Gangs: a collection (mainly USA)

[sgmgrumpy]

NEWS STORY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

In the past three years, its ranks have doubled to at least 400, but authorities suspect there could be hundreds of other members operating under the radar. They said heavy recruiting is taking place throughout California and Arizona, and members have been picked up by police in Nevada and Idaho.

"They move around. We find them everywhere," said Lowell Smith of the Orange County Probation Department.

The gang traces its roots to the punk rock subculture in Long Beach in the 1980s. It soon shifted its base to nearby Orange County and in the 1990s began recruiting what police call "bored latchkey kids" - white teenagers from upper-middle class neighborhoods.

Public Enemy is now involved in identity theft. Booth said the gang has gone from swiping personal information from mailboxes and trash to stealing entire credit profiles with the help of girlfriends and wives who take jobs at banks, mortgage companies and even state motor vehicle departments.

Money from those operations is used to fuel its methamphetamine business, he said.

Two months ago, police agencies in Orange County arrested 67 suspected members after learning about the hit list against officers in Anaheim, Buena Park and Costa Mesa. Those arrested in the raid were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of illegal weapons and identity theft, among other things. Police have not released their names or further details because the investigation is continuing.

[goesh]

It hasn't been but a few years ago that the real nature of the FBI's efforts against the KKK during the Civil Rights Movement days came to light. Talk about bending the rules but hey, what works, works and their tactics turned the tide against the klan. I have a good friend who was down there in those days and he tells me there was much more violence and intimidation on the part of the klan than the media was reporting. This friend of mine lasted just over a month as a civil rights volunteer then he left and returned north. He said they had to sleep in a different house each night and always slept on the floor because the klan would shoot out the windows with shotguns if they knew civil rights workers were in a given house. The ACLU did not get on the band wagon with the klan and never really has, nor will they get on the band wagon with this new bunch and the aryan nations. After all, in the minds of ACLU types and Liberals in general, they are not minority members oppressed by evil America and George Bush. A few illegal wire taps here and there, some roughing up of suspects here and there, some pushing of the proverbial envelope against this new internal threat and we won't hear a peep from the Liberal camp. Put a pair of woman's panties on the head of one of these guys arrested and you can bet your boots it will never hit the print. Fine, I can live with that and I can live with bending the rules against home grown terrorists and criminals but I have a problem with the double standard. Profile these outlaws and we won't hear a peep of protest, will we? Monitor their emails and there won't be any Liberal outrage expressed and it won't make the talk shows.

[Jim Rodgers]

Saw this article re a drop in LA homicides, and wanted to mention it...

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-ga...tot-topstories

I thought about putting it under Law Enforcement, but the LAPD's work with gang intervention workers seems to have some parallels with some of the Brit tactics using defectors in Malaysia highlighted by LTC Nagl in "Learning to Eat Soup...". It's a limited analogy - the gang intervention workers seem to enforce distance between themselves and the LAPD. Interesting all the same.

[Presley Cannady]

Update on this matter:

Los Angeles is on track to end the year with fewer than 400 homicides for the first time in nearly four decades -- a hopeful milestone for a city so long associated with gangs, drive-by shootings and sometimes random violence.

With 386 killings recorded as of this morning, the city has experienced one-third the number of homicides it did in 1992. The last year with a comparably low figure was 1970, when Los Angeles had a million fewer residents, guns were far less prevalent and street gangs were a much smaller part of life in urban neighborhoods.

Experts and Los Angeles Police Department officials have offered a wide range of theories for the drop, including the gentrification of once-tough neighborhoods, improved emergency medical care and better policing.

I'm skeptical of similarities between gang interventionism and surrender programs. For one, the latter actually generates something on the order of informants while the former is primarily concerned with first reducing turf tensions. At the end of the day, gang interventionists probably do more to resolve gang leader's disputes over how to divvy up an illicit trade than bleed gang membership.

[tequila]

Another success story: Sao Paulo in Brazil.

...

Since 1999, homicide rates have fallen by 70 percent statewide, and indices of armed robberies, vehicle thefts and other crimes also have dropped.

While the murder rate in Sao Paulo — 11 per 100,000 people this year— remains twice that of the United States , it's half the Brazilian average and only a fourth of the homicide rate in Rio de Janeiro state, where gun battles between state police and drug gangs have claimed hundreds of lives this year.

