Big Al Aceves already had a reputation as a vicious killer when he helped start
one of the world's most notorious motorcycle gangs. Consider his story a warning shot.
The thing is, see what, when you're growing up you think you know like you know, I
never thought about being the president or a lawyer, or a judge. I wanted to be a criminal.
I wanted to get paid for shooting somebody, killing somebody.
i went in the service I had caught a beef, and uh they wanted to put me
away because i kept getting busted, and in those days if you got a lawyer you got off.
You know, you know I got busted for sale, for possession, you know, stuff like that. And so the
judge and the courts knew me, and the police... So when they got me that was it, they wanted
to throw away the key so what I did was, I went and I enlisted for the draft i went in the draft, and
when I came back I had the lawyer postponing my case until I came back, and then when the judge saw me,
he said let's let the army take care of this case ,and they let me go, they let me go. I
went overseas. I went to vietnam. i didn't make range;r I was Airborne, 11B2P,
Airborne Infantry. I was a grunt, and so when I went in there, right, I just soaked it all up.
You know, I wanted to learn. You know, I would listen... You know squeeze the trigger, don't pull it,
you know what I mean? Look on the ground, see what's around, you
you know. I still have the habit of wherever I go somewhere where I'm gonna preach, teach, or...
I always go early, and I look around, and my wife goes, Hey it's too early. I go, no no
it's not too early. It's hard to break that habit. You know, when I got to Vietnam you know,
we go off and parole, patrols, and when you see the enemy you'd want to hurt em, because
they would kill your friends. And I wanted to kill em. There was no ifs, and or butts...
You know, I wanted to kill em, and when I did kill them and... I would cut their throats, or cut
their ears off, or carve my name on their chest... You know, mutilate their bodies, whatever, whatever...
You know, you did it, and you were happy you did it. It wasn't like, Oh no, do i have to cut
his ear off. It was you were cutting his ears off. You remember Johnny got his head blown off.
I remember one time we were walking in the high elephant grass,
and all of a sudden we came up three special forces, and they said, Hey we're going this way.
I told em, he goes, well we'll be in front of you. And we didn't see em, they took off.
And all of a sudden we found them tied to ant hills where the ants had eaten them. They
were eating them, and their faces were all twisted because you know they were in pain.
You know, then you went, Let's get em. I went back after I was shot three times. I got hit three times.
I went back, and they didn't let me stay the full time. They sent me home, they said I was nuts.
So, when I came home, you know.... My wife was already with another man, my son was being raised by
my mother-in-law. My mom and dad didn't want me; they said I was nuts.
So I figured, what am I going to do to get money? Right away I thought, Well I'll go to
school, get some money, right. And then start dealing, do something, rob somebody... So, I went
to school. I ended up closing the school. I ended up helping the Brown Berets open up a free clinic.
You know, I was with them when they took a town. I marched them into the town up north.
You know, I mean, they would say, We're gonna do something. I did it. When the police set me up to
kill me, one of the Brown Berets was a cop, and he picked us up, me and a friend of mine, and he had
guns in the car. And I was laughing looking... So, what are you gonna do with these guns, dummy? He goes,
No, we're gonna go to Safeway, and I want you to shoot out the windows.
And I started laughing, and I said, What? And it was at night, so I said you know what...
Went and bought some milk, emptied it, filled it up with gas, put a rag in it, went to Safeway...
I threw the bottle on the window, blew up, boommmmm! Ran, left. They caught me a few blocks away,
beat me up, put me in jail, but the cop told me, he said if it wasn't for the Bradshaw bus,
we were gonna kill you, but the bus blocked. And I thought about it, and I said, They were there before me,
so if I would have shot that gun, they would have killed me ,said he was shooting at us.
That cop set me up. You know, he was a hero and all that because he set up a lot of people.
But that's just where... I did it, why? Because the Devil had me.
I had made a an agreement with the Devil a long time ago, until Jesus Christ broke that curse
The Grand Jury had just indicted me, and
they were looking for me again. I had got out on bail, they were looking for me...And so a friend
of mine at that time had a store, and he says, Man look, I sell waterbeds in the back room. You could
live there. So, yeah, so I used to do a... I used to make leather goods for em. And we would sell purses,
you know, headbands, wallets, all that, plus posters. You know, it was one of those.
And these guys were getting together they, were going to join a club, so one day they asked me,
Why don't you come with us, Al, meet these guys, because I was in pretty good shape. So I said, Yeah, let's go man.
I didn't want to go, because they were looking for me. But I went,
and we went there this guy made a racist remark, and I told my friend, You know what man, we ain't
gonna join it and they went and sent for this big ol guy. I beat this guy before he got off his bike.
He didn't have a chance and then after he went in the guy said, Oh, we're you know, we're gonna give
you our patch so you guys... We said, We don't want it; we're going to start our own club, and that's what
we did. You know, and the reason they got the name Mongols, it's because they had conquered the known
parts of the world at one time. So black and white is because of the sheriff's cars,
black and white .And we used to fight with them all the time.
That's how we started in '69. I had just come home. I was nuts. I didn't know, I didn't...I didn't... The
sad part, I didn't know I was nuts, but everybody else did. I would do things. You'd say eh man,
Let's rob that guy, I'd rob him, let's beat him up, I'd beat him, let's stab him, I'd stab stab him.
I would.... we're going to do this over here, Let's do it. When in East LA, when
we were marching the first time down Whittier Boulevard,
and we went to the park, they have a park there, Laguna Park. All the police were there, and I
was carrying a sign with a two by four. I took that sign off, and started fighting the police
with a two by four. A cop that was a highway patrol that knew me came, parked this bike
right that, came when I was fighting. He goes, Man, they're gonna kill you, Al. Run.
So, I got to the other side; I got away.
I mean, I didn't know, I didn't know... It was because I had made that pact with the Devil
that I didn't feel things like a normal person.
And then, using heroin, you really don't feel nothing. I remember one time this guy owned money,
and he had this jewelry box full of gold and diamonds. And he owed a lot of money.
And I looked, and he had it opened, and he reached over and closed it and pulled it towards him.
And i started laughing. I said brother you're going to pay, now or when you come back. And he said, Come
back; where am i going? To the hospital, because those guys are going to help me; we're going to
beat you. He went and bought himself a new Mereces, his sister brought it, I told my friend take it.
And I stayed there 'til this guy... I stayed until they left, and I told him, If you call
the cops, I said, You might get me, you might get the guy driving, but we'll be back, we'll be back.
You know, people don't realize what's really going on in the world. We were in one bar, we went
to another bar, and we started fighting. He was a bartender. Before he could get the bat, or gun, whatever he
he was going to get... I used to wear a chain around my waist, a primary chain. I's a motorcycle chain,
and it had a big buckle, and i just got it, and started hitting him in the face.
I took half of his face off. What I feel, to be honest is grateful, that God has forgiven me.
Because those people, they're never gonna forgive me. All those people we hurt, they're never gonna
forgive me unless they become real Christians. But I know one thing, God has forgiven me.
Yesterday, I did about 15 baptisms.
What a difference to what I was, and what God has made me, what a difference...
You know, I've traveled all over the United States.
I used to go into all the prisons. I've been to Death Row in Texas. I've been to India...
Not because I'm cute, not because I'm smart, because nobody's ever said I was smart.
But because of my Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.