Some gangs are new. Some are so old they forgot they're gangs.
Some gangs are hard to get into, others are hard to get out of.
Some people belong to several gangs. Others just one. Some - the unlucky - belong to none.
Some control territory. Others own land. Some have lieutenants, others have vice presidents. Some have old rituals to legitimize themselves but it's all the same.
New York's gangs differ in size, power distance, and the ratio of benefit vs. harm they do. But other than that, all these gangs have the same purpose: To divert resources into their coffers.
Old church and new church. St. Pat's is an expression of Catholic power. 30 Rockefeller is an expression of oil power. Different gangs.
A bank is a gang.
The staff of a restaurant is a loosely-affiliated gang.
A church - especially a rich one - is a tightly-affiliated gang.
A gang isn't an inherently bad thing.
A gang is a group of people working together to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome, while also creating meaning and belonging as they go.
It only becomes bad when that gang takes more than they give.
All organizations are gangs. Convince me otherwise.
But New York is different.
At the beginning of the modern city, the new gangs pushed out and even exterminated the people that were already here, and began competing with each other for the growing economic pie.
For almost every immigrant to this city, leaving home and coming here is challenging, if not traumatic. It's natural for people to look for allies, resources, and anything that will make it a little bit easier. Of course you're going to join a gang when you get here.
