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What does a bail bondsman do?
It's simple, says Long Island's Tom Evangelista. "The best way to explain it is this: Imagine that you come to me for a loan to buy a car - only in this case you're getting a loan to bail someone out of jail. In the case of the car, you're going to pay interest. To bail somebody out, you're going to pay a premium, and that's where I make my money."
As FAMILY BONDS reveals, providing bail is sometimes just the beginning of the story. Because the bail bondsman is liable for the full amount of the bond if his client doesn't show up for court on schedule, it can be necessary to become a bounty hunter and physically retrieve a fugitive.
As the plain-spoken Evangelista puts it: "If you come to me, I'll do everything I can for you. But if you f*ck up, if you make me come and get you, I'm going to come and get you. I would prefer to never chase a guy again, and just put on a suit every day, go to court, and do my paperwork, but that's not the nature of the beast."
Tom Evangelista didn't grow up wanting to be a bail bondsman. For 15 years, he was a successful insurance-industry executive, until an early midlife crisis spurred him to look for a new line of work less than a decade ago.
"I came across the bail-bond field, and found out that at the time, there were only something like 12 licensed bondsmen in New York City," he recalls. "If only 10% of the people in New York got arrested just once in their lifetime, that's still a lot of people. I had spent 15 years underwriting health and disability policies. Underwriting a policy is just underwriting a risk, so if I can underwrite a risk for a life, why not underwrite a flight risk?"
Evangelista admits that at first his wife Flo was less than thrilled about his career move. "I remember her saying to me, 'What are you doing? You're crazy! You're going to give up your job, your benefits. We could lose everything.' I told her, 'If I don't try it, I'll be kicking myself in the ass the rest of my life, wondering if I should have done it.'
"I passed the test to become a bail bondsman, and while I was waiting for my license, I met a couple of people who were willing to teach me the fugitive recovery business. That's when I learned that if you're in control of the situation, you can make it as calm or as scary as you want, depending on whether you're using your head or your muscle."
Evangelista started doing business out of his basement in 1997, but found the early days slow going. "In the beginning, it was really tough. I can't tell you how many times I almost did lose everything, and I said to myself, 'What did I do?' "
Eventually, thanks in part to recommendations from defense attorneys who respected Evangelista's honest, straightforward approach, All City Bail Bonds became a success. He currently has about 1,500 clients - and only a handful have failed to show for a court date. One reason for his high success rate is Evangelista's skill at sizing up potential customers. "I probably turn down more bails than most people do," he notes. Individuals with roots in the community are usually a good bet, but he rejects others who seem like a high flight risk. "And we don't bail out guys who assault police officers," he adds. "I have relatives on the job in law enforcement."
When a client does become a fugitive, Evangelista and his team use every legal tool at their disposal to bring him - or her - in. "Once I bail someone out, the court says that I am his jailer. I can revoke the bail at any time. I can pursue him in other states. I need no warrant," he explains, adding that he uses force only as a last resort, although the All City Bail Bonds team is armed in case of emergencies. "I try to keep the situation under control so that there's no need for fists or guns. The law says you can break and enter when necessary, when all other options are exhausted, but I haven't taken a door down since 1998."
Even a bounty hunter who follows the letter of the law can have his own legal problems. "When you're in this business, you will get arrested sooner or later," he notes. Why? "Because not all jurisdictions like what bondsmen do."
Evangelista, however, takes great pride in his work, which is one of the reasons he agreed to participate in FAMILY BONDS. "I think what I do is a tremendous service to the public," he explains. "It keeps the population of the corrections system down, and it gives the person you're bailing out an opportunity to face his charges like a human being, instead of being dragged in front of the judge in handcuffs and shackles."
Asked how he feels about being under constant surveillance by the FAMILY BONDS cameras, Evangelista shrugs. "In the beginning, it didn't bother me exactly, but I was concerned. I said, 'If you're not going to turn this into a freak show, if you're interested in what we do for a living and how we get along, I don't have a problem.'
"Now, I don't care if the cameras are there or not. I don't pay any attention to them."
Tom Evangelista and his family are truly the people you see onscreen. "We don't re-enact anything. We don't act," he laughs. "I'm a terrible friggin' actor!"
FAMILY BONDS is produced for HBO by Stick Figure Productions in association with Cactus Three; director, Steven Cantor; executive producers, Steven Cantor and Daniel Laikind; supervising editor and co-producer, Pax Wassermann; producer, Matthew Galkin.
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