Felon turned drug counselor then actor, Danny Trejo was born in Echo Park, California on May 16th, 1944 as an only child to his parents (TheLipTV, 2012). While growing up Danny Trejo spent most of his time with his father and criminal Uncle Gilbert, his father’s brother (HuffPost Live, 2014). Uncle Gilbert quickly became a powerful influence over Trejo. Trejo was drawn to his uncle because as Trejo recounts: I remember him and his crime partner, and they did a robbery. I was nine years old and they gave me 20 dollars in ones. It was 1954 and that was a lot of money back then…and I wanted to be like these guys. (HuffPost Live, 2014) From that point on, Trejo idolized his uncle since his uncle always seemed to have an extraordinary amount …show more content…
By the time Trejo was eight years old, his uncle introduced him to alcohol and marijuana before giving him heroin when Trejo was 12 years old (TheLipTV, 2012). Along with taking drugs, Trejo started committing crimes at an early age. When he was ten years old, he had his first brush with the law when he was arrested for assault and battery (Castro, 2013). In addition to introducing Trejo to crime, Uncle Gilbert taught Trejo how to fight. Uncle Gilbert stressed since Trejo was 13 years old the importance of fighting to protect oneself on the streets, such as when Trejo fought other rival gang members at a local YMCA (Barshad, …show more content…
While in prison, Trejo did not change his behavior. He befriended murderers who formed a group Trejo led, which promised protection to other inmates for money, as well as became the boxing champion in all three of prison he attended (Barshad, 2013). The pivotal moment that changed his life forever occurred in Soledad Prison in 1986 after a prison riot sent him to solitary confinement with the possibility of execution for hitting a guard in the head with a rock (Castro, 2013). While waiting in solitary confinement, he promised God he would turn his life around to help others as well as abstain from drugs and alcohol (Barshad, 2013; TheLipTV, 2012). Luckily, the charges against him were thrown out, and he successfully completed a 12-step drug rehabilitation program (TheLipTV,