Gang Deconstruction

History
In discussing the banditry in American history Barrington Moore, Jr. suggests that
gangsterism as a "form of self-help which victimizes others" may appear in societies
which lack strong "forces of law and order"; he characterizes European feudalism as
"mainly gangsterism that had become society itself and acquired respectability and
power but gang violences were frequent occurances".
A wide variety of gangs, such as the Order of Assassins, the Damned Crew, Adam the
Leper's gang, Penny Mobs, Indian Thugs, Chinese Triads, Snakehead, Japanese
Yakuza, Irish mob, Pancho Villa's Villistas, Dead Rabbits, American Old West outlaw
gangs, Bowery Boys, Chasers, the Italian mafia, Jewish mafia, and Russian Mafia crime
families have existed for centuries. According to some estimates the Thuggee gangs in
India murdered 1 million people between 1740 and 1840.
The 17th century saw London "terrorized by a series of organized gangs", some of them
known as the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, and Dead Boys. These gangs often came into
conflict with each other. Members dressed in the following way: "with colored ribbons to
distinguish the different factions."
Chicago had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s. These early gangs had reputations for
many criminal activities, but in most countries could not profit from drug trafficking prior
to drugs being made illegal by laws such as the 1912 International Opium
Convention and the 1919 Volstead Act. Gang involvement in drug trafficking increased
during the 1970s and 1980s, but some gangs continue to have minimal involvement in
the trade.
In the United States, the history of gangs began on the East Coast in 1783 following the
American Revolution. The emergence of the gangs was largely attributed to the vast
rural population immigration to the urban areas. The first street-gang in the United
States, the 40 Thieves, began around the late 1820s in New York City. The gangs
in Washington D.C. had control of what is now Federal Triangle, in a region then known
as Murder Bay.
Current Numbers
In 2007, there were approximately 785,000 active street gang members in the United
States, according to the National Youth Gang Center. In 2011, the National Gang
Intelligence Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation asserted that "There are
approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw gang members comprising
more than 33,500 gangs in the United States." Approximately 230,000 gang members
were in U.S. prisons or jails in 2011.
According to the Chicago Crime Commission publication, "The Gang Book 2012",
Chicago has the highest number of gang members of any city in the United States:
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