Speaker 1: Welcome to Cindy Stampo Toughest Nails on WBZ News Radio
Speaker 1: ten thirty. Let's go, Samantha, Yes, mother, all right, work
Speaker 1: with me, honey. Are you going to introduce her? Yes, honey, no,
Speaker 1: you are. It was your experience that met her. I
Speaker 1: was just a sidekick that day. But you were there, right,
Speaker 1: I was there. Okay, you want to introduce yourself. Money,
Speaker 1: go ahead, you introduced.
Speaker 2: Your Hey, my name's Mel.
Speaker 1: We're going by Mel. Yeah, okay, Mel, now Melanie? Okay,
Speaker 1: forget Melanie. I like Mel better, easier for her. Mel's cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: three letter words A good for right now? Dogcat and out. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, I want you to give my listeners. Go ahead,
Speaker 1: tell the story how you and I met.
Speaker 2: I was at work.
Speaker 1: What's your work?
Speaker 2: I work in the lab at mass General Rago.
Speaker 1: What are you? What do you do there?
Speaker 2: I'm a phlebotomist. Okay, and told you I'm thirty years old.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: And I was at work and you were in the
Speaker 2: chair needing some assistance because they couldn't find it, didn't
Speaker 2: have neat assistance.
Speaker 1: Okay. Swamp sitting in the cheer and another woman is
Speaker 1: taking my blood and she put the needle in. Then
Speaker 1: she rejammed and I went and you're hurting me. And
Speaker 1: then you said, I'll take it from here, and you
Speaker 1: walked over. I think we went in my left arm
Speaker 1: and we found the bane. You went right in there smoothly.
Speaker 1: I didn't wasn't poked twice, and I didn't feel anything.
Speaker 1: I had no bruise. And at that point we started
Speaker 1: to talk, and I think I asked you how old
Speaker 1: you are, because that's a typical question. I will ask
Speaker 1: how old you are? Where are you from? What's your zodiacs?
Speaker 1: On my questions? Right?
Speaker 2: I think Mexico so much.
Speaker 1: And then I said to you said to me, what
Speaker 1: are you, Cindy? And I said I'm a cancer and
Speaker 1: you said, my brothers or my brother my brothers, right,
Speaker 1: we're both cancers. And I said, what do you mean
Speaker 1: they were?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they passed away.
Speaker 1: Okay, So there's why I want you to pick up
Speaker 1: the story. Okay, So and actually no, we're going to
Speaker 1: come back that. Just let's hold that off for a minute.
Speaker 1: Let's go back to when you were a young girl.
Speaker 1: I want you, I want people to hear what your
Speaker 1: life was at a young girl and how you changed
Speaker 1: it up so people know how we met now.
Speaker 2: Yes, and we connected just because we have the same
Speaker 2: kind of values and morals in life. And I had
Speaker 2: a hard time.
Speaker 1: At well those morals and values came a little bit
Speaker 1: later for you. Yes, Okay, I got there. That's how
Speaker 1: you get this, as long as they get.
Speaker 2: There, right. I had lost my son when I was
Speaker 2: around seventeen turning eighteen, and I kind of thought I
Speaker 2: was a dude for a little bit, and dude, yeah,
Speaker 2: I was on the streets, you know, doing things I
Speaker 2: wasn't supposed to be doing, hurting people because I wanted
Speaker 2: I don't know, I wanted everybody to feel how I
Speaker 2: was feeling at the moment.
Speaker 1: So you can basically throw a haymaker.
Speaker 2: Yeah you know what.
Speaker 1: The haymakers nice a good punch. Yeah, it's not nice,
Speaker 1: not nice, No, but you have the strength to throw it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's like like it's just like so much
Speaker 2: energy energy that you exert in a negative way, it's
Speaker 2: not even worth it. You have to leave people where
Speaker 2: they're at and learned that that's just their capacity they're
Speaker 2: in right now. And you can't do anything what control yourself.
Speaker 1: So from what age to what age, were you running
Speaker 1: and doing all the.
Speaker 2: Bad, bad things from eighteen till I was like twenty four.
Speaker 1: Okay, so at fifteen sixteen you were normal whatever normal
Speaker 1: young girl was.
Speaker 2: Kind of I kind of transitioned once I went to
Speaker 2: high school and kind of got brought into the world
Speaker 2: of like being a grown up too fast. Basically, yeah,
Speaker 2: we've all been there, yeah, and getting into things I
Speaker 2: shouldn't have been getting to, and I kind of got
Speaker 2: a little exposed, and you know, people didn't really like
Speaker 2: me and my brother so it was a lot of
Speaker 2: problems and then like why, well I don't know why.
Speaker 2: They just always you know, the dudes always had problems
Speaker 2: with my brothers, and I was always kid protective, so
Speaker 2: whatever problems were theirs were mine as well.
Speaker 1: How what's the difference in age between you and your brothers?
Speaker 2: Ranging from like who's flu to three five years some
Speaker 2: of them they are I'm the baby, I'm the youngest one.
Speaker 1: So but you stuck together as a family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was. I They never liked me to
Speaker 2: be a part of anything. But I just imagine your
Speaker 2: sibling getting hurt and you're just standing there like I
Speaker 2: couldn't do that.
Speaker 1: But were they better kids than you were. No, so
Speaker 1: everybody was in the same.
Speaker 2: Because they were ahead of me. So they had already
Speaker 2: gone intoto what they gone into. And then here I come, like,
Speaker 2: oh no, this isn't going to happen.
Speaker 1: So they want you to be a good kid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was up until high school and then I
Speaker 2: kind of like exploded. And then once my kid died,
Speaker 2: I just amplified it. I was like turned.
Speaker 1: Up, and what about your mom and dad at that
Speaker 1: time trying to control embarrassed.
Speaker 2: They were just embarrassed and disappointed. Like my family come
Speaker 2: from a literal jungle. Like my parents made out of
Speaker 2: a jungle. My dad's a businessman.
