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Chinese
Youth Gangs in Brooklyn
From The World Journal
September 24, 2003
The Chinese teenagers involved in assaulting
a group of white and Hispanic students and stabbing a 14-year-old
white male in Brooklyn
belong to a group youth gang called “Little Boys Crew,” or
the LBC, according to the police.
The group is not considered an
organized crime group but had violent fights over territory in
the past. They have fought with other
youth gangs in Chinatown and other parts of Manhattan, such as “Notorious
Asian Crew,” or the NAC, and “The Finest,” or
the TF, and its members have been arrested before.
The assault in
Brooklyn, which involved more than 50 people, has drawn attention
from the police in Brooklyn and Chinatown, and
they are closely monitoring the group.
The police said the fight
was not ignited by hate crime since some of the victims’ Chinese
friends were also beat up. They believed it was merely a juvenile
quarrel caused by some friction from a
popular online game called “Counter-strike.” The teenagers
involved in the fight were regular visitors to the Internet cafes
on Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn and came from different schools.
The
Little Boys Crew, a newly founded Chinese youth gang in Chinatown
and Brooklyn, is made up of mostly Cantonese and Fuchownese teenagers.
They are mostly recent immigrants with working-class parents who
have no time to discipline them.
The police said it is difficult
to estimate the number of its members since it is not a really
organized gang, but believe the number
is over a hundred. However, the members do not necessarily know
each other and they do not use special codes or clothing to show
their affiliation with the group.
The Notorious Asian Crew is by
far the biggest Chinese youth gang, while the Little Boys Crew
is comparable to The Finest, police
said. Their members range from 12 to 25 but the majorities are
middle or high school students. Although they have been involved
in some violent fights, they have never robbed or threatened anyone.
They are mostly involved in minor fights over girlfriends, basketball
or handball courts and other trivial matters.
Another similar incident
occurred earlier this year when the Little Boys Crew fought with
the Notorious Asian Crew over a handball
court in Chinatown. A Little Boys Crew member was seriously injured
and required 40 stitches. More than 20 Notorious Asian Crew members
were arrested.
The police said a popular weapon among those gang
members is called “Asp.” It
is an illegal weapon but can be easily found in the stores in Chinatown.
Most
of the gang members met through school or through common hangout
areas. They are from I.S. 131 in Chinatown, the High School of
the Humanities, Wagner Middle School, Fort Hamilton High School
and McKinley Junior High School in Brooklyn. Some of them are
from the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School.
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Translated from Chinese by Larry Tung
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