GANGS IN COURT

To Order The Book

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments................................................................................ v
Dedication ......................................................................................... vii

Chapter 1: Introduction: My Personal-Professional Journey into
the World of Criminal Gangs ......................................................... 1
Some Basic Gang Concepts Developed from My Personal
and Professional Experiences .............................................................. 9
Near-Group Theory ............................................................................. 9
The Issue of ìGang Membership: Six Basic Gang-Role
Categories of Gang Status ................................................................. 10
Active Gang Roles ............................................................................. 10
Nonactive Gang Roles ....................................................................... 11
Gangs in Court .................................................................................. 13
Endnotes ............................................................................................ 20

Chapter 2: A Brief History of American Gangs in the Criminal
Justice System ................................................................................ 21
Gangs 1900-1950 ............................................................................. 22
Early territorial gangs ......................................................................... 22
Bootleg gangs .................................................................................... 23
Post-Prohibition gangs ....................................................................... 27
The 1950s Youth Gang Era ................................................................ 28
The New York City Youth Board ....................................................... 28
The Morningside Heights Gang Project ............................................. 28
Social gangs ....................................................................................... 29
Delinquent gangs ................................................................................ 29
Gangs in Court
Violent gangs ...................................................................................... 30
Endnotes ..............................................................................................33

Chapter 3: General Characteristics of Contemporary Criminal
Street Gangs ...................................................................................... 35
The Impact of More Lethal Weapons................................................... 36
Black-on-Black and Chicano-on-Chicano Violence ............................. 37
Family Issues ...................................................................................... 40
Drugs and Violence ............................................................................. 42
Multipurpose Gangs ............................................................................ 45
The Emotional Characteristics of Gangsters ........................................ 45
Seeking status in a gang ...................................................................... 45
Macho syndrome or psychosis ........................................................... 46
Why Gangsters ìSnitchî .................................................................. 48
The arrest situation ............................................................................. 49
Fingering an outsider .......................................................................... 49
The police ........................................................................................... 52
Defective Socialization ........................................................................ 53
Gangsters as Sociopaths ..................................................................... 57
A summary of sociopathic perspectives on the gangster ..................... 60
The sociopathic gangsterís attitudes toward females ........................... 62
The gangsterís suicidal tendencies ...................................................... 64
Some of the casual factors that create the dysfunctional
family of the sociopathic gangster ....................................................... 66
Endnotes ............................................................................................. 69

Chapter 4: Gang Racial Issues: Chicano, Black, White Power and
Asian Gangs in and out of Prison ................................................. 71
Hispanic Gangs .................................................................................. 72
Machismo and chicano gangs ............................................................. 76
José: a Puerto Rican New York gangster ............................................ 80
African-American Gangs .................................................................... 83
A prototypical black gangster: Edís story ........................................... 84
Gangsters and Gangs in Prison .......................................................... 95
White Power Gangs in Prison ............................................................ 98
White Power gangs: Nazi Low Riders ................................................ 98
Contents v
A General Analysis of Asian Gangs ................................................. 100
A Cambodian gang case ................................................................... 108
Endnotes ........................................................................................... 112

Chapter 5: Summary and Analysis of the Social and Psychological
Factors That Are the Foundation for My Opinions and Testimony
As an Expert-Witness ................................................................... 113
Introduction ...................................................................................... 113
Gang Structure and Near Group Theory .......................................... 114
Gang Roles ...................................................................................... 115
Active gang roles .............................................................................. 116
Non-active gang roles ....................................................................... 116
Eight Factors for Determining a Defendantís Gang Identitiy ........... 117
A Non-Gang Member ...................................................................... 119
Non-Criminal Gang Activities .......................................................... 120
Gang-related and Non-gang-related Crimes in the Law .................... 121
Gang Culture In the Judicial Process ............................................... 124
The macho syndrome ....................................................................... 124
Suicidal tendencies ........................................................................... 124
Gangsters as sociopaths ................................................................... 124
The Value and Veracity of a Gangsterís Testimony as a
Witness in a Criminal Case .............................................................. 125
The Spontaneous Nature of Gang Violence: A Case in Point ........... 127
The Concepts of ìImperfect Self-Defenseî and ìVictim-Precipitated
Homicide.î ...................................................................................... 131
Victim-precipitated violence ............................................................. 132
Endnotes .......................................................................................... 133

