“It’s really time to start declaring these gangs as terrorist organizations and having free reign to go in and take these groups out with full force.”
AGREED!!! Busting up these gangs is LONG overdue!!! We effectively destroyed the Mafia in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, why can’t we accomplish something similar here?
I would guess that the Mafia left too many trails and snitches and the Fedgov had more resources to track them.
Los Angeles has been fairly successful in minimizing gang violence in the last decade, although not entirely eradicated. Since I live in Orange County and don't follow the Mayor/Chief of Police in Los Angeles daily doings, I can't tell you exactly why.
My best local media guess is because the LA citizens were tired of it and put the Mayor's office and CoP on notice. I do know that they increased their specialty gang units over the last decade or so and made major busts. There seems to be a NO tolerance for gangs in LA anymore. The police identify, categorize the leaders, infiltrate, gather evidence, and then raid them. It's been working.
So what is the problem with Detroit, Chicago, Philly, St. Louis, DC, et al? As much as I dislike Los Angeles, they have been on the cutting edge of busting gang members. Of course, the Mexican Mafia continues to grow, but LA is slowly working that problem area also, and making inroads to that horrific gang syndicate. The Crips and Bloods are not what they use to be. They are close to being defunct. Good.