Haunting the Chattanooga Street Gangs

Like most cities in the good old USA, Chattanooga has it's fair share of street gangs that carve out their own territories within the city. In 2011, the Chattanooga Police Investigators documented 40 active gangs and 1,100 gang members in the city. Each Community has a territory that serves as a syndicate that controlled drug trafficking, home invasions, robbery, theft, and other crimes. It is important to note that color does not apply in the gang affiliation in Chattanooga. The well known gangs that are in Chattanooga are the Bloods who run the southside, the Crips who run East Lake and North of Willow and Dodds, the Vice Lords who are allies to the the Bloods, the Gangsters Disciples who are allies to the Crips, Pirus who are allies with the Bloods, and MS-13 which transnational criminal gang. Whereas gangs like the Bloods and the Crips are hybrid gang meaning that they are made up of small gangs that have banded together. Now the Gangsters Disciples seem to have a chain of command and defined leaders and are more havs covert styles of selling drugs making them more of a organized-crime gang rather than the average steet gang. The Gangsters Disciples seem to do more recruiting than other gangs in the city and are the biggest in the city but the bloods are not far behind them.

FOLK NATION GANGS	FOLK SIGNS & SYMBOLS	PEOPLE NATION GANGS	PEOPLE SIGNS & SYMBOLS
Crips	6-point star	Bloods	5-point star
Gangster Disciples	Pitchfork facing up	Vice Lords	Dice
Black Gangster Disciples	Winged heart	Latin Kings	Crown
Latin Disciples	Devil horns	Pirus	Bunny head facing left
La Raza	Backward facing bunny head		Pyramid
	Number six with a tail		Crescent

The crimes gang members commit. Drugs are the most common gang-related crime, followed by assaults. Specific gang activities in neighborhoods involve bullying, intimidation, drug sales, loitering, violence and fighting, robberies, break-ins, prostitution, shootings and graffiti. Local gangs often fight over girls or relationship issues, and these confrontations sometimes include members of the same gang

Peak times for gang crime. Fridays are the busiest for gang crime. Tuesdays are the slowest. Crime peaks at 11 p.m.

On the street and on the Internet. Gang members are tech savvy and use Facebook and other social media to brag about their exploits, glorify their illegal lifestyles and plan activities

Need a gun? No problem. Gang members reported that it's easy to get guns in Chattanooga. If you have the cash, you can get "whatever you want on the streets," including AK-47s and high-powered rifles. Many younger members who were interviewed said that 15- to 18-year-olds commonly carry guns for protection. Only about one-third of suspects brandished a gun in gang-related crimes reported to police.

How do you identify these gangs well

Bloods = red; also sets known to wear brown, orange, burnt orange to represent dried blood

Crip = Blue

Vice Lord = Black, red, green, gold

 Gangster Disciples = black and blue

MS-13 = numerous tattoos on their bodies and faces, wear blue and white colors taken from the El Salvadoran flag.