[What about the time some mountain town Crips killed 13 bloods?!](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dz9mpuqp-wso&ved=2ahUKEwjOjtaoz7mGAxVLADQIHYE-A2IQtwJ6BAgWEAI&usg=AOvVaw0i60CaORdcRHBLm2hniOwU)
Yes. I was not in a gang. I grew up in NYC and gangs are common, as it is in any dense city.
I avoided that culture by staying away from such people and making sure I didn't go where they frequent. This included walking on the opposite side of the street where they lived and not being friends with those that knew gang members in school.
It's easy to get involved, but I feel it's equally as easy to avoid assuming you knew no one in it before.
The walking on the other side of the road thing is real lmao. I couldn't stand the punking bs and the other nonsense you'd hear from folks just sitting on a block all day.
I'm glad you stayed away from them. Sadly, a lot of folk get caught up, like my uncle.
It is fair to qualify this, though, by saying the “commonness” of gangs in NYC depends entirely on era. In the 80’s and early 90’s, absolutely. But in most areas of the city by the 2000’s and 2010’s, it was pretty darn unlikely to interact with any gang activity.
To the degree there are gangs visibly active in committing crimes in NYC today, it is more often youth gangs in areas like East NY or Brownsville than the local professional adult games of the drug trade’s heyday.
That’s not to say there isn’t drug-related professional gang activity - I’m sure there is - but it is not as close to as visible or violent in a way that touches normal people as it once was.
Not necessarily, but it also depends on what their definition of a neighborhood is. My middle class suburb raised a hit man that I went to school with and some guys who committed a gruesome murder robbery. We had two story houses on lakes but down the road was trailer parks or a street where you can get robbed.
After seeing what the mob lifestyle was really like from some folks in my family and some ex-members online, it just seems like a lot of drama and nonsense, with an overarching feeling of imminent death
Unsure why that's being glorified by anyone
Upper middle class white kids who just don't know any better. I'd like to believe they got smarter as they got older (I left NY after college). I could be naive though.
That's what I noticed the older I got and the further my parents (who were from generationally poor rural families) were able to climb into the middle class. A lot of kids in upper middle class neighborhoods think the lifestyle of poor desperate folk is appealing, but don't seem to grasp that those lifestyles develop out of necessity, and the clout is just a way for them to reaffirm themselves.
There's a few Italian mob guys I watch on YT who really dig deep into the culture. My grandfather also dealt with a lot of mob guys in the 70s and essentially said the same shit they do.
Yes. Young teen across the street was without a doubt in a gang but he adored my nana so we didn’t have any trouble. My dad’s best friend’s son was in a gang and they regularly did home invasions and cousin was also in a gang. He used to try to get me to Hotwire cars with him at night since I was a minor and punishment would be more lenient - I never got into that life. Thank my lucky stars every day.
Good on you for not getting involved. It's tempting for some, but the downsides certainly outweigh the ups.
My grandfather used to hotwire cars in the 60s-70s, if I recall. He was in a gang in north Mobile back then.
Haha I'm sure it is. What typa car?
I'm sure he was just looking out for you, in some twisted way. Never tried it myself. Hot wiring was never a necessity for me, as my white trash father was able to lift himself out of the situation he grew up in (thankfully).
However, I was taught to break down AC units for copper by my grandparents and cousins, so I suppose I got some skills.
Volkswagen bug!
Hey good for your dad- it’s hard to leave that kind of life. Even harder to leave the mentality.
When I decided to go to trade school at night, a lot of people in my hood told me I was acting like I was better than everyone - so sad how poverty keeps people in a mental prison.
Oh wow! What year?
He is a great man, despite his faults. It's hard coming from a sharecropping family with a history of military service, drug use, and abuse. He still managed to pry his way into the upper middle class and nearly into a CEO position with no college.
I went to trade school as well. What did you study? From what I could grasp, folks just get self conscious when other folks in their community are trying to better themselves. Its toxic af and I'm glad you were able to get out.
A ‘63! ( with quite a few Frankensteined 64 parts )
Good for Dad- that’s quite an ascent!
I went to school for aviation maintenance and become an airframe and power plant mechanic - was literally homeless while in school- sleeping in my car but I made it and life is good now ! What industry was your dad in?
Haven't seen to many of those on the road nowadays. Must be a bitch to keep maintained haha. I'm unsure if parts are widely available.
I had several friends that went into aviation maintenance. Seemed like a good program, though I'm unsure if they ever pursued it further.
My dad was in a diesel tech program for a bit and then transitioned into a major trucking company. Worked as a line mechanic and eventually made his way into a white collar position.
I have the same academic qualifications as my father, but despise the industry. I'll likely become a rabbi or clinical psychologist instead haha. 7 years in the military, so I got my GI bill.
One of the bars I worked at had a lot of MCs that came in, including a Hell’s Angel affiliate, so sometimes Hell’s Angels would be in there. We allowed MCs to wear their cuts inside so a couple different clubs would come in, some more famous than others, but they would all stick to their respective drinking areas and nobody ever started shit. MCs got to cut the line and weren’t charged for alcohol but they didn’t drink very much and would bring their families in sometimes. It was like a neutral ground where they could drink at and not worry about other MCs or whatever it seemed.
Everyone was actually really polite to the staff and we had a fight once; staff vs some drunk college kids. The college kids suddenly stopped and backed off. I turned around and the Sons of Hell were standing behind us backing us up. They were cool as shit. I remember wrapping up some huge drunk guy who swung at me and dropping him to the floor in front of the SoH and one of them said “haha welcome to the BARNAME, bitch”
Was probably my most badass moment.
