Spate of Stabbings Seen as Statement Crime- Washington Times

By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published August 18, 2005

Law-enforcement and youth services officials say that "statement crimes" committed by Hispanic gangs to establish their presence have inspired brazen attacks, including a recent spate of stabbings and slashings in Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

"Those kinds of attacks would be to send a message -- 'We're in town' or 'We're taking over,' " said Steve Nawojczyk, who works in youth services in Little Rock, Ark. "Many times their violent acts are simply to establish their reputations as the meanest and the baddest around," said Mr. Nawojczyk, whose Web site www.gangwar.com has been cited by several news organizations and publications nationally.

According to statistics compiled by Virginia State Police and Maryland State Police, the number of aggravatedassaults and murders committed with knives has increased by about 2.5 percent in each state since 2001.

"This is nothing new," said Detective Patrick Word of the Gaithersburg Police Department, vice chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Gang Investigators Network. Detective Word said knives, which are easy to acquire and get rid of, have been used for decades among gangs of all races.

But as authorities have tracked the growth of the Salvadoran MS-13 street gang in the region, knifings have become more violent in broad daylight and public places. Over the past two weeks, there have been five stabbings or slashings in Hispanic communities in Langley Park, Colesville and Wheaton that have killed two and injured nine persons.

The violence in the Hispanic community first captured the attention of the public, the police and politicians in May 2004, when a 16-year-old boy was attacked by MS-13 members with a machete in Fairfax County, officials said. The boy, a member of a rival gang, lost four fingers on his left hand and a finger on his right hand as he tried to defend himself against the assault.

Mr. Nawojczyk said such brazen attacks often inspire copycats or more brutal efforts at revenge, as gang members try to outdo their rivals. "Gangs are fueled by the three R's," he said, "respect, reputation and retaliation."

Some of the most brazen attacks, such as when someone used what police described as a "large knife" to slash the throats of three day laborers, killing two of them and critically injuring a third, don't appear to have gang ties.

Detective Word said the use of a blade to commit a crime in the Hispanic community can often be traced to the trades many immigrants are skilled in. Many crimes in which a weapon used falls under the blanket term "knife" actually are committed with box cutters, utility knives, carpet cutters or other tradesmen's tools, he said. "I don't think [the choice of the weapon] has anything to do with gang activity," the detective said. "I think it's their lifestyle, what they're familiar with."

In the District, police said just over 100, or 11 percent, of the 941 killings recorded between 2001 and 2004 were committed using knives or other sharp objects. That figure is identical to the 11 percent of killings committed with knives or other sharp objects in the District from 1998 to 2000.

Officials in Fairfax County said there has not been a recent, noticeable increase in stabbings. However, they said stabbing statistics are not kept separately but are categorized under "malicious wounding," which includes any action that punctures the skin. Arlington County police lump stabbings with aggravated assaults. While the county had 200 aggravated assaults last year, police said stabbings are infrequent.

"It's just not something we see a lot of," said Matt Martin, a spokesman with the Arlington County Police Department.

In Alexandria, 24 stabbings last year were reported between Jan. 1 and Aug. 15. Twenty-six were reported this year during the same period, including six persons who were stabbed during a retirement home rampage in January. Alexandria police spokesman Capt. John Crawford said it is possible that stabbings get more attention because of the brutality of the crimes.

"Maybe it is getting more attention," he said. "Whenever you hear 'stabbing' or 'cutting' it rises to a much higher level, especially a stabbing into a vital organ. It instantly becomes a trauma."
•Amy Doolittle contributed to this report.

Thoughts from Minneapolis- from the Star Tribune

Joe Selvaggio:

Toward 'the perfect peace' with gangs
Funders and nonprofits can help to solve gang problem


More than 4,000 African-Americans kill each other each year because of gun-gang violence. I was shocked to hear (from Hakim Hasan, a longtime inner-city activist from the Urban Institute at Metropolitan College of New York) that it took the KKK 80 years to kill that many blacks.

No wonder Tyrone Terrill, director of the Human Rights Department in St. Paul, in a letter to the black community published in May this year, called on his fellow African-Americans to take responsibility for the problem -- not to wait for the police, the media and mainstream society to try to solve it.

Even though Terrill has taken heat from some in his community for his strong call to get control, a clear majority has rallied behind him. Now it's time for the members of the broader community to get off our duffs and support anyone willing to take on this gun-gang violence.

Too many innocent victims (even preteens) have died. Too many neighborhoods have been destroyed for us to be complacent. We have an excellent opportunity today for success with African-Americans leading the charge.

The problem is of a manageable size, and grass-roots groups such as the Urban Youth Conservation (in Partnership with the Peace Foundation) have contacts with some 300 gang members in Minneapolis -- a number of whom say they'd get out if they had the opportunity for work or education. An agreement exists with the gangs that members may leave the gangs without recrimination if the proper procedure is executed -- a saner policy than the "leave and get whacked" policy of the Mafia.

For those members who choose to remain, Minneapolis and St. Paul have chosen to strengthen their police forces.

Gang members should be forewarned: They will face no mercy and long prison terms should they decide to continue their violent behavior.

There are three basic forces for a solution:

• People on the "front lines" negotiating with the gang members must be of the ethnicity of the particular gang: blacks with blacks, Latinos with Latinos, Asians with Asians. They should be paid well for their dangerous work.

• There must be a seamless web of capable agencies or schools ready to take on gang members willing to leave the gang. An immediate job site must be available (like PPL Industries). In addition, a medium-term school or work site (like Summit Academy OIC) must be the next rung of the ladder.

• A long-term educational or job-training site (like Twin Cities RISE! or our community colleges) must be part of the working plan. Supportive housing and counseling would be necessary in many cases.

The three-pronged plan needs to be funded with $1 million or more of new money each year for at least five years. Already eight funders who attended presentations by 10 community nonprofits dealing with the gang problem have expressed a strong interest in funding this effort.


More funders, large, medium and small, are needed. Many more nonprofits (with capacity) and churches should be enlisted to take a portion of the master plan.

We hear of the "perfect storm" that creates enormous problems in our world. I see the situation here as the opposite.

The time is ripe for the "perfect peace" if we take the proper steps to deal with our gang problem.

The ethnic minorities are angry at the violence in their own communities, the nonprofits and government forces are ready to engage, and the funders -- if they see the right plan -- are ready to stand with them by putting some real cash out there for measurable results. And what could be more measurable than a reduced death rate, flourishing inner-city neighborhoods, and productive tax-paying citizens with good careers?

Minnesota has always been known as a "can-do" state, meeting its creative challenges with energy, plans and actions. Can we make this our next big success story?

Joe Selvaggio, Minneapolis, is executive director of the One Percent Club and founder of the Project for Pride in Living. Last month he helped convene a forum to connect philanthropists with nonprofits that are combatting gang violence.

Prison Gangs in Texas

Click on the title to view a story about the effect of prison gangs on central Texas.

Gangs On The Internet Surprise Omaha Police

Click on the title to be taken to a story about the Omaha Police Department and their investigation of gangs on the internet. www.theomahachannel.com/news/4841356/detail.html

Chicago Gangs- New Tactic- USA Today

Paroled gangsters find they can't return home

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

CHICAGO — Shawn Betts apparently didn't realize it, but a police surveillance team had a video camera pointed at him the moment he stepped out of a state prison here last October.

Cicero, a Chicago suburb with a history of gang activity dating to the days of Al Capone, wants to keep out gangsters displaced from the city.

Betts, a leader of a violent gang known as the 4 Corner Hustlers, was being watched because he had just signed an unusual parole agreement to secure his release after serving six years of a 12-year sentence for kidnapping: He promised not to return to the West Side turf controlled by his gang, with the understanding that police would be watching to make sure he didn't. Less than six hours after he left prison and ducked into a van with friends, Betts was back in custody.
That was because the surveillance team saw the 38-year-old felon make a brief detour into Indiana. The detour violated a separate part of Betts' parole — a violation that probably would have gone unnoticed if Betts hadn't agreed to the restrictions that led police to follow him.

The episode was a benchmark in a bold effort by Chicago to turn back the type of gang violence that has driven up violent crime rates here and elsewhere in recent years. During the past two years, Betts and four other gang figures have given up their rights to return to their home "turf" under one of the nation's most provocative strategies aimed at disrupting gang activity.

