Organized crime has become a menace in today’s world due to the danger it poses to various nations. Organized crime involves the formation of criminal groups based on shared interests or shared enemies. It has become especially common due to the financial and technical assistance that various groups within the cartel offer each other. Organized crime may arise due to illegal activities such as child trafficking, drug tracking, militia groups and terrorism (Shanty and Mishra, 2008).
One of these gangs is the Mexican Mafia Prison Gang. Prison gangs have become a force to reckon with in America, both within and without the prison confinements. Prison gangs manage to establish control of street gangs due to the respect they command. This is because street gang members view their fellow prison gang members as leaders due to the bad nature associated with being in prison, and some even look forward to joining them. These types of gangs have lifelong membership that does offer an opportunity for one to quit. Ethnicity also plays an important role in the recruitment process of prison gangs, as with the Mexican Prison Gang. This gang has been in existence for a long time, as early as 1957. This gang continues to recruit new, younger members in the streets of southern California.
The gang participates in two categories of criminal activities in southern California. They are actively involved in the distribution of illegal drugs and other narcotics in the streets and in prison. They are also renowned for their central role in sale of arms and active participation in armed robbery. They are also involved in multiple murders of innocent lives, and sometimes of fellow gang members who fail to comply with the rules of the gang. The gang also plays an administrative role in overseeing illicit market exchanges, and general control of various mini-gangs in southern California with a Latin descent.
The group is well organized and had its own constitution that determines membership and general operation of the gang. Some of the membership requirements are very specific. A member must, for example, not be a homosexual, an informant or a coward for one to secure membership or to continue to be a member of this gang. One must also pledge allegiance to the gang and the gang must take priority, even over one’s own family. Members are also expected to show mutual respect for one another, and especially as pertains wives and girlfriends. Recruits must kill a member of the enemy gang to secure membership in this gang (Siegel, 2013).
The gang manages to fund its operations through extortion of other criminals who operate in the region. This may include big drug dealers who earn millions from their illegal trade activities. This is usually as a protective mechanism to prevent assault of the members of other gangs that are in prison. Similarly, street criminals pay taxes to ensure they are not assaulted in case they are imprisoned for their activities. Either way, the gang manages to have its way around the streets and in prison. The gang has a large membership in prison and in the streets. It calls all the shots in prison due to the majority membership therein. The gang plays a governmental role in the criminal activities in most of Southern California and it is, therefore, believed to be the largest and most influential gang in southern California.
References
Shanty, F., & Mishra, P. P. (2008). Organized Crime: From Trafficking To Terrorism. Santa
Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
Siegel, L. J. (2013). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies (11th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
