Locked Up In La Mesa Steve Peterson Eldon Asp 9780983723707 Books
Download As PDF : Locked Up In La Mesa Steve Peterson Eldon Asp 9780983723707 Books
In the freewheeling '70s, La Mesa Penitentiary was a prison unlike any other, a colorful little pueblo on the east side of Tijuana that was home to the worst criminals imaginable—and their entire families. Everything was controlled by the inmates, and the world they created was a bizarre reflection of the one they'd left behind There was a bustling business district complete with stores and restaurants, a prison laundry staffed by transvestite hookers and a babysitting service run by a schizophrenic murderer. Weekend fiestas brought drunken partiers to the prison, along with masked wrestlers and strolling mariachis. It was a temple of vice where the inmates had better guns than the guards, a place so out of control that people from the outside would actually visit the prison to score drugs. And at the very top of the food chain were the capos, an elite class of drug lords and gang bosses. While the average inmate lived in a makeshift shanty made of scrap lumber and cardboard, the capos had two-story casas complete with offices, harems, and Jacuzzis on the balcony. La Mesa at the time was both a deadly powderkeg and a nonstop party. "Locked Up In La Mesa" is the true story of Steve Peterson, a young California surfer dude caught smuggling pot in the hills outside Tijuana. In thirty-four short stories of black humor and bittersweet humanity, Steve, together with writer Eldon Asp, recalls his hilarious adventures and scary close calls inside the most notorious prison in Mexico...
Locked Up In La Mesa Steve Peterson Eldon Asp 9780983723707 Books
This book is a true story about a California kid, Steve Anderson, caught trying to smuggle Pot into the U.S. from Mexico in the 1970's. He is arrested in Mexico and spends a little over a year in a Mexican Prison. I don't think that Anderson wrote this book to teach any great life lesson. He mentions at the beginning that only now is he able to talk/write about many of the experiences in the book. I got the impression that he felt like he needed to tell his stories just to get it out and that he put it in a book because maybe it would sell.Each chapter is really a short story. While the fist few tell about his plan to smuggle the Pot and how he got caught, once he is in La Mesa the stories are not always chronological. He is just telling stories about things that happened to him and people he knew there. Some of the reviews do not seem to like this style but I enjoyed it. I like hearing stories.
The conditions were pretty bad in La Mesa and the language used there was pretty bad too. Anderson does not shy away from quoting or paraphrasing the language used there and he gives some vivid descriptions of the the conditions. If you think this will bother you, you probably don't want to read this book. I did not think he put in the language for its shock value, I think he and the people he knows do and did talk that way. Somehow that made it not bother me as much. It also made it easier to skim over the raw language. I could tell where the words would be and sort of just go on. When I think an author is just trying to "be real" or shock me the language seems to jump out at me and offend me more.
I'm not sad that I read the book. I got the Kindle edition free a few months ago. I'm not sure I will read it again. I'm don't "not recommend" it but I don't necessarily recommend it either. If it is something that you think would interest you it is a fairly easy and quick read.
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Tags : Locked Up In La Mesa [Steve Peterson, Eldon Asp] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In the freewheeling '70s, La Mesa Penitentiary was a prison unlike any other, a colorful little pueblo on the east side of Tijuana that was home to the worst criminals imaginable—and their entire families. Everything was controlled by the inmates,Steve Peterson, Eldon Asp,Locked Up In La Mesa,Dirt City Press,0983723702,Biography & Autobiography Criminals & Outlaws,Biography Autobiography,Biography: general,Criminals & Outlaws
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Locked Up In La Mesa Steve Peterson Eldon Asp 9780983723707 Books Reviews
I read this book (actually more like a series of short tales) in the spirit that the accounts are factual even though some of it is a little hard to believe. For instance, the author flat out states that guards in this prison are, with some frequency, found guilty of some crime and find themselves as prisoners in the same facility they used to guard. Now, by all accounts, in US prisons, these guards would have to be segregated from a revenge-seeking community but, if this book is true, apparently not so in "La Mesa". In fact, the author insists that, in such cases, the guards are treated no differently by the inmates than any other prisoner unless they went out of their way to be abusive while they were guards. If so, Mexican criminals (or at least "La Mesa" criminals) are a cut well above US criminals.
