- I wasn't gonna be a body builder

I was a football player,

but this one guy talked me into

going to a body building show with him,

and I did, and I took a second place.

And I'm like, wow I thinkI'm pretty good at this.

So I set my sights andI said you know what

I'm done with footballI'm gonna be the best

teenage body builder in the world.

- [Narrator] FrancoSantoriello did become one

of the top body builders in the world.

Gracing the covers of magazines

and winning international awards,

but Franco's childhood wasfar from an idealic one.

- What I remember aboutmy parents fighting

is it was frequent.

My mom and dad fought, we didn't

just hear it the wholeneighborhood heard it.

It was loud, and it wasreally, it was hurtful.

And what we did as children I would run

into my room and just have this fear

in me that, you know,what's gonna happen now?

I mean is somebody gonna get hurt?

Is momma gonna get hurt?

It put instilled fear in me.

What child should have towalk around with fear in them?

- [Narrator] Franco grew up catholic

but says he didn't know God.

I got confirmed, baptized,I was an alter boy.

My conception of God was, he was a man

that was hung on a cross.

I didn't know that Godwas right here with me.

The only way I knew I could really talk to

God or communicate withGod through a priest.

- [Narrator] Franco'sparents eventually divorced

and it brought hisinsecurities to a new level.

- [Franco] There was a split, and my dad

just kinda like took off.

It ripped a hole in my heart.

- [Narrator] In middle school Franco

tried drugs for the first time.

- There was a party going on,

and my brothers friend, you know

he turned me on to a joint.

It was just like something hit me

where it was like, hey I'm gonna be okay.

I just kinda escaped myself.

- [Narrator] Franco's drug use continued

and escalated through high school.

- [Franco] It wasn't long after that

we started messing around with

pills, you know, speed, qualudes,

things like that, so at15 years I did cocaine,

and immediately at that point,

I mean I was just, youknow, drugs were just

very common to me.

- [Narrator] When Francowas 24 his brother

became a Christian.

- [Franco] He knew his little brother

needed Jesus cause he know the life

of sin that I was living in.

So he got me to church, and I identified

right away that I was a sinner.

I knew I needed a savior,

but my problem was I didn't want a lord.

I didn't want anybody taking over my life,

and surrendering myselfand being in control of me.

- [Narrator] As a worldfamous body builder

Franco has indorsements,money, fame, and women.

He also had all the drugs he wanted.

- 30 years old

getting ready to train for the

Night of the Champions, one of the bigger

body building events in the world.

Meet this professional wrestler

and we were working out a couple times,

and he asked me if I've ever done heroin.

I was like "no", he said you wanna try it?

He said it'll give youa really good work out.

I'm like why not,

and that's how I got introduced to heroin.

It wasn't long after that I had

a heroin overdose that killed me.

- [Narrator] Franco wasrushed to the emergency room

where he coded.

- [Franco] I knew I was dead because when

I woke up in the trauma unit the doctor

looked at me and said your lucky son,

we had to bring you back.

- [Narrator] Two failed marriages

and another brush withdead after a heart attack

were not enough to slow Franco down,

but hit and run accident in 2011 was.

- I ran back home, got out of the car

and there's was a copsitting in the driveway

and he asked me, he goes,"were you driving this car?"

And I looked at him, andI said "yeah it was me."

They ran my ID and found out I had

drug warrants in Ohio.

- [Narrator] Franco wassentenced to three years in jail.

Which gave him time toreflect on his life.

- So for six weeks Ilaid in a rack, in prison

crippled in fear.

What in the heck happened to me?

I remember I was on top of the world

and now I'm on the bottom bunk in prison.

What happened to me?

As my addiction wenton and I crushed lives

and I broke relationships,and I hurt people

in my path that added to all the guilt

and shame, and pain.

- [Narrator] One daywhile he sat on the edge

of his prison bunk Franco prayed.

- And I was like God Iknow that you're real

that's what the catholic church taught me

that you're real, I believe in you,

but, can I get some help here?

I'm like I quit , I need you,

and it was at that moment it felt like

all of a sudden my hands were freed

and I was able to reach my hand up

out of that quicksand and just like that

God's mighty hand came down from heaven

and grabbed mine, and pulled me up

and I was able to take a breath.

See that day God's hand wasthe light, love, and hope

that this hopeless man neededto survive another day.

And I remember him telling me,

you need to read your biblebecause there's freedom.

You can get deliverance in God's word

you wanna be set free from judge?

Read the bible, there's strength.

- [Narrator] Franco saw the bible

at the end of his bed,

he picked it up and began reading it.

- [Franco] The next day I woke up

I'm like wow maybe I should try

what I did yesterday again.

So I cracked open the bible

and I went and worked outfor five minutes again.

- [Narrator] He began working out again

and soon was using his platform

to minister to other inmates.

- 9 months later,

I was running that prison

I was doing workouts four hours long.

I had everybody in the prison room

wanting to workout with me.

I was running fitness programs,

bible studies I meanthat's all that I did.

Everyday, I said "wow", this works.

- [Narrator] Today Franco is free

and heads Jacked Up For Jesus.

A ministry that uses body building

to bring people to Jesus.

He tells his story in his book

'Before and After'.

- [Franco] The enemy used body building

to bring me down.

They use it because itbecame very prideful

it was able to fuel my addiction.

It just destroyed my life.

God has taken that same sport

and that same platform to bring back

to me, to bring glory to him.

I'm still an addict today,but I'm addicted to Jesus.

My real true audience is the addicts,

and the inmates cause that's the place

where he got ahold of me and he wants

to get ahold of everyinmate in the world today.

In my vision statement is to encourage,

motivate, and inspire the broken,

bound, and bruised to living a victorious

and purposeful life in Christ.