"Before I could become a member of the Vagos Biker Gang," "I had to prove myself as a prospect." "I went through months of hell trying to win my patch." "The official sign I was one of them." "There were times I wondered if I was gonna make it." "But if I was gonna infiltrate the gang and make amends for my past," "I knew I had to stick it out." "I am Charles Falco, and this is my story." "_" "Consequences, huh?" "I was never any good at thinkin' through consequences." "I guess that's how I ended up becoming a drug dealer and facing a 20-year jail time." "Hey guys." "Hey Prospect." "Wash my bike." "Yeah, mine too." "I took a deal to go under cover in the Vagos motorcycle gang, thinking that'd be the easiest way out." "I should've known better." "19, 20, 21, 22!" "Oh!" "Who says we're done, Prospect?" "22 more." "As a Vago Prospect, I'm subjected to constant hazing." "I have to do whatever a full-patch member orders me to do." "It's kind of um... a right of passage." "Six months in..." "I'm starting to think jail wouldn't have been so bad." "Time for a little target practise." "Guys, come on." "Relax." "It's an air gun you pussy." "It'll barely give you a welt." "What's going on here, boys?" "Prospect here is volunteering for some target practise." "That's awfully generous of him." "Don't worry Prospect," "Stash here was a sharp shooter over in Iraq." "At least he would have been is it wasn't for that dishonourable discharge." "Stand still Prospect." "Hold still." "This one, is coming right... down... the middle." "Shit." "The thing's out of gas." "You want a beer?" "Whoa, wait!" "Who says we're done here?" "Come on Stash." "I do." "Go get them beers." "Kid sponsored me in as a prospect, so I guess he feels pity." "I was just mess in' around." "Get inside dumb ass." "These guys think I'm going through this for the honour of their patch, and the chance to be their brother." "They'd kill me in a second if they knew the truth." "I think you should shut up." "At the end of every night I'm supposed to check in with my ATF handler, Koz." "Hey." "But some nights are longer than others." "I hooked up with Suzanna around the same time" "I became a prospect." "Obviously, I never told her what I'm really doing here... ." "and at this point," "I plan on keepin' it that way." "Ohhh, come on!" "Tell your girlfriend to screw off." "Oh yeah, like I have time for that." "I gotta get that." "Come on." "Oh-oh." "I guess she didn't want to talk to you after all." "Yeah." "I gotta go." "Don't move, alright?" "I'll be right back." "Okay?" "You know where to find me." "Mm." "Late night calls to run pointless errands is all a part of being a Vago prospect." "Darko and Stash are hungry." "So they order me to get them food." "But this, it gets me into their house and a glimpse of all the illegal stuff they're mixed up in." "I don't know." "It feels light like it's a toy." "That ain't no toy." "Hi Point 995." "Best value semi on the market." "Yours for three ounces of shard." "Darko?" "Three ounces?" "Hey, hey." "C'mon man." "What took you so long?" "The traffic." "We got a deal or what?" "Trade for three ounces?" "I could buy this for 400 bucks at a Walmart." "400 bucks and a background check." "Prices run a little higher on this side of the law." "When you cut three ounces and sell it by the gram, that's a lot more than a little higher." "Who asked your opinion?" "This ain't got no serial number." "It's untraceable." "I'll give you an ounce for it." "An ounce?" "Give me a taste, Stash." "This is the first time I run into Dawg." "Dawg's a Nazi Low Rider." "Part of a scary white supremacist prison gang tied to the Aryan brotherhood." "Schizo..." "Like the Vagos, Nazi Low Riders are mixed up in the distribution of methamphetamine." "Boo-yah." "I could move a lot of that." "Yeah?" "Like how much?" "Half a pound?" "Can you handle that?" "I'll get you a price." "Get me the ounce, the gun's yours." "Put the piece away, Stash." "You look like a cop." "Yeah?" "Well, you look like a child molester." "What are you starin' at?" "You guys need anything else?" "Yeah." "Schizo wants to party." "You're comin'." "I gotta work in the morning, man." "Well, it ain't morning yet, is it?" "Come on." "Let's go." "Is he over there?" "Yeah, you're dismissed." "When the Chapter president wants to drink, the whole gang has to join him." "There's no choice." "Stella bustin' Schizo's balls again?" "It's a Mexican soap opera." "Dude parties hard when he's in the doghouse." "Yeah." "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." "So