Street Gangs in Las Vegas Nevada

The spread of gangs across the United States is due to the lucrative drug trade that gangs have seemed to shine in. The spread of gangs is due to markets being saturated or dried up due to law enforcement. So gangs that were from different areas will move to places like Las Vegas. Gangs in Nevada were gangs that were formerly from places like Los Angeles.

L.A gangs have spread to Las Vegas as well as the Reno areas.

History of Gangs in Nevada

Las Vegas Area

By 1988 the street gangs in Las Vegas were taking on the gang culture of some L.A. street gangs. Some of the gangs that were forming in the Las Vegas area were the:

All of these gangs were first formed in Los Angeles. What law enforcement found was that, members from LA were moving to Las Vegas and starting their own sets out there.

Gangbanging started occurring in Las Vegas, sets were being formed and more criminal activity was happening. Crimes like drug trafficking and drive by shootings were now happening in Las Vegas.

By 1990 there were approximately 50 separate gangs in Las Vegas area with approximately 5000 members.

Reno Area

Around the same time gangs started originating in the Las Vegas area is also when they started showing up in the Reno area. The Crips from LA were first documented in Las Vegas as early as 1987. By 1987 the Bloods as well as the Nazi Skinhead gangs were in the Reno area.

In 1989 there was an estimated 18 gangs with around 400 members.

Current State of Nevada Gangs

Las Vegas has now grown in numbers when it comes to gangs. It is now home to more than 300 street gangs, which is roughly 20,000 gang members.

Many of the gangs in Nevada are based off of more established gangs from California. The gangs in Las Vegas and Reno try to mimic these gangs by adapting the same gang names for their sets in Nevada.

List of Gangs in Nevada

White Gangs

Black Gangs

Latino Gangs

Asian Gangs

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