Downtown Boys

"Ha ha, look at her!"
"Fuck man, it's *my* turn."

Gang culture goes back a long way, from the ghetto kids of the American 50's to the Mods & Rockers of the British 70's. For whatever reason, disaffected young men like getting together and causing trouble. Nothing's different about this today. Not every kid has a conscience, not every kid worries about the environment or what the corps are up to. Some kids just want to be bad.

Background

The Downtown Boys formed in late 2025. Back then, they had only three members - John Samson, their leader; Yuri Gorgikov, a long-standing friend of John's; and Jostik Larsson, a friend of Yuri.

John Samson, now aged eighteen, was sixteen when he formed the Boys. He had a troubled past - at thirteen he dropped out of school, at fourteen got a girl pregnant, and at fifteen ran away from home. By the time he'd done all this, forming a gang didn't seem anything major to him. He had known Yuri for several years, since the pair met out on a highway one day. Yuri had just jacked a truck, and offered John a lift to wherever he was going. He accepted, and quickly found he liked this Russian boy. In the following years, the two became closer and closer, relying on each other more and more, to the point where they are now virtually insperable. John is a rebel, has a strong character, and does not often back down from an argument.

Yuri Gorgikov is very similar in many ways to John. He is a year older at nineteen, but this is not immediately obvious - in fact, at first glance, John would appear the elder. He has classic good looks, but is quite short and has little bulk to back his arguments. Nonetheless, he has a ferocious temperament and if provoked will fight to the end, for any cause. Physically he is strong, but mentally he is weak. He is prone to sudden fits of rage and has a very short temper. Although young, he is already on many cities wanted lists, for the many crimes he has commited. Yuri sees the Boys as his refuge from the outside world he struggles to cope with.

Jostik Larsson is a Swedish boy of sixteen years. He came to the ISA with Yuri in the back of a freight truck several years ago. He appreciated the help Yuri gave him during that journey, and upon their arrival in Night City, decided he may as well stick around with the older boy for a while. As it turned out, the two became good friends and have worked together since then. In their first weeks in the ISA, the pair turned to crime to survive, a habit they have kept to this day. They made a name for theirselves in many communities with their combination of guile and extreme violence. Jostik is short, but well-built, and has a devious mind to go with it.

Growth

Since those early days, many new members have joined the gang. The vast majority of members are young criminals, caught inbetween their homes, the streets and jail, and finding theirselves with the Downtown Boys as the only route out of their predicament. Well, to be honest, it's nothing like a route out - joining the gang just condemns you to further misery in your criminal life, with no foreseeable end. At the present time, the gang can boast of twenty-five members, making it one of the largest non-yogang youth organizations in Night City. As such, it has considerable influence.

The gang has members from two distict areas - those who have been part of a yogang in the past, and those who have not. If a member was previously in a yogang, it is most likely that they were forced to leave because of their criminal or disruptive behaviour. Discommendations from a yogang are rare, but the Downtown Boys are the natural choice for these victims. Rather than living alone on the streets, on the run, a kid can take advantage of the residences and "care" the Boys offer. All they expect in return, is a share of your "profits". Better than being a dosser, really.

The largest proportion of ex-yogangers were previously either BoardPunks or MegaViolents. These two make up around two thirds of the total, approximately fifteen members. The past doesn't matter too much to the Boys, though, so any past difference are firmly cast aside. Rivalries still exist, but it simply isn't done to act to the detriment of another member, at least deliberately. Therefore, infighting is rare and for the most, members live together quite well.

Activities

Mainly criminal, though John, Yuri and Jostik would argue otherwise. Newer or younger members are encouraged to partake in petty theft, while more experienced members indulge in near-organised crime. Goods are sold on through two or three fences, the profits being partly re-invested in the gang (better accomodation, food, lighting, and so on) and partly split between members. In a good week, the gang may pull in several thousand dollars worth of goods. Doesn't sound much for a twenty-five-man crime-wave, but you have to remember a lot of these "men" should really be at high school.

The gang keeps a fairly low profile in the community, although you'll probably have seen their slogans daubed across garage walls across the city, and it's even more likely you've been burgled by them at least once. The gang hang out in underground caverns below the city, branching off sewers and waste pipes. The chance of them being found by someone not in the know is, to be blunt, zero.

Leadership

John, Yuri and Jostik together hold power in the gang. Being considerably older than most other members, what they says goes. The three organise the larger crimewaves, take care of new members, look after accomodation and food, and generally keep the gang going. John in particular has much influence, but the power of the other two is not underestimated. Together, they seek to expand the gang to incorporate more disillusioned and rejected kids, and in the future into other cities across the area.