Avenues Gang Graffiti. Los Angeles, California. |
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| Founded | 1940's |
|---|---|
| In | Los Angeles, California |
| Years active | 1940's – Present Day |
| Territory | Mainly in Los Angeles, California, Highland Park, Cypress Park, Glassell Park and Eagle Rock |
| Ethnicity | Hispanic |
| Membership | 800-1000.[1] |
| Criminal activities | Murder,[2] Assault, Arms trafficking, Drug trafficking[3], extortion, hate crimes,[4] kidnapping, Racketeering, Grand Theft Auto, Robbery, Extortion, Burglary, Vandalism, Witness intimidation and human trafficking[5] |
| Allies | Sureños, Mexican Mafia |
| Rivals | 18th Street, Cypress Park, the Border Brothers other Sureño sets, Crips, Bloods. |
The Avenues, also known as Avenidas or AVE's, is a Hispanic criminal street gang mostly in Los Angeles County, California. The originally started as a social club for local Hispanic youths to protect themselves from other violent youths. The Avenues, like most Mexican gangs in Los Angeles, are under the direct control of the Mexican Mafia when sent to State, County, or Federal prisons. They have a long history, but not all of it is riddled with gang violence and hate.
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The Avenues were not always violent when they started and rarely ever engaged in illegal activities. They were started by the Flores brothers in the 1940s, but little is known about the bothers. The greatest of their crimes during the 1940's was simple assaults. As time progressed and their numbers increased, they became more violent and started to act like a criminal street gang and not a social club. In the late 1960's, when Heroin started to flood the streets, they turned for the worse and would be forever more labeled a criminal street gang. They increasingly took part in the illegal drug trade and these actions have continued to the present day. The Avenues Gang are well known for their hatred and hate crimes committed against black residents of their hood's.[6][7] They are unwilling to allow even non-gang affiliated blacks move into their Highland Park area.
The Avenues are located in Cypress Park, Glassell Park and Highland park. One of the oldest in Los Angeles, California is the Highland Park area. Each of the Avenues cliques claims a gang territory based on where gang members live. The four main cliques are 43rd Aves, Avenues 57, Cypress Avenues, and Drew Street, all centered on the streets for which they are named. Their Varrio is almost 6 square miles.[8] Members of the 43rd Aves were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2006 for hate-crime charges for harassing and attacking African Americans in Highland Park. Many gang members have relocated to San Bernardino and Riverside counties - and other areas of Los Angeles County - due to the gang injunctions from the LAPD. Increased housing and rental prices in many east side neighborhoods have meant that former gang members have moved as rentals and home prices became too expensive. Even through all of this, the Avenues gang that rule Drew Street have survived countless convictions, injunctions, evictions and deportations. Police has desperately tried to break the gang for decades. They still rule the streets.
The Avenues have a long history of involvement with the Mexican Mafia. Hispanic teens grow up wanting to be an Avenues gang member. They are secretive and their code of silence is taken serious and violations result in lethal consequences. Respect and loyalty are a big deal. They challenge anyone and enforce the borders of their territory with deadly accuracy. Avenues gang members tattoos are known by a skull with a fedora and a bullet hole in the skull, or the letters LA, AVES, A and Avenidos. The Avenues are on of LA's most violent gangs. They are so violent that even President Bill Clinton spoke out against them in 1995.
The Avenues gained national attention in 1995, when several members opened fire on a car that made a wrong turn into a Cypress Park alley, killing 3-year-old Stephanie Kuhen. Gang members were also accused of the August 2008 killing of Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Abel Escalante, 27, who worked at the Men’s Central Jail guarding some of the county’s most dangerous inmates. Escalante was gunned down outside his parents’ Cypress Park home as he prepared to go to work.[9] The Avenues are notorious for their participation in hate crimes against black inhabitants of their neighborhoods. From 1995-1997 blacks began to move into apartments in the Hawaiian Gardens area and in two short years there were 36 hate crimes committed including 3 murders and 6 firebombings.[10] Some have called their actions a campaign of ethnic cleansing.[11]Aside from their participation in hate related crimes, their main source of income from from illegal narcotics and human trafficking.[12] They are responsible for over 100 murders in the last 20 years alone.