Tony Lewis Sr. on Getting Life at 26, Serving 34 Years, Rayful Edmond, Marion Barry (Full Interview)

foreign here we go today we have Tony Lewis senior former DC drug kingpin who's back home after doing 34 years in prison welcome home thank you thank you happy to be home well you're a very legendary name in DC so I want to get your whole story starting from the very beginning so you grew up uh in DC what was the 70s like back then well I was still a kid in the 70s Vlad I was 62 born in 62 uh you know if I was I would say with the later 70s in my teenage years um there was all illegal [ __ ] going on that's all that's all we knew you know money was everywhere illegally but as far as jobs and opportunities especially for black people it wasn't much in Washington DC so you know criminality that that was uh that's what it was especially on my block and the surrounding areas my block of Hanover Place Northwest of DC okay now you and your son's mother actually grew up on the same block differences different sides of the Street yeah okay and once I kind of had sort of like the newer homes and the other side was a little bit more run down is that right uh yeah once I was run down and the other side it wasn't newer places but they were more uh Middle Class Type you know on the other side of the block and it was like they had homes over you know connected like homes on the other side whereas we had the small run down apartment type things on on the other side of the block right the side that you grew up on I remember reading your son's book and you actually had just huge rats just running around your apartment yeah you would at night they would really come out in the kitchen and things like that and me and my uh two brothers slept in the back towards the kitchen it wasn't a bad room but it was a room close to the kitchen when we was on a fold-out couch and we would be under the covers and just peeping out and watching the rest in the in the kitchen it was you know you make a noise they run up the pole rather run the pole after the noise stop you come back down looking for Foods real real scary man for kids to have to grow up and live that way you know um might end up in the bed with you for you know before you knew you know yeah yeah I mean that's a horrible environment [ __ ] was horrible yeah scary okay so you're growing up in this environment and you start to hustle around age 14 or so yeah around yeah something like that yeah okay and what led to that first step of being just a normal kid to okay I'm gonna start making some money the the poverty you know um going to bed not not not uh going to bed hungry you know knowing you're seeing your mother struggle with the bills the light cut off this week uh next time uh might be the gas you know um single you know single parent household no Father Figure and just hurt and on public assistance the check you know the first of the month that didn't go far and after that you know uh I had to watch her struggle I had to my siblings struggle and I I you know uh I had to do something myself that's what I felt uh and and it was all right there right out in the I was in the mix the environment was right there uh so you know I had to make a move okay this is around 77 or so yeah I guess it would have been yeah something like that yeah about 70 yeah so okay and during that time of DC was it heroin well heroin was there but not on ad block we were more uh uh so the Lord marijuana PCP that was hand over at that time the heroin was Uptown and things like that uh so yeah it wasn't it hadn't uh our block wasn't doing that okay if you're talking about PCP AKA angel dust I mean this is a drug that would make you go crazy exactly essentially you know if anyone ever seen the movie Friday when you see like smoking the chicken coop and running around his underwear that's PCP exactly okay so how crazy was it being on a block that was selling this type of substance it was it was real crazy you know um foreign we had people on the Block who did indulge as far as using for just as you said we were selling it to the rest of the surrounding community so it wasn't you know we've had a few people that every now and then we would say that launched out who smoked and launched out but for the most part we were selling it we was they was coming to get it from us and then go back to wherever they were came from and they was launching out going crazy for the most part more than on my block but uh that's where the you know the money was being made with selling it so that okay so age 14 you start selling and what did you start with first marijuana okay which is a fairly easy no stress kind of kind of thing right right when did that escalate to something harder um it was a few I guess maybe maybe 19 or 20. for the most part roundabout in there well okay so for for five years you were just selling wheat pretty much for for yeah for the most part but why did you decide to go from weed into what was the next drug was it was it PCP and not in heroin yeah PCP I didn't I didn't partake in that you know [Music] um but the cocaine started happening and it was like our block went from the marijuana and the PCP to cocaine and it was more profit than that it was more uh the whole culture had changed everybody was the cocaine was anything so if you got it it's it's you know and you got it good that's the next step you know as far as you know making money and making more and making it faster and really it's like moving with the with the change at other times if you stay with marijuana there was no place for you no business ain't nobody it's Coke land what you gonna do you know but that's that's what it that's how that kind of when okay this was around 1982 so this was a before crack so back then cocaine was somewhat of a rich man's drug right somewhat yeah it was expensive and you know you couldn't just be you know someone who was financially struggling and buy it on a regular basis this was more like the the doctors the lawyers would come through but you could you could buy it on a regular basis and not be rich because it was being proportioned which was made for it wasn't like we ain't talking like kilos being sold we talking about getting the ketos and breaking them down to your smallest you nominated 50 bags so that's really where most of the money is made when you can break a product down to the lowest denominator then you serving everybody you can still sell ounces and quarters and even a kilo if you want to but if you break it all down to the smallest denominated you you you can make more money you can cut it better uh for enterprising or Enterprise in person that's that's the way to get rich fast with with so the lower class person could buy cocaine you ain't had to be rich your head because you can you can get your fifty dollars worth you get a hundred dollars worth everybody can come up with that you know you know some kind of way more so than thinking you know so you didn't right but but 50 with the cocaine with as quick as that high is you could blow that in five minutes so now you're released with at least you had some I mean that's what at least you had you got it you got your thing for the day and remind you too you know with with crack not really coming into existence at that time people just blowing so you blow your little bit you still put your little back in there you blow you a little bit later on and they make it they make it work man some people fifty dollars to get 50 back and take them through that whole day and they good so to get a load they could you know okay so now you went from marijuana to cocaine and you're full blown in the cocaine game now with marijuana it's relatively you know easy people aren't really killing each other robbing each other over marijuana but with cocaine it's a slightly different game there's more money more profits and the violence is usually escalated so when you moved into cocaine and things start to change in terms of your operation well in terms of operation it changed just operating but when when you have a certain reputation or you have a certain name uh violence in which you was just describing to things like that it it rarely comes you know what I'm saying because it's just a respect level I mean from my experience how you treat people you know you don't because man I was here first and then I'm I mean I may be up here and now I treat you like a piece of [ __ ] or you know you once my friend because I'm up here now it's it's love man I mean mostly from my experience from what I you know I'm saying every now and then people that you might not know or don't know you it might be some problems here and there man but my mindset was always like this is the business we making money that's what we here for the the the the the violence and stuff like I said it's it's uh something that you try to avoid at all costs but you know it does it does come it it will and it does come and then when it does uh you know that's that's that you you know you you handle it however you got to handle that okay everything was being run on Hanover Street at this point right right and you guys actually had Lookouts on the rooftops yeah and when the police would come there was a term that they would yell out right and that was all array right and that means that means the jump out has come which is the police the police is coming you know so clean up you know get out the way get in if you can move away from wherever the drug that if they on the Block move over here so if they jump right here and they find it they can't paint to put it on you and you know different things but it means they coming police coming right I guess Ola Ray is roller and Pig Latin yeah something like that or or whatever you're an older rape both from together the police and there's a raid coming okay so you're running this block and it's not like a typical DC block I guess it's sort of like a one-way Street you gotta have to go through side streets to get to and so forth so it was somewhat insulated against the police and rival gangs and everything else like that right right right that was that was a good thing yeah well but at one point the police started to understand what was happening over there right and this is around 1985 or so yeah yeah somewhere in the early 80s like that yeah about that probably okay and once the police started to catch wind and started to go through what started to change uh well I changed I changed my operation and uh we got a house and that changed operation that more insulated well at that point I was no longer out there hand to hand but I had workers so now we got a house and that insulated them with being inside so now you don't see them only the customer season when they step into this into the house or the vestibule part of the house they don't actually go into the house they get served and they leave so the police are putting cameras up and they start doing a lot of things so for the people who had to operate outside they were you know like really had no cover but we had cover and that's so that's that's what changed as far as changing operation by this time 1985 before you moved well by the time that you moved to the house were you getting busted by the police at all or were you still kind of under the radar yeah I've always never been busted by the police until you know but they they knew who I were they knew my name they knew but they I never I never got busted up to this point were there any seriously violent incidents that you had to go through in terms of your operation it was a couple that was a couple you talk about it um not not really but a couple people uh attempted a couple of things you know uh because you still had guys who were just like up here in New York and other places and they hear about your name you know and hear the stories about how much money you may have or what you're doing uh trying to pull you know kidnapping moves and different things you know what I'm saying um so yeah it was a couple things that uh that I really don't want to get into but uh yeah I faced a lot of same things other guys that was in the game uh face over some period of time but just a couple fair enough fair enough now was it around this time that you and rayful Edmond met where we had been met because we went to the same high school that's where we met at in high school got it but was it around this time do you guys started to work together no he had a he had came through my block a few times and I had noticed him from he didn't walk through here drive through with a couple other guys and they looking looking you know and I was just wondering you know but he just came through looking at at that point and observing things so but I didn't know what was what he was actually I was just one you know how you see people in summertime people come through his outstreet was always hustling bustling you know so yeah that's how that that's how that was okay so you go and you leave Hanover Street and set up your house and then that next year in 86 was that one crack hit Washington DC I heard something they were saying free Basin at that time I heard something about it and I didn't really know what it was I think Richard Pryor wanted that somebody had a caught on fire some things happened one of these celebrities or something like that they were saying Freebase and I ain't know what what the [ __ ] that was but come to find out that's what they started well that's what his what he was supposed to be doing I guess it was the crack cocaine and uh yeah so that's when it it kind of started I started knowing about it somewhat what changed in DC when it went from cocaine to crack oh a whole lot changed um money style coming faster being made you know just you couldn't believe it how fast the ship was going you know you started seeing you know people more desperate concerning the the drugs uh doing some more debt more desperate things and that and that was to get the crack cocaine because you know it goes so fast when you get it you need more and you got to do you know what I'm saying so those are two major things that I really recognized that that uh changed as far as the the city in the drug game well yeah there's those next two years from 87 to 88 the murder rate in DC doubled um yeah I did leave that out yeah but no it it did it the violence thought it you know what well yeah I mean I've interviewed a lot of people during this era from different cities for example I talked to Big you from the wrong 60s and he said that right around this time is when you know with the crack and the more money the ammunition started to go up so before people would have kind of you know 22s nine millimeters suddenly they had Uzis and AK-47s and and so forth what was that happening in DC as well well we we already had debt we I don't know what he said 22 and I don't remember none of that that small [ __ ] yeah seriously I'm just I mean we already you know not saying that you you you had to use them or you use them but it was just you had you you know I don't you know it was always was you know guns was always everywhere and and I guess in the world you know really um but I know now is when the [ __ ] is really what he talking that's that from my opinion that's when the heavy [ __ ] they got out there now I ain't you know back then I don't you know but yeah now to me so Okay so you're now building every business and it's 1989. are you and Rachel Edmond working together by this time or somewhat affiliated yeah we're making yeah we made a few we make made a few moves um yeah you say 89 right early 89 that was our downfall so you know before that we a few years before that we was you know made a few moves okay and why did you decide to start working more closely and grateful it didn't even start out like that he came to me uh inquiring about here knowing about me going to Las Vegas and you know taking my son and taking other guys that you know my friends and to to go and see fights and different things like that and he was interested as far as taking him going in a couple of his men and he was asking me could I get him some tickets to go the next time that I went so I told him let me think about it and you know I decided yeah I can get you some tickets you can we can go these get together and then and that's what we did and you know then you know we talked and some things went went from there from from that point but okay so by 1989 how big was your operation I think we we me and him we were controlling most of the more than half of the city as far as drugs coming in and being sold at uh because that was like basically the peak of our little [ __ ] the short time that it lasted um so yeah we we was we were probably more than half of the drugs that was coming in Washington DC at that time how big were the shipments at that point like what was your biggest shipment during that time probably 100 keys at a time and that may be once or twice a month okay and during that time how much was a kilo of cocaine retail hmm we would try at different prices depending on who the customer were was but easily thirty thousand or or more that we could get for for one brick so you're talking about getting shipments of three million dollars essentially yeah some some something like that did things ever go wrong during that time did a shipment disappear part of a shipment disappear and so forth uh yeah one time the whole shipment went wrong the whole that's when a sting operation that took place and uh yeah we got we got [ __ ] around we wasn't there to because it happened in California before it made it back but uh yeah the whole the whole yeah all the money or everything because the guy who was uh because she said middle man he uh he decided to deal with somebody else instead of the person that he normally got it from and it was undercover police that that the whole operation was the same and um that was a that was that was a big downfall to the whole situation that was that was really it but uh yeah and was that 100 kilos yeah okay so now you're out three million dollars essentially yeah how do you explain it to the guys that sent it to you that no see that's that's happened no that's see that's the thing remember I was just saying he didn't he didn't get the he didn't the middleman dude didn't deal with the guy that we normally deal with it was a undercover police that he dealt with so it really never was 100 kilos that he was about to get he so we got [ __ ] for the money and you got [ __ ] around you know what I'm saying so that he didn't want to set tell us like man you know because it was like a drought in the city but I was being the major supplier if we don't come off it's it's no really no drugs in the city so in one sense we would press to get the drugs and he was pressed to get it for us because he didn't want us to look like look man you ain't doing your job like you used to man you we need this [ __ ] you say so instead of him telling us Man look my man is out man I don't think that we should just hold just let's just hold up and wait till he's gonna make a move somebody else without not telling us that he dealing with somebody different and all the time it was undercover police and they had the whole operation set up man and all the money got lost it was never going to be no hundred keys that we normally was gonna get which he thought it was and also it was the feds involved and they kind of like knew that it was coming from us so man this goes into the case just as it just as if we were going to get the 100 Keys that's another it's a build the whole case man and you know what I'm saying if they've brought everything you know put everything down for the most part eventually I mean when when that happened did you say maybe it's time for me to get out of this I've had a good run this is really bad on every level of course let me just stop