West, from Prohibition bootleggers to modern-day drug gangs, ""Gangs and Gang Crime"" details the history of criminal gangs and their crimes. Today, most gangs exist on the streets or in prisons, and law enforcement agents have developed numerous techniques for identifying gangs, tracking their activities, breaking up illegal rackets, and addressing the social issues that can be contributing factors in the formation of gangs. This book includes such chapters as: Public Enemies; Hell on Wheels; Crips and Bloods; Gangs in Fiction and Film; and, Coping with Gangs. Cases and gangs covered include: The Plug Uglies, the Dead Rabbits, the Whyos, and other gangs of New York's Five Points; Prohibition-era bootlegging gangs; The Wild Bunch; The Hells Angels, the Outlaws, and other motorcycle gangs; The Black Guerilla Family, the Aryan Brotherhood, Nuestra Familia, and other prison gangs; Crips and Bloods; and, The Yakuza, the Jamaican Posse, the Russian mafia, and other international gangs.

Consultant editor: John L. French