This is a list of notable criminally-active

street gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

operating or formerly operating in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. To be included in this list, the gang must have a Wikipedia article with references showing it is a California street gang.

Prison gangs

Aryan Brotherhood The Aryan Brotherhood, also known as the Brand or the AB, is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate which is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern ...

Black Guerrilla Family The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF, also known as the Black Family, the Black Vanguard, and Jamaa) is an African-American black power prison and street gang founded in 1966 by George Jackson, George "Big Jake" Lewis, and W. L. Nolen while they wer ...

Mexican Mafia The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: ''Mafia Mexicana''), also known as ''La eMe'' (Spanish for "the M"), is a Mexican American criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely ...

Nuestra Familia Nuestra Familia (Spanish for ''"our family"'') is a criminal organization of Mexican American (Chicano) prison gangs with origins in Northern California. While members of the Norteños gang are considered to be foot soldiers of Nuestra Familia, b ...

Fresno Bulldogs Fresno Bulldogs, or BDS for short, also known by the abbreviations FBD and F-14, are a primarily Mexican American criminal street and prison gang located in 559, California. They are considered to be one of the biggest drug gangs in Central Calif ...

Street gangs

18th Street gang 18th Street, also known as , , , or simply in Central America, is a multi-ethnic (largely Central American and Mexican) transnational criminal organization that started as a street gang in Los Angeles. It is one of the largest transnational ...

* Abergil crime family *

Armenian Power Armenian Power 13, also known as AP, the Armenian Mob, or Armenian Mafia is an Armenian criminal organization and street gang founded and currently based in Los Angeles County, California.Krikorian, Michael (August 17, 1997)Violent Gang Is a Stai ...

Bahala Na Gang The Bahala Na Gang (BNG) is a street gang founded in the Philippines which subsequently spread to the United States. Early history The Bahala Na Gang was established in the early 1940s in Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines, by Divino Talastas, a n ...

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includin ...

Black P. Stones The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation often abbreviated as (BPS, BPSN, Black Peace Stones, Black P. Stones, Stones, or Moes) is an American street gang founded in Chicago. The gang was originally formed in the late 1950s as the Blackstone Rangers. ...

Bounty Hunter Bloods The Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, also known as the Bounty Hunter Bloods, is a predominantly African American street gang situated in the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles. History The gang was originally established ...

Pirus The Pirus are an African-American street gang alliance founded in 1969 and based in Southern California. The Pirus comprise various sub-groups, known as "sets". These distinguish themselves by colors, clothing, operations, and political ideas. ...

* Chosen Few MC *

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...

Asian Boyz Amongst the Asian Boyz, also known as ABZ, AB-26, or ABZ Crips, are a street gang based in Southern California. They were founded in the late 1980s as part of efforts of protection for Cambodian refugees from the more numerous American gangs in ...

Grape Street Watts Crips The Grape Street Watts Crips is a Crip subset based in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The gang's rivalry with the Bounty Hunter Bloods has been described as being "the most violent and long lasting feud between two gangs that are in the W ...

** Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips **

Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips The Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips is a street gang based in Los Angeles, California, originally formed in Los Angeles in 1976 from the Westside Crips and having since spread to other cities in the United States. Membership is estimated to be aro ...

Sons of Samoa Sons of Samoa is a Crips-affiliated street gang based in Long Beach, California, United States. Its membership mainly consists of Samoan Americans with other Pacific island members. History The Sons of Samoa gang is a faction of the Crips gang ...

Tongan Crip Gang The Tongan Crip Gang, or West Side 102st Tonga Crip Gang, is a street gang that is a subset of the Crips gang. The gang is active in the U.S. states of California, Utah and others, as well as a presence in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Tong ...

Venice Shoreline Crips Venice Shoreline Crips, or known as VSLC, is a Crips-based gang based out of Venice, Los Angeles, California. History The Venice Shoreline Crips formed in Venice's Oakwood neighborhood, which was originally labeled as a "servant's zone" by Veni ...

Devils Diciples The Devils Diciples Motorcycle Club (DDMC) is an outlaw motorcycle club that was founded in Fontana, California in 1967. Such clubs are not sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and do not adhere to the AMA's rules. The club ...

Diablos Motorcycle Club The Diablos Motorcycle Club, or Diablos MC for short, is a " one-percenter" outlaw motorcycle club that has chapters in cities across the United States. John E. Irvin, president of the Diablos' San Fernando Valley chapter, and Thomas E. Pastor, ...

Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club (GGMC) is a one-percenter motorcycle club that began around a motorcycle racing team and friends based out of Los Angeles, California in the United States in 1942. The group was informal and not chartered until ...

Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club (GJMC), are a " one-percenter" motorcycle club that was originally formed in San Bernardino, California on April Fool's Day, 1956.Isaacs 2004 Though founded in the United States, the MC expanded successfully overs ...

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...

Latin Kings (gang) The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN, ALKN, or LKN, also known as simply Latin Kings) is one of the largest Hispanic and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois in 1954. Hi ...

Los Angeles crime family The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia or the Southern California crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Los Angeles as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the earl ...

Menace of Destruction Menace of Destruction (MOD), formerly known as Masters of Destruction, is a Hmong street gang created in 1988. Today, it is active in California, Midwestern United States, and many places with large Hmong communities. It is known for murders, figh ...

Mongols Motorcycle Club The Mongols Motorcycle Club, sometimes called the Mongols Nation or Mongol Brotherhood, is a "one-percenter" outlaw motorcycle club. The club is headquartered in Southern California and was originally formed in Montebello, California, in 1969. L ...

* Moonshiners Motorcycle Club *

MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ange ...

Norteños Norteños (Spanish: meaning ''Northerners''; ''Norteñas'' for females) are the various, affiliated gangs that pay tribute to Nuestra Familia while in California state and federal correctional facilities. Norteños may refer to Northern Calif ...

* Persian Gods *

Peckerwood ''Peckerwood'' is a term used in the Southern United States for a woodpecker which is also used as an offensive epithet toward white people, especially poor rural whites. Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been embraced by a subculture rela ...

Nazi Lowriders The Nazi Lowriders (or NLR, or The Ride) are a Neo-Nazi, White supremacist organized crime syndicate, and prison and street gang based primarily in metro Los Angeles and several areas around Texas. They also are believed to have spread to other ...

** Public Enemy No. 1 * Satanas *

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...

** Beltrán-Leyva Cartel *

Sureños Sureños (; Spanish: ''Southerners'')‍, Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3 are groups of loosely affiliated gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities. Many Sureño gangs have r ...

38th Street gang The 38th Street gang is an American criminal street gang in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Hispanic-Americans. The 38th Street gang is one of the oldest street gangs in Los Angeles and has been occupying its territory since the 1920s ...

** The Avenues ** Azusa 13 ** Culver City Boys 13 ** El Monte Flores **

Florencia 13 The Florencia 13, South Side Florencia 13 or Florence Gang is an American criminal street gang based in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Mexican-Americans. The gang is named after the Florence area of Los Angeles County, controlled by t ...

Logan Heights Gang The Logan Heights Gang, also known as Varrio Logan Heights or LH, is a Sureño street gang based in Southeast San Diego. History The Logan Heights Gang was established in Southeast San Diego, when several individual Mexican-American street gang ...

** OVS ** Playboys **

Puente 13 Puente 13 (P13) is a street gang in La Puente, California. They are Sureños. They are described as Mafia related or Mexican mafia related. They were formed ''c.'' 1953 as the Bridgetown Gentlemen (''puente'' is Spanish "bridge"), or "Old Town Pue ...

Santa Monica 13 Santa Monica 13 or SMG is a Mexican-American street gang located in Santa Monica, California, United States. They reside mainly in the Pico neighborhood. Even though Santa Monica 13 is a Sureño gang, they wear their traditional black banda ...

** Río 13 ** Shelltown 38th St **

Temple Street A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

Toonerville Rifa 13 Toonerville Rifa 13, also known as The Ville, is a Mexican-American street gang located in Los Angeles county. History Toonerville Rifa 13 was formed in the 1930s in North East Los Angeles and South Glendale. Prior to taking the name of Toonerv ...

Varrio Nuevo Estrada Varrio Nuevo Estrada, also known as VNEx3,Moore, J. W. (1991). Going down to the barrio: homeboys and homegirls in change. (pp. 35). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. is a Chicano criminal street gang founded in Boyle Heights, California, ...

Venice 13 Venice 13 or West Side Venice 13, abbreviated as V13 or VX3, is a Mexican American street gang based in the Oakwood (aka "Ghost Town") neighborhood of Venice, a section of Los Angeles, California. It has a substantial presence in East Venice as we ...

** Westside Locos 13 **

White Fence White Fence (also known by the acronym WF) is a predominantly Mexican American street gang in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles. History White Fence is one of the oldest gangs in Los Angeles. The gang itself claims its histor ...

Vineland Boys Vineland Boys is a street gang composed mainly of Hispanic Americans operating in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. History The Vineland Boys gang was founded in North Hollywood, Los Angeles in January 1988 by former members and assoc ...

Tiny Rascal Gang TRG, also known as Tiny Raskal Gang or Raskals, is a mainly ethnically Cambodian gang based in Eastside Long Beach, California. In the 1990s we began to see Mexican Mafia "green light" or hit lists with the TRG gang featured at the top. Soon all ...

* Triad **

14K Triad The 14K (十四K) is a triad group based in Hong Kong but active internationally. It is the second largest triad group in the world with around 20,000 members split into thirty subgroups. They are the main rival of the Sun Yee On, which is the ...

Bamboo Union The United Bamboo Gang (UBG; ; Bamboo Union triad) is the largest of Taiwan's three main criminal Triads. They are reported to have roughly 10,000 members. The membership consists largely of ''waishengren'' (Mainland Chinese) and has had histo ...

Big Circle Gang The Big Circle Gang is a Chinese triad which was established in Hong Kong in the 1970's. They were given the moniker "Big Circle Gang" and were formed by former members of the Red Guards, a paramilitary organization established by Mao Zedong du ...

Black Dragons ''Black Dragons'' is a 1942 American film directed by William Nigh and starring Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, and George Pembroke. The cast includes Clayton Moore, who plays a handsome detective. The Black Dragon Society also appears in '' Let's G ...

Four Seas Gang The Four Seas Gang, or FSG (四海幫, or ''Si Hai Bang'') is a triad society based in Taiwan. It includes mainland Chinese and their descendants who fled to Taiwan with the KMT. The Four Seas Gang has an estimated membership 10,000 in Taiwan. Its ...

** Jackson Street Boys **

Wah Ching Wah Ching ( zh, s=华青, t=華青, first=t, j=Waa4 Cing1), meaning Chinese Youth, is a Chinese American criminal organization and street gang that was founded in San Francisco, California in 1964. The Wah Ching has been involved in crimes inclu ...

Wo Hop To Wo Hop To, or WHT (和合圖), is a triad group based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The name translates to "Harmoniously United Association", or "Harmonious Union Plan", and is thought to have been founded in 1908 in Sai Ying Pun as a secret politica ...

Wo Shing Wo Wo Shing Wo or WSW () is the oldest of the Wo Group triad societies, and is the triad with the longest history in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong police, the triad is involved in extortion, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution.

Vagos Motorcycle Club The Vagos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Green Nation, is a one percenter motorcycle club formed in 1965 in San Bernardino, California. The club's insignia is Loki, the Norse god of mischief, riding a motorcycle. Members typically wear green. ...

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:California Street Gangs * Street gangs Organizations based in California Lists of gangs United States law-related lists Lists of organizations based in the United States

Street Gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

Gangs, California

Prison gangs

Street gangs

See also

References

External links