The term conjures up ideas of romance and terror, although not in equal measure. It suggests something about belonging and exclusivity as well as violence, which is perhaps the reason one of the most celebrated post-war youth work initiatives was called The Stonehouse Gang. The 1960s gangs of the Krays and the Richardsons in London were of a rather different order.
Beyond England's large cities, there is still a view that "gang" is an overused word for what are often no more than nuisance groups of youths resorting to low levels of aggression and violence - or even less. Certainly banging off an air rifle from time to time does not constitute the worst excesses of gang violence and intimidation.
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