Pinoys: richest ethnic group that bangs?

[Silencioso]

Filipinos are one of about five non-white ethnic groups that have a higher per capita income than whites. (the others are East Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Arabs). They're still a big part of the Asian gang scene despite being mostly middle class. Is gang banging a big part of Filipino culture? Is it like East LA Chicanos, where mostly middle class areas like Montebello and Pico Rivera still have gangs?

[buLLetxx2]

Well yes and no.

To be honest the Pinoy gang scene has really died down in the past decade or so, whereas the 80s and 90s it was on and popping (as it was for the majority of major Asian gangs in general).

With that said, I think to an extent it is indeed apart Pinoy(not Filipino) subculture within California. As you mentioned Montebello, I'm sure you know that there was a Pinoy gang that originated in Montebello in LVM (Luzon Visaya Mindanao->Luzon Visaya Mobsters/Los Valos Malos->Lao Viet Mafia) but, you have to remember 2 important factors when playing the "middle class" card,
1) they weren't always middle class, many of them came up in the Rampart area or their parents did, and though they may have moved out to places like Montebello, West Co, La Puente, etc, they were not middle class by income, but rather working class people busting their asses making sacrifices to not have to live in places like the aforementioned Rampart area, so while they did live in these somewhat lower-middle class areas, they were far from (semi)privileged since all the money went to maintaining the appearance of a middle class exterior. Granted, these days, there are more and more well to do(by my standards at least) Filipino families, which imo coincides with the decline of the Pinoy gang scene.

and

2) Shaboo, meth, glass, shit, ice, twack, tweak, whatever you want to call it you have to remember that many a Pinoy, parents and kids, came over from the PI already addicted, others in the 80s traded crack for twack sacks, some American born Pinoys went from Herb to Twack in 6.2 seconds and never looked back. We all know what this does to folks, couple it with gang life(style) and you get an insurgence of gang violence and down ass heads which, over time as the drug takes its toll, deteriorates into burnt out tweakers doing their own homies dirty for a dub sack. Out of all the predominantly ethnospecific Asian gangs, it's my belief that meth hit Pinoys the hardest and can be attributed in some way, shape or form, to the downfall of just about every single Pinoy gang that is no longer active anymore, albeit as a direct or indirect result of crystal.

My 2cents.

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

Looking at the Filipino demographics of CA, is misleading. I know where you got that "richest" ethnic group conclusion, that figure doesn't take note of the illegals who aren't counted (and get paid low wages).

Other than that...Bullet got some good points. I can't debate who is harder, poor or middle class...but I do know that cats were down from both classes. There were shooters from middle-high income areas, and shooters from poor areas.

[SDmofo]

I don't really know about LA Pinoys but in San Diego there is a grip of Pinoy gangs and theyre DEEP. But they aint really ever put in that much work. Whether it was the Pinoys in Mira Mesa or in the Southeast, dudes just dressed hard. They've always been known to have fresh gear though.

[SB Tisoy]

I think Bullet pretty much covered it, but just to add I'd say that statistic of "richest ethnic" is misleading. They usually measure that by median household income and in alot of filipino homes you have more than two earners. Shit, in my pad we got four people working fulltime and we barely clear the $65K mark combined. But to a census taker it looks like we're making a gang of money, but we're not. We manage to scrape by cuz we stick together as a family and sacrifice to keep a house to live in. There are some rich filipinos to be sure, but not all of us are.

[SB Tisoy]

Also, to add, when pinoy gang activity was emerging and peaking, I'd say filipinos were definately in a lower socio-economic tier overall than they are now. Nobody wanna stay ghetto if they can help it right? Haha