Gorilla Convict: Seth Ferranti .
The Rawdawg Interview: Uncut
How does a Caucasian guy wearing a ponytail, who listens to and plays Heavy Metal become known as Gorilla Convict?
Meet Seth Ferranti who reveals himself as much more then a man that just wears a standard federal prisoner uniform.
The man who is known as Gorilla Convict
Being far above the common criminal that society has labeled him, along with being treated as a castaway, Seth took time away from his busy schedule to share his thoughts about what he has endured while still serving the last stretch of a twenty-five year sentence.
He speaks about his personal life, ongoing prison experience, problematic homosexuality within the federal system, authorship, and his future goals.
It’s obvious that the guy featured in this interview up above is not the Seth. For he is a Dade County, Miami, FL criminal who the media has brought forth as an icon for the sake sensationalism. But we are not here to talk about that; we’re speaking on rationalism which Seth gives you a better insight of America’s federal prison system, it’s problems,from doing decades of prison time within the belly of the beast.
Indeed it was an honor for me to interview a stand-up guy who has a bright future awaiting him beyond the prison walls. Also, during my interview, I even managed to weasel my way into getting a free sandwich, and a promissory (signed) book out of the deal, and Seth didn’t even see it coming. LOL.
With that said, I present to you Seth Ferranti, The man, the convict, author, and soon to be free man. I urge you all to visit the Gorilla Convict website (see link at bottom of page) where you will find the true life stories behind many of the urban fiction novels that many have come to love.
The reality is, Seth not only writes about the streets, and criminals; he lived the part, lives with them, and now represents them. It hits home for me because I too once walked in his shoes as well. Seth, I feel your pain…
Gorilla Convict: Seth Ferranti
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in California, but my step dad was in the military so we moved around a lot, Europe, East Coast, but we also moved back out to Cali, mostly San Diego but I lived up and down the state.
Q: How did you get mixed up with drugs? Were you a user, Dealer, both, or someone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
A: I started experimenting with marijuana around age 13 and then it all spiraled from there. I was always the kid who would go and score for the rest of my friends. By age 16 I started realizing I could do drugs for free by dealing and what started out small, just scoring for my friends turned into me supplying weed and LSD to 15 colleges in 5 states on the East Coast. It wasn’t something I meant to do, I was just good at it and for whatever reason people trusted me with their drugs and their money and I established some very good connects for pot and LSD and I could get it shipped wherever by just making a phone call. From the age of 16-19 I was a drug dealer. That was what I wanted to be and I thoroughly enjoyed the lifestyle and thought I was the man. But it all came crashing down.
Q: How old were you when you when you got sentenced and entered the BOP?
A: I was 22 when I got sentenced to 304 months in the BOP. This was after I took off in 1991 and was a fugitive for almost 3 years. I was captured and sent back to the Eastern District of Virginia for sentencing. I had pled guilty before taking off and faked my suicide also and ended up on the US Marshal’s Top 15 Most Wanted List.
Q: Under what federal statue were you convicted? And, was your offense violent or nonviolent?
If there is one thing Seth Ferranti wants you to understand, it is that he is not (despite his current confinement in Federal Correctional Institution, …Being in prison is certainly no OZ
A: I was convicted of Continual Criminal Enterprise (CCE) and I am a first-time, nonviolent offender.
Q: Were quantities of ghost dope (non-existent drugs) used during your sentence hearing?
A: The prosecutors said I distributed over 100,000 sheets of acid which is like a million hits but they only had as evidence about 100 sheets or 10,000 hits. They just went by what dudes on my case told them. They said I was selling that much acid a month for 3 years. But my CCE charge is a mandatory minimum 20 years and I got enhanced two additional levels to level 40 for obstruction of justice because I took off, so that counted for the extra 52 months I got.
Q: What are the most predominant hardship(s) have you dealt with that have impacted your life the most in a positive or negative aspect prior to your incarceration and thereafter?
