Heroin Made Me Rob A Jewelry Store | Here’s How I Got Sober

Nothing’s Off the Table with Louis Ruggiero

James Abadi shares his harrowing journey from heavy heroin addiction and multiple prison stints to achieving 25 years of continuous recovery

Key takeaways

• James Abadi has maintained continuous recovery since June 4, 2001.
• A jewelry store robbery involving diamonds led to a seven-year sentence in Sing Sing prison.

Main topics

• Heroin addiction and progression
• Incarceration at Sing Sing

Notable quotes

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Conclusion

A profound look at the necessity of holistic personal transformation t

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:04) Welcome back. Another episode. Nothing's off the table. We have a good one in store for us today. James Abadi. Correct. 25 years of recovery. Yeah. Continuous recovery. Speaker 1 (0:19) Continuous. Speaker 2 (0:20) I'm excited for this one. I love having a veteran on the show. Speaker 2 (0:26) you, there's, there's just, there's just levels to recovery. You know what I mean? And, and recovery is, is not easy either. Uh, it's definitely, I would say not as hard as being in active addiction, but recovery is by no stretch of the imagination, easy thing. So I'm excited to get into the recovery part of the podcast, but before we get started, James, we don't, uh, we, we don't, we don't tiptoe around here, dude. We get right into it. Good. You ready? I'm ready. Tell us about your last day drinking and drugging. Speaker 1 (0:55) My last day. Well, it was 2001 in the beginning. And that was like my last stint. The story is really long, but I was really strung out again. I was a big heroin addict at that point in my life. And I was getting ready to go back into prison for my third time. Speaker 1 (1:24) And I went and I just partied really hard. And I knew I was going to court that day because I was out on bail for a year. That was the first time I actually was out on the street with a bail. And I just partied really hard. And I went to rehab. It was St. Vincent's in Westchester, just to clean up before I went back to court because I didn't want to go in dope sick. And that was my last. And as of June 4th, that was my 25-year date. That was my last use. Happy belated. Yeah, thank you. Speaker 2 (1:59) And happy belated birthday, which is July 4th. July Speaker 1 (2:02) 4th, yeah. Speaker 2 (2:06) We have a lot to unpack. I'd love to kind of... Go all the way back to your first day drinking and drugging and we can talk about the progression Maybe why you ended up in prison and all that stuff Yeah, Speaker 1 (2:20) um, you know as a young kid You know, I talk about behavior a lot because as a young kid I was in kindergarten. I was stealing cigars from my father and lying to the teachers that I was bringing to my grandfather's house. And I'm out in the schoolyard lighting them and, you know, putting them in the backstop, not really smoking them. You know, I think everything was about attention. I didn't feel good about myself. I don't know why. I just didn't. Speaker 1 (2:49) And by fourth grade, I was my I live right next door to my elementary school, literally next door. And I was already drinking. My father worked for Budweiser and we used to have beer on tap at the house. And my father wasn't a drunk or anything, but we always had beer. And. Speaker 1 (3:08) You know back then I think they they thought it was acceptable that the kids have some beer it was okay You know, they didn't think nobody knew anything about addiction really, you know, you're talking 70s. So I started drinking and Speaker 1 (3:23) Like I brought some of my friends from school in fourth grade to my house and I was selling them shots of Jack Daniels for 10 cents a shot. I'm just a kid. And, you know, the red flag was right there. I should have known. But my behavior was always. Speaker 1 (3:43) a little crazy you know and i always pushed the envelope and uh by the time i went to middle school which was seventh and eighth grade i was already using drugs and uh selling drugs and um the progression it just continued through the years you know nothing glorious um You know, I played sports. I was a good football player. But, you know, my coach used to tell me, and he's actually a good friend of mine now. He said, I wish the games were on Friday nights because you would have been a star. But since they were on Saturday morning, you were useless, basically. By Saturday morning, I was lit up and, you know, wasn't a great football player. Everything I did was half, 50%, never Speaker 2 (4:30) 100%, you know. Speaker 1 (4:33) except my drug use and my alcoholism that was 100 and um it was it was uh the writing was on the wall from a young age i didn't realize it i knew i was different and um i felt better every time i drank or i took a drug it was all it started out obviously with the alcohol and marijuana and uh i i say that marijuana is a big gateway drug and Speaker 2 (5:00) um Speaker 1 (5:02) It started out like that. And before, I mean, I was using drugs right away. All through high school, I had to get high. I mean, when I got up in the morning, I was doing something. And a lot of pills, a lot of... Speaker 1 (5:16) Opiates, a lot of downers. And I didn't get really sick or anything. It made me even, if that makes sense. It kind of evened me out. And it was scary because a lot of my friends would be throwing up and I would just like, oh, this is great. It made me feel normal. And I never questioned why it made me feel normal. It wasn't my parents. I had great parents. You know, shit runs downhill. They had their issues through life. But, you know, they did a lot of coddling because they lost a son at two years old, eight years before I was born. He passed away. And they coddled me. I'm a big believer in not coddling because I think coddling, if you coddle someone, they think it's okay to do whatever they want to do. So I continued. That's who I was. I just continued. And I always said, well, I patted myself on the back, you know, instead of saying, you know. So I should have got a good kick in the ass, and I didn't. And the progression was really hard and very hard. I did a lot of crazy stuff as a kid. And as a young adult, I couldn't hold a job. I had all civil service jobs when I got out of high school. Now, I graduated high school because I played football. And back then, they kind of pushed you through. I really probably shouldn't even have got out of high school. I wasn't a great student. Speaker 1 (6:46) I like to think I was a good person, but looking back, you know, how good was I? I was lying and stealing and cheating, but it was all behind. Speaker 1 (6:58) The addiction like I had to get my fix so that's why when we speak about where it took me It was about getting my medicine and I would do anything to get it because that dope sick had me so bad I was such a bad addict and um By the time I was in my 20s. I went to my first rehab which was Renaissance project up in Ellenville, New York and Speaker 1 (7:25) I was there for several months, and I had to go get surgery. I had hurt my hand. I had a tendon problem, and I never went back. And within one year, I was in my first year of prison. I don't know if you want to go there yet, but I— How did Speaker 2 (7:41) that Speaker 1 (7:41) happen? I was doing burglaries. I was strung out. I couldn't hold a job. And I would break into a store or whatever or a house when nobody was home and steal. And I went to county jail a few times. Once again, my parents basically coddled me, used whatever influence they had to get me probation rather than jail. But that only lasted for so long. Speaker 1 (8:13) That progression also went. I went to prison my first time in 1986. I went to rehab in 83, 84. I came home within not even one year. I was going upstate. Went to one and a half to four and a half. I did a year and a half. I came home. I learned nothing. I was still wanting to get high, and I did. And I was hanging out with a few guys from the Bronx. And we started doing robberies, jewelry heists. And we did one, and I got caught. They got away, and I ended up doing seven years. I got seven to 14 up in Sing Sing. Speaker 2 (8:58) What were you – can you take me through the night of that heist that you guys got caught? Speaker 1 (9:03) Yeah. Speaker 1 (9:06) I needed my heroin. I was hooked up with these other two heroin addicts. And we said, okay, listen, we're going to rob this jewelry store. Speaker 2 (9:17) And, you Speaker 1 (9:18) know, I was very daring because that dope sick had me so bad that I just didn't, I couldn't deal with it. Speaker 1 (9:31)