Thine is the kingdom: reconceptualising the Latin Kings street gang through the prism of revolutionary vanguardism

With more than 25 000 members, the Latin Kings are considered one of the most formidable and dangerous street gangs in the United States of America. While the politicisation of criminal organisations is not entirely exceptional, the Latin Kings’ development of a pseudo-religious belief system called ‘Kingism’ that encourages members to move beyond street crime and commit to socio-political revolution raises questions as to if they should be classified as a common street gang or, alternatively, a revolutionary force struggling with a pervasive criminal element. This analysis offers a critical reconceptualization of the Latin Kings as a political force whose criminal entrepreneurialism is just another method of destabilising the dominant capitalist system in its campaign for Marxist values, and presents an opportunity for law enforcement agencies to form strategies to combat their criminal operations by appealing to its members’ own self-conception as a liberating force for oppressed Latinx communities.

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