NCJ Number
174858
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 84 (January 1998) Issue: Dated: Pages: 64-68
Date Published
1998
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes how prosecutors use Federal statutes and local laws to apprehend and incarcerate violent criminal gang members.
Abstract
Prosecutors use broad-based statutes, informants and conspiracy evidence to attack one of any gang's most vulnerable spots: the loyalty of its members. At the Federal level, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act and related conspiracy statutes have become the preferred weapons for removing gang leaders from the streets. Federal prosecutors have secured indictments and won convictions against street gang leaders in cities such as Shreveport, LA, to Providence, RI, as well as New York City and Chicago. Punishment is swift and severe, usually with mandatory life sentences for those convicted of the most serious charges. Los Angeles and other communities have used public nuisance laws to get civil injunctions forbidding gang members from associating in public and from engaging in other legal activities such as carrying pagers and cellular phones, which police say are tools of the drug trade.