''Area Boys'' Listed Among Notorious Gangs In The World

Territory: Lagos, Nigeria Criminal activities: Drug trafficking, extortion, murder, inciting riots Number of members: 35,000 Over the past three decades, Nigeria’s Area Boys have gone from young kids committing crimes of opportunity to a massive if still largely unorganized street gang responsible for acts of extortion and murder. Local authorities, who have made a number of failed humanitarian attempts to eliminate the gang, tie the rising level of violence to a depressed economy, high unemployment and the increasing prevalence of drug addiction among the gang’s members.