Lady Gaga Dognapping may have been the initiation of a gang, the reward has not yet been paid

The people who stole Lady GagaThe 2 French Bulldogs and shot in their dogwalker may have been part of a gang initiation, and the woman who found the dogs did not receive her $ 500,000 reward because the police have not yet cleared her … sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ .

Our sources say … the police told Gaga NOT to pay the reward she offered, unless, and even, they determine that the locator was not involved in the crime. They said police officers do not believe the woman was part of the kidnapping, but are trying to find out if she was involved after the fact.

Again, they don’t know that she is involved, but they are investigating. They said that Gaga is more than willing to pay the woman if she is released by the police.

Besides … our sources say the police believe dognapping and shooting of the dogwalker may have been a gang initiation. We have been informed that similar crimes have occurred in the Los Angeles area recently, and this may well have been the MO in the Gaga case.

It’s interesting … if you look at the crime surveillance video, Ryan Fischer, the dogwalker, was nowhere near the dogs when he was shot in the chest. The dogs were on the other side of the dognappers. They could have easily put the dogs in the car and left, but chose to shoot Ryan. This gives credence to the theory of gang initiation.