Question:
HFG, I seem to recall in one of the past threads you saying that the Mexican mafia’s had their start in CA prison system (my memory is hazy) do you have any studies or links or posts you can link to that go into it?
Answer:
It started at this place, DVI, which is an inmate-run farm and also an intake center. Facilities like that house all different types of people while they’re waiting to get classified and sent to other prisons, so you have violent guys mixed in with nonviolent guys, and integrated races. Because of this, DVI was (and still is) a “gladiator school,” and Mexicans were frequently targeted by blacks and sadistic guards, so about a dozen Mexicans formed the Mexikanemi Science Temple of Aztlan (incidentally the Texas branch of La Eme still goes by the name Mexikanemi to this day) led by Luis Flores, aka Huero Buff in 1957. The original MSTA’s came from street gangs and zoot-suiters from the LA area, primarily East LA. The main focus was on remembering and respecting the Old Ways- the customs and beliefs of the Maya and Aztecs which were the traditional cultural bedrock of Mexico until the fucking Spanish came and ruined everything.
To try and stop the MSTA’s growing influence and aims (the main aim being to curb the subjugation of Mexican prison inmates), two policies were enacted- both of which actually greatly increased their power. Policy one was to start putting suspected Mexican gang-affiliated inmates- especially juveniles- into units where lots of blacks were, so that they would be killed or injured badly enough as to want to stop the gang life. Policy one was also an extension of an overarching divide-and-conquer strategy known as “racial balkanaziation,” I’ll quote a big post later that talks in detail about that. Or you can read this book about it (you should probably read it anyway).
Policy two was splitting up the MSTA’s- now known as the Mexican Mafia- and sending them to all different prisons (many went to San Quentin). What this did was expose them to a shitload more Mexican inmates than if they had all been kept at DVI, and so their numbers grew big really fast. By that time the Eme’s were already controlling a large portion of the prison economy, and had gotten rich enough to start hiring prison guards to help them. Another example what I always say: prison is a microcosm of our society and mirrors almost every detail, just in different ways. For example the gang getting big/rich enough to start buying off guards, it’s just like when a company or businessman gets rich enough to start buying politicians. Quantum capitalism.
So since they had gotten enough juice, they started subjugating other Mexicans, especially Nortenos because they were seen as inferior farmer dimwits. Then the Nortenos formed Nuestra Familia to defend against La Eme and formed an arms-length (and initially grudging) alliance with blacks since the Eme’s had allied closely with the Aryan Brotherhood (also founded in Califas prisons) and certain other white gangs like The Ride (aka “Nazi Lowriders”) and white bike clubs. The war between the Mexican Mafia and NF is basically the longest gang war ever (it started in 1967- over a stolen pair of shoes). And to this day, if you’re a Sureno, don’t let the sun set on your ass north of Bakersfield or it’s a death sentence. Same goes for Nortenos caught south of there.
And once again, all roads lead to California. I’ll c/p a Killa Cali post after this one.
On the racial balkanization:
Goro, what about racism and gang activity in prison?
Stopping racial balkanization in prison would be nearly impossible today, and in many cases it’s not necessarily what the administration wants. Inmates self-segregate anyway, the California system has been on the brink of all-out race war since the 1960′s when gang formation was actively encouraged by prison staff to prevent things like Attica from happening. Also more and more inmates were starting to get into the whole counterculture/extreme political stuff and staff realized that a united front of inmates of all races would be extremely difficult to control. So a couple guard-sanctioned acts of violence resulted in the creation of the main power structure we’ve had for the last 40 years. It’s no coincidence that the main prison gangs all started within a couple joints in the same part of California- the Black Guerrilla Family, Mexican Mafia & Nuestra Familia, and the Aryan Brotherhood. The main indictments and such of the AB’s really only came when they started becoming too allied with the Eme’s and started killing too many people on the outside.
Now, prison gangs- the indispensable enemy- are more important than ever at maintaining control. The pacification of Attica required the National Guard and the shooting of hostages. Today’s prisons are so overcrowded, with many operating at 200%+ of design capacity, and understaffed with undertrained personnel that a cohesive uprising will be impossible to control. It would take the Marines, if not air strikes. This comes at the steep price of widespread prison violence. There are third-generation racially-based gang members today. Even if the government wanted to end it it would be very difficult.
