L.A. Gangs Seek Profit in Peace
Violence Ebbs as Criminal Alliances Emerge in New Test for Authorities
By TAMARA AUDI

LOS ANGELES -- After nearly two decades fighting gangs, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Robert Lyons thought he had seen it all. Until he saw members of the Bloods and the Crips -- rival gangs that spent years in brutal conflict -- meeting amiably in a restaurant.

"They were talking. There was hugging and high-fiving. It was unbelievable," Mr. Lyons said. He has heard a refrain from gang members: Red (the Bloods) and blue (the Crips) make green (money).

Left, members of the Bloods and the Crips, rival Los Angeles street gangs, during a truce attempted in 1992 after the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King. Below, Crips members in Los Angeles in 1988.

Gangs that were once bloody rivals now are cooperating to wring profits from the sale of illegal drugs and weapons, law-enforcement officials and gang experts say. In some cases, gangs that investigators believed to be sworn enemies share neighborhoods and strike business deals. The collaboration even crosses racial lines, remarkable in a gang world where racial divisions are sharp and clashes are often racially motivated.

"You see African-Americans dealing with Hispanics on obtaining narcotics and weapons. We're seeing Hispanic gang members involved with the Eastern European criminal figures," said Robert W. Clark, acting special agent in charge of the criminal division of the Los Angeles field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Where they see opportunities to collaborate, they do."

Gang activity has been one of the most intractable crime problems facing Southern California for decades, terrorizing communities, claiming hundreds of lives a year in some periods and also breeding a nexus of criminal activity that has been exported to other communities. Los Angeles, along with Chicago, has long been considered one of the centers of gang activity in the U.S.

But gang-related violence is at a 30-year low in Los Angeles, according to experts. Gang-related homicides in Los Angeles totaled 128 in through October of this year, compared with 312 in all of 2002. All reported gang-related crimes, including rape, assault and robberies, totaled 4,899 through October, compared with 7,432 in 2002.

The sharp drop is undoubtedly a landmark success for law-enforcement officials and policy makers, who have used aggressive policing and rehabilitation programs to tackle the problem. But the reports of alliances between formerly warring gangs potentially offers a different explanation: Gangs are committing less violence because they are partnering on criminal activity, creating new challenges for law enforcement.

"Now, instead of having 200 guys that are arch-enemies with 200 other guys, you have 400 guys working together against law enforcement," said the sheriff's detective, Mr. Lyons.

There are still plenty of rivalries and violence. One Los Angeles-area Latino gang, Barrio Hawaiian Gardens, was charged this spring with hate crimes against African-Americans -- including targeted shootings.

Tracking the number of gang members is notoriously tricky, and membership is fluid. But a November report from the California Gang Node Advisory Committee, which attempts to track gang membership, put the number of gang members at 85,832 in Los Angeles County, up slightly from recent years.

And the number of gang members has been on the upswing nationally. There were about one million gang members in the U.S. in 2008, up from 800,000 in 2005, according to the National Gang Threat Assessment, compiled by the National Gang Intelligence Center and the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Some regions of the country -- like New England, with 640 gangs -- are seeing an increase in violence as gangs grow and fight for control of neighborhoods and the drug trade, the report said. But there is cohesion in other regions, like Washington and Oregon, where "alliances between gangs may result in the expansion of criminal networks and increased criminal activity in the Northwest Region," the report says.

In Los Angeles, federal and local law-enforcement agencies have launched massive investigations and raids against gangs. In 2009, law-enforcement officials arrested more than 650 gang members in Southern California, according to the FBI.

City officials also credit gang-prevention and rehabilitation programs for the drop in crime. Gang intervention workers -- often former gang members -- work alongside police to prevent retaliatory shootings. Homeboy Industries, a privately funded gang-rehabilitation program in Los Angeles, serves around 12,000 people a year who have left gangs, providing job training, counseling and tattoo removal. And the mayor's office has sponsored activities like basketball games and picnics among neighborhoods that are home to feuding gangs.

But intensifying pressure from police has also prompted gangs to work together, said Jorja Leap, a University of California, Los Angeles professor and gang expert. "They really are united against what they perceive to be a common enemy -- law enforcement," said Ms. Leap, who now advises Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca on gangs.

Ms. Leap said gangs form links to survive -- and to maximize profits. "The market is tougher and they're consolidating," she said.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said gangs are "treating their activities more like businesses than before. In business, you work with whoever you have to."

This collaboration can make tracking gang crime and dismantling gangs more complicated. Members of street gangs are showing up unexpectedly in health-care and credit-card fraud investigations, which have traditionally been run by Eastern European crime rings.

During a two-year investigation of the Athens Park Bloods, an African-American gang entrenched in south Los Angeles, investigators learned the members had formed a pact with a Hispanic gang called Barrio 13. Eventually, 22 people were charged -- 20 African-Americans and two Hispanics.

"They shared the same guns, the same narcotics, the same neighborhood," said Mr. Lyons, the sheriff's detective.

