Stomp is one of the oldest, and largest street gangs in the Night City.  Their control of Stompanato Street began 14 years ago after the Marsten Projects and the surrounding area were abandoned as the central hub for the Construction workers brought in to build the city were turned over to low income housing.  The original construction workers, were heavily supported by an immigrant Latino population displaced after the 1995 Mexico City quake.  As the construction of the city began its massive push, immigrants and indigents from all over began centering on one of the few places in the North American Hemisphere where jobs could be found during the collapse.  The majority of Mexican refugees and immigrants converging on the city was massive, and many people were working just to have a roof over their heads.  When the ’98 quake turned Los Angeles into a watery grave, again refugees flooded into the infant metropolis.  Most were hard working honest people, but with the massive influx came the gangs. 

 

 

Soon the displaced Latin gangs found themselves stuffed together in the newly re-tasked, low income housing areas of Night City, beginning with and extending eastward from the Marsten Projects.  In these volatile and claustrophobic conditions, the slightest provocation would lead to all out war between the gangs, as they shuffled and clawed for territory and control.  To make matter worse, the community found itself surrounded by other gangs, including the new phenomenon of booster gangs, who didn’t seem to be into it for profit or protection, but for violence as its own reward.  Hemmed in, and fighting amongst themselves, things were getting out of hand.

 

 

The constant chaos was bringing heat down on all sides.  The police were cracking down on anyone who even looked like they were in a gang, the drug connections were all drying up, unwilling to risk exposure due to the police presence and unwilling to invest in anyone due to the gangs falling like dominoes only to spring back up with new leaders every week, like a ghetto hydra.  The streets were running red with blood.

 

David Lopez, known on the streets as “Carnicero” had a plan.  He was a former Mexican soldier with strong ties to a Colombian cartel.  After gathering a small army of his own, he called for a meeting between the major Hispanic gang leaders.  The meeting was set up under the auspice of creating a cease fire, working out territories and ending the rampant violence, but it was a ruse.  Carnicero had rigged bombs under the floorboards of the meeting room, and when everyone was assembled, he detonated them.  “Miraculously surviving” he laid the blame on another gang, The Las Viejos Muchachos.  The LVM was the most dominant gang in the area, and did not attend.  Carnicero united the now leaderless gangs under his flag, inciting their bloodshed and need for revenge, and wiped out the LVM.  In just a few weeks, Carnicero had complete domination over the Latino gangs surrounding Stompanato Street. 

 

 

Now one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the city, Stomp ruled their territory with brutal efficiency.  They were so well dug in, and so integrated into their community, that when it came time to create a walled off DMZ in the city to push the most violent gangs into and seal up, Stompanato Street was chosen as the center of what would become the Combat Zone.

 

Since then Stomp has become the dominant gang in the Combat Zone, claiming the largest territory and boasting the most members second only to Slaughterhouse, their biggest rivals, who claim the entirety of the Marsten Complex.  While Slaughterhouses Territory is slightly smaller, it is much more defensible.  Stomp, baked up by their alliance with the 2-3 Set, have besieged Slaughterhouse, confining their activities in the zone to the limits of the Marsten Complex, but have ultimate goals of eliminating them entirely.  They tolerate Bushido to the Northeast, mostly due to their resources being so focused on Slaughterhouse, and the overwhelming support of the community Bushido has garnered.  Border Skirmishes with Maelstrom to the Southeast have occurred, and boundaries between Stomp and Bushido territories below Kings Cross are an ongoing point of contention between the two gangs.  For the most part however even Stomp gives Maelstrom wide berth since Maelstrom seems to have no designs on expanding their territory, and they are so violent that all out war with them would be costly.

Stomp makes most of its money through drugs and arms.  They have significant stakes in prostitution, gambling and strong arm protection rackets as well.  Unlike Bushido and Maelstrom, the only protection Stomp offers is from themselves, and even that is not assured, but those who don’t pay soon learn to regret it.