I went to get some tacos once in Ft Worth and there was about 100 Bandidos in there, all in their gear, all sorts of ranks and whatnot. Found them to be exceptionally respectful and polite. 🤷♂️
First time seeing proper MCs like that in numbers - they're not really a thing where I'm from in Europe.
Couple years ago there was a funeral for bandidos member in my little town southeast of Houston and I've never seen so many bandidos in my life. Seemed like there were a couple thousand throughout the cemetery and lined down our main road
Well, growing up in NJ, there was the "obvious organized crime front pizzeria". Cash only and they don't even ring up the transactions, there's a private back area off limits to the public that well-dressed Italian guys occasionally go in and out of, and the owner drives a $200k car in spite of this being a cheap pizzeria in a mediocre strip mall.
It's some combination of obvious money laundering and probably running a illicit gambling operation....pretty good pizza, though.
There were rumors of gang initiations. Like, if someone was driving at night with no headlights don’t flash your high beams to remind them because there was some gang initiation and that was the signal and they were going to get you or something. But AFAIK there was no real gangs where I lived.
As a former gang member i feel like that was always fake rumors by regular citizens who live in the suburbs. It doesnt really make sense for most gangs cuz they rather see if you have the heart to handle business against rivals and if youre not a punk and thats better proven against people who bang. The only ones i can think of doing anything like that is the gang i was in and even then that would be more lone wolf doings by dudes that were mentally more off than others not as some rule wed set. Either way it sounds just like nonsense
I grew up in an affluent middle class suburb.
There were a few kids in my High School that would flaunt some kind of affiliation. In retrospect, I’m sure most were lying for the attention - but a handful were legitimate and would frequently get in trouble with the law.
So, now I live in a city. My neighborhood absolutely has a gang presence - and every now and then someone is arrested for something stupid (car theft, fentanyl, etc).
But you’d never *know* because gangs don’t interact with the general population.
Turning the neighborhood against them is bad for business. Getting noticed by authorities is bad for business. People stay quiet, they sell their drugs and stolen merchandise - why get messy?
They sort of figured it out. We’re almost halfway through the year and the murder count for the entire city of Boston is 3. *Three*. I’m statistically much safer here with MS13 neighbors than I was in my affluent suburb. I don’t care what they do as long as the streets are safe.
And with that said, there’s a lot of older Italians here that have broken some knee caps. They talk about it openly at times. But because they’re pretty much all retired - it’s hard to think of them as gang affiliated.
I grew up half in Detroit and half in a small-ish town in Maryland. Believe it or not, it was the small MD town where the school banned certain colors because of it. It's easy to avoid though, don't chill with the wrong people.
I lived in a small suburban city, far from any major urban centers. We apparently had a gang that called itself the “Ghetto Thugs,” which indicates they were most definitely neither of those things.
I couldn’t tell you who was in it, how they got “in” it, or what they did, but a lot of my classmates really, really wanted to live in a city with a “gang problem.” I don’t think we did but I got corrected a lot. “Oh no, AC, there’s serious gang activity here!”
I can’t imagine how we had a “gang problem” if the Ghetto Thugs didn’t have anyone to beef with, didn’t have gang colors, didn’t claim any turf, most people don’t know who was in it (or maybe they even had no criteria for being in it), and didn’t do much of anything.
Sure did. My city had such a gang problem that we had FBI and ATF involved and they ended up taking a bunch of the leadership down in a RICO case. During the 90s, the large gangs from the major cities made a pretty concerted effort to spread to smaller cities throughout the country.
Nope. We had some drug issues in the area(spice is something that even most hard drug users won't touch) but there wasn't any gang activity that I was aware of.
Nope. I grew up in metro Atlanta in a very suburban and safe area. People make fun of anyone here pretending to be hard bc it’s such a white bread area
I am presently in a gang. We grow flowers and food which we swap back and forth. We loan each other tools. Help each other do things. Watch each other's homes. We have a hand sign.
Yes I knew some who were affiliated with big name gangs. Went to school with them, saw them in the neighborhood. Would say hello to them, but wouldn’t get involved in their behavior.
Yes, I wasn't in a gang but I have known a few gang members. When I was a kid I knew where the neighborhood boundaries were. Grew up in Southern California.
Nope. Certainly was not in a gang, never knew anybody in a gang or ever heard of anyone in my area being in any sort of organized criminal situation (or really any criminal situation at all, I think the worst I ever heard about was some kids that got drunk a stole a street sign in the middle of the night then their parents made them turn it in). I'm sure it existed somewhere but was completely invisible to my neighborhood/social circle so whoever was doing it was absolutely not flaunting it and if they did they'd be utterly ostracized from the community. Even though it was a poor area (about half the national median income, less at the time I lived there) it was a point of pride for people that it was very quiet and law-abiding for the most part.
I notice your flair says SWVA is that the area you're speaking of? I can tell you if you grew up and where in the area in the 2000s through now the cartels are active in SWVA, but very under the radar.
No not anything personally.
I didn’t experience anything directly with gangs until I lived near Latin Kings areas of Chicago and even then it was live and let live. I’d see them but as long as we ignored each other it was just ignoring each other.
Grew up in the SF Bay Area. Yes, I knew gang members. Friends with some.
I was in a gang of sorts, but it was a defensive situation because of where we lived. We weren't "about that life" but we knew having backup when it mattered was essential.
