Mexican Mafia
Basic information on Mexican Mafia
Mexican mafia (also known as La eMe) is one of the oldest and most powerful criminal organizations in the United States, especially in the south of the country.
It controls prisons in the US and many American streets and neighborhoods across the southern part of the United States and beyond.
Even though it is a criminal organization this gang has established hierarchy that is vigorously respected and it operates as a well organized paramilitary force and a successful business company at the same time.
History of “La eMe”
Mexican mafia founder is Luis Flores known as Huero Buff. He and other thirteen founding members of the La eMe were all in prison and in danger from other gangs. In order to protect themselves and make money (and gain power) they founded this criminal prison organization (gang) in the late 1950 that is still very active and has around 50 000 members now days.
In order to control the activities of the black market in prison, and by doing so make money and gain more power, Luis Flores recruited the most violent members he could find to the gang.
This significantly increased violence in the Deuel Vocational Institution (Californias state prison located in Tracy) which alarmed the Californian Department of Corrections. Instead of dealing with the problem this department decided to transfer some members of the La eMe to other prisons and hoped that the problem would be solved by itself.
This of course didnt happen. Actually, right the opposite happened because by transferring those prisoners to other prisons, Californian Department of Corrections facilitated the spread of the gang.
How Does the Mexican Mafia Operate?
Luis Flores and Rudy Cadena are creators of the gang commandments and rules of conduct.
First and foremost the only way for a member to leave Mexican mafia (La eMe) is by getting killed or dying from natural causes.
Second, all gang members must prioritize the gang over their families.
Third, a new member must be sponsored by an existing member who is responsible for his protg and must kill him if he violates some of the gangs commandments.
Fourth, denial of the existence of the La eMe to all non-members, especially law enforcement is absolutely mandatory for all gang members.
Finally, disrespect of other members as well as the violation of any other gang polices such as refusing orders or becoming an informant, means death sentence.
The structure of the gang is paramilitary and it includes (from the bottomup) solders, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and generals. The hierarchy is strictly respected and every position has its rights and responsibilities.
Criminal Activities
La eMe is involved in numerous criminal activities such as drug trafficking, murder, weapons trafficking, gambling, racketeering, conspiracy, etc.
One question that remains not answered for decades is who the leader of the La eMe is. The speculation is that the gang is not that centralized despite its military way of functioning, which means that there is not only one leader but rather dozens of them.
If true, this only makes things more complicated for the forces of law and order, and the gang more resilient to any type of the attack; and one thing is for sure – the gang is under the constant attack from numerous sides.
Even though it is not exactly known who the leader of the Mexican mafia is, one thing is certain and that is that most of the high-ranking members of the gang are locked up in high security prison for 23h in a private cells but they still manage to control the gangs activities.
It seems that nothing can stop La eMe from operating and controlling many prisons across the United States as well as many American neighborhoods in the south of the country.
This is a big challenge for the American government however the question is does the American government has an adequate strategy to deal with this problem.
