Gang homicides are less likely to be drug-related than many people think — and more likely to be the result of factors such as retaliation to ongoing gang violence, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The report is from the first such study based on the agency’s National Violent Death Reporting System.
Using data from 2003 through 2008, the analysis looked at gang-related killings and other homicides in large cities in 17 states and found the highest level of gang homicides in five cities. Three were in California — Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland; the other two were Oklahoma City, Okla., and Newark, N.J.
