3 Decades

By Artemio Garcia, Jr

Do you like to read books about true crime? If so, then it’s a must to add “3 Decades” to your book collection. This book reveals the life story of Artemio Garcia and will take you to places of South Texas that urban society across America nor the world knows about.
Growing up in the mean streets of South Texas and facing life and death situations across the Mexico border, this book explains how Garcia was raised as most regular kids playing toys to growing as a very dangerous man within one of the most famous Texas gangs (the Vallucos), and also having ties with the Mexican Cartel.
After so many years of being married to the streets, he decides to have a change of heart while sitting in a federal prison. For crimes that Garcia committed throughout his life and the way he was raised, is it possible that he’ll find redemption?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Artemio Garcia, Jr
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310798054

Artemio Garcia, Jr

Artemio Garcia, Jr. has now 3 years locked up and has faith that the injustice they did with him will be rectified. While sitting in prison he’s striving to turn from the error of his ways.When he is released he seeks a righteous and prosperous life in the light of God."3 Decades" brings to you a first-hand account of a man born in unfortunate demographics. He fell victim to a lifestyle bthat lead him to commit crimes and develop ties with the Mexican Cartel. Artemio Garcia's testimony in "3 Decades" reveals his past as a street gang member and how he became immersed in the underground life.Do you ever feel like it's time for a turn-around? Have you ever thought that the life you are living is best if surrendered?If so, then I encourage you to read "3 Decades". It will enlighten you to consider take a step in a different direction. This book has the potential to impact many in such a way that if will urge them to modify their lifestyle."3 Decades" is a model for change that is desperately needed into today's society. Artemio Garcia has turned his life around and wants, through hs story in "3 Decades", to give back to society and make a positive impact.If you have any comments/concerns you can email Artemio at [e-mail]. You can also find him on Facebook Twitter. and Instagram

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~ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~

First off I want to say Hi to my daughter, Yoselin. I want to let you know that, even though I wasn’t in contact with you when I wrote my book, you were always in my mind. I hope that you can read my autobiography, Yoselin, and understand me a little. I’ve always loved you, yet I couldn’t show it to you because of the way I was living and the differences between your Mom and I.

Mom, you were always in my thoughts too. I want to tell you that you were one of my motivations while I wrote this book. I will never forget the time you said I could probably write a book about everything I’ve gone through. I love you and I thank you for always being there when I needed you most. Thank you for never giving up on me.

Aunt Juany, how could I leave you out of this? I have to honestly confess that I am very grateful for your support and understanding. You are special. Know that, as your brother in Christ, I have you in my prayers. Keep it up with Jesus, never lose faith and, even though I don’t like to tell you this, if I don’t get to make it out of here, I will surely see you in Heaven on the day of our Lord Jesus.

Orlando, what’s up Bro? This book is dedicated to you. Realize that the life you are living is a big lie of the devil; he makes you think that it’s all good when it really ain’t. He wants to take as many souls with him to Hell as he can because he knows that his time is short. Don’t let him deceive you anymore, come out of the trip he has you on. I love you, and I don’t want for you to lose your wife and kids the way I did. I will never stop praying for you and dad; I am always hoping that God considers your situations and brings you out of darkness. Come to the light, Bro, and have part of the gift that was given to me by God the Father through His son Jesus (the power to resist the devil). Don’t delay on making the best decision you’ll ever made in your life. It’s over, Bro, forgive me for giving you those bad examples. You and dad have to break the curse that all humanity has to bear and break free from because we have all disrespected God. It’s hard to explain, you are just gonna have to trust me on this one. Believe me Bro, this is better than cocaine, weed, pills, alcohol, or whatever else has you trapped. You all have experienced messed up stuff with me and you all know that I wouldn’t be lying about something serious (like what I’m telling you right now). Tell Jesus to forgive you for your sins (so He can reconcile you with God) before it’s too late. Hurry up and search for Him because everybody is running out of time! I don’t want you or dad to go to Hell where the fire is never quenched, and where Satan and his demons torment everybody that’s in there. Please know that I suffer because I know that you and dad are lost and are going down the same path I did. Much love.

In addition to this, I want to thank Chris (a brother in Christ) for helping me by going over the spelling of my manuscripts and for encouraging me to never give up on something that’s started.

Joacin Montoya, I thank you too. Keep it up with the Montoya Codes, and don’t let anyone discriminate against you.

Erick, I also want to thank you for the patience you had with me when we were cell mates and for helping me write, and rewrite, some of the sentences in my book. Thanks to everyone that encouraged me to write my story. I hope that you all learn from my experiences.

Last, but not least, I thank Midnight Express Books for putting my book out there and for helping me to achieve my goal. I really hope you enjoy the story you are about to read and I pray that it enlightens you, or helps in something you might be going through. Thank you, and know that without you, this manuscript would’ve been worthless.

~ PRELUDE ~

At La Villa County Jail, in Texas, after I was betrayed by my ex-gang, the Vallucos, who beat me up in my sleep, I was put in solitary and told I would be transferred in a couple of weeks.

I was going through a lot of night-sweats and nightmares caused by the incident that occurred, waking up in the middle of the night, feeling that the traitors were still hitting me. Pissed off because of what they did to me, I would start kicking the cell door until a guard came to see what was going on. I want revenge real bad! I would tell them.

Yet, with the guards help and my next-door neighbor’s, a guy from Reynosa Tamps, suggestions, I ended up dropping it. What else could I do? There was no way I could get to those people.

The days passed, and I managed to get on top of my evil thoughts. Then one late night, I heard a demanding voice in the back of my head. The voice said, It’s over, write a book about your life!

At first, I thought I was tripping because I am not a writer and because it had never crossed my mind to write one. But, as I was being negative in my inner-self, a million flashbacks and memories started to pop in my head that, honestly, motivated me to begin my book right there and then.

I didn’t know what to do. The lights were off and it was impossible for me to even start writing because of the situation I was in. Meaning that even if the lights were on, I couldn’t because I would’ve probably lost my writings on the transfer.

What I did instead was wake up my neighbor. I told him about the idea. However, I did not tell him about the voice I’d heard because he would’ve thought that I was going crazy. I really wanted to because I was still astonished by its clarity, yet I held it to myself and just told him, with great excitement, that I was going to write a book about my life.

Oh man, it was crazy and unbelievable. I can’t even find words to explain how excited I was about writing this book. The night of the vision, I had a hard time falling to sleep. Lying on my back in my bunk bed, I was going on a trip within myself, thinking on how I was going to name the book and everything already. Imagine that!

Then, a day or two later, a female guard came to my cell several times, supposedly to see if I was all right and to tell me to keep my head up. Are you serious! To be honest, it really felt like this girl knew about the voice I’d heard. Anyhow, I told her that I was going to put my story on paper and she gave me the thumbs up on it.

A week passed and I got transferred to Brooks County Jail in Falfurrias Texas. There, I also asked for suggestions about writing my story and every one I talked to encouraged me to do it. Then, after listening to all these stranger’s suggestions, it was on! The problem was, I didn’t have a happy ending for my book and that was pissing me off. I mean, yes, I knew I had a story, but who likes to hear a sad ending?

The end of my story couldn’t just be: ‘The Feds caught me and now I was hit.’ Nah, it had to be something more than that.

What about the voice I’d heard? What did that mean?

I broke my head for almost two months trying to figure out the meaning of writing a book about my life and worrying that I didn’t have a happy ending until, finally, the conclusion was given to me.

On December 20, 2012, by GOD’S grace and mercy, JESUS CHRIST saved me in an incredible way during a war with the entire crew of officers, including the Captain and Warden, from Brooks County Jail.

I didn’t acknowledge immediately that I had found the end of my book. On January 7, 2013, because of the issue I’d had with in Brooks county, I was transferred once again, this time to Karnes City Jail.

Shortly after that, I realized, little by little, that everything that had happened was GOD’S purpose and that the voice that I had heard was HIS...

~ CHAPTER ONE ~

First Decade

In 1982, in Texas, I was born in a small town called Rio Grande City. But, because my parents were living across the border in Comales Tamps Max, I was raised over there. I come from a family with two children; it’s my little brother, Orlando, who is two years younger than I, and me.

We were a semi-poor family, but with my mother doing her best as a wife and homemaker, she managed to make me and my brother happy. During that time, my father worked as a fisherman to support us and though it wasn’t the best job, it was an honest one, and it made us appreciate the little we had.

