132. Earning Freedom (9.1), by Michael Santos
Chapter Nine:
1998-2002 Months 127-180
\xa0
The summer of 1998 advances me into my 11th continuous year of imprisonment, and I\u2019m coming to the conclusion that it\u2019s not so bad. Human beings can adapt to any environment.\xa0 As crazy as it may sound, I\u2019m now used to imprisonment.\xa0 It has become the only life that I know, and I really know Fort Dix, the low-security prison where I\u2019m serving this portion of my sentence.
Fort Dix is a big prison, with three separate compounds.\xa0 About 2,400 other prisoners share space with me inside this low-security facility, and an adjacent facility of the same size is on the other side of these fences.\xa0 A few hundred men serve their sentences in a minimum-security facility outside of the gated perimeter. My studies and preparations for the future keep my thoughts focused on where I\u2019m going, not where I am.
Law school was an important step toward my pursuit of financial stability, as the population of prisoners on this compound could have provided me with sufficient business opportunities to reach my goal of earning $10,000 a year as a jailhouse lawyer. But Gary\u2019s offer to fund stock investments tempts me.\xa0 With his offer to provide capital, possibilities open for me to become financially independent much sooner. The stock market is an engine that is driving economic growth in America, and with what Gary describes as \u201cpocket change,\u201d I can seize a life-changing opportunity. I\u2019m not going to let it pass.
Another benefit of shifting my focus to the stock market is that it can help divert unwanted attention I\u2019ve begun receiving from Lieutenant Nesbitt. I think that I knew of Nesbitt several years ago when he was a lieutenant at Fairton, before he transferred to Fort Dix. I would\u2019ve avoided him then at Fairton and I avoid him now in Fort Dix.
Rumor has it that Nesbitt cultivates snitches that dial him into the flow of the prison underground. Apparently someone gave him my number, because I feel the intense stare from his icy blue eyes while I walk toward the chow hall\u2019s dish room with my plastic green tray. As usual, he\u2019s standing in the center of the noisy dining room with both hands clutching the stem of his long, black flashlight that he positions across his crotch. His barrel-shaped body is stuffed into his rumpled BOP uniform and he\u2019s alert, turning his head from side to side, scanning every face in the crowd until he finds what he\u2019s looking for. We\u2019ve never spoken before or had any interaction, but Nesbitt reminds me of a schoolyard bully, and today he\u2019s after me. I feign indifference as I pass by, but my efforts to avoid him fail.
\u201cSantos!\u201d He jerks his head to motion me over.
I step toward him and stand, suspicious of what he wants.
\u201cHow\u2019s the law business?\u201d He smirks as he begins his interrogation.
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d
He glares into my eyes. \u201cYou know exactly what I mean, Counselor.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019ve finished the first year of law school, if that\u2019s what you mean.\u201d
Nesbitt grips his flashlight harder, with both hands.
\u201cUnderstand one thing, inmate. This is my institution. Got it?\u201d
I nod.
\u201cI know everything that goes on here, and I know what you\u2019re up to. You\u2019re running a law clinic and I\u2019m gonna nail you. When I do, I\u2019m gonna write you up, send you back to a higher security institution.\u201d A cold smile tightens his lips as he waits for me to grovel.
I chuckle because he\u2019s a funny little round ball of a man. \u201cLieutenant Nesbitt, with all due respect,\u201d I tell him, \u201cI\u2019ve been in prison for 11 years and I\u2019ve got 15 more to go. I\u2019m sleeping on the top bunk in a 12-man room. I\u2019m not doing anything that I\u2019m not within my rights to do. But know this, I\u2019m more than 2,000 miles away from Seattle, and wherever you send me, I\u2019ll be closer to home. So if you can arrange a transfer,\u201d I shrug nonchalantly, \u201cdo me the favor. Higher security doesn\u2019t mean anything to me. I can study law anywhere.\u201d
\u201cWatch your step.\u201d
\u201cIs that it? Can I go?\u201d
\u201cGet outta my face!\u201d
If it were a different time, I suspect he would\u2019ve used his flashlight to club me.\xa0 But I walk away from him without incident, dropping my tray at the dish room and returning to my housing unit. I walked into this phase of my journey knowing that a quasi-career as a jailhouse lawyer could invite scrutiny from staff, though I\u2019m surprised that Nesbitt harassed me today. Other than reading Gary\u2019s case, I haven\u2019t done any legal work.
Someone tipped off Nesbitt, and I\u2019m wondering whether Gary told anyone about paying me to read his legal papers. Predictably, I find him sitting alone playing solitary chess at a picnic table beneath a maple tree. Hundreds of prisoners cluster in groups at other tables on the dry, prickly grass.
