he runs homeboy ministries, and the largest employment center for gang members in los angeles. he s known kiki two decades. would you say that kiki has woken up? in terms of the gang issue, yes. everybody has that moment of saying they are tired of being tired, and that is pretty much where he s been. in hollenbeck surviving beyond the age of 30 is already a remarkable statistic for a hard core gang member like kiki. are you hopeful? yeah. i mean, again, he has the right attitude. and maybe sometimes people have to hit bottom. you know, he is struggling still. but i don t think that he is struggling with the gang part. but not everybody walks through the door is ready. and he hasn t always been ready, but i would say that he is now, and that s why i m going to hire him. so kiki will have a job with homeboy industries. father greg boyle is giving him a chance, a chance for a new
we don t let anybody come into our neighborhood and mess with the people s cars, breaking in their houses. the little white fence, you see it right there? we see somebody trying to do that, yeah, we re going to get them. the gang here are not guardians of the neighborhood, but they typically live off of drug dealing and assaults and robbery. guns, drugs, assault, attempted murder, gang banging, everything. some people would say it is wrong to be in a gang, and wrong to sell drugs and gang bang, whatever? well, selling drugs, if you if we don t do it, somebody else is going to do it. kiki had been shot three times. right there at 10:00 in the morn, drive-by. when you get shot, you are like, damn, and people are like screaming, you are going to be all right. i am like, damn, man, and i m like damn the hospital, and i got shot in my arm, and what
i don t know. we would rather take our own action. that was five years ago. today, kiki is 33 and just got out of prison. he was doing time on a parole violation. he says after 20 years in gang life, he wants out, but he is finding that getting out is harder than it was getting in. i feel good. i am going to get my life back together. you know, i have to take it a day at a time, i guess. first making the first step. enrique. many of kiki s friends are still in prison or dead. he s trying to start over. literally trying to erase the stains of gangs. the tattoos that once told kiki s story are slowly fading. the pain of removing them is at times unbearable. it is like when you drop hot oil on your skin, that is exactly how it feels. kiki wrote father greg boyle from prison and asked for help.
beat them up first, and then like, if he beats me up, then shoot him. [ bleep ] like that. kiki was 14 when he joined white fence, one of hollenbeck s 14 gangs. his initiation was brutal. he was jumped and beaten by fellow white fence gang members. it is a test of loyalty and gives members a taste of what gang life is about. for me, i like pain. you hit me, and i like it. it s like a rush. an adrenaline rush. that should tell you everything, man. for kiki there was always a reason to fight. another gang crosses out, flats. even the smallest slight, and white fence graffiti crossed out could lead to violence. this just means war. five years ago, police said there were some 700 white fence members and gang associates. kiki liked to claim they were guardians of the neighborhood.
the and despite being shot, for kiki the temptations of gang life were all around. what do you think it was that drew you to it in the first place. joining in the white fence was no big deal to kiki. all of my friends are in gangs. he says he never ran from it. in the hard world twisted logic of hollenbeck, his gang fill all his needs. friends, family and fights. i have my last name on my back. older veterans schooled him on the logic of gang reality and the rules of engagement. drive-by shootings were okay, as long as they didn t kill innocent kids. that s a no-no. they don t know right from wrong, and us holding the gun do. if a homeboy was killed, gang members should take the law into their own hands. the cops they have so many murders on their hands, i mean,