Texas gangs growing more diverse, tech savvy. But also harder to catch, DPS says
About 100,000 gang members in Texas are involved in every type and level of criminal activity that one can imagine and they have started to adopt behaviors that make them more cooperative with each other and less cliquish, according to a new report from law enforcement.
“I do see that the gangs are moving into crimes that are less violent, harder to prove, that are more complex and require even more resources to prove,” said Pamela Boggess, Tarrant County prosecutor. “We see them getting more diverse in the crimes that they are committing. “
So while their numbers in Texas have not grown since last year’s Texas Department of Public Safety threat assessment, it seems some gang members are getting harder to put behind bars.
Boggess, an assistant criminal district attorney, was awarded the 2018 Prosecuting Attorney of the Year Award by the Texas Gang Investigators Association for prosecuting last year’s high profile case against former Fort Worth Bandidos president Howard Baker.
Baker was charged with organizing a 2015 ambush by dozens of Bandidos and other gang members at the Gators Inn Bar in Fort Worth.
In a barrage of gunfire, the bikers stormed the club where members of another gang were present, dragged a rival gang member out onto the front lawn, assaulting and ultimately murdering him in front of his wife and friends.
The state utilized the “Kingpin Statute” to hold Baker accountable for masterminding the biker gang’s activities, which made him ultimately responsible for the ambush and murder. Baker was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder.
Texas gangs are heavily involved in the trafficking of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and will often work with each other regardless of race or ideology in order to profit from the trafficking of drugs, according to the 2018 Texas Gang Threat Assessment released Wednesday.
Mexican cartels continue to use gangs to move drugs, people and weapons across the southern border of the United States, and with increased health care issues related to opioid trafficking, law enforcement only sees the relationship continuing, according to the report.
“You’ll find in the prosecution of crime in general, a connection to gangs, to criminal street gangs and to prison gangs,” Boggess said. “If you think about it in the context of drugs: We know that our gangs, our cartels, they are bringing in the drugs and they are distributing them. Even the low-level drug crimes have a nexus to a gang somewhere.
“A lot of our violent crimes, while they might not be committed in the name of the gang, they often have a nexus to gang crime somewhere. They might not be committing violence against another gang member, but there’s a relationship to gang crime.”
There is also a breakdown in gang structure due to successful law enforcement operations targeting traditionally organized gangs. This has resulted in some members working outside of the gang, the assessment states. In addition, some members are reluctant to take on leadership roles in order to avoid criminal enterprise investigations and prosecutions, the report states.
Gang members of all ages use social media and video-sharing websites to brag, recruit, promote, and antagonize, the DPS assessment reports. They also utilize encrypted mobile messaging applications to communicate privately to block law enforcement’s ability to counter their criminal activities, the report states.
Also, law enforcement officers are seeing blood feuds between the outlaw motorcycle gangs such as the Bandidos and the Mongols extend as their ranks become hit with multiple prosecutions.
“Their culture (the Bandidos) is such that it is very difficult to get witnesses to cooperate,” Boggess said. “That can be from the complainant. That can also be after the dust has settled. It can be difficult to get people to come forward. Specifically when you’re dealing with organized crime, fear of retaliation is one of the most common fears that you hear.”
The biggest gang threats in North Texas for 2018 include the Bloods, Crips, Tango Blast, Sureños, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, and the Aryan Circle.
Recent reporting also indicates transnational gangs such as the 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) are present and active in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
Although law enforcement continues to significantly disrupt the operations and leadership of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and Aryan Circle around the state, each maintains a heavy presence in the Fort Worth, Dallas and surrounding rural areas, the report says.
Law enforcement agencies within the region also report a significant presence of Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, and Peckerwoods. Officials in the Dallas-Fort Worth area note the presence of local gangs including the Eastside Homeboys, Varrio Centro, and Varrio Northside.
This story was originally published December 13, 2018 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Texas gangs growing more diverse, tech savvy. But also harder to catch, DPS says."
