The organization of criminal gangs is not a phenomenon of Roma neighborhoods, but in all places around the world where there is a concentration of poverty, unemployment, low education and lack of employment.
This was said in the program "RadioTochka" by sociologist and anthropologist Assoc. Prof. Alexey Pamporov from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and pointed out as a typical example the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, which even the police are not allowed to enter, and there are such zones near the port of Hamburg, in the northern part of Paris, in the northern part of Marseille, etc.
"From the point of view of the community itself, they are not always necessarily bad. In the community itself, they help and do some things for it. This is one of the mechanisms through which the community begins to protect them, hide them, take advantage of them, because when there is a lack of money in a given community, and someone has it, they become dependent on it. In this way, they begin to exercise power - they create an organization, they have money, gradually through social networks they build charisma".
When there is no alternative for integrating young people who dropped out of school early and do not speak Bulgarian well enough into the labor market, on the other side is the tempting easy life, he commented.
"It has been clear for years in the neighborhoods where expensive cars are parked in front of panel blocks. When someone has declared that they are unemployed and drives a Porsche, the prosecutor's office has nothing to wait for. In other countries around the world there is a mechanism and it is clear - you cannot live in a way that your salary does not allow you to. The bad thing is that here we see prosecutors, investigators, police officers, who we see on social networks, demonstrating a standard that they should not be able to afford with the salaries they receive. And the question arises how come we are all blind to the illegally enriched. There is a registration of cars in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and each car is known who owns it", said Assoc. Prof. Pamporov.
The big problem is that in this type of gangs, in addition to those from poverty zones, sometimes sons of politicians, prosecutors, police officers participate, he commented:
"And there a guarding already begins to save the child. They sometimes sacrifice their careers to save the child. This also prevents the law enforcement agencies from doing their job. Therefore, in the case of the accident on "Chelopeshko Shose" only then did it become clear and in 48 hours they caught nearly 50 people".
According to him, in the case of the so-called "Kalashnikovs" there is a risk that, in order to be successful, the prosecutors will agree to a plea bargain, which leads to quick but low sentences:
"And this reflects on the victims who refuse to testify, discredits them and continues to support the networks. This is something that we need to rethink. Yes, it is good to achieve sentences, but when because of the plea bargain the sentence is 2 years and he gets out after 1 year for good behavior, this leaves people at risk - especially if they have testified. We have to see how the case of the so-called "Kalashnikovs" will end.