1. Cockney Dave

    Cockney Dave New Member

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    Hi I am a new Ex criminal trying to write

    Discussion in 'New Member Introductions' started by Cockney Dave, Mar 13, 2010.

    Hi I am new here, I am an ex gangster/criminal and I have turned my life around and I am now interested in politics. I am from london and now employed as a Joe Baxi driver, sorry about how I speak I am so used to cockney language from being little... While I have been in prison I was reading a lot of history books and got into politics and writing as well, if you can forgive my past I could probably become a valuable member here

    Like I said I am an ex criminal and I have served time at HMP Belmarsh, HMP Wormwood (SCRUBS), HMP Manchester (Strangeways) plus many others in England, probably most of them.

    As much as I hate to admit it, I've been there, done that. I spent 22+ years in prison, and have been out since the end of 2005. It seems that I'm still paying for my crimes, mostly because of my criminal record. My father, unfortunatly, ran with a vicous East End Gang and had done 28 years behind the walls across the country. After his passing I felt as though I no longer had to live under his approval. My relationships have been many, four wives, and I still don't seem to be able to hold on to one. A story for another time but I just got off scott free from a possible life sentence case.

    From my 22 years+ in prison I have seem over 50 inmates kill themselves by hanging, life inside is not great. Being locked up for most of the day, and being in your cell at 7.30 pm until 8 am the next day is a waste of life. Life is hard but don't waste it in side, you might think it's hard but it's way harder on your partner when you're doing 5-10 years for a few pounds that you took from a bank. Crime don't pay, plus, there are far too many pedoes inside now and you dont really want to mix with them...

    I have a lot if stories from my past some funny and some not and I like to tell people them, especially to the passengers in my cab because they seem to love them, especially those not from London so here is a few for you people to read...


    This is about a decision I made over 30 years ago and how that decision has affected every aspect of my life to this day. The choice I made is a choice people have been making since the beginning of time, the choice between right and wrong. At the time I made this choice I had no idea it would cost me over 22 years of my life. As I sit here infront of my computer with nothing but time & memories.

    I've decided to write and share with you what I've learned. Sometimes my memory escapes me, so forgive me if I bounce around. My las stretch was for burglary and I got caught coming out of a Curry's electrical store with a T.V. I've done it thounsands of times, I walk in and take whatever I want, put it in a shopping trolley and walk out. I didnt stick **** down my pants, I didnt look all around like a drug addict looking for a fix, I took whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. This applied to a lot more than just merchandise, beer, and food, this included cars, jewelery, cash and teeth. Thats right teeth, many men are walking this earth with less teeth then when we met. My lifestyle has made it possible for me to see all four corners of this great country. This is going to sound ****ed up, but I might as well say it now, I've been to prison in all four corners as well.

    I once did a some time for a crime I did not commit, me and some friends of mine were on our way home from a football game drunk and high when some assholes from another crew started talking **** to the smallest guy in our crew. It was getting dark and they didn't see the cricket bat I had in the boot and unfortunetly for me I didn't see my ex-girlfreind who was with those assholes who started the whole thing by talking **** and not being able to back it up. That ex of mine dropped my name and I caught a 2 year stretch for Grievous bodily harm (GBH) and I did not hit anybody with the weapon. I don't mean to brag but I've never needed a weapon, dont get me wrong I've lost quite a few fights, anyone who tells you that they've never lost is probably a coward, it means he has not had that many fights, and lets just say I've won a lot more than I've lost. Maybe you're wondering why I went to prison for a crime I didn't commit? Because I was already living by the #1 rule of all Gangsters, never grass. I've also done a stretch for cat burglaries, something me and my old friends used to pull off like walking in the park, and no one ever got hurt. We started out breaking into cars and tool sheds and eventualy working our way into people's windows.

    I was once inside a house disconnecting a video recorder when I heard the stairs creak. I looked up and saw a 20st woman, she was huge, just looking at me, she said, "who the hell are you?" I looked her dead in the eye and said, "I'm with your son, he's in the bathroom. " She said, "tell him I said to keep the noise down. " Luckily, my friend was in the bathroom with the light on having a number two. We were reckless back then, but it didn't take us long to find out you didn't have to break into someone's house to get some used stuff, when we could walk into a shop and get some new stuff, and when we got arrested it was only a shoplifting charge most of the time, mostly small fines.

    That's right, not if we got arrested but when you play the game you will get arrested. No matter if your game is armed robbery, shop lifting, pimping, drugs or even white collar crimes you will eventualy get arrested. If you added all my time together including all the little bull**** stretches I've done for fighting in public and **** like that it's over 22 years. You might be thinking I'm not a very good criminal, but its quite the opposite. I got arrested for maybe 1 in a 1'000 crimes. In case you're wondering, I have since retired from my life of crime and have had a real job for over two years. I should also tell you that if I hadn't used drugs and lived a party life style and put all my ill-gotten spoils into cash and saved the money, I would be a multi millionare now, and I **** you not.

    I'm not saying I wouldn't change anything in my past, but I don't regret the lifestyle I've lived. I've had some life experiences that I wouldnt trade for anything. When I was a youngster I knew a girl who babysat for a big time drug dealer and we used to pinch a little everyday, well me and the babysitter had a fight, so I figured on robbing the drug dealer, but when me and my crew get there the stash of drugs isnt in the same spot, so I tell the fellas to search the pad, and my mate Mick yells to me from the kitchen and when I look in there every single kitchen cupboard is packed full of cannabis resin (hasish). We ended up with over 40 kilos and I think I spent maybe one night at home that whole summer, we were the richest kids in our neighbourhood, we would take taxis everywhere and go to the poshest clubs in London. We did more LSD that summer than most people at Woodstock did in the 60's. But this is not a drug diary, it is not all fun and games. Out of the 5 guys who I used to run with back then I am the only one living a semi-normal life, 1 is dead, 2 are in prison, and 1 is homeless and he can barely hold a conversation, his brain is fried. And when everything ran out I tryed to go back home to mommy & daddy, but my parents had had enough of my bull****, and I spent most of that winter sleeping in the stairwell of a block of flats, and the back seat of an abandonded car. But I am a big beleiver in a qoate by Gangus Kahn in 1218, "that wich does not kill me only makes me stronger".

    I beleive with all my heart that every past minute of my life can be used to better every second of my world. Like the time I gave a homeless man £2 on my way out of a crack den in Fulham and the next day he got me out of a sure arrest when the police seen me walking to my car put me up against the wall the bum came running up and said why yall hastling my boss? He remembered I had a Red shirt on the day before and told the police he was a dishwasher their and I had just droped him off. Luckily the shirt was still in my car and the police let me go with 2 kilo's of cocaine in a shopping bag.

    Or when I had the love of a good woman, a beautiful, wonderful person. Dont get me wrong, I've had plenty of women, but none like this one, she was the one and only, the whole package. The one who could have changed me if only I would have let her, but at the time, the gangster in me was too strong. And thats why ladies love gangsters, they want to tame us, If I am nothing else, I am a gangster. But this woman was special, she is the one I think about when I'm in a cold and lonley cell, she is the one I think about when I'm in a £2000 a night Hotel room with 3 high priced prostitutes and she's the one I wish I could make it all up to.

    But like I said that wich does not kill me... Like the time I was coming down the stairs of a my drug suppliers flat with a young kid who was maybe 17 and what I thought was a homeless guy on the bottom stairs but turned out to be a robber looking for a victim, he was on the bottom step, and when he stood up, he said give me the ****, me being the kind of guy I was at the time, I said I dont know what the **** your talking about. He said give me the **** and the youngster who was with me said just give him the heroin. At that point I relised to late that the robber was really really needing a fix, he was shaking like a leaf and he said oh you wanna lie and he shot me in my kneecap and I screamed like a bitch and threw the heroin at him.

    My drug connection upstairs hears the shot, comes out, and carries me to the bus stop, dials 999 and leaves. By the way, youngster was half way accross London by then, he ran like the wind, and now that I look back I dont blame him. I'll tell you about a time I was a scared youngster, I was sitting in a Borstal for young offenders over 30 years ago, and I had just been scentenced to 7 yrs. and even though I had been to other places, I was still scared of the Big House. I ended up in an adult Prison and my cell mate was an old con who was doing his 4th, and last, prison term. So I asked him, whats the worst thing about prison? I was expecting him to say your gonna get raped or robbed, and beat up, but he looked me dead in the eye and said youngster, the worst thing about prison is that you get used to it. Truer words were never spoken. I used to wake up in the middle of the night after 2years in there, and be like where the **** am I?

