The Shoe War: The History of Nortenos vs. Surenos by Ramon Mendoza

The exportation of Latino California street gangs has produced immeasurable bloodshed and conflict in virtually every state in the country, as well as Mexico and Central America. The "first shots" were fired inside the prison walls of San Quentin following a dispute over a pair of shoes. This is the Mexican-American's contemporary version of the Hatfield's and McCoy's. The rivalry between the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia prison gangs has morphed into a separation of prison inmates and their corresponding street gang counterparts representing the southern and northern regions of the state. Engaged in nearly a half-century civil war, the historical evolvement of surenos and nortenos is told by one of the original architects.