Crime is linked to the face of the 'banger'
by Erica Grimaldo, Outpost staff
About 10 to 12 gangs are operating in Reno regularly, according to an annual report released in December 1999 by the Community Action Team gang unit from the Reno Police Department.
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In addition, Bay Area gang members, usually black, frequently come to sell their drugs downtown.
"We've had problems with them but their interest is mainly economic," CAT head Lieutenant Jake Wiskerchen said. "They don't come in terms of establishing turfs."
Patterns established across the nation show that the types of crimes and drugs associated with each gang and its mode of operation is linked to the prevalent race of its members.
Local black gang members, about 9 percent of the total gang population in Reno according to RPD's 1998-1999 Annual Gang Report, follow the pattern of their California counterparts.
"Black gang members have historically been in it for the money, not the turf," CAT officer Chris Burke said. They commonly sell rock cocaine and "if there are two members of different gangs and they can both sell in the same corner and make a profit, they will."
"Our gang population follows city demographics with the exception that there is only one major white gang in town," Wiskerchen said. "It's a white supremacist group. They got a lot of media attention with the bombing attempt on a Jewish temple a couple of weeks ago" (Dec. 1999).
Aside from joining white supremacist groups, white gang members, which account for about 18 percent of Reno gang members, are often assimilated into black and Latino gangs.
Female gang membership in Reno is growing. It increased about 16 percent last year. That makes women about 13 percent of the general gang population.
"We usually get them for possession of guns as opposed to committing the crime," Burke said. "They'll hide them for their boyfriends because they think we won't search them."
Gang graffiti denotes turf (left) while taggers'
graffiti tend to be colorful and elaborate |
Women have traditionally played secondary roles within a gang but the gang report noted,"it has been noticed that females have been taking a more active role than in the past."
Another subculture associated with gangs is that of the 'taggers.'
Members are traditionally nonviolent 'wannabe urban muralists' who leave colorful and elaborate marks for public display in the walls of businesses, schools and highways within their turf.
Incidents of graffiti comprised 72.6 percent of gang related crimes in Reno last year. There were 1,240 cases reported but it is unknown if it is the work of gang-affiliated taggers or gang members.
Posted Feb. 25, 2000
Copyright 2000 Nevada Outpost
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