Inc. While the document presented here is by no means complete, it does offer a good grounding in contemporary gang phenomemon.
All gangs have identifiable levels of membership.
These levels of membership indicate status within a gang and acts as the organizational maintenance systems. There are actually six levels of gang structure. The leader is all powerful. Most violent gang activity emanates from the hard core gang members. The associate gang member has usually made a personal commitment to the gang culture and is dedicated to achieving the level of recognition needed to attain hard core status.