Blanca is a devoted Christian who strives to live with proper morals. Sapo, whose real name is Enrique, is a drug dealer in Spanish Harlem. He is self-centered and only cares about himself. Sapo is also very strong and never backs down for anyone or anything.
Having dropped out of high school, Sapo works with several drug lords as a buyer and seller. Sapo and Chino are best friends, but Sapo being concerned with only himself, drags Chino into compromising situations. Willie is a major drug lord in Spanish Harlem. Real name William Irizarry, Willie is a community activist who fights to improve the living conditions of the people in the neighborhood.
Sapo and Chino both work for Willie at times. Willie is in love with Vera, who is married. He is constantly trying to impress her and win her over. Unfortunately, Vera is married, which leaves Willie with no option but to steal her from her husband.
Terms All Terms Nuyorican. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. When Julio is young, his white teachers at school discriminate against him because… read analysis of Julio Mercado. In his youth, Bodega was an idealistic Young Lord activist who had grand plans for improving Spanish Harlem, a deeply impoverished neighborhood.
He… read analysis of Willie Bodega. Sapo is scrappy, happy-go-lucky, and fearless: he famously bites people while fighting them. Nazario is highly adept at swindling people and often uses his skills to… read analysis of Edwin Nazario. While Blanca is religious and adamantly opposed to using drugs and breaking the law, Negra has been sneaking out to party since she was a teenager.
Julio thinks that… read analysis of Alberto Salazar. Claudia is a year-old Colombian immigrant who needs to get married to secure a green card so that she can stay in the United States.
Blanca and Julio … read analysis of Claudia. Sapo introduces Chino to Willie Bodega, and the small but stable life Chino has with Blanca begins to disintegrate. Bodega says he is interested in working with Chino, but Chino initially dismisses Bodega as just another slumlord taking advantage of his own people. Vera left Bodega when he was involved with the Young Lords, a group of political activists who courted change through violent means.
Vera, who married a rich Cuban in Miami, has been long estranged from her family and Spanish Harlem. He learns that Vera will soon be visiting New York City, and in return, Bodega offers a two-bedroom apartment for half the rent. When he overhears a conversation between Bodega and Nazario regarding someone named Alberto Salazar, he thinks nothing of it—until Salazar ends up dead with a bite mark on his neck.
Chino agrees to make the introductions but wants to keep his entire involvement with Bodega a secret from Blanca. Fortunately, she is distracted by a situation at her church involving a young illegal woman seeking a husband.
Chino is eager to cut ties with Bodega, whom he suspects murdered Salazar. Afterward, Sapo tells Chino that his boss, Willie Bodega, wants to meet him. At the meeting, Willie tells Chino that he and his business partner, a lawyer named Edwin Nazario, have a plan to improve Spanish Harlem. They are renovating old tenement buildings and renting the apartments at cheap rates to neighborhood residents, as well as paying tuition for those who wish to attend college.
Willie wants Chino to work for him, but Chino declines. On the way home, Sapo tells Chino to ask Blanca about her aunt Vera. Blanca tells Chino that her aunt Vera fell in love with a street activist when she was a teenager, but that her mother made her marry a rich Cuban man instead. Vera currently lives with the Cuban in Miami. Chino assumes the street activist is Willie Bodega and that Willie is still in love with Vera. He wonders if he can get a two-bedroom apartment in one of Willie's buildings if he can find out more information about Vera for him.
Chino talks to Blanca's sister Negra about Vera and learns that Vera is coming to New York City because her old elementary school is naming an auditorium after her. Blanca asks Chino for help finding a man to marry her friend from church, Claudia, who is an undocumented Colombian immigrant. Chino visits Willie to tell him about Vera's imminent arrival and he overhears Willie and Edwin Nazario talking about a man named Alberto Salazar.
Later, Chino hears that this man was found murdered with a bite mark on his shoulder. Chino recalls an incident in junior high school in which a teacher named Mr.
Blessington insulted Sapo and the other Latinx students. Sapo responded by insulting the teacher. Blessington put Sapo in a headlock and Sapo bit him, removing a piece of flesh and spitting it back at him.
Chino believes Sapo must have killed Alberto Salazar. Blanca remembers this as well and asks Chino if he thinks Sapo is responsible for the murder, but he lies and tells her he does not. Willie asks Chino to come to the school on the day Vera will be there for the auditorium naming ceremony. Nazario picks Chino up and talks to him about his and Willie's plans for improving Spanish Harlem.
At the school, Willie tells Chino that Alberto Salazar was a journalist working with Willie's drug kingpin rival, Aaron Fischman, and that Salazar was going to publish a story about Willie's drug empire.
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