AVENUES CAN'T STAY OUT OF THE NEWS.
Yesterday ICE and the LAPD arrested nine members or associates of the Drew Street clique of Avenues on immigrant smuggling charges. The arrests took place on Avenue 34, in Holtville and Calexico. Clearly, the Guerrero faction of Drew Street doesn't limit its activities to dope and taxation. According to the ICE press release, this group was responsible for smuggling 200 immigrants a year into the US for prices ranging from $2,500 to $4,000 depending on the mode of transport and other factors.
Continuing on the theme of a recent post, it's becoming clear that the lines between traditional neighborhoods and the Emeros and their connection to International criminal orgs is becoming blurred. Immigrant smuggling has not been a core activity of neighborhood operations. That sort of operation was left to the border-based groups and freelance coyotes.
That no longer seems to be the case. Where there's money to be made, mutually beneficial alliances between criminal groups usually follows. These alliances my be temporary or they may be an indication of things to come. One could easily see the creation of hybrid gangs composed of locals and foreigners with an equally heterogeneous hierarchy composed of prison-based and cross-border upper level managers.
The founders of the current Eme saw in their future a super gang composed of the best from the street gangs. We may be seeing the beginning of a future supergang composed of the best from both sides of the border.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Cops were deep near Drew yesterday, they were all over Fletcher, and going in and out of ave 34 all day. Knew something was going down. They were staring down everyone, including me. They followed my uncle for a few blocks. Cops always say that most of us are hard working people and that they're protecting us from the gangs, but it's a different story when the cameras aren't rolling. we're all suspects.
So I guess we're way past "just say no".
My Tia and Abuelita live one block over from Drew Street, my abuelita remembers when Drew St was a quiet street before the ghetto apartments were built on Drew St.
I imagine PW was a legend to NELA and at the very least to the Aves on his own. I'm starting to think your book spread the legend across the country. If Ave's weren't already on the map nationally...your book and subsequent gangland episode helped put them there now. I wonder if that will cause a recruitment boom for them...or if the LE will keep up the pressure now that the media is looking at NELA....i'm sure LE always knew how dangerous that area was, even before the book...i didn't have a clue however
Post a Comment