Transcription
[Music]
Man, my name is Cud and clean JC. I'm from San Francisco, California, born and raised here my whole life. I play five instruments: guitar, bass, drums, and piano. What do you do for work out here? A little bit of everything, you know? Jack of all trades, I try to do my best to do whatever I can to get wherever I can. But yeah, for as of right now, you know, just getting by any means—splashing stuff and doing whatever you got to do to get the big bucks, whatever.
When I say "bipping," it's even beyond cars. I don't even—when I say bipping, I don't even think about cars. When I say bipping, I mean buildings, corporate offices, getting into Google buildings, North Face buildings, Louis Vuitton, 'cause when they're open, the security guards are like SWAT teams, you know what I mean? So they got like Draco and all the stuff—you don't want to mess around with them; they'll really kill you and not care about it.
Tonight, the shooting death of a suspected shoplifter captured on store surveillance cameras is leading to mounting protests and outrage in San Francisco. His name, Brown. So, you know, that's not cool. But at night time, it's like it's been butter as of lately. It's been getting hotter, though, because people are just doing dumb stuff and not doing it right. Everyone's like, "Oh, let me see how I could be the worst to this person ever," you know what I mean? And it's like they earn stripes that way.
Unbelievable sight to see three suspected thieves casually smashing car windows. Don't leave anything of value in your car. It's like that's the new way of earning stripes, and it's so messed up 'cause I never learned it that way. That's not how you earn stripes in my book, you feel me? But it's like everyone's in a competition to be the biggest dirtbag of them all. That's how I get my clothing; that's how I make a living, you know what I mean?
Auto boosting is being able to go in the store and come back, you know what I mean, and leaving without them knowing, being invisible. So like you usually have tools for that, like the alpha key or the dimple magnet, where we take the tags off, you know what I mean? Nike, Jordan, North Face, anything hot like that. $800 I made in one day off that. Always out, cops don't do a goddamn thing about it; they can't take us to jail. Reno is like this; Oregon is like this; Seattle is like this.
City leaders say retail thefts are out of control. We continue our look at San Francisco's effort to take control of the Tenderloin. Saving the neighborhood means finding answers for each person out there struggling with addiction in the midst of the opioid crisis. Everybody out here doesn’t want to be out here.
My name is Andrew Callahan; you're watching Channel 5 News. Last week in our episode "San Francisco Streets," we covered a wide variety of topics from fentanyl to zoning laws to gentrification to homelessness to shoplifting and beyond. We got to speak with a professional crew of shoplifters called the FEA gang. Before all these guys were doing this run-out-the-store stuff, we were walking out the store; we were having them say, "Y’all have a good day." That was cool, but I wanted to go a step further and actually follow them on a boosting mission. They said that was a step too far, but they had a friend nearby named Jack who was a perfect fit for my request.
I first met Jack on Market Street in a San Francisco neighborhood called the Tenderloin. At nighttime, this same neighborhood devolves into chaos as drug dealers and boosters arrive from different cities across America to set up shop.
"Hey man, I'm from Chicago, man. You feel me? My mama GD for all you dumbasses on the DL though, bro. South Chicago. Now what you guys do for work?"
"Sell drugs. I ain't going to restaurants; this ain't no big area, man. This called International. Everybody from different cultures, backgrounds, in the plain view of police."
The dudes I met sold a variety of products—puff bars, Narcan, goldfish, and beyond. Jack claims that's just regular in the Tenderloin—just San Francisco, you know? But these out-of-town dealers flocking to the city are oversaturating the resale market, causing the price of stolen goods to deflate. They're getting the shittiest end of the stick too, you know what I mean? It's just messed up.
This meant that San Francisco was on the cusp of a black market recession, AKA a drought, leading to a dramatic uptick in an occupation known as bipping.
Car break-ins have become so common in San Francisco that they have their own term: bipping.
What is bipping? Bipping is when you, by some means, typically a spark plug, I would say, enter into a car unlawfully and then take whatever you want. It's an occupation to some and a hassle to others, depending on your socioeconomic status. This could be done in a plethora of ways. One of the ways is that you just go and hit every car. One of the ways is—you know what I’m saying—people scope out. San Francisco has so you find some tourists; they’re dumb, they got all that stuff in their car, they just came from the airport, and then you come up, you know what I’m saying? And that’s bipping.
People that do this have to be held accountable.
