Latin kings

Latin Kings is considered one of the largest gangs in the world, consisting of Hispanics. The group appeared in the 40s in New York. In the USA, as a rule, young people from poor families who came from Puerto Rico and Mexico became "kings". The group has its own “Constitution” and a flag, which depicts the flags of these two states and the symbols of the gang. The traditional colors of the symbolism are yellow and black, as well as a wreath of five arrows and a crown.

The gang was transformed in 1986 by Louis "King Blood" Filipe during his imprisonment at the Collins Correctional Center. Louis Filipe compiled a manifesto of the group - ALKQN - based on the principles by which the group lived in Chicago, the homeland of the gang. In 1995, Filipe was declared the Supreme Inca (boss) gang in New York and New Jersey.

In recent years, more and more immigrants from other Latin American countries have joined the ranks of Latin Kings, and gang members themselves began to call themselves the "Almighty Nation of the Latin Kings," or simply "The Nation." Despite the lack of central leadership, the gang operates in many US states. The number of groups in the United States is about 25 thousand people.

It is believed that many Latin American teenagers who join a group look for something in it that they are deprived of at home - protection, friendship, attention, involvement in something significant. Most of these young people have dysfunctional families, and not necessarily materially. Once in the gang, they feel fascinated by the criminal aesthetics of the group and the way of life of the real "Latin king." Beginners are made to pass strength tests. This may be participating in a fierce fight with edged weapons or simply stealing a mobile phone from a stranger on the street. Members of the group communicate with like-minded people from different countries via the Internet, and they have no language problems - everyone knows Spanish. Any gang member can ask the network for good advice or help. Formally, you cannot consider all young people in Latin Kings to be criminals. A significant part of them takes only the first steps towards real crime.

Unlike other large Latin American gangs - Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street gang - the Latin Kings gang is not particularly cruel.

It is believed that joining a gang, it is almost impossible to leave it. Of course, this is not so, although the apostate may face a number of problems, especially if he does not change his place of residence. There is a common expression in the gang una "vez rey, rey para siempre", but in practice, only leaving to another gang is punishable. This is the worst betrayal that can lead to blood. According to rumors, it was precisely such betrayals that led to a showdown between Latin Kings and Netas in Madrid, ending in two murders.

The constitution of the group consists of many points. For example, there is a mandatory clause in the constitution, according to which the leaders of the “kings” are obliged to convene a meeting of the “Latin Kings and Queens” at least once a year in a city or district under their control. The Constitution provides for the entry into a group of people of different nationalities.

In addition to the United States, Latin Kings operates in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Spain.

There is a big difference between the Spanish bandits and their American "colleagues." In the US, the leaders of the “kings" are involved in drug trafficking and, as a result, wars with other groups over spheres of influence. It is believed that in Spain there are several hundred "kings", about half of whom are minors. The gang is especially active in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.

For the first time, Latin Kings became widely known in October 2003, when a Colombian teenager, Ronnie Tapias, was brutally murdered in Barcelona.

Unlike the United States, in Spain, the gang is mainly joined by young people and girls from Ecuador, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. In recent years, however, among the Latin Kings there are natives of the Maghreb, the Philippines and even the Spaniards. Symbols, gestures and customs were copied from American like-minded people - all the same yellow-black colors and aggression towards rivals, especially to the main competitors from the Madrid gang "Netas". Experts and psychologists attribute the existence of such groups, primarily to the sphere of social and immigration problems.

In 2005, more than 140 "Latin American kings" were detained in Spain. Since 2008, Spanish law enforcement agencies have begun to actively fight the “kings." Several leaders and a significant number of ordinary gang members were arrested. So, at the end of February, in the suburbs of Madrid Villalba, Colmenarejo, Galapagar, as well as in the Argansuel region, agents of the National Police detained 15 young people, there was also one girl among the detainees. A lot of knives were seized from the “kings".

According to the newspaper El Mundo, all the detainees were Ecuadorian, and seven of them were minors. From the suburbs, gang members came to Madrid to face off against their sworn enemies from the Netas gang.

• The activity of Latin Kings is devoted to a dozen books and several documentaries ^[2] .

• Most likely, the group served as the prototype of the fictional Latin American gang Los Santos Vagos in the games Gta: San Andreas and GTA V , since the identification mark is the wearing of yellow and black clothes for both the Latin kings and the gang from the game.

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