
The Rent Collectors
Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA
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Narrated by:
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Jesse Katz
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By:
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Jesse Katz
About this listen
"A searing account of gang violence and its consequences . . . Macedo's grim story, expertly documented by Katz, cries for a documentary series to follow his fortunes as, after years in prison, he strives for redemption. A masterful work of true crime-and, to be sure, true punishment." -Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)
Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA's most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang's shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing. And so, incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable crime and take down the gang who drove him to do it.
With The Rent Collectors, Jesse Katz has built a teeth clenching and breathless narrative that explicates the difficult and proud lives of undocumented black market workers who are being extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of LA—in other words, exploited by two sets of rent collectors.
©2024 Jesse Katz (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- Narrated by: Lolita Files
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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For 20 years, gang unit detectives Tim Brennan and Robert Ladd patrolled the streets of Compton. They witnessed the birth and rise of gangsta rap with acts they knew personally, such as N.W.A and D.J. Quik; dealt firsthand with the chaos of the L.A. riots, its aftermath, and the gang truce that followed; were involved in the investigations of the murders of hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and were major players in an all-out tug-of-war with City Hall that ultimately resulted in the permanent shut-down of the Compton Police Department.
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Horrendous narration
- By Mike C on 08-09-19
By: Tim Brennan, and others
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Blood in the Fields
- Ten Years Inside California's Nuestra Familia Gang
- By: Julia Reynolds
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The city of Salinas, California, is the birthplace of John Steinbeck and the setting for his epic masterpiece East of Eden, but it is also the home of Nuestra Familia, one of the most violent gangs in the United States. Born in the prisons of California in the late 1960s, Nuestra Familia expanded to control drug trafficking and extortion operations throughout the northern half of the state and left a trail of bodies in its wake.
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horrible narrator
- By RUBEN AGUILAR on 04-09-20
By: Julia Reynolds
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Invisible Child
- Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- By: Andrea Elliott
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care.
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Narration is completely over the top
- By Heather on 10-14-21
By: Andrea Elliott
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The Way That Leads Among the Lost
- Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos
- By: Angela Garcia
- Narrated by: Inés del Castillo
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The Way That Leads Among the Lost reveals a hidden place where care and violence are impossible to separate: the anexos of Mexico City. The prizewinning anthropologist Angela Garcia takes us deep into the world of these small rooms, informal treatment centers for alcoholism, addiction, and mental illness, spread across Mexico City’s tenements and reaching into the United States.
By: Angela Garcia
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Survival Is a Promise
- The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
- By: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
- Narrated by: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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We remember Audre Lorde as an iconic writer, a quotable teacher whose words and face grace T-shirts, nonprofit annual reports, and campus diversity-center walls. But even those who are inspired by Lorde’s teachings on “the creative power of difference” may be missing something fundamental about her life and work, and what they can mean for us today. Lorde’s understanding of survival was not simply about getting through to the other side of oppression or being resilient in the face of cancer. It was about the total stakes of what it means to be in relationship with a planet in transformation.
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outstanding!!! pure genius
- By Wendy on 11-24-24
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The Black Hand
- The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer
- By: Chris Blatchford
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Rene "Boxer" Enriquez grew up on the violent streets of East L.A., where gang fights, robberies, and drive-by shootings were fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. When he finally landed in prison - at the age of 19 - Enriquez found an organization that brought him the respect he always wanted: the near-mythic and widely feared Mexican Mafia, La Eme. What the organization saw in Enriquez was a young man who knew no fear and would kill anyone - justifiably or not - in the blink of an eye.
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Intense, brutal, and informative
- By E on 07-08-15
By: Chris Blatchford
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Soldiers and Kings
- Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
- By: Jason De León
- Narrated by: Jason De León
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Political instability, poverty, climate change, and the insatiable appetite for cheap labor all fuel clandestine movement across borders. As those borders harden, the demand for smugglers who aid migrants across them increases every year. Yet the real lives and work of smugglers—or coyotes, or guides, as they are often known by the migrants who hire their services—are only ever reported on from a distance, using tired tropes and stereotypes, often depicted as boogie men and violent warlords.
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Honest and enlightening
- By Amazon Customer on 04-17-24
By: Jason De León
What listeners say about The Rent Collectors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dane R. McGuckian
- 12-09-24
So well researched
This book is a triumph. It is a story about a specific place and a particular person, but as all good stories it transcends the specific details of the events described.
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- Raul
- 04-30-25
Real, raw, and breathtaking
The story is about an underground world that only few truly understand. This audiobook paints an accurate of those realities. This story needs to be told to all at risk youth before they too become a statistic. Highly recommended. 5 stars.
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- guerillaw
- 09-04-24
Unflinching and even handed look at the LA justice system
Someone who has worked in the LA County criminal justice system in various capacities and from different angles, I always view books like this with skepticism. It is very difficult to portray the system, wart and all without leaning or favoring one way or another.
This author manages to walk this tight rope all the way to the other end of what is a classic and essential piece of work.
This is critical and enjoyable reading or anyone who wants to learn more about criminology generally but even more so for LA County and California’s problems specifically.
The author digs and scrapes until he has sculpted an important statement about the difficult truths the largest system of incarceration on planet earth struggles with:
Thousands of people are doing horrible things, but the solution of caging as many of them as we can, for as long as we can predictably creates the conditions which lead to those horrible things in the first place.
There are no easy answers to this conundrum, but this is an easy and easy recommendation.
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- ElMaestroJubilado
- 11-11-24
Superbly Written and Told by the Author
What a great and important book! One of the best books I've read on Audible. The storytelling and beautiful writing style kept me captivated from "cover to cover". Most importantly, this book provides insights and understanding into the lives of people with backgrounds, cultures and circumstances much different than our own. The author includes essential historical background and the political context at the time which gives each character and his/her actions the depth and understanding it deserves. While on the surface this story is about a gang in LA, it is far more than that. It is a true story of people in unimaginable circumstances trying to survive and to break the negative cycle of poverty. The story also highlights the complex challenges and attempts to resolve long-standing social issues. Human stories that are well written and researched like this are absolutely necessary to help leaders and communities understand the problem at a deeper level in order to create more effective, sustainable and humanistic solutions for everyone.
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- totalpop
- 10-16-24
Well researched and well told...
When the acknowledgements bring on the tears, you know you've listened to a great book. While my journey from Southern California upbringing to Honduras (Peace Corps) to migration researcher in Mexico to sociology prof in a max correctional institution admittedly gives me a context advantage, anyone with an openness and curiosity around immigration, Latino culture, and the context of gangs and crime will "enjoy" this book. It's a heart-wrenching story. The characters are brought to life; indeed, it is nonfiction -- a true story, well researched, well written, and well told by the author.
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- M
- 12-20-24
Illuminating
I wanted to read this, because I know nothing of this life and wish never to be closer to it than these words. The story, while tragic, is also fascinating, and I'm so glad I allowed myself to be educated and illuminated.
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- steven readsalot
- 09-10-24
expected a lot more
nothing special, an interesting story but no "so what", why is this worth reading. Glad the main character found redemption but provided little insight as to real origin of the problem, what created the circumstance, and what happened to the supporting characters. Some of who seemed more complex than the principal.
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