Bandido - by John Boessenecker (Paperback)

About the Book

Tiburcio Vasquez is, next to Joaquin Murrieta, America's most infamous Hispanic bandit. After he was hanged as a murderer in 1875, the Chicago Tribune called him "the most noted desperado of modern times." Yet questions about him still linger. Why did he become a bandido? Why did so many Hispanics protect him and his band? Was he a common thief and heartless killer who got what he deserved, or was he a Mexican American Robin Hood who suffered at the hands of a racist government? In this engrossing biography, John Boessenecker provides definitive answers.

Book Synopsis

Tiburcio Vasquez is, next to Joaquin Murrieta, America's most infamous Hispanic bandit. After he was hanged as a murderer in 1875, the Chicago Tribune called him "the most noted desperado of modern times." Yet questions about him still linger. Why did he become a bandido? Why did so many Hispanics protect him and his band? Was he a common thief and heartless killer who got what he deserved, or was he a Mexican American Robin Hood who suffered at the hands of a racist government? In this engrossing biography, John Boessenecker provides definitive answers.

Bandido pulls back the curtain on a life story shrouded in myth -- a myth created by Vasquez himself and abetted by writers who saw a tale ripe for embellishment. Boessenecker traces his subject's life from his childhood in the seaside adobe village of Monterey, to his years as a young outlaw engaged in horse rustling and robbery. Two terms in San Quentin failed to tame Vasquez, and he instigated four bloody prison breaks that left twenty convicts dead. After his final release from prison, he led bandit raids throughout Central and Southern California. His dalliances with women were legion, and the last one led to his capture in the Hollywood Hills and his death on the gallows at the age of thirty-nine.

From dusty court records, forgotten memoirs, and moldering newspaper archives, Boessenecker draws a story of violence, banditry, and retribution on the early California frontier that is as accurate as it is colorful. Enhanced by numerous photographs -- many published here for the first time -- Bandido also addresses important issues of racism and social justice that remain relevant to this day.

Review Quotes

"Bandido is a painstakingly researched story illuminating Vasquez's nefarious exploits and reputation as a folk hero. Boessenecker surrounds the details of Vasquez's activities with fascinating accounts of life in the mid-1800s for Spanish-speaking Californios." Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.


"A colorful new biography." Los Angeles Times.


"Boessenecker is . . . the country's leading authority on Vasquez, and his new book, Bandido, tells the story. . . . Vasquez was as famous as Jesse James in his day." San Francisco Chronicle.


"Every day we see parks, buildings and freeway bridges that have been named in honor of some upstanding citizen. Tiburcio Vasquez currently has a series of health care centers named for him in the East Bay, along with a county park and a high school in southern California. . . . How can this be? The answers are in Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez, a book by San Francisco attorney and historian John Boessenecker." KALW News.


"Over the past two decades, John Boessenecker has been a top writer/researcher in the California outlaw and lawman field. Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez is a tour de force and probably his best to date. Bandido is a comprehensive biography of the legendary outlaw that strips away the myths surrounding Vasquez. With this book, Boessenecker has reaffirmed his place as one of the Best of the West." True West Magazine.


"Reading John Boessenecker's new book about the notorious 19th-century California bandit Tiburcio Vasquez, I felt . . . I was there and saw the whole thing."--Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury-News.