Intelligence in this assessment is based on data from 125 local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies through statewide intelligence meetings, adjudicated cases, and open source information. Specific gang data was collected from 71 law enforcement agencies through questionnaires disseminated at the statewide intelligence meetings and the 2017 Mississippi Association of Gang Investigators (MAGI) Conference. The intelligence meetings, sponsored by the MSAIC, occurred in the nine Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) districts.
Tag Archive for Street gangs
Mexico
Mexico Anti-Gang Program Latino Gang Tattoos Guide
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//LES) FBI-NGIC Gang Criminal Activity Expanding Into Juvenile Prostitution
The National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) and the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU) assesses with medium confidence that gang activity is expanding towards juvenile prostitution primarily for its steady financial rewards and perceived low risk of law enforcement interaction. Historically, prison, street and outlaw motorcycle gangs profit from drug distribution and have recently become involved in non-traditional criminal activity such as mortgage fraud and identity theft. Some gangs appear to be diversifying their income by reducing or eliminating drug trafficking activities in favor of juvenile prostitution.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//LES) FBI International Expansion and Influence of US-Based Gangs
The purpose of this assessment is to explore the expansion and influence of US-based gangs abroad and their illicit operations and associations with foreign criminal organizations. For the purpose of this assessment, the term “gang” encompasses both street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs. In addition to FBI and open source reporting, the following law enforcement agencies from the United States, Canada, Central America, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom were surveyed to obtain data for the assessment.
California
(U//LES) California State Threat Assessment Center: How Male Gangs Leverage Female Supporters
This bulletin provides information regarding the role females, who are not members, play within California gangs. Because females often avoid detection by law enforcement, to mitigate detection, male gangs leverage females to further their criminal activity.
Department of Justice
(U//LES) National Gang Intelligence Center Street Gangs Involved in Tax Fraud Schemes
According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), incidents of tax return fraud have increased in recent years, and gang involvement in this criminal activity mirrors that trend. Gangs perpetrate tax return fraud by utilizing facilitators, such as employees of tax preparation companies. Prison gangs often employ females or other facilitators on the street to assist them, and communicate by legal mail to avoid law enforcement detection. While some of the fraud is committed using gang members’ information, gangs are also threatening and/or paying individuals a fixed amount for the personal identifying information and committing identity theft. The illicit revenues from these schemes are subsequently used to supplement traditional criminal activities and in overall furtherance of the gang.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//LES) FBI Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) International Assessment
The purpose of this assessment is to provide an overview of the international activities of the MS-13 criminal organization. The report is the result of the analysis of arrest records, law enforcement reports, deportation records, interviews, and observations conducted by members of the MS-13 National Gang Task Force (NGTF) regarding documented MS-13 members in the United States; Chiapas, Mexico; El Salvador; and Honduras. Violent MS-13 members have crossed international boundaries and key members have documented links between the United States and the countries addressed in this assessment.
Department of Justice
(U//FOUO) National Gang Intelligence Center Juggalos Intelligence Report
Increasing criminal activity among Juggalos is of concern due to the ease with which these transitory and loosely affiliated criminal sub-sets are able to form and break off of the well established Juggalo sub-culture of over one million followers. Their crimes are characterized by acts of violence and destruction directed against law enforcement, members of the community, public/private property, and other members of their group. Juggalos are classified as a gang in the states of Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and Utah. Despite this narrow classification, Juggalo-related crime has been documented in at least 20 other states according to law enforcement and open-source reporting.
Canada
Restricted Canada Border Services Agency Tattoo Handbook
Tattoos are useful indicators to identify individuals who are members of a gang or a criminal organization. It is important to note that an image may have several different, occasionally innocuous, meanings, depending on the interpretation of the individual or gangs using it. The Organized Crime Section (OCS) is providing the following tattoos and their definitions as a tool to assist officers in detecting gang members or members of a criminal organization. It is important that Border Services Officers contact their Regional Intelligence Officers to assist in determining a subject’s admissibility to Canada.
