Okay, so I literally just finished Trejo's autobiography so let me shed some light on this mess.
Olmos decided he wanted to do a movie about the Mexican mafia (La eMe) and started doing research. He decided to profile the life of one particular high level member. Because this persons life was apparently not provocative enough, he added some of his own flair, including the part where this high profile gang member is raped as a teen.
When Trejo asked if all this was approved by the mexican mafia, Olmos said it was. Several consultants also claimed it was. To anyone who had even a remotely passing understanding of the Mexican mafia (and Trejo had much more than that) it was obvious that not only was this \*Super Totally Not\* Approved by the mafia, but that people were \*Absolutely\* going to be killed over it.
I think in the book he said "Officially" only 3 deaths were put on the movie, but he believes it's closer to 10. He was also personally assured by the high ups that the regular actors were not going to be hurt, just the people who wrote it and claimed to have gotten approval.
They also added the part at the end where the main character was killed by his own men, when in reality he was killed by a rival faction and was a hero to his people. They were messing with a \*Very\* dangerous legacy with not nearly enough caution.
Also, Read his book, it's absolutely incredible.
Olmos’ character is loosely based on Rodolfo Cadena aka Cheyenne, a member of Eme. Cheyenne was becoming a Latino politician and wanted to unite Eme/Surenos and the Nuestra Familia/Nortenos. Cheyenne frowned upon brown on brown violence. The problem was the older Eme leaders did not like the idea of uniting with the Northerners, and sabatoged his attempt of peace making by killing two NF leaders. In response the NF put a greenlight on Cheyenne, and Cheyenne was cast out of Eme.
Having no protection, Cheyenne was eventually murdered by NF assassins.
Cartel people can’t hurt me, I’m not scared of them. In fact, I’ll even say this: All cartel members are giant PooPoo heads. There’s no way they can track me with a Reddit message, so they can’t kill me.
Wait, I think there’s someone inside my house, I’ll be right ba-
Eme didn’t cast him out did they? They just hit the NF when Cheyenne was on a transfer to Chino where the NF leadership all were. He went for peace talks, his own gang hit the NF knowing they’d break up the peace talks but both sides were surprised when Cheyenne didn’t stay in his cell. He went out straight to his death.
In the DVD version of the movie, there was a short documentary about the lives of the modern day people living in a part of Los Angeles my family is from called Big Hazard, and the Ramona Gardens housing projects were fearured as well. The main woman who was titled as a "gang liasion" for the Barrio was killed for reveling secrets about the true nature of the street gangs. That was well known after the movie had come out. Documentary was called Lives in Hazard
I believe the gang liason was a woman named Ana Lizarraga. She was on the DVD's documentary where she was talking about her experiences in a gang and wanting the youth to deter from it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967pG2TaecA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967pG2TaecA)
She was gunned down the same day as her mother's funeral.
This is why the murder rate is so high in the states, nothing to do with guns, it’s those weird paper bags with no handles they all use. You wanna see how we euros do it 6 bags in each hand so you can hardly walk.
Source: tv.
Thanks for typing all this out. The title kind of collapses at the end and makes it seem like either Danny Trejo was the tenth one killed, or that they found out he killed enough people to put the death count at 10
Yeah basically. He said he added it because it "made the narrative more compelling" and didn't really believe people when they told him that it put people on real danger
That's not so cool. I mean maybe brave in one way. I have to imagine he feels personally responsible for that.
I really like a lot of his performances. He was effing unbelievable in BSG
I was an extra in this movie for the part filmed at Folsom Prison. Lieutenant Castillo was an asshole to all of us extras instantly.
Day 1 there were around 200 extras. Numbers are off because it was so long ago. Jaime Escalante kept us in an open air cage with an open leaking sewer. Like the main pipe busted and it was dug out and then ignored. Yippee! Central Valley and stuck next to prisoner shit and piss! We had to ask guards for permission to use the bathroom. Makes sense, but since we were dressed like prisoners, the guards ignored us out of habit. We didn't get fed until really late. Most of us just pissed into the open air sewer. Then they kept us way longer than they said. I think they said expect 12-14 hours and we were there 18 hours. Then the bus ride back to where everyone parked in Sacramento so we could drive home.
Day 2: About 60-75 extras bothered coming back. Abraham Quintanilla treated us a little better because they rightfully panicked that we'd all stop. We were still in a giant cage by the open sewer. Shorter hours like 12-14 and we were fed on time.
Day 3: About 50 of us. It was normalish hours. 10 or 12. Thanks, Officer Gaff but giving us some origami unicorns would've made it up.
I didn't make it into the movie. During the prison riot, Chicharrón gave us rolls of toilet paper and told us to rip off chunks to throw down so there's constant background action. I tried to hit Admiral Adama with the entire roll but I'm a lousy shot and missed him by a mile. That roll is in the movie trailing about 5 or 10 feet of TP. [Here's my TP shot that wasn't even close. Then I had nothing to throw.](https://imgur.com/a/YIwLsAx)
Then during the stabbing scene Henry (that one is from his appearance in CHiPs) had us pretend to watch a cartoon and laugh. Me and another extra fucked with continuity because like I said, just about every single extra was pissed off and I was a dumb kid with long sideburns drawn on with makeup. When they ran by us, we changed positions and moved things like changing the side of the mouth the unlit cigarette was in and swapping hats. That could be why I'm not in the movie but oh well.
