Tag Search Result: Mexican Mafia

Rene Enriquez defected from the Mexican Mafia in 2003. As a senior leader in the organization, he had much to offer the authorities and his debriefings with officials were videotaped. Here are excerpts from one session. It was included in a documentary by American RadioWorks.

Tattoos are an excellent tool for law enforcement and corrections officers to use to identify known or suspected gang members. This gallery includes examples of tattoos worn by predominanly Hispanic gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, MS-13, and the Latin Kings. The number "13" is used because M (or La Eme) is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet and is used to signify the Mexican Mafia, which uses Sureños—gangs that swear allegiance to the Mexican Mafia—to carry out its orders from prison.

A court document charges about 40 members and associates of the Columbia Lil Cycos -- a clique of the 18th Street gang -- with being involved in a racketeering conspiracy that allegedly involved murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, and other crimes.

FBI agents and Los Angeles police officers arrested at least eight of those named in a racketeering indictment, officials said. Several more of the 39 members and associates of the 18th Street Columbia Lil Cycos clique were already in state and federal custody.

On the first night of TREXPO West 2009, four gang experts sat on a panel moderated by FOX 11 Los Angeles investigative reporter Chris Blatchford to discuss the challenges gangs pose for law enforcement.

Drug money is so corrupting that the drug lords have bribed both police and soldiers at the highest levels of the Mexican government.

One afternoon about five years ago, I was summoned from my desk at the detective division of a major Southern California urban sheriff’s department and asked to meet one of the staff drill instructors at our academy gymnasium.