Cynthia Gonzalez, the Los Angeles-area vice mayor under fire for calling on “cholos” to defend their “turf” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, governs a sanctuary city ravaged by gangs.
Gonzalez’s city of Cudahy, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, is part of a quarter nicknamed the “Gang Capital of America.” According to police estimates, there are over 450 active gangs, whose memberships total more than 45,000, lurking in Los Angeles alone. Many of these criminal organizations have 50-year legacies of terrorizing small towns.
In her since-deleted TikTok video taunting gang leadership last week, Gonzalez said, “I wanna know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles,” referring to a slang term for Latino gangsters. “18th Street, Florencia.”
“You guys tag everything up, claiming hood. And now that your hood’s being invaded by the biggest gang there is,” she said of ICE, “there ain’t a peep out of you,” adding later on, “They’re running amok all up on your streets and in your city.”
Toward the end of the clip, Gonzalez said, “So whoever is the leadership over there, just get your f**king members in order.” The Department of Homeland Security called the video “despicable” on Monday, and the FBI is reportedly investigating her calls for gangs to mobilize against federal authorities.
Cudahy, alongside several Democratic-led, predominantly Latino cities in southeast Los Angeles County, was designated a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants in 2015.
Though one of the smallest cities in the county by geographic size, occupying only 1.2 square miles of land with a population of 22,800 people, Cudahy is the second-most densely packed city in California.
Due to its deep, narrow lots, Cudahy’s compact layout has made it fertile ground for gangs to operate discreetly and firmly control territory.
According to a May 1 city manager report, a public safety survey found that “gang activity” and a “lack of enforcement” remain top problems in Cudahy today.
In December, the Cudahy City Council mentioned a death during a discussion about gang violence, although the context surrounding it was unclear, according to meeting minutes.
Gonzalez, then a councilwoman, also acknowledged the loss of life, requested the establishment of a gang violence task force, and suggested making public heat maps showing where gangs are located in the city and identifying what gangs exist within Cudahy.
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During the public comment period at an October meeting, a concerned community member told the Cudahy City Council that his neighborhood is plagued by drug dealing and gangbangers.
The local, pleading for police to patrol the streets, urged authorities to be more proactive in preventing crime, such as removing graffiti.
Often used to mark “turf” or territorial dominance, declare allegiance, and advertise power, graffiti is an intimidation tactic meant to glorify gang culture and spread fear throughout a community.
18th Street stronghold
Archived news reports show that 18th Street, one of the gangs Gonzalez invoked, has operated out of Cudahy for decades.
According to a 1996 Los Angeles Times piece, an 18th Street operative pitched his plan for taking over Orange County in a back alley in Cudahy, with two dozen associates in tow.
Another article from that year documented how Cudahy Park was a popular haunt for 18th Streeters, who poured in from various municipalities to congregate, initiate recruits, and hold meetings.
According to a 2007 LA Weekly feature story on the city’s south-of-the-border style of politics, Cudahy mimics that of a Mexican border town. Gangs, the 18th Street posse in particular, and drug trafficking have trapped working-class immigrants in a cycle of violence and fear.
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At the time, with 200 active gang members operating in Cudahy, the city reportedly endured more crime per capita compared to other tiny towns nearby, and the Drug Enforcement Agency seized almost 20 times more cocaine there in five years than in Bell, a bordering city of similar size.
Formed in Los Angeles, the 18th Street’s primary enterprise is still street-level distribution of drugs.
As recently as 2023, a Cudahy-based operative with the street name “Frogs” was indicted as part of a nationwide drug distribution conspiracy responsible for trafficking fentanyl from California to Washington, D.C.
Cudahy also has a history of government corruption. In 2007, law enforcement sources told the Washington Times that a federal investigation underway in Cudahy was looking into suspected drug cartel ties to city officials. The former mayor of Cudahy was ultimately convicted on federal charges for taking cash bribes in exchange for supporting the opening of a purported “medical marijuana” store in the city. A city councilor and Cudahy’s chief code enforcement officer were also involved in the bribery scheme.
18th Street gangsters are known for setting up business fronts to obscure underground criminal activity. For years, Hector “Big Weasel” Marroquin, a notorious 18th Street member in Cudahy, ran an unlicensed business, a nightclub called Marrokings, on the city’s main commercial stretch.
In California, 80% of the gang’s members are illegal aliens from Central America, according to the FBI’s 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment.
A sanctuary city in defiance
Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar recently reaffirmed the city’s sanctuary status in light of immigration enforcement raids ramping up in the region.
On June 7, in response to the federal crackdown on illegal immigration in the LA area, Alcantar issued a statement saying she was “heartbroken and deeply angered by the ICE raids.”
“Cudahy is, and will continue to be, a Sanctuary City,” the mayor vowed.
Alcantar then advised illegal immigrant residents to personally reach out to her or contact Cudahy City Hall for a red card, a pocket-sized playbook providing “practical tips” and “legal strategies” for navigating interactions with immigration authorities.
Praising those who “showed up on the ground to support our most vulnerable,” Alcantar also instructed Cudahy citizens to report ICE activity by calling the Raid Rapid Response hotline operated by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, one of the activist organizers at the forefront of the anti-ICE protests.
Once the deployment network is alerted, “cells” comprised of immigration lawyers, legal observers, and activists are sent out to mobilize counterefforts against ICE operations.
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“ICE has no place in our communities,” Alcantar added. “Keep your hands off of my neighbors.”
Cudahy’s legislative platform for 2025, devised by the city’s Legislative Affairs Division, seeks to safeguard federal funding after the Trump administration threatened to withhold financial assistance from sanctuary jurisdictions. City leaders also plan on supporting measures for expanding healthcare access and similar government benefits “regardless of [lawful] immigration status.”