On My Search for a Better Life, This Is How I Became . . . Infamous!!!: An Autobiography

By Ta Leon Goffney

This is the memoir of a man who grew up in the inner city. Who had a very lacking upbringing and one day decided to do something about it. It is a cautionary tale of the choices we make. Especially the ones we make for money.

This led him to some of the most unexpected placesa life in the streets, in front of cameras in the adult entertainment world and in an eight-by-six cell for numerous years in prison. There are some choices we can walk away from; then there are the ones that stay with us forever.

Now he's on a quest to make things right and is back with a message and is paying it forward by using his story as a warning to others. So take stock of the choices you make. Because I wouldn't want you to go through what happened to me! Choose well!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503511712

Ta Leon Goffney

My memoir is based on the ripple effect that comes with the choices we make and the importance of how sacred self-respect can be and how easy it is to lose it. My whole life I grew up poor. But one day, something inside of me just snapped, and I decided to make a solid decision to change that, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, my choices led me to a world of crime, the porn industry, and numerous years in prison! If I could take it all back, I would. Because the things I've lost, not even money can replace. I was willing to do anything to escape poverty, even if it meant selling my soul. Now I'm fighting like hell to get it back. There is much to be learned by the things I've been through. Enjoy and beware of the choices you make!

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Kent T. Jackson.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014919520

ISBN:      Hardcover   978-1-5035-1170-5

                Softcover      978-1-5035-1172-9

                eBook           978-1-5035-1171-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 11/14/2014

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Conception

Chapter 2 Girls, Girls, Girls

Chapter 3 The Suburbs

Chapter 4 The Grass Isn't Always Greener...

Chapter 5 Back To The Basics

Chapter 6 Back To Suburbia

Chapter 7 Tired Of The Stress, So I Left The Nest.

Chapter 8 Prison

Chapter 9 Coochie Fiend...

Chapter 10 Soul For Sale

Chapter 11 The Love Of My Life

Chapter 12 Superman...

Chapter 13 Betrayal

Chapter 14 Calm Before The Storm

Chapter 15 (In My Bag)

Chapter 16 Now I'm Pissed!!!

Chapter 17 True Colors

Chapter 18 The Point Of It All

Chapter 19 Mr. Infamous

Epilogue To My Readers...

I have tried to recreate events, locales and conversations from my memories of them. In order to maintain their anonymity in some instances I have changed the names of individuals and places, I may have changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties, occupations and places of residence. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Acknowledgments

To my Mom for not aborting us, even when Grandmom told you to. Thanks for your courage. To Billz for having my back when it got real. You were the best father figure I've ever known. To Cass, Rellz, Maqueta, and Kyle, I do this for your sake. I do this for myself a long time ago. To my nieces and nephew, Uncle Kent loves you!! And to Eliza for loving me when you could. I'm not mad at you, I'm glad to have known you. And finally to Gan-Gan, the realest person I've ever known. Thank you for the love you showed me in life, and the lesson you taught me in death. I still miss those Christmas baskets!! Rest In Peace...

Sincerely Yours,

Kent T. Jackson

a.k.a.

Mr. Infamous

Chapter 1

CONCEPTION

On April 8th, 1982 at Crescent Hospital, Bonnie L. Jackson (age 15) introduce me to the world. But I didn't come alone. I had a counterpart, my twin brother Kyle L. Jackson. Born just a minute apart, destined to be inseparable. My first memories I recall as a child was living in this little blue house. All I remember is me staring out of a window on the side of this house. And at the age of 4, my mother moved us to an apartment development known as the projects called Bellovue Apartments.

It was one of the best places on earth when I was a child. I had friends, trees to climb, and wooded areas to explore. But it wasn't what was outside of our home that worried me. We moved there during a gang era. The local gangs were; LSL (Long Shore Lane), 8-ball posse, and The Men With The Bats (we called them, The men with the bats). But even residing in such chaos, it was a little problematic in our home too. My mom was super young with twin boys and no one really to help us. So her frustration would get the best of her sometimes and she would grow upset with everything around her.

At this time my mother was big-bellied with another child on the way. Later to be known as my little sister, Maqueta L. Jackson. We resided in a 2-bedroom apartment. And all three of us slept in the same room. Yup, typically we had bunked beds, but the catch to this was not sharing such a small space next to my brother. Rather it was the little sister above us. Who might I mention, had a severe pissing problem.

She peed to bed so much, it started seeping through the mattress. And yes, we'd wake up wet too. We later devised a plan (my brother and I), to sneak my Mom's umbrella out of the closet and bring it to bed with us (and noticed I said, 'my Mom', because we all had an individual relationship with her. So when referring to her we'd just say 'my Mom.') But the umbrella trick worked. I woke up early in the morning and heard the piss trickling down above us, and all my brother and I could do was just laugh.

