Gang population

Reports on the number of people involved in criminal gangs, by locale.

Mara Salvatrucha suspect bearing gang tattoos is handcuffed. In 2004, the FBI created the MS-13 National Gang Task Force to combat gang activity in the United States. A year later, the FBI helped create National Gang Intelligence Center.

United States

Further information: Gangs in the United States

There were at least 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members active across the USA in 2007.[1][2] About 900,000 gang members lived "within local communities across the country," and about 147,000 were in U.S. prisons or jails in 2009.[3] By 1999, Hispanics accounted for 47% of all gang members, Blacks 31%, Whites 13%, and Asians 6%.[4]

The Latin Kings have over 25,000[5][6] members in the city of Chicago alone and have organized chapters in over 41 states and several Latin American and European countries, including: Mexico, Spain, Dominican Republic, Canada, Italy, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Brazil, United Kingdom and others.

Chicago

The newly released Chicago Crime Commission publication, "The Gang Book 2012", conveyed a startling statistic that Chicago has more gang members than any other city in the United States: 150,000 members[7] Traditionally Los Angeles County was considered the Gang Capital of America, with an estimated 120,000 (41,000 in the City) gang members.[8]

Chicago has a higher rate of gang membership per capita than Los Angeles.[9] The state of Illinois has a higher rate of gang membership (8-11 gang members per 1,000 population) than California (5-7 gang members per 1,000 population).[10]

Latin America

There are between 25,000 and 50,000 gang members in Central America’s El Salvador.[11]

The Mexican drug cartels have as many as 100,000 foot soldiers.[12]

Asia

The Yakuza are among the largest organized crime organizations in the world. In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86,300 known members.[13]

Hong Kong's Triads include up to 160,000 members in the 21st century.[14] It was estimated that in the 1950s, there were 300,000 Triad members in Hong Kong.[15] The Chinese government claims that police have eliminated 1,221 triad-style gangs across China since a crackdown was launched in 2006. More than 87,300 suspects have been arrested.[16]

Europe

The FBI estimates the size of the four Italian organized crime groups to be approximately 25,000 members and 250,000 affiliates worldwide.[17]

See also

By country:

References

Further reading