"One of the year’s most important books, a gripping meticulously reported account of the rise of one of the world’s most notorious street gangs." -Mitch Weiss, Pulitzer Prize winner Winner of the Lukas Prize An NPR Best Book of the Year The MS-13 was born from war.In the 1980s, Alex and his brother fled El Salvador for the US 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."A remarkable feat of reporting; the ways in which the United States is complicit in the creation and preservation of MS-13 might well keep you awake deep into the night, as it did me." -Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises"By detailing the experiences of gang members and victims alike, he anatomizes the complex, fluid dynamics of this elusive transnational network. A startling book." -Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times-bestselling author of Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks"The definitive account of MS-13 . . . An outstanding book for true crime readers." -Library Journal (starred review)