Gang

• 1. Introduction

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  Gang. The word traces back to an Old English root meaning "to go", cognate with Old Norse gangr. Today it carries a weight far heavier than its origins suggest. Scholars, prosecutors, and sociologists continue to argue about where a street crew ends and a criminal organization begins. What draws a child in a Rio de Janeiro favela into the same kind of structure that shaped Victorian London's underworld? What connects the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Japanese yakuza, and a biker club in rural Australia? This documentary traces gangs from their earliest recorded appearances through to the debates still raging in courtrooms and on social media today. The questions run deep: who joins a gang, who profits, and who is left behind?

• 2. Origins and Deep History

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  Barrington Moore, Jr. argued that gangsterism as a form of self-help which victimizes others tends to emerge wherever the forces of law and order are weak. He went further, characterizing European feudalism itself as "mainly gangsterism that had become society itself and acquired respectability through the notions of chivalry." That is a striking claim: that organized crime is not an aberration from society but can become society.

  London in the 17th century was, by historical accounts, terrorized by a series of organized gangs. Among them were groups known as the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, and Dead Boys. These gangs clashed with one another repeatedly. Members wore colored ribbons to signal which faction they belonged to, a practice that has never fully disappeared.

  By the Victorian era, criminal societies in London had begun developing internal ranks and family-style groupings. They operated on pick-pocketry, prostitution, forgery, counterfeiting, commercial burglary, and money laundering. Street gangs like the Peaky Blinders developed their own argots and slangs as a way of distinguishing insiders from outsiders.

  Across the Atlantic, the United States first saw street gang activity on the East Coast in 1783, following the American Revolution. The migration of rural populations into expanding cities drove much of this growth. The 40 Thieves, widely recognized as the first street gang in the United States, appeared in New York City in the late 1820s. In Washington, D.C., gangs held control of what is now Federal Triangle, in a district then known as Murder Bay. Historians Brian J. Robb and Erin H. Turner trace the origins of organized crime syndicates in the United States to the Cochise Cowboy Gang and the Wild Bunch in the Old West. Prohibition then added fuel: Chicago alone had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s.

• 3. A World of Types

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  Mafias are among the most documented criminal organizations. The Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Italian-American Mafia draw the most scholarly attention, but similar structures exist in the Neapolitan Camorra, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, and the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita. Beyond Italy, the Irish Mob, Japanese yakuza, Chinese triads, British firms, and Russian Bratva operate on comparable principles of hierarchy and territorial control.

  Narco organizations, often called drug cartels, concentrate primarily on the illegal drug trade. The Medellin Cartel and other Colombian organizations set an early template. Mexican cartels including the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas followed. The Primeiro Comando da Capital operates in Brazil. The Gulf Cartel and Shower Posse are known specifically for deploying paramilitaries and narcoterrorism.

  Street gangs tend to form among young people in urban neighborhoods. Miller, writing in 1992, defined a street gang as a self-formed association of peers with identifiable leadership and internal organization who act collectively or individually to achieve specific purposes, including illegal activity and control of territory. The Bloods, Crips, Vice Lords, and Gangster Disciples are among the better-known American examples. Other groups including the Trinitario, Latin Kings, Sureños, and Asian Boyz operate across racial and ethnic lines.

  Prison gangs present a distinct structural challenge: they form inside correctional facilities and frequently extend operations outward. The Mexican Mafia and United Blood Nation are examples. Criminal justice professor John Hagedorn has noted that many of the largest gangs from Chicago trace their roots to prison settings. The Conservative Vice Lords and Blackstone Rangers both originated from the St. Charles Illinois Youth Center.

  Law enforcement gangs occupy a separate and troubling category. Members have been accused of abusing policy and constitutional rights, intimidating colleagues, and retaliating against whistleblowers. Leaders within these groups, called shot-callers, can influence promotions, scheduling, and enforcement decisions.

  The Hells Angels, the Pagans, the Outlaws, and the Bandidos are collectively known as the Big Four of outlaw motorcycle gangs in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice defines such groups as organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises.

• 4. Inside the Hierarchy

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  Gang structures broadly follow a recognizable chain. At the top sits the boss, known variously as leader, elder, don, oyabun, or original gangster. Bosses typically distance themselves from direct criminal activity and often operate a legitimate business as a front. Below the boss sits the underboss, then captains who relay orders to soldiers in the field. Soldiers, also called soldatos or kobun, carry out the gang's activities directly. Associates, sometimes called hang-arounds or affiliates, sit at the edges of membership. Specialized roles among associates include enforcers, falcons who act as eyes and ears on the street, and mules who transport contraband.

  Size shapes structure significantly. Gang membership can range from five or ten people to thousands. Larger gangs frequently break into smaller cliques or sets, each claiming additional territory as the gang expands. Most gangs operate informally, with leadership falling to whoever takes control. Others are tightly structured, resembling a corporation in their organization.

  Membership, once established, is rarely a casual commitment. Most gangs treat it as a lifetime obligation, reinforced through tattoos and ensured through intimidation. Defectors face retaliation. Many gangs, including transnational ones, hold that the only way to leave is through death; this is sometimes called the "morgue rule." Once a person is formally validated as a gang member by authorities, they may face increased sentences, solitary confinement, and stricter parole rules under state law.