News
What the FBI Wants to Hide From You In Their 2011 Gang Threat Assessment
What information from its most recent gang threat assessment does the FBI want to keep only for the eyes of law enforcement? Thanks to the publication of the full “law enforcement sensitive” version of the assessment on the website of the California Gang Investigator’s Association, we now know the answer to that question. The full version of the document contains approximately twenty additional pages of information regarding gang threats across the U.S. including details on the incredible proliferation of Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Most of the content derived from non-public reporting sources, such as FBI field reports, concerns specific incidents that are described more generally in the public version of the document. There are also some rather startling statistics omitted from the public version. For example, the fact that 36% of law enforcement report that gangs in their jurisdiction have ties to Mexican criminal gangs and drug trafficking organizations is omitted from the public version of the report.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(U//LES) FBI National Gang Threat Assessment 2011
Gang members armed with high-powered weapons and knowledge and expertise acquired from employment in law enforcement, corrections, or the military will likely pose an increasing nationwide threat, as they employ these tactics and weapons against law enforcement officials, rival gang members, and civilians. Associates, friends, and family members of gangs will continue to play a pivotal role in the infiltration and acquisition of sensitive information.
Regional Information Sharing Systems
MAGLOCLEN Asian Organized Crime Assessment
With the fundamental issues of organized crime deeply integrated in present-day law enforcement, investigators are better equipped for emerging and unfamiliar types of organized crime, more specifically, Asian organized crime. The investigation into Asian criminal groups is similar to that of other organized groups. Basic investigative techniques of organized crime are applicable to Asian crime groups; however, the degree of cultural variance among people of Asian decent and Americans makes the investigation of Asian criminal groups, by American law enforcement, a challenging task.
Oklahoma, U.S. Army
(U//FOUO) U.S. Army North Crips Targeting Uniformed Soldiers in Retaliation for Oklahoma Murders
On 21 Sep 11, USACIDC reported the CRIPS have put out an order to shoot any Solider in uniform on sight in retaliation for the shooting of their members by Soldiers earlier in the week. The Lawton Oklahoma Police Department has confirmed the CRIPS have threatened to kill soldiers in uniform. The threat stems from when the soldiers, in retaliation for drug rip off, entered the off-post residence of the CRIPS, robbed and subsequently shot some of the CRIPS members. Three of the victims were identified as members of the “107 Hoover CRIPS.”
California, Intelligence Fusion Centers
(U//LES) California State Threat Assessment Center: Gangs Seek Training to Enhance Their Skills
This STAC information note is intended to enhance law enforcement community understanding of training venues observed to have been used by gang members and to provide insight into their reasoning for engagement in these observed activities.
Intelligence Fusion Centers, Mississippi
(U//LES) Mississippi Analysis and Information Center Gang Threat Assessment 2010
The following Gang Threat Assessment, prepared by the Mississippi Analysis and Information Center (“MSAIC”), was produced to provide a general outlook of gang presence and criminal activity in the State of Mississippi. Data in this report was obtained from the Mississippi Department of Corrections (“MDOC”) and provides statistics, research and key findings from corrections data, law enforcement reports as well as academic and open source research. This assessment is a follow-up from the Interim Gang Threat Assessment issued by MSAIC in September of 2010. The assessment contains crimespecific and corrections statistics attributed to the four most prevalent gangs (“core” gangs) in the state: Gangster Disciples, Simon City Royals, Vice Lords and Latin Kings. From the four core groups they are attributed to the higher affiliations which are Folk Nation (Gangster Disciples and Simon City Royals) and People Nation (Vice Lords and Latin Kings). The assessment also includes brief descriptions of other gangs including MS-13, Aryan Brotherhood and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.
California, Intelligence Fusion Centers
(U//FOUO/LES) LulzSec Release: California STAC Gang Infiltration of Law Enforcement Agencies
Infiltration of any law enforcement agency by a gang member can have severe ramifications for the agency involved, its employees, the public it serves, and its allied agencies. Gangs employ various tactics to include infiltrating an agency directly or indirectly, to achieve their objective; to counter this threat, law enforcement must remain cognizant of and employ mitigation strategies. Gangs’ motivations for infiltrating agencies vary; thus law enforcement must remain cognizant of suspicious employee behavior, identify possible motivations for infiltration, and employ mitigation strategies to counter infiltration threats.
Department of Justice
(U//LES) NGIC Gangs Infiltrating Law Enforcement and Correctional Agencies
(U//LES) Gang infiltration of law enforcement, government, and correctional agencies poses a serious security threat due to the access they have to restricted areas vulnerable to sabotage, sensitive information pertaining to investigations, and access to personal information or protected persons, whom they may view as potential targets for violence. Gang members serving in law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities compromise security, criminal investigations and operations, and agency integrity. Compromised law enforcement officers and correctional staff assist gang members in committing their illicit activities, disrupt legitimate law enforcement efforts to investigate such activities, thereby protecting members from discovery and apprehension. Gang members, gang associates, and their family members most commonly infiltrate law enforcement through non-sworn civilian positions. Police dispatchers and records clerks have access to confidential information than officers do and are not always subjected to in-depth background checks prior to employment. However, a number of gang members and former gang members have served as sworn law enforcement and correctional officers.
