Posted by 
Alex Alonso for StreetGangs.com
updated December 22, 2002
updated June 25, 2008
In Los Angeles the 18th Street gang is considered the largest gang in Los Angeles County but that label is very misleading. Even though they are estimated to have approximately 15,000 members in Los Angeles County, they are actually a collection of approximately 20 separate individual autonomous gangs operating under the same label with separate barrios in the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the South Bay, South Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, Pico Union, Inglewood, and Cudahy. Some estimates of the 18th are as low as 8,000 members. The notoriety of the gang is based on four distinct barrios, three near downtown Los Angeles west of the Staple’s Center and the 110 Freeway, and one in the West Adams area.
The individual factions can number from 50 to several hundred members and they are dispersed throughout the County, but their strong hold and their oldest barrio is located in the Pico Union (Grand View, Hoover clicks) area east of the Staples center between the Harbor 110 Freeway (east) and Hoover Ave (west). Slightly to the north are two other barrios in the Shatto Park and MacArthur Park (Colombia Lil Cycos click) areas. There are also two significant size 18th Street Barrios in South LA, one between Vernon (north) and Slauson (south) along Vermont Avenue and the second one being between Florence (north) and 91st Street (south). One of the most infamous 18th Street neighborhoods would be in the West Adams (Smiley, Alsace, Lil Lowks) because member Catorina Gonzales was convicted for killing LAPD officer Filbert Cuesta in 1998, and more recently, member Pedro Espinoza was charged in the murder of High School star athlete Jamiel Shaw stemming from the conflict with the Bloods.
The media often states that 18th Street is the largest gang in Los Angeles, but the largest single Hispanic gang in terms of turf size and membership would be one of 18th Street’s main rivals, the Florencia 13 gang that has a turf that stretches from Western (west) to Compton Avenues (east). Members of this gang were recently indicted by the Feds on drug trafficking and murder charges.
Historical Background
The 18th Street gang formed around 1959 in the Pico Union area when members of larger Clanton 14 neighborhood decided to start a new click. Originally 18th Street was a click of the bigger Clanton 14th Street neighborhood. As membership of Clanton grew, newer members who lived off of 18th Street decided to start Clanton 18th Street. Forming a new click of a gang can sometimes be a challenge, because some members may look at it as an action that does not unify but separates the neighborhood, and possibly creates division between members that will be forced to choose sides during a conflict. On the other hand, adding a click can expand the turf, bring in more members, and make the neighborhood appear to be stronger. There is usually a protocol to creating a new click and each neighborhood is different when it comes to that, but ultimately Clanton 14 core members did not approve of having Clanton 18, so the new click members had to make a decision of falling in line with Clanton 14, or taking a defiant position to start their own gang, hence the birth of 18th Street. They just simply dropped the Clanton off their name and then became rivals against them. As the years progressed, Clanton lost their main strong hold off 14th Street, and today that area is dominated by 18th Street.
Clanton did not disappear though as their neighborhood in Hollywood off Beverly has survived and their other neighborhood on the South Side near San Pedro is still thriving. Most gangs today have clicks and there is usually little resistance from the rest of the gang when members want to start a new click, because there is a perceived benefit to the entire gang as outsiders will assume the gang is growing, and it provides a psychological edge against their rivals. Through a small act of defiance, one of the most well known gangs was born in Los Angeles. Because of its aggressive recruiting techniques of accepting any all new comers the name of this gang has caught on and has been copied and mimicked in several other cities and countries around the world.
Global Reach: Real or Perceived?
Since its inception youth from every large city in the US, Canada, Mexico and countries in Central & South America America, Europe and most likely several other cities and countries have adapted the use of the name 18th Street. Because of the wide spread popularity, the FBI has labeled this gang a transnational gang with global reach, but there is no evidence to support the existence of any such global network in which the 18th Street gang operates between cities or across national borders. Because of deportation, the gang culture of LA was introduced into Mexico and Central America, but transnational linkages in which the 18th Street gang operate have not been uncovered thus far. A study from 2007 found that international connections among Hispanic gangs like 18th Street were over stated and that there were no signs of transnational coordination among gang members. Academic studies have also fell short from identifying these types of networks among Los Angeles based Hispanic gangs.
