The things you do eventually catch up with you.
He’s not even the baddest kid in his own family. His older brother Pat, a member of the TJOs gang (Thorndale Jarvis Organization), is in prison for murder; plus, Pat’s a junkie. If fistfights and beatings are the worst that you get in this troubled hood, you’re doing all right—same if fistfights and beatings are the worst that you give.
It’s intense fiction, and at times you may feel punched in the gut. Which is fitting, because Hillmann was a Golden Gloves boxer as well. But there’s a joy and ironic lightness at times too. One of my favorite scenes is when Joe ducks into Calo restaurant on Clark Street to escape some rival gang members, orders something to eat to delay them, and ends up kind of forgetting his situation because his meal is so good. He leaves a ten-buck tip.
And here’s Hillmann winning the 2002 Chicago Golden Gloves title:
