• Chicago Sun-Times, Monday, August 20, 2007 11:45 AM

Virginia's state's tourism agency will eliminate images of people making heart symbols with their hands in its marketing because the gesture is also used by a violent street gang.

The gesture, in the Virginia is for Lovers "Live Passionately" campaign, shows thumbs and index fingers formed into a heart. It is one of several symbols associated with the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples.

At first, tourism officials thought the gang was a small group in South Carolina and continued with the ads. Then the agency received e-mails pointing out that the gesture is flashed by members of the Gangster Disciples. The group is known for its large-scale crack-cocaine operations and was featured in a chapter of the best-seller "Freakonomics," in which a sociology graduate student gained the trust of gang members to learn about the group's operational structure.

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