move somewhere else maybe even move to a country where there might not be extradition yeah that's that that would have been the key right there because it was already in motion right there after that lick right there was already in motion little did we know as far as them coming to get us and you know uh you know when you younger you think to yourself I wasn't there I'm in Washington DC he was in California in your mind they don't know what that came from us it was you know he live in California the middle man I'm saying that's so you like uh if you lost the money let's just you know let's just keep doing whatever we're doing but again they can't connect us so you're not really thinking that uh that is that's the end of the ball game but that was just uh Crescendo to what they already was gathering whether it's from on his side or whether this whatever it was so that's what that's but when you're young you you don't know this [ __ ] you you know even if you're older you probably don't know it that's how the feds operate you you don't know what they're doing they working 24 7 to get you and you got to sleep 12 hours or eight hours whatever you do why they still working it's hard man and they they want they wanted us bad man it's all political and they they wanted us bad put everything on us in the city that was going on and boom that's what that's what what it was well the guy that got caught in the sting operation did he cooperate against you he didn't he didn't cooperate himself but one of the guys that he had it was just one of the guys who was moving the money with a few free a few females who was taking the money because you got to get the money from one point to to the next point in order for the move to be made that was all his job was supposed to be the guy from DC who had the women who was flying the money out oversee the women with the money make sure the money gets to the middle man and you go back to the hotel or you just get the [ __ ] out of town that's that's all your job is but instead me coming to find out later on he wants to be on the scene when the buy is made I'm talking about the guy who's moving the money he wants to be on the scene when when the um the buyers made some type of fantasy excitement that he wanted to feel by being a part of of Dubai going down but little do he know again that it was a [ __ ] sting operation so now he caught up in it and then that's another connection to DC and and then so he's the one who wound up snitching and telling everything that's well when you're talking about shipments this big 100 kilos millions of dollars uh you know I'm not gonna ask where you got it from but I'm assuming it's a foreign country right and at some point Didn't you want to just cut out the middleman and maybe fly to this country and start dealing with the guys directly as opposed to having a guy in the middle no no not me I want the less exposure the less chance of I'm not flying no [ __ ] foreign country when you could pay something take two three thousand off each whatever you want you know what I'm saying it's just it's too risky that's me but some people want to be like like that guy you know he want to be he want to be on the scene he want to be not me I want to be low-key I want to be out the way and uh still you know getting money but you know okay so then April 15th 1989. there is a show in DC called City Under Siege where they would essentially just talk about crime in the city and what's happening and so forth right your son and your son's mother are at home watching TV and they suddenly see you get arrested on television right what led up to that arrest exactly um they had a sealed indictment you know and they chose that date for whatever reason to start rounding people up and um you know I was one of the ones they was looking for all of us but wherever you know if they could catch you and head to surveillance and you was there because a lot of like out of 29 or so people that got arrested um some got caught weeks later depending on like I said where you was at and how they could get you so I was one of the ones um you know that the secret indictment was uh was opening and they went to arrest so that's that's what led up to but that that California bus with that for the for the 100K that was the really the the last uh that's all they felt that topped it off for them to come even though it was a little while after they it happened that they did but yeah we're 26 years old at the time and you had mentioned this earlier this was your first arrest ever in life probably in life yeah I mean I had been on the Block a couple times the jump out come through jump out get up on the wall you know other people you say good but I never had nothing or nobody had and they just keep on going but they knew who I was and you know they they just couldn't never get me you know um okay when you first get cuffed you have money you have lawyers you know you you could fight it right are you initially thinking okay this is no big deal I'm gonna give my lawyer 100 Grand and I'll be out tomorrow exactly but that [ __ ] wasn't like that glad they had it this [ __ ] was set it was serious it was big the way they was carrying it man um they we had no chance but I'm thinking just like you got I got my Lord I pay my lawyer we ready and I'm gonna be walking out this [ __ ] the next few days and [ __ ] like but yeah I got surprised it was it was real it was serious okay so you got no bond yeah no bomb all right and rayful Edmond did he get arrested during that same operation yeah yeah okay so you get arrested rayful getter gets arrested you said 29 people as a whole get arrested about that yeah about that uh well and then two days later The Washington Post did article about the whole situation um you know you and Rachel Edmund were in the article as sort of the heads of the operation it was actually a joint investigation between the DEA the FBI and and the D.C police right uh they claimed uh at the time that you and rayful control 20 of the cocaine and crack in the city and they were saying that the network generated more than two million dollars a week at that time hmm so are you asking me is that the amount or was that accurate or um I would say not okay but more or less hmm maybe one a week or one every two weeks something like that depending on things fluctuate things happen you know um yeah just different parameters they might take one month and then they contribute that to the whole year on the whole two three years and you know so yeah [ __ ] varies well I guess later on a witness said that she saw three million dollars in cash at your house you know what I'm talking about yeah I know exactly what you're talking about that was one of the trips going out to yeah exactly dealing with this much cash before you got busted how did you you know launder the money essentially well um different ways that I'm not going because I I've already read I don't like to bring other people's name up in what my deal is and but they just happen to be involved too so um yeah different ways man you know I mean was there a bigger Plan before he got busted like okay look I'm gonna stack up this much money and then I'm gonna maybe buy this business and I'm gonna always move into this industry always and what was the plan the plan was to honestly for me to invest um um provide for my son family where they won't have to maybe struggle like I did and um uh been taking my friends and relatives you know I was young I should have you know I was I didn't have that much I should have had more sense than what I did all that was a good part but it should have been exit playing also but that's what I didn't have thought it could just go on for however long forever for the most part but yeah you're young and young and dumb you know somewhat were you and rayful in communication during this time or before the trials started yeah we we frequently like talk every day when you know when we were out in the world some kind of way talk us to each other every day right but I mean after you guys were both in jail because he didn't get a bond either right right yeah you guys are both locked up for you know Affiliated things where you guys in communication yeah we was in the same same place DC jail you know we got snatched out of what Quantico Marine Base so yeah we was seeing each other it was right there they go so how long after you get locked up does the actual trial start um I guess a couple of months after we got locked up the trial it's just about two three months somewhere in there 89 yeah because we got convicted the same year 89 is already April yeah it was some months yeah right okay how much money did you spend on lawyers um I probably spent about 200 000 and it was a [ __ ] waste you know but you're fighting for your life and it's it's whatever but it was already set everything was set no matter what lawyer you had how much you spent but you didn't know that at the time and you look back at hindsight and you say oh yeah they got us good it was it's already set seriously you know I mean was there a plea deal on the table did your lawyer try to negotiate no no no that's what I'm telling you that's how serious it was it went hard man it wasn't no plea deal they wanted to make us an example that's that's what it was about okay so no plea deal on the table which which is crazy because usually there's some sort of plea deal yeah back they had nothing you know I look at these and not just without a case but I'm just saying those in those times as I see from the long time that I've been locked up and all these guys coming in for drug cases and everything and everybody saved everybody got a plea deal and that's why you know like they say damn uh the federal federal system uh as far as convictions is whatever percentage and out of that percentage it's mostly plea deals ain't nobody taking the [ __ ] to trial no more and I think what happened to us is