MS-13

The definitive, award-winning account of MS-13, the most notorious street gang in America

The MS-13 was born from war.

In the 1980s, Alex and his brother fled El Salvador for the U.S. and formed the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners. Initially bound by a love of heavy metal music, the group soon took on a harder edge, selling drugs, stealing cars and killing rivals. Gang members like Alex were incarcerated and deported. But in the prison system, the group only grew stronger.

Today, MS-13 is one of the most infamous street gangs on earth--and also largely misunderstood. Longtime organized crime investigator Steven Dudley brings readers inside the nefarious group to tell a broader story of flawed US and Central American policies and the exploitative, unequal systems that shape them.

WINNER OF THE LUKAS PRIZEAn NPR Best Book of the Year

"A remarkable feat of reporting."--Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruise