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Locked In with Ian Bick

I Was a Norteño Gang Soldier Inside California’s Most Dangerous Prisons | Mario Sanchez

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8743 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2025

⏱️ 119 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mario Sanchez grew up in San Francisco, where a tough childhood and the streets shaped his future. After high school, he started committing home invasions that led to a decade-long prison sentence in some of California’s most dangerous maximum-security prisons. Inside, Mario joined the Norteños — one of the most feared prison gangs in the state. #PrisonStories #GangLife #CaliforniaPrisons #Norteño #PrisonInterview #TrueCrimePodcast #RedemptionStory #survivingprison Thank you to BLUECHEW & GLD for sponsoring this episode: BlueChew: Visit https://bluechew.com/ and use promo code LOCKEDIN at checkout to get your first month of BlueChew & pay five bucks for shipping. GLD: New customers get 50% Off AND a FREE chain with code LOCKEDIN at https://www.gld.com/ Connect with Mario Sanchez: Website: www.relentless-mindset.com IG: @theemariosanchez YouTube: The_RelentlessMindset Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00 From Home Invasions to Prison Life – Mario’s Story Begins 03:34 Growing Up in San Francisco’s Tough Streets 05:55 Family Trauma, Survival, and a Broken Foundation 11:00 School, Rebellion & Slipping Into the Streets 16:02 Partying, Peer Pressure & Losing Control 20:55 First Robberies: How the Crime Spree Began 29:44 Arrested: The Day Everything Collapsed 36:43 County Jail, Gang Politics & Staying Alive 43:00 Prison Life: Education, Violence & Daily Survival 47:00 California Prison Politics & Gang Structures 01:01:03 Life in The SHU: Extreme Isolation & Mental Battles 01:14:16 Pelican Bay Level 4: The Harshest Prison Reality 01:26:06 Riots, Rivalries & The Prison Code of Survival 01:33:01 Earning Respect: Becoming a Leader on the Yard 01:39:09 The Turning Point: Choosing to Walk Away from the Gang 01:44:41 Life After Prison: Reentry, Reality & Redemption 01:46:35 The Weight of a Criminal Record & Rebuilding from Nothing 01:52:40 From Prison to Purpose: Film, Writing & Helping Youth 01:56:53 Lessons Learned: Advice to Anyone on the Edge 01:58:44 Final Reflections & Closing Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

We were doing home invasion robberies. What's the San Francisco County Jail? I was technically a

0:05.1

North Daniel. Why are the Serrainos an enemy? And as soon as these two white guys come out, we got to rush him.

0:10.2

How does someone even get past the keys to the yard? There's a guy that wasn't clearable. He ended up

0:15.3

getting hit or removed from the yard. Mario Sanchez grew up in San Francisco, surrounded by

0:20.2

struggle and survival.

0:22.0

After high school, he turned a crime committing home invasions that landed him in California's

0:26.3

most dangerous prisons, where he became a Nortennial soldier just to stay alive.

0:34.9

Mario, welcome to Lockton.

0:36.5

Thanks so much for coming on the show today. Ian, thank you for having me. I've been watching you for a while and I appreciate you inviting me out here to the East Coast to check you guys out. Yeah, of course, man. You came for California, right? Yeah, I live in L.A. Originally from San Francisco. But yeah, I've been in LA for about the last 10 years.

0:58.2

So a little colder out here today for you. A little bit colder, yeah. It's a little bit more chilly out here on the East Coast. Best time of year, though, because it's fall. Like, it's not

1:02.5

too hot, not too cold. But the mornings, I think, it was dropped down like 40 this morning. So

1:06.2

you probably had to bundle up. Yeah, it was 80 degrees in L when I left. So a little bit cooler out here. Yeah, I was in Vegas last weekend and it was, it was definitely warmer. It wasn't like the 100 degree hot, but it was still a lot warmer than what it is now. You can't be walking around without a hoodie right now. Yeah, definitely. But yeah, very, very nice to be out here. So thank you for having me. Yeah, of course. Plug everything you got. I know you have a book coming out in January and your

1:31.7

merch that you hooked us up with that we are definitely going to be rocking.

1:36.2

Yeah, thank you. So you can go to my website, www.relentless-mindset.com. You can see my merch there. My book will be out in January. That's also

1:46.7

called Relentless Mindset. And it's really just about my life story about getting in trouble when I was

1:52.3

very young, going away. I was incarcerated for about eight years. And then really getting out of

1:57.6

prison and just changing my life over the last 25 years. I've been in

2:01.1

banking and finance. And so that's what the book's about. And it's just really about changing your

2:06.0

life. Have you linked with Hector Bravo at all? Hector, I, you know what? We talked via like techs.

2:13.3

I was thinking about going down to maybe meet with him as well. But that's someone I'd like to talk to as well. Yeah, he would be great. If he didn't answer you or whatever, I can reach out to him too. I had him on my show here, like almost two years ago now. And he was, I know he worked in some of the higher security prisons in California. Yeah, I actually really like what he's doing with, you know, his platform and how he's talking about all the stuff that goes on in CDC.

2:39.0

So I like that because there's a lot of crap that goes on in the system that people don't know about.

2:44.7

And it's cool to see somebody uncovering all that and putting them on blast.

...

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