Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on mexican mafia origination
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford is a biography about Rene “Boxer” Enriquez, an East Los Angeles native and former Mexican Mafia member. The gang also known as Le Eme, or “M” in Spanish, the Mexican Mafia is out to be one of the strongest gangs in American history. The gang was established in city of Los Angeles, as well as other smaller gangs such as the well known MS-13, and Florencia-13, which are brought up and mentioned in the book on how Boxer relates to them. Even though the Mexican Mafia was not originated in Mexico, a lot of it roots and thoughts tie back from Mexico. This biography describes in depth the life of Enriquez from being just adolescence stealing fire crackers; up through the present day; an ex Mexican mafia member. Now that he is out of the gang life, he is retelling his story as a normal citizen, trying to warn others about the risks. As well as trying to get the picture through to young kids that it’s not all about getting woman, money and cars. He is trying to help others by retelling his story so they can learn from his mistakes. The retelling of his life mostly took place in the Los Angeles county; Boxer’s hometown but also in different jails and correction facilities around California. Events such as armed robberies, grand theft, and petty theft were crimes Enriquez was performing all of throughout city Los Angeles, as well as Orange County.. All were reasons that landed him behind bars. At the early age of 18, right when he became a man; Boxer was sent to Soledad Penitentiary in Northern California for 9 years. Reason was because of an Armed Robbery. A few years later, he was transferred to the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California and then to Folsom Prison. While there, Boxer official... ... middle of paper ... ...end he regrets it all. From the second you start reading until the second you end, you find yourself wanting to know more and more about Boxer’s story. A bit about Blatchford, is that he is an award winning investigative reporter and author, who truly captures the reader’s attention. After I was finished with the story I still found myself wanting to know more about organized crime and particularly the criminal organization described in the book. I describe "The Black Hand" in one word, Brutal. The book isn't just about the cold working of a criminal empire. Boxer tells his story with unexpected sensitivity and a Chicano brand of optimism. The man is highly charismatic. Yet, there is a dark side shown that is absolutely sobering. It's the part of him that is a frighteningly intelligent and ruthless. He shows us a man who can find dark humor in a jailhouse murder.
What is truly intriguing about this book, however, is Remnick's ability to look beyond the boxing ring to what is really going on. He knows there's more to this game than meets the eye and it is this knowledge and his ability to record it that make this book important. Rem-nick lets us in on what it's like to be a boxer (read: man), and more importantly, a black boxer in the United States in the mid '60s. He tells us how the media aided and abetted the perpetuation of the stereotype as to what was a 'good' black man (i.e., why Patterson was preferred over Liston in their bout). This preference for Patterson was a good barometer of the political climate at that time in the US.
(134,219). The author and main character Rodriguez are one in the same person. At a young age Luis Rodriguez started writing about his life story which becomes a big feat for him because of not getting education in school, gang related problems, and being a leader in school for his fellow classmates. He clearly goes against a stereotype he faces which is Hispanics are illiterate by, writing a book despite getting without help in his circumstances and writing becoming very popular throughout the years. As a result of his hard work he put into his stories and poems, thanks to one of his teachers Mrs. Baez, the stories and poems were edited and sent to many literary contests.
Keen, Benjamin. 1969. The Black Legend Revisited: Assumptions and realities. The Hispanic American Historical Review. volume 49. no. 4
	The narrator in Ellison’s short story suffers much. He is considered to be one of the brighter youths in his black community. The young man is given the opportunity to give a speech to some of the more prestigious white individuals. The harsh treatment that he is dealt in order to perform his task is quite symbolic. It represents the many hardships that the African American people endured while they fought to be treated equally in the United States. He expects to give his speech in a positive and normal environment. What faces him is something that he never would have imagined. The harsh conditions that the boys competing in the battle royal must face are phenomenal. At first the boys are ushered into a room where a nude woman is dancing. The white men yell at the boys for looking and not looking at the woman. It is as if they are showing them all of the good things being white can bring, and then saying that they aren’t good enough for it since they were black. Next the boys must compete in the battle royal. Blindly the boys savagely beat one another. This is symbolic of the ...
Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of this novella has written it very cleverly, with certain techniques used that have a greater impact on the reader and ones that make it more than just any thriller/shocker. Every novella has a purpose to it and so does this story, the purpose of this novella has been made to narrative the reader and it is quite clearly reflecting the genre of the thriller/shocker. As well as this the novella has been made as a shilling shocker which depends on sensationalism and represents an immoral lifestyle that may include violence in extremity.
...he Vigilante" first dehumanized the black man and then beat him which was very cruel. ("he got up, and then somebody else socked him and he went over and hit his head on the cement floor."P.137). The manner in which the characters commit the violent actions helps show the evil of man.
The documentary, “Unforgivable Blackness” directed by Ken Burns casts light on the extraordinary life story of legendary boxer Jack Johnson. The documentary is about the barriers Jack Johnson had to overcome to satisfy his hunger for becoming the best and living “The American Dream.” Johnson had humble beginnings in Galveston, Texas and it was in those beginnings that glimpses of his bright future were slowly but surely beginning to show. Through out his life, he showed independence, relentlessness, ability to improvise, call attention to himself and get around rules meaning to tie him down. Jack Johnson was a self made man who had the drive to go forward and achieve what he wanted to achieve through hard work, patience and all the skills he was blessed with.
In Blackmon 's book "Slavery by Another Name," he argues the existence of slavery after it was outlawed in 1865. This continued presence of slavery contributes to the existing racial problems faced in this day and age. On April 8, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, by Congress and The House, outlawing slavery. Although this amendment was passed as Blackmon points out there were ways around this amendment. Blackmon addresses four of the many ways that people would enslave blacks after the amendment was passed, those being convict leasing, sharecropping, chain gangs and peonage. This essay will go into depth on these four points and will tell a personal critic on Blackmon 's work.
In conclusion, through its plot, characterization, and rhetorical devices such as tone, George Washington Gomez is an anti-corrido. However, it must be said that perhaps in its purpose as an anti-corrido, the novel is a corrido. In telling the story of Guánlito, the anti-hero of the Mexicotexans, perhaps Paredes is singing the readers his own border ballad, an ironic, cautionary tale to the Chicanos to remember who they are and where they came from and to resist, always, as a corrido hero would.
South, David. The History of Organized Crime: Secrets of The World’s Most Notorious Gangs. New York: Metro Books, 2013. Print.
This book was an extremely captivating read that I had a hard time putting down. This exciting novel was about an upstart gang of Vietnamese youths that formed in Chinatown who violently made their presence felt, they were known by the name Born to Kill. This book had many legal issues that we discussed in class and only a couple of issues that were not handled correctly in my eyes. This is a book that anyone that is interested in Asian organized crime should read.
Tiburcio Vasquez was Born in Monterey in 1835. He was descended from one of earliest settlers of California. His great-grandfather arrived in California as a young man with the DeAnza expedition of 1776. His criminal career began in 1852, at 17 when he attended a local fandango with his older cousin, Anastacio Garcia. When a fight broke out, Constable William Hardmount was killed. Even though they weren’t directly involved in the killing they still fled the scene. Jose Higuera, one of Vasquez’s friends who was at the fight didn’t flee and was hanged by vigilantes the next day. While hiding in the hills with his cousin he picked up the “outlaw business”. He joined a gang of other desperados, and eventually became the leader of his own group.
The themes that are addressed in the novel, including the psychological effects of racism on Black people and the denial of white people to address the issue of race reinforce the idea that psychological inferiority, just like the white and Black identity, are creations that perpetuate a society that will benefit one group and work to the destroy the other. Without the moral consciousness and accountability of the rulers of America’s society, the relationship of African Americans to the United States will continue to be spiritually, psychologically, and physically
After his journey through the southern states, Griffin returns home to his family and he publishes an article about his journey in understanding both races. Though he hears praise from many around the world, he sees the hate from his own people. People call him names and even threaten to harm him. By the end of the novel, the author concludes that both blacks and whites have misunders...
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).