Nicky Cruz

Nicky Cruz (born December 6, 1938 in San Juan, Puerto Rico ) was formerly the leader of a New York gang called The Mau-Maus and is now a Christian preacher and lives in Colorado .

Life

childhood

Cruz grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in San Juan. His parents were spiritualists and practiced Brujería , a Spanish form of witchcraft . The father was a medicine man . His mother called her son "Son of Satan ". This kept getting into trouble.

Criminal career

On January 4, 1955, Cruz, who was just fifteen, was sent to New York to live with his older brother. His apartment was in the middle of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, a neighborhood that was home to over 30,000 Puerto Ricans and blacks. Cruz soon joined the Mau-Maus , one of the largest gangs in town at the time. He quickly rose to their “ was lord ”. This "warlord" in the New York band culture the band member who in meetings with the appropriate members of other gangs meets appointments about fights among gangs while also specifying which weapons are to be used. In 1958 Cruz was already "President", ie boss, of the Mau-Maus . As a gang member, Cruz has been involved in drug trafficking, robberies , and murders . His friend Mannie Durango died in his arms after a fight with another gang.

conversion

At this point in his life, Cruz happened to meet evangelist David Wilkerson while he was preaching on the street in his neighborhood. After a brief exchange of words, Cruz Wilkerson threatened to kill him. That same afternoon, Wilkerson went to Cruz's headquarters. Cruz's reaction was to hit Wilkerson in the face.

Two weeks later, Wilkerson was back in Cruz's neighborhood for an evangelism event. Upon hearing of this, Cruz made a resolution to teach the preacher a lesson and made his way to the meeting place, the St. Nicholas Boxing Arena, with several fellow gang members. As Cruz later reported, when they got there, he felt a strong sense of guilt about his actions so far and began to pray. Wilkerson prayed with him. Finally, Cruz asked God to forgive him and also asked Wilkerson's forgiveness.

The next day, Cruz went to the police and surrendered all of his weapons. Then he began to read the Bible intensively. After he finished school, he studied theology, among other things . After his studies he returned to his former environment as a preacher. There he managed to convert several other members of his former gang to Jesus Christ , including the new leader named Israel Narvaez.

Literature, film and television

The life of Nicky Cruz is the subject of the following books, among others:

• Nicky Cruz: Run away, kid, run away. Aussaat, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1996, ISBN 3-7615-3531-7 (Original title: Run, Baby, Run. )
• David Wilkerson: The Cross and the Knife Heroes. 35th edition. Leuchter, Erzhausen 2004, ISBN 3-87482-520-5 (Original title: The Cross and the Switchblade. )

In 1970 the latter was filmed with Pat Boone in the role of David Wilkerson and Erik Estrada as Nicky Cruz. In February 2000, a television documentary entitled Run, Baby, Run was broadcast in the United States .