[7][8] Founded in the 1920s, the 38th Street Gang dates back to the pachucos and zoot suits and was formed at the border between South Central and the city of Vernon.

[8][11][12] During the Sleepy Lagoon trial, the media exaggerated the headlines about the gang that wore zoot suits and created wartime hysteria and prejudice against the Mexican-American community.

Cloth was being rationed as part of the war effort, and the white servicemen and residents felt zoot suiters were wasting valuable resources by dressing so flamboyantly.

for starting a new style of dress[clarification needed]: during the time the Sleepy Lagoon defendants were incarcerated, their prison-issue clothes were deliberately oversized, with the intention of drawing ridicule from Anglo inmates and prison staff.

[10] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the city closed many of its roads in the 38th Street vicinity due to high volume of people coming to purchase narcotics in the area.

By the late 1990s, a federal task force was set up in order to investigate the gang's involvement in the illegal drug trade; this resulted in the arrest of several of its members.

On August 24, 2004, a preliminary injunction by law enforcement prohibited active members of the 38th Street Gang from using firearms, alcohol, graffiti and other dangerous materials in public.

The 38th Street Gang was the subject of a 130-page grand jury indictment alleging violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute.