Larry Lawton - Gangster Redemption: How America’s Most Notorious Jewel Robber Got Rich, Got Caught, and Got His Life Back on Track

GANGSTER REDEMPTION

How Ex-Con Larry Lawtons Life Has Inspired Thousands of Kids To Stay Out of Prison

GANGSTER REDEMPTION

HOW AMERICAS MOST NOTORIOUS JEWEL ROBBER GOT RICH, GOT CAUGHT, AND GOT HIS LIFE BACK ON TRACK

LARRY LAWTON

Gangster Redemption - Copyright 2012 by Lawrence Lawton. All rights reserved

P ublished by LL Research & Consulting, Inc. 2550 Palm Bay Rd. Palm Bay, FL 32905 Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to LL Research & Consulting, Inc. or Lawton911 2550 Palm Bay Rd. Palm Bay, Florida 32905 or (321) 327-2921, fax (888) 588-4616.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the authors have used their best efforts in preparing this book, some names, characters, places, and incidents have been changed or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any harm, loss of life, profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lawrence Lawton

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-0-9854082-0-6

ISBN 978-0-9854082-1-3 (ebook)

This book is dedicated to my son Larry Jr.
and daughter Ashley, we were physically apart,
but you were always in my heart.

Gangster Redemption

How Ex-Con Larry Lawtons Life Has Inspired
Thousands of Kids to Stay Out of Prison

A Goodfella Becomes a Good Guy

How Americas most notorious jewel robber got rich,

got caught, and got his life back on track

By Larry Lawton, Founder of Lawton911 and the Reality Check Program

and

Peter Golenbock, 7 Time NY Times Bestselling Author

C2012

Table of Contents

Who Wants To F*ck Miss Armellino

Earner For The Mob

Loyalty

The Daytona $800,000

Diamonds Are a Guys Best Friend

The Single Life

The Last Heist

Journey to Atlanta

The Worst of the Worst

An Atmosphere of Violence

Coleman and Jessup

The Abu Ghraib of America

Yazoo and Forest City

Free At Last

The Beginning of the Reality Check Program

The Reality Check Program Takes Off

Spreading the Word

The Reality Check Program

It Works

Larry Lawton

PHOTOS

Preface:

As a man who is not an author by profession, but a man who loves to have his opinion expressed, this book came about after developing the Reality Check Program DVD. People kept saying I needed to write a book to expose the wrongs with the prison system and also explain how people can change.

I blame no one for the wrongs that happened to me. In fact, I blame myself and myself alone. I also feel for the victims of my crimes. Although I never hurt anyone in a jewelry store robbery or other crime against a civilian (A person not in the criminal world) I do understand that there were emotional harms I caused. I could never change that and work with victim advocates all the time.

Life takes you on an emotional ride and mine was, and is, very emotional. The hurt I caused the victims, my family and society in general is a scar I live with everyday. I ask for no pity or help in dealing with my own emotions.

I also understand that redemption is part of life. You have to forgive yourself before you can move on and help others in anyway. I have moved on and developed the #1 program to help teens and young adults understand that the choices they make will affect the rest of their lives. The Reality Check Programs success rate is well documented.

I met Peter Golenbock through my agent at the time Adam Leibner from N.S. Bienstock. I met Adam in a roundabout way through Michael Kay the sports announcer for the New York Yankees. The stars truly aligned because Peter was able to get things out of me that nobody else could.

After a lot of encouragement from numerous people who I will acknowledge in the next section, and many ups and downs emotionally, financially and personally the book, Gangster Redemption was born.

CHAPTER 1

Who Wants To F*ck Miss Armellino

From his jail cell in the hole, he could hear the tier door open. The sound of footsteps was getting louder.

Theyre coming for me , he thought.

Cuff up, Lawton, he was ordered.

He knew better.

What did I do? Lawton wanted to know.

The four huge guards the size of gorillas opened his cell door and charged at him. They jumped him and beat him. His face bled. His body hurt. They didnt care.

After they beat him they carried him out of the cell, put him in a room, stripped him naked, and strapped him down in a four-point position so he was spread-eagled. They cuffed each leg and arm to a post.

His eyes, half-closed from the beating, saw the hulking figure of one of the guards standing over him. He could see the guard unzip his fly. He took out his penis, and he let loose a stream of urine that splashed against Lawtons face.

As the guard was peeing, he said tauntingly, Lawton, you keep writing senators. You think youre going anywhere?

Lawton closed his eyes, and he could taste the salty urine running down his face. One of the guards then spat out a large gob of spittle on him as he walked past.

You think youre bad, Lawton, said one of the guards. Keep writing senators.

Strapped down, immobile, naked, and covered with pee, he was left there alone with his thoughts for more than three and a half hours.

This may well have been the lowest point in Larry Lawtons life.

At one time he had been tight with the Gambino mob. He had been a big earner for the mob, stealing over $15 million in jewels in a string of jewelry store robberies. His take was millions of dollars. He lived like a king.

I was a millionaire, thought Lawton. I owned a limo, horses, homes, expensive cars.

Once he had a family, a beautiful wife and two beautiful children. He had lost it all.

Woozy from the beating, strapped naked to a steel bed frame, the smell of urine in his nostrils, he thought to himself, How did I end up like this?

*

When Larry Lawton was growing up, he lived at 5565 Hatting Place in the Bronx in the shadow of the Throgs Neck Bridge. From the back of his modest two-story bungalow home he could see the trucks and cars going over the bridge toward Queens, and he could hear the horns and the sounds of the traffic.