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of the taylor brothers' close friends and he was the one who told me what supposedly happened to ezekiel. and when i learned that in fact it was over an argument, over something insignificant like a card game, i was even more devastated. it just seemed like such a horrible mistake and a true tragedy. he was so empowered by becoming a father. his whole motivation for changing was because he was going to have a child. that this just, just, just seemed like such a tremendous loss and a tremendous waste. >> it's been fun, but i gotta run. all right? give you guys a mike. >> then we're going to get a parting shot of you leaving. >> all right. no problem with that. >> this is the kind of bull [ bleep ] that happens, you know? you know, i can't really understand it, because it's not an environment that i ever grew
he's more than that. i don't know, man, he's my mom, my dad, my brother, my son. he's everything that i got in this world. he's my reason for being. >> it's a "lockup" show, msnbc. >> we got to the jail one morning and we had a plan in mind of what we were going to do and a deputy comes up and tells us that gabriel, his brother ezekiel has been booked in. so immediately, our plans had changed for the day. we went into a holding cell where he was at and started talking to him. and he basically was just the person that gabriel described him to be. >> what's up, bro? >> ezekiel was back in jail due to a probation violation on his original conviction for burglary. he was assigned to the same protective custody unit as gabriel, because he too had recently sworn off gang life. >> we tell each other every day, if i walk by here, point at me and do a little heart to me. i'm like -- you know, like he's
his brother. he was afraid their former gang affiliations could bring harm to ezekiel. >> they don't play games in oakland. that's the little taliban. we live in al qaeda. they see my brother and try to make an example out of him and i just see his name plastered, i don't know what i'd do. >> make this, so i can finish my card. >> just days before ezekiel was due to leave, we covered the taylor brothers interacting with other inmates in their housing unit. >> ezekiel was making what they call a spread, which is where you take a number of commissary items and turn it into a feast for a number of people who want to participate in it. >> what do you call this? >> goulash. the same thing you call it. goulash. jailhouse goulash. how about that? >> so the spread was finished, ezekiel called some of the inmates over so they could all eat. and they were going to say their prayers first. >> one of the inmates who came over to share the meal is michael souter, a friend the taylor brothers knew from the outside.
ezekiel. gabriel knew he was struggling. gabriel was honest saying he wasn't sure how he was going to do. but ezekiel seemed on a very clear path of having a better life. >> and this piece goes like this, right? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah, yeah. >> becoming a father was a big deal to him. he already had a solid job. he knew he wanted to pursue education. and he also mentioned that, you know, he was done with robbing drug dealers and had been for a while. he didn't want to touch a gun again. >> i can tell you what i want to do. i can't say what's going to happen. because i can get released from here and get hit by a car, you never know. but my intentions, i'm not robbing nobody no more. i ain't touched a gun in years. and i won't touch a gun. know what i mean? i don't got to look over my shoulder no more. all that [ bleep ] is done and over with. i don't got to worry with the street life. the street life is the farthest
want to do that? why would hannibal ride clear across the globe to go conquer rome when you live way the [ bleep ] over in africa. like, you come from way the hell -- why? it all boils down to greed and it helps you understand people. because, me, i'm really into sociology too. >> i just finished a book that was called "king leopold's ghost," about leopold ii and his exploitation of the congo. seemed like it was right up his alley. so i was done with the book, i figured i'd just give it to him. help him kill a little bit of time while he was in jail. come to find out, i couldn't give it to him because of jail rules. >> paunch would have to wait until ezekiel's release from jail to give him the book. that day was quickly approaching. ezekiel was housed in the protective custody unit with his brother gabriel. >> i'll be out the day before my birthday. happy birthday. >> how you feeling about that? >> ready to go back to work. ready to go back to work.
told me what supposedly happened to ezekiel. and when i learned that in fact it was over an argument, over something insignificant like a card game, i was even more devastated. it just seemed like such a horrible mistake and a true tragedy. he was so empowered by becoming a father. his whole motivation for changing was because he was going to have a child. that this just, just, just seemed like such a tremendous loss and a tremendous waste. >> it's been fun, but i gotta run. all right? give you guys a mike. >> then we're going to get a parting shot of you leaving. >> all right. no problem with that. >> this is the kind of bull [ bleep ] that happens, you know? you know, i can't really understand it, because it's not an environment that i ever grew up in, but, yeah. >> i don't want to be one of
it ain't got to be pretty, long as it go in, right? it ain't got to be pretty. see what you got? don't want it? can't get hurt on the job? >> ezekiel said he had traded in a career of robbing drug dealers for a job as a roofer. >> it's hard. i make good money working, though. i can make pretty good money. >> better than robbing drug dealers? >> it's not as fast or as easy, but at the end of the day when you get home, when you take your boots off and you just feel like you accomplished something. >> that's how you got to do. >> with his first child due to be born shortly after his release, ezekiel said he had a new motivation to do well. >> my thing was i never had nothing to lose. truthfully, that's always been my opinion. but now, a child changes the game. i mean, i have something to lose. >> but as ezekiel's release date approached, gabriel feared for his brother. he was afraid their former gang affiliations could bring harm to
watching me, ezekiel watching me get high. and i've watched him sitting there crying, and i'll be like, why the [ bleep ] you crying, bro. and he's like, look at you. >> all right, i need you to clap your hands. up high. >> oh, okay, that's how you get to levels and all of that? got it. >> during the course of ezekiel's interview, i was asking standard questions about marriage, children, that sort of thing, and he kind of sadly said, you know, i've been locked up so much, i've never had the chance to have children. but then he stopped himself and said, but, actually, that's changing. >> and actually right now, i do, i got one in the works. i told you before i told my brother. i'm telling america before i'm telling gabriel. >> what? >> that i'm about to have a kid and my kid is due in june. yeah, june. yeah. >> world series of chess. it's going on. >> i had very high hopes for
dope fiend. at times, he plays the big brother role. there's times he would steal clothes and put them on my back. >> but if i was addicted to heroin or whatever, my brother's going to take care of me, period. i named two of my kids after him. one has his first name, ezekiel, and the other one has justin. that's my brother. i've got his name across my back, the only tattoo on my back, and i leave that for a reason, that's the only man that got my back. it says, i am my brother's keeper. >> the last connection i got blood relation to my father. i'm my brother's keeper. know what i mean? i am my brother's keeper. >> before i met ezekiel, the way gabriel used to talk about him, i just assumed that the two were twins. and then when i actually saw them together, the way they were together, they would finish each other's sentences, they knew each other's histories, they just had such a bond together, that i was very surprised when they actually told me they were a year apart. >> "keeping up with the kardashians" ain't got nothing on us. i'm telling y'all. i don't know, man. >> both brothers have had a revolving-door relationship with
i've been shot am in my face, been shot in my thighs, my back, my ass. i've been shot a few times. but, i mean, it's the cost of doing business. >> i was struck by ezekiel's loathing of drugs and drug addiction. i mean, drugs seem to surround ezekiel in many ways. i mean, i think it caused a deprivation in his childhood. his brother, whom he adored, had a drug addiction, and that really bothered ezekiel. >> my daddy ain't raising no dope fiends. why all of a sudden you want to start using drugs? you going to let somebody else convince you to pay them your money, take out of your children's mouth, so you can poison yourself? that's just stupidity. that's beyond stupid. >> ezekiel can't stand me on meth. if you see somebody sitting there cutting on theirself, basically, cutting theirself,