Timeline and Narrative of Gang Activity in America: 1800–2000

Introduction: Defining Gangs and the Scope of This Study

Throughout history, humans have banded together for mutual protection and to pursue shared interests in ways that would not be possible individually. The historical record shows that humans who succeeded in achieving this level of mutual protection survived while their counterparts perished, and the same processes continue today. When these collaborative efforts are directed toward criminal enterprises, however, they become gangs. Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves, Robin Hood of Loxley and His Merry Men, Jesse James and the Younger Brothers in the nineteenth-century American West, and the gangsters who emerged during Prohibition were all gangs by any reasonable definition. To gain new insights into how gangs evolved over time and what factors contributed to this process, this paper provides a timeline of gang activity from 1800 to the present day, followed by an analysis of these trends.

What is a "gang," anyway? The term is certainly not modern; it dates back to Chaucer's writings in 1390, and a reference to a "gang" also appears in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor: "There's a knot, a gang, a pack, a conspiracy against me" (quoted in Klein, 1997, p. 51). These allusions, however, do not provide the substantive definitional qualities needed for a modern operationalization of the term. Black's Law Dictionary (1991) defines a gang as "any company of persons who go about together or act in concert; in modern use, mainly for criminal purposes" (p. 679). Klein (1997) amplifies this definition by suggesting that "to be considered a gang, the criminal involvement of members must be openly known and approved of as such" (p. 24). The extent of gang activity in American history has also been complicated by the lack of consensus concerning what activities and membership levels are required to constitute a gang. In the past, many researchers drew a distinction between youth gangs and adult gangs, but these groups have been consolidated in many studies in recent years (Howell, 2003).

1800s: Origins of Organized Gang Activity

During the late 1800s, gang activity was driven by many of the same factors that contribute to gang activity today, including poverty, fear of others, and the need for an organizational framework within which mutual protection and collective goals could be achieved. For this purpose, the Italian Mafia became increasingly active in northern Italy and in the United States, especially in major metropolitan centers such as New York (Paoli, 2003). In addition, Irish and other nationalist gangs became prominent in New York's notorious Five Points neighborhood, with criminal activity supporting their organizations and their goals, which included combating perceived intrusions on their territory.

The tactics used by the Italian Mafia to exploit minority communities shifted in response to the limited political influence these communities possessed. As Paoli notes, "Attempts to extort the successful residents of Italian immigrant communities were recorded from the late nineteenth century on, and at the beginning of the following century a wave of blackmail, allegedly orchestrated by the Mano Nera, swept Italian colonies in New York and other American cities" (2003, p. 7). By the turn of the century, however, the political influence of gangs became less pronounced even as their criminal activities persisted. Paoli reports that "Italian-American Mafia groups had to give up the claim of exercising a political dominion over a specific territory" (p. 7).

Other minority groups were also targeted by gangs during this period. McCormack and Thomas (2003) note that "as early as the 1834 riots which raged through the Five Points area and were the largest single action against African-Americans prior to the Civil War" (p. 313), racial violence was already intertwined with gang activity. Yet a critical commonality underlay these conflicts: "The common denominator of the rioters was not that they were Irish, but that they were poor" (McCormack et al., 2003, p. 314). These historians caution against overly simplistic characterizations, arguing that "the prejudiced view depicts the Irish of the Five Points as racist, violent gangsters, rather than the impoverished people that they really were, fighting starvation, disease, prejudice and general exploitation" (McCormack et al., 2003, p. 314).

1900–1960s: Prohibition, Veterans, and Expanding Urban Gangs

Gangs in Chicago emerged during the 1920s in response to the social stressors commonly experienced in poor and working-class neighborhoods (Rosenthal, 2000). Beginning in that decade, researchers such as Thrasher (1927) began evaluating youth gangs and identified a relationship between poverty, economic uncertainty, and gang involvement (Rosenthal, 2000). Community-based responses also began to take shape; established in 1934, the Chicago Area Project (CAP) involved local community groups by providing supervised after-school and recreation programs (Sorrentino & Whittaker, 1994).

The seminal studies of the 1950s and 1960s conducted in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles found that gang membership leads to greater criminal involvement (Klein, 1997). During this period, growing numbers of disaffected World War II combat veterans sought the reassurances of gang brotherhood, using American flag imagery and patriotism as themes to conceal drug use and other criminal activities, including violent encounters with competing gangs.

