Why does LA have such Bad Gang Problem (Los Angeles, San Diego: fit in, sale)

[MiamiManni]

Why does Los Angeles have such a huge gang problem.My brother and his family are looking at a job offer but I dont know why unless your rich you would want to live in Los Angeles.The valley used to be nice but looking at the homicide reports on the LA times websight gives me the idea it is going down the toilet.Now I am of cuban descent so I know that not all latinos are as stupid as the gangster doorknobs you have in LA.I live in sunny florida and we have alot of property crimes but no where near the gangs and just sensless stupid homicides.Do the residents who are not rich fear for their safety in the LA area? The south central area is a war zone and it looks like other former middle class areas are following.I hope my brother stays in Miami which I think he will.You would have to be a millionaire to afford a home in good areas like orange county or oxnard.I have visited and was not that impressed with what I seen of downtown and hollywood.I also found santa monica to be overrun with homeless people by your peer.

[EscapeCalifornia]

I my experience, Mexicans and Cubans are very, very different people. I believe the Cubans that came here were largely middle/business class people. The majority of Mexicans that come here are from the extreme bottom end of the scale. Guess which one is more likely to produce huge amounts of gangs and crime.

[lydunn]

Yes I tend to agree with the above being of racial mix cuban dad that is true going to Mexico they still use the outdoors as a bathroom...Unfortunately it's the product of their environment

[a1wdcrvr]

1) Two people with limited intelligence capacity do not have genius children.
2) Our society will no longer acquiesce to letting law enforcement do what it needs to do to stem the problem.
3) We are too complacent to take the problem into our own hands.

As a people, we have shown that we are quite capable of accomplishing solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems. We simply don't try until the situation becomes unbearable. It is going to get much worse before it gets any better.

[StriderMatic]

There are documentaries available about gangs in L.A.

Black gangs were started as social organizations like the Black Panther party, but degenerated into criminal groups as social problems improved and new generations of gang members came up. A lot of the original gang members realize their mistakes and do activism to stop gangs but it's beyond their control now.

As far as why there are (so many) Mexican gangs, who knows

Asian gangs do dirty work for the Asian Mafia groups and are mostly about periodically bullying storekeepers for money. Also I don't know how many Asian gangs there are in LA, but heard more about those that are in San Francisco.

[James T]

Why does LA have such Bad Gang Problem

See here:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/immigration/

[Sorcerer68]

Are you kidding? Miami has some of the most terrifying gangs in the nation. L.A. isn't any worse than Chicago or NYC. Big cities all have crime, gangs, traffic and pollution. To avoid them, move to the boonies.

[hedgefundpirate]

I agree that LA has a bad problem but so does most major cities.the gangs are fueled by profit from illegal drugs.Has anyone else ever wondered why we dont just legalize the drugs so there is no profit in the sale or distribution,especially marijuana,cocaine,heroin.The gangs would not have a job and they would have to start standing out in front of home depot for a days labor like the other poor people.At least the guy who is illegal but willing to do a hard days work for little pay is not exploiting other peoples misery.Miami has gangs and is a major center for the importing of the drugs that flood east coast streets.I bet any bad area of LA has an equal in Miami.I know for a fact that Boston and Philadelphia do.When I was im Miami all I have seen is mostly Sobe but I know they have gheto areas where the usual combo of drugs and violence can be found

[hedgefundpirate]

Los Angeles is a very large city that really can only be compared with New York or Chicago because of the huge land area it covers as well as the diverse group of residents in all the different areas.When people say LA they may think of everything between San Diego and Santa Barbara.Lots of illegal immigrants who want to sell drugs instead of work would be my guess as to why it is such a problem.Also the citizens here have accepted it to a certain point.If enough people would support the police department they would go down and crack the heads of the thugs until they decided it was wise to move on.Instead the LAPD gets labeled with a roulette wheel of allegations that usually have no truth.there might be one or two bad cops but the majority are working hard to make the city and its people safer.Chief Gates had the right idea he wanted to kick the @@@ of the people who make life bad for the city and its residents

[marilyn220]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

I my experience, Mexicans and Cubans are very, very different people. I believe the Cubans that came here were largely middle/business class people. The majority of Mexicans that come here are from the extreme bottom end of the scale. Guess which one is more likely to produce huge amounts of gangs and crime.

Without sounding like a racist, I have to agree that Mexicans are very, very, very, very, very different from the latinos I'm used to. I grew up in NYC around PRs first, then the Dominicans started trickling in. The Central Americans (el salvador, honduras, guatemala, colombia) tend to live in Jackson Heights, Queens, and even they're different in their outlook on things (though I've never actually hung out with any).

Let's just say Mexicans do NOT respect education or believe in abortion or birth control.

I will also say that I find Black Americans born and raised in LA "different" as well (and not in a good way). And before you call me a racist - I'm black too.