Danny Trejo warned Edward James Olmos not to film the movie due to the death threats he was getting from the Mexican Mafia.
Two of the most dangerous street gangs of East L.A., Il Grande Hazard and MC Forceros, called a truce to allow director Edward James Olmos to shoot the movie on their turfs.
Danny Trejo had affiliation with the Mexican Mafia. However, he never joined the gang. He grew up with the guys who were members of the Mexican Mafia and he said that his uncle Gilbert was what kept him away from the gang.
According to 60 Minutes (1968), three people who acted as consultants on this film were later murdered because of the depiction of a homosexual rape scene that reportedly deeply offended the Mexican Mafia's machismo. The victims were: Charles Manriquez (known as Charlie Brown), a Mexican Mafia member and unofficial consultant to the film, killed on early 1992; actress Ana Lizarraga, a community youth counselor and official consultant to the director who was shot in her driveway in front of her son and her boyfriend; and Manuel Luna (known as Rocky), a former gang member who also worked as consultant, killed a year after the film's release.
William Forsythe had a big gap in middle of his teeth, Steve Wilcox who plays the young JD had to put on prosthetic teeth so he could look exactly like Forsythe's teeth.