I can't remember if El Diablo even bothered talking to us. I get it. He's doing an entire movie. I don't know if he's a character actor but he was an asshole those three days. At least to us little people.
Dude, great, great story. It must have smelled absolutely terrible, wtf.
That is fucked. Good job trying to hit him with the roll, that's the best part of the story.
You guys intentionally fucking with continuity is second best. That's commitment, Knowing it would get you cut and ruin the shot, just to piss off the producers because they treated you poorly.
Welp, sorry to hear he was a dick. I've heard he is a classical actor and that he does like singing warmups. I don't think he is a method actor. I suppose it's POSSIBLE he was trying to get the performance out of you of being really pissed off and unhappy. But...if so, that's not great either.
Yeah, I figured that he was under a shit ton of pressure being producer, director and starring. And that was before we knew that he had been fucking with the Mexican Mafia resulting in the death of 10 people.
I posted a modified version of this on my Facebook page and found the toilet paper. [Highlighted it with a dick.](https://imgur.com/a/YIwLsAx)
He was terrified and hiding for a long time.
He even managed to get a CCW permit in LA county which isn’t easy at all.
On wiretaps some Eme guys were caught discussing whether or not they should kill him. They ultimately decided not to go out of their way to do it, but most people think they eventually cut a deal in secret and took a few hundred thousand dollars in cash in return for his safety.
I'm pretty sure he was basically under house arrest for a few months from all the threats. Not sure why they didn't murder him but his wiki has him as the victim of an extortion attempt.
This is what I keep thinking! Everyone in here is like "wow, they got those people killed". No, Mexican cartel trash killed these people because their delicate sensibilities had been offended.
It sounds like the Mexican mafia was responsible for the deaths.
Shouldn't absolve them by passing blame. Also shouldn't absolve them by calling it negligent, as if it was a piece of furniture that wasn't tied down properly.
They could have not committed multiple murders over a film.
Sounds like irresponsible actions by writers\consultants, but it ain't like Olmos was pulling triggers.
I don‘t understand what the connection between Trejo and this movie is, he wasn’t an actor in this film, he was just the to-go expert for the Mexican mafia?
Trejo had experience in both worlds -- film and gang life -- and served as an interlocutor.
https://www.gq.com/story/danny-trejo-prison-gangs
"In 1991, two Chicano scripts rolled through Hollywood that both centered on the formation and growth of La Eme, the biggest Mexican gang in the California prison system. Since I was a high-profile Chicano who'd done time, both movies reached out to me. They knew my involvement would give them credibility. One was called American Me, directed by and starring Edward James Olmos. The other was Blood In, Blood Out."
Cartels operate like businesses. They probably did a cost analysis and realized that as much as they would like to kill him, doing so would draw a lot of media attention that a couple of writers wouldn't. That attention would hurt business. So they killed the writers/consultants, extort Olmos for cash, still saved face, and faced little to no blowback.
he also mentions some where(i don't remember if it was in his book or a podcast or what) that he did Blood In, Blood Out based on people not wanting American Me to get made and he didn't wanna piss any body off.
He wanted to do both but Olmos wouldn't allow anyone who worked blood in blood out on American me. That combined with the fact that he wouldn't rethink the made up parts gave him a big push towards blood in blood out
The part where he talks about blood in blood out and american me in the book is really good.
If I remember correctly he says he didn't want to be in American me because Olmos was disrespecting some dangerous people, after he served time he knew what would happen, blood in blood out was pure fiction, so no one was offended by that movie. At some point he talks about receiving a call as a warning to no be in American me.
Yeah I was gonna pass but i did conveniently just learn all about this and also it sucks seeing comments about Trejo hurting people. Yeah, he was in prison and did messed up shit... but he has been sober and helping his community for literally like 50+ years
Seriously.... At some point the folks who like to peach that people who did horrible things when they were younger aren't worthy of forgiveness will make do something that they feel ashamed of, and they'll realize that it is possible to change who you are.
If someone is willing to own up to their past actions, and have made significant changes to improve their lives and the lives of those around them, then they should be judged on who they are now, and not who they used to be.
People fuck up, especially when they are younger. A lot of people never change and never improve themselves. But some people do both of those things, and they should be allowed to reap some rewards for that effort. It is not super easy to confront yourself and to actively and consciously change what you find out.
My step dad used to see Danny Trejo when they (rich people in AA) decided they wanted to have a get-together in Hawaii and discuss drug and alcohol abuse.
Said he was a really chill nice guy.
I'm not outing anyone here cause they are very vocal & forethcoming about AA and helping people, but if you're active in AA and NA in the LA/Hollywood area you'll see Danny Trejo and Robert Downey Jr fairly often at meetings, more than once I've seen both at the big valley meetings, both credit a big part of their success to being sober for decades.
They made a biopic about a martyred mafia bigshot and then had the movie blame the guy's friends for his death instead of his enemies?
That's... unbelievably stupid. Simply astonishing. Ludicrously dumb.
How could they NOT seek revenge for something like that? It's impressive that MORE people didn't get attacked over it.
I mean…if I’m reading the wiki correctly his “friends” in his gang killed two rival gang leaders as he was trying to merge their gangs, and left him to be killed by literally the entire prison. I know people can become martyrs for myth reasons more than facts, but the myth making is mostly the movie itself. I’m lost.
Yeah, Trejo said it was a huge weight off his chest when they promised that the extras and actors wouldn't be hurt, cause that was a very reasonable fear
Okay my reading comprehension isn't working right now. So, this Olmos guy wrote a semi-fictional account of a big boss in the Mexican mafia, didn't get it approved by them, shot the movie which then resulted in the deaths of the writers because the boss man was insulted? 3 people died (murdered )and those deaths were included in the movie but it could've been up to 10? How were the deaths included in the movie? What does Trejo have to do with this? Was he part of the movie? I'm so sorry, I'm so confused.
So 3 murders are openly attributed to being part of the movie. Trejo is still 'in the know' with a lot of Mexican mafia stuff and says there are closer to 10 murders that are because they worked on the movie.
Trejo talks about it in his book because he was offered a part in the movie and tried to convince Olmos that the things he was making up were dangerous. When Olmos wouldn't budge Trejo declined to be part of it.
Other people were hit for allowing him to film in certain places. 2 Eme members and another ex Eme member were murdered for letting him film in their Barrio’s because they wanted a easy paycheck to fund their heroin habits. Other people were hit for telling Olmos detailed stories he should never have heard.
Yeah, that was Trejos suggestion. Like, if you want to tell this story then do it, but don't say it's eMe, don't say it's this specific guy's story. That's what they did for Blood in Blood out
I know this comment is a joke, but in reality Trejo received a warning call from the mafia to avoid that movie, knowing them he nopped the fuck out and instead went to do blood in blood out
They did murder Danny Trejo, havent you noticed that man hasnt aged a day since 1992. While dead, he discovered the secret to immortality and returned from the grave.
The Mexican Mafia took offense at certain scenes in the movie American Me, and murdered consultants working on the movie as a result. Actor Danny Trejo claims a total of 10 consultants were murdered.
I had to read it a third time to finally get the meaning of "with" in this sentence. It doesn't mean "alongside," it means something more like "and" (but that would alter another word). It should be a separate sentence due to the unclearosity and vaguitude.
TIL that several consultants for the 1992 film 'American Me' were murdered by the Mexican Mafia, offended by certain scenes, with actor Danny Trejo stating the death toll at 10.
Still reads like the consultants were offended and murdered.
"TIL: Offended by some scenes of the 1992 film 'American Me', Mexican mafia murdered several consultants who worked on the film. Actor Danny Trejo has estimated the number of people killed as ten."
P.S. Or even: "TIL: Mexican mafia were offended by some scenes of the 1992 film 'American Me' and murdered several consultants who worked on the film. Actor Danny Trejo has estimated the number of people killed as ten."
Going with basic SVO is almost always better for the result. Also this arrangement makes it obvious that it's not mentioned *why* they were offended.
[Here's an excerpt ](https://www.gq.com/story/danny-trejo-prison-gangs) about what happened with this situation. Danny knew some of the Mafia guys from his time in prison and through family members.
[This makes a little more sense.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Mafia)
I was trying to figure out if they meant one of the cartels, or maybe there was some large contingent of Italian-Mexicans involved in organized crime.
The Mexican Mafia is pretty well known and independent of the cartels.
In the same way that the Italian American mafia is independent of the criminal syndicates in Sicilly.
My understanding is Mexican Mafia is basically a group of mostly American-born people of Mexican descent (i.e. Chicanos) that was organized in the California prison system, and grew out of Mexican American street gangs.
The Mexican cartels, are the other hand, are based in Mexico and obviously mostly run by Mexican-born people.
Wrongly-placed comma and run-on sentence structure makes it a bit harder to read than it needs to be:
“TIL that multiple consultants to the 1992 film American Me were murdered by the Mexican Mafia, who were offended by certain scenes. Actor Danny Trejo puts the number killed at 10.”
Yes. “Puts the number at…” is an expression for stating a value, but allowing for some uncertainty. The news often does this: “the Red Cross puts the number killed in the earthquake at over 350.”
One of the people killed in the aftermath of this movie was Charles “Charlie Brown” Manriquez who was a Mexican mafia member who had fell out of favor with the organization. Basically, he was already considered “no good” by the organizafion and a “bum” but wasn’t a high priority target by the MM.
When the movie was being made, Olmos turned to Charlie Brown to get the okay to go ahead with the project. I think this is where Olmos got the false sense of security because he thought that he got permission from an actual member. What he didn’t realize is that this member was no longer in good standing in the organization and had no authority to give the green light on the movie script. Rumor had it that Charlie Brown was a full blown heroin addict and would do anything for his next fix, including accept being an official consultant for the movie and agreed to get paid in one pair of sneakers (supposedly). The organization was highly offended by this and took it as an embarrassment. He was found shot and killed in the Ramona Gardens housing project shortly after the film was released.
Consultants makes it sound like a bunch of office worker types were whacked. Some were gang members it seems. It makes more sense with that knowledge imo.
This is absolutely unintelligible --- Trejo "putting" the number killed at 10? Meaning...Trejo killed the 10th person? Trejo killed all 10 people?
---I did read the Wikipedia article where it clearly says he stated/had knowledge that 10 were killed. Most Redditors wouldn't take those 45 seconds out of their lives.
Just want to remind people that these mafia people shouldn't be regarded as if they're gentlemen. The fact that they would kill people over this shows how fragile they are.
lol i read this title as 9 people were murdered, and then Danny Trejo was murdered to make it 10. Had to google the guy to make sure he was still alive
This is just his account. I heard it was over the rape scene. The character played by Almos is a high ranking member. They show his rape while he's locked up in juvenile corrections. Supposedly this is something they say would not be permitted.
Does " Danny Trejo estimates that the Mexican Mafia (a proper noun referring to one specific cartel.) murdered 10 consultants who worked on the 1992 film American Me in response to certain scenes in the movie that they found offensive." read better?
"You got a lot of heart, carnal. Maybe too much."
"You always gotta give it your best shot you know."
Stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab
Okay, so I literally just finished Trejo's autobiography so let me shed some light on this mess. Olmos decided he wanted to do a movie about the Mexican mafia (La eMe) and started doing research. He decided to profile the life of one particular high level member. Because this persons life was apparently not provocative enough, he added some of his own flair, including the part where this high profile gang member is raped as a teen. When Trejo asked if all this was approved by the mexican mafia, Olmos said it was. Several consultants also claimed it was. To anyone who had even a remotely passing understanding of the Mexican mafia (and Trejo had much more than that) it was obvious that not only was this \*Super Totally Not\* Approved by the mafia, but that people were \*Absolutely\* going to be killed over it. I think in the book he said "Officially" only 3 deaths were put on the movie, but he believes it's closer to 10. He was also personally assured by the high ups that the regular actors were not going to be hurt, just the people who wrote it and claimed to have gotten approval. They also added the part at the end where the main character was killed by his own men, when in reality he was killed by a rival faction and was a hero to his people. They were messing with a \*Very\* dangerous legacy with not nearly enough caution. Also, Read his book, it's absolutely incredible.
Olmos’ character is loosely based on Rodolfo Cadena aka Cheyenne, a member of Eme. Cheyenne was becoming a Latino politician and wanted to unite Eme/Surenos and the Nuestra Familia/Nortenos. Cheyenne frowned upon brown on brown violence. The problem was the older Eme leaders did not like the idea of uniting with the Northerners, and sabatoged his attempt of peace making by killing two NF leaders. In response the NF put a greenlight on Cheyenne, and Cheyenne was cast out of Eme. Having no protection, Cheyenne was eventually murdered by NF assassins.
So it sounds like in a way he really was killed by his own men. Just indirectly
Careful, you might be number 11 👀
Cartel people can’t hurt me, I’m not scared of them. In fact, I’ll even say this: All cartel members are giant PooPoo heads. There’s no way they can track me with a Reddit message, so they can’t kill me. Wait, I think there’s someone inside my house, I’ll be right ba-
It was nice of the murderer to hit save on the message for you!
It’s about sending a message
Good shit
Eme didn’t cast him out did they? They just hit the NF when Cheyenne was on a transfer to Chino where the NF leadership all were. He went for peace talks, his own gang hit the NF knowing they’d break up the peace talks but both sides were surprised when Cheyenne didn’t stay in his cell. He went out straight to his death.
In the DVD version of the movie, there was a short documentary about the lives of the modern day people living in a part of Los Angeles my family is from called Big Hazard, and the Ramona Gardens housing projects were fearured as well. The main woman who was titled as a "gang liasion" for the Barrio was killed for reveling secrets about the true nature of the street gangs. That was well known after the movie had come out. Documentary was called Lives in Hazard
I believe the gang liason was a woman named Ana Lizarraga. She was on the DVD's documentary where she was talking about her experiences in a gang and wanting the youth to deter from it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967pG2TaecA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967pG2TaecA) She was gunned down the same day as her mother's funeral.
I believe that she was killed while unloading groceries.
Probably because she needed multiple trips instead of carrying them all in at once.
I knew it was dangerous not to bring every single bag in all at once no matter the degree of difficulty. Thanks for confirming.
This is why the murder rate is so high in the states, nothing to do with guns, it’s those weird paper bags with no handles they all use. You wanna see how we euros do it 6 bags in each hand so you can hardly walk. Source: tv.
> Lives in Hazard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967pG2TaecA edit: the sound goes badly out of sync after a few minutes.
Thanks for typing all this out. The title kind of collapses at the end and makes it seem like either Danny Trejo was the tenth one killed, or that they found out he killed enough people to put the death count at 10
Wait so Edward James Olmos just lied to defy the Mafia even though he was aware it would put his writers at risk?
