A South Bay killer and the 48 Laws of Power

Law 4-

Always Say Less than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.  Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.  Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.  The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 15 (which earned two stars from Magallon)-

Crush your Enemy Totally

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely.  (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.)  If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out.  More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation:  The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge.  Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Levine gave the book to the jury to "give insight" into the killer, who Levine called "dangerous because he's smart." Some witnesses feared testifying against Magallon, who tries to downplay his prison gang involvement. But his tattoos (including some on the backs of his hands he did the day before he testified), graphic art work and letters seem to belie his statements.

Magallon has a seemingly inocuous explanation for everything from paper mached billy club found in his cell to his denying involvement in a 1999 shooting that even his attorney concedes he did. The self-proclaimed "Aztec Warrior" chose a life of gangs and violence, Levine said, and this book was just one of the ways he feeds his streets smarts to ensure that "anything that came in his path or his way he destroyed if he wanted to."