Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:04.442
All right and we're back for another episode of Life Changing Challengers.
00:00:04.442 --> 00:00:08.885
I'm your host, brad Minus, and I am really excited about this one.
00:00:08.885 --> 00:00:12.868
This is going to be a little bit of a departure from our normal episode.
00:00:12.868 --> 00:00:27.783
I have with me Aidan Gabor, who has a very interesting story and a challenge that he faced and he got over, and he did it in really, really different way, and I'm gonna just let him talk now.
00:00:27.783 --> 00:00:33.582
His voice is masked a little bit for reasons you're going to find out, but this is really exciting.
00:00:33.582 --> 00:00:37.893
I'm leaving the mystery to him because it's that exciting.
00:00:37.893 --> 00:00:41.548
There's challenge to it, but it's going to be interesting and you're going to love it.
00:00:41.548 --> 00:00:44.466
So, aiden, how you doing pretty good, pretty good.
00:00:44.466 --> 00:00:44.908
But how are you doing
00:00:44.948 --> 00:00:45.591
Pretty good, pretty good, brad?
00:00:45.591 --> 00:00:46.354
How are you doing, sir?
00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:52.127
So I'll ask you the question Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, where you grew up?
00:00:52.127 --> 00:00:55.033
What was the complement of your family and what was the environment like?
00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:57.987
Well, I grew up East Coast.
00:00:57.987 --> 00:01:01.670
My family was basically my parents and myself as an only child.
00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:03.323
It was a great family.
00:01:03.323 --> 00:01:09.950
It was a great atmosphere, but my dad was an associate with a crime family this is how they put it.
00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:13.278
But I started out young with them.
00:01:13.278 --> 00:01:22.926
We would have family gatherings and we would get like all the people I worked in the old country would show up and we would have a great dinner.
00:01:22.926 --> 00:01:27.305
Growing up young, learning a lot of things, seeing a lot of things, growing, up.
00:01:28.629 --> 00:01:30.337
So what kind of things are we talking about here?
00:01:30.337 --> 00:01:34.927
Be as specific or not specific as you can, oh it's a lot of things.
00:01:34.947 --> 00:01:37.093
I mean, we used to get a bunch of kids.
00:01:37.093 --> 00:01:41.670
I would get most couples because we'd be outside and the boys would be boys.
00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.757
We'd get in fights with guys that are six, seven years old.
00:01:44.757 --> 00:01:47.507
I would win a lot of them because I was big for my size.
00:01:47.507 --> 00:01:50.802
I used to come in and they're like what happened?
00:01:50.802 --> 00:01:52.046
My mom and stuff were like nothing.
00:01:52.046 --> 00:01:55.115
I fell and it grew up to that way.
00:01:55.115 --> 00:02:04.349
We would have all these family functions with everybody around in our little crew and the dad's crew and all that.
00:02:04.349 --> 00:02:07.108
I just started learning things.
00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:22.752
One day Eddie came up to me, which was like the head of the little area there, and he said hey, do me a favor, come on out, ride your bike out to the garage, which was like a garage slash social club type of thing.
00:02:22.752 --> 00:02:49.550
I rode my bike there and he would be like hey, do me a favor, take this package, drop it off, don't look at it and then come straight back here, don't talk to anybody, and then if they give you something sometimes they do, sometimes they don't just bring it back and I'm like all right, back then you respected your elders when they would ask you, especially my dad's friends associates that when they tell you something, you really don't be a smartass.
00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:52.081
And I would do that and I'd come back.
00:02:52.081 --> 00:02:57.293
It'd be $20, $30, and I would run with my buddies to the candy store and live like a king.
00:02:57.293 --> 00:03:03.569
And yeah, that's how it all started, because I got weaker doing this for a while.
00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:04.406
I got to 15, 16.
00:03:04.406 --> 00:03:05.697
They I got the 1560.
00:03:05.697 --> 00:03:06.782
They taught me how to drive.
00:03:06.782 --> 00:03:09.205
They taught me how to shoot a gun.
00:03:09.205 --> 00:03:12.200
They taught me a bunch of things around the shop and stuff.
00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:13.145
And I'd go out there.
00:03:13.145 --> 00:03:25.782
I'd sweep and clean and see a lot of things, hear a lot of things, people coming here now like police officers, politicians, guys dropping off cars, gang members.
00:03:25.782 --> 00:03:34.087
They would steal cars from the chopper, slash social club, slash a little collection area, I guess you can say, and a couple other things.
00:03:34.087 --> 00:03:39.508
And that's how it all started with that, when I was young and worked my way up.
