Gangs and the Military Note 3: The Role of the West Coast in the Development of Military-Trained Gang Members (original) (raw)

MTGMs, whether from Street Gangs, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs), or Domestic Terrorist Extremist (DTE) groups, have endangered U.S. communities since before the birth of the country. Early gang leaders acquired military training before and during the Revolutionary War, and continued their criminal activity as the population transitioned westward. The earliest MTGMs included river pirates, stealing cargo and attacking passengers along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and later the street gangsters who controlled much of the criminal street business in New York, New York and some of the police and politicians of that time. Members of one DTE group started as a New York street gang, received military training and experience in Mexico during the Mexican-American War, and were released from active duty in the newly-named city of San Francisco, just before the Gold Rush of 1848. The issues of MTGMs today tend to mirror those in history, indicating that a solution to the problem is elusive, perhaps even unattainable.Survey results regarding the perception of MTGM presence in the Western United States are included, as are the results of the most recent Gang and Domestic Extremist Activity Threat Assessment (GDEATA) by the U.S. Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC). The connection of street gangs, OMGs, and DTEs to the military was examined, as were possible remedies for limiting the dangerousness of those criminals in the community. The note is intended to promote the awareness of the MTGM situation and encourage scholars and practitioners to conduct research concerning this issue in other locations in the United States and foreign nations towards identifying strategies to control the problem or mitigate the effects. The confluence of gangs and the military presents significant social and security challenges with significant national and global security potentials.