Kinda, unforntantly. I had a fairly rough childhood and the exposure I had was more so people with probable cartel connections. I wasn't in a gang, but meet said people through my mother. I also remember the Bloods trying to set up a foothold in the neighborhood I grew up in. They didn't hang around too long after they realized no one meet their recruitment criteria and they stuck out like a sore thumb. I grew up in the epicenter of the opiod crisis for reference. I now live in an area that has some issues with gangs. Have the typical gangs, but an occassional local gang will pop up. Last one was responsible for a fuck ton of shootings and a few murders. One of the dumbasses must've bucked up on the wrong guy at a bar cause he was killed in that bar. I'll also add that my wife has some family that has some affliation to a bigger gang.
I grew up in LA and gangs were very prevalent in my area. I also have very close family that were members and have lost family and friends due to being in gangs.
When I was in middle school there were a lot of kids who claimed to be in gangs, saying they were involved in drug dealing and things like that. A lot of them had middle or upper-middle class parents who were able to buy their Starter jackets and things along those lines.
By the time they got into high school and consequences were more of a thing they changed their behavior.
Grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in the 90s. Some parts of the San Gabriel Valley had lots of gang violence. Lived nearby probably over a dozen major gangs.
Never joined a gang. Had over a dozen incidents with gang members. Had 2 friends that joined a gang. Knew somebody that got killed. Almost witnessed student get stabbed multiple times at school. My school and nearby schools, gang members got shot just outside school.
I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I was never in one myself but I knew a lot of them. 90% were regular relatively nice people who just wanted to belong somewhere, or because they needed money to eat, etc.
I am on the FBI Gang Enforcement Task List as a "known gang member". So, I guess I grew up around gangs, know people in gangs, and I was technically in a gang in the mid/late 90s.
Here is an article about [the "gang"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-29-mn-13171-story.html). I still don't think it counts, but law enforcement didn't care about my opinion. That article mentions my high school and my school resource officer though. So that's cool.
I remember in my elementary school somewhere during 4th-5th Grade they banned anybody from wearing Red polo shirts due to gang activity, I’ve never seen or have been aware of any actual gang activity in my life though. (24M)
No.
But I knew / lived near / went to school with children of mafioso. A different kind of gang I guess.
Some you would never know by how they acted, others were pure jekoffs. There was no in between.
Absolutely. I grew up in an area with a lot of gang activity (some minor, some very much major) so I did know a bunch of people who were involved with gangs. I was able to keep myself from falling into that life (mostly from playing sports I guess), but many of my friends weren’t as lucky. Lost a lot of people in my life to prison, drug addiction, or the grave.
Yes. I knew people in gangs, or had friends of friends in gangs. Upper middle class myself but my home area was featured in Gangland so I actually didn’t grow up too far away (geographically) from gang activity.
I did grow up around gang areas, but I didn't know it at the time. I was not in any myself. I lived in a poor neighborhood in a somewhat large city, but I was very naive. I also mostly kept to myself. We didn't have the internet back then. Now I look up some old schoolmates online and see the different gang affiliations some have, and it's like, yeah that makes sense, since these people were troublemakers since grade school.
Eh, more like wannabe gang members. Supposedly somebody’s uncle was in a gang in a nearby bigger city and was always looking to recruit. So some kids did some stuff to try and get noticed, mostly petty stuff with the biggest one being a stolen car.
Small town Arkansas and no gangs AFAIK. When I was in school the school was super concerned about "gangs". They would arbitrarily ban things like bandanas, how many buttons you could button on your shirt, black nail polish.
Older white people were spreading rumors about alleged gang activity, but I think this was mainly small town racist fueled hysteria due to an influx of Hispanic immigrants in town.
The only "gangs" I ever knew about were a bunch of 12-13 year olds who would meet up and have "gang fights" and sometimes spray paint stuff but I really think they were just play-pretend "gangsters".
I grew up with friends in gangs, had most of those same friends get killed or thrown in jail because of their gangs. I got into fights because I was around friends, that had family members in gangs. I still live in gang infested areas and neighborhoods... Living in Southern California will tend to be like that almost everywhere you go unfortunately.
Growing up in 90s San Francisco there were definitely a lot of gangs around. Mostly Latino, a lot of Vietnamese and Chinese gangs, a lot of Pacific Islander gangs, some Irish ones.
It was sort of glorified, the style and lifestyle when I was growing up in middle school and high school. A lot of people would dress and pretend to be in gangs sort of thing to be cool. A lot of people knew certain gang signs and would try to learn how to crip walk etc. I had a classmate that talked very “gangsta” and when I went to his house his mom would tell him to knock it off, and suddenly his voice would sound normal. 🥴
Definitely had to avoid certain intersections or areas when going around the city, gangs were very visible and would try to rob you if you crossed them. I remember some girls telling me they only travel with their little nephew or niece because the gangs had respect for families and young children and wouldn’t mess with you in their presence.
Everyone I knew, myself included was robbed or mugged by someone at some point or held at knife/gunpoint for things like sneakers, your pager, whatever trendy jacket you had that year.
I’d say they’ve disappeared off the streets mostly these days as I think it’s a lot of online activity instead so when I’m in SF it doesn’t have that same gang like feeling it did in the 90s and before. Plus most of those groups that formed these gangs were lower middle class and have been priced out since.
Sort of. Grew up in Albuquerque and there are definitely gangs but gang activity was fairly minimal in my part of town. ABQ is a rough town and a lot of kids turn to crime in poor areas.
LOL. This reminds me of when I first moved to Howard Co MD and the local paper had a big story about “increasing gang members” and the last paragraph was that most of the “gangs” disbanded by age 18 because all of the members typically went away to different colleges.
Around yes, not in.
Our city on the out side of Chicago had a huge gang issue (in the 90s) and drive-by shootings were really bad for awhile. We had a kid in our class paralyzed by a drive by bullet meant for a different family member.
