The 4th Ave Jail in Maricopa County, AZ is on lockdown after "a large scale fight involved 25 Hispanic and black inmates broke out" yesterday as reported by KSAZ: "the Mexican Mafia inmates are allegedly putting out orders to all Hispanic inmates to refuse to be housed with black inmates and to beat them up."
The racial tension between Latino and black gang members has been a long-standing problem for prison officials across the country.
Earlier this year 300 inmates were involved in a race riot at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, CA after members from Southern Hispanics and Crips ruffle each other's feathers in the recreation yard as reported by The Bakersfield Californian.
To the alarm of law enforcement the racial tension is no longer confined to the prisons but has spread to the streets, and the targets no longer are limited to rival gangsters but include innocent civilians.
In Southern California the Mexican Mafia recently ordered Hispanic street gangs to "'focus on getting the blacks out' of their territories, according to an Escondido police gang specialist" as reported by Eva Knott for the San Diego Reader.
Last year the feds indicted 51 suspected members of Azusa 13 -- a Latino street gang affiliated with the Mexican Mafia -- for their alleged roles in a terror campaign against blacks in Azusa, CA as then reported by Frank Stoltze for KPCC: "The indictment alleges that nearly 20 years ago, the Azusa 13 adopted a racist principle to harass and use violence in an effort to drive African-Americans out of the city of Azusa."
