Public Enemy No. 1 (street gang)

Public Enemy No. 1 (abbreviated as PENI), also known as PENI Death Squad (or PDS), is a prison and street gang started in Long Beach, California[3] and now based in Southern California, United States.[4][5] In 2004, the California Department of Justice described it as "one of the most powerful and fastest-growing gangs inside and outside prison",[2] and reported it had about 200 members statewide. Its main activities include identity theft, credit card fraud, and methamphetamine sales.[6]

Public Enemy No.1
Founded1986
Founding locationLong Beach, California, United States
Years active1986–present
TerritoryActive primarily in Orange County and the Inland Empire, with a smaller presence in San Diego and Los Angeles counties[1]
EthnicityWhite
Membership (est.)350–400[1]
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, arms trafficking, assault, identity theft, murder, dog fighting
AlliesAryan Brotherhood[2]
Nazi Lowriders[2]
Sureños

History

Background and origins

The formation of the group was greatly influenced by members in the hardcore punk rock scene in Long Beach, California during the 1980s.[3][7] However, by the 1990s, PENI’s base of operations was in Orange County where they began recruiting white suburban adolescents.[3][7] They have ties to the prison gangs.[3][6]

Criminal activity

PENI is notoriously heavily involved in identity theft, which is not a crime often associated with street gangs; most of the income from this is allegedly used to finance methamphetamine sale and other operations. Originally they did this by raiding mailboxes and trash cans for personal information, but the gang later used contacts inside of banks, mortgage companies and state motor vehicle departments in order to gain access to credit profiles. This has led to law enforcement officials requesting that their personal information be removed so that it can't be used by gang members to identify home addresses of police officers.[7] One of the gang's founders; Donald "Popeye" Mazza, became a made member of the Aryan Brotherhood.[8]

Symbology and identification

The gang uses the numeric symbol "737" to indicate association with the gang. The numbers correspond to the letters P, D, and S on a telephone keypad. The initials stand for PENI Death Squad, another name for the group.[9]

Members often mark themselves with tattoos of different acronyms for the gang. Designs commonly include the words "PENI", "PDS" or the numbers "737", and sometimes in the form of runes, such as "ᛈᛖᚾᛁ" (PENI) or "ᛈᛞᛋ" (PDS), from Germanic runic alphabets.

  • The gang is featured in the TV documentary series Gangland, season 6, Episode 14: "Public Enemy #1".
  • In the crime-thriller feature film Shot Caller (2017), stockbroker and family man Jacob Harlon (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) causes a fatal DUI accident and is sentenced to prison, where survival requires him to get mixed in gang life and associate with PENI gang members.

References
  1. Public Enemy Number 1 (PENI) Anti-Defamation League
  2. "Racist gang caught in sting kept a list of Orange County police targets". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. December 17, 2006. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012.
  3. Addison, Brian (July 14, 2018). "The Long Beach origins of one of California's most notorious white power gangs". Long Beach Post. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  4. Simi, Pete; Smith, Lowell; Reeser, Ann M. S. (October 13, 2008). "From Punk Kids to Public Enemy Number One". Deviant Behavior. 29 (8): 753–774. doi:10.1080/01639620701873905.
  5. "Public Enemy Number 1 (PENI)". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  6. Reza, H.G. (December 16, 2006). "Hit list led to wave of O.C. arrests". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
  7. Flaccus, Gillian (March 4, 2007). "Alliance adds to gang's clout". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012.
  8. Gartrell, Nate (August 31, 2019). "'Build an army': Aryan Brotherhood leaders attempted to rule over all white California prison gangs, feds say". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020.
  9. "737 | Numeric Hate Symbols | Racist Prison Gang Symbols". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  10. "Red County Roleplay: Public Enemy Number 1".
  11. "Los Santos Roleplay: Public Enemy Number 1".
  12. "Los Santos Juego de Rol: Public Enemy No. 1".
  13. "GTA World Public Enemy No.1".
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