TRG

[VictoriousHTZ]

Cambodians arrive

In Long Beach, a milestone event occurred in the mid-1980s, police say, when a Latino student threw a punch at a newly arrived Cambodian immigrant. That punch led to formation of the first local Cambodian gang, the Tiny Rascal Gang, in 1985. Years of attacks and killings have followed. Today the "TRG" is considered the largest Asian gang in the United States, closely followed in origin and size by the Asian Boyz gang, with its Cambodian and Vietnamese members.

Gang experts say Latino gang members may have considered Cambodians vulnerable, with their slight builds, fear of authority and unsteady grasp of their new country. Often, Southeast Asians were attacked on their way to and from school. The Khmer youth fought back by adopting the traits of their assailants - the jargon, the graffiti, the dress, the tattoos and the ruthlessness.

Unlike other ethnic gangs, most Asian gangs aren't tied to a particular territory and are mobile. TRG does claim territory, but it is also mobile, a development never seen before the formation of TRG. In recent years, other gangs in Long Beach, both Hispanic and black, have begun to copy the trend set by TRG, police say.

But TRG earned status as an official gang from law enforcement's perspective, Sorenson says, with a 1989 attack on their long-time enemies, the East Side Longos.

It was in October of that year when a carload of TRG gangbangers pulled alongside another filled with Latinos, many of them East Side Longos. It happened near Cherry Avenue and Anaheim Street, the heart of the inner-city area where both groups claim territory. The people in the two cars traded insults and rude gestures. Then the Asians pulled guns, opened fire and killed 16-year-old Oswaldo Carbajal.

Carbajal was the only Hispanic gang member to be killed by an Asian gang that year, but it marked the start of a bitter rivalry that exists between the two groups today. The next year, five young men were shot to death in the Hispanic and Asian rivalry. In 1991, there were eight; in 1992, seven; in 1993, six; in 1994, seven.

In the early 1990s, the TRG decided to open its membership to non-Cambodians. Mixed-race Asians and females were welcomed. Some sets allowed non-Asians. While women have been accepted into many gangs, says Sorenson, they are always subordinate to male rule.

The crimes run the gamut: from extortion, home invasion robberies, burglaries and auto thefts to assaults, drug sales, attempted murder and murder. Typically, the victims are also Asian, Sorenson says.

[VictoriousHTZ]

Forgot where I saw a Longo who was active during the war years go in depth about the war and what he really thought about rascals. He was humble about it and admitted things a rival usually wont. He sounded remorseful.

[swiften]

Forgot where I saw a Longo who was active during the war years go in depth about the war and what he really thought about rascals. He was humble about it and admitted things a rival usually wont. He sounded remorseful.

Would be interesting to read that