Mexican Mafia

The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: Mafia Mexicana), also known as La eMe (Spanish for "the M"), is a powerful and highly organized Mexican-American criminal organization and organized crime syndicate in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely a U.S. criminal prison organization. Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful prison gang in the world.Harris, D. (2004). Gangland: The growing gang epidemic in America's cities. Oakland, TN: Holy Fire Publishing, . 
U.S. Government officials state that there are currently 6,000 official members of the Mexican Mafia with tens of thousands of hitmen and associates within prison and an estimate of more than 100,000 foot soldiers who also carry out its illegal activities on the streets in the hopes of becoming full members. The Mexican Mafia has immense reach and influence into every Hispanic street gang in Southern California and most Hispanic street gangs in America are controlled by the Mexican Mafia, including the notoriously brutal MS-13 and 18th Street Gang who are also under the Mexican Mafia's control. The U.S. Government considers the Mexican Mafia to be "among the most powerful, dangerous and feared criminal organizations in the world", and even considers La Eme to be more dangerous and at least as powerful as any Mexican drug cartel.United States v. Shryock, 342 F.3d 948 (9th Cir. (2003), cert. denied, 124 S. Ct. 1729 and 1736 (2004) The FBI has reported that the Mexican Mafia vastly outnumbers every drug cartel in Mexico combined due to their massive network of over 100,000 hit men, foot soldiers and their complete control of hundreds of Hispanic street gangs in America, including the largest and deadliest Hispanic street gangs such as, MS-13’s, 18th street gang, Logan Heights gang, 38th street gang, Avenues, Florencio 13, Tiny Rascal gang, and Sureños are all under the Mexican Mafia’s control. The Mexican Mafia are said to be so dangerous that even the Mexican drug cartels give them a wide berth and has been eager not to go to war with them in the past, and proved to be more than a match against the Los Zetas, being able to fight them off enough to the point where the Los Zetas leaders wanted a truce and work together. The Mexican Mafia has had strong alliance and business relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel since 2003, they have worked together in drug trafficking and gun running operations, and the Mexican Mafia has hired Sinaloa Cartel assassins as muscle for contract killings, and vice versa, the Sinaloa Cartel has also hired the Mexican Mafia for contract killing, assassinations and extra manpower.
==Culture==
Law enforcement believes that La eMe presently is not presided over by a single leader. Like the Italian-American Mafia, the Mexican Mafia is controlled by a “commission” or a board of directors. There are eight Mexican Mafia leaders who control the entire organization and have the authority to order murders, wars, assaults, bombings, kidnappings, settle grievances and disputes, divide money, and oversee various other criminal activities. The eight leaders have to take a vote to make any decisions and must be unanimous. They have 6,000 made members and over 100,000 foot soldiers, including hundreds of Hispanic street gangs under their control that help carry out those orders and have the control of all Sureño gang members, including the notoriously brutal and much-feared Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13’s). Members are expected to engage in weekly training to keep them in shape, mentally tough and physically strong, they must go through weekly SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), brutal exercises, power lifting, and hand-to-hand combat training, and tests of their loyalty to the Mexican Mafia, which may include theft, assault, or murder. The penalty for refusing orders or failing to complete an assigned task is often death. According to the gang's constitution, members may also be punished or murdered if they commit any of the following major infractions. These include becoming an informant, harming children, rape of a woman or child, child molestation, interacting with pedophiles, rapists, rival gangs, snitches, or police, acts of homosexuality, acts of cowardice, raising your hand or harming a fellow member, not showing up to your appointment with your leader or higher-up, and defying or showing disrespect against leaders, higher-ups, or fellow gang members. According to gang policy, a member of the Mexican Mafia may not be murdered without prior approval by a vote of the eight leaders of La Eme, yet the murder of non-members requires no formal approval. Anybody who harms a member without approval from the leaders will be killed slowly. Membership is for life, no exceptions, the only way out is death. There are only two ways of becoming a full-fledged made member of La Eme, either your a great money-maker for the organization or your great at killing people for the organization, you have to be one of the other, but all members must kill for the organization.
During the early 1960s at San Quentin Prison, Luis "Huero Buff" Flores and Rudy "Cheyenne" Cadena established a blood oath for members of the Mexican Mafia. Prior to the establishment of the oath, members of the Mexican Mafia were allowed to return to their street gangs after incarceration. The new oath stipulated that the only way for a member to leave the Mexican Mafia was to be killed. Flores and Cadena also established a set of gang commandments. These included policies such as: a new member must be sponsored by an existing member, unanimous approval from all existing members to join (no longer policy), prioritizing the gang over one's family, denial of the existence of the Mexican Mafia to law enforcement or non-members, respect of other members, and forgiving street conflicts which existed before incarceration. Execution of a member of the gang for policy violation must be committed by the gang member who sponsored him. La Eme has a blood-in, blood-out Murder or drawing of blood is a prerequisite for membership and anyone trying to get out will be killed.
===Rules===
The rules of conduct are:
# A member may not be an informant.
# A member may not be a coward.
# A member must never betray a fellow member, leader, or the organization
# A member must kill anyone who crosses the organization
# A member must be mentally and physically tough and strong
#A member must be a good money-maker for the organization, and must kill for the organization.
# A member must be able to commit violence and murder without hesitation
#A member must be a stone-cold killer
#A member must never show disrespect, defy, disobey, embarrass, or question a higher-up or leader
#A member must be on call to faithfully serve the organization 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
#A member must be willing to do absolutely anything and everything for the leader and organization
#A member must regularly prove their loyalty, dedication and worthiness to the leader and organization.
#A member must faithfully follow absolutely all of the rules and codes of conduct until death.
#A member must never break any rule or code of conduct of La Eme.
#A member must always show up for meetings and appointments, even if your wife is about to give birth or your mother or father is on their deathbeds.
# A member must never show fear
# A member must look out for another members family when incarcerated.
# A member must never talk about business, secrets, criminal activities, or the organization to non-members.
# children under 16 years old are innocent and must never be harmed.
# harming, killing, abusing, raping, or molesting children is punishable by death, no exceptions.
# committing rape is punishable by death, no exceptions.
#A member must respect elderly people
#Killing a pregnant woman is punishable by death, no exceptions.
# committing homosexuality is punishable by death, no exceptions.
# committing child molestation is punishable by death, no exceptions.
# harming a baby is punishable by a slow death, no exceptions.
# A member must be willing to help a member and a members family with financial support if needed.
# A member must always obey higher-ups and leaders, and must never question their authority. 
# disobedience is punishable by death, no exceptions.
# A member must be blindly loyal, faithful and devoted to the higher-ups, leaders and the organization.
# A member must not intentionally harm an innocent civilian.
# A member must be ruthless, and must be capable of committing murder and violence without hesitation.
#A member must have a valid reason for killing a woman, such as stealing from the organization or killing a member or killing a members family member. Killing pregnant women is forbidden.
# A member must be a fighter, warrior, and survivor.
# A member must train five times a week in combat and hand-to-hand combat, and martial arts.
# A member must fight til the end for the organization
# A member must be completely loyal to the organization and their fellow members
# A member will remain a member til death. The only way out of La Eme is death no exceptions.
# A member must always do anything and everything they are ordered to do by the La Eme higher-ups and leaders.
# A member may not ever associate with informants, cops, rapists, traitors, rivals, pedophiles, sex offenders, child abusers, or child killers
# A member may not raise a hand against another member without approval from the higher-ups and leaders.
# A member must not show disrespect for any member's family, including sex with another member's wife, mistress, or girlfriend.
# A member must not steal from another member.
# A member may not be a homosexual, sex offender, child killer, child abuser, child molester, or rapist.
# A member must not politic against another member or cause dissension within the organization.
# Membership is for life, the only way out is death.
# Retaliation must be carried out if anyone crosses La eMe, no exceptions.
#A member must never interfere with another members business or operations.
# Vendetta must be carried out, even if it takes months, years, or decades, and must never be forgotten.
# Anyone who crosses the organization must be killed
# If a member of La eMe gets harmed or killed by someone else such as another criminal gang, drug cartel, civilian, law enforcement, FBI, even if it’s the president of the United States himself retaliation must be immediate, and must be ruthless, brutal and absolute.
# A member must never quit, retreat or surrender from war or battle against another criminal gang, or even police.
# A member must be willing to die for the organization
# A member must never show any cowardice, such as begging for your life, backing down from a fight, retreating, spilling secrets about the organization, or surrendering.
# A member must be willing to kill or die for a fellow brother
# It's mandatory to assault/kill all dropouts and traitors.
# La eMe always comes first. Even before your own family, children, religion and god.
# A member must never harm children.
# A member must always treat another brothers family with respect and kindness.
# A member must always protect another fellow brother from harm.
# A member must treat another fellow member like a brother.
#A member must love, respect and protect fellow brothers, higher-ups and leaders. A member must treat fellow members as family, and always help them and have their back if needed.
#A member must never turn their backs on a fellow brother, and never deny them help such as money, clothes, guns, shoes, place to stay, or food.
===Allies and rivals===
The Mexican Mafia is the controlling organization for almost every Hispanic street gang in Southern California, and even control many Hispanic street gangs around the United States, and some gangs located in Central and Northern California, with their vassal gangs being called Sureños. Members of almost all Hispanic gangs in Southern California are obliged under the threat of death to carry out any and all orders from made Mexican Mafia members. The Mexican Mafia also holds a loose alliance with the Aryan Brotherhood, mainly due to their common rivals within the prison system.Abadinsky, H. (2010). Organized crime. (9th ed., p. 189-190). Belmont, CA: Wadesworth Publishing.
