spooky! Hey what's up,
Spooky?" That's me. That's me. Get respect, and I know I'll never change. I help out those that need help, but I know this game is just foretold. You cannot make excuses and bullshit, when I already know your
shit. Just be real about it. If they can't, I'm not
working with feelings, I don't give a fuck how
(indistinct), how desperate you are, I don't give a fuck. I don't.
If you don't care for me, shouldn't have to care
for you. Just being real. It's a dirty game, but
somebody's gotta do it. You know? I have eight kids, four
girls and four boys. - (Interviewer) You have eight kids? - (Spooky) Yes. My oldest
daughter's 19 years old. Her name's Danielle Rita Michelle Morales. That was the first one
I wanted was a girl. We had a baby boy in the beginning, but she had 18 chromosomes.
She was getting high on methamphetamine. Baby
died inside. Early labor. Up in the A. My baby boy was
from his head, to my hand. His light, it was designed like this. Wow. My first son. My dad's name is Daniel Morales, I'm Daniel Michael Morales Jr., That'd been Daniel the
Third. But I got me a girl. My mom's name is Rita. My
mom always wanted a girl, she had two boys. My
middle name is Michael, I flipped it to Michelle. To
my mom's first grand-daughter, "This is for you mom. Danielle
Rita Michelle Morales. "Aw, thank you mijo." Yeah,
I don't have my kids with me. They're all, you know,
with their loved ones, my aunties and uncles, my grandpas, but they know about
their father. They know. - Do you see them? Do you raise them? - I been, in the beginning,
when I was working at the time, diapers, clothing, rent,
yes. At the same time, as, you know, me doing what
I did, when you do that time, it pauses everything.
Who's gonna help out now? Do you care then? Do you care how we live? I guess not. I lived and learned to tell, that I cannot hold my
past, for my mistakes, as I live today in the future. What I've done in the past
is my past. I clean it. You know what I mean? No
more, no more. I mean, I live today, I live the
past, I live the present, apart from my future. Ask me a question, I tell my lies, the
truth will set me free. I'm not going back to prison.
On that yard walls at, where they kill people on a daily basis, I'm not getting killed. Eating breakfast with
your apples on the table, you get killed. Bumping into someone, you get killed. Interrupting someones
conversation, you get killed. - In prison? - It's about respect. How
to speak when spoken too. How, when you speak, you speak correctly. "Hey dude! Hey bro!" You'll
see. You'll see. Wow. High level respect. I'd
rather live like a soldier, than die like a coward.
I was raised by the best, and I thank God I survived. 'Cause here I am before
you, telling me my lifestyle was the big "O". The
"O," orifice! Yeah. Yeah. There's beginners, there's
advanced, there's expert. "Where's your stuff
at?" "Man, I'm over here on this expert shit,
man shit, (indistinct). Where's your stuff at?" Me?
Mastermind all this shit, nigga. Mastermind all this shit. For every little mistake
you cry for, I can just say, I'm not feeling sorry for
you at all. Poor thing. Clean your shit up. So sad.
And my- all of the elders, I thought I was the one with the problems. I'm only 40, I feel like I'm 21, shit. I don't let this misery make me feel like I'm in the mix with you
guys. (Indistinct) Bullshit. You sit there, I'll be
over here. Finding Nemo? Find me, I'm over here
finding Dory. No, no. Your gonna make me look
bad. Make yourself look bad. Don't judge a book by it's
cover. I'm telling you. I'm very well experienced,
I'm very well intelligent, just because what I do , does not make me a fuckin' dumb fuck. Don't do-
don't do that. Don't do that. You won't like it- you don't
like it when I'm angry. I've been a boxer four years
as a kid, from six to nine. Couldn't pass a fuckin'
drug test. Methamphetamine. - How old were you? - Uh, from 10 to 13. 10 to
13. Four years of boxing. Got kicked out 'cause of
drug test. Gladiator school, went to prison, show you
the fuckin' pressure points, show you how to fuckin' survive, show you how to fuckin' hit people, take people out faster. As I hit 21, before I went to prison, I went to Arizona for fuckin' Navy Seals,
passed the fuckin' test, and was on the go for
fuckin' to be a Navy Seals. Four months of boot camp,
and can't fuckin' pass a drug test 'cause you got
high on the fuckin' boot camp. You a stupid fuckhead. The
simplest fuckin' thing in life and you couldn't pass it,
but yet, the bars, the mud, the fuckin'- the
conditioning, the workout. I was front in line. Everyone
else crying. I loved it. "Yeah! C'mon! Let's do
this shit." I loved it. I live for the thrill of the
moment. I live on the edge. Full force. I couldn't pass the drug test. I got kicked off doing what- I fuckin' gave my name and my signature, I hereby give my whole- right
hand, so tell the truth, all the truth, help me
God. And I- Navy Seals, honor and respect means
a lot to them. Be real. They mold you to be a
soldier, not to be fake. If I would have made it, without passing that fucking drug test, if I would have passed?
