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OVERVIEW # INTRODUTION
The Latin Kings street gang was formed in Chicago in the 1940s and consisted predominantly of Puerto Rican males. Although it was created by Puerto Ricans, most mid-west factions of the gang are now dominated by Mexicans.
SUBDIVISIONS
Originally created with the philosophy of "overcoming racial prejudice" and creating an organization of "Kings" and "Queens," the Latin Kings evolved into a criminal enterprise operating throughout the United States under two umbrella factionsâ€â€Motherland, also known as KMC (King Manifesto and Constitution), and Bloodline (New York City). All members of the gang refer to themselves as Latin Kings and, currently, individuals of any nationality are allowed to become members.
MOTHERLAND FACTION
Latin Kings associating with the Motherland faction also identify themselves as "Almighty Latin King Nation (ALKN)," and make up more than 160 structured chapters operating in 158 cities in 31 states. The membership of Latin Kings following KMC is estimated to be 20,000 to 35,000.
BLOODLINE FACTION
The Bloodline Manifesto was founded by Luis Felipe AKA "King Blood" in the New York State Collins correctional Facility in 1986. Latin Kings associating with New York State Bloodline Chapter also identify themselves as the "Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN)." Membership is estimated to be as many as 7,500, divided among several dozen Tribes operating in 15 cities in 5 states. New York State Bloodline Latin Kings share a common culture and structure with KMC and respect them as the Motherland, but all chapters do not report to the Chicago leadership hierarchy.
CRIMINAL FOCUS
The gang's primary source of income is the street-level distribution of powder cocaine, crack, heroin, and marijuana. Latin Kings continue to portray themselves as a community organization while engaging in a wide variety of criminal activities, including assault, burglary, homicide, identity theft, and money laundering.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Latin Kings have a hierarchical organizational structure: they have numerous "chapters" or "tribes" across the country, which adhere to a regional, state, and a national system. Officers (Inca, Cacique and Enforcer) are supported by a "Crown Council" of seven members which set rules and regulations and holds disciplinary hearings.
The hierarchy leads to regional officers and ultimately to the Supreme Inca ruler based in Chicago. The head (or heads) of the entire criminal organization are known as "Coronas" (crowns in English). One retired detective said in 2004: "When you compare them to other street gangs like the Bloods and the Crips, none compare to the organization of the Latin Kings.".
MARKINGS
The Latin King colors are Black and Gold; gang markings consist of a 5 or 3-point "sacred crown," writings of LK, ALK, ALKN, ALKQN abbreviations (or the whole words); and drawings of the Lion and/or the King Master. Latin King symbolism is usually accompanied with the name and number of the Tribe, region or city of the gang. The Latin Kings are of the People Nation, and therefore, represent everything to the "left" in opposition to the "right", which is representative of the Folk Nation.
CULTURE
Most Kings wear black/and or gold. The teams Kings represent are usually Chicago teams; such as the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, but also the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Oakland Raiders and the Colorado Buffs.
“KINGISM†IDIOLOGY
According to John H. Richardson in the February 1997 issue of the New York Magazine, "What also made the Kings different was their unique mixture of intense discipline, revolutionary politics and a homemade religion called "Kingism"â€â€adding idealism and a boot camp rigor to the usual gang camaraderieâ€â€a potent mixture for troubled ghetto kids whose lives lacked structure and hope".
The Latin Kings operate under strict codes and guidelines that are conveyed in a lengthy constitution, and they follow the teachings of the King Manifesto.
According to the Latin King Manifesto, there are three stages or cycles of Nation life that constitute Kingism. They are:
The Primitive Stage: where in the neophyte member is expected to be immature and to be involved in such activities as gang-banging and being a street warrior without the full consciousness of Kingism.
The Conservative Stage: which is where a member tires of the street gang life but is still accepting of life as it has been taught to him by the existing system that exploits all people of color, dehumanizes them, and maintains them under the conditions and social yoke of slavery.
The New King Stage: where the member "learns that his ills lie at the roots of a system completely alien to his train of thought and his natural development, due to the components of dehumanization that exist therein".
According to the Manifesto, "The New King is the end product of complete awareness, perceiving three-hundred and sixty degrees of enlightenment; his observations are free and independent; his thoughts are not clouded by any form of prejudice...For him there are no horizons between races, sexes and senseless labels", including gang labels for recognition. The New King no longer views the rival warrior as the cause of his ills; instead, he fights against the Anti-King System (social injustices and inequality), a system which seeks to deny and oppress his people: the Oppressed Third World Peoples.
