Life & Work with Alan Lindbloom

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Lindbloom

Hi Alan , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Alan Gunner Lindbloom was raised in Metro Detroit by his mentally ill mother, Grace Carmella Tocco, and his abusive alcoholic father. His parents divorced when he was 4 and he moved in with his grandmother, Grace Tocco, and his grandfather, Peter Tocco Sr., cousin of  Giacoma Tocco, reigning boss of the Detroit Mafia. Living with his grandparents, Gunner was surrounded by organized crime, mobsters, and even suspected killers. The closest thing he had to a role model was his uncle Peter Tocco Jr., an up-and-coming young street hustler only 12 years his senior. By age 14, Gunner, was expelled indefinitely from school, never to return. The streets became his life for the next 16 years. Wanting to be accepted by the bad men around him, he did anything they asked, including violence. An FBI agent would later describe him as “a violent enforcer for the Detroit Mafia.”

In 2003, at age 29, while battling drug addiction, Gunner was arrested after a crime spree and indicted on 17 capital crimes. He was then sentenced to 13-50 years in prison. But something magical happened in prison. During a 19 month stint in solitary confinement (“the hole”), two remarkable things happened. First, he had a spiritual awakening, a moment with God, and decided he no longer wanted to be a bad man. He wanted to be a good man. Second, he discovered that he had a very special gift, a talent for writing. But the most miraculous thing happened six years into his prison sentence. A woman who worked for a publisher in New York City discovered sample chapters of one of his books. A friend had posted them on Facebook. Impressed, she sent him a letter and asked to read his full manuscript. When she did, she wrote him another letter and called him a “unicorn,” declaring his book the best book she had ever read. After vowing to help him get published, they became pen-pals and wrote back and forth almost daily for months. But their friendship soon blossomed into a fairytale. Over the next year, they fell madly in love through hundreds of pages of letters. They became engaged to get married before speaking a spoken word to each other. Her name was Maria and she waited faithfully 7 years for his release. The day after his release in July of 2016, they married in a tiny small town courthouse in northern Michigan. Twenty minutes later, they were baptized together in Lake Huron by the same friend who posted the sample chapters that caused their fates to intersect 7 years earlier.

A few months after his release, Gunner published his debut novels, TO BE A KING, Volumes 1 & 2. Within days, Volume #1 cracked the top #50 in his genre, peaking at #28. Volume 2 had even better results, peaking at #3. Fans began calling the series “the next Godfather,” begging for a movie. Shortly after releasing his books, Gunner launched “OUR THING” Apparel, a line of urban and athletic apparel that now sells around the world. Gunner is the author of 10 novels, 9 of which he wrote in prison. He hosts three different radio shows on Conviction Radio, a digital broadcast network he co-owns. He and his wife also own White Pine Publishing & Consultting, where he ghostwrites and coaches writers on how to create and publish amazing stories.

Gunner’s miraculous journey is currently being made into a Netflix-style documentary and scripted TV series starring 5x Golden Globe nominated & multi Emmy award winning actor, Armand Assante. Gunner also works as an inspirational speaker, writing coach, ghostwriter, and personal development coach. Along with writing and helping people be the best version of themselves, his passions are trout fishing, hunting, camping, and all facets of outdoor adventure–the things he dreamed about in prison. He and Maria remain blissfully married and have been a couple now for 15 years. They live on a remote 20-acre homestead in the wilderness of northern Michigan, their version of paradise. They have 5 cats, 5 chickens, and revel in domestic life. Gunner says the life he lives today is the life he dreamed about in prison. Proof that dreams can come true. His mission today is simple: Inspire hope and change. Everyone deserves love, peace, and a second chance. Nobody is beyond redemption. He’s proven it. People simply need to realize how valuable they are to the world. Or invaluable.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My childhood was tumultuous to say the least. My father was a violent alcoholic who beat and abused my mentally ill mother. As a result, my mother’s mind broke and she had to be institutionalized. When I was 5, my sister and I moved in with my grandparents. This would have profound effects on the rest of my life. My grandfather was closely associated with the Italian mafia, as his cousin Giacomo “Black Jack” Tocco was Detroit’s reigning Boss of Bosses. Worse still, my uncle Pete lived with us and was a young hustler who led me into a life of crime that would ultimately land me in prison for 13-50 years!

I grew up in a strange world, surrounded by old Sicilian men, some of whom were mobsters. They became my normal. My uncle quickly taught me that bending the rules was acceptable, even encouraged, and bad behavior was rewarded with acceptance. I was constantly in trouble and getting suspended from school, usually for fighting, as I hated bullies. I caught my first felony for malicious destruction of property at age 13. I failed 8th grade the first time around and was kicked out the 2nd time. At age 14, I was expelled permanently and took straight to the streets. By age 16, I had racked up 6 felonies, from possession of pipe bombs to weapons and assaults. At age 17, I was busted for selling steroids in a massive, organized crime busted involving 55 men and millions of dollars. My grandfather bribed a judge to keep me out of prison, but I still spent 6 months in jail.

When I got out of jail, my grandpa asked q very well known mobster named Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacolone, a man famous for being the number # 1 suspect in Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance, to find me some work. I knew he was a high ranking mafiosi, but I didn’t know much else about him. Only that he had been introduced to me as an uncle when I was a kid. I never paid much attention to him or any or the old “uncles” who were constantly coming and going from our house. But Tony Jack changed this. He got me a job bouncing at a popular night club that was the favorite haunt of the city’s up-and-coming wise guys. Then Tony had me start working security at mob poker games and casino nights. Eventually, some of his assignments would involve intimidation and violence. It was a natural fit. I was a big, musclebound, intimidating tough young guy who enjoyed fighting and brawling. Violence came easy. My association with Tony helped me make a lot of “friends” in that world. And for the next 10 years I was involved in every criminal racket you can think of. My primary source of income was from selling weed and steroids, but I had a crew of young street guys who were involved in anything that could make a buck. We did it all. You name it, we did it. Larceny, hijackings, phone scams, insurance frauds, chop chops, yacht theft, fencing stolen merch, shake downs, robbing dope dealers, extortion, beatings for hire, it didn’t matter. We did anything to make a buck. We were street guys. Hustlers. We played dice, sold drugs, and worked any scam that came our way. For some stupid reason, the notion of working never occurred to us. In fact, such a notion seemed absurd to guys like us.

So, while most of my high school friends went off to college, or were starting families or businesses or careers, I was hanging around a bunch of hoodlums, hustling and playing dice in The Eastern Market, Detroit’s Little Italy and ground zero for the mob. On the surface, I appeared to be living a good life. I had nice homes, cars, toys, and always a few grand in my pocket. I even had a fiancé. But I was a mess. Over the years, I struggled with a pain pill addiction. I lied to everyone about what I did everyday, the people I was around, and where I made my money. I think my grandparents and girlfriend suspected who I really was. Which meant they knew I was looking them dead in the eye and lying every day. That was tough. I hated lying to them. My life was a charade. An act on multiple levels. Even my tough guy image was an act. I hated it. I hated who I was. I hated the people I was around. All the scumbags. I trusted no one. I had a hard time sleeping or looking myself in the mirror. I hated that life. I hated myself. And I supposed that is why I used drugs. It numbed me, and masked that self-loathing I felt.

My life spun out of control the year before I went to prison. Drugs, gambling, scams, robberies, cops, arrests. Miraculously, I was able to hide it from everyone. I still lifted weights and was a 230-pound bodybuilder. My girlfriend and I were engaged to get married and had just bought our second home. I had a couple nice cars and a garage full of toys. I still went salmon fishing, hunting, and camping. Nobody knew my life was spinning out control. At one point, my first house, which we rented out, was raided by a local narcotics task force. They found some drugs and a gun. I ended up beating the case for lack of evidence, but nobody trusted me after the bust. Guys thought I might be cooperating. Nobody would work with me. They wouldn’t even answer my calls. I was left to fend for myself, alone, living a very expensive lifestyle. My cash reserves went quick, and I saw no way out. My pride never considered admitting I had a problem. A normal job would never make me enough money to cover my habits and lifestyle. So, I did what gangsters do. I picked up a gun and started robbing, beginning with drug dealers, ending with banks. Eventually, after a bank robbery, a high-speed chase ended with me crashing and running on foot. When the cops finally cuffed me, they beat me half to death. I was charged with extortion, bank robbery, armed robberies, and a total of 17 capital crimes. All charges carried up to life in prison.

