BACK THEN TO NOW
The Story of Vegas Don

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, when 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. By me never been involved with the law, I believed it and I was scared to death. I ended up getting sentenced to 3 years probation. 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,we were ranked #1, as being the ruthless gang in Durham. However, our biggest rival gang, The Few Crew wanted the #1 rank.

So they went out on rampages robbing, stealing, and even killing just to be the most feared gang. Our 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 even know anything about them but what we heard, all we knew 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 coke and then we'd go places looking for trouble which we seemed to always 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 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 night of her death, my best friend at that time Mark Peaks (now deceased) and I sat on a sidewalk, drank thunderbird 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 20, 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 the NDV 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 was guilty and before the judge sentenced me he stated; "I see that you have a lot of followers and because of that fact, I'm going to make an example out of you." 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. All the gang members that I ran the streets with are now dead, most of them brutally murdered or either 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 a 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 for me to finally see life for what it truly is.

I was release at age 26, but before I was released I had made plans and one of them was to never go back to prison. I've been released for over a decade now. For the past four years, I've run my own business: "PHATNUM Music & Videos." I manage professional boxers and music entertainers. I also have a local TV show titled, "PHATNUM LIVE." I have been fortunate to have made acquaintances with a lot of famous people. I credit my success because I surround myself around successful people. On two different occasions, I've been shot, once in the head. In two other different incidents, I've been stabbed, each time someone was trying to take my life. I strongly believe that God has spared my life, so that I might 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, Founder of C4C