An unholy alliance is reshaping Los Angeles’ criminal underworld.
Police have told The California Post once-sworn enemies MS-13 and 18th Street have set aside differences and decades of violence to form a “super gang,” cashing in on drugs, extortion and a booming underground casino trade that now rivals narcotics for profitability.
The gangs are operating under the control of the Mexican Mafia, abandoning traditional tit-for-tat street warfare in favor of profit, coordination and expansion.
Captain Ahmad Zarekani, head of the Los Angeles Police Department Gang and Narcotics Division, revealed gangs are exploiting low police numbers and soft-on-crime laws to grow their operations.
“Gangs that have previous feuds with each other or historically don’t get along are working together,” Zarekani told The Post, adding that the Mexican Mafia has now established it’s own direct links to drug cartels.
MS-13, one of the most violent gangs in the US, is known for committing horrific murders. In one infamous case known as the “mountain murders,” victims had their hearts cut out and were dismembered by machete. Another was choked to death for defacing MS-13 graffiti.
The 18th Street gang grew from humble Hispanic origins in 1960s LA to a ruthless, multinational killing machine. Members have executed cops, killed women and babies by torching apartment buildings, and once employed a hit man called Crook who’s behind 15 murders.
“They’re more organized than at anytime before and now act like business enterprises,” Zarekani said.
“You have our gangs that are dealing narcotics in other states, particularly the East Coast, they send narcotics, they’re involved in human trafficking and they’re in touch with other gangs.”
Hugo Ayon, a detective with the LAPD Gangs and Narcotics Division who has been investigating gangs for 26 years, said intelligence pointing to a gang peace treaty first began circulating after the Covid pandemic ended in 2022.
“We heard rumors on the street that the Mexican Mafia came out and said, ‘No more street fighting, no more gang banging,’ because it’s impacting the bottom line,” Ayon told The Post.
Now, when traditional rivalries flare up, Ayon said, they are quickly shut down because violence hurts profits, and gangs are now making more money than ever.
“The practice of going out and hunting down your rivals was outlawed by the Mexican Mafia,” he explained.
The alliance spans 239 miles from Bakersfield down to California’s southern border, near Chula Vista. In Los Angeles alone, there are more than 100,000 gang members, roughly a third Ayon said are believed to be working with affiliated rival gangs as Sureños.
While drug trafficking, human trafficking and extortion remain lucrative, Ayon said underground casinos, known as “casitas,” have emerged as a major cash generator.
The illegal gambling dens, packed with slot machines and table games, are typically set up inside vacant apartments and commercial buildings.
Gangsters from different neighborhoods each take on a different role, but all working under one umbrella.
“You’ll have an Avenues gang member doing security, you’ll have an MS-13 guy being the cashier, right, and then you’ll have like a guy, let’s just say 18th Street, picking up the cash,” Ayon told The Post. “Three different neighborhoods, right? Gangsters, that are all working under this Mexican Mafia.”
Casitas can bring in upward of $10,000 per week.
The surge in cash and organization has created new challenges for law enforcement, Ayon added, because more money brings more power and influence.
“We’ve heard more rumors of gangsters now paying off people in government,” he said, likening the behavior to the traditional Italian mafia.
As Hispanic gangs work together and expand their criminal enterprises, Ayon said cracking down has become increasingly difficult.
“Are we losing the battle? I’d like to think not,” he said. “But we’re barely holding our heads above water, and we’re getting tired.”
Zarekani said the problem is twofold; staffing shortages and laws that make it harder to hold offenders accountable.
“That’s one of the reasons we see them using the juvenile population to commit their crimes,” he said. “They know the juvenile laws in California mean it’s very hard to hold them accountable.”
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said statewide propositions and reform-minded prosecutors have left law enforcement at a disadvantage.
“If you possess cocaine in Las Vegas or even Orange County, they’re going to charge you with a felony,” Rahmani told The Post. “Here, it’s not even charged at all.”
Proposition 47, passed in 2014, reduced certain drug possession and property theft crimes under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.
Those reforms were partially scaled back in 2024, when voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, allowing felony charges for offenders with two or more prior convictions.
Rahmani also pointed to Assembly Bill 109, intended to reduce overcrowding in state prisons, which shifted inmates deemed nonviolent to county jails, often leading to early release because of overcrowding.
“There are some instances, like with women, where they’re serving just 10% of their sentence, or are booked and released, because county jails are so crowded,” he said.
Ayon said the shortened prison terms have stripped police of leverage when trying to persuade suspects to cooperate.
“We’ve had guys in interview rooms tell us, ‘I’m not going to do any time, I’ll be out in a couple days,'” he said.
Staffing shortages within the LAPD, driven by budget deficits, have compounded the problem.
“Commercial crimes division, juvenile division, robbery, homicide division, everyone has been reduced,” Zarekani said.
“In my division, it’s been reduced drastically. I’d rather not give numbers, but from around 2014, our narcotics unit has been cut by over half.”
During a ride-along with Ayon around downtown Los Angeles, near MacArthur Park, The Post observed at least four people openly lighting pipes to smoke drugs in public.
Asked what the solution is, Ayon said there is no single answer.
Instead, he pointed to hiring more officers, a “change in attitude among some politicians,” and renewed focus on mental health treatment and criminal justice reform laws as a starting point.
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