Juggalos are a gang – FBI

Tucked in the FBI’s 2011 gang-intelligence report, between ominous write-ups on cross-border human trafficking and organized crime in the Caribbean, was a short section warning about the growing menace of the Juggalos.

The facepaint-wearing, Faygo-drinking followers of the rap duo Insane Clown Posse were a “loosely-organized hybrid gang,” the FBI said. Though their crimes were “sporadic” and “individualistic,” the report claimed, their “gang-like criminal activity” seemed to be on the rise. Law enforcement should be wary, the FBI said.

On Monday, Insane Clown Posse, better known as ICP, and a group of self-proclaimed Juggalos, who derive their name from an ICP song called “the Juggla,” experienced what could be a fatal setback in a years-long legal battle to shake the FBI’s designation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the FBI’s decision to call the Juggalos a gang wasn’t a “final agency action” — government jargon for an official, legally binding rule — and therefore couldn’t be challenged in court.

The ruling threw out a lawsuit brought by ICP frontmen Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope in 2014 alleging that the FBI’s findings trampled their constitutional rights and caused a venue to cancel one of their concerts at the request of law enforcement.

They were joined in the case by two Juggalos who claimed that the gang designation had gotten them in trouble with police and two others who said it jeopardized their military careers. All the plaintiffs said they had never knowingly been involved in a criminal gang.

The appeals court found that the Juggalos failed to show that the FBI’s label had resulted in legal consequences. The FBI report was just an annual gang-activity report presented to Congress, the three-judge panel wrote, and did not contain any marching orders for other law enforcement agencies.

“The various reputational and personal harms suffered by Appellants in the present case may be the practical consequences of the Juggalo gang designation,” the court wrote, “but they are not a direct or appreciable legal consequence of the Juggalo gang designation.”

Two Juggalo gang members face Fresno firearm charges

Two men Fresno police say are members of the Juggalo street gang face felony firearms charges in separate cases.

The Juggalos are fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse and sometimes wear face paint and clothing with an emblem of a running man carrying a hatchet. In 2011, the FBI designated them a “loosely organized hybrid gang” that commits assaults and vandalism. That prompted the Insane Clown Posse members Joseph Bruce (Violent J) and Joseph Utsler (Shaggy 2 Dope) to file a lawsuit against the FBI, according to Law Enforcement Today. A judge dismissed the suit in 2014.

Fresno police Lt. Burke Farrah of the Street Violence Section said Juggalos are not major players among local gangs. The gun charges the two men face arose out of “interpersonal disputes,” he said.

Police say Daniel Casanova, 30, was arrested on suspicion of cutting a man across the face in August and then firing a handgun at a relative of the victim who was chasing him. Casanova was arrested last month and is charged with assault with a firearm.

Joseph Thomas, 26, is accused of a shooting Nov. 1 near a market at Fruit and Dakota avenues following a dispute with another gang member. He was arrested the following day on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Farrah said Juggalo gang members have kept a low profile for the past several years. At one time, members would gather at Cary Park near Fashion Fair mall. Juggalos also would sometimes be seen at Eaton Plaza in downtown Fresno. They no longer have a defined area in the city.

The Juggalos were designated by police as a street gang in the mid-2000s. To fit the legal definition of a gang, a group must have at least three members who use a common name, sign or symbol and commit crimes. For an individual to be designated a gang member, there are additional criteria, including tattoos, and how he or she self-identifies when booked in Fresno County Jail.

Jim Guy: 559-441-6339, @jimguy27

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article44271897.html#storylink=cpy

North Carolina Woman Attacked by hatchet Wielding juggalo gang member

The attack happened at 4:30 a.m.

Nightmares can come true: a woman in North Carolina told police she was attacked in her home by an ax-wielding clown.

The victim told the police in Hickory, N.C. that a person wearing a clown mask and a multicolored wig had come by her residence at 4:30 a.m. Friday morning and began to swing his ax at her.

The victim was able to take the mask off the attacker and discover that it was an acquaintance of hers, who then fled the scene. She was not injured in the incident.

Hickory Police Department spokesperson Chrystal Dieter told TIME that there was an “outstanding warrant” against the suspect.

“Any law enforcement officer who comes in contact with the suspect in question will have full ability to arrest him,” Dieter said.

Dieter could not recall any previous cases of attackers masquerading as clowns. But the Hickory attacker would not be the first person to draw on the cultural image of the “creepy clown.” The town of Northampton, England has previously reported sightings of an individual dressed as the clown who roamed the streets and scared citizens.
http://time.com/3991734/ax-wielding-clown/

Dont Believe ICP seminer – ICP still a gang on the FBI list and an appeal is still happening

Juggalos seem to be overlly excited because ICP said Juggalos aint a gang… But what they really said was very open ended.

Juggalos are no longer on gang list, FBI admitted they never meant to add all Juggalos.  However the FBI does keep an unofficial record that we could very much still be on. – Juggalos still on a gang list.

Appeal ruling about gang list could be announced within a few month. If they don’t win appeal next step is Supreme Court. If that happens ICP organizing march in Washington with free show at the end.  Although we are not on the list, the case does have to do with the included juggalos who were discriminated against. – The court case is still running.

 

 

 

Why juggalos are a gang and should be treated like one by the FBI.

