It is virtually a summer ritual for southwestern Minnesota law enforcement jurisdictions to have contacts with the “Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” such as the “Sons of Silence”, “Hell’s Angels” and “Banditos”. These groups have regularly passed through our areas, i.e.: the “Son’s of Silence” hold their yearly national meeting in Dickinson County, Iowa and the two week period before and the week after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This is the month that the “I-90” corridor becomes motorcycle madness.

In retrospect, it would appear that criminal street gangs have been developing a foothold in southwestern Minnesota for several years. We should have possessed the insight to have dug a little deeper when in 1988 a juvenile returned to Worthington, MN. From Illinois claiming a “Vice Lords” affiliation and involving himself and other friends in criminal activities. Also, in 1990 and 1991 when young adults who claimed to be “Gangster Disciples” involved themselves in criminal activity in Worthington and Fairmont.

The first southwestern Minnesota incident that could be documented as a criminal street gang presence occurred in Worthington, Minnesota during the spring of 1991. There were shots fired by three Fresno, California, Lao Crip gang members; “209 LC”; while attending a Lao dance. These three gang members were part of three carloads of persons who had traveled to Worthington from Storm Lake and Sioux City Iowa. Over the next few months threats of bodily harm were conveyed by the defendant’s gang towards witnesses in an attempt at keeping them from testifying in court. One such threat was made in a letter that was mailed from Pipestone, Minnesota. This letter contained many gang references and the writer identified himself as a 209 Lao Crip and a member of the Nip Family. Contacts with Law Enforcement agencies in Fresno, California revealed that the Nip Family is a much feared and very violent Asian gang from California. Later in this same letter the writer identified himself as being a member of the 507 Crips. This was the first time police saw a gang member claiming Southwestern Minnesota as a gang identifier.

In April of that same year Asian gang members from St. Paul, Minnesota burglarized a Marshall, Minnesota gun shop.

During September of 1992 Jackson, Minnesota became identified as having membership associated with the southwestern MN Lao Crips. Crip graffiti professed to claim the area; Jackson; as belonging to the 209 Crips, the Asian Mafia, and the Oriental Boys Society (OBS). There were also references to Oakland and Los Angeles California gang members.

During the 1992 Cottonwood County Fair in Windom, Minnesota a shooting was committed by Asian gang members from the Minneapolis area. Two persons were wounded.

In October of 1992 Peace Officers from several Law Enforcement agencies in southwest Minnesota, Northwest Iowa, South Sioux City, Nebraska; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota met for the first time to discuss suspected gang activity. This meeting led to the forming of the Quad State Rural Enforcement Task Force which has met monthly ever since. This task force is a nonprofit professional association of Federal, State, and Local criminal investigators, and peace officers from a four state area, SW Minnesota, NW Iowa, NE Nebraska, and SE South Dakota that tracks organized criminal activity which affects numerous member jurisdictions. The task force is a grassroots, rural law enforcement response to the emergence of criminal street gangs in our communities. Over 20 investigators from 4 states met in October 1992. During the meeting we discovered that it was the same youths that were being confronted by the various agencies. In addition, these youths were highly mobile and well organized. On the basis of the evidence presented at this first meeting we became alarmed at the gravity of this problem and have met monthly ever since. The ever expanding membership of this task force promotes information sharing, the tracking of gang members, and the tracking of gang expansion. In addition, the task force sponsors, provides, and promotes training related to criminal street gangs. The more we looked into this rural Midwestern gang presence, the more we discovered that many more communities were affected. The problem was that no one would believe us. Over the next several years we documented this gang expansion. The results of this documentation were quite disheartening.

At the monthly meetings gang information is shared and special gang training is often provided. This task force has a second purpose. It is to provide gang training to Law Enforcement Officers in this rural area. There have been 8 large seminars (2-3days) which approximately 1400 Federal, State and Local law enforcement officers from seven states have attended. Four smaller continuing education classes on gangs have been conducted by Task Force members through the Southwest Vocational College Law Enforcement training program (Approx. 5 hours) and two through the University of Minnesota. In Minnesota alone approximately 500 other programs (between 1 to 6 hours) have also been given to smaller law enforcement groups, social workers, teachers, students, and community groups. Attendance at these other programs has ranged from 14 to 450 people. An average attendance would be approximately 40 people.

