Barrik van Winkle

“Slinging dope”: The role of gangs and gang members in drug sales

There are two competing views about the role of gangs and gang members in drug sales. The first argues that street gangs are well-organized purveyors of illegal drugs who reinvest the profits from drug sales into the gang. A second approach rejects this notion. Its proponents claim that drug sales by gangs are seldom well-organized and that gang members often act independently of the gang in selling drugs. We examine these two arguments in the context of findings from a three-year field study of street gangs in a large midwestern city. We find that gang members are involved extensively in the sale of drugs, but that sales are seldom well organized. These results are discussed in light of the organizational structure of the gang and the nature of the street drug market.

Life in the Gang: “Are You Claiming?” Methods of Study

The Research Strategy A SINGLE PREMISE guided our study; the best information about gangs and gang activity would come from gang members contacted directly in the field. We chose to contact gang members directly, without the intervention of social service or criminal justice agencies, for two reasons. First, we were concerned that individuals referred by agencies may be different from those contacted on the street. Social service agencies may be more likely to see tangential gang members, those who were on the fringe of gangs and gang activity. Thus referrals from such sources may not provide us with contacts with older individuals more deeply involved in gang activity. In addition, we refrained from using police contacts because of a concern that our study might be identified with law enforcement. This too would have inhibited our ability to reach leaders or hardcore gang members. The second reason we chose to use field-based techniques to contact gang members can be traced to our concern that the answers we received may be colored by the process through which subjects were recruited for the study. We recognize, however, that each method of contacting respondents carries its own liabilities. Simply because gang members were contacted by an experienced field ethnographer respected by individuals in the neighborhood is no guarantee that they were honest with us. The issues of response validity and reliability are important, and we pay close attention to them throughout the study.