Since its inception, Spanish cells of the gangs with Creole origins Dominicans Don’t Play (DDP) and the Trinitarians have wreaked havoc for the authorities of the Iberian country.
As an example of the above is the arrest of eleven young people in Spain this Thursday, with three of the detainees being accused as material authors of the death of a 25-year-old Colombian.
This group, according to the authorities, belongs to the DDP gang, thus adding another instance of clashes with the Law by members of the aforementioned group.
According to the Civil Guard report, these young people operated in the Spanish cities of Madrid and Toledo, despite the fact that reports indicate that the DDP was created in New York, United States, in the 1990s.
However, they slowly established themselves in Spain, to the point that in 2019 they were named by the National Police of the Iberian country as one of the largest gangs with an estimated 200 members, coming second behind their rivals, the Trinitarios, who They also have Dominican roots.
That same year, the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office published a report describing various aspects of DDP, such as its modus operandi, its divisions or the fact that they are governed by strict regulations.
“Its structure is rigid and pyramidal, vertical and theocratic, with blind obedience to the leaders who are governed by a set of rules and laws of their own known as the ‘Constitution or Literature’"was reading part of a report on the aforementioned document.
Likewise, it was indicated that DDP “ideologically defends the supremacy of the Latin”, executing their actions in groups of more than ten people when it comes to fights, and in case the objective is to perpetrate robberies, that number is reduced between three and five people.
Likewise, the Prosecutor’s Office assured that, to finance their actions, they pay weekly installments or enter the "cash register" proceeds from drug sales or loot from robberies.
Recruitment
According to a 2007 study, DDP has been known to recruit its members early, usually while they are in high school.
Similarly, previously the “candidates” to be in the band had to have some link with the Dominican Republic, although this rule is not as strict, since they have already begun to accept members of other nationalities and ancestry.
Illegal
In Spain, belonging to the DDP is considered an illicit association, according to a decision made in 2014 by the Supreme Court, in order to give this group a rating similar to other illegal gangs, such as the Latin Kings or the Ñetas, and consider it a crime to belonging to it.
rivals
The DDP maintain a bloody rivalry with the Trinitarians, something that was translated for the Spanish chapters of this gang, who gradually maintained that they escalated into violence.
Like their rivals, the Trinitarians originated in New York, inside the cells of the correctional facility located on Rikers Island, between the Bronx and Queens.
They arrived in Spain at the beginning of the new millennium, sharing among themselves a series of commandments, the main one being that no Trinitarian can trust anyone who is not a Trinitarian.
Also, according to the Spanish newspaper ABC, members must take into account unity, peace, love, respect, follow the codes, have decision, courage, dignity, pride, and “God with us.”
Similarly, members must pay three euros weekly, around 200 Dominican pesos.
The main brawls of “Los Trinitarios” in Spain have arisen in subway stations and on the streets.
Some of its members have been arrested for making attempts on the lives of other people not involved with the gang, and for brutally beating and murdering members of another similar group.
Violence
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that, during the third quarter of 2019, there was an increase in violent acts committed by gangs of Latino origin.
Notable among these incidents was a fight that occurred in the municipality of Vallecas on September 30 of that year, where two groups clashed with stabs and shots, resulting in seven injuries, three of them seriously, and nine detainees.
Likewise, it indicated that in 2018 the Trinitarios were linked to 19 of the 33 criminal actions committed by these gangs.
Third generation
In addition to an uptick in cases of violence between, local media in Spain is already referring to a new litter of DDPs and Trinidadians with ages ranging between 13 and 15 years, reaching the point of qualifying them as more violent than their predecessors. .
In a report by the Efe news agency, the expert on urban groups Joan Caballero identified that the first generation of these gangs dates back to 2003, pointing out that the security forces and the justice system had to deal with cases of gang violence during that year.
The second belongs to 2014, the year in which the Supreme Court declared the DDP affiliation criminal and illegal.
Later, Caballero said, society did not worry about welcoming these young people into the community, many of them of foreign origin or of immigrant parents, but with Spanish nationality.