Speaker 1: Sucisse jungle.
Speaker 2: So caverd is west, yeah, okay, and it's ten islands
Speaker 2: in the middle of the ocean and most of it
Speaker 2: is like a jungle and then there's like parts of
Speaker 2: cities and stuff. It's very poor, especially back then they
Speaker 2: were just farming and stuff like that. Both my parents
Speaker 2: had to quit school and help their parents farm. Kind
Speaker 2: of a few clothes, one two pair of shoes deal.
Speaker 2: Growing up, they had it really hard. They came to
Speaker 2: this country when they were young, before they were twenty
Speaker 2: and worked and you know, my mom's been like a
Speaker 2: CNA her whole life, but she makes she so she
Speaker 2: does well wow, yeah.
Speaker 1: Like okay, So they were immigrants, yes, and they came
Speaker 1: here the legal way.
Speaker 2: Legal way, and my dad brought over more than half
Speaker 2: of his family here. He got here, did what he
Speaker 2: was supposed to do god as citizenship because back then,
Speaker 2: when you got your citizenship, you can bring someone. Then
Speaker 2: they have to go get this citizenship through the process
Speaker 2: and then they can get somebody else.
Speaker 1: So then he gets five hunds dollars three meals and
Speaker 1: then it gets so fun.
Speaker 2: No, my dad busted his ass studied. I used to
Speaker 2: go to night school. My dad used to go to
Speaker 2: school at New Bedford High School at night, and I
Speaker 2: would go with him and help him with his like
Speaker 2: English and stuff like that, because if you don't know
Speaker 2: this language, it's very hard to pick up because our tongue,
Speaker 2: our language is very heavy tongued.
Speaker 1: Our languages.
Speaker 2: Yeah, cave Verdian. So I feel like like Bundia. It's
Speaker 2: like kind of like a broken down version of Creole,
Speaker 2: I would say, like a slang version almost. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I just it's just amazing, Like my parents are just.
Speaker 1: You know, looking at you, and they're pretty face to you,
Speaker 1: as in I smile to think that you were throwing
Speaker 1: haymakers back in the day.
Speaker 2: You know, I was such a but you know.
Speaker 1: We all will since some form of our lives at
Speaker 1: some point. People that are honest, right, Like, yeah, back
Speaker 1: in the seventies and eighties we jammed up to I mean,
Speaker 1: but this is good. That was then. We weren't using
Speaker 1: guns and we weren't doing.
Speaker 2: What yeah what, you know, it's even worse. I'm thankful
Speaker 2: that I was around what I was around back then
Speaker 2: because now it's like, you're just gonna You're gonna die.
Speaker 2: These kids are insane. Yeah, one of my friends got
Speaker 2: killed like almost, it's about to be a year almost
Speaker 2: by a twenty year old. It's twenty seven.
Speaker 1: Before I let you keep going forward. I'm gonna bring
Speaker 1: you back because that's what I have to do. Because
Speaker 1: we'll go from my ninety five and go to four
Speaker 1: ninety five, we'll go to enter seventeen, and then we'll
Speaker 1: be really heading down in Florida and we'll be in
Speaker 1: the Gaza Strip going Israel and then back to Italy.
Speaker 1: I don't know where we can go, so let's go
Speaker 1: back in time. You get in a bad place around
Speaker 1: eighteen years old. If from eighteen to twenty something, twenty
Speaker 1: what twenty four, you're running crazy? Yeah, just beating people
Speaker 1: up no reason. Yeah, you robbing them.
Speaker 2: No, I was just beating their butts. And then I
Speaker 2: got into a little issue. I went away for a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 1: And what was your mom and dad saying to you
Speaker 1: at that time?
Speaker 2: It was just hard. I was like, no, they didn't
Speaker 2: know what to do because they did the best. I
Speaker 2: feel like, as parents, you do the best you can
Speaker 2: with situations. Keep talking, you do the best you can
Speaker 2: with situations. So it's kind of hard when your kid's
Speaker 2: going through something. You have no idea what to do.
Speaker 2: So they try to take me on vacation, do things
Speaker 2: to Johanna Khana, but it's like, what.
Speaker 1: Oh, that thought would be right back. I'm sinny stumping you.
Speaker 1: Listen Toughest Nails on w BZ News Radio ten thirty.
Speaker 1: He'll be right back. Welcome back to Toughest Nails on
Speaker 1: WBZ News Radio ten three. Leave that sung going, No
Speaker 1: you never heard James Taylor, Huh.
Speaker 2: What's up? Girl? No? But I love it. I'm loving
Speaker 2: the guitar if.
Speaker 1: You actually listen to the song. He wrote this song
Speaker 1: at McClain's coming off Heroin. Yes we have, Yes, we have,
Speaker 1: Yes to the history on James Taylor and I've seen
Speaker 1: fire and rain Yes, m hm wow, So pick it
Speaker 1: up from them. My music always has a reason for
Speaker 1: what I play online.
Speaker 2: I love that well, I love my job, and I'm
Speaker 2: so thankful where I'm at in life. I always wish
Speaker 2: that I would live in Boston and work in Boston.
Speaker 1: And you're there, Yeah, but it's taken you some time
Speaker 1: to get there. So I'm gonna take you back again.
Speaker 1: So your mom and dad they're trying every which way
Speaker 1: to take you on vacations.
Speaker 2: Not be depressed and angry.
Speaker 1: And that wasn't doing anything. No, So what did it
Speaker 1: take you to hit your rock bottom to say, okay,
Speaker 1: I got to move this now, I don't want to
Speaker 1: be this girl When I went to jail, and that
Speaker 1: did a few But the thought of going to jail
Speaker 1: did not scare you. No, you have to say the
Speaker 1: word people can't see you. No, No thought of that Scharedule,
Speaker 1: not in that moment. And now you find yourself in jail.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was it was weird. Because I'm raised.
Speaker 2: It was so such a weird experience because you know,
Speaker 2: I walk in and I say hello and introduce myself
Speaker 2: to everyone, and they're all looking at me like I'm
Speaker 2: a literal psychotic person. No one even said a word
Speaker 2: back to me.
Speaker 1: No, everybody in the cell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you go through an intake unit. They make
Speaker 2: sure that you're not on drugs or anything like that,
Speaker 2: and then you go into an and you went on drugs, No,
Speaker 2: you go into besides you know, but whatever.
Speaker 1: But it's okay, you thought whatever, but okay, okay, okay, good.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you go through the intake process and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. But if you are, like, you know, a
Speaker 2: part of a street gang whatever, like you have to
Speaker 2: also go through and take and stay in there or whatever.
Speaker 1: So you had your own streak gang that you were
Speaker 1: involved in.
Speaker 2: Basically, it was like I was attached to and I
Speaker 2: went out and I went they put me into the
Speaker 2: unit and I walk in and just say hey, hi everyone,
Speaker 2: I'm Melanie and nice to meet you, and not a
Speaker 2: person set a word back. Okay, So I just went
Speaker 2: up to my style. This show what mesself was. I
Speaker 2: literally didn't come out until the next morning. I come
Speaker 2: downstairs for a child, that's what they would call a child.
Speaker 2: And someone throws like the newspaper on the table and
Speaker 2: they're like, how are you this normal and calm right now?
Speaker 2: And this is what you're in trouble for. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: because I didn't do nothing, girl, yeah me, I my problem.
Speaker 2: It'll get sorted out, like I know, like you know
Speaker 2: the consequences that come with the things that you're doing
Speaker 2: as an as even a teen and adult, when you're
Speaker 2: raised correctly and you do things you're not supposed to
Speaker 2: be doing, you know, consciously, subconsciously, your conscience is always
Speaker 2: on your back. Like so you did have a conscious yes,
Speaker 2: But it was like I was just fighting it, like okay,
Speaker 2: like my I'm gonna led my demons when I want
Speaker 2: to be mad. I want to feel this way because
Speaker 2: I don't want to feel the pain of losing my kid.
Speaker 2: Like I couldn't out my child, I could do anything.
Speaker 2: I just sit there and let him pass away, you know.
Speaker 2: So it was like I didn't want to deal with
Speaker 2: that at all.
Speaker 1: And how how did you pass away?
Speaker 2: I basically had an infection in my universe, so I
Speaker 2: gave birth too early and then Rhode Island. It's against
Speaker 2: a law of recessitated child that's under a certain amount
Speaker 2: of weeks. I was like one week, shy being five months,
Speaker 2: so they would have literally just crushed him if they
Speaker 2: try to like do CPR or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But that that that's in some states people boord up
Speaker 1: to that age, right, Yeah, but this still affected you
Speaker 1: and just swung you the way it swung you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was not nice.
Speaker 1: Do you think you were going to go down that
Speaker 1: path either way? And that's your your out.
Speaker 2: No, I wasn't. I was in college to be like
Speaker 2: criminal justice. I wanted to be like little a judge
Speaker 2: and like like Supreme Court and be changing laws and stuff. Yes,
Speaker 2: because look at the difference. Now I'm in the medical
Speaker 2: fields and I want to be a trauma surgeon.
Speaker 1: Like, what do you think you went through a depression?
Speaker 1: What do you think happened to me?
Speaker 2: I think it was a depression mixed with a little
Speaker 2: bit of PC at a young age. Like once once
Speaker 2: my kid died, they made me go on birth control.
Speaker 2: I had no choice. I had to go see a psychiatrist. Automatically.
Speaker 2: I'm freaking seventeen, like just about to turn eighteen. And
Speaker 2: they're just like, oh, yeah, you're depressed. Here's some freaking
Speaker 2: fifty milligrams of Sarah. Will you'll be isis and go
Speaker 2: to therapy. My parents are going to listen to the doctors.
Speaker 2: They're supposed to know what they're doing. They're supposed to
Speaker 2: give you a proper land. It's that's you correctly that
Speaker 2: they don't. Seventeen year old on a fifty milligram dose
Speaker 2: of Sarah quill Are you delusional? It literally makes you
Speaker 2: feel like a zombie. You don't feel anything. You're just
Speaker 2: like an empty shell. And I feel like it made
Speaker 2: me even worse because now I can't feel nothing.
Speaker 1: Now there's no pain.
Speaker 2: It's like the Hulk at all times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, emotionless.
Speaker 2: It's not healthy. You people need to get in there
Speaker 2: to get through it and clean it up the freak up.
Speaker 1: Sorry, it's okay, you know what you're doing. But it's like,
Speaker 1: come on, so you see the world for what it
Speaker 1: really is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like these meds are just it's almost
Speaker 2: like feel like it's like my third eye opened up.
Speaker 2: If I didn't go that route and I went to
Speaker 2: the justice system, Like if I didn't go through the
Speaker 2: justice system to see what it was really like. I
Speaker 2: don't think I would have switched to even and even
Speaker 2: all my FLI like being close to who I was
Speaker 2: close with and losing who I lost, like watching people
Speaker 2: I love die like. I don't think I would have
Speaker 2: chosen the medical fields if I was already in the
Speaker 2: legal fields.
Speaker 1: And it's like, okay, so now I'm gonna bring you
Speaker 1: back again. That's okay, No, this is good. I like this,
Speaker 1: and people need to hear this, because you did a
Speaker 1: three sixty in your life like most people can't even do.
Speaker 1: Most people can't change it up, and when they do,
Speaker 1: we call them, uh, what's it called? OG's right, the
Speaker 1: O g's try to come out. But you're young. The
Speaker 1: young will listen to you. You're only thirty years old.
Speaker 1: You're young. It's it's easy to listen to a thirty
Speaker 1: year old. And it's you a guy that tries to say, look,
Speaker 1: i've been I've spent you know, ten cents in jail,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. They don't kill these kids. They don't care.
