Este libro es un crudo relato autobiográfico que se asemeja al bestseller internacional La cruz y el puñal.

Casey Díaz llegó a este país cuando tenía dos años, siendo el hijo mayor de inmigrantes salvadoreños que se establecieron en los suburbios del centro de Los Ángeles en la década de 1970. Un padre abusivo que golpeaba constantemente a su madre arrastró a Casey a las pandillas callejeras a la edad de once años. Escaló rápidamente dentro de los Rockwood Street Locos y participó en invasiones a hogares, robo de automóviles y en el apuñalamiento de sus rivales, muchas veces con tan solo un destornillador o un cuchillo.

A los dieciséis fue arrestado y sentenciado a casi trece años en una prisión estatal por asesinato en segundo grado, y recibió cincuenta y dos cargos por robo. Al cabo de dos años fue enviado a la Prisión Estatal de New Folsom y puesto en confinamiento solitario durante veintitrés horas al día.

Cuando una mujer mayor de color, que servía en el ministerio carcelario, se acerca a su celda y le dice que Jesús lo ama y que Dios lo va a usar algún día, Casey se burla de ella. Entonces, un día ocurre un hecho milagroso en su celda. Al igual que una película, ve su vida “proyectada” en la pared de la celda. Se ve a sí mismo como un pequeño niño en su antiguo barrio, y luego observa sus primeros días en las escenas de las bandas, hechos que solo él podía recordar. Luego ve a un hombre de pelo largo que carga una cruz, y una multitud que le grita. Él es clavado en la cruz y colocado entre otros dos condenados a muerte. El hombre de la cruz lo mira y le dice: “Estoy haciendo esto por ti”.

SPANISH EDITION: The Shot Caller is a gritty memoir reminiscent of the international bestseller The Cross and the Switchblade.

Casey Diaz came to this country when he was two years old, the oldest son of El Salvadorian immigrants who settled in the barrios near downtown Los Angeles in the 1970s. An abusive father who constantly beat up his mother propelled Casey into street gangs at the age of 11. He rose quickly within the ranks of the Rockwood Street Locos and participated in home invasions, car jackings, and stabbings of rivals, often with a screwdriver or knife.

At 16 he was arrested and sentenced to nearly thirteen years in a state prison for second-degree murder and 52 counts of robbery. After two years Casey was shipped to New Folsom State Prison and placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

When an older black woman committed to prison ministry approaches his cell and tells him Jesus loves him and God is going to use him one day, Casey scoffs at her. Then, one day a miraculous event takes place in Casey’s cell. Just like a movie, his life is “projected” onto his cell wall. He sees himself as a young child in his old neighborhood and then his early days in the gang—scenes that only he could remember. Then he sees a long-haired man carrying a cross with a mob yelling at him. The man is nailed to the cross and placed between two others sentenced to die. The man on the cross looks at Casey and says, “I’m doing this for you.”

Casey hits the cell floor and weeps. He knows this is Almighty God speaking to him. He confesses his many sins and expresses deep remorse. When he is done, he hears God tell him to ask to see a chaplain. After hearing Casey’s story, the chaplain takes out his Bible and reads the Crucifixion story and explains God’s plan for salvation, which Casey accepts.

The Shot Caller is both a never-to-be-forgotten insider’s look at the violent world of gangs and prison life and a powerful, modern demonstration of how God will go to the most miraculous extremes to reach even the worst sinners. Today, Casey Diaz stands as a trophy of God’s glorious grace.