History of the Hells Angels The Hells Angels were originally a band of military aircrafts that flew over the skies of Europe during the Second World War. The men that served in the Hells Angels were some of the most prestigious and recognized pilots in the history of the military. However, the name now associates itself with one of the most infamous biker gangs that was established by San Bernardino back in 1948. The name has been so tarnished since, that once we hear it, all that we can think about is motorcycles, drugs, alcohol, guns and violence. It began as an idea where motorcycle enthusiast would join together and care for one another at the initial indication of trouble such as a family would. The leaders of the club would recruit prospects and evaluate over a large period of time to determine whether or not they would stand by their new brothers and forever support the organization. Over the years as the Hell’s Angels continue to expand, they found themselves on the antithetical side of the law for numerous reasons. Furthermore, with their growth they found that the ties to the organization itself were strengthening to the point of which if any affiliate of the Hell’s Angels experiences an encounter the Criminal Justice System, every single Angel is anticipated to provide aid in some fashion. This can range from acquiring bail money for the individual or employing a legal professional to combat the charges. The ideology of family is the foundation upon which the
“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing
The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008) focuses on conditions and causes of gang violence in Los Angeles, California, as well as the history and background of the main gangs that reside there. The information in the film is compiled from interviews of past and present members of the Crips and Bloods, which are the two main gangs that contribute to the violence in the area. The interviewees explain how the gangs work and the conditions under which these people live daily. There can be parallels drawn from the film to Elijah Anderson’s article titled “The Code of the Streets”, published in 1994, that discusses violence in terms of gang and criminal activity.
Aryan Brotherhood was found in 1964 in a Federal prison system, which is San Quentin State Prison in California, United States. This gang was known as the “Brand or AB”. The brotherhood is a white supremacist prison gang that is known for the violent criminal activities in and out of prison. During the 1960`s, a group of white convicts serving time at San Quentin, were fed up with the with white prisoners being victimized by one particular predominant gang known as “The Black Gorilla Family”. However, that’s when whites started Aryan Brotherhood for their own protection. Aryan Brotherhood based their gang off Nazism, so to get into the gang, you had to kill a black prisoner. Which brings us to their motto, “Blood In, Blood Out”. Blood in refers
The gang was established in 1967 in Southern California by 12 misfit, mostly Vietnam veterans who all had an interest in motorcycles, making money however they could, and not wanting to conform to mainstream America. A power struggle among the members resulted in the kicking out of one of the leaders, who, without permission, started his own Devil’s Diciples
Situated predominantly in urban areas, gangs are becoming a major problem in today's society. The youth and adults are turning into gang members often times to leave behind the current situation they are living now. Many people who aren't familiar or affiliated with gang members are known to be curious as to why it is that the youth and adults join a gang. Some answers might be the current situation, obtaining social status, sense of protection, amongst other personal reasons. Everyone who joins a gang has different situations about why they decide to associate with gang members. In the novel, G-Dog and the Homeboys by Celeste Fremon, focuses on the gang members about East Los Angeles. This book draws the attention on the youth residing within the East Los Angeles territory and a look at the East Los Angeles gang members and how they play a major role in the book as one of the Latino gangs in East Los Angeles.
Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.
Even though gangs provide a sense of support, the "values" instilled in members are horribly dangerous to society. Murders and drive-by shottings go unpunished more often than not in areas like the Henry Horner Homes. Gangs have become powerful enough that high-ranking members who are forced to face the law are protected by high-priced attorneys and investigators (163).
