11 Biggest Gangs in America

Today we list the 11 Biggest Gangs in America for you. Dangerous gangs have always roamed the streets of America’s cities, doing organized illegal businesses and confronting their rivals. There are over 30,000 of these organizations operating in the States and the number of involved people continues to grow each day. With numbers, their power is growing; criminal organizations are to blame for the 50% of the violent crimes throughout the country. Take a look at our list of 5 most gang-infested cities in America, too.

Today we focus on the biggest and the strongest; the gangs that are organized with rankings systems, and have the international impact. The 11 biggest gangs in America are:

11. Mongols MC

This is the motorcycle gang with 1500 full patched members, operating in Southern California. The Mongols Motorcycle Club was formed in the 1970s in California and named after the Mongolian Empire warriors, led by famous Genghis Khan. This criminal group specializes in distribution of drugs, extortion, money laundering and assaults. Their characteristic weapons are brass knuckles, lead pipes, and steel-toed boots.

10. Hells Angels

This criminal group is operating all over the U.S. The most famous biker gang in the world, Hells Angels ride their loud Harleys and do many kinds of illegal businesses across the U.S. since 1948.  The gang’s influence is enormous, spreading to the other continents. Countries like Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom have their operating branches of Hells Angels. 2,500 members of the gang are involved in all sorts of criminal activities, including prostitution, drug dealing and extortion.

9. The Bloods

Los Angeles is the location of the 9th biggest gang. The Bloods are battling over the territory of Los Angeles with Crips since the 1980s, when crack cocaine became the best illegal business in the area to make a profit. The 19,000-member gang is founded around the 1960s in LA. Their companion branch in New York started with business twenty years after the original Bloods and gained a significant amount of influence and resources, becoming the most brutal force in New York.

8. Trinitarios

This is the group formed in NYC by Dominican immigrants in 1989. With crazy growth rate, and worldwide spreading, Trinitarios gang counts around 30,000 members. This gang is on the radar by drug departments since they distribute crack cocaine and oxycodone in big quantities.

7. Aryan Brotherhood

Bald, with a lot of tattoos, violent and rough is a typical Aryan Brotherhood member. This is a racist criminal organization, operating in almost every prison in California, Texas, Arizona, Ohio, and Indiana. For the past two decades, the gang grew into organized crime syndicate, relying on prostitution and drugs distribution as their income source. This group counts around 33,000 violent felonies, in and out of prison.

6. Mexican Mafia

3The #6 on our list of the biggest gangs in America operates inside and outside California federal and state prisons. This is the oldest and most powerful prison gang in the States. The beginning of the 1960s was the period when the Mafia was formed and started “doing business” of vulgar beatings, trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping. More than 34,000 gangsters throughout the United States are involved with this gang.

5. Crips

The gang was cofounded by Tookie Williams in 1969 in LA grew steadily and became one of the leading criminal forces in the region. Many famous rappers were connected with this criminal organization, making it popular in media. This gang’s majority are African Americans; it enjoy the reputation as one of the wealthiest gang groups in the USA. Their arch rivals are the Bloods. Crips have around 35,000 active members.

4. Nuestra Familia

The arch rivals of Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia, is prison gang of Mexican Americans who are against the attitudes and politics of Mexican Mafia gang. The rivalry is born in the first few years of the 1960s. Nuestra Familia grew outside and inside the prisons, operating with drugs, racketeering, extortion, and robbing. Estimated number of members of Nuestra Familia is 42,000.

3. Latin Kings

This is the most organized Latin Gang in the country; hierarchy and tribes stationed in the States are organized to the fullest. Formed in 1940 in Chicago, this criminal organization grew steadily over time and became one of the biggest and strongest gangs in the America. Influence of the gang spreads over 34 states, and number of active members is around 45,500.

2. The 18^th Street

The 18^th Street gang is famous by other nicknames: The “M-18”, and “Barrio 18”. The organization is huge; around 50,000 members are operating in the Southwest. Area of “expertise” of this gang is wide: drug distribution, immigration, fake ID practices, murder-for-hire, prostitution and many more. The majority of the members have Mexican descent but in the recent years the numbers of other nationalities in the organization grew.

1. MS-13

Originally from El Salvador, the Mara Salvatrucha gang is the most dangerous gang in the America today. With members in every state of America, the group expanded like a virus on the continent and established the cartel of drugs and extortion. Over 70,000 people are members of this gang. The gang has become a major criminal force in the States with violent behavior, cruel and merciless crimes which were documented. The Obama administration declared MS-13 as an International Criminal Organization back in 2012, and since then several branches of law enforcement are concentrated in dealing with the winner of our list of Biggest Gangs In America.