BACK THEN TO NOW
This is my story!

I was raised by my grandmother, my parents although living played a very small part in my life. My grandmother was very poor, but she did the best she could. At times we had nothing to eat yet she still managed to keep our spirits up. In school, I was popular, an above average student, and considered multi-talented. I lived in a house at times that didn’t have electricity or hot water. Which was very difficult and extremely embarrassing. So as a source of survival at age 12, I started snatching pocket books and committing petty crime.

This continued until age 16, I got arrested for purse snatching. I was taken to jail and was told that I was going to be sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was my 1st time involved with the law, I believe that I was facing 20 years and I was scared to death. I ended up getting sentenced to probation for 3 years. Unfortunately, I did not learn my lesson. I continued to live the life of a criminal and formed a gang called the North Durham Vice. By street standards, my gang was ranked #1, as being the ruthless gang in Durham. However, our biggest rival gang, The Few Crew wanted the #1 rank by any means. So they went out on rampages robbing, stealing, and even killing just to be the most feared gang.

My gang the “North Durham Vice” wasn’t going to lose our rank so we started going on our own rampages. That’s how ignorant we were, we were willing to hurt innocent people just for some stupid street rank. At age 18, I was deep into fast money, fast cars and fast women.

And at age 15, my younger brother became heavily involved in my gang activities. He became my sidekick and the streets named us Frank and Jesse James. We didn’t really know anything about the James Bros. but what we had heard, all we knew was that they carried a lot of guns and hurt a lot of people. We loved the thought of being compared to them. Alcohol and drugs became a big part of our life. We would get drunk, snort cocaine and then we’d go places looking for trouble which we always seemed to find.

"ALL MY LIFE PEOPLE USE TO TELL ME THAT I WOULD NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING."

Amazingly, I still managed to graduate. My only reason for doing so was to grant my grandmother’s only wish of me. Back then graduation was a very big accomplishment, especially to the older generations. Although I was this reckless street hoodlum, for the love and respect that I had for my grandma I graduated. To my disappointment, my grandmother died on the same morning of my graduation. I was devastated and extremely furious but most of all I was mad at God. How could he do this to me? How could he take the only person in my life that showed me love? That day of my grandmother's death, my best friend Mark Peaks(now deceased) and I sat on a sidewalk, drank thunder bird wine and cried like babies. That night I vowed to hurt anyone that crossed my path. I hated the world!

My street life continued filled with drug selling, drive by shootings, stick ups, shoot outs and fights. My younger brother got locked up for murder, and was serving a 17 year sentence. By age 19, almost every police officer in Durham knew me by my first name. I had numerous felony charges and four different court dates. My charges ranged from drug selling to attempted murder. Whenever I went to court, the court room would be packed with my N.D.V gang. My girlfriend also came to court with my four month old baby boy. I was on trial for shooting two guys in the leg outside a local night club. I expected that I would get some time but not much, since I hadn’t killed anyone. The verdict came back guilty and before the judge sentenced me he stated; “I see that you have a lot of followers and because of that fact, I am going to make an example out of you.” That moment the judge sentenced me to 30 years in prison. At that time, I blamed the judge, the DA and my lawyer. I felt like they put me in a jam but in reality I did it to myself. I thought prison was the worst thing that could ever happen to me but as I look back at my life. Prison was the best thing that happened to me, it saved my life. Nearly all the gang members that I ran the streets with are now dead, most of them was brutally murdered, incarcerated, or drug addicts. While serving my 30 year sentence, I went on a mission to get my time reduced. I knew prison wasn’t where I was suppose to end up. So I received assistance from an appellant defender and pleaded my case to the U.S Supreme Court. Before my sentence reduction, all my so-called friends, girlfriends and most of my family had wrote me off as gone. It took nearly three years to get the 30 year sentence reduced to 10 years. I ended up serving 5 years and it took me 4 years of those 5 years for me to finally see life for what it truly is.

"IF THERE IS NO WIND, ROW!"

I was release from prison at age 25, before my release I had made plans and set goals for myself. One goal was to never go back to prison. I’ve been released for over a decade now. I’ve ran my own business for over five years. “PHATNUM Music & Videos”. I’ve manage a professional champion boxer and various music entertainers. I also have produced a local TV show titled, “PHATNUM LIVE”, I have been fortunate to have made acquaintances with scores of A-List celebrities. I credit my success by surrounding myself around successful people. On two separate occasions, I’ve been shot, once point blank in the head. In two other different incidents, I’ve been stabbed, every incident someone was trying to take my life. I strongly believe that God has spared my life, so that I might help save someone else life. I’ve struggled, I know pain and I’ve been at the very bottom. No matter how much of a lost cause someone may seem to be, they can turn their life around.

This is my story........what’s yours?

Mr. Otis R. Lyons aka Vegas Don
Campaign4Change
Founder / CEO