The Texas Department of Public Safety released a report Monday that ranks gang activity among the most significant threats to the Lone Star State ” and links local Vallucos to a larger, more dangerous organization.
Analysts consider the Tango Blast prison gang the largest and most dangerous gang in Texas. Tango Blast and associated cliques have an estimated 15,000 members statewide.
The reason why we have them so strong here in the Valley is because ~associated cliques TM is the Vallucos, said Rosalva Resendiz, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. They don’t really come out a lot in reports, but they are here and they are the ones who pretty much run a lot of things here in the Valley and are connected with the cartel.
San Juan police recently arrested five members of the Valluco prison gang and charged them with participating in an attempted kidnapping.
The Department of Public Safety report also noted an increasing number of MS-13 gang members apprehended by Border Patrol.
The number of MS-13 gang members encountered by Border Patrol in the Valley has increased every year since 2011 accelerating in 2014 and coinciding with increased illegal migration from Central America during the same period, according to the report.
San Juan police track gang members using databases and by sharing intelligence with other law enforcement agencies.
“Every time there’s a surge or a push of illegal immigration from across the border, we see a tie with illegal gangs in the area, said police Sgt. Rolando Garcia, the department spokesman. These local gangs feed off people who are in the country to do illegal stuff.