SFPD Chief William Scott is talking about a crime spree that's reached epidemic proportions. So police say there have been more than 15,000 car break-ins so far this year. They say a baby is being born every second; a car is being bipped every second in San Francisco, California. Oh, actually, every 15.72 seconds.
But either way, as we've learned in San Francisco, the world is a very frightening and uncertain place when you step outside of your house or your apartment. You never know what's going to happen. You could get your Prius stolen or, even worse, you could be in a car accident or sustain some type of personal injury. And if that happens to you, I want you to be covered.
I know what you're thinking: submitting a claim for an injury is a long, lengthy process full of bureaucratic BS steps. But with Morgan and Morgan, it doesn't have to be. Morgan and Morgan is a real 21st-century law firm. It's super easy to submit a claim; in fact, it'll take you 8 clicks or less. Just go to forthepeople.com/Channel5 or go on your phone and dial pound sign Law, that’s pound sign 529.
Alright guys, back to the streets.
Oh, bipping is going bananas! Look, when I say bananas, bananas on anything, I swear to God. Quit my—we ain't going to get into all that, but just know, oh, if your cousin shows up into your house at 3:00 in the morning with a duffel bag and he’s happy he did his thug dizzle that evening, you feel me? And it's a little petty crime, a little slap on the wrist, you feel me? I'm talking about you're going to go sit up in County for about three or four days, depending on what kind of priors you got, they're going to let you right about that.
Bipping's been around for a while though; has it always been a thing in Frisco or do you think it's more connected to like the way the city's changed?
Listen man, bipping has always been a thing, even before my time. I was born in '91; man, bipping's been going on since the '80s, man. They used to use a spark plug instead of a bip tool, man, which is a rescue. I’m talking about—bipping has been bipping since bipping. It just got more because we can't afford stuff. So you take stuff when you live in a city that is hard to afford. And then not only that, you got people who want to keep up with people who can’t afford it. All you think about is taking, and I don’t blame nobody that bips. Like, it's impossible to live here.
44% rent hike, Neil has been paying $1,800 a month rent, but his landlady recently informed him she was raising the rent to $8,000. You got to get it how you live!
My only grievance is if you bip me, it's a job, it's a hustle. Me personally, I’d rather bip a car than go rob an old lady for her purse. I'm talking about you can always get that material stuff back, but you can't get your inner self back. Imagine a dude walking up on you with a pistol, "Hey, get down, old lady!" You feel me? You going to be messed up now. Just say you come back and your window's broken and your little $200 is gone. You ain't going to feel—you going to feel some way, but you ain't going to be mentally disturbed rather than that dude putting that pistol to you.
What I'm talking about? Shocking video shows a thief breaking into cars in broad daylight, leaving behind shattered car windows as eyewitnesses watch in disbelief. It's supply and demand, really, if you think about it. What's the fastest way you could come up in the city if there's no opportunities in the city and you see all these rich asses who come and live luxurious lives while you out here on these Tenderloin streets?
This made me curious about Jack's motivations. Is he bipping in protest of gentrification, or is it something else?
Well my whole thing is, man, I used to—I first did it, man, not even really to make money. I did it to get fly, you feel me? I did it just to look dope 'cause I couldn't afford it growing up, you feel me? I was on Section 8, grew up in the jets, no money, you feel me? So, you know, it sucks, but it is what it is.
The chief says if they’ll work with the states’ attorney to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Have you been arrested out here doing this?
Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, my rap sheet is lengthy, you know what I mean? I got arrested in San Francisco 44 times—44 times since 2013. But surprisingly enough, San Francisco county is the only place I've ever been arrested.
Despite having 44 burglary arrests, Jack has never been tried or convicted by the city of San Francisco. This partially has to do with the fact that his bipping and boosting career began in 2014, the same year that California passed a referendum called Proposition 47. A controversial new law went into effect after California voters passed Prop 47; it reduces certain drug and theft crimes from felony charges to misdemeanors.
So, Prop 47 lowered the threshold for certain crimes like petty theft, right? So basically before, if you stole anything over $400, that would be a felony charge. With Prop 47, you could steal up to $949.99 and you just get a ticket if you're caught.
Bear in mind this is actually per boosting mission. What that means is that you can go to the Gucci store, steal a belt, go to Fendi, get a handbag, go to Nike Town, get some Air Jordans, and then end your day at Sunglasses Hut and get some, I don't know, Warby Parkers. If you happen to get caught, you'll get four citations, one for each store. From there, the cop who arrests you can decide to either give you like a traffic ticket or he can take you to Central Bookings at 850 Bryant.
