Gang

For other uses, see Gang (disambiguation).

A gang is a group of individuals that share a common identity, even if that identity consists of little more than their association with one another. In early English usage, it referred to a group of workmen, and later underwent pejoration. It could refer to harmless associations of youngsters (as depicted in the Our Gang film shorts), and could carry sentimental and positive associations (e.g., the 1917 drinking song "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here").

Usage/Definition

In modern usage, gang often refers to loosely organized groups that control a territory through readiness to use violence against other gangs. However, there is not an exact, agreed-upon definition. Hundreds of attempts at such definition have been debated ever since Thrasher (1927) defined the 1313 gangs he observed in Chicago.

The word "gang" generally carries a negative connotation, though within a gang which defines itself in opposition to mainstream norms, members may adopt the phrase in proud identity or defiance. Gang activities are not restricted to typical organized crime groups.

Gangs that use violence and threats of violence to achieve social/religious/political goals may be defined essentially as 'domestic terrorists' waging war against civilians in their own homeland.

An article in the Journal of Contemporary Justice talks of a consensus definition developed over 5 years and agreed on by more than 100 gang research scholars in the United States and Europe. It is a minimalist definition specifically designed to enhance comparative street gang research.

A street gang is any durable, street-oriented youth group whose own identity includes involvement in illegal activity.

Some common descriptions of gangs are:

• "Durable" Many gang-like groups come together and dissipate within a few months. The durability refers to the group, which continues despite turnover of members.
• "Street-oriented" implies spending a lot of group time outside home, work, and school—often on streets, in malls, in parks, in cars, and so on.
• "Youth" can be ambiguous. Most street gangs are more adolescent than adult, but some include members in their 20s and even 30s. Most have average ages in adolescence or early 20s.
• "Illegal" generally means gangs which will get you in trouble. New laws proposed in some states define criminal gangs as groups of individuals who engage in patterns of coordinated illegal activity.

Today

Gangs today are as diverse and dissimilar as the ideologies and belief systems which influence and motivate them. Extremist and hate groups in some states have acquired the adjective, as the extremist groups operate very similarly to corporate gangs. While hierarchy, colors, and 'turf' are not emphasized as much within these extremist groups, symbols, signs, codes, special languages, and group collaboration and participation in patterns of criminal activity, especially crimes against human rights and civil liberties, are as much a part of the gang type behavior as they are to more traditional 'street gangs'.

Often, in environments with few social supports, gangs provide young members a sense of belonging and, above all, protection from other gangs; often, where prospects for gainful employment are poor, they also provide an illegal means of earning a living.

Gangs in the United States of America

Organized gangs

Main article: Organized Crime

Hailsworth and Young (2005) describe an organized crime as a group of individuals for whom involvement in crime is for personal gain (mostly financial, though could be otherwise, sexual gratification as with child paedophile rings). For most, crime is their ‘occupation’. These groups operate almost exclusively in the grey and illegal marketplace where market transactions are unregulated by the law.

Transnational organized crime groups may be involved in crimes ranging from drug trafficking, human trafficking, piracy, money laundering, extortion, and gambling, to political assassination. The complexity and seriousness of the crimes committed by global crime groups pose a threat not only to law enforcement but to democracy and legitimate economic development as well.

Criminal organizations exercise disproportionate control over the illegal means and forces of crime production. Members are likely to have mutated out of gang-members who are often used to service their needs. Motives that impel membership of these groups are similar to those that motivate business people in the legitimate economy.

Organized crime groups are not homogenous. Some will be amateur affairs operated and managed by incompetent people. Others, however, will demonstrate more market acumen and more ruthlessness. These individuals may be difficult to trace because they will be more competent at hiding their activities. They may also have the financial muscle to acquire considerable legal protection through well paid lawyers and accountants.

There are numerous organised crime groups and they can be found in the majority of small to medium sized cities at varying degrees of size and organization. All large cities will house some kind of organised crime group. A further distinction could be made with what are often termed organised crime syndicates.

There are a number of widely known crime organizations as such whose operations span the world. Perhaps the most famous are the Italian Mafia (often portrayed in New York mob movies), The Irish Mafia, Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza. Other large cities also play host to unique types of organized criminals. For example, London's tradional East End crime families and the infamous Kray Twins and Bostons Irish Mob recently portrayed in the recent film "The Departed."

Prison gangs

Main article: Prison gang

On July 28, 2006, after a six year federal investigation, four leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood, a violent white supremacist prison gang, were convicted of racketeering, murder, and conspiracy charges. Founded in the mid 1960's, the gang, known as the 'Brand' or the 'Rock' in the federal and state prison systems, is famous for being affiliated with the white supremacist paramilitary hate group the Aryan Nations, with the Nazi Low Riders prison gang acting as the Aryan Brotherhood's foot soldiers. Besides fostering pseudo-theological hate, racism, sexism, violence, and intimidation, the Aryan Brotherhood is involved in drug trafficking, extortion, gambling, protection rackets, and murder inside and outside of prisons.

In the mid-1980s, the Aryan League, an alliance between the Aryan Brotherhood and Public Enemy No. 1, formed. The sub-gangs (in collaboration with their wives and girlfriends who take jobs at banks, mortgage companies, and motor vehicle departments) work together in identity theft schemes. Money from the identity theft operations is used to fund the gangs' methamphetamine business. A gang hit list discovered in the Buena Park investigation have police worried that the gangs are using stolen credit information to learn the addresses of police and their families. Once out of prison, gang members tend to regroup on the outside and often cross gang lines to further their criminal careers. On example of this is David Lind, an Aryan Brotherhood member, who joined the Wonderland Gang with several non-AB fellow prison inmates in 1981. Post prison gang activities can be brutal, as evidenced by the ruthless quadruple murder of the Wonderland gang (see "Wonderland Murders") which Lind narrowly escaped.

In the Armed Forces

The FBI’s 2007 report on gang membership in the military states that the military's recruit screening process is ineffective, allows gang members/extremists to enter the military, and lists at least eight instances in the last three years in which gang members have obtained military weapons for their illegal enterprises. "Gang Activity in the U.S. Armed Forces Increasing", dated January 12, 2007, states that street gangs including the Bloods, Crips, Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Hell's Angels, Latin Kings, The 18th Street Gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Mexican Mafia, Nortenos, Surenos, Vice Lords, and various white supremacist groups have been documented on military installations both domestic and international although recruiting gang members violates military regulations.

A January, 2007 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reports that gang members in the military are involved in the theft and sale of military weapons, ammunition, and equipment, including body armor. According to a conversation recorded by an undercover FBI agent, one U.S. soldier may have stolen military body armor with intentions to supply Chicago gangs with the stolen equipment. The Sun-Times began investigating the gang activity in the military after receiving photos of gang graffiti showing up in Iraq. A 2006 Sun-Times article reports that gangs encourage members to enter the military to learn urban warfare techniques to teach other gang members.

In 2006, Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, said there is an online network of gangs and extremists, and that: "They're communicating with each other about weapons, about recruiting, about keeping their identities secret, about organizing within the military."

Illegal Immigration

One of the concerns of increased illegal immigration is gang related activity - as proved by programs such as Operation Community Shield, which has detained over fourteen hundred illegal immigrant gang members. MS13 publicly declared that it targets the rival vigilante style gang the Minutemen to "teach them a lesson", possibly due to their smuggling of various Central/South Americans (mostly other gang members), drugs, and weapons across the border. Some gangs benefit greatly from the gained populace. A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the twenty thousand member 18th Street Gang in California is illegal.

See also

• Gang signs
• Crip walk
• Organized crime
• Vigilante
• KKK
• Subculture
• Hooliganism
• Gangster

External links

• "A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to LA's Gang Violence Epidemic"
• Violent Gangs
• Gangs of Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Award winning documentary on the gangs of Brazil
• Chicago Gang Research
• Chicago Gangs Website
• Bigotry Behind Bars
• Changes in Prison Culture: Prison Gangs and the Case of the "Pepsi Generation"
• Arresting Transnational Crime
• Research Centre for Los Angeles Gangs
• London Gangs