00:03:40.901 --> 00:03:41.182
Well, that's.
00:03:41.182 --> 00:03:47.042
I mean you're basically describing every mob movie known to man.
00:03:47.042 --> 00:03:56.347
Obviously, some of the obviously there's ones that are just totally outlandish, but some of them obviously they're getting it right.
00:03:56.347 --> 00:03:58.987
Would you say that it's just?
00:03:59.087 --> 00:04:01.449
yeah, just your club.
00:04:01.449 --> 00:04:02.370
You got together.
00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:04.270
You can make a big deal out of it.
00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:06.231
It used to be a half a garage.
00:04:06.231 --> 00:04:10.894
They had worked on cars, but most of the vehicles in there they would steal and chop them up.
00:04:10.894 --> 00:04:14.695
That's how they made money, along with phone sharking, gambling.
00:04:14.695 --> 00:04:17.817
They had prostitution, but I was never allowed to go near the girls.
00:04:17.817 --> 00:04:21.269
I was young.
00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:23.783
I had a lesson just learning about girls.
00:04:23.783 --> 00:04:26.009
Most of it got it right, but there's a lot they didn't get right.
00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:26.630
In the movies.
00:04:26.630 --> 00:04:30.742
I had a bad temper, a lot of guys would say.
00:04:30.742 --> 00:04:34.232
I was diagnosed even young, with no empathy for people.
00:04:34.232 --> 00:04:37.870
I was diagnosed as a bone-winding sociopath.
00:04:37.870 --> 00:04:47.588
So I kind of fit in pretty good with some of the things they were looking for them pretty good with some of the things they were looking for.
00:04:47.608 --> 00:04:52.214
Did you find that you, even though you might not have had this empathy, you still knew right from wrong?
00:04:54.581 --> 00:04:57.009
You know I really didn't.
00:04:57.009 --> 00:05:00.245
I didn't care, I was having fun.
00:05:00.245 --> 00:05:02.543
I'll be honest with you To this day.
00:05:02.543 --> 00:05:13.865
You learn over the years and you get wisdom, but I really, back then, I was never afraid to die.
00:05:13.865 --> 00:05:16.012
I'm still not afraid, but it's more of a let me say it sucks to be.
00:05:16.012 --> 00:05:19.942
That type of attitude is what it is, man, that's gotta hurt and rather choke them like.
00:05:19.942 --> 00:05:26.834
Nowadays we watch anything that has any blood or gore, which my wife doesn't like to because I love it.
00:05:26.834 --> 00:05:29.908
So someone's head or leg snapping out and all that stuff.
00:05:29.908 --> 00:05:34.607
I think it's the funniest thing and I'm working on that every day.
00:05:34.607 --> 00:05:38.149
I just find it amusing and I don't know why.
00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:44.610
My mom, when I was younger, used to be a little concerned, but I was a mom of a boy, like every guy, I think, is.
00:05:44.610 --> 00:05:49.911
He wasn't a major, but he was always on the road working with his other job.
00:05:49.911 --> 00:05:54.451
These guys accepted me, I think based off because I didn't care.
00:05:54.451 --> 00:05:56.567
I would go out and do what was needed to get done.
00:05:56.567 --> 00:05:59.629
I didn't care what it was, pure loyalty.
00:05:59.629 --> 00:06:03.028
She grew up with respect and loyalty to family.
00:06:03.028 --> 00:06:07.122
They became my family because I didn't have any brothers or sisters.
00:06:07.122 --> 00:06:16.709
My father really wasn't around, my mom was, and I would see these guys every day and we have family together and that was my family interesting.
00:06:17.470 --> 00:06:33.100
So actually then, from what I'm listening to, because the influence of your and then you had the family, that's kind of where you learned you're right and wrong was because this is where your environment was.
00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:33.901
Would you agree with that?
00:06:33.901 --> 00:06:34.401
Yeah, I would.
00:06:34.401 --> 00:06:35.103
I would agree.
00:06:35.103 --> 00:06:36.523
There was no telling you.
00:06:36.523 --> 00:06:41.245
You know you'll talk against them, just if you get in trouble you take it.
00:06:41.245 --> 00:06:47.550
I've had several times in my life and it almost got me once really bad.
00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:51.112
I never said anything against the crew I worked with.
00:06:51.112 --> 00:06:54.233
I never said a word when I was told that's when we get at.
00:06:54.233 --> 00:06:59.697
That was not where my social loyalties was partly there, but I never went against them.
00:06:59.697 --> 00:07:08.129
It was my second part of my life that it became an issue when I started getting alcoholism and stuff.