The typical propaganda from law enforcement is designed to stigmatize the gang by over exaggerating the extent to which the gang operates. Phrases like “violent foreign-born gang members” and “their behavior is often deadly” uses the fear card to gain public support for what ever law enforcement action is desired against the group. For years the FBI has been telling us that there exists parallels between 18th Street and international crime but many of those linkages have been overstated and just because the federal government says that 18th Street possesses weapons of mass destruction does not necessarily mean that it is true. United States Senator Dianne Feinstein published a report in 2003 which erroneously stated that 80 percent of the 18th Street gang in California consists of illegal immigrants.
Gang Injunctions
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has three gang injunctions against the 18th Street; two in the Rampart Division and one in the Southwest Division of the LAPD against the same faction that Catorino Gonzales and Pedro Espinoza were from. This specific 18th Street gang has several clicks including Alcase, Lil Lowks, and Smiley Drive.
The Rampart injunctions were under review and temporarily halted in September of 1999 because of the Rampart corruption scandal that implicated several LAPD officers in criminal activity. In 2002 these injunctions were refiled by the City Attorney’s Office and placed back into affect.
Warring with Bloods
Certain factions of 18th Street in South Los Angeles are feuding with Black gangs, specifically the Bloods. In 1994, members of the Rancho Park click that were hanging out on Gibraltar Avenue in the Jungles got into a conflict with members of the Black P Stones in the Jungles. The actual source of this conflict remains in question, but an argument ensued, and an 18th Street member was murdered, thus starting the cycle of violence between the Bloods and the 18th Street. The Black Stones from the City joined the conflict, then in 1996 the Rollin’ 20s Bloods got involved. More recently the Fruit Town Brims, the 4th Blood gang joined the conflict against the 18th Street. This conflict followed the war between the Venice Shoreline Crips, a predominately black gang and the Hispanic Venice 13, that saw 17 murders in 9 months from 1993-94. Eventually, Venice 13 had the support of three other Hispanic gangs; Culver City Boys, Sotel, and Santa Monica 13, but that war was over by 1996.
List of all 18th Street Neighborhoods in Los Angeles County
Photo of 18th Street Graffiti from 1997
18th Street in the News
18th Street Gang: Another Injunction?, August 4, 1997, KCBS
Judge Bans 18th Street Gang, July 11, 1997, KCBS2.com
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WETBACKS GOO BACK HOME!!!
wetbacks are home
i just hope, one, day, it could, all, stop…
peace..
: )
Great information! I'll be bookmarking this site for future reference!
Steven Wevodau
http://www.steven-wevodau.com
fuck u vatos.. 18 street gang 4 life big vago im 18 with a bullet bitch
Hey, VAGO I wanna know if ur still around. VaGO 4rm ws xv3st. i stay in southcentral,la
the shit will never stop as long as border is open we have them in Washington only good thing is they don't speak English no one likes egg street
Egg st is the biggest gang they're in the oc ie taking over weak neighborhoods they let anyone in blacks Armenians whites wetbacks guatemalans not alot of Chicanos in egg st not alot in la period
The individual factions can number from 50 to several hundred members and they are dispersed throughout the County, but their strong hold and their oldest barrio is located in the Pico Union of the Staples center between the Harbor 110 Freeway…..
fuk fakes HNE X3 HAWTHORNE 13 lws fab fuk the rest
MEXICANS CONTROL THE BORDERS DRUG FLOW TO 7 COUNTRYS AND WE DEMAND RESPECT AT WHATEVER COST……WHEN THEY KILL OR CAPTURE ANY OF ARE MAN THERES 5 MORE WILLING TO EXECUTE ORDERS…….NO ONE IS UNTOUCHABLE NO ONE……
BY THE WAY FUCK U EXOCTIC SUCK ON THE MEXICAN
LABORS NUTTS….PINCHE LOUSSY LAZY NEGRITOSSSSS…..
Gangs are for people who can’t use their own brains. They need someone else to thinks for them. Get a real job you losers.
Ouch!
