All About Gangs

by Sgt. Louis Savelli, Vice President, East Coast Gang Investigators' Association Mexican gangs have been forming in the United States for over 100 years. On the East Coast, however, Mexican gangs are a recent phenomenon. In the past several years, East Coast cities have experienced an increase in the creation of gangs consisting of Mexican nationals. There are many experts who believe the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA), enacted in 1993, which promised an increase in the national employment rate of Mexico, is partly to blame for the influx of illegal Mexican immigrants into the United States. The doubling of the unemployment rate during 1993 to 1995 and the...

1. LAPD Rampart Scandal Footage, 1999, 42 minutes -discussion with area residents about their perceptions of the LAPD in Rampart division, the 12 police officers that are under investigation and Javier Ovando, a gang member, is released from Salinas Valley Prison after an LAPD officer admitted that he was framed and convicted for a crime that he never committed by imprisoned Officer Rafael Perez. A history of LAPD police corruption from the 1920s to the 1930s is examined. The beating of Ismael Jimenez in the Rampart police station is discussed and LA Mayor and LAPD chief comments about the laws violated by LAPD officers. Nino Durden is also mentioned as a corrupt cop. Alejandro Alonso comments about the LAPD corruption and officer Rafael Perez. Gang injunctions against 18th street are put on hold. 2. Straight From the Streets, 1999, 1 hr 46 minutes A look into LA gang culture, low rider culture from the early 1990s with footage of rappers, gang members and police officers with an em...

1. Police use graffiti to solve gang crime in New York City 1995, 4 minutes The NYPD interpret gang graffiti in New York and gather intelligence from it. 2. Gangs that use bombs as weapons in Southern California, 1996, 2 minutes 3. New York Gang and Drug Problem, 1996, 2 minutes Interview with a youth who was paralyzed from selling drugs on the streets of the Bronx. 4. Path of a Bullet, 1996, 3 minutes Members of the White Fence gang in East Los Angeles talk about surviving bullet wounds. 5. Gangs in Fullerton, 1996, 6 minutes The story of a young gang member murdered in Fullerton who was trying to leave the gang. The family discusses how this individual was making changes as they read from his diary. 6. Trial against the Mexican Mafia begins by the Federal Government, 1996, 2 minutes Footage of Sana, a Mexican-Mafia leader, and clips of gang member meetings, and discussion of the trial against 11 Mexican Mafia members. 7. Footage of gang members being taken i...

1. History of the Crips in Los Angeles, 1999 - 60 minutes A story of the history of Crips in Los Angeles from their beginnings when Raymond Washington first organized Black teen in Los Angeles in 1969 2. Gullymen Posse Jamaican gang in Brooklyn New York, 1996 – 8 minutes The Gullymen (Shower Posse) from Brooklyn New York are under investigation by the FBI for drug dealing and multiple murders. The leader Eric Vassel has fled to Jamaica but the Jamaican authorities are working with the FBI to bring gang leader Vassel, and Desmond Brown into custody. (Tape #33) 3. Asian gangs on the rise in LA County and Southern California, 1996 – 19 minutes Wah Ching and the Asian mafia are discussed between LA County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Buds and Richard Chiang a gang researcher. Also an interview with a Wah Ching gang member. 4. Murder in Watts, 1996 – 2 minutes Innocent elderly woman Viola McKlain killed in Watts by alleged gang members in Watts near the Nickerson Gardens ho...