The Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York's Bloods and Crips

The Linden Triangle: Linden Avenue and Linden Place, Hempstead, Long Island. At this blighted intersection, seemingly forgotten by the middle and upper class communities that surround it, the dream of suburban comfort and safety has devolved into a nightmare of flying bullets and bloodshed. Here, a war between the Bloods and Crips has torn a once-peaceful neighborhood apart.The book tells the true story of one year in the life of a suburban village-turned-war-zone. Written by Kevin Deutsch, award-winning criminal justice reporter for Newsday, it follows two warring gangs and the anti-violence activists and police desperate to stop them. As the body count climbs and conflict spreads to New York City, young men wielding military grade weaponry wage a prolonged battle over pride, respect, revenge and their legacies.Based on immersive reporting and more than 250 interviews with gang members, their families, drug addicts, police and others, The Triangle is the first insider account of a New York Bloods/Crips gang war from the only journalist ever given access to the crews' secretive realm. Triangle is a chilling investigation of a world in which teenagers shoot their childhood friends over drug debts; where gang rape is used as a form of retaliation; and once-promising students are molded into cold-blooded assassins. With gang and drug-related violence responsible for as many as half of all non-domestic homicides in the United States, The Triangle will make a significant contribution to the national conversation about gangs, chronicling the effects of armed gang conflicts not just on Long Island and New York City but throughout America.

About the Author :
Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning criminal justice writer for Newsday. He previously worked on staff at the New York Daily News, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, and The Riverdale Press. He specializes in coverage of street gangs, drug trafficking, and national security. He has received numerous prizes for his writing from the Society of Professional Journalists and the New York Press Club. He lives in New York City.

Review :
[Deutsch] describes a complex problem rooted in a lack of hope and opportunity that many participants see as insoluble. This is a crucial and enthralling work on gangs and the communities they inhabit. The Triangle offers a gripping account of [Deutsch's year with the gangs], a particularly violent one because of an all-out war between the gangs for territory in which to deal drugs. . . .[H]is account seems grounded in fact and his research thorough. The result is a compelling story of a facet of American life that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. It is obvious from the level of detail in The Triangle that Deutsch was deeply invested in this story and deeply involved with it's participants.