instead of kissing up to him due to him being your gang leader
Another case of perspectives gone wrong; I had a lot of them lately and especially hate them. Can I theorize as well? "Due" is a strong word. You could have just posted saying he is cocky and bending the rules, but you just had to reach that certain position of "This is my perspective to why you're backing him up; let me say that he's backing Johnny up because Exrobite is kissing his ass due to him being the gang leader and doesn't want to end up in bad terms with a friend".
We can't hide behind the curtain that you have recent warnings.