...Andy Patrick English 2001 Mr. David Harris 18 November 2011 Cultural Review: Gangs of New York In his review, Roger Ebert gave the film Gangs of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese, a three and a half star rating out of four and made both positive and negative comments of the movie. Although he gave it a favorable review he also said it was “very good but not great”(Ebert). The problem with Ebert’s review is that he does not review the details of the movie, such as the acting or the set or soundtrack, but critiques the movie only as a whole after a long summary of the film. Gangs of New York was a great movie with a couple of fantastic performances by both Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, and Roger Ebert’s review did not do it justice. The main problem that I have with Ebert’s review is that he ends with an entire paragraph that compares Gangs of New York with Scorsese’s other films such as GoodFellas and Casino. He says that he does “not think this film is in the first rank of his masterpieces”(Ebert). The problem with that kind of judgment is that Gangs of New York is a completely different kind of movie than Scorsese had ever done before. Ebert is essentially telling us that he likes gangster movies better than historical fiction. I personally do not think that Gangs of New York is one of the greatest movies ever, but I do believe it is a great movie and one of my personal favorites. Bill the Butcher, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, is, however, one of...
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...ESE 99 07/21/15 The Wolf on Wall Street The movie, The Wolf on Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese is a great movie for many reasons. The Wolf on Wall Street gives a deep message to viewers that reflect on the American Dream although in the movie it tells a story of a corrupted American dream. I definitely recommend The Wolf on Wall Street for its talented actors, the plot, and its unique message it gives to viewers. Having talented actors is the key to a good movie because they contribute to its audience emotions. Many viewers can relate to this movie especially to those who love money. The Wolf on Wall Street takes place in New York in the late 80’s. It reflects to the American dream to corporate greed, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of Jordan Belfort. Belfort is an American author, motivational speaker, and former stockbroker who pleaded guilty to fraud and related crimes in connection with stock market manipulation and running a boiler room as part of a penny stock scam. Belfort spent 22 months in prison as part of an agreement under which he gave testimony against numerous partners and subordinates in his fraud scheme. In the movie The Wolf of Wall Street Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption. Excess success and wealth in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title "The Wolf of Wall Street." Belfort came from mostly humble beginnings, and after getting married...
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...Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Hagedorn, John (1988) People and Folks: Gangs, Crime, and the Underclass in a Rust-Belt City. Chicago, IL: Lake View Press. Herrnstein, Richard J. and Charles Murray (1994) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Social Class in American Life. New York: Free Press. Hirschi, Travis and Michael J. Hindelang (1977) ‘Intelligence and Delinquency: A Revisionist Review’, American Sociological Review 42(4): 571–87. Horowitz, Ruth (1983) Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Ianni, Francisco (1974) Black Mafia: Ethnic Succession in Organized Crime. New York: Simon & Schuster. Irwin, John (1980) Prisons in Turmoil. Boston, MA: Little-Brown. Joselit, Jenna Weissman (1983) Our Gang: Jewish Crime and the New York Jewish Community, 1900–1940. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Joyeaux, Carl [pseud.] (1960) Out of the Burning: The Story of a Boy Gang Leader. New York: Crown. Kasarda, John E. (1990) ‘Urban Industrial Transition and the Underclass’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 501: 26–47. Katz, Jack (1990) Seductions of Crime: Moral and Sensual Attractions in Doing Evil. New York: Basic Books. Klein, Malcolm (1998) The American Street Gang. New York: Oxford University Press. Klein, Malcolm W. and L.Y. Crawford (1968) ‘Groups, Gangs and Cohesiveness’, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 4(1): 63–75. Kornhauser...
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...What is a Gang? Gangs are a group of individuals who claim territory and create profit through illegal activity such as drug trafficking (DoSomething.org, n.d). Gang members identify themselves by wear specific clothing such as hats, bandanas, or scarves with a specific color. For example, one well-known gang named The Bloods wear the color red to represent the color of blood. The members of a gang have a specific symbol or sign to represent their gang. These symbols are shown through graffiti or tattoos. For example, the Bloods graffiti a 5-pointed star to represent their gang (University of Maryland, n.d.). Gang are gathered based on race, ethnicity, territory, or money-making activities (i.e. selling drugs). Gang Initiations Joining a gang can be very dangerous and life threating. Gang initiations are required before being recruited into a gang. There different gang initiations, which included “initiation by cop, beat in, sexed in, jacked in, lined in, drive-by-shooting, Russian roulette, blood in, blood out, or catching a flag”...
