Gang-like qualities?
As published on page one of the Nov. 6, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
A musical fan group with a local following that was thrown into the spotlight following a killing this summer has been identified by the FBI as a possible criminal gang.
Juggalos, facepaint-wearing devotees of the Detroit hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse, appeared in the agency's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment as a "loosely-organized hybrid gang."
Unlike traditional gangs, hybrid gangs have a "nebulous structure," according to the FBI report, and "are difficult to track, identify and target as they are transient and continuously evolving."
The group is considered a gang in Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and Utah, but law enforcement officials in at least 21 states have identified criminal Juggalo subsets, according to the report.
Juggalos in the Keene area come together because of shared musical tastes but have not exhibited signs of organized criminal activity, Keene Police Chief Kenneth Meola said.
"I don't know if you could classify everyone who delineates themselves as being a Juggalo as being part of a gang," he said.
In addition to Juggalos, the 2011 FBI report lists 24 other gangs believed to be active in New Hampshire, including Crips, Bloods and a group called Chinese Mafia.
"We're pretty fortunate in the fact that we (in Keene) don't have these legitimized gangs that some of these other communities are seeing," Meola said. "That doesn't mean we don't keep our eyes open to it or we're naive about it, but there's no evidence of those kind of things here."
Some Keene Juggalos have been arrested for crimes, including assault and drug violations. And in July, 19-year-old Ethan Wilson was charged with second degree murder in connection with the death of 17-year-old Craig Metivier, a Keene High School student who was stabbed and killed in downtown Keene. Both young men were identified as Juggalos. Wilson is incarcerated in the Cheshire County jail and has yet to be indicted.
But, Meola said, the actions of some members of a group can't be taken as a reflection on the entire cluster.
That sentiment is echoed by James Pratt, 27, a self-identified Juggalo who lives in Winchester with his girlfriend and their children, works full-time, and does not consider himself a member of a gang.
Like most Juggalos, Pratt refers to the group as a family. In addition to a shared attraction to the embellished horror rap of Insane Clown Posse, a feeling of belonging appeals to many Juggalos, many of whom have struggled socially or come from difficult backgrounds, he said.
"A lot of times for some people that come from a neglected home or something, their family isn't always there for them, but their Juggalo family more than likely is going to be," Pratt said.
Psychopathic Records, the label started by Insane Clown Posse in the 1990s, makes millions of dollars each year.
The label distributes the music of ICP and a number of affiliated artists, and produces the Gathering of the Juggalos, an annual music festival.
It also sells a wide array of merchandise. Many of the label's hats, T-shirts and other accessories feature the "hatchetman" logo, a silhouette of a shaggy-haired figure running with a meat cleaver.
In 2003, Psychopathic Records released a song by the rapper Anybody Killa called "Gang Related." It contained the lyrics: "Do you wear a hatchetman? / You in a gang, and your (expletive) better be ready to do that thang / You rep the JRB and you will never switch / JRB? -- juggalo rydas (expletive)."
Last spring the initials "JRB" appeared spray painted in a number of places in downtown Keene, but the practice stopped at about the time of Metivier's killing.
Local Juggalo Graham Colson, 18, acknowledged that Juggalo gangs exist in other parts of the country, mainly out west, but pointed out that there are also Juggalo charities, including a Toys for Tots program.
"Any group or organization is going to branch off into groups of bad people," Colson said. "Look at Christianity and some of the cults that have formed from that; you could call them gangs."
For his part, Pratt said he was saddened but not surprised by the FBI's new designation. But, he said, he hopes it doesn't change things here.
"I hope for the most part everyone just pretty much stays the same. I hope the police don't look at us any different because of the FBI branding us, and I hope no one takes this too far -- on both sides -- and I hope we just let the FBI do what they want," he said. "If they want to classify us as a gang there's not much we can do about it."
tagged with: FBI, Juggalos, Keene N.H., law enforcement
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