Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [46]
“In the state and federal facilities, the corruption runs a little different. At Sing Sing during the eighties, if you had two hundred dollars and the right connection, you could have a steak dinner and get laid. As for Coxsackie, that one sergeant was looking out for me and my friends. He gave us the best jobs and arranged special assignments, like going to the school building on Sundays, so we could cook pasta dinners. And he brought me that birthday cake from a pastry shop in my old neighborhood.
“When Nicky and Lenny were in the MDC [the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn], they had a guard on the payroll for five hundred a week. He brought them food and alcohol from the outside and arranged for them to have extra visits. He even looked into guys’ cases to see who was cooperating against them or the crew. He was one of about ten officers ultimately arrested at the MDC after an investigation into corruption at that facility. Nicky and Lenny were put in the hole until they were transferred to a federal prison.”
The general perception among the public is that most prison inmates are gang raped or engage in homosexual activity at some point. However, Andrew didn’t find that kind of activity to be as prevalent as one might think.
“I can only tell you what I saw over the years I was incarcerated. But before I get into that, let me say this: The first rules of thumb in prison are don’t gamble, don’t fuck around with drugs, and don’t mess with the homos. It’s best for the new inmate if he knows that coming in or learns it damn quick. If he does, he’ll avoid about eighty-five percent of the prison problems. And people need to understand that a lot of the homos in prison aren’t the weak sissy-types you might find on the streets. They’re some very dangerous individuals who will kill in a heartbeat. If the new inmate starts playing their game, he’s taking a big chance.
“That said, my take on homosexuality in prison is that there are two types of homos. You have your flaming type, the kind who flaunts his sexual orientation. This is the guy who alters his prison uniform and personal appearance to be what he thinks is sexier and more appealing. He wears lipstick, has his hair in a ponytail, the whole bit. The other type is the tough guy who’s doing a very long sentence. His attitude about his acts is, ‘Hey, I’m just livin’ in the moment. I have to get my ass any way I can, but I’m not really gay.’ These guys live in denial. They figure that if they’re the dominant partner in the relationship, they’ve kept their manhood. I find it ridiculous, but that’s the way a lot of them think.
“For the most part, I’ve never seen the gang rapes that movies and television show so much. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. But in my years away, I noticed that most of the guys who got turned out were curious to begin with—making friends with individuals they knew from first sight were homos. A lot of very young kids who come through the system think if they can dominate a homosexual relationship, they’ll prove their prowess. So they start hanging out with the homos, looking for someone they can control. But in the end, they become the victims.
“I’ve seen many so-called tough guys doing long stretches get hurt trying to take another tough guy’s homo partner. Lifers will kill to get or keep a steady partner. Anyone who threatens those kinds of relationships is dealt with violently. I’d say that about ninety percent of the submissive partners come into the system already gay or with gay tendencies. The rest get turned out after they get inside.”
JEALOUSY AND VIOLENCE
The animosity some of the other inmates felt toward Andrew and his friends over their perceived special treatment by the sergeant festered for several weeks. Tensions boiled over in early December, a time Andrew remembers vividly.
“I knew trouble was brewing when Patty O’Keefe approached me. He said our school jobs had to stop, that correction officers were the enemy and our cozy relationship with the