what started that [ __ ] by [ __ ] not just how we got convicted but the sentences that we got and people who followed us people started to start seeing man don't [ __ ] with the feds man you better take that deal on that [ __ ] table you see what happened to Ray from them you see what happened to R Street you see what happened to Newton Street we started uh that that they get tough [ __ ] started with us and from that so people started seeing that that's why you see so many people taking taking uh the plea deal that's what they doing man that [ __ ] started from which we was never offered one but that's the tough [ __ ] and the tough citizens started us as far as drugs and it went from there so that's that's what it that's what it is okay so your lawyer can't get you a plea deal no matter how much money you're throwing at it and but to be honest too Vlad The Plea wasn't even never in my you know what I'm saying I it's it's just different now man and and people are different like I'm just saying in hindsight even though I did 34 years in prison if they would have came to me and said offer me a year a plea to 30 years I would have told me you [ __ ] crazy 30 yeah I'm not taking No [ __ ] future but now if if you ask me that question after me seeing what the [ __ ] things was it just that [ __ ] wasn't happening back then it was plea what I'm I got a lawyer I got one of the best lawyers and said I'm fighting this [ __ ] I ain't but now it's like everybody taking please it's a different it's [ __ ] different man and that's why you saying you asking me these things because you you seeing what you see which is what what is now but back then it wasn't just for me and us it was just like we just didn't roll like that it's like a police especially I've been seeing dudes taking cops to please 20 30 years like that [ __ ] is like water and that's a lot of time to do man when you're admitting to some [ __ ] and saying I can't appeal this or nothing I'ma take this pill and I'm just gonna go lay down for that whatever whatever but now I look at it too and saying these [ __ ] smarter than I was they they know these people ain't playing we thought it was you know it wasn't seriously what it was but yeah back then as far as please it wasn't even they wasn't offering him right off the bat and even our mindset was that we we ain't taking no please we ain't into that [ __ ] man let's let's fight this [ __ ] or whatever you know but it's it's different now they learn guys learn from what the [ __ ] happened to us another so-called drug operations that major drug operations in the city that they they dudes learn so they they start to take those take the take the plea man it just you know bro with the less time as you can get instead of [ __ ] around getting life without parole like what happened to me you know and and you know but right I mean because you know while you were locked up uh you know BMF became some of the biggest drivers in the country and Big Meech and Southwest T took 30-year plea deals which everyone thought was crazy right but Southwest T is home and Big Meech might come home but if he had that life right at trial and they might still be there yeah and you would think that uh looking at Big meets in this situation that they wouldn't even be afforded a plea deal or the cop you know and I think it's also someone with the government too they they don't have uh they don't well they have the money but they don't want to spend the money just keep going through these lengthy trials and spending it when they can be like because honestly 30 [ __ ] years is a life sentences more than life since back in the day 20 years was a life sentence there's 30 years so really the government getting the same thing that they actually would get if if you know if you want to try so it's an economic thing man you know which we didn't we didn't have or we didn't understand back in our day and it's it's that's how things is now so yeah it's it's uh yeah well you weren't offered a plea deal but usually in situations like this the government will say hey you know cooperate against everyone you know you know give us some names there's a lot of outstanding murders unsolved and so forth and we can make this go away we can even put you in you know witness protection and so forth were you offered that when you first got arrested never and even with the rifle as far as I knew and I'll miss you arresting you know what I'm saying he wasn't because I'm telling you they it this is not just me just saying um that when I'm saying how serious they took it and it was like it was a whole blueprint plan we were going to be the first major drug operation to go down in in Washington DC and from that point on and then the next it was just like a domino effect our street uh Newton Street First Street all the other outlining major drug operations and that's exactly how I went it's like a domino so it was like if they would have did like what you suggest somewhat even with uh plea deals or or wanting cooperation they didn't need it because they had everything what they wanted enough to to to convict us and convict the next and convict next to convicted next and then you know it was that's how they that's how they saw it and that's how they sinned they didn't you know but they never came with no offense like that of no cooperation for whatever reason it may have been but they knew from me they could stick that [ __ ] in the ass they wouldn't they wouldn't bring that [ __ ] to me so I don't you know that's just that so how long did the trial last from start to finish oh what three three months or so three three and a half months something like that during the trial did you feel like hey I got a chance you know maybe there is reasonable doubt and some of the jury members are going to vote my way maybe get a hung jury a retrial something yeah I felt I felt something like that my name is very rarely mentioned throughout the trial even though and then I wasn't they were saying that being grateful evidence were uh equal Partners In The Conspiracy but yet they charged in with the higher offense and didn't give me that same charge but the charge that I had still I was facing life without parole just like him but he had mid jobs with the CCE so that brought a little thing as far as my lawyer was saying too that and it wasn't a lot I was in the flashy type more so that he that he was so his name was really was the throughout the whole trial everything Rachel raped rape rifle but as me being the so-called partner or whatever I was very rarely missing so that brought a little like it might be some hope there or whatever or maybe you know not not getting convicted of all the charges or whatever but that wasn't the case it wasn't the case so but it was like you said yeah it was a little hope there but uh when the jury finally read their verdict with guilty how did you feel I felt [ __ ] up miserable you know it's like your life is over you know and the first thought came to my mind was my son my son what what you know I know it it hit him way worse than me because I'm you know I'm a grown man and I can you know but a nine year old nine year old child man uh you know so my son that was my first and most uh uh thought and and fear you know about how he was gonna feel and what was gonna happen concerning him so yeah I'm I'm you know I'm human being that [ __ ] knock knock knock me out man you know well you get found guilty how long after the guilty uh verdict did the sentencing actually occur um probably a couple months after that I think we we got sentenced around about December that same year somewhere in there I think it was a little bit before Christmas if I'm not if I'm not mistaken and when the judge read the sentence what did he say he read the council off you know and each count he gave me the Max on it and um the last count was drug conspiracy which carried the life without parole and um yeah he ran it off with the vicious Authority that the racist Authority that he we already do he was throughout the trial we saw that but to his voice the way he called it off you knew that he he meant that [ __ ] and he wanted you to die in prison I I never forget hearing his voice you know yeah when you heard life without the possibility of parole you're 26 years old half the age that you are right now yeah how did you feel inside man your [ __ ] heart skip a beat you it's you can't even describe as the worst [ __ ] is like you know it's just what it was like they telling you you're gonna die in prison that's just serious man you're gonna die in prison you're gonna live the rest of your life out in prison and die that's it slow death so that's that's still with that that [ __ ] is this this is scary man and for the young people I always try to you know try to just give them my example and let them know that man don't get taken with this [ __ ] man you know what I'm saying what I've been through and what happened to me can happen to you the same sale that they just released me from after 34 years that said open and they want to put you in there um but you got to do something to make them put you in there and that's breaking the law and it [ __ ] ain't worth it you can end up just like I was I was just blessed by God and blessed by my son in order to get my life back but too many of us who get life right off the road you don't make it back out you die in prison so for all the young people you know if you want to take that risk and I'm highly telling you that it's not worth it don't take the risk crime don't pay man in that way so um well of the day the sentencing your son went to go visit you in jail and he said that that was the first time he saw you cry exactly yeah yeah I mean I'm not you know I've I did I cried you know uh one because I knew that I just got a death sentence you know two uh my son you know is only gonna have a father from prison um also the trauma of the stuff of me