We later were placed in pre-school (my brother and I). Where we met these two girls named Kitrina and Brittany Baines. Who would later become our first girlfriends. At age 5, we enrolled at Littleton Elementary School. And my kindergarten teacher's name was Mrs. Tabb. I remember having a huge crush on her. She had thick hair and she was light-skinned. I used to run around class eating art paste all day, until it was time to sit next to Mrs. Tabb. She used to wear short-sleeved blouses, so whenever she wasn't looking I'd bend down to the floor to look up her shirt. All I could see was her armpit hair, but it was exciting trying to see her boobies (okay call me a pervert, so what). But as soon as school was out that's when all the action began.

I would arrive home, grab Kyle, and straight out the door we went. We used to run to the woods and lift up boards and tires to catch snakes that would coil in the damped-cool spots underneath. We later started catching crickets so we could sell them to the drug dealer named Bolo who lived directly across from us. He had lizards and baby sharks in fish tanks throughout his place. Which probably was the coolest thing I've ever seen. But those quarters he used to give us always found their way to the Bodega everytime. I used to love the five cent jingles, laffy taffies, chic-o-sticks, and my favorite, Boston Baked Beans. But even then as a child, money attracted girls. So here comes Kitrina and Brittany Bates (who might I add lived in the same complex as we did). Since I was the oldest twin, I went towards the oldest sister which was Kitrina. And subsequently, my brother took Brittany. They used to follow us everywhere and we'd even used to play house. But as soon as it started to get dark we would hear my mom scream, Kent and Kyle. She had a yell that could resonate nearly a mile away (real talk).

You could never tell what mood my mom was in. Sometimes I swore that we got in trouble for no apparent reason at all. Just because she was mad I guess. My brother and I would also have these reoccurring nightmares. They were about kids who would mimic our appearance and pull us into the closet or underneath our bed, just to impersonate and infiltrate a place into our world. We came up with a name for them. We called them, Scare-Things. And the most scariest part about them was if they ever were to touch you, your body would become weak and you would lose your voice. We would scream out to our Mom but she couldn't hear us. Our yells would only come out as whispers. But these dreams haunted us through-out our entire adolescent years. Sometimes I wonder were these demons passed down on us from our Grandmom. Because she had demon encounter stories for days, that she used to tell us.

I even remember the first time I got a beating from her. I was probably 7 years old, and it was at her apartment. She used to work for the transit bus station. So during the 80's it was crazy. She used to carry this gray-and-black revolver starter pistol around. It would sound off like a gun, but no bullets came out. I was playing on her waterbed and there it was hidden near the headrest. So I grabbed it, showed it to Kyle, aimed it to the ceiling and shot it. It was the loudest noise I ever heard in my life. But she and my mom ran in the room and snatched it from me. All I remember is her saying, You know I love you, but Grandmom gotta' beat you. Which seemed innocent at the time, but her abuse was far deeper than that. So I would later come to learn.

Chapter 2

GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS

There was Kitrina and Brittany our girlfriends of course. We had a love and war relationship with them, just like most kids do. One day we'd all be playing freeze tag and then fighting with each other the next. They had this older brother named Benjamin, whom was like twice our age. Mrs. Greta (their mother by the way) used to tell us if we hit one of them again then she'd get Benjamin to beat our asses. Yup, she literally cursed us out like you would do a grown-up. Her threats would be accompanied by her drunk husband Mr. Bone. He was the epitome of a wine-o. He always had a brown paper bag with a can of beer inside, which stayed glued to his lips. They had this cat named Muffy (who I might add was probably the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life). He would run around our neighborhood with a bunch of other stray cats. He literally was the leader of the pack. We called their squad The Ghetto Cats.

Speaking of cats, we had a cat named Whiskers. She was our first pet ever. She used to be docile. That was until we starting letting her go outside. It wasn't long before The Ghetto Cats got hold of her. She became so crafty and rambunctious that one night she tore a whole in our screened window. We woke up and there were about four other random cats inside our home, eating out of the kitchen trash can. My mom went ballistic and told us she had to go. We pleaded for one last chance. Then Whiskers got pregnant and that's when she had to go.

Then there was Gwyneth, a lanky long-legged girl. She had the longest legs ever. She used to play with us often, but somehow seemed to always be on punishment. Her mom (just as lanky) used to confine her to the house. We'd always see her looking out the window or screen door to see us play. Her mom used to say, Just 'cause ya'll mom let ya'll do what ya'll want, don't mean she can. Grounding her constantly(which never works), absent-mindedly creating a ticking time bomb.

Then there was Shaniviah (a.k.a smart mouth). She was Kitrina and Brittany's friend. She was the most conceited little heifer you could ever know. She was always rolling her eyes and sucking her teeth. Making all these Egyptian-like hand gestures, telling people to get out of her face. Then there was Nay-Nay. She was a cold hood rat. She was so hot in the pants I'd swore she'd be pregnant by age 10. She was always getting in trouble by her mom for acting so fast. I think her mom name was Mrs. Flo.