A: Selling drugs and being involved in that lifestyle seriously affected my life because I was sentenced to 25 years as a first-time, nonviolent offender. Effectively a life sentence for selling drugs at colleges. For a teenager I was a big drug dealer but in the big scheme of things I was no kingpin, I was just a little fish in a big, vast ocean. Being sent to prison to do 25 years was something that was insurmountable when looked at; I mean the tunnel I was staring down was long and dark, no light at the end of the tunnel as they say. But I can honestly say I am a better person for it and I walked down this bid and now I am ready to go home and I like how I am today and I have a lot of prospects and potential in life and I am willing to make the most of it. But being young and white and from the suburbs wasn’t easy but I kept my head down and I did my time and I stayed out of the way and I survived and even thrived in a lot of cases. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone though. But I have prospered from here and built my name and reputation as a real dude and solid man. I couldn’t have expected more but I have been through my trials and I have had to prove myself at every opportunity.
Q: You have been featured in numerous magazines from Rollin Stone to Don Diva. How has celebritism affected your relationship among your peers in the BOP in contrast with that of Prison Staff and the BOP Administration, and your followers on the outside?
A: I am a real down to earth type of dude and my word is my bond. I say what I mean and I do what I say. A lot of people look up to me in here but I keep it real and tell them that they can accomplish stuff from here if they put their mind to it. I am a prime example of that. I try to motivate. I don’t put myself out there like that but when people find out who I am they come around and we talk. But I am not out there trying to call any shots or anything like that. I am just me and it seems that once people get to know me or are around me they respect that. With staff I can say that I have had some problems like being thrown in the hole for bullshit and stuff like that but it’s nothing that I can’t deal with. I just take it for what it is. At the end of the day I put myself in this position. I courted the attention, I did the interviews and I was the one who has done all the writing. So who I am and where I am at is exactly where I want to be. Now I expect to build on that and do it on the outside the same way I have done it in here by being reliable, responsible, keeping my word and working hard on my projects. That is just what I do, I am the king of content and I love the attention and recognition, I crave it and am very passionate about what I do.
Q: Have you ever experienced a riot such as the ’95 crack riot within the BOP? And how did you manage to stay out of harm’s way?
A: I was at FCI Manchester in Kentucky when the crack riot jumped off. They brought in the riot squad in the teenage mutant ninja turtle suits and locked us down and kept us locked down for a couple of months. It wasn’t bad in my unit but dudes were burning trash cans and breaking windows and TVs and other stuff and beating up rats and dudes that didn’t like and stuff like that, but from what I heard about it was minor compared to what went on at other joints. I just stayed out of the way and kept my head down. I had certain dudes I fucked with and they were pretty respected so no one really after fucked with me, plus I have always been the type of dude to get busy if I need to, but in no way am I a tough guy or anything like that. In the suburbs and at colleges I was tough but when I came to prison there were a lot of crazy dudes, so I just respected dudes and stayed out of the way and didn’t court any drama.
Q: There are different security levels within the BOP, which level did you start out with Max, or Medium? What kind differences did you notice between the two types of inmates within the environment? E.g., their attitudes towards one another, frequency of violent acts, increase in homosexuality, etc. that stood out to you.
A: I have done most of my time in mediums- FCI Manchester, FCI Beckley, FCI Fairton, FCI Gilmer and lows- FCI Fort Dix, FCI Loretto, FCI Forrest City. It’s the same everywhere I have been, the mediums were a lot rougher but prison is different now, back in the 90s you had real criminals and real violent and real dudes in the feds now the caliber of criminals is way down. They lock up anybody and put them in the feds these days. Plus these lows I have been at have a lot of chomos(short for child molesters) and snitches. But it’s no big deal, pretty tame really. A lot of gays in the lows too (meaning homosexuals on the down low). I can converse with anyone but I keep my circle tight and really don’t fuck with a lot of dudes but I try to be polite and respectful to everyone. But prison nowadays in 2014 is way different then when I came in (in 1993). Less violence, less real dudes. They always say in the feds you can be whoever you want to be and there are a lot of dudes like that here. Dudes that never flipped 10 grand but it makes for a tame joint so I can’t complain. In the 90s dudes were getting busy and it was more violent but maybe I have been in so long I am just desensitized to it all. None of seems like such a big deal to me because I have experienced and seen so much when I was younger. It’s still prison but it’s more like kindergarten prison, at least in these lows, I can’t speak for mediums or higher b/c I have been in lows since 2006.
