Brown Brown Brown why is it so brown in bllings

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by redhead

all you need to do to find the facts on gangs in billings and not get scare crap from rickers is contact the billings police department and they will give you the facts. so i recommend you do your own research on crime rate in billings and don't buy into the scare crap put out by people that don't live here or read the paper.

That is a bit insulting redhead. Here is a link for you to read, I didn't make this stuff up. Half of my best friends are in various fields of law enforcement and even though I do not live in billings I know for a fact that I know a lot more about your cities gang problem than you do considering you wont even admit that there are full fledged gangs operating in your city.

Montana News Association

Not acknowledging a problem is the best way to make the problem worse.
If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem, doing what the guy in the picture below is doing is the quickest way to make your city a gang haven like so many other cities have done. You most likely see gang bangers almost every day and are not recognizing them as typical gang bangers. Some gangs wont even let their members get tats or dress to appear like the stereotypical gangsters anymore.
There are now documented cases of gangs infiltrating into all branches of our military and getting trained in advanced urban combat techniques and many large cities police departments have been infiltrated already.
You have no Idea about how bad gang problems have become, even in little ol Billings Montana.

Do what this guy is doing and you invite the gangs right on in.

[ElkHunter]

It looks to me like most of the gang activity is behind the scenes, covert, not getting caught so are not on the crime stats.

They are not what we the people think of as "Gangs". I know when I think of a gang I'm thinking of a tatoo'd person with special markings, concealing a gun, getting into the gang by commiting a major crime like, "You rob that store and shoot one person at random, we'll call that your initiation."

These gangs sound like the meth makers and distributor underground. They are not getting caught, mayby one of their junior (not a member yet) might be getting caught.

Am I close Rickers?

And by the way. You two be nice.

[Rickers]

They are getting caught and many turn into protected witnesses. The gangs in Montana are well documented and the investigations can take years. Stay tuned to the news, the next few years will be an eye opener for many.
Oh for those who didn't grow up with gangs, there are many different types of gangs present in the state besides the "street gangs" mentioned on the article I linked to.
Don't get me started on the outlaw biker gangs that have been making themselves a bit too comfortable in Hot Springs lately. Google up these names;
The Hombres,
The Hermanos,
The Banditos.
These guys are for the most part not needed or wanted in town but they keep coming back more and more each year to party (and bring lots of drugs) and I am one property owner in Hot Springs who would like to see them stay away.
There has been unsubstantiated reports of Russian Mafia activity in the Kalispell area too but at this point I consider that hearsay or gossip as I have had no personal experience so far with those guys yet that I am sure of.
Gangs are tending to try to keep a low profile before getting well established in the northwest, they are "pioneering".
I've lived in several gang infested places before and it is very hard to not get caught up in it. I've been there and done that and believe me I know serious gang-bangers when I see them and talk to them. I know that they are here in many parts of the state now and they are here to stay, we can get used to it or stay in denial but we still have to try to nip it in the bud before it gets bad and recognizing the problem is the right place to start.
I am not trying not to be nice EH and I'm not trying to be a fear monger. I'm just trying to stay alive and try to help my friends stay alive too.

[sky1949]

I live in Billings. Downtown, even. The only gang activity I know of is what I read in the paper or places like here. If I didn't read about it, I wouldn't have a clue that there is any gang activity in Billings.

[ElkHunter]

We are soooo far off topic. Need to get back across the line. Yeah, I got caught up with it to.

If somebody would like to start a new thread on Gang Activity in Billings, I'd be happy to move these posts over once you start the thread.

[Reziac]

My sister used to live on the main drag just east of downtown (at the time she was working for her future father in law who lived in Billings most of his life). The ambulance ran past all night long from the SE corner of town. You'd see it on average a couple times an hour, if you cared to watch.

However.. if a person stayed out of the obvious rough neighbourhood (and it was pretty obvious just by looking) things were pretty safe and sane. I often walked around the old part of downtown Billings, or drove into the industrial area to pick up coal or shavings or livestock feed, and didn't think anything of it.

Any city has its rough areas, that's just cities. Any prohibition generates gangs and attracts mobsters, that's the nature of a black market. But I look at any city in MT and then at any major city in CA and the contrast is laughable. Our crime index here in one of the more "peaceful" parts of SoCal is 3 times the national average, and we only have little bitty baby gangs like MT apparently is growing, not fullscale corporate gangs like you see in Los Angeles or Oakland.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by rickers

I've lived in several gang infested places before and it is very hard to not get caught up in it. I've been there and done that and believe me I know serious gang-bangers when I see them and talk to them. I know that they are here in many parts of the state now and they are here to stay, we can get used to it or stay in denial but we still have to try to nip it in the bud before it gets bad and recognizing the problem is the right place to start.

Hey Elk, I think a "Gangs in MT" thread might be a good place to put these posts so we can continue on the subject, as you say...

Anyway, rickers, instead of telling us there are gang-bangers and leaving us wondering just what the heck you're seeing, how about some info, from your experienced eye, on what to look for, how to recognise 'em, what makes them different from, say, your average biker gang, and whatever else would give average folks a handle for helping nip the problem in the bud?

Sometimes people don't see a problem (as being different from ordinary punk kids or regular bikers or whatever) because they don't have any frame of reference, not having direct experience. So I really think a voice of experience, giving us details to work with, would be helpful.

[ElkHunter]

When you figure it out, let me know. Tonight I'm going through and clean up this thread and delete the posts that are off topic. Then I'll reopen it.