This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lynwood Vikings, one of many deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy gangs are gangs, formed and founded, by deputies of the LASD. And, like most gangs, they involve tattoos and racism and acts of violence as a form of initiation into the gang. But unlike other gangs, these are gangs made up of law enforcement officers who are meant to serve and protect the community. These gangs enact violence on the community and – because they all believe in maintaining the blue wall of silence (AKA not snitching on another cop), their misconduct goes with them to the grave. Not only all of that: Members of these gangs have been responsible for horrific crimes, including but not limited to: beating up inmates and then filing false reports to cover it up, retaliating against whistleblowers, and even murder.

As of 2021, there were 24 known and active deputy gangs within the LASD. As of right now when we’re recording this in 2025, there continue to be at least six that we know of.

It goes without saying, but this is unacceptable. In the 2023 report that a special oversight committee put together to combat this issue, they said of these gangs, “Both historically and currently, [they] exalt the use of excessive force against civilians, harass other deputies, and undermine the chain of command within the Department. However denominated, the existence of these groups and their impact adversely affects the mission of the Department and undermines public trust in the Department.”

To summarize: We know of at least 19 people that have been killed by these gangs, all of which were men of color. We also know that, over the last fifty years, Los Angeles County (i.e., the taxpayers of Los Angeles County) have paid out some $100 million dollars in response to settlements and lawsuits related to these deputy gangs.

There are seriously so many of these gangs that we would be here for six hours if I told you specific details about all of them. So in this episode, we are more so doing an overview of these various deputy gangs and then focusing on one specific one: the Lynwood Vikings.

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- Rachel and Leah

Editor: Alex Perez