New Orleans

I've only been to New Orleans once so I really don't know the extent of what goes on there, but I do know that New Orleans has many times been the "per-capita" murder capital of the nation. What this means is that New Orleans had the highest murder rate per 100,000 people. This is a way to adjust for cities with smaller populations than the major cities. Before Katrina, New Orleans was on pace to be far and away the most deadly city in the U.S. The F.B.I has described the gangs in New Orleans as "small, loosely organized, and hard to track."

Time Magazine did an article about how bad the bloodshed in New Orleans was before Katrina. They cited two gangs "the Dooney Boys and 3 n G" as ruthless. They said they were "tearing up the streets of New Orleans." The article talks about how everyone in New Orleans follows the G code and never snitches. There has been 30 year long struggles between police in New Orleans and witnesses who won't talk. This is because New Orleans' gangsters have had a long history of killing snitches who testify in court. This has created a city of people scared into silence. They gave a figure that said 93% of the cases in New Orleans do not result in jail time. Which is pretty insane.

Also, as New Orleans is rebuilding, there have been reports that more organized gangs have been coming into the community. There have been arrests of MS-13 members as well as Latin Kings now in New Orleans. Time Magazine also noted that many of the gang members from New Orleans who were forced to evacuated fled to Houston. There were 30 New Orleans evacuees arrested in Houston for various crimes. And DEA agents believe many of these New Orleans residents set up strong ties with some junkies and dealers from Houston.