Acknowledgments
1. Telles and Ortiz wrote a powerful book in 2008 using this title to emphasize how a large part of the Mexican-American population has not been given the same opportunities as whites and how these disadvantages were often reproduced across generations.
Introduction
1. Deciding what term to use to identify the mixed population of Spanish and indigenous population in New Mexico is a difficult task. Chapter 1 will highlight this ancestral background and how race became socially constructed. For the purposes of this book, the term “Mexican” will be used interchangeably for people of Mexican descent. Most individuals living in these areas were native born, but there were foreign-born residents as well, which excluded citizenship as a criteria that could be determined by appearance. “Latino” will be used as the umbrella term to include individuals with a heritage from various Latin American countries as well as those colonized in the United States. Although the term “Hispanic” is used predominantly in the area, this federally created designation will be used when quoting or outlining the preferred terms used by respondents. Personally, my preferred term of “Chicana/o” to designate ancestry and political consciousness was not widely adopted in this region of the country but will be used when relevant to denote distinctions with the government-created terms “Latino” and “Hispanic.” “White” will be used to denote non-Hispanic whites. For analysis purposes, all searches conducted focused specifically on non-Hispanic whites rather than the larger racial category of white because some Hispanics self-identify as this racial group. Chapters 1 and 2 will provide more background on this issue. In this region of the country, there were smaller levels of blacks and Native Americans.
2. Not mentioned in this discussion, in 2005 an alleged Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member was shot and killed by an Otero County Sheriff deputy.
3. Lopez 2017. Blaming parents or “poor parenting” was a popular reason cited, even used by the District Attorney and later Governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, at a gang-prevention seminar in Las Cruces. October 2, 2004. Las Cruces Sun News.
4. Brotherton and Barrios 2004; Hagedorn 1998; Moore 1978, 1991; Vigil 1988, 2007.
5. Klein 1995; Klein and Maxson 2006; Krohn and Thornberry 2008; Thornberry et al. 2003.
6. U.S. Department of Education 2012.
7. An excellent overview of the challenges existing at Hispanic Serving Institutions, particularly at New Mexico State University, can be found in the special edited Journal of Latinos and Education published in 2012, vol. 11, which was written by several of my colleagues.
10. Rios 2011; Sidanius and Pratto 1999; Ward 2012.
11. Durán 2013. Currently the gang as criminal paradigm in criminology has grown beyond its original base with the help of departments in criminal justice and criminology. Although I too am interested in crime, a problem develops when researchers become consumed by illegal behavior and fail to notice all of the non-criminal behaviors. Moreover, they tend to neglect the criminality imposed by the state.
12. Morris 2015; Ladner 1973.
13. Adler and Adler 1987; Kirk and Miller 1986.
14. Anderson 1999; Contreras 2013; Jones 2010; Moore 1978, 1991; Rios 2011; Vigil 1988, 2002, 2007.
15. Becker 1967; Collins 2000; Gouldner 1968.
16. Atkinson et al. 2001:4.
17. Gellert and Shefner 2009:211.
18. Adler and Adler 1987; Deegan 2001; Morris 2015; Wright 2002.
20. Du Bois [1903] 1994:2. In relation to defining reflexivity, Hertz (1996:5) drew the following conclusion:
The best definition of reflexivity I have found is Helen Callaway’s (1992:33): ‘Often condemned as apolitical, reflexivity, on the contrary can be seen as opening the way to a more radical consciousness of self in facing the political dimensions of fieldwork and constructing knowledge. Other factors intersecting with gender—such as nationality, race, ethnicity, class, and age—also affect the anthropologist’s field interactions and textual strategies. Reflexivity becomes a continuing mode of self-analysis and political awareness.’ Reflexivity, then, is ubiquitous. It permeates every aspect of the research process, challenging us to be more fully conscious of the ideology, culture, and politics of those we study and those whom we select as our audience.
21. Adler and Adler 1987; Gans 1999; Wright and Calhoun 2006.
22. Durán 2013; Contreras 2013; Rios 2011.
23. Brunsma, Brown, and Placier 2013.
24. Acuña 1998; Bonilla-Silva and Herring 1999; Bourgois 1996; Bracey, Meier, and Rudwick 1973; Contreras 2013; De la Luz Reyes and Halcón 1988; Rios 2011; Schneider and Segura 2014.
25. Collins 2000; Morris 2015; Wright 2002; and Wright and Calhoun 2006.
26. Thrasher [1927] 1963.
27. The ethnographic research on gangs that I admire the most includes the work of Joan Moore, James Diego Vigil, David Brotherton and Luis Barrios, Felix Padilla, John Hagedorn, Steven Cureton, Susan Phillips, and the new projects forthcoming by Avelardo Valdez and Alice Cepeda.
30. Mills [1959] 2000:147.
31. National Gang Center 2015.
32. Martinez 2002; Vélez 2006.
35. Telles and Ortiz 2008.
37. Additional information on life chances can be found in the work of Max Weber outlined by Gerth and Mills 1946 and Dahrendorf 1979. For more on the concept of the Latino paradox, see Bock et al. 2005; Elder et al. 2005; Harrison and Kennedy 1996; McQueen et al. 2003; Morgan-Lopez et al. 2003; Parker et al. 1998; Phillip 2005; Sampson 2006; Vidrine et al. 2005.
38. Andreas 2000; Dunn 1996; Heyman 1999; Nevins [2002] 2010; United States-Mexico Border Health Commission 2010.
39. Dunn 2009; Nevins [2002] 2010.
40. Posadas and Medina 2012.
41. Holmes 1998; Rosas 2012.
43. Herman and Chomsky 2002.
45. Bonilla-Silva [2003] 2018; Perea 1995, 1997.
46. Durán 2012; Martínez 2007; Weitzer 2014.
47. Compare insights from Brunson and Miller 2006; Durán 2012; Escobar 1999; Goldsmith et al. 2009; Holmes 1998, 2000; Mirandé 1987; Romero 2006; Solis, Portillos, and Brunson 2009; Urbina 2012.
48. There were a number of sensational books (Buchanan 2002; Diaz 2009; Dougherty 2004; Huntington 2004), federal agency reports, and congressional testimonies that have made this argument (United States Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security 2012). Although academics for the most part do a better job covering these issues, I still had a personal concern about whether the effort to cover violence and drug trafficking contributed to the general climate of fear of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans in the United States (Bowden 2010; Campbell 2009; Muehlmann 2014). Staudt (2008) rightfully argues how we must keep from distancing the “other” as is often done to residents in Mexico. This book explores how U.S. policies have shaped historical obstacles in Mexico.
49. Bell 1992: xi; Delgado and Stefancic [2001] 2017
52. Delgado 1995, 1996, 1999; Bell 1992; Mirandé 2011.
54. Acuña 1972; Almaguer 1971; Barrera 1979; Barrera, Muñoz, and Ornelas 1972; Blauner 1972; Hernández 2017; Murguía 1975; Navarro 2005.
55. Acuña 1972; Almaguer 1971; Barrera 1979; Blauner 1972; Murguía 1975; Navarro 2005.
61. Sidanius and Pratto 1999.
62. Sidanius et al. 1994.
63. My favorite work consists of liberation theology.
65. I actually believe that all three of these themes were occurring in the geographic area that I was studying, and I hope that future research can build upon these themes. Unfortunately, none of my students followed up on these leads. See Boyle 2010; Flores 2014; Fremon 1995; Martinez 2016; Rahm and Weber 1958.
67. Radley Balko (2009) wrote a similar article in Reason Magazine titled “The El Paso Miracle,” which focused on how communities with a greater proportion of immigrants were safer.
68. Bock et al. 2005; Elder et al. 2005; Harrison and Kennedy 1996; McQueen et al. 2003; Morgan-Lopez et al. 2003; Parker et al. 1998; Phillip 2005; Sampson 2006; Vidrine et al. 2005.
Part One: A Revisionist History
1. Delgado and Stefancic 2017:25.
1. The Context for the Origination of Gangs: Double Colonization
1. Wagley and Harris 1958. An interesting overview of the work of Charles Wagley can be found in Hay 2014.
5. Bentley and Ziegler 2008.
20. Gómez 2007; Montgomery 2002; Nieto-Phillips 2004. This is in contrast to the one-drop rule used against blacks for socially constructing an individual as nonwhite.
22. McWilliams [1948] 1990.
23. Nieto-Phillips 2004. Martinez (1975) estimated a New Mexico population of 75,000 and a Southwest population estimate of 86,000 to 116,000. Gonzales (2015) has used the term “Hispano” to refer to nuevomexicanos, whereas opposition to “Mexican” was due to it being used pejoratively.
24. Martinez 1980; Timmons 1990.
27. Carrigan and Webb 2013; Gómez 2007; Montgomery 2002; Nieto-Phillips 2004.
29. McWilliams [1948] 1990.
31. Moorehead [1958] 1995.
32. Moorehead [1958] 1995; Jackson 2006; Perales 2010.
35. García 1981; Lay 1985.
41. Dowling 2010:71, Dissertation.
43. Dowling 2010, Dissertation; Gabbert 2003.
44. November 30, 1925. El Paso Times.
45. June 17, 1933. El Paso Herald-Post.
47. Stover, June 25, 1933. El Paso Times.
51. Ellis 1978; Montgomery 2002; Nieto-Phillips 2004.
56. Robinson 2002, Dissertation.
58. Lay 1985; Romo 2005; Timmons 1990. The trafficking of guns became an issue of central concern as Mexican cartel violence increased from 2006 to 2011. It was reported that a significant portion of guns were smuggled into Mexico from the United States.
63. Carrigan and Webb 2013; Roberts 1993.
66. July 16, 1976. El Paso Herald-Post.
67. Robinson 2002, Dissertation.
70. Along with Levario (2012), Romo 2005 also wrote about this topic.
71. García 1981; Lay 1985; Timmons 1990.
73. Martin and Midgley 1999, 2006.
75. Romo 2005; Timmons 1990.
76. Robinson 2002, Dissertation.
77. Langston 1974, Dissertation.
78. Horne 2005; Timmons 1990.
2. The Formation of Gangs in El Chuco
1. It appears that “ethnographic update” may be the preferred term over “ethnographic revisit,” given that Burawoy (2003) seems to have something different in mind.
2. Romo provides a revolutionary walking tour map in his 2005 book.
3. Juaráz, Farah, and Burciaga 1997.
6. Thrasher [1927] 1963:264.
12. Perales (2010) also supports these criticisms of schools in Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community.
13. Part of the challenge was due to the El Paso Public Library only having themes completed after 1970. They did have a thematic folder on gangs, but most leads required skimming various dates on microfiche. Future research could benefit from systematically indexing the files from El Paso newspapers from 1900 to 1940. Additional insights could be obtained by reviewing newspaper and technical reports in Ciudad Juárez to see if there were any overlaps with the different gangs listed.
14. March 8–9, 1919. “Oh Skinnay! The Gangs All Up in Court!” El Paso Herald.
15. I reviewed microfiche of each new article from March 1, 1919, to April 22, 1919, in the El Paso Herald and then from April 17, 1920, to June 14, 1920, from the El Paso Times. This was a slow process, and it did not feel very productive.
16. Interview no. 195, p. 29. UTEP Institute of Oral History, July 3, 1975.
17. Durán 2013; Moore 1978; Vigil 1988.
19. Barker 1950; Cummings 2009; Escobar 1999; Griffith 1947, 1948; Licón 2009 Dissertation; Macías 2008; Mazón 1984; Ornstein 1951; Ornstein-Galicia 1987; Obregón-Pagan 2003.
20. Barker 1950; Cummings 2009; Griffith 1947, 1948.
22. See also Ramírez 2009.
24. Durán 2013; Goodstein 2006.
26. Sonnichsen and McKinney 1971.
27. August 10, 1923. Frontier Klansman.
28. August 10, 1923:1. Frontier Klansman.
29. Robinson 2002. Dissertation.
30. Dunn 1996; Hernández 2010; McWilliams [1948] 1990.
32. Interview no. 135. UTEP Institute of Oral History, June 25, 1974.
34. Sonnichesen and McKinney 1971.
35. Langston 1974. Dissertation.
39. Frontier Klansman 1923:4.
40. An El Paso Times newspaper article written on August 19, 1979, alleges that an Edward F. Sherman paper on the Klan from 1958 and housed at UTEP provides names of members. This news article also supported the argument that the Klan was originated by some southern soldiers and their secret practices appealed to the masons. This paper states that although the Klan came to dominate the school board, three newspapers opposed the organization.
42. Fullerton Gerould 1925:204. Harpers Monthly Magazine.
43. Fulleteron Gerould 1925:206. Harpers Monthly Magazine.
45. García 1981; Montejano 1987, Levario 2012.
46. June 6, 1929. El Paso Herald.
47. Carrigan and Webb 2013.
49. Robinson 2002. Dissertation.
50. In addition to the dissertation research by Robinson (2002), Perales (2010) also emphasizes the point of many U.S. based companies present in Mexico and extracting its resources and financial capital.
51. Robinson 2002:69. Dissertation.
54. Abadinsky 2010; Brotherton and Barrios 2004; Hagedorn 1998; Klein 1995, 2004; Klein and Maxson 2006.
57. Langston 1974. Dissertation. It would be of interest to see what role major U.S. businesses played in supporting the trafficking of alcohol or drugs. For instance, the Guggenheim family was reported to have many financial interests in Mexico.
58. Robinson 2002:303. Dissertation.
59. Dowling 2010; Langston 1974. Dissertations.
60. Langston 1974. Dissertation.
63. Robinson 2002. Dissertation.
64. Although attempting to provide an objective scientific account, a lot of this information sounds prejudicial and closed off from the group he is interested in writing about.
67. Cummings 2009; Licón 2009.
70. “Analyzing the Delinquent Situation.” No date. No author. Reports.
73. Dowling 2010. Dissertation.
74. May 27, 1936. El Paso Herald-Post.
75. García 1981. It has been reported that the first mass at Sacred Heart Church was celebrated in 1893. The cover of this book emphasizes the central role of this church.
76. Cisneros, Ramirez, and Granado 1971. Reports.
77. March 12, 1940. El Paso Herald-Post.
78. July 21, 1941. El Paso Herald-Post.
79. April 20, 1942, and August 14, 1942. El Paso Herald-Post.
82. Licón 2009. Dissertation.
84. McWilliams [1948] 1990.
85. McWilliams [1948] 1990:231.
87. Dowling 2010. Dissertation.
88. Rivas-Rodriguez 2005.
89. Dowling 2010. Dissertation.
90. Dowling 2010. Dissertation.
91. Dowling 2010:223. Dissertation.
93. June 22–23, 1950. El Paso Herald-Post.
94. June 24, 1950. El Paso Herald-Post.
95. June 24, 1950. El Paso Herald-Post. June 24, 1950. El Paso Times.
96. June 26, 1950. El Paso Herald-Post.
97. June 27, 1950. El Paso Herald-Post.
98. February 16, 1981. El Paso Times.
99. Fernando Lujan was the individual who was shot and killed.
100. Although Father Gregory Boyle has received a lot of contemporary acclaim for working to reduce gang violence, his actions were not alone (Boyle 2010; Fremon 1995).
101. Rahm and Weber 1958. Reports.
102. Perales (2010) reported how many upper-middle class Mexicans had moved to Sunset Heights but still did not receive equal treatment at the schools or churches, or in the broader community.
104. Cisneros, Ramirez, and Granado (1971 Reports) and Jurado (1976 Master’s Thesis) both noted how the Our Lady’s Youth Center was known by the community as K.C. because it was the previous building of the Knights of Columbus.
105. Joan Moore reached a similar finding for those who did not join gangs in Los Angeles.
106. Klein 1995:40, made a similar argument in his book on gangs.
107. February 4, 1954. El Paso Times.
108. October 20, 1956. El Paso Herald-Post.
112. September 16, 1957. El Paso Herald-Post.
113. This origination date of 1937–1942 conflicts with one of Barker’s (1950) respondents.
114. November 12, 1957. El Paso Herald-Post.
115. Murdered was Humberto Salazar.
117. September 19, 1958. El Paso Herald-Post.
118. Murdered was Julio Duran.
119. Murdered was Manual Silva. September 17, 1958. El Paso Herald-Post.
120. June 3, 1959. El Paso Times. This is the article I’m referring to about not encountering any harassment during my walk at the beginning of this chapter.
