Word: ganged
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...gang is formed chiefly on the basis of geographical proximity. The ties of the neighborhood are strong, and those established at school or elsewhere are insignificant. At virtually every age level from eight to 21 you can find some sort of gang functioning somewhere in the city. Many are not formed until high school, while some begin much earlier. Just this year a gang of nine-year-olds in Neighborhood Four successfully carried out many thefts and was finally apprehended while pulling off a highly-organized burglary of a local house...
...Gang Wars...
Surprisingly enough, there are very few large-scale gang wars in Cambridge. A few years ago, about 200 Cambridge youths invaded Belmont to redress an alleged grievance, but nothing came of that foray. On the whole, the fighting has been confined to chance encounters between a few members of rival gangs. The odds are seldom even, and if one gang is able to obtain an eight to one numerical advantage, more power...
...Most gang acts in Cambridge are directed against the Society at large rather than rival gangs. Juveniles engage in a wide variety of illegal activities here. Out of a total of 509 complaints received against juveniles last year by the Crime Prevention Bureau of the City Police Department, the following ten, with the number of complaints in parentheses, were the most frequent: larceny (53), destruction of property (46), stubbornness (42), trespassing (38), running away (36), using motor vehicle without authority (30), attempted larceny (26), disturbing the peace (24), assault and battery (19), and gaming with dice and cards...
Although Society may regard these acts as criminal, within the gang they are looked on in a different light. Sometimes they are revered because they strike at the unfriendly outsiders. And in almost no gang are they really felt to be wrong. It is much the same situation as when a Harvard student throws a candy wrapper on the grass. Technically, he knows it is wrong. But there is no heartburn, no feeling of guilt, over...