SM13 gang graffiti found on SMC main campus
At the top of Parking Structure Four at Santa Monica College (SMC), graffiti from the Santa Monica 13 gang was found on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. “SM” was graffitied twice on the top of the staircase, as well as “SM13,” both gang tags from the Santa Monica-based gang. SMC Police were dispatched to the scene after the graffiti was reported and contacted SMC Maintenance to remove the graffiti.
The Santa Monica 13, also known as SMG and SM13, is a Mexican American Sureño gang that has been implicated in murder, drug trafficking, and robbery. SM13 originates from 13th Street and is active in the Pico district in Santa Monica. The gang is known to wear black bandanas and originated as the Tomato Patch gang in the 1920s before becoming the Santa Monica 13 after the birth of the Mexican mafia in the 1950s.
This area is contested with their rival gang, the Graveyard Gangster Crips, who claim control of turf behind the Woodlawn Cemetery. SM13 has rivalries with Venice Shoreline Crips, the Sotel 13, and the Culver City Boys. In 2009, the Santa Monica Police Department launched Operation Tombstone, which involved wiretaps, against the Graveyard Gangster Crips, leading to the arrests of 14 gang members, four of which were for murder. Four of the arrestees were from SM13.
Upon contacting SMC Police Chief Johnnie Adams for comment, he stated that the graffiti is not cause for concern because it is a local group not encroaching on rival territory, and this type of tagging can be found elsewhere in Santa Monica. Chief Adams is asking students to report gang-related activities, tagging, and all other crimes on campus to the SMC Police Department.