History

• Gangs first appeared in the United States around 1783, at about the same time that the American Revolution ended. The reason that gangs started in America is not clear. Speculation is that teenage groups engaged in ordinary play activities or gathered together to respond to difficult living arrangements during the country's early days might be the reason that the gangs began. During the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, gangs grew in size. Large cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago saw the largest numbers of gangs.
  
  Early gang fights involved family members or community residents who banded together and fought against real or perceived injustice. An early recorded gang fight in the United States happened on July 16, 1829, in Boston's Beantown. The fight that broke between African Americans and sailors took place on Ann Street. Early gang fights also involved horse stealing and bank robberies. In 1872 Jesse James and his gang of Missouri raiders, who often resorted to gun fighting to carry out their illegal activities, conducted their first train robbery. Speculation is that they made off with $75,000 during the heist. The odd fact about Jesse James and his gang is that they learned how to fight in the Civil War. As reported by PBS, an 1864 fight James and his gang engaged in left 22 unarmed Union soldiers dead and 150 federal soldiers stabbed and severely wounded.
  
  

Gang Types

• There are many types of gangs. Some gangs are heavily populated in inner cities. Other gangs are located in rural and suburban areas and in prisons. Males and females participate in gangs. In fact, the last few decades have seen an increase in female gangs. A 1992 study of law enforcement agencies and reported on by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service found that 78 percent of female gang members said they had been in a fight. Thirty-nine percent had attacked another person with a weapon, and 65 percent carried violent protection. Ethnic, gender-based, outlaw motorcycle, prison, racists and school-based gangs are some of the American gang types.
  
  

Fighting Styles

• Gangs have distinct messaging signs and fighting styles. Asian street gangs like Hip Sing, Wah Ching or On Leong use kung fu, poles and machetes. Often gang members will approach each other to negotiate territorial rights by using a "show of force." If the negotiations do not work or agreements made during the negotiations are broken, physical violence often breaks out.
  
  Members of the same gang have also been known to fight and murder each other for leadership status. Neo-Nazi gangs huddle up, similar to the way football players huddle in a team, then take off racing toward an opposite Neo-Nazi gang with clubs and assault each other with fists and club blows and by kicking and stomping on each other until rival gang members are bloodied and fallen to the ground.
  
  Outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Pagans, Hells Angels, Outlaws and Mongols might use firebombs, hammers, chains, knives and guns to fight with. The Hells Angels and Outlaws are rival gangs that have broken out in vicious fights in Indiana and North Dakota. Outlaw motorcycle gang fights have also erupted in Sydney, Australia, Canada and Spain.
  
  

Graffiti and Symbols

• Gang members wear tattoos, bandannas, specific clothing colors and patches to display their gang or sect affiliation. Using hand signs and graffiti, gang members communicate intentions to fight rival gang members. Graffiti is drawn on school property, overhead bridges and on the sides of buildings, vans and trucks. Graffiti is used to mark a gang's territory, communicate intentions to fight and challenge a rival gang into a battle. If there is a name above a graffiti death symbol, the gang might be communicating their plans to murder that person. If a rival gang member moves beyond a graffiti-marked area, he could instigate a vicious gang fight simply by walking or driving onto a rival's turf.
  
  

Drug Trafficking

• Drug trafficking is one of the leading reasons that gangs fight. Street gangs fight and engage in violent behavior in effort to prevent competitor drug distributors from encroaching on their territory. The gangs might have a direct or indirect connection to drug czars based outside of the United States in places like Mexico. Efforts to send a message to a competitor might begin with the rival being jumped by several gang members and severely beaten and then might escalate to a fatal shooting or stabbing. Orders to engage in a fight or fatal gang attack might come from a prison gang that is associated with the street gang.
  
  According to the United States Department of Justice, prison gangs are sophisticated and well organized. Not only do they give the order to engage in gang fights both in and outside of prison, they often encourage the growth of gang membership after they return to the community. Gang members who are willing to fight aggressively or murder on behalf of gang leaders are often given elevated status within the gang, an event that encourages violence and more gang fighting.
  
  

Gang Initiation Fights

• The Crips gang is a combination of the original Avalon Garden Crips and the Inglewood Crips. The gang was formed in 1971. The Crips and the Bloods are rivals. The Bloods, also known as the United Blood Nation, was formed in 1993. The street gangs have prison connections and have had historic fights or clashes, many of which gained national attention in the 1990s.
  
  Crips, Bloods and other gangs encourage their members to fight with razor blades and knives during member initiations. To become a member of a gang, potential members might be asked to rob a house, jack a car, shoot and kill an innocent bystander or jump and beat an unsuspecting stranger. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Oklahoma's News OK reported that a 62-year old gay man was strangled to death in a skinhead gang initiation ritual in October 2007. The Anti-Defamation League has reported a rise in the numbers of members affiliated with racist gangs.
  
  

Consideration

• People have been fascinated with gang fights for years. Movies depict gang members as being courageous, resilient and non-conforming citizens. Internet videos on YouTube and other electronic video websites depict real life gang fights. The fighting can result in death and severe bodily and lasting psychological injuries. To curb gang fights, positive proactive steps must be taken to show gang members better ways to deal with and resolve conflicts. Community and mentoring programs like the Sledge Group, the National Youth Gang Center, Boys and Girls Clubs, local schools and places of worship, as well as parents and neighborhood adults can offer positive activities, open discussion venues and positive examples that help encourage youth to stay out of or disengage from gangs.