Vato Maldito: My Life of Crime by John "Bubbles" Gallegos, edited by Raoul Vehill

Victor wanted me to run the family. But since it wasn't really my family, I told Victor that I was ready to pull out. I was the only one bringing in any money, and Mr. D. was spending it as quick as I could make it. Things were not working out at all.

"Work with it John," said Victor. "You can pull it together."

We were behind again with Alex, our supplier. Mr. D. asked again to get an ounce on credit.

"Look Mr. D.," I told him. "We're in debt up to our asses. He's not going to go for it unless we put up some collateral. He wants to meet me this evening at the 5th Avenue Bar."

"If he won't cooperate, we'll kill him," said Mr.D..

"Look Mr. D.," I told him. "We can't do business like that. These people have guns too. We owe them money. I don't know what the fuck you're doing with all the money I bring in. You have to cut all those bitches you've been partying with loose. If you don't straighten out your act, I'm pulling out."

"You can't pull out, Tio," he said. "When you went to jail, I busted my ass to get you out. You left us in a bad situation. I hocked all my shit to get you out. You're part of the family."

"Look Mr. D.," I said. "I bring in 3 to 4 thousand a week. that's a lot more than I see anybody else doing. We're supporting your brothers, and your cousin Al. And all those worthless bitches you party with, what have they contributed to our family? I talked to Alex today," I went on. "He'll give us another ounce to work with, but he wants a guarantee that we pay up for the stuff in 30 days."

"So, what does he want for collateral?" asked Mr. D..

"Our tow truck. If we don't pay up in 30 days he wants our tow truck."

"Go ahead and give it to him," he said.

Alex gave me an ounce of heroin, with the agreement that if we didn't pay up at the agreed time, we would give him the tow truck.

I was hanging out with a family that I had grown up with, Fred U., and his son, Fred Jr.. Every now and then my connects would give me a pound or two of marijuana to sell. I would give it to Fred Jr. and his brothers Sam and Solomon.

One night Mr. D. became angry with his father. I don't remember exactly how the fracas started, but Mr. D. Pistol whipped him and shot him with a Browning .380 pistol. I was very perturbed at the incident. I decided right then and there that I was bowing out.

When Alex delivered the heroin to me, I parted it in half. Mr. D. and I were the only ones who knew where we stashed the stuff. Before I left, I got the title to the truck and an extra set of keys. When I gave that stuff to Al I told him, "When our bill comes due, go get the truck."

The day I left the family, I asked Mr. D. for a couple of hundred dollars, which I needed to operate with. He became very angry with me, and threatened to shoot me. I simply walked away, as he was ranting and raving.

At the time, I had a guy by the name of Cisko helping me move the heroin. A couple of days after I departed the family, Mr. D. and two of his brothers went to Cisko's apartment and shot him in the right shoulder. Mr. D. and his brothers were looking for me.

That night I happened to be at Denver General hospital, visiting a friend. I went by the emergency area as I was leaving. I saw Lorrie, Cisko's lady. I asked her what she was doing there.

She said, "Mr. D. and his brothers came to our house looking for you John. Mr. D. shot Cisko when he wouldn't tell them where you were at."

I went to the treatment room where Cisko had been treated. He was shot through the night shoulder. I asked if he had been x-rayed.

"I was x-rayed about an hour ago," Cisko answered.

"If you can walk, get out of here," I said."Those fools are likely to come back for you." I gave him a phone number where he could reach me, and then left the hospital.

During this time, I was hanging out with Fred U. and Fred Jr.. I had a connection, Adolfo, who worked for Alex also, more or less as a deliveryman. He had access to a quantity of marijuana, of which he would lay a few pounds on me, to help him sell. Being that I didn't know that many people, Fred's two younger sons worked with it. They were always on time with the money. At the time I was working with Fred U. and Fred Jr., his eldest, running counterfeit payroll checks, selling drugs, and being drinking buddies.

When I bowed of Mr. D.'s family, Fred Jr. began hanging out with me, practically day in, day out. At the same time, he was also hanging out with Mr. D. and his brothers. I knew about the above situation, soI asked Fred Jr. not to mention my business, or whereabouts, to Mr. D..

One Saturday night, the Yaqui sorcerer, Fred Sr. and Jr. and I were drinking at Fred's house. We decided to go to the liquor store for more liquor before the store closed.

When I emerged from the store, I got into the rear seat. Victor, and Fred Jr. were at the phone booth in front of the store, making a call. I began wondering why it was taking so long to make the call after about 10 minutes. Just then I decided that I would walk back to Fred Sr.'s house, as it was only a couple blocks away.

