This story is part of our October 2025 issue. To read the print version, click here.

From one vantage point, the Padillas — Greg, Topo and Brandon — are the most-multi-faceted professionals working in the Capital Region’s courts. The success of their bail bonds business over four decades involves how many hats each of the three generations can wear. On any given day, the Padillas are masters of risk assessment, licensed fugitive trackers, impromptu counselors, armchair psychologists, guarantors of personal responsibility and champions for the presumption of innocence.

Today, many working in Sacramento courtrooms appreciate their sheer versatility. But the Padillas have had to fight for every inch of that respect.

Back in 1982, Greg, Topo’s father and Brandon’s grandfather, was invited to the set of a local talk show and introduced to John Firenza, a sergeant in charge of warrants for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Firenza admitted on air that he basically despised bail agents — a view shared by numerous downtown judges at the time.

“After the show was over, I took him aside and said, ‘I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’m going to keep talking to you from time to time, and maybe your opinion will change,’” Greg remembers.

Three years before, Greg had transitioned from selling cars to being a bail agent after his brother, the late Leonard Padilla, began making a name for himself in the industry. But Greg and Leonard quickly learned that a few shady operators were giving bondsmen a bad jacket. Greg especially wanted to change Firenza’s opinion. And he did. The sergeant and many Sacramento judges came to see Greg as a fair-minded man of his word who was committed to helping the court system run smoothly.

“Eventually, it got to where I could call some of the night judges on the phone and just give them the rundown on a person: ‘This is his history, this is where his parents work, this is what’s been going on with him,’” Greg recalls. “By the time Topo was working with me, I would have judges phoning to ask if he could swing by their offices to discuss bail issues with them.”

Topo joined Greg’s side as a bail agent at age 18. Building on Greg’s reputation, he got deeply involved in California’s political landscape, especially around criminal justice policy and defending victims’ rights. Topo has served as president of both the state Bail Agents Association of California and Crime Victims United. His advocacy has also involved making sure bail amounts don’t skyrocket for working people.

“I think people assume that we’d support bail in California just going higher and higher, because they think we’ll make more money,” Topo reflects. “Bail is an insurance policy, backed by indemnitors, for making sure that people show up to court. It’s never supposed to be punitive. If you make bail too high, then it becomes punitive — and that’s not what we’re about.”

What the team at Greg Padilla Bail Bonds does believe it’s about is helping people hold on to their jobs and keep their families together after they’ve made the kind of mistake that forces them to navigate the justice system. The company also gives an ironclad commitment to the court that someone who’s posted bail will make their appearances. That means occasionally the Padillas have to strap on the tactical vests and badges of licensed fugitive recovery agents and chase court runners as far as the Carolinas or even Mexico.

But, as Topo’s son Brandon points out, a lot of times just knowing how to connect with people makes such man hunts unnecessary. Brandon recently got a young man on the phone who’d fled all the way to Uzbekistan and talked him into coming back for his court dates.

“What I learned from them,” Brandon says, motioning to Greg and Topo, “is that this business is all about relationships. We’re the ones who work with everyone in the system. We work with the attorneys, with the judges, with probation, with law enforcement, with clients and with their families.”

Brandon, who joined the business in 2012, takes interacting with families especially seriously. He often thinks about one young client, a woman addicted to heroin and constantly getting arrested, who kept relying on her concerned family to post bail. That is, until Brandon sat down with them for a heart-to-heart conversation.

“I became convinced that if that pattern continued, she was going to die,” Brandon explains. “I told her family, ‘We’re not going to do this again. She needs some time in custody to get help.’ Flash forward to today, she’s been clean for a while and has a great job at a bank. And I honestly believe that decision might have saved her life.”   

Listening to Brandon tell the story, Topo adds, “You see, the thing is, we do care.”

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.