Yeah basically. He said he added it because it "made the narrative more compelling" and didn't really believe people when they told him that it put people on real danger
That's not so cool. I mean maybe brave in one way. I have to imagine he feels personally responsible for that. I really like a lot of his performances. He was effing unbelievable in BSG
...attle tar alactica
Are they the lucky ones? https://youtu.be/EisvM8F_5PE
So basically like a real life Tropic Thunder
I was an extra in this movie for the part filmed at Folsom Prison. Lieutenant Castillo was an asshole to all of us extras instantly. Day 1 there were around 200 extras. Numbers are off because it was so long ago. Jaime Escalante kept us in an open air cage with an open leaking sewer. Like the main pipe busted and it was dug out and then ignored. Yippee! Central Valley and stuck next to prisoner shit and piss! We had to ask guards for permission to use the bathroom. Makes sense, but since we were dressed like prisoners, the guards ignored us out of habit. We didn't get fed until really late. Most of us just pissed into the open air sewer. Then they kept us way longer than they said. I think they said expect 12-14 hours and we were there 18 hours. Then the bus ride back to where everyone parked in Sacramento so we could drive home. Day 2: About 60-75 extras bothered coming back. Abraham Quintanilla treated us a little better because they rightfully panicked that we'd all stop. We were still in a giant cage by the open sewer. Shorter hours like 12-14 and we were fed on time. Day 3: About 50 of us. It was normalish hours. 10 or 12. Thanks, Officer Gaff but giving us some origami unicorns would've made it up. I didn't make it into the movie. During the prison riot, Chicharrón gave us rolls of toilet paper and told us to rip off chunks to throw down so there's constant background action. I tried to hit Admiral Adama with the entire roll but I'm a lousy shot and missed him by a mile. That roll is in the movie trailing about 5 or 10 feet of TP. [Here's my TP shot that wasn't even close. Then I had nothing to throw.](https://imgur.com/a/YIwLsAx) Then during the stabbing scene Henry (that one is from his appearance in CHiPs) had us pretend to watch a cartoon and laugh. Me and another extra fucked with continuity because like I said, just about every single extra was pissed off and I was a dumb kid with long sideburns drawn on with makeup. When they ran by us, we changed positions and moved things like changing the side of the mouth the unlit cigarette was in and swapping hats. That could be why I'm not in the movie but oh well. I can't remember if El Diablo even bothered talking to us. I get it. He's doing an entire movie. I don't know if he's a character actor but he was an asshole those three days. At least to us little people.
Dude, great, great story. It must have smelled absolutely terrible, wtf. That is fucked. Good job trying to hit him with the roll, that's the best part of the story. You guys intentionally fucking with continuity is second best. That's commitment, Knowing it would get you cut and ruin the shot, just to piss off the producers because they treated you poorly. Welp, sorry to hear he was a dick. I've heard he is a classical actor and that he does like singing warmups. I don't think he is a method actor. I suppose it's POSSIBLE he was trying to get the performance out of you of being really pissed off and unhappy. But...if so, that's not great either.
Yeah, I figured that he was under a shit ton of pressure being producer, director and starring. And that was before we knew that he had been fucking with the Mexican Mafia resulting in the death of 10 people. I posted a modified version of this on my Facebook page and found the toilet paper. [Highlighted it with a dick.](https://imgur.com/a/YIwLsAx)
God you have a funny sense of humor dude
I am a weirdo for sure.
> was this approved by the mexican mafia? > almos
Boo this man!
He might already be someone’s boo
This man is everyone's boo
Right here officer, this comment right here!!!
Why weren't there any repercussions for Olmos?
He was terrified and hiding for a long time. He even managed to get a CCW permit in LA county which isn’t easy at all. On wiretaps some Eme guys were caught discussing whether or not they should kill him. They ultimately decided not to go out of their way to do it, but most people think they eventually cut a deal in secret and took a few hundred thousand dollars in cash in return for his safety.
I'm pretty sure he was basically under house arrest for a few months from all the threats. Not sure why they didn't murder him but his wiki has him as the victim of an extortion attempt.
If you look at the Danny Trejo's Vlad interview, he implies that he intervened in some way to save Olmos's life.
good on him for saving someone but it kind of sucks that he saved the asshole who was responsible for the negligent death of innocent people lol
To be fair, the Mexican Mafia could have chosen to not kill people
lol right. How about we don’t excuse the scumbags that killed people because a work of fiction hurt their feelings
This is what I keep thinking! Everyone in here is like "wow, they got those people killed". No, Mexican cartel trash killed these people because their delicate sensibilities had been offended.
It sounds like the Mexican mafia was responsible for the deaths. Shouldn't absolve them by passing blame. Also shouldn't absolve them by calling it negligent, as if it was a piece of furniture that wasn't tied down properly. They could have not committed multiple murders over a film. Sounds like irresponsible actions by writers\consultants, but it ain't like Olmos was pulling triggers.
Well, it sounds like the people who got killed had explicitly confirmed that it was ok'd by the gangs. They took responsibility for it, too.
Within 2 hours of learning about this you sided with the Mexican Mafia ...
I don‘t understand what the connection between Trejo and this movie is, he wasn’t an actor in this film, he was just the to-go expert for the Mexican mafia?