KING MOTHERLAND CHICAGO LATIN KINGS
The Chicago faction of the Latin Kings is recognized as the largest Hispanic street gang, and the largest Chicago-based street gang, in the United States. Although the original Chicago members were of Puerto Rican descent, most members are now Mexican-American. Unlike MS-13 and 18th Street gangâ€â€whose great portion of gang membership exists in Central and South Americaâ€â€the Latin Kings have a heavier presence within the United States.
The gang has over 25,000 members in the city of Chicago alone and have organized chapters in over 41 states and several Latin American and European countries, including: Mexico, Spain, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Canada, Italy, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, United Kingdom and others. The Latin Kings are mostly of Latino descent, with some Black, White, Asian and Middle Eastern members as well.
FEDERAL STING OPERATIONS AGAINST THE CHICAGO LATIN KINGS
2011: Chicago Latin Kings and Police Corruption
Fifteen suspected members or associates of the Latin Kingsâ€â€including two Chicago Police officersâ€â€have been indicted in an alleged racketeering conspiracy that resulted in 19 murders in three states and helped distribute millions of dollars worth of drugs throughout the regionâ€â€150 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana a year.
In Chicago, two Chicago police officers were indicted November 18, 2011 on charges they provided stolen cash, guns, and drugs to leaders of the Latin Kings street gang. Officers Alex Guerrero and Antonio Martinez were among 21 defendants named in a federal indictment aimed at the gang. They are accused of ripping off drug dealers in fake drug busts in Rockford, Chicago, and Hammond and turning over the proceeds to the Latin Kings. The defendants in the indictment are accused of 75 illegal acts, including 19 murders, assaults, gun sales, and drug sales in Chicago, Northwest Indiana, Texas, and Mexico. Guerrero and Martinez are not named in the homicide counts, but are charged with conspiracy.
2009: Operation Augustin Zambrano
Augustin Zambrano, alleged to be a "Corona" of the Latin Kings, making him the highest-ranking leader outside of prison and responsible for overseeing the illegal activities of all factions of the powerful Chicago Latin Kings, was among 18 defendants charged in a sweeping new federal indictment against the gang's alleged hierarchy. Zambrano and other alleged leaders of the 26th Street Region of the Latin Kings were charged with racketeering conspiracy for allegedly running a criminal enterprise to enrich themselves and others through drug trafficking and preserving and protecting their power, territory and revenue through acts of murder, attempted murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, extortion, and other acts of violence.
The charges result from a sustained, coordinated investigation by multiple federal law enforcement agencies, working together with the Chicago Police Department and other state and local partners, to dismantle the hierarchy of the Latin Kings and other highly organized, often violent, drug-trafficking Chicago street gangs.
On April 6, 2011, Zambrano and three associates were convicted in federal court of racketeering conspiracy and other charges.
An article published in the Chicago Sun-Times stated that on January 11, 2012 Augustin Zambrano was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison.
2008: Operation "Pesadilla"
In 2008 some 400 agents and officers fanned out into the Little Village Community to arrest many of the 40 Latin Kings hit with federal or state charges in an operation dubbed "Pesadilla", Spanish for nightmare. Among those charged in the operation were the "Supreme Regional Officer" as well as 32 "Incas" and "Caciques,": top leaders in the gang's block-by-block organization.
Among those charged in the drug conspiracy case was Vicente Garcia, 30, whose last known address was Bolingbrook, Illinois, was extradited from Mexico after being identified by authorities as the gang's No. 2 leader. Garcia, succeeded Fernando King as the gang's "Supreme Inca" after King was convicted in another federal prosecution.
The undercover recordings captured Garcia issuing a decree that each Inca in the 24 Latin Kings sections controlled by the Little Village region of the gang sell a quarter-ounce of cocaine twice a month to generate revenue for the "Nation Box," a kitty the gang used to pay for guns, drugs, funerals and legal fees, authorities said. Investigators methodically built a case as the wired informant made the rounds handing out drugs and collecting money from gang supervisors month after month.
2006: Operation "Broken Crown"
A three-year investigation of the Latin Kings by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), entitled Operation Broken Crown, ended with the arrest of Fernando "Ace" King, who was suspected to be one of the highest-ranking members of the gang and at least 20 others. The operation was conducted in various areas in Chicago and the suburbs.
