Incase you're unaware, some serious gang leaders were making strong threats over on Twitter late last night.
This could be much worse than you would imagine. Why do you think we haven't been reporting much recently? Why do you think that all of our reviews and stories have been about music recently? Because there's nothing else to report on, right now! The community has been very, very peaceful and stable for the past month. This could all change very quickly!! Lets take a look at how and why now... WARNING
The rest of this story contains continuous vulgar language and words that many may find hurtful or offencive.
Viewer discretion is strongly advised. The Tweets
Before anything else, let's take a look at some of the tweets that were sent back and forth between prominent rival gang members on the public domain.
The above tweet was posted by a member of the Ballas street gang, and was tweeted to some other members of the same gang.
That wasn't so bad.
It's pretty normal for gangs to do this on Twitter as a way of showing their appreciation for their gang. This is something they call "putting work in" and "representing". However, the problems arise when the leader of another gang, who were sworn enemies with the Ballas for years before they called a formal truce, slandered the gang in a tweet replying to theirs.
It soon became VERY clear that the Ballas did not take this lightly and took immediate offence to this, and multiple tweets were sent back and forth between three gang members.
After a few minutes, the leader of possibly the richest and most influential street gang in the whole community, The Vagos, tried to intervene.
You may be surprised, as we initially were, to see that the Vagos wanted it to all end peacefully and respectfully, rather than turning into another war.
But why is that? Why did the Vagos want it to be resolved peacefully?
Lets see why, shall we? The Vagos' Point of View
To understand this, we're going to need a quick history lesson.
The Vagos Street gang, the Families Street gang and the Ballas street gangs all started up, in this community at least, in late 2008 and were some of the very first organisations within the community. Naturally, given the nature of Grand Theft Auto, and the community, at the time, it didn't take very long at all for these gangs to begin fighting. Once they did, this sparked a very, very long, drawn out and dangerouis war between the three gangs and their allies. In 2012, the Vagos underwent some structural changes and started working for Don Eladio's cartel. Once they did this, the Families and the Ballas gangs were smart enough to realise that the Vagos were way over their heads now, and continuing to fight any Vagos members would surely result in the destruction of their entire gang. Since then, the Vagos have remained the most powerful and influential street gang in the community, and one of the most powerful organisations overall, due, in part, to their strong connection to Don Eladio, the cartel, the mafia and other very important and powerful organised crime syndicates. Because of this, the Vagos have remained in relative peace since then. This was until early 2016, and the later named "Red-Age" which we all know too well. The Red-Age saw the Vagos take part in more petty, low level crime as Don Eladio had his first downfall. This, of course, meant that the Families, Vagos and Ballas went back to fighting. However, it didn't take too long for the Vagos to realise that this fighting really wasn't worth it. Around that time, Eladio was gaining traction again, and a new organisation, the Modern Spartans MCC (later known as the Modern Spartans MC) were rising in power and influence. The Vagos quickly became friendly with the Modern Spartans MCC, and helped Eladio grow to power again, keeping a stronger relationship with him than ever. Again, due to the immense power of the Vagos, as well as the Vagos being allies with the Modern Spartans who were also allies with the Families, the Families and the Ballas stopped fighting the Vagos. However, for Don Eladio, this was no longer enough. Eladio, as well as the Modern Spartans MCC, wanted to end the violence all together. They organised a formal meeting, with the assistance of local and federal law enforcement, and arranged a formal peace treaty. In return, both gangs could go stronger, obviously, but Eladio and the Modern Spartans would also help each gang to grow financially as long as they kept within certain peaceful guidelines. Eventually, Eladio, the Vagos and the Spartans stopped dealing with the Ballas as much as the Ballas wanted to go in a slightly different direction - but they still kept within the agreed upon guidelines. All of the other gangs, however, remained regular business partners of the Families. This system has worked very, very well until now. All of the organisations are larger, richer and stronger. The FIB, IAA, SNS, LSPD, SASD, LCPD, GSPD, PBPB, ACPD and the SAPR have all reported far less crime statistics since then. It is very clear that the Vagos want everything to stay this way so that they don't have any more roadblocks, police scrutiny or financial setbacks. This is also likely the same view that most other gangs and organisations share. The Families' Point of View
The Families street gang liked this system, too.
It has worked very, very well for them, and they are all far more successful than they were back when there was war. However, take a look at the tweet below that one of the Ballas leaders sent to the leader of the Families gang.
You may be wondering what this has to do with this story or what this even means.
Well, let us tell you.. The Ballas were actually the ones who fired the first shot (both metaphorically and physically). The aforementioned "Burk" in Lil' Stretch's tweet was Burkley Lang, a member of the Grove Street Families set. Lang was fatally shot a week ago in South Central Los Santos, SA, by some members of the Ganton Gang Ballas set. This was the first act of violence between the two gangs in over a year.
But why did the Ballas do this?
Well, it's time to take a look at their point of view. The Ballas' Point of View
Although, in our opinion at least, the Ballas escalated it way too far after more than a year of peace; they weren't fully at blame for their actions.
