The Barrio Gangs of San Antonio, 1915-2015

209 Pages·2017·4.46 MB·English

by  Mike Tapia

T
Barrio Gangs is the most comprehensive academic case study of barrio group a
p
dynamics in a major Texas city to date. This work examines the century-long
i
a
evolution of urban barrio subcultures, using not just police data and public
archives, but personal interviews with former and current gang members and
other qualitative data. The study gives special attention to the gangs’ heyday,
T
from the 1940s to the 1960s, comparing their attributes to those of current
h
groups. Barrio Gangs shows that participation in street violence, drug selling,
e
and other aspects of the informal economy are adaptions to the socioeconom-
B
ic realities of the barrio. The social forces propelling the formation of barrio
a
gangs are not temporary. r
r
i
o

G
“The Barrio Gangs of San Antonio is amusing, sublime, and alive with unfor-
a
gettable vivid stories. . . . The author carries the reader into the mysterious n
g
‘fields of gangs,’ reporting their social existence with more provocation, lucid-
s
ity, wit, poetry, and wisdom than expected from covering one hundred years
o
of gang history, let alone from one scholar!”
f

S
—MARTIN GUEVARA URBINA, PhD
a
Author, with Sofia Espinoza Alvarez, of Ethnicity and Criminal Justice in
n
the Era of Mass Incarceration: A Critical Reader on the Latino Experience
A
n
“By covering a century of neighborhood-based social institutions in San An- t
o
tonio, Mike Tapia brings Chicano academic scholarship back into the pres-
n
ent. The findings merit a reconsideration of our assumptions about group and i
o
community-level processes and how they change over time.” ,

1
9
—ROBERT J. DURÁN, Department of Sociology, University of Tennessee
1
Author of Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider’s Journey 5
–
2
0
1
5
Fort Worth, Texas
www.prs.tcu.edu 1915–2015
The Barrio Gangs of San Antonio, 1915–2015

O
The Barrio Gangs
of San Antonio,
1915–2015
MIKE TAPIA
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Copyright © 2017 by Michael A. Tapia
Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data
Names: Tapia, Mike, 1974– author.
Title: The barrio gangs of San Antonio, 1915–2015 / Michael A. Tapia. Description: Fort Worth,
Texas : TCU Press, [2017]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016045089 (print) | LCCN 2016045868 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780875654331 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9780875656489 (alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780875656649
Subjects: LCSH: Mexican American gangs—Texas—San Antonio—History—20th century. |
Mexican American criminals—Texas—San Antonio—History—20th century. | San Antonio
(Tex.)—Social conditions—20th century. Classification: LCC HV6439.U7 T37 2017 (print) |
LCC HV6439.U7 (ebook) | DDC
364.106089/680764351- ‐- ‐dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045089
TCU Box 298300
Fort Worth, Texas 76129
817.257.7822
www.prs.tcu.edu
To order books: 1.800.826.8911
Text Design by Preston Thomas
Cover Design by Isabelle Burke
To Raquel and the kids.
May we continue to share in the joy of our family life.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One

Is there Such a Thing as a Criminal Class? 9
Two
Origins: Micro-locality and Community 19
Three
The Paradoxes of Barrio Gang Networks 39
Four
Social Spheres and the 1950s Barrio Subculture 63
Five
The Barrio Landscape Expands: the 1960s and 1970s 91
Six
The 1980s Prison Gangs in Ol’ San Antone 111
Seven
Modern Chicano Street Gangs: 1990s to 2015 127
Eight
Lessons from Analyzing Chicano Gang Formations over Time 151
Appendices 159
Notes 167
References 176
Index 186

Acknowledgments
T
his book would not have been possible without the assistance
of Juan “Chota” Mendoza. Juan vouched for me to his bar-
rio connections, opening the door to many rich and valuable
sources of information. He also served as my guide and adviser on the
research process throughout. I am fortunate to have crossed paths with
this man, whom many in San Antonio know as the “Barrio Historian.”
As the founder of Los Barrios Viejos organization, he was joined by the
community in annual celebrations of the lesser-known stories, characters,
and triumphs of San Anto’s West Side. Thanks Juan. May some of these
elements live on through our work together.
Other folks that greatly assisted in the three-year journey of field-
work, archive collection, organized events, impromptu gatherings and fo-
cus groups, etc., were Joe Gallegos Jr., Roy Valdez, Ralph “Philo” Lopez,
Marie “Keta” Miranda, and UTSA research assistants Lynsey “La Güera”
Tucker, Africa “La Flaca” Young, and Sendy “La Pollita” Tamayo. Thank
you all for your faithful assistance, your patience, and for your hard work.
I hope this book will always remind you of the friendships we formed
and the great times we had in the field.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank all of the vatos who
contributed their time and information to this project. I particularly
want to mention Gilbert “Hippo” Carranza, David “Blackie” Angui-
ano, Rudy Galan, Eddie Ferguson, Pablo and Robert “Los Pilinga” Lo-
pez, “Cool” John Martinez, Alejandro “Lefty” Fuentes, Gilbert Orozco,
Norberto “Congo” Soto, Erasmo Mercado, Brigido “Kike” Minjares,
Rogelio “Chicken” Garza, Juanillo “Bonne” Lozano, Manuel “El Drac-
ula” Padilla, Apolonio “Rock n Roll” Garcia, Richard “Aleman” Araujo,
Chuy Valdez, Chuy Ortegon, Esmeraldo “El Mysterio” Guerra, Pete
ix