Behind the Scenes of El Paso’s Sixth Street Gang

I used to get sucked into marathons of Gangland all the time. I love that damn show. Something similar has happened with a YouTube channel by Frank Blaquez. It appears he does something similar on his channel. He has a lot of really good videos from gangs around the southwest area. From El Paso to Albuquerque to Arkansas, he does a really good job with his videos. The most recent video that went up a few days ago.

BTW, did you know there's a whole website dedicated to gangs? CLICK HERE to check it out. If you are really into reading up on gangs, you can check out the book Gangs of the El Paso-Juarez Borderland. The book covers 100 years of history with gangs in the Borderland and is the culmination of four years of research by author Mike Tapia, who graduated from Ysleta High School in 1992. When talking about the book, Tapia said:

El Paso has a very poignant gang, cholo, Chicano gang subculture. Almost anyone who grew up in El Paso had some level of exposure to the subculture.

Tapia has spent 20 years researching gangs and works at New Mexico State University as an associate professor of criminal justice. The book even covers the weapons that have been used by gangs, including in the 1950's when they had homemade firearms called zip guns. They would shoot one bullet, but according to Tapia, they weren't very accurate:

They aren’t very accurate, but if you’re lucky or at a close distance, they could be deadly.