Bahala Na Gang

The Bahala Na Gang is a prison gang in the Philippines and a street gang in the United States of America.

History

The gang was formed in the early 1940s among Filipino inmates in large and dangerous Manila correctional facilities.^[1] The literal translation of Bahala Na is come whatever may, which is used to indicate that life was hopeless and that it didn't really matter what one did if fate was against you. This value of fatalism can also be seen in the numerous tattoos original members of the Bahala Na had.^[2]

Activities in California

Originally the most extraordinary violent and reckless of the gangs in the Philippines, it was the Bahala Na that spread among large and more impoverished Filipino immigrant communities in the United States, especially California. Bahala Na gang sets emerged throughout the Los Angeles area^[3] as well as in San Francisco. In the neighborhood of Tenderloin, San Francisco they were one of the major organized criminal problems in the 1970s.^[4]

In analogy with most organized street gangs, older hardcore members behave the most businesslike and are most likely to be involved in organized crime. Younger ambitious members are used to back up the drug trafficking and weapon trafficking operations of the gang bosses. In order to prove themselves, young members are also the ones that commit the most violent acts.^[5] Outside of drug and weapon trafficking rings gang, members are involved in murder, robbery and kidnapping among others.^[6]

References