Florencia 13

Last updated
Florencia 13
Founded1930s
Founding location Florence, Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active1930s–present
Territory East Phoenix
South Los Angeles
Mexico
Brazil
Netherlands
Canada
Oregon
Colorado
Florida
Hyde park
Washington
Utah
Arizona
Ethnicity Mexican American
Membership (est.)2,000-3,000+ [1] [2]
Activities Drug trafficking, assault, robbery, extortion, arms trafficking, theft, murder, racketeering, illegal gambling, and fraud
Allies Mexican Mafia [3]
Sureños [4]
Pueblo Bishop Bloods
Mad Swan Bloods
Harvard Park Brims
East Coast Crips (Former rivals)
Rivals 18th Street gang [5]
38th Street gang [6]
Grape Street Watts Crips [3]
Watts Varrio Grape Street 13
Hat Gang Watts Crips
Huntington Park Locos
Playboys
East Side 13
South Los 13
Bloods

The Florencia 13, also known as South Side Florencia 13,Florence Gang, F13 is an American criminal street gang based in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Mexican Americans. The gang is named after the Florence area of Los Angeles County, controlled by the Mexican Mafia. [7] They are involved in drug smuggling, murder, assault and robbery.

Contents

History

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, DEA & ATF began targeting Florencia 13 gang members for their roles in racially motivated attacks on African-Americans. [8] Court testimony and the judges ruling found that F13 members had targeted African-Americans based purely on race. [8] At certain times, Florencia 13 leaders ordered killings of the East Coast Crip gang, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. [9] The conflict was triggered by the theft by East Coast Crips of a large amount of drugs from Florencia 13 members. This resulted in the Mexican Mafia putting a “green light” out on the East Coast Crips. [10] On January 13, 2019, two people were shot and wounded outside the Fashion Place Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, after an argument erupted between Florencia 13 and Norteños members. Two male Florencia members, aged 19 and 20, were arrested for involvement in the incident. The two suspects were also charged for a shooting at a group of people at a Taylorsville, Utah cemetery on January 6, which did not harm anyone. [11] On October 6, 2019, four men, ages 20s to 50s, were killed and five injured at KC Tequila, a Hispanic-themed bar and restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas. It was among the deadliest acts of violence in modern Kansas history. The suspects were alleged members of Florencia 13, and are facing murder and attempted murder charges. [12]

Operation Joker’s Wild

Operation Joker's Wild investigated the gang's drug trafficking, extortion of street criminals, and racially based murders of African Americans in the area. The operation involved the Los Angeles High- Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, and the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

In 2007, 102 members of Florencia 13 were listed in indictments, under the operation, leading to the biggest gang raid in American history at the time, with 96 of the 102 members taken into custody. [13] The indictments included charges of drug trafficking, attempted murder, murder, rape and extortion. [13] As of 2009, 94 of the 102 had been convicted or pleaded guilty, 3 had pending trials, 2 had died and 5 were fugitives from justice. The trial further found that the gang was controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang. [8]

Between 2005 and 2014 there was a Southern California style Mexican restaurant at 185 Sullivan Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City named Florencia 13 after the gang. [14] [15]

The Paragon's 1957 song "Florence" is the official theme song of Florencia 13. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican Mafia</span> Mexican American criminal organization

The Mexican Mafia, also known as La eMe, is a predominantly Mexican American prison gang and criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia has no origins in Mexico and is entirely a U.S. organization. Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful gang within the California prison system.

Venice 13 or West Side Venice 13, abbreviated as V13 or VX3, is a Mexican American street gang based in the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice, a section of Los Angeles, California. It has a substantial presence in East Venice as well as the Culver City/Los Angeles border, especially around Washington Blvd.

OVS is a Mexican American (Chicano) gang from Ontario, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crips</span> Street gang from Los Angeles, California

The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips began as an alliance between two autonomous gangs, and developed into a loosely connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another. Its members have traditionally worn blue clothing since around 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">38th Street gang</span> Hispanic-American street gang

The 38th Street Gang is an American criminal street gang in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Hispanic-Americans. The 38th Street Gang is one of the oldest street gangs in Los Angeles and has been occupying its territory since the 1920s. They engage in many criminal activities. The Mexican Mafia controls and routinely uses 38th Street gang members to carry out their orders.

The Ghost Shadows or GSS was a Chinese American street gang that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African American organized crime emerged following the first and second large-scale migrations of African Americans from the Southern United States to major cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and later the West Coast. In many of these newly established communities and neighborhoods, criminal activities such as illegal gambling, speakeasies and were seen in the post-World War I and Prohibition eras. Although the majority of these businesses in African-American neighborhoods were operated by African Americans, it is often unclear the extent to which these operations were run independently of the larger criminal organizations of the time.

<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">Avenues (gang)</span> Mexican-American street gang

The Avenues, also known as Avenidas or AVE's, is a Mexican/Mexican American criminal street gang mostly in Los Angeles County, California. They originally started as a social club for local Latino youths to protect themselves from other violent youths. The Avenues, like most Mexican gangs in Los Angeles, are under the direct control of the Mexican Mafia when sent to State, County, or Federal prisons.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abergil crime family</span> Israeli organized crime group

The Abergil Organization is an Israeli organized crime syndicate that has been active since the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The organization was founded by brothers Yaakov, Avi and Itzhak Abergil, of Moroccan Jewish origin, in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel, in the 1990s. The Abergil Organization is involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and extortion.

