Blood Memory #04: The Iron Gates

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Love and Radio – Blood Memory

Episode 04: The Iron Gates
Date: February 23, 2026
Host: Nick van der Kolk
Guest: Michael Lynn Thompson

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Episode Overview

In this raw and immersive episode, host Nick van der Kolk continues his in-depth dialogue with Michael Lynn Thompson, a former high-ranking prison gang figure and ex-inmate with a violent, storied past within California’s prison system. "The Iron Gates" delves into Thompson's harrowing early years in state prison, his encounters with notorious prison gangs, formative relationships, acts of violence, and the psychological transformation brought by such an environment. Through scars, memories, and personal stories, Thompson illustrates the brutality of prison life and the psychological adaptations required for survival.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Thompson’s Physical Scars and Incarceration History

• Surviving Violent Encounters

  • Thompson details tallying up wounds: "I've been shot 22 times. M14, 9mm... First one I was ever shot was a .30-06."
  • Physical reminders: "I've got probably in excess of 100 pieces of lead in my body. When they take an X-ray of me, the X-ray won't go through the lead." [01:29–02:23]
  • Why all the violence? Nick asks, "So those 22 times, that was all from breaking up fights? That was all prison guards?" “Yeah. I was shot by guards... trouble finds me.” [02:29–02:34]

• Naivete Upon Entering Prison

  • Thompson recalls: "I was a fish with amazingly green gills... I had no idea what I was dealing with." [03:25–03:37]
  • He describes bewildering procedures: assigned a cell, issued basic supplies, subjected to psychological evaluation.

Psychiatric and Social Evaluation

• Official Assessment
  • Psychiatric evaluator describes him as “pleasant and cooperative in his attitude, but arrogant and condescending in overall demeanor...capable of and may be successful in manipulating others into doing his bidding.”
  • Diagnosed with “character disorder of an antisocial type.” [04:03–05:36]

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“Chaplin, England” – Education & Cultural Practice

• A Chance at Education

  • Thompson earns a job as chaplain's clerk at "gladiator school" (DVI), thanks to his manual labor skills.
  • Reveals he was illiterate until the chaplain offered to teach him after discovering the truth:

    "Can you read?"
    "No, sir, I can't."
    "Would you like to learn?" [07:16–07:39]

• Indigenous Practice & Sacred Space

  • The chaplain makes a deal: Thompson keeps the chapels tidy and, in return, gets the adjacent garden to practice his spiritual traditions—building a prayer mound and medicine wheel, conducting ceremony and dance. [07:50–09:00]

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“Nuestra Familia” – Assault and Shapeshifting

• Assault in the Chapel

  • Thompson ambushed by “seven Mexicans...with knives taped into their hand” in a coordinated attack, learning only afterward it was orchestrated by Nuestra Familia, a powerful prison gang.

    “They formed a wedge as they came through the door. Like a torpedo.” [09:04–09:51]

  • He describes tapping into animal spirit (“shape-shifting into bear”) as he disables the attackers, admitting to feeling bad for their injuries but upset by the desecration of his sacred space. [09:58–10:59]

• Gang Politics

  • Nick: "So I guess it turned out these guys were working on behalf of the Nuestra Familia."
  • Thompson: "They’re what are typically referred to as expendables... whatever happens to them, happens to them." [11:04–11:29]

• Violence Without Malice

  • Thompson claims he never fights in anger, relating lessons from his mentor:

    "I've never gone into battle angry. That was a primary lesson on the part of walks on top. You're defeating yourself..." [12:24–12:41]

  • On fighting: "I now use an open hand because I find it more effective and not as debilitating to my opponent... I don't like shattering an individual's facial structure." [12:52–13:41]

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Projecting Toughness, Recruitment Attempts, and Racial Politics

• Projecting Strength

  • Nick: "In prison you really have to constantly be projecting, 'don't fuck with me' energy."
  • Thompson: "You pretty much do... Mostly in your body language... I don't do it consciously, but apparently I do it... I don't want people to be afraid of me." [13:49–14:13]

• Recruitment by Prison Gangs

  • Different racial groups attempt to recruit him, especially the Black Panthers. Notably, he is approached by Yogi Pinell, their field marshal. [14:32–15:55]

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“Yogi” – The Deadly Encounter

• Recruitment by Yogi Pinell

  • Yogi offers ideological indoctrination; Thompson refuses, citing his American identity:

    "John Wayne told me, communism is bad, and so I'm going to decline." [16:42–17:03]

