Insane Clown Posse Fans Get Gang Classification
Posted on Sep 21st 2009 2:00PM by Bram Teitelman
29 Comments
Following the murder last week of a Hazleton, Pa. man by four devotees of rap metal duo Insane Clown Posse, authorities in neighboring Monroe County have classified fans of the band as a gang. The Allentown Morning Call reports that Monroe County joins police in Arizona and Utah as recognizing devotees of the group, or Juggalos as they're referred to, as gang members. The band themselves are labeled a security threat in WisconsinLast Monday, Anthony Locascio, 21, was lured to the woods by four acquaintances and struck with metal baseball bats 60 to 80 times, allegedly for ratting on a friend. Jeffrey A. Gombert, 19 and Curtis T. Foose, 25 of Hazleton; Andrew A. Tutko, 19 of McAdoo and Shane D. Roof, 20, formerly of Palmerton, were all charged with homicide, conspiracy, and aggravated assault. Locascio, Gombert and Foose refer to Insane Clown Posse on their MySpace pages, while the paper cites a source close to the investigation as saying that all five involved were Juggalos.
Monroe County detective Emmanuel Varkanis has been tracking Juggalos for about two years now. He and other authorities say they've identified 1,000 Insane Clown Posse fans in the county. He says they are mostly white, range in age from 10 to 35, and speak their own language. Earlier this year, two ICP fans from Monroe allegedly lured Stroudsburg man Michael S. Goucher, 21, into the woods where they stabbed him 45-50 times with knives and metal cleavers. Both men arrested in the murder, Ian Seagraves, 17 and Sean Freemore, 18, were Insane Clown Posse fans, and Seagraves has a tattoo of the band's mascot.
Insane Clown Posse have been releasing albums since 1992. The duo of Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Utsler) perform shows in clown makeup and describe their sound as 'horrorcore.' Many of the duo's lyrics advocate violence in an over-the-top tongue-in-cheek style, and the band's mascot is a cartoonish silhouette of a man carrying a hatchet.
Morning Call ties the lyrics of ''Imma Kill You,' a song taken from the duo's latest album, 'Bang! Pow! Boom!,' to the murder. "First I smack your head with a bat. The bloody splat, crack with impact," the song's lyrics say. The album recently debuted at number 4 on the Billboard charts, selling about 50,000 copies. The duo are popular enough to have their own yearly weekend festival, The Gathering of the Juggalos. The 10th annual gathering recently took place at Cave-In-Rock, Ill. without incident.
Many Juggalos find it preposterous to find themselves classified as gang members. "To consider Juggalos as gang members blatantly shows the ignorant and out-of-touch approach that parents and authority figures have been using to justify society's problems for decades," Haddon Township, N.J. Insane Clown Posse fan Bob Lugowe says. "These stories you read in the media are pure sensationalism, as they always choose to ignore the underlying positive message found throught ICP's lyrics, which promote brotherhood and acceptance of all walks of life."
Filed under: News
Comments
mnstrofmetlat 9.21.2009 2:37PM
I do so love how the music is to blame. Not the parenting, or the psychobabble bullsh*t the makes al kinds of excuses about why the children are the way they are. Inside my head is this voice screaming for me to write down exactly what I am thinking, but in the interests of the public good, all I will say is that we need to take a good look at ourselves to understand the reason why things are the way they are. NO EXCUSES.
"Juvy"at 9.21.2009 4:36PM
Thats all we need now is a bunch of sorry ass white boys running around trying to act like gangstas! Bring them down to Miami to see if they continue that nonsense!! LOL
striderhamtaroat 9.21.2009 2:46PM
Juggalos classified as gang members. Of all the things I'd expect society to call them, "gang" wasn't expected.
cazsueat 9.21.2009 2:49PM
Did the attack happen because they are ICP fans, or because they thought the kid ratted? Big difference.
Lindseyat 1.06.2010 6:22PM
exactly! los and lettes stick together they realte to each other. the incident still would of happened evenif they wernt icp fans. lets say they wer football players they took him into the woods or watever and they tackles him "inspiration from tackling practice" and they had on football jerseys. that means you would also have to classify them as "GANG MEMBERS" its the same thing! the reason you wanna clasify icp fans as gang members is because you have something against them. a gang is really a gang when all the members are in it for bad intentions like if your in crips or bloods you know ur gonna do bad stuff, its not too help anyone or anything juggalos and lettes dont get int o to it for violence. get off the sterotype out of all the los n lettes ive met ive never met one who was violent disrespectful or anything!
oxhartlyat 9.21.2009 2:56PM
A bunch of morons listening to hilariously bad music does not make a gang.
