and red for members from Northern California from the beginning. This symbolizes the thirteenth letter of the alphabet (M) and the rag color used by the group is blue. The number 13 as a symbol for their organization. Another movie ‘Blood In, Blood Out’ a similar story but omitted the true historical nature of gang alliances (former San Quentin Warden Dan Velasquez played himself in this movie). While based on the true story several parts were fictitious. The movie ‘American Me’ filmed in East L.A., Chino, and Folsom Prison was based on his life. The introduction of contraband and dealing of drugs was another major gang activity. to gang members for a prison cell the state owned! Members who had skills at bookkeeping or running a commissary store from their cells became the ‘money men.’ Money could be cigarettes, money orders placed on inmate accounts, or something. Members who could make weapons or were known as killers became the gang’s enforcers. Members are called ‘carnales’ or brothers of the family. The object of this group was to protect Chicano inmates from others to control movement and have pull within the enterprises within the prison and later to control the action in the varrio. The group was initially called the ‘Locos and built its’ infrastructure based on the Cosa Nostra, also known as the Italian Mafia. and began in the Duell Vocational Institute at Tracy, California, in late 1957. Prison gang members once released usually return to the street and are expected to collect taxes for the gang and kickback money or drugs to their former brothers behind bars (la pinta). If a street gang member is a prospect, he will have to prove himself out on the prison big yard. Street gang members are groomed by prison gang members to ‘put in work, earn their stripes and make their bones’. Street gangs and prison gangs are closely intertwined today with the ‘revolving door’. Between 19, 189 inmates were killed behind prison walls in the California Department of Corrections, the majority of them by prison gangs. Prison gangs are much more violent than street gangs. Nationally, it is believed that there are at least 283 different prison gangs. This term includes other organizations that are ‘Disruptive Groups’, but not normally associated with the outside or street gangs. Prison gangs are often classified as ‘Security Threat Groups’ in correctional facilities because they tend to disrupt the normal operation of the facility. Gangs in prison originally started as protection groups from other prison gangs and to act as a welcoming committee for new prisoners after their intake into the system. Whether in jails or prison, Correctional Officers attempt to keep warring gangs away from each other. People doing prison terms usually do more than a one-year sentence and for more serious crimes may even be doing a ‘life sentence’. While there are gang members in jails, it is generally harder for gangs to get organized since there is more restrictive movement and limits on personal property that is the cause for much violence. If they are sentenced to jail most will not do more than a year locked up. When a person is arrested and charged they will often sit out their time in jail if they cannot bail out during trial.
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