  • The refusal results in a life-or-death challenge: Yogi says, "so you go on in and you make yourself a knife, and I'll meet you out here in the morning." [17:16–17:38]

• The "Fish Line" and Makeshift Weapons

  • Prisoners improvise tools and loans; Thompson describes learning to create a "fish line" from underwear elastic to trade for materials to make a weapon. [17:45–18:38]
  • He learns about "keistering" (concealing the weapon internally), recounting the physical ordeal. [18:56–20:18]

• Knife Fight and Aftermath

  • Thompson details the bloody yard fight:

    "He comes and I mean, immediately, as we get close enough, he lunges at me. I just parried it... he smiled and I smiled, kind of acknowledging each other... I avoided the thrust and would nick his hand, nick his wrist... He realized that he was losing."

    • He wounds Yogi, deals with two bodyguards, is shot by guards, and left alone in a "strip cell," wounded and immobilized. [20:39–24:10]

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“Herman” – Trauma and Isolation

• Reflections from the Hole
  • Details of solitary suffering: unable to move from pain and injury, left with food smeared on his face.
  • In extreme isolation, he is visited by cockroaches:

    "It was the antennae of a three-inch cockroach that had come up through the sewer... I named him Herman. Pretty soon Herman brought friends with him... I tried as best I could to give them all names so that we could have that intimacy you and I so often talk about." [24:13–25:11]

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Introduction to the Aryan Brotherhood

• Meeting TD Bingham
  • After returning to the yard, Thompson is approached by TD Bingham, a major figure in the Aryan Brotherhood:

    "Probably one of the most influential members of the Aryan Brotherhood." [25:25–25:29]

  • The episode ends with hints toward deeper involvement in gang politics and the weight of brotherhood in prison.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The worst thing you can do to a human being is put him in a cage. And I know that from experience." – Michael Thompson [00:48–01:16]
• "I didn't seek out notoriety or to establish myself or anything else. I just kind of laid low... trouble finds me." – Michael Thompson [02:34–03:13]
• "I was a fish with amazingly green gills... I had no idea what I was dealing with." – Michael Thompson [03:25]
• "I shape shifted into bear, and that's how I moved amongst them. Like a grizzly bear, snapping bones." – Michael Thompson [09:58–10:22]
• "I've never gone into battle angry. That was a primary lesson. You're defeating yourself." – Michael Thompson [12:24–12:41]
• "I don't like shattering an individual's facial structure. I mean, I don't get off on that." – Michael Thompson [13:06–13:07]
• "John Wayne told me, communism is bad, and so I'm going to decline." – Michael Thompson [16:59–17:02]
• "I had cockroaches all over my face eating the food off my face. So I tried as best I could to give them all names so that we could have that intimacy you and I so often talk about." – Michael Thompson [24:13–25:11]

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Timeline of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |----------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:30–01:16 | Thompson on prison violence, scars, and trauma | | 03:13–04:03 | First days in prison, overwhelming naivete | | 04:03–05:36 | Psychiatric evaluation | | 07:11–09:00 | Chaplain, learning to read, spiritual practices | | 09:00–11:04 | Attack by Nuestra Familia, shapeshifting in violence | | 12:24–13:41 | Philosophy of violence, fighting style, body language | | 14:32–15:55 | Gang recruitment, Yogi Pinell, Black Panther connections | | 16:22–18:38 | Yogi's communist recruitment, preparing for a knife fight| | 18:56–20:18 | Keistering weapon, knife fight preparations | | 20:39–24:10 | Yard knife fight, being shot, aftermath and isolation | | 24:13–25:11 | Cockroach “companions” in solitary confinement | | 25:25–25:29 | Approached by Aryan Brotherhood leader |

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains the atmospheric, experiential audio signature of Love and Radio—personal, darkly humorous, at times surreal, and always unflinching. Thompson’s stories are told with a matter-of-fact, lived-in bluntness, sometimes accompanied by a sense of regret, humility, or wry amusement. Nick van der Kolk’s questions are probing yet empathetic, never sensationalizing his subject.

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Closing Note

Episode 04: "The Iron Gates" opens a cinematic window into the early years of one of California’s most storied convicts, mapping the formation of prison alliances, code of survival, and bizarre moments of unwanted camaraderie—with humans and with cockroaches alike. It’s a portrait of violence, transformation, and adaptation in the place where the American prison system’s logic is most unforgiving.

