Perhaps I'm assuming, but it seems you don't know much about the life of the poor.
If they could afford to move from the projects where these gangs operate, don't you think they would in a heartbeat? The foot soldier in a gang is not making a lot of money - far from it. But your mom just got laid off, rent needs to be paid and your baby sister needs to be fed. So you do what you have to do.
I'm a big believer in personal responsibility, and was as big a supporter of Randian thought as one could be without ever reading any of her book. But as I grew up and got exposed to The Real World, I realized that many times we are the victims of circumstances which seem to conspire against us.
So it's not always easy to just up and move to another side of the country.
Would they? Recall that gangs are partially a matter of self-defense. You join a gang because otherwise rival gangs try to hurt or kill you. You join to defend your family. At least that's the story they spin. Once you buy into the story, it becomes even harder to convince yourself that it's a good idea to leave.
I do not claim to know your past. But I know my parents were also poor, and the difference between them and the other kids who were poor around them who never moved up was in their parenting and their education. They ended up in a situation where they could pull out because of that education, and they ended up with certain mindsets that stemmed from the parenting they received. If you don't have one or, often, both of those, you're basically hosed. Not completely, mind you, but the jump needed to pull yourself out of poverty becomes massively bigger. And if you're immersed in a culture where violence is the norm and gangs are the only way to gain serious social acceptance at a young age, you've got even more working against you.
I'm really not sure why you're bringing greed into this. Most of the members in gangs are in no way rich. The leaders might be (and even that is not necessarily the case), but the members are not.
1) It's more likely to get killed if you have criminal gang member in your family. So yes, mom and baby sister are better off without such "help".
2) Why do you equate greed with being rich? These are orthogonal concepts.
3) Yes, it's hard to make right decision when you grew up submerged into bad culture. Fortunately good culture is available too. Even more - bad culture is at disadvantage due to schools, popular mass culture, law enforcement and mutual gang killings.
So in the end the decision of quitting the gang is a matter of personal choice.
"In search of respect" by Philip Bourgois is an interesting book, particularly on the reality of how much money there is in the drug trade, and about gang life.
Safety, for one. As for moving, family and lack of a link to anywhere else. Starting a new life isn't as easy as you seem to think it is. Nor, for that matter, is moving. Particularly if you don't necessarily have any good marketable skills.
I would guess that former gang member should be able to flip burgers, mop the floor and collect trash from the streets.
That's a good start.
Yes, that might not pay as much as criminal activity, but that's definitely enough to survive.
As for safety - why is it not safe to quit a gang? Why would remaining gang members care about former gang member who disappeared in unknown direction and does not cause any trouble?
Well, for one thing, because they can tattle. For another, because they are crazy. Last but not least, when you've been in a gang since you were 10 or 12 or 14, psychologically speaking, you can't just go “a'ight, I'm out. Peace!” and untie yourself emotionally from the mentality of always having the backs of your fellow gang members.
I ask honestly, but do you have any idea what you're talking about here? Here are two reference articles, one on empathizing with people in situations that are completely outside of your realm of experience:
’If you really want to understand slaves, slave masters, poor black kids, poor white kids, rich people of colors, whoever, it is essential that you first come to grips with the disturbing facts of your own mediocrity. The first rule is this--You are not extraordinary. It's all fine and good to declare that you would have freed your slaves. But it's much more interesting to assume that you wouldn't and then ask "Why?"‘
And one on getting out of gangs and the psychological pull they still have even after you've decided to get gone:
‘"They'll say, 'What's wrong with you, sissy? What's wrong with you, faggot?' Misery loves company. They don't want to see you succeed because they're still in misery. 'He's doing good? F––– that fool.' A lot of kids fall away. They sabotage their success."’
New place does not have to be better. It could be even worse. That could be part of the price of quitting criminal activity.
The point of moving to new place is to eliminate all the ties with old life and gang members.
But I guess even that is not necessary. I'm not expert on quitting gangs, but would assume that most gangs would not really force gang member on staying in the gang against the will of quitting gang member. If gang member is lacking determination - he might be useless of even dangerous as an active member of the gang. So the most practical approach should be mutual thinking: "good riddance".
"New place does not have to be better. It could be even worse. That could be part of the price of quitting criminal activity."
Great. So you move to some other depressed community, which will have all of what you were trying to escape. Only now you have no support network, nobody who's got your back. Guess what that's a recipe for?
Kudos for being open about it.
Kudos as well for being able, and having the balls to make the exit.
I'm speaking from a background of gangs, where there is no exit. Except a coffin.