History: Men from major Texas cities (including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin), have banded together against established security threat groups like the T.S.,Mexican Mafia, T.C.B's, Barrio Aztecas & P.R.M's. Each regional group is individually called a "Tango". "Tangos" began forming in the 1970's and started "blasting" in the late 1980's. The term Tango Blast, in actuality, does not refer to a seperate group. Rather, it refers to the idea that a particular Tango chapter is more active than another Tango chapter. Some Tango members say that Tango is an acronym for "TogetherAgainst Negative Gang Organizations". However, Tango originally meant somethinglike "hometown clique".
Structure: Although often referred to as a prison gang, Tango Blast is different than traditional prison gangs such as Mexikanemi and the Texas Syndicate, lacking the typically strict hierarchy of those organizations. The Texas Department of Public Safety classifies Tango Blast as a "loose affiliation" gang, with "relaxed membership requirements and little to no detectable leadership hierarchy. While those more structured organizations, known as Security Threat Groups, will have a variety of structures, Tango members in a particular area of a correctional facility will elect a "speaker", to speak for that area of the facility and will not have a constitution that governs how the members must behave. Tango Blast members do not have to follow orders, attend organizational meetings or pay other Tango members to be active. They also do not have to participate in any gang activities when they are out of prison. There is no consistent pathway for initiation into a Tango. Rather, each individual set of Tango members determines who it admits and by what methods. One initiation method is called a "Heart Check" or "TOH"(Test of heart) in which the potential member must engage in physical combat with 2 or more members. Provided that he does not surrender during the melee he is induced to the gang. However, membership can usually only be acquired in prison and not in jails or on the streets. Collectively, the tangos from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Austin and Houston are known as the original 4 Horsemen. Individual Tango members use regionally appropriate symbols as tattoos to identify the tango to which they belong. Generally, Tango members identify themselves by sport team logos or area codes from their home town or region.
Tango from Houston:
Houstone or H-Towne members, often use the Houston Astros & Houston TexanSymbol star.
Tango from Dallas:
D-towne members, may use the Dallas Cowboys star.
Tango from Fort Worth:
Foritos or FTW members, ofen use the 817 area code, a star with 817 in thecenter siilar to a pentagram.
Tango from Austin:
La Capirucha or ATX members, may use the Texas Capitol building star.These four Tangos represent the earliest Tangos to form Puro Tango Blast.
Other areas of Texas have their own Tangos, notably West Texas (Puro West or Wesos), often displaying a "432" or a "325" star. The word West, or a WT in tattoos. The valley (Vallucos), may use the "956" star.
Tangos from Other Countries:
Incarcerated felons that are immigrants from Mexico or other third world countries, may be known as "Los Paisas". The Word "Paisa" is short for Paisano, which is a spanish term used by latinos to refer to somebody from their same home country. Tangos specifically from Mexico may be referred to as the "Tango Mexicles" or Mexikles.Media:
History channel, in their series "gangland", dedicated an episode to a description of Puro Tango Blast in episode 12 of season 5. The episode's name is "Deadly Blast".