The District Attorney wanted to give me 30-to-life…

I fought my cases from the county jail, on a $5.75 million dollar bond, for 20 months, 17 of them in solitary confinement. “The hole.” There, I was faced with three choices. One, kill myself, which I seriously considered. I wasn’t going to spend 30 years in prison and someday get out as an old man with a broken mind and no family. Two, I could just approach prison like I did the streets. Just be a monster., violent. and force people to respect and fear me. Smash everything in my path. I wasn’t scared to die. I’d been shot twice, stabbed twice, had a bat broken over my face. I had been in 7 gun battles. Been jumped twice. Death didn’t scare me in the least. Life wasn’t even worth living. If I went to prison, I knew how to handle myself. I could just become institutionalized and let the monster free. Or three, I could change into a good man. An honest man. A man of honor and integrity. The man I always dreamed of being. The man I wished I was. I hated my old life. I hated the old me. I wanted to see if the real me could even exist.

Laying on my bunk, contemplating suicide—I was already planning it out—I had a spiritual epiphany. I won’t get into details. I’ll save that for another day. But what happened would forever change the course of my life. God told me He had a plan for me, and He gave me a special gift. Writing. So, I started writing. Or rather, creating stories in my mind. In the hole, I didn’t have access to pen and paper, but over a 14-month period I wrote my first three novels—in my head. When I finally got out of the hole and was sent to a maximum security level #4 prison, where I was locked down 22 hours a day, I began writing like an obsessed man. I wrote book after book, each taking about a year, writing maybe 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Guys in prison went nuts for my books. They lined up to read them! Some of my manuscripts even had waiting lists. Over and over, guys would tell me my books were the best books they had ever read! Some of these men had been in prison for decades, and all they did was read. I can’t tell you how they chastised me for ending up in prison. They would say, “A guy like you should have a big house in then Hollywood Hills. You should be a famous household name! How then hell did you end up in prison?” I told them I messed up, just as they had done. I was human. I didn’t even know I had my gift until I got locked up. But their encouragement made me confident that I was onto something with my writing.

What happens next will read like one of my fiction novels. Six years into my sentence, a friend of mine started a Facebook page for me. On my profile, he mentioned that I was in prison writing books. This caught the attention of a woman named Maria who worked for a publisher in New York City. Curious, she wrote me a letter and expressed interest in hearing about my books. I wrote her back. She wrote me back. We became pen-pals and were surprised by how much we had in common. We both loved the outdoors and of course books. It was nice to have a new friend, but things changed after she read “TO BE A KING,” the book I had just finished. She read the full 1.100 page manuscript (both volumes) in 3 days on her phone, and then wrote me a letter, in which she called me a “unicorn,” declaring my book the best book she had ever read. She was so impressed that she vowed to help me publish the books. Naturally, I was over the moon with excitement. We began to write each other constantly, day and night, for months. I even set aside the novel I was writing just to focus on writing her every day. My days began to revolve around mail call during afternoon count. I felt such a rush of excitement whenever one of those fat letters slid under my door. She told me it was the same for her when she heard the mail truck pull up.

Nine months after she first wrote me, Maria admitted she was in love with me. I was also in love with her. So, what now? She was a professional businesswoman, an executive sales rep for a major publisher in New York. She had a normal life. I was an ex-con with 6.5 years left in prison. I didn’t want to ruin her life. But love is love. So, I asked her to marry me. She said yes and waited faithfully 6.5 years for me to come home. I married her the day after my release in July 2016. We had a blast during a several month honeymoon period, camping and adventuring while we prepared my TO BE A KING novels for publishing. When I finally released them, they shot to the top 50 of the mafia genre, peaking at #28. Thousands of people began calling the series “the next Godfather.” Everyone wanted to know why it wasn’t being made into a movie.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am best known for my TO BE A KING novels, which are being called “the greatest Mafia story ever told”.

