How Did Chi Become A Gang City? (Chicago: neighborhoods, high school)

[via chicago]

Black markets exist (drugs, guns, etc). There is a demand for these items and a lot of potential money to be made. Voila, you now have gangs which form to fill the demand for this niche. Obviously its a bit more involved than that, but thats basically the premise. Chicago isnt a "gang" city any more than LA, NY, Mexico City, Hong Kong, or anywhere else. Its big, which means lots of potential customers. Many areas are economically depressed as well, which is fertile recruiting ground for new members.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by via chicago

Black markets exist (drugs, guns, etc). There is a demand for these items and a lot of potential money to be made. Voila, you now have gangs which form to fill the demand for this niche.

Exactly. During prohibition one sort of gang arose, now there are gangs that are based on selling narcotics and guns and reflect the new immigrant population and the source of the contraband.

A large immigrant population can be a good recruiting base as well. Just look at the Irish gangs of NYC in the 1800's, the Italian Mafia of the 20th century, and now we have Hispanic gangs. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[aragx6]

The more things change the more they stay the same.

I was about to type this exact same saying :P

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Motion

https://www.policeone.com/writers/co...n-rural-south/

The funny thing about that article is a Greenville, MS resident refers to Cal City as some kind of paradise to live in...LOL. Cal City is a horrible, gang infested town, with a serious drug and murder problem.

The younger generation has come in and destroyed this neighborhood," Shannon, 38, said. "We have to drive a different route every day just to avoid being held up. Sometimes you walk outside and people are shooting. You never know what to expect. We never had to worry about that in Calumet City.

In fact, the Suburb of Cal City has a higher murder rate and crime rate than Greenville, MS so I don't know what Shannon was talking about...

[Venom]

Modern street gangs because they evolved from times when gangs where just a club.

[noid_1985]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

The funny thing about that article is a Greenville, MS resident refers to Cal City as some kind of paradise to live in...LOL. Cal City is a horrible, gang infested town, with a serious drug and murder problem.



In fact, the Suburb of Cal City has a higher murder rate and crime rate than Greenville, MS so I don't know what Shannon was talking about...

Maybe she meant Cal Park

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

There were gangs in Chicago long before Al Capone...

19th Century Chicago was a rapidly changing place where people would literally disappear without a trace in the large millieu of new faces. The city grew so rapidly that services couldn't keep up. No one even truly knows the crime levels during that time period because the police force was poorly organized and immigrants were moving to the city in droves. It was a sort of "Wild West" mentality where corruption and vice flourished, and they just never went away. The city was born of corruption and crime... and capitalism!

Totally. My only point was that Chicago has a long history of crime, corruption, and dead bodies. To try to pin that on modern street gangs is short-sighted.

[Motion]

What is the unemployment situation in Chicago particularly for young people in poorer areas?

I've read that unemployment plays a big part in crime and gang formation. High unemployment and joblessness in an area with the males can cause many males not to form families because jobless males aren't in the best position to get married and support a familiy which leads to more single parent homes in poor areas. High youth unemployment can cause those young people to have their time overly concentrated in the streets and all that can come with that. Jobs would help to break up that time in the streets for many young people and provide a way to get job skills and to make legal money.

[ChiMack]

[quote=via chicago;6613497] Chicago isnt a "gang" city any more than LA, NY, Mexico City, Hong Kong, or anywhere else. quote]


yes it is, more than half of chicago's homicides ae gang related where about of new yorks 496 homicides less than a hundred were by people who dont know each other, in chicago gangs are rooted deeply in neighborhoods and it has been going on for generations where whole families are in it

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Motion

What is the unemployment situation in Chicago particularly for young people in poorer areas?

I am sure it is terrible. Where are they going to work? in poor areas all there really is is fast food joints and liquor stores. and poor areas don't have high high school graduation rates so what you have is a plethora of unskilled and uneducated workers to start with. No wonder they turn to the streets for that fast money.