Description of the case studies

The case studies address multiple gangs responsible for different types of crimes against rival gang members or non-Latin American individuals, including: violent crimes, property crimes, drug-related crimes and illegal carrying of weapons. All investigations lasted several months, led to the arrest of 25 to 75 individuals mostly from Latin American countries and aimed at revealing gangs organizational structure as well as tackle their involvement in offending (see Table 3). To date, these case studies represent the most relevant operations against Latin gangs in Italy, as the same degree of organization and offending have not been observed in other Italian cities where these gangs are present (i.e.

Genoa and Torino).⁴⁷ The following sections briefly describe each case study to provide a comprehensive overview of the sources selected for the analyses.

• Operation Street fighters

Operation Street fighters is the first police operation conducted against Latin street gangs in Milan in 2006. The operation follows an eight-month investigation started in 2005 and targeting two Latin gangs: the Latin King and the Comando. Law enforcement activities included the review and analysis of previously reported crimes involving Latin American individuals (i.e. between March 2004 and June 2005) and the wiretapping of conversations between few Latinos believed to be important gang members. The surveillance lasted between January and June 2005 (Questura di Milano - Squadra Mobile 2005).

46 For an extensive discussion and comments on the art. 416 of the Italian Criminal Code, see (Gaito, Romano, and Ronco 2018); see also https://www.brocardi.it/codice-penale/libro-secondo/titolo-v/art416.html.

47 Personal communication with the police deputy chief of Milan.

The close examination of previously reported crimes revealed that such crime incidents had some common aspects:

✓ the recurrence of some offenders;

✓ the shared ethnic background of offenders and victims (i.e. citizens of Latin American countries) and their young age;

✓ the fact that most of these crime incidents were investigated because the police intervened (e.g. during a street fight) and not because they had been reported by the victims.

The 66 intercepted conversations revealed the type of activities the two gangs were involved in. The gangs were mainly involved in between gang fights, the organization and attendance of gang meetings, and the recruitment of new members, who were asked to pay weekly dues to the leader. Other criminal activities included the unlawful possession of bladed weapons.

• Operation Amor de Rey

Operation Amor de Rey⁴⁸ is the largest investigation among the selected case studies and targeted mainly four gangs: the Latin King, divided in the factions of Chicago and Luzbel, the Netas and the Trebol. The peculiarity of this judicial file lies in the fact that it is the only selected case study addressing four gangs, two transnational and two local, all of which have been found to have essential elements of unlawful associations. Three attempted murders were identified as a result of between gang fights. With Operation Secreto (2012), the law enforcement agencies apprehended the gang members responsible for such violent crimes. In the subsequent months, authorities continued to monitor Latin gang activities in Milan and eventually conducted the larger Operation Amor de Rey in 2013. Among the gangs investigated, the Latin King Chicago were particularly involved in street-level crimes (e.g. drug dealing, street fighting) as well as in transnational crimes as drug trafficking. The investigation led to the seizure of 1.5 kilos of cocaine that had been imported through international contacts with Colombian narco-traffickers. The

48 Operation Amor de Rey was conducted on 25/02/2013, while Operation Mareros on 18/07/2013. For this reason, it was decided to describe each case study following the chronological order of the two operations rather than the chronological order of issue of the documents collected, as showed in Table 3. In fact, Operation Mareros came after Operation Amor de Rey, but for the former investigation the researcher was able to collect the police information report while for the latter only the pre-trial court order, which is issued afterwards.

police also found evidence of illegal possession of firearms (i.e. short guns) belonging to members of the allied gangs of Latin King Chicago and Netas. Operation Amor de Rey is the largest investigation of Latin gangs in Milan both in terms of number of people arrested (n = 75), and number of juveniles involved (n = 18, 24%). Members of other gangs are also present in the pre-trial court order. For some gangs (e.g. the Latin King New York, the Bloods), the investigators did not find enough evidence to charge their members for being part of an unlawful association. For other gangs, law enforcement conducted separate investigations specifically targeting such groups (i.e., Operation Mareros for the MS13, Operation Trinitario for the Trinitarios).

• Operation Mareros

Operation Mareros is the first police operation conducted against Salvadorian gangs in Milan, namely the MS13. The investigation started in December 2011, after an Ecuadorian juvenile reported to the police that she had been victim of a robbery by members of the MS13. During the investigation, police gang experts⁴⁹ observed that Latin gangs had been improving the organization of their groups with the aim of reproducing similar modus operandi of their Northern American and Latin American counterparts (Questura di Milano - Squadra Mobile 2012). This operation confirmed the presence of several Latin gangs in the city, whose activity resulted in several crimes committed in public space (i.e. parks, squares, subway stations, areas nearby schools). Serious and violent crimes as extortion, aggravated robbery, and attempted murder were often aggravated by trivial reasons, identified by the investigators as between gang fights.

Beside violent crimes, this investigation revealed that the MS13, similarly to what was observed in Operation Amor de Rey, was a structured group whose leaders pretended the payment of weekly dues from members to economically sustain the group.

• Operation Trinitario

Operation Trinitario, as the name suggests, targeted the group known as Trinitarios, a street gang composed mainly of individuals from the Dominican Republic. The investigation started in November 2011 after an Ecuadorian citizen reported to the police that he had been victim of a robbery perpetrated by three members of the Trinitarios. As

49 A group of law enforcement experts on Latin gangs was formed after Operation Street fighters with the aim of monitoring Latin gangs in Milan.

for the other gangs mentioned thus far, the investigation revealed that the Trinitarios had a fair level of internal organization, with leadership roles, payment of dues and regular meetings. Criminal activities constituted an essential part of the gang life and were aimed at both the financial sustainment of the group (e.g., drug-related crimes) and at the control of the territory against rival gangs (e.g., attempted murder).

• Operation Barrio 18

Operation Barrio 18 is the last and most recent major police operation conducted against Latin gangs in Milan. The investigation revealed that the Salvadorian gang of Barrio18 had a fair organizational structure (with leaders, regular meetings, and payment of weekly dues) and was involved in violent and street-level crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated robbery and drug dealing. In line with all previous gangs described, the Barrio18 was highly involved in between gang fights, mostly assaults towards the MS13.