Being a black person who also grew up in a troubled community, I can give a bit of context as to why they do it - sometimes. The way they act at times is out of dealing with racism and prejudice from the justice system itself - in their own way, they try to protect themselves. yes, you grow up around some shady people but those shady people help to keep other shady people from their area trying to kill them out of jealousy/hate etc. It's not easy cutting ties with those shady people when they are grew up with you and always looked after your best interest and prevented any serious harm from coming to you. You can't just throw them away and if you start avoiding them, they will feel betrayed and turn on you as well. It's crazy but that is how it is at times. You have those that just doing it for notoriety but for some, it's more of an art of survival that they learnt growing up "in the streets".