Also by Richard Valdemar

We all fear that the justice system seems unable to protect us or punish the bad guys. When these conditions and feelings become extreme, self protection groups are spawned, and average people become vigilantes.

Just like it is beneficial for a military unit in combat to know the topography of the battle area, your recognition and assessment of the surrounding terrain and the tactical advantage of controlling the high ground can make all the difference. If you can, take the high ground, but if you can’t at least cover the high ground when you approach.

Every outlaw biker knows that “snitches wind up in ditches,” but Buck Garrett wanted more than just Margo Compton. He wanted to make an example of her to any other future want-to-be informants. Buck wanted the twins to be killed in front of Margo’s eyes before she died.

Here is a hint; one of the best ways to build usable gang intelligence to fight gangs is through surveillance.

“East Los Angeles 24 handle, 23 to assist, 245 just occurred,” came the strangely calm and feminine voice on the radio. The call was directed to my unit. She further described that at least four victims were down and an ambulance and paramedics were already dispatched. She said it was possibly gang related.

Tagger crews often include people from different ethnic backgrounds and both male and female members. The boys are “Kings” and the girls are “Queens.” The most prolific are kids from 13 to 17 years old. Taggers dress like most other kids but can adopt gang-like dress. Mostly they wear baggy dark colored clothing or perhaps professional sport team clothing.
Taggers need their tools so they often travel with various sizes of aerosol paint tips in a case. They carry “Mean Streak” paint mark

After Chalino Sanchez, corridos became Mexico’s and the American Latino’s equivalent to gangsta rap and they became super popular. Chalino wrote about his brother, Armando, and his boss, Rigo Campos. He wrote about the good, the bad, and the ugly. He sang about men who overcame impossible poverty to survive and prosper (for a while) as men of means and power, as valientes. They lived and died by violence in a corrupt system standing up for their own dignity.