BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN

SYNOPSIS BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN

When I was a little boy, I thought life was good. Then my mom went away, and all fell apart. She left me, and I didn’t understand it. It broke my heart and I never managed to understand it. How can you leave your kids? Just for a guy you never knew before, who isn’t family. And you just went off with him. Like we never existed. We couldn’t make it without her. We were out and about in the streets, trying to get some food. Life was tough.

**

The man took me to work on other farms. He hired me out to other farmers. I am sure he made good money out of me. As soon as school was done and in the summer vacation, I had to work hard. After all, he wasn’t that much of the father figure I saw in him at first. It was only for the money. But at least I got a place to stay and I could go to school. I got some friends at school, we were always hanging around. At one moment I left the man, he took too much advantage of me and I had to leave school anyway. I went and stayed with one of my school friends, Peter. Me and him were always walking around town at night, up to no good. Looking for a house to break in.

**

Obviously, she didn’t agree, but I didn’t mind that. It made it all just more enjoyable for me. Somehow something went wrong when I was a kid. Love never was important. Love never was a reason to stay. It was just money and sex, that’s what I learned. And that was where I lived by.

(J) Look at that house. The lights are still on. I wonder what’s going on in there (Jim and Peter are again driving through town and are in a neighborhood with big houses) (J) I want to go there and take a look. (P) Are you mad? They will see us! (J) We’ll be careful. Let’s go. (They peep through the window and see a man and a woman arguing) (J) That’s a good looking woman (whispering), I want to have a bit of fun with her (P) Hey man, I don’t want to do this. (Peter is not happy but follows Jim. They sneak through the open backdoor and enter the house) (J) Cover your face! (whispers) (Jim takes a gun out of his pocket and steps into the room. His tall presence is enough to quiet the man and the woman. They look at him in fear. Peter is standing somewhat behind, waiting what Jim will do. (Man) What do you want? (J) Hands up! Both of you! (Jim nods at Peter and says) Take him and let him show you where the money is. (Peter takes away the man so Jim is alone with the woman. She looks at him very scared. (J whispers with ominous voice) Don’t say a word and don’t scream or I’ll hit you. (Jim grabs her and throws her onto the couch, but the woman does not intend to cooperate and tries to run off. Jim grabs her and hits her in the face with a flat hand. He puts his arm around her face, covering her mouth and takes her from behind. Then he leaves the room, leaving the woman crying. He meets Peter, who has a large sum of money. After they threatened the man and the woman, they leave the house). Playing: Midnight Rambler – The Rolling Stones

**

One member of the opposite party lost his life. Sometimes I don’t know my strength and this was one of those days. It was also the day I started with a new hobby. Killing. Knowing it was not allowed made me careful. I was not going around all into the open and make my killings visible. I had to be cunning and shrewd. That first killing made me hungry for more. To see the light flow out of his eyes. And see the fear in the eyes of the others. That made me feel even better. It felt good. The best feeling ever. Maybe better than sex.

**

Killing was one thing. Getting rid of the bodies another. I didn’t want my “work” visible so I thought about how to get rid of bodies and how not to get caught. Well, practice makes perfect so they say. Till one day.

**

So I was asked by The Brotherhood. It was a courtship. They were nice people. Friendly, personable, big and strong. All I wanted to be. They sucked me into this before I knew what it really was. But it was definitely safer than staying alone. Everyone in prison needs somebody to watch his back. Otherwise, you’ll be in danger. I was asked to read things. They gave me books. Also, I was asked to do a test. When I did the test, they would let me in as a team member. I had to “make my bones”. That meant: killing someone, or at least: harm them in a big way. So I did. Nothing new.

**

I started reading the books they gave me. Among others, there was a book of Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher Sun Tzu, The Art of War. I was totally impressed. I read it until I knew it by heart. And we lived by it. The Aryan Brotherhood was not just a prison gang. They worked with military precision when things needed to be done. And they were heavily involved in the prison drugs trade.

**

One of the other books I got was a medical dictionary. All about arteries and critical points of the human body. Very interesting. Very useful too, in our line of work. That opened some new possibilities for me. How to kill someone when you are not there, for example.

**

One of the songs playing: Seek and destroy by Metallica right from the beginning

**

I know I didn’t help too much. I know I made lots of men’s lives miserable. People were often terrified of me. They knew when they didn’t do what I want, I would kill them. And they had seen me do it. I made sure that I was seen. As a warning sign to the others. We wouldn’t take threats from other gangs. We didn’t let them intimidate us. Them being with larger quantities, we were smarter. We would always see a way to get them. And it would hurt. And it would be bloody. The system created us and we were building on it. (Please voice over this chapter when showing the group closing in another gang to fight) Playing: Shock to the System by Billy Idol

**

(So Jim writes a coded letter to his Hell’s Angels contact outside and asks him to search for the lost members. When not found, Jim ordered one of the guy’s father to be shot) (The letter arrived at the warehouse where the head of the Hell’s Angels chapter there, opened it) Hey guys, are they found yet? We are ordered to keep searching. When they are not found, we have to get to the father of one of them. We have to solve this. And we need other men to run the drugs. We need to step up here. We can’t let this happen again. Anyone who wants to take this job? (Hell’s Angel) We did a lot of searching already. We’ve been asking around everywhere. In every bar and strip club in town. And we’ve been to their family already. They have no idea where they are and they haven’t been in contact. They totally vanished from the face of the earth. (Hell’s Angel) They must have been caught by the police. (Head of chapter) The Brotherhood wants us to retaliate. If we can’t get them, we have to get a family member. Those are the rules. I want you Gary and you Tom to start running drugs. You are two of our oldest and most reliable members. Don’t disappoint me. We can’t have any more slipups. This is serious business. The Brotherhood is the biggest drug selling group in California. We are proud to be a part of that. Let’s try to be the biggest in the nation.

**

One day I was walking in the yard, on my own. I was looking at the plants. One of my jobs was to take care of them. To keep them healthy. I loved those plants. They gave me something to do, to take care of. To be in nature. I wasn’t paying attention for one moment. I know I have to be alert, but the one moment that I wasn’t, I got attacked from behind. I knew that was the moment I feared for, for a long time. They must have planned this thoroughly and watched me closely. I knew there were some new guys around. Mexican Mafia guys who had debriefed and were placed on my yard. I had seen them and studied them too. I knew who they were. But that couldn’t help me now, laying on the ground. There were 2 of them and they kept on slashing me. But the first blow had been deadly already. Right in my neck, in my aorta. I bled profusely. And of course, they were not helping me. They made sure I died. I know one of them had a tattoo of a monkey on his arm. At least, that’s what it looked like. As soon as they saw that I was dead, they ran. I am sure they got the Brotherhood money now. That’s how it goes. Blood in, Blood out.  

11 Parts 17 songs – all matched to the story by their lyrics This story covers several decades so the songs are from the 60s till the present time