Lady Q: The Rise and Fall of a Latin Queen

by Reymundo Sanchez, Sonia Rodriquez Narrated by Rebecca Mitchell

Overview

Offering a rarely seen female perspective on gang life, this raw and powerful memoir tells not only of one woman's struggle to survive the streets but also of her ascent to the top ranks of the new mafia, where the only people more dangerous than rival gangs were members of her own.

At age five Sonia Rodriguez's stepfather began to abuse her; at ten she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by thirteen her home had become a hangout for the Latin Kings and Queens who were friends with her older sister. Threatened by rival gang members at school, Sonia turned away from her education and extracurricular activities in favor of a world of drugs and violence.

The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in America, became her refuge, but its violence cost her friends, freedom, self-respect, and nearly her life. As a Latin Queen, she experienced the exhilarating highs and unbelievable lows of gang life. From being shot at by her own gang and kicked out at age eighteen with an infant daughter to rejoining the gang and distinguishing herself as a leader, her legacy as Lady Q was cemented both for her willingness to commit violence and for her role as a drug mule.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

The life of a Puerto Rican gangbanger on the cold Chicago streets, dully presented. Having exhausted his own criminal exploits, Sanchez (Once a King, Always a King: The Unmaking of a Latin King, 2003, etc.) turns to female wrongdoing, as practiced and experienced by "Lady Q." That was his co-author's nickname when she was a ruthless member of the Latin Queens, female counterparts of Sanchez and his fellows in the Latin Kings. Growing up in Humboldt Park, Chicago's gang-ridden Puerto Rican neighborhood, Sonia Rodriguez was alternately ignored and beaten by her near-psychotic mother, whose deadbeat boyfriends often degraded and sexually abused the girl. It's no shock that Sonia took fast to teen rebellion and gangbanging. By the mid-1980s, she'd joined the Latin Queens and was taking part in drive-by shootings. After she broke the gang's code by bragging about her affiliations on Oprah Winfrey's local talk show while her real name and nickname were flashed on-screen, her mother sent her to relatives in rural Pennsylvania. She fell for a cousin, got pregnant and got herself and the child thrown out by her relatives. Back in Chicago, Lady Q caught the attention of Tino, imprisoned head of the Kings. She became his consort during one of her visits to him in jail (the Kings wielded vast power inside as well as on the streets) and vaulted up the chain of command. The predictable fall came with coke addiction and a stint in county; the book closes with some halfhearted talk about redemption. Related in the third person, the story loses much of its authenticity. The co-authors' narrative style doesn't help, whipsawing between a flat recital of events and canned bathos like, "The miracle of lifehas a way of blinding evil eyes and warming cold hearts."Reveals little of interest about Lady Q or the world she moved in.

From the Publisher

"A brutal, chilling firsthand account of how a young person who is raised without positive family values will reach out to a gang to find a support system and a substitute family."  —Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State and founder, the Jesse White Tumblers, an anti-gang and -drug program

"A slow-motion riot of drugs, sex, and gunplay."  —Publishers Weekly on My Bloody Life

"An oftentimes painful, close-up look at the blow-by-blow evolution of a female gang leader."  —Gini Sikes, author, 8 Ball Chicks: A Year in the World of Girl Gangs

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171242251
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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