Biography
Eddie Bocanegra is a violence interrupter and social worker from Chicago’s Little Village neighbourhood. A former gang member, he spent fourteen years in prison for murder before joining the CeaseFire organisation (now Cure Violence Global), where he intervenes in street conflicts to prevent shootings.
Bocanegra appeared as himself in the 2011 documentary The Interrupters, directed by Steve James, which follows his work alongside two other interrupters over a year in Chicago. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Northeastern Illinois University and a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago.
He has held senior roles including executive director of READI Chicago at Heartland Alliance and, from 2022, senior advisor for community violence intervention at the US Department of Justice.
