![]() Mrozek said that the Mexican Mafia’s scope and power are reflected in the fact that a number of gangs demonstrate allegiance to the group by adding a “13” to their names, including MS-13.Īltogether, the court filings in the case lay out an elaborate system in which gang members rely on trusted associates to carry out orders and manage the criminal enterprise.įull members of the Mexican Mafia, known as carnales or “brothers,” are relatively few the indictment estimates there are only about 140, most of whom are incarcerated in prisons or jails in California. The Mexican Mafia is often referred to as La Eme, Spanish for the letter M, which is the 13th letter of the alphabet. “It wields considerable influence over many Hispanic street gangs in Southern California.” “The Mexican Mafia appears to be the most powerful prison gang in California,” Thom Mrozek, spokesperson for the U.S. The two indictments, part of a three-year investigation, charge a total of 83 people as part of a criminal conspiracy that involved murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, witness tampering, money laundering, and identity theft. “But it definitely puts a dent in their operation.” “I won’t say we dismantled them by any stretch of the imagination,” Dempsey said. Authorities said they are continuing to search for 16 people charged in the indictment who remain at large. They are being housed in a federal jail, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. An additional 35 people charged in the indictments were already in custody in state prisons or county jails. Their influence goes out into the streets and communities.”Įarlier that day, hundreds of police and federal agents had taken part in coordinated arrests, taking into custody 32 people who are charged in the indictments, according to the U.S. “It comes with the nature of the Mexican Mafia’s operation, where it’s not just involved in jails and prisons. “There were a lot of different agencies involved,” Commander Dempsey of the L.A. attorney and officials from Los Angeles, including County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, City of Pomona Police Chief Michael Olivieri, and officials from Homeland Security Investigations and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Downing, DEA special agent in charge of Los Angeles Paul Delacourt, FBI assistant director in charge of Los Angeles Nick Hanna, U.S. ![]() “Members of such gangs are expected to, and are proud to, carry out the orders of the Mexican Mafia member in control of their neighborhood or custody facility, because doing work for the Mexican Mafia increases the gang member’s status and reputation,” reads one of the unsealed indictments.Ī sense of the far-reaching criminal enterprise in Southern California was evident from the array of local police and federal agents who participated in last week’s announcement that federal racketeering charges were being brought against Mexican Mafia members and associates. What’s more, the indictments assert what cops and crooks in Los Angeles have been saying for years, that the gang’s system of discipline and “taxation” extended far beyond the walls of the state’s prisons and into nearly every community in the Los Angeles area where Latino street gangs were active. One of the indictments goes as far as to characterize the gang’s activity as “an illegal government” inside what is the largest jail system in the country. The court documents allege members of the Mexican Mafia divided up control of the drug trade in nearly every jail and prison in the state, imposing “taxes” and meting out violent discipline to inmates who didn’t follow the gang’s rules. Two federal indictments unsealed May 23 in Los Angeles vividly affirm the immense power wielded by the gang of gangs in the jails and prisons of California. They had an enormous effect in certain areas of Southern California, particularly the Latino barrios-an effect on the crime rate, the murder rate, and how drugs were sold.” “I came to understand the Mexican Mafia was as important to many towns and communities as the mayor. “The Mexican Mafia’s influence and importance to Southern California goes far far beyond the prisons now,” Quinones told The Daily Beast. Quinones says the gang’s power extended as its 30-year reputation for viciousness in the jail system won the allegiance of Latino street gangs throughout Southern California. Author and former Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones has chronicled the Mexican Mafia and associated Latino street gangs of California for two decades.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |