Gangsta

[Vuk]

In another thread we were talking about fitted caps, and how wearing one made everyone afraid because they thought that you were a GANGSTA!!!
My question is this, what is the big deal? No, seriously, why would being in a gang make people afraid of you? We have several gangs in the city I study at, and if the gangs there are anything to go by, those guys are pathetic. They attract people who are too weak and insecure to take care of themselves, and need the ego boost and protection of a gang. They are generally not good fighters, not well armed, and are total cowards. (esp when caught alone)
A member of one of them was trying to threaten me once that he was in a gang, and I told him to bring his gang down and I would hospitalize the lot of them. Ever since then, members of the gang call me 'hater' and avoid me. :P They are all a bunch of underdeveloped highschool kids (with a few college boys) who meet and play video games, hang around McDonalds smoking and trying to intimidate people. The problem is that there is nothing intimidating about them.
Now, of course I realize that there is a difference between these types and serious criminal gangs, but it is pretty easy to tell the difference between a serious don't-mess-with-me type and a stupid kid wearing a fitted cap so that people will be scared of him. Coincidently, when I was in Chicago, I don't remember seeing anyone over their prepubescent years wearing a fitted cap.

Is that type of gangsta wear made popular by rappers just something that stupid little kids do to intimidate others, or is it something that real criminal gangs wear too?
If not, then why does it intimidate people?