Oscar Zeta Acosta

Oscar Zeta Acosta
Born	Oscar Acosta April 8, 1935 El Paso, Texas, United States
Disappeared	May 1974 (aged 39) Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico
Occupation	Attorney, author
Known for	Activism, friendship with Hunter S. Thompson
Notable work	Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo The Revolt of the Cockroach People
Movement	Chicano Movement

Oscar "Zeta" Acosta (April 8, 1935 – disappeared 1974) was an American attorney, politician, novelist and activist in the Chicano Movement. He was most well known for his novels Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973), and his friendship with American author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson characterized him as a heavyweight Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Acosta disappeared in 1974 during a trip in Mazatlan, Mexico, and is presumed dead.

Acosta was born in El Paso, Texas to Manuel and Juanita (née Fierro) Acosta, from Mexico and El Paso, respectively. Oscar was the third child born but second to survive childhood. He had an older brother, Roberto, born in 1934. After the family moved to California, the children were raised in the small San Joaquin Valley rural community of Riverbank, California, near Modesto. Acosta's father was drafted during World War II.

After finishing high school, Acosta joined the U.S. Air Force. Following his discharge, Acosta worked his way through Modesto Junior College. He went on to San Francisco State University where he studied creative writing, becoming the first member of his family to get a college education. He attended night classes at San Francisco Law School and passed the California Bar exam in 1966. In 1967, Acosta began working locally as an antipoverty attorney for the East Oakland Legal Aid Society.

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