The world is being faced with one major crisis of insecurity and rapid growth of criminal gangs. Authorities have identified gangs as any group of criminals made who engage in various criminal activities in a given a region. These gangs have been involved in terrorizing people with some of them having a global network. Security agents have admitted that almost 60% of the crimes that are committed in the United States are being coordinated by criminal gangs. Gangs are involved in both minor and complicated crimes ranging from robbery, murder, rape and drug trafficking. The trend in which the gangs emerge is influenced by various social, economic and political factors. In analyzing ad investigating criminal gangs, security agents have classified criminal gangs in different categories, there are gangs that operate on motorcycles and are referred to as motorcycle gangs. Others are formed by youngest who are between the age 0f 18-25 years, such gangs are known as juvenile gangs. There are other gangs that engage in organizedcrimes, thesetypes of gangs can fall in any category. Other gangs have been formed and operated in prisons, and once the members are released, they continue engaging in the activities of the gang. Some operate for a period of time and then they go underground. Some of the gangs that were in existence in the early 80’s and 90’s have gone underground and reemerged again. This has made it difficult for security agents to permanently eliminate the gangs. Thegangs are also categorized according to the race of the gang members of ethnicity, an example is in the US where there are gangs formed by blacks and those of the whites, these type of gangs are mostly influenced by demographic factors. There is a system of administration of these gangs with some of them even being funded by people holding senior positions in government. The complexity in the organization is what has made it difficult to shut down their operation (Barker, 2012).
The complexity and operation of criminal gangs has been changing with time. The is a difference between how the early traditional criminal gangs operated, and the neo-traditional gangs operate. There aresubstantial differences and similarities in the following sectors of gang operation,structure,membership and the activities they engage in. This paper will focus on the analyses of these factors in the operations of traditional and neo-traditional gangs .Some of the gangs have claimed to be fighting for the rights of its people, but this is ironical since they do so in illegal ways. Tracing the origin of the traditional and nontraditional gangs can give a proper analysis of a gang’s motives and the people who were informed in the formation.
One of the earliest gangs to be formed was the Forty –Two Gang that was operated between 1925 and 1934.The group was mainly made up of teenage boys and young men who operated in Chicago. The gang was mainly involved in the theft of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts which were in high demand during that period. There were no limits to the crimes committed by the gang which ranged from murder, armed robbery and even smashing windows. The group’s main base was in the Maxwell Street in which locals referred to as “Bloody Maxwell” due to the high murder and robbery cases. The formation of the group started with two small groups criminal groups known as ‘Mibs’ and “Babe Ruth” which were formed by young boys. The boys mostly in elementary school were involved in criminal activities while still in school. The older and pioneer members of the gang looked for other members who were introduced to the gang. This is similar to the neo-traditional gangs where the pioneer members are involved in introducing new members in the gang. Once new members joined the gang, they were introduced to crime and offered protection from being arrested by the police. This is similar to what happens in the neo-traditional wheremembers are protected from police arrest. With the gang being engaged in different criminal activities, the structure and organization was divided into mobs. Each mob was made up of about five members with each mob having around five members being led by the older boys. The first members of the group were twenty, but after the group established its headquarters at a restaurant the number had grown to fifty eight. As it is the trend of a gang to expand with time, by 1932 the police estimated the number to have grown to five hundred members. Since this was a group that was being formed by young people just like some of the neo-tradition gangs, there was a lot of peer pressure with new members being attracted to the kind of lifestyle the gang members were living. Younger boys who were involved in minor crimes in the town joined the older boys in expanding the gang, making it stronger. Researchers in gang analysis have identified one key factor to the growth of a criminal gang is the ability to recruit new members. Once the police realized the growth of the gang, they were put under police surveillance after which they started moving to the neighborhood areas.
Gang leaders in both the traditional and neo-traditional criminal groups have got nicknames r even codenames that are used to refer to them. In this gang, the leaders are referred as “smart head”. These are guys who are well connected to the authorities and the police know them. Those who wished to be full members of the gang had to work under the directive of the smart head which was sometimes exploitation. This also happens in the neo-tradition gangs where the old members exploit those who are under their authority. The young members are the ones involved in carrying out criminal activities such as stealing of vehicles. Once the police knew the group members, they collected bribes from them without any arrests being made. The fact that the police took bribes from these people shows that they were involved in the operations of the gang’s activities.Neo-tradition gangs also share their profits with the police with some of the payments even being made in the police stations on weekly or monthly basis. The exploitation and child labor was used to the advantage of the gang. Children as young as the age six years old were used to break into vehicles with the believe that the police would not shoot young children.
The judicial system in Chicago was easily intimidated by the gang members. This is a common characteristic of criminal gangs where they have control over the legal systems in their area of operation. The gang sometimes kidnapped witnesses and threatened them if they testified against them. In cases where there was a jury involved, some of the jury members were threatened. When one of the gang members was jailed, the other members were able to bribe the judges for early parole. Gender was not issues for one to join the gang, though most of the active members of the gang were young men, there were girls in the gang’s operations. The same case applies for neo-tradition gangs, which have more members of the female gender than in the traditional ones. The gang members used the girls as tools for satisfying their sexual pleasures. The police also did not put much interest in searching for weapons on girls, and this worked to the gang’s advantage, the girls were involved in carrying the weapons.
