Hi Chet & Seed, new thread, couldn't help myself. There were songs of the New York City gangs, The "Great Police Fight" about the State Legislature abolishing the city police dept & installing a new Municipal Police because of the corruption & the "Dead Rabbits Fight with the Bowery Boys" a 2 day gangwar where the police were outguned & numbered untill the militia finially ended it. Of course these are folk songs of NYC & not of the gangs. Just after the turn of the century these gangs began to coexist, laying the foundation of the modern day Crime Syndicate. Arnold Rothstien was the catalist & organizer, the man who fixed the 1919 world series Black Sox scandal, he was Charles Salvador "Lucky" Lucaino (sp?) first inspirational teacher. Charlie (who went on to be the figurehead or CEO of crime) buddied up then with the Bugs & Meyer gang (Bugsy Segal & Meyer Lansky, Meyer who went on to become Comptroller & financial wizard of the Company), the Elder Statesman "3 Fingers Brown" became council to all & was Charlie's mentor. These men started young, were very intelligent, ruthless & looked towards their future. They were professionals who were proud of what they did & good at it to boot, family men for the most part. When they joined forces with the goverment they went corporate & legitimized their image, doing away with the vicious hotheads, Bugsy, Maddog Coll, the Dutchman, Big Al, they used the new legal arm, Murder Inc. & took control of the garment industry then the docks which eventually lead to the use of the Maifia to control the waterfronts of the north eastern seaboard durning WWII & paved the way for the Allies to enter Italy & set up crime lords in their major cities. OK, enough, they had the hopes & dreams of those of their times (although very different ways of procuring them), on the whole they were intelligent with a twisted sense of foresight, had hope, they had the blessing & backing of politicians & goverment, organization & finacial wealth & they didn't hate, it was just a job. Today your average gangs lack some of this but the national groups & posses lack not the brains but the education. They all lack pride, professionalism, foresight but they have the hate & the intelligent amoung them will rise to the top, again to be the rabid dogs they are & will turn to bite us. Offering hope & education is the way out for those of us that have to live with this. These kids may not know their history but they sure can sense what happens around them. Barry