The primary rivals of the Mexican Mafia are Nuestra Familia. The Mexican Mafia is also a rival of the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang, which holds a loose alliance with La Nuestra Familia. Bloods and Crips are the new enemies. From early 2010 to 2012, The Mexican Mafia and Los Zetas engaged in a bloody and brutal war against each other over turf and drug territories, and conflict between both organizations staggered on with tit-for-tat retaliations and murders, and there were many drive-by shootings, bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and shoot outs against each other. It was said by the FBI that the Mexican Mafia was clearly winning the war by killing countless members of Los Zetas and bombing dozens of their drug labs. In mid-2012, The Mexican Mafia bombed 13 of Los Zetas drug labs, killing 21 members of Los Zetas. Los Zetas retaliated by kidnapping three high-ranking Mexican Mafia members and beheading and dismembering them. The war went on for another three months until both sides agreed to end the war and make peace. The causalities from the war on both sides was fairly large, with 50 to 60 Los Zetas deaths and 20 to 40 Mexican Mafia deaths, including dozens of bombings of houses, drug labs, stores, restaurants, vehicles, and hang-outs on both sides. 
===Symbols===
Mexican Mafia symbols include images of a black hand. The gang's primary symbol, which is often used in tattoos by members, is the national symbol of Mexico (eagle and a snake) atop a flaming circle over crossed knives. Street gangs that are aligned with the Mexican Mafia often use the number 13 as a gang identifier, as the letter "M" is the 13th letter of the modern Latin-derived alphabet.
==Criminal activities==
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mexican Mafia had arranged for contract killings to be carried out by the Aryan Brotherhood, a white prison gang. The Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood are mutual enemies of the Norteños and the African-American gangs Black Guerrilla Family and D.C. Blacks.Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Inestivation. (n.d.). Aryan brotherhood. Retrieved from website: http://foia2.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/aryanbro/aryanbro1.pdf Even though homosexuals are barred from entry into La eMe, they are engaged heavily in homosexual prostitution in the prison system.Lawrence, E. F. U.S. Government Accountability Office, (2010). Combating gangs: Federal agencies have implemented a gang strategy, but could strengthen oversight and measurement of efforts (GAO-10-395). Retrieved from website: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-395 Many of the street level homicides in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles committed by the Avenues gang were done on orders issued by the Mexican Mafia.
The Mexican Mafia is involved in a variety of criminal activities both inside and outside the prison system, but its main source of income is extorting drug distributors outside prison and distributing various narcotics within and outside the prison system. In 1992, an example of La Eme's influence and power over Sureños was made clear to law enforcement. Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, a prominent Mexican Mafia leader, ordered that no more drive-by shootings and violence were to take place by Sureños. Between April, when the edict was announced, and September 1992 there were no drive-by shootings in East Los Angeles, an area that was notorious for violence and drive-bys.
===1970s===
The first murder outside of prison that was ordered by La eMe occurred in 1971 when Mexican Mafia member Alfonso "Pachie" Alvarez was found shot twice in the head in a secluded area of Monterey Park. His offense: collecting taxes on narcotics dealers without kicking up the profits to eMe leaders behind bars, known in the gang as "Big Homies" or Emeros. The person responsible for the murder was Joe "Pegleg" Morgan—the notorious white godfather of La Eme who had ascended by then to become one of the highest-ranking bosses of the entire organization, even with no "official" Mexican blood himself. His connections with cocaine and heroin suppliers in Mexico helped pave the foundation for the Mexican Mafia's narcotics distribution throughout California. During the 1970s, while under the control of Morgan's protégé Rodolfo Cadena, the Mexican Mafia often took control over various community groups. The gang was able to filter money from alcohol and drug prevention programs to finance their criminal activities.
The Mexican Mafia and the Italian-American Los Angeles crime family collaborated in skimming money from Get Going, a taxpayer-funded drug treatment program. By 1977, Get Going founder Ellen Delia was determined to expose the infiltration of her beloved program. Shortly before an appointment with the California State Secretary of Health and Welfare Services, Delia was murdered. Her collection of evidence on Italian and Mexican Mafia infiltration of the Get Going program was never recovered.
===1980s===
Alfred Arthur Sandoval a.k.a. Chato (Arizona Maravilla – East Los Angeles, California), a high ranking eMe member, shot and killed Gilbert Martinez and Anthony Aceves; a third victim Manuel Torres survived the attack. Ray and Marlene Wells were also shot execution style in their home in Belvedere Park. Alfred Sandoval was also charged in these murders. Finally in 2000, Alfred Arthur Sandoval, the highest ranking Eme member (now) in California, had his death sentence for the murder of Marlene Wells overturned by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals but remained imprisoned for life without parole.