getting the license and the life that he once knew being over with me there and uh it it hurt man you know any man that's going to tell the truth about a situation like that this [ __ ] is not no no joke or no game that's what and that's what I want young people to know man that [ __ ] made a grown man made me cry Tony Lewis senior made me cry the drugs whatever they label me in the in the world but they can strip all that [ __ ] man and break you down to the lowest common denominator you know seriously serious [ __ ] when you when they tell you your life is over well right to make matters worse because you're being housed in in DC during the trial but then once you're you know sentenced they send you to California in Lompoc right but even before that yeah the whole other side of the country but even before that they sent me they said you know I don't know if you but they kicked us out of the DC jail and put us on Quantico Marine Base that was another whole element of [ __ ] that was tough as [ __ ] you think solitary confinement and and the military [ __ ] under being locked up under their jurisdiction that [ __ ] was another uh uh it was devastating you know not just to me but to my son and family who wanted to see me or just you know it was yeah they took us through all this [ __ ] man that uh that's not normal so leading up to going to Long Park or getting sent to Long Park as your destination to live out your death sentence and it was a United States Penitentiary it wasn't no like going to the FCI like how these guys were you know going to FCI starting out with one of the cases Big Meech he started he'd go to FCI you know nothing towards him but I'm just saying the new way they do things back in my day when you was considered a major whatever drug game Murder Game or whatever and you got convicted and you got time like that you're going to the big boy house right off the top they don't care about your first offense you just got locked up that's where you're going and back in the 80s that's that's what it was it wasn't going to these fcis which is a you know medium medium security prison you're going to Maximum Security Prison and you got to deal with all that [ __ ] that comes with that what's there so well your son talked about how when you got locked up you couldn't really have anything in your name so I guess the house was in your grandmother's name and now the money is you know going away they had to sell the house and now your family's going through financial hardship because of your situation right and and one of the one of the main reasons with the selling of the house and stuff like that was that they were coming for assets and if you were smart you had to start selling [ __ ] and getting it because it's better to end up with something even if you sell something for Lord and the price that you bought it but they coming and they know that okay this person that you got the name in the house or the vehicle or whatever the case may be uh they really don't make enough money to even afford that [ __ ] we just ain't look at it at the time that you did it like that but now that we coming they was looking at matter of fact our judge gave an order that they wanted all assets found and liquidated anything concerned in any of us especially me and grateful so that's when they started on that sort of to kind of be smart and hit it all you started calling hey look you got to sell the house you got to get rid of it it's better than to have nothing and so that was just the downturn and again finances played a part in it too because the money is uh being money got confiscated certain people who had money owed money now that you got the life without parole oh yeah what I ain't can't find them there you can't find them with them there's a whole lot of [ __ ] but yeah things financially changed a whole lot man you know uh in a bad way yeah this is a story that I've heard time and time again I remember when I interviewed Freeway Ricky you know who was one of the biggest drug dealers yeah he was he was an alarm clock with me he was on the same freeway yeah yeah Rick Ross yeah yep everywhere Ricky Ross right too you know he was talking about how all the money he put in people's names the property and so forth when when he ended up beating his case his life sentence you know the property those and other people's names they didn't want to sign it back okay and you can't do nothing about it all the money that you put aside well I needed it more than you did and yeah as an excuse sir people just disappeared it's a story that I hear over and over again yeah you get [ __ ] around like it says the story over and over again but you have no choice at that time when you were in the criminal life you you got to do it that way that's the only way it's done and then when the [ __ ] hit the fan you get [ __ ] around for the most part not all the Autopart was something for the most part well right around the same time you get sentenced rayful Edmond gets sentenced for life without parole as well as well as his mother gets 14 years for her involvement in his issues yeah she initially got 20 something in our first she got 20 23 24 years got it on appeal got a window down to 14 and yeah she's wind up doing yeah right and uh some of his sisters and his cousins were also wrapped up in this whole situation so at the time that both you guys get arrested your son Tony Lewis Jr is actually really close to rayful Edmond right and the two would you know talk on the phone he'd go visit him in prison and everything else like that but during the time the rainfall was incarcerated he started to actually continue to to deal drugs uh allegedly at even a higher level than he was doing on the street right did you know about this while you were locked up yourself at first I didn't but then if if at first I was hearing about some things but I'm like you know people is always wrong with rightful name always in the middle of something you know and so I wasn't uh you know paying too much attention to it and then a few people you know people get moved from certain so some people had got moved from Lewisburg where he was at and wound up in Long Park and they like they knew both of us like tone man man your man down there man he doing him oh yeah he doing it down that [ __ ] I'm telling you man you know what I'm saying that's when I started really knowing that it's some it's some validity to what what I'm hearing you know so uh well yeah while he was locked up he hooked up with someone named Dixon Dario and Osvaldo uh Trujillo Blanco who was the son of Griselda Blanco who was considered the Godmother yeah cocaine yeah and they started to actually do these drug deals that were on a massive level to the point when when he finally got caught they gave him another 30 years just for that uh but during that time your son would call him on the phone and essentially he would ask his son to put the phone down for like 5-10 minutes and then there would be three calls yeah he would call my son not myself sorry my mistake yeah he would call your son and get him to make yeah get make three-way calls and stuff for him but I I knew that my son would talk to Rafa from time to time because sometimes he would call my son and say tell your father such and such when your father called he would send messages through my son like that now doing the uh well talking about other things and stuff like that I didn't know exactly what my son was talking to him about I you know I thought he was calling and say hey little Tony what's going on how you doing and then as time went on I started to find out yeah he was calling my son and you know so I talked to my son what the [ __ ] is what is y'all talking about on this phone so what grateful you know but uh you know um yeah that was yeah he was calling my son and you know making some three-way calls but a lot of times but I knew he would have him call another girl for him and all called whoever he may call but he would never he would if he was doing something to Furious my son didn't know what he was doing you know my son's younger younger guy but he and then I know Rayford he was he gonna talk in a certain way with my son on my son probably put down the phone when he when he got you know when he called somebody phone he wasn't my son was thinking about listening to whatever he was saying he just figured doing him a favor you know that's my you know so-called uncle whatever we coach I do him a favor you want me to call for somebody for him and just my son didn't know nothing about whatever he didn't care had no idea if anything was wrong right but then one day uh ready for college or son and said look you're about to hear something in the media and just know that I had my reasons as Acme and and I got I got a similar call from him when I was in USP Loan program at the same time and similar comment also but it just went different for me because the sis which you might heard about from other guys locked up they just the main Security in all these prisons and they came and got me and brought me to their office and I'm like what I'm thinking I'm going to the hole for something that you know because different disputes happen and they'll come and get you and they'll tell you whatever whatever and they take me to their office and he's on the speakerphone in their office so I'm like what the [ __ ] what's what's up why what's uh I can't tell you too much right now man but I just want to let you know that you know some things I did some things but he never told me exactly what and we got off the phone they told me what he had did or was about to do so I really got the same similar type call that my son got but just in a different way it wouldn't even one of us knowing what what was going on what he was actually talking about but um you know that side that's how that went well that phone call was about Rachel Edmond agreeing to cooperate exactly he told