From there they remain in custody until San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins decides if she wants to prosecute. As we learned in our previous episode interviewing a retail boosting squad called FEA Finessa Mall, she typically does not prosecute.
Are you guys worried about consequences like from the police out here?
What? San Francisco doesn’t believe in crime! What are you talking about? You know what I'm saying? Shout out to Deo, oh shout out to London Breed too. I've done time in San Francisco, but never stayed more than a couple of weeks, you know what I'm saying? I think they don't give a—well, the progressive policymakers behind Prop 47 actually do claim to give a—let's take a look at the origins of Prop 47.
So it was actually inspired by a referendum passed in Italy after the financial crisis of 2013. Unemployment stands at 8%, but for young people, the figure is three times that—24% of working-age males found themselves unemployed, and a third of Italy was now below the poverty line. And so, theft naturally went up.
Robbers are going to be really popular in jail for this reason. Italian prisons became overflowed with people who stole petty amounts of food. They were put in a position where they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night. Very quickly, the jails became disgusting. One prisoner told us that in his block, there were cases of scabies and there were only two showers for 72 inmates.
So just three months into the financial crisis, the Supreme Court of Rome decided to overrule all theft convictions for people who stole under 1 EUR worth of food. The goal here was to reduce the prison population and ultimately save money for the state.
Now this might sound crazy, but in terms of inequality, California is pretty much on par with Italy directly after the financial crisis. Despite being home to lavish beaches, Hollywood stars, rappers, and multi-million dollar sports franchises, California actually has the highest poverty rate in the nation and also the highest rate of inequality.
Inequality is the key word. While states like Mississippi and Louisiana are technically poorer by GDP than California, there isn't this dramatic contrast where you have skyscrapers full of tech executives looking down on people literally living in slums like Skid Row, Los Angeles, and the Tenderloin in San Francisco.
I believe it's this extreme contrast that fuels much of the criminality in California, and those numbers are reflected in the prison population. Right now, as you watch this, 199,000 Californians are behind bars. 72% of them were convicted of nonviolent crimes, mainly drug offenses, and our prison system doesn't seem to be working in terms of rehabilitating offenders. In fact, it seems to do just the opposite.
In some cases, complete squares enter the correctional system and come out as hardened criminals. Why? Well, here's an idea. The correctional system in California is rampant with gangs and corruption. Oftentimes, when inmates are sent upstate to jails like San Quentin, they have no choice but to join a gang or ally with a specific race-based gang, like the Nortenos, Aryan Brotherhood, Southsiders, and so forth.
Here’s how KPM explains the process: First, you go to County Jail where you're forced to fight all of your enemies on the street going through the hold tags. You see different people from different hoods ask you, "Where you from?" Alright, Cuz, let's go to processing. You’re going to get out, on hood you go through the hold. Now you’re at CJ. You land where you're at, alright? You got people from here, you got people from here; they already tell you where you from.
Once it's time, they're on hood in the day room where everybody watches TV and works out. We going to squabble, we going to get it in on neighborhood stuff. I'm not going to sit down at the time after enduring 9 to 12 months in County Jail. You're transferred to a state facility where you're forced to ally with your own race regardless of gang classification.
It's mostly a race thing in state prison. Everybody has their own cards: Got the neighborhood card, gangster card, Bloods, Hoover; everybody's got their own card. But at the end of the day, it ain't—you from here, so we going to get out. No, it ain't like that. We're all black; we respect each other. And this is what we got to do. We got to work out, 'cause other races is watching what we do. They'll stab the shit out of you!
Really? Yeah, and they don't play no games!
Now stop for a moment and realize that KPM is describing what is intended to be a correctional system meant to reform and rehabilitate criminal behavior. Yet we're taught not to question this, perhaps programmed by TV shows like "Prison Break," "Oz," "Orange is the New Black," and casual conversational taboos like "don't drop the soap."
Look, the bloods don’t drop them! We're conditioned to believe that that's just how prison is. And if people complain about it, well, then maybe they shouldn’t have broken the law.
You go to jail for 5 years despite other countries having much less brutal yet far more effective correctional systems. Take the freedom from them, but when they are here, we try to help them.
For some reason, we turn a blind eye. Why? Some would say it's because of the prison industrial complex, but maybe it goes even deeper. Perhaps we are conditioned to believe that you deserve to live in permanent degradation and abject misery if you've done wrong.
