The Social Network Consequences of a Gang Murder Blowout

Bibliographic Data

ID5936675
AuthorsAlice Airola (Simon Fraser University), Martin Bouchard (0000-0002-2911-5544, Simon Fraser University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume9
Issue11
Pages204
Publication date2020-11-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0760 • E-ISSN: 2076-0760
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/socsci9110204
OpenAlexW3100937904
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited49

An unexpected crisis in a criminal organization offers a rare opportunity to analyze whether and how the configuration of business and trust relationships changes in response to external shocks. The current study recreates the social network of the Red Scorpion gang members involved in the Surrey Six Murder, one of the deadliest gang-related homicides to occur in Canada. The event, which involved two bystanders and six victims in total, was the result of a poorly executed retaliation. Our analyses focus on two phases of the network, the conspiracy phase and the post-murder phase. In each phase, we examine the balance of business, trust, and conflictual ties. Results show that the relative importance of key participants changed from the conspiracy to the post-murder phases, whereby strong, trusted ties gained prominence over the mostly business-oriented network of the conspiracy phase

Balance (ability · Computer security · Criminology · Focus (optics · Interpersonal ties · Key (lock · Phase (matter · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology