Latin Kings Research Paper

First: they were the first gang in Chicago (Quite possibly the whole USA too) to ever using gang signs. The sign was the formation of 2 hands in the shape of a Cobras head.

Family is one of those words that have a significant meaning to various individuals. Family may be viewed one way to an individual and another way to someone else. Family consists of those who have played a particular role in one’s life, whether it is positive or negative. In this paper, I will assess Reymundo’s family both nuclear and extended and speak of how his family has become significant in his life and how they have played a role in his decisions. I will also speak of my personal reactions to the story as well as address ways that as a social worker I could work to impact the gang problems in Orlando.

Chapter five, “Form, Function and Management of the Police Gang Unit,” analyzes the police response to gangs by examining the structure, functions and management of

You can recognize the Latin Kings in several different ways but main recognition is by the colors which are black and gold. The color black represents death and the color gold represents life. The Latin kings’ symbols are A.L.K.Q.N (Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation), A.L.K.Q.C.N (Almighty Latin King and Queen Charter Nation), A.D.R (Amor Deu Rei; Love the king) crowns and lion heads. The members must wear beads and clothing that displays the colors black and gold. Their emblem is 5-point crown, 5-point star, lion head with crown, code of armor. The 5-points on the crown symbolizes: 1. respect: for your brothers, crown, and nation. 2. Honesty: which is marked by truth, the king should live by his word. 3. Unity: which means all for one, one for all. 4. Knowledge: which is knowing lessons and prayers. 5. Love: which is the love you carry in your heart for your brothers, crown, and nation. Today, the most recent emblem for the Latin kings is a bulldog with a crown. You can identify Latin gang members by their eyebrows being cut to form five points. The Latin Kings’ “National Salute” is when they place a clenched fist over their heart. The salute mean “I will die for

The Latin Kings organization was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1940 after a number of Puerto Rican men and later Mexican men organized themselves into a group that was meant to protect their communities. However, this group, that was meant to protect Latino immigrants against racism and oppression, grew over the years and turned into one of the largest criminal gangs in America. From 1970 the Latin Kings started to commit a large number of crimes: murder, drug trafficking, robberies etc. Since then they started to grow bigger and bigger, and they spread all over the world; especially in Latin America, and Spain (Europe). In the United States they are divided into two factions: Motherland or KMC (King Manifesto and Constitution) and Bloodline who has its home in New York.

The Mexican Mafia was founded by Luis “Huero Buff” Flores in 1957 at Deuel Vocational Institution in California. The territory of the Mexican Mafia includes the US federal prison system and Southern California. The Mexican Mafia is involved in extortion, drug trafficking and murder in the prison system. The purpose of the Mexican Mafia was to show their Maya and Aztec heritage as well as protect its members from prison guards and other inmates. Now they focus on primary ethnic solidarity and control of drug trafficking. Federal

The Northern cliques are Varrio Central Poros, East Side Varrio, West Side Poros. The Southern cliques are Southern Lifestyle and Brown Pride Surenos. The Supreme White Power is a clique whose members are Caucasian. There are 990 gang members who live in Porterville alone as of June. The county is home to a total of 106 cliques.

. The shutting down of factories in South Central Los Angeles contributed to a number of gangs forming. Many African Americans moved to that particular part of the city because of how well the factories. The city also grew in population because of all the jobs that were available. When the jobs were gone and the factories shut down and move to other states the youth were left without role models. A fifteen year old boy named Raymond Washington started the gang which eventually became known as the Crips. Furthermore, with all of the other young people without jobs and role models they pulled together and started another gang of people that were not a part of the Crips. This gang will also change names a couple of times and become the Bloods.

Gangs have been a point of concern for states and societies around the world for centuries. Youth gangs are not exempt from that same categorization and have operated for the same amount of time worldwide. Over the last century however, a proliferation of youth gangs has been witnessed, especially among Hispanic youths immigrating into the United States. Researchers and scholars have offered multiple theories as to why youths, and Hispanics youths in particular integrate themselves into gang organizations. Three schools of thought arise when conducting gang integration research. Rational Economics Theory1 proposes that youths, and all individuals, join gangs for financial and material benefit. Cultural Deviance Theory considers youth gang

Chapter one talks about gang’s early history, prison gangs did not start in prison, they had to be street gangs; Mexican Street gangs have been in California since the 1900. Mexican street gangs from the south side of Los Angeles had over 50,000 members 600 from different gangs. The founder of the Duell Vocational Institution (DVI) from Tracy, California was a man named Luis “Huero Buff” Flores. The original members of these street gangs we not in fact Mexican nationals but Citizens of the US. A majority of them spoke English and Calo and very few, close to none spoke Spanish. What shocked the author was that the members of the gang were at some point in time were rivals on the street. Flores created the gang but did not run it, the book says he made it so no one man controls the gang but instead everyone voted, and the majority won. He wanted all members to have equality.

Gangsters Without Borders by T.W. Ward is an ethnography about the El Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha. Wards spent years earning the trust of these youth in order to complete his research. Starting out Ward had three broad goals in mind to develop a clear view of gang members and gang life. The second objective of Wards, “To observe how gang members changed over time as they matured into adulthood,” peaked my interest in this ethnography.

At any rate, it is very clear that some youths engage in more gang activity than others; some might be called "the wannabes" who move out of the influence of the gang on the basis of whether or not a program of interest intercepts drawing them completely away from the gang. Within the "wannabes" there are many little brothers and sisters, sometimes referred to as "pee wees." However, on separate and certain occasions they are sent home by their older siblings when something was about to happen for which only older members were being mobilized. Moreover, I am going to go into explicit detail on two Hispanic gangs The Mexican Mafia, the Nuestra Familia, and the Latin Kings.

The newly formed Nuestra Familia engaged in prison war against the Mexican Mafia throughout the 70’s until the later 1970’s when a formal divide was acknowledged between the gangs. After the formal divide Nuestra Familia began making allies with other Californian Prison gangs like the Black Guerilla family to defeat a common enemy, The Mexican Mafia. On the other side the Mexican Mafia teamed up with the Aryan Brotherhood to combat the newly formed Nuestra Familia and Black Guerilla Family alliance. In order for the Nuestra Familia to gain power in the prisons it has to control the contraband coming in and out of prison. This is where the foot soldiers, the Norteños, came in handy. Norteños is a Spanish term for northerners. (Gangland, 2008) The Norteños operated under leadership from the Nuestra Familia members in prison. The Norteños used the trafficking of drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine to gain currency. They also had successful prostitution and identity theft rings to sustain their dominance in northern California. This held true, the power of the Nuestra Familia has infinitely grown since its beginning in the 60’s.

The Gulf Cartel was the first to recruit Mexican Special Forces to act as a military wing to: enforce receipt of payments, protect from other cartels, and carry out well organized assassinations of members from rival gangs or cartels. This Special Forces group was known as the Zetas. The Gulf Cartel's vision to bring a group of highly trained gunmen into the drug game would forever have an impact on the drug cartels in Mexico (Beith, M. (2013, September 24)).

Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the