Your mother goes to college(lol)
Man I send this message out to the people of color you Africa and Latin King and Queens come from ancient cultures that date back to the beginning of time both cultures have the same thing in common such as: pyrmids, worship, history and respect for gods green earth, now our ancestors that laid that golden path for love and peace for all man kind weather they’re Black, Brown or White are tossing and turning in there grave because YOU UNEDUCATED FUCKS KILLING EACHOTHER FOR NO APPARENT REASON LIKE A STREET CONNER THAT YOU WILL NEVER OWN !!!! A REASON TO DISTROY WHAT MR. CESAR CHAVES AND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING SET OUT FOR US YEARS AGO !!!! WHAT A FUCKING WAIST NO SELF RESPECT AND NO RESPECT TO THE EYGPTIAN AND AZTEC CULTURE
fuck u all south side cudahy 13 clara st locos fuck u bicths
Hey jose i agree with u send me a email my address Sweetone2825@yahoo.com.
I AM LOOKING FOR A GUY NAME JOE FROM 18ST WE KNOW EACH OTHER FROM A LONG TIME AGO I AM FROM EL PASO AND IT WAS DURING THE YEAR OF 1984
I HOPE THAT I CAN FIND HIM.
I SEEN JOE 5 MINS A GO HE WAS JUGGLING TENNIS BALLS RIGHT OFF THE FREEWAY EXIT FOR CHANGE I GAVE A QUARTER IM A EXIT THERE TOMMOROW SHOULD I TELL EM THAT DREAMER WANTS TO SUCK HIS PIPI ?
FUCK FAKES..
Mara Salvatrucha Hollywood Lokotes Salvatruchos HLS clika 4 life! u know where we r at..come find us u bitches
\,,/ MSX3 \,,/
joe was suckin cock last i heard when he was lookin down the barrel of our cuetes
FUCK TWATTS u fuckers changed ur name just to survive lol bitches. ALL U FUCKERS ARE JUST HATING cuz my gang always makes the front page on the sunday paper. AND THIS FOOL ALONZO NEEDS 2 STUDIED HIS WORK MORE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT 18st IS TAKING OUT ALL THEM NIGGERS THAT FREELOAD OFF WELFARE section 8 fuckers and they say we are fuckin up the economy shit at least we work we may saell oranges outside the freeways but we do something unlike niggers that beg for change outside liquor stores. FUCK PISS STAIN FUCK JAMIEL SHAWS BITCH ASS HE GOT WHAT HE DESERVE. ONE LESS NIGGER OFF OF SECTION 8 AND WELFARE
Latinos get more Welfare than any other nationaity in the U.S. check your statistics 18st. You are probably here illegally and get free medical benefits. LOL
DIE MONKEYS DIE. SOON HISPANICS ARE GOING 2 TAKE OVER THIS COUNTRY LOL NO MORE STUPID NIGGERS ASKING FOR CHANGE OUTSIDE LIQOUR STORES NO MORE SECTION 8 AND WELFARE HURAY. STUPID WHITE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE SENT THEM COTTON PICKING GREASY MONKEYS BACK 2 AFRICA OR AT LEAST TAUGHT THEM to USE DEODORENT
Hispanics are people whose ancestors are from spain- not indians in what is south america today. Hispanics are white, mexicans have tanned skin. Hispanics lost their chance to take over this country hundred of years ago when they sold california,new mexico, texas, etc… to make up the rest of the U.S.
Oh did you mean Hispanics (AKA- Mexicans) are going to take over… harvesting white mens crops, cleaning up white peoples homes, oh I get it now- maid service! Yeah you and your people can continue doing those things because your labor costs a lot less than any other minority group would accept for that kind of work and your women are good at watching our babies and teaching them enough spanish to be able to boss the housekeeper around!
If blacks are monkeys…. are mexicans jackasses? Is your countries symbol a mule? LOL
Fake Teens is Madd kuz Bloods Murder Illegals and make em wish they never came here to get free health care and Welfare. Faketeen Killer. Thats why faketeens shoot kuz they can’t fight. They got mad and bloods for beating they ass in fist fights. But Fuck it we still killin em. Yall kill civlians but we kill yall soldiers!!! Go back to the Pen and suck the white mans dick in the pen!!