The Israeli mafia are the organized crime groups operating in Israel or consisting of Israeli members. There are 16 crime families operating in Israel, five major groups active on the national level and 11 smaller organizations. There are six Jewish crime families active and three Arab crime families. Many heads and members of the crime groups have either been killed or are in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sureños</span> Coalition of Mexican-American street gangs

Sureños ‍, also known as Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3, are groups of loosely affiliated gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities. Many Sureño gangs have rivalries with one another, and the only time this rivalry is set aside is when they enter the prison system. Thus, fighting is common among different Sureño gangs even though they share the same common identity. Sureños have emerged as a national gang in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian Power</span> Armenian-American crime syndicate

Armenian Power 13, also known as AP, the Armenian Mob, or Armenian Mafia is an Armenian criminal organization and street gang founded and currently based in Los Angeles County, California. They are involved in drug trafficking, murder, assault, fraud, identity theft, illegal gambling, kidnapping, racketeering, robbery and extortion. They are believed to have around 200 members and hundreds of associates, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. They are also well known for their connections with the Mexican Mafia.

Gang activity and associated crime is a long-standing concern in Denver, Colorado. The city's street gang activity received statewide attention in 1993 when a "Summer of Violence" increased public awareness of gang-related violence and led the state to enact harsh penalties for crime by juveniles. From 1992 to 1995, Denver had 331 murders: 95 in 1992, 74 in 1993, and 81 each in 1994 and 1995 In 1997 The first Gang to ever be indicted out of Colorado was the West Side Ballerz Posse WSBP a Chicano gang that resided in West Denver & branched off in surrounding Adams county in cities such as Commerce, Thornton, Brighton, and Westminster. In 1996, members of the FBI's Metro Gang Task Force (“MGTF”) were investigating suspected gang-related drug activity in Denver, Colorado. Specifically, MGTF was investigating members of the West Side Ballerz Posse whom it suspected were selling controlled substances and engaging in gang-related violence.   As part of this investigation, a series of wiretaps were authorized in late 1996 against suspected members of this drug conspiracy. Gang-related crime has continued, as shown by the New Year's Day 2007 drive-by shooting of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams by members of the Tre Tre Crips, an East Denver street gang. The Crips in the city have several sub-sets such as Tre Deuce (DOD), Tre Foe, 35 Outlaws and the Tre Tre Gangstas. In 2017, the city's police estimated that there were 38,000 gang members in Denver, affiliated with 220 gangs. The Rollin 30s or Tre Tre Crips still have a powerful presence in the Denver area. In 2017 there were an estimated 2000 Bloods and Crips from Denver. These gangs are in various locations including Five Points, East Denver, Commerce City, Englewood, Aurora, North-East Park Hill and Federal Heights. Crips and Bloods have been commonly sighted almost all over Denver, even in the suburbs outside the city.

Azusa 13 is a street gang based in Azusa in the eastern San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles. Started in the 1960s, it is now one of the most aggressive Sureño street gangs, currently claiming around 400 active members.

El Monte Flores, also known as EMF, is a Mexican-American criminal street gang based in California. It is the largest Hispanic gang in San Gabriel Valley and one of the oldest in Los Angeles County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sons of Samoa</span> Crips-affiliated gang from Long Beach, California

Sons of Samoa is a Crips-affiliated street gang based in Long Beach, California, United States. Its membership mainly consists of Samoan Americans with other Pacific Islander members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongan Crip Gang</span> Tongan-American street gang

The Tongan Crip Gang (TCG) is a Tongan American street gang that is a subgroup, or "set", of the Crips gang alliance. The gang is active in the U.S. states of California, Utah and Alaska and parts of Auckland, New Zealand.

Jose Landa-Rodriguez, also known as "Fox" and "Fox Tapia", is an alleged leader of the Mexican Mafia who is alleged to have run Mexican Mafia operations from inside Los Angeles County jails from 2012–2016. The alleged actions are purported in a May 2018 federal indictment and by prosecutors to have occurred primarily at the Men's Central Jail, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department county jail. It is alleged that Landa-Rodriguez had ordered murders and assaults to occur, for a kidnapping and murder to occur, and that he controlled all drug trafficking in Los Angeles County jails.

References

  1. ↑ "Appendix B. National-Level Street, Prison, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Profiles - Attorney General's Report to Congress on the Growth of Violent Street Gangs in Suburban Areas (UNCLASSIFIED)".
  2. ↑ The Queen of Florencia Sam Quinones, Los Angeles (September 25, 2017)
  3. 1 2 History of the Florence 13 Gang Richard Valdemar, policemag.com (September 12, 2007)
  4. ↑ As those killed at Tequila KC are laid to rest, the suspects possible gang connections KCTV (October 10, 2019)
  5. ↑ 12 Gangs That Are Keeping The FBI Awake At Night Robert Johnson, Business Insider (March 18, 2014)
  6. ↑ Gang rivalry grows into race war Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times (October 18, 2007)
  7. ↑ K. Peach, Stephen. Friendly Fire?: The Good, the Bad and the Corrupt. p. 187.
  8. 1 2 3 "Fifth Gang Member Sentenced to Life Without Parole After Convictions in Massive Federal Racketeering Case".
  9. ↑ Watkins, Thomas. "Some of Gang's Killings Race-Based". The Washington Post .
  10. ↑ Gun Violence in the LAPD 77th Street Area George Tita, Scott Hiromoto, Jeremy Wilson, John Christian and Clifford Grammich, RAND Corporation (January 2004)
  11. ↑ "Gang members charged in Utah mall shooting now charged with cemetery shooting". Deseret News. 26 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "As those killed at Tequila KC are laid to rest, the suspects' possible gang connections emerge".
  13. 1 2 FBI. "Ten Defendants in Largest-Ever Federal Gang Case Found Guilty of Racketeering, Narcotics Charges".
  14. ↑ "Florencia 13 Restaurant". gayot.com. Retrieved 14 Dec 2022.
  15. ↑ "Florencia 13-Sullivan St". Groupon restaurant description. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "Florence 13: The Other Transnational Gang". Police Magazine. 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.