NCJ Number
146833
Date Published
Unknown
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Over a 2-month period, 80 interviews were completed with inmates and wards at four California correctional institutions and 42 interviews were conducted with city and county police, State narcotics officers, and correctional officials in order to assess the social structure of street drug dealing and the relation between gangs and drug distribution.
Abstract
The study looked at structural links between the gang phenomenon and drug distribution, socialization into the drug business, the organization of street drug dealing, marketing arrangements of street drug dealing, effects of imprisonment on drug business contacts and the identity of gang members, cocaine, drug markets, and drug supply and interdiction. Findings revealed a distinction between cultural and instrumental gangs. Cultural gangs were not organized to sell drugs as a primary gang business. These gangs were typically found in the Mexican-American community and stressed loyalty to neighborhood and other gang members. In contrast, instrumental gangs were organized primarily for the purpose of selling drugs. Drug sale and use were related to class and ethnic background. Crack cocaine appeared to be the most profitable drug and was sold mainly by black street dealers. Some law enforcement officials felt that the crack cocaine phenomenon had peaked in southern California and that this accounted, at least in part, for gang expansion into other territories. Inner-city drug dealers were dangerous and sometimes violent criminals but could also be described as rational and calculating entrepreneurs. 23 endnotes