authorities about 20 different murderers that he knew about exactly I guess the justification was to get his mother out of prison early did he tell on you at all it depends on how you look at it I took it in some kind of way um on a couple of people's trials that he was that he did go and testify on he brought me up in the in the trials and talked about me and his dealings through the years at the time I got things in on appeal and I'm feeling some kind of way because I'm like what the [ __ ] is you bringing my name or whatever you got yourself into whoever you dealt with or that's your business but to get up there and describe me and what we did and what we dealt and how we did things yeah I took that offense to that and felt as if yeah you would you telling on me too due to the fact that again I'm trying to get out of prison and I got things in court and now okay I don't condone nothing that you doing you know if I had been a part of something whatever you was doing then I'm gonna put my hand up and say I I knew what I was doing or if you told something on me I set myself up for that [ __ ] but for me to not know what you're doing not have anything to do with it and then you testifying on somebody else in another trial in another state but you want to talk about Tony Lewis and basically you know what wow what the [ __ ] is that about so you saying [ __ ] my chance of ever getting my freedom and you know whatever you and your the people that you're dealing with whatever y'all had going on which I don't have nothing to do with and I don't condone no rat and none of that [ __ ] that you doing in the first place but that's how I felt you asked me did I feel like he well did he telling me I said you can take it in two different ways but I did feel like that just because I was trying to get my freedom back and you put me back in the spotlight and you told some things that was never known before by the government and you told that [ __ ] on me and what me and you did so yeah you know that's how I felt well yeah I mean your son went from having Uncle Ray to now this guy's a snitch and a rat and the enemy yeah who's telling on his dad exactly oh did you and Rachel Edmund ever you know talk to each other after that you know last phone call no no we didn't okay okay so you're still doing your prison time and you know being a DC guy from what I understand in prisons you know I mean there's the gang ties and so forth but usually the cities kind of stick together right exactly how was your time in DC in in prison with the DC crew I mean were there situations where there was Wars and and so forth that you guys had to deal with along the way as always yeah as always if you're from DC it's always uh going to be situations in prison you know what I'm saying but you know just like every state knows that they know how hard DC go you know they don't they don't want that [ __ ] but if it comes then it but it was situations exactly um all the time so that's what that's what do you think was the most serious situation you got into in prison well not me personally but I'm just saying just DC in general is a whole lot of stuff that that happened man you know some [ __ ] can happen down the hallway some [ __ ] can happen in the unit right there you know with you um but I've never been that that basically that kind of guy with that prison [ __ ] man that [ __ ] is it gets you no money it's it's you know sometimes it's something is unavoidable then it's unavoidable but you know just a lot of [ __ ] with the prison [ __ ] it really it ain't worth [ __ ] in my opinion for the most part so that was something that I you know uh shied away from a lot um especially with if there's no money involved if that's what my thing was at the time there's no money involved that's that [ __ ] is it's frivolous to me you know but [ __ ] always happened but most of the [ __ ] that happened in prison is about small [ __ ] dumb [ __ ] man in my opinion you know and yeah that that wasn't my uh my thing man you know uh so yeah but a lot of things happen man but that don't always mean that you personally involved because it happened um uh even if you know even if if even if it is your city you'll try to give your two cents sometimes you try to mediate [ __ ] and sometimes it works sometime it don't and sometimes you got to back away and let it happen and and that's what it is you know a lot of people I spoke to that have done prison time they talked about the prison rapes and they talked about how sometimes younger dudes would come in and the older dudes are basically gang rape them and so forth you yourself did you see this type of thing happening in prison no I was never around that [ __ ] I never you know I never saw what happened you know I've heard of some [ __ ] happening but I never you know and most of uh most of my DC homies man you know we're not gonna let that [ __ ] happen not not to none of us you know and sometimes not to others if we are President we have you know we see it or whatever but I've heard some things man you know what I'm saying but no that that [ __ ] is yeah I don't know much about none of that you know yeah well after rayful cooperated your son went to go see you and I guess he was around 16 years old at the time and you guys actually talked about the whole rifle uh cooperating situation right and I guess that was only the second time he actually got to go see you so how is that meeting like um you know he uh he had questions you know as a 16 year old um you know um rifle was somebody that he you know really you know looked at as you know as a family member you know what I'm saying and uh it really affected him what he did and what the the reverberations from it and the fact that I had on him uh a whole lot of people in our in our area so um and he had questions about how he wanted to proceed you know concerning that and uh you know as a father you got to deal with that and try to Enlighten your child protect your child you know um and uh that's what our conversation was just somewhat about that it wasn't no long conversation on that we had a lot of other things to talk about but um yeah we discussed that we discussed you know rightful and um you know and we had to you know we had to deal with um dad's situation and and and his situation um growing up without his dad and growing up on the same block that I lived on it just so many you know situations that that a young teenage uh uh boy deals with growing up so not just and then with him being Tony Lewis Jr same same name same everything so yeah then we discussed that [ __ ] briefly and man just got some pointers and he got some knowledge on it and uh yeah and then I learned some things that I didn't know about like these phone calls [ __ ] and and I'm grateful calling way more than I knew and just just different little things yeah so yeah we we talked about that well your son was the same name as you right except for except for junior he actually has like father like son tattooed on his arm right but unlike his father he decided to go a different route and by 2010 he started an organization called sons of life right tell me about that organization oh yeah man uh my son uh he has made me so proud of him man so that's what kept me going actually man uh to see his accomplishments and to see the difference in him not so much to see the difference in him and me because as human beings and as men we the same through and through but to see his Direction which was different from mine and to see how serious he was uh about his community about his city of Washington DC his commitment you know to the younger people and him taking my lesson of my criminal life and my uh incarceration and using that in a different way man you know what I'm saying to uh affect change in our community and our city and uh I'm just the proudest father in the world always have been from back from I say 2007 when he really got got his prominence man you know so just the great things that he do that that helped helped me every day man with motivating me man in prison with all the nonsense and uh you know the negative [ __ ] that I was around every day in prison so uh yeah man and uh you know um his step that uh sounds of life and now his uh non-profit or what he's a part of a non-profit DC or nothing with the wonderful Miss Angel Gregorio him and her man they just been so so amazing to the young people and just returning citizens or form incarcerated people in our city uh yeah man just just amazing man and then for me to be here and be a part of that and be a part of my son I'm I'm just I'm this is my second life man I'm I'm back you know I'm back from the dead so yeah but it's all about my son man all about him well by 2019 uh rifle Edmund was sent back to DC uh for them to decide whether his life sentence should be reduced based on all the information that he gave them right and then by 2021 the government actually gave him an early release for that initial sentence but then there's a 30-year sentence that he got on top of that that whole sentence because of the drug dealing in prison right um and at this point is he still in prison or is he out as far as I know he's still in prison but he should be out soon from what as far as I know right because after he cooperated he had to be put in witness protection inside of prison right right well they got separate they got separate prisons for that now so he don't even have to uh yeah they got separate little it's not many prisons with not just him but other of his kind that has done that day in a hole separate it's still a federal place but it's off the map you don't know what where is that or what is you know what I'm saying but yeah that's what that's what it is Okay so for your situation you were you were locked up all this time but then Trump signed a law called the first step act right tell me what that is well first step back um um it's like the first step in rectifying