The Avenues, also known as Avenidas or AVE's, is a Hispanic criminal street gang mostly in Los Angeles County, California. The originally started as a social club for local Hispanic youths to protect themselves from other violent youths. The Avenues, like most Mexican gangs in Los Angeles, are under the direct control of the Mexican Mafia when sent to State, County, or Federal prisons. They have a long history, but not all of it is riddled with gang violence and hate. The Avenues were not always violent when they started and rarely ever engaged in illegal activities. They were started by the Flores brothers in the 1940s, but little is known about the bothers. The greatest of their crimes during the 1940's was simple assaults. As time progressed and their numbers increased, they became more violent and started to act like a criminal street gang and not a social club. In the late 1960's, when Heroin started to flood the streets, they turned for the worse and would be forever more labeled a criminal street gang. They increasingly took part in the illegal drug trade and these actions have continued to the present day. The Avenues Gang are well known for their hatred and hate crimes committed against black residents of their hood's.[6][7] They are unwilling to allow even non-gang affiliated blacks move into their Highland Park area. The Avenues gained national attention in 1995, when several members opened fire on a car that made a wrong turn into a Cypress Park alley, killing ...