A gang is a group of individuals that engage in illegal and violent behavior. Members of gangs usually encourage and glorify an aggressive and antisocial lifestyle, and many gangs are composed of individuals who were lifelong friends or relatives. Criminologists and law enforcement have varying definitions on what constitutes a gang, and the features of such groups.
Etymology The word gang derives from the past participle of Old English , meaning . It is cognate with Old Norse , meaning .Cleasby/Vigfusson An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874); GÖNGUDRYKKJA – GARÐR While the term often refers specifically to criminal groups, it also has a broader meaning of any close or organized group of people, and may have neutral, positive or negative connotations depending on usage.
History The 17th century saw London "terrorized by a series of organized gangs", some of them known as the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, and Dead Boys. These gangs often came into conflict with each other. Members dressed "with colored ribbons to distinguish the different factions." During the Victorian era, criminals and gangs started to form organizations which would collectively become London's criminal underworld. Criminal societies in the underworld started to develop their own ranks and groups which were sometimes called families, and were often made up of lower-classes and operated on pick-pocketry, prostitution, forgery and counterfeiting, commercial burglary, and money laundering schemes. Unique also were the use of slangs and argots used by Victorian criminal societies to distinguish each other, like those propagated by street gangs like the Peaky Blinders.
Gangs arose in the United States by the middle of the nineteenth century and were a concern for city leaders from the time they appeared. The emergence of the gangs was largely attributed to the vast rural population immigration to the urban areas. The first street-gang in the United States, the 40 Thieves, began around the late 1820s in New York City. The gangs in Washington D.C. had control of what is now Federal Triangle, in a region then known as Murder Bay.Savage, Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape, 2009, pp. 100–101; Gutheim and Lee, p. 73; Lowry, pp. 61–65; Evelyn, Dickson, and Ackerman, pp. 63–864. Organized crime in the United States first came to prominence in the Old West and historians such as Brian J. Robb and Erin H. Turner traced the first organized crime syndicates to the Coschise Cowboy Gang and the Wild Bunch.Robb, Brian J. A Brief History of Gangsters. Running Press (2015). Chapter 1: Lawlessness in the Old West. Turner, Erin H. Badasses of the Old West: True Stories of Outlaws on the Edge. TwoDot (2009). p. 132. Prohibition would also cause a new boom in the emergence of gangs; Chicago for example had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s.Gang (crime). Encyclopædia Britannica. Following significant expansion during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, gang presence in the United States reached an estimated 1.4 million active members across approximately 33,000 gangs by 2011.
Outside of the US and the UK, gangs exist in both urban and rural forms, like the French gangs of the Belle Époque like the Apaches and the Bonnot Gang.Philipp Blom, The Vertigo Years: Europe, 1900–1914, 2008, , p. 372 Many criminal organizations, such as the Italian Cosa Nostra, Japanese yakuza, Russian Bratva, and Chinese triads, have existed for centuries. 31 July 2010
In the 2020s, gangs in Haiti expanded their territorial control, particularly in Port-au-Prince, amid the escalating Haitian conflict and Haitian crisis (2018–present). Gang activity subsequently spread into other parts of the country, with coalitions such as Viv Ansanm and groups including 400 Mawozo playing prominent roles in the violence. In response to the escalating violence, the United Nations Security Council authorized the Gang Suppression Force in 2025 to support Haitian security forces in combating the gangs and securing critical infrastructure.
In El Salvador, the criminal landscape since the late 20th century has been dominated by two major rival gangs, MS-13 and the Barrio 18. Around 2012, estimates placed the number of active gang members at approximately 60,000, operating in the vast majority of the country's municipalities. During the 2020s, El Salvador's crackdown on gangs under President Nayib Bukele influenced security policies elsewhere in Latin America. Governments and politicians in countries including Honduras, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala called for or adopted tougher measures against gangs modeled in part on Bukele's approach.
Types
Gangs, syndicates, and other criminal groups, come in many forms, each with their own specialties and gang culture.
