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Article: LA lawless. (gang warfare in Los Angeles)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 2, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FOR Los Angeles, 1988 has been the year of gang warfare. When the sun sets in the city's mostly black south-central district, the area turns into a war zone of drug-dealing gangs killing to protect their turf. The gangs are not new: rivalries between them can be traced back to the 1950s in some black and Hispanic neighbourhoods. But this year's gun battles and random drive-by shootings, which have killed about 96 people this year, have been compared to the violence of Beirut and Northern Ireland.
The reality of gang warfare broke out of the ghettos in January. A young woman walking along the street in Westwood, a prosperous shopping and entertainment area close ...