Review: Gang Leader For A Day

In his recently published book Gang Leader For A Day, Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh explains how he intended to conduct a study within the notorious Lake Park Projects, one of the most impoverished projects in Chicago. He ends up encountering the gang leader, John Henry Torrence (J.T.), of the prominent gang in the projects, Black Kings. The visit put him in a position where he was identified as a potential Mexican gang member of the Latin Kings and was then lectured by J.T.; told that if Sudhir intended to learn about people he should “hang out” with them rather than use surveys. To the surprise of J.T and the Black Kings, Venkatesh returned with the intention to “hang out". He gains a look inside the lives of the gang members as well as the people they interact with.

The book has examples that support multitudes of criminological theories. One popular theory, strain theory, can explain why the Black Kings gang leader decided to pursue a life of crime.

J.T.’s aspirations of attaining financial success were unfulfilled through legal means resulting in him turning towards the gang life. J.T. becomes innovative by approaching his goals of attaining economic success through drug dealing rather than putting his degree to use. As Vanaktesh mentions, he runs his gang and the drug trade under his control as if it was a business enterprise. In return, J.T. expected returns equating to amounts of businesses managerial positions, estimating an excess of $75,000. J.T. also pointed out that his desire for economic gain was to buy his mother a house outside of the housing projects and apartments for his girlfriends.

Though J.T. did not lack the ability to attain success through conventional means, he felt that he was being denied opportunities to gain the successes he deserved due to racism. In turn, he did not reject economic success, rather sought other, illegal, means of attaining it.