Barakaldo (Bizkaia) already knows two generations of Los Hermanos Koala.
The gang, in which some original members coexist with minors who have joined in recent years, is hitting rock bottom.
Of its members, between 15 and 38 years old, there are 13 detainees - half minors - who risk spending a long time locked up.
Some of the members of the group crossed the border of petty robberies and assaults on the night of July 25 in Amorebieta, by beating a 23-year-old boy in a coma who was confronted with them for bothering some friends.
That night the routine of violence got out of hand.
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Who are the Koala Brothers?
Inside the violent youth gang operating in Spain's Basque Country
But who are the Koala?
In Amorebieta, no one had heard of them before the night of the brutal attack, which the gang members recorded and distributed on social media.
In Barakaldo and other towns, yes.
They know that rampant violence, hitting each other for no reason for the mere pleasure of demonstrating their superiority, is their usual state.
The day of the beating was Sunday, and the holidays are usually those days of meetings and consumption of alcohol in which LHK - the acronym with which the group identifies, active for two decades -, get together to provoke and look for fights . They don't just perform in busy nightlife areas. They also seek the shelter of the night to commit petty theft and beat up those who are unlucky enough to cross their path. You don't need a reason. And if necessary, anyone is valid, even a "why have you looked at me?"
Javier, not his real name, remembers meeting them last summer: “I was walking with my girlfriend when four boys approached me. They surrounded us and stole our phones and money ”. The 16-year-old from Barakaldo and his partner did as they were told. "If you move, I'll cut you," he says one of the assailants told him that he was carrying something that could be a knife, although he did not get to see it well.
Professor of Criminal Psychology at the University of the Basque Country César San Juan explains: “85% of minors who commit crimes of violence do not reoffend. The problem is that remaining 15% that goes through the courts over and over again, in which school failure, family breakdown, bad company coincide ... and that is accumulating criminal records, "he explains. That is the profile of those who make up LHK. “Many of them,” describes a social worker from Bilbao who requests anonymity, “come from unstructured homes in which there has been or continues to be violence between spouses”.
Imitators of gangs from Central and South America —although with a much more basic structure, which makes it difficult to criminally attribute an organized criminal group—, in LHK, adults of legal age are the fatal examples of minors.
They show their stripes in the form of criminal records and become a kind of heroes for the new ones, who are making merits as they expand their history and accumulate more entries in the courts and in the centers supervised by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia.
The delegate of the Government in the Basque Country, Denis Itxaso.
In video, Itxaso emphasizes the collaboration of the security forces in the search for the Amorebieta attackers.
PHOTO AND VIDEO: EFE
The Basque police know of their adventures after decades of fights, robberies, and attacks, and the police stations in each locality issue periodic reports evaluating whether any of their members is radicalizing or whether the activity of their members is progressing towards more serious crimes.
The Ertzaintza estimates that LHK does not have more than 30 active members, with which the gang is practically dismantled after the 13 arrests.
But there are other bands that can take over.
"LHK was not exactly one of the most active gangs," says one agent.
In 2019 they had 24 of these groups located in the Basque Country.
They remain between them to stick together and the Ertzaintza intervenes when it detects these types of appointments to identify them.
As they are mostly minors, they enter and leave the courts during the day and commit crimes again.
"If we find them a knife, we will fine them 600 euros, but we can do little else except have them monitored," lament sources from the Ertzaintza.
The same thing happened on December 23, 2017 when the Amorebieta Sports Society player Ibon Urrengoetxea died after suffering a robbery at the hands of two 13 and 14-year-old boys in the center of Bilbao.
The group they belonged to called themselves The Ghetto Family.
During the struggle he was pushed, fell to the ground and died after hitting his head on the sidewalk.
The phenomenon of violent gangs is not exclusive to Bizkaia. In Álava and Gipuzkoa there are also groups that remain to hit each other, commit petty theft and attack third parties as a way of entertaining and initiating new members. Until someone gets out of hand and something serious happens. "Then it is too late," explains another agent. From that moment on, the herd no longer protects them, they have to face their responsibility and their future alone.
