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Running head: GANG ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA 1
GANG ORANIZATIONS IN AMERICA 14
Gang Organizations in America
Melodie L. Allen
Report Writing – ENC 3211-4
Professor Volker
Everest University
June 11, 2013
Abstract
In this essay I will be discussing Gang Organizations in America from material that I have read in the American Street Gangs textbook written by Tim Delaney (2006) and from various internet websites that will be listed in the reference page. I will be sharing information about what a gang is and where they came from, the illegal drug activity that runs these gangs, and what the government is doing to stop illegal gang activity on the streets of America.
Why is there so much illegal drug activity occurring on many of the streets in America every day? In order to answer this question, I believe we need to figure out who is responsible for contributing to the illegal drug issue in America. I think it is very possible that the gang organizations in America may contribute a big part to the illegal drug activity across America, illegal gang activity occurs on many streets in the United States on a daily basis. Gang organizations have been around for a very long time and are very dangerous due to the illegal drug activity that helps gangs to flourish (Delaney, 2006). Gangs have become a very scary issue that cannot be ignored by the government in order to prevent dangerous drug activity on American streets.
Street gangs began to form in New York City way back in the early 1800’s when the Erie Canal was under construction (Delaney, 2006). The Erie Canal allowed greater access to the city which brought many immigrants to the area (p.36). In 1825 the construction of the Erie Canal changed New York City from a quiet city with no police forces to a more industrialized over populated city (p. 36). This change brought many immigrants to the city including the Irish who were very adamant about keeping their heritage known throughout the city by opening up their own grocery stores in their community known as the “Five Point” neighborhood (p. 36). These grocery stores were basically a decoy for the illegal activity that took place in the back which brought about criminal activity along with the first known gang with leadership in New York City known as the “Forty Thieves” (p. 37). The “Kerryonians” were the next to gain recognition; they stayed on their home turf around Center Street and did not do much fighting (p. 37). Some of the other gangs that were formed out of these grocery stores are the “Dead Rabbits, Roach Guards, Chichesters, Plug Uglies, and the Shirt Tails (p. 37). Even more gangs were formed to the North of the “Five Point” neighborhood in the Browery slum section that was made up of the Yankee’s and Irish American’s (p. 37). These gangs were known as the Browery Boys, American Guards, True Blue American’s, and the Atlantic Guards (p. 37). The Browery Boys and the Dead Rabbits are well known for the Draft Riots of 1863 when they united together in an attempt to destroy the city (p. 38). New York City was known as the gang capital of the United States in the nineteenth century even though there were 52 gangs recognized in Philadelphia between 1836 and 1878 (p. 38).
In 1829 England organized its first professional police force to help with protecting its citizens rights (Delaney, 2006). By 1850 there were around 30,000 gangs recognized in New York City (p. 41). More and more gangs were established, towards the end of the 1800’s there were youth gangs in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia (p. 44). In the 1900’s there were more and more gangs that were using weapons which caused an increase in criminal activity (p. 44). To help with deterring increased gang activity the gang members were placed in the military (p. 44). The two types of gangs that were known in the Depression and Prohibition era were the street gangs and the organized gangs (p. 44). During this era the police were focused on Al Capone, the Ma Barker gang, and the Bonnie and Clyde gang (p. 44).
By the year 1910 the gangs were mostly made up of the Jewish and Italian (Delaney, 2006). The Eastman’s organized the “Five Pointers” gang in 1910 that was known for its relation with the Mafia, and Al Capone, otherwise known as Scarface (p. 45). In 1913 the newly elected mayor of New York made it a priority for the police to control the gang activity in the city (p. 45). The “Tong Wars” developed in the beginning of the 1900’s that implicated gangs from Chinatown (p. 46). In 1918 Louis Buchalater and Jacob Shapiro organized the “Gorilla Boys” street gang that was known for targeting bakeries, fraudulent activities, and eventually murder (p. 47).
Detroit was known for the Jewish gang activity with its youth organizing gangs to help protect the local merchants in the city with one of the gangs known as the “Sugar House Gang” (Delaney, 2006). The “Sugar House Gang” and the Norman Purple group joined together in the 1920’s to become the most callous gang known, they called themselves the “Purple Gang” (p. 48). The “Purple Gang” became known as the “Oakland Sugar House” in the middle of the 1920’s, they were known to be a very violent gang who were protecting the Jewish merchants from other gang members (p. 49). Gangs continued to grow, in the 1950’s the gangs were made up of Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and youths of Mexican-American heritage and expanded into the West, South, and North (p. 50). Today there are gangs all over the world; the gangs of yesterday have been replaced by the gangs of today.
