Comes with the Territory
Omni: What are you working on now?
Wolf: I’m doing a paper on territoriality for the International Association of Intelligence Analysts. I’m applying the concept of territoriality among outlaw bikers to street gangs and showing how it can be a common frame of reference. Interestingly, when you ask members of any club — whether it’s the Mafia, an Asian street gang, or outlaw bikers — what they fear most, it’s not the cops; it’s someone else exactly like them, with the same values, who happens to have a different patch on his back and lives in the same city. Because when two gangs are at war, there are no rules. Well, there is one rule: you never phone the cops unless you’re dead. Once you phone up a cop, that’s an open invitation for them to come into your house and say, “Okay, so what’s the story? What’s going on here?”
Omni: There must be some cases in which the police are appropriate?
Wolf: No. There was one situation in which one of the King’s Crew was in a grocery store, and two members of the Grim Reapers came by, and they waited outside with shotguns pointed at him. He ran back in the store and phoned the cops, and the cops picked up the Grim Reapers. The King’s Crew guy wisely decided, “Well, no, I don’t want to leave charges,” but it wasn’t enough. When the King’s Crew found out he’d phoned the cops, even though they were at war with the Grim Reapers, he was out of the club, because you can’t have the cops coming in.
You should handle it on your own. If you wake up in the hospital, and you’ve been knifed and what have you, and you’re in pretty shitty shape, you just have to hope your club can get it together. If not, then your club goes down the tubes.
Omni: Are there any rules during warfare? The Mafia used to have rules such as you don’t hit a guy when he’s with his family but you can shoot him at his girlfriend’s.
Wolf: That will vary from club to club. Asian-American clubs will go into a rival’s home to kill him, whereas African-American clubs don’t; they usually do drive-bys and shootings. That’s a big difference.
Omni: Do street gangs have the same kinds of brotherhood as outlaw clubs?
Wolf: Oh, they all have different kinds of brotherhood. Gangs are not as organized as clubs, obviously, and they’re easier to get into. They take recruits off the street. Motorcycle clubs are more stable than street gangs, and police forces aren’t going to try to infiltrate them because it’s too dangerous and might take four years. In some cities the police form their own little groups and then try to interact with the clubs. That was a little more successful.
Omni: Have you done much hands-on research with street gangs?
Wolf: That’s what I want to get into. I’m receiving major feedback from groups studying criminal organizations. I’m thinking about shifting my emphasis from anthropology to criminology and perhaps doing some criminological analysis with police departments. I’d like to get to a hands-on street-level approach.
Omni: Do you have any contact with the Rebels now?
Wolf: No substantial contact. It’s similar to what happened with Vietnam vets when they came back. When they are in Vietnam, they knew how the other breathes, whether they snore, how fast they walk, what their strengths and weaknesses are. They’ll lay down their lives for each other. It’s a tremendously close commitment. Yet a year later they don’t send each other postcards. The reality’s changed.
Omni: Were you changed by your three and a half years with the Rebels?
Wolf: I think I became a lot more responsible. Under certain situations I’d just have to perform. I didn’t have the option of thinking about it; it became an automatic reaction. Very few people belong to organizations like that. It’s interesting: most cops I’ve talked to are fascinated by the bikers and their organizations. Many things that go into being a biker are the same as go into being a cop. Both must present a powerful image so as to give an impression of being in control of a situation. Both demand a level of interpersonal commitment that goes beyond just doing one’s job professionally. They have the same sort of selection process, machismo, fascination with high-speed, powerful things, the same sets of circumstances.
The End