Q: Do you feel that acts of homosexuality and violence inside the BOP are exaggerated by the media to the public?
A: I don’t know seems to be a lot of homos here. This place isn’t very violent but it can happen. I am sure at the higher level institutions all types of stuff is going down but the media is always going to spin the story for shock value. That is what our society craves. I do the same thing in my writing, it’s called sensationalism. The media tends to glorify and romanticize everything and make the extreme look routine. That is just what the media does.
Q: What is does your daily routine consist of behind the walls?
A: I am in the RDAP unit here at FCC Forrest City so my routine is a little different. I have to be up and dressed by 7:30am in my ironed and pressed khakis with my bed made and cell inspection ready. They are a lot more stringent in the RDAP unit then other units on the compound especially when you are in the program like I am. At 7:55am Community starts which is a formal meeting of all the prisoners who live on the unit and attended by RDAP staff. Then from 9 am to 11 am I have scheduled classes and programs from the RDAP curriculum that include phase, process, service and topic groups. Then we go to lunch and I go to work out. I work out from roughly 11:30 am to 1 pm then I come back in shower and perform my orderly job in the afternoon and do some readings and make some food. Usually after the 4 pm count I take a nap and then I go to rec or to the library to type until recall at 8:30 pm. When I get back on the unit I either shower or eat and then I usually watch some TV from 9 pm to 11 pm and then I go to sleep. That is pretty much my schedule. I do a lot of writing and emailing and phone calls during all those hours too, along with lots of readings. I don’t really hang out that much. I try to stay productive and busy and out of the unit.
Q: What are prisoners eating these days compared to your arrival in 93 to now? Most of the public think that federal prisoners are eating caviar and steaks. Can you elaborate on what is accessible to you?
A: The food was way better when I came in. Now it is garbage. To be honest I don’t even go to the chow hall. The food is bad. I prefer to pay someone to bring me food I want like vegetables, meats, fruits and cheeses and I prepare all my meals myself. I might go for burger and fries every now and then but I am hardly ever in the chow hall. Like I said the food has gotten really bad and they give you less of it and the quality is way down. When I first came in they had soft serve ice cream machines, soda in the chow hall and you could get your eggs to order at breakfast. In fact in the 90s breakfast was the best meal of the day now it is a piece of cake, some cereal and a milk. Pure garbage and the cereal is like bran flakes or frosted flakes no selection at all. When I first came in they would have all the little boxes of cereal on the cold bar and you could get as many as you wanted now you get one bowl of whatever and that is at and they ration out the milks and everything. It’s awful for real. Think of the worst cafeteria type meal you ever ate and I guarantee the food here is 10 times worse. The vending machine food is like a first class meal compared to what they serve here. In reality it was never caviar and steaks but we would make some good pasta back in the day.
Q: How does it feel to have become a prominent voice for the new underground generation as taking on a cause for better justice,
As a matured man..Seth is ready to take on the world once again
and insight to the workings of prison life?
A: I just try to keep it real and be honest and authentic in my writing. I know that content is king and when I started doing this I just wrote and wrote and wrote and continued to write and luckily people like what I wrote and I have continued to get published. I hope to continue my work on the outside and I hope to be a force in changing these unjust laws. Think about it I have done almost 21 years for a first-time, nonviolent offense. I was a small-time drug dealer and our government has kept me incarcerated for 2 decades. That act in itself speaks volumes about the state of our society and political system and I hope to be a voice for change in the future. I will put a human face and story on what they are doing to literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. Marijuana is on its way to being legal in this country and we have people serving life for selling marijuana. It is crazy and I will continue to be a voice and I will continue to push for change because I know that the War on Drugs will go down as one of the darkest eras in the history of the United States and the history of the world.