Mafia One of the most infamous criminal gangs are Mafias, whose activities include racketeering and overseeing illicit agreements.Gambetta, Diego (2009). Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691119373: "The mafia's principal activities are settling disputes among other criminals, protecting them against each other's cheating, and organizing and overseeing illicit agreements, often involving many agents, such as illicit cartel agreements in otherwise legal industries. Mafia-like groups offer a solution of sorts to the trust problem by playing the role of a government for the underworld and supplying protection to people involved in illegal markets ordeals. They may play that role poorly, sometimes veering toward extortion rather than genuine protection, but they do play it." These include the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Italian–American Mafia. The Neapolitan Camorra, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and the Apulian Sacra Corona Unita are similar Italian organized gangs. Outside of Italy, the Irish Mob, Japanese yakuza, Chinese triads, British firms, and Russian Bratva are also examples.Britannica Academic, s.v. "Yakuza," accessed 30 September 2018, https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/yakuza/77739.
Narco Narcos or drug cartels are slang terms used for criminal groups (mainly Latin Americans) who primarily deal with the illegal drug trade.Ovalle Marroquin, Lilian P. "Las Fronteras de la 'narcocultura.' " 2007. Digital file. These include drug cartels like the Medellin Cartel and other Colombian cartels, Mexican cartels like the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas, and the Primeiro Comando da Capital in Brazil. Other examples are Jamaican Yardies and the various opium barons in the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent. Many narcos are known for their use of paramilitaries and narcoterrorism like the Gulf Cartel and Shower Posse. 9 April 2021
Street
Street gangs are gangs formed by youths in urban areas, and are known primarily for street fighting and gang warfare.White, Rob (2007). Youth Gangs, Violence and Anti-Social Behaviour. Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth. pp. 18, 29. The term "street gang" is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang", referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as "a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise."Miller, W. B. (1992) [Revised from 1982]. Crime by Youth Gangs and Groups in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Some of the well-known ones are the Black gangs like the Bloods and the Crips, also the Vice Lords and the Gangster Disciples. Other racial gangs also exist like the Trinitario, Sureños, Tiny Rascal Gang, Asian Boyz, Wa Ching, Zoe Pound, the Latin Kings, the Hammerskins, Nazi Lowriders, and Blood & Honour.
Law enforcement Law enforcement gangs are criminal organizations that form and operate within law enforcement agencies. Members have been accused of significant department abuses of policy and constitutional rights, terrifying the general population, intimidating their colleagues, and retaliating against whistleblowers. Leaders called "shot-callers" control many aspects of local policing, including promotions, scheduling, and enforcement. They operate in the gray areas of law enforcement, perpetuate a culture of silence, and promote a mentality of punisher-style retaliation.
Biker Biker gangs are motorcycle clubs who conduct illegal activities like the Hells Angels, the Pagans, the Outlaws, and the Bandidos,FBI Safe Street Violent Crime Initiative – Report Fiscal Year 2000, FBI.org2004 Annual Report - Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, cisc.gc.ca known as the "Big Four" in the United States.Motorcycle Gangs - Connecticut Gang Investigators Association The U.S. Department of Justice defines outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG) as "organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises". Some clubs are considered "outlaw" not necessarily because they engage in criminal activity, but because they are not sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association and do not adhere to its rules. Instead the clubs have their own set of bylaws reflecting the outlaw biker culture.
Biker gangs such as the Rebels Motorcycle Club exist in Australia.
Prison Prison gangs are formed inside prisons and correctional facilities for mutual protection and entrancement like the Mexican Mafia and United Blood Nation. Prison gangs often have several "affiliates" or "chapters" in different state prison systems that branch out due to the movement or transfer of their members. According to criminal justice professor John Hagedorn, many of the biggest gangs from Chicago originated from prisons. From the St. Charles Illinois Youth Center originated the Conservative Vice Lords and Blackstone Rangers. Although the majority of gang leaders from Chicago are now incarcerated, most of those leaders continue to manage their gangs from within prison.
Punk Punk gangs are a unique type of gang made up of members who follow the punk rock ideology. 17 January 2016 Unlike other gangs and criminal groups, punk gangs follow a range of political and philosophical beliefs that can range from alt-right to radical left. Differing ideologies are one of the causes of conflicts between rival punk gangs, compared to other street gangs and criminal groups who wage gang war solely for illegal profit, vendetta, and territory. 31 January 2018 Most of them can be seen in political and social protests and demonstrations and are sometimes in violent confrontation with law-enforcement. Examples of punk gangs are Fight For Freedom, Friends Stand United, and Straight Edge gangs.
Vigilante Contemporary organized crime has also led to the creation of anti-gang groups, vigilante gangs, and autodefensas, who are groups who profess to be fighting against gang influence, but share characteristics and acts similarly to a gang. These include groups like the Los Pepes, Sombra Negra, Friends Stand United, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, and OG Imba.
Structure