Venice 13 - WikiHQ

Venice 13 or West Side Venice 13, abbreviated as V13 or VX3, is a Mexican American street gang based in the Oakwood (aka "Ghost Town") neighborhood of Venice, a section of Los Angeles, California. It has a substantial presence in East Venice as well as the Culver City/Los Angeles border, especially around Washington Blvd.

The gang dates back to the 1920s or 1930s. It was amongst the first Mexican gangs to fight gang wars against African-American gangs, especially the local Venice Shoreline Crips which were founded in the mid-1970s. It is affiliated with the Sureños and the Mexican Mafia. It is widely known for its deadly street violence with fellow Mexican-American gang, the Culver City Boys 13.

History

After the 405 freeway tore through predominantly Mexican American and immigrant communities in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many migrated west into the Oakwood area of Venice Beach. Originally the Oakwood area was labeled as a "servant's zone" and was one of the only areas where African Americans could live on the Westside of Los Angeles.

Injunctions

The Venice gang has also been the target of West Side gang injunctions in the 1990s along with Culver City 13, and the Venice Shoreline Crips.

Rivalry

Venice 13's main rivals were the Santa Monica 13 and Santa Monica 17th St gangs, however they both settled a truce and formed an alliance. As well as 18th Street gang (particularly the 106th St in Inglewood), as well as the Grave Yard Gangsta Crips in Santa Monica and Culver City 13 in the Mar Vista neighborhood. Historically, the main rivals of the gang have long been Venice Shoreline Crips who have shared the same neighborhood in Venice called Oakwood, which in from early to mid 20th century was segregated and sectioned as the only area in Venice that African-Americans and Hispanics could own properties.

Shoreline Crips

Venice 13 was involved in an intense battle with the Venice Shoreline Crips during the 1990s. The conflict escalated and in one point in time Venice 13 and the Culver City gang went as far as to set aside their own fight to unite against the Shorelines. In 1994 Venice 13 and the Shorelines bargained for a cease fire, after a war that left 55 people dead and many more wounded.

Notoriety

Although the gang has been known to be relatively laid back and often members prefer not to exert themselves, they have gained notoriety for violent and often very reckless retaliation attacks. Venice 13 has also been known to viciously defend their turf from outside drug trafficking and trespassing, with violators being killed or at least shot at.

Gentrification

In 1994, due to the stigma of the neighborhood's reputation as "Los Angeles at its worst" many investors were deterred from the area.

With gentrification transforming the formerly more downscale sections of the West Side, many of its rivals are either near-defunct or in severe decline. With housing prices starting in the $500,000 and escalating into the millions from there, Venice 13 struggled to maintain the same presence it used to have in its neighborhood during the 1990s. While Oakwood was at one point a very inexpensive area to buy property, it is being sought after by wealthy artists and businesspeople at competitive prices. Famous movie stars such as actresses Julia Roberts and Anjelica Huston, and actor Nicolas Cage have taken residency in or around the Oakwood area. According to a Venice gang member, some Venice 13 members have even been forced into nearby Inglewood due to rent and housing costs. The affiliate, with plenty of animosity for the mostly, non-Hispanic white professional newcomers, stated that new home owners in the area at sometimes fail to even notice Oakwood as a gang neighborhood. This gentrification has been the cause of rising racial tension between the original African American and Latino residents and the more affluent newcomers.

The inconsistent pattern of gang violence in Oakwood has also scared many high income residents who are not accustomed to the neighborhood, such as a 2001 string of violent shootings which resulted in 3 murders in a two-week period. Months following the incidents residents reported the streets being empty at sundown despite increased police presence. In the November 2004 issue of Vanity Fair magazine author John Brodie contested that gentrification would fail as "...the gunplay of the Shoreline Crips and the V-13 is as much a part of life in Venice as pit bulls playing with blond Labs at the local dog park.".