In 1979, a civil war broke out in El Salvador between government soldiers and civilians. The war lasted for more than a decade and left blood as well as approximately 700,000 refugees. These refugees also included former military combatants. In the 1980’s vast amounts of the refugees migrated to Los Angeles (LA), which is the home of 1,000+ gangs. The refugees were not welcomed to LA and became ostracized in the Hispanic community as it had been controlled by Mexican street gangs (Eighteenth Street gang). This caused some of the refugees to form a group of their own. The new gang became known as the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners (MS Stoners). The gang begins as a group who was all about smoking week and having a good time. Over time, they started to grow and aggressively sell drugs. In doing this they, imposed on the Mexican gang’s territory. In the summer of 1990, a fight broke out between the two gangs and a member of the MS Stoners was shot. This started a war between the two groups. The war escalated and became so violent that innocent people were getting hurt. The Mexican mafia saw how bad the war was for business, so they intervened to put an end to the bloodshed. The Mexican mafia divided up the territory between the two gangs. Shortly after this meeting the Mara Salvatrucha Stoners dropped Stoners from their name and added the number thirteen to show respect to the Mexican mafia. With the support of the Mexican mafia and Eighteenth Street, Mara Salvatrucha Thirteen
The word gang-everyone knows what it means or what it stands for. Of course by the time children get to the end of their elementary years they’ve heard of know gangs such as; the Cribs, Bloods, Latin Kings, Vatos Locos, but none of those names cause as much fear and terror as the gang called La Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13. La Mara known for their psychotic methods of killing and running their turf, no other gang comes close to causing the same fear as La Mara Salvatrucha (ms-13gang.com). Forced to abandon their home land due to the civil war in El Salvador, the adventure to the U.S. was good at the start but soon the odds turned against them. Therefore for their
Chicano gangs have been a prominent part of the Los Angeles community since the early 1900s. These Chicano gangs consisted of young Mexican-Americans, another name used for Chicanos, which were formed as a way for some youth to identify with something. The behavior of gang members was a way of adapting to the social and economic living situation that was upon them. There was a large migration of Chicano immigrants to the Los Angeles area that resulted in several changes directly related to the larger and present Chicano presence. The most notable being the prominent presence of Chicano specific gangs. This is likely due to the fact that many people of Chicano descent are immigrants who came to America with little to nothing. This resulted in large groups of Chicanos being located in some of the poorest areas. Such areas became known as “barrios”, a Spanish term for neighborhood that became specifically in reference to the poor neighborhoods with a high Latino population. The people living in them were often working the lowest paid and hardest jobs needed by those of a higher class in society. It is commonly found that when poverty is heavy throughout a community, many youth will feel the need to act out in some way, and band together in their mutual discontent with their surrounding environment and society. In addition, many youth were also dealing with trying to identify themselves as something and weren’t sure if to identify themselves as latino, chicano, or something
. 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.
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.
immigrants. The gang’s purpose was to help the Hispanic community achieve a better way of
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.
