The Florencia 13, South Side Florencia 13 or Florence Gang is an American criminal street gang based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, composed mainly of Mexican-Americans. The gang is named after the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

area of

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, controlled by the

Mexican Mafia The Mexican Mafia (Spanish: ''Mafia Mexicana''), also known as ''La eMe'' (Spanish for "the M"), is a Mexican American criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia did not originate in Mexico, and is entirely a ...

. They are involved in drug smuggling, murder, assault and robbery.

History

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, DEA & ATF began targeting Florencia 13 gang members for their roles in racially motivated attacks on African-Americans. Court testimony and the judges ruling found that F13 members had targeted African-Americans based purely on race. At certain times, Florencia 13 leaders ordered killings of the East Coast Crip gang, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff

Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (born May 27, 1942) is a convicted criminal and former American law enforcement officer who served as the 30th Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California from 1998 to 2014. In 2017, he was convicted of felony obstruction of justi ...

. The conflict was triggered by the theft by East Coast Crips of a large amount of drugs from Florencia 13 members. This resulted in the

putting a “green light” out on the East Coast Crips. On January 13, 2019, two people were shot and wounded outside the

Fashion Place Mall Fashion Place is an upscale shopping mall in Murray, Utah, United States. It opened in 1972, and is currently anchored by Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, Macy's, and Dillard's. History Fashion Place was opened in 1972 including Auerbach's (later ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, t ...

, after an argument erupted between Florencia 13 and

Norteños Norteños (Spanish: meaning ''Northerners''; ''Norteñas'' for females) are the various, affiliated gangs that pay tribute to Nuestra Familia while in California state and federal correctional facilities. Norteños may refer to Northern Cali ...

members. Two male Florencia members, aged 19 and 20, were arrested for involvement in the incident. The two suspects were also charged for a shooting at a group of people at a

Taylorsville, Utah Taylorsville is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah. It is part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The population was 60,448 at the time of the 2020 census. Taylorsville was incorporated from the Taylorsville–Bennion CDP and portions of t ...

cemetery on January 6, which did not harm anyone. On October 6, 2019, four men, ages 20s to 50s, were killed and five injured at KC Tequila, a Hispanic-themed bar and restaurant in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. It was among the deadliest acts of violence in modern Kansas history. The suspects were alleged members of Florencia 13, and are facing murder and attempted murder charges.

Operation Joker’s Wild

Operation Joker's Wild investigated the gang's drug trafficking, extortion of street criminals, and racially based murders of African Americans in the area. The operation involved the Los Angeles High- Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

, the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preve ...

, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

, the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

, and the Los Angeles County Probation Department. In 2007, 102 members of Florencia 13 were listed in indictments, under the operation, leading to the biggest gang raid in American history at the time, with 96 of the 102 members taken into custody. The indictments included charges of drug trafficking, attempted murder, murder and extortion. As of 2009, 94 of the 102 had been convicted or pleaded guilty, 3 had pending trials, 2 had died and 5 were fugitives from justice. The trial further found that the gang was controlled by the

prison gang.

In Popular Culture

Between 2005 and 2014 there was a Southern California style Mexican restaurant at 185 Sullivan Street in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

named Florencia 13 after the gang.

References

External links

Southside Florencia (F13) in Florence
{{Organized crime groups in America Organizations established in the 1950s 1950s establishments in California Sureños Latino street gangs Gangs in Los Angeles Mexican-American culture in Los Angeles