Latin King Memo

To: Mr. President, newly elected
From: Group 9, Jonathan Millar (Group Leader and Advisor to the President), Tobi Kosh, Brechia Hawkins, Alexandria Vitito, and Brandon Clark
Date: November 22, 2015
Re: Reduce/Track Latin King Growth and Violence
Over the last decade, the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (“ALKQN” here out referred to as the Latin Kings) have grown into one of the most violent and notorious gangs in the United States. The prominent areas of problem where the Latin Kings are a growing threat are (by region), the North Central Region, the Northeast Region, the South Central Region, and the Southeast Region (FBI-2013 National Gang Assessment). More recently, they have doubled in size in the Southeast Region, especially Florida.

We have to unite forces to form a tactical, executable plan to attack them at the heart.
The Latin Kings are known to have originated out of the Chicago with most reports stating as far back as the 1930’s or 1940’s. They originally formed to protect and preserve their culture from verbal, mental and physical attacks by their American counterparts, not as the violent gang they have blossomed into today (Southeastern Connecticut Gang Activities Group).
They are made up of mostly individuals of Hispanic descent, but in recent years have grown to bring in individuals from other areas, such as Italians. The claimed birthplace is the West side of Humboldt Park located in the heart of Chicago, IL (The Latin Kings, Chicago’s Hardest Gang et al.) Their symbol is a five-pointed crown, which makes up a majority of the symbols and graffiti tags in the communities in which they inhabit. The colors used to represent themselves are black and gold (yellow in place of gold) which is worn in any fashion, such as a sequence of beads For example, five black followed by five gold for members, five black followed by two gold for executive members, and all black for the enforcers or assassins (Latin Kings | The Gang Enforcement Company).
They follow a strict code of conduct and a written constitution.

This written code has everything from loyalty, to the prayers each member needs to memorize. Also, it has the meanings of their lifestyle and lessons. An example would be the meanings of the five points as mentioned earlier. These points represent the basic philosophy of the Latin Kings, which are “Love, Respect, Sacrifice, Honor, and Obedience (Latin Kings | The Gang Enforcement Company).” These values are still in existence today, but the Latin Kings are far from being the same group as they were back then. Their leadership is highly organized, even more so within the prison system.
In the 1960’s, they were smack in the middle of the civil rights war. They were pushing themselves, as a whole community, to vote and to get educated. What changed the course of the Latin Kings and became the motivation for the violent gang they are now was heroin. They saw the money in the drug trade business and money that came with addiction (The Latin Kings, Chicago’s Hardest Gang et al.). Drug trafficking became their major “go-to” operation and has blossomed today into an even greater

threat.
In recent events, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has been increasingly gaining grounds on the Latin Kings. The Latin Kings are covered under the umbrella of terms to qualify for indictment under RICO for several reasons, such as: bribery (political), murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking (RICO | Nolo). Three of the their more common practices under RICO are drug trafficking, money laundering, and political corruption, all of which have shown in the past few years as a growing problem.
One recent example, in February 2015, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, in Florida, announced the arrest of several Latin King members in a massive disruption of narcotics trafficking (Joseph, C.). This is just one example of the drug trafficking involvement that the Latin Kings are heavily involved in. Also, the Latin Kings are not just domestic, they have ties outside of the United States so ties to narco-terrorism can’t be fully ruled out.
Another example is in 2011 out of Chicago, Illinois when several Latin King members were indicted in their involvement of 19 murders and also named two Chicago Police Department law enforcement officers as accomplices. The indictment also alleges that two Chicago police officers assisted the Latin Kings in carrying out their crimes, stating that the Latin King members and the two Chicago police officers committed armed robberies and in some instances while in uniform and driving Chicago Police Department-issued vehicles (Latin King and Queens charged in 19 killings). Drug money was a major factor in the indictments that the officers assisted on. This example goes to show that there are no boundaries that the Latin Kings aren’t able to cross.
To enhance RICO and help deal greater blows to the Latin Kings, we are introducing a new tactical approach using intelligence-led policing. Intelligence-led policing, as defined as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a “collaborative law enforcement approach combining problem solving policing, information sharing, and police accountability, with enhanced intelligence operations (FBI – Intelligence-Led Policing in a Fusion Center). ” A major asset of intelligence-led policing is using crime analysis and mapping methods linked with criminal investigative analysis methods combined to create that of a linked flow chart.
The use of mapping tools, such as Esri’s ArcGIS computer cartography program, should be used as an asset that can show what are called “hot spots” using hot spot analysis. Hot spot analysis, as defined by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), helps police identify high-crime areas, types of crime being committed and the best way to respond using mapping and analysis techniques, software options and capabilities (NIJ, 2008). In this growing field of crime analysis, this technique can not only track gang activity and trends, but can pinpoint the areas in which to focus where we need to allocate and enhance enforcement strategies.
The use of spatial analysis, hot spotting, and criminal analysis can be distributed throughout the law enforcement community in grant funded, central locations throughout the country.

