1. American Me: The Backstory

film was called American Mean. The critics liked the movie, but the Mexican Mafia did not. Just weeks after the premiere, several people who worked on the movie were murdered. Almost never addressed the killings. He still hasn't. Maybe it's because allegedly he himself was threatened and extorted. In fact, while I've been researching and interviewing people related to this film that came out thirty years ago, over and over again, I get eerily similar responses like I won't talk about that,

or flat out told leave this alone. More than a movie, American Means a podcast that digs into the history and Mystery of American Mean, a film directed by and starring Edward James almost that had a huge impact on Latino culture and cinema. I'm your host, Alex Fumeto, and I'll be diving into the controversy behind the movie. The early was an explosion of pop culture in l A about l a bloody blood out. So the nineties was just

the like hangover from you know, the Cold War. I don't know, there's a lot of nineties nineties nostalgia now, but I remember being afraid every day, like hy two k hiv uh, the gangs, the police. Like it feels very similar to like these past few years of COVID in terms of like just the angst and fear that you can just feel from the community. That's Eric Allindo, a Mexican American writer and producer that grew up right

here in Los Angeles. Eric is right. L A in the nineties was scary to a lot of Angelinos, but the fear level went to new heights when the l A. P d brutally beat a man named Rodney King. Another movie came out from a script that had been kicking around for years. It was a movie about Latino gangs in l A. Al Pacino was allegedly slated to play

the lead role. We all know ol loves to play Latinos, but in the blowback to Scarface, the studio got cold feet, like a lot of movies in Hollywood have got put on the shelf until the Latino actor emerged as a potential movie star. Edward James, almost fresh off a nomination for an Academy Award, was offered the role. In response, almost all the studio he would take the part if

he could also direct. After some back and forth and some assurances that are more experienced read white director would be around to help Eddie, they agreed, but almost had something different in mine for the script. He wanted it to feel real, to be connected to his roots as a Chicano in East l A. And to address what he felt was tearing his community apart gang violence. But to do that, he did something that many people thought

was brave but others thought was reckless. The Arian Brotherhood and the Blood Gorilla Family shared the yard, but fulsome belonged to us. The oldest clicker me the Mexican Mafia. He made the movie about a real gang, one of the most intimidating and dangerous prison and street gangs of all time. The Mexican Mafia a k a. A gang that survives today and was no less powerful thirty years ago when Edward James almost decided to base the movie on what he claimed was a true story about them,

then people started dying. The movie was called American Me. Here's one of the actors, Danny de la Pass, when he found out someone who had worked on the movie had just been killed. We were in France, um along the Riviera at the con Film Festival with American Me when we heard the news of Anna's assassination basically, and uh,

I remember feeling a little bit scared. I was in a foreign country, I was far from home, and I was like, Wow, what am I going to be going back home to The Anna he's referring to is Anna Lissaraga, who was a gang interventionist hired by the movie as a gang liaison, and on May thirteenth, she was gunned down in her East l A driveway while unloading groceries. So yeah, it made sense that Danny de la Pace was scared back then. Today thirty years later, it's hard

to get people to talk about it. Here's another American Me, actor Sal Lopez. My job was to do my part, and I didn't feel uh, you know, intimidated or or anything like that. I mean, I was focused on doing the work and making a good film. I um, you know, I don't want to speak about. This is a movie people still don't want to talk about. Some of them are scared of the consequences to themselves. Some of them

want to protect the movies director Edward James. Almost some of them don't see why we want to dredge up the past. I wanted to make this podcast because as a filmmaker, American Me was an precedented opportunity for Latinos in Hollywood, a Latino director, cast, and crew. But I also think it's worth asking two questions. One why were people killed for making a movie? And two why did Edward James almost make this movie when people warned him

again and again it was dangerous. We'll dig into the history and mysteries around one film that had a huge impact on the culture. We're talking about American Me. Think of this podcast like an audio documentary. The first half of this twelve episode series is going to be about the Hollywood rumors and word on the street that have surrounded this movie for thirty years. In the second half of the episodes, though we're going to do our best to get down to the truth, let's start with the rumors.

