Longos (street gangs)

"For other uses, see Longo (disambiguation) and Longeros"

Longo is the oldest street gang in Long Beach, California,Manzer, Tracy. [http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/gangs/articles/lbp1_gang1.asp "Gangs still thriving in neighborhoods"] . The Daily News, online edition, 26 September 2004. Retrieved 18 September 2007.] made up of several smaller cliques from the 53 gangs active in the area. [ [http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/99-00/bill/sen/sb_1801-1850/sb_1803_cfa_20000821_100955_asm_comm.html Senate Bill 1803] , 21 August 2000. Retrieved 16 September 2007. (This bill created a civil injunction program against criminal street gangs in Long Beach.)] "Longo" is the local caló term for Long Beach, [Arredondo, Gabriela F. (2003), ed. "Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader". Duke University Press, 2003, ISBN 0822331411, p. 62.] but the term has been regarded more specifically as a reference to these gangs since the 1970s. The use of the term for street gangs has been known to police since a shooting in 1979 at the Carmelitos housing project, but the gang may have been active earlier, according to the Long Beach Police Department's Gang Detail. Multigenerational Hispanic gangs account for nearly two-thirds of all California gangs. [Willwerth, James. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101911118-155910,00.html "From Killing Fields to Mean Streets"] . Time/CNN, online version, 24 June 2001. Retrieved 16 September 2007.]

Longo gang was split geographically at an early stage and three gangs are currently known to use the name: East Side Longo, West Side Longo, and North Side Longo.

East Side Longo is a large Mexican-American gang rooted in the Hispanic community along Anaheim Street in Long Beach. East Side Longo is the dominantly larger of the three gangs, with a number of small neighborhood inner cliques or "Klickas". The PlayBoyZ, Barrio Viejo, Chicos MaloS, MalDitoS, Lonely Boys, Stoners, Tiny Locos, Cyclones, Dog Town, Latin Town, DuKeS and PeeWeeS, Night Owls, Lil Night Owls, Primas (girl cliques) are all part of the East Side. At least one other east Long Beach gang has since merged with East Side Longo. Known throughout the eighties for being associated, the East Side Stoners became a clique within East Side Longo known as simply "Stoners".Fact|date=July 2008

In December 2001 the Long Beach Superior Court issued a permanent injunction against the East Side Longeros in two areas of the city. One part of the injunction forbids gang members from gathering in public with other gang members. [ [http://www.lbreport.com/news/dec01/longoinj.htm Details of City Prosecutor's "East Side Longo" Anti-Gang Injunction] . Long Beach Report, 1 December, 2001. Retrieved 16 September 2007.]

The North Side Longeros recently re-emerged on the streets of Long Beach in approximately 1994-1995 due to a recruiting effort that has started by a few remaining members from a previous era. These "veteranos" were said to have recruited young new members from Jordan High School in north Long Beach and now it is the second largest Longo gang.Fact|date=July 2008

The West Side Longeros hold the smallest area of the three, a small strip of the very western edge of Long Beach bordering Wilmington, Carson and Dominguez. They were for a time in rivalry with the East Side Longeros and are still not as commonly seen as any of the other two gangs.Fact|date=July 2008 In December 2004 the Long Beach City Prosecutor filed a civil injunction against active members of West Side Longo, which prohibits members from a variety of legal and illegal activity in the area. [City of Long Beach. [http://www.longbeach.gov/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=824 Cache of weapons and ammo seized while serving gang injunction] . News service, City of Long Beach. Retrieved 16 September 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.streetgangs.com/hispanic/eslongo.html Hispanic Gangs in Los Angeles County] - online project by Alex Alonso, University of Southern California
* [http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/gangs/articles/lbp1_gang1.asp Gang violence in Southern California] - Special report by Daily News