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The
Central Region consists not only of Oklahoma
City but also the surrounding suburban
cities such as, Midwest City, Del City,
Norman and Edmond to name a few. The gang
problem has spread into every one of these
communities. We have over 100 different
gang sets in the area with an estimated gang
population of 8,000. Our drive-by shootings
have tripled since 2000. The majority of
our shootings seem to be triggered either
from a dispute over a female or a drug deal
gone bad. After the initial shooting then
it becomes a set vs. set issue. Addionally,
we have seen assault rifle shootings
drastically increase in recent years.
In the
past few years we have seen a huge increase
in gang violence, particularly in the
Hispanic gangs. Our three largest Hispanic
gang sets are the South Side Locos (SSL),
Grande Barrio Centrale (GBC) and the
Juaritos who also go by Grande Barrio Loco (GBL).
These three gangs have a combined membership
of over 1,500. Since the summer of 2003 we
have experienced a marked increase in the
gang homicides between these groups with
some being directly tied to the Varrio
Tortilla Flats gang out of LA.
The
other three largest gangs in the region are
the 107 Hoovers, Westside Rolling 60’s and
the Rolling 90’s. These three have in
excess of 300 members each. Of these three
the 107 Hoovers are the most active and
violent. They are engaged in heavy drug
dealing and numerous shootings and
assaults. Due to their aggressiveness they
have been retaliated upon in recent months
with the result being several of them being
murdered in about a one month time span.
More recently the 107 Hoovers and the
Shotgun Crips have been involved in an
ongoing war with the two Neighborhood sets.
This began over drug turf and has now
erupted into a full scale war. There have
been numerous homicides, ADW’s and drive by
shootings related to this dispute.
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