The name of groupings of gangs. The most famous gang of the united states

Everyone knows the rampant crime in Russia. The situation is certainly not the same as in the dashing 90s, but all sorts of glaring incidents still have a place to be. In the West, and in particular in the United States, crime is one of the most large-scale, cruel and notorious.

In part, this has been facilitated by numerous films about criminals and gangs, the creation of a romantic image of a bandit, numerous African American and Latin American communities. In a word, gangs in the US are a separate layer of their history, and some deserve special mention.

1. Crips - Bloods

In fact, for the uninitiated, these are the two mega-largest confederations of gangs that have rivaled each other for a very long time. In the ranks of groups there are from 50 to 100 thousand people in all states.

It all began with the teenager R. Washington, who founded the Crips alliance and prescribed him a well-known code that included rules not to deal with drugs, not to touch women and children, not to testify against their own, and so on, according to the very similar code of Cosa Nostra.

Despite the total violation of all the rules, Cripses very quickly began to grow throughout the country and for the confrontation of their hegemony the Bladsy were created. Young black guys in all states began to tie red and blue bandanas on their heads as a sign of belonging to one side or another.

The confrontation of the Reds and the Blue became very famous, and was shown in a variety of films and comics and even dabbled in South Park.

2. MS-13

The laurels of America's toughest gang seem to only amuse themselves with the self-esteem of Salvadoran refugees who found shelter in Los Angeles. Consisting of former agents of special services, military and prisoners, the gang has a very branched and intricate network with an incredibly rigid and straightforward organization.

The FBI recently stated that this gang is the biggest headache for the moment for them, because MS-13 is becoming a virtually criminal corporation with many offices around the world, dealing with drug trafficking, gambling, prostitution and even kidnapping politicians.

The name of the gang stands for "Salvadorian wandering ants" and if in the US they are somehow restrained by local authorities, in El Salvador they kidnap people, shoot buses in the middle of a white day and kill players right on the football field.

3. Aryan Brotherhood (AB)

Severe prison gang helps all the rest to solve cases where, it would seem, everything under state control is in prison. The Aryan Brotherhood has now spread to virtually all US state and federal prisons, having agents in the security of prisons, prison staff and third-party service organizations.

By recruiting inveterate criminals, mostly lifelong prisoners and recidivists, who have nothing to lose, the Aryan Brotherhood can get any prisoner and get anything from him, or simply remove them for influential people.

With more than 15 thousand members in its ranks and having extensive funding from customers, this gang has become almost a monopolist in crime behind bars.

4. Bandidos

One of the oldest gangs of America - gang of bikers Bandidos was founded in the middle of the twentieth century in Texas. Traveling all over the country in leather jackets with a cartoon bear in a sombrero, as well as a machete and a pistol in their paws, Bandidos and the truth have great connections with Mexico, using it both as a refuge and as a supplier of cheap weapons and drugs, which they then resell USA.

Over time, the gang grew and expanded, and now they have more than 30 thousand members and the largest branches in Asia, Germany and Australia. Driving on their bikes and living almost community, bikers, more often than not, have no attachment to their relatives or material values, so it is very difficult for the police to somehow track them or act directly.

Confrontation and constant skirmishes on the highway, as well as robbery of trucks by motorcyclists have long become a visiting card of the criminal world of Texas.

5. Black Guerilla Family

The Black Partisans' family, fighting for the equality of African Americans in prison and at liberty, is also strictly ideologically oriented. Having chosen for such a basic Marxist-Leninist theory, this revolutionary gang is seeking not only equality for all blacks, but also for overthrowing the corrupt US government through revolution.

Black Partizan has a very strict code, in which there is an "oath of death" - that is, life is given as a pledge to the gang, and if circumstances so require, a member of the gang must die without hesitation. The influence of the gang in recent years has become more and more, because its leaders have managed to agree and enlist the support of virtually all influential African-American gangs, including the same Crips and Bloods.

It is interesting that every member of the gang must fill himself with a tattoo - a dragon wrapping around the prison tower, and holding the guard of this prison in the clutches.

There are up to 500 bandits ... American cities swept the wave of street crime.

Volunteers of the North American office of the Stringers Bureau of International Investigations - FBII - had enough to leave their homes to find themselves in the thick of squabbles between gangs.

