The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood

by Julian Rubinstein

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Winner of the 2022 Colorado Book Award for General Nonfiction
Winner of the 2022 High Plains Book Award for Creative Nonfiction



Now the basis for an investigative documentary of the same name, award-winning journalist Julian Rubinstein's The Holly presents a dramatic account of a shooting that shook a community to its core, with important implications for the future.

On the last evening of summer in 2013, five shots rang out in a part of northeast Denver known as the Holly. Long a destination for African American families fleeing the Jim Crow South, the area had become an "invisible city" within a historically white metropolis. While shootings there weren't uncommon, the identity of the shooter that night came as a shock. Terrance Roberts was a revered anti-gang activist. His attempts to bring peace to his community had won the accolades of both his neighbors and the state's most important power brokers. Why had he just fired a gun?

In The Holly, the award-winning Denver-based journalist Julian Rubinstein reconstructs the events that left a local gang member paralyzed and Roberts facing the possibility of life in prison. Much more than a crime story, The Holly is a multigenerational saga of race and politics that runs from the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter. With a cast that includes billionaires, elected officials, cops, developers, and street kids, the book explores the porous boundaries between a city's elites and its most disadvantaged citizens. It also probes the fraught relationships between police, confidential informants, activists, gang members, and ex-gang members as they struggle to put their pasts behind them. In The Holly, we see how well-intentioned efforts to curb violence and improve neighborhoods can go badly awry, and we track the interactions of law enforcement with gang members who conceive of themselves as defenders of a neighborhood. When Roberts goes on trial, the city's fault lines are fully exposed. In a time of national reckoning over race, policing, and the uses and abuses of power, Rubinstein offers a dramatic and humane illumination of what's at stake.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Book Club, Audiobook, Crime, Politics

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2021

About the author

Julian Rubinstein is an Emmy and IRE award-winning author, documentary filmmaker and educator.

In June, 2025, he won a national Emmy for directing and producing THE HOLLY, a documentary he filmed while working on his New York Times Editors' Choice book, The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood, published by FSG in 2021. The book was the winner of the 2022 Colorado Book Award, the 2022 High Plains Book Award and a New York Times Editors' Choice. Booklist, which named it to its Best Books of 2021, called it "a shattering piece of investigative journalism involving street gangs, race relations and law enforcement."

The documentary is streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple Plus and Starz.

Julian's first non-fiction book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, is an international bestseller, chronicling the story of arguably the most popular living folk hero in the world. The book was called “an instant classic” by Canada’s Globe and Mail. It was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award and a New York Times “Editors’ Choice.”

Julian's longform magazine work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure and others. His journalism has been collected in numerous anthologies, including Best American Essays, Best American Crime Writing, Best American Science and Nature Writing and twice in Best American Sports Writing.

He lives in Denver.

Reviews

[Karen Ashmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in Northeast Park Hill in Denver so this incredible account of gang activity and its intertwining with corrupt law enforcement and city mismanagement in my neighborhood was spellbinding. This true story is told through the eyes of my friend Terrance Roberts, a former Blood and anti-gang activist.

A fan of social media, I gotta admit some of his real life FB posts seemed far-fetched at times but careful research and documentation by the author supported his claims.

I have always admired Terrance for his staunch support of our community, his love of Haïti, and his fearless challenges of the criminal justice system and Denver’s racist and classist law enforcement. It was rewarding to see him held up as a community hero in the book.

Many of the events described, I clearly remember since I was in attendance. And it was fun to read the names of many of my good friends in the book such as Alex, Lindsay, Soul, Lisa, Candice, Jeff, and others. And the three Mikes who I don’t particularly care for. I will leave it up to you to figure out who those three Mikes are.

Highly recommend to anyone in Denver, as well as all criminal justice activists, anti gang advocates, city leaders, and community organizers.

Note: the Holly is the name for a 2 block area called Holly Square that is headquarters of the Bloods. I go there all the time to visit the Pauline Robinson branch library - and sometimes the post office and the Blazin Chicken Shack. And the guys at the garage on the corner fixed my car.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down. Thank you to Julian Rubinstein for devoting 7 years diving deep into the complex world of northeast Park Hill, its history, the politics of Denver, the policing of Denver and the civil rights movement from the west coast to Colorado. It all collides one night at the Holly and what seemed like just more “senseless gang violence” is actually the result of numerous factors—dissected painstakingly by Rubinstein. This book took incredible bravery and perseverance. Terrance Roberts deserves this vindication. As a south PH resident I thank both men for their passion in telling the bigger story and their continued battle for racial and social justice.

[Alton Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Holly really tells the complex story of the Park Hill neighborhood. Well researched and in depth enough to truly explore the origins of gangs in Denver, which is not the liberal utopia that people make it out to be. Julian really peels back the layers of the developer industrial complex, the criminal justice industrial complex, the foundation industrial complex and the anti-gang industrial complex while telling the cautionary tale of Terence Roberts, a layered and nuanced man who flew to close to the sun. Denver's powerbrokers.

This book draws great parallels between the movements of the 60's and the 2020s and really takes a deep dive into the 1993 Summer of Violence that created some unlikely and fragile alliances which exist to this day. Seeing the inroads that a Cherry Creek High grad made into what passes for the inner city in Denver lends instant credibility to the book.

A great read and recommended to everyone who wants to be informed.

[Kristin Pazulski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written and fascinating all the way through, this is an important book for anyone who wants to understand gangs, violence, the BLM movement, police reform, etc. in or outside of Denver (though I live in the area this boom speaks of, so I am partial). Albeit a bit one sided, it’s strong activist journalism. A damning and revealing narrative that will have Denver bigwigs squirming, as they should be from their conscience. I am curious what the Park Hill community thinks of this. Definitely moments I felt the author was a bit too into the story, but I think that’s an honest portrayal of his work and risk.

[Bren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the fortunate honor to watch a preview screening of the documentary with the producer, author, and director present at the History Colorado Center in Denver on 1/28/23. The documentary was followed by a Q&A with the author/director, producer, and the subject of the book, Terrance Roberts. I am from Denver, so it was interesting to read the book and view the documentary of the city I call home (was born in, but grew up in suburbs of, and now live adjacent to, in Aurora, CO). I highly recommend this book. It contains excellent, patient, courageous, well researched and meticulous journalism that uncovers Denver's own history around racism, gang violence, police corruption, gentrification, and more in Denver's Park Hill setting. A haunting true crime, a courtroom drama, from the Black Panthers to Black Lives Matter, an admonition for advocacy in racial justice not only locally, but nationwide. Things are always complex, and we should take care to look deeper than media headlines and biased assumptions about people and events. The unethical revelations about developers and their money-driven manipulation, the police and their unscrupulous use of informants, the impact of media portrayal, and more are detailed and brought to light in this book. It challenges either/or thinking about violence, guns, policing, gang life, the media, and more. It is sad to see that the prevention of Black displacement that Roberts intended to disrupt is still problematic today. (There is a current golf course being planned. At the Q&A on 1/28/23, Roberts stated that "west side developers should not have purchased an open space that has a legal paid for conservation easement on it, and the fact that they purchased it shows that they know how corrupt and developer-heavy the current administration is." It is out of his hands, where he also informed us that there have been no traffics studies. He went on about the "last bastion of the Black existence/community will be pushed out; it is going to destroy African American existence in Denver. All it is for is to make west side developers rich, and to bring unneeded affordable housing to the area." He spoke of the need for *public* housing, *public* banking systems to the city, and encouraged voters to vote no on the Park Hill development on the 4/8/23 election (for which Roberts is also running for Mayor). It goes to show that elections matter regarding who holds office, and what their true allegiances are bound to, and what kinds of anti-gang efforts truly have the heart of Black People and Culture in mind. A lot of smoke and mirrors is going on, and this book exposes the misleading and rampant misinformation meant to fool folks into believing certain efforts are untainted. This story, these stories, must be told, and widely shared! Thank goodness for quality journalism with integrity. Nice work.

[Amelia Germain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absorbed this via audiobook and really appreciated the story and how it was told with 2 narrators. I live in Northeast Park Hill and learned SO much about the history of these blocks I walk along every single day. Grateful to have had this book recommended by a friend and look forward to continuing my journey of listening and learning.

[Nicole Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s kind of strange when you know some of the people, places and things in a non-fiction book. I do, and it hits home for many reasons. In my line of work, there are those of us on the good side, and those on the not-so-good side, and this book is an interesting perspective on both.

The documentary film by the same name is excellent as well, but gives less detail than the book (of course, the book is ALWAYS better)!

I enjoyed the historical perspective regarding the creation of the origins of the “LA gangs” (Crips and Bloods) and their founders.

The author also writes about the history of gangs in the predominantly black area of a Denver, Colorado neighborhood (now on its way towards gentrification).

The author describes the “tale of two Mikes” who grew up in the same neighborhood as kids. One became Denver’s Mayor and one became known as “Mad Mike” the co-founder of Denver’s Crips.

It’s interesting to note some of the parallels the author makes with famous rappers in the gang community (ie.Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Shug Knight).

Overall, this is a stark read but extremely interesting and a must to add to the nonfiction repertoire.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Holly tells a complicated story. It’s messy. Everything doesn’t all get tied up in a neat bow in the last chapter (though of course there is a story arc and some things do get resolved). The author becomes a part of the narrative partway through. Sympathetic characters make bad decisions even after “reforming,” motivations are hard to unravel, and cycles repeat themselves. There are unanswered questions, unsettling events, and characters making contradictory claims that are all but impossible for even the most intrepid journalist to definitively prove.

I live in Denver, so this story was especially fascinating to me as I encountered people and places I was familiar with … and so many that I was not: The invisible Denver.

Some might argue that the book is one-sided, and while there may be some truth to that claim, the author clearly did his due diligence is talking (or trying to talk) to all the major and many of the minor players, tracking down records, and keeping an eye on local news and social media posts. And, this is advocacy journalism, investigative journalism. The people whose stories we learned the most about were those without big platforms, power, and, in many cases, protection. And with a story that is still ongoing in so many ways, with tensions that run high, sometimes all you can do is make an invisible community, with all its messiness and pain and anger and joy, visible at last, pointing out the threads and connections that reveal themselves, tenuous as some of them may seem at first glance, but which are essential in understanding how we got to where we are, and how much further we have to go. And after all, there are at least two sides to every story, and most people haven’t heard this side until now.

[JessicaC · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Holly is at first, the story of Terrance Roberts' work as a gang member turned community leader and the violence that seemingly went against everything he stood for when he shot a gang member in 2013. But Julian Rubenstein's detailed investigation into why Terrance would take such an violent action after spending so many years building up his Prodigal Son Initiative, tells a bigger story. The story seems sensational at times, with shocking connections between city officials and long time OG gang members who are calling the shots. But Julian's writing makes those connections clear and his sources are credible. From the mayor's office to local community leaders to the national and local media, this book names everyone as being complacent. It tooks him years of research and this story comes at a time when this nation is reconsidering the term "public safety" and police budgets. Centered on the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver from the 20's to today, The Holly is an amazing reflection of how racism, poor city planning, and corruption hurts our most vulnerable communities.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely incredible book about the part of Denver that's been left behind as the city has boomed. A lot of the major power players in Colorado do not come across well here, and I'm curious to see how this book will be received and whether it will prompt any changes. Some of Rubenstein's reporting is pretty shocking, particularly the claim that the Denver Police Department is using active gang members for anti-gang efforts and dropping serious charges for gang informants. If Colorado is serious about any of its criminal justice reform efforts, that's going to need to be addressed. I appreciated all the historical background that the book provided, and it was an important reminder that so many of the issues the region is currently dealing with have deep roots and require genuine community investment to solve. At the same time, it was sobering to read how problems that plagued Black Coloradans in the 60s and 70s are still manifesting today in different forms.

[Juliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping, I couldn't put it down from the moment I started. I need to read it again in fact, given how much Julian Rubinstein has packed into this story about a complicated man named Terrance Roberts and his quest to save his neighborhood and himself. Rubinstein's storytelling is brisk, insightful, and mesmerizing, a product of the relationships he built through candor, humility, and journalistic skill over many years.

It's incredibly well done. A primer of today's American culture.

[Lyndsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Coloradan, I found this book fascinating to learn about the gang culture and somewhat recent events (2013) of the intertwined police, gangs, informants, and activists in Park Hill region.

[Karrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Park Hill girl, I found the book fascinating , well-researched, and enlightening.

[Chris Talbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denver's most famous former gang member, a community developer and peace advocate, shoots a teen in broad daylight, and with that twist this true tale takes off

This book is a brilliant hard-fought expose of an "urban industrial warfare complex" in Denver, Colorado, collusion between gang members, gang "reformers" and the police; all at the expense of true reform and good working people. It also provides a detailed history on African-American gangs from the Black Panthers through the 90s.

Put aside its immediate ultimate relevance as journalism, it is a gripping adventure, a crime thriller, a redemption story, a walk into an exotic world that exists at home. I came to care a lot about the characters, I could not wait to see what happened (and resisted googling).

Where I grew up (between Milwaukee and now infamous Kenosha) gangs were all around me (we were more GD/Latin King territory from what I knew). My neighborhood, my schools, my beach, my parks, my roller rink. We had rival (all in good fun) break dance crews (oh yeah, I did that a minute). I knew many gang members, not well and never asked a question in that direction, but same dance parties, the roller rink, hallway, the mall, the beach, just walking the neighborhood. Gang signs being thrown around u left and right pretty much daily and somehow it’s a code we just ignored or laughed at and co-opted(Beastie Boys much?). So this really resonated for me on that level too, to finally learn a more nuanced and detailed version of a history I mostly knew from hip hop -all the way from Black Panthers through the 90s.


I will be watching what happens to Terance. I hope I can help in any small way raise awareness of his persecution.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone, but especially Denverites. You’ll learn about three intertwining tales that often go untold in mainstream media. First, the ongoing gang violence within the city and how meaningful community-led attempts to deal with the issue have been mangled by external forces. Second, the racist corruption that seems to define our police in Denver and across the U.S., along with their absurd aptitude for wasting money on carrying out the opposite of their civic duties. Third, the skeletons of quite a few major players in the Denver political sphere and how manicured and manipulated their version of “progressive” has been in order to sell themselves to the public.

Rubinstein does any amazing job at digging deep into the story and carrying out good, but human, journalism. Rather than settling for the easy black and white take, he provides the context and history needed to understand how intricate this story is. In many ways, there were a number of other hands who pulled the trigger alongside Terrance on the day he shot Hassan.

[Alton Dillard]

The Holly Five Bullets, one Gun, and the struggle to save an American Neighborhood
by Julian Rubenstein
U 50x66
Alton Dillard's reviewMay 25, 2021 · edit
it was amazing

The Holly really tells the complex story of the Park Hill neighborhood. Well researched and in depth enough to truly explore the origins of gangs in Denver, which is not the liberal utopia that people make it out to be. Julian really peels back the layers of the developer industrial complex, the criminal justice industrial complex, the foundation industrial complex and the anti-gang industrial complex while telling the cautionary tale of Terence Roberts, a layered and nuanced man who flew too close to the sun. Denver's powerbrokers.

This book draws great parallels between the movements of the 60's and the 2020s and really takes a deep dive into the 1993 Summer of Violence that created some unlikely and fragile alliances which exist to this day. Seeing the inroads that a Cherry Creek High grad made into what passes for the inner city in Denver lends instant credibility to the book.

