New Jersey Gangs Creating Buzz--
Gangs take hold among vulnerable teenagers
Cops, parents fighting back
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/12/06
BY RICHARD QUINN
AND BRIAN LEE
STAFF WRITERS
Morning after morning, Anthony Burgos turns along Somerset Avenue on his way to Lakewood High School and he sees them out the window. Teenagers walking away from the school day before it's even started. Anthony, a soft-spoken sophomore, figures they're headed to a friend's house. Maybe to smoke marijuana, maybe just to waste the day.
Some are gang members.
"They don't care about their lives," Anthony said.
It's a morality struggle that baffles the 15-year-old, but it's true: Gangs are making serious inroads at the Jersey Shore and black youth are vulnerable, community leaders and police agree.
"This so-called gang phenomenon that's occurring all over the state just recently is something we experienced in our prisons over 10 years ago," said Ron Holvey, who heads an intelligence section in the state Department of Corrections. "The delay (in public recognition) is because of the lack of awareness."
Not anymore.
The latest State Police survey shows nearly 17,000 gang members in New Jersey. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, 16 towns reported a gang presence in 2004. Four other towns — including traditional middle-class enclaves Allentown and Brick — couldn't rule out a gang presence.
Statewide, more than 40 percent of gang members aren't old enough to vote.
Thirty percent of single-race gangs are black.
But now, parents, educators, law enforcement and community groups are fighting back, saying it's time for them to join forces to stop the glitzy lure of gangs.
Noting that six of every 10 prison inmates in New Jersey is black, youth advocates say they have to show kids that the gang lifestyle promoted by "gangster rap" and racy hip-hop music videos — where drugs, money and sex are prevalent — rarely ends well.
"Therein the problems lie," said Lt. Edwin Torres, supervisor of the gang management unit for the state Juvenile Justice Commission. "Glorification of violence and sexuality. . . that's what sells. We try to tell our kids that's not right.
"Then they're bombarded with it every day. That's what they see and know."
Recent incidents
Proof of gang culture at the Shore is in the morning papers.
A sweep last month in Asbury Park. A raid in Lakewood last fall that rounded up seven members of a deadly Salvadoran gang. A drive-by shooting
in Jackson around Thanksgiving.
Just last week, a man walked into a barbershop in Lakewood and gunned down a 21-year-old. Police say it's too early to say if the incident is gang-related but acknowledged Friday they were on alert for gang activity.
"We don't have the number of . . . gang-related murders that perhaps a Camden or an Essex County would have, but we certainly have instances of shootings," said Rory Wells, an assistant prosecutor in the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
"My main concern . . . is preventing it from turning into a problem that has developed like, for example, Chicago or California."
In those areas, gangs are second- and third-generation issues, Wells said. In Ocean County, many gangsters are unaffiliated, hoping to impress gang leaders about how worthy they are.
"Wannabes, if they're really serious about choosing this life, have something to prove," Wells said. "That can be more dangerous."
Some blame the problem on a lack of role models, particularly in the criminal justice system.
In fact, some black community leaders believe stereotyping probably pushes youths further toward gangs and lawlessness.
About two-thirds of prison inmates are black. About one in five prisoners is in a gang. Still, there are only 36 black judges at the state level, less than 10 percent of the judiciary.
Others reject the argument that the justice system is targeting blacks.
"Kids know right from wrong," said Charles Cunningham, who works with Omega Extreme, a Lakewood youth mentoring program. "In order to get into that system, you have to have done something wrong."
Stereotyping doesn't help
Warren Sherard was curious like any other parent.
There had been a drive-by shooting in Jackson two weeks before Thanksgiving and the State Police announced a gang-awareness seminar at Jackson Memorial High School.
So Sherard attended.
Sherard, president of the Ocean County/Lakewood chapter of the NAACP, saw a slide show of black and Hispanic gang members. He heard a hip-hop soundtrack.
To Sherard, the seminar was stereotyping. It said only blacks and Hispanics have gang problems. He wrote a letter to the State Police asking for the program to be reworked.
Capt. Al Della Fave, a State Police spokesman, said the program has been reviewed. Della Fave noted the presentation made in Jackson — like similar ones made statewide — drew positive reactions from most parents, who say it taught them basic gang facts. He described allegations of bias as "unwarranted."
"Our intent, plain and simple, was to raise parent awareness," Della Fave said. "The response we have gotten has been tremendous."
Sherard disagrees.
"If a professional, expert organization like the New Jersey State Police can present a biased presentation, what is the lay person supposed to take away from that?" Sherard added. "It's at least insensitive. At worst, it's racist, right?"
The presentation, though, uses hip-hop music to show how today's youth relates to gangs, Della Fave said. Videos, DVDs, concerts, even clothing lines are used to promote the gangster lifestyle and that's what society is fighting now, advocates say.
Holvey said some gangs even create their own music to promote themselves.
"When you have Snoop Dogg, who is a professed Crip, pushing his sneakers with the different colors, it makes it very difficult," said Cunningham, the Lakewood mentor. "Advertisers are making big money off this."
Recent incidents
Robert Taylor can assess the gang problem in Asbury Park from his executive director's office at the Boys and Girls Club on Monroe Avenue.
"They're definitely in a recruiting situation," Taylor said. "Almost every weekend, I hear something about a Blood situation, whether it's recruiting or intimidating."
But men like Taylor see hope in the growing gang problem.
"I would hate to perpetuate the thought that, "It's crazy down here, the place is never gonna turn around,' " he said. "To tell you the truth, it's the nicest neighborhood I've ever been to."
With a resume that includes stints in Passaic and Los Angeles, that makes sense. In Los Angeles, Taylor worked with children whose grandfathers were Crips and Bloods, two nationally known gangs.
"I once bought a red pickup truck, they were like, "What are you doing?' " he recalled. "If you're in L.A., a kid wouldn't dare wear a red T-shirt if he wasn't a Blood."
At the Shore, things aren't that bad. But law enforcement isn't waiting around.
The Juvenile Justice Commission tours the state making presentations on the realities of gang life. Holvey promotes a Gang Awareness and Prevention Program where inmates who have given up their gang affiliation preach more realities.
In Asbury Park, the police are getting more aggressive in targeting gang members. Police Capt. Anthony Salerno said the department has a gang-intelligence unit that works closely with the Monmouth County Sheriff's Department and Prosecutor's Office.
But law enforcement alone won't stem the tide of gangs, advocates say.
A return to stronger family values, the moral policing of some facets of the hip-hip subculture and aggressive involvement from educators, parents and the entire community are the only steps that will lure kids away from gangs.
"That's not a message you can deliver one time," said Cunningham, a Dover Township resident. "This is a daily thing."
ON THE WEB: Visit our Web site, www.app.com, and click on the Web Extras button for a link to Gang awareness information from the N.J. Attorney General's Office
Richard Quinn: (732) 557-5739 or rquinn@app.com
Cops, parents fighting back
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/12/06
BY RICHARD QUINN
AND BRIAN LEE
STAFF WRITERS
Morning after morning, Anthony Burgos turns along Somerset Avenue on his way to Lakewood High School and he sees them out the window. Teenagers walking away from the school day before it's even started. Anthony, a soft-spoken sophomore, figures they're headed to a friend's house. Maybe to smoke marijuana, maybe just to waste the day.
Some are gang members.
"They don't care about their lives," Anthony said.
It's a morality struggle that baffles the 15-year-old, but it's true: Gangs are making serious inroads at the Jersey Shore and black youth are vulnerable, community leaders and police agree.
"This so-called gang phenomenon that's occurring all over the state just recently is something we experienced in our prisons over 10 years ago," said Ron Holvey, who heads an intelligence section in the state Department of Corrections. "The delay (in public recognition) is because of the lack of awareness."
Not anymore.
The latest State Police survey shows nearly 17,000 gang members in New Jersey. In Monmouth and Ocean counties, 16 towns reported a gang presence in 2004. Four other towns — including traditional middle-class enclaves Allentown and Brick — couldn't rule out a gang presence.
Statewide, more than 40 percent of gang members aren't old enough to vote.
Thirty percent of single-race gangs are black.
But now, parents, educators, law enforcement and community groups are fighting back, saying it's time for them to join forces to stop the glitzy lure of gangs.
Noting that six of every 10 prison inmates in New Jersey is black, youth advocates say they have to show kids that the gang lifestyle promoted by "gangster rap" and racy hip-hop music videos — where drugs, money and sex are prevalent — rarely ends well.
"Therein the problems lie," said Lt. Edwin Torres, supervisor of the gang management unit for the state Juvenile Justice Commission. "Glorification of violence and sexuality. . . that's what sells. We try to tell our kids that's not right.
"Then they're bombarded with it every day. That's what they see and know."
Recent incidents
Proof of gang culture at the Shore is in the morning papers.
A sweep last month in Asbury Park. A raid in Lakewood last fall that rounded up seven members of a deadly Salvadoran gang. A drive-by shooting
in Jackson around Thanksgiving.
Just last week, a man walked into a barbershop in Lakewood and gunned down a 21-year-old. Police say it's too early to say if the incident is gang-related but acknowledged Friday they were on alert for gang activity.