Today there are thousands of street gangs that are well known all throughout the world (Delaney, 2006). The street gangs of today control our communities with the use of guns and violence (United States Department of Justice). Street gangs are a big threat to the people in our communities today because they use many different illegal activities to earn money (United States Department of Justice). The U.S. Department of Justice is expecting our street gangs to expand their drug smuggling activities to an international level (United States Department of Justice). Among the thousands of gangs across the country a few of these gangs are the Bloods, Asian Boyz, Latin Counts, Latin Disciples, Fresno Bull Dogs, the Crips, and the MS-13 (United States Department of Justice).
The street gangs of today control our communities with the use of guns and violence (United States Department of Justice). Street gangs are a big threat to the people in our communities today because they use many different illegal activities to earn money (United States Department of Justice). The U.S. Department of Justice is expecting our street gangs to expand their drug smuggling activities to an international level (United States Department of Justice). Among the thousands of gangs across the country, that are involved in illegal drug activity on our American streets, a few of these gangs are the Bloods, Asian Boyz, Latin Counts, Latin Disciples, Fresno Bull Dogs, the Crips, and the MS-13 (United States Department of Justice).
I have found it interesting to know that gang members like to mostly hang out and party (Delany, 2006). When gang members hang out and party they like to drink and use drugs, the drugs those gangs members are known to use are marijuana, speed, ecstasy, crack, PCP, and heroin (p. 229). Gangs use marijuana and crack as welcoming favors at their parties, they use drugs during their ritual ceremonies, and they will use drugs to increase their stamina for fighting, due to the fact that they are under the influence when they hang out and party, gang members are known to commit serious criminal acts to get their drugs (p. 230). Gangs are known to use drugs and sell drugs, but it is not known how big of a part they play in the distribution of drugs, and no evidence has been found about gangs being responsible for shipping drugs into our country from other countries (p. 229). There is evidence that proves gangs have their own meth labs and use them as their distribution center (p. 229). Gangs sell drugs to make money to operate their gang organizations; gang members have been selling small amounts of marijuana for years (p. 230).
In the 1980’s gang members started selling crack cocaine to make money and increase their income P. 230). There are gangs that sell drugs to make money to party with, which is about 42% of the gangs, and there are the gangs that use drug trafficking to make a profit (p. 231). There are some gangs that take part in drug trafficking, and the distribution of illegal drugs to make a profit (p. 233). Drug distribution happens when a gang will purchase a huge amount of drugs, divide them up into smaller portions, and then sell them on the streets (p. 233). Drug trafficking happens when the gang transports these from one jurisdiction to another jurisdiction (p. 233). For some gangs distributing drugs has become a way of life for them (p. 234).
Mónica Ortiz Uribe of the KPBS news station reports that the Mexican drug cartel looks for gang members within the United States to distribute the drugs for them (2011). Uribe says that the gang members are doing the dirty work for the Mexican cartel in exchange for money (2011). The Mexican cartel uses gang members to sell the drugs for them so they don’t get caught doing illegal activities (Uribe, 2011). The Mexican cartel is known to use the “Barrio Azteca” gang that was formed in a Texas prison in 1986, and is known to sell drugs near the Mexican and United States borders near Texas, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez (Uribe, 2011).
Gang members also like to drink and use drugs that give them more courage to display violent behaviors within the gang and on the streets (Delaney, 2006). Gang members are known to use violence when they have had a drug deal that didn’t work out like they wanted it to (p. 235). Gang violence is a very real issue in the United States with the end result being many homicides in some of our cities, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports information gathered from 2003-2008 concerning the gang related homicides in five cities that are known to have high levels of gang activity which are Los Angeles, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Long Beach, California; Oakland, California; and Newark, New Jersey (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). Homicide is known to be the second leading cause of death in our young children between the ages of 15 and 24 in the United States, in some cities, like Los Angeles and Long Beach, gang related homicide accounts for 61% and 69% of these deaths (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). The CDC found that the gang homicide rate is higher for “young adults and adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, and males” (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). The information gathered shows that the gang related homicides involved 27% to 42% of the victims being 15-19 years of age (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). In these same five cities the CDC reports that the amount of “gang homicides resulting from drug trade/use or with other crimes in progress was consistently low in the five cities, ranging from zero to 25%” (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). The CDC reports that the homicides are usually committed in a public area with a handgun, which means it’s usually a “quick retaliatory reaction to an on- going gang conflict” (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012). These findings tell us that it is very important to try to prevent our youth from joining a gang, and to show our youth how to handle matters in a non-violent way (Egley, Logan & McDaniel, 2012).
