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{{short description|White supremacist gang}}
{{short description|White Supremacist Gang}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Nazi Lowriders
| name = Nazi Lowriders
| image = File:Nazi_Lowriders_logo.gif
| image = File:Nazi_Lowriders_logo.gif
| image_size = <!--(defaults to 220px)-->
| image_size = <!--(defaults to 220px)-->
| caption = Emblem of the Nazi Lowriders, based on the ''[[Reichsadler]]'' symbol
| caption = Emblem of the Nazi Lowriders, based on the ''[[Reichsadler]]'' symbol
| founded = Late 1960s
| founded = 1970s<ref name="adl">[https://www.adl.org/resources/profile/nazi-low-riders Nazi Low Riders] [[Anti-Defamation League]] (January 1, 2005) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014125138/https://www.adl.org/resources/profiles/nazi-low-riders |date=October 14, 2020 }}</ref>
| founder = <!--or | founders = -->
| founder = <!--or | founders = -->
| named_after =
| named_after = Acquired From Cripp Wars
| founding_location = [[Preston Youth Correctional Facility]], California, United States<ref name="adl"/>
| founding_location = Southern California, United States
| years_active = 1970s–present
| years_active = 1960s – Present-Day
| territory = Primarily [[Southern California]], with a smaller presence in numerous other U.S. states<ref name=adl/>
| territory = Primarily [[Southern California]]
| ethnicity = [[White Americans|White American]]
| ethnicity = [[White Americans|White American]]<ref name="cicad.oas.org">{{citation|work=Narcotics Digest Weekly|volume=4|issue=40|date=2005-10-04|publisher=National Drug Intelligence Center|title=Special Issue: Gangs in the United States|url=http://www.cicad.oas.org/Crimen_Organizado/ESP/Actualidad/Pandillas%20en%20USA.pdf|access-date=2009-11-14|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524220015/http://www.cicad.oas.org/Crimen_Organizado/ESP/Actualidad/Pandillas%20en%20USA.pdf|archive-date=2006-05-24}}</ref>
| membership_est = 1,000
| membership_est = 1,000<ref name="1,000 members">[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/nazi-low-riders-boast-over-1000-members-most-prison Nazi Low Riders boast over 1,000 members, most in prison] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422235619/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/nazi-low-riders-boast-over-1000-members-most-prison |date=2021-04-22 }} Camille Jackson, [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (July 20, 2004)</ref>
| leaders =
| activities = Drug trafficking, extortion, armed robbery, assault, murder, identity fraud, money laundering<ref name="adl"/><ref name="cicad.oas.org" />
| allies = <!-- Any and all additions to this section require a reliable source. --> {{plainlist|
* [[Aryan Brotherhood]]<ref name=adl />
* [[Hells Angels Motorcycle Club|Hells Angels MC]]<ref name="White Power Gangs">[https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=173356 White Power Gangs: The NLR (Nazi Low Riders) Story] B. Belt and G. Doyle, [[National Criminal Justice Reference Service]] (March 1998) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131193458/https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/white-power-gangs-nlr-nazi-low-riders-story |date=January 31, 2022 }}</ref>
* [[Mexican Mafia]]<ref name="drug">{{Cite news|last=Rosenzweig|first=David|date=August 3, 2000|title=Federal Prosecutors Target Prison Gang in Drug Crackdown|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-03-me-63712-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306162913/http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/03/local/me-63712|archive-date=March 6, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Mongols Motorcycle Club|Mongols MC]]<ref name="Bigots on Bikes">[https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/ADL_CR_Bigots_on_Bikes_online.pdf Bigots on Bikes: The Growing Links between White Supremacists and Biker Gangs] [[Anti-Defamation League]] (September 2011) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112104927/https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/ADL_CR_Bigots_on_Bikes_online.pdf |date=November 12, 2019 }}</ref>
* [[Public Enemy No. 1 (street gang)|Public Enemy No. 1]]<ref name=adl />
* [[Sureños]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=McCleskey|first1=O'Neill, Claire|title=The allies sureños have are "Skinheads" or "Nazis"|url=http://www.answers.com/news-briefs/sureños-allied-with-nazi-lowriders|publisher=InSight Crime|date=November 29, 2012|access-date=June 15, 2022|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523024659/http://www.answers.com/news-briefs/sure%C3%B1os-allied-with-nazi-lowriders/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Vagos Motorcycle Club|Vagos MC]]<ref name="Bigots on Bikes"/>
}}
}}
| rivals = <!-- Any and all additions to this section require a reliable source. -->
| notable_members =
}}
The '''Nazi Lowriders''', also known as '''NLR''' or '''the Ride''', are a [[neo-Nazi]], [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] [[organized crime]] syndicate, and [[prison gang|prison]] and [[street gang]] in the United States. Primarily based in [[Southern California]],<ref name="adl"/> the gang is allied with the larger [[Aryan Brotherhood]] and [[Mexican Mafia]] gangs,<ref name=drug /> and fellow [[peckerwood]] gang [[Public Enemy No. 1 (street gang)|Public Enemy No. 1]].<ref name=drug /> The Nazi Lowriders operate both in and outside of prison.<ref name="1,000 members"/>


