[3] The "first line", consisting in fewer than 10 persons, is formed by the bosses (headed by the leader), who are the chiefs of the major sub-groups.

They take care of recruiting people, study the area and the movements of the enemy barras bravas, and hire buses for the transfer of group members.

The current leader of the barra brava is Pablo "Bebote" ("Big Baby") Álvarez, who took the lead in 2004.

Their main means of financing include the resale of tickets, drugs,[4] the role of one sub-group as "shock troop" for some political unions (CGT[5] and the Syndicate of Truck Drivers), and threatening the directors and players of the club.

[8] During its existence, the barra brava has had several fights and altercations with the Argentine police[9] and with other barras bravas, especially with that of Racing de Avellaneda (La Guardia Imperial), Independiente's main football rival; it also had major confrontations with the barras bravas of Boca Juniors (La 12), River Plate (Los Borrachos del Tablón) and San Lorenzo de Almagro (La Gloriosa), also rivals of the club.

On 17 October 2006, during the procession for the transfer of the coffin of ex-president Juan Domingo Perón from the La Chacarita cemetery (in the city of Buenos Aires) to a mausoleum in a summer residence in San Vicente, some members of La Barra Del Rojo became involved (among them Jorge "Madonna" Quiroz)[10] in a fight instigated by Peronist trade unions over access to the ceremony (some sub-groups of the barra brava belong to the CGT and the Syndicate of Truck Drivers, both Peronist).

In 2004 in Quito, Ecuador, the barra brava fought the Ecuadorian police during a Copa Libertadores match between El Nacional and Independente in the Atahualpa stadium.