And Finally Artist News Legal

FBI declassifies 2011 Juggalos gang report

By | Published on Thursday 12 July 2018

Insane Clown Posse

The FBI has declassified the 2011 report that initially led to Insane Clown Posse fans, known as Juggalos, being labelled as a “loosely organised hybrid gang”.

That classification appears in the FBI’s National Gang Threat Assessment report. Over the last seven years, the rap duo have repeatedly attempted to have it removed. They claim that people have lost jobs, lost custody of children, been unfairly arrested, been refused entry into the military, and more, simply for being Juggalos. To date, various legal challenges have been unsuccessful, most recently in December last year.

The newly released Juggalo-specific report reveals the research that led to ICP fans being defined en masse as criminals.

“The Juggalos are a violent street gang whose membership follow a small niche of the rap scene, known as ‘horrorcore'”, the report states. “The genre is mainly associated with the Detroit artist Insane Clown Posse, but has spawned a host of imitators who excite crowds with musical horror stories in which murder, rape and suicide are recurrent themes”.

Continuing, it says: “Insane Clown Posse can’t get their music on the radio but claim to have one million devoted fans who call themselves ‘Juggalos’ or ‘Juggalettes’, and sometimes paint their faces to look like wicked clowns. Some continue the dress by carrying small axes, like the cartoon Hatchetman associated with the band”.

It goes on to say that a number of US states had already identified the Juggalos as a gang. “The Juggalos have been charged with discharge of a firearm”, the report says. “Juggalos crimes also include drug sales, drug possession, child endangerment, as well as many other crimes typically seen by gangs and gang members”.

Also included is a 2008 investigation into Insane Clown Posse’s annual ‘Gathering Of The Juggalos’ festival. This report then says that the “cult-like” fans are a “legitimate gang” who “commit violent acts not only at concerts but at other times”. It also claims that the Juggalos are in “a type of gang war” in California with the MS-13 gang – a street gang with bases in several countries which formed in California in the 1980s.

The publication of the report justifying the gang status of the Juggalos follows much chatter last week over how the way ICP fans apply their face paint makes them hard to identify via new fangled facial recognition technology. A coincidence, but nevertheless something that probably doesn’t help the group in their ongoing attempts to have their fans’ gang status quashed.

This year’s Gathering Of The Juggalos is set to take place next week. Meanwhile, ICP’s Violent J and his twelve year old daughter Ruby Bruce Lee have launched a new online consumer rights show. It’s a bit like ‘Watchdog’, but with more personal grievances against eBay sellers.



READ MORE ABOUT: