Word: gangly
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...earnest gang of gun-wielding do-gooders closed in on the station wagon, its driver -- scruffy and overweight, with a menacing air -- lunged out the door. The lawmen forced him to the pavement, pointing their weapons at his head. Two young men shouted in unison, "Freeze! This...
...jailings of their leaders, they were being quickly and silently replaced by far more sophisticated and highly secretive business operations. Taylor's findings contradict the sanguine attitude of fifth-term Mayor Coleman Young and his political allies, who insist that the Motor City no longer has a serious gang problem. Says inspector Benny Napoleon, who monitors gang activity for the Detroit police: "We have nothing remotely resembling a large, well-organized gang...
Though most of the membership is drawn from the impoverished underclass, an increasing number of recruits from middle-class families have been lured by the promise of quick financial rewards. Taylor also discovered that female gangs, once considered relatively harmless adjuncts to male crews, have become dangerous, independent groups. In an interview with Taylor's research team, one female gang member bragged of ousting unwanted guests who tried to "bum rush" a party. The guests fled, she said, after "I cut loose on their fake asses with that...
Taylor believes that gang members share a grossly distorted version of the values mainstream Americans hold dear. The difference is that gang members want money and status faster, and are willing to kill to obtain them. Asked to identify his role models, one 14-year-old cited the cocaine-snorting protagonist of the movie Scarface and Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca. "Lee Iacocca is smooth and he be dissing ((disrespecting, in street lingo)) everybody," the youth explained. In some cases, parents encourage their children's criminal careers. Said one: "My momma talk about how proud she is of me making doughski...
...well-disciplined Muslims are becoming role models for a generation of black youth. "The problem of confronting gang violence and drugs is the responsibility of the black male," says Joseph H. Duff, president of the Los Angeles branch of the N.A.A.C.P. "And Muslims have always been a symbol of strong black manhood." In Los Angeles more than 1,000 black men, many of them former gang members, have recently joined the Nation of Islam. One new recruit is James Johnson, 18. "They told me how we were killing ourselves and showed me what's really going on in society," says...