Utah GangsSocial Problems

Soc 1020

Course Objectives

• You will be able to identify gang members based on certain actions and behaviors the individuals exhibit or participate in.

White Supremacy Gangs

• S.A.C. (Soldiers of Aryan Culture) • S.A.W. (Silent Aryan Warriors)• 4R (4th Reich)• KV (Krieger Verwandt)• American Peckerwood• AB (Aryan Brotherhood)• Side ways SAC

S.A.C.Started by Tracy Swena in 1997. In 2004 he was indicted under the RICO act and is currently in Federal custody.

S.A.C.

They follow a military style rank structure that consists of generals, captains, lieutenants, sergeants and soldiers. The gang accepts new members by invitation only from a lieutenant or sergeant, and the recruits earn a position in the organization by completing criminal missions during a six- to 12-month probation period. They call these recruits “probates.”

S.A.C.

Missions oftentimes include orders, issued by the leaders of Soldiers of the Aryan Culture, to “hit” another inmate, A “hit” is usually a violent stabbing or some other form for criminal activity designed to show dominance within and outside of correctional institutions.

Members are required to attack all known sex offenders and snitches. These assaults, as well as attacks on law-enforcement officials, are referred to as “cleaning up the trash.”

S.A.C.

Identifiers

• Elder Futhark runic writings.• Skin head. • Nazi symbols.• 14-88.• White Pride.

S.A.W.

Silent Aryan Warriors began in the Central Utah Correctional Facility in the mid 1990’s.

They have a military style rank structure that consists of a council of five members called “Commanders.” They have Generals, Majors, Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants, Enforcers, Warriors and Probates.

S.A.W.

A person cannot join S.A.W. just because they want to. They must be invited by a member of S.A.W.

During the time that a Probate is earning his SAW Patch he must memorize the 14 words and do whatever is asked of him by other members of S.A.W. with blind obiedience.

S.A.W.

The “14 words” came from a famous white supremacist named David Lane. At the end of his court trial where he was charged and sentenced in a murder conspiracy the Judge asked him if he had anything to say. Lane stood up and said “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Identifiers

• S.A.W. Patch. • Nazi symbols.• Asatru and or Odinism symbols.• 14-88 (14 words and HH for Heil Hitler).• White Pride.• Runic letters

Latino Gangs

• Sureños• Norteños• Ogden Trece• VLT (Vario Loco Town)• QVO

Sureños

• They started in the 1960’s• They are a Mexican street gang that began

from a prison dispute between the Mexican Mafia and their rival gang the Nuestra Familia. They took up with the Mexican Mafia.

• Sureño means “southerner.” Sureños claim the south parts of California.

Sureño Representation

• Because of their history as foot soldiers for the Mexican Mafia or la “Eme” (meaning the letter “M” in Spanish), Sureños claim the letter M in order to represent themselves. They also claim the number 13 as M is the 13th letter of the alphabet.

• They use ancient Aztec symbols to write 13.

Sureño Representation cont.

• They claim the letter “S” for Sureño. They call each other “Ese” which is Spanish for “S”.

• They claim the colors Blue & White and sometimes Brown.

Tattoos & other identifiers

Rivals

• They rival primarily with Norteños. • To disrespect the Norteños the Sureños will

cross out The letter N. Call them “nor-cacas” and “nor-putos.” They will tattoo or write things like “NK” meaning Norteño Killer.

Rivals

• They also rival with a local Utah gang called Ogden Trece. This is due to the fact that the Ogden trece uses the number 13 and did not get the permission to do so from the Sueños.

• Sureños disrespect Ogden trece by crossing out the O in Sureño. When writing it or tattooing it.

Warning!The following video contains content that is extremely vulgar.

Norteño History• Norteños affiliated with Nuestra Familia were prison

enemies of the Southern Latinos who comprised La Eme, better known as the Mexican Mafia. While the Mexican Mafia had initially been created to protect Mexicans in prison, there was a perceived level of abuse by members of La Eme towards the imprisoned Latinos from rural farming areas of Northern California. The spark that led to the ongoing war between Norteños and members of the Mexican Mafia involved a situation in which a member of La Eme allegedly stole a pair of shoes from a Northerner. This event put into motion the longest-running gang war in the state of California.

Norteño Representation

• They claim the color Red. They wear it with black and or white.

• They claim the letter N and the number 14.• They use the roman numeral for 14. • They often wear Red team sports clothing.• They call each other “Ene.”

Tattoos & other identifiers

Rivals• They are primarily rivals with the Sureños.• They call them Scraps and Sur-ratas.• They disrespect them by crossing out the

letter S when they tattoo or write.• They Tattoo and write “SK” for Sureño Killer.

Warning!The following video contains content that is extremely vulgar.

Ogden Trece

• Ogden Trece began in 1974 in Ogden Utah. It was originally called the Ogden Knights. One year after they changed their name to Centro City Locos (CCL) and in the 1980’s they renamed themselves to the Ogden Trece.

• There are less than 500 members listed in the State.

Ogden Trece

They often mark themselves and the property they claim with one or more of the following:

OX13, CCL, Trece, O-town, OG-town, and O-13.They wear the color blue and members prefer

Utah Jazz and Dallas Cowboys jerseys with the number 13 or 31.

