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Natural Leaders in St. Louis Gangs
From: Cambridge University Press
| By:
Scott H. DeckerBarrik Van Winkle |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
Do natural-born leaders assume power over their peers, or is leadership something thrust upon individuals by their peer group? Here, using extensive field research and interviews conducted with St. Louis street gangs, Scott H. Decker and Barrik Van Winkle indicate that where formal structures are lacking, or even opposed, a natural hierarchy tends to emerge and to become established. |
 ole differentiation is an important characteristic of formal organizations.  The presence of different roles or levels of responsibility would be evidence of increasing formalization or organization within the gang. Though twenty-six different roles were identified, few were of a well-defined character. The most typical role identified in the interviews was that of "leader." However, not all gangs reported they had leaders; indeed, many of the gang members we interviewed (16 percent), expressed hostility toward the idea of having leaders. |
INT: Does anybody got the power? Do some people have more power than others? |
MALE #008, "Robert," fourteen-year-old Compton Gangster: If somebody want to run everybody we say you don't run nobody, we all together. |
INT: Ok, so what is your role in the gang? |
008: That nobody runs me and nobody really going to tell me what to do. |
Ain't nobody be running it. It's like everybody does. (Male #009, "Marrien," fifteen-year-old Compton Gangster) |
Ain't no leaders. If we put a ride on somebody, they will come to me to bring the play in. But there ain't no leader, everybody just listen to one another, ain't no leader. (Male #033, "Larry," eighteen-year-old Thunder-cat) |
Most gangs, however, reported some form of leadership. The leaders of these gangs did not have de jure powers granted to them by all members for all situations. Rather, gang leadership had a more informal, situational character to it and often varied between subgroups in the gang. This is evident in the following responses to questions about the nature of leadership within the gang. |
INT: Do you have a reason why they look up to your brother a little bit more? |
MALE #051, "David," eighteen-year-old Blood: Because he the strongest one out of the group but they don't call him the leader. |
Yeah, it's not like he'll tell you what to do; he just keeps it together so that we don't fall apart. So we won't fight each other. (Male #020, "Lil Thug," sixteen-year-old Gangster Disciple) |
INT: Do some guys in the gang have more juice than others do? |
MALE #045, "C-Loc," seventeen-year-old Rolling 60's Crip: Yeah, some of them. |
INT: How do they get more juice than other folks? |
045: They bigger and talk more. |
Size and age were identified as the two primary criteria by which leaders assumed that role in the gang. In a social group that formed largely in response to physical threats, initiated members through violence, and engaged in frequent fights, it is no surprise that physical prowess demonstrated through fighting would emerge as a criterion for leadership. |
Lance [a leader in the gang, not the subject] like the oldest one, he tough I guess. He is the toughest one. He been in more fights and in jail more than all of us. He's bigger than a motherfucker too. (Male #012, "Lance," twenty-year-old West Side Mob member) |
The reason why they become leaders is because they are so powerful. They know how to handle things and they are going to get down to it. In real bad situations they always try to handle it. (Male #017, "Billy," twenty-one-year-old North Side Crip) |
Age (in combination with length of time in the gang) was also noted as a major criterion that set leaders apart from other members. In particular, the old gangster, or OG, was a role identified with leadership. |
When I first came down here I was already in the gang four years so they made me a old G, old gangster, cause I been in longer than most of the guys that been over there. (Male #014, "D. C.," sixteen-year-old Disciple) |
Others talked about the need for the OG or leader only under special circumstances. |
If we got a little trouble we think we can handle we take care of that ourselves but if we got some trouble with somebody that have cars and stuff like the Peabody's then we'll go tell him [the leader]. He got the people with the cars and he got most of the guns. (Male #090, "Rellol," fifteen-year-old 19th Street Long Beach Crip) |
The significance of age as a criterion for leaders included female gangs. |
I'm the leader of the girls. I'm the oldest one. I've been around more than them. (Female #006, "Yolanda," nineteen-year-old 23rd Street Hoover Crip) |
Age and physical prowess were not the only criteria for leadership though. Nearly half of the gang members identified leaders as persons who could provide material advantages, thus ascribing a functional character to leadership within the gang. Since half of our sample was in their early teens, someone with the ability to procure cars, drugs, guns, or alcohol could play a valuable role in the gang. Consequently, it was no surprise to find that over half of gang members identified leaders as persons who could "deliver." Because of the situational nature of leadership, persons moved in and out of this role. This was especially true in the case of being able to provide drugs in large quantities for street sales. |
