“Honey catches flies better than salt.”

Life was good with HighLand Park, we were partying on a daily basis, doing drugs and drinking. The police weren’t really present and the gangs that represented each neighborhood were the ones who protected their streets. We’d protect women, children and our local businesses. Some gangs would charge a fee in order to have that kind of protection, but we didn’t do that. In exchange for our services, they would help us and our families out with things we needed, like food and supplies. As ridiculous as it sounds, we made sure that none of our homies stole from our local businesses. But now looking back, I see that we were a slow poison to our community.

In the early 90’s, we’d host these “hood” meetings where we’d have conversations on issues that were happening in our neighborhood. I don't think they do that anymore, there are no rules or respect these days. But back in the day, there were certain gang members who had the “keys” to their hood, and I was that guy back then. We’d discuss our responsibilities, goals etc. My responsibility in my neighborhood was to make sure the homies were posted up in different spots, keeping a close look-out for cops and enemies. We’d set boundaries on where our guys could go and where they weren’t allowed to cause trouble. There were five alleyways that belonged to HighLand Park, two which belonged to me where I'd post up and hustle. Other responsibilities could be anywhere from gang banging, tagging, hustling dope, or collecting money for guns and for our boys serving time in prison. We didn’t allow our guys to do hard drugs like heroin, and if guys weren’t doing their responsibilities, you’d get disciplined in front of all the homies. 

BSK was known for taking care of the prostitutes and strippers in our neighborhood. They’d call us if they were in trouble and needed help. In exchange, we’d work together. Females that were involved with that lifestyle were just as treacherous as the guys, and I’ve come to realize that strippers can be the most dangerous people in this game. They service anyone from lawyers and cops, to gang members and dealers. And the majority of these girls are the ones that are down right setting these guys up. They sell a fantasy to these guys and manipulate them. I can't believe how much information these women had, and if it wasn't for them, we would never have been able to come up the way we did. One thing that's common with most drug dealers, is that they are way too cocky and love to show off and run their mouths. Especially when they're trying to impress girls. These guys are telling these girls their life story and these strippers are absorbing all the information. They are master manipulators. Pussy can get you to do whatever you want, and these men will give every spare dollar to a stripper and tell them all of their secrets. Although we worked closely with some of these women, it was also a pretty risky game, because these women were all about money. So we knew that we had to treat them well. 

I frequented the strip club because my girl and homegirls worked there. I had a mutual agreement with some of them. I knew these girls liked coke, so I was their favorite dealer. I would give them extra coke to give to their clients and when these guys saw the girls doing coke they’d offer to sell them some. They were very familiar with all the big players in the game and they would play them and ask to party with them outside of the club. Once they found out the locations where dealers were housing their drugs and money, we’d set these guys up and rob them. 

One of the first big come-ups for me came when I was 18 years old. My team was only three at the time. My friend started dating this dancer chick, whose ex-boyfriend was a money bag man for some Hustler. Well, this chick was bitter about her ex-boyfriend, so she started telling my homie how every week her ex would go pick up bags of cash at a dope house. We scoped it out for two months, studying all the movements. The night we decided to rob him, as soon as he was about to get into his car, we came up on him with two rifles and a handgun. He handed over the money without any hesitation. We decided to walk the Bag-Man back to the house, and when we knocked on the door, we rushed our way into this house. Again, there was no resistance. The lady in the house immediately gave up the stash spot. I knew she gave up the location fast because they probably had more money and dope stashed that they didn't want us finding. Anyhow, we left with no problems. When we got to our spot, we were expecting a decent amount of cash, but we didn't expect to run into that much money.

Just like everything comes fast, it goes fast too and, as I was living recklessly, I did something stupid and ended up catching my first prison term at the age of 18.