Criminal gangs in the USA have swelled to an estimated 1 million members responsible for up to 80% of crimes in communities across the nation, according to a gang threat assessment compiled by federal officials.
The major findings in a report by the Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center, which has not been publicly released, conclude gangs are the “primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs” and several are “capable” of competing with major U.S.-based Mexican drug-trafficking organizations.
“A rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships” with U.S. and foreign drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal groups to “gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs,” the report concludes.
The gang population estimate is up 200,000 since 2005.
Bruce Ferrell, chairman of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, whose group monitors gang activity in 10 states, says the number of gang members may be even higher than the report’s estimate.
The report says about 900,000 gang members live “within local communities across the country,” and about 147,000 are in U.S. prisons or jails.
“Most regions in the United States will experience increased gang membership … and increased gang-related criminal activity,” the report concludes, citing a recent rise in gangs on the campuses of suburban and rural schools.
Among the report’s other findings:
•Last year, 58% of state and local law enforcement agencies reported that criminal gangs were active in their jurisdictions, up from 45% in 2004.
•More gangs use the Internet, including encrypted e-mail, to recruit and to communicate with associates throughout the U.S. and other countries.
•Gangs, including outlaw motorcycle groups, “pose a growing threat” to law enforcement authorities along the U.S.-Canadian border. The U.S. groups are cooperating with Canadian gangs in various criminal enterprises, including drug smuggling.
Assistant FBI Director Kenneth Kaiser, the bureau’s criminal division chief, says gangs have largely followed the migration paths of immigrant laborers.
He says the groups are moving to avoid the scrutiny of larger metropolitan police agencies in places such as Los Angeles. “These groups were hit hard in L.A.” by law enforcement crackdowns, “but they are learning from it,” Kaiser says.
Transnational drug gangs have already destabilized Mexico and will begin to do the same thing here and in Canada eventually. MS-13 and gangs like them are de facto armies marching through our streets and are already taking control of major urban centers. If we allow them to gain a foothold here the way the Cartels did in the Mexican border states our entire way of life is endangered.
