E-Bay Selling Gang Items

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Looking for the latest Norteño gangsta rap CD? How about a "Sureño 13" T-shirt? Shopping around for "gangster garb" and other related merchandise is just a couple of clicks away on eBay. Some California groups and a national gang expert accuse the world's largest online marketplace of promoting gangs by allowing such merchandise on its popular Web site. And they say the Internet purchases could put naive buyers - gang "wannabes" and others - at risk for violence. "The bottom line is, if you can go into a store or online to buy something that basically puts a target on your back to get killed, it's a huge concern," said Angel Rios, who heads the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force in San Jose, Calif. "This is an issue." Rios, already concerned about local stores selling gang-related merchandise, said he was surprised to learn that similar items were available on San Jose-based eBay. Since its inception in 1995, eBay has been taken to task for providing a marketplace for questionable and even controversial items. A furor over Nazi memorabilia in 2001 sparked a revision of the company's "offensive material" policy, which was revisited two years later when several blacks protested racially offensive items on eBay and listings that included the n-word. EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said he did not believe advertising the sale of a red or blue bandanna or a T-shirt with the number 13, a symbol for the Sureño gang, violates the policy. They would be banned if they contained the word "kill" or explicitly promoted a violent act. But San Jose police who have worked with street gangs know that certain colors and numbers signal gang affiliation and can silently trigger challenges. Herald News (Passaic County, NJ) March 31, 2005
  •  Pictured above: "SUMMERS JUST AROUND THE CORNER! MAKE SURE TO GET YOUR SOUTHLAND T- SHIRT. WE PRINT THE SURENO TEES 3 TIMES A YEAR. WERE RUNNING LOW. MAKE SURE TO HAVE YOUR T-SHIRT A HEAD OF THE GAME DONT WAIT UNTIL THE END OF SUMMER TO ORDER. SPORT YOUR SURENO T SHIRT, BE ONE OF THE FEW THATS ON TOP OF THE GAME. O G ART FROM EAST L A. (WHAT ARE YOU WAITING 4?" [more]