LAPD Gang Units

LOS ANGELES - AUGUST 4: A Los Angeles gang police car drives down an alleyway dividing two rival hispanic street gangs on August 4, 2006 in the Rampart neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The alley divides the 18th Street gang from a rival Rockwood gang. The 18th Street gang claims to be the dominant Salvadoran street gang having established itself in the early 1980's to protect the newly arrived Salvadoran immigrants from stronger neighboring Mexican gangs. MS-13, one of it's Salvadoran rivals, has spread its organization across to the East Coast. Hispanic gangs compete for the lucrative drug trade with the majority of the profits and overall control going to the Mexican mafia. Los Angeles's violent crime rates, traditionally one of the highest in California, have recently fallen as figures show a shift by criminals to outlying counties where real estate prices are more affordable. (Photo by Robert Nickelserg/Getty Images)