Nazi Lowriders are a [[criminal syndicate]] and a Lowrider Car Club that is based in [[Southern California]] and are active in [[Southern California]].
== History ==
Nazi Lowriders are also known collectively as '''The NLR''' and are also collectively known as '''The Ride''' of Nazi Lowriders.
The Nazi Lowriders originated as a [[skinhead]] gang in the [[California Youth Authority]] during the early-to-mid 1970s, and later established itself as a gang for young [[White Americans|white]] inmates.<ref name="adl"/> It was created by members of the [[Aryan Brotherhood]] (AB), the leading white gang in the [[Prisons in California|California prison system]].<ref name="splc">{{cite magazine|last=Jackson|first=Carmille|date=July 20, 2004|title=Nazi Low Riders Boast Over 1,000 Members, Most in Prison|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/nazi-low-riders-boast-over-1000-members-most-prison|url-status=live|magazine=[[Intelligence Report]]|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|issue=114|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110328073348/http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2004/summer/nazi-low-riders|archive-date=March 28, 2011|access-date=May 26, 2017}}</ref> In the late 1970s or early 1980s, Aryan Brotherhood leader John Stinson began recruiting skinheads incarcerated in the California Youth Authority at the [[Preston Youth Correctional Facility]] in [[Ione, California|Ione]], and at the Youth Training School in [[Chino, California|Chino]], to act as middlemen in the AB's criminal operations.<ref name="adl"/>

====Origins====
Nazi Lowriders were formed in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] and in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] in the late 1960s as a gang of members who owned [[Chevy]] [[Lowrider]] vehicles with origins in the Southern California [[Lowrider]] [[Car Culture]]. The name of the gang was originally a play on words as the gang fought enemy Hispanic Lowrider gangs and overcame rival Hispanic Lowrider gangs in Southern California. [[Non-Hispanic White]] street gangs did not actually exist in Southern California during the arrival of Non-Hispanic Whites from the 1920s to the 1960s. Nazi Lowriders formed their own Prison Gang in Southern California in the late 1970s and they later formed a small alliance with a few Aryan Brotherhood members of Southern California. The Nazi Lowrider [[Car Club]] and the Nazi Lowrider [[Prison Gang]] are the same thing and these entities were not founded by [[John Stinson]] or by the [[Aryan Brotherhood]]. The Nazi Lowriders were formed as a Hispanic Car Club of Southern California in the late 1960s.

===Origins In The Southern California Hispanic Lowrider Car Culture===
The phrase Nazi Lowrider is a phrase that was coined by the founder of this Car Club as members went to war with Cripps which is a word that is usually shortened to [[Crips]] and is a [[gang]] that is primarily based in Southern California as well as their counterpart gangs that are known as the [[Bloods]] all throughout the 1970s and the 1980s and later the Cripp owned Car Club collectively known as the Druids Car Club all throughout the 1990s. Many of the original Cripps were part Hispanic and or mixed with [[Hispanic]] and [[African]] heritage whereas the members of the Nazi Lowriders were more racially pure, hence the phrase: Nazi Lowrider. The Cripps later formed more alliances with the Latin-American community. The word [[Latino]] and [[Latina]] refer to people with Latin-American heritage. Latin-American countries are all of the countries that are south of the country of [[México]]. While [[Mexicans]] can be considered [[Hispanic]] because they speak a dialect of the language of [[Spanish]] not all [[Mexican]] [[Citizens]] or [[Mexican]] [[Nationals]] have origins from the country of [[México]] and many Mexicans have both [[American]] [[Indigenous]] and [[Spanish]] ( From [[Spain]] ) heritage.

===Unique Contributions To The Lowrider Car Culture of Southern California===
Nazi Lowriders contributed significant advancements to the Lowrider Car Culture of Southern California most notably the extended hydraulic suspension engineering schemes and Nazi Lowrider lowriders that were seen
between the 1980s and the 1990s were extremely unique.


===Membership Requirements===
The gang did not come to the attention of law enforcement until the early 1990s, by which time authorities in the [[California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation]] had begun suppressing the Aryan Brotherhood's activities.<ref name="adl"/> The Nazi Lowriders' position as middlemen for the Aryan Brotherhood, along with the crackdown on the AB, allowed the gang to supplant the Brotherhood as the most prominent white prison gang in California.<ref name="12 Inmates Accused">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-feb-15-me-nazi15-story.html 12 Inmates Accused of Racketeering] David Rosenzweig, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' (February 15, 2002) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807205333/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-feb-15-me-nazi15-story.html |date=August 7, 2023 }}</ref> While maintaining its presence in the prison system, the Nazi Lowriders also became a street gang, firstly in [[Southern California]], and later in [[Central California]] and [[Northern California]], during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Due to gang's rapid expansion, links with other [[white power]] gangs, and highly-organized operations, the Nazi Lowriders established themselves as a significant crime group on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]].<ref name="adl"/>
The original Nazi Lowriders required members to prove specific and [[rare]] [[Hispanic]] [[ancestral]] [[heritage]], but no [[Latin American]] heritage and no [[Negroid]] heritage. People with any [[Latin-American]] heritage were not allowed membership in the Nazi Lowrider Car Club or the Nazi Lowrider Prison Gang. Nazi Lowriders also required members to own a specific [[Chevy]] [[Vehicle]] with or without [[hydraulics]]. Lowrider Chevy vehicles were required in order to beat all of the street-level gangs without vehicles as well as beat all of the rival Lowrider gangs. Members were also required to own a hand-gun so that member could engage in drive by shootings on their enemies from the lowrider vehicle. Hydraulics were later necessary in order to beat all of the enemies that hid in motels and hotels in Southern California as well as to tactically defend against gun fire from enemy gangs. Chevy vehicles that were manufactured between the 1960s to the late 1970s had extremely tough and high quality metals where [[.22]] [[caliber]] and [[.40]] caliber rounds could not penetrate through the metal.


===Memorializatons===
As opposed to other white criminal gangs in California prisons, the NLR gained a reputation for being very violent. They are labeled as a [[prison gang]] by the [[California Department of Corrections]]. They are strong in numbers in such California communities as [[Oildale, California|Oildale]], [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]], [[Lancaster, California|Lancaster]], [[Inland Empire (California)|Inland Empire]], Rosamond and [[Orange County, California|Orange County]]. The "Nazi" part of their name is more a sign of a racist belief in white supremacy than [[anti-Semitism]], while "Lowriders" is a play on the term used for Hispanic gangs.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
All dead members of the Nazi Lowriders are remembered every year.


===Gentrification===
The gang eventually progressed from being muscle for the Aryan Brotherhood to a fast-growing gang in their own right. Unlike other white supremacist gangs in the US, they appear to be well organized and have developed links with other white organizations throughout the West Coast, including the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and [[Hells Angels]]. Paroled gang members have been known to move east to further spread the organization's reach.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Nazi Lowriders assisted in the [[Gentrification]] of [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] as well as of [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]].


===Differences In Hispanic Groups===
On January 28, 1999, California prison officials recognized the Lowriders as a prison gang. Consequently, in an attempt to disrupt the gang's criminal activities, inmates known to be members can now be subjected to removal from the general population, as well as other restrictive treatments. To this, the Lowriders have responded by striking an alliance with [[Public Enemy No. 1 (street gang)|Public Enemy No. 1]], another white disruptive group, which has since taken over the reins on California's white mainline prison population. Where [[Aryan Brotherhood]] and NLR have left off, PENI or Public Enemy No. 1 (Pronounced 'PEE NYE') plan to continue the 'key holding'.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
* The word [[Hispanic]] refer to all of the people with provable heritage from the world of [[Hispania]].
* The word [[Hispania]] refer to the world of [[Spanish]] speakers worldwide.
* The word [[España]] refer to the country of [[Spain]] where the language of [[Spanish]] come from.
* The phrase [[Latin American]] refers to people with provable heritage from Latin American countries which are all of the countries below [[México]].
* The words [[Californianos]] and [[Californianas]] refer to people with provable multi-generational heritage from [[California]] during the Spanish Occupation of California.
* The words [[Chicano]] and [[Chicana]] refers to people with that specific Mexican-Hispanic ethnic identity.
* The words [[Tejano]] and [[Tejana]] refers to people with provable heritage from the areas known as Texas before it was declared the U.S. State of [[Texas]].
* The words [[Tijuanos]] and [[Tijuanas]] refers to people with provable heritage from the areas known as Tijuana in present-day México.
* The words [[Méxicano]] and [[Méxicana]] refers to people with provable heritage from the country of México who are first generation Americans of the continental United States.
* The words [[Americano]] and [[Americana]] refers to people with provable heritage from any American Country being the entire American Continent.
* The phrase [[White Hispanic]] refer to people with provable heritage from the country of [[Spain]] where the language of Spanish comes from.
* The phrase [[Hispanic White]] refer to people with provable heritage of American [[Indigenous]] origins and possibly with White Hispanic origins who appear Non-Hispanic White.
* The phrase [[Non-Hispanic White]] refer to people with provable heritage from [[Western-Europe]] who have no heritage from [[Spain]] and who also have no heritage from Eastern-Europe.
* The phrase [[Non-Latino White]] refer to people with provable heritage from [[Western-Europe]] who also have no heritage from any Latin-American country.
* The word [[Mestizo]] refer to people with provable mixed heritage of [[American Indigenous]] of the areas of what is now known as México and [[Negroid]].
* The word [[Pustizo]] refer to people with provable heritage of [[American Indigenous]] of the areas of what is now known as México with no [[Negroid]].
* The word [[Mulatto]] refer to people with provable heritage of mixed [[Non-Hispanic White European]] and or [[Hispanic White European]] and African / Negroid ancestry.
* The word [[Cholo]] and [[Chola]] refer to people with provable [[Hispanic]] and [[American Indigenous]] heritage.
* The word [[Cholito]] and [[Cholita]] refer to young people with provable [[Hispanic]] and [[American Indigenous]] heritage.


