GANGS Emma Kayla Veronica Trevor Dillon AND Davis

GANGS Emma, Kayla, Veronica , Trevor, Dillon AND Davis. Race, Crime and Criminal Justice 375 12/09/2013 SSU

Summary • • • Nuestra Familia Mexican Mafia Los Zetas Latin Kings Theories Solutions

Nuestra Familia’s History • • • “Our Family” Northern California’s Soledad Correction Training Facility Mexican Mafia 1970’s Nortenos

Signatures of the Nuestra Familia • • • Motto “La e. Ne” XIV 14 The Color Red Symbols

Structure of La ENE • • Ideology/philosophy Main Activities Leadership/Organizational Structure Membership Consists of. . “Blood in, Blood out” Oath Allies Include. . Rivals Include. .

Mexican Mafia (La EME) History • Started in 1957 By Chicano street gang members who were incarcerated at the Deuel Vocational Institution located in Tracy CA • Originally 13 Mexican Americans from East LA along with Maravilla gang members formed the beginning of the EME calling it Mexikanemi, which in Aztec means “He who walks with God in his heart” • The initial formation of the gang was to come together for religious purposes and to worship pre Hispanic cultural heritage, while also protecting themselves against African American convicts, as well as other inmates and staff. • As the organization grew, it quickly turned into a criminal organization involving themselves in extortion, murder, and drug trafficking, inside and outside the prison walls. • Today the EME has spread throughout many prisons including Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona. – ("Gang history, " 2013)

Structure of EME • Members are elected in the gang based on their leadership qualities and negotiative capabalities. • Members each cast a vote for decisions that need to be made, and all decisions must reach a unanimous approval. • “Contract killings” for fellow members are done by a lottery in which current members either volunteer, but if there are none, then they must draw numbers. If the killing calls for only one person, then whoever draws 1 will be the executioner, and if the killing requires more people, whoever draws the next numbers will also be assigned to kill. • Although the system should be followed, many times “contract killings” happen without the procedures by higher up members such as lieutenants. • ("Mexican mafia ("la, " )

Recruitment of EME • Members are recruited through the “homeboy connection” which just means a person has to have had a long relationship with an active gang member in order to join. • If this stage is passed, a wannabe recruit then has to pass a background check where current members look into their history to make sure they don’t have law enforcement or informant connections. • Loyalty tests like committing fraud, murder, or theft must also be passed to join the gang. • If anyone violates the rules, they are most likely killed by other members. Members cannot be – Informants – Homosexual – Cowards – Or show disrespect against other members • If any of these are violated, members will be disciplined.

Mexican Mafia In Action • Mexican Mafia In Action (Mexican Mafia Documentry)

History of Los Zetas • • • Los Zetas are a Mexican gang that has been around in Mexico since 1999. Was created when 31 Special Forces soldiers abandoned the Mexican Military and decided to protect the upcoming leader in the Gulf Cartel. In 2010 they broke away from the Gulf Cartel and formed their own criminal organization.

Los Zetas • • • Los Zetas is said to be one of the most powerful and violent in Mexico. The United States government considers this gang the “most technologically advanced, sophisticated, and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico”. In 2003, the Mexican Defense Department said that Los Zetas was the most intense death squad to work for organized crime in Mexican history.

Los Zetas in Numbers • • • The reason that Los Zetas were so intense and powerful was because of the mass amount of people they had. Including the original 31, they added 300 or some more members that they trained. No one could compete with this because the men were intelligence specialists and experts with all different sorts of weapons and tactics.

How Los Zetas Affected Organized Crime • • Since Los Zeta was so advanced and had so much power in the organized crime in Mexico it has been said that they are somewhat of innovators of organized crime. They raised the standard of the Mexican organized crime by forcing their rival, Cardenas’, to find military trained members of their own so they could compete against Los Zetas.

Present Day Los Zetas • • • Although Los Zetas is still prevalent in Mexico it is not as strong and intense as it once was right when it started. This is due to the fact that many of the original 31 members have been killed. These original 31 members have been replaced with younger men that do not posses the same skills that the original 31 did.

Gang: Latin Kings History • The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation started back in 1940 s in Chicago, Illinois. • Created by members from Puerto Rican ethnicities. • Now dominantly ran by Mexicans, central power residing in the Midwest and Chicago. • Chapters exist in 39 States, 206 cities and have known affiliations in Latin America, and numerous European countries, mainly Spain. • Subdivisions: Motherland The Bloodline. • Leaders of Chapters of been charged with Million-Dollar drug trafficking operations, mass murder and weapons charges. • Notorious for drug distribution and other offenses such as money laundering, theft, assault, homicide, and identity theft.

Ideology and Structure • • Hierarchical organization with numerous chapters/tribes Crown Council consists of seven members and run the gang on a national level. They are the highest ranking members of the gang and are known as Coronas Officers carry out rules to their chapters and regions. They are ranked under the Coronas Intense and rigor ideology is enforced in each gang member to ensure loyalty to higher ranking members

Kingsim: The Ideology • Three stages of the King’s involvement: 1) Primitive: Involved in unstructured and immature offenses, such as gang-banging, assault and battery. Not aware of the full consciousness of the gang’s organization and power 2) Conservative: the member tires of the street gang life yet accepts the system that exploits and dehumanizes all people of color 3) New King Stage: “member learns that his ills lie at the roots of a system completely alien to his train of though and his natural development, due to the components of dehumanization that exist therein. ”

Social Strain Theory • Individuals are unable to carry out what society has deemed “acceptable means of achieving goals” due to a social strain placed upon them (Walker 113). – Absence of wealth, employment, job skills, education. – Major effect on minority communities.