In a city where police say gangs typically are involved in about half the homicides each year, the new restrictions on parole coincided with a 25% decline in slayings last year.
Homicides have continued to decline this year in Chicago, although not as dramatically: As of July 29 there had been 258, five fewer than at the same time in 2004, the Chicago Police Department says.

Thomas Epach Jr., executive assistant to police Superintendent Philip Crane, says he can't be certain how much of the decline should be attributed to parole restrictions or to other anti-gang initiatives launched in troubled areas.

But Epach says the restrictions on even a small number of gang leaders — and the police surveillance attached to such agreements — have given authorities a better view of the activities of hundreds of key players among Chicago's estimated 68,000 gang members.

Crane says the restrictions also have allowed police to prevent violence that often has occurred after a gang leader is released from prison and he tries to re-establish his presence.

As a result, Epach says, police are working with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which oversees parole, to have more parolees agree to restrictions on their movements.
"It's hard to say which snowflake causes the avalanche," Epach says. "Our aim is simple. We're trying everything to take the catalysts for violence out of the equation."

Legality of deals questioned

The Chicago policy has raised a range of legal and law enforcement concerns, however.

Defense lawyers and civil rights advocates complain that parole restrictions on gang leaders violate the convicts' right to associate with their families and friends. They say the restrictions can make it particularly difficult for the felons to find work, which usually is another requirement of parole.

"The whole thing is 100% unconstitutional," says Sam Adam, a lawyer for Darren Jones, 34, a gang leader who accepted a non-negotiable release offer from the Illinois review board.

Jones agreed to stay away from his home turf on Chicago's West Side when he was freed from prison in January.

Adam says Jones — who wound up violating the agreement and is back in prison, serving the remaining 13 years of his original 25-year sentence for drug trafficking — had three children who lived in the area he was banned from visiting.

"How can you tell a man he can't go home and visit his kids?" Adam asks.

Chicago's policy hasn't been challenged in court, but Adam says he would have done so if Jones could have afforded it.

"I wish Darren had asked us to go forward," Adam says. "We had everything all lined up. We were ready to go."

Jorge Montes, chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, says the territorial restrictions are reserved for a small number of gang leaders who authorities suspect could pose a threat to public safety.

"I don't know if there is any direct correlation between this program and declining crime," Montes says. "But it makes perfect sense that inmates who are identified as kingpins should be watched very, very closely."

Still, Montes says it is "only a matter of time" before the policy is challenged in court.
Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago, says a parolee's constitutional right to free association isn't all the policy jeopardizes.

"If you are cutting these people off from family, friends and opportunities for work, you might be setting them up for failure," he says.

Chicago police play down such concerns.

They say the restrictions hinder only a gang leader's ability to return to illegal activity.
In Jones' case, Epach says, police feared that the mandatory release would set off a violent turf battle if Jones sought to re-establish himself in the hierarchy of a gang known as the Traveling Vice Lords.

For roughly three months after his release from prison, police say, they watched Jones reconnect with old business partners as he ventured in and out of the prohibited territory.
They arrested him on alleged parole violations in March, soon after Jones — apparently concerned about police surveillance — bought a $300 radio frequency detector that can be used to check for bugging devices.

"If you're trying to get your life back together," Epach says, "you aren't going out to buy spy paraphernalia."

Chicago suburb wary

Chicago authorities are encouraged by the apparent success of the program, but their counterparts in nearby cities worry that the tactic will encourage released gang members to head to the suburbs.

Garnett Watson, police chief of neighboring Gary, Ind., says his city routinely feels the impact of anti-gang efforts in Chicago. It's too early to determine whether Chicago's parole initiative has triggered a significant migration of gang members to the city's Indiana suburbs, but Watson expects it.

"When Chicago sneezes, we catch a cold," Watson says.

Larry Ford, an assistant director with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says years of battles involving urban police agencies and gangs already have driven some criminal groups to operate in the suburbs. "They are finding less competition for turf and less (police) scrutiny," Ford says.

Nationwide, there are an estimated 730,000 gang members associated with more than 21,000 groups, according to the National Youth Gang Center, an arm of the Justice Department.

The numbers have remained stable in recent years despite a decade-long decline in crime. But the percentage of cities reporting that gang problems were "getting worse" rose from 25% in 1999 to 37% in 2003, the center says.

During the same period, gang-related homicides increased about 50%, according to the most recent report by a coalition of urban police chiefs and prosecutors known as Fight Crime Invest in Kids.

Chicago's move against gang leaders comes as several cities — notably Los Angeles, San Antonio and El Paso — are using another tactic aimed at disrupting gangs: obtaining court orders to ban known gangsters from operating in designated sections of those cities.

Instead of targeting individual gang leaders, the cities are identifying troubled neighborhoods and enforcing strict rules of conduct in those areas that are aimed at making it more difficult for gang members to deal drugs or take part in other illegal activities.

For years, Los Angeles has sought court orders to limit the activities and movements of many of the city's estimated 40,000 gang members. The court orders do not prohibit certain known gang members from being in the designated areas, but the members are banned from associating with each other.

In a March 10 order aimed at combating Los Angeles' Grape Street Crips, at least 16 known gang members were prohibited from associating with other members, intimidating people in the neighborhood or acting as lookouts "by whistling, yelling or otherwise signaling" colleagues involved in drug trafficking or other illegal activity.

During the past four years, the city has ramped up its campaign dramatically, designating 16 new restricted zones, an increase of 243%. The strategy's effect on the crime rate is unclear, but the designation of every "safety zone" has been followed by a decline in violent crime of at least 6% in each area, says Jonathan Diamond, spokesman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

During his unsuccessful bid for re-election this year, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn proposed designating the entire city — nearly 500 square miles — as a court-ordered safety zone. The plan remains under review by Delgadillo's office, but it has drawn criticism from legal analysts such as former Los Angeles district attorney Ira Reiner, who told the Los Angeles Times that it was "campaign talk and nothing else."

Safety zones expanded

The use of court orders in California was upheld in a 1997 ruling by the state Supreme Court in a case that involved an anti-gang effort in San Jose.

Courts have not always backed anti-gang strategies, however. In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court scuttled a broad anti-loitering ordinance in Chicago that was aimed at sweeping gang members from the streets. Under that provision, opposed by the ACLU, police were able to make arrests if suspected gang members did not follow a police warning to move.

Until it was overturned, the anti-loitering ordinance appeared to give law enforcement a less-demanding alternative to court orders, which typically require police to carefully plot crimes committed in the designated zones and name gang members suspected in them.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, however, the use of court orders to establish "safety zones" has expanded. El Paso got its first court order in 2003. It established the troubled Downtown area known as the "Segundo Barrio" as a target to rid the neighborhood of the Barrio Azteca gang.

The order identified 35 members of the gang by name and prohibited them from associating with each other in the zone. The order also established a curfew that made any of the members subject to arrest if they were found in the zone from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

El Paso police Sgt. Marylou Carrillo says that from April 2003, when the order took effect, to January 2005, the strategy contributed to a 33% decline in business burglaries, a 20% drop in robberies and a 12% decline in overall crime in the Downtown area. There also have been no homicides in the zone since the court action.

Carrillo says police are moving to extend the order through 2006.

"These residents for years have been terrorized," County Attorney Jose Rodriguez says. "Nobody in this town should live in fear."

Epach says the same principle applies in Chicago. The former prosecutor describes the territorial restrictions on released prisoners as part of a "big combo platter that appears to be working now" in reducing gang activity.

"We figure that watching and putting restrictions on one gang leader is the equivalent of watching 200 gang members," he says. "These people are at the top of the food chain. We can put a kind of embargo on violations by keeping the gang leaders unsettled."

Baltimore Sun Opinion Piece on Suburban Gangs and stabbings of 6 High Schoolers

Suburban gangs

August 9, 2005

MONTGOMERY COUNTY police were quick to identify the stabbings of six high school students late last week as gang-related. Which gang, investigators wouldn't say. But they didn't need to -- MS-13, a Latino gang originating in El Salvador, is well known to law enforcement in Maryland's Washington suburbs. Prince George's County prosecutors relied on a gang expert this year to win murder convictions against members of Mara Salvatrucha, the gang's formal name. The neighboring counties have been working to counter gang recruitment efforts, but the stabbings reinforce the need to provide Latino youths with alternatives to enlisting in this selective and dangerous club.