What's made the difference seems simple but is revolutionary in a country where police often enter poor neighborhoods with guns blazing.

State police have put more emphasis on gathering intelligence about the gangs they're battling before confronting them and are trying to avoid firefights that often kill the innocent, Marzagao said. At the same time, the state has brought more social services to abandoned areas where gangs have long ruled.

That's included launching "saturation operations" in which hundreds of police officers and social workers occupy troubled neighborhoods for months to weed out gang leaders and establish a government presence.
One such operation occupied Marques' neighborhood for nearly 90 days earlier this year, triggering an 80 percent drop in homicide rates there.
"Our plan is to plant the flag of the government where it's now absent," Marzagao said. "Because where in society or in poor communities there's an absence of authority, that's where the criminals go ..."

[SteveMetz]

Saw this article re a drop in LA homicides, and wanted to mention it...

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-ga...tot-topstories

I thought about putting it under Law Enforcement, but the LAPD's work with gang intervention workers seems to have some parallels with some of the Brit tactics using defectors in Malaysia highlighted by LTC Nagl in "Learning to Eat Soup...". It's a limited analogy - the gang intervention workers seem to enforce distance between themselves and the LAPD. Interesting all the same.

Important point. I keep hammering the point that anti-gang strategies are more relevant to counterinsurgency than warfighting strategies.

[Jim Rodgers]

To follow up on Steve's point, anyone who has been thinking about COIN might consider reading Tony Moreno's "Lessons From a Gang Cop".

[Jedburgh]

BJA, Jun 09: Civil Gang Injunctions: A Guide for Prosecutors

As gang crime continues to escalate across the country, prosecutors, law enforcement, community leaders, and allied professionals continually seek innovative methods to reduce the spread of gang-related criminal activity. One method, pioneered by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, is the use of gang injunctions. While this use of civil injunction law is certainly an expansion of the traditional purview of prosecutors, existing law in most jurisdictions should provide the necessary framework to enable prosecutors to pursue a gang injunction. And while pursuing such a project takes time and effort, the far-reaching preventative aspects of an injunction are worth the additional work required to obtain them. This publication introduces prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to the specific steps necessary to put into place this innovative and effective process.....

[sgmgrumpy]

The Canadian solution.

"Breaking It Down: Beyond Gangs, Groups and Cliques” conference.
This Canadian conference was focused on presenting research related to the topic of youth and gangs as well as showcasing promising programs to prevent or intervene with youth who may become or are already involved with gangs.

The Dr. Scot Wortley presentation on Youth Gangs in the Canadian Context is a real eye opener as to how widespread gangs are in Canada.


Conference Main page with topics and presentation downloads HERE

[AdamG]

Interesting twist -

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...-95896279.html

Police said Tuesday that a "suspicious device" found on the roof of a business after a fire earlier this month was a rocket. Authorities are attempting to determine whether the case is connected to a series of attacks on the Hemet Gang Task Force.

The fire was reported June 3 at Los Altos Market in Hemet. Police said the nine-pound, inert training rocket malfunctioned and landed on the roof of the building, where firefighters found it after the blaze was extinguished.

Authorities said the M29A2 rocket was pointed in the general direction of the Hemet Police Department, according to Southwest Riverside News Network.

The discovery came amid an investigation into attacks against the city's Gang Task Force and City of Hemet property.

[AdamG]

AUGUST 16--In a shocking security breach, a federal court clerk in Los Angeles has been charged with selling information from sealed court documents detailing upcoming arrests and law enforcement raids targeting affiliates of an organized crime syndicate.

Investigators discovered the alleged scheme earlier this year after a leader of the Armenian Power gang began cooperating with federal agents and prosecutors, according to an affidavit sworn by FBI Agent Corrie Lyle.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documen...rrested-578451

LOS ANGELES—As a result of two federal indictments and state cases that charge a total of 99 defendants with a wide range of crimes—including kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud, and narcotics trafficking—law enforcement authorities this morning arrested 74 members and associates of the Armenian Power organized crime group.

http://www.fbi.gov/losangeles/press-...1/la021611.htm
And from 1983, see also
http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=5262,1382308

[davidbfpo]

AdamG,

This has been a perennial issue and twenty plus years ago whilst in Arizona, with state LE, I was told drugs would corrupt every single institution. South Florida was portrayed as a "lost cause". The IT age of course has had an impact since then.