Gangs Cooperating With Each Other For Better Business, Report States
As we told you last summer ("Gangs Lay Low, Rake in Dough") some neighborhoods that used to represent bloody fault lines in decades-old gang grudges have been eerily quiet, with some experts theorizing that the sets are working together to comprise a more-efficient money-making machine on the streets of Los Angeles.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday finds a sheriff's expert who thinks it's true: On some streets, says Det. Robert Lyons, the red of the Bloods and the blue of the Crips makes green. States the Journal: " ... Gangs that investigators believed to be sworn enemies share neighborhoods and strike business deals. The collaboration even crosses racial lines, remarkable in a gang world where racial divisions are sharp and clashes are often racially motivated."
There's a correlation to the notion: a reduction of gang violence in L.A., which the Journal notes is at a 30-year-low in Los Angeles. But cooperation among gangs isn't always a good thing. Lyons tells the paper that now, "instead of having 200 guys that are arch-enemies with 200 other guys, you have 400 guys working together against law enforcement."
And it's not clear if the quiet will last: The state is being ordered by a federal court to release 40,000 prisoners, many of whom will at least be wooed by their old gangs. It could could be a volatile reunion.
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