What was the first gang ever invented and what year was it?
The word "gang" comes from "gonge," a term originally meaning a
journey, but later referring to a "gonge" of sailors in the
fifteenth century. "Gangs" of outlaws or wild young men came into
common usage by Shakespeare's time. The "Father of Gang Research,"
Frederic Thrasher, gave the word its industrial-era meaning in the
1920s and made "gang" into a term which meant kids of the street.
But US gangs had other predecessors than unsupervised street
urchins.
There are four kinds of "gangs" which were predecessors of the
street gangs of today. 1. Secret Societies; 2. Gangs of Outlaws in
the Wild West; 3.Racist gangs like the Klu Klux Klan; and 4.
"Voting Gangs" tied mainly to the Democratic Party in large
cities.