The Mexican Mafia

Referred to by most within law enforcement and the criminal underworld as "La Eme", which means "The M" in Spanish, the Mexican Mafia has created a powerful criminal enterprise within America's own prisons whose power and influence reach far beyond prison cells and recreation yards.

The Mexican Mafia is a criminal organization whose history dates back to the 1950s and it rose to power and prominence by rallying together Latino gang members from Southern California, more specifically, the barrios (or neighborhoods) of East Los Angeles.

The Mexican Mafia controls crime outside of prison from within prison walls. This is done through contacts and connections on either side of the barbed wire. Most criminals and drug dealers realize that prison is an inevitable way of life for them, and the Mexican Mafia realizes this as well. Contacts of the Mexican Mafia outside of the prison system use methods of fear and intimidation to control smaller street gangs and drug dealers who almost always comply because any other option would be self destructive. On the one hand, a gang member or drug dealer who refused to cooperate with the Mexican Mafia would be killed for disobedience. On the other hand, if the cops got to the small time gang member or drug dealer before the Mexican Mafia did, that gang member would just be delivered by the court system into the waiting hands of the Mexican Mafia leadership within the prisons.

The Mexican Mafia began controlling smaller Latino street gangs in southern California by offering affiliation with and the protection of the Mexican Mafia. Mexican Mafia leadership began to franchise out their name and brand to those who would cooperate with Mexican Mafia rules and requirements. California was carved up into sections with each smaller faction being given a specific turf. In return for their cooperation, the smaller street gangs received the right to identify themselves as Mexican Mafia members, lending them credibility and respect by association from other gang members.

Each of those smaller gangs were the ones mostly responsible for conducting the actual criminal activities, such as running drugs, weapons, or carrying out orders of violence. While the street gangs did the dirty work, the leaders of the Mexican Mafia sat in their jail cells and became rich from the checks and money grams delivered to them by their loyal street gang affiliates, right under the noses of prison staff.

The Mexican Mafia's biggest rival gangs within the prisons are The Black Guerrilla Family (an African American centered prison gang) and La Nuestra Familia (another Latino centered prison gang). Members of the Mexican Mafia are identified by symbolic tattoos which adorn their bodies. The most notable of these tattoos is the black hand print on the chest. it is known as "The Black Hand of Death."

Sources:

Michael Montgomery. Gangster Reveals Mexican Mafia Secrets. National Public Radio.

Mexican Mafia: Prison Gang Profile. Inside Prison.

Mexican Mafia. Federal Bureau of Investigation.