====Street Wars====
== Organization and membership ==
Nazi Lowriders have been seen in numerous street battles throughout Southern California noticed from the 1970s and onward.
In prison, the Nazi Lowriders have a three-tier hierarchy system consisting of senior members, junior members, and kids. The seniors typically lead the gang. For senior status, gang members must have been active for at least five years and been elected by at least three other senior members. Below them are juniors, who cannot themselves induct new members but can attempt to recruit potentials. Kids usually come from gangs like Public Enemy No.1, and the senior member who inducts them becomes their mentor. On the streets, the organization structure is not so clear, and appears to be more loosely connected.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}


===Years Noticed===
Nazi Lowriders members are typically aged in their teens and early 20s.<ref name="adl"/>
* [ ~ 1980 - 2005 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Cripps - Ended In Truces With Different Cripp Groups In Southern California
* [ ~ 1980 - Present-Day ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Bloods - War Ongoing
* [ ~ 1980 - ? ] Nazi Lowriders Verus Surenos of Southern California - Ended In Truce And Alliance
* [ ~ 1980 - ? ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Northern Sinaloa Cartel of Southern California - Ended In Truce
* [ ~ 1997 - 2002 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Tijuana Mexican Cartel - Ended In Truce
* [ ~ 2005 - 2016 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus U.S. Marines - Unknown


===Nazi Lowriders Versus Cripps===
Gang members may have [[tattoos]] and other body art depicting [[swastikas]] and SS [[sigrune]]s, although members are not necessarily required to bear them. A tattoo of the letters NLR (the acronym for "Nazi Lowriders") commonly appears on members' stomachs, backs or necks. Other popular tattoos include "Nazi Low Riders" written in Old English script or the [[runic alphabet]]. The logo of the NLR is a skeletal eagle holding a Nazi swastika, with the letters of the group based on the [[Reichsadler]] symbol.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Nazi Lowriders are known to have gone to war with the Cripps of Kern County and of Los Angeles County throughout the 1980s. The son of the founder of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was taken away by [[Officers]] of the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] as a baby in Downtown Los Angeles, Southern California in ~1988 after Cripps gang members fired several rounds into his father's lowrider vehicle in Downtown Los Angeles, Southern California. Gunfire was returned and law enforcement and the local news station responded to the incident.


===Nazi Lowriders Versus Sinaloa Cartel===
According to the [[Southern Poverty Law Center|SPLC]], "Despite the NLR's avowed racism, Latino last names and Latino wives and girlfriends are OK, but, experts say, members are supposed to be at least half Caucasian.".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/nazi-low-riders-boast-over-1000-members-most-prison | title=Nazi Low Riders Boast over 1,000 Members, Most in Prison | newspaper=Southern Poverty Law Center | access-date=2020-11-28 | archive-date=2021-04-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422235619/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/nazi-low-riders-boast-over-1000-members-most-prison | url-status=live }}</ref> In fact, much of the NLR's upper echelon is composed of Hispanics.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} Due to their extreme underground ties with other hardcore, racial organizations (such as [[Combat 18]] or [[Blood and Honour]]), experts say, "you must be at least half white blood but no black blood", meaning accepted Latino members must be only of [[Spain|Spanish]] descent, or be at least half Caucasian. All must show loyalty to the white race and subscribe to an ideology of hatred, especially against blacks and "race traitors".{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}
Nazi Lowriders are known to have been in several shootouts with the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] in and around [[South Gate]] in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]].


===Nazi Lowriders Versus Norteños===
The gang took its name from the phrase "[[lowrider]]", which is associated with [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]] gangs, as an "act of [[one-upmanship]]".<ref name="adl"/>
Nazi Lowriders were known to have battled [[Norteños]] in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]].