Researchers have attributed issues such as poor education and unemployment to be contributive factors that compel the youth to join criminal gangs. Some of the members of the Forty-Two Gang confessed that they had to join the gang for them to earn a living. Members of the neo-tradition gangs have also confessed that unemployment, poor political systems and lack of quality education are the key factors that lead youth joining criminal gangs. When the Forty-Two Gang is compared with the neo-tradition gangs, there are many differences in the structure and organization of the gang. In carrying out the comparison and analysis,
The Crisps is one of the most famous neo-traditional criminal gang. It is one of the largest gangs that have been formed in the United States with its origin being the Los Angeles state. The gang was formed between mid and late 1960’s However the gang started being active in its operations in the early 1980’s.During the formation of the gang, another rival gang called the blood was formed.This shows the opposition that exists in the neo-traditional gangs. Unlike the traditional gangs, neo-traditional gangs have their rival gangs that are highly active in terms of gang competition. The gang was an African American group with Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie William being the founder members. Unlike the traditional gangs, the Crisps gang was formed to bring a social transformation, however due to lack of proper leadership and guidance; it was not possible to achieve the goal. It was more focused on competing with other rival gangs which a key character is found on the neo-tradition gangs. The leadership structure of the gang is more organized than that of the Forty-Two gang Thieves. In the top leadership there is the leader who is followed by the advisors and suppliers. Political coordination and communication is also addressed in the management of the gang. Security and area coordinators are also involved in management and leadership. The tradition gangs did not have advisors who advised the gang on issues such as financial, political and legal details concerning the gang. Close monitoring of rival gangs is done by and information given to the leadership by those responsible in the communication department. This shows a different form of leadership as compared to the traditional gangs where power seemed to have been centralized on only the leaders. In neo-tradition gangs, what matters is what an individual has to offer to the gang and not the period one has been a member. Anyone who wanted to become a full member of the Crisps, he/she has to attack a member from the rival gangs (Delaney 2006). Recruitment of new members was delegated to a different group which was referred to as trustees and representatives. The networking system of the gang was therefore more concrete compared to earlier traditional gangs. Books and record are also maintained in the gang which makes the gang able to track its records (Klein & Maxon 2001).
There is a close relationship between the criminal activities that the Crisp was engaged in and those that the traditional gangs carriedout. The gang was involved in drug trafficking, illegal sale of guns, robbery and murder. The scope of crime is wider than those of the traditional gangs (Howell 2012). There was also extortion of funds from non-members which was termed as protection fee. The gang was responsible for protecting the people within its hoods; however those who did not pay the fee were punished by the gang. Whenthe gang members migrated to different states in America, they ensure that they are able to introduce the activities of the gang to new members. Children are not frequently used in this gang, unlike the traditional gangs. Gender discrimination in the Crisps is not as vibrant as it is in the traditional gangs; the ladies are free to join the gangs without many barriers.
Gang identity is a common feature in the neo-tradition gangs. The Crisps identified itself with the blue color.Gang members identified themselves with the blue color which distinguished them from other gangs. The gang has its symbol, which is the six –pointed star; the symbol represented knowledge, love, loyalty and life. Traditional gangs did not focus more on the identify factor. However, the trend has changed over time after the authorities started identifying gang members with their dress code. The Crisp being a neo-tradition gang has more influence over the authorities than the traditional gangs. Any gang member who goes against the rules of the gang has to face the consequences, and sometimes members have been killed by their colleagues.
With the change of time, criminal gangs continue to get more sophisticated; emerging gangs are adapting the use of technology and engagement of more complex crimes. Law enforcers will be faced with the challenges of neutralizing criminal gangs and curbing their expansion. Some members who have pulled out of the gangs have admitted that some members have been born and grown up in the gangs; it is the only place they can call home. Near measures need to be implemented to handle the gangs since some of them such as the Mafia have gone global. Some gangs have gained control of political systems and are even being funded by people in power. Since most people who engage in gang activities are mainly the youth, it is necessary to introduce programs that the youth should engage infusing the law as the only weapon to deal with the criminal gangs cannot offer the ultimate solution to dealing with the issues. The systems that were used to curb the emergence of criminal gangs in the early days cannot be used I the modern world, new measures that can handle the issue need to be addressed(Wright 2005).
Work Cited
Barker, T. (2012). North American criminal gangs: street, prison, outlaw motorcycle, and drug trafficking organizations. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.
Delaney, T. (2006). American street gangs. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Howell, J. C. (2012). Gangs in America's communities. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.
Kindt, M. T., Post, J. M., & Schneider, B. R. (2009). The world's most threatening terrorist networks and criminal gangs. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Klein, M. W., & Maxson, C. L. (2001). Gang structures, crime patterns, and police responses. Newyork: ,.
Wright, A. (2005). Organised Crime. Cullompton: Willan Pub..
