Other Hispanic Gangs
East Coast Mexican
Gangs
by Sgt. Louis Savelli, Vice President,
East Coast Gang Investigators' Association
Mexican gangs have been
forming in the United States for over 100 years. On the
East Coast, however, Mexican gangs are a recent phenomenon.
In the past several years, East Coast cities have experienced
an increase in the creation of gangs consisting of Mexican
nationals.
There are many experts who
believe the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA),
enacted in 1993, which promised an increase in the national
employment rate of Mexico, is partly to blame for the influx
of illegal Mexican immigrants into the United States. The
doubling of the unemployment rate during 1993 to 1995 and
the drop in hourly wages to the lowest in Mexico since 1980,
resulting in an economic crash referred to as the Peso Crisis
during the 1990s. This lack of economic opportunity in Mexico
has greatly contributed to the illegal exodus from Mexico
to the U.S. in recent years.
HISTORY AND AFFILIATIONS
Many of these Mexican gangs forming on the East Coast maintain
strong ties to Mexico and Mexican traditions, as well as
their relatives across the United States.
Gang members throwing TVS hand signs at an amusement park.
Hispanic gangs forming on the East Coast during the mid
and late 1990s have undergone a metamorphosis from unsophisticated
loose knit social cliques to violent street gangs with strengthening
alliances.
These gangs are largely
Border Brothers gangs. In Spanish, the Border Brothers are
called Hermanos de la Frontera. Border Brothers are usually
illegal immigrants from the same region in Mexico or those
who have illegally entered the United States at the same
time. These Border Brothers have formed together for social
functions and protection. After a short time, they operate
like any other gangs.
This Border Brothers symbol represents crossing
the border into the United States.
During the late 1990s, Mexican
street gangs have found themselves at odds with many rival
gangs of different ethnic backgrounds as well as Border
Brothers gangs made up of Mexican nationals. As a result,
an alliance similar to the People/Folk alliance in the Midwest
was formed within the Hispanic street gang culture in the
Northeast. Two umbrella nations were created: La Gran Raza
(The Great Race or Nation) and La Gran Familia (The Great
Family). In the following chart, this alliance is illustrated.
Not all Hispanic street gangs are members of these two alliances,
and these alliances may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
La Gran Raza
The Mexican Boys
Crazy Homies
Chidos Picudos
Cachandos
Wild Chicanos
Santaneros
Cuatro in Quietos
Pitufos
La Mugre
Los Cholos
Palomos
Vente Seis
Los Primos
Necios
Santiago Muchacan
Reyes Locos
La Gran Familia
Ninos Malos
Southside
Border Brothers
Traviesos (NY)
Cacos
18th Street
Sureno Trece
LA 13
Brown Pride
Vagabondos
Compadres
La Tremendas
Escandolosos
Barrio Kings
La Cien
Cueristos
Non-Aligned Gangs
Vatos Locos
La Raza
Sons of Mexico
El Escuadron
Tres Puntos
Traviesos (NJ)
13 Locos
Los Toros
M-18 (Diez y Ocho)
Vagos
Sombras
Los Locos
Chacas
Chicano Nation
Rincoenas
Los Playeros
Sources state that each nation
is also affiliated with a powerful Hispanic prison gang. La
Gran Raza is alleged to be affiliated with La Eme (The Mexican
Mafia) and La Gran Familia is alleged to be affiliated to
Nuestra Familia.
GRAFFITI AND IDENTIFIERS
Mexican street gangs on the East Coast have taken on similar
traits to other street gangs. Initially, these gangs were
social in nature and seldom interacted with other groups unless
they were involved in drinking and partying. Their structure
was loose-knit. Today, these gangs are more like their American
counterparts. Leadership roles are usually assumed by the
most violent member of the gang. This leader appoints a second
in command and issues orders to the soldiers. The leader is
called "Mero Mero," which means Chief or Godfather.
Mexican gang graffiti is more simplistic and to the point
than other street gang graffiti. In the picture above, Vagos
is abbreviated by taking the first letter of the gang name,
the middle letter and last letter to make up the gangs version
of an acronym (VGS). This abbreviation technique is extremely
common to Mexican gangs on the East Coast. Their graffiti
seldom uses symbols and needs almost no interpretation. As
is plainly stated in the picture, Vagos are prominent around
the area of West 116 Street. Gangs like the Vagos (a.k.a.
Los Vagos) and other Mexican gangs will frequently insert
a reference to 100%, which means "100% gangster"
or "I am in this gang life 100%!"