With the leading number of gangs in the country, Los Angeles is thought of as the gang capital of the world. Employing gang suppression strategies that take distinct forms, from anti-gang injunctions to high rate of incarcerations, the City of Angels has failed to live up to its angelic name. Known instead for its demonic gang activity and police suppression efforts, Los Angeles has taken over media headlines as one of the most dangerous places to subsist. Representing a worrisome issue for residents, visitors, city government officials, as well as urban planners, gang violence has rapidly become a threat to public safety. Although current-day gang culture has eased off on the violence, it continues to be one of the greatest planning challenges
Obsessiveness is the other main symptom Hughes experienced. Hughes always had to have the prettiest women accompany him. He would always have a high-profile girlfriend, and if he went out somewhere, he always had a new girl with him. Every time Hughes would go somewhere, cameras followed. Every time a camera flashed, Hughes had the same mental picture of blindingly bright lights, following with imaginary lightbulbs on the ground. Every step Hughes took, a light bulb managed to be under his feet, being shattered with each step taken. Hughes obsessiveness costed him millions of dollars. When "Hells Angels" was first shot, the total spent for the film was 2 million dollars (inflation from 1930 to 2017 would estimate at $28,849,473.68). When Hell's Angels first released, sound was becoming popular on film, so Hughes decided to reshoot the whole movie. The cost didn't matter to him, nor did the reward, Hughes had a picture in his mind and the picture had to become painted. 4 million dollars was spent on the second filming of Hells Angels. After Hell's Angels, airplanes became Hughes's main priority. Hughes spent 18 million self-funded dollars building 40 airplanes. Hughes airplane company eventually became funded by the government in order to financially afford the building of "The Hercules". The Hercules was made for World War II as a prototype strategic airlift flying boat, which has the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever flown. Halfway through Hercules production, funding was cut by the government because World War II has ended, Hughes still decides to self-fund the remaining cost in order to complete the prototype.
We may not see this group but the mafia was big back in the day. The mafia was the leading group in criminal activity in the 1960’s(Darity). The mafia was a group that would make tons and tons of money off of drugs, robberies and murders. They would sometimes pay off cops to look the other way and if they didn’t get what they wanted they would use their firearms. With stronger and more enforced laws, many lives could have been saved.
The Mexican Mafia, or “La Eme”, as they refer to themselves, is one of the most powerful and influential organized crime gangs in the United States. The organization has risen through the decades of mass gang wars and violence to become the power it is today. Their control is limitless and they have ventured far beyond the expectations of what was thought that gangs were capable of. They have infiltrated governments and manipulated politics. They have taken over neighborhoods and attempted to ethnically cleanse them. Innocent people have become caught up in the affairs of La Eme throughout its history and many have faced violence and death at their hands. This paper is a continual of the case analysis of the Mexican Mafia and will attempt to provide explanations for some of the crimes committed by this organization. Researching gangs and organized crime is important because of their large influence and control over many aspects of daily life. The significance of attempting to provide causations of their crimes can better provide the criminal justice system a clearer understanding of problems that lead to gang members committing crimes on behalf of the organization. A clearer understanding of problems can help the system to provide solutions to combat situations that inhibit crimes.
A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community. (Walker, 2011) Throughout history there have been some infamous gangs that have gotten media attention and others that have gone under the radar. One of the more underground gang structures are prison gangs. The Nuestra Familia may not be in the news as much anymore compared to other gangs, but they are nothing to be taken lightly. Prison gangs have been around since the late 20th century and only seem to be getting stronger if nothing is going to be done to prevent them. Gangs in prison have members in and out of prison. One of the more popular gangs that has been gaining steam recently is
The documentary Crips and the Bloods: Made in America tells the dramatic story of the perpetual gang violence that runs the streets of Los Angeles, California. Gaining an inside look at how and why this violence is continued, the video focuses on the individuals that are affected by the gangs. Families are torn apart due to endless murders, children are taught to hate and act violently towards their neighbors, and people lose their soul to the gangs that they call their families. Of course every person must make a choice to engage in this sort of life, but sometimes these people are put into situations where there are no other options. In order to further think about what has caused and maintained the violence in the LA area, we can look towards Agnew’s General Strain Theory and the Labeling Theory.
Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the
The origins of Triad gangs can be traced back to 1000 B.C. in a centuries old secret society. In this time period, peasants, often preyed upon by dynasty leaders, attempted to protect themselves by forming various self-help groups. According to legend, Chinese monks, bent on fighting injustice, formed an extremely powerful political group who were able to bring down Chinese emperors who were considered “evil” (Booth, 2000).