Perhaps the American view of crime and punishment is informed by an archaic Judeo-Christian view of the world wherein people are divided into simple terms of either good or evil, angels or devils, destined to either Heaven or Hell rather than viewing humans as complex, inherently flawed, constantly evolving, imperfect creatures.
We instead use the ancient tactics of exile and shame to smite the unworthy. We essentially create hell on Earth to punish sinners.
"Come in here; you might not make it!" You got dudes up in here getting killed over $40, $50 debts. You want to spend the rest of your life washing your clothes in here? And it's not working! Six out of 10 prisoners released in 2012 were rearrested within three years. It's also costing California a lot of money. It costs $106,000 per year to keep one person incarcerated.
So if you do the math, California spends $9.98 billion per year on prisons. Now the primary goal of Prop 47 was to reduce that spending, but it was marketed as some kind of progressive policy change. Here’s a California-funded commercial for Prop 47 starring John Legend:
"We all want our communities to be safe, but when we talk about public safety, what are we really talking about? Consider a world where public safety means that instead of investing in punishment, we’re investing in people. How would it feel to live in a world like that? I say let’s find out."
Shortly after it was passed, word got out in the Bay Area and all across California that shoplifting was essentially decriminalized. With crime on the rise, voters seem to admit they made a mistake passing Prop 47—that is, passed the law. They don’t take—you don’t go to jail for stealing no more; you get cited and released. They’re damn near making it easy, you know what I mean?
Like this prompted Jack to begin a 10-year bipping and boosting career which, despite 44 arrests, continues to this day. In fact, the day I interviewed him, he actually had just gotten released from jail three days before with no charges filed.
"Well, I just got out of jail last Thursday."
"What’d you go to jail for?"
"Last Thursday, first-degree arm burglary, possession of burglary tools, possession of burglary tools as a felon, possession of a firearm as a felon, and three—three charges of possession of a controlled substance."
For some perspective, if Jack was arrested on the same charges in a state like South Dakota or Arizona, he would likely do between 20 and 25 years in prison.
"I was there for a little over three weeks, which is nothing, but you know, still it's messed up! It's nothing to be proud about, though. And you know, I honestly wish there were more programs maybe to rehabilitate people and help people more. But you know, there's more of a core issue, and I don’t even know it. I'm not God, you know? Hopefully one day we can try to figure it out. I don't know what it is, but you know, the real route I feel like it's from the drugs; I can feel it. I already know."
Midway through our conversation, Jack told me another interesting thing. He told me that in jail in San Francisco, the dynamic between police and suspected criminals has become extremely volatile.
"And the cops—oh my God—in there, they’re being on some spiteful ass stuff! I've been to jail, like I said, many times in San Francisco. I got major pull; I'm from Frisco, born and raised. I got major pull with all the depths, all the cousins, everything. I fuck with them; they fuck with me too for the longest. But because there's so much fentanyl being used in the streets right in front of their face, you know what I mean, in front of the police—they feel some type of way about that, and it's some real stuff, y'all! Whoever is going to check this out, they feel some real type of stuff about that. So once they have us in their hands, they treat us like shit, bro. I was supposed to be released four days before I got released."
Yeah, despite Frisco getting a bad rap in a post-Proposition 47 world, the city is actually doing its best to make it possible to prosecute shoplifters. One thing they've done recently is change the burglary tool enhancement to include normal household tools like the spark plug, which is commonly used to break the glass window of a car.
"Spark plugs will break a window quicker than a bip on my mama. They have a certain list for people that they can't sell spark plugs to. They just made that happen—London Breed made that happen, this like last year—which is smart."
Jack is not allowed to possess a spark plug; in fact, he’s not even allowed to go to AutoZone. If he walks into AutoZone, which carries spark plugs, he’ll be arrested.
"They upgraded the charges on a spark plug, so a dude had to use a whole other utensil, you know what I'm talking about, to make their thing do what they do to get around the spark plug enhancement."
Jack has developed a secret network of Chinese gift shops that sell something called bip kits, which contain a variety of bipping supplies, including small porcelain items that are able to shatter glass easily.
According to Jack, buying a bip kit is an extremely straightforward process.
"Well, you go to the Chinaman right there, go on Jackson Street, go to the Chinaman, man, ask for porcelain. They already know; they got a whole kit. Go to the Chinaman right there on Jackson and tell them you need a kit."