I own “OUR THING” Apparel, a line of clothing and accessories with a mafia theme. It lets people take pride in where they come from, while at the same time showcasing a little bit or street and inner gangster.

I work as a full-time novelist and ghostwriter for coaches and consultants. I am an inspirational speaker, content creator on YouTube, writing coach, radio host, an owner of 3 businesses. Now I’m the lead writer of a new TV series based on my life, starring Emmy & Golden Globe winning actor, Armand Assante. A documentary on my life is being made this summer, directed by Seth Ferranti (Netflix;”White Boy Rick”) and it will be used as a marketing tool for the scripted TV series starring Armand Assante, who is also narrating the doc in part. I try to embrace life and be a positive influence to the world. That’s my mission as coach and writer. To be a living example of how people can change and dreams can come true.

I also recently launched White Pine Publishing, Coaching & Consulting.. I coach writers on how to craft and write amazing stories, and then publish them for the author. I also ghostwrite autobiographies for high end coaches, consultants, and trainers who have achieved remarkable levels of success in life and now share how they did it in their coaching. I also co-won Conviction Radio, a Christian faith-based station that specializes in inspiring comebacks, particularly those of ex “convicts,” drug addicts, homeless, or anyone who has made a remarkable transformation through faith in Christ.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I’ll leave you with this: Embrace life. Prison instilled in me a profound appreciation for the little things. Personally, I’m a simple man. I don’t need much. Give me a fishing pole, a quiet trout stream, and a tin or worms, and I am at total peace. Toss in my wife, and that is my nirvana. Keep your circle small, and make sure the people around you have integrity. Never sacrifice your morals to be accepted. I did that for the first half of my life, and we know how that ended. Never give up on your dreams. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until you try. We all have special talents. Use them to enrich the world. If someone says you can’t do it, prove them wrong. Twenty years ago, in a prison cell, alone and contemplating suicide, but discovered I had a very special gift. So, I used that gift to create the lie I live today. I completely changed who I was and manifested my dreams. Here I sit, in my cozy home with my cat Moggie snuggled against me, a fire crackling in the fireplace, surrounded by peace and love. Comfortable. No more fear. No more false pretenses. I’m free to be me. A big goofy nerdy writer who loves cats and trout fishing. This life is was what I dreamed of all those years in prison. I’m literally living out my dreams. Anyone can. So, I implore, never give up. Press forward. Chase your dreams. Leave behind any naysayers. Embrace your natural talents. Believe you can win, because you can! If a two-bit scumbag like myself can turn it around, anyone can. I’m not that special. Well, unless you ask my wife. LOL

If you would like to hear more about me or my story, visit my YouTube channel, “Gunner Alan Lindbloom,” or just “Gunner Detroit.” Follow me on social media, and keep an eye out for my upcoming documentary, due for release early 2025. What makes my story remarkable is NOT that I was a former mafia associate or criminal. That is the embarrassing part. If you want to see what makes my story so miraculous and remarkable, simply read my TO BE A KING novels. You will finish, you will say, “There is no way a guy with his background could write such a story without some kind of divine intervention. It just makes no sense.” No it doesn’t. Not even I can explain it. God did that. I take no credit.

Pricing:

• Life Coaching is $50-$10,000, depending on duration and goals
• Ghostwriting is $30,000per book.
• Commercial ads at our radio are $500 a month
• Publishing (includes full service editing, proofing, formatting and publishing, is $5000 per book and includes a $2000 coaching package
• Writing coach – $500 a month or $2500 per project (I.e. Script or book)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gunnerdetroit.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_real_gunner_detroit/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lindbloom
• Twitter: https://x.com/gunnerdetroit
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gunnerdetroit
• Other: https://www.whitepinepublishing.com and www.convictionradio.com

Image Credits
Dinner Lindbloom – me