Utah Gangs
Social Problems
Soc 1020
Course Objectives
• You will be able to identify gang members
based on certain actions and behaviors the
individuals exhibit or participate in.
White Supremacy Gangs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
S.A.C. (Soldiers of Aryan Culture)
S.A.W. (Silent Aryan Warriors)
4R (4th Reich)
KV (Krieger Verwandt)
American Peckerwood
AB (Aryan Brotherhood)
Side ways SAC
S.A.C.
Started by Tracy Swena in
1997. In 2004 he was indicted
under the RICO act and is
currently in Federal custody.
S.A.C.
They follow a military style rank structure that consists
of generals, captains, lieutenants, sergeants and
soldiers. The gang accepts new members by
invitation only from a lieutenant or sergeant, and the
recruits earn a position in the organization by
completing criminal missions during a six- to 12month probation period. They call these recruits
“probates.”
S.A.C.
Missions oftentimes include orders, issued by
the leaders of Soldiers of the Aryan Culture, to
“hit” another inmate, A “hit” is usually a
violent stabbing or some other form for
criminal activity designed to show dominance
within and outside of correctional institutions.
Members are required to attack all known sex
offenders and snitches. These assaults, as well
as attacks on law-enforcement officials, are
referred to as “cleaning up the trash.”
S.A.C.
Identifiers
•
•
•
•
•
Elder Futhark runic writings.
Skin head.
Nazi symbols.
14-88.
White Pride.
S.A.W.
Silent Aryan Warriors began in the Central Utah
Correctional Facility in the mid 1990’s.
They have a military style rank structure that
consists of a council of five members called
“Commanders.” They have Generals, Majors,
Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants, Enforcers,
Warriors and Probates.
S.A.W.
A person cannot join S.A.W. just because they
want to. They must be invited by a member of
S.A.W.
During the time that a Probate is earning his
SAW Patch he must memorize the 14 words
and do whatever is asked of him by other
members of S.A.W. with blind obiedience.
S.A.W.
The “14 words” came from a famous
white supremacist named David
Lane. At the end of his court trial
where he was charged and sentenced
in a murder conspiracy the Judge
asked him if he had anything to say.
Lane stood up and said “We must
secure the existence of our people
and a future for white children.”
Identifiers
•
•
•
•
•
•
S.A.W. Patch.
Nazi symbols.
Asatru and or Odinism symbols.
14-88 (14 words and HH for Heil Hitler).
White Pride.
Runic letters
Latino Gangs
•
•
•
•
•
Sureños
Norteños
Ogden Trece
VLT (Vario Loco Town)
QVO
Sureños
• They started in the 1960’s
• They are a Mexican street gang that began
from a prison dispute between the Mexican
Mafia and their rival gang the Nuestra Familia.
They took up with the Mexican Mafia.
• Sureño means “southerner.” Sureños claim the
south parts of California.
Sureño Representation
• Because of their history as foot soldiers for the
Mexican Mafia or la “Eme” (meaning the
letter “M” in Spanish), Sureños claim the letter
M in order to represent themselves. They also
claim the number 13 as M is the 13th letter of
the alphabet.
• They use ancient Aztec symbols to write 13.
Sureño Representation cont.
• They claim the letter “S” for Sureño. They call
each other “Ese” which is Spanish for “S”.
• They claim the colors Blue & White and
sometimes Brown.
Tattoos & other identifiers
Rivals
• They rival primarily with Norteños.
• To disrespect the Norteños the Sureños will
cross out The letter N. Call them “nor-cacas”
and “nor-putos.” They will tattoo or write
things like “NK” meaning Norteño Killer.
Rivals
• They also rival with a local Utah gang called
Ogden Trece. This is due to the fact that the
Ogden trece uses the number 13 and did not
get the permission to do so from the Sueños.
• Sureños disrespect Ogden trece by crossing
out the O in Sureño. When writing it or
tattooing it.
Warning!
The following video
contains content
that is extremely
vulgar.
Norteño History
• Norteños affiliated with Nuestra Familia were prison
enemies of the Southern Latinos who comprised La
Eme, better known as the Mexican Mafia. While the
Mexican Mafia had initially been created to protect
Mexicans in prison, there was a perceived level of
abuse by members of La Eme towards the imprisoned
Latinos from rural farming areas of Northern California.
The spark that led to the ongoing war between
Norteños and members of the Mexican Mafia involved
a situation in which a member of La Eme allegedly
stole a pair of shoes from a Northerner. This event put
into motion the longest-running gang war in the state
of California.
Norteño Representation
• They claim the color Red. They wear it with
black and or white.
• They claim the letter N and the number 14.
• They use the roman numeral for 14.
• They often wear Red team sports clothing.
• They call each other “Ene.”
Tattoos & other identifiers
Rivals
• They are primarily rivals with the Sureños.
• They call them Scraps and Sur-ratas.
• They disrespect them by crossing out the
letter S when they tattoo or write.
• They Tattoo and write “SK” for Sureño Killer.
Warning!
The following
video contains
content that is
extremely vulgar.
Ogden Trece
• Ogden Trece began in 1974 in Ogden Utah. It
was originally called the Ogden Knights. One
year after they changed their name to Centro
City Locos (CCL) and in the 1980’s they
renamed themselves to the Ogden Trece.
• There are less than 500 members listed in the
State.
Ogden Trece
They often mark themselves and the property
they claim with one or more of the following:
OX13, CCL, Trece, O-town, OG-town, and O-13.
They wear the color blue and members prefer
Utah Jazz and Dallas Cowboys jerseys with the
number 13 or 31.