Montana
Confidential Montana Department of Corrections Gang Guide
Confidential Montana Department of Corrections Gang Guide, November 2007.
Texas
Texas Prisons Gang Dictionary
Woodman State Jail Security Threat Group Office Gang Dictionary, August 25, 2004.
Threats and Takedown Notices
New York Fusion Center Requests Identity of Public Intelligence Sources
Public Intelligence has received a message from Captain Douglas R. Keyer, Jr. of the New York State Police requesting the removal of a fourteen-page “Gang Intelligence Newsletter” from November 2009 that is labeled “For Official Use Only” and “Law Enforcement Sensitive”. The document, which was published March 31, is evidently part of a series of monthly “Gang Intelligence Newsletters” that are issued to law enforcement personnel around the country. The newsletter contains brief profiles of the Aryan Brotherhood, National Socialist Movement, as well as some information on identifying gang tattoos and graffiti. This is also the second notice we have received that specifically requests us to identify the source of our information.
Intelligence Fusion Centers, New York
New York State Intelligence Center Gang Intelligence Newsletter November 2009
FOUO/LES New York State Intelligence Center Gang Intelligence Newsletter, November 2009.
U.S. Southern Command
USSOUTHCOM El Salvador Gangs Presentation
Maras emerged out of the conflicts during the 1970s & 80s in Central America. In the context of the wars and insurgencies in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, thousands of people, including youngmen fled North, many which had training on guns as well as armed combat techniques. In Los Angeles they encountered rejection by other Hispanic communities and found it difficult to find work and socialize; a percentage of these young men, especially those from El Salvador where part of the insurgency/ civil war back home and joined the 18th Street Gang from LA, which was started by Mexicans and expanded to other Hispanics, African- Americans, and Asians.
Intelligence Fusion Centers, New York
NYPD Street Gang Manual
This book is a compilation of various gang intelligence information from various sources including detective and police officer files, primarily confiscated from arrested and/or incarcerated individual gang notes and drawings. Additional material was obtained from other law enforcement agencies’ publications and presentations used for internal officer training, as well as from various other gang publications and internet sources. Six major New York City gangs are presented in this book: the Bloods, the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, the Netas, the Crips, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and the Mexican Gangs. Sections within this book include the origin and history of the gang, its structure, rules and regulations, oaths and pledges, symbols and emblems, coded language and hand signals, clothing, tattoos and graffiti. It is our hope that an officer’s knowledge of gang characteristics will assist in combating gang-motivated crimes and reduce the propensity for violence towards the law enforcement community and innocent citizens.
Intelligence Fusion Centers, Virginia
Virginia Fusion Center Bloods Street Gang Intelligence Report
The Bloods street gang has become one of the most violent and notorious criminal organizations, spreading its influence in the U.S. from coast to coast. A traditionally African American gang, Bloods membership today includes Caucasians, Hispanics, and Asians. Blood members are involved in a variety of criminal activities including murder, assault, robbery, and narcotics distribution. Nationally, gang membership in the Bloods has been estimated between 15,000 and 20,000 members.1 Blood sets range from highly organized and structured groups similar to the Italian Mafia to loosely organized cliques with little discipline and loyalty. The Bloods have grown in popularity over the years thanks in part to the proliferation of music, movies, and television shows glorifying the “gangsta” lifestyle as well as social networking sites and the vast amount of information on the gang available on the Internet. Current intelligence gathered by the Virginia Fusion Center and other law enforcement agencies indicates the Bloods are a significant criminal threat to the Commonwealth and will continue to grow in numbers and operational scope.
Regional Information Sharing Systems
(U//LES) Surenos 2008 Special Gang Report
Historically, Hispanic gangs north of the dividing line have claimed allegiance to the Nortenos and those to the south claimed allegiance to the Surenos. All California Hispanic criminal street gangs claim allegiance to the Nortenos or Surenos, with the exception of the Fresno Bulldogs. Whether it’s on the streets or in the correctional facilities, the Fresno Bulldogs function independently and do not align themselves with Nortenos or Surenos. The Fresno Bulldogs are a unique California based gang that has the power, strength and a large enough membership to stand on its own and remain free from the politics of the Nortenos and Surenos. All other Hispanic criminal street gangs are forced to choose a side whether they want to join in or not.