Transcript

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

And breathe.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

1-800-contact contacts.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Previously on Blood Memory.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Mike Sesmund said. Stop what you're doing. There's two bodies buried there. Thompson was convicted along with John Solis and Michael sesma, and the 1973 murder of two men whose bodies were found

[Psychiatric Evaluator]

in a grave behind Thompson's Tustin home.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

This was not justice. This was not a hearing. This was a personality contest. That's really what it was. The worst thing that you can do to a human being is put him in a cage. And I know that from experience.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

I notice that you have a scar on your hands, on your palm.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

This. That's from the pipe. I got a lot of scars.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

How many? Take me through your wounds.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Yeah, this scar here is from the knife. Going through my hand was a situation that went all the way through the exit wound. Yeah, that's what that scar's for. I've been shot 22 times. M14, 9 millimeter. First one I was ever shot was a 30. 06. That's way back in the day when they still manned the towers with a 30.06. That was a leg shot. You know, you can see some of the scars. Some of them are so old, they kind of blend in with my wrinkled skin. I've got probably in excess of 100 pieces of lead in my body. When they take an X ray of me, the X ray won't go through the lead, so it shows the lead instead. Just right there. Feel it? Yeah. Yeah, I see. Those are throughout my body.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Yeah. That feels like a little piece of

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

metal under your skin. It is. Yeah.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

So those 22 times, that was all from breaking up fights? That was all prison guards?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Yeah. I was shot by guards. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't seek out notoriety or to establish myself or anything else. I just kind of laid low. Somehow it always turns out that trouble finds me.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

From love and radio. You're listening to Blood Memory. I'm Nick Van Der Kolk. This is episode four, the Iron Gates. What were your first impressions entering prison?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

I was a fish with amazingly green gills. There was no blood running through them because I was just. I had no idea what I was dealing with. I had no reference point, no experience.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

What were you green about? Like, what were you naive about?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Everything. You go into the reception center, they process you through R and R receiving and release. You're given an issue state issue, blankets, sheets, toiletries. They assign you a cell. And then you go through a process of psychological testing.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

A Psychiatric evaluation of Michael Lynn Thompson, October 1975.

[Psychiatric Evaluator]

Thompson is a moderately tall, muscular young adult Caucasian male who appears his documented age of 24 years. There are two elaborate multicolored professional tattoos noted on the right upper limb. A large cobra covers the large part of the arm while a buzzard adorns the forearm. On interviews he was alert and oriented outwardly, pleasant and cooperative in his attitude, but arrogant and condescending in overall demeanor. He's estimated to be of bright, normal intelligence. He communicated well, expressing himself with proper use of grammar and displaying an appreciation of legal technicalities and remedies which he considers pertinent and applicable for use in his defense. He reported his conviction is in the process of appeal and is confident in eventual acquittal. There is no evidence of psychosis or memory impairment. Subject is denying the offense and no comment can be made regarding motivation. There are no findings which would be indicative of any type of psychiatric condition other than that of a character disorder of an antisocial type. Persons demonstrating this type of personality disorder are considered in general to be grossly selfish, callous, irresponsible, lacking in loyalty to others, and unable to feel guilt or learn from experience. This man is capable of and may be successful in manipulating others into doing his bidding.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Love and Radio will return after these messages.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Chapter 1 Chaplin, England they sent me to Tracy.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

DVI at that time was known as gladiator school. So I went to DVI and I got a job as the chaplain's clerk, which was a blessing. How I got the job with him is he wanted his library refurbished and, you know, the bookshelves and murals on the wall and all that. So I went in and I did that for him. One day we had taken all the books off the shelves and put them in boxes, and we had them stacked. So now we were bringing the boxes back in, and we were. I was handing them stacks of books. Is. He was putting them on the shelf, and he came to this one book, and he said, oh, this is one of my favorite books. He said, I just love this book. This one particular passage. And he flipped to it and he got it. He said, here, read this. This is just amazing. And so I took the book from him and I looked at it, and I said, yeah, that's. That's pretty cool, you know. And he kind of looked at me like that, and he says, can you read? And I said, no, sir, I can't. And he said, would you like to learn? I said, sure. I had an agreement with Chaplain England. Back then, you weren't allowed to practice your ways. It was against the law. And he was sensitive to that, being a man of the cloth. The agreement was I would take care of the chapels, Catholic chapel and then Protestant chapel. And in between, I was a garden the same size as the chapels. And he would give me the garden to practice my ways. I went out and I built myself a prayer mound and a medicine wheel. And I would go out and I would dance and sing and have ceremony in the garden. And then I would come in and I would clean the chapels and have reading lessons.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Chapter 2 Nuestra Familiar 1 day when

