At about age 16, after not hearing back on applications for several minimum-wage jobs, Leo decided to enter the narcotics market. After a few years, and after his brother was arrested for accidentally shooting a business partner, Leo became the drug boss — bichote — of his block. That meant committing violence — the only way to settle disputes in the illegal market that circulates hundreds of thousands of dollars every day in untraced cash. When one of his employees wouldn’t return a $500 stash of heroin, Leo shot him. He intended only to threaten the employee, but when the latter called his bluff, he saw only one option. At 18 years old, Leo was sentenced to 10 years in prison.