Info on Gangs, please....

[Hercules10]

according to the Oklahoma Gang Investigators Association they have an estimated 8,000 gang members in Central Oklahoma. how cute !

What's not cute is this;

LA county has a total pop of 9,878,554 with gang members totaling about 85,300. So that means there's roughly 1 gang member for every 115 citizens.

OKC (Oklahoma county) has a population of 701,800 and if they have 8,000 gang members then there is 1 gang member for every 88 citizens.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

What's not cute is this;

LA county has a total pop of 9,878,554 with gang members totaling about 85,300. So that means there's roughly 1 gang member for every 115 citizens.

OKC (Oklahoma county) has a population of 701,800 and if they have 8,000 gang members then there is 1 gang member for every 88 citizens.

To say nothing of the riskier behavior that some of the so-called wannabes engage in so that they are perceived as hard-core. When the gang is running a business, albeit illegal, their main focus is on preserving and expanding the business -- not on targeting ordinary folks. When the gang's only purpose is to look like a bunch of hardened, dangerous criminals....

Ultimately, I have to assert that I am most definitely ganglier than all thou.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

To say nothing of the riskier behavior that some of the so-called wannabes engage in so that they are perceived as hard-core. When the gang is running a business, albeit illegal, their main focus is on preserving and expanding the business -- not on targeting ordinary folks. When the gang's only purpose is to look like a bunch of hardened, dangerous criminals....

Ultimately, I have to assert that I am most definitely ganglier than all thou.

See, I had originally written "ganglier," but all I thought of was gangly. Definitely not hardcore.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

See, I had originally written "ganglier," but all I thought of was gangly. Definitely not hardcore.

That's 'cuz you're from OK... word.

Sorry... back to the original serious discussion.

 

[Kathi OD]

To say nothing of the riskier behavior that some of the so-called wannabes engage in so that they are perceived as hard-core. When the gang is running a business, albeit illegal, their main focus is on preserving and expanding the business -- not on targeting ordinary folks. When the gang's only purpose is to look like a bunch of hardened, dangerous criminals....

Ultimately, I have to assert that I am most definitely ganglier than all thou.

Well said ... well, except that statement about being gangly

 

[DalGal]

What's Poppin and What's Crackin does not tell you someone is in a gang... even if the phrases evolved from gangs, it doesn't tell you anything. It's common slang used among plenty of teenagers who I know aren't in gangs.

You are absolutely right. In isolation, those phrases probably mean nothing. It is used gang specific in our school and area. Its just like wearing a specific color...just because someone wears red doesn't mean they are a Blood but it is something that CAN represent. We don't run screaming down the hall, yelling that this student or that is "gang-banging". It is a sign, that if combined with other commonalities, can help us identify a pattern of behaviors that are not acceptable within the school because of the tension it creates. I'm sure a lot of our kids that like to walk around saying things like "cuz" or "bk killer" are wannabes but the school has taken a stand that it is absolutely not allowed.

 

[KiminChicago]

I work as a sub in our school district and there are a couple of schools I refuse to teach in. When you have 1st graders drawing symbols on their papers and telling you that they are "gang symbols" I think that's enough to show there's a problem in the neighborhood.

I was at one of the middle schools recently and the students (7th graders) asked if we could leave the door open. Another teacher walked with her class past our doorway on their way to the library. All of a sudden, all kinds of hoots and whistles broke out. The other teacher came storming back to my classroom and told the students that they had better stop making their "gang sounds." Apparently since they are not allowed to wear certain color combinations, make hand signs or draw gang insignia on their papers, they have now resorted to a form of bird calls to identify themselves as members of a specific gang. It is really scary how determined they are to be a part of a gang.

I don't care where the gang is located, gangs and gang members are scary!