18K 13k CK MS13K
18K….you got some homework to do homie. this is from a government website…a break down of how welfare in this country is allocated.
White 38.8%
Black 39.8%
Hispanic 15.7%
Asian 2.4%
other 3.3%
maybe if you at least sold oranges, you wouldn’t lead the country in welfare!!!!
Blacks are only 13% of the population.
exactly! and yet they account for 39.8% of all welfare recepients.
hispanics are 14% of populatoin and account for 15.7% of all welfare.
white are 66% of population and use 38% of welfare.
so what this means is that the white population is 5 times that of the black population in this country, yet the black poplulation still has more people using welfare.
lol
yo i dont care dats real.
I work register at supermarket everyone there will tell you. whenver you see a lot of groceries in a cart. whitey usually buys on credit. mexicans usually pull out fat wads of cash. brotherman is usually rocking ebt.
So it sounds like one group of people has been giving something on good faith. Another group is earning their keep, and one is just free loading. Sounds about right!
I would imagine u don’t need county assistance when thers 10 wetback in a 2 bedroom….lol
not if your working! so tell your people to get their ass off the couch and get a job. P.S. making purple kool aid is not a job!
Oh did u hear that sad story bout that tornado in mexico knocking down that house man hundreds lost there lives….LMAO
that is sad. it’s like the huge plant that burned down, thousands of hard workers lost their lives. but you don’t have to worry about it, there were no blacks in there. Now if the Welfare Office or liquor store burns down, y’all black folk in trouble!
Naw we wouldn’t get mad if welfare offices got burned down ,we would jus go bac to robbin mexicans,an don’t tell me no one in ur family ever got jacced or beat up by a black….
I don’t think there’s anymore black people left in LA, Mexicans ran most of them out.
It’s kind of funny huh, Middle easterners don’t want you in their cabs, Asians dont want you in their stores, whites don’t want you in there neighborhoods, and know we’ve kicked you out of our city. Your a lazy free loading race, these numbers prove it. it’s no coincedence your were chosen as slaves…outside of jumping high, running fast and acting a fool….there’s not much to you.
to answer your question, I’m not sure, maybe, but I do know no one in family has been forced to pick cotton his entire life while the white man cocked his wife and daughter whenver he chose. That had to hurt, black man picks white cotton while the white man picks black putang…I guess it’s not as bad as it sounds, most people would rather pick cotton than sleep with a full blooded black lady.
how does it feel to be dead last in national IQ test? It’s like your people just got stuck in the evolution process. Sorry man, I’ll let you get back to welfare, liquor stores and “jaccing people”.
WOW! What an awful statement to make about an entire race of people. Why would you take the time to post that? There’s nothing positive that can come from what you’ve posted.
So, I’ll just back up what you’ve had to say with this. Mexicans are todays slave. You guys watch the white mans babies, fix the white mans car, landscape their property, hoe out your mothers,sisters, aunts, cousins, etc…, you pray to the white mans god, you think you are above the black man. Migrant farm workers sleep in huts on the white mans land to pick the white mans harvest and get to keep a little to sell on the side of the road in California. The white man has people like you forgetting that Mexicans are a minority and slowing learning how to live with indoor plumbing.
The white man has you forgetting that you have African blood running through most of you and that your ancestors were also native people and not white.
If you want to put down a race pick that one whose language you speak not the only race that whites are willing to overlook and chose you.
They chose hispanics over blacks, because hispanics do not look for the same career advancement and are willing to work for low wages. Don’t think you’ve got it all figured out- obviously you have no idea.
Postings like you one just made must be the only time you get to feel like you know something about nothing.
LMAO. Even a black person assuming a semblance of education is an ignorant creature. Ok, where do we begin? Slave; One bound in servitude as the property of a person or household. Mexicans are not slaves being they, unlike your ancestors, are not ‘bound in servitude.’ Nice try though. Yes, many do accept low paying jobs, but the alternative is to be dependent on the state. We’ll let you couch dwellers keep that title.
