It has been called the most dangerous gang in American history. In Los Angeles alone it is responsible for over 100 homicides per year. Although it has fewer than 300 members, it controls a 40,000-strong street army that is eager to advance its agenda. It waves the flag of the Black Hand and its business is murder. Although known on the streets for over fifty years, the Mexican Mafia has flown under the radar of public awareness and has flourished beneath a deep cover of secrecy. Members are forbidden even to acknowledge its existence. For the first time in its history, the Mexican Mafia is now getting the attention it has been striving to avoid. In this briskly written and thoroughly researched book, Tony Rafael looks at the birth and the blood-soaked growth of this criminal enterprise through the eyes of the victims, the dropouts, the cops and DAs on the front lines of the war against the Mexican Mafia. The first book ever published on the subject, Southern Soldiers is a pioneering work that unveils the operations of this California prison gang and describes how it grew from a small clique of inmates into a transnational criminal organization. As the first prison gang ever to project its power beyond prison walls, the Mexican Mafia controls virtually every Hispanic neighborhood in Southern California and is rapidly expanding its influence into the entire Southwest, across the East Coast, and even into Canada. Riding a wave of unchecked immigration and seemingly beyond the reach of law enforcement, the Mexican Mafia is poised to become the Cosa Nostra of twenty-first-century America.

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.

This memoir describes the many unexpected things that occurred during Ted Davidson's unique research among Chicano prisoners at San Quentin Prison and in the Chicano movement in California, from 1966 until 1997. www.danger-trust.com. He reached the depths of the prisoners' own illegal culture via the secretive deadly if crossed Mexican Mafia. A very few highlights during those 31 years: Ted was kicked out of San Quentin by prison administrators for revealing staff secrets to the media. He was repeatedly set up by undercover FBI agent provocateurs posing as students, who tried to provoke him into doing things he would never imagine doing. Ted was fired from Cabrillo College for criticizing California Department of Corrections and protesting the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. He wrote a popular ethnography, Chicano Prisoners: The Key to San Quentin--in print from 1974 until 2002. Ted lived under a death threat against him and his family for six weeks. He cut his San Quentin and Chicano ties in 1979. Still, in 1997, Ted wisely refused to testify in a case against 12 Mexican Mafia members who were convicted by the U.S. government of racketeering, conspiracy, murder and extortion.

Revised 2021 - The History of the Mexican Mafia, updated and improved, tracks the evolution of La EME from its beginnings in California Prisons, to taking over the streets, and spreading to Federal Prisons. It is filled with hundreds of pictures as well as historical documents. It also shows ways we might prevent prison violence and recruitment into these gangs.The book has a 11 pt. font which is readable by most people who don't need glasses, but is available in larger font for those who wish it.

The most comprehensive book ever written on the history and inner-workings of the Mexican Mafia. Authored by two former members now working with law enforcement and a network of Mexican Mafia experts within the field of criminal justice. These experts encompass multiple generations of mafia experiences, including murders, conspiracies, membership, and folklore. Included is factual data, official documents, personal accounts and never seen before photographs. In addition Quick Response (QR) Codes are included that offer informational video clips and audio segments via smart phones and computers. This multi-media approach was designed specifically to delve further into various incidents and provide first-hand accounts. This manuscript has been vetted by Mexican Mafia experts throughout the United States.

The original prison gang, the Mexican Mafia, is the fastest growing prison gang in the United States. The authors illustrate how this prison gang uses influence, power, and violence to control an army of over 40,000 street gang members across the nation and countless more internationally. Learn about the special relationship this group has with Hispanic street and prison gangs, Mexican drug trafficking organizations and the constant battle over money, power and control. The Mexican Mafia continues to expand its transnational criminal activities and will continue to diversify until the criminal justice system becomes more informed.