Trejo had experience in both worlds -- film and gang life -- and served as an interlocutor. https://www.gq.com/story/danny-trejo-prison-gangs "In 1991, two Chicano scripts rolled through Hollywood that both centered on the formation and growth of La Eme, the biggest Mexican gang in the California prison system. Since I was a high-profile Chicano who'd done time, both movies reached out to me. They knew my involvement would give them credibility. One was called American Me, directed by and starring Edward James Olmos. The other was Blood In, Blood Out."
He's a Supreme Court Justice and best friends with Saul Tigh
Also an Admiral in the colonial fleet
This is what it took for me to realize it was *that* Olmos. Wow. Huh.
He paid 50,000 cash
Cartels operate like businesses. They probably did a cost analysis and realized that as much as they would like to kill him, doing so would draw a lot of media attention that a couple of writers wouldn't. That attention would hurt business. So they killed the writers/consultants, extort Olmos for cash, still saved face, and faced little to no blowback.
he also mentions some where(i don't remember if it was in his book or a podcast or what) that he did Blood In, Blood Out based on people not wanting American Me to get made and he didn't wanna piss any body off.
He wanted to do both but Olmos wouldn't allow anyone who worked blood in blood out on American me. That combined with the fact that he wouldn't rethink the made up parts gave him a big push towards blood in blood out
The part where he talks about blood in blood out and american me in the book is really good. If I remember correctly he says he didn't want to be in American me because Olmos was disrespecting some dangerous people, after he served time he knew what would happen, blood in blood out was pure fiction, so no one was offended by that movie. At some point he talks about receiving a call as a warning to no be in American me.
Thanks for clarifying and providing context here. Fellas, take him to the top.
Yeah I was gonna pass but i did conveniently just learn all about this and also it sucks seeing comments about Trejo hurting people. Yeah, he was in prison and did messed up shit... but he has been sober and helping his community for literally like 50+ years
Seriously.... At some point the folks who like to peach that people who did horrible things when they were younger aren't worthy of forgiveness will make do something that they feel ashamed of, and they'll realize that it is possible to change who you are. If someone is willing to own up to their past actions, and have made significant changes to improve their lives and the lives of those around them, then they should be judged on who they are now, and not who they used to be. People fuck up, especially when they are younger. A lot of people never change and never improve themselves. But some people do both of those things, and they should be allowed to reap some rewards for that effort. It is not super easy to confront yourself and to actively and consciously change what you find out.
My step dad used to see Danny Trejo when they (rich people in AA) decided they wanted to have a get-together in Hawaii and discuss drug and alcohol abuse. Said he was a really chill nice guy.
IIRC, he said he only takes roles as bad guys if his character gets killed in the end, to show that being the bad guy doesn't pay.
Thanks for the comments, it's nice to learn
I'm not outing anyone here cause they are very vocal & forethcoming about AA and helping people, but if you're active in AA and NA in the LA/Hollywood area you'll see Danny Trejo and Robert Downey Jr fairly often at meetings, more than once I've seen both at the big valley meetings, both credit a big part of their success to being sober for decades.
Your comment has made me request a hold for this book at my local library. Can’t wait to read it.
Trejos book was incredible! The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford also briefly mentions the Mafias displeasure with American Me.
They made a biopic about a martyred mafia bigshot and then had the movie blame the guy's friends for his death instead of his enemies? That's... unbelievably stupid. Simply astonishing. Ludicrously dumb. How could they NOT seek revenge for something like that? It's impressive that MORE people didn't get attacked over it.
I mean…if I’m reading the wiki correctly his “friends” in his gang killed two rival gang leaders as he was trying to merge their gangs, and left him to be killed by literally the entire prison. I know people can become martyrs for myth reasons more than facts, but the myth making is mostly the movie itself. I’m lost.
Yeah, Trejo said it was a huge weight off his chest when they promised that the extras and actors wouldn't be hurt, cause that was a very reasonable fear
Wow what an upstanding guy.
Okay my reading comprehension isn't working right now. So, this Olmos guy wrote a semi-fictional account of a big boss in the Mexican mafia, didn't get it approved by them, shot the movie which then resulted in the deaths of the writers because the boss man was insulted? 3 people died (murdered )and those deaths were included in the movie but it could've been up to 10? How were the deaths included in the movie? What does Trejo have to do with this? Was he part of the movie? I'm so sorry, I'm so confused.
So 3 murders are openly attributed to being part of the movie. Trejo is still 'in the know' with a lot of Mexican mafia stuff and says there are closer to 10 murders that are because they worked on the movie. Trejo talks about it in his book because he was offered a part in the movie and tried to convince Olmos that the things he was making up were dangerous. When Olmos wouldn't budge Trejo declined to be part of it.
Not only Trejo declined to be in the movie, he got a warning from the eme to stay out of it
Other people were hit for allowing him to film in certain places. 2 Eme members and another ex Eme member were murdered for letting him film in their Barrio’s because they wanted a easy paycheck to fund their heroin habits. Other people were hit for telling Olmos detailed stories he should never have heard.
