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The above illustration, appearing on the cover of the
1992 issue of
the Outlaw Gazette depicts
Billy the Kid's Gang from left to right:
Tom O'Folliard,
Charlie Bowdre,
Tom Pickett, Billy the Kid, "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh, and
Billy Wilson.
''I wasn't the leader of any gang. I was for Billy all the time."
-- Billy the Kid to a Las Vegas reporter after his capture at Stinking Springs.
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Outlaw gangs go as far back in history as the beginning of man, with the word "thug" (Thugz) dating to 1200 A.D. when gangs in India were pillaging many of the country's towns. These gangs often had their own hand signs, rituals, symbols and slang, as they clustered together for means of force and protection.
During the 1800's, Americans were fascinated by gangs and their members such as the James Gang, Billy the Kid's Gang, and others that ruled the Wild West.
Though the history of these Old West gangs is often romanticized, it should not be forgotten that they were in fact, nothing more than thugs.
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