Los Angeles Daily News
Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009 12:22 AM EST
BY TONY CASTRO,
For a while now, the Barrio Van Nuys street gang has been claiming a version of the New York Yankees' interlocked NY logo as its own.
By trimming the tail off the `Y,' the famous Major League Baseball trademark is turned into an interwoven VN, standing for Van Nuys. The gang is touting its Yankee-esque symbol on social networking Web sites and YouTube.
It's just one example of what law enforcement says is an increasing trend among gangs to use cyberspace to broaden their appeal, boast of illegal exploits, pose threats and recruit new members.
And more than ever, prosecutors are scouring sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter for potential evidence in gang-related criminal cases.
``Five years ago we would find evidence in a gang case on the Internet and say, `Wow.' Well, there's no more `Wow' any more. Sadly, it's much more routine,'' said Bruce Riordan, director of anti-gang operations for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.
Cyberbanging, as authorities call it, can provide prosecutors with the proof they need in criminal cases to demonstrate affiliation in a street gang — something typically denied by defendants at trial.
``When the gang member has basically put his or her admission of gang membership up on the Internet, it can not only help prosecutors prove a case, it can also help us disprove a false defense,'' Riordan said.
George W. Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research Center, said, however, that proving gang affiliation through cyberspace can be an arduous task. That is one reason he trains law enforcement officials how to cull intelligence on gang membership, rivalries, territory and lingo from their Internet posts.
``Gangs are going to use any form of communication they can, including Twitter, including Facebook,'' Knox said.
``We don't have any laws that prohibit them from doing this, and I don't think we're ready to bar them from the Internet.''
Attempts to contact numerous San Fernando Valley gang members for comment via e-mails through networking sites they use were unsuccessful.
Los Angeles gang expert Alex Alonso said gang members are using social networking sites more than before, but not necessarily to further criminal enterprises.
``From my extensive experience, they use the Internet like any other person does — they're just representing their neighborhoods and not trying to recruit,'' Alonso said.
But law enforcement officials and youth counselors insist that young people who visit social networking sites to download music and pictures glorifying criminal street gangs can unwittingly set themselves up to be recruited by gangs.
Impressionable young people, say authorities, can sometimes be influenced by the secret handshakes, clothing and slang of gang cultures that are commonly found on Web sites created by or heavily used by gangs.
And it's not just MySpace, Facebook and Twitter that parents should be concerned about, warned Douglas Semark, executive director of the Gang Alternatives Program, in San Pedro.
``You can go into special areas of AOL, special areas of Yahoo or special areas of some of the other large Internet presences where (gang members) will go in and they'll target specific topics and specific groups,'' Semark said. ``And kids may be in those areas with their parents' blessing because the parents think they're safe.
``And someone who is looking to victimize a specific individual will track them to those places and create false identities and false accounts.''
Two of the Valley's fiercest gangs — Barrio Van Nuys and Canoga Park Alabama — have also used social networking sites to get around court injunctions secured by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office that forbid members from meeting in public, law enforcement officials say.
For many Valley gangs, My-Space — though pass0x233 in the era of Twitter and Facebook — appears to be the Internet social network of choice to glorify their lifestyle. Alonso said he believes gangs prefer My-Space because it is easier to search for and find other gang members on the site than others.
Representatives for MySpace and other popular social networking sites, which have come under criticism for their availability to gangs, did not return calls.
On MySpace, the 818 Gangland Musik Page offers free-streaming MP3s and song downloads that authorities say attract young Web surfers.
Among photographs posted by gang members are pictures of assault weapons and bulletproof vests over a white T-shirt with the impression ``Pacoima 818'' and of San Fernando gangbangers wearing San Francisco Giants garb with the famous interlocked SF logo of that team, which they have adopted as their own.
Representatives of the Giants and the Yankees said logos and trademark issues are handled by Major League Baseball Inc., and that they have alerted officials at the league.
A Yankees spokeswoman said that organization is especially concerned about seeing gang Web sites showing the lookalike NY trademark with guns sticking out of the logo.
Given the anonymous nature of the Internet, though, authorities say it is almost impossible to determine whether a posting has come from actual gang members or wannabes.
Law enforcement officials say gangs' use of the Internet has forced authorities to become skilled at reading between the lines of gang postings, looking for clues and hidden meanings of words and symbols.
``To understand any subculture — al-Qaida, cults, devil worshippers or gangs — you have to be able to know their own language and what they are saying,'' said Knox of the National Gang Crime Research Center. ``It takes time to study gang (Web) sites and blogs and pick up on subtle word choices, but that's important.
``These are holy words to these gangs.''
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