I asked Jack if I could go with him to buy a bip kit, and he agreed.
"We right here in Chinatown, right next to Chinatown projects, right above North Beach. Yeah, I mean right next to actually in Bayadero—in the heart of it all. You hear the voices, you feel the vibrations, you know this is a beautiful area, very, very historical, very, very historical. We in the heart of it, uh, kid; we going to get them splash kits to splash stuff, you know what I'm talking about. A little bip kit, so this you got to shatter into pieces, or you can just plow throw that at it. These are crazy; these are best mostly for vehicles. This is ready to go."
"Hey bro, this is ready to go! You could—if you throw this hard enough, you can crack a window right here."
Shortly after acquiring the bip kit, Jack asked me if I wanted to accompany him as he bips cars in broad daylight. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive. I mean, after all, I'm a journalist, not an accessory to car burglary, right? Then I asked myself, as I often do in moments of confusion, what would Hunter do?
"You find that it's not really a choice. If a, he made a commitment a long time ago, man, you know? Man, in times of desperation, blood's off fence, man. You know what I mean? You got to break anything; you got to do what you got to do—you got to just make it happen, you know what I mean? Like ain't nothing going to stop us when we really need our dope or need our money or whatever, you know? Nothing, nothing will ever stop us from our own pursuit of happiness. And honestly, that's what's up, bro. I think, honestly, at the core of it bro, it’s all just the pursuit of happiness, bro. We all just want to live life, be happy, right? We all just want to try to not kill ourselves because there's so much depression going on where it's like life sucks, you know what I mean?"
"So it’s like, dude, we’re all just trying to do it just to—it's not like we're doing it to terrorize the city. We're not doing it because we have spite, no, bro. We're doing it just so we can try to survive, try to make money, maybe try to look fly 'cause we already are exed out. We can't get jobs or because, you know, systems already racially ****ed up where we can't be accepted, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, like, so like at the core of it in terms of bipping, bro, it's not like we're bipping because we're ****ed or we want to ruin the world. Like, it's crazy 'cause even in my neighborhood, right? I watch mother****ers that bip; I tell them, 'Look, this is not the neighborhood to bip at!' Like I bip, but it's like, no, I'm not here, and if I catch you something bipping out here, I’ll shoot you. And the residents understand that, and they respect it."
"I know you’re definitely truly one for the people. This is the last station before you hit the town. Now with a backpack full of fresh stolen goods."
There you go!
Jack was in a way better mood when I was down; just recently, I had to get into an altercation, and I poked someone, so I protected him, and he told me when I get out, he's giving me a half a brick for free.
That's pretty tight!
He said we were going to catch the BART to the open-air resale market, which was only a few stops away.
"My guy was, so I got some Fetti if you want some. I got some Fetti if you want some—a anything you want to sell?"
After being propositioned by Jack, our fellow subway rider immediately moved seats. It was at this point that I realized Jack wasn't actually bipping to buy new clothes; he was simply doing so to support his fentanyl habit.
Before this, I wasn't aware that he smoked fentanyl or had any type of opiate dependency. I began to question the ethics of my own journalism. Was it my job to intervene?
"Probably the best dope out; I'm plugging with the hunos. I welcome them here; you feel me? Whenever they get jacked or whatever, they come to me, you feel me, to ask, you know, to help them out. So I would even pay for my drugs; they get you free."
I wondered if I should stop him; would he listen to me? Is it my responsibility to inform someone that what they are consuming may consume their life? Or do all humans have a right to consume whatever they want? I really didn’t know what to do. But before I could make a decision, the smell of ammonia and burnt popcorn began filling up the subway car. I felt Jack's energy begin to shift.
Within a few seconds, he began to nod off, drifting in and out of euphoric consciousness.
"Hey, you good, man? Yeah? You sure? Mm-hmm. Alright; this 24th? No, no, no, 16th, not 24th yet. Yep, we get on the next one."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good though, thank you!"
"What were you, uh, smoking on? Petty? Is that just like one dose?"
"Yeah, yeah. How much that go for?"
"I don't know; I got it for free, but it's the best fetti out the street; just not no **** they give out. It's not no regular **** they give out right now, you know?"
"Yeah, it's some **** they don't even sell on the street."
Jack told me we were heading to 24th and Mission, a BART station where above the platform, a group of secondhand vendors called "fences" host an open-air resale market, which mostly consists of stolen goods. Illegal street vending in San Francisco appears to go on unabated by police in the city’s Mission District.
