The Clanton Gang Essay

The infamous outlaw of the west known as Billy the Kid was born in a poor Irish neighborhood on New York City’s East side (A). Before he died at the age of 21, he killed 27 people (A). Billy’s original name was Henry McCarty (A). At about 1865, Billy and his brother traveled to Indiana with their mother and step-father (A). By 1870 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas (A). Then they moved farther west to the New Mexico Territory in 1873 (A). Billy’s mother died of lung cancer in Silver City in 1874 (A).

In the book, Gang Leader for a Day, a rogue sociologist passionately dives into the lives of one of Chicago’s toughest housing projects in an attempt to develop an insight as to how the urban impoverished lived. Throughout the text it becomes clear that a conflict paradigm is being reflected. A conflict society is based on social inequality, in which some individuals benefit and thrive more than others, which tends to lead to conflict and thus change. This is evident both in the housing projects where a gang known as the “Black Kings” take over and also in the surrounding neighborhoods where the more elite citizens, including persons from the authors university, shy away from associating with the nearby poor black nearby public, thus

In the book, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociology student from the University of Chicago starts out simply trying to understand “how it feels to be poor and black,” and ends up spending years and years figuring out the ins and outs of a gang society (Venkatesh 14). Sudhir receives the chance of a sociologist’s lifetime to see first-hand what life is like in the projects. He follows gang leader, J.T. around and studies his life at the Robert Taylor homes for years. Throughout Venkatesh’s experience he witnesses many things some people go a lifetime without seeing. For example, he was no stranger to seeing people use drugs or get beat up by gang members. One interesting aspect of Venkatesh’s experiment

In the movie “Gangs of New York”, we see a city changed and reshaped through cultural influence of feuding individuals with different ideas. The movie is about a young man, Amsterdam Vance, who seeks to avenge his father, who was brutally murder in a gang dispute, against his adversary Bill the Butcher. On the surface the movie seems simple enough but in the back ground we see a cultural shift as immigrants come into America. Also we see political influences and material possession such as clothing and other belongings set people apart and define the social status of the

Gangs of New York (2002), a bold and violent movie directed by Martin Scorsese takes us back to a New York without skyscrapers and modern-day lavishes that shows the rise of violent gang power and political corruption. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, the film features a personal struggle placed within the context of gang warfare between Nativists and immigrants, which is set in the larger context of the Draft Riots and the Civil War. It is a reconstructed historical narrative that uses interlocking events filled with gang violence and political corruption to show how the modern New York was born.

Frank Gottie is one of the most well known gang member of The Eight-Tray Criminal Hoover in Memphis.  Gottie believes that gangs are becoming to spin out of control, that it needs to be a solution to gang activity. On July 10, 2016 Gottie says “I ain’t never seen heaven before, but it was like a Memphis heaven everybody was on one accord “, if the gangs could be on the same page for Black Lives Matter (Jones and Fretland, 2016) . Why can’t it happen for the youth? Ar’tavius Brown was 18 years old and joined a gang called the Pirus the Blood Alliance. Brown joined gang activity in South Memphis because he saw “people with the cars, with the money”(Goggans, 2014). Brown was put with the ramifications of having a gun shoot out at Central High school,but the judge saw something within Brown and gave him a second chance.

The book, Gang Life in Two Cities by Robert J. Durán to put simply is about the gang life in Denver, CO and Ogden, UT. Durán wrote this book to share his research findings. When Durán had to move to Huntsville, UT (but went to school in Ogden) he found himself immersed in an area where gangs were becoming popular. Durán, an ex-gang member himself was curious on how and why gangs operate. He found this research important, because he saw firsthand how society had a role in the formation of gangs. Duran felt that it needed to be brought to light what he witnessed while being a gang member himself and when he conducted his research.

Picture Manhattan in 1860, a time before the city had been dolled up and gotten ready for the silver screen, before the glamour and allure took over. Amsterdam Vallan (DiCaprio) is a young Irish man that migrates to the USA at a young age. Amsterdam’s story takes place in Five Points District of New York, a filthy and dangerous part of the city before it was deleted form history. As a young boy Vallan witnessed his father’s murder at the hand of William Cutting or Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) during one of their many gang wars. As Amsterdam’s story progresses along side The Butcher they become inseparable, but Amsterdam had ulterior motive. Ultimately, Amsterdam attempts to betray his new found ally in order to avenge his father’s death.

gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs.16 Idaho has a gang task force, known as the Treasure

7 members of the “Click Clack Gang” have been apprehended for a number of crimes including “conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, drug possession, and illegal possession of firearms” (United States Attorney’s Office). Each of these seven members has a different criminal background, one in particular is a convicted felon, and will receive harsher punishment for firearm possession (United States Attorney’s Office).

“You can hire half the poor to kill the other half.” Boss Tweed spoke these words in reference to the Draft Riots. It shows that you can easily turn the poor against each other, if you bring money into the situation. Gangs of New York is about the separation of the Irish and the Natives, which eventually led into larger conflicts. In this film there are two important characters, Amsterdam Vallon and Boyle McGloin, who were both Irishmen in the Five Points. Amsterdam was the son of Priest Vallon and he became a positive Irish Leader who was looked up to by many. Boyle McGloin was an Irishmen who was a Dead Rabbit, but later joined Bill “The Butcher” Cutting and became a “Native”. The character

“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

Conflicts After the Deputy Marshal for the town is killed by Curly Bill, one of the cowboys, Wyatt escorts Bill to a hearing, where he is let go on account of there being no witness’ to the murder. Virgil at this point in the film begins to develop a conciseness and volunteers to be the new Deputy Marshal. Morgan shortly joins up with him, while Wyatt still refuses to get involved. Ike Clanton and Doc Holliday (among others) are gambling, after Holliday wins, Ike accuses Holliday of cheating. The viewer is lead to believe that Holliday had not cheated.

Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.

This trend of uncivil to civil behaviour can be seen as well in the American West. There was a culture of honour among the men where status and respect was created by a show of strength (Pinker, 2011). With the mixture of the gold rush and the rising use of the revolver, it led to a deadly mixture of violence creating a high rate of crime. The gold rush produced an economic revolution where young men were given the opportunity and freedom to create a life for themselves. This constructed a volatile dangerous west where there were no rules or centralized power because “nearest sheriff is…millions of square miles of territory away” (Pinker, 2011, p. 102). The criminal justice system was underfunded, inept and corrupt where men took justice into