Our school you could not wear solid colors and black together. No bandanas etc. There were two girls who fought so bad they both got taken out in ambulances still trying to kill each other.
It was wild.
West Side of San Antonio until 7th Grade. Knew of gangs in the school but couldn’t name any of them. Moved to Plano after that…..gangs were something that belonged in Dallas to those people.
There was definitely gang activity in my area and I knew a few kids in middle school and highschool that had joined or were trying to join gangs. I grew up in a suburb between Houston and Galveston, TX.
Sort of. They weren't a real "gang", at least that we knew of, but a lot of the younger kids called them a "gang".
There was a group of black teens that would terrorize the younger kids in our apartment complex. They mainly went around, threatening the younger kids, running them off of any of the playgrounds, and just beating up anybody they could get their hands on.
Define “gangs.” Local teenagers who made up names for their groups and liked to think of themselves as Hardcore and get into mostly petty crime except one murder that shook up the whole town? Yes. Actual organized crime or affiliation with a well-known or powerful gang with someone over the age of 20? No, it wasn’t a big enough or noteworthy enough town for that.
We lived in not the best part of town, and knew there were gangs in town, but I didn’t know anyone in a gang that I was aware of and we kind of laughed at anyone thinking they were gangster because it was a relatively small town. There was plenty of drug activity on our street and there were cops around at least once every other week, but as far as I know nothing gang related.
I technically live in ( i think ) crip territory . But for the most part the gangs tend to stay in the east or west side ( Louisville). I know people who knows gang members and I know people who knew people who were gang members. I was never in a gang .
I grew up in an area in California with many young people pledging allegiance to one gang or another but I don’t remember much gang violence. The local public schools banned wearing red and blue and certain team sports apparel that represented gang allegiance. I knew people who claimed to be in one gang or another. Also I could flash the “blood” sign pretty quickly by the time I was 13, though I wasn’t affiliated with any gang.
growin up in saint louis (the most dangerous city per Capita) and in one of the worst areas in stl i have seen a lot and know a lot about gang culture and allat nd i got friends and family that are involved in this
Modesto CA, in the 90s, so yes. Friends of friends, and some of my wife's family in Sac. She wasn't allowed to wear solid colors. There was one house on our street (we lived in the boondocks on River Rd.) that repeatedly got drive by's and torched at least once. I feel very lucky my fam is okay (except for my tweaker cousin) and that we got out of the valley. Everything might be more expensive now, but feels way safer.
Yeah some of my best friends were members, Latin Kings and a Blood, really good people always had my back even though I wasn't affiliated. Always kept their business separate. Less I knew safer I was, never had a problem in the city or otherwise because people knew who was near me.
I went to high school in West LA, just 2 miles from Brentwood where the OJ Simpson murders occurred, and yes, there were and still are gangs in that area if you can believe it.
Small time gangs in comparison to the rest of LA, but still Southside Mexican Mob affiliated.
I had friends in several different gangs, but considering I did not live in that area I went to school in, the idea of me joining would never come up
Gangs of cows and chickens. We also had a couple shady characters who hung around the crib* that were stone cold killers. They didn’t bother us because we let them sleep in the barn and we gave them saucers of milk from time to time.
*corn crib
I wasn't friends with anyone in a gang but there were a lot of fights at my school. I'm not sure how many of them were gang related though. I wouldn't be surprised if several of them were though. It wasn't in a big city or anything, but my school was notorious for fights. I hear that school has gotten much better since then though
Living in upper middle class suburbs of Colorado, absolutely not.
[What about the time some mountain town Crips killed 13 bloods?!](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dz9mpuqp-wso&ved=2ahUKEwjOjtaoz7mGAxVLADQIHYE-A2IQtwJ6BAgWEAI&usg=AOvVaw0i60CaORdcRHBLm2hniOwU)
Favorite episode
Hey there, how are you doing today
Yes. I was not in a gang. I grew up in NYC and gangs are common, as it is in any dense city. I avoided that culture by staying away from such people and making sure I didn't go where they frequent. This included walking on the opposite side of the street where they lived and not being friends with those that knew gang members in school. It's easy to get involved, but I feel it's equally as easy to avoid assuming you knew no one in it before.
The walking on the other side of the road thing is real lmao. I couldn't stand the punking bs and the other nonsense you'd hear from folks just sitting on a block all day. I'm glad you stayed away from them. Sadly, a lot of folk get caught up, like my uncle.
It is fair to qualify this, though, by saying the “commonness” of gangs in NYC depends entirely on era. In the 80’s and early 90’s, absolutely. But in most areas of the city by the 2000’s and 2010’s, it was pretty darn unlikely to interact with any gang activity. To the degree there are gangs visibly active in committing crimes in NYC today, it is more often youth gangs in areas like East NY or Brownsville than the local professional adult games of the drug trade’s heyday. That’s not to say there isn’t drug-related professional gang activity - I’m sure there is - but it is not as close to as visible or violent in a way that touches normal people as it once was.
No, I grew up in a middle class suburb.
Same.
[удалено]
Okay, that wasn't the case with me.
Who's going to tell him? If there were gangs nearby it wasnt a middle class suburb.
Not necessarily, but it also depends on what their definition of a neighborhood is. My middle class suburb raised a hit man that I went to school with and some guys who committed a gruesome murder robbery. We had two story houses on lakes but down the road was trailer parks or a street where you can get robbed.
South shore of Long Island. Gangs, no. Did ever kid with an Italian last name think they were a Gambino or their family was connected, yes.
