Sons of Samoa is a

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...

-affiliated

street gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

based in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

, California, United States. Its membership mainly consists of Samoan Americans with other Pacific island members.

History

The Sons of Samoa gang is a faction of the

gang based in west Long Beach, California. In 1985, the Sons of Samoa gang had about 200 members scattered throughout Long Beach, many of whom were Samoan immigrants or first-generation Samoans. In the late 1980s, it was the focus of a Long Beach Police Department sweep after gang members had attacked two police officers. Around the same time, they were in a gang war with a gang from Garden Grove. In 2015, an investigation led to new charges and the arrest of a Sons of Samoa member for a murder in 1996. Three SOS members were arrested on March 16, 2021, for the February 9 fatal shooting of a man during late hours on the street near a church in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. The victim was not known to have had any connection with the suspects.

Activities

In the 1980s, the Sons of Samoa were heavily involved with the sale and use of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

and PCP, as well as robbery, burglary, and extortion. In the 1990s, the Suicidals subset of the Sons of Samoa sold drugs in alleyways. A 2011 report from the FBI listed Alaska, California, Missouri, Utah, and Washington as states where the Sons of Samoa operated.

References

{{Organized crime groups in America Organizations established in 1976 1976 establishments in California Crips subgroups Pacific Islands-American gangs Samoan American Gangs in Los Angeles