MS-13, which came to prominence on the streets of Los Angeles, can be found in communities across the country. Its members can be as young as middle-schoolers and as old as 30. They form cliques, but share the same initiation rites, colors, tattoos, sign language and punishment routines. Gang rapes, beatings, cuttings and "skip parties" -- to lure kids out of school -- are among their routines.

The increasing number of Latino immigrants in Montgomery and Prince George's counties has brought the gang problem into sharper focus. But youth gangs are not solely a Latino problem. MS-13 may have generated the most publicity with several high-profile murders in northern Virginia that brought federal prosecutors into the fight. But, as Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey has noted, gang violence cuts across race and culture in Prince George's, and the type of crime varies by group.

A joint county task force estimated about 50 gangs in Prince George's and 20 to 25 in Montgomery. It issued recommendations last fall that correctly addressed the problem in terms of prevention and law enforcement. A new community center planned for the predominantly Hispanic Langley Park area is one tangible outcome of that work. Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan has put dollars into two new day laborer centers and views school-based health clinics as another way to reach kids. But the County Council, regrettably, cut by half his funding for a gang unit in the Police Department.

The level of gang-related violence in Prince George's and Montgomery counties hasn't reached the epidemic proportions of the murderous drug organizations in Baltimore. That means both counties have a chance to stem a corresponding surge of violence among gangs by reinforcing their investment in programs for at-risk youths, increasing the number of fluent Spanish speakers and minority police officers on their forces and involving community groups in the effort.

State and federal agencies should join their efforts. This shouldn't be viewed solely as a local problem, because as gang criminals are prosecuted and convicted, they will be heading for Maryland jails and prisons, and possibly recruiting members there.

LA Times Calls for More Funding for Prevention and Intervention- Good for them!

EDITORIALS

The cancer in Compton

THE CITY OF COMPTON has a chance this year to return to the top of the charts — but not with the rap songs that once put the city on the map. With 42 homicides so far in 2005, Compton is on a pace to displace New Orleans as the nation's murder capital. As always, condemnation of the violence is widespread, as is agreement that something must be done to stop it. And as always, the hard question is what exactly that something is.

At its current pace, Compton, which has about 96,000 residents, would have a murder rate of about 7.5 per 10,000 residents this year. (In New Orleans, there were about 5.6 homicides last year for every 10,000 residents.) The Sheriff's Department, which has been under contract to police Compton since its municipal force was disbanded five years ago, attributes the rise to increased activity among Compton's numerous gangs.

Authorities also worry that violence in Compton could spread to many of the surrounding neighborhoods of Los Angeles after a hard-won decrease in violent crime throughout the city.

It's clear that Compton needs more police; it has about 70 officers patrolling an area roughly the size of the LAPD's Southeast Division, which has triple the force. Yet Compton, which spends more than $12 million on its Sheriff's Department contract, is cash-strapped, and federal grants for public safety are increasingly scarce. Moreover, even if the city were to receive more money, Compton's police would still have to win over residents worried about their professionalism. It was only three months ago that deputies shot 120 times at an unarmed suspect in a residential neighborhood.

As justified as their suspicions may be, however, the people of Compton must also realize that a larger force, with better-trained officers, would make their community safer. All parties in Compton — including the police and the City Council — should resist the temptation to bicker and be prepared to work together.

The Sheriff's Department should work harder to recruit deputies who are Compton residents or have a vested interest in the community. The community should be more willing to cooperate with law enforcement in helping to solve crimes. Mutual trust between the police and the community is key to successful gang prevention and mentorship programs similar to those in Inglewood and East Palo Alto.

First Lady Laura Bush has spoken eloquently about the importance of giving teenagers, especially boys, more hope and greater opportunities. Her focus on the problem is refreshing, but the administration must go beyond rhetoric. Even a modest increase in federal and state gang-prevention programs would help cities such as Compton become safer and better places to live.

It is the larger community — and by that we mean the city and the region — that must acknowledge that gang violence is not merely a local problem but a societal one.

Under-estimating the Gangstas Reach- USA TODAY

U.S. gang membership may be higher than reported

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A recent Justice Department report on the threat posed by gangs underestimated the number of gang members nationwide because thousands of police agencies refused to provide information about their jurisdictions.

The surprising lack of cooperation by police agencies means the Justice Department's estimate of more than 700,000 gang members nationwide could be too low by at least 200,000, said Patrick Word, vice chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Gang Investigators Network, a group that helps collect data for the Justice Department.

Nearly 20,000 state and local police agencies were contacted to participate in the National Gang Threat Assessment report, but only 455 provided information, said a federal law enforcement official who asked not to be identified to avoid future conflicts with local police in obtaining information. The report did not specify which agencies did not participate, so they could not be contacted for comment.

Many agencies have little contact with gangs. But Word said some withheld information on gangs out of concern that it could alarm the public.

Wes McBride, president of the California Association of Gang Investigators, another data reporting group, said other departments believed that police should not have to disclose sensitive information about potential threats involving gangs.

"A lot of this (reluctance to cooperate) is coming from elected officials who aresaying, 'We don't want to get our citizens running scared,' " Word said.

McBride, who helped supervise the data collection, said he stopped calling agencies after at least 20 repeatedly refused to provide details about gang membership and activity.

He called them and many others after initial requests by the data collectors were unsuccessful.

The gang report tries to identify public safety risks in each region.

The periodic report — this year's was the first since 2002 — has drawn scrutiny as the U.S. government and first lady Laura Bush have cited what the report describes as a dangerous escalation in gang membership and violence.

Justice Department officials who oversee the report were not available to comment.

Injunctions and Gangs in West Sacramento- The Woodland Daily-Democrat

Supervisors hear about continuing threat of gangs
DA's Office wants financial support

By BEN ANTONIUS/Democrat staff Writer

The airing of long, gruesome 911 call punctuated the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, part of a presentation on the effort to curb gang violence in Yolo County.

The tape, played by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Reisig, was used to illustrate the threat posed by gangs like the Broderick Boys in West Sacramento, where the call was made. He said gang specialists from city and county police forces have identified more than 1,400 members of various gangs countywide.

The presentation came a day after the West Sacramento Police Department announced that violent crime in the past months has dropped 17 percent as a result of stronger enforcement against gangs. In neighborhoods targeted by the injunction, the drop has been 26 percent.

Reisig urged the board to remain financially supportive of the effort and also reiterated his defense of a controversial gang injunction against the West Sacramento Broderick Boys.

District 2 Supervisor Helen Thomson said Yolo County "was in deep denial" for many years about the gang problem. McGowan, whose district includes West Sacramento, said the same.
"I, too, am very concerned about the issue," Thomson said.

The 911 call began with a man who says he has been attacked without provocation, sustaining injuries to his head, wrists and eye. The dispatcher gives basic medical guidance and tells him that police and medical crews are on their way.

However, as the call goes on, the assailants, apparently from the Broderick Boys, return and stab the man, his wife and another companion. As the dispatcher tries to communicate, the wife screams almost incoherently and eventually hangs up.

Reisig said the three were disfigured but survived, citing the attack as the kind of incident that can be prevented with a gang injunction. Federal authorities reported on Monday they had arrested 582 alleged gang members over a two-week period, targeting an estimated 80 violent groups they say have spawned street crimes across the country similar to West Sacramento's Broderick Boys.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion on behalf of several West Sacramento residents who say the injunction infringes on their rights.

Opponents have said the West Sacramento injunction prevents people tagged as gang members from attending legitimate functions that would involve a large gathering. The injunction specifically targets members of the Broderick Boys, creating a curfew and prohibiting them from carrying weapons, drugs or alcohol, trespassing or assembling in public with other gang members.

"Friends and family members can no longer go to family barbecues or attend each other's children's birthday parties," said community activist Martha Garcia in an ACLU statement. "They can't go to the movies together, they can't attend night school because classes get out after the curfew. This injunction harms the quality of life of our community."

Homeland Security Fighting Gangs? What about Terrorists? from- Voice of America

Police in US Crack Down on Gangs, at Least 600 Arrested
By Meredith Buel Washington
01 August 2005

Buel report - Download 286k Listen to Buel report

Law enforcement agencies in the United States have arrested nearly 600 alleged gang members as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal gangs in the past two weeks.

Chertoff of Homeland Security addresses gang issue.

Mr. Chertoff says investigators targeted gang members in 27 states, and while many were picked up for alleged immigration violations, 76 face criminal charges.

"Collectively, we have arrested members of over 80 different gangs as part of Operation Community Shield, and over half of those arrested in the last two weeks have prior criminal histories," he said. "Many were gang leaders with exceptionally violent criminal histories. Among the horrific crimes committed by some of the people we have apprehended include murder, rape, assault, burglary and, of course, weapons and narcotics offenses."

Among those gangs targeted in the latest sweep are groups called MS-13, Latin Kings, Mexican Mafia and the Jamaican Posse. Secretary Chertoff says many gang members come into the United States from overseas, and those who have violated U.S. law will be deported.

He says the problem of illegal street gangs has become a global issue, and requires international cooperation.

"Throughout this entire Community Shield initiative, DHS [Department of Homeland Security] has worked closely with international partners and with our domestic law enforcement partners at all levels to identify gang organizations and their memberships, and to act on this intelligence in order to target those criminal gangs who threaten our communities and our homeland," he said.

Marcy Forman, director of investigations for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announces arrest of gang members during two-week, nationwide enforcement actionOperation Community Shield began earlier this year and more than 1,000 alleged gang members have been arrested so far.

Secretary Chertoff says most of them are subject to deportation because they have violated immigration laws. About 230 have been charged with criminal violations.

Many of the arrests came in large urban areas such as Boston, Denver, Detroit and Los Angeles, although arrests were made in many smaller cities as well.

The U.S. Justice Department estimates there are more than 21,000 gangs operating in the United States with at least 730,000 active members.

Gonzales Addresses Gangs at FOP meeting- AP Story

Gonzales says America is threatened by street gangs
By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer

In a speech to police officers, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said street gangs are a growing threat in the United States as they become more sophisticated and more heavily involved with organized crime.

Gonzales made his remarks Monday at the 57th biennial national conference of the Fraternal Order of Police. He also mentioned President Bush's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, calling John Roberts a "well-qualified individual," and praised the Senate for renewing on Friday a version of the Patriot Act.

But Gonzales used his speech to the Fraternal Order of Police to talk about the need to fight street gangs. He warned that the FBI's latest surveys show "gang membership - especially Hispanic gang membership- is on the rise."

"Cities and regions that were once untouched by gangs are now facing the dangers of drugs and violence that flow from gang activity," the attorney general said. "As you know, they are more competitive, regimented, and sophisticated. This gang culture brings with it more violent and targeted techniques for intimidation and control, as well as a flourishing subculture and network of communication."

He added that gangs are connected to organized crime such as "Mexican drug organizations, Asian criminal groups, and Russian mafia."

He also warned that they have become savvy in their use of computers and technology. "Some are even using the Web to set up meetings and expand into identity theft.

"To combat the rise of gangs, he said the Justice Department is developing a national anti-gang strategy and that he has asked each U.S. attorney to designate an "anti-gang coordinator" to work with state and local authorities.

He told the conference that in this era of tight budgets new initiatives to fight gangs will be funded if they produce results.

"Results - not talk - will drive our budgets," he said. "President Bush wants citizens to see concrete results, not just good intentions."

At a news conference following his speech, Gonzales reaffirmed his support for provisions in the Patriot Act that critics say allow authorities to subpoena library and bookstore records and peek at the reading habits of innocent people."We don't want to make libraries safe havens" for terrorists, Gonzales said.

The attorney general also defended the use of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as a detention center for terror suspects, saying the base serves a "significant purpose."

Nothing to Do With Gangs- But It Is Neat to See

While this is a gang and juvenile violence site sometimes you need a break. To see a very historical and interesting blog about the USS Razorback (submarine) and USS Hoga (yard tug from WW2) simply click on the title of this message or visit www.AIMMatNLR.blogspot.com. It's a cool diversion from the violent world many young people live in and we are glad to have the Maritime Museum in our community. Steve