By John Thompson
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a multi-part series written by a former gang prosecutor.)
There has been a lot of news recently about gangs, particularly MS-13, a gang that started in Los Angeles, California. Gang culture is its own unique culture, and to the average American, it is completely foreign. This article is a primer on gangs, not intended to be all-inclusive as that would require writing a book, but hopefully timely and informative.
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What Is a Gang?
Let’s start with the technical stuff, a definition of a criminal street gang. Back when California was red, they did some smart things with law enforcement. One of those things was passing what was called the ‘STEP’ Act, the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Protection…