• 5. Initiation and Training

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  Many street gangs require a prospective member to commit a crime before being inducted. The Bloods and MS-13 practice a ritual known as the "jump-in" or "beat-in", in which aspiring members are beaten for a set number of seconds to demonstrate toughness and loyalty. Some gangs also allow women to join through a process called "sexed-in."

  Biker gangs like the Hells Angels take a longer approach. A candidate, called a hang-around, is observed and mentored by veteran members for a year or more before being considered for full membership. The Cosa Nostra demands that candidates take part in a ceremony involving oaths and bloodletting. The Sigue-Sigue Sputnik in the Philippines requires members to tattoo the name of the gang or their leader onto their body. Triad initiation takes place at an altar dedicated to Guan Yu, with incense and an animal sacrifice, typically a chicken, pig, or goat.

  Training for violence varies sharply by gang type. The Sicilian mafia and Calabrian mafia created schools in the countryside to train children as young as eleven in weapons use. Giovanni Tinebra, the chief public prosecutor of Caltanissetta, stated that many boys were sent into the countryside to be taught to shoot and turned into killing machines instead of attending school. The Medellin Cartel hired Israeli soldier Yair Klein to train militiamen and assassins. Los Zetas, founded by U.S.-trained Mexican commandos, partnered with Guatemalan Kaibiles to run camps that trained future sicarios and soldatos. The Jalisco Cartel ran three-month training programs covering ambushes, codes of silence, and discipline.

  Most street gangs do not offer formal weapons training. A small number teach members to shoot using cans and bottles, sometimes in underground shooting ranges. A pattern in the United States from the late 1990s into the early 2000s saw judges send gang members to the military to reform them, which instead gave those individuals professional military training they brought back to their gangs.

• 6. Why People Join

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  The United Nations estimates the global drugs trade at $352 billion, and gangs draw the majority of their income from it. That figure explains some of the economic logic. The United States Department of Justice estimates roughly 30,000 gangs, with 760,000 members, affecting 2,500 communities across the country.

  Frederic Thrasher, a pioneer of gang research, identified demoralization as a standard characteristic of gangs. John Hagedorn has connected that observation to Manuel Castells' theory of resistance identity and to Derrick Bell's work on the permanence of racism, arguing these three concepts help explain organizational patterns in oppressed groups.

  World Bank surveys conducted for the World Development Report 2011 found that unemployment is by far the most common reason people globally cite for joining a gang. Power, respect, money, and protection follow closely. In neighborhoods with high violence, adolescents face genuine pressure to join for physical safety, including protection from police violence and the effects of the war on drugs. For young people who feel ostracized and lack social support, gang membership can offer belonging, identity, and a path to material resources that no other institution appears to provide.

  Ethnic solidarity also drives recruitment. Black and Hispanic gangs in the United States during the 1960s adapted nationalist rhetoric. The Igbo gang Bakassi Boys in Nigeria defends the majority Igbo population through violent means. In Chicago, a white gang called the Gaylords formed in response to increasing Black and Hispanic migration. Religious motivation plays a role in some cases, as with the Muslim Patrol and the Epstein-Wolmark gang.

  Once inside, the group effect intensifies criminal behavior in a documented way: the criminality of individual members is greater when they are part of the gang than either before or after membership, and the gang as a whole produces more criminal activity than the sum of its members acting alone.

• 7. Symbols, Territory, and Reach

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  The Bloods wear red bandanas; the Crips wear blue. Displaying a rival color without membership is treated as grounds for violent retaliation, often by multiple gang members at once. A tattoo of the number 18 above the eyebrow marks a member of the 18th Street Gang. The Nortenos combine red bandanas with tattoos reading "14", "XIV", "x4", or "Norte." Tattoos can also communicate rank, marking accomplishments that demonstrated loyalty.

  Graffiti, hand signals, clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and code words all serve to define membership and warn outsiders. One study on symbolism and terrorism notes that symbols impel actors to act and define their targets. Displaying a gang sign can, under U.S. law, constitute a threat to commit violence communicated with intent to terrorize.

  The internet has expanded gang communication to a global audience with minimal effort and reduced risk of detection. Social media enables recruitment, provokes rivals through derogatory posts, and allows members to project the image of their gang far beyond any physical territory.

  Gangs also use military knowledge in ways that extend beyond individual cities. As of April 2011, the National Gang Intelligence Center had identified members of at least 53 gangs whose members had served in or were affiliated with the U.S. military. A 2007 FBI report found that the military's screening process was ineffective at keeping gang members out. Gangs documented on military installations, both domestic and international, included the Bloods, Crips, Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Hells Angels, Latin Kings, the 18th Street Gang, MS-13, Mexican Mafia, Norteños, Sureños, and Vice Lords. In 2006, a Defense Department investigator reported an online network of gangs and extremists communicating about weapons, recruiting, and maintaining secrecy. Gang graffiti photographed in Iraq was what originally prompted the Chicago Sun-Times to investigate gang activity inside the military.