Yeah they were. Goes counter to stereotype, I guess that is why people find it interesting.
You couldn't find a more hedonistic gang of ne'er do wells in 20 states.
It was actually kind of sad seeing the pictures of all these kids blown to pieces. Not that they weren't monsters themselves, most of them were, but they were so young you get the impression that on some level they probably had no idea what they were really doing.
I guess the same thing goes on in the inner cities a lot in the street gangs today.