A white Lincoln Continental pulled behind Victor's Car. Mr. D., his brother Anthony and two cousins got out of the Lincoln and surrounded the car. Each of them surrounded Victor's car and were pointing their weapons at me.

"Get out of the car, Tio. I want to have a talk with you," said Mr. D..

"Sure. I'm not packing a weapon," I said as I got out of Victor's car and into the Lincoln.

They drove into an alley a few blocks up the street. Mr. D. and his two cousins got out of the car, and went into an apartment, leaving Anthony to guard me. While the 3 were in the apartment I asked Anthony if I could get out of the car to take a leak.

"Sure," he said.

I got out of the car and hit him as hard as I could. He went down, but was not unconscious. He had a firm grip on his gun, for I could not wrestle it from him. The other 3 must have heard us scuffling, because I soon heard them running towards us. I let go of Anthony, and started running towards the busy boulevard. They all fired shots at me as I ran, trying to reach the street. Running full stride as I was, a bullet just barely nicked my head. That sent me sprawling to the cement. Before I knew it, they had me. I was dragged back to the Lincoln. They tied my hands and I was taken to Mr. D.'s house, the fort.

Right then and there, I figured I probably had but a few minutes to live. I had been in a similar situation before, when I had been fighting a fire raging in the Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino wine valley, in the summer of '64. With my back to the cliff, at the top of a canyon, my clothes had been on fire and the smoke so thick that I could not breathe or see. I had accepted death then, calmly and unafraid. I just knew there was no way to overcome nature's violence.

My hands had been tied behind me. But on the drive to the fort, I managed to get my hands in front of me,a trick I had done many times when my hands had been cuffed by the cops.

When we got to the fort, Anthony grabbed the axe I had often chopped wood with, wielding it before me as if he was about to behead me. When I realized what he intended to do, I tried backing away from him. The last thing I remember saying was, "No Anthony, not like this. Please, shoot me better."

When I awoke, someone was dabbing my face with a damp towel, trying to wipe blood from my face. Fred Jr. was trying to clean my face. I tried to stand, but my left leg would not support the weight, and I fell,passing out again.

When I awoke again I was in an upstairs bedroom apartment we had leased to deal out of. I tried to stand but my left leg was paralyzed and I fell. Mr D.heard the ruckus and hurriedly ran up the stairs. I was dragging myself towards the door. It opened and Mr. D. entered the room."If you try to escape , Tio," he said, "I'll blow your brains out." "I'm not trying to escape," I said. "My left leg is useless. I was just trying to get to a bathroom."

Mr. D. helped me descend the stairs so that I could use the toilet. After I was done, we sat at a table in the living room. On the table was a bottle of Jack Daniels, from which he poured us both a drink. "You are a hard guy to kill, Tio. How in the bell you survived the axe attack, I just don't understand,"said Mr. D.. "There's thick blood caked on on your face but you won't let anybody clean it."

"How long have I been unconscious?" I asked.

"Let's see, this is Tuesday. We got you Saturday night. About 3 days," he said.

We sat and drank some more J.D..

"Look Mr. D.," I said. "The last thing I remember clearly is the axe striking my head. I have a deep and profound respect for life. But I won't beg you for mine now. Do what you're going to do and be done with it."

Mr. D. said, "You don't know what you did when you left the family, Tio. We couldn't buy heroin anywhere. We had to lay here in agony, kicking our habits. Nobody would deal with us. Only with you and you weren't here. You betrayed us leaving us like you did. We swore our vengeance on you, to kill you. Now we have you and you're going to pay for what you did."

"What did I do, D.?" I asked. "I gave them our tow truck, as we both agreed on the last time we did business. I simply lived up to our promise. Surely I was bringing in enough to pay our bills. You were partying with the girls spending all the money. I didn't see anybody else bringing in any money, D.. Now you want to waste me for living up to our obligations. And then, on the day that I decide to leave, you pull a gun on me, because I ask you for a couple of hundred dollars to handle my expenses. It just ain't right, D." I said. Mr. D. leaned back in his chair, as if considering what I had just said.

Finally Mr. D. said, "What really hurt, Tio, is that you put Cisko, that asshole, in pocket, while we're over here hurting. How do you think that felt? While we're over here going through withdrawals, he's running around in his slick Cadillac selling stuff to our customers. That really hurt, Tio."

