Founded 1986 Ethnicity White | Years active 1986-present Membership (est.) 200+900 | |
Founding location Long Beach, California, U.S. Territory California, Victoria, Arizona, Idaho and Nevada | ||
Public Enemy No. 1 (abbreviated as PEN1) is a white supremacist street gang based in Southern California, United States. The California Department of Justice in 2004 described it as "one of the most powerful and fastest-growing gangs inside and outside prison" and said it had about 200 members statewide. Its main activities include identity theft, credit card fraud and methamphetamine sales.
Contents
History
The formation of the group was greatly influenced by members in the hardcore punk rock scene in Long Beach, California during the 1980s. However, by the 1990s, PEN1’s base of operations was in Orange County where they began recruiting white suburban adolescents. They have ties to the prison gangs.
Identity theft
PEN1 is heavily involved in identity theft, not a crime usually associated with gangs; most of the income from this is allegedly used to finance methamphetamine sale and other operations. Originally they did this by raiding mailboxes and trash cans for personal information, but the gang later used contacts inside of banks, mortgage companies and state motor vehicle departments in order to gain access to credit profiles. This has led to law enforcement officials requesting that their personal information be removed so that it can't be used by gang members to identify home addresses of police officers.