HISPANIC GANG GRAFFITI

INTRO

Graffiti is the most highly visible and widespread by-product of the street gang culture.  Once gang graffiti is understood, it is a valuable source of information on a gang, it's members, and even tattoo's.

The purpose of this is to help extract useful information from graffiti.  The first section provides some rules to follow when reading graffiti.  Next, the abbreviations used by Northwest area gangs are listed alphabetically.

All of the data here was gathered by reading graffiti I have found, talking to gang members, and Internet research.

All of this will focus on Hispanic gang graffiti, since I would say 90% of the graffiti I find now days is done by Hispanic gangs (Surenos 13 & Nortenos 14).
Hispanic street gang graffiti usually contains one or more of the following terms.
  • Barrio (Neighborhood)
  • Catorce (Fourteen)
  • Controlan (Control The Area)
  • Dieciocho (Eighteen)
  • El (The)
  • Hoto, Joto (Queer)
  • Lado (Side)
  • Loco, Lokote (Crazy, Beyond Crazy)
  • Norte, Nortenos (North)
  • P/V Por Vida (For Life)
  • Puto (Whore)
  • Rata (Rat, Informant)
  • Rifa, Rifan (The Best, #1)
  • Sur, Surenos (South)
  • Trece (Thirteen)
  • Varrio (Neighborhood)
  • Vato (Gang Member)
  • 13 (Mexican Mafia- Surenos)
  • 14 (Nuestra Familia- Nortenos)
Note on terms "Barrio" and "Varrio"

Some Hispanic gangs will use these terms, most often preceding the gang name.  Both terms mean essentially the same thing, neighborhood, or, gang neighborhood.  Most gangs consistently use one or the other, although a few were observed to use both on different occasions.  Also, especially in the gang name abbreviation.
Note on terms Rifa, Rifan, Rifamos

These terms roughly translate to number one, the best, etc.  They are found following the gang name, and may be represented by the letter "R."  From what I've seen "Rifa" is not used as often as "Barrio" and "Varrio" in local graffiti.  This appears to be more commonly found in Los Angeles gang graffiti.

SUBGROUPS OR "CLIQUES"

A Hispanic street gang is usually broken down into smaller subgroups, or "cliques."  The subgroup may consist of those gang members of similar age, or of those that live in certain geographical areas.  Listed below are the most common names from cliques found in the Northwest.
  • Brown Rascals- BRS
  • Baby Winos- BWS
  • Chicos- CS, CHS
  • Cyclones- CYS
  • Diablos- DBS
  • Dukes- DKS
  • Jokers- JKS
  • Los Malos- LMS
  • Mafiosos- MFS
  • Malditos- MDS
  • Malos- MLS
  • Midgets- MS
  • Neighborhood- NHD
  • Niteowls- NLS
  • Pachucos- PCHS
  • Playboyz- PBZ
  • Peewees- PWS
  • Pequenos- PQS
  • Psycho Malditos- PM
  • Spiders- SPS
  • Tinys- TNS
  • Tokers- TKS
  • Tiny Midgets- TMS
  • Tiny Winos- TWS
  • Winos- WNS
  • Wicked Gangsters- WGS
  • 64th Street Lokotes- 64 LKS

East Side Longos 13- Toppenish, WA.

Picture
V. (Varrio) East Side Longos XIII (13) PBZ (Playboyz clique),  RIP L. Villian, "Rebal & Silent" (names of members),  NK (Norteno Killer) VLLK (Viv Los Locos Killer)

El Monte Flores 13- Des Moines, WA

Picture
V. (Varrio) El Monte Flores X3.  TMS (Tiny Midgets clique) SOxCAL (Southern California)

La Raza Nortenos 14- Yakima, WA.

Picture
La Raza X4 SK (Sureno Killer), "44 & Lil Danger" (names of members)

18th Street Gang- Walla Walla, WA

Picture
"LA Dieciocho Rifa"