four hours after I narrowly avoided getting shot at the Ratcatcher, I'm headed back." "I figure at least it's another chance to get noticed by Schizo." "But the later it gets, the more I realize it's just another wasted night where I get nowhere." "It gets even worse when I see things that" "I can't do anything about without blowing my cover." "Hey." "Are you okay?" "What's it to you, Prospect?" "She's fine." "But just when I think the night's totally bottomed out, my chance arrives." "Listen asshole." "It's a private party." "Three idiots full of beer, who think they're tough enough to start something in this bar." "I said this is a private party." "What part of that don't you understand?" "Hey!" "As a prospect, it's my responsibility to protect the chapter president." "I hit him just hard enough so he can get up before the rest of the gang can come and rat-pack stomp him into the hospital." "Quick on the draw there, Prospect." "Go get yourself a beer." ""Quick"." "Looks like you found your road name." "I might have been a little too quick, man." "I caught him right in the teeth." "Nothin' you can't drink off." "I don't remember much else of that night." "One punch gets me my nickname..." "Quick." "Charlie?" "Charlie!" "?" "It gets me somethin' else, too." "A staph infection from the guy's saliva spreads from my hand, and I almost lose my arm." "I spend a week in the hospital, leaving Koz wondering what the hell's going on." "You can't drop off like that, Charlie." "I thought you were dead." "Close enough." "Get in the car." "How many guns total?" "I didn't get a good look, okay?" "They're stashed under the floorboards." "Like a half a dozen handguns maybe." "Plus the one they traded with this guy, uh, what is it?" "Dawg?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Look, Koz, I dunno how much more of their bullshit I can take." "What's the matter?" "You tired of push-ups?" "Alright." "You want me to pull you out?" "Get out of this thing right now?" "Go do your time?" "Come on, Charlie." "You just gotta be a bit smarter." "Think of it like a chess game." "If you make better moves, you win." "What do you know?" "I got no moves, okay?" "This is nowhere." "Whoa, whoa." "Hey." "Where are you goin'?" "I gotta show you something." "How long you been sitting' on this?" "I've been waiting to get it registered in your name." "Blame bureaucracy." "Is there something wrong with it?" "It's a bit of a yacht." "It's a '92 Harley F.L.H." "What were you hopin' for?" "A hard-tail Chopper?" "When you wear this, from a distance, you might look as cool as me." "Oh yeah?" "You ever consider becoming a comedian?" "Too dangerous." "So who's bike is this?" "Strictly speaking, it's the property of the ATF." "But I still think of it as mine." "Ah yes." "Okay, your turn Prospect." "Okay, bike's real heavy." "Clutch is real narrow." "You pop it, you stall." "You think you can ride with that?" "Yeah." "Yeah, okay." "See what did I tell you?" "You pop it, you stall." "Real gentle ease off." "There you go." "Nice and slow, nice and easy." "Yeah!" "That's right!" "There we go!" "Oh shit." "Nice and easy." "Break." "Okay, lots to work on." "You practise off road." "Don't ride in your cuts until we get your license and registration sorted out, alright?" "You break it, you bought it." "Oh hey, Charlie?" "Next time you have to hit come one, aim for the fleshy part okay?" "The first thing I learn, you go any distance on a Harley, you feel like you've gone five rounds with a heavyweight." "And believe me at 771 pounds with a full tank of gas, a '92 FLH Electra Glide is a heavy weight." "It takes me a few weeks, but before I know it," "I got my license and I'm riding in my cuts." "Now all I have to do is impress the right people." "Is that Falco?" "I thought you said you were broke?" "What?" "I thought you said you were broke?" "Oh, you know, instalment plan, little buddy." "One last thing I learned?" "The cops'll take any excuse to pull over an Outlaw biker." "In this case, a broken taillight gets me a ticket and a warning to get it fixed within the next 24 hours." "It also gives me an excuse to get in deeper with the oldest Vago in the chapter..." "A guy who knows more about motorcycles than" "William S Harley and Arthur Davidson combined." "Lizard." "Prospect." "What's up?" "I just need help with a re... repair." "Is that cool?" "Bring it in." "Alright." "For some reason Lizard likes to work stark naked." "Not that anyone would dare suggest that there's