Venice 13

Vespucci 13

Founded	1920-1930
Founding location	Cortes, Vespucci, Los Santos, San Andreas, United States
Years active	1920 or 1930 veya günümüz.
Territory	Vespucci
Ethnicity	Mexican American
Leader(s)	Benny "Puppet" Amaro - Gabriel "Wicked" Cuenca
Activities	Cinayet, adam kaçırma, gasp, saldırı, saldırı ve vandalism
Allies	Lennox13 PlayBoys Gangster Crips Santa Monica 13 18th Street gang Vespucci Shoreline Crips

Vespucci 13 veya West Side Vespucci 13, V13 veya VX3 olarak kısaltılır. San Andreas, Los Santos'ta bulunan Vespucci, Cortes Street / Magellan Avenue (diğer adıyla Ghost Town) mahallesinde bulunan bir Meksika kökenli Amerikan sokak çetesidir. Doğu Vespucci'nin yanı sıra Bay City Avenue/Los Santos sınırında, özellikle Cortes Street ve Magellan çevresinde önemli bir varlığı vardır.

Çetenin geçmişi 1920'lere ya da 1930'lara dayanmaktadır. Afro-Amerikan çetelere, özellikle de 1970'lerin ortalarında kurulan yerel Vespucci Shoreline Crips'e karşı çete savaşı veren ilk Meksikalı çeteler arasındadır. Sureños ve Meksika Mafyası ile bağlantılıdır. Meksikalı-Amerikalı diğer çete Trinitarios ile olan kanlı çatışmalar ile bilinmektedir.

History

1950'lerin sonu ve 1960'ların başında Güney Yakasının ağırlıklı olarak Meksikalı-Amerikalı ve göçmen toplulukların çoğalmasının ardından birçok kişi batıya, Vespucci Beach'in Magellan Avenue/Cortes Street bölgesine göç etti. Cortes Street, bir diğer ismiyle de bilinen Ghost Town bölgesi 1960'lı yıllarda "hizmetçi bölgesi" olarak adlandırılıyordu. Afrikalı-Amerikalıların Los Santos'un o yıllarda batı yakasında yaşayabildiği tek bölgelerden biriydi. Bu dönemde Vespucci, Los Santos Belediyesi'nin bölgeye yönelik ihmalkâr tutumu nedeniyle "deniz kenarındaki ghetto" olarak biliniyordu ve sonuç olarak Cortes Street'in genç karşı kültür sanatçılarını ve yoksul Avrupalı göçmenleri çeken ve önceden var olan işçi sınıfı Afro-Amerikan nüfusunu koruyan ucuz konut fiyatları, Meksikalıların yerleşmesini nispeten kolaylaştırdı. İşte bu aşırı yoksulluk içinde Vespucci 13 çetesi kuruldu ve şehirdeki ilk çetelerden biri haline geldi.

1960'lar boyunca çete hızla büyüdü ve Vespucci çetesi üyeleri Meksika Mafyası üyeliği yoluyla San Andreas cezaevi sisteminde aktif rol oynamaya başlarken, sokaklarda çete Culver City 13 ile kıyasıya mücadele ederek 50 yılı aşkın bir süreye yayılan ve hala devam eden bir rekabet yarattı. Bu zamana kadar bölge uyuşturucuyla istila edildi ve zaman değişti, işsizlik ve ırksal gerilimler arttıkça Vespucci 13 çetesiuyuşturucu ticaretinin kontrolünü ele geçirdi ve çete üyeliğini daha da körükledi. Çete üyeleri hippilere ve sonunda crack kokainin gelmesiyle zengin bölgelerden Cortes Street bölgesine gelen yüksek gelirli sakinlere uyuşturucu tedarik ederek gelir elde etti. 1990'larda Cortes Street, Vespucci 13, Vespucci Shoreline Crips (VSLC) ve Culver City çetesi arasında bir savaş patlak verdi. Meksika Mafyasının emriyle Vespucci 13 Cortes'in uyuşturucu ticaretinin kontrolünü elinde tutacaktı ve sonunda Vespcci 13 ile Vespucci Shoreline Crips arasında bir barış anlaşması yapıldı. 1980'ler ve 1990'lu yıllarda Vespucci 13 çetesinin bulunduğu bölgede beyaz yakalı ev sahiplerinin mülk satın almaya ve eski evleri yenilemeye başlamasıyla problemler başladı. Los Santos Belediyesi'nin çetelere karşı uyguladığı politika, çetenin hala aktif olmasına rağmen önceki yıllarda kazandığı gücü kaybetmesine neden olmuştur.

Cliques

Venice 13 is made up of a series of cliques, or subsets within the gang.

Dukes (DKS) Mainly active in the '80s and early '90s, the set is composed of older members. Duke members often wear clothes with the Duke University Blue Devil or blue Detroit Tigers caps.

Lil Jokers(LJKS L'Js) was a large clique from V13 and are still active.

Gangsters (G'S, GEES) are a large clique. Made up of some older members, the set has seen a rapid increase in membership and activity as more and more youngsters have grown and earned membership, replacing many past members who were specifically targeted by injunctions. The GEES look up to the Dukes clique because of their well-known gang activity "back in the day".

Malos (MLS) Mainly active east of Lincoln Blvd., the division between Oakwood and the rest of Venice, and East Venice.

Lil Locos (LLS')and the Big Locos(L' S), cliques that function within Oakwood as well as around the outskirts of Venice by displaced members. Mentioned in the original script for the movie American History X. They also have an asesinos[ASNS] clique and the Jokers[JKS]clique

Injunctions

The Venice gang has also been the target of West Side gang injunctions in the 1990s along with Culver City 13, and the Venice Shoreline Crips.

Rivalry

Venice 13's main rivals were the Santa Monica 13 and Santa Monica 17th St gangs, however they both settled a truce and formed an alliance. As well as 18th Street gang (particularly the 106th St in Inglewood), as well as the Grave Yard Gangsta Crips in Santa Monica and Culver City 13 in the Mar Vista neighborhood. Historically, the main rivals of the gang have long been Venice Shoreline Crips who have shared the same neighborhood in Venice called Oakwood, which in from early to mid 20th century was segregated and sectioned as the only area in Venice that African-Americans and Hispanics could own properties.

Shoreline Crips

Venice 13 was involved in an intense battle with the Venice Shoreline Crips during the 1990s. The conflict escalated and in one point in time Venice 13 and the Culver City gang went as far as to set aside their own fight to unite against the Shorelines. In 1994 Venice 13 and the Shorelines bargained for a cease fire, after a war that left 55 people dead and many more wounded.

Notoriety

Although the gang has been known to be relatively laid back and often members prefer not to exert themselves, they have gained notoriety for violent and often very reckless retaliation attacks. The gang is also involved in large scale narcotics trafficking business along the Oakwood and boardwalk areas, a prime market for selling to high income residents who come from surrounding affluent areas. Venice 13 has also been known to viciously defend their turf from outside drug trafficking and trespassing, with violators being killed or at least shot at.

Aside from the war with the Shorelines, V13 has also gained infamy as being the most violent rival of the Culver City gang. The gang has been known to publicly take credit for the murders of rivals by marking the neighborhood with "VX3," "V13" and "Venice 13" taggings. In one incident "V13s invaded the hospital in search of a Culver City enemy they hadn't quite managed to kill. It was necessary to give the patient a fictitious name and change all the labels on the census boards, chart backs, etc," as described by a nurse.

On November 7, 2007 members of the Venice 13 gang fired shots, from a vehicle leaving Venice High School, at alleged rival Culver City members who were standing outside the SHOP-4 building at approximately 2:58 pm. The incident began with an argument until it turned to gunfire. The argument is said to have start with gang identification. After the first victim, Carlos, was aware of the situation he was shot at leaving 3 holes on his sleeve with one bullet. He then tried running into other classes were teachers refused to keep him there. The two other victims are unknown. The school was put on lockdown and police were dispatched for extra security for a couple days until threat was minimized. Carlos and the other victims have disappeared only with rumors from friends of moving to Mexico.

Gentrification

In 1994, due to the stigma of the neighborhood's reputation as "Los Angeles at its worst" many investors were deterred from the area.

With gentrification transforming the formerly more downscale sections of the West Side, many of its rivals are either near-defunct or in severe decline. With housing prices starting in the $500,000 and escalating into the millions from there, Venice 13 struggled to maintain the same presence it used to have in its neighborhood during the 1990s. While Oakwood was at one point a very inexpensive area to buy property, it is being sought after by wealthy artists and businesspeople at competitive prices. Famous movie stars such as actresses Julia Roberts and Anjelica Huston, and actor Nicolas Cage have taken residency in or around the Oakwood area. According to a Venice gang member, some Venice 13 members have even been forced into nearby Inglewood due to rent and housing costs. The affiliate, with plenty of animosity for the mostly, non-Hispanic white professional newcomers, stated that new home owners in the area at sometimes fail to even notice Oakwood as a gang neighborhood. This gentrification has been the cause of rising racial tension between the original African American and Latino residents and the more affluent newcomers.

The inconsistent pattern of gang violence in Oakwood has also scared many high income residents who are not accustomed to the neighborhood, such as a 2001 string of violent shootings which resulted in 3 murders in a two-week period. Months following the incidents residents reported the streets being empty at sundown despite increased police presence. In the November 2004 issue of Vanity Fair magazine author John Brodie contested that gentrification would fail as "...the gunplay of the Shoreline Crips and the V-13 is as much a part of life in Venice as pit bulls playing with blond Labs at the local dog park.".

References

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