about: groups of individuals who share a common identity

The term gangster (or mobster) refers to a criminal who is a member of a crime organization, such as a gang. The terms are widely used in reference to members of gangs associated with American prohibition and the American offshoot of the Italian Mafia, such as the Chicago Outfit or the Five Families. The related word "mobster" is a term derived from Latin and Aramaic. The word mobi means large gathering in Aramaic, and similarly, mob in Latin means crowd.

Gang is from the past participle of Old English gan "to go". It is cognate with Old Norse gangr "a group of men", and it is in this sense that the word is used today, rather than the older meaning.

Historic criminal gangs

A wide variety of historic gangs, such as the Muslim Assassins, Adam the Leper 's gang, Indian Thugs, Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, Russian mafia, Irish mafia, American Old West outlaw gangs and Italian Mafia crime families have existed for centuries. These early gangs were known for many criminal activities, but in most countries could not profit from drug trafficking prior to twentieth century drug prohibition laws such as the 1912 International Opium Convention and the 1919 Volstead Act. Gang involvement in drug trafficking increased during the 1970s and 1980s, but some gangs continue to have minimal involvement in the trade.

Gang signs

main: Gang signal

Gangs often establish distinctive, characteristic identifiers including graffiti tags colors, hand-signals, clothing, jewelry, hair styles, fingernails, slogans, signs such as the swastika, the noose,the cross, five pointed and six pointed stars, crowns and tridents , flags for example the Confederate flag, secret greetings, slurs, or code words and other group-specific symbols associated with the gang's common beliefs, rituals, and mythologies to define and differentiate themselves from rival groups and gangs.As an alternative language, hand-signals, symbols, and slurs in speech, graffiti, print, music, or other mediums communicate specific informational cues used to threaten, disparage, taunt, harass, intimidate, alarm, influence, or exact specific responses including obedience, submission, fear, or terror. One study focused on terrorism and symbols states: "... Symbolism is important because it plays a part in impelling the terrorist to act and then in defining the targets of their actions." Displaying a gang sign, such as the noose, as a symbolic act can be construed as "... a threat to commit violence communicated with the intent to terrorize another, to cause evacuation of a building, or to cause serious public inconvenience, in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience...an offense against property or involving danger to another person that may include but is not limited to recklessly endangering another person, harassment, stalking, ethnic intimidation, and criminal mischief."