In September of that same year a Pipestone, MN. Gun shop was the target of Asian gang members from St. Paul, Minnesota.

This information sharing process yielded results within the first month of its existence, when during late October of 1992 the Sargent Bluff, Iowa law enforcement authorities arrested a burglary suspect. A search of his vehicle yielded positive evidence of a regional connection among the gangs. Documents were recovered by police that listed the Asian Boyz Zone; ABZ: as planning three armed robberies. Two restaurants and a gun shop. In addition, there were lists of people who were involved in trading guns for drugs and money. Not only was the ABZ membership laid out, but also business connections in Sioux Falls, SD; Worthington, MN; Minneapolis, MN; Rochester, MN; Des Moines, IA; Sioux City, IA; Omaha, NE; and Tecumseh, NE were documented.

In December, 1992, metro gang members were involved in selling firearms from the trunk of their vehicle to Butterfield, MN. Juveniles. During the same period a Windom, MN. Gun shop was burglarized by some Cottonwood County juveniles. The pistols were sold to some Junior High School students in Worthington, MN. and other pistols from this burglary were sold in Jackson, MN. to persons who stated that they intended to use these weapons in Minneapolis to kill Bloods gang members.

Various gangs were expanding their membership. Reports of jump-ins were becoming common place. Non-traditional local gangs were engaged in acts of terrorism as their rite of passage into the gang. One such act was in October of 1993 when notes from the gang were left pinned to various household doors within the community. The notes were death threats that were addressed to family members and pinned to the door via throwing knives. This increase in recruitment was occurring at the same time that there were 5 southwestern ad south central Minnesota shootings. Brewster and Albert Lea Minnesota in May of 1993. Mountain Lake and St. James Minnesota in July of 1993. Worthington Minnesota in August and a second Albert Lea shooting in December of 1993.

The exchange of information and the tracking of gang members was increasing the effectiveness of arrested for violent crimes. The May 1993 Albert Lea shooting incident was a good example. A early afternoon shooting prompted an exchange of information between Albert Lea, Worthington, Jackson, and St. James which resulted in the arrest of 7 gang members (St. James and Worthington) and identified all participants within 4 hours of the commission of the crime.

Other connections between gangs appeared when in the summer of 1993 a Minneapolis execution style murder of a gang leader was linked to the murder weapon being stolen from a home in Heron Lake, Minnesota by two Mountain Lake, Minnesota men.

Throughout 1994 and 1995 gang related shootings increased throughout southwestern Minnesota. Violent incidents of all kinds were increasing. In Watonwan county alone there was a 214% increase in violent juvenile criminal offenders between 1992 and 1996. The concept of someone transplanting the street gang mentality into our rural communities had to face the realization that the youth within all our communities were actually fueling their own fate. Case in point. In the summer of 1994, approximately six white juveniles between the ages of 14 to 17 years of age created a small local gang IIM (Insane Irish Mafia). For excitement they would travel between Mountain Lake and Butterfield Minnesota breaking into homes and stealing guns. The stolen guns were taken out and used to shoot at traffic as it traveled along on US Hwy 60. Most recent interviews with a juvenile offender who is now an adult revealed that this person now aligns with the “Gangster Disciples”. This person is one of many kids who did not grow out of it.

Anoka county authorities were able to establish high ranking gang members residing in Mountain Lake and Worthington Minnesota. This information was a result of interviews conducted in 1994 related to a series of gun shop burglaries.

These rural southwestern Minnesota criminal street gang trends continued through 1997 as best witnessed by the gang related execution murder of “Sky” Erickson that took place in rural Jackson county Minnesota. But as the gang activity increases we can be proud to say that out tracking of gang members and activity also makes it possible to incarcerate the offenders. Just one example of the effectiveness of our gang intelligence is an August 1997 armed robbery that took place in St. James, Minnesota. A street name inscribed on a bandana was identified to a person and was considered the driving element that cleared the case.