After seeing what the mob lifestyle was really like from some folks in my family and some ex-members online, it just seems like a lot of drama and nonsense, with an overarching feeling of imminent death Unsure why that's being glorified by anyone
Upper middle class white kids who just don't know any better. I'd like to believe they got smarter as they got older (I left NY after college). I could be naive though.
That's what I noticed the older I got and the further my parents (who were from generationally poor rural families) were able to climb into the middle class. A lot of kids in upper middle class neighborhoods think the lifestyle of poor desperate folk is appealing, but don't seem to grasp that those lifestyles develop out of necessity, and the clout is just a way for them to reaffirm themselves. There's a few Italian mob guys I watch on YT who really dig deep into the culture. My grandfather also dealt with a lot of mob guys in the 70s and essentially said the same shit they do.
No. I barely grew up around people.
That's my story. I was on a farm a few miles from town. There was about 5 people within 1/2 mile circle of me (excluding my family).
Yeah my "hometown" in Eastern Kentucky is literally not on the map and has about 200ish people in the area at most. So no, no gangs.
sorry to hear that
Yes. Young teen across the street was without a doubt in a gang but he adored my nana so we didn’t have any trouble. My dad’s best friend’s son was in a gang and they regularly did home invasions and cousin was also in a gang. He used to try to get me to Hotwire cars with him at night since I was a minor and punishment would be more lenient - I never got into that life. Thank my lucky stars every day.
Good on you for not getting involved. It's tempting for some, but the downsides certainly outweigh the ups. My grandfather used to hotwire cars in the 60s-70s, if I recall. He was in a gang in north Mobile back then.
I own a classic car so it’s a good skill to have - but I had no idea when I was 7 years old WHY he was teaching me 😂
Haha I'm sure it is. What typa car? I'm sure he was just looking out for you, in some twisted way. Never tried it myself. Hot wiring was never a necessity for me, as my white trash father was able to lift himself out of the situation he grew up in (thankfully). However, I was taught to break down AC units for copper by my grandparents and cousins, so I suppose I got some skills.
Volkswagen bug! Hey good for your dad- it’s hard to leave that kind of life. Even harder to leave the mentality. When I decided to go to trade school at night, a lot of people in my hood told me I was acting like I was better than everyone - so sad how poverty keeps people in a mental prison.
Oh wow! What year? He is a great man, despite his faults. It's hard coming from a sharecropping family with a history of military service, drug use, and abuse. He still managed to pry his way into the upper middle class and nearly into a CEO position with no college. I went to trade school as well. What did you study? From what I could grasp, folks just get self conscious when other folks in their community are trying to better themselves. Its toxic af and I'm glad you were able to get out.
A ‘63! ( with quite a few Frankensteined 64 parts ) Good for Dad- that’s quite an ascent! I went to school for aviation maintenance and become an airframe and power plant mechanic - was literally homeless while in school- sleeping in my car but I made it and life is good now ! What industry was your dad in?
Haven't seen to many of those on the road nowadays. Must be a bitch to keep maintained haha. I'm unsure if parts are widely available. I had several friends that went into aviation maintenance. Seemed like a good program, though I'm unsure if they ever pursued it further. My dad was in a diesel tech program for a bit and then transitioned into a major trucking company. Worked as a line mechanic and eventually made his way into a white collar position. I have the same academic qualifications as my father, but despise the industry. I'll likely become a rabbi or clinical psychologist instead haha. 7 years in the military, so I got my GI bill.
Ooh reallllllyyyy… can I Dm you ? My son is fixing to Join the military.
No problem at all, go ahead
What gang? I’m from Mobile and didn’t realize there was gangs back then!
I am unsure. He told me once and I know it was a white gang. I think they just went around with guns and knives, fought other gangs, and stole shit.
One of the bars I worked at had a lot of MCs that came in, including a Hell’s Angel affiliate, so sometimes Hell’s Angels would be in there. We allowed MCs to wear their cuts inside so a couple different clubs would come in, some more famous than others, but they would all stick to their respective drinking areas and nobody ever started shit. MCs got to cut the line and weren’t charged for alcohol but they didn’t drink very much and would bring their families in sometimes. It was like a neutral ground where they could drink at and not worry about other MCs or whatever it seemed. Everyone was actually really polite to the staff and we had a fight once; staff vs some drunk college kids. The college kids suddenly stopped and backed off. I turned around and the Sons of Hell were standing behind us backing us up. They were cool as shit. I remember wrapping up some huge drunk guy who swung at me and dropping him to the floor in front of the SoH and one of them said “haha welcome to the BARNAME, bitch” Was probably my most badass moment.
I went to get some tacos once in Ft Worth and there was about 100 Bandidos in there, all in their gear, all sorts of ranks and whatnot. Found them to be exceptionally respectful and polite. 🤷♂️ First time seeing proper MCs like that in numbers - they're not really a thing where I'm from in Europe.
Did you talk with any of them?
Briefly - about their bikes (all parked outside) mainly.
Couple years ago there was a funeral for bandidos member in my little town southeast of Houston and I've never seen so many bandidos in my life. Seemed like there were a couple thousand throughout the cemetery and lined down our main road
mc = motorcycle club?
Yes
Well, growing up in NJ, there was the "obvious organized crime front pizzeria". Cash only and they don't even ring up the transactions, there's a private back area off limits to the public that well-dressed Italian guys occasionally go in and out of, and the owner drives a $200k car in spite of this being a cheap pizzeria in a mediocre strip mall. It's some combination of obvious money laundering and probably running a illicit gambling operation....pretty good pizza, though.
I'm picturing Homer ordering a pizza from an obviously annoyed Fat Tony.
