The Victor Martinez Story Part 2 | His Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs
The Victor Martinez Story Part 2
His Trials, Tribulations & Triumphs
Victor Martinez won his pro card in 2000 and is one of the longest established competitors on the scene. He’s enjoyed a great competitive career but offstage he has endured more drama than the complete series of The Sopranos. This is the concluding part of Victor’s story. The first part was posted last Tuesday, July 21 (see link: http://forums.musculardevelopment.com/showthread.php/151570-The-Victor-Martinez-Story-His-Trials-Tribulations-amp-Triumphs).
In that first part we covered four major events in Victor’s life, here we present the concluding three trials of his life.
TRIAL FIVE: DEATH OF A SISTER
The late evening of July 7, 2009, started out as a strange one for Victor, and then it descended into a horror story. For some unknown reason he was restless and uptight. Usually he switched his phone off at 11.00pm to watch late night TV. Not being able to relax he put the phone back on and there was a message from one of his sisters saying their oldest sister Eridania hadn’t returned from her shift as an office cleaner in Manhattan. Victor froze a little. You could set your watch by Eridania. The 46 year old went to work, finished her shift, and came home. She never dropped in anywhere first or was late home.
He left his Edgewater, New Jersey home and went to the office block she worked in. She wasn’t there. He made a few enquiries and found out that an elevator operator, Joseph Pabon, had left a few hours earlier even though he was on double overtime. Victor is something of a Sherlock. He called the police told them about his sister’s disappearance and Pabon’s departure but was told such cases can’t be investigated until a person has been missing for 24 hours. Victor pleaded with them, “But you’re giving this guy time to possibly clean up the crime scene wherever it is and get rid of evidence.”
His protestations were in vain: the police were insistent nothing could be done for 24 hours. As befits a kid who’s lived most of his life in the city that never sleeps Victor has street smarts. He rallied the family and organized them into contacting every local newspaper, TV and radio station to tell them of their missing sister. The media contacted the police and inundated with enquiries they waved the 24-hour embargo and visited Pabon at his home. He had scratches to his neck that eventually connected him to Eridania’s DNA.
But still Eridania hadn’t been found. On Saturday July 11, four days after her disappearance, Victor received a call from a police officer, “I’m sorry Victor we found a body that may be your sister’s.” Eridania’s body was found stuffed into an air conditioning duct on the twelfth floor of the office block she had worked in. Her hands, legs and face had been duct-taped. A crucifix has been taped over her mouth and she had died from asphyxiation.
Victor was called upon to identify the body. Walking into the morgue he was told that some decomposition had taken place and there were other injuries that made it clear she had fought for her life. As he viewed the body he couldn’t help but be mortified imagining the hell she’d gone through in her final moments. “I knew it was her, but it didn’t look like Eridania. Even to this day I’ve never described, even to the family, what I saw. Some wanted to see her one last time. I said, ‘You don’t have to see her as she is now – that’s not her. Remember her how she was when you last saw her.’ I was the only one who saw her.”
The Eridania Victor remembers is the one who cooked all his meals during most of his contest preps, who supported him throughout his career. The Eridania whose knee he climbed onto when he was a “snotty nosed kid.”
On April 2, 2012, Pabon, whose DNA was found under Eridania’s nails, was convicted of second-degree murder and first degree kidnapping. Two months later he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years to life in prison. During Pabon’s trial Victor was in detention. He says, “I would have attended every single day. When he was sentenced I was in court looking right into his eyes.”
TRIAL SIX: THE SHOE FINALLY DROPS
As previously stated (in Part 1) a non-US citizen having committed a felony will at some future date, possibly years afterwards, have to face an immigration court where a decision is made whether he can stay in the country or be deported. Since his 2003 conviction every time Victor has flown back to the US from an overseas commitment he knew he faced the possibility that his number would finally be called.
On Wednesday October 12, 2011, that possibility became a reality when three days after winning the Arnold Classic Europe in Madrid, Spain, he flew back into JFK New York and was told by customs officials that the immigration service has instructed them to detain him. He was told he could go home and the immigration guys would pick him up the next day. Victor refused. He didn’t want to be arrested in front of his family, so he said, “Why don’t you just take me in now.”
He was taken to Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, New Jersey under the belief the issue would be sorted out in a week or two and he would go free. After four weeks inside he was told by his lawyers that his “Go free or go home to Dominican Republic” court date may not happen for a year. Eventually they somehow fast-tracked it by getting to court in seven months.
He settled into life behind bars and lived an existence far removed from that of a professional bodybuilder. For the first four months he was in a cell on his own and for the last three months he was in a dormitory of about 12 inmates, which he preferred.
A typical day began at 6.15am with breakfast, which would be powdered eggs, half a cup of grits, a piece of corn bread and a small carton of milk. After that most inmates went back to bed but Victor would read or watch a movie. Lunch was at the unusual hour of 10.00am and comprised of fare like two slices of baloney, four slices of toast, a small salad, and maybe a couple of cookies. Dinner would be at 4.30 pm and was usually some sort of pasta dish. Total calorific intake was between 8-900 per day, way down from Victor’s usual consumption of 7,000 calories. Friends would bring him protein bars. They also offered to bring him in food but after he realized he was in for the long haul he decided to exist on what the facility gave him. “Without my training, and cardio, my need for calories and fuel wasn’t that great and my appetite went south. Plus I knew without exercise – we only did an hour in the yard once or twice a week – if I stuffed myself with fatty calories I’d just get a beer belly, without the beer. So I restricted my intake and leaned down to 220 pounds compared to the 250 I came in at.”
Some of the guards were friendly and knew they had one of the world’s best bodybuilders in their midst. Others he confides had an attitude of, “’I don’t give a fuck who you are. I’m running this house. You’re nothing in here.” I kept my head down. The way I looked at it they were doing time inside as well – just it was in 8 hour shifts.”
He confesses that although he remained positive that the court verdict would go his way there was always, “That psychological black cloud over your head, making you wonder if it would all go wrong. After all I was initially told it would be over in two weeks and then the months started to tick by.”
Whatever confidence he had he kept to himself out of respect for his fellow inmates: “Some where in there for stuff they’d done in the’80s and then 30 years later they get hauled into jail. Some could have got out on $5,000 bail but they just didn’t have the means to raise it. I was lucky in that I was still receiving my monthly paycheck from Steve Blechman at MD and Gerard Dente at MHP and could afford lawyers. So to those guys I kept it downbeat didn’t want to act like my situation was better than theirs.” Ladies and gentlemen that’s the kind of guy Victor is.
In February 2012 he was told his for-all-the-marbles court date would be April 27, in front of the immigration court at New York’s Federal Building. This was it: the day he would get the “Go free or go home to the Dominican Republic ” ruling.
TRIAL SEVEN: A VOICE FROM THE PAST
At 8.30am on that fateful morning the court convened and Victor was somewhat shaken to learn that the veteran presiding judge had a record of deporting 84% of his cases. It would be unfair to say Victor gets no luck: He gets loads of luck, only it’s all bad. He looked across the court and there to support him was Steve Blechman, Gerard Dente, John De La Rosa, Rob Yuells and a host of other friends and supporters. That’s the kind of loyalty Victor’s good nature recruits.
His lawyers laid out their case. They spoke of how their client was in full time employment, had paid his taxes all these years, did numerous charity events, was well thought of in the community, and financially supported all his four children. With this resume they felt he should be allowed to stay as a green card resident of the United States. The prosecution passed on making any presentation to deport Victor, which was an extremely encouraging sign.
The judge addressed the court. He castigated Victor for his 2003 felony and that he must be prepared to take his punishment. It was then that the man in the dock sensed that something almost magical, kind of otherworldly and spiritual was happening ………………….
Victor realized that the inflections (not the accent) in Mr. 84 Per Cent’s voice was similar to his father’s. The judge and his father would not be far apart in age and then it dawned on the defendant that he had been here before. The judge was almost channeling his father in saying, “You screwed up -- you have to pay the price.” It was like his Dad kicking his ass all over again. The comparison didn’t unnerve him. Instead it made him feel strangely comfortable. He had been in this situation before and survived.
Nearly an hour had passed when the judge excused himself for a rest room break. Victor hoped this wasn’t a sign that his case, like the judge, was headed down the toilet. After a couple of minutes Mr. 84 Per Cent returned, sat down, looked toward Victor and simply said, in tones familiar to the 38 year old’s ears, “Okay, I’m going to grant your stay.”
There were muted cheers and sighs of relief from the gallery. Victor smiled, shook his head, and thought to himself, “Thanks Dad. Whaddya know, you finally came through for me.” After over 11 years of suspense it was over. Victor was free to stay in the US, continue his profession and look after his kids.
A few days after that climactic decision you ask Victor how he deals with all the traumas he’s endured: his fractious relationship with his Dad; not being able to be there when his Mom died; the barbaric murder of his sister; the difficulties of being the father of two autistic children; the 2003 felony conviction for which he spent 90 days in jail; not being accepted for the fire service and shortly afterward his chance of US citizenship being rescinded; being overlooked for a Weider contract; losing one of the most controversial Olympia in recent years; being incarcerated for seven months with the threat of deportation hanging over his head. How the hell do you deal with it, Victor?
He looks you straight in the eye and with a big wide smile, characteristic of someone of Caribbean origin, drawls philosophically, “Everyone has highs and lows, you have to look on the bright side. Let’s put it this way. After seven months of not being a pro bodybuilder, I’ve got the cleanest receptors in the sport. When I start doing my thing again I’ll take off like a Saturn rocket.” He lets out a huge bellow of a laugh before concluding, “Like Forest Gump says, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.’” Doncha just love the guy.
Victor Martinez’s favorite chocolate is milk chocolate creams. If the cosmic forces that determine our individual fate in life had any conscience and sense of fair play, they would deliver a truckload of milk chocolate creams to Victor’s front door right now.
THE VICTOR-STEVE CONNECTION
Steve Blechman changed my life when he signed me in 2003. He never ceases to amaze me; he always comes through. As busy as he is he makes personal time for all his athletes. He’s the savior of bodybuilding. Through all my bad times he’s stood right beside me. For the actual Bossman to be in court on April 27, 2012, to support me and be ready to give a character reference is unbelievable. As is the fact that he got Arnold and Jim Lorimer to write a letter of recommendation to the court for me. Gerard Dente was in court also and I’m lucky to have those two guys as employers and as friends. No one will ever say anything negative about Steve or Gerard while I’m present. I’ll fight to the death protecting their character.
-- Victor Martinez
THE VICTOR-FAN CONNECTION
To me fans are friends I haven’t met yet. While in prison I received countless letters from fans worldwide. It really made a difference to my spirits. I read most of the letters several times. I got into bodybuilding as a fan not knowing that I would be good enough to be a pro. Most of the fans out there don’t make it to the pros but follow the sport. I still identify with being one of those guys so any time I interact with fans I want them to feel good that I took the time to talk to them and didn’t brush them off like I was something special. I had an experience with a pro bodybuilder who competed in the ‘70s [Author’s note: Sorry readers Victor absolutely refused to give his name]. I was about 18 and I saw him in the gym and thought I want to be like this guy. I asked him if he could show me how to do squats properly. He said, “Sure, if you pay me.” When I turned pro I said, “I will never be that guy.”
-- Victor Martinez
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