| In | Fresno, California |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1980's - Present |
| Territory | Central California |
| Ethnicity | Predominately Hispanic[1] |
| Membership | 6,000 but the Fresno Police Department estimate that number is as high as 12,000 in the city.[2] |
| Criminal activities | Murder, drug trafficking, Identity theft, assault, theft, robbery, firearm trafficking.[3][4] |
| Allies | Nobody. However, recently they have been known to align with Nuestra Familia in drug trafficking situations only. |
| Rivals | Nortenos, Surenos, Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia |
The Fresno Bulldogs, also known by the acronym F-14 FBS and BDS,[5] are a violent, primarily Hispanic criminal street gang located in Fresno, California. The Fresno Bulldogs are also in some of the minor cities outside of Fresno, but with less frequency.[6][7] They are considered to be one of the largest Hispanic gang's in central California with membership estimated to be between 6,000 to 12,000 in the city of Fresno alone.
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The Fresno Bulldogs can be traced back to the 1960's but did not become an independent street gang until the 1980's. Their Independence developed in the California prison system during the prison wars of 1984-1985 when they were still Norteños under the control of La Nuestra Familia. The gang was known as F-14. The F signified Fresno and the 14 signified the fourteenth letter of the alphabet. By the mid 1980's the F-14 set rebelled against La Nuestra Familia, which led to a violent war in the California prison system known in gang folklore as "The Red Wave". In 1986 the F-14 began using the bulldog name and mascot of Fresno State University including the paw print and bulldog head image in their graffiti and tattoos.[8] They also bark to one another as a call sign, and address each other as "dog"--giving the Bulldogs a separate identity from the Norteños, despite their common red gang color.[9] They also adopted Fresno State apparel as de facto uniforms; causing a tenfold increase in royalties to the university from licensed merchandise sales from the 1990s to late 2000s[10]
Having rebelled against the hierarchical structure and shot-calling directives model of the Norteños, Fresno Bulldogs pride themselves on not having any centralized leadership. Similarly, the Fresno Bulldogs do not have any allies and are one of the few Hispanic gangs in California that claim neither Sureños nor Norteños affiliation.[11] Each Bulldog set operates totally autonomous of each other.
The Fresno Police Department and the Fresno County Sheriff's Department have tried various different crackdowns on Bulldog gang activity. In November 2006, Operation Bulldogs was launched to wipe out the Bulldog street gang. The operation has led to thousands of arrests, but the independent nature of the gang has complicated police efforts to contain crimes attributed to gang members.[12][13] The Fresno Police Departments efforts have led to 2,422 felony arrests of Bulldog gang members and associates. however, even with increased gang supression tactics the Bulldog gang continues to exert its control and influence on the community.[14]
Initiation into the Fresno Bulldog gang happens in one of three ways: To commit a serious criminal act, like murdering an enemy, getting beat in for five minutes, or being absorbed by the gang through association or being born into it.