00:07:08.149 --> 00:07:09.072
We're going to get to that in a minute.
00:07:09.072 --> 00:07:11.769
I was just more thinking about you know right and wrong.
00:07:11.769 --> 00:07:14.928
For you, Right was you had complete loyalty to the family.
00:07:14.928 --> 00:07:20.089
If you want to go through the hierarchy, you don't have to list names, but who was at the top, who was in the middle bosses?
00:07:20.089 --> 00:07:21.012
However, it's actually done.
00:07:21.012 --> 00:07:21.452
That's cool.
00:07:21.452 --> 00:07:26.557
If this guy said something and he said it for you to do it, you're going to do it because of the loyalty of the family.
00:07:26.557 --> 00:07:29.026
So that, to you, was the right thing to do.
00:07:29.026 --> 00:07:30.571
Yes.
00:07:31.141 --> 00:07:34.846
Especially if Eddie, who was our comedy, he would tell us what to do.
00:07:34.846 --> 00:07:40.502
And if he did it, you know there was Nicky, who was really second, but Nicky was only involved.
00:07:40.502 --> 00:07:42.266
He was friends with my dad.
00:07:42.266 --> 00:07:50.300
But if Nicky was involved then you don't want to be part of it and he's the one who taught me how to use an ice pick, how to shoot.
00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:53.425
Most of the time I just saw him playing cards in there.
00:07:53.425 --> 00:07:58.767
Then we had Dominic, which was more of the enforcer, and I went under his wing, even though he really didn't like me.
00:07:58.767 --> 00:08:04.266
We had Joey and a couple other guys in there, Even though everybody was technically above me.
00:08:04.266 --> 00:08:08.490
We all kind of at that point at the same level than Eddie and Dominic and Nikki.
00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:10.574
Everybody else was together.
00:08:10.593 --> 00:08:18.065
You know, as a crew we all had tempers, go to the fire, but anytime we didn't just kill people or do anything to somebody.
00:08:18.065 --> 00:08:20.045
If they had a problem we would deal with.
00:08:20.045 --> 00:08:20.769
They screwed up.
00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:30.622
If I was, if my pretty face was visiting you just because you owe money or you didn't do something, you brought this on yourself and you know, nobody showed up.
00:08:30.622 --> 00:08:35.727
All I tell them that he really violates was against other crews that they're punching.
00:08:35.727 --> 00:08:38.485
You don't come into our area, we don't go into your area.
00:08:38.485 --> 00:08:40.501
So I go to your area, I'm expecting trouble.
00:08:40.501 --> 00:08:45.732
And if you come to the mine, don't care what it's for, but in trouble.
00:08:45.732 --> 00:08:50.004
And if you come to the mine, don't care what it's for, but you know not unless they're inviting you in there, that's really a problem against other crews.
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:55.947
You know, when we did collect, sometimes you had to give a little extra incentive.
00:08:55.947 --> 00:08:58.302
A lot of guys would kill a baseball basket.
00:08:58.302 --> 00:09:00.028
You'd just admit in the ball and you can't.
00:09:00.028 --> 00:09:01.647
You'd get pulled over.
00:09:01.647 --> 00:09:09.187
You can't do anything to you Because I'm ready to play baseball anytime if you just have a bath and then you kind of die a little bit of a.
00:09:09.187 --> 00:09:11.990
So there's a way to.
00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:13.134
And the way it was.
00:09:13.134 --> 00:09:15.759
You know everybody uses the baseball bat.
00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.428
Yeah, because that's how you get away with it.
00:09:18.428 --> 00:09:21.525
I don't really want to say I write people on the ankles.
00:09:21.525 --> 00:09:22.288
That was me.
00:09:22.288 --> 00:09:25.945
You go to the ground, you're not getting back up.
00:09:25.945 --> 00:09:27.529
You let the crawl to me.
00:09:27.529 --> 00:09:31.546
Now I'm over you, I have complete control and I got your full attention.
00:09:31.546 --> 00:09:33.745
Other guys would hit high.
00:09:33.745 --> 00:09:39.164
I went right for your ankles, you went down and then I had control Because you're not the crawl line.
00:09:39.164 --> 00:09:41.087
You ain't getting up if your ankles are screwed up.
00:09:41.087 --> 00:09:47.035
Unfortunately, as stupid as I think it is nowadays, I feel funny news for me.
00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:55.294
If you watch MMA, some of those first initial hits you start to see them hitting in the leg, but a lot of those guys are trying to sweep up from those ankles.
