The Hollywood Kid: The Violent Life and Violent Death of an Ms-13 Hitman, Hardcover

The made-in-America life and death of a Salvadoran gangster

As a boy, Miguel ngel Tobar fled a small town in El Salvador torn apart by warring guerillas and US-backed death squads. As a teen in Los Angeles, he fought discrimination and beatings by joining a gang--MS-13. By the time the US deported him to San Salvador, The Hollywood Kid joined a wave of thousands of US-bred gangsters, whose violence--in concert with corrupt offiicals--have in turn helped propel new waves of refugees.

The incomparable Salvadoran journalist Oscar Martinez got to know the Hollywood Kid and met with him as he first turned on MS-13, killing gang members, and then in turn was assassinated by other gang members. In intensely vivid scenes, Martinez and his anthropologist brother Juan tell the story of a violent life and death--and of the geopolitical forces that propelled a country into becoming one of the most violent on earth.

Óscar Martínez writes for ElFaro.net, the first online newspaper in Latin America. El Faro was awarded in 2016 the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Excellence in Journalism. In 2008, Martínez won the Fernando Benítez National Journalism Prize in Mexico, in 2009, he was awarded the Human Rights Prize at the José Simeón Cańas Central American University in El Salvador and in 2016 he was awarded the Freedom of Press Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize. In 2019, he will be a Global Visiting Fellow at the Columbia Journalism School.

Juan José Martínez is a sociocultural anthropologist from Universidad Nacional de El Salvador. He has studied violence and gangs since 2008. He has been a lecturer at Universidad Mónica Herrera and has worked as a consultant for several institutions such as Action on Armed Violence (England), Unicef, Soleterre (Italy) and American University (United States). A prolific writer, Juan José has authored Ver, oír y callar: Un ańo con la Mara Salvatrucha 13 (Aura Ediciones 2013).