18th Street Gang

18th Street Gang
Founding location	Los Angeles, California
Years active	1960s
Territory	California, Central America, Mexico, and Canada
Ethnicity	Mexicans, Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Hawaiians, Native Americans, and other Latin Americans
Membership	50,000 in the USA
Criminal activities	Drug trafficking, assault, arson, robbery, kidnapping, pandering, money laundering, extortion, arms trafficking, theft, murder, racketeering and fraud.
Allies	Mexican Mafia Surenos
Rivals	MS-13 Bloods Crips The Avenues

The 18th Street Gang is a largely Central American and Mexican street gang that was founded in Los Angeles, California during the 1960s. The gang started near 18th Street and Union Avenue in Los Angeles, starting as a Mexican gang. However, it became mainly Central American as it started to recruit from other ethnic groups, and it would grow to have 50,000 members in 200 sets in the United States alone. When Central American gang members were arrested in the USA, they were then deported back to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, where crime rates rose to be out-of-control, and the gang became one of the most violent gangs in the region. The 18th Street Gang became arch-rivals with the MS-13 gang. The gang would later expand to Spain, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Lebanon, Peru, the Philippines, Chile, and Ecuador, and it became one of the most violent and prolific gangs in the USA. The gang was allied with the Mexican Mafia and rivals with MS-13, the Nortenos, the Bloods, and certain sets of the Crips.