One of the most popular gangs is the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) which originated in the Los Angeles area
. As a result of the civil wars wracking El Salvador,Guatemala and Nicaragua, refugees flooded northward. Many of them wound up in Los Angeles, living among the mostly Mexican barrios of East Los Angeles. While the Mexican gangs reined in the local underworld, the war-hardened immigrants quickly organized themselves into competing groups, the strongest of which was called the Mara
The issue with the youth gangs in South Central L.A. has long roots back into the history of American community, attracting attention of the people who have interest and study the history of L.A. neighborhoods. The gangs are also known as the “Bastard of the Party”. The reason it was called with this name has traces back into the history of the former political party the 1960s known as the Black Panther party, Black self-organized party who fought against the white supremacy during their period of time in order to get equal recognition for the African-American people. The youth gangs were later formed, inspired by the Black Panther, with initial intention for self-defense from the White neighborhood
In the 1980s, the Rampart community had the reputation as being the most violent in Los Angeles. Many of its inhabitants were immigrants from Central America. As a response to the increase in gangs and their criminal behavior, gang injunctions were imposed and identified gang members were prohibited from participating in certain activities. Ignoring or violating an injunction could result in jail time for a gang member. In the beginning, the community wholeheartedly supported the court-ordered injunctions because those with political power wanted to restore economic stability to Rampart. After the scandal broke, community members formed a group to try to deal with the aftermath of the scandal and improve the dire situation that Rampart was facing. Gang members began telling their story as well and how many were subjected to false arrests and brutality by the corrupt CRASH police officers. One community member, Carmen
The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang is noted to be one of the most brutal street gangs. This gang has been around since the1980s and continues to make headlines today. Mara Salvatrucha is a vicious street gang that was born in Los Angeles, but its roots mainly stemmed from El Salvador. Although the location of this gang is mainly in Los Angeles, the FBI emphasized that the gang spread to 46 states (MS-13, 2017). The idea that these MS-13 gangs spread throughout the United States is not because gangs choose to immigrate as a whole, but it is because gang members choose to go to different places because of their responsibilities such as family or friends. Most of these gang members who move to different places recruit individuals of all ages to form another version of MS-13 in the location they reside in. The immediate popularity of this gang increased mainly because it consisted of immigrants who fled El Salvador’s lengthy and traumatizing war (MS-13, 2017). However, not only did this gang consist of Salvadorians, but it also led people from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to become a part of it. Mara Salvatrucha is a street gang that accommodates people from the lower part of Mexico, not just from El Salvador.
In the 1960’s gangs developed in to what is known as supergangs. Supergangs can be defined as large street-based gangs that engage in significant criminal activity; have hierarchies, elders, elites, and hardcore members who call themselves Original Gangsters (OGs); and have an organizational structure that supports drug trafficking (Baker, 1999). These supergangs originated out of Chicago calling themselves the Vice Lords, the Blackstone Rangers, and the Disciples (Bartollas & Miller, 2014). These gangs created turbulence and destruction in the gang world. The created more gang on gang war before they decided that wasn’t getting them anywhere. Eventually, these supergangs decided they needed to give back to their community and work together
As a result in war that affected El Salvador,Guatemala and Nicaragua, refugees moved northward. Many of them ended in Los Angeles, living next to gang rivals such a gang called Barrios of East Los Angeles. While the Mexican gangs continued to live in the in the local underworld, as the war-hardened immigrants quickly organized themselves forced to join group to survive knowing it’s the only way to survive , but the strongest of which was Mara Salvatrucha 13.
The biggest problem with these gangs is what they are causing and the effects that they give off. They are scaring people away by their appearance, people are hearing on the news that these gangs are spreading and how they are hotwiring cars, and stealing purses. Within the first two months of 2016, there has been a record of 1,399 murders just caused by gangs. There is also an average of 24 murders per day, within just this country. The most dangerous gangs in El Salvador are spreading all over the world which is why this is a global issue. The two gangs that are being researched were created around 1960 to 1980. These gangs were first founded in the “barrios” of Los Angeles and were spread all the way to South and Central America. Barrios are neighborhoods or streets in spanish speaking countries. This is where most South American gangs were created. These gangs are made up of South American
The Florencia 13( F-13 or FX-13), also know as the southside florencia 13 or Florencia treca Ave are an infamous Mexican-American Sureno street gang, with cliques throughout the Los Angeles County, California. Florencia 13 located in an unincorporated section of South Los Angeles between Slauson(North) and Firestone(South) from central Avenue(West) in compton(East). Florencia 13 formed during the 1950s among with the old street gang located in south Los Angeles. One of the oldest gangs that use 13 in their name it represents the 13th letter in the alphabet for marijuana or mota. Also use “13” predates the founding of mexican mafia in 1957 and the year of their city wide influence of 1994. Florencia 13’s territory further west into the city