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  • Essay / Exploring Gang Life: Insights from Sudhir Venkatesh

    Venkatesh and JT started the day at 7:30 am at a restaurant to discuss everything that needed to be done that day. Before they even started talking about anything, Venkatesh made it clear that he wasn't killing anyone and/or selling anything. JT explained to him that he couldn't do everything because then he would get in trouble because of the gang members in front of him. JT had two senior officers assisting him throughout the day. The first task of the day was to clean up the mess caused by a previous party, and Venkatesh had to decide which group to send to clean it up. The second mission was to find a place to hold the meetings. Since Venkatesh knew nothing about prices and times, he wanted to donate only $50 until JT and the two other officers explained to him that he needed to increase the donation. At the same time, the problem arose with a store manager who wanted to pay the gang members to buy things. Venkatesh's next task was to resolve a misunderstanding between two gang members. The next assignment involved selling diluted products, which led to JT being demoted to Black.