Organized gangs of criminals sell the merchandise to a fencing operation; on any given day, you can buy anything from clothing, pharmacy products, grocery items, cosmetics, laundry detergent, and razors.
It all began to make sense; for a long time, I wondered why at every CVS and Walgreens in town, they kept all the deodorant, laundry detergent, and shampoo locked up. Laundry detergent makes up 21% of all boosted merchandise. Jack explains that unlike the fentanyl trade, which is controlled by Hondurans, the fencing markets are controlled specifically by Mexican and Filipino immigrants, most of whom are not cartel-affiliated but are simply looking for money to send back home.
"Fences are primarily, you know, amigos, you know what I mean? They cash you out for underwear from Target, lotions, medicines, all that stuff, you know? Yeah, that's a fence. They don't even—I don't think they work for anyone necessarily; if anything, they just work for themselves wanting to get like some Avon lotion for their mom or sending it back home to Mexico or you know what I mean? Like, it's not even like the way some people might think, as in like it might be super gang-oriented.
Like, no, these fences, there's even a lot of couple Filipino fences where they do something called the Bic buying box, where they send a big package to the people out in the Philippines for their poor relatives. And, you know, it’s like a care package for like a whole half year kind of thing where they’ll sell spam, underwear, you know? So the fences, they’ll buy it for hella cheap and then send it out there, you know, and take care of their family.
So you make a good, good, good killing about it. I know some people that are raising families off this, you know what I mean? So it's like honestly, I was really looking forward to checking out the fence market. It seemed like a less scary version of an open-air fentanyl market. But instead of drugs, it's shampoo, Charmin ultra-strong, and beyond.
"You good? That shit's got a pretty thick smell to it, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like a toxic strong smell like burnt plastic."
"Yeah, did you smoke any of it?"
"I’ve never smoked fentanyl before, no. What does it feel like though?"
"Euphoric."
"Yeah, like weed or ecstasy?"
Finally, we arrived at 24th and Mission.
"Hey, hold the door!"
To my surprise, there was another bipper/fentanyl smoker with his own backpack full of stolen stuff. Jack seemed very interested in doing a trade.
"What you got? I’ll buy it all, for real! I got like a crossbow gun!"
"A what? A crossbow gun?"
"Oh, crossbow! You got a crossbow gun? I’ll buy it! I’ll buy it!"
"But see, I was going to return it 'cause I just bought it yesterday."
"I’ll buy it! I’ll buy it! I paid $45; I’ll pay $25!"
"Alright, oh, that’s mine; that’s mine! What else you guys got?"
"Position this way, that way people still have a walking path to there."
"Okay, cool! Oh yeah, awesome, thanks guys!"
"Sure, you working for the F?"
"I just got out like three days ago!"
After the cops arrived to ask us to move away from the walkway to the handicap elevator, our new friend became suspicious and thought that I was an undercover cop, so unfortunately he refused to sell us the crossbow.
So I asked Jack if we could go to a nearby alleyway to do an inventory check on the items he just stolen.
"Let's see what we got here. Ooh wee! This is like a $100 torch right here! Oh damn, you got two hats, bro! Got the Patriots hat. I didn’t know Slurpee had hats, but I guess another mask. $2? I’ll probably give those Co-masks to the free Co-testing guys. Is this a bra? Yeah, it’s a bra. This is what we really hit for! This is like an $80 torch; I can tell! This is a smoke shop instead of the fences. So, uh, yeah, let’s try—let's just dump this my boys.
Yeah, so we get how much—how much do you think the collective value is here?"
"Unfortunately, we didn’t hit for too much. This is probably the most we hit for. If we do this right, we can get probably like $60 or $50 from this. Okay, you’re going to try to sell everything?"
"This is like five bucks each, tens—yeah! How do you spot who will buy?"
"I already know my boy Chico, my boy Perro, my boy Malo, my boy—everybody! Do they dress a certain way?"
"No, but they’re Mexican! That’s the thing about the fences in America—in San Francisco, yeah, the fences are not Hondurans; they’re Mexicans. They’re living out here; they're Mexicans from Mission. That’s the fences! Yeah, that’s their hustle. The Hondurans are here with the cartel selling dope. The Mexicans are here because their family’s here and Mexico's so close, and they, you know, yeah!"
"So I hope it makes sense in that sense."
[Music]
And so it began. Jack crossed the street over to 24th and Mission and began looking for fences to buy his stolen items. To my surprise, he actually spoke fluent Spanish.
