Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gangs

What do gang member hopefuls read in prison?

monkishies — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:35:49 -0800

Prison gang reading lists and what's on them. Does anyone out there know a concise answer? Most people think you've got to be dumb to get sent to prison or stupid to get caught. But there is a small majority, mainly ex-cons, their families ... I won't bother going through the list here who know for a fact that some of the greatest minds in our country are behind bars. The personal views/politics end here.

I ask this question because recently The History channel has had a rash of shows about most of the larger and more organized gangs in the USA. Not surprisingly they have a very heavy presence in our American prison system. I started to notice a trend that happens when they initiate someone in prison; they often give them rules to memorize and reading lists (of books in the prison library) to learn from. Now, in one of these shows they actually had a quick flash on the screen of one of these lists (the show that day was about the Aryan Brotherhood if you're interested.) I don't have the show on tape and even if I did I doubt that anyone could make anything out significant from the blurry photo of what looked a photo-copy-of-a-photo-copy. I wouldn't be surprised if all of the gangs share very similar lists since they all seem to revolve around the same knowledge-set. This theory was enforced by the fact that the following books were mentioned in every show that had a blurb about "the reading list":

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Gray's Anatomy by Spalding Gray (et. al.)

Now this "list" that was flashed on the screen was on your typical 8x11 size sheet of paper, book names top to bottom, single spaced text @ 13-14pt. (not exact on the size but it was essentially normal hand writing). So, I can tell there is more on these lists than three books!

Please, ex-cons, cons, gang members, prison guards , ANYONE that knows what's on that list help a knowledge thirsty netizen out. I'm not looking for carnal knowledge here (since all of these books are apparently in the prison library system.) I'm just really interested in what these gangs have deemed "must read" literature.

Thanks in advance.

Crime News and Information?

Bookhouse — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:38:49 -0800

What websites and magazines should I read to remain up-to-date about national (USA) and international (organized) crime trends and stories? I have a deep and abiding interest in crime, and I like to stay informed on the topic. However, my longstanding Google News Alerts for things like "Aryan Brotherhood", "Gambinos" and the like are doing a lousy job.

I'd like to read the type of magazine or website that, say, a person in the FBI or DEA would read to keep abreast of the latest happenings. I'm not so much interested in theoretical criminology, sociological studies or dead-white-woman-of-the-week true crime. I'm looking for hard news about gangs, prison gangs, mobs and drug cartels. I'm particularly interested in the USA, but international sources would be welcome as well.

Thanks.

Appropriate bandanna colors?

Stewriffic — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:03:05 -0800

Bandannas. I love them. I wear them to garden or anytime I'm going to sweat. The problem, though, is that whole gang thing. Help me sort this out. What colors can I wear? Or should I just avoid bandannas and get some other kind of kerchief? I know all too well not to wear blue (crips), red (bloods), yellow (Latin kings), or black (latin kings as well?).

The kids I volunteer with in an inner-city gardening program have said that my brown and pink bandannas are OK. They about had a heart attack the one time I accidentally wore blue (bloods territory, apparently), so I'm going to toss that one right out.

I have two purposes to this question. One is to find or compile a comprehensive guide to gang colors (Folks? MS13?) throughout the US. I've seen way too many conflicting or confusing reports.

The other is to decide whether I should just avoid the bandanna entirely and make myself some flowery kerchiefs instead. Am I going to accidentally "represent" in a bandanna?

What are good books on urban gangs?

MediaJunkie — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:29:30 -0800

What are some good books on gangs, gang activities, internal organization and structure? I'm working on a project that involves me having some knowledge of the internal workings of gangs in the Chicago area, but similar areas may also work. I'm looking for mainly non-fiction or biography, but an accurate fictional book may be just as good.

I'm looking for information on the internal structure and general activities of gangs in large metropolitan or urban areas.

To anyone that can help, thanks a million. I really appreciate it.

No good punks

ReiToei — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:49:51 -0800

80's movies featuring really lame punk gangs? You know the type... Return of the Living Dead, Police Academy 2, Short Circuit. The lamer the better. Has to be the 80's. Can you dig it?

Cheech and Chong need not apply.

dhartung — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:23:57 -0800

How can I get inside the drug trade? Er, through movies (or books)? I'd like to check out movies about the retail end of drug dealing. I've seen Traffic (well, the US one). I'm waiting for Clockers. I've even seen Spun.

What I want is something that will portray, fairly realistically, drug dealing in a small city like my own. Here drugs are almost universally sold, at the most obvious level, by teams of small numbers of white women who hook up with large numbers of black guys. (I'm not just cherry-picking: one of them used to be a tenant of ours. She's now in the state pen.) How does this dynamic develop? How does it work? How much of it is love or getting free drugs or getting your apartment paid for?

I'm also just generally interested in resources which would give me a bit more about how the gangs work. Here the appearance is that there are two routes into town, one from Chicago via Rockford, and the other from Milwaukee. Regardless, there are a lot of Illinois license plates in our neighborhood.

At the next level down there are the teen gangs. There were never any real gangs here while I was growing up but it's pretty clear they're all over now. I'd like to have an idea how often, when I see a bunch of teenagers walking down the middle of the street wearing bright white t-shirts, they're following fashion or part of a gang. How much do racial lines matter? Mostly the kids here are white, with some Asians and Hispanics. Mostly these proto-gangs are black, but they have dealings with non-blacks too, and obviously plenty of the customers are white. (The gal up above whose black boyfriend was the dealer had a couple of mulleted white enforcers/mules who drove a Trans-Am and dressed like they were in an alternate universe Mukwonago Vice show.)

