GANGSTERS STRUT ONLINE

Young-Gun Wannabes Using Internet To Glorify Thug Lifestyle

The next generation of street thugs is at our fingertips, literally.
They call themselves gangs and they've got the criminal charges to
back up their rep.

But unlike most organized crime groups, they're glorifying the thug
lifestyle in the most public of forums -- online. "It's once again
become cool to be associated with a street gang," says Robert Gordon,
director of Simon Fraser University's criminology department. "With
the availability of the Internet and networking sites . . . they are
communicating more online now.

"So, rather than marking territories with violence or making their
presence known by wearing particular uniforms or clustering in
particular places, they are transferring all of that to the
cyber-world."

It's an activity that's become known as "net-banging." Gangs use the
web to recruit, intimidate, distribute information and strut -- going
so far as posting photos and videos of members posing with guns,
money, bling and what appear to be drugs.

Take "hug a thug," for example. It's the social-networking group for
Family Affiliated. FA is a Kamloops-based group of prolific offenders
and petty criminals. They post when they're released from jail,
identify who to write in prison and list "no goods" or rats.

Included in its membership is Ryan Jones -- the online alias for
24-year-old Shane Allen Messent of Surrey, who was gunned down after a
botched home invasion in southeast Vancouver on Feb. 17.

The majority of the members have a laundry list of charges and
convictions for weapons- and drug-related offences.

Prominent FA members, such as 26-year-old Jessie Hanaghan, mug for the
camera, throwing gang signs and showing off FA tattoos. His father,
45-year-old Stephen Hanaghan, was shot dead by Mounties in Kamloops in
2005 after he rammed a stolen pickup into a police car.

The Kamloops Mounties, who have been monitoring the online group since
its inception, don't consider FA a gang even though members may look
and act the part.

Canada's leading gang expert disagrees.

"If they are groups of three or more people with some sort of
commonality -- whether it's a name or colours, whatever -- and they
are involved in any criminal activity, let's call a spade a spade.
They're a gang," says Michael Chettleburgh.

By that definition, Kings of Surrey can also be considered a small,
street-level gang. The group, which runs the Facebook group
"J45&D45-Kings of Surrey," brazenly posts photos of members with guns,
cash and "half a key." Members have been in and out of prison for gun,
drug, robbery and assault crimes.

But these groups don't stop there. Members of both FA and Kings of
Surrey belong to and have started up groups whose purpose is to
identify rats. Groups such as "Snitches get stitches," "Talk s--- get
hit," and, "If you roll with PCs don't crack my name. No cheezeaters!"
seem to pop up and disappear overnight.

The content of the latter group was deleted earlier this week,
including a posting that called out another member for being a "rat
troll." RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen says he's uncertain whether
this sort of intimidation can affect cases. "The fact that someone
chooses to post someone's name and state that this person is an
informant, or a rat, or a fink, or whatever, doesn't mean that it's
factual," he said.

Chettleburgh says this sort of behaviour is all part and parcel of
B.C.'s burgeoning street-level gang problem, which needs to be
addressed before groups grow. According to Chettleburgh, there are
about 1,300 gangs operating in Canada -- the majority in the Lower
Mainland. They include youth gangs or wannabe groups, street gangs and
organized crime groups. But the lines between them are fuzzy, with
members switching sides and groups evolving or disbanding.

Take the Red Scorpions or the UN. They're technically large
street-level gangs who are somewhat organized and hierarchical. Their
membership can be fluid, with members sometimes belonging to two or
three gangs.

On the other hand, organized crime groups such as the Hells Angels
tend to be extremely hierarchal, with defined rules of conduct,
lifelong membership and oaths of secrecy.

Groups such as FA and Kings of Surrey are technically street-level
gangs with wannabe aspirations, he says. But that doesn't mean they
can't hit the big time or that their members won't be recruited. "The
path to being a strong, vibrant gang is an evolutionary one," says
Chettleburgh. "But that's why we need to pay attention to these
younger groups. They're at the margins. They're selling some drugs.
They're doing some s---.

"Can they become the next Red Scorpions? Sure. If they have the right
conditions, if they're committed, if they have access to drugs. They
can become that."

Most of them won't, he says, adding redemption is possible for the
majority of gangsters. "Not every street-gang member is a Bacon
brother. I would say 15 per cent are the real hard-core guys, they're
the soldiers who are committed," he says. "Those individuals we can't
molly-coddle. We can't hug a thug. The other ones we can actually turn
around."