HISTORY OF STREET GANGS

HISTORY OF STREET GANGS IN THE UNITED STATES

The first active gangs in Western civilization were reported
by Pike , a widely respected chronicler
of British crime. He documented the existence of gangs of
highway robbers in England during the 17th century, and
he speculates that similar gangs might well have existed
in our mother country much earlier, perhaps as early as
the 14th or even the 12th century. But it does not appear
that these gangs had the features of modern-day, serious
street gangs.1
 More structured gangs did not appear
until the early 1600s, when London was “terrorized by a
series of organized gangs calling themselves the Mims,
Hectors, Bugles, Dead Boys … who found amusement in
breaking windows, [and] demolishing taverns, [and they]
also fought pitched battles among themselves dressed
with colored ribbons to distinguish the different factions”
(Pearson, 1983, p. 188).
The history of street gangs in the United States begins 
with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783,
as the American Revolution ended (Sante, 1991). But
there is considerable justification for questioning the
seriousness of these early gangs. The best available
evidence suggests that the more serious street
gangs likely did not emerge until the early part of the
nineteenth century (Sante, 1991).