For much of history, gangs have formed of those individuals who are cast out of higher groups or cannot attain higher status, who form a pack and work their way to secure resources or success in whatever form, be it territorial, financial, or otherwise, often by violent, and usually by illegal means. For almost as long as there have been gangs, law enforcement have tried to eliminate them, and usually fail.

As the technology age dawned and the world adapted to it, so have gangs. The internet allows for more efficient recruiting and more covert communication, very much like terrorist organizations, namely ISIS, have. Law enforcement also has adapted to fight online crime, but gangs seem to always be one step ahead, becoming resistant to developed techniques to stop them. With something as vast, complex, and opportunity-presenting as the internet, it only takes a few steps to start an anonymous life in a community, and, depending on how good at it you are, make yourself incredibly difficult to track. In fact, that’s most of what something called the Deep Web or Dark Web is all about.

The answer to obliterating gangs must come from the root. People vulnerable to recruitment into these communities are often from underprivileged areas, low on the socioeconomic hierarchy, with limited access to needed resources to improve their quality of life, and often an insufficient education to boot. Gang formation is a troubling, often dangerous symptom of much larger issues in a society, issues that have persisted for thousands of years and probably to some degree will continue to persist. However, treating those issues and alleviating some of the burden on lower socioeconomic tiers may make a gang dilemma less acute.