(kiss) I honestly believe I would have been Navy Seal team six. - Would that make you different? - It's not- I'm just, I
speak from experience, I know what I'm doing,
I know- I just, I know. - What's your biggest regret? - I have Leticia and I have
Jackie, two from one lady, two from one lady.
Leticia's with, a young age. When I went in, to
prison, she (indistinct), she went to her
neighborhood with a friend, and a drive-by went by at her friends, got killed in the car, and
a six year old boy got shot. My mother made the best
decision of her life, and not tell me while I was
in prison, that she got shot, that she passed away. When
I came out- doing my time, "Ay mom, where's
Leticia.?" "I'm sorry mijo, she passed away." "What?" Started crying. "Is this serious?" I
don't know what to say. Buried in Rose Hills. Two years later, my homeboys show me a girl
named Jackie. Don't do drugs, workaholic. Has a nine
year old son, had a, had a baby boy through me.
Family fuckin' reunion, she wanted me to go with
her I said, "No, no! Been out four fuckin' days,
I'm tired. I'm all oily, no! Your fuckin' auntie, your uncle,
your cousins, and all- no! I lookin'- dead man
walking! What the fu- no!" "Please, if you love me-" "I
don't wanna go! I said no. Leave me the fuck alone." And she went. Something fuckin' told you to go, dick. You should have went. A
DUI hit her at a red light. On her side. Impact killed
her first. Son survived. As I go to the hospital,
(speaking Spanish), in English, "that's the guy
that I wanted to give us a ride, that's why my mom's dead."
"I don't want to see you. At the funeral? (speaking Spanish) I don't want to see you at the wake." Had to turn around, walk away. I don't know what love is, but love is not to be like that. Listen, true love was in your
life, how 'bout now? Free! Been doing fuckin' time,
what are you talking about? I'm not in a hurry to
get into a relationship, 'cause all this shit's
getting dirty out here. I'm not stupid. I'm not a dog in heat, like I'm gonna get my- no,
no. I got more for myself. I got to be spare for myself. Seems to me that everyone loves me. "Who's
that? Who's that?" No, no. Fake the foam, be real, knock it off. I ain't got time for this
Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil shit. You ain't playin' me. Playing yourself. This dope game ain't getting any better. It's getting worse by the minute. And people think it's getting, "Oh, good!" That's the sad thing about
it. It's not getting good, it's getting worse. Whew. Wow,
Six Flags, Magic Mountain, it's gonna be a bumpy ride,
but hold on. Hold on to me, it's going to be a bumpy ride. In 2002, before I went to prison,
I had a little production- a introduction about me,
to tell people who I am. To get my hustle, and to
make a fuckin' one poem for one suit. One poem for one
suit? Just gimme, you know, your, what your statement is,
and how many kids you got, or this is a dating game or
your girlfriend or whatever, your auntie, your uncle
whatever. And I will just, like nothing. I wrote a fuckin'
introduction for myself. To let people know who
I am. And the title is, "Just say no, and action shows the show. One day turns to one
night, pick up the pencil start to write. What's one
mess, behind your closed door. Let me see a thing, say no more. Ay, time to open up my
mind for what I know, put money words on paper
and watch the show. Time for those that have
to pray, good things come to those who wait. I think
back on all my mistakes, fuck, how much more am I gonna
take. Evil sits back and watches the show, 'C'mon
Daniel, do some more!' If all these drugs come
my way, pick 'em up and do some more. Lost in
a world which no one knows, one last man without a
soul. It's time for me to put this away, Man stop saying it, and show some action today.
It's a long walk to the end of the road, there might be
many mistakes you have to take. Take it from me, take this
with you, just say no, and watch the show. Yo, I see
pain, people walk in the rain, so that everyone's going insane? It's like a place of evil or
hell, people rarely be hanged. Tell me, when's the
time? When are you ready? I raise my hand to say,
these drugs are not for me. Walk with me to a place you'd like to see. Is that my family lookin'
at me and not know who I be? Is this death that falls down upon me? Look down at your feet, many
people yawning and crying, 'cause this disease is so sick. Many people lost their brain,
nothing left to line the pain. You tell me when is the
time? When are you ready? Heavenly Father God, I pray
to you on hands and knees, asking for forgiveness, please.
Walk me to my family please. That's a place where I need
to be. My son, open your eyes. Just remember, this walking
journey's a line of hell. I'm here today to share
with you, by my edition, live and tell, just for
today, I thank God I'm okay." That was my introduction
to show people, you know, what I'm about. My experience, and my-my life
is beyond fuckin' painful. - Thank you so much for sharing. - Thank you, I appreciate
you for your time. - Sure was amazing.
