Criminal Group Embeddedness and the Adverse Effects of Arresting a Gang's Leader: A Comparative Case Study

Abstract

Although law enforcement agencies arrest criminal group leaders to dismantle organized crime, few studies have assessed whether such interventions produce adverse effects. Through a mixed-method comparative case study of the Latin Kings and 22 Boys street gangs in Chicago, this article examines the consequences of arresting a gang's leader. Using violent crime data, I show that a spike in violent crime took place in the first month after the arrest of the 22 Boys gang leader. In contrast, the arrest of the Latin Kings gang leader produced no change in violent crime. Using several qualitative data sources, I show that the arrest of the 22 Boys gang leader temporarily led to the gang's withdrawal from its territory, which spurred violent aggression from rival gangs in adjacent territories. In contrast, the Latin Kings gang continued its operations because the gang's prison leaders quickly appointed new leadership. The results suggest that criminal group embeddedness (or the social relations between criminal groups) can contribute to adverse effects in interventions targeting gang or other criminal group leaders.

One gang dies, another gains? The network dynamics of criminal group persistence*

“…Thus, although gangs are primarily ephemeral, much of what we know relies on a handful of persistent groups. The findings from these studies have revealed cohesion to be central to understanding group processes (e.g., Decker, 1996;Densley, 2015;Hennigan & Spanovic, 2012;Hughes, 2013;Klein, 1971;Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991;Short & Strodtbeck, 1965;Vigil, 1988), influencing group violence (Hughes, 2013), resilience to interdictions (Vargas, 2014), and the ability to carry out complex crimes (Tenti & Morselli, 2014).…”

Racial Profiling and Use of Force in Police Stops: How Local Events Trigger Periods of Increased Discrimination

“…Increasing the use of force ensures social control, (re)asserts authority, and retaliates against the offending group. In his ethnographic study of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, Vargas (2016) documents this police use of street justice to get back at residents who disrespected or assaulted fellow officers. Along similar lines, Fassin (2013) reports about police engaging in retaliatory violence in the suburbs of Paris.…”

“…In the end, the temporal duration largely remains an important empirical question that is essential for our understanding of the role of events. vances a small but growing line of research that uses events to better understand the mechanism that triggers the diffusion of intergroup conflict and violence (Papachristos 2009;Vargas 2014). The argument helps us to pinpoint not only where discrimination takes place but also when it happens.…”

“…This argument extends existing theories of discrimination and minority threat by a broader understanding of the social environment that nurtures racial bias. It contributes to a small but growing line of research in criminology that uses events to better understand the mechanisms that trigger the diffusion of intergroup violence (Papachristos 2009;Vargas 2014). The focus on events points to a mechanism that explains short-term (and potentially long-term) changes in the rates of discriminatory behavior.…”

Violence Prevention and Targeting the Elusive Gang Member

“…The traditional police approach to gang violence often centers on suppression: gang sweeps, hotspot policing, saturation patrols, and exclusionary zones (Tita and Papachristos : 31). Rather than low‐level members, law enforcement often views leaders, key players, or those most active in high‐profile activities like drug dealing or shootings as key to dismantling the organization (Vargas ).…”