Presents strategies to enhance prosecution of gang-related crimes, focusing exclusively on enforcement and prosecution strategies against urban street gangs. Includes a step-by-step guide for designing and implementing a program based on the Model Strategies for Urban Street Enforcement, a demonstration program designed to establish model approaches to prevent and suppress gang violence. Contents: key elements of the gang suppression prototype, planning and analysis, gang info. and intelligence systems, gang suppression operations and tactics, interagency cooperation and collaboration, legal issues, and process and impact evaluation.

The overall goal of the research in this book was to understand gang phenomenon in the United States. In order to accomplish this goal, the author investigated gangs in different cities in order to understand what was similar in the way all gangs behaved and what was idiosyncratic to certain gangs. The research for this book took place over ten years and five months from 1978 to 1989 and will give the reader a comprehensive overview of gang behavior in the United States in that time period.

The original prison gang, the Mexican Mafia, is the fastest growing prison gang in the United States. The authors illustrate how this prison gang uses influence, power, and violence to control an army of over 40,000 street gang members across the nation and countless more internationally. Learn about the special relationship this group has with Hispanic street and prison gangs, Mexican drug trafficking organizations and the constant battle over money, power and control. The Mexican Mafia continues to expand its transnational criminal activities and will continue to diversify until the criminal justice system becomes more informed.

Described by the National Crime Agency as a ‘significant threat’, county lines involve gangs recruiting vulnerable youth to sell drugs in provincial areas. This phenomenon has impacted local drug markets, increasing criminal activity and violence. Exploring how county lines evolve, Harding reveals extensive criminal exploitation and control in the daily ‘grind’ to sell drugs. Drawing upon extensive interviews and case studies, this timely book gives voice to users and dealers, providing an in-depth analysis of techniques, relationships and ‘trapping’. With county lines now a critical issue for policing and government, this is an invaluable contribution to literature on gangs, youth violence and drugs.