Chapter 6: Gangs and the Death Penalty ................................... 135
Death Penalty Report ....................................................................... 135
A Florida Death Penalty Case .......................................................... 136
A California Death Penalty Report on Sam ...................................... 141
An Arizona Gang Murder Case ....................................................... 144
Summary of the case ....................................................................... 144
A California Case for Determining a Life or Death Penalty ............. 149
A California Case Report ................................................................. 152
vi Gangs in Court
The Argument for Life Without Parole in Lieu of the Death
Penalty ............................................................................................. 158
The Therapeutic Community: An Important Mitigator in Testifying
for Life without Parole instead of the Death Penalty ........................ 160
A model prison therapeutic community ............................................ 162
Lifers as ìexperience-therapistsî for younger prisoners ................ 167
Researching Gang Killers and Other Muderers ............................... 169
Endnotes .......................................................................................... 171

Appendix A: A Panorama of Some Notable Gang Cases I Have
Worked on as an Expert WitnessóIncluding My Brief Theory
and Analysis of these Prototypical Cases .................................. 173
Preface ............................................................................................. 174
1. The Egyptian King Gang Murder ................................................ 176
2. A Homicide Involving a Convicted Hells Angelís Gang
Murderer ......................................................................................... 176
3. A Gang Murder in Hollywood .................................................... 177
4. The Prosecution of Two Gangster Defendants Involved in the
Attempted Murder of Reginald Denney during the 1992 LA
Riots ................................................................................................ 177
5. A Drive-by Shooting Case .......................................................... 178
6. Gang robbery and Coercion of the Defendant ............................ 180
7. A Murder in Santa Barbara ......................................................... 180
8. Asian Gang Homicide ................................................................. 181
9. A Gang Homicide ....................................................................... 183
10. Case Involving the Alleged Shooting of a Gun into a Bar ......... 184
11. The Assault of the Pagan Biker Gang ....................................... 184
12. Salinas Gang Retaliation Case Involving a Young Girl Being
Molested by the ìAllegedî Victim ................................................. 191
13. A Robbery Homicide................................................................. 192
14. Hells Angels Motorcycle Gang ................................................. 193
15. A Victim-Precipitated Gang Homicide ...................................... 195
16. Gang Retaliatory Homicide Committed by a Former G ............ 197
17. Gang Carjack and Robbery Case .............................................. 199
18. A Norteno-Sureno Confrontation That Resulted in a
Homicide ........................................................................................ 202
19. Gang Robbery Case ................................................................. 204
Contents vii
20. Gangsters Killing Their Homies .............................................. 205
21. The Case of a Fourteen-Year Old Wannabe Caught in the
Web of a Gang Murder ................................................................... 207
22. Gang Case Involving and Alleged Gang Carjacking and
Shooting into a Building in Salinas ................................................. 209
23. Gang Case of a G Robbing an Individual of His Rolex
Watch .............................................................................................. 212
24. How a Violent Gang Hood Influenced a Mother to Spank Her
Child in Order to Stand Up to Gang Bullies ................................... 213
25. A Gangsterís Effort to Silence a Witness ................................. 216
26. An Altercation in an Alleged Prison Gang Conflict .................. 216
27. Gang Homicide by an Alleged Colonia Gang Member at a
Party ............................................................................................... 219
28. Complicated Asian Gang Conflict and Homicide Involving
Tiny Rascals Gang versus Crazy Brothers Clan Cambodian .......... 220
29. Gang Case Involving a Youth Studying the Norteno-Sureno
Complex, Hanging Out with a Gang and Being Arrested ............... 222
30. A Gang Homicide Involving Two Individuals Who Allegedly
Belonged to an Armenian Gang Known as ìArmenian Powerî .... 224
31. A Gang Homicide in the Tehachapi State Prison ...................... 228
32. A Gang Homicide in the Los Angeles County Central Jail ....... 229
Jail gang culture as applied to this case ................................. ..........229
33. Alleged Gang Shooting ............................................................ 232
34. An Alleged Gang Attack That Centered Around a
Drug Deal ...................................................................................... 234
35. Drug Dealer Allegedly Involved in the Murder of Two of
His Cohorts .................................................................................... 237
36. A Question and Answer Report for Testimony Requested by
an Attorney Related to a Case of Homicide and Necrophilia .......... 238
The resolution of the case ............................................................... 244
Afterword ....................................................................................... 244
Endnotes ........................................................................................ 245

Appendix B: Enhanced Gang PenaltiesóSentencing Laws in the
United States ............................................................................... 247
About the Author ........................................................................... 277
Index ............................................................................................. 279