The other side effect, magnified by the hyperincarceration of minorities and juveniles due to the drug war, is that all street-level gang activity is either directly or indirectly controlled by prison gangs. This is because at some point any serious banger is going to be going to prison and will then need to ally with a prison gang at first in order to avoid being killed outright, and then later for mutual benefit; and partially because in most gangs you can only get so far if you haven’t been inside. Criminal trials are a good way to see if you’ll snitch or cooperate. So If you’re a local street gang in El Paso moving some weed across the border and doing a little local-level distribution, at some point in the chain 5% to 20% of the money is going to be given to the Eme’s or NF. Same goes for white gangs selling speed- at some point the Aryan Brotherhood or the NLR’s or some such is going to be getting a cut. Nearly all street-gang activity is at some level connected to prison gangs. The taxes are paid voluntarily for many reasons, not the least of which is that nobody wants to be a member of a non-paying gang and then go to prison and face the taxman; to say nothing of the very real possibility that the taxman might one day pay a visit to the neighborhood. Every prison gang has some “Davids,” remember.
Wait a minute, are you saying that institutionalized gang warfare and racism are deliberate tools used by an overcrowded prison system to prevent the prisoners from unifying against their jailors?
That was part of the reason for its genesis, but I don’t think even back then they realized how bad it would get or how quickly they would lose control. They started with control-units (now called SHU’s) to try to keep it in check, and when that didn’t work they built a prison where the whole thing was a SHU (Pelican Bay). When that didn’t work they SHU’d it up too, and then when it hit 200% capacity they built another one just like it (Kern Valley). It filled up twice over as well, and it still didn’t work.
In the 60′s, it was thought that racial conflict inside prisons was preferable to wholesale uprisings nationwide like Attica; that the price was worth preventing total anarchy system-wide. It was thought that increased racial strife between cons could be effectively managed by increased harshness on the part of the facility. We now know this not to be true, but far too late. It was also thought at the time that the country was much closer to some kind of major upheaval than it really was. Vietnam, civil rights movement, counterculture, all of it- Nixon, not realizing Nam would end not with a bang, etc. felt that some kind of uncontrollable uprising was inevitable. Attica and the violent episodes which happened in the streets as a result of civil rights + Vietnam were seen as mere hints to some future mass revolt, instead of what they wound up being. The drug war is usually credited to Reagan but in fact it was Nixon’s last, greatest war- and will be his legacy once future historians look on the matter with more educated eyes.
What the government could not have foreseen was how their initial efforts could so completely backfire. In the 60′s, there were things which would be totally unheard of in prison today. There were gangs of big strong gay men who roamed the tiers, protecting all small inmates of any race from rape- and killing prison rapists. This is unthinkable in today’s prisons. So it started by sending groups of Hispanics in a juvenile facility into tiers with older black offenders, knowing that they would be victimized and gang up. Knowing that they would take to the adult prisons this allegiance. This was the birth of the Eme’s- the Mexican Mafia, one of the most feared and powerful criminal organizations as has ever existed in this country and which will endure for the entire lifetime of the USA. The administrators could not have foreseen this.
So, why do people even join gangs now?
Well, besides the protection it affords from prison rape: The gang addresses all the needs which the facility does not, and those which the con might not have gotten fulfilled on the outside before incarceration. To join you have to be vetted- you will get a background check of sorts (and there are no secrets in prison). This is to ensure undesirables do not gain entry but gives many guys a sense of importance they may not have otherwise had. You will be mentored, taught to read & write, taught the rules- all gangs have a charter, or constitution, you will need to recite this from memory at a certain point or you will be denied entry and forced to fend for yourself (and probably punished harshly by members). This is done to ensure obedience and to weed out those who cannot follow orders, but gives a sense of belonging to something important, to have put in effort and succeeded. You’ll have someone to push you for that last rep on the weight bench, to help you deal with the problems you have with your girlfriend, to send someone on the outside to look in on your kid. Many in prison did not have mentors, role models; poverty, drugs & the “baby-daddy” effect- magnified (as is almost every social ill) by hyperincarceration- have seen to that.
The big brother or father is provided by the gang. People join clubs, fraternities, military, etc. looking for a sense of belonging; the sense of “tribe” or “family.” How powerful would it be if you knew- not thought but knew- that the only way you get in is by taking a life, that all the others have taken one, that they will go to prison before betraying you… that they will die for you- that they will kill for you?
Since all prison gangs are racial in nature, even more importance can be assigned (tribe). There is a reason the whites use Norse runes/symbols, and Hispanics use Pre-Columbian imagery and tradition. To speak the ancient language of Nahuatl allows covert communication by members, but it also allows these angry men who have stunted senses of community, belonging, importance to reach back through the centuries and identify with the invincible Eagle Warriors of the Aztec empire; same for the Norse imagery providing identification with the mighty Vikings.
By the way, the government knows how important and effective this shit is, and part of USMC boot camp is filling the recruits’ minds with stories of Zulus, Spartans, and other legendary warriors to build up “a warrior mind” or whatever excuse they use nowadays.