    When I was about 3 years into that sentence I could sit on my bum and tell you who was on duty just by listening to the gaurd walk. Prisons are there own little universes, you dont think so? Let me explain, they have there own galaxy. Imagine if every time you were lucky enough to be outside, you looked up and saw the exact same patch of sky. More than just sights, prison also has its own sounds smells and tastes, I'll give you an example of each. The sound of a cell door sliding shut is like no other sound in the world, for the first 2 years I would rather have heard nails on a chalkboard, but like the old man said, I got used to it. As for sights, if youre lucky, your cell has a window were you can look out and see past the prison into the country side. As for smells, that one beleive it or not is the worst, the others, you can escape, just close your eyes and eat somthing good while watching your TV, but the smell, of fear, and sweat, and cheap cleaning products, is like nothing else in the world. I imagine that this smell is centuries old, I once took a girlfriend to a private abortion clinic, and that same over powering stench hit me like a left hook. I had to go wait in the car. I will say this much, thanks to some good friends in prison, I've had some of the best meals in my life behind bars, remember a prisoner working as a chef has years and years and years to perfect his cooking, Its true, practice makes perfect.


    Theres alot more to my story but I think I have said enough for now but I do remember when a multi-millionare once contracted me to kill his wife, but I was more of a armed robber back then than anything else, so I worked him for about £28000 and warned the wife to watch her back at the same time . I probably saved her life.


    CD
     
  2. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Hello Dave, Welcome to the Writing Forums.

    That's certainly a lot of introduction. Also a lot of life to draw upon as a writer.

    Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog.

    Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication.

    If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate.

    As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information.

    And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites.

    Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
     
  3. Nackl of Gilmed

    Nackl of Gilmed New Member

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    So that was pretty goddamn intense. Most people opt for a "hi, how are ya" approach to their introduction thread. Yours was probably more productive, if a little terrifying.

    Cockney Dave, I welcome you and look forward to seeing your contributions to the forum.
     
  4. Scoody

    Scoody New Member

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    Hey Cockney Dave. I am a former criminal myself. Did time at Sheridan, Oregon, Safford Arizona and Three Rivers, Texas. I've been shot on two different occassions, been stabbed twice, stabbed two people, shot two others, threw a guy out a third story window once and threw another guy off a bridge. I never want to go back to that. I can not ever set foot in Mexico again unless I want my head cut off stuffed in a sack.
     
  5. Peerie Pict

    Peerie Pict Contributor Contributor

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    @ Scoody and Cockney Dave, I'm looking forward to reading any of your writing that draws on these dark and intense experiences. You certainly have a different bank of life experiences to draw on in contrast to the rest of us here. Well, I don't think my stealing a 2 pence sweet from my local shop really counts;)
     
  6. soujiroseta

    soujiroseta Contributor Contributor

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    Welcome to the forums Cockney Dave:D I really look forward to reading your writing and your contribution to the forum.
     
  7. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    welcome, dave and scoody!

    i have to say that you both [especially you, dave!] have earned a rousing 'bravo!' from me for either having vivid imaginations, or turning your lives around... and for having very good writing skills, regardless!

    i'm looking forward to seeing more of your work and wish you the best in getting it published...

    love and hugs, maia
     
  8. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    I second Maia, like I nearly always do. :) You guys (Dave and Scoody) get a huge "BRAVO!" from me for turning your lives around. Yes, it's not a good thing to be in prison, but what I really liked was your total open-ness and honesty. You didn't have to tell us that, and yet you did, and I like how you're honest. :) It takes a lot of courage to talk about past stuff..... I'm glad you did turn your lives around, and I'm definitely looking forward to you being around the forums, able to write some pretty good pieces based on your life experiences.

    So, welcome to the WF! :D
     
  9. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

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    Wow. That was quite an interesting read. It'll be interesting to see what you write since you've experienced a lot.
     

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