Based on my experience, I'd say my paintball games were more realistic and useful training experiences than any contrived multiple-target drill, falling...

In paintball scenarios, you battle multiple adversaries often in close quarter combat in urban or built-up locations. You either assault or defend a...

In a strange way, the iconography ties together much of the evil perpetrated by the gangs that are trafficking in drugs and human beings and their violent...

Edged-weapon gang culture flourished most prominently in American jails and prisons. Every inmate is expected to be able to defend himself. Gang members...

The Mexican Mafia is composed of cell-like cliques united in a coalition under the umbrella name. These cliques or sub-groups are led by informal...

Like the evolution of the Italian Mafia in U.S. cities such as New York and Chicago, Mexican smugglers or "contrabandistas" evolved from crude thuggish...

Vetrovec and I were at the south window in hyper-vigilance mode, when one of the Geraghty homeboys pulled down the plywood covering the living room door,...

I've always marveled at this irony. Young men who rebel against authority and parental control, who commonly hate school, hate memorizing verses and...

Some human sacrifices to Santa Muerte have been claimed in Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo in 2006. In 2008, 11 headless bodies were found in the Yucatan and the...

If ending corruption is the real goal, let's apply all the regulations equally across the board. I can support mandatory financial disclosure for all...

Every time law enforcement thought that they had knocked out or retired the Eme organization, they found that the Eme came back again. The Mexican Mafia...

The word "war" is not just hyperbole; it correctly describes what is going on. It's estimated that the violence—kidnapping and murder—has driven 400,000...

The 211 Crew is a white-supremacist prison gang. The loosely structured group had its early formation in the Denver County Jail, and its members included a...

The release in Mexico of one of the men responsible for the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena has renewed tension between the U.S. and...

The worst of these 155th Street members were usually high on "red devils" (Seconal) and drunk on wine. They were dangerous to everyone and lethal to rivals....

So far I have exercised what I consider "commendable restraint" in holding back my public comments on the recent events in Ferguson, Mo. Frankly I have not...

A gang murder investigation requires your best detective skills to solve the crime and protect the witnesses.

There seems to be an illogical perception in the U.S. that "bad guys," especially those associated with criminal gangs, are dumb—or at least uneducated. But...

Like war, police work can be an ugly job. Like military service, it can be dangerous physically and psychologically. But who's better prepared to endure...

While in custody, most Sureño gang members are educated in martial arts fighting tactics and are primarily trained in fighting with edged weapons. The...