\u201cI\u2019ve heard that game\u2019s more challenging when you play against someone else,\u201d I tell him.
He looks up at me.
\u201cDo you play?\u201d he inquires indifferently.
\u201cI can play at the intermediate level,\u201d I answer him.
\u201cBy whose standards?\u201d
I laugh. \u201cNot the International Chess Federation\u2019s.\u201d
\u201cSit.\u201d He invites\xa0me to join him, gesturing toward the empty seat.
\u201cI haven\u2019t played in a while,\u201d I say, giving the disclaimer I may need later as Gary sets up the pieces on the board.\xa0 He will play with the white pieces and I\u2019m going to play with the black.
\u201cNot to worry,\u201d he says with his Russian accent. \u201cTo make things fair, I\u2019ll give you my queen and one other piece.\u201d
\u201cCome on. You can\u2019t give me the most powerful piece on the board. I\u2019m not that bad.\u201d
\u201cMy queen, and any other piece of your choice,\u201d he insists, waiting for my selection. \u201cI\u2019m not a...how you say, an intermediate player.\u201d
\u201cOkay, I\u2019ll take the castle.\u201d
He hands me the two pieces. \u201cIt\u2019s not a \u2018castle\u2019,\u201d he corrects me. \u201cIn chess, we call the piece a rook.\u201d Gary advances the king\u2019s pawn and our game begins.
I meet his pawn to battle for the board\u2019s center.
\u201cYou\u2019ve forfeited two major pieces. To win, all I need to do is force you into exchanges,\u201d I say, declaring my strategy.
Gary nods his head. \u201cGood. You\u2019ve figured it all out early.\u201d He brings out his knight, not particularly concerned with my game plan.
\u201cNesbitt stopped me as I was leaving the chow hall this morning,\u201d I tell him while pushing a pawn.
\u201cOh? What did that pathetic excuse for a human being want?\u201d Gary brings out his bishop.
I\u2019m staring at the chessboard, deliberating possible moves. \u201cHe asked me about my legal business.\u201d I push another pawn.
Gary advances his other knight, on the attack. \u201cIs he bothering you?\u201d
\u201cNot bothering me,\u201d I\u2019m slow to move, trying to figure out how best to exchange a piece. \u201cHe\u2019s fishing for something. Did you tell anyone about the $2,000 you sent to my sister?\u201d
He advances a knight again. \u201cWho I am going to tell, the rap stars?\u201d He jerks his head toward the men singing and grooving to the beat of urban music on our right. \u201cMaybe the Mafia?\u201d He indicates the group of men chomping on cigars around the bocce court on our left, rolling red and green balls.
Gary\u2019s pieces encroach but I improve my position by bringing out a knight. \u201cI guess the mailroom must\u2019ve alerted him to all the legal books I\u2019ve had sent in.\u201d
\u201cCheck,\u201d Gary captures a pawn with his knight and forces me to move my king. \u201cDid you call your sister?\u201d
I\u2019m on defense now, moving the king out of position. \u201cNo,\u201d I answer him.
\u201cCheck,\u201d he says, pinning my king with his second knight. \u201cCall her. My partner sent a cashier\u2019s check for $50,000. She should have it by now. The second half is coming from Hong Kong next month. When my partner receives it, he\u2019ll send that, too.\u201d
I move my king, trying to keep him from a checkmate, but I\u2019m distracted by this revelation that Gary\u2019s for real. I\u2019ll soon have the money to buy more stock in Yahoo!, the leading Internet search engine.
\u201cYou\u2019d better pick stocks better than you play chess. Checkmate,\u201d he declares.
Our game ends after 16 moves, not enough time for me to capture more than the two pieces he forfeited. He challenges me to a second match, this time keeping all of his pieces on the board at the game\u2019s start, but handicapping himself by insisting that the only possibility for him to win is to checkmate me on a specific square with a specific piece that he identifies before we start. When I say \u201cimpossible,\u201d he shrugs, and then goes about proving me wrong. It turns out he was a chess Grand Master at 16.
*******
When I call my sister, Julie tells me that she\u2019s received the first $50,000 installment. Even though it doesn\u2019t belong to me, the money validates my sense of self. Gary, a man who earned tens of millions by judging character and competence in others, handed me $50,000 and promised more. It\u2019s a sign of trust, more tangible than any I\u2019ve ever received.\xa0 It isn\u2019t lost on me that I cultivated this trust while living inside of prison fences.
\u201cBuy 300 shares of America Online and 400 shares of Yahoo!\u201d
Julie calculates the total cost of the purchase. \u201cBut that\u2019s more than $80,000,\u201d she sounds alarmed.