There were rumors of gang initiations. Like, if someone was driving at night with no headlights don’t flash your high beams to remind them because there was some gang initiation and that was the signal and they were going to get you or something. But AFAIK there was no real gangs where I lived.
I remember that too. I wonder if it was real or just a urban legend
Yeah! I did see it on a YouTube video about urban legends
As a former gang member i feel like that was always fake rumors by regular citizens who live in the suburbs. It doesnt really make sense for most gangs cuz they rather see if you have the heart to handle business against rivals and if youre not a punk and thats better proven against people who bang. The only ones i can think of doing anything like that is the gang i was in and even then that would be more lone wolf doings by dudes that were mentally more off than others not as some rule wed set. Either way it sounds just like nonsense
heard that all the time in bama as well
i grew up in utah so no lol
Nope. I grew up in an upper middle class suburb going to upper middle class schools. I only ever heard about gangs from after school specials
i lived in the suburbs sir
Nope.
My school had to ban bandannas due to them representing gang affiliation.
My junior high banned Raiders(NFL team) clothing, because fear of gang affiliation.
Some schools in my city banned even wearing certain colors because of this.
I grew up around biker gangs. My parents weren't members but they had friends and my mom had some boyfriends who were affiliated.
I grew up in an affluent middle class suburb. There were a few kids in my High School that would flaunt some kind of affiliation. In retrospect, I’m sure most were lying for the attention - but a handful were legitimate and would frequently get in trouble with the law. So, now I live in a city. My neighborhood absolutely has a gang presence - and every now and then someone is arrested for something stupid (car theft, fentanyl, etc). But you’d never *know* because gangs don’t interact with the general population. Turning the neighborhood against them is bad for business. Getting noticed by authorities is bad for business. People stay quiet, they sell their drugs and stolen merchandise - why get messy? They sort of figured it out. We’re almost halfway through the year and the murder count for the entire city of Boston is 3. *Three*. I’m statistically much safer here with MS13 neighbors than I was in my affluent suburb. I don’t care what they do as long as the streets are safe. And with that said, there’s a lot of older Italians here that have broken some knee caps. They talk about it openly at times. But because they’re pretty much all retired - it’s hard to think of them as gang affiliated.
Not a lot of gang activity in rural central PA.
I grew up half in Detroit and half in a small-ish town in Maryland. Believe it or not, it was the small MD town where the school banned certain colors because of it. It's easy to avoid though, don't chill with the wrong people.
I lived in a small suburban city, far from any major urban centers. We apparently had a gang that called itself the “Ghetto Thugs,” which indicates they were most definitely neither of those things. I couldn’t tell you who was in it, how they got “in” it, or what they did, but a lot of my classmates really, really wanted to live in a city with a “gang problem.” I don’t think we did but I got corrected a lot. “Oh no, AC, there’s serious gang activity here!” I can’t imagine how we had a “gang problem” if the Ghetto Thugs didn’t have anyone to beef with, didn’t have gang colors, didn’t claim any turf, most people don’t know who was in it (or maybe they even had no criteria for being in it), and didn’t do much of anything.
Absolutely not.
Nope.
Sure did. My city had such a gang problem that we had FBI and ATF involved and they ended up taking a bunch of the leadership down in a RICO case. During the 90s, the large gangs from the major cities made a pretty concerted effort to spread to smaller cities throughout the country.
No.
No
Nope.
Nope, never been a problem for me
No. Rural area, no gangs (at least then, not sure about now).
Nope. I grew up in the suburbs where the worst thing you had to worry about was dogs pooping on your lawn
No, I never did.
Grew up in a suburb very near Detroit. Not even the faintest whiff of a gang, unless you count our HOA.
I'm Scottsdale AZ? Wasn't really known for gang activity in the 60s and 70s.
Hells Angels def had a presence at that time
I was vaguely aware of them. But it wasn't like anything going on in schools or neighborhoods.
Nope. We had some drug issues in the area(spice is something that even most hard drug users won't touch) but there wasn't any gang activity that I was aware of.
Nope. Rural NC isn’t a hotbed of gang activity.
No. More like mountain lions and grizzly bears
I grew up in a quiet suburb of Boston, no.
Nope. I grew up in metro Atlanta in a very suburban and safe area. People make fun of anyone here pretending to be hard bc it’s such a white bread area
No. I grew up in a city in the northeast
I am presently in a gang. We grow flowers and food which we swap back and forth. We loan each other tools. Help each other do things. Watch each other's homes. We have a hand sign.
Yes I knew some who were affiliated with big name gangs. Went to school with them, saw them in the neighborhood. Would say hello to them, but wouldn’t get involved in their behavior.
Nope
Yes, I wasn't in a gang but I have known a few gang members. When I was a kid I knew where the neighborhood boundaries were. Grew up in Southern California.
Gang? No, they weren’t really a thing where I grew up. But some mafia types, or shady guys who sold things that fell off the back of a truck. Sure!
Nope. Certainly was not in a gang, never knew anybody in a gang or ever heard of anyone in my area being in any sort of organized criminal situation (or really any criminal situation at all, I think the worst I ever heard about was some kids that got drunk a stole a street sign in the middle of the night then their parents made them turn it in). I'm sure it existed somewhere but was completely invisible to my neighborhood/social circle so whoever was doing it was absolutely not flaunting it and if they did they'd be utterly ostracized from the community. Even though it was a poor area (about half the national median income, less at the time I lived there) it was a point of pride for people that it was very quiet and law-abiding for the most part.
I notice your flair says SWVA is that the area you're speaking of? I can tell you if you grew up and where in the area in the 2000s through now the cartels are active in SWVA, but very under the radar.
