Gang activities

A gang is a group of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior. Some criminal gang members are "jumped in" (by going through a process of initiation), or they have to prove their loyalty and right to belong by committing certain acts, usually theft or violence. A member of a gang may be called a gangster, a gang banger, or, less specifically, a thug.

A number of gangs have gained notoriety throughout history, including the Italian mafia, the Russian mafia, the Irish mob, the Polish mob, the Jewish mob, the Yakuza in Japan, the Triad in China, the gangs of New England, the Jamaican Shower Posse and Yardies, the African-American Crips and Bloods, Latino gangs such as MS-13, and biker gangs like Hells Angels.

The word "gang" derives from the past participle of Old English gan, meaning "to go". It is cognate with Old Norse gangster, meaning "journey." It typically means a group of people, and may have neutral, positive or negative connotations depending on usage.

In discussing the banditry in American history Barrington Moore, Jr. suggests that gangsterism as a "form of self-help which victimizes others" may appear in societies which lack strong "forces of law and order"; he characterizes European feudalism as "mainly gangsterism that had become society itself and acquired respectability through the notions of chivalry".

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