Latin Counts

Last updated
Latin Counts
Founded1955;68 years ago (1955)
Named afterPolish Counts gang
Founding location Pilsen, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Territory McKinley Park and South Deering, Chicago; Southwest Detroit, Lincoln Park and Ecorse, Michigan
Ethnicity Mexican-American
Leader(s)Isidro Garza, Victor Vasquez, Benjamin Beightol
ActivitiesDrug activity, racketeering, murder
Allies People Nation
Rivals Folk Nation

The Latin Counts is a Latino street gang based in Chicago, Illinois with a significant branch in Detroit, Michigan. It is a member of the People Nation alliance.

Contents

History

The gang was founded in 1955 by Mexican youth who lived in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The original gang members were all related to one another. They named their gang the Texans in homage to the state they originally lived in. The name was changed two years later to Sons of Mexico City to better reflect their ethnic heritage. The name was changed again in 1959 to Latin Counts, inspired by the Polish Counts gang that operated in the nearby Back of the Yards community. During the 1960s, the Counts came into conflict with other gangs in the Pilsen area such as the Latin Kings, the Satan Disciples and Ambrose. In 1970, a faction broke off from the gang to be named the Bishops, who retained good relations with the Counts due to their sharing of the same bloodlines. Their alliance, known as the Bishop Count Nation, would falter in the 1990s.

In 1978, the Counts were invited to join the People Nation, a gang alliance formed in the Pontiac Correctional Center. This enabled the Counts to enter a truce with the allied Latin Kings, but street-level conflict continued between the two gangs until the 1980s. Starting in 1980, the Counts began to expand their operations to the South Chicago and South Deering neighborhoods, and in the mid-1980s they expanded to Cicero, Illinois and Southwest Detroit. In 1991, a full-scale shooting war erupted with the Latin Kings over turf in Cicero that pitted all Counts and Kings against each other nationwide. [1]

Insignia

The Latin Counts' symbol consists of a depiction of Count Dracula, a knight's helmet, and a sword with five slashes above it. The helmet was inspired by the image on the Knight brand matchbox. Their colors are black and red. [1]

Territory

The Latin Counts gang operates in the Chicago area, including the Pilsen, South Deering, McKinley Park, South Chicago and Cicero communities. [1] Its territory has expanded to include Southwest Detroit, Michigan, and the suburbs of Lincoln Park and Ecorse. [2] [3]

Activities

The Latin Counts' main criminal activity involves drug activity and racketeering. [4] Gang members have also been involved in selling stolen weapons, assaults and murders. [3]

Leadership

Isidro Garza led the gang while incarcerated in the Michigan Department of Corrections, where he was already serving 25-50 years for a 1993 gang-related homicide. He was sentenced in federal court to an additional ten years in prison. [5] In June 2017, gang leader Victor Vasquez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. [3] Benjamin Beightol, the gang's Minister of Information who disseminated Garza's instructions to lower ranking gang members, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges on January 29, 2018, and faced ten years in prison. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin Kings (gang)</span> Hispanic and Latino street gang based in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is one of the largest Caribbean and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gangster Disciples</span> American Street Gang

The Gangster Disciple Nation, also known as Growth & Development, are an African American street and prison gang which was formed in 1969 by Larry Hoover and David Barksdale. The two rival gangsters united together to form the Black Gangster Disciple Nation (BGDN). Since 1989, after a decline in leadership caused friction between the two gangs, the BGDN has divided into different factions known today as the Gangster Disciple Nation and the other being the Black Disciple Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Outfit</span> Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Outfit is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, that originated in the city's South Side in 1910. It is part of the larger Italian-American Mafia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ADX Florence</span> Federal supermax prison located in Fremont County, Colorado, US

The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, commonly known as ADX Florence or Supermax, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ADX Florence, constructed in 1994 and opened one year later, is classed as a supermax or "control unit" prison, that provides a higher, more controlled level of custody than a maximum security prison. ADX Florence forms part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security, including the adjacent United States Penitentiary, Florence High.

The NETA Association is the name of a gang that began in the Puerto Rico prison system and spread to the United States mainland. Although Puerto Rico has many small street gangs claiming its poorer neighborhoods, NETAS is by far the largest and most dominant, controlling the illegal drug trade in the island's prison system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Hoover</span> American former gang-leader (born 1950)

Larry Hoover is an American former mobster and gang kingpin. He is the founder of the Chicago street gang, the Gangster Disciples.

