Gang activity and gang organization

propensity, and anti-authority attitudes as being individual-level factors positively associated with gang affiliation (Raby and Jones 2016). Finally, substance use (i.e., alcohol, marijuana and hashish) emerged in the interviews as being particularly related with individuals’ involvement into gangs and gang violence. Drug and alcohol use is exacerbated by gang membership (Raby and Jones 2016) and lead young gang members to violence which in turn results to early contact with the criminal justice system (Fleisher 2015; Warr 2002). These findings suggest that crime and delinquency have been important parts of the process of gang joining, an aspect not always central in by previous enquiries on Latin gangs in Italy (e.g., see Queirolo Palmas 2009a).

the applicability of the Eurogang definition (Weerman et al. 2009) to Latin gangs in Milan.

Latin gangs have emerged as instrumental-rational organizations—rather than informal-diffuse groups of loosely connected individuals (see section 1.2)—with leaders dictating the group activities in several aspects. Leadership involved decision-making responsibilities on recruitment, change of the internal structure (through promotion or downgrade of members’ status), convocation of meetings, aggression of rival groups, and criminal and profit-oriented activities as drug selling. Despite the organized nature of gangs and the importance of leaders for guiding the group, leadership emerged more as a situational role rather than a permanent status (on MS13, see Wolf 2012; see also Decker and Van Winkle 1996). Leadership therefore was dynamic and volatile (Klein, Maxson, and Miller 1995; see also Morselli 2009), with the group’s internal structure also suffering from law enforcement arrests. Nonetheless, gang members kept communicating with leaders imprisoned, providing them with economic support (e.g. for legal fees) and information about the gang on which they still had an influence. Leadership and other gang features—as specific roles, regular meetings, and written rules—not only contributed to the organization the group, but also enforced members’ group identity (Leverso and Matsueda 2019). Individuals’ attachment to the gang was also influenced by the fact that leaders devoted great attention to the management of the group, also achieved through activities related to its financial sustainment. In this regard, gangs were involved in profit-oriented activities, as the collection of weekly dues from members, organization of social events to collect money, and illicit behavior as drug sales. As previous research has argued, the use of money collected through such activities is an indication of the degree of organization of gangs (Decker, Bynum, and Weisel 1998; Wolf 2012). Results highlighted that financial sustainment was one of the core aspects associated with the management of the group, with money collected through dues and crimes being used for group rather than individual purposes. With regard to crimes, drug sales generated some profit for Latin gangs, again suggesting an internal organization aimed at generating financial proceeds to be shared among the group. Nonetheless, gangs were not successful in establishing and/or consolidating their presence in the illicit drug market. This suggests Latin gangs in Milan had a sort of hybrid nature. On the one hand, such groups were highly organized with roles, internal structure, rules and involvement

in drug-selling; on the other hand, gangs did not emerge as being groups effectively organized around profit-oriented activities. Thus, as previously observed by Decker and Van Winkle (1995), Latin gangs in Milan represented groups providing their members with a sense of belonging and protection and reputation, with “commitments to instrumental concerns […] expressed only with regard to pursuits of more immediate gratification” (1995, 602). Moreover, gangs’ street nature and extensive involvement in violent crimes made them highly visible and vulnerable to law enforcement interventions.

Violent crimes were essentially the result of between gang feuds whose roots trace back to gang conflict in members’ motherland, as the case of the Salvadorian MS13 and Barrio18.

The hybrid nature also emerges when assessing Latin gangs in terms of maturity levels, as conceptualized by Gottschalk (2016). In fact, most of the gangs at the time of law enforcement surveillance displayed signs typical of the consolidation stage, as groups had a formal hierarchy with leadership roles, formal rules and punishment for their violations, and systems of criteria to evaluate gang members (Gottschalk 2016, 1273). However, gang illicit and/or profitable activities were not perpetrated in organized networks and gangs were still extensively involved in activities characterizing maturity level 2 of territorialization. In fact, even organized Latin groups were highly involved in claiming specific turfs through violent and risky criminal activities.

