Latin Kings

The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN, ALKN, or LKN, also known as simply the Latin Kings) is a gang active primarily in the United States. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954.

In the United States, the Latin Kings operate under two umbrella factions—the King Motherland Chicago (KMC) faction, headquartered in Chicago, and the Bloodline faction, based in New York. The KMC faction consists of 60 structured chapters operating in 158 cities in 31 U.S. states, with an estimated membership of between 20,000 and 35,000. The Bloodline Latin Kings have an estimated membership of 2,200 to 7,500 and operate several dozen chapters in 15 cities across five states. The gang also has a significant presence in the prison system. The Latin Kings are involved in a wide variety of criminal activities, including drug dealing, assault, burglary, homicide, identity theft, and money laundering, with the gang's primary source of income derived from the street-level distribution of narcotics.