What are The Mexican Mafia’s major themes?

• Nonfiction

• Gangs

• True Crime

• Organized Crime

• Courts and Trials

• Los Angeles

What’s The Mexican Mafia about?

Once thought to be a powerless prison gang, Tony Rafael explains the Mexican Mafia orchestrates much of the gang-related street crime in Los Angeles from behind bars.

The Mexican Mafia focuses on the relationship between the Avenues, a street gang whose territory is in the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park, and the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The Avenues have the most validated members in the Mexican Mafia, and thus exert an extra amount of force on the Los Angeles streets.

The Mexican Mafia covers several major prosecutions of Avenues gang members. Some were successful, while others were not. Law enforcement continues struggling to defeat this deadly prison gang.

What did I like most about The Mexican Mafia?

While there are a plethora of books on the Italian Mafia, there are few books written about the Mexican Mafia.

It was interesting to learn that the Mexican Mafia has impacted my community. A couple of miles from my home, the Mexican Mafia killed two brothers suspected of ratting on the gang.

Learning all the inner workings of gang life is fascinating. Rafael detailed how the Mexican Mafia organizes itself and controls a majority of Hispanic street gangs.

The Mexican Mafia also addressed the controversy surrounding the movie American Me, which I’ve seen several times. Unfortunately, several murders occurred related to the portrayal of the Mexican Mafia.

What did I like least about The Mexican Mafia?

The Mexican Mafia was slow and repetitive. There were an obscene number of typos. My copy was the revised edition, and it’s unimaginable that they didn’t fix the typos the second time around. It makes me wonder if Rafael took the time to get his facts straight.

Who will enjoy The Mexican Mafia?

You’ll enjoy The Mexican Mafia if you’re interested in true crime, organized crime, trials, or street gangs.

What is my overall opinion of The Mexican Mafia?

Overall, I enjoyed reading and learning about the Mexican Mafia. Reading the history of the organization and what is being done to stop them was interesting. However, it was disheartening to learn that law enforcement have such a hard time dealing with this crime syndicate because of its loose structure. It’s a good read, and I recommend The Mexican Mafia if this genre or topic is something that interests you.

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How is The Mexican Mafia rated?

• My Rating: 3 Stars

• Goodreads: 3.5 Stars (178 ratings)

• Amazon: 4.5 Stars (181 ratings)

What others are saying about The Mexican Mafia?

(I copied and pasted all quotes, and didn’t correct grammar or spelling.)

Eye opening to a degree, yet boring and muddled… Gregory.

Not a joy read by any stretch, but a true reality check… Laura Pursell Byrnes.

But I learned much from this book... and so will any reader who truly wants to know more about one of the most powerful criminal enterprises in California... and possibly in a neighborhood near you… Ranger Book Reviews

This book is NOT about the "Mexican Mafia" !!! I'm as sure as I can be that he named it that to sell more books. - - The book is about Deputy "District Attorneys" and "Investigators" from Los Angeles (with some prison gang specialist thrown in for good measure). It's more about the "Avenues" gang than the MM… Tommyk

I found myself diving in to other sources to verify facts which I found questionable. I did not find a single instance where his research proved faulty… Gary Taylor

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