Gangs function as a complex adaptive system (CAS), yet few studies attempt to use a CAS framework to understand them. Within a CAS, agents possess a set of rules and attributes that govern behavior. They interact with the environment and one another to generate emergent properties and behavioral patterns through feedback mechanisms that shape future interaction. For gangs, selling drugs and embracing gun culture are two feedback mechanisms that have fundamentally transformed them into being entrepreneurial and violent. In a competitive environment where violence is used to regulate the market, security has a significant influence on behavior. The Bloods formed in opposition to actions taken by the Crips, who formed in response to violent attacks by white gangs. The People Nation formed as a coalition of gangs to remain competitive with the Folk Nation. La Nuestra Familia formed in response to the Mexican Mafia as a means of protecting Norteños in prison. Albeit under different circumstances than street and prison gangs, the Big Five motorcycle gangs used their group status to enter the drug trade. Once they began to expand, conflict over market protection followed.