Juggaloes Defined?

In order to preserve space, I’ve left out my Works cited. It is available upon request.

On Monday, September 14, 2009, Anthony Locascio was taken to out to the woods by his friends to allegedly buy some marijuana. When he got there, four of his friends, Jeffrey A. Gombert, Curtis T. Foose, Andrew A. Tutko, and Shane D. Roof, proceeded to beat him down with metal baseball bats, hitting him an alleged 80 times. He, of course, died. The assault was retribution for Locascio apparently snitching.

By all accounts, this should be the lead in to the story. Four alleged drug dealers, killing a fifth for violating a bizarre code of ethics adhered to by such a group. But, in true media fashion, Bram Teitelman, a writer for Noisecreep.com, decided to open his story with; “Following the murder last week of a Hazleton, Pa. man by four devotees of rap metal duo Insane Clown Posse”(Teitelman par.1).

I can’t help but wonder what their favorite music has to do with anything? This was a case of four drug dealers killing a fifth, what music they listened to should be irrelevant. Unfortunately, I can’t decipher whether or not this clear cut bias by reporters is to over hype menial writing, or subconsciously done without malice. To be fair to the reporter, he does end his piece by adding that “N.J. Insane Clown Posse fan Bob Lugowe”(Teitelman par.6). claims that the “media…always choose to ignore the underlying positive message found throught [sic] ICP's lyrics.” (Teitelman par.6), but if I said, “your mother’s a whore.”, and then six paragraphs down, I added, “but your father doesn’t think so”, the damage to your mother’s reputation is still done.

Now, what should shock you more than anything is that I left out an important clue, this article I referred to was not about the murder, but a separate piece describing the fact that “Juggalos”, fans of the Insane Clown Posse, received gang classification in Monroe County.

One simple statement, taken out of context, and I have sullied Mr. Teitelman’s reputation. It’s okay though, he has sullied mine-I’m a Juggalo-but by the end of my piece, I will apologize to him for it. But not till the end. Right now, I’m more concerned with this gang classification.

So what is a Juggalo?

Well, according to a press release from the Psychopathic Records public relations department;

“Only a "true" juggalo can answer that, but as stated previously, there are no requirements to being a Juggalo. We don't care if you spend a dime on merch [sic], or if you know the words to every song. If this music touches you, and you get some positive experience from it, we would be honored to have you consider yourself a Juggalo.”(Psychopathic P.R. par. 5)

Now, this answer comes directly from the public relations department, but even the Insane Clown Posse’s own words somewhat mirror this belief. In their song, “What is A Juggalo?” off of their “Great Milenko” album, they answer the question with “I don’t know, but if that’s what is, well fuck if I know”, and “I don’t know, but I’m down with clown and I’m down for life, yo”. As a Juggalo, I concur, I don’t know what makes me claim to be a Juggalo, but I do anyway. I can tell you this much, I have never consciously decided to join this group, nor was I invited, and I was never jumped in. Hell, I only know a few other Juggaloes, and I have never had them ask me to commit a crime, nor any other act of depravity.

Can they be called a gang?

The answer to that question has, to some degree, been answered; according to the most recent information from “Monroe County”, Pa, yes, they can, and are “classified as a gang.” They are also classified as a gang in “Utah“, and “Arizona.”(Teitelman par. 1)

Sadly enough, the prerequisites of gang classification is at best murky. At worst, it’s designed to ensure that prosecutors get enough leverage, should they need it. For a group to be considered a gang “only requires that a group have at least three members who use a common name, sign or symbol and commit crimes.”(Guy par.12)

Following this logic, if you have a bowling team, and you have ever gambled-which is a crime-congratulations, you’re in a gang! Of course, police don’t abuse this nifty little trick, it would be unwise, but it does exist. That it does exist is sad, but many disregard this because, who is it hurting anyway? By definition, to have a gang enhancement, you have to commit the original crime, and putting criminals away for longer is always a good thing, right?

Well, this would be true, if the enhancement itself didn’t taint the trial to begin with. I’m all for locking up criminals, but not at the cost of justice. And that’s what a gang enhancement does, it makes justice that much harder to get. I am not a criminal, but if you brought me into court, and pointed a finger at me screaming “Gangbanger!”, the image of me as a gang member is then seared into the minds of the jury; could you guarantee me justice after that? And all this because I like the music of two Detroit rappers?

According to Alex Alonso, an expert in gangs, and a trial consultant, “A gang member with a minor or no criminal background, responsibly employed, and a family person, can receive an unfair trial as the defendant’s gang identity will bias the jury’s ability to be impartial.”(Alonso par.2) In an articled titled “How “Gang related” trials are tainted from the Start”, Alonso goes on to describe two such instances where an over zealous prosecutor over-stepped his power, used the gang enhancement, and managed to wrongly convict two people. Alonso points out two cases in particular;


"Recently, a conviction against Rafael Madrigal Jr. who was sentenced in 2002 to 53 years in prison by Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe for a non-fatal “gang” shooting was overturned. With conflicting eyewitness testimony and other evidence that suggested Madrigal Jr. was at work 30 miles away, was not enough to overcome the highly prejudicial gang statements that caused this jury to sway towards a guilty verdict. In 1996, the same thing happened to Mario Rocha, then 16, was accused of murdering a high school student at a party. Even though Rocha was not a member of a gang, the evidence that pointed to his innocence was tainted by other irrelevant “gang facts” that caused a jury to find him guilty. Rocha was eventually released from prison after serving 10 years in prison and his conviction was too overturned."(Alonso par.2)

And this is the danger of calling Juggaloes gang members. Like I said, I’m a Juggalo, I’m also a father, and a law abiding citizen; why should I be subjected to the scrutiny that would befall a gang member? In Modesto, California, Harley Petero, his son, and his son’s girlfriend were all subjected to being photographed by a gang task force simply because he, “his son and the son’s girlfriend were wearing Insane Clown Posse T-shirts.”(Herendeen par.14)

Why should anybody be treated like a criminal just for wearing a shirt? Or because of the music they listen too? Sadly, the media seem to point out only the bad; type Juggalo into Google, and the list of crimes that come up is overwhelming. But type in “Metallica”, or “Judas Priest”, or hell, type in “Johnny Cash”; I’m pretty sure there are plenty of people in jail who listened to one of those three musicians.

All Juggaloes are bad…?

From the over abundance of newspaper articles, one might assume there are no good Juggaloes, but I found some.

In Tampa Bay, Florida, reporter Bill Stevens wrote about a group of Juggaloes who one day started to clean up a highway and a section of woods in West Pasco. He goes on to say that “Nobody made them. They just did it. They liked the way it made them feel, especially toward each other.”(Stevens par 4) One cleaning session was dedicated to their 15 year old friend who had died after battling diabetes.

Another feather in the Juggaloes cap comes from the ideology portrayed by the group, ICP. On the final album in the Insane Clown Posse’s “Jokers Cards” series, ICP have a song called “The Unveiling”, where they proudly declare “Truth is we follow God/We’ve always been behind him, The carnival is God/and may all Juggaloes find him”

And the music they put out, although abrasive, and filled with cuss words and violent imagery, the message behind their lyrics more often than not declare unity and respect for an outside perspective. Many of their songs deal with a cosmic based reciprocal justice; beat your kids and wife, and the dark carnival-the equivalent of heaven and hell combined, where visitors are virtuous, and those on display, not so much-is where you get punished.

The reality of it is, the Insane Clown Posse are merely artist, and their fans are just fans. To group them into some stereotype is equivalent to singling out an entire race.

Oh, and to Brad Teitelman, My apologies for inferring that your article was intended to malign Juggaloes, I’m sure there was no insult intended.