Well it was only a matter of time before this happened. The Bloods, Crips and others have taken to the internet. I knew Toronto was in for some rough times back in 1998 when I remember coming home from work and a gang wandered by my house sporting the trademark red bandanas of the Bloods. I recall feeling some relief as I was in the process of moving out of the neighbourhood a few days later. It was only recently that the city of Toronto has come to grips with the very real gang problem.
Now, with these groups on the internet there is a very possibility that they can now reach out to an audience that before could never have been accessed.
Crips, Bloods, MS-13, 18th Street and others have staked claims on various corners of cyberspace. “Web bangers” are posting potentially incriminating photos of members holding guns, messages taunting other gangs and boasts of illegal exploits on personal websites and social networking sites.
“I’m just being real and I ain’t got nothing to hide,” said Kristopher “Kasper” Flowers, 30, a professed member of the 18th Street gang with facial tattoos of “18” and “666.” The main 18th Street gang website has a link to “Kaspers World.”
While troubling, it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to use a computer.
[tags]Gangs, Bloods, Crips, MS-13, 18th Street, Gangs online[/tags]