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

by Chris Blatchford

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061944185
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/08/2009
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	15,154
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Chris Blatchford is an investigative reporter and author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller Three Dog Nightmare. He has won numerous commendations and awards for his reports, including nine Emmy Awards and a Peabody for his investigation into Italian Mafia infiltration of MCA/Universal's music and home video divisions. He lives in Los Angeles.

Read an Excerpt

The Black Hand

The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer

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By Chris Blatchford
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2008

Chris Blatchford
All right reserved.


ISBN: 9780061257292

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Chapter One

Blood In, Blood Out

He had a lot of blood on his hands—from the streets and from behind bars.

Now he sat in Los Angeles Superior Court waiting for Judge Florence-Marie Cooper to set a trial date. He faced two first-degree murder charges and two attempted-murder charges. If convicted, the death penalty was a definite possibility—at the very least life in prison—and he didn't seem to care.

In fact, as a nearby television news camera videotaped the proceedings, twenty-nine-year-old Rene Enriquez, better known on the gang-infested streets of southern California as "Boxer," calmly turned toward the camera lens, softly mouthed the word "lies," and broke into shoulder-shaking laughter.

He was strikingly handsome with a personality that demanded attention, a certain presence that commanded respect. Thick, jet-black hair combed back. A full mustache turned down at the edges. A sharp, pointed nose and high cheekbones betraying his Mexican-Aztec roots. His wire-rim glasses surrounded friendly eyes that instantly could turn cold and threatening. He was five-foot-eight but carried himself like a man a half-foot taller, trim and athletic. He actually looked good in short-sleeved jailhouse blues. If not forthe tattoos that marked both sides of his neck, dotted his hands, and sleeved his forearms, he could easily have put on an expensive suit and passed for one of the slick courthouse lawyers who make a living representing guys just like him—gangsters.

While on parole a year and a half earlier, he had ordered the death of a young woman for stealing drugs from him, and several days later he put five .357 Magnum bullets into the head of an errant mobster who had shown cowardice. Then, while awaiting trial, he did two other bloody hits inside the Los Angeles County Jail—stabbing the rival mobsters so many times that it was only a stroke of fate that kept them from making an early trip to their graves. In truth, authorities believe he had participated in at least ten murders and had personal knowledge of seven times that many.

Boxer Enriquez was a full-fledged member of the ruthless Mexican Mafia, also known as La Eme, a regular modern-day Murder Incorporated. And he was proud of it. "Eme" (pronounced EH-meh) is the Spanish phonetic pronunciation of the letter "M"—for Mafia. He has eme tattooed on his left hand. The word emero, also for "M," appears on his left bicep. A butterfly, or Mariposa, also signifying the letter "M," is on his neck. An actual life-size black hand is tattooed over his heart with a small "eMe" emblazoned in the middle of the palm—the e on each side lightened in color to give prominence to the letter M. La Eme has a saying that, "when the hand touches you, you go to work." That means murder, maiming, mayhem, extortion, drug dealing, robbing, burglarizing, kidnapping, or anything else the Mexican Mafia brothers want done. And Boxer had done them all.

He moved his chair back and forth on its hind legs and stared at Judge Cooper as she set his murder trial date for January 1, 1993. This was no sweat. He stood up straight, already handcuffed and waist-and-leg-chained, and was escorted out of the courtroom under heavy guard. That was the way he would go anywhere outside his cell for the rest of his life. There was the sound of chains clanging as he walked, and he turned and nonchalantly waved as he neared the prisoners' exit door at the side of the courtroom. There would be no bail. Again, he didn't seem to mind. Already Boxer had spent about one-third of his young life locked up. He was reasonably comfortable in prison. Besides, he was a feared killer—even in a world of killers, he knew he would never hesitate. Others would. He was a killer's killer and proud of it—a warrior.

He also knew that the Mexican Mafia controlled not only County Jail but the largest inmate population in the world and all the prison rackets, including drugs, extortion, and gambling. The California Department of Corrections had 160,000 inmates, and La Eme used murder and fear to keep them in line. Yeah, he would be just fine.

By his own admission, it was a "twisted" existence, but he was smart and confident. He knew he not only looked like a gangster, he was one. And after all, it was a life he had bargained for, and there was only one acceptable way out. He'd taken an oath with his Eme brothers—"blood in, blood out." In other words, the only way out of the Mafia was in a pine box.

That was the cardinal rule in this deadly game he played, and he felt he was a player at the top of his game.

And besides, the Mexican Mafia had a Spanish word to describe the position of its members: rifamos. Translation: "we rule, we control, we reign." The line that divided life in prison and life in the outside world seemed blurred.

Boxer's criminal career was indicative of the lifestyle of the Mexican Mafia, which did outrageous crimes with impunity, not caring if the brothers got caught or went to prison. They adapted, becoming creatures of the penal system and the cruel streets of the underworld. They had no regard for human life, and still don't.

Rene Enriquez, aka "Boxer," enjoyed being one of them. And to more completely understand what Boxer had become, it's important to first know the bloody history of the organization that spawned and shaped him.

Continues...

