Gangs and Revenge

A scary look at the world of gang violence and revenge by Loren Christensen. In "IT’S ALL ABOUT REVENGE," Christensen discusses the various ethnic gangs and how they operate.

From the article:

In the gang world, no challenge, assault or diss (act of disrespect) can go unanswered since being a gang member is all about holding onto respect and reputation (rep). When a diss occurs to a gang by a rival, only revenge will satisfy the offended gang. To them, revenge shows the world (mostly themselves, really), that their rep is intact and is to be respected. Gang history teaches us that revenge will be in the form of a bloody beating, a bullet-spray drive-by or even a bombing.

When the offense is to an individual gang member, there is an expectation within his gang that the offended member will automatically seek revenge to uphold the rep that has been given to him by his peers. In fact, the expectation is so great that if for whatever reason a member doesn't strike back, he may have to face the rage of his own gang. "A banger's gang will give him hell if he doesn't get revenge when he's been dissed," says Detective Doug Justus, a veteran gang officer on the West Coast. "Often times they beat up their own member for not doing a payback." Offend a member, and the gang's reputation is also at stake.

Read it.