A Year Inside Ms-13: See, Hear, and Shut Up, Daubuisson Juan Jose Martinez

This short, intense book exposes life inside the largest, most violent gang in the world, Mara Salvatrucha 13, more commonly known as MS-13. Right in the heart of El Salvadors violent capital San Salvador, anthropologist Juan Jos Mart nez d Aubuisson observes firsthand an escalating cycle of violence between MS-13 and its sworn enemies from Barrio 18 as it becomes a war fought on a professional scale with grenades and machine guns. (Both gangs have their origins in Los Angeles, interestingly enough, not Central America.)

For the better part of a year, d Aubuisson was embedded in one of the cells of MS-13, where he learned its moral codes, rules, legends, and contradictions. His journey into the heart of the gang is guided by an enigmatic character, El Destino, a veteran founder of the gang. After many conversations with El Destino, the anthropologist begins to forge a strange kind of friendship with him, and understands not only the origin of the gang and its war with Barrio 18, but the deep-seated reasons for the regional violence. The book culminates in one of the most violent acts ever in an area that has seen more than its share: a full-scale attack on a public bus with thirty-two passengers on board. Fourteen people were killed and twenty-eight wounded.