Speaker 2: They're not listening.
Speaker 1: So now you're in jail for how long?
Speaker 2: I uh, it was thirty days. They sentenced me to
Speaker 2: ninety because they found me dangerous, and then my lawyer
Speaker 2: got me out in thirty days.
Speaker 1: And then the thirty days were you afraid to be
Speaker 1: there at all?
Speaker 2: No? Like I told you, I walked in sell hello
Speaker 2: to everybody. Like one person tried me, but I was
Speaker 2: just like, we can just go find you myself, but
Speaker 2: you better leave me the alone after this.
Speaker 1: So that's it. No one, No one's gonna.
Speaker 2: No and everyone it's so nuts. Everyone just treats me
Speaker 2: like a baby everywhere I go. Not the baby, but
Speaker 2: like like I don't know what the energy is of
Speaker 2: me or what I give off. It's just like everywhere
Speaker 2: I go, even at like work is out, I'm just
Speaker 2: not baby. But I'm just treated as like what a
Speaker 2: nice person, Yeah, like a young little like they would
Speaker 2: do my hair and braids before my court days. They
Speaker 2: threaded my eyebrows for the woman liked you. Oh my god,
Speaker 2: they were so nice. They were all older than me.
Speaker 2: A lot of them have passed away. My sally passed away.
Speaker 2: God bless hers souls.
Speaker 1: Sorry, but yeah, try anything on you sexually in there? No,
Speaker 1: So is that all overrated in jail?
Speaker 2: Or is it? Yes? It is? I feel like TV
Speaker 2: and all stuff, and especially for the women's side. The
Speaker 2: men's side, it's like in a zoo.
Speaker 1: You were in central though, right, No, it was state. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so but over the men's it's like a bunch of crazy.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's like an a zoo. It's absolute zoo. I
Speaker 2: would be you. You'd have to fight.
Speaker 1: There wasn't one tough girl that wanted.
Speaker 2: To Yeah, there was one, but I told her we
Speaker 2: can go on the setle and fight right now, but
Speaker 2: it's about to be done. After that, you're not about
Speaker 2: to be antagonized and not about to be nine else,
Speaker 2: Like we're about to get that and that say it's done, And.
Speaker 1: Then you would have watch just kicked a Biden and
Speaker 1: called it a day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then she was like, oh, I like you, Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: what did you think I was about to make Like
Speaker 2: I'm a nice person. I'm not going to give off.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to kill you. But it's like,
Speaker 2: don't come for me. I'm not going to come for you,
Speaker 2: like I just wanted.
Speaker 1: To come for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, you see Mortal Combat, you know them special moves. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 2: make me take one.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna show she's my new body.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: By the way, okay, so now let's go. Now you've
Speaker 1: stepped it up and you have got out of jail,
Speaker 1: and you said, okay, it's time to.
Speaker 2: What changed my life?
Speaker 1: And then the introm Did you have both your brothers
Speaker 1: living while you were in jail? Yeah, so while you're
Speaker 1: in jail you get out. Were they pissed to you
Speaker 1: when you got sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And the people that I was with, because it
Speaker 2: was like, why would you ever you know, put that
Speaker 2: her in that type of situation knowing.
Speaker 1: So your brother's are upset with the people that you're
Speaker 1: hanging with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and me of course too, Like I took accountability.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like even when my parents try to bail
Speaker 2: me on stuff like that, and I got a lawyer
Speaker 2: like I'm just like no, I'll handle it myself. Like
Speaker 2: I knew what I was doing, and I chose to
Speaker 2: do what I chose. So I got to reap the
Speaker 2: concussio prief quessions. You know what I mean. You can't
Speaker 2: expect to be out here.
Speaker 1: And right now mom and dad are completely embarrassed. No
Speaker 1: now for you, No, no, back then.
Speaker 2: Back then? Yeah, that's I mean. People are talking crap
Speaker 2: about me. They like forced the situation. Like, you know,
Speaker 2: I was old and on a situation, so you know,
Speaker 2: I just looked like an I was just trying to
Speaker 2: like kill people around the school and all was crazy
Speaker 2: and like so you just look kogle. Yes, So it's
Speaker 2: like people are talking crap all the time. It's like,
Speaker 2: you know, you're a kid. But unfortunately, the circumstances are
Speaker 2: gonna say otherwise.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course people are gonna talk. Yeah, well that
Speaker 1: I thought we was going to break. I'm city Stumble
Speaker 1: And you listen to Tapes Nails on w BZ News
Speaker 1: Radio ten thirty. We'll be right back and welcome back
Speaker 1: to Tapes Nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. And
Speaker 1: we're in the studio with Mel. I think Sammy's right there,
Speaker 1: but okay, I'm glad you're right here. Mel. Talk to
Speaker 1: me about something. You still live in the same area
Speaker 1: that you grew up, which is what's that for New
Speaker 1: Bedford in the last ten years. How much worse to
Speaker 1: New Bedford get with crime and gangs and everything in
Speaker 1: the last decade? Worse? Better at the same I.
Speaker 2: Would say worse and everyone. I feel like people always
Speaker 2: think like one generation is always complaining about the next
Speaker 2: and I totally get that. But I feel like my generation,
Speaker 2: I forget what we're called millennials. I don't know, I
Speaker 2: hate that whole, I know, but I feel like my generation,
Speaker 2: thirty year olds or whatever. I feel the thirty year
Speaker 2: olds like we, yeah, we tripped up and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: But a lot of us try to do our best
Speaker 2: every day and try every day. And it's like, but
Speaker 2: you come from a good family, and ya, they're amazing. Okay,
Speaker 2: a lot of kids don't come from that, right, No,
Speaker 2: And but I have friends that are doing amazing.
Speaker 1: She's literally like the last year of the monial and
Speaker 1: then what comes after them? Gen z.
