Las Vegas

 

The city of Las Vegas nicknamed “Sin City” is the most popular city in the state of Nevada and the west coast. Las Vegas is known world wide for its famous tourist attraction, the Las Vegas Strip. Being the cornerstone of Clark County, Las Vegas has an estimated population of 1,777,539 people with 8,000 of them gang members and has the fastest population growth in the country.

 

With many of its residents from California (roughly Los Angeles County), a large number of gangs migrate from Los Angeles to Southern Nevada through Interstate 15. Most gangs in Las Vegas have roots in Los Angeles and have a strong affiliation. Think of any large gang from southern California, they are here in Las Vegas.

 

Many commoners and Law Enforcement agencies believe gang members migrate from Los Angeles county to Las Vegas because it is far easier to set up their own gangs without dealing with the well established gangs that have been in Los Angeles through the decades where there is no room for new organizations to take root. Gangs in Las Vegas have been increasing and are involved in criminal activities. Among these activities are murders, shootings, robbery, and drug trafficking.

 

Gangs

 

28th Street Gang: One of Las Vegas’ oldest Hispanic street gangs. Members of the gang first appeared on 28th street in East Las Vegas, which is the heart of their gang but over the years they have migrated all through out the Las Vegas valley.

 

28th street members identify themselves with the number 28 sometimes represented with XXVIII worn on clothing and tattoos. Most graffiti vandalism is written East Side 28th street, Calle 28, or XXVIII. Gang members sometime dress in regular west coast fashion such as khaki suits, Chuck Taylor All-Stars, Pendleton t-shirts, and black sunglasses.

 

Being that 28th street is a Hispanic gang, it is mostly composed of Mexican-Americans, but many law enforcement agencies and witnesses have reported that many of its members are African-American, and Caucasian.


28th street is a capital gang, meaning they are not a chapter of any gang or pay any homage to a superior gang. Which separates them from other Hispanic gangs in Las Vegas since, most of them are chapters of the Sureño 13 street gangs and pay homage to the Mexican Mafia.


 

28th street has been identified in nearly all criminal activities. They are very much hated by many other Hispanic gangs in the Las Vegas Valley. They are widely known for drive bys, murders, and gang shootings. They are bitter enemies of the San Chucos.

 

Barrio San Chucos 13: When the North Las Vegas Hispanic gang Barrio North Town or BNT was dismantled, two new gangs were formed. Among those two gangs were the Barrio San Chucos 13. It was started by a former BNT gang member which today remains unknown by outsiders.  

Though it’s sometimes rumored that the gang was created in the mid 80’s in Burbank, California and members later migrated to Las Vegas bringing their gang culture along with them.

 

More known as San Chucos, have their turf in North Las Vegas which is the heart of the gang. San Chucos identify themselves in tattoos and graffitii vandalism with: Big SxC, SC and other letters associated with their different chapters.

San Chucos wear normal west coast fashion such as kahkis, chucks, pendleton t-shirts, greased up Dickies, Bens Davis, Low riders from black, blue or grey colors and Las Vegas 702 gear.

 

Gang membership in San Chucos range from 11 years and up. Gang members throw up a hand sign in the form of a C meaning “Chucos” to show their gang awareness.

 

San Chucos are so big in Las Vegas, they have been split into their own chapters. Chapters of this gang include: Criminales (CLS), Saint George Street (STxG), Evil Town (ExT), and Malandros (M)

 

The San Chucos gang itself is a chapter of the Sureño 13 street gangs, which identify themselves with blue, black, and number 13.  They are involved in all types of criminal activities. Involved in many gang shootings, murders, and graffitti vandalism.  They are rivals of the South Side Locotes 13 and bitter enemies of the 28th street gang.

 

Gerson Park Kingsmen: Mostly known as: Gersons, Kingsmen, and GPK. Originated in on the west side of Las Vegas and emerged in the early 2000’s. The gang was named after the Gerson Park Housing Projects which today no longer exist due to construction purposes and was leveled in the late 90’s.

The membership and gang recruitment was believed to have dropped since the apartments they originated from was destroyed, but they were soon discovered to be all throughout the valley with their own branches. With the apartments no longer existing authorities know very little of their illegal activities.

