The Life Of One Of America’s Bloodiest Hitmen

Jose Manuel Martinez, also known as El Mano Negra (the Black Hand), operated as a hitman for three decades, often working for Mexican drug cartels. By his own admission, he committed 35 murders, but went for years without getting caught because he was “so damn good” at killing, and because so many police officers are “so stupid”.

In this investigative piece for BuzzFeed, journalist Jessica Garrison pieces together the life of “one of America’s bloodiest hitmen”. She finds that his crimes went undetected because the people Martinez murdered came from impoverished communities and were often undocumented farmworkers. “Drugs and money pound through this part of California in ceaseless, violent streams, but many towns don’t even have police stations. Patrols, when they do come through, don’t tend to develop deep ties to communities,” she writes.

Martinez was born in Fresno, California. In his early teens he joined his step-father in running drugs. A family tragedy then turned him into a ruthless killer. His story is fantastical, yet five years after his admission few care about it outside the dusty towns where he unleashed terror. “While stories of the gruesome actions of cartel-backed assassins have made headlines across Mexico and in border cities, Martinez’s confessions appear to have sparked little concern about cartel contract killers sowing violence across a wide swath of the United States.”