===1990s===
In 1998, United States federal authorities indicted 22 members and associates of the Mexican Mafia, charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act with crimes which included extortion, murder, and kidnapping. One of the arrested members, Benjamin "Topo" Peters (Arizona Maravilla), was allegedly the Mexican Mafia's highest-ranking member at the time, and was engaged in a power struggle with fellow member Ruben "Tupi" Hernandez (Onterio Varrio Sur – Ontario, California). Another indicted member was accused of having plotted the death of an anti-gang activist who served as a consultant for the film American Me. The indictments marked a two-year investigation by federal, local, and state law enforcement officials.
===2000s===
In 2006, a 36-count federal indictment was brought against members of the Mexican Mafia. The arrests were made for alleged acts of violence, drug dealing, and extortion against smaller Latino street gangs. According to the federal indictment, Mexican Mafia members exert their influence in both federal and state prison systems through either violence or the threat of violence. Members and associates of the gang remain fiercely loyal to the criminal organization both in and outside of prison, particularly in Southern California cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego. The gang asserts its influence over Chicano gangs throughout Southern California by threatening violence against their members should they ever become incarcerated. Gangs and drug dealers who refuse to pay a protection "tax" to the Mexican Mafia are often murdered or threatened with murder. High-ranking members of the Mexican Mafia who are locked in private cells for 23 hours of each day are still able to communicate with their associates, through methods which range from tapping in code on prison plumbing pipes to smuggled letters. The primary goal of the Mexican Mafia is to control all drug trafficking in all areas that they have been established.
===2010s===
In early 2012 there was a federal indictment of 119 San Diego County gang members, including a Mexican Mafia boss that was arrested in a raid of his San Marcos home, which portrays a sprawling, well-organized criminal network that ran drug dealing on the streets of North County and even extended inside the Vista jail.Lowrey, B. (January 29, 2012). Exclusive: Gang bust gives rare glimpse of Mexican mafia's grip on north county. North County Times. Retrieved from http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/exclusive-gang-bust-gives-rare-glimpse-of-mexican-mafia-s/article_cedea095-3c04-58ef-9479-83271b971789.html Rudy "Crazy" Espudo (Esco Varrio Diablos – Escondido, California) was in control of the Hispanic gangs in the area and forced drug dealers to pay taxes in tribute to La eMe or face the consequences. The local gangs were smuggling narcotics into the Vista Detention Center in order to sell them for the Mexican Mafia. On North County streets, la Eme ordered Surenos to obtain taxes from the local drug dealers. Members of the Azusa 13 gang, associated with the Mexican Mafia, were indicted in 2011 for harassing and intimidating black people in Southern California.
===2020s===
In January 2022, a fight broke out between members of the Mexican Mafia and MS-13 at Beaumont federal prison, causing two fatalities and leading to all US federal prisons being placed on lockdown due to fears of retaliatory attacks.
==In popular culture==
The Mexican Mafia received mainstream notoriety after being featured in the 1992 movie American Me. The film was co-produced, directed and starred in by actor Edward James Olmos, who allegedly received death threats by members of the Mexican Mafia for what they considered an unflattering depiction of the gang. Two consultants for the film were murdered shortly after the film's release, though it is unclear whether the murders were tied to the Mexican Mafia or to recent layoffs that had provoked death threats. The Mexican Mafia was allegedly displeased with the portrayal of the murder of Rodolfo Cadena (who was the basis for Olmos' character Santana) as being committed by his fellow gang members. Mexican Mafia members were also allegedly offended by the portrayal of a homosexual rape committed by Puppet, a Mexican Mafia character in the film who in the latter part of the movie murders his own brother, Li'l Puppet, for disrespecting La Eme. Olmos subsequently applied for a concealed handgun permit, which was denied.
While serving a life sentence for murder at Pelican Bay State Prison, Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Olmos, Universal Studios, and other producers of the film. Morgan claimed that one of the principal characters in the film was based on him without obtaining his permission.
The 1993 film Blood In Blood Out is loosely based on the Mexican Mafia, although the story is fictional. The character Miklo Velka is largely based on Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, having lost his leg from getting shot during a robbery (one of the rumored ways that Morgan lost his). The prison gangs named in the film are in turn inspired by real-life counterparts: La Onda (Mexican Mafia), Black Guerilla Army (Black Guerilla Family), and Aryan Vanguard (Aryan Brotherhood).
==See also==
* Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos
* Mexikanemi
* Texas Syndicate
==References==
==External links==
* Federal Bureau of Investigation file on the Mexican Mafia
* Mexican Mafia on the History Channel
 
Category:Organizations established in 1957
Category:1957 establishments in California
Category:Hispanic-American gangs
Category:Prison gangs in the United States
Category:Gangs in California
Category:Gangs in Los Angeles
Category:Gangs in San Diego
Category:Mexican-American culture in California