The Fluffy Bunny Crew, a street gang, was formed years ago on upscale high-school campuses in the northeast Valley, a far cry from the low-income neighborhoods believed by many to spawn second- and third-generation gang members.

Members of the predominantly White gang of suburban young people first attracted police attention by mugging classmates at northeast Phoenix parties.

During the past two years, they have evolved from a party crew into a street gang known for armed robberies, drug deals and violent crime, police say.

Phoenix police say the Fluffy Bunny Crew is under investigation in a Phoenix homicide and other crimes in northeast Valley communities.

Phoenix police Lt. Larry Giebelhausen said investigators at the Desert Horizon Precinct want more parents to be aware of the gang that started as a joke before escalating into a public-safety threat.

"They're getting more and more violent," said Giebelhausen, adding that the Fluffy Bunny Crew is now a recognized Arizona street gang. "Parents need to know who their kids are hanging out with."

The violent exploits of the 100 or more members have played out in upper-middle-class neighborhoods around Desert Ridge, Cave Creek and Deer Valley, police say.

The Fluffy Bunny Crew's online presence is no different than that of most American gangs, police say. Members boast about their exploits or "Web bang" on social-networking sites, where they challenge police and threaten rival gangs and members of the public.

Phoenix Officer Toni Gebbia started compiling information on the Fluffy Bunny Crew and documenting members two years ago after the group was connected to a number of northeast Phoenix armed robberies.

Gebbia, an investigator with Desert Horizon Precinct Neighborhood Enforcement Team, said Fluffy Bunny members appear to be average American teenagers or college students.

Few details have been released as Phoenix police investigate the homicide and robberies, Gebbia said, for fear of jeopardizing ongoing investigations.

The Fluffy Bunny Crew, she said, is known by other names to avoid being targeted by police. The meaning behind the original name is not clear.

"While they're a danger to the public, it seems like a lot of kid-on-kid crime," Gebbia said.

"This group is more isolated out here. They primarily start and stay in the northeast Valley."

Scottsdale police began to take a closer look at the Fluffy Bunny Crew last summer after a homeowner was shot during an attempted home invasion, said Jim Hill, a gang investigator who works as part of the Arizona Department of Public Safety's regional GIITEM task force. GIITEM is the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission.

Hill said gang members were wanted or have been questioned in numerous felonies in Scottsdale.

"They progressed from having their own parties to party takeovers that were home invasions," Hill said.

"These guys are moving more and more into traditional gang crimes. We have drug transactions on a regular basis."

Non-Hispanic White gangs are rare, according to the National Youth Gang Center, an organization that compiles gang-related statistics from law-enforcement agencies across the U.S.

The organization estimated that 49 percent of gang members in the U.S. were Hispanic and 34 percent were Black. Nearly 10 percent were non-Hispanic White, the group said.

But the "newest gang-problem areas" involve Whites more than any other racial or ethnic group, according to the organization's Web site.

Bruce Ferrell, president of the Midwest Gang Investigators Association, said he noticed a rise in gangs similar to the Fluffy Bunny Crew in Omaha, Neb., where he worked as a gang-intelligence investigator.

Ferrell said the presence of the Internet was leading to the rise in popularity, enabling major gangs to communicate with members in different cities, and recruit new members from lesser-known gangs.

"At-risk kids can learn the gang mentality and gang culture so much more quickly on the Internet," said Ferrell, who shared his insights on gang use of the Internet at a recent investigators conference in Arizona.

A common misperception among parents and teachers, he said, is that suburban kids who develop their own gang or gang Web sites were little more than wannabe bangers who pose no threat to the community.

"They're not wannabes," Ferrell said. "They're gang members in training.

"The biggest problem is we undercut and minimize what these kids are about."