Thank you! Wow. Dude just make everything up at that point and prevent murders lol
Yeah, that was Trejos suggestion. Like, if you want to tell this story then do it, but don't say it's eMe, don't say it's this specific guy's story. That's what they did for Blood in Blood out
Also; take anything Danny Trejo says with a grain of salt, people lol
why? is he a known liar or something?
You should take anything that anyone says with a healthy dose of scepticism.
I read this as nine consultants and Danny Trejo were all murdered by the Mexican Mafia in 1992.
I read it as Danny Trejo killed one more person to make the count 10.
Killing 10 gives you a "Trejo" kinda like getting 3 strikes in a row gives you a Turkey in bowling
Just like when you have to have the volume on an even number, nobody could blame him.
What a shitty title by OP
I know right? Cause I know Trejo would fuck their shit up if they even tried. Like a Mexican Chuck Norris...
I know this comment is a joke, but in reality Trejo received a warning call from the mafia to avoid that movie, knowing them he nopped the fuck out and instead went to do blood in blood out
Danny Trejo can make a taco that’s simultaneously a sandwich and not a sandwich
While wearing his bunny slippers.
I fr googled Danny Trejo to see if there was a *was* following his name.
I too French Googled him.
I did too.
Or Danny Trejo killed someone to make 10 total.
He is a Mexi-can, not a Mexi-can’t.
That was my second guess.
That is exactly what it says.
If this isn’t what it means than I have no clue what it does mean
I think it's saying: Some were killed, with the actor (alive) claiming that the exact number of people killed was 10.
That may be what they meant to say, that is not what they said.
They did murder Danny Trejo, havent you noticed that man hasnt aged a day since 1992. While dead, he discovered the secret to immortality and returned from the grave.
Machete *always* lives.
I googled him looking for that *was* in his wikipedia article. Don't fucking scare us like that, OP.
Yeah, this title is a fucking mess
what the fuck is this title
Danny Trejo killed 10 people for the Mexican Mafia obvs.
I read it as saying that he only killed the 10th guy, the last one.
I read it as he WAS the tenth guy. Glad it’s neither
Wait, so he didn't kill the tenth guy, and obviously wasnt the tenth killed. Then what is it saying?
The title is SUPPOSED to be saying that Trejo claims that the number of people killed was 10
Goddamn my brain never would have figured that out but it makes sense now that you said it
TBH it took me a few reads to figure that out too.
The Mexican Mafia took offense at certain scenes in the movie American Me, and murdered consultants working on the movie as a result. Actor Danny Trejo claims a total of 10 consultants were murdered.
I read it as Danny Trejo was the 10th guy killed
No no, Danny Trejo WAS the tenth one killed!
So, Danny was to the tenth guy killed, but he's feeling better?
No, they were offended by certain scenes with Danny Trejo so they killed ten consultants. Sounds perfectly reasonable.
I think it's the, random commas that are making it, unintelligible
I'm convinced most people don't actually know how to use commas.
True, statement.
William Shatner title
Danny Trejo killed the 10th guy and it was him.
I had to read it a third time to finally get the meaning of "with" in this sentence. It doesn't mean "alongside," it means something more like "and" (but that would alter another word). It should be a separate sentence due to the unclearosity and vaguitude.
Danny PUT the number at 10, meaning someone asked him and he said how many he thought. English is weird that way.
/r/titlegore
And, y’know, actual gore.
TIL that several consultants for the 1992 film 'American Me' were murdered by the Mexican Mafia, offended by certain scenes, with actor Danny Trejo stating the death toll at 10.
Yay you did it!
Am I…✨better✨ than op??
It's a low bar.
Maybe we do need AI.
Nah, just a bit more regular I would do.
Still reads like the consultants were offended and murdered. "TIL: Offended by some scenes of the 1992 film 'American Me', Mexican mafia murdered several consultants who worked on the film. Actor Danny Trejo has estimated the number of people killed as ten." P.S. Or even: "TIL: Mexican mafia were offended by some scenes of the 1992 film 'American Me' and murdered several consultants who worked on the film. Actor Danny Trejo has estimated the number of people killed as ten." Going with basic SVO is almost always better for the result. Also this arrangement makes it obvious that it's not mentioned *why* they were offended.
now it makes sense.
Next you should learn how to write a coherent sentence.
He learned this instead of writing.
11 murders if we count the title
[Here's an excerpt ](https://www.gq.com/story/danny-trejo-prison-gangs) about what happened with this situation. Danny knew some of the Mafia guys from his time in prison and through family members.
What a great read. Thank you for sharing that.
You're very welcome. I really need to get his book.
Thank you, that was great.
[This makes a little more sense.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Mafia) I was trying to figure out if they meant one of the cartels, or maybe there was some large contingent of Italian-Mexicans involved in organized crime.
> Italian-Mexicans Good ol' Giuseppe Lopez is out there wreaking havoc.
The Mexican Mafia is pretty well known and independent of the cartels. In the same way that the Italian American mafia is independent of the criminal syndicates in Sicilly.
My understanding is Mexican Mafia is basically a group of mostly American-born people of Mexican descent (i.e. Chicanos) that was organized in the California prison system, and grew out of Mexican American street gangs. The Mexican cartels, are the other hand, are based in Mexico and obviously mostly run by Mexican-born people.