\u201cThat\u2019s why you opened a margin account,\u201d I remind her. \u201cYou\u2019re borrowing $30,000 against the equity. It\u2019s going to increase in value and when it does you\u2019ll borrow against it to buy more stock.\xa0 We\u2019ll keep buying until the account grows to 1,000 shares of AOL and 1,000 shares of Yahoo!\u201d
\u201cHow do you know the stock is going to increase? What if the value goes down instead? Then what?\u201d
\u201cJust place the order.\xa0 Let me worry about that. I\u2019ll call you every morning before the market opens and advise you on what to do.\u201d
Julie promises to make the daily stock orders for me, then asks about law school and whether she should send the tuition payment for a second year.
\u201cI\u2019m done with law school,\u201d I tell her.\xa0 \u201cI\u2019m not going to let this opportunity pass.\xa0 Order me subscriptions for Investor\u2019s Business Daily, Forbes, and Fortune.\xa0 I\u2019m going to learn everything I can about the money game.\u201d
My routine changes. Instead of studying legal procedures and contracts, I\u2019m now as loyal to CNBC as any Wall Street fanatic. The ticker streams news that ignites my adrenaline. When the guards clear the morning census count at 5:00, I\u2019m out of my room, down the stairs, and first in the television room to watch Joe Kernan, David Faber, Tom Costello, Mark Haines, and the other anchors as they report the morning\u2019s business news. I have a calculator and I consult it repeatedly as I observe and record market indicators, futures, trading patterns in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong in my journal.
*******
It\u2019s 4:30 a.m. on August 18, 1998, and I haven\u2019t slept at all. My neck aches from the tension gripping my shoulders as I pace my room, waiting for the guards to clear count. I\u2019ve been on my rack listening through my Sony headphones to Bloomberg radio broadcasts. The news reports that Russia is devaluing its currency, devastating financial markets around the world. My account stands to lose tens of thousands in equity when the opening bell rings on Wall Street at 9:30, and I know a margin call will come. With my outstanding debt, I\u2019ll either have to raise more cash or sell into weakness, taking huge losses.
I\u2019m in a two-man room now, and my roommate, Toro, a Dominican man I hardly know, sleeps soundly. He snores, wearing a watch cap to cover his eyes from the early morning light. I\u2019d like to relax so easily, but I have real money on the line and I\u2019m anxious to watch the CNBC ticker even though I know I\u2019ll see red arrows pointing down across the board.
Finally, the count clears and I rush to the TV room. When I turn on the news I see exactly what I expect. The market is set for the worst point drop in history. The prices of AOL and Yahoo! rise like rockets with good news, but I\u2019m certain they\u2019ll drop like bricks today. Gary doesn\u2019t usually wake until 9:00 and when he does, I\u2019ll have to give him the news. According to my calculations, the drop in equity that I anticipate will require that I deposit $10,000 to reduce my debt from $30,000 to $20,000. We began the Internet stocks venture less than a month ago. Obviously I didn\u2019t foresee an event such as Russia\u2019s currency devaluation causing such a disaster.
Gary strolls into the TV room carrying his white coffee mug advertising \u201cNescaf\xe9\u201d in bold red letters on the front. I\u2019m at the table in front of the TV with my eyes fixed on the ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
\u201cWhy the sad face? Somebody die?\u201d he jokes.
\u201cNot yet. But when the market opens we\u2019re going to get slaughtered.\u201d
He sips from his mug, looks at the monitor, and nods his head. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d
\u201cThe Russian government made a change with its currency valuation last night, causing a global financial panic. I was going to wake you but I knew you\u2019d come down before the market opened.\u201d
\u201cNever wake me for money problems.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019ve got problems. If I don\u2019t deposit $10,000 this morning, I\u2019m going to have to sell at much lower prices than I paid to buy.\u201d
Gary takes another sip. \u201cHas your opinion on the companies or business changed?\u201d
\u201cYahoo! and AOL are still the strongest Internet companies. That hasn\u2019t changed, but the market has changed. Until it recovers, the account can\u2019t sustain so much debt.\u201d
\u201cSo what\u2019s the big deal? Call your sister and get me her bank\u2019s routing number. I\u2019ll have a friend wire transfer $10,000 to her before lunch.\u201d
\u201cThat simple?\u201d
Gary laughs. \u201cOne phone call. That\u2019s all it takes. Come, let\u2019s go to the gym.\u201d
\u201cNot today. I need to watch the market.\u201d
He shrugs. \u201cDon\u2019t let this go to your head. Get me that routing number and I\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d
*******
\xa0