Venice 13 - History

History

After the 405 freeway tore through predominantly Mexican American and immigrant communities, many migrated west into the Oakwood area of Venice Beach. Originally the Oakwood area was labeled as a "servant's zone" and was one of the only areas where African Americans could live in the West Los Angeles. During this time Venice had been notoriously known as the "ghetto by the sea" due to the City of Los Angeles' negligent attitude toward the area, and as a result Oakwood's cheap housing prices which attracted young counterculture artists, poor European immigrants, and maintained an already working-class African American population made it relatively easy for Mexicans to settle in. It was in this extreme poverty that the Venice 13 gang formed, becoming one of the earliest gangs in the city.

Throughout the 1960s the gang grew rapidly and Venice gangmembers began playing an active role in the California prison system through Mexican Mafia membership, while on the streets the gang viciously battled with Culver City 13 creating a rivalry spanning over 50 years and still running. By this time the area was overrun with drugs and times changed, with V13 taking control of the drug trade as unemployment and racial tensions escalated, further fueling gang membership. Gang members found income supplying drugs to the hippies, and eventually high-income residents who came to Oakwood from affluent areas as crack cocaine arrived. In the 1990s Oakwood exploded when a war broke out between Venice 13, the Venice Shoreline Crips (VSLC) and the Culver City gang. As ordered by the Mexican Mafia, Venice 13 was to maintain control of Oakwood's drug trade and eventually a peace treaty formed between Venice 13 and the Crips. The 1990s brought on a series of revitalization as white homeowners began purchasing property and renovating old houses, causing the City of Los Angeles to combat the gang problem although V13 still remains active.