Citizen Outlaw

One Man’s Journey from Gangleader to Peacekeeper

By: Charles Barber

Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White

A dramatic narrative account of the life of William Juneboy Outlaw III, whose journey from housing-project youth to ruthless gangland kingpin to change-making community advocate represents a vital next chapter in the ongoing conversation about race and social justice in America.

When he was in his early twenties, William Juneboy Outlaw III was sentenced to eighty-five years in prison for homicide and armed assault. The sentence brought his brief but prolific criminal career as the head of a forty-member cocaine gang in New Haven, Connecticut, to a close. But behind bars, Outlaw quickly became a feared prison “shot caller” with 150 men under his sway.

Then everything changed: his original sentence was reduced by sixty years. At the same time, he was shipped to a series of the most notorious federal prisons in the country, where he endured long stints in solitary confinement—and where transformational relationships with a fellow inmate and a prison therapist made him realize that he wanted more for himself.

Upon his release, Outlaw took a job at Dunkin’ Donuts, volunteered in the New Haven community, and started to rebuild his life. He now is an award-winning community advocate, leading a team of former felons who negotiate truces between gangs on the very streets that he once terrorized. The homicide rate in New Haven has dropped 70 percent in the decade that he’s run the team—a drop as dramatic as in any city in the country.

Written with exclusive access to Outlaw himself, Charles Barber’s Citizen Outlaw is the unforgettable story of how a gang leader became the catalyst for one of the greatest civic crime reductions in America, and an inspiring argument for love and compassion in the face of insurmountable odds.

Incredible read

This is a story you won’t be able to put down. I learned so much from it and was inspired to do more myself to help others. It’s amazing how he survived and turned to help others. A line that stood out in the book was how if he had been born in another place and time he would have been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. That we could not create that place and time for him is the biggest tragedy. I’m grateful to him and the author and the narrator for sharing this amazing story.

Must read!

This story is heart breaking but inspiring story of salvation and redemption. It should be a mandatory read in urban high schools.

Great read

This book is engaging, well written and inspirational. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Wow!

The man, the myth and the legend of William “Juneboy” Outlaw are demystified in a very compelling way in Citizen Outlaw. What a tremendously told story of redemption! Charles Barber does a masterful job telling it and Adam Lazarre-White makes it a pleasure to listen to.

A good point of how a 2nd chance can be good.

a factual look at how New Haven Connecticut used to be and of the parts of the town I never knew about, or the crime history of New Haven.