This Is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America’s Most Violent Gang by Samuel Logan (PDF)

Description

Like any American teenager, Brenda Paz spent much of her time with her friends. They would go to parties, listen to music, and show off their cars late into the night. But Brenda and her friends belonged to the Mara Salvatrucha–the MS-13–the most violent gang in America, and in addition to enjoying the things that all teenagers do, her friends were thieves, drug dealers, human traffickers, and murderers.A street gang that began in Los Angeles in the 1980s, the Mara Salvatrucha has spread across the United States and Central America with startling speed, boasting tens of thousands of members. They deal ruthlessly with competing gangs and any members who display disloyalty, often leaving a trail of dismembered corpses in their wake. They are poised to surpass the Mafia as the country’s most organized criminal network. And by operating within the insular Central American immigrant communities, the Mara Salvatrucha has been able to easily elude law enforcement.All that changed when Brenda Paz turned informant for the FBI, exposing the incredible scope of the gang’s operations. But Brenda’s cooperation with the FBI was only the beginning. What followed is an extraordinary story of strength, intelligence, and incredible courage.This is for the Mara Salvatrucha takes us into a dark and violent world that few people have seen, but is closer than you think.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly Using all of the tools of a capable police investigation, Logan, a journalist based in Latin America, connects the fortunes of Brenda Paz, a Honduran-American teenager, with the ultraviolent Mara Salvatrucha gang. After family difficulties led Paz’s father to send her to Texas to live with her uncle, she witnessed a friend’s murder by her boyfriend, the leader of the local MS-13 gang, and fled to Virginia following her boyfriend’s arrest. Logan probes the secretive Mara Salvatrucha, which funds its illegal activities through extortion, kidnapping, prostitution, drugs and theft, causing the FBI to label it the most dangerous of all criminal outfits. Eventually Paz informs on the gang about the national leadership and crimes, and the Feds unwisely stash the restless teenager in the witness protection program. Placing the reader in the midst of this story with harrowing detail, Logan writes of a young life wasted and an evil crime empire. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the Author Samuel Logan is an investigative reporter based in Latin America. For the past 3 years, he has reported on gang activity across the U.S. and central America. Originally from New Orleans, he lives in Brazil with his wife and daughter.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The book focuses primarily on one member of the MS13 gang Brenda Paz. Through her story you learn just a little insight into how the gang operates and where they spread their seed. The Brenda Paz story implicates other MS members into the scheme of things by the criminal activities that take place during Brenda Paz’s tenure and later her testimonies. Another reviewer mentions that watching an episode of Gangland ” La Mara Salvatrucha ” on the History Chanel (also on Youtube) can give you a better insight into the gang than this book. I decided to do both…finish this book and see the Gangland documentary. In all fairness the Gangland Documentary does the same as this book. It highlights 3 members of the gang and documents their gang life and deportation back to Central America****something that this book DOES NOT DO which is a HUGE part of the MS-13 story. Would I have gotten the information I needed by just focusing on the book or the documentary ? Probably more from the documentary alone.Sorry but not an amazing book considering it has such a cool cover and subject matter. The fact that this book never mentioned anything regarding the connection with Central America is MIND BLOWING. I would love to have read about what goes on down there. As a traveler to Latin America for over 20 years I am well aware of how different the situation is down there relating to the prison system corruption Etc. NOTHING in the book. I believe the author lives down there ????????Bottom Line- Story of a well respected ( by authorities) informant and her immature actions which ended up costing her own life and the life of her baby. At times a frustrating story to read and other times a boring story to read. Every now and then something of interest arises and then it dwindles away back into the main story….BRENDA PAZ

