True. This was born in 1993 when Wings West pilots were brought into DFW from the West Coast to fly former Metro routes. As a result, their upgrade times were short, while senior Metro/Simmons (who had merged) F/O's stagnated as F/O's (in lowly turboprops) for 6 years. There were a couple of crew room fistfights and some verbal altercations as I recall, but after awhile things quieted down, although each group had their own "turf" within the same crew room with some eyeing each other suspiciously.

The "East Texas Mafia" was a label coined to describe the then MEC, most of whom were Texas "good 'ole boys" firmly entrenched with and quite cozy with Eagle (Metro/Simmons) management.