 

Gersons Identify themselves with the color green in a variety of different shades, and a green bandana for gang identification. Although, many of its members dress and where bandanas in almost any color they want.


Gersons have different branches within the gang, for that the color green is not mandatory. Other colors are allowed for they represent the different branches of the Gersons. Colors and bandanas can range from green, black, gray, yellow, white, and brown.
 

Gersons brought their first national attention in 2005, when members of the gang were featured in the underground movie documentary “Hood 2 Hood, The Blockumentary - Las Vegas NV” where members are in an abandoned house describing their illegal activities such as drug dealings and shootings. One of the members featured in the movie was later on arrested by North Las Vegas police and the movie was used against him as evidence.



The Gersons are very well known to the Las Vegas gangland.  Street wise, they are one of Las Vegas’s first original street gangs. They have a strong reputation being involved in criminal activities such as murder, drug trafficking, racketeering, and numerous gang shootings. They are huge rivalries with the Rolling 60’s Crips. Only a street separates them from their territories.

 

Rolling 60s: A chapter of the Crips street gang,  operate in North Las Vegas and around the Vegas valley. Being they are Crip gang affiliated, they sometimes wear blue or a blue bandana as an identity.

Members are expected to protect each other and their gang organization from crime alert, arrest, and  prosecution.

 

The Rolling 60s have been thought of by many law officials to be more of a criminal organization than a street gang. In the early 2000’s many of its members were indicted for offenses such as: participation in racketeering, maintaining drug houses, distributing drugs, murder, possesion of a firearm, and transporting minor for illegal sexual activity.

 

The Rolling 60s are said to be highly more sophisticated and organized than other street gangs in Las Vegas. Considering their involvement in smuggling cocaine and Crystal Meth across the U.S.-Mexican border. They are hated enemies of the Gerson Park Kingsmen.

 

Squad Up: After a concert on the Las Vegas strip in May 2005, gang members opened fire on another gang from different sides of the street. In 2006 gang members fired shots in a Las Vegas gated community yelling “Squad Up”. From then on, law officials knew that a new gang has arrived in Las Vegas.. The Squad Up gang.

 

Squad Up is one of the newest street gangs in Las Vegas and are roughly composed of teenagers and young adults. Squad up was formed by a series of smaller street gangs (some of them at war with one another,)  joined together to form a larger gang. Most gangs shoot their rivals for good reasons but many believe members of Squad up shoot just to shoot. It is really unknown exactly when the gang was created.

 

 

Squad Up is said by many experts to be a “hybrid” gang, meaning they don’t follow the traditional gangs which are based on race, bandana or neighborhood loyalty. These hybrid gangs are a new breed of gangs and are showing up all over the country.

 

 They are allowed to: have an allegiance with a traditional gang. Adopt symbols of larger gangs in numerous cities. Change their gang affiliations from one gang to another. Claim multiple affiliations even if its with rival gangs. Even change their names or merge with other gang to form a whole new one.

 

Squad up is well known for accepting any youths that want to be a gangster. When they first appeared on the crime scene, they shocked locals and tourist with their fights with the Donna Street Crips, but they now have a new rivalry… The Wood which are a spin off gang of Squad Up.

 

The Wood: When the Squad Up gang was formed, it was made up of a series of smaller gangs each with their own differences, opinions and culture (known as a hybrid gang). Some of the gangs that united were still rivals with one another and had large amounts of differences and opinions. Because of that, members of Squad Up were fighting with one another in inter-gang fights.

Soon, a large number of Squad Up members lead a revolt and formed an entirely new hybrid gang…. The Wood

 

The Wood and Squad up now have the bloodiest rivalry in Las Vegas.

 

Donna Street Crips: One of the oldest gangs in Las Vegas and have been around in the area since the late 70’s. The name is derived from Donna street  which is the heart of their gang. To show their Crip affiliation members normally dress in blue.
 

Members identify themselves in grafitti vandalism and tattoos with D.S.C. Members have been known to be involved in many shootings, battery assaults, and murders in west Las Vegas.


Varrio Grand Vista: Also known as VGV, is an all hispanic gang in East Las Vegas. The name is derived from Sierra Vista drive, which is the heart of their gang and main location. They have also been reported to have territory on Katie ave and Burnham ave.

 

The gang is estimated to have over 200 members, ages ranging from 15 years and up.

Members usually dress in normal west coast fashion such as: Dickies, Pendleton t-shirt, Chucks, and solid color t-shirts. Most members are said to have shaved heads.

 

Some locals believe that the VGV is a chapter of the Sureño 13 street gangs.The reason for this is because members wear colors of white, blue and brown (which are associated with Sureno gangs.)

 

Members are said to normally carry a knife, but some members choose to carry guns. Many of its members are not seen during the day, but have been reported to very active at midnight. Varrio Grand Vista has a reputation for being a dangerous gang. Their criminal activities include assaults, shootings and robbery.

 

White Fence 13 TLS: In the Boyle Heights section of East L.A. in the early 1930’s, a group of Latinos defended each other from other races their white picket fence neighborhood.

 

These group of Latinos along with their neighborhood itself became known as the White Fence.

 

Its is really unknown when exactly the gang was formed but White Fence was recognized by the FBI in 1939.

A gang member of White Fence migrated to Las Vegas in the early 1980’s. He started a Las Vegas chapter of White Fence, with the help and blessings of the gang back in East L.A.

 

Nobody knows who the founder was, but many do believe that he is still alive!  The new chapter was established and became White Fence Tiny Locos (WF TLS).

 

Sometimes known on the streets as Tiny Locos, have their turf in East Las Vegas. Members usually identify themselves with a white bandana to signify the white fence from which the gang originated. Although some members may wear blue or gray to also signify being a chapter of the Sureño 13 street gangs.

To show gang awareness, members show hand signs in the form of one hand in the shape of a W and the other in the shape of a F. Most wear clothing with large amounts of the color white and Las Vegas 702 gear.


 

White Fence has four generations of gang members with each of them having their own chapter. The third generation not to long ago created a new chapter known as the Peewees (PWS).

 

Unlike most gangs, White Fence do not have any alliance with other gangs. Like 28th street, they are very much hated by other Hispanic gangs in Las Vegas and have many enemies.

 

They are enemies with 18th street, 28th street, 3rd street, San Chucos, South Side Locos, South Side Pachucos, Lil’ Locos, Brown Pride Locotes, Lil’ Angels, and Maravilla.

 

They control all the neighborhoods rangin from 11st and Bonanza road to Eastern and Bonanza. With pretty much all of East Las Vegas.


Barrio Naked City 13: Before, the 28th street gang was so big it had its own chapters. The closest allies of its chapters was the 28th street Rascals. In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, 28th street began to allow people of all races to join, mostly blacks and whites.

 

This angered 28th Street Rascals due to the fact that 28th street has a history of being the oldest all Hispanic gang in Las Vegas and that they were now accepting people of different races.Because of this, 28th street Rascals led a revolt against 28th street which soon led to a gang war.

 

28th street Rascals soon separated from 28th street. Leaving their territory, members decided to drop the 28th street in their name which the gang was then known as Rascals.

 

With no further relationship and now enemies of 28th street, the Rascals relocated to a neighborhood behind the Las Vegas strip known as "Naked City" because of the prostitution that took place there in the 60's.

 Upon their arrival, their was a gang already established which gave them an even bigger problem to deal with…. Mara Salvatrucha 13 or more nationaly known as MS 13.

 

The Rascals found themselves in a gang war over control of the territory. The Rascals showed violence and agression towards Mara Salvatrucha. With numerous shootings, drivebys, and murders MS 13 soon left the territory.

 

With newly claimed territory now belonging to the Rascals, they soon began to reform their entire gang. Its members decided they didn’t want anything related to 28th street, including its name.

 

Getting rid of their name and everything else relating to 28th street, the gang named themselves Barrio Naked City 13.


 

More known as Naked City, was established in 1989. At first the gang members was very small but it wasn’t long before the gang membership grew into one of the largest gangs in Las Vegas.

 

The membership became so big, the gang was soon divided into its own four chapters. Each of its chapters has territory in a different part of Las Vegas: Chakas (CKS), Pewees (PLS), Centrales (CLS), and Largos (LGS).


