CORRECT-familia1

Editor’s Note: Part 2 of the prison gangs overview. It’s always good to review the basics when it comes to gangs.

La Nuestra Familia

The Mexican American prison gang, La Nuestra Familia (Our Family), originated in Northern California in the late 1960s with the proclaimed mission of protecting and preserving the Chicano culture. Many believe the gang was created to interfere with the activities of their rival gang, the Mexican Mafia. This gang is known for intra-prison drug and sex trades, and continues its operation from behind bars.

La Nuestra Familia is particularly violent, consisting of serious criminals and there is a significant waiting period to become a member. Members are known to wear red rags and have large tattoos, often covering their entire back. Symbols include the initials NF, LNF, ENE and F. The number 14 indicates the 14th letter in the alphabet, N, which stands for Norte or Northern California. A sombrero with a dagger is commonly worked into their tattoos.

T7

The Texas Syndicate or Texas 7 is a gang consisting primarily of Mexican-born immigrant prisoners created in — you guessed it — the California state prison system. Their mission is to protect members from other prison gangs. This gang reportedly has approximately 1,000 members in jail, and another 800 or more who have been released from jail.

Income is primarily derived from contract murders, gambling, prostitution, extortion and drug trafficking. The Texas Syndicate gang tattoo is typically located on the back of the right forearm, but can also be found on the outside of the calf, neck and chest. Somewhere in the tattoo design will be a letter “T” layered with a “S.”

The Neta

Originally formed in 1970 in the Rio Pedras Prison in Puerto Rico to stop the violence between inmates, Neta now consists of Puerto Rican-American and Hispanic members. They are patriotic and loyal to Puerto Rico, and associate with a Puerto Rican street group called Los Macheteros. They are unwilling to be governed by the US, and claim to seek independence for Puerto Rico from the oppression put upon them by the federal government.

Any disrespect aimed toward an individual member or the group as a whole is usually handled with extreme violence. Neta’s members gather on the 30th of every month to honor their fallen comrades. They are very secretive and keep a low profile; however, there are some unique identifiers. Gang colors are ironically red, white and blue or black. They incorporate these colors into their clothing where possible and also use beads to show their colors. In prison where items are structured, Neta have retrofitted rosaries to be their color identifiers. New members have all white beads until they prove themselves and only then can they wear black beads among the white, plus one red bead.

This gang actually has membership cards and a Neta salute consisting of crossing the fingers of their right hand and placing it over their heart. Their tattoo contains a heart pierced by two crossing Puerto Rican flags and a shackled right hand with the middle and index fingers crossed. Sometimes a simple heart with a script “N” inside the heart is displayed in smaller areas such as between the thumb and index finger. Drug trafficking, extortion and murder-for-hire is how Neta prospers. Their extreme violence will be easily directed toward law enforcement officers when they get in the way of their activities.
By D.M. Chamberlain

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