⭐Investigative reporter Samuel Logan made his first foray into novel writing with THIS IS FOR THE MARA SALVATRUCHA. While the book is definitely informative as to the origins of the MS-13 criminal enterprise, it is equally the story of Brenda Paz, the teenager who was jumped into the gang and became law enforcement’s greatest source on the gang before her murder.It’s Brenda’s story that gripped me as a reader. I had heard of Brenda’s story before and knew that she would die at the end of the novel, but Logan told her story in such a fashion that I slowly began to actively root for her, and was pained when she made the decisions that would eventually lead to her demise. She had multiple chances from LEOs who cared for her to leave the gang life, but being a teenager, she was prone to impetuous decisions.It’s Brenda’s story that lends gravitas to Logan’s account, which is still very insightful as to MS-13’s origins and rise (all public knowledge due to Brenda’s testimony to law enforcement). One looking to learn more about arguably the greatest criminal threat of the current time will learn more about the gang, but they will also walk away with a personal story that is a knife in the chest.Recommended for any fan of true crime.

⭐Samuel Logan dedicates his book to “any kid tempted to join a street gang”–and that is the redeeming value of reading this terrifyingly true story of the tragic life and death of a young girl named Brenda Paz, brually murdered by her so-called homies. A glimper of hope can be found in this tragedy. Logan says that MS-13 will continue to be able to blend into Latino communities unless law enforcement can overcome fear in those communities: many are afraid of deportation, so they do not call the police when they see gang activity. Logan’s final conclusion points to the need for comprehensive immigration reform, although he does not discuss it. My work on these issues leads me to the conclusion that raids and deportations merely recyle the problem rather than solve it. If Logan’s excellent work of investigative journalism is lacking anything, it is to tell something more about the people working to bring undocumented immigrants (from many countries, not all are from Mexico, Central or South America) out of the shadows into the light of a welcoming community. Loving our neighbors as ourselves makes a big difference in creating safe communities for everyone. Kids like Brenda Paz deserve our attention and love–and no doubt “tough” love will often be needed. Read this book to grasp the severity of the problem, but please go beyond the horror to work for restorative justice, not hate and rejection. If more of us do this, I believe we will emerge a better community, transformed by hope.

⭐When you pick up a book from someone you know, you always ask yourself: what if I don’t like it? Well with Sam’s book this doubt didn’t come to mind.Although it is not an historical examination of the Mara Salvatrucha, it offers several valuable insights through Brenda Paz’s ordeal. The book shares how the MS developed, how they came to the USA and how they moved for some time undetected within the different States.Sam describes well how easy it is for a teenager to end up on the wrong side of the law. Furthermore it shows how a dysfunctional family kid but also well integrated immigrant kid chooses to join a gang alike.Finally it shows how violent the circle of life within these gangs is and how challenging it is for the law enforcement to break in the gang’s omerta. The reader will be taken and fascinated by Brenda’s short life with the MS-13. Where 13 has a number of different meanings!What the reader should not forget is that the Mara Salvatrucha is real!

⭐Samuel Logan is a. Dry easy author to read, he speaks like someone who is at your house for coffee and a chat. The book doesn’t sensationalize, or normalize the MS-13 brutal criminal lifestyle. This recount of Brenda Paz’ life brings an easy and direct avenue of understanding not only this gang, but gang activity in America. It brings understanding and support to the need for funding our illegal immigration security issue in the USA. Bravo, 5 stars for making it something I believe anyone can follow and learn from.

⭐a+

⭐Dieses Buch vermittelt tiefe Einblicke in die Welt der MS13.Man erfährt vieles über die Gang, die Rituale und vor allem was es bedeutet in einer Gang zu sein. Einmal dabei kommt man da eigentlich nicht leben raus. Das Lesen nimmt einen gefühlstechnisch sehr mit. Zum Teil läuft es einem eiskalt den Rücken herunter. Wer sich für die MS13 interessiert, der hat mit diesem Buch genau das richtige Buch gefunden.Eine Story über das Leben in der MS-13, die unter die Haut geht. Einmal angefangen fällt es einem schwer das Buch wieder aus der Hand zu legen. Seite für Seite zieht es einen tiefer hinein in den Strudel aus Dominanz, Brutalität und erbarmungsloser Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber anderen.Ein sehr spannendes geschriebenes Buch. Sehr gut beschrieben. Es zeigt die Problematik mit der MS13. Der Autor hat ins schwarze getroffen.

⭐

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