Once-bitter enemies MS-13 and 18th Street Gang have formed an unprecedented alliance across Los Angeles, creating what police describe as a “super gang” under Mexican Mafia control.
The partnership, spanning 239 miles from Bakersfield to California’s southern border, has transformed traditional street rivalries into coordinated criminal enterprises focused on maximizing profits.
“Gangs that have previous feuds with each other or historically don’t get along are working together,” Captain Ahmad Zarekani, head of the Los Angeles Police Department Gang and Narcotics Division, told The California Post. He noted that the Mexican Mafia has established direct connections to drug cartels, creating a more sophisticated criminal network.
Detective Hugo Ayon, a 26-year veteran investigating gangs, said intelligence about a peace treaty first emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic ended in 2022. “We heard rumors on the street that the Mexican Mafia came out and said, ‘No more street fighting, no more gang banging,’ because it’s impacting the bottom line,” Ayon explained.
The alliance has allowed these gangs to diversify their criminal activities. While drug trafficking, human trafficking, and extortion remain profitable, illegal gambling operations known as “casitas” have emerged as major revenue generators, bringing in upwards of $10,000 weekly. These underground casinos feature slot machines and table games typically set up in vacant apartments and commercial buildings.
What makes this alliance particularly notable is the coordination between previously hostile gangs. “You’ll have an Avenues gang member doing security, you’ll have an MS-13 guy being the cashier, and then you’ll have like a guy, let’s just say 18th Street, picking up the cash,” Ayon said.
Law enforcement faces significant challenges in combating this new criminal structure. Los Angeles alone has more than 100,000 gang members, with approximately one-third believed to be working with affiliated rival gangs as Sureños.
Police officials point to staffing shortages and California’s criminal justice reforms as factors enabling gang expansion. Proposition 47, passed in 2014, reduced certain drug possession and property theft crimes under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors. Though voters partially scaled back these reforms in 2024 with Proposition 36, law enforcement still struggles with limited resources.
“In my division, it’s been reduced drastically. I’d rather not give numbers, but from around 2014, our narcotics unit has been cut by over half,” Zarekani said regarding police staffing.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani highlighted how statewide propositions and reform-minded prosecutors have disadvantaged law enforcement. “If you possess cocaine in Las Vegas or even Orange County, they’re going to charge you with a felony,” Rahmani said. “Here, it’s not even charged at all.”
The increased organization and financial power of these gangs has created additional concerns about corruption. “We’ve heard more rumors of gangsters now paying off people in government,” Ayon noted, comparing the behavior to traditional Italian mafia tactics.
As these criminal enterprises continue to evolve and expand, law enforcement officials suggest solutions including hiring more officers, changing political attitudes toward crime, addressing mental health treatment, and reconsidering criminal justice reform laws.
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