Capone & Cousin Jorge: What I Learned About Power in Juvenile Hall
They passed around the pencils and asked a simple question:
"Who do you look up to, and why?"
I was locked up in juvenile hall at the time. Young, angry, sharp-eyed, and tired of being told to respect systems that never once respected me.
Most kids wrote about their mom, or a coach, or a soldier. I wrote about my cousin Jorge… and Al Capone.
🧓🏽 Jorge: The Quiet Blueprint
Jorge wasn’t flashy. He didn’t roll deep or flex heavy. But he got up early, went to work, stacked paper, and did something nobody in our circle had really done before—he saved.
Not just for shoes or rims. He saved for freedom. For mobility. For something more than surviving paycheck to paycheck.
At that age, I didn’t have the words for it, but what Jorge showed me was compound interest in motion—financial, moral, and personal.
He wasn’t loud. But his discipline spoke volumes. He made the grind look honorable. That stuck with me.
🎩 Capone: The Unrepentant Architect
Then there was Al Capone. I didn’t admire his violence. I didn’t fantasize about becoming him. But I saw the game he played for what it was:
Prohibition made alcohol illegal—but didn’t stop demand.
The law said "no" while the people said "pour me another."
Capone read the room and monetized hypocrisy.
I argued—probably too confidently—that Capone could’ve crushed it as a legitimate businessman if the economy wasn’t rigged to reward the outlaw over the entrepreneur. But:
Bootlegging was too profitable.
Whoring was too fun.
And being treated like royalty? That shit’s addictive.
"Se la vi," I wrote. I meant c’est la vie—such is life—but I spelled it how it sounded in my head. Even then, I understood: the system molds the gangster as much as it does the banker.
🔄 Systems of Reward
Jorge and Capone weren’t opposites. They were two sides of a truth I was just starting to grasp:
People follow the incentives.
If the system rewards exploitation, you’ll get exploiters.
If the system rewards quiet discipline, you’ll get Jorge.
But the sad truth? In America, the Capones usually win. And the Jorges? They grind in silence. No headlines. No mansions. Just dignity.
🧠 Juvenile Hall Taught Me More Than Rehab Ever Did
That essay? It wasn’t just about admiration. It was my first real analysis of power, profit, and pathology.
I didn’t know I’d grow up to fight corrupt research institutions, or dig through DEA rulings, or launch veteran-led policy campaigns. I didn’t know I’d become obsessed with archives, garden initiatives, or uncovering the real history of cannabis criminalization.
But I knew this: I didn’t want to become Capone.
And I didn’t want Jorge’s story to be forgotten.
I wanted to fix the game that forced kids like me to choose between them.
✊🏽 Final Thought
Power doesn’t always look like a badge, a bank, or a ballot. Sometimes, it looks like a cousin who keeps showing up. And sometimes, it looks like a kid in a cell, writing his way out.
And if the system won't reward the right things?
We build one that does.
