Let’s continue with our discussion about street gangs and take a look at top tier gang members.

Most gangs have several tiers when it comes to the way members are ranked. At the top level you’ll find the top dog figurehead (in the mafia referred to as the Godfather). he is considered an entrepreneur and usually presents two faces to the world – one as a legitimate business man and the other as a local mafia-style boss.

Beneath the entrepreneurs are the distributors – groups of people who organize local distribution of drugs or illegitimate goods. The distributors are usually the ones who end up captured or arrested and if they end up in jail they usually continue to run certain operations from within the prisons.

Beneath the distributors are the primary members of the gang. The primaries enjoy the trust of the Godfather figure and are often given direct assignments. They may complete those assignments themselves but are often found to delegate those assignments to secondary members.

A leader running an operation from within a prison will receive his communications from attorneys, family members, and sometimes even from guards helping to smuggle communication devices into the prisons. Many prison guards are willing to cooperate because they receive significant bribes and because they are afraid of the threats the gangs have made against them and their family members.

Enforcers are also considered primary operatives. Enforcers are those who have a great track record and have moved up in the gang’s echelon because of their abilities to carry out violent gang enforcements. These acts of violence may be against rivals but may also be acts of discipline against a fellow gang member who dared violate the gang’s rules.

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