Gang organizations have become a very comfortable way of life for many of our young children because they think this is where they fit in. The gangs in the United States play a huge part in the violence that occurs on the streets in some cities in the United States. This violence has much to do with the way they support their gang organizations with their illegal drug activities. I believe we need to come together and use every option available to help gain control of the gang issues across the country. There are a few different intervention, suppression, and prevention programs that law enforcement officials are using across the country to try to gain control of gang organization activities (Delaney, 2006). There are even a variety of treatment programs that the individual gang members can take advantage of to help get them out of gang organizations (p. 283).
Gang prevention efforts are done to try to prevent our youth from joining a gang (Delaney, 2006). The gang prevention efforts are done by trying to keep our youth from being tempted to join a gang and show them how to make better choices for themselves (p. 250). The first place to start with gang prevention efforts is within the community where the gangs have originated due to the lack of hope for an encouraging future (p. 251). Community prevention programs have used detached workers that work in the community to provide resources for the youth who are at risk of joining a gang, or who are already in a gang (p. 253). The detached workers have tried to provide better choices for the youth with more recreation, available mediation services, improvements in the school curriculum, and support assistance with probation and parole (p. 253). The detached workers gang prevention efforts have not shown to be a very effective resource in preventing our youth from joining gangs (p. 253).
Gang suppression efforts have to do with the law trying their ways, with law enforcement, to get a control over the issue with gangs (Delaney, 2006). Gang suppression efforts involve the police, prosecutors, judges, and the legislature (p. 264). The police play a big part in trying to combat the illegal lifestyle of the gangs in the United States (p. 264). Police agencies will do undercover police investigations to help capture and arrest the high-level drug leaders, and the government is implementing programs, based on research, to help find improved strategies to combat the illegal drug activities of the gangs of today (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1997). The police have been doing neighborhood sweeps where they will go to a certain area in the neighborhood to find known suspects and arrest them (p. 265). The sweeps get the attention of many people in the community, even the media that make them look like they are working to control gang issues (p. 265). The police will also go to a known hideout of a gang member and apply pressure, which is called “hot spot targeting”, to get their point across that they are not going to tolerate gang issues within the community (p. 265). In some neighborhoods the police use community policing where the police will work more in the community with the citizens to gain their trust to gather information in order to stop gang issues (p. 270).
The judicial and legislative suppression strategies involve injunctions, curfews, truancy laws, banning certain attire, banning gang colors, housing, prosecution, nuisance abatement laws, and loitering restrictions (Delaney, 2006). Injunction involves prohibiting gang members from entering certain areas of the city, curfews are set to keep young kids off the street after a certain time of night, truancy laws try to make sure our kids get to school, banning certain attire prohibits kids from wearing gang clothing, banning gang colors prohibits the gang from displaying their gang color, housing prohibits HUD from allowing gang members to live in their housing units, nuisance abatement laws allow citizens to file civil suits against a person that caused them harm, loitering restrictions prohibit gang members from hanging out in certain places throughout the city (p. 274). The prosecutors suppression efforts is to gather as much information on the gang members that have been arrested to make sure that they are punished enough to hopefully stop them from going back to the gang way of life (p. 275).
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) shows that the stand alone gang prevention and suppression strategies have not been that successful in the past (Bureau of Justice Assistance). The BJA is showing that the Comprehensive Programs are doing a better job of reducing gang violence and gang drug activities in certain areas (Bureau of Justice Assistance). These programs seem to be working better because they include the prevention, suppression, and intervention strategies (Bureau of Justice Assistance). All the intervention and suppression efforts from the police and the government are helping some, but what about getting some treatment for the gang members?
The United States Department of Justice has recognized roughly 27,900 gangs that total about 774,000 gang members who are causing trouble in many of our neighborhoods and prisons throughout the United States. In 2008 there were 32.4% of our communities dealing with gang issues, gangs are known to be violent, and the number one supplier of illegal drugs to communities and prisons all over the United States (National Youth Gang Survey, 2008). The very sad reality about all these gangs and gang members is that most of them are very young children.
