32 Michael builds a life after prison, your excuse!
b'Today we have a special guest, Michael Santos. You\\u2019re used to usually hearing from somebody who\\u2019s some corporate executive, or outstanding entrepreneur, and that is one nice story that we hear a lot. But this is somebody who has come over what I would like to say insurmountable, but he overcame the odds, and has really been an inspiration and works to be an inspiration for others. He had been in prison for I believe it was 26 years, Michael?\\n\\nMichael: That is correct, 26 calendar years.\\n\\nThomas: Wow. The way you say that, I\\u2019m sure it made a striking impression. He\\u2019s taken that, what he learned, and what he did during that time, and is using that to try to help other people who are in similar situations. You\\u2019ve heard me talk often about overcoming or breaking through the odds, etc. This is probably one of the most unique circumstances. One, when listening to this, should be thinking: \\u201cDang, I know I can do what I plan on doing.\\u201d\\n\\nMichael, tell us a little bit more about that story.\\n\\nMichael: I was a young man who was misdirected. Made a lot of bad decisions, following a really reckless transition from adolescence into adulthood. I think it was around 1985, I saw this movie Scarface and was influenced in the worst possible way, thinking it would be a really exciting way to live. I moved from my home in North Seattle to South Florida in Miami, and began trafficking and cocaine. Really a lack of understanding of the criminal justice system resulted in me deluding myself into believing that if I didn\\u2019t actually handle the cocaine, I wouldn\\u2019t be breaking the law, so I coopted a group of friends from high school. We were all in our early 20s. I think we were 20. I coopted them into the scheme, and they began transporting the cocaine back to Seattle; from Miami to Seattle.\\n\\nThat lasted for about 18 months until my friends started getting caught, and rather than wanting to face the lengthy sentences that were awaiting them during that dawn on the war on drugs, they began cooperating with authorities. And, as a consequence, I was arrested. Although there wasn\\u2019t any weapons involved or violence in our particular case, the charge that I face exposed me to a very long sentence because I was considered a leader. I was a leader, but at that time in my life, I wasn\\u2019t quite ready to accept responsibility and was just willing to accept the advice of counsel that I could beat this at trial.\\n\\nI went to trial, and subsequently, I was convicted on every count. My judge sentenced me to 45 years in federal prison. That is the short version of the story.\\n\\nThomas: That is quite a story. What is interesting also about it is that you say\\u2014I\\u2019ve detected almost tongue-in-cheek\\u2014you were a leader, which of course the thing that hurt you a lot, but it\\u2019s so easily to be led. You were led by things that you saw, etc., Scarface, and other things, and how it romanticized life. It makes me wonder about a lot of the TV and stuff that goes on today. Then also, how friendships influence one another, that is your environment. Your environment, to some extent, my environment\\u2014I\\u2019m not talking about the sunshine and stuff like this\\u2014but the people around you, the social, the collective ideas and thoughts that you had as a bunch of kids talking to each other, and each confirming each other\\u2019s great idea.\\n\\nMichael: Yeah, we were just young and eager to have a good time, and not really appreciating the role we had in society by engaging in the type of behavior that we were doing. We were just 20 years old, thinking that we were having fun. The reality was the law\\u2026 When I said \\u201cleader,\\u201d I meant it in a legal term. What that means is the particular crime for which I was convicted was called the \\u201cContinuing Criminal Enterprise,\\u201d and there were some really strict elements that the prosecutors had to prove, and that was that the individual had to have led, or manage, or oversaw five or more people, the individual would have had to have engaged in three or more overt acts like ren...'