California's Most Violent Export
by Investigator Al Valdez
Orange County District Attorney's Office

California has experienced street gang problems for more than 70 years.  Professionals who work with Hispanic street gangs should take the time to examine street gang history.  Many current gang activities and rivalries can be traced back to the origins of specific gangs.  One gang which particularly warrants study is the 18th Street gang.  Because of its growth and recruitment patterns from the 1960s until present, the 18th Street gang is one of the largest, most well-known Hispanic street gangs in the nation. 

18th Street has extended its reach well beyond the Los Angeles area, and expanded into many other states, Mexico, and Canada during the 1990s.  Law enforcement officers have encountered 18th Street members in central and northern California, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, and on Native American lands.  The membership of 18th Street in California alone is estimated by law enforcement officers at more than 30,000.  Intelligence information indicates that there may be as many as 30 different subsets/cliques of 18th Street in California.  This huge membership is the result of a massive 18th Street recruitment program in the early 1990s, which also resulted in the expansion of 18th Street to many western and Midwestern states. 

HISTORY
The 18th Street gang was formed in the 1960s.  According to Sergeant Richard Valdemar, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the 18th Street gang had its origins in racial prejudice.  During the 1960s, the Clanton Street gang, a well-established Hispanic street gang, was in its second generation.  Youth in the local neighborhood wanted to join the gang, but the membership of Clanton Street was limited to those youth who were American citizens from a pure Hispanic background.  Youth who were undocumented immigrants or of mixed ancestry were not allowed to join the gang.  Although turned away by Clanton Street, these juveniles still participated in criminal activities.  Like many young juvenile offenders, they were arrested and sent to juvenile detention facilities.  While in these facilities, their membership to Clanton Street was denied.  As a result, these youth from the Clanton Street neighborhood formed their own gang.  A young man, nicknamed "Glover," was in a detention facility, and started to recruit mixed-race youth to form a gang.  These youth were the original members of 18th Street.  According to Sergeant Valdemar, the young man who started the Clanton Street Throw-aways lived on 18th Street, just four blocks away from the Clanton Street gang.  The new gang adopted the name of his street.  This street was located an area now known as the Rampart section of Los Angeles.

The 18th Street gang was the first Hispanic gang to break the racial membership barrier.  This willingness to step across racial lines allowed rapid and unchecked growth in the gang's membership, which was largely composed of immigrants and multi-racial youths.  18th Street also recruited heavily from the populations of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Mexico and South/Central America.  Although primarily composed of Hispanics, some cliques of 18th Street have recruited African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, and Native Americans.  Some tagger crews who operated within 18th Street territory were also actively recruited, but only if the crews had a reputation for violence.  For example, West Side 18th Street "jumped in" 50 members of a tagger crew known as KWS, Kings With Style.  KWS members were known by law enforcement to be involved in robbery, assaults, drive-by shootings, and murder.

Uniquely, the 18th Street gang members, though primarily turf-oriented, also travel to other areas and states for membership recruitment and illegal activities.  This tendency to travel explains 18th Street's wide-scale presence in many different states.  However, while 18th Street members have dispersed the gang through relocation and targeted recruitment, the overall research on gangs still supports the idea that most gangs are indigenous to their areas of origination.  Very few gangs send members out of state to recruit new members and to establish new cliques or sets of their gang.  The 18th Street gang was the first Hispanic street gang to do this.  Law enforcement intelligence supports the assumption that some of these recruits have been sent out with a specific purpose.  At one time, intelligence indicated that "tagger crews" that were jumped in to 18th Street became "tax" collectors, enforcers, and narcotics distributors.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
Like most gangs, 18th Street is involved in many types of criminal activities, including auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, drug sales, arms trafficking, extortion, rape, murder for hire, and murder.  National and international drug trafficking seems to be 18th Street's main criminal activity.  Intelligence indicates that 18th street has established ties with the Mexican and Columbian drug cartels, which has impacted the Southwest border states in particular.  Because of the large amount of drugs which 18th Street distributes and sells, the gang also has ties to the Mexican Mafia prison gang and many black street gangs.  The connection between 18th Street and drug activity appears strong.  Members 18th Street may also conceal their membership status, which may make prosecuting 18th Street drug cases more difficult. This gang also has been known to market "rock" cocaine, marijuana, tar heroin, and methamphetamine.  As the methamphetamine market continues to expand across the United States, it can be expected that 18th Street's street presence will similarly expand, leading to encounters with 18th Street in areas of the U.S. which have not previously seen this gang.

