There have been some sort of gangs in Detroit for darned near a century that I am aware of. My dad used to tell me about how he could look out his bedroom window when he was young and watch the Purple gang members go in and out of their hideout back in the 30's. When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's I don't recall very much gang activity other than Mafia related and some motorcycle gangs such as the Renegades, Highwaymen, etc. The big drugs gangs didn't really get started until probably the late 60's - early 70's. I was never into drugs, so I might be a little off on that. Where I'm living right now is starting to had trouble with drug runners from Detroit bringing their stuff here and selling it. A few years ago several teens were shot in front of one of their homes on prom night over drugs. Since then the police have really started to clean things up...but it's very rare that a month goes by we don't read about another drug dealer from Detroit being caught. Sad how that stuff is spreading all over.