===Nazi Lowriders Versus Tijuana Mexican Cartel===
Methamphetamine abuse is common among members of the group.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Finnegan|first=William|date=November 24, 1997|title=The Unwanted|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/12/01/the-unwanted|url-status=live|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|issue=December 1, 1997|page=60|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327232008/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/12/01/the-unwanted|archive-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref><ref name="police">{{Cite magazine|last=Valdemar|first=Richard|date=February 1, 2008|title=The Rise and Fall of the Nazi Low Riders|url=https://www.policemag.com/373085/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-nazi-low-riders|url-status=live|magazine=Police: The Magazine for Cops|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910151526/http://www.policemag.com/blog/gangs/story/2008/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-nazi-low-riders.aspx|archive-date=September 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name="adl"/><ref>Morales, Gabe (ndg) [http://www.criminaljusticesolutionsllc.com/nazi-lowriders.html "Gang Profiles: Nazi Lowriders"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829162203/http://www.criminaljusticesolutionsllc.com/nazi-lowriders.html |date=2017-08-29 }} Criminal Justice Solutions, LLC</ref>
Nazi Lowriders were allied with the Sureños of Kern County in Southern California when they battled the Tijuana Mexican Cartel in the late 1990s.


==Spark of The Wars Between The Nazi Lowriders and The Tijuana Mexican Cartel==
=== Ideology ===
The son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was drugged and molested repeatedly by a hispanic female member of the Cripps who also had membership in the Tijuana Mexican Cartel who targeted the Nazi Lowriders in 1997. This started a war between the Nazi Lowriders and the Tijuana Cartel where that son was ordered to stab a Tijuana Cartel Plaza Boss who lived on the border of San Diego, Southern California and Tijuana, México and facilitated
While the Nazi Lowriders are primarily an [[organized crime]] entity, the gang's [[white power]] ideology is central to its identity. According to the [[Anti-Defamation League]], the gang "champions its whiteness especially when recruiting members from skinhead gangs and among new inmates, but it is primarily driven by criminal profit". The NLR's racist ideology has been the motivation for numerous violent crimes carried out by the gang.<ref name="adl"/>
drugs and humans across the border of México and the United States. The Nazi Lowriders traveled to San Diego, Southern California and confronted that Tijuana Mexican Cartel Plaza Boss and the child that was molested stabbed that Tijuana Cartel Plaza Boss. This small war between the Nazi Lowriders and the Tijuana Cartel ended in a truce in ~ 2002. The son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was taken away from his family and placed in Child Protective Custody.


===Nazi Lowriders Versus U.S. Marines===
=== Presence ===
In 2005 the [[U.S. Marines]] attempted a covert infiltration of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club by using the identity of the son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club.
The Nazi Lowriders are active primarily in [[Southern California]], with a smaller presence in other U.S. states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and New Mexico. The gang's presence spread outside of California after members moved to other states in order to expand the NLR's criminal operations after being paroled from prison. The Nazi Lowriders first came to the attention of authorities as a street gang in [[Costa Mesa, California]], and subsequently spread throughout Southern California, and later in [[Central California]] and [[Northern California]].<ref name="adl"/> In Southern California, the gang is based in the [[Antelope Valley]] and in [[Orange County, California|Orange County]].<ref name="Man Pleads Guilty">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-11-me-12071-story.html Man, 18, Pleads Guilty to Skinhead Attacks on Blacks] David Rosenzweig, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' (August 11, 1998) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722191922/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-11-me-12071-story.html |date=July 22, 2023 }}</ref>


===Banishment of Lowrider Vehicles===
The Nazi Lowriders had 28 confirmed members in 1996, but by 2000, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) estimated that the gang had 1,500 members in the California prison system and 400 in [[San Bernardino, California]]. In 1999, authorities identified 100 members of the gang in Nevada.<ref name="adl"/>
In the 1990s and the 2000s [[Kern County]] as well as different cities in [[Los Angeles County]] banned Lowrider Racing Vehicles with [[hydraulics]] because the lowrider gangs could easily beat all of the [[Law Enforcement]] and the [[Military]] everywhere in California by using those engineered lowrider vehicles. Law Enforcement could not keep up with the speed of the vehicles and no one could hide from the manuverability of those vehicles. Nazi Lowriders
were known to have exteneded suspension hydraulics that could not be mimmicked by other lowrider gangs where the entire vehicle could be raised sometimes up to 30 feet in the air.


====Current and Former Alliances====
== Criminal activity ==
* Specific [[Sureños]] and [[Sureñas]] of California
The organization is involved in criminal activity both in and out of prison, notably in the production and distribution of [[methamphetamine]], and has become a distributor of the drug in Southern California.<ref name=splc /><ref name=adl /><ref name=police /><ref name="drug"/> The Nazi Lowiders also have connections with [[motorcycle gang]]s, including the [[Hells Angels Motorcycle Club|Hells Angels]],<ref name="White Power Gangs"/> the [[Mongols Motorcycle Club|Mongols]],<ref name="Bigots on Bikes"/> and the [[Vagos Motorcycle Club|Vagos]].<ref name="Bigots on Bikes"/>
* Specific [[Vagos]] and [[Vagas]] Motorcycle Clubs of California
* Specific [[Chicanos]] and [[Chicanas]] Car Clubs of California