“nothing positive came from that post” …definitely not the response! Yes, we fix the white’s man car so that we can buy our own car. And when it brakes, we fix it to. In fact, we fix anything that breaks in our household. You don’t believe me, go to Home Depot, I’ll give you $5 dollars for every brother you see, and you give me a quarter for every Mexican, who do you think will come out ahead? You know damn well I win this bet. Black people don’t fix shit. I’ve been to the east coast and the black ghettos out there are absolutely disgusting.
“hoe out your mothers, sisters, aunts” ….funny you should say, most hoes are either white or black (same with homeless people), most pimps are black. Not to mention that black females lead in welfare cases. Maybe it’s because many black male adults refuse to accept responsibility. As ugly as black women are, it’s amazing they are being pimped. Show me a pretty black woman who is not mixed with some other race? You can’t, they are all bald headed, and that’s not attractive in our society. Why do you think you males are always trying to get with girls outside their race. So your being pimped, and for obvious reasons.
“you pray to the white man’s god” …and you don’t? There’s a Baptist church on every corner in South Central. Don’t play dumb, you know this! However, I am much more in tune with my ancestors beliefs than you’ll ever be. You wouldn’t know how to survive in the place of your ancestors. I could get by without skipping a beat.
“your ancestors were also native people and not white” yet a few post before you said “Hispanics are people whose ancestors are from spain – not indians” “Hispanics are white” ok, so which is it? What an idiot. LMFAO. For the record, Mexicans are a mixed breed but Mexico has more indigenous people than any other country in the western hemisphere. Mexicans themselves have been classified as an indigenous group because genetically they resemble their Native ancestors as opposed to the pale Spaniards.
“They choose Hispanics over blacks because Hispanics do not look for career advancement” LOL. This is capitalism. Corporations wants ambitious people. If you really believe that, go to your next job interview and act uninterested in career development. You know damn well you won’t get that job. They pick Hispanics because they work hard without complaining. You think I’m lying, go back to those statistics and explain why such a small group of people like yourself is leading the country in WELFARE!!!
We may have all started in Africa, but if you believe that theory, we evolved and you didn’t! People keep looking for the missing link, IT’S YOU!!!
PURO BIG BAD WESTSIDE EIGHTEEN ST BABY WINOS KLICK
SOY ESE LIL VAGO WESTSIDE EIGHTEEN ST FUCK THE REST
THATS RIGHT NIG BAD 18ST GANG FROM TORONTO CANADA 416 AREA B-OWN LOCOS WEST SIDE 18ST BK CK LKK MS1K EW13K ES13K N14K DBK TBK ANY BODY KILLA BTL 18ST RIFA ALL DAY HERE EZ UP TO ALL MY HOMIES AROUND DA WORLD KEEP IT G
BIG BAD EIGHTEEN STREET GANG FROM CANADA TORONTO 416 AREA MSK
B TOWN LOCOS DIECIOCHO ST
FUCK MS MIERDA SECA KILLA
White people call this civilization. Your own kids murder you! Your fathers are mass murderers! You guys commit suicide! You people always have some kind of mental illness and are on antidepressent medication. You people INVENT great weapons to kill other people and travel million miles away to use it on native women and children. Did the native americans come up with such an idea to ruin the world????
The idea of STREET GANGS came from white people. In the 1800’s homeless kids in cities had to band together to survive. In the 1930’s L.A. white people formed gangs so they can carry out their racist hatred on latinos and blacks. Non whites naturally had to form together as protection against racist whites.
All you fools are doing just what the white man wants…Fight and kill each over crumbs, stay uneducated and ignorant while he steals all of your asses blind. You control all those dollars that come off the street, but without control of a common goal to use it for, you’re just pissin’ in the wind. The most ignorant of you bring the rest down to their level because you can’t fake intelligence.
And they claim to have invented everything……..
1st of all I would like to thank all you NETbangers out there who hooked me into reading all the comments but who i really wanna thank is the racial commentators, man you guys have kept me entertained for a couple of hours reading this jibberish. good job guys. now i can go back to a real NETgang, playing my mafia wars – and look – all my energy is filled up. thanx guys