Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010 3:42 pm

American gangsters vow allegiance as a way of life, religion and code they are willing to die for, a gang consultant said Friday at MTSU’s three-day 2010 Youth Gang Organized Crime Symposium.

“A gang is a modern religion comprised of a male-dominated predatory society that rewards extreme, deviant, criminal and self-destructive behavior,” said consultant Hunter Glass. “Gangs are in every county, every community.”

Glass, an expert on gang mentality and culture, spoke about the gang anatomy to about 250 participants at the symposium, including law enforcement officers, educators, counselors, corrections workers and ministers.

He narrated a video a school resource officer obtained depicting a six-minute beating of a prospective gang member during a gang initiation in 2000 in Goose Creek, S.C. The prospective member allowed the gang members to beat him and knock him down without defending himself.

After six minutes, one member “crowned” him into the gang by hitting him in the head. Then, the gang members “love on him” and place his colors on his shoulder.

Glass compared the military’s basic training to the gang’s indoctrination. Both groups have a desire, a violent indoctrination phase and an acceptance phase.

Once joining a gang, a member stays for the need to be and the need to belong to a group. The group replaces a family and supplies love, comfort, support and a sense of belonging.

“Gangs provide their members with an individual identity along with a group identity,” Glass said.

Some members are born into a generational gang while others are natural fits. A professional gangster might join the U.S. Army to recruit gang members.

“Serious gangs are in Nashville and can have a franchise in Murfreesboro,” Glass said.

Some gangs are banning together through a “hybrid” mix for survival purposes.

He showed a series of photographs of people who had their faces and backs tattooed to show gang affiliation. One man had an 18 tattooed on his face to show his 18th Street gang affiliation.

For the graffiti, Glass explained a web signifies the person lives in the web of crimes and a spider shows the person will always be a criminal.

The symposium concludes Saturday with speakers giving ways communities can combat gangs.