White Fence

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White Fence
Founded 1930's[1][2][3][4][5]
Founding location Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, C.A, United States
Years active 1930s – Present
Territory East Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Long Beach, South East Los Angeles, Arizona, Certain Cities in Mexico, West Los Angeles, Las Vegas, El Paso, Florida, Guatemala.
Ethnicity Predominately Hispanic
Membership 2000+
Criminal activities Murder, drug trafficking, extortion, assault, auto theft, robbery, arms trafficking, human smuggling
Allies El Monte Flores, Sureños, Mexican Mafia
Rivals All Maravilla gangs, Varrio Nuevo Estrada,[3] Armenian Power, 18th Street gang, MS-13, Crips, Bloods, Norteños, Nuestra Familia& CLIKA LOS PRIMOS

White Fence, also known by the acronym WF,[6][7] is one of the oldest East Los Angeles street gang. They also sometimes use the name Cerco Blanco which is Spanish for White Fence. In East L.A. White Fence was also called Pachucos.

History

White Fence is an old established neighborhood in Boyle Heights adjoined to East Los Angeles. Even though the gang claims it goes back to 1911,[8] the gang did not emerge until the 1930s when it started as a male sports team associated with the La Purissima Church.[1][2][3][4][5] It soon developed into a notorious street gang in Los Angeles. At first it was called La Purissima Crowd, but gradually changed its name to White Fence, after the white picket fence that surrounded La Purissima Church. At a time when racism plagued the area, the name Fence could also be interpreted as a symbolic barrier between the white residents in the area and the Hispanic residents of the neighborhood. During the 1950s and 1960s, White Fence was considered one of the most violent and powerful gangs in East Los Angeles.[9][10] The rivalry between the gang and another Hispanic gang, Maravilla, is one of the longest, ongoing feuds in all of Los Angeles.[11] Over the years White Fence has had a number of members in the Mexican Mafia. Ernest "Kilroy" Roybal, Gilbert "Lil Mo" Ruiz, which was sponsored for membership in La Eme by Rene "Boxer" Enriquez, who said "Lil Mo" didn't hesitate to kill when you asked him", and Daniel "Black Dan" Barela was one of the most prominent members to ever be in the gang, he had a "kill first-talk-about-it-later attitude", according to a detective.[8]

Location

The original barrio of White Fence was Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.[3][12] Eventually the gang expanded to South/West/North Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, the San Gabriel Valley and other areas across the country. They have also been established in Mexico and Guatemala in Central America. Since the 1930s there have been over 15 different cliques that have come and gone.

Culture

White Fence members use the numbers 2306, the 23 for the letter W and the 06 for the letter F respectively. They are also known for wearing Los Angeles Dodgers, Wake Forest, Oakland Raiders gear. Brown and white colors are favored by members, as well as the color blue. The symbols, XIII, X3, 13, and 3-dots are to pay homage to their Sureño allegiance. White Fence has over 700 members and associates in North America and Parts of Central America.[13] White Fence was initially all Hispanic, but other ethnic groups have managed to gain membership into the gang in recent decades. White Fence is very territorial and has a strong sense of community that exists even today.[2]

Criminal activities

By 1939, The Los Angeles Times was writing articles about the "White Fence Gang" while reporting on the murder of 2 males whose bodies were left along Whittier Blvd. These would only be the first of many gang crimes committed by White Fence. In August 1942, after the murder of Jose Diaz in a case known as Sleepy Lagoon murder in southeast Los Angeles, California, riots sprung around the city. The riots also became the precursor to the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 with the White Fence becoming one of many hispanic gangs in Los Angeles area to participate. The riots started when Mexican-American "Pachucos" were beaten up by American sailors and Marines during the height of World War II. The excuse the servicemen used for starting the attacks against the Latin "zoot suiters" was that the Mexican Americans were "unpatriotic" and the Americans needed to confront them in "self-defense". White Fence was the first gang in East Los Angeles to use firearms, chains and other dangerous weapons.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheldon, R. G., Tracey, S. K., & Brown, W. B. (2001). Youth gangs in American society. (2nd ed., pp. 43-44). Florence, KY: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hohm, C. F., & Glynn, J. A. (2002). California's social problems. (2nd ed., pp. 44-45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Moore, J. W. (1991). Going down to the barrio: homeboys and homegirls in change. (pp. 1–181). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "White Fence | Street Gangs Resource Center". streetgangs.com. 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Spergel, I. A. (1955). The youth gang problem: a community approach. (p. 155). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  6. ↑ Bag, A. (2011). Violence girl: East l.a. rage to Hollywood stage, a chicana punk story. (p. 66). Port Townsend, WA: Feral House.
  7. ↑ U.S. gang acronyms and abbreviations. (2011, September 12). Retrieved from http://www.accuracyproject.org/GangAcronyms-US.html
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chris Blatchford, The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer, HarperCollins, 2008.
  9. ↑ Rosen, F. (2005). The historical atlas of American crime. (pp. 235-237). New York, NY: Facts on File Inc.
  10. ↑ Chris Blatchford, The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer, HarperCollins, 2008. Page 102.
  11. ↑ Vinson, J., Crame, J., & Von Seeburg, K. Rocky Mountain Information Network, (2008). Surenos. Retrieved from website: http://info.publicintelligence.net/surenosreport.pdf
  12. ↑ Griņie, G. M. (2008). The way out. (p. 20). Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation.
  13. ↑ Cooper, A. (2005, April 10). Homicide in hollenback, the story.. Retrieved from http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/2005/hinhthestory.html
  14. ↑ Mazon, M. (1984). The zoot-suit riots: the psychology of symbolic annihilation. (p. 5). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

External links

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