the crack cocaine's law the one where the 100 100 to 1 ratio was applied to like for people like me in the 80s and you know uh ever since the crack had first started uh they they uh uh President Joe Biden Was An Architect of this hundred to one this ominous crime Bill mandatory minimum sentences and uh so it was like a you know a first step act to hopefully getting it to one to one this took it to 18-1 as far as the sentencing purposes 18 for every one gram 18 grams every one where it was 100 to one at first so uh yeah that's what that's what helped get me out of prison with that was that particular deal with that ratio in it because they brought me back to really sentenced me under 18 to one which that still is unfair because you know powder cocaine is one to one why the [ __ ] is it I got to get sentence 18 to one more when I when I was sentenced to 100 to one so yeah that's what that's what the part of the build that uh I utilize and uh you know got me we got got me out of that I mean when you first heard about that bill was there like uh I mean I'm sure there was an excitement all through the prison system everywhere right so did you feel like okay this is gonna be the bill that gets me out early no I didn't feel that because there's a catch to the bill a couple of catches to the bill one was for me I was sentenced for both powder cocaine and crack cocaine so in the past when I would try to bring up the fact that this is unfair the sentence that I would send this to under the crack cocaine whereas every gram that I had y'all charge me for 100 grams for that one so but when I would say that the judge would be like okay Mr Lewis you right okay we give you that but you still got the powder that holds the same sentence as the crack so you still got a life without parole centers it don't it don't matter so that's what was continuously that's some unfaction that they allow the government to do to charge you with the same two drug well Two drugs when there's actually really one drug and so if you get some play on the crack cocaine the powder the powder part of it keep you in the bracket where you still remain with life without parole so I wasn't excited because I knew that that's what it was and then in that same offering when you go in on the first step Act anything that you apply for under the first step Act is always the word in it that is under is is the judge full discretion of whoever he want to give it to you or not even if you actually meet the criteria that judge can like set up as I got caught with a knife in my cell previously like a year two before four or five years white got caught with drugs in prison when I go up for this pleading I can say look I'm uh under the crack cocaine law I fit this construction is done and say yeah you know what Mr Lewis you right but your conduct in prison leads me to feel that you're not a change individual because you still if I got caught with a knife that's like a gun in jail if I got caught with drugs and and so you deny even though you fit you're supposed to get it but so I'm just telling you just so this these are two things where I really didn't well one of the things I really didn't have hope because really my disciplinary record was pretty much spotless so I didn't have to worry about that because I ain't stupid enough to be caught with no drugs in prisoners oh like I was telling you this dumb stuff that I don't get involved with in prison and not unless it's not absolutely necessary for protection then you know but for me somebody else would have been having that knife for me it wouldn't be me holding this [ __ ] so but anyway that's why I didn't I didn't jump up anymore and saying you know uh hooray and all that [ __ ] because and then I was in front of a tough racist ass judge in my opinion that that so I I wasn't happy or I wasn't hopeful at that time but I was hopeful about my son and the fight that he was fighting for me out in the world that's what I was hopeful about I didn't know how he was going to do it or where it was gonna come from but I knew my son was gonna get me out of prison one day and uh that's what I was hoped for it not from the first step action and none of that because I was just telling you the reason why and that's that's why how long before your actual release did you know that you were getting released right two days before they hit that [ __ ] hit me I I I yeah I didn't see it coming and you know we knew we had the motion in and um we had got a positive sign but still we hadn't had a ruling positive sign was a prosecutor saying we're not going to pose Mr Lewis asking and a matter of fact we recommend that he get immediate release so at that point that's some positive [ __ ] because they very rarely say that about they always go against no we we're not letting them out and then you know again as you know they take the two things you're pleading from your lawyer and they take the prosecutor pleading and they put both of them together and they give it to the judge that's what they did so I'm like in my mind I'm like it's a positive sign what just happened but I don't know when the judge's gonna Rule and with dealing with this particular judge he sets on our case for a long time even when he he sets on the ship but he came back I guess a day or so with that ruling and and ordered me to release for me and I was I was I was blown away two days it said Monday you I think that [ __ ] was like Friday or Saturday when when uh it happened and Monday you you release and so that's uh that's how that happened well by that time you'd been in jail or in prison for 34 years so for every day that you were alive you were in prison for 1.3 days the majority of your life was spent in the case essentially right and over the majority yeah a majority of my life exactly I was picked in a cage yeah and now you're being told two days from now you're going back out in the world and you have a family waiting for you and everything else like that yeah I I don't know how to think I don't know how to feel I mean I know I'm happy but um uh I can't even explain this [ __ ] this is it was incredible man everything with you saying and looking at me saying how that's what the [ __ ] I was it's true you feel it you know you've been like I've been locked up all this time man and I'm still like is this [ __ ] real I'm going into stores and [ __ ] I don't know what the how to you know and all this yeah it's just yeah it's it's but it but it's a beautiful thing don't get me wrong with it I'm loving this [ __ ] but it is what you say man it's it's it's it's uh I don't even have a word for but again but I'm enjoying it compared to coming from where I came from in prison well yeah when you went in Michael Jackson was the biggest you know celebrity in the world uh there were maybe a flip phone or a brick phone if you're we had the big yeah we had the big phone with the battery put in your car plug up yeah it was all that [ __ ] yeah yeah the car phones yeah thing there was no internet there was no World Wide Web there were no iPhones no you're suddenly thrown into a planet that you have no idea about yeah it's like I'm just like I'm just being born like a newborn baby for the most part if I don't have my son and somewhat of you know support system or but him and what he brings to me and that's that's why I look look at a lot of guys where I think about a lot of other guys who coming out of prison out of my situation and might not have a son or a support thing man it's it's gonna be hard on them man without him I wouldn't be able to I wouldn't be able to have my damn ID just small stuff birth certificate a lot of things that you go there they asking you dumbass questions after you tell them I'm just coming out of prison after 34 years you got two pieces of ID what the [ __ ] I'm gonna get it from I just came out two days ago and but you can't do nothing without this [ __ ] they can't this is stupid they need to change this [ __ ] man they need to get people an easier transition and help people man because it's really it's really daunting man you know so and is blessed to have my son and that support well at the time you went in you're 26 years old uh you probably weren't thinking about the implications of what you were doing you were making money fast you're you know spending money fast you're living the life exactly but what you were doing with you know the kilos the hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of kilos you're pushing through the city exactly where it was causing the destruction of families exactly you know I know I know families who had crack babies and these kids always had problems throughout their lives exactly uh serious implications when you think about what you did and what you contributed to during that time how do you feel about it now as a 60 something year old man I feel absolutely bad when I think about the destruction that I helped the cause that I helped to cause um you just put it so good uh Vlad that at that time as a young man I had no idea of the damage and [ __ ] what I was doing with selling drills in my community in my city had no idea and looking at hindsight or not I mean I started to realize it maybe after a good five or ten years that I was incarcerated and start educating myself and and understanding what I was doing and every chance I get I apologize to my people my fellow citizens in Washington DC as I'm doing right now I apologize to them for the damage I caused to my city for selling drugs in my city and all I can do now is what I've been doing I've been out 18 days and man every time it's like get man I'm trying to help and contribute to my city in a positive way into my community and that's what the rest of my life is going to be about you know my son been doing it but that's that's a little different but I'm here too and I I actually I have been doing it even from prison whether it's from mentoring whether it's for