Speaker 2: Yeah those judges, girl, Even at McDonald's, they had the
Speaker 2: slowest energy. I just went in there for me, for you.
Speaker 2: Oh my girl, Can I just use the machine I
Speaker 2: used to work here when I was fourteen. Let me
Speaker 2: just do the think what is going on?
Speaker 1: There's no in between. There's no pep in this step. No,
Speaker 1: it's either that like no pep in their step, or
Speaker 1: the overachiever this way. There's no in between. I've had
Speaker 1: to meet many overachievers in that age group. I really
Speaker 1: have all my friends, Yes, you have thirty seven hundred. No,
Speaker 1: they're all younger than me. How much suger. They're all like,
Speaker 1: they're all twenty six, twenty seven college. They're all crushing
Speaker 1: it in tech. Oh tech tech, this tech tech. Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll do it.
Speaker 2: Spartiate.
Speaker 1: They have to crush Okay, good for them, not our story.
Speaker 1: We don't want to. We can do about this story. No,
Speaker 1: I just want to know what we don't care so much.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: We can't answer those questions. But we're gonna stay on
Speaker 1: mel story and stop going off by ninety five. For
Speaker 1: the love of God.
Speaker 2: This is what happens when we get together.
Speaker 1: Okay, so bring it to me. You come home. You
Speaker 1: have two parents, will love you, your your auditor as far
Speaker 1: as I'm concern, you're rich right there because you're lucky
Speaker 1: to have him. Oh the dad right yes, that love
Speaker 1: you and care about you, and they're trying to straighten
Speaker 1: you out but being oh my god.
Speaker 2: One the best they could.
Speaker 1: Okay, So now what happens you come home? How old
Speaker 1: is your first brother when he passes?
Speaker 2: He was about twenty four and this was where what
Speaker 2: year twenty eleven?
Speaker 1: So he was twenty four twenty eleven, And how did
Speaker 1: he pass he was shot shot?
Speaker 2: Yep?
Speaker 1: Was he the one s dying the trouble or nted
Speaker 1: into a trouble to break them.
Speaker 2: And get both parties to end peacefully.
Speaker 1: And because those two parties ended peacefully when the pow pop,
Speaker 1: how he goes down?
Speaker 2: Yes, and.
Speaker 1: They know him, Yes, they didn't want him to die. No,
Speaker 1: So what happens to the one that kills him? How
Speaker 1: long does he get for jail time? Ten and he's
Speaker 1: still spend ten years?
Speaker 2: Or is he out out?
Speaker 1: That's it? Ten years because it's what it's still murder? Yeah,
Speaker 1: why do only get ten years?
Speaker 2: That's it? My brother? Oh my brother, the one that
Speaker 2: got shot fifteen times and lived.
Speaker 1: Let's stay with one brother.
Speaker 2: Sorry? Sorry, they don't get no time and then you
Speaker 2: have good time also as well. So yeah, they got
Speaker 2: ten years, but if they do have good time, they
Speaker 2: get months chopped off their time, so they could come
Speaker 2: home anywhere from like seven six years eight? Why because
Speaker 2: they have good time they behaved in prison.
Speaker 1: But so you kill somebody only get ten years in prison?
Speaker 1: What happens to the days that youve got life?
Speaker 2: I don't they don't have that Massachusetts. That's why I
Speaker 2: wanted to be a judge in Supreme Court. They don't
Speaker 2: have that Massachusetts. It's illegal, I mean not that I think. No.
Speaker 2: The stipulations for life is very difficult to gather on somebody,
Speaker 2: and they don't have what's one to murder someone? Now
Speaker 2: murder someone.
Speaker 1: But if you thought, okay, I'm only spend ten years
Speaker 1: in gailmen to murder somebody, that's not really like a
Speaker 1: long a time when you're fifteen, sixteen years old.
Speaker 2: And then if you're fifteen and sixteen and you're committed
Speaker 2: to DYS, you're not going to real prison. You're going
Speaker 2: to DYS because you're committed till you're usually twenty one
Speaker 2: unless they literally fight for you. But if you're committed
Speaker 2: to you're twenty one with UYS, it's it's like you're
Speaker 2: ordering Chinese food, you're playing PS five yere chilling. Why
Speaker 2: wouldn't you do that? It's enabling you.
Speaker 1: And then your other brother go ahead.
Speaker 2: It was also shot how well was he He was
Speaker 2: twenty six.
Speaker 1: At the time, twenty six, two thousand and what.
Speaker 2: That one was twenty and fifteen? What was he doing
Speaker 2: getting ready to go out to a party? It was
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve?
Speaker 1: And what happened.
Speaker 2: He just was in the car with his friends and
Speaker 2: people pulled up and started shooting, and he got shot
Speaker 2: in the head. His friends try to drive him to
Speaker 2: the hospital.
Speaker 1: But it was hold on too late. He's in a
Speaker 1: car with a group of friends.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: How he's twenty six, is going out New Year's Eve?
Speaker 1: Another gang. Was he part of a gang?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So another gang members pull up yep, and they start
Speaker 1: shooting at this gang. And this is going on right
Speaker 1: here in New Beije, in New Bedford. It doesn't even
Speaker 1: make the news. It made your local papers. Yeah, was
Speaker 1: this on Channel seventy five or four news? Either one
Speaker 1: of your brother's shootings?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: No, doesn't that seem weird?
Speaker 2: Of course they don't care, though. They They need these
Speaker 2: things to happen. They need chaos, they need chaotic That's
Speaker 2: why they brought crack into our communities back then. That's
Speaker 2: why if you notice that most of the banks and
Speaker 2: certain is in low income areas they literally target from
Speaker 2: the get go. It's like a lifelong curse that everybody
Speaker 2: inherits a generation generation why and everybody's like warped to
Speaker 2: make it look like it's school. You got rappers that
Speaker 2: are like it's our it's are about my life. But
Speaker 2: it's like it's one thing to say that something is
Speaker 2: your art, but it's one thing to not turn your
Speaker 2: life around and still be doing what you're doing and not,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, still putting that image out
Speaker 2: or you know what I mean, Like it's just fed
Speaker 2: into these kids every day. I feel so bad for them.