Differential Association Theory • • Criminal activity is learned from having contact with those who participate in the behavior already (Walker 115). Residential segregation based on income and race increases the likelihood of learned criminal behavior ( Walker 115). – In the 1980’s 70 -90% of the neighborhoods in major cities were racially homogonous.

What This Means For Gangs • • • Due to residential segregation based on race and the strain placed upon minority communities, criminal behavior occurs. Gangs possibly form as a way for individuals to “succeed” in a world where minorities are given little (Strain Theory). Pressure is placed upon individuals living in the community, and unaffiliated with a gang, to join (Differential Association).

LAPD AND WATTS • LAPD is figuring out a solution for the Crips/Bloods violence in Watts • Watts Gang Task Force • Meets every week with top LAPD commanders to talk about who's feuding with whom, where criminal investigations stand, which are the issues residents are worried about. • Many members are involved with the gang group, past members or relatives • Result: “In the last two years, violent crime in the Watts projects has dropped off more than 60 percent and drive-bys have almost completely disappeared. Violent crime is down about 30 percent in Watts overall. ”

Solution to Gang Violence • Prevention: • A solution to gang activity and violence is preventing it from arising. Providing gang and drug prevention classes to students may decrease the likelihood of gang participation. Parents must also be educated about gang association in order to spot the signs that their child is in a gang or at risk to join one. Parents must teach their children about the negative aspects of gang activity and that joining a gang can ruin their lives. •

Solution to Gang Violence Intervention: Intervention involves the process of working with those who are already in gangs and trying to get them out. This involves showing how joining a gang can hurt the individuals potential for success in the future. A way to get the individual out of the gang would be by offering them a program that provides job opportunities to get them off the streets and to deter them from gang activity.

Group Reflection • Working on this project, our group was able to get a better understanding of the gang world and how prevalent the members are not only in prisons, but on the streets as well. The fact that prisons are run by gang members is a surprising piece of information that not many people might have known. But in order to keep peace, prisons have to keep prisoners segregated by their affiliations and in order to do this, many prisons are one gang territory which means they each have their own prisons. An example of this would be the Aryan Brotherhood being dominate in San Quentin. • Through this project we each learned just how easy it is for minorities to get involved in gangs, and just how violent they truly can be. Most of the time people get involved in gangs because they need a sense of belonging and gangs become their “family” therefore making it hard to quit once they join. This project was very eye opening to the world of gangs and how minorities fall prey to these horrific lifestyles.

Bibliography (References and entries are not APA style) • • • Google Images: Gangs, Nuestra Familia, Mexican Mafia, Los Zetas, Latin Kings, LAPD, Homeboy Industries. Davis’s bibliography: Crews, Michael D. Major Prison Gangs. Florida Department of Corrections, n. d. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. <http: //www. dc. state. fl. us/pub/gangs/prison 2. html>. Woodstock, IL Gang Information. Redeemer Lutheran Church, n. d. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. <ganginfo. rlcw. org/woodstock. html> <http: //www. history. com/shows/gangland/articles/the-gangs>. Morales, Gabe. Gang Prevention Services. Ed. Gabe Morales. DARR Designs, 2007. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. <http: //www. gangpreventionservices. org/norteno. asp>. Kayla’s bibliography: Gang history. (2013). Retrieved from http: //www. history. com/shows/gangland/articles/the-gangs Walker, R. (Producer). (2013, March 13). The Black Hand [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http: //gangsorus. com/mexican_mafia. htm Mexican mafia ("la eme"). (n. d. ). Retrieved from http: //www. insideprison. com/mexican-mafia-prisongang. asp (2012, March 22). Mexican Mafia Documentary Part 1 [Web Video]. Retrieved from http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=4 w. Iyn. Vn 2 ed. Q

Bibliography Continued • • Emma’s Bibliography: Dillon’s Bibliography: Brotherton, D. The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation: Street Politics and the transformation of a New York Gang. Columbia University Press. Retrieved on 11/22/2013 fromhttp: //books. google. com/books? id=r. Xe. TZvvo. JRQC&pg=PA 72&lpg=PA 72&dq=latin+kings+Primiti ve+Stage&source=bl&ots=t 9 YRCIsg. AE&sig=w. B 5 Lugqu. OM 3 UMuxflu 0 fya. N 9 D 0&hl=en&ei=qr_FS 7 Xl. FKTu. NLf. Itc. QO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0 CA 0 Q 6 AEw. AQ#v=onepage&q=latin%20 kings%20 Primitive%20 Stage&f=false. Pages 71 -80 De. Genova, N. Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and “Illegality” in Mexican Chicago. Duke University Press. Trevor’s Bibliography: Walker, S. , & Spohn, C. , & Delone, M. (2012). The Color of Justice. Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth Cenage Foundation. Veronica’s Bibliography: "Gangs: Problems and Answers. " Gangs: Problems and Answers. N. p. , n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Kudler, Adrian G. "LAPD's Radical Solution For Reducing Gang Violence in Watts. " Curbed LA. N. p. , 11 July 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.