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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 = 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>
| founded = Late 1960s
| founder = <!--or | founders = -->
| founder = <!--or | founders = -->
| named_after =
| founding_location = [[Southern California]], [[United States]]
| founding_location = [[Preston Youth Correctional Facility]], California, United States<ref name="adl"/>
| years_active = 1960s – Present-Day
| years_active = 1970s–present
| territory = Primarily [[Southern California]]
| territory = Primarily [[Southern California]], with a smaller presence in numerous other U.S. states<ref name=adl/>
| ethnicity = [[White Hispanic]], [[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"/>


== History ==
The '''Nazi Lowriders''' are a [[criminal syndicate]] and a '''Lowrider Car Club''' that are 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'''.
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"/>


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"/>
==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]] Community. They were first seen and documented by U.S. authorities on the border of [[East Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] and in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] in the mid [[1970s]].


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}}
The name of the gang was originally a play on words as being the most '''Racially Pure''' of the '''Hispanic Car Clubs''' in '''Southern California''' as the gang fought their enemy '''Hispanic Lowrider Gangs''' and overcame their rival '''Hispanic Lowrider Gangs''' in Southern California. The U.S. legal system in place in Southern California by invading [[Non-Hispanic White]] [[Population Groups]] favored the racially pure. The Nazi Lowriders did not start as a Neo-Nazi gang, they started as a Hispanic Car Club.


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 formed their own [[Prison Gang]] in Southern California in the late [[1970s]] as they were incarcerated for street crimes and they later in [[1997]] formed a small alliance with the original members of the [[Aryan Brotherhood]] of [[Southern California]]. The '''Nazi Lowrider''' [[Car Club]] and the '''Nazi Lowrider''' [[Prison Gang]] are the same and these entities were not founded by [[John Stinson]] or by the [[Aryan Brotherhood]] and in fact the '''Nazi Lowriders''' existed in Southern California long before the founding of the '''Aryan Brotherhood''' in [[Southern California]]. The Nazi Lowriders were later formed as a White-Hispanic Car Club of Southern California in the late [[1960s]] and the [[1970s]].


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}}
Collected media and video footage in Southern California namely from [[Lowrider Magazine]] of Southern California as well as from video news reports from '''Video News Reporting Agencies''' in '''Los Angeles, Southern California''' show the '''Nazi Lowriders''' in '''street races''' near [[Boyle Heights]] in [[Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] in the early [[1990s]] and in '''Lowrider Car Shows''' in [[Central Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] and near [[West Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] in the mid [[1990s]] to the mid [[2000s]].


== Organization and membership ==
===History of California Immigration and Formation of Street Gangs===
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}}
[[Non-Hispanic White]] [[street gangs]] and [[African-American]] [[street gangs]] did not actually exist in Southern California before or during the arrival of Non-Hispanic Whites and African-Americans into [[Southern California]] and the waves of immigration of Non-Hispanic Whites into [[Southern California]] from the [[1920s]] to the [[1960s]]. [[Compton]], [[Los Angeles]] in Southern California was originally a Non-Hispanic White neighborhood from the [[1940s]] to the late [[1960s]] afterwhich a wave of [[African-Americans]] overtook the area and visibly formed a street gang known as the '''Cripps''' where then after the '''Bloods''' began as a new branch. The '''Bloods''' were originally a cultural part of the '''Cripps'''. The '''Cripps''' were slowly forced to move away from [[Compton]], [[Los Angeles]] in [[Southern California]] throughout the late [[1990s]] to the early to mid [[2000s]] while they were at occupational war with invading enemy Hispanic gangs. The '''Cripps''' gang were founded by [[Hispanics]] before they began recruiting African-Americans in the [[1970s]]. In the late [[1990s]] it was revealed to Los Angeles [[gangland]] that the '''Cripps''' were in fact formed by Hispanics while they used African-American gang members as a visible and showable force.


