"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. Award-winning journalist Julia Reynolds tells the gang's story from the inside out, following young men and women as they search for a new kind of family, quests that usually lead to murder and betrayal. Blood in the Fields also documents the history of Operation Black Widow, the FBI's questionable decade-long effort to dismantle the Nuestra Familia, along with its compromised informants and the turf wars it created with local law enforcement agencies. Reynolds used her unprecedented access to gang members, both in and out of prison, as well as undercover wire taps, depositions, and court documents to weave a gripping, comprehensive history of this brutal criminal organization and the lives it destroyed."--Jacket.

Includes maps of: Salinas Valley and Environs

Map : the Salinas Valley and environs -- Nuestra Familia organizational chart -- Prologue : Pelican Bay -- Book I. Emergence, 1997-1998 -- 1. Lil scrap killas -- 2. Little Man -- 3. The artichoke field -- 4. Good gangs -- 5. Family values -- 6. Preston -- 7. The informant -- 8. Gangster school -- 9. The Mission -- 10. XIV till eternity -- 11. Full sixty -- 12. State of grace -- 13. Overt acts -- 14. Basic training -- 15. Soledad Street -- Book II. The O, 1998-2001 -- 16. You gots to kill -- 17. Breaking Huerito -- 18. Brothers -- 19. Rico's way -- 20. All creased up -- 21. Breaking Regina -- 22. Second chances -- 23. Lizard -- 24. Chinatown -- 25. Seeds of empire -- 26. The tortilla factory -- 27. Spookio's way -- 28. The Black Widow -- 29. Original gangster -- 30. The King of Chinatown -- 31. Wiring Lizard -- 32. The murder at Cap's Saloon -- 33. Oklahoma City -- 34. The Big Homie -- 35. The confession -- Book III. Empire, 2002-2007 -- 36. Rico's time card -- 37. Northern exposure -- 38. The deal -- 39. The coup -- 40. The General's visitor -- 41. The road to Delano -- 42. Hecker Pass -- 43. Down in the hole -- 44. Salvation -- 45. Hitting Pablo -- 46. Clemency -- 47. Mount Madonna -- 48. The Virgin at Pinto Lake -- 49. The evidence of things unseen -- 50. Fathers -- Epilogue : cease-fire.