As we get older we quickly learn the difference between right and wrong based on our parents belief system. Once we start to process this difference it is up to us to make the correct choice or, in other words, do the right thing. It is when we consciously make the wrong choices that things go tits up and we find ourselves facing the consequences of our actions. Some get luckier than others by simply lucking out and not getting caught, or being slick enough to fix their mess before anyone is the wiser.
Carly Asse was born and raised in Gainesville, FL by parents who cared for him, loved him, and taught him right from wrong. He was a straight-A student who realized in 9th grade that he was destined for greatness. "I was told in that I was the number one student in class which I never thought was possible. Once I realized that I kept working at it".
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Carly and his mother, Marilyn |
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The young, promising, tennis star |
In 2000, his sophomore year, Carly came home to attend the University of Florida. It was that summer that his life began to change ... for the worse. He tried ecstasy.
If you are not familiar with ecstasy, here is the short version: The chemical name is methylenedioxymethamphetamine (that's a mouthful!) or MDMA. It can be referred to as "ecstasy", "e", "x" or "molly" just to name a few. Psychiatrists started to use it in the late 1970's and early 1980's because it opened up communications in patients (putting it mildly) and help gain insight into their patients souls. The FDA banned it in 1985* which was the same time it gained street popularity among youngsters like myself who liked the effect of being super-lovey to everyone humanly possible.
The drug makes you crazy happy, love everything and everyone, and dance like a maniac for anywhere from 12-24 hours before you have a ridiculous crash that is no bueno.
I speak from experience as a girl from the 80's who spent a few nights at the very popular Starck Club in Dallas, TX circa 1985-ish which was one of the most ecstasy filled places of its day. Lucky for me I only did the drug a handful of times because I wasn't rich enough to afford it.
*(National Institute on Drug Abuse)
Once Carly tried the "designer drug" (I hate that term by the way) he thought "whoa, there is a whole different world out here, I like it". Problem is, drugs aren't cheap. The street value was the same as it was when I did a few handfuls of hits in the 80's. $25 per pill. I don't care what decade it is, that is a lot for a college student. So Carly decided there had to be a cheaper way to obtain the drug. By more, pay less, simple mathematics. If he could buy 50 they would cost around $18, bump it up to 100, drop the cost to $13-$14, buy into the thousands and ... well that folks is how you start dealing drugs.
He began selling ecstasy to college students (in my opinion and he agrees, it is a young persons drug ... no middle aged person in their right mind could handle the 24 hour bender) and making quite a bit of cash. When his friends started to see the money he was making they wanted in too. He didn't have to recruit anyone, they were all just friends from high school. "One guy would drive, one would drop off, it was a pretty simple operation". Until the Feds got wind of it.
Carly had never had to face any kind of major consequence in his life but he knew what he was doing was wrong, and while he was watching other dealers get slapped with probation or community service, he was completely blindsided when he was hit with a federal indictment stating: "United States of America vs. Juan- Carlos Asse for the distribution of 80,000 pills". He went from never spending a day in jail or facing any kind of legal punishment to being told he was facing 20 years.
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One of many articles about the drug bust |
He was the one who was made the example. He got the "worst judge", the one who was on a vigilant war against drugs and regardless of Carly's shit-shiny past he and 5 of his friends were going to face the error of their ways.
I sat down for some jaw-dropping insight on Carly's punishment and how he turned a horrible, life-changing event into an amazingly positive and successful one.
KC: So, you were such a clean-cut kid, kind of the "anti-dealer". I imagine you hid it quite well for a long time?
CA: I was always mistaken for a cop or a narc but I was dealing strictly to students so I fit in perfectly.
KC: Did you become an addict? I would imagine it would be hard to deal and use.
CA: No, I was doing it on occasion on the weekends but the whole operation was to make money.
KC: And did you try anything else? Of course the news blasts how one drug leads to another and so on...
CA: Not really, I tried booze and weed but I never really did anything that much. Once I started dealing though I got to a point where I was selling everything and selling the other drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc ...) was a crazy, crazy world. It was wacky. Lots of weird people and people coming and going all hours of the night, I got out of that.
