El padrino

In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. Starting off small, dealing to the high school and college market, Kilo discovers the drug business to be very profitable. With a little help from the well-connected and seductive daughter of a Colombian gangster, he becomes a drug kingpin with a nationwide monopoly on drug running. While conquering the drug world, Kilo falls in love with a local Latina who quickly becomes pregnant. Shortly thereafter, Kilo is involved in a drug deal with a wired frat boy that goes bad, and he is imprisoned. His exciting and stylish life as a drug lord seems to have come to a halt. But prison life does not stop Kilo from running his operation. He enlists the support of other prisoners including Crips, Bloods, and a very powerful Jamaican mobster and is able to expand his drug empire. Not only is his business booming, he is also hired by the governor to kill another inmate in return for an early release. It seems like a perfect opportunity for Kilo to get back to his family, but this job leads to a world of trouble for Kilo after his release. Kilo is now a free man and a new father with a drug franchise covering both coasts. He is living a life of luxury in a huge mansion and a Mercedes in the driveway. Several years after his release, his drug-using father, Manny, comes back into his life and Kilo reluctantly welcomes him back with a job overseeing all of his drug runners. Everything is perfect. Watching his son grow up has a profound effect on him and he limits his dealing to marijuana. This business decision slows down his profits. Also, a conservative judge and the attorney general become suspicious of his early release and its relation to the murdered prisoner. The feds are now determined to bring Kilo's operation down. Arrests of his posse are piling up and, profits are plummeting. Everything has taken a turn for the worse, and Kilo can't seem to stop it. In a world where a man wants everything, he may end up with nothing. —Jim Dobson <starpr@aol.com>