What made things complicated was that my dad had an alcohol problem and that caused a lot of uncomfortable arguments between him and mom. However, it wasn’t too bad of a deal because he never used aggression or hit mom. I do remember though, that whenever they argued, I would get in between them and start hitting my dad in his legs, to defend mom.

Me, personally, I didn’t see nothing wrong with dad’s drinking habit. In fact, I enjoyed being around him whenever he was drinking because he was always happy. I will never forget the first time he gave me a beer, Tecate, so I could take a sip. Can you imagine, I was barely 6 years old?! I really didn’t mind, and I didn’t acknowledge that it was bad for me to do that. Who cared? I still loved my dad, even though, in some ways, I knew he was setting a bad example.

Now about mom, she was a very nice person and would never let dad hit me or my brother. She always tried to please us by giving us what she could. One thing for sure was that, even though we were poor, my brother and I always got what we wanted. And, if mom or dad wouldn’t buy us what we wanted, my aunt Juany would. My aunt Juany was my mom's sister and she played the role of our second mom. When it came to my aunt Juany, my brother and I were lucky because she owned a grocery store. We spent most of our time at her house and in her grocery store along with my grandpa, Saul, and grandma, Lolita, who were very special to me. Man, I really miss my grandparents, they meant so much to me. If they were alive, I would apologize for the way I treated them.

Another thing about my aunt’s place was that, every New Years, it was tradition for the whole family to gather there and celebrate. On that day, while my uncles got drunk and listened to Mexican music, my aunts prepared Mexican delights such as cabrito asado, barbecue fajitas, fried tripes, salsa, and Mexican rice.

Those were the days!!

One of the mischievous things I used to do was to catch my uncles when they were drunk, and ask them for money. By the end of the night, I’d have enough to buy a house!

Out of everyone, my aunt Juany was the best though. Anything I could ask her for, she gave it to me.

It seems like yesterday when my aunt Juany used to sell fireworks out of her store for the holiday. Without paying for it, and with my little brother watching me, I would light up fireworks all night until I got bored or sleepy.

Thinking back, when it came to my aunt Juany, we were two brats and there were times I took her for granted. Me and my brother were truly blessed to have her and my mom in our corner.

♦

When I was six years old, and going to the first grade, my school was only two blocks from my aunt’s house. Most of the time after school, I would stop by her store and grab whatever I wanted; my schoolmates would stare at me, envious and jealous. Some of them would ask me if Juany was my mom and I would tell them NO; she’s my mother’s sister, but she’s like my second mom.

During the summer, aunt Juany also sold different flavored Bollos (snow cones) made of ice. All the kids would come from all over to buy some. In fact, my aunt’s store was known for selling the best Bollos of all, especially the ones that were mixed with ice cream.

Anyway, it was in the first grade that I laid my eyes on the prettiest girl in school, Norma.

Norma and I were in the same class and we both achieved some of the highest grades in the class. Man, this girl was the perfect combination of beauty and smarts. Someone I wasn’t going to let go!

I remember that we used to get mad at each other if one of us scored higher grades. As a matter of fact, sometimes, when the teacher would call me to her desk to congratulate me for doing a good job on a subject, I would get scared because Norma would give me a mean look. What’s crazy is that our grade battle led us to become boyfriend and girlfriend.

Eventually, we began to do everything together, like studying and work on our unfinished homework. Norma’s parents were both teachers at our school and that made it complicated for us to see each other. However, we were always very careful and never gave them a reason to get after us.

Besides our education in school, the teachers also assigned each student to a partner to dance with on the traditional days, such as El Dia de el Grito de Mexico, the Revolution Day, Easter, and the end of the year dance.

What sucked was that Norma and I weren’t appointed to dance together. I wondered if her parents suspected something, knew of our puppy love. But, at the same time, it wasn’t much of a big deal. We went with the flow and enjoyed each one of our separate dances. The funniest thing about everything was that every time I would tell mom something about Norma, she laughed, imagining how cute we looked.

Changing subject, one of my best recollections of Comales Tamps was when I used to pretend to be a singer. I repeated every word of the song with my million-dollar voice, or at least so I thought! With my aunt Juany’s surround sound system, my friends and I would make all kind of weird noises during my concerts at her house.