Write to Tamara Audi at tammy.audi@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A3

Labels: crips, gangs, graffiti, graffiti removal, help, Latin Kings, NETA, new jersey, pictures, Police, voilence

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about the Vineland City gang seminar, let’s talk about some general gang information.

First, a gang is defined as, “a group of 3 or more people who have a common name, sign, or identifying symbol, who engage in criminal activity. Both males and females from all neighborhoods, races, cultures, religions, and economic levels are affiliated with gangs.” According to the Vineland PD, gangs exist because people are looking for several things; Monetary gains, stature, protection, territory, racism, politics, religion, and popularity.

HOW AND WHY PEOPLE JOIN GANGS

Gangs look at juveniles from the ages of 14-17 as “wannabes.” Wannabes are curious young youths. Gang members start by asking these kids for small favors. These small favors quickly add up to asking kids to participate in criminal mischief, robbery, burglary, thefts, and drug sales. Sooner than these kids know it, they’ve gone from wannabes to gonnabes.

Once these kids have gotten involved with the gang enough, they or the gang decides that it’s time for them to be initiated. An initiation may be as simple as learning a set of rules and regulations and reciting them in front of current gang members. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the initiation may require the individual to endure a painful undergoing. A very popular type of induction is a “beat-in.” The gang will crowd around the inductee and brutally beat them for half a minute.

When women join a gang, they sometimes get the option of being, “sexed-in.” The female inductee rolls a pair of dice, and the number she rolls is the number of men in the gang she must have sex with. It’s a pretty brutal practice, especially since many times the gang’s will beat and have sex with female inductee’s regardless of being beat-in or sexed in.

The easiest way to gain gang membership is being, “blessed-in.” If you are the child of a current gang member, you are in that gang from birth. Police records show family photos of parents giving gang signs while holding their young children, with some photos even showing the young children themselves throwing gang signs.

Now, let’s check out some information on individual gangs.

BLOODS

The Bloods originated in Compton, CA in the late 60’s to protect themselves from the already existing gang, the Crips. (Protection from other gangs is a common reason for a new gang to come into existence). The Bloods most frequent criminal activities are distribution of narcotics, gang assaults, and contract killings. They are very violent towards other gangs, especially the crips.

Although the bloods originated on the West Coast, in 1993, the recognized godfathers of the East Coast Bloods, Omar (OG Mack) Porter and Leonard (OG Deadeye) McKenzie organized prisoners in Rikers Island to fight and defend against the current gangs in the prison (Latin Kinds and NETA). The Bloods are now recognized as the largest NJ street gang.

Bloods are known for their Red clothing, although they may also wear brown (the color of dried blood). They also occasionally wear pink (in prison, a red marker thrown in with white laundry means that incarcerated bloods can still “represent”). They frequently have M.O.B. tattoos. M.O.B. stands for Member of Bloods or Money Over Bitches. They also get Dawg Paw tattoos after completing particularly dangerous missions for the gang. This can be a literal tattoo of a dog paw, or three cigarette burns that make an equilateral triangle. Bloods cross out the letter, “C” when they write, as a gesture of disrespect towards the Crips. Bloods will refer to each other as Demu.

The bloods are broken up into different, “Sets” across New Jersey. Their gang structure is organized as follows:
-First Superior or General
-Second Superior or Captain
-Third Superior of Minister of Defense
-Fourth Superior or Minister of Education
-Fifth Superior/ Field Commander (Drug Manager)
-Blood Soldiers/ Male and Female Dawgs

CRIPS

In 1969, Raymond (Tookie) Williams, co-founded the Baby Avenue Crips. By 1972 the word “Crip” had become so common among CA street gangs that members adopted the name. Other than CA, Chicago is known as a Crip homeland.

The Crips are the 3rd largest NJ gang according to a 2004 NJSP survey. The Crips appear to be the most heavily armed group in the Cumberland County area. They are frequently found with weapons when pulled over or stopped by police.

The Crips are mortal enemies of the bloods. Crips are known for wearing Blue. They also will wear Grey and Purple (gangs have multiple color options to help them avoid police and other gangs when alone). Crips use the 6-pointed star of David as a logo when spraying graffiti. They frequently wear British Knights shoes (the BK also stands for Blood Killer). Crips refer to the Bloods as, “Slobs,” so in addition to British Knights, the Crips wear Adidas (All Day I Destroy A Slob) and K-Swiss (Kill A Slob When I See A Slob). Crips are also known for a unique style of speech known as, Crackalackin, and a unique dance called the, “Cripwalk”. Of all the gangs, Crips have the most members involved in the entertainment industry.

Unlike the Bloods, Crip Sets are less structured. Sets are frequently comprised of family members, with the older members as leaders, and the younger members as street drug dealers. Local Cripsets include; YT Young Thugs, 5 Hoover Duece, and Grape Street.

Check back tomorrow for New Jersey’s Latin Gang Info!

Labels: bloods, crips, cumberland county, gangs, graffiti, voilence