The lack of adequate mental health resources for millions of returning veterans may have contributed significantly to the growth of gang activity among this population. According to Veno (2002), "In the U.S., veterans returned home from the war, looking for ways to spend their final army pay and let off some steam after years of military discipline. Many joined the motorcycle clubs of the American Motorcycle Association" (p. 27). Although most of these veterans participated in their associations in healthy ways, others became disaffected and engaged in criminal activities as part of their "business model" (Gannon, 2002). So-called outlaw biker clubs did not emerge until around 1947 (Gannon, 2002).

Youth gangs became pervasive in many larger American cities during the 1960s, especially in inner-city neighborhoods where battles over turf and broader social unrest created a violent backdrop for the decade. African-American youths increasingly formed gangs in inner-city neighborhoods (Egley & Major, 2004), and during the latter half of the 1960s, young women began to form and join gangs at unprecedented rates (Howell, 1998). Access to inexpensive technology — particularly automobiles and firearms — allowed gang members to commit more serious and lucrative crimes while expanding their operations well beyond their own neighborhoods. This anonymity helped them evade detection and prosecution (Howell, 1998).

Conclusion: Fear, Poverty, and Gang Prevention

The research demonstrates that the impact of gangs and criminal subcultures on the justice system and on society as a whole has been profound and pervasive, and the trends show no signs of abatement. Because gang activity is a complex, multifaceted problem, the overall success of interventions used to date has been mixed, ranging from outright failures to moderate successes. According to Ebensen, Winfree, and Taylor (2000), a number of major American cities have introduced gang prevention programs over the past sixty years. As these researchers note, "Community groups, social workers, and law enforcement personnel manage the different prevention programs in a variety of formats. By identifying the potential risk factors in the categories of personal characteristics and social conditions associated with youth engaging in violence, useful prevention and intervention programs can be developed and employed, ensuring that the limited resources available are used more appropriately" (Ebenson et al., 2000, p. 130). Studies have also found that the risk factors for gang involvement frequently occur in clusters, and their cumulative effect may substantially increase the likelihood that youths will become involved in gangs and criminal activities (Garbarino, 1999).

It is important to recognize that a number of contributing factors can cause an individual to join a gang, and each of these must be taken into account when formulating effective interventions (Garbarino, 1999). By targeting youth and women who are victims of crime in high-gang-activity communities, these individuals may be diverted from future gang involvement. Metzger and Strand (1993) found that just two grants had been awarded over a four-year period specifically targeted at preventing youth or women from becoming victims of crime — a notable gap, given that many gang members start out as victims of violence before engaging in violent acts or gang activity themselves (Tolan & Guerra, 1994).

Law enforcement authorities and community-based social work resources should also seek to forge stronger working relationships with prosecutors and probation officers so that, when apprehended, gang members receive individual attention and appropriate sentences (Allender, 2001). Young people who are involved in gangs commit more delinquent crimes compared to their peers who are not gang members (Hill, Lui, & Hawkins, 2001), and understanding the antecedents of gang affiliation can facilitate the development of effective prevention programs (Hill et al., 2001). The research confirms that these antecedents affect young people differently within their communities, families, and the broader society (Hill et al., 2001). Developing a standardized reporting format across all jurisdictions to identify the actual antecedents of gang membership may create opportunities to eliminate or mitigate contributing factors (Allender, 2001). As Allender concludes, "Identifying the extent of gang activity in America remains a goal that all concerned citizens should work toward. Protecting this nation's youth from the dangers of gang involvement requires the effort of all facets of the society. If America's heartland is facing the threat of gangs, the entire country is at risk" (2001, p. 3).

Although every gang is unique in some respects, the research shows that gangs share a number of common features that set them apart from other fraternal organizations — most especially the use of criminal practices as part of their organizational model and the open celebration of gang identity among members. Another feature that appears to underlie all forms of gang activity is the primal force of fear. People join gangs because they are frightened, and gangs offer them refuge. Gang members consistently cite brotherhood and fraternity as reasons for joining, but even these motivations are rooted in a mutual fear of something external to the group — whether other gangs, law enforcement, or the perceived hypocrisy of conventional social standards.

In most cases, this fear is grounded in the harsh realities that accompany poverty and racism. People frightened of those who are different from them may seek gang affiliation for mutual protection and economic security, even at the cost of criminal involvement. While not all gang members remain members for life, many do — frequently because they die young. Those who outgrow the fears that compelled them to join may succeed in leaving their gangs, but only at great personal risk due to the conditions of membership. Because fear is a natural human response, it is reasonable to conclude that there will always be gangs unless and until a social order is created that ensures all stakeholders an equitable share of increasingly scarce resources — an eventuality that remains unlikely. In the interim, it is essential to deploy available gang prevention resources as effectively as possible. Identifying opportunities to prevent gang membership from the outset and directing additional resources toward early intervention represents the most effective approach available at present.

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