anything unusual in this." "Sounds like it ain't been run for a while." "Where'd you get it?" "I know some guy in San Bernardino." "He musta had it in his gar-age for a couple of years." "You can tell that?" "Let's get high." "Oh no, man." "I got stuff to do." "Okay." "Just a toke." "You know what, just havin' a bike ain't gonna get you no patch and you ain't gonna find it chasin' around out there either." "It's what you got going on in here." "You dig?" "Sure." "When I go back to Lizard's I'm hoping for a bike that runs smooth, has a new taillight." "Hey." "What'd I get?" "Something else altogether..." "Hey." "Hey, Lizard." "Where's my bike?" "It's gone." "What d'you mean?" "Thought you'd like this one better." "You fixed the taillight." "Oh, yes, I fixed the taillight." "Then I started lookin' at all her dirty parts." "Your cam shaft had too much end play, so I gave you a new cam, heads, replaced the gaskets in your manifold and carburetor, and then I upgraded you to a 6 speed tranny." "Then things kinda snowballed a little bit." "So I decided to ditch the fender and the fairing the previous owner staked his cool on." "And then I ditched the rear pussy shocks so that the proud new owner could ride hard tail like a man." "Wow." "That's a biker's bike you got there, Prospect." "Thanks, man." "You're welcome." "Where'd you say you get this thing again?" "Some guy in the classifieds." "Maybe you should take it for a ride-by so you can rub his nose in it." "Yeah, maybe I will." "Look at, this is kind of freaking me out." "How much is this gonna cost me?" "More than you can afford, I'm guessin'." "Let's just say you owe me." "Okay." "You let me know." "Don't worry, I will." "Boys!" "Let's ride." "Let's ride." "The first thing I notice is how much better the ride is after Lizard's work." "It still vibrates like a beast, but it's a part of my body now." "Hey Lizard!" "The second thing I realize is Kid and Lizard, they grew up on two wheels." "It's like if this were the last minute on earth, this way they'll die happy." "Me?" "I'm terrified... but I gotta keep up if I'm going to be one of them." "All of a sudden it hits me." "I get it." "Some small part of me, it really wants this." "This is the whole point." "Riding by the seat of your pants." "Taking it to the absolute limit." "And facing your fears and just riding on past them." "Well?" "How's she rollin' now?" "Uno." "Dos." "Tres." "Amigos." "UP." "What is this?" "B.C. Bud." "The first time I smoked it, I picked a fight with a cactus." "How come we don't see no hash no more, huh?" "Yeah." "There used to be all sorts of 'em." "Mm hm." "Moroccan black, Lebanese blond..." "Do you remember that black Thai stuff I got up in Hesperia?" "No." "Neither do I." "The way I see it, if it ain't organic, it ain't good for you." "I mean, everything you get nowadays comes from a damn lab." "You know Prospect here used to be a meth cook, right?" "Now why'd you cook that stuff for?" "Well, I made about 100 K a month." "Oh." "Shee-it!" "Yeah, big-time Charlie." "Why'd you stop?" "I thought I told you." "I got hooked on my own product." "I just ended up dead broke." "You know, now I just stick to weed." "Wow." "So how long you been a Vago?" "Patched in soon as I got home from 'Nam." "40 years next month." "Whoa." "And still no god dam gold watch." "Ah, but it beats the hell out of havin' a straight life job and bein' taxed up the wazoo to pay for the war machine." "And, that big movie The United States of America." "Biggest damn lie ever produced." "Mm hm." "I remember when being a Vago was about bikes and brotherhood." "Now it's just like everything else." "It's all about the money." "Even Schizo acts like a damn C.E.O." "Ha." "He sure as hell lives like one." "And who gets their hands dirty lining his pockets?" "Mm hm." "I don't see none of us livin' high off the hog." "I'm doin' okay." "I got my eye on a piece of land in Mexico." "Got a view better than this." "You're gonna retire?" "The first chance I get." "It's not like I love dealing' dope." "I just do what I do to get what I want." "What about you, Prospecto?" "What are you chasin'?" "I wanna be a Vago." "Amen brother." "Amen little brother." "Too much fun." "Listen, Falco, I got a proposal for you." "Most of the dickweeds in this chapter couldn't find their balls in a bathtub." "Know what I'm sayin'?" "I find it hard to find somebody I can rely on." "I was thinkin' maybe you and I could try something." "What you got in mind?" "He wants me to sell half a pound of crystal