Even today, people are still afraid to talk about this movie. We had people canceled interviews or refuse to talk on the record. I spent hours in person, over coffee or on the phone talking to high level people who had worked on this film, who, at the end of our really candid conversation would say to me they would never talk on the record. We had people call us from block numbers so we wouldn't know who was calling. One lawyer agreed to talk to us, then her husband told

her not to. He was still afraid for their safety. Three decades later, I've pieced together the parts of the story I can. It all started with a chapter in a memoir by Danny Trejo, better known as or a million other roles as the scariest looking motherfucker You've ever seen. Here's Treho talking about it to lad TV. The person in charge of that movie made a lot of mistakes.

American Edwards James almost admitted, do you know him? Yeah, yeah, I saved his life, really, and he won't admit that either. See Treho, who's not in the movie, is a pivotal figure in this story. According to him, this is how it went. Edward James almost never got permission from the met Pxican Mafia to tell this story. Before it even went into production, key members of the gang had read the script and warned Trey Hoo not to work on

the movie. During production, Trejo says he was asked to be a consultant, but refused to do it out of respect for the gang. When the movie finally premiered, the Mexican Mafia was enraged almost had fabricated important details about their lives. Here's Treho again. You just gotta be real careful about telling the truth. Okay. The leader of Mexican Mafia was never raped, all right, So that's number one.

You can hear in his voice. This still makes Danny Traho matt portraying the rape of the gang's leader, which never happened and could never happen to someone elevated to the leader of the Mexican Mafia got people killed. Now, let's say this right away. Getting raped doesn't make you weak. Getting assaulted isn't anyone's fault, but according to federal indictments and according to Trejo, for the Mexican mafia, it's one of four reasons to turn people away from the gang.

See the movie tends to make its point using rape. I don't know how else to say it. When Santana is a kid, he's raped in juvie. When his mom gets pregnant, she's raped by a sailor. When Santana gets out of prison, he starts to rape his girlfriend. The gang uses rape as a punishment in prison, So of course it enraged the Mexican mafia. And that's what Trejo said numerous times during the promotional campaign for his book. He talked to g Q, flat TV, Stevo, pretty much

everybody except us. Of course, Danny didn't want to talk about American men anymore. I can't say why for certain. Maybe it's because the book has been out already for more than a year and he's done promoting it. Or maybe it's because, according to one source, he and almost had a difficult phone conversation after the book's release. But even without Danny Trejo's account, rumors have flown about for years.

One of them is undoubtedly true. At least three people were killed after this movie came out, and court records say it was partly because of their volvement. But there's other mercier allegations. The big one is that Edward James almost had a price on his head. The rumor is almost had to pay the Mexican mafia some amount of money to stay alive. Some people told us it was a hundred thousand dollars. One person told us it was a million. But no one with firsthand knowledge has confirmed this,

and rumors are just that rumors. There's another allegation, this one from Danny Trejo. At least four people in prison were killed because of their participation in this movie. Trejo says in total, eight or as many as ten people were killed in connection with the film, without their names, though we can't say whether it's true or not, and when it comes to people's lives, there's a big difference

between eight and ten. Some of the stuff Trejo said we were able to verify, some of it is directly contradicted in our interviews, and some of it we can't say either way. What I'm saying is take his account with a big grain assault and Danny. If you ever want to talk, our lines are open. We'll get into it after the break. Welcome back to More Than a Movie. I'm Alex Fumetro, and I'm here to take you through

the myths and legends surrounding American Me. The story of American Me is the story of Montoya Santana, almost based a character on the real life founder of the Mexican Mafia. But let's try to separate fact from fiction a little bit here. The movie puts a young Santana in juvie where he starts a gang that also happened to the

real life guy. Santana grows up as the best friend of a white guy with a prosthetic leg in a Latino gang that's also based on real life, and Santana gets stabbed to death and thrown off a railing in prison. That's what happened to Gala. From reporting Trejo's book, court records, and the stuff we learned in interviews and on back round, it seems like the Mexican Mafia took exception with their

portrayal in this movie. Remember that white guy with the fake leg, his name is Joe Morgan and he filed a lawsuit in against Edward James Almost and the Studio Universal. He said the movie quote invaded his right to privacy by appropriating his likeness and life story end quote. What that means is the movie stole his life story, lied about him in that life story, then profited. Here's his lawyer,

Milton Grimes. There was some dispute as to some of the things they portrayed Mr Morrigan in and there was some disagreement with people that were knowledgeable are involved in the Mexican Association. And uh, they disagreed with some of the portrayals in their of Mr Morgan, and um, some disputes and disagreements came out of that, and um that's what happened. Joe's nickname was peg Leg for obvious reasons.