KC: So the big question here, how did the Feds find you?
CA: A confidential informant. It was someone who got caught up in cocaine. I knew the guy was acting a bit freaky and I wouldn't really deal with him but at that time I wasn't aware of how the conspiracy theory worked. (Note: when he starts talking like this all I can think about is JFK and I think he's kidding ... but he's not). You don't have to get caught with anything on you and I never did, it is all word of mouth. Next thing I knew the indictment hit and I'm thinking "this can't be real, how can this be real?".
KC: So I assume the goal is to work up the food chain to get the supplier, would that be a fair assumption?
CA: Well we were different. We were a small group of friends who didn't want to cooperate and they didn't like that. The feds are into drug weight and dollars. So yes, normally they would go out but they hammered us from the outside in by going from the supplier in Miami to the guy we gave it to here and sandwiching us in between. I got stuck as the #1 ringleader even though I had no history, no priors, no violence. I got the worst judge. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan and was ruthless in the war on drugs. He sentenced me to the maximum even though I had no record. 7 years in a federal penitentiary.
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Arrested |
CA: He did but I don't know where he is now. He only got 18 months because the Feds are all about cooperation.
KC: (Gasp! I did a lot of that during this interview). What was it that you wouldn't cooperate with?
CA: They wanted me to tell on my friends and my brother who had nothing to do with any of it. They basically wanted me to lie and I refused. We all stuck to it except for one driver who got scared and he "rolled" so we all got pretty hefty sentences: 5, 7, 4 years and they made a huge case out of it. We hit the front page 5 times.
At this point in the interview I don't know where to go. What to ask. How to proceed. This good-looking, clean-cut guy has a story beyond anything I can imagine, but at the same time it makes me reflect back on my life, my youth, and my stupidity and think "for all practical purposes, this could be me". Carly doesn't appear now (or then) to look like a drug dealer. He doesn't look like someone who "did time" or "has a record" but the fact is, he was, he did, and he does. Moving on ...
CA: The beginning was one of the scariest parts. Getting into the federal criminal justice system and seeing how relentless it was. They have a 98% conviction rate and they don't care how they get it. That was a pretty rough time, to be taken from life, family, college, and have no idea what was ahead of me. To be processed through the Federal system meant I sat in county jail for 6 months in Gilchrist County which is awful, a very dungeon-like atmosphere.
KC: In the film you mention going into solitary confinement, was that it in the county jail?
CA: No, I was transferred to Jessup, GA where I was put on the compound with a co-defendant. As they were trying to get him to witness against my brother, they didn't want me to influence him while in prison so I spent 2 months on the compound and was then given an administrative transfer to solitary confinement.
That was where I had a major metamorphosis and transformation.
I had to look myself in the mirror and say "okay, what am I doing wrong? Why am I here when all of my friends are graduating college?".
KC: Humor me and explain, if possible, what solitary confinement is like. You don't leave correct? No meals, no exercise, nothing?
CA: Exactly, they bring everything to you. You don't leave that room for 6 months and that is the hardest. You can't share your thoughts and feelings with anyone and you basically feel forgotten, so I started a schedule and I set some goals. I decided to look at this time in prison as being a positive experience which gave me the time to learn and do anything I wanted to do.
I realized that I wanted to learn Spanish so my family sent me a book and I started to study. I studied Spanish, read books, did yoga, all on a schedule that I had set myself.
Then I got transferred to Arkansas where I felt like I was walking into the show Oz* and I thought "Okay, now this shit is real".
*(TV series chronicling the daily activities of a prison facility and its inhabitants 1997-2003)
KC: Why were you transferred again? I am clearly clueless about the prison system (which I always hope to remain).
CA: The co-defense did what is called a seperatees. They disperse all the defendants out because you are on the same case to keep you from talking. The prosecution can do that and I was his least favorite. Technically they aren't supposed to move you more than 500 miles from home but that didn't seem to apply for me. All you can do is apply for a transfer and after 18 months of good conduct, hope it goes though.