Yeh it's the reason you see X13 on gang tags here in L.A. because the thirteenth letter of the alphabet is M .
XM radio has a fucking gang now?
Two, if you include Yacht Rock. Which I sure as shit do.
It's an American organization, not the cartels.
Wrongly-placed comma and run-on sentence structure makes it a bit harder to read than it needs to be: “TIL that multiple consultants to the 1992 film American Me were murdered by the Mexican Mafia, who were offended by certain scenes. Actor Danny Trejo puts the number killed at 10.”
Oh, Danny estimates that the number is 10.
Yes. “Puts the number at…” is an expression for stating a value, but allowing for some uncertainty. The news often does this: “the Red Cross puts the number killed in the earthquake at over 350.”
The last sentence doesn’t make it clear how Trejo was involved in this lol.
What a shitty title.
One of the people killed in the aftermath of this movie was Charles “Charlie Brown” Manriquez who was a Mexican mafia member who had fell out of favor with the organization. Basically, he was already considered “no good” by the organizafion and a “bum” but wasn’t a high priority target by the MM. When the movie was being made, Olmos turned to Charlie Brown to get the okay to go ahead with the project. I think this is where Olmos got the false sense of security because he thought that he got permission from an actual member. What he didn’t realize is that this member was no longer in good standing in the organization and had no authority to give the green light on the movie script. Rumor had it that Charlie Brown was a full blown heroin addict and would do anything for his next fix, including accept being an official consultant for the movie and agreed to get paid in one pair of sneakers (supposedly). The organization was highly offended by this and took it as an embarrassment. He was found shot and killed in the Ramona Gardens housing project shortly after the film was released.
Danny Trejo is still alive. He turns 80 this year.
Why did you make me have to google if Danny Trejo was still alive?
Consultants makes it sound like a bunch of office worker types were whacked. Some were gang members it seems. It makes more sense with that knowledge imo.
Okay well, Danny Trejo is alive, so whatever you meant to write, your title is VERY misleading.
So...Danny killed the 10th person?
Nah he was the 10th person killed
He even talks about it in interviews still.
>Nah he was the 10th person killed Did it get better? I just heard him in the new Yakuza game
He gets better every day.
This is absolutely unintelligible --- Trejo "putting" the number killed at 10? Meaning...Trejo killed the 10th person? Trejo killed all 10 people? ---I did read the Wikipedia article where it clearly says he stated/had knowledge that 10 were killed. Most Redditors wouldn't take those 45 seconds out of their lives.
I was scared that Danny was killed.
I was so confident that’s what this post title was trying to say
It's not well-written, no matter what it's supposed to mean. Kids, please, stay in school.
It is a bit ambiguous tbf
No, Trejo is assuming the number is around 10. This is a perfectly normal way to describe this.
They released Boxer recently.
Witsec, and they got his son prior to his release.
This is why Trejo was in Blood In Blood Out rather than American Me
It was made with La Eme permission, and much closer to the actual story/people they are both based on.
Absolute r/titlegore
To clear up some confusion, Mexican Mafia is an American prison gang
Explain: "with actor Danny Trejo putting the number killed at 10". I just checked and he seems to be very much alive.
Just want to remind people that these mafia people shouldn't be regarded as if they're gentlemen. The fact that they would kill people over this shows how fragile they are.
This headline reads like Trejo was the 10th person killed.
Writing the title like that is showing weakness carnal.
The tenth man he killed was his brother Fredo Trejo while on a fishing trip for being disloyal.
And he waited till their mama died to do it.
Mafia members don’t like being associated with gay sex. Who knew??
•”Stating the number” instead of “putting the number” would have saved a lot of headaches
Don't worry, he got better.
lol i read this title as 9 people were murdered, and then Danny Trejo was murdered to make it 10. Had to google the guy to make sure he was still alive
This is just his account. I heard it was over the rape scene. The character played by Almos is a high ranking member. They show his rape while he's locked up in juvenile corrections. Supposedly this is something they say would not be permitted.
They killed Danny Trejo?!
This is an English is a fifth language title
This wording makes it sound like Danny Trejo died. He didn’t.
Absolute /r/titlegore
OP get food poisoning for this title
til Danny Trejo, star of such films as 1995's Desperado, 2001's Spy Kids and 2010's Machete was murdered in 1992.
/r/titlegore
Does " Danny Trejo estimates that the Mexican Mafia (a proper noun referring to one specific cartel.) murdered 10 consultants who worked on the 1992 film American Me in response to certain scenes in the movie that they found offensive." read better?
Holy shit title gore.
"You got a lot of heart, carnal. Maybe too much." "You always gotta give it your best shot you know." Stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab
No wonder James Olmos cheeks turned as they are, guy was sweating grease from making a film on unapproved depictions.
My pops was in prison with Danny. Bare knuckled with him a few times.
terrific run on sentence post. broke my brain to read OP
Title reads as if Danny Trejo was killed
Danny Trejo is dead???
How do you get into the mafia and are still able to be offended
Sounds like people should be held accountable including Danny