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...MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, is a criminal organization that operates in at least forty-two states and has about 6,000-10,000 members nationwide (The MS-13 Threat: A National Assessment ). This infamous gang – primarily made up of Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and other Central/South American immigrants – has ignited terror and havoc in communities throughout the United States by committing heinous crimes, such as drug distribution, murder, rape, home invasions, immigration offenses and many more. The notoriety of MS-13 and the level of violence that has ensured has captured the nation’s attention, as well as the president himself to which he has branded these gang members as “animals.” CNN and The New York Times have commented on the situation: CNN explaining Trump’s attempts to rid the nation of MS-13 members, while The New York Times described how Trump has exaggerated false claims regarding MS-13 deportation numbers. This current spectacle relates to Leo Chavez’s Latino Threat Narrative in the sense that the gang and criminal activity demonstrated by MS-13 is being associated with any person who crosses the border, and the immigration and deportation measures being taken is negatively affecting those entering the United States with good intentions....
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...The Sureňos Trecè Gang Global Crime and Criminal Justice Abstract Gang killings are results of drug wars have been refuted by the authorities since blotters report that these homicides are conflicts over territory, status and revenge. Gang wars are not only “inner city” problems but all over as well. Almost every city around the world claims to be gang capitals, like New York or London. Other major cities in the US have also been known to be havens for gang wars such as Houston and Chicago. Youth join gangs, and these young members are not heavily into committing crimes or using drugs but they just want to belong to a specific group for personal purposes and a feeling of belonging. Majority of gangs are not tightly organized. Most of the members have different degrees of loyalty to their gangs. Their cohesiveness increases when they are challenged by other groups. In the LA area, for example, gang violence has lessened in the last fifteen years but has been on the rise again in the last few years. Most law enforcement officials agree that gangs are a community problem that must be dealt with in a variety of approaches implemented by police, schools, community-based organizations, public health professionals and others in an interactive and cooperative approach to gang prevention and intervention. Historical Background Sureños is a union of hundreds of individual Mexican American street gangs that started in the southern part of California. These people are found in...
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...Project Gangs David Vary Bryant & Stratton College CRJU102 W. Verna 25 July 2013 Introduction This paper is on Gangs. It will include the meaning of gangs both the Federal and State definition. The others areas it will cover will be the History of Gangs, The impact of Gangs, Gang Problems, Drugs and Trafficking, Guns and Violence, and Special gang Units. Federal Definition The federal definition of gangs as used by the DOJ, DHS, and ICE is an association of three or more individuals; whose members collectively identify themselves by adopting a group identity, which they use to create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation, frequently by employing one or more of the following: a common name, slogan, identifying sign, symbol, tattoo, or other physical markings, style or clothing, hairstyle, hand sign, or graffiti; whose purpose is to engage in criminal activity and which uses violence or intimidation to further its criminal objectives. Whose members engage in criminal activity or acts of juvenile delinquency that if committed by an adult would be crimes with the intent to enhance or preserve the association’s power, reputation or economic resources? The association may also possess some of the following characteristics: The members may employ rules for joining and operating within the association. The member may have to meet on a recurring basis. The association may provide physical protection of its member from others. The association may seek to exercise...
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...This paper summarizes and analyzes an article by Ruble and Turner (2000), entitled “A Systemic Analysis of the Dynamics and Organization of Urban Street Gangs.” The authors discuss how street gangs, which are highly complex, open and ongoing social systems with structures, processes and functionality, can be compared to family systems using a systemic and holistic perspective in order to provide professionals with a better understanding and more effective intervention. They discuss many of the motivations that individuals have to join gangs such as looking for closeness, cohesion, and acceptability as well as obtaining a sense of esteem, stability and connectedness that they are unable to obtain from other systems. After describing the demographics and different types of street gangs, Ruble and Turner (2000), apply the “same concepts that are used to describe family systems, such as hierarchies, subsystems and suprasystems, entropy and negentropy, boundaries, communication, and homeostatsis (Broderick, 1990; Minuchin, 1974; Walsh, 1982), to street gangs. They conclude that because gangs function based on an interrelatedness that connects every aspect of gang life together within a complex web of interactions, researchers and professional who seek to provide effective intervention programs must aim to approach street gangs from a holistic and systematic perspective. Points of Agreement with Systems Theory Ruble and Turner are consistent in their theoretical application...
