Hybrid Gangs
Breaking All The
Rules:
Hybrid Gangs
by Sgt. Dave Starbuck, Kansas City Police Department
As the "gangsta"
culture continues to spread throughout North America, the
influence of California and Chicago gangs are now being felt
in both large metropolitan areas and with increasing frequency
in small, rural communities. The lesson has been well-learned
that the problem of street gangs is one that touches all ethnic
and socio-economic classes. However, as law enforcement agencies
have attempted to deal with the gang problem in their respective
communities, some very significant differences have been discovered
from the historic perception of these gangs, and their behaviors
in areas outside of Chicago or Los Angeles.
Law enforcement agencies,
who prior to the late 80's or early 1990's had not dealt with
street gangs and gang-related crime, often found themselves
scrambling to obtain training on these issues. Initially,
much of the training available focused on the historical background
of Crip and Blood factions that formed in Los Angeles in the
late 1960's, or on the legacy of Chicago-based gangs such
as the Black Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, Vice Lords,
and Latin Counts. As law enforcement became better versed
in the origins of these influential gangs, officers frequently
attempted to apply information received from historic gang
areas to the gangs which were appearing in their local jurisdictions.
In some instances, the gangs were structured in a similar
fashion to their historical counterparts. However, in most
instances, street gangs that exist and continue to form in
the Midwest and other parts of the country, sometimes display
distinct differences from gangs in other cities that bear
the same names. This sometimes causes confusion and frustration
to law enforcement officials attempting to identify and counter
their own local version of street gangs.
Like so many of my peers,
I also experienced the sudden migration of the gang culture
into the Midwest during the 1980's. At the time, as a detective
assigned to my department's Drug Enforcement Unit, I was suddenly
called upon to investigate a new wave of drug trafficking
entrepreneurs, which by 1988, frequently included suspects
from the Los Angeles area, who were confirmed members of Crip
and Blood sets. Their presence became more pronounced in our
area of the country, and other agencies in the Midwest began
to share similar information with my unit. Suddenly, Los Angeles
Crip and Blood members were dealing cocaine in Oklahoma City,
Wichita, Omaha, Des Moines, Minneapolis, and most other major
Midwest cities. By 1990, we had confirmed the arrival of Chicago-based
gang members in Kansas City, which was usually determined
in the course of drug trafficking or homicide investigations.
As we enter the new millennium,
the gang culture continues to flourish. However, as it spreads,
it is frequently "tweaked" and modified by groups
of youths that are attracted to the gangsta subculture. New
gangs frequently spring up throughout the country, and may
not follow the traditional rules or methods of operation carried
out by their predecessors. In essence, while many communities
have gangs bearing the names of old time, original gangs from
Los Angeles or Chicago, the actual membership of these gangs
is most frequently locally-based with little or no real affiliation
to the original gang other than the name. This hybrid gang
culture is one of the dominant types of gangs encountered
in communities that had no gang culture prior to the 1980's
or 1990's.
However, these murky, loosely-structured
gangs often confuse law enforcement agencies in their communities,
and elicit an inappropriate response from the community as
a whole. Some police departments spend an inordinate amount
of time trying to place their localized gangs into nice, neat
categories and are unsure of how to report the non-traditional
groups that cause problems to the community, including those
known as cliques, crews, posses, or other non-gang terms.
If these groups are engaging in ongoing criminal activity
and causing alarm to community members, law enforcement officers
need to ask themselves: "Does it really matter if they
fall neatly into a prescribed definition of Crips/Bloods/Folks/People/Skinheads?"
The focus at this point by law enforcement should be on the
criminal activity, regardless of the ideological beliefs or
identifiers of the suspects.
I frequently provide training
to law enforcement groups on investigative issues dealing
with drug trafficking conspiracies or street gangs. I strongly
urge them to be aware of "conspiracy fever." There
is a frequent tendency, both by law enforcement officers and
researchers, to connect gangs in different cities because
they share a common name. Obviously, some gangs are very transient
and do operate on a national basis in their illegal activities.
However, in most instances, there is little, if any, real
connection, other than a familiar name. In our urgency to
educate and investigate, we need to avoid giving more credit
to these gangs who want so desperately to be recognized as
notorious organized crime syndicates. For example, in Kansas
City, Missouri, two different gangs that operate in different
sections of the city utilize the same name: Athens Park Bloods
(APB). These groups share this name in common with the original
Athens Park Bloods, who are a well-established set which started
in Los Angeles County. One set of the APB in Kansas City is
made up of African-American teens on the east side of the
central city. The other Kansas City version of APB consists
of Caucasian teens, primarily from affluent families residing
in the suburbs. Both of these groups engage in criminal activities
and anti-social behaviors. However, there is no connection
between the two groups, and it seems that both groups are
unaware of their counterparts within the community. Furthermore,
both of these Kansas City factions of APB are made up of local
youths, who have no real connection to the Athens Park Bloods
in California or the many other jurisdictions that have local
versions of APB. They are examples of the "hybrid"
gang culture, in which local youths cut and paste bits of
Hollywood gang lore and Chicago gang lore into a localized
version of gang affiliation. The bottom line in this discussion
of the evolution of gang cultures is to remember that the
sudden appearance of Rollin' 60's Crips graffiti on a public
park restroom in rural Iowa or Michigan does not always signify
that this Los Angeles-based gang has set up a chapter in the
community.
