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Eddie Quiñonez, Street Scholar
The transition from Anaheim gang member to college graduate has been anything but easy
But Quiñonez is proof it can happen—although not without a lot of pain.
* * *
Born in 1984 to parents Carlos and Cindy, Edward Miguel Quiñonez grew up in the same Dogwood Avenue neighborhood of Anaheim where he suffered near-fatal stab wounds 22 years later. His father came of age in the city's downtown and became a hardcore gang member, only giving up the lifestyle after several stints in prison. Carlos Sr. didn't want Eddie and his older brother, Carlos Jr., to follow in his footsteps. "If I wanted to buy a Pendleton or a pair of Nike Cortezes, he wouldn't let me because he knew what that symbolized," Quiñonez says.
John Gilhooley
Scars from the knife attack that nearly took Quiñonez’s life
John Gilhooley
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But in junior high school, Quiñonez began dressing the part. The transformation is evident in his seventh- and eighth-grade yearbook photos. The cherubic young boy with a smile and a side-part haircut is replaced by a young teen with a menacing glare and slicked-back hair. In high school, he shaved his head, the trademark look of a cholo.
Films about gang life such as American Me; Blood In, Blood Out; Boulevard Nights and Mi Vida Loca became cult hits in his neighborhood in the early 1990s, just as such local gangs as DFWS emerged, first as a tagging crew, then a criminal street gang. Carlos Jr. was already a member when Quiñonez was "jumped in" with his official gang moniker of "Capone." His first encounter with authorities was with Fullerton Police at age 14, when he was stopped, searched and taken to the police station for possessing a knife and brass knuckles.
Gang violence raged throughout Southern California throughout the 1990s, and Anaheim was no exception. It was important that neighboring enemy gangs saw the presence of DFWS, which boasted 60 members at its peak, only 20 of whom were truly active at any given time. The Quiñonez family home became de facto ground zero for retaliations after active members engaged in crimes against rivals. "I'd be at my house, posted up [or guarding territory] every night," Eddie says. "Rival gangs would always pass by."
On Mother's Day 1999, when Quiñonez, his brother and his father were all behind bars, a rival gang drove by the house and fired several shots while his mother and grandparents were having a party. Another time, he nearly perished in a drive-by just down the street, where he and a fellow DFWS homie were "posted up" at a corner. All he remembers is an unfamiliar car driving by, someone shouting, "Fuck your neighborhood," then shots ringing out.
It wasn't just rivals who had Quiñonez constantly on alert, however. Because he and his brother were known as the main cholos with DFWS, there was constant heat from the APD's gang unit as well. "We'd get stopped all the time," he recalls. "The gang unit had about a good 15 to 20 heads at the time. They knew everything about me and my brother."
When the area wasn't hot, there was a lot of partying at the Quiñonez house, attended by a constant stream of neighborhood girls. School became an afterthought. "I didn't really care about it at that time," Quiñonez says. "I was in probation school. I just did what I had to do. I would just wait for the day to end so I could come home to my neighborhood because that's all I cared about."
* * *
It's midmorning at the Independent Learning Center at Anaheim High School. The program was established nearly four years ago to address youth at risk of dropping out of high school. Outreach counselor Joe Casas opens the bottom drawer of his desk to pull out a folder. It's filled with notes, invitations and other collected items from his 11-year mentorship of Quiñonez. He pulls out two items: Quiñonez's prom photo and a 2002 graduation invitation from Loara High School in Anaheim.
"I met Eddie when I was working with the 8 percent program for the Orange County Health Care Agency as a therapist at the time," Casas says. "Eddie was unique in so many ways. His personality was that of a curious teenager." In the eyes of Casas, the troubled teen showed some promise of being able to take on the challenge of leaving gang life behind. The two forged a mutual respect. "I saw him at his worst," Casas says. "If anything, during that probation time, a lot of seeds [of change] were planted."
Although Quiñonez left probation still locked in his old ways, he kept in touch with Casas. Negative encounters with Anaheim police, juvenile hall, jail and even his own homies gradually turned him off from a world he once found alluring. In January 1999, Quiñonez lost control of a car he was driving, crashed it and fled the scene. An Anaheim police motorcycle cop eventually caught up with him.
