The Biggest Gang in Texas Is The Most Dangerous; And It’s Growing Every Day

It's true: Everything is bigger in Texas.

The Lone Star state is home to a large and diverse population. With that large population comes the inevitable problem of crime. Add in the fact that birds of a feather flock together and you get (you can probably see where I'm going with this)...Gangs.

There's information from the Texas Department of Public Safety that suggests there are nearly 100,000 members active in an estimated 10,000 gangs in the state.

That's a lot.

So, Which One Is The Biggest Gang?

According to the Texas Gang Threat Assessment released by the DPS, the title of 'largest gang in Texas' goes to Tango Blast.

The Medlin law firm gives the estimated membership of Tango Blast to be 19,000. This affiliation accounts for 20 percent of Texas' active gang members.

The DPS use a three-tier ranking system to categorize the threat-level of a gang, with Tier 1 being the most significant threat. As you can see, Tango Blast ranks ahead of several other organized crime groups that you may be more familiar with--like MS-13 and Texas Mexican Mafia.

What Makes One Gang A Bigger Threat Than Another?

You might be thinking "All gangs are bad, mmmmmkay? So what makes one more dangerous than another?" The answer to that lies in a set of factors that law enforcement take into consideration when measuring the "threat-level" of all the different gangs.

They are:

• Relationship with cartels
• Criminal activity and networking in several states
• Level of criminal activity
• Level of violence
• Prevalence throughout Texas
• Relationship with other gangs
• Total strength
• Statewide organizational effectiveness
• Juvenile membership
• Threats to law enforcement
• Involvement in sex trafficking

The extent of each gang's involvement in regards to the above mentioned factors will dictate where they end up in the rankings.

How You Can Help Neutralize Gang Threats

As the population of Texas grows, so will the gangs. Tango Blast and all the others aren't going anywhere any time soon. Which means the threat to the community will only become more serious.

Knowledge is power, though; and the more you know what to look for and the many different state and federal initiatives to combat gangs, the better. You can access the resources available at the National Gang Center, the FBI's Violent Gang Task Force, and even the Texas Gang Investigators Association