Latin Kings hit Florida in 1990s, now state's largest gang
Former state prosecutor Anne Wedge-McMillen talks about the Latin Kings gang and the challenges they represent to law enforcement and prosecutors.
By Henry Pierson Curtis,
Orlando Sentinel
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An order went out across Florida last month: Find and kill William "King Will" Tosado.
A leader of the Latin Kings in Osceola County decided the follower turned informant must die, according to court records.
The gang quickly tracked down Tosado about 200 miles south in Miami. He moved there for protection after agreeing to testify in a racketeering case against the Latin Kings.
Law enforcement said nothing publicly about the failed hit on Tosado's life after charging Latin Kings leader Joey "King Hush" Hernandez with ordering his murder from inside the Osceola County Jail.
And almost nothing was released to the public about the underlying Latin Kings crime spree a year earlier when Hernandez and fellow gang members, including Tosado, ransacked more than 40 vacation homes near Walt Disney World, according to arrest reports.
Former Attorney General Bill McCollum talks about Florida's gang problem
Former Attorney General Bill McCollum talks about Florida's gang problem
The silence is part of a national strategy by law enforcement officials to not publicize gang activity.
But state Department of Corrections records show the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation -- one of the oldest and most violent gangs in the U.S. -- is now the largest gang in Florida. With nearly 1,000 Latin Kings currently in the state's prison system, its members are charged with murders, attempted murders, dealing drugs, robberies and running prostitutes.
"There's a lot more gang activity going on in the Central Florida area than we have acknowledged," said retired Judge Hubert L. Grimes, Bethune-Cookman University's Center of Law and Social Justice. "These are very strong numbers and parents need to be educated … Our parents are the key."
Roots in Chicago, New York
The Latin Kings' origins date back to the post-World War II era known as "The Great Migration" from Puerto Rico. The migrants arrived in Chicago where ethnic gangs had controlled neighborhoods since the late 19th century.
In the late 1960s, the gang started becoming more organized -- giving themselves a name, developing their own manifesto and forming a structured leadership system.
The federal Department of Justice now classifies the Latin Kings as a criminal organization with nearly 35,000 members in more than 30 states.
Members wear black-and-gold colors, share a salute with fists over their hearts meaning "I DIE FOR YOU," and frequently sport tattoos of their national emblem, a five-point crown.
No longer considered predominantly Puerto Rican, the Latin Kings are increasingly diverse with members from Mexico, South America, the Middle East, south Asia and Spain, according to gang reports.
The members pay dues, study the manifesto and follow superiors' orders or face fines and beatings. And members who try to leave or disrespect leaders are often killed or beaten by their fellow Latin Kings.
Exploring the Latin Kings gang of Central Florida
Jeff Weiner and Hank P. Curtis explore the Latin Kings and Queens gang of Central Florida.
Unlike other states, the Latin Kings in Florida do not report to the national leadership in Chicago.
"Florida is not controlled by New York, Connecticut or Chicago," said Agent Robert Hernandez, a gang specialist with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "They're not as disciplined as they used to be as far as structure, but they're better than some other groups."
Largest gang in Florida
The Latin Kings began spreading into Central Florida by the mid-1990s.
"The LKs first hit Florida about the same time gangs exploded in America," said George W. Knox, director of the National Crime Gang Research Center. "The Latin Kings are known for the accentuation effect. They go to extreme lengths to draw more attention with pure brutality."
cComments
@imgramps "Give PR its independence" You mean like we gave Cuba it's independence? That sure worked out well. Face it, folks. With two notable exceptions, whether it's the Caribbean or the Middle East, our record at nation building is pretty sad.
COMMON SENSE IS NOT SO COMMON
AT 2:40 PM NOVEMBER 29, 2014
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According the state Department of Corrections, the Latin Kings now have 1,000 members in the Florida prison system -- hundreds more than the next largest gangs, the Bloods with about 700 and Gangster Disciples with about 600.
The Latin Kings are believed to have about 900 more members outside prison including 500 in Central Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In 2013, the state Department of Corrections reported that 8,289 of the state's 100,884 inmates were identified as gang members.
Osceola County has 85 gangs with 1,189 gang members. Those statistics are similar to Orange County which reports 72 gangs with about 1,200 members.
Former State Attorney General Bill McCollum, who made raising public awareness about gangs a priority a decade ago, says it's time for police to start talking about gang activity in the community.
Latin Kings symbols
The five-pointed crown is the most common Latin Kings symbol.
"If you've got a particularly bad gang that's not just the local guys playing football in the backyard, your community needs to know about it," McCollum said. "Meaning right there in the street, in the community, in the schools … where these gangs are recruiting kids from and primarily that's where they operate."
Gang units grow
As the gang population continues to grow in Central Florida, so do the units tasked with keeping tabs on them.
Osceola's decision in January to double its gang unit followed a gang population spike. It tripled from 20 gangs with about 400 members in 2010 to 85 gangs with 1,189 members this year.
"I think we're seeing more because we're tracking it more," Sheriff Bob Hansell said. "We are more involved than we ever have been. We may be seeing things we missed in the past."
The Orange County Sheriff's Office runs the largest gang unit in Central Florida.
Running the 12-member unit costs about $560,000 a year in salaries alone. The unit's duties include investigating all gang-related crimes except murder and sexual battery, identifying new gang members and targeting any gang that threatens victims or witnesses willing to testify in court, according to Lt. Carlos Espinosa.
"In Orange County, we stay on top of our gang activity," said Espinosa, the unit commander. "We don't ignore it."
The gang unit currently monitors 1,200 documented members of 72 street gangs, including 143 members and associates of the Latin Kings.
That figure is a stark contrast from previous statistics. Between 2005 and 2006, Orange County reported having 2,400 gang members including 232 Latin Kings.
But the drop in number of reported gang members does not mean gang activity is lessening. Espinosa follows the policy of not identifying the crimes gangs commit.
Espinosa said it encourages an upward spiral of lawlessness when other gangs try to outdo each other for credibility. There actually may be twice as many gang members and associates than the number that are documented, according to Espinosa.
The criteria for documenting gang members and associates includes identifying factors, such as gang tattoos, use of gang hand signs, wearing gang paraphernalia such as the Latin Kings' gold-and-black colors or being identified by an informant.
"We feel that having a dedicated group of people," Espinosa said, "doing nothing but gang investigations helps us ... to proactively respond to calls and help dismantle and attack gangs as they pop up."
