I Was the Leader of a Gang
Publisher
:
La Découverte
Parution date
:
2008
EAN
:
9782707156112
Number of pages
:
245
Description
This memoir and the analysis that follows open a window onto the brutal everyday life of a boy from the Congo who ended up the leader of one of the most famous gangs in France, from its beginnings in the 1980s to his repatriation in the late 1990s.
With detachment and a great attention to detail, Madzou speaks of his émigré youth and recalls the events that led him to turn to gang life, eventually becoming the much-feared leader of the Fight Boys. This notorious gang from the Parisian banlieue (the low-income housing projects that ring the city of Paris) became his world and affected his relationship with his family and friends from outside the gang. He tells how he and members of this and other gangs fit into the social equation of the housing projects. He recalls how he gradually learned the intricate gang codes and the lay of the land. He tried at one point to break free and reenter normal life, succeeding for a short while. He explains why he was unsuccessful and succumbed to the temptation of drugs and auto theft, ending up in jail. Finally, he describes his harrowing return to the Congo in 1997, where he was confronted with a whole new world of violence: the raging civil war.
More than a simple autobiography, I Was the Leader of a Gang is a poignant journey into the world of gangs, eloquently analyzed by sociologist Marie-Hélène Bacqué, who puts Madzou’s story into the context of today’s urban gangs.
Author
Lamence Madzou : Lamence Madzou was the legendary leader of one of the most famous gangs of the Parisian banlieue. Today he is completely reformed, helps produce reports on gangs in the projects, and is studying to become a filmmaker.
Marie-Hélène Bacqué is a French sociologist who specializes in life in the low-income housing projects of France’s urban regions.
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