NCJ Number
123525
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (1990) Pages: 1-41
Date Published
1990
Length
41 pages
Annotation
Drug distribution in California as related to the gang phenomenon, and street drug dealing are discussed.
Abstract
Interviews were conducted with inmates at four California correctional institutions, city and county police, State narcotics officers, and correctional officials. Cultural gangs, typically found in Mexican-American communities, are not organized for the purpose of selling drugs as a business of the gang, but stress loyalty to neighborhood and to other gang members. By contrast, the entrepreneurial gang is organized primarily for the purpose of selling drugs and perceive themselves as organized criminals. A puzzling finding was that drug sale and use are related to class and ethnic background. Working-class whites prefer crank and speed, blacks prefer crack cocaine, and Mexicans prefer PCP or angel dust. Since crack cocaine appears to be the most profitable drug and is sold mainly by black street drug dealers, the sale of that drug seems to have blurred the distinction between the cultural and the entrepreneurial gang. 3 notes, 18 references.