The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a…

The book was great, talks about growing up in a life of destruction and violence of gangs. The author talks about how growing up in gangs are bad and what they had to do to get in and had to kill, fight and steal. ( )

The Black Hand
Chris Blatchford
Harper Collins
10 East 53rd St, New York, NY 10022-5299
(212 207-7528 www.harpercollins.com
978-0-06-125730-8, $7.99, 2009

This was a very shocking true life story of Rene “Boxer” Enriquez and his life in the Mexican Mafia. The author has a journalism background and definitely does his homework on this one. This book can be compared to Hunter S. Thompson’s account on life with the Hell’s Angels, except Chris Blatchford was given permission to write this and was not undercover. I found this book very gripping and interesting, especially since I knew nothing about the Mexican Mafia.
The book tells Rene’s life story on growing up in East Las Angeles and his downward spiral into drugs and his first introduction into gang life. I like in the foreword section that Rene admits he was no angel and is not attempting to sugar coat his story. He had a pretty stable home life, but still turned to the darker side of crime and gangs. He is in and out of prison his entire life and only seems to get more vicious and more powerful behind bars. The reader gets horrifying accounts of his killing other people “Hits” and his animalistic savage lifestyle.
Of course Rene hits the bottom of the barrel and it takes him a while to realize that he wants out of the gang life and knows the risks involved in leaving the mafia. I am so glad that he got help in this regard and eventually got sober. It is sad that he will never be released from prison, but he is making what he can out of his current situation. Rene is now an expert on the Mexican Mafia and assists the Federal and Prison officials on his knowledge of it.
This book is definitely for mature audiences only and several parts had me cringing, especially of the barbaric killing of innocent people. I liked the author’s research in the book and would highly recommend it to anyone, especially those interested in mafia. ( )