This is a list of

gangs 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 ...

whose members are associated with the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...

(LASD) (typically

deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

). Press reports indicate the LASD has had a problem with gangs since at least the 1970s and now has around eighteen gangs. The department has used the term "cliques" when discussing these groups. The 1992 Kolts Commission report said these were found “particularly at stations in areas heavily populated by minorities—the so-called ‘ghetto stations'—and deputies at those stations recruit persons similar in attitude to themselves.” The first deputy gang acknowledged by the LASD was the "Little Devils" in a later-released internal memo in 1973. However, one or more deputy gangs are believed to have been involved in the death of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' reporter and law enforcement critic Ruben Salazar during the

National Chicano Moratorium March The Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee Against The Vietnam War, was a movement of Chicano anti-war activists that built a broad-based coalition of Mexican-American groups to organize opposition to the V ...

against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

on August 29, 1970. In July 2021, U.S. Representative

Maxine Waters Maxine Moore Waters (née Carr; born August 15, 1938) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, inc ...

called for a

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

investigation into allegations that a violent deputy gang known as the

Executioners An executioner is an officer of the court who carries out capital punishment sentences. Executioner may also refer to: *"The Executioner", a painting by 17th-century Spanish Tenebrist painter Jusepe de Ribera Written works * ''The Execution ...

was running the Compton station of the LASD. A report released in early 2023 revealed that at least six deputy gangs remain active.

List

* Banditos * Buffalo Soldiers (African American Deputies Clique) * Cavemen *

Compton Executioners The Compton Executioners is a deputy gang within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). In July 2021, U.S. Congressional Representative Maxine Waters called for a Department of Justice inquiry into the existence of the gang. Member ...

* Cowboys * Grim Reapers * Jump Out Boys * Little Devils * Little Red Devils *

Lynwood Vikings The Lynwood Vikings is one of the many deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, appearing to meet the legal definition of a gang when taking into account the department's repeated illegal conduct. The Lynwood Vikings faction ...

* Pirates * Posse * Rattlesnakes * Regulators * Spartans * Tasmanian Devils * The Leafs * 3000 Boys * 2000 Boys * Temple Station V-Boys * Wayside Whities

References

{{reflist Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Gangs in Los Angeles Lists of gangs Police misconduct in the United States