00:09:55.294 --> 00:10:04.769
Obviously, if you've got professional MMA fighters and that's what they're doing, the same thing they might be using their legs instead of a baseball bat, but they're still hitting that.
00:10:04.769 --> 00:10:05.831
Obviously there's something to it.
00:10:05.831 --> 00:10:07.322
The interesting thing is that.
00:10:07.322 --> 00:10:09.630
So I don't tell a lot of people anything.
00:10:09.630 --> 00:10:12.440
I kind of just throw little tidbits in the podcast.
00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:14.226
But I was an actor for a while.
00:10:14.226 --> 00:10:15.846
I did some screen work.
00:10:15.846 --> 00:10:24.235
I kind of laugh at people getting shot and beat up in movies because I know how they put the makeup on and how they CG everything together.
00:10:24.235 --> 00:10:26.240
I know how that put the makeup on and how they CG everything together.
00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:26.501
I know how that's all done.
00:10:26.501 --> 00:10:26.822
I'm coming from the other end.
00:10:26.822 --> 00:10:28.066
It's interesting that you say that.
00:10:28.066 --> 00:10:34.869
What I find really fascinating right now, what I find hilarious, is have you seen this series called the Boys on Amazon?
00:10:34.869 --> 00:10:37.163
No, I have not.
00:10:37.163 --> 00:10:37.706
Okay, I get it.
00:10:37.706 --> 00:10:40.005
You want to see something really gory?
00:10:40.005 --> 00:10:41.791
Oh, it's crazy.
00:10:41.791 --> 00:10:43.326
It's like ad superheroes.
00:10:43.326 --> 00:10:50.836
They're like pulling arms out of sockets and pulling heads off and lasering with their eyes like people's faces in half.
00:10:50.836 --> 00:10:53.730
Yeah, if you really want to find something really entertaining, that's it.
00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:57.568
That's something to watch, but anyway, let's move on, so I'll look into that.
00:10:57.668 --> 00:10:59.195
I like world war ii documentary.
00:10:59.195 --> 00:11:02.926
That's what I watch, because I don't watch the news, because the world pisses me off.
00:11:02.926 --> 00:11:05.211
I I don't think you look at that Sounds interesting.
00:11:05.751 --> 00:11:06.452
Yeah, it's fiction.
00:11:06.452 --> 00:11:08.427
Obviously it's bad superheroes, but it's kind of fun.
00:11:08.427 --> 00:11:11.048
For me it's really fun because I'm like, how did they do that?
00:11:11.048 --> 00:11:13.663
And I'll rewind and slow it down and figure out.
00:11:13.663 --> 00:11:16.926
Okay, so then this part is CG, but this part is makeup.
00:11:16.926 --> 00:11:22.152
So what would you say as far as the baseball bat and that type of thing?
00:11:22.152 --> 00:11:27.446
Can you say how old you were about that point or the range of the ages that you were?
00:11:28.380 --> 00:11:32.308
When I started working with Dominic I was about 16.
00:11:32.308 --> 00:11:36.221
I was really big for my age and I didn't care.
00:11:36.221 --> 00:11:42.663
I was a really good football player in the area and I really, really.
00:11:42.663 --> 00:11:45.847
You know, it wasn't like a 24-7 with these guys.
00:11:45.847 --> 00:11:50.150
It was mostly when I had time to go over there, but it was a lot of time.
00:11:50.150 --> 00:11:51.365
That's all I can say.
00:11:51.365 --> 00:11:53.365
Were you going to school?
00:11:53.365 --> 00:11:56.528
Yeah, I was going to school before I started driving.
00:11:56.528 --> 00:12:01.063
I would go over there on the weekends or after school if I didn't have football.
00:12:01.063 --> 00:12:02.625
We only at that time.
00:12:02.625 --> 00:12:07.469
We did a couple days a week and then, if not, we'd be out after school and I would go over there.
00:12:07.469 --> 00:12:09.350
I never had a third field.
00:12:09.350 --> 00:12:10.392
My mother never.
00:12:10.392 --> 00:12:16.976
I mean, at first we had the be-home-but-when-the-street-lights came out, but that's when my dad was home.
00:12:16.976 --> 00:12:22.625
My dad was never home, so my mom was like where are you going?
00:12:22.625 --> 00:12:23.706
I'm going to go see Eddie in the shop.
00:12:23.706 --> 00:12:25.972
Help me, like I do a little side job.
00:12:25.972 --> 00:12:29.181
She's like, oh, okay, and that would be it Interesting.
00:12:29.241 --> 00:12:31.447
So basically, this is just like normal life.