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

I was out doing ceremony, I heard noise at the door of the chapel, which never opened. No one ever used it. But I heard noise at it. And I thought, this is odd. I stopped. I had an Eagle fan and I had a drum. I set everything on the prayer mound. The door flung open. There were seven Mexicans, they had knives taped into their hand, and they formed a wedge as they came through the door. Like a torpedo. I was already at the door. As they started to come through, their momentum carried them, and I just took the heel of my hand and I hit the point man right here. Snapped his head back, and he just spun out of control and went out. That threw the other six into disarray.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

What's going through your mind at this point? I mean, do you even know who these guys are or why they're attacking you?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

I have no idea.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

You're just in the moment reacting.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Yep. Okay. You know, and that's based on my training walks on top. He was a wind walker and a shapeshifter. Shape shifting is really nothing more than you take in the spirit of a totem, an animal usually of some kind. In fighting, you take on the spirit, in this case, bear. I shape shifted into bear, and that's how I moved amongst them. Like a grizzly bear, snapping bones. Pure aggression. They were confused. Best way I can describe it is if you've ever seen a Keystone Cop episode, you know, where they get in each other's way. That's what was happening. So I just moved amongst them and put every one of them down and didn't take long. I actually felt bad when I finished because a couple of them were laying there with compound fractures. And I really felt bad about it. But I was also upset over the desecration of my sacred ground.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

And so I guess it turned out that these guys were working on behalf of the Nuestra Familia.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yeah, one of the most ruthless gangs in the country. Nuestra Familia, which means our family in Spanish. Founded by Mexican American convicts in the California prison system in 1965, it was built on the ethic of loyalty, discipline, and fear.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

To join it, murder is a prerequisite. You have to make a kill or spill the blood of the enemy to be trusted.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Unbeknownst to me, the priest in the Catholic chapel took issue with my ceremonies as devil worship. And so the Nuestra Familia set it up so that these individuals that weren't in the west are familiar. They're what are typically referred to as expendables, people that do the bidding of gangs so that the gang doesn't have to do it, and whatever happens to them, happens to them, and they're deemed expendable. That's okay.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

I know this might be impossible to answer, but what do you look like in those. In those situations? Because I've known you for a Long time. I don't see you get worked up about just about anything. So it's hard for me to imagine you in this very fraught situation. What does that do to your personality? Do you feel anger, aggression? Like, do you.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

No, I've never gone into battle angry. That was a primary lesson on the part of walks on top. You're defeating yourself, you know, I always wonder if he knew what my path was going to be and taught me because of that. But he taught me well with the admonishment always that what he was teaching me, that I made my own, and I did. I've developed my own fighting style that has evolved over the years, you know, to. Whereas in previous years I may have used closed fist for strikes, I now use an open hand because I find it more effective and not as debilitating to my opponent. I mean, it'll knock him out, it'll put him down, but it doesn't break bone. And, you know, I don't like shattering an individual's facial structure. I mean, I don't get off on that, You know, When I was eventually shipped to old Folsom, that story preceded me to the inmate grapevine. You know, I'd taken out these seven trained assassins of the Nuestra Familia. I didn't do anything to discourage people from thinking that. I figured, okay, that's fine. Let them think that.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

I would imagine in prison you really have to constantly be projecting, don't fuck with me energy.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

You pretty much do. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Mostly in your body language. So I imagine that's what others here pick up on. I don't do it consciously, but apparently I do it. You know, that actually disturbs me. You know, I don't want people to be afraid of me. Matter of fact, that's the last thing I want since we're out here, you have to put up with me smoking my pipe. Fine. But I still didn't pursue notoriety or even reputation, for that matter. I continued to stay to myself, you know, and do my workouts and was approached by a lot of people.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Like who?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Blacks, whites, Mexicans. Always looking for recruiting process and. And I've never been a follower.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Love and Radio will return after these messages.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

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[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Michael Lynn Thompson]

First and foremost, not the whites, not the Mexicans, but the blacks and Black Panthers tried to recruit me, and that was a result of the perception that I was Native American. The person who attempted to recruit me was Yogi Pinell. He was their field marshal, General of the Black Panthers, and he was Nicaraguan, but he was a warrior, he was a fighter, and that's how he attained his status.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Chapter 3.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Yogi Hugo Pinell is considered the most dangerous prisoner in California.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

His first friends called him Yogi Bear, a name that hardly suggests the convicted rapist he was or the convict who was part of the San Quentin Six, the man who slashed the throats of three guards at Quentin in a dramatic escape attempt back in 1971.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

I'm a political prisoner because I became politically involved with the conditions in prison. I became historically aware of what was going on with black people and what was going on throughout the world politically. He proceeded to tell me all about Communist Manifesto and Mao and Stalin and what they were doing here and the oppression of the black people and this and that. I didn't understand a damn bit of it. Pretty much told him that. I said, you know, John Wayne told me, communism is bad, and so I'm going to decline. I really don't understand anything you're telling me. We must stop communist rioting inside America. We must enforce the laws that mean. I said, but I'm an American. Well, I'm gonna stay an American. I'm not gonna be a communist American. He says, all right. He called me Young Mike. He says, all right, Young Mike. He said, well, you know, you're either with us or against us. And what you're telling me is that you're against us. He said, so you go on in and you make yourself a knife, and I'll meet you out here in the morning. I went back inside and I had a neighbor, they had me in a strip cell. Strip cell's just a hole in the floor with a cement slab for a bit. My only article of clothing was a pair of boxer shorts. Frenchie got at me. He threw a line. A line is a fish line. It goes underneath the cell bars at an angle, and then you cross it with another line, and you pull in that line, and it usually has a note on it or something that people are trading or whatever. This is my first experience with a fish line. So he threw a fish line out there, and he told me, make a line and cross me. The only thing I had was my boxer shorts. So I pinched the elastic on them and shredded out the elastic, pulled it out, and I twisted it into a line. And the only thing I had in my cell was a bar of soap. So I wet that and formed that into a very flat weight for the end of the line. So eventually I pulled him in, and he had a kite, which is a note tied to it with some cellophane and a stainless steel. Steel clip off a pin. And so in the kite, he told me that he had observed through the window my situation with Yogi and could pretty much read what was happening. He says, you know, you're going to have to make a knife and sharpen it. Here's some cellophane. Wrap it in the cellophane, keister it, and then you'll go out in the morning and you'll have a knife to do battle with him.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Do you know what keistering was at this point?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Not really. It was completely foreign. I mean, I've heard talk about it, but had never attempted it. But now I was going to have to. I went ahead and wrapped it in the plastic cellophane that Frenchy had given me. And then only lubricant I had was a soap. So I used that, and it took me a while to secrete that in my rectum. Very painful. And then it was yard release. And I was one of the first ones out because my cell's closest to the yard door. So when I start there and then they work their way back down the tier, then they go upstairs, and then they go to the other side, which is where Yogi was at. So I had a while before, you know, he would come out. So I was processed out to the yard, and I had no idea how to get this thing out of my rectum that didn't come with a manual. And you would think that it would just be a natural process if, you know, body wants to get rid of it. So out it comes. No, it locks up in you. It's not just the Sphincter muscles. It's the actual canal itself. Just swells and locks up around whatever you have in there. Of course, everybody knew what I was doing, including the guards. And so I put my back against the wall and I squat and I'm trying to bring this knife out. It's not happening. I cannot get this damn thing out of me. Ultimately, I just said, man, the hell with this. I just laid down flat prone on the ground and started rubbing my stomach. I just managed to get it out, walked up to the sink, view of everybody. They're watching me do this. They watch me wash it off. The only thing I have for handle is paper. So I wrapped just a short ball of paper around it, which makes it lock into my hand.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Where was Yogi at this point?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

