The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the patterns of drug use and the structure of drug dealing among Milwaukee inner city gangs. This study looks at """"""""drug posses"""""""" in Milwaukee which have derived from the adult founding members of gangs and describes their origins, operation, structure, related violence, and impact on younger gang members, siblings, and neighborhoods. The persistence of gangs and drug dealing """"""""careers"""""""" in poor minority neighborhoods is hypothesized as part of the reproduction of an underclass. The study builds on previous gang research in Milwaukee. Rosters of the founding members of 19 Milwaukee gangs, founded in the late 1970s, were developed in a 1985 study. This project repeats the original study's qualitative, collaborative methodology. Several gang founders have maintained contact with the Project Director since publication of his earlier study and will work in the project as community researchers. The project will proceed in two phases. In the first phase 100 gang founders will be interviewed concerning drug use, the history of the gang, the evolution of """"""""drug posses,"""""""" family background, criminal justice history, and other topics. The 100 will be identified from the rosters developed from the original interviews. The second phase will concentrate on three neighborhoods selected after the first series of interviews. Interviews with at least 200 young adult gang members, siblings and parents of gang members, neighbors, store owners, and others who have knowledge of gang and drug activity in the three neighborhoods will be complemented by participant observation by the Project Director and community researchers.
