Latin Kings

In American history we first started to see crime defined as sin in society which resulted in different punishments such as public humiliation and beatings, stones, these punishments were more for entertainment. In our history drunkenness was the particular most frequent punished crime. Many arrests and court appearances came from the hostile behavior that occurred while being drunk. Defining crime has become at ease but in the past there were only general concepts about crime. Crime was seen as a bad behavior or antisocial behavior. In a collective sense crime is a legal concept, what makes a behavior criminal and other behaviors not is the fact that some, but not others are against the law. (Friedman, L. M., Jersey, B., Rabinovitch, J. D., Valette, P., KCET (Television station : Los Angeles, Calif.), & Quest Productions. (1996). Crime & punishment in America. Los Angeles, CA: VideoFinders)

In society we recognize a specific behavior as an organized crime, but when we refer to organized crime we are referring to a group of people. Organized crime and crime can be seen in a different way because the criminality of individuals in organized crime differs from that of conventional criminals because the organization they belong to allows them to commit crimes of a different variation and on a larger scale such as smuggling cocaine. Criminals who are part of an organized crime group are put in positions to exchange dealings that those who are not a part of these groups find it either impossible or very dangerous to accomplish. The FBI defines organized crime as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objection is to obtain money through illegal activities. These groups maintain their position through the use of actual or threatened violence, corrupt public officials, graft, or extortion, and generally have a significant impact on people in their locales, region, or the country as a whole.( Abadinsky, H. (1999). Organized crime. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.)

Particular crimes are established as being part of an organized crime and therefore particular approaches are put in place that normally would not be used in conventional crimes. Organized crime has no political goals, is hierarchical, has a limited or exclusive membership, constitutes unique subculture, perpetuates itself, exhibits a willingness to use illegal violence, monopolistic, and is governed by explicit rules and regulations. The goals of an organized crime group are money and power; these groups are not motivated by political beliefs or ideological concerns. Although political involvement may be part of the group's activities, the purpose is usually to gain protection or immunity for its illegal activities. These organized crime groups have vertical power structure with at least three permanent ranks each with authority over the level beneath which is why these organized crime groups' limits membership and qualifications to get in include ethnic background, race, and criminal record.

Researchers studied Chicago gang homicide data over a 26-year period, from1965 through 1990, and detailed information on other gang-related crime from 1987 to 1990. Geocoded offenses were collected by community areas, and offenses were analyzed in relation to population and other community characteristics. This research was one of the largest and most detailed data sets on violence ever collected in the United States; the Chicago homicide data set contains information on every homicide in police records from1965 to 1990. This data set included information on 17,085 criminal offenses that occurred from 1987 to 1990 that were classified by the police as street gang-related. More than 40 major street gangs are active in the city of Chicago. Researchers in this study focused on the four largest and most unlawfully active street gangs that was accountable for at least 1,000 police recorded criminal incidents from1987 to 1990.These four groups were BGD(Black Gangster Disciples), the Vice Lords, Latin Kings, and Latin Disciples. The oldest were the Latin Kings by 25 years and largest Latino street gang in Chicago; the Latin Kings operate throughout the city in Latino and racially and ethnically mixed neighborhoods. (Block, C. R., Block, R., & National Institute of Justice (U.S.). (1993). Street gang crime in Chicago. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.)

The Latin King gang is one of the most violent gangs in the United States today, their leaders are unafraid to order "hits" on correctional officers and followers are unapologetic to obey their orders. The Latin Kings began in Chicago over three