Street fighting

The 15-year-old was killed during a shootout in Oregon. Two were injured, the third was shot in the face in the Bronx. Five wounded in a shootout in Colorado Springs. Five received a bullet during the disassembly in St. Joseph, Montana. Six people were wounded in a shootout in Yakima, Washington, one died. Thirteen people were injured during the shootout in Chicago, including a 3-year-old child and two teenagers.

All this is daily reports of the American police, passing under a strange gang-related label, which in literal translation means "connected with gangs." So politically correct American cops bashfully call gang warfare, which in recent years became the main scourge of large cities in the United States.

Although it's too late to be ashamed, it's time to beat all bells - in 2005 the FBI recognized street gangs, along with terrorism, as the main threat to US national security. Still, only according to the official data of the feds in the country there are more than 33 thousand gangs, and the total number of their members exceeds 1.4 million people!

And do not be deceived, the FBI did not include in this list all the American prisoners (there are even more in the US - 2.2 million people), we mean only active members of gangs, mostly young men. In other words, American gangs have the same number of people as they serve in the entire US Army!

The gangs account for 48% of the violent crimes committed in the country, and in some regions this figure does not reach 90%. "The worst situation is in the outskirts," says Joshua Washington, who for seven years was a member of the AVLN gang and recently released on parole. - In a strange area of ​​municipal high-rise buildings in general, it is better not to pop. In the suburbs it is different - the community richer hires private security, then the gang does not go there. "

Mostly affected cities in the north-east of the country, in California and in the Great Lakes region are the most densely populated states of the United States and the consequences of the economic crisis are most visible here.

"The sharp rise in street crime has become one of those consequences," says Michael Snyder, journalist and author of The Beginning of the End. - According to the same Federal Bureau of Investigation in spring 2009, the number of gangs was estimated at 1 million people, that is, in the post-crisis years it increased by 40%! Where people can not legally earn money, people are forced to commit crimes for survival. "

And an unexpected consequence of the sharp growth of criminal groups was a significant expansion of their activities. In addition to traditional racketeering and street trade in drugs and weapons, gangs have taken on new criminal niches for themselves - the transportation of illegal migrants, trafficking in human beings, the cover-up of prostitution.

But what frightens even more, the gang has begun to master high-tech, so-called "white-collar" crimes: counterfeiting, credit fraud and theft of personal data.

Special signs

Retrogrades from the FBI habitually divide gangs into street, prison and motorized. At the same time, the division into street and prison is very conditional - the difference is only in which side of the prison fence the gang originally was organized (in the vast majority of cases gangs operate on both sides of it).

A motorized gang or OMG - this is repeatedly sung by Hollywood hairy bikers from the "Angels of Hell", "Gentiles" and other "Bandidos". Until the early 90's, they really played a significant role in the criminal world, but as early as the 1980s, Latin Americans began actively to squeeze them, who today settled unconditionally on the criminal Olympus of the United States.

The largest grouping of the West Coast, the 18th Street Gang or M18, appeared in Los Angeles in the 1960s, and today has 65,000 active members in 120 cities and 37 states. Distinctive features of gang members are tattoos or stripes on clothes with different variants of writing numbers 18 - XVIII, 9 + 9, 666, etc.

The gang "Latin Kings" (Latin Kings) was formed by Puerto Ricans in Chicago even earlier - in the 40s. Today, 42,000 of its members are operating in 160 cities and 31 states.

At the same time, the gang is considered to be the most disciplined and organized, and its ideology is based on "kingism", which members of the group call their religion. Distinctive signs - tattoos with a three- or five-toothed crown.

The largest and brutal Latin American gang "Mara Salvatrucha" (Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13) in the 80s was founded by immigrants from El Salvador who poured into the USA. For the sake of intimidation, its members cover the entire body and even the face with tattoos, and their trademark sign is murder with the help of a machete. In total, the gang has about 70,000 participants, not only in the US, but also in Latin American countries.

Classwork

And without that, considerable figures become even more terrible, given that most of the gang members are men of 18-25 years of age. And to recruit recruits gangster recruits begin even among schoolchildren. According to the report "Combating Youth Violence", prepared for the US Congress, schools are ranked fourth among the "recruiting centers" of criminal groups. Every fifth American student gets an offer to join a gang.

"It's enough to offer the colored guy to deliver the parcel to the right address and promise $ 100 for it," Joshua Washington shared his experience. - The next day he comes to get money. And when you get a hundred hands on, it's almost impossible to refuse another offer. You get used to free money quickly. "

This gang and use. The most common age of newly converted members of the groupings is 10-12 years. And the cases when recruiters of gangs "carry out work" among first-graders (in the USA go to school from 5-6 years) have become frequent.

