The city of Las Vegas has changed rapidly from becoming a beautiful city to a violent place to live in. The city has seemed a rise in homicides as well in the last few years. The strong presences of these gangs are taking innocent lives and making the community a harder place to raise a family in. Many of the gangs in Vegas account for most the drug trade, as well as the staggering homicide rate. The gang problem is not only a problem in Las Vegas, but it is all over the world. Gang violence is a problem in every major United States city including Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Las Vegas Metro Police Department (LVMPD) has implicated many programs to fight the increasing gang issue across the valley, from bringing back the gang unit to having more police officers patrol the known gang spots. These programs were implicated to stop the criminal gangs that are looking to build their territory in Nevada. The three criminal gangs that are mainly affiliated with Nevada are the Gersons’, the Crips, and the Playboys.
The Gerson Park Kingsmen is one of the oldest gangs in Southern Nevada. They got their name after the old Herbert Gerson Park housing project near Martin Luther King Blvd and Lake Mead. The gang is a hybrid street gang composed of Bloods and Crips. The gang originated in the 1970 and they are the oldest criminal gang in Las Vegas. Members are known to wear green and black as those are their colors and they are also associated with the numbers 369. The number
Consequently, the survey revealed consistent rate of gang activity from 2009 to 2010, but in metropolitan cities the gang-related homicide increased by thirteen percent from 2009 to 2010 (Egley & Howell, 2012). Subsequently, from my experience as a police officer, I can reaffirm juvenile gang members are prevalent in Nashville. In fact, majority of the gang members we encounter are typically sixteen to twenty years old. Due to the rising number of gang-related incidents, our Gangs Unit has developed a checklist for patrol officers to identify gang members. Also, when performing a local criminal records check, their criminal profile will reveal if the person is a confirmed gang member.
In the newspaper paper article, “No Sanctuary in Chicago’s street Gang wars,” Kass (2017) focuses on a recent murder in Chicago. Kass states that Chicago is a place of death do to the ongoing gang wars that Chicago is experiencing. Kass (2017) further points out Chicago gang crime is an “intergenerational problem, of grandfathers and fathers and sons and mothers and daughters wearing their gang colors.” Kass’ statement about in gang crime being an intergenerational problem is consistent with prior gang research. Intergenerational gangs is not a new phenomenon.
The Gang has a long history in dealing with many major crimes. Some of these include; weapons trafficking, dealing with narcotics and most importantly, Murder. In 2013, police have arrested 43 gang
Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in others, according to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. Perhaps one of the most notorious street gangs in the western hemisphere is The Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS 13. “Mara” is Salvadorian for “Group”, although there is debate over the origin and meaning, it is commonly known to mean “street smart. MS 13 was formed on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980’s by immigrants. “Mara Salvatrucha Stoners” is what MS 13 was originally called, they emphasized on partying, friendship and protecting one another from other gangs in L.A.
There has been a misconception towards gangs in America. When one thinks of a gang, possible characteristics that would come to mind are that they root in poor neighborhoods, that their members are all ethnic minorities, and possibly that they are composed of all males. But in this case we have a gang that is not composed of ethnic minorities and was not born in a poor neighborhood. According to Brian William Ludeke This gang is known as the “Malibu Locals Only” or the “MLO” gang, which is a group that resides within the lovely neighborhood of Malibu, California and it is composed of Caucasian males (Ludeke). According to Ludeke writer of the article Malibu Locals Only: "Boys Will Be Boys", Or Dangerous Street Gang?
History of Latino gangs Gangs are defined as 'any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of one ore more of the criminal acts […], which has a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity. ' whereas a gang member is defined as 'any person who actively participates in any gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang. ' (Hoover n.p.) Latino gangs began forming in California during the early 1920s and started as loose-knit groups1 for unity and socializing in the barrios2 where everybody had the same culture, customs and language.
These individuals have formulated small groups of individuals organized in many different locations throughout the United States. Although, the gang maintains their high status ties with their El Salvador counterparts, they continue to grow cliques in other parts of the Unites States and are known to be in operations of at least forty two states across the globe, as well as the District of Columbia estimating a membership total of over 36,000 in one area alone. Unfortunately, the members of this notorious gang are male and female who range from children as young as thirteen years of age to adults as old as forty. In addition, to the many cliques they have all over the US, and the age of these individuals, they are also, covered with tattoos all over their bodies from head to toe, and are known to wear the colors of their El Salvadoran flag, blue and white (Domash,
Prison Gangs Our streets and neighborhoods today are filled with drug abuse and violence, generally distributed and perpetrated by various gangs. Many people cannot go out of their houses at night or take a walk after sunset in fear of falling victim to these gangs. When these gang members get caught for their illegal activity, people just assume that they are locked up, away from the gang behavior that incarcerated them in the first place. Unfortunately, this logic is flawed.
In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.
City of Chicago, R. Daley & T. Hillard, Gang and Narcotic Related Violent Crime: 1993–1997, p. 7 (June
In Chicago, and all over the nation, the effects of gang activity have been displayed, specifically in low income and poverty torn communities. Poverty is measured depending on a family’s annual income and determining if the amount falls below the poverty threshold for the family’s size. If the annual income does fall below the threshold, then the family and every individual in it is considered to be in poverty. Gang activity is more visible in the areas specifically in major cities similar to Chicago where poverty is a commonality in communities. although gangs might add structure in order where the government fails to do so in the projects and and similar low income communities the negative effects such as the distribution of drugs, violence,
Prison gangs thrive on crime within the facility. If not addressed their involvement in crime will continue to grow and pose a threat to other inmates, staff, and the institution. If procedures are not put into place then gang membership will only continue and remain a safety concern. Administration must ensure their staff members are adequately trained and know how to act and deal with the gangs. Because the prison community is so private more research needs to be done to understand the workings of prison gangs and get more current, detailed, data.
Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day. The youth that is involved in gang violence will have numerous effects upon them that will come soon or later when associated with a group of thugs. Children and teenagers if they still go to school when accompanying a gang, they face the heightened risk of dropping out of school; teen parenthood; be victimized by another gang ; abuse drugs and alcohol; commit petty and violent
Community gangs can affect a person on gangs, alcohol and drug use. The communities can join together to end the gang violence in their communities. According to gang prevention, “In 2010 4,828 young people aged 10 to 24 were victims of homicide an average of 13 each day in 2010”
Throughout the 17th-century gangs have been causing havoc in people's life and destroying the society. The National Institute of Justice (2011) has defined a gang as "A group of collective members which create an atmosphere of intimidation among citizens. " Many of these gangs are well organized, using different forms of violence to control neighbourhoods and to conduct their illegal activities. The National Gang Threat Assessment (2011) reports that “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions.” Street Gangs have caused incidences of violence that is confined in the inner city of many countries.