The Ballas were only responding to a line in a song on OG Riffs' recently released album, The Struggle EP. The song in questioned, the first track on this album, actually contained members of the Families gang as well as the Ballas gang, and was also largely written by the leader of the Modern Spartans MC. This shows that all was really peaceful as the song was being made. However, one of the lines on the first track went as follows: "Crustified Slim shot up Little Bitty $am, back when Drake and Little Wayne were just little bitty kids."
Without getting too into the specifics and the politics of this line, it shines light on something that the Ballas wanted to keep hidden.
The Ganton Gang Ballas, having a fiery leader than the rest of the Ballas, wanted revenge, and took this revenge far further than was necessary. Even with this leader, the Ballas knew that they couldn't go after the person who wrote the line, as he is the leader of the Modern Spartans MC, and starting any war with the Modern Spartans would mean the end of the Ballas gang. So.. instead, they went after the person who rapped the line. However, they soon realised that this wouldn't have as much of an exaggerated effect. So, they went after Burkley Lang - a very, very prominent leader in the Families gang. It was reported that they shot and killed him in a three man drive by from a gray and purple Emperor. So Why Didn't Families Retaliate Sooner?
Well, the short answer is; they did.
The long answer? Well we're not too sure about that. We couldn't find much out about that, unfortunately. What we can tell you, however, is that all three men involved in the drive-by were reported dead the next day. The Deputy Director of the Federal Investigations Bureau (FIB) directly implied that he believes the Grapeseed Police Department and the Modern Spartans MC aided the Families in taking out these three men in retaliation when we asked him - though this is not on the official report. But Then Why Didn't The Ballas Retaliate?
Luckily, the Ballas don't have the same mindset as organisations such as the Sons of Anarchy MC or the Modern Spartans MC and understood that the Families' retaliation was justified.
Had this happened to a lot of other gangs, this would have escalated FAST!! So.. Why Is It Escalating Now, Then?
In truth, it appears as though OG Riffs (Families), who was very, very close to Burkley Lang, was still upset about what the Ballas did to him, and so sent this tweet in response to Hustle's tweet (Ballas).
And, from here, the verbal action escalated until it has become what it is now.
But WHAT Is It Now?
To be honest... We don't know.
Nobody does, infact. Not even the Ballas or Families know what is going to happen. We asked the FIB on Twitter, and they had this to say:
This was fairly concerning.
We asked what the FIB would to if a war did happen and they simple responded with "No Comment", which, as you would expect, only added to our concern. But why? What is it about this situation that is so worrying? What would the outcome be if a war broke out, and what would even happen? Lets take a quick look shall we? Why Is The Idea of a War So Scary?
This answer is pretty simple, so we'll make is so.
In short, because of how powerful everybody is. If the Families and the Ballas got into a war, other gangs and organizations would definitely be dragged into it. The Vagos, for example, would obviously choose to side with the Families. However, what this means is drastic. The Vagos being dragged in would almost certainly mean the cartel being dragged in to fight for the families, too. Not only the cartel, but the Modern Spartans MC, the Varios Los Aztecas, the Sons of Anarchy MC, the Hell's Angels MC and many, many more people would also fight for the families. So, the Families would easily win, right? What's so bad about that?
Well, we thought about it and, as it turns out, it may not be so clear cut.
Eladio joining would almost certainly mean that the Mafia.. Yes! The entire mafia would fight for the Ballas. And, whilst Eladio (and the cartel) and all of the other people involved in the war fight long, slow, drawn-out mini-battles, the mafia do not!! On the rare occasions where the mafia have been involved in wars, all of the fighting takes place in a single lobby over around 10-12 hours. However, you can easily multiply that by at least 10 with everybody else that's going to be involved. This means that, for about a week straight with no stops or breaks, there will be an all out gang war until only one prominent gang remains. And, of course, the military and police departments would all get involved and martial law will be introduced. So, in short, the community could pretty much all but end if a war broke out, and everybody knows it!! SO WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS?!?!
Well, honestly, nothing.
It is ALL in the hands of the gangs. The good news, however, is that, at the moment, it is only tension. It's extreme tension, but that's all it is at this point. This, thankfully, means that unless somebody fires the first shot, nothing will happen. We can't foresee the Families or any of their allies firing the first shot, so it would likely be the Ballas. As long as the Ballas don't do anything, it's likely nothing will happen. However, it is VERY important that all sides sit down and talk about this, first. As even though nothing will happen if the Ballas don't strike, the tension will still be there, and could easily come back should anything else happen. The only way to completely avert this crisis would be for all sides to meet and discuss this peacefully, coming to terms, like last time.
What do you think, though?
Do you think this will start a war? Do you agree with out analysis? Please, make sure to tell us in the comments of this article, we'd love to find out what you have to say. Are you a member of the Families or Ballas gangs? Please tell us your opinions.
5 Comments
WEAZEL NEWS TEAM
8/21/2017 21:16:36
This is one of the longest stories we have EVER made on this website.
Reply
WEAZEL NEWS TEAM
8/22/2017 21:03:24
We would be willing to conduct an interview with you.
OG Riffs
8/21/2017 21:33:44
Ok willin do a sit down after this
Reply
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