VLTVario Loco Town (VLT) Started in the Glendale

area of SLC in the late 1980’s. They claim the color Green and the number 17 for the street (17th st.) where they began. They primarily rival with QVO. They refer to each other as “SPIC” which means Spanish People In Charge.

Glendale 17th st.

QVOQ-vole Varrio Once. Q-vole is Mexican slang for “what’s up” and varrio once means 11th neighborhood. QVO is known as a “Brown Pride” gang. It started on 11th south in SLC. For those two reasons they claim the number 11 and represent with the color brown. There are two groups of QVO. Locotes are the older or original group and Rascals are the younger new generation. QVO mostly rivals with VLT and the Sureños.

Take a Break

5-10 minutes

The Crips and the Bloods

CripsThe Crips began in South Central L.A. in 1969.

They were the result of two different street gangs that united to fight other street gangs. It was and in most cases is predominantly a black gang. They originally wore blue Levi’s and now blue has become the gangs color of choice.

←Founders of the Crips→

Crips Utah’s gang culture has mostly been

influenced by west coast gangs. The Crips are among those west coast influences. Large Crip gangs in the Utah area include Tongan Crip Gang, Lay Low Crips, Sons of Samoa, Tongan Crip Regulators, Tongan Style Gang, Original Laotian Gang, Salt Lake Posse, and others.

Crips Crips typically claim the west side and

represent that by doing what is called “dressing to the left.” They primarily rival with the Bloods. They often dress themselves in sports clothing of blue teams and wear British Knights shoes. They X out the letters B and P when tattooing or writing and they never use the letters C followed by a K.

Bloods The Bloods have been the rival to the Crips

since the 1970’s. The Pirus street gang, originally a set of the Crips broke off during an internal gang war, and allied with other smaller gangs to found the Bloods. Red obviously became the color of choice being that it was opposite from Blue.

Bloods Some of the sets of bloods that are in Utah

are Rose Park Bloods, Piru Original Gangsters, Black Mafia Gangsters, and Kearns Town Bloods just to name a few. They dress to the right and claim the east side. They dress in red team’s sports merchandise. They replace the letter C with a capital B when writing.

The bloods are becoming more popular due to the influence of Lil Wayne.

Bloods The bloods began in Compton California, but

they attracted the attention of East coast and Mid-west gangs who began to form sets of bloods in their own area’s. The bloods of the mid-west area are a sub-set of the “People Nation.” For this reason the bloods claim the number five for the five pointed star that is a symbol for the People Nation. Folks claim a six pointed star and the number six.

Warning!The following video contains content that is extremely vulgar.

Folks & People

The Folk and People Nation are Chicago based gangs. Each has several sets or “mobs” that operate under an umbrella that is the Folk or People Nation.

These two gangs rival in Chicago and now all over the United States and parts of Canada. They both came into existence in the late 1970’s.

The Folk Nation The Folk nation was organized by Larry Hoover

in 1978. They use a six pointed star to identify themselves and dress to the right. They also identify themselves with a three-prong pitchfork. They use the color blue in many cases.

Here in Utah we see Members of the Folk Nation in sets called KMD (King Mafia Disciples), Black Gangster Disciples and Gangster Disciples.

The People Nation

In 1978 the Chicago gangs that did not join the Folk Nation made their own alliance known as the People Nation.

They claim a five pointed star, pyramids and have an up-side down three prong pitchfork. They dress to the left.

There are not many members of the People Nation in Utah. The sets here are the Latin Kings and the Vice Lords.

Juggalos Juggalos are groupies for the rap group called

Insane Clown Posse. In 1994 during an ICP concert one of the rappers referred to the audience as “Juggalos” and the term stuck.

Utah is one of the few States in the Nation that recognizes them as a gang. Juggalos have committed violent crimes together. Utah classifies a gang as a group of three or more that identify themselves by a common name and colors and commit crimes.

Juggalos Many Gang members call each other “Homie.”

Juggalos call each other “Ninja” or “Juggalo” for a male and a “Juggalette” for a female. They have a sub-culture that is not known by many people. It involves a cult like following of youth and young adults. A common symbol used by a Juggalo is the “hatchet man.” Other common symbols are all from ICP record labels such as “Twizted” and “Dark Lotus.”

JuggalosWhen calling out to another Juggalo, they will

often shout out in a high pitch tone “Whoop, whoop.” This is a way to let others know of their presence. This greeting came from an ICP song called “Stomp.” It is said in the song “I say stomp you say 'whoomp whoomp'".

For a hand sign the juggalos make a W and a C for “wicked clown.”

Total Felon Gang Members 3318

Felon Gang Members on Streets 2447Encarcerated Gang Members 871

Male 3178Female 140

Gang Name/Type Members with Felony RecordWhite Supremacist Gangs 714Surenos 705Crips 534Nortenos 261Other 239Ogden Trece 215Bloods 183QVO 127VLT 124Folk Nation 11321st Street Gangsters 39Juggalos 36People Nation 28

The Growing Utah Gang Population

STG Totals

STG Totals

Questions?Questions