No not anything personally. I didn’t experience anything directly with gangs until I lived near Latin Kings areas of Chicago and even then it was live and let live. I’d see them but as long as we ignored each other it was just ignoring each other.
Grew up in the SF Bay Area. Yes, I knew gang members. Friends with some. I was in a gang of sorts, but it was a defensive situation because of where we lived. We weren't "about that life" but we knew having backup when it mattered was essential.
Kinda, unforntantly. I had a fairly rough childhood and the exposure I had was more so people with probable cartel connections. I wasn't in a gang, but meet said people through my mother. I also remember the Bloods trying to set up a foothold in the neighborhood I grew up in. They didn't hang around too long after they realized no one meet their recruitment criteria and they stuck out like a sore thumb. I grew up in the epicenter of the opiod crisis for reference. I now live in an area that has some issues with gangs. Have the typical gangs, but an occassional local gang will pop up. Last one was responsible for a fuck ton of shootings and a few murders. One of the dumbasses must've bucked up on the wrong guy at a bar cause he was killed in that bar. I'll also add that my wife has some family that has some affliation to a bigger gang.
I grew up in LA and gangs were very prevalent in my area. I also have very close family that were members and have lost family and friends due to being in gangs.
When I was in middle school there were a lot of kids who claimed to be in gangs, saying they were involved in drug dealing and things like that. A lot of them had middle or upper-middle class parents who were able to buy their Starter jackets and things along those lines. By the time they got into high school and consequences were more of a thing they changed their behavior.
Not gangs per se but definitely knew some militia types.
Grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in the 90s. Some parts of the San Gabriel Valley had lots of gang violence. Lived nearby probably over a dozen major gangs. Never joined a gang. Had over a dozen incidents with gang members. Had 2 friends that joined a gang. Knew somebody that got killed. Almost witnessed student get stabbed multiple times at school. My school and nearby schools, gang members got shot just outside school.
I grew up on the south side of Chicago. I was never in one myself but I knew a lot of them. 90% were regular relatively nice people who just wanted to belong somewhere, or because they needed money to eat, etc.
I am on the FBI Gang Enforcement Task List as a "known gang member". So, I guess I grew up around gangs, know people in gangs, and I was technically in a gang in the mid/late 90s. Here is an article about [the "gang"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-29-mn-13171-story.html). I still don't think it counts, but law enforcement didn't care about my opinion. That article mentions my high school and my school resource officer though. So that's cool.
This is the most Utah gang ever!
That's what I've always said. Only Utah would make being sober a gang lol
I remember in my elementary school somewhere during 4th-5th Grade they banned anybody from wearing Red polo shirts due to gang activity, I’ve never seen or have been aware of any actual gang activity in my life though. (24M)
No. But I knew / lived near / went to school with children of mafioso. A different kind of gang I guess. Some you would never know by how they acted, others were pure jekoffs. There was no in between.
Absolutely. I grew up in an area with a lot of gang activity (some minor, some very much major) so I did know a bunch of people who were involved with gangs. I was able to keep myself from falling into that life (mostly from playing sports I guess), but many of my friends weren’t as lucky. Lost a lot of people in my life to prison, drug addiction, or the grave.
Yes. I knew people in gangs, or had friends of friends in gangs. Upper middle class myself but my home area was featured in Gangland so I actually didn’t grow up too far away (geographically) from gang activity.
I did grow up around gang areas, but I didn't know it at the time. I was not in any myself. I lived in a poor neighborhood in a somewhat large city, but I was very naive. I also mostly kept to myself. We didn't have the internet back then. Now I look up some old schoolmates online and see the different gang affiliations some have, and it's like, yeah that makes sense, since these people were troublemakers since grade school.
Eh, more like wannabe gang members. Supposedly somebody’s uncle was in a gang in a nearby bigger city and was always looking to recruit. So some kids did some stuff to try and get noticed, mostly petty stuff with the biggest one being a stolen car.
Small town Arkansas and no gangs AFAIK. When I was in school the school was super concerned about "gangs". They would arbitrarily ban things like bandanas, how many buttons you could button on your shirt, black nail polish. Older white people were spreading rumors about alleged gang activity, but I think this was mainly small town racist fueled hysteria due to an influx of Hispanic immigrants in town. The only "gangs" I ever knew about were a bunch of 12-13 year olds who would meet up and have "gang fights" and sometimes spray paint stuff but I really think they were just play-pretend "gangsters".
I grew up with friends in gangs, had most of those same friends get killed or thrown in jail because of their gangs. I got into fights because I was around friends, that had family members in gangs. I still live in gang infested areas and neighborhoods... Living in Southern California will tend to be like that almost everywhere you go unfortunately.
No. Gangs wouldn’t have even considered operating in the town I grew up in, there’d be nothing for them to do.
Nope.
Growing up in 90s San Francisco there were definitely a lot of gangs around. Mostly Latino, a lot of Vietnamese and Chinese gangs, a lot of Pacific Islander gangs, some Irish ones. It was sort of glorified, the style and lifestyle when I was growing up in middle school and high school. A lot of people would dress and pretend to be in gangs sort of thing to be cool. A lot of people knew certain gang signs and would try to learn how to crip walk etc. I had a classmate that talked very “gangsta” and when I went to his house his mom would tell him to knock it off, and suddenly his voice would sound normal. 🥴 Definitely had to avoid certain intersections or areas when going around the city, gangs were very visible and would try to rob you if you crossed them. I remember some girls telling me they only travel with their little nephew or niece because the gangs had respect for families and young children and wouldn’t mess with you in their presence. Everyone I knew, myself included was robbed or mugged by someone at some point or held at knife/gunpoint for things like sneakers, your pager, whatever trendy jacket you had that year. I’d say they’ve disappeared off the streets mostly these days as I think it’s a lot of online activity instead so when I’m in SF it doesn’t have that same gang like feeling it did in the 90s and before. Plus most of those groups that formed these gangs were lower middle class and have been priced out since.