"Look D.," I said. "I'm sorry things turned out as they did. If I would have known that you couldn't get any stuff, I wouldn't have left you high and dry like that. I didn't know that Alex wouldn't deal with you. I assumed that you had other people you could deal with. I mean, how were you making it before I came along? When I gave Alex the tow truck as we agreed to, he fronted me a sizable load, about ten grand worth. I left you exactly half of that. I figured you would work with that and be able to make it. I worked with what I took, and turned it, again and again. You just kicked back with your worthless girlfriends and partied it all away. It's not my fault you blew your part."

For awhile Mr. D. just sat there, perhaps considering what I had said. He poured us another drink. I was beginning to get a little drunk, which ordinarily I didn't do. Maybe it was due to my head injuries.

Before I passed out, I remember telling him, "Look Mr. D., you have the best hand. Do what you're going to do and put me out of my misery. I can barely walk because my left side is paralyzed. Whatever you do, make it quick."

I must have passed out then. When I regained consciousness, I was in a motel room. When I regained my senses, I realized that I was tied up. Little did it matter,though. I was partially paralyzed. When I pinched my left leg, I could barely feel it.

After awhile, Mr. D. walked into the back room where I was lying on the bed. I couldn't see him clearly because my left eye was covered by a thick layer of dried blood. Somehow, I remembered that I hadn't let anyone wipe the blood off of my face.

Mr. D. asked, "How're you feeling, Tio?"

"Okay, I guess," I answered.

"I've decided to let you go Tio," said Mr. D.. "But I want Cisko's Caddy in exchange for your life. Get ahold of Cisko and tell him to park the Caddy in the driveway at Eddie U.'s girl's house, in Westwood. We'll pick the car at exactly midnight. Can you get the money tonight?" he asked.

"I'll have to make a couple of calls," I answered.

Mr. D helped me rise from the bed. I called Cisko first. His girlfriend, Lorrie, answered. I explained the situation to her. "Man, John," said Lorrie, "we thought you were dead."

"I will be, if the Caddy isn't there by midnight. Cisko owes me a couple of Gs anyway. Make sure to take the car, Lorrie, leave the keys in the ignition," I instructed.

I hung up, and called my brother, Sam. When he answered, I said, "Sam, I need a thousand dollars."

"John, where are you?" my brother asked.

"I was abducted by Mr. D. and his brothers. Some kind of mix up." I said. "Mr. D. claims I owe him some money, and won't let me go unless I come up with some cash."

Sam said, "I can come up with some money. But not until morning when the banks open. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sort of," I answered. "I'm in no position to bargain."

"Tell Mr. D. I'll have the money in the morning," said Sam.

Sam hung up. I told Mr. D. what Sam had said.

"I know that your brother's word is good. If the Caddy is there, I'll let you go."

It was getting near midnight. We drove past Eddie's girl's place. The Caddy wasn't in the driveway as it was supposed to be. But it was only a few minutes past midnight.

"He'll be here," I said. "I know he won't let me down."

Mr. D. drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes. We passed Ed's girl's house' again but the car was still not there. "Give him a few more minutes. I know he'll be here, D."

We drove around the block one more time. A police cruiser was driving towards us from the opposite direction. As soon as we passed him, the cop made a quick u-turn and flashed his red lights behind us. Meanwhile, Mr. D.'s brothers stashed their weapons under the seat where I sat. Mr D. pulled over and stopped. The cruiser stopped behind us. A cop approached the car and flashed his flashlight on each and everyone in the car.

"Holy smokes. What the hell happened to you?" asked the cop when he flashed his light on me.

"Officer!" I exclaimed. "I was walking down the street when a car full of youngsters passed me. I guess they flashed some gang signs at me. Having never been a gang member, I didn't know how to respond. I must have flashed the wrong sign, because as you can see, they got out of the car and beat the hell out of me. These guys saw me staggering down the street and stopped to offer me a ride."

The cop ordered me to get out of the car and marched me to his squad car. The cop sat me in the back seat and called an ambulance. Then he went back to the Lincoln and talked to Mr. D.. The Lincoln drove off.

The ambulance arrived and I was taken to the hospital. I knew the officer hadn't believed my story that I had been jumped. I don't know why they let Mr. D. go, for he had seen Mr. D.'s Lincoln circle the block several times. But I didn't care. For the first time in my life, I was glad that the police had stopped me. Cisko never did deliver the Caddy to where he was supposed to have so they probably saved my life.

VATO MALDITO: My Life of Crime, by John "Bubbles" Gallegos

Now Available!!! from Enlightened Pyramid

A notorious Denver professional criminal tell his story in his own words. Armed robbery, addiction and hard time are just the tip of the ice berg in this career thief's autobio.

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