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Excerpted from The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford Copyright © 2008 by Chris Blatchford. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

1 Blood In, Blood Out 1

2 Mexican Mafia History 4

3 Boxer Beginnings 12

4 Drugs, Dealing, Robbing, and Rebellion 18

5 Boxer Graduates to College (Prison) 29

6 The Wrecking Crew 36

7 Boxer and the Black Hand 39

8 Mafia Politics: Like Swimming with Sharks in a Bloody Pool 45

9 Back Outside: The Brutality of the Streets 53

10 Preserving Hoodlum Honor 59

11 Boxer Meets Steely-Eyed Chuco 65

12 Hit the Streets Like a Wild Man 70

13 Shifting Loyalties and Sweet Revenge 75

14 A Reign of Terror 82

15 Learning a Sweet Lucrative Scam 95

16 Hungry Piranhas in a Tank 100

17 Die Like a Man, You Punk 105

18 Mafia Gratitude Goes Only So Far 112

19 La Eme Goes to Hollywood 114

20 Drive-bys, Drugs, and the Pepsi Generation Mafia 121

21 Dealing with Pure Evil 127

22 The Eme Plot to Kill the Governor of California 135

23 Operation Pelican Drop 140

24 Calling the Shots From Prison 149

25 Baby Killers 161

26 Dead Men Don't Pay 180

27 Chuco Rolls on La Eme 185

28 A Rat or Just Smart? 195

29 A Mini-Mob Convention 201

30 Boxer, Bat, and the Tijuana Drug Cartel 207

31 It Was Just Business 217

32 Race Riot Madness 225

33 Phony Peace Talks 230

34 Growing Mob-Weary 240

35 Man Is Made or Unmade by Himself 246

36 Missing Life 249

37 Dropping Out of the Mob 256

38 A WonderFul Break 267

39 You Can't Play by the Rules 274

40 La Eme Spreading Like a Cancer 283

41 Trying to Be More 289

Afterword 295

Glossary 305

Bibliography 309

Acknowledgments 315

Index 317

What People are Saying About This

William "Billy" Queen

“Chris Blatchford has hit a grand slam. The Black Hand is an important page turning book that will take you into a frightening dark world that shouldn’t exist… but it does. It’s riveting, and when you finish the book, you’ll get up and lock your doors. Highly recommended.”

Joe Pistone

“A fascinating look at the world of the Mexican Mafia, more ruthless than the LCN. A must read for law enforcement and a tribute to the courage of ‘dropout’ Rene ‘Boxer’ Enriquez.”

Vincent Bugliosi

“A courageous and well-written exposé on one of the most ruthless and powerful gangs of all, the Mexican Mafia. Chris Blatchford reaffirms his position as being among Americans greatest investigative reporters.”

From the Publisher

"A gripping, powerful, chilling inside look at a criminal organization that is changing the organized crime landscape. This is a mob classic." —-Dominick Dunne

Joseph Wambaugh

“A fascinating, vivid and unforgettable insider’s look at the bloody, secret and deadly Mexican Mafia. Chris Blatchford’s compulsively readable wake-up call spares no one and names everyone, including the politicians who aid and abet this dangerous criminal organization, through corruption, maddening naiveté, or political correctness.”

Dominick Dunne

“A gripping, powerful, chilling inside look at a criminal organization that is changing the organized crime landscape. This is a mob classic.”

Editorial Reviews

A gripping, powerful, chilling inside look at a criminal organization that is changing the organized crime landscape. This is a mob classic.

Dominick Dunne

A fascinating, vivid and unforgettable insider’s look at the bloody, secret and deadly Mexican Mafia. Chris Blatchford’s compulsively readable wake-up call spares no one and names everyone, including the politicians who aid and abet this dangerous criminal organization, through corruption, maddening naiveté, or political correctness.

Joseph Wambaugh

A courageous and well-written exposé on one of the most ruthless and powerful gangs of all, the Mexican Mafia. Chris Blatchford reaffirms his position as being among Americans greatest investigative reporters.

Vincent Bugliosi

Chris Blatchford has hit a grand slam. The Black Hand is an important page turning book that will take you into a frightening dark world that shouldn’t exist… but it does. It’s riveting, and when you finish the book, you’ll get up and lock your doors. Highly recommended.

William "Billy" Queen

A fascinating look at the world of the Mexican Mafia, more ruthless than the LCN. A must read for law enforcement and a tribute to the courage of ‘dropout’ Rene ‘Boxer’ Enriquez.

Joe Pistone

Blatchford is well-suited to tell this story . . . he captures the nuances and nihilism of the prison world . . . The narrative is interspersed with fascinating prison arcana.

Los Angeles Times

Don't look now, but there's a new mob in town. Actually, La Familia Mexicana (a.k.a. La Eme, the Mexican Mafia) has been around since the '50s, organized first as a prison gang, then expanding into a full-scale criminal enterprise numbering approximately 60,000 Latino gang members. In The Black Hand, former La Eme hitman "Boxer" Enriquez reveals the story of this dangerous, highly secretive group, arguably the most dangerous gang in American history.

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.

Publishers Weekly

"A gripping, powerful, chilling inside look at a criminal organization that is changing the organized crime landscape. This is a mob classic." —-Dominick Dunne

From the Publisher