This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Patrick (talk | contribs) at 01:33, 30 June 2003. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 01:33, 30 June 2003 by Patrick (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A gang is a group of individuals who share a common identity and engage in illegal activities.
The most common definition of the word gang refers to street gangs, groups who take over territory in a particular city for the purpose of drug sales, "personal protection" (in fact extortion), or lack of something better to do. Gangs have been known to claim colors such as red or blue, a trend that started as far back as the late 1700s and early 1800s with Mexican banditos and roving marauders in the southwest/western United States.
Two of the largest street gangs in America are the Norteños and Sureños, the Sureños claiming blue and identifying themselves by blue clothing, and the Norteños wearing red, identifying themselves with red clothing. Norteños and Sureños are Mexican American gang members who identify with either the northern or southern part of California, with the imaginary line being somewhere around Bakersfield or Fresno, California. However, Norteño and Sureño gangs have established 'satellite gangs' as far north as Canada and as far south as Chile. These rival gangs formed as a result of a rivalry between northern and southern California Mexican American inmates at San Quentin, a state prison in northern California. The murder of Hector Padilla, a northerner, solidified the rivalry between both groups, both in the prison system and on the street.
The Mexican Americans from northern California formed Nuestra Familia (NF), a prison gang, in response to the conflict. NF was formed to protect the northern Californians from La Eme, whose membership was made up primarily of southern Californians.
Street and prison gang members from northern California began to use the number 14 as an identifier. It represented the 14th letter of the alphabet, the letter "N." The letter stood for Norteño, the Spanish word for northerner. The term norte was used to show that a person was from the north. Individuals from southern California were automatically considered rivals, inside and outside the prison system.
Southern California gang members began using the number 13 as an identifier. The 13th letter of the alphabet is the letter "M," and the word for this letter in Spanish is " Eme." Southern California gang members started using words like Sureño, which means "southerner." Often, this term was abbreviated as sur/SUR. Gang members also started to tattoo themselves with the number 13 and with the terms Sureño or sur along with the name of their gang, to signify their origin in southern California.
Inmates in the state prison system were given bandannas in a railroad print, and could select from two colors: red or blue. Mexican American street and prison gangs from northern California claimed the color red to identify themselves. They used this color because most of the southern California Mexican Americans in state prison had chosen to wear a blue-colored railroad handkerchief. The Crips and Bloods were not the first gangs to use red or blue to identify.
Gangs often spread by a parent or family moving out of the gang neighborhood, and the children taking the gang culture and lore with them to a new area and recruiting new members for their old gang. This concept has been referred to as satellite gangs. Some offshoots of the original Norteño/Sureño concept include Crips and the Bloods, African American gang members. Other large street gangs include the Aryan Brotherhood, a mostly prison-based white power gang, the Nazi Low Riders, or NLR, the Latin Kings, the Black Gangster Disciples of Chicago, and Los Angeles-based 18th Street gang.
Apart from street gangs, motorcycle gangs feature prominently in the popular imagination.
The word "gang" generally appears in a pejorative context, though within "the gang" itself members may adopt the phrase in proud identity or defiance.
See also: hooliganism, subculture, organized crime