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...The New York Italian Mafia first began it business ventures in the late 1890’s extorting businesses running theft rings and murdering people for money. From the later 1890’s to the early 1900’s most of these gangs thrived in poor Italian ghettoes. At this time these gangs where given the name the Black Hand for their part in extortion rackets that plagued the Italian neighborhoods. Through the early 1900’s these gangs expanded from Italian neighborhoods to city wide in New York ("Mafia in the United States", 2013). In January of 1920 prohibition began in the United States making it illegal to buy sale, manufacture, or transport alcohol. At this time there started to be a high demand for alcohol from the public. The New York Italian Mafia then morphed into a big time enterprises since the illegal sale of alcohol was tolerated by the public and many law enforcement officials were paid to look the other way. Most of the alcohol brought into the country at this time came from Canada, Caribbean, and stills that operated in the Midwest. During the 1920’s there began to be a power struggle within the Mafia gangs for control of territory and liquor sales. Gangs soon began to hijack each other’s shipments to force rivals to pay them for protection. It wasn’t until 1933 when prohibition ended that the Mafia moved to other business ventures ("Mafia in the United States", 2013). After prohibition the Italian crime families in New York had become criminal empires for their success in the...
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...The five points area had a very infamous reputation in 19th century New York City. The population was largely Irish and it was said to be the home of gang members and criminals of all types, and was mainly known as the home turf of Irish immigrant gangs. The five points received its name because it was the intersection of 5 streets, which formed five corners. The streets were: Mulberry, Little Water, Anthony, Cross, and Orange. Mulberry Street is the only street that still has its original name. While the neighborhood was predominantly Irish in the 1850s, there were also African Americans, Italians, and various other immigrant groups. The Irish were stereotypically described as criminals, violent and drunks. Unfortunately, the slum conditions and widespread crime of the Five Points only contributed to that attitude. The problems within the five points started with the five points area itself. The living conditions there were indescribably horrible. “See how the rotten beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to scowl dimly”(Doc. A). Tenements in the Five Points were made from wood and brick. The wooden structures measured about twenty to twenty five feet wide and twenty five to thirty feet deep, and stood two and a half stories high at most. These buildings were originally intended for shopkeepers businesses, and were meant to house their families and perhaps a few employees. By the 1850s, most of these shops had been made into small...
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...Side Story’s opening scene ‘The Prologue’ we are introduced to two rival gangs The Jets and The Sharks. We see the Jets for the first time as they move swiftly and calmly through their neighbourhood performing smooth low level step ball changes and drag walks. Their movements develop, becoming bigger and sharper and when they meet their enemy for the first time they freeze in a low confrontational lunge which is mirrored by the musical accompaniment suddenly changing to silence. New York City’s battling neighbourhoods during the 1950’s became one of Jerome Robbins’ key influences and we see this clearly throughout the opening scene. His choreography visibly depicts the beginnings of a ‘turf battle’ between the rival gangs, establishing not only the emotional climate for the play that follows but also provides a warning of some of the impending action. As the lengthy ‘Prologue’ scene develops, the extent of the gang’s hatred for each other becomes much more evident through the choreography and use of physical setting. Towards the end of the scene we see Baby John, a member of the Jets, writing on a wall ‘The Sharks stink’, when suddenly he is surrounded by four members of the Sharks. He is then chased across the basketball court being pushed to the ground and kicked by his rivals. This represents the influences of gang violence and allows the audience to immediately see the dramatic feud between the gangs. Immigration was another of Robbins’s key influences as it was an uprising...
