http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/gangs.asp

Gang Way

Gangs feature prominently in crime-related urban legends.

Ratings Key

        Green bullet = true
        Red bullet = false
        Multiple status bullet = multiple truth values
        Yellow bullet = undetermined
        White bullet = unclassifiable veracity

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White bullet Sneakers hanging from trees and power lines are gang signs.

Red bullet Prospective new gang members are being initiated by killing the drivers of cars who flash their headlights at them.

Yellow bullet The gang known as the Crips took their name from an acronym for "continuous revolution in progress."*

White bullet A gang lures a little boy into a washroom and cuts off his penis.*

Red bullet Gang members are depositing a deadly mixture of LSD and strychnine on pay phone buttons.*

Red bullet The presence of a crown-shaped air freshener in a car signifies the vehicle's owner is a gang member.*

White bullet Thugs intent upon kidnapping women as part of an initiation into a gang are found hiding in prospective victims' back seats.*

Yellow bullet The Mexican Mafia is retaliating for a drug theft by killing 400 to 1,000 black men wearing white T-shirts.

Red bullet Gang initiates in the Memphis and DeSoto areas must kill a woman and small child in a Wal-Mart.

Red bullet Gang initiates flash their vehicles' brights to get cars to pull over in order to murder occupants.

Red bullet Gang initiates attempt to force cars from the road in order to murder the occupants.

Red bullet The Dalton (Georgia) police have warned local stores to be on the alert for gang initiation abductions.

Red bullet Gang initiates in the Dallas area are knocking on the doors of residences and shooting whoever answers.

Red bullet Gang initiates ask women for directions, then shoot them.

Red bullet Gang initiates in New Jersey are slashing victims' faces to "get a buck fifty."

Red bullet Gang initiates are bumping their cars into others, then shooting whoever gets out of the bumped automobiles.

Red bullet Gang members in Oklahoma City throw bricks at cars in hope of getting motorists to stop.

Red bullet Gang initiates in Macon must shoot a white female at the Macon Mall.

Red bullet Detroit-area gang initiates are planning to shoot a woman in the head at a gas station in Genesee County.

Red bullet Gang initiates were planning to kill thirty or more women at Halloween 2008.

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