"We don't have the number of . . . gang-related murders that perhaps a Camden or an Essex County would have, but we certainly have instances of shootings," said Rory Wells, an assistant prosecutor in the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
"My main concern . . . is preventing it from turning into a problem that has developed like, for example, Chicago or California."
In those areas, gangs are second- and third-generation issues, Wells said. In Ocean County, many gangsters are unaffiliated, hoping to impress gang leaders about how worthy they are.
"Wannabes, if they're really serious about choosing this life, have something to prove," Wells said. "That can be more dangerous."
Some blame the problem on a lack of role models, particularly in the criminal justice system.
In fact, some black community leaders believe stereotyping probably pushes youths further toward gangs and lawlessness.
About two-thirds of prison inmates are black. About one in five prisoners is in a gang. Still, there are only 36 black judges at the state level, less than 10 percent of the judiciary.
Others reject the argument that the justice system is targeting blacks.
"Kids know right from wrong," said Charles Cunningham, who works with Omega Extreme, a Lakewood youth mentoring program. "In order to get into that system, you have to have done something wrong."
Stereotyping doesn't help
Warren Sherard was curious like any other parent.
There had been a drive-by shooting in Jackson two weeks before Thanksgiving and the State Police announced a gang-awareness seminar at Jackson Memorial High School.
So Sherard attended.
Sherard, president of the Ocean County/Lakewood chapter of the NAACP, saw a slide show of black and Hispanic gang members. He heard a hip-hop soundtrack.
To Sherard, the seminar was stereotyping. It said only blacks and Hispanics have gang problems. He wrote a letter to the State Police asking for the program to be reworked.
Capt. Al Della Fave, a State Police spokesman, said the program has been reviewed. Della Fave noted the presentation made in Jackson — like similar ones made statewide — drew positive reactions from most parents, who say it taught them basic gang facts. He described allegations of bias as "unwarranted."
"Our intent, plain and simple, was to raise parent awareness," Della Fave said. "The response we have gotten has been tremendous."
Sherard disagrees.
"If a professional, expert organization like the New Jersey State Police can present a biased presentation, what is the lay person supposed to take away from that?" Sherard added. "It's at least insensitive. At worst, it's racist, right?"
The presentation, though, uses hip-hop music to show how today's youth relates to gangs, Della Fave said. Videos, DVDs, concerts, even clothing lines are used to promote the gangster lifestyle and that's what society is fighting now, advocates say.
Holvey said some gangs even create their own music to promote themselves.
"When you have Snoop Dogg, who is a professed Crip, pushing his sneakers with the different colors, it makes it very difficult," said Cunningham, the Lakewood mentor. "Advertisers are making big money off this."
Recent incidents
Robert Taylor can assess the gang problem in Asbury Park from his executive director's office at the Boys and Girls Club on Monroe Avenue.
"They're definitely in a recruiting situation," Taylor said. "Almost every weekend, I hear something about a Blood situation, whether it's recruiting or intimidating."
But men like Taylor see hope in the growing gang problem.
"I would hate to perpetuate the thought that, "It's crazy down here, the place is never gonna turn around,' " he said. "To tell you the truth, it's the nicest neighborhood I've ever been to."
With a resume that includes stints in Passaic and Los Angeles, that makes sense. In Los Angeles, Taylor worked with children whose grandfathers were Crips and Bloods, two nationally known gangs.
"I once bought a red pickup truck, they were like, "What are you doing?' " he recalled. "If you're in L.A., a kid wouldn't dare wear a red T-shirt if he wasn't a Blood."
At the Shore, things aren't that bad. But law enforcement isn't waiting around.
The Juvenile Justice Commission tours the state making presentations on the realities of gang life. Holvey promotes a Gang Awareness and Prevention Program where inmates who have given up their gang affiliation preach more realities.
In Asbury Park, the police are getting more aggressive in targeting gang members. Police Capt. Anthony Salerno said the department has a gang-intelligence unit that works closely with the Monmouth County Sheriff's Department and Prosecutor's Office.
But law enforcement alone won't stem the tide of gangs, advocates say.
A return to stronger family values, the moral policing of some facets of the hip-hip subculture and aggressive involvement from educators, parents and the entire community are the only steps that will lure kids away from gangs.
"That's not a message you can deliver one time," said Cunningham, a Dover Township resident. "This is a daily thing."
ON THE WEB: Visit our Web site, www.app.com, and click on the Web Extras button for a link to Gang awareness information from the N.J. Attorney General's Office
Richard Quinn: (732) 557-5739 or rquinn@app.com
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