Latino gangs in Spain: from the Latin Kings & Queens to the Dominican don’t play

Abstract

ABSTRACT In October 2003, a young Colombian was murdered after he left the high school where he was studying in Barcelona after an alleged confrontation between two gangs composed of young people of Latin American origin – the Ñetas and the Latin Kings & Queens. This led to a wave of moral panic over the presence in Spain of the so-called ‘bandas latinas’ (Latino gangs). Eighteen years later, in February 2021, two further murders in Madrid linked to clashes between two other gangs – Dominican Don't Play and Trinitarios – generated alarm and led to a campaign with important media, political, legal, and criminal repercussions. This text offers a review of two decades of the presence of street youth organisations of Latin American origin in Spain, presenting the first results of the TRANSGANG project, focusing on experiences of mediation with these groups, and ends with a discussion on ‘Latino gangs’ as a symptom of ‘moral juvenicide.’