Mexican gang graffiti may
be less full of symbolism than that of other gangs, but their
tattoos are highly symbolic in nature. Common to these gangsters
is a picture of a pair of praying hands. These praying hands
signify "praying to God for forgiveness."
Our lady of Guadalupe is the favorite patron saint of many
Mexicans and a common tattoo worn by gang members. An example
of a praying hands tattoo on a Mexican gang member.
The Cholo symbol (seen below),
which signifies the struggle for acceptance in America during
the 1940s, is frequently tattooed on the bodies of Mexican
gang members. Choloization is the transition an individual
makes away from the surrounding culture into the American
street gang culture. During the early 20th Century, Mexican-American
youth donned Zoot Suits as an expression of their individuality.
The zoot-suiters were blamed for the Zoot Suit Riots in 1943,
an altercation between sailors and Zoot Suiters, resulting
in a ten-day riot in Los Angeles, California. It is still
unclear, today, which group was the real blame for the 1943
riots.
Tattoos within the Mexican gang culture often contain phrases
of great significance to the gang member. These include phrases
like Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) and Perdoname Mi Madre (Forgive
Me, Mother) which are also symbolic of their awareness of
their gangster life and how it is unaccepted by their family
and others. These words or phrases are often tattooed in Old
English style letters.
Many Mexican gangsters on
the East Coast will also tattoo the web of their hands with
drawings symbolic of their specialty within the gang. These
hand tattoos are common among other Latino gangs present throughout
North America. In some hardcore cases, these symbols will
be burned into the hand.
Mexican
gang turf during the middle 1990s on the East Coast was mostly
temporary or non-existent. These gangs, which consisted of
illegal aliens, were hesitant to remain in one neighborhood
for any significant length of time. They were very nomadic
and fled to neighborhoods miles away at the slightest hint
of pressure from the authorities. They were careful to write
graffiti and tags inside of buildings rather than out. During
the late 1990s, Mexican gangs were claiming turf in neighborhoods
in the northeast U.S. and hanging out in large groups without
worry. Graffiti, marking their turf, became bold and superfluous.
Large graffiti tags with the gangs name and membership roll
call were now commonplace. Common turf for these gangs were
neighborhoods with small apartments near restaurants and stores
where they were employed. Today, these gang members will travel
miles to work and stand on busy street corners in shape-up
groups to obtain a day's work from contractors seeking cheap
labor.
Most Mexican gangs prefer
the colors of the Mexican flag as their gangs representative
colors. The colors of the Mexican flag are green, white and
red. There are, however, several gangs which have adopted
other colors.
On
the East Coast, many Mexican gangs have adopted beads with
their representative colors. They were influenced by other
Mexican gangs like the Latin Kings, La Familia and Netas which
were using beaded necklaces since the 1980s. Beads, bandanas
and color-coordinated clothing are now standard for Mexican
gangs. Many members are discreet about revealing them, however,
and may conceal these colors under a hat, on the inside of
a belt, inside a knapsack, or inside a pants pocket. Mexican
gang members are used to hiding their affiliation from the
larger, more violent gangs of the Northeast like the Bloods
and the Latin Kings. Because of the recent violence connected
to Mexican gangs, they also hide their affiliation from the
police.
CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
These gangs, which started
with victimization of their own people and other Hispanic
gangs, have slowly developed in some cases into drug dealing
gangs. During a debriefing, a member of Chidos Picudos detailed
the initiation rite of his gang (translated from Spanish):
..they take you to a street corner, usually near a subway
or bus stop. They give you a gun and tell you to stick-up
a person for their money. After the stick-up, we meet at a
park or schoolyard. well buy a couple of forties with the
cash and drink until we get so messed up that we start fighting
with anyone around!
Mexican street gangs, until
recently, have been careful to claim turf in a neighborhood
or at a local hangout. Their immigration status, often as
illegal aliens, made these gang members too cautious to settle
into one area for long. In the past few years, with their
continued delving into the drug trade, these gang members
have been visibly claiming turf and regularly marking their
territory. Turf is not just a barrio anymore, it is a place
of business for these gangsters to sell drugs, extort money
from local businesses, and commit robberies on innocent bystanders.
These gangs now mark their turf through straightforward graffiti,
which provides evidence of their bold new style of gang banging.
Making money is another use
for the gangs turf. Street corner drug sales are becoming
more popular with the Mexican gangs. As drug use increased,
the high demand brought the gangs into the new millennium
where green (representing money) became the true gang color.
