I was in the darkest hole in Soledad, getting ready to go to the gas chamber, going to court
for three gas chamber offenses . And by the grace of God, and only by the grace of God, he
save me.
Danny Trejo. You know the face, it's a face that reveals the pain endured in some of America's
darkest hellholes. While the cameras are rolling, and he's playing a part that face generally hides
the other side of Trejo, the joyful side fueled by family, friends, and freedom. Most of us do just the
opposite, we try to show joy while hiding pain, but that's not all that makes Danny unique. That began
in his childhood through a father that tried and succeeded in making his kid tough. His dad would
throw rocks at the boy's head as a way of teaching him to duck punches. Apparently that tactic worked
since Danny would one day become a boxing champion in the welterweight division at San Quentin State
Prison. Boxing was good to him, and it was boxing that eventually led to a highly successful
acting career. Before all that, the map to prison was handed to Danny by his uncle. According to
Trejo, my father and mother were working all the time, so iI was mentored by my father's youngest
brother my Uncle Gilbert. I smoked weed with him at eight and he helped me shoot up heroin at 12.
In his defense I had caught him shooting heroin, and I said if you don't give me some, I''ll tell.
I thought he was cool because our grandfather, who was the scariest guy you ever saw,
would rage at us all the time. I would be terrified, but Gilbert would just be nodding on heroin,
and he never felt the punches like I did. I thank God it's not easy for a little kid to
get heroin all the time, so I didn't do it often, but one thing leads to another and by the age of
15, I was learning the game of armed robbery. That life never leads to anything but death or prison.
After being convicted on several charges, I was sent to Soledad State Prison. It was May 5th, 1968,
Cinco de Mayo, and we were playing a softball game on the prison yard when a fight broke out.
It was alleged that I hit Lieutenant Gibbons in the head with a rock. I was being accused of
three gas chamber offenses for drawing blood. I was sent into the hole and there someone had written
in feces, God sucks on the wall. I thought what has my life come to? I knew in my heart that I
wasn't really a bad person, but something was wrong here. My hand was really becoming infected ,but it
hardly mattered since I was about to be executed anyway. Still, I remember saying, God, if you're there
everything is going to be okay, if you're not, i'm screwed. That was my prayer. The next day a guard
came in and looked at my hand, and I was given medicine to heal it up. Not long afterward, all
my charges were dropped, and I was paroled. When I was released everything seemed amazing. You don't
realize what you have until it's taken away. I'd see a dog and stop to pet it thinking, wow a dog!
From the day that guard came to see me, alcohol and drugs have been out of my life. I think that's one
of the biggest things for our youth; it's hard to do right when you're drinking and using. If you get
up in the morning and are planning on going to a friend's house to get high, you're already wrong.
There are very few bad kids. If you look at gang activity, burglary, and most juvenile offenses
they are drug and alcohol related, and yet most of our commercials for alcohol are related to
fun and being cool, straight to everything a young person wants. Hollywood glamorizes it too.
Hollywood is kind of a Babylon. We don't give anything back, and I don't mean writing checks.
I mean giving time. My friends and I still go to juvenile halls, high schools, and churches.
We go anywhere where there are kids, and tell them if they don't take alcohol and drugs
out of their lives, bad things will happen. The following is from a short clip I directed on Danny.
It was shot under the infamous Sixth Street bridge by famed LA photographer, Estevan Oriol.
My name is Danny Trejo. some of you know me as an actor,
some of you, just know me as a good friend. We all know the story of the prodigal son,
that kid who got all his money, his inheritance. Took it, left his family his home,
went out in the world, blew it all, you know he spent it all on wine on women. Lost everything.
ended up flat broke in the streets, homeless, eating out of garbage cans, scared to death to go home.
Didn't want to face his father. When he finally couldn't stand it anymore, the pain was too great,
showed up on his Dad's doorstep. Father welcomed him with open arms. They had a celebration.
It's amazing, but that story is a lot like mine. You know, I uh ,I forsook my father, and left.Went crazy.
Ended up in the penitentiary. Ended up with two friends on the way to death row.
In the hole from Cinco de Mayo to august 23rd.
I was in the darkest hole in Soledad, getting ready to go to the gas chamber, going to court
for three gas chamber offenses, and by the grace of God and only by the grace of God,
saved me.
And when I turned up at my father's doorstep, welcomed me with open arms.
No matter how far away you think you are, all you gotta do is turn the God, that's it!
A few years ago Danny was driving home in a car he bought from famed tattoo artist Mister Cartoon,
when suddenly he was rear-ended. Jumping from his smashed up vehicle, Danny walked back to confront
the perpetrator of the crash. When he got to the car window, he saw the driver slumped over the
wheel with an empty bottle on the passenger seat. He shook the guy awake, and once the man realized
he had not died and gone to... well not heaven, Danny said it looks like I'm going to have to sponsor you.
He meant Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization he credits with helping him remain sober.
Danny will travel hours to help keep someone from using. He's always up for that and almost any
other good cause THese days. I once encountered him leading a large group of motorcycle riders up
to the Mount Soledad cross in San Diego. They were there in protest of the plans to remove that cross.
The cross ended up staying in place, much as the cross Danny often wears around his neck does.
This is an important symbol to him, a reminder of someone else's pain, sacrifice, and redemption.
Who is Jesus to you Jesus is everything that's all, he's everything. I'm always asked, you know, why
I've... how I accomplished what I've accomplished, you know, where I came from. And you know
only an idiot would deny, you know, deny it. You know, because only an act of God
would have brought me out of the hole and on my way to the gas chamber.
And uh to where I"m at now, you know so I...
I experience miracle after miracle every morning I wake up.