Lucia

In Rio de Janeiro, the selling points for cocaine are located in the city's six hundred or so shantytowns or favelas that are controlled by well-organized and heavily armed drug gangs. The struggle for control of the massive profits from the drug trade has resulted in what are increasingly violent and deadly confrontations between rival drug gangs and a corrupt and brutal police force that have transformed parts of the city into a war-zone. This book tells the story of Lucia, a poor Brazilian woman who was intimately involved with drug gang life in Rio throughout the 1990s. Through a series of conversations with the author, Lucia tells us, in her own words, what it is like to endure conditions of poverty, violence, and injustice that are simply unimaginable. And, in doing so, she sheds light on why women like her become involved with drugs and gangs.

Robert Gay is Chair of the Department of Sociology at Connecticut College.