Thug life in the Valley

A Harlingen teen shouts a message of solidarity with fellow gang members — "Viva Los Vallucos" — to a battery of news media cameras, hours after his arrest for shooting a police officer earlier this year.

A recent high-school dropout is gunned down in Donna last month, after reportedly flashing gang signs to the wrong group of teens.

And just two weeks ago, members from three once rival gangs team up for a contract hit on a Palmview trucking business.

Law enforcement officials point to each of these incidents as evidence of a disconcerting trend. Gang activity is on the rise throughout South Texas and these criminal organizations are becoming more violent, recruiting younger members and working with surprising new partners to protect their interests.

"This gang problem is an increasing threat to the citizens of Texas," Gov. Rick Perry said at a news conference in San Antonio recently. "All too often, they're better armed, highly organized and better funded than ever before."

Last month, Perry awarded $4 million to police departments across the state — including those in McAllen and Brownsville — to combat gang problems in their communities. The money will go to fund overtime pay for officers who patrol in hotspots of organized crime. He has also asked the Texas Legislature to provide an additional $24 million to fight gang activity over the next fiscal year.

But some local authorities and gang experts question whether doling out funds for extra pay and intelligence-gathering is enough to control organized crime in Texas communities.

To beat back the growing gang threat, the government response must be just as structured as the groups they are fighting against, they say.

"Gangs are going to be here forever," said Mary Anne Denner, a former security threat specialist for the state prison system. "I don't care how much money you pour on to the problem. If you don't spend it smartly, I don't think it's going to help."

GROWING THREAT

The Rio Grande Valley is certainly no stranger to gang problems.

The Mid-Valley has long had its Latin Kings, the Tri-City Bombers have long held sway in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area, and the Sureños 13 have recently gained influence across the region.

More organized prison groups with statewide reach such as the Texas Syndicate and the Mexican Mafia also have a long-established presence in the Valley.

Hidalgo County has more than 160 criminal gangs and at least 7,000 identified gang members, Sheriff Lupe Treviño estimates. But over the past two years, he has seen those numbers rise.

Currently, there are more than 170 gang members booked in the county jail.

In 2007, the sheriff's office arrested 60 of these men and women in connection with crimes committed within its jurisdiction. So far this year, deputies have logged 87 gang member arrests, according to the agency's statistics.

Cameron County's jail logs show a similar state of affairs. Members of groups such as the Vallucos dominate Sheriff Omar Lucio's detention facility — comprising close to 40 percent of the inmates with gang affiliations. The Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia also hold large sway.

Still, until recently, Treviño's office was the only local law enforcement agency in the Valley with a specialized gang unit — with six deputies whose primary job is to gather intelligence and investigate organized crime.

In July, Harlingen police Chief Daniel Castillo followed Treviño's lead, creating a gang unit made up of four field officers, one intelligence officer and a sergeant.

The same month, Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell appointed a 10-member task force to address the issue of youth and gang violence. The Juvenile Crime, Graffiti and Gang Violence Task Force is expected to report its findings and recommendations to Boswell in December.

Both actions were taken after the June 25 shooting of Harlingen police Officer Carlos Diaz in what police described as an "ambush."

Ten shots were fired into Diaz's patrol car and the officer was struck in the shoulder and arm. A bullet also grazed his head.

Abraham Mar, then 18, was arrested and charged with attempted capital murder in the shooting. During his arraignment June 27, Mar turned toward a battery of news media cameras, raised his hands and shouted, "Viva Los Vallucos."

This past week, Mar, now 19, pleaded guilty to attempted capital murder. A jury is to resume deliberating his sentence Monday.

"Let's make no mistake," Hidalgo County's Sheriff Treviño said. "We do have a gang problem here, and it's going to get worse before it gets any better."

NEW MEMBERS, NEW STRATEGIES

More troubling, though, are indications that longstanding rivalries that kept local gangs from working together may have grown more flexible.

The FBI's McAllen office warned last month that some groups may be teaming up to accomplish specific criminal goals.

And an Oct. 14 intelligence memo put out by the office to local law enforcement also suggests Mexican drug trafficking organizations such as the Gulf Cartel and its enforcement arm, Los Zetas, have begun hiring local street groups to protect their interests in the United States.

On Oct. 31, purported members of the Vallucos, the Tri-City Bombers and the Latin Kings allegedly attacked a trucking business outside Palmview. Although sheriff's deputies have so far managed to arrest only one of the would-be killers, the man reportedly told investigators that he and members from the rival groups had been paid by the Zetas to collect on a drug debt.

But as drug cartels south of the border rely more on the Valley's organized criminal networks, the local groups have found newly immigrated Mexican nationals a valuable source of muscle.

Immigrants who law enforcement officials have dubbed "criminal illegal aliens" — a term used to distinguish these migrants from otherwise law-abiding men and women who violate federal immigration law — have shown up more and more on rosters for local gangs.

Of the 22 suspected murders investigated by the Hidalgo County sheriff's office this year, 10 have been linked to criminal immigrants involved in gang activity.

"They come over here with the intention of breaking the law," Treviño said. "In these gangs, they find the support structure they need."

FIGHTING THE PROBLEM

The governor's planned $24 million gang initiative could go a long way toward bolstering existing efforts to beat back the problem.

Local and federal authorities are sharing intelligence like never before, and last month representatives from eight counties and 28 police departments gathered in McAllen to plan an organized response to gang growth.

But critics suggest the state money could be put to better use in gang prevention efforts in local schools. Recruitment efforts for local street gangs begin in the hallways, playgrounds and hours after class.

Robert Alvarez, an Edinburg police detective who often gives gang prevention presentations in schools, said youth knowledge of even hardcore prison gangs is on the rise. A recent talk with elementary school students in the Edcouch-Elsa district surprised even him.

"I asked the kids what gangs they could name," he said. "All these hands went up. They started naming all of these groups — some I hadn't even heard of."

Denner, the former prison security analyst who now works with students in the Houston public schools, urges more funding to address gang-affiliated youth and pull them out of these groups before they get in too deep.

Lawmakers should also realize that economic conditions at home play a large factor in determining a teenager's susceptibility to gang influence, she said.

"It's good that the government's paying attention to this problem," she said. "But you have to remember with gangs — for every one member you get, another comes up. No one ever addresses why."

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.