The police set up a rapid deployment system in case of any vigilante attacks.

One, a cameraman, George De'Ath, died of injuries from a vigilante attack.

Investigating small-scale vigilante attacks like these can be "a real distraction for those of us who are dealing with more important things," Mr. Murray said.

As she put it: "I don't want legislators saying after a vigilante attack, 'See - this is why we were against the law,' and then killing the law."

Paramilitary gangs enforce street discipline among their own by vigilante attacks and punishment beatings that can leave victims permanently maimed.

The governor said the state police had taken aggressive steps to prevent any vigilante attacks and would intensify their efforts if the information was made more widely available.

The practice was never an official punishment in the United States, but rather a form of vigilante attack.

This angered the Sinhalese population there, which began forming gangs and threatening vigilante attacks on any Tamil migrants to the region.

What if the danger, the funding for the vigilante attacks, had not been from some distant, unknown, surprisingly observant human bigots, but from within theCosa?