"I got arrested in a stolen car I had," he explains. Authorities sent Quiñonez back to juvenile hall but later transferred him to Los Pinos Conservation Camp near Lake Elsinore, a minimum-security facility. "To be up there was a privilege," Quiñonez says. "They had a lot of great programs." He excelled at the camp. "A lot of the teachers up at Los Pinos were telling me, 'What are you doing in here? You're a really smart guy.'"
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45 comments
Stop civilian brutality. And pay your medical bills when you get stabbed by your "homies". I'm sure they were pretty high for 8 days in the hospital. But I bet you skipped out and left the whites to pay for it.
Brilliant work Gabriel San Roman!!! I'm blown away by your commitment to bringing the truth to light. More at risk youth need to read your story. I am inspired to invite Eddie to our next Youth Conference, I am sure he will inspire many students.
As an Anaheim resident I was blown away by the outrages amount of active gangs and homicidess.
Eddie keep up the good fight, you will be a transformational counselor for teens one day. Si se puede! Let's continue to close the achievement gap!!
Inspirational, it just shows that it's never too late. I hope he achieves all of his dreams.
Thanks for sharing your story Eddie. It is these types of stories that make my job as a Community College Counselor worth GOLD! Congratulations! I hope that you continue to motivate more young ones so that we can continue to increase the number of college degrees attained rather than increase the number of prisoners. Si Se Puede!!
Los Pinos is where my dad started his federal career and helped get that program started. Wow.
I hope he makes his dream come true working with teens. His life experiences can change the course of a young person born or living in an environment plagued by violence. I'm glad that he had somebody that believed in him and his potential. I hope that somebody out there with the financial means is able to give him the $$ he needs to finish his graduate studies. It takes a village...
wtf? I guess cal state fullerton is the Harvard for Mexicans... after all, most of those idiots don't even make it past 6th grade
Quinonez was an idiot for not turning in the other gang-banger. Just proves he still has his affiliations. I wonder how many innocent victims the perp has robbed, maimed or worse yet killed since Quinonez helped get him off. Stupid is as stupid does.
Ok , so this Hampton cop is a bad one
we all agree get him off the force
all good cops want bad cops off the force
so then dont all good families/people want bad families/people out of their area/ force???
if yes, then those "lengthly" sentences are not so lengthly
if no,
then why keep demanding we pay for their bad habits via welfare
obamacare wic
etc
AND FORGET CALLING ME GOP
NO WAY
We applaud people who turn their lives around like this young man did
BUT TO USE THIS AS yet ANOTHER reason to leave unarmed people vulnerable to more attacks so
you can earn/have/enhance street cred or ladder climbing on the mslsd food chain is a disservice to good people everywhere
DisneyLand is a reality
It really exists as much as the gang violence
gangs occur b/c the Dems KNOW THAT THEY NEED TO STAY IN POWER VIA AN ANGRY BASE OF PEOPLE
IF "these people" ever figure the Dems out
OUCH!!!!!!!
"or destroyed by lengthly prison sentences"
TALK ABOUT OUT OF CONTEXT
you mean a guy puffn a joint gets 5 years?
yeah, thats wrong
how about a violent criminal getting 15 years?
too" lengthly" for you??
ITS easy to be a lover when its not your neighborhood or household that has to re-receive a criminal
b/c some "lover" wants to give them another chance
( which of course bleeds right into this story,,,yeah, I get it
"THE GOVERNMENT IS FAILING "ITS" YOUTH"
first problem , among many firsts
YOU DISRESPECT by not allowing the PARENTS TO TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY
but instead curl up in the literary fetal position and proclaim,
its societies fault
IF YOU ARE YOUR BROTHERS KEEPER
THEN YOU MUST SHOW THEM RESPECT
and that starts with
they have the power to be responsible
and they must be responsible to have the power
I always wondered why Eddie got such a small settlement. Now I know. And I know Garo Mardirossian could have afforded to give him the whole 25 Gs.
Eddie
Great job of earning your education. Use your life experiences to share and motivate the many other gangsters to change their life around.