 

[Kathi OD]

i already mentioned Chicago earlier, there are definitely some tough gangs in Chicago. i already said that. when i say mid america, im talking about small central america farm towns, not big cities like detroit and chicago. I do not classify OK has big city life... sorry. There is picture on the first page of a group of tatted guys that i posted, this is not a random picture, the second guy from the right is my friend Roy from good time charlies tattoo in socal, the guy next to him is chuco, he has been involved since before people in oklahoma knew what the word gang meant. tell them you have a gang a problem in joklahoma.... they could use a good laugh too. we will never agree, you think your town has a big gang problem, i think its minute compared to big cities. to me its like a person from BFE South Dakota complaining about their local traffic to someone that lives in manhattan....

Do you even know where I live, or what I do for a living?

The fact that someone you know has been gang involved before the people in Oklahoma knew what a gang was isn't proof that gangs aren't infiltrating the cities there. And it surely doesn't mean that those who are gang affiliated in Oklahoma are any less violent than gang members in NYC, LA, or Chicago. Unless your buddy in the picture is a high-ranking gang member, he knows nothing about what gangs are doing in other parts of the country. One thing is for sure about all gangs and gang members...they all think they are the toughest out there and no one else can compare to their toughness.

Working with gang members on a daily basis, and not in some small mid-American town, but in a large east coast city (2nd only to NYC in the east) I can tell you that the wannabes and imitators are definitely a bigger danger to the population at large than the those who are initiated. The initiated do NOTHING unless they are "ordered" to by someone higher up in the gang. Wannabes will do anything to prove they are tough and deserve membership in some gang. The general population usually has much more to fear from the wannabes than an initiated gang member.

As far as a comparison to the local traffic?? Might as well compare blueberries to moon rocks for all the sense that makes.

 

[TheZue]

To say nothing of the riskier behavior that some of the so-called wannabes engage in so that they are perceived as hard-core. When the gang is running a business, albeit illegal, their main focus is on preserving and expanding the business -- not on targeting ordinary folks. When the gang's only purpose is to look like a bunch of hardened, dangerous criminals....

Ultimately, I have to assert that I am most definitely ganglier than all thou.

That's fine until the rival gangs start fighting. Then their conducting business does involve a lot of killing. Like I said earlier Vancouver is having a pretty brutal gang war right now (most of the dead/arrested are white for the racists out there that seem to think whites never have to worry about or are affected by this) and there have been almost daily shootings all over the city. But in the 90s the Hells Angels and the vietnamese gangs got into it in our smaller city, this was well before there was an out in the open major drug problem, and a bunch of their higher ups went missing. The best way to avoid having your house broken into was to have a Hells Angels sticker on your window. You can't tell me that only large cities have gang problems, if you have prostitution or drugs or strip clubs there is probably some organized crime with their finger in the pot.

 

[TheZue]

Wow you could be their PR rep, that's what they always try to say too...

What is your definition of a gang? Does it involve controlling the local drug trade? Extorting money out of local bars for "protection"? Profiting from prostitution? Burning down building for insurance fraud regularly enough that when something is on fire people ask if the local angels accountant owned it? Killing rival gang members? That sure as hell doesn't sound like a simple biker club. Just because not all gangs operate and look like the ones in your area doesn't mean they aren't gangs doing the exact same dangerous obnoxious crap.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

blue gang v. red gang usually means bloods v. crips

You sure? Around here that's the Dems. vs the Reps. Tough gangs.

 

[Kathi OD]

You sure? Around here that's the Dems. vs the Reps. Tough gangs.

Little did you know!

 

[Shagley]

We have the "big" gangs (bloods, crips, etc) but we also have local gangs that divide up territory in our town. They aren't part of the larger gangs, but are still dangerous and scary. My neighborhood is just like the OP's neighborhood. The gas station and discount bread store that are just a couple of blocks from me (where I go often) have been robbed at gunpoint repeatedly, and there was a case of a cab driver who was killed a few months ago (he was found dead outside the drivers side of the cab with the door open, and he had been shot repeatedly in the back). To be honest, I don't care if LA, NY, Oklahoma, or Central Illinois has the most dangerous gangs. If they are committing robbery and murder, they are dangerous enough, no matter where they are located.