====Current and Former Rivals====
This gang is responsible for dozens of assaults, attempted murders, and murders around Southern California and is considered an extremely dangerous and violent gang.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hayes|first=Dade|date=October 28, 1997|title=Man Pleads Guilty to Racial Assaults|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-28-me-47529-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801025157/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/oct/28/local/me-47529|archive-date=August 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Rosenzweig|first=David|date=June 8, 1999|title=Skinhead Gang Member Sentenced in Hate Crimes|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-08-me-45225-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311221839/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/08/local/me-45225|archive-date=March 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Larrubia|first=Evelyn|date=October 29, 1997|title=Supremacists Charged With Racial Murder|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-29-mn-47894-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714043845/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/oct/29/news/mn-47894|archive-date=July 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Valdez|first=A.|date=March 1999|title=Nazi Low Riders|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=177437|magazine=Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine|type=abstract|volume=23|issue=3|pages=46–48|id=NCJ Number 177437|via=the [[National Criminal Justice Reference Service]]|access-date=2017-08-29|archive-date=2017-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829163748/https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=177437|url-status=live}}</ref>


=== Notable crimes ===
====Current and Former Enemies====
The Nazi Lowriders carried out two [[hate crime]]s against [[African Americans]] in [[Lancaster, California]] in 1996.<ref name="adl"/> According to federal investigators, the street assaults were an attempt at "driving blacks out of the predominantly white community through a campaign of terror and violence". Gang members Eric Dillard and Danny Edward Williams used a baseball bat in the beating of Eric Miller outside a video rental store, on April 28, 1996. On July 8, 1996, Dillard, Williams and a juvenile who was not identified because of his age attacked and stabbed Marcus Cotton four times in the back. Williams was sentenced to 57 months' imprisonment, on June 1, 1998, and Dillard was sentenced to three years', on June 7, 1999. The third defendant was tried as a juvenile.<ref name="Man Pleads Guilty"/><ref name="Skinhead Sentenced">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-08-me-45225-story.html Skinhead Gang Member Sentenced in Hate Crimes] David Rosenzweig, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' (June 8, 1999) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128194651/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-08-me-45225-story.html |date=November 28, 2020 }}</ref>


====Current and Former Truces====
Two Nazi Lowriders members, Shaun Broderick and Christopher Crawford, allegedly attacked Nathaniel Harris, an African American [[Walmart]] employee, with a 20-ounce hammer in a store parking lot in Lancaster, in March 1999. The pair were arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and civil rights violations.<ref name="adl"/><ref name="2 Arrested">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-25-me-20765-story.html 2 Arrested After Black Worker Attacked in Lot] Kurt Streeter, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' (March 25, 1999) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722210539/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-25-me-20765-story.html |date=July 22, 2023 }}</ref><ref name="2 Men Arrested">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-25-me-20928-story.html 2 Men Arrested in Racial Attack at Lancaster Store] Kurt Streeter, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' (March 25, 1999) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722210523/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-25-me-20928-story.html |date=July 22, 2023 }}</ref>
* [[Norteños]] and [[Norteñas]] of California


====Criminal Activities====
In August 2001, Trevor David Thompson, a Nazi Lowrider and member of the [[World Church of the Creator]] from California, wounded Ashley McNeil, a 14-year old African American girl, in a [[drive-by shooting]] in [[Indianapolis]]. McNeil was targeted because of her race, according to police.<ref name="adl"/> In May 2002, Thompson was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.<ref name="Spreading Hate">[https://www.religionnewsblog.com/469/spreading-hate Spreading Hate] Michael Koryta, ''[[The Hoosier Times]]'' (August 18, 2002) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208140145/https://www.religionnewsblog.com/469/spreading-hate |date=February 8, 2023 }}</ref>


===Notable Crimes===
=== Investigations and prosecutions ===
On March 29, 2001, NLR members Marcello Castellano and Scott Kuhn were arrested after [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department]] (LASD) deputies seized 73 firearms, including assault rifles, as well as hand grenades, body armor and a silencer, during raids on three locations in [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]]. A sheriff's uniform and Nazi paraphernalia were also recovered.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 31, 2001|title=73 Firearms Seized, 2 Men Arrested|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-mar-31-me-45102-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=May 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223034212/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/mar/31/local/me-45102|archive-date=December 23, 2014}}</ref>


