18th Street Gang

The 18th Street Gang, also Eighteen street, XV3 transition, Mara18 or BEST (big Eighteen street) called, is a Latino gang that operates in much of America. Its membership is estimated in Los Angeles alone to between 8,000 and 20,000.

History

The 18th Street Gang evolved in the 1960s in the Rampart police district of Los Angeles, in " 18th Road ". This street has the Clanton Street gang acted, controlled large parts of the district police. As more Latinos came to the U.S., the number of Latino gangs present there grew. Young Latinos, the Clanton Street Gang wanted to join, but were not accepted because it only Mexicans recorded. That's why the young people founded the 18th Street Gang, in which the ethnicity played no role. The gang quickly developed by many illegal immigrants (1995, 60% of gang members illegal immigrants ), and thereby also increased their importance. Although the 18th Street does not require a Mexican ethnic background, the majority of the members is Mexican. The civil war in El Salvador, many Salvadorans emigrated to the USA and joined that gang Mara Salvatrucha, or to. Many of them were illegal immigrants and were sent back to their homeland, where they continue to lead the transition

Being active is the decline since the 1990s in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Spain. The transition is at enmity with the Bloods and Crips, their biggest rival is the Mara Salvatrucha.