The Mexican Mafia, also known as La eMe ("The M") is a highly organized Mexican-American criminal organization in the United States that was founded in California's Deuel Vocational Institution in 1957. The Mexican Mafia operated as a prison gang, with members of rival Hispanic gangs being persuaded to end their hostilities and band together against rival prison gangs. The Mexican Mafia became rivals with the Nuestra Familia prison gang, which was founded in 1968 in response to anger held by some Mexican-American inmates against La eMe, which stole their watches, rings, cigarettes, and other valued possessions, as well as engaged in murders. The Mexican Mafia would ally itself with other Surenos, Armenian Power, and the Aryan Brotherhood, while it was rivals with the Nortenos, Nuestra Familia, and the D.C. Blacks.