At the age of 11, having pumped eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun into a group of rival gang members, Kody Scott was initiated into the Crips. He soon earned the name of Monster, for acts of brutality and violence that repulsed even fellow gang members. Running the gauntlet of juvenile hall, probationary camp, and Youth Authority, Scott matured as a Crip combat soldier. Locked in solitary confinement at San Quentin, he decided to educate himself and then his fellow prisoners. This ultimately made him even more dangerous, drawing the attention of the authorities and police surveillance. At the time this book was published, he was serving time at Pelican Bay's maximum-security state prison, once again in solitary confinement, this time indefinitely.