It's because Mexican Mafia was and still partially is the dominant organization in San Quentin, therefore they were able to give better protection than AB. Also, as stern49 had said, majority of Italian-Americans don't think of themselves as equal whites with average white prisoner in USA.



Yeah, if my memory serves me right his brother was either one of the starting members or a very influential member. I'm pretty sure he was the president at one point. Some family, huh? Robert was also one of most influential carnales in his days. He was one of those carnales who looked outside of the box. He wanted to be more sophisticated and he behaved accordingly.



Well, I remember reading somewhere that Mexican Mafia stopped the war with Nuestra Familia. By that, it doesn't mean they're not rivals. It's just that when members of the two factions face each other, they don't automatically take out shanks and go hunt for blood. But Surenos and Nortenos still go at it hard(in the areas that they meet of course. Those would include Northern part of California where Nortenos are majority, but there's some Sureno sets there. However, there's maybe, IF a set or two of Nortenos in So Cal. Surenos in So Cal are too busy beefing each other).

Also, out of the five Mexican-American prison organizations, only two are active in California. Maybe you should've also mentioned New EME. It's an organization in Arizona that started off of original, Californian EMEROS starting EME in Arizona prison system but then the new school vs old school beef started. However, in late 90s/early 2000s the two factions got together because they realized they can, in some cases, quadruple their money. Just another example that money rules the world.