00:12:31.447 --> 00:12:36.506
You know, go to school and you had this hard time job with your family.
00:12:36.506 --> 00:12:39.634
So what happened after you graduated high school?
00:12:41.041 --> 00:12:49.750
You know, I stayed there when I was graduating high school until one day Eddie came up to me and says I'm leaving, everybody's getting arrested, the FBI's here.
00:12:49.750 --> 00:12:51.003
You've never been arrested.
00:12:51.003 --> 00:12:56.206
You have a chance to play football in college, go do it, make something different.
00:12:56.206 --> 00:12:58.788
And he's like no, we need to go.
00:12:58.788 --> 00:13:03.644
There's just a lot of heat coming down and we're all probably going to go.
00:13:03.644 --> 00:13:07.405
He goes, mike, I said I'm leaving and just do me a favor.
00:13:07.405 --> 00:13:09.727
Every now and then, keep an eye on my son.
00:13:09.727 --> 00:13:14.347
And I'm like, okay, and that was the last time I ever seen Eddie.
00:13:14.347 --> 00:13:16.206
And he took off.
00:13:16.206 --> 00:13:17.363
The FBI caught him.
00:13:17.363 --> 00:13:18.826
I went to school.
00:13:18.826 --> 00:13:22.421
Oh, quick, and that was what I did.
00:13:22.421 --> 00:13:24.743
You know, okay, what do I do?
00:13:24.743 --> 00:13:26.884
When Eddie got a hold of me, drove up to me.
00:13:26.884 --> 00:13:30.008
They already arrested Dominic and Nikki and all them.
00:13:30.008 --> 00:13:35.972
They already had been arrested, so he was taken off and that was the last time I ever saw him.
00:13:35.972 --> 00:13:39.416
I talked to him one time after that, that was it.
00:13:39.416 --> 00:13:41.096
But I kept in touch with his son.
00:13:44.081 --> 00:13:45.225
And to this day, I'm still in contact with his son.
00:13:45.225 --> 00:13:46.327
Okay, so did you graduate college?
00:13:47.511 --> 00:13:48.173
No, I did not.
00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:50.543
Yeah, I was going to ask that.
00:13:50.543 --> 00:13:51.004
Hey, what happened?
00:13:51.004 --> 00:13:53.142
So?
00:13:53.282 --> 00:13:54.426
when I got to college.
00:13:54.426 --> 00:14:01.543
I'm sitting there and I'm in my dorm and these two clowns show up and I'm looking at them and I'm like, okay, what the hell are they?
00:14:01.543 --> 00:14:03.607
And they start started telling me.
00:14:03.607 --> 00:14:05.852
They flashed these little credentials and shit.
00:14:05.852 --> 00:14:08.621
For you know, we're from the Department of Justice.
00:14:08.621 --> 00:14:09.807
They said they wanted to talk to me.
00:14:09.807 --> 00:14:12.128
I go, my name is Lewis, no, I'm not going to tell them to F-A-L.
00:14:12.128 --> 00:14:16.129
But I stopped and thought, okay, if they talk to me, do they get a picture?
00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:19.722
So I want to find out what they want, what they wanted.
00:14:19.722 --> 00:14:22.506
So let's go get some meat, all right, whatever.
00:14:22.506 --> 00:14:23.528
So I went with them.
00:14:23.528 --> 00:14:25.371
We went to this restaurant.
00:14:25.371 --> 00:14:26.875
I remember it had a green roof.
00:14:26.875 --> 00:14:39.807
We went in there and five factors sitting there and they ordered their coffee and they turned this little holder on the table and they were like, hey, look inside, it's a great picture, you're going to love these pictures.
00:14:39.807 --> 00:14:41.288
I'm like, all right.
00:14:41.288 --> 00:14:54.298
So I opened up and there was a picture of me with Eddie and me with Dominic, nick and my dad with Eddie, and it was my mom with Eddie and Dominic and Nick and Eddie driving my mom.
00:14:54.298 --> 00:14:57.182
I'm like, okay, let's just do this.
00:14:57.202 --> 00:14:58.828
You know, there's these new laws called the WECO laws.
00:14:58.828 --> 00:14:59.510
You ever heard of these?
00:14:59.510 --> 00:15:01.197
I have no clue.
00:15:01.197 --> 00:15:05.811
Well, when everybody got less, everybody're like everybody got continuing loss.
00:15:05.811 --> 00:15:06.562
We got you for what?
00:15:06.562 --> 00:15:09.566
70 years we're continuing a federal prison.