subject: Gang Wars in Los Angles [print this page] Gang Wars in Los Angles Gang Wars in Los Angles
Street gangs always have been very flexible as it is easy to develop such organizations. Such gangs are a difficult to control as there is a very low ratio of knowledge available regarding this massive network of organizations. In 1993, New York Times published an article which clearly made a statement that that Little Rock was one of the fastest growing with an exceptional increase in juvenile crime and homicides. The Times featured the city on a front page article which stated that Little Rock's homicide rate per capita equals that of New York City and Los Angeles. Most of the carnage is being wreaked by and upon young African American males.
Gangs have always been around for hundreds of years, in order to disrupt the law and order. The gangs which have been there for a long time include the Crips and the Bloods from California. The origins of the Crips and Bloods can be traced to the late 1960's, and the gang culture is a very deep rooted trait in the west coast area that many families have three to four generations of gangsters residing in the same residence areas where their origins sparked off. L.A. has gangs like any other city in the world but their number is between 800 and 1000 (one of the largest in the world) , with members from ranging between astonishing numbers of 120,000 to 220,000 . These numbers have been a serious debate over the past years, and depending on what set of criteria is being followed to decide who is and is not a gang member. The figures could be considerably higher.
One of the famous Little Rock Blood gangs, the Highland Court Crew, has been their in various forms of organizations since 1984. Graffiti and other activities by them were became a major mark in round about 1987. Most of the other major area gangs were formed pretty later on in the late 80's and early 90's with the greatest gang growth year being 1990. Almost all of these gangs are affiliated with the four major gangs. Those are: 1) Crips; 2) Bloods; 3) Folk Nation; and 4) People Nation. The Crips and Bloods are Los Angeles oriented while the Folk Nation and People Nation are Chicago oriented. The Black Gangster Disciples (a sub-group of the Hoovers) appears to be the largest denomination with the Bloods being the second largest. Some believe the Disciples and Crips are aligning on the streets as well as in the prisons, as are the Bloods and Vice-Lords.
During the time they serve in prison, these youngsters are exposed to the world of real life gangsters who have truly experienced the hard-core gang violence. Then once they get back put on the streets these new comers go with more "knowledge" than ever could have been gained on the streets. When they are in prison, many gain rank or "juice" within their gang because they went to the "joint". While most kids on the streets are good kids, as long as society continues in the direction in which we are currently drifting, all kids must be considered at risk.