Prosecutors said the crack in the case came from an informant named Jesse Guajardo, the alleged "Inca" or leader of a southwest suburban crew of the Latin Kings, from whom the witness purchased cocaine on about 10 occasions between 2000 and 2003. In just 18 months alone in 2003 and 2004, Guajardo, arrested in February, allegedly purchased 150 kilograms of cocaine -– including as much as 50 kilograms at one time for about $1.8 million -– from his alleged supplier, Jose Estrada, according to federal charges.
The investigation by ATF and various local, state and federal law enforcement partners when authorities began executing 10 federal search warrants and arresting alleged leaders, members and associates of the Almighty Latin King Nation (ALKN) street gang and individuals who supplied them with and purchased narcotics.
BLOODLINE LATIN KINGS
Organization
In New York City, the Latin Kings are organized into individual "Tribes." These tribes are located throughout the five boroughs and Long Island. In some cases use the names of ancient Indians such as Queen's Flushing "Maya Tribe" & Long Island's "Toltec tribe" or local names such as The "Flatbush, Brooklyn Tribe" The "Sunset Park Tribe" and The "Borough Park Homicide Squad" are located in Brooklyn. Other Boroughs such as Queens include names such as "Jamaica wolf pack Tribe", "Crown City Tribe", & "Lef-Rak City Tribe". Other names can consist of Divisions such as D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4 & D-5 all located in Long Island's Toltec tribe; extending across the whole island.
LEADERSHIP
In 1986, to avoid imprisonment for his criminal activities in Chicago, Luis Felipe (a.k.a. King Blood) fled to New York and started his own chapter of the Latin Kings known as the Bloodline. He designated himself as Inca and Supreme Crown of the state of New York. Soon after arriving in New York Felipe was arrested and convicted of murdering his girlfriend. In 1995 Antonio Fernandez (a.k.a. King Tone) was designated Inca and Supreme Crown of New York State and New Jersey, and the ALKQN once again began a transformation. The supreme crown in Dominican Republic was Walter aKa King Fenix, among other leaders such as King Guillo and King Gatillero ( Miguelito ).
Street Gang: 1986–1995
From 1986 to the internal power struggle that erupted in 1994, the ALKQN solidified its role as a gang through crimes such as murder, racketeering, and RICO Act charges.
In 1991, Felipe was returned to prison after a short release for parole violations stemming from the receipt of stolen goods. However, Felipe continued to guide the ALKQN members, who now numbered about 2,000, both incarcerated and free. In 1994, with the rapid growth of the Latin Kings, an internal power struggle erupted and violence within the Kings ensued. Between June 1993 and February 1994, seven Latin Kings were murdered. Following the outbreaks of internal gang violence, Luis Felipe and 19 others were charged with murder and racketeering; the indictments ended in 1995 with 39 Latin Kings and 1 Latin Queen indicted under the RICO Act.
The details of the charges against Felipe were later revealed: Felipe was charged with ordering the killing of William (Lil Man) Cartegena. Cartegena was taken to an abandoned Bronx apartment where he was strangled, decapitated, mutilated and his corpse set on fire. Although Felipe was in prison, the government later alleged he had ordered a TOS ("Terminate On Sight") to all Latin Kings for the murder of Cartegena. This letter and many others were how Felipe was initially linked to three murders on the streets of New York; testimony from former Kings was used as further evidence of the orders. The letters had been copied and stored by the NY Department of Corrections, who were not aware of the significance of the letters until a federal task force was formed that linked homicide investigators from the NYPD, FBI agents, and DOC investigators.
Reformation: 1996-1999
In 1996, following the trial of Luis Felipe, Antonio Fernandez Garcia who was recently blessed as the Inca and Supreme Crown of New York State and New Jersey, kneeled with other Latin Kings in front of the Federal District Court in Manhattan and is quoted as stating: It's time for a fresh start ... Now they can't hold our past against us. 1996 is believed to be the beginning of the ALKQN's transformation from a street gang to a "street organization."
Latin Kings and Queens begin appearing en masse at political demonstrations in support of the Latino community. To further its transformation and efforts to legitimize, the organization begins to hold its monthly meetings (universals) at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem. At this time the membership of the Latin Kings is believed to have swelled to 3,000 incarcerated and 4,000 free. The monthly universals are drawing in an attendance of 500-600 regularly. Internal changes to the organization begin to take place as Fernandez amended the ALKQN manifesto to include parliamentary elections and new procedures for handling inter-organizational grievances and removing death as a possible punishment, replacing it with "vanishing", the act of being banished from the movement.
