THE RENT COLLECTORS-—Jesse Katz

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Dan Zupansky

True Crime, News Commentary, Documentary, News, Society & Culture

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA’s most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang’s shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing. And so, incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable crime and take down the gang who drove him to do it.
With The Rent Collectors, Jesse Katz has built a teeth clenching and breathless narrative that explicates the difficult and proud lives of undocumented black market workers who are being extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of LA—in other words, exploited by two sets of rent collectors. THE RENT COLLECTORS: Exploitation, Murder and Redemption in Immigrant LA—Jesse Katz

Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a... Biting cold front. Mmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon.
0:23.0	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:25.5	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:28.6	Sun Express, non-stop sunshine.
0:44.9	You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking killers in true crime history, and the authors that have written about them.
0:50.3	Gacy, Bundy, Domer, The Nightstocker, BTK.
0:57.0	Every week, another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous killers in true crime history. True murder, with your host, journalist and author, Dan Zufansky.
1:03.0	Good evening. Babyface teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA's
1:16.7	most protatory gangs, the Columbia Little Psychos, so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented
1:24.7	Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang's shakedown demands.
1:35.1	But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead.
1:41.9	The overlords who rule the little psychos from a Supermax prison a thousand miles away
1:46.9	must be placated, and Giovanni is lured across the border, where in turn the gang botches his
1:54.4	killing. And so incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable
2:02.4	crime, and take down the gang who drove him to do it. With the rent collectors, Jesse Katz has
2:10.5	built a teeth-clenching and breathless narrative that explocates the difficult and proud lives
2:16.5	of undocumented black market workers who are being
2:20.0	extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of L.A. In other words, exploited by two sets of rent
2:28.8	collectors. The book that we're featuring this evening is the rent Collectors, Exploitation, Murder and Redemption in Immigrant, L.A.
2:40.0	With my special guest, journalist, and author, Jesse Katz.
2:46.5	Welcome to the program and thank you very much for this interview.
2:50.3	Jesse Katz.
	...

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