Gangs claiming turf in highly traveled areas of some cities
are gaining quite a clientele of drug customers and are raking
in the profits. These customers are from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds.
Most of the violence in the
Northeast involving Mexican gangs is directed toward other
Mexican gangs and their own countrymen. Incidents of Mexican
gang violence have frequently occurred as a result of a disrespectful
act (dis) by a rival gang member precipitated from a "shout
out" at a nightclub, party or celebration. When rival
gangs are present at such functions, not much impetus is required
to start an altercation. Other acts of violence have occurred
when there is no other rival gang in sight but members view
an opportunity to show their machismo. These acts often occur
during baptism celebrations, weddings, sweet sixteen parties
and other family gatherings crashed by Mexican gangsters who
are friends with the DJ or one of the attendees. Mexican gang
members may crash the party and take any opportunity as a
chance to show their worth and gain respect in the eyes of
the vatos (homies).
The favorite holiday for celebration
among Mexican immigrants in the United States is Cinco De
Mayo, the Fifth of May, which is the observance of the Battle
of Puebla. The Battle of Puebla, which was fought on May 5,
1862, was a battle of freedom against the French Armys attempt
to take over the town. A Mexican army, consisting of Mexican
soldiers and local citizens armed with farm tools, totaling
2,000 strong, defeated an attack by 6,000 French Soldiers.
Other important dates in the Mexican culture are Mexican Independence
Day, September 16, and Revolution Day, November 20. Observance
of these holidays by Mexican American citizens have been marred
frequently on the East Coast by conflicts between rival Hispanic
gangs.
Other forms of disrespect
leading to violence among Mexican gangs are seen in graffiti
cross-outs, written derogatory statements or aggressive paintings,
drawings and murals. One such derogatory drawing (show below)
was seized from a member of the Chicano Nation (CN) who shows
himself tearing off the head of the leader of their rival
gang, La Escuadron (SDN). Also depicted is the crossing out
of Escuadron graffiti by Chicano Nation on the side of a building.
The statement, Carnalitos hasta la muerta! means brothers
until death.
FUTURE TRENDS
Maintaining
close tabs on Mexican gangs is important. As they are rapidly
increasing in numbers, they are also stepping up their acts
of violence. Many times, innocent people are victims of their
violent behavior, especially those who are celebrating a family
function when the gangsters decide to crash it. There are
several murders still under investigation in New York that
have not been solved with an arrest of a perpetrator.
These gangs are spreading
to all types of neighborhoods, cities and towns. Rural areas
with farms to work, major cities with restaurants to man and
suburban areas with construction jobs to complete are areas
which are likely to see influxes of immigrants from Mexico.
The vast majority of these immigrants are hard-working people
who are simply looking for a better life. A very small percentage,
however, may bring their gang affiliations with them.
In terms of officer safety,
Mexican gang members can be very dangerous. This can be true
for three reasons. First, these members consider themselves
Cholos (gangsters) and may be involved in criminal activity.
Second, these gang members view law enforcement as their enemy
due to negative perceptions about police officers in Mexico.
As a result of increased drug activity in Mexico, the DEA
is now estimating that over 90% of Mexican police officers
have been corrupted by Mexican illegal drug cartels/gangs.
Thus, Mexican immigrants may have little trust in the police,
and may have been victimized by police officers in their home
country. Third, they may be particularly worried about contact
with officers due to illegal immigrant status and their fear
of being deported. Be careful!
Mexican Gang Slang
Mexican gangs have their own
form of spoken and written language that is evident in their
graffiti and conversation. Some of words, phrases, terms,
gang name translations or numbers to be aware of are listed
below:
13 = Depicts
the letter M; refers to southern California
14 = depicts the letter N; refers to northern
California
Barrio = (Varrio) Neighborhood
Cacos = Local Thieves
Carcel = Jail
Carnal(es) = Brother(s)
Chaca = Indian Warrior
Chicano/a = Mexican American
Chola = Female gangster
Cholo = Gangster
Cuetes = Gun, explosive, firecracker
Salto; En salto = Jump in (initiation)
Ese = Hey or "Whats up?
Eses = Chicanos
Guerrero = Warrior
Hasta La Muerte! = Until death!
Sergeant
Lou Savelli is the co-founder and Vice President of the East
Coast Gang Investigators Association, an 18 year veteran of
NYPD, a former member of the Broward County Sheriffs Department
(FL) and Hollywood Police Department (FL) and a published
author.
Copyright © 2000
Louis Savelli. All rights reserved.