Nazi Lowriders members are typically aged in their teens and early 20s.<ref name="adl"/>
The primary waves of immigration of Non-Hispanic Whites into [[Southern California]] began after the [[1930s]] and included numerous waves of immigration of Non-Hispanic Whites from the Southern-Central United States. California State Law was previously ennacted to illegalize the immigration of any '''Americans''' from other U.S. States into California and [[Spanish California]] did not actually end socially until the early [[1900s]]. Every U.S. State west of the [[New England]] Colony States became a recognized and ratified U.S. State after the early to mid [[1900s]]. [[Oklahoma]] State for instance was not actually a recognized and ratified U.S. State until after [[1920]] because it was still called [[Indian Territory]] while the U.S. maintained efforts of colonizing [[Indian Territory]] and everything west of [[Indian Territory]] by [[White]] [[Settlers]]. The [[Dust Bowl]] of the areas of [[Oklahoma]] brought waves of Surviving [[American Indians]] as well as [[Non-Hispanic Whites]] from the areas known as [[Indian Territory]] into [[Southern California]] beginning in the mid [[1930s]]. While the U.S. encouraged expansion and settling in and further west of [[Indian Territory]] most of California safeguarded its territorial borders and restricted immigration. The dominating social force in '''California''' was known as the '''Californias''' and [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]] was still primarily South-West American Indian that lived in and traveled in bands. Most American Indians of the South West moved away to areas in México after battling with the U.S. in the early [[1900s]].


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}}
[[Italians]] and [[Italian-Americans]] did not actually begin waves of immigration into California until after the 1950s and the migration of the affected of the [[Dust Bowl]] did not have any Italian population groups because the U.S.
government did not allow Italians or Italian-Americans to claim any land in the [[Oklahoma Land Rush]] or in any [[Indian Territory]] because none of them fought in any of the wars for U.S. President [[Andrew Jackson]], and war
participation was required in order to secure land ownership in Indian Territory by those White European Settlers.


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}}
In military terminology [[Occupation]] refers to [[agenda|agendized]] groups of people who literally move into the houses in the area or else into the area in order to take over the area while they go to war with the local population groups and move more allies into that area in order to own it in every way possible.


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"/>
The primary waves of concentrated illegal immigration of Non-Latino Slav ( [[Russians]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Armenians]], [[Eastern Europeans]] ) and Latino-Slav into California did not begin until the early to mid [[2000s]] as they began colonizing areas in Central America and South America and began traveling north to the borders of the U.S. and México.


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>
===History and 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 of this [[Car Club]] went to war with their enemy gangs notably the gang known as the '''Cripps''' which is a word that is usually shortened to the word [[Crips]] and is a [[gang]] that was and is exclusively based in Southern California. The '''Nazi Lowriders''' also went to war with the '''Cripp''' counterpart gangs that are known as the [[Bloods]] all throughout the [[1980s]] in Southern California and later they went to war with the ''Cripp'' owned '''Car Club''' collectively known as the [[Druid Car Club]] all throughout the [[1990s]] and the early to mid [[2000s]]. Many of the original '''Cripp''' gang members were part [[Hispanic]] and or mixed with [[Hispanic]] and [[African]] heritage whereas the members of the '''Nazi Lowriders''' were more racially pure than all others out of all of the '''Lowrider Car Clubs''' in Southern California, hence the phrase: '''Nazi Lowrider'''.


=== Ideology ===
The '''Cripps''' later formed more alliances with the '''Latin-American''' community in Southern California whereas the '''Nazi Lowriders''' formed more alliances with the existing [[Non-Hispanic White]] communities in Southern California and the existing [[White-Hispanic]] communities in Southern California.
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"/>


=== Presence ===
The words [[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 [[Méxicans]] can be considered [[Hispanic]] because they speak a dialect of the language of [[Spanish]] not all [[Méxican]] [[Citizens]] or [[Méxican]] [[Nationals]] have origins from the country of [[México]] and many Méxicans have both [[American]] [[Indigenous]] and [[Spanish]] ( From [[Spain]] ) heritage whereas [[Californianos]] and [[Californianas]] which are technically multi-generational Californians and are people that descend from the era of [[Spanish California]]. [[Chicanos]] and [[Chicanas]] are a completely different Hispanic group.
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>


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"/>
===Differences In Hispanic Groups===
* The literal word [[Hispanic]] refer to all of the people with provable heritage from the world of [[Hispania]] which is the entire world of [[Spanish]] speakers.
* The literal word [[Hispania]] refer to the entire world of [[Spanish]] speakers worldwide.
* The literal word [[España]] refer to the country of [[Spain]] where the language of [[Spanish]] come from.
* The literal words [[Americano]] and [[Americana]] refer to people with provable heritage from any American Country within the entire American Continent after it was declared and known as [[America]].
* The literal phrase [[Latin American]] refer to people with provable heritage from Latin American countries which are all of the countries that are below [[México]].
* The literal words [[Californianos]] and [[Californianas]] refer to people with provable multi-generational [[Hispanic]] heritage from [[California]] during the Spanish Occupation of California from the [[17th Century]] to the [[19th Century]].
* The literal words [[Chicano]] and [[Chicana]] refer to people with that specific Méxican-Hispanic ethnic identity.
* The literal words [[Tejano]] and [[Tejana]] refer to people with provable heritage from the areas known as [[Tejas]] before it was declared the U.S. State of [[Texas]].
* The literal words [[Tijuanos]] and [[Tijuanas]] refer to people with provable heritage from the areas known as [[Tijuana]] in present-day [[México]].
* The literal words [[Méxicano]] and [[Méxicana]] refer to people with provable heritage from the country of México who are first generation Americans of the continental United States.
* The literal phrase [[White Hispanic]] refer to people with provable heritage from the country of [[Spain]] where the language of Spanish comes from.
* The literal 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 literal 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 literal phrase [[Non-Latino White]] refer to people with provable heritage from [[Western-Europe]] who also have no heritage from any Latin-American country.
* The literal phrase [[Non-Latino Slav]] refer to people with provable heritage from [[Eastern-Europe]] who also have no heritage from any Latin-American country ( 2005 ).
* The literal words [[Mestizo]] and [[Mestiza]] refer to people with provable mixed heritage of [[American Indigenous]] of the areas of what is now known as México and with [[Hispanic]] heritage.
* The literal words [[Pustizo]] and [[Pustiza]] refer to people with provable heritage of [[American Indigenous]] of the areas of what is now known as México with [[Negroid]] heritage.
* The literal words [[Mulatto]] and [[Mulatta]] refer to people with provable heritage of mixed [[Non-Hispanic White European]] and or [[Hispanic White European]] and [[African]] / [[Negroid]] ancestry.
* The literal words [[Cholo]] and [[Chola]] refer to people with provable [[Hispanic]] heritage and [[American Indigenous]] heritage.
* The literal words [[Cholito]] and [[Cholita]] refer to young people with provable [[Hispanic]] heritage and [[American Indigenous]] heritage.


== Criminal activity ==
===Unique Contributions To The Lowrider Car Culture of Southern 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"/>
'''Nazi Lowriders''' contributed significant advancements to the '''Lowrider Car Culture''' of Southern California most notably the extended hydraulic suspension engineering schemes where some of their lowrider cars could extend up to 25 feet or more into the air where members could jump through second-story hotel and motel windows to fight enemies as well as to collect money and '''Nazi Lowrider' Lowriders''' that were seen between the [[1980s]] and the [[1990s]] were extremely unique. They also wrote advanced custom [[web application]] [[software]] from the late [[1990s]] to the mid [[2000s]] that could run from any [[Internet]] [[Web Browser]] where it would automatically resize itself
to any electronic device display resolution including from low budget mobile cell phone devices where any of the members could send messages to any other member to request pick up anywhere including by [[G.P.S. Location]], send orders, make [[VoIP]] phone calls and more. This was extremely useful for members to communicate long distance where S.M.S. and early social media limited communication speed while traveling with a mobile electronic cell phone or a mobile electronic laptop or notebook computer. The web application software was also very useful for traveling in groups through [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] and [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]].


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>
The founder of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club can be seen with his son and his wife in the [[1990]], [[1991]] issues of [[Lowrider Magazine]] of [[Southern California]].


