Twitter Goes Gangster: NY Thugs Plot Street War in 140 Characters or Less
NEW YORK (CBS) New York City gangs are fighting on an unlikely new turf - Twitter. Police say young thugs have taken to the popular Web site to plot attacks and fuel violence - all in 140 characters or less.
Police are catching on to the trend and are monitoring Twitter in the hopes of preventing further violence, according to the New York Daily News.
But the virtual battles may already be moving from the Internet to the streets. The Daily News reports that a targeted shooting in Harlem weeks earlier may be linked to a Twitter fight started by the Original Young Gangsters. The attack left one boy shot in the leg.
"I knoe b*****s from from oyg (Original Young Gangsters) that would dead mob s**t in harlem," read a tweet the New York paper found in a basic search.
A different gang battle was successfully averted last week after New York City youth outreach volunteers saw the Get Money Boys gang "tweeting" threats to the Goodfellas and The New Dons, according to the Daily News.
One NYPD investigator has already begun warning parents and teens of the potential danger social-networking sites can pose.
Gang members have begun taking precautions as well such as using new lingo and keeping accounts private in order to evade authorities, according to the Daily News.
This is one issue that nobody should LOL about.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dane Cohen works for the research and development department on CBS News' "48 Hours | Mystery." Completing his undergraduate studies at Emory University, Cohen earned his degree in Journalism and Political Science. Before "48 Hours | Mystery", Cohen interned at CNBC and CBS News Atlanta.