Re Ned Fleming's comments below:
"Gangs and gang-warfare are perhaps an overlooked fertile
field for
the modern hard-boiled writer. I can only conjure to mind
Lehane's
pathetic and unreal 'A Drink Before the War' as an example
of
hard-boiled writing that incorporates such gang-based
murder."
I don't, off-hand, know of many PI novels that deal with
street
gangs. Gar Anthony Heywood has written at least one Aaron
Gunner
novel and Robert Crais one Elvis Cole novel on the theme,
but I can't
remember the titles. However, street gangs are a fairly
common theme
in urban police procedurals. One of former US Treasury Agent
Gerald
Petievitch's best novels, *Earth Angels*, deals with street
gangs.
Petievitch's brother, John, was a gang detective in LAPD.
*Earth
Angels* is based on John's experiences. *Hail to the Chief*
by Ed
MacBain uses street gang warfare as an allegory to the
Watergate
scandal. John Ball's *The Murder Children* was based on the
author's
experiences as a part-time deputy in the LA County Sheriff's
Office.
The movie *Colors* and the many episodes of *Hill St. Blues*
in which
Capt. Furillo negotiated peace treaties between the various
street
gangs in his precinct also point to the perisistence of this
theme in
cop stories. - Jim Doherty
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