Gang activity in the United States continues to grow at an alarming rate. Historically, gangs were thought to be composed primarily of adolescents who banded together to conduct criminal activity for protection and profit. But, today, gangs are placed into two groups: prison gangs and street gangs. Gangs find community and focus and become breeding grounds for recruitment for criminal and terrorism-related activities. Chris Swecker, Assistant Director for the Criminal Investigative Division, stated, “Today, gangs are more violent, more organized, and more widespread than ever before. There are approximately 30,000 gangs, with 800,000 members, impacting 2,500 communities across the U.S.”
EK
Gangs are not only in large metro areas, but sparsely populated states like Oregon and Kansas. A gang that was borne in the prison system of Oregon is the EK or European Kindred (Group Profile forthcoming), which is now identified as a major security threat. In 1998, an inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary developed the concept for the group for what he felt was the need to bring white inmates together to protect themselves from black inmates. When he was transferred to the Snake River Correctional Institute, he brought the idea to another inmate and formed EK. Their doctrine is White Supremacist mixed with Christian Identity, “skinhead” ideology and Odinism, which is based on a deity in Norse theology. EK has members throughout the Oregon prison system. Four members form a “table,” which makes decisions within each prison institution and forms the leadership for recruitment, enforcement, debt collection, and day-to-day operations.
Members are identified by:
? A shield tattoo that can be either prominent or hidden. The shield is earned by performing some type of duty ordered by the table.
? 511 on their knuckles or wrists. The numbers represent the 5th and 11th letter of the alphabet.
The EK objectives reportedly set within the tables of the prison system are:
? Protection of EK members from black inmates of the Oregon prison system
? Extortion of inmates and prison staff
? Selling protection
? Recruitment of new members
? Lucrative smuggling as tobacco and drugs
According to Chuck Cogburn, Lead Intelligence Analyst with the Oregon Department of Justice, the “EK has about 325 documented members; however, EK members have stated there are about 900 members throughout the United States.” Fifteen to twenty EK members have been released from prisons in the past 90 days.
Many convicts dedicate themselves to planning future crimes, often wanting revenge that can lead to the birth of a “homegrown” terrorist. Case in point is the history Gale Nettles. Three years ago, he sketched his deadly plan in the sand of a Mississippi prison yard. He planned to bomb the 28-story Chicago federal courthouse after his incarceration. He told his plans to a fellow inmate including the location of where he planned to park the truck to bring down the building. He wanted to create a bomb more powerful that the one Timothy McVeigh detonated eight years earlier in Oklahoma City . The inmate he reported his plan to told authorities, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Chicago planned to keep him under surveillance after he was released from prison. His prison contact assisted FBI agents in setting up a sting operation. Nettles printed counterfeit dollars to purchase ammonium nitrate. He bought 2,000 pounds of a harmless fertilizer from an undercover agent. His second plan was to be introduced to an al-Qaeda member so he could hand over the bomb-making material, thinking he could get top dollar for the sale. An FBI agent posed as the al-Qaeda operative, and Nettles went as far to tell him how he planned to get the most impact. FBI Special Agent Sonjia Wing said, “He was a true killer with no conscious whatsoever.”
MS-13
Street gangs, as in Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13; Group Profile), continue to proliferate. MS-13 is an interesting case study of a Hispanic gang evolution. Their origin was Salvadoran refugees who fled the US-backed civil war against insurgents during the 1980s and established residence in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, California. Juveniles were widely accepted by the gangs allegedly because of the combat experience they had received during the civil war in El Salvador . Differences in ideologies formed so the Salvadorian youth broke from the pre-existing gangs to begin forming Mara Salvatrucha cliques on their own. MS-13 has become one of the nation’s most dangerous street gangs. Their members span 33 states and continue to grow at a rapid clip. Crimes cover robbery, extortion, rape, and murder. Northern Virginia is reported to have the strongest number of MS-13 members, who display excellent use of the machete, and initiations into the gang are said to be brutal.
Countering Gangs
The FBI in response to the growing crime and rapid growth of MS-13 formed the MS-13 National Gang Task Force. The goals of the MS-13 National Gang Task Force are to enable local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies to exchange information; to enable local and state law enforcement agencies to identify the presence of MS-13 in their territories; to identify related investigations; and to coordinate regional and/or nationwide, multi-jurisdictional law enforcement action, including federal Racketeering (RICO) and Violent Crimes in Aide of Racketeering (VICAR) prosecutions.
Prisons and street gangs are breeding grounds for “homegrown” terrorists. Incarcerated criminals are possible targets for indoctrination and conversion to radical Islam. Street gangs are attractive to troubled youth, as it gives them identity, support, and protection that may otherwise be lacking.
Effective interdiction of prison and streets gangs takes the same approach as counter-terrorism. Collective efforts?multi-agency cooperation and intelligence fusion centers–on many levels are essential to disarm these groups. It is a multi-ethnic and transnational problem. A gang is only as strong as a community allows it to be.
