Ten Memorable Quotes From Outlaws I've Interviewed

1. "What's wrong with society today is there are no more fist fights". --Sonny Barger, leader of the Oakland Hells Angels 5/2/1996  L.A. Times

2. "Then I was going to stick the knife in his forehead, and I was hoping his mother was coming to visit him that day. That's how vicious I was, I knew I was going to death row."- Donald "Big D" Garcia, Mexican Mafia hitter-turned gang interventionist on his about his plan to kill a Hoover in County back in the 70s. 6/9/2003 L.A. Times

3."We should be on the list, We the most hated gang in town" - Set Trip from 5-deuce Hoover on a list complied by the  Mayor of L.A. and the chief of the LAPD of the 11 "worst" gangs in the city. 

 

4.  "I guess it's the establishment that I spent three years fighting for. You take off the khakis and the blue and put on some jeans and a leather jacket and immediately you become an asshole."  - "Wino" Willie Forkner, the outlaw biker who inspired the Marlon Brando movie "The Wild One" on what he was "rebelling against". When asked that in the 1954 film, Johnnie, the Brando character, replies famously "Whaddaya got?" 5/2/1996 L.A. Times.

5. "All the guys getting busted, they don’t realize what a life sentence is. When the pop goes off, when their head pops out of their ass and they realize they ain’t going home after just five years. When they realize they’ll never be able to taste a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder again. To see them go crazy when they hear their moms is dying and they’re locked up and can’t go see her. When they hear their woman is pregnant by their best homeboy. When they realize they’ll never see a night sky again." - Ronald "Kartoon" Antwine, storied former menace to society Bounty Hunter who  is now a Hollywood location scout.  From LA Weekly cover story "War and Peace In Watts". 7/14/2005 LA Weekly 

6. "Armenian people who put AP down, that say we are a disgrace, they don't know this life, This gangster's life." - Armen "Silent" Petrossyan, fallen leader of Armenain Power. 8/18/1997 L.A. Times

7. "Two girls are dead. If I'm not a monster than what am I? - Rex Krebs in a jailhouse interview admitting he killed two college students in San Luis Obispo. Krebs is on Death Row for the killings 4/27/1999 Fresno Bee

8. "Man, we've all lost homies, I know you're upset and hurt about your dead homies, but we have to move forward," -- Kevin "Big Cat" Doucette, feared  Rollin '60s shot caller urging younger gang members in his gruff way to focus on the living, not the dead. 4/5/1998 L.A. Times

9. "Who?" - Convicted cop killer Carlos "Stoney" Velasquez on being asked "Did you know Abel?" referring to Abel Escalante, the Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff he was convicted of killing. "Oh, yeah. Man, I don't even know his first name." 10/21/2010 LA Weekly

10. "Getting the death penalty saved my life." - Big Evil.  11/29/1998   Nearly 15 years later, late in the summer of 2013 I reminded Big Evil of that quote. He nodded and said "It did."