Member Comments

• Posted By: topsite @ 11/16/2007 8:15:20 PM

  Comment: The following Email was sent to me by the author of the message below. My response follows his.
  Hello, my name is Xaqu??n G.V. Assistant Art Director at Newsweek. The online edition if the magazine has done this interactive graphic about gangs in the US and, as you are -your site- has been one of the main sources: if you miss something, if you have any comments, clarifications or corrections about the content. Here's the link:
  
  Gangland U.S.A.
  http://www.newsweek.com/id/54180
  
  Thank you very much.
  
  Xaqu??n
  
  My Response:
  
  Hello Xaquin,
  
  
  
  I received your Email about the gangs online and I have several comments. I have no problem with the backgrounds provided in ???Most Dangerous??? list, but I think that you need to do more research for the ???Map The Gangs??? page.
  
  
  
  The problem is you don???t show some of the gangs in areas where the gangs originated or where there are heavy concentrations of the gangs.
  
  
  
  For example, you do not show the Border Brothers or Sinaloa Cowboys as being in California. Nor do you show the Rollin??? 20???s, the Rollin???60???s or the Grape Street Crips as being in California. All of the gangs have a strong presence in the state.
  
  
  
  The two links below will give you an idea of the origin and whereabouts of the gangs mentioned above:
  
  http://www.gangsorus.com/otherprison.html
  
  http://www.streetgangs.com/crips/
  
  
  
  For the state of South Carolina, you list the Aryan Brotherhood, Black Mafia, and the Young Guns. All of these are gangs of little or no consequence in the state, if they even still exist. The state has a very heavy presence of Bloods, Mara Salvatrucha and others. There are many Five Percenters locked up in the prison system where they have been declared a Security Threat Group since 1995.
  
  
  
  According to a 2005 survey taken by researchers at the University of South Carolina the following gangs are in South Carolina:
  
  
  
  Gang Name Number of Gangs
  
  
  
  Bloods 53
  
  Crips 43
  
  Folk Nation
  
  Latin Kings 7
  
  Mara Salvatrucha 19
  
  Gangster Disciples 6
  
  
  
  Based on these examples, I can not help but believe that there are other states that have errors and omissions similar to those that I have listed. People who work with gangs will be very quick to see discrepancies; particularly those persons who are in law enforcement.
  
  
  
  While I thank you for your Email message, and also Newsweek, for using me as a source for your information, I must request that you remove my name and that of my web site from the credits of the online article. I am sure that you can understand that I do not want to be associated with something that appears to be incorrect or incomplete.
  
  
  
  Thank you very much,
  
  
  
  Robert Walker
  Gangs OR Us
  www.gangsorus.com
  
  
  

• Posted By: ITiZwuTiTiS @ 11/16/2007 11:15:25 AM

  Comment: RamRam: Point said! I like the way you layed it all out.

• Posted By: RamRam @ 11/15/2007 3:45:22 PM

  Comment: The reality is that criminals produce jobs. It brings jobs by bringing in more law enforcement officers; it brings jobs for the court systems and for the correctional institutions. More criminals, means more money. Let???s imagine for a moment, what would happen if there was no more crimes in America. Law enforcement agencies would be hit drastically, lawyers would be out of jobs for lack of cases etc, etc, etc???..
  Let???s face it; it???s a multi-billion dollar industry. In the end it???s all about the money, we have the capability to eliminate the problem but why would you shoot your self in the head over a headache. When it gets out of hands, then we have raids and areas flooded with more officers, but only when it gets out of hand. This is the sad reality that we all have to live with; the hope is that we never become the next victim of a criminal act.