===Banishment of Lowrider Vehicles===
=== Notable crimes ===
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>
In the [[1990s]] and in the early [[2000s]] in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] as well as in different cities in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] numerous city officials within these counties 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 '''Lowrider Racing Vehicles with Hydraulics''' and no one could hide from the [[maneuverability]] of those vehicles. Some '''Nazi Lowriders''' were known to have extended suspension hydraulics that could not be mimicked by other lowrider gangs where the entire vehicle could be raised sometimes up to 25 feet or more into the air with hydraulics as well as to tactically shield from enemy gun fire.


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>
=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 to 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 metals if the vehicle doors and vehicle frames were reinforced with bullet proof goop and bullet proof mechanisms.


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>
===Memorializatons===
All known dead members of the Nazi Lowriders are celebrated and remembered in memorials every year for their participation, gentrification efforts and more.


=== Investigations and prosecutions ===
=Connections=
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>
Nazi Lowriders are known to have connections with [[motorcycle clubs]] [[Vagos Motorcycle Club|Vagos Motorcycle Club]] of [[Southern California]] and [[Hells Angels Motorcycle Club|Hells Angels Motorcycle Club]] of [[Southern California]].


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>
=Gentrification of Cities In Southern California=
Nazi Lowriders assisted in the [[gentrification]] of several cities in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] as well as of several cities in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]]. Notably [[Oildale]], Southern California and [[East Bakersfield]], Southern California in [[Kern County]], Southern California throughout the [[1980s]] and the early to mid [[1990s]] as well as several cities in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] notably [[South Gate]], [[Southern California]]. Nazi Lowriders assisted in these gentrifications because it was worth money. The Nazi Lowriders did not start as a [[Neo-Nazi]] gang, but it became known as one as it allied with a few Non-Hispanic White
gangs of [[Southern California]].


== In popular culture ==
The film [[American History X]] was inspired by the stories of gentrification of [[Long Beach]], [[Southern California]] and of [[Compton]], [[Southern California]] by a few fictitious families shown in the film where elements of
* 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.
that fictitious family were based on real families residing in [[Long Beach]], [[Southern California]] because [[Long Beach]], [[Southern California]] is only ~10 miles south of [[Compton]], [[Southern California]], but it was actually the Nazi Lowriders that helped pave the way for the Non-Hispanic Whites to move into [[Long Beach]], [[Southern California]] throughout the [[1990s]].


== See also ==
===Kern County, Southern California===
{{Portal|United States|Criminal justice}}
* [[Oildale]], [[Southern California]]
* [[List of California street gangs]]
''The Nazi Lowriders are known to have helped gentrify the town of [[Oildale]], [[Southern California]] and formed several gang alliances here throughout the [[1990s]]''.


== References ==
===Los Angeles County, Southern California===
* [[South Gate]], [[Southern California]]
''The Nazi Lowriders are known to have helped gentrify the town of [[South Gate]], [[Southern California]]'' throughout the [[1990s]].

=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 Sureños 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]], [[Southern California]] and of [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] throughout the [[1980s]] and the early to mid [[1990s]] where there were numerous responses to these incidents, combats and altercations covered by [[Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] news stations and [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] news stations. 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]] while he was seated in the passenger seat. Gunfire was returned by the Nazi Lowriders and law enforcement and the local news station responded to the incident. The child was placed in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] [[Child Protective Custody]].

===Nazi Lowriders Versus Northern Sinaloa Cartel===
Nazi Lowriders are known to have been in and have been seen in several shootouts with the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] in and around the city of [[South Gate]] in [[Los Angeles County]], [[Southern California]] throughout the [[1980s]] and the [[1990s]] over different disputes where news stations have responded to these incidents.

===Nazi Lowriders Versus Norteños===
Nazi Lowriders were known to have battled [[Norteños]] in [[Kern County]], [[Southern California]] where news stations have responded to these incidents. The altercations ended in several truces with the Norteño gangs.

===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 Non-Black [[Hispanic]] [[female]] member of the [[Crips]] who also had membership in the [[Tijuana Mexican Cartel]] which is also known as the [[Tijuana Cartel]] and who targeted the Nazi Lowriders in ~1997. This started a war between the Nazi Lowriders and the Tijuana Cartel where that son was later ordered to stab a Tijuana Cartel [[Plaza Boss]] who lived on the border of [[San Diego]], Southern California and [[Tijuana]], [[México]] and who facilitated drugs and humans across the border of [[México]] and into 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 after his mother was seen in a shootout in [[Oildale]], [[California]] in ~1997. The local news stations responded to the incident.

