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Tongan Crip Gang
The logo of the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team is commonly used by members as a symbol for TCG.
The logo of MLB's Minnesota Twins is also commonly used to represent TCG as well.
Founding locationInglewood, California, United States[1]
Years active1970s–present
TerritoryCalifornia, Utah[1]
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, burglary, identification theft, car theft
AlliesSons of Samoa, Tongan Foe Lyfe Ganster Crip
RivalsSureños, Norteños, Scott Park Piru, Carson Piru, Avenue Piru Gang, Kearns Town Bloods, Baby Regulators,[2] Park Village Compton Crips,[2] Carver Park Crips

The Tongan Crip Gang (TCG) is a Tongan American street gang that is a subgroup, or "set", of the Crips gang alliance. The gang is active in the U.S. states of California, Utah and Alaska.[1]

Overview

History

The Tongan Crip Gang was founded in Inglewood, California, where the gang is aligned numerous other, predominantly African American Crips sets. The Tongan Crip Gang then emerged in Salt Lake City after gang members from the Los Angeles area began moving to Utah in late 1988 in order to escape increasing law enforcement pressure on the gang in California.[1]

Many of the Tongan Crip Gang members moved from California to the Salt Lake City, Utah area in the 1980s, and distributed the gang set there.[3]

The Salt Lake City branch of the Tongan Crip Gang was founded in the mid-80s after intimidation by Latino gang members in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Glendale.[4]

Criminal activities

The Tongan Crip Gang's crimes include burglaries, auto theft, selling drugs, home invasions, credit card fraud, bank fraud, federal fraud (theft of federal documents, passports, driver's licenses), witness intimidation, insurance fraud, arson, sex trafficking of minors, impersonation of both state police and federal agents, prostitution, hacking, child pornography, kidnapping, extortion by means of threat to reveal information about the private life of an individual, crimes against the elderly, crimes against Central American Communities and individuals associated with the MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha Gang), crimes against the disabled, mail fraud and murder.

In 2007, members of the Tongan Crip Gang and the 18 Street Gang were indicted by a federal grand jury for criminal conspiracy in a plot to murder 33 members of a Los Angeles subset of MS-13.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Polynesian/Islander Gangs and Culture" (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Tim. "The Gangs of Zion", High Country News, August 8, 2005.
  3. ^ Court shooting sheds light on 'Tongan Crips', a gang with Alaska ties Archived April 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "The Gangs of Zion". hcn.org. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
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