A great read and recommended to everyone who wants to form their own opinion.

[Lisa J Shultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminating. Denver's invisible side, gang wars in NE Park Hill, was carefully dissected by author Julian Rubinstein. The investigation of a shooting involving Terrance Roberts, an anti-gang activist, was thoroughly accomplished in this book. Much of the gang warfare, policing, neighborhood development motives and underlying politics are hidden from most Denverites. This book shows an invisible part of Denver that few really know or understand. I found the situations described troubling. Denver is losing youth to gang violence and crime is rising. Carrying guns and expressing oneself with shooting people is disturbing. I am not sure what the answers are to this complex issue, but I valued learning more about it. 

[Eaweishaupl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journalist investigated the rise of gangs in Denver centering on a portion of north park hill called the Holly. This is the story of poverty, racism, city politics, gangs, drug culture and police and gang violence that tries to explain how the crops and the bloods came to control and terrorize the Holly. It’s the story on one OG Blood who grows up in the streets, joins the bloods, goes to prison and comes out a community activist. Finally it’s the story of how this community activist winds up shooting a blood at a peace rally that he organized and is ultimately tried for this crime. The book is complicated. Relationships and motivations are constantly moving and morphing. But it tries to explain how a man who truly wants to help his community and his people felt compelled to shoot a young blood and his explanation for this seemingly inexplicable action.

[Kelly Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

By telling the story of The Holly, Northeast Park Hill and Terrence Roberts, Rubinstein is able to share a larger story about politics, race, class and crime in America. About the circumstances that make a neighborhood violent or unsafe and that encourage kids to join gangs. We as a larger society - especially community, elected and business leaders - must listen to and learn from the people who live in a given neighborhood, to better understand the complex dynamics, communicate with each other and work toward solutions. Please read this book!

[Sara Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible book - so eye-opening. I learned so much about Denver’s gang history, and gang history in general. I’ve heard whispers about Five Points’ turbulent past, but this book lays it all out in detail, and it’s intense. As the area continues to gentrify, I hope this history, no matter how dark, isn’t forgotten.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shines a light on violence, politics, and struggles in Denver, and is a must read by anyone in or around NE Park Hill. Good reporting but the actual writing was surprisingly prone to confusing syntax and sentences.

[Kirstie Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend listening to this book as an audiobook! I could not stop listening, it is so eye opening, especially as a resident of Denver.

[Marnie Lansdown · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an eye-opener. Well researched and well written.

[Sean Lemons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reporting on a wild story. It's sad, frustrating, but you're glad to know someone's keeping track. Interesting if you've lived in denver for sure.

[Donita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a personal buy-in with this book and learned so much. Very well written. So glad I read it.

[Chandler Franklin Saucedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very excellent reporting. Super interesting read as I moved to the area 3 years ago and had no clue about the history. Very good to learn about my new home and the city I’ve grown to love.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting story focused on anti-gang revolutionary, Terrance Robert’s, supported by a very thorough background of Denver gang life over the decades. It ended with a re-telling of his historic court case and a modern day epilogue. I thought this was well prepared non-fiction.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much reading this book. Great investigative journalism & a fascinating account about Denver’s invisible gang war.

[Matti Warns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting, thorough, and informational. I highly recommend it to Denverites or anyone who has no understanding of gangs and all factors that influence communities and lead to gang violence. Loved the two narrators and both the bravery and imperfections of Terrance.

[Hannah Given · Rating 5 out of 5]

i live across the street from skyland park, i walk past the camo garage, and the horizon parking lot daily, and this book was the first time i learned about the community. if that doesn’t tell you about white gentrification, idk what can. very informative look at police misconduct in denver, the ways in which dpd profit off gang violence, and denver’s political structure’s distrust of community led solutions.

my biggest regret is that i bought this book the week i moved to denver, and i didn’t read it until the week im moving away.