Treatment for gang members can start with their first time getting into some trouble with the law (Delaney, 2006). The police officers and probation officers have the authority to put juvenile offenders through an unconditional diversion, or a conditional diversion process, that will allow them to stay out of jail for the time being, if they follow the rules of the diversion process (p. 283). When the unconditional diversion is used the juveniles will have to stay out of trouble, go to school, and not appear in court for a certain amount of time (p. 284). When the conditional diversion is used the juveniles won’t be placed in the court system, instead they will be given some conditions to follow such as having to attend psychoanalysis sessions, lectures, substance abuse counseling, or educational classes (p. 284).
Some other helpful forms of diversion are placing the juvenile offenders on electronic monitoring to monitor them 24 hours a day, placing them on parole after having been in jail or prison, making the juvenile offenders pay restitution for the damages done, and making them do some community service to pay back the community (Delaney, 2006). When the other diversion options haven’t worked then the juvenile offenders may be put into a military type boot camp where they will go through rigorous physical and mental training to hopefully improve their self-esteem, and change their behavior (p. 285). If the diversion process doesn’t work for the juvenile offenders there are other treatment options that can be used.
A fun way that is used to get through to juvenile offenders is the transactional analysis treatment method (Delaney, 2006). The transactional analysis treatment method involves a therapist playing games with the juvenile offenders to learn more about them, and to show them how to interact properly with other people (p. 286). The cognitive therapists will attempt to teach the juveniles how to handle their emotions by thinking about their situation before reacting on it (p. 286). The behavior therapy works well with the juveniles that are really making an effort to change their lives (p. 286). The behavior modification method works by changing the way the juvenile thinks by using a system of punishments for negative behaviors, and rewards for positive behaviors (p. 286). Vocational training can also be used to help change the lifestyles of the juvenile gang members by teaching them computer skills and job placement skills (p. 286). When these treatment programs have failed and the juveniles have turned into adults who are sitting in prison they should take advantage of the treatment programs that are available in the prison.
Our prison officials across the country have figured out that the many gang members who are sitting in their prisons need help to learn how to behave while they are in prison, and help learning how to behave when they get out of prison so they don’t come back (Delaney, 2006). Delaney says that the Connecticut Garner Correctional Institution has one of the more interesting gang busting treatment programs where the “prison officials put rival gang members together in a prison gym and have them engage in activities where each other’s safety is in the hand of a rival” (2006, p. 287). The Garner program looks at gang association as an addiction where it uses a five month, 12 step process to help the gang members build trust, and as Delaney states, “sever gang ties among inmates forever” (2006, p 287). Another prison treatment program mentioned by Delaney is the Amer-I-can program that was established by the former NFL star Jim Brown (2006, p. 287). The Amer-I-can program is run based on two beliefs, “everyone must take responsibility for their behavior and, most importantly, no one is cursed from birth” (Delaney, 2006 p. 287). The Amer-I-can program is designed to show juvenile offenders, gang members, ex-convicts, and inmates how to make better choices for a better life (p. 287).
I wish that our young children would think twice, and look elsewhere to get their needs met before they go and join a gang. I wish our young children had more known resources available to them to keep them from joining a gang. Our young children need to know that they can ask for help before they go and join a gang. They need to ask themselves, is it really that bad? Is it really going to be worth it if I join a gang? The reality is this, if our young children don’t get some kind of help soon many of them will choose to join a gang, and may spend most of their lives in prison, or end up dead (Delaney, 2006).
It is going to take a real long time, if ever, that our country will be able to gain control of gang organizations. I believe we need to use every option available to help gain control of the gang issues across the country. I believe that we need to continue our treatment efforts to at least get the message across that there are other options. Every citizen in all our communities across the country needs to do what they can to help get the message across that there is a better way to life than the gang life.
References
Bureau of Justice Assistance. (1997, January). Urban street gang enforcement. Retrieved from
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/161845
Bureau of Justice Assistance. (n.d.). What have we learned from evaluations of gang
programs/strategies?. Retrieved from
https://www.bja.gov/evaluation/program-law-
enforcement/gangs2.htm
Delaney, T. (2006). American street gangs. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Egley, Jr., A., Logan, J., & McDaniel, D. (2012). Gang homicides — five u.s. cities, 2003–2008.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 61((03)), 46-51. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6103a2.htm
National Youth Gang Survey. (2008). 11 facts about gangs. Retrieved from
http://dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-gangs#
United States Department of Justice. (n.d.). Street gangs. Retrieved from
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ocgs/gangs/street.html
Uribe, M. O. (2011, May 25). U.s. gangs as foot soldiers for drug traffickers. Retrieved from
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/may/25/us-gangs-foot-soldiers-drug-traffickers/
