Although Black and Brown gangs have operated in Los Angeles County since the 1920s, their cultural influence and heavy presence in the area did not start to cultivate until the 1960s & 1970s, with the emergence of the Bloods, Crips, and Sureños. With well-established gangs like White Fence and Maravilla already in the fold, the streets of Los Angeles County would soon become a warzone that affected prison life, the Los Angeles Unified School District, film/television, urban music, and mainstream fashion. In a recent interview on Prison Talk with ex-gang member turned author/podcast host Big Herc, a third-generation Maravilla gang member named Daniel Ayala spoke about some of the systematic differences between Black and Brown gangs, including disciplinary actions before explaining why Chicanos are often restricted from "aging out" of their criminal organizations, unlike their Black counterparts in L.A.
"I'm not trying to sound boastful about my ethnicity...but I think that our people are just really strict on our structure [or] what you would a routine," Ayala said. "For instance, when you're busted, discipline is always at the forefront, you're gonna get disciplined, and there's no time for leniency. Any crack in that fabric, through weather and amount of time, is going to get bigger. You gotta replace that with another thread, another person, another homie. I'm not saying that in between Blacks and Browns, Blacks are weaker than Mexicans; we both have almost the same amount of homeboys. But I think that when it comes to being structured and disciplined, I think that 'La Raza,' we discipline at the forefront where it's like 'I don't give a sh*t if you're my family member. If you need discipline, you're gonna get disciplined.' [Whereas] I've seen a lot of so-called brothers, and they'll be like, 'Ah forget about it, ya know? F*ck them.' That's just from my personal experience, I can't say that for everybody, and I'm not trying to put Blacks down in that sense...I think that it's been like, 'Ay homie, If you want to do your thing, do your thing.' But with us it's like, you can't do your thing, your expectation are always going to be up there, you know, it doesn't matter how f*cking old you are. If you sold dope...you're gonna keep selling...they're gonna think you're selling dope forever...you're involved in some part of the game....unless somebody's on their death bed maybe [you can retire] but when you're called to duty...even the older homies that I have now, they're still out there messing around..."
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Source: YouTube