Tax collection is another area of criminal activity where 18th Street is well established.  Typically, in an area that is claimed as territory by 18th Street, gang members will collect a tax from any business:  legitimate or criminal.  The potential taxpayers include street vendors, shop owners, prostitutes, and drug dealers, as well as the businesses which exist in the neighborhood.  Members of 18th Street then threaten to kill any individual who refuses to pay the tax.  In 1994 alone, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office prosecuted 30 murders that were the result of hits made by 18th Street gang members for failure to pay taxes.

As law enforcement puts pressure on the drug and violent criminal activities, some 18th Street gang members have become involved in non-violent criminal enterprises such as creating fraudulent Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) identification cards, immigration papers, credit cards, bus passes, and even food stamps.  The gang was once active in the cellular telephone cloning market, but this activity is on the decline due to the introduction of digital cellular telephone service.

CHARACTERISTICS
Members of 18th Street frequently adorn their bodies with tattoos.  The most common tattoo is that of the number 18 (XVIII).  The tattoos can be located anywhere on the body, and some members will cover their entire body with 18th Street tattoos, including placing an 18 on their foreheads or above their eyebrows.  The number "666" can also be used to represent 18th Street.  The tattoos also might indicate the clique of 18th Street to which the individual belongs.

18th Street gang members wear many types of clothing.  The colors most often seen are brown or black pants and a white T-shirt.  Some 18th Street gang members also wear clothing from professional sports teams.  The presence of 18th Street in a new community is usually discovered when graffiti appears.  18th Street uses graffiti to mark their turf, in the same manner used by most traditional Hispanic street gangs.

TRENDS
Some cliques of 18th Street have access to their own arsenal of weapons.  Therefore, many law enforcement officers consider 18th Street gang members to be armed and dangerous during every encounter.  Some 18th Street gang members in Los Angeles have access to automatic weapons, including Tech 9s, Mac 10s, Mac 11s, and AK-47s.  It is common for 18th Street gang members to be armed with .25 and .380 caliber handguns, so caution should be used during field contacts.  The 18th Street gang, as a whole, has a reputation for being extremely violent and ruthless.  The possession and use of firearms only adds to this reputation.

Some cliques of 18th Street seem to be evolving to a higher level of sophistication and organization.  This is probably due to connections the gang has maintained with the Mexican and Columbian drug cartels. Law enforcement projections and intelligence indicate that 18th Street gang membership will continue to grow, especially outside of California as new drug markets are established.  The gang's propensity for violence is also expected to increase.

18th Street is often referred to as the "Children's Army" due to its recruitment of elementary and middle-school aged youth.  The gang specializes in early indoctrination to the rules of the gang with these young members, who are told that leaving the gang will result in their death or the deaths of their loved ones.  Thus, the gang's influence on its members is profound.  One mother, during interviews with criminal justice professionals working with her young son, stated: "A boss from 18th Street calls my son and tells him what to do."  Her son, a juvenile, had tattooed the number 18 on his forehead.  She further stated:  "Los Angeles gang members are not like [other] gang members.  [The Los Angeles gang members] are more ruthless, commit more murders, deal more drugs."  Her son told his probation officer:  "I cannot avoid associations with other 18th Street gang members because they call me all the time, and if I don't go with them, they will say I am a ranker.  There are rules you have to follow.  There is only one way out, and that's in a body bag." 

Al Valdez is currently employed as a District Attorney Investigator for Orange County, California.  Valdez has a total of 21 years of experience with a special emphasis on narcotic and gang investigations and prosecutions.  Currently, he is assigned to the North County T.A.R.G.E.T. (Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team) Gang Unit for Orange County.

Copyright ) 2000 Al Valdez.  All rights reserved.

From the NAGIA web site at: http://www.nagia.org/18th_street.htm