She worked as a gang counselor to teenagers at the Ramona Gardens housing project in East Los Angeles when she was chosen to work as a consultant to director
Edward James Olmos on the film
American Me (1992) since she had an extensive knowledge on Mexican prison gangs - she also appears on a small role. After the film's release, due to the controversy of its depiction of those gangs, she was killed a few months later by two men, under the orders from La Eme gang. One of her killers was convicted of her death in 1993. Two other consultants who worked on the movie were also killed after the movie's release.
