Gangs in Georgia

The US state of Georgia has seen a rise in the number of gangs over recent years, in the main focused on the illegal drug trade.

Development of gangs

Many gangs started appearing in Georgia in the mid 1980s, as a result of the crack cocaine epidemic.[1] In 2003, there were an estimated 78 gangs in the Atlanta area alone. In 2015, Atlanta police announced that they were tracking an estimated 192 gangs.[2] In more recent times, Mexican drug cartels have established Atlanta as a major distribution hub for methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Drug dealing is the main source of money for gang members, which has led some of the gangs to form untraditional alliances with one another. Armed robbery, commonly drug robberies, are another way in which gangs capitalize in Atlanta's open air drug market.

Territories

The well-known gangs are mainly concentrated in the West, Southwest, Southeast, and East Atlanta with many gangs with turf on the outskirts of the city and have hybrid sets that are found in smaller cities all over Georgia. Some of the gangs are nationwide, such as the Trill Gang Sureños, Bloods, Gangster Disciples, Nortenos, Crips, Latin Kings, Tiny Rascal Gang, and MS-13 who have sent high ranking shot callers to establish local neighborhood cliques as loyal sets under the same flag.

Atlanta's Blood and Piru Gang

It's been stated that the Bloods gang is the largest gang in Atlanta as well as the Piru gang, which rivals the Gangster Disciples and Crips. Law enforcement officials consider the most notorious of the Blood & Piru gangs are the following which includes Atlanta born gangs:

-Mob Piru

-Sex Money Murder Bloods

-Tree Top Piru

-Bounty Hunter Bloods

-B.N.D

-A.B.G (Atlanta Blood Gang/Anybody Get it)

-9-trey Gangster Bloods

-Gangster Killer Bloods/Gshine

-Decatur Family Bloods

-Avenue Piru Gangsters

-Neighborhood Pirus

-D-Block

-Mad Family Swan Bloods/Bird Gang/ Bird Mobb

-Elm Street Piru

-Jurassic Park Piru

-Westside 3700 Fruit Town Brim

These gangs also have subsets or cliques that either directly or indirectly make up the gang as a whole.

An example of this would be the Bounty Hunters Y.T.B (Young Trap Boyz) and Taliban street gangs. Law officials state that these groups in particular have been causing major issues as far as armed robbery, burglaries, car theft, homicide, and drug trafficking since 2005.

Dekalb County Police have tracked the Y.T.B gang to have an estimate of 120+ members alone and the Taliban gang to have roughly 70 members. The Bounty Hunters are a large gang in Atlanta but most of the gangs territory is on Atlanta's East Side (East Atlanta, Dekalb Co & parts of Gwinnett Co).

Another example of this would be the 2 divisions of the Sex Money Murder Bloods on the East Side, the 21 Slaughter Gang and PDE Murder Gang. These 2 gangs can be found in the Paradise East Apartments (PDE) on Bouldecrest, Oakland City Apartments, and throughout Glenwood.

The Blood and Piru gang is also very prominent in the Atlanta rap scene with rappers such as Waka Flocka Flame, Young Thug, 21 Savage, and many other smaller local artists all having past affiliations with the gang.

Glenwood Day Shooting 2006

Members of the Taliban gang fired upon suspecting Gangster Disciples members leaving two injured. Locals state that the altercation began a day prior to the event at a local QuikTrip between the gang members.

April 2015 Shootings

-At a reunion in Piedmont Park, 7 members of the Y.T.B gang opened fire on civilians injuring 5 and killing 2.

-During a funeral service of a deceased grandmother, witnesses state that gang members in a golden SUV committed a drive-by injuring three and killing a 17-year-old female. It was later found out that the gang members were indeed a part of the Y.T.B.

Zones

Atlanta is divided into the Police Patrol Zones of Atlanta, which some of the gangs recognize as turf divisions.[3] The zones cover neighborhoods in Atlanta as follows:

  • Zone 1: Bankhead, Simpson Rd, Hollywood, Hollywood Court, Bolton Road, Hightower, Bowen Homes, English Avenue, Vine City, and Fair Street.
  • Zone 2: The North East/West of Atlanta, including Lenox Square, Buckhead, and NorthEast Atlanta.
  • Zone 3: Mechanicsville, Thomasville, Capitol View, HillSide, Summerhill, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh, College Park, Forest Park, Lakewood, East Point and Jonesboro South.
  • Zone 4: Ben Hill, Oakland City, Greenbriar, Cascade, Wildwood Lakes Community, West End, Westview, Allen Hills and Adamsville.
  • Zone 5: 4th Ward, Wheat Street, Grady Homes, Irwin Street and Techwood.
  • Zone 6: Candler Road, Sweet Auburn, Old Fourth Ward, Reynoldstown, Edgewood, Kirkwood, East Lake, East Atlanta, Bouldercrest Road, Memorial Drive, Wesley Chapel, Redan, Covington Hwy, and Glenwood.

Media coverage

Downtown Atlanta has had national television coverage about the gang situation. The city was featured on the show Gangland, in the episodes "Death in Dixie," "Street Law," and "Death Before Dishonor." In addition, the city has been featured on "Drugs Inc."

References

  1. ↑ Stuart, Gwynedd (17 June 2010). "Gang mentality". Creative Loafing Atlanta. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  2. ↑ "Georgia Drug Threat Assessment". National Drug Intelligence Center. April 2003. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  3. ↑
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