Gangs recruit fourth graders

Turf wars at the tunnel ' Sure'os (X4 or 14 for 'M' - Mexican Mafia - in red) tag over Norte'os (X3 or 13 for 'N'). It's all about respect (fear) as gangs lower the recruiting age to elementary school. Staff photo.
Turf wars at the tunnel ' Sure'os (X4 or 14 for 'M' - Mexican Mafia - in red) tag over Norte'os (X3 or 13 for 'N'). It's all about respect (fear) as gangs lower the recruiting age to elementary school. Staff photo.
J.J. Lee 30.AUG.09

This is the second article of a two-part series dedicated to informing Yolo County citizens about gangs and gang-related activity. This part is intended to demonstrate where gang activity occurs and why. Its focus is based on information provided by the City of Woodland Police Department, Gang Violence Suppression Unit ' a unit that has been in existence for 13 years.

IT'S HAPPENING. At-risk children in our elementary schools are subject to recruitment by gang members. Parents, teachers and community members should be aware that even fourth graders can be tempted to mimic the pseudo-glamorous 'gangsta' look (one of the criteria used to validate gang members) and even be persuaded to take the path toward crime.

Sergeant Tom Davis and officer Ron Cordova of the Woodland Police Department, Gang Violence Suppression Unit, both agree that gang awareness should start earlier than middle school or junior high ' and that the community, as a whole, needs to understand the reality of gang activity.



'We want people to know,' stated Davis, stressing the fact that awareness is critical to his job of suppressing gang activity.

Cordova added that the issue should not be sugarcoated. For example, people should know that gang recruitment includes 'Jumping In' or 'Getting Jumped' ' getting physically beat up. Typically a jump might last 13 seconds for Sure'os (for the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, 'M,' for Mexican Mafia) and 14 seconds for Norte'os (for the fourteenth letter, 'N').

WPD CONFIRMS VALIDATED GANG MEMBER POPULATION

During a July 22 interview with the Woodland Record, Sgt. Davis noted that there were ' on that date ' 413 Norte'o, 282 Sure'o and 29 other validated gangsters lurking around Woodland. The 724 total confirms last month's report that there are over 700 validated gangsters in town. On July 2, Sergeant Dale Johnson of the Yolo County Sheriff's Department, Gang Task Force specified that there were 704 validated gang members, indicating a slight rise in the population during July.

According to Davis, those numbers can change daily. 'The numbers are fluid as gang members drop out or are recruited. They change daily,' he said.

Sgt. Johnson also told the Woodland Record that there are approximately 200 affiliated gangsters, those who are known to associate with gangs but cannot be validated. Validation by city or county officers is a cumbersome, time-consuming process. The criteria used to validate a gang member is:

' Self admission
' Correspondence identifies the individual as gang member
' Individual is tattooed with gang symbols
' Individual is named by identified gang members as a gang member
' Individual wears gang clothing and/or colors
' Individual is in the company of identified gang members
' Individual is seen in a photo indicating gang affiliation
' Individual is contacted in the field for gang activity
' Individual is seen displaying gang signs
' Individual displays gang graffiti on personal belongings
' Individual is involved in gang- related crimes.

An individual must match at least three of the criteria before being validated as a gang member. Officers are taught to believe that undocumented gang members would double the known population (validated, affiliated/associated). Therefore, Woodland citizens should be aware that there are nearly 1,800 gangsters hanging around town on any given day. The City of Woodland claims 56,000 residents, so it's possible that over three per cent of Woodlanders have some connection to gangs.

RESPECT = FEAR

Sgt. Davis said, 'All gang members function on respect.' That explains much of gang behavior and territorialism. Gang members assume that anyone, not just gangsters, will 'respect' their turf. For example, Yolano Housing Center and Donnelly Circle residents fear gang members and may not report crimes.

'People are too afraid to talk to us,' said Davis. 'That makes it very difficult to solve some of the cases.'

Sure'os claim the Yolano area and they do commit crimes in their own neighborhood.

Norte'os, on the other hand, lay claim to the entire city. For example, the tag 'BO$QUE,' means the wooded area ' Woodland ' with the 'S' for Sure'o crossed out (Scrap Killer). A 'VBN' tag means 'Varrio Bosque Norte'o,' (varrio, or barrio, means neighborhood).

Norte'os are mostly Hispanic, but multi-racial, whereas Sure'os are '99.9%' Hispanic.

Sure'o sub-groups include the East Side Trece (13) and the YPS (Yolano Park Sure'os) or Yolas. Small Norte'o sub-groups include the Four Corners Crew (representing Cottonwood and Cross Streets) and the Fifth Street Boys, but, there exists a statewide unification movement ' G.U.N. The Generation United Norte'os is a call for all Norte'os to unite. See page 4 for more information about G.U.N.

WHERE THEY ARE

The Yolo County Housing Authority (Sure'os turf) and the Four Corners (Norte'os turf) have been mentioned. Tredway Park and the Woodland Garden Apartments at the south end of Sixth Street are Sure'o territory. According to Davis there are about 15 gang members who live, or spend a lot of time, in that neighborhood.

There are quite a few houses and apartments along East Oak Street between East and Thomas that are inhabited by gangsters.

Campbell Park is Norte'o turf. You won't find any Sure'os there, unless there's a fight.

Gang activity on Fifth Street, near Elliot and Clover Streets, has subsided since an outburst of fights in the summer of 1998.

Triple Nickel refers to the apartment complex located at 555 Matmor Road where a recent murder took place.

Now download Woodland Gang Map (1.2 mb PDF). You need to.

Read Part One of the story called Gangsters: Over 900 in Woodland.

www.woodlandrecord.com