Speaker 1: It wasn't fed into you and your brothers.
Speaker 2: No, I chose that I had a choice.
Speaker 1: Okay, so one brother breaks up a fight, he definitely
Speaker 1: doesn't deserve that. The other brother isn't a gang, and
Speaker 1: and he didn't deserve that either. So there were no
Speaker 1: gangs killing each other back then, there was no retaliation.
Speaker 1: This wasn't they just shot up them. And now I
Speaker 1: don't don't.
Speaker 2: I still don't even know.
Speaker 1: Why did they ever find out who did that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're still out away. I'm pretty sure they both
Speaker 2: got a life.
Speaker 1: Did they? So did you get to did you get
Speaker 1: to go to the court?
Speaker 2: No? I didn't go to any of that. No, I
Speaker 2: can't parents.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So coming from parents that have lost a child
Speaker 1: at twenty eight years old to a sudden death and
Speaker 1: watching the demise of my parents. How do your parents
Speaker 1: bury two children and ever be the same or they're
Speaker 1: not the same, or you you have a sister, right? No, no, sure,
Speaker 1: and so it's just you left like me. We're orphans, right,
Speaker 1: So they had to pick up all the pieces for
Speaker 1: them since the age of.
Speaker 2: What I was young. Let me see, so I was eleven,
Speaker 2: I was still I was about to graduate high school next. Ye.
Speaker 1: No, you went to jail. Then you come out of jail,
Speaker 1: and that's when the football got thrown to you. You
Speaker 1: need to pick it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I had just lost, like I got
Speaker 2: kicked out of college and all that because I was
Speaker 2: in a criminal justice program at the time. I got
Speaker 2: out of my program. Had to just kind of start
Speaker 2: from scratch. Nobody would hire me.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let me go back. Both brothers died by
Speaker 1: twenty six. The last one dies. You're how old the.
Speaker 2: Last one I died? So I was at fifteen, I
Speaker 2: was twenty. Oh my god, what is it twenty twenty four?
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna have math girl.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's okay. What's the difference in age between you
Speaker 1: and your brother?
Speaker 2: It's about only like four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So let's say you were twenty two at twenty two,
Speaker 1: were you out of jail by then? Yes, as you
Speaker 1: came out of jail, he passes. How long afterwards the
Speaker 1: other brother passes before you go to jail?
Speaker 2: No? That, Yeah, he passed away before I went to jail,
Speaker 2: and the other one after after. And then when I
Speaker 2: got came home. It was probably maybe like two.
Speaker 1: Three years after Yeah, right ahead talking.
Speaker 2: Sorry, maybe like two to three years after I came home.
Speaker 2: That happened.
Speaker 1: And is that when you decide like I need to
Speaker 1: fly straight or when you got out of jail.
Speaker 2: No, when I got out of jail, I tried my
Speaker 2: best to do what I needed to do. One of
Speaker 2: my friends that en lied up taking me to church
Speaker 2: New Life South Coast in New Bedford, and I was
Speaker 2: still doing path things on the streets, you know, trying
Speaker 2: to make money at least. And I used to like
Speaker 2: the first day I was in there, I'm just looking
Speaker 2: at everybody like going side to side, swaying. I'm like,
Speaker 2: what the hell is going on in here?
Speaker 1: Doing church swing?
Speaker 2: No, I'm watching everybody else way, how am I what
Speaker 2: the Hell's going on in here? And then they play
Speaker 2: this song called Reckless Love by Corey. I think it's
Speaker 2: a loom or something like that, and I start sweating.
Speaker 2: I'm like what, Like now I'm thinking of my head like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, is this the part of the Bible.
Speaker 2: I'm about to melt because I'm the devil or something.
Speaker 2: And I start end up swinging and I started just
Speaker 2: crying and I just feel like this warm feeling come
Speaker 2: over me and like I don't know, I felt.
Speaker 1: Like my jeez, with that thing, hold that thought? Well,
Speaker 1: coming right back, It's Cidney Stumple Toughest Nails WBZ News
Speaker 1: Radio ten thirty. Welcome back to Toughest Nails on w
Speaker 1: BZ News Radio ten thirty. And I'm Sydney Stumpo and
Speaker 1: I'm here with Sammy and I'm here with Melt Melt.
Speaker 1: So we're now we're going to church. We're swaying, We're
Speaker 1: going what are we doing here? And how fast does
Speaker 1: the light bulb go off that you go? I got
Speaker 1: straighten my.
Speaker 2: Act out the moment I started crying in church. It
Speaker 2: was like the spirit came over me, like what are
Speaker 2: you doing?
Speaker 1: And you left that one day? How many days you
Speaker 1: go to church before you got that feeling.
Speaker 2: That one day that one day, one day, and then
Speaker 2: I started going every single Sunday ever since then. I
Speaker 2: joined Crew, which is they put you in a group
Speaker 2: of a certain amount of women. It's like four or
Speaker 2: five women, different kind of all different ages, different areas
Speaker 2: of life, and you guys meet up, you pick a
Speaker 2: day to meet up every week and you guys touch base,
Speaker 2: you talk about church. It was like such a beautiful
Speaker 2: experience because the women that I was.
Speaker 1: Around, so that got you help.
Speaker 2: Oh so so good.
Speaker 1: Okay, now your mom and dad today, So now you
Speaker 1: put yourself to school, you get at church, and you say,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna make something in my life. Yes,
Speaker 1: and then you do.
Speaker 2: What I applied to Brigham thirty times.
Speaker 1: Thirty times.
Speaker 2: Yep. I was working overnight at South Coast Behavioral Health
Speaker 2: and I finally got it into and of course it
Speaker 2: was right after my overnight, so I said, okay, let
Speaker 2: me go, and I go there. They're like, oh, we're building.