This is the power of gangs- at the top they’re essentially businesses, but at the bottom they fulfill these very primal needs of angry and needy people; the brains of the soldiers are effectively starved for a sense of belonging, of purpose, and once the gang provides that it’s like the first shot of heroin. It’s absolutely irresistible for many, many people.
Killa Cali… like they say: Cali is King.
Califas is home to some of the toughest prisons ever built. The names of facilities like San Quentin, Pelican Bay, Folsom, or (in years past) Alcatraz are synonymous with harsh and brutal prison time even in the minds of those who know nothing of the Machine. For those who do, other names ring out- Kern Valley, Corcoran, CCI, Pleasant Valley… There are 46 prisons in California, not counting private prisons. Corcoran was the facility where guards would stage gladiator-style fights to the death between inmates in concrete exercise chambers, gamble on the outcome, and videotape the whole thing.
California was a pioneer in “control-unit” incarceration; units designed to “break” an inmate like you’d break a horse. Control units are now ubiquitous nationwide. Nowadays they call control units “SHUs” or “Secure Housing Units.” Pelican Bay’s SHU is the gold standard by which all other SHUs are judged when it comes to state prisons. The Bay got its rep because originally big-time gang kingpins were sent there, so if you went you were (by association) straight OG. But now any knucklehead who stabs a guard 40 times can go. It swelled to twice design capacity and then they built Kern Valley- the same deal but it hasn’t gotten a rep yet. See, most people who go to Skeleton Bay don’t come out so it becomes a badge of honor in prison if you served time there. There used to be a whole lot of people in other facilities saying they went there but after a while it started diluting the cred of those who really did. So now the penalty for lying about having gone to the Bay is death- and there are no secrets in prison. I hear tell that Kern Valley now is slowly building the rep that the Bay has- by the way it was built with a maximum design capacity of 2,448 inmates, but holds over five thousand inmates today. Pelican Bay is similarly overcrowded. This presents a problem because the people who’re supposed to go to these facilities have proven that they cannot get along with other inmates or cellys, and now they’re packing these guys in 2 or 3 to a cell. I’m sure you can guess what happens.
California SHU’s do not meet minimum standards for the treatment of enemy prisoners of war.
Killa Cali- it’s not just the correctional system. SWAT started there (under noted racist Darryl Gates). The Watts riots, Rodney King, the Rampart scandal, CRASH, the list is endless. LAPD is a nationwide leader in police brutality, police corruption, and is probably THE leader in police militarization. Even many of your major street gangs started and are still headquartered in California: MS-13, Bloods, Crips, Avenues (originally an anti-black extermination force under direct control of the Mexican Mafia), Nazi Lowriders (originally a hit squad for the AB), 18th Street (aka Mara 18), one of the biggest gangs in the nation with over 50,000 members (100,000 worldwide). Those are just the ones that started in LA. Also the Hell’s Angels started in Cali, as did the Mongols and other outlaw bike clubs.
The horror extends beyond prison and to the county jail system as well. A good example is the LA County Jail: the LA County Jail is the largest confinement facility on the face of the planet- the biggest cage ever built by man. Think about that for a minute. It was designed for a capacity of 20,000. Because of overcrowding- over 13,000 inmates are processed in each month- many inmates are released early. This guy had a one-year sentence for an assault charge and served 37 days, which isn’t uncommon for LACJ. Others get lost in the shuffle and stay longer than they are supposed to. By all accounts it is absolute chaos in there.
Dr. Terry Kupers, a national expert on correctional medical health care, released a 50-page report commissioned by the ACLU in which he called the jail “nightmarish” and “medieval.” He goes on to say in part that
“…idleness and massive overcrowding at the jail leads to violence, victimization, custodial abuse and ultimately psychotic breakdown even in relatively healthy people, as well as potentially irreversible psychosis in detainees with pre-existing illness… [The]mental health staff at the jail routinely fails to diagnose prisoners with serious mental illness, and downgrades the diagnoses of many who have long-established and well-documented maladies. These practices conceal the massive numbers of seriously mentally ill detainees, while also resulting in the transfer of many to the general jail population where they are victimized, or to solitary confinement where their condition dramatically deteriorates.”
But don’t take my word for it- here’s the ACLU article with a link to the full report: http://www.aclu.org/prison/mentalhe…rs20090414.html
Killa Cali- I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again: when it comes to gangs, incarceration, police abuse, militarization of police, prison rape, racial profiling, whatever… you name it, and Cali is king.
There’s tough joints everywhere- Illinois has Joliet, Colorado has ADX Florence, Sing Sing and Attica in NY; and Texas, Louisiana & Alabama have abominable shitholes.
But if you want gangs, rape, death, staff misconduct, and all-round mayhem; Killa Cali reigns supreme.
Killa Cali is king.
