La peregrinación: La unión de un cártel entre dios y el diablo

Once a year, the most feared gangs in Mexico City gather at midnight at the altar of Los Ojos Rojos and walk for four days to visit Jesús de Chalma. During those days, as they themselves say, “we are neither enemies nor friends, we are brothers.” God knows they are doing wrong and that in this world He is the Boss of Bosses. They carry weapons and drugs. They try not to steal or fight, but they do laugh and celebrate together. Their families bring them divine providence. They give thousands of gifts to the poor they meet along the way. They help a brother carry a cross whom, under other circumstances, they would kill. And in Chalma, they pray to the Lord before returning to the business as usual.

But one year was different. In Chalma, they encountered their arch-enemies, the Tenochtitlan 40 gang, and formed what would become the first organized crime cartel in Mexico City. This book attempts, for the first time, to analyze the events of these pilgrimages that ultimately facilitated the formation of the La Unión Tepito cartel.