Oh! Don't let me forget about the Spanish twins Melissa & Jacquelyn. They were the flyest and prettiest girls in our complex. They never hung out in the neighborhood. They were always hanging out the window talking shit. It would be rare to catch them around the way. Luck found us one afternoon. The day we caught them playing at the playground. But with Kyle with me my luck was about to go out the window. While I tried to get my mac on, to see if Melissa liked me. I turned around and Kyle and Jacquelyn are pounding each others faces in. Melissa runs to help her sister now I had to put a foot in her ass, to keep them from jumping Kyle. He fucked that up for me.

Then along came Tiffany Diggs and Tamika Boom. Tiffany Diggs was like Baby D from Next Friday: big, brollick, and troublesome. She beat me up twice because I didn't like her. Her being bigger than me was a huge turn off. And Tamika Boom was darker than an African Warrior. At first, I couldn't tell if she was a boy or a girl because she only wore cornrows.

Then finally, there was Keyonna and Dominique. They were our next door neighbors. We got cool with them because my mom and their mom were best friends. Her name was Mrs. Tammy. She had a husband named Squirrel and a mother named Mrs. Loretta. Who was always trying to hook us up with her granddaughters. But then they had this drunk ass friend named Deon. His favorite phrase he used to say was, Kicking it like that! But he used to always come stumbling around dropping money on the ground. So you know what that meant (fuckin' right!!), straight to the Bodega.

But in the midst of all this girl drama, our little brother Cass was born. His Dad who became our stepfather was named Cass Thompson. He used to always drink on the weekends and stay crapping on the toilet. When he got drunk, we'd try to hustle money out of him. He wasn't a bad person, he just had a drinking and drug addiction. One evening I stumbled upon him in the kitchen, he was sitting on the washing machine. He had a rolled up dollar bill while he was snorting something white in his nose from atop the countertop. But other than that he was a hands-on Dad. He used to take us to Mountain Lane Park so we could play on the swings while he played basketball. Later we would come to meet his family.

First there was Nanny, she was the grandmom from hell. Because she loved whipping somebody's ass. She would make you go outside and pull your own switch off the tree, just so she could taunt you before beating you down to the nub. Then there were his sisters; Aunt Candy, Brenda, Batrice, and Jean. Aunt Brenda had three kids; Melissa, Leon, and Darnell. Aunt Batrice had a son named Frank. And Aunt Jean had two daughters named Tina and Amber. And her husband's name was Uncle Russell. He used to take his gun when no one was home and shoot at the rats running around their house. We would come over and he'd be sitting on the porch (barrel smoking), with a gun in his hand because he had a phobia for rats. They lived on Long Shore Lane (right in the heart of the gang members LSL), which was a long strip that arched all the way to the end of the block.

Back at our house my Uncle Lavon (my mom's brother) and my Aunt Venus (his wife) used to come stay with us every once in a while. Aunt Venus was a tall heavy-set Italian Woman who was always full of smiles. She was the nicest woman I ever met. Other than that, school was something to look forward to.

Around this time I was in first grade. My teacher at the time was named Mrs. Tankly. She was one of those elderly no-nonsense teachers. But she pushed her students to be better. I remember one day we had a surprise word in our spelling test. The word was 'RESPONSIBILITY', which was pretty tough for a first grader. She would write the words out on the chalk board, leave it there for a little while, then erase them. That's when our test would began. And if you got an A she would give out little treats preferably candy.

I had every intention on cheating, but her eye hustle game was vicious. She could've been reigning champion on those 'Where's Waldo' puzzle searches. That's how good she was. But I decided against it and just kept saying it over and over. And when the time came I passed the test with an A+. She then (out of the entire classroom) called my name, and told me to stand up. Guess she didn't believe I spelled the surprise word on my own. She asked me to spell RESPONSIBILITY in front of the entire classroom. And so I went, R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y. She stood up and clapped for me. She then said, You know you're the only student out of the whole class who spelled it right. That was the first time in my life I learnt what pride felt like. I later went home and told my mom what happened in school.

We later had got our first dog. His name was Misty (due to his misty color). But he would stay up and bark all night, driving everyone nuts. We couldn't afford to take care of him (let alone train him), we had to give him away. We gave him to the neighbors across from us named Mrs. Velvet and them. We later learnt that it was them who killed Misty (because we found him in the middle of the field dead. That's when the beef began.

The following day we were outside playing baseball with this huge red plastic baseball bat. It looked like the shape of a cavemen's club (but it was made of hard plastic). Once Mrs. Velvet's kids came outside, amid the baseball game Kyle stopped playing. He then goes up to the porch and asked the oldest daughter, "Did ya'll kill our dog? Apparently he didn't like her response. Because the next thing I know, he took the bat and swung it directly towards her head. He had hit her so hard she fell to the ground screaming. That's when all hell broke loose.

Mrs. Velvet came out the house yelling after her daughter told her what happened. Consequently my mom had to get involved. That's when the Mrs. Velvet wars began. She didn't like my mom anyway, because my mom was one of the sexiest women in our neighborhood. Which made alot of women jealous of her. I even used to hate when we go somewhere with my mom, and all the guys would stare at her butt. But one morning we all were going to take a drive somewhere with