====In Popular Culture====
A three-year investigation conducted by a task force headed by the FBI and the [[Ontario, California|Ontario]] Police Department, with assistance from the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]] (ATF), the [[California Department of Corrections]], the [[Orange County Sheriff's Department (California)|Orange County Sheriff's Department]] and the [[Costa Mesa Police Department]], culminated with twelve members and associates of the Nazi Lowriders being charged in a 17-count indictment alleging extortion, conspiracy to distribute drugs in prison, witness tampering, robbery, attempted murder and murder, on February 13, 2002. All of those charged were already in custody at the time of the indictment. Michael Bridge, a high-level NLR member, and Robert Baltimore, a "soldier" in the gang, were charged with the murder of an inmate in 1996.<ref name="12 Inmates Accused"/> All twelve defendants pleaded guilty to federal [[racketeering]] charges, including a senior member of the gang who was sentenced to nearly 23 years in federal prison in 2003.<ref>{{cite news|date=June 15, 2007|title=Reputed prison gang members take plea deal|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jun-15-me-briefs15.2-story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=May 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306162930/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/15/local/me-briefs15.2|archive-date=March 6, 2014}}</ref>
* In the 2017 crime film ''[[Shot Caller (film)|Shot Caller]]'', Jacob "Money" Harlon briefly has a cellmate named Ripper (played by [[Keith Jardine]]) who is a member of the Nazi Lowriders Prison Gang, sporting an "NLR" tattoo across his forehead.


====Sources and Citations====
== In popular culture ==
* In the 2017 crime film ''[[Shot Caller (film)|Shot Caller]]'', Jacob "Money" Harlon briefly has a cellmate named Ripper (played by [[Keith Jardine]]) who is a member of the Nazi Lowriders, sporting an "NLR" tattoo across his forehead.


== See also ==
===Sources===
* Nazi Lowriders :: Lowrider Magazine of Southern California
{{Portal|United States|Criminal justice}}
* [[List of California street gangs]]


== References ==
===References===
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


== External links ==
====External Links====
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071015144006/http://adl.org/learn/ext_us/nlr.asp?xpicked=3&item=nlr Anti-Defamation League - The Nazi Low Riders]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071015144006/http://adl.org/learn/ext_us/nlr.asp?xpicked=3&item=nlr Anti-Defamation League - The Nazi Low Riders]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100610160725/http://ag.ca.gov/publications/org_crime2004.pdf California Department of Justice - Organized Crime in California 2004 Annual Report]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100610160725/http://ag.ca.gov/publications/org_crime2004.pdf California Department of Justice - Organized Crime in California 2004 Annual Report]

Revision as of 22:47, 13 December 2024

Nazi Lowriders
Emblem of the Nazi Lowriders, based on the Reichsadler symbol
FoundedLate 1960s
Named afterAcquired From Cripp Wars
Founding locationSouthern California, United States
Years active1960s – Present-Day
TerritoryPrimarily Southern California
EthnicityWhite American
Membership (est.)1,000

Nazi Lowriders are a criminal syndicate and a Lowrider Car Club that is based in Southern California and are active in Southern California. Nazi Lowriders are also known collectively as The NLR and are also collectively known as The Ride of Nazi Lowriders.

Origins

Nazi Lowriders were formed in Kern County, Southern California and in Los Angeles County, Southern California in the late 1960s as a gang of members who owned Chevy Lowrider vehicles with origins in the Southern California Lowrider Car Culture. The name of the gang was originally a play on words as the gang fought enemy Hispanic Lowrider gangs and overcame rival Hispanic Lowrider gangs in Southern California. Non-Hispanic White street gangs did not actually exist in Southern California during the arrival of Non-Hispanic Whites from the 1920s to the 1960s. Nazi Lowriders formed their own Prison Gang in Southern California in the late 1970s and they later formed a small alliance with a few Aryan Brotherhood members of Southern California. The Nazi Lowrider Car Club and the Nazi Lowrider Prison Gang are the same thing and these entities were not founded by John Stinson or by the Aryan Brotherhood. The Nazi Lowriders were formed as a Hispanic Car Club of Southern California in the late 1960s.

Origins In The Southern California Hispanic Lowrider Car Culture

The phrase Nazi Lowrider is a phrase that was coined by the founder of this Car Club as members went to war with Cripps which is a word that is usually shortened to Crips and is a gang that is primarily based in Southern California as well as their counterpart gangs that are known as the Bloods all throughout the 1970s and the 1980s and later the Cripp owned Car Club collectively known as the Druids Car Club all throughout the 1990s. Many of the original Cripps were part Hispanic and or mixed with Hispanic and African heritage whereas the members of the Nazi Lowriders were more racially pure, hence the phrase: Nazi Lowrider. The Cripps later formed more alliances with the Latin-American community. The word Latino and Latina refer to people with Latin-American heritage. Latin-American countries are all of the countries that are south of the country of México. While Mexicans can be considered Hispanic because they speak a dialect of the language of Spanish not all Mexican Citizens or Mexican Nationals have origins from the country of México and many Mexicans have both American Indigenous and Spanish ( From Spain ) heritage.

Unique Contributions To The Lowrider Car Culture of Southern California

Nazi Lowriders contributed significant advancements to the Lowrider Car Culture of Southern California most notably the extended hydraulic suspension engineering schemes and Nazi Lowrider lowriders that were seen between the 1980s and the 1990s were extremely unique.

