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and Joey invited them to his event. Joey says John would slip him numbers for athletes, and Joey would interview them. He’d ask them to speak to Nadel, and would get a scoop.
    One day Joey said he was able to hear sadness in Nadel’s voice. Joey asked him what the problem was and learned that his daughter was using methamphetamines or “ice.” Over the next few years, Joey would call John’s daughter and talk about how drugs had ruined his life and John’s daughter Stacy eventually turned her life around and graduated college. Joey was contacted by Fox Television—who wanted to do a special on him.
    After being in some of this country’s most violent prisons, it was confusing for Joey when the guards and inmates would greet him with “good morning.” Joey says he pondered what they wanted from him. Perhaps the way that he looked at the world was tempering his expectations of others and not everyone was working an angle. It’s a telling story when you can’t even trust those around you to be pleasant for genuine reasons.
    Joey saw on ESPN that Len Bias and Don Rogers had died of cocaine overdoes—two young athletes whose lives hadn’t really yet begun. Joey had an idea to help young athletes from the inner city to deal with the drug epidemic. He says he loved working with Stacy Nadel and talking to kids in trouble.
    Boxers Against Drugs (BAD) was officially created that evening. Joey called his attorney for advice and direction. Joey met with Warden Luster, and within three weeks, they presented a list of visitors for this boxing exhibition. It beganwith Boom Boom Mancini and went on to include three pages of important figures in the sports and entertainment world. Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry would drop in on fight night. Joey hired a secretary to keep up with requests from parents and celebrities who sought his help. He remembered Carlos Palomino and called Mr. Nadel, who ran a story about Carlos and Joey. The story went on the news wire, and Joey blew up. The phone kept ringing and ringing.
    Joey called Mr. Palomino and asked if he remembered him asking for a shot at his title. Carlos laughed, and Joey told him about his situation. Joey asked Carlos to come to the promotion at the prison and help with the B.A.D. program. Carlos showed up on the first day of his first promotion, explaining, “I wanted to look in his eyes and see if I was hearing the truth or getting conned. We talked for a couple of hours and I felt like he was real.” Miguel Diaz brought in five boxers—one Joey was following was Antifoshi, from Nigeria, who was on his way to a title shot.
    From Joey’s prison cell, B.A.D. reached many children over the next decade with their sports heroes reinforcing the power of family and staying in school. This message was seen worldwide on television, cleverly blending the B.A.D. pitch with that of Joey’s innocence. In order to fund the operation, Joey began selling portraits, including one of Darryl Strawberry. With Strawberry’s mother, Joey created a t-shirt that her church would sell. Joey claims that he made six figures from selling artwork and reproduction rights from prison that year.
    Joey began calling Strawberry and Davis at their homes or hotels on the road. Daryll’s brother Ronnie was having drug problems so Joey reached out to him. Darryl himself was partying pretty hard and about to head down a dark road too.

    Over the next three years Joey created a network through his relationships with Davis and Strawberry. One of them would either know the player he was trying to get in touch with or Joey could sweet talk them into working with him on the basis of his existing relationships with “Straw” and “E.” Joey successfully convinced player after player to sign ten dozen baseballs for him to sell. Joey would have Ana Luisa buy adozen baseballs for $60, which he had already pre-sold to collectors for