NYC gang problem gets worse as LA gang problem improves

Unread post by **Silencioso** » December 17th, 2015, 6:44 pm

In 2014, there were 130 gang related homicides in NYC and 140 in L.A. Not since the early 70's has NYC and LA been so close in their gang problem. This is a huge turn around from the 80's and 90's, when L.A. had pandemic gang violence and NY seemed relatively gang free with only a handful of active gangs and very low gang homicide rates. L.A. still has the larger gang population and higher gang related homicide rate but the fact is NYC is getting worse and LA is getting better so it's not to far fetched to imagine NYC having a worse gang problem than L.A. in the near future.

The rise of new "youth crews" like Hood Starz, Snow Gang, Jackson Ave. Gunnaz etc. seems to be at the heart of this increase in NY gang activity. Although most NY gang bangers still belong to major gangs like Bloods and Latin Kings, the youth crew phenomenon seem to be what pushed NY from a moderate gang problem in the 2000's to a severe gang problem in the 2010's.