121. September 20, 1976. El Paso Times.
122. Interview no. 610. UTEP Institute of Oral History, May 24, 1979.
123. Mr. Rodriguez passed away in 2008.
124. July 21, 2000. El Paso Times.
125. Murdered was Trinidad Mora. February 16, 1960. El Paso Herald-Post.
126. December 3, 1962. El Paso Times.
127. February 16, 1981. El Paso Times. The OK Nines controlled 9th Avenue Oregon and Kansas, 7-X controlled Virginia Street near the Alamita housing project, and the 4-Fs were on 4th Avenue and Florence. Other gangs in the city included the Lucky 13s and Little Nines.
128. Interview no. 211. UTEP Institute of Oral History, August 28, 1975.
129. Interview no. 846. UTEP Institute of Oral History, March 21, 1994.
130. April 25, 2006. El Paso Times.
131. Jurado 1976 Master’s Thesis.
132. September 20, 1976. El Paso Times.
133. Martin and Midgley 1999, 2006.
135. September 19, 1976. El Paso Times.
136. Cisneros, Ramirez, and Granado 1971. Reports.
137. April 6, 1972. El Paso Times.
138. April 12, 1972. El Paso Times.
139. April 13, 1972. Prospector.
140. April 24, 1972. El Paso Times.
141. April 26, 1972. El Paso Times.
142. April 24, 1972. El Paso Times. Clubs or gangs? These groups differed from those 15 years ago such as the 7-X, Little Nines, and 7-11. The gangs include Noble Lords (Tornillo and Paisano), Santanas (Campbell and Fifth), Alley Cats (Oregon and Fifth), Dare-Devils (Virginia and Eighth), Royal Knights (Park and Sixth), Ochoa Saints (Ochoa and Seventh), Cougars (Chihuahua Street), Thunderbirds (Armijo Center), Trampas (St. Vrain and Fifth), Oregon Eagles (Oregon and Seventh), Shamrocks (Mesa and Fourth), Blue Stars (El Paso and Fifth), and Allstars (Florence and Fourth).
143. January 29, 1976 El Paso Times; May 19, 1976. El Paso Herald-Post.
144. August 19, 1976. El Paso Times.
145. August 26, 1976. El Paso Herald-Post.
146. Murdered was 18-year-old Jose Manuel Urquidez (September 19, 1976 and September 21, 1976 El Paso Times).
147. April 2, 1977. El Paso Herald-Post.
148. October 30, 1977. El Paso Times.
149. Murdered was Emilio Dill. October 23, 1976. El Paso Times.
150. November 7, 1976. El Paso Times.
151. November 4, 1976. El Paso Times.
152. Murdered was Adrian Ruiz. Charged were Albert Carrillo, 17, and Antonio Marquez (March 9, 1977, El Paso Herald-Post).
153. Jurado 1976. Master’s Thesis.
154. Durán 2013; Montejano 2010; Navarro 1998.
3. Moral Panic Under a Research Microscope: The Organizational Scene Prior to Arrival
1. In undergraduate school, the formative books that were assigned to me in sociological theory were Ritzer’s Classical Sociological Theory (1996), and for research methods Earl Babbie’s The Practice of Social Research (1998).
2. In his book The Barrio Gangs of San Antonio, Mike Tapia (2017) faced a similar challenge. One of his successes was being able to interview previous members from the 1950s.
3. February 16, 1981. El Paso Times.
4. Murdered was Carlos Gandara Patino.
5. December 18, 1981. El Paso Herald-Post.
6. January 16, 1989. El Paso Times.
7. Texas Office of the Attorney General 1992. Report.
8. April 24, 1992. El Paso Times.
9. Texas Office of the Attorney General 1992. Report, p. 25. Fort Worth was also mentioned.
10. April 24, 1992. El Paso Times.
11. April 24, 1992. El Paso Times.
12. November 28, 1992. El Paso Herald-Post.
13. August 25, 1996. El Paso Times.
14. March 2, 1996. El Paso Herald-Post.
15. Manuel Almeraz, 23, was killed in 1996. One of the men accused was found innocent and two juveniles, who were 16 and 14 at the time, were given probation (Alfredo Martinez and Armando Martinez). After violating probation and picking up new offenses, Alfredo was sentenced to prison and Armando to a Restitution Center. January 16, 1999. El Paso Times; May 10, 1999. El Paso Times. In another instance, 16-year-old Jake Aguirre was killed and one of offenders was sentenced to 40 years in prison. November 2, 1999. El Paso Times.
18. January 8, 1992. El Paso Herald-Post.
19. January 8, 1992. El Paso Times.
20. The officers involved were Dirk Hiltl, 32, and Salvador Vega, 27.
21. Murdered was Nicholas Huerta. June 3, 1999. El Paso Times; November 10, 1999. El Paso Times.
22. June 13, 1999. El Paso Times.
23. October 28, 1999. El Paso Times.
24. October 30, 1999. The recommendation to fire came from Commander Cerjio Martinez of the Central Regional Command Center.
25. May 5, 2000. El Paso Times.
26. I have ongoing research on this topic. More will be explored on this topic in chapter 7 and in an upcoming dossier in Aztlan edited by Alfredo Mirandé.
27. September 19, 1999. El Paso Times.
28. January 28, 2001. El Paso Times.
29. November 23, 2003. El Paso Times.
30. Murdered was David Rivera. October 19, 1999. El Paso Times.
31. December 15, 1999. El Paso Times.
32. March 29, 2006. El Paso Times.
33. Both Uniform Crime Report data and National Crime Victimization Survey data support the empirical finding of a decreasing violent crime rate since the early 1990s. For property crime it has been a downward trajectory since the 1970s.
34. Governor’s Organized Crime Prevention Commission 1991:2.
35. New Mexico Department of Public Safety 1994. Report.
37. City of Las Cruces Gang Task Force 1992.
38. It became effective in August 1992
39. Franco 1992. Report; Lobato and Tafoya 1993. Report; Sandoval-Monnét 1996. Master’s thesis.
40. Mays, Winfree, and Jackson 1993.
42. Mays, Fuller, and Winfree 1994.
43. Mays, Fuller, and Winfree 1994:27.
44. Winfree and Bernat 1998; Winfree, Bernat, and Esbensen 2001.
45. Picacho, Sierra, and Lynn Middle Schools in Las Cruces.
46. Winfree, Bernat, and Esbensen 2001:114.
47. Winfree and Bernat 1998.
48. Moorhead-Nord 1994. Master’s Thesis; Sandoval-Monnét 1996. Master’s Thesis; Vigil-Bäckström 1992. Master’s Thesis.
49. Jackson 1993. Master’s Thesis.
50. Delgado 2001. Master’s Thesis.
51. Arevalo Becerril 2000. Master’s Thesis.
52. December 14, 1999. El Paso Times.
53. October 9, 1999. El Paso Times.
54. December 8, 2004. Las Cruces Sun-News.
55. January 15, 2006. Las Cruces Sun-News.
56. It is unclear the reason for the higher number of reported rapes in Las Cruces compared to the national average. Every semester I asked this question of my students, and we continued to be surprised by this number. The region is religious yet patriarchal, but it is not clear why rape would occur at rates higher than many other places in the country.
57. March 6, 2004. Las Cruces Sun-News; February 29, 2004. Las Cruces Sun-News. Jorge Olivas was the first murder of the year. Based on their records, he was the first teen in Las Cruces killed since 19-year-old Alex Medina, who was shot to death on December 16, 2000.
58. October 28, 2004. Las Cruces Sun-News.
59. December 10, 2005. Las Cruces Sun-News.
60. March 24, 2002. El Paso Times.
62. Pyrooz and Sweeten 2015.
64. Decker and Van Winkle 1996; Durán 2013; Klein and Maxson 2006; Thornberry et al. 2003.
65. Klein and Maxson 2006.
66. June 21, 1973. El Paso Times.
67. August 1, 1974. El Paso Herald-Post.
68. March 2, 1979. El Paso Times.
69. September 7, 1988. Chicago Tribune.
70. March 7, 1977. Los Angeles Times.
71. For additional information on Mexico’s Operation Condor, see Craig 1980.
72. February 27, 1979. El Paso Herald-Post.
73. Rather than only negative stories, Joe Renteria was later released from prison and continued his successful career. According to an El Paso Times article from May 10, 2011, Mr. Renteria had accumulated more than 200 national and international feature film, television, and commercial credits. He was currently working as a screenwriter and producer.
74. May 19, 1978. El Paso Times.
75. August 6, 1978. El Paso Times.
76. Chambers v. State 508 S.W. 2nd 348. Tex Crim App. 1974.
77. January 26, 1979. El Paso Times.
78. January 22, 1979. Washington Post; June 17, 1979. New York Times; August 4, 1979. Boston Globe.
79. October 14, 1979. El Paso Times; October 15, 1979. El Paso Times.
80. In 1967, Leopoldo Morales, Jr., was given the death penalty for shooting and killing an 18-year-old bride and her soldier husband.
81. April 16, 1982. Chicago Tribune. Additional readings on the Chagra family can be found in Cartwright [1984] 1998 and Chagra 2015.
83. Durán 2013; Fleetwood 2014.
84. Valdez and Kaplan 2007:900.
86. December 26, 1972. Hartford Courant.
87. April 2007. Texas Monthly.
88. An internet website titled onepercenterbikers.com stated that Donald Eugene Chambers was paroled in 1983, and that he later died from cancer on July 18, 1999, and was buried in Houston, Texas.
89. November 11, 1976. El Paso Herald-Post. Chico 30-year-old Robert V. Lujan died.
90. Arrested were Donald Chambers, 46, Raymond Barriett, 39, and Jesse Fain Deal, 43. October 30, 1976. El Paso Herald-Post. Murdered were George Lyman Jones, 27, Jimmie Retha Brown, and Dana Thompson. December 16, 1977. El Paso Herald-Post.
91. February 12, 1979, and February 13, 1979. El Paso Herald-Post.
92. February 22, 1979. El Paso Herald-Post.
93. May 23, 1979. El Paso Herald-Post.
94. October 10, 1979. El Paso Herald-Post.
97. April 12, 1996. El Paso Times. There were some parolees who may have simply been attempting to start a new life. For example, in 1979 federal authorities, city police, and deputy sheriffs from Bakersfield, California, participated in the arrest of 31-year-old man who was described as a lieutenant of La Nuestra Familia prison gang. Arrested was Richard Lujan Hernandez, alias Frank Villobos.
98. September 29, 1997. El Paso Times. Death of Richard Bracknell, 26, an alleged member of the Mexican Mafia who was found hanging on shower curtain rod. It was debated whether it was a suicide or whether he had been killed by Richard Morales Castillo and six other members of the prison gang who were later charged with the death of Bracknell. January 11, 1999, March 26, 1999, and March 27, 1999. El Paso Times.
99. January 11, 1999. El Paso Times.
100. January 21, 2001. El Paso Times.
101. November 16, 2001. El Paso Times.
102. Camp and Camp 1985. Report.
103. Fong 1990; Fong and Buentello 1991; Marquart and Crouch 1985; Ralph and Marquart 1991; Tapia et al. 2014.
104. Another news story stated that Barrio Azteca was created by five El Paso residents serving time in an East Texas Prison.
105. June 5, 1999. El Paso Times.
106. December 22, 2006. El Paso Times.
107. April 15, 2003, May 3, 2003, May 12, 2003, May 15, 2003. El Paso Times.
108. September 5, 2005. El Paso Times.
109. City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41 (1999).
110. Camp and Camp 1985. Report; Fong 1990; Fong and Buentello 1991; Marquart and Crouch 1985; Ralph and Marquart 1991; Tapia et al. 2014.
111. August 2, 2005. El Paso Times.
112. Operation Community Shield, Fact Sheet, 2008. Report.
115. May 9, 2004. El Paso Times.
116. March 12, 2006. El Paso Times.
117. December 12, 1999. El Paso Times.
118. July 28, 1999. El Paso Times.
119. October 10, 1999. El Paso Times.
120. Fregoso and Bejarano 2010; Staudt 2008.
122. January 28, 2004. El Paso Times.
123. August 17, 2004. El Paso Times.
124. September 18, 2002. El Paso Times.
125. July 11, 2003. El Paso Times.
126. January 5, 2004. El Paso Times.
127. September 20, 2002. El Paso Times.
Part Two: An Ethnographic Foundation
1. Baca Zinn 1979; Bourgois 1996; Collins 2000; Contreras 2013; Cureton 2008; Hagedorn 1990; Mirandé 1985; Morris 2015; Riessman 1987; Rios 2011. An excellent overview of intersectionality and its roots can be found in Potter (2013).
4. How Youth of Mexican Descent Encounter Criminalization
1. I remember a conversation with a colleague and friend, Ramiro Martinez, about data patterns based on my research on officer-involved shootings. I told him Denver had a high rate of shootings. He asked, compared to what? He went on to elaborate on how everything is relative, and our conversation turned to how one could answer this question. Although this was not my intention at the beginning, most of my research has focused on comparison, and I thank him for pushing me to become more reflexive of how my local research compared to other locations.
2. Peterson and Krivo 2012; Telles and Ortiz 2008.
3. Kupchik 2010; Peguero and Shaffer 2015; Portillos, González, and Peguero 2012; Rios 2011.
4. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention—OJJDP DMC website.
5. Pope and Feyerherm 1990; Pope, Lovell, and Hsia 2002.
6. Pope, Lovell, and Hsia 2002.
7. National Council on Crime and Delinquency 2007.
9. Carmichael, Whitten, and Voloudakis 2005. Report.
10. Menon and Jordan 1997. Report. This study provides a great historical overview of these early efforts.
11. Carmichael, Whitten, and Voloudakis 2005. Report.
12. Carmichael, Whitten, and Voloudakis 2005:62. Report.
13. Members of TARC included Lisa Bond Maupin, James Maupin, Dana Greene, Carlos Posadas, Julian Lapeyre, and myself.
14. Benekos, Merlo, and Puzzanchera 2011; National Center for Juvenile Justice 2010. Report.
15. In New Mexico an arrest and referral are treated as the same, whereas in some other states they are separate forms of decision-making.
16. Other groups analyzed in our data included Native American youth, who accounted for 12 percent of all youth aged 10 to 17, and black youth, who accounted for 2 percent of all youth. However, both racial groups were an even smaller proportion of residents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Readers interested in these patterns for other racial and ethnic groups for the entire state should consult the original article by Durán and Posadas 2013.
17. Durán and Posadas 2013.
18. See Pope, Lovell, and Hsia 2002 and Piquero 2008 for more information regarding this empirical question.
19. Based on census tract data, Luna County was the exception to this rule in terms of neighborhood segregation. However, the county continued to experience segregation by occupation as highlighted by a city governmental room containing photographs of its elected leaders and newspapers chronicling the history and current townspeople. I would still like to do additional analysis of El Paso census tract data.
20. This includes Doña Ana County, Hidalgo County, Grant County, and Luna County.
21. This observation may merge with Bonilla-Silva’s ([2003] 2018) argument of race relations in the United States moving toward triracial stratification, which he argues was found more frequently in Latin American and Caribbean nations. However, in this book the data show that individuals of Mexican descent have received fewer social advantages despite being characterized as white. Part of this region’s effort to destroy the concept of race appears to have been intended to reduce conflict with a majority minority population. Local whites seemed fearful to boast about their superior positioning in society.
23. Bond-Maupin and Maupin 1998.
24. Willging, Quintero, and Lilliott 2014.
25. Kubrin, Zatz, and Martínez 2012; Martínez 2015; Martínez and Valenzuela 2006.
26. Government Accountability Study 2013.
28. Menjívar and Bejarano 2004:122.
29. Katz and Schnebly 2011.
30. Looking across the border from El Paso into Ciudad Juárez provides a view of how the high degree of poverty in El Paso pales in comparison to the higher levels of poverty in Mexico. Based on interviews, respondents have described a decrease in local gangs in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, due to the cartels taking over.
32. U.S. Department of Education 2012; New Mexico Voices for Children 2012; Annie E. Casey Foundation 2013, 2014.
33. New Mexico Public Education Department 2010; U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2012.
35. See also Flores 2016; Noguera 2003.
38. Peguero and Shaffer 2015.
39. Portillos, González, and Peguero 2012.
40. Key among these leaders were my friends and professors, Rudolfo Chávez Chávez and Hermán García.
41. March 14, 2009. Las Cruces Sun News.
43. Full coverage of these data and various analyses involving informal referrals, probation cases, and number of repeat offenders can be found in previous technical reports completed by Durán and co-authors Posadas and Mata.
45. Mata, Durán, and Posadas 2008. Report.
46. The use of detention data deserve greater research attention in a separate study.
47. For the state as a whole, majority minority status for Mexican Americans did not prevent overrepresentation in outcomes. The data for Native Americans were mixed, and blacks were overrepresented in New Mexico regardless of whether Mexican Americans or whites were in numerical control (as demonstrated by county data).
48. Bejarano 2005; Hirschfield 2009; Nicholson-Crotty, Birchmeier, and Valentine 2009; Peguero and Shaffer 2015; Peguero et al. 2015; Portillos, González, and Peguero 2012.
5. Contradictions in Law Enforcement
1. The Washington Post published an article by Lyndsey Layton about youth living in Mexican border communities on September 20, 2013, titled “Children Cross Mexican Border to Receive U.S. Education.” The author points out how these youths were U.S. citizens living in Mexico.
3. Disproportionate Minority Contact Technical Assistance Manual 2006. The terms arrest and referral were used interchangeably in New Mexico.
4. Davis and Sorensen 2012; Pope and Feyerherm 1995; Pope, Lovell, and Hsia 2002.
5. Pope and Feyerherm 1995:10.
7. El Paso Police Department 2015. “Dedicated to Serve.” Annual Report. El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. 2015 Annual Report.
8. Alex 1969; Dulaney 1996; Durán 2015; Heyman 2002; Urbina and Álvarez 2015.
9. There was still a significant shortage of female officers, who only comprised anywhere from 3 to 12 percent of the force.
10. Dulaney 1996; Ruiz 1997; Sklansky 2006.
16. Andreas 2000, 2003; Dunn 1996; Kubrin, Zatz, and Martínez 2012.
18. Andreas 2000, 2003; Dunn 1996; Goldsmith et al. 2009; Romero 2006.
20. Hacker and Pierson 2010.
21. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fiscal Year 2016. Report.
23. Fox, Levin, and Quinet 2008; Hamm and Spaaij 2017; Newman et al. 2004.
24. January 23, 2018. Las Cruces Sun-News.
25. My colleague and friend Carlos Posadas and I were very interested in learning more about U.S. Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, our application to conduct research on this organization was denied by our university’s institutional review board. They requested we obtain approval from the director of Homeland Security.
26. September 26, 2017. Las Cruces Sun-News.
27. Vera Lopez’s (2017) research on system-involved girls also found that practitioners blamed parents.
28. Presentation by the Las Cruces Police Department Gang Unit on March 14, 2008.
29. Syndicato Nuevo Mexico also had a History Channel “Gangland” episode that focused on this prison gang under the name “Hell House.”
30. Katz and Webb 2006; Klein 2004.
31. National Institute of Corrections.
32. Hernandez v. Mesa, 582 U.S. (2017). No. 15-118.
33. June 26, 2017. Univision.
34. This section does not provide an exhaustive review of the number of problematic cases involving law enforcement officers. These were some of the cases that caught my attention, but further research should be devoted to providing a more systematic analysis with the purpose of improving these law enforcement agencies and the structural challenges they experience.
35. August 25, 2011. Las Cruces Sun-News; June 14, 2012. Las Cruces Sun-News.
36. November 9, 2003. El Paso Times.
37. July 21, 2016. The Texas Tribune.
38. January 29, 2009. Las Cruces Sun-News; October 7, 2009. Albuquerque Journal.
39. Davis and Sorensen 2012; Dillard 2013; Durán and Posadas 2013; Kempf-Leonard 2007; Leiber and Rodriguez 2011; Pope and Feyerherm 1995; Pope, Lovell, and Hsia 2002.
40. Vera Sanchez and Rosenbaum 2012.
6. Participatory Action Research Teams at a Minority-Serving Institution
1. According to a pamphlet, the Legislative Lottery Scholarships were created in 1996 and pay 100 percent of tuition. To qualify, students need to be a New Mexico resident, graduate from New Mexico public high school, enroll full-time in public college or university, and obtain and maintain a 2.5 grade-point average.
3. See the work of Appadurai (2006) for the “right to research” concept and how it is tied to “the capacity to aspire.” Also see Lather (1986) for “research as praxis” and Delgado Bernal (2002) for “recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge.”
4. For more on PAR, see Fine 2009; Fine et al. 2003, 2007; Payne 2013; Stoudt, Fox, and Fine 2012.
6. Brotherton and Barrios 2004; Moore 1978, 1991; Hagedorn 1998, 2015.
8. Acuña 1998; Bracey, Meier, and Rudwick 1973; Bonilla-Silva and Herring 1999; De la Luz Reyes and Halcón 1988; Schneider and Segura 2014.
9. Bonilla-Silva and Herring 1999:6. Bonilla-Silva (2017) argues that this pattern still exists today.
10. De la Luz Reyes and Halcón 1988.
11. Bracey, Meier, and Rudwick 1973; Buckler 2008; Chilungu 1976; Collins 2000; Hayano 1979; Jones 1970; Morris 2015.
12. Acuña 1998; Collins 2000; Hooks [2000] 2015; Morris 2015.
13. Blauner and Wellman 1973; Chilungu 1976; Durán 2013.
14. Due to space limitations, the graduate students’ work could not be incorporated because they were written as ten-page papers with a literature review, methods section, findings, and conclusion. However, their insights were incorporated into this larger book project.
15. To give credit but also to provide a level of anonymity, only the students’ first names will be used. The full reports and the pictures that students and I have taken can be seen on my department website: http://rjduran.utk.edu/gang-updates. I am also using the preferred ethnic term of the area, which was Hispanic.
