Pepe was a somewhat well-known thug on the streets of Saint Rodu, and since he had a big reputation, everyone respectfully called him "Big Pepe."
As a person of Mexican heritage, he didn't really mix with street gangs; he maintained his livelihood by moving merchandise. Of course, that alone wouldn't suffice, so he also moonlighted as a middleman to make some extra cash, such as finding people to beef up the numbers for various gangs.
In America, the number of gang fires at the bottom of society was actually not high, as the rate of gun ownership was too high; any gang with a bit of brain capacity wouldn't easily get involved in intense conflicts.
Most of the time, if they had disputes, they would call a bunch of brothers to face off, and that would be about it.
Show of force, compromise, and then go their separate ways, until the next collision of interests.