Omar Portee, also known as "O.G. Mack", is an American gang leader, known for founding the United Blood Nation gang while serving a prison sentence at Rikers Island, New York, in 1993.

The Simon City Royals, also known as the Almighty Simon City Royal Nation, are a street and prison gang which began in Chicago during 1952 as Simon City, a greaser gang. They named themselves for Simons Park, which is located on the corner of Drake and Wabansia in the Humboldt Park neighborhood where they originally formed. The Royals are one of the oldest and largest white gangs in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Felipe (gang leader)</span> Former gang leader incarcerated in a US federal prison

Luis Felipe, also known as "King Blood", is a Cuban-American former gang leader and is the founder of the New York chapter of the Latin Kings (ALKN) street gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Complex, Butner</span> Federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, US

The Federal Correctional Complex, Butner is a United States federal prison complex for men near Butner, North Carolina. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. FCC Butner is about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the state capital. It includes the Bureau's largest medical complex, which operates a drug treatment program and specializes in oncology and behavioral science. Among its inmates was Bernie Madoff, who was convicted for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He died at the prison in April 2021.

Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo is the former acting boss of the Genovese crime family, the biggest of New York's Five Mafia families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gangs in the United States</span> US criminal groups or organizations

Approximately 1.4 million people in the United States were part of gangs as of 2011, and more than 33,000 gangs were active in the country. These include national street gangs, local street gangs, prison gangs, outlaw motorcycle clubs, and ethnic and organized crime gangs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazi Lowriders</span> White supremacist gang

The Nazi Lowriders, also known as NLR or the Ride, are a Neo-Nazi, White supremacist organized crime syndicate, and prison and street gang in the United States. Based primarily in Southern California, the gang is allied with the larger Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia gangs, and fellow peckerwood gang Public Enemy No. 1. The Nazi Lowriders operate both in and outside of prison.

The United Blood Nation, also known as the East Coast Bloods, is a street and prison gang active primarily in the New York metropolitan area. It is the east coast faction of the California-based Bloods street gang. Their main source of income is the trafficking and sale of illegal drugs.

The Maniac Latin Disciples Nation is a Hispanic street gang in Chicago and one of the largest in the Folks Nation alliance. Originally known as the Latin Scorpions, the gang was founded by Albert "Hitler" Hernandez and other Puerto Rican teenagers in the Humboldt Park community in approximately 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Sarno</span> American mobster

Michael Sarno is an American mobster who has been identified as the alleged, current leader of the Cicero street crew, in the Chicago Outfit criminal organization. On February 8, 2012, Sarno was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of racketeering.

The Spanish Cobras is a primarily, but not exclusively, Latino street gang started by Puerto Rican teenagers during the late 1950s on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The Insane Spanish Cobra Nation are members of the Folks alliance, sworn enemies of all People gangs, and considered the second-largest Latino Folk mob on the north and west side, with the Maniac Latin Disciples being the first.

The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) are a violent set of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coast of the United States.

Los Solidos is a street gang started in the early 1990s and based in Hartford, Connecticut. The gang also operates in other northeastern cities e.g. Springfield, Massachusetts.

The trial of the Nine Trey Gangsters was a criminal case against eleven alleged members and associates of the street gang Nine Trey Gangsters. The case is notable for its inclusion of rapper 6ix9ine, real name Daniel Hernandez, and his associate Kifano "Shotti" Jordan as defendants.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Latin Counts", Chicago Gang History. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  2. Staff. (April 27, 2018) "Six Suspected Members of 'Latin Counts' Gang Indicted on Federal Charges", wwjnewsradio.radio.com. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Hutchinson, Derick (June 2, 2017) "Lengthy Sentences Given to Members of Latin Counts, Vice Lords Detroit Street Gangs", clickondetroit.com. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  4. Cross, Lauren (March 4, 2019) "Man Tied to Sweeping Latin Counts Racketeering and Drug Case is Going to Prison", nwi.com. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  5. 1 2 Ainsworth, Amber (April 10, 2018) "Final Detroit's Latin Counts Street Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy", clickondetroit.com. Retrieved September 29, 2019.