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Signs & Symbols: Colors: Black bandana; SWC 13; Cartoon Cholo; 5 point star or crown; Pitchfork down; Black rosary; Long black belt; SW hand sign; Image Gallery: Southwest Cholos hand sign: Close : The Gang Threat : The Current Effort : We Need Your Help : The Threat : Its all about Bellaire! one of them says, referring to Bellaire Avenue, which is another gathering spot for Cholos. Torres is one of 22 defendants facing federal charges in the sex trafficking operation ran by the Southwest Cholos in the Gulfton section of Houston between 2009 and 2017. Blaring out of a boom box is a rap song that sounds like gunfire. Eddie Torres, 38, also known as Monterrey. Those arrested during the enforcement actions yesterday include Houston residents Giovani Alecio aka Whiteboy, 26, Victor Javiel Gonzalez, 29, Maria Angelica Moreno-Reyna aka Patty, 51, Gabriela Gonzalez-Flores aka Gabby, 46, Eddie Torres aka Monterrey 38, Jose Luis Moreno aka Lucky, 23, Gilberto Espinoza Garcia, 49, Hector Reyna aka Pantera, 26; Jimmy Mejia Chavez, 33; and Grisel Salas aka Cris, 34, of Donna; and Jose Ruben Palomo-Martinez, 48, of Mission. Or youll end up in prison. He then points to the third dot. Then what, Alex? asks Julian, one of the homeboys. In front of other complexes, the color is white. Bun B, Badu, J.J. Watt celebrate RodeoHouston Southern Takeover. Menu If I didnt get away, you wouldnt be talking to me. Regardless of the numbers, it is clear that gangs are just as responsible for Houstons soaring crime ratesthe city is on its way to recording four hundred murders in 2006, its highest number in more than a decadeas the Katrina evacuees who have received so much media attention. Alex started running, but one of the Cholos was far faster than Alex expected. A veterano with MS-13 has watched Romeo and Juliet, I say quietly. Over 90% of residents have some type of Hispanic makeup, 42.8% of residents are considered some White, 1% are Asian, and there were no recorded Blacks or African Americans. When she is not writing about dogs or animal welfare, she covers anything Houston-related, including crime, entertainment, education and politics. 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Cholos often have black ink tattoos, commonly involving Catholic imagery, or calligraphy messages or family names. Jose Luis Moreno, 23, also known as Lucky . Gang: Southwest Cholos . Nine others are also charged but not as yet in custody. The primary location was the Carriage Way Apartment Complex on Dashwood in southwest Houston, which was also home to their base of operations for drug and firearms trafficking, according to the allegations. The Cholos street gang was broken up a several years ago. Theres a tag on my head, yeah, but theres always been a tag on my head, he says when I see him. Southwest Cholos' rival is La Primera, whose color is white. Around their waists are cloth belts, the ends so long they reach down to their knees, and hanging around their necks are crosses or rosaries. If it simply wants to charge rent to existing drug dealers and prostitutes and sell protection to the nearby businesses, it can do that too. ), To the surprise of everyone at Youth Advocates, Alex had shown up at the Youth Advocates building off Interstate 45, far from the southwest neighborhood. Turtle), and when I ask him about colors, he says, If someone comes through here showing another rag, shouting, F SPPL, then it is our duty to retaliate. We are in a neighborhood that is just a ten-minute drive south of the Galleria shopping mall, one of Houstons most famous landmarks. El Bolillo, he says, I mean no disrespect, but youll never get to do any drive-bys if you keep driving like that.. Maria Angelica Moreno-Reyna, 51, also known as Patty. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open. I got the leg of one of them, then I slashed some motherfers arm. Abbott forms task force to address street takeovers following Austin incident, Suspected gunman in Galena Park triple murder-suicide show 'no red flags,' mourning relative says, Final Four March Madness Music Festival 2023 lineup released, McCombs service draws luminaries, regular folks to pay respects, 2023 Houston rodeo parade: Route, map and more for season kickoff, Watch a Clydesdale collapse during mishap at Texas rodeo, 2023 Houston rodeo: Parking map, where to park and more. Tran takes me in his squad car back to Dashwood, the street where I had done my faux drive-by with Alex. 1 of 9 The Carriage Way apartment complex, photographed one week after an FBI takedown, was home to a sex trafficking operation by the Southwest Cholos in the Gulfport section of Houston between . She said she learned most gang members are "home grown" and not foreign nationals or illegal immigrants. FUCK ME NOW. Self-admission by a gang member is not sufficient to include their name in the database, Brown said. Miguel looks me in the eye and says, Shoot them, stab them, f them up. The graffiti is like modern-day hieroglyphics, a highly stylized series of letters and numbers. (Among the signs he displays is one that shows the Cholos being shot down and rubbed out, which is almost guaranteed to provoke a brawl.) Members of Southwest Cholos, for example, sport black bandannas and black belts. Most of his stories, however, are about battles with rival Cholos who, in some way, have shown disrespect (one of Alexs favorite words). I assume that they have turned silent because they realize that a member of the feared Mara Salvatrucha, showing his blue, has arrived. Another Cholo raced up and began kicking him in the ribs. An official website of the United States government. A Houston man believed to be affiliated with the Southwest Cholos pleaded guilty Tuesday to running security operations at several brothels in . george kovach cilka. A surveillance photo has been released of a vehicle seen fleeing the scene of a deadly shooting in a food truck parking lot in north Houston on Sunday night. The indictment also alleges several counts of heroin and methamphetamine trafficking and the selling of numerous stolen firearms. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Before a federal magistrate in a downtown Houston courtroom, Eddie Alejandro Torres, 40, admitted to conspiring to force, coerce or trick women into sex trafficking for his family's illicit business. Tattooed on his stomach is part of the flag of El Salvador, and on his back is a three-inch-high MS-13: the M just below his left shoulder, the S just below his right shoulder, and the 13 in the middle. At the age of thirteen, he says, he stole several cars from the parking lot of the Bellaire Square apartments (a Cholos hangout) and sold them. Im not lying to you. I want Alex to tell us he kept his head down, refusing to take the bait. The following nine other peoplewere charged but are not yet in custody: Reyna, William Alberto Lopez,Anadalit Duarte and Walter Lopez are Houston residents believed to be in Mexico. The names of their pimps were tattooed on their bodies and their families were threatened with violence if they tried to flee, which several women did, only to be hauled back by the gangs enforcers. He also says he is sometimes used as the driver in the gangs drive-bys because I know all the shortcuts and how to disappear down the back alleys., In fact, directly below the MS-13 tattoo on his back is another tattoo that reads El Ratathe Rat. For me, MS was the most important thing in my life. Critics call it a waste. This will do for a drive-by., For a second, Im not sure what to say. Paleteros pedal their bicycles through the parking lots, past rusting cars, selling such treats as popsicles and spicy cucumbers out of the metal boxes tied to their handlebars. And if you see someone wearing another rag? I ask. A Houston man believed to be affiliated with the Southwest Cholos pleaded guilty Tuesday to running security operations at several brothels in Houston's Gulfton neighborhood as part of a family-run, international sex trafficking ring. He apparently became an outstanding boxer (boxer is slang for street fighter)so much so, he says, that he was sent off to a juvenile detention facility at the age of eight because some boy from another apartment complex had shouted, F you, you El Salvadoran chicken, and Alex had gone after him with a metal rod. Source: Los Angeles Police Dept. The owners had planted crape myrtles by the front gates and offered free VCRs to renters who signed year-long leases. A Texas grand jury indicted 22 alleged members of the Southwest Cholos Their jewelry is a black rosary. To further complicate matters, each gang is made up of cliques that basically operate as independent gangs and are usually divided up by streets, parts of streets, entire apartment complexes, or parts of apartment complexes. With black bandannas in their back pockets, they are, to borrow a gangbangers phrase, showing the black rag.. Its rivals, Tango Blast, as well as law enforcement . Critics call it a waste. Dozens of sprawling apartment complexes, some of them a block long, had been built here, one right beside the other, to accommodate the horde of young, single white adults who were then coming to the city to begin their careers. Everybody knows everybody in the hood.. All of the defendants are indicted in the criminal scheme as alleged members or affiliates of the Southwest Cholos. Eddie Alejandro "Monterrey" Torres, second from right, walks into federal court Friday, Nov. 17, 2017, in Houston. southwest cholos rivals According to Alex, his parents marriage was stormy, and he often found himself alone, a barrio latchkey kid. FBI agents say brought undocumented womenincluding a 14-year-old girl--across the border and forced them to work as prostitutes. It provided them everything they could not find anywhere else., IN MANY WAYS, Alex is the classic gangbanger case study. Is Whataburger healthy? When I met her, it was a whole different story for me. Lock (There used to be other groups who did the same thing, but they now have trouble getting funded. One day, the mother and daughter disappeared. That in turn forces the other gang to respond with its own drive-by. Maybe, El Bolillo, well get lucky and see some bullets.. And here is one place where an option is presented to them of a life thats differenta life of pizza and listening to music and not having to think about drive-bys.. He pushed Alex to the ground. In some other areas, that is not so. Moreno-Reyna is one of 22 defendants facing federal charges in the sex trafficking operation ran by the Southwest Cholos in the Gulfton section of Houston between 2009 and 2017. I ask him if its true that someone shot at him the previous week. I had someone always watching my back. Many large cities have an MS-13 gang. If the police get information on tattoos, colors, and similar intelligence from the public about suspected gang members, that information is put into the database and helps identify a suspect when a gang member commits a crime, Brown said. If those Cholos had a gun on them, they might have fired at your car, Tran says. For one longtime member, each day comes down to two simple questions: Will I have to kill? Photographed Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, in Houston. Alex, who knew nothing about the ill-fated love affair, says he went to a video store and rented three different versions of the movie. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Gulfton neighborhood as part of a family-run, international sex trafficking ring. P.S.W most wanted ALEXIS continued list of Sureo gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia. Anyone with information about Sifuentes and Dominguez is asked to contact the FBI Houston field office by phone at 713-693-5000. In the sex trafficking scheme, illegal aliens were allegedly promised they could work in a restaurant to pay off their smuggling debts. Southwest Cholos; Texas Mexican Mafia (Mexikanemi) Texas Syndicate; Treetop Bloods/Hilltop Bloods; West Tango; How to identify a gang problem. The young, tattooed men who are members of the Southwest Cholos, La Primera, La Tercera Crips, Somos Pocos Pero Locos, Mara Salvatrucha, and other Houston gangs are vicious career criminals who . The international scheme relied on young girls who were lured from Mexico to Texas with the false promise of restaurant jobs in Houston. Houston, TX 77002, Houston: 713-567-9000 And thats where a gang came in. The indictment also alleges several counts of heroin and methamphetamine trafficking and the selling of numerous stolen firearms. DeTorres said often parents have no idea that their son or daughter is a gang member. Montes faces 12 additional charges involving sex trafficking by force, threats, coercion, transporting people for the sex trade, enticing people to cross borders and state lines to work as prostitutes, importing undocumented immigrants for immoral purposes, possession with intent to distribute heroin and methamphetamine.