Omaha Gang Culture Blamed on L.A.

OMAHA, Neb. — Police, teachers and social workers here attribute rising youth gang activity in part to an influx of Hispanic families from California. Ironically, many left California to escape a violent gang subculture but ended up spreading the infection.

“A number of families who moved from L.A. brought children who were already involved with gangs,” said the Rev. Damian Zuerlein, the parish priest of a Roman Catholic church, Our Lady of Guadalupe, which caters to the community’s growing Mexican population.

Omaha now has an estimated 1,800 “hard core” gang members, police say. Two main competing Hispanic gangs are believed to have several hundred members each.