That year, towards the end of school, I remember everybody was getting ready for the upcoming dances. I went to one called, El baile de los negritos. As a matter of fact, that year is still very sentimental to me because it was the first time Norma and I first kissed. Well, peck kissed. Nevertheless, it was our first romantic moment. Also, in that year of love, Norma and I graduated from first grade. My sweetheart received first place for her academic achievements and I received second place for mine. After school ended, with their Visa applications already in process, my parents started planning on coming to the United States.

That right there got me a little worried because, if we were to move to the U.S.A, I was going to end up leaving Norma and I had to start all over in a new school, things that no kid would want.

Despite the fact that we were going to move from Comales soon, the whole town was waiting on another traditional day called, Las Fiestas de El Pueblo, and, with that going on, there wasn’t time to stress about things that hadn’t come yet.

Around the end of August, the carnival would set up in the center of the town for about a week and the rest of the preparations would come after. Everybody from the town, together with their relatives from the US, would come and join the celebration. The kids would enjoy all the attractions that the carnival had to offer well into the night.

For the much older crowd, there were drinks and entertainment such as stand up comics telling hilarious jokes. As far as the musical attractions, they had Mariachis singing and other different Mexican groups playing, too.

My distraction was cruising around, taking in all the festivities and scenery. Unfortunately, all of this fun and excitement came to an abrupt end only after a week or so, leaving everyone’s pockets empty. But not for long, because Comales had one of the most lucrative money spots at that time, known as Marte R. Gomez. Marte R. Gomez was a big lake where everybody came to get a piece of the pie; Fisherman brought their biggest nets full of fish to sell daily to the market and hustlers brought their best supply of drugs.

Comales Tamps was a popular place for drug smuggling in those days. I knew a lot about what was going on because of the many conversations I’d heard. However, I never involved myself with those things because I knew better.

♦

When school started, I was in the second grade with many of my former classmates. As for Norma and I, we were still creeping around secretly, though, for some reason or another, we’d both lost some interest in each other during the summer. I mean, we were still dating, but she paid more attention to her studies than me. It wasn’t like before, when we used to talk and hang out, now it was just hi and bye. Everything changed between us, and we never peck-kissed again. Her excuse for all this was that her parents were very strict concerning school and her future so, in my mind, I always thought that was the reason. Though I was only a kid, I understood.

At the time, I was just turning seven years old and, it was then I learned the art of shooting marbles. I became so good that the other kids were hating on me. I accumulated so many marbles that I kept them in a pickle container.

Everything was going great in my little marble gambling until this new kid, named Nisho, began playing marbles with the second graders. He eventually found out that I was pretty good at marbles and became jealous of me. El Nisho was older than me. He was a fourth grader and, with at least three years of experience playing marbles, he thought no one should be better than him.

As the days passed, Nisho began to target me; bothering and bullying me in front of my classmates, including Norma. Eventually, I got fed up, so one day I pushed him and he beat my ass, leaving me with a black eye. I lost the fight, but at least I released some of my anger. When I got home that day, I told my mom about what happened and she consoled me. She told me to stay away from him, but for some reason he kept bothering me. For the record, I was truly scared of Nisho, so I dropped out of school. Fortunately for me, three months later, my prayers were answered. My parents and little brother received their Visas, and we relocated to the U.S. We ended up across the street from Comales Tamps in a town called Rio Grande City, where, in fact, I was born; what a coincidence! My dad’s older brother, Alvino rented us a house in the neighborhood los Treviños, where he and his family used to live before they moved to Houston, Texas.

The year was 1989 and my mom was trying to register me for school. But, because I couldn’t speak English, I had to repeat the first grade. My first day at Roque Guerra Elementary was uncomfortable because I was afraid of rejection; I was afraid I wouldn’t get along with other kids. Luckily for me, my teacher, Ms. Olson, understood Spanish. Before I knew it, I’d already made friends, and from that point, everything was much easier. What made it difficult was that, as a kid, I was extremely shy, especially when the teacher called on me to answer a question that I was unsure of. That’s when I knew I had to learn as much as I could, so that the next time she called on me, I would be at the top of my game!

