Gang

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Mara Salvatrucha suspect bearing gang tattoos is handcuffed. In 2004, the FBI created the MS-13 National Gang Task Force to combat gang activity in the United States. A year later, the FBI helped create National Gang Intelligence Center.

A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. Also, it is three or more who join, act in consort, find a gang name, find a gang territory, commit criminal acts for the further enhancement of antisocial behavior. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen. In the United Kingdom the word is still often used in this sense, but it later underwent pejoration. The word gang often carries a negative connotation; however, within a gang which defines itself in opposition to mainstream norms, members may adopt the phrase as a statement of identity or defiance. Reports of gang-related homicides are concentrated mostly in the largest cities in the United States, where there are long-standing and persistent gang problems and a greater number of documented gang members-- most of whom are identified by law enforcement.

The term gangster (or mobster) refers to a criminal who is a member of a crime organization, such as a gang. The terms are widely used in reference to members of gangs associated with American prohibition and the American offshoot of the American Mafia, such as the Chicago Outfit or the Five Families. The related word "mobster" is a term derived from Latin and Aramaic. The word mobi means large gathering in Aramaic, and similarly, mob in Latin means crowd.

Gang is from the past participle of Old English gan "to go". It is cognate with Old Norse gangr "a group of men", and it is in this sense that the word is used today, rather than the older meaning.^[1]

[edit] Historic criminal gangs

Bonnie and Clyde were notorious bank robbers who, with their gang, traveled the Central United States during the Great Depression.

A wide variety of historic gangs, such as the The Order of Assassins, Adam the Leper's gang, Indian Thugs, Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, Irish mafia, American Old West outlaw gangs, Russian mafia and Italian Mafia crime families have existed for centuries. In 1850 (around the same time Los Angeles was incorporated), New York City recorded more than 200 gang wars fought largely by youth gangs.^[2] Chicago had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s.^[3] These early gangs were known for many criminal activities, but in most countries could not profit from drug trafficking prior to twentieth century drug prohibition laws such as the 1912 International Opium Convention and the 1919 Volstead Act. Gang involvement in drug trafficking increased during the 1970s and 1980s, but some gangs continue to have minimal involvement in the trade.^[4]

[edit] Gang signs

Gangs often establish distinctive, characteristic identifiers including graffiti tags^[5] colors, hand-signals, clothing, jewelry, hair styles, fingernails, slogans^[6], signs such as the swastika, the noose, the cross, five-pointed and six-pointed stars, crowns and tridents ^[7], flags^[8] for example the Confederate flag, secret greetings, slurs, or code words and other group-specific symbols associated with the gang's common beliefs, rituals, and mythologies to define and differentiate themselves from rival groups and gangs.^[9] As an alternative language, hand-signals, symbols, and slurs in speech, graffiti, print, music, or other mediums communicate specific informational cues used to threaten, disparage, taunt, harass, intimidate, alarm, influence^[10], or exact specific responses including obedience, submission, fear, or terror. One study focused on terrorism and symbols states: "... Symbolism is important because it plays a part in impelling the terrorist to act and then in defining the targets of their actions."^[11] Displaying a gang sign, such as the noose, as a symbolic act can be construed as "... a threat to commit violence communicated with the intent to terrorize another, to cause evacuation of a building, or to cause serious public inconvenience, in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience...an offense against property or involving danger to another person that may include but is not limited to recklessly endangering another person, harassment, stalking, ethnic intimidation, and criminal mischief."^[12]

[edit] Gang population

Los Angeles is the Gang capital of America with an estimated 120,000 gang members.^[13] There were at least 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members active across the USA in 2007.^[14][15] About 900,000 gang members lived "within local communities across the country," and about 147,000 were in U.S. prisons or jails in 2009.^[16] By 1999, Hispanics accounted for 47% of all gang members, Blacks 31%, Whites 13%, and Asians 6%.^[17]

There are between 25,000 and 50,000 gang members in Central America’s El Salvador.^[18] The Mexican drug cartels have as many as 100,000 foot soldiers.^[19] The Yakuza are among one the largest organized crime organizations in the world. In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86,300 known members.^[20] Hong Kong's Triads include up to 160,000 members in the 21 century.^[21] It was estimated that in the 1950s, there were 300,000 Triad members in Hong Kong.^[22] The Chinese government claims that police have eliminated 1,221 triad-style gangs across China since a crackdown was launched in 2006. More than 87,300 suspects have been arrested.^[23] The FBI estimates the size of the four Italian organized crime groups to be approximately 25,000 members and 250,000 affiliates worldwide.^[24]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ http://www.insideprison.com/prison_gang_profile_TRINITARIOS.asp ^ http://gangrelated.net/resources/articles-mainmenu-92/124-trinitarios-overview-an-emerging-threat-on-the-east-coast.html ^ http://www.nypost.com/seven/01142008/news/regionalnews/schools_gang_scourge_128917.htm

[edit] Further reading

• Frederick Thrasher, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927 ASIN: B000IZWOBA
• Varrio Warfare: Violence in the Latino Community, Gabriel C. Morales, 1998 ASIN: B0018HRNHM
• Roberson, Cliff. "Exploring Juvenile Justice", California: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2000 ISBN 978-1928916093
• Daniels, Peggy. ed. "Gangs", Michigan: The Gale Group, 2008

[edit] External links

• http://forcesgangstoriots.googlepages.com/home
• Gangresearch.net/Archives/hagedorn/gangcomref.html A bibliography on the sociological study of Gangs]
• A 1923-26 map of Chicago gangs made by Fredric Thrasher
• Jeanne Weiler, The Sociology of Female Gangs
• A list of the names of the Gangs of London
• Robert Snyder, Gangs: the Family in Turmoil
• Ben Leapman, London's criminal families replaced by ethnic gangs, The Telegraph, 22 April 2006
• Gang Profiles - Gang Prevention Services
• John Hancock, Combating Gang Activity in Prison, Gangs Across America