Founded | 1939 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] |
---|---|
Founding location | Boyle Heights, Los Angeles California, United States |
Years active | 1939 – present |
Territory | East and West Los Angeles, Hollywood, Las Vegas, El Paso, Florida, Mexico and Central America |
Ethnicity | Mexican American |
Allies | Mexican Mafia Sureños (some other sets) [6] |
Rivals | All Maravilla sets, Varrio Nuevo Estrada, others flats gangs, Florencia 13 [7] [8] |
White Fence (also known by the acronym WF [9] [10] ) is a predominantly Mexican American street gang in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles.
White Fence is the oldest gang in Los Angeles. The gang itself claims its history goes back as far as 1900, [11] although the gang did not emerge until the 1910s in the form of the all-male sports team associated with the La Purissima Church. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The group was originally referred to as La Purissima Crowd, but gradually changed its name to White Fence, after the white picket fence that surrounded La Purissima Church. The gang's name has also been interpreted as a "symbolic barrier" between the white residents in the area and the Hispanic residents of the neighborhood, at a time when racism plagued the area. During the 1950s and 1960s, White Fence was considered one of the "most violent and powerful gangs in East Los Angeles." [12] [11] The rivalry between the gang and another Hispanic gang, El Hoyo Maravilla, is one of the longest, ongoing feuds in all of Los Angeles, a rivalry going back to the 1930s. [11] [13] White Fence was the first gang in East Los Angeles to use firearms, chains and other dangerous weapons. [14]
White Fence is an old established gang territory in Boyle Heights adjoined to East Los Angeles. [3] [15] [ self-published source ]
East Los Angeles, or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined East Los Angeles as a census-designated place (CDP).
Boyle Heights, historically known as Paredón Blanco, is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, located east of the Los Angeles River. It is one of the city's most notable and historic Chicano/Mexican-American communities and is known as a bastion of Chicano culture, hosting cultural landmarks like Mariachi Plaza and events like the annual Día de los Muertos celebrations.
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.
Lincoln Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was originally called "East Los Angeles" from 1873 to 1917. It is a densely populated, mostly Latino and Asian neighborhood. It includes many historic landmarks and was known as "the Bedroom of the Pueblo".
The Eastside is an urban region in Los Angeles County, California. It includes the Los Angeles City neighborhoods east of the Los Angeles River — that is, Boyle Heights, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights — as well as unincorporated East Los Angeles.
Edward Ross Roybal was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for thirteen years and of the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty years.
The Crips is an alliance of street gangs which is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance between two autonomous gangs; it is now a loosely-connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another. Traditionally, since around 1973, its members have worn blue clothing.
Varrio Nuevo Estrada, also known as VNEx3, is a Chicano criminal street gang founded in Boyle Heights, California, in the Estrada Courts housing projects. VNE is one of 34 gangs in a 15-square-mile area east of downtown Los Angeles.
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.
El Modena is an unincorporated area and neighborhood surrounding El Modena High School and within the city of Orange, California. It is located near and east of the intersection of Hewes Street and Chapman Avenue. Much of the area was annexed by Orange in the 1960s and 1970s, but there are still enclaves of unincorporated county land to the east of the high school. The neighborhood is named after Modena, Italy, plus the Spanish article el.
Judith Francisca Baca is an American artist, activist, and professor of Chicano studies, world arts, and cultures based at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California. Baca is the director of the mural project that created the Great Wall of Los Angeles, which is the largest communal mural project in the world.
Luis Javier Rodriguez is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. He was the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. Rodriguez is recognized as a major figure in contemporary Chicano literature, identifying himself as a native Xicanx writer. His best-known work, Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., received the Carl Sandburg Literary Award and has been controversial on school reading lists for its depictions of gang life.
Sureños , 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 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 short name PBS13, is a predominantly Mexican-American street gang in West Los and East Los Angeles, California. The gang sometimes use the name Conejo or Rabbit gang. They align themselves with the Mexican Mafia, also known as La eme, while in prison and set aside their rivalry with other Sureño gangs.
The 1990 United States Census and 2000 United States Census found that non-Hispanic whites were becoming a minority in Los Angeles. Estimates for the 2010 United States Census results find Latinos to be approximately half (47-49%) of the city's population, growing from 40% in 2000 and 30-35% in 1990 census.
The Phillips Music Company, situated at 2455 Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, opened in 1935 and closed in 1989. The store was run by musician William "Bill" Phillips, who was born in 1910 as William Isaacs. It was a store of many parts: it sold records, sheet music, an assortment of instruments, radios, televisions, electronic appliances, phonographs, and even sporting goods at one point in time. Apart from commerce, the store brought music to a community populated with Japanese, Mexican, and Jewish Americans. The store introduced its own soundtrack to a world not yet familiar with multiculturalism. This introduction allowed the outside community to create their own music, introducing a homogeneous world to multiculturalism over the airwaves.