for him." "Oh." "What's this?" "It's a digital recorder." "It records eight hours of audio." "On." "Off." "Tamper proof." "There you go." "So what?" "This is like wearing a wire?" "Not really." "I mean it doesn't transmit to your backup." "It's just uh, it's just you recording evidence." "So you want me to record the deal?" "You're gonna record every deal." "From now on, every time you're with these guys, you're gonna record every conversation." "Wait, wait, wait." "Look if this evidence gets played in court, they'll know that I snitched." "No." "No." "We bank it." "Nothing gets used 'til we pull you out." "And when's that?" "When we've got enough." "Now listen, we only have two of these, so don't lose it, alright." "You fill it up you bring it back to me and we swap it out for the other one." "Where am I supposed to hide this?" "Koz, they frisk people, okay?" "What if they find this on me?" "Yeah, they'd probably shoot you in the face." "So hide it well." "Ha-ha." "Come on, Charlie." "You've done deals bigger than this in the past." "You'll be fine." "Koz was right." "I'd done lots of deals with heavy guys." "Enough to know that things could go seriously wrong." "My ex-partner, Bernard, was a Bulgarian mobster who used to move a lot of coke and meth." "One of his suppliers was a member of the Triads." "And they always took precautions." "Packing a gun?" "That's expected." "You get caught packing this thing..." "I'm dead." "This thing's a ticking time bomb." "I've gotta hide it somewhere where they'll never look." "Hey, Prospect." "Hey." "This is eight ounces." "Price is 12Gs firm." "Ifly." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "I got this." "Schizo doesn't want a prospect doing a deal this size on his own." "Alright." "Let's roll, Prospect." "Just make sure nothing goes wrong." "You know how sometimes you get a weird feeling that things are gonna go bad?" "If I had been smarter I would have backed out the moment I realized that Stash was coming." "Something wrong?" "I'll be fine." "Alright, this is it." "Then it gets worse." "This is Dawg's place." "Woah." "Dawg's the buyer?" "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" "Alright, we're here." "Nazi Low Rider's reputation for extreme violence has made the gang a major problem in the world of California's organized crime." "This deal is worth $12,000." "And Low Riders, they've been known to kill for a lot less." "I wonder if anybody knows we're coming." "Alright, let's drive around until he gets back." "No, no, no, we'll wait." "Right here?" "What's wrong with you?" "Are you worried the neighbours are gonna bite you?" "What the hell is that?" "Seriously?" "It's an asthma inhaler." "I've never done asthma, let me try." "Come on." "Stupid." "Just leave it, okay." "My battery's fried." "Just leave it." "Aw man, that song." "We used to play this when I was ridin' around in the caiman in Iraq." "Was playing it when we hit an IED, blew the whole damn floor out." "You were really in Iraq?" "Yeah." "I mean, on a full tour, a couple months, yeah." "What happened with the mine?" "Blew the driver's whole leg off." "Bled out pretty fast." "We were screwed man, an hour without backup." "That's when you find out who your brothers really are." "Leave it on, Prospect." "Come on man, my battery's screwed okay?" "You really think you're the king freakin' shit don't ya?" "I'm just saying." "You ain't just sayin'." "You act like you're full patch but you ain't done nothing for the club." "You have any idea what I've done there?" "Cops are coming." "Who's this?" "That's him, let's go." "Dawg and I had already had one run in." "So now I'm thinking maybe it's good that" "Stash is here after all." "And that, that makes me even more nervous." "Let's see the product." "Oh." "Eyes here, Dawg." "You're dealing with me." "Is this the same shit I ordered?" "Yeah, of course it is." "Yup." "Yup." "You wait there, I'll get the cash." "Just hang on a sec, okay?" "Kid asked me to count that." "Screw that, we're outta here." "It's all there, right?" "Hey, I trust you, it's just Kid's orders, I gotta do this." "100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900..." "What are you doin'?" "I can't count in my head." "I never could." "1600. 1700. 1800. 1900. 2000." "2100. 2200. 2300." "You try the Hi Point yet?" "Oh yeah." "I wanted to talk to you about that." "I was shootin' cans out in the desert." "Nice gun, huh?" "It's a piece a shit." "Yeah, the scope's off." "No way." "Gotta be your aim." "It's not my aim." "It's the gun." "It's a piece of shit." "Hey." "Show some respect." "You're in my house." "Yeah, I would if you hadn't ripped me off with a piece a shit." "Pow!" "Just like that." "I ripped you off?" "Why don't I kill you?" "Hey, Dawg, you don't want to kill him." "Don't I?" "Oh, no." "Just punch him in the face, we'll call it a night." "Bitch!" "Your cash is all there." "Now get outta here before I change my mind." "And next time leave your buddy at home." "Punch him in the face and we'll call it a night?" "You asshole!" "Hey hey hey!" "Put the gun away." "Get in." "I hope your stupid song was worth it." "I don't need this shit." "That's when this cop starts asking questions." "So at this point, the money's where?" "Now I'm cornered." "Either I tell the truth and make an enemy of Stash, or I revise the facts a little." "Stash had it under his seat." "What's going on?" "The thing won't start." "My buddy drove me out to look at a basement apartment." "I didn't like the apartment." "I can't say I like the neighbourhood much." "We came back out and the battery's dead." "Can you try the ignition for me please?" "Sure." "Would you be able to give us a jump start?" "I don't carry cables." "You're lucky it's a standard." "If you can get it coasting downhill, you can pop it into gear and get it started like that." "No kiddin', that really works?" "Any chance of a push?" "Okay?" "Pop it now." "Woo!" "And you got the cop to push?" "It's the funniest thing I ever saw." "That took some balls." "Prospect, get me a beer." "Get your own." "You're a real funny shit, Falco." "But you didn't tell us how he got the gash over his eye." "I guess he must have got it when he was... help pushing the car." "It that your guess?" "So other than that no problems?" "No." "Dawg got the product and you got your money." "So we're all good, right?" "Sure." "We're all good." "Except for that bullshit story of yours." "You want a beer?" "Yup." "I'm glad you could make it out tonight." "So Stash screwed up, left you holdin' the bag?" "I gotta take a leak." "Ohh." "Oh, you would not believe the night I've had." "You like tellin' stories, huh, Prospect?" "Would you rather I told 'em the truth?" "Hey, I got my eye on you." "Yeah, that's why you're pissin' on your boots." "Shit!" "The guys know my story's bull." "But except for the part about Stash, it's totally true." "It's like Koz says, "This is chess."" "I gotta play these guys against each other if I'm gonna survive." "Somehow I survived my run-in with Dawg and made it through a grilling from the guys." "Not only that, but I also collected evidence for Koz." "Okay." "The last thing I wanna do now is get caught with my pants down." "Hey." "Hey." "What's going on?" "Nothin'." "I just, uh, I just wanna grab a shower." "Don't." "I like it when you've got a sweat on..." "What's going on with you and Schizo?" "And what do you mean?" "I saw him hitting on you earlier." "I told you before, him and Stella have a bit of a thing going on for me." "It's a bit weird over at their place right now." "Oh yeah?" "Uh huh." "You wanna move in here?" "Oh you got to be kidding me." "Yeah, yeah." "I gotta go." "Oh, shit." "I gotta go." "Can't they run their own errands for once?" "I dunno." "This one looks serious." "Gimme your cuts." "Why?" "Just give him the cuts." "On the floor." "Give us 22, Prospect." "One - one - one - one - one." "We were thinking we might play another game of William Tell." "Whadda you think?" "Anything you want." "On your feet, Prospect." "What?" "Remember that background check you filled out for us?" "It seems there's a few crucial details you forgot to mention." "Strip off." "Why?" "You heard me." "Now where would we be if we couldn't trust one another," "Prospect?" "It's clean." "Are you a cop, Falco?" "Just gimme a break, man." "What's this all about?" "It's like I said, we ran that background check." "And it turns out you weren't exactly straight with us." "It turns out you're a much bigger asshole than you claimed." "Five minutes to sew those on your cuts!" "And just like that..." "Welcome to the Vagos, asshole." "I'm in." "Full patch." "You and me could do some big shit, Charlie." "You think about it." "Oh, I have, man." "Right on, brother!" "Right on!" "I'd survived six months as a prospect." "But there's something else." "Something I hadn't expected." "I'm proud I passed their tests." "I'm proud I get to wear that patch." "I have no idea how this is gonna play out." "The only thing I can say for certain..." "I'm finally a Vago."