Folks, you are listening to an encore presentation of the Eric Metaxa show.

We only played the greatest stuff for our encores.

Here it is.

It's hi, Eric Metaxis.

I am so excited.

We have an amazing guest today, an amazing, miraculous story.

Don't leave, whatever you're doing, because this is one of those stories.

I'm sitting here in the studio with Casey Diaz.

The book is The Shot Caller, A Latino Gangbanger's Miraculous Escape from a

Life of Violence to a New Life in Christ. Casey Diaz, welcome. Thank you for having me. You have

an unbelievable. I mean, a life of violence doesn't do justice to your story. I mean, it's worse than a lot. I mean, a lot of people had a life of violence. You're talking a life of extreme violence. So I want to get your story. Where do we start? Where are we like, I mean, when did you tell the story of coming to America? How old were you? I was two years old. Two, All right. So we're not going to get a lot of details. You were two, right? Yeah, exactly. But came here from El Salvador. Okay. And you came here as an illegal immigrant? No, legally. You came as a legal immigrant from El Salvador when you were two. When I was two, yes. Okay. And we settled in what's called the Rampart District of Los Angeles.

Yeah.

And my aunt lived in South Central, L.A.

So we moved back and forth in the beginning of stage of me coming here.

Okay.

And you got involved in violence extremely young.

Tell us this story.

I was 11 years old. You know at a time where kids were still playing outside baseball and

football and a lot of outside outdoor activity. But the only element with me was that my folks

with my mom, she worked as a seamstress in downtown

Los Angeles so she'd leave at four in the morning and then wouldn't come back until around 10

11 at night and then my father who was never working he was always out there and you know he'd be

...