History of the Norteños

History

In the late 1960s, Mexican-American (Chicano) inmates of the California state prison system began to separate into two rival groups, Norteños (northerners) and Sureños (southerners), according to the locations of their hometowns (the north-south dividing line is near Bakersfield, California. Part of the motivation for the split was the desire of the Norteños to be independent of "La Eme," a.k.a. the Mexican Mafia, who had increasingly been referring to them as "lame farmers" due to the land from which many of them had originated.

As with many other gangs, Norteños have been involved in trafficking of drugs and contraband, and armed conflict with other gangs and with police. According to police investigators, a requirement for full membership in Nuestra Familia is committing at least one murder for the gang. Federal law enforcement agencies, long unable to infiltrate the group, began to step up their investigations in the late 1990s. In 2000 and 2001, 22 members were indicted on racketeering charges, including several who were allegedly serving as high-ranking gang leaders while confined in Pelican Bay. Thirteen of the defendants pleaded guilty; the other cases are still ongoing. Two of the defendants face the death penalty for ordering murders related to the drug trade. The largest of the federal investigations was Operation Black Widow.

In the 1980s, a faction of Norteños from the city of Fresno began to distance themselves from Nuestra Familia, allegedly for a lack of respect, and temporarily received protection from Sureños behind bars. Their final break from Norteño affiliation occurred when members of Nuestra Familia from San Jose were killed by Fresno Norteño drop-outs behind prison walls. Today, many gang members from Fresno and the surrounding area have labeled themselves as the "Fresno Bulldog Nation" (also Bulldogs or F14), and are primarily at war with Norteños. The term "Bulldog" was adopted from the Fresno State University mascot. They also refer to their area of California as "Centro" rather than "Norte" or "Sur".

Most modern Norteño gangs uphold a pact of unity between themselves and follow a strict set of rules. This contrasts with Sureños in Southern California who regularly engage in inter-gang violence and decades-old rivalries because Norteños are not a factor. The unity shown among Norteños is one of several traits that have led to their being labeled as one of the most organized gangs behind bars.

Symbols and culture

Norteño emblems and clothing are based on the color red. A typical Norteño outfit might include a red belt, red shoes, and red shoelaces. They may favor long hair "Indian" style, or sometimes shaved on the side with a Mongol top-knot in back. They will also favor sports team apparel that shows their affiliation through symbolism such as; the University of Nebraska (red with a capital "N"), UNLV (Us Nortenos Love Violence), K-Swiss (Kill Scraps When I See Scraps), and San Francisco 49ers (Red and Gold with a number 4).

Norteños may refer to each other by using the term "Ene", Spanish for the letter "N". This follows the tradition of Sureno's using the term "Ese". Norteños use the number 14 in tattoos and graffiti because "N" is the fourteenth letter of the alphabet. It is sometimes written as "X4", or in Roman numerals as "XIV". A Norteño may sometimes tattoo four dots on themselves to represent "4"; this is a response to a Sureño tradition of tattooing three dots. A Norteño derogatorily refers to a Sureño as a "Scrap", while a Sureño will likewise refer to a Norteño as a "Buster".

Norteños also lay claim to images of the Mexican-American labor movement, such as the sombrero, machete, and "Huelga bird", symbols of the United Farm Workers. At the same time that Norteños were first organizing in prisons and calling for liberation from the Mexican Mafia, the UFW and its leader César Chávez were folk heroes and symbols of liberation to many Chicano youths, including several Northern California gang members who had met Chávez when he was imprisoned for his union work. Chavez never actually endorsed the group, as he was a peaceful individual, but he did bring attention to the Northern Chicano presence by attracting the media to some of the most fertile farmland in the nation; California's Central Valley.

Originally Norteños claimed traditional images of Chicano youth culture such as lowrider cars and "cholo" imagery; the predominant styles emulated by Southern Chicanos. But recently many young Norteños have desired a style of their own, and have begun to adopt street slang that lies somewhere between African-American Hip-Hop and Chicano Caló terminology. This may be attributed to the fact that Southern California is geographically closer to Mexico, so Sureño culture is typically more closely tied to Mexican tradition. Norteños are often more Americanized and sometimes not even Latino, so they may not speak Spanish fluently, or even at all.