| Founded | 1978 [1] |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Folsom State Prison, California, United States [2] |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Territory | Southwestern United States [3] |
| Ethnicity | Mexican American [3] |
| Membership (est.) | 1,300+ [3] |
| Activities | Drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, gambling, and contract murder [1] |
| Allies | Dirty White Boys [2] Gulf Cartel [3] Texas Mafia [2] |
| Rivals | Aryan Brotherhood [2] Nuestra Familia [2] Mexican Mafia [2] Mexikanemi [2] Tango Blast [1] |
The Texas Syndicate (Spanish: Sindicato Tejano) is a mostly Texas-based street and prison gang consisting of predominantly Mexican American membership. The Texas Syndicate, unlike the Mexican Mafia or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners. [4] [5]
The Texas Syndicate was established at Folsom State Prison in California in 1978 in direct response to the other California prison gangs, notably the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, which were attempting to prey on native Texas inmates. [2] The Syndicate is the oldest Texan prison gang. [1] The Texas Syndicate has approximately 1,300 members, the majority of whom are Mexican American males aged between 20 and 40. [3] While the gangs maintains its headquarters in California, there are around 1,000 members in prisons and jails throughout Texas, with many others operating on the outside. The Texas Syndicate also operates in state and federal prisons across the United States, with significant activity being reported at FCI Oakdale in Louisiana and San Quentin State Prison in California, as well as some representation in the Florida Department of Corrections. [2] As a street gang, heavy activity has been reported in Austin, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and the Dallas Fort Worth area in Texas. [1]
Development of the Texas Syndicate was initially motivated by self-protection against the historical "building tenders" in prison. After building tenders disappeared due to a court order, the Syndicate's activities turned to drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, protection, illegal gambling, and contract killing. Released or parole members who generate money for the gang must surrender a 10% tax ("the dime") of all proceeds toward the Texas Syndicate in prison. [1] Gang members smuggle multikilogram-quantities of powdered cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, and multiton-quantities of marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. for distribution inside and outside prison. Gang members have a direct working relationship with associates and/or members of the Gulf Cartel. [3] Syndicate members have been known to carry out contract killings for Los Zetas. [6]
TS has a paramilitary structure, headed by a president and vice president elected by the general membership. Prison units are individually controlled by a local chairman and vice chairman. Beneath them in the gang hierarchy are captains, lieutenants, sergeants of arms, and numerous soldiers. [1]
The history of the group and documented acts of violence in other jurisdictions warrant their certification as a Security Threat Group. Receipt of inmates on interstate compact and the current membership in groups with Hispanic and Latino supremacy ideology lend to the threat of an organizing TS within our facilities. The main activities of the TS are centered on drug trafficking, extortion, protection rackets, and internal discipline and contract murdering. [2]
Texas Syndicate members abide by a constitution requiring members to: [1]
Additionally, gang leadership is determined by democratic elections, requiring a unanimous decision. Recruitment is conducted through social ties and involves a background check to screen for informants. [1]
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior, with such behavior often constituting a form of organized crime.
The Aryan Brotherhood is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate that is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has characterized it as "the nation's oldest major white supremacist prison gang and a national crime syndicate" while the Anti-Defamation League calls it the "oldest and most notorious racist prison gang in the United States". According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Aryan Brotherhood makes up an extremely low percentage of the entire US prison population, but it is responsible for a disproportionately large number of prison murders.
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A drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the illegal drug trade and maintaining prices at a high level. The formations of drug cartels are common in Latin American countries. Rivalries between multiple drug cartels cause them to wage turf wars against each other.
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Barrio Azteca, or Los Aztecas, is a Mexican-American street and prison gang originally based in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The gang was formed in the Coffield Unit, located near Tennessee Colony, Texas by Jose "Raulio" Rivera, a prisoner from El Paso, in the early 1980s. It expanded into a transnational criminal organization that traded mainly across the US-Mexico border. Currently one of the most violent gangs in the United States, they are said to have over 3,000 members across the country in locations such as New Mexico, Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as well as at least 5,000 members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
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