On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.
A streetwise man flees South Central Los Angeles, heading to the suburbs and his lottery-winner uncle and cousin, to avoid a neighborhood thug with a grudge who has just escaped from prison.
Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.
Chicano gangster Micky Solis finds that his family has been slaughtered by the Chinese mob. His whole life force turns to finding the killers. A slick lawyer (Angus MacFadyen) leads Micky to a "nun" (Paz De La Huerta) who shows him who the killers are that took his family from him. Micky unleashes a war of bullets and emotions on the family until each one dies by the same sword they wielded. The only thought on Micky's mind is REVENGE: VENGANZA.
Lefty-a hard working, light hearted man is looking to make a decent buck. But when a simple bet goes horribly wrong, Lefty is stuck between a rock and gangster who's dead set on collecting his money.
Johnny Sun is a Mexican American with a white mother and Mexican dad. He witnesses his parents murder and gets his revenge years later, leading to a hard life as a gangster in drugs and smuggling. He tries to keep his borther from the life and finds himself fending for his own life.
A young Chicano gang member in Los Angeles comes to realize that the gang life is not what he really wants but doesn't know how to get out.
A man named Lucio decides to avenge the death of his sister-in-law after she is killed during a break-in. In order to complete this task, he must become part of a gang.
Two childhood friends must fight against each other after growing up to be on opposite sides of the law.
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