However, I eventually got better and began bringing home good grades on every report card. It made my mom proud. Mom would repeatedly tell me to never leave school or I would end up working in the fields like my father. So here I was, trying to do the best I could so I would not end up like him. By the middle of my first grade year at Roque Guerra Elementary, my cousin, Saul, who was older than me by 5 years, got his Visa and came to live with us and also got enrolled in school.

Saul was a very respectable person and my mom admired him a lot. I did too. To me, he was the older brother I never had and I would have loved for him to be in my school. I remember my friends from the neighborhood always asking me if he was my brother because of our green eyes. However, every time they asked I would say, No, he’s just my cuz.

After my cousin came to live with us, I got promoted to the second grade with my little brother not too far behind entering kindergarten; things were beginning to get better. Because of our good behavior in school, our parents and aunt Juany would reward us. On one of those rewarding occasions, mom brought us something called ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’, shortly after the Atari came out. Saul, my brother Orlando, and I would play Nintendo every day after school until we got bored. The good thing was that there was always something else to do to get our moods up. For example, if we were too tired of playing Nintendo, we also had a football to play with. And if it wasn’t football, it was marbles; you name it. We were always doing something to entertain ourselves when we were kids.

Christmas was the best time of the year though, especially when mom would decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments and presents. During those days, we would also go to Comales Tamps on vacation to visit aunt Juany and the rest of the family, friends and classmates, who were anxiously waiting on my return so we could trade video games and play marbles. By this time, Nisho and his family had moved to the U.S. too. Man, I was glad that he was gone and that everything was beautiful and back to normal.

It seemed like there was always something to look forward to throughout the year. Back in the U.S., when school was out, my mom would take my brother and I to West Texas, to work in the fields where my dad worked for a white man named John. With him, except for my brother, we would all work contract jobs cutting the weeds that stopped the cotton plants from growing. I never lasted long working because the sun was so hot; it would take all of my strength and the little energy I had as an eight-year-old kid. By noon, I was already sitting in my dad’s car munching out on goodies that mom would bake for our lunch. But, even so, after my parents got paid for the field work, mom would buy me video games or clothes for school. I used to ask my dad for a go-cart but he would always complain that they were too expensive and that he didn’t have the money. It didn’t stop me from dreaming of one.

~ CHAPTER TWO ~

In 1991, before school started, my dad began to have problems with his brother. So we had to move to another neighborhood called, Las Lomas, and rent a house there. Because of the circumstances, my cousin Saul stopped living with us and moved in with one of his friends until his dad finished building their house in another area. When we moved to Las Lomas, Saul and I didn’t talk much, except on the holidays in Comales Tamps.

Out of everything, what sucked the most was that I had to register in a new school to continue third grade. After I got enrolled in Hinojosa Elementary School, mom walked with me every day until I memorized the way. I didn’t have to ride the school bus because we only lived two blocks from the school. My teacher was Mr. Garcia, who, to me was an admirable person with a mountain of patience. Occasionally, on Fridays, he would bring movies for us to watch and other times we had pizza parties that our parents paid for.

While living in Las Lomas, I met some new friends by the names of Mario, Teddy, Lolo, and Teo (Lolo’s older brother). They lived two houses away from mine. After school, we would all gather and play Nintendo at each other’s houses until I introduced them to the infamous game of marbles; I won most of the time.

One time, Teo and I got into a fight with each other over marbles. The fight got it off our chests though, after that little incident, we never played marbles again. We continued our friendship. I came to realize that everything happens for a reason and that there was no need to mess-up a perfectly good friendship over a simple misunderstanding. To replace the game of marbles, my friend Mario and I joined a little league baseball team called The Tigers.

After going to practice and playing other teams, I began to like the sport. I started playing as a catcher and as a right outfielder. However, I would sometimes pitch too. Mario and I became excellent batters. We were so well-trained that we could hit the ball in whatever direction we chose to. At our baseball games in La Casita Park, there was a stand where the owner gave away Frito pies or Icies to whomever fetched the baseballs that would go across the fence. I remember that whenever we took my little brother with us, we would tell him about the reward for each baseball and then we’d purposely hit fouls across the fence so he could retrieve them- and the reward as well.

Wow, it’s amazing, how I can still remember that!!!

Most of the time, our team was a winning team and, even if we didn’t win, they would always take us to Pizza Hut with for an after party. Now that I think about it, baseball became my favorite sport and one of my hobbies during my childhood. At the end of 1991, we won a trophy for having won most of our games.

Once the season was over for that year, Mario and I signed up for the All Stars and, to my surprise, they chose us. Man, I was very happy to play with the best-of-the-best of all the teams from Starr County. I remember giving it my best as a right fielder. But, I can’t deny that I shined even brighter when I batted. Personally, I thought I was a real good batter, though I never hit a home run. We did great in the All Stars game but, unfortunately, our players were all from different teams and we weren’t used to playing with each. If we had been, who knows! We might have won it all! When the All Stars game ended, everybody went back to their own teams for the following year.

Mario, Lolo, Teddy, Teo, and I were still going to school together. Yet, when we passed to the fourth grade, some of us got separated to different classes. However, we would always meet on our lunch break to play basketball or hang out on the recreation yard. After school, we would all walk in a group to our houses and meet again once we reported with our parents.

It’s amazing how, without recognizing it, we were growing. I was growing, and I was one year older than my friends and schoolmates from Rio Grande City. By the way, that year, 1992, I turned ten years old and, as a gift, my mom made me a birthday cake. But, coming back to what was going on in my life at that time, fourth grade was a little different than from the year before. The girls were all looking for boyfriends and we, the boys, were also picking and choosing. Not to brag about it but, to be exact, there were three girls that wanted me to be their boyfriend. Their names were Irene, Christina, and Vidy. However, out of all of them, at the end, I chose Christina. Being a high-class girl, at the time, made her one of the most popular girls in school. She also had a look that reminded me of Norma, my first girlfriend, though her skin was much darker. Christina was beautiful in my eyes, and she had a lot of intelligence and class, which I admired the most.

Yet, because of our differences, we didn’t last long. I didn’t trip because we broke-up. However, I was embarrassed when she sent someone else to tell me about our break up. I eventually moved on after that. Mind you, I was a kid at the time!!! I didn’t even know anything about relationships back then and, besides, I was too shy to be asking girls to be my girlfriend. Which wasn’t a big deal in my school because girls would approach us. Crazy, huh?

After breaking up with Christina, I decided to chill and be girlfriend free for the rest of the year. I was keeping myself distracted from girls by playing kickball with my friends when our school coach picked teams. What wasn’t cool was that, for some reason, the kids from school didn’t like me. Probably because the girls were always chasing me. What else could it have been!? I wasn’t a hater or a troublemaker, but trouble always found me.

During the fourth grade, there was this kid we called Smiley, who provoked me by calling me names in front of my fellow students, and we fought. Naturally, I’m not a violent person and I would never push someone’s buttons just to start a fight. In fact, there’s not a lot of things that I hate. But when it comes to bullies, I have no sympathy. Maybe because they remind me so much of Nisho.

Anyway, for the rest of the year, I just kept my mind and my attention on my schoolwork. When baseball season began, Mario and I got back on the Tiger squad; however, we weren’t successful like we’d been the year before.

In spite of that, just like every other year when school ended, we went to Comales for vacation. One thing was certain; I loved Comales. Maybe because of my friends, or maybe because I was raised there. Whatever it was, I really enjoyed going.

Oh, I know!! It was because when we were in Comales, I could do whatever I liked. Like coming back to the house after midnight, which would make my mom mad. But she never made a big deal about it because everybody was free to do whatever they wanted to do in those days, or should I say that I was just one little spoiled brat?! Either that or we were lucky the police were corrupt in those days- meaning that, whoever had money to pay them was able to get away with stuff. Us, being kids, they never paid much attention to though. I think that it was because they knew our parents, they knew which ones were drug dealers and who to respect. Me, besides the protection I had because of my friends, I also had my uncle, El el Grillo (RIP), the judge of Comales. What could the po-pos do to me, with all this pull I had?!

Despite the fact that we all had it like that, most of my friends from Comales were spoiled by their parents. The reason I mentioned it, is because, when I was little, I would always complain about life not being fair because some had and others didn’t, and I’d ask myself why I didn’t come from a family like my friends. I didn’t realize that God has a purpose for each and every one of us. Until now, I was never content