He just coming through the gate. He's so experienced that he's got his secreted in his rectum. But his third step into the gate, he had it in his hand. They put four gunners on the rail because they knew what was happening. But nobody had even racked around. Of course, you got all the whites up here at this end by the big black strap iron gate that overlooks the Folsom River. And then you've got the Mexicans down at this end. And then the blacks who kind of horseshoed this way center. So he comes and I mean, he immediately, as we get close enough, he lunges at me. I just parried it, in other words, just hit his knife and threw him off his trajectory. So he spun and he smiled and I smiled, kind of acknowledging each other. Okay, it's not going to be that easy. You pivot from left and you pivot right and you turn. So you're circling essentially each other, other, but you're moving because if you stand stationary, you're sitting duck. He had a dagger. He kept thrusting it at me, trying to hit my torso. Each time he did, I avoided the thrust and would nick his hand, nick his wrist, nick his hand, nick his wrist, nick his arm. And it was bleeding. The blood was getting on his hand and his knife hand. And he was having to adjust his grip because of the blood. He realized that he was losing. I saw that fear in his eyes. I just slashed him across the chest. He turned the run and I slashed him again and followed him. He ran down towards the blacks where they were at. Two of his bodyguards interceded. Both had knives. First one to confront me, I just simply blocked and I slashed across the lost his belly, opened his gut up so that his intestines began to spill the Second one. I never did figure out what he had in mind. He almost looked like he wanted to headbutt me. But I just took my piece and laid it over. He had a shaved head and laid it over the top of his head. And it just popped the skin over the skull itself. Then I was shot and it dropped me, man, it dropped me. It's like being hit by lightning. When I imagine being hit by lightning is shot right there, right in your lower back there, right there. And it's right next to the spine. They come out and, you know, they put me on a gurney and they took me to the clinic. They probed the wound. Doctor made the determination it was too close to the spine. He wasn't going to try to remove it. Take him to a cell. Like I said, there's only a hole in the floor. My body went into shock. So I laid on the floor and, you know, they would bring my food and they would slide it up underneath. There's a little slot there where they slide the food up underneath. And it would take me about an hour. I mean, just. I would just break out in a sweat. It was amazingly painful to try to turn over. But eventually I would make it and I just put my face in the tray that they put there. I'd move my head around and eat what I could. Face is caked with food. And then it'd take me about another hour to roll back over. Because you can't stay in that position. It's just too burdensome on the body. So I don't know if I passed out or fell asleep from the exertion and the pain. What woke me was a tickle on my leg.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Chapter four Herman.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

It was the antennae of a three inch cockroach that had come up through the sewer. I don't really have a problem with that, although I did find it disagreeable. He got up to my face and I would like that, trying to get him off my face. But he just come up to eat. And I realized that I couldn't do that. I didn't have anything in me enough to even shake him off me. So I named him Herman. Pretty soon Herman brought friends with him. Yeah, so I had cockroaches all over my face eating the food off my face. So I tried as best I could to give them all names so that we could have that intimacy you and I so often talk about. After 10 days and you're in an altercation, you have the opportunity to go back out to the yard. So the guards came, said, you want to go to the yard. And I said, yeah, I do. And took me a long time to get up. I still couldn't lift my arms. My walking was just a shuffle step. I just didn't lift my feet off the ground. I just shuffled my feet and I went like that. And it took me forever to get out there, but I got out there and then TD Bingham approached me.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

So who, who is he?

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

Probably one of the most influential members of the Aryan Brotherhood. And all the week you bide your lane. All the time you're waiting for the minute that he's coming in. You know when what he has to work. You know the earthy has the key. And yet it makes you angry when you see angels. Come home to sleep through the mountain.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

That's it for this episode of Blood Memory. Stay tuned to the end for a sneak peek of the next installment. We reached out to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the cdcr, and asked them about Michael's time in state prison. They did not respond. Music on this episode comes from Monte Adkins, Pierre Bastien and Michel Benabila. Star of the Sea, Zaroshi Kishosis Sarepti, Foula Andrenas and Salvaggia, Alx Hentzi and Landless. Check the show notes for the full playlist. Additional voices on this episode were provided by Katie Mingles and Dave Shaw. The series producer of Blood Memory is Mir Kumar. Robin Amer is our managing editor. Additional reporting by Brian Kranz and Anya Schulz, fact checking by Nicole Pasulka and Visuals by Orla McCarty. Love and radio is a labor of love and radio and made possible thanks to our members with extra special thanks to Rock Hard Abs Casey, Pamela Anderson, Mark Dunksasan, Aaron Go Go Goer, Sam Huffman, the Huffman, Jacqueline potato leak, Keith McLendrier, Leith McCarthy, Kendry, jotato palm, Harry Ali, Mothra Perry, Chris Lesage, William Stabby Spears, Jason V for Vendetta. And if you'd like to join the fine group of people who make love and radio happen, head on over to loveandradio.orgmember to join us on Patreon. Or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, you can just subscribe right in the app. You'll get access to the next episode of Blood Memory right now. Add free. I'm Nicholas Sardine. Punch Punch Vanderkolk. Thanks for listening. Coming up on the next episode of Blood Memory.

[Michael Lynn Thompson]

An Aryan brother is without care. He walks where the weak and heartless won't dare. And if by chance he should stumble and lose control. His brothers will be there to help reach his goal.

[Nick Van Der Kolk]

Another quote that I have here, this was from another member. The smell of fresh human blood can be overpowering. But killing is like having sex. The first time is not so rewarding, but it gets better and better with practice, especially when one remembers that it's a holy cause.