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...Gang Activity and Drug Operation History of Gangs Jaime J. Sopena Richard Solita There is a major misconception in America that gangs originated here in the United States. First we must define; what is a gang? Merriam-Webster defines is as these three variations; a group of criminals; group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs; a group of people who are friends and who do things together. Though it is a general definition I am willing to argue that it may be more than that. In America today we see gangs as territorial, with this being said it can be dated all the way back since Homer’s The Iliad with the Achaeans and their adversaries. But what this paper will focus on the history of gangs in America. Street gangs have become predominantly larger through the previous centuries. Through the birth of this country “gangs” were made up of orphans who mustered together considering themselves like family to be stronger in as a tallied numbered force (Delaney 2006). There is evidence of “gangs” existing early America since the Revolutionary war, and since then researchers have recorded at least 500 gangs between 1760 and 1900(Gurr 1989). While this recorded research is accurate modern rendition of “gangs” became famous with such gangs like Forty Thieves and Dead Rabbits (Delaney 2006). Before there was any law enforcement in early America citizens in New York were pleased with the level of public safety and were not concerned...
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...by material possessions and monetary success. This opportunity is often blocked by this gulf, making it impossible to obtain. Throughout the United States the rise of gangs continue to plague rural, suburban, and urban communities. There is a devastating expansion of street gangs as of 2011, and there are becoming more sophisticated in the operations of drug trafficking and prostitution. Today’s gangs are becoming more organized and opportunistic with advanced technology to recruit new members each and every day. According to the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) there are roughly 33,000 gangs in America, 1.4 million gang members of the prison, street, and One Percenter OMG’s motorcycle gangs. There gangs are known in the Northeast and Southeast states of America (Adler, 1995). It is important to explore the way gangs are influenced by the cultural risk factors practiced in society, limited conditions lead to an alternative lifestyle, and the roles law enforcement and policymakers are identifying factors that destabilize neighborhoods. Gangs have plagued the streets of American for roughly 200 years as of today. Many of these gangs were immigrants that relocated to the United States to end up living in poverty. These youth members formed these gangs as a form of socialization and protection. These gangs compromised of members of the same race and...
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...as "mainly gangsterism that had become society itself and acquired respectability".[6] A wide variety of gangs, such as the Order of Assassins, the Damned Crew, Adam the Leper's gang, Penny Mobs, Indian Thugs, Chinese Triads, Snakehead, Japanese Yakuza, Irish mob, Pancho Villa's Villistas, Dead Rabbits, American Old West outlaw gangs, Bowery Boys, Chasers, the Italian mafia, Jewish mafia, and Russian Mafia crime families have existed for centuries. According to some estimates the Thuggee gangs in India murdered 1 million people between 1740 and 1840.[7] The 17th century saw London "terrorized by a series of organized gangs",[8] some of them known as the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, and Dead Boys. These gangs often came into conflict with each other. The members dressed "with colored ribbons to distinguish the different factions."[9] Many poor orphans in Victorian London survived by joining pick-pocketing gangs controlled by adult criminals.[citation needed] At the beginning of the 19th century, child criminals in Britain were punished in the same way as adults. They were sent to adult prisons, transported to the various Australian penal colonies, flogged, and sentenced to death for crimes such as petty theft.[10][11][12] All the major cities of Victorian England in the late 19th century had gangs.[13][14] Chicago had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s.[15] These early gangs had reputations for many criminal activities, but in most countries could not profit from drug trafficking...
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...Security Threat Gangs In Prison Name Tutor Course College Date There has been a major concern of gangs in correctional facilities. This phenomenon has been common in prisons since 1960s, and continues to be a major problem over the years in correctional structures. In the year 1920, the number of prison gang was over 1300 in Chicago city and many other cities liked Los Angeles had started witnessing prison gangs. To critically understand this problem, it is important to explore the history and type of prison gangs that exist. In most prisons there is frequent unruly behavior and violence because of the prison environment. The kind of lifestyle among inmates makes a society of its own. The modern gangs have distinct colors of clothing’s particularly for identification. They come from all race, black, Asian, Hispanic and Caucasian. The Aryan brotherhood gang originated in 1967, California’s San Quentin state prison was the hub of this gang. The gang was set up to protect white inmates from other dangerous gangs of the African and Hispanic origin. Initially, the gang was known as the “bluebird” or “Nazi gang” and most of its members were from the white supremacy, Irish and Germany origin. The group received money from drug traffic to sustain its source of operations in the prisons. The condition that required an inmate to join the AB group was to murder one person that was targeted by the group (Parenti, 2000). On the other hand, members of the gang who were freed...
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