Gangs Culture

From the gold crucifixes worn with cool zoot suits in the 1940s to the intricate tattoos of the Virgin of Guadalupe on some gang members today, religious icons have long formed an integral part of Latino youth culture. Holy images can be found throughout Southern California, especially where the Latino population is concentrated. Rosaries dangle around a teenage girl's neck. The face of Christ ringed with a crown of thorns is etched on a young man's arm.

In my business, there are few sounds more ominous than that of a good friend's book landing on your desk. When that friend isn't a professional writer, the desire to run can be almost irresistible: "Your book? No, I never saw it. You know I've been in Costa Rica. Beautiful place, but I lost my sight to a rare tropical parasite." Father Greg Boyle, the Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries -- Los Angeles' most successful effort to fruitfully engage young men and women caught up in the gang life -- has been my friend for more than two decades.

Visit a market in many Latino neighborhoods across the country and you might come across Homies--tiny Chicano figurines wearing baggy clothes, white T-shirts, bandannas and knit caps. The creator of the 1 3/4-inch-tall cartoonish toys, which are sold in gum ball machines, said Homies are caricatures of real people from Mexican American barrios, like the one near San Jose where he grew up. More than 1 million have been sold since they hit the market four months ago, a distributor says.

Re "Get Angry, Bratton Tells L.A.," Nov. 21: Yes, gang violence is much bigger than the police, as the Rev. Frederick O. Murph rightly concludes. But the real issue is not lack of jobs and opportunity, the real issue lies in the fact that people's values are formed first and most impacted by their parents and families in their earliest years. Multiple generations of gang members now exist in the same family, passing on their gang culture to the next generation. Quit using lack of jobs as the reason for these murders.

Thomas Relerford, 15, likes to wear his pants BIG. So big, in fact, that at times even running in them can be a challenge. Quick movements spell trouble. Because he wears no belt, Relerford must hold onto his pants to keep them from dropping. "It's the style," he said confidently, lifting his T-shirt to give a full view of his floppy, green Size 38 pants. With Relerford's waist measuring a slim 32 inches, the pants hang low enough on his hips to reveal his underwear.

There is no better lesson on gang life in Los Angeles than to witness the homage accorded a homeboy in death. Hundreds of times each year, gang members are laid to rest like martyred soldiers. Gang salutes follow coffins into the earth. Words of love mix with vows of retribution. Tears are dried with red and blue bandannas--the colors waved by Los Angeles' warring nations of the street. And so it went for Cadillac Jim.

In my business, there are few sounds more ominous than that of a good friend's book landing on your desk. When that friend isn't a professional writer, the desire to run can be almost irresistible: "Your book? No, I never saw it. You know I've been in Costa Rica. Beautiful place, but I lost my sight to a rare tropical parasite." Father Greg Boyle, the Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries -- Los Angeles' most successful effort to fruitfully engage young men and women caught up in the gang life -- has been my friend for more than two decades.

Police, teachers and social workers here attribute rising youth gang activity in part to an influx of Hispanic families from California. Ironically, many left California to escape a violent gang subculture but ended up spreading the infection. "A number of families who moved from L.A. brought children who were already involved with gangs," said the Rev.

Surrounded by tin huts and seated near the blue and yellow flames of an outdoor fire, the 18-year-old member of an L.A. tagging crew seemed from another world. Inside a small makeshift funeral parlor was his mother--in a coffin. Her lifeless face was visible through a glass window. Gang members, believed to be affiliated with a Los Angeles street gang, had allegedly shot his mother. But this was not Los Angeles; it was San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.

Re "Get Angry, Bratton Tells L.A.," Nov. 21: Yes, gang violence is much bigger than the police, as the Rev. Frederick O. Murph rightly concludes. But the real issue is not lack of jobs and opportunity, the real issue lies in the fact that people's values are formed first and most impacted by their parents and families in their earliest years. Multiple generations of gang members now exist in the same family, passing on their gang culture to the next generation. Quit using lack of jobs as the reason for these murders.

Ten thousand deaths, nearly all African American and Latino young men, is the body count of Los Angeles gang violence in the last two decades, but when was the last time anyone read a headline declaring, "Death Toll in Gang Conflicts Reaches 10,000, Government Proposes Peace Strategy"? Given the silence and disregard concerning these casualties, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that gang deaths are deemed lesser deaths than law-abiding ones. Some people even shrug them off as deserved.

Visit a market in many Latino neighborhoods across the country and you might come across Homies--tiny Chicano figurines wearing baggy clothes, white T-shirts, bandannas and knit caps. The creator of the 1 3/4-inch-tall cartoonish toys, which are sold in gum ball machines, said Homies are caricatures of real people from Mexican American barrios, like the one near San Jose where he grew up. More than 1 million have been sold since they hit the market four months ago, a distributor says.

From the gold crucifixes worn with cool zoot suits in the 1940s to the intricate tattoos of the Virgin of Guadalupe on some gang members today, religious icons have long formed an integral part of Latino youth culture. Holy images can be found throughout Southern California, especially where the Latino population is concentrated. Rosaries dangle around a teenage girl's neck. The face of Christ ringed with a crown of thorns is etched on a young man's arm.

Police, teachers and social workers here attribute rising youth gang activity in part to an influx of Hispanic families from California. Ironically, many left California to escape a violent gang subculture but ended up spreading the infection. "A number of families who moved from L.A. brought children who were already involved with gangs," said the Rev.

No one knows exactly what Hector "El Rosado" Huaracha was thinking when he turned the corner at Fourth and walked northward up Gardenia. The 17-year-old founding member of La Primera gang knew exactly where Primera's territory ended and Florencia's began. Not far from the corner, two homeboys from Rosado's rival barrio were sitting inside a white Ford pickup parked at the curb. Swinging his arms wide and jutting his chin high, Rosado kept walking toward them.

Surrounded by tin huts and seated near the blue and yellow flames of an outdoor fire, the 18-year-old member of an L.A. tagging crew seemed from another world. Inside a small makeshift funeral parlor was his mother--in a coffin. Her lifeless face was visible through a glass window. Gang members, believed to be affiliated with a Los Angeles street gang, had allegedly shot his mother. But this was not Los Angeles; it was San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.

At 14, Eddie's daily routine starts with two hours of primping and pressing perfect creases in his trousers and T-shirts, and even more hours of "kicking back" in empty lots near his South Los Angeles home with other wanna-be gang members who rarely go to school. His mother leaves home for work at a minimum-wage job in the garment district at daybreak and does not return until after dark, so for most of the day Eddie is on his own.

Upheaval in Central America is renewing itself in the barrios of Los Angeles, where the influx of refugees into some of the city's most troubled neighborhoods has led to the rise of a new generation of youth gangs, authorities say. Gangs of young men with roots in El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central American nations make up about 5% of the city's estimated 300 youth gangs, Los Angeles police say.

Thomas Relerford, 15, likes to wear his pants BIG. So big, in fact, that at times even running in them can be a challenge. Quick movements spell trouble. Because he wears no belt, Relerford must hold onto his pants to keep them from dropping. "It's the style," he said confidently, lifting his T-shirt to give a full view of his floppy, green Size 38 pants. With Relerford's waist measuring a slim 32 inches, the pants hang low enough on his hips to reveal his underwear.

There is no better lesson on gang life in Los Angeles than to witness the homage accorded a homeboy in death. Hundreds of times each year, gang members are laid to rest like martyred soldiers. Gang salutes follow coffins into the earth. Words of love mix with vows of retribution. Tears are dried with red and blue bandannas--the colors waved by Los Angeles' warring nations of the street. And so it went for Cadillac Jim.