francisco bay. surrounded by city but shrouded in a mystique that s fed by its fortress-like architecture and an infamous history, dating back to 1852. the first time i walked into san quentin it looked like a place time forgot. it was like a prison you see in one of these old movies. the walls were crumbling. it was very dark. very depressing. the cells were stacked on each other, one by one, packed with people. it had the most creepy feel you could possibly imagine. while san quentin produces images that are haunting to some, there are others who find inspiration beneath its facade. the most interesting part about this that i see is the weeds that s growing up out of the cracks. and it s, you know i always find that interesting because you got life that always seems to push up. when we met ronny goodman he
gang members, i m sure there is going to be some who sneak here to get into the u.s. brian: last surge we had when all those unaccompanied minors coming. in that s how most of them ended up populating long island. came in desperate situation. had ms-13 and family of gangsters waiting. they are fleeing countries that are plagued by this gang problem ms-13 there. so they are leaving from one area, coming here. even if they are trying to come here legitimately to try to find worker whatever it is, when that doesn t work out for them that s what they back towards that gang life. steve: how does that work they are members of ms-13 in central america, what s the recruiting thing go like when they say hey, come on up to long island or come to new york pause, what? you know, it s the potential for a better life. but it s also, you know, there is more opportunities here victimwise. the gangs are established here. as we know n ts is a growing
search. while authorities still consider briceno to be a powerful gang leader, his time at orange county has been spent trying to disassociate himself from that past. i m not involved in the gang stuff no more. that s when i was young, you know. i left all that behind. it s childish. you know? it s the reason why i m here. but briceno might have a motive for distancing himself from gang life. his current armed robbery sentences come with gang enhancements that could keep him in prison for the rest of his life. he will soon be going to court in hopes of convincing a judge to drop them. we committed robberies, me and another individual. and that was it. got arrested. you know, and both of us being gang members, that s when they hit us with the gang enhancements. while briceno s most serious conviction has been for armed robbery, he later implied he might have gotten away with murder. a lot of people don t know this, but murder is one of the easiest crimes you can get away wit
and i loved it. i m not going to lie. i loved it. having abandoned his family for gang life, kirkpatrick turned to other crimes. when we met him, he was serving his second prison term, eight years for burglary. i know right from wrong. i m not a stupid individual. i might make stupid decisions, but i m not a stupid individual. during his time in prison, kirkpatrick still had his gang to fall back on, but like his biological family, he eventually left his gang family, though not totally on his own accord. i was holding contraband, and i was holding something, and i lost it. yeah. i had lost it. any specific enemies, names, numbers? no. kirkpatrick explained the contraband was a packet of gang information including a roster of current members. when he realized it was gone, he was afraid the gang might order a hit on him as punishment. i told the c.o., look, i got to go. he was like why? i said because i lost something i m not supposed to.
in a mystique that s fed by its fortress-like architecture and an infamous history dating back to 1852. the first time i walked into san quentin it looked like a place time forgot. it was kind of like a prison you see in one of these old movies. the walls were crumbling. it was very dark. very depressing. the cells were stacked on each other, one by one, packed with people. it had the most creepy feel you could possibly imagine. while san quentin produces images that are haunting to some, there are others who find inspiration beneath its facade. the most interesting part about this that i see is the weeds that s growing up out of the cracks. and it s, you know i always find that interesting because you got life that always seems to push up. when we met ronny goodman he was in the seventh year of a