Emerging Information on Hybrid Gangs

Hybrid gangs are more frequently encountered in communities in which gang problems emerged during the 1990s than in localities that reported onset of gang problems in the 1980s. According to law enforcement respondents in the 1998 National Youth Gang Survey, gangs with a significant mixture of two or more racial/ethnic groups represent a larger proportion of all reported gangs in localities that said their gang problem began in the 1990s (Howell, Moore, and Egley, forthcoming). A more specific question was asked about hybrid gangs in the 1999 survey. The survey questionnaire noted: "Some contend that there are youth gangs ‘that don’t fit the mold’ of any particular gang category. These gangs may have several of the following characteristics: a mixture of racial/ethnic groups, male and female members, display symbols and graffiti of different gangs, or have members who sometimes switch from one gang to another." Respondents were asked if they had gangs that fit this description. Six in ten respondents (61 percent) said they had such gangs. However, the average number of such gangs in a given locality—four—is small (Howell, Moore, and Egley, forthcoming).

Hybrid gangs tend to have the following nontraditional features:

  • They may or may not have an allegiance to a traditional gang color. In fact, much of the hybrid gang graffiti in the United States is a composite of multiple gangs with conflicting symbols. For example, Crip gang graffiti painted in red (the color used by the rival Blood gang) would be unheard of in California but have occurred elsewhere in the hybrid gang culture.

  • Local gangs may adopt the symbols of large gangs in more than one city. For example, a locally based gang named after the Los Angeles Bloods may also use symbols from the Chicago People Nation, such as five-pointed stars and downward-pointed pitchforks.

  • Gang members may change their affiliation from one gang to another.

  • It is not uncommon for a gang member to claim multiple affiliations, sometimes involving rival gangs. For example, in Kansas City, MO, police may encounter an admitted Blood gang member who is also known in the St. Louis, MO, area as a member of the Black Gangster Disciples gang.

  • Existing gangs may change their names or suddenly merge with other gangs to form new ones.

  • Although many gangs continue to be based on race/ethnicity, many of them are increasingly diverse in both race/ethnicity and gender. Seemingly strange associations may form, such as between Skinheads, whose members frequently espouse racist rhetoric, and Crips, whose members are predominantly African American.

  • Gang members who relocate from California to the Midwest may align themselves with a local gang that has no ties to their original gang.

  • Members of rival gangs from Chicago or Los Angeles frequently cooperate in criminal activity in other parts of the country.

Youth often "cut and paste" bits of Hollywood’s media images and big-city gang lore into new local versions of nationally known gangs with which they may claim affiliation. Other hybrids are homegrown and consider themselves to be distinct entities with no alliance to groups such as the Bloods/Crips or Folks/People. Because these independent gangs can be the most difficult to classify, they frequently pose the biggest problems for local law enforcement.

Migrating gang members appear to have contributed to the growth of hybrid youth gangs in newer gang problem localities in the 1990s. Migrant gang members may act as cultural carriers of the folkways, mythologies, and other trappings of more sophisticated urban gangs (Maxson, 1998:3).

Movies and "gangsta" lyrics also have contributed to the proliferation of bits and pieces of gang culture. Law enforcement agencies began to notice hybrid gangs after one such gang was depicted in the movie Colors (Valdez, 2000:13). Gang migration, movies, and gangsta music work together to introduce local gangs to large-city gang culture. The lack of an existing gang culture allows for modification and adaptation of the culture of urban gangs.

A field study of the Fremont Hustlers in Kansas City, MO, illustrates a unique form of hybrid gang (Fleisher, 1998). The gang had no written set of rules, no membership requirements, and no leader or hierarchy that might pull all 72 members into a coherent organization. By hanging out and establishing ties with Fremont Hustlers, an outsider is slowly assimilated into the gang’s social life (Fleisher, 1998: 39). Fremont gang youth did not use the term "member"; their closest expression was "down with Fremont" (Fleisher, 1998: 41). Because the Fremont Hustlers was not a cohesive organization and youth did not talk about the group’s structure or operation, the gang structure was difficult to recognize at first. In the study, Fremont gang youth said they were Folks, but they did not know why, except that they liked to draw the pitchfork symbol used by the Folks (Fleisher, 1998:26). Fleisher described this gang as "a haphazardly assembled social unit composed of deviant adolescents who shared social and economic needs and the propensity for resolving those needs in a similar way" (1998:264).

Practitioner’s View: Gang Trends in the Midwest

Hybrid gangs are particularly prevalent in the Midwest region of the United States. Three features of the Midwest hybrid gangs are troublesome for law enforcement officers: new alignments the hybrid gangs may make, Hispanic gang patterns, and Asian gang criminal activity.

New alignments. Los Angeles gang members relocating to the Midwest may align themselves with a local gang that has no real ties to the California member’s original gang set. In certain cases, gang members relocating from Chicago or Los Angeles conduct criminal activity in cooperation with their former rivals. For example, a recent Kansas City investigation identified multiple defendants in a drug trafficking operation. Checking the suspects’ backgrounds through Los Angeles law enforcement files, investigators discovered that some of the defendants were affiliated with the 135 Compton Pirus Bloods, and others were affiliated with the rival Los Angeles gang, the 5 Deuce Hoover Crips. This coalition surprised investigators in Los Angeles, but cooperation often occurs when drug alliances form in “neutral” parts of the country, such as the Midwest. Frequently, profit potential outweighs traditional gang loyalties.

Hispanic gang patterns. Factions of Hispanic gangs are becoming increasingly prominent in much of the United States, including the Midwest. It is crucial for law enforcement to know the origins and rivalries of Hispanic gangs, including the Surenos, Nortenos, and Sinaloan Cowboys, because officers increasingly encounter these and other factions. Transient Hispanic gangs may continue their animosity with rivals in other parts of the country and engage in violent encounters with local Hispanic gangs. This phenomenon is more common with Hispanic gangs than with other types of gangs. Hispanic gang members tend to be more loyal and traditional in supporting their gang, even when in transit or when relocating to other parts of the country.

Asian gang criminal activity. In the Midwest, Asian gang criminal activity, much of which is perpetrated by transient gangs, continues to have a great impact. Problems for law enforcement include cultural misunderstandings, identification issues, language barriers, and the transient nature of these gangs (who travel out of State to commit crimes).



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Hybrid and Other Modern Gangs Juvenile Justice Bulletin • December 2001