Anthony Gockowski, Tennessee Star, January 2, 2019

Violent crimes increased by more than 50 percent in 2018 in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, nicknamed “little Mogadishu,” which authorities attribute to Somali gang activity in the area.

Buried in a recent Star Tribune article was the fact that violent crimes jumped from 54 in 2010 to 84 in 2018, an increase in roughly 56 percent. Authorities attribute the violence to rivalries between Somali gangs, such as the Somali Mafia, the Somali Outlaws, the Hot Boyz, and Madhibaan with Attitude, Alpha News reports.

According to a 2014 Southside Pride article, the Outlaws and Madhibaan with Attitude have a rivalry that stretches back years, and likely resulted in the murder of two Somali men in April 2014. That article notes that the summer of 2013 was a particularly bloody season for gang warfare, which produced at least 4 killings.

A 2013 CBS article detailed the involvement of the Outlaws, the Mafia, and another gang called the Lady Outlaws in a sex-trafficking ring that recruited and prostituted young girls, some whom were under the age of 14, between 2000 and 2010. The ring was operated out of Minneapolis, Columbus, and Nashville, and resulted in the indictment of 30 individuals involved.

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The issue first garnered national attention after a 2009 CBS News report titled “Rise of Somali Gangs Plagues Minneapolis,” though officers were still hesitant at the time to pin the crimes on Somali gang activity.

“It was all gang activity, totally, 100 percent,” Shukri Adan, a Somali community organizer, said of the murders of seven Somali men in a 10-month period. {snip}

“The police don’t want to say that but everybody else knows that,” he added.

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The Star Tribune reports that the latest uptick in violent crimes is mostly due to a surge in robberies and assaults.