The Latin Kings and Gang Presence in America

The Latin Kings and Gang Presence in America Introduction A Gang by definition is most commonly defined as a group of organized criminals who engage in illicit activities. This group can consist of both young and older people, often joining under a system of values and one name. Some of the largest gangs in America include: The Latin Kings, The Mongols, The 18th Street Gang, Bloods, Crips, MS-13, among countless others. Among these, the most well-known and longest standing of the gangs is The Latin Kings. Still active and with turf past just the United States, this gang continues to plague various communities with criminal acts of theft, drug use, and violence. Who are the Latin Kings? The Latin Kings are one of the major gangs in the United States. Although they started in Chicago in the 1950s, they have since grown and have “turf” located throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, among many other countries. Gang members are identified by the acronyms ALKQN, ALKN, and ALCN which stands for either your position in the gang or your location/tribe association (Dowe, "Gangs: Slang, Words, Symbols"). According to the Los Angeles Police Department’s online website, they state that, “The County and City of Los Angeles are the “gang capital” of the nation.” This is due to the fact that there is gang presence throughout all LA. Outside of just of LA, and even international, The Latin Kings is among one of the more powerful and influential gangs worldwide. What is the history behind the creation of this gang? The Latin King’s has a long-standing presence and is one of the most organized gangs in all of North America. “The Latin Kings street gang was formed in Humboldt Park in Chicago in the early 1950s (Wikipedia, Latin Kings ((gang)).” During this time period, there were large amounts of Latino movement and immigrants coming into neighborhoods in Chicago. Being new to the country, many immigrant families faced the difficulties of having to overcome racial discrimination and assimilate into their new communities. Thus The Latin Kings is often viewed as a Latino progressive movement to improve quality of life in immigrant families. Their founder, Ramon Santos, started the gang near South Side (Chicago Gang History, "Almighty Latin Kings"). In the nearly 7 decades of activity, The Latin Kings have grown to have an estimated membership between 20,000 and 35,000 people (note: these numbers may be extremely skewed). To this day, the gang continues to be active and sports the colors Black & Gold as their “royalty” and association markings. What is the initiation process? Individuals choose to join gangs for a variety of reasons, thus in order to become a part of the “family” often undergo a mission, task, or process to initiate themselves into the group. Young people in particular often join gangs to find their identity/establish recognition, seek protection, experience a sense of brotherhood, to have the power of intimidation over enemies, or to experience involvement in criminal activities. “ [As stated in the] Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report, they estimated that 49 percent of gang members were Hispanic, 37 percent were black, 8 percent white, 5 percent Asian and 1 percent had another ethnicity (Ed Grabianowski, "How Street Gangs Work").” The same source later added that initiations do not typically involve elaborate ceremonies or formalities, but the initiated individual will have to endure certain rites. Common things associated with one’s initiation into a gang involves involvement in a “jumping in” which involves getting beat up by several members, some must perform a crime or kill someone to prove loyalty, some get tattoos to display their dedication, and many women who want to become a part of the gang must be raped as part of their initiation. Following initiation, new gang members must take part in missions often involving car theft or engaging in a fight with a rival gang. What is the impact of gang presence on communities? The presence of a gang in a community-Any not exclusively just The Latin Kings- has both a financial impact and societal impact on the standing of a community. “During the last three years, there were over 16,398 verified violent gang crimes in the City of Los Angeles. These include 491 homicides, nearly 7,047 felony assaults, approximately 5,518 robberies and just under 98 rapes (Los Angeles Police Department, "Gangs").” As these numbers continue to grow, police struggle in maintaining safety on a domestic level since both time and resources go towards investigating and chasing gang members. Despite the enforcing of both State and Federal laws, there are countless incidents that “slip under the rug” and, to families involved, never receive justice. “On the societal level, youth gang involvement costs local, state, and federal governments a substantial amount of money in prevention, response, incarceration, and rehabilitation efforts. It has been estimated that overall crime in the U.S. costs taxpayers $655 billion annually (Youth.gov, "Adverse Effects").” This large portion of the national budget being invested in the prevention and handling of gang related activities takes away money from other aspects of the nation's budget, such as education, and depletes the nation of necessary funds to handle numerous other nationwide issues like homelessness and functional illiteracy. Disregarding the financial downside of gang presence, the families of gang members experience numerous