Q: What advice do you have for those who may have failed to grasp your message about crime, and decide that you are just someone who wasn’t slick enough to beat the system?
A: Anyone who thinks that is beyond my help and will just have to experience themselves. I was very hard headed when I was young and you couldn’t tell me anything so that is just how some people are. I would hope that they could learn from my experience and learn from the stories of others that I have brought out of these penitentiaries but if they refuse to look at the evidence and what is going on than that is on them. But like I said I will continue to spread my message when I get out and I will move the stories I write into the visual forum so that they can reach more people and a larger audience. But like they say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. There are so many examples though I would hope that everyone out there can see what it really is. In here we pray and dream that somebody will wake up and our nightmare will end but so far it hasn’t. We are trapped in the netherworld, out of sight and out of mind, but I have taken it upon myself to shine the light where society doesn’t want to see and I have had some success at it and I will continue to do what I do. I can say that when you are selling drugs and you have to deal with people someone will tell, that is just what people do. People tell, there is no secret to it. That is just how it is. So if you are dealing with people you will get told on, plain and simple.
Q: Do you think that mandatory sentencing policies will change under the Obama Administration? Why?
A: They haven’t yet. At least they are talking about it but they have a long way to go and a lot of changes to make. But this is the first time that I can remember that there is a serious national forum about sentencing policies and actual talk about reforming the criminal justice system. A lot needs to be done and I hope to be a voice in that discussion because for real the way it is right now it is fucked up. I have 21 years of first-hand experience. These prisons and the BOP are corrupt. It is a broken system and needs to be reformed. The people in charge don’t know what they are doing and the people that are making the laws are clueless as to how the laws are being applied. I was charged with a Kingpin charge for a first time, nonviolent offense. How crazy is that? That charge was put on the books to go after people like Pablo Escobar and prosecutors used it on me. Talk about injustice. Where are the checks and the balances? Who is regulating all this? When will it be about what is right and wrong and not about just charging people and winning a case? Our whole justice system is in disarray and the people running it need to get their priorities straight. I am in a low security prison and most of the people here shouldn’t even be here and there is no way I should have been kept in prison for 21 years. Any reasonable person could come to that conclusion, so who the fuck are the ones making the decisions and where is their head at? No offense to Obama or Eric Holder but right is right and wrong is wrong and they are wrong as is our whole government, dead wrong.
Q: How did you come up with the concept for starting Gorilla Convict?
A: I had the idea since the mid to late 90s it just took a minute for me to put it together. I was in prison on the East Coast with a lot of dudes from New York, DC, Philly and Jersey so I kept hearing about the street legends from those cities. Dudes on the compounds I was at talked about these dudes in an almost Billy the Kid or Jesse James type reverence. They were also pointing out the songs they were namedropped in. Remember this was when gangsta rap was at its popularity height. I was intrigued. I had been reading books about all the Mafia guys and the Colombian cocaine cartel guys and all the old books on gunslingers and Bonnie and Clyde, you know all true crime/criminal type stuff and hearing about all these dudes in the penitentiaries I started looking for books or more info on them and there was none. At the same time I was writing my prison stories type stuff. Kind of like my adventures in prison and things I had seen or heard about. I was putting it all down on paper. But no one would publish this stuff I was writing so I decided to form Gorilla Convict and put it out myself. Actually I used to call myself the Guerrilla Convict writer that was like my pen name or tagline. I had been doing that b/c I was writing about real stuff and I didn’t want my name attached and then when I saw all the urban fiction novels come out in the late 90s I said I can do this too. Then I took it a step further and came up with an idea to write about all the street legends I was hearing about and that was my first two books- Prison Stories and Street Legends Vol 1: Death Before Dishonor. I had been writing so much material and I was reading about blogs so I started a blog on the site to, everything was done just to publish my work so that it would see the light of day and it grew from nothing to what it is now, nothing major but still a recognized brand.
Q: What was your primary reason for doing starting your site?
Although this would make a better story for some…Disappointingly, Seth is not here…
A: The primary reason I started the site was to publish my work and generate traffic and get people interested in what I was doing and writing. It’s like a flagship for my books and the publishing house but I also make sure to put up new content every week on the blog to keep people coming back. It started out small but we have generated a tremendous amount of content on there over the years and we get a sizable amount of traffic. Nothing in the big scheme of things but for what it is and from where we came from we are doing very well. As I said above I was reading about blogs and I felt that was an important forum to connect with my audience. The blog and site have been up since 2005 now and we have a nice web presence. When I come home and can promote more and go on radio shows and documentaries and other projects like that I hope to increase the visibility of the site and keep building it and the brand of gorilla convict that I have developed from behind prison walls. I figured since no one wanted to publish my work I would do it myself.
Q: What can people expect to find on Gorilla Convict?
A: Gorilla Convict gives the 411 on street legends, prison and street gangs, the mafia, hip-hop and hustling and life in the belly of the beast. I have been granted numerous interviews with hood stars, gangbangers, prison gang members, convicts, incarcerated mafia guys and it’s all on there. Plus my views and others on prison, the drug game, hustling and everything criminal and convict. Gorilla Convict is the site where you get the type of information that the mainstream media won’t report on. We give the flipside of events, not the official government line; we give the view from the inside. We are the voice on the convict and the voice of the streets. People can find stuff on Gorilla Convict that they won’t find on any other site and the content on my site isn’t from some college professor or law enforcement type, its directly from the real criminals, convicts and gangbangers and most of it is directly from the inside. From the penitentiary to the streets, that is how we do it.
Q: What do people usually say to you when they stereotype the name Gorilla Convict and associate it with some big muscular black guy, but come to learn that you are what they consider to be white?
A: For real I have never had any problem, people seem to accept me for who and what I am in here. Actually I get more problems from racist white dudes in here than anything. They want to call me greyboy or stuff like that. But it’s funny b/c I am a straight suburban white dude. I followed the Grateful Dead on the streets. I was a hippie basically. In here I associate with everyone. But if you see me you would never think I do what I do. I had long hair for a very long time, just recently cut it off and I listen to mostly heavy metal music and sing and play guitar in metal bands but I have always loved hip-hop and I have always played sports and I don’t care if you are Mexican, Black, Jamaican, Colombian, Dominican or whatever, if you are cool I will fuck with you. I respect men and even the racist white dudes, who are mostly prison gang members, once they get to know me they want to be down also. I have dudes meet me in here and they are big fans of my books and they tell me that they always thought I was locked up in ADX the super max or something. It’s funny, and here I am in a low security prison. Dudes expect me to be this big bad anti-social psychopath convict but that is as far from my personality as can get. Just because I have been in prison 21 years doesn’t mean I have to act like it. So a lot of dudes are surprised when they finally meet me or see me, but even more so when they get to know me and see how I am as a person. It’s tough to fight stereotypes but if people give me the chance they will see I am a real, authentic and down to earth guy. But don’t get it twisted I can be as assertive as the dude doing multiple life sentences if need be. I just try to see the good in people instead of the bad and I hope people view me in the same regard.
Q: You’ve written several books about drugs, crime and criminals. Is there a common theme besides the obvious, and what makes each one unique?
A: I write about prison and true crime; that is the spectrum I have chosen to cover so far. Will it always be like that, probably not, but prison is such a big part of my life and it has shaped me so much it will be hard to get away from who I am. Not to say that I am a criminal or anything because I have left the life of crime behind but I like who I am today and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I came in at a young age and grew to be a man behind these fences and I am who I am who I am. I like the person I am and if I ever decide to change something about myself or evolve I will. I am in the process of bettering myself and improving my life every day 
f these individuals and told what goes on in prison. I have shown light on stuff that was in the dark before. So that is what makes my books unique. Plus I have grown as a writer since the first one and I am starting to examine why things are how they are instead of just telling a story and relating events. So the growth of me as a writer makes the books unique also.
