Longo's website on "Gang Information" of the Huron Valley Mens, "a gang is a group of people that form an allegiance to the exclusion of others, for a common purpose of engaging in violent, antisocial, or criminal behavior" (www.geocities.com/rainforest/4207/gangs.html). Gangs have been a problem for years in the big cities of the U.S. In Los Angeles, they account for about half of the city's murders. From 1991 to 1993 drive-by shootings in Wichita, Kansas rose 3,000 percent. Now the presence of gangs has been seen in smaller cities. Violent street gangs are now operating in 94 percent of all medium and large-sized cities. Steven Wiley, the FBI chief overseeing the fight against violent crime says that the small cities and towns of 25,000 and less are now experiencing gang activity. Despite the overall drop in the crime rate nationally, the problem of violent street gangs is an unwelcome exception. Gang membership has grown to more that 600,000 nationwide. (CNN, 1997) Evidence that smaller cities have seen a growth in gangs in recent years can be seen in Jackson, MI which has a population of about 50,000. Detective Gary Shuettee of Jackson Police department says that in Jackson alone the number of gang members in the last few years has quadrupled. Gangs in Jackson are responsible for drive-by shootings, murders, drug activity, and violence. He says that most of the gang members have migrated from Chicago and Detroit to capitalize on the drug market. A 1997 report from CNN attributes the migration of gangs to family relocation. When a gang member moves from a city such as Los Angeles or Chicago to a small community, he will be "revered in that community" says David Gonzales, commander of the Arizona State Gang Task Force, "he has instant credibility, and boom, you have an instant gang." These new "gang leaders" gain their control by setting in motion violence and anti-authority defiance among youths in these areas and thus the gang problem continues (CNN, 1997).
