The Rise and Fall of Mexican American Gangs

In the 1930s and 40s, gangs in California were more like tight-knit neighborhood clicks than criminal organizations. Rivalries between young people from different barrios could become really intense. In August of 1942, following a murder at a reservoir known as Sleepy Lagoon, law enforcement rounded up roughly 600 people in a citywide dragnet. The judge refused to allow them to get clean clothes or have their haircut because their appearance was evidence of their gang status.