THE STORY
BEHIND THE BULLETS.
Four separate shootings. Eleven gunshot wounds. More than 300 arrests. One man who lived through it all and came out with a story worth telling.
Watch Stevie’s Story ↗FROM THE STREETS OF CICERO TO A SECOND CHANCE.
Steve “Stevie Bullets” Roden grew up in and around Cicero, Illinois, a community long associated with Chicago street gangs and organized crime.
As a young man, Stevie became involved with the 12th Street Players, a Cicero street gang described as having connections to the world surrounding the Chicago Outfit.
His life on the streets came with consequences that sound almost impossible to survive.
HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT OUT.
Over the course of four separate shootings, Stevie was shot a total of 11 times. He survived gunshot wounds to his head, neck and body and lived to tell the story.
His criminal lifestyle also resulted in an extraordinary history with law enforcement. Stevie says he was arrested more than 300 times during his years on the streets.
His story of surviving 11 gunshots and hundreds of encounters with the criminal-justice system has previously been documented in interviews and in the Stevie Bullets documentary project.
After years of violence, addiction, arrests, incarceration and close calls with death, Stevie began changing the direction of his life.
Family became more important than the streets. The same man who once seemed destined to become another statistic eventually became a husband and father determined to break the cycle he had lived through.
The documentary about his life describes that transformation as a move away from violence and addiction and toward family, responsibility and redemption.
THE FUTURE GIVES IT PURPOSE.
Today, Stevie uses his experiences to have conversations with people who have lived extraordinary lives on both sides of the law.
He knows firsthand that behind every headline, every reputation and every story, there is a real person. And sometimes the truth is a lot more complicated than people think.
REAL PEOPLE. REAL STORIES.
On the Stevie Bullets YouTube channel, Stevie sits down with people whose stories most of us have only seen in movies.
FORMER GANG MEMBERS
Firsthand accounts of street life, loyalty, violence, consequences, and life after the streets.
ORGANIZED-CRIME FIGURES
Conversations about the history, personalities, and events surrounding organized crime.
LAW ENFORCEMENT & INVESTIGATORS
Police officers, investigators, and people who have worked on the other side of the story.
ATTORNEYS & LEGAL MINDS
Perspectives on the criminal justice system, major cases, and the realities behind the courtroom.
FIGHTERS & SURVIVORS
People who have faced adversity, overcome challenges, and lived to share their experiences.
PEOPLE WITH STORIES TO TELL
Unexpected lives, hard lessons, remarkable experiences, and voices worth hearing.
NO FAIRY TALES.
NO HOLLYWOOD SCRIPTS.
These are conversations about what really happened, what it cost, and what people learned after living through it.
FOUR SEPARATE SHOOTINGS.
300+ ARRESTS.
STILL HERE TO TELL THE STORY.