Membership Requirements

The original Nazi Lowriders required members to prove specific and rare Hispanic ancestral heritage, but no Latin American heritage and no Negroid heritage. People with any Latin-American heritage were not allowed membership in the Nazi Lowrider Car Club or the Nazi Lowrider Prison Gang. Nazi Lowriders also required members to own a specific Chevy Vehicle with or without hydraulics. Lowrider Chevy vehicles were required in order to beat all of the street-level gangs without vehicles as well as beat all of the rival Lowrider gangs. Members were also required to own a hand-gun so that member could engage in drive by shootings on their enemies from the lowrider vehicle. Hydraulics were later necessary in order to beat all of the enemies that hid in motels and hotels in Southern California as well as to tactically defend against gun fire from enemy gangs. Chevy vehicles that were manufactured between the 1960s to the late 1970s had extremely tough and high quality metals where .22 caliber and .40 caliber rounds could not penetrate through the metal.

Memorializatons

All dead members of the Nazi Lowriders are remembered every year.

Gentrification

Nazi Lowriders assisted in the Gentrification of Los Angeles County, Southern California as well as of Kern County, Southern California.

Differences In Hispanic Groups

Street Wars

Nazi Lowriders have been seen in numerous street battles throughout Southern California noticed from the 1970s and onward.

Years Noticed

  • [ ~ 1980 - 2005 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Cripps - Ended In Truces With Different Cripp Groups In Southern California
  • [ ~ 1980 - Present-Day ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Bloods - War Ongoing
  • [ ~ 1980 - ? ] Nazi Lowriders Verus Surenos of Southern California - Ended In Truce And Alliance
  • [ ~ 1980 - ? ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Northern Sinaloa Cartel of Southern California - Ended In Truce
  • [ ~ 1997 - 2002 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus Tijuana Mexican Cartel - Ended In Truce
  • [ ~ 2005 - 2016 ] Nazi Lowriders Versus U.S. Marines - Unknown

Nazi Lowriders Versus Cripps

Nazi Lowriders are known to have gone to war with the Cripps of Kern County and of Los Angeles County throughout the 1980s. The son of the founder of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was taken away by Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department as a baby in Downtown Los Angeles, Southern California in ~1988 after Cripps gang members fired several rounds into his father's lowrider vehicle in Downtown Los Angeles, Southern California. Gunfire was returned and law enforcement and the local news station responded to the incident.

Nazi Lowriders Versus Sinaloa Cartel

Nazi Lowriders are known to have been in several shootouts with the Sinaloa Cartel in and around South Gate in Los Angeles County, Southern California.

Nazi Lowriders Versus Norteños

Nazi Lowriders were known to have battled Norteños in Kern County, Southern California.

Nazi Lowriders Versus Tijuana Mexican Cartel

Nazi Lowriders were allied with the Sureños of Kern County in Southern California when they battled the Tijuana Mexican Cartel in the late 1990s.

Spark of The Wars Between The Nazi Lowriders and The Tijuana Mexican Cartel

The son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was drugged and molested repeatedly by a hispanic female member of the Cripps who also had membership in the Tijuana Mexican Cartel who targeted the Nazi Lowriders in 1997. This started a war between the Nazi Lowriders and the Tijuana Cartel where that son was ordered to stab a Tijuana Cartel Plaza Boss who lived on the border of San Diego, Southern California and Tijuana, México and facilitated drugs and humans across the border of México and the United States. The Nazi Lowriders traveled to San Diego, Southern California and confronted that Tijuana Mexican Cartel Plaza Boss and the child that was molested stabbed that Tijuana Cartel Plaza Boss. This small war between the Nazi Lowriders and the Tijuana Cartel ended in a truce in ~ 2002. The son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club was taken away from his family and placed in Child Protective Custody.

Nazi Lowriders Versus U.S. Marines

In 2005 the U.S. Marines attempted a covert infiltration of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club by using the identity of the son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club.

Banishment of Lowrider Vehicles

In the 1990s and the 2000s Kern County as well as different cities in Los Angeles County banned Lowrider Racing Vehicles with hydraulics because the lowrider gangs could easily beat all of the Law Enforcement and the Military everywhere in California by using those engineered lowrider vehicles. Law Enforcement could not keep up with the speed of the vehicles and no one could hide from the manuverability of those vehicles. Nazi Lowriders were known to have exteneded suspension hydraulics that could not be mimmicked by other lowrider gangs where the entire vehicle could be raised sometimes up to 30 feet in the air.

Current and Former Alliances

Current and Former Rivals

Current and Former Enemies

Current and Former Truces

Criminal Activities

Notable Crimes

  • In the 2017 crime film Shot Caller, Jacob "Money" Harlon briefly has a cellmate named Ripper (played by Keith Jardine) who is a member of the Nazi Lowriders Prison Gang, sporting an "NLR" tattoo across his forehead.

Sources and Citations

Sources

  • Nazi Lowriders :: Lowrider Magazine of Southern California

References

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