About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherTCU Press

ISBN-100875657885

ISBN-139780875657882

eBay Product ID (ePID)12050074124

Product Key Features

Book TitleBlood Ties : How a Texas Prison Gang Became a Mexican Cartel Proxy

Number of Pages200 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicUnited States / State & Local / Southwest (Az, NM, Ok, Tx), Sociology / General

Publication Year2021

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science, History

AuthorJoseph Kolb

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.4 in

Item Weight7.7 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2021-036918

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal364.10660976496

SynopsisIn the late 1980s and 1990s, street gang members from the impoverished Segundo Barrio in El Paso, Texas, united in the Texas prison system to create the Barrio Aztecas gang. Blood Ties describes the Azteca's organisational structure and ranks, identifying characteristics, and how the organisation appropriated Aztec culture., Although MS-13 has become infamous in the US as a dangerous transnational criminal organization, veteran corrections officer Joseph Kolb argues that Barrio Azteca poses an equal threat in cross-border crimes that include drug trafficking, sex trafficking, kidnapping, human smuggling, extortion, and brutal murders. Yet the BA is hardly recognized beyond El Paso and a few other US towns along the Mexican border. In the late 1980s and 1990s street gang members from the impoverished El Segundo Barrio in El Paso united to form the Barrio Azteca, which quickly rose to power in the Texas prison system. Kolb describes the prison dynamic of predator and prey and the need for Barrio Azteca to unify for protection against gangs such as the Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia, also known as the Mexikanemi. The BA soon morphed into a criminal enterprise headquartered at Coffield, the largest unit in the Texas prison system, where the gang engaged in drug sales and violent crimes while behind bars. Members put their acquired skills to good use upon release from custody, when they went on to exploit US immigration policies as well as friends and familial relationships in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. There they established alliances with drug trafficking organizations such as Vicente Carrillo Fuentes (the Juárez Cartel), serving the cartel as foot soldiers in a proxy war that would engulf Ciudad Juárez and turn it into the "Murder Capital of the World." Blood Ties describes Barrio Azteca's organization, ranks, tattoos, and code words; how the gang appropriated Aztec culture to help shape its identity; and how the Azteca leadership eroded as its members began to violate the very tenets that were the gang's foundation. Some of the gangs most horrific crimes are revealed here, and Kolb shines a light on the fluid but persistent nature of transborder gangs that continue to afflict both the US and Mexico. Book jacket., In the late 1980s and 1990s, street gang members from the impoverished Segundo Barrio in El Paso, Texas, united in the Texas prison system to create the Barrio Aztecas gang. They quickly rose to power in the Texas prison system and ultimately became a powerful transnational criminal organization. Kolb describes the prison dynamic of predator and prey and the need for the prey to unify for protection against gangs such as the Texas Syndicate and Texas Mexican Mafia, also known as the Mexikanemi. The protective cocoon formed by this group soon morphed into a criminal enterprise that would be headquartered in the Coffield Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where the gang would engage in drug sales and violent crimes while behind bars. The skill sets they acquired served members well as they were released from custody and went on to exploit US immigration policies as well as friends and familial ties in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. There they established alliances with regional drug trafficking organizations such as Vicente Carrillo Fuentes (Juarez cartel), to whom they would serve as foot soldiers in the proxy war that would consume Ciudad Juárez and turn it into the "Murder Capital of the World." Blood Ties describes the Azteca's organizational structure and ranks, identifying characteristics such as tattoos and code words, and how the organization appropriated Aztec culture to form the basis for their identity. Some of the gang's most horrific crimes are revealed here, and the author explores how Azteca's leadership was eroded through the violation of the very tenets that served as the gang's foundation.

LC Classification NumberHV6439.U7K65 2021