Commentary: Gang culture dark side of U.S. society

A recent disastrous gang fight in the southern U.S. state of Texas probably provided many a glimpse of the dark side of U.S. society: gangs are running rampant and have a fearsome existence in many places across the country.

Early on Sunday, a fight between rival motorcycle gangs turned deadly at a restaurant in Texas as nine people were killed and 18 others wounded.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic and bloody. Police reportedly recovered more than 100 weapons from the scene, and several vehicles with bullet holes in them.

The fight is just a tip of the iceberg. The various criminal gangs and mafia have virtually crippled quite a lot of American towns.

Gangs in the United States include several types of groups, including national street gangs, local street gangs, prison gangs, motorcycle gangs and organized crime gangs. It was reported that approximately 1.4 million people were members of a gang group in 2011, and more than 33,000 gangs were active in the United States.

Gangs are known to engage in traditional activities such as gambling, drugs and arms trafficking, counterfeiting, fraud and violence, and they have in recent years played an increasingly bigger role in human trafficking and prostitution.

The gang culture is as old as the history of the United States. The earliest American street gangs emerged at the end of the American Revolutionary War in the early 1780s. Despite ups and downs, the gang culture has spread from the northeast to almost every corner of the country.

Since the beginning of this century, gang groups have received considerable boost as a result of the deteriorating economy: they found it much easier to recruit new members as many young men became disillusioned in finding a proper job and chose to join a gang instead. Gang crimes increased in most parts of the country, especially in the west.

What's more surprising, gangs have become affiliated with U.S. military. A January 2007 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reported that gang members in the military were involved in the theft and sale of military weapons, ammunition and equipment, including body armor.

Statistics show that American gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crimes in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in other jurisdictions.

The U.S. gang culture also evolves with the progress of the technologies. At present, more and more gangs in the United States use the Internet as a powerful tool in conducting crimes.

The gangs are so rampant that it is probably a mission impossible for the U.S. police to root out the scourge. This was exactly the case in the Texas fighting on Sunday.

All in all, contrary to the fantasy that the moon is always brighter in the United States, the moonlight there is further darkened by deep-rooted social problems, with gang violence being one of them. Endi