He claimed in the lawsuit that his character committed several murders that the real life Joe Morgan was never charged with. He said his kids and his grandkids would see the movie and think it was all true. Rather than me in a terror, a monster that would attack and I was supposed to shiver in front of I remember him being a mild mannered, grandfatherly type. To be honest with you, the monster was not there, and I have to admit that I had some concerns with meeting the infamous Joe Morrigan.

Only exhibit that Morgan's legal team entered into evidence was a VHS copy of American Me. But most of the people offended by this movie didn't take their problems to court. The three murders we could directly connect to the movie were of gang members and a gang interventionist hired by the movie as a gang liaison. Her name was Anna Saraga. Lisaraga was already marked for death before this movie, according

to federal court filings. At meeting recorded by the police, a Mexican mafia member said that Li Saraga was interfering with drug trafficking on their turf, but it wasn't until she participated in American Me that she was shot thirteen times in her driveway. One of the shooters was initiated into the Mexican Mafia because of the murder. In line with almost his commitment to making this movie true to life,

the production used people from the neighborhood as extras. Some of those extras were in rival gangs and that caused some problems. We'll talk to the casting director and the location manager who had to deal with all that. One person we won't talk to, and I want to be up front about this is Edward James. Almost through a mutual friend, he told us he quote, can't talk about

American Me. Can't let that settle in. When American Me went into production, Edward James almost was on a roll Blade Runner, Miami Vice and of course Stand and Deliver, which got him an Oscar nam and probably more importantly to him, positioned him as a role model for the community. I wouldn't do that if I was you. When he was a finger, I won't be able to come to tan.

Like many actors at the height of his fame, almost wanted to direct, and he picked this script, a script about a gang that's not totally unexpected after the success Italian American filmmakers had seen with The Godfather and Goodfellas. Who didn't watch those two movies and wish they were part of the mob? I certainly did. When Andy Garcia became The Godfather, I felt like I had been made. But American Me was supposed to be about how the gangster life is a total fantasy, a nightmare really in

that way. The story of American Me is a success, but the story of American Me is also a failure because the movie it was intended to prevent gang violence,

instead caused more of it. Here's actor Jacob Vargas. Do you see any irony in a film that was intended to stop gang violence that may maybe it actually recruited more people to I mean, I guess there is some irony in that, but but I feel like I'm sure it probably stopped a few kids, you know, Like I'm sure a lot of people will see that and say, hey that I don't want any part of that as well.

It's like with certain movies, you know, it can it can be singled out that American mu is the only one, like you look at like, you know, the Good Fellows and these other films that are that are cautionary tales about the mafia, you know, in a way tend to glorify it, you know. And then just because you know, these actors did a really good job, and all these characters work were cool and and uh, you know, Santana was like a cool dude, and you know, he was in charge and and uh, you know, it held a

lot of power. So I just think there's an intertract and to to that, and some people will look at that above above what the real meaning of of you know the film is that it's a vicious cycle. American Mew was successful in most of the ways the movie is supposed to succeed. Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars. It premiered, it can It didn't make a lot of money, but it wasn't a massive financial failure either, and it went on to become a fan favorite.

But still the controversy surrounding it has always overshadowed the success. This was a majority Chicano production film, Denis l A. If it had gone right, it could have been the next Good Fellas or Boys in the Hood, a movie that launched careers. There could have been tons of mid nineties imitation movies like How Standing Deliver gave Us Dangerous Minds and my favorite Seven Stupid Any End. But most of all, Edward James almost could have become our Robert

de Niro and our Martin Scorsese. Don't get me wrong, he's a huge success. He has a career anyone would be proud of. But that what if bothers me, especially when latinos make up one in five Americans, but only one in twenty actors on screen. I wonder if it bothers him too. Welcome back to more than a movie, American Me. I'm Alex flomto. About a month after American Me premiered, an uprising broke out across l A. Stores burned,

people were scared. It was the result of racial tensions and police brutality in the powder keg that was Los Angeles in the early People complain today about how crime is on the rise, but that's only true if you look at the last two years. Today, a one in twenty thousand people is killed each year in l A. In the early nineties it was one in five thousand people,

four times higher. Joe Biden, who was a senator back then, called the most violent period in American history, where in the worst period of violent crime in the entire history of this great country. Ninety thousand Americans will have been murdered in the first term of this administration. Ninety thousand Americans murdered by the end of this year. Murderer is the number one cause of death in American Mr. President among the entire American population of fifteen to twenty four

year olds. It's the second leading cause of death. Writer Eric Galindo was in elementary school when he saw smoke from the fires caused by the so called La riots.

And remember one day, like the teachers were just like, um, they they took us all out to like the field, you know, and we could see they were burning, uh Summerset, which was Compton Boulevard at the time, and our school was like, I don't know, it was definitely walking distance from like the little liquor stores that were getting burnt down the street, and you can see the fire. We're waiting for our parents what was happening. But as soon as we started seeing the smoke get really close to us,

they just had us run. And I remember running and being so afraid because you know, by this time, the riots have been going on for a minute, and I had to hurd stories of the police shooting people who were just running, you know. And I remember running and being afraid that I was going to get shot by a cop, thinking I had stolen some ship, you know.

And like I had my little brother who was only two years younger than me, and I was just like running home and then like getting home and locking the doors and just not not knowing, like well, it's it's it's weird because it was like you're afraid, there's chaos, you know, and here's Milton Grimes again, who was also

Rodney King's attorney. But that verdict in Semi Valley, man Um, it felt like a mew had kicked me in my stomach, you know, like back in the country we always were warned, don't go behind that horseboard, don't go behind that me kick kill you. And it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. You know. It was painful. So

I understand the young people involved. I've represented Henry Watson and I represented uh Damian Williams football after that on other matters, okay, and talked to them about what happened with Reginald Dinny and they said, no, he ain't do nothing, that white man and do nothing wrong to us. It was just our anger, that's all. It was anger and white. We did get lucky in one respect. All the time they were filming the movie, there was a documentary crew

following the production. What they made was a dot called Lives and Hazard and it's great because you get to hear from the real life gang members at the time this movie was made. You struggle here and and and you gotta find a way of making money. And you know, my you know, robbing got old, and stealing got old, and drugs seem to be easier to make money. And my easiest way was at the time was pushing PCP.

I was liking it, and I was living the fast lane toil like hit the wrong car and sold of the wrong person, and that's what started my career in institutions. I heard like the shot, so when I heard the car behind me, I knew it was a drive by. I turned as when I turned as when he shot me in the back. We talked to the filmmakers of that documentary too. This is one of the directors, Andrew Young.

These are people who are neglected, you know, they're not paid attention to and in fact, that's that can be cited as part of the problem. Um they look for their own system of self generating self respect because they're not getting it from society. American Me was a major studio film released in theaters across the country, but it lost money. It only played in about eight hundred theaters

and made thirty million dollars. My cousin Vinny, which was released the exact same day, made fifty two million, but in almost twice as many theaters. At first, I thought that's some racist Hollywood bullshit. They didn't promote it or didn't put it in enough theaters. But then we heard in our interviews that this movie didn't play well with older Chicano audiences at the time. Today, American Me is a cult classic to young Latinos, but back then it

seemed to confuse or piss off their parents. They saw it as a film that made their culture look violent, But to me, it reflected some of the real problems our culture still has to this day. We're gonna talk in this podcast about issues like machismo and homophobia and violence, how this movie both pushed back against it but also reinforced it. We'll break down the decisions made by the cast and the crew, both on set and in pre production.

We'll meet some of the people behind the scenes and in front of the camera and try to tell the stories of the people who were caught in the crossfire. I'm a documentary filmmaker and a Latino who has been working in the entertainment industry for twenty years. If there's one thing I know. It's the way Latinos are portrayed and treated in Hollywood. And that's why when I heard the story of American Met, I knew it was about more than just the movie, or the rumors or even

the fallout. What happened to American Me is about who we are as a people and what could have been. This is more than a movie. American Met more than a movie. American Me is a production of Exile Content Studios in Trojan Horse in partnership with My Hearts Michael da podcast Network. The show is produced by me Alex Fumetto at Anger Yuka on the Internets and our senior producers. Nigel Dora, Rose Read and Cream Taps are the executive producers.

Production assistance from Sabine Jansen and out Valio and Stella Emmett. Mixing and sound designed by the bottom Us. Our executive producers at I Heeart are Gazelle Bonsas and Arlee and Santan. For more podcasts, listen to the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H