Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsWho wrote this? Certainly not Boxer...
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2008
For more than a decade the name Boxer carried weight from the streets of Southern California through the cell blocks of the nations largest and most sophisticated prison system. Having viewed the build up to the release of Black Hand, I fully expected this book to be an action packed first person retelling of the life, times and crimes of one Rene "Boxer" Enriquez. What I found instead was an author referring to CDC, district attorney, police, FBI files and media accounts for much of the information contained within. Why promote this as an autobiography when most of the story telling is done by Blatchford? It appears as though the extent of Boxer's involvement was lending his name and reputation to a project which reads more like a CDC hand book or mission statement than a true retelling of Enriquez's involvement with the Mexican Mafia. Certainly there are nuggets interspursed here and there but again it is hard to discern if these are statements the author lifted from Boxer's debriefing interviews or if Enriquez actually wrote or participated in interview sessions which formed the book.
Obviously Rene brings a level of credibility to the project which is unmatched. The book is most interesting in the areas where Rene's story is told. It is here where you got what you pay for with the recalling of people and events in a rapid fire action packed manner which keeps the reader engrossed with tales of betrayal, intrigue and prison gang politics.
Rene's admission that the Mexican Mafia's "well oiled" criminal syndicated is administered by leaders "most of whom suffer from serious drug or psychological problems," may surprise some but fits the profile perfectly of most repeat offenders in California prisons. The book details Enriquez's own battle with heroin addiction which at one point left him near death on the floor of an L.A., county jail cell.
Other high points include the exploits of Bat Marquez, Chuy Martinez and Topo Peters, not to mention revelations that the brothers routinely break most of the rules they ridgedly enforce with ruthless efficiency on those who due their bidding or seek their favor behind bars. Infighting, politics and competition could ultimately topple what is often touted as California's dominant criminal organization.
The low point of the book coincidently comes toward the end where the author begins to espouse the right-wing rhetoric synonymous with the California Department of Corrections. It is doubtful that a man who has spent as much time in solitary confinement as Enriquez would wish that sort of torture on his worst enemies unless of course he remains the amoral personification of evil the CDC portrayed him as before his denunciation of the brothers he loved so until he politicked himself into the hat. Whatever the case the 7 "suggestions" attributed to the books namesake are policies which the CDC employed long before Enriquez became a "good guy."
1. View the Mexican Mafia as organized crime and a domestic terrorist group. - The justice department already considers all street gangs as criminal organizations which make them eligible for prosecution under the RICO act and the Department of Homeland Security, again views street gangs as domestic terror organizations "See the El Rukn case."
2. Shut off Mafia communications "using injunctions." - The federal government authorized a study of the use of injunctions to study the impact they had on curbing gang crime. The study found they were most effective spreading crime to neighboring communities and neighborhoods.
3. Totally isolate Eme members in prison. - This was the justification for SHU units several years ago. Currently the most secure SHU unit is at Pelican Bay a place the ACLU and United Nations denounced as cruel and unusual punishment. This book details the methods in which prisoners secret messages in and out of the system despite the best efforts to stop them. Or we have a problem with those policing the prisoners, you be the judge.
4. Prevent Eme members from receiving money. - Not a problem but that increases the amount of money the state has to pay toward inmate goods such as tooth paste and other personal items.
5. Seize the funds Eme members have in prison trust accounts. - There was never any need to allow them to have trust accounts to begin with.
6. Prosecute Wives, girlfriends and family members as co-conspirators. - This is already being done "see the case of Sally Peters."
7. Prosecute all in custody for criminal conduct, including murders and cold cases. - This has no impact upon inmates serving multiple life sentences "see the comments of Tupi Hernandez." A death penalty also has no impact upon an inmate serving multiple life sentences considering he will probably receive more freedom on Death Row than in a SHU setting.
8. Seek capital punishment for murders. - This is already an option that most DA's allow the inmates to plea out of. Unless a change in the judicial system occurs this is nothing more than political posturing. I believe this was thrown in to start a debate on reducing the amount of time California inmates spend awaiting execution.
As you can see the book is filled with interesting tidbits as well as interesting insight into the mind of those who run the nations most populous and profitable prison industry. Consider the importance of promoting increasingly draconian prison policies in a time of economic insecurity. Law enforcement is one of the few areas taxpayers are willing to part with millions of dollars "Pelican Bay consumed $218 million tax dollars to build and the state spends an additional $115 +- million a year to operate it." Coupled with the fact that prison industry is one of the top two industries in the country in terms of revenue generated with a growth rate of 6 % annually, then there is no question that we will continue to see more CDC generated manifestos to justify the incarceration of 2 million people nationwide.