Lieutenant Allender serves with the Indianapolis, Indiana, Police Department.

An examination of gang history, gang migration, and gang structure, along with the efforts of law enforcement to combat and prevent gangs may provide some answers. In addition, a review of Indianapolis, Indiana’s experience with gangs illustrates how a “big small town” in the heart of the United States can become a new target for gangs from other areas of the country.4

Historical literature makes frequent reference to groups that engaged in criminal activity. Ancient Egyptians talked about bands of robbers who preyed upon those transporting goods along the caravan routes. China had gangs who committed robberies and kidnappings for profit. Folklore romanticizes pirates on the high seas that made their living by murder, robbery, and kidnapping. According to Hollywood and some authors, large numbers of outlaw gangs populated the American West. As with the pirates, many of these outlaws became folk heroes. Endless examples exist of gangs, bound together through the commission of criminal acts.

A well-documented gang case comes from the British who, from 1834 to 1848, were dealing with what they identified as a gang of robbers and murderers in Budhuk, India.5 Unable to deal with the gang because of its size and complexity, local authorities turned to the army for help. To gain control of the situation, the government passed legislation prohibiting gang membership, associating with known gang members, and deriving profit from a gang’s criminal activity. The military convinced the government to pass additional laws allowing a federalist approach, including permission to house prisoners in jails far from the gang’s home territory. Extensive use of informants, working for both pay and sentencing considerations, comprised a main component of the successful effort. Interestingly, police investigating gangs today deal with some of the problems troops encountered during this operation.

America's first identified gang, however, was formed in 1820 in the Five Points District of New York City. Named the Forty Thieves, the gang operated along the waterfront, engaging in acts of murder, robbery, assault, and other violent acts. Composed of recently arrived Irish immigrants, the Forty Thieves recruited a group of young imitators, who called themselves the Forty Little Thieves. To complete the equation, a rival gang, the Kerryonians, organized to ensure that they got their share of the ill-gotten gains. This pattern repeated itself many times over the years.

The end of the Civil War saw large-scale criminal activity on the part of a few veterans who had trouble returning to a peaceful society. Some of these men formed gangs to increase the profits from their illegal actions, such as the infamous brothers Jessie and Frank James who recruited men, often boyhood friends or relatives, to assist them as they traveled to commit robberies. Media reports often attributed crimes to the James Gang that they could not possibly have committed due to the acts occurring great distances apart and on the same day. Although authorities knew where the James family lived, they were unsuccessful in apprehending the brothers. The gang finally met its ruin through a couple of events. The members ventured far from their familiar territory in Missouri to commit a robbery in Northfield, Minnesota. The robbery went awry and degenerated into a running gun battle leaving several residents and holdup men dead or wounded. Captured gang members received long prison sentences.