Coach Schmidt
You were one of the coolest coaches I ever had!
Victor Barrios
I remember Eddie from when we went to cal state Fullerton together. He was a really smart and intelligent guy, who had all the girls liking him because of his sophisticated ways in how he talked to them. If I could admire anybody it would be this young man. I'm glad to hear that he's still doing good and he has a bright future ahead of him:).
pastor eddie is a nice guy. he feeds the homeless on a daily basis, and is that type of person that would give you his last dollar. this guy is going to heaven.
Los Pinos Probation Camp turned around this kid, and hundreds of others over the decades it was in operation. Sadly it was closed due to ugly internal politics. These kids, and the system, were left with few options to turn around desperate lives. I wonder how many kids, now adults, are in prison as a result of the closure of Los Pinos five years ago.
From the last time I checked CSUF is a fully accredited university, that has an elite program they offer in majors, which makes it difficult to get accepted there. Just because its no Ivy League school, doesn't make it no less of a university. And there's a diverse abundance if people who attend here, not just Mexicans; thus it's no consolation prize to be here, it's a privalage!
@terryevd, that was over 7 yrs ago. Oh well it is what it is. I can't go back and undo things. I just harbored that code of silence persona of not wanting to succumb to doing that, at that given time. Now I'm at a more wiser way of thinking. Thus get to know me before u call me an idiot.
@terryevd Sometimes it takes while to grow up, and the incident you're referring to occurred 8 years ago. Sounds like you don't know what it is like to live in "one of those neighborhoods," right? And you must of done everything right at age 22, right? As a former Los Pinos staff that worked with this kid and saw the good in him, I was very pleased to read this article.
I think that my turning my life around here is the thesis of the story, not now much I got in my lawsuit. I did get a decent amount after the attorney fees. Keep in mind that nobody works for free, so I'm not complaining about Mr. Mardirossian's work he did for me. Glad that I got to tell the public here about my transformation, and the different obstacles I had to overcome to do so.
@eddie.m.quinonez Awesome story man - great to see you making moves in the right direction! Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Mr. Victor Barrios, how have you been my friend? It's been a while since we last saw each other over a Gilbert South. Take care there and I hope to see you around soon:-).
@eddie.m.quinonez Are you saying if it happened today you would co-operate with the police and turn in your ex associates?
@twoodruff1966, thank you my friend for clearing that up with this guy who didn't understand what it was like, to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. You knew that life better than anybody, because u worked with us wards up there. Email me at e_m_quinonez@yahoo.com, I would like to know which staff member you were, I hope to hear from u soon :-).
@eddie.m.quinonez Don't you feel any guilt over your attacker's other victims since you would not co-operate? That's nothing more than a macho attitude. I get the impression you still don't know the difference between right and wrong.
Thank you for sharing your amazing story Eddie. You are a true inspiration! And major props to Gabriel San Roman for a brilliant article. After reading it I had that same overall feeling I get after watching a great movie. Which leads me to think, wouldn't the Eddie Quinonez story make a sensational movie?
@terryevd is talking shit for me not turning in the fool, then there's @kbear09090 talking shit if I were insinuating that if I would now hypothetically turn a person in, if they did that to me now. Basically I'm damned both ways. Well I could accept criticism from @terryevd, because I could see his point. But @kbear09090 needs to take his shit talking off this page, and grow the fuck up. Thus I never said if I would now, I'm spitting out knowledge something you know nothing about, you fucking in basal. @meheecan-cris-doner, thank you for putting this idiot in his place :-)'
@terryevd u need to understand that this happened over 7 years ago. So read the article thoroughly and scrutinize it in that small brain of yours. I think a person with a learning disability wound understand more than u, about the time length of the events in this article.
terryved aka pendejo... granted that person that harmed Eddie would probably engage in that behavior after the incident with Eddie. but there is one problem, pendejo. instead of basing you're premise on a probability your statement's foundation is solely based on certainty. in other words, your logic is invalid, pendejo. so be careful in using the word ”idiot” so loosely. by the way, it would not surprise me if you did not understand the logic i explained, pendejo. ha!
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