Vineland Boys is a street gang composed mainly of Hispanic Americans operating in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.
The Vineland Boys gang was founded in North Hollywood, Los Angeles in January 1988 by former members and associates of the 18th Street gang. It was named after Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood where members would play football. In addition to 18th Street, the Vineland Boys also clashed with the Mexican Mafia until the gang's founder Teddy Lopez y Alberto Ruiz was murdered by Mexican Mafia members at a Monterey Park nightclub in 1998. The Vineland boys have since joined the Mexican Mafia-controlled Sureño gang coalition. [1] The gang has approximately 300 members and operates in the San Fernando Valley. [2] The Vineland Boys have formed alliances with Armenian Power and the Abergil Organization. The gang allegedly first teamed up with Abergils in 2000, offering protection and cooperation to the Israeli mafia's ecstasy trafficking ring operating in their territory. [3]
In 2003, members of the Vineland Boyz gang fatally shot Burbank Police Officer Matthew Pavelka. [4] This prompted a massive response where 1,300 federal and local law enforcement members took part in "Operation Silent Night". It resulted in 23 arrests of Vineland Boyz gang members. [4] This case became notorious not only for the long-scale US-Mexico manhunt of Matthew Pavelka's killer, David Garcia (who was a member of the Vineland Boys before his arrest in 2003) but also for revealing the Vineland Boys' ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's largest drug cartel and one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world, as well as revealing the intricate and deep corruption in the city of Burbank with the arrest of former Burbank mayor Stacey Jo Murphy. [5] [6] [7]
On February 13, 2019 the Vineland Boyz gang was targeted again by federal agents. [8] Over three dozen associates were arrested in the raids. [8]
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.
The Tijuana Cartel, formerly also known as the Arellano-Félix Cartel, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the cartel once was described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico". However, since the 2006 Sinaloa Cartel incursion in Baja California and the fall of the Arellano-Félix brothers, the Tijuana Cartel has been reduced to a few cells. In 2016, the organization became known as Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generación and began to align itself under the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, along with Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO) to create an anti-Sinaloa alliance, in which the Jalisco New Generation Cartel heads. This alliance has since dwindled as the Tijuana, Jalisco New Generation, and Sinaloa cartels all now battle each other for trafficking influence in the city of Tijuana and the region of Baja California.
The 18th Street Gang, also known as Eighteen St, Barrio 18, Mara 18, or simply 18 in North America, is a multi-ethnic transnational criminal organization that started as a street gang in Los Angeles. It is one of the largest transnational criminal gangs in Los Angeles, with 30,000-50,000 members between the United States, Mexico, and Central America and is also allied with the Mexican Mafia, another US-based crime organization. A United States Department of Justice report featured the following statement regarding 18th Street and rival gang MS-13, "These two gangs have turned the Central American northern triangle into the area with the highest homicide rate in the world."
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.
Wah Ching is a Chinese American criminal organization and street gang that was founded in San Francisco, California in 1964. The Wah Ching has been involved in crimes including narcotic sales, racketeering, and gambling.
OVS is a Mexican American (Chicano) gang from Ontario, California.
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 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.
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.
The Asian Boyz, also known as ABZ, AB-26, or ABZ Crips, are a street gang based in Southern California. They were founded in the late 1980s to protect Cambodian refugees from other American gangs. According to the FBI, the gang has about 12,000 members, who are predominantly Southeast Asian and especially Cambodian. Many Asian Boyz are also members of the U.S. military, some of whom use their position to traffic drugs. According to the FBI's 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, the Asian Boyz are active in 28 different cities in 14 different states across the U.S.
Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California.
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.
The Logan Heights Gang, also known as Varrio Logan Heights or LH, is a Sureño street gang based in Southeast San Diego.
Playboys 13 Gang, also known by the acronym PBS13, is a predominantly Mexican-American street gang founded in the Los Angeles County, California and extends to areas in South Central Los Angeles and Orange County, California. The gang also goes by the Spanish term "Conejo" which means "rabbit" or Rabbit gang to identify itself. They align themselves with the prison gang known as La EME or the Mexican Mafia, Because of their affiliation with La EME, while in prison, they set aside their rivalry with other Southern California gang members known as Sureños.
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. They are involved in drug smuggling, murder, assault and robbery.