|
the legend of the
sand dollar speaks of this... "break open
the center and release five white doves awaiting to spread
good will and peace."
to add our link to
your site
contact
us.
|
felice notte
italy
photo by Mario Parisio
NEWS ARTICLES
Nation
Has Long History of Gangs
By Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 18, 2003; Page A10
Street gangs have been a force in the United States
for generations, dating to the 1820s, when groups
such as the Forty Thieves began exerting their
muscle in New York.
The Forty Thieves gang was made up of young Irish
immigrants, brimming with bravado, who operated
along New York's waterfront, committing killings,
muggings and other crimes.
Over the years, the names have changed, but most
gangs remain bound by ethnic or racial backgrounds
or neighborhoods -- and violence -- just as in the
1961 film "West Side Story," where the Sharks
battled the Jets.
In the Washington area and elsewhere, gangs can
provide a sense of belonging, security and, in many
cases, economic opportunity through crime, experts
said.
"Many times the gang is everything society has
failed to give them," said Carl Taylor, a Michigan
State University professor who has written books on
the subject. "They've become a parental unit,
they've become a sibling."
By the mid-1800s, New York was home to such groups
as the Plug Uglies, the Dead Rabbits and the
Chichesters. The Dead Rabbit Gang was known for
muggings and picking pockets. The Plug Uglies Gang
-- named after the members' big plug hats -- had a
reputation for recruiting brutish members of Irish
descent who were at least six feet tall.
In the period after the Civil War, more gangs formed
along the East Coast, including the Whyos, who
brashly printed a list of services that included:
punch, $2; both eyes blackened, $4; nose and jaw
broken, $10; and $100 or more for "doing the big
job," or murder.
Near the end of the century, street gangs were
growing in number across the country. By the 1920s,
more-sophisticated gangs took hold as gangsters such
as Al Capone moved into the bootlegging business in
Chicago and other cities.
At the same time, Mexican immigrants were forming
street gangs in Los Angeles, and Chinese and
European immigrants were continuing to join gangs in
New York. In the following decade, blacks from the
south and the British West Indies joined the fray in
New York.
In the 1950s, some gangs formed social and political
organizations. The late 1960s and 1970s brought the
emergence of such gangs as the Crips and the Bloods
in Los Angeles. Many of those gangs grew more
powerful in the 1980s as they began peddling crack
cocaine, just as crews did in Washington, fueling a
nationwide surge in homicides.
Today's gang wars are more faceless than the battles
of the 1950s and 1960s, when gangs often relied on
bats, knives, bricks and occasionally guns in
prearranged rumbles, said Jared Lewis, director of
Know Gangs, a Wisconsin-based organization that
teaches law enforcement about gang activity.
"They would actually schedule a time and the two
gangs would meet and have an all-out fight," said
Lewis, a former California police officer who worked
on gang cases.
Now, Lewis said, gangs are apt to act in drive-by
shootings.
"Thirty years ago, an automatic weapon in the hand
of a gang member was almost unheard of," Lewis said.
"Today it's uncommon to see a gang member who
doesn't have an automatic weapon."
|
Daily
News/Sunday, July 25, 2004/ NEWS-3
Man killed by gunmen in cul-de-sac
By Daily
News
A man dropping off two females in a
San Fernando Valley residential
neighborhood shortly before midnight
was slain in an apparently
gang-related shooting, police said
Saturday.
Neighbors said they heard screeches
followed by shouting along their
dead-end street before gunfire
erupted around 11:50 p.m. Friday.
Police said the victim was looking
for an address in the area as he
drove a vehicle carrying the young
woman and teenage girl.
But none of the neighbors recognized
the man who died, nor the women who
ended up at the end of a cul-de-sac
along the 13400 block of Gager
Street.
Several said it appeared the man was
attempting to escape the gunmen when
the victim drove into the dead end
and was cornered.
Police reported that some males
approached the car and began to
shout challenges before the man was
shot. The assailants fled on foot.
|
|
|
 |
Live
In
PeaceSM
(L.I.P.SM)
is a service of the belief that
beauty has depth and shows at the surface...
LiveInPeace.info
promotes understanding and encourages harmony in the world
by providing tools for managing one's self, for
negotiating through conflict, for respecting others and
for commanding respect by exemplary behavior.
|
