The Black Hand

By: Chris Blatchford

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 14 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Rene "Boxer" Enriquez grew up on the violent streets of East L.A., where gang fights, robberies, and drive-by shootings were fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. When he finally landed in prison - at the age of 19 - Enriquez found an organization that brought him the respect he always wanted: the near-mythic and widely feared Mexican Mafia, La Eme. What the organization saw in Enriquez was a young man who knew no fear and would kill anyone - justifiably or not - in the blink of an eye. That loyalty and his iron will drove him up the ranks as a mob enforcer and ultimately to the upper echelons, where he would help rule for nearly two decades.

Enriquez helped La Eme become the powerful and violent organization that it is now, with a base army of approximately 60,000 heavily armed gang members who control the prison system and a large part of California crime.

Arguably the most dangerous gang in American history, its reach is growing. 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. After years of research and investigation, Blatchford has delivered a historic narrative of a nefarious organization that will go down as a classic in mob literature.

©2008 Chris Blatchford (P)2008 Tantor

Intense, brutal, and informative

I was really stunned by all the details given.
I recommend a narrator with a Spanish language backround who can pronounce the Spanish words better.

11 people found this helpful

narrator not so good

book is great lots of insight on prison life as an eme member. the narrator could have been just a little bit better

8 people found this helpful

Great Story - Won't Want To Stop Listening

This is a great story; my only wish is that they would have gotten a Spanish speaking narrator. It was painful to hear the Spanish words being butchered. Edward James Olmos would have been perfect for this, but as you will learn from the book - that could never happen.

2 people found this helpful

Great book, narrator not so much

This is a story about the Mexican Mafia and the associates and lifestyles it brings. It needs a voice to prove

2 people found this helpful

Unforgettable situations

The narration had some issues in the first hour or so. After that the performance was excellent, in my opinion.

Rene "Boxer" Enriquez chose a certain path it seemed because he wanted to be with the best, the most respected. These guys operating within the Mexican Mafia had to be in total control of themselves at all times except when they were drugged up, and they were almost all users of narcotics.

The level of control that Rene and his peers demanded of themselves felt surreal to me. Their rules were strict, especially with regard to not being a coward and not hesitating. Imagine a lifestyle where you'd be required to kill somebody seemingly at the drop of a hat. So I can see how they were regarded by many as warriors and not just criminal offenders.

The issues all the 'made' guys run up against are fundamentally the same as those for everybody, only with consequences that end up being violent and deadly for some unlucky member. It's all about what they call "politicking." That's the word they use: politicking. I have a new appreciation for that word now.

The significant events were mostly prison stabbings. Once a prisoner gets stabbed, if he survives that event he will be marked as one who is likely to get killed at any moment. He can't recover.

Basically, the guys are always reorganizing themselves based on individual power within the group. There's a lot to learn by listening to this book. Rene and his buddies aren't amateurs. Most aren't book smart but some are. They're all savvy when it comes to the pecking order and how every little thing brings the potential of change to the pecking order.

I felt empathy for Rene as did the author. Maybe I was conned by a mean guy with charisma. Either way, I enjoyed the book.

4 people found this helpful

Story was okay,

Struggled to finish this one. It really didn't leave me with any real opinion of the main character and seemed like a bunch of name dropping.

1 person found this helpful

Good for you Boxer!

Knowing Boxer and a few of the other characters mentioned in this story personally, I'm glad Boxer is still alive and changeing his life, I do hope that one day he'll be released.

Narrator

Jesus what’s with the horrible Chicano accent 😂. I’ve watched Boxers interviews he doesn’t even have a Chicano accent. The content is great though 👍🏽.

Great book. Nuestra is a similar book.

If you like this book you will love Nuestra Familia. The author reads each chapter on the youtube channel https://youtu.be/jdqNsqc9New
This person is from the Northside, unlike Rene boxer. Rene was from the southside.

audio coulda used...

good writing would have been a 5 star review if book was actually read out by boxer enriquez