 

Members wear Ben David’s, Dickies, Cortez’s, Chucks ,Filaz, North
Carolinas shirts for NC, and Las Vegas 702 gear.

 

Naked City is not like many other Hispanic gangs in Las Vegas. They have very close relationships with all its chapters. Every year on New Years Eve all chapters come together on the Las Vegas strip where the gang originated to celebrate the birth of Naked City.



Naked City has no allies with any other gangs. Their enemies are: 28th street, The Magic Club 13 (TMC13), Varrio Nueva Estrada (VNE), 18th street, Blide street (BST), and Brown Pride Locotes (BPL).

 

Barrio Naked City 13 has a reputation for being an extremely violent gang and has been involved with all criminal activities. They have a strong hatred for Brown Pride 13 gangs.

Corrupted Ones: It was in 2000, when Chava and a large group of his friends were being picked on by gang members from different neighborhoods, territories and turfs. The most frequent came from the Chamukos gang.

 

They began defending themselves from numerous gangs. Membership soon began to grow as more teenagers were suffering from bullying done by gang members.

 

It was then that Chava began calling members of the group corrupted ones because of the numerous rivalries the group had with other gangs. The slang for the group members later became the name of the gang.

 

Corrupted Ones have their turf in North Las Vegas. Members mostly identify themselves with blue or black bandanas. Their tag symbol is “c1s” which is shortened for corrupted ones. They gang is mainly composed of Latinos but have numerous black members.

 

Most of its members are found all over North Las Vegas but are mainly located around the Brooks Street. A wide number of them are known to hang out at Lincoln Edison Park. Civic Center Dr. to Lake Mead blvd is mainly were most of its members live.

 

Chava, the founder of the gang died in August of 2007.

 

Corrupted Ones are strong allies with Saint George Street (STxG), a chapter of the Barrio San Chucos. In general, they have strong affiliation with the San Chucos gang.

 

They look up to the San Chucos as a roll model gang. They teach the Corrupted Ones about the street life. For that reason, they rival with any enemy of the San Chucos, and share similarities in gangster mentality.

 

Corrupted Ones are known for their violent crimes such as assaults and gang shootings. They are widely known for grand theft auto and the selling of illegal car parts.

 

 

Money Over Bitches: More known as M.O.B, was created in 2003. The gang was started by five teenage Blood members. These teenagers were involved in prostitution and drug related crimes.

 

At first, it was not intended to be a gang. It was more of a money maker click of for the five teens. More teenagers began to join the click and more violence came. It then became recognized as a gang.

 

M.O.B has turfs through out the west side and North Las Vegas. Members wear the color black, along with black bandanas. The color black is to show the unity they have with Young Baller Squad and Hustlas Taken Over, which are their allies and the hatred for The Wood and E-dubb, which are their enemies.

 

M.O.B is a hybrid gang. They are made up of gang members from the Gersons and different Crips and Blood sets. Blood members are by far the most dominant members of the gang.

 

M.O.B has been recently recognized as the most violent hybrid gang in Las Vegas. They are involved with many criminal activities and share connections with many gangs around the city.

 

 

Lil’ Locos 13: Next to 28th street, they too are one of Las Vegas' oldest Hispanic street gangs. This gang has been around for over twenty years.

It was created to protect the neighborhood from which they originated. A member wanted to start a Sureño gang for Las Vegas... and Lil’ Locos was made. The 13 was added to pay homage to the Nevada 13.

 

Their turf is located in North Las Vegas. Members identify themselves in clothing and bandanas with the colors black, navy blue and gray. Graffiti signs include: NEV702, LXL, N.7, and NEV.13



 

Members call each other “loc” in their conversations and writings. To show pride gang members throw a hand sign in the shape of an L meaning Loc.



 
Some of its incarcerated members are apart of the Nevada 13, a Hispanic prison gang composed gang members that are from Las Vegas made gangs. 

Many believe that the 13 is for paying homage to the Mexican Mafia but its actually to Nevada 13.

They have been known for numerous criminal activities and allies with other Hispanic street gangs. They have a strong hatred for Norteños street gangs.