===Nazi Lowriders Versus U.S. Marines===
In 2005 the [[U.S. Marines]] attempted a covert infiltration of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club and the Nazi Lowrider Prison Gang by using the identity of the son of one of the founders of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club while they
drugged him.

=Allegiances=
In ~1998 it was known and observed by the [[U.S. Navy]] that the 12 year old son of the founder of the Nazi Lowrider Car Club spent several days talking privately with one of the highest ranking bosses of the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] in [[Southern California]] about the future politics of [[California]]. This son claimed to have been kidnapped and drugged by the [[U.S. Navy]] in [[Los Angeles]], [[Southern California]] at a later time. His name was forcibly changed and concealed.

===Current and Former Alliances===
* Specific [[Sureños]] and [[Sureñas]] of Southern California
* Specific [[Vagos Motorcycle Club|Vagos]] and [[Vagos Motorcycle Club|Vagas]] Motorcycle Clubs of Southern California
* Specific [[Chicanos]] and [[Chicanas]] Car Clubs of Southern California
* Specific [[Mexican Mafia]] of Southern California

===Current and Former Rivals===

===Current and Former Enemies===
* Specific [[Crips]] of California
* All [[Bloods]]

===Current and Former Truces===
* [[Norteños]] and [[Norteñas]] of California
* Specific [[Crips]] of California

===Criminal Activities===

===Notable Crimes===

=In Popular Culture=
* In the 2010 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=
There are several inauthentic sources about the Nazi Lowriders that are available on the Internet that are used to cite statements here and elsewhere. The Nazi Lowriders did not start as a Neo-Nazi Gang and
the Nazi Lowriders have never operated outside of [[Southern California]] and they do not operate outside of [[Southern California]].

==Authentic Sources==
* Nazi Lowriders :: Lowrider Magazine of Southern California

===Documentaries===
* The Rise and Fall of The Nazi Lowriders

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


== External links ==
==Inauthentic Sources==

===Documentaries===

===References===

===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]
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[[Category:White nationalism in California]]
[[Category:White nationalism in California]]
[[Category:Gangs in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Gangs in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Gangs in Bakersfield]]

Revision as of 01:46, 18 December 2024

Nazi Lowriders
Emblem of the Nazi Lowriders, based on the Reichsadler symbol
Founded1970s[1]
Founding locationPreston Youth Correctional Facility, California, United States[1]
Years active1970s–present
TerritoryPrimarily Southern California, with a smaller presence in numerous other U.S. states[1]
EthnicityWhite American[2]
Membership (est.)1,000[3]
ActivitiesDrug trafficking, extortion, armed robbery, assault, murder, identity fraud, money laundering[1][2]
Allies

The Nazi Lowriders, also known as NLR or the Ride, are a neo-Nazi, white supremacist organized crime syndicate, and prison and street gang in the United States. Primarily based in Southern California,[1] the gang is allied with the larger Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia gangs,[5] and fellow peckerwood gang Public Enemy No. 1.[5] The Nazi Lowriders operate both in and outside of prison.[3]

History

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 inmates.[1] It was created by members of the Aryan Brotherhood (AB), the leading white gang in the California prison system.[8] 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, and at the Youth Training School in Chino, to act as middlemen in the AB's criminal operations.[1]

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.[1] 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.[9] 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.[1]

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, Bakersfield, Lancaster, Inland Empire, Rosamond and 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]

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]

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, 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]

Organization and membership

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]

Nazi Lowriders members are typically aged in their teens and early 20s.[1]

Gang members may have tattoos and other body art depicting swastikas and SS sigrunes, 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]

According to the 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.".[10] In fact, much of the NLR's upper echelon is composed of Hispanics.[citation needed] 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 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]

The gang took its name from the phrase "lowrider", which is associated with Hispanic gangs, as an "act of one-upmanship".[1]

Methamphetamine abuse is common among members of the group.[11][12][1][13]

Ideology

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.[1]

Presence

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.[1] In Southern California, the gang is based in the Antelope Valley and in Orange County.[14]

