Not an image from the "Mother Jones" story but a fine representation of a broken face. (Image by Manuel Anastácio.)

Mac McClelland of Mother Jones has penned a disturbing article about vigilante justice in Oklahoma’s Indian Nations. A high crime rate and a lack of competent policing has led victims to pay good money for rough justice. (Thanks Arts & Letters Daily.) An excerpt:

“It takes a while to notice Ruben’s scars. Though they’re hardly subtle, they don’t catch your eye as readily as his strong, smooth features or the big-ass smile that’s totally disarming despite his size: six foot three, 225 pounds. Neck like a waist. Friendly as you please. When I pointed to each of the healed-up gashes on his fists and asked what they were from, he replied, ‘Teeth. Teeth. These are all from teeth.’ He charges $1,000 for every one that he knocks out of a person’s head. It’s the same price for each bone he breaks in a face, a practice that’s cost him a couple of knuckles.

The first people who hired Ruben, five years ago, were a regular, law-abiding couple from the Cherokee Nation who had been robbed, their savings snatched from under the mattress. The couple knew who’d stolen from them, but they couldn’t prove it, and they didn’t have any faith that the cops would take action. Ruben was a young Pawnee who had always gotten in a lot of fights and always seemed to win. He didn’t have anything against the guy; it was just a job, like his other odd jobs, roofing or tiling or cement work. He waited for the guy to walk out of a bar one night and started hitting him. Two facial fractures: eye socket and cheekbone. Two thousand dollars. Ruben—who’s asked me to use that name to protect his identity—says he can’t count how many times he’s played vigilante since then in the Indian nations of northeastern Oklahoma.”