For the ALKQN, 1997 begins with Felipe being sentenced to the harshest penalty passed down since World War II, Felipe is sentenced to 250 years in prison, the first 45 to be spent in solitary confinement. The other 39 members were sentenced to an average of 20 years in prison for their roles in the crimes. The year would bring further legal troubles as Fernandez and 31 others are arrested in a raid in the Lower East Side and charged with disorderly conduct. The Special Commissioner of Investigation for Schools soon after charges the ALKQN with infiltrating the school system, a school security guard with five years of service is dismissed on charges of unprofessional conduct for his association. The year comes to a close with Fernandez being arrested in December by the FBI for domestic abuse.
The pending charges against Fernandez were dropped in early 1998. Following the release of Fernandez, a joint operation of the FBI, New York City Police Department (NYPD), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), New York State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) comes to a close with the arrests of 92 suspected ALKQN members. The Latin King leadership insists over half of those arrested are not members. The operation, dubbed Operation Crown, cost the city over one million dollars and took 19 months to complete.
Fernandez was released after four days on $350,000 bail, which was paid for by contributions from community members. Over half of the arrested were charged with misdemeanors, other were charged with weapons possession and drug trafficking. Fernandez was eventually permitted, though on house arrest, to attend monthly universal meetings. It was during his time on house arrest that the Latin Queens underwent a shake up in leadership, dismissing many of the leaders in order to bring in more politically focused members.
The Latin Kings during this period begin to gain legitimacy. First, Lolita Lebrón, who was a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, appointed the New York State ALKQN to protect her during a demonstration in front of the United Nations. Following the UN demonstration, Rafael Cancel-Miranda, a Puerto Rican Nationalist who spent 25 years in federal prison, attended a monthly universal. Before years' end, Adelfa Vera, Puerto Rican activist, attended a monthly universal and was given sacred ALKQN beads by the present leadership. Adelfa was praised during the meeting and stated "These kids are hope for our liberation struggle. I can die in peace, because we found the continuation"
In 1998 Fernandez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell and distribute heroin. In 1999 he was sentenced to 13 years in prison, which he is serving at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas and was placed in solitary confinement. He was eventually transferred again and placed in general population. He has been released.
TO BE CONTINUED […]
THE RELEASE AND THE GROWTH
3 Months ago, Fernandez has been released from prison. He started to get a imperial posture, starting to be rude, and more aggressive, to get the gang more stronger and rise them up, after some mistakes. It was like, they have started from the zero again, so Fernandez kept his family safe out of the street life. He decided to travel with his gang to Wisconsin, a little unknown country, but there were lots of troubles to fix, new members, new allies, new enemies, new life. They started having troubles with a gang without name, in the start they looked stronger, but when the show started, The Latin Kings took the best part of the show! The unknown gang, were destructed, their spot, not in the same particles, so The Latin Kings took the spot, their new local, a big warehouse, with the money they have been earning, they were transforming it. They started to conquer territory, and get lots of spots in Wisconsin, in a few months they were so known as they were in the last country. Fernandez started to have plans to other gang members in different countries, getting more territory in the world, getting more known. In Wisconsin they started to saw they were going pretty hard, and going too dangerous on the police, so Fernandez took the decision to go easy, and with calm. Getting more territory around the world was enough. Tranquil, and totally safe, Fernandez sent unknown “ people “ to a unknown country.
THE ROAD TO SAN ANDREAS
Two years after what happened, Fernandez being released, getting better ideas, and being aggressive, rude, with a big imperial posture, like a leader, The Latin Kings, were more improvised, stronger, aggressive, more vandalism, homicide, dealings, everything better! Fernandez never wanted to use his childrens on the gang stuff, so he started to think, and he met that, they were adult enough, 28 years old, both, Juan and Amanda. He decided to sent they to a new country to start a new journey. The country is San Andreas. When Amanda and Juan arrived there, they met a cousin of theirs, Bessa. They are one of the most Latin Kings, who have contact with every gang members in different countries, they’re pretty known out there, cause their father is Fernandez, the big leader. In San Andreas, they usually frequent Los Santos, it might be their local to expand the gang, there’s rumors that they’re working hard to earn fast money, unknown members still out there, and they might get houses at Las Colinas Trailers. They already know that Los Santos is not for jokes, and it’s totally secured, high security, and a police with a big level, also there is many families, mafias, gangs and groups, which they can get as Enemies, Allies or just stay normal, neutral, but they still on alert, they don’t like liars or people who gets infiltrate to get information. Usually they search for loyal, helpful, powerful groups, which can help them in the new journey. Amanda and Juan, can look that they aren’t prepared for that, but they have seen things that people can’t even imagine.