SIGNS OF POSSIBLE YOUTH GANG INVOLVEMENT

SIGNS THAT YOUR CHILD MAY BE INVOLVED IN A
HISPANIC YOUTH GANG
(Southwestern US, El Paso, TX - Southern New Mexico)

Hispanic gangster lean, dark clothing, gang signing Sureno: Blue bandana on head for Sur or South, almost exclusive blue clothing. Beige khaki pants with dark brown Lowrider shirt, bald headed Hispanic youngster "Many gangs in the Southwest have adopted sports teams emblems and clothing to identify themselves with in public.
Two Hispanic gang-affiliated youngsters smoking weed in their driveway. Wearing Pendleton jacket, Lowrider T-shirt. Bolder Hispanic gang members don clothing with their gang initials in Old English or Gothic Lettering. This young man also wears the typical well-creased khaki pants, military belt with insignia. Hispanic gang members are now younger and more difficult to control. They often cause trouble not intended by older members and this results in gang wars and impasses.
some Solo, Dickies and Lowrider brand shirts are considered El Paso area gang-related attire Hispanic gang tradition "calentada" discipline Caramelo shirt in blue, grey, black and brown are considered gang attire in the El Paso/Southern New Mexico area

associates with friends his age and older who wear gang attire and have customs and engage in activities typical of gang membership

frequent involvement in negative or anti-social behavior at school, neighborhood with "set" of friends

a sudden pronounced resistance to control by parents

a dramatic drop in grades and acceptable school performance, cooperation

secrecy about social activities, excessive concern about phone use privacy

gang marking on books, walls, possessions such as the single letters (especially in Old English or Gothic font) M, N, L, V, K; and the numbers 13, 14, 505, 915, 213, 420 and 18; penchant for red or blue

the frequent use of clothing and possessions that are either red or blue in color

specific types of clothing brands and types (for classic gang-affiliated involvement): Dickies pants; Nike Cortez shoes; military belts with Old-English buckle lettering; Caramelo shirts; Pendleton shirts; Solo Brand clothing; Lokes sunglasses; bandanas in the coiors red, blue, black, grey or white

a pet name that is assigned to the child (i.e. "Vago", "ShyBoy", "Bullet", "Silent", "Serio") by his friends (often seen in the child's books or in other places where the child might reference his name (cell phone screen greeting or text message signature line)

a sustained fascination with certain types of Cholo/Hispanic Rap and gangsta rap music (specific artists; "rancholo" style, "chucoton", as examples)

inordinate time spent on the computer, especially on sites such as MySpace, Photobucket, FaceBook, Friendster, SoundClick, CDBaby

tattooed markings of dots, specific letters, numbers, icons and phrases

unsual hand signals "flashed" with friends or to rivals, uknowns

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