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Sureños (Spanish for "Southerners") are a group of Mexican American street gangs with origins in the oldest barrios of Southern California. There are hundreds of Sureño gangs in California, and each has its own identity on the streets. Although they are based in Southern California, their influence has spread to many parts of the US and other countries as well.
The gang's alleged roots came from a jail discussion between the Mexican Mafia (La EME) and Nuestra Familia (NF). Those who sided with La EME aligned themselves in the south (sureño=southerner) while those that sided with the NF aligned themselves in Northern California (norteños=northeners). Norteños appear in the northern areas of California and parts of Washington and Oregon. Besides Southern California, Sureños can be found in more than 30 states (primarily in southwestern and central states), throughout Mexico, most Central American countries, as well as some South American countries.
While increasing in influence and power throughout the years, the Sureños hiearchy is relatively unorganized, and has made enemies, such as the Green Light Maravillas, a smaller gang that broke off in order to resist paying taxes to the Sureños. Sureño gang members have also been recognized in gangs like CBKS X3 (Colonia Bakers {Bakersfield}) from La Colonia. Sureño gang members often use the number 13 as gang identification, as the letter "M" is the 13th letter of the alphabet to show their alliance with "La eMe" or otherwise known as the "Mexican Mafia". Sureños represent themselves with symbols and phrases such as "Sur 13", "Los Sureños" and "Sureño Trece". These identifications are accompanied by the color navy blue, silver, and white, numeric code of number 13 and the Roman numeral of XIII.
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Mara Salvatrucha
Mara Salvatrucha (commonly abbreviated as MS,[1] Mara, and MS-13) is a criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and spread to Central America and parts of the United States and Canada[2]. The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans.
Their activities have caught the eye of the FBI, who in September 2005 initiated wide-scale raids against suspected gang members, netting 660 arrests across United States.[1] Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts were at first directed towards MS-13, in it's Operation Community Shield. In May 2005, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all transnational criminal street gangs and prison gangs. ICE's Operation Community Shield has since arrested 7,655 street gang members.[3] In the United States, the gang's strongholds have historically been in the American Southwest and West Coast states. Membership in the U.S was believed to be as many as about 50,000 as of 2005. MS-13 criminal activities include drug smuggling and sales, black market gun sales, human trafficking, auto thefts, home invasions, assaults on law enforcement officials, and contract killing.[4]
18th Street Gang
18th Street Gang, is a Los Angeles-based largely Hispanic street gang. It is estimated that there are between 8,000 to 20,000 members of 18th Street gang in Los Angeles County alone according to the latest figures from the NDIC.
See also
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References
- ^ a b "The Fight Against MS-13." 60 Minutes: CBS News. 04-12-2005. Accessed 14-11-2007.
- ^ http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_23489.aspx
- ^ "Operation Community Shield." "Immigration and Customs Enforcement". Accessed 24-06-2009.
- ^ "Marijuana - Virginia Drug Threat Assessment." Drug Intelligence Center (March 2002).
External links
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