Speaker 2: Who's the lady that da They never gave me a
Speaker 2: last name, only the lady's first name, Tracy. I'm They're like, girl,
Speaker 2: there's Tracy and almost every department. So it's like an
Speaker 2: hour now over my interview. I can't find them, and
Speaker 2: then I just I walk into over into the Shapiro building.
Speaker 2: I didn't know it was this Chaberas at the time,
Speaker 2: and I just asked somebody that was like rolling around
Speaker 2: with a car and I'm like, hey, do you know
Speaker 2: who Tracy Dada? And they're like, honestly, I think I
Speaker 2: heard that name before. I follow me. I think it's upstairs.
Speaker 2: So they take me to the sixth floor the Cardiac
Speaker 2: I see you, and they bring me inside. They're like, hey,
Speaker 2: I have a girl here. She's looking for Tracy. And
Speaker 2: the lady gets out and she's like, I'm Tracy and
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm Melanie. I've been looking for you, guys
Speaker 2: for over an hour. They only gave me your first name.
Speaker 2: I'm from a small town, Saint Lukes, don't even got
Speaker 2: four fools, like this is crazy bridges and this and that.
Speaker 2: So they're like, oh my god, you're still here. Didn't you?
Speaker 2: Don't you work overnight to something like we saw your
Speaker 2: resume and like yeah, They're like, yeah, you have the
Speaker 2: job that's more than persistent. The job is yours.
Speaker 1: So Tracy gave your job yes, and that that job
Speaker 1: was doing.
Speaker 2: What I was a CNA in the cardiac, I.
Speaker 1: See you, And then how did you learn how to
Speaker 1: do blood?
Speaker 2: I went back to school and they paid for it.
Speaker 2: I went to Roxburgh Community College. But I learned while
Speaker 2: I was in the cardiac I see you because the
Speaker 2: nurses like they saw how good I was, and they
Speaker 2: wanted to help me learn. So we had a dummy
Speaker 2: and then they would let me practice on them, on them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: stick a needle in my vein. Go ahead, let's just
Speaker 2: hope you don't need a main lottery. That was nice,
Speaker 2: literally so nice.
Speaker 1: Okay, So then now you're going to work every day,
Speaker 1: you're at Brigham's, And now what's the relationship like with you? Your
Speaker 1: mom and dad?
Speaker 2: So much more healthier. I wish sometimes that I could
Speaker 2: take back how much of an I was back then,
Speaker 2: and like, like, you know, because your parents are your
Speaker 2: God's gift, you know what I'm saying. People don't get
Speaker 2: that every day, and to have parents that just try
Speaker 2: every day and do their best with you is it's
Speaker 2: amazing and it shouldn't be taken for granted. And I
Speaker 2: feel like I took it for granted. Like before my
Speaker 2: grandma died, she'd always tell me that, like, make sure
Speaker 2: you take care of your mom. Make sure you take
Speaker 2: care of your mom. Like it makes me want to cry,
Speaker 2: because like my mom's such a good person, you know,
Speaker 2: and like I can't wait to eventually retire her so
Speaker 2: she won't got to work, like you know, just being
Speaker 2: my friend, never judging me, always loving me, like everybody
Speaker 2: was talking about me, and she she saw who I was,
Speaker 2: you know, from the beginning. It's never a doubt.
Speaker 1: So your mom knew you'd come out of this crazy stage.
Speaker 2: She knew what I was like made for so to
Speaker 2: my grandmother, My grandmother literally didn't die until the day
Speaker 2: my first day orientation I got. I got the job
Speaker 2: at Brigham on my birthday, I got my badge all
Speaker 2: my birthday May nine, six years ago. And the day
Speaker 2: of my orientation, my mom called me two hours into
Speaker 2: it like your grandma's we're gonna save the body, hurry
Speaker 2: up and get here. And they even pushed my orientation
Speaker 2: like further from me. They like, oh my God, Like
Speaker 2: it was crazy. It was like, how is that not
Speaker 2: God right there showing you here, you are your introduction
Speaker 2: to your life. Now stay to the right and don't
Speaker 2: go left anymore.
Speaker 1: Like, come on, and that's all it took, all that
Speaker 1: craziness and all we do is put you in church
Speaker 1: three years four years prior to that, and you would
Speaker 1: have went down, Like.
Speaker 2: I just focused on people who loved you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have to have bad, you know what really
Speaker 1: good and then sometimes that's life. And then sometimes to
Speaker 1: know good, you gotta feel bad. Then you can pick
Speaker 1: out which which is something to compare. So I want
Speaker 1: the feeling of good. I want the feeling of bad.
Speaker 1: Then there are people like me that vicariously live through
Speaker 1: everybody because I can. That's part of being a cancer.
Speaker 1: Which your brothers knew that. They knew that, so they
Speaker 1: were really good souls. I know they were.
Speaker 2: My cards were like I have a video I once
Speaker 2: go see Maureen Hancock and she literally is like, oh
Speaker 2: you're not You're not dying anytime soon. Sorry. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: nobody knows that though. How would you know that.
Speaker 1: She's that spiritual woman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's I told you to go there, girl, told
Speaker 2: you to look that up. Amazing. I'll go again. I
Speaker 2: love that she's amazing. They literally were like, you are
Speaker 2: made for so much more. It's not your time and
Speaker 2: it won't be for a long time, Like we miss
Speaker 2: you too, but you have way too much to.
Speaker 1: Do that your brother's talking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was crazy. It was the craziest experience. We
Speaker 2: have to go, you have to go.
Speaker 1: And now you were saying to me in the hospital
Speaker 1: and when we met that you literally wait for your
Speaker 1: dad now to come home from work to make sure
Speaker 1: he's safe, and you feel that's your responsibility to make
Speaker 1: sure he gets that house.
Speaker 2: Everybody. It just makes me like it's so crazy because
Speaker 2: it's like after losing so many people, I feel like
Speaker 2: you just get scared, Like it's just like an anxiety,
Speaker 2: like you just expect a ball to drop or something
Speaker 2: to have, Like every year I've lost someone, it's like
Speaker 2: it's like a domino effect almost. It's like like so
Speaker 2: it's like you get stuck in that.
Speaker 1: You know, I told your mom and dad my mom.
Speaker 2: Is fifty five, my dad is fifty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you still want to make sure that you
Speaker 1: think you can keep them safe forever forever.
Speaker 2: You can't be selfish, I know, but yeah, forever.
Speaker 1: That's not being selfish, Like you know, like, what's that?
Speaker 2: What was that? Founding the Founding.
Speaker 1: Youth, Everlasting found of Youth? I wish I had the
Speaker 1: founder of youth too. So you want your parents around
Speaker 1: here for a long time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I want to make it up, you know, like.
Speaker 1: I want to make it up to them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like they came from nothing from me for me,
Speaker 2: like and my siblings, like like my whole family, like
Speaker 2: my aunts, my uncle's, like they all raised us, like
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like we was raising that
Speaker 2: whole school setting. They all dropped us off at my
Speaker 2: nie in his house, like they all went to work,
Speaker 2: like you know what I mean, Like my name always
Speaker 2: taught us, like this is who God gave you to
Speaker 2: do life with you take care of you.
Speaker 1: Come from a family of hard working people.
Speaker 2: Hard working God driven people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody's doing anything illegal.
Speaker 2: So the next Gennel, Oh yeah, it's embarrassing, bro, Like
Speaker 2: my family came from nothing. This is what you want
Speaker 2: want to do with your life? What are you doing? Girl?
Speaker 2: Wake up?
Speaker 1: And now you woke up?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I want to be in d I want
Speaker 2: my parents to be Like my daughter is a doctor
Speaker 2: like you said she was gonna be a what Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like people are so mean to my mom during that
Speaker 2: time when I was away, like I wanted to come
Speaker 2: home and beat up everybody because like it's not her fault.
Speaker 2: Like your parents do the best that they can do,
Speaker 2: and whatever they instill in you doesn't mean that you're
Speaker 2: gonna have a perfect life. You still can take that left.
Speaker 1: You're right, That's why good kids come out of bad
Speaker 1: homes and bad kids can come out.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you because like sometimes when you're I come
Speaker 2: from a strict ass coult. I'm the only girl I
Speaker 2: was allowed to do so obviously I'm a rebel. I
Speaker 2: want to learn. I want to see what's up. Like
Speaker 2: what I don't get to go out till I was
Speaker 2: twenty one. I didn't even have a fake ID the hell?
Speaker 1: What's so wrong with that?
Speaker 2: Like you know, I know, of course, and I used
Speaker 2: to be like I want to be like my man isma,
Speaker 2: I don't give.
Speaker 1: Up like damn mothers. Mothers is so yeah, a mother,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Like and it's crazy because it's like you don't see
Speaker 2: it in the more when I've been trying to tell
Speaker 2: these kids, like if I had listened to my mother
Speaker 2: ten years ago, I would not be where I would
Speaker 2: be even I would already be a doctor.
Speaker 1: Like what so a lot of your friends didn't come
Speaker 1: from didn't have moms and dads.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I have nobody. Like I watched all of
Speaker 2: my friends be single parents and bust their ass, and
Speaker 2: I try my heartiest to help them and try to
Speaker 2: kind of be a step in dad or whatever the
Speaker 2: hell I can be for them, because it's not easy.
Speaker 2: You need a tribe like.
Speaker 1: To raise a child, my God, especially.
Speaker 2: If they are autistic or have any type of like.
Speaker 1: So you're out there helping your friends now that have
Speaker 1: children that are.
Speaker 2: Single anytime I can, girl girl, like, I'm a girl's girl.
Speaker 2: But we all need to be helping each other way more.
Speaker 2: I don't care, like time is time is valuable and
Speaker 2: it shouldn't be wasting.
Speaker 1: You're not you got away from Yeah, from the bad?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so bad. I still pray for them
Speaker 2: because God will work through people when he's supposed to.
Speaker 1: You know, God might be worth them, But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, water seeks its own level, and
Speaker 1: you're seeking a whole different level of water now, And
Speaker 1: that's good. That's good. That's how I Yeah, sometimes you
Speaker 1: have to put those kids in the rear view mirror
Speaker 1: if you want better, And that's called survival. Never ever
Speaker 1: disrespect your mom and dad. Always love them every right, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going off to break I'm Sindy stumbling lists in
Speaker 1: Toughest Nails on w BZ News Radio ten thirty. Okay,
Speaker 1: welcome back to Toughest Nails on w BZ News Radio
Speaker 1: ten thirty. Mel you got fifty seconds. What do you
Speaker 1: want to say, honey.
Speaker 2: That I am grateful I met you and life always
Speaker 2: brings you exactly where you're supposed to be and put
Speaker 2: you in front of exactly who you need to be
Speaker 2: in front of. If you would never went to my
Speaker 2: job that day or needed assistance.
Speaker 1: If I need never need a blood, I would have
Speaker 1: got the crazy blood lady that took my blood. But
Speaker 1: you offered, you said, I got this, I got her.
Speaker 1: You got her like you came over right. I'm twice
Speaker 1: your age.
Speaker 2: That's just my heart. I don't like people in pain.
Speaker 2: I got it.
Speaker 1: I will take care of you. That's what you taking
Speaker 1: care of people. Yeah, I got her, I got her.
Speaker 1: So we got a new friendship. Yes we do, girl, Okay,
Speaker 1: and I love you still. We went on and by
Speaker 1: the way, we went out in the hallway and we
Speaker 1: talked for another twenty minutes after that. By the way,
Speaker 1: everybody have a great, safe weekend. This is Cindy Stumbo
Speaker 1: tup his nails on WBZ News Radio ten thirty