Gangster Culture: videotaped assault becomes new hobbie for gang culture enthusiasts.
In a recent post I noted that tolerance for “gangster culture” played a major role in the gang rape of a 15 year old high school student on the grounds of Richmond High School.
As a follow up I’d like to offer two examples of how that particular culture revels in the afflicting of pain and injury on random individuals. In both cases, gang members or gang wannabes are assaulting strangers, and recording those assaults on video. The videos are distributed via the internet.
First from Minneapolis, a group of young thugs goes on a robbery spree and videotapes their violent crimes.
The second comes from Denver, where a new recreational activity is to sucker punch random Caucasians and Hispanics on the street.
At first glance these crimes seem illogical. If you are mugging someone for economic gain, why would you videotape the mugging? If you intend to assault someone, why record your violent deeds.
To answer either question you need to understand the violent and sociopathic “gangster” culture that these criminals aspire to. Within this culture, status is gained not just through an indifference to the pain of others, but a willingness to inflict random senseless suffering. The reason these individuals documented their crimes is that they valued the status that would come from others seeing their sadistic displays. In other words the risk of being caught and punished was simply not great enough to offset the intrinsic value of being seen as cruel, violent…or just plain bad.
These crimes, like the gang rape on the Richmond High School campus, is a product of our tolerance for gangster culture. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/01/crimesider/entry5279925.shtml
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13847653
As a follow up I’d like to offer two examples of how that particular culture revels in the afflicting of pain and injury on random individuals. In both cases, gang members or gang wannabes are assaulting strangers, and recording those assaults on video. The videos are distributed via the internet.
First from Minneapolis, a group of young thugs goes on a robbery spree and videotapes their violent crimes.
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS/WCCO) Police are looking into a viral video that appears to show a group of teenage boys engaged in a mugging spree in Minneapolis and St. Paul, while showing anything but remorse.
The YouTube video shows the boys smiling as they attack a man on a bike, a jogger and some young kids.
The “stars” of the video, which was posted on YouTube but was subsequently removed Tuesday afternoon, make no attempt to hide their identities.
They are shown smiling at the camera before ambushing their victims. One of them dons a mask depicting Heath Ledger’s Joker from the film “The Dark Knight.”
The second comes from Denver, where a new recreational activity is to sucker punch random Caucasians and Hispanics on the street.
(Denver Post) Peter DeQuattro, a 25-year-old cook, exited the Mall Ride at Civic Center Station around 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, after his shift at a Lower Downtown bar.
His next recollection was writhing on a gurney in the back of an ambulance, an eye swollen shut and adrenaline pumping as EMTs struggled to restrain him.
DeQuattro, who is white, was one of the most recent men targeted in a downtown-centered spree of attacks where small groups of black men and youths — many with admitted gang ties — tried to knock out white or Latino men with whacks to the head. They sometimes stole from them or taunted them with racial epithets.
DeQuattro never knew what hit him, though police have told him three men blindsided him from behind and then pummeled his face while he struggled from the ground to fight them off. In the process, they broke a bone just above his eye. The maroon bruise is just starting to fade, two weeks later.
“I usually don’t have to worry about these things,” said DeQuattro, hinting that his 6-foot, 4-inch stature normally deters would-be muggers. In this case, it might have been an incentive. “I never thought I would be the victim of a hate crime.”
At the time, he assumed some drug addict had mugged him for a fix, though police found his wallet and cellphone discarded a short distance from where he was jumped.
But he was shocked when Denver police announced Friday that they’d been investigating the spree of similar assaults in tourist areas like the 16th Street Mall and LoDo for four months and had arrested 32 suspects.
Police apprehended a 33rd man, Torrence McCall, when he turned himself in Sunday afternoon after first calling a local television station.
A gang-prevention leader, the Rev. Leon Kelly, has suggested the assaults are being videotaped and used to show how quickly the assailants can knock out their victims. According to Kelly, the recordings are traded on the black market and bolster street credibility.
The 26 attacks that police know about have followed a similar pattern. A small group of black men approach their white or Latino victim. Sometimes, racial epithets are used to taunt victims before they’re attacked. But often, they’re sucker-punched with “a whack to the head” and sometimes robbed, said Lt. Matt Murray.
At first glance these crimes seem illogical. If you are mugging someone for economic gain, why would you videotape the mugging? If you intend to assault someone, why record your violent deeds.
To answer either question you need to understand the violent and sociopathic “gangster” culture that these criminals aspire to. Within this culture, status is gained not just through an indifference to the pain of others, but a willingness to inflict random senseless suffering. The reason these individuals documented their crimes is that they valued the status that would come from others seeing their sadistic displays. In other words the risk of being caught and punished was simply not great enough to offset the intrinsic value of being seen as cruel, violent…or just plain bad.
These crimes, like the gang rape on the Richmond High School campus, is a product of our tolerance for gangster culture. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/01/crimesider/entry5279925.shtml
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13847653
