Mexican Mafia

The Mexican Mafia is a prison gang, being the first such gang to establish extralegal governance over prison inmates as well as criminal street gangs conducting gang-related criminal operations outside prison walls. It achieved this power and control by offering protection services to incarcerated gang members in return for payment of taxes (percentages of criminal profits) and extralegal jurisdiction over the allied street gangs. This umbrella of protection was first offered for incarcerated gang members but was later extended to include protection services for the allied gang itself, including protection for any allied gang member, regardless of whether the gang member was inside or outside prison walls. Any failure to pay taxes or follow Mexican Mafia orders results in issuance of a green light to ...