Randol Contreras came of age in the South Bronx during the 1980s, a time when the community had collapsed from cuts in social services, an increase in arson and abandonment, and the rise of crack cocaine. For this riveting book, Contreras returns to the South Bronx drug market and provides an unprecedented insider's look at the workings of Dominican drug robbers. Known on the streets as "stickup kids," these men raid and torture drug dealers, robbing them of large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. Part memoir, part penetrating analysis, The Stickup Kids urges us to explore the ravages of the drug trade while it masterfully uncovers the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. Book jacket.