Articles > Norteños: Prison Gang Profile
California
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Prison Gang Reports
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Meaning "Northerners" in Spanish, the Norteñosoriginally identified with the agricultural and rural partsof northern California. Police identify them by the colorred, in contrast to the color blue that the Sureños identifywith. Traditionally rivals with the Sureños and the MexicanMafia who mostly came from the Southern parts of California,the Norteños originated sometime in the 1960's in the northernCalifornia prison system.
Norteños and Sureños have been in conflict with one anothersince the 1960s. The Nortenos pay taxes to the Nuestra Familiain prison, while the Surenos pay taxes to the Mexican Mafia.In fact, in many parts of California, the Norteños are knownby police to be essentially a street-level faction of La NuestraFamilia. Police and Department of Corrections officials claimthat La Nuestra Familia and the Mexican Mafia use smuggledtelephones and coded letters to communicate with Norteñosand Sureños on the street, respectively.
The Norteños are known throughout the entire state of California,most notably San Franciso, Oakland, Los Angeles, Modesto,and Yuba, Sutter, Colusa, Yolo, Solano, Sacramento and Stanislauscounties. They became known in Solano County, California,with the first Norteño-linked homicide in 1994. Yuba CityPolice arrested five Norteño members in 2004 for murderingseveral Sureños members, which allowed La Nuestra Familiato gain ground in the city. The Norteños have a faction calledthe Broderick Boys in Sacramento. In Traver, California, theyhave a faction known as Traver Barrio Rifa.
Fairfield police issued a gang injunction against the Norteñosin 2010, signaling a growing trend of police injunctions thatare occurring throughout California since the first gang injunctionwas issued in 1987. A San Francisco injunction against theNorteños in San Francisco in 2007 attempted to restrict 30specific gang members from associating with one another. Gangmembers caught by police engaging in several restricted activities,such as loitering with other Norteño members, can face 6 monthsin jail. However it is unclear just how "successful"such injunctions are in limiting the gang's activities. Evidenceof gang membership is often difficult to attain, and the personnelrequired to enforce the injunctions is high.
Ex-Norteños members have spoken out about the injunctionsnot tackling the root of the conditions that lead poor andalienated youth to the attractive support networks that ethnicgangs promise. Groups such as Homies Organizing the Missionto Empower Youth, in San Francisco, is one such organizationthat engages with these issues. Spokespersons for the organizationsay that Hispanic gangs like the Norteños provide an identityfor youth that society is not able to provide in one way orthe other.
Outside California
They have long since expanded from prisons in Californiaand are known throughout the United States, both on the streetand in prison.
Idaho Department of Corrections has blamed overcrowding forrecent growth in gang violence in its prisons, and specificallyblame certain Hispanic gangs, such as the Nortenos. The Nortenoshave been blamed for disturbances at the Idaho Maximum SecurityInstitution south of Boise, as well as the privately-run CCAprison in Oklahoma. Gang members make up about 8% of Idaho'sprison population, but are responsible for roughly 80% ofinmate violence.
Police say that the Nortenos are in almost every communityin the state of Wyoming, as well as in the prison system.Rival gang members such as the Nortenos and Surenos oftenhave to be separated by corrections staff.
Sources
" Rising gang violence in Idaho prisons further crampsspace,"
By JOHN MILLER, 31 October 2007, Associated Press.
"Gangs are for real," By Michael Van Cassell, 10June 2008, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (MCT).
"Suing for Peace: Injunction sought to limit Norteñosgang's activities on home tuf," 28 June 2009, TheModesto Bee.
"Operation Crimson Tide targets gang network: NuestraFamilia targeted," By Rob Young, 03 June 2010, Appeal-Democrat(MCT).
" Zone of controversy ; City attorney's effort to combatgang violence by legally restricting alleged Nortenos on ahuge swath of turf draws mixed reactions," Demian Bulwa,27 October 2008, The San Francisco Chronicle.
"Gang suspect surrenders; Man accused in pair of recentcrimes," By Dylan Darling, 23 June 2010, Record Searchlight.