"The gangs are worse than terrorists," psychologist Mary Joe Rapini is indignant. "They use children's naivety and low self-esteem." Children consider themselves small, defenseless, do not know how to do anything, and joining a gang gives them a sense of their own importance, care and security. "

However, in the activation of gangs in schools, experts also see, first of all, macroeconomic reasons. If in 2000 more than half of American teenagers had jobs and, accordingly, could earn pocket money, then in 2011 this figure decreased to 29.6%. In addition, in many states, educational optimization was carried out - due to funding cuts, part of schools in the cities were closed, and students were transferred to neighboring institutions. Gangs could only take advantage of the natural opposition of new and old-timers.

What did the FBI answer to this? Prepared a brochure for teachers, which makes it possible to recognize the symbols of gangs in drawings, with which students decorate their notebooks and backpacks.

No money - no policemen

About the police and say nothing - to an adequate response to the rampant crime it just does not have enough money. "If the number of gangs in Chicago over the past two years increased from 500 to 600, then for the same time, police funding decreased by $ 67 million, which led to a reduction in personnel by 1,300 people," sighed Michael Snyder.

- And this despite the fact that in a 3 million city in gangs, according to various sources, there are from 70,000 to 100,000 people, and in the anti-criminal group there are only 200 policemen. That is, one cop makes up 500 gangsters. Not surprisingly, Chicago is among the world's leaders in terms of the number of murders and even ahead of Mexico and São Paulo. "

Although in the neighboring Detroit the situation is even worse. Money is a bankrupt "capital of the automobile industry" is so lacking that in January of this year, the mayor decided to completely eliminate the unit to combat organized crime.

If 10 years ago there were 5,000 policemen in the city, now there are only half of them left. Due to budget cuts, most sites are closed 16 hours a day, less than 10% of crimes are investigated.

The result is appropriate - last year the number of murders in the city grew by 13%, and the unemployment rate exceeded 18%. Is it any wonder that Detroit ranks second in the country in terms of the number of violent crimes and steadily holds the lead in the Forbes list of the most unfortunate US cities?

The situation is not better in the richest state of the country - California. Local leader in the number of violent crimes - Oakland - because of budget cuts fired a quarter of policemen, which led last year to an increase in theft by 43%. Neighboring cities sell police equipment and helicopters, and in Los Angeles, there is not enough money to keep prisoners. As a result, criminals will be released from prisons, serving 40% of the term. And under the program fall, including, rapists and murderers.

Disassembly or war?

A holy place is never empty, the streets liberated from police take control of criminal groups. And they do their "work" often better than the state. "For residents of ethnic areas, control by the gangs is even preferable," says Mary Joe Rapini.

- Members of gangs speak with them in one language, act according to the usual "laws", give a sense of security, and, if necessary, provide work. The problem is that teenagers who grew up in this situation see themselves as only one way for social growth - joining a gang. "

However, in the gang, as in any hierarchical system, "advances" are needed to move up the "career ladder". And they are committed more often on the territory controlled by a competing group. Hence the ceaseless shootings, thousands of wounded and hundreds of dead.

"This is most similar to the clan war," argues Iraqi and Afghan sergeant Matt Little, a Chicago-based anti-organized crime unit. - The boys run around the streets and fired in all directions. Those who are over 30 in the streets are no longer visible - they either run or are in prison. The level of cruelty here is such that until this age only a few survive. "

Nevertheless, in gangs the level of professionalism is growing. Only in the past two years the FBI has registered 53 cases of mass sending of gangs to the army by gangs. There they study the tactics of combat, modern types of weapons and equipment. What will begin in the streets, when professionally trained killers will rush in there, it's terrible even to imagine.

Although, it seems that Washington has already thought of this development of events. Even in the National Security Strategy adopted in 2006 in the event of large-scale catastrophes, a partial transfer of functions of local authorities to the military was allowed.

Two years later it became clear that the US authorities are preparing not only for natural disasters - in the Strategy for the Modernization of the Armed Forces, the list of threats to national security was enriched by organizations with a radical anti-government ideology.

In 2010, the Pentagon conducted exercises, which worked out the actions of the armed forces to suppress civil unrest in the event of an economic collapse. And since May 13, 2013, after amending Federal Normative Act 32, the US military has received official authority "under extraordinary circumstances to temporarily assume the responsibility to suppress large-scale disturbances."