connecting younger guys who I see that have potential to go out in the world and be better and not commit crimes so yeah that's what I I'm glad you brought that up man because I wanted to say it anyway man I apologize but I do realize the damage that I caused to people man with helping to fuel their addiction or maybe start something and I'm sorry for that well before you got out there was stickers all over the city saying free Tony Lewis and so forth now you're out of prison rifle Edmund is still in prison and he told on 20 people if not more I've interviewed people like Kurt bone and ears the Christ and Teflon Sean they they consider this guy a rat and just absolute filth is it ironic that you get out without telling on anybody and he's still in prison and he told on everyone is ultimately he can't go back to DC and get the type of reception that you got yeah I feel that it is ironic you know um I never thought that I would beat him out of prison in any kind of way because of what he did for the government you know and all I can say is I'm glad I'm free and I'm out of prison um for anything else concerning him that's for him to deal with and whoever you know so yeah that's all I can say on that you know well people ultimately didn't learn from your example you know you you built things up to a certain degree It Came Crashing Down you got life without parole rayful got life without parole but you know the story continued on and on like you know we talked about the BMF story you know they probably looked at you guys and said well we're smarter than them we're we're not going to make the same mistakes We're Not Gonna you know stumble the way they did We're Not Gonna Be flashy or so forth But ultimately everyone becomes flashy and everyone ends up going through the same thing and exactly and all these big drug operations come crashing down and I mean I hung out with BMF they had Billboards yeah in Atlanta and said the world is bmfs like a slap in the face to the feds essentially I remember I saw that and I got scared I'm like I don't want to be around this man this is this is insanity this isn't Saturday because it was clear what was happening yeah like you know like you could try to say it's a record label but come on there's no superstars on this label uh and it continues on and on there will be another there is another Tony Lewis senior right now that's thinking that he's not going to make the same mistakes as you but I don't know of anyone that managed to just right off into the sunset with millions of dollars to their name yeah do you no and that's why I just say what I just say it to the young people man because you know I really care about our young people especially at Washington DC but all over the country my son Tony Lewis Jr he really cares about the young people and the people of the city and he's been out there harping this message and using me and my situation as an example for them to not go that route but like you said man it's sad to say that it is going to be people who feel that they can they can be more Slicker they can be more low-key and at the United States government is not going to get them uh who beats the government nobody you know when your indictment is you versus United States of America you're not gonna win it's it's it's futile it's stupid and that's what I've been trying to tell the young people I got a job right now man I'm working in construction I never thought I would want a job or have a job but I'm happy to have a job and I tell the young people come on with me man let's get a job let's work but you that's that doesn't have to be your end it's businesses you got ideas your young people you talented but you got to start somewhere and let's start man on the right track man with employment man and go from there you might be owning the company in a such amount a certain amount of time just takes hard work man that easy money what you think easy and just like you said Vlad trying to be the next whatever whatever think that you can outsmart the government it's it's it's it's it's not going to happen not it's not gonna happen well yeah and you know DC has had such a serious history of drug issues to the point where Marion Barry got caught smoking crack yeah on camera while you were locked up exactly I saw it they got reelected again right right right right yeah did you uh did you have any connections to Marion Barry during your time yeah man the man came through a few times he he can't wait for him doing more better but he uh yeah he he was sneaking seriously that's what that's what it was man you know yeah man so um yeah he liked it he liked it what he liked and uh God Rest his soul he was a good mayor though that no matter what you say he was a good ass mayor man for the black people uh Washington DC man Murray and bury that's right well he really loved the community man I have I have connections to DC and the government in DC and people that knew him well and he just loved the people so much that they said well we probably got a relative that had the same type of problems yeah people could people could relate to him man him and his son man they came from that that same fabric that cloth man and like you say you look at him and say man I got an uncle that that you know dipping dab but he's still doing his thing but man I love the man man I love Murray my son loves a man he he great man man you know yeah it was crazy man you're right everything you say right there it was it was it made you scratch your heads I can't believe this [ __ ] man it's happening but it's happening that's what it was though man yeah rest rest his soul yeah rest in peace very very he passed away uh some years ago he was uh he was a hell of a character though man that's the right thing yeah well uh Tony Lewis senior man I appreciate you coming in you're fresh out only a few days yeah man out of prison after doing 34 years yeah and um you know I think what what I love so much about this interview is that you're not playing the victim mentality you didn't say that the government was out you can't mean it wasn't my fault I had no other choice you had choices back then and you decided to go down a certain route and because of the choices you made that's what got you 34 years and you understand the implications of it and you understand the implications of what you did exactly and I want the young people to know not to do what I did not to do come on and get this job with me man let's let's do the legal [ __ ] man that's the only way in life it's the only way man that's it man right and on top of it what you got away with 34 years ago you cannot get away with not even 2023. there were no cell phones they couldn't triangulate where you're from there wasn't cameras on every street that's why I mean the fact that that you know rayful could tell the police about 20 murders those would have been solved in 2023 very quickly I think so and it's yeah and that's what that's what really the crime is went to is really at least in our city it's not so much of the drug selling but it's the gun violence the carjackings and the robberies and and this is what we need to and me and my son we gonna We Fight effortlessly to get the young people man to put them guns down but in asking that they need to have something to pick up such as a job and such as uh uh opportunities man economic opportunities and we asking our business our business Community our business owners man to give us guys who are either felons or ex-felons give us a chance give us a shot man you won't be disappointed man we want to uh we we want to live an honest life man we want to put down the guns man that's what we want to do man nobody feels safe yeah and like you said you're very lucky in the extent that you have a son with an organization that focuses on you know ex-felons and so forth exactly for everyone else in your situation who comes out with a felony on their record they can't get a job they can't get an apartment right uh they could legally be turned down for being an ex-felon from an apartment or a job right it's not considered discrimination it's considered perfectly legal yeah which ultimately makes you know puts people in very bad situations you then have to go live with a woman because she has an apartment her name and now you're living under her room she can kick you out whenever you want you know ultimately you will revert back to Crime because there's no other choice you can't get a regular job because you can't get hired so and that's what I'm saying forever punishment and forever punishment man and it's bad bad for both sides for legal people for regular citizens bad and it's bad for the person who has to go back to putting that gun in his hand and and nobody wants violence man that [ __ ] is is well we got kids we got when women is it's just no good man I I personally you know I totally agree because I feel like if you paid your debt to society exactly you should be able to turn the page and try to integrate back into society like every other citizen right that's not the way it works and I think it's a broken system yeah man you're pretty you're pretty good man I really I really enjoyed talking with you man because you put the facts out there man you uh you're not just one-sided that some people you know but uh yeah I really I really appreciate this uh sir being here and you know absolutely well Tony Lewis senior man I appreciate you coming in and and I really love your outlook that you have you still have a lot of a lot a lot of years left in you to contribute so and to you know I mean improve the city that once you you did not improve so exactly exactly and uh man I wish you all the best okay thank you man that's what it is peace

Channel: djvlad

Views: 226,668

Keywords: VladTV, DJ Vlad, Interview, Hip-Hop, Rap, News, Gossip, Rumors, Drama

Id: UMf6m-ZSA7s

Length: 86min 19sec (5179 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 25 2023