Index » 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.
Mexican Mafia was formed in the 1950s and its founder is Luis Flores knows as "Huero Buff".
Luis Flores was capable, intelligent, cruel, merciless and strong, both mentally and physically. This made him very dangerous. So much so that he founded one of the most powerful, and one of the cruelest prison gangs in the United States.
The rules in the street and in the prison are very simple, and the main rule is that the stronger survives and the weaker dies. In order to protect himself, and other Mexican prison inmates, Flores founded Mexican Mafia, also known as eMe.
The main goal of Mexican Mafia was to organize and unite Mexican prison inmates so that other members are protected from correction officers and other prison gangs. However, there was also another goal which was to gain power and make money.
In order to establish Mexican Mafia as a serious, feared and powerful prison gang Luis Flores recruited very violent members to the gang. These members had very simple assignment which was to terrorize everybody that opposes the Mexican Mafia and kill its enemies.
This tactic of the Mexican Mafia founder worked, and many Mexican prison inmates wanted to join the gang and were ready to die for it. This gave great power to Luis Flores, and he was able to control the black market activities in the prison which meant more power, respect and money for him and his gang.
Even though Mexican Mafia is a prison gang it is very well organized due to the Flores's and Cadena's establishment of the gang hierarchy, commandments and rules of conduct.
Mexican Mafia has well organized paramilitary structure which is similar to the Italian Mafia in the United States. This hierarchy includes, from the bottom-up, soldiers, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and generals.
The main policies of the Mexican Mafia are: there is no other way to leave Mexican Mafia but to be killed; prioritizing the gang over one's family; a member will be punished or killed if he becomes an informant, shows disrespect of other members, act as a coward, or is involved in homosexual activities.
Today Mexican Mafia in involved in many criminal activities inside and outside the prison walls. This criminal organization is involved in drug trafficking, murder, contract killing, racketeering, weapons trafficking, conspiracy, gambling, etc.
All of these criminal activities and its highly organized system of functioning made Mexican Mafia one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the United States and beyond.
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 (California's 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 didn't happen. Actually, right the opposite happened because by transferring those prisoners to other prisons, Californian Department of Corrections facilitated the spread of the gang.
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 and must kill him if he violates some of the gang's 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 bottom-up) solders, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and generals. The hierarchy is strictly respected and every position has its rights and responsibilities.
"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 gang's 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.