Hoovers is a "big, big gang," with different subsets, including 74 Hoovers and Eight Trey Hoovers. Vermont Avenue is a "loose border," as the 74 Hoovers and Eight Trey Hoovers

The 74 Hoovers identified with the color orange and sometimes wore orange Houston Astro attire. They also wore orange San Francisco Giants baseball caps because the gang equated the "S.F." embroidery with the number "Seventy Four." They did not always wear orange though. "[T]hey call themselves pretty much anybody's killer," so they feel they can wear any color, including red or blue to disrespect other gangs, "because they are Hoover Criminal." He described the Hoover graffiti that could be seen throughout the area.Officer Quiroz testified the Hoovers is a "big, big gang," with different subsets, including 74 Hoovers and Eight Trey Hoovers. Vermont Avenue is a "loose border," as the 74 Hoovers and Eight Trey Hoovers both "claim" the area, but "get along" and "share" the area. The "Eight Treys" and "Seven Fours" are "part of the same gang overall." "Eight Trey and Seven Four, they tend to go by Trey Four Love, which just shows their allegiance to both. Like [Kendrick] McGee, he has `Three Four' tattooed on his . . . arm showing the allegiance." "[R]egardless of the clique," they are "all Hoovers."[ 4 ]The primary activities of the 74 Hoovers are street robberies, bank robberies, narcotic sales, weapons violations, walkup shootings, drive-bys, assaults with deadly weapons and murders. Officer Quiroz investigated an assault with a firearm on November 11, 2005, in 74 Hoover territory, for which 74 Hoover Todd Gillium was convicted. He was also familiar with and had testified as an expert in a December 2004 murder case in which Travis George, an Eight Trey Hoover, was convicted. "A lot of the main focus for the 74 Hoovers is street robberies." A lot of the young guys do the street robberies, he said; most of the older, more experienced guys do the "bigger licks" (robberies), such as the takeover robbery of Jones's store.According to Officer Quiroz, many gang members never leave the gang. They may move on and have families, but still come around on their "Hood Day," which is their anniversary (July 4 because they are 74 Hoovers). Officer Quiroz knew Mitchell (and Macon) "quite well." He had known them for "a long time" and had many contacts with them between 2000 and 2006, including well over 40 contacts with Mitchell. He first met Mitchell, known in the gang as "Baby Scooby," when he was spray painting graffiti. He had admitted being a member of the 74 Hoovers and had gang tattoos, and Officer Quiroz saw him several times with other 74 Hoovers in the area. Almost every time Quiroz ran into Mitchell, he was wearing his "74 hat"—a San Francisco Giants baseball cap.Officer Quiroz knew Mitchell had become a carpenter and had been a member of the union for years. Mitchell was proud to have gotten a good job supporting his family and showed Officer Quiroz his check stubs at one point. Mitchell's mother and grandmother lived in the area where the robbery occurred and cared for his children while he worked. Although Officer Quiroz was unaware Mitchell had had a gang tattoo on his neck surgically removed, he noted Mitchell "still hangs out with the guys," and "still wear[s] his S.F. hat when he's in the area. Every time after work, he would show up."Officer Quiroz testified this robbery was not a crime of opportunity. He was "very familiar" with the location, including the store itself, as it is within the area he patrolled every day. He opined the robbery was committed for the benefit of the 74 Hoover gang. Three of the robbers were documented members of this gang. The robbery occurred within this gang's territory. The robbers wore no masks, with knowledge they could be recognized. Such brazenness benefitted the gang by creating an atmosphere of intimidation in the community. Typically, in robberies of this sort, Quiroz said, the money and clothing are divided among gang members. The clothing would be sold for money; the money would be used to buy drugs and guns. Officer Quiroz received formal training regarding gang culture both inside and outside the prison system and street gangs and had attended various training classes thereafter. He had been involved in hundreds of criminal gang investigations and executions of search warrants. He had testified as a gang expert at least 30 times, primarily regarding the 74 Hoover and Eight Trey Hoover gangs, and taught classes about gangs for other police officers. As part of the gang enforcement detail, he was assigned to monitor the 74 and Eight Trey Hoovers. He routinely spoke with gang members—during arrests, investigations and socially in order to build rapport.