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.[1]

Criminal activity

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.[8][1][12][5] The Nazi Lowiders also have connections with motorcycle gangs, including the Hells Angels,[4] the Mongols,[6] and the Vagos.[6]

This gang is responsible for dozens of assaults, attempted murders, and murders around Southern California and is considered an extremely dangerous and violent gang.[15][16][17][18]

Notable crimes

The Nazi Lowriders carried out two hate crimes against African Americans in Lancaster, California in 1996.[1] 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.[14][19]

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.[1][20][21]

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.[1] In May 2002, Thompson was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.[22]

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. A sheriff's uniform and Nazi paraphernalia were also recovered.[23]

A three-year investigation conducted by a task force headed by the FBI and the 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 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.[9] 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.[24]

  • 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, sporting an "NLR" tattoo across his forehead.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Nazi Low Riders Anti-Defamation League (January 1, 2005) Archived October 14, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "Special Issue: Gangs in the United States" (PDF), Narcotics Digest Weekly, vol. 4, no. 40, National Drug Intelligence Center, 2005-10-04, archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-05-24, retrieved 2009-11-14
  3. ^ a b Nazi Low Riders boast over 1,000 members, most in prison Archived 2021-04-22 at the Wayback Machine Camille Jackson, Southern Poverty Law Center (July 20, 2004)
  4. ^ a b White Power Gangs: The NLR (Nazi Low Riders) Story B. Belt and G. Doyle, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (March 1998) Archived January 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c d Rosenzweig, David (August 3, 2000). "Federal Prosecutors Target Prison Gang in Drug Crackdown". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Bigots on Bikes: The Growing Links between White Supremacists and Biker Gangs Anti-Defamation League (September 2011) Archived November 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ McCleskey, O'Neill, Claire (November 29, 2012). "The allies sureños have are "Skinheads" or "Nazis"". InSight Crime. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b Jackson, Carmille (July 20, 2004). "Nazi Low Riders Boast Over 1,000 Members, Most in Prison". Intelligence Report. No. 114. Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on March 28, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  9. ^ a b 12 Inmates Accused of Racketeering David Rosenzweig, Los Angeles Times (February 15, 2002) Archived August 7, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Nazi Low Riders Boast over 1,000 Members, Most in Prison". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  11. ^ Finnegan, William (November 24, 1997). "The Unwanted". The New Yorker. No. December 1, 1997. p. 60. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Valdemar, Richard (February 1, 2008). "The Rise and Fall of the Nazi Low Riders". Police: The Magazine for Cops. Archived from the original on September 10, 2011.
  13. ^ Morales, Gabe (ndg) "Gang Profiles: Nazi Lowriders" Archived 2017-08-29 at the Wayback Machine Criminal Justice Solutions, LLC
  14. ^ a b Man, 18, Pleads Guilty to Skinhead Attacks on Blacks David Rosenzweig, Los Angeles Times (August 11, 1998) Archived July 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Hayes, Dade (October 28, 1997). "Man Pleads Guilty to Racial Assaults". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015.
  16. ^ Rosenzweig, David (June 8, 1999). "Skinhead Gang Member Sentenced in Hate Crimes". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013.
  17. ^ Larrubia, Evelyn (October 29, 1997). "Supremacists Charged With Racial Murder". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010.
  18. ^ Valdez, A. (March 1999). "Nazi Low Riders". Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine (abstract). Vol. 23, no. 3. pp. 46–48. NCJ Number 177437. Archived from the original on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-29 – via the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
  19. ^ Skinhead Gang Member Sentenced in Hate Crimes David Rosenzweig, Los Angeles Times (June 8, 1999) Archived November 28, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ 2 Arrested After Black Worker Attacked in Lot Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times (March 25, 1999) Archived July 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ 2 Men Arrested in Racial Attack at Lancaster Store Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times (March 25, 1999) Archived July 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ Spreading Hate Michael Koryta, The Hoosier Times (August 18, 2002) Archived February 8, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "73 Firearms Seized, 2 Men Arrested". Los Angeles Times. March 31, 2001. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  24. ^ "Reputed prison gang members take plea deal". Los Angeles Times. June 15, 2007. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
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