Malcolm Klein
Malcolm Klein was a USC sociologist who, with colleague Cheryl Maxson, conducted the first scientific study of the early Los Angeles crack market in 1985, documenting the proliferation of rock houses and street gang involvement.
Malcolm Klein, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, along with colleague Cheryl Maxson, conducted the first scientific examination of the early Los Angeles crack market in early 1985. Their preliminary findings, published in a small social research journal, documented that "throughout the Black residential areas of Los Angeles County, there has been a recent, dramatic increase in cocaine dealing. . .in large part from the proliferation of cocaine 'rocks' and fortified 'rock houses' which, with certain refinements, constitute a new technology and organization for cocaine distribution."1
Findings on Gang Involvement
The Klein-Maxson study noted an "increasing trend in the distribution system is the use of street gang members in various dealing roles." They estimated that "the number of [rock houses] in South Los Angeles, a Black area where the phenomenon is concentrated, range from one to two hundred at a time to as many as a thousand." Some rock houses were even being franchised, and "gang involvement is a connected part of a very rapid process by which this system has been institutionalized."1
Ethnic Specificity
The sociologists observed that crack was found almost exclusively in L.A.'s black neighborhoods: "at least currently seems to be ethnically specific. Cocaine is found widely in the Black community in Los Angeles, but is almost totally absent from the Hispanic areas." Ricky Ross offered a direct explanation: "There was no market until we created it. We started in our neighborhood and we stayed in our neighborhood. We almost never went outside it. If people wanted dope, they came to us."1
Predictions
Klein and Maxson's predictions proved accurate: "The distribution system seems custom-made for other Black gang centers (Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Chicago, etc.). There is absolutely nothing inherent in this distribution technology, nor in the Los Angeles context of its development, that would prevent its exportation to many other urban areas. Indeed, exportability seems very high. . .. All this makes for an intelligent, well-organized system that is maximally effective—in short, it works efficiently, is very impressive and could easily explode across the nation."1
Klein and Maxson later came to believe police were exaggerating gang involvement, but two subsequent California Department of Justice studies refuted that idea and concluded gangs were an even bigger force behind crack's spread than previously thought.1
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it" ↩
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