Jacquelineat 9.21.2009 2:58PM
You have got to be kidding me! I listen to ICP all the time, but that doesn't mean I am going to run out and commit murder. You can't blame music for someone's screw up! PERIOD! Beside's the fact that a lot of their lyrics people would often agree with, but that doesn't mean they would act on them. Like in the song "How Many Times" the lyrics state "How many times will my neighbor beat his wife? Somewhere in that house there's a butcher knife. F'N drunk swingn' his fist about. Why don't you wait til he sleeps and take him out" And hell that song was done years ago. And how many would agree with that but not act upon it? Give me a break! Quit looking for something to blame. It is time that people take responsibility for their own actions!
nmxxx1at 9.21.2009 3:09PM
Their music sucks ass and the little juggle-hos as we call them are a bunch of wannabes and fags! Anyone with half a brain wouldn't dress up like those fools if they were paid to. They can all juggle-my-balls!!!
vabdmanat 9.21.2009 3:20PM
I remember when it was heavy metal (e.g. Ozzy, AC/DC, etc.) blamed for the same things. People are not robots. The blame is on the killers themselves.
jljnielat 9.21.2009 3:20PM
Even hard rock wasn't that bad. They make KISS look rather mild. And I thought they were bad.
Paul Turnerat 9.21.2009 3:30PM
They should be saluted as great Americans for killing a snitch. Snitches, scumbags who rat on people for doing the same thing they are doing, need to be treated accordingly. The judicial system rely on them no good scoundrels as the backbone of many convictions and it is wrong! If some one would rat on their friends...don't you think they'd lie? How dare law enforcement and prosecutors trot out liars and scumbags as their star witnesses. Kill them f'n snitches! btw I don't care for the music, I listen to outlaw country.
moovyz99at 9.21.2009 4:44PM
Wow, dude... you've got a seriously messed up belief system. Anyone who "rats" as you say can be heroes in many cases. If they are turning in some idiot who killed someone or stole from someone, that makes them a hero in my book. No one should "cover up" for some low-life POS who tramps on others and believing such makes you just as low.
The music is not to blame but it certainly isn't helping. What exactly is the "positive" message in a song that tells of someone bashing someone else's head in with a bat? Pretty F'd up if you ask me. What amazes me is that anyone would listen to it!
darkangel539at 9.21.2009 3:33PM
HAHA you people really are pathetic not the ones that commented just people in general...music doesnt influence someone to do something take that from a juggelette yall
lbj033at 9.21.2009 3:52PM
OBAMA'S ADVISORS AND STAFF IS CLASSIFIED AS A GANG BY MOST TRUE AMERICANS-THEY ARE COMPOSED OF PERVERTS,COMMUNIST AND ANTI AMERICANS
boesesfleischat 9.21.2009 3:53PM
HAHAHA....
Now if you got your hat tilted to the side
And you're always down to jack a bitch for her ride
Or the colors that your rep, make others upset
Then you might be.... GANG RELATED
ucffratssuckat 9.21.2009 3:58PM
You gotta get down with the clown. ICP Juggalo 4 life. Mr. Malenko would not kill nobody and if he did he wouldn’t talk about it. Just cuz we drinking faygo and painting our faces don’t be making us gangs we family
riverat 9.21.2009 4:04PM
Honestly, if people were smart enough to separate reality from dreams, no one would have this problem. ICP music isn't meant to be taken seriously. I listen to it all the time and it's just music, but the ones that take it over the top are the ones tht give lo's and lette's a bad rap. Simple as that. So, shame on that town or county, because it was the fault of the individual, not the fault of the music.
alpert_ccat 9.21.2009 4:07PM
ICP sucks a**. The Jugganutts and Juggawhores are a bunch of no class whte trash losers. I know first hand, my cu*t of an ex sister in law is "lette" and just lost all 5 of her children to the state of Texas. All she wants is to life this lifestyle. The fans truely see it as a lifestyle and that's why it's being classified as a gang. It has nothing to do with the music. When these a**holes get together it's takes on mob mentality. Bunch of douchebags. I invite anyone to research these kids, look at the way they talk, dress, act.
Abbyat 9.21.2009 4:13PM
That picture scares me....
sirb1azeemat 9.21.2009 4:29PM
In california people laugh at you if you say you listen to this gay boy band.