INT: Does someone have more juice in the gang? |
MALE #041, "C. K.," twenty-two-year-old Blood: Yeah, you always got someone that got more juice. |
INT: What is the type of person who usually have more juice? |
041: The one who got the connection with the drugs. |
INT: Who has the most juice? |
MALE #07l, "B Daddy," seventeen-year-old Inglewood Family Gangster: Dude named T-Loc. |
INT: Why does he have more juice than everybody else? |
071: Cause he travels a lot. Gets the good stuff. |
INT: What's the good stuff? |
071: Like guns, cocaine, weed. |
INT: What gives him the juice? |
MALE #093, "Lil-P," sixteen-year-old Crenshaw Mob Gangster Blood: He has a lot of dope and stuff like that and he handle our business. |
Others reported that selling drugs gave people "juice," or influence, within the gang. |
If you sell dope, you get the power. If you don't sell dope, you just one of the boys. (White male #091, "Paul," eighteen-year-old 107 Hoover Crip) |
The functional quality assigned to leaders within these gangs suggests that leadership is not a product of motivational skills (i.e., charismatic leaders) or organizational skills (bureaucratic skills) but rather emerges from the ability to satisfy everyday needs of the gang. |
Having a leader is the first step in role differentiation for gangs. While half of our sample told us their gang had a leader, fewer told us that there were distinct roles within their gang. Often this varied within gangs, with older members more likely to identify roles (however general) than did their younger counterparts. This indicates that the structure of the gangs whose members we interviewed were more informal and less organized than has been suggested by at least one commentator (see especially Martin Sanchez-Jankowski, Islands in the Street, 1991). Little role specialization exists within these gangs beyond being able to provide drugs or guns. This is reflected in the role differentiation reported by gang members. Only two-thirds of our sample reported that their gang had identifiable roles, and there were few gradations between those roles. Indeed, most members fell into one of two categories, regular members (56 percent of that group) or those who occupied a middle status, situated between the leaders and regular members (44 percent of that group). In most cases, this "rank" was earned as a consequence of engaging in acts of violence against rival gang members. |
I was a G. Most gangsters say I have more brains than a lot of people. I was a G3. When I left I was a G6. G6, that's a whole lot of rank. (Male #014, "D. C.," sixteen-year-old Disciple) |
Another member described how he got his "rank" |
MALE #015, "Karry," fifteen-year-old Crenshaw Gangster Blood: As soon as they start coming around the corner you just start firing. How many Crips you hit depends on how you get your rank. They call it CK rank. Mine was third degree CK. |
015: We call it 3-11. We use code. The police are hip to it now but they weren't hip to it then. [C and K are the third and eleventh letters of the alphabet.] |
Included in the roles defined by violence are the enforcers such as "Sandman," so named because if he hits you, "you out" (male #023, "Benz," fifteen-year-old 107 Hoover Gangster Crip). Others in the middle ranks are described as "bounty hunters." This role requires a gang member to dress in the colors of a rival gang, "invade" their territory, and shoot members of the rival gang. Four respondents told us that they fulfilled this role for their gang, one that placed them at high risk for violence and consequently carried a great deal of status. |
The overwhelming majority of gang members reported that they were "regular members" and that this represented the modal category of membership in their gang. Some in this status referred to themselves as "busy bees, foot soldiers" (male #082, "Dough Boy," fourteen-year-old B Gangster Disciple) while most just identified themselves as a regular member. It is important to underscore that the gang was largely a collection of adolescents with adolescent concerns. In this regard, one gang member (male #094, "John Doe," fourteen-year-old 107 Hoover Crip) told us that his role in the gang was "to steal bikes." Finally, one gang member described his role in the following way. |
Since I'm big, my job is big man, throw the first blow, cop the beer, drive everybody when they want to run somewhere. I'm the one that can drink the most beer. I don't smoke the most weed though. There is another motherfucker that smokes the most weed. (Male #064, "Pump," fourteen-year-old 6 Deuce Blood) |
The most important role distinction was between real gang members and those whose commitment to the gang and gang life was somewhat lower. Perpetrators, busters, or wanna-bes were all terms used to identify individuals who lacked a commitment to the gang. One respondent offered a distinction between these roles. |
INT: Are there any rules to your group? |
MALE #090, "Rellol," fifteen-year-old 19th Street Long Beach Crip: Don't be a buster. |
090: A person who changes groups. |
INT: That means as far as flip-flopping Blood to Crip or Crip to Blood? |
090: If it's Crip to Crip, you a transformer. |
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