Nazi Lowriders: Difference between revisions
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== Organization and members == |
== Organization and members == |
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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, and some may be old enough to have been in the gang since its early days. 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 smaller 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. |
In prison the Nazi Lowriders have a three-tier hierarchy system consisting of senior members, junior members and kids. They are a very violent and hatefilled group. The seniors typically lead the gang, and some may be old enough to have been in the gang since its early days. 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 smaller 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. |
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Gang members may have [[tattoos]] and other body art depicting [[swastikas]] and SS [[sigrune]]s, although they are not necessarily required to do so. A tattoo of the letters NLR commonly appears on the stomach, back or neck and while it stands for Nazi Lowriders, they may deny involvement to certain people and claim it means No Longer Racist or other NLR terms. Other popular tattoos include Nazi Low Riders written in Old English script or the [[runic alphabet]]. |
Gang members may have [[tattoos]] and other body art depicting [[swastikas]] and SS [[sigrune]]s, although they are not necessarily required to do so. A tattoo of the letters NLR commonly appears on the stomach, back or neck and while it stands for Nazi Lowriders, they may deny involvement to certain people and claim it means No Longer Racist or other NLR terms. Other popular tattoos include Nazi Low Riders written in Old English script or the [[runic alphabet]]. |
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Revision as of 03:32, 15 April 2010
| Founded | Mid/late 1970's |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1970's-present |
| Territory | Southern California |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Membership (est.) | 3,000 - 5,000 |
| Criminal activities | Robbery, drug trafficking, hate crimes, extortion, murder, dog fighting |
| Allies | Public Enemy No.1, Aryan Brotherhood, Ku Klux Klan, Mongols, Armenian Power, Mexican Mafia and Sureños |
| Rivals | Bloods, Crips, Mara Salvatrucha, Black Guerrilla Family, Nuestra Familia, Norteños, Los Angeles crime family, Northern Structure, Kumi 415, Italian-American Mafia, Russian Mafia, Latin Kings, Friends Stand United, Los Zetas, Muslim Brotherhood, Jewish Defense League and Israeli mafia |
The Nazi Lowriders or NLR or "The Ride" are a white supremacist criminal organization primarily based in southern California, although it is believed to have spread to other states. They are affiliated with the larger and more notorious gang, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Ku Klux Klan. Their main rivals are the Bloods, the Crips, Northern California Chicano gang members, e.g. Norteños, the Black Guerrilla Family, Nuestra Familia, Mara Salvatrucha, the Los Angeles crime family, the Russian Mafia, Friends Stand United, Jewish Defense League, Los Zetas, the Israeli mafia, and the Muslim Brotherhood
History
The gang originated in the mid to late 1970s as middlemen and muscle for the Aryan Brotherhood, but was not really noticed by law enforcement until the early 1990s, by which time the California authorities had been cracking down on the Brotherhood and gave the Lowriders more room to move in. As opposed to other white criminal gangs in California prisons, the NLR gained a reputation for being very violently pro-active instead of reactionary. They are labeled as very disruptive and offensive by the California Department of Corrections. They are strong in numbers in such California communities as Oildale, Bakersfield, Inland Empire, 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.
The gang eventually progressed from being muscle for the Brotherhood to a fast-growing gang in their own right. Unlike other white supremacist gangs, they appear to be well organized and have developed links with other white gangs throughout the West Coast including the Ku Klux Klan. Paroled gang members have been known to move east to further spread the organization's reach.
On January 28, 1999, California prison officials recognised the Lowriders as a "disruptive" gang, and inmates known to be members could now be subject to be removed from general population and other restrictive treatment in an attempt to disrupt the gang's criminal activities. The Lowriders responded by striking an alliance with Public Enemy No.1, another white prison gang, 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'.
Organization and members
In prison the Nazi Lowriders have a three-tier hierarchy system consisting of senior members, junior members and kids. They are a very violent and hatefilled group. The seniors typically lead the gang, and some may be old enough to have been in the gang since its early days. 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 smaller 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.
Gang members may have tattoos and other body art depicting swastikas and SS sigrunes, although they are not necessarily required to do so. A tattoo of the letters NLR commonly appears on the stomach, back or neck and while it stands for Nazi Lowriders, they may deny involvement to certain people and claim it means No Longer Racist or other NLR terms. Other popular tattoos include Nazi Low Riders written in Old English script or the runic alphabet.
The group is primarily white, and is actively against blacks and those in interracial relationships (deemed "race traitors"). Members are required to have at least half-white ancestry and no black ancestry.
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 major distributor of the drug in Southern California. They are also believed to work with biker gangs in the drug trade.[citation needed]
While the organization's main motive appears to be criminal profit it has been associated with a number of racist attacks, including several outside prison. The most prominent incident associated with the gang occurred on April 1996, Danny Williams and Eric Dillard, two known members of the gang, beat a black teenage boy to death with a baseball bat. In July of the same year, they attacked two more black men, stabbing one of them in the back several times.
References
- www.knowgangs.com/gang_resources/nazi_low_riders
- Anti-Defamation League - The Nazi Low Riders
- California Department of Justice - Organized Crime in California 2004 Annual Report