KC: Wow, and what kind of layout and security was this facility?
CA: It was a dorm situation. There are levels. US Federal Penitentiary, mediums, lows, and camps. My level was camp because I had no priors and no violence but because of availability and they can pretty much put you wherever they want, I was in a low but it was run like a medium (I still don't quite understand this but hey, I hope I never need to!). It had a lot of illegal immigrants that were being held, and gangs ... lots of gangs. It was mostly Mexican gangs which in a way was good for me. Out of the 2200 there approximately 1800 were Hispanics so it benefited me as I was learning Spanish and I am 1/2 Cuban which also made it better.
KC: I can't even imagine how freaking scary it was being in there, especially moving into general population.
CA: It was but it just takes time to learn how things work. If you stay away from gambling, drugs, gangs, and punks (guys who dress like girls which is a big deal in there), then you can be okay. I mean you come across the guy who is serving 25 years and just found out that his wife is leaving him for his best friend. Clearly you stay out of his way. (Ya think?) If you stay into positive things you don't really get messed with. When I first got there I learned you have to set the stage. People are sent out to test you and as I looked like a college kid I really had to stand up for myself a few times but eventually you become a veteran and people can look at you and know you are a veteran.
KC: Okay so you learned Spanish and you clearly had a lot of time to kill so what came next?
CA: Well the first things I wanted to do was to learn Spanish and guitar and I had accomplished that in a year so I'm like, "okay I have 6 years to go, what else can I do with my spare time?".
While in prison Carly learned the following: guitar, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and French. He also studied brain function, accounting, real estate, the English vocabulary, psychology, finance, yoga, and read the classics. He did this in conjunction with his studies of fitness and nutrition.
CA: The role of trainer came naturally to me because I had always done athletics so I continued to work on that as well. Sometimes I overdid it, working out 5 times a day, until I found my perfect balance. I focused solely on how far I could push my limits because I never had so much time before to devote to training.
When you are working out in prison you get into what is called your "car" as in, "who's car are you going to work out in?". It is kind of a big deal, so as my body started to change people started to approach me to ask me, "What are you doing to get yourself like that? Can we work out with you?".
KC: Which I imagine is a great thing for you because clearly you want people to be coming to you for something positive vs. coming to kick your ass!
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Carly (Back row: 2nd from right) and teammates in prison, South Carolina |
CA: Oh yeah and people respect that. They respected what I was trying to do being so into fitness and nutrition.
After two years in Arkansas I was transferred back to camp at Jessup but then left almost immediately to go into what is called the drug program. Entering this is the only way to get time off your sentence if you are eligible, you have no violence, and no gun charges. It is a 9 month class where you say you are an addict no matter what and you can get up to a year off. I got 6 months off and I was sent to South Carolina to complete my sentence.
While I was in the drug program I became friends with a woman who was the head of the program and a very forward thinking individual. We got along very well because I could talk to her like a normal, intelligent human being and you have to be careful with that. Most workers don't want to carry on conversations with you because they don't like the idea that you might think, or they sense, that you are smarter than they are. As I was deep into my training, something told me I should take before and after pictures of the inmates I was working with and she allowed me to do that which was very out of the ordinary. I don't know why I did it but it proved to be beneficial later after my release and I was looking for a job.
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Carly upon his release ... sentence over!!! |
The first thing I realized upon my release is that no one wants to hire a felon. I applied everywhere before taking a job as a dishwasher. After I did that for a while I contacted a friend of mine who opened a gym. I went to him, showed him the pictures of what I had done and asked for a chance. He had to convince his business partners to give me a chance and they did. I started getting great results immediately and people thought it was some kind of magic. All I did was combine everything I learned in prison and fine tune it and once I did that I had people asking for me and got a lot of referrals. I became their number one trainer. During this time I worked a lot of hours, built a great reputation and saved a lot of money. 3 1/2 years later my friend was thinking about selling and I was debating back and forth because the thought of starting my own business was scary, I had people telling me the economy was bad, etc... but I decided to take a chance and took all the money I'd saved, because the bank wouldn't give me any, and opened Zen Fitness. I've been here since 2009.
KC: What a crazy and fantastic story. So before I move on to Unsupersize Me, I have to ask if you have any sound advice for anyone besides the obvious "don't do drugs"? I mean, clearly you were made an example for a reason. I have two stepchildren in their teenage years and while you can pump them full of this information, you have to just hope and pray that some of it sinks in.
CA: That's hard but yes, "don't do drugs"! You have to be aware of consequences, I knew that what I was doing was wrong but the system doesn't care who you are and that is important to know. I suppose the advise would be "be a good person". Something goes off in your head that tells you what you are doing is wrong, you just have to choose to listen to that and make the right choice. Make it a habit because once you start to make it a habit it becomes normal ... but it is hard.
KC: Agreed, it is hard and a lot of work to always make the right choice but if you work hard you can enforce it in yourself by simply following your own advice. "Do the right thing" is my mantra. I picked it up from a previous manager and it boils down to that simple comment no matter what you do. If you walk past a piece of paper on the floor you have two choices, walk by it or pick it up and your initial response should be to "do the right thing". Sounds easy doesn't it? (Laughs).
KC: What would you say is the ratio of people who "shouldn't be there" if there is such a thing in a Federal Prison.
CA: 70-80%. Most of them are drug offenders as in people who are just trying to make money to survive. The rest are white collar crimes, which is minimum, Internet crimes, bank robbers, etc.. as well as illegal aliens and terrorists.
KC: Okay so let's shift back to fitness. You are a personal trainer, business owner, fitness guru, nutritionist and now ... producer. Where did the inspiration for "Unsupersize Me" come from and how did Tracy get involved? (See my previous interview here with Tracy Ryan, star of the film who lost 200lbs. in a year under Carly's direction)
CA: In about 2011 I decided that I wanted to make a movie. I thought if I took someone obese and put them through my program that I could make them a "normal size" in a year. I knew nothing about movie making ...at all (laughs) but wanted to do it anyway. I interviewed a few people and I picked Tracy because she was goal oriented, she was interested, and she was tired of being "that way" (Tracy weighed 345lbs. at the start of filming).
She knew it was a risk. It was a contractual agreement and we both knew that we had to be dedicated to doing it. I was a business owner and she was working 50-60 hours a week. If I wasn't into it and/or she wasn't doing what I told her to do it would have never worked. We were clear about it in the beginning. I knew I was going to be in a relationship with this person and we had to become a team. I went through a lot with her, she had friends getting mad at her, people were jealous and we had a point early on where the naysayers were criticizing us and saying there was no way we could be getting the results we were.
KC: It was interesting because to me it felt a little more realistic than say "The Biggest Loser". I'm not knocking the show but they workout for hours on end which isn't a reality for most people.
CA: Well ours too was an extreme weight loss. We weren't working out 8 hours a day but we had a very strict schedule. It is like anything else, it depends on what your goal is. If you want to lose 200lbs. in a year then this is what is required of you and those are the results you will get. (Tracy worked out 2 hours a day, 1 hour of strength training and 1 hour of cardio, and switched to a plant-based diet).
KC: At the end of the day this whole life experience has obviously changed you. You have been in prison and used that as a positive tool, own several successful businesses, and have made an award-winning documentary. That is a lot for a 36 year old! Whats next?
CA: That part of it (prison) was a time of focusing on myself, learning and perfecting everything I learned. My big focus now is getting into the prison system. I am thinking about doing a documentary about that because it needs to change. It is not about rehabilitation. I want to use my story to show that you can succeed and change and they should encourage learning and give you time off for that. I have now been out of prison as long as I was in. It seems like a different life now but I remember it all very well and it is something that I will clearly never forget.
Carly can be found at many places including:
Zen Fitness - www.thezenfitness.com
Unsupersize Me - www.unsupersizeme.com
Red Ace Organics - www.redaceorganics.com