concerns and issues as a result to a relation to someone involved with a gang. The relatives of an active gang member are placed in a position where they are in danger if in direct contact of a member and must live with the fear for both their own safety, as well as for their relative who is involved with the gang directly. “Gang membership, although a temporary phase for some youths, will shape the individual’s future. All levels of formal education are discarded because they counter the gangs’ objectives. Gang members not killed or seriously injured often develop patterns of alcohol and narcotics abuse, and extensive police records that will limit their employment opportunities (Los Angeles Police Department, "Gangs").” This limiting of future opportunities further hinders the Youth involved or were formerly involved in gangs and forces them to remain in a stagnant position in society. Since many turn to gang involvement to escape the struggles of poverty, and having now a limited set of job opportunities, many may often return to gang-related activities as an outlet or an “only choice.” What keeps gangs alive? Gangs continue to recruit people, often those on tough times, in order to continue to grow and maintain certain turf areas. People often join gangs for reasons involving: Poverty, Peer Pressure, Boredom, and involving feelings of Depression and Despair (Ed Grabianowski, "How Street Gangs Work"). The Youth also contribute to keeping gangs alive and thriving by some joining as early as elementary school at the ages of seven or eight years of age (Los Angeles Police Department, "Gangs"). Besides just the growing number of gang affiliates, continues criminal activities connected to gangs also keeps them alive in society. These activities include: Drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, murder, assault, robbery, auto theft, and racketeering. By continuing to perform crimes under the name of their gang, it reinforces their presence in communities. Who are the Rivals to The Latin Kings? The Latin Kings stand strong on their own but also have their fair share of both allies and rivals. The primary ally is the People Nation Gang while their primary rivals include The Folk Nation Gangs, Gangster Disciples, and The Tiny Rascal Gang (Wikipedia, Latin Kings ((gang)). This beef with other gangs causes constant friction between groups and has led to various firefights and conflicts between groups on the topics of Drugs, Membership, Power, and/or Turf. One well-known rivalry involves the beef between The Latin Kings and MS-13 which made many news sources in 2012. Many conclude that the conflict of interests is in regards to the racial discrimination by El Salvadorans towards Puerto Ricans, possibly about them making up the majority of Kings and Queens in the gang's long-standing history. This is also held towards Puerto Ricans who were not necessarily biased against El Salvadorans in particular, but were potentially biased towards Latinos who weren’t Puerto Rican. How does the process of leaving a gang work? Depending the depth of one’s involvement in a gang, some face difficulties leaving a group. Since there is a process of initiation, there is often a process of removal that puts the participants life at risk. “In order to leave the Latin Kings you either get jumped out or have the fear of getting murdered. But the jump out process is severely worse than the jump in process. Being jumped out could have a longer time limit or no time limit. Also, the gang will probably use weapons like a bat to the head or a bullet to the knee then you would be stripped of your crown (Richard Flores, "Resignation") ” This process of removal for in-depth involvement with The Latin Kings makes members who are ready to step away from the group stay in fear for their, or their families, lives. Some join a gang in order to get out of a particular situation, but when the problem has been overcome, they are then faced with a situation where they are unsure of how to get out. Some choose to stay, others take their risk and jump out, and some go into hiding. In the case of a former member, JC, he joined in 85’ following his mother’s death and the issue of a lack of attention at home. “You might get your ass kicked during it, but it’s tough love I guess, and some kids like that, need it, unfortunately. For me, it was a sense of belonging (Corinna Moebius, "Leaving the Latin Kings and Making a New Life: JC's Story").” His life of gang involvement changed when meeting Sergeant Joseph (Joe) Rimondi who helped JC come to the conclusion, “ I was fighting against the wrong people all the time. I owe them my life. I’m here because of the time that they took.” He manage to walk away from The Latin Kings with a fairly mild termination and for the following five years, took classes to further his education and maintained a job at a local businesses. Conclusion Through an observation of gang involvement within communities, it can be concluded that providing assistance for those in poverty will help provide the opportunities for those in a stagnant position in society to grow and become productive members of society. As a result, this will make communities safer and lead to a decrease in crime rates. One of the largest issues is not providing everyone in society the equal opportunity to better themselves. When this change is made, not only with gang involvement decrease and communities become safer, but society will be able to thrive and grow in a positive direction both economically and domestically.