Glendale
17th st.
VLT
Vario Loco Town (VLT) Started in the Glendale
area of SLC in the late 1980’s. They claim the
color Green and the number 17 for the street
(17th st.) where they began. They primarily
rival with QVO. They refer to each other as
“SPIC” which means Spanish People In Charge.
QVO
Q-vole Varrio Once. Q-vole is Mexican slang
for “what’s up” and varrio once means 11th
neighborhood. QVO is known as a “Brown
Pride” gang. It started on 11th south in SLC.
For those two reasons they claim the number
11 and represent with the color brown.
There are two groups of QVO. Locotes are the
older or original group and Rascals are the
younger new generation. QVO mostly rivals
with VLT and the Sureños.
Take a Break
5-10 minutes
The Crips and the Bloods
Crips
The Crips began in South Central L.A. in 1969.
They were the result of two different street
gangs that united to fight other street gangs. It
was and in most cases is predominantly a
black gang. They originally wore blue Levi’s
and now blue has become the gangs color of
choice.
←Founders of the Crips→
Crips
Utah’s gang culture has mostly been
influenced by west coast gangs. The Crips are
among those west coast influences. Large Crip
gangs in the Utah area include Tongan Crip
Gang, Lay Low Crips, Sons of Samoa, Tongan
Crip Regulators, Tongan Style Gang, Original
Laotian Gang, Salt Lake Posse, and others.
Crips
Crips typically claim the west side and
represent that by doing what is called
“dressing to the left.” They primarily rival with
the Bloods. They often dress themselves in
sports clothing of blue teams and wear British
Knights shoes. They X out the letters B and P
when tattooing or writing and they never use
the letters C followed by a K.
Bloods
The Bloods have been the rival to the Crips
since the 1970’s. The Pirus street gang,
originally a set of the Crips broke off during an
internal gang war, and allied with other
smaller gangs to found the Bloods. Red
obviously became the color of choice being
that it was opposite from Blue.
Bloods
Some of the sets of bloods that are in Utah
are Rose Park Bloods, Piru Original Gangsters,
Black Mafia Gangsters, and Kearns Town
Bloods just to name a few. They dress to the
right and claim the east side. They dress in red
team’s sports merchandise. They replace the
letter C with a capital B when writing.
The bloods are becoming
more popular due to the
influence of Lil Wayne.
Bloods
The bloods began in Compton California, but
they attracted the attention of East coast and
Mid-west gangs who began to form sets of
bloods in their own area’s. The bloods of the
mid-west area are a sub-set of the “People
Nation.” For this reason the bloods claim the
number five for the five pointed star that is a
symbol for the People Nation. Folks claim a six
pointed star and the number six.
Warning!
The following video
contains content that
is extremely vulgar.
Folks & People
The Folk and People Nation are Chicago based
gangs. Each has several sets or “mobs” that
operate under an umbrella that is the Folk or
People Nation.
These two gangs rival in Chicago and now all
over the United States and parts of Canada.
They both came into existence in the late
1970’s.
The Folk Nation
The Folk nation was organized by Larry Hoover
in 1978. They use a six pointed star to identify
themselves and dress to the right. They also
identify themselves with a three-prong
pitchfork. They use the color blue in many
cases.
Here in Utah we see Members of the Folk
Nation in sets called KMD (King Mafia
Disciples), Black Gangster Disciples and
Gangster Disciples.
The People Nation
In 1978 the Chicago gangs that did not join the
Folk Nation made their own alliance known as
the People Nation.
They claim a five pointed star, pyramids and
have an up-side down three prong pitchfork.
They dress to the left.
There are not many members of the People
Nation in Utah. The sets here are the Latin
Kings and the Vice Lords.
Juggalos
Juggalos are groupies for the rap group called
Insane Clown Posse. In 1994 during an ICP
concert one of the rappers referred to the
audience as “Juggalos” and the term stuck.
Utah is one of the few States in the Nation that
recognizes them as a gang. Juggalos have
committed violent crimes together. Utah
classifies a gang as a group of three or more
that identify themselves by a common name
and colors and commit crimes.
Juggalos
Many Gang members call each other “Homie.”
Juggalos call each other “Ninja” or “Juggalo”
for a male and a “Juggalette” for a female.
They have a sub-culture that is not known by
many people. It involves a cult like following of
youth and young adults. A common symbol
used by a Juggalo is the “hatchet man.” Other
common symbols are all from ICP record
labels such as “Twizted” and “Dark Lotus.”
Juggalos
When calling out to another Juggalo, they will
often shout out in a high pitch tone “Whoop,
whoop.” This is a way to let others know of
their presence. This greeting came from an ICP
song called “Stomp.” It is said in the song “I
say stomp you say 'whoomp whoomp'".
For a hand sign the juggalos make a W and a C
for “wicked clown.”
The Growing Utah Gang Population
T otal F elon Gang Members
F elon Gang Members on S treets
E nc arc erated Gang Members
Male
F emale
Gang Name/Type
White Supremacist Gangs
Surenos
Crips
Nortenos
Other
Ogden Trece
Bloods
QVO
VLT
Folk Nation
21st Street Gangsters
Juggalos
People Nation
3318
2447
871
3178
140
Members with Felony Record
714
705
534
261
239
215
183
127
124
113
39
36
28
STG Totals
Number of Members with Felony Record
Utah Gangs
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Gang Name/Type
STG Totals
Status of Utah's Known Gang Members
Felon Gang Members on
Streets
74%
Encarcerated Gang
Members
26%
Questions?
Questions