Eagon Major Gang Summary

Thursday, 28 May 2009
More than 2,900 gangs boasting 73,650 members are criminally active in the East Region, according to the 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment published by the National Gang Intelligence Center and the National Drug Intelligence Center.

While the most active gangs working the East Region include the Crips, MS-13, Neta, United Blood Nation (UBN) and the Latin Kings, there are significant trends regarding growing gangs.

While the UBN and the Trinitarios are expanding in the area, it has been MS-13 that has captured the attention of law enforcement officials. Known as the most violent and deadliest gang in the United States, it is also the most organized.

Recent actions by law enforcement officials in the East Region have dented MS-13’s efforts toward stabilization, according to the report.

A review of four gangs either present or expanding in the area provides examples of both the violence and the commitment required by gang-life.

Displays of pride can contribute to expanding—and exposing—gang activity. This brief overview provides only a glimpse into four gang’s history, rituals, symbols, and philosophy:

United Blood Nation—UBN (Regional)

Colors:

• The gang’s predominant color is red, but members also wear black, green and brown. Members often wear apparel from the Chicago Bulls or Boston Red Sox to promote their traditional red color, and might even wear a baseball cap turned to the left, belt tips to the left, and a red shoelace on the left shoe.
• Members are known to place a bulldog tattoo, or three burn marks, on their right upper biceps.
• Beads in gang colors are often seen on member’s wrists or around their necks, and red bandanas are sometimes worn covering the mouth or neck, or displayed out of the back pocket.

History:

The Bloods are divided into two groups: the UBN or East Coast Bloods, and the West Coast Bloods. Although the groups do not consider themselves related, law enforcement efforts to address the group have been hampered by the name they share. UBN was founded in 1993 at Riker's Island by inmates Omar Porter and Leonard McKenzie. The gang was born of the need to protect members from the dominating forces of the Latin Kings and Netas.

The UBN is composed of mostly African-American street gangs, totaling between 7,000-15,000 members on the East Coast. The ages of gang members fall between 16-35 years, and female gang members are called “Bloodettes.”

Gang initiation for males can include cutting or slashing an individual, and females can be required to perform sex acts on male gang members.

Crimes: Funds for the gang are derived from the distribution of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. According to law enforcement officials in 10 states, the gang transports the drugs into and within their states.

The gang has expanded from their home base in New York and New Jersey to other areas in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions.

Other Notes: Bloods communicate by hand signals, graffiti, and stacking. Bloods speak in code, and never pronounce the letter “c.” When corresponding, gang members cross out the letter “c” and replace it with the number 3, to show disrespect towards the rival Crips.

The 18th Street Gang

Colors: Blue and white. Many members of 18th Street wear a white t-shirt with brown or black pants. The most identifying tattoos include the number 18, represented in Roman numerals (XVIII), or the number 666.

Tattoos often adorn the entire body—even the visible areas of the forehead or eyelids.

History: 18th Street is one of the largest Hispanic street gangs in the United States. Formed in the 1960s, the gang began as the “Clanton Street Gang.” The gang limited membership to American citizens from a pure Hispanic background—those without citizenship or mixed background were forbidden to join the gang. Denied by Clanton Street, many habitual criminals still participated in illegal activities, were arrested and sent to juvenile detention facilities, where they formed their own gang, the 18th Street.

Sergeant Valdemar, who started the gang, lived on 18th Street, and they took the name as their own.

18th Street is primarily composed of Hispanics, but also includes African Americans, Caucasians, and Native Americans. The gang spread to other states for recruitment, the first gang to successfully expand. There is evidence of more than 30,000 18th Street gang members in North America.

Crimes: The gang’s criminal activities include auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, drug sales, arms trafficking, extortion, rape and murder for hire.
Other Notes: Tattoos and graffiti often include the words “dieciocho,” “sureno,” or “sur.”

MS-13

Colors: The colors for the MS-13 are blue and white. Clothing often includes a blue and white bandana, representing Salvadorian flag colors.

History: Born in the Pico Union area of southern California, the gang swiftly spread to El Salvador and ultimately to Canada. After the El Salvadorian civil wars in the 1980s, illegal immigrants found their way to California and formed MS-13 to protect themselves against existing Hispanic gangs. In the 1990s, federal authorities took aim at MS-13, deporting many key players back to El Salvador, where they flourished.

MS-13 has been blamed for intimidating the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In 2004, warnings to governments to discontinue their targets on gangs were attached to the bodies of two dismembered males.

Months later, MS-13 gang members attacked a bus with 22 women and six children. All 28 passengers were found dead, butchered with machetes. Because of alleged ties to Al Qaeda, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has created an MS-13 National Gang Task Force, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has formed Operation Community Shield.

Crimes: Starting with extortion, robbery, burglary, drug dealing and prostitution, crimes have grown to include large-scale smuggling of narcotics, weapons and humans. The gang has also been labeled as a middleman between the Colombian drug cartels and La Cosa Nostra.

Other Notes: Members who have performed and earned a reputation within the gang receive a higher status. The leader, also known as “shot-caller” or “ranflero” is decided by the gang’s cliques. The gang has spread to 33 states and Washington D.C.; El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and Canada. Tattoos of “13,” “sureno” (Spanish for “southerner”), “M”, “MS”, or “Salvadorian Pride” in gothic font, are generally displayed across the chest area.
The Crips

Colors: Members are represented by wearing blue, including blue bandannas or rags. They are also often identified as wearing British Knights tennis shoes.

History: The Crips–the infamous rivals of the Bloods–were founded by a 15-year-old boy named Raymond Washington in 1969 in Los Angeles. The gang was named “Baby Avenues,” after their home turf of Central Avenue in East Los Angeles. Washington and fellow gang member Stanley “Tookie” Williams wanted to emulate the Black Panthers and further establish their gang as a dominant group. The “Baby Avenues Gang” evolved into “Avenue Cribs,” since most of the gang lived on Central Avenue. In the 1980s, the gang known as the “Crips” led efforts to sell crack cocaine, developing intricate networks. At the same time, the Crips were developing in Belize in Central America, and eventually traveled and established new gangs on the west and east coasts of the United States.

Crimes: Transportation and distribution of drugs, money laundering, assault, auto theft, burglary, carjacking, drive-by shooting, extortion, identification fraud, and homicide.

Other Notes: Female Crip members initiate into the gang by committing a crime in front of gang witnesses, during a process called ‘Loc’ing–In, or become Sexed-In, which is sex with several older members. They use the letter “c” instead of “b” to show disrespect to the Bloods. They often display a six-pointed star or pitchfork.

The National Gang Intelligence Center predicts national-level gangs, in conjunction with regional-level street gangs, will increase efforts to control local gangs.

The center predicts these efforts will culminate in an escalation of gang-related violence in the East Region. Intelligence also predicts the expansion of gangs in the East Region, with gangs spreading from urban communities into suburbia, and even into rural areas.

By Amy Burns

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