The FBI has as much right to express their opinion, based on observable behavior,. of any Group that draws the attention of Law Enforcement while dressed in the Colors/costume of their Group. Motorcycle Clubs go through much worse because thay are all categorized in negative terms unless and until their law Enforcement comes to know that a particular Club is or is not worthy of LEO Scrutiny.
This Group has one characteristic that would give pause to law enforcement most anywhere, and that is their Costume is a Functional Disguise of the Person. With Tattoos and Body Paint which makes Identification Difficult, at best, and mostly impossible at at any distance. If the Members of any of the associated Groups are committing Crimes under Club Costume/Colors, they have no one to blame but them selves for the developing negative opinion of Law Enforcement who , for good Reason pay particular attention to self Identified Gangs, Cartels, Clubs etc. That is one of LEO’s specific duties.
The Mafia were not Choir Boys, the Crips & Bloods are not Social Clubs, and the Hell Angels, Free Souls, Bandiditos etc… are not akin to the Shrine Temple Motorcycle Clubs.
IMHO this group has filed a nuisance law suit against the FBI for doing it’s job. Part of which is Vetting Recruits for Military Service, Sometimes the choices we make in life have unplanned consequences.

Bet some Ms-13 and cripps wanna be soldiers too?

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/06/30/juggalo-army-recruits-join-suit-against-fbi-over-being-listed-as-a-gang/

Several U.S. Army recruits, who also happen to be fans of the rap group Insane Clown Posse, are suing the Federal Bureau of Investigations over the classification of the “Juggalo” fan base as a “hybrid gang.”

Sgt. Robert Hellin, who has multiple Juggalo tattoos, claims that his musical taste “places him in imminent danger of suffering discipline or discharge from the military.”

Another plaintiff, Scott Gandy, claims that he was unable to join the Army because of his love of Insane Clown Posse.

ICP rappers Joseph “Violent J” Bruce and Joseph “Shaggy 2 Dope” Utsler are also plaintiffs in this case, which is being backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

The issue at hand is whether an FBI report from 2011, “National Gang Threat Assessment: Emerging Trends,” unfairly characterizes Juggalos as criminals.

“The Juggalos, a loosely-organized hybrid gang, are rapidly expanding into many U.S. communities. Although only recognized as a gang in four states, many Juggalo subsets exhibit gang-like behavior and engage in criminal activity and violence,” the FBI report said.

When the rap duo first filed the lawsuit, they issued a statement condemning the FBI’s characterization of their fan base.

“There has never been—and never will be—a music fan base quite like the Juggalos,” the statement read. “While it is easy to fear what one does not understand, discrimination and bigotry against any group of people is plain wrong and un-American.”

“The Juggalos are fighting for the basic American right to freely express who they are, to gather and share their appreciation of music, and to discuss issues that are important to them without fear of being targeted and harassed by police,” ACLU Michigan attorney Michael J. Steinberg said in a statement of his own.

Juggalo supporters argue that the group itself is merely a music appreciation group, not a gang engaged in criminal activity.

“There is no data to support a broad-ranging finding that this group is engaged in criminal activity, because they’re not. Their primary purpose is to be music fans, and the vast majority are law-abiding people,” Saura Sahu, a lawyer defending the plaintiffs, said.

She also characterized Army rules about Juggalo recruits “erroneous blacklisting.”

The FBI, however, argued that they never characterized all Juggalos as gang members.

“FBI nowhere stated that all Juggalos are criminals, or all Juggalos are gang members,” Justice Department lawyer Lindsay Powell said in court.

Juggalo gang member says insane clown posse his boys going to kill cops

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/crime/2015/06/19/police-juggalo-threatened-officers/28999695/

MUNCIE — Don’t blame a couple of Muncie police officers if they are on the lookout for a pair of musicians dressed as “wicked clowns.”

A Marion man arrested early Friday after causing a disturbance at a southside Muncie home warned two officers he was a “Juggalo” — a name given to fans of Insane Clown Posse, a Detroit-based hip hop duo.

Joshua Michael Fosnough, 34, also told the officers “his boys” — Insane Clown Posse — were going to kill them, an affidavit said.

Fosnough — preliminarily charged with intimidation, public intoxication, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct — was being held in the Delaware County jail under $7,500 bond.

He was arrested about 12:30 a.m. after police received a report of a disturbance in the 100 block of East Ninth Street. They reported finding a man — later identified as Fosnough — “being very loud (and) cursing,” according to an affidavit.

According to court records, Fosnough’s criminal history includes convictions for intimidation, domestic battery, residential entry, possession of cocaine and possession of a controlled substance.

ICP on juggalos in 1995 vs 2012

Juggalos not a gang

Juggalos a gang – FBI

A federal judge has dismissed Insane Clown Posse’s lawsuit against the FBI and the Justice Department, allowing the agencies to continue classifying the group’s fans, called Juggalos, as a “gang.” According to the Associated Press’s Tuesday report, U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland ruled last week that because a 2011 FBI report on gangs is “descriptive,” and not ” prescriptive,” it doesn’t break any laws. The group intends to appeal the decision.

Insane Clown Posse’s suit was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. It claimed that the FBI report’s classification of Juggalos as a “loosely organized hybrid gang” was “unwarranted and unlawful,” and prompted local law enforcement officials to harass fans wearing jewelry or other symbols of the group. The ACLU of Michigan’s legal director Michael J. Steinberg said this in a statement about the decision:

“The only way to remedy this injustice for all innocent Juggalos is to start with the root of the problem – the FBI’s arbitrary and erroneous branding of hundreds of thousands of music fans as gang members. There is no doubt that the FBI created this problem and the solution begins there as well. Otherwise, we’ll be playing whack-o-mole to stop local law enforcement agencies from discriminating against our clients, when the agencies are just following the FBI’s lead.”

As the AP noted, the classification doesn’t show up anywhere in the FBI’s most recent report on gangs, however, the 2011 report is still used by local law enforcement agencies. The report details criminal activity by some self-identified Juggalos, but even the FBI’s assessment is based on the criminal activity of a small minority of participants in ICP’s fan base.

Juggalos — usually pictured wearing makeup similar to that of the ICP duo themselves — are probably best-known for their antics during the annual “gathering of the juggalos” festivals. The next one is in a couple of weeks.