Last year was witness to three police operations against gangs in Catalonia, targeting the Latin Kings, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13), and the Bloods. Coming after a period of intense immigration from Latin America and attempts by authorities to engage some of the gangs by treating them as cultural youth movements, they may provide the necessary perspective to reflect on the extent to which gangs are present, their roles and deeds, including criminal activities, and the future direction policy may take. While providing data of interest to the comparative researcher, such an overview can also be of interest to practitioners, given Catalonia's strategic location at a key geographical juncture in South-Western Europe.[i] Since December 2011, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force) have carried out five large-scale anti-gang operations, involving the arrest of 102 alleged members.[ii] The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the mentioned three operations, as well as recent current policy shift following the perceived failure of the move to turn the Latin Kings and the Ñetas into legal youth associations.