The first vendors were supremely uninterested in the bra, torch, or Slurpee hat.
"No, okay! I got he, no."
"Oh `****`, wait here!"
Noticing the cameras, the second vendor was very hesitant to sell to Jack.
"We said—oh, got this!"
But they say third time's the charm.
"Gracias! Vendor number three bought the flashlight!"
"Those hamsters?"
"No, yeah, he breeds hamsters; he had hamsters! $20!"
"And if you need anything, brother? Look, you got like ******* Tylenol everything, bro!"
"Hey, bro, 'cause if he gives me $15, I'll just give you the $15!"
Then a random pedestrian bought Jack's torch for $60! Things were going great, but then in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
"Who recorded that? Let me see. Oh no, I'm filming him! Let me see; is that okay?"
A local enforcer who was wielding a loaded gun in the kangaroo pouch of his hoodie demanded that we stop filming!
"Let’s just turn off the camera!"
So we crossed the street to count up how much Jack made for a day's work.
"So, uh, how'd it go?"
****, we went well, man; mission accomplished! It was pretty quick, you feel me?
You know, I ain’t going to lie to you, it was a little different this time 'cause you know we came in with cameras. Every time I sell ****, there’s never cameras! I'm Mr. never-camera, you know? But hey, look, right when they saw me, I explained them to get the get-down! Everyone was like watching our bag, you know? They even checked old boy; they were like, 'Hey, what you doing out here?' I walked up to him, I was like, 'Hey bro, he’s with me!'
Everyone was like, 'Oh ****! Alright, for sure!' Then they started, you know, trying to protect us, you feel me?
Yeah! 'Cause it is—they even banged on him, told him straight up, 'This is North Hill hood, you feel me?' **** like that, you know? It’s just not welcomed. They didn’t know he was with me though!"
"Yeah! How much bread did you make?"
"Um, close to around $95!"
"Oh, was sick! So how did it work when you went there? Like ’cause the flashlight itself, that was worth $60?"
"So I sold it for $40. Um, I kept this hat; you feel me? I could have sold for $30 bucks; I was like, “**** it, dude, I’m militant! I like this ****! I kept the hat! Um, the slurpee hat, some dude bought it for $20 bucks!"
"That’s really surprising 'cause that hat sucks for sure!"
"Yeah, I know! Hey, but you know what? People like this, like, weird swag! Leaf, I mean, **** it, dude! **** it! You bought it for $20 bucks!"
"What else did we have? What else was there?"
"Oh, the bra! Oh, the bra I got; no one bought that ****! Um, what else? Oh, oh, the torch! We came up on a sick-ass torch down there; dude, I sold the torch for $60!"
"Oh sick! So that’s how we made all the money, uh-huh!"
"So what's the grand total for today?"
"It was like $95! $95 and a bit of crack, my boy gave me a little rock! So what's your plan now?"
"**** bro, honestly, like I said, I just got out of jail on Thursday. Probably my next plan is to go **** a ***** and eat some good food, enjoy time with my family!"
"Hell yeah! ****! Try to get a room; I’m on the streets right now; I’m homeless! So probably try to get a room and just get **** back in order. I’m not really be hitting as much but, you know, just try to get my life situated."
"But realistically though, my real plan plan plan is I’m going to a program! I start a program on Thursday. It’s going to be a 90-day program; that’s why it’s all crazy how you know this is like my grand scheme of things. But **** it! We went out with a blast! I’m about to go to a program for 90 days, get clean! Even though I’ve been clean since I was in jail, but you know just get clean physically, 'cause I lost custody of my son. You know I haven’t seen him in 6 months, you feel me? I’ve been going through it; that’s why I went on dope. You know I got my own little tremors, little nightmares, demons in my heart, you know? No one—I don’t like to share the world 'cause it’s not your guys’ problem, yeah? You know, I want to get reconnected with my son; I miss him to death! It’s crazy ‘cause he lives a block away!"
But yeah, anyways, yeah, so the program that you’re going to, is administered through the city?
"Yeah, it’s administered through the city. It’s a government-based program. Catholic ran. And my whole family is Catholic. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade to kindergarten, 12th grade, you know what I mean? Catholic oriented my whole life! I was an altar server growing up, you know what I mean? I was never a robber and a thief! Like, yeah, yeah, I’d try to come up every once in a while whenever I felt disrespected or this and that; but it’s like that was not my main forte! You know what I mean?"
"This **** honestly became a forte of mine because the Google techies that started coming by, they’re so **** dumb, so stupid. They pull up in their new Tesla, jump out the car, door is wide open with a hell of **** in there, dude! Greed could only hit you so much, dude!"
"And also, it’s like dude, I feel like it was more so we had to teach some guys a lesson. You know, it’s like, come on dude, you’re just going to leave all your **** there every day of the week? Like no matter what I’m talking about, like when they go to work, you know, they’ll leave their doors unlocked no matter what! Like, and they work overnights, or like they’ll live in an apartment—they’ll leave their doors unlocked! They just like lost sense of security. And it’s crazy 'cause in San Francisco, yeah, we lost 200,000 in 2021! Look up the records; we lost 200,000 San Francisco residents in San Francisco due to whatever reason. But they say it’s due to like, you know, robberies and ****!
Yeah, we lost 200,000 residents, and it’s only been dropping! Last year we lost like a hundred something, residents, you know? It’s just going crazy and crazier! But it’s like dude, really **** got to just tighten up, bro! Really just got to tighten up, bro! Like you feel me? If you got your **** laced up and tightened up, dude, you won’t get—you won’t get hit; you won’t get bipped! You feel me?"
Straight up, for sure, dog!
"Well good luck in treatment, man; thanks for showing us around; I appreciate it!"
"Thank you, you know what I mean? For real, like you put a new perspective on my life and you helped me out in a lot of ways that you would have never imagined, so thank you, man! I appreciate you, dog!"
"Have you ate here before?"
"Oh yeah, this is—I’ve been going here since I grew up!"
"You hungry? You want to get some food?"
"I’m down! Let’s do it!"
"Alright, let’s go get some food! **** it! So how long you been documenting doing all this ****?"
"Probably like three and a half years now."
"Really? Yeah, you know I started—like, you know, in New Orleans doing interviews in the French Quarter with like drunk tourists!"
"Wow! I started writing Zen about my hitchhiking travels."
"Oh, you were a hitchhiker!"
"Yeah! Oh ****! When I was a youngster, man, I used to hitchhike between New Orleans and my hometown, Seattle!"
"Holy ****! How far did you ever hitchhike?"
"What was your H?"
"Wi probably the furthest I went was like, I went from like Louisiana all the way up to Washington, down to California, and back. So I did a crazy ass triangle."
"Yeah! Yeah, were you on drugs?"
"A little bit! I mean, I was just drinking a ton and smoking weed every day. But you weren’t on like dope?"
"No, I’ve never done dope before!"
"Oh, never in your life?"
"Cool! Now that I know, I’ll make sure I keep you 100% away from that ****!"
"Thanks, bro! I appreciate it! Seriously, that is a killer! That is the number one killer in the world, you know what I mean? And like—yeah, dude! Yeah, it’s serious! This last month alone, I lost six friends, dude! All from fentanyl poisoning! Six friends alone! March 11th was Fentanyl Awareness Day."
"What’s that **** called? Chilaquiles?"
"Yeah! Mhmm! It’s a classic, like thing."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm! It’s just bomb as hell."
"Oh yeah, you got the best one! Who order that for you?"
"I just saw it on the menu and asked what’s the most popular?"
"Mhm! Yeah, honestly, real ****, the way you do it is you crack the yolk and just mix it all up! But you’re doing it right!
Eat it however you want, you know?"
"No, straight up, I’m just saying, you know. That's the best way!"
Many of you may notice that throughout this interview, Jack's face is now unblurred. This is actually Jack’s request.
We filmed this episode back in July; however, last October, Jack was finally arrested, and the city of San Francisco decided to prosecute. He was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison.
We plan to correspond with him throughout his sentence to see if the experience changes him for better or for worse.
If you enjoyed this episode or just enjoyed our coverage of San Francisco in general, I have great news! On our Patreon page, we have a lot of content that we're not currently able to post on YouTube due to community guideline violations. One of these episodes is called "Frisco Pimps," and it dives deep into the world of pimping and human trafficking along the Cap Street in San Francisco.
The other is about harm reduction; it explores a harm reduction facility that offers clean needles, crack pipes, foil, and beyond to drug users for free in San Francisco.
If you'd like to check out these episodes, go to our Patreon, www.patreon.com/Channel5. It's about five bucks a month, but it supports our entire independent production budget.
Hope you guys have a great day! Thanks, bye!
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