WOLF PACK NOUN (PEOPLE AND SOCIETY)

In the US, a gang of marauding young men who engage in mugging or wilding. Etymology: A new figurative application for a compound which literally means 'a group of wolves who work together when hunting etc.'; during the Second World War the term was applied figuratively to an attacking group of German submarines. History and Usage: Wolf pack has been in use in this figurative sense in the US for fifteen years or more; it was also the term used by New York police to describe the marauding gang of youngsters from Harlem who were involved in the case of wilding in April 1989 (see wilding). This incident caused considerable debate in the US as a result of which the term wolf pack became quite widely known there and was popularized outside the US as well. In terms of group attacks, the No. 1 crime that we've seen among juveniles...is robbery 2--that is, aided robberies, the wolf-pack robberies...I guess it became a little easier to knock the old lady over and just grab the bag rather than to reach into the pocket and hope you came out with something. So things have gotten a lot rougher in the city with respect to wolf packs. New York Times 25 Apr. 1989, section B, p. 1 The New York Post observed that calling the gang a 'wolf pack' was libellous to wolves. Economist 29 Apr. 1989, p. 31