Crew

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A crew comprises a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. The word has particular nautical resonances: the tasks involved in operating a ship, particularly a sailing ship, providing numerous specialities within a ship's crew, often organised with a chain of command. Traditional nautical usage strongly distinguishes officers from crew, though the two groups combined form the ship's company. Members of a crew are often referred to by the title "Crewman" and as well as "Crewmember".

The first use of the term 'crew' in popular culture was to describe groups of organised, white punks in the 1980s. These punk crews would socialise, drink, attend punk shows and occasionally commit acts of violence together. Some punk crews lived in squats together. Punk crews are now almost non-existent, possibly due to the influence of ska and reggae music on modern punk, mostly removing the call to random hatred and violence of innocent people and therefore negating the need to form violent crews. Some still exist, but most do not operate as punk crews once did, and now simply identify themselves as a group of friends that are as close as brothers.

Occasionally, a crew may refer to a graffiti group / group of gangsters, sometimes, but not necessarily involved in some illicit activity (Prostitution, weapon handling, narcotics, fake IDs, etc.). Sometimes the crew is based on a common interest such as cars, or forms a neighborhood sports team, with a superficial resemblance to a street gang involved with crime.

[edit] Other uses of the term

• For a specific sporting usage, see Rowing (sport).
• The word "crew" may also refer to a stage crew, which are the stage hands at such events as plays or any type of show related to a theater or theatrical production.
• The word can also refer to a film crew, which is the filmmaking equivalent of a stage crew.

"The Crew" is a morally controversial clan based in Georgia, USA. The group has a cult following and is led by their leader, Brad Yochum. Others in the group are Daniel French, Sam Crochet, and Stephen Braue. "The Crew" is infamous for their widely imitated gang signs, first debuted on GPTV during a highschool movie project in December 2002. In 2003, the group traveled to their city of origin, Decatur, Georgia, where they held a highly publicized demonic "fire dance", resulting in the freak dismemberment of Stephen Braue's right leg. Media frenzy ensued and the group was disbanded in the following months. Braue has since filed suit against Yochum and Crochet, who was blamed for the accident. Crochet is currently serving a 4 year prison sentence at the Dekalb county Federal Prison. Yochum has since become Vice President of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity in Athens, Georgia. Daniel French is an accountant in Atlanta, Georgia, while Braue has since become a member of the UGA football coaching staff. His dream was to make the team as a cornerback, though his disability "cut short" his hopes. Crochet hopes to be free March, 2007, where he reportedly plans to pursue a career in bounty hunting.