Another indicator of gang organization regarded Latin groups’ external relations (Decker 2001). As results from content analysis have shown, in many instances the police intercepted transnational contacts between gang members in Milan and gang members in Latin America or other countries (e.g., Sweden, Spain). These transnational external relations emerged as informal communications to update gang members elsewhere about the development of the gang in Milan. In some instances, members of the Trinitarios and the MS13 spoke with gang leaders abroad about the necessity of receiving new members from Latin America to enhance their power over rival groups. In other occasions, the leader of the Barrio18—who was already a gang member before migrating to Italy—

spoke freely with gang members in El Salvador. As gang leaders reported in wiretapped conversations, the contacts occurred with members imprisoned in El Salvador rather than with gang members on the streets. The conversations regarded a variety of topics, among all the constant rivalry with the MS13 and the alleged capability of gang leaders in Milan

of solving issues that other compatriots in Milan had in El Salvador. Such contacts highlight that gang members in Milan were aware to be part of larger criminal organizations to the extent that gang members could move to other territories where their gang was present—as reported by a MS13 leader in one conversation. In some occasions, members of the MS13 and the Trinitario even claimed to have sent money to the gang in their motherland, El Salvador and Dominican Republic respectively, to sustain members’

legal expenses. Despite these transnational contacts, the analysis of wiretapped conversations did not find evidence that there was an actual coordination and/or control of the groups in Milan by the groups in Latin America. In line with previous research, this suggests that there has not been a collective gang migration (Maxson 1998; Wolf 2012), but rather the migration of individuals. The subsequent emergence of gangs therefore has been the result of a “cultural transmission of gang symbols, including names, clothing, language, posturing, reputation, and affectations” (Van Gemert and Decker 2008, 21; see also Balmaceda 2007; Bruneau, Dammert, and Skinner 2011). Gang glocalization (Feixa and Romaní 2014; Van Hellemont and Densley 2019) appears to play a role also in the context of Latin gangs in Milan: street groups were influenced by the global gang culture to the extent that members embraced the same styles and symbols found elsewhere. Examples of these processes have emerged especially from wiretapped conversations. Latin gang members identified themselves with pre-existing codes of conducts (or rules), colors, and even songs shared on social media channels (as Facebook or YouTube). Individuals have benefited from the global gang culture without being passive actors; in some occasions they have mentioned, for instance, their desire to compose a song to contribute to what has emerged as being a transnational gang brand (more than a transnational criminal organization). Wearing the same clothes, carrying the same symbolic weapons (e.g., the machete), using the same gang signs, and getting gang-related tattoos immediately places Latino juveniles and young adults within a broader context not bounded only to the local territory in which they live. For these reasons, addressing how global gang identity influences and impact local groups emerge as being essential to fully understand social and deviant street group dynamics, as “gangs fulfil desires and answer to emotional needs that go beyond a sense of belonging” (Van Hellemont and Densley 2019, 185).

Finally, it is important to discuss gang activity and gang organization in light of the Maxson-Klein (1996; 2006) five gang typologies (see Table 1 in section 1.2).

Transnational Latin gangs resembles what the authors called the neotraditional gang.

Through the maturity levels framework, Gottschalk (2016, 1273) has argued that street gangs at maturity level 3 of consolidation may be interpreted as traditional street gangs.

However, given the hybrid nature of Latin gangs in Milan previously discussed, they are better interpreted as neotraditional gangs. In fact, based on the analysis of judicial documents, most of the Latin gangs were organized into one or more subgroups. The Latin King Chicago and the MS13 emerged as the most structured groups—with 5 and 3 different cliques, respectively—while the Barrio18 was the only transnational gang without evidence of subgroups. These groups have been in existence for less than 10 years and they are small in size (i.e., less than 50 members)—in this resembling more the compressed gang—with the exception of the MS13 and the Latin King Chicago which counted more than 50 members.¹⁰² The age range is medium-wide, with a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 23 years between the oldest and the youngest member. The Salvadorian MS13 and Barrio18 were among the gangs with the largest age range, 23 years 18 years respectively. Territoriality is another aspect related with gangs, as parks or other public spaces were often mentioned and/or claimed as their turf also through the extensive use of graffiti. Finally, all gangs displayed crime versatility, as they were involved in different types of crimes, including property crimes, violent and serious crimes, drug-related crimes and illegal carrying of weapons.