Gangs: An American Evolution

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A street gang is group of people that form an allegiance based on various social needs and engage in acts injurious to public health and safety. Members of street gangs engage in (or have engaged in) gang-focused criminal activity either individually or collectively, they create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation within the community. Street gangs have been documented in cities in the United States throughout most of the country's history, but crime surveys and statistics suggest that gangs are posing a more serious crime problem than in the past. In some cities, such as Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, gangs are credited with an alarming share of violent crime, especially homicides. And while reports conflict about the extent to which gangs play an organized role in drug trafficking, the vast majority of gang cases investigated by the FBI revealed that drug trafficking was the primary criminal enterprise that supported the gang, however was not necessarily the sole purpose for the gang's existence.

Gangs have been involved with the lower levels of the drug trade for many years, but their participation skyrocketed with the arrival of "crack" cocaine. Almost overnight, a major industry was born, with outlets in every neighborhood, tens of thousands of potential new customers and thousands of sales jobs available. In slightly over a decade, street gangs have become highly involved in drug trafficking at all levels. Intelligence developed through investigations has revealed extensive interaction among individuals belonging to gangs across the US. This interaction does not take the conceptual form of traditional organized crime. It is more a loose network of contacts and associations that come together as needed to support individual business ventures. There are however, some street gangs that possess structured organization in their drug operations. In cities such as Chicago and New Haven, the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, Vice Lords, and Latin Kings have a more recognized organizational structure, funneling profits upward through the organization. Street gang-related violence and drug activity, however, are not necessarily synonymous. While street gangs may specialize in entrepreneurial activities like drug dealing, their gang-related lethal violence is more likely to grow out of turf conflicts than from the entrepreneurial activity. Drug markets indirectly influence violence by bringing rival gangs members into proximity with one another, as most street gang violence involves intergang conflicts.

By far the most visible and frightening of gang crimes is murder. Contrary to popular belief, most murders committed by gang members are not random shootings nor are they direct disputes over drugs or some other crime. While those types of gang homicides do occur, most are the product of old-fashioned fights over turf, status and revenge. Drive-by shootings and other confrontations of this kind typically involve small sets of gang members acting more or less on their own, not large groups representing an entire gang. But each attack creates a chain reaction of complicity, vengeance and commitment.


Source: Rosary Films