The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer (U)

THE BLACK HAND is the true story of Rene Enriquez aka Boxer and his rise in a secret criminal organization a new Mafia that already has a grip on all organized crime in California and soon all of the United States. This Mafia is using a base army of an estimated 60 000 heavily armed loyal Latino gang members called Surenos driven by fear and illicit profits. They are the most dangerous gang in American history and they wave the flag of the Black Hand. Mafioso Enriquez gives an insider s view of how he devoted his life to the cause the Mexican Mafia La Familia Mexicana also known as La Eme only to find betrayal and disillusionment at the end of a bloody trail of violence that he followed for two decades.And now award winning investigative journalist Chris Blatchford with the unprecedented cooperation of Rene Enriquez reveals the inner workings secret meetings and elaborate murder plots that make up the daily routine of the Mafia brothers. It is an intense never before told story of a man who devoted his life to a bloody cause only to find betrayal and disillusionment.Based on years of research and investigation Chris Blatchford has delivered a historic narrative of a nefarious organization that will go down as a classic in mob literature. Publishers Weekly There is much to praise in this authorized biography of Rene "Boxer" Enriquez, penned by Peabody Award-winning journalist Blatchford (Three Dog Nightmare). While this is a superb cautionary tale about the dangers of youth falling into senseless gang violence, it also rates as a probing, redemptive story of Enriquez, a vicious, heroin-addicted killer for Los Angeles's largest criminal street gang, with 20,000 members involved in extortion, drug-dealing, vice and murder. Blatchford explores with grim accuracy Enriquez's criminal past, prison killings, turf wars and contract eliminations around the West Coast. But the book also reveals Enriquez and his crew's total commitment to hoodlum honor, the cost in lives and status, and the betrayals and intrigues both behind bars and out in society. This is a savvy account of Enriquez's arduous self-education and personal transformation from cold killer to a man who, in his own words, educates law enforcement and the public about a "prison and criminal subculture that should scare the hell out of them." (Sept.)Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.