Ethnicity Mexican-Americans | Membership 3,800 | |
Rivals | ||
The Texas Syndicate (Spanish: Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly Texas-based prison gang that includes Hispanic and, at one time, White (non-Hispanic) members. The Texas Syndicate, unlike La Eme or Nuestra Familia, has been more associated or allied with Mexican immigrant prisoners.
It was established in the 1970s at Folsom Prison in California in direct response to the other California prison gangs (notably the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia), which were attempting to prey on native Texas inmates. Los Zetas cartel has been known to hire US gangs such as the Texas Syndicate and MS-13 to carry out contract killings.
Membership
As of 2000, some minority reports claim the Texas Syndicate had about 19,000 members in prisons and jails statewide with more on the outside. However, such numbers are often inflated and include inmates only marginally connected with the gang as well as ex-cons, most of whom do not remain actively involved. Around 8,126 Hispanic members operate across Texas, including specific reportings in the Coffield Unit, about 60 miles southwest of Tyler, and at the Allred prison unit outside of Wichita Falls. However, they still maintain their headquarters in California, where their national president resides, and their numbers continue to reach into state and federal prisons across the US. They have been reported in the Federal Correctional Institute at Oakdale, Louisiana and in San Quentin, California with frequency. There is some representation in the Florida Department of Corrections.
As a street gang, heavy activity has been reported in Austin, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and the Dallas Fort Worth area in Texas.
The organization at one time did allow non-Hispanic members to join, but reversed this policy in the 1980s.