As you can see in the below density map, labeled as Image A, that was taken from RAIDS online (2011), which is another type of online mapping software, you can clearly see a difference in pattern flow with the colors. In this instance, the colors represent a density. The dark blue represents a low level of activity in the plotted area and the red area represents a high level of activity. As you can see, the patterns show an epicenter of the higher density levels of crime. If you took this example below and changed the meaning from crime(s) to the level of gang activity, you can see now where to deploy and execute tactical targets and hard focus

points.
Image A – (Raids online image/map, 2011)
To conclude, technology is growing and we have the abilities at our fingertips to assess, track, and locate gang activity using crime analysis methods and mapping software. These can be used to single out the hot spots where certain gang activity is very high and make those focus points for our investigations. The Latin Kings area a preferred target of these investigations and we feel the technological advances can be utilized in this great countries favor, and in yours as well, for and on behalf of the American people. With the bounce back of heroin in recent years and the ever-changing market for synthetic drugs on the streets, we need to take action now. Federal law enforcement just delivered a blow this year to the Latin Kings in South Florida by indicting several high ranking members, such as “King Nano” and “Queen Flaka,” but more will rise up if we don’t continue focusing on these major areas as they could easily move to another area.
As a nation, we need to stand together to fight what feels like sometimes as an unwinnable battle against violent organized crime groups. My team has prepared additional investigative reports and are prepared to show you the way we have already tracked areas of interest in Illinois, Florida, and New York to start this project. These visual aids and presentations will certainly show you the necessity for a nationally needed information-sharing network. We thank you and look forward to your comments after review in hopes for future talks of funding and planning for additional RICO indictments upon the Latin Kings.

REFERENCES
FBI – 2013 National Gang Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/national-gang-report-2013
FBI — Intelligence-Led Policing in a Fusion Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://leb.fbi.gov/2010/december/intelligence-led-policing-in-a-fusion-center
Joseph, C. (2015, February 19). Palm Beach Sheriff's Office Announces Massive Latin Kings Indictments | New Times Broward-Palm Beach. Retrieved from http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/palm-beach-sheriffs-office-announces-massive-latin-kings-indictments-6438053
Latin Kings | The Gang Enforcement Company - The Gang Enforcement Company. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.gangenforcement.com/latin-kings.html
Latin Kings and Queens Charged in 19 Killings, 2 Chicago Cops Named as Their Accomplices | Alternative. (2011, November 20). Retrieved from http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2011/11/latin-kings-and-queens-charged-in-19-killings-2-chicago-cops-named-as-their-accomplices-1403189.html
National Institute of Justice. (January 28, 2008). Mapping Crime: Understanding Hot Spots. Retrieved from http://www.nij.gov/topics/technology/maps/pages/ncj209393.aspx
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) | Nolo.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/content/rico-act.html
The Latin Kings - Chicago's Hardest Gangs, The Yellow Mob Documentary 2015 [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62pJh2IzXO4
Raids online. (2011). Identify a hot spot of crime [map]. Retrieved from https://raidsonline.com/overview/help.html#!prettyPhoto
Southeastern Connecticut Gang Activities Group (SEGAG). (2011). Latin Kings and Queens Information. Retrieved from www.segag.org/ganginfo/frlkings.html