Told in a series of vignettes, in first person narrative, I found this book to be a very interesting read. Since I didn't stumble on any glaring or unintentional grammatical errors, I can't empathize with the few comments about the coarse nature of the writing. To me, it seemed to be toned perfectly to the subject matter and to the book's first-person narrative style. I mean, if you're looking for poetry, why read a book about prison life?
I found the accounts to be highly entertaining though it's questionable whether or not they would be quite so interesting and entertaining if they weren't touted to be factual. I'd love to see comments from any one else that could in any way speak to the plausibility of these accounts - just because it would be interesting to get a feel for how much of this is really fiction and how much could be fact.
This book is never going to be on the New York Times bestseller list but that doesn't mean that it's not a damn good and fun read. This dude Steve Peterson got busted back in the 70s trying to smuggle a ton of weed across the Mexican border into the United States. He gets stuck in Baja California State Penitentiary in Las Mesa without going to trial for over a year before he eventually bribes his way out of the prison and across the border to freedom.
The book is really just a collection of the wildest stories he experienced during that year. Mexican prisons are totally different than prisons here in the States. Here in the good old U.S. of A. when you get sentenced to the joint you get three hots and a cot and a very good chance of getting turned out if you don't have any gang connections. In Mexico when you do time if you don't have any connections, cash, or drugs you're basically homeless inside of a small city surrounded by walls that is run by Mexican drug lords with the assistance of corrupt prison guards and you are forced to survive by your wits alone. Steve Peterson survived a year in that environment and some forty years later tells his tale with a combination of black humor and bittersweet humanity.
Highly recommended!
This story really flowed. From the very beginning when the "great plan" went horribly wrong through the first lock up and Steve's noble sacrifice for his friends and on through the almost full year he spent in La Mesa, this was a story that few could imagine living.
This is not a great literary work, but rather stories the guy sitting next to in a bar might tell you over a couple of beers---just like Steve asks you to imagine hearing them. It is described as a series of "short stories." However, they are in a pretty told in a pretty straight timeline making it an easy read in one sitting. The characters were realistic despite how unreal the whole situation seems. I must say one of my favorite vignettes was when Steve's brother came to visit and was flirting with one of the "laundry ladies."
There was a humor that came through at times. It was scary, nasty, and violent by turns, but maybe the resilience of youth and the hindsight that comes with the wisdom of age made it easier for the author to paint a picture that was not all bleak. The vendors, the families, the fiestas, alongside rampant drug use and the almost overlooked violence---it had to have been like falling down the rabbit hole. I enjoyed reading this book and would enjoy reading more of La Mesa as seen through this man's eyes.
This book is a true story about a California kid, Steve Anderson, caught trying to smuggle Pot into the U.S. from Mexico in the 1970's. He is arrested in Mexico and spends a little over a year in a Mexican Prison. I don't think that Anderson wrote this book to teach any great life lesson. He mentions at the beginning that only now is he able to talk/write about many of the experiences in the book. I got the impression that he felt like he needed to tell his stories just to get it out and that he put it in a book because maybe it would sell.
Each chapter is really a short story. While the fist few tell about his plan to smuggle the Pot and how he got caught, once he is in La Mesa the stories are not always chronological. He is just telling stories about things that happened to him and people he knew there. Some of the reviews do not seem to like this style but I enjoyed it. I like hearing stories.
The conditions were pretty bad in La Mesa and the language used there was pretty bad too. Anderson does not shy away from quoting or paraphrasing the language used there and he gives some vivid descriptions of the the conditions. If you think this will bother you, you probably don't want to read this book. I did not think he put in the language for its shock value, I think he and the people he knows do and did talk that way. Somehow that made it not bother me as much. It also made it easier to skim over the raw language. I could tell where the words would be and sort of just go on. When I think an author is just trying to "be real" or shock me the language seems to jump out at me and offend me more.
I'm not sad that I read the book. I got the edition free a few months ago. I'm not sure I will read it again. I'm don't "not recommend" it but I don't necessarily recommend it either. If it is something that you think would interest you it is a fairly easy and quick read.
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