Q: Do you write Urban Fiction? And do you feel that the genre is being watered down by some of the fictionalized material that simply glorifies the crime element by focusing simply on lavishness and violence?
A: I don’t write urban fiction. I write true crime non-fiction. I am writing about real people and real events I am not making anything up. I read urban fiction for a while but I don’t read it anymore. When it first started in the late 90s I used to read all of Teri Woods, Vickie Stringers, Wahida Clarks and Nikki Turners novels. I also enjoyed Al Saadiq Banks, he is my favorite and Shannon Holmes too but I don’t read any urban fiction anymore. Only true crime books and other non-fiction books. Urban fiction is what it is. A lot of dudes in here seem to love those books so I won’t knock them. They are what they are.
Q: What do you think is the biggest public misconception of their concept of prison?
A: The public believes only the extremes about prison that the media and Hollywood has fed them. The routine is a lot more normal and boring. Its sensationalist to think people are getting killed and raped in here all day and it sells but it’s not true. Does it happen yes. But not all the time, it is the exception rather than the norm. Also the public seems to think everyone in prison deserves to be here and that is simply not the case. Not to say there are a bunch of innocent people in here but the time they are giving out and what some people are doing time for is ridiculous. At the institution where I am at I always say you could let half these dudes out and none of them would commit crimes. Also they got a lot of people in here on bullshit violations. Not for any crimes, it’s like once they got you in the system they try to keep you in the system. Job security for them.
Q: Since your incarceration, what do you feel made you change for the better? I was a kid when I came in and now I am a man. I wish I knew what I do now back then. It would have made life so much easier but we all must live and learn. I am just grateful I am getting the opportunity to go back out to the world and apply what I have learned. I have learned so much, mostly about myself but also how to interact with people because in reality it’s not all about me. As a young man I was very selfish and self-centered. I thought the world revolved around me. I used drugs and money as power. When they were gone I was nothing. So I had to build myself back up in prison and get people to respect me for who I was and how I conducted myself instead of for what drugs I could get and how much money I had. So I would say that is the biggest change in me. I am a man of character and substance. Twenty one years in prison will either make you or break you and I have definitely become a made man.
A: How has your family come to terms with not having you there with them? I know it is rough for my wife but luckily we don’t have any kids. I will be home soon so this question will be mute but I am sure my mom, dad, brother and sister have had to deal with the reality of me not being there and the questions and the stigma of having their big brother and oldest son in prison. I am sure it hasn’t been easy for them or for my wife but we have all survived and we have all stayed together and we all love each other, to me that is the most important thing. They have been there for me and I will be there for them and I will prove by my behavior and success when I come home that I am worthy of their never ending support both financial and emotional.
Q: Do you have any fears about being released? And if so, what are they, and how do you plan on addressing those fears?
A: My only fears are that I don’t have enough time to do all that I want to do. Twenty one years is a long time to be in prison and although I have accomplished some of my goals from here working on stuff from prison is like being handcuffed and trying to conduct a career like that. What I want to do in academics and in writing and entertainment is achievable for me still but I will have to work extra hard and put in long hours to do all that I have planned to do. But I love my work it is my passion and I will do what I have to do. So I don’t really have any fears, I am ready for the world. A little anxious yes, but that is normal for someone in my situation. I have been preparing for this day since the late 90s so I am good and ready.
Q: This last question is serious? I know that you are doing better than a lot of free people on the outside in certain aspects. Therefore can I get a free sandwich of my choice once you get out, and an autographed copy of your favorite book that you authored? Yeah, we can for lunch and I will autograph a copy of one of my books for you. Just remind me that I gave you my word and come to St. Louis and it will be done. I enjoyed the interview let me know when it goes up.
Q: Any last words?
A: Don’t settle, don’t limit yourself. Reach for the stars, You can only get what you reach for. And the sky is not the limit. I shoot for the stars always.
Seth, it’s been a pleasure. You are a man to be honored. Thank you for such wonderful insight.
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