A second dynamic is, from scuttlebutt and interpretatin, a problem of big city minority parents sending their teenagers out of town for the summer. To get them away from gangs, or unsavory friends, or off their hands, who knows? They arrive here and suddenly the guy from Chicago is the Big Man. Bigger, tougher, scarier -- or just feels he has to be to live up to the rep, or establish one.

So. What we have right now is basically a drug house across the street. Quiet the first month, two white women, five kinda noisy kids, you'd think nothing was amiss. Then suddenly a passel of teenagers arrive, of various races, and take over the entire street for hours at a time. Trespassing, vandalism, noise until 2 a.m., all bad enough. It attracts regular friends and quasi-step-relatives, from what I can tell, then groups of teenagers walking by on the next street (a bit of a thoroughfare for that due to geography). Then, over a week or two, the crowd gets older and just as we're trying to drive back from dinner (me, my elderly parents, and my two nieces), we have a fistfight in our street, with about 15 guys egging everything on, setting my personal safety alarms ringing. Then the drug dealing starts, a thick-necked guy with a thick-necked pit bull selling pot right on the street corner in the middle of the day. The cops responded (on someone else's call, for once) and we saw plenty of communication and cooperation between our neighbors and the guys who were being picked up. (They took the dog inside, for one thing.)

Honestly, we've had this before, even on one of our own rentals. The neighborhood even had a handful of shootings. But we'd had a summer and a half of comparative quiet, then an absentee landlord lets this crew move in, and suddenly bedlam. (It grieves me to say I now understand viscerally how blockbusting works. Hint: the new family on the block is not the Cosbys.) The good news is that our new police chief got the city council to give him a nuisance eviction ordinance and we are told it is in the works for this address, but the wheels of justice move ever so slowly at times.

So, what I want is to learn more about this world and not feel like I'm doing so much guesswork. Obviously there are detrimental aspects to learning through entertainment but I do actually have access to some serious print stuff on the topic. None of it really addresses the human side. Obviously I learn a lot just looking out my front door, but I can't eavesdrop on conversations and such so I only get one face.

So, what movies can I rent that will get me inside this world? Dramatic movies are preferred. Medium-to-heavy realism, definitely. They can even be documentaries. I won't turn away book suggestions, though, fiction or non-fiction. I'm not averse to hardcore urban stuff, but stuff that doesn't fit that clichéd mold would be better.

What are some old-school rap or hip-hop songs that go against the gang/sex/drugs culture?

daninnj — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:03:55 -0800

What are some old-school rap or hip-hop songs that go against the gang/sex/drugs culture? I'm looking for not-as-well-known-today 80s or 90s (although today is okay, I prefer older music) hip hop or rap music that goes against the norms of rap music today: sex, drugs, violence, gangs, etc...

Some examples are:
Rappin' 4 Tay - I'll Be Around: cautions against the gang lifestyle
Nice & Smooth - Sometimes I Rhyme Slow: tells of cocaine abuse
Nonchalant - 5 o' Clock: cautions against drug abuse and drug deals

There are major hits that fit into this category (TLC - Waterfalls, Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise) but I rather see lesser known hits.

Question about gangs

josher71 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:55:36 -0800

Where can I find some gang members in Phnom Penh? I'm trying to track down some members of repatriated Cambodians who are in gangs in Phnom Penh. Or, really, anyone who is in a gang in Phnom Penh but especially those who were once in the US but now are back in Cambodia.

Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?

salvia — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:47:02 -0800

I just moved down the street from a crack house... Safety tips? I just moved to north Oakland. Turns out there is a crack / pimp house three doors to the south, across the street (we're right on the corner). To the east, the corner at the end of the block is apparently "owned" by some gang, so a male housemate (who's big and completely laid-back) never goes that way because two SUVs can come from either side and "pinch" you. There have been five murders on my corner in the last six years, all drug-related (someone selling on someone's turf, not paying what they owed). There's this 11 PM - 2 AM rush hour when people gather in the street and yell about things (last night's refrain: "I'm the best ho I know!") Of course, there are car break-ins, and this house's owner had his car stolen a few years ago.

Enter me. White female, just under thirty. Last night I went running at 10:30 PM, so I'm not the paranoid type. I've always considered fear of crime to be a waste, I don't want it cramp my style more than absolutely necessary, and it's kind of impossible to never walk home late. There are people outside, so it's not like some deadly chemical fallout is occurring -- I just have to figure out how not to be a target.

So, I'd like tips for making smart decisions and behaving in a way that keeps me as safe as possible. How can I tell who's just hanging out and who's actually dealing drugs? Under what circumstances would dealers treat me as a problem? Do I really need to completely avoid this "gang-owned" corner (it's the fastest route many places and I've gone through there a lot without even noticing anyone)? What kinds of drug users are dangerous, how can you tell? Walking down the street, should I generally greet people respectfully or have closed-off body language? Look around openly or mind my own business? (I'd like to maximize "don’t mess with her, that’s the girl who lives on the corner" or even "she's a cool girl" without triggering "what are you looking at??" or "I think that girl is watching us.") How to react if someone were to get hostile? Anyone had to go into dangerous neighborhoods for work and learned to be part of the landscape rather than a potential target?

Thoughts? Resources?

P.S. I read this thread, so the few suggestions relevant have been absorbed.