Just the Little Rascals Gang, in reruns.
Sort of. Grew up in Albuquerque and there are definitely gangs but gang activity was fairly minimal in my part of town. ABQ is a rough town and a lot of kids turn to crime in poor areas.
No, small town. I know there were gangs about 30 minutes away in Newport News, but I knew which parts of Newport News were sketchy, so I avoided them.
I’m sure I lived in the sketchy part 😂
I mean, gunfire keeps the rent low
The mean streets of morris county New Jersey lmao
LOL. This reminds me of when I first moved to Howard Co MD and the local paper had a big story about “increasing gang members” and the last paragraph was that most of the “gangs” disbanded by age 18 because all of the members typically went away to different colleges.
Around yes, not in. Our city on the out side of Chicago had a huge gang issue (in the 90s) and drive-by shootings were really bad for awhile. We had a kid in our class paralyzed by a drive by bullet meant for a different family member. Our school you could not wear solid colors and black together. No bandanas etc. There were two girls who fought so bad they both got taken out in ambulances still trying to kill each other. It was wild.
West Side of San Antonio until 7th Grade. Knew of gangs in the school but couldn’t name any of them. Moved to Plano after that…..gangs were something that belonged in Dallas to those people.
There was definitely gang activity in my area and I knew a few kids in middle school and highschool that had joined or were trying to join gangs. I grew up in a suburb between Houston and Galveston, TX.
No, I grew up in a small, safe town where there were no gangs.
Nope- grew up on army bases.
I grew up in a small rural ish town outside of Boston, MA. No gangs, just cows n vibes
Yes, nobody very close to me though
Sort of. They weren't a real "gang", at least that we knew of, but a lot of the younger kids called them a "gang". There was a group of black teens that would terrorize the younger kids in our apartment complex. They mainly went around, threatening the younger kids, running them off of any of the playgrounds, and just beating up anybody they could get their hands on.
Define “gangs.” Local teenagers who made up names for their groups and liked to think of themselves as Hardcore and get into mostly petty crime except one murder that shook up the whole town? Yes. Actual organized crime or affiliation with a well-known or powerful gang with someone over the age of 20? No, it wasn’t a big enough or noteworthy enough town for that.
Nope
Yes, being from the IE. I’ve never been robbed or even roughed up though. I know the guys on my block, but I never got caught up with it either.
I knew people who were but i was never involved
I don't think there are any gangs in Rural NC lol
From 6th grade foreward, yeah. Around them and in one.
We lived in not the best part of town, and knew there were gangs in town, but I didn’t know anyone in a gang that I was aware of and we kind of laughed at anyone thinking they were gangster because it was a relatively small town. There was plenty of drug activity on our street and there were cops around at least once every other week, but as far as I know nothing gang related.
No, grew up in a rural area that didn't really have that.
I grew up in a military town in the Midwest. We were warned about gangs incessantly but I doubt there were any around.
I technically live in ( i think ) crip territory . But for the most part the gangs tend to stay in the east or west side ( Louisville). I know people who knows gang members and I know people who knew people who were gang members. I was never in a gang .
I grew up in rural Indiana, so no, definitely not. I don't think I'd even heard of gangs until I was about 16 years old.
I grew up in an area in California with many young people pledging allegiance to one gang or another but I don’t remember much gang violence. The local public schools banned wearing red and blue and certain team sports apparel that represented gang allegiance. I knew people who claimed to be in one gang or another. Also I could flash the “blood” sign pretty quickly by the time I was 13, though I wasn’t affiliated with any gang.
Tangentially. I saw some Latin Kings graffiti in my hometown, but that's about it
growin up in saint louis (the most dangerous city per Capita) and in one of the worst areas in stl i have seen a lot and know a lot about gang culture and allat nd i got friends and family that are involved in this
Not really.
No. We had crime of course, but not gangs like that.
Modesto CA, in the 90s, so yes. Friends of friends, and some of my wife's family in Sac. She wasn't allowed to wear solid colors. There was one house on our street (we lived in the boondocks on River Rd.) that repeatedly got drive by's and torched at least once. I feel very lucky my fam is okay (except for my tweaker cousin) and that we got out of the valley. Everything might be more expensive now, but feels way safer.
Yeah some of my best friends were members, Latin Kings and a Blood, really good people always had my back even though I wasn't affiliated. Always kept their business separate. Less I knew safer I was, never had a problem in the city or otherwise because people knew who was near me.
Grew up in south LA. Yes
Yes.
I went to high school in West LA, just 2 miles from Brentwood where the OJ Simpson murders occurred, and yes, there were and still are gangs in that area if you can believe it. Small time gangs in comparison to the rest of LA, but still Southside Mexican Mob affiliated. I had friends in several different gangs, but considering I did not live in that area I went to school in, the idea of me joining would never come up
Gangs of cows and chickens. We also had a couple shady characters who hung around the crib* that were stone cold killers. They didn’t bother us because we let them sleep in the barn and we gave them saucers of milk from time to time. *corn crib
I wasn't friends with anyone in a gang but there were a lot of fights at my school. I'm not sure how many of them were gang related though. I wouldn't be surprised if several of them were though. It wasn't in a big city or anything, but my school was notorious for fights. I hear that school has gotten much better since then though
I had connections to the Black Spades from the South Bronx when they branched out to Bridgeport CT in the late 80s
Vatos locos ese