Kansas City, Missouri, is
located in almost the geographical center of the continental
United States. It has become a textbook example of the migration
of the gang culture since the 1980's. There are approximately
5,000 documented gang members and affiliates in the Kansas
City metropolitan area, however, no single group has ever
surfaced as the dominant gang. There are numerous Chicago-style
and California-style gangs in the city. However, the larger
gangs are locally-based "hybrids" whose members
have adopted the gang culture over the past decade, modified
it with their personal interpretations and agendas, and become
much more of a criminal and societal problem in the community
than any group moving into the area.
The gang culture in Kansas
City is a perfect example of the type of hybrid gang culture
which now exists throughout the continental U.S. and with
increasing frequency in small, rural communities and school
districts. For any law enforcement agency or community to
properly devise a response to deal with problems related to
gangs, they must understand that the hybrid gang culture spawns
gangs which do not operate by the traditional rules established
by the older gang hubs in Los Angeles or Chicago.
Hybrid gangs frequently operate
in some of these non-traditional ways:
- They may or may not have
an allegiance to a traditional color. In fact, much of the
gang graffiti in the United States is a bastardized composite
with conflicting symbols. For example, Crip graffiti painted
in red paint would be unheard of in California, but it is
not uncommon in the hybrid gang culture.
- Hybrid gangs may adopt
symbols from both Chicago and Los Angeles affiliations.
For example, a locally-based Blood gang might also use symbols
from the People Nation, such as 5-pointed stars and downward-pointing
pitchforks. The name of the gang may reflect these dual
affiliations, as well.
- Gang members may change
their affiliation from one gang to another.
- It is not uncommon for
a gang member to claim multiple affiliations, sometimes
involving rival gangs. For example, in Kansas City, police
frequently deal with an admitted Blood gang member who is
known to also frequent the St. Louis area, where he proudly
claims his affiliation to the Black Gangster Disciples.
- Existing gangs may change
the name of their gang.
- Existing gangs may suddenly
merge and form a new gang.
- While many gangs continue
to be based on ethnicity, many gangs are increasingly diverse
in both ethnic and gender compositions. Seemingly strange
associations may form in different communities such as Skinhead
and Crip gang members being closely affiliated.
- Many of the hybrid gangs
are locally formed and consider themselves to be their own
distinct gangster entity with no alliance or ties to Blood/Crip
or Folk/People national groups. These types of gangs are
frequently the biggest problem for local law enforcement
and the most difficult to classify. Examples abound in every
jurisdiction.
As the gang culture continues
to spread and modify throughout the country, law enforcement
investigators have identified other non-traditional trends,
which are occurring with more frequency, involving transient
gangs from California or Chicago. Some current trends being
reported in the Midwest include:
- Los Angeles gang members
that relocate in the Midwest may align themselves with a
local gang with no real ties to the California member's
original gang set.
- Gang members from Chicago
or Los Angeles will frequently conduct criminal activity
with rival gang members when both are in other parts of
the country. Frequently, profit potential outweighs old
gang loyalties.
- Differing factions of
Hispanic gangs are becoming increasingly prominent in much
of the United States. It is crucial for law enforcement
to know the origins and rivalries of Hispanic factions as
officers increasingly encounter Surenos, Nortenos, Sinaloan
Cowboys, and others. Transient Hispanic gangs may continue
animosity with their rivals in other parts of the country,
and also have violent encounters with local Hispanic gangs.
- Asian criminal activity,
much of which is by transient gangs, continues to greatly
impact much of North America. Problems for law enforcement
include cultural misunderstanding, identification issues,
language barriers, and the transient nature of Asian gangs
who will live in one city but travel out of state to commit
crimes.
In conclusion, it is imperative
that law enforcement agencies, both large and small, understand
the continuing changes in the dynamics of gangs as the problem
continues to spread. It is vital that agencies maintain updated
training of staff and monitor the specific chemistry of the
gang culture within their own jurisdiction. There is no all-encompassing
response by a law enforcement agency which will work universally.
The response to gangs must be based on an accurate assessment
of the local problem, updated intelligence, an examination
of resources in the community, and a realistic appraisal on
how to gauge success. Efforts which may find success in one
city may have little effect in another. During the early trial
and error process, it is essential that efforts always include
every available community agency, which aids in the intervention
and prevention effort. However, without the support of community
government and police administration, the efforts to combat
street gangs by police can be frustrating.
David Starbuck
is a Sergeant with the Kansas City (MO) Police Department
assigned to the Gang Squad. Dave is also the Vice-President
for the Missouri Chapter of the Midwest Gang Investigators
Association. He has more than 20 years of law enforcement
experience.
Copyright © 2000 Dave Starbuck. All rights reserved.
