Santa Monica 13 or SMG is a
Mexican-American
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...
street gang
A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...
located in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, California, United States. They reside mainly in the Pico neighborhood. Even though Santa Monica 13 is a
Sureño gang, they wear their traditional black bandanas. The acronym SM17 refers to Santa Monica 17th Street, which is the gang's primary subset or "clique". They write up "SMG" or "Santa Monica Gang" to show solidarity.
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History
The Santa Monica Gang was the first gang to originate on the Westside of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in the late 1920s, formerly known as the Santa Monica Tomato Patch Gang. They had given birth to all the surrounding gangs in the area. The gang simply became known as Santa Monica 13 and, since the creation of the Mexican Mafia in the 1950s, have been known for their violent ways.
Cliques
The only active clique remaining in the 17th Street gang are the "Pee Wee Locos",[
"Wallbangin' Graffiti and Gangs in L.A.",
Susan A. Phillips, University of Chicago, 2010, web:
]
Uch6677
and the only active remaining clique of Santa Monica 13 are the "Little Locos". Other cliques have come and gone over time, including the 11th Street Chavos, 17th Street Tiny Locos, 17th Street Locas, 20th Streeters, 21st. Deadend Winos, Midget Locos and the Crickets.
Graffiti
The gang's graffiti includes the symbols "SM" "SMG", "SM13" or "SMX3" and for the 17th Street gang, "SM17" or "SMXVII" plus "SMX7" or "SMXV2st".["Los Angeles CityBeat - Gangster's Paradise Lost." Los Angeles CityBeat, front page. 15 October 2009, web]
References
{{Organized crime groups in America
Organizations established in the 1920s
1920s establishments in California
Sureños
Latino street gangs
Gangs in Los Angeles
Mexican-American culture in Los Angeles
Organizations based in Santa Monica, California