16. A Google search of the term “Fort Bliss solider arrested” brought up several news stories regarding this topic, which would require a more thorough examination before I could speculate about the number of these incidents.
17. December 3, 2008. El Paso Times. July 20, 2017. El Paso Times. This group had also been featured on the History Channel’s “Gangland” under the title of Barrio Azteca.
18. August 13, 2013. Albuquerque Journal.
19. January 12, 2017. El Paso Times.
20. January 4, 2018. KVIA.
7. Empirical Miracles and Where Do We Go from Here?
1. Ernesto Vigil was a key partner in my first book Gang Life in Two Cities and is the author of The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government’s War on Dissent.
2. A good background of these events can be found in Armando Navarro’s (1998) The Cristal Experiment: A Chicano Struggle for Community Control, José Angel Gutiérrez’s (1998) The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal, Ernesto Vigil’s (1999) The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government’s War on Dissent, and Reies López Tijerina’s (2000) They Called Me “King Tiger”: My Struggle for the Land and Our Rights, translated from Spanish and edited by José Angel Gutiérrez.
3. Another reference to Telles and Ortiz 2008.
4. Bowden 2010; Campbell 2009; Correa-Cabrera 2017; Poppa 1998.
5. New Mexico Department of Health 2013. Report.
7. National Drug Threat Assessment 2011; National Gang Intelligence Center 2011:39.
8. More on the problems of police and gang lists can be found in my previous book, Gang Life in Two Cities (Durán 2013).
9. Bjerregaard 2002; Hagedorn [1988] 1998.
11. Pyrooz and Sweeten 2015.
14. Esbensen et al. 2001.
15. Decker 1996; Vigil 1988.
17. In future research, I would like to obtain and analyze these data with a goal of creating a study similar to Valdez, Cepeda, and Kaplan 2009.
18. Maxson, Gordon, and Klein 1985.
19. Tita and Abrahamse 2004.
20. Bogardus 1943; Cook and Ludwig 2000; Moore 1991; Vigil 2007; Durán 2013. Report.
22. December 15, 2010. CNN.
24. Davies and Holz 1992.
25. The title for this section comes from a book written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and published in 1967.
28. Baca Zinn 1979; Delgado and Stefancic 2001; Mirandé 2011; Morris 2015; Phillips and Bowlings 2003; Takagi 1981; Wright 2002; Wright and Calhoun 2006.
30. Acuña 1998; Bonilla-Silva [2003] 2018; Mirandé 1987.
32. Boyle 2010; Fremon 1995.
34. Rahm and Weber 1958:66. Report.
36. Barrera 1979; Fanon 1963; Memmi 1965.
38. Maybe Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, or Paulo Freire pondered the possibility of a better reality.
Conclusion
1. Rest in peace to the individual who first provoked me into researching gangs along the U.S.–Mexico border.
2. The starting point used is the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which added 525,000 square miles to the United States and removed half of Mexico’s territory.
3. December 30, 2017. USA Today Network.
4. November 22, 2017. USA Today Network.
5. Amada Armenta (2017) has a new book titled Protect, Serve, and Deport: The Rise of Policing as Immigration Enforcement, which is centered in Nashville, Tennessee.
6. Although my perceived future included staying in Tennessee, I have accepted a job offer that involves moving to East Central Texas in August 2018.
11. In Carrigan and Webb’s (2013) book, these authors reported how the common justifications for lynchings were based on perceived criminality or a lack of justice in frontier courts. However, these authors found they were more inspired by economic competition and racial prejudice. Thus, in my work, increased calls for enhanced punishment often do not entail a desire for empirical validation that such a level of punishment will be effective, but only a prejudicial belief that punishment will remove perceived wrongdoers rather than the structural sources of strain.
13. Katz, Webb, and Armstrong 2003; Lane and Meeker 2000.
14. Herman and Chomsky 2002.
15. Andreas, 2000; Dunn, 1996; Heyman, 1999, Nevins [2002] 2010; United States Government. Accountability Office 2013.
18. Sidanius and Pratto 1999.
19. Peterson and Krivo 2012; Martinez 2015; Vélez 2006.
20. Buchanan 2002; Huntington 2004.
21. Bonilla-Silva [2003] 2018.
22. Valdez and Kaplan 2007.
23. Criminologist John Hagedorn outlined a possible fourth explanation in his book The Insane Chicago Way; I did not acquire data to support this but I thought it was worthy to mention in a footnote. In his book, Hagedorn described how local gangs in Chicago came together to create the Spanish Growth and Development that could organize crime and control violence. He mentioned this as a possibility in El Paso when providing possible comparisons with the data he acquired in Chicago.
25. Rest in peace to residents in Doña Ana whose lives were taken too soon, including Baby Brianna (2002); Katie Sepich (2003); Ashley Wax, Dana Joseph Grauke, and Luther Garcia (2005); Gerardo Baltazar and Alberto Soto (2007); Bobby Zertuche (2008); Adam Espinoza (2010); Jerry Zamarripa (2011); and Jocelyn Marrie Trujillo (2017). Condolences to the families and friends of loved ones whom I missed in recognizing. For historical purposes, it would be empowering to have the names of everyone taken too soon by violence.
26. The New Mexico Department of Health analyzed the youth suicide rate in New Mexico from 2002 to 2007 and found that the New Mexico rate was more than double the rate of the United States overall; New Mexico Department of Health 2008. Report. For more on the challenges that exist in the border region, see U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission 2010. Report.
Appendix 1. Methods
1. Adler and Adler 1987; Lofland and Lofland 1995; Punch 1986.
4. Adler and Adler 1987:84.