Gangs have been apart of America’s history even before our past time of baseball, way back into the time when many Europeans migrated to the east coast with intent of making a better life. But not knowing that their savings were going to be quickly depleted, they were forced to take out loans with the locals and colonization companies. This caused many conflicts for the migrants with no money to send their children back to their homeland. Diseases were spreading, and formed many of America’s common problem in cities. While taxes grew heavy, people grew angry and impatient. Many organized smuggling and robbery gangs were formed.
These gangs started with “The Doane Gang.” They were known for their vicious acts of robbery and existed for nearly ten years until they were caught and executed. In the beginning of the 1800’s many groups of gangs started to form with in all the age groups (as young as ten years old). Thus the forty thieves’ gang was formed and officially became professional murders, muggers, burglars and pickpocketers. This became a big problem in New York and everyone knew someone had to fix this and soon
In large cities gang membership continued to increase until the gangs gained powerful control over many neighborhoods. As citizens became more concerned, government officials blamed unwed mothers and the perils of illegitimacy as the cause of their increasing gang problems. This 1850’s report was unsurprisingly familiar to a 1989 report by the U. S. House Committee. The committee blamed the breakdown of the family structure as the cause of violence in a statement released to the New York Times. At the beginning of the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, gang-related violence continued to increase to unprecedented levels. Many of the gangs formed during this time are still in existence today ending the supremacy of one racial group controlling organized crime. The gang problem now belongs to everyone-Asian, Black, Hispanic, and white.
Since the beginning of civilization, gangs in one degree or another have always contributed to the decay of society and although the United States is the most technological advanced nation in the world, the gang problem continues to grow faster than any virus or disease.