Philadelphia

Philadelphia has always been notorious for corruption ever since the political machines of the early 20th century. And the Philly Mafia has always had strong control over the city. In many parts of the city it is very obvious where the Mafia has left their mark. There is also a strong street gang presence in the city. The gangs out in Philly remind me a lot of what you might see in New York. Many feel that as of late, Philly has been growing more and more dangerous. There have even recently been city wide demands to stop the killing in Philadelphia. So far in 2007 there have been a bunch and in 2006 there were 406 murders. It's no joke out there on the streets of Philly. People are dying every day.

When I was out in Philadelphia a couple years back they had to implement the Operation Safe Schools program. This was a response to two after school shootings in Philadelphia. I mean, shit is crazy out in their school systems. As far as I've heard the Bloods and Crips and other large gangs are not present in Philadelphia. Some of them are but for the most part, the gangs to be found are well established gangs that started way back in the 70s. But most of these gangs are very localized. A lot of these gangs attract very young members because many of them are fairly unorganized.

Oakland

Cocland- One of the very first cities to get hit by the 80s crack boom, Oakland has truly never looked back. The murder rate in Oakland saw a major increase from 2005 to 2006 and they also see a large number of fights at their crazy ass "sideshows." For those who don't know, this is when you see a bunch of wild ass OakTown people at an intersection doing all types of crazy shit with their cars. Doin donuts, dancin, all types of crazy shit... and most of them are drugged out. Out of the hoods I've been to, I might have to give the award for craziest people to Oakland. It's like the people out there stay fucked up 24/7 and they do some of the craziest stunts you will see.

The land of Felix Mitchell. This is another true G most of you guys don't know about. If you are not from the Oakland area, chances are you haven't heard of him. He was an East Oakland cat who gained monopolistic control of crack in Oakland. It is estimated that his crew was pulling in a million a month back in the 80s. Mitchell loved giving back to the community in Oakland too though, and there are reports of him taking Oakland children on field trips. He was like a superstar in Oakland, people would watch him drive by, hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the road. After he died his funeral had a procession through Oakland in which he was carried by a horse and carriage and thousands of residents lined the streets to pay homage. It was as if he was a king.

One thing to note about Oakland, that is similar to cities like Camden New Jersey, is that it is basically one big ghetto. Most cities obviously have nicer areas and rougher areas. However, Oakland has virtually no nice area. This is because Oakland is basically the ghetto of San Fransisco. San Fransisco has hardly any rough areas. Oakland's population is 416,000, so by large city standards it's not really too huge. However, because it is basically one big ghetto, it sees a lot crime. Oakland does not have the same South Central California gang structure as much of California. Most of the gangs in Oakland were formed as selling gangs during the crack boom, and a lot of them have stayed together. This is not to say that there are none of the traditional gangs to be found in Oakland, because they can obviously be found there. They are just not as prevalent in Oakland.

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.

Houston

I have also not been to Houston too many times in my days. But it has ranked as tops in homicides a couple years, so there is definitely a lot of dangerous shit going on in Houston. Houston started getting major recognition on a mainstream scale around 2005 when chopped and screwed Texas music started hitting MTV. But Houston has been a very dangerous city for quite some time. There is history of rivalry between North and South Houston. And there have been major gang movements in Houston as of late. That's all I really know about Houston for now, hopefully I'll get the chance to visit sometime soon.

Atlanta

Atlanta is considered to be the most heavily forested urban area in the U.S. What does this mean? The criminals and gangs and mafia have hiding places for their illegal contraband and dead bodies. In 2004 Atlanta had 151 homicides but the number has gone down since then. In my travels through Atlanta I saw some very rough areas. The ghettos of Atlanta have a very different look. Many have a small town feel because the city is fairly spread out and many areas are wooded. The gang structure there is different than many other cities. I am not as familiar with the gang structure in Atlanta however I'm sure there is some sort of Mafia presence. Many of the famous strip clubs in Atlanta have mob ties. There is also a strong Mexican mafia/gang presence in the city from what I've heard.

But also, from my trips, I noticed something kind of funny about the city. Atlanta seems to have the highest amount of fake ass thugs per capita when compared to any other city. It seems as though every middle class kid and teenager in Atlanta wants to dance around and pretend to be hard. It could be that it was just coincidence from what I saw when I was there, but for the most part it looked like there were a lot of fakers runnin' around in Atlanta.

St. Louis

St. Louis is ranked the Most Dangerous city in the U.S. for 2007. However, I have recently found out that this data is heavily skewed because St. Louis is an independent city and the surrounding suburbs are not counted in this factor. Much of St. Louis county and St. Charles county are not included in this crime ranking. This makes it so the only parts of St. Louis that are counted are rougher areas such as downtown and East St. Louis. The rape rate per 100,000 residents in East St. Louis was 342.4 compared to 17.6 in New York. This is insanely high. I mean, its like rapes are happening daily in East St. Louis. And the murder rate per 100,000 is 63.4 which is also insanely high. The assault rate is 6,489. These are figures that are just unheard of.

So, I am not saying that St. Louis is not rough because those figures obviously speak for themselves. But I am just not sure if St. Louis is the Most Dangerous. Also, St. Louis has a strong gang presence. Strangely enough the gang structure in St. Louis, especially East St. Louis, reminds me of the structure in Oakland. Many of the gangs were set up back in the olden days and are based around drug trafficking in localized neighborhoods. I definitely do think that due to the high crime rates and murder rates the gangs of St. Louis do bring about a strong claim for the title of Most Dangerous. It is always a tough call.

Miami

Movies like Scarface and Cocaine Cowboys have immortalized Miami gangsters. Most of them reached their peak in the 80's during the Cocaine and Crack boom. Gangs in Miami were obviously incredibly violent in these times because of the competition for unbelievable amounts of money. When I go to Miami I see a true diversity of people and many ruthless ethnic gangs. The disparity in wealth in the city rivals that of Los Angeles. Ranging from the insanely wealthy to very poor illegals. This is an obvious mix that breeds criminals. Miami as a city has such strong Latin American ties and the Port of Miami has long been a prime location for criminal activity. Because it is a port city, Miami has seen many illegal weapons and substances cross the borders over the years. This has fueled gangs tension and a lot of the gang violence in Miami seems to racially driven. All in all I would have to say Miami has gotten safer over the years since the days of the Cocaine Dons.