'Thug' life comes alive for locked-up teens

John Trahey admits he didn't have the best upbringing.

Growing up in a gang family in Southern California, all anyone expected from him was to follow in the footsteps of his brothers and cousins and live the "thug life."

He started out on that path before he turned it around, he said.

Earlier this week, shackled and dressed in jail garb, Trahey, 28, revisited his past and shuffled into the dayroom of the Murphy-Bernardini Regional Juvenile Justice Facility in Carson City.

Charges of the center, nine boys and three girls, were about to witness performance theater of sorts.

Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Rudy Hindelang introduced the group to "Doctor," Trahey's gang moniker.

Tattoos sprinkled his arms - the area code of his home in San Diego, "Only time will tell" scrawled above a Dali-esque clock, an old English "K."

Trahey set his jaw and looked out menacingly from under the brim of his black beanie cap.

"He's an inmate in the jail," Hindelang said. "That's what you all are - inmates - and you need to understand that."

Hindelang pointed to "Doctor."

"The drug life and the gang life, this is where you're headed. His friend was killed over a Nintendo game. Think its funny? That's the thug life."

Trahey, playing gangster, pitched in.

"When you hit the pen, man, you better decide which side you're on. When you hit the yard, you're fresh fish," Trahey said. "You hit that prison yard and you smile like that, them fools gonna get you.

"You guys can change your life."

Hindelang asked the teens, ranging in ages from 13 to 17, if they were in a gang. None raised their hands.

"All I'm usually around are people in a gang," one boy said.

"Dirty riders hang with dirty riders," Trahey said.

Several admitted this was their second, third, fifth, 10th time in the facility. One raised his hand on 20th.

"You've been in here more than 20 times?" Trahey asked.

"Maybe more," the baby-faced 17-year-old said.

Hindelang handed out a series of pictures depicting Los Angeles gang members.

In one a baby crawls on the floor amid guns and ammo clips. In another, a family weeps over the open coffin of a boy who looks about 13 years old. Another photo shows a man holding an automatic rifle next to his friend throwing gang signs.

"That's reality in the streets," he said. "I'd much rather help you than put cuffs on you."

About 20 minutes had passed and Hindelang grabbed Trahey and said he'd be back. Cop and thug exited the room.

Hindelang said he and Trahey have replayed this scene about two dozen times for the Juvenile Justice Center teens in Carson City and at China Spring Youth Camp in Douglas County.

They met two and a half years ago while Trahey was in the Carson City jail on a probation violation for a theft charge. Hindelang said he approached the tattooed Trahey and asked if he'd be interested in helping with a new program he hoped to institute.

Trahey, the father of a new baby boy and sick of yo-yoing in and out of jail, decided he was going to turn his life around.

"He has a real gift in talking to the kids," Hindelang said.

As the teen inmates fidgeted in their plastic seats, Hindelang re-entered the room and took his place at the front.

Moments later, Trahey re-enters. His jail garb is gone, as are the shackles. Thin framed glasses rest easily on his nose. His button-down shirt is neatly pressed and hangs over a new pair of jeans. Sparkling new Timberlands peek out from the hem of his pants.

"I was raised in Southern California," he said. "My cousins, family, everyone was in a gang. I lived that."

But, Trahey said, inside he always knew he wanted something more out of life than being a gangster.

He came to Carson City to look for a new beginning.

"But I didn't leave the mentality behind," he said. "And I started doing time out here."

The love of his wife and baby helped him turn his life around. In two years he has pretty much everything he's ever wanted.

"I have beautiful wife, a beautiful baby, nice cars, a nice home," he told the teens. "I wasted 10 years of my life and I've turned it around in two. Man, imagine what I could have had! I came from nothing to something."

For the next half hour, Hindelang and Trahey cheered the group on.

"You could be anything. You could be president," Trahey said. "Put your mind to it